Bad Deeds for 3-14-2008

US Buries Pentagon Study Showing No Link Between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda – The US administration appeared to bury the release of a detailed Pentagon study confirms there was no direct link between late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Al-Qaeda network, making it available only at individual request and by mail — instead of posting it on the Internet or handing it out to reporters.

Republican Campaign Treasurer Embezzled up to $1 Million – The FBI began an investigation in February to determine how much former National Republican Congressional Committee treasurer Christopher J. Ward, who previously did work for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, embezzled from the NRCC.

McCain Intervention Helped Airbus – European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. and Northop Grumman Corp. were awarded a $35 billion Pentagon contract last month to build new Air Force tankers, instead of Boeing Co., and the American-based company is formally challenging the agreement. McCain pushed for EADS to get the contract, and his campaign employs three former EADS lobbyists, although there is no specific evidence of impropriety, according to ABC. “Mr. Clean has a bunch of lobbyists that work for a company that won that contract,” House Democratic Caucus chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., told the network. “Some people claim the way the specs were written, it was all but certain that the company that his campaign lobbyists worked for couldn’t but get that contract.”

Bush Intervened to Have EPA Weaken Ozone Standards – The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute intervention by President Bush, according to documents released by the EPA. EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under the law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA’s scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the agency to increase the limit, according to the documents. “It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA’s expert scientific judgment,” said John Walke, clean-air director for the Natural Defense Resources Council. The president’s order prompted a scramble by administration officials to rewrite the regulations to avoid a conflict with past EPA statements on the harm caused by ozone.

Big Brother is Watching Your Banking and Credit Card Transactions – Every time you swipe your credit card, take cash out of an ATM or transfer money into your bank account, a sophisticated network of computers is keeping track. Some data is kept by the banks and credit card companies and other information is passed on to the federal government. “People aren’t really aware of the fact that transactions that they make with financial institutions are being monitored,” said Paul Stephens, director of policy and advocacy form the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. “Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are having their everyday banking transactions forwarded to the federal government.”

Regards,

Jim