20080616
Kevin
Jeffrey Martin -
Corporate
- 
Government
- 
Politics
- 
Satellite
- 
Spectrum
- 
History
- 
Communications
- 
Media
- Minorities
- 
Women
- 
Lawmakers
- 
Md
"Radio
Merger Under Fire From Black Lawmakers: Caucus, FCC
[Federal Communications Commission] Chair Differ On Setting Aside XM, Sirius
Channels for Minorities." ... "Senior members of the Congressional Black
Caucus yesterday criticized a compromise plan for the proposed merger of
the XM and Sirius satellite radio companies, saying the deal does not provide
enough opportunities for minority-owned programming." ... "[Republican
President Bush's] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin J. Martin
said over the weekend that he would support the merger after XM Satellite
Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio voluntarily agreed, among a series
of other concessions, to lease 4 percent of their radio spectrums, or 12
channels, for programming run by minorities and women." ... "Members of
the black caucus on Capitol Hill have been arguing for the merged company
to lease five times that amount of spectrum to companies owned by racial
minorities." ... "[Maryland Democratic Representative Elijah E. Cummings:]
"It's shocking to the conscience in this day and age, where the minority
populations comprise a significant part of the satellite radio audience,
that Mr. Martin would settle for what I deem to be crumbs that have fallen
off the table," Cummings said." ... "If the merger is approved, it would
be a major reversal of FCC rules. The agency distributed licenses to XM
and Sirius in 1997 on the condition the two companies never combine." -By
Jeffrey H. Birnbaum -WashingtonPost
20080612
John
E Sweeney - 
Jack
Abramoff - 
Criminal
- Money
- Politics
- 
Jobs
- 
New
York - Federal
- Law
"Job
for funding at issue: Work record of Gayle Sweeney
[former wife of former New York Republican Representative John Sweeney]
scrutinized as FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] probes congressional
spouses getting work." ... "Federal investigators, several wearing Glock
pistols, asked question after question about Gayle Sweeney's work habits
in interviews with current and former employees of [Republican lobbyist]
William D. Powers' lobbying firm, sources close to the investigation said
Wednesday." ... "The FBI seized documents, computers and BlackBerries in
a roughly six-hour occupation of Powers & Co.'s Albany office on Friday
and questioned Powers, at least one of his sons and others who work for
the influential lobbying firm, according to the informed sources." ...
"Central to the inquiry is whether Powers and former Rep. John Sweeney,
R-Clifton Park, were involved in an improper quid pro quo arrangement in
which Sweeney steered federal funds to Powers' lobbying clients and Powers
set up a make-believe job for Gayle Sweeney, the congressman's wife at
the time." ... "They are are now divorced." ... "Powers, of Chatham, is
the former head of the New York Republican Party." ... "[Sweeney's lawyer
E. Stewart Jones Jr.] Jones said he doubts the investigation is a remnant
from the probe of former Washington [Republican] lobbyist Jack Abramoff."
... "But a person involved in the case, said the investigation is tied
to the FBI's probes into congressional spouses getting jobs, an offshoot
to the Abramoff bribery case." ... "Gayle Sweeney's work history did not
include politics or directing donation drives, but her husband hired her
as a fundraising consultant for his campaign. The job paid her consulting
company a commission and it received at least $42,000, according to Sweeney's
campaign records." ... "A person close to the investigation said the consulting
arrangement, first reported in the Times Union, is the root of the current
investigation." ... "Critics have questioned whether Sweeney was converting
campaign cash for personal use." (1, 2)
-By James
M. Odato -TimesUnion.com
Health
- 
Science
- 
Environmental
- 
Safety
- Laws
- 
Manufacturing
- Industries
- 
EU
- 
US
- 
Global
-Consumers
- Government
- Politics
- 
Computer
- 
Privacy
- 
Newborns
"Chemical
Law Has Global Impact: [European Union's] E.U.'s
New Rules Forcing Changes By [United States] U.S. Firms." ... "Europe this
month rolled out new restrictions on makers of chemicals linked to cancer
and other health problems, changes that are forcing U.S. industries to
find new ways to produce a wide range of everyday products." ... "The new
laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate that a chemical
is safe before it enters commerce -- the opposite of policies in the United
States, where regulators must prove that a chemical is harmful before it
can be restricted or removed from the market. Manufacturers say that complying
with the European laws will add billions to their costs, possibly driving
up prices of some products." ... "The changes come at a time when consumers
are increasingly worried about the long-term consequences of chemical exposure
and are agitating for more aggressive regulation. In the United States,
these pressures have spurred efforts in Congress and some state legislatures
to pass laws that would circumvent the laborious federal regulatory process."
... "Adamantly opposed by the U.S. chemical industry and the [Republican
President] Bush administration, the E.U. laws will be phased in over the
next decade. It is difficult to know exactly how the changes will affect
products sold in the United States. But American manufacturers are already
searching for safer alternatives to chemicals used to make thousands of
consumer goods, from bike helmets to shower curtains." ... "The European
Union's tough stance on chemical regulation is the latest area in which
the Europeans are reshaping business practices with demands that American
companies either comply or lose access to a market of 27 countries and
nearly 500 million people." ... "From its crackdown on antitrust practices
in the computer industry to its rigorous protection of consumer privacy,
the European Union has adopted a regulatory philosophy that emphasizes
the consumer. Its approach to managing chemical risks, which started with
a trickle of individual bans and has swelled into a wave, is part of a
European focus on caution when it comes to health and the environment."
... "A study by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found an average
of 200 industrial chemicals in the cord blood of newborns." (1, 2)
-By Lyndsey Layton -WashingtonPost
J
Robert Flores
- Political
- Federal
- Juvenile
- Justice
- Health
- Science
- "Questions
Surround Govt Funded Abstinence Program: Why Did
a Lower-Ranked Organization Get Money While Higher-Ranked Groups Were Denied
Funding?" ... "An organization that promotes sexual abstinence for teens
received a federal grant of over a million dollars, twice what it had requested,
despite the skepticism Department of Justice staffers had about the group
and the fact that it refused to participate in a congressionally mandated
study." ... "So why did the Best Friends Foundation receive the grant from
the Justice Department's juvenile justice office even though dozens of
competing organizations were rated higher by the office's own reviewers?
Current and former staffers say it was because of Best Friends' powerful
president and founder, Elayne Bennett." ... "Not only is Bennett the wife
of Bill Bennett, a former [Republican President] Reagan and [Republican
President] Bush administration official and conservative political commentator,
but she is also personally close to the chief administrator of the Office
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), J. Robert Flores."
... "DOJ staffers were deeply skeptical when Best Friends applied for a
grant of around a half-million dollars last summer. For one thing, the
organization had backed out of a congressionally mandated study to examine
whether or not abstinence programs are effective." ... "Then there were
the DOJ staffers own internal reviews, which placed Best Friends behind
dozens of other competing organizations. Out of 104 grants in their category,
Best Friends ranked 53rd." ... "But those other organizations didn't have
Elayne Bennett. Bennett, say current and former DOJ staffers in the OJJDP,
often spoke on the phone with Flores and had access to him and his aides
that other juvenile organizations ordinarily wouldn't have." ... "Meanwhile,
competing with Best Friends for a federal grant from the OJJDP was a Washington
non-profit, the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), an advocacy
group for victims of rape and sexual assault." ... "In the category of
OJJDP grants for which both organizations applied, Best Friends ranked
51st, while RAINN came in at 14th. RAINN did not receive a grant from the
OJJDP." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Murray Waas -ABCNEWS.com
20080611
John
E Sweeney - Criminal
- Money
- Politics
- New
York - Federal
"Sweeney
connections to lobbyist examined: Relationship is
part of federal criminal probe related to earmarks." ... "A federal criminal
investigation is focusing on the relationship of lobbyist [Republican]
William D. Powers and former U.S. [United States New York Republican Representative]
Rep. John E. Sweeney in connection with a series of federal grants that
were steered to Powers' clients, according to several people familiar with
the probe." ... "The probe is being overseen by the Justice Department's
Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C." ... "Several people familiar
with the case said it is centered on a period when Powers' clients received
the earmarks while Sweeney's then-wife, Gayle, was working for Powers'
Albany-based lobbying firm." ... "Armed with a search warrant, federal
attorneys and FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] agents from Albany
[New York's capital] and Washington appeared at Powers & Co.'s 90 State
St. office building on Friday. They confiscated files and interviewed employees
who were encouraged to remain in the office during the search." ... "Powers,
66, of Chatham, has been a lobbyist since he stepped down as state GOP
chairman in 2001 after holding the position for 11 years." ... "Sweeney's
wife has also been in the news for running a consulting company that received
tens of thousands of dollars from Sweeney's campaign." (1, 2)
-By Brendan
J. Lyons and James
M. Odato -TimesUnion.com
Oil
- Corporation
- Government
-Politicians
"Republicans
Block Extra Taxes On Oil Companies." ... "Senate
Republicans blocked a proposal Tuesday to tax the windfall profits of the
largest oil companies, despite pleas by Democratic leaders to use the measure
to address America's anger over $4 a gallon gasoline." ... "The Democratic
energy package would have imposed a tax on any "unreasonable" profits of
the five largest [United States] U.S. oil companies and given the federal
government more power to address oil market speculation that the bill's
supporters argue has added to the crude oil price surge." ... "The Democrats
failed, 51-43, to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP [GOP=Grand
Old Party=Republican] filibuster and bring the energy package up for consideration."
... "The oil companies could have avoided the tax if they invested the
money in alternative energy projects or refinery expansion. It also would
have rescinded oil company tax breaks _ worth $17 billion over the next
10 years _ with the revenue to be used for tax incentives to producers
of wind, solar and other alternative energy sources as well as for energy
conservation." -By H. Josef Hebert
-AP via -HuffingtonPost.com
20080610
Special
Report - J
Robert Flores
- Money
- Politics
- Secret
- Government- Juvenile
- Justice
- 
Nev
"Special
Report: Juvenile Justice." ... "The following documents
accompany Youth Today's ongoing
reporting on the [United States] U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention." ... "*From "At
Justice, 84th Place Wins"" ...
"OJJDP spreadsheets
containing scores and place-rankings for bids submitted under various 2007
grant programs, including mentoring, research and delinquency prevention
(winners are highlighted by red borders)." ... "*From "Former
Justice Official Says Juvenile Chief Misled Her" and
"A
Friend at Justice"" ... "A memo
that U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Administrator
Robert Flores wrote to Regina Schofield last July, in which he explained
how he chose 10 winning proposals from among more than 100 bids for the
National Programs grants." ... "*From "Juvenile
Judges Group Secretly Pays to Settle U.S. Fraud Claim""
... "Under a set of confidential agreements, the National Council of Juvenile
and Family Court Judges will pay $300,000 to settle allegations
that it committed fraud to get grant money from the U.S. Department of
Justice, while its director [Mary Mentaberry] will pay $16,500 to settle
conflict-of-interest charges." ... "The Justice Department charged that
the council falsified employee time sheets, billed the federal government
for work by "ghost" employees, failed to disclose that it hired the spouses
of employees and fired a worker who questioned those practices, according
to settlements
filed this month in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nev. [Nevada]" ... "Serena
Hulbert, who alleges she was wrongfully fired from the council, filed a
new
lawsuit for wrongful termination on April 23, according to court
records." ... "*From "Juvenile
Justice, A Panel of One"" ...
"Here are PDFs
of the winning 2007 National Juvenile Justice Program bids." ... "Here
is a detailed
list of bidders for OJJDP's 2007 National Juvenile Justice Program
grants (winners are highlighted)." ... "Here is a spreadsheet
of all OJJDP 2007 discretionary grants." -YouthToday.org
20080609
John
McCain - 
Tom
Loeffler - 
Susan
E Nelson - 
Rick
Davis - Illegal
- 2008
Election - 
Accounting
- Politics
- Federal
- Investigation
"Group
files complaint against McCain campaign." ... "A
group that supports public financing of campaigns filed a federal complaint
against [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's
presidential campaign Monday, calling for an investigation into two financial
transactions involving two top McCain aides." ... "The Federal Election
Commission complaint by Campaign Money Watch, a group that has received
financing from Democratic leaning donors, questions payments from former
finance chair Tom Loeffler to campaign finance director Susan Nelson. It
also questions the reduction of a debt to a Web services firm co-owned
by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis." ... ""A campaign manager renegotiating
a debt with a company he partly owns raises serious conflict of interest
questions," said David Donnelly, the director of Campaign Money Watch."
... "Donnelly also questioned whether Loeffler's payments to Nelson amounted
to an illegal subsidy to a campaign staffer. Loeffler is a lobbyist and
former congressman and Nelson is a former associate of Loeffler's lobbying
firm." -By Jim Kuhnhenn
-AP via-AJC
J
Robert Flores- Crime
- Political
- Federal
- 
Sports
- Religious
- Juvenile
- Justice
"Justice
Department Official Awards $500,000 Grant to Golf Group:
Former Staffer Tells ABC News Anti-Crime Funds Given to Programs With The
"Right" Connections." ... "A senior Justice Department official says a
$500,000 federal grant to the World Golf Foundation is an appropriate use
of money designed to deal with juvenile crime in America." ... "The Justice
Department, in a decision by [Republican President Bush's Department of
Justice Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention J. Robert] Flores, gave the money to the World Golf Foundation's
First Tee program, even though Justice Department staffers had rated the
program 47th on a list of 104 applicants. The allegations were first reported
earlier this year by the trade journal Youth
Today." ... "Current and former Justice Department employees allege
that Flores ignored the staff rankings in favor of programs that had political,
social or religious connections to the [Republican President George W.]
Bush White House." ... "The honorary chairman of the First Tee program
is former [Republican] President George [H.W.] Bush [George W. Bush's father]."
... "A key witness will be a former employee of Flores' office, Scott Peterson,
who says the grants were awarded based more on politics than merit." ...
""This is cronyism, this is waste, fraud and abuse," Peterson told ABC
News in an interview aired on Nightline Monday night." ... "Many top-rated
programs were denied federal grants." ... "Flores was appointed to the
position by President Bush six years ago and has overseen about $1.5 billion
dollars in grants during that time." ... "A Washington, D.C. program, Best
Friends, that promotes abstinences was awarded $1.1 million by Flores even
though it ranked 53rd on a list of 104 applicants." ... "Best Friends is
run by Elayne Bennett, the wife of Bill Bennett, a former Republican cabinet
member and now political commentator." (1, 2,
3)
-By Brian Ross, Anna Schecter, and Murray Waas
-ABCNEWS.com
WATCH:
"Does the White House favor social programs based on politics?"
20080606
John
McCain - Surveillance
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Corporate
- 
Military
- Government
- Phone
- 
E-Mail
- 
Intelligence
- History
- 
Arizona
- American
- International
- 2008
Election
"Adviser
Says McCain Backs Bush Wiretaps." ... "A top adviser
to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Senator
John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that [Republican] President Bush’s
program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears
to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive
authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team." ... "In a letter
posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin,
said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power
to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international
phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute
that required court oversight of surveillance." ... "Although a spokesman
for Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, denied
that the senator’s views on surveillance and executive power had shifted,
legal specialists said the letter contrasted with statements Mr. McCain
previously made about the limits of presidential power." ... "In an interview
about his views on the limits of executive power with The Boston Globe
six months ago, Mr. McCain strongly suggested that if he became the next
commander in chief, he would consider himself obligated to obey a statute
restricting what he did in national security matters." ... "Mr. McCain
was asked whether he believed that the president had constitutional power
to conduct surveillance on American soil for national security purposes
without a warrant, regardless of federal statutes." ... "He replied: “There
are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance
of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that
presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed
by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation
is.”" ... "Following up, the interviewer asked whether Mr. McCain was saying
a statute trumped a president’s powers as commander in chief when it came
to a surveillance law. “I don’t think the president has the right to disobey
any law,” Mr. McCain replied." ... "David Golove, a New York University
law professor who specializes in executive power issues, said that while
the language used by Mr. McCain in his answers six months ago was imprecise,
the recent statement by Mr. Holtz-Eakin “seems to contradict precisely
what he said earlier.”" ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate
Barack Obama campaign adviser Greg Craig:] “American voters deserve to
know which side of this flip-flop [McCain is] he’s on today, and what he
would do as president,” Mr. Craig said in a phone interview." ... "And
Glenn Greenwald, a Salon columnist and critic of the Bush administration's
legal claims, wrote that the statement was a "complete reversal" by McCain,
accusing the candidate of seeking "to shore up the support of right-wing
extremists."" (1, 2)
-By Charlie
Savage -NYTimes
Dick
Cheney - 
Douglas
Feith - 
Terrorism
- Politicians
- Government
- 
People
- Military
- Intelligence
- US
- 
Iraq
"Clarke
On Iraq War Architects: ‘We Shouldn’t Let These People Back Into Polite
Society’." ... "Noting that “prominent Democrats”
had ruled out impeachment, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann asked former counterterrorism
adviser Richard
Clarke on his show last night, what “remedy” there could be for the
lies and misinformation highlighted in the new Senate Intelligence Committee
reports
on the Bush administration’s misuse of pre-war Iraq intelligence." ...
"“Someone should have to pay in some way for the decisions that they made
to mislead the American people,” said Clarke. He suggested that “some sort
of truth and reconciliation commission” might be appropriate because, he
said, we can’t “let these people back into polite society”:"
"CLARKE:
Well, there may be some other kind of remedy. There may be some sort of
truth and reconciliation commission process that’s been tried in other
countries, South Africa, Salvador and what not, where if you come forward
and admit that you were in error or admit that you lied, admit that you
did something, then you’re forgiven. Otherwise, you are censured in some
way."
"Now,
I
just don’t think we can let these people back into polite society and give
them jobs on university boards and corporate boards and just let them pretend
that nothing ever happened when there are 4,000 Americans dead and 25,000
Americans grieviously wounded, and they’ll carry those wounds and suffer
all the rest of their lives"
WATCH
VIDEO: "Clarke on Iraq War Architects."
"Unfortunately,
as Clarke hints, most of the architects
of the Iraq war are still fully embraced by “polite society.”" ...
"Some, like [Republicans] President Bush and Vice President Cheney, are
still working in the White House. But for many of those who left, “the
neocon welfare system” has been generous:"
"-
Last fall, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was named a “distinguished
visiting fellow” at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University,
where he focuses on “issues pertaining to ideology and terror.”"
"-
After a controversial
tenure as the president of the World Bank, former Deputy Secretary of Defense
Paul Wolfowitz is a visiting
scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think
tank."
"-
Richard Perle, the chairman of Defense Policy Board during the run up to
the Iraq war, also landed on the payroll of the American Enterprise Institute,
where he is a resident
fellow."
"Despite
their re-emergence into “polite society,” these war
architects have largely refused to admit that they lied. In fact, some,
like former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Doug Feith, insist that
the American people only feel misled about Iraq because “they
misremember a lot."" -ThinkProgress.org
20080605
Dick
Cheney - Secret
- Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Investigation
- Osama
bin Laden
- 
Nuclear
- 
- US
- Iraq
- 
Iran
- 
Czech
"Senate
committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true." ...
"[Republicans] President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top
officials promoted the invasion of Iraq with public statements that weren't
supported by intelligence or that concealed differences among intelligence
agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday in a report
that was delayed by bitter partisan infighting." ... "A second report found
that a special office set up under then-secretary of defense Donald H.
Rumsfeld conducted "sensitive intelligence activities" that were inappropriate
"without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department."
That report revealed that Pentagon counterintelligence officials suspected
that Iran might have tried to use the group to influence administration
policymakers." ... "The Senate report, the first official examination of
whether top officials knew that their public statements were unsubstantiated
when they made them, reviewed five speeches by Bush, Cheney and former
Secretary of State Colin Powell between August 2002 and February 2003.
It also dissected key statements made by them and other top officials,
including Rumsfeld and then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice."
... "The committee found that the administration's warnings that former
dictator Saddam Hussein was in league with Osama bin Laden, a highly inflammatory
assertion in the wake of the [September] Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaida attacks,
weren't substantiated by U.S. intelligence reports. In fact, it said, [United
State] U.S. intelligence agencies were telling the White House that while
there'd been sporadic contacts over a decade, there was no operational
cooperation between Iraq and al Qaida, the report said." ... "The administration's
repeated statements "suggesting that Iraq and al Qaida had a partnership,
or that Iraq had provided al Qaida with weapons training, were not substantiated
by intelligence," it said." ... "Contentions by Bush and Cheney that Saddam
had to be removed because he could give terrorists weapons of mass destruction
to strike the United States were "contradicted by available intelligence
information" that found that the late Iraqi dictator was unlikely to make
such transfers, the report said." ... "Cheney's assertions that Mohammad
Atta, the chief Sept. 11 hijacker, had met months before the attack with
an Iraqi intelligence officer in the Czech capital, Prague [Czech Republic],
were also unsubstantiated, the inquiry found." ... "The committee said
that Bush and Cheney "failed to reflect concerns and uncertainties" expressed
in intelligence analyses that questioned administration assertions that
Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops as liberators and warned that American
forces could face violent resistance." ... "Statements by Bush, Cheney
and other top officials that Saddam had stockpiled chemical and biological
weapons in violation of U.N. resolutions were "generally substantiated"
by what turned out to be erroneous U.S. intelligence analyses, the report
said." ... "However, while intelligence reports "generally substantiated"
their claims that Iraq had secretly restarted a nuclear weapons program,
the committee said, Bush and other officials failed to disclose that the
State Department disputed that finding." ... "The administration's statements
also failed to disclose that the Energy Department joined the State Department
in rejecting allegations that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa,
the report said." ... "The reports released Thursday brought to an end
a lengthy investigation into how U.S. intelligence appeared to be so wrong
in the run-up to the Iraq war." -By Jonathan
S. Landay with contributions by Nancy
A. Youssef and
Mark
Seibel -McClatchyDC.com
[PDF]
- "Senate
Intelligence Iraq Phase II Report (Phase 2 a): REPORT on Whether Public
Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated
by Intelligence Information."
[PDF] -
"Senate
Intelligence Iraq Phase II Report (Phase 2 b): REPORT on Intelligence
Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation
Group and the Office of Special Plans Within the Office of the Under Secretary
of Defense for Policy."
[PDF] -
"Phase I Senate
report on Iraq Intelligence."
John
McCain - Corporate
- Military
- Government
- Telecommunications
- Surveillance
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Intelligence
- 
John
Yoo - Torture
- Detainee
- Human
Rights - Enforcement
- 
Florida
- 2008
Election
"McCain
tangled in flip-flop flap over wiretapping immunity."
... "A series of statements about immunizing telecommunications companies
that violated federal wiretapping laws have become something of an embarrassment,
and perhaps even a problem, for [2008 Election Republican] John McCain's
presidential campaign." ... "The statements revolve around whether McCain,
like [Republican] President Bush, supports legislation that could be voted
on this month extending retroactive immunity to those companies and perhaps
many more." ... "In 2005, at least, McCain was in favor of letting
the courts decide whether
AT&T
and other telecos violated the law." ... "... [Late December 2007]
McCain told
the Boston Globe this: "I think that presidents have the obligation to
obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by
the president, no matter what the situation is."" ... "But after McCain
became the all-but-official nominee, his political principles appear to
have become more malleable. He voted
in February for retroactive immunity -- even though there were no explicit
statements telling AT&T and other telecommunications companies that
this is not a "blessing." There were no deals providing for "oversight
hearings." And there certainly were no "provisions" to ensure this won't
happen again." ... "Our story may have ended there. Except that campaign
representative Chuck Fish (not an actual campaign lawyer, as has been incorrectly
reported, but a surrogate) subsequently suggested
that his candidate still wanted "hearings," which The Washington Post
picked
up on last week. McCain's campaign fired off a nastygram to the Post
saying that their candidate's "position on immunity has not changed.""
... "Meanwhile, McCain was questioned about his position at a town hall
meeting the next day -- he replied that Congress needs to "have hearings"
-- which The Wall Street Journal dutifully reported.
The fuss became enough to prompt the conservative National Review
to begin questioning McCain's the-executive-can-wiretap-as-it-pleases credentials.
Salon entered
the fray too." ... "[Florida Democratic Representative] Rep. Robert
Wexler of Florida, who is a member of the House Judiciary committee, sent
us this statement on Wednesday:"
"I
am appalled by Senator John McCain's reaffirmation of support for the use
of warrantless wiretapping on American citizens. Senator McCain has once
again chosen to align himself with President George Bush, whose reprehensible
spying program on Americans is a grave threat to our Constitutions guarantees
of privacy and limited executive power. It is clear that Senator McCain,
President Bush, and their Republican allies in Congress will continue to
use scare tactics and fear mongering to claim that a president can simply
chose to ignore America's laws... Senator McCain opposes a bipartisan House
compromise bill that preserves appropriate court review of all surveillance
of US citizens and gives judges the discretion to review all the necessary
documents related to telecom lawsuits without offering blanket immunity."
"Yet
there's a more important issue here, which is why the neo-cons are pressing
McCain to adhere to the Bush administration's line. And that's the administration's
theory of the so-called unitary
executive, which says that the president's use of military force cannot
be reviewed by courts." ... "McCain's earlier statements -- especially
where he says presidents must "obey and enforce laws that are passed by
Congress" -- seem to question the administration's interpretation. Beyond
wiretapping, that touches on topics such as John Yoo's so-called torture
memos, the applicability of the Geneva Convention to detainees, Bush's
signing statements, and military commissions. Questioning the justifications
for Bush's warrantless wiretapping means questioning the rest; no wonder
McCain seems a little worried about where this may lead." -ByDeclan
McCullagh -CNET
[note: The conservative/Republican
opinion magazine National Review supports lawless surveillance.]
20080603
John
McCain - Criminal
- Spying
- Secretly
- Military
- Government
- Intelligence
- Corporate
- Telecom
- Amnesty
- Terrorism
- Politics
- 2008
Election - Arizona
- Civil
Liberties
"McCain:
I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too." ... "If elected
president, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona]
Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless
wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's
wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according
to a statement released by his campaign Monday." ... "McCain's new tack
towards the [Republican President] Bush administration's theory of executive
power comes some 10 days after a McCain surrogate stated, incorrectly it
seems, that the senator wanted hearings
into telecom companies' cooperation with [Republican] President Bush's
warrantless wiretapping program, before he'd support giving those companies
retroactive legal immunity." ... "As first reported by Threat
Level, Chuck Fish, a full-time lawyer for the McCain campaign, also
said McCain wanted stricter rules on how the nation's telecoms work with
U.S. [United States] spy agencies, and expected those companies to apologize
for any lawbreaking before winning amnesty." ... "But Monday, McCain adviser
Doug Holtz-Eakin, speaking for the campaign, disavowed those statements,
and for the first time cast McCain's views on warrantless wiretapping as
identical to Bush's."
"[N]either
the Administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most
people, except for the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] and the trial
lawyers, understand were Constitutional and appropriate in the wake of
the attacks on September 11, 2001. [...]"
"We
do not know what lies ahead in our nation’s fight against radical Islamic
extremists, but John McCain will do everything he can to protect Americans
from such threats, including asking the telecoms for appropriate assistance
to collect intelligence against foreign threats to the United States as
authorized by Article II of the Constitution."
"The
Article II citation is key, since it refers to [Republican] President Bush's
longstanding arguments that the president has nearly unlimited powers during
a time of war. The administration's analysis went so far as to say the
Fourth Amendment did not apply inside the United States in the fight against
terrorism, in one legal opinion from 2001." -By Ryan
Singel -Wired
Hillary
Clinton - 
Barack
Obama - 2008
Election - 
Puerto
Rico - Politics
- Government
- History
- "Puerto
Rico vote an enigma of complexities." ... "[2008
Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Rodham Clinton won
big in Puerto Rico. She got 68 percent of the vote, to [2008 Election Democratic
Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama's 32. But while the Clinton campaign
was hoping for a large showing of at least 700,000 voters, the turnout
was a poor 16 percent, with fewer than 400,000 Puerto Ricans voting." ...
"So instead of walking away with half a million votes, Clinton wound up
with fewer than 300,000. Not bad, but not quite enough to make her popular-vote
argument convincing, based on her own criterion." ... "Clinton also walked
away from Puerto Rico with about 38 delegates to Obama's 17. She's now
203 delegates short of the nomination, compared with Obama's 45, with the
last two primaries taking place today. Without the popular-vote argument,
Clinton's sunk. And Puerto Rico, despite giving her that big percentage
win, could be considered the culprit because of the poor turnout." ...
"Puerto Rico turned out to be a bit of an enigma. It has a history of voter
participation that's much higher than that in the United States. Its residents
are U.S. citizens but are not allowed by the United States to vote in the
November elections for president. They are Hispanics who run their own
local government and have a history of functioning like their own nation,
despite being a territory of the United States (they have their own Olympic
team, for example) - so they are not quite the same as Hispanics in the
United States." ... "Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, or nonincorporated
territory (read: colony), of the United States, and its people are debating
whether it should remain so, become a state or become independent - a decision
that is ultimately in the hands of the U.S. Congress." -By
Angelo Falcón -Newsday.com
20080602
US
- Military
- Intelligence
- Government
- Politics
- Unlawful
- Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- Torture
- Prisons
- History
- 
Book
"Lt.
Gen Sanchez: [Republican President] Bush Administration Guilty of "Gross
Incompetence and Dereliction of Duty"." ... "In [retired
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez's book] "Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's
Story," [General] Gen. Sanchez goes into detail about various military
blunders that led to where we are today." ... "In one excerpt, published
by TIME,
Sanchez explains why there were inadequate troop levels in Iraq for a time:"
[From
retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez's book, "Wiser in Battle: A
Soldier's Story:]
""CENTCOM
had originally called for twelve to eighteen months of Phase IV activity
with active troop deployments. But then CENTCOM had completely walked away
by simply stating that the war was over and Phase IV was not their job.""
... ""That decision set up the United States for a failed first year in
Iraq. There is no question about it. And I was supposed to believe that
neither the Secretary of Defense nor anybody above him knew anything about
it? Impossible! Rumsfeld knew about it. Everybody on the NSC [National
Security Council] knew about it, including Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet,
and Colin Powell. [Republican] Vice President Cheney knew about it. And
[Republican] President Bush knew about it."" ... ""There's not a doubt
in my mind that they all embraced this decision to some degree. And if
it had not been for the moral courage of [General] Gen. John Abizaid to
stand up to them all and reverse Franks's troop drawdown order, there's
no telling how much more damage would have been done."" ... ""In the meantime,
hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and
worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American
soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In
my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence
and dereliction of duty.""
"In
an excerpt published on NPR's
website, Sanchez writes[:]"
[From
retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez's book, "Wiser in Battle: A
Soldier's Story:]
""In
the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, I watched
helplessly as the [Republican President] Bush administration led America
into a strategic blunder of historic proportions. It became painfully obvious
that the executive branch of our government did not trust its military.
It relied instead on a neoconservative ideology developed by men and women
with little, if any, military experience. Some senior military leaders
did not challenge civilian decision makers at the appropriate times, and
the courageous few who did take a stand were subsequently forced out of
the service...I saw the cynical use of war for political gains by elected
officials and acquiescent military leaders. I learned how the pressure
of a round-the-clock news cycle could drive crucial decisions.
I witnessed those resulting political decisions override military requirements
and judgments and, in turn, create conditions that caused unnecessary harm
to our soldiers on the ground..."" ... ""Over the fourteen months of my
command in Iraq, I witnessed a blatant disregard for the lives of our young
soldiers in uniform. It is an issue that constantly eats away at me.["]"
"And
regarding Abu Ghraib, Sanchez writes -- according to Eli Lake of the New
York Sun -- that the [United States] U.S. was torturing prisoners."
... "A remarkable admission."
[From
retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez's book, "Wiser in Battle: A
Soldier's Story:]
"During
the last few months of 2002, while the highest levels of the U.S. government
were sparring with Saddam Hussein and setting up the case for an invasion
of Iraq, there is irrefutable evidence that America was torturing and killing
prisoners in Afghanistan...In retrospect, the Bush administration's new
policy triggered a sequence of events that led to the use of harsh interrogation
tactics against not only al Qaeda prisoners, but also eventually prisoners
in Iraq—in spite of our best efforts to restrain such unlawful conduct.""
-By
Jake Tapper -ABCNEWS.com
Education
- Consumer
-Poor
- People
- 
Oregon
- 
Calif
- Federal
"Student
Loans Start to Bypass 2-Year Colleges." ... "Some
of the nation’s biggest banks have closed their doors to students at community
colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions,
even as they continue to extend federally backed loans to students at the
nation’s top universities." ... "Citibank has been among the most aggressive
in paring the list of colleges it serves. JPMorgan Chase, PNC and SunTrust
say they have not dropped whole categories, but are cutting colleges as
well. Some less-selective four-year colleges, like Eastern Oregon University
[Oregon] and William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif. [California],
say they have been summarily dropped by some lenders." ... "The practice
suggests that if the credit crisis and the ensuing turmoil in the student
loan business persist, some of the nation’s neediest students will be hurt
the most. The difficulty borrowing may deter them from attending school
or prompt them to take a semester off. When they get student loans, they
will wind up with less attractive terms and may run a greater risk of default
if they have to switch lenders in the middle of their college years." ...
"Tuition and loan amounts can be quite small at community colleges. But
these institutions, which are a stepping stone to other educational programs
or
to better jobs, often draw students from the lower rungs of the economic
ladder. More than 6.2 million of the nation’s 14.8 million undergraduates
— over 40 percent — attend community colleges. According to the most recent
data from the College Board, about a third of their graduates took out
loans, a majority of them federally guaranteed." ... "“If we put too many
hurdles in their way to get a loan, they’ll take a third job or use a credit
card,” said Jacqueline K. Bradley, assistant dean for financial aid at
Mendocino College in California. “That almost guarantees that they won’t
be as successful in their college career.”" (1, 2)
-By Jonathan
D. Glater -NYTimes
20080531
-
David
Lee Hobson - 
Ohio
- 
Real
Estate - Politics
- Lawmaker
- Federal
- 
Airport
- 
Transportation
- 
Construction
- "Rep.
David Hobson steered federal money to projects near properties he owns."
... "U.S. [United States Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. David Hobson
of south-central Ohio has directed millions of taxpayer dollars to two
Ohio projects near real estate he owned, a Plain Dealer review of congressional,
personal-finance and real estate records shows." ... "One project used
federal money to build a freight transfer center at a Columbus [Ohio's
capital] airport to help move goods to and from central Ohio. Hobson co-owns
an office building near the project, and his tenants -- among them U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and several freight companies, including
FedEx -- use that freight center." ... "Since buying into the building
in 2001, records show, Hobson has used his position in Congress to obtain
more than $30 million in federal transportation money to build the freight
transfer station, part of a conversion involving the old Rickenbacker Air
Force Base outside Columbus." ... "In a separate project, Hobson obtained
nearly $2 million from Congress to widen a road in Beavercreek [Ohio],
near Dayton [Ohio], in front of a condominium development in which he was
an investor, the review of records shows." ... "Neighbors of his investment
properties say area real estate values rose, at least partly as a result
of the projects he funded through Congress. Hobson is a senior member of
a committee that determines how to spend federal money." ... "Members of
the budget-writing committee decide in closed meetings which lawmaker-requested
earmarks will get tax money and typically give themselves a greater share."
-By Sabrina Eaton -PlainDealer
20080528
Gordon
Smith - 
Richard
Berman - Corporate
- Marketing
- Politics
- Oregon
-Federal
- Employee
- Law
- 2008
Election
"Employee
Freedom Action Committee." ... "Last Thursday, May
22, a roguish outfit calling itself the Employee Freedom Action Committee
ran full-page ads as part of that “AstroTurf” strategy in The Oregonian
and Eugene Register-Guard to begin the post-election assault on
[2008 Election Oregon Democratic Senatorial Candidate] Jeff Merkley, who
two days earlier won the Democratic contest to challenge [United States
Oregon Republican Senator] U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon])."
... "The ad refers to a 2007 Oregon law that lets employees rather than
management decide how to vote to form a union. A more comprehensive federal
version of that law is pending." ... "Washington, D.C.-based Employee Freedom
is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, which means it does not need to disclose its
funding sources. The group is headquartered in the office of D.C. lobbyist
Richard Berman, who has a history of setting up AstroTurf groups for the
tobacco and booze industries, as well as anti-union employers."
-WWeek.com
-
Sc
- Government Archive
