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LAW ENFORCEMENT News:
20081223
Health
- Military
- Lawsuit
- KBR
- Corporate
- Politics
- Unsafe
- Ice
- IN
- US
- Iraq
"Soldiers
Accuse KBR Of Knowingly Exposing Troops To Deadly Toxin In Iraq."
... "Controversial military contractor KBR has racked up quite a record
of endangering the lives of U.S. [United States] soldiers serving in Iraq.
Over the years, the former Halliburton subsidiary has been accused of everything
from giving troops ice tainted with “traces
of body fluids and putrefied remains” to ignoring warnings of unsafe
wiring that led
to troop deaths." ... "Earlier this month, attorneys for 16 members
of the Indiana National Guard filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging
that they “knowingly
exposed the soldiers to a cancer-causing toxic chemical.” In a special
report last night, CBS News revealed that KBR knew of the toxic exposure
to hexavalent chromium long
before it informed the guardsmen:"
"Now
CBS News has obtained information that indicates KBR knew about the danger
months before the soldiers were ever informed." ... "Depositions from
KBR employees detailed concerns about the toxin in one part of the plant
as early as May of 2003. And KBR minutes, from a later meeting state “that
60 percent of the people … exhibit symptoms of exposure,” including bloody
noses and rashes." ... "Gentry says it wasn’t until the last day of
August in 2003 - after four long months at the facility - that he was told
the plant was contaminated."
WATCH:
"KBR Accused In Toxic Scandal" via -CBSNews
"After
receiving a briefing on the case on Monday, [Indiana Democratic Senator]
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN [Democratic-Indiana]) told CBS that “KBR
has a lot to answer for“:"
"“Look,
I think the burden of proof at this point is on the company,” Bayh said.
“To come forward and very forthrightly explain what happened, why we should
trust them, and why the health and well-being of our soldiers should continue
to be in their hands.”"
"In
a statement to CBS, the company denied all charges, saying, “We deny the
assertion that KBR harmed troops and was responsible for an unsafe condition.”
According to CNN, “an
estimated 275 American soldiers may have been exposed to the chemical”
at the KBR water plant, “over a period of months through mid- to late-2003.”"
-By Matt
Corley -ThinkProgress.org
20081221
Working
- People
- Economics
- Education
- Safety
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Maryland
"Squeezed
on All Sides, Parents Forgo Day Care: Education,
Safety Sacrificed in Fiscal Crunch." ... "In the [Maryland's] Prince George's
County community of Riverdale Park, town officials have noted a distressing
sign of the national economic downturn: more children left home alone to
fend for themselves by working parents too strapped to afford child care."
... "The problem was discovered by code enforcement officers who inspect
apartments in the town of 7,000. They used to come across such cases once
every couple of years. Then, six months ago, they found one child left
alone, followed by another and another." ... "In one instance, a kindergarten-age
girl was found hiding in a closet, apparently because she was scared, code
enforcement officers said. In another, children aged 10 or 12 were missing
school to watch their younger siblings." ... "Riverdale's experience comes
amid an increasing economic strain in child care across the Washington
[Washington DC, United States capital] region. In an area known for day-care
waiting lists, many operators report a rise in vacancies as parents withdraw
their children or cut back on hours because they can no longer afford the
cost." ... "The phenomenon is not universal, but it has struck in many
middle- and working-class areas as lost jobs, reduced work schedules and
foreclosed homes affect families with few reserves." (1, 2,
3)
-By Donna St. George -WashingtonPost
20081220
Fashion
- Politics
- Journalist
- Investigators
- US
- Iraq
- Turkey
"‘Bush
Shoe’ Gives Firm a Footing in the Market." ... "When
a pair of black leather oxfords hurled at [Republican] President Bush in
Baghdad [Iraq's capital] produced a gasp heard around the world, a Turkish
cobbler had a different reaction: They were his shoes." ... "“We have been
producing that specific style, which I personally designed, for 10 years,
so I couldn’t have missed it, no way,” said Ramazan Baydan, a shoemaker
in Istanbul [Turkey]. “As a shoemaker, you understand.”" ... "Although
his assertion has been impossible to verify — cobblers from Lebanon, China
and Iraq have also staked claims to what is quickly becoming some of the
most famous footwear in the world — orders for Mr. Baydan’s shoes, formerly
known as Ducati Model 271 and since renamed “The Bush Shoe,” have poured
in from around the world." ... "For now, Mr. Baydan’s customers will have
to take his word for it. The journalist who launched the shoes at a news
conference a week ago, Muntader al-Zaidi, 29, was wrestled to the ground
by guards and has not been seen in public since. Explosives tests by investigators
destroyed the offending footwear." -By Sebnem Arsu
-NYTimes
20081219
Christopher
Cox - Corporate
- Government
- Accounting
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
"Who's
Mess Is the S.E.C.? News Analysis:
In his extraordinary mea culpa over the Madoff scandal, [Republican President
Bush's Securities and Exchange Commission] S.E.C. chairman Christopher
Cox accepted full blame...on behalf of his staff. But isn't he in charge?"
... "When Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox made
an extraordinary apology for the agency having failed to follow up on clear
evidence of wrongdoing by suspected financial fraudster Bernard Madoff,
he excluded one key player from blame: himself." ... "In the public
statement on Tuesday, Cox laid out a blistering attack on his staff,
while appearing to exonerate himself from any responsibility." ... "He
said the agency's most senior officials learned only a week ago that "credible
and specific allegations regarding Mr. Madoff's financial wrongdoing, going
back to at least 1999, were repeatedly brought to the attention of S.E.C.
staff, but were never recommended to the Commission for action."" ... ""I
am gravely concerned," Cox added, "by the apparent multiple failures over
at least a decade to thoroughly investigate these allegations or at any
point to seek formal authority [from the commission] to pursue them.""
... "Cox's decision to distance himself from the staffs' performance has
rankled former senior S.E.C. officials who had nothing to do with the Madoff
inquiries." ... "The S.E.C. is structured so that the chairman personally
is in charge of the staff, these former agency officials said; he is in
effect the agency's C.E.O. [Chief Executive Officer], with division heads
reporting directly to him, and he makes decisions about staff appointments
and allocation of resources." ... "As Condé Nast Portfolio
magazine reported
in its October issue, Cox took steps to weaken and hamstring the enforcement
division." ... "He slowed down and delayed approval when staff members
did ask for formal authority to investigate, and pressed the agency to
focus more on penny-stock scams, boiler-room operations, and other relatively
petty crimes. S.E.C. veterans said this detracted from efforts to pursue
major Wall Street frauds." -By Scot Paltrow
-Portfolio.com
Chris
Cox - Corporate
- Government
- Accounting
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- California
- New
York
"Cox
"Worked to Dismantle The SEC," Says Commission Vet."
... "In recent years, particularly under [Republican President Bush's Securities
and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris] Cox, a former California GOP [GOP=Grand
Old Party=Republican] congressman, the SEC has pursued a policy of de-emphasizing
enforcement, part of the broader anti-regulatory philosophy of the Bush
years -- helping to make Madoff, and perhaps others like him, possible."
... ""[Cox] in many ways worked to dismantle the SEC," Ed Nordlinger, a
former longtime enforcement director in the commission's New York office,
told TPMmuckraker. "He slowed everything down. I don't think he believed
in heavy regulation."" ... "That view has been echoed by several others
in a position to know. Ross Albert told TPMmuckraker for a post
published yesterday: "Under Cox, SEC had de-emphasized the enforcement
program. Cox worshipped at the same altar of de-regulation that the rest
of the Bush administration worshipped at."" ... "And a former enforcement
division supervisor told Portfolio for a lengthy
October story about the SEC under Cox: "It was like someone poured
molasses on the enforcement division."" ... "The commission also appears
to have passed over for promotion staff members who were too aggressive
in their approach to enforcement. Veteran S.E.C. lawyer James Coffman told
Portfolio
that he was told he didn't get a promotion because he was "too tough."
He left the SEC soon after." -By Zachary Roth
-TPMMuckracker
.TalkingPointsMemo
US
- Iraq
- Torture
- Investigation
- Reporter
- Fashion
- Politics
"Iraqi
shoe-thrower 'was beaten': The investigating judge
in the case of the Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at US [Republican]
President George W Bush says the man shows signs of having been beaten."
... "The judge, who saw Muntader al-Zaidi this week, said the journalist
had bruises on his face and about his eyes." ... "He said Mr Zaidi was
beaten while still at the news conference, in the immediate aftermath of
the incident." ... "The court is investigating the beating and officials
will watch recordings of the incident, he added." ... "It is still not
clear, though, whether Muntader al-Zaidi's injuries were sustained only
when security forces wrestled him to the ground, or in custody as well."
... "One of his brothers said the journalist had broken ribs and injuries
to his arm too." ... "Muntader al-Zaidi has been in detention since throwing
his shoes at President Bush on Sunday during a news conference with the
Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki. " -By Caroline
Wyatt -BBC/News
20081218
Corporate
- Government
- Investigators
- Politics
- Accounting
- Consumer
"Madoff
misled SEC in '06, got off." ... "Securities and
Exchange Commission investigators discovered in 2006 that Bernard Madoff
had misled the agency about how he managed customer money, according to
documents, yet the SEC missed an opportunity to uncover an alleged Ponzi
scheme." ... "The documents indicate the agency had Madoff in its sights
amid multiple violations that, if pursued, could have blown open his alleged
multibillion-dollar scam. Instead, his firm registered as an investment
adviser, at the agency's request, and the public got no word of the violations."
... "Harry Markopolos - who once worked for a Madoff rival - sparked the
probe with his nearly decadelong campaign to persuade the SEC that Madoff's
returns were too good to be true. In recent days, The Wall Street Journal
reviewed emails, letters and other documents that Markopolos shared with
the SEC over the years." ... "When he first began studying Madoff's investment
performance a decade ago, Markopolos told a colleague at the time, "It
doesn't make any damn sense," he and the colleague recall. "This has to
be a Ponzi scheme."" -By Gregory Zuckerman
-WSJ.com via -GreenwichTime.com
Dick
Cheney - Criminal
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Prisons
- Law
- Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Corporate
- Media
- US
- Iraq
"If
Bush and Cheney Commit War Crimes and Everyone Knows It, But Does Nothing,
Are They Still Crimes?" ... "As Jon Ponder noted
here on Tuesday, a bi-partisan U.S. [United States] Senate panel has
found
[PDF] that [Republican President] George W. Bush was responsible for
approving War Crimes (torture and abuse) at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq,
[Republican Vice President] Dick Cheney admitted
in a recent interview to helping to approve War Crimes (torture and abuse)
in interrogations, and the corporate media --- with the lone exception
of MSNBC --- have been virtually as silent on what may be the most offensive
crimes ever committed by an Executive Branch in the U.S. as they were during
the lead-up to and follow-through on the War on Iraq, when those same officials
sent our nation into war on the basis of demonstrable lies." ... "George
Washington University's highly-respected constitutional law professor Jonathon
Turley, noting the War Crimes now known and admitted to by Bush and Cheney,
asked Keith Olbermann Tuesday night, "If someone commits a crime and everyone's
around to see it and does nothing, is it still a crime?"" ... "During the
discussion, Turley mentioned --- no less than three different times ---
that it'll be up to the citizens whether or not any action is actually
taken to prosecute those who committed these crimes." ... ""It will ultimately
depend on citizens, and whether they will remain silent in the face of
a crime that's been committed in plain view," Turley suggested. "It is
equally immoral to stand silent in the face of a war crime and do nothing,
and that is what the citizens are doing."" ... "He went on to argue: "There's
this gigantic yawn as we hear about a war crime on national television
being discussed matter-of-factly by the Vice President."" -By
Brad
Friedman -BradBlog.com
WATCH
"Countdown: Jonathan Turley and Bush Admin War Crimes."
-Keith Olbermann via -FireDogLake'sYouTube
20081217
Corporate
- Government
- Law
- Politics
"U.S.
Congress to probe SEC role in Madoff affair." ...
"A U.S. [United States] House of Representatives panel plans to convene
an inquiry in January into the failure of securities regulators to unearth
an alleged $50 billion securities fraud by Wall Street veteran Bernard
Madoff, a key lawmaker said on Wednesday." ... "The Securities and Exchange
Commission has come under fire for not uncovering the scandal until senior
employees of Madoff went to authorities." ... "The agency, chaired by [Republican
President Bush's Securities and Exchange Commission chairman] Christopher
Cox, has been accused of missing a number of red flags about the way Madoff
operated his investment business." ... "Cox, a Republican, said he was
gravely concerned about the SEC's failure to examine Madoff's activities,
which were flagged going back to at least 1999 and repeatedly brought to
the attention of SEC staff but never recommended for commission action."
... "Madoff's niece, Shana Madoff, a compliance lawyer at Madoff's firm,
is married to a former SEC lawyer, Eric Swanson, who was the agency's assistant
director in the office of compliance inspections and examinations." ...
"SEC compliance chief Lori Richards said Swanson was a member of an examination
team that looked into Madoff's broker-dealer business in 1999 and 2004."
-By John Poirier and Rachelle Younglai with contributions
by Kevin Drawbaugh, Karey Wutkowski, Andre Grenon and John Wallace -Reuters
via -Guardian.co.uk
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