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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."

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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WATCH  "Countdown: Jonathan Turley and Bush Admin War Crimes." -Keith Olbermann via -FireDogLake'sYouTube

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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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