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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY
DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER
Week of June 24, 2007
The link to this electronic newsletter is being e-mailed to 4,000+
Jefferson County Democrats
We hope you will forward the link to your own e-mail list.
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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS
Updated on a regular basis
Bulletin Board:
The Louisville/Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee meets the 4th Wednesday of every month at 5:00 pm at 901 Barret Avenue .
Notice to our Readers & 2007 General Election Candidates:
This newsletter will carry in this space any Democratic candidates' notice of events or communications (250 words or less) to our readers that the candidate provides to the editor at rcrider@louisvilledem.com
Congressman Yarmuth to Unveil Tax Cut for Millions of Workers
Yarmuth's Legislation will Prevent 250,000 Americans from being Taxed into Poverty
Tomorrow, Congressman John Yarmuth (KY-3) will
announce legislation that will increase the Earned Income Tax Credit for
single, childless workers earning less the than $16,400/year.
"We should be rewarding the hard work of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet, not punishing them with an unfair tax burden," Congressman Yarmuth said. "We are currently taxing hundreds of thousands of people into poverty, and that simply has to stop.
In addition to lifting 250,000 workers out of poverty, the legislation will cut taxes for millions of American workers by as much as 41 percent.
WHEN: Saturday, June 23rd at 2:00 PM
WHERE: Romano Mazzoli Federal Building, 2nd floor
WHO: Congressman John Yarmuth
Raoul Cunningham, President Louisville NAACP
Father Pat Delahanty, Associate Director of Catholic Conference of
Kentucky
Terry Brooks, Executive Director Kentucky Youth Advocates
WHAT: Press Conference Announcing Yarmuth Tax Cut
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Conservatives Dominate The Airwaves
Conservative Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) raised a furor last week when he
called out the right-wing radio hosts working to defeat comprehensive
immigration reform. "Talk
radio is running America," Lott said. "We have to deal with that
problem." Indeed, despite the dramatic expansion of viewing and listening
options for consumers today, traditional radio remains one of the
most widely used media formats in America, reaching an estimated 50
million listeners each week on more than 1,700 stations across the nation.
More importantly, talk radio is dominated almost exclusively by
conservatives. The
Center for American Progress and
Free Press yesterday released the
first-of-its-kind statistical analysis of the political make-up of talk
radio in the United States. The results confirm the stunning lack of
diversity in talk radio, and raise serious questions about whether the
companies licensed to broadcast over the public airwaves are serving the
listening needs of all Americans.
HOW
BAD IS IT: According to the
new report, in the spring of 2007,
91 percent of the political talk radio programming on the stations owned
by the top five commercial station owners was conservative, and only 9
percent was progressive. Ninety-two percent of these stations (236 stations
out of 257)
do not broadcast a single minute of progressive talk radio programming.
In the top 10 radio markets in the country, 76 percent of the news/talk
programming is conservative, while 24 percent is progressive. In four of
those top 10 markets -- Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston -- the
domination of conservative talk radio is
between 96 and 100 percent.
MORE CONSOLIDATION, LESS DIVERSITY, LESS ACCOUNTABILITY:
The increasing imbalance in talk radio has paralleled significant shifts in
the media ownership landscape. Since the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
there has been a
dramatic decline (34 percent) in the number of radio station owners,
meaning a sharp increase in media ownership concentration. This trend has
occurred because Congress eliminated restrictions on the total ownership of
radio stations by any one media entity. Now, in the largest markets with 45
or more commercial radio stations, one entity may own or control up to eight
commercial radio stations. As a result, women and minorities "have largely
been
shut out of radio ownership in this country," owning
just 6 and 7.7 percent respectively of the nation's full power radio
stations. Also, due to increasing deregulation, local accountability over
the public airwaves has been sharply limited. Radio stations are licensed by
the government and are meant to operate in the public interest. Yet stations
no longer have to inform the community of their obligations as a federal
licensee, and the needs and interests of local communities are being
ignored.
HOW TO SOLVE IT: The primary goals of policy proposals to reduce
the gap should be to encourage more speech on the airwaves, not less, and to
ensure that local needs are being met and diverse opinions are being aired.
First, the CAP/Free Press report recommends that Congress
promote ownership diversity by restoring the local and national caps on
the ownership of commercial radio stations. For instance, no one entity
should control more than 10 percent of the total commercial radio stations
in a given market. Second, the report recommends that steps be taken
ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing. Radio
broadcast licensees should regularly show that they are operating on behalf
of the public interest, and provide public documentation showing how they
are meeting these obligations. Finally, if commercial radio broadcasters are
unwilling to abide by these regulatory standards or the FCC is unable to
effectively regulate in the public interest, a
spectrum use fee should be levied on owners to directly support local,
regional, and national public broadcasting. (For far more detailed
explanations of the policy proposals,
read the full report.)
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Special Counsel Probe Into Rove’s Politicization Of Government Advances
The Office of Special Counsel, which has already recommended that GSA chief Lurita Doan be suspended or fired for participating in partisan activities while on the job, is now moving forward with its investigation of nearly 20 other administration agencies.
Eighteen agencies have been asked by the Office of Special Counsel to
preserve electronic information dating back to January 2001 as part of its
governmentwide investigation into alleged violations of the law that limits
political activity in federal agencies.
The OSC task force investigating the claims has asked agencies, including the General Services Administration, to preserve all e-mail records, calendar information, phone logs and hard drives going back to the beginning of the Bush administration. The task force is headed by deputy OSC special counsel James Byrne.
The White House has admitted that roughly 20 agencies have received a PowerPoint briefing created by Karl Rove’s office “that included slides listing Democratic and Republican seats the White House viewed as vulnerable in 2008, a map of contested Senate seats and other information on 2008 election strategy.”
Politicization of the federal government has been illegal for decades. The 1939 Hatch Act specifically prohibits partisan campaign or electoral activities on federal government property, including federal agencies. But in 2005, Ken Mehlman, formerly one of Bush’s top political advisers, outlined the White House’s strategy of utilizing government resources for partisan gain:
One of the things that can happen in Washington when you work in an agency is that you forget who sent you there. And it’s important to remind people that you’re George Bush people. … If there’s one empire I want built, it’s the George Bush empire. [One Party Country, p. 102]
With that imperial partisanship in mind, the Bush White House has engaged in an unprecedented quest to politicize the federal government, giving briefings and PowerPoint presentations everywhere from the Interior Department to NASA on how to secure Republican victories. Said one Interior Department manager, “We were constantly being reminded about how our decisions could affect electoral results” (One Party Country, p. 103). Bush loyalists in federal agencies have also helped generate millions for favored political candidates.
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A Fairer Workplace
Just as the Senate began debate yesterday on the
Employee Free Choice Act, thousands
of union members joined with
progressives and
key lawmakers to express their hopes of passing a bill that would make
it easier for workers to organize. "Under current law, an employer can
insist on a secret-ballot election," even after a majority of employees
express their desire to organize. The proposed law "would give employees at
a workplace
the right to unionize as soon as a majority signed cards saying they
wanted to do so." In early March, the House issued its strong support for
the legislation, passing it with a
241-185 vote. The measure is expected to face a more difficult course in
the Senate, where it has so far picked up
47 co-sponsors. "Business groups have mounted
a big fight against the bill, with one organization, the
Center for Union Facts, spending $500,000 on newspaper and broadcast
advertisements this week alone." Senate conservatives and "their business
allies are predicting that that they can
prevent even an up-or-down vote on the measure." A
vote is expected to take place
tomorrow in the Senate to stave off the right wing's efforts. Take a
moment to
email your senators and urge them to vote for the Employee Free Choice
Act (S.
1041).
- The EFCA gives workers a fairer path to unionization. Employees "often feel intimidated by their employers during unionization drives and so are fearful of losing their jobs." Employers illegally fire employees for union activity in "more than one-quarter of all organizing efforts." Approximately half of employers illegally threaten to close or relocate the business if workers elect to form a union. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service found that even when unions win representation elections, 45 percent of the time they fail to secure contracts from employers. During the course of union drives, employers maintain a disproportionate share of access to the media and to the voters, thus allowing the individuals with the most direct control over hiring and firing decisions to tell "their subordinates in no uncertain terms why a union would be bad for them." Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson writes today, "This kind of hardball resistance to American workers' attempts to unionize, combined with the decline of manufacturing, has achieved catastrophic success," leading to the the dwindling of America's once-vibrant middle class.
- Union workers have better health insurance, higher wages, and safer working conditions. The statistics plainly make the case. When comparing wages alone, union workers on average make 30 percent more. Union workers are more likely to have health care; "in March 2006, 80 percent of union workers in the private sector had jobs with employer-provided health insurance, compared with only 49 percent of nonunion workers." While corporate profits and productivity have been rising since 2001, inequality has also reached alarming levels. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), a long-time champion of workers' rights, explained that one way to address this problem is "to see that employees get their fair share is to give them a stronger voice."
- The EFCA will give workers the keys to decide whether they work in a unionized workplace. To generate opposition to the EFCA, conservatives have been spouting the canard that the legislation will strip workers of their right to a secret ballot. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), who opposes the EFCA, argued, "This act takes away the right to a secret ballot." In a similar vein, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao writes today in The Wall Street Journal, "It is incredible that interest groups who say they are advocates for workers are striving to end workers' opportunity to have private union elections." In reality, the EFCA does not abolish elections. It merely shifts the balance of the playing field -- from one that is currently tilted overwhelmingly in favor of employers who dictate whether employees can organize, to a process that is instead employee-driven. "Under the proposed legislation, workers get to choose the union formation process -- elections or majority sign-up. What the Employee Free Choice Act does prevent is an employer manipulating the flawed system to influence the election outcome." The myths propagated by the right have prompted some Democrats, including Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), to withhold their support for the bill.
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THE FRAUD OF THE VOTER-FRAUD SCARE, Posted by Jim Hightower
A massive crime wave is sweeping America, and Republicans are in the lead to crack down on the perpetrators. Is it armed robbers, they're after? Murderers? Corporate crooks? No – it's voter fraud.
In a country where we can barely get 40 percent of the electorate to go to the polls, GOP operatives are bellowing that voting officials must throw up every roadblock possible to discourage people from casting ballots – in particular, Democrat-type people. From browbeating U.S. attorneys to stampeding legislators, Republican leaders are on a rampage to halt the stealing of elections all across our land.
Hmmm...
where, exactly? Well, everywhere! they say.
Yet, the GOP's highly-partisan Justice Department – which has been on a five-year tear to prosecute these dastardly voter villians – concedes that it really can't find a problem. Indeed, they've only been able to come up with 120 people in all of America who could even be charged with casting an illegal ballot – and 40 percent of these were acquitted.
For example, in Wisconsin, where the state Republican chairman made a noisy media splash in 2005 by claiming that he had documentation of several hundred illegal voters in Milwaukee, the federal prosecuter could make a case on only 14 – most of them poor, Black Democrats who were first-time voters. And two-thirds of them were found not guilty.
There is simply no widespread, concerted efforts anywhere in the country to tilt elections through fraudulent voting. The few scattered incidents of illegal balloting that do occur are mostly cases of people who don't realize they are ineligible – people with no criminal intent.
If Republican leaders were to put as much effort into easing the way for everyone to vote as they're now putting into trying to shut out low-income people of color – they might become a party with broad appeal.
"In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud," New York Times, April 12, 2007.
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Today, the watchdog group CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) released its "first-ever analysis of the misuse of power by the chairmen and ranking members of all House of Representative committees and subcommittees, as well as top leadership positions, to financially benefit their family members. The new report names 96 members from 33 states: 44 Democrats and 53 Republicans."
Among those are our own U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers (R) and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R).
READ MORE FROM BLUEGRASSREPORT.ORG CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE
Nothing this week.
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Hightower: ‘Department of Halliburton,’ Part of New Private Government
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It’s no secret George W. Bush and his boardroom buddies would love nothing more than a massively privatized federal government. Since taking office more than six years ago, the Bush administration has sought to privatize and outsource huge chunks of the federal workforce. In May 2003, the Bush White House announced a goal of privatizing some 850,000 federal jobs.
Even during Public Service Recognition Week, the Bush administration announced it was funneling more federal jobs into the corporate profit trough.
Now, Jim Hightower, populist, activist, radio commentator and author, provides some frightening facts about what he calls
…a full blown, jet-powered rush to privatization. The shadowy and highly lucrative world of government contracting has boomed under George W., rising 86 percent since he’s been in office and now totaling nearly $400 billion a year. Get this: There are now more people doing federal jobs under corporate contracts than there are people employed directly by the government. In other words, in today’s government, corporate servants outnumber civil servants.
In his newsletter, Hightower Lowdown, he points out that not only is Bush presiding over a hell-bent, privatization campaign—but more that half the outsourcing contracts are basically corporate giveaways.
Bush & Company are unabashedly running it as a crony program. An analysis by the [New York] Times found that more than half of their outsourcing contracts are not open to competition. In essence, the Bushites choose the company and award the money without getting other bids. Prior to Bush, only 21 percent of federal contracts were awarded on a no-bid basis.
Of course, he notes the huge—and profitable—role the “Department of Halliburton” is playing in the war in Iraq. Halliburton is where Vice President Dick Cheney once presided as CEO.
Since the Bush-Cheney regime took office, Halliburton’s government contracts have increased by a stunning 600 percent, including more than $10 billion in Pentagon contracts—many of them awarded without the fuss and muss of competitive bidding.
In return, Halliburton has delivered gas-price gouging, contaminated food and water and a consistent pattern of overcharges. These are our “savings” from privatization. A 2006 federal audit of $1.7 billion in Pentagon purchases found that taxpayers were soaked for excessive fees from contractors and for tens of millions of dollars in waste. One reason was “poor contracting practices.” Such as? The audit reports that 92 percent of the contracts were awarded without verifying that the contractors provided accurate cost estimates, and 96 percent of the work was inadequately monitored. It has been caught hiring Third World laborers to do its grunt work in Iraq, paying them as little as $5 a day, and then billing Uncle Sam more than $50 a day for each worker. In a February analysis of $10 billion in waste and overcharges by various contractors in Iraq, federal investigators found Halliburton responsible for $2.7 billion.
The corporation’s 2006 profits were $2,348,000,000, and its overall profits have increased over 368 percent since the Bushites have been in office.
He also points out that as more corporate contracts are showered on Big Business—like candy from a burst piñata—there are not enough watchdogs to keep an eye on the private performance.
As the number of contracts has skyrocketed, the number of contract supervisors in federal agencies has remained the same, which means that the supposed overseers can’t keep an eye on the performance of the profiteers. Whenever agencies or members of Congress do try to probe, the corporations simply claim that their financial and performance records are proprietary. While agencies are accountable to the public and subject to the Freedom of Information Act, corporate contractors are not.
Privatizing federal jobs at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was pointed to as one of the major factors for the care wounded veterans endured that drew headlines earlier this year.
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DAILY GRILL
“T]he damage that's been
done is enormous. And it breaks our hearts that in fact someone didn't say,
'Wait, look, this is terrible. We need to do something.' ... I wish we had
known more, sooner, and been able to tell you more sooner, but we didn't."
-- Then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, 5/7/04, testifying to House
Armed Services Committee about Abu Ghraib detainee abuse
VERSUS
"Taguba, watching the hearings, was appalled. He believed that Rumsfeld's
testimony was simply not true. 'The photographs were available to him -- if
he wanted to see them,' Taguba said." -- New Yorker,
6/25/07, on the reaction of Army Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who led
the Army's Abu Ghraib investigation
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"[O]n balance, there is reason for wary optimism. ... The most that can
be said now is that we seem to be turning a corner." -- Escalation architect
Fred Kagan,
4/24/07, on the situation in Iraq
VERSUS
"Kagan recommended waiting until the end of the year before judging the
operation's success. Even then, he added, it might be some months before
Iraqis make the political compromises necessary to bring lasting stability
to the country." -- Kagan,
6/18/07
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"Mohamed Atta, and several other 9/11 hijackers were in the United States
illegally."
-- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a new
anti-immigration advertisement
VERSUS
"All of the 19 men who hijacked planes on September 11th, including Atta,
entered the United States on a tourist or student visa, issued by the former
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, according to the 9/11
Commission." -- ABC News,
6/19/07
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"Former US Attorney General John Ashcroft said...that the scandal
surrounding the firings of 8 federal prosecutors has not damaged the Justice
Department. ... Asked by The Associated Press if the firings had hurt the
Department's integrity or reputation for independence, he responded simply,
'no.'"
-- AP,
6/20/07
VERSUS
"[T]hey're sickened by this. Some are actively looking for work. Morale is
terrible across the country."
-- Ousted U.S. Attorney David Iglesias,
5/10/07, on federal prosecutors' reactions to the scandal
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Quotes of the Day
"I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating." --Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, on Vice President Dick Cheney
"There are jobs Americans aren't doing. ... If you've got a chicken factory, a chicken-plucking factory, or whatever you call them, you know what I'm talking about." --George W. Bush. Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007
Recent Senate Votes
The Senate failed to invoke cloture and move to a final vote on a resolution that said the chamber had lost confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Sen. Mitch McConnell voted NO
Sen. Jim Bunning voted NO
Recent House Votes
-
Homeland Security Appropriations, FY2008 - Vote Passed
(268-150, 14 Not Voting)
The House passed this $37.4 billion bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security for the 2008 fiscal year.
Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES - Rep. Ron Lewis voted NO
HUMOR
Today the White House said the president's watch was not
stolen. They said he took it off before he started shaking hands, which
means there are two possibilities. Either Albanians stole the president's
watch, or the president took off his watch because he doesn't trust
Albanians. Neither scenario paints a particularly rosy picture of
Albanian-American relations." --Jimmy Kimmel
"George Bush
was in Albania and his watch was stolen. ... They have a description of the
guy. They say the suspect is armed and punctual. ... It's not a laughing
matter. Don't kid yourselves. It's an important watch. It's the one Cheney
uses to hypnotize him" --David Letterman
"Director Steven Spielberg has announced that he will endorse
Hillary Clinton
for president. He says he likes Hillary because she combines the warmth of
the raptors in 'Jurassic Park' with the charisma of the mashed potato tower
in 'Close Encounters.' ... You'd think he'd endorse Dennis Kucinich after
giving him the lead role in 'E.T.'" --Jimmy Kimmel
"President Bush was in Rome and had a big gaffe at the Vatican. President
Bush is in trouble for calling the Pope 'sir' instead of 'your holiness.'
Hey, it could have been worse. I'm surprised he didn't call him the 'Popester'"
--Jay Leno
"Dick Cheney
has had like 19 heart attacks and has a pacemaker. He needs a new pacemaker.
I guess they wear out from time to time. ... So right now, Dick Cheney is
being rushed to Cuba by Michael Moore." --David Letterman
"I have good news to report. Americans were greeted this week as
liberators! The bad news? The country was Albania and we've never invaded …
To get a pleasant reception, the president only needed to fly to a country
referred to as 'the poor man's Kazakhstan.'" --Jon Stewart
"Wait, can I just ask a question? How did those people get so close to the
president? They're hugging him, they're playing with his hair. We're not
even allowed to ask the guy questions" --Jon Stewart
"The Pentagon has confirmed rumors that it tried to develop a gay bomb -- a
bomb that used chemicals to make enemy soldiers attracted to one another. A
documentary about the gay bomb will be broadcast on both the History Channel
and Bravo. ... Insiders say this will be the biggest gay bomb since 'Rent'
was made into a movie. ... They even devoted a special plane to drop the
bomb. It's the Enola Really Gay." --Jay Leno
"The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, has announced he is
separating from his wife. As former Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani
calls that, 'The first step to the White House.'" --Jay Leno
ETHICS
-- NEW REPORT REVEALS LAWMAKERS' USE OF 'CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO PAY RELATIVES':
A
report released today by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington (CREW) finds that "96 members [of the House of Representatives]
from 33 states: 44 Democrats and 53 Republicans" have used their positions
to "financially
benefit their family members." Of those 96, CREW found that 72 members "spent
$5.1 million in campaign funds to pay relatives or their relatives'
companies or employers during the past six years." While the practice of
paying one's spouse or relatives for political work with campaign funds is
not illegal, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) argues that "there's simply been too
much abuse." The new report finds that "Rep. Randy Forbes's (R-VA) campaign
committee
paid his three children over $45,000" and that "Rep. Zoe Lofgren's
(D-CA) campaign committee has paid
her husband's two businesses almost $350,000, mostly for event
management, accounting and fundraising services." Schiff and Rep. Mike
Castle (R-DE) have "introduced
a bill this month that would
prohibit congressional candidates from paying their spouses with
campaign funds and require campaigns to disclose close relatives on the
payroll." Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT), who "paid six of his eight children, in
the range of $1,000 to $33,000, over the six-year period," defended his
actions. His spokesman said, "It's cheap labor...they put in a lot of work,
and [Cannon] doesn't really have a problem with them collecting a paycheck
for it." CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan argues, however, that "paying
relatives with campaign money gives the impression that Congress members use
their 'position as a profit center for the family.'" Furthermore, she notes
that "[a] member of Congress would not be allowed to put that family member
on their office payroll. ...
[W]hy should they [be allowed to] put them on the campaign payroll?"
MILITARY -- WALTER REED NOT EQUIPPED TO DEAL WITH MENTAL HEALTH
DISORDERS: The Veterans Affairs administration is "battling
a crisis in mental health care." Veterans returning from Iraq,
one-fourth of whom display post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other
mental illness symptoms, "enter a VA system that chronically loses records
and sags with a backlog of 400,000 claims of all kinds." Outdated diagnosis
methods, medical records "riddled with obvious errors," and shortages in
trained personnel and treatment options contribute to the crisis. According
to a report commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, "there is not
a coordinated effort to provide the training required to identify and treat
these non-visible injuries, nor adequate research in order to develop the
required training and refine the treatment plans." At Walter Reed Medical
Center, where the majority of soldiers diagnosed with mental problems are
transferred, "the
Army has no PTSD center...and its psychiatric treatment is weak compared
with the best PTSD programs the government offers." The Army's top hospital
"lacks enough psychiatrists and clinicians to properly treat the growing
number of soldiers returning with combat stress" and rarely offers
individual or group therapy for PTSD. Medical experts and "even VA's chief
of mental health" have also admitted that the Army's rules for mental health
coverage and compensation "deny
thousands of claims." According to the Washington Post, "to qualify for
compensation, troops and veterans are required to prove that they witnessed
at least one traumatic event, such as the death of a fellow soldier or an
attack from a roadside bomb, or IED." Under the system, soldiers living "in
dread of exposure" to a roadside bomb or death "don't qualify" for
compensation. Those who do are "over-medicated
and treated with none of the urgency given the physically wounded
ADMINISTRATION -- FOLLOWING BUSH SIGNING STATEMENTS, FEDERAL AGENCIES IGNORE
30 PERCENT OF LAWS PASSED LAST YEAR: Federal agencies ignored 30
percent of the laws President Bush objected to through signing statements
last year, according to a
report released yesterday by the Government
Accountability Office. The report, which was requested by House Judiciary
Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd
(D-WV), gives the first indication of the impact that Bush's signing
statements have had on the enforcement of laws passed by Congress. As Byrd
noted, "This GAO opinion underscores the fact that
the Bush White House is constantly grabbing for more power,
seeking to drive the people's branch of government to the sidelines." The
report reveals, for example, that in 2006, Bush issued signing statements
for 11 out of the 12 appropriations bills passed by Congress, claiming a
right to bypass a total of 160 provisions in them. In all, Bush has issued
signing statements
challenging over 1,100 laws since taking office in 2001,
claiming that he has the right to bypass them if they interfere with his
alleged presidential powers. Though signing statements have been utilized by
most presidents, Bush has used them to object to
more laws than all previous presidents combined. He has
even used this dubious tactic to ignore high-profile legislation such as a
2005 law outlawing the torture of detainees and a 2006 statute requiring
minimum qualifications for future heads of the Federal Emergency Management
Administration (FEMA) in response to the agency's poor handling of Hurricane
Katrina. Despite the GAO's incriminating findings, White House spokesman
Tony Fratto said, "We expect to
continue to use statements where appropriate, on a
bill-by-bill basis."
IRAQ -- U.S. EMBASSY IN IRAQ PLAGUED BY UNQUALIFIED, INEXPERIENCED
STAFF: Over four years into the Iraq war, the State Department has
yet to "organize
and prioritize in a way that reflects" that the
diplomatic agency is a "Department and a Service at war," wrote U.S.
Ambassador to Iraq Ryan C. Crocker in an unclassified cable to Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice. According to Crocker, "[T]he embassy in Baghdad --
the
largest and most expensive U.S. embassy -- lacks enough
well-qualified staff members" and "its security rules are too restrictive
for Foreign Service officers to do their jobs." Crocker, who verified the
cable's authenticity in an interview with the Washington Post, "insisted it
was not intended as criticism of Rice or of the staff." Rather, he said,
"the cable reflected the urgent nature of the tasks he has faced since
becoming ambassador." One anonymous "government official" said that Crocker
is "panicking"
and needs more people who "know what they are doing...because many staffers
assigned to the embassy are 'too young for the job,' or are not qualified
and are
'trying to save their careers' by taking an urgent
assignment in Iraq. ... It's just overwhelming." The State Department said
that "99 percent of the positions in the embassy...had been filled," but
that because "each person serves only one year -- not enough attention has
been paid to the management of the flux of people." "Referring to the floor
where Rice and her top aides work," Crocker said the State Department needs
to send a "clear message from the Seventh floor...that staffing Iraq is an
imperative" and added that "[a]ll other bureau assignments 'should be held
until there are sufficient bidders with requisite qualifications for Iraq
positions.'" Crocker told the Washington Post he does "not know why the
changes he is pressing for had not taken place sooner."
ETHICS
-- FBI PROBE FOCUSES ON SEN. STEVENS: The FBI recently questioned
former staffers to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) as part
of their investigation into the Veco Corp., "an Alaska-based oil field
services and engineering company" currently under investigation for doling
out "$400,000
worth of bribes...to state lawmakers in exchange for
favorable energy legislation." Earlier this year, former Veco director Bill
J. Allen and "another Veco executive pleaded guilty to bribing state
legislators primarily to secure the passage of tax legislation creating a
natural gas pipeline that could have yielded Veco billions of dollars in
revenue." The investigation has "also led to federal indictments against
one current and two former Republican members of the Alaska House of
Representatives." Stevens is under "close
public scrutiny" because of his financial connections to
the company, its involvement in the remodeling of his Anchorage residence,
and the
FBI's raid of the offices of Stevens' son, former Alaska
Senate President Ben Stevens, as part of an ongoing corruption probe. Last
year, the FBI "issued
subpoenas...to contractors who had performed work" on
Stevens's house, and the senator recently disclosed that he has been ordered
to "preserve records" related to the investigation. According to federal
election records, Veco and its chief executives have "contributed more than
$50,000 to political and campaign committees controlled by Stevens" and "in
2005 and 2006 alone, Allen and other Veco executives gave Stevens-affiliated
election committees $37,000."
NEED COMPUTER ASSISTANCE??
Democrat Activist Mike Bailey is now providing “Professional Computer Support.” He can be contacted at 502-558-4026, or mikebailey2000@usa.net.
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Think Fast
Revealing further details about the efforts of then acting Assistant Attorney General Bradley Schlozman to politicize the Justice Department's civil rights division, the Washington Post reports Schlozman "asked a supervisor if a career lawyer who had voted for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a onetime political rival of President Bush, could still be trusted."
Former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger will testify today before the Senate Indian Affairs committee in Washington, "where he has become embroiled" in the scandal over the attorney firings. Reports suggest Heffelfinger may have been targeted for removal by the Justice Department because of his role in protecting the rights of Native American voters.
1 in 8: Number of U.S. veterans under the age of 65 who "lack even basic health insurance or access to care at Veterans Affairs hospitals. ... The ranks of uninsured veterans have increased by 290,000 since 2000."
Congress yesterday "moved to block President George W. Bush from developing a new generation of atomic warheads," because "the administration had not developed an adequate post-Cold War nuclear strategy." Bush has promised to veto the bill, which denies him the $89 billion he requested for the program.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday said that joining the Iraq Study Group was a "mistake." "I thought it would work, but then after a month or two I realized the idea that I was possibly going to run for president would be inconsistent with that," he said, failing to mention that he initially missed several of the group's meetings in order to attend fundraising events.
"Federal environmental officials misled Lower Manhattan residents about the extent of contamination in their condominiums and apartments after the collapse of the World Trade Center," according to a new Government Accountability Report.
President Bush will issue the third veto of his presidency today, killing a bill "that would have eased restraints on federally funded embryonic stem cell research -- work that supporters say holds promise for fighting disease."
"The Justice Department has opted out of at least 10 whistle-blower lawsuits alleging fraud and corruption in government reconstruction and security contracts in Iraq, and has spent years investigating additional fraud cases but has yet to try to recover any money."
"At least 40 percent of State Department diplomats who have served in danger zones suffer some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder," an American Foreign Service Association official told Congress yesterday. "The State Department has provided limited help for diplomats under duress," including dispatching just two psychiatrists to Iraq.
"Six detainees were transferred this week out of the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including one detainee who was returned to Tunisian authorities over the objections of his attorneys amid fears that he will be tortured by a government known for human rights violations."
Canon Electronics, Nike, and Unilever "topped a list rating climate-friendly companies" released yesterday, while Jones Apparel Group, CBS, Burger King, Darden Restaurants, Wendy's International and Amazon.com tied for last. Also, Google announced yesterday that it will be carbon neutral by 2008.
The ACLU "sued the U.S. government on Tuesday seeking to end what it said was a policy of drugging some immigrants facing deportation proceedings." The suit alleges that two immigrants were forcibly injected with "powerful psychotropic drugs" in violation of the law.
At yesterday's annual congressional picnic, "President Bush and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi were arm in arm," "Karl Rove worked the crowd," and "White House Press Secretary Tony Snow played the flute." "I thank Tony Snow and his bunch of mediocre musicians...uh, great musicians," said Bush, who enjoyed "the chance to zing his press secretary."
"Eight months after President Bush signed a bill authorizing the CIA to resume using 'enhanced interrogation techniques' on terrorism suspects, the administration has been unable to agree on what constitutes 'humiliating and degrading treatment' of detainees."
Meanwhile, President Bush's nominee for CIA counsel John Rizzo -- who as acting CIA counsel approved the legality of the Bush administration's harsh interrogation tactics and "extraordinary rendition” program -- is expected to face "tough questioning" today in a Senate confirmation hearing.
Several conservative House members who last week "vociferously" (and falsely) attacked Rep. David Obey (D-WI) for weakening earmark disclosure rules have chosen to keep their lists of personal earmarks secret. They include House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Dan Burton (R-IN), Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC).
The Bush administration is using a controversial new study estimating there are 4.9 million low-income children in the U.S. without health insurance -- fewer than other reports have indicated -- to argue that a congressional plans to increase federal funding for children’s health care is "unnecessary."
"U.S. commanders in Iraq are rejecting a recommendation by Army mental health experts that troops receive a one-month break for every three months in a combat zone, despite unprecedented levels of continuous fighting and worsening risks of mental stress."
A Wikipedia for conservatives. A conservative history teacher was appalled when he went to Wikipedia and found that golfer Zach Johnson's page had no reference to the fact that Johnson gave credit to Jesus Christ when he won the 2007 Masters. So the teacher began Conservapedia.com, "a conservative encyclopedia you can trust," whose entry on Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) says that she "may suffer from...clinical narcissism."
Fallout from the U.S. attorney scandal is "starting to hit the [Justice] department in federal courtrooms around the country." Defense lawyers are "raising questions about the motives of government lawyers who have brought charges against their clients," and "are citing the furor over the U.S. attorney dismissals as evidence that their cases may have been infected by politics."
"A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., has heard evidence about a remodeling project at Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) home as part of a burgeoning investigation into corruption in Alaska."
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee will take up "a major reversal of energy tax policies," legislation that would "raise about $14 billion from oil companies over 10 years and would give about the same amount of money on new incentives for solar power, wind power, cellulosic ethanol and numerous other renewable energy sources."
"Seven children were killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike targeting suspected al-Qaida militants in eastern Afghanistan, a coalition statement said Monday. The strike came hours after the deadliest insurgent attack since the Taliban fell in 2001."
White House loyalists have begun arguing for a Libby pardon. "[S]everal Republicans, who sense a movement in Libby's favor, said a more likely possibility might be a presidential commutation -- a reduction or elimination of Libby's 2 1/2-year federal prison sentence.
Robert Novak writes that President Bush plans to go on a "veto offensive." Bush has pledged to veto the homeland security appropriations bill. After that, "Bush next plans vetoes of the energy-water and interior-environment bills." Novak predicts Bush's vetoes will "trigger an epochal political struggle in the months ahead."
INTERESTING
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Man On A Mission: Tom DeLay Says God Has Sent Him On A Crusade To Save The GOP
It’s good to know that
TV preacher Pat Robertson isn’t the only one who gets messages from God
these days. The Almighty has also been talking to Tom DeLay, the former
majority leader of the House of Representatives.
God is apparently worried about the rough patch the Republican Party is going through, and he’s tapped DeLay to fix it up.
DeLay explains it all in the latest issue of The New Yorker.
“God has spoken to me,” DeLay told the magazine. “I listen to God, and what I’ve heard is that I’m supposed to devote myself to rebuilding the conservative base of the Republican Party, and I think we shouldn’t be underestimated.”
DeLay said the GOP’s minority status is not such a bad thing.
“I see this as a cleansing process, where you can return to your principles, which are order, justice, and freedom – the basic principles of the conservative movement,” he said. “We have to redefine government based on conservative principles, we have to win the war against our culture, and we have to win the war on terror.”
It’s curious that God would pick DeLay – a controversial, ethically challenged figure currently under indictment in Texas for money laundering – to spearhead this project. During his tenure in Congress, DeLay was known as “The Hammer” for his take-no-prisoners style. He was notorious for his extreme partisanship and philosophy of winning at any cost.
After his indictment, DeLay defiantly announced his intention to run again for his seat. Republican Party leaders had other ideas and engineered DeLay’s resignation from Congress. Still convinced he has done nothing wrong, DeLay has just authored a book titled No Retreat, No Surrender.
DeLay’s attempts to reenergize the GOP’s conservative base may be complicated by a new analysis of recent polls published in The Politico, a Washington publication that covers political developments.
The Politico reported that many social conservatives appear to be holding their noses and backing Rudy Giuliani, former New York mayor, because they believe he is the most electable among the Republican field. Giuliani is pro-choice on abortion and has been friendly to gay rights in the past.”Giuliani is winning 30 percent of the social conservative bloc, compared to 22 percent for McCain,” reported the paper. “Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney captured just 8 percent – a figure that puts Romney in fourth place, behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is currently not a declared candidate.”
John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum who tracks the Religious Right’s involvement in politics, told The Politico, “A significant number of social conservatives have adopted a pragmatic line. Pragmatism can be seen on the one hand as a good thing, because it produces results, and on other the hand it can be seen as a bad thing because it involves compromising one’s principles, and that’s just a tension social conservatives have had since the days of Ronald Reagan.”
The recent death of Jerry Falwell notwithstanding, the Religious Right these days seems to have no shortage of potential leaders, both in and out of Congress. Given the checkered history of the Religious Right in politics, anointing DeLay to the task makes a certain amount of sense. He won’t be the first corrupt and arrogant bully who claims to speak for God to aspire to that position. By Rob Boston
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