And we are homeless, homeless; Moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake

This would be good news, if 'twere true:

Chronic homeless population down 15%, U.S. says

But of course it's not true, it just reflects Bushco's redefining of 'chronically homeless':

In general, a chronically homeless person is an unaccompanied disabled individual who has been continuously homeless for over one year.

So to be 'chronically homeless' you also have to be disabled and without a family.

Bushco also redefined 'homeless', ignoring the law that already defines 'homeless.'
Bushco Law:

This is the third annual national HUD count, and in previous years, some cities had been counting families who were living two families to an apartment, for example, or those living in RVs, as homeless. This year, they weren't. This count, say the report's authors, is the most successful to date in tallying only those who were actually in shelters or on the streets — the official HUD definition of a homeless person.

Actually, if you go on the HUD website, their official definition is the same one that is established in federal law:

§11302. General definition of homeless individual
(a) In general
For purposes of this chapter, the term “homeless” or “homeless individual or homeless person” includes—

1. an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and

2. an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is —

1. a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill);

2. an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or

3. a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.

That's pretty clear, and it's the only definition of 'homeless' on the HUD site. (Why can I Google something in 2 minutes that Time's reporters can't find in a month of research?[/rhetorical question])

And the Federal definition of homeless is pretty accurate, if it's not your home you are staying at, you are homeless.

Having been homeless a couple of times I can tell you it's really great to have family and friends that put you up until you can get back on your feet. But I was just a single guy and even then I sometimes wore out my welcome. I can't imagine what would have been my welcome if I'd had a wife and children.

And I really don't want to imagine what my life would have been like if I had no other place to go except a homeless shelter, or more probably an underpass or less elegant accommodation because all THE HOMELESS SHELTERS ARE FULL!

And it's just going to get worse. Between the record home foreclosures, bank failures, high unemployment and food & gas prices we're in for a bumpy ride for years after Bush and his minions are gone.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

To the horror of extinction ... turn a blind eye

White House Refused to Open Pollutants E-Mail

The White House in December refused to accept the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases are pollutants that must be controlled, telling agency officials that an e-mail message containing the document would not be opened, senior E.P.A. officials said last week.

The document [...] was the E.P.A.’s answer to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that required it to determine whether greenhouse gases represent a danger to health or the environment, the officials said.
[...]
Over the past five days, the officials said, the White House successfully put pressure on the E.P.A. to eliminate large sections of the original analysis that supported regulation, including a finding that tough regulation of motor vehicle emissions could produce $500 billion to $2 trillion in economic benefits over the next 32 years.

Yet another example of Bushco ignoring the reality of the economic and health benefits for Americans to top up the coffers of his Oily friends.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

More signs of progress

Ex-State officials allege corruption in Iraq

The Bush administration repeatedly ignored corruption at the highest levels within the Iraqi government and kept secret potentially embarrassing information so as not to undermine its relationship with Baghdad, according to two former State Department employees.
[...]
The Office of Accountability and Transparency, or "OAT" team, was intended to provide assistance and training to Iraq's anti-corruption agencies. It was dismantled last December, after it alleged in a draft report leaked to the media that al-Maliki's office had derailed or prevented investigations into Shiite-controlled agencies.
[...]
Brennan charges the State Department never responded to his team's report, which was retroactively classified because agency officials said it could hurt bilateral relations with Iraq. Other recommendations by the group also were kept secret, including a negative assessment of Iraq's Joint Anti-Corruption Committee, Brennan said.

In July 2007, the OAT team concluded that the committee's only purpose was to provide a forum for complaints against Judge Radhi Hamza al-Radhi, a top anti-corruption official in Baghdad whom many U.S. officials have hailed as the most effective in exposing fraud and abuse.

In related news:

U.S.-Backed Head Of Iraqi Anti-Corruption Agency Now A ‘Destitute’ Undocumented Immigrant In U.S.

After the 2003 Iraq invasion, Coalition Provisional Authority chief Paul Bremer created a major anti-corruption ministry in Iraq, the Public Integrity Commission (CPI). Last October, former CPI commissioner Judge Radhi al-Radhi, who was appointed by Bremer and whose work has been praised by top U.S. officials, told Congress about the “rampant” corruption in Iraqi ministries that had cost Iraq as much as $18 billion.

Radhi’s gripping account detailed how Prime Minister Maliki tried to subvert his commission and how nearly four dozen of his staff members were killed. Subsequently, he was forced to seek asylum in the United States.

But today, Radhi is living as an undocumented immigrant in Virginia.
[...]
The State Department turned against Radhi, according to Mattil and Brennan. They “said a senior State Department official had ordered agency employees not to give al Radhi references or contact him” about the asylum. Radhi is “destitute” in his current situation, they noted.

Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

It's a mistake, it's a mistake

Official Says Fraud Loophole Was A ‘Mistake’

The Bush administration inadvertently exempted foreign contracts in Iraq from fraud oversight, a top administration official said Tuesday, resulting in a loophole that Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said could have protected private firms that steal taxpayer money.
[...]
The administration removed the single paragraph exemption on Monday, hours before a House panel convened a hearing to question officials about its origin and to debate legislation introduced by Welch to close the loophole and punish fraudulent contractors.
[...]
The White House opposes the measure, saying proposed regulations would implement the same requirements as the legislation.

The Professional Services Council, a trade association that represents more than 300 contractors, like Blackwater Worldwide and KBR, for the former subsidiary of Halliburton, strongly opposes Welch’s legislation.

And in related news:

Fraud Loophole Documents Delayed

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration has delayed delivering documents to Congress explaining how a multibillion-dollar loophole exempting overseas work from scrutiny was slipped into a rule intended to crack down on fraud in government contracts.

Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Yoo who?

Steve Bates of The Yellow Doggerel Democrat has the timeline and lists of torture memos and statements that puts Yoo right up there with the Nazi apologists and enablers.

Anyone for the Nuremberg Defense?

The Nuremberg Defense is a legal defense that essentially states that the defendant was "only following orders" ("Befehl ist Befehl", literally "order is order") and is therefore not responsible for his crimes. The defense was most famously employed during the Nuremberg Trials, after which it is named.

Yoo really did want to please his overlords, didn't he?


crossposted at Rants from the Rookery

The JustUs League

Mukasey Vows Corruption Crackdown

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Attorney General Michael Mukasey vowed anew Thursday to crack down on crooked politicians and public officials, dismissing critics who accuse the Justice Department of letting partisan loyalties interfere with corruption cases.

Really!?

Feinstein questions elimination of public corruption unit in L.A.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Wednesday called on Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey to explain the recent disbanding of a high-profile unit in the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles that specialized in prosecuting public corruption cases.

In a letter to the attorney general, Feinstein said she read about the shake-up in news accounts.

The articles described how U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien decided to eliminate the public corruption and environmental crimes section and transfer its 17 prosecutors to other units in the office.

Mukasey's response?

During his speech, Mukasey pointedly spoke of charges brought against two former Republican congressmen: Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California and Bob Ney of Ohio.

Uhh, OK, but they were before Mukasey was in charge.

In related news:

Jailed Ex-Governor Sought for Testimony

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Judiciary Committee asked the Justice Department on Thursday to allow imprisoned former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to testify before Congress about possible political influence over his prosecution.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey indicated that he would not support the request for a temporary release

And now for some good news

Ex-Ala. Governor to Be Freed on Bond

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal appeals court approved the release of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman on bond Thursday while he appeals his convictions in a corruption case.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the former governor had raised "substantial questions of fact and law" in challenging his conviction.

Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

The Profits That Bush Honors ... or ...The Wrath of Kahn

Inside the world of war profiteers
From prostitutes to Super bowl tickets, a federal probe reveals how contractors in Iraq cheated the U.S.

[...]
Federal prosecutors in Rock Island have indicted four former supervisors from KBR, the giant defense firm that holds the contract, along with a decorated Army officer and five executives from KBR subcontractors based in the U.S. or the Middle East.
[...]
The Pentagon has outsourced crucial troop support jobs while slashing the number of government contract watchdogs.
[...]
Last week, the Army pledged to add 1,400 positions to its contracting command.
[...]
Former KBR procurement manager Stephen Seamans, who was wearing a wire strapped on by a Rock Island agent, wondered aloud whether to return $65,000 in kickbacks he got from his two companions, executives from the Saudi conglomerate Tamimi Global Co.

One of the men, Tamimi operations director Shabbir Khan, urged him to hide the money by concocting phony business records.
[...]
October 2002, five months before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Khan threw a birthday party for Seamans at a Tamimi "party house" near the Kuwait base known as Camp Arifjan. Khan "provided Seamans with a prostitute as a present," Rock Island prosecutors wrote in court papers. Driving Seamans back to his quarters, Khan offered kickbacks that would total $130,000.
[...]
In April 2003, as American troops poured into Iraq, Seamans gave Khan inside information that enabled Tamimi to secure a $2 million KBR subcontract to establish a mess hall at a Baghdad palace. Seamans submitted change orders that inflated that subcontract to $7.4 million.
[...]
By July 2005, Tamimi had secured some 30 KBR troop feeding subcontracts worth $793.5 million, records show. Khan continued to negotiate Iraq war subcontracts for Tamimi until shortly before he was arrested in Rock Island in March 2006.
[...]
"If you ever gave Tamimi a hard time, you'd get a call," former KBR subcontract manager Harry DeWolf told the Tribune.

When subcontracts came up for renegotiation, DeWolf said, companies like Tamimi "would say, 'Fine, we're going to pull out all of our people and equipment.' They really had KBR and the government over the barrel."

February 21, 2008 Hundreds of pages of recently unsealed court records detail how kickbacks shaped the war's largest troop support contract months before the first wave of U.S. soldiers plunged their boots into Iraqi sand.

Full disclosure: I rearranged a few of the paragraphs in the article to make a timeline. I recommend you read the whole article.

I'll wait ...

... hmm, hmm da, de da, da, dada, da duh, da, de dah ...

good, you're back! And in related news:

Former Halliburton subsidiary KBR's 4th quarter profits up 65%

Former Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc. said Tuesday fourth-quarter profit rose 65 percent, lifted by contributions from natural-gas projects, work in Iraq and a tax benefit related to a 2006 asset sale.

Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Censorship in Alabama

From Harper's Magazine:

CBS aired its long-awaited feature on the prosecution and imprisonment of former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman this evening at 7:00. In a stunning move of censorship, the transmission was blocked across the northern third of Alabama by CBS affiliate WHNT, which is owned by interests of the Bass Family. Those who were in the zone of censorship or who missed it, can catch the whole segment here.

They're not even trying to hide it anymore.

My kingdom corrupt with dissent, Your sins erupt by my intent

UPDATED for Correction*:

BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince

Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE.

He was accused in yesterday's high court hearings of flying to London in December 2006 and uttering threats which made the prime minister, Tony Blair, force an end to the Serious Fraud Office investigation into bribery allegations involving Bandar and his family.

The threats halted the fraud inquiry, but triggered an international outcry, with allegations that Britain had broken international anti-bribery treaties.
[...]
The campaigners argued yesterday that when BAE failed at its first attempt to stop the case, it changed tactics. Having argued it should not be investigated in order to promote arms sales, it then recruited ministers and their Saudi associates to make the case that "national security" demanded the case be covered up.

Ahh, Bush's favorite 'ally' in the War On Terrer, Saudia Arabia, the country that 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers came from, (BTW, zero came from Iraq or Iran), the country that provided the $$ for 9/11, the country that Osama Bin Laden came from, just happens to have received 1,000,000,000 Pounds, (about 1.6 billion dollars at the time), in a bribe from BAE. And then Saudia Arabia threatened Britain with more terrorist attacks if Britain prosecuted the bribes. So Britain's PM at the time, Tony Blair, (AKA Bush's lapdog), stopped the investigations.

Personally, I don't think it was the threat so much as Blair being one of the bribed. A billion dollars can buy a lot of politicians. Speaking of which:

Bush approves BAE Armor bid
Washington | June 23, 2007

THE Bush administration approved BAE's $US4.1 billion ($4.8 billion) takeover of Armor Holdings, ending speculation that the transaction could come under scrutiny in the wake of bribery allegations at the British defence company.

Armor, which makes armour for Humvees, said in regulatory filings that its takeover by BAE was approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), the secretive inter-agency panel that vets deals on national security grounds, after a standard 30-day review.

In electing not to subject the deal to a further 45-day investigation, the Bush administration has sent a strong signal that it maintains a strong and trusting relationship with BAE, one of the largest US defence contractors.
[...]
The company is trusted by the Pentagon, people familiar with the group say, because its US assets are held by a separate US subsidiary that is overseen by an all-American board, including former congressman Lee Hamilton.

Gee, would that be the Lee Hamilton of the 9/11 Commission?

The commission that gave a pass to the Saudi's involvement in 9/11?

Yep, that's the guy.

1.6+ billion dollars buys a lot. 4.1 BILLION DOLLARS buys even more.


*Correction: "just happens to have spent 1,000,000,000 Pounds, (about 1.6 billion dollars at the time), on bribing British politicians" was changed to "1,000,000,000 Pounds, (about 1.6 billion dollars at the time), in a bribe from BAE."

I sincerely regret the error.




Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Chain, Chain, Cheney, Chain that Fool

Bump & UPDATE II: As of 5:00 pm EST Rep. Wexler has collected over 213,929 signatures from citizens in addition to 9 members of the House Judiciary Committee agree that impeachment hearings should be held for Dick Cheney.

If you haven't signed up yet, sign up now.

Bump & UPDATE: As of 1:00 pm EST Rep. Wexler has collected over 123,832 signatures!
Sign up now!

US Rep Robert Wexler got motivated when the news outlets refused to run his, (and fellow Members of the House Judiciary Committee, Luis Gutierrez and Tammy Baldwin's), Op-Ed listing the reasons why and calling for impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney, so he decided to go to the people.

Call for Cheney impeachment hearings

The charges are too serious to ignore. There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unneccesary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings.

I agree, and so do a lot of other people. Wexler launched his impeachment Web site last Friday and as of Monday afternoon, almost 80,000 people had signed an online petition to support the hearings.Update: Since about 3:00 pm EST the count is now 89,000.




Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

People say I'm crazy, doing what I'm doing.

As our Tonstant Weaders know, I frequently cross-post between here and VidiotSpeak.

But this is the first time I've ever quoted and linked to a VS post I was not the soul (sic) author on.

And it's because I and my co-bloggers over there all contributed to creating this and I, in my egocentric way, think it's important to share with SteveAudio's crowd:

Let's not muddy the waters…
posted by Bill Arnett

Updates below

This latest "incident" involving, allegedly, five Iranian patrol boats almost being fired upon by the U.S. Navy begs the question: If the American ships were in international waters available for passage by all ships, why aren't the Iranians allowed to be in international waters just like anyone else?

Why should the Navy have fired on boats in international waters just because they didn't like fellow boaters from Iran tailing their ships?

And, lastly, if the U.S. Navy HAD fired on the Iranian boats would they not themselves be in violation of international law, the laws of the sea, treaty and have, once more, taken aggressive, provocative action against a peaceful nation in order to provoke a defensive reaction as a prelude to another illegal American war?

So, again, we hear all this bellicosity from bushco's navy about boats being where they were lawfully entitled to be and we're supposed to take bushco's representation that the Iranians somehow violated any treaties or obligations by being lawfully within international waters?

Sailor, you probably know more about this than I, but aren't international waters open to all, without regard to political affiliation or country? Hence the name, "International waters?"

Why can't the MSM figure stuff like this out on their own?

Update by The Sailor:The encounter lasted 20 minutes and the US edited it to 4 minutes. The audio and video were recorded separately, edited, allegedly 'synched' and released by the Pentagon.Here's a link to to the heavily edited video.

From the original reports I thought the navy was talking about fast attack boats, (AKA Swiftboats or PT boats), but the Iranian's boats are no bigger than speedboats on my lake. So we're talking about a boat maybe 30 feet long vs a ship 500 feet long that has guns, torpedoes and helicopters!

International waters are open to all, but that doesn't mean you can harass anyone and 200 yards is harassment to a naval warship in international waters, (in addition to all of the Right Of Way Rules that I teach my students is the unlisted 'Law of Tonnage', especially if they have guns;-).

OTOH, according to the Navy, according to the AP

The confrontation with the Iranian boats happened at the eastern end of the Straits, about three miles outside Iran's territorial waters, according to the Navy.

Now that's harassment!

Just think if a hostile country put 3 of the most advanced warships in the world 15 miles from America? And all we responded with were 5 speedboats without armor or heavy weapons.

Jeebus, look at the boat, it's 2 guys sitting in a glorified bassboat with an outboard! And they're not 'dressed in orange' as the AP article says, they're wearing PFDs (life preservers.) As every motor boater should according to the US Coast Guard.

The AP article also states that the US Navy 'faced down' the Iranians.
Pfft. I can 'face down' anyone who shows up to a gunfight with a knife.

So who has the most to gain from this 'confrontation?'

Iran, who could only respond with 5 unarmed speedboats to 3 heavily armed US warships within striking distance of their shores?

Or bush, about to embark on a Middle East 'mission' who insists, despite all evidence, that Iran is a nukular (sic) threat?

Bump & Update II by The Sailor: Gulf of Tonkin, anyone?

The list of those who are less than fully confident in the Pentagon’s video/audio mashup of aggressive maneuvers by Iranian boats near American warships in the Strait of Hormuz now includes the Pentagon itself.

Read the whole thing, seriously, even the comments are interesting.

And The Vidiot noted something I missed on a letter board she reads:

The voice from the 'speedboat' does not appear to include background engine or wind noise - WHY? Outboards are noisy, fast moving craft on open sea have wind noise and what about the crashing sound when a small craft hits a wave? FAKE"

The letter writer is absolutely correct and as a sailor and former sound engineer I should have caught it.

I've had every promise broken, there's anger in my heart

Yet another steaming pile of the Friday Night News Dump.

Breaking the Law, Breaking the Law:

Program allows Mexican trucks in U.S.

Fri Jan 4, 6:13 PM ET
The Bush administration is going ahead with a controversial pilot program giving Mexican trucks greater access to U.S. highways despite a new law by Congress against it.

The decision to proceed with the four-month-old program, which allows participating Mexican trucking companies to send loads throughout the United States, comes despite language in the recently signed catchall spending bill aimed at blocking it.
[...]
The provision, as signed by President Bush last month, says: "None of the funds made available under this act may be used to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the international border between the United States and Mexico."

"They know what the law says," retorted Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who won a 74-24 vote to block the program. "And they're not above the law." Dorgan warned they better follow the law.

No, no, I said MY safety, not mine safety:

Stickler back in at MSHA

January 05, 2008
Marion County native Richard Stickler is back in as chief of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, the White House announced Friday afternoon.

President Bush has designated Stickler as acting Assistant Secretary of Labor in charge of MSHA, according to a prepared statement. The move comes after Stickler’s biographical information was removed from the MSHA Web site and after a top MSHA aide was briefly named acting assistant secretary.
[...]
Typically, the MSHA post requires Senate confirmation, but Stickler took office as a result of a “recess appointment” made by Bush in October 2006, when Congress was out of session.
[...]
“This was not what the Senate had in mind when it last revisited the Vacancies Act,” Byrd said. “I will be taking a close look at that measure to ensure this decision is consistent with the spirit and letter of the law.”

Go picture yourself:

Portrait Cost Indian Museum $48,500
Senators, Trustees Question Spending By Former Director

Friday, January 4, 2008
W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself.
[...]
[Brian Henderson, who served on the museum board from 2000 until this week ... a Merrill Lynch investment banker of Apache descent] said in his e-mail: "You must not forget the extraordinary effort made by all tribes to raise money, including lunch allowances given up by youngsters at levels of pennies/dimes, to help meet the quota for the building of the Museum itself. Rick's behavior and that of his 'superiors' smacks of insensitivity at best and arrogance at worst."
[...]
"I was pressured by then Director for Development, Elizabeth Duggal, to help subsidize the events in Venice and I contributed $5,000 of my own to in effect, pay for $1,000 a night stay for Rick West !!!!" Henderson wrote. Reflecting on all his donations over the years, he added: "I could have sent at least 25 deserving Indian students for a four year degree program anywhere in the US, or funded a wellness center or two on the Rez, or a sports program in many of the needy schools."
[...]
The museum spent $124,000 on going-away activities for West, including $30,000 to produce an eight-minute DVD biography.

Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

You have no value, You're just another one, Death will quench your hunger

Bush Leading Iraq to peace, freedom and stability

IRAQ: Saddam Provided More Food Than the U.S.

Friday, December 28, 2007
BAQUBA - The Iraqi government announcement that monthly food rations will be cut by half has left many Iraqis asking how they can survive.

The government also wants to reduce the number of people depending on the rationing system by five million by June 2008.
[...]
The sanctions, imposed after Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait, were described as “genocidal” by Denis Halliday, then UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq. Halliday quit his post in protest against the U.S.-backed sanctions.

The sanctions killed half a million Iraqi children, and as many adults, according to the UN. They brought malnutrition, disease, and lack of medicines. Iraqis became nearly completely reliant on food rations for survival.
[...]
The imminent move will affect nearly 10 million people who depend on the rationing system.
[...]
According to an Oxfam International report released in July this year, “60 percent (of Iraqis) currently have access to rations through the government-run Public Distribution System (PDS), down from 96 percent in 2004.”

The report said that “43 percent of Iraqis suffer from absolute poverty,” and that according to some estimates over half the population are now without work. “Children are hit the hardest by the decline in living standards. Child malnutrition rates have risen from 19 percent before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to 28 percent now.”
[...]
Many fear the food ration cuts can spark unrest. “The government will commit a big mistake, because providing enough food ration could compensate the government’s mistakes in other fields like security,” a local physician told IPS.”

In the 4.5 years since we illegally invaded Iraq, a country that we knew had no WMDs and no connection to 9/11, an invasion that was planned from day 1 of the bush regime, we have had more Iraqi civilians die under our regime than under 20 years of Saddam's.

We have not been able to surpass the food, water, sewage, electricity and even oil production that he maintained for Iraqis under UN sanctions.

All this while we spend about $15 BILLION a month on Iraq. The money would be better spent on butter, not guns. Arming both sides of a civil war while starving the population is a recipe for disaster.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

But they never let you know, On the TV and the radio

Don't turn around, oh oh
Der Kommissar's in town, oh oh:

Defiant FCC Chief Refuses To Delay Vote

Friday, December 14, 2007

Facing growing criticism of his agenda and tactics, a defiant Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, refused senators’ requests Thursday to delay a vote next week on his plan to loosen restrictions on owning a newspaper and broadcast station in the same city.
[...]
Martin wants to lift the so-called cross-ownership ban in the top 20 U.S. markets and allow such combinations in smaller markets if the FCC determines that they would be in the public interest.
[...]
Lawmakers and public interest groups had expected the FCC’s periodic review of its media ownership rules to extend into next year. But Martin accelerated the process in October, rushing to hold the final two public hearings with minimal notice and proposing to vote on a plan Tuesday, just a week after public comments were due at the FCC.

Once again Kommissar Martin is ignoring The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent United States government agency, directly responsible to Congress.

The congress, the public hearings and public comments were overwhelmingly against more media consolidation. So what's Martin's reaction? He and his fellow bush appointees changed the freakin' rules anyway!

FCC, on 3-2 vote, OKs media ownership rule

Dec 19, 2007

Federal regulators Tuesday brushed aside the concerns of lawmakers and decided to ease the reins on media companies seeking to own newspaper and broadcast properties in the same market in the nation's 20 biggest markets.

But wait, there's more!

FCC chief defends media ownership rules

Tue Dec 25

The Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is disputing Democratic assertions that a new rule loosening restrictions on media ownership is full of loopholes and will lead to a wave of mergers and fewer choices for consumers.
[...]
The conflicting impressions say a lot about the divisive nature of the media ownership debate. Too much media in the hands of too few companies raises fears of an emerging corporate big brother and fewer news and information sources.
[...]
Since then, questions over what the rule actually means have lingered. The rule itself — despite a commission vote — has yet to be released to the public.

Quick summation; the rethuglican chairman of a public agency ignored Congress, studies and the public to institute a rule that they haven't released to the public ... and defended his illegal and unconstitutional actions on Christmas Day.

Do they know it's Christmas? Yeah, but they don't care. I see a Meddle In Honor in his future.

Chain, Chain, Cheney, Chain that Fool

Bump & UPDATE: As of 1:00 pm EST Rep. Wexler has collected over 123,832 signatures!
Sign up now!

US Rep Robert Wexler got motivated when the news outlets refused to run his, (and fellow Members of the House Judiciary Committee, Luis Gutierrez and Tammy Baldwin's), Op-Ed listing the reasons why and calling for impeachment hearings for Dick Cheney, so he decided to go to the people.

Call for Cheney impeachment hearings

The charges are too serious to ignore. There is credible evidence that the Vice President abused the power of his office, and not only brought us into an unneccesary war but violated the civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. It is the constitutional duty of Congress to hold impeachment hearings.

I agree, and so do a lot of other people. Wexler launched his impeachment Web site last Friday and as of Monday afternoon, almost 80,000 people had signed an online petition to support the hearings.Update: Since about 3:00 pm EST the count is now 89,000.

Sign up here.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Ain't no rules, ain't no vow, we can do it anyhow

Official: Justice Dept. slowed probe into phone jamming

The Justice Department delayed prosecuting a key Republican official for jamming the phones of New Hampshire Democrats until after the 2004 election, protecting top GOP officials from the scandal until the voting was over.

An official with detailed knowledge of the investigation into the 2002 Election-Day scheme said the inquiry sputtered for months after a prosecutor sought approval to indict James Tobin, the northeast regional coordinator for the Republican National Committee.

Oddly enough, voter fraud cases against rethuglicans that ended up being successful were delayed until after the election, but voter fraud cases against Dems, that ended up being unsuccessful were rushed before the election.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Once our nation’s future was decided by the sane, And now a poison’s leaking in, and coursing through our nation’s veins

I'm not sure, maybe it's just coincidence, a statistical anomaly, a ... a ... OK, there's a pattern here:

E.P.A. Is Sued by 12 States Over Reports on Chemicals

Twelve states, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday for weakening regulations that for two decades have required businesses and industries to report the toxic chemicals they use, store and release.
[...]
Their suit takes aim at a change, adopted by the environmental agency last December, that streamlined the T.R.I. process by reducing the amount of information that companies are required to report. The new rules allow them to file shorter, less detailed forms if they store or release less than 5,000 pounds of toxic chemicals. The old rules required a longer, more comprehensive form whenever a company stored or discharged as little as 500 pounds.

**************

Probes Find Interference, Bias by Former Interior official

A civil engineer from California's Sacramento Valley, [Julie A. MacDonald] served five tumultuous years as a top Interior Department official handling endangered species issues. She left in May, but her legacy still shades a department that's endured mounting controversy.
[...]
The Interior Department's former deputy secretary, one-time coal industry lobbyist Steven Griles, pleaded guilty earlier this year to obstruction of justice charges in connection with the investigation of former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

MacDonald was the subject of two Interior Department Office of Inspector General investigations. The first, completed earlier this year, found that she'd "interfered" with endangered species decision-making despite having "no formal background in natural sciences."
[...]
The second investigation, finished this week, concluded that MacDonald had a potential conflict of interest when she oversaw an endangered species decision that could affect her Yolo County property in California.

**********

FDA Science Dearth Puts Public Health at Risk

Lives are at risk because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is woefully behind in the latest scientific advances and is under funded, a panel of advisers to the agency said at a public meeting on Monday.
[...]
“FDA’s inability to keep up with scientific advances means that American lives are at risk,” the report said.

***************

FCC target of House panel's investigation

Two key House lawmakers announced Monday that they were investigating the Federal Communications Commission, accusing its chairman of "possible abuse of power" and a failure to operate fairly and openly in handling proposed cable TV and media ownership regulations.
[...]
Martin, a Republican, has faced criticism from lawmakers and fellow commissioners recently for how he has approached the contentious issues of re-regulating the cable TV industry and easing rules on the ownership of newspaper and TV stations in the same city.
[...]
Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who heads the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that will conduct the investigation. "It is one thing to be an aggressive leader, but many of the allegations indicate possible abuse of power and an attempt to intentionally keep fellow commissioners in the dark."
[...]
Martin had circulated a report that concluded cable TV had passed a key statistical threshold that would allow the FCC to impose new regulations on the industry. But Martin had relied on data from an outside firm that were contradicted by other independent analyses and the agency's own statistics.
[...]
"The lack of transparency in FCC matters has left the public with little faith that the agency is acting in their best interest," Scott said.

***************

Bush Proposes Dramatic Cuts In Homeland Security Funding

The Bush administration intends to slash counter terrorism funding for police, firefighters and rescue departments nation-wide by more than half next year, according to budget documents obtained by The Associated Press.
[...]
The plan would eliminate programs for port security, transit security and local emergency management operations in the next budget year.

The move comes a year after New York saw a nearly 40-percent cut in its anti-terrorism funding by the Homeland Security Department.

Bush's domestic and foreign policies have now killed more Americans than Osama Bin Laden.

It should be evident. We need to keep fighting Bush over here so we don't have to fight him ... over here!?


Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

Update on the Baghdad police academy

Last year there was a, pardon the expression, $hitstorm about the

Heralded Iraq Police Academy a 'Disaster'

BAGHDAD, Sept. 27 -- A $75 million project to build the largest police academy in Iraq has been so grossly mismanaged that the campus now poses health risks to recruits and might need to be partially demolished, U.S. investigators have found.

The Baghdad Police College, hailed as crucial to U.S. efforts to prepare Iraqis to take control of the country's security, was so poorly constructed that feces and urine rained from the ceilings in student barracks. Floors heaved inches off the ground and cracked apart. Water dripped so profusely in one room that it was dubbed "the rain forest."

"This is the most essential civil security project in the country -- and it's a failure," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent office created by Congress. "The Baghdad police academy is a disaster."

And now, over a year later, after all the promises made by Parsons, nothing has changed:

Iraqi Police Academy Remains Largely Unusable

BAGHDAD, Nov. 5 — More than a year after the Parsons Corporation, the American contracting giant, promised Congress that it would fix the disastrous plumbing and shoddy construction in barracks the company built at the Baghdad police academy, the ceilings are still stained with excrement, parts of the structures are crumbling and sections of the buildings are unusable because the toilets are filthy and nonfunctioning.
[...]
“They used bad pipes for the sewage system,” said an officer who gave his name as Lt. Selah, a maintenance adviser, as he pointed through a ruptured drop-ceiling that had been ruined by waste leaking from faulty pipes above it.

The concrete used in the construction was substandard and is already collapsing in places because of the constant rain of sewage, Lieutenant Selah said, barely able to contain his anger.
[...]
A company spokeswoman, Erin Kuhlman, said that Parsons, which is based in Pasadena, Calif., had strictly abided by the terms of the contract it had received from the United States Army Corps of Engineers to do the work at the academy.
[...]
But dire problems with the project were discovered in inspections in August and September 2006 by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent agency led by Stuart W. Bowen Jr.
[...]
Mr. Bowen’s report also stated that inspectors had found “indications of potential fraud” in the project and had referred the case to its investigative division.

Those indications are apparently still being studied.
[...]
On Sept. 28, 2006, as the inspector general’s report was released, Earnest O. Robbins II, a senior vice president at Parsons, testified before the House Government Reform Committee that the company would fix the problems at no extra charge. “We are repairing it at no cost to the government,” Mr. Robbins said in response to questions by Representative Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland.

Bastards. Lying bastards.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

So your're in the kids' ward, You're in there cos you're ill

We really are the leader of the free world!

Some history:

Lead Paint Prompts Mattel to Recall 967,000 Toys
***************
Mattel issues new massive China toy recall
About 9 million items recalled; danger from magnets and lead paint
***************
Lead paint forces Thomas toy trains recall
***************
Halloween costume teeth pulled from US shops due to lead fears

Hmm, I'm starting to sense a pattern. But of course our government agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, will be asking for more labs and investigators to stop this from ever happening again! ... ehhh, not so much:

Strengthening of Consumer Agency Opposed by Its Boss

[...]
On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff.

Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistleblowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws.
[...]
In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels of almost 200 times the safety ceiling.

BTW:

The Consumer Products Safety Commission was founded in 1973 with a staff of about 800. It now employs about half that number, while the importation of products from other countries has vastly increased.

BTW2:

[The CPSC now] has just one employee testing toys.

13,000,000+ toys recalled ... yep, no reason to have more than one person testing them.

Bastards.


Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

HeadLyings

When I woke up this morning,
you were on my mind,
but I got out of bed,
dragged a comb across my head,
and read the news today, oh boy.
Here's the headline & lede I saw:

Blackwater Guards Offered Immunity
Officials Say Security Company's Guards Given Legal Protection After Iraqi Civilian Shootings

The State Department promised Blackwater USA bodyguards immunity from prosecution in its investigation of last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians

Then I saw this story:

Blackwater not offered immunity, official says - CNN.com
No immunity deal was offered to Blackwater USA guards for their statements regarding a shootout in Iraq last month that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, ...
www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/30/blackwater.immunity/index.html?iref=topnews - 6 hours ago

And yet ... and yet ... when you click on the link the headline reads: Officials: Blackwater guards offered limited immunity

So the CNN article disappeared from the time I read it till the time I got home. Now obviously CNN was lied to on their original article, but it brings up the question of why they just didn't correct it instead of making it vanish? (Obviously it's time to have another Blogger Ethics Panel.[/snark])

And it brings up even more questions:
Why won't the media out their 'unnamed sources' when they know they've been lied to?
Why, after 7 years of Bushco manipulating them with lie after lie, do they still collaborate with 'unnamed sources' in the Bush misAdministration who only lie to them?[/naive]

But I digress, here are some of the stories:

Immunity Deals Offered to Blackwater Guards
*************
ABC News Obtains Text of Blackwater Immunity Deal

And my personal favorite, an exchange between the WH spokesliar and the only honest WH beat reporter in DC, Helen Thomas:

Q Dana, why did the Bush administration give immunity to the Blackwater guards, and is the administration going to hold these guys accountable for what transpired?

MS. PERINO: This is what I can tell you: Secretary Rice has made it very clear that she takes the situation very seriously. It is under review. She said that anyone who has engaged in criminal behavior will be prosecuted. I don't have additional detail that I can provide for you, and I'll have to refer you to the State Department and Justice Department for more.

Q Has the President been briefed on this, or what does he think? What is he saying?

MS. PERINO: I do not know if the President has been briefed on it specifically. I can ask.

Q Were they given immunity or weren't they?

MS. PERINO: Helen, as I said, it's a matter that's under review.

Q (Inaudible) tough questions. Why can't you answer them?

MS. PERINO: Because it is a matter that's under review, and I'm going to refer you to the State or the Justice Department for more.

Q What do you mean "under review"? Why don't you say yes or no?

MS. PERINO: The State Department is the one that is looking into this and they are the ones answering questions on it.

Q So the administration hasn't decided whether or not the reports of that are true? You're still looking into whether or not they actually were?

MS. PERINO: I am going to refer you to the State Department on that, who is looking into it.

Q As a general question, how could you both be offered immunity and promised prosecution?

Of course Ms. Thomas never got a straight answer. But at least she asked and pursued the right questions.



Cross posted at VidiotSpeak