clam dredging operation off Atlantic City, N.J turns up World War I-era mustard gas ... Army secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve gas ...

mcall.com: Army secret surfaces: Deadly chemicals at sea: "By John Bull | Special to The Morning Call | October 30, 2005

Millions of pounds of unused weapons of mass destruction were dumped in oceans before Congress banned the practice in 1972. The threat is still out there, and may be growing.

First of a two-day series

A clam dredging operation off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J., in 2004 pulled up an old artillery shell.

The long-submerged, World War I-era explosive was filled with a black, tar-like substance.

Bomb disposal technicians from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware were brought in to dismantle it. Three of them were injured, one hospitalized with large, pus-filled blisters on his arm and hand.

The shell was filled with mustard gas in solid form.

What was long-feared by the few military officials in the know had come to pass: Chemical weapons that the Army dumped at sea decades ago had finally ended up on shore in the United States.

While it has long been known that some chemical weapons went into the ocean, records obtained by the Daily Press of Newport News, Va., show that the previously classified weapons-dumping program was far more extensive than has ever been suspected.

The Army now admits in reports never before released that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard gas agent into the sea, along with 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500 tons of radioactive waste either tossed overboard or packed into the holds of scuttled vessels.

A Daily Press investigation also found:

These weapons of mass destruction virtually ring the country, concealed off the coasts of at least 11 states: six on the East Coast, including New Jersey and Maryland, two on the Gulf Coast, and in California, Hawaii and Alaska. Few, if any, state officials have been informed of their existence.

The chemical agents could pose a hazard for generations. The Army has examined only a few of its 26 dump zones, and none in 30 years."

Bush: Treaty Outlawing Torture Doesn't Apply Beyond US Soil

Bush: Treaty Outlawing Torture Doesn't Apply Beyond US Soil: "October 29, 2005 by OneWorld.net | by Niko Kyriakou

SAN FRANCISCO - Echoing recent comments by White House officials, a U.S. government report submitted to the United Nations last Friday bears a message that the brutal treatment of people held in U.S. military custody abroad is and should be legal.

The report, which was submitted to the UN's Human Rights Committee and is designed to document U.S. compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), fails to mention a number of U.S violations of the treaty that took place off of U.S. soil in places like Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, human rights groups say.

"This is not a sufficient report," said Ann Fagan Ginger, Executive Director of the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute based in Berkeley, California.

"The government continues its arrogant and illegal refusal to report major violations...in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and elsewhere in Iraq and Afghanistan," she told OneWorld Friday.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was signed by the U.S. in 1992 and outlaws torture or degrading treatment.

The treaty mandates signatories to submit reports on their compliance with the treaty every five years to the Human Rights Committee, which reviews reports and presents its findings to the United Nations. The U.S. reports were many years overdue. ...
...
While McCain's proposal would, in effect, remedy many U.S. violations of the civil and political rights treaty, rights groups are not waiting around for domestic law to do what they say is already done by international law.

"This is yet another example of how the U.S. government is trying to deflect responsibility for its international obligations," Jamil Dakwar, staff attorney in the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) national legal department, told OneWorld.

At an hour-long hearing to discuss the report held at the State Department yesterday, the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, Global Rights, and several smaller organizations railed the U.S. report. ...
..
The State Department, for its part, held to its argument that the U.S. has never accepted the application of the treaty beyond its borders, affirming that this "has nothing to do with the post 9-11 policies," Dakwar said.

But rights groups retorted that the Human Rights Committee has already reached numerous decisions in which the treaty was deemed applicable to countries occupying foreign lands, according to Dakwar. ...

What the US papers say: President Bush vowed to restore honour[... but] secretly punish an opponent's spouse rather than openly defend policy

The Observer | International | What the US papers say: "Sunday October 30, 2005 | The Observer

The New York Times The indictment ... describes a distinct and disturbing pattern of behaviour among very high-ranking officials, including Lewis Libby and Vice- President Dick Cheney, who knew that they were dealing with a covert officer and used their access to classified information in a public relations campaign over the rapidly disintegrating justifications for war with Iraq.

The Washington Post Both Mr Libby and Mr Rove appear to have allowed the White House spokesman to put out false information about their involvement. But nothing in this indictment suggests a broad-based conspiracy that requires endless further investigation by Congress or others.

The Houston Chronicle What started as a common cold for selected Republican officeholders has turned into raging influenza for our democracy. The Democrats are already counting Congressional seats to be gained from the litany of GOP scandals, but we think they misunderstand the nature of this contagion.

Los Angeles Times [The] implications could hardly be more momentous. President Bush vowed to restore honour to the White House... Friday's indictment, however, shows how the White House used Plame's identity as part of a campaign to discredit critics of the war in Iraq.

The Houston Chronicle What does it say about the character of officials who would attempt to secretly punish an opponent's spouse rather than openly defending their policy, in this case their reasons for war?"

Hungry who can't afford food grows to 38.2 million in 2004, an increase of 7million in 5 years ... Republicans vote forUS poor set to lose food stamps

US poor set to lose food stamps: "US poor set to lose food stamps | By Associated Press

10/29/05 'SMH' -- - -With more than 38 million Americans too poor to buy adequate food, the US Congress has begun to take away the food stamps many of them receive.

The Republican majority on the House Agriculture Committee has approved budget cuts that will take 'food stamps' away from an estimated 300,000 people and could cut off school lunches and breakfasts for 40,000 children.

The action came as the US Government reported that the number of people who are hungry because they can't afford to buy enough food rose to 38.2 million in 2004, an increase of seven million in five years.

The number represents nearly 12 per cent of US households.

Food stamps are coupons distributed to low-income people and redeemable at grocery stories for food.

The cuts, approved by the Republican-controlled committee on a party-line vote, are part of an effort by Republicans to curb federal spending by $US50 billion ($65.7 billion)." ...

prominent Republican fund-raiser for Presiden Bush in Ohio has been charged with illegally funneling money to Bush's campaign

Excite News: "Bush campaign fund-raiser indicted | Oct 27, 6:12 PM (ET)

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A prominent Republican fund-raiser for President George W. Bush in Ohio has been charged with illegally funneling money to Bush's re-election campaign, a federal prosecutor said on Thursday.

A federal grand jury in Toledo charged Thomas Noe with making illegal contributions in the names of others to the Bush campaign and with making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. ...

'We all knew it was contrary to the Geneva Conventions. And we were told that this – these instructions were being given by Secretary Rumsfeld'

The Former Head of Abu Ghraib, Admits She Broke the Geneva Conventions :: "Broadcast - 10/27/05

Says the Blame 'Goes All the Way to The Top”

'We all knew it was contrary to the Geneva Conventions. And we were told that this – these instructions were being given by Secretary Rumsfeld"

# Karpinski, the highest-ranking officer demoted in connection with the torture scandal, speaks out about what happened at the Abu Ghraib prison. She discusses: How the military hid "ghost detainees" from the International Red Cross in violation of international law;

# Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller calling for the Gitmoization of Abu Ghraib and for prisoners to be "treated like dogs";

# Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's secret memos on interrogation policies that hung on the prison’s walls;

# The military’s use of private (and possibly Israeli) interrogators;

# Her dealings with the International Red Cross;

# Why she feels, as a female general, she has been scapegoated for a scandal that has left the military and political leadership unscathed; and
# Calls for Donald Rumsfeld, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, Alberto Gonzalez and Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller to be held accountable for what happened. [includes rush transcript] ...

CREW alleging that Senator Frist was well aware that the he held HCA stock at a time when he denied any knowledge of such holdings

News Release - CREW: "CREW FILES ADDITIONAL ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST SEN. FRIST | Complaint Alleges Frist Lied by Claiming He Did Not Know Whether He Owned HCA Stock

Washington, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed an additional complaint with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics against Senator William Frist (R-TN) alleging that Senator Frist was well aware that the he held HCA stock at a time when he denied any knowledge of such holdings. The complaint points to recent press reports and letters from trustees to Senator Frist as evidence that the Senator was aware of his holdings.

The original complaint CREW filed on September 26, 2005, alleged that the Senator violated Senate ethics rules by engaging in apparent insider trading and then attempting to cover it up.

This past June, Sen. Frist sold all of his, his wife’s and his children’s stock in, HCA, shortly before the value of the stock fell sharply. Notably, Sen. Frist’s brother sits on HCA’s board of directors and other members of the board also sold HCA stock before its value fell. Although Sen. Frist has owned HCA stock prior to his initial election to the Senate in 1994, Sen. Frist now claims that he sold the stock because of a conflict of interest.
"

"President Bush finally realized that his Gulf Coast wage cut was a bad idea that hurt the workers and their families affected by Katrina"

American Chronicle: REP. MILLER STATEMENT ON WHITE HOUSE DEAL ON GULF COAST WAGE CUT: "By Congressional Desk | October 26, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Bowing to pressure from a united Democratic front, a small group of members of his own party, the religious community, and the labor movement, President Bush announced today he would reverse the decision he made in September to remove wage protections for construction workers in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

After Katrina, the President suspended the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act, which requires federal contractors to pay at least the prevailing wage to construction workers in a local area. The president's action, which was widely denounced, followed requests from right-wing activists and Republican members of Congress who exploited Katrina to achieve a long-sought ideological agenda item.

Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, led the effort in the House to force Bush to rescind his Gulf Coast wage cut.

"President Bush finally realized that his Gulf Coast wage cut was a bad idea that hurt the workers and their families affected by Katrina," said Miller. "But let me be clear - the President is backing down today only because he had no other choice.

"The President's wage cut was just another example of his incompetence as a leader in a time of crisis and of his constant need reward the private agenda's of his special special-interest friends rather than attend to the needs of all the people affected by this storm." ...

Vice President for Torture

Vice President for Torture: "Wednesday, October 26, 2005; Page A18

VICE PRESIDENT Cheney is aggressively pursuing an initiative that may be unprecedented for an elected official of the executive branch: He is proposing that Congress legally authorize human rights abuses by Americans. 'Cruel, inhuman and degrading' treatment of prisoners is banned by an international treaty negotiated by the Reagan administration and ratified by the United States. The State Department annually issues a report criticizing other governments for violating it. Now Mr. Cheney is asking Congress to approve legal language that would allow the CIA to commit such abuses against foreign prisoners it is holding abroad. In other words, this vice president has become an open advocate of torture.

His position is not just some abstract defense of presidential power. The CIA is holding an unknown number of prisoners in secret detention centers abroad. In violation of the Geneva Conventions, it has refused to register those detainees with the International Red Cross or to allow visits by its inspectors. Its prisoners have 'disappeared,' like the victims of some dictatorships. The Justice Department and the White House are known to have approved harsh interrogation techniques for some of these people, including 'waterboarding,' or simulated drowning; mock execution; and the deliberate withholding of pain medication. CIA personnel have been implicated in the deaths during interrogation of at least four Afghan and Iraqi detainees. Official investigations have indicated that some aberrant practices by Army personnel in Iraq originated with the CIA. Yet no CIA personnel have been held accountable for this record, and there has never been a public report on the agency's performance." ...

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs ... less than 45 percent of its workers receive company health insurance

Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs - New York Times: "By STEVEN GREENHOUSE and MICHAEL BARBARO | Published: October 26, 2005

An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.

In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.

To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering)."

The memo acknowledged that Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, had to walk a fine line in restraining benefit costs because critics had attacked it for being stingy on wages and health coverage. Ms. Chambers acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million United States employees were uninsured or on Medicaid. ...
...
Under fire because less than 45 percent of its workers receive company health insurance, Wal-Mart announced a new plan on Monday that seeks to increase participation by allowing some employees to pay just $11 a month in premiums. Some health experts praised the plan for making coverage more affordable, but others criticized it, noting that full-time Wal-Mart employees, who earn on average around $17,500 a year, could face out-of-pocket expenses of $2,500 a year or more. ...

Illegal workers found at La. base ... replaced 75 union electricians who lost their jobs after Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon Act ...

USATODAY.com - Illegal workers found at La. base: "10/24/2005 12:05 AM | By Bill Nichols, USA TODAY

Federal officials are investigating how at least 10 undocumented immigrants performed hurricane reconstruction work at a naval base near New Orleans. (Related story: Cities tackle day labor dilemma)
...
The action came amid growing complaints from area electricians who say they lost their jobs at the base to lower-wage workers.

Robert "Tiger" Hammond, president of the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO, said about 75 union electricians lost their jobs after the Bush administration temporarily suspended the Davis-Bacon Act, which guarantees the prevailing local wage for workers hired under federal contracts.

It was unclear who employed the undocumented workers. Zuieback would not give the name of the employer. Robertson said they worked for BE&K, an Alabama-based contractor, and Texas-based BMS Catastrophe.

BE&K spokeswoman Susan Wasley said no company employee had been cited, removed or barred from the base. "We haven't done anything wrong," she said.

BMS Catastrophe did not return calls for comment.

BE&K is a subcontractor for Halliburton, which is doing the bulk of the reconstruction work at the base. It was not clear whether BMS Catastrophe also is a Halliburton subcontractor. ...

Analysis finds 21 homicides among deaths of U.S. prisoners overseas .... 400 investigations .... 230 military personnel have received [some] action

WKRC 12 Cincinnati - Analysis finds 21 homicides among deaths of U.S. prisoners overseas: "LAST UPDATE: 10/24/2005 8:59:10 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - At least 21 detainees who died while being held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed, many during or after interrogations, according to an analysis of Defense Department data by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The analysis, released Monday, looked at 44 deaths described in records obtained by the ACLU. Of those, the group characterized 21 as homicides, and said at least eight resulted from abusive techniques by military or intelligence officers, such as strangulation or 'blunt force injuries,' as noted in the autopsy reports.

The 44 deaths represent a partial group of the total number of prisoners who have died in U.S. custody overseas; more than 100 have died of natural and violent causes.
...
To date, there have been more than 400 investigations of detainee abuse, and more than 230 military personnel have received a court-martial, nonjudicial punishment or other administrative action. ...

Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show

Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show - New York Times: "By DAVID JOHNSTON, RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DOUGLAS JEHL | Published: October 24, 2005

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 — I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby’s testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war.

Lawyers said the notes show that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003. ...

Police to probe US [CIA] ‘torture flights’ landing in Scotland

Police to probe US ‘torture flights’ landing in Scotland - [Sunday Herald]: "
By Neil Mackay, Investigations Editor | 23 October 2005

SCOTTISH police are to launch an investigation into CIA “torture flights” which fly in and out of Glasgow and Prestwick airports, ferrying kidnapped war on terror suspects around the world.

The police action is a result of last week’s disturbing investigation by the Sunday Herald into the so-called “extraordinary rendition flights”, which see suspects kidnapped overseas by the CIA, drugged and then flown to “friendly” states, such as Egypt, Uzbekistan and Morocco, where they are tortured on behalf of British and American intelligence.

Following our reports , the Green Party wrote to the chief constable of Strathclyde Police, Sir William Rae, asking for a full inquiry into the torture flights. A police spokesperson confirmed that the force would now launch an investigation.

Last week, we revealed that the British government was to be sued by human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith for complicity in the torture of his client Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi."

FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight

FBI Papers Indicate Intelligence Violations: "By Dan Eggen | Washington Post Staff Writer | Monday, October 24, 2005; Page A01

Secret Surveillance Lacked Oversight

The FBI has conducted clandestine surveillance on some U.S. residents for as long as 18 months at a time without proper paperwork or oversight, according to previously classified documents to be released today.

Records turned over as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit also indicate that the FBI has investigated hundreds of potential violations related to its use of secret surveillance operations, which have been stepped up dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but are largely hidden from public view."

Letters Show Frist Notified Of Stocks in 'Blind' Trusts

Letters Show Frist Notified Of Stocks in 'Blind' Trusts: "By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum | Washington Post Staff Writer | Monday, October 24, 2005; Page A01

Documents Contradict Comments on Holdings

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family's hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.

Managers of the trusts that Frist once described as 'totally blind,' regularly informed him when they added new shares of HCA Inc. or other assets to his holdings, according to the documents."

Since 2001, the trustees have written to Frist and the Senate 15 times detailing the sale of assets from or the contribution of assets to trusts of Frist and his family. The letters included notice of the addition of HCA shares worth $500,000 to $1 million in 2001 and HCA stock worth $750,000 to $1.5 million in 2002. The trust agreements require the trustees to inform Frist and the Senate whenever assets are added or sold.

The letters seem to undermine one of the major arguments the senator has used throughout his political career to rebut criticism of his ownership in HCA: that the stock was held in blind trusts beyond his control and that he had little idea of the extent of those holdings. ...

Miers family received 'excessive' sum in land case ... collected more than 10 times market value ... hasn’t reimbursed state for $26,000 difference

RealCities.com | 10/22/2005 | Miers family received 'excessive' sum in land case: "Sat, Oct. 22, 2005 | By JACK DOUGLAS JR. and STEPHEN HENDERSON | Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers collected more than 10 times the market value for a small slice of family-owned land in a large Superfund pollution cleanup site in Dallas where the state wanted to build a highway off-ramp.

The windfall came after a judge who received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Miers' law firm appointed a close professional associate of Miers and an outspoken property-rights activist to the three-person panel that determined how much the state should pay.

The resulting six-figure payout to the Miers family in 2000 was despite the state’s objections to the "excessive” amount and to the process used to set the price. The panel recommended paying nearly $5 a square foot for land that was valued at less than 30 cents a square foot.

Mediation efforts in 2003 reduced the award from $106,915 to $80,915, but Miers, who controls the family’s interest in the land, hasn’t reimbursed the state for the $26,000 difference, even after Bush appointed her to the Supreme Court.

The case raises new questions about Miers’ judgment at a time when her nomination is troubled by doubts about her qualifications for the nation’s highest court and accusations that she was chosen mostly because of her close friendship with President Bush. ...

FEMA Staffer Blows Whistle on Brownie ... emails " “The situation is past critical. ... many will die within hours"

Pensito Review � FEMA Staffer Blows Whistle on Brownie: "LISA MYERS, NBC CORRESPONDENT

(voice-over): Wednesday, August 31st, much of New Orleans is underwater. A FEMA official inside the Superdome sends an urgent Blackberry message to his boss, Director Michael Brown.

Marty Bahamonde, said to be Brown‘s eyes and ears within the city, writes: “The situation is past critical. Hotels are kicking people out. Thousands gathering in the streets with no food or water. Estimates are many will die within hours.”

Bahamonde tells Senate investigators, he doesn‘t remember getting a response to that e-mail but later was forwarded this one. Brown‘s press secretary [fretting] about Brown‘s dining plans for that evening. “It‘s very important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner, she writes, given that Baton Rouge is back to normal, restaurants are getting busy. He needs much more than 20 or 30 minutes.”

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS [(R)], MAINE: That is just appalling.

MYERS: Senator Susan Collins says Brown‘s inner circle seemingly failed to grasp the urgency of Bahamonde‘s warnings.

COLLILNS: There is this extraordinary disconnect between what he is reporting and the reaction back in Washington.

MYERS: Bahamonde expressed his frustration about the dinner e-mail writing: “Oh, my God!!!!!!!! Just tell her that I just ate MRE and went to the bathroom in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends, so I understand her concern about busy restaurants.”

(on camera): Bahamonde also says officials at all levels of government failed to act on his early warnings that this key 17th Street levee had failed. He says local and FEMA officials had 16 hours to warn the public and no one sounded the alarm."

Tommy 'Martial Law' Franks is a Paid Bush Admin Patriot ... $25,000 in taxpayer money was being used to help pay Franks's $75,000 speaking fee

Global News Matrix - Tommy 'Martial Law' Franks is a Paid Bush Admin Patriot: "Retired Gen. Tommy Franks -- nominee to be czar of just about everything; Midland, Texas high school graduate one year ahead of First Lady Laura Bush; Republican Convention speaker; Presidential Medal of Freedom wearer and frequent public reader of the Constitution -- has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

The Southern New Jersey Courier-Post reported this week that veterans were angered and initially taken aback when they learned that almost $25,000 in taxpayer money was being used to help pay Franks's $75,000 speaking fee for an upcoming October 29 appearance in Camden."

Rendition and torture: "more of a willingness in the White House to turn a blind eye to the legal niceties than within the CIA"

These two men are experts on rendition: one invented it, the other has seen its full horrors - [Sunday Herald]: "Investigation by Neil Mackay | 16 October 2005
...
In exclusive interviews with the Sunday Herald they blew apart any justification for the rendition system, saying the US government deliberately refused to opt for a legal alternative to renditions which was presented to the President by the CIA and that the programme undermined Western democracy, damaged the prosecution of the war on terror and “contaminated British and US intelligence”.
...
“Everyone from the President down had the option to make them PoWs, but they were arrogant. We believe al-Qaeda can get legitimacy from what we say and do, so there was a constant fear of giving them legitimacy by calling them PoWs.”

Scheuer accepts that targets were tortured both before and after 9/11. “I have no doubt about it,” he says. “You’d think I’m an ass if I said nobody was tortured. There was more of a willingness in the White House to turn a blind eye to the legal niceties than within the CIA. The Agency always knew it would be left holding the baby for this one.”
...
There is no question in Murray’s mind that the British government knew that intelligence reports they were receiving were the results of torture. “I sent telegrams to them saying that torture was going on,” he says. “They know, but they are deliberately blind to it. I warned ministers it was illegal. But the politicians were very keen to just keep going ahead. ...

Churchill: "to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge ... is in the highest degree odious" ... but legal under Bush

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish: "

'The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist,' - Winston Churchill, November 21, 1943, describing what is now legal and constitutional in the United States, under president Bush."

administration must belatedly have done enough analysis to understand that Senate and House bills were going in the wrong direction, but didn't say

Government's Disgrace: "Government's Disgrace | Monday, October 17, 2005; A14
...
The story begins with the hole in the nation's defined-benefit pension plans ... When these firms go bust, employees get smaller pensions than cynical managers had promised them. And taxpayers, who guarantee pensions up to some $45,000 per retiree, have to rescue the bankrupt pension plans.
...
That same day another business lobby, the ERISA Industry Committee, informed its shock troops: "Sen. DeWine has directly asked for our help in getting cosponsors" for his diluting amendment. Mr. DeWine and other senators will no doubt be rewarded for their efforts. On Thursday the American Benefits Council will host a thank-you lunch for Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), the chairman of the Senate pensions committee. The invitation includes a line that reads: "Requested contribution: $1,000 PAC/$500 personal."
...
... On Tuesday the Congressional Budget Office published an analysis showing that it wasn't just the rogue amendment that would do that; both the Senate and House bills were so diluted that they would make the pension crisis worse, just as happened with the legislation that Congress passed last year. The same day Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House pensions committee, leaked an analysis by the Bush administration, which reached the same conclusion. So it turns out that legislation that had once been close to passage does the opposite of what's intended. Nobody in Congress was told this until it was almost too late.

This, unfortunately, says a lot about the Bush administration: about its incompetence in handling economic issues and its cowardice in dealing with Congress. At some point in the past fortnight or so, the administration must belatedly have done enough analysis to understand that the Senate and House bills were going in the wrong direction, but it didn't breathe a word.

South leads the nation in unwed births ... politically popular to try to persuade teens to remain celibate ... often backfires ...

Trend spells trouble | ajc.com: "The South leads the nation in unwed births, which often ensure a lifetime of poverty for mother, child | Published on: 10/17/05

Southern states, including Georgia, often style themselves as the last bastions of traditional family values that other parts of the country abandoned long ago. Supposedly, this is still the kind of place where Mom, Dad and the kids traipse to church on Sunday and then show up at Grandmom's for chicken dinner.

Unfortunately, the reality's a little different. According to a new U.S. Census Bureau report — the first to offer a state-by-state look at links between marriage, fertility and other characteristics — the South leads the nation in unwed births.

In Georgia, nearly four in 10 babies are now born out of wedlock, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of state birth records. That reflects a trend that shows no sign of abatement. The newspaper review found that in 1980, single mothers accounted for 22 percent of births in Georgia. A decade later, the percentage increased to almost a third of births.

The census study confirms those trends, reporting that more than 10 percent of all births each year in Georgia are to teenagers. Georgia has the ninth highest teen birth rate in the nation, a list led by Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Georgia also shares a history of low educational achievement with those states. ...
...
It may be politically popular to try to persuade teens to remain celibate and to restrict their access to information and contraceptives, but those tactics generally backfire, according to research. They produce higher pregnancy rates, higher birth rates and higher abortion rates.

As long as Georgia refuses to acknowledge that fact, and also refuses to look at itself and its children honestly, progress will be very difficult.

Federal court bars Georgia from enforcing voter ID law ... unconstitutional poll tax ... "likely to prevent Georgia's elderly, poor and African-Ameri

USATODAY.com - Federal court bars Georgia from enforcing voter ID law: "10/18/2005 2:22 PM

ATLANTA (AP) — A federal judge Tuesday blocked Georgia from enforcing a new state law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.

In issuing the preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy said the law amounts to an unconstitutional poll tax because the state is not doing enough to make ID cards available to those who cannot afford them.

The requirement "is most likely to prevent Georgia's elderly, poor and African-American voters from voting," Murphy wrote. "For those citizens, the character and magnitude of their injury — the loss of their right to vote — is undeniably demoralizing and extreme."

So far, the law has been used only for local elections. The injunction could prevent its use during municipal elections Nov. 8

Voter and civil rights groups sued over the new law, which eliminates the use of other forms of voter identification, such as Social Security cards, birth certificates or utility bills. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, argued that the measure would help prevent fraud.

A driver's license with a photo is sufficient under the law. But those who do not have a license must obtain a state ID card, which can cost up to $35. The governor said such cards would be given free to those who cannot afford the fee.

The GOP-backed measure heightened racial tensions during the legislative session. Most of Georgia's black lawmakers walked out of the Capitol when it passed in March, some loudly singing a civil rights-era protest song. The widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, called on the governor to veto the bill.

Senior military investigator found dead in Iraq ... investigating civilian deaths ... 'not due to hostile action and also not due to natural causes'.

Independent Online Edition > Middle East : app5: "Senior military investigator found dead in Iraq
By Kim Sengupta in Basra
Published: 17 October 2005

A senior British military police officer in Iraq involved in the investigation of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by soldiers has been found dead at a camp in Basra.

The body of Captain Ken Masters, the commander of 61 Section of the Special Investigations Branch (SIB), was found in his bed at the airport at the weekend. The death is being investigated by the SIB.

Defence sources said the death was 'not due to hostile action and also not due to natural causes'.

However, it is believed that investigators have not found a suicide note, nor firearms related to the incident. Capt Masters was not receiving any medical or psychological treatment.

Friends and colleagues of Captain Masters, who was married with two children, said that his death had come as a 'total surprise'.

After his body was found early on Saturday evening a siren sounded over Basra camp, flares were fired in the air, and all military personnel were confined to barracks .

Despite being of middle-rank, Captain Masters was in charge of all serious incidents involving the British military in Iraq. ....

80% of Poor Lack Civil Legal Aid, Study Says ... 1 lawyer per per 6,861 low-income vs. 1 per 525 for the general population

80% of Poor Lack Civil Legal Aid, Study Says: "By Evelyn Nieves | Washington Post Staff Writer | Saturday, October 15, 2005; Page A09

At least 80 percent of low-income Americans who need civil legal assistance do not receive any, in part because legal aid offices in this country are so stretched that they routinely turn away qualified prospective clients, a new study shows.

Roughly 1 million cases per year are being rejected because legal aid programs lack the resources to handle them, according to the study, 'Documenting the Justice Gap in America,' by the Legal Services Corp. (LSC), which funds 143 legal aid programs across the country.
...
Poor people also have few options when it comes to legal help. The study determined that there is one legal aid lawyer per 6,861 low-income clients vs. one lawyer for every 525 persons in the general population. ...
...
"The Justice Gap" report concluded that although state and private support for legal assistance to the poor has increased in the past two decades, stagnant or declining federal funding and an increasing poor population have combined to increase the unmet demand.

Senior UN official: US troops using "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare." ... "This is a flagrant violation of international law,"

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US troops 'starve Iraqi citizens': "US troops 'starve Iraqi citizens' | 15 October 2005

A senior United Nations official has accused US-led coalition troops of depriving Iraqi civilians of food and water in breach of humanitarian law.

Human rights investigator Jean Ziegler said they had driven people out of insurgent strongholds that were about to be attacked by cutting supplies.

Mr Ziegler, a Swiss-born sociologist, said such tactics were in breach of international law.

A US military spokesman in Baghdad denied the allegations.

"A drama is taking place in total silence in Iraq, where the coalition's occupying forces are using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population," Mr Ziegler told a press conference in Geneva.

He said coalition forces were using "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare."

"This is a flagrant violation of international law," he added. ...

Income: $5,000 from DeLay PAC, $5,000 each from two [Abramoff] Indian tribes ...Expense $15,600 to make repeated hang-up calls to the Democratic phone

Democrats question timing of 2002 GOP donations - Boston.com: "By Holly Ramer, Associated Press Writer | October 13, 2005

CONCORD, N.H. --Democrats say three donations made to the New Hampshire Republican Party just before Election Day 2002 raise troubling questions about who paid for a scheme to jam phone lines set up to get voters to the polls.

Rep. Tom DeLay's political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority, gave $5,000 to the state Republican Party on Nov. 1, 2002, four days before the election in which Republican John Sununu won his Senate seat by defeating former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen.

Four days earlier, the state party received $5,000 each from two Indian tribes represented by Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist with close ties to DeLay. Together, the three donations nearly equal the $15,600 Republicans paid a telemarketing firm to make repeated hang-up calls to the Democratic phone banks.

DeLay recently stepped down as House majority leader after being indicted in Texas on conspiracy and money laundering charges. Abramoff also has been charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investigation."

Republican Party ... is shot through with corruption and besotted with power ... lost $8 billion in Iraq ... no-bid contracts, ... federal deficit.

TomPaine.com - Beginning Of The End For The GOP: "Michael K. Fauntroy | October 14, 2005

Unlike many observers who have gleefully exulted in Tom DeLay’s recent indictments, I think his guilt or innocence is almost beside the point, particularly since he’s still in the House wielding his considerable power. His arm twisting to ensure recent passage of the giveaway for the oil-industry energy bill proves his troubles aren’t weakening his support among House Republicans—yet. You see, his possible acquittal doesn’t obviate the fact that he is a dirty politician and his continued presence as such a prominent Republican marks the beginning of the end of GOP dominance of Congress. I write this not because I know a secret but, rather, because DeLay’s indictment is one of a long list of ethical lapses that show the national GOP to be corrupt. How can they go to the voters next year asking for continued congressional control when it is now clear that all they want to do is use it to enrich their friends and punish their enemies, all on the taxpayers dime?

The DeLay indictments are another in a long line of recent events demonstrating that the Republican Party in Washington, D.C., from the White House to Capitol Hill, is shot through with corruption and besotted with power. They've looted the federal treasury of billions to pay for an unjustified war in Iraq (and the Coalition Provisional Authority has literally lost $8 billion there), no-bid contracts to their friends is their standard operating procedure, they've jeopardized people all over the country with that ridiculous bankruptcy bill they wrote and passed, they've been wasteful spenders of taxpayers money, and they don't seem to care about the damage their policies are doing to the federal deficit.

Karl Rove might have outed a covert CIA operative. David Safavian resigned his position as the Bush administration's chief procurement officer just prior to his mid-September indictment on charges of obstruction of justice surrounding crooked GOP lobbyist and DeLay crony Jack Abramoff. There are examples too numerous to list here of political appointees that are patently unqualified for the jobs to which they have been assigned. ...

Meanwhile, Republican elected officials are being caught in scheme after scheme to enrich themselves. Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham sold his house to a government contractor doing business before Cunningham’s committee ... ill Frist is now under investigation for what may turn out to be insider trading. Numerous Ohio Republicans, most notably Governor Robert Taft, have had varying levels of investigations their way, not to mention legitimate concerns about voter suppression in the last election. And let's not forget former Gov. Ryan of Illinois, who is currently in court facing charges that he took cash and gifts to help insiders land lucrative state contracts.

... long pattern of corruption that has developed over the years of GOP dominance of Congress and the White House. The Gingrich Revolution was largely built around the argument that 40 years of Democratic control led to arrogance and corruption. Now it's clear that the GOP has done more damage to the nation in a shorter time and we have to pay the bill.

Frist accumulated stock in family company - ethics experts say ... raises serious doubts [about conflict of interest]

CNN.com - Frist accumulated stock in family company - Oct 12, 2005: Questions of conflict of interest raised | Wednesday, October 12, 2005;

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Over a period of four years, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist accumulated stock in a family founded hospital chain that produced tens of thousands of dollars in income -- all outside the blind trusts he created to avoid a conflict of interest, documents show.

The stock was held in a family partnership largely controlled by Frist's brother, Thomas, who founded HCA Inc. along with the senator's late father.

Frist, R-Tennessee, has long maintained that he could vote on health care legislation and still own HCA stock because he placed his shares in Senate-approved blind trusts.

However, ethics experts say a partnership arrangement shown in documents obtained by The Associated Press raises serious doubts about whether the senator truly avoided a conflict.

While there have been no allegations of impropriety in Frist's having shares outside the voluntary blind trusts, federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Frist's sale of HCA stock from his blind trusts. ...

"We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people,"

Gore: I Don't Plan to Run for President - Yahoo! News: "...
...
When asked how the United States would have been different if he had become president, though, he had harsh criticism for Bush's policies.

"We would not have invaded a country that didn't attack us," he said, referring to
Iraq. "We would not have taken money from the working families and given it to the most wealthy families."

"We would not be trying to control and intimidate the news media. We would not be routinely torturing people," Gore said. "We would be a different country."

Gore did not elaborate. But last year, he blamed Bush administration policies for the inmate abuse scandal at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. ...

By a margin of 50% to 44% ... Americans Want Bush Impeached If He Lied about Iraq

Daily Kos: Poll: Americans Want Bush Impeached If He Lied about Iraq: "by David Swanson | Tue Oct 11, 2005 at 02:10:40 PM PDT

By a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

The poll was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,001 U.S. adults on October 6-9.

The poll found that 50% agreed with the statement:

'If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable by impeaching him.'

44% disagreed, and 6% said they didn't know or declined to answer. The poll has a /- 3.1% margin of error." ...

Deputy attorney general pick quits --- ties to Abramoff, Abu Graib, ... "administration has promoted culture of cronyism by tapping political allies"

Deputy attorney general pick quits�-�Nation/Politics�-�The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "By Charles Hurt | October 8, 2005

Timothy E. Flanigan withdrew his nomination yesterday, four months after President Bush selected him to be deputy attorney general.
Mr. Flanigan blamed the "uncertainty concerning the timing of my confirmation," in a letter he wrote to Mr. Bush.
The withdrawal comes as Democrats accused him of being involved in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and of having ties to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Democrats also criticized him for not having any courtroom experience as a prosecutor.
"Rather than appointing professionals with relevant experience, the Bush administration has promoted a culture of cronyism by tapping political allies and close friends for key positions," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said after the withdrawal. "Mr. Flanigan has no experience as a prosecutor, a characteristic that has become all too common in the leadership of the Justice Department. America can do better than nominations like these."
Mr. Flanigan, general counsel for Tyco International, was nominated to the No. 2 position at the Department of Justice in May. It is the position most recently held by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.
During Mr. Flanigan's first hearing, Democrats pressed him about his ties to Mr. Abramoff, the casino lobbyist at the center of several federal investigations who lobbied on behalf of Tyco. They also inquired about Mr. Flanigan's involvement in drafting new administration policy allowing aggressive interrogation techniques to be used on detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq. ...

Fired for Comment in Rove Article, Texas Attorney Explores Legal Options ... Governor confirms (that Rove called him

law.com - Fired for Comment in Rove Article, Texas Attorney Explores Legal Options: "Mary Alice Robbins | Texas Lawyer | 10-07-2005

Elizabeth Reyes' employment as a staff attorney at the Texas Secretary of State's Office was cut short last month. Three days after The Washington Post quoted Reyes in a Sept. 3 article about White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, the 30-year-old attorney found herself out of a job.

What was Reyes' alleged violation? She had answered a reporter's questions about whether rental property Rove owns in Kerr County, Texas, qualifies him to register to vote in that county.

Reyes says she didn't know the person asking questions was a reporter and she didn't know that the reporter was asking about Rove. In a correction published on Sept. 10, The Washington Post acknowledged that the reporter never asked about Rove by name. But Gabe Escobar, the newspaper's city editor, says the reporter did identify herself to Reyes.

But after Rove called Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, Reyes was terminated.

Williams, a Gov. Rick Perry appointee who has served as secretary of state since January, confirms (that Rove called him after The Washington Post published the article.

'He and I are friends,' Williams says of Rove. " ...

Rare wartime slap at ... Bush, the GOP-controlled Senate voted 90-9 to prohibit the use of ''cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment''

Senate, House to Clash Over Military Bill - New York Times: "By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Published: October 6, 2005

The Senate faces a confrontation with the House over a $440 billion military spending bill that, despite White House opposition, would impose restrictions on the treatment of terrorism suspects.

Delivering a rare wartime slap at Pentagon authority and President Bush, the GOP-controlled Senate voted 90-9 on Wednesday to back an amendment that would prohibit the use of ''cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'' against anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held.

Sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the proposal also would require all service members to follow procedures in the Army Field Manual when they detain and interrogate terrorism suspects. ....

BREAKING: Blunt Money Laundering; DeLay, Successor Swapped Donations

mparent7777: BREAKING: Blunt Money Laundering; DeLay, Successor Swapped Donations: "By JOHN SOLOMON and SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writers 19 minutes ago

Tom DeLay deliberately raised more money than he needed to throw parties at the 2000 presidential convention, then diverted some of the excess to longtime ally Roy Blunt through a series of donations that benefited both men's causes.

When the financial carousel stopped, DeLay's private charity, the consulting firm that employed DeLay's wife and the Missouri campaign of Blunt's son all ended up with money, according to campaign documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist recently charged in an ongoing federal corruption and fraud investigation, and Jim Ellis, the DeLay fundraiser indicted with his boss last week in Texas, also came into the picture.

The complicated transactions are drawing scrutiny in legal and political circles after a grand jury indicted DeLay on charges of violating Texas law with a scheme to launder illegal corporate donations to state candidates.

The government's former chief election enforcement lawyer said the Blunt and DeLay transactions are similar to the Texas case and raise questions that should be investigated regarding whether donors were deceived or the true destination of their money was concealed.

'These people clearly like using middlemen for their transactions,' said Lawrence Noble. 'It seems to be a pattern with DeLay funneling money to different groups, at least to obscure, if not cover, the original source,' said Noble, who was the Federal Election Commission's chief lawyer for 13 years, including in 2000 when the transactions occurred."
...
After the November 2000 election, Abramoff's firm billed its Mariana Islands clients for at least one meeting with Blunt and three meetings with Blunt's staff, billing records show. Abramoff's team also reported several meetings with DeLay and his staff on the issue, including one during the presidential convention.

On May 24, 2000 — just before DeLay left with Abramoff for the Scottish golfing trip — DeLay's convention fundraising group transferred $100,000 more to Blunt's group. Within three weeks, Blunt turned around and donated the same amount to the Missouri Republican Party.

The next month, the state GOP began spending large amounts of money to help Blunt's son, Matt, in his successful campaign to become Missouri secretary of state. On July 25, 2000, the state GOP made its first expenditure for the younger Blunt, totaling just over $11,000. By election day, that figure had grown to more than $160,000.

Hartley said Blunt always liked to help the state party and the fact that his son got party help after his donation was a coincidence. "They are unrelated activities," he said. ...

the House been hijacked by a small band of extremists bent on building a ruthless shakedown machine ...

Tom DeLay's House of Shame - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com: "By Jonathan Alter | Newsweek | Oct. 10, 2005 issue

Congress has always had its share of extremists. But the DeLay era is the first time the fringe has ever been in charge.

A decade ago, I paid a call on Tom DeLay in his ornate office in the Capitol. I had heard a rumor about him that I figured could not possibly be true. The rumor was that after the GOP took control of the House that year, DeLay had begun keeping a little black book with the names of Washington lobbyists who wanted to come see him. If the lobbyists were not Republicans and contributors to his power base, they didn't get into "the people's House." DeLay not only confirmed the story, he showed me the book. His time was limited, DeLay explained with a genial smile. Why should he open his door to people who were not on the team?

Thus began what historians will regard as the single most corrupt decade in the long and colorful history of the House of Representatives. ... But never before has the leadership of the House been hijacked by a small band of extremists bent on building a ruthless shakedown machine, lining the pockets of their richest constituents and rolling back popular protections for ordinary people. These folks borrow like banana republics and spend like Tip O'Neill on speed.
...
This is a man who calls the Environmental Protection Agency "the Gestapo of government" and favors repealing the Clean Air Act because "it's never been proven that air toxins are hazardous to people"; who insists repeatedly that judges on the other side of issues "need to be intimidated" and rejects the idea of a separation of church and state; who claims there are no parents trying to raise families on the minimum wage—that "fortunately, such families do not exist" (at least Newt Gingrich was intrigued by the challenges of poverty); who once said: "A woman can't take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure." I could go on all day.
...
How have they succeeded? A new book, "Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy," by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, explains how the GOP is simply better than the Democratic Party at the basic blocking and tackling of politics, including the exploitation of cultural and religious issues. The authors argue that even if DeLay goes down, the zealotry and corporate shilling will continue as long as the GOP controls the House. Consider DeLay's temporary replacement, Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt. The Washington Post reported last week that Blunt is respected by Republican members in part because he has "strong ties to the Washington lobbying community." That's a qualification for office? ...

Iraq war delayed Katrina relief effort, inquiry finds

Independent Online Edition > Americas : app5: "2 October 2005 20:49 | Iraq war delayed Katrina relief effort, inquiry finds | By Kim Sengupta | Published: 03 October 2005

Relief efforts to combat Hurricane Katrina suffered near catastrophic failures due to endemic corruption, divisions within the military and troop shortages caused by the Iraq war, an official American inquiry into the disaster has revealed.

The confidential report, which has been seen by The Independent, details how funds for flood control were diverted to other projects, desperately needed National Guards were stuck in Iraq and how military personnel had to "sneak off post" to help with relief efforts because their commander had refused permission.
...
The document was compiled by Stephen Henthorne, a former professor of the US Army's War College and an adviser to the Pentagon who was a deputy-director in the Louisiana relief efforts.
..
The report states that Brigadier General Michael D Barbero, commander of the Joint Readiness Training Centre at Fort Polk, Louisiana, refused permission for special forces units who volunteered to join relief efforts, to do so. ...
...
"The same general did take in some families from Hurricane Katrina, but only military families living off the base," the report says. "He has done a similar thing for military families displaced by Hurricane Rita. However, he declined to share water with the citizens of Leesville, who are out of water, and his civil affairs staff have to sneak off post in civilian clothes to help coordinate relief efforts." The report says deployment in the Iraq war led to serious problems. "Another major factor in the delayed response to the hurricane aftermath was that the bulk of the Louisiana and Mississippi National Guard was deployed in Iraq.

"Even though all the states have 'compacts' with each other, pledging to come to the aid of other states, it takes time, money and effort to activate and deploy National Guard troops from other states to fill in".
...
The report concludes: "The one thing this disaster has demonstrated [is] the lack of coordinated, in-depth planning and training on all levels of Government, for any/all types of emergency contingencies. 9/11 was an exception because the geographical area was small and contained, but these two hurricanes have clearly demonstrated a national response weakness ... Failure to plan, and train properly has plagued US efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and now that failure has come home to roost in the United States."

Group Lists 13 'Most Corrupt' in Congress - among them Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt + Tom Delay

Group Lists 13 'Most Corrupt' in Congress - Los Angeles Times: "By Chuck Neubauer, Times Staff Writer" | September 25, 2005

# Three California lawmakers are named by the ethics watchdog. A spokesman for one senator says the report is 'pure politics.'

A watchdog group, naming what it calls "the 13 most corrupt members of Congress," is calling for ethics investigations of some of the most prominent leaders on Capitol Hill in a report to be released Monday.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says in its report that the 13 members, among them Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), might have violated a variety of congressional ethics rules.

The bipartisan list includes three Californians: Reps. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe).

Cunningham is one of two House members whose residences have been searched as part of separate federal criminal investigations. The other, Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), also is named on the watchdog group's list.

Three of those named on the list — Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Reps. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) — were cited for their dealings with onetime super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is the subject of congressional and federal grand jury investigations. Abramoff was indicted last month on fraud charges relating to a Florida business deal. He has pleaded not guilty.
...
Sloan expressed impatience with both parties. "Democrats are just as much to blame as Republicans for the current ethics deadlock. The Democrats won't file ethics complaints against even the most egregious violators like DeLay and Ney…. The Democrats are spineless," she said.

The Raw Story | Company run by Frist's brother made $630m deal two days before he announced he would be leader

The Raw Story | Company run by Frist's brother made $630m deal two days before he announced he would be leader: "John Byrne
...
Today, a RAW STORY investigation has turned up more intrigue surrounding Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's affiliation with his family's booming for-profit hospital chain, HCA.
Advertisement

Just two days before Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) stepped down as Majority Leader in 2002, the company Frist's father started quietly settled a massive Medicare fraud lawsuit for $630 million. The eleventh-hour deal -- brokered with Justice Department attorneys after a seven-year court battle -- was made as Frist (R-TN) secured the necessary votes to assume the Senate's top post.

Those close to the case tell RAW STORY that top HCA executives were scheduled to be deposed the following month. Frist's brother, Thomas Jr., would have been forced to go on the record during the opening days of the senator's tenure as leader.

The timing of the agreement could raise further questions about Frist's ties to the company. Given that the Justice Department had been investigating HCA since 1993 -- some 120 months -- the coincidence of a settlement date so close to Frist's leadership election is striking. ...

But no. Members of the Republican caucus rushed into an emergency repair session and opted to continue their shabby business as usual

The Wrong-Way Congress - New York Times: "Published: September 30, 2005

The indictment of the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, should have been an opportunity for Republicans to show the nation that they are ready to turn the page on the abuses of big-money politics and lobbyist pandering. At a minimum, you'd think the party would want to demonstrate that it had moved beyond Mr. DeLay's philosophy that Congress should feel free to break the bank with out-of-control spending and tax cuts for the wealthy as long as it made G.O.P. contributors happy.

But no. Members of the Republican caucus rushed into an emergency repair session and - quite amazingly - opted to continue their shabby business as usual. In choosing Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri as Mr. DeLay's immediate replacement, the members presented as their new face of leadership still another political wheeler-dealer best known for his deep ties to Washington's corporate lobbying industry.

A hand-groomed protégé of Mr. DeLay, Mr. Blunt promises no change in the retrogressive Republican program that has polarized the nation and driven generations of taxpayers into deeper national debt.

Sycophantic supporters are already praising the new majority leader as more of a "conciliator," with a lighter touch and "more approachable" personality - as if the lawmakers' challenge were all about their own intramural peace rather than the nation's fraying commonweal.

Speaker Dennis Hastert's initial attempt to quickly slip the majority gavel to Representative David Dreier of California caused a rebellion by conservatives who found Mr. Dreier too "moderate," even though he has spent much of his career doing Mr. DeLay's bidding. "Moderate" is a highly relative, if not extinct, word in the G.O.P. caucus. So the But no. Members of the Republican caucus rushed into an emergency repair session and - quite amazingly - opted to continue their shabby business as usual. In choosing Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri as Mr. DeLay's immediate replacement, the members presented as their new face of leadership still another political wheeler-dealer best known for his deep ties to Washington's corporate lobbying industry.

A hand-groomed protégé of Mr. DeLay, Mr. Blunt promises no change in the retrogressive Republican program that has polarized the nation and driven generations of taxpayers into deeper national debt.

Sycophantic supporters are already praising the new majority leader as more of a "conciliator," with a lighter touch and "more approachable" personality - as if the lawmakers' challenge were all about their own intramural peace rather than the nation's fraying commonweal.

Speaker Dennis Hastert's initial attempt to quickly slip the majority gavel to Representative David Dreier of California caused a rebellion by conservatives who found Mr. Dreier too "moderate," even though he has spent much of his career doing Mr. DeLay's bidding. "Moderate" is a highly relative, if not extinct, word in the G.O.P. caucus. So the befuddled speaker settled on Mr. Blunt, a hidebound conservative known for his talent as the whip in forcefully delivering administration bills and corporate campaign donations. .

America Today: Crisis? What Crisis? corruption ... global warming ... no bid contracts ... budget out of control ... That's the way it is.

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