Court Blocks DOD's New Rules for Workers: new regulations "entirely eviscerate collective bargaining."

Court Blocks DOD's New Rules for Workers: "By Christopher Lee | Washington Post Staff Writer | Tuesday, February 28, 2006; Page A01

Collective Bargaining Hurt, Judge Says

A federal judge blocked the Defense Department from implementing much of its new personnel system yesterday, handing the Bush administration a major setback in its efforts to streamline work rules and install pay-for-performance systems in federal workplaces.

In a 77-page decision, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that the Pentagon's National Security Personnel System (NSPS) fails to ensure collective bargaining rights, does not provide an independent third-party review of labor relations decisions and would leave employees without a fair process for appealing disciplinary actions.

"Taken as a whole, the design of these regulations appears to rest on the mistaken premise that Congress intended flexibility to trump collective bargaining rights," wrote Sullivan, who noted that the new regulations "entirely eviscerate collective bargaining." ...

Coast Guard Warned of Port Deal Intel Gaps

Excite News: "Coast Guard Warned of Port Deal Intel Gaps | Feb 27, 8:01 PM (ET) | By LIZ SIDOTI

WASHINGTON (AP) - Citing broad gaps in U.S. intelligence, the Coast Guard cautioned the Bush administration weeks ago that it could not determine whether a United Arab Emirates-based company seeking a stake in some U.S. port operations might support terrorist operations.

The disclosure came during a hearing Monday on Dubai-owned DP World's plans to assume significant operations at six leading U.S. ports. It also clouded whether the Bush administration's agreement to conduct an unusual investigation into the pending takeover's security risks would allay lawmakers' concerns.

The administration said the Coast Guard's concerns were raised during its review of the deal, which it approved Jan. 17, and that all those questions were resolved. London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. now handles the port operations.

"There are many intelligence gaps, concerning the potential for DPW or P&O assets to support terrorist operations, that precludes an overall threat assessment" of the potential merger, an unclassified Coast Guard intelligence assessment said.

"The breadth of the intelligence gaps also infer potential unknown threats against a large number of potential vulnerabilities," said the half-page assessment. Officials said it was an unclassified excerpt from a larger document.

In a statement, the Coast Guard said the concerns reflected in the excerpt ultimately were addressed and that other U.S. intelligence agencies answered the questions it raised. ...

Viewed cynically, deliberately underfinancing the parks could create the necessary cover for opening the parks to more commercial activity

Crossroads in the National Parks - New York Times: "Published: February 27, 2006

The Interior Department has extended the period in which the public may comment on the National Park Service's controversial plan to rewrite the management policies for the national parks.

But the extension was unnecessary, just as the rewrite itself is unnecessary. The public has already spoken and so have its elected representatives. Their central message is that the administration's proposed revisions will serve no one, least of all the parks, and that the Interior Department would be well advised to abandon the effort.

The main problem with the proposed revisions is that, taken together, they shift the management focus from the park service's central, historic mission — preserving natural resources for the enjoyment of future generations — to commercial and recreational use of the park for today's generation. As many members of the House and Senate have pointed out in letters to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, air quality and wilderness are especially at risk since the policy appears to invite greater use of snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles.

We hope that Congress can dissuade Ms. Norton and her parks director, Fran Mainella, from proceeding with these unnecessary changes. But even if it does, it will still have one more battle to fight. And that is to provide the money the National Park Service needs to operate the parks properly and to repair their deteriorating infrastructure.

President Bush's new budget calls for a $100 million cut in park appropriations. Viewed cynically, deliberately underfinancing the parks could create the necessary cover for opening the parks to more commercial activity — the last thing the parks need. ...

Alternative Minimum Tax-- large families with big mortgages in high-tax jurisdictions -- blue states -- are likely victims.

AMT Hits In the Middle: "By Albert B. Crenshaw | Washington Post Staff Writer | Sunday, February 26, 2006; Page F01

Purveyors of irony must also enjoy the AMT. Cooked up back in the 1960s to try to make sure the wealthy couldn't parlay loopholes to escape taxes entirely, the tax was enacted in more or less its present form in the 1980s. Other than some tax-rate increases and some minor adjustments, it has been left largely alone, allowing inflation slowly but steadily to increase its reach.

Today, because of inflation and other factors, the tax is almost as likely to fall upon the merely well-to-do as upon the truly wealthy. And because of the way it is structured, large families with big mortgages in high-tax jurisdictions -- blue states -- are likely victims. ...

Chromium Industry Scientists Accused of Withholding Data --- Research on Cancer-Causing Chemical Was Reworked

Chromium Industry Scientists Accused of Withholding Data: "By Rick Weiss | Washington Post Staff Writer | Thursday, February 23, 2006; 7:33 PM

Report Says Research on Cancer-Causing Chemical Was Reworked

Scientists working for the chromium industry withheld data about the metal's health risks while the industry campaigned to block strict new limits on the cancer-causing chemical, according to a scientific journal report published today.

The allegations, by researchers at George Washington University and the Washington-based Public Citizen Health Research Group, are based on secret industry documents obtained by the authors.

They come just days before the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is scheduled to announce its new standard for workplace exposure to hexavalent chromium -- a known carcinogen handled by 380,000 U.S. workers in the steel, aerospace, electroplating and other industries.

Documents in the report, published in the online journal Environmental Health, show that the industry conducted a pivotal study that found a five-fold increase in lung cancer deaths from moderate exposures to chromium but never published the results or gave them to OSHA. Company-sponsored scientists later reworked the data in a way that made the risk disappear.

OSHA has not said what the new limit will be. But sources close to the agency have been told to expect a standard that would allow five times more exposure than it had initially proposed -- a shift that would be a victory for the industry, saving it billions of dollars in upgrades and plant closures.

Company representatives and the contract scientist who led the reworked analysis denied any wrongdoing.

"The idea that there was a conspiracy here . . . is completely and utterly false," said Kate McMahon-Lohrer, an attorney at Collier Shannon and counsel to the Chromium Coalition, an industry group that has worked for a decade to forestall tighter regulation.

But David Michaels, director of the project on scientific knowledge and public policy at GWU's School of Public Health and a senior author of the report, compared the industry's behavior to that of tobacco and pharmaceutical companies that were found to have withheld damning evidence of risks associated with their products. ...

Playing With Pension Reform

Playing With Pension Reform - New York Times: "Published: February 23, 2006

Delta could soon become the third major airline in the past two years to default on its pensions. If it does, federal pension insurance would cover some $8.4 billion in benefits. Even so, many Delta employees could end up with less than they expected. And American taxpayers would move closer to the prospect of having to bail out the federal pension insurance agency.

The traditional employer-provided pension system is in trouble, and Congress is right to be considering reforms that would prevent defaults, or at least mitigate them, while shoring up federal pension insurance. Unfortunately, the bills that have emerged from the reform effort have serious weaknesses that would undercut those worthy goals, and in some cases could make things worse.

One of the worst provisions — currently in the Senate version of the reform bill — would exempt ailing airlines from tougher new pension-funding rules that would apply to all other companies.
...
... The same dangerous tendency to loosen the rules governing a federally insured activity at a time of growing risks was a big catalyst in the savings and loan wipeout of the 1980's.

Another flawed reform proposal could make it easier for companies to hide their pension troubles. Currently, a company must tell the federal insurer when its pension deficit reaches $50 million, so the government can track its risk. A House measure would adopt a new formula to determine when a deficit must be disclosed. If the proposed formula had been in place all along, about half of the companies that have ever defaulted might never have had to give any warning of trouble, according to the Center on Federal Financial Institutions, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington.

Into this sausage mix President Bush recently threw a budget proposal that calls on Congress to raise $16.7 billion from underfunded pension plans. But to raise that much, the insurance premium would need to be as high as 1.8 percent of the underfunding. That's twice as much as Congress would impose, and it would probably push weak plans over the edge. In fact, the administration's proposal is not serious. It's a silly attempt to show "savings" in one area in order to advance unaffordable presidential priorities — tax cuts — elsewhere.

Prices for [some] most popular drugs have jumped an average of 4 percent under the new Medicare drug benefit since it began last month

Stock Market News and Investment Information | Reuters.com: "Reports: Drug prices rise under US Medicare plan | Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:24 PM ET |
By Susan Heavey

WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Prices for some of the most popular medicines used by seniors have jumped an average of 4 percent under the new Medicare drug benefit since it began last month, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The report, released by the Democratic staff of the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee, found prices for Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) pain reliever Celebrex, Merck Inc.'s (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) cholesterol drug Zocor and eight other top drugs offered by 10 major plans rose during the controversial program's first seven weeks.

In some cases, drug prices rose 10 percent, it also found.

The report looked at plans offered by Aetna Inc. (AET.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Humana Inc. (HUM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Medco Health Solutions Inc. (MHS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and senior consumer group AARP, which offers its plan with UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

"The private insurers offering the new Medicare drug plans are not providing seniors and individuals with disabilities with low drug prices," it said, adding the rise outpaced inflation as well as drug price increases found via drugstore.com and in Canada. ...

Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer

Capitol Hill Blue: Secret Service agents say Cheney was drunk when he shot lawyer: "By DOUG THOMPSON | Feb 22, 2006, 07:35

Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was 'clearly inebriated' at the time of the shooting.

Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited 'visible signs' of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.

According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.

We talked with a number of administration officials who are privy to inside information on the Vice President's shooting 'accident' and all admit Secret Service agents and others say they saw Cheney consume far more than the 'one beer' he claimed he drank at lunch earlier that day.

'This was a South Texas hunt,' says one White House aide. 'Of course there was drinking. There's always drinking. Lots of it.'" ...

DU Scandal Explodes - 56 percent of the 580,400 solders that served in the first Gulf War were on Permanent Medical Disability by 2000

DU Scandal Explodes - Horrendous US Casualties: "DU Scandal Explodes - Horrendous US Casualties | FreeMarketNews.com | 2-22-6

The Preventive Psychiatry Newsletter has written to its subscribers telling them that the real reason the former Veterans Affairs Secretary, Anthony Principi, recently resigned was because he has been involved in a massive scandal covering up the fact that Gulf War Syndrome was caused by the use of depleted uranium, according to the SF Bay View.

In the article Arthur Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law, reportedly wrote that 'thousands of our military have suffered and died from, [and depleted uranium] has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is now being revealed.' Bernklau went on to detail several alarming statistics. The historical disability rate amongst soldiers last century was about 5 percent, although it approached 10 percent during Vietnam. But due to the use of depleted uranium in the battlefield, 56 percent of the 580,400 solders that served in the first Gulf War were on Permanent Medical Disability by 2000. 11,000 Gulf War veterans are already dead. Now 518,739 Gulf War Veterans, almost all of them, are currently on medical disability.

Principi, under the order of the Bush Administration, had been allegedly covering up the disastrous results of using depleted uranium since 2000. However, with so many soldiers having serious health problems it has become impossible to keep secret.

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=8018"

Bankruptcy: new barriers for 79 percent into financial trouble because of job loss, huge medical expenses or the death of a spouse,

Excite News: "Lawyer Group Criticizes New Bankruptcy Law | Feb 22, 5:37 PM (ET) | By MARCY GORDON

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new law making it harder to erase debts in bankruptcy has failed to stop abuses and has stymied people who have legitimate reasons to file, a group representing bankruptcy attorneys contended Wednesday.

A report released by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys was based on an analysis of 61,335 people who have gone to credit counseling agencies, the required first step before filing bankruptcy under the law that took effect on Oct. 17.

Of the 61,335, 97 percent were unable to repay any debts and 79 percent had gotten into financial trouble because of job loss, huge medical expenses or the death of a spouse, the report said.

'Contrary to the claims of proponents of bankruptcy-law changes that they would zero in on the alleged legions of 'deadbeats,'' the new law is doing no measurable good, said Brad Botes, executive director of the bankruptcy lawyers' group. 'Instead, (it has) put new hurdles in the path of people who are already flat on their back due to financial crises over which they have no control.'" ...
...
Opponents have said the changes in the law will fall especially hard on low-income working people, single mothers, minorities and the elderly and will remove a safety net for those who have lost their jobs or face mounting medical bills. ...

The President and the Ports - strange choice for his first veto after more than five years in office

The President and the Ports - New York Times: "Editorial | Published: February 22, 2006

If President Bush follows through on his threat, he'll be making a strange choice for his first veto after more than five years in office. After giving a pass to a parade of misbegotten Congressional initiatives and irresponsible budget packages, he'd be choosing to take a stand over the right to hand control of operations at major American ports to a company based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and controlled by that government.

And Congress, which is making a bipartisan show of beating its collective chest, is being rather tardy in taking a stand, given the way it has looked on indifferently as the administration has ignored Congress's own rights of oversight and its constituents' right not to be targets of extralegal spying.

Nevertheless, Congress is right to resist the ports deal, in which the company, Dubai Ports World, would take over the British company now running these operations. The issue is not, as Mr. Bush is now claiming, a question of bias against a Middle Eastern company. The United Arab Emirates is an ally, but its record in the war on terror is mixed. It is not irrational for the United States to resist putting port operations, perhaps the most vulnerable part of the security infrastructure, under that country's control. And there is nothing in the Homeland Security Department's record to make doubters feel confident in its assurances that all proper precautions will be taken.

The Bush administration has followed a disturbing pattern in its approach to the war on terror. It has been perpetually willing to sacrifice individual rights in favor of security. But it has been loath to do the same thing when it comes to business interests. It has not imposed reasonable safety requirements on chemical plants, one of the nation's greatest points of vulnerability, or on the transport of toxic materials. The ports deal is another decision that has made the corporations involved happy, and has made ordinary Americans worry about whether they are being adequately protected. ....

Bush administration is handing over, (and even threatened to veto the checks and balances of congress), our port security to the United Arab Emirates.

Tallitsch For U.S. Congress ‘06 � GOP and National Security: How’s that working out for you?: "Posted by Administrator under Bobby Jindal , Karl Rove , Republicans In Congress , Bush

If a fiction writer wrote a book that posed the idea that the United States government, which is waging a war against “terrorists” or any foreign enemy, suddenly gave that same enemy a contract to guard our ports, that author would be laughed off, never published and mocked for such a ridiculous idea. The concept is so unbelievable, that fiction can’t even make it plausible.

Yet, here we are.

The Bush administration is handing over, (and even threatened to veto the checks and balances of congress), our port security to the United Arab Emirates. Yes, that esteemed group who financed the 9/11 hi-jackers, are going to monitor what comes into America by sea. The very people, who floated the bill for the hi-jackers to live in the United States, complete their pilot’s training and kill 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. According to Bush, these are the same people who’ve got our backs. ...

Bush's aides' biz ties to Arab firm that will run US ports ... one ex-executive, one did $1.5B deal with Dubai Ports

New York Daily News - Home - W aides' biz ties to Arab firm: "BY MICHAEL McAULIFF | DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Breaking news update: Bush shrugs off objections to port deal

WASHINGTON - The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.

One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The ties raised more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the 9/11 hijackers." ...

� Revealed: Muni WiFi's enemy #1 is SBC-AT&T's #1 campaign contribution recipient | IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband | ZDNet.com

� Revealed: Muni WiFi's enemy #1 is SBC-AT&T's #1 campaign contribution recipient | IP Telephony, VoIP, Broadband | ZDNet.com: "February 15, 2006
...
Funny how some politicians talk about the virtues of "open markets," and "public-private partnerships," - except when those open markets and partnerships threaten the bottom line of companies and industries these pols seem to be partial to.

Some are partial to these companies and industries because of their authentic belief systems. While there's absolutely no evidence that Rep. Sessions favoring of big telecom is informed by anything but his honest belief in the private sector, it is interesting to note one of his major contributors in the last (2004) completed Congressional campaign and election cycle.

Take a look, courtesy of OpenSecrets.org:

Federal agencies are using arcane regulations and legal opinions to shield automakers and others from challenges by consumers and states.

Industries Get Quiet Protection From Lawsuits - Los Angeles Times: "By Myron Levin and Alan C. Miller, Times Staff Writers | feb 19, 2006

# Federal agencies are using arcane regulations and legal opinions to shield automakers and others from challenges by consumers and states.

Parker's case and hundreds like it are behind a beefed-up roof safety standard proposed in August by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. But safety regulators tucked into the proposed rule something vehicle makers have long desired: protection from future roof-crush lawsuits like the one Parker filed.

The surprise move seeking legal protection for automakers is one in a series of recent steps by federal agencies to shield leading industries from state regulation and civil lawsuits on the grounds that they conflict with federal authority.

Some of these efforts are already facing court challenges. However, through arcane regulatory actions and legal opinions, the Bush administration is providing industries with an unprecedented degree of protection at the expense of an individual's right to sue and a state's right to regulate.

In other moves by the administration:

• The highway safety agency, a branch of the Department of Transportation, is backing auto industry efforts to stop California and other states from regulating tailpipe emissions they link to global warming. The agency said last summer that any such rule would be a backdoor attempt by states to encroach on federal authority to set mileage standards, and should be preempted.

• The Justice Department helped industry groups overturn a pollution-control rule in Southern California that would have required cleaner-running buses, garbage trucks and other fleet vehicles.

• The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has repeatedly sided with national banks to fend off enforcement of consumer protection laws passed by California, New York and other states. The agency argued that it had sole authority to regulate national banks, preempting state restrictions.

• The Food and Drug Administration issued a legal opinion last month asserting that FDA-approved labels should give pharmaceutical firms broad immunity from most types of lawsuits. The agency previously had filed briefs seeking dismissal of various cases against drug companies and medical-device manufacturers.

In a letter to President Bush on Thursday, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said, "It appears that there may have been an administration-wide directive for agencies … to limit corporate liability through the rule-making process and without the consent of Congress." ...

Chertoff's Sweetheart Deal For Israeli-Owned Carnival Cruise Cruise Line

Chertoff's Sweetheart Deal For Israeli-Owned Carnival Cruise Cruise Line: "By Christopher Bollyn | American Free Press
2-17-6

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, through a hastily arranged deal with Carnival Cruise Lines, $236 million from U.S. taxpayers will flow to a tax exempt Israeli-founded corporation registered in Panama. Before federal assistance even reached the victims of Hurricane Katrina, Carnival Cruise Lines had received a profitable deal to provide three ships to house evacuees from New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The deal, reached on Sept. 2, 2005, will pay Carnival some $236 million for the use of 7,100 berths for six months.

This means that each berth will cost U.S. taxpayers $5,540 per month, or more than $184 per night. The cost per bed can actually be much higher because not all berths will be occupied for the entire 6-month period of the contract. The deal, arranged by the Military Sealift Command of the U.S. Navy at the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has raised questions in Congress about excessive profiteering by Carnival Corp., the parent corporation that owns Carnival Cruise Lines along with 11 other leading cruise brands, including: Cunard Line, P&O Cruises, Princess, and Holland America Line. Carnival Corp. operates a fleet of 79 ships.

Critics in Congress, however, said the cost of the deal with Carnival was exorbitant. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said the cost per berth is more than $1,275 a week, while a 7-day Caribbean cruise costs about $600 per person. 'A short-term temporary solution has turned into a long-term, grossly overpriced sweetheart deal for a cruise line,' Coburn said. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff requesting a copy of the contract and supporting documentation for its cost on Sept. 23. The contract with Carnival includes $44 million for operating costs and an unknown amount to compensate for corporate taxes that could amount to tens of millions of dollars.

The federal department headed by Chertoff agreed to compensate Carnival for its corporate taxes because, while the company is headquartered in Miami, Florida, it is exempt from U.S. income taxes and other taxes because it is registered in Panama and its ship fly under foreign flags. Carnival Corp. reported net income of $1.904 billion the nine-month period ending August 31, 2005, but only paid $43 million in income taxes from its pre-tax income of $1.947, a tax rate of 2.2 percent. The state or nation to which the taxes were paid was not specified. Carnival Corp. was started by the Ted Arison, an Israeli veteran of the 1948 war in Palestine, who came to the United States in the early 1950s, as did Michael Chertoff's mother, Livia Eisen. In 1990. Arison returned to Israel and turned control of Carnival Corp. over to his son, Micky."

Doing the President's Dirty Work

Doing the President's Dirty Work - New York Times: "Published: February 17, 2006

Is there any aspect of President Bush's miserable record on intelligence that Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is not willing to excuse and help to cover up?

For more than a year, Mr. Roberts has been dragging out an investigation into why Mr. Bush presented old, dubious and just plain wrong intelligence on Iraq as solid new proof that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and was in league with Al Qaeda. It was supposed to start after the 2004 election, but Mr. Roberts was letting it die of neglect until the Democrats protested by forcing the Senate into an unusual closed session last November.

Now Mr. Roberts is trying to stop an investigation into Mr. Bush's decision to allow the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without getting the warrants required by a 37-year-old federal law enacted to stop that sort of abuse.

Mr. Roberts had promised to hold a committee vote yesterday on whether to investigate. But he canceled the vote, and then made two astonishing announcements. He said he was working with the White House on amending the 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to permit warrantless spying. And then he suggested that such a change would eliminate the need for an inquiry.

Stifling his own committee without even bothering to get the facts is outrageous. As the vice chairman of the panel, Senator John Rockefeller IV, pointed out, supervising intelligence gathering is in fact the purpose of the intelligence committee.

Mr. Rockefeller said the White House had not offered enough information to make an informed judgment on the program possible. It is withholding, for instance, such minor details as how the program works, how it is reviewed, how much and what kind of information is collected, and how the information is stored and used. ...

Abu Ghraib leaked report reveals full extent of abuse

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Abu Ghraib leaked report reveals full extent of abuse | : "Suzanne Goldenberg in WashingtonFriday February 17, 2006 | The Guardian

� 1,325 images of suspected detainee abuse
� 93 video files of suspected detainee abuse
� 660 images of adult pornography
� 546 images of suspected dead Iraqi detainees
� 29 images of soldiers in simulated sexual acts

Nearly two years after the first pictures of naked and humiliated Iraqi detainees emerged from Abu Ghraib prison, the full extent of the abuse became known for the first time yesterday with a leaked report from the US army's internal investigation into the scandal.
...
There are also images of physical violence: a blood-streaked cell, and a picture of the battered face of a corpse packed in ice. "The DVD also includes photographs of guards threatening Iraqi prisoners with dogs, homemade videotapes depicting hooded prisoners being forced to masturbate, and a video showing a mentally disturbed prisoner smashing his head against a door. Oddly, the material also includes numerous photographs of slaughtered animals and mundane images of soldiers travelling around Iraq," Salon said. ...

In Afghan abuse cases, punishments are light ... only one conviction ...

The Raw Story | In Afghan abuse cases, punishments are light: "In Afghan abuse cases, punishments are light |

Published: February 12, 2006

...
Of 27 soldiers and officers against whom Army investigators had recommended criminal charges, 15 have been prosecuted. Five of those have pleaded guilty to assault and other crimes; the stiffest punishment any of them have received has been five months in a military prison. Only one soldier has been convicted at trial; he was not imprisoned at all.

While military lawyers said the pleas were negotiated in exchange for information or testimony against other soldiers, the prosecution has gained no evident momentum. Four former guards accused of assaulting detainees were acquitted in recent courts-martial. Charges against a fifth former guard were dropped.

CIA chief sacked for opposing torture - Sunday Times - he wasn’t ‘with the programme’

CIA chief sacked for opposing torture - Sunday Times - Times Online: "February 12, 2006 | Sarah Baxter and Michael Smith, Washington

The CIA’s top counter-terrorism official was fired last week because he opposed detaining Al-Qaeda suspects in secret prisons abroad, sending them to other countries for interrogation and using forms of torture such as “water boarding”, intelligence sources have claimed.

Robert Grenier, head of the CIA counter-terrorism centre, was relieved of his post after a year in the job. One intelligence official said he was “not quite as aggressive as he might have been” in pursuing Al-Qaeda leaders and networks.

Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of counter-terrorism at the agency, said: “It is not that Grenier wasn’t aggressive enough, it is that he wasn’t ‘with the programme’. He expressed misgivings about the secret prisons in Europe and the rendition of terrorists.”

Grenier also opposed “excessive” interrogation, such as strapping suspects to boards and dunking them in water, according to Cannistraro." ...

House Committee Kills Torture Inquiries ... in a party line vote

House Committee Kills Torture Inquiries :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it: "Brendan Coyne, The NewStandard

Feb. 10 2006 – A key House of Representatives committee Wednesday put a quick stop to three resolutions to investigate the US government’s tactical use and support of torture in the "war on terror." In a party line vote, the International Relations Committee turned back three proposals to demand information on extraordinary renditions and abusive treatment of detainees from the Executive Branch. ...

Bush Budget Would Cut Popular Health Programs

Bush Budget Would Cut Popular Health Programs: "By Ceci Connolly | Washington Post Staff Writer | Tuesday, February 14, 2006; Page A03

President Bush has requested billions more to prepare for potential disasters such as a biological attack or an influenza epidemic, but his proposed budget for next year would zero out popular health projects that supporters say target more mundane, but more certain, killers.

If enacted, the 2007 budget would eliminate federal programs that support inner-city Indian health clinics, defibrillators in rural areas, an educational campaign about Alzheimer's disease, centers for traumatic brain injuries, and a nationwide registry for Lou Gehrig's disease. It would cut close to $1 billion in health care grants to states and would kill the entire budget of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center. ...

Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information (02/09/2006): "By Murray Waas, National Journal | National Journal Group Inc. | Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been 'authorized' by Cheney and other White House 'superiors' in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.

Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald. ...

soldiers Face Debilitating Diseases ... sources of the diseases may be depleted uranium

nbc30.com - News - Soldiers Face Debilitating Diseases: "UPDATED: 11:21 am EST February 8, 2006

They served their time in the military in places like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and more recently, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most returned in good health.

But an NBC 30 investigation has found that for some soldiers, their service has meant a long and debilitating death sentence with mysterious diseases.

'I have good days, I have bad days,' said M. Sterry, of New Haven. 'There were eight of us that served together. Six of my friends are dead.'

She looks healthy, but Sterry is a very sick woman who has no idea how much longer she will live.

"I've had three heart attacks, two heart surgeries. I have chronic headaches, chronic upper respiratory infections. I get pneumonia two or three times a year," she said. "I have chronic fatigue, joint aches, muscle aches. I have a rash that migrates all over my body."
...
State Sen. Gayle Slossberg said one of the sources of the diseases may be depleted uranium. She was one of those who helped pass legislation last year setting up a health registry in Connecticut, strictly to keep records on our military personnel. ..

Bush's Social Security Sleight of Hand ... $700B for private accounts hidden in budget

Bush's Social Security Sleight of Hand: "By Allan Sloan | Wednesday, February 8, 2006; Page D02

If you read enough numbers, you never know what you'll find. Take President Bush and private Social Security accounts.

Last year, even though Bush talked endlessly about the supposed joys of private accounts, he never proposed a specific plan to Congress and never put privatization costs in the budget. But this year, with no fanfare whatsoever, Bush stuck a big Social Security privatization plan in the federal budget proposal, which he sent to Congress on Monday.

His plan would let people set up private accounts starting in 2010 and would divert more than $700 billion of Social Security tax revenues to pay for them over the first seven years. ...

Boehner Rents Apartment Owned by Lobbyist in D.C.

Boehner Rents Apartment Owned by Lobbyist in D.C.: "By Thomas B. Edsall and Jonathan Weisman | Washington Post Staff Writers | Wednesday, February 8, 2006; Page A03

Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), who was elected House majority leader last week, is renting his Capitol Hill apartment from a veteran lobbyist whose clients have direct stakes in legislation Boehner has co-written and that he has overseen as chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

The relationship between Boehner, John D. Milne and Milne's wife, Debra R. Anderson, underscores how intertwined senior lawmakers have become with the lobbyists paid to influence legislation. Boehner's primary residence is in West Chester, Ohio, but for $1,600 a month, he rents a two-bedroom basement apartment near the House office buildings on Capitol Hill owned by Milne, Boehner spokesman Don Seymour said yesterday. Boehner's monthly rent appears to be similar to other rentals of two-bedroom English basement apartments close to the House side of the Capitol in Southeast, based on a review of apartment listings.
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Lobbying disclosure forms indicate that one of Milne's clients, Fortis Health Plans, hired him to lobby the Economic Security and Worker Assistance Act.

Another client, the Buca di Beppo chain of Italian restaurants, hired Milne to push the Small Business Tax Fairness Act, which would allow restaurants to deduct the cost of investments at a faster pace. The measure was introduced by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Tex.) in 2003, with Boehner as one of 15 co-sponsors. Many of its provisions have since become law.

Fortis, now called Assurant Health, also asked Milne to push Health Savings Accounts, the tax-free savings accounts established by Congress to help with health care costs not covered by high-deductible plans. Boehner is a proponent of such accounts, which President Bush is targeting for a major expansion.

Buca di Beppo and another restaurant chain, Parasole Restaurant Holdings Inc., also hired Milne to lobby on the minimum wage and tax credits for tips, issues directly under the Education and the Workforce Committee's purview. ...

Groups Slam Voter ID Regs - "rollback in voting rights."

With Bills Nearing Enactment, Groups Slam Voter ID Regs - The NewStandard: "With Bills Nearing Enactment, Groups Slam Voter ID Regs
by Brendan Coyne

Feb. 6 – As legislatures in four states have passed laws requiring photographic identification at the polls, voting rights groups are alarmed at a trend they say appears to mark the resurgence of poll taxes and other voter-discouragement efforts, despite a lack of evidence that an ID fraud problem exists.

Last week, Ohio Governor Robert Taft and Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue each signed laws mandating voters show government-issued photo IDs in order to cast their ballots.

Groups like the NAACP and the League of Women Voters had asked the governors to veto the laws, saying that they unconstitutionally impede ballot access.

Voting-rights groups worry that senior citizens and poor minorities – two groups that are less likely to have driver’s licenses or birth certificates and other documentation required to obtain accepted identification, will be turned away at the polls.

Lawmakers in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire recently passed similar legislation in the face of criticism, with supporters maintaining the laws are necessary to combat voter fraud.

Though the four bills differ in a number of ways, all are purportedly designed to combat a problem for which there is little hard evidence. Very little study has been conducted on the prevalence of voter fraud involving double-voting or voter impersonation. Meanwhile, proponents of measures to restrict voting have relied on anecdotal and vague evidence to support their measures.

On of the more comprehensive analyses of voter disenfranchisement in the US was conducted in 2003 for the progressive democracy think tank Demos. The researchers interviewed state officials in 12 states and scoured news databases for instances of prosecutable voter fraud. They concluded: "Election fraud appears to be very rare in the 12 states examined. Legal and news records turned up little evidence of significant fraud in these states or any indication that fraud is more than a minor problem. Interviews with state officials further confirmed this impression."

Friday, Demos issued a call for action against what they termed a "rollback in voting rights." ...
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The Pennsylvania arm of the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan advocate of civic participation, similarly warned last week that the state’s House-approved ID law "disenfranchises voters." The group said, "Proponents have failed to document reliable proof that the integrity of any Pennsylvania election has been compromised."

Last year, Georgia moved to enact a law very similar to the one just passed, only to have a federal judge strike it down, agreeing with critics, in essence, that the law amounted to a poll tax reminiscent of the South’s Jim Crow era. In an effort to head off similar problems and attain Justice Department approval of the new version of the law, the state recently approved $500,000 to help economically disadvantaged people obtain proper ID, the Savannah Morning News reported Friday.

Wounded Soldiers Told They Owe Money to Army ... 'I didn't get paid for four months.'

ABC News: 'Nightline' Investigation: Wounded Soldiers Told They Owe Money to Army: "It started with a phone call from his wife, home with their four children. She didn't have enough money to pay the bills.

'And she was like, well, we haven't been paid,' Simpson said. 'And you know, instantly I was like, I don't know what to do. You know, I'm still in the hospital. I can't actually get up and go around and talk to these different people.'

And until 'Nightline' inquired at the Pentagon, Simpson said he could not find out what happened.

'Every day is something different,' he said. 'Well, this person isn't in. I'll have them call you back, give it a couple days. Couple days go by, I call back, well I got somebody else for you to talk to. And days lead to weeks, and weeks lead to months.'

It turns out the Army had mistakenly continued to pay Simpson a combat duty bonus while he was in the hospital.

He had been overpaid thousands of dollars, and the Army wanted the money back.

'By law, he's not entitled to the money,' said Col. Richard Shrank, 'so he must pay it back.'

Shrank said although that is the law, soldiers can apply for debt forgiveness if they believe the debt is a mistake. So far, more than 800 soldiers have done so. More than 600 of those requests have been granted, amounting to more than $600,000.

So, the Army said it withheld the paralyzed soldier's pay until it got back the amount he owed — with no advance notice, Simpson said.

'Four months,' he said. 'I didn't get paid for four months.'"