New Orleans deaths up 47% | By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY
Hurricane Katrina's tragic aftermath lingered for at least a year after the storm abated, boosting New Orleans' death rate last year by 47% compared with two years before the levees broke, researchers reported Thursday.
Doctors say the dramatic surge in deaths comes as no surprise in a city of 250,000 mostly poor and middle-class people who lost seven of 22 hospitals and half of the city's hospital beds. More than 4,486 doctors were displaced from three New Orleans parishes, creating a shortage that still hampers many hospitals, says a companion study released Thursday.
The indigent suffered the brunt of the health toll from the 2005 storm. The Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, two hospitals that made up the city's safety net for the uninsured, were severely damaged. Charity Hospital, oldest and best known of the two, remains closed. ...
...
That study, released in May, found a death rate of 14.3 per 1,000 people during the first three months of 2006, compared with 11.3 per 1,000 for three-month spans in 2002 and 2004.
But Stephens says the state's figure still tops the U.S. rate of 8.1 per 1,000. "We don't think that's a slight increase, we've think it's a tremendous increase in mortality," he says. He called the state's numbers "inaccurate and incomplete" because they don't count deaths of evacuees who left Louisiana. ...
Monday, June 25, 2007
Eighty-four readings ... would trigger a full-scale federal investigation if these communities were hazardous waste sites.
March 27, 2006, 12:35PM | IN HARM'S WAY | Troubled neighbors | By DINA CAPPIELLO | Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
People who live nearest to the area's refineries and petrochemical complexes have little idea what's in the air that blows across industry's fence line and into their lives.
...
The Chronicle collected air samples on three days last summer in four communities in Houston, Baytown, Freeport and Port Neches. The test was carried out with the same equipment used by plant workers to detect hazardous chemicals in the air, and the samples were analyzed for 18 toxic substances by the University of Texas School of Public Health.
The results of the Chronicle's investigation show that the region's refining and petrochemical industries are in some places contributing to what leading experts on toxic air pollution would consider a risky load of "air toxics," substances that can cause cancer, kidney and liver damage, or other serious health effects in places where people live and work, and where children play.
At 49 of the 100 locations where the newspaper hung air monitors, attaching them to structures such as windowsills, clotheslines, swing sets and Christmas light strands, the quantities of up to five different chemicals would have exceeded levels considered safe in other states with stricter guidelines for air toxics. Unlike the more well-known air pollutants that cause asthma and respiratory effects, the compounds found at elevated levels by the Chronicle have all been linked to cancer. More specifically:
· Levels of the human carcinogen benzene were so high in Manchester and Port Neches that one scientist said living there would be like "sitting in traffic 24-7."
· Eighty-four readings measured by the Chronicle were high enough that they would trigger a full-scale federal investigation if these communities were hazardous waste sites.
· Some compounds detected by the Chronicle, such as the rubber ingredient 1,3-butadiene found at four homes in the Allendale area near Manchester, if inhaled over a lifetime at the concentrations found, could increase a person's chances of contracting cancer, according to federally determined risk levels. Concentrations here were as much as 20 times higher than federal guidelines used for toxic waste dumps.
Such levels attract little attention in Texas and especially in Houston, which for more than half a century has been home to one of the nation's largest industrial complexes and some of the most powerful petrochemical and oil companies. ...
People who live nearest to the area's refineries and petrochemical complexes have little idea what's in the air that blows across industry's fence line and into their lives.
...
The Chronicle collected air samples on three days last summer in four communities in Houston, Baytown, Freeport and Port Neches. The test was carried out with the same equipment used by plant workers to detect hazardous chemicals in the air, and the samples were analyzed for 18 toxic substances by the University of Texas School of Public Health.
The results of the Chronicle's investigation show that the region's refining and petrochemical industries are in some places contributing to what leading experts on toxic air pollution would consider a risky load of "air toxics," substances that can cause cancer, kidney and liver damage, or other serious health effects in places where people live and work, and where children play.
At 49 of the 100 locations where the newspaper hung air monitors, attaching them to structures such as windowsills, clotheslines, swing sets and Christmas light strands, the quantities of up to five different chemicals would have exceeded levels considered safe in other states with stricter guidelines for air toxics. Unlike the more well-known air pollutants that cause asthma and respiratory effects, the compounds found at elevated levels by the Chronicle have all been linked to cancer. More specifically:
· Levels of the human carcinogen benzene were so high in Manchester and Port Neches that one scientist said living there would be like "sitting in traffic 24-7."
· Eighty-four readings measured by the Chronicle were high enough that they would trigger a full-scale federal investigation if these communities were hazardous waste sites.
· Some compounds detected by the Chronicle, such as the rubber ingredient 1,3-butadiene found at four homes in the Allendale area near Manchester, if inhaled over a lifetime at the concentrations found, could increase a person's chances of contracting cancer, according to federally determined risk levels. Concentrations here were as much as 20 times higher than federal guidelines used for toxic waste dumps.
Such levels attract little attention in Texas and especially in Houston, which for more than half a century has been home to one of the nation's largest industrial complexes and some of the most powerful petrochemical and oil companies. ...
Vietnamese government says this has left more than 3 million people [by Agent Orange]
Friday, June 22nd, 2007 | Vietnamese Delegation in U.S. to Sue Chemical Companies for Ongoing Effects of Agent Orange
U.S. warplanes dumped about 18 million gallons of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese government says this has left more than 3 million people disabled. We speak with two Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and their lawyers about how the toxin has affected their lives and why they’re suing over three dozen U.S. chemical companies who manufactured it. [includes rush transcript] ...
...
The list of companies being sued include Dow Chemical and Monsanto. Two of the victims visited our Firehouse studio and described how Agent Orange has affected their lives. Nguyen Thi Hong was exposed to Agent Orange in 1964. She gave birth prematurely to three underweight children, one of whom had a congenital heart defect. She was found to have cancer of the left breast. In addition, she also has cerebral anemia, bone metastasis, cirrhosis, gallstones and bladder-stones, varicose limbs, limb-skin ulcer, weak legs and limited range of movement. Nguyen Muoi wasn't born until after the war ended but has also been affected by Agent Orange. His father was a farmer who served as a cook in Aluoi Valley, a ‘hot spot’ where Agent Orange was stored. I asked them to describe how the dioxin has affected them ...
U.S. warplanes dumped about 18 million gallons of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese government says this has left more than 3 million people disabled. We speak with two Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and their lawyers about how the toxin has affected their lives and why they’re suing over three dozen U.S. chemical companies who manufactured it. [includes rush transcript] ...
...
The list of companies being sued include Dow Chemical and Monsanto. Two of the victims visited our Firehouse studio and described how Agent Orange has affected their lives. Nguyen Thi Hong was exposed to Agent Orange in 1964. She gave birth prematurely to three underweight children, one of whom had a congenital heart defect. She was found to have cancer of the left breast. In addition, she also has cerebral anemia, bone metastasis, cirrhosis, gallstones and bladder-stones, varicose limbs, limb-skin ulcer, weak legs and limited range of movement. Nguyen Muoi wasn't born until after the war ended but has also been affected by Agent Orange. His father was a farmer who served as a cook in Aluoi Valley, a ‘hot spot’ where Agent Orange was stored. I asked them to describe how the dioxin has affected them ...
China's slave scandal kilns used 53,000 illegal workers
China's slave scandal kilns used 53,000 illegal workers | Monday June 25, 2007
Brick kilns and mines at the centre of a slavery scandal used more than 53,000 illegal migrant workers, state media reported Monday, as the probe into the abuses spread.
Fan Duixiang, a senior member of the Shanxi provincial congress, said investigations found that 2,036 of the 3,347 firms it had raided were operating without the necessary licences and illegally using 53,036 migrant workers, a Xinhua report said.
...
So far nearly 600 people, including dozens of under-aged children, have been released from slavery in Shanxi and neighbouring Henan province. ...
Brick kilns and mines at the centre of a slavery scandal used more than 53,000 illegal migrant workers, state media reported Monday, as the probe into the abuses spread.
Fan Duixiang, a senior member of the Shanxi provincial congress, said investigations found that 2,036 of the 3,347 firms it had raided were operating without the necessary licences and illegally using 53,036 migrant workers, a Xinhua report said.
...
So far nearly 600 people, including dozens of under-aged children, have been released from slavery in Shanxi and neighbouring Henan province. ...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Bush outsouring up 86% to $400B/year ... more than half of their outsourcing contracts are not open to competition
There may be as many rent-a-troops in Iraq as U.S. military | The Bushites have outsourced our government to their pals
THE SPRAWLING $43 BILLION HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT (HSD) ... Go to HSD's website, and you'll find a prominent section called "Open For Business." There, on any given day, corporate shoppers can scroll through the hundreds of contracts and grants available to them. Just dip in and grab some cookies, each one worth from $50,000 to more than $80 million. Like the department's color codes, the vast majority of these projects do nothing to make our country safe. Instead, they are make-work studies, silly technologies, and useless systems that essentially serve as mediums for transferring billions of our tax dollars to a few corporate big shots. ...
...
The shadowy and highly lucrative world of government contracting has boomed under George W, rising 86% since he's been in office and now totaling nearly $400 billion a year. Get this: There are now more people doing federal jobs under corporate contracts than there are people employed directly by the government. In other words, in today's government, corporate servants outnumber civil servants.
Bush likes to claim that he has cut the federal bureaucracy. In fact, he's increased it, but most of the people working in his government wear corporate logos. ...
...
Another flaw in this privatization push is that Bush & Company are unabashedly running it as a crony program. An analysis by the Times found that more than half of their outsourcing contracts are not open to competition. In essence, the Bushites choose the company and award the money without getting other bids. Prior to Bush, only 21% of federal contracts were awarded on a no-bid basis.
...
[Halliburton's] The corporation's 2006 profits were $2,348,000,000, and its overall profits have increased over 368% since the Bushites have been in office. ...
THE SPRAWLING $43 BILLION HOMELAND SECURITY DEPARTMENT (HSD) ... Go to HSD's website, and you'll find a prominent section called "Open For Business." There, on any given day, corporate shoppers can scroll through the hundreds of contracts and grants available to them. Just dip in and grab some cookies, each one worth from $50,000 to more than $80 million. Like the department's color codes, the vast majority of these projects do nothing to make our country safe. Instead, they are make-work studies, silly technologies, and useless systems that essentially serve as mediums for transferring billions of our tax dollars to a few corporate big shots. ...
...
The shadowy and highly lucrative world of government contracting has boomed under George W, rising 86% since he's been in office and now totaling nearly $400 billion a year. Get this: There are now more people doing federal jobs under corporate contracts than there are people employed directly by the government. In other words, in today's government, corporate servants outnumber civil servants.
Bush likes to claim that he has cut the federal bureaucracy. In fact, he's increased it, but most of the people working in his government wear corporate logos. ...
...
Another flaw in this privatization push is that Bush & Company are unabashedly running it as a crony program. An analysis by the Times found that more than half of their outsourcing contracts are not open to competition. In essence, the Bushites choose the company and award the money without getting other bids. Prior to Bush, only 21% of federal contracts were awarded on a no-bid basis.
...
[Halliburton's] The corporation's 2006 profits were $2,348,000,000, and its overall profits have increased over 368% since the Bushites have been in office. ...
How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.
The General’s Report | by Seymour M. Hersh June 25, 2007
...
Numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees . . . systemic and illegal abuse.
Taguba was met at the door of the conference room by an old friend, Lieutenant General Bantz J. Craddock, who was Rumsfeld’s senior military assistant. Craddock’s daughter had been a babysitter for Taguba’s two children when the officers served together years earlier at Fort Stewart, Georgia. But that afternoon, Taguba recalled, “Craddock just said, very coldly, ‘Wait here.’ ” In a series of interviews early this year, the first he has given, Taguba told me that he understood when he began the inquiry that it could damage his career; early on, a senior general in Iraq had pointed out to him that the abused detainees were “only Iraqis.” Even so, he was not prepared for the greeting he received when he was finally ushered in.
“Here . . . comes . . . that famous General Taguba—of the Taguba report!” Rumsfeld declared, in a mocking voice. The meeting was attended by Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld’s deputy; Stephen Cambone, the Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J.C.S.); and General Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, along with Craddock and other officials. Taguba, describing the moment nearly three years later, said, sadly, “I thought they wanted to know. I assumed they wanted to know. I was ignorant of the setting.”
In the meeting, the officials professed ignorance about Abu Ghraib. “Could you tell us what happened?” Wolfowitz asked. Someone else asked, “Is it abuse or torture?” At that point, Taguba recalled, “I described a naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum, and said, ‘That’s not abuse. That’s torture.’ There was quiet.”
Rumsfeld was particularly concerned about how the classified report had become public. “General,” he asked, “who do you think leaked the report?” Taguba responded that perhaps a senior military leader who knew about the investigation had done so. “It was just my speculation,” he recalled. “Rumsfeld didn’t say anything.” (I did not meet Taguba until mid-2006 and obtained his report elsewhere.) Rumsfeld also complained about not being given the information he needed. “Here I am,” Taguba recalled Rumsfeld saying, “just a Secretary of Defense, and we have not seen a copy of your report. I have not seen the photographs, and I have to testify to Congress tomorrow and talk about this.” As Rumsfeld spoke, Taguba said, “He’s looking at me. It was a statement.”
At best, Taguba said, “Rumsfeld was in denial.” Taguba had submitted more than a dozen copies of his report through several channels at the Pentagon and to the Central Command headquarters, in Tampa, Florida, which ran the war in Iraq. By the time he walked into Rumsfeld’s conference room, he had spent weeks briefing senior military leaders on the report, but he received no indication that any of them, with the exception of General Schoomaker, had actually read it. (Schoomaker later sent Taguba a note praising his honesty and leadership.) When Taguba urged one lieutenant general to look at the photographs, he rebuffed him, saying, “I don’t want to get involved by looking, because what do you do with that information, once you know what they show?” ...
...
Numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees . . . systemic and illegal abuse.
Taguba was met at the door of the conference room by an old friend, Lieutenant General Bantz J. Craddock, who was Rumsfeld’s senior military assistant. Craddock’s daughter had been a babysitter for Taguba’s two children when the officers served together years earlier at Fort Stewart, Georgia. But that afternoon, Taguba recalled, “Craddock just said, very coldly, ‘Wait here.’ ” In a series of interviews early this year, the first he has given, Taguba told me that he understood when he began the inquiry that it could damage his career; early on, a senior general in Iraq had pointed out to him that the abused detainees were “only Iraqis.” Even so, he was not prepared for the greeting he received when he was finally ushered in.
“Here . . . comes . . . that famous General Taguba—of the Taguba report!” Rumsfeld declared, in a mocking voice. The meeting was attended by Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld’s deputy; Stephen Cambone, the Under-Secretary of Defense for Intelligence; General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J.C.S.); and General Peter Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff, along with Craddock and other officials. Taguba, describing the moment nearly three years later, said, sadly, “I thought they wanted to know. I assumed they wanted to know. I was ignorant of the setting.”
In the meeting, the officials professed ignorance about Abu Ghraib. “Could you tell us what happened?” Wolfowitz asked. Someone else asked, “Is it abuse or torture?” At that point, Taguba recalled, “I described a naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum, and said, ‘That’s not abuse. That’s torture.’ There was quiet.”
Rumsfeld was particularly concerned about how the classified report had become public. “General,” he asked, “who do you think leaked the report?” Taguba responded that perhaps a senior military leader who knew about the investigation had done so. “It was just my speculation,” he recalled. “Rumsfeld didn’t say anything.” (I did not meet Taguba until mid-2006 and obtained his report elsewhere.) Rumsfeld also complained about not being given the information he needed. “Here I am,” Taguba recalled Rumsfeld saying, “just a Secretary of Defense, and we have not seen a copy of your report. I have not seen the photographs, and I have to testify to Congress tomorrow and talk about this.” As Rumsfeld spoke, Taguba said, “He’s looking at me. It was a statement.”
At best, Taguba said, “Rumsfeld was in denial.” Taguba had submitted more than a dozen copies of his report through several channels at the Pentagon and to the Central Command headquarters, in Tampa, Florida, which ran the war in Iraq. By the time he walked into Rumsfeld’s conference room, he had spent weeks briefing senior military leaders on the report, but he received no indication that any of them, with the exception of General Schoomaker, had actually read it. (Schoomaker later sent Taguba a note praising his honesty and leadership.) When Taguba urged one lieutenant general to look at the photographs, he rebuffed him, saying, “I don’t want to get involved by looking, because what do you do with that information, once you know what they show?” ...
[Rumsfled's] 'oh my God, we just didn't know about, we didn't realize how serious it was,' is simply not true
Seymour Hersh reveals shocking new details of Abu Ghraib; 'Father and son forced to do acts together' | John Byrne and David Edwards | Published: Sunday June 17, 2007
...
"The notion... that our leader, Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense and his aides, they all went and testified in May after the stories about Abu Ghraib became public that 'oh my God, we just didn't know about, we didn't realize how serious it was,' is simply not true."
...
"I described the naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum and said, 'That's not abuse, that's torture,'" Taguba said. "There was quiet."
The following day, May 7, Rumsfeld testified before the House Armed Services Committee.
...
"It's not when they saw the photographs," Hersh stresses. "It's when they learned how serious it was. They were told in memos what the photographs showed... They showed other, more sexual abuse than we knew, sodomy of women prisons by American soldiers, a father and his son forced to do acts together. There was more stuff [than] was made public. You didn't need a photograph if you had a verbal description of it.
"It's quite implicit," he added. "They knew very quickly this was bad."
...
"The notion... that our leader, Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense and his aides, they all went and testified in May after the stories about Abu Ghraib became public that 'oh my God, we just didn't know about, we didn't realize how serious it was,' is simply not true."
...
"I described the naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum and said, 'That's not abuse, that's torture,'" Taguba said. "There was quiet."
The following day, May 7, Rumsfeld testified before the House Armed Services Committee.
...
"It's not when they saw the photographs," Hersh stresses. "It's when they learned how serious it was. They were told in memos what the photographs showed... They showed other, more sexual abuse than we knew, sodomy of women prisons by American soldiers, a father and his son forced to do acts together. There was more stuff [than] was made public. You didn't need a photograph if you had a verbal description of it.
"It's quite implicit," he added. "They knew very quickly this was bad."
All 24 toy recalls are from China: latest recall: 1.5 million trains with potentially poisonous lead paint
Unsafe Chinese-made toys cause alarm | By Eric Lipton and David Barboza | Published: June 18, 2007
...
Every one of the 24 toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas and Friends wooden train sets, was manufactured in China, a record that is increasingly causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.
The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas and Friends trains and rail sets - or about 4 percent of all those sold in the United States over the last two years - which were coated at a factory in China with potentially poisonous lead paint. ...
...
Every one of the 24 toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas and Friends wooden train sets, was manufactured in China, a record that is increasingly causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.
The latest recall, announced last week, involves 1.5 million Thomas and Friends trains and rail sets - or about 4 percent of all those sold in the United States over the last two years - which were coated at a factory in China with potentially poisonous lead paint. ...
"Bush's government has "a stunning record of secrecy and corruption, of cronyism run amok,"
Clinton Assails Bush to Win Liberals | NEDRA PICKLER | June 20, 2007 07:47 PM EST | AP
WASHINGTON — Trying to win over her party's liberal activists, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused President Bush of disregarding the Constitution and promised to bring a new progressive vision to the White House.
Bush's government has "a stunning record of secrecy and corruption, of cronyism run amok," she said in one of the more partisan speeches of her campaign. "It is everything our founders were afraid of, everything our Constitution was designed to prevent." ...
WASHINGTON — Trying to win over her party's liberal activists, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused President Bush of disregarding the Constitution and promised to bring a new progressive vision to the White House.
Bush's government has "a stunning record of secrecy and corruption, of cronyism run amok," she said in one of the more partisan speeches of her campaign. "It is everything our founders were afraid of, everything our Constitution was designed to prevent." ...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
"By creating a situation of extremely tight supply, the oil companies gain control over price at the wholesale level,"
Oil industry scales back refinery plans | By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer Sun Jun 17, 7:26 PM ET
WASHINGTON - A push from Congress and the White House for huge increases in biofuels, such as ethanol, is prompting the oil industry to scale back its plans for refinery expansions. That could keep gasoline prices high, possibly for years to come.
...
A shortage of refineries frequently has been blamed by politicians for the sharp price spikes in gasoline, as was the case last week by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., during debate on a Senate energy bill.
"The fact is that Americans are paying more at the pump because we do not have the domestic capacity to refine the fuels consumers demand," Inhofe complained as he tried unsuccessfully to get into the bill a proposal to ease permitting and environmental rules for refineries.
This spring, refiners, hampered by outages, could not keep up with demand and imports were down because of greater fuel demand in Europe and elsewhere. Despite stable — even sometimes declining — oil prices, gasoline prices soared to record levels and remain well above $3 a gallon.
Consumer advocates maintain the oil industry likes it that way.
"By creating a situation of extremely tight supply, the oil companies gain control over price at the wholesale level," ...
WASHINGTON - A push from Congress and the White House for huge increases in biofuels, such as ethanol, is prompting the oil industry to scale back its plans for refinery expansions. That could keep gasoline prices high, possibly for years to come.
...
A shortage of refineries frequently has been blamed by politicians for the sharp price spikes in gasoline, as was the case last week by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., during debate on a Senate energy bill.
"The fact is that Americans are paying more at the pump because we do not have the domestic capacity to refine the fuels consumers demand," Inhofe complained as he tried unsuccessfully to get into the bill a proposal to ease permitting and environmental rules for refineries.
This spring, refiners, hampered by outages, could not keep up with demand and imports were down because of greater fuel demand in Europe and elsewhere. Despite stable — even sometimes declining — oil prices, gasoline prices soared to record levels and remain well above $3 a gallon.
Consumer advocates maintain the oil industry likes it that way.
"By creating a situation of extremely tight supply, the oil companies gain control over price at the wholesale level," ...
The government's reluctance to join in any of the [whistleblower] civil suits has sparked allegations of political interference
Justice Dept. opts out of whistle-blower suits | Cases allege fraud in Iraq contracts | By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | June 20, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has opted out of at least 10 whistle-blower lawsuits alleging fraud and corruption in government reconstruction and security contracts in Iraq, and has spent years investigating additional fraud cases but has yet to try to recover any money.
A congressional subcommittee heard testimony on the matter yesterday, as lawmakers sought to determine why the federal government has not done more to recover tens of millions of dollars that allegedly have been misused or misspent in Iraq.
...
The government's reluctance to join in any of the civil suits has sparked allegations of political interference.
One witness, Alan Grayson , a lawyer who represents several whistle-blowers, told the House subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security that the Justice Department has been stonewalling and dragging its feet in investigating the whistle-blowers' claims of fraud.
"In our fifth year in the war in Iraq, the Bush administration has not litigated a single case against any war profiteer under the False Claims Act," Grayson said.
Tens of millions of dollars -- and perhaps far more -- allegedly have gone into the pockets of contractors who overbilled for services, paid bribes, and received kickbacks. Under the federal False Claims Act of 1863, employees who say they witnessed such corruption can sue their employers for defrauding the US government and reap a percentage of any money that's recovered. ...
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department has opted out of at least 10 whistle-blower lawsuits alleging fraud and corruption in government reconstruction and security contracts in Iraq, and has spent years investigating additional fraud cases but has yet to try to recover any money.
A congressional subcommittee heard testimony on the matter yesterday, as lawmakers sought to determine why the federal government has not done more to recover tens of millions of dollars that allegedly have been misused or misspent in Iraq.
...
The government's reluctance to join in any of the civil suits has sparked allegations of political interference.
One witness, Alan Grayson , a lawyer who represents several whistle-blowers, told the House subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security that the Justice Department has been stonewalling and dragging its feet in investigating the whistle-blowers' claims of fraud.
"In our fifth year in the war in Iraq, the Bush administration has not litigated a single case against any war profiteer under the False Claims Act," Grayson said.
Tens of millions of dollars -- and perhaps far more -- allegedly have gone into the pockets of contractors who overbilled for services, paid bribes, and received kickbacks. Under the federal False Claims Act of 1863, employees who say they witnessed such corruption can sue their employers for defrauding the US government and reap a percentage of any money that's recovered. ...
Monday, June 18, 2007
Brickmakers accused of forcing hundreds of abducted youths [8 years old and up] to work in harsh conditions
Child slavery revelations shock China | By Howard W. French | New York Times News Service | Published June 16, 2007
Brickmakers accused of forcing hundreds of abducted youths to work in harsh conditions
...
This story is one of hundreds like it that have swept China in recent days in an unfolding scandal that involves the kidnapping in central China of hundreds of children, perhaps more, some reportedly as young as 8, who have been forced to work under brutal conditions. They are scantily clothed, unpaid and often fed little more than water and steamed buns in the brick kilns of Shanxi province. There have also been reports of adults forced to work under similar circumstances.
As the story spread across China, played prominently in newspaper headlines and on the Internet, a hunt was announced for Heng Tinghan, the foreman of a kiln where 31 of the workers were recently rescued. ...
Brickmakers accused of forcing hundreds of abducted youths to work in harsh conditions
...
This story is one of hundreds like it that have swept China in recent days in an unfolding scandal that involves the kidnapping in central China of hundreds of children, perhaps more, some reportedly as young as 8, who have been forced to work under brutal conditions. They are scantily clothed, unpaid and often fed little more than water and steamed buns in the brick kilns of Shanxi province. There have also been reports of adults forced to work under similar circumstances.
As the story spread across China, played prominently in newspaper headlines and on the Internet, a hunt was announced for Heng Tinghan, the foreman of a kiln where 31 of the workers were recently rescued. ...
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Camp Lejeune: former residents, who together seek nearly $4 billion, believe their families were afflicted by water containing industrial solvents
N.C. Marine camp's water under scrutiny | By RITA BEAMISH, Associated Press Writer | Mon Jun 11, 7:26 PM ET
...
Each used the water that poured from kitchen faucets and bathroom showers at Camp Lejeune, an environmental tragedy realized a generation ago that is drawing new scrutiny from members of Congress outraged over the government's treatment of sick veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and elsewhere.
U.S. health officials here in Atlanta hope to finish a long-awaited study by year's end to examine whether the water tainted with solvents affected the health of children. It will influence the Pentagon's response to at least 850 pending legal claims by people who lived at the Marine base, officials said. The former residents, who together seek nearly $4 billion, believe their families were afflicted by water containing industrial solvents before the Marines shut off the bad wells in the mid-1980s.
...
...
Each used the water that poured from kitchen faucets and bathroom showers at Camp Lejeune, an environmental tragedy realized a generation ago that is drawing new scrutiny from members of Congress outraged over the government's treatment of sick veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and elsewhere.
U.S. health officials here in Atlanta hope to finish a long-awaited study by year's end to examine whether the water tainted with solvents affected the health of children. It will influence the Pentagon's response to at least 850 pending legal claims by people who lived at the Marine base, officials said. The former residents, who together seek nearly $4 billion, believe their families were afflicted by water containing industrial solvents before the Marines shut off the bad wells in the mid-1980s.
...
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch accused Doan of "engaging in the most pernicious of political activity"
Bush Is Asked to Discipline GSA Chief in Hatch Act Inquiry | By Robert O'Harrow Jr. | Washington Post Staff Writer | Tuesday, June 12, 2007; Page A07
The U.S. special counsel has called on President Bush to discipline General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan "to the fullest extent" for violating the federal Hatch Act when she allegedly asked political appointees how they could "help our candidates" during a January meeting.
In a June 8 letter to Bush, Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch accused Doan of "engaging in the most pernicious of political activity" during a Jan. 26 lunch briefing involving 36 GSA political appointees and featuring a PowerPoint presentation about the November elections by the White House's deputy director of political affairs.
At the presentation's conclusion, Doan asked what could be done to "help our candidates," according to a special counsel report. ...
The U.S. special counsel has called on President Bush to discipline General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan "to the fullest extent" for violating the federal Hatch Act when she allegedly asked political appointees how they could "help our candidates" during a January meeting.
In a June 8 letter to Bush, Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch accused Doan of "engaging in the most pernicious of political activity" during a Jan. 26 lunch briefing involving 36 GSA political appointees and featuring a PowerPoint presentation about the November elections by the White House's deputy director of political affairs.
At the presentation's conclusion, Doan asked what could be done to "help our candidates," according to a special counsel report. ...
The Army now admits it dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents into the sea
“The Army now admits 
that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of nerve and mustard agents 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.”
Monday, June 11, 2007
Hugh Makes a List ... because there are just too many scandals to remember
Hugh Makes a List ... because there are just too many scandals to remember
Bush Scandals List: updated 6/10/07, recent changes in red. please contact us with corrections and additions.
1. Walter Reed outpatient treatment, poor living conditions, lack of caseworkers to oversee and facilitate patient care for amputees, brain injured, and psychologically disabled veterans; Walter Reed is not the only military hospital about which questions have been raised; also out there the underfunding of the VA.
2. Firing of US attorneys. ...
3. Plamegate. ...
4. Iraq: axis of evil, lack of preparation for occupation, looting, ...
5. Afghanistan, transferring resources to Iraq before the job was finished, the results: a resurgent Taliban, continuing warlordism, and exploding opium production
6. Iran and saber rattling, axis of evil, lack of engagement, refusal to talk to, addressing the nuclear issue through threats, clumsy attempts to blame Iran for the debacle in Iraq and a failure to recognize their very real interests there.
7. North Korea, axis of evil, ditching the 1994 agreement because of dubious uranium program, the plutonium program which led to a fizzled first nuclear test, and something like a return to the 1994 agreement
8. Osama bin Laden, where are you?
...
13. SWIFT surveillance of international financial transactions
14. Black prisons and extraordinary rendition to facilitate interrogation by torture
15. Homeland Security: white elephant (organization), black hole (money), Tom Ridge and threat levels, Michael Chertoff and general incompetence
16. K Street Lobbyists, Jack Abramoff, North Marianas, removal of investigating US attorney Frederick Black (Guam),
...
20. Mark Foley, chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, resigned over the House page scandal: sending sexually explicit messages to pages
21. Cheney's Energy Policy, Big Oil's writing of it, and refusal to divulge that participation
22. Tax cuts for the wealthiest, corporations and on capital gains; retention of the AMT
23. Global warming: refusal to join Kyoto, denial of manmade origin,
...
40. Alberto Gonzales: politicization of the department, even down to the intern program, decimation of career lawyers and evisceration of divisions, like civil rights. The US attorney firings and the use of political litmus tests in hiring. The use of corruption, voter suppression, and voter fraud cases to influence elections.
...
41. FDA: drug testing; food safety: underfunding, cutback in inspections and inspection staff (a decrease of 12% between 2003 and 2006), reliance on self-policing, lack of inspection of imported foods, and inability to force recalls.
42. EPA: mercury levels for coal plants, delay in release of climate change reports; failure to address CO2 levels in global warming:...
43. Porter Goss and the gutting of the CIA:
...
51. 2005 Grassley Bankruptcy bill heavily favoring lenders
52. Mexican cross border trucking and safety concerns
53. Karl Rove's security clearance and no firing of Libby co-conspirators
...
65. Backing Israel while it destroyed Lebanon July 12, 2006-August 14, 2006
66. Presidential Daily Brief August 6, 2001: Bin Laden determined to attack in US
67. EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman declares toxic filled Ground Zero safe for cleanup. On August 9, 2003 the EPA Inspector General finds differently.
68. Sago mining disaster hearings and MHSA's David Dye who walked out of the hearings; Bush push for reduction in fines for safety violations and non-collection of them since 2001.
69. Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court October 3-27, 2005
...
84. AIPAC espionage scandal; former DOD employee Lawrence Franklin pled guilty to passing information on Iran to Israel through two AIPAC employees
85. Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Bagram; the Marine massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha and its coverup
86. Asserted right to open US mail
...
157. Michael Baroody who was Executive Vice President of the National Association of Manufacturers a powerful K Street lobbying group was nominated by Bush on March 1, 2007 to head the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
...
172. Johnnie Burton, director of the Minerals Management Service since 2002 resigned May 7, 2007 after an Interior Inspector General report of December 2006. During her tenure, she reduced audits and depended on self-reporting by energy companies resulting in underreporting and underpayment of royalties. The first auditor Bobby Maxwell who noticed a problem had his job eliminated.
...
185. In a show of rare prescience, on May 6, 2002 George Bush voided the US signature on the treaty (signed by Clinton) establishing an International Criminal Court at the Hague and so set the US and its leaders effectively outside its jurisdiction.
...
189. In June 2007, Italia Federici agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion and obstructing a Congressional investigation. She was Jack Abramoff's go between for the Interior Department. She headed the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a fake pro-business anti-environmental group created by Gale Norton (who went on to become Secretary of the Interior 2001-2006) and Grover Norquist. ...
Bush Scandals List: updated 6/10/07, recent changes in red. please contact us with corrections and additions.
1. Walter Reed outpatient treatment, poor living conditions, lack of caseworkers to oversee and facilitate patient care for amputees, brain injured, and psychologically disabled veterans; Walter Reed is not the only military hospital about which questions have been raised; also out there the underfunding of the VA.
2. Firing of US attorneys. ...
3. Plamegate. ...
4. Iraq: axis of evil, lack of preparation for occupation, looting, ...
5. Afghanistan, transferring resources to Iraq before the job was finished, the results: a resurgent Taliban, continuing warlordism, and exploding opium production
6. Iran and saber rattling, axis of evil, lack of engagement, refusal to talk to, addressing the nuclear issue through threats, clumsy attempts to blame Iran for the debacle in Iraq and a failure to recognize their very real interests there.
7. North Korea, axis of evil, ditching the 1994 agreement because of dubious uranium program, the plutonium program which led to a fizzled first nuclear test, and something like a return to the 1994 agreement
8. Osama bin Laden, where are you?
...
13. SWIFT surveillance of international financial transactions
14. Black prisons and extraordinary rendition to facilitate interrogation by torture
15. Homeland Security: white elephant (organization), black hole (money), Tom Ridge and threat levels, Michael Chertoff and general incompetence
16. K Street Lobbyists, Jack Abramoff, North Marianas, removal of investigating US attorney Frederick Black (Guam),
...
20. Mark Foley, chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, resigned over the House page scandal: sending sexually explicit messages to pages
21. Cheney's Energy Policy, Big Oil's writing of it, and refusal to divulge that participation
22. Tax cuts for the wealthiest, corporations and on capital gains; retention of the AMT
23. Global warming: refusal to join Kyoto, denial of manmade origin,
...
40. Alberto Gonzales: politicization of the department, even down to the intern program, decimation of career lawyers and evisceration of divisions, like civil rights. The US attorney firings and the use of political litmus tests in hiring. The use of corruption, voter suppression, and voter fraud cases to influence elections.
...
41. FDA: drug testing; food safety: underfunding, cutback in inspections and inspection staff (a decrease of 12% between 2003 and 2006), reliance on self-policing, lack of inspection of imported foods, and inability to force recalls.
42. EPA: mercury levels for coal plants, delay in release of climate change reports; failure to address CO2 levels in global warming:...
43. Porter Goss and the gutting of the CIA:
...
51. 2005 Grassley Bankruptcy bill heavily favoring lenders
52. Mexican cross border trucking and safety concerns
53. Karl Rove's security clearance and no firing of Libby co-conspirators
...
65. Backing Israel while it destroyed Lebanon July 12, 2006-August 14, 2006
66. Presidential Daily Brief August 6, 2001: Bin Laden determined to attack in US
67. EPA chief Christie Todd Whitman declares toxic filled Ground Zero safe for cleanup. On August 9, 2003 the EPA Inspector General finds differently.
68. Sago mining disaster hearings and MHSA's David Dye who walked out of the hearings; Bush push for reduction in fines for safety violations and non-collection of them since 2001.
69. Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court October 3-27, 2005
...
84. AIPAC espionage scandal; former DOD employee Lawrence Franklin pled guilty to passing information on Iran to Israel through two AIPAC employees
85. Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, Bagram; the Marine massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha and its coverup
86. Asserted right to open US mail
...
157. Michael Baroody who was Executive Vice President of the National Association of Manufacturers a powerful K Street lobbying group was nominated by Bush on March 1, 2007 to head the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
...
172. Johnnie Burton, director of the Minerals Management Service since 2002 resigned May 7, 2007 after an Interior Inspector General report of December 2006. During her tenure, she reduced audits and depended on self-reporting by energy companies resulting in underreporting and underpayment of royalties. The first auditor Bobby Maxwell who noticed a problem had his job eliminated.
...
185. In a show of rare prescience, on May 6, 2002 George Bush voided the US signature on the treaty (signed by Clinton) establishing an International Criminal Court at the Hague and so set the US and its leaders effectively outside its jurisdiction.
...
189. In June 2007, Italia Federici agreed to plead guilty to tax evasion and obstructing a Congressional investigation. She was Jack Abramoff's go between for the Interior Department. She headed the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, a fake pro-business anti-environmental group created by Gale Norton (who went on to become Secretary of the Interior 2001-2006) and Grover Norquist. ...
"If this court or any court cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here ...
Sanity in Georgia | 11 Jun 2007 09:04 pm
A reprieve for a teen sent to jail for ten years for consensual oral sex with another teen:
"If this court or any court cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal our judicial system has always strived to accomplish ... justice being served in a fair and equal manner," the judge wrote.
Amen. The now-twenty-one year old has already served three years for getting a hummer. [... oral sex]
A reprieve for a teen sent to jail for ten years for consensual oral sex with another teen:
"If this court or any court cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal our judicial system has always strived to accomplish ... justice being served in a fair and equal manner," the judge wrote.
Amen. The now-twenty-one year old has already served three years for getting a hummer. [... oral sex]
"Federici becomes the 11th person, including Griles, ex-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and several Congressional staffers, to plead guilty ...
GOP environmental activist pleads guilty, admits lying about Abramoff ties | RAW STORY | Published: Thursday June 7, 2007
Deal may lead to charges against more Bush officials
"The founder of a Republican environmental organization pleaded guilty Friday to charges "of tax evasion and obstruction of justice as part of the continuing federal criminal investigation into lobbying practices in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal."
"Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, allegedly failed to pay more than $77,000 in federal income taxes from 2001 to 2003," Richard A. Serrano reported for the LA Times Thursday.
She was also cited for making 'false and fictitious' statements before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005, which was investigating Abramoff's representation of Native American tribes."
"Federici becomes the 11th person, including Griles, ex-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and several Congressional staffers, to plead guilty in the ongoing Abramoff investigation. Abramoff is in prison on a separate charge but has yet to be sentenced in the Washington, D.C.-based investigation and is cooperating with prosecutors," Rachel Van Dongen and Paul Singer reported for Roll Call Thursday. ...
Deal may lead to charges against more Bush officials
"The founder of a Republican environmental organization pleaded guilty Friday to charges "of tax evasion and obstruction of justice as part of the continuing federal criminal investigation into lobbying practices in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal."
"Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, allegedly failed to pay more than $77,000 in federal income taxes from 2001 to 2003," Richard A. Serrano reported for the LA Times Thursday.
She was also cited for making 'false and fictitious' statements before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005, which was investigating Abramoff's representation of Native American tribes."
"Federici becomes the 11th person, including Griles, ex-Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and several Congressional staffers, to plead guilty in the ongoing Abramoff investigation. Abramoff is in prison on a separate charge but has yet to be sentenced in the Washington, D.C.-based investigation and is cooperating with prosecutors," Rachel Van Dongen and Paul Singer reported for Roll Call Thursday. ...
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Supreme Injustice On Worker Equality ... Supreme court votes 5-4 to reject compensation for 40% pay gap ...
June 5, 2007 by The Baltimore Sun | Supreme Injustice On Worker Equality | by Clarence Page
WASHINGTON — Did you ever have the feeling that you might be getting the shaft at your workplace? That other people might be making more money than you for doing the same work? If anything unites liberals and conservatives, it is the fundamental view that everyone deserves equal pay for equal work. But if you think you have a federal discrimination complaint, you’d better move fast. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last week that you have only 180 days - not after you discover the offense, but after the employer committed it - to file a complaint.
...
She was hired at the same pay as the guys but received smaller raises for 20 years until she realized, in 1998, that her salary was 40 percent less than the men in her position. She filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which took her side.
A federal jury in Birmingham, Ala., awarded her more than $3 million in back pay and damages, which the trial judge reduced to $360,000.
But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta erased the verdict. It ruled that Ms. Ledbetter failed to file her complaint within 180 days of the original discriminatory actions, as required by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The EEOC argued quite reasonably that each paycheck that reflects the initial pay gap is itself a discriminatory act. That means the clock on the 180-day filing period should be reset as of each paycheck. Earlier decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and some appeals courts had supported this “paycheck accrual” rule.
But the Supreme Court’s decision, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., rejected that view. “Current effects alone cannot breathe life into prior, uncharged discrimination,” Justice Alito wrote in an opinion joined by the rest of the court’s new conservative wing: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas, a former head of the EEOC.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court’s only woman, illustrated that difference in her dissent. The majority ignored well-known realities of the workplace, including the “common characteristics of pay discrimination,” she wrote. After all, people don’t often talk about how much they make or how big a pay raise they earn.
And even if a woman discovers she has received a smaller raise, she might not think it’s worth “making waves” over. This may be particularly true of a woman or a minority who wants to get along in a white-male-dominated workplace. But that little pay difference can make a big difference over the course of years.
Justice Ginsburg also pointed out that equal-pay cases are different from most other forms of job discrimination, such as hiring and promotion cases, where the bias is likely to be apparent right away. She argued that equal-pay cases should be treated more like hostile-workplace cases, where discrimination is usually apparent only after repeated offenses.
But Justice Alito dismissed that as a “policy argument” with “no support in the statute.”...
WASHINGTON — Did you ever have the feeling that you might be getting the shaft at your workplace? That other people might be making more money than you for doing the same work? If anything unites liberals and conservatives, it is the fundamental view that everyone deserves equal pay for equal work. But if you think you have a federal discrimination complaint, you’d better move fast. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last week that you have only 180 days - not after you discover the offense, but after the employer committed it - to file a complaint.
...
She was hired at the same pay as the guys but received smaller raises for 20 years until she realized, in 1998, that her salary was 40 percent less than the men in her position. She filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which took her side.
A federal jury in Birmingham, Ala., awarded her more than $3 million in back pay and damages, which the trial judge reduced to $360,000.
But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta erased the verdict. It ruled that Ms. Ledbetter failed to file her complaint within 180 days of the original discriminatory actions, as required by Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The EEOC argued quite reasonably that each paycheck that reflects the initial pay gap is itself a discriminatory act. That means the clock on the 180-day filing period should be reset as of each paycheck. Earlier decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and some appeals courts had supported this “paycheck accrual” rule.
But the Supreme Court’s decision, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., rejected that view. “Current effects alone cannot breathe life into prior, uncharged discrimination,” Justice Alito wrote in an opinion joined by the rest of the court’s new conservative wing: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas, a former head of the EEOC.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court’s only woman, illustrated that difference in her dissent. The majority ignored well-known realities of the workplace, including the “common characteristics of pay discrimination,” she wrote. After all, people don’t often talk about how much they make or how big a pay raise they earn.
And even if a woman discovers she has received a smaller raise, she might not think it’s worth “making waves” over. This may be particularly true of a woman or a minority who wants to get along in a white-male-dominated workplace. But that little pay difference can make a big difference over the course of years.
Justice Ginsburg also pointed out that equal-pay cases are different from most other forms of job discrimination, such as hiring and promotion cases, where the bias is likely to be apparent right away. She argued that equal-pay cases should be treated more like hostile-workplace cases, where discrimination is usually apparent only after repeated offenses.
But Justice Alito dismissed that as a “policy argument” with “no support in the statute.”...
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