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CORRUPTION UPDATES 26

December 8th to December 10th, 2006

The CORRUPTION UPDATES reviews corruption in the news. News Stories from California, the Nation and the World are abstracted below, and followed by commentary and references.

 

 


CORRUPTION UPDATES 26

Previous Corruption Updates: Page 25

Next Corruption Updates: Page 27

1) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NY TIMES, 12-8-06:

Time to Party in the Capital. Just Bring the Checkbook.

12-8-06, By ROBERT PEAR

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/us/politics

/08memo.html?pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — Lights glowed late in the Capitol dome on Wednesday night, indicating that the House and the Senate were in session. But the real action was taking place elsewhere on Capitol Hill, in wine bars, restaurants and town houses where lobbyists paid for the opportunity to meet and greet lawmakers.”

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who is to become speaker of the House, has promised new lobbying and ethics rules to end “the culture of corruption” that she says has infected Congress under Republican control. But lobbyists attending fund-raisers this week said they did not expect radical changes.

There will be some changes on the margins that will be relatively short-lived,” said Erick R. Gustafson, a vice president of the Mortgage Bankers Association.”

Of the effort to purge politics of special-interest money and influence, Mr. Gustafson said: “It’s like trying to keep water out of your basement. It’s a structural problem. You may find a temporary solution, but the water will find a way in. Influence is like water. Money is just a means of influence.” “

Surveying the week’s activities, Frederick H. Graefe, a veteran health care lobbyist with friends on both sides of the aisle, said, “There is no free event with the Democrats or the Republicans.” ”

THE COMMITTEE FOR DEMOCRACY CONDEMNS BRIBERY:

LOBBYISTS SEE NO CHANGE UNDER DEMS

CORRUPTION PRESENTED AS FORCE OF NATURE, DEM CORRUPTION NATURAL

This article gives us the inside information, from the insiders: The Corruptions that have Captured Congress will not abate. And we learn two exciting myths of Corruption from Mr. Gustafson of the mortgage Bankers.

The first is that “money is just a means of influence.” Note the tone of acceptability used to describe bribery. “Just” a means of influence. Bribery is framed in terms of acceptability, and explained as normal practice. Except we are supposed to be a democracy, where choices are made by representatives of the people, not the representatives of the special interests.

The second is “money is like water.” It is as if bribery was some great force of physics given to us by God, like water. And since God gave more money-water-to the rich, of course they should use it to flood our political house, and bribe our representatives for influence.

Mr. Gustafson goes on to compare water and bribery; “It's like trying to keep water out of your basement, it's a structural problem.”

Mr. Gustafson seems unaware that having a house flooded with water, like a Congress flooded by bribery, is a disaster. The difference is that the former is a natural disaster, while the latter is an ethical and moral disaster.

One may be seen to be “an act of God,” and the other seen as “an act of the devil.”

This article informs us that our political devils have not been cast out during the last election.

And it's OK.

Also See:

Bribery runs our Elections:

Corruption Updates 3, “Media Reports: Both Parties Corrupt

Corruption Updates 5, 1st article on page, “Corruption fails as Campaign issue...

Corruption Updates 14, 10th article down on page. “Murtha trades his vote, and ethics, for pork

Pelosi does earmarks well and often, LA Times, 11-13-06, “Speaker-to-be is no stranger to earmarking,” (abstract at LA Times archive, #52 under Richard Simon search)

Corruption Updates 19, 1st article on page, “TOP RECIPEINTS OF LOBBYISTS BRIBES ARE LEADERSHIP OF BOTH PARTIES

Corruption Updates 19, 3rd article on page, “PARTIES AND THEIR BRIBERS WORK TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE RESTRICTION

Corruption Updates 20, 1st article on page, 10-25-06, “PELOSI FUNRAISING FRENZY ASSURES SPECIAL INTEREST DOMINATION OF GOVERNMENT INDEPENDENT OF WHICH SIDE WINS IN NOV

Corruption Updates 20, 6th article on page, 10-27-06, “DEMS RECEIVE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES ANTICIPATING VICTORY IN NOV VOTERS ASSURED ONLY CHANGE AFTER NOVEMBER WILL BE WHICH PARTY GETS 60% OF THE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES, AND WHICH PARTY GETS 40% OF THE BRIBES

Corruption Updates 21, 2nd article on page, 10-30-06: “SHADOW PARTIES (527S) INFUSE MILLIONS IN BRIBE MONEY INTO ELECTION SPECIAL INTERESTS SKIRT CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS TO MAINTAIN THEIR ILLIGIMATE AUTHORITY THROUGH POLITICAL BRIBERY

Corruption Updates 21, 8fh article on page, 11-1-06: “DEMS BIG CHANCE TO REAP THE REWARDS OF CORRUPTION POLITICAL VICTORY OPENS DOORS OF LOBBYING FIRMS TO DEMO INSIDERS: IT'S THE DEMS TURN TO ROB THE PUBLIC BLIND, AND BETRAY OUR DEMOCRACY

Corruption Updates 22, 6th article on page, “MONEY WINS IN ALMOST EVERY POLITICAL RACE

Corruption Updates 24, 6th article on page, 12-4-06, “POLITICIANS WHO BRIBE POLITICIANS ARE LEADERS UNCONTESTED CANDIDATES REDISTRIBUTE BRIBE MONEY TO BUY PLUM COMMITTEES AND CHAIRMANSHIPS

Corruption Updates 26, 1st article on page, 12-8-06, “LOBBYISTS SEE NO CHANGE UNDER DEMS CORRUPTION PRESENTED AS FORCE OF NATURE, DEM CORRUPTION NATURAL

Corruption Updates 27, 2nd article on page, “DEM LEADERS TO REFORM CONGRESS?”

Corruption Updates 28, 1st article on page, 1-2-07: “LOBBYISTS HIRING-BRIBING DEMS SHIFTING FUNDS AND PERSONELL TO DEMS ASSURES NO REAL CHANGES

Corruption Updates 28, 4th article on page, “Bush and Dems Fight Over Earmarks

Corruption Updates 30, 2nd article on page, “Democrats set back on earmarks” (REID TRIES TO KILL REAL EARMARK REFORMS)

Corruption Updates 33, 4th article on page, “Lobbyists find new Congress is open for business”

Killing Americans with Political Bribery:

Corruption Updates 10, 5th article on page, “DO BRIBED POLITICIANS PROVIDE SAFE REGULATION OF PIPELINES, OR ANYTHING ELSE?” AP IN BEE.

Corruption Updates 16, 4th article on the page, "EPA STANDARDS WILL KILL YOU: SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBERY BRINGS AMERICA DEATH"

Corruption Updates 21, 9th article on page, “White House under Investigation for Censoring Science

Corruption Updates 24, 4th article on page, “ BIG OIL OWNS INTERIOR DEPARTMENT”

Corruption Updates 24, 5th article on page, NYTIMES, 12-3-06, LOBBYING BY TRUCKING INDUSTRY BRINGS DEATH TO NATION'S HIGHWAYS INSURANCE AND SAFETY LOBBIES HAVE INSUFFICIENT BRIBE MONEY TO STOP TRUCKING LOBBY FROM GUTTING SAFETY RULES

Corruption Updates 25, 5th article on page, AP, 12-6-06, BATTERY LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH BUSH REPAYS BRIBES WITH OUR HEALTH AND WELFARE BY ATTEMPTING TO KILL LEAD STANDARDS

Corruption Updates 25, 6th article, AP, 12-6-06, FARM LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH GRASSLEY (R-IOWA) REPAYS BRIBES BY KILLING EPA REGULATION OF FARMS

Corruption Updates 32, 2nd article on the page, "BUSH TRIES TO KILL CHEMICAL RULES, SCIENCE, AND INTEGRITY IN ONE FELL SWOOP: INTEGERTY FALLS, RULES AND SCIENCE DAMAGED, BUT STILL STANDING

How lobbying buys lawmakers and law:

Corruption Updates 1, 2nd to last article on the page, “Big Oil Owns our Politicians

Corruption Updates 2, 6th article down, “Contribute to Win, Big Contribs try to Trump State Safety Laws

Corruption Updates 3, 2nd article on page, “Big Business Spends Lawmakers into Compliance

Corruption Updates 4, 1st article on page, “Checks in, Laws Out, It's that Simple


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2) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE LA TIMES, 12-8-06:

Ethics panel faults gop leaders in foley case

The bipartisan group finds neither broken rules nor a cover-up.

By Noam N. Levey, Times Staff Writer
9:12 PM PST, December 8, 2006

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-foley9dec09,0,3778455.story?coll=la-home-headlines

WASHINGTON -- In a coda to a year of political disasters for Republicans, the House ethics committee declared Friday that GOP lawmakers and staff members for years remained "willfully ignorant" that former Rep. Mark Foley was making sexual advances toward male congressional pages.”

“Instead, driven by political considerations and fear of exposing Foley's homosexuality, they failed in their duty to protect the teenagers, the committee concluded. And, the panel said, congressional officials ignored evidence of predatory behavior by the Florida Republican that began emerging more than 10 years ago.”

The report's lack of sanctions drew quick condemnation from government reform groups, which characterized the committee's nine-week investigation a sham.”

“ "It's just unfathomable how you can reach the conclusion that wrongdoing occurred ... but no one did it," said Fred Wertheimer, president of the independent watchdog group Democracy 21. "This is a classic demonstration of one of the fundamental ethics problems (in Congress). They don't have a real system for enforcement." ”

“As far back as the mid-1990s, the investigation found, House officials learned of warning signs that Foley had an inappropriate interest in pages.”

“Foley tried to visit the pages' residence hall after curfew on at least two occasions, once while he may have been intoxicated, according to the report.”

“In 2001, a former page who had been sponsored by Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., complained to the congressman that Foley had sent him a sexually explicit message. And in 2002, Foley used frequent flier miles to fly a former page to Washington
to visit him.”

The committee reported that it could not "determine conclusively" why officials had not acted more aggressively.”

“It also noted that, "There is some evidence that political considerations played a role." ”

“A criminal probe by the Justice Department into the handling of the Foley case is ongoing.”

THE COMMITTEE FOR DEMOCRACY OBSERVES:

ETHICS PANEL FAILS TO PROTECT CHILDREN, ETHICS

CONGRESSMEN'S KNOWLEDGE OF FOLEY'S PERVESION OK

As predicted, the “Ethics” Committee's new line up has failed to hold Congress to any ethical standards.

The “Ethics” Committee found common knowledge of Foley's criminal behavior, but, not surprisingly, found no liability by any member of Congress for failing to protect children under their care from this pervert.

Since our Congress does not even protect the children under their care, nor take responsibility for their glaring failures, our expectations are that the rest of their corruptions will continue to prosper.

Until we, the people, demand a democratic government.

Articles on the failures of the Ethics Committee

SEE CORRUPTION UPDATES 11, 8TH ARTICLE DOWN: ethics panel oks revolving door between Congressional and Lobbyists offices.

Also see, “ ASSOCIATED PRESS DEFENDS ETHICS COMMITTEE THAT HAS NO ETHICS,” corruption updates 15, 1st article.

Also see, “LATIMES GIVES ETHICS COMMITTEE THE THRASHING IT DESERVES,” corruption updates 15, 2nd article.

And see, “ FOLEY'S PERVERSIONS PROSPERED IN CORRUPTED CONGRESS, corruption updates 17, 2nd article.

Corruption Updates 26, 2nd article on page,, “Ethic Panel: Congress Guilty in Foley Perversion, but No One is Responsible”


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3) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE LA TIMES, 12-8-06:

Drilling bill is expected to clear House

The GOP-led Congress takes on a pro-business measure before ending its lame-duck session.

By Richard Simon and Jim Puzzanghera, Times Staff Writers
December 8, 2006

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-congress8dec08,0,7281575.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

WASHINGTON — As the curtain prepared to fall on the Republican-controlled Congress, GOP leaders on Thursday pushed for approval of what is likely to be the last major pro-drilling bill during the Bush presidency — a measure that would open a large swath of the Gulf of Mexico to energy exploration.”

“Most of the tax breaks and the oil drilling measure were sought by business groups, giving the GOP a last opportunity to please an important constituency before Democrats take control of Congress in January.”

“The energy exploration provision was more modest in scope than a measure the House approved this year that would have relaxed the decades-long ban on new drilling off much of the U.S.
coasts, including the Pacific.”

“Environmentalists opposed the legislation, arguing that it would do little to lower energy prices or wean the U.S.
from dependence on foreign oil. The Sierra Club called the drilling provision "one last gasp for Big Oil." ”

“But no action was expected on a raft of individual spending bills needed to fund most government agencies during the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Those offices are operating under a stopgap spending measure, and the Republicans who control the House and Senate have decided to let next year's Congress — and its Democratic leaders — hammer out final agreements on the new funding packages.”


THE COMMITTEE FOR DEMOCRACY OBSERVES:

GOPS LAST GIFT TO BIG OIL

GOP LEAVES BUDGET UNDONE WHILE GIFTING BIG OIL

The passage of a bill giving Big Oil money and favors was the main priority of our last Congress. It was more important for Congress to payoff their true supporters, the bribers and influence peddlers, than to do their duty to our people, and finish our national budget. Congress revealed who it really works for when they gifted Big Oil, and left the peoples business undone.

If the people were the main bribers, I mean contributors, to our politicians, the people would be the source of political power for our politicians and parties.

Then maybe the Oil bill would have been left on the table, rather than the publics business.

But the Special Interests are the true power in and behind our government, not the voters.

And the last Congress gave them one more big gift before departing.

Also See Articles relating to Big Oil:

Corruption Updates 1, 11th article on page, "BIG OIL OWNS OUR POLITICIANS"

See “politics in Alaska under investigation...,” Corruption Updates #5, third article down.

Corruption Updates 11, 5th article on page; Norquest and Reed, and a Rogues Gallery of Thieves, Consulting at White House while All Parties Worked for Abramoff”

Corruption Updates 12, 1st article on page, “Political Corruption Inflitrates Interior Department

Corruption Update 15, 6th article on page; Interior Department Web Porn and Shopping Spree.

Corruption Updates 24, 4th article on page, "BIG OIL OWNS INTERIOR DEPARTMENT"

Corruption Update 29, 3rd article on page, "ENERGY LOBBYIST WHO WAS INTERIOR DEPT #2 TARGET IN ETHICS PROBE:ANOTHER LOBBYIST APPOINTED TO GOVERNMENT SUSPECTED OF BETRAYING PUBLIC TRUST WITH ABRAMOFF"


Corruption Updates 31, 5th article on page, Oil Lease Chief Knew of Error, Report Asserts

Also See Articles relating to Censorship of SCIENCE

for Big Oil:

Corruption Updates 21, 9th article on page, “Scientists say White House muzzled them

Corruption Updates 32, 2nd article on the page, "BUSH TRIES TO KILL CHEMICAL RULES, SCIENCE, AND INTEGRITY IN ONE FELL SWOOP:INTEGERTY FALLS, RULES AND SCIENCE DAMAGED, BUT STILL STANDING"

Corruption Updates 33, 10th article on the page, "Bush Suppressing Science and Truth:climate scientists censored, science suppressed"

Corruption Updates 38, 9th article on the page, "CLIMATE SCIENCE SILENCED YET AGAIN AT INTERIOR"

Corruption Updates 41, 2nd article on the page, "SCIENCE CLAIMS BUSH A NAZI"

Corruption Updates 41, 3rd article on the page, "REPUBLICANS DEMAND SCIENCE SAYS WHAT THEY WANT IT TO SAY"

Search the Corruption Database under

Big Oil

Censorship

Environment

Interior Department

 

Top of Page

4) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NY TIMES, 12-8-06:

Keep the E.P.A. Libraries Open

By LESLIE BURGER

Published: December 8, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/opinion/08burger.html

IF you needed to find out how much pollution an industrial plant in your neighborhood was spewing, or what toxic chemicals were in a local river, where would you go? Until recently, you could discover the answer at one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 29 libraries. But now the E.P.A. has obstructed the American public — as well as its own scientists and staff — by starting to dismantle its crown jewel, the national system of regional E.P.A. libraries.”

Until now, any citizen could consult these resources, which include information on things like siting incinerators, storing toxic waste and uncovering links between asthma and car exhaust.”

“...
the head of the E.P.A. has already instituted cuts. The agency’s main library in Washington has been closed to the public, and regional E.P.A. libraries in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City, Mo., have been closed altogether. At the Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle branches, hours and public access have been reduced.”

Some members of Congress have begun to bring these cuts to light. The Senate minority whip, Richard Durbin, urged the president to reopen the libraries and rethink his budget request. Eighteen senators sent a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee asking it to make the E.P.A. keep the libraries open. Representatives John Dingell, Bart Gordon and Henry Waxman recently had the Government Accountability Office start an inquiry into the closings and requested that the E.P.A. administrator, Stephen Johnson, cease the destruction of library materials immediately.”

THE COMMITTEE FOR DEMOCRACY OBSERVES:

PRESIDENT CLOSING EPA LIBRARIES

EPA ENDING ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENTAL INFO

The control of information is vital for a tyrannical government. The free flow of news and information is vital to have and keep our freedom.

During the past 30 years both parties have sat by while massive corporate monopolies have consolidated ownership of our entire media. Now they complain as the same process that silenced our free press is strangling the flow of information from government agencies.

We praise the defense of the free flow of information, but we temper our praise by the knowledge that the Dems are shutting the barn doors after the cows (our free press) got away.

The Dems have no intention of challenging the corporations who stole our free press.

Also See:

For more articles concerning how special interests have subverted our government, and damaged our country, See:

See, “Big Oil Owns our Politicians,” Corruption Updates 1, 2nd to last article on the page.

See, “Contribute to Win, Big Contribs try to Trump State Safety Laws,” Corruption Updates 2, 6th article down.

See, “Lobbyists' Donate when Legislation Pending,” Corruption Updates 2, last article on page.

See, “Big Business Spends Lawmakers into Compliance,” Corruption Updates 3, 2nd article on page.

See, “Checks in, Laws Out, It's that Simple,” Corruption Updates 4, 1st article on page.

Bribery runs our Elections:

Corruption Updates 3, “Media Reports: Both Parties Corrupt

Corruption Updates 5, 1st article on page, “Corruption fails as Campaign issue...

Corruption Updates 14, 10th article down on page. “Murtha trades his vote, and ethics, for pork

Pelosi does earmarks well and often, LA Times, 11-13-06, “Speaker-to-be is no stranger to earmarking,” (abstract at LA Times archive, #52 under Richard Simon search)

Corruption Updates 19, 1st article on page, “TOP RECIPEINTS OF LOBBYISTS BRIBES ARE LEADERSHIP OF BOTH PARTIES

Corruption Updates 19, 3rd article on page, “PARTIES AND THEIR BRIBERS WORK TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE RESTRICTION

Corruption Updates 20, 1st article on page, 10-25-06, “PELOSI FUNRAISING FRENZY ASSURES SPECIAL INTEREST DOMINATION OF GOVERNMENT INDEPENDENT OF WHICH SIDE WINS IN NOV

Corruption Updates 20, 6th article on page, 10-27-06, “DEMS RECEIVE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES ANTICIPATING VICTORY IN NOV VOTERS ASSURED ONLY CHANGE AFTER NOVEMBER WILL BE WHICH PARTY GETS 60% OF THE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES, AND WHICH PARTY GETS 40% OF THE BRIBES

Corruption Updates 21, 2nd article on page, 10-30-06: “SHADOW PARTIES (527S) INFUSE MILLIONS IN BRIBE MONEY INTO ELECTION SPECIAL INTERESTS SKIRT CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS TO MAINTAIN THEIR ILLIGIMATE AUTHORITY THROUGH POLITICAL BRIBERY

Corruption Updates 21, 8fh article on page, 11-1-06: “DEMS BIG CHANCE TO REAP THE REWARDS OF CORRUPTION POLITICAL VICTORY OPENS DOORS OF LOBBYING FIRMS TO DEMO INSIDERS: IT'S THE DEMS TURN TO ROB THE PUBLIC BLIND, AND BETRAY OUR DEMOCRACY

Corruption Updates 22, 6th article on page, “MONEY WINS IN ALMOST EVERY POLITICAL RACE

Corruption Updates 24, 6th article on page, 12-4-06, “POLITICIANS WHO BRIBE POLITICIANS ARE LEADERS UNCONTESTED CANDIDATES REDISTRIBUTE BRIBE MONEY TO BUY PLUM COMMITTEES AND CHAIRMANSHIPS

Corruption Updates 26, 1st article on page, 12-8-06, “LOBBYISTS SEE NO CHANGE UNDER DEMS CORRUPTION PRESENTED AS FORCE OF NATURE, DEM CORRUPTION NATURAL

Corruption Updates 27, 2nd article on page, “DEM LEADERS TO REFORM CONGRESS?”

Corruption Updates 28, 1st article on page, 1-2-07: “LOBBYISTS HIRING-BRIBING DEMS SHIFTING FUNDS AND PERSONELL TO DEMS ASSURES NO REAL CHANGES

Corruption Updates 28, 4th article on page, “Bush and Dems Fight Over Earmarks

Corruption Updates 30, 2nd article on page, “Democrats set back on earmarks” (REID TRIES TO KILL REAL EARMARK REFORMS)

Corruption Updates 33, 4th article on page, “Lobbyists find new Congress is open for business”

Killing Americans with Political Bribery:

Corruption Updates 10, 5th article on page, “DO BRIBED POLITICIANS PROVIDE SAFE REGULATION OF PIPELINES, OR ANYTHING ELSE?” AP IN BEE.

Corruption Updates 16, 4th article on the page, "EPA STANDARDS WILL KILL YOU: SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBERY BRINGS AMERICA DEATH"

Corruption Updates 21, 9th article on page, “White House under Investigation for Censoring Science

Corruption Updates 24, 4th article on page, “ BIG OIL OWNS INTERIOR DEPARTMENT”

Corruption Updates 24, 5th article on page, NYTIMES, 12-3-06, LOBBYING BY TRUCKING INDUSTRY BRINGS DEATH TO NATION'S HIGHWAYS INSURANCE AND SAFETY LOBBIES HAVE INSUFFICIENT BRIBE MONEY TO STOP TRUCKING LOBBY FROM GUTTING SAFETY RULES

Corruption Updates 25, 5th article on page, AP, 12-6-06, BATTERY LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH BUSH REPAYS BRIBES WITH OUR HEALTH AND WELFARE BY ATTEMPTING TO KILL LEAD STANDARDS

Corruption Updates 25, 6th article, AP, 12-6-06, FARM LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH GRASSLEY (R-IOWA) REPAYS BRIBES BY KILLING EPA REGULATION OF FARMS

Corruption Updates 32, 2nd article on the page, "BUSH TRIES TO KILL CHEMICAL RULES, SCIENCE, AND INTEGRITY IN ONE FELL SWOOP: INTEGERTY FALLS, RULES AND SCIENCE DAMAGED, BUT STILL STANDING

Top of Page

5) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NY TIMES, 12-8-06:

Senator Calls for an Easing of Corporate-Wrongdoing Rules

By LYNNLEY BROWNING

Published: December 8, 2006

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/business/08memos.html

The departing chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee proposed legislation yesterday calling for a rollback of the tactics adopted by federal prosecutors to combat corporate wrongdoing after the Enron collapse.”

The bill from Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, is the latest challenge to the tactics, which have come under scrutiny from trade groups, former United States attorneys general and a prominent federal judge. Mr. Specter said he would reintroduce the bill next month when Congress convenes.”

The current guidelines also encourage companies under investigation to demonstrate cooperation by cutting off legal fees to employees caught up in the inquiries, all in order to avert indictment — something the Specter bill seeks to halt. Mr. Specter, who is a former federal prosecutor, and other critics have said that prosecutors use the tactics as a bludgeon to coerce companies and individuals into giving up their rights.”

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

SPECTER CALLS FOR CORPORATE PRIVILEGDE

CORPORATE CRIMINALS TO GET BIG BUCK DEFENSE


Amazing! Two sets of law: one for the rich and powerful, where Mr. Specter proposed that CORPORATE EXECUTIVE defense costs, for crimes they committed as adult individuals, be funded by deep-pocketed corporations. And the rest of us? We have other standards, another set of laws for the rest of us, who have to defend ourselves, by ourselves.

For the rest of us poor slobs, we get to spend all of our own money, or get lousy public defenders. What this means is wealth equals legal privilege. Let’s look at this a little closer.

If the corporate employee was committing individual crimes, outside of the knowledge of the corporation, the corporation certainly would not want to pay to defend an employee who broke the law, and their duty to the company.

On the other hand, if the corporation was complicit in the employee's crime, it would be in their best interest to defend the employee to the bitter end. And it is possible to imagine that allowing corporations to pay employees' legal fees would result in CEOs and other big players getting the feeling that they could break the law with impunity, behind the legal shield of their corporate wealth.

In either case, Mr. Specter envisions a system where people charged with crimes would fall into two populations: those who stand alone, and those who have corporate sponsorship for their crimes. This does not offer “equal justice for all.”

The very act of forwarding of this type of legislation is offensive to the notion of equal standing before the law for ALL of our citizens. It is also repugnant to anyone with any moral or ethical common sense, who is aware of the waves of corruption and scandal that have recently shaken public and investor confidence in corporate behavior.

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6) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NY TIMES, 12-8-06:

Aspirations Dashed, Frist Says Farewell

December 8, 2006

By CARL HULSE

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/us/politics/08frist.html?pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — In the end, Senator Bill Frist found it easier to master the science of medicine rather than that of politics.”

Mr. Frist, a Tennessee Republican who bid the Senate farewell on Thursday after four years as majority leader, is departing with his party’s majority in last month’s elections and his presidential hopes dashed against some questionable political calculations, legislative missteps and uncertainty about his own drive for another campaign.”

“— Mr. Frist set out to stop Democrats from filibustering Mr. Bush’s conservative judicial nominees. Anticipating Supreme Court openings, Mr. Frist promised to execute what came to be known as the “nuclear option” by changing Senate rules to prohibit such tactics.”

Democrats were incensed, saying Mr. Frist was destroying Senate traditions. Hoping to avoid a showdown, a bipartisan group of senators cut a side deal that allowed certain judges to move forward.”

But Democrats portrayed the threat of the nuclear option as evidence that Republicans were abusing their power, an argument that Democrats say helped them win back the Senate in November. “The American people knew that was beyond the pale,” Mr. Reid said.”

The Committee Says:

GOOD RIDDANCE FRIST

SENATE LEADER STEPS DOWN AFTER DAMAGING COUNTRY, CITIZEN'S RIGHTS, AND HONEST GOVERNMENT


Another Corrupt politician bites the Dust. Good Riddance.


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7) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE WASHINGTON POST, 12-10-06:

Dairy Industry Crushed Innovator Who Bested Price-Control System

By Dan Morgan, Sarah Cohen and Gilbert M. Gaul

Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 10, 2006; Page A01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/09/AR2006120900925.html

In the summer of 2003, shoppers in Southern California began getting a break on the price of milk.”

A maverick dairyman named Hein Hettinga started bottling his own milk and selling it for as much as 20 cents a gallon less than the competition, exercising his right to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. “

That was when a coalition of giant milk companies and dairies, along with their congressional allies, decided to crush Hettinga's initiative. For three years, the milk lobby spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions and made deals with lawmakers, including incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).”

Business groups, fiscal conservatives and some dairy organizations have called for Congress to overhaul the complex system of protections and subsidies, which they say is costly to taxpayers and consumers. A recent USDA study acknowledged that "dairy programs raise the retail price" of milk. The watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste estimates that the programs cost U.S. consumers at least $1.5 billion a year.”

Hettinga’s “…arrangement lowered the average price of milk "by 20 cents a gallon overnight and it stayed that way for three years," Benoliel wrote in the e-mail, made available to The Washington Post. "Milk suppliers in southern California were gouging the public on price (20 cents a gallon higher than N. California) for years and were unresponsive to our call for lower prices. It was a brazen case of price gouging and profiteering by the strongest, largest market suppliers simply because they could." ”

In California, the Hettingas were taking on the two biggest players in the U.S. milk industry: Dean Foods Co., the largest processor of dairy products, with $10 billion in annual sales and five California plants, and Dairy Farmers of America, a co-op that controls nearly a third of the nation's liquid milk.”

The first challenge to Hettinga came in late 2001, when Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) proposed a measure that would have forced Hettinga to pay in to the pool that Shamrock was governed by.”

Shamrock's chairman, Norman P. McClelland, had contributed thousands of dollars to Kyl, beginning with Kyl's first House campaign, in 1986.”

In the House, Devin Nunes, a new Republican member from California's Central Valley, introduced a bill to close what he called the "regulatory loophole" that let Hettinga ship unregulated milk into California.”

Nunes's bill and Kyl's amendment initially went nowhere. So Kyl, a conservative Republican, found an unlikely ally in Reid, then the Senate's fiercely partisan Democratic whip.”

Reid was no newcomer to dairy issues. Nevada's population was growing faster than its dairies could supply milk, so prices tended to be high. Milk plants that had to import milk from far away thought they could get it cheaper if they did not have to pay regulated prices. In 1999, Reid helped them out. He slipped an amendment into a spending bill exempting milk plants in the Las Vegas area from federal pricing rules.”

That year, Reid and Kyl saw they could make a deal. Kyl agreed to back removing all of Nevada from federal milk regulation, and Reid agreed to support legislation cracking down on Hettinga and protecting Arizona dairies from competition from low-priced Nevada milk. In 2003, the senators co-sponsored an amendment with both provisions. In effect, Nevada bottlers would get some of the same rights that were being taken away from Hettinga.”

During a swing through Capitol Hill with McGrath, Hettinga pitched his cause to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.).”

Lewis's district was home to some large dairies, including a Hettinga dairy in San Jacinto. The two men had never before met or talked, according to Lewis's spokesman. But Lewis was sympathetic. "This is not right, taking a rifle shot at one individual," Hettinga recalls Lewis saying.”

A few months later, Lewis used his power to kill the Kyl-Reid measure. "Congressman Lewis did it strictly on behalf of a constituent and because he thought Hein's deal was good for consumers," said Lewis's deputy chief of staff, Jim Specht.”

Hettinga said that at Lewis's request he chipped in $2,000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign later that year. He also gave $4,000 to Lewis's campaign war chest between 2003 and 2006, records show.”

But the big milk producers and dairy trade groups were already at work in Washington. Through its employees and political action committee, Dean Foods, with nearly 100 plants around the country, spent more than $600,000 on political contributions in 2005 and 2006, including $5,000 to Kyl and $3,000 to Nunes. Reid got $5,000 in 2004.”

Eight groups with an interest in the legislation reported overall lobbying spending of more than $5 million in 2005 and the first half of 2006. Dean Foods reported spending almost $2.5 million, including $500,000 for outside lobbyists. One was Charles M. "Chip" English Jr. of Thelen Reid & Priest. English also represented Shamrock Foods, United Dairymen of Arizona and the Dairy Institute of California.”

During 2005, English fine-tuned the language in the milk bill. "My hand can be seen throughout the bill," he said in an interview. Pick a paragraph in the legislation, he said, and "either I wrote it or I commented on it." ”

Among others in the lobbying effort were the International Dairy Foods Association, the National Milk Producers Federation and the Western United Dairymen. Dairy Farmers of America, with members in 47 states, mobilized a grass-roots campaign for the legislation.”

At every turn, Lewis's office was "barraged by calls and faxes from dairy owners," recalled Specht, Lewis's aide. "It seemed clear that all the skids had been greased for this legislation." ”

Last March, Congress passed a law reshaping the Western milk market and essentially ending Hettinga's experiment -- all without a single congressional hearing.”

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

HOW SPECIAL INTERESTS MAKE MILK EXPENSIVE

1.5 BIL A YEAR STOLEN THROUGH INDUSTRY BRIBERY

This is an excellent article in all respects. Here we can see the inner workings of the bribery factory that is called Congress.

Milk producers have enjoyed monopoly status and prices in return for political bribes. Threatened by the free market, they turned up the bribery and purchased the laws required to crush their competition.

We must break the link of bribery that has privileged the wealthy, and stolen everybody else's democracy.

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8) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE LA TIMES, 12-10-06:

Disputed nominee Myers has an Abramoff problem

By Henry Weinstein
Times Staff Writer

December 10, 2006

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-myers10dec10,1,2943677,print.story?coll=la-headlines-politics

Five years ago, high-powered Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff went to a dinner with top officials of the Interior Department, representatives of the White House and leaders of the National Mining Assn.”

“That Georgetown dinner has now come back to haunt one of the guests — William G. Myers III, who was the Interior Department's top lawyer at the time and for the last three years one of President Bush's most controversial nominees for a federal judgeship.”

“Virtually every major environmental group in the country as well as civil rights, women's, labor and American Indian organizations have vigorously opposed Myers' nomination to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Senate Democrats have succeeded in blocking his appointment, saying they feared Myers, who has spent much of his career as a lawyer and lobbyist for mining and grazing interests, would be an anti-environmental activist on the bench.”

“In recent days though, questions have arisen about Myers' March 2005 response to a query by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democratic on the judiciary committee. Leahy asked Myers whether he had ever had any contact with Abramoff, then the subject of intense federal investigations who later pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud and is serving 70 months in prison.”

“ "I have searched my memory and files," Myers responded. "To the best of my recollection, I have never had any contact with Mr. Abramoff. I do not recall ever meeting him, speaking to him by phone, corresponding with him at any time, or otherwise having any contact with Mr. Abramoff." ”

“A week ago, however, the Denver Post published a story based on information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showing that Myers was among two dozen people attending the dinner on Sept. 24, 2001, with Abramoff. Sponsored by the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, the event was held at the home of Republican fundraiser Julie Finley.”

Among their earlier concerns: Myers' role in promoting a proposed 1,600-acre open-pit gold mine that would be adjacent to federally designated wilderness in Imperial County. The area contains 55 recorded historic properties eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as religious sites, including prayer circles, ceremonial places, shrines and petroglyphs.”

Myers was at the Sept. 24, 2001, dinner — whose guests included Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton and top leaders of the National Mining Assn. who supported the Glamis project — and that he met the next day with Interior Department lawyers to discuss the project.”

“In October 2001, Myers reversed his predecessor's opinion to block the Glamis project and allowed it to move forward.”

“Two years later, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Myers had "misconstrued the clear mandate" of the Federal Lands Policy Management Act, which "by its plain terms, vests the secretary of the Interior with the authority — and indeed the obligation — to disapprove" mines that "would unduly harm or degrade the public land." ”

THE COMMITTEE OBSERVES

PRESIDENT APPOINTS TAINTED LOBBYIST/INTERIOR OFFICIAL TO FEDERAL BENCH

INTERIOR DEPT CRONY OF SPECIAL INTERESTS TO DEFY LAW-HONOR FROM BENCH

The outlines of the system that produces American political leadership can be discerned in this excellent article. The path is through Service to Power. Not service to country. Not through service to an honorable principal, or honesty.

Only Service to Power is required to become an American Political leader.

At the other end of the spectrum, new “Americans” only have to demonstrate that they will obey the boss. Service to power on an individual, personal basis, rather than public and political service to power.

American political values have devolved to the point where the top and the bottom have decided that service to personal greed and public wealth are the terms of success to be either an American Citizen, or an American Leader.

The Corruption of the Interior Department:

Corruption Updates 12, 1st article: “POLITICAL CORRUPTION INFILTRATES INTERIOR DEPARTMENT: POLITICAL APPOINTEES ARE LOBBYISTS AND INCOMPENTENTS, AND GIVE AWAY BILLIONS TO THEIR BUDDIES:”

Corruption Update 15, 6th article on page, “Interior: 104,221 Hours Wasted by Interior on Web Shopping and Porn

Corruption Update 24, 4th article on page, “Big Oil Owns Interior Department”

Corruption Updates 26, 8th article on page, “President Appoints Tainted Lobbyist/Interior Official to Fed Bench”

Corruption Update 31, 5th article on page, “Oil “Insider” in Interior Gives Away 800 Million to Big Oil”

Also See,

People for the American Way,

They stated that Meyers was “...a former lobbyist for the mining, grazing and cattle industries who recently served as Solicitor and chief attorney for the Interior Department under the Bush Administration has spent his career promoting corporate interests over the common good.”

About his “service” in the Interior Department, People for the American Way go on to say that “William Myers treated his time at the Interior Department as another influence-peddling assignment for his industry clients. In two short years with the government, he overturned decisions and erased regulations, effectively giving the mining and grazing industries free rein over our precious natural resources. Myers' unwillingness to put private corporate interests aside when he assumed the very different role as Interior solicitor, coupled with his embrace of a dangerous neo-federalist legal philosophy, should lead to the rejection of his nomination.”

 

Previous Corruption Updates: Page 25

Next Corruption Updates: Page 27


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