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CORRUPTION UPDATES 56 Mid May 2007: Draft Posting: Stay Tuned for More! The CORRUPTION UPDATES posts corruption news stories from California, the Nation and the World, and gives you the straight story. |
CORRUPTION UPDATES 56
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1) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE:
White House Rejects Saudi View on Iraq
By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer
12:15 PM PDT, March 29, 2007
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Thursday rejected criticism by a key Arab ally of the U.S. role in Iraq.
Touching off an unusual public exchange, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia declared Wednesday at an Arab League meeting in Riyadh that the United States was occupying Iraq illegally.
"In beloved Iraq," he said, "blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war."
When Saudi leaders disagree with the United States on policy issues, they usually make their points quietly, avoiding open confrontation.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Collapse of American Influence in middle east is NOT HAPPENING
Bush is yelling, "La La La La La, I can't hear King Abdullah saying that we're criminals."
This makes sense, as Bush ignored Abdullah, King Hussien, and Mubarak when they all warned that Iraq was a really, really bad idea that would threaten the ability of their regimes to front for American power in the middle east.
They were right. Abdullah is trying to maintain his position as Arab leader by voicing the universal condemnation by Arabs of our criminal invasion.
The Saudi, Jordanian, and Egyptian regimes must put themselves at the head of the post-colonial, anti-American movements in their countries, or be swept aside.
Their political authority, up to now, has been based on Western military, political, and economic power, not the support of their people. Bush's Iraqi war is accelerating the termination of The Age of Western Imperial domination over the middle east.
The "American Century" is coming to a close around the world, and coming to a very bloody ending in the Arabic lands.
A new balance of power is forming in every hemisphere of the planet. And it is rising to fight against us.
A fundamental tenet of the rising powers around the world is the rejection of American military and political domination.
These revolutions of local control and independence can no longer be held back in the Middle-East by our Saudi, Jordanian and Egyptian proxies. They have seen the handwriting on the wall, and can only continue to ignore the will of their people at the risk of their lives, positions, and property.
King Abdullah's speech acknowledges the seriousness, and the depth of damage Bush's middle eastern "policy" has inflicted on our regional allies.
When the Saudi King calls Bush a criminal, it signals that the Saudi government is accelerating the shifting of their regional policies and global alliances in a direction independent of American interests and control.
The Middle-East is using bloody Iraq as a fulcrum to free itself from our domination. Our Saudi allies are merely making the moves necessary to keep their crowns, and their heads, as the "Uma," the unified will of the Islamic community in the middle east, begins to assert itself, and demands that American political and military influence be ejected from their lands.
If the King said it, it must be true.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 45 , 2nd article on the page, "U.S. Iraq Role Is Called Illegal by Saudi King"
Corruption Updates 62 , 3rd article on the page, "Arabs make plans for nuclear power"
Other American foreign policy high points in the middle east:
Corruption Updates 27 , 5th article on the page,"EGYPTIAN DICTATOR CHANGES CONSTITUTION: FARCE OF AMERICAN “DEMOCRACY” EXPOSED BY AMERICAN SUPPORTED DICTATORSHIPS"
Corruption Updates 31 , 10th article on the page, "Pakistan's old new year: US SUPPORT OF DIRTY DICTATORSHIPS CONTINUES TO FUEL “TERRORISM”
Read More Articles on Egypt
Search the Corruption Database under
saudi arabia
Egypt
Pakistan
2) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Jailed Russian Oil Tycoon Faces More Charges
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, February 6, 2007; A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/05/AR2007020500348_pf.html
MOSCOW, Feb. 5 -- Russian prosecutors have leveled new charges against imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and one of his partners, accusing the fallen businessmen of money laundering and embezzlement in the theft of $20 billion from Yukos, the company they ran.
Khodorkovsky, 43, called the charges "insane and absurd," according to one of his foreign attorneys, Robert Amsterdam. In a conference call with reporters, Amsterdam said the charges are an attempt to keep Khodorkovsky in prison through presidential elections in early 2008 and legitimize the state's seizure of Yukos's remaining assets.
The defendants, already serving eight-year terms, pleaded not guilty at a hearing Monday in Siberia. If convicted of the new charges, they could be sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors allege that some siphoned money was diverted to Khodorkovsky's now-defunct foundation, Open Russia, which spent millions of dollars on programs aimed at strengthening democracy and education in Russia.
Khodorkovsky's defenders say he was targeted because of his political activities, particularly his funding of opposition groups that challenged the policies of President Vladimir Putin.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Kornhead will not get out of Russian Prison
(written on April 16, 07, for Corruption Updates 52, #2)
America stood by, applauding, while Mikhail Khodorkovsky stole Russia's Oil Industry, and tried to leverage his stolen Big Oil money into Political Dominance, Just like his Big Oil pals had done in the United States.
The takeover failed, and Kornhead will spend the rest of his life in Russian Prison.
We have exactly the same kind of people as Kornhead here in the US, except their plan to takeover our country in a flood of Corruption and Bribery Succeeded.
Bush, Cheney, and Ken Lay represent what happens when people like Khodorkovsky, the failed Russian Rockefeller, are able to leverage wealth into political power, and ultimately, into a significant degree of control over the whole political system.
The "oligarchs" failed attempt to impose the rule of wealth, of American-style Corporate Democracy, on Russia really pissed-off the Russian People, who cheered wildly when this greedy bastard was jailed, and his fellow cockroaches fled for the West.
The rest of his gang of thieves, such as Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, fled Russia with as much money as they could steal from the Russian people. They are not welcome in Russia, unless they are willing to put their heads into a noose.
Putin's crushing of Khodorkovsky and his gang of criminals raised his approval rating to 80%, and it has not fallen significantly since.
Khodorkovsky represented American-Style business and political practices in Russia, and these practices were firmly rejected.
Our Support for these thieves squandered our "political capitol" in Russia, and marked the end of hopes that a Corporate Elite would rise to rule Russia as it Rules the United States.
Our attempts to finance Corporate Politics and Parties in the Ukraine and Georgia are suffering similar fates, and raising the hostility of average citizens in each these countries towards outside interference, bet it American or Russian interference in their domestic affairs.
Now, largely due to our misguided interference in Russia's Domestic Politics, Non-Corporate Western Democratic Ideals are as dead in Russia as Corporate Democracy is. Thus the beatings in the streets of St. Petersburg.
And Putin is Clubbing Dissenters in the streets of St. Petersburg with the approval and blessing of the vast majority of the Russian people. Remember this the next time Newt speaks of the "public will."
Putin will soon hand-pick his replacement as President, and the people will elect his chosen successor, or Putin will keep the Presidency.
Putin's choice depends on how he perceives the maturity and stability of his political Mafia: If Putin feels his party can maintain its strange balance between Commie-Style Authoritarianism within an economic system of modified open-market capitalism, he will step down.
If Putin believes his departure will allow the Market to Control Politics, or that post-Putin Authoritarianism will shut down their modified open-market capitalism, he will keep the Presidency.
It's Putin's Choice.
In either case, it's sure that the Corporate Greed and dishonesty that dominates our Foreign Policy, combined with our military and political aggression along the soft, insecure underbelly of Russia's Southern Frontier, has rekindled the fires of paranoid anti-American nationalism in Russia.
Good work, America; your greed and ego has exceeded our principals, and blown our post-cold war chance to lead Russia, and the rest of the world, into a truly democratic age.
It was a pipe dream at best; how could we lead the world into something that we do not ourselves possess?
Interested in a brief Answers.Com Bio on Khodorkovsky?
Also See:
Corruption Updates 14 , 1st article on the page, "Political culture of lies and war"
Corruption Updates 28 , 2nd article on the page, "BRIBERY RISES WITH CORPORATE TRANSITION IN RUSSIA: RUSSIA FOLLOWING AMERICA BY TALKING DEMOCRACY AND DOING BRIBERY"
Corruption Updates 51, 4th article on the page, "Who's to Blame for Russia?"
Search the Corruption Database under
Russia (7 Abstracts)
3) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
State Farm donates to governor's fund
With the $25,000 contribution, the insurer gains direct access to Schwarzenegger.
By Peter Nicholas and Evan Halper
Times Staff Writers
May 12, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-statefarm12may12,1,6122827,full.story?ctrack=2&cset=true
SACRAMENTO — An insurance giant that rarely gives to politicians has dropped $25,000 into a fund controlled by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, at a time when the company wants the governor's office to embrace its legislative agenda.
The donation by State Farm's auto-insurance arm enabled the firm's executives to attend a private fundraising reception at Schwarzenegger's Brentwood home last month. The company has lobbied lawmakers on at least 10 bills proposed in the Assembly and Senate since January.
By making the contribution, State Farm became part of the Governor's Advisory Committee, a status that entitles donors to attend four private meetings with the governor and be included in regular conference calls with him, according to the reception invitation.
The April 12 donation went to the governor's California Recovery Team. Schwarzenegger has used the tax-exempt fund, which can accept unlimited donations, to promote ballot measures and otherwise pursue his political agenda.
State Farm, a mutual company that shares profits with policyholders in the form of dividends, has a long-standing ban on contributions to political campaigns. Company officials often cite that practice as proof that it is nonpartisan.
Bill Sirola, spokesman for State Farm in Sacramento, said in a recent interview: "We don't think our money should be used for political purposes, because of the vast number of people we represent."
"Gov. Schwarzenegger has so monetized politics that even companies like State Farm that have a long-standing policy of not giving to politicians feel they have to give to be in the governor's game," said Douglas Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a Santa Monica group.
Money collected by the group has gone to pay pollsters, campaign consultants and aides whose job it is to raise more money — all part of the political apparatus that Schwarzenegger has set up to build voter approval and advance his goals. He has moved about $1.9 million from the Recovery Team to the California Republican Party in the last two years.
Since Schwarzenegger created the Recovery Team four years ago, it has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from companies with business before the state. Many of the donors get access to the governor that is not available to ordinary Californians.
In the fundraising event at the governor's home last month, donors could sip cocktails for contributions exceeding $25,000. For donations of $100,000 to $250,000, contributors are invited to dine with Schwarzenegger and Shriver at their home June 6.
"Members will also be included in regular conference calls with the governor and leading and well-known Californians from the public and private sector," the invitation reads.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Arnie Sells Influence: State Farm's Checkbook is Open
Arnie's raising of a fortune when he is term-limited out of office indicates he is raising money, and support, to run for a US Senate seat.
Arnie has formed a slush fund with PG&E. Arnie has done AT&T's bidding, and they directed a fortune of their corporate bribery payment to his foundation. Now State Farm has joined Arnie's Auction of Political Power.
The insurance industry is deeply embedded in the Arnie Administration. The developers and real estate interests are amenable to trading money for influence.
As far as our democracy is concerned, Arnie is a Benedict Arnie.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 6, 4th article on page, “Arnie's Turn to Bleed Special Interests: Assembly done selling itself, Now it's Arnie's Turn.
Corruption Updates 12, 4th article on page, “How to Corrupt Democracy: The Insurance Industry and the Governor”
Corruption Updates 12, 5th article on page “INSURANCE INDUSTRY BATTLE PLAN: COMBINED BUSINESS ASSUALT ON DEMOCRACY” LATimes. Plot to corrupt democratic process and institutions successful. Plot uncovered, and yet it goes on. 9-24-06
Corruption Updates 13, 6th article on page, “Governor, PGE, Set Up Political Slush Fund”
Corruption Updates 17, 5th article on page, “VAST SUMS OF SPECIAL INTEREST MONEY COLLECTED BY GOV CANDIDATES IN CA”
Corruption Updates 17, 6th article on page “Total Campaign Outlays Approach $400 Million”
Corruption Updates 24, 2nd article on page, “Arnie has Huge Special Interest Slush Fund” ("officeholder" account: Southern California Edison, PG&E, Chevron and AT&T)
Search the Corruption Database under
Arnie (36 Abstracts)
Big Money Politics
4) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Russia to Get Central Asian Pipeline
By ILAN GREENBERG
May 13, 2007, NYT
ALMATY, Kazakhstan, May 12 — President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia brokered an agreement on Saturday with two Central Asian countries to build a new gas pipeline to Russia, delivering a major setback to continuing American efforts to send Central Asian natural gas exports directly to Europe.
The presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed to build a new pipeline around the Caspian Sea, giving Russia significantly more control over much of Central Asia’s vast natural gas reserves. Russia has its own bounty of natural gas, but the country’s gas monopoly, Gazprom, has preferred to distribute subsidized domestic gas internally while reselling Central Asian gas to Europe at prices that are typically more than double what it is charged.
American officials have aggressively courted the rulers of Central Asia, which hangs like a balloon under Russia’s southern rim. In a visit to Kazakhstan last summer, Vice President Dick Cheney lobbied for new energy routes that bypass Russia, calling Russia’s wielding of its energy supplies “tools for intimidation and blackmail.”
With Saturday’s agreement to build a new natural gas pipeline, “technological, legal and ecological risks are so big that it will be impossible to find an investor” for an American promoted trans-Caspian pipeline “unless it is a political investor who does not care how much gas there is to pump through,” said Viktor Khristenko, Russia’s energy minister, at a news conference in Turkmenbasy, the city on Turkmenistan’s Caspian coast playing host to a summit meeting on energy issues among the three countries.
The presidents agreed to sign a formal treaty in September to build the pipeline, which is expected to run along the Caspian shore from Turkmenistan through Kazakhstan, with a goal of delivering some 10 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year to Russia’s existing gas delivery grid within three years.
Russia currently pays Turkmenistan $100 per cubic meter of gas and subsequently resells it to European customers for $250 per cubic meter. Planned improvements to existing gas pipelines and expanded natural gas exports from Kazakhstan are expected to allow Russia to substantially increase its total delivery of Central Asian gas to more than 90 billion cubic meters per year.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Russia Strengthening Grip on Former Soviet States
(article originally written on 3-5-07 for CU 36_1)
Our victory in the Cold War armed us with an arrogance that has undermined the character of our “victory.” Rather than be cool, and encourage democracy and local autonomy, We have moved our political, military and economic forces right up to Russia's borders, right through the post-Soviet satellite states.
Remember our response when Russia moved missiles to Cuba?
We have not handled our cold war victory wisely. Our own arrogance and self righteousness has blinded us to our own shortcomings.
We correctly assumed Russia was in a weakened state after the fall of the Soviet Union. We incorrectly assumed Russia would remain in a permanently weakened state. So we pushed NATO up to the Russian Frontier, and spent millions to control politics in the Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, as well as in the "stans" on Russia's southern borders.
It stupid to assume Russia would not eventually rebuild, and respond. Russia is rebuilding itself on the wealth of its vast energy supplies. The market price of oil is going to continue to increase, and Russia is already strong enough to directly confront our political and military intrusions in their border states.
Russia is rebuilding and modernizing their military forces, and creating new strategic plans to counter our European deployments, at least.
Russia has been moving to counter, if not eliminate, our political intrusions in the Ukraine, Georgia, the “stans,” and Belarus. Russia is taking a hard line in support of the Serbs resistance to Kosovo independence.
Globally, Russia can offer nations like Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Iran political, economic, and military support to maintain their independence.
Russian oil, money, and military technology make them a rising heavyweight in the world balance of power. Our behavior in Iraq, and around the world has given Russia a golden opportunity to throw their weight around.
Destroying Iraq created a moment of global clarity which has hastened the shift in the world balance of power away from American domination.
Invading Iraq triggered a global realization that American power around the world is based on no more than simple greed backed by naked violence. After Iraq, every nation on the planet understands that they need military forces sufficient to deter American preemption.
Our Iraqi invasion, matched with Russia's open challenge, tells every nation in the world that it is once again possible to craft deals with Russia, and possibly China, for protection against American domination, or invasion.
Russia's threats and denunciations of American policy signals that Russia has sufficiently consolidated its internal affairs to respond vigorously to our aggressions. Russia has enough internal stability, money, and oil to take advantage of the chaos we have plunged the world, and especially Arabic Islam, into.
This is our fault. Our middle eastern foreign policy, before we invaded Iraq, was based on supporting Arabic dictators who are hated by their own people. Rather than seeing the writing on the wall, and working to encourage these regimes to reflect the will of their people, we went in the opposite direction, invading countries and imposing dictators in the name of "democracy," and "freedom."
These hypocritical contradictions have created a huge maneuvering area to expand Russian and Chinese influence around the world. Our invasion, and our support of regional dictators and tyrants has made our Arabic Allies no more than big, fat, juicy targets for the various Arabic independence groups Thus we hear the Saudi King calling our invasion "illegal."
Putting our military in the middle east has been poison to our dictators. Bush's invasion has reduced the weight of our regional influence to no more than the size of our guns and wallets. We better not run out of bucks or bullets, or our control of global oil markets are in real trouble. We have nothing else to rely on.
All Russia needs to do is offer honest support to the Arabs and Persians who seek freedom from our imperial system and its regional dictators. If Russia befriends only those countries who want to control their own affairs, we are in big trouble.
Arabic lands under Arab control is unacceptable to us. This will create increasing political and military chaos until the Arabs actually seize control of their governments, and force their colonial ruling elites to flee back to their source of power, the United States. Once here, they can join the refugees from the toppled dictatorships of Samoza, Batista, the Shah, Chiang Kai Schreck, to name just a few.
Soon, American Globalism will fall before a new, multi-lateral, shared balance of world power. Democracy will be victorious, not America. The right of locals to select their own governments will be established, and it will mark the end of American Globalism.
This will signal the end of our control of the world's oil markets, and those that gain control will hate us.
Soon, we will live in a world where Russia, China, and India find it advantageous to openly block our military, political and economic adventures. Soon, the world will stop funding our gluttony, and demand we pay them back for all that we have borrowed, and taken.
Soon.
About Russia's Energy Pricing Policy
In the US, we are experiencing a festival of greed and profiteering by Big Oil. Big Oil and their political puppets tell us that these prices are proper and correct. They tell us this is how the free market regulates and responds to supply and demand. Unless you are Russian.
The abstract above points out that Russia's ending of subsidies for ex-Soviet countries we want to influence, is bad. While we allow our oil companies to screw America, and the World, we complain that Russia is an "unreliable" business partner.
Why? Because they set market rates for their energy.
It's only a free market when "our" oil companies screw our own people, or the rest of the world. But it's "unreliability" when Russia want to charge market rates? Only in the hypocritical world of American Corporate Fascism, where the American Taxpayer subsidizes Big Oil, while Big Oil is making the largest profits in the history of corporations.
If Big Oil obtains political control, as they have in America, they will squeeze every penny out of every customer, while they bribe the government for subsidies.
And Russia is Bad?
Somebody is a threat to our Country, Constitution, and Conscience, and it's not the Russians.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 14, 1st article on page, “Political Culture of Lies and War” (Russian View of US)
Corruption Updates 28, 2nd article on page,”BRIBERY RISES WITH CORPORATE TRANSITION IN RUSSIA”
Search the Corruption Database under
Russia (12 Abstracts)
5) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Army Career Behind Him, General Speaks Out on Iraq
By THOM SHANKER
May 13, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/us/13generals.html?pagewanted=print
ROCHESTER, May 10 — John Batiste has traveled a long way in the last four years, from commanding the First Infantry Division in Iraq to quitting the Army after three decades in uniform and, now, from his new life overseeing a steel factory here, to openly challenging President Bush on his management of the war.
“Mr. President, you did not listen,” General Batiste says in new television advertisements being broadcast in Republican Congressional districts as part of a $500,000 campaign financed by VoteVets.org. “You continue to pursue a failed strategy that is breaking our great Army and Marine Corps. I left the Army in protest in order to speak out. Mr. President, you have placed our nation in peril. Our only hope is that Congress will act now to protect our fighting men and women.”
“I am outraged, as are the majority of Americans,” General Batiste said over sandwiches in a blue-collar diner here. “I am a lifelong Republican. But it is past time for change.”
General Batiste said he chose to go public with his critique of the war effort only after 30 years of honoring the Army’s rules of silence. He said it was that time commanding 22,000 troops in combat, in 2004 and 2005, that convinced him that American fighting in Iraq was short of vision as well as troops.
“There was never enough. There was never a reserve,” he said. “Again and again, we had to move troops by as many as 200 miles out of our area of operations to support another sector. We would pull troops out of contact with the enemy and move them into contact with the enemy somewhere else. The minute we’d leave, the insurgents would pick up on that, and kill everybody who had been friendly.”
General Batiste was among a handful of retired generals first calling last year for the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary. He says he realizes lending his name to television advertisements aimed at the president and Republican members of Congress in an election cycle is different.
As described by General Batiste, the message is not antiwar; it argues that continuing the war in Iraq as a civil, sectarian conflict that cannot be won by outside forces is crippling the Army and the Marine Corps. It does not deny the danger of violent Islamic extremism, he says, but contends that the war in Iraq prevents the armed services from preparing to battle other global security threats.
And it says that if terrorism, and especially terrorists armed with unconventional weapons, truly threaten America’s very survival, then the rest of the country — not just the military — should be called to sacrifice.
As described by General Batiste, the message is not antiwar; it argues that continuing the war in Iraq as a civil, sectarian conflict that cannot be won by outside forces is crippling the Army and the Marine Corps. It does not deny the danger of violent Islamic extremism, he says, but contends that the war in Iraq prevents the armed services from preparing to battle other global security threats.
And it says that if terrorism, and especially terrorists armed with unconventional weapons, truly threaten America’s very survival, then the rest of the country — not just the military — should be called to sacrifice.
His retirement from the Army in November 2005 meant turning his back on a third star and command of day-to-day combat missions in Iraq, the No. 2 military position in Baghdad. Having cast aside his military career, General Batiste cast his eyes away from the defense industry to join Klein Steel Service, which cuts and processes steel for commercial, civilian enterprises — and does no military work.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
General Warns of Incompetence of Bush's War, Bush
Bush fired Shinseki, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he had the audacity to insist that 400,00 troops would be required to serve for years to secure Iraq.
Bush then went through the Pentagon's generals until he found generals dull or heartless enough to agree to Bush's flawed invasion plans.
Now we are faced with the fallout from ignoring the best advice of our professional military.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 45 , 1st article on page, "McCaffrey Paints Gloomy Picture of Iraq"
Corruption Updates 49 , 1st article on page, "3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar'"
Search the Corruption Database under
Generals
War
6) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Huge budget shortfall seen
Legislative analyst says Schwarzenegger plan for 2007-08 could add a $3 billion deficit.
By Judy Lin - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTWednesday, May 16, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/181446.html
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger based his May budget revision on overly optimistic assumptions that could lead to a $3 billion shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and more than a $5 billion problem the following year, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget adviser said Tuesday.
Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said the Republican governor overstated the state's reserve by $1.7 billion in 2007-08 by making several assumptions, including the legality of shifting money from public transit and forecasting high estimates from gambling and property tax revenue.
"Our bottom line: The concern we have is that the state's outyear fiscal situation has actually worsened," Hill said.
On Monday, Schwarzenegger released his budget revisions and called for selling the state student loan guarantor EdFund, tapping into a tobacco settlement reserve now rather than over time, redirecting public transit funds, and eliminating a scheduled increase for the blind, aged and disabled receiving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Program.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
During Record Profits and Wealth, no Money to Pay for Costs of Business:
Schools, Hospitals, Prisons Neglected
Also See:
Corruption Updates 4, 2nd article on page, “Special Interests and Politicians Play, Our Education System Melts Away"
Corruption Updates 34, 3rd article on page, “LONG TERM PRISON CRISIS RECOGNIZED?SEEING IT HAS NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM-PAYING IS...”
Corruption Updates 41, 1st article on page, “Study: Schools need billions"
Search the Corruption Database under
Economics
Schools
Prisons
7) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Medicare audits spark protest that nudges Feinstein
By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTSaturday, May 19, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/185989.html
California lawmakers are questioning whether an auditing company in which San Francisco investor Richard Blum, the husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has a major financial stake is rejecting Medicare claims at California rehabilitation hospitals to reap millions of dollars in profits at the expense of patient care.
The company, PRG-Schultz International, has a contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the overseer of the Medicare program, to check payments in California for mistakes. Its only pay is a bounty of up to 30 percent on the overcharges it identifies.
Her husband's business interests in PRG-Schultz have become awkward for Feinstein, the state's senior Democratic senator, as the hospital association turns to Congress for relief.
On Thursday, after questions from McClatchy Newspapers, Feinstein sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that called the hospital association's concerns "potentially serious."
Feinstein made no mention of her husband's interest in PRG-Schultz, which she lists in her annual financial disclosure reports. According to PRG-Schultz, Blum's investment companies own 10.5 percent of its outstanding common stock, 53 percent of its outstanding preferred stock and 28 percent of its notes and securities.
Rep. Lois Capps of Santa Barbara:
"The review and collection practices of PRG-Schultz threaten access to rehabilitation services in California," the letter said. "We urge you to examine the actions taken by PRG-Schultz International Inc."
The company was on the brink of financial collapse when it won the contract two years ago, and the job has proved to be enormously lucrative. Government figures indicate that it had rejected $105 million in California Medicare overcharges as of Sept. 30, the end of the 2006 fiscal year.
The CHA said in a letter to Medicare administrators in November that PRG-Schultz should be suspended for improperly applying Medicare rules and using unqualified personnel.
"It appears to us that PRG-Schultz is in essence running a rehabilitation claims denial 'mill,' " said C. Duane Dauner, CHA (The California Hospital Association)president, in the letter.
This is not the first time Blum's business interests have collided with his wife's job. Blum Capital Partners is a major investor in Northwest Airlines, which in 1995 won the first contract by an American air carrier to fly to Beijing. Feinstein had been friends with a former Chinese political leader since she was mayor of San Francisco.
More recently, concerns have been raised in Republican circles about some of Blum's business investments being enriched by defense contracts at a time when the senator was serving on a Senate military construction appropriations committee.
According to reports filed by PRG-Schultz with the Securities and Exchange Commission, it appears Blum and his companies stepped up their investments in the Atlanta-based company before profits from the auditing started flowing in and the company was teetering on collapse, its stock in a free fall.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
How Feinstien Got Rich:
Her Husband makes Billions denying Medicine and Manufacturing Arms with Govt Contracts while Feinstien does "Oversight"
Who does Fiend Stien work for? Like the rest of our bribed politicians, she works for those who pay to get her elected.
In Fiend Stien's case, that would be her husband. Rather than being a whore for the Corporations and Special Interests, The Blum-Fiend marriage keeps the corruption close to home, in their own family.
So much for democratic "Family Values," when the prostitution of politics is consummated in their marriage bed.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 25 , 8th article on page, "Senators rap FBI over domestic spying: Feinstein decries political corruption investigations"
Corruption Updates 41, 1st article on page, "Ethics challenge to Feinstein: She chaired subcommittee on military spending; husband had defense firm investments.
Read Articles describing how the Democrats represent Corporations
Articles about how BIG MONEY RUNS POLITICS
Search the Corruption Database under
Feinstein
8) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Health czar rips prison bed plan
He suggests a need to take over the hiring of officers to bolster medical care.
By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTWednesday, May 16, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/181444.html
California's prison medical czar expressed deep reservations Tuesday over recently enacted legislation to increase bed capacity in the state corrections agency and moved to expand his oversight authority to cover construction and its hiring operations.
Robert Sillen, the federally appointed receiver in charge of correctional medical care, said in a report that a key component of the $7.9 billion prison construction and rehabilitation package signed into law May 3 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger "may well jeopardize prisoner patient health care."
Sillen also said in the 44-page report to U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson that his ability to elevate prison medical care to constitutional standards is being impeded by an estimated 2,400 to 2,700 correctional officer vacancies. To fill them, he is asking Henderson to give state corrections officials 15 days to answer "why the Receiver should not begin to provide direct oversight over the (prison system's) correctional officer recruitment and hiring programs."
The receiver criticized the prison deal -- hailed by Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders as a bipartisan solution to California's prison overcrowding crisis -- as "impacting our ability to provide medical care."
He said the agreement worked out in Assembly Bill 900 will mean that fixing medical care in the prison system "will take a lot longer and lead to significantly more intrusiveness by the federal courts."
"It's not going to be successful, in my judgment," Sillen said in an interview, about AB 900. "And it's certainly going to cause more problems than it solves for (achieving) constitutional levels of medical care."
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
State Plan for Prisons Lauded by Gov and Dems Assures Inhumane Conditions for Years to Come
Also See:
Corruption Updates 16 , 5th article on page, "CALIFORNIA PRISONS INHUMANE"
Corruption Updates 55 , 9th article on page, "Inmate rights lawyers are a burden, Sillen says"
Search the Corruption Database under
Prisons (14 Abstracts)
9) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Leaders split over plans to redistrict
One Perata measure is 'illogical,' says a Núñez spokesman.
By Jim Sanders - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTThursday, May 17, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/182941.html
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata split Wednesday over Senate proposals to alter the way legislative and Board of Equalization districts are drawn.
Perata jointly crafted both measures, one of which was blasted by Núñez after the Senate's elections and redistricting committee voted 5-0 to keep the proposals alive.
"It's an unconstitutional, unworkable and illogical smorgasbord that's deceptive to voters," Steve Maviglio, Núñez's spokesman, said of Senate Constitutional Amendment 9 by Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield.
The controversy focuses on details, not on the notion of stripping the Legislature's authority to draw political districts and creating a citizens commission for that purpose.
Núñez opposes SCA 9's packaging of redistricting with other political overhauls, including changing legislative term limits and requiring 24-hour disclosure of contributions made during budget talks and other key periods.
Núñez has proposed a stand-alone redistricting measure that would include congressional districts, while SCA 9 excludes them.
Democratic and Republican legislative leaders struck a deal in 2001 to draw lines that protected incumbents of both parties. Only one congressional seat -- and none of the Legislature's 120 seats -- has changed party hands in the past two elections.
Both SCA 9 and SCA 10 call for creation of an 11-member citizens committee to handle redistricting, but they differ in the extent of legislative involvement in selecting members.
Núñez personally supports a pending ballot initiative that would alter term limits in the same way that SCA 9 would, reducing the total number of years that a legislator could serve from 14 to 12, but allowing all to be served in one house.
Núñez, however, wants voters to cast ballots separately on term limits and redistricting.
Nunez Using Fraudulent Reform to Protect Party and his Political Ambitions
We need redistricting to restore any semblance of democracy in California.
We need to maintain term limits to maintain any semblance of democracy in California.
Term limits work. Without term limits the products of monopolized electoral districts are virtually impossible to remove.
Before term limits, California politicians either died in office, or got thrown in prison. Those were about the only ways to remove them.
Here's the Nunez angle: Pass the term limits on the flood of special interest bribes he's collecting as I write, and kill the redistricting initiative. It would be a "win-win" situation for Nunez.
Under the Perata Plan, there is no possibility of a "win-win," where Term limits are loosened, and redistricting is defeated. Under Perata's Plan either both pass or both lose. But Perata's plan avoids the possibility of a "Lose-Lose" situation that Nunez's plan risks.
The "lose-lose" scenario is defeating Nunez's bid to loosen Term limits, while passing the initiative to take redistricting out of the Legislature's dirty hands. Ironically, Nunez's "lose-lose" scenario is the preferred outcome for the health of our democracy, but not for Nunez or the Democrats.
Nunez's plan could blow up in his face under the "lose-lose" scenario, so why is he risking it?
Nunez wants to split the issues of Term Limits and Redistricting to please Pelosi, and the Democrat Congressional Mafia. They would prefer that redistricting not be on the ballot at all. But Nunez is sharp, maybe too sharp. By unwrapping Redistricting from Term Limits, Nunez can get it all, without trading Term Limit extensions for Redistricting, which is the heart of the Perata Plan.
Congressional Dems prefer that nothing be done to alter the Democrat's monopoly on California's Congressional delegation, which is assured under the current district designs.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 29 , 1st article on page, "ASSEMBLY STEALS LIKE CORPORATIONS:CITIZENS TOLD GOVERNMENT MUST PAY SALARIES IN line with corporate America"
Corruption Updates 24 , 6th article on page, "POLITICIANS WHO BRIBE POLITICIANS ARE LEADERS"
Corruption Updates 35 , 4th article on page, "NUNEZ-ARNIE REDISTRICTING STALLED BY CONGRESS"
Corruption Updates 66 , 1st article on page, "Nunez and Corporate Bribers, Special Interests Craft Pact of Greed on Term Limit Attack"
Search the Corruption Database under
Nunez
California, Assembly
10) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Polar ocean 'soaking up less CO2'
By Paul Rincon
Thursday, 17 May 2007, 21:21 GMT 22:21 UK
Science reporter, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/science/nature/6665147.stm
One of Earth's most important absorbers of carbon dioxide (CO2) is failing to soak up as much of the greenhouse gas as it was expected to, scientists say.
The decline of Antarctica's Southern Ocean carbon "sink" - or reservoir - means that atmospheric CO2 levels may be higher in future than predicted. These carbon sinks are vital as they mop up excess CO2 from the atmosphere, slowing down global warming.
The study, by an international team, is published in the journal Science.
This effect had been predicted by climate scientists, and is taken into account - to some extent - by climate models. But it appears to be happening 40 years ahead of schedule.
Of all the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, only half of it stays there; the rest goes into carbon sinks.
There are two major natural carbon sinks: the oceans and the land "biosphere". They are equivalent in size, each absorbing a quarter of all CO2 emissions.
The Southern Ocean is thought to account for about 15% of all carbon sinks.
It was assumed that, as human activities released more CO2 into the atmosphere, ocean sinks would keep pace, absorbing a comparable percentage of this greenhouse gas.
The breakdown in efficiency of these sinks was an expected outcome, but not until the second half of the 21st Century."They have remained the same as they were 24 years ago even though the emissions have risen by 40%."
The cause of the decline in the Southern Ocean sink, the researchers explain, is a rise in windiness since 1958.
This increase in Southern Ocean winds has been attributed to two factors.
The first is the depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere, which changes the temperature of this region.
The second is recent climate change, which warms the tropics more than the Southern Ocean.
Oceans store much of their CO2 in deep waters. But, explained Dr Le Quere, "as the winds increase, the water in the ocean mixes more".
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientist added: "The CO2 that would normally be in the deep ocean and would just stay there instead gets brought up to the surface and outgasses to the atmosphere."
The ocean surface becomes saturated with CO2 and cannot take up any more from the atmosphere.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Climate Models Continue to Fail:
Climatologists no more than Fancy Weather Reporters
CLIMATE ALREADY CHANGED, NO ONE NOTICED
(Written for 39_10 on 3-12-07)
The last 10 years has seen summer extending deep into fall, Fall ending in late December, and Winter has been occurring in Spring.
Yet the people of California seem unaware of the changes. Our “residents” perceive the deteriorated conditions in our schools, the loss of our middle class, and massive poverty as normal.
For those who have not been here long, know that it has not always been like this. The changes in our social, political, and economic values, like the change in our climate, are the product of our unprecedented growth.
The majority of our population arrived recently, and have no historical perspective on what our schools, roads, and democracy were like before they got here.
The changes are invisible to those who just got here, and those who profit by bleeding our people.
They tell us, “It's always been like this.”
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Climate Change has already happened, Glad the Scientists Took their Heads out of their Asses, opened the Window, and Looked outside
(written April 6, 2007, for 47_9)
Those of you who know me, and have talked to me for the last decade, are not surprised.
Six years ago I predicted the rate of global climate change would break all the climatologists' models, regaling scientists to the role of merely reporting. rather than predicting, climate change.
This prediction has proven itself.
Hear that chainsaw in the distance? That's the sound of nature coming to return all the favors we have bestowed on it.
For a more detailed essay on local climate changes, see: "...Scientists too Stupid..."
Also See:
Corruption Updates 36, 6th article on page, “AMERICA REFUSES TO STOP EXPANDING POPULATION AND CONSUMPTION:AMERICAN GREED-CONSUMPTION FUELS MANUFACTURING (POLLUTION) IN CHINA”
Corruption Updates 39, 10th article on the page, "Top Scientists Warn of Water Shortages and Disease Linked to Global Warming"
Corruption Updates 47, 9th article on the page, "Earth Faces a Grim Future: UN Report" Climate Change has already happened:Glad the Scientists Took their Heads out of their Asses, opened the Window, and Looked outside
Search the Corruption Database under
Environment (23 Abstracts)
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