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CORRUPTION UPDATES 71

June 9, 2007

The CORRUPTION UPDATES posts corruption news stories from California, the Nation and the World, and gives you the straight story.

 

CORRUPTION UPDATES 71

 

Previous Corruption Updates: Page 70

Next Corruption Updates: Page 72

Contact Us: Committeefordemocracy.org

 

1) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE:

CIA rejects secret jails report

Friday, 8 June 2007, 22:58 GMT 23:58 UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/

europe/6736385.stm

 

The CIA has dismissed a Council of Europe report alleging that it ran secret jails for terror suspects in Europe after the 11 September attacks.

A CIA spokesman said the report was biased and distorted, and that the agency had operated lawfully.

Swiss Senator Dick Marty, who wrote the report, said secret CIA prisons "did exist in Europe from 2003 to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania".

The charge was denied by both Polish and Romanian officials.

Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who served from 1995 to 2005, said on Friday: "There were no secret prisons in Poland."

Romanian senator Norica Nicolai, who headed an investigation into the allegations, also denied his country's involvement.

"The secret detention facilities in Europe were run directly and exclusively by the CIA"
Dick Marty

A spokesman for the CIA told the BBC that the agency's "operations have been lawful, effective, closely reviewed and of benefit to many people - including Europeans - by".

Mr Marty - working on behalf of the Council of Europe, a human rights body - has been investigating the CIA's "extraordinary renditions" programme, under which terror suspects were transported around the world for interrogation.

In his report, he said a secret agreement among Nato allies allowed the CIA to operate the camps.

Unnamed CIA sources quoted by Mr Marty said Poland was the "black site" where eight "high-value detainees (HVDs)" were interrogated, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001.

The report says Romania "was developed into a site to which more detainees were transferred only as the HVD programme expanded".

"The secret detention facilities in Europe were run directly and exclusively by the CIA," the report says.

But it said "the highest state authorities" knew of the CIA's activities.

A report approved by a European Parliament committee earlier this year said more than 1,000 covert CIA flights had crossed European airspace or stopped at European airports in the four years after the 9/11 attacks.

US President George Bush admitted last year that terror suspects had been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, but he did not say where the prisons were located.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

CIA Admits Secret Prisons while Denying Secret Prisons

Alex Wierbinski, 6-8-07, Berkeley, California:

Amazing. The CIA denial, highlighted in RED above, denies having secret prisons in Europe, while at the same time bragging that the nonexistent prisons were "effective," and "of benefit to many people." Hell they admitted it while denying it.. Amazing. But it's ok, because they were "disrupting plots and saving lives."

The Bush Administration has argued the public benefits of secretly kidnapping and torturing the people whom they alone decide are "bad people."

The CIA "denial" of secret prisons in Europe smacks of their approval of extra-judicial power. The CIA "Denial" is the latest evolution of the principals used by the KKK, the Gestapo, and Stasi, among many others not mentioned, to justify exactly the powers of secret detention and torture

That is exactly why we had a Revolution. That is exactly why we have checks and balances within our Constitution.

Our Revolutionary forefathers sought to check the human desire for unlimited power by severely restraining the nature of our government.

Despite these restraints, The Bush administration has somehow managed to add to the evolution of arbitrary authority, moving us closer to the Orwellian idea of "freedom is slavery" with his brilliant war on "Terror."

This is. after all, old stuff in a new package. Even Bush's war on "Terror" is old stuff, hardly a replacement for the commie bogie man. The justification for tyranny, the "package" tyranny comes in, is constantly changing, and Bush rose to the occasion.

As much as the justification of the power itself changes, the claim to unlimited power to restrain, compel, impoverish and kill is uniformly seized by tyrants and dictators.

From the Inquisition to Bush's "war on terror," every tyrannical government seeks the same power, with only slight modifications of the justifications.

Cosmetic changes in the philosophy of power are required to suit the nature of the specific culture served, but the message is always the same: "We Kill a Few to Save the Majority" We do this for you, in your very best interest.

This really means that we kill anyone who interferes with our hold on power and wealth.

These justifications stink of the crimes they are hiding, no matter how pretty the box they come in is, and any true patriot will smell them out before the box is open, and we see what is really inside.

 

Also See:

Corruption Updates 31, 1st article on page, "AG criticizes judges for terror rulings"

 

Corruption Updates 31, 7th article on page, "Pentagon Revises Its Rules on Prosecution of Terrorists"


Search the Corruption Database under

Torture

Illegal Detentions

Illegal Trials

Unconstitutional Presidential Power

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2) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

No-Confidence Resolution on Gonzales Is Scheduled

NYTimes, June 9, 2007. By ERIC LIPTON

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/washington/09justice.html?pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON, June 8 — Senate Democrats said Friday that they intended to bring a no-confidence resolution against Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to a vote on Monday, a symbolic maneuver that could be their final effort to force his ouster.

Democrats privately acknowledged that the non binding measure appeared to have little chance of passage, largely because they are unlikely to marshal the 60 supporters they need to limit debate and bring the resolution itself to a vote.

Under Senate rules, the Democrats need the agreement of 60 members to invoke cloture, limiting debate and bringing the resolution to a vote. But few Republicans appeared ready to abandon Mr. Gonzales.

The no-confidence vote comes after five months of investigation and the disclosure of thousands of pages of internal Justice Department documents, which contradict the initial explanations by Mr. Gonzales and other administration officials about why the prosecutors were dismissed and what role the White House played in the process.

How the list of prosecutors was assembled remains a mystery. Another question is whether inappropriate political considerations — like a desire to block an investigation of Republicans or speed up an investigation of Democrats — played a role in any of the dismissals.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Gonzales Going to Walk Free After Committing Political and Constitutional Crimes

This Administration has made Nixon and Kissenger's domestic Constitutional Crimes, as well as their international Crimes Against Humanity, look insignificant.

But unlike Nixon, it appears that Bush and his crew of criminals are going to get away with their crimes, if the Democrats in the Senate and House have their way.

It is obvious that Nancy Pelosi does not have the balls to do her duty, and investigate every one of Bush's domestic and international crimes to fair resolution: either we have a Constitutional Democracy, or we do not.

Pelosi has taken impeachment off the table, giving Bush unlimited licence to continue, and continue to expand, the kidnapping and torture being conducted by the CIA, the illegal searches of everybody's electronic communications by the NSA, and Gonzales' defense of all these crimes as the Attorney General.

Despite all of the sharp words coming out of the Senate, they seem unable to understand, or process the enormity of the crimes of this administration.

Neither the House, nor the Senate, has been able to transform their hearings and investigations into concrete actions, and I do not expect them to.

The Democrats have left all of Bush's crimes on the table, unchecked and un prosecuted. As neither the Democrats, nor the Republicans has the honor to stand up to Bush's crimes, the bureaucratic apparatus of his crimes will be left intact, available for use by subsequent administrations, long after Bush is gone.

The next president, and the administrations that follow, will be empowered to search, kidnap, detain, and torture anyone they see fit.

 

Also See:


Corruption Updates 43, 4th article on page, "GONALES CAUGHT IN OPEN LIES TO CONGRESS"

Corruption Updates 54 , 2nd article on the Page, "Fired U.S. attorneys are called some of the best"

Corruption Updates 56 , 8th article on the Page, "The US Attorney Scandal: A Root and Branch Survey; aides given hiring power, records show

Read more articles About Abuse of the US Attorney

Search the Corruption Database under

US Attorney

Gonzales

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3) THE Article PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

U.S. Review of Decision on Detainees

 

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: June 9, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/washington/09brfs-gitmo.html

The Defense Department said that it would ask two judges to reconsider their decisions earlier this week that stalled the military’s move to put detainees at Guantánamo Bay on trial.

. A Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said the department was filing a motion with the judges to reconsider their rulings dismissing charges against two detainees, saying that the problem was one of semantics.

The judges ruled Monday that the Pentagon could not prosecute the detainees, Salim Ahmed Hamdan and Omar Khadr, because they had not first been identified as “unlawful” enemy combatants. Mr. Khadr and Mr. Hamdan had been identified only as enemy combatants, lacking the “unlawful” designation.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:


Bush Pushes Criminal Tribunals to the Brink

Bush is running into problems consistent with his use of arbitrary authority. His secret, illegal kidnappings and torture went smoothly: neither Congress nor the Press has intervened, and pesky judicial review of warrants for searches and arrests were deemed unnecessary under the powers of the unitary executive.

 

But Bush is running into trouble as the fruits of these illegal programs emerge from the "black sites" into the relative glare of scrutiny at Gitmo.

 

A compliant Congress abdicated our Constitution, and stripped "detainees" of Habius Corpus, as well as appellate rights to civilian courts, essentially granting the Administration the power to endlessly detain their prisoners.

 

Congress granted the President the power to use torture induced evidence, secret evidence, and hearsay. Allowing torture testimony was Congressional acknowledgement, and approval, of Bush's kidnapping, secret prisons, and torture program.

Congress gave the President the power to run Kangaroo Courts, where guilt had been predetermined by the President, and conviction guaranteed by the process itself.

Despite all the help from Congress, Bush still managed to screw up the Kangaroo Courts, and have his Criminal Tribunals slapped down and insulted by two patriots, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, and Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan.

 

Despite all of Bush's machinations to destroy the rule of law, and Justice in our country, he has stumbled on a word. No, it's not "idiot," it's "Unlawful."

 

Virtually every illegal detainee at Gitmo was designated as an "enemy Combatant," making them ineligible for Bush's illegal tribunals, which were reserved for "Unlawful enemy Combatants"

 

Now Bush is asking for one more little favor, this time from the judges of his illegal tribunals: If they could just ignore the distinction between enemies and unlawful enemies, we can proceed quickly through the trials, and get on with the lynchings.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 31, 8th article on page, "CONVICTION, NOT JUSTICE, IS THE STATED GOAL OF GUANTAMAMO TRIAL RULES"


Corruption Updates 67, 2nd article on page, "Tribunals are dealt another legal setback"

 

Search the Corruption Database under

Illegal Trials

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4) THE Article PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

Indian diplomat lambastes U.S. attack on Iran consulate in Iraq

Tehran Times, 6-9-07

http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=6/9/2007&Cat=2&Num=9



NEW DELHI
(IRNA) -- An Indian leader Friday blasted U.S. troops raid on Iran's Consulate in Irbil, Iraq, calling for UN Security Council to severely punish the U.S.

"The U.S. aggression on Iran's Consulate and kidnapping of its diplomats was a blatant violation of the Vienna Convention for which the Washington leaders deserve a severe punishment", said Shoaib Iqbal, deputy speaker of Delhi Assembly, here in an exclusive interview with IRNA.

The Iranian Consulate in northern Iraqi city of Irbil was set up as per the wishes of the people of Kurdistan region of Iraq, which was later on confirmed by the Iraqi government.

The consulate was set up to facilitate issuing visas to the local people, especially to those seeking medical helps from Iran. Shoaib said, the "U.S. government, by attacking the consulate and confiscating its equipment has scored a point to escalate tensions with Tehran."

Such move against an entity representing a sovereign state and a member of the United Nations cannot justify under any circumstances, added this prominent leader in Indian politics.

Criticizing the world power's silence over the heinous crime committed by the U.S. troops, deputy speaker urged the UN Security Council firmly to deal with the countries violating international conventions and to pressurize Washington leaders for the immediate release of the Iranian diplomats. Ridiculing the U.S. allegation over Iran's interference in Iraq, Shoaib said, the "U.S. is trying to cover up its crimes and justify its defeat in that country by blaming the neighboring countries for the same."

Turning to Iran's nuclear program, Shoaib said, the "use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is the fundamental right of all countries and the U.S. and its allies have no authority to deprive any nation of such a right.

"Iran, like other states, is also entitled to have access to the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Therefore, Iran should not succumb to the illegitimate calls of the U.S. and other Western countries," he added.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

US Kidnapping of Iranian Diplomats Registers in India

Bush's kidnapping of the Iranian diplomats in Irbil was not just an intentional provocation of Iran, an act of war, it was an attack on the whole global diplomatic system.

Bush's abduction of the Iranian diplomats in Irbil delivered the same message Bush sent with the Iraq invasion, with his secret kidnappings, with the torture programs, and with his domestic illegal searching program in the US. Bush's message is loud and clear: "I am above domestic and international law."

This is fine for Bush now, but as the future unfolds we will be confronted with countless regimes who will claim exactly the same authority, against us.

We face a future where every tyrannical "unitary executive" dictator in the world will be emboldened to kidnap, hold. torture and "convict" anyone who threatens them, under the cover of "fighting terrorism."

We face a future where Bush's "preemptive war doctrine," will be used to justify military aggression around the world.

We face a future where diplomats around the world will live in fear that they will mysteriously disappear.

It's Ironic that India is supporting Iran's claims to Nuclear Power, as Iran is part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and is facing the threats of American military retribution, while India has rejected the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and received Bush's blessing, and the promise of technical support for its illegal atomic weapons program.

Bush has replaced the rule of law with the rule of the jungle.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 32, 10 th article on page, "Call for UN Action Against US Abduction"

Search the Corruption Database under

Iran

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5) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

Delta pumps to run again

Smelt may die, but Bay Area's needs are cited after 10 days of using wells, stored water.

By Matt Weiser - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDTSaturday, June 9, 2007

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/213191.html

Urban thirst in the Bay Area will prompt state officials to resume water exports Sunday from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a move that may kill more threatened fish.

The California Department of Water Resources plans to fire up its pumps near Tracy after a 10-day hiatus. The main motivator is "essential needs" in the Bay Area, DWR officials said.

DWR Deputy Director Jerry Johns acknowledged Friday that the resumption of pumping could mean more dead smelt. Smelt are protected by state and federal endangered species acts.

"This is not a battle between smelt and people," said Bill Jennings, executive director of the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance. "The collapse of the Delta's ecosystem is really a collapse of the regulatory processes in California. We promised more water than we have."

After the first two days of resumed pumping, Johns said, the forebay will be refilled with water from the Delta, and pumping will be ramped up to an average daily volume of 400 cfs until the normal level of around 3,000 cfs is reached toward the end of the week. The smelt population will be monitored throughout.

Among the beneficiaries will be the Zone 7 Water Agency in the East Bay, which serves 200,000 people and farms in Livermore, Pleasanton and Dublin.

Without more Delta water, Zone 7 officials said a delivery cutback of as much as 55 percent is likely in some service areas, including reduced supplies for firefighting in eastern Livermore.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates a separate Delta water export facility near Tracy, plans to hold its pumping at 850 cfs until Tuesday, spokesman Jeff McCracken said. That is the minimum it can deliver without shutting down entirely, and it can't do that without depriving the city of Tracy of half its water.

Jennings said more flow is needed, and he worries that water exports may return to normal next week when smelt are still within reach of the pumps.

"We would be deeply concerned about that and I'm sure we will be looking to the courts for emergency action," he said.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:


Also See:

Corruption Updates 60, 4th article on page, "Lawsuit planned to protect smelt"

Corruption Updates 63 1st article on page, "Delta pumps halted: Smelt Halts Mighty Pumps"

Search the Corruption Database under

Smelt

Water

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6) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

Jew: Supervisor turns over residency records

Ed Jew says documents prove he lives in district, issues statement explaining why house may appear to be vacant

Friday, June 8, 2007

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/08/BAGS0QBUNV1.DTL

 

San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew turned over documents to the city attorney Thursday in response to an investigation into whether he meets residency requirements to hold his elective office -- and issued a written statement intended to make his case directly to the public.

Jew's claims to have lived in the house since before his filing to run for the supervisorial seat in 2006 have been in question since FBI agents carrying out a criminal investigation involving the supervisor last month searched his City Hall offices, residences linked to Jew and his Chinatown flower shop.

Neighbors of the home on 28th Avenue said it had been vacant for several years and billing records released by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission showed scant water usage at the property.

Jew is fighting legal battles on two fronts -- a city attorney residency probe that could cost him his job and the federal criminal investigation that could send him to prison.

Jew has admitted receiving a $40,000 cash payment from businessmen who were having problems with the city permit process.

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7) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

Ethics panel rejects Ed Jew's statement

Friday, June 8, 2007

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/08/BAGMQQBRQR1.DTL

The San Francisco Ethics Commission has rejected papers filed by Supervisor Ed Jew to substantiate his claim that some of the $40,000 he has acknowledged accepting from a group of businessmen was supposed to be donated to a park development project.

Earlier this week, a lawyer representing Jew in an FBI criminal probe into the $40,000 payment submitted documents to the commission claiming that $20,000 of the funds had been earmarked as a donation to a Sunset neighborhood group raising money to renovate a park.

But commission Director John St. Croix notified Gruel on Wednesday that there are too many unanswered questions about where the money came from to accept the ethics filing.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Jew's Lies Rejected on All Fronts

Jew just can't get rid of his dirty bribe money. But it's much too late for pretending he didn't take a bribe, as the FBI has him firmly by the Balls.

Jew's only difference from more sophisticated politicians was his lack of understanding of the Political Action Committee.

All he needed to do was set up a PAC, and direct all of his bribes there, and Problem Solved, the Bribe transforms itself into a "contribution."

But Jew was too stupid to even satisfy the residency requirements for City Supervisor, so don't expect this cockroach to exhibit a lot of sophistication when it comes to the fine art of Political Bribery.

 

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8) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

Another water deal is sought

Feinstein spurs talks on tainted Valley irrigation drainage.

By Michael Doyle - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTSaturday, June 9, 2007

http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/213048.html

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is trying to broker another ambitious California water deal, this time involving San Joaquin Valley irrigation drainage.

On Friday, directed by Feinstein, the state's key water players gathered around a table to start hashing out the drainage issue. One result could be the federal government handing over a big reservoir and many canals to the Valley farmers who rely upon them.

Or, the government might have to spend an estimated $2.6 billion to fix an irrigation mess that's been decades in the making.

The problem this time is used irrigation water, tainted by selenium, that's mired beneath farmland on the Valley's west side. With nowhere else to go, the tainted water rises up to poison plant roots.

Without a drainage outlet, the selenium-tainted water accumulates -- most infamously, at the Kesterson Reservoir in Merced County, where thousands of birds died or were born deformed in the 1980s. A Fresno-based federal judge has already ruled that the federal government is responsible for finding a solution because the government never built a promised drainage system.

One proposed solution is to retire nearly 200,000 acres of west side farmland and build a system to collect, treat and reuse irrigation flows. The $2.6 billion price tag shocks lawmakers.

"It's going to be next to impossible to get," said Limbaugh, who oversees the Bureau of Reclamation.

As an alternative, the Bureau of Reclamation has suggested transferring the San Luis Reservoir and associated canals and pumping plants to the Westlands and San Luis water districts. The government would forgive the districts' $489.6 million construction debt, and the drainage problem would then become the districts' to solve.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Valley Farm Drainage Poisons the Land, Now the Taxpayers will Clean Up the Mess

California Farmers received $5.94 Billion in Farm Subsidies between 1995 and 2005. That, my friends, is a whole lot of free money in a supposedly "free market" country.

California Farmers profits were further expanded with a publicly subsidized labor force. California Farmers enjoy low-cost foreign laborers who's total expenses were subsidized by California's Schools, Hospitals, Prisons, and Social Services. These "profits" cost the taxpayers dearly.

Hell, we are putting $416 million a year into subsidizing water for California's farmers, who waste it on raising highly subsidized rice and cotton crops.

Since we subsidized every part of their profits, I guess it's consistent that we are going to subsidize cleaning up yet another ecological disaster.

So Feinstein is working up a deal to subsidize cleaning up the ecological damage that our previous subsidies paid them to make.

Subsidy or Scam? For Feinstien it is payback for the 330 thousand dollars that Agribusiness "subsidized" into Feinstien's campaign coffers.

That should assure the Farmers of a few billion in subsidies to clean up their drainage mess.

The important thing for the average citizen to remember is, is that you should pay your taxes so the farmers can receive their subsidies!

Also See:


Corruption Updates 56, 7th article on page, "Medicare audits spark protest that nudges Feinstein

Search the Corruption Database under

Feinstein

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9) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

'Only 50 years left' for sea fish

By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website

Thursday, 2 November 2006, 19:01 GMT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/sci/tech/6108414.stm

There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study.

Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.

Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity.

"What we're highlighting is there is a finite number of stocks; we have gone through one-third, and we are going to get through the rest," he told the BBC News website.

Steve Palumbi, from Stanford University in California, one of the other scientists on the project, added: "Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood."

In 2003, 29% of open sea fisheries were in a state of collapse, defined as a decline to less than 10% of their original yield.

Bigger vessels, better nets, and new technology for spotting fish are not bringing the world's fleets bigger returns - in fact, the global catch fell by 13% between 1994 and 2003.

  • 1. Experiments show that reducing the diversity of an ecosystem lowers the abundance of fish
  • 2. Historical records show extensive loss of biodiversity along coasts since 1800, with the collapse of about 40% of species. About one-third of once viable coastal fisheries are now useless
  • 3. Catch records from the open ocean show widespread decline of fisheries since 1950 with the rate of decline increasing. In 2003, 29% of fisheries were collapsed. Biodiverse regions' stocks fare better
  • 4. Marine reserves and no-catch zones bring an average 23% improvement in biodiversity and an increase in fish stocks around the protected area.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

End of the Road for Ocean Life in Sight: 50 more years of Human Destruction if Fishing is only human Assault on Oceans.

I can't help but think that the heating of the oceans is going to be the fatal blow to ocean ecosystems.

But maybe not. The explosive rise in global human population may fish the oceans dry before the heat from the sky can kill enough krill to stop the ocean's food chain at its root.

We are able to identify all the individual factors that have emptied our oceans, but we are incapable of drawing these factors to their root cause: the Massive Demographic Growth of the world's population.

Here in California, we have doubled our population during the last 40 years, outstripping the ability of our natural and social infrastructures to provide for this immensely irresponsible growth.

Since Californian's use 25 times the "energy" as average humans, the 15 Million who moved here are using the energy 375 million people anywhere else in the world.

This is only bad to people who value things other than wealth, luxury and power. Such as pristine rivers, lakes forests, and quality schools and hospitals.

But there are so few of us left, we can do little to stop the parallel destruction of our natural world and our social infrastructure.

Our best bet is to restore our democracy, and remove the corporate political hacks who have sacrificed all of our natural and social assets on their alter of greed.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 53 2nd article on page, "Arctic Sea Ice Melting Faster, a Study Finds"


Search the Corruption Database under

Environment

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10) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :

Lobbyists press Congress to ease tough ethics rules

They're angry they had no input in law about to take effect

Thursday, June 7, 2007

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2007/06/07/MNGKTQAH671.DTL

(06-07) 04:00 PDT Washington -- The lobbying disclosure bill passed by the House last week hadn't been voted on yet when Kenneth Gross stood at the head of a blocklong conference room in New York, supplying 148 lobbyists and lawyers with the new congressional definition of a friend.

"Friendships have been breaking out all over Washington, because they bring the gift limit up from zero to $250," Gross, an ethics lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said he told the group.

The House ethics committee, he said, defines a lawmaker-lobbyist friendship as a long-term relationship featuring mutual gift-giving. The lobbyist must select gifts specially for that lawmaker, and not claim them as an expense or tax deduction.

For the first time, lobbyists will be held personally accountable for obeying dozens of complicated contribution, gift, travel and sponsorship rules. Jail time, a remote but unnerving new prospect, has K Street working to interpret the rules.

Some angry lobbyists vow to do what they're paid to do: persuade members to change the bill before it becomes law in July.

The legislation scheduled to take effect this summer makes golf dates, beach picnics and ball games with lobbyists the new risky behavior. With lobbyist-paid dining to be all but banned, gone is the pizza sent by lobbyists to treat Hill staffers working late on appropriations bills.

For small lobbying firm mCapitol Management, the proposed law ignores a key lobbying tactic and all but outlaws America's favorite pastime. Company President Gary LaPaille said his firm organizes grassroots campaigns in which "constituents call in or write in and be the influencer." An amendment to unmask the lobbyists behind those campaigns failed.

 

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Lobbyists Whine about Superficial Reforms: The Big Bucks Still move from Special Interests to PACs and Campaigns

Is the party over? Not at all. The big bucks will still move between the Bribers and Bribees: The Bribers give big chunks of money, Bribees deliver massive earmarks, tax breaks, and deregulation.

It just won't be as fun and luxurious as before. They just can't fly around the world, eat luxury meals, and enjoy skyboxes and classic golf junkets while they trade bribes for political favors and power.

The Dem reforms are merely cosmetic, and have done nothing to affect the Corporate/Special interests' ownership of our politicians and government. They just cannot have as much fun while they sell their country down the river of corruption.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 57, 7th article on page, "House Panel Rejects Lobbying Proposal"

 

Search the Corruption Database under

Reform

Fake Reform

Big Money Politics

Previous Corruption Updates: Page 70

Next Corruption Updates: Page 72

 

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