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CORRUPTION UPDATES 82 June 22, 2007 The CORRUPTION UPDATES posts corruption news stories from California, the Nation and the World, and gives you the straight story. |
CORRUPTION UPDATES 82
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1) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE:
Agency Is Target in Cheney Fight on Secrecy Data
By SCOTT SHANE
NY Times, June 22, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/washington/22cheney.html?adxnnl=1&
ref=todayspaper&adxnnlx=1182499232-q82NNFs+qKFovBVfI0D48g&pagewanted=print
For four years, Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine oversight of his office’s handling of classified information, and when the National Archives unit that monitors classification in the executive branch objected, the vice president’s office suggested abolishing the oversight unit, according to documents released yesterday by a Democratic congressman.
The Information Security Oversight Office, a unit of the National Archives, appealed the issue to the Justice Department, which has not yet ruled on the matter.
Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, disclosed Mr. Cheney’s effort to shut down the oversight office.
The letter said that after repeatedly refusing to comply with a routine annual request from the archives for data on his staff’s classification of internal documents, the vice president’s office in 2004 blocked an on-site inspection of records that other agencies of the executive branch regularly go through.
“I know the vice president wants to operate with unprecedented secrecy,” Mr. Waxman said in an interview. “But this is absurd. This order is designed to keep classified information safe. His argument is really that he’s not part of the executive branch, so he doesn't’t have to comply.”
Other White House offices, including the National Security Council, routinely comply with the oversight requirements, according to Mr. Waxman’s office and outside experts.
Mr. Waxman asserted in his letter and the interview that Mr. Cheney’s office should take the efforts of the National Archives especially seriously because it has had problems protecting secrets.
He noted that I. Lewis Libby Jr., the vice president’s former chief of staff, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury and the F.B.I. during an investigation of the leak of classified information — the secret status of Valerie Wilson, the wife of a Bush administration critic, as a Central Intelligence Agency officer.
Mr. Waxman added that in May 2006, a former aide in Mr. Cheney’s office, Leandro Aragoncillo, pleaded guilty to passing classified information to plotters trying to overthrow the president of the Philippines.
“Your office may have the worst record in the executive branch for safeguarding classified information,” Mr. Waxman wrote to Mr. Cheney.
...starting in 2003, the vice president’s office began refusing to supply the information. In 2004, it blocked an on-site inspection by Mr. Leonard’s office that was routinely carried out across the government to check whether documents were being properly labeled and safely stored.
Mr. Waxman rejected that argument. “He doesn’t have classified information because of his legislative function,” Mr. Waxman said of Mr. Cheney. “It’s because of his executive function.”
(The Information Security Oversight Office)...wrote to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales asking that he resolve the question. Erik Ablin, a Justice Department spokesman, said last night, “This matter is currently under review in the department.”
Whatever the ultimate ruling, according to Mr. Waxman’s letter, the vice president’s office has already carried out “possible retaliation” against the oversight office.
As part of an interagency review of Executive Order 12958, Mr. Cheney’s office proposed eliminating appeals to the attorney general — precisely the avenue Mr. Leonard was taking. According to Mr. Waxman’s investigation, the vice president’s staff also proposed abolishing the Information Security Oversight Office.
Mr. Cheney’s penchant for secrecy has long been a striking feature of the Bush administration, beginning with his fight to keep confidential the identities of the energy industry officials who advised his task force on national energy policy in 2001. Mr. Cheney took that dispute to the Supreme Court and won.
Steven Aftergood, who tracks government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists and last year filed a complaint with the oversight office about Mr. Cheney’s noncompliance, said, “This illustrates just how far the vice president will go to evade external oversight.”
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Cheney, and Secret Government Unsuitable for a Democracy
Originally written on Jan. 1, 2007
(Concerning Cheney's refusal to disclose VP visitor logs)
We have had enough of secret government. This fight goes back to Cheney's energy policy group, where the biggest oil companies, and Cheney, secretly crafted America's energy “policy.” (“buy bigger SUVs, consume more oil”) And before that, to Nixon, who hid his criminality behind a cloak of “Executive Privilidge.”
The excuse given was that they needed candid advice. The real reason for secrecy is that Bush sold his policymaking powers to the special interests.
Why else would these people be ashamed to publicly advise the President? Why else would the president want to hide while crafting important public policy? Because this transaction between buyer and seller is dishonorable.
It is important to our political leaders that the American people not know that the special interests, Big Oil, and traitors like Abramoff run their country.
Keeping the White House visitor logs secret hides the fact that lobbyists and CEOs are paying big bribes to write our nation's most important policies. And they visit the White House to collect the payoff.
Keeping the political payoff secret is vital to maintaining the appearance of propriety and democracy.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 11, 5th article on page, "Norquest and Reed, and a Rogues Gallery of Thieves All Consulting at White House"
Corruption Updates 13, 2nd article on page, "Abramoff, DeLay, and Rove: Axis of Evil Meeting in White House"
Corruption Updates 29, 2nd article on page, "WHITE HOUSE CLAIMS SECRET POLICY POWER: LOBBYISTS, BRIBERS TO GET SECRET ACCESS"
Corruption Updates 30, 4th article on page, "CHENEY DEFENDS SECRET LOBBYIST, SPECIAL INTERESTS ACCESS TO WHITE HOUSE"
Corruption Updates 66, 4th article on page, "Cheney's Mystery Visitors"
Search the Corruption Database under
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Abramoff
Rove
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2) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Congress, White House steer a collision course
By Michael Doyle - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTFriday, June 22, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/235644.html
President Bush and the Democratic-led Congress are on a collision course over White House secrets, a sensitive conflict that's as old as the country itself.
Bush has invoked the war on terrorism to claim unprecedented and virtually unlimited executive powers, unchecked by Congress, the courts and at times even the Constitution.
He's declared that he's free to interpret or ignore laws as he chooses. He's refused to hand over his aides' e-mails to congressional investigators and has declined to let administration officials testify to congressional committees. He nearly provoked a mutiny in his Justice Department by asserting a right to spy on Americans without first getting warrants.
Even the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, arguably the nation's most conservative, balked last week at Bush's claim that he has the "inherent constitutional authority" to declare suspected terrorists "enemy combatants" and imprison them indefinitely. "The president," the court said, "claims power that far exceeds that granted him by the Constitution."
Now, in this stormy environment, the White House faces a June 28 deadline for responding to congressional subpoenas concerning the firings of nine U.S. attorneys last year. On Thursday, congressional investigators approved new subpoenas over the president's warrantless spying program.
So far, Bush appears unrelenting. He's reinforced his White House counsel's office with new hires, as if he's preparing to fight.
"My guess is they will fight this," said Rep. Adam Schiff, a Burbank Democrat who serves on the House Judiciary Committee.
With Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee action approving subpoenas related to Bush's warrantless wiretap program, congressional Democrats now have hit the administration with more than two dozen subpoenas.
Unless some compromise is reached, the courts are the next stop in what probably will become a constitutional crisis.
"It all depends on how far the Democrats want to take it," said Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, a Judiciary panel member.
"I think the administration's position is legally untenable," said Rep. Howard Berman, D-North Hollywood, who serves on the House Judiciary Committee. "They are trying to create an inviolate privilege."
The Constitution doesn't include the phrase "executive privilege." Nonetheless, the Supreme Court noted in 1974 that executive privilege is "fundamental to the operation of government and inextricably rooted in the separation of powers under the Constitution." The privilege comes in different forms. Military and national security matters, in particular, are treated with kid gloves.
Bush uses "signing statements" that qualify his support for bills that he signs into law. These statements have impact. Of 19 provisions that Bush identified in signing statements last year and the Government Accountability Office examined, six weren't implemented as Congress intended.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Will Congress Impeach Criminal President?
No. The Same Special Interests Fund Both Parties
Finally, an article out of the Corporate Media that at least defines the basic outlines of Bush's crimes against our citizens, our Constitution, and scores of known and unknown victims around the world.
But this does not bother Pelosi or most of the Democrats in Congress. Pelosi "took impeachment off the table" before the November election.
It is strange that Pelosi could rule out impeachment before a full accounting of Bush's crimes was even begun.
It is apparent that Bush has kidnapped, tortured, and held many people without cause or warrant. It is apparent that Bush has instituted massive illegal searches within the US by the NSA. It is apparent that Bush has manipulated the appointment of US Attorneys for political purposes. It is apparent that Bush lied about the causes for the Iraq war to Congress and the American people.
All of these incidents need to be thoroughly investigated, and if the investigations warrant a trial, Bush must be impeached.
And then there was Katrina Katrina not only blew down New Orleans, but blew the cover off of Bush's appointment of buddies and lobbyists to run every executive branch agency.
The result is that the executive branch agencies have given away massive chunks of America's health and wealth to corporate America.
These corruptions in the executive branch agencies must be thoroughly investigated, and Bush must be impeached, if the investigations indicate he committed high crimes and misdemeanors.
Considering Bush's crimes, one needs to ask just what Bush would have to do to put Impeachment back on Pelosi's table? Nuke California?
Pelosi's failure to impeach Bush for these fundamental insults to our Constitution and Congressional law will do long term damage to our government.
If Pelosi fails to repudiate both Bush's actions, as well as his claims to unlimited Presidential powers, Pelosi and the Democrats will be validating Bush's claims to illegal and unconstitutional powers, leaving them on the table for abuse by future Presidents.
It is vital to the health of our government that Pelosi drive all the investigations on Bush's crimes forward, and begin impeachment proceedings if the investigations indicate the President acted criminally.
Without strong action, future presidents may preserve, or resurrect Bush's claims to tyrannical powers.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 16, 1st article on page, "Signing Statements: Bush Training Congress to Obedience"
Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on page, "Times Soft pedals Presidential War and Domestic Crimes"
Corruption Updates 32, 3rd article on page, "PRESIDENT TRIES END RUN AROUND CONSTITUTION: CLAIMS ACTIONS ARE SECRET, AND ABOVE LAW"
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Unconstitutional Presidential Power
Illegal Searches
US Attorney
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3) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Documents Offer Unflattering View of CIA
By JENNIFER C. KERR
Associated Press Writer
10:25 PM PDT, June 21, 2007
WASHINGTON — Little-known documents now being made public detail illegal and scandalous activities by the CIA more than 30 years ago: wiretappings of journalists, kidnappings, warrantless searches and more.
The documents provide a glimpse of nearly 700 pages of materials that the agency plans to declassify next week. A six-page summary memo that was declassified in 2000 and released by The National Security Archive at George Washington University on Thursday outlines 18 activities by the CIA that "presented legal questions" and were discussed with President Ford in 1975.
Among them:
_The "two-year physical confinement" in the mid-1960s of a Soviet defector.
_Assassination plots of foreign leaders, including Fidel Castro.
_CIA wiretapping in 1963 of two columnists, Robert Allen and Paul Scott, following a newspaper column in which national security information was disclosed. The wiretapping revealed calls from 12 senators and six representatives but did not indicate the source of the leak.
_The "personal surveillances" in 1972 of muckraking columnist Jack Anderson and staff members, including Les Whitten and Brit Hume. The surveillance involved watching the targets but no wiretapping. The memo said it followed a series of "tilt toward Pakistan" stories by Anderson.
_The personal surveillance of Washington Post reporter Mike Getler over three months beginning in late 1971. No specific stories are mentioned in the memo.
_CIA screening programs, beginning in the early 1950s and lasting until 1973, in which mail coming into the United States was reviewed and "in some cases opened" from the Soviet Union and China.
Much of the decades-old activities have been known for years. But Tom Blanton, head of the National Security Archive, said the 1975 summary memo prepared by Justice Department lawyers had never been publicly released. It sheds light on meetings in the top echelon of government that were little known by the public, he said.
Blanton pointed to more recent concerns, such as post-Sept. 11 programs that included government wiretapping without warrants. "The resonance with today's controversies is just uncanny," he said.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
CIA Crimes in '70s Pale in Comparison to Today's CIA Crimes
Today the CIA is operating extrajudicial Prison/Torture sites. The CIA is engaging in kidnapping around the world to stock these prisons.
The CIA, and probably the State Department, are encouraging scores of countries to use brutal extrajudicial powers to hold and torture people at our behest.
It may be that the CIA is not particularly active within the US, as the FBI and the NSA have been let loose with unlimited, unchecked, and unwarranted searching powers.
The above article failed to reveal that serious restrictions were put on domestic and foreign intelligence after these rampart abuses surfaced in the 1970s.
The same fears that were used to justify these same governmental crimes back in the 1970s, are being used again today.
We were told then, as we are being told now, that there is some kind of shadowy, subversive domestic threat that requires we give up our Constitutional and civil rights, and trust the President with unlimited powers.
We were told then, as we are being told now, that there is some kind of a scary foreign threat, baring us from imposing "Our Way of Life" on countries around the world.
This governmentally generated threat to our power and influence has been used by Bush to use and excuse any violence he cared to inflict on his self-defined "enemies of freedom."
Things have changed little between then and now, except Bush is openly claiming and using illegal powers openly, under little threat of prosecution or even oversight.
In the past, Presidents whispered about these illegal powers, and they were used in the deepest secrecy.
Our political environment has changed significantly between then and now. The Dems have failed to raise themselves against tyranny, and are in fact assisting the President by funding his crimes.
The people have changed since the 70s. Nixon's actions were considered serious crimes and a threat to our Constitutional Democracy, requiring a swift and strong check. Today, Bush's crimes are considered as run of the mill excesses that are tolerable.
Both parties have deeply participated in every aspect of Bush's Crimes. The Dems voted for every major piece of War and Security legislation that pretended to have the power to cancel our Constitutional rights and protections.
No legislation is capable of repealing the Constitution. No legislation can deny the protections of habius Corpus, or the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution to all who fall under the power of our government.
Since Bush began his "Terror" war, Both parties in Congress have stood by, or actively helped Bush break the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eight and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution.
Those Members of Congress who have not aided and abetted these crimes, have drowned in a sea of corrupt complacency.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 70, 3rd article on page, "First CIA rendition trial opens"
Corruption Updates 71, 1st article on page, "CIA rejects secret jails report"
Search the Corruption Database under
Central Intelligence Agency
Torture
Illegal Detentions
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4) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Phone privacy case pits Justice Dept. vs. states
A federal judge will hear arguments as the Bush administration tries to block investigations into its Terrorist Surveillance Program.
By Henry Weinstein
Times Staff Writer
June 21, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tap21jun21,0,2791900.story?coll=la-home-nation
From the Los Angeles Times
Can the federal government stop states from investigating whether telephone companies illegally provided customer information to the National Security Agency?
After published reports last year alleging that AT&T and Verizon cooperated with the government on the surveillance program, customers and the American Civil Liberties Union urged state officials to probe whether the firms had illegally shared call records with the government.
Verizon said it had not worked with the NSA. AT&T said it had always followed the law but would not comment on any dealings with the government.
After the companies declined to answer formal questions, officials from New Jersey, Missouri, Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont launched investigations.
After published reports last year alleging that AT&T and Verizon cooperated with the government on the surveillance program, customers and the American Civil Liberties Union urged state officials to probe whether the firms had illegally shared call records with the government.
Verizon said it had not worked with the NSA. AT&T said it had always followed the law but would not comment on any dealings with the government.
After the companies declined to answer formal questions, officials from New Jersey, Missouri, Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont launched investigations.
Justice Department lawyers, led by Assistant Atty. Gen. Peter D. Keisler, also asked that the telecommunications companies be prevented from saying whether they had participated in government wiretapping or data mining. The government said officials could not even confirm or deny the existence of the NSA program "without causing exceptionally grave harm to national security."
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Phone Privacy? Criminal Unconstitutional Searching Programs Defended by "Justice" Department
The President, through the "Justice Department," is arguing that he is above the law, and the Constitution.
It's the same old stuff. Bush is claiming that "National Security" trumps the Constitution. Bush's theory states that after he was elected President, he was no longer bound by Constitution or law.
Under the Bush theory, the only laws that count are the ones that come out of his own mouth. Bush is claiming the President can make or modify law, reach judicial decisions, and use unlimited war powers around the world, and in the United States.
This puts Bush at odds with the Constitution, Congressional law, and the Judicial Branch of government.
The Constitution prohibits searches without an officer of the government swearing, before an independent judge, that the evidence they present is probable cause to obtain a warrant that particularly describes the place to be searched, and the things to be seized.
Since the Constitution gets in the way of the President's reign of Terror, he has discarded it. Bush authorized the NSA and FBI to conduct broad, unwarranted searches upon the public.
This is clearly Unconstitutional, and also against the law. Congress prohibited the NSA from collecting intelligence within the United States, and severely restricted the FBI's ability to survale domestic political groups and individuals. These restrictions were enacted after serious abuses of presidential power during the Nixon Administration.
But Bush need not fear Congress. Congress has grown fat, stupid, and complacent during its Corporate Captivity.
Congress has not only failed to stop Bush's domestic and foreign Crimes, they have stamped the seal of Congressional approval on his crimes.
Congress' response to Bush's tyrannical claims to unlimited power was to end the laws prohibiting the FBI from doing domestic political surveillance, kill habius Corpus, and remove the right of appeal from the victims of this President's illegal detention who have been held for up to five years without cause or charge.
Congress crafted legislation that allows testimony gained from people who have been kidnapped, tortured, and held secretly for years, to be introduced as evidence in American Military Tribunals.
Congress has taken the black eye Bush gave our Constitution, and turned it into a black hole from which victims of American abuse cannot ex cape.
Congress has legalized secret searches, secret prisons, and torture. Congress has authorized kangaroo courts to try the victims of these crimes.
Congress' responded to Bush's Domestic Crimes by granting the FBI secret exemption from the 4th Amendment through "National Security Letters."
National Security Letters are Secret Executive Branch Search Warrants, which are clearly illegal under the Constitution. Neither Congress nor the President forgot they are bound by the Constitution. They have both rejected the constraints of our Constitution.
Congress approved Bush's domestic and foreign crimes by making laws which pretended to have the power to suspend the Constitution. Congress has no such power.
These acts by Congress and the President show that they are in open rebellion against the Constitution they are sworn to would uphold and protect.
We are now at the end of the road: Congress and the President are illegitimate. Both were elected on floods of Corporate Bribery Money. Both have stolen the named rights of the people. Both are completely dependent on the Bribes of the Corporations to obtain and maintain their offices.
Both parties have put the power and wealth of their bribers above the rights and welfare of the country. This arrogance emanates directly from our corrupted elections.
The Corporations fund and wholly own all the viable candidates put before the electorate.
The voters elect their representatives from a pool of thoroughly bribed candidates, assuring the voters will always select politicians who do not represent them, nor respect their rights and interests. These farcical elections have made our domestic and foreign policy the tools of the most powerful special interests in our country.
Corporate America requires Oil and Order to achieve maximal profits and power. 911 offered the excuse to seize both. The Dems and Repugs joined together in their tragic plan to seize Iraq's oil and sovereignty. Both Dems and Regugs joined together to strip Americans of their civil rights and protections.
It's like this: Congress has generously subsidized the oil companies as they steal the greatest profits in the history of American Business. The President financed a war for big oil to privatize Iraqi oil.
Congress and the President joined together give the largest oil service companies no bid contracts to run the military supply infrastructure which feeds this illegal war.
Convenient coincidence or intentional collaboration? Neither. Both parties are spiritual mirrors of each other. Both parties depend on exactly the same architecture of corporate funding to support their hold on power. Both parties agree that the nature and basis of political power is wealth. Both parties coordinate to serve, and preserve, the interests of wealth and power.
Congress has not only abandoned its duty to Oversee and Check the power of the President, it has joined him in committing international and domestic crimes.
This affinity of method and goal between the President and Congress has survived the change in control of Congress. Corporate control of politics is now stronger than the differences between the parties. The power of wealth has superceded democracy, and the funds both parties depend on to maintain their grip on power come from the same corporate funding sources.
The shared funding source of both Republicans and Democrats requires the parties to stop Checking and Balancing each other's abuses of government, to preserve their own abuses.
Instead, party politics have devolved into a brutal competition where each party strives to serve, enrich, and protect their corporate factions, and obtain lucrative corporate jobs for their families, friends, and employees.
The goal of both parties is to earn bigger bribes for the next election cycle, perpetuating and expanding the wealth and power of their particular corporate funded faction.
In this environment it is no wonder that Congress barely stirs when the President Shreds the Constitution, and wipes his ass with it. Congress has been doing the same thing for decades, independent of which party is in charge.
You should see by now that half-way measures are insufficient to bring back our democracy, or restore our rights. A full reform of our electoral system is required to break the direct link between Corporate Wealth and their wholly-owned Politicians.
The political crimes of the President and Congress are no more than reflections of the Power and Will of their Corporate Masters, striving for greater power and wealth here and around the world.
The power of this Corporate Fascist Junta will evaporate as soon as we break the link between Corporate wealth and political power.
Until then, our government will continue to be no more than a weapon against our rights, rather than a shield protecting us from our rapidly evolving corporate tyrants.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 22, 7th article on page, “Reid Threatens Bush with Oversight”
Corruption Updates 23, 8th article on page, “Harmon Calls Wiretapping Illegal”
Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on page, NYTIMES, 12-3-06: “TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES. LEAVE IT TO THE TIMES TO PUT LIPSTICK ON PIGS”
Corruption Updates 25, 7th article on page, 12-6-06, “Italy Seeks Indictments of C.I.A. Operatives in Egyptian’s Abduction”
There are many more abstracts on the crimes of our government in the Corruption Database.
Search the Corruption Database under
Illegal Searches
Unconstitutional Presidential Power
Illegal Trials
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5) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Board backs off on Ph.D. rule
Regulators say they lack power over chiropractor accreditation.
By John Hill - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTThursday, June 21, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/capolitics/v-print/story/233747.html
The board that oversees chiropractors now says it has no authority to discipline practitioners who claim advanced degrees from unaccredited universities, a reversal of an earlier policy that ensnared current board member Franco Columbu.
The board has no regulation that spells out what kinds of claims about Ph.D.s might be misleading to consumers, said interim Executive Director Brian Stiger.
The board's new stance fails to protect consumers against misleading claims, said a legislator who has been investigating the Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
"It's just another example of how out of control this board is ...," said Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles.
For years, the board had been challenging chiropractors who claimed Ph.D.s from unaccredited institutions. The board investigates about five to 10 such cases each year, Stiger said.
One was Columbu, a chiropractor appointed to the board by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February 2006. Columbu and Schwarzenegger are longtime friends from bodybuilding days, with Columbu, known as the Sardinian Strongman, standing as best man in Schwarzenegger's wedding.
Two years before Columbu's appointment, the board sent him a "cease and desist" letter, telling him that he was in violation of a regulation on false and misleading advertising.
The letter demanded that Columbu show proof that the issuer of his Ph.D., Donsbach University, was an accredited institution, or remove the Ph.D. claim from his advertising.
The case was closed when Columbu furnished proof that he was no longer advertising the Ph.D.
But as of April of this year, Columbu still included a reference to a "Ph.D. in nutrition" on his Web site in a sales pitch for a $200 nutrition and training program. Columbu's Web site was not accessible Wednesday.
Another board member, Frederick Lerner, also claims a Ph.D., this one in electromedical sciences from City University Los Angeles.
Ridley-Thomas said the reversal is "Exhibit A" for why the Legislature should pass a bill asking voters to put the Board of Chiropractic Examiners under the control of the Department of Consumer Affairs. The board is more autonomous than other professional licensing bodies because it was set up by a 1922 initiative governing the chiropractic profession.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Arnie's Incompentent Chiro Board Accepts Fake Doctors
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6) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
Group backs Ph.D. rule
Chiropractor lobbyist says ad regulation is OK; board is unsure.
By Kevin Yamamura - Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 12:00 am PDTFriday, June 22, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/235863.html
The association representing the state's 15,000 chiropractors said Thursday it would support a ban on advertising degrees from unaccredited schools, while board members said they still have to learn more about the issue.
The ruling came after board member Franco Columbu cited a doctorate in nutrition from unaccredited Donsbach University on his Web site this spring despite previously receiving a cease-and-desist letter advising him to stop doing so. In order to continue pursuing such cases, the board would have to add a new regulation.
The California Chiropractic Association would back a specific prohibition on advertising a degree from an unaccredited university, said its lobbyist, Christine Shultz. Her group remains opposed to two bills moving through the Legislature that would strip the chiropractic board of its autonomy.
The board took no position on the two bills that would place the board under the Department of Consumer Affairs and allow lawmakers to change chiropractic regulations. The legislation would strip the board of its unusual degree of autonomy and force the profession to be regulated more like other health fields.
A state legislative committee in March determined Tyler and other board members violated state open meeting laws despite being warned against their behavior. Lawmakers also found the board improperly fired former Executive Director Catherine Hayes.
Tyler, a longtime friend of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from the governor's bodybuilding days, has served as board chairman since the panel's controversial March 1 meeting.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Arnie's Incompentent Chiro Board Endangers Public Health
Originally Written on 3-10-07, for CU40_1
Modern Politicians put political allies, not experts, onto appointed boards. The result is the public gets degraded service, poor oversight, and policy biased by partisanship if not outright corruption.
Arnie could have found political allies who are a heck of a lot more professionally prepared than his weightlifting buddies.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 40, 1st article on the page, "Arnie puts Incompentent Friends on State Chiropractic Board"
Corruption Updates 40, 4th article on the page, "ARNIE'S INCOMPENTENT CHIRO BOARD ATTRACTS OVERSIGHT"
Corruption Updates 45, 9th article on the page, "Arnie's Chairman in the hot seat"
Corruption Updates 49, 7th article on the page, "Arnie Buddy:Board member still claims Ph.D:Arnie's Doctors Quack like Ducks"
Corruption Updates 55, 2nd article on the page, "Chiropractic board member's judgment blasted"
Corruption Updates 85 , 5th article on the page, "Arnie's Incompentent Chiro Board Endangers Public Health"
Search the Corruption Database under
Arnie (40 Abstracts)
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7) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
E.P.A. Recommends Tougher Smog Standards, Citing Public Health Concerns
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 22, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/washington/22EPA.html?pagewanted=print
WASHINGTON, June 21 (AP) — Pollution standards are too weak to protect people from the air they breathe, the E.P.A. administrator said Thursday, recommending tougher limits on the smog across the country.
Still, under pressure from big business, the administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, left the door open to keeping the rules as they are.
It is the Environmental Protection Agency’s first new recommendation since 1997 for ground-level ozone, the principal component of smog, that noxious combination of car exhaust, industrial emissions and gasoline vapors aggravated by summertime sun and heat.
Mr. Johnson recommended reducing current smog standards by 11 percent to 17 percent. Among other benefits, the agency estimated this could reduce by 30 percent to 60 percent the risk of children’s having trouble breathing normally.
“Based upon the current science, I have concluded that the current standard is insufficient to protect public health,” Mr. Johnson said, noting that ozone can harm the lungs and aggravate asthma.
The agency will take public comment for 90 days and settle on a final number by March 12, 2008. But it is also soliciting comments on alternate standards, including keeping the current one or going down to 0.060 parts per million.
Environmentalists criticized the E.P.A.’s decision to consider keeping the current standard, noting that the agency’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has said the standard should be no higher than 0.070 parts per million.
“The science overwhelmingly supports closing the door on the current standard once and for all,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “Instead of listening to science, the administrator seems to be intent on listening to the wish lists of polluting industries.”
Business and industry groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, have been lobbying for the smog standard to stay the same, contending that lowering it would be costly and unnecessary.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
EPA Admits Air is Bad, May or May not Protect Public Health depending on how Profits are Affected
It is impossible to believe that this EPA will do a damn thing to protect either the environment or human health. As the references below well prove, the government serves those that bribe them.
This administration is an enemy to the health and safety of the American people, but is has more important friends than the people.
This administration is a great friend to those Corporations who will pay it to sacrifice our health and welfare. And so are the Democrats.
The Dems are big recipients of Big Oil and Auto money. But they are not as deeply beholden to Big Oil and Autos as is this Administration. So expect nothing to change, except the degree of corruption will change.
The outrageous profits this Administration granted to Big Oil will be taken away. But Big Oil will still enjoy massively excessive profits under their friends, the Dems.
I expect the EPA will run through a fake public comment period, then come to its predetermined decision that the air standards will remain unchanged. They will justify inaction with a cost-benefit analysis that will conclude that our health is not worth the profits lost to industry.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 16, 4th article on page, "EPA STANDARDS WILL KILL YOU; SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBERY BRINGS AMERICA DEATH"
Corruption Updates 24, 5th article on page, "LOBBYING BY TRUCKING INDUSTRY BRINGS DEATH TO NATION'S HIGHWAYS"
Corruption Updates 25, 6th article on page, "EPA: FARM LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH"
Corruption Updates 32 2nd article on page, "BUSH TRIES TO KILL CHEMICAL RULES, SCIENCE, AND INTEGRITY IN ONE FELL SWOOP"
Corruption Updates 33, 10th article on page, "Bush Suppressing Science and Truth"
Corruption Updates 38, 9th article on page, "CLIMATE SCIENCE SILENCED YET AGAIN AT INTERIOR"
Corruption Updates 46, 2nd article on page, "Report Says Interior Official Overrode Work of Scientists"
Corruption Updates 46, 9th article on page, "High Court Faults EPA Inaction on Emissions"
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Environment
Environmental Protection Agency
Executive Branch Agency
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8) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
New curb sought on Delta pumping
By Matt Weiser - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDTThursday, June 21, 2007
http://www.sacbee.com/101/v-print/story/233836.html
Environmental groups have asked a federal judge to restrict water exports in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta after 10 days of renewed pumping have killed hundreds of threatened Delta smelt.
Water pumps in the Delta routinely kill many smelt in the course of exporting water to the Bay Area and Southern California. State and federal water agencies curtailed the diversions starting May 31 after population surveys indicated the tiny fish may be near extinction.
The pumping resumed June 10 in response to water shortage fears, and 516 smelt have been recorded killed since then.The Delta provides water to 25 million Californians and more than 5 million acres of farmland.
The Natural Resources Defense Council and four other groups requested the restraining order Tuesday as part of their victory in an earlier lawsuit. They claim water officials didn't do enough to avert the smelt crisis.
On May 25, U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger ruled that state and federal water agencies are illegally killing smelt based on a faulty management plan. He has yet to order a remedy, and will consider the restraining order at a hearing Friday as an interim measure.
If issued, it would force water officials to comply with recommendations by the Delta Smelt Working Group, a team of experts that includes biologists at the water agencies themselves.
Over the past month, the group urged water officials to limit Delta exports to 2,500 cubic feet per second as long as no smelt are killed by the pumps. If smelt are killed, it said water releases from upstream reservoirs should be boosted to help move the smelt downstream to Suisun Bay.
Total exports climbed to about 3,000 cfs starting June 14, and increased again on Tuesday. Another increase began Wednesday, to nearly 5,000 cfs, and a slight increase may occur again today.
A leading concern, McCracken said, is water storage at San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos. It has served as the sole supply for southern water users during the pumping reductions that began May 31.
"We need to meet the demands of our customers," he said, "and we need to do it without taking more water out of San Luis Reservoir, because it's starting to get perilously low."
The smelt is a key indicator for the health of the entire Delta, the largest estuary on the West Coast. Biologists fear if it goes extinct, other species will follow.
A cause for the smelt's decline has not been pinpointed despite two years of intensive research. Culprits include water exports, water contamination, and competition from nonnative species.
No one knows for sure how many smelt remain alive, but biologists fear the number is very small. Last week, the Delta Smelt Working Group reported that routine netting surveys for the fish may no longer be reliable because the population has become so small. For instance, the surveys found no smelt near the pumps this month, yet the fish continue to die in the pumps.
It's Official:
California's Natural Environment has been Sacrificed to Irresponsible Growth
Impending Water Crisis
We Don't have a Water Crisis, or an Energy Crisis, We Have Too Many People
(Originally written on June 7, 2006, CU 69_4)
We have grown beyond any limits that respect for nature demands. We have grown beyond the limits of social, political, and economic responsibility.
We have grown beyond our the capacity of social and environmental infrastructures to support.
American profit is based on growth, and our pursuit of profit has outgrown our environmental as well as our social resources.
This irresponsible growth will stop, and stop badly, unless we rethink our social policies, and change the direction our state, and our country is going down.
Growth must stop.
Also See:
Corruption Updates 39, 10th article on page,"Scientists:Water Shortages and Drought: CLIMATE ALREADY CHANGED, NO ONE NOTICED"
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"
Corruption Updates 71, 5st article on page, "Delta pumps to run again"
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Water
Smelt
Environment
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9) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE :
High court has been good for business
A dozen rulings in the last year have been a boon to corporations by making it harder to sue them or limiting lawsuit damages.
By David G. Savage
Times Staff Writer
8:00 PM PDT, June 20, 2007
From the Los Angeles Times
The Bush administration and corporate lobbyists long have sought sweeping "tort reform" to limit lawsuits and massive jury awards — without much success. But in the last year, they quietly have been winning much of what they've wanted on a case-by-case basis in the Supreme Court.
With a week to go in their term, the justices have handed down a dozen rulings that sharply limit the damages that can be won in lawsuits or make it harder to sue corporations.
"The Roberts court is even better for business" than the court led for two decades by the late Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, said Washington attorney Maureen E. Mahoney, who is a longtime friend of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and a former clerk for Rehnquist. "There is unquestionably a greater number of business cases before the court, and [the justices] are quite willing to limit damage remedies."
On Monday, the court threw out a massive suit alleging "an epic Wall Street conspiracy" among the nation's leading investment bankers to fix the prices of new stock offerings during the Internet boom of the late 1990s. It was the third decision this year to restrict the reach of antitrust laws.
None of these pro-business decisions came as a huge surprise. But lawyers who practice regularly before the high court say it is noteworthy that business has been winning so consistently.
It is "a very business-friendly court," said Beth S. Brinkmann, a Washington lawyer who served in the Clinton administration. The justices have made it harder to sue business on many fronts, she said.
Consumer advocates say it is especially important that victims of corporate wrongdoing have the option of going to court, partly because the federal government for years has been scaling back its regulation of business.
"It is only in the courtroom where an individual consumer stands on an equal footing with a powerful corporation. It is there they can have their day in court before a jury," Peck said. "If it is all decided in the halls of power, the corporations are going to have their way."
"This court subscribes to the Chicago school of law and economics," she said, referring to the free-market theories associated with the University of Chicago that cast a skeptical eye on nearly all regulation of business.
THE COMMITTEE SAYS:
Supreme Court Rules: Corporate America may Kill or Rob you with Impunity
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Judges
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