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CORRUPTION UPDATES 97

July 31, 2007

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

 

CORRUPTION UPDATES 97

Previous Corruption Updates: Page 96

Next Corruption Updates: Page 98

Contact Us: Committeefordemocracy.org

1) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

U.S. Arms Plan for Mideast Aims to Counter Iranian Power

By MARK MAZZETTI and HELENE COOPER

NYT, July 31, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/world/europe/31weapons.html?pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON, July 30 — The Bush administration said Monday that its plan to provide billions of dollars in advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel over the next 10 years was intended in part to serve as a bulwark against Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East.

The White House plan must overcome opposition from lawmakers who are skeptical that the weapons will have any effect in blunting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and who worry that a flood of new weapons could ignite a tinderbox in the region.

In closed briefings last week on Capitol Hill, participants in the sessions said, some lawmakers had asked pointed questions about why the White House was using the Iranian threat to justify the arms sales. They expressed doubt that the new weaponry, which includes satellite-guided bombs, missiles and new naval vessels, could deter Iran from proceeding with its nuclear program.

The final package will be formally presented for Congressional approval in September, and for now many influential lawmakers appear to have adopted a wait-and-see approach.

But signaling a possible battle between the White House and Congress, Mr. Lantos said lawmakers wanted assurances that the weapons package “include only defensive systems,” not weaponry that could be used by Arab states to attack Israel’s military.

Ms. Rice...“We are working with these states to give a chance to the forces of moderation and reform,”

. On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said at a cabinet meeting that Israelis “understand the need of the United States to support the Arab moderate states, and there is a need for a united front between the U.S. and us regarding Iran.”

Mr. Burns said that under the plan American military aid for Israel would increase to $3 billion annually over 10 years, from $2.4 billion now. Mr. Burns said Egypt, another crucial Sunni Arab country under pressure from Washington to embrace Iraq’s Shiite-led government, would receive a total of $13 billion.

But Mr. Burns declined to provide specifics about the packages intended for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations, saying those details were still being hammered out.

In the past, Israel has successfully lobbied the United States against selling AIM-9X missiles, used on jet fighters for aerial combat, to countries like Egypt out of fear that they could shift the military balance in the Middle East. A Congressional aide familiar with details of the Bush administration plans said AIM-9X missiles were part of the package planned for Egypt.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Bush fuels middle eastern Arms Race

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 4, 2007

If Iran had doubts about developing a Nuke program before, they have no doubts about the wisdom of possessing nukes now.

Bush's new "Arm Everyone in the Region to the Teeth" policy will assure that Iran reciprocates by improving the arms of all of their friends in the region, and Iran will work to obtain the most powerful weapons available to defend itself against America and her puppet states.

The middle eastern arms race has now officially started.

Lantos: Voice of Israel

Lantos should register as an Israeli Ambassador, as he continues to put his religion above his duty to country. This Country, for those of you who remain confused.

Weapons and threats: The tools of "moderation"

For those of you who continue to be confused, Bush's "tools of moderation" in the middle east do not include democracy.  Bush's tools of moderation consist of Arab Dictatorships, Israel, and the American Army. Now Bush is pouring massive arms sales upon already impressive arsenal of "moderation."

Ironically, we have armed and funded the Shite-dominated Iraqi government, which is naturally inclined to fall into the expanding sphere of Iranian influence, at the same time we are arming and funding the Saudis, who have been arming and funding the Sunnis in Al Anbar that have been killing our Marines.

Democracy has nothing to do with what we are doing in the Middle East.

How about giving this money to New Orleans? Or maybe Bush could use it to bring California schools up to American standards.

Expect things to get a whole lot more "moderate" in the middle east as Bush continues to pours gasoline on the fire.

Even Better: Democracy breaks out

If democracy breaks out in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, expect kings and dictators to swing.

Even Much Better: Democracy unifies the Middle East

If our Arab dictatorships fall, Expect the resulting governments to coordinate the use of these weapons, not against each other as we intend, but against Israel.Iran would join them in forcing Israel back to Europe and the US.

A New Age

We are entering a  new chapter in Arabic history. The Ottomans are gone, the British Empire driven out, and now the American Corporate Empire's dictators are loosing their stranglehold on middle eastern politics and resources. We have already lost their hearts and minds. Our dictators are barely holding on to political power and "our" oil.

Israel is drowning in its own economic and moral corruption, living off the US dole, while self righteously committing continual crimes against humanity. Their moral weakness is being matched by military weakness: They got their asses handed to them by Hezbolla.

They can take little comfort in the fact that they destroyed Lebanon, yet another war crime, as their invasion further weakened the grip of our Saudi, Jordanian, and Egyptian dictators over their people.

New post-colonial movements are rising against our Arab dictatorships, promising governments to the people that represent their people, rather than the narrow interests of the American sponsored Dictatorships they currently suffer under.

Also See:

Saudis and the Middle-East links

Saudi Arabia Woos China and India, middle east quarterly, fall, 2006

Corruption Updates 32, 10th article on the page, "Iran: Bush's Parade of International Crimes Continue"

 

Saudi-Iran Meeting Yields Little Substance, nyt, 3-5-07

Corruption Updates 45, 2nd article, 3-29-07; "U.S. Iraq Role Is Called Illegal by Saudi King"

Corruption Updates 56, 1st article, 3-29-07; "White House Rejects Saudi View on Iraq"

 

The Saudi Shift: Bush wars push Saudi Arabia out of American Axis, committee, 3-29-07

 

Corruption Updates 57, 10th article on the page, "Cheney talks tough on Iran from U.S. carrier: Cheney is Dr. Strangelove"

Corruption Updates 58, 4th article on the page, "Cheney's choices"

Corruption Updates 72, 2nd article on the page, "Lieberman: U.S. Should Weigh Iran Attack"

Corruption Updates 88, 1st article, july 3, '07; "U.S. Says Iran Helped Iraqis Kill Five G.I.’s: Torture or Truth?"

 

96_2, NYT, July 27, 2007, Saudis’ Role in Iraq Frustrates U.S. Officials

NYT, July 31, 2007, U.S. Arms Plan for Mideast Aims to Counter Iranian Power

Israel, $30 Billion in Military Aid From U.S. essay: Bush Wars Push Saudi Arabia..., nyt, 8-15-07

 

Saudis ask sharif not to return (to pakistan),  bbc, 9-5-07

Sharif arrives in Pakistan, CNN, 9-10-07

Gulf states seen as very unlikely to drop dollar peg, MarketWatch, Sep 21, 2007

 

Saudis to overhaul legal system, NYT, October 10, 2007

 

Iran rebukes Saudi Arabia over Mideast conference, afp, Nov 25, 2007

Saudi king invites Iranian President Ahmadinejad to Mecca for hajj, reuters, 12-9-07

Gulf Arms Race: bush arms everyone, isn, 12-15-07

Arab inflation Soars with Dollar Drop, Kuwait Times, 12-31-07

Bush rallies allies for Iran conflict, delivers arms to Saudi Arabia, ap, 1-14-08

Bush predicts Victory in Middle-east, ft, (uk) 1-6-08

 

dollar drop fuel arab inflation

UAE to unhooks dirham from dollar, meo, 2-4-08

Arab inflation Soars with Dollar Drop, Kuwait Times, 12-31-07

inflation tearing up gulf states, marketwatch, 9-21-07

 

Bush visits his Egyptian dictator, lat, 1-17-08

Israel Starves Gaza Civilians, meo, 1-18-08

Rice backs Israeli naming Gaza “Hostile Entity:”a War Crime, bbc, 9-20-07

Arab league: Severe Consequences, wafa,1-19-08

Israeli crimes defended by US at UN, bbc, 1-23-08

Hamas breaks blockade, apa, 1-25-08

 

Iranian rapprochement, al ahram, 1-31-08

iran-egypt to normalize ties, iranmania, 1-30-08

 

Kurds’ Power Wanes as Arab Anger Rises, nyt, 2-1-08

Arab bitch states expect israel to destroy iran nuke tech, dawn, 2-12-08

 

 

American economic Irresponsibility Pressures Arabs

100DollarBill

UAE to unhooks dirham from dollar, meo, 2-4-08

Arab inflation Soars with Dollar Drop, Kuwait Times, 12-31-07

inflation tearing up gulf states, marketwatch, 9-21-07

 

Arab bitch states expect israel to destroy iran nuke tech, dawn, 2-12-08

 

Arab Summit

days of fury, Al Ahram, 3-5-08

 

 

also see: iran rising, committee, 10-07

also see: Saudi Shift, committee, 7-07

 

 

 

The Redirection

Seymore Hersh, The New Yorker

Search the Corruption Database under

Iran

Supporting Dictatorships

Saudi Arabia

Egypt

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2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls

Openness sounds good, but some candidates act as if they might use such a power in the future.

By Peter Nicholas
Times Staff Writer

July 29, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-privilege29jul29,1,7795599.story?coll=la-politics-campaign&ctrack=3&cset=true

From the Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Over the last six years, the Bush administration has been widely seen as one of the most secretive and resistant to outside scrutiny in modern times. It has invoked executive privilege to prevent disclosure of its internal deliberations and advanced a theory of the "unitary executive" to avoid traditional checks on presidential power. President Bush has also asserted the right to ignore parts of new laws.

At one point, Vice President Dick Cheney went so far as to declare that neither Congress nor the executive branch had the power to inquire into his activities.

Given this muscular assertion of power, which has infuriated Democrats and angered some Republicans, how will Bush's successor handle these issues? Will the next president continue or extend the Bush approach, or take a more restrained approach?

But the steady expansion of presidential power in recent decades, as well as the histories of Clinton and Giuliani, suggest that the 2008 election might not bring drastic change.

Clinton was widely criticized for secrecy when she led her husband's effort to design a new healthcare system. A task force she headed ran afoul of federal law when it tried to hold closed meetings. "The public has the right to know what information is being presented," U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote in 1993.

President Clinton used executive privilege in an attempt to shield the first lady from questioning about Whitewater real estate deals and the Monica S. Lewinsky affair. On both issues, courts overruled the claim.

"The Whitewater and Lewinsky assertions [of executive privilege] were indefensible," said Stephen Gillers, a New York
University law professor.

"It's doubtful that the president would assert the privilege for conversations between [White House aides] and Mrs. Clinton without her acquiescence," Gillers added. "So that's something she has to explain."

Giuliani resisted outside efforts to evaluate municipal programs and review city records when he was mayor. As he was leaving office in 2001, he had thousands of mayoral records hauled to a private warehouse — a move that gave rise to a city law barring such action.

"He simply backed up a truck and filled it up with his papers as if they were his private possession and took them off to this warehouse in
Queens," said historian Mike Wallace of New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The files are now back in public hands. But critics said it was impossible to know whether records were purged.

In another case, when the state comptroller tried to evaluate city programs, he was turned away. City agencies, newspapers and watchdog groups had to sue to look at city records. A state judge cautioned the Giuliani administration that the law called for "maximum access, not maximum withholding."

In one incident, Giuliani objected to an ad for a New York magazine that appeared on city buses, and the transit authority removed the displays. The ad had said the magazine was "possibly the only good thing in New York Rudy hasn't taken credit for." Citing freedom of speech, the courts ordered the ads restored.

The Bush administration, in defending its claims of executive power, has said it was acting to restore presidential authority, which Cheney and other senior officials said had been eroded in previous years. When signing new laws, for instance, Bush sometimes issues so-called signing statements asserting his right to ignore some provisions of the law if they impinge on his executive power.

Early in Bush's first term, Cheney refused to reveal the names of outside groups that met with an energy task force he headed; the vice president brushed off criticism that oil companies and other industry representatives had been given access while environmentalists and others were shut out.

More recently, when Democrats on Capitol Hill began looking into evidence that politics might have played an undue role in the U.S. attorney firings, Bush ordered former aides to ignore congressional subpoenas to answer questions on how the firing decisions were made.

On Wednesday, a House committee voted to hold two Bush confidants — Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miersin contempt for failing to cooperate with the investigation.

Some analysts have found the administration's justification of such actions unpersuasive.

"What you really have is a president and vice president who are eclipsing the Congress and centering so much authority in their own hands," said Robert Dallek, a presidential biographer.

Even Republicans such as Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania have bridled at the assertion of executive authority contained in signing statements. Specter has introduced a bill to blunt their legal force.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) came up against Bush over a signing statement in 2005. Bucking opposition from the White House, McCain pushed through a bill outlawing torture of military detainees. The president signed the bill, but issued a statement apparently reserving the right to ignore the law when he thought national security required it.

Days after Bush's action, McCain and Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) of the armed services committee issued a warning of their own. "We believe the president understands Congress' intent in passing, by very large majorities, legislation governing the treatment of detainees," they wrote, adding: "Our committee intends through strict oversight to monitor the administration's implementation of the new law."

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 3, 2007

Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., June, 22, 2007: Written for Corruption Update 82_2

Also see, "Pelosi takes Impeachment off the table"

We have an understanding of 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. It is apparent that signing statements are unconstitutional, and represent an open seizure of illegal power by the President.

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 it blew the cover off of Bush's appointment of buddies and lobbyists to run every executive branch agency, not just FEMA.

The result is that the executive branch agencies have given away massive chunks of America's health and wealth to corporate America, and other practitioners of political bribery, while failing to do their jobs. Since the Dems took over, the have continued to perpetuate both the bribery and the President's crimes.

These corruptions in the executive branch agencies must be thoroughly investigated. If the investigations indicate he committed high crimes and misdemeanors, Bush must be impeached,

Unfortunately, the Dems are not up to defending our country against internal threats to our liberty. This is because they represent, and are dependent on, exactly the same corporate interests which fund the Repugs.

The Dem half of our corporate political monopoly cannot challenge the illegitimacy of the Repugnant actions, for it would undermine their own legitimacy. Both parties depend on the bribes of corporate America for their existence, and neither can tolerate a clear look at how they get, keep, and use political power.

In fact, the Dem candidates are chomping at the bit to obtain and use these same powers.

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.

NSA Spying on Americans Is Illegal, ACLU, (12/29/2005)

FBI illegal Searches:

Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on the page, "TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES"

Corruption Updates 25, 8th article on the page, "FBI CHIEF DEFYS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE ILLEGAL PROGRAM"

Corruption Updates 32, 3rd article on the page, "PRESIDENT TRIES END RUN AROUND CONSTITUTION: CLAIMS ACTIONS ARE SECRET, AND ABOVE THE LAW"

Corruption Updates 36, 5th article on the page, "White House Confirms Americans Have No Constitutional Protections"

Corruption Updates 41, 5th article on the page, "FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says: HOW DO YOU SAY ILLEGAL SEARCH? “National Security Letter"

Corruption Updates 51, 9th article on the page, "Administration Seeks to Expand Surveillance Law"

Bush claims Dictatorial Powers

Corruption Updates 16, 1st article on page, BUSH TRAINING CONGRESS TO OBEDIENCE: PROBLEM TEACHING THEM TO ROLL OVER WHEN THEY ARE ASLEEP”

Corruption Updates 21, 7th article on page, Ex-judges: Detainee law unconstitutional”

Corruption Updates 22, 7th article on page, Reid Threatens Bush with Oversight

Corruption Updates 23, 4th article on page,Bush Claims to Unlimited Power Contested

Corruption Updates 23, 8th article on page, Harmon Calls Wiretapping Illegal

Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on page, Times Soft pedals Presidential War Crimes and Domestic Crimes

Corruption Updates 25, 2nd article on page, US REPUB SENATOR FEARS WAR ILLEGAL: WHY DID IT TAKE THREE YEARS TO CONFRONT THE LIES?

Corruption Updates 25, 7th article on page,Italy Indicts 25 CIA Operatives

Corruption Updates 25, 8th article on page, FBI Chief Defies Oversight

Corruption Updates 29, 2nd article on page,White House Claims Secret Policy Power

Corruption Updates 30, 4th article on page, White House Vows Cooperation in Probes”

Corruption Updates 31, 1st article on page, 1-17-07, AG criticizes judges for terror rulings

Corruption Updates 31, 2nd and 3rd articles on page, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Indefensible,” and “A Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights”

Corruption Updates 31, 6th article on page, 1-17-07, Secret Court to Govern Warrantless Taps”

Corruption Updates 31, 7th article on page, 1-19-07,Pentagon Revises Its Rules on Prosecution of Terrorists”

Corruption Updates 31, 8th article on page, 1-19-07, Pentagon sets rules for detainee trials”

Corruption Updates 32, 3rd article on page, “Wiretap review plan is still unclear”

Corruption Updates 34, 4th article on page, “BUSH KIDNAPPING ON TRIAL IN GERMANY: WHY IS GERMANY HOLDING US TO THE RULE OF LAW?”

Corruption Updates 36, 5th article on page, Privacy Board OKs Eavesdropping Programs"

FBI USING UNLIMITED SEARCH POWERS:Bush Pledges Swift Action on FBI Reform(LIAR), wp, 3-10-07

Hegel accuses Bush of Everything but High Crimes and Treason, 43_6, ap, 3-26-07

 

 

F.B.I. Files on Lawyers Guild Proof of Criminal Government Spans Seven Presidents, nyt, 6-25-07

Hoover's 1950 police state plan: it still lives in us govt, nyt, 12-13-07

Ex-F.B.I. Chief’s Book Revisits Watergate, nyt, 3-9-08

 

FBI is recording every phone call, email, and all internet traffic in US, Democracy Now,  4-10-08

 

More Criminal Government links

 

Search the Corruption Database under

Unconstitutional Presidential Power

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Oxfam Reports Growing Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq

By DAMIEN CAVE

NYT, July 31, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/world/middleeast/31oxfam.html?pagewanted=print

AMMAN, Jordan, July 30 — Poverty, hunger and public health continue to worsen in Iraq, according to a report released Monday by Oxfam International, which says that more aid is needed from abroad and calls on the Iraqi government to decentralize the distribution of food and medical supplies.

The report...it provides one of the most comprehensive pictures to date of the human crisis within Iraq and what it describes as a slow-motion response from Iraq’s government, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.

The report states that roughly four million Iraqis, many of them children, are in dire need of food aid; that 70 percent of the country lacks access to adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003; and that 90 percent of the country’s hospitals lack basic medical and surgical supplies.

One survey cited in the report, completed in May by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, found that 43 percent of Iraqis live in “absolute poverty,” earning less than $1 a day.

Unemployment and hunger are particularly acute among the estimated two million people displaced internally from their homes by violence, many of whom are jobless, homeless and largely left on their own.

“The government of Iraq, international donors and the United Nations system have been focused on reconstruction, development and building political institutions, and have overlooked the harsh daily struggle for survival now faced by many,” the report says.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 3, 2007

Failed War-Failed State
Iraq's failure was preordained from the moment Bush attacked Iraq.

(Originally written for CU 79_1,  on June 13, 2007.)

The great ignored fact of our era is that middle eastern nations will no longer accept foreign-sponsored dictatorships. Reciprocally, no American Administration, Dem or Repug, will stop supporting our Arab Dictatorships.

Another unstated fact is that the interests of the Arabic nations and their peoples have diverged from American Interests. We are learning body by body in iraq that the era of western backed middle eastern dictators has come to a close. No new dictators need apply, and the remaining dictatorships are getting very nervous, and increasingly vulnerable and unreliable.

The Arabs are calling us Criminals, and will no longer pump more oil when we tell them to.

The winds of independence and freedom are sweeping across middle eastern deserts, blowing across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. The United States have chosen an upwind course.

The rise of a post colonial world has been fought by the US since the end of World War II, first under the disguise of the Cold War, and is now being pursued by Bush under the thin cover of "the war on terror."

Behind Bush's Iraq plan was the desire to counter the emergence of independent middle eastern nations. The plan was simple: crush Saddam and replace him with an American Dictator, under the banner of the "War on Terror." This would also be sold as "promoting democracy" in the middle east.

Bush's foolish plan envisioned containing Iran's expanding influence, while reinforcing our wobbling dictatorships in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. The Iraq invasion would make up for our loss of the Shah in Iran, and restore America's declining influence and power in the middle east.

Bush's Plan would assure we would maintain control of the global oil markets. This would assure us of the energy required double our population during the next 40 years, as we have during the last 40.

Bush's "WMDs in Iraq" and "war on terror" deceptions did not fool our corporate press or our Congress. Both were willing participants in perpetuating Bush's deceptions. Now they are finding that they have opened a box they are incapable of closing. Bush, Congress, and our Corporate Press fooled no one in the middle east.

This was Bush's Opium Dream, and was only possible because generations of Dem and Repug politicians had slowly eroded the political restraints of our Constitution, and replaced its terms of legitimacy with corporate cash.

The resulting catastrophe has only just begun.

Bush's invasion of Iraq is stoking the fires of Arabic independence, while inflaming and spreading deep hatred for America across the middle east. Bush's invasion has strengthened Iran, and further destabilized our Saudi, Egyptian, and Jordanian dictatorships.

Domestically, the Bush administration has openly revealed the direct relationship between corporate wealth, power, and both political parties. Bush has outted the political structure of of bribery and corruption that has rendered our government illegitimate.

In the meantime, Iraq has become the global focus point for a century of hatred against colonial rule, the fires of its destruction drawing Arabs from every middle eastern country, and forging them into dedicated fighters against foreign interference in all the Arabic lands.

We destroyed Iraq, but in return Iraq has destroyed our power, influence and credibility in the middle east, in the United States, and the world.

Pakistan: Musharraf Fears his own people more than US or Taliban, committee, 1-12-08

Also See:

Corruption Updates 33, 3rd article on the page, "Sen. Warner Gets Cold Feet Over War"

Corruption Updates 43, 6th article on the page, "Bush impeachment on the table, Hagel says: Hegel accuses Bush of Everything but High Crimes and Treason"

Corruption Updates 45, 1st article on the page, "McCaffrey Paints Gloomy Picture of Iraq"


Corruption Updates 56, 5th article on the page, "Batiste: Army Career Behind Him, General Speaks Out on Iraq"

Corruption Updates 58, 6th article on page, "War-torn Iraq 'facing collapse'"

Corruption Updates 67, 1st article on the page, "'03 Iraq reports warned Bush: Bush is an Irresponsible Idiot"

Corruption Updates 79, 1st article on the page, "Iraq Ranks No. 2 of Failed States"

The Dems are Paid Whores:

Corruption Updates 3,Media Reports: Both Parties Corrupt

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

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

Corruption Updates 20, 6th article on page, "DEMS RECEIVE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES ANTICIPATING VICTORY IN NOV"

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

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

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

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

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

Search the Corruption Database under

Iraq War

Generals


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Panel backs diabetes drug despite heart attack risks

FDA officials were divided on whether Avandia should still be sold

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/31/MNNT8IR9U1V2.DTL(07-31) 04:00 PDT Gaithersburg, Md. -- A federal drug advisory committee voted overwhelmingly Monday to recommend that the diabetes drug Avandia remain on the market, even after finding that it raises the risks of heart attacks.

Panel members said that studies concerning Avandia are too murky to merit drastic regulatory action and that other diabetes medicines might have similar risks.

The votes - 20-3 on the heart attack risk, 22-1 on leaving Avandia on the market - came after an extraordinary meeting in which officials from the Food and Drug Administration, which brought the committee together, openly disagreed with one another about which course to take.

Dr. David Graham, a drug safety officer at the FDA, called for the drug's withdrawal and estimated that its toxic effects on the heart caused as many as 205,000 heart attacks and strokes, some of them fatal, between 1999 and 2006. For every month that Avandia is sold, he said, 1,600 to 2,200 patients will suffer more of these events. Dr. Robert Meyer, director of the office within the FDA that approved Avandia's initial application, immediately disagreed with him.

"I think it's important that the committee understand there's a fundamental disagreement" within the FDA, he said.

The panel did say the FDA should require strict warnings on Avandia's label. The division within the FDA reflects a fierce debate among diabetes experts across the country since the New England Journal of Medicine published a study in May suggesting that Avandia, made by GlaxoSmithKline, increases the risks of heart attacks.

In a cascade of revelations since then, FDA officials have said that GlaxoSmithKline told the agency about this risk nearly two years ago, but that because of internal disagreements, the agency never warned patients about them.

In Europe, regulators required that the drug's label reflect some concerns about these risks. The FDA's lack of action helped persuade some lawmakers to support a measure providing the agency with more money and power to police drug safety.

The legislation has passed both houses and is expected to go to President Bush within days. About a million patients in the United States took Avandia last year, and a nearly identical number took Actos, a similar pill made by Takeda that some studies suggest may be safer. Avandia's global sales last year were $3.4 billion, but they have plunged since May.

Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who wrote the New England Journal study in May, said in an interview after the hearing that he would have voted to remove Avandia from the market. But he said he was cheered that the committee "affirmed the finding that there was an increased cardiovascular risk from the drug."

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

First Vioxx, Now FDA Allows Pharmaceutical Giant to Kill with Avandia

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., July , 2007

At the FDA it is almost impossible to tell where the Government begins, and the influence of the pharmaceutical industry ends. In Congress and the White House the influence of the pharmaceutical industry does not end, but has exerted itself to kill effective oversight by the FDA, and subsidize its obscene profits by stealing from seniors, and killing our citizens.

The reality of contemporary politics is that Industry controls the reigns of governmental regulation. Be it manufacturing, Big Oil, telecommunications, food or the pharmaceutical industries, each pays our politicians very well for the privilege to regulate themselves.

The direct relationship between the voters and their elected representatives at every level of government has been broken by the expenditure of vast sums of special interest bribe money from industry into politics.

The costs of this corruption have exceeded mere cupidity and greed, and has transformed our democratic republic into a corporate state. This has cost tens of thousands of Americans their lives, from taking unsafe drugs, eating unsafe foods, and in Iraq.

Our politicians and their corporate sponsors have stolen untold billions of dollars from the American people. They have taken us down a road to hell lined with evil intentions. We must change to course our corporate politicians and their corporate sponsors have taken us down.

The solution to this endemic corruption does not lay in changing policy or party, but can only be solved by changing who is sponsoring our politicians.

I recommend that we insist that only the individual voters be allowed to sponsor our politicians. This would do something novel, that we only get to experience in our history books: it would turn our country back to a democracy by and for the people, rather than an auction by and for the richest corporations.

That is the sole goal of our initiative. Our initiative is not designed to end corruption, but to make corruption illegal. Our goal is to break the monopoly of wealth on politics by restricting all contributions to candidates to citizens qualified to vote in the elections they contribute in.

The goal is to bring politicians into office who are actually elected by their own constituents, rather than the getting elected on a flood of special interest bribes, as is the case today.

Today voters are offered a choice between candidates who all got on the ballot by selling their souls to the special interests. Our government has been dominated by politicians who live in the deep pockets of the corporate special interests for long enough to break our democratic institutions, seriously damage every aspect of our nation's domestic health and welfare, and lead us to international conflict in a bid for world domination, globalism, as they call it these days.

The initiative cannot eliminate all outside money, for that would end the political parties, which would violate our Constitutional rights to freely assemble and speak.

The parties are Constitutionally legitimate, but have been captured by corporate wealth. The Political parties are, for the most part, vast collections of special interest money that have virtually eliminated the local voter's power to influence their local election, or control their representatives after the election.

Our initiative gets around the "party problem" by preserving their rights to assemble, speak, and channel funding that reflects their beliefs and positions into local elections.

Our Initiative merely restricts the total of combined party funding for a candidate to 30% of the total contributions collected from local voters. The parties get to assemble, speak, and contribute, but their contributions will not be allowed to either dominate local elections, or purchase our candidates.

But this is not up to me, it's up to you, and the values you have, to determine the outcome of the challenges we face.

Also See:

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

Corruption Updates 26, 4th article on the page, "PRESIDENT CLOSING EPA LIBRARIES"

Corruption Updates 33, 10th article on the page, "Bush Suppressing Science and Truth"

Corruption Updates 46, 9th article on the page, "High Court Faults EPA Inaction on Emissions"

Corruption Updates 69, 5th article on the page, "F.D.A. Issues Strictest Warning on Diabetes Drugs"

Search the Corruption Database under

Food and Drug Administration

Killing Safety Regulations


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5) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

House approves sweeping ethics bill

Lawmakers OK measure, which aims to rein in the influence of lobbyists, by 411-8 vote. Senate is expected to pass its version of the proposal this week.By Richard Simon
Times Staff Writer

10:55 AM PDT, July 31, 2007http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-ex-ethics31aug01,0,6691939.story?coll=la-home-centerFrom the Los Angeles Times



WASHINGTON — In what would be the most sweeping overhaul of ethics rules since the Watergate era, the House today gave final approval to a bill aimed at reining in the influence of lobbyists and repairing Congress' sullied image.

The Senate is expected to approve the bill this week.
The bill require lobbyists to disclose more of their activities, including the campaign contributions they raise from clients, friends and relatives, a key source of their influence.

It would require lawmakers to disclose the special-interest items they slip into bills — a process, known as earmarking, that has figured prominently in congressional scandals. And it would deny congressional pensions in the future to lawmakers turned felons.

Some of the rules would differ between the House and Senate. The bill would double to two years an exclusionary period in which departed senators and senior members of the executive branch would be barred from lobbying Congress. But in the House, where hundreds of former lawmakers have cashed in on lucrative lobbying jobs after leaving Congress, the one-year "cooling off" period would remain unchanged.

On the other hand, the House forbade members from flying on corporate jets. Senators and presidential candidates would be permitted to fly on corporate jets but would have to pay charter rates instead of the less costly equivalent of first-class tickets. The House in January banned lobbyist-paid gifts, meals and travel.

Senators and their staffs would be barred from accepting gifts and meals from lobbyists. They could take trips paid for by nonprofit groups, but lobbyists would be barred from riding along.

Paul Miller, a former president of the American League of Lobbyists, questioned how much the measure would change the way business is conducted in Washington.

The measure would require lobbyists to report their activities more frequently — in a public, searchable database. It would increase fines from $50,000 to $100,000 for willful violations and add a new criminal penalty of up to five years in prison for lobbyists who "knowingly and corruptly" violate the rules.

It would bar lawmakers from attempting to pressure businesses into hiring lobbyists based on their political affiliation — a practice promoted by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and others who sought to strong-arm lobbying firms into hiring Republicans.

Violations of the provision would carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

House does Everything EXCEPT DEMOCRACY

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., July , 2007

Did you notice how these "reforms" do nothing to end bribery and corruption, but actually create rules and regulations for bribery and corruption?

Rather than force all "earmarks" to undergo the same scrutiny as other bills and amendments, what is euphemistically called the democratic process, legislative scrutiny, and publicly earn their place in a bill, this "reform" bill preserves earmarks intact.

The big change? Earmarks are now publicized. BFD. Congress has preserved "the revolving door" between industry, lobbying and politics. Great work.

I think we can all see that Pelosi is Lipsticking the Pig, not cutting the pork. The real beast is Corporate/Special Interest Bribery. The only solution to the undemocratic practices that dominate Congress and the Executive Branch is to eliminate them completely.

No more corporate bribes to PACs. No more Corporate/Special interest bribes to politicians in any way, any shape, or any form. We must seize the reigns of government out of the hands of the corporations, and put them firmly back into the hands of the people. Period.

The superficial, cosmetic reforms of the Corporate Democrats will not make our government democratic. It falls on us to do that. Check out our Initiative, and join us in our democratic revolution to restore our democratic republic.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 11, 8th article on the page, "CONGRESS AGAIN PROVES IT HAS NO ETHICS: REVOLVING DOOR AND MASSIVE PAYOFFS FEATHER THEIR NESTS"

Corruption Updates 23 , 3nd article on the page, "Elective office improves a resume"

Corruption Updates 26 , 2nd article on the page, "ETHICS PANEL FAILS TO PROTECT CHILDREN, ETHICS:CONGRESSMEN'S KNOWLEDGE OF FOLEY"

How lobbying buys lawmakers and law:

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

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

Corruption Updates 2, 6th article down, Contribute to Win, Big Contribs donate when legislation pending,”


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

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

Corruption Update #21, 5th article: Some legislative candidates run with big money but no opposition”

Search the Corruption Database under

Ethics Committee (9 Abstracts)

Lobbying

Big Money Politics


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6) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

U.S. Sen. Stevens' Home Searched by FBI

By MATT APUZZO
Associated Press Writer

8:29 AM PDT, July 31, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11jul31,0,444140.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines



WASHINGTON — Federal agents searching the Alaska home of Republican Sen. Ted Stevens appeared particularly interested in cases of wine stored in the senator's house, an attorney briefed on the raid said.

Investigators photographed the cases and the individual bottles Monday along with other items from Stevens' home as part of a public corruption investigation that stretches from Alaska to Washington.

Stevens, 83, is under a federal investigation for his relationship with Bill Allen, an oil field services contractor who was convicted this year of bribing state lawmakers. Stevens was aware for some time that investigators wanted to search the house, the attorney said Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

Allen oversaw a 2000 renovation project that more than doubled the size of Stevens' home in the ski resort community of Girdwood. Allen is the founder of VECO Corp., an Alaska-based oil field services and engineering company that has reaped tens of millions of dollars in federal contracts.

A law enforcement official familiar with the case confirmed the raid on Stevens' home was focused on records related to the ongoing VECO investigation. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

The Justice Department's probe into Allen's relationships has led to charges against state lawmakers and contractors. Last year, FBI raids on the offices of several Alaska lawmakers included Stevens' son, former Alaska Senate President Ben Stevens.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Every Person in Congress is a Crook

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 4, 2007

Congress is the house that corruption built upon the shattered remnants of our Constitution. Congress is no longer guided or limited by our Constitution, nor the democratic practices required by it.

Stevens is the longest sitting Crook in the Senate, and it's about time that his seat, and the ownership of Alaska politics by Big Oil was taken away.

Hell, it's time that the ownership of all of our politicians was determined by their local voters, rather than the wealth and power of the special interests.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 1, 10th article on page, "BIG OIL OWNS OUR POLITICIANS"

Corruption Updates 5, 3rd article on page, "Politics in Alaska Under Investigation"

Corruption Updates 24, 4th article on page, "Big Oil Owns Interior Dept"

Corruption Updates 55, 1st article on page, "Alaska Oil Executives Admit to Bribery"

Corruption Updates 70, 6th article on page, "Alaska II, Big Oil's Control of Alaska Contested by FBI"

Corruption Updates 97, 6th article on the page, U.S. Sen. Stevens' Home Searched by FBI

Corruption Updates 116, 6th article on the page, Alaska: Former Executive Says He Bribed State Lawmakers

Corruption Updates 116, 7th article on the page, Alaska: Scandal flows like crude

Search the Corruption Database under

Alaska (7 Abstracts)

Big Oil

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7) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

Official Says Consumer Agency at Risk

Friday, July 27, 2007

(07-27) 14:23 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/27/national/w002949D99.DTL

The Consumer Product Safety Commission could soon shrink to the point where it can't effectively protect the public, veteran Commissioner Thomas Moore says.

Many employees at the agency responsible for overseeing the safety of many thousands of consumer products are looking for other jobs because "they have no confidence the agency will continue to exist — or will exist in any meaningful form," Moore said in a statement Thursday.

"The commission can either continue to decline in staff, resources and stature to the point where it is no longer an effective force in consumer protection," said Moore, "or with the support of Congress it can regain the important place in American society it was originally designed to have.

"The number of full-time staffers has shrunk to about 400, less than half the size of the staff in 1980.

Complaints from business leaders about the agency created in the early 1970s resulted in the staff being sharply cut during the Reagan administration. Budget cuts or constraints since then have forced further reductions in the staff.

In 1981, the Consumer Product Safety Act was amended to limit the commission's ability to set mandatory standards. The change required the commission to accept voluntary industry standards if it was likely they would significantly reduce risk to consumers.

The agency also has been hampered by a vacancy on its three-member commission.

With only two of three commissioners, the agency had no quorum and has been unable to make rules about product standards, mandate recalls and assess civil penalties for the last six months.

Bush's pick to head the safety commission, Michael Baroody, withdrew his nomination in May after strong opposition from some Senate Democrats because of his career as a manufacturers' lobbyist.

On the Net:

Consumer Product Safety Commission:

www.cpsc.gov

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Deregulation and "Voluntary" Standards Killing Americans

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 4, 2007

Bush's nomination of Baroody is emblematic of all of Bush's appointments to Executive Branch Agencies charged with protecting America's health, safety, and resources. Baroody represents the industries the Consumer Safety Commission is charged to oversee.

Ken Lay was on Cheney's Energy Task Force. Oil industry executives and lobbyists have given away the house after being appointed to oversee oil leases in the Interior Department.

The FDA has been gutted, and is incapable of resisting the political bribes and threats of the Pharmaceutical industry. The EPA has been gutted, and is incapable of resisting the political bribes and threats of the petrochemical and manufacturing industries.

The list of agencies gutted by bribery contains the name of every executive branch agency.

The henhouse (our government) has been taken over by the wolves (the corporate parties and politicians). The best interests of average Americans, the "general welfare" of our country has been abandoned by all who enter Congress, the profits of this vile corruption are pocketed by the special interests who fund their campaigns.

If we want to protect our health and safety, we must reform our democracy.

Also See:

Killing Americans with Political Bribery:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SEE: Corruption Update #21, 5th article: Some legislative candidates run with big money but no opposition” This article highlights the redistribution of funds between Dem candidates, and how this predicts power within the party.

Search the Corruption Database under

Consumer Product Safety Commission (5 Abstracts)

Killing Safety Regulations (33 Abstracts)

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Food in Botulism Recall Still Being Sold

Friday, July 27, 2007

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2007/07/27/national/w001731D95.DTL&type=printable

(07-27) 13:37 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stores nationwide are continuing to sell recalled canned chili, stew, hash and other foods potentially contaminated with poisonous bacteria even after repeated warnings the products could kill.

Thousands of cans are being removed from store shelves as quickly as investigators find them, more than a week after Castleberry's Food Co. began recalling more than 90 potentially contaminated products over fears of botulism contamination.

The recall now covers two years' production at the company's Augusta, Ga., plant — a tally that spirals into the tens of millions of cans.

Spot checks by the Food and Drug Administration and state officials continue to turn up recalled products for sale in convenience stores, gas stations and family run groceries, from Florida to Alaska. The FDA alone has found them in roughly 250 of the more than 3,700 stores visited in nationwide checks, according to figures the agency provided to The Associated Press.

In states like North Carolina, more than one in three stores checked by state officials in recent days were still offering recalled products for sale. Officials there pulled 5,500 cans and pledged to keep searching.

FDA investigators believe Castleberry's failed to properly cook some or all the products, allowing the Clostridium botulinum bacteria to survive the canning process. In the oxygen-free and moist environment of the sealed cans, the bacteria thrive and produce a toxin that causes botulism, a muscle-paralyzing disease.

"The longer this stuff stays in the can, the worse it gets," Acheson said. Health officials say the extremely potent toxin can infect people if it is inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the eye or breaks in the skin. Castleberry's is owned by Bumble Bee Seafoods LLC, based in San Diego.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

American Food Supply Unsafe

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 3, 2007
This government is incapable of defending our food supply against either intentional or accidental tainting.

This sad fact has been proven over and over again .Remember the Mad Cow outbreak in late 2003? The one where the FDA tracked tainted beef to restaurants and stores, and then kept this information hidden, secret from the people who bought and ate the tainted meat.

Our bribed government protects corporate profits, not the health of our citizens.

This is the rational behind replacing solid, science based regulations with "voluntary regulations:" to enhance profits by degrading our safety.

Now we have China shipping us massive batches of poisoned products under the protection of our worthless voluntary regulations.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 59, 3th article on page, "F.D.A. to Test Toothpaste Sent to U.S. From China"
Corruption Updates 60, 8th article on the page, "China: Recall Is Issued for Frozen Fish"

Corruption Updates 67, 5th article on the Page, "China: When Fakery Turns Fatal"

Corruption Updates 77, 5th article on the Page, "Thomas the Tank Engine Toys Recalled Because of Lead Paint"

Corruption Updates 79, 2th article on the Page, "As More Toys Are Recalled, Trail Ends in China"

Regulatory Failures:

See list following Article 7, Above.

Search the Corruption Database under

Killing Safety Regulations

China


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High Mercury Levels Found in One-Fourth of Adults

By DIANE CARDWELLJuly 24, 2007http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/nyregion/24mercury.html?pagewanted=print

One-quarter of adult New Yorkers, roughly 1.4 million people, have elevated levels of mercury in their blood, mainly from eating certain fish, according to survey results released yesterday by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The survey, part of a comprehensive study of the health of city residents, found that blood mercury levels were highest among Asians, women and higher-income New Yorkers.

Mercury is released into the atmosphere largely by coal-fired power plants and by solid-waste incinerators. In the form of methylmercury, it passes into lakes and rivers, where it is absorbed by fish and shellfish. For years, the State Department of Health has issued warnings about eating fish caught in the Hudson River, because of mercury and other contaminants.

Nationally, said Mr. Kass, research showed that about 10 percent of women of childbearing age had blood mercury levels at or above five micrograms per liter, the threshold considered the low end for potential health risks. The survey, conducted among 1,811 adults in 2004, found that one-quarter of women ages 20 to 49 had a blood mercury level at or above five micrograms per liter, while nearly half of Asian women had a blood mercury level at that threshold.

The department also found that adults eating fish three or fewer times a week had average mercury levels below the threshold, while average readings for adults who ate fish four or more times a week were above it.

In a brochure called “Eat Fish, Choose Wisely,” the department suggests this group eat no more than two six-ounce servings a week of low-mercury varieties like cod, mullet, scallops and canned light tuna, and no more than five such servings of very-low-mercury fish like clams, shrimp, tilapia and salmon. The brochure, in English, Spanish and Chinese, is available through the 311 telephone line.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Toxic Oceans Poison Fish, Consumers

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 4, 2007

Want to save the Planet? Here's the secret: "Just Undo It."

It's as simple as undoing the massive human growth that has darkened our skies with pollution, drained our oceans of fish, and sucked all the water from our rivers and lakes.

I am not suggesting an instant lowering of our population, except for removing every illegal in the nation. I am suggesting that we change the direction our country is going in by changing the values that underlay our practices. First we have to confront the greed that has possessed our souls. Greed has as many manifestations as the range of people who it possesses. We are faced with an unholy alignment of Hippies, Corporations, Christians, and politicians of every stripe who agree that unlimited demographic growth is a fact of nature, rather than a product of policy. Take responsibility for the reality WE HAVE CREATED.

The real basis of our growth policy depends not on "nature," but on the fact that demographic growth provides us with foreigners, cheap labor, from whom we can extract maxim profits, while at the same time expanding consumption of our products. This has had significant effect on our political character as well as our economic system.

Demographic growth has provided the fuel for our corporate aristocracy to transform our democratic republic into a corporate fascist state. This massive expansion of people pulled the rug out from underneath the middle class. As their economic position declined, so too did their political power.

As our democratic republic depended on having a strong middle class to check the elite, the massive expansion of our population drained the wealth of the middle class while concentrating it in the hands of our elite. Where we once had classes that checked each other, within checked and balanced political institutions, we now have a corporate fascist state that brooks no checks in economics or politics.

The parties have become no more than differing factions from the same top-down corporate elite, rather than representing the people in a bottom-up democracy, as required by our Constitution.

The way forward is fraught with peril: These fools have brought our country to the position where it no longer has the resources to support our massive population, and the corporate politicians are still rapidly expanding our population.

Our Corporations and their government have stripped our country of most of its resources, and are stealing as much as they can from other people's countries. They call it globalism today, although we have been stripping other country's resources for over a hundred years.

Neither the world, nor its people can take this for much longer. The Answer? Just Undo it.

Despite these troubling trends, Global population growth has favored global corporations twofold, increasing their wealth and power as our environment and resources dwindle. First, Global corporations have pitted the middle classes around the world against each other, and the virtual slave labor of China and India. Middle and lower class wages in industrialized nations have stagnated or dropped significantly. Secondly, the massive increase in world population has driven all commodity prices upward. Working people around the world are paying more for less as the resources of their countries are put on the world market.

We must undo these trends one element at a time, starting with the corporate control of politics. This is the keystone from which we can undo the rest of the elements of greed. This is how we can curb growth and clean our oceans, skies and rivers. This is how we can rebuild our schools and hospitals.

But we must voluntarily start these reforms here in America, where they began at the center of our global corporate empire, before it is too late, and our empire crumbles from within and without.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 60, 8th article on the page, "China: Recall Is Issued for Frozen Fish"

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"

Corruption Updates 53, 2nd article on the page, "Arctic Sea Ice Melting Faster, a Study Finds:Climate Change has already happened"Corruption Updates 65, 1st article on the page, "BEES: Honey, I'm Gone"

Corruption Updates 71, 9th article on the page, "'Only 50 years left' for sea fish"

Corruption Updates 76, 7th article on the page, "Study finds huge decreases in bird populations"

Search the Corruption Database under

Environment (43 Abstracts)

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Where is the media watchdog?

Friday, July 27, 2007

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/27/BUB8R7P0H2.DTL

...look at the state of consumer advocacy in the United States. And who better to turn to than Ralph Nader, the man who almost single-handedly created the modern consumer movement?

"Consumers are losing control across the board," he told me. "They don't have legislative champions. They don't have regulatory champions. Less and less they have media champions."

Say what you will about Nader's persistent political ambitions - and he has a lot to answer for - Americans owe him a debt of gratitude for his tireless consumer work in the 1960s and '70s. Thanks to Nader, 73, our cars are equipped with seat belts and air bags, and millions of lives have been saved over the decades.

Largely because of Nader, some of the most important regulatory reforms in the country's history are now law, including the Freedom of Information Act and the Clean Air Act. He's also credited with prompting creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. It's a record of accomplishment second to none among consumer advocates. But could it happen again?

"I don't see a replay of this unless we have different practices in the media," Nader answered. "You can't do this without the media." ...the media have lost interest in consumer advocacy as both a story and a calling.

This, in turn, leaves the consumer movement to a great extent voiceless.

"People feel powerless," Nader said. "They feel that no one's there to help them. They just give up."

Corporations are far savvier today about how they spend their money and sway the political agenda. Lawmakers are increasingly reluctant to bite the hand that feeds.

"Twenty-four/seven, corporations are tipping the balance away from consumers," Nader observed. "People keep giving up more and more. Younger people are so used to the way things are now, they don't even know that they once had more rights."

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Nader: Government and Media Not Trustworthy

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 4, 2007

As much as I admire Ralph Nader, I blame him heavily for changing the notion of an American from Citizen to Consumer.

Nothing Nader did was based on Consumer Rights, for Consumers have no rights. Citizens have rights, and one of the most powerful rights they had was the right to "...regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states..."

Without the Constitutional rights of citizens to regulate commerce, we would have foreign nations flooding us with poisons. We would have drug companies killing people with dangerous drugs. We would have Enron and big oil screwing us with our own resources.

Nader cannot seem to see that we need to restore the fundamental rights of the citizens to control the government.

We need to restore the rights of local voter to elect their own representatives. The corporations have captured our government and press, and the "rights" of consumers will be trampled, and our press no more than a corporate tool, until the rights of our citizens to control our government are restored.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 15, 7th article on the page, "Bush Admin Buys Anti-Castro Cuban Reporters in Miami; Nobody Cares"

Corruption Updates 17, 9th article on the page, "Reporters Helped Plan War"

Corruption Updates 23, 9th article on the page, "TIMES SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES. LEAVE IT TO THE TIMES TO LIPSTICK THE PIG"

Corruption Updates 24, 3rd article on the page, "EDITORIAL SUGGESTS EVERY REFORM BUT DEMOCRACY"

Corruption Updates 34, 13th article on the page, "Plame, CORPORATE PRESS A TOOL OF CORPORATIONS-SPECIAL INTERESTS"

Corruption Updates 37, 8th article on the page, "Corporate Media Humiliates itself, Again:War,WMD,Kidnapping,Torture,and Plame pr..."

Corruption Updates 48, 3rd article on the page, "U.S., China Got Climate Warnings Toned Down:Corporate Media Whitewash American S..."

Corruption Updates 50, 1st article on the page, "Dick Durban, Senate Intel Commit: " I Knew the Public Was Being Mislead into WAR"

Corruption Updates 90, 3rd article on the page, "Police stifle bill on discipline hearings access: ASSEMBLY PROTECTS SECRET POLICE"

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