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The Daily Muck
Next stop, the Senate. The Senate leadership is expected to bring a vote on ethics reform this afternoon, which, if passed, would leave only a Presidential signature to make reform official. (USA TODAY)
Chiquita Banana has been in trouble recently for hiring a Columbian paramilitary group -identified by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization - to provide protection for the company. Chiquita has argued that, though they knew their actions were illegal, they would be unable to operate in Columbia without local protection. They are now justifying the decision by pointing to a series of meetings with government officials, including Michael Chertoff, that led Chiquita executives to believe the government would allow them to continue paying the paramilitaries. Chertoff allegedly sympathized with the position of Chiquita execs and told them he would inquire on the issue and get back to them, but never did, which the company took as de facto approval. (Washington Post)
Executive privilege! Are there two sweeter words in the English language? Not for Karl Rove, who got the OK from President Bush not to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today over last year's firing of U.S. Attorneys. (McClatchy Newspapers)
Despite the administration's pledge to increase the number of contracts awarded to small business for Katrina-related projects, a new congressional analysis finds that percentage of such firms represented in contracting has dropped from 12% to 7% of all those awarded. In addition, the report found that $95 million in contracts that the government claimed were awarded to small businesses were actually awarded to large companies or were ineligible receipts. (USA TODAY)
The Department of Homeland Security has spent close to $2 billion building a system to monitor the travel records of foreigners. Unfortunately, as the GAO pointed out yesterday, the computer system is very vulnerable to manipulation, meaning outsiders would have little problem erasing, modifying or copying information about travelers. (NY Times)
The GAO reported yesterday that the Pentagon accidentally sold to the public around 14,000 parts that could be used on F-14 fighter jets. Fortunately, we don't have to worry about the parts working their way into the wrong hands, because no nation continues to fly F-14s. Well, no nation except Iran. (USA TODAY)
Today, Time Magazine takes a crack at the question of why Bush simply cannot fire his Attorney General. (Time)
Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) comes up for reelection next year. But even though its been five years, many Democrats haven't forgotten the phone scandal, sponsored by local Republicans, that tied up the lines of Sununu's opponent and, according to critics, won him the election. Regardless of his involvement, that scandal is now one of the leading motivations for local Democrats to win the Senate seat back. (The Politico)
The Defense Department's black budget -a classified source used to fund all means of covert security- will continue its expensive spending trends. The budget request this year, which is neither publicized nor even made available to all members of Congress, is expected to be around $32 billion, on par with the last two years. (ABC's The Blotter)
Comments (8)
asdf wrote on August 2, 2007 10:02 AM:Specter is now satisfied it wasn't perjury (nudge, nudge). Someone must believe him when he pretends to be contemplative, he must put on the performance for an audience somewhere, but who?
Rove is set to humiliate the Senate today. Why does either chamber of Congress subject themselves to this humiliation by the administration day in and day out? They would do far better to preserve the shreds of self-respect they have remaining and not allow BushCo to publicly spit in their faces. They also think they're fooling someone, but who?
It's all so nauseating, literally just puke.
PW wrote on August 2, 2007 10:10 AM:The habit of overlooking local and "small business" contractors in favor of the same-old same-old cronies seems to be taking hold along the US-MEX border.
Anonymous wrote on August 2, 2007 10:25 AM:The fact that Scott Jennings is testifying today is encouraging, but telling. Rove is willing to come to the edge to appease Dems on the Committee by throwing meat, but not willing to stick his own neck out.
I hope the Committee asks today about how Rove's staffer Jane Cherry was involved in Cummins' firing.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/31/8364/55557
Nelly Bly wrote on August 2, 2007 10:41 AM:Don't know if you mentioned this already but I just read a 7/31/07 AP story about Cheney, Sue Ellen Woolridge and the Kalmath River Basin in The Examiner (link below).
Mary Kendall, deputy Interior inspector general, testifified before the House Natural Resources Committee at a hearing exploring Cheney's role in the Klamath.
Great quote from Kendall about whether the Kalmath issue was politicized by Cheney:
"In the end, we don't know what we don't know."
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., told Kendall he was "perplexed by the notion that maybe Dick Cheney did something in the background that you didn't spot."
On the other hand, Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)said, "I take that (report) to mean they didn't feel pressure from Karl Rove, Vice President Cheney, the president, the pope or anyone else."
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., the panel's chairman, is considering hauling in Sue Ellen Woolridge to testify about her dealings with Cheney.
I'd like to hear from Woolridge, too.
Nelly Bly wrote on August 2, 2007 10:56 AM:Tom DeLay still under FBI investigation in the Abramoff case!
From a 7/2/707 NY Times story, "Federal Lawmakers From Coast to Coast Are Under Investigation" by Philip Shenon - link below:
"Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who stepped down as House majority leader in 2005 after being indicted in a state campaign finance case, remains under investigation by the F.B.I. in the Abramoff inquiry, according to people with knowledge of it. Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the grand jury process, they said that much of the inquiry had focused on payments made to Mr. DeLay’s wife, Christine, for work at a Washington consulting firm."
DiFi Fan wrote on August 2, 2007 11:06 AM:@August 2, 2007 10:25 AM
Re Jane Cherry's GOP lineage - I read a May 1989 Arkansas Democratic-Gazette article about Jane's parents, Sandra and Jack, attending a very exclusive reception for Lee Atwater who at the time was Republican National Committee chairman.
Sandra, recently deceased, was a long time AUSA in Little Rock and Jack is a private attorney.
powkat wrote on August 2, 2007 12:55 PM:Of course Chertoff tacitly approved what Chiquita was doing - that's how BushCo does business. And anyone in this administration is an employee of BushCo.
JEP wrote on August 2, 2007 2:34 PM:so now Inspector Spector's got a "magic liar" theory to go along with the magic bullet theory?!?