News Intelligence Analysis
Government Abuse & Corruption Directory
For Articles on Plame
Leak Go to
Investigation of
CIA Leak
Part I. Lawmakers Under
Investigation
for Fraud, Bribery
& Etc.
Part II. Administration, Legislative
& Judicial Robbery
Part III. Just Ordinary
Corruption by
or Against the Government
See also articles
and documents in the
following Directories:
Law and Legal Issues
Battle for the Judiciary
Directory of the CIA Leak
Abu Ghraib Articles
Civil Rights
Under
Attack
Congressional Scandals
NEW: Phony Fraud Charges
In its fumbling attempts
to explain the purge
of United States attorneys, the Bush administration
has argued that the fired prosecutors were not
aggressive enough about
addressing voter fraud.
Bush Could Seize Absolute
Control of U.S. Government
By DOUG THOMPSON
Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
Jan 13, 2006, 07:42
President George W. Bush has
signed executive
orders giving him sole authority to impose martial
law, suspend habeas corpus and ignore the Posse
Comitatus Act that prohibits deployment of U.S.
troops on American streets. This would give him
absolute dictatorial power over the government
with
no checks and balances.
Part I. Lawmakers Under Investigation
See also Spreading Scandals
NEW:
F.B.I.'s Focus on Public Corruption
Includes 2,000 Investigations
By DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, May 10 — A post-9/11 effort by the
F.B.I. to concentrate on public corruption now
includes more than 2,000 investigations under
way, highlighted by the Jack Abramoff lobbying
inquiry, the racketeering and fraud conviction of
former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, and the
multipronged corruption probes after the guilty
plea by Randy Cunningham, a former Republican
House member from San
Diego, bureau officials said.
Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe
of Lobbyist
Ney and DeLay Among the Members
of Congress
Said to Be a Focus of Abramoff Investigation
By Susan Schmidt and James V.
Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 26, 2005; A01
The Justice Department's wide-ranging
investigation
of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has entered a highly
active phase as prosecutors are beginning to move
on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress
and executive branch agencies, lawyers involved in
the case said. Prosecutors have already told one
lawmaker, Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), and his former
chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery
case against them, according to two sources
knowledgeable about the matter who spoke on the
condition of
anonymity.
Inquiry Focuses on Group DeLay
Created
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
AUSTIN, Tex. — A political action committee created
by Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, enjoyed
tremendous success here in 2002: all but 3 of 21
Republican candidates the committee backed for
state representative won their races, helping the
party take control of the Texas House. Last year,
the Republicans used that clout to carve Texas into
new Congressional districts under a plan that political
analysts say will bring them at least five new seats in
Congressional elections
this year.
House Republicans Move to Protect
Their Leader
November 17, 2004
By CARL HULSE and DAVID E. ROSENBAUM
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 - Fresh from election gains,
House Republicans moved Tuesday to consider a
change in party rules that would prevent their majority
leader, Tom DeLay, from having to step down from his
leadership position should he be indicted in an
investigation in
Texas.
Political Fundraising in Texas Is
Target of Probe
Officials look at whether
money linked to House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay improperly financed
Republican campaigns.
By Scott Gold
Times Staff Writer
January 3, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas — Authorities
are conducting a criminal
investigation into whether corporate money, including
hundreds of thousands of dollars linked to U.S. House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay, improperly financed the
Republican Party's takeover of the Texas Capitol.
The probe is focused on several
political and fundraising
organizations run by Republican activists, investigators said.
One of the organizations, the political action committee
Texans for a Republican Majority, has direct ties to DeLay,
a Texas Republican and one of the most powerful politicians
in Washington.
Part II. Administration, Legislative & Judicial Robbery & Bribery
NEW: Major
Changes Raise
Concerns on Pension Bill
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
In the end, lawmakers modified
many of
the proposed rules, allowing companies
more time to cover pension shortfalls, to
make more forgiving estimates about how
much they will owe workers in the future, and
even sometimes to assume that their workers
will die younger than the rest of the population.
On top of those changes, companies also
persuaded lawmakers to add dozens of specific
measures, including a multibillion-dollar escape
clause for the nation’s airlines and a special
exemption for the makers of Smithfield Farms hams.
As a result, the bill now being completed in a House-
Senate conference committee, rather than
strengthening the pension system, would
actually weaken it, according to a little-noticed
analysis by the government’s
pension agency.
NEW: No.
3 Official at CIA Is Subject of
Investigation Related to Bribery Probe
By BRIAN ROSS, RICHARD
ESPOSITO
and RHONDA SCHWARTZ
The CIA Inspector General has opened an
investigation into the spy agency's executive
director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, and his
connections to two defense contractors
accused of bribing a member of Congress
and Pentagon
officials.
A Dark Cloud Over Disclosure
By JIM JEFFORDS and JULIE
FOX GORTE
Washington
HOW would you like to have lawfully
sold your
Tyco stock months before the corporate scandal
hit the front pages? That's precisely what the Calvert
Group did when a disturbing trend in Tyco's annual toxi
emission disclosures led to questions about how wel
Tyco was managing the rest of its operations.
Now, President Bush and the Environmental Protection
Agency want to weaken the largely successful Toxics
Release Inventory program, which requires companies
to tell the public how they dispose of or release nearly
650 chemicals that may harm human health and the
environment. The disclosure program makes data available
for anyone — journalists, policymakers, investors or parent
— to learn exactly which chemicals are being released from
corporate smokestacks and
discharge pipes.
Privatizing the American West Is
Legislative Robbery
While lawmakers are in
recess, it is worth reflecting
on one particular part of the mess they have left
behind. Last week, a budget bill scraped through
the House, 217 to 215. Democrats and moderate
Republicans had already stripped a provision to allow
drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But the
House bill left intact an evil trap to be sprung on the
American public: Richard Pombo's plan to put a few
hundred million acres of publicly owned land up for
sale in the
American West.
Forgery of Iraq-War-Justifying
Documents Done in the U.S.
According to a Former Top
U.S. Intelligence
Official on Los Angeles Radio Program
Los Angeles, Ca.--Vincent Cannistraro
is the
former Director of National Security Council Intelligence
under Ronald Reagan (’84-’87) and the former Chief
of Operations of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center,
who led the investigation into the bombing of Pan
Am Flight 103. On April 3, 2005, he was interviewed
on Ian Masters' Background Briefing radio program,
which broadcasts from Los Angeles, California on
public radio. In the interview, Mr. Cannistraro made
a number of withering observations on the Bush
administration and the process failures
that led
to war.
Contempt for Congress
Thursday, March 18, 2004;
TENSION BETWEEN THE executive
and legislative
branches is inevitable, but the Bush administration
has tended to treat Congress with an arrogance
bordering on contempt. The latest illustration involves
the report that the Medicare chief actuary was threatened
with firing if he gave lawmakers his analysis of the likely
costs of the new prescription drug legislation. The actuary,
Richard S. Foster, estimated that the new entitlement
would cost far more than predicted by the Congressional
Budget Office: $534 billion over the next decade rather
than the CBO's $395
billion.
House Ethics Committee Criticizes DeLay
Friday October 1, 2004 9:16 AM
By SUZANNE GAMBOA
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Majority
Leader Tom
DeLay, admonished by the House ethics committee
for acting improperly by trying to persuade a Michigan
Republican to change his vote on a Medicare prescription
drug bill, could face another investigation
by the panel.
Complaint Against DeLay Ruptures
7-Year Truce in House
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, June 15 - A seven-year-old unofficial
truce discouraging House members from filing ethics
complaints against one another disintegrated Tuesday
when a freshman Democrat accused one of the most
powerful members of Congress, the House majority
leader, Tom DeLay, of "bribery, extortion, fraud, money
laundering and
the abuse of power."
Democrats Make the Case Congressional
Repubicans Are Drunk With Power
By ROBIN TONER and CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, April 10 - Newt Gingrich, the conservative
firebrand who won control of Congress a decade ago by
campaigning against an entrenched, arrogant and all-powerful
Democratic majority, is once again an inspirational figure
on Capitol Hill. This time, his message is being carried by
the Democrats. The party's leaders are increasingly making
the case that in 2005, it is Congressional Republicans who
are drunk with power, overreaching on issues like Social
Security and judicial nominations, ethically challenged, and
profoundly out of touch with
their constituents.
Now It's a Scandal
New evidence that a House GOP leader
offered a bribe.
By Timothy Noah
Posted Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, at 2:56 PM PT
Acting Deputy Attorney General
James Comey told reporters
yesterday that he had not seen the request for the
investigation, but added whenever the department gets
such a request, "we read it carefully and then make an
evaluation. We will review
the letter."
Exhibit List of the House Ethics
Committee Report
House Ethics Committee Press
Release
America Stands on the
Edge of A
Grave Constitutional Crisis Linked
to Pat Robertson
How the GOP congressional
faction is
executing a plan to intimidate and control
the U.S. Federal Courts
By Katherine Yurica
The factious Republican leaders have adopted
Pat Robertson's devious ideas on how to
overthrow the balance of powers between the
three branches of government and subdue
the independence of the Federal Courts.
Dem complaints pay off with nine probes
New tactics yield run of
high-profile investigations
By Alexander Bolton
At least nine high-profile investigations have been
triggered in the wake of a flood of Democratic demands
targeting the heretofore scandal-free Bush administration
and the Republican-controlled
Congress.
GOP's Pressing Question on Medicare
Vote
Did Some Go Too Far To Change a No to a Yes?
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 23, 2003;
About 20 Republican congressmen
-- all fiscal conservatives --
gathered nervously in a back room at the Hunan Dynasty
restaurant on Capitol Hill on Nov. 21, trying to shore up
their resolve to defy President Bush. It was the night of
the big vote on the Bush administration's Medicare
prescription drug bill, which they had concluded was
too costly, and they began swapping tales about the
intense lobbying bearing
down on them.
Rogue Republican Dons
in Congress
Tear Up the Constitution,
Exclude Democrats and Accept a
New Title: "The Godfathers"
Why the New Medicare Law,
the Energy Bill
And the Omnibus Appropriations Bill
May All Be Unconstitutional
By Katherine Yurica
Audience Gasps as Judge Likens
Election of Bush to Rise of Il Duce
2nd Circuit’s Calabresi
Also Compares
Bush’s Rise to That of Hitler
By JOSH GERSTEIN Staff Reporter of the Sun
WASHINGTON — A prominent
federal judge has
told a conference of liberal lawyers that President
Bush’s rise to power was similar to the accession
of dictators such as Mussolini and Hitler.
“In a way that occurred
before but is rare in the
United States…somebody came to power as a
result of the illegitimate acts of a legitimate institution
that had the right to put somebody in power. That is
what the Supreme Court did in Bush versus Gore. It put
somebody in power,” said Guido Calabresi, a judge
on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which
sits in
Manhattan.
Former FBI Translator: White House Had
Intel
On Possible Airplane Attack Pre-9/11
Wednesday, March 31st,
2004
DemocracyNow speaks with former
FBI translator,
Sibel Edmonds, who was hired shortly after Sept. 11
to translate intelligence gathered over the previous year
related to the 9/11 attacks. She says the FBI had
information that an attack using airplanes was being
planned before Sept. 11 and calls Condoleezza Rice's
claim the White House had no specific information on
a domestic threat or one involving planes "an outrageous
lie." [includes rush
transcript]
Connecticut For Sale Too?
Rowland's Links to Paving
Contractor Who Got
State Work
By MIKE McINTIRE and
ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Shortly after becoming governor of Connecticut, John G.
Rowland became a partner in a private development
group that included a paving contractor who has been
awarded $1.3 million in state work during Mr. Rowland's
tenure, according to documents
and interviews.
Eyewitness Accounts of Actions by Republican-
Funded Organization;
Group Accused of Voter Registration Fraud in
Three Swing States
Librarians in Oregon
and Pennsylvania are providing eyewitness
accounts of voter registration activities of Sproul and Associates,
a group which has received $488,000 from the Republican
National Committee. Employees of Sproul and Associates in
Nevada have said that they witnessed supervisors tearing up
completed registration forms from Democrats. The Associated
Press has reported that "a [Nevada] state judge refused
to
reopen registration for Clark County residents whose voter
applications might have been destroyed by [the] Republican-
funded group. ..
Part III. Just Ordinary Corruption by or Against the Government
NEW: Phony Fraud Charges
In its fumbling attempts
to explain the purge
of United States attorneys, the Bush administration
has argued that the fired prosecutors were not
aggressive enough about
addressing voter fraud.
Accountability Office Finds
Itself Accused
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
A senior Congressional investigator has
accused his agency of covering up a scientific
fraud among builders of a $26 billion system
meant to shield the nation from nuclear attack.
The disputed weapon is the centerpiece of the
Bush administration's antimissile plan, which
is expected to cost more than $250 billion
over the next
two decades.
Increase in Contracting
Intelligence Jobs Raises Concerns
By Walter Pincus
AllWorld Language Consultants Inc., a
Rockville firm, is seeking experienced
military interrogators to work in Iraq for
$153,500 a year plus bonuses, with
proficiency in Arabic "preferred but not
required," according to Yahoo's Hot Jobs
listings. The U.S. Army element of the
Multi-National Force-Iraq is looking for a
private contractor to provide airborne
surveillance over that country that will
"provide situational awareness of the entire
area of operations," according to another
Web announcement.These positions and
thousands like them are part of a growing t
rend at the Pentagon to contract out
intelligence jobs that were formerly done
primarily by service personnel and civil
service
employees.
Major Changes Raise
Concerns on Pension Bill
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
In the end, lawmakers modified
many of
the proposed rules, As a result, the bill
now being completed in a House-
Senate conference committee, rather than
strengthening the pension system, would
actually weaken it, according to a little-noticed
analysis by the government’s
pension agency.
Terrorism Prosecutorial
Incompetence
The Bush administration
has jeopardized the sentencing
of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called "20th hijacker,"
by
tampering with witnesses. The federal judge presiding
over the case, Leonie M. Brinkema, said yesterday,
"[I]n all my years on the bench, I've never seen a more
egregious violation of the rule about witnesses." Carla
J.
Martin, a Transportation Security Administration lawyer,
"violated a court order by e-mailing trial transcripts to
seven witnesses -- all current and former federal aviation
employees -- and coaching them on their upcoming
testimony."
Judge Calls Halt to Penalty
Phase of Terror Trial
By NEIL A. LEWIS
ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 13 — An angry federal
judge delayed the sentencing trial of Zacarias
Moussaoui on Monday and said she was considering
ending the prosecution's bid to have him executed
after the disclosure that a government lawyer had
improperly coached
some witnesses.
GAO Report
Reveals Millions
in Fraudulent Payouts for Katrina
PDF
FILE
FEMA Flagged for Katrina ‘Fraud
and Abuse’
Audit finds agency never
verified identity of aid
recipients, wasted millions
By Lisa Myers & the
NBC Investigative Unit
Updated: 7:37 p.m. ET Feb. 10, 2006
WASHINGTON - The first investigation
of how the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did
in paying benefits to Hurricane Katrina victims suggests
massive fraud and the waste of millions of dollars of millions
of taxpayer
money.
Tripping Up on Trips: Judges
Love Junkets as Much as Tom DeLay Does
By DOROTHY SAMUELS
I've been writing about the foibles of powerful
public officials for more years than I care to
reveal without a subpoena, and I still don't
get it: why would someone risk his or her
reputation and career for a lobbyist-bestowed
freebie like a vacation at
a deluxe resort?
Court Ruling Allows
Challenge
to Bush's Faith Initiative
By Staff and Wire Reports
Jan 15, 2006, 05:29
A group can sue the federal government
over claims
that President Bush's faith-based initiative is an
unconstitutional endorsement of religion, a federal
appeals court ruled.
A three-judge panel of the 7th
Circuit Court of
Appeals on Friday reinstated the lawsuit brought
by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The group
claims Bush's program, which helps religious
organizations get government funding to provide
social services, violates the separation of
church
and state.
‘Cheney cabal hijacked
US foreign policy’
By Edward Alden in Washington
Published: October 20 2005 00:00 | Last updated: October 20 2005
[Editor's Note: Click
here to read Transcript of Col. Wilkerson]
Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had
hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding
in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and
more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary
of
State Colin Powell claimed
on Wednesday.
Administration Oversight
Thursday, October 21, 2004
The Politicization of Inspectors General
Inspectors General (IGs)
are officials within each federal
agency who are charged with investigating evidence of
waste, fraud, and abuse in the Executive Branch. Over
the last 25 years, investigations by IGs have saved
taxpayers billions of dollars. To ensure that IGs are
independent and objective, Congress required that they
be nonpartisan, specifically directing the President to
appoint IGs without regard to political affiliation. Congress
further provided that IGs should be appointed based solely
on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in areas
such as accounting and
financial analysis.
Exposing Bush and His "Techniques
of Deceit"
Monday, 10 February 2003,
10:06 pm
By Dennis Hans
President George W. Bush and
his foreign-policy team
have systematically and knowingly deceived the American
people in order to gain support for an unprovoked
attack on Iraq.
Iraq Reconstruction:
Halliburton
Overcharges in Excess of $100 Billion
Administration Withheld Halliburton
Overcharges
from International Auditors
Rep. Waxman revealed
today that Administration
officials, acting at the request of Halliburton, redacted
a Pentagon report to conceal more than $100 million
in fuel overcharges from
international auditors.
See the actual documents.
Government Use of Propaganda,
Social Security
SSA Altered Communications
to
Undermine Public Confidence
Prepared for Rep. Henry Waxman
We cannot stress the
importance of this
documentation. It clearly reveals the Bush
Administration's attempt to corrupt good
and honest government in
the United States.
Administration Oversight:
The Politicization of Inspectors
General
A litany
of corruption
Prepared for Rep.
Henry Waxman
Chronology of Government
Use of Propaganda
Prepared by Rep. Henry Waxman
Congress' Action Creates
Legal Tangle
Congress touched off
a political firestorm with
its eleventh-hour effort to get Terri Schiavo's case
heard in federal court, but some legal experts say
the legislation raises even more pivotal questions
about limitations on congressional power.
Special Investigations
Secrecy in the Bush Administration
Rep. Henry A. Waxman
has released a comprehensive
examination of secrecy in the Bush Administration.
The report analyzes how the Administration has
implemented each of our nation’s major open
government laws.
Dominionist Bill To
Limit the
Supreme Court's Jurisdiction
The Constitution
Restoration Act of 2004
by Katherine Yurica
The Yurica Report published
articles revealing
the intentions of Dominionists to revamp the
American Federal Court system. The first
major attempt has been placed before both
houses of Congress in two nearly identical
bills. Drafted by Herb Titus, the first Dean of
Pat Robertson's School of Public Policy and
a known Dominionist, our question is: What is
actually intended by the Constitution Restoration
Act of 2004? If the bill passes, the Supreme Court
will be placed under the Dominionists' thumb.
(Updated February 28, 2004 with an editor's note
and August 8, 2004.)
Dominionist Bill Allows
Congress
to Overturn a Supreme Court Decision
HR 3920 IH, the "Congressional
Accountability for
Judicial Activism Act of 2004 was introducted in the
House by twelve congressmen and allows congress
to overturn any decision of the Supreme Court tha
rules on the constitutionality of an Act of Congress.
Dominionism marches on!
How Bush Pushed Gasoline
Prices Sky High
Reported by Katherine
Yurica
When George Bush vowed he would fill the nations
Strategic Petroleum Reserves to capacity, the
administration began purchasing oil. Lots of oil.
Forty million barrels of oil. These purchases drove
the price of crude oil up and up--to a twelve year
high. But the higher the prices went, the more
American citizens had to pay for gasoline and for
home heating oil. In just one month Americans paid
between $500 million and $1 billion in increased
costs. Read on:
Document Reveals Mr.
Bush Took
Aim at Iraqi Oil Before the 2000 Election
Answers Why Mr. Cheney Has
Fought So Hard
to Keep Secrets
By Katherine Yurica
In the battle over the release of Dick Cheney’s
secret “energy policy” papers, a Department of
Commerce numbered document has come to light.
It may explain why Mr. Cheney has fought so hard
to keep his energy group’s records from the public.
Forgery of Iraq-War-Justifying
Documents Done in the U.S.
According to a Former Top
U.S. Intelligence
Official on Los Angeles Radio Program
Los Angeles, Ca.--Vincent Cannistraro
is the
former Director of National Security Council Intelligence
under Ronald Reagan (’84-’87) and the former Chief
of Operations of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center,
who led the investigation into the bombing of Pan
Am Flight 103. On April 3, 2005, he was interviewed
on Ian Masters' Background Briefing radio program,
which broadcasts from Los Angeles, California on
public radio. In the interview, Mr. Cannistraro made
a number of withering observations on the Bush
administration and the process failures
that led
to war.
Bush says election ratified
Iraq policy 'Accountability moment'
has passed, president says
By Jim VandeHei and Michael
A. Fletcher
The Washington Post "President Bush said the
public's decision to reelect him was a ratification
of his approach toward Iraq and that there was no
reason to hold any administration officials
accountable for mistakes or misjudgments in
prewar planning or managing the violent aftermath."
George and the Guard
The real question is how
did the young man with
marginal test scores get the plum wartime assignment
by Lou Dubose
So President Bush went mano a mano with Tim Russert
on Meet the Press and put to rest the claim that he went
AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard. He was serving
in the state of Alabama while working on a congressional
campaign of one his father’s buddies in 1972. Bush said
he left the Guard eight months early because he was
accepted into Harvard Business School’s MBA program
and “worked it out with
the military.”
Making Votes Count
Elections With No Meaning
In recent years, contests for
the House of Representatives
and state legislatures have looked more and more like
the Iraqi election in 2002, when Saddam Hussein
claimed 100 percent of the vote for his re-election. In that
same year in the United States, 80 of the 435 House
races did not even include candidates from both major
parties. Congressional races whose outcomes were in real
doubt were a rarity: nearly 90 percent had a margin of victory
of 10 percentage points or more. It is much the same at the
state level, only worse. In New York, more than 98 percent
of the state legislators who run for re-election win, usually
overwhelmingly. Anyone who knows anything about New
York's state government knows that's not because the
populace is thrilled with the
job they're doing.
A Yurica Report Editorial:
The Wall of Demarcation:
Are We a
Nation Ruled By Law
or by Men?
Humpty-Dumpty Bush Sat on
a Wall
In perhaps the most serious
misstep an American
president has ever taken, George W. Bush has crossed
the wall separating a nation ruled by laws from a
nation ruled by men in violation of the Constitution.
The Texas Republican
Party's
2002 Platform
You Should
Know what Tom
DeLay plans for America and you can
read the Texas Republican Party's
incredible hatefilled document
here at the 2002
Platform.
How Bush Is Plundering
Social Security
Slate Magazine reports
the growth of
a huge American deficit that endangers
the world economy and reveals how
the Bush administration is plundering
the Social Security funds to hide its
bankrupt policies. By Daniel Gross
Army War College Report
broadly and scathingly
criticizes the Bush
administration's handling of the war on
terrorism and bringing the Army near the
breaking point. The entire report is
available here, by Jeffrey Record.
About the War College
Report by Washington Post reporter
Thomas
E. Ricks.
Carnegie Report
reveals reason for war
was
manufactured.
Carnegie Intelligence
Analysis:
CIA reports show a sudden
dramatic change in tone
between
2001 and 2002.
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