Month: April 2010

Breaking The Law With Impunity

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

What has happened to even one of the BushCo gang that will prevent them from doing it again, for the next Republican president? Yeah, there’s an ongoing investigation – but what are the odds that the results won’t be covered up?

WASHINGTON — Porter J. Goss, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in 2005 approved of the decision by one of his top aides to destroy dozens of videotapes documenting the brutal interrogation of two detainees, according to an internal C.I.A. document released Thursday.

Shortly after the tapes were destroyed at the order of Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the head of the C.I.A.’s clandestine service, Mr. Goss told Mr. Rodriguez that he “agreed” with the decision, according to the document. He even joked after Mr. Rodriguez offered to “take the heat” for destroying the tapes.

“PG laughed and said that actually, it would be he, PG, who would take the heat,” according to one document, an internal C.I.A. e-mail message.

According to current and former intelligence officials, Mr. Goss did not approve the destruction before it happened, and was displeased that Mr. Rodriguez did not consult him or the C.I.A.’s top lawyer before giving the order for the tapes to be destroyed.

It was previously known that Mr. Goss had been told by his aides in November 2005 that the tapes had been destroyed. But a number of documents released Thursday provide the most detailed glimpse yet of the deliberations inside the C.I.A. surrounding the destroyed tapes, and of the concern among officials at the spy agency that the decision might put the C.I.A. in legal jeopardy.

The documents detailing those deliberations, including two e-mail messages from a C.I.A. official whose name has been excised, were released as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The e-mail messages also reveal that top White House officials were angry that the C.I.A. had not notified them before the tapes were destroyed. The e-mail messages mention a conversation between Harriet E. Miers, the White House counsel, and John A. Rizzo, the C.I.A.’s top lawyer, in which Ms. Miers was “livid” about being told after the fact.

“Rizzo is clearly upset, because he was on the hook to notify Harriet Miers of the status of the tapes because it was she who had asked to be advised before any action was taken,” according to one of the e-mail messages.

Tier V Petition

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

Change.org is gathering signatures to petition Congress to add another tier of unemployment benefits. (No, the just-passed legislation doesn’t do a thing for people like me who have just exhausted their 99 weeks of benefits – even though there aren’t any jobs for us.)

You would think we wouldn’t have to shame Democrats into standing up for those who need help, but apparently we do. Please, go sign the petition!

Greetings

Senators and Representatives:

You have decided to ignore the people you reduced to poverty. The longest unemployed workers did not create this depression, you did. You did this with your failure to regulate the banks, health industry, and corporations. People who were fully employed, paying taxes, and raising families are now paying the price for your negligence. They trusted you to keep something like this from happening. You failed them.

Now you are deliberately failing them again. This may be a recession for you, but it’s a depression for them. You know this depression will last longer than until March, yet you have no plans to add additional unemployment tiers to keep these people from becoming increasingly destitute. Tens of thousands will begin to lose all financial support on March 14. You know with full clarity that these benefits are the only money keeping food on their tables. You know that their benefits run out in March, and that these American families will be on the path to shelters and soup kitchens.

…and this is not of their making. They’re not to blame. You are.
…and you’re about to discount them again by allowing their benefits to end with Tier IV.

By the way, don’t pride yourself on extending the current benefits for the more recently unemployed, as included in the Job Bill. Of course you should do this, but as you know, the bill as it is written will not help any of those who have been the longest and hardest hit by this depression. The Job Bill only half addresses the unemployed, and 50% is an F.

Please make sure that the only choice for Americans who want to work is either a job or unemployment benefits. Don’t end benefits until there are jobs for them. As of now, there is only 1 job for every 6 unemployed workers. Take care of these victims. ADD A TIER V.

[Your name]

Empty Suits

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

And he’s worth every penny!

UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley made $102 million in compensation and exercised stock options last year, up 976 percent from the $9.47 million he made the year before.

The Minnetonka, Minn.-based health insurance company is the parent of UnitedHealthcare, which employs about 4,000 people in Connecticut, including 2,300 in Hartford.

Much of Hemsley’s pay increase was value realized on exercised stock options — $98.6 million last year compared with $6.2 million in 2008, according to the company’s proxy filed Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. His $1.3 million salary was unchanged from 2008 to 2009.

Hemsley’s compensation also included a $1.95 million bonus and $86,916 in other compensation. Separately, he received long-term performance awards valued at a total of $5.57 million.

Health insurers were grilled last year and early this year about rate hikes by the Obama administration leading up Congress passing health-care-reform legislation. Health insurers have maintained that premium increases simply mirror the rising cost of medical expenses.

The amount of revenue from premiums that UnitedHealth Group paid to cover medical expenses for its customers continued to rise slightly — 80.6 percent in 2007, 82 percent in 2008 and 82.3 percent last year.

Privacy Rights

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

Like Glenn, I’m a little astounded at how little the progressive blogosphere seems to care about actions that, if done by the Bush administration, would be met by cries of outrage.

If the defenders’ response to these legal challenges is “Yeah, but I trust Obama,” then our legal rights essentially exist at the mercy of whoever is in office. And as you see, it’s getting steadily worse:

A very significant case involving core privacy protections is now being litigated, where the Obama Justice Department is seeking to obtain from Yahoo “all emails” sent and received by multiple Yahoo email accounts, despite the fact that DOJ has never sought, let alone obtained, a search warrant, and despite there being no notice of any kind to the email account holders. As part of a case conducted largely under seal and thus hidden from public view, the DOJ demanded these emails from Yahoo without any effort to demonstrate probable cause to believe the email user was involved in the commission of any crime, but instead merely with the vague claim that there is “reasonable ground to believe” the emails “are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.” If the DOJ position were accepted, Americans would have substantially less privacy protections in their email communications.

Federal law is crystal clear that a probable cause search warrant is required for the Government to obtain any emails that have been stored less than 180 days — one that requires a showing of probable cause and that requires the documents sought to be described with particularlity. Yahoo — to its credit — therefore refused to turn over any such emails to the Government without a search warrant. Yahoo’s refusal has led the DOJ to seek a federal court Order compelling Yahoo to comply with the demand, and a coalition of privacy groups and technology companies — led by EFF and including Google — have now filed a brief supporting Yahoo’s position. Both Yahoo and that coalition argue that both federal law as well as the Fourth Amendment’s search and seizure protection bar the Obama DOJ from acquiring these emails without a search warrant.

But hey, isn’t it great that we have a constitutional law professor in the White House?

Zoo Traffic

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

This really is a pain in the ass if you drive in Philadelphia. I live about 10 miles away on the other side of town, and the zoo traffic even affects me.

See, normally, I can hop on I-95 South and be downtown in seven or so minutes. Unless it’s a sunny weekend day, and then all bets are off, thanks to the damned zoo traffic, which is backed up from the westbound Schuylkill Expressway, the entire length of the Vine Street Expressway and even onto I-95 South.

Most of the time, I can see it and I know to take a different downtown exit. But occasionally, the 95 exit looks clear and yet I still find myself trapped in the gridlock on Vine Street.

And see, I don’t even like the zoo. I don’t get it. You’re looking at these poor animals, trapped in these areas – which, come to think of it, is a lot like being a parent trapped at the zoo. A place where they hit you up for vast amounts of money from the moment you walk in, all in order to pay for … keeping animals trapped at the zoo. (I once had a friend who worked there who was gored by an elephant and almost killed. I’m not sentimental about animals.)

I took my kids maybe three times, and I hated it. Finally, I asked them: Do you really like the zoo, or do you just like the balloons and treats? They responded with the latter, and I told them I’d buy them balloons and treats if we could stay home. They agreed.

I hated zoos even more after I read an article that said American zoos were started by the upper classes so their servants would have someplace “edifying” to spend their one day off – instead of drinking, carousing, gambling, and getting busy with the servants of the opposite sex. Cast off your shackles, citizens! No more zoos!

And for heaven’s sakes, if it’s a nice day, take your kid to the park and roll down a hill. It’s a lot more fun, and it’s a lot cheaper.