Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Patient neglect at Walter Reed Army Hospital
2. US Attorney firings
3. Libby/Plame Affair (Outing a CIA agent)
4. Iraq war
5. Afghanistan (leaving before the job was done)
6. Iran saber rattling
7. North Korea (mishandling nuclear issue)
8. The War on Terror (failure to capture Osama bin Laden, dubious allies)
9. Civilian contractors in Iraq (poor service for big bucks)
10. Military Commissions Act (torture, kangaroo courts, indefinite detention, and loss of habeas corpus)
11. Hurricane Katrina and the drowning of New Orleans
12. NSA warrantless wiretapping
13. SWIFT (international money transfers)
14. Black sites and rendition
15. Department of Homeland Security (a massive boondoggle)
16. K Street lobbyists (for government you can buy)
17. Dusty Foggo (No. 3 at the CIA)
18. Duke Cunningham (a corrupt politician)
19. Tom Delay (another corrupt politician)
20. Mark Foley and the House pages
21. Cheney Energy Task Force (and hiding info about it)
22. Tax cuts for the richest of the rich
23. Global warming (denial and stalling)
24. Terri Schiavo and the attempted trashing of family privacy rights
25. Budget deficits and a greatly increased national debt
26. Stacking of the Supreme Court (Roberts and Alito)
27. Medicare( lack of long term solvency)
28. Medicare Part D (Drug prescriptions)
29. Healthcare general mess
30. Doug Feith (stovepiping Iraq intel)
31. 2000 election (stolen)
32. 2004 election (rigging)
33. 9/11 Commission (limitation and manipulation of)
34. 9/11 Commission’s recommendations (delayed implementation)
35. Marginalization of the UN
36. Preventive war doctrine
37. Loss of US prestige
38. Inaction on Israeli-Palestinian peace process
39. Lack of spending on basic research
40. Alberto Gonzales
41. FDA restricting the mission
42. EPA restricting the mission
43. Porter Goss trashing the CIA
44. Militarization of intelligence
45. Rampant cronyism
46. Signing statements
47. Unilateral Executive
48. Abuse of the National Guard
49. Breaking the Army
50. Increase in the balance of trade deficit
51. Grassley Bankruptcy Bill (creditors favored over debtors)
52. Cross border Mexican truck safety
53. Rove’s security clearance (kept after his part in outing Valerie Plame)
54. Anti-immigration raids (children and parents separated)
55. Dubai Ports deal (a Middle East company in charge of US ports in the age of terrorism)
56. Patriot Act and its Extension
57. Privatization of Social Security (a bad idea endlessly recycled)
58. War on Science
59. David Safavian (Abramoff associate)
60. Claude Allen (White House adviser caught shoplifting)
61. Bush lying about firing Rumsfeld before the November 2006 election
62. Armstrong Williams (paid propagandists)
63. Labor Department (ground down by Mitch McConnell’s wife)
64. Net neutrality/media ownership
65. Israeli bombing of Lebanon (delay in putting a ceasefire in place)
66. PDB on Bin Laden (ignoring the terrorist threat pre-9/11)
67. Ground Zero declared non-toxic
68. Sago mining disaster (non-enforcement of safety regs)
69. Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination (a supreme act of cronyism)
70. Vetoing stem cell research
71. Plan B contraception
72. Clear Skies/ Healthy Forests Acts (weakening pollution controls and opening forests to logging)
73. Ballistic missile shield (only works to antagonize the Russians)
74. Leandro Aragoncillo (the spy in Cheney’s office)
75. Overseas AIDS programs (reflecting the Administration’s benighted views on sex)
76. Constitutional amendment against gay marriage
77. Drilling in Bristol Bay, Alaska
78. Canard of Clintons trashing the White House before leaving
79. Jeff Gannon (a male prostitute in the White House press corps)
80. Native American trust funds
81. Creationist materials at national parks
82. Returning US war dead (banning photographing the returning coffins)
83. False military reporting (Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch)
84. AIPAC spy scandal
85. Detainee court cases (a quick guide)
86. Opening US mail
87. Subprime mortgage bubble
88. Bush’s ties to Enron
89. 2001 California energy crisis (refusal to intervene in this Enron manufactured crisis)
90. Darfur (calling it genocide is not a policy)
91. Russian loose nukes (underfunding)
92. OPR Gonzales investigation (stymied)
93. Interference in lawsuit against Big Tobacco
94. Phone jamming in New Hampshire (with White House connections)
95. Steven Griles (Abramoff’s man at Interior)
96. US Attorney targeting of Democratic office holders
97. Interim US Attorney provision (an attempt to appoint USAs without Senate approval)
98. FBI National Security Letters (overuse and abuse)
99. GSA (Hatch Act violations)
100. Karl Rove
101. Civil Rights Division at Justice (voter fraud used to suppress minority voting)
102. Campaign finance (still rotten)
103. Swift boating of John Kerry
104. No Child Left Behind (an uneducated President’s predictable approach to education)
105. Susan Dudley (an anti-regulator regulator)
106. Paul Wolfowitz (two disasters for the price of one: Iraq and the World Bank)
107. Kenneth Tomlinson (conservative interference in public broadcasting)
108. Matteo Fontana (student loan administrator bought and paid for by student loan companies)
109. Rachel Paulose (abrasive crony interim USA for Minnesota)
110. The lost White House emails: not an accident but a policy
111. Georgia Thompson Wisconsin employee railroaded by Republican USA before an election
112. Pre-election investigation of Bob Menendez
113. Kay James (political hires)
114. Bernard Kerik (Giuliani crony)
115. Bush’s early years
116. Watch lists (so many, so large, so ineffective)
117. Classification and de-classification Cheney style
118. Cheney shoots Harry Whittington
119. ATS (another database, this one at the DHS)
120. Scalia conflict of interest (his duck hunting trip with Cheney)
121. Election Assistance Commission (suppressed a report showing voter fraud was not a problem)
122. Attacks against Mohammed ElBaradei (mostly for being right about Iraqi and Iranian WMD)
123. Alice Fisher (Criminal Division Justice)
124. House Ethics Committee (the ethics part is just for laughs)
125. Media complicity in the Bush years
126. Democratic inaction (in the same time frame)
127. Lack of Republican oversight (ditto)
128. AUMF against Iraq (often cited, seldom read)
129. Medals of Freedom for the disaster in Iraq
130. Real ID Act
131. Jose Padilla (an American enemy combatant)
132. Electronic prescription reporting
133. Jean-Bertrand Aristide (Haiti)
134. Hugo Chavez (Venezuela)
135. Ethanol (a political fuel)
136. Republican filibustering
137. Stacking of federal judiciary with hacks
138. Ralph Reed (Abramoff associate)
139. Proselytizing at the US Air Force Academy
140. Office of Faith Based Initiatives (a sop to the religious right)
141. Military disability ratings (another story of how Bush really supports the troops)
142. Earmarks (good when Republicans do them, bad when Democrats use them)
143. Medicare privatization (more victimization of the elderly)
144. Nuclear proliferation (a very unequal approach)
145. Julie MacDonald (Fish and Wildlife)
146. Darleen Druyum (defense procurement scam)
147. Luis Posada Carriles/Vang Pao (terrorists but our terrorist)
148. No White House investigation into Plame affair
149. Politics at NASA
150. Attempt to limit federal prisoners testifying before Congress
151. Corporate remuneration
152. Financial analysis and investment (a supposed separation)
153. Scott Bloch (whistleblower protection, not really)
154. Richard Levernier and Bogdan Dzakovic (whistleblowers)
155. Sibel Edmonds (whistleblower)
156. Monica Goodling (political hires)
157. Michael Baroody and the Consumer Products Safety Commission
158. TALON (Pentagon surveillance of civilians)
159. Scripted Iraqi war White House news conference
160. Bill Frist and healthcare giant HCA
161. Julie Myers (Immigration)
162. Randall Tobias (AIDS coordinator with a yen)
163. Robert Coughlin (Abramoff tie in)
164. Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction is a thankless job
165. Continuing Republican support for the Iraq war despite the public’s rejection of it
166. Border Fence with Mexico (a short fence for a long border)
167. Bush coverup strategies to defeat Congressional oversight
168. Gordon Smith campaign and White House help
169. Debra Yang (US Attorney)
170. Elizabeth Cheney (nepotism)
171. Dick Cheney
172. Oil lease fiascos
173. Guantanamo defense counsels (not the path to career advancement)
174. VA bonuses (for a job not well done)
175. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (another ineffective board and doctored report)
176. Johnnie Frazier (Commerce IG)
177. Bill Roderick (EPA IG)
178. Janet Rehnquist (HHS IG)
179. Karla Corcoran (Post Office IG)
180. Polar bears, global warming, and censorship
181. American Center for Voting Rights (fake voter fraud group)
182. MTBE (gas additive)
183. FBI domestic spying without probable cause
184. Gutting overtime pay regulations
185. Leaving the International Criminal Court
186. Dissemination of medical information
187. Deregulation of energy companies
188. James Holsinger (Anti-gay Surgeon General nominee)
189. Italia Federici (Abramoff crony)
190. Thomas Barnett (Anti-trust Division Justice)
191. Palestinian civil war
192. A list of reasons to invade Iraq
193. A list of Iraq war turning points
194. Torture and Guantanamo
195. Torture and Iraq
196. Dick Cheney and the Fourth Branch
197. Bill Mercer and the US Attorney scandal
198. John Rizzo (CIA lawyer permissive of torture)
199. Public Interest Declassification Board (a useless entity)
200. SCOTUS: Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 (integration)
201. SCOTUS: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (gender discrimination)
202. SCOTUS: Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life (issue oriented political advertising)
203. SCOTUS: Morse et al v. Frederick (free speech of minors)
204. SCOTUS: Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. (price fixing OK’ed)
205. Booz Allen cost overruns on DHS intelligence contract and DHS incompetence
206. Alphonso Jackson (Secretary HUD and political interference)
207. Donald Rumsfeld
208. SCOTUS: Rapanos v. United States (wetland protection)
209. Attempts to overturn the Roadless Rule protection of wilderness areas
210. An unreported leak of highly enriched uranium
211. Opening up the San Rafael Swell to development
212. Pro-rating the value of older Americans at the EPA
213. Shoddy armoring kits for Humvees from defense contractors
214. Senator David Vitter (a family values conservative who likes to visit prostitutes)
215. Nuclear Regulatory Commission control of radioactive materials remain ineffective
216. Hedge fund profits while huge are taxed at lower rates
217. SAIC, the revolving door, and expensive contracts for systems that don’t work
218. MRAP, delay in deployment of IED resistant vehicles to Iraq
219. Intelligence Oversight Board which did nothing during 5 1/2 years of Bush excesses
220. DHS employed Wackenhut for its security, a firm that just may be more incompetent than the DHS
221. Drug czar John Walters and Hatch Act violations
222. SCHIP (children’s healthcare less important than insurance company profits)
223. Alaska’s two Senators and one Congressman all caught up in corruption scandals
224. Don Siegelman (ex-Governor of Alabama and a political prosecution with ties to Karl Rove)
225. FEMA trailers for Katrina victims with high levels of formaldehyde
226. The White House declares that Harriet Miers doesn’t have to answer a subpoena based on a legal opinion by a lawyer who legally should no longer be in his post
227. White House says it will not prosecute contempt citations
228. Matthew McKeown a political appointee hired into a career position at Interior
229. Attempted political interference in Oxycontin plea deal
230. David Petraeus mislays 350,000 rifles and pistols in Iraq
231. David Palmer (EOCC nomination despite poor management and legal skills)
232. Peter Kirsanow affirmative action opponent named to Civil Rights Commission
233. Patriot Act Extension gave the AG the right to decide if death penalty defendants were adequately represented
234. Petraeus report (hyped by the White House but actually written by it and not presented by Petraeus)
235. Richard Stickler (opposed to mine safety regulation nominated to head Mine Safety)
236. Daniel Pipes (anti-Moslem appointed to the US Institute of Peace)
237. Nicole Nason (head of National Traffic Safety Administration bans experts from talking with public)
238. Senator Larry Craig arrested for soliciting sex with a male police officer
239. Auditor of no bid KBR Iraq contract demoted
240. ADVISE DHS data mining program inappropriately reviewed
241. Use of state secrets argument
242. Breastfeeding campaign changed due to infant formula manufacturers’ pressure
243. Consumer Products Safety Commission gutted
244. Steven Law (Mitch McConnell crony)
245. Iraq met few of the Bush Administration’s own benchmarks
246. Peter Keisler (Civil Division Justice)
247. Six nuclear tipped cruise missiles flown across US in massive security breach
248. Marion Blakey (FAA head takes job with industry trade group)
249. DOJ announces it will not prosecute Chiquita Banana executives for paying off Columbian terrorists
250. Alexis Debat neocon terrorism expert caught making up numerous interviews
251. Howard Krongard (State IG more interested in covering up department misdeeds)
252. Telecoms involved in warrantless wiretapping are represented by former government officials and protected by current officials who used to work for them
253. Turbulence, an NSA/DHS intrusive cyber surveillance program
254. Charles Reichers procurement officer benefitted from contractor largesse
255. Karl Zinsmeister kooky White House domestic policy adviser
256. Blackwater (private security contractor involved in numerous incidents in Iraq)
257. Runup to the Iraq war (in quotes)
258. State Department gives grant to Taliban
259. Failure to spend funds to exonerate individuals through DNA testing
260. Proposed DHS use of flawed Social Security info to weed out undocumented workers
261. CIA Director investigates his own Inspector General
262. Joseph Schmitz (partisan former DOD IG)
263. Chemical restraints used on undocumented immigrants
264. Downing Street memo (Bush determined to go to war, non-coverage by US press)
265. Michael Mukasey nominated as AG, makes clear he will back all of Bush’s policies
266. In test, airport screeners miss most fake bombs; near collisions between aircraft on the ground little changed
267. Dyncorp was given a billion dollars to train the Iraqi police force
268. Abdallah Higazy mistakenly arrested and held after 9/11
269. Racist, anti-gay judge Leslie Southwick confirmed by Senate to Court of Appeals
270. Holy Land Foundation accused of funding terrorists; signature case ends in big mistrial
271. Two antagonistic anti-corruption units in Iraq
272. Medical contract for National Guard let to cronies
273. Fake FEMA news conference
274. Zacarias Moussaoui case
275. Failure to secure fissile material at American nuclear sites
276. NIE summaries no longer to be released
277. Donald Vance (whistleblower) held for 3 months without charge by US military
278. Sami al Haj and Bilal Hussein, newsmen, held without charge
279. Stacking the Commission on Civil Rights with Republicans
280. Beating the war drums and the November 2007 NIE on Iran
281. Donald Kerr, No. 2 to DNI Mike McConnell, declares anonymity a thing of the past
282. Bush visit “free speech” zones
283. Executive order authorizing political commissars at federal agencies
284. Al Hubbard wrongheaded Bush economic adviser leaves post
285. Push for last minute pro-business regulations
286. Right to kidnap foreign nationals even of countries with an extradition treaty
287. White House logs declared a state secret
288. Torture tapes made then destroyed
289. Social Security disability backlogs growing
290. Proposal (withdrawn) to place JAG corps under politically appointed DOD counsel
291. Increasing mental health needs in US Army after service in Iraq
292. KBR employee raped in Iraq held against will by KBR
293. Another data base this one an FBI biometric system
294. Eric Andell (Education) in travel scandal
295. Lester Crawford (FDA) Plan B and conflicts of interest
296. Carl Truscott (ATF) more interested in decorating his office than doing his job
297. John Korsmo illegal campaign event
298. Bush job creation (not)
299. US Attorney Chris Christie steering contracts
300. FBI not paying phone bills for wiretaps
301. DC Circuit court says torture is OK; detainees not persons
302. DHS’ goofy terrorist target list
303. Unnecessary intrusive background checks
304. Boats that don’t float
305. Cambone’s soft landing
306. More incompetence at the VA
307. The diving dollar
308. Soaring oil and gas prices
309. John Bolton, International Man of Disaster
310. Bush versus the whales
311. The Federal (non)- Protective Service
312. A buried report on Iraq reconstruction
313. A buried report on Great Lakes pollution
314. A buried report on privatizing US intelligence
315. Rick Renzi for hire
316. Understaffing at State
317. Understaffing at the US Park Police
318. William Haynes the Pentagon’s torture lawyer
319. Emasculating oversight boards
320. Americans behind bars
321. Manipulating reports at the EPA
322. Timothy Goeglein, a faith-based plagiarist
323. Substandard military helmets
324. In the bag at the SEC
325. Another punished whistleblower
326. Inspector Generals, a broken system
327. Staying in Iraq forever
328. The National Intelligence Exchange
329. A crook at the House Republican campaign committee
330. A semi-buried report on Saddam and al Qaeda
331. Freedom of Information, well not so much
332. Running interference for crooks in LA
333. Government by contractor
334. Bad ammo, worse contractors
335. Another one bites the dust at the White House
336. Monica Goodling strikes again
337. The FAA and the less than safe skies
338. Pentagon waste in acquisition spending
339. Abuse in the SmartPay card program
340. Rumsfeld’s army of the future
341. The Supreme Court: Physicians of last resort
342. al Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas
343. Torture in Afghanistan in 2003
344. The military propagandists
345. The Indiana voter ID case
346. No Child Left Behind’s Reading First boondoggle
347. Cheney and the right whales
348. The EPA, Mary Gade, and dioxin
349. Conflicts of interest in NASA’s moon project
350. Poorly secured nuclear material at Lawrence Livermore
351. Iraqi anti-corruption chief held out to dry
352. FDA set to loosen rules for drug trials in Third World countries
353. Another attempt to restrict information
354. USDA to no longer track pesticide use
355. Department of Defense can not account for billions it spent in Iraq
356. Pentagon aeronautics contractor supplies dubious products for aircraft
357. Pentagon has too few auditors for its weapons acquisition programs
358. Failure of KBR to fix electrical problems leads to soldier’s electrocution
359. Investigating the run up to the Iraq War
360. KBR dodges an audit and ditches the auditor
361. A medical report on torture
362. KBR exposed US soldiers to a carcinogen in Iraq
363. Political Selection in Justice Department internship programs
364. Supreme Court: 2nd Amendment applies to individuals
365. Speculation in crude oil futures markets
366. The anthrax attacks, a blown investigation
367. War, oil, oil companies, and Iraq
368. SEC to reduce oversight of international corporations and markets
369. Pentagon General lies to Congress about KBR Iraq water contract
370. Renting public officials to pay for the Bush Library
371. HHS seeks to permit refusal of services for women
372. Fusion centers and domestic surveillance
373. Bush tax policy favors foreign corporations
374. Selling off the country’s roads
375. The Hubbush letter and a forged justification for war
376. Policing the national political conventions
377. Gonzales’ mishandling of national security documents
378. KBR and forced labor in Iraq
379. The GSA opposes 9/11 safety changes in building construction
380. Republican US Attorney downplays Obama assassination plot
381. Labor Department pulls rug out from under corporate whistleblowers
382. More corruption in the government’s oil leasing programs
383. Active duty Army unit to be deployed for domestic operations
384. Datamining: Intrusive and it doesn’t work
385. Corruption in the missile defense program
386. Failure to outfit planes to fight fires in Southern California
387. Political censorship at PBS
388. Religious profiling at the DHS
389. A political hit: Michael Garcia and Eliot Spitzer
390. Voter suppression efforts in the 2008 elections
391. The Bureau of Land Management and shady deals in Utah again
392. BP receives a slap on the wrist from Justice Department
393. Oh, and another Bureau of Land Management shady deal in the West
394. Transportation Department relaxes rules on truckdriving safety
395. Lax oversight at the Office of Thrift Supervision contributed to bank failures
396. Wrongdoing in the Air Marshal Service
397. Government OK’s dumping mining debris in and near streams
398. Managing the Obama transition, the NASA example
399. The cockamamie FBI investigation of the Madrid train bombings and Brandon Mayfield
400. An absent President

Postscript

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