Wikipedia is pretty great. I use it as a starting point for research on any topic.
Today I found a handy list of George W Bush administration controversies on Wikipedia. The next time anyone asks you why the President should be impeached, send them to that link and tell them to pick one.
See also:
The Bush Misdeeds Index
List of Scandalized Bush Administration Officials
Slate.com scandal map
The Texas Youth Commission (TYC) is ordering all of its juvenile inmates removed from the privately run Coke County Juvenile Justice Center in West Texas. The A-J covered the story today. “Unsanitary and unsafe conditions” were the reasons cited for the removal of juveniles. The private facility was run by the GEO Group, which appears to be a multinational corporation. From their website (emphasis mine):
We are a world leader in the privatized development and/or management of correctional facilities. The North American market is growing rapidly, and we are focused on expanding Federal procurement opportunities. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is operating over capacity and Federal law now authorizes longer term contracts than ever before, resulting in more favorable financing alternatives for new privatized development.
We are an industry leader in the international privatized corrections market. We expect substantial growth in Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and other areas in Europe for corrections and immigration services.
Our diversified services include health care, mental health care, substance abuse treatment, home detention/electronic monitoring and secure prisoner escort/transportation and court custody services. Our success in delivering some of our industry’s finest diversified services is evidenced by our numerous contracts in the United States and around the world. We are intently focused on extending that success in privatized health care, mental health care and other diversified services to government agencies around the globe.
Does anyone else find the fact that the private prison industry wants to “branch out” into the private health care industry a little creepy? I’m glad these guys are no longer operating anywhere near me… oh, except for Littlefield and Spur (not to mention Santa Rosa, Hobbs, Pecos, Bridgeport, and Fort Worth). Crap.
Also in the news today: Blackwater is defending the actions of their contractors in Iraq. This is fine, and it’s expected as the FBI begins investigating the company. Did you know:
Blackwater bills the U.S. government $1,222 per day for a single “protective security specialist,” the report says. That works out to $445,891 on an annual basis, far higher than it would cost the military to provide the same service.
Now I can list TWO functions of government that I definitely do not want to be privatized, backed up by terrible examples of same: Military operations and Prison/Correctional operations.
Okay, watch this video:
and let’s talk about how we can fix this problem. This doesn’t appear to be a D or an R problem, but a systemic problem. And it’s embarrassing for our State.
One solution might be to get rid of the ridiculous “one session every two years” nature of the Texas House and Senate. If there were more time to get the business of the State taken care of, legislators wouldn’t be so rushed that they would break their own rules.
Another solution is to have a speaker that cares enough about this problem to slow down the pace of the legislature. Or, another group could be created to oversee these type of “self-policing” rules that never get enforced. (Of course, the only group with authority to create such a group is the legislature itself…)
Thoughts?
Wow, there’s a lot to digest after attending the Cofer Black talk at the Texas Tech International Cultural Center yesterday. If you need a reference point, the A-J was there and covered it well, including using one of Black’s answers to the question I asked.
Cofer Black was the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism from 2002-2005. Prior to that, he was a CIA field officer. In 2005, he took a Job with Blackwater USA, a private security firm. Needless to say, this guy is an authority on American counterterrorism.
The first part of his talk was devoted to a rough history of counterterrorism in the U.S. — how we got to 9/11. I won’t summarize the whole thing, but will point out a few points from this part of the talk that I think are worth highlighting:
Historically in the U.S., terrorism was seen as the responsibility of law enforcement, not military or national intelligence.
The Clinton administration took Cofer’s / CIA’s terrorism threat assessment seriously.
The early Bush Administration was focused on missile defense, not counterterrorism.
Cofer Black, along with many in the American intelligence world, was not surprised by 9/11. He compared the intelligence view at that time to Romans looking out over Hadrian’s wall.
After 9/11, there were basically two grand strategies for the U.S. to adopt: the “Worldwide Attack Matrix” or the “War Plan.” The Worldwide Attack Matrix basically means going after the 114 terrorist groups in the world and arresting, detaining, or killing them. The War Plan involves degrading terrorism “host countries” (most notably Afghanistan) to the point where they are no longer adequate training grounds for terrorist groups. It seems that we have ended up doing both, with emphasis on the War Plan. Indeed, one of the post-hoc “strategic” justifications for the War in Iraq is that it is now a magnet for Jihadists, as opposed to the United States.
In 2007, where are we now and where do we go from here? Cofer Black had some points from the latter half of his talk and from the Q&A that I want to emphasize:
At 9/11, the world was with us. Now, that view has been “greatly degraded,” and we are seen “in a new light.” Rather, our government is seen that way while our citizens are still looked on generally favorably.
We appear to be safer after 9/11 since we have not been struck. Ambassador Black offered driving fatality statistics of 30-45K per year as a contrasting metric.
The most pressing international issue is resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Iran is not a war threat, but a counterterrorism threat. We should use all of our national resources — statecraft, economics, special forces, intelligence, etc — to reward and punish Iran’s behavior without hurting it.
I want to devote the remainder of this post to the topic of privatization of government functions, since Cofer Black more or less embodies this trend. After 30+ years of service to our country in the fields of intelligence and counterterrorism, Cofer Black accepted a position at Blackwater USA. This type of move from government to the part of private sector that deals directly with government has been increasingly popular since World War II. I’m reminded of Eisenhower’s dire warning in his farewell address to the nation: watch out for the military-industrial complex.
I think it’s safe to expand Eisenhower’s warning to say: watch out when the leaders of industry are also leaders of the nation. Out-of-control privatization is one path to that state.
Ambassador Black made what I think is an excellent point: Blackwater and other companies would not work for the government if the government had not offered the work. Blackwater and others respond to RFPs from the government; in other words, they are invited. Far from being a justification for the ever-expanding roles for private contractors, I think it should be a call to action: stop electing leaders who want to privatize everything!
Don’t get me wrong, I think that private contractors have a useful role to play in some areas of government — specifically those where innovation is key. I do not believe that representing our nation on the field of battle is an appropriate area for private contractors, however. There are many functions of government that should not be privatized, and no area of government should be permanently privatized, period.
Accountability is a key issue here as well. Ambassador Black hinted that he believes a government contract is accountability enough. It isn’t. Suppose that the current allegations of killing Iraqi civilians brought against Blackwater personnel turn out to be true. Those who would be guilty would not face punishment from our system of courts-martial, and possibly they would face no punishment at all. Blackwater’s contract would very likely still be intact, and they would likely be free to pursue other contracts with the government.
Conservatives are often keen on the idea of “incentives.” Well, there’s no incentive here for private contractor personnel to behave honorably, but there are always many incentives for our armed forces to behave honorably. Sending in private contractors to do military jobs will only hurt us in the long run.
I have heard that there are now more U.S. private contractors on the ground in Iraq than there are U.S. troops. What are we doing? We cannot simply purchase our diplomacy, security, and coercive force and call ourselves a sovereign nation. We will become just another customer.
Here’s another gem from MoveOn.org’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country, this time about responding to biased reporting:
The media are indeed biased, but, if we speak up when the facts as they report them do not match the facts that we or others have observed, we can help neutralize the propaganda and get back to the reporting.
I don’t care whether you believe that the overall media leans conservative or liberal — biased reporting is harmful either way, especially on the local level. So, how do we fight it? Some of my favorite suggestions from this chapter are (paraphrased):
Let your passion be your guide; select an area that you care about for your media watch.
Make a note to yourself whenever you notice something that doesn’t sound right or something that is obviously false. Do research online and in person to seek the truth.
Choose your battles. It’s ineffective to become the “crank” who complains about every story, but you can save notes on a specific trend you see in your local media and then make a larger complaint.
I can say with confidence that I know some Lubbockites that are “cranks.” Being a crank is a speedy way to marginalize yourself and decrease your effectiveness. Of course, even a crank can tell the truth; the question is whether anyone will listen.
I’m still at a loss for how to address Lubbock’s right-wing radio stations that present nonstop cherry-picked news with conservative commentary. Who do you complain to there? They know what they’re doing, and are sometimes directly run by Republican Party leaders. (The state of talk radio shows how Reagan really screwed us when his administration did away with the fairness doctrine.)
I believe that TV and print media in Lubbock are generally more responsive to media watchdogs, because they have a reputation of reliable news to maintain.
We’ll see how online media in the area evolves.
Thoughts?
MSN has a slide show about the challenges in rebuilding the gulf coast. Apparently the odds of a mansion being rebuilt are much better than that of a small home or business.
The A-J has a story about a local artist who narrowly missed Katrina that includes a timeline of Lubbock’s involvement with helping Katrina evacuees. Another story about a struggling evacuee in Lubbock is also worth a look.
Hurricane Katrina is a painful lesson in the disaster preparedness of the neoconservative philosophy of government.
It was also a reminder of what qualities our President should possess. Two days after Katrina, Bush flew over New Orleans for 35 minutes in Air Force One. The day after Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965, LBJ was on the ground, talking to ordinary people on the streets and in the shelters.
KCBD 11 just broke the story that the second petition to recall Linda DeLeon has failed by 23 signatures.
I’ve heard that the news conference on Wednesday will detail each rejected signature along with the reason it was rejected.
Edit: Sue is right (in the comments) — the A-J is reporting that it failed by 16 signatures.
Dig it. I have finished the data entry finally. I came up with 558 signatures, while the petitioners report 557, so I probably got someone’s scribble in there for the benefit of the doubt.
I’m beginning my analysis and will probably call in to the Chad Hasty Show to share some of my findings. For now, here’s what I got…
First, below are the dates of the petition drive, along with how many signatures were collected each day:
7/17/2007 — 5
7/18/2007 — 4
7/19/2007 — 16
7/20/2007 — 5
7/21/2007 — 8
7/22/2007 — 2
7/23/2007 — 10
7/24/2007 — 17
7/25/2007 — 30
7/26/2007 — 13
7/27/2007 — 27
7/28/2007 — 12
7/29/2007 — 12
7/30/2007 — 16
7/31/2007 — 22
8/1/2007 — 10
8/2/2007 — 14
8/3/2007 — 1
8/4/2007 — 16
8/5/2007 — 16
8/6/2007 — 21
8/7/2007 — 13
8/8/2007 — 26
8/9/2007 — 27
8/10/2007 — 29
8/11/2007 — 55
8/12/2007 — 118
8/13/2007 — 7
I’m not sure if the 9 signatures from 7/17 and 7/18 will count, since the petitions indicate that they were issued on 7/19. Of course, that may have to do with the disagreement over the Spanish translation on the petition. Anyway, as you can see, the organizers really waited to the last minute to get it all together. Not a good sign.
Furthermore, 107 signatures were turned in without certificate numbers to go with them. If those signatures cannot be matched by name+address to registered voters within the district, then the petition will fail. 558 - 107 = 451 = not enough signatures. I believe that 494 is the magic number of signatures needed. Again, not a good sign.
The petition represents signatures gathered from 366 distinct households, for an average of about 1.52 people per household. The average age of the signers is 49 years old, and the median age of the signers is 48 years old. The minimum age of the signers is 17 (that signature won’t count), and the maximum age is 93. 117 signers, or about 21%, are age 65 or older.
162 signers, or 29% of the signers, affirm that they voted for DeLeon in the 2006 election. 312 signers indicated that they did not vote for DeLeon in 2006, and 84 signatures did not indicate whether they voted for DeLeon in 2006.
Looks like the success of the petition will probably be close either way.
Made it through 209 names so far in the data entry portion of my little project. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the rest finished so that I can start my analysis for real.
For disclosure’s sake, I’m not in favor of the recall election. I am in favor of the people’s right to circulate a recall petition and to have it counted fairly as many times as they care to try. I really believe that Linda’s constituents value her 20+ years in public service in spite of the latest hiccups which have more to do with public relations than with policy.
And yes, I also wish that City Secretary Becky Garza had allowed watchers from each side of the issue to be present for the validation process. (I have worked with Becky Garza in the past and have been impressed with her professionalism, but I believe that prohibiting watchers was not the right decision.) At least the petition itself is available to the public, along with the reasons for each rejection, when the final count is released next week.
Onward.
Today is the day that the public (and the City Council) get to see the staff’s proposed budget for 07-08.
The A-J has posted a copy of the budget broken into different sections as part of their coverage.
In case the above link goes away or they decide to remove the documents, I have re-hosted the pdfs here:
As many of us on the Left are fond of saying, “Budgets are moral documents.” I wonder what priorities these documents will show…
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