Progress Report: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

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Tue, 27 Sep 2005 08:05:44 -0700

Progress Report: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

" American Progress Action Fund "

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AMERICAN PROGRESS ACTION FUND

The Progress Report

by Judd Legum, Faiz Shakir, Nico Pitney

Amanda Terkel, Payson Schwin and Christy Harvey

www.progressreport.org

9/27/2005

 

For news and updates throughout the day, check out our new blog at

ThinkProgress.org.

 

ENERGY

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

 

Speaking yesterday at the Department of Energy, President Bush said,

" We can all pitch in...by being better conservers of energy. I mean,

people just need to recognize that the storms have caused disruption

and that if they're able to maybe not drive when they -- on a trip

that's not essential, that would helpful. " The good news is that Bush

has acknowledged the value of conservation. The bad news is that the

country, struggling under the burden of high gas prices, needs more

than limp sloganeering. President Bush has consistently rejected

legislative and regulatory policies that would result in significant

energy conservation. (In 2001, Vice President Cheney said

" conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it's not a basis

for a sound, comprehensive energy policy. " ) Nothing in his comments

yesterday indicated that Bush is ready to change course.

 

BUSH STILL TRAVELING THE COUNTRY FOR PHOTO-OPS: Bush's comments

yesterday -- encouraging the country to skip non-essential trips --

raised questions about his own recent travel habits. Today, Bush

embarks on his seventh trip to the Gulf Coast this month. (According

to the Air Force, " fuel costs for Air Force One have risen to $6,029

per hour, up from $3,974 an hour in the last budget year. " ) White

House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the president took the

trips because he needed " to provide support or encouragement to lift

the spirits of all those who have been working around the clock to

help people in need. "

 

CONGRESS PUSHES MORE GOVERNMENT GIVEAWAYS TO OIL COMPANIES: Bush's

allies in Congress are using high gas prices as another excuse for

massive giveaways to the oil industry. The Los Angeles Times reports

that conservative " leaders in Congress announced plans to introduce

new legislation or amend existing measures to bestow more tax breaks

on the industry and provide other incentives left out of the big

energy bill Bush signed into law in August. " The oil industry hardly

needs the help. Even before Katrina hit, oil companies were flush with

cash. ExxonMobil's profits are expected to exceed $10 billion in the

third quarter of 2005, " more net income than any company has ever made

in a quarter. " Now the industry is using Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

to jack up prices -- and profit margins -- even higher.

 

RIGHT-WING PLAN WOULD MAKE A BAD SITUATION WORSE: A right-wing plan to

cut the federal budget by $500 billion over ten years would destroy

nearly all existing programs that promote energy efficiency and

conservation. The scheme, dubbed " Operation Offset, " would eliminate

the EnergyStar program, the Hydrogen Fuel initiative, the Freedom Car

program, funds for research on renewable energy, and programs that

support high-speed rail. A progressive approach would save more money

in half the time and would preserve all of those programs.

 

AUTO INDUSTRY WANTS ACTION: The auto industry is asking Washington to

do more to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. Last week, Ford

Chairman and Chief Executive William Clay Ford Jr. sent a letter to

President Bush requesting a summit that would " focus on what the auto

industry can do to find solutions for alternative fuel resources. "

Separately, " Jim Press, head of Toyota's US operations, said he

planned to go to Washington next month to lobby lawmakers to make

energy independence an issue in the election campaign of 2008. " Press

described America's dependence of foreign oil as an " economic problem "

and said the industry needs to " leave our individual companies' bags

outside the door to work together on this issue. "

 

CONCRETE STEPS FOR ACTION: American Progress has a plan that outlines

practical steps to immediately achieve significant fuel savings. For

example, " requiring replacement tires to be as efficient as new car

tires, gasoline savings would begin immediately, saving over 7 billion

barrels of oil over the next 50 years. " Another recommendation: a

" fee-bate. " The fee-bate program would impose a tax on " new vehicles

that are 5 mpg or more below the standards in their class " and use the

funds to provide tax incentives for highly-efficient vehicles. The

plan would also provide incentives for biofuels. Read the plan here).

 

TORTURE

More Bad Apples

 

Yesterday, Private First Class Lyndie England, " a 22-year old Army

file clerk, " was " found guilty of six counts of abuse and indecent

acts " for her complicity in torturous acts at Abu Ghraib prison in

Iraq. England, who faces a jail term of up to 10 years, deserves to be

held accountable for her behavior. But the conviction has " failed to

clarify an ongoing question that has been at the center of the abuse

scandal: were the low-ranking soldiers ordered to abuse detainees as

part of an intelligence-gathering effort or were they simply a 'few

bad apples' seeking twisted amusement? " In light of new allegations

that " systematic abuse of Iraqi detainees " occurred at other

facilities in Iraq, the need is clear for both an investigation to

examine the role of the White House and senior officials in the

Pentagon and for legislative reforms that will reaffirm America's

commitment to the Geneva Conventions and the Army Field Manual.

 

MILITARY CHAIN OF COMMAND PASSES THE BUCK: England is now the ninth

Army reservist convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib. Chairman

of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Richard Myers heralded the sentence, saying:

" Pfc. England's conviction is just one more example of holding people

accountable, because that's who did it. " While England did not contest

that she participated in abuse, her defense argued that she was

following the directions of her lover and commanding military officer,

then-Corporal Charles Graner. Graner, who is serving a 10-year

sentence for his role in the abuse, " has maintained that military

intelligence interrogators encouraged him to mistreat detainees to get

them to talk. " And while Army investigative documents have revealed

that military intelligence interrogators " were looking to get tough on

detainees " around the time that Abu Ghraib abuses were occurring,

" none of those leaders has been charged with a crime connected to the

abuse. " " Despite the prosecution of the reservists, only one senior

officer has been reprimanded over the allegations. " Gen. Janis

Karpinski, who was in operational command of Abu Ghraib, was reduced

in rank to colonel, but she has since said the use of certain abuse

tactics was authorized by Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the former commander

of the Guantanamo Bay prison.

 

NEW ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE: A Human Rights Watch report, first noted by

Time magazine this past weekend, detailed allegations of three

soldiers -- one officer and two non-commissioned officers -- in the

82nd Airborne who witnessed daily abuse of Iraqi detainees at Camp

Mercury from September 2003 to April 2004. " Their description of

routine harsh treatment of captives in Iraq parallels the abuse caught

in photographs at the Abu Ghraib prison. " The allegations come from

one of the finest military units with a history of mission

preparedness through intensified training programs. Captain Ian

Fishback says he was unsuccessful for over 17 months in attempting to

get the attention of military superiors. Ultimately, he approached

conservative senators, including Bill Frist, who appears to have

ignored him. The types of abuse tactics employed included " severe

beatings (in one incident, a soldier reportedly broke a detainee's leg

with a baseball bat), blows and kicks to the face...forced stress

positions...the stacking of detainees into human pyramids; and, the

withholding of food (beyond crackers) and water. " In a letter to Sen.

John McCain (R-AZ) revealing the abuse, Fishback said the conduct is

tarnishing the U.S. image abroad. " We are America, " he wrote. " Our

actions should be held to a higher standard. "

 

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: The prisoner abuse stems from a decision by the

Bush administration dating back to the outset of the Afghanistan

conflict to throw out rules that soldiers were trained to uphold

(embodied in the Geneva Conventions and the U.S. Army Field Manual on

Intelligence Interrogation). Instead, President Bush said only that

detainees be treated " humanely, " not as a requirement of the law but

as policy. Sens. McCain, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee John

Warner (R-VA.), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), another committee member,

have proposed an amendment to a defense bill requiring the military to

abide by the Geneva dictates. McCain is proposing another amendment

that would establish the Army Field Manual as the standard for

interrogation of all detainees held in Department of Defense (DoD)

custody. But the " White House [objected] to the amendments, and

instructed Senate Majority leader Bill Frist to pull the whole

Pentagon spending bill off the Senate floor lest the Senate pass the

amendments with the bills. " Human Rights Watch recommends not only

passing these amendments but also creating a special commission (along

the lines of the 9/11 Commission) to fully investigate the issue of

detainee abuse.

GOOD NEWS

 

" The nation's crime rate was unchanged last year, holding at the

lowest levels since the government began surveying crime victims in

1973, the Justice Department reported yesterday. "

 

STATE WATCH

 

CONNECTICUT: New state law will require insurers to cover infertility

treatments, but will cut off coverage after age 40.

 

CALIFORNIA: Agriculture is at the center of California's pollution debate.

 

ARKANSAS: Gov. Mike Huckabee ® compares supporting conservatives to

joining the fight against Naziism.

 

BLOG WATCH

 

MEDIA MATTERS: Network news broadcasts give scant coverage to Frist

stock scandal.

 

NEW ORLEANS ENVIRO BLOG: Privately, EPA testers are telling officials

" that all the pollutants and environmental toxins are way off the

scale. No one is looking to stay there long. "

 

HUFF POST: Another bizarre turn in the case of the CBS cameraman

detained for months by U.S. forces in Iraq without a shred of

publicly-presented evidence.

 

TALKING POINTS MEMO: Deconstructing Abramoff's scam operation.

 

DAILY GRILL

 

" House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have

done so well in cutting spending that he declared an 'ongoing

victory,' and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal

budget. "

-- Washington Times, 9/14/05

 

VERSUS

 

" House Majority Leader Tom DeLay says the government could slash

billions of dollars in 'wasteful spending' to help pay for hurricane

recovery. "

-- Houston Chronicle, 9/26/05

 

UNDER THE RADAR

 

KATRINA -- YOU'RE STILL PAYING MIKE BROWN'S SALARY: Mike Brown may

have resigned earlier this month as FEMA director amid intense public

criticism, but taxpayers are still paying his salary. Brown remains on

the FEMA payroll as a consultant so that the agency can receive a

" proper download of his experience. " The Department of Homeland

Security is already spinning the story; spokesman Russ Knocke says

that " Brown is continuing to work at the Federal Emergency Management

Agency at full pay, with his Sept. 12 resignation not taking effect

for two more weeks. " Whatever happened to Brown's promise on the day

he resigned? " t is important that I leave now to avoid further

distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA "

ETHICS -- WHITE HOUSE MAY HAVE TORPEDOED ABRAMOFF CORRUPTION PROBE: In

November 2002, the U.S. attorney in Guam, Frederick A. Black, notified

Justice Department officials that he was opening an investigation into

Jack Abramoff's lobbying activities with Guam judges. Days later,

Black was demoted and barred from pursuing public corruption cases,

ending his investigation. The Justice Department's Inspector General

and the FBI are looking into Black's demotion to determine whether

Abramoff's close ties to the Bush administration may have influenced

Justice Department officials, including Attorney General John

Ashcroft, in any way. " What this starts to suggest is that Abramoff's

ability to corrupt the system was far more pervasive, certainly than

we knew at the time, " said Rep. George Miller (D-CA).

IRAQ -- REPORT SAYS CONSTITUTION COULD WORSEN INSURGENCY: The

International Crisis Group (ICG) issued a report Monday saying that

the hurried constitutional process in Iraq could strengthen the

insurgency and possibly lead to the country's break-up. " The

constitution is likely to fuel rather than dampen insurgency, " Robert

Malley of ICG said. " A compact based on compromise and broad consent

could have been a first step in a healing process. Instead it is

proving yet another step in a process of depressing decline. " The

report concludes, " Only a strong U.S.-led initiative to assuage Sunni

Arab concerns can now stop Iraq's violent break-up. " Iraqis will vote

on the constitutional referendum on October 15.

ENVIRO -- HOUSE VOTES THIS WEEK TO GUT ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: Last

June, the New York Times reported that the landmark Endangered Species

Act was facing " the most intense efforts ever by the White House,

Congress, landowners and industry to limit its reach, " prompting fears

of " a wholesale evisceration " of the law. The bill has been enormously

successful, " keeping more than 99 percent of listed species from

extinction, " including the bald eagle. Yet Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)

has introduced a bill " that would essentially replace the 1973 act

with something far friendlier to mining, lumber and other big

extraction interests that find the original act annoying. " Take action

now -- tell your representative to protect the Endangered Species Act.

HOMELAND SECURITY -- STATESIDE NATIONAL GUARD FACE CRITICAL EQUIPMENT

SHORTAGE: The Christian Science Monitor reports that the National

Guard's work in the Gulf Coast exposed the shortage of equipment Guard

troops face here at home. With much of their military equipment

overseas in Iraq, the Monitor reports that the Guard has " only 34

percent of its equipment available in the United States. " The war in

Iraq has forced Gulf Coast Guard units to look for equipment from

other units across the country. " I don't have all the equipment I need

for 300,000 soldiers, " said Lt. Gen. Steven Blum. " Equipment is my

challenge now. " Sens. Christopher Bond (R-MO) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

have asked the president for $1.3 billion to buy new equipment for the

National Guard.