Corruption, the EPA and Peer Pressure on the Hill

Previously published on VoterWatch.org's Transparency Recap. To see the original posting, click here.

12 Aug 2008

By Lyle Hickman, VoterWatch Staff

“You were once one of us,” staff members of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrote to their administrator Stephen Johnson.

This Transparency Recap opens with environmentalists who feel that there is a Judas amongst them.

RegWatch’s blog titled “For EPA Staff Trying to Protect the Planet, ‘Disappointment is Profound,”cites the discontent of the EPA staff members with their spokesman, Johnson. Opting to prolong federal involvement on greenhouse gas emissions and their patulous effects on the environment, Johnson upset the EPA staff. According to RegWatch, ”In July, EPA issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (a relatively minor step in the rulemaking process) that solicits public comment on various regulatory options for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.” After the ANPRM was issued, it was derided by barrages of statements from the Bush Administrations top officials. Shortly after, Johnson decides to prolong federal involvement. According to RegWatch:

In their July 30 letter, the EPA staffers blasted Johnson for including the views of political officials ... while basically ignoring the hard work of EPA experts: “The way in which you subverted the work of EPA staff in your preamble statement on the merits of the supporting rationale for the ANPRM was as unprecedented as it was stunning to your staff and damaging to EPA’s reputation for sound science and policy.”

As per RegWatch, the EPA staff wrote:

The professional staff of EPA has nothing to hide. In fact, contrary to your assertions of executive privilege, the free flow of policy recommendations would be aided by opening up all (not just selected) communications to public scrutiny… We were proud when you were nominated as the first of us to occupy the Administrator’s Office, and we expected great things. Our disappointment is profound.”

The continuing dispute between the EPA staff and Johnson has its implications. The staff’s disappointment stems from Johnson’s decision not to pressure the government. The scorn of the Bush Administration could’ve pressured Johnson to delay federal involvement.

In related news concerning potential partisan influence, a piece from OpenSecrets’ Capital Eye blog titled “Lawmakers Peer-Pressured Into Joining the Party,” details a trend/tie in Congress’ retirees and generous donations. According to Capital Eye, “Congress, with its cliques and hierarchy, is one of those places that’s described as operating a lot like high school. And, as in school, there’s peer pressure among lawmakers-pass this bill, support this amendment, appropriate these funds.” Some members of Congress are being pressured to donate to their respective parties.

“So far,” Capital Eye writes, “135 members of the House haven’t given a penny from their campaign accounts to help out their team. Ten of those 135 members are leaving Congress at the end of this year and really have nothing to lose by handing over some dough (unless they don’t have any money left to give).” The 400 members that have made donations are applying some classic, high-school peer pressure, urging the 135 members to make donations to their political party. As members retire from Congress, they typically give large donations. In 2006, eight congressional retirees left the National Republican Congressional Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee approximately a combined half-million dollars. Yesterday, Representative Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) contributed $163,000 and Representative Jim McCrey (R-La) donated $732,500 to the NRCC.

According to Capital Eye, “The 125 current House members who are seeking re-election but haven’t given anything to their party might be anticipating needing the money for their own campaigns.” While laws are being reviewed, vetoed, and passed, members of congress are being asked by fellow members to contribute to a fund that helped them get elected. Some oblige, while others do not.

Moving on, the Sunlight Foundation’s blog titled “Map the Mess,” focuses on government corruption and citizen efforts to expose it to the masses. Exasperated by corruption in Cuyahoga County government, a collective of citizen and investigative journalists have taken on the task of unearthing the foul play for public discourse.

According to the Sunlight Foundation:

They’ve launched Map the Mess, a grassroots effort to shed light on the workings of business and government in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. They use social networking maps to reveal connections in government and ... how public officials conduct business in the county. They hope that the site provides enough transparency to the local government as to change the pattern of ‘patronage and privilege that frustrates reform and productivity.’

An example of the Map the Mess is here.

The accessibility of the user-friendly map allows the average citizen to become a sleuth. With forums, facts, and other features, Map the Mess definitely marks an advance with both government transparency and investigative journalism.

Speaking of corruption, Talking Points Memo’s Muckraker covered an Alaska State Senator’s legal plea in “Cowerdy Pleads Not Guilty.” According to the Muckraker, last month, “Alaska State Senator John Cowdery (R) was indicted on charges of bribery and corruption.” Specifically, the Anchorage Daily News writes:

An Anchorage state senator with ties to disgraced oil field services company Veco Corp. pleaded not guilty to federal counts of bribery and conspiracy. John Cowdery, 78, was arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court. His trial was set for Oct. 6. He was arraigned on charges of conspiring to bribe a fellow state senator with $25,000 in Veco money.

“If the name VECO sounds familiar,” the Muckraker writes,” it should. It’s the same oil field services company behind the recent indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK).” Stevens was featured in last week’s Transparency Recap here.

Stevens’ Federal Indictment, CRS Reporting, Consumer Rights & Wal-Mart’s Alleged Political Posturing

Previously published on VoterWatch.org's Transparency Recap. To see the original posting, click here.

07 Aug 2008

By Lyle Hickman and Billy Hallowell, VoterWatch Staff

Today’s Transparency Recap starts way up north with our coldest state, Alaska. According to Talking Points Memo‘s, Republican Senator Ted Stevens was “arraigned last week on seven counts of false statements”. After a federal indictment, without stagnation, Stevens regrouped and organized a rally. According to Talking Points Memo:

At 9:30 AM AKDT today, Stevens held a rally at his campaign headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska. While his poll numbers have not flagged for the upcoming Alaska Republican primary, they have plummeted in general election polls. Stevens’ likely Democratic opponent Mark Begich leads the incumbent Stevens (sub. req.) 56% to 35% according to a July 30-31 study.

Stevens, followed by a fleet of leather-draped motorcyclists, made a grand entrance warming the atmosphere in the typically cold climate of Anchorage, Alaska. Talking Points Memo quotes Senator Stevens before his supporters saying, “The primary is the goal right now. Help me win that primary and help me be the candidate for the Republican party. September will take care of itself.”

In other news, Secrecy News penned an interesting piece about Congress’ failure to adequately provide online access to CRS reports. According to the Secrecy News blog, the military judge handling Salim Ahmed Hamdan’s case (bin Laden’s taxi driver who was convicted yesterday for “material support of terrorism") referenced a CRS report that was published on the Federation of American Scientists’ web site. Since Congress did not officially release the document, the judge utilized the FAS source by providing the link to the document in his footnotes. According to Secrecy News:

“Perhaps [the judge] . . . implicitly affirmed that FAS and other public interest publishers of CRS collections are helping to compensate for that continuing policy defect by providing the online access to CRS reports that Congress has denied.”

According to OMB’s RegWatch blog, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act that was recently passed by Congress provides many improvements that will benefit the general public. In a market that is dominated by cheap imports, OMB claims that the act will potentially lead the Consumer Product Safety Committee to better regulate the market, while providing consumers with the protection they deserve.

Moving on to the American Constitution Society’s Blog, the “Justice Integrity Act,” introduced by Senators Joseph Biden (D-Del.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), and Arlen Specter (R-Penn), is “a bill that would require the U.S. Attorney General to study racial and ethnic disparities in the judicial system… The measure, S.3245, would require the Attorney General to create advisory groups in ten federal districts to examine and determine the pervasiveness of racial and ethnic disparity in the criminal justice system.”

According to ACS Blog, this bill awaits the Senate Judiciary Committee. On an interesting transparency note, we were delighted to read that “the bill would require the Attorney General to make public the findings of the groups’ studies and recommendations on how to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities.”

Over at All Things Whistleblower, John McCain’s support for nuclear energy is under scrutiny. According to the ATW blog:

“McCain supports the creation of over 45 new nuclear plants by 2030, but he has not come close to adequately addressing concerns about the safety or cost of further developing this energy source. When addressing the current and future energy crisis, America’s leaders have to be more creative and more responsible than that.”

“Vote Republican - Save 10 Percent on All Purchases,” reads the title of www.opensecrets.org’s Capital Eye blog. According to the Capital Eye, the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, urged its employees to place their ballots for a Republican candidate, “arguing that Democrats would pass a harmful bill allowing labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret ballot elections. ” Wal-Mart denies suggesting its employees vote republican, while referencing their financial contributions to both the Democratic and Republican parties by their political action committee. The Capital Eye states:

“This year the Big Box retailer, which has resisted being unionized, has given more to Democrats than ever before--$565,500, or 43 percent of its total contributions--when including both PAC contributions and individual donations. Wal-Mart employees have also given Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama $10,600 so far this cycle, compared to $6,850 to Republican opponent John McCain.”

Nonpartisan Endorsements, An Unsafe Embassy, and the Ideological Divide

Previously published on VoterWatch.org's Transparency Recap. To see the original posting, click here.

16 Jul 2008

By Lyle Hickman and Billy Hallowell, VoterWatch Staff

This week’s Transparency Recap opens with a Corruption Chronicles blog entry entitled “‘Nonpartisan’ La Raza Council Endorses Obama.” The National Council of La Raza was founded in 1968 in Washington D.C. as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. While the organization touts nonpartisan status, Judicial Watch (via its blog, the Corruption Chronicles) is charging partisan support for the presumed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. According to Corruption Chronicles:

“. . . La Raza President Janet Murguia stood by as Los Angeles’ renowned Chicano mayor (Antonio Villaraigosa) praised the Illinois senator during the group’s annual convention in San Diego. A former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman, Villaraigosa assured the crowd of thousands that Obama is Latinos’ best hope for reforming the nation’s federal immigration policies.”

Moving on, ABC News’ The Blotter covers a warning issued by the United States embassy located in Baghdad, Iraq. According to The Blotter, “Weapons are continuing to be left unattended throughout the Embassy compound . . .” Unattended weaponry in an embassy is unacceptable, especially when considering the current situation in Iraq. The war makes the embassy a prime target of the Iraqi insurgents. According to The Blotter the U.S. embassy warns its employees and cohorts:

“. . . Just to be clear, the embassy reminds employees:

-- Don’t leave your gun unattended when using the embassy pool. “If using the Embassy Pool, you must designate a gear guard.”
-- Don’t leave guns unattended in vehicles, even if the vehicle is locked.
-- And don’t carry your gun if you’ve been drinking. “No weapon will be carried while drinking alcoholic beverages.”

Anyone caught violating the rules will have his or her weapons confiscated, the document warns, and a supervisor will have to sign a letter requesting that it be returned after the individual has “been counseled on proper weapons retention . . .”

In other news, Secrecy News penned a piece about the “Foreign Relations of the United States”—a series that the State Department defines as “. . . [a presentation of] the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which is produced by the State Department’s Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 350 individual volumes.”

While one can easily see the importance of such an official historical account of U.S. activity, Secrecy News reports the following:

“The “Foreign Relations of the United States” (FRUS) series . . . remains unlikely to meet the legal requirement that it be published no later than 30 years after the events that it describes, an official advisory committee has told the Secretary of State.”

Over on the Sunlight blogs, Ellen Miller covers the growing divide between Sen. Joe Lieberman and the Democratic Party. According to Miller,

“The Connecticut Independent’s high-profile support for the Iraq War and a bellicose demeanor toward Iran, as well as his enthusiastic endorsement of and active campaigning for Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid and his criticism of Sen. Barack Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee, have all helped to put his relationship with the Democrats in quite the precarious spot.”

The relationship is in such shambles that left-wing activists are petitioning for Lieberman to be stripped of his rank and removed from his Homeland Security chairmanship. Democrats are calling for these actions to be taken following the 2008 presidential election in November.

And in other news, former Arlington National Cemetery Public Affairs Director Gina Gray was allegedly fired for advocating for more media access to soldiers’ funeral processions. After publicly disclosing the fact that ceremony officials are not allowing media access at funerals—even after families agreed to said coverage—Gray was fired. All Things Whistleblower poses an interesting thought regarding the next administration:

“With the images of funerals being so powerful, and thought of to raise the conscious level of the casualties of war, it will be very interesting to see how this issue is handled by the next presidential administration.”

In closing, OpenSecrets.org’s Capital Eye is “Calling All Citizen Journalists.” Check the contest out and you could potentially win $100!

A Look into Jena 6

Previously published in the NJCU Gothic Times November 2007 issue

A Look into Jena 6

By: Lyle Hickman

Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Opinion

I first learned of the Jena 6 through an email sent to me early last summer. The Jena 6 are six African American teenagers--Robert Bailey (17), Theo Shaw (17), Carwin Jones (18), Bryant Purvis (17), Mychal Bell (16), and an unidentified minor--who were involved in a school fight with a white student in Jena, Louisiana, and charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the fall of last year.

This scuffle was instigated by several incidents, one in which nooses were hung from a tree that a group of African American students stood underneath. In another incident, two African American students were arrested at a nearby convenience store for the theft of a shotgun which they managed to obtain from a white man who had threatened them with it.

I am disgusted, but not surprised, by the hanging of nooses and unfair trials of the six young black men in contemporary, post-13th Amendment America. The promoted illusion that the United States has simply wiped out most of its ingrained racism, like a q-tip cleaning earwax out of an earlobe, is a fraudulent deception.

My angst because of the Jena 6 situation stems not only from the unfair charges against the six teens, but also from the nonchalant responses from some of the white citizens in Jena. The responses' commonality was their lack of sensitivity for the African American students who were terrorized in the same nefarious fashion as their elders and ancestors. They acted as if it were a prank such as a whoopee cushion or trick gum!

These were nooses intended to be interpreted as a response to the African American students who sat under that tree. The intentional hanging of a noose in school colors asserts the perpetrator's historic understanding of the noose in relation to African Americans. The choice of school colors showed a demented school spirit, but more importantly, it represented the perpetrator's belief that this sentiment was shared with the white student body or school population.

This was no different than the lynchings of the past, both in the North and South, where a white man would hang the American flag while simultaneously smiling with his wife and two-and-a-half kids under the strange fruit that Billie Holliday sung of which hung overhead from a poplar tree.

The Jena 6 incidents have also brought attention to two African Americans--Detective Gregory Anderson and Professor Madonna Constantine--who have also had similar experiences. Detective Anderson of Brooklyn, NY, found a noose hanging above his locker at an emergency service unit in 2001. Professor Constantine of Columbia University discovered a noose hanging from her office door on October 9, 2007.

The fact that noose hanging continues to happen in both the North and South conveys an evil ideology that might have gone into hiding, surreptitiously continuing its agenda, but that is now unleashed and undoubtedly in the public eye.

Megan Williams, a 20-year-old African American woman, was kidnapped, degraded, tortured, raped, and forced to eat animal feces for the span of a week before the police found her. Williams' kidnappers were three white males and three white females between the ages of 20 and 50. The kidnappers tortured and raped her violently while screaming racial epithets.

These occurrences display the vile barbarism of racism that persists to live in the minds of not only the poorly-educated, rural-living white supremacists, but also in the minds of those holding authoritative positions in the criminal injustice system that consistently indicts African Americans unjustly.

The parasite of racism cannot be ignored because it spreads and spreads hopping from host to host. The United States has tried to suppress this parasite which started as a wound and has developed into a tumor filled with blood. Many watch this tumor called racism flourish, and many refuse to take part in administering its remedy because they feel as if it is distant and doesn't concern them. Ask yourself, "Am I part of the solution or part of the problem?" because before you know it, a noose may be hanging from your front door.

Valentine's Cliche

Previously published in the NJCU Gothic Times February 2008 issue.

Valentine's Cliche

By: Lyle Hickman

Issue date: 2/5/08 Section: Advice

Media Credit: www.google.com

As February 14th approaches, corporations are estimating how much they can capitalize off the populace on Valentine's Day. Such a day is a vital pillar of romance in the American cultural calendar, where cards and candies are given and the deepest, most intense acts of intimacy are performed in order to sustain this tradition. American society pressures its people to profess their affection and accompany it with trinkets, sweets, and everyone's favorite, red roses! As these crimson idols of affection are exchanged, people are supposedly fulfilled with love. I beg to differ.

This holiday could be a day for observing love and celebrating its sustenance, However, I now view it as a commercialized day of profit and not one of introspection, discourse, and love with the significant other.

Why should you spend money on roses on Valentine's Day? Why should you engage in sexual acts on Valentine's Day? These were my thoughts for years, as I spent eighteen consecutive Valentine's Days alone, without a valentine. I arrived at the answer which most of a pressured society shares, because everyone else does.

Can you imagine how much revenue is accumulated on a yearly basis from Valentine's Day? Can you fathom how many people have felt pressured to succumb to this day and engage in sexual acts or choose somebody as their valentine so they weren't lonely?

People sometimes fall into the trap of conformity on Valentine's Day, when their relationship is ambiguous, and the trinkets and intimacy are just there to fill the void or present proof of the presence of love in the relationship. I am no connoisseur on love, but I am its laborer. Something as abstract as love is genuinely felt by someone. Those in love are not skeptical. Like a moment of clarity, a person in love has a realization of love's existence in the relationship. Once in love, laborers of love work eternally, conjuring new ways to satisfy their significant other, beyond Valentine's Day.

The aim of love is to give and to please, and not just physically, but also emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Let this Valentine's Day be one in which time is spent understanding who your significant other is as a being and not one of blind indulgence.

As a person in a long distance relationship, my focus is developing chemistry through communication. More attention is directed toward discourse in which we tap into each other's mental reservoir. By becoming familiar with the innermost workings of my significant other's mind, I am able to be a better partner. Cognizant of my love of hip hop, my girlfriend gave me a hardcover notebook that she covered with graffiti which she designed. A box of chocolates or a red teddy bear with heart shaped candies would not have that same affect. Oh and guess what, she didn't wait until Valentine's Day to do this!

For those in relationships giving Valentine's Day too much relevance, here's how you can lessen it. Do not let a holiday dictate when and how you show love to another being, especially your significant other. Try something unorthodox. The reason why most of you are in relationships is because you love your partner's individuality. Waiting until Valentine's Day to do something extra for your partner is too predictable and lacking in creativity. Do not wait! Take your significant other to that kickboxing class that they have mentioned more than once or prepare a candle-lit bubble bath for them at an unexpected time. The results of these acts will definitely trump the results of just giving a cliche; bouquet of red roses.

If you make continuous, consistent efforts to convey your love to your significant other, this year, Valentine's Day will just be Thursday!