WhistleblowerSupporter

Boeing and Tankers

I just found an interesting site regarding Boeing and the Tanker Controversy.  Here is a link:  http://tankerwankers.blogspot.com/2008/07/another-boeing-lie.html   This was posted by someone calling him or herself “Tanker War, Major “Snuffy” Wilco.  I don’t know how accurate his/her information is, but it is something to think over.

-GFS

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Update:  I was informed by someone that the link posted above was not longer found on the internet.  I went in this morning, 7-7-08 to see what was up.  Since I found this document and blog on 7-6-08, there has been a sudden change.  The author has removed the post in which he described the ways in which he said Boeing had lied about things related to tanker contracts etc.  I have contacted the author to see what happened, but as of yet, have not received a reply.  It is possible I suppose he was receiving threats or pressure to make it disappear.  I'll keep you posted once I know what happened.

The author still has a blog at:  http://tankerwankers.blogspot.com and has other interesting posts there.

-GFS

Boeing's Chicago Troubles: Boeing is as amoral as...

I found this editorial recently while doing a search.  It appears that not all is rosy for Boeing in Chicago.  It appears it is not just Seattle where the public may disapprove of certain types of business practices.  I post it here, as I found it for your consideration.  GFS

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Chicago Sun Times

http://www.suntimes.com/news/simpson/1039484,CST-EDT-simp04.article

Boeing as amoral as firms that aided Hitler

July 4, 2008

DICK SIMPSON simpson@uic.edu

When Boeing chose Chicago over Seattle, Dallas and Denver as its corporate headquarters, there was rejoicing in the city. The Boeing symbol on our West Loop Skyline is one sign that we have made it as a global city.

We regret Boeing losing key defense contracts as we do losses by the Cubs and Sox.

Boeing pretends to be a good corporate citizen supporting Chicago arts groups and community organizations with grants. The company is listed prominently in playbills and annual reports.

But Boeing also abets torture. It is, after all, a defense contractor as well as a provider of civilian passenger jets. It is locked at the hip and the bottom line with the U.S. government.

Despite our pride in Boeing as a global corporation, it is as amoral as the German corporations that aided Hitler. Only money and contracts count with Boeing.

Boeing's subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan, since 2001 has provided flight and logistical support for at least 15 aircraft making 70 clandestine flights for the CIA. Jeppesen allows the CIA to transport prisoners such as ACLU plaintiffs Binyam Mohamed, Abou Elkassim Britel, and Ahmed Agiza to secret locations where they were tortured as part of our government's "war on terror."

The fact that kidnapping and torture is given the more benign name of "rendition" changes nothing. The CIA uses civilian planes and Boeing's and Jeppesen's planning and collaboration to avoid legal procedures in other countries. It is illegal to use European facilities such as airports to spirit prisoners away to be tortured without due process. U.S. taxpayer money is being paid to Jeppesen and Boeing for "travel services" to transport prisoners, some kidnapped and others turned over for bounty payments. All of the CIA prisoners were tortured in countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Afghanistan and Morocco.

Other American companies, such as phone companies, help the government monitor our "private" phone calls. These companies and Boeing, like German companies 70 years ago, help our government undermine human and civil rights.

On April 28, Boeing stockholders met at the Field Museum. They were greeted by a small band of protesters, including Chicago author Sara Paretsky. She wrote about the protest in her blog, "At the end of [a good] novel, justice somehow triumphs. At the end of the morning [protest] in Chicago, money won."

For now, Boeing continues to aid in rendition and torture. And the stockholders, mostly unknowingly, go along.

A few days before the stockholder meeting, an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against Boeing was dismissed in federal court. The CIA claimed the need to protect "state secrets." But the basic facts are disputed by neither Boeing nor the CIA. As ACLU attorney Ben Wizner argued in court, "No interrogation method . . . is secret. Every one of those has been disclosed and confirmed and in the public record." And the record implicates Boeing. As Meg Satterwaite, an attorney for one of the tortured prisoners has said, "Corporate complicity is actually a crucial part of the CIA program."

While management won the stockholder meeting and first court confrontations, the Coalition to Ground Boeing Torture Flights was born. The next steps in the anti-Boeing campaign will be teach-ins on college campuses and demands for the sale of Boeing stock by pension funds and universities. The coalition is calling on Congress investigate Boeing's role and on the Chicago City Council to pass a resolution condemning Boeing.

Boeing is a giant global corporation, a Goliath. It is opposed by a handful of protesting Davids. I, for one, want to be counted among the Davids.

Like any other citizen, our Chicago corporate citizens should oppose, not abet, torture.

Bush's View on Wiretaps Rejected by CA Judge

Considering this California Judge’s ruling on the wiretapping issue, it will be interesting to see how the various parts of our legal system view the expanded Terror Watch efforts (See article posted earlier today, 7-6-08).  It does appear to this observer that enlisting emergency personnel and local law enforcement in local communities, often small departments in small communities with limited resources (for training etc.) is a very bad idea.   

I have heard there are problems now with being able to effectively and safely coordinate certain types of law enforcement responsibilities between various federal agencies and local departments.  The types of training and focus are often quite different depending on the stated mission and set of responsibilities each department has, and often local personnel do not have the same perspective as certain types of federal personnel, which may create more of a tendency to use a checklist to jump to unwarrented conclusions.  I keep thinking about the problem some people had after 911 with realizing all people who wear turbans (Muslim or not) are not “terrorists.”

It really makes little sense, particularly, since in this case, it really does seem to be a poorly disguised effort to get past the Constitution to get into the average citizen’s home.  I suppose, they’ll be quartering soldiers in our homes next. 

-GFS

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From Truthout.Org

Judge Rejects Bush's View on Wiretaps

Thursday 03 July 2008

by: Eric Lichtblau, The New York Times

A federal judge ruled that Bush's views on wiretapping were beyond the constitutional authority of the president.
(Photo: ABC News)

    Washington - A federal judge in California said Wednesday that the wiretapping law established by Congress was the "exclusive" means for the president to eavesdrop on Americans, and he rejected the government's claim that the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief trumped that law. The judge, Vaughn R. Walker, the chief judge for the Northern District of California, made his findings in a ruling on a lawsuit brought by an Oregon charity. The group says it has evidence of an illegal wiretap used against it by the National Security Agency under the secret surveillance program established by President Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

    The Justice Department has tried for more than two years to kill the lawsuit, saying any surveillance of the charity or other entities was a "state secret" and citing the president's constitutional power as commander in chief to order wiretaps without a warrant from a court under the agency's program.

    But Judge Walker, who was appointed to the bench by former President George Bush, rejected those central claims in his 56-page ruling. He said the rules for surveillance were clearly established by Congress in 1978 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires the government to get a warrant from a secret court.

    "Congress appears clearly to have intended to - and did - establish the exclusive means for foreign intelligence activities to be conducted," the judge wrote. "Whatever power the executive may otherwise have had in this regard, FISA limits the power of the executive branch to conduct such activities and it limits the executive branch's authority to assert the state secrets privilege in response to challenges to the legality of its foreign intelligence surveillance activities."

    Judge Walker's voice carries extra weight because all the lawsuits involving telephone companies that took part in the N.S.A. program have been consolidated and are being heard in his court.

    Jon Eisenberg, a lawyer for Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, the plaintiff in the case, said the legal issues Judge Walker's ruling raised were significant. "He's saying FISA makes the rules and the president is bound by those rules," Mr. Eisenberg said.

    A Justice Department official said the department was reviewing the opinion late Wednesday and would consider its options.

    Officials at Al-Haramain say they were mistakenly given a government document revealing the N.S.A. operation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation demanded the document back, and Judge Walker's ruling made it more difficult for Al-Haramain to use what it claims to have seen . But he refused to throw out the lawsuit, giving the charity's lawyers 30 days to restructure their claim. "We still have our foot in the door," Mr. Eisenberg said. "The clock is a minute to midnight, but we've been there before and survived."

    The ruling comes as the Senate is overhauling the foreign intelligence law. The measure would reaffirm FISA as the exclusive means for the president to order wiretaps through court warrants, but it would also provide legal immunity to phone companies involved in the eavesdropping program. A vote could come Tuesday.

    The immunity issue would not directly affect this lawsuit because Al-Haramain is suing the government, not the phone companies. But the nearly 40 other lawsuits against phone companies that Judge Walker is overseeing would almost certainly have to be dismissed if immunity is signed into law, legal analysts say.

WA Lawmakers Dance to Boeing's Tune...Again

Washington Lawmakers are planning their moves to keep Boeing jobs and projects in Washington State.  Tom Captain, a principal with Deloitte consulting firm explained that when considering the Dreamliner, “You have to pay to play” which Washington State did in order to keep work and jobs here.  Captain continued, saying that looking ahead to keeping work here is equally important, “We did that [for the 787].  Now the imperative is, you have to pay to stay.”  Perhaps this is why such a public display of posturing and breast-beating took place over the recent debacle over the refueling tanker contract controversy.  Legislators are possibly thinking, just as Representative Jeff Morris said “The expectation with the Dreamliner was that Washington State had to pull a rabbit out of a hat, so it’s a good idea to have an earlier start this time.” 

Lovely…apparently no price is too high.

-GFS

State leaders talk about tax benefits for Boeing

Link to Seattle Times:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008017862_aerospace26.html

Boeing Fined for Violating Acquisitions Value Limits

Boeing Agrees to Pay $3 Million Fine for Violating Foreign Parts Acquisitions Value Limits

As reported in Chicago, Boeing was found to have exceeded value limits on purchases of parts from foreign suppliers for it’s military products.  The laws violated by Boeing were manufacturing license agreements which are required under the federal regulations which govern international arms sales.

Boeing has agreed to “work closely” with the State Department to “tighten its procedures” and also has agreed to “report its progress” to the State Department over the next three years. 

The suppliers Boeing was dealing with when it committed these violations were in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria.

Link to story in the Seattle P.I.:  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_il_boeing_fine.html

Lax Nuclear Security Identified by Air Force

This is another case of documenting and official notice of problems in nuclear security, this time DoD, and in the past several cases involving DOE.  The question is, will something be done to solve the problems now?  In the past, it appeared that corruption, cover-ups and lack of responsible oversight hampered successfully resolving DOE’s problems.  Anyone have any insight into this?  -GFS

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Air Force Finds Lax Nuclear Security

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; A02

Most overseas storage sites for U.S. nuclear weapons, particularly in Europe, need substantial improvements in physical security measures and the personnel who guard the weapons, according to a newly available Air Force report.

"Most sites require significant additional resources to meet DoD security requirements," according to the final report of the Air Force Blue Ribbon Review of Nuclear Weapons Policies and Procedures, completed in February.

The report was made public last week by Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, who obtained it under a Freedom of Information Act request.

The report said upgrades are needed in "support buildings, fencing, lighting and security systems" at several European sites. It also cited conscripts who serve only nine months and "unionized security personnel" whom some host countries provide as guards.

The panel recommended that the Air Force "investigate potential consolidation of resources to minimize variances and reduce vulnerabilities."

An Air Force spokesman, contacted late yesterday afternoon, said no one familiar with the Blue Ribbon panel was available to discuss the report.

Kristensen said yesterday that the United States keeps several hundred tactical nuclear weapons at six bases in five European countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.

Although the Pentagon does not officially acknowledge the weapons' presence, Dutch Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop said during a parliamentary committee meeting Monday that nuclear weapons security facilities at the Netherlands' Volkel Air Base "are in good order," according to news reports.

Kristensen said that an estimated 10 to 20 U.S. B-61 nuclear bombs are stored at Volkel Air Base for delivery by Dutch F-16s.

The Blue Ribbon review of nuclear security, chaired by Air Force Maj. Gen. Polly A. Peyer, was conducted after it was discovered that a B-52 bomber had flown across the United States, from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, with neither the pilots nor ground crews aware that six cruise missiles under one wing held real nuclear warheads.

The panel's conclusions -- and another review ordered by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates after parts of a nuclear missile were inadvertently sent to Taiwan -- led Gates to remove Air Force Secretary Michael W. Wynne and the chief of staff, Gen. T. Michael "Buzz" Moseley, in early June.

A summary of the Air Force report's findings has been available for months. But the newly declassified version provides additional details. It noted that one of the three wing commanders who controlled facilities with more than 100 nuclear-armed strategic missiles did not have a nuclear weapons background.

"Without an alert commitment for 17 years . . . the bomber force has seen a dramatic atrophy of its nuclear operational and academic skills set," the report concluded.

Only a "limited number" of top Air Force officers had served on 24-hour alerts that ended in 1991, and "within the next few years," the report noted, the Air Force will have no "pool" of "bomber wing commanders who performed nuclear alerts."

Gridlock at Justice

This is a clear picture of what whistleblowers have been facing.  It is also a clear picture of what employees in the federal government have been facing as they have been trying to ethically do their jobs.  Consider this and support your employees of oversight agencies who are trying to do their jobs!  If you want to award a swift kick verbally in a letter to those that have been co-opted or corrupted, that is o.k. too.  -GFS

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A Backlog Of Cases Alleging Fraud
Whistle-Blower Suits Languish at Justice

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 2, 2008; A01

More than 900 cases alleging that government contractors and drugmakers have defrauded taxpayers out of billions of dollars are languishing in a backlog that has built up over the past decade because the Justice Department cannot keep pace with the surge in charges brought by whistle-blowers, according to lawyers involved in the disputes.

The issue is drawing renewed interest among lawmakers and nonprofit groups because many of the cases involve the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising health-care payouts, and privatization of government functions -- all of which offer rich new opportunities to swindle taxpayers.

Since 2001, 300 to 400 civil cases have been filed each year by employees charging that their companies defrauded the government. But under the cumbersome process that governs these cases, Justice Department lawyers must review them under seal, and whistle-blowers routinely wait 14 months or longer just to learn whether the department will get involved. The government rejects about three-quarters of the cases it receives, saying that the vast majority have little merit.

Disputes can stay buried for years more while the government investigates the allegations.

"Even if no new cases are filed, it might take 10 years for the Department of Justice to clear its desk. Cases in the backlog represent a lot of money being left on the table," said Patrick Burns, a spokesman for Taxpayers Against Fraud, which advocates for Justice to receive more funding to support cases by whistle-blowers and their attorneys.

Supporters of federal intervention in the cases say the dividends are substantial: In recent years, verdicts and settlements have returned nearly $13 billion to the U.S. government.

At issue in most of the cases is whether companies knowingly sold defective products or overcharged federal agencies for items sold at home or offered to U.S. troops overseas. Under the Civil War-era False Claims Act, workers who file lawsuits alleging such schemes cannot discuss them or even disclose their existence until Justice decides whether to step in.

By its own account, the 75-lawyer unit in Washington that reviews the sensitive lawsuits is overloaded and understaffed. Only about 100 cases a year are investigated by the team, which works out of the commercial litigation branch of Justice's civil division.

Critics argue that the delays are at least partly the result of foot-dragging by Justice and the federal agencies whose position it represents, especially in the touchy area of suppliers that may have overbilled the government for equipment, food and other items used by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Justice lawyers have rejected about 19 cases involving contractor fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan, registering five settlements that resulted in $16 million, officials said. Government officials said this week that they are considering whether to dive into 32 more whistle-blower cases involving Iraq or the Middle East.

"It's just flatly absurd for us to be five years into this war" with so few public cases, said Alan Grayson, a whistle-blower lawyer in Florida who has criticized the Justice effort and who is running for Congress as a Democrat.

In a statement, Justice spokesman Charles Miller said that career lawyers and supervisors base their determinations on merit, not on political sensitivities. "Our decisions to intervene or decline in cases involving Iraq and the Middle East are entirely consistent with our record in [whistle-blower] cases generally," he said.

Help from Justice greatly enhances the chances that a complicated fraud scheme can be unraveled, lawyers say. And department statistics show that cases Justice turns away win paltry, if any, financial recoveries.

Key lawmakers have called on Justice to make false-claims investigations a priority.

"Whistle-blowers are the key to the secrets locked in closets throughout the federal bureaucracy and government contractors," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). "These patriotic Americans stick their necks out, against all odds, to help the federal government pursue fraud and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars that would otherwise be lost."

Last month, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael F. Hertz told Congress that "the number and increased complexity of the fraud schemes presented to the department, combined with the volume of cases now under review, certainly present challenges."

Among the largest false-claims cases to date are a $650 million settlement earlier this year by drugmaker Merck in connection with an alleged failure to repay Medicaid rebates; a $515 million deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb to cover illegal drug pricing and marketing; and a $98 million agreement with software maker Oracle over pricing.

If their claims are successful, whistle-blowers can receive a hefty slice of the settlements or verdicts, sometimes as much as 20 percent of the award. A former Merck sales manager collected $68 million earlier this year for his role in exposing an alleged drug-pricing scheme.

Even bigger lawsuits containing potentially explosive allegations are waiting in the wings. The vast majority, more than 500 cases, involve the health-care and pharmaceutical industries and often involve Medicare and Medicaid funds.

Only a few hints of the Iraq and Afghanistan disputes have erupted publicly. One is a suit filed by two former employees of Custer Battles, a defense contracting company in Fairfax. The workers accused the company of inflating expenses on a contract it won to replace the Iraqi currency. After a three-week trial in 2006, a jury found in favor of the plaintiffs and awarded them $10 million. But U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III later tossed out the case, ruling that the money at issue, controlled in the early years of the Iraq conflict by the Coalition Provisional Authority, belonged to the Iraqi government, not U.S. taxpayers.

Justice declined the whistle-blowers' request to intervene before the case went to trial, plaintiffs' lawyers said. The government eventually weighed in with a court brief on behalf of the whistle-blowers when the case was appealed.

Frederick M. Morgan Jr., a Cincinnati lawyer who represents whistle-blowers, said that the numbers of lawyers willing to take on cases involving defense contractors has dwindled, in part because of Justice's slow decisions.

One of Morgan's lawsuits, against contractors hired by the Navy to build nuclear submarines and an Ohio company that manufactured submarine valves, took five years to resolve.

Another case, involving the manufacture of the F-22 fighter, was filed in early 1999. It was late 2006 before Justice decided not to intervene. The case is now in active litigation.

"The impact of a 7 1/2 -year delay in the litigation of a case is difficult to quantify but impossible to discount," Morgan said.

Whistle-blower lawyers say other factors can contribute to long delays, including the difficulty in investigating claims in war-torn areas and complications that arise when military officials contend that technology or other products at issue in the lawsuits are classified. In addition, Justice lawyers who handle civil cases often cannot proceed until authorities decide whether a case merits criminal prosecution, the lawyers said.

Even when older cases are pushed into the open, the passage of time can present courtroom challenges.

Last year, a D.C. jury awarded whistle-blower Richard Miller more than $30 million, a figure that now-Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth tripled to $90 million. But in the dozen years since the suit was filed, witnesses' memories of events had dimmed and the U.S. Agency for International Development had tossed its investigative files.

The judge blasted civil division lawyers for "doing virtually nothing" to follow up for four years after Miller brought forward allegations in 1995 about bid rigging on construction contracts in Egypt. The delays meant "loss of evidence, fading memories, disappearance of documents," he wrote.

Justice spokesman Miller said that the civil case was stalled for years because criminal proceedings in the matter took priority. He added that the whistle-blower did not object to the government's repeated entreaties for more time.

Last week, Lamberth denied defense motions for a new trial. But the verdict is likely to be appealed, according to lawyers who participated.

"I have a feeling we're some way away from resolution," said Charles S. Leeper, a lawyer for B.L. Harbert International, the main construction company involved in the case.

Link to original article:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/01/AR2008070103071.html?sub=AR

Influence and Lobbying in America

A reasonably good explanation of the politics in politics, how influence is designed and applied by special interest groups, behind the scenes.  -GFS

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The Cold Calls Behind Those Personal Letters to Congress

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, The Washington Post
Tuesday, July 1, 2008; A09

In the past five years, 44 percent of Americans -- about 100 million people -- have contacted their elected representatives in Washington. Most of them did so at the prompting of a third party -- often a lobbying group -- according to surveys done for the Congressional Management Foundation.

Which is a major reason that Michele Simmons of Tok, Alaska, and Kiym Gardner of Clarksville, Tenn., have steady, stay-at-home jobs.

Simmons and Gardner are among 500 contract workers for Democracy Data & Communications (DDC), an Alexandria company that specializes in lobbying from the grass roots. DDC pays the two women to spend much of their day telephoning people around the country and asking them to sign letters to Congress that press for legislation.

The workers are paid $10 to $15 an hour, depending on their expertise. DDC says lobby groups pay the company $75 to $125 per letter sent, depending on the difficulty of the campaign.

Whether lawmakers know it or not -- and some might be disappointed to learn -- the practice is not only common but growing. Interest groups, preparing for a new president and the sweeping initiatives he no doubt will launch, are increasingly hiring folks like Simmons and Gardner to build lists of voters-back-home who can be called upon to contact Washington.

The seemingly heartfelt letters they produce are among the most persuasive kinds of communications that Congress receives, polls of congressional offices have shown.

Grass-roots recruiters such as Simmons and Gardner act as both salespeople and reporters. They try to persuade the people they call to send a letter on a specific topic and then compose a draft of the missive -- subject to the person's approval -- based on the stories they hear. The people contacted mail, e-mail or fax the letters to their lawmakers in Washington.

The object, said B.R. McConnon III, chief executive of DDC, "is to find real people with real stories."

Simmons, 49, is, in fact, a former journalist. Gardner, 35, once worked in marketing for NASCAR. Both say they enjoy their jobs because they get to talk to people all day and don't have to commute to work. For Simmons, that could mean a 300-mile trek to Fairbanks.

"I work from 30 to 40 hours a week and I'm free to set my own schedule; that sometimes includes weekend work," Simmons said. "I love it. I love all the people I've had the pleasure to speak with. I've learned a lot. I've worked on issues that range from animal testing to Medicare."

"We have a database of folks to contact who for whatever reason have expressed an interest in the issue of the day," Simmons explained. "I try to describe the issue. If they are interested, then I generally go through a series of questions. At the end, I ask them if they want to have a letter composed based on the information they shared with me."

Simmons said she produces an average of one letter per hour. Gardner gins up between four and eight letters a day, she said. And she is happy for the work. "I live in a small town where there aren't a lot of good-paying jobs," she said.

Still, letters from individuals make up a small fraction of the communications to lawmakers. Many, many more contacts are done by e-mail, through millions of messages generated by interest-group Web sites.

DDC will not say who its clients are. But it must have a lot of them. Last year it had 39 projects of this kind. This year, in anticipation of a busy time for advocates from the grass roots in 2009, its pace is even faster.

Ecuador Duel

Two Washington heavyweights have been brought into the fight over how to pay for the repair of an environmental mess in, of all places, Ecuador.

Democratic lobbyist Ben Barnes has been hired by Kohn Swift & Graf, a Philadelphia law firm that's bankrolling a lawsuit in Ecuador to force Chevron to pay potentially billions of dollars to clean up some oil fields and their environs down there -- a controversy that's been simmering for years.

Barnes said he is hoping to raise the dispute's profile in Congress and elsewhere in Washington. He wants to put heat on the company to acknowledge the contamination and agree to fix it.

Chevron says that the suit is without merit and that the company and its predecessor in Ecuador did the required remediation long ago. It has been using McLarty Associates, headed by former Clinton White House chief of staff Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty III, to help it deal with the government of Ecuador, a spokesman for McLarty said.

Hire of the Week

A well-known Washington pilot is about to take the controls of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Craig L. Fuller, 57, a former vice presidential chief of staff to George H.W. Bush, has been named the organization's new president, replacing Phil Boyer, who is slated to retire at the end of the year.

Fuller has held a variety of jobs since leaving the White House. He was president of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and led the board of directors practice for Korn/Ferry International, an executive search firm.

Through it all, he has been a pilot, which makes his fit in the new position much easier. Fuller learned to fly when he was in high school and still logs at least 200 hours a year in his Beech Bonanza A36.

"Craig is a committed 40-year pilot, aircraft owner and AOPA member," said William C. Trimble III, the association's chairman. "He is as comfortable with fellow pilots and 'hangar talk' as he is facing a congressional committee."

Gas Stations Push Back

You're not the only one angry about high fuel prices. So are the middlemen who bring it to you: owners of gas stations, deliverers of heating oil and proprietors of truck stops.

Their lobby group, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, is battling back in the particular way that it can. It has distributed brochures, countertop posters and pump-top signs that carry a single message: Stop the high-finance speculation that it maintains is adding to the price.

"Hedge funds and investment bankers are gaming the system, using loopholes to drive up the cost of energy and reap record profits," reads a card meant for display on gas station counters.

The card goes on to suggest that customers visit a Web site, http://www.stopoilspeculators.com, and use it to send a message of protest to Congress.

"Consumers have been at the mercy of Wall Street traders for too long," said Dan Gilligan, president of the association. "We hope to ignite a firestorm of attention over the unchecked trading that these speculators continue to engage in."

Financial institutions, by the way, disagree with Gilligan and his group, and are telling lawmakers directly that it would be a bad idea to rein in investments in energy contracts.

Failing American Infrastructure

Things are reaching a critical state, as conditions here at home have continued to be left to chance.  Is anyone paying attention?  With all of the other things demanding American’s attention, can anyone focus on this issue?  Where are all the potential whistleblowers who have first hand knowledge of problems in this arena? -GFS

Midwest Floods Spotlight Decrepit Infrastructure

Tuesday 01 July 2008

From Truthout.Org

by: Andrew Stern, Reuters

Flooding in Iowa devastated Michael Papich's funeral home in Cedar Rapids. The flooding in the Midwest has reminded policymakers of the decrepit state of the US infrastructure.
(Photo: Kari Lydersen / The Washington Post)

    Chicago - The latest U.S. natural disaster is triggering fresh rounds of concern and debate about how to repair America's aging infrastructure.

    The worst Midwest flooding since 1993 has generated images of swamped towns, cracked roads, washed-out bridges, overwhelmed dams, failed levees, broken sewage systems, stunted crops and water-logged refugees. The losses are in the billions of dollars and still mounting, as the costs of crop losses alone send shocks through the inflation-wracked world food system and threaten insurers.

    The disaster has reminded policymakers of the decrepit state of U.S. infrastructure, stirring concerns similar to those following the deadly Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007 and the flooding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

    Even before the latest flooding, a group representing engineers said the United States needed to spend about $1 trillion more than it does now to bring infrastructure up to par with modern needs and standards.

    "The patch-and-pray approach simply won't succeed," said David Mongan, head of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

    But the group also said its five-year cost estimate was outdated and does not count the price of new roads, rails, and sewers required by a growing population, nor the cost to repair damage inflicted by the recent Midwest floods.

    President George W. Bush has asked Congress for $1.8 billion to boost funds for flood recovery but it is unclear how much of that money will end up in infrastructure repair.

    Presidential candidates vying to succeed him have each promised quick action in Congress and offered some ideas for the larger task of repairing infrastructure.

    Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has proposed creating a $60 billion fund for infrastructure projects, funded by money saved by a promised withdrawal from the war in Iraq.

    "This can be the moment when we make a generational commitment to rebuild our infrastructure," Obama told business executives in Pittsburgh last week.

    Everywhere You Look

    Each need sounds dire: new wastewater treatment so sewage does not taint the same waterways that supply drinking water; repairs or replacements for thousands of corroded bridges; new and repaired dams and levees that will not fail; and upgrades to airports and air traffic control.

    "We need profound changes," said engineer Kumares Sinha of Purdue University. "We can't live in a fool's paradise."

    While rising economic powers China and India build highways and other large projects, U.S. infrastructure - once the envy of the world - has fallen into decline, Sinha said.

    Two federal commissions since Katrina have tackled the issue and Congress is mulling proposals for a full-scale assessment of the nation's infrastructure needs and an infrastructure "bank" to loan money for projects.

    But Sinha and other experts said the analysis should go deeper to reflect an economy likely to face higher fuel prices for the foreseeable future. Policymakers need to consider new methods of reducing road congestion, for example, whether by charging more to use them or exacting fees for entering city centers, which will generate revenue for mass transit.

    The nation also may have to reconsider its lukewarm commitment to passenger rail service, experts said.

    Government funding for some infrastructure needs has declined, such as for wastewater plants. Municipalities hike taxes or fees to repair ancient pipes prone to bursting.

    "Everybody is drinking somebody's waste water," said Susan Bruninga of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.

    The state of Illinois is weighing its first capital improvement project in a decade, hoping to back $31 billion in bonds by leasing the lottery and building a casino in Chicago.

    More immediate priorities will emerge as Midwest floodwaters recede. People in some small towns in Indiana and Illinois are still virtually cut off because of flooded or damaged roads, officials said.

    Bridges that were already suspect received a battering from surging floodwaters, requiring thorough inspections. Scores of river levees were overtopped or gave way, while others were weakened and may need replacing, said Timothy Kusky, a flood expert at Saint Louis University.

    A repeat of the flooding is likely because climate change will make the Midwest wetter in the next 30 years, he said.

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    (Editing by Peter Bohan and Bill Trott.)

http://www.truthout.org/article/midwest-floods-spotlight-decrepit-infrastructure»

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A Difficult Road for Defense Whistleblowers

A reader sent this article about Defense Whistleblower, Carol Czarkowski, to me.  I post it here for you as it was sent to me.  –GFS

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Left Behind: Intelligence Agencies

Employees working at intelligence agencies have been excluded from

protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act, including "the

Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National

Security Agency, and certain other intelligence agencies excluded by the

President."44

The case of Navy whistleblower Carol Czarkowski illustrates how

Intelligence agency exclusions can be abused.

After Czarkowski filed her Whistleblower Protection Act complaint and the Navy failed to get her case dismissed, it retroactively declared her ineligible for protection under the law because her office was designated an "intelligenceagency."45

Members of the Senate have observed that the ability to invoke the intelligence agency exemption ex post facto is problematic, noting that the Navy sought the exemption "over a year into whistleblower litigation" and only "after the [Merit Systems Protection]

Board rejected an earlier effort to avoid litigation on a different

basis."46

Czarkowski appealed the attempt to retroactively exempt her from whistleblower protections under the intelligence agency exemption.

She won that appeal in the Federal Circuit Court in 2004. Five years after being fired and filing her initial complaint with the Office of

Special Counsel, Czarkowksi is only now headed toward legal proceedings that will deal with the merits of her case.

Through the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998, Congress asserted that it had the right to receive classified information from whistleblowers working for intelligence agencies in the case of "serious or flagrant" problems. However, Congress failed to provide a legal remedy for the whistleblower. The Act allows an Inspector General to investigate whistleblower retaliation. This option was already available prior to the Act and, as a result, the protections are an empty promise at best. According to one official, in the past ten years, only a dozen whistleblowers at the Pentagon ever invoked protection under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act.