Think Progress

Under the Radar

ENERGY -- REDFORD BLASTS LACK OF BUSH LEADERSHIP ON ENERGY POLICY: Last night, actor and activist Robert Redford appeared on CNN's Larry King Live to discuss rising oil prices and to promote American Progress's Kick the Oil Habit campaign (www.KickTheOilHabit.org). Redford explained, "I think it's important to see the true story being told about how we got there, why we've had a lack of political leadership on the issue and what the solutions are and how the American people, by looking at this campaign, can get involved and push, pressure their elected officials." One of the solutions Redford mentioned is to promote the usage of E-85, an alternative ethanol-based fuel. The show also highlighted a new online video calling attention to the disastrous consequences of America's addiction to oil. Watch the video and take action at KickTheOilHabit.org.

GOVERNMENT -- PENTAGON ENDANGERS NATIONAL SECURITY BY REFUSING TO FUND SECURITY CLEARANCES: On May 3, the federal government stopped granting security clearances to private-sector workers. The Defense Security Service (DSS), which grants the clearances, has a backlog of 3,000 applications, which take 12 to 24 months to process, a delay that experts say it "will undermine national security if it continues." Companies contracted by the government "will have to give unclassified pieces of classified projects to employees who aren't cleared" and "will have to pay more to attract and retain cleared employees, and they might be forced to settle on workers who don't have the desired skill." While DSS has charged that it needs more money from Congress, a new Government Accountability Office report finds that the entire process has been disrupted because the Pentagon decided to back out of a deal. Last year, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) took over the security-clearance process from the Department of Defense, which "had made a royal mess of it." The Pentagon agreed to pay OPM a 25 percent premium on top of the costs for issuing the clearances. But in the end, the Pentagon decided it wouldn't pay. To date, there has been no resolution, although the Pentagon has announced that it has found funds to resume low-level clearances.

CORRUPTION -- SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SET TO WRAP UP ABRAMOFF INVESTIGATION: Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who have headed the Indian Affairs Committee's two-year investigation into Jack Abramoff, said they will conclude their work with a final report to be issued this summer. "In the early stages of the Abramoff probes, Indian Affairs served as the most public stage for the scandal, first revealing that Abramoff and his public affairs associate Michael Scanlon had charged at least $82 million to a half-dozen tribes for lobbying and public-relations fees." (Both Scanlon and Abramoff have filed guilty pleas in federal court.) The committee's investigation showed Abramoff referred to his tribal clients in emails as "morons" and "troglodytes," and other emails showed former Christian Coalition activist Ralph Reed begging Abramoff to help him "start humping in corporate accounts." The hearings also uncovered the role Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) played "in trying to a secure provision in the 2002 electoral reform bill that would have allowed an Abramoff client to reopen its tribal casino, around the same time that the lobbyist ferried the lawmaker and others to Scotland on a trip that cost $166,000." (Ney's former chief of staff Neil Volz has also pleaded guilty to multiple federal counts.)

CORRUPTION -- FLORIDA SENATOR REFUSES TO RETURN ABRAMOFF FUNDS: In January, Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) returned $2,500 in campaign contributions from embattled Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) because, according to a statement, he wanted "to make it crystal clear to his constituents that he is not interested in any campaign donation that has even a hint of impropriety in this matter." But the Miami Herald reports today that the senator "continues to hold on to $250,000 that his 2004 campaign collected at a Washington kickoff fundraiser that was co-chaired and attended by" criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff. U.S. Senate lobbyist disclosure records show that Abramoff was registered to lobby at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the Michigan-based Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe during much of Martinez's tenure as HUD Secretary. From 2002-2004, HUD awarded the casino-wealthy tribe about $4 million, including $400,000 earmarked in 2003 for facilities for a crime-victim program. This week, Martinez spokesman Ken Lundberg said the senator would keep the $250,000, despite whatever "hint of impropriety" it might carry, because "it has nothing to do with Jack Abramoff."

Think Fast

New Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi acknowledged the true impact of the Iraq war: “We consider the war and occupation in Iraq a grave error that hasn’t solved - but has complicated - the problem of security. �€? Terrorism has found a new base and new excuses for internal and external terrorist action.”

James Tobin, a senior official in President Bush’s re-election campaign, was sentenced to 10 months in prison yesterday for his role in suppressing votes in a key U.S. Senate race. The scandal may involve the White House. U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe said, “It was a direct assault on a free and fair electoral system. We’ll never know if the wrong people are sitting in government because of this effort.”

Fighting intensifies in Afghanistan: “Heavy fighting involving several hundred Taliban fighters and Afghan and coalition forces in southern Afghanistan killed about a dozen police, a Canadian soldier and more than 30 militants.”

After 16 months of inaction, the House ethics committee will begin bribery investigations into Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and William Jefferson (D-LA). Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) will escape scrutiny from the committee because he will be leaving Congress next month, breaking Chairman Doc Hasting’s (R-WA) Apr. 2005 pledge to investigate the former House Majority Leader.

The Senate yesterday passed immigration amendments that would “build 370 miles of triple-layered fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border” and would require all native-born and immigrants workers to “submit their names to two huge federal databases to verify their legal status before taking any new job.”

President Bush is preparing to “turn to a familiar administration partner” to help secure the U.S. border with Mexico — giant military contractors. The winning contractor will secure an estimated $2 billion over the next three to six years to build a “virtual fence.”

Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said, “[T]he risks to inflation are perhaps the most significant at the moment.” Consumer prices rose by 0.6 percent in April, fueling concerns the Fed might keep pushing interest rates up to fend off inflation. Higher prices are cutting into consumers’ purchasing power and dampening the outlook for economic growth.

Americans digging out from under more debt: “Soaring housing prices and aggressive mortgage lending have saddled home buyers with ever greater levels of debt, and early signs are now emerging that more people are unable to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments.”

The talk of a 30,000 troop drawdown really was a headfake. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld “said he cannot guarantee that there will be substantial withdrawals of U.S. troops from Iraq this year.” While Rumsfeld hopes for a drawdown, he “can’t promise it.”

And finally: In Pennsylvania, the “nifty write-in feature on the new electronic voting machines attracted something different in Tuesday’s election: profanity.” Luzerne County Election Bureau Director Leonard Piazza was offended most by “a pair of ‘c’ words which appeared several times.” The Wilkes-Barre Times Leader reports that such profanity was “rare on the lever machines. Voters who wanted to be naughty generally stuck to storybook and cartoon characters.”