Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign. Schumer said Gonzales has “been even more political than his predecessor, Attorney General Ashcroft,”
The Failed Attorney General
Published: March 11, 2007
During the hearing on his nomination as attorney general, Alberto Gonzales said he understood the difference between the job he held — President Bush’s in-house lawyer — and the job he wanted, which was to represent all Americans as their chief law enforcement officer and a key defender of the Constitution. Two years later, it is obvious Mr. Gonzales does not have a clue about the difference.
He has never stopped being consigliere to Mr. Bush’s imperial presidency. If anyone, outside Mr. Bush’s rapidly shrinking circle of enablers, still had doubts about that, the events of last week should have erased them.
First, there was Mr. Gonzales’s lame op-ed article in USA Today trying to defend the obviously politically motivated firing of eight United States attorneys, which he dismissed as an “overblown personnel matter.” Then his inspector general exposed the way the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been abusing yet another unnecessary new power that Mr. Gonzales helped wring out of the Republican-dominated Congress in the name of fighting terrorism.
The F.B.I. has been using powers it obtained under the Patriot Act to get financial, business and telephone records of Americans by issuing tens of thousands of “national security letters,” a euphemism for warrants that are issued without any judicial review or avenue of appeal. The administration said that, as with many powers it has arrogated since the 9/11 attacks, this radical change was essential to fast and nimble anti terrorism efforts, and it promised to police the use of the letters carefully.
But like so many of the administration’s promises, this one evaporated before the ink on those letters could dry. The F.B.I. director, Robert Mueller, admitted Friday that his agency had used the new powers improperly.
Snip
We opposed Mr. Gonzales’s nomination as attorney general. His résumé was weak, centered around producing legal briefs for Mr. Bush that assured him that the law said what he wanted it to say. More than anyone in the administration, except perhaps Vice President Dick Cheney, Mr. Gonzales symbolizes Mr. Bush’s disdain for the separation of powers, civil liberties and the rule of law.
On Thursday, Senator Arlen Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, hinted very obliquely that perhaps Mr. Gonzales’s time was up. We’re not going to be oblique. Mr. Bush should dismiss Mr. Gonzales and finally appoint an attorney general who will use the job to enforce the law and defend the Constitution.
Feds tried to cut aid
Limits sought on help for ill workers
By Ann Imse And Laura Frank, Rocky Mountain News
March 10, 2007
Federal officials secretly schemed to limit payouts for sick and dying nuclear weapons workers, including thousands from the Rocky Flats plant outside Denver, newly released documents show.
The officials responsible for helping those workers went behind their boss's back, called on White House officials for help and tried to hide their efforts, according to internal e-mails and memos obtained by a congressional committee and posted on its Web site.
They also wanted to get the White House to override scientific decisions granting compensation and pack the program's advisory board with members less sympathetic to workers.
Labor officials say the plans were never carried out, and they deny trying to hide them.
The U.S. Department of Labor oversees the program to compensate workers whose illnesses can be tied to working with radioactive and other toxic materials at nuclear weapons plants, such as the now-defunct Rocky Flats.
More than 60,000 ill atomic bomb makers, including thousands from Rocky Flats, have sought help. About 16,000 workers nationwide have received a total of $2.6 billion. Far more have been denied or still are waiting for help.
IWD is now an official holiday in Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.
The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality.
When governments and women's rights campaigners mark International Women's Day today, spare a thought for the plight of women in impoverished developing countries where campaigners are taking huge personal risks to work for equality and freedom. Across Guatemala, women will be demonstrating to demand that their government takes action to halt the slaughter of women which has reached such levels that it has been named a "femicide."
The statistics are stark: everywhere you look in the developing world, women's rights are under threat, be it from sex trafficking, denial of education or job discrimination.
Figures compiled by the British government, development agencies and human rights groups resemble a roll call of shame:
* Two-thirds of the world's 800 million illiterate adults are women as girls are not seen as worth the investment, or are busy collecting water or firewood or doing other domestic chores.
* Two million girls aged from five to 15 join the commercial sex market every year.
* Domestic violence kills and injures more people in the developing world than war, cancer or traffic accidents.
* Seventy per cent of the world's poorest people are women.
* Violence against women causes more deaths and disabilities among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war.
* Women produce half the world's food, but own less than two per cent of the land.
* Of the more than one billion people living in extreme poverty, 70 per cent are women.
* Almost a third of the world's women are homeless or live in inadequate housing.
* Half of all murdered women are killed by their current or former husbands or partners.
* Every minute a woman dies as a result of pregnancy complications.
* Women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, yet earn only a tenth of its income.
* One woman in three will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime.
* 43 million girls are not able to go to school.
* Last year, one million HIV-positive women died of AIDS-related illnesses because they could not get the drugs they needed.
* Human Rights Watch, in reports on 15 countries including Afghanistan, Brazil, Morocco, Papua New Guinea, Togo and South Africa, has identified violence against schoolgirls, child domestic workers and those in conflict with the law as on the rise.
* Women across the developing world are the victims of systematic abuse.
Despite pledges at the landmark 1995 Beijing women's conference to boost the number of women in government, progress has been scant and slow. According to a report compiled by the international think tank, the Salzburg Seminar, only 13 out of 193 countries have 25 per cent or more women in government decision-making positions. In 1994, the percentage of women holding ministerial rank was 6.2 per cent. In 2005, the figure was 6.8 per cent - a rise of 0.6 per cent.
There is a bill in congress- The Global Poverty Act, which I think we should all be calling our reps about- Your stats could change dramatically with just a slight push. And since poverty is part of the fuel that lights a fire of violence don't you think we should be doing everything in our power to end it??!
Panel slams banks over credit practices
By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer
An Ohio man whose $3,200 credit card debt mushroomed to $10,700 with interest and fees told his story Wednesday to senators who denounced the industry for confusing billing practices and shifting interest rates.
Executives of three major banks defended their credit card practices as responsible and responsive to consumers' needs in testimony at the hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' investigative subcommittee. Those from Citigroup Inc. and Chase Bank USA said their companies were eliminating some practices — including the one that hit Wesley Wannemacher of Lima, Ohio, with over-limit fees on his Chase card account 47 times although he went over his credit limit only three times.
The interest charges and fees on Wannemacher's account more than tripled his debt despite his having made payments averaging $1,000 a year over six years, noted Sen. Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record), D-Mich., the subcommittee's chairman.
"Unfair? Clearly, I think," Levin said. He said an investigation by the panel found that "sky-high interest charges and fees are not uncommon in the credit card industry. While the Wannemacher account happened to be at Chase, penalty interest rates and fees are also employed by Bank of America, Citigroup and other major credit card issuers."
Richard Srednicki, the chief executive officer of Chase Card Services, apologized to Wannemacher in his testimony. "In this case, we simply blew it," he said.
Srednicki said the company has decided it no longer will charge over-the-credit-limit fees to customers who have been in a chronic over-limit position for 90 days.
Wannemacher used a new Chase card in 2001 and 2002 to pay for expenses mostly related to his wedding. He had $3,200 in purchases, interest charges of $4,900, 47 over-limit charges totaling $1,500, late fees of $1,100, for total charges of $10,700 as of February. He paid $6,300, leaving a $4,400 balance — which Chase agreed to waive after he contacted the subcommittee staff.
"Debt seems to invoke a feeling of hopelessness unlike any other problem I've encountered," Wannemacher testified at the hearing. "When a debtor calls you on the phone and you make a minimum payment, you know that you've made no real progress and that in a month, they will be calling again."
To say it was tense in the courtroom as we were waiting for a verdict would be an understatement. My heart was pounding in my chest as it all started to become real for me, all we'd done, how far we'd come.
Libby was stoic and Mrs. Libby daubed her eyes as the verdict was read. Nobody on the prosecution showed much emotion but Zeidenberg held his head in his hands. Libby himself was seated between Wells and Jeffress. He did not move.
Afterwards Mrs. Libby came up and hugged Jeffress profusely, then Wells, saying "love you, love you" with much emotion. Then all the rest of the defense team. She didn't hug Scooter however, or hold his hand, or even make eye contact.
Wells said he would make a statement in the hallway in 10 minutes, and Fitzgerald will give one on the courthouse steps.
It's a good day to be an American, huh?
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) confirmed that as Judiciary Committee chairman last year he made a last-minute change to a bill that expanded the administration's power to install U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval.
Seizing upon the new authority granted by Congress last March, the White House has pushed out several U.S. Attorneys, and begun to replace them without the Senate's consent.
"I can confirm for you that yes, it was a Specter provision," a spokesperson for the senator wrote to me in an email earlier today, responding to repeated inquiries. Earlier we reported that Specter had been fingered for the last-minute change, made in a select Republicans-only meeting after the House and Senate had voted on earlier versions.
At an oversight hearing this morning, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) grilled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales over the sudden departure of several U.S. Attorneys at the administration's request.
"How many U.S. Attorneys have been asked to resign in the past year?" Feinstein asked Gonzales.
"You're asking me to get into a public discussion" of personnel issues, Gonzales replied.
"I'm asking you to give me a number."
"I don't know the answer to that question," said Gonzales.
"If we take a break for lunch," Leahy asked him, "would it be possible to get the number Sen. Feinstein asked for?"
Gonzales fished around for an answer, and finally answered, "I think so." But then he said he couldn't get into a public discussion of personnel matters.
"I don't care about the people," Leahy shot back. "Just get us the numbers."
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is slated to lead a hearing before the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 7 on the topic of "Preserving Prosecutorial Independence: Is the Department of Justice Politicizing the Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys?" No witnesses have been announced.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) bill to fix the loophole allowing administration appointees to U.S. attorney spots to serve indefinitely could see some action. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee panel, expressed "qualified support" for the measure and asked to work with Feinstein on it, according to his spokeswoman, Courtney Boone.
An Arkansas lawyer has risen to challenge the law which allows the administration to circumvent Senate approval when installing new U.S. Attorneys.
On behalf of his client, an alleged crack cocaine dealer who's accused of killing a man he'd robbed to prevent him from talking to the police, Little Rock lawyer John Hall has challenged the appointment of Timothy Griffin, the recently-appointed U.S. Attorney for eastern Arkansas with close ties to the White House.
Griffin's resume is long on Republican bona fides and short on the sort of law experience usually expected of U.S. Attorneys. He was installed by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and thanks to a measure slipped into the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act last year, may never face Senate confirmation.
Hall's motion argues that because Griffin's appointment circumvented Senate confirmation, it was unconstitutional -- thus rendering the prosecution of his client invalid. "Contrary to the [Justice Department], I've actually read the Constitution a few times," Hall told us.
Section 502 of the PATRIOT Act reauthorization, which was first drafted in July of 2005 and finally signed in March of 2006, changed the law regarding the appointment of U.S. Attorneys. Whereas before the relevant federal district court would have appointed a replacement within 120 days after the Attorney General picked one, now that pick stood without challenge.
In order to replace several U.S. Attorneys with handpicked successors, the Bush Administration has relied on a tiny, obscure provision tucked into last year's USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act.
How did it get there?
Former Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) slipped the language into the bill at the very last minute, according to one of the Republican managers of the bill.
A spokesperson for Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who led the House team working on the bill, said that the provision was inserted by Specter into the final draft of the bill. The language was apparently requested by the Justice Department. Specter's office didn't respond to numerous requests for comment.
Earlier versions of the bill did not contain the provision, which grants authority to the Attorney General to replace U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval. When the House and the Senate first voted in favor of the legislation, the provision did not exist.
Instead, the tweak was inserted during the conference committee, where lawmakers from the House and Senate reconcile discrepancies in the two versions and craft a final bill.
In an unusual move, Republicans blocked Democrats from participating in many of the committee's activities.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is mounting a PR effort to rebuff suggestions that the recent spate of administration-forced resignations of U.S. Attorneys may be politically motivated.
"Nothing could be further from the truth,” he told the Associated Press.
“We are fully committed to ensuring that, with respect to every position, we have a Senate-confirmed, presidentially appointed U.S. attorney. . . We in no way politicize these decisions.”
Since the November elections, Gonzales' department has requested resignations from several U.S. attorneys. The only known replacements have been political appointees that do not receive Senate confirmation, thanks to a recent change in law.
Feinstein had earlier joined other senators in questioning the qualifications of one of the Bush-appointed replacements, Tim Griffin, a 37-year-old Karl Rove protege with a background in opposition research on behalf of GOP campaigns.
In his AP interview, Gonzales explained his expanded powers were necessary because federal judges -- who previously had appointed replacement U.S. attorneys -- were susceptible to cronyism and might appoint unqualified candidates.
The head of the FBI's San Diego office and several former federal prosecutors are publicly questioning the politics behind the Bush administration's effort to force Carole Lam to resign as U.S. Attorney for San Diego.
Lam focused her office's efforts on public corruption, including the sprawling Duke Cunningham scandal. That investigation has touched several Republican lawmakers, leading some to speculate that Lam brought political heat down on herself with that probe, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Strange days? Less than a week after news broke that the Bush administration has forced the resignation of San Diego U.S. attorney Carole Lam, we learn that it has done the same to Daniel Bogden, U.S. attorney for Nevada.
According to today's Las Vegas Review-Journal, no one seems to know why he's been asked to leave before his term expires in 2008. As in Lam's ouster, there appear to be no charges of wrongdoing against Bogden.
During a floor speech on the topic moments ago, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said the White House has told her it was replacing from five to 10 Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys with its own interim appointees.
We know of seven who have left during the last couple of months, many under unusual circumstances. Here is our list:
San Francisco - 1/16/07 - Kevin V. Ryan - unclear
Nevada - 1/15/07 - Daniel Bogden - pushed out
San Diego - 1/12/07 - Carole Lam - pushed out
New Mexico - 12/19/06 - David Igleslias - pushed out
Arizona - 12/19/06 - Paul K. Charlton - unclear
Seattle - 12/15/06 - John McKay - unclear; likely pushed out
Little Rock (Ark.) - 12/15/06 - Bud Cummins - pushed out
Feinstein said she also knew of seven, and listed those above. Curiously, she mentioned an eigthth -- from Texas. We haven't been able to identify that one.
There is an eighth recently-departed U.S. attorney we know of, which some readers have noted: Debra Wong Yang, the former U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, Calif. Yang was overseeing the investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA). She announced her resignation in October 2006, but to date there hasn't been evidence that her departure was forced.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) hit the administration hard on the floor of the Senate this morning for its unexplained "forced resignations" of federal prosecutors around the country.
The administration is replacing U.S. Attorneys throughout the country. How'd they get that power?
It was an obscure provision in the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act, and it didn't take them very long to use it. The president signed it into law in March of last year -- by June, they were already moving to replace unwanted prosecutors.
Former Arkansas USA Bud Cummins told the Wall Street Journal that "a top Justice official asked for his resignation in June, saying the White House wanted to give another person the opportunity to serve." Cummins was finally forced out in December, replaced with Timothy Griffin, formerly the research director of the Republican National Committee.
Section 502 of the PATRIOT Act reauthorization, which was first drafted in July of 2005 and finally signed in March of 2006, changed the law regarding the appointment of U.S. Attorneys. Whereas before the relevant federal district court would have appointed a replacement within 120 days after the Attorney General picked one, now that pick stood without challenge.
Cheney has blood clot in leg, not hospitalized
12 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Doctors found a blood clot in Vice President Dick Cheney's left leg on Monday but he was not admitted to a hospital and will be treated with blood thinning medication, his office said.
Cheney, who has a history of heart troubles, went to his doctor's office after he "experienced mild calf discomfort," his office said in a statement.
"An ultrasound revealed a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or 'blood clot' in his left lower leg," it said. "His doctors will treat him with blood thinning medication for several months. The vice president has returned to the White House to resume his schedule."
Walter Reed Hearing to Put Spotlight on Kiley's Leadership
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 5, 2007; Page A09
When the first congressional hearing about the care of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center opens this morning in a campus auditorium, many eyes will turn to Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who has served as the Army's top doctor since he gave up command of the hospital in 2004. The hearing will allow Kiley to explain why bureaucratic tangles and horrid conditions made life so difficult for outpatients at the Army's premier hospital, while also likely putting him in a position of defending his job.
Though members of Congress have called for Kiley to step down and take responsibility for the problems at Walter Reed, he has been spared so far. Other leaders have not been so fortunate: Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, the hospital's commander the past six months, was fired on Thursday, and Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey was forced to resign on Friday, in part because he appointed Kiley to temporarily take over Weightman's job.
Kiley, the commander of Walter Reed from 2002 to 2004, has been accused of being brash and indifferent to concerns raised about problems there. After a series of Washington Post articles described the outpatient conditions at Walter Reed, Kiley said the problems "weren't serious and there weren't a lot of them," and that they were not "emblematic of a process of Walter Reed that has abandoned soldiers and their families."
FLASHBACK: In 2005, Kiley Covered Up Abuse At Military Detention Centers
Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley commanded Walter Reed from 2002-2004. Recent reports show that Kiley knew about the neglect and deplorable conditions there for years. In one stunning case, Kiley took no action when personally informed that a soldier was sleeping in his own urine. He continues to skirt responsibility for the neglect, calling the Washington Post’s Walter Reed investigation “yellow journalism at its worst.”
But this scandal isn’t the first time Kiley has tried to play down “allegations of concerns with the Army medical community.” In 2005, his office conducted a review of medical personnel overseas, after multiple reports alleging their roles in detainee abuse.
– A report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that “U.S. Army doctors violated the Geneva Conventions by helping intelligence officers carry out abusive interrogations at military detention centers, perhaps participating in torture.”
– A 2004 study in The Lancet, a prestigious British medical journal, found that medical personnel “collaborated with interrogators or abusive guards and failed to properly report injuries or deaths caused by beatings.”
In a July 7 press conference, Kiley denied these reports and gave the system a positive review:
We found no evidence of systemic problems in detainee medical care. … And so in summary, the assessment results demonstrate that the nation can be proud of our military medical professionals. We have a dedicated team of them working every day to provide quality health care for each patient they treat, whether a U.S. service member, coalition troop or detainee. The assessment clearly demonstrates that military medical professionals reported suspected abuse in the overwhelming majority of cases.
The Food and Drug Administration may be poised to approve a controversial antibiotic for cattle despite fears it could hurt human health, The Washington Post reported in Sunday's edition.
The drug, called cefquinome, is a fourth-generation cephalosporin, a class of antibiotics used for a range of human diseases including serious gastrointestinal diseases in children and meningitis.
The fear is that using such drugs in animals can lead to the emergence of new drug-resistant "superbugs" which will be immune to similar drugs when used in people.
The overuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals has already helped such bacteria evolve, and infectious disease experts have been warning doctors to use them more judiciously.
The FDA's own advisors, the Veterinary Medical Advisory Committee, voiced such concerns when they voted in September to reject approval of cefquinome by InterVet Inc. of Millsboro, Del., which makes it.
Yet the Post quoted experts as saying the FDA was moving toward approval anyway, overriding the advice of the panel, the American Medical Association and other health groups.
The Post said the FDA was being pressured to approve the drug because of an internal guidance document called "Guidance for Industry #152" on how to weigh threats to human health from by proposed new animal drugs.
It quoted experts saying the rule makes it difficult for the FDA to deny a new animal drug unless it is likely to threaten the effectiveness of an antibiotic critical in treating food-borne illness.
Microbes are constantly mutating, and some of those mutations happen to confer immunity to one drug or another. Exacerbating the problem, bacteria constantly exchange bits of DNA with each other, spreading that resistance.
Given those realities, experts agree that all antibiotics should be used judiciously.
"If a drug is used less, then less resistance emerges," said Patricia Griffin, chief of the CDC's enteric disease epidemiology branch.
Prudence is especially important for medicines of last resort, which is why the cefquinome application stirred such a storm.
Cefquinome is a fourth-generation cephalosporin, the most recent of several steadily improving versions of the cephalosporin family of antibiotics. Only one medicine from that family has been approved in the United States - a powerful human drug called cefepime (brand name Maxipime), which is the only effective treatment for serious infections in cancer patients and a reliable life-saver against several other nearly invincible infections.
Waxman to Force Walter Reed Ex-Chief to Talk About Problems Contract
March 02, 2007 3:42 PM
Justin Rood and Anna Schecter Report:
A powerful Democratic congressman is challenging the Pentagon, which is attempting to block the former chief of Walter Reed Army Medical Center from testifying before Congress next week.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Henry Waxman, D-Calif., wants to ask Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman about a contract to manage the medical center awarded to a company that had documented troubles fulfilling a government contract to deliver ice to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The Pentagon has refused to allow Weightman to testify. Waxman's staff has confirmed the congressman planned to issue his first subpoena as a committee chairman this session to legally compel Weightman's testimony if the Pentagon did not relent.
According to a letter from Waxman to Weightman posted today on the committee's Web site, the chairman believes the Walter Reed contract may have pushed dozens of health care workers to leave jobs at the troubled medical center, which he says in turn threatened the quality of care for hundreds of military personnel receiving treatment there.
Weightman had been slated to testify before Congress on Monday. The Army has tried to withdraw him from the hearing. Waxman's office confirmed the congressman plans to force the officer to appear by issuing a subpoena for his testimony.
Update: Since this report was published, the Pentagon has reversed its position and is allowing Weightman to testify before Waxman's panel on Monday. An earlier version of this post stated Waxman had issued a subpoena to compel Weightman's testimony; in fact, Waxman had threatened to do so, but the Pentagon changed its stance before such a subpoena was issued.
Yellow ribbons dwindle with war support
By Andrew Ward in Atlanta
Published: March 2 2007 22:18 | Last updated: March 2 2007 23:02
For three years after the invasion of Iraq, it was difficult to drive more than a few miles through middle America without seeing a car displaying a magnetic yellow ribbon.
The magnets, bearing the slogan “Support Our Troops”, became a symbol of patriotism for millions of US motorists.
But as support for the war fades, demand for yellow ribbons has collapsed.
Magnet America, the largest manufacturer of the product, has seen sales fall from a peak of 1.2m in August 2004 to about 4,000 a month and now has an unsold stockpile of about 1m magnets.
“We have enough supplies to meet demand for years to come,” said Micah Pattisall, director of operations. “Every product has a lifespan and this one has run its course.”
At its peak, the North Carolina-based company employed 180 people to handle sales, marketing and distribution. Today, it employs 11 people.
Mr Pattisall said declining support for the war was not the only reason for the slump.
A flood of cheap imports from China also hurt the company, which has refused to shift production overseas even though it costs three times as much to manufacture in the US.
Only about half a dozen companies are still supplying the magnets compared with up to 200 at the height of the fad, according to Mr Pattisall.
Army secretary resigns in scandal's wake
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for war-wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Harvey's departure, announced on short notice by a visibly agitated Defense Secretary Robert Gates, was the most dramatic move in an escalating removal of officials with responsibilities over one of the military's highest-profile and busiest medical facilities.
Hours earlier, President Bush ordered a comprehensive review of conditions at the nation's network of military and veteran hospitals, which has been overwhelmed by injured troops from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gates said Harvey had resigned, but senior defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity said Gates had privately demanded that Harvey leave. Gates was displeased that the officer Harvey had chosen as interim commander of Walter Reed — Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the current Army surgeon general and a former commander of Walter Reed — has been accused by critics of long knowing about the problems there and not improving outpatient care.
"I am disappointed that some in the Army have not adequately appreciated the seriousness of the situation pertaining to outpatient care at Walter Reed," Gates said in the Pentagon briefing room. He took no questions from reporters.
Harvey was at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday morning when he cut short his visit to return to Washington to meet with Gates.
On Thursday, Harvey fired the medical center's previous commander, Maj. Gen. George Weightman, for failures linked to the outpatient treatment controversy. Many had speculated that Weightman would be relieved of command, but Harvey's departure was a surprise. His last day in the job will be March 9.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Former Head of Walter Reed Hospital to Testify Before National Security Subcommittee
Chairman Henry A. Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman John Tierney sent a letter to Major General George W. Weightman, former Commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, regarding the privatization of support services at Walter Reed and its impact on the conditions at Walter Reed. In addition, Chairman Waxman signed a subpoena to compel Major General Weightman's testimony at the Subcommittee’s March 5 hearing, but the subpoena was not served when new Acting Secretary of the Army Peter Geren authorized General Weightman to testify before the Committee without compulsory process.
Witness list:
Specialist Jeremy Duncan
Annette McLeod, Wife of Cpl. Wendell “Dell” McLeod
Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon
Lieutenant General Kevin C. Kiley, M.D., U.S. Army Surgeon General
Major General George W. Weightman, Commander (former), Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Ms. Cynthia A. Bascetta, Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office
General Richard A. Cody, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army
Slaughter Calls for Removal of Army Official as Head of Walter Reed
Recent Report Shows Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley Failed to Prevent Deterioration of Hospital's Outpatient Facilities
Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY-28), Chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, today sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates strongly urging him to remove Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley as the temporary head of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
"The Department of Defense needs to make a choice: does it care about our wounded veterans, or does it care about public relations?" Rep. Slaughter said today. "While I was glad to see that initial steps had been taken to change the leadership at Walter Reed, yesterday's news of Mr. Kiley's appointment was simply baffling. How can a man who stood by for years while American soldiers suffered needlessly be expected to enact real reforms?"
"The outrage of the American public over the conditions at Walter Reed will not be pacified by simply shuffling the deck," Rep. Slaughter said. "Secretary Gates must immediately remove from command anyone who allowed its facilities to fall into such a state of disrepair."
"Our wounded soldiers deserve nothing less than the best health care this country can provide and the best leadership to ensure they receive that care."
A March 1st article in the Washington Post described Lt. Gen. Kiley as having failed to act to correct unacceptable living and health-care standards at Walter Reed's outpatient facilities, despite having been told of problems multiple times over the course of three years.
The story of Lt. Gen. Kiley's appointment follows a February 28th report in the Air Force Times stating that soldiers recovering at Walter Reed have been told by officers that they are not to talk to the media, and that CNN and Discovery Channel projects focusing on Defense Department medical facilities have been put on hold by Pentagon officials.
Commenting on the story, Rep. Slaughter stated that, "Any attempt to silence the very soldiers who brought their own mistreatment to light, or to hide ongoing abuses from the public eye - if such attempts are occurring - would be morally reprehensible."
On February 20th, following an initial series of Washington Post articles detailing conditions at Walter Reed facilities, Rep. Slaughter sent a letter to Secretary Gates asking him to, "explain why the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, once the crown-jewel of military medicine, has become a bleak and frustrating place for our wounded soldiers to recover, and what the Army intends to do to restore the integrity of its medical system."
The complete text of Rep. Slaughter's March 2nd letter to Secretary Gates is included at link.
Weightman, an easygoing, open Army leader, is well respected in the military medical community and well liked among the staff at Walter Reed. He took command in August and instituted some changes to improve outpatient care. The defense official said his firing and replacement by Kiley are likely to be demoralizing to the staff at the medical center.
Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, who assumed command of Walter Reed in August, will be temporarily replaced by Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley. But the appointment of Kiley, who had earlier been the facility's commander, surprised some Defense Department officials because soldiers, their families and veterans' advocates have complained that he had long been aware of problems at Walter Reed and did nothing to improve its outpatient care.
