by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, and Benjamin Armbruster

ETHICS

Bloching Justice

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency meant to protect federal employees from "prohibited personnel practices." Since President Bush's nominee Scott Bloch took over in 2004, however, this refuge has become a nightmare for government workers. LGBT employees have to fight an anti-gay bias, workers who disagree with Bloch's policies face retaliation, and politically-sensitive whistleblower cases are dismissed. The Office of Personnel Management's Inspector General (OPM IG) has been investigating these allegations against Bloch. On May 6, FBI agents raided Bloch's home and office, focusing on whether he obstructed the federal investigation against him by erasing computer files in 2006. NPR reports that a grand jury in Washington issued 17 subpoenas overall, including for several other OSC staffers. The first employees are scheduled to testify about the allegations to a grand jury on Tuesday. Last week, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) called on Bloch to step down, stating that "it's hard to believe he can continue to operate effectively."

POLITICAL PROBES: In February 2005, critics accused OSC of "improperly dismissing hundreds of whistleblower cases that had been pending when Bloch took over," in order to simply decrease the backlog. At other times, Bloch seems to have gone after cases for political gain. In April 2005, government watchdogs complained that he allowed his office to "sit on" a complaint that Condoleezza Rice, then-National Security Adviser, had "used government funds to travel in support of President Bush's re-election bid." By contrast, Bloch had ordered an immediate investigation into whether Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) had "improperly campaigned in a government workplace," even though the complaints had been filed around the same time. Last September, career OSC investigators began looking into whether partisan politics were a factor in the prosecution of former Democratic Alabama governor Don Siegelman. But on Oct. 11, Bloch "ordered the case file be closed immediately, saying that he had not authorized it." Bloch also stopped career investigators from opening a broad probe into whether Justice Department officials "considered political affiliation in their hiring and promotion decisions."

THE 'HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA': When Bloch took over OSC, he quickly appointed a deputy who had publicly spoken out against the "homosexual agenda." Bloch also "hired young lawyers from Ave Maria Law School, the conservative Catholic school founded by Domino's Pizza billionaire Tom Monaghan." More significantly, Bloch angered employees when, in 2004, he said that it may not be illegal for the government to discriminate against workers based on their sexual orientation. Without notifying other OSC staffers, he also removed all information on the subject from the agency's website and internal documents. The Washington Blade notes, "Information classifying sexual orientation discrimination as a 'prohibited personnel practice' had been included in various OSC documents and brochures since 1995." An embarrassed White House eventually subtly rebuked Bloch by issuing a "statement reaffirming a long-standing federal prohibition against sexual-orientation discrimination, and noting that the president 'expects federal agencies to enforce this policy.'"

'GEEKS' TO THE RESCUE: Bloch has swiftly punished employees who have criticized him on his choice of cases and discriminatory policies, an example of the Bush administration's disdain for disagreement. "The Bush administration has absolutely not endorsed the concept of whistleblowing -- they see it as disloyalty," said one OSC employee. In January 2005, Bloch suddenly issued an order forcing 12 career OSC employees to accept reassignment within 10 days or face dismissal. Lawyers for the employees said that the reassigned were "those perceived to be loyal to his [Bloch's] predecessor, and those seen to have a 'homosexual agenda.'" In addition to this retaliation, the OPM IG is looking into whether Bloch violated federal laws that "guarantee federal employees the right to communicate with Congress." In early 2007, Bloch's deputy "sent staffers a memo asking them to inform OSC higher-ups when investigators contact them. Further, the memo read, employees should meet with investigators in the office, in a special conference room." Some employees raised intimidation questions, "saying the recommendations made them afraid to be interviewed in the probe." In 2006, Bloch also "erased all the files on his office personal computer," potentially as part of a cover-up. To do so, he bypassed the Office of Special Counsel's technicians and phoned Geeks on Call, the mobile PC-help service.

JUSTICE -- JUDGE ALLOWS KBR RAPE CASE TO GO TO TRIAL: Last December, Jamie Leigh Jones, a former employee of Iraq contracting company KBR, revealed that she was gang-raped by coworkers while working in Iraq and then silenced by the company in a shipping container. KBR said that Jones's contract allowed only for a private arbitration, "without public record or transcript," rather than a criminal trial. On Friday, however, a federal judge ruled that Jones can take her claims to trial. "The decision has opened the door for other American women who have reported sexual assaults in similar circumstances to challenge clauses in their employment contracts restricting such claims to private arbitration and keeping them out of court," the Times of London notes. "This court does not believe that plaintiff's bedroom should be considered the workplace, even though her housing was provided by her employer," Judge Keith Ellison wrote, arguing that KBR's arbitration-only clause does not apply. However, the judge also ruled that "a sexual harassment claim that Jones included in her case against her supervisor in Texas would have to be decided in arbitration." Since Jones told her story, at least a dozen other KBR employees have contacted her to say they suffered similar assaults. TORTURE -- SANDS: BUSH'S TORTURE ARCHITECTS ARE 'WEASELING OUT' OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR CRIMES: During an interview with PBS's Bill Moyers last Friday, Philippe Sands, renowned international lawyer and professor at University College London, said that in interviews with key Bush administration officials for his new book, Torture Team, he found that architects of the administration's torture program such as former Pentagon official Douglas Feith are refusing to recognize their involvement in the program. In essence, they may have been "complicit in the commission of a crime," Sands noted. "There was not a hint of recognition that anything had gone wrong, nor a hint of recognition of individual responsibility." In a recent House hearing, Sands said that based on Britain's experience with the IRA, "coercion doesn't work." Sands said the use of torture against the IRA "extended the conflict" by 15 to 20 years, adding that "one of the great regrets that I have is that the [Bush] administration never seemed to turn for advice to its closest allies and asked them 'what was your experience when you faced a similar situation?'" Sands also rejected the term "war on terror," which he said "transform[s] criminals into warriors." He said by using such language, "[Y]ou create a context in which they are able to recruit in their struggle." RADICAL RIGHT -- RIGHT WING DOCTORS AUDIO CLIPS TO DISTORT GORE'S COMMENTS ABOUT MYANMAR CYCLONE: Last week, the Business & Media Institute (BMI), a right-wing front group founded by Brent Bozell, spliced and doctored an NPR interview of Al Gore in order to allege that Gore said something that he did not. The organization published a false headline claiming Gore called the recent Myanmar cyclone a "consequence" of global warming. But in the NPR interview, Gore asserted that melting polar ice caps (which are unequivocally due to global warming) -- not cyclones -- were a "consequence" of global warming. BMI inverted Gore's comments to make it seem like his remarks about the cyclones followed from his remarks about "the consequences of global warming." Last week, Fox News promoted the doctored clip to make the same false allegations about what Gore actually said. Host Steve Doocy had Dr. William Gray, who has claimed that manmade global warming is “a big scam," on to discuss the issue. CNN's Glenn Beck pushed the false story on his show on May 7.

While "the number of Americans being secretly wiretapped" or having their records reviewed by the government continues to increase, "the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court" has declined. Experts say that the trends are evidence that "the government has compromised the privacy rights of ordinary citizens without much to show for it." On Friday, a military judge barred Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser at Guantanamo Bay, "from participating in the case against Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden'ss former driver." Hamdan's lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, said that Hartmann's "dual role of supervising the prosecution and providing legal advice to the commissions administrator, who must make impartial rulings," constituted a "conflict of interest." The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere "has reached a record high, according to new data published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists say the new figures confirm that CO2 "is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than expected." In a sign of Iran's growing influence in Iraqi politics, violent clashes between militias loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr and the Iraqi government "came to a halt this weekend after Mr. Sadr agreed to a truce brokered by Iran." Iran's scope of influence has widened" in Iraq, putting "the Iraqi government at a precarious position between two important friends, the U.S. and Iran." The Los Angeles Times reports that the U.S.'s evidence of Iranian weapons flowing into Iraq showed some cracks recently. "A plan to show some alleged Iranian-supplied explosives to journalists last week in Karbala and then destroy them was canceled after the United States realized none of them was from Iran." Bloomberg writes that President Bush's promised Mideast agreement is still mission unaccomplished. Bush's habit of "delving into Middle East peacemaking in fits and starts" has produced little progress. Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad said that talks "have not proceeded at a pace that’s consistent to obtain the objectives set forth at Annapolis." A joint Washington Post-60 Minutes investigation, has found disturbing evidence that immigrants are suffering from neglect and some don't survive detention in America. Post reporter Dana Priest said the investigations showed an immigrations and customs bureaucracy "that offers many immigrants no care or slow care or poor care...and they also show that the employees inside are panicked about this." And Finally: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has such a "fondness for 'The Office'" that at a recent gala sponsored by Time magazine "he seemed slightly star-struck upon meeting B. J. Novak, a writer and actor on the show." When he was introduced to Novak, McCain "started rattling off the details of 'Dinner Party,' a recent episode that he apparently enjoyed and remembered."

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"Since 2005, eight states -- including four last year -- have enacted laws to abolish stringent rules imposed by some homeowners associations and local agencies on residents who want to power their homes with the sun or wind."

MISSOURI: Lawmakers "are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote."

ECONOMY: Over the last two years, at least a dozen states have announced plans to broaden their economic safety nets.

EDUCATION: More than one million children were enrolled in public preschool programs in 2005, up 63 percent from 1995.

THINK PROGRESS: State Department renews Blackwater's Iraq contract "for at least another year."

WONK ROOM: The silence of the clerics.

FIRE DOG LAKE: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promises Senate hearings on the Pentagon propaganda program.

BALKINIZATION: Former Justice Department official Marty Lederman asks why the legal decision that disqualified Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann from participating in a Guantanamo Bay military tribunal wasn't released by most major news outlets.<

"Sometimes, words have consequences you don't intend them to mean. 'Bring 'em on' is the classic example. ... I don’t know if you'd call it a regret, but it certainly is a lesson that a president must be mindful of, that the words that you sometimes say."
-- President Bush, 1/13/05

VERSUS

Q: What did the President say to you last 9/11 anniversary, and what does it tell us about his leadership?
REID: Well, I was complaining about what was going on and he basically said, "Bring 'em on. We're killing them. We're killing them."
-- MSNBC interview with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), 5/9/08