In anticipation of Truth and Reconciliation by the 111th Congress, we seek to inure local readers to a term that will be gaining popularity as the months go by.
Despite the reassuring picture outlined by Mr. Geithner and the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, the stress test results hardly silenced critics who have warned that the tests would amount to a whitewash.
"It's window-dressing," said Bert Ely, a longtime bank analyst based in Alexandria, Va. Mr. Ely was particularly skeptical about letting companies bolster their balance sheets by converting preferred shares to common.
After ‘Stress Tests,’ Banks Told to Raise Money - NYTimes.com (8 May 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/...
The sports term "whitewash" has been omitted in this research. The meaning of "whitewash" as painting a fence has too.
Update: The definition of "whitewash" as "large splashes of bird shit" has been omiited as well. Not that we expect Truth and Reconciliation to be anything but.
Re "Torture Memos: Inquiry Suggests No Prosecutions" (front page, May 6):
So it's going to be a whitewash. The legal gatekeepers who handed the torturers the keys to the Constitution are the next to get a free pass.
Letters - After Torture - What’s the Road Ahead? - NYTimes.com (8 May 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Owtch. A LTTE with a real sting to it. That's gonna leave a mark, Sen. Leahy!
"He's never lost one day's pay over any of this," Guare told the board. "I don't think the appropriate outcome for this is a whitewash or clean slate."
In 2002, Reichert stopped a white Toyota on Interstate 70 on a weekday morning. Reichert, who taught search and seizure procedure at Southwestern Illinois College's police academy, decided to search the car after questioning the driver, Amad Shojaei Zambrana, and his passenger, Babar Shah. Reichert asked for a police dog, who helped find cocaine and heroin. Both men were charged.
But U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan, a former Belleville police officer, found Reichert had probable cause to stop the car, but not to search the car. The evidence was lost, and the case was later dismissed.
Collinsville cop who sold fake sunglasses gets to keep his job - Metro-east news - Belleville News-Democrat (8 May 2009)
http://www.bnd.com/...
Fake Raybans beat fake Oakleys all days of all weeks, seriously.
The bank stress tests. When first announced in February, these were widely expected to be a whitewash that would go too easy on troubled banks, lest investors and consumers get spooked, take their business elsewhere, and make the weak banks even weaker. The results would supposedly be kept secret, a continuation of policies put in place last fall, when there really was a financial panic and any sign of further distress could have triggered a fresh crisis.
But the stress tests have turned out to be real tests after all. The worst-case scenarios in the tests – derided by some as too lenient – are still less dire than may actually occur in the real economy. But the government has defied the banks by publishing some of the results and to some extent airing the banks' dirty laundry. The feds are also effectively dubbing winners and losers, by declaring which banks need more capital and which are okay as is. The tests have determined that banks like JPMorgan Chase, American Express and Bank of New York Mellon, for example, have adequate capital. But others, like Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo need to raise a lot more.
5 Signs the Bailouts Are Getting Better - Rick Newman (usnews.com) (8 May 2009)
http://www.usnews.com/...
Not a whitewash, as asserted by that other Nattering Nabob of Negativity above! PSHEW!
But the parade of fibbing Vancouver airport officers who zapped a confused and unarmed immigrant five times, restraining him on the floor until he died while a civilian's video camera rolled from the far side of the glass, is now giving way to evidence of a higher-level communications whitewash where critical information was ignored, suppressed or manipulated.
In vintage Watergatish style, the coverup is becoming worse than the crime.
"The investigators must've known immediately they had a huge problem, but didn't handle it well out of a sense of self-preservation," Lewis told me. "Now they're locked on a global stage and they can't get off. This is not a localized event people will easily forget. It's going to take a generation for a lot of this to go away."
Taser inquiry leaves RCMP image in tatters (8 May 2009)
http://www.chtv.com/...
RCMP were, I believe, though haven't been able to confirm, the RCMP were the guys who were controlling the dude's brain to the point where he had to fashion a HAT OUT OF TIN FOIL. Scrumptious.
The report released in January took issue with the articles. It said investigators could not find any instance where an analyst used special access "to achieve a competitive advantage for their company." It also said there was "insufficient basis" to conclude that the program violated laws prohibiting propaganda.
The report has been the subject of controversy, with some members of Congress calling it a "whitewash" marred by obvious factual errors. For example, the report erroneously listed many military analysts as having no ties whatsoever to defense contractors. But several people who worked as aides to former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and some military analysts have cited the inspector general's report to criticize the articles.
According to Mr. Horstman's memorandum, the inspector general's office "became aware of inaccuracies" in the report shortly after it was published and soon began "an independent internal review." The internal review concluded that the report "did not meet accepted quality standards" and "relied on a body of testimonial evidence that was insufficient or inconclusive."
Inspector Says Report on Pentagon Publicity Program Was Flawed - NYTimes.com (8 May 2009)
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Whitewash? Rumsfeld? Perish that thought!
On April 22, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released the results of its internal investigations into its behavior during the recent fighting, concluding that it "operated in accordance with international law" throughout the fighting and that "a very small number" of "unavoidable" incidents occurred due to "intelligence or operational errors."
That finding contradicted Human Rights Watch's research into the fighting in Gaza, which concluded that both Israeli and Palestinian forces were responsible for serious violations of the laws of war. For example, the IDF used heavy artillery and white phosphorus munitions in densely populated areas and apparently targeted people trying to convey their civilian status, Human Rights Watch said in a 71-page report. In particular, Human Rights Watch conducted field research into some of the same attacks covered by the Board of Inquiry, such as Israel's use of white phosphorus against the UNRWA's headquarters and a UN school in Beit Lahiya, disproving IDF assertions that "no phosphorus munitions were used on built-up areas."
"The IDF's investigation was an effort to whitewash Israeli violations of the laws of war," Whitson said. "It is regrettable that Secretary-General Ban did not speak out clearly today about the need for an impartial international investigation that can provide a measure of redress for civilians killed unlawfully."
Human Rights Watch: Israel and Hamas: Cooperate with Investigation (8 May 2009)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Whitewash? The IDF? Perish The Thought II!
106 - In June 1943, two days of race rioting claim 34 lives. Police try to stop Free Press reporters from covering police action in black Detroit neighborhoods. But reporters are able to record the mayhem.
After the riot, a committee appointed by Gov. Harry Kelly blamed it on the black community, a finding the Free Press charges is a "whitewash." Local members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People laud Free Press coverage.
178 fun facts for the Detroit Free Press' 178th birthday | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press (8 May 2009)
http://www.freep.com/...
So, whitewash is nothing new, Congressional Truth and Reconcilers. Keep this in mind before you get started with your bipartisan "investigations" into the War Crimes. I know you haven't even started yet, but your track record is shall we say, shitty. Maybe at least pick up a mauve to paint over truth this time.