The Daily Muck

Lawrence Ray, a former “most trusted lieutenant” of Bernie Kerik’s and an acquaintance of Rudolph Giuliani’s, is making life difficult for Bernie and Rudolph. Ray, now a convicted felon serving prison time, has turned over to federal authorities “half a dozen boxes of e-mails, memos, faxes, financial statements, photographs and other materials about Kerik’s alleged wrongdoing.” Last spring, Ray’s friend Sidney Baumgarten, a New York lawyer, told Giuliani’s former deputy mayor that Ray would not release “damaging” information about Giuliani if he provided help with Ray’s legal troubles. (Washington Post)

Private security firm Blackwater is buying a fleet of aircraft and ground vehicles, including its own airship, hoping to expand into U.N.-style peacekeeping and humanitarian aid. The company says it wants to win contracts to secure failed states before the U.N. arrives, and perhaps repair its severely damaged reputation. (Wired)

The Bush administration’s nominee to be assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs today gave the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an “F” for failing to meet key legislative benchmarks. The nominee, Mary Beth Long, said the Iraqi government has not yet succeeded in passing de-Baathification legislation or approving hydrocarbon laws including an oil revenue sharing agreement, among other legislative goals. (The National Journal)

According to a new Pentagon report, violence is down in Iraq but the Iraqi government has made little progress in delivering electricity, health care, and other essential services. Progress means that “the shortfall [of electricity production] in November 2007 was 42 percent of total demand compared with 53 percent in August 2007 and 47 percent in August 2006. (New York Times)

A Government Accountability report notes that the Customs and Border Protection division, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, has a bit of an obsession with Americans’ illegal travel to Cuba. The agency conducts secondary inspections on 20 percent of charter passengers arriving in Miami from Cuba, which is “six times the inspection rate for other international arrivals, even from countries considered shipment points for narcotics.” The report concludes that this focus has “strained C.B.P.’s capacity to carry out its primary mission of keeping terrorists, criminals and inadmissible aliens from entering the country at Miami International Airport.” (New York Times)

The Senate yesterday voted to strengthen protections for federal employees who become whistle-blowers against fraud, abuse, and waste. A similar bill passed the House in March but there is a good chance that President Bush will veto the final bill. (Project on Government Oversight)

After failing to limit the 8,983 earmarks in this year’s appropriation bill, leaders of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) have called upon colleagues to take a pledge to resist new earmarks in the future. The group has had some past success: Jeff Flake (R-AZ) killed a $129,000 earmark for The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree, a small-business development program in Mitchell County, N.C. The only problem is that this earmark was requested by Patrick McHenry (R-NC) who was one of the “conservatives who pushed to make sure earmark sponsors are publicly identified.” (CQ Politics)