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It's not yet too late to rescue America.
Please call Nancy Pelosi and tell her to impeach Bush & Cheney: (202) 225-4965.
The week's top headlines:
White House will use Justice Dept to
block any contempt of Congress action| |
Excerpt: Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege. ...
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| | Mark J. Rozell, a professor of public policy at
George Mason University who has written a book on executive-privilege issues, called the administration's stance "astonishing."
"That's a breathtakingly broad view of the president's role in this system of separation of powers," Rozell said. "What this statement is saying is the president's claim of executive privilege trumps all."
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said the position "makes a mockery of the ideal that no one is above the law. ... I suppose the next |
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Our new bumper sticker:
Their blood is on the hands of
those who lied, those who spread the lies,
and those who voted for the liars.
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| | step would be just disbanding the Justice Department."
Comment: If the White House's ultimate goal is to PREVENT Congress from proving that the Bush administration has transformed the Department of Justice from a functioning judicial system into a purely partisan organization, they're really not doing themselves any favors here.
Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK
Previously: Harriet Miers to Congress: Kiss my arse
Excerpt: Former White House aide Harriet Miers will continue to refuse to appear before a House committee, her lawyer said Tuesday despite Democrats' threats to hold her in contempt.
"Ms. Miers will not appear before the committee or otherwise produce documents or provide testimony," lawyer George T. Manning said in a letter to the committee.
Comment: And apparently, she'll get away with it. There's been nothing but chatter about contempt of Congress charges, no action at all. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
Previously: House threatens contempt charges
against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolton
Excerpt: The White House chief of staff faced possible contempt charges after a congressional panel on Thursday ruled as invalid President George W. Bush's bid to limit the probe of the firing of federal prosecutors.
On a party-line vote of 7-3, a Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary subcommittee rejected Bush's contention that his claim of executive privilege shields the top aide, Joshua Bolten, from having to turn over subpoenaed documents.
"Those claims are not legally valid," said panel Chairwoman Linda Sanchez, a California Democrat.
Seven years previously: Republicans on executive privilege claims (for Clinton)
Excerpt: "You know, the president could solve a lot of this problem if he wouldn't hide behind executive privilege, if he'd just come out and tell the American people the truth."
Analysis: Reining in an out-of-control executive
Excerpt: The White House is resisting congressional subpoenas that call for testimonial and documentary evidence about the U.S. attorney firing scandal. The deadline for Bush, Cheney and the Justice Department to produce documents in response to Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenas about the warrantless surveillance is July 18. In 1974, when the House Judiciary Committee passed three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon, Article III charged refusal to comply with subpoenas during the Watergate hearings.
Comment: And that 'deadline' came and went without notice. If Congress takes this without a fight, then they'll take everything and anything, then 'oversight' is a sham, and the President is a King and truly is above the law. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
Pelosi says there will be contempt charges against somebody "this week"
Excerpt: The House Judiciary Committee will bring contempt of Congress charges against the administration this week, said the San Francisco Democrat. She did not specify who the subject of the action would be, but Pelosi spokesman, Brendan Daly, said later it would be former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who defied a House Judiciary Committee subpoena to appear. |
Republicans use Justice Department to subvert justice
DoJ all but 'operating on autopilot' after mass resignations| |
Excerpt: Six top DoJ officials have quit since February, when the sackings of at least nine US attorneys prompted an outcry in Congress. Outside Washington, 23 of the 93 US attorneys' offices, which investigate and try most cases, are devoid of permanent political leadership.
The remaining top officials, including Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General, are the subject of multiple investigations by Congress and the DoJ's inspector-general. |
Justice Dept. breaks federal law, refuses to register poor people to vote| |
Excerpt: State welfare offices across the country are not offering millions of low-income Americans the opportunity to register to vote when applying for public assistance despite a federal law requiring them to do so, according to an analysis of a recent federal voting registration report and experts who say the Department of Justice and states are to blame.
At the same time, the Justice Department's Voting Section, which enforces voting rights and supervises elections in some states, is pressuring 10 states to do more to purge voter rolls -- or remove ineligible voters -- before the 2008 presidential election, according to letters sent to state election officials this spring. |
44 Attorneys General wonder:
Was the imprisoned Alabama Governor railroaded by politicized Justice Dept?| |
Excerpt: Democrats have long maintained that his prosecution was politically motivated, and recent allegations that White House officials were steering decisions at the Justice Department have added weight to the claims.
Last month, a GOP lawyer who once worked on Republican Gov. Bob Riley's campaign signed a sworn affidavit saying she overheard conversations among campaign officials in 2002 suggesting that the White House was involved in [former Alabama Gov. Don] Siegelman's prosecution. She has offered to testify to any investigative agency or in court.
"The only way to convince the public that the governor is not the victim of a politically motivated double-standard is for Congress to investigate all aspects of the case thoroughly," the former attorneys general wrote to the chairmen of the House and Senate judiciary committees. |
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Turkey bombards northern Iraq, Iraq says| |
Excerpt: The Iraqi government said Turkish artillery and warplanes bombarded areas of northern Iraq on Wednesday and called on Turkey to stop military operations and resolve the conflict diplomatically.
The claim occurred amid rising tension and Turkish threats to strike bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which has been launching attacks against targets in Turkey from sanctuaries in Iraq. |
Reid withdraws entire defense bill after GOP succeeds with filibuster| |
Excerpt: After a rare all-night debate whose outcome was never in doubt, Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a vote on a Democratic measure to require U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by next spring. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., responded by setting aside the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill "temporarily."
Comment: Even if it didn't work, it's good that the Dems forced the GOP to actually stay up all night filibustering, instead of letting them use a stealth, on-paper filibuster. The mainstream press has been treating the GOP filibusters on Iraq up to this point as commonplace procedural maneuvers, and mostly refused to use the word "filibuster" at all. They would report that the GOP "blocked" or "defeated" the bill without mentioning that they are actually filibustering a policy that won a majority. Reid and the Senate Dems should continue to force the GOP's hand on this, so that Republicans who continue to support the war have to pay a political price with their constituents back home. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Bush to veto health insurance for millions of American children| |
Excerpt: President Bush yesterday rejected entreaties by his Republican allies that he compromise with Democrats on legislation to renew a popular program that provides health coverage to poor children, saying that expanding the program would enlarge the role of the federal government at the expense of private insurance.
The president said he objects on philosophical grounds to a bipartisan Senate proposal to boost the State Children's Health Insurance Program by $35 billion over five years. Bush has proposed $5 billion in increased funding and has threatened to veto the Senate compromise and a more costly expansion being contemplated in the House. |
KBR war profiteers allegedly part of kickback,
bribery, & fraud network to bloat Iraq war costs| |
Excerpt: Federal investigators have uncovered what they describe as a sweeping network of kickbacks, bribes and fraud involving at least eight employees and subcontractors of KBR, the former Halliburton subsidiary, in a scheme to inflate charges for flying freight into Iraq in support of the war, according to court papers unsealed yesterday. |
Watchdog group says government awards contracts despite firms' misconduct| |
Excerpt: A watchdog organization is calling attention to what it deems the government's failure to properly vet the companies to which it awards hundreds of billions of dollars in contracts.
The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) yesterday released a revamped database detailing misconduct by the top 50 government contractors, including some of the world's largest military hardware, information technology, construction and energy companies. |
"Magic" September Iraq report pushed back to November| |
Excerpt: The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday that he needs at least until November to accurately assess results of the current increase in troop strength and operations. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno said he will participate in a much-anticipated report due to Congress in mid-September, but "to do a good assessment," he said, he would need 45 more days.
Comment: This is the danger of accepting Bush's nonsense arguments about anything. The mainstream press and lawmakers have accepted Bush's premise that they can't do anything to change Iraq policy until this magic report comes out in September. So the next step for the White House? Make sure that report is delayed until November, or January, or whenever. Who wants to lay odds right now that the magic report never comes out at all? Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Food & Drug Administration will close more than half its labs| |
Excerpt: Lawmakers also criticized the Food and Drug Administration's plan to close half of its laboratories. They called that idea misguided and questioned whether it would save money and enhance the agency's ability to target unsafe food, as FDA commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach [lied] it would.
"FDA's ill-conceived decision to close seven of its 13 laboratories likely would expose American consumers to even more danger from unsafe foods, particularly imports," said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., at a hearing of a House Committee on Energy and Commerce subcommittee. |
Study: NATO goals failing in Afghanistan| |
Excerpt: A new British parliamentary study says the U.S.-led NATO force is failing to achieve its goals in Afghanistan. The detailed report says the Taliban-led insurgency has strengthened and poppy cultivation is on the rise. Support among Afghan's civilian population is at new lows amid increasing casualties from U.S.-led airstrikes. More Afghan civilians have been killed in NATO bombings than in Taliban attacks this year. |
Judge with partisan history
throws out Plame-Wilson lawsuit| |
Excerpt: U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove and former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle. Public officials are normally immune from such lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs.
Comment: Please note, Bates is the same judge who ruled that Americans had no right to know which oil executives shaped U.S. energy on VP Cheney's "energy task force." Before he was appointed to the bench by George W. Bush, he established his bona fides as a Whitewater anti-Clinton prosecutor... Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Pentagon claims "Al Qaeda
in Iraq" leader was fictional| |
Excerpt: For more than a year, the leader of one the most notorious insurgent groups in Iraq was said to be a mysterious Iraqi named Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi.
As the titular head of the Islamic State in Iraq, an organization publicly backed by Al Qaeda, Baghdadi issued a steady stream of incendiary pronouncements. Despite claims by Iraqi officials that he had been killed in May, Baghdadi appeared to have persevered unscathed.
On Wednesday, a senior American military spokesman provided a new explanation for Baghdadi's ability to escape attack: He never existed.
... while others claim it’s
the Pentagon that’s making stuff up
Excerpt: Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Askari rejects the U.S. claim. “Al-Baghdadi is wanted and pursued," he said yesterday. "We know many things about him, and we even have his picture."
The Los Angeles Times today notes, "There was no way to confirm the military’s claim, which comes at a time of heightened pressure on the White House to justify keeping U.S. troops in Iraq.”
Comment: If you want to look at the recent history to try to figure out who’s credible here, the Pentagon spokesman claiming that al-Baghdadi is fictional is none other than Kevin Bergner, who we took to task a couple weeks ago for telling two obvious lies, about Iran and captured bad guys, during the same week. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
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Iran -- Run-up to the next war:
Senate passes bill condemning
Iran for fictional role in Iraq| |
Excerpt: Just last week the Senate voted 97-0 in favor of moving toward war with Iran. The amendment, H.R.1585, written by Sen. Joe Lieberman, repeats the same round of vacant lies the neocons have been advancing for quite sometime. Iranian influence in Iraq is now becoming the accepted reason among American political elites as to why US forces are failing. The Lieberman amendment also claims that Iran is providing a safe-haven for al Qaeda fighters, even though the group is allegedly blowing up Iraqi Shias daily.
Comment: Okay, guys, we'll go through this slowly so even a U.S. Senator can understand: The Iraq war was a mistake, right? Right. Now think back a whole five years. Why did you all in Congress authorize the worst foreign policy blunder in our nation's history? Because you believed the lies floating around about Iraq. And if you try really hard, can you remember where those lies came from? Yes, from the Bush administration. Excellent.
Now. What is the one and only source of the theory that Iran is playing a significant role in Iraq? Are soldiers on the ground saying this? No, it's not from them. Is it based on any hard evidence you've seen? No, of course not. Wait a minute. All of the statements about Iran attacking U.S. troops in Iraq comes from the exact same gang of idiots who lied us into the last war!
The press, THE PRESS has even sort of caught on this time around, treating the Iran lies with a little more skepticism than they did the Iraq lies. Is it too much to ask that you members of the United States Senate notice that you're getting played by the same people in the exact same way as five years ago?
Your constituents aren't even done dying over the LAST set of lies the administration told you. And here you all are ... every single one of you ... heartily endorsing the fictions that are designed to get this country into yet another lie-based war. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Nearly half of Iraq insurgents are Saudis| |
Excerpt: The Los Angeles Times is reporting nearly half of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops in Iraq have come from Saudi Arabia -- one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East. U.S. officials have so far refused to publicly criticize Saudi Arabia's role in Iraq, focusing instead on Iran. ... |
Waiting for an Iranian Chernobyl| |
Excerpt: The biggest nuclear threat from Iran is not from an attack but from an accident, [Najmedin Meshkati] told Deborah Campbell, and international sanctions are only increasing the risk. ...
"Being a signatory to the NPT gives countries the right to build nuclear power plants for peaceful civilian purposes. So stopping them is not legal or logical. If you want to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb, do it through negotiation. But by preventing Iran from accessing safe nuclear technology you are potentially harming the whole planet." |
Cheney urges Bush to
start a war against Iran| |
Excerpt: "Cheney has limited capital left, but if he wanted to use all his capital on this one issue, he could still have an impact," said Patrick Cronin, the director of studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The Washington source said Mr Bush and Mr Cheney did not trust any potential successors in the White House, Republican or Democratic, to deal with Iran decisively. They are also reluctant for Israel to carry out any strikes because the US would get the blame in the region anyway.
"The red line is not in Iran. The red line is in Israel. If Israel is adamant it will attack, the US will have to take decisive action," Mr Cronin said. "The choices are: tell Israel no, let Israel do the job, or do the job yourself." ...
Comment: So, if Cheney thinks Israel is "adamant," our guys go in?
Splendid. Outsource our war and peace decision making to another country -- one that, needless to say, has its own interests at heart, and not ours. lambert's blog PERMANENT LINK |
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Dow Jones director resigns
over pending Murdoch deal
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| COMMENTARY
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Thou shalt not what?
by Don Nash, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: John Hagee and his ilk would do well to take a refresher course in Bible 101, along with G. Bush and our Congress and Newt Gingrich and Joe 'little butcher' Lieberman and hey, we just might be on to something here. If America believes that "in God we trust" crap-o-la, well, God says "Thou shalt NOT kill" and the Pope says "war is against God" and wow-oh-wow-whee! We've gots us a dynamic working here. |
Hairy pot
by Kevin Good, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: I asked my lil' sister Kyle if she knew how the J. K. Rowling story ended. She said NO and even if she did, she wouldn't tell me. It's a book!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fans don't want to know the case solving clue. Agatha Christie fans don't want to know the identity of the tenth little Indian. Alfred Hitchcock fans won't Tivo to the end of 'Rear Window'. |
I'm an ugly American.
Or maybe a racist.
by Cassandra, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: A lot of people have talked about outsourcing, but how the hell does one resolve a problem with a company when one cannot get through to someone who speaks English well? |
Mrs Vitter's vengeance
by Hazel Burke, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: "My slut chasing, sack of sh*t husband expected me to read this speech telling you I forgive him. But at this moment my attorney is filing divorce papers. When we are finished with him he won't have 2 cents to rub together." |
Real men
by Don Nash, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Real men stand up for decency in American government. Don't expect much from America's Congress in this regard. Congress and decency parted company about several administrations back, and nothing has been the same since. |
A most effective bullsh*t filter
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: I don't know that anyone understands what really happened on 9/11, perhaps outside of some small group of insiders, and I doubt if anyone ever will, so I remain agnostic on the issue. All anyone has to do to keep my attention is to qualify their statements about 9/11 with some kind of disclaimer about being unable to be sure about the factuality of what they are promoting. |
Iranian events in plain English
by Marie K., Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Bush's efforts to stop Iran from doing enrichment means they can't run the plant. They have a right to have it and to run it (using their own uranium) and a right to enrich uranium for it, given the agreements they have signed. |
The state of America, mid-2007
by JR Mooneyham| |
Excerpt: The current clarion call of America's media and many of its top politicians is war: war, war, war. War on terror; war on drugs; war on liberals; war on science. If you've got something to talk about, then have we got a war for you! America sort of got stuck into a permanent war-footing for everything after World War II, where pretty much everyone saw us as the good guys. We loved that! I mean, who wouldn't? |
A major pain in the gut
by Michelle, Crazy Twins
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Excerpt: I seriously doubt that there are too many folks out there who haven't heard about Michael Chertoff's gut feeling by now. That government officials are reduced to using such obscure rationalizations in order to get our attention, I believe really speaks volumes for the sorry state of affairs existing today.
A quick search for the word "gut" happily confirms my suspicions; the online dictionary of Merriam Webster starts the definition of gut with the word, bowels. I have long suspected that the administration's facts are rectally sourced or, in other words, they pull them out of their collective asses. |
Hyperbole has become fact:
Before us all looms the possible destruction of America
by William Pitt, Democratic Underground
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Excerpt: By declaring himself above and beyond the rule of law in this Executive Privilege thing, George W. Bush has committed the worst act of treason against this country in history. He is attempting to shatter the rule of law, and if he does, America is gone. It'll look the same, but your rights and mine, your constitution and mine, will be granted at the privilege of the monarch. Whatever other laws he has broken pale in comparison to this, because he is trying to murder the idea that is America, and since America is only an idea, he is a traitor beyond compare. |
America is just starting to wake up to
the awesome scale of its Iraq disaster
by Timothy Garton Ash, The Guardian
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Excerpt: So Iraq is over. But Iraq has not yet begun. Not yet begun in terms of the consequences for Iraq itself, the Middle East, the US's own foreign policy and its reputation in the world. The most probable consequence of rapid US withdrawal from Iraq in its present condition is a further bloodbath, with even larger refugee flows and the effective dismemberment of the country. Already some 2 million Iraqis have fled across the borders and more than 2 million are internally displaced. Now a pained and painstaking study from the Brookings Institution argues that what its authors call "soft partition", involving the peaceful, voluntary transfer of an estimated 2 to 5 million Iraqis into distinct Kurdish, Sunni and Shia regions, under close US military supervision, would be the lesser evil. The lesser evil, that is, assuming that all goes according to plan and that the American public is prepared to allow the troops to stay in sufficient numbers to accomplish that thankless job -- two implausible assumptions. A greater evil is more likely. |
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Excerpt: German publishing executive Dieter von Holtzbrinck has resigned as a director of Dow Jones & Co. to protest the board's endorsement of a deal to sell the company, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
In a letter to Dow Jones' other board members, von Holtzbrinck said he was "very worried" that the company's "unique journalistic values will long-term strongly suffer after the proposed sale." Dow Jones disclosed von Holtzbrinck's departure and included a copy of his letter in a regulatory filing Thursday.
Murdoch used global holdings to advance Iraq war
Excerpt: Rupert Murdoch, head of the world's largest media empire, has used his influential position to push an ideological agenda closely associated with U.S. neoconservatives. During the lead up to the U.S. invasion of and war in Iraq, the editors of Murdoch's 175 media holdings vociferously supported President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair's pro-war campaign. |
Murdoch was "24th member" of Blair's cabinet| |
Excerpt: New documents show that media magnate Rupert Murdoch had a direct line to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at 10 Downing Street. In 2003, Mr Blair phoned the owner of The [London] Times and The Sun on 11 and 13 March, and on 19 March, the day before Britain and the United States invaded Iraq. The war was strongly supported by Murdoch-owned newspapers around the world.
These revelations are especially troubling coupled with the news that Murdoch, who currently ranks first in the UK press and publishing world, may acquire The Wall Street Journal. He has consistently slanted coverage in his publications to benefit his political and business interests. |
FEMA to finally warn that trailers are toxic| |
Excerpt: Pressed by an angry House committee, FEMA Administrator David Paulison promised Thursday to warn tens of thousands of displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina that they are living in agency trailers that may be contaminated with dangerously high levels of formaldehyde gas. |
FEMA suppressed health warnings for workers, Katrina victims| |
Excerpt: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems that may be linked to elevated levels of formaldehyde gas released in FEMA-provided trailers, lawmakers said today. |
Bush-Cheney used Drug Czar's office for 2006 political campaign| |
Excerpt: White House officials arranged for top officials at the Office of National Drug Control Policy to help as many as 18 vulnerable Republican congressmen by making appearances and sometimes announcing new federal grants in the lawmakers' districts in the months leading up to the November 2006 elections, a Democratic lawmaker said yesterday. |
Cheney's secret energy task force records leaked to the press| |
Excerpt: The list of participants' names and when they met with administration officials provides a clearer picture of the task force's priorities and bolsters previous reports that the review leaned heavily on oil and gas companies and on trade groups -- many of them big contributors to the Bush campaign and the Republican Party.
For six years, those names have been a closely guarded secret, thanks to a fierce legal battle waged by the White House. Some names have leaked out over the years, but most have remained hidden because of a 2004 Supreme Court ruling that agreed that the administration's internal deliberations ought to be shielded from outside scrutiny.
Comment: Was it worth six years of futile legal filings, to finally see the named discovered and published by the Washington Post? It's finally revealed, what anyone with the brains of a dustmop already knew -- that Cheney met with oil execs, and blew off environmental groups.
Or has this whole battle been just another diversion, to keep decent Americans preoccupied with lawsuits over lists, while the monsters in the White House have gone on about their murderous business? Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Cheney suppressed evidence in California energy crisis| |
Excerpt: Just three months before [Cheney's longtime friend longtime friend Thomas] Cruikshank and [Joe] Allbaugh [another adviser to the vice president's energy task force] provided Cheney with details that the energy companies they were affiliated with had gouged California consumers and violated the state's market rules, the vice president, and FERC's chairman, railed against [California Governor Gray] Davis, blaming the energy crisis on him and said the governor's claims that energy companies were acting like a "cartel" were baseless.
"The basic problem in California was caused by Californians," Cheney said, adding that he would resist calls by lawmakers to allow price caps to be placed on wholesale energy prices in the Western United States. |
Ex-Cheney aide gets 10 years in prison in spy case| |
Excerpt: A former White House official who took top secret documents from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office and gave them to opposition figures in the Philippines was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison. |
Latest grounds for impeachment
by JR Mooneyham, Unknown News| |
Excerpt: Here's Bush's latest executive order. ... Basically it's another version of the unlawful combatant provision: a blank check they can put anyone's name on to harass or 'disappear' them, like I think was done in countries like Argentina decades back. |
Bush threatens military attacks on Pakistan| |
Excerpt: An ambush of a military convoy that killed 17 troops near the Afghan border Wednesday pushed the death toll in a series of attacks to at least 101 Pakistanis in the past five days -- and brought President Pervez Musharraf, according to a local newspaper headline, to a "Moment of Truth."
The Bush administration, after publicly demanding that Musharraf rein in militants linked to al Qaida, on Wednesday threatened to launch attacks into Pakistani territory if it sees fit. |
Ex-Congressman Cunningham fingers co-conspirators from behind bars| |
Excerpt: In two days of prison interviews with federal agents this year, disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham described a level of corruption on his part more extensive than previously known and dealt a potentially devastating blow to the defense being waged by one of the defense contractors alleged to have bribed him.
The interviews were conducted in February at the federal prison near Tucson, where the longtime Republican congressman is serving an eight-year and four-month sentence after admitting to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion. |
Bush revives CIA's terrorism torture program| |
Excerpt: The White House said Friday that it had given the CIA approval to resume its use of some severe interrogation methods for questioning terrorism suspects in secret prisons overseas.
With the new authority, administration officials said, the Central Intelligence Agency could proceed with a program that has been in limbo since a Supreme Court ruling last year. |
U.S. supporting insurgents in Iraq| |
Excerpt: "What the Americans are doing is very risky and unwise. They are planting the seeds for future wars," warned Sami al-Askari, a parliamentarian close to Maliki, commenting on groups like the LRF ["Legitimate Resistance Force"]. |
Experts say intelligence report is 'pure pablum,' hides truth| |
Excerpt: Intelligence analysts and the former White House counterterror official describe as "pure pablum" the unclassified version of the National Intelligence Estimate released today on terror threats to the United States.
"Nothing in here is going to surprise anybody who's been following this," said one senior U.S. intelligence official.
"It's more about what it doesn't say than what it does say," says Richard Clarke, the former White House official who is now an ABC News consultant.
Comment: And we’re sure that it’s a pure coincidence that this vitally important report that really doesn’t say much of anything came out just as the Democrats were forcing the GOP to stay up all night filibustering the end of the war. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
Even Bush's intelligence report says the war in Iraq is making us less safe at home
Excerpt: The National Intelligence Estimate that was released today -- titled "The Terrorist Threat to the Homeland" -- amounts to a devastating critique of the Bush administration's policies on Iraq, Iran, and the terrorist threat itself.
Its main point is that the threat -- after having greatly receded over the past five years -- is back in full force. Al-Qaida has "protected or regenerated key elements" of its ability to attack the United States. It has a "safe haven" in Pakistan. Its "top leadership" and "operational lieutenants" are intact. It is cooperating more with "regional terrorist groups."
As a result, the report concludes, "the U.S. Homeland will face a persistent and evolving terrorist threat over the next three years" and is, even now, "in a heightened threat environment."
CNN's Baghdad reporter: Beware of 'smoke and mirrors from the administration'
Excerpt: "We must be aware of the spin, the smoke and mirrors from the administration, trying to reshape the message on Iraq being specifically about al Qaeda ... trying to evoke some Pavlovian response from the American public to fear them into again supporting the war. That doesn't quite hold water." |
Kremlin tears up arms pact with NATO| |
Excerpt: President Vladimir Putin yesterday signaled that Russia was on a new and explosive collision course with NATO when he dumped a key arms control treaty limiting the deployment of conventional forces in Europe. |
Democrats put off un-rigging elections until 2012| |
Excerpt: Given the tensions, voting analysts say, the decision disclosed Thursday by Democratic leaders to put off the most sweeping changes until 2012 -- four years later than planned -- was easy. Congressional leaders are reluctant to tell states to junk hundreds of millions of dollars of relatively new voting equipment until it is clear when better technology will emerge.
Comment: Does it honestly not occur to them that all it will take is a couple more rigged elections for those reforms to be put off permanently? Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Life in liberated Afghanistan & Iraq
Iraqi oil workers protest handing oil profits to occupiers| |
Excerpt: About 300 oil industry workers gathered in Iraq's main oil port of Basra today to protest a draft law that they said would allow foreigners to pillage the country's wealth.
At issue is a clause in the draft hydrocarbon law allowing for production-sharing agreements with foreign oil companies, which many Iraqis see as a throwback to an earlier era of colonial exploitation.
U.S. officials [claim to] see the passing of the draft hydrocarbon law as a crucial benchmark of the country's political process and a key component of national reconciliation. |
22,000 Iraqis now held by the US in Iraq| |
Excerpt: Buried deep in this Washington Post story today was the news that, oh by the way, "the number of detainees held by the U.S. military in Iraq has increased to almost 22,000, from 15,400 six months ago." |
Iraqis protest lack of food, water, electricity| |
Excerpt: In news from Iraq, several thousand people took part in demonstrations Wednesday demanding better basic services. Most of Iraq sees only limited electricity in the midst of the summer heat. Many Iraqis are also without water and food. |
Taliban growing stronger in Afghanistan| |
Excerpt: NATO countries are not giving the international force securing Afghanistan enough support and there are worrying signs that the Taliban are growing stronger, a detailed study by Britain's parliament has found. |
Mass graves dug to deal with mounting Iraq death toll| |
Excerpt: "The morgue receives an average of four or five bodies everyday," Nima Jima'a, a morgue official, told IPS. "Many more are dropped in rivers and farms -- or it is sometimes the case they are buried by their killers for other reasons. The number we record here is only a fraction of those killed." |
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Security software firms discuss how they accommodate police| |
Excerpt: "Our customers are paying us for a service, to protect them from all forms of malicious code. It is not up to us to do law enforcement's job for them so we do not, and will not, make any exceptions for law enforcement malware or other tools.
"As soon as a company, like we have seen with McAfee, starts making exceptions to their protection products, they can no longer guarantee a sound and safe product for their customers. We will not play that game." |
Former Reagan official says "something's in the works" to trigger a police state| |
Excerpt: Paul Craig Roberts -- a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under Reagan who has recently become known for his strong opposition to the Bush administration and the Iraq War -- [wrote]: "Unless Congress immediately impeaches Bush and Cheney, a year from now the US could be a dictatorial police state at war with Iran."
"I don't actually think they're very strong," said Roberts of his words. "I get a lot of flak that they're understated and the situation is worse than I say. ... When Bush exercises this authority [under the new Executive Order] ... there's no check to it. It doesn't have to be ratified by Congress. The people who bear the brunt of these dictatorial police state actions have no recourse to the judiciary. So it really is a form of total, absolute, one-man rule. ... The American people don't really understand the danger that they face." |
Los Angeles Catholic church to pay $660 million to victims of sexual abuse| |
Excerpt: Last week's deal was made on the eve of a civil trial in which Cardinal Mahony would have been grilled about why he left some abusive priests in churches without telling parents or police. Some Catholic commentators, advocates for victims and editorial writers said the payout protected Mahony at the church's expense. |
Execution of innocent black man postponed 90 days| |
Excerpt: Amnesty International USA applauded today's decision by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to grant a 90-day stay of execution to Troy Anthony Davis, who has spent 15 years on death row for a murder that he denies committing. Davis, 38, was convicted despite the lack of a murder weapon or physical evidence linking him to the crime.
Seven of the nine non-police witnesses for the prosecution have recanted or contradicted their testimony in sworn affidavits, and nine people assert that one of the two who hasn't recanted is actually responsible for the murder.
In recent weeks the organization has mobilized its worldwide membership and collected thousands of letters calling for clemency for Mr. Davis. |
Police destroy DNA evidence that proves innocence ... with okay from Supreme Court| |
Excerpt: More than 19 years after his conviction, Moses-EL remains behind bars, with no way to free himself from a 48-year sentence for a rape he says he didn't commit.
He is one of 141 prisoners The Denver Post has found whose bids for freedom have stalled because officials lost or destroyed DNA. Whether guilty or innocent, they are victims of a U.S. Supreme Court decision justifying negligence in evidence handling. The ruling allows destruction unless inmates can meet the nearly impossible task of proving authorities acted out of malice, or "bad faith." |
70 House members promise to vote against war funds| |
Excerpt: A group of 69 House Democrats has put the White House on notice that its members will not support any more war funding bills unless the measures include a timeline for withdrawal from Iraq. "We agree with a clear and growing majority of the American people who are opposed to continued, open-ended U.S. military operations in Iraq," the anti-war bloc, led by California Democrats Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee, wrote in a letter to President Bush Thursday.
Comment: Ron Paul, the only Republican to sign on to this measure, leads all presidential candidates in fundraising among members of the military. So much for the claim that Bush is just listening to what the military is telling him to do ... or that cutting off war funding is too radical for mainstream America. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
U.N. says North Korea has shut down its nuclear plants| |
Excerpt: The UN nuclear watchdog on Wednesday said it had verified that North Korea had closed all five of its nuclear facilities, marking a key step in the effort to get the country to give up its nuclear programs.
North and South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia will now start to explore how to permanently scrap the Yongbyon complex and terminate North Korea's nuclear weapons potential. |
'Mildly profane' Bush 'crashes' Republican meeting on Iraq| |
Excerpt: Fox News reports that "President Bush shocked Capitol Hill staffers and Republican leaders Monday when he crashed a meeting at the White House. ... His message: the policy on Iraq isn't changing. He is not backing down and no one on Capitol Hill should be confused into thinking he is letting up." |
16 Guantanamo detainees released, says Saudi Arabia| |
Excerpt: Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that US authorities have released 16 Saudi detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency that the detainees arrived in Riyadh yesterday morning. The new group of detainees is the second to be received by the Kingdom this year after US authorities released seven detainees on Feb. 21.
Comment: Nice of Saudi Arabia to let us know. This is the kind of news that would come from Washington DC, if we didn't have a secret government. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Guantanamo hunger strikers stay defiant| |
Excerpt: The military won't identify [hunger] strikers, citing privacy rules and a desire to keep detainees from becoming martyrs. But the AP was able to identify Shalabi and Ahmed, both Saudi Arabians, through interviews with several detainee lawyers and detailed military charts, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, tracking the weights of each detainee.
Shalabi told his lawyer that other strikers include Sami al-Hajj, a Sudanese cameraman for Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based Arabic-language TV station; Shaker Aamer, a Saudi who has acted as a camp leader; and Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi, a U.S.-educated Saudi engineer who told his captors he was proud to fight the U.S. and would consider it an honor to be given a life sentence. |
Trashing (or saving?) the planet
Exxon sued for spilling more oil in New York City than Exxon-Valdez| |
Excerpt: New York State sued Exxon Mobil Corp on Tuesday to force the cleanup of a decades-old, 17 million gallon oil spill in New York City.
The lawsuit concerns a leak that was discovered in 1978 in Newtown Creek, the waterway that separates the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. It has formed an underground contamination over 55-acres of the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, the lawsuit says. |
Japan quake causes 9 deaths, nuke leak| |
Excerpt: A strong earthquake shook Japan's northwest coast Monday, setting off a fire at the world's most powerful nuclear power plant and causing a reactor to spill radioactive water into the sea -- an accident not reported to the public for hours. |
Oxygen-depleted 'dead zone' growing in Gulf| |
Excerpt: Researchers predict that the recurring oxygen-depleted "dead zone" off the Louisiana coast will grow this summer to 8,543 square miles -- its largest in at least 22 years. |
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CIA officials, sickened by torture policy, helped European investigators| |
Excerpt: Dick Marty, a Swiss senator, conducted an 18-month inquiry on behalf of the Council of Europe into allegations that the CIA interrogated major terror suspects at secret prisons in several European countries.
Marty's report, released last month, says some of his sources were within the CIA. He said the sources were dissatisfied with the detention policy pursued under then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
"There were huge conflicts between the CIA and Rumsfeld," Marty said Tuesday in Brussels, Belgium, where European Union lawmakers questioned him about his report. "Many leading figures in the CIA did not accept these measures at all. They felt they were counterproductive." |
Court orders government to turn over Guantanamo evidence| |
Excerpt: The court said meaningful review of the military tribunals would not be possible "without seeing all the evidence, any more than one can tell whether a fraction is more or less than half by looking only at the numerator and not the denominator." |
U.S. considers sending MORE troops to Iraq| |
Excerpt: The U.S. military is weighing new directions in Iraq, including an even bigger troop buildup if President Bush thinks his "surge" strategy needs a further boost, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday. |
Britain almost out of troops, memo reveals| |
Excerpt: The head of the [British] Army has issued a dire warning that Britain has almost run out of troops to defend the country or fight abroad, a secret document obtained by the Daily Telegraph has revealed. |
NAACP sues lenders for charging African Americans higher mortgage rates| |
Excerpt: The NAACP sued a dozen mortgage lenders on Wednesday, claiming the companies discriminated against blacks by steering them into higher-interest, subprime loans while giving more favorable loan terms to white borrowers. Among the defendants named in the suit are Ameriquest Mortgage Co., Citigroup, HSBCFinance Corp. and Washington Mutual. [One study] found that blacks were 31 percent to 34 percent more likely to be sold subprime loans than whites with the same income and credit risk profile, the lawsuit states. |
German official steps in the Erklarungsnot,
proposes "targeted killings" of suspected terrorists| |
Excerpt: German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said last week in an interview with Der Spiegel that Berlin would have to "clarify whether our constitutional state is sufficient for confronting new threats," and mentioned a ban on Internet or mobile phone use for terrorist suspects or even "so-called targeted killings" as potential but legally uncertain measures against a growing threat of terrorism in Germany. He's been in what German pundits call Erklärungsnot ever since -- a crisis of having to explain himself.
Comment: Sounds like fancy talk for murder. The terrorists have won, by a wide margin. Civilized nations are in a rush to jettison their Constitutions and allow their governments to kill people in secrecy and without oversight. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Street protests 'paralyze' Peru| |
Excerpt: Thousands of people in every major town and city took to the streets, and three people are reported to have been killed in clashes around the country.
The protests are widely seen as a show of disapproval with the government of President Alan Garcia. They come just a fortnight before President Garcia completes his first year in office. |
Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon) denied access to emergency plans| |
Excerpt: As a member of the U.S. House on the Homeland Security Committee, DeFazio, D-Ore., is permitted to enter a secure "bubbleroom" in the Capitol and examine classified material. So he asked the White House to see the secret documents. On Wednesday, DeFazio got his answer: DENIED. |
On a vacation with Republicans
by Johann Hari, The Independent [London, UK]| |
Excerpt: The Iraq war has been an amazing success, global warming is just a myth -- and as for Guantanamo Bay, it's practically a holiday camp... The annual cruise organized by the National Review, mouthpiece of right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by straight-talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans. ...
To my right are two elderly New Yorkers who look and sound like late-era Dorothy Parkers, minus the alcohol poisoning. They live on Park Avenue, they explain in precise Northern tones. "You must live near the UN building," the Floridian says to one of the New York ladies after the entree is served. Yes, she responds, shaking her head wearily. "They should suicide-bomb that place," he says. They all chuckle gently. How did that happen? How do you go from sweet to suicide-bomb in six seconds?
The conversation ebbs back to friendly chit-chat. So, you're a European, one of the Park Avenue ladies says, before offering witty commentaries on the cities she's visited. Her companion adds, "I went to Paris, and it was so lovely." Her face darkens: "But then you think -- it's surrounded by Muslims." The first lady nods: "They're out there, and they're coming." Emboldened, the bearded Floridian wags a finger and says, "Down the line, we're not going to bail out the French again." He mimes picking up a phone and shouts into it, "I can't hear you, Jacques! What's that? The Muslims are doing what to you? I can't hear you!" |
Lawsuit accuses Chiquita of funding terror groups| |
Excerpt: Chiquita is being sued by relatives of people said to be murdered by paramilitary groups in Colombia. The lawsuit filed in New Jersey today accuses the Cincinnati-based produce company of funding terrorists. The suit comes four months after Chiquita admitted it paid paramilitaries $1.7 million in protection money to safeguard its most profitable banana-growing operation. |
Wisconsin honors cop for killing innocent family| |
Excerpt: The decision to posthumously honor Calumet County Sheriff's Deputy Charles Hansen is set in stone -- literally. His name was recently added to the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial on the Capitol Square. But for Patricia McNaughton and other members of her family, the honor is like an open wound.
On July 14, 1968, Deputy Hansen, then 26, ran a stop sign at more than 60 mph and smashed into a car carrying three members of McNaughton's family: her mother Kathryn, 45, brother John, 18, and younger sister, Eileen, 7. |
Colorado anti-abortion measure would define fertilized egg as human| |
Excerpt: Abortion-rights groups have until next week to appeal the language of a proposed ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg, either inside or outside the womb, as a person. |
Legal analysis of Michael Vick dogfighting indictment| |
Excerpt: Michael Vick was indicted on conspiracy to commit a number of illegal acts. (Full text of indictment.) Notice, he was not indicted for dogfighting, but for conspiracy. There is a very good reason for that.
Conspiracy is the prosecutor's best friend (pun intended) Compared to other crimes, conspiracy is remarkably easy to prove.
There are three things the prosecutor must prove: (1) two or more people (2) agreed to try to commit a crime and (3) one of those people did some "overt act" in furtherance of the conspiracy. Conspiracy to commit a felony is punishable by five years in prison, even if the underlying felony never occurred (or cannot be proven)!
Comment: Michael Vick's name has been swirling in the news for weeks, but it was just yesterday when this matter burst my bubble of awareness. And lordy, what a scumbag he is.
But this legal analysis is a lot more interesting, and a hell of a lot more pertinent to ordinary Americans' lives, than Vick's disgusting hobby. Conspiracy laws (and RICO laws) are dang near constantly in the news, used as a legal bludgeon against alleged scumbags, but I hadn't quite connected the dots in my head to grasp just how easily (and no doubt, unjustly) these laws can be applied.
Michael Vick is a flagrantly unwiped assh*le, but if he's guilty of a crime they ought to nail him on the facts, not on blue smoke and mirrors. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
White-collar criminals have the resources to go into hiding rather than face jail time| |
Excerpt: [Michael] Berger's case is one example of how difficult it can be for authorities to track down white-collar fugitives. They have advantages that more typical criminals lack, including ties to foreign countries, advanced degrees, and barrels of money that can help secure safe havens. Berger, now 35, was born in London and grew up in Salzburg, Austria. He managed hundreds of millions of dollars out of Park Avenue offices in New York before authorities charged him with misleading investors about his stockpicking prowess. Even as he reported stellar returns to his backers, Berger was hemorrhaging more than $400 million by betting against Internet stocks in the late 1990s. Using his connections and his persuasiveness, Berger was able to avoid legal authorities for years. ...
"Generally [white collar-criminals] are more sophisticated," says Stephen Frye, a Los Angeles-based defense lawyer whose practice specializes in white-collar crime. "If they know what they've been doing is illegal, then, more commonly than your lower-level person, they will have a means and [will] have planned to live abroad."
Comment: This is supporting reference for Ken Lay possibly being alive and well and scot-free.
Note the very biggest getaways might require all the perks listed above PLUS friends in high places who command the top law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the world, AND are the most deceptive and secretive in history ... like Bush-Cheney.
And last I heard, everything somehow fell into place so Lay's estate did NOT have to give back the money he stole, either. Despite being court-ordered. Because Lay suddenly 'died' at precisely the right legal loophole moment after the verdict, and before it'd been implemented.
How's that for possibly the slickest getaway in all history? Hitler (who failed to escape Germany in WWII) was an idiot compared to this guy. JR Mooneyham PERMANENT LINK |
There are more than three stooges (and one of them will be America's next President)
Thompson lied: Records show he lobbied for pro-choice group| |
Excerpt: According to records from Arent Fox, the Washington law firm where Thompson worked part time from 1991 to 1994, he charged the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association about $5,000 for work he did in 1991 and 1992. ...
work for the family planning agency has become an issue because he is positioning himself as a faithful conservative who is opposed to abortion. |
Romney's campaign staff flashes phony police badges| |
Excerpt: In an apparent violation of the law, a controversial aide to ex-Gov. Mitt Romney created phony law enforcement badges that he and other staffers used on the campaign trail to strong-arm reporters, avoid paying tolls and trick security guards into giving them immediate access to campaign venues, sources told the Herald. |
Sen Clinton finally angry about something: she's snubbed by Pentagon official| |
Excerpt: Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday accused the Pentagon of impugning her patriotism simply because she raised questions about U.S. planning for the eventual withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
And who was that "Pentagon official"?
Excerpt: Hillary was not criticized by a military officer. No evidence [Eric] Edelman knows one end of an M-16 from another. She was not criticized by a Defense Department veteran. Edelman is just a recently installed understudy to Feith.
Who was she criticized by? Just one of the last Neoconservatives who hasn't yet been forced out of office because he abused the public trust or who hasn't yet slid into a criminality fostered by sublime arrogance.
By implying that Clinton is a traitor, Edelman inserted himself into a presidential campaign on the Republican side. That is not a legitimate role for the third man in charge of the Pentagon. |
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Lightning round news
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Stevia -- a healthy sugar replacement
The tricky issue of spyware with a badge: meet 'policeware'
TSA will lift ridiculous ban on cigarette lighters
Rockefeller writes legislation to combat naughty words on TV
Lance Armstrong to host Presidential candidates' forum on cancer
Cheney officially takes power as doctors probe President's ass
Swedish girls design anti-rape belt
U.K. Home Secretary apologizes over and over again for smoking pot 25 years ago
Hotmail fails to deliver up to 81% of all attachment emails
Dateline is sued over Dateline "predator" suicide
Judge slams Republican lawmaker over false election petitions
NASA drops space junk to Earth
opens a new town in Florida, just for wingnuts
Older AirAmerica programs go on-line, free (donations welcome)
New Zealanders decry ban on political satire
Scaife-owned paper calls for Iraq withdrawal; questions Bush's "mental stability"
Hackers steal U.S. government, corporate data from PCs
Soldier shoots himself in the leg to avoid returning to Iraq
Japan says quake caused 50 nuclear leaks
Court: V.A. must pay Agent Orange victims
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