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Impeach
Bush--Index 14
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October 21, 2005 Bush Quarterly average only in 18th percentile The decline in Bush's job approval rating becomes starkly clear when put in the context of quarterly averages for all other presidents since Harry Truman. Bush's 19th-quarter average of 43.9% ranks in just the 18th percentile, meaning that just 18% of all quarterly averages for all other presidents in Gallup's historical database have been lower. By way of contrast, Bush's post-Sept. 11 averages in late 2001 and 2002 ranked at or near the top of the quarterly percentile rankings, scoring in the 94th to 99th percentiles. October 20, 2005 US Oil Firm Admits "Oil for Food" Kickbacks NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Virginia oil trading company pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges of scheming to pay more than $400,000 in kickbacks to Iraq for oil purchases made as part of the defunct U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq. October 20, 2005 Australia's Scientists Condemn 'Intelligent Design' Australia's scientific community Friday called for an alternative evolutionary theory known as "intelligent design" to be barred from classrooms, comparing it to spoon-bending and alien abductions. October 20, 2005 Transcript: Colonel Wilkerson on US foreign policy I don't know what the case is today. I wish I did. But the case that I saw for 4 plus years was a case that I have never seen in my studies of aberration, bastardizations, [inaudible], changes to the national security [inaudible] process. What I saw was a cabal between the Vice President of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense and [inaudible] on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made. And then when the bureaucracy was presented with those decisions and carried them out, it was presented in such a disjointed incredible way that the bureaucracy often didn't know what it was doing as it moved to carry them out. October 20, 2005 Powell Chief of Staff: 'Cheney cabal hijacked US foreign policy' In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: "What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made. October 20, 2005 Frist Donated to Campaign After HCA Sale WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist paid $72,012 from his own pocket to his 2000 re-election campaign fund in August, two months after he was notified that trustees had sold millions of dollars of his stock in HCA Inc., the hospital chain founded by his father and brother. October 20, 2005 Tom DeLay Arrested and Fingerprinted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay dodged reporters and photographers awaiting his arrest in Fort Bend County today to surrender to Harris County sheriff's deputies on conspiracy and money laundering charges. October 20, 2005 Secret Service Records Prompted Key Miller Testimony New York Times reporter Judith Miller told the federal grand jury in the CIA leak case that she might have met with I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby on June 23, 2003 only after prosecutors showed her Secret Service logs that indicated she and Libby had indeed met that day in the Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House, according to attorneys familiar with her testimony. October 20, 2005 NY Times failed to identify Rice's "heckler" as a former U.S. diplomat In an October 20 article on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's questioning before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, The New York Times reported: "The hearing was punctuated by a heckler who called for an end to the war, only to be hustled out." But what one would not know from reading the Times' account was that the "heckler" is a former senior-level U.S. diplomat and former Army colonel. October 20, 2005 Mary Ann Wright - Former Diplomat Heckles Rice In Senate Hearing As Rice testified, former U.S. diplomat Mary Ann Wright stood up and shouted from the audience, "Stop the killing in Iraq. You and Congress have to be responsible." Wright, a senior envoy in the U.S. embassies in Afghanistan and Mongolia, resigned in protest in 2003. October 20, 2005 An Impeachable Offense U.S., Afghans Probe Alleged Desecration of POW's KABUL, Afghanistan Oct 20, 2005 — The U.S. military and the Afghan government said Thursday they will investigate a TV report that claimed U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan burned the bodies of two Taliban fighters and taunted other Islamic militants. The U.S. military said it found the report "repugnant." October 18, 2005 List of those who've testified in CIA Leak Here's a list of folks who have either testified or have been interviewed by Patrick Fitzgerald (or by FBI agents) in connection with the Plame probe. Please send us omissions and additions and expansions. Anonymity is guaranteed. To repeat: the list below is of those who have been interviewed by officials in connection with the case. Inclusion does not necessarily indicate that the listed person has testified under oath. October 19, 2005 An Impeachable Offense White House Iraq Group Fought to Squelch War Critics So determined was the ring of top officials to win its argument that it morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at critics who questioned its claims, sources told the Daily News. October 20, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Firms that Donate to the GOP Get Katrina Contracts It is a story of government ties that is repeated time and again for the winners of the 10 largest Katrina contracts, according to an Associated Press review. At least four of those contracts are now being reviewed for possible waste and abuse. October 16, 2005 An Impeachable Offense KEEPING THE UNIFORMED UNINFORMED In the battle for the hearts and minds of the American military, AFR has become a playground for conservative political commentary. So, the entrance of Ed Schultz into that playground was considered the utmost in fair play. The right got their hour of airtime and now the left would have an hour. "Fair and balanced' comes to mind--except I think somebody already uses that. October 19, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Senators Blast Military/Rusmfeld for Violating Military Regulations. AFN Radio carries the shows of a wide range of conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, and James Dobson, to the near total exclusion of progressive talk radio hosts. This is in violation of DoD's own guidelines on political programming on the American Forces Network, specifically, DoD Directive 5120.20R, which calls for political programming on American Forces Network that is "characterized by its fairness and balance," as well as news programming guided by a "principle of fairness" that requires "reasonable opportunities for the presentation of conflicting views on important controversial public issues." October 16, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Pentagon has reneged on $15,000 Enlistment Bonus WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has reneged on its offer to pay a $15,000 bonus to members of the National Guard and Army Reserve who agree to extend their enlistments by six years, according to Sen. Patty Murray (D-Seattle). October 19, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Secret Service can Trace Your Printer San Francisco - A secret code embedded in many colour laser jet printers allows the US government and any other organisation capable of reading the cipher to identify when the copies were made and on which particular machine, according to research conducted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) October 18, 2005 Conservative Commentator Dismissed Because He Oppposes Bush's Record Deficits In a statement, the organization said the decision was made after Mr. Bartlett supplied its president, John C. Goodman, with the manuscript of his forthcoming book, "The Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy." October 18, 2005 War on Terror/Immigration Two men charged after missing girls found Authorities say two Mexican nationals have been charged with gross sexual imposition in th Russell says both men are illegal immigrants. She says they were working on the construction of a new Wal-Mart store in Bismarck. The girls were found safe in Bismarck on Sunday nearly three days after they disappeared. October 18, 2005 Homeland Security/Immigration/Terrorism In the budget year that ended last month, the Border Patrol apprehended more than 160,000 non-Mexican nationals, but only 30,000 were removed from the United States. The others were released, often on their own recognizance, because there is no place to hold them. Few return for immigration hearings, he said. October 18, 2005 Wholesale Prices Surge to 15-Year High WASHINGTON - Wholesale inflation jumped by the largest amount in 15 years in September and there are worrisome signs that soaring energy prices from the hurricanes are beginning to spill over to the rest of the economy. October 18, 2005 Gallup Poll: Political Mood Sours The public's approval of the way President George W. Bush is handling his job is at 39%, a record low, though just a point lower than two ratings -- in mid-September and mid-August of this year. The public's approval of Congress is at 29%, the first time it's dropped below the 30% level since 1994. And overall satisfaction with the way things are going is at 31%, the lowest level since January 1996. October 17, 2005 Miers Supported Ban on Most Abortions WASHINGTON Oct 18, 2005 — Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers pledged support in 1989 for a constitutional amendment banning abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother, according to material given to the Senate on Tuesday. October 17, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Barber Cancels Ed Schultz's Debut on Armed Forces Radio But this morning at 6AM, the producer of the Ed Schultz show, James Holm, received a call from Pentagon communications aide Allison Barber. She told Holm that she was calling so early to let Schultz know his show would not begin airing on AFR today. You'll remember Barber as the aide caught coaching troops before a photo-op with President Bush last week. October 17, 2005 TMV Interview with Progressive Talker Ed Schultz The conservative ones that I've heard have an underlying theme of hate all Democrats and hate all liberals. Their entertainment is making fun of Democrats and liberals. They're not fair about anything when it comes to compromise or middle of the road. They almost have a scorched earth policy....And I don't think that's where America is right now. I think you've got 15 percent of the people off to the right and 15 percent of the people off to the left and you've got a bunch of people in the middle in this country who just want a fair chance at having a good life. October 16, 2005 Stocks' Malaise Lingers "The karma of the market is no longer there," says Au, who predicts a serious downturn lasting into 2007. "People are running scared." October 17, 2005 U.S. Consumer Spending May Slump in a `Cold, Dark' Winter Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumers, and the businesses that depend on them, are bracing for what Lehman Brothers Inc. economists call a ``cold, dark and expensive'' winter. October 17, 2005 War In Iraq is Creating a New Cold War n several speeches, he has begun warning that the insurgency is already metastasizing into a far broader struggle to "establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia." While he still predicts victory, he appears to be preparing the country for a struggle of cold war proportions. October 16, 2005 Five Part Series How a Lobbyist Stacked the Deck The vote that day in July was just one part of an extraordinary yearlong effort by Abramoff on behalf of eLottery, a small gambling services company based in Connecticut. Details of that campaign, reconstructed from dozens of interviews as well as from e-mails and financial records obtained by The Washington Post, provide the most complete account yet of how one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists leveraged his client's money to influence Congress. October 16, 2005 Sparring Between McClellan and Reporters Escalates As the White House has been forced onto the defensive in recent weeks -- over Hurricane Katrina, the CIA leak investigation, the Iraq war and the Miers nomination -- the daily sparring between McClellan and the press corps has turned increasingly testy. While there has been an element of theater in these sessions since live television coverage began in 1995 -- clips are now routinely posted on the Internet -- McClellan's rebuttals have lately become more personal. [Note: "recent weeks" Are the folks at the Post morons? Bush has been on the defensive since he lied about tax cuts and surpluses, WMD and terrorist links in Iraq. In other words Bush has been on the defensive since day one. The Post is still waking from a very deep slumber.] October 17, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Senator: Charges possible over Williams contract Congressional auditors last month found that the $240,000 contract violated a ban on "covert propaganda" and said the Education Department should ask for some of the money back. Higgins, while criticizing the deal as "bad management" of tax dollars, found no ethical breaches during his investigation. He issued that report on April 15. October 16, 2005 Hidden Scandal: DoD granted security clearance to Miller If Ms. Miller agreed to operate under a security clearance without the knowledge or approval of Times managers, she should be disciplined or even dismissed. If she had their approval, all involved should be ashamed. October 16, 2005 It's About Bush Cheney, not Rove Libby Very little has been written about the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG. Its inception in August 2002, seven months before the invasion of Iraq, was never announced. Only much later would a newspaper article or two mention it in passing, reporting that it had been set up by Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff. Its eight members included Mr. Rove, Mr. Libby, Condoleezza Rice and the spinmeisters Karen Hughes and Mary Matalin. Its mission: to market a war in Iraq. October 12, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Political Appointees Re-Write Commerce Department Report On Offshore Outsourcing; Original Analysis Is Missing From Final Version But the 12-page document represented by the agency as its final report is not what was written by its analysts. Rather, it was crafted by political appointees at Commerce and at the White House. At an estimated cost of $335,000 -- or $28,000 per page -- the document MTN received from the Commerce Department's Technology Administration contains no original research and forsakes its initial intent of providing a balanced view of outsourcing, according to those inside and outside the agency. October 2005 Thatcher: There Were No Facts Supporting War Yesterday's Washington Post reported that when asked whether she would have invaded Iraq given the intelligence at the time, Lady Thatcher replied: "I was a scientist before I was a politician. And as a scientist I know you need facts, evidence and proof - and then you check, recheck and check again . . . The fact was that there were no facts, there was no evidence, and there was no proof." October 15, 2005 Keller Must Fire Miller, and Apologize to Readers (October 15, 2005) -- It's not enough that Judith Miller, we learned Saturday, is taking some time off and "hopes' to return to the New York Times newsroom. As the newspaper's devastating account of her Plame games -- and her own first-person sidebar -- make clear, she should be promptly dismissed for crimes against journalism, and her own newspaper. And Bill Keller, executive editor, who let her get away with it, owes readers, at the minimum, an apology instead of merely hailing his paper's long-delayed analysis and saying that readers can make of it what they will. October 8, 2005 Is This the Death of America? (UK perspective) The US, we learn, is 43rd in the world infant mortality rankings. A baby born in Beijing has nearly three times the chance of reaching its first birthday than a baby born in Washington. Those who survive face rotten schools. On reading and maths tests for 15-year-olds, America is 24th out of 29 nations. October 12, 2005 Bush outspends Clinton, Reagan, Nixon and LBJ First Five Years, Percentage Changes in Real Discretionary SpendingOctober 14, 2005 Travis DA subpoenaes DeLay's telephone records District Attorney Ronnie Earle also sought telephone records for DeLay's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro, who served as a fundraiser for both DeLay's national Americans for a Republican Majority, ARMPAC, and the DeLay-founded Texans for a Republican Majority, TRMPAC. October 14, 2005 Injured Soldiers Hit with Bills But nine months after Loria was wounded, the Army garnished his wages and then, as he prepared to leave the service, hit him with a $6,200 debt. That was just before last Christmas, and several lawmakers scrambled to help. This spring, a collection agency started calling. He owed another $646 for military housing. October 2005 Larry Johnson Rebuts Richard Cohen Patrick Fitzgerald understands that he must prosecute within the confines of the law. However, he also understands that what was done to the wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson was more than a rough game of inside the beltway hardball. Karl Rove told Chris Matthews that "Wilson's wife is fair game". Not only was she an unfair target, but in going after her the White House political crew unwittingly exposed several intelligence assets and caused the loss of intelligence assets overseas. Read Richard Cohen October 16, 2005 Eight Part Series The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal Neither The Times nor its cause has emerged unbruised. Three courts, including the Supreme Court, declined to back Ms. Miller. Critics said The Times was protecting not a whistle-blower but an administration campaign intended to squelch dissent. The Times's coverage of itself was under assault: While the editorial page had crusaded on Ms. Miller's behalf, the news department had more than once been scooped on the paper's own story, even including the news of Ms. Miller's release from jail. October 16, 2005 Eight Part Series The Judith Miller Story During my testimony on Sept. 30 and Oct. 12, the special counsel, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, asked me whether Mr. Libby had shared classified information with me during our several encounters before Mr. Novak's article. He also asked whether I thought Mr. Libby had tried to shape my testimony through a letter he sent to me in jail last month. And Mr. Fitzgerald asked whether Mr. Cheney had known what his chief aide was doing and saying. October 16, 2005 Five Part Series Judith Miller's Story "My Four Hours Testifying in the Federal Grand Jury Room - New York Times": The prosecutor asked my reaction to those words. I replied that this portion of the letter had surprised me because it might be perceived as an effort by Mr. Libby to suggest that I, too, would say we had not discussed Ms. Plame's identity. Yet my notes suggested that we had discussed her job. October 14, 2005 Consumer Confidence Falls to 13 Year Low Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell for a third month to the lowest in more than 13 years as concerns persisted about high energy prices and hurricane-related economic disruption. October 14, 2005 U.S. Consumer Prices Rise Most in 25 Years Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer prices rose last month by the most in 25 years as energy costs posted the biggest jump on record after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Excluding energy and food, prices rose less than forecast. October 13, 2005 Pew Poll Results: Bush Presidency - A Failure About four-in-ten (41%) say that, in the long run, Bush will be an unsuccessful president, up from 27% in January and the highest percentage expressing that view since he took office. About a quarter (26%) believe Bush will be successful down 10 points since January while 30% say it is too early to tell. October 13, 2005 Catch-22 at the New York Times Rarely has so much been riding on a single article. Especially internally. The frustration I've been reporting on since July has now spilled into the MSM with "nearly a dozen Times staffers" venting to Howard Kurtz. The Times newsroom is a powder keg ready to blow. October 14, 2005 Very Good Reversing the Intellectual Decline Historians will write of this time that the U.S. was in a period of intellectual decline, a kind of anti-renaissance of thought. Simplicity, and brevity displaced thoughtful dialogue. Repetition passed as true conviction, cult-like adherence to shallow philosophies unseated consideration of creative alternatives and honesty gave way to spin. October 13, 2005 Let This Leak Go The best thing Patrick Fitzgerald could do for his country is get out of Washington, return to Chicago and prosecute some real criminals. As it is, all he has done so far is send Judith Miller of the New York Times to jail and repeatedly haul this or that administration high official before a grand jury, investigating a crime that probably wasn't one in the first place but that now, as is often the case, might have metastasized into some sort of coverup -- but, again, of nothing much. October 14, 2005 Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged It was billed as a conversation with U.S. troops, but the questions President Bush asked on a teleconference call Thursday were choreographed to match his goals for the war in Iraq and Saturday's vote on a new Iraqi constitution. October 09, 2005 An Impeachable Offense 13 political downturns for the administration, followed by 13 'terror events' Keith Olbermann MSNBC:I suggested that in the last three years there had been about 13 similar coincidences - a political downturn for the administration, followed by a "terror event" - a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning. October 13, 2005 SEC Issues Subpoena To Frist Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation. October 13, 2005 An Impeachable Offense U.S. accused of making up al-Qaida letter "We in al-Qaida declare that there is no truth to these claims, and they are baseless, except in the imagination of the politicians of the Black (White) House," according to the statement on a Web site known as a clearing house for al-Qaida material. October 11, 2005 NBC/WSJ Poll
10/05
Headed in the right direction 28
Off on the wrong track 59
Mixed (VOL) 10
Not sure 3
October 09, 2005Bush's Fraying Presidency The lead story in The Post on Thursday reported that "the Senate defied the White House yesterday and voted to set new limits on interrogating detainees in Iraq and elsewhere," with 46 Republicans joining the Democrats to pass restrictions on prisoner abuse so unacceptable to President Bush that he has threatened his first veto. October 11, 2005 Libby Did Not Tell Grand Jury He Talked to Miller In two appearances before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's name, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, did not disclose a crucial conversation that he had with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June 2003 about the operative, Valerie Plame, according to sources with firsthand knowledge of his sworn testimony. October 10, 2005 Miers: counsel of record in 22 cases that were litigated Most of the cases Ms. Miers handled were settled out of court, leaving little for the public record. According to the Congressional Research Service, Ms. Miers has been counsel of record in 22 cases that were litigated. October 08, 2005 Howard Dean Rebuilds Democrat Party
US is Running Out of Money in Iraq "American money has dried up,' says Brent Rose, chief of program/project management for the Army Corps of Engineers in southern Iraq. Tracking the billions of dollars that flooded into a war zone in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion has proved difficult, too. Nearly $100 million in reconstruction money is unaccounted for. October 10, 2005 McCrery, Oxley, DeLay Use Contributions for Jets, Resorts, Golf Many leadership PACs spend so much putting on fundraisers that their expenses outstrip the amount of money they give to candidates or parties. Republican Oxley's PAC this year has spent $292,458 on overhead -- everything from consultants to ski-lift tickets to postage bills -- while giving $114,000 in donations. October 11, 2005 Frist Accumulated Stock Outside Trusts Edmond M. Ianni, a former Wilmington, Del., bank executive who established blind trusts for corporate executives, questioned why the senator's brother was able to manage assets "when the whole purpose of a blind trust is to ensure lack of not only conflict of interest — but appearance of conflict of interest?" October 06, 2005 Energy Assistance Falls as Prices Rise The $2.2 billion appropriated for 2005 - which constitutes the starting point for our calculations - is itself unusually low by historical standards; taking into account the price of home heating, the 2005 level of funding was the lowest since 1998. October 12, 2005 Natural Gas Users: Expect 48% Increase The department said natural gas users can expect to pay an average of $350 more during the upcoming winter compared to last year, an increase of 48 percent. Those who heat their homes with fuel oil will pay $378 more, or 32 percent higher than last winter. October 11, 2005 Poll: Americans Favor Bush's Impeachment If He Lied about Iraq By a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans want Congress to consider impeaching President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003. October 10, 2005 For GOP, Election Anxiety Mounts Republican politicians in multiple states have recently decided not to run for Senate next year, stirring anxiety among Washington operatives about the effectiveness of the party's recruiting efforts and whether this signals a broader decline in GOP congressional prospects. October 12, 2005 An Impeachable Offense CIA rebukes Bush: intelligence predicted war would split Iraq WASHINGTON — A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq. October 12, 2005 President Under Duress, Body Language Speaks Volumes The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was "trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression," Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt. October 10, 2005 US blocks U.N. briefing on atrocities in Sudan Bolton, joined by China, Algeria and Russia, prevented Juan Mendez, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser for the prevention of genocide, from briefing the council on his recent visit to Darfur, despite pleas from Annan and 11 other council members that Mendez be heard. October 11, 2005 Letter from al-Zawahiri to al-Zarqawi The first stage: Expel the Americans from Iraq. The second stage: Establish an Islamic authority or amirate The third stage: Extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq. The fourth stage: It may coincide with what came before: the clash with Israel October 7, 2005 "Face the Nation" one-side discussion of DeLay's problems If the goal in inviting only Republicans to discuss the indictment was to avoid a "partisan fight" over Earle, it was a spectacularly naïve approach to take. In what must have been a surprise to nobody other than Pratt, Rep. John B. Shadegg (R-AZ) wasted little time before attacking Earle: October 7, 2005 60 Minutes one-sided report on Clinton The October 9 broadcast of CBS' 60 Minutes will feature an interview with former FBI director Louis Freeh, whose upcoming book My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror (St. Martin's Press) reportedly contains "scathing" criticism of President Clinton. October 7, 2005 "60 Minutes" Responds Reviewing various scandals, Freeh writes in his book: "The problem was with Bill Clinton — the scandals and the rumored scandals, the incubating ones and the dying ones never ended. Whatever moral compass the president was consulting was leading him in the wrong direction. His closets were full of skeletons just waiting to burst out.' October 9, 2005 'Excellent at politics and spin, not very good at governance' "This Administration has been excellent at politics and spin," he told me. "It hasn't been very good at governance. Perhaps it's time for Bush to do what Ronald Reagan did to shore up his White House in the final years—bring in a team of terrific managers, people with credibility from Day One." Faced with the Iran-contra scandal, Reagan brought in Howard Baker and then Ken Duberstein as chiefs of staff, Frank Carlucci and then Colin Powell as National Security Advisers (Powell told Reagan, in no uncertain terms, that Lieut. Colonel Oliver North, who was running an illegal war from the White House basement, had to go). October 8, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Officials: NYC Terror Plot Uncorroborated "The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credibility of this specific threat," Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said. "This is after ongoing review and analysis. October 10, 2005 Christian Coalition Official Molested Family Member NEW YORK After news broke that local law enforcement officials were investigating complaints that Louis Beres, longtime chairman of the Christian Coalition of Oregon, had molested three female family members when they were pre-teens, The Oregonian in Portland went out and interviewed Beres' family members. October 5, 2005 "I picked the best person I could find" He did not say he picked the best person that America has to offer, or the best legal mind in the nation. No, she merely is the best he could find. (How hard did he look? Well, that is another question.) October 8, 2005 Abortion Poll 10 states poll 50% or higher in anti abortion poll 25 states poll 40% or higher. October 8, 2005 War-dead Web site leads to Polk obscenity arrest Polk County officials arrested a Lakeland man on obscenity charges Friday after investigating his graphic Web site, which has gained international attention for allowing U.S. soldiers to post pictures of war dead on the Internet. October 7, 2005 AP-Ipsos poll: Conservative Base Unhappy with Bush WASHINGTON - Evangelicals, Republican women, Southerners and other critical groups in President Bush's political coalition are worried about the direction the nation is headed and disappointed with his performance, an AP-Ipsos poll found. October 7, 2005 Report Warns Democrats Not to Tilt Too Far Left In the latest shot in a long-running war over the party's direction -- an argument turned more passionate after Democrat John F. Kerry's loss to President Bush last year -- two intellectuals who have been aligned with former president Bill Clinton warn that the only way back to victory is down the center. {Note : Bullshit] October 6, 2005 CBS Poll: Bush Hits New Low - 37% President Bush's overall job approval rating has reached the lowest ever measured in this poll, and evaluations of his handling of Iraq, the economy and even his signature issue, terrorism, are also at all-time lows. More Americans than at any time since he took office think he does not share their priorities. October 6, 2005 FBI caseload drops 45% since 2000 Majorities of the public have consistently said the U.S. is off on the wrong track since January 2004. In May 2004, shortly after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal came to light, 65 percent were negative. In November 1994, just as Republicans took control of both houses of Congress for the first time in decades, 6 percent of Americans said the country was off on the wrong track. US Code CHAPTER 37 > § 798 Disclosure of classified information (a) Whoever knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or otherwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or uses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States . . .Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. October 4, 2005 FBI caseload drops 45% since 2000 The FBI opened a little more than 34,000 criminal cases in 2004, a 45 percent drop from the number it initiated in 2000, according to an audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine. October 6, 2005 GOP Control of Congress Under Threat Ask any optimistic Democrat about the Republican troubles and they'll tell you it feels a lot like 1994 or 1974 -- two other election cycles when members of the majority party were swept out by a wave of anti-incumbent disgust. September 30, 2005 Timeline: CIA Leak Sept. 30, 2005: The Times identifies Miller's source as I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. In Washington, Miller testifies before the grand jury. Afterwards, she declines to confirm that Libby was her source, but says the source sent her a letter and called her in prison. "I concluded from this that my source genuinely wanted me to testify," she says. October 6, 2005 Congressional Democrats pledge reform in Washington WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats stepped up attacks on what they called Republicans' "culture of cronyism and corruption" on Thursday, trying to capitalize on a spate of ethics scandals and the Bush administration's heavily criticized response to Hurricane Katrina. October 6, 2005 Democrats urge Bush to use clout to cut gas prices WASHINGTON (AFP) - Two Democratic senators urged President George W. Bush to use his clout with top energy companies to get price breaks for US consumers at the gasoline pump. October 6, 2005 US budget deficit 317 billion dollars in just-ended fiscal yea WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US federal budget deficit narrowed to a better-than-expected 317 billion dollars in the fiscal year ended September 30, as corporate tax payments exceeded forecasts, congressional officials said. October 6, 2005 Bin Laden to surface after new attack on US soil: ex-CIA expert WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden is expected to remain in hiding until he stages another attack on the United States, an ex-CIA expert who had tracked the terror mastermind for two decades warned in an interview on Wednesday. October 6, 2005 September Weapons Haul in Baghdad Largest Since May WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2005 – Iraqi and coalition troops operating in and around Baghdad seized 31 weapons caches in September, constituting the largest monthly haul of ordnance in that area since May, when 54 caches were uncovered, military officials reported. October 6, 2005 War on terror $7 billion a month WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is spending about $7 billion a month to wage the war on terror, and costs could total $570 billion by the end of 2010, assuming troops are gradually brought home, a congressional report estimates. October 7, 2005 House Bill To Weakens Environmental Standards "The bill weakens state and federal environmental standards ... and gives a break to wealthy oil companies while doing little or nothing to affect oil prices," Rep. Sherwood Boehlert , R-N.Y., said in a letter Thursday to colleagues. With prices soaring, "oil companies now have all the profits and incentives they need to build new refineries" without government help, he maintained. October 7, 2005 ElBaradei Wins Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Committee's decision lent support to negotiations and inspections, not military action, as the best way to handle volatile nations. It also was seen as a message to the Bush administration, which invaded Iraq after claiming U.N. efforts to eradicate Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions had failed and which opposed ElBaradei's appointment to another term. October 6, 2005 Ethics Committee won't Investigate DeLay WASHINGTON — Rep. Doc Hastings, the Washington state Republican who chairs the House ethics committee, touched off a political controversy this week with statements supporting embattled Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas. Hastings told the Yakima Herald-Republic that his committee would not investigate a 15-month-old complaint about DeLay's role in alleged illegal campaign contributions in Texas. October 7, 2005 White House computers part of spy prob WASHINGTON — FBI agents examined computers in Vice President Dick Cheney's office and talked to former and current White House aides yesterday as they investigated an FBI intelligence analyst accused of passing classified information to Filipino officials. October 6, 2005 Christian Nuts Concerned About Miers' Views But even more, Green said, evangelicals are acutely aware of the diverse beliefs within their own movement; someone who shares their faith may not necessarily hold the same political outlook. "Does she connect her beliefs up to politics in the way that they would like? I think the answer is they just don't know," Green said. October 6, 2005 O'Reilly wrongly claimed that "about 50 percent of the country's pro-life" On the October 5 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that "about 50 percent of the country's pro-life." In fact, less than 40 percent of Americans identified themselves as "pro-life" in a recent Gallup poll, and more than 60 percent of Americans oppose overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that established the right to abortion. October 6, 2005 God told me to invade Iraq, Bush tells Palestinian ministers 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan." And I did, and then God would tell me, "George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …" And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, "Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East." And by God I'm gonna do it.'" October 6, 2005 Rove Said to Testify in CIA Leak Case WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer's leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won't be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation. October 6, 2005 Senate adds ban on torture The Republican-majority Senate followed the lead of Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., voting 90-9 to add the anti-torture language to the legislation. Both of Washington state's Democratic senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, voted for the measure. October 6, 2005 Business Groups Want to Limit Patriot Act Among the signers were the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents 3 million businesses; the National Association of Manufacturers, which represents large and small industrialists in every state; and the National Association of Realtors, with 1 million members. All three are regulars on Fortune magazine's list of nation's 25 most powerful lobbying outfits. October 5, 2005
October 5, 2005 Key Events in DeLay-Blunt Donation Swaps
October 5, 2005 Democrats demand accountability for setbacks in Iraq WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democrats accused President George W. Bush and his Republican allies in Congress of an "information blackout" to keep the public in the dark about recent military and political setbacks in Iraq. October 4, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Immigration Services "rubber-stamping" applications He said he knew of several customer-service centers where adjudicators feel they are "rubber-stamping" applications in order to make performance quotas. The Washington Times reported yesterday that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), the agency charged with admitting foreigners, is in disarray, with some adjudicators not being able to see some law-enforcement databases before making a decision and with employees facing thousands of charges of misconduct. An internal affairs investigator briefed some members of Congress behind closed doors on the disarray last week, said two sources familiar with the briefing. October 5, 2005 An Impeachable Offense Espionage Case Breaches the White House Oct. 5, 2005 — Both the FBI and CIA are calling it the first case of espionage in the White House in modern history. Officials tell ABC News the alleged spy worked undetected at the White House for almost three years. Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, was a U.S. Marine most recently assigned to the staff of Vice President Dick Cheney. October 5, 2005 DeLay, Successor Blunt Swapped Donations The government's former chief election enforcement lawyer said the Blunt and DeLay transactions are similar to the Texas case and raise questions that should be investigated regarding whether donors were deceived or the true destination of their money was concealed. October 4, 2005 Safavian Indicted on Five Felony Counts WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's former chief procurement official was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of making false statements and obstructing investigations into high-powered Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The five felony counts in the indictment charge David H. Safavian with obstructing Senate and executive branch investigations into whether he aided Abramoff in efforts to acquire property controlled by the General Services Administration around the nation's capital. October 5, 2005 The House Republican Study Proposals to offset the cost of Katrina Relief It calls for deep cuts in basic programs for the poorest and most vulnerable Americans. It also would hit the middle class substantially, raising the costs of health care sharply for elderly Medicare beneficiaries with modest incomes and increasing the costs of school lunches for middle-income families. Yet it calls for virtually no sacrifice from the most well-off Americans, who have benefited heavily and disproportionately from the tax cuts enacted over the last four years. In fact, it leaves in place generous new tax cuts - predominantly for millionaires - that are slated to start taking effect on January 1, 2006, even as the package cuts deeply into programs for poor families and for elderly people getting by on modest incomes. October 4, 2005 Prison Abuse stalls Defense Bill The stalemate began in July when Frist, R-Tenn., who shepherds President Bush's agenda through the Senate by deciding what bills get a vote, abruptly stopped debate on the bill. That avoided a high-profile fight over amendments, supported by Warner and sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., restricting the Pentagon's handling of detainees in the war on terror. October 5, 2005 Can we impeach a president for being an idiot? Can This Nomination Be Justified? Senators beginning what ought to be a protracted and exacting scrutiny of Harriet Miers should be guided by three rules. First, it is not important that she be confirmed. Second, it might be very important that she not be. Third, the presumption -- perhaps rebuttable but certainly in need of rebutting -- should be that her nomination is not a defensible exercise of presidential discretion to which senatorial deference is due. October 5, 2005 On Miers: The President can do better AMERICA is not supposed to work this way. We tell our children that here, in the land of opportunity, what you know is more important than who you know. Yet in politics, that maxim is too often inverted. For President Bush, "who' trumps "what' almost every time. |
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