December 22, 2005
Courts unlikely to hear wiretap cases
The reason: The surveillance is so secret that its targets are unlikely to know they were wiretapped and thus are unlikely to raise a court challenge. That leaves the legal underpinnings of the program to be debated in Senate hearings expected to begin in early 2006.

December 20, 2005
Scott McClellan Lied: Congress had no oversight over illegal wiretaps

Q But as you know, members of Congress who were briefed said that they were informed -- yes, briefed, but given absolutely no recourse to formally object, to push back and say, this is not acceptable.

MR. McCLELLAN: They're an independent branch of government.

December 21, 2005
Must Read
Conservative Court Questions Administration's Honesty
The fourteen-page opinion makes a number of charges against the Administration. Fundamentally, it accuses the government of changing its version of the facts to suit its purposes and improperly seeking to avoid Supreme Court consideration of whether the President has the power to declare a U.S. citizen an "enemy combatant." The Court also castigates the government for at least creating the appearance that there really was not such a great need to hold Padilla as an enemy combatant and that the charges that he had entered the country to set off bombs might not be true.

December 20, 2005
Democrats say they never OK'd wiretapping
WASHINGTON - Some Democrats say they never approved a domestic wiretapping program, undermining suggestions by President Bush and his senior advisers that the plan was fully vetted in a series of congressional briefings.

December 22, 2005
Donors underwrite life of luxury for DeLay
WASHINGTON - As Tom DeLay became a king of campaign fundraising, he lived like one too. He visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants — all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire.

December 26, 2005 Edition
Why Times Ran Wiretap Story
But Times sources said that Mr. Risen's book does include the revelation about the secret N.S.A. surveillance program. That left Mr. Taubman and his superiors in the position of having to resolve The Times' dispute with the administration before Mr. Risen could moot their legal and ethical concerns—and scoop his own paper.

December 19, 2005
George W. Bush's Impeachable Offenses
The articles of Nixon's impeachment centered on his use of illegal surveillance methods against political opponents and obstruction of justice and contempt of Congress in covering it up.

Blog Pluse July 06 - December 15
Number of blog posts for "Impeach Bush" over the past six months

December 21, 2005
Two-to-one majority opposes violation of civil rights in fight against terrorism'
A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll finds 65% of Americans saying that while the government should make efforts to fight terrorism, it should not take steps that violate basic civil liberties. On the other hand, 31% would allow the government to take counter-terrorism steps to prevent terrorism, "even if that means your basic civil liberties would be violated."

December 20, 2005
O'Reilly retreats in "war on Christmas," declaring: " 'Happy Holidays' is fine'
Summary: On The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly apparently reversed his previous position that the phrase "Happy Holidays" is offensive, stating, " 'Happy Holidays' is fine, just don't ban 'Merry Christmas.' " O'Reilly has previously claimed the term "Happy Holidays" is offensive to "millions of Christians" and 'insulting to Christian America."

December 19, 2005
Wash. Post Impeachment Question
In her November 13 column, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote that Post polling director Richard Morin told her that the Post does not "do a poll on whether President Bush should be impeached" because such a question "is biased and would produce a misleading result." Media Matters for America pointed out the inconsistency in Morin's claim: the Post, under Morin's direction, asked similar questions about then-President Bill Clinton throughout 1998. Morin has now changed his story, saying that "we do not ask about impeachment because it is not a serious option or a topic of considered discussion."

December 20, 2005
Bush is Danger to the Rule of Law
President Bush presents a clear and present danger to the rule of law. He cannot be trusted to conduct the war against global terrorism with a decent respect for civil liberties and checks against executive abuses. Congress should swiftly enact a code that would require Mr. Bush to obtain legislative consent for every counterterrorism measure that would materially impair individual freedoms.

December 20, 2005
Peloski Wants Letters Declassified
"When I learned several years ago that the National Security Agency had been authorized to conduct the activities that President Bush referred to in his December 17 radio address, I expressed my strong concerns in a classified letter to the Administration and later verbally."

December 21, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Spy Briefings Failed to Meet Legal Test, Lawmakers Say
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - The limited oral briefings provided by the White House to a handful of lawmakers about the domestic eavesdropping program may not have fulfilled a legal requirement under the National Security Act that calls for such reports to be in written form, Congressional officials from both parties said on Tuesday.

December 20, 2005
Op-Ed Writer Resigns From Copley News (taking bribes)
NEW YORK Columnist Doug Bandow resigned Tuesday from Copley News Service, E&P has learned. He had been under fire for accepting payola from indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to write Op-Ed pieces favorable to some of Abramoff's clients.

December 26, 2005 Edition
Bush's Abuse of Power Deserves Impeachment
Recklessly and audaciously, George W. Bush is driving the nation whose laws he swore to uphold into a constitutional crisis. He has claimed the powers of a medieval monarch and defied the other two branches of government to deny him. Eventually, despite his party's monopoly of power, he may force the nation to choose between his continuing degradation of basic national values and the terrible remedy of impeachment.

December 21, 2005
Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.

December 21, 2005
Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

December 20, 2005
A Third of Americans Would Impeach Bush
32 per cent of respondents believe George W. Bush should be impeached and removed from office, while 58 per cent disagree.

December 20, 2005
Senate Poised for Showdown on the Budget
WASHINGTON Dec 21, 2005 — Senate Republicans expressed optimism as legislation to curb the budget deficit by shaving benefit programs will move toward a crucial vote.
Note: The republican deficit reduction plan will increase the deficit by almost twice the amount of their cuts. Only in the worlds of conservative media coverage can higher deficits be considered 'curbing the budget deficit.'

December 20, 2005
Censure motion introduced in House over Iraq, torture
Ranking House Judiciary Democrat Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has introduced a motion to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney for providing misleading information to Congress in advance of the Iraq war, failing to respond to written questions and potential violations of international law, RAW STORY has learned.

December 20, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Conservative Scholars Argue Bush's Wiretapping Is An Impeachable Offense
NORM ORNSTEIN, AEI scholar: I think if we're going to be intellectually honest here, this really is the kind of thing that Alexander Hamilton was referring to when impeachment was discussed.

December 20, 2005
Key Section of Executive Summary of Conyers' Report
There is a prima facie case that these actions by the President, Vice-President and other members of the Bush Administration violated a number of federal laws, including (1) Committing a Fraud against the United States; (2) Making False Statements to Congress; (3) The War Powers Resolution; (4) Misuse of Government Funds; (5) federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; (6) federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals; and (7) federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence.

December 19, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
ACLU accuses FBI of 'spying' on activists
On the same day that the FBI warned a Congressional committee about the danger of "domestic terrorism," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Wednesday accused the FBI of using terrorism as a pretext to spy on activists who "oppose the war in Iraq, the USA Patriot Act, and other government policies."

December 20, 2005
Raising the Issue of Impeachment
U.S. Representative John Conyers, the Michigan Democrat who was a critical player in the Watergate and Iran-Contra investigations into presidential wrongdoing, has introduced a package of resolutions that would censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney and create a select committee to investigate the Administration's possible crimes and make recommendations regarding grounds for impeachment.

December 20, 2005
Judge bans teaching intelligent design
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday banned the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution by Pennsylvania's Dover Area School District, saying the practice violated the constitutional ban on teaching religion in public schools.

December 19, 2005
Dems to call for Impeachment?
If the Democrats regain control of Congress, there may even be articles of impeachment introduced. Similar abuse of power was part of the impeachment charge brought against Richard Nixon in 1974.

December 19, 2005
Congressman Nadler demands special counsel to investigate the President
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) today demanded that Attorney General Gonzales appoint a special counsel to investigate the President's apparent violation of law in asking the National Security Agency to eavesdrop, without warrants, on Americans' international phone calls.

December 20, 2005
Congressman Lewis Calls for Bush Impeachment
ATLANTA (AP) -- U.S. Representative John Lewis said in a radio interview on Monday that President Bush should be impeached if he broke the law in authorizing spying on Americans.

December 19, 2005
Senator Rockefeller's 2003 Letter on Domestic Spying
The record needs to be set clear that the Administration never afforded members briefed on the program an opportunity to either approve or disapprove the NSA program. The limited members who were told of the program were prohibited by the Administration from sharing any information about it with our colleagues, including other members of the Intelligence Committees.

December 19, 2005
An Impeachable Offense? Democracy Now Interviews
There had been a case in 1972, when Nixon tried to do the same thing. And he went out, and he tried to survey, surveillance people, eavesdropping, wiretapping without judicial warrants, without probable cause. And the United States Supreme Court said no.

December 18, 2005
Boxer Asks Presidential Scholars About an 'Impeachable Offense'
Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today asked four presidential scholars for their opinion on former White House Counsel John Dean's statement that President Bush admitted to an "impeachable offense" when he said he authorized the National Security Agency to spy on Americans without getting a warrant from a judge.

December 19, 2005
Chicago Tribune Editorial: Missteps in the war on terror
Earlier this month, former members of the Sept. 11 commission issued a dismal "report card" giving Congress and the president 5 F's and 12 D's in their handling of such matters as airline cargo screening, communications among first responders and allocation of homeland security funds. Excesses of enforcement violate civil liberties. Lapses of vigilance can lead to mass carnage. Our leaders have an urgent duty to correct both mistakes, without delay.

December 18, 2005
Pushing the Limits Of Wartime Powers
The president's emphatic defense yesterday of warrantless eavesdropping on U.S. citizens and residents marked the third time in as many months that the White House has been obliged to defend a departure from previous restraints on domestic surveillance. In each case, the Bush administration concealed the program's dimensions or existence from the public and from most members of Congress.

December 18, 2005
Sen. Reid calls US Congress 'most corrupt in history'
>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid called the Republican-led Congress "the most corrupt in history" on Sunday, and distanced himself from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, at the center of an escalating probe.

December 19, 2005
'Dr. Germ,' Others Released in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - About 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime, including a biological weapons expert known as "Dr. Germ," have been released from jail, while a militant group released a video Monday of the purported killing of an American hostage.

December 19, 2005
Congress pushes back, hard, against Bush
WASHINGTON – From a standoff over the Patriot Act to pushback from Capitol Hill on the treatment of detainees, secret prisons abroad, and government eavesdropping at home, tensions between the Bush White House and the Republican-controlled Congress have never been more exposed.

December 18, 2005
GOP Ranks Breaking Over Bush's Tactics
"We need to be mindful of Ben Franklin's words over 200 years ago: Those who would give up essential liberty in the pursuit of a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security," Sununu said Friday.

December 19, 2005
Legality of wiretaps questioned
Three prominent Republican senators -- Arlen Specter, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham -- appeared on Sunday talk shows and called for investigations into the matter, intensifying public pressure on the Bush administration, which has stuck by its decision to allow domestic spying.

December 18, 2005
Part 1
Presidential Pipeline: Bush's top fund-raisers see spoils of victory
Bush administration policies, grand and obscure, have financially benefited companies or lobbying clients tied to at least 200 of the president's largest campaign fund-raisers, a Toledo Blade investigation has found. Dozens more stand to gain from Bush-backed initiatives that recently passed or await congressional approval.

December 18, 2005
Bush "Pioneers and Ranger" Are Under Investigation
Federal and state authorities are investigating the Bush Pioneers and Rangers, individuals who raised at least $100,000 or $200,000 for President Bush's re-election, for bribery, money laundering, stock manipulation, and extortion.

December 18, 2005
NY Times: Bush Can't Be Trusted
But we have learned the hard way that Mr. Bush's team cannot be trusted to find the boundaries of the law, much less respect them.

December 17, 2005
Bush nominates political hacks to Federal Election Committee
In a letter to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) wrote that he is "extremely troubled" by the von Spakovsky nomination. Kennedy contends that von Spakovsky "may be at the heart of the political interference that is undermining the [Justice] Department's enforcement of federal civil laws."

December 18, 2005
LA Times: Judiciary Branch Should Stop Bush
The Supreme Court has already reined in the executive branch on that score, and the NSA's eavesdropping, arguably a violation of both the law and the Constitution, may lead to even greater legal woes for the president.

December 17, 2005
Sen. Accuses Times of Endangering U.S
WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican senator on Saturday accused The New York Times of endangering American security to sell a book by waiting until the day of the terror-fighting Patriot Act reauthorization to report that the government has eavesdropped on people without court-approved warrants.

December 18, 2005
Lawmakers Demand Domestic Spying Probe
"The president has, I think, made up a law that we never passed," said Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis.

[Note: Bush broke the law and has admitted it so why is congress probing it? What do they plan on finding? That he broke the law? Good grief. They should be impeaching him.]

December 18, 2005
War on Christmas
Fanning the flames are conservative talk show personalities bemoaning the secularization of Christmas. Fox News anchor John Gibson chimed in with a book "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse than You Thought."

December 16, 2005
GOP Advisor Guilty - Election Day Phone Jamming
CONCORD, N.H. — A Maine political adviser who was once a rising star in national Republican circles was convicted Thursday on two counts of helping to jam New Hampshire Democrats' phone lines.

November 29, 2005
PRESIDENT BUSH'S FLIRTATION WITH FASCISM
The Republicans who run the Congress have shown little willingness to challenge the president's claims to do just anything he wants with suspected terrorists. Detention without charges, torture and secret prisons -- these are tactics more suitable for Stalin than a successor to Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Jimmy Carter. What Bush has done to trample on individual liberties may well be what historians see as his most egregious political perversion.

May/June 2005
Post: December 18, 2005
Media Nearly Ignores Liberal Think Tanks
Conservative or right-leaning think tanks garnered 50 percent of citations among the 25 most-cited think tanks, the same percentage as last year, and near their 10-year average of 51 percent of citations. Centrist think tanks declined slightly this year, garnering 33 percent of the citations, compared to 37 percent last year and 36 percent as their 10-year average. Progressive or left-leaning think tanks had the greatest percentage increase this year, receiving 16 percent of citations, up from last year's 13 percent and their 10-year average of 14 percent.

December 16, 2005
An Impeachable Offense a lie
Bush lie: Now says he never connected 911 with Iraq War
"There was no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the attack of 9/11," Bush said. "I've never said that and never made that case prior to going into Iraq."

December 16, 2005
Five Page Series
An Impeachable Offense
Bush Spies on America
Some officials familiar with it say they consider warrantless eavesdropping inside the United States to be unlawful and possibly unconstitutional, amounting to an improper search. One government official involved in the operation said he privately complained to a Congressional official about his doubts about the program's legality. But nothing came of his inquiry. "People just looked the other way because they didn't want to know what was going on," he said.

December 16, 2005
Cato Senior Fellow Resigns After Taking Bribes from Abramoff
A senior fellow at the Cato Institute resigned from the libertarian think tank on Dec. 15 after admitting that he had accepted payments from indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff for writing op-ed articles favorable to the positions of some of Abramoff's clients.

December 16, 2005
Bush Defends, Explains Comment on DeLay
WASHINGTON President Bush said Friday his statement that former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was innocent of criminal charges in Texas was meant to signal confidence in the justice system and not to make a pronouncement about the individual case.

December 17, 2005
Corruption Alert
Frist AIDS Charity Paid Political Consultants
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's AIDS charity paid nearly a half-million dollars in consulting fees to members of his political inner circle, according to tax returns providing the first financial accounting of the presidential hopeful's nonprofit

December 17, 2005
Bush Angry over Eavesdropping Leak
Since October 2001, the super-secret National Security Agency has eavesdropped on the international phone calls and e-mails of people inside the United States without court-approved warrants. Bush said steps like these would help fight terrorists like those who involved in the Sept. 11 plot.

December 14, 2005
NPR tilts toward conservative think tanks
There are of course, other think tanks, but these seem to be the ones whose experts are heard most often on NPR. Brookings and CSIS are seen by many in Washington, D.C., as being center to center-left. The others in the above list tend to lean to the right. So NPR has interviewed more think tankers on the right than on the left. The score to date: Right 239, Left 141.

December 16, 2005
CNN Drops Novak
Novak's contract with CNN was reportedly set to expire in early 2006, but he has not appeared on the channel since August 2005 after being suspended for uttering an obscenity and storming off the set. On December 7th, Media Matters delivered nearly 5,000 letters from concerned viewers to CNN's Washington Bureau urging them not to renew Novak's contract.

December 14, 2005
NBC/WSJ poll: Bush 39%
According to the poll, 39 percent approve of Bush's handling of his job while 55 percent disapprove. And 39 percent say they're more confident the war in Iraq will come to a successful conclusion, while 50 percent say they are less confident about success in Iraq. the numbers for Congress keep sinking. Just 25 percent approve of Congress's job — a three-point drop since November.

December 14, 2005
Is Global Warming Killing the Polar Bears?
Polar-bear drownings were so rare that they have never been documented in the surveys. But in September 2004, when the polar ice cap had retreated a record 160 miles north of the northern coast of Alaska, researchers counted 10 polar bears swimming as far as 60 miles offshore. Polar bears can swim long distances but have evolved to mainly swim between sheets of ice, scientists say.

December 16, 2005
Dems have diverse opinion on war
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said yesterday that Democrats should not seek a unified position on an exit strategy in Iraq, calling the war a matter of individual conscience and saying differing positions within the caucus are a source of strength for the party.

December 14, 2005
An Impeachable Offense - Lying
Report: Bush Had More Prewar Intelligence Than Congress
A congressional report made public yesterday concluded that President Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence and reviewed more sensitive material than what was shared with Congress when it gave Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq.

December 15, 2005
US Jews feel threatened by religious right
HICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Jewish leaders say they are increasingly worried that Christian conservatives want to turn America politically and culturally into a country that tolerates only their brand of Christianity.

December 15, 2005
McClellan Battles Reporters Over Bush Backing DeLay
NEW YORK You could see these questions coming a mile away. After months of refusing to comment on the Plame/CIA probe, and the indictment of Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- saying he did not want to "prejudge" an "ongoing investigation" -- President Bush on Wednesday night unabashedly told Fox News' Brit Hume that he believed Rep. Tom DeLay was not guilty of charges against him. This sparked a storm of questioning at the daily briefing on Thursday by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, with NBCs David Gregory leading the way, accusing the administration of being "hypocritical" and "inconsistent" on this matter, "ad nauseum."

December 16, 2005
Third Quarter Trade Deficit
Analysts are forecasting that current account deficit for all of 2005 will set a new high, topping $800 billion and will rise above $900 billion next year. Those figures are well above the current record-holder, last year's $668.1 billion deficit.

December 16, 2005
Sen. Burns to Return Abramoff-Linked Money
Burns said he would return all of the donations to their original donors, with the exception of those from Abramoff and his associates, which would be donated to Native American charities.

December 16, 2005
Iraq Freed al-Zarqawi Last Year
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi security forces caught terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the Fallujah area last year but released him because they didn't realize who he was, the deputy interior minister said in an interview broadcast Friday.

December 16, 2005
Senate Rejects Extension of Patriot Act
WASHINGTON - The Senate on Friday refused to reauthorize major portions of the USA Patriot Act after critics complained they infringed too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.

December 15, 2005
Ford drives the extra mile on LGBT issues
Volvo Cars of North America, LLC received the Advertising Research Foundation David Ogilvy Award and the Association of National Advertisers Multi-Cultural Excellence Award for its "Starting A Family" advertising campaign targeting LGBT consumers. DiversityInc announced that Ford ranked in its annual Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees list.

December 16, 2005
Religious nuts threaten to boycott Ford
The American Family Association, which claims more than three million supporters, said Ford had reneged on a deal to pull ads from the gay media. "We had an agreement with Ford, worked out in good faith. Unfortunately, some Ford Motor Company officials made the decision to violate the good-faith agreement," AFA chairman Donald Wildmon said.

December 15-21, 2005
Ford Motor Relents - Gives in to Gay Groups
On Monday, Alan Hevesi, the New York State comptroller, released a letter he sent to William Clay Ford, Jr., Ford&'s CEO, complaining that discriminating against gay publications in ad purchases violated the Equality Principles, and adding, "as a shareholder, I am interested to know what cost/benefit analysis you performed in order to reach the conclusion that ending advertising to that particular customer base would be a positive strategic move for the company?"

December 16, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Bush Gave U.S. Agency Authorization To Spy On Americans
Months after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, President Bush signed an order giving the National Security Agency authorization to eavesdrop on Americans and other people in the United States to look for evidence of potential terrorist activity without first obtaining search warrants.

December 13, 2005
Sen. Dorgan Returns Tribes' Donations
WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the Senate committee investigating Jack Abramoff's Indian lobbying is returning $67,000 in donations in response to Associated Press reports that he collected tribal money around the time he took actions favorable to those of Abramoff clients.

December 16, 2005
Rice: Spying on Americans is ok
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today defended President George W. Bush against reports he authorized spying on American citizens and foreign nationals in the U.S. following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

December 15, 2005
Bush Accepts McCain's Ban on Torture
WASHINGTON -President Bush reversed course on Thursday and accepted Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record)'s call for a law banning cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of foreign suspects in the war on terror.

December 13, 2005
US deficit hits record
WASHINGTON (AP) - The US government's budget deficit rose sharply in November as spending raced ahead of tax receipts. The Treasury Department reported yesterday that the deficit totalled $83.1 billion (euro69.7 billion), the highest imbalance ever recorded in November.

December 14, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Bush withholds names of 900,000 new government employees
The Bush administration has without explanation withheld the names and work locations of about 900,000 of its civilian workers, according to a lawsuit filed last week. The lawsuit said that, in violation of the FOIA, OPM did not even mention that another 150,000 names and workplaces had been deleted or why, and that OPM has not responded to requests for an explanation of its new policy.

December 14, 2005
NY Times Opposes Texas Gerrymandering
According to a recently uncovered memo, the eight career Justice Department employees assigned to review the plan in 2003 unanimously concluded that it violated the Voting Rights Act. But political appointees at Justice overruled their objections and approved it anyway.

December 13, 2005
Bush Clarifies His Newspaper Reading Habits, Sort Of
"But I'm very aware of what's in the news. I'm aware because I see clips. I see summaries. I have people on my staff that walk in every morning and say, 'This is what's -- this is how I see it. This is what's brewing today,' on both the domestic and international side. Frankly, it is probably part of my own fault for needling people, but it's a myth to think I don't know what's going on. And it's a myth to think that I'm not aware that there is opinions that don't agree with mine. Because I'm fully aware of that. . . .

December 14, 2005
Pentagon rolls out fake news
A $300 million Pentagon psychological warfare operation includes plans for placing pro-American messages in foreign media outlets without disclosing the U.S. government as the source, one of the military officials in charge of the program says.

December 14, 2005
Democrats to press for Iraq intelligence
WASHINGTON -- Democrats in Congress this week want to force the White House to release the daily intelligence briefings that President Bush reviewed in the months before the US invasion of Iraq -- an attempt to undercut the president's claim that lawmakers saw the same reports that he did before voting to authorize the war.

December 14, 2005
Earle probes DeLay tie to California donor
WASHINGTON - The Texas prosecutor who obtained an indictment against Rep. Tom DeLay is now looking at connections between the former House majority leader and a defense contractor linked to the bribery of a California lawmaker.

December 14, 2005
House leader lied: He won't investigate DeLay
The House ethics committee may not launch an immediate investigation into the activities of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) once it becomes fully operational after New Year's, according to its chairman Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.). In April, Hastings pledged to launch an immediate probe of DeLay if Democrats agreed to cooperate with him and allow him to organize the Standards of Official Conduct Committee, as it is officially known.

December 12, 2005
Ex-Burns aide talks to Justice
HELENA - A former top aide to U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who quit to work at the firm of indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff said Monday he is talking to Justice Department investigators as part of the agency's continuing probe of Abramoff's activities.

December 14, 2005
Pentagon Spokesman Nominee says US News Networks are Terrorists
J. Dorrance Smith, the nominee, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in a closed session about an opinion article in which he accused U.S. television networks of helping terrorists through the networks' partnerships with al-Jazeera.

December 13, 2005
Defense Contractor Subpoenaed in DeLay Case
WASHINGTON - A Texas prosecutor has issued subpoenas for bank records and other information of a defense contractor involved in the bribery case of a California congressman as part of the investigation of former House Majority Leader.

December 14, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
The Pentagon is spying on Americans
WASHINGTON - A year ago, at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., a small group of activists met to plan a protest of military recruiting at local high schools. What they didn't know was that their meeting had come to the attention of the U.S. military. A secret 400-page Defense Department document obtained by NBC News lists the Lake Worth meeting as a "threat" and one of more than 1,500 "suspicious incidents" across the country over a recent 10-month period.

December 12, 2005
War Costs Poised To Reach $500B
(AP) The Pentagon is in the early stages of drafting a wartime request for up to $100 billion more for Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers say, a figure that would push spending related to the wars toward a staggering half-trillion dollars.

December 14, 2005
Zogby Poll: Democratic Prospects Brighten Heading Into 2006 - GOP lags
The poll shows weakness for Republicans among demographic groups that are typically supportive. In "red" states that favored George W. Bush in the presidential election last year, generic congressional Republicans hold a 46% to 43% advantage over their generic Democratic counterparts. But in "blue" states won by Democrat John Kerry last year, the Democratic lead is much larger – there the congressional Democrat leads by a 54% to 34% margin.

December 13, 2005
Zogby Poll: Bush at 38%
Just 38% of Americans said they approve of the job the President is doing, down from 41% in a national Zogby America survey conducted last month.

December 12, 2005
Robertson called Democratic war criticism "treason"
On the December 7 edition of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club, host Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition of America, said Democratic criticism of the Iraq war "amounts to treason" and that "carping criticism ... just doesn't cut it."

December 12, 2005
Fox News Lie: Kerry didn't call US troops terrorists
ox News hosts failed to challenge Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's (R-TN) and Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman's false claims that Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) called American troops "terrorists" on the December 4 broadcast of CBS News' Face the Nation.

December 13, 2005
Matthews, Tucker, and Borger mischaracterized Democrats' history on abortion
hris Matthews and guests Gloria Borger and Cynthia Tucker misrepresented Democrats on the issue of abortion. Borger described Sen. Hillary Clinton's remarks on making abortion "safe, legal, and rare" as "transparent" political posturing, despite her having made a very similar statement in 1999; Tucker said President Clinton did nothing to make abortion "safe, legal, and rare" despite a declining national abortion rate throughout his presidency.

December 12, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Fact Checking Bush Q&A from Philadelphia
And so we gave Saddam Hussein the chance to disclose or disarm, and he refused. And I made a tough decision. And knowing what I know today, I'd make the decision again. Removing Saddam Hussein makes this world a better place and America a safer country.
[Note: Saddam was disarmed and the UN inspectors couldn't verify a single piece of Bush's intelligence, ergo, Bush was the problem, not Saddam, not the UN, not the CIA.]

Updated December 12, 2005
Soldier's Body Arrived Home As Freight
SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported. A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case. Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard. But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

December 12, 2005
How Abramoff Spread the Wealth
Image (very good)

December 12, 2005
Bush: 30,000 Iraqis Killed In War
(CBS/AP) President Bush offered encouragement to war-weary Iraqis on Monday but acknowledged they have paid a heavy price — 30,000 dead — as a result of the U.S.-led war and its bloody aftermath.

December 13, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
CIA (POW) Prisons Moved To North Africa
Swiss senator Dick Marty told a news conference that he believed the United States was no longer holding prisoners clandestinely in Europe. He believes they were moved to North Africa in early November, when reports about the secret detention centers appeared in The Washington Post.

December 13, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Council of Europe probe backs claims of CIA prison flights
PARIS (AFX) - The CIA appears to have abducted suspects in Europe and illegally transferred them to other countries, according to the preliminary results of a Council of Europe investigation released today.

December 19, 2005 issue
Five part series
Bush in the Bubble
When Murtha tried to write George W. Bush with some suggestions for fighting the Iraq war, the congressman's letter was ignored by the White House. Murtha, who has always preferred to operate behind the scenes, finally went public, calling for an orderly withdrawal from Iraq. In the furor that followed, a White House spokesman compared the Vietnam War hero to "Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party." When that approach backfired, President Bush called Murtha a "fine man ... who served our country with honor."

December 12, 2005
12 Prisoners Subjected to Severe Torture in New Prison Scandal
An Iraqi official with firsthand knowledge of the search said that at least 12 of the 13 prisoners had been subjected to "severe torture," including sessions of electric shock and episodes that left them with broken bones.

December 12, 2005
DeLay's legal troubles will shut down House in January
The Republican leadership is planning to keep the House in recess almost the entire month of January. DeLay's lawyers hope to use that time to get the campaign money laundering charges against the lawmaker dismissed or prevail at trial, clearing the way for him to reclaim his leadership post.

December 11, 2005
Probe Into Frist Stock Sale Continues
WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist remains under investigation by federal authorities for his sale of stock in his family founded hospital chain this year.

December 12, 2005
An Impeachable Offense -A lie
Most Iraqis Oppose Troops' Presence
More than two-thirds of those surveyed oppose the presence of troops from the United States and its coalition partners and less than half, 44 percent, say their country is better off now than it was before the war, according to an ABC News poll conducted with Time magazine and other media partners.

December 11, 2005
An Impeachable Offense - A lie
Death of an American City
We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.

December 11, 2005
What Viveca Novak Told Fitzgerald
In October 2003, as we each made our way through a glass of wine, he asked me what I was working on. I told him I was trying to get a handle on the Valerie Plame leak investigation. "Well," he said, "you're sitting next to Karl Rove's lawyer."

December 12, 2005
It's about time
Supreme Court to Review Texas Redistricting
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped Republicans gain seats in Congress. The alleged scheme was part of a plan DeLay and others set in motion to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in 2002 elections. The Republican Legislature then adopted a DeLay-backed congressional voting district map.

December 10, 2005
Lieberman's pro-war views concern Dems
"He's doing damage to the ability of Democrats to wage a national campaign," said Ken Dautrich, a University of Connecticut public policy professor.

December 9, 2005
An Impeachable Offenseee
Red Cross in talks with US over detainees
GENEVA (Reuters) - The Red Cross said on Friday it was pressing the United States to give it access to prisoners held in secret jails as part of the U.S. war on terror.

December 9, 2005
Iraq War, Dragging Down Republicans, Dogs Democrats as Well
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq, which is dragging down President George W. Bush's public standing, is also creating a dilemma for Democrats torn between riding the wave of opposition to the war and fear of looking soft on national security.

December 8, 2005
Two more Republicans say the DeLay should be replaced permanently
Chris Shays of Connecticut and Sherwood Boehlert of New York joined a handful of conservative Republicans who have said they want an election, which would have the effect of permanently removing DeLay from the leadership.

December 8, 2005
GOP can't cut spending enough to pay for tax cuts
All the maverick Republican conservatives in House, who had pushed party leaders to pass $51 billion in spending cuts, voted enthusiastically for tax cuts costing nearly twice as much.

December 9, 2005
Baghdad Press Club: Military Probe Widens
BAGHDAD — A U.S. investigation into allegations that the American military is buying positive coverage in the Iraqi media has expanded to examine a press club founded and financed by the U.S. Army. The Baghdad Press Club was created last year by the U.S. military as a way to promote progress amid the violence and chaos of Iraq, said Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a military spokesman.

December 8, 2005
Wash. Post invented polling data for Murtha's Iraq proposal
The Washington Post reported that House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi adopted "a position that polls show most Americans do not support" when she backed Rep. John Murtha's Iraq withdrawal proposal. However, a review of recent polling data found no polls that asked whether respondents support Murtha's proposal to withdraw troops "at the earliest practicable date," or on his estimate that it should take six months to do so.

December 9, 2005
Rove's Lawyer, Time Reporter Testify in CIA Leak
A special prosecutor questioned Time magazine reporter Viveca Novak under oath yesterday about a conversation she had with the attorney for presidential adviser Karl Rove that has become part of the CIA leak investigation, according to a top editor at the magazine. In another twist, the lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, was deposed on the same issue last Friday, a source close to the case said.

December 9, 2005
GOP scandals register with voters
The steady drumbeat of scandal has registered with Americans. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that 88 percent of those surveyed said corruption is a serious problem and 67 percent said a moderate number to a lot of public officials are involved.

December 8, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Anti-War Congressman Still Making News
"There is something absurd about the secretary of state making a statement so cryptic that journalists, lawyers, and, I suppose, diplomats are spending the day picking through the linguistic entrails to find the hidden message."

December 7, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Wolfowitz suggests knowing Iraq had no WMD might have put off invasion
"If you could have given us a guarantee that they wouldn't have been used, there would have been policy options available probably," he said.
(Note to wingnut: the US invaded Iraq in 1991 after it invaded Kuwait. Iraq had WMD in 1991 and didn't use them against the coalition. What made YOU think he'd use them in 2002?)

December 8, 2005
Anti-War Congressman Still Making News
Partly because of that, Republicans have to be careful in how they attack Murtha, said John Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College in California. "By attacking him on ethics, they could take a Democratic hero and turn him into a Democratic martyr," Pitney said.

December 8, 2005
An Impeachable Offense
Claim of al-Qaida ties to Iraq called coerced
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and al-Qaida on detailed statements made by a prisoner in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.

December 8, 2005
Rumsfeld will resign in '06; rumors swirl about Lieberman
WASHINGTON - White House officials are telling associates they expect Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld to quit early next year, once a new government is formed in Iraq, sources said Wednesday.

December 8, 2005
Troop Levels in Iraq May Drop
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday he expects some 20,000 U.S. troops to return home from Iraq after next week's elections, and he suggested that some of the remaining 137,000 forces could pull out next year.

December 8, 2005
British Court Rules Against Evidence Gained in Torture
"The issue is one of constitutional principle, whether evidence obtained by torturing another human being may lawfully be admitted against a party to proceedings in a British court, irrespective of where, or by whom, or on whose authority the torture was inflected," said Lord Bingham, writing the lead opinion for the Law Lords, roughly equivalent to the United States Supreme Court. "To that question I would give a very clear negative answer."

December 8, 2005
House cuts taxes and passes the debt to the next generation
WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved legislation extending reduced tax rates for investment income that Republican backers said were needed to maintain U.S. economic growth (and record deficits).

December 7, 2005
HE'S HOWARD THE COWARD
He also quoted a Democrat who disagrees with Dean — Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), who ran against Cheney for vice president in 2000 on the Al Gore

December 7, 2005
Democrats Fear Backlash at Polls for Antiwar Remarks
While the party is divided over the specifics of Iraq policy, most Democratic legislators are slowly coalescing around a political plan, according to lawmakers and party operatives. This would involve setting a broad time frame for drawing down U.S. troops, starting with National Guard and reserve units, internationalizing the reconstruction effort, and blaming Bush for misleading the country into a war without a victory plan.

December 6, 2005
Quinnipiac University Polling Results- Iraqi Withdrawal

Immediate withdrawal 40%
In (6) Months         4
In (1) Year          10
In (2) Years          4
In (3) Years          1
No deadline          34
DK/NA                 6

December 5, 2005
Michael Reagan: Dean 'Should Be Hung'
Michael Reagan, son of the late President Ronald Reagan, is blasting Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean for declaring that the U.S. won't be able to win the war in Iraq, saying Dean ought to be "hung for treason."

December 7, 2005
Antigay Conservatives Threaten Major Corporations
Responding to threats from far-right conservative groups for their support of the gay community, two major corporate entities, Ford Motor Co. and Wells Fargo, took opposite action within the last week, with Ford acceding to one groups' demands and Wells Fargo telling another it can, in effect, take their business elsewhere.

December 6, 2005
Media Lie
Krauthammer Lie: Bush NOT poll driven
Despite ample evidence that polling data play a big part in Bush administration political strategy and messaging, Charles Krauthammer claimed that President Bush "is probably the least poll-driven president in history."

December 5, 2005
Media Moron Alert
NBC anchor Williams: Bush administration has "right" to buy media coverage
NBC anchor Brian Williams condoned the Bush administration's paying a columnist to tout administration views in his column and the former Republican CPB chairman's intervention in the programming decisions of PBS, despite reports by the GAO and the CPB inspector general alleging that such actions violate federal law.