January 6, 2006
2005 Ties for 2nd Warmest Year Ever
A new study finds last year tied for the second-warmest year since reliable records have been kept starting in the late 1800s.

January 01, 2006
NSA Gave Other U.S. Agencies Information From Surveillance
Less attention has been paid to, and little is known about, how the NSA's information may have been used by other government agencies to investigate American citizens or to cross-check with other databases.

January 03, 2006
Support for Congress Drops Among Military Professional Core
Congress saw the most dramatic drop: Just 31 percent agreed Congress looked out for their best interests, less than half the number a year ago.

January 03, 2006
Support for Bush Drops Significantly Among Mlitary's Professional Core
Support for President Bush and for the war in Iraq has slipped significantly in the last year among members of the military's professional core, according to the 2005 Military Times Poll.

January 02, 2006
The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
In all, the book says, some 30 family members of Iraqis made trips to their native country to contact Iraqi weapons scientists, and all of them reported that the programs had been abandoned.

January 01, 2006
Surveillance itself has become the enemy
In any war, surveillance of the enemy is critical. Today, in the eyes of at least some Americans, surveillance itself has become the enemy.

January 02, 2006
Bush finally realizes he must change course on Iraq
THERE were two events during 2005 - a year of political pain for George Bush - that have become metaphors for a presidency that often seemed inept and plagued by hubris. Terri Schiavo and Hurricane Katrina.

January 02, 2006
Ethically Challenged
Pentagon contractor pays Sunni religious scholars for propaganda
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) - The same Pentagon contractor that paid Iraqi newspapers to print positive articles written by US soldiers has also been paying Sunni religious scholars in Iraq for assistance with propaganda work, The New York Times reports.

January 2, 2006
Bush Lie
Bush versus Bush: Wiretaps and court orders
He also clarified remarks he had made in April 2004, in which he said that all wiretaps required a court order and that "when we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."

January 02, 2006
Bush Lie
U.S. Has End in Sight on Iraq Rebuilding
Oil production stands at roughly 2 million barrels a day, compared with 2.6 million before U.S. troops entered Iraq in March 2003, according to U.S. government statistics. The national electrical grid has an average daily output of 4,000 megawatts, about 400 megawatts less than its prewar level.

January 01, 2006
Justice Deputy Resisted Parts of Spy Program
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 - A top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and refused to sign on to its continued use amid concerns about its legality and oversight, according to officials with knowledge of the tense internal debate. The concerns appear to have played a part in the temporary suspension of the secret program.

January 1, 2006
Times Editor: Behind the Eavesdropping Story, a Loud Silence
For the first time since I became public editor, the executive editor and the publisher have declined to respond to my requests for information about news-related decision-making. My queries concerned the timing of the exclusive Dec. 16 article about President Bush's secret decision in the months after 9/11 to authorize the warrantless eavesdropping on Americans in the United States.

January 3, 2006
'Corruption ... very extensive'
Among the recipients were a House member identified by the lawmaker's attorney as Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and members of Ney's staff. They got trips to the Northern Marianas Islands in 2000, to the Super Bowl in Tampa in 2001, and to Scotland's storied St. Andrews golf course in 2002, according to the documents. Ney also held fundraising events at Abramoff's now-defunct Washington restaurant, Signatures.

January 03, 2006
An abuse of power?
Even John Ashcroft refused to sign off on the idea that this was legal. So I think there will be a drip, drip, drip. And the president ultimately is going to get in trouble on this, as on other things.

January 03, 2006
Making the case for a Bush impeachment
When weapons of mass destruction became too much of an embarrassment, Bush and company put forth the cocksure claim that Saddam had ties to al-Qaeda. When that didn't fly, they grasped at the most absurd reason of all: to bring democracy to Iraq. What could be more naïve than expecting Iraqis to embrace our "way of life" after we have bombed and killed their families and friends and caused so much suffering?

January 03, 2006
Green Party: Impeach Bush and Cheney Now
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Citing a litany of alleged high crimes and misdemeanors, abuses of power, and violations of the U.S. Constitution, Green Party leaders urged Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against President George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney as soon as possible.

January 03, 2006
Prosecutor in DeLay case subpoenas Abramoff documents
District Attorney Ronnie Earle issued the subpoenas in Austin the same day that Abramoff pleaded guilty in Washington to federal charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and mail fraud.

January 03, 2006
Newspapers Urge President to Quit
What follows, from an Associated Press rundown on September 15, 1998, is a long list of newspapers that "called for President Clinton's resignation." AP added that some of those listed "did so before the release of Kenneth Starr's report on Sept. 11."

January 03, 2006
Coming Soon: lots of hearings
In the closing weeks of the old year, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle set in motion an aggressive oversight agenda, ranging from secret prisons and the treatment of detainees under US control, to the president's authorization of domestic eavesdropping without a warrant.

January 03, 2006
Murtha says he wouldn't join military now
A decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Murtha told ABC News' "Nightline" program that Iraq "absolutely" was a wrong war for President George W. Bush to have launched.

January 16, 2006
High court upholds Oregon assisted-suicide law
Ashcroft 'beyond his expertise'
Tuesday's decision is a reprimand of sorts for Ashcroft. Kennedy said the "authority claimed by the attorney general is both beyond his expertise and incongruous with the statutory purposes and design."

"The authority desired by the government is inconsistent with the design of the statute in other fundamental respects. The attorney general does not have the sole delegated authority under the (law)," Kennedy wrote for himself, retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer.

January 16, 2006
White House Falsely Claims Clinton White House Used Warrantless Searches that Violated the Law
But at the time that of the Ames search in 1993 and when Gorelick testified a year later, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act required warrants for electronic surveillance for intelligence purposes, but did not cover physical searches. The law was changed to cover physical searches in 1995 under legislation that Clinton supported and signed.

January 16, 2006
Gore Says Bush Wiretapping Could be Impeachable Offense
Asked by ABC News following his speech whether President Bush's domestic spying program constituted an impeachable offense, Gore said it might be and pointed to one of the three Articles of Impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee approved against President Nixon on July 27, 1974.

"That's a legal determination for the Congress to make," Gore told ABC News. "But Article II of the impeachment charges against President Nixon was warrantless wiretapping that the President said was 'necessary' for national security."

January 16, 2006
Action Alert
Ask your newspaper to carry this poll.
Zogby poll: Majority supports impeaching Bush for wiretapping
WASHINGTON, D.C. — By a margin of 52 to 43 percent, citizens want Congress to impeach President Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval, according to a new poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of Pres. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

January 16, 2006
Transcript of Al Gore's Speech: On the Limits of Executive Power
At present, we still have much to learn about the NSA's domestic surveillance. What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently.

president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government.

It is this same disrespect for America's Constitution which has now brought our republic to the brink of a dangerous breach in the fabric of the Constitution. And the disrespect embodied in these apparent mass violations of the law is part of a larger pattern of seeming indifference to the Constitution that is deeply troubling to millions of Americans in both political parties.

January 16, 2006
AP/Ipsos Poll: Worries About Iraq, Politicians Have Grown
When people were asked in an open-ended question to name the nation's top problem, 25 percent named war, close to the level in October, but up from 19 percent in July. The number of people who named political leaders as the most important problem has almost tripled, from 5 percent in July to 14 percent as the new year starts.

January 16, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Justice Department Isn't Enforcing Lobbyist Law Violations
The Justice Department has imposed only three fines over the past two years in cases involving inaccurate or unfiled lobbying reports.

Critics say the Senate and House members don't want their contacts with lobbyists to be publicized, so the lawmakers deliberately set up a system that doesn't provide much scrutiny. As a result, lobbyists know there is little chance of a penalty for failing to file reports or for filing reports inaccurately.

January 15, 2006
Web sites sell phone records for $100
Anyone -- a stalker, a jealous lover, a curious employer -- with merely your cell-phone number can visit one of several Web sites, pay around $100, and in a few hours find out whom you've been calling and who's been calling you.

January 16, 2006
Three part series
In Ga., Abramoff Scandal Threatens Ralph Reed
As everyone knew, Pichon was referring to Jack Abramoff, whose outsize Washington lobbying scandal has reached down to Georgia. Abramoff and Reed -- the former executive director of the Christian Coalition -- have been friends for 25 years, and until recently it had been a mutually profitable association. Now it is proving highly inconvenient for Reed, and threatens to stall a career that has been emblematic of the modern GOP.

January 16, 2006
The 'Impeach-word' comes out of the closet
Appearing on ABC's This Week program, Specter, chairman of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, which will open hearings soon on whether or not President George W. Bush broke the law by ordering spying on Americans by the National Security Agency, said impeachment is a possible remedy.

"The remedy could be a variety of things, including impeachment or criminal prosecution, but the principal remedy under our society is to pay a political price," Specter said."

January 16, 2006
Ney Steps Down
With Ney's decision — under pressure — to temporarily step down from chairing the powerful House Administration Committee, the six-term Ohio Republican won't have any control over his party's efforts to stem the damage caused by disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

January 15, 2006
Walter Cronkite: Time to Leave Iraq
PASADENA, Calif. - Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.

January 14, 2006
Gore: Standing up for the Constitution
It sounds as if Al Gore is about to deliver what could be not just the most significant speech of his political career but one of the most important challenges to the embattled presidency of George W. Bush.

In a major address slated for delivery Monday in Washington, the former vice president is expected to argue that the Bush administration has created a "constitutional crisis" by acting without the authorization of the Congress and the courts to spy on Americans and otherwise abuse basic liberties.

January, 2006
Hamilton College Hot Button Issues Poll: Guns, Gays and Abortion
The Hamilton Hot Button Issues Poll revealed that members of the high school class of 2006 are twice as likely as adults to support legal recognition of gay marriage. Three quarters of this year's graduates favor recognition of same-sex marriages or civil unions.  The poll also found that support for strong handgun control measures is almost universal among high school seniors. Though liberal on gay and gun issues, this year's high school graduates are remarkably conservative on the issues surrounding abortion.  We found that most high school seniors regard abortion as morally wrong and would significantly limit a woman's right to choose.

January 5, 2006
Corporate America - The Unlikely Gay Ally
Five years ago, a minority of FORTUNE 500 companies provided sexual orientation workplace protection. Currently, 461 (92.2%) of the 2005 FORTUNE 500 Companies protect gay employees. Vanguard recently decided to vote its proxy for sexual orientation workplace protection. Vanguard and other institutional stewards understand that diversity is in the best corporate and shareholder interest.

January 10, 2006
National Review: Abramoff is a republican scandal
Abramoff is a Republican who worked closely with two of the country's most prominent conservative activists, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed. Top aides to the most important Republican in Congress, Tom DeLay (R., Tex.) were party to his sleazy schemes. The only people referred to directly in Abramoff's recent plea agreement are a Republican congressmen and two former Republican congressional aides. The GOP members can make a case that the scandal reflects more the way Washington works than the unique perfidy of their party, but even this is self-defeating, since Republicans run Washington.

January 15, 2006
Cavuto Lie: Democrats drove "Sam Alito's wife to tears"
During these segments, onscreen text called Democrats "vicious" and "clueless." Cavuto even went so far as to compare the Judiciary Committee Democrats to Dr. Octopus, the villain from the film Spider-Man 2 (Sony Pictures, 2004).

January 15, 2006
Specter Skeptical of Domestic Spy Program/Impeachment is Remedy
Specter, speaking in general terms, noted that impeachment and criminal prosecution are possibilities in the event a president acted unconstitutionally.

January 15, 2006
Is Abramoff the New Monica?
Look instead at the Alexander Strategy Group, the lobbying outfit that is ground zero for the scandal (and that went kaput last week). Founded by Mr. DeLay's former chief of staff and personal pastor, an evangelical minister named Edwin Buckham, its early big client was Enron. And like Enron, which laundered money through sham financial entities with "Star Wars" names like Chewco and JEDI, it benefited from a shell organization with a fanciful, albeit faith-based, name: the U.S. Family Network.

The U.S. Family Network was formed by Mr. Buckham on the side, ostensibly as a grass-roots advocacy organization to promote, among other virtues, "moral fitness." As The Washington Post discovered last month, its financial backers were amoral, favor-seeking Abramoff associates, from casino operators to Russian oil businessmen. The U.S. Family Network's contribution to moral fitness and U.S. families, meanwhile, was close to nil – except for the DeLay family. The Post reported that hundreds of thousands of the network's dollars were siphoned into Mr. Buckham's lobbying shop, which in turn put Mr. DeLay's wife on salary. U.S. Family money also purchased a Washington town house used by Mr. DeLay for fund-raising. Enron's Andrew Fastow couldn't have drawn up a more imaginative flow chart for distributing dubious gains to a favored few on the q.t.

January 15, 2006
Blair Wants to Spy on Elected Officials
Tony Blair is preparing to scrap a 40-year ban on tapping MPs' telephones, despite fierce Cabinet opposition, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

He is expected to formally announce to the Commons within weeks that MPs can no longer be sure that the security services and others will not intercept their communications.

January 15, 2006
Anti-US anger mounts in Pakistan after airstrikes
Leaders of Pakistan's opposition Islamic alliance were preparing on Sunday to launch a fresh campaign against president Pervez Musharraf's government, as anti-US anger mounted in the wake of US airstrikes on a remote village in the north.

On Sunday, there were demonstrations in several towns and cities across the country as protestors vented their anger at the US. In Karachi, the southern port city, at least 10 thousand supporters of islamic and mainstream parties joined hands in protest, in a rare expression of solidarity.

January 13, 2006
Ashcroft Becomes a Lobbyist
WASHINGTON - Less than three months after registering as a lobbyist, former Attorney General John Ashcroft has banked at least $269,000 from just four clients and appears to be developing a practice centered on firms that want to capitalize on a government demand for homeland security technology that boomed under sometimes controversial policies he promoted while in office.

January 14, 2006
Republican Web Site Attacks Murtha's Two Purple Hearts
In a tactic reminiscent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault on Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during the 2004 presidential campaign, a conservative Web site yesterday quoted Murtha opponents as questioning the circumstances surrounding the awarding of his two Purple Hearts.

January 13, 2006
60 Minutes: Murtha Details His Exit Strategy
(CBS) Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., believes the vast majority of U.S. troops in Iraq will be out by the end of the year and maybe even sooner. In his boldest words yet on the subject, the outspoken critic of the war predicts the withdrawal and tells 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace why he thinks the Bush administration will do it.

January 14, 2006
Medicare Rx Plan Denies Meds to Elderly
The plans are not issuing emergency supplies as required and they have set up prohibited restrictions on the types of medicine that beneficiaries can get during the first weeks of the program, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

January 14, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Pakistanis Condemn CIA Attack
Counterterrorism officials in Washington declined to comment on U.S. media reports that CIA-operated drone aircraft fired missiles Friday at a residential compound in Damadola trying to hit Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant whose videos have made him the face and voice of al-Qaida.

January 12, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Records Show Army Ended Abuse Probe Early
The documents include numerous references to investigators being blocked from a thorough investigation, yet the matter was closed a final time on June 17, 2005, by the Army Criminal Investigation Command.

January 12, 2006
How will history judge President George W. Bush?
Indeed, a hallmark of the Bush administration's violations of civil liberties is that many involve efforts to evade judicial review. Guantanamo, the deportations, the Padilla case and the electronic eavesdropping program all share this characteristic.

January 12, 2006
Sen. Biden Suggests Scrapping Hearings
WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominees are so mum about the major legal issues at their Senate confirmation hearings that the hearings serve little purpose and should probably be abandoned, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden said Thursday.

January 12-18, 2006
Murtha Attacks Bush's War Rhetoric
"We're 6,600 short in our military recruitment goals this year, and now have the smallest military since 1941. Families are having to go out to buy their sons and daughters in Iraq their battle armor, because they're not getting it from the Pentagon, and all this was going on before I started speaking out."

January 12, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Ex-official warned against testifying on NSA programs
The National Security Agency has warned a former intelligence officer that he should not testify to Congress about accusations of illegal activity at NSA because of the secrecy of the programs involved.

January 11, 2006
Gallup Poll: Few believe Iraq will govern itself soon
Fewer than one in five, or about 19 percent, of the 1,003 adults quizzed Friday through Sunday, said they believe Iraqis can assemble a sound, democratic government in the next 12 months that is able to maintain order without the assistance of U.S. troops. Seventy-five percent said they didn't believe that would happen.

January 12, 2006
More Body Armor Is On the Way for U.S. Troops
The Marine Corps has delivered 9,000 sets of the plates to Iraq, a number that will rise to about 30,000 by April, officials said yesterday. Each set of plates, together with a carrier and soft armor, costs about $450 and weighs about seven pounds, the officials said.

January 11, 2006
The Impeachment of George W. Bush
Finally, it has started. People have begun to speak of impeaching President George W. Bush--not in hushed whispers but openly, in newspapers, on the Internet, in ordinary conversations and even in Congress. As a former member of Congress who sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment proceedings against President Richard Nixon, I believe they are right to do so.

January 12, 2006
Vanishing of frogs, toads tied to global warming
Writing in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, the scientists say that more than 60 closely related frog and toad species have vanished from the tropical forests of Latin America during the last few decades, partly because of warming temperatures. The team says this is the first time such a connection has been made.

January 11, 2006
Gingrich: Scandals threat to GOP
The lack of adequate armor has been a hot topic during the war in Iraq. In 2004, a soldier confronted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a Q&A session in Iraq about the issue. The question turned out to be planted by a journalist. Recently, Howard Dean, former presidential candidate and president of the Democratic National Committee, called for Rumsfeld to resign.

January 11, 2006
Gingrich: Scandals threat to GOP
AUSTIN -- Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday that Tom DeLay's ongoing legal battles coupled with the recent scandals that brought down two of his lobbyist associates threaten to drown out the Republican Party's message in this year's congressional elections.

January 9, 2006
Sens. Kennedy, Feingold Keep Bush Impeachment on Table
US Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), US Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), and US Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), did not preclude the possibility of Bush's impeachment, when asked about the topic in interviews this weekend.

January 6, 2006
Arcata City Council Resolution: Impeach Bush and Cheney
On Wednesday, January 4, 2006, the Arcata City Council passed a resolution demanding the impeachment or resignation of Bush and Cheney for crimes against the Constitution.

January 10, 2006
Media Scum Award
Russert Resisted Testifying Against Libby
Lawyers for NBC News reporter Tim Russert suspected in the spring of 2004 that his testimony could snare Vice President Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in a lie and Russert resisted testifying at the time about private conversations with Libby, according to court papers released yesterday.

January 11, 2006
Bush nominee 'believes in an all-powerful presidency'
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee accused President Bush's latest Supreme Court nominee of being far too deferential to executive power and invariably favouring the state over the rights of the individual.

January 10, 2006
Sen. Clinton Says Lack of Body Armor is 'Unforgivable'
Jan. 10, 2006 — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called the Bush administration "incompetent" when it came to protecting the troops in combat and called the lack of adequate body armor for soldiers and Marines "unforgivable."

January 9, 2006
US military force-feeds 32 Guantanamo detainees on hunger strike
GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AFP) - The US military is force-feeding 32 of 43 "war on terror" detainees who are on a hunger strike at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a spokesman said.

More than 40 detainees stopped their hunger strike last week. The recurring protest started in August and reached a peak of 131 hunger strikers in September.

January 9, 2006
The Alito Hearings: Our Rights Are At Risk
Neither Alito's judicial record nor his political history is a perfect predictor of how he'd rule as a justice. But given the stakes for every American, he needs to provide reassurance that he would not strip away protections the Supreme Court has guaranteed.

January 10, 2006
Lobby Giant Shut Down by Abramoff/GOP Scandal
Alexander Strategy Group, which had thrived since its founding in 1998 thanks largely to its close connections to DeLay (R-Tex.), will cease to operate except for a relatively small business-development division, Edwin A. Buckham, the former top DeLay aide who owns the company, said yesterday.

January 7, 2006
GOP selling U.S. to 'highest bidder'
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Under Republican control, America has been "put up for sale to the highest bidder" and its government has been transformed into an "engine of patronage, not one of responsible policy."

January 6, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Homeland Security opening private mail
Last month Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words "by Border Protection and carrying the official Homeland Security seal.

January 9, 2006
An Impeachable Offense: A White House Lie
US military opposed Bremer call for more Iraq troops
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Paul Bremer, the former top civilian administrator in Iraq, called for more US troops in 2004, but the US military opposed him, the Pentagon said.

January 9, 2006
Cost of Iraq war could top $2 trillion
BOSTON (Reuters) - The cost of the Iraq war could top $2 trillion, far above the White House's pre-war projections, when long-term costs such as lifetime health care for thousands of wounded U.S. soldiers are included, a study said on Monday.

January 9, 2006
Sen. Clinton seeks inquiry into body armor
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Congress Monday to re-examine the Pentagon's standards for soldiers' body armor in Iraq, after a new study found most fatal torso wounds to Marines would have been prevented or minimized with more protection.

January 7, 2006
Abramoff Met with Bush Administration 200 times in first 10 months
Bush turns White House into Whore House: WASHINGTON (AP) — In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other laws, records show.

January 6, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Bush using a little-noticed strategy to alter the balance of power
WASHINGTON - President Bush agreed with great fanfare last month to accept a ban on torture, but he later quietly reserved the right to ignore it, even as he signed it into law.

January 9, 2006
Cleric slams West for 'war against Islam'
"Oh, Muslim nation, there is a war against("of"(sic)) our creed, against our culture under the pretext of fighting terrorism. We should stand firm and united in protecting our religion," he said.

January 10, 2006
Record Share Of Economy Is Spent on Health Care
Rising health care costs, already threatening many basic industries, now consume 16 percent of the nation's economic output -- the highest proportion ever, the government said yesterday in its latest calculation.

January 8, 2006
Angry and Furious at the Collaborationist Democrats
You need not be a lawyer to know that it's illegal--anyone who can read or understand English can see the plain language of the statute and the military force authorization. Why didn't Pelosi, Rockefeller and the others take a closer look at the illegal surveillance? Even people in Ashcroft's justice department recognized it was illegal--they refused to sign off. They refused to sign off, showing more courage than our Democratic congressmen.

January 4, 2006
Harris Poll: Americans Divided On Alito
Judge Alito should be confirmed (34%), should not be confirmed (31%) or say they aren't sure (34%)

January 8, 2006
Specter Seeks AG's Testimony on Spying
Asked on CBS's "Face the Nation" if Gonzales had agreed to appear, Specter said, "Well, I didn't ask him if he had agreed. I told him we were holding the hearings and he didn't object. I don't think he has a whole lot of choice on testifying."

January 6, 2006
Media downplay criticism of NSA spying
Former Rep. Bob Barr: Exactly like Nixon before him, Bush has ordered the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct electronic snooping on communications of various people, including U.S. citizens. That action is unequivocally contrary to the express and implied requirements of federal law that such surveillance of U.S. persons inside the U.S. (regardless of whether their communications are going abroad) must be preceded by a court order.

January 8, 2006
High Crime
Republicans Tried To Block Investigation Of Contributor
LOS ANGELES -- Two Republican congressman from Northern California used their positions to try to stop a federal investigation of a Texas businessman who had given them political contributions, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

In the last three federal elections cycles, those entities have given about $443,000 in political contributions, mostly to conservative politicians, including President Bush, for whom Hurwitz pledged to raise $100,000 in the 2000 campaign, documents show.

January 6, 2006
Impeachment chances loom for Bush
And the 273-page minority report goes on to conclude that "the President, Vice President and 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 and punishment; 6) federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals, and 7) federal laws concerning leakings and other misuses of intelligence."

January 8, 2006
Feingold won't rule out Bush impeachment
BURLINGTON — If Pres. George Bush broke laws when ordering wiretaps and secret spying on U.S. citizens, a key Senate Democrat said he would not rule out calling for his impeachment.

January 8, 2006
UK General: Blair Should Be Impeached Over Iraq War
"I think the politicians should be held to account ... my view is that Blair should be impeached," General Sir Michael Rose, a former UN commander in Bosnia, said in a television documentary to be aired on Channel Four television on Friday, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

January 9, 2006
Eight House Members Support Impeachment Hearings (H.R. 635)
Eight members of the House, all Democrats, are supporting H.R. 635, which would create a select committee to investigate the grounds for impeaching President Bush.

January 4, 2006
US Government may be forced to accept gay marriages
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The top court of the Cherokee Nation has declined to strike down a gay marriage in what is seen as a pioneering case in American Indian country, the couple and officials said on Wednesday.

The U.S. government would have to recognize the marriage because of the sovereign status of Indian tribes, which could, in theory at least, make them eligible for federal tax benefits denied to date to gay couples.

January 8, 2006
Must Read
Who Can Check the President?
Bush ignores Congress, the Constitution and the Courts: Scalia was clearly angry at the president for violating a basic constitutional principle, to be sure. But his anger also reflected his frustration with Congress's reluctance to stand up for its rights.

January 8, 2006
10 questions for Samuel Alito
1 Explain your views on the "unitary executive" theory, especially as expressed in a November 2000 speech in which you argued for a more expansive interpretation of presidential power than is generally accepted in this country?

January 5, 2006
Your phone records are for sale
To test the service, the FBI paid Locatecell.com $160 to buy the records for an agent's cell phone and received the list within three hours, the police bulletin said.

January 8, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Alito Memo: President's can break the law
His words appeared to turn a legislative defeat into a White House victory. Bush said he would follow the torture ban so long as it did not conflict with his "constitutional authority ... as commander in chief" and his need to "protect the American people from further terrorist attacks."

January 7, 2006
British withdrawal from Iraq to start within months: Straw
Also called "cut and run" or the "Murtha Plan": BAGHDAD (AFP) - Visiting Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said it was hoped Britain's 8,000 troops would start to withdraw from Iraq in a matter of months.

January 7, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
IRS tracked taxpayers' political affiliation
According to Murray's office, the 20 states in which the IRS collected party affiliation information were Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.

January 7, 2006
Congressman Cunningham wore a wire
Sources familiar with the situation say Cunningham, a California Republican who pleaded guilty Nov. 28 to taking $2.4 million in bribes wore a wire at some point during the short interval between the moment he began cooperating with the feds and the announcement of his guilty plea on Nov. 28.

January 7, 2006
Congressional Report Rebuts Bush on Spying
The Congressional Research Service's report rebuts the central assertions made recently by Bush and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales about the president's authority to order secret intercepts of telephone and e-mail exchanges between people inside the United States and their contacts abroad.

January 7, 2006
Poll: Most say U.S. needs warrant to snoop
WASHINGTON - 56 percent of respondents in an AP-Ipsos poll said the government should be required to first get a court warrant to eavesdrop on the overseas calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens when those communications are believed to be tied to terrorism.

January 7, 2006
Washington is now the shame of the free world
But there is no sympathy for the devil because Abramoff embodies everything that has gone wrong in Washington over the past 15 years as lobbying has increasingly been transformed from the right to petition the government to the institutionalised opportunity to buy influence from the government.

January 6, 2006
AP Poll; Congressional Democrats Favored
In an ominous election-year sign for Republicans, Americans are leaning sharply toward giving Democrats control of Congress, an AP-Ipsos poll finds. Democrats are favored 49 percent to 36 percent.

January 4, 2006
Democrats Tap Anti-Abortion, Pro-Gun Candidates
The Democrats' recruitment efforts represent a change in strategy that may make it more difficult for Republicans to win elections on social issues, said Jennifer Duffy, a congressional analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.

January 8, 2006
Zawahri says US defeated in Iraq
Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video aired on Friday that US President George Bush's plans to withdraw troops from Iraq meant Washington had been defeated by the Muslims.

January 6, 2006
Extra Armor Could Have Saved Many Lives
A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

January 7, 2006
Violence verges on civil war
THE wave of violence in Iraq this week that has killed more than 240 people, making it one of the darkest periods since the US-led invasion in 2003, has sparked real fears of a civil war.

In all, violence has killed more than 240 people and wounded more than 280 in the five days since the year started. It is a death toll comparable with some of the nation's bloodiest weeks since March 2003.

January 4, 2006
The Unrestrained President
For these cultists of an all-powerful presidency, the holy war, the "crusade" to be embarked upon was, above all, aimed at creating a President accountable to no one, overseen by no one, and restricted by no other force or power in his will to act as he saw fit.

January 6, 2006
Moran and Murtha Asked about Impeachment in Packed Forum
Another vet asked "Why not impeach Bush-Cheney?" That question resulted in by far the loudest and longest applause of the evening -- an extended period of foot-stomping, hooting, and hollering. Murtha gave a nonanswer. Moran replied that "impeachment is inconsistent with the democratic process." When this led to boos and hisses and shouts of "It's in the Constitution!" Moran added that impeachment "is not going to happen" in the current Congress, as if he were watching from the stands and not himself a Member of Congress.

January 03, 2006
Another NY Times Lie
Congreswoman Harman does NOT support Bush's spying program
The New York Times selectively quoted Rep. Jane Harman to falsely claim that she had defended President Bush's domestic spying program, leaving out her comment that that she was "deeply concerned by reports" that the program "in fact goes far beyond the measures to target Al Qaeda about which I was briefed."

January 5, 2006
Abramoff lobbying scandal suddenly a boon for charities
As panicked lawmakers rush to distance themselves from Abramoff after his guilty pleas in federal and state courts, tens of thousands of dollars in political donations from the disgraced Republican lobbyist and his Indian tribe clients are being returned or redirected to charities in a vast Robin Hood-like reordering of campaign funds.

January 4, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
White House Told NSA Briefings Broke Law
WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee told President Bush Wednesday that the White House broke the law by withholding information from the full congressional oversight committees about a new domestic surveillance program.

January 5, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Levin Protests Move to Dismiss Habeas Corpus Petitions
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said yesterday that the Bush administration cannot use recent legislation he helped craft to seek the dismissal of habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, contending that the law applies only to new cases.

January 5, 2006
NSA whistleblower asks to testify
Justice Department Continues to Search for Leaker: A former National Security Agency official wants to tell Congress about electronic intelligence programs that he asserts were carried out illegally by the NSA and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

January 03, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Bush Appointments Averts Senate Consent
President Bush yesterday made a raft of controversial recess appointments, including Julie L. Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau at the Department of Homeland Security, in a maneuver circumventing the need for approval by the Senate.

January 4, 2006
Abramoff pleads guilty to more charges
In Miami, Abramoff admitted counterfeiting a $23 million wire transfer to complete the $147 million purchase of SunCruz Casinos, a company that runs gambling cruises, in 2000. His partner in the venture, Adam Kidan, already had entered a guilty plea in the case.

January 5, 2006
The GOP, big government and Abramoff
Twenty-five years ago this month the conservative movement came to Washington, and much good came of its arrival. The argument against big government--its big taxing and big regulating, its bias toward a kind of enforced cultural conformity--was made again and again. The growth of government slowed, its demands to some degree beaten back.

January 5, 2006
Culture of Corruption' in GOP
But many analysts in both parties think that the Abramoff investigation will significantly change the 2006 political landscape only if it helps Democrats portray the GOP congressional majority as enmeshed in a "culture of corruption."

January 6, 2006
Court orders Florida tuition vouchers halted
TALLAHASSEE - In a stunning blow to the education policies that Jeb Bush has made the centerpiece of his governorship, the Florida Supreme Court struck down the state's tuition voucher program Thursday, saying it violates the state Constitution because it diverts public money to private schools.

January 05, 2006
Congressmembers write White House to ask if reporters were bugged
Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and 22 other House members sent a letter to President Bush today requesting that he provide a range of information concerning the controversial warrantless surveillance program by the NSA, RAW STORY has learned.

January 05, 2006
NBC News Investigating Whether Bush's Illegal Spying Program Wiretapped CNN's Amanpour
During an interview yesterday with New York Times reporter James Risen -- who first broke the story that the National Security Agency began spying on domestic communications soon after 9/11 -- NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell asked a very pointed question about the extent of the spying program.

January 05, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Three GOP senators blast Bush bid to bypass torture ban
WASHINGTON -- Three key Republican senators yesterday condemned President Bush's assertion that his powers as commander in chief give him the authority to bypass a new law restricting the use of torture when interrogating detainees.

January 03, 2006
Reporter defends release of NSA spy program
Both American citizens and other people who are physically in the United States and the people who came forward to discuss this with Eric Lichtblau and myself felt that the Bush administration was at best skirting the laws — the existing laws — that govern the way in which the NSA and the intelligence community is supposed to operate in the United States.

January 04, 2006
U.S. attorneys supporting Patriot Act renewal were appointed by Bush
Both the AP and Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume reported on a White House event in which U.S. attorneys appeared and spoke in favor of President Bush's efforts to renew controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act. However, both media outlets omitted the fact that all of the U.S. attorneys participating are Bush appointees.

January 04, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Justices Order Padilla Terror Case Moved to Civilian Court
The order marked a major step in the odyssey of Padilla, whose arrest in Chicago in 2002 triggered a legal and philosophical battle over the government's power to detain Americans captured in this country. He was introduced to the public as a shadowy former gang member who converted to Islam and stood accused by top federal officials of plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty bomb." He was locked in the brig for more than three years. For much of that time, Padilla had no access to a lawyer, and he has never appeared in court to fight his detention.

January 04, 2006
Public Solidly Supports Increase in Minimum Wage
For example, 93% of Democrats favor raising the wage, compared with 80% of independents and 74% of Republicans.

January 04, 2006
Terror suspects allege MI6 torture
Three Pakistani men have publicly repeated claims they were abducted and tortured as terror suspects in Greece as British MI6 agents looked on.

January 04, 2006
Lobbyist admits he gave Ney bribes
WASHINGTON — Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges including efforts to bribe Rep. Bob Ney and his staff members with a golfing trip to Scotland, tickets to sporting events and campaign contributions in return for Ney helping Abramoff's clients.

January 04, 2006
The Heat Is Now on Ohio Rep. Ney
Now, the Ohio Republican is in the spotlight as "Representative #1" — the unnamed lawmaker in federal court documents released Tuesday who allegedly received favors from lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for supporting legislation beneficial to one of Abramoff's clients. The documents were unveiled as part of the guilty plea Abramoff entered to several charges stemming from his lobbying activity.

January 04, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Bush could bypass new torture ban
After approving the bill last Friday, Bush issued a "signing statement" -- an official document in which a president lays out his interpretation of a new law -- declaring that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. This means Bush believes he can waive the restrictions, the White House and legal specialists said.

January 03, 2006
Analysis: Abramoff Plea May Rock GOP Boat
The plea deal worked out by Jack Abramoff could send seismic waves across the political landscape in this congressional election year. The Republicans, who control Congress and the White House, are likely to take the biggest hits.

January 04, 2006
Lobbying Plan Was Central to GOP's Political Strategy
WASHINGTON — The corruption investigation surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff shows the significant political risk that Republican leaders took when they adopted what had once seemed a brilliant strategy for dominating Washington: turning the K Street lobbying corridor into a cog of the GOP political machine.

January 04, 2006
Biggest Corruption Scandal in Congress in a Generation
The Family Value Party Brings You: The biggest corruption scandal to infect Congress in a generation took down one of the best-connected lobbyists in Washington yesterday. The questions echoing around the capital were what other careers -- and what other familiar ways of doing business -- are endangered.

January 03, 2006
Media conservatives cited faulty poll to claim popular support for domestic spying program
Conservative media figures have defended the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program by citing a Rasmussen poll saying 64 percent of Americans believe "the National Security Agency [should] be allowed to intercept telephone conversations between terrorism suspects in other countries and people living in the United States." But the key issue, which the poll misrepresents, is not whether surveillance of terrorism suspects should take place at all -- something about which there is little controversy -- but whether President Bush violated the law by approving warrantless searches of domestic phone and email communications.

January 04, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
NSA Spied on Americans Without Presidential Authority
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 - The National Security Agency acted on its own authority, without a formal directive from President Bush, to expand its domestic surveillance operations in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to declassified documents released Tuesday.

January 04, 2006
GOP Leaders Seek Distance From Abramoff
And former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called on House Republicans to elect a new majority leader to permanently replace Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), Abramoff's most powerful ally in Washington, who faces a trial on unrelated criminal charges of violating Texas campaign laws.

January 04, 2006
ABush to Give Up $6,000 Linked to Abramoff
President Bush's re-election campaign is giving up $6,000 in campaign contributions connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who faced more guilty pleas as part of a broad-ranging political corruption investigation.

January 04, 2006
Abramoff Pleads Guilty: An explosive corruption scandal
The plea agreement drawn up by the US Justice Department is believed to list extensive bribes, including cash, gifts, expensive meals and foreign trips, that Abramoff and his associates are alleged to have given politicians in exchange for legislative action favourable to the lobbyist's clients.

January 03, 2006
A Life, Wasted
In our last conversation, Augie complained that the cost in lives to clear insurgents was "less and less worth it," because Marines have to keep coming back to clear the same places. Marine commanders in the field say the same thing. Without sufficient troops, they can't hold the towns. Augie was killed on his fifth mission to clear Haditha.