October 10, 2006
Sanctions seen as dubious leverage over North Korea with little left to lose
International sanctions are "not effective at all," said Paik Hak-soon, a North Korea analyst at the Sejong Institute outside Seoul. "North Korea has already tested the bomb and has long expected this response."

Without a free press, there can no democracy. Now I only wish the US media would wake up and stop pushing government lies.

October 9, 2006
Iraqi laws ban a free press
New laws in Iraq criminalize speech that ridicules the government or its officials, and any journalist who "publicly insults" the government or public officials can be subject to up to seven years in prison. Some of the language is resurrected verbatim from Saddam Hussein's own penal code. It is hard enough for journalists to operate on the ever-expanding battlefields of Iraq.

The media is finally starting to get it. The GOP is filled with hypocrites. They've created more debt than any liberal congress in history. Where was the media then?

October 8, 2006
Hypocrisy is the issue
But one wonders if the former Florida lawmaker would have been driven to such underhanded behavior if he hadn't felt forced to conceal a vital, essential part of his person, and allowed to get away with inappropriate behavior for so long.

Very long but very good. The moral decay within the GOP is exposed. Their biggest problem is reality. Tax cuts always create massive debt. This truth can't be explained away except through lies.

October 8, 2006
Sex, lies and power games
To win votes back home, lawmakers have been spending taxpayer money like sailors on leave, producing the biggest budget deficits in U.S. history. And the party's approach to national security has taken the country into a war that most Americans now believe was a mistake and that the government's own intelligence experts say has shaped "a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives."

October 8, 2006
U.S. Casualties in Iraq Rise Sharply
The number of U.S troops wounded in Iraq has surged to its highest monthly level in nearly two years as American GIs fight block-by-block in Baghdad to try to check a spiral of sectarian violence that U.S. commanders warn could lead to civil war.

What's there to figure out. The GOP leadership and the FBI were aware of the email and chose to look the other way.

October 8, 2006
FBI Will Try to Sort Out Who Knew What -- and When
Armed with subpoena power, investigators for the FBI and the ethics committee will pursue scores of questions, almost surely including:

Who decided to keep word of the Louisiana e-mails closely held, so that only a handful of House Republicans -- and no Democrats -- knew of them?

Various accounts agree that only two people -- Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), chairman of the Page Board, and then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl, also a board member -- confronted Foley in November 2005 about the messages. But none has definitively said who decided that only those two should handle the task.

Bush fails again. Nothing new.

October 9, 2006
North Korea test will be widely interpreted as a sign of the failure by the Bush team
That five years later, North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon will be widely interpreted as a sign of the failure of the tougher approach favoured by the Bush team.

Proving once again that "staying the course" has been wrong since day one.

October 8, 2006
America ponders cutting Iraq in three
AN independent commission set up by Congress with the approval of President George W Bush may recommend carving up Iraq into three highly autonomous regions, according to well informed sources.

October 7, 2006
NEWSWEEK Poll: GOP in Meltdown
For the first time since 2001, the NEWSWEEK poll shows that more Americans trust the Democrats than the GOP on moral values and the war on terror.

October 6, 2006
Only 27 Percent Say Hastert Should Remain Speaker

October 6, 2006
Rove aide resigns in fallout over Abramoff report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An aide to top White House political adviser Karl Rove resigned in the fallout over a congressional report showing many White House contacts with ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a spokeswoman said on Friday

October 5, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Bush asserts right to rewrite Homeland Security privacy laws
WASHINGTON - President Bush, again defying Congress, says he has the power to edit the Homeland Security Department's reports about whether it obeys privacy rules while handling background checks, ID cards and watchlists.

Privacy advocate Marc Rotenberg said Bush is trying to subvert lawmakers' ability to accurately monitor activities of the executive branch of government.

"The Homeland Security Department has been setting up watch lists to determine who gets on planes, who gets government jobs, who gets employed," said Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

October 5, 2006
Republicans on ethics panel took money from Hastert
Ethics Chairman Doc Hastings received $2,500 during the 2000 campaign from Hastert's political action committee, Keep Our Majority, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, which tracks money in politics. The six-term Washington Republican, who became ethics chairman last year, will lead the Foley investigation.

Rep. Judy Biggert of Illinois, received $6,000 from Hastert's PAC and $2,000 from Hastert's own re-election fund during the 2002 campaign, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.

October 5, 2006
Madam Speaker Pelosi Drain the Swamp
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Franklin Roosevelt had his first hundred days. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is thinking 100 hours. Time enough, she says, to begin to "drain the swamp" after more than a decade of Republican rule.

As in the first 100 hours the House meets after Democrats - in her fondest wish - win control in the Nov. 7 midterm elections and Pelosi takes the gavel as the first Madam Speaker in history.

The ONLY way presidential power can be expanded is through constitutional amendment. An Impeachable Offense.

October 5, 2006
Signing Statements: Abuse of Power
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's frequent use of signing statements to assert that he has the power to disobey newly enacted laws is "an integral part" of his "comprehensive strategy to strengthen and expand executive power" at the expense of the legislative branch, according to a report by the non partisan Congressional Research Service.

October 5, 2006
CREW Demands DOJ I.G. Investigate FBI Cover-Up
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General's (I.G.) office today to ask for an investigation into why the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has fabricated and disseminated a cover-up story as to why it never investigated the Foley email sent to it by CREW.

What did the Speaker know and when did he know it? The committee hasn't issued a subpoena to him so we'll never know.

October 5, 2006
Foley Scandal: Four Dozen Subpoenas Issued
According to public statements and an internal review by Hastert's office, a likely list of those who had some involvement in events and could be summoned include: Hastert aides Tim Kennedy, Mike Stokke, Ted Van Der Meid and Scott Palmer; former Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl; Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who became aware that Foley sent questionable e-mails to a page he sponsored; Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., who spoke with Alexander about Foley; Majority Leader John Boehner; and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., chairman of the board that oversees the page program.

Does anyone think this is going anywhere. The Pentagon will investigate itself AFTER congress says it's ok to torture POWs.

October 7, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Pentagon to Probe Gitmo Beatings Claim
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - The Pentagon said Friday that it will investigate a Marine's sworn statement that guards at Guantanamo Bay bragged about beating detainees and described it as a common practice.

October 7, 2006
Thousands of Americans Wrongly Listed on Terror Watch List
More than 30,000 airline passengers have asked just one agency — the Transportation Security Administration — to have their names cleared from the lists, according to the Government Accountability Office report.

At Some Point Bush becomes responsible for the actions of his commanders.

October 7, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Guards Beating POWs Common at Guantanamo Bay
CAMP PENDLETON — A sworn statement from a Marine sergeant alleging that guards at the U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, regularly beat terrorism detainees — and bragged about it — has been turned over to Pentagon investigators.

October 5, 2006
Failure of disarmament drives proliferation
"The problem of nuclear proliferation is inextricably linked to the continued possession of nuclear weapons by a handful of states. As long as any state has nuclear weapons, there will be others, state or sub-state actors, who will seek to acquire them," stated the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. There have been many debates and discussions on it. There's been some negotiation and a few agreements like INF (Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty), START I, and START II. And there's been CTBT (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty), signed by 176 nations and ratified by 135.

October 5, 2006
Iraq pulls 700 police linked to death squads
BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities pulled a brigade of 700 policemen out of service Wednesday in its biggest move ever to uproot troops linked to death squads, aiming to signal the government's seriousness in cleansing Baghdad of sectarian violence.

October 4, 2006
Death Squads In Iraqi Hospitals
The takeover began after the last election in December when Sadr's political faction was given control of the Ministry of Health. The U.S. military has documented how Sadr's Mahdi Army has turned morgues and hospitals into places where death squads operate freely.

October 4, 2006
Longtime Republican was source of e-mails
The same source, who acted as an intermediary between the aide-turned-whistleblower and several news outlets, says the person who shared the documents is no longer employed in the House.

But the whistleblower was a paid GOP staffer when the documents were first given to the media.

The source bolstered the claim by sharing un-redacted e-mails in which the former page first alerted his congressional sponsor's office of Foley's attentions. The copies of these e-mails, now available to the public, have the names of senders and recipients blotted out.

It's like insurance - better safe than sorry.

October 4, 2006
Global Warming: The century of drought
Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists.

Extreme drought, in which agriculture is in effect impossible, will affect about a third of the planet, according to the study from the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research.

Hastert violated the Constitution when he failed to report the abuse to Democrats. He MUST resign.

October 4, 2006
Fordham says he reported Foley 3 years ago
At the same time, a congressional aide said in an Associated Press interview he first warned Hastert's aides more than three years ago that Foley's behavior toward pages was troublesome. That was long before GOP leaders acknowledged learning of the problem.

The aide, Kirk Fordham, said he had "more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene" several years ago.

Each House is responsible for discipline its members, but how can that happen when the GOP covers up a crime? This is a serious constitutional crisis.

October 3, 2006
Foley scandal reveals how Republicans run the House
They never consulted the Democrats, nor invoked any institutional remedies to deal with the problems. Bizarrely, they kept the Florida congressman as chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus.

October 4, 2006
(some 10/12/06 content)
Novak: House Leadership Urged Foley to Seek Reelection After They Knew of Email
Novak writes, "A member of the House leadership told me that Foley, under continuous political pressure because of his sexual orientation, was considering not seeking a seventh term this year but that Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), talked him into running."

October 4, 2006
Tom Reynolds' Chief of Staff, Kirk Fordham Resigns Over Foley Scandal
(October 5, 2006) — WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Reynolds' chief of staff resigned Wednesday, saying he had informed House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office at least two years ago of "inappropriate behavior" toward congressional pages by disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley.

How can Fox be fair or balanced when they're part of the Foley Coverup?

October 3, 2006
What did Fox News know about Foley, and when did they know it?
n October 2 Associated Press article reported that Fox News was among several news organizations that were leaked copies of email messages allegedly sent by former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) to a 16-year-old male former congressional page. The AP wrote that "Florida newspapers" that received copies of the emails last year, such as the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald, have acknowledged having received the emails and "defended their decision not to run stories." A Media Matters for America search on the Nexis database of Fox News in prime time turned up no references to the channel having previously received these emails nor any refutation of reports that it had.

October 4, 2006
Hastert Tells Conservative He'll Resign If It Helps GOP
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., told a leading conservative Wednesday that he would resign as the top congressional leader if it would help the Republican Party stave off defeat in November.

But conservative activist Paul Weyrich said Hastert has rejected calls for his resignation because he believes it would prompt "a feeding frenzy" that ultimately would lead to the downfall of other GOP leaders as well.

October 3, 2006
Papers Knew of Foley E-Mail
The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald received copies of an e-mail exchange between Mr. Foley, Republican of Florida, and a teenager, but neither paper gathered enough solid material to publish a story, according to statements by the papers' editors.

More illegal propaganda.

October 3, 2006
Possibly An Impeachable Offense
Miami Herald Publisher Resigns After Reporters Took Government Money
Diaz authorized the firings and he said he still believes the reporters in question had a conflict of interest in accepting payments from the government's Office of Cuba Broadcasting. But he said in a letter to readers the fired reporters will be allowed to return to the newspaper.

The OCB paid the journalists to appear as guests on programs of U.S. government to Cuba.

If republicans raised taxes to pay for their spending there wouldn't be a single republican voter. The tax burden would be $2.8 trillion (the debt created since Bush took office).

October 2, 2006
No Bill Too Small for GOP Incumbents in Tight Elections
Dozens of the made-to-order bills that flew through the House bear the names of the endangered lawmakers, from Pennsylvania Rep. Jim Gerlach's Open Space and Farmland Preservation Act to Connecticut Rep. Christopher Shays's reauthorization of the HOPE VI housing program, to measures to preserve Native American languages and assist in water planning for Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.).

"If you've got people with must-do pieces of legislation, you want to help them out," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference.

This congress can do two things well; pass pay increases for themselves and pass spending programs that make them look good.

October 4, 2006
Congress passes $20 million for war conclusion celebration
Tucked away in fine print in the military spending bill for this past year was a lump sum of $20 million to pay for a celebration in the nation's capital "for commemoration of success" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

October 3, 2006
North Korea planning nuclear test
SEOUL, South Korea --North Korea triggered global alarm on Tuesday by saying it will conduct a nuclear test, a key step in the manufacture of atomic bombs that it views as a deterrent against any U.S. attack. But the North also said it was committed to nuclear disarmament, suggesting a willingness to negotiate.

September 30, 2006
Iraq Vet/Candidate/Double Amputee Attacks Bush on Iraq
WASHINGTON - An Illinois congressional candidate who lost both her legs during combat in Iraq said Saturday that President Bush has no real strategy for securing the war-ravaged nation, just political talk designed to appeal to voters.

Rice said she wasn't briefed, she lied.

October 3, 2006
An Impeachable Offense

Records Show Tenet Briefed Rice on Al Qaeda Threat
The FBI acknowledged yesterday that it did not begin an investigation in late July after receiving copies of e-mails sent in 2005 by then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to a Louisiana teenager -- messages that troubled the boy's parents.

The FBI was asked to investigate this mater, but it already knew about it and did nothing. Heads have to roll.

October 3, 2006
FBI Knew in July About Foley E-Mails to Teen
The FBI acknowledged yesterday that it did not begin an investigation in late July after receiving copies of e-mails sent in 2005 by then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) to a Louisiana teenager -- messages that troubled the boy's parents.

October 1, 2006
Profiles in Cowardice - the Pro Torture Congress
Only a couple of weeks ago, the Senate was poised to move constructive legislation that would have given the administration the tools it needs but not the power to disappear people into secret prisons and interrogate them using techniques too shameful to name in public. Yet Mr. Bush's pressure tactics worked again. He has the lamentable legislation he wanted -- which will bring discredit onto this country in any number of ways -- and Republicans are busily blasting Democrats as terrorist-coddlers anyway.

Goal 1: Get rid of GOP Senate. Goal 2: Then get rid of pro torture Democrats. Goal 3: Then get rid of senators who let Bush violate other laws

October 2, 2006
Polls: Democrats in striking distance for Senate
NEW YORK - Five weeks out from the midterm elections, MSNBC/McClatchy polls, conducted by Mason-Dixon in eight states, show Democrats are in striking distance of taking control of the Senate. The Democrats are very likely to gain several Senate seats with some races still rated as toss-ups.

September 30, 2006
Senate workweek: Tuesday afternoon - early Thursday
"We've fallen into a routine . . . of starting our workweek Tuesday at 2:15 after we finish our caucus luncheons, and people start to get edgy and heading for the airports early on Thursday.

October 1, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
CIA Torture Chambers Likely Restarting
What the legislation is likely to do even sooner is put the CIA's secret-prison program back online. That's right: back online.

Porter Goss feared that the amendment, sponsored by McCain, might undercut the legal authority for CIA interrogations. So Goss put those procedures on hold while seeking a legal opinion from the Justice Department.

For the next nine months, says a person briefed on activity in the program, some at the agency developed a bias for killing its targets instead of bringing them in for questioning

They said "no one connected the dots - the dots were connected, the picture drawn. They ignored national security and then lied about it.

October 1, 2006
An Impeachable Offense

Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice
On July 10, 2001, two months before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, then-CIA Director George J. Tenet met with his counterterrorism chief, J. Cofer Black, at CIA headquarters to review the latest on Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Black laid out the case, consisting of communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case, so compelling to Tenet that he decided he and Black should go to the White House immediately.

October 1, 2006
In Taking On Fox, Democrats See Reward in the Risk
The party crashing began last Sunday, when former President Bill Clinton transformed an interview with Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" into a finger-pointing tirade against what he called a "conservative hit job." Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, quickly released a statement applauding Mr. Clinton for standing up to what he described as a right-wing, bullying propaganda machine.

In separate appearances on Fox News over the next two days, Lanny J. Davis, a former special counsel to Mr. Clinton, and Barbara Boxer, the Democratic senator from California, mocked the news channel's trademarked motto of being "fair and balanced."

And on Wednesday Paul Begala and James Carville, Democratic commentators for CNN, engaged in more than five minutes of high-decibel debate on Fox with Bill O'Reilly about Mr. Clinton's appearance, daring Mr. O'Reilly to "come out of the closet" and admit Fox News is a "right-leaning, anti-Clinton network."

October 1, 2006
Joint Chiefs of Staff Secret Intelligence Assessment
Two days later, the intelligence division of the Joint Chiefs of Staff circulated a secret intelligence assessment to the White House that contradicted the president's forecast.

The Pentagon released an unclassified report to Congress, required by law, that contradicted the Joint Chiefs' secret assessment. The public report sent to Congress said the "appeal and motivation for continued violent action will begin to wane in early 2007."

October 1, 2006
Top House Republicans knew about Foley e-mails but kept the matter secret
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 — Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children's issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.

The Senate should be required to raise taxes by $70 billion (more) and see how many of them survive the reelection.

September 28, 2006
Senate approves $70B for war spending
WASHINGTON - The Senate unanimously approved $70 billion more for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan Friday as part of a record Pentagon budget.

September 29, 2006
Poll: Nearly two-thirds of Americans say Iraq in civil war
Asked whether Iraq is "currently engaged in a civil war," 65 percent of the poll's respondents said "yes," and 29 percent answered "no." By comparison, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll in April found 56 percent of the respondents believed Iraq was in a civil war, while 33 percent disagreed.

September 29, 2006
US Built Baghdad Police College Ceiling Leaks Feces and Urine
In a House hearing on what has gone wrong with reconstruction contracts in Iraq, Parsons Corp. quickly became the focus, taking bipartisan heat for its record of falling short on critical projects.

In a report released yesterday, inspectors found that the Baghdad Police College posed a health risk after feces and urine leaked through the ceilings of student barracks. The facility, part of which will need to be demolished, also featured floors that heaved inches off the ground and a room where water dripped so heavily that it was known as "the rain forest."

September 25, 2006
The US version of Newsweek is further sanitized with all references to Leibovitz being gay removed.
Newsweek cover 'Losing Afghanistan' in international edition, celebrity photographer in U.S.
The cover of International editions, aimed at Europe, Asia, and Latin America, displays in large letters the title "LOSING AFGHANISTAN," along with an arresting photograph of an armed jihadi.

The cover of the United States edition, in contrast, is dedicated to celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz and is demurely captioned "My Life in Pictures."

September 28, 2006
Apparently Gallup thinks being impartial means you can't tell the truth.
Gallup Pollster Revisits 2000 Election - Gore Won
Former UNH professor and pollster David Moore contends that his new book about the 2000 presidential election - titled "How to Steal an Election" - is not partisan. Moore said he knows it's a "hard sell," but he argues the book simply explains how George W. Bush took the presidency that was rightfully won by Al Gore.

The question of partisanship isn't academic: Moore was fired from his job as a senior editor at the Gallup Poll after he told his bosses about the book last spring. Gallup General Counsel Steve O'Brien said yesterday that writing the book was a "colossally stupid" thing for Moore to do given the polling firm's nonpartisan mission. O'Brien scoffed at the idea that any book with such a title could be impartial.

October 1, 2006
If you're new to this site you may want to know whenever they use the words "credible intelligence" it's always a lie.
Baghdad placed under lockdown
"Credible intelligence indicates the individual, a member of Dr. Dulaimi's personal security detachment, and seven members of the detained individual's cell were in the final stages of launching a series of (car bomb) attacks inside the International Zone, possibly involving suicide vests," the U.S. military said in a statement.

The GOP knows the media can handle only one scandal at a time that's why the Foley scandal came out now.

September 27, 2006
Molly Ivins: Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)
Death by torture by Americans was first reported in 2003 in a New York Times article by Carlotta Gall. The military had announced the prisoner died of a heart attack, but when Gall saw the death certificate, written in English and issued by the military, it said the cause of death was homicide. The "heart attack" came after he had been beaten so often on this legs that they had "basically been pulpified," according to the coroner.

The version of the detainee bill now in the Senate not only undoes much of the McCain-Warner-Graham work, but it is actually much worse than the administration's first proposal. In one change, the original compromise language said a suspect had the right to "examine and respond to" all evidence used against him. The three senators said the clause was necessary to avoid secret trials. The bill has now dropped the word "examine" and left only "respond to."

In another change, a clause said that evidence obtained outside the United States could be admitted in court even if it had been gathered without a search warrant. But the bill now drops the words "outside the United States," which means prosecutors can ignore American legal standards on warrants.

September 28, 2006
How George Bush Admitted His War Crimes
No person may invoke the Geneva Conventions, or any protocols thereto, in any habeas or civil action or proceeding to which the United States, or a current or former officer, employee, member of the Armed Services, or other agent of the United States, is a party, as a source of rights in any court of the United States or its States or territories.

This means that no detainee can bring suit for any violation of the Geneva Conventions, and this is the other huge dot. The Bush Administration already stands accused by the Supreme Court of violating Common Article 3, but the Administration wrote a law, and bulldozed it through a compliant Congress, to render prosecution impossible.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 is retroactive. It shall "take effect as of November 26, 1997, as if enacted.[on that date]." Nothing the Bush Administration has done can be called into question.

A seven page story - very good but long. You already knew Bush and congress were corrupt but did you know our courts are equally corrupt?

October 1, 2006
Justice for sale: Judge rulings favor donations
An examination of the Ohio Supreme Court by The New York Times found that its justices routinely sat on cases after receiving campaign contributions from the parties involved or from groups that filed supporting briefs. On average, they voted in favor of contributors 70 percent of the time. Justice O'Donnell voted for his contributors 91 percent of the time, the highest rate of any justice on the court.

US laws forbid torture. Bush supports torture. What's a judge to ignore - see no evil?

September 29, 2006
Gonzales Cautions Judges On Torture
Gonzales has sent Justice Department lawyers into federal courts from coast to coast defending Bush's detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, his plans to try some of them before military tribunals and his use of the National Security Agency to wiretap Americans without court warrants when they communicate with suspected terrorists abroad.

September 29, 2006
Stay the course in Iraq? What course?
Bush kept repeating, "I am so sorry for your loss." At one point his eyes welled up. But when she pleaded with him to bring the troops home, he said only, "We see things differently."

Look no further than the Reagan debt -$1.6 trillion. Some people still think he was a conservative. Conservatives balance the budget and Reagan couldn't manage even one balanced budget.

September 29, 2006
Why Bill Clinton Pushed Back
By choosing to intervene in the terror debate in a way that no one could miss, Clinton forced an argument about the past that had up to now been largely a one-sided propaganda war waged by the right. The conservative movement understands the political value of controlling the interpretation of history. Now its control is finally being contested.

September 29, 2006
Is Woodward Calling Bush a Liar?
CBS News reports: "Veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward tells Mike Wallace that the Bush administration has not told the truth regarding the level of violence, especially against U.S. troops, in Iraq. He also reveals key intelligence that predicts the insurgency will grow worse next year. . . .

"According to Woodward, insurgent attacks against coalition troops occur, on average, every 15 minutes, a shocking fact the administration has kept secret. . . .

September 28, 2006
Tax cuts for the rich don't work.
Middle-class families in worse shape than ever
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The typical double-income family is worse off financially than ever, a study released Thursday said, warning that few Americans have saved enough to brace for financial setbacks.

Middle-class families are struggling to pay for a home, health insurance, transportation and their children's college with wages that have not kept pace with higher prices, according to the study by a think tank headed by a former top aide to President Bill Clinton.

September 30, 2006
GOP Leadership Aware of Teen Sex Scandal and Did Nothing
Alexander said that before deciding to end his involvement, he passed on what he knew to the chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, Rep. Thomas Reynolds, R-N.Y. Reynolds' spokesman, Carl Forti, said the campaign chairman also took no action in deference to the parents' wishes.

Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., chairman of the Page Board that oversees the congressional work-study program for high schoolers, said he did investigate but Foley falsely assured him he was only mentoring the boy. Pages are high school students who attend classes under congressional supervision and work as messengers.

October 10, 2006 edition (posted September 28, 2006)
Should Networks Be Forced to Sanitize the News?
Scenes of war on PBS in which soldiers use profanity have been cut or elaborately avoided in two upcoming Frontline documentaries. According to the journalists and PBS executives responsible, these edits have been made for one reason: fear of the Federal Communications Commission.

September 27, 2006
The irony is that no matter how much truth is thrown at certain conservative pundits nothing will dissuade them from lying about the war.
White House refuses to release full NIE report
WASHINGTON - The White House refused Wednesday to release in full a previously secret intelligence assessment that depicts a growing terrorist threat and has fueled the election-season fight over the Iraq war.

September 27, 2006
A previous PIPA poll showed that 80% of Fox viewers believed things about the war that were not true
PIPA Poll: Iraqis Back Attacks On US Troops
WASHINGTON - About six in 10 Iraqis say they approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and slightly more than that want their government to ask U.S. troops to leave within a year, a poll finds.

September 26, 2006
John Rendon and the Lincoln Group helped sell the war to Americans, now they're trying to sell the war to Iraqis.
P.R. Group That Paid Off Iraqi Papers Gets New $6.2 Million Media Contract
Washington-based Lincoln Group won a two-year contract to monitor a number of English and Arabic media outlets and produce public relations-type products such as talking points or speeches for U.S. forces in Iraq, officials said Tuesday.

September 25, 2006
Clinton stopped the Millennium attacks and Bush failed to stop 911 - how hard is this?
Senator Clinton Defends Her Husband
"I'm certain that if my husband and his national security team had been shown a classified report entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States,' he would have taken it more seriously than history suggests it was taken by our current president and his national security team," she said during an appearance on Capitol Hill.

September 27, 2006
Did anyone blame Bush 1 for the WTC bombing in 1993? Why not?
911 Blame Game
I just assumed that after one congressional probe, a two-years-long bipartisan commission and more solid journalism than even our business has awards for — and that would be a lot — we could all agree that fingers could be safely pointed at at least three entities: the terrorists, for launching the attacks; and both the Clinton and Bush administrations, for acting too timidly to stop them, despite all the warning signs.

September 25, 2006
Two Deaths Were a 'Clue That Something's Wrong'
But the circumstances of Wakil's death were not described in Waller's reports, and Army criminal investigators would later determine that the killing could not be classified as a battlefield casualty. Last year, they listed it as a murder. However, the military has since reopened its probe, and investigators decline to say whether the same charges are being pursued.

It would not be the only questionable death of a detainee in the custody of ODA 2021, nor the only one that leaders of the 10-man field team would fail to disclose to superiors in the Alabama National Guard's 20th Special Forces Group.

Within days of the Wazi killing, an 18-year-old Afghan army recruit named Jamal Naseer died after being interrogated at the team's firebase in Gardez, about 25 miles to the north. Multiple witnesses say his body showed signs of severe beating and other abuse. His brother and six others also held at Gardez say they were tortured.

September 7, 2006
The Economist: The heat is on
A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the risk of a climatic catastrophe is high enough for the world to spend a small proportion of its income trying to prevent one from happening.

Two measures are needed. One is an economic tool which puts a price on emitting greenhouse gases. That could be a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system, such as Europe's Emissions-Trading Scheme, which limits how much producers can emit, and lets them buy and sell emissions credits. Ideally, politicians would choose the more efficient carbon tax, which implies a relatively stable price that producers can build into their investment plans. The more volatile cap-and-trade system, however, is easier to sell to producers, who can get free allowances when the scheme is introduced.

To keep down price rises, and thus ease the political process, governments should employ a second tool: spending to help promising new technologies get to market. Carbon sequestration, which offers the possibility of capturing carbon produced by dirty power stations and storing it underground, is a prime candidate.

September 8, 2006
Three Lies: Bush and Secret Prisons
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 — In defending the Central Intelligence Agency&a's secret network of prisons on Wednesday, President Bush said the detention system had used lawful interrogation techniques, was fully described to select members of Congress and led directly to the capture of a string of terrorists over the past four years.

A review of public documents and interviews with American officials raises questions about Mr. Bush's claims on all three fronts.

September 8, 2006
Will media note evidence contradicting Bush's claims about Zubaydah?
Numerous news outlets have uncritically reported President Bush's assertion in a September 6 speech that the CIA's controversial interrogation methods led detained Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah to disclose crucial information. But The New York Times and The Washington Post have highlighted disclosures that contradict Bush's account of both Zubaydah's value as a source and the efficacy of the interrogation methods used on him. Will the other media outlets report this conflict?

September 25, 2006
The first terrorist attack on US interests came in 1983, under Reagan. 241 soldiers were lost and Reagan "cut and ran" from Lebanon.
Fox News Sunday, Interview With President Bill Clinton
There's a new book out, I suspect you've already read, called The Looming Tower. And it talks about how the fact that when you pulled troops out of Somalia in 1993, bin Laden said, I have seen the frailty and the weakness and the cowardice of U.S. troops. Then there was the bombing of the embassies in Africa and the attack on the Cole.

January 20, 2002
It seems the press forgot Bush spent months pushing tax cuts for the rich and little or no time thinking about our defense.
Where Was Bush Before 9/11
The Bush administration now had in its hands what one participant called "the holy grail" of a three-year quest by the U.S. government – a tool that could kill bin Laden within minutes of finding him. The CIA planned and practiced the operation. But for the next three months, before the catastrophe of Sept. 11, President Bush and his advisers held back.

Clinton's Cabinet advisers, burning with the urgency of their losses to bin Laden in the African embassy bombings in 1998 and the Cole attack in 2000, had met "nearly weekly" to direct the fight, Kerrick said. Among Bush's first-line advisers, "candidly speaking, I didn't detect" that kind of focus, he said. "That's not being derogatory. It's just a fact. I didn't detect any activity but what Dick Clarke and the CSG were doing."

September 21, 2006
Maybe it's just me but it seems a lot of republican lawyers are losing cases these days. Another sign of the times.
Judge Voids Bush Policy on National Forest Roads
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — In the latest round of legal Ping-Pong over the future of 49 million roadless acres of national forests, a federal judge in California on Wednesday reinstated Clinton-era protections against logging and mining on the land and invalidated the Bush administration's substitute policy.

September 25, 2006
Imposing a democracy is never a good idea, especially when the imposing country doesn't have the military personnel (a draft), money (higher taxes) or will to succeed.
Disastrous errors of Iraq
It would be dishonourable for America to walk away from a mess that it has helped to create. Instead, it must learn from the egregious mistakes of the occupation, from insufficient force levels to Abu Ghraib, and prepare for the long haul.

The overall plan, to guide Iraq from totalitarianism to democracy, is good. But the execution has too often been marked by crass arrogance.

September 23, 2006
Simple answer: the press is weak.
Why the press didn't challenge Bush earlier
My working hypothesis on all this, which I have mentioned in some of those articles, is that the more powerful the President, the more timid the press. There's an inverse relationship between the popularity of the President and the willingness of the press to challenge him. And right now, Bush's popularity is very low.

September 23, 2006
An Impeachable Offense - Another Bush Lie
Spy Agencies Say Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 — A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks.

September 23, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Australian lawyers forced to give up their rights
Hicks's previous Australian lawyer, Stephen Kenny, was required to sign a similar document in 2003, but insisted that the extradition clause be struck out. That change was accepted.

"I was told about it when I first arrived [in the US to represent Hicks] and found myself in front of some general from the Pentagon," Mr Kenny said. "I told him, 'I'm not giving up my rights, no matter what you think. I'm an Australian citizen and you can't ask me to do that.' They're bullies."

September 25, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
We're led to believe chemists didn't know this was a farce and it took the FBI six weeks to figure this out.
Liquids not risky on planes
Testing by the FBI and at government labs showed that small containers of liquids "don't pose a real threat," Hawley said.

Jim Kapin, head of health and safety for the American Chemical Society, said small quantities of liquids could not seriously damage an airplane. Even if several terrorists smuggled liquid explosives on board, it is "practically speaking, impossible" to make a bomb on an airplane because of the equipment and expertise required, Kapin said.

September 21, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
For the GOP the role of government is to enrich their friends - that's why they hated government when they were the minority.
HUD Secretary Awarded Contracts Awarded on Political Leanings
The findings led Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., to call Thursday for Jackson's resignation.

The inspector general's investigation was launched following an exclusive Dallas Business Journal report on comments Jackson made at an April 28 real estate gathering in Dallas. At the private event, Jackson, former president and CEO of the Dallas Housing Authority, told attendees he canceled a contract with a contractor who had criticized President Bush.

September 21, 2006
It seems too much time is spent on school prayer, the 10 Commandments and banning evolution.
U.S. science education lags
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Science education in U.S. elementary and middle schools is overly broad and superficial, according to a government report issued Thursday that also faults science curricula for assuming children are simplistic thinkers.

September 21, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Suits Say Interior Department Impeded Audits for Oil Leases
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — Four government auditors who monitor leases for oil and gas on federal property say the Interior Department suppressed their efforts to recover millions of dollars from companies they said were cheating the government.

September 22, 2006
Census Bureau loses hundreds of laptops
WASHINGTON - The Census Bureau collects the most personal information about Americans, from how much money they earn and where they spend it to how they live and die. It's all confidential — as long as no one steals it.

Lost or stolen from the Census Bureau since 2003 are 217 laptop computers, 46 portable data storage devices and 15 handheld devices used by survey takers.

September 21, 2006
U.S. Health-Care System Gets a "D"
The U.S. health-care system is doing poorly by virtually every measure. That's the conclusion of a national report card on the U.S. health-care system, released Sept. 20. Although there are pockets of excellence, the report, commissioned by the non-profit and non-partisan Commonwealth Fund, gave the U.S. system low grades on outcomes, quality of care, access to care, and efficiency, compared to other industrialized nations or generally accepted standards of care. Bottom line: U.S. health care barely passes with an overall grade of 66 out of 100.

September 21, 2006
Note how Reuters doesn't say a word about the debt created under Bush - $2.8 trillion. More shameless pandering.
Raise Taxes or Raise the Debt Ceiling
Bush has been pushing for making tax cuts set in 2001 and 2003 permanent. His 2001 tax cut package slashed individual income tax rates and set a phased-in reduction in estate taxes, while the centerpiece of the 2003 package was cuts in dividends and capital gains taxes.

September 21, 2006
An Impeachable Offense
Under the Geneva Conventions an "occupying power" is responsible for security.
Torture in Iraq 'worse than under Saddam'
Torture in Iraq is worse now than it was under the regime of Saddam Hussein and "is totally out of hand", according to a United Nations investigator.

"The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein," said Manfred Nowak, a UN special investigator on torture, at a press conference in Geneva.

September 20, 2006
The Supreme Court knows what the Conventions say. Generals in previous wars knew too. Who is this idiot and why does he still have a job?
US General Doesn't Understand Geneva Conventions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. general who oversees the Guantanamo prison for terrorism suspects urged Congress on Wednesday to offer clear guidance on what interrogation techniques are prohibited under international accords barring inhumane treatment of war prisoners.

September 20, 2006
'The Economist' Calls for Carbon Taxes to Stop Global Warming
Two weeks ago the Economist also recanted. In the past it has asserted that "Mr Bush was right to reject the prohibitively expensive Kyoto pact". It co-published the Copenhagen Consensus papers, which put climate change at the bottom of the list of global priorities. Now, in a special issue devoted to scaring the living daylights out of its readers, it maintains that "the slice of global output that would have to be spent to control emissions is probably ... below 1%". It calls for carbon taxes and an ambitious programme of government spending.

September 21, 2006
Bush's torture policy provoked the greatest schism between president and military in US history
Before the committee vote, Bush's administration had tried to coerce the top military lawyers, the judge advocates general (JAGs), into signing a statement of uncritical support, which they refused to do.

In the summer of 2004 General Thomas J Fiscus, the top air force JAG, informed the senators that the administration's assertion that the JAGs backed Bush on torture was utterly false.

September 21, 2006
GOP Group Racial Ad
In an interview yesterday, Steele said he had not heard the 60-second spot but said he generally does not oppose Republican efforts to assert their "real place in history." Today, though, his campaign released a statement blasting the ad.

"NBRA's current radio ad is insulting to Marylanders and should come down immediately," the statement says. "Although they may have had good intentions, there is no room for this kind of slash-and-burn partisan politics in the important conversation about how to best bring meaningful change to Washington, D.C. and get something done for Maryland."

September 20, 2006
Scientists shocked as Arctic polar route emerges
PARIS (AFP) - European scientists voiced shock as they showed pictures which showed Arctic ice cover had disappeared so much last month that a ship could sail unhindered from Europe's most northerly outpost to the North Pole itself.

September 18, 2006
Halliburton: You'll Get a Medal If You Don't Sue

. . . I agree that in consideration for the application for a Defense of Freedom Medal on my behalf that. . . I hereby release, acquit and discharge KBR, all KBR employees, the military, and any of their representatives. . . with respect to and from any and all claims . . .

September 18, 2006
Ashamed to be an American
I've loved America for most of my 58 years. I've fought for her, killed for her, bled for her and damn near died for her more than once.

I served my country even when I thought she was wrong because I felt it was my duty as an American to do so.

But I can no longer do so. America today has become what we always stood up against: A tyrant, a destroyer of freedom, an international murderer with no regard for human rights or life, no morality and no belief in the rule of law.

September 19, 2006
Bolton faces congressional axe
That appointment in August last year limited Mr Bolton's tenure to the duration of the current Congress, which concludes on January 3, unless the Senate confirms him formally before then. The White House had hoped to get Mr Bolton confirmed this month, but Senate approval is looking increasingly unlikely.

Another failed nomination would be a significant blow to Mr Bush, who has remained determined to see his choice confirmed permanently to the post, and a humiliation for Mr Bolton.

September 19, 2006
Another one bites the dust
Ex-Homeland Security Press Aide Reaches Plea Deal for Sex Charges
BARTOW, Fla. — A former Department of Homeland Security press aide pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges that he had sexually explicit online conversations with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

Brian J. Doyle, 56, could face up to five years in prison under the plea agreement accepted Tuesday. He also faces up to 10 years' probation at sentencing scheduled for Nov. 17, and must register as a sex offender. He resigned from the department shortly after his April 4 arrest.

September 18, 2006
Former Aides Make Millions Lobbying Their Former Bosses
Congressional aide Letitia White whirled through the revolving door one day in 2003 and came out a partner in a well-connected lobbying firm the next. Within two years, her lobbying fees had topped $3.5 million.

The secret to success for the one-time congressional receptionist?

September 18, 2006
Wave of Party Switchers Hits Republicans
"The moderate Republican has been pushed aside for the extreme right wing," Oklahoma state Senator Nancy Riley told the Associated Press in August, when she became a Democrat. Riley represents a district in suburban Tulsa and has served as minority whip in a chamber that her former party was looking to take over in the fall election. She announced her defection after years of what she described as "abhorrent" treatment by Republican leaders who suffer a "lack of compassion for people."