March 5, 2007
CNN & MSNBC Covering Walter Reed More Than Twice As Much As Fox
"Look at the differences in cable news coverage of Walter Reed," a prominent veteran's spokesperson told TVNewser on Friday. After completing a search of cable transcripts using TVEyes, it's clear that CNN and MSNBC have each covered the Walter Reed scandal more than twice as much as Fox News.

Between Feb. 18 and March 5, FNC has mentioned "Walter Reed" 93 times -- about six mentions per day. CNN has covered the story 224 times, and MSNBC has covered it 257 times.

As of 2pm today, the trend has continued. FNC has mentioned it 23 times; CNN has mentioned it 56 times; and MSNBC has mentioned it 42 times...

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This story comes from CNN. I put so few CNN stories on this site that I was beginning to think CNN didn't do news anymore.

March 5, 2007
Verizon, Sallie Mae and NetBank Pull Ads from Coulter's Site
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- At least three major companies want their ads pulled from Ann Coulter's Web site, following customer complaints about the right-wing commentator referring to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards as a "faggot."

Verizon, Sallie Mae and Georgia-based NetBank each said they didn't know their ads were on AnnCoulter.com until they received the complaints.

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The NY Times acknowledges the Bush White House is lawless but it still can't bring itself to demand his impeachment and removal from office.

March 4, 2007
The Must-Do List
Today we're offering a list — which, sadly, is hardly exhaustive — of things that need to be done to reverse the unwise and lawless policies of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Many will require a rewrite of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, an atrocious measure pushed through Congress with the help of three Republican senators, Arlen Specter, Lindsey Graham and John McCain; Senator McCain lent his moral authority to improving one part of the bill and thus obscured its many other problems.

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March 5, 2007
Two FBI Whistleblowers Confirm Illegal Wiretapping of Government Officials and Misuse of FISA
State Secrets Privilege Was Used to Cover Up Corruption and Silence Whistleblowers

The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC) has obtained a copy of an official complaint filed by a veteran FBI Special Agent, Gilbert Graham, with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-OIG). SA Graham's protected disclosures report the violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in conducting electronic surveillance of high-profile U.S. public officials.

Before his retirement in 2002, SA Gilbert Graham worked for the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) Squad NS-24. One of the main areas of Mr. Graham's counterintelligence investigations involved espionage activities by Turkish officials and agents in the United States. On April 2, 2002, Graham filed with the DOJ-OIG a classified protected disclosure, which provided a detailed account of FISA violations involving misuse of FISA warrants to engage in domestic surveillance.  In his unclassified report SA Graham states: "It is the complainant's reasonable belief that the request for ELSUR [electronic surveillance] coverage was a subterfuge to collect evidentiary information concerning public corruption matters."  Graham blew the whistle on this illegal behavior, but the actions were covered up by the Department of Justice and the Attorney General's office.

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Is there no wrong the US military can't justify.

March 5, 2007
U.S. Military Defends Erasing Images from Afghanistan
A media spokesman for the US-led coalition admitted some pictures of the scene may have been erased. "Some of those facts may be accurate but there is some context that is due," Mitchell told AFP.

The journalists had gone beyond a security perimeter and had been asked to remove their images to "protect the integrity of the investigation," he said, adding that the scene may have been altered before they arrived.

The concern had been that the "photographers would not accurately represent what the scene looked like immediately after the ambush," Mitchell said.

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March 5, 2007
US has no case for redefining torture
The researchers also reported that the torture victims rated some techniques such as stress positions, isolation, sleep deprivation and blindfolding as distressing as most physical torture methods.

"Ill treatment during captivity, such as psychological manipulations, humiliating treatment, and forced stress positions, does not seem to be substantially different from physical torture in terms of the severity of mental suffering they cause," the study's authors wrote.

"Thus, these procedures do amount to torture, thereby lending support to their prohibition by international law," they wrote in the journal of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

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March 5, 2007
Justice Department besieged by charges of cronyism
The administration has said eight prosecutors were told to leave, all but one for performance-related reasons. However, Democrats have suggested ever more pointedly that politics was behind many of the dismissals, and the Domenici revelation fueled that idea.

Six of those fired, meanwhile, issued a stiff defense of their conduct and implied that they had had differences with Justice Department officials in Washington.

The Justice Department, besieged by charges of cronyism, acknowledged that lawmakers — both Republican and Democratic — had complained about several of the eight.

One, David Iglesias of New Mexico, was the subject of four phone calls from Domenici to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his deputy questioning whether the prosecutor was "up to the job," department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.

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If you're wondering what happened to good journalism in this country, here's a good place to start. People who are wrong are rewarded and people who are right are not. Of course journalism has nothing to do with telling the truth, it's about ratings. A story that generates money, even if it's 100% wrong (lies) is rewarded.

January 2, 2007
Free Market System Promotes Bad Journalism
The market doesn't work -- not when it comes to conservative commentators.

Before the Iraq war, rightwing (and middle-of-the-road) pundits claimed Saddam Hussein was a dire WMD threat, that he was in cahoots with al Qaeda, that the war was necessary. The neoconservative cheerleaders for war also argued that an invasion of Iraq would bring democracy to that nation and throughout the region. They were wrong. But they have paid no price for their errors. They did not have to serve in Iraq. None, as far as I can tell, have had sons or daughters harmed or killed in the fighting there. They did not have to bear higher taxes, because George W. Bush has charged the costs of this military enterprise to the national credit card. Though they miscalled the number-one issue of the post-9/11 period, they did not lose their influential perches in the commentariat. Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle, Robert Kagan, Gary Schmitt, Danielle Pletka and others (including non-neocon Thomas Friedman) who blew it on Iraq still regularly appear on op-ed pages and television news shows, pitching their latest notions about Iraq, Iran or other matters.

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March 5, 2007
Army vet at Walter Reed: 'I want to leave this place'
With a US Army veteran declaring "I want to leave this place," a House committee began a hearing this morning at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center on the difficulties that casualties from the Iraq war have experienced in receiving medical care.

In the special hearing's first panel, two veterans and the wife of a third alleged that senior Army officials failed to heed the warnings that they had heard for years about the state of care at the Army's Walter Reed Medical Center. The committee's chair, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), suggested that the problems at the Army Medical Center might be "the tip of the iceberg."

The committee's ranking Republican member, Tom Davis of Virginia, agreed that the problems at Walter Reed were severe.

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March 12, 2007 issue
Mass Firing Puts Justice on the Hot Seat
March 12, 2007 issue - The firings of eight U.S. attorneys has put the heat on top Justice Department officials—and some GOP members of Congress. The unusual mass dismissals took place late last year, but the controversy escalated last week when David Iglesias, the former U.S. attorney in New Mexico, went public with a dramatic charge: that he had gotten phone calls from two unidentified GOP lawmakers in D.C. last October, pressing him to bring indictments in a high-profile corruption case involving a prominent local Democrat before the November election.

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Bush and the previous pathetic excuse for a congress can't complain about torture because they authorized torture against detainees. Torture now appears to be the norm and no one seems to care. Every senator who voted for torture needs to be kicked out of office ASAP.

March 5, 2007
Iraqi Intelligence Agency Tortures Prisoners
BAGHDAD, Monday, March 5 — Iraqi special forces and British troops stormed the offices of an Iraqi government intelligence agency in the southern city of Basra on Sunday, and British officials said they discovered about 30 prisoners, some showing signs of torture.

The raid appeared to catch Iraq's central government by surprise and raised new questions about the rule of law in the Shiite-dominated south, where less than two weeks ago Britain announced plans for a significant reduction in its forces because of improved stability.

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I'm listing this as an impeachable offense because pictures and video from Guantanamo Bay shot by CNN were also destroyed by the US media. It's not a mistake when it happens over and over - it's a crime. American values include a "free press."

March 4, 2007
U.S. Troops Deleted Journalist's Images
A freelance photographer working for The Associated Press and a cameraman working for AP Television News said a U.S. soldier deleted their photos and video showing a four-wheel drive vehicle in which three people were shot to death about 100 yards from the suicide bombing. The AP plans to lodge a protest with the American military.

Gul said the U.S. troops took his camera, deleted his photos and returned it to him. The journalists came across another American, showed their identification cards, and he agreed that they could take pictures.

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March 5, 2007
CREW FILES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST SEN. DOMENICI
Washington, DC – Today Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to investigate whether Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) violated Senate Rules by contacting the U.S. Attorney in Albuquerque, New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, and pressuring him about an ongoing corruption probe.

Sen. Domenici has acknowledged that he contacted Mr. Iglesias to inquire about an ongoing corruption probe of Democrats. Mr. Iglesias previously stated that in mid-October, he was pressured about the pace of the investigation by two New Mexico lawmakers. Initially, when asked about Mr. Iglesias's allegations, Sen. Domenici stated, "I have no idea what he's talking about." Sen. Domenici has now admitted that he called Mr. Iglesias, stating, "I asked Mr. Iglesias if he could tell me what was going on in that investigation and give me an idea of what time frame we were looking at."

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March 3, 2007
Inspectors review documents dumped at VA clinic
LAS VEGAS — Federal inspectors are reviewing a whistleblower's report about unshredded files found in the trash behind a veterans health clinic in Las Vegas last month, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said.

"We are now investigating that case, and the IG is out there," Nicholson said Thursday, referring to the VA's inspector general.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., requested the review after a security guard from the West Clinic in Las Vegas came forward with a sample of discarded records the guard said he found Feb. 6 in trash bins behind the building.

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March 5, 2007
Preston M. "Pete" Geren named acting Army Secretary: Walter Reed
But Preston M. "Pete" Geren may find the role somewhat familiar. It is the second time he has been tapped to be the interim top civilian leader of a service during turbulent times.

Geren was elevated to the temporary post from Army undersecretary by Defense Secretary Robert Gates after Army Secretary Francis Harvey resigned amid revelations that wounded troops were treated poorly at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

In 2005, Geren served as acting Air Force secretary from July to November, the fourth in a series of interim leaders appointed after James Roche resigned in January 2005. That string came to an end when Geren's successor, Michael Wynne, took office.

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The GOP didn't raise taxes to pay for their war so cuts had to be made someplace and they chose to cut programs for veterans.

March 5, 2007
Walter Reed Shortcomings Are Systemic, Lawmaker Says
March 5 (Bloomberg) -- The shortcomings in the housing and treatment of wounded U.S. soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington exist throughout the military health-care system, Representative John Tierney said during a hearing at the center.

"These problems go well beyond the walls of Walter Reed," Tierney, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of a House oversight subcommittee, said today. "As we send more and more troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, these problems are only going to get worse."

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Here's one unequivocal fact. The Sunday morning talk show hosts won't say a word about Bush raising taxes, but when a Democrat says we need new taxes, he'll be called on the carpet. It's how the game is played.

Tim Russert (the dean of political idiocy, followed by Chris Matthews), will whine endlessly about tax increases proposed by Democrats after spending years being silent about the trillions of dollars of tax increases passed by Bush ($3 trillion of new debt = $3 trillion of unpaid taxes).

February 28, 2007
Bush Health Plan Would Raise Taxes by $526 Billion
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's plan to revamp the health-care system would increase taxes on Americans by $526.2 billion over the next decade, according to a congressional estimate that calls into question administration claims of cost and tax savings.

A "very preliminary" unreleased report by the staff of the non-partisan congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that Bush's proposal would begin imposing higher taxes by 2011. Bush's plan, outlined in January, would replace incentives for employers to provide insurance for their workers with a tax deduction for individuals.

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It's increasingly clear the US Army doesn't give a damn about our troops. More heads need to roll.

March 3, 2007
Army officials refused to let former Walter Reed Commander to testify
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has subpoenaed Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who was fired as head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, after Army officials refused to allow him to testify before the committee Monday.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and subcommittee Chairman John Tierney asked Weightman to testify about an internal memo that showed privatization of services at Walter Reed could put "patient care services? at risk of mission failure."

But Army officials refused to allow Weightman to appear before the committee after he was relieved of command.

"The Army was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the decision to prevent General Weightman from testifying," committee members said in a statement today.

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March 3, 2007
Privatization may have helped create Walter Reed 'disaster'
The Bush Administration's drive for privatization may be responsible for the "deplorable" outpatient care for soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, according to a top Democratic Congressman investigating the scandal, which has already led to the resignation of the Secretary of the US Army. A five-year, $120 million contract awarded to a firm run by a former executive from Halliburton - a multi-national corporation that Vice President Dick Cheney once served as CEO for - will be probed at a Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs hearing scheduled for Monday.

A letter sent by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to Major General George W. Weightman, the former commander at Walter Reed, asks him to "address the implications of a memorandum from Garrison Commander Peter Garibaldi sent through you to Colonel Daryl Spencer, the Assistant Chief of Staff for Resource Management with the U.S. Army Medical Command," in order to better prepare himself for his testimony at the hearing.

"This memorandum, which we understand was written in September 2006, describes how the Army's decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was causing an exodus of 'highly skilled and experienced personnel," Waxman's letter continues. "As a result, according to the memorandum, 'WRAMC Base Operations and patient care services are at risk of mission failure.'"

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March 2, 2007
Why is Gen. Kiley back in charge at Walter Reed?
YESTERDAY THE Post reported that Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley heard years ago from a veterans advocate and even a member of Congress that outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was distressingly squalid and disorganized. That commander proceeded to do little, even though he lives across the street from the outpatient facilities in a spacious Georgian house. Also yesterday, the Army announced that Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, the head of Walter Reed since August, had been relieved of his command. His temporary replacement? None other than Gen. Kiley.

Here's where the story stops making sense. Much of The Post's article detailed the abuse by omission that Gen. Kiley, not Gen. Weightman, committed, first as head of Walter Reed, then in his current post as Army surgeon general. Gen. Weightman, who very well might deserve his disgrace, has commanded Walter Reed for only half a year, while Gen. Kiley, now back in charge of Walter Reed, headed the hospital and its outpatient facilities for two years and has led the Army's medical command since. Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife say they repeatedly told Gen. Kiley about unhealthful conditions in outpatient facilities.

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The Bush White House violated the Geneva Conventions and the Courts are protecting them from their war crimes. This District Court needs to be abolished.

March 3, 2007
Day in Court Denied for Victim of CIA Kidnapping and Rendition
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it will continue to pursue a fair hearing for Khaled El-Masri, a victim of the CIA policy of illegal abduction and detention known as extraordinary rendition. The ACLU said that the government is abusing the state secrets privilege to cover up its kidnapping and torture of an innocent man.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia denied El-Masri access to justice yesterday because, according to the court, the simple fact of holding proceedings would jeopardize state secrets, a position advanced by the CIA.

"The court's decision gives the government a blank check to shield even its most shameful conduct from any scrutiny or accountability," said Ben Wizner, an attorney with the ACLU. "Depriving Khaled El-Masri of his day in court on the ground that the government cannot disclose facts that the whole world already knows only compounds the brutal treatment he endured."

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I'm thinking most gay people are more worked-up over religious people denying them their right to marry than the rants of this loon. The fact that conservatives invited this hate monger to their convention only proves they're not real Americans.

March 3, 2007
Ann Coulter's Use of 'Faggot' in Describing Senator Edwards Denounced by Christian Defense Coalition
WASHINGTON, Mar. 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Christian Defense Coalition denounces Ann Coulter's use of the term "faggot" in describing Senator John Edwards and hopes she will issue an apology.

Group says hateful speech and harsh name calling should have no place in American politics.

Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, comments, "Over the past decade, we have seen the national political debate turn ugly and vicious. With so many pressing issues facing the American public, one should never resort to vicious name calling or personal attacks in an attempt to prove a political point. By using the term 'faggot' in describing Senator Edwards, Ann Coulter has both diminished herself and her message.

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March 2, 2007
88 Percent of Guard Units Rated 'Not Ready'
Nearly 90 percent of Army National Guard units in the United States are rated "not ready" -- largely as a result of shortfalls in billions of dollars' worth of equipment -- jeopardizing their capability to respond to crises at home and abroad, according to a congressional commission that released a preliminary report yesterday on the state of U.S. military reserve forces.

The report found that heavy deployments of the National Guard and reserves since 2001 for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other anti-terrorism missions have deepened shortages, forced the cobbling together of units and hurt recruiting.

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Previously the Bush White House promoted people who failed miserably. This time, the good guys won one.

March 3, 2007
Army Secretary Resigns in Walter Reed Scandal
WASHINGTON Mar 3, 2007 (AP)— It began with reports of mice and moldy plaster, but after two weeks of outrage, the scandal over poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has claimed several careers including the secretary of the Army's.

Secretary Francis J. Harvey's abrupt dismissal Friday came under withering criticism from Pentagon chief Robert Gates, who said the Army's response to the substandard conditions for the war-wounded was defensive, and not aggressive enough.

And it left the door open for more personnel changes, as investigations continue and Congress prepares for hearings next week.

Harvey's departure was the most dramatic move during two weeks of furor over the treatment of soldiers at one of the military's highest-profile and busiest medical facilities.

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February 28, 2007
Going Back to North Korea, Hat in Hand
So now it's North Korea's turn to feed at the trough of U.S. economic aid, as if exploding a nuclear weapon is all that's needed to prove a nation's peaceful intentions. Of course, there is nothing wrong with negotiating with our enemies rather than weakly blustering at cartoon images of them--I wish we would do the same in our dealings with Iran--but it would be nice if we would stop shooting ourselves in the foot first.

Five years and an outlaw nuke test after President Bush blew up the peace process with Pyongyang so he could look tougher than his predecessor, he capitulated completely earlier this month in accepting a negotiating framework that tacitly accepts the huge surge in the communist state's estimated nuclear arsenal. Bush blinked big-time. The carrot replaced the stick, and that is a good thing, carrying the hope that through diplomacy North Korea will end its isolation and follow the modernizing path of communist China. But six years of presidential haranguing about rogue regimes derailed previous efforts at arms control, allowing the dangerously unstable North Korea to join the nuclear club.

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February 26, 2007
The Washington Post's crush on right-wing bloggers
See, GOP warbloggers can't lose. If they'd been right about Iraq, The Washington Post surely would have toasted them. But even after they continually make fools of themselves prognosticating all sorts of falsehoods about the war, The Washington Post still toasts them. As for the articulate bloggers on the left who opposed the war from the outset and who insisted the White House had not made a coherent case for launching a pre-emptive war? The Post couldn't care less about them. Then again, the Post editorialized relentlessly in favor of the war and was proven just as wrong as the Malkins of the world. So perhaps the newspaper is simply embarrassed and doesn't want to honor, let alone acknowledge, the liberal bloggers for fear it would simply highlight the paper's own glaring foreign policy incompetence.

Unless you're a member of the idiot class (republicans and journalists) you probably already know Bush's war on terror is creating more terrorism. It only stands to reason. The US invaded a country for no reason, terrorized the Iraqi people with "shock and awe" and then killed (either directly or indirectly) hundreds of thousands of innocent people. All those dead people have families and human nature suggests they'll want revenge.

February 28, 2007
New figures show dramatic rise in terror attacks worldwide since the invasion of Iraq
The research is said to be the first to attempt to measure the "Iraq effect" on global terrorism. It found that the number killed in jihadist attacks around the world has risen dramatically since the Iraq war began in March 2003. The study compared the period between 11 September 2001 and the invasion of Iraq with the period since the invasion. The count - excluding the Arab-Israel conflict - shows the number of deaths due to terrorism rose from 729 to 5,420.

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The media and the GOP have an almost synoptic relationship. The GOP gives the media fake news and the media runs with it. For the modern media there is no right or wrong, truth or lie. It's all about getting ratings and making money and if you have to lie and break laws to do it, so be it.

March 1, 2007
F.E.C fines Republican Group $750,000
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 — A major conservative group agreed to pay a $750,000 penalty as part of a settlement with the Federal Election Commission, which found that the group violated campaign finance laws by spending more than $30 million on advertisements and mailings supporting President Bush's re-election.

The fine was the third largest in the agency's 32-year-history. The settlement reflects a crackdown in the last several months on the political activities of so-called 527 groups — named after a section of the tax law — that surfaced in the 2004 election as a powerful force, raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars in unregulated contributions through a loophole in the law.

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March 2, 2007
Poll: Bush Is Losing Support of Republicans
In the months since the Congressional elections, President Bush has lost substantial support among members of his own party, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Mr. Bush's approval rating dropped 13 percentage points since last fall among Republicans, 65 percent of whom now say they approve of the way he is handling his job as president, compared with 78 percent last October.

Over all, Mr. Bush's job approval remains at one of its lowest points, with 29 percent of all Americans saying they approve of the way he is doing his job, compared with 34 percent at the end of October. Sixty-one percent disapproved, compared with 58 percent in October, within the margin of sampling error.

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The problem is simple. Both parties are filled with millionaires in both the House and the Senate. What do they know about health care? What will they ever know? The congress is populated with the "very rich" and they'll do everything in their power to give the "very rich" more tax cuts and whatever else they want - even if they have to create trillions of dollars of more debt (just like the previous congress).

March 2, 2007
Majority Support U.S. Guarantee of Health Care
A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

While the war in Iraq remains the overarching issue in the early stages of the 2008 campaign, access to affordable health care is at the top of the public's domestic agenda, ranked far more important than immigration, cutting taxes or promoting traditional values.

Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with President Bush's handling of the health insurance issue, despite his recent initiatives, and 62 percent said the Democrats were more likely to improve the health care system.

Americans showed a striking willingness in the poll to make tradeoffs to guarantee health insurance for all, including paying as much as $500 more in taxes a year and forgoing future tax cuts.

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There are so few real journalists left in the country. They all more interested in towing the pro war corporate line. Real journalists would have never supported the after the UN inspectors said our intelligence was outdated and garbage.

February 28, 2007
Walter Cronkite: War a disaster
"We should have gotten out a long time ago. This is a mistake, this entire war there, it's a disaster. And the earlier we get out the better," Cronkite said. "It's a terrible disaster. Look at the loss of lives of our young Americans there and those who have been maimed for life, for what purpose? No purpose we can define."

What's more, he says, America will pay a future price for going into Iraq.

CBS 5 asked Cronkite if Americans were any safer because of the Iraq war?

"No, I don't think so. I think were probably less safe," he responded. "The entire Arab world has now put us down as an enemy. It's going to be a long time for us to take back any suggestion of friendship with those nations."

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Bush keeps saying we're at war, but then he and the media refuse to call "detainees" prisoners of war. It's time for the media to stop pushing White House spin. POWs have rights.

March 1, 2007
U.S. Blasted for Treatment of Detainees
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. human rights chief expressed concern Wednesday at recent U.S. legislative and judicial actions that she said leave hundreds of detainees without any way to challenge their indefinite imprisonment.

Louise Arbour referred to the Military Commissions Act approved by Congress last year and last month's federal appeals court ruling that Guantanamo Bay detainees cannot use the U.S. court system to challenge their detention. The case is likely to go to the Supreme Court.

Arbour was critical of the ruling, calling on the judicial system to "rise to its long-standing reputation as a guardian of fundamental human rights and civil liberties and provide the protection to all that are under the authority, control, and therefore in my view jurisdiction of the United States."

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For years the Bush White House lied to Congress, the UN and the American people about North Korea having enriched uranium. It was because of this lie that they broke the agreements put in place by President Clinton. Misusing intelligence to advance a political agenda is not only fraud but an impeachable offense.

As stated previously, North Korea had no intention of building nuclear weapons - that is until Bush put them on his axis of evil list and created this "first strike doctrine." Within days of "first strike" being announced, N. Korea said it had nukes. Not only did they undo first strike but they showed Bush up for what he is - a coward. Bush then went to war with Iraq, a country that said it had no nuclear weapons and ignored the country that said it had nukes. The moment Bush blinked, N. Korea won this conflict.

March 1, 2007
U.S. Had Doubts on North Korean Uranium Drive
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 — Last October, the North Koreans tested their first nuclear device, the fruition of decades of work to make a weapon out of plutonium.

For nearly five years, though, the Bush administration, based on intelligence estimates, has accused North Korea of also pursuing a secret, parallel path to a bomb, using enriched uranium. That accusation, first leveled in the fall of 2002, resulted in the rupture of an already tense relationship: The United States cut off oil supplies, and the North Koreans responded by throwing out international inspectors, building up their plutonium arsenal and, ultimately, producing that first plutonium bomb.

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March 1, 2007
US commanders admit: we face a Vietnam-style collapse
An elite team of officers advising the US commander, General David Petraeus, in Baghdad has concluded that they have six months to win the war in Iraq - or face a Vietnam-style collapse in political and public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat.

But the next six months are make-or-break for the US military and the Iraqi government. The main obstacles confronting Gen Petraeus's team are:

· Insufficient troops on the ground

· A "disintegrating" international coalition

· An anticipated increase in violence in the south as the British leave

· Morale problems as casualties rise

· A failure of political will in Washington and/or Baghdad.

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March 3, 2007
'Surge' needs up to 7,000 more troops
WASHINGTON — President Bush's planned escalation of U.S. forces in Iraq will require as many as 28,500 troops, Pentagon officials told a Senate committee Thursday.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England also told the Senate Budget Committee that it will be clear within months whether the so-called surge in forces has succeeded in helping secure Iraq.

Requests already have been granted for 2,400 support troops, said Adm. Edmund Giambastiani, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said there are additional requests for 4,000 more.

Existing logistics bases, many of them in and around Baghdad, will limit the number of new support troops needed, Giambastiani said.

There are about 10,000 soldiers in Iraq now associated with the escalation, according to Lt. Col. Carl Ey, an Army spokesman. In all, there are about 140,000 U.S. troops now in Iraq.

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This is one of those case that come along once in a lifetime. No judge wants to throw away a high profile case but they should. In this case, the US government lied to the court about the charges against Padilla. It was caught lying. It then changed the charges after it was caught lying under oath and in the mean time it tortured Padilla. The fact that the government tortured Padilla is enough to throw this case out and any judge who can't see that is unfit.

February 28, 2007
Padilla Ruled Competent to Stand Trial
Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. judge ruled that accused terrorism supporter Jose Padilla is mentally competent to stand trial, one of his defense lawyers said.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami rejected defense claims that Padilla was unable to assist in his defense, according to defense lawyer Andrew Patel. The defense had argued that Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen, was abused during more than three years in military custody.

The government denies abusing Padilla, and a prosecutor argued earlier today, at the end of a four-day hearing, that his unwillingness to assist in his defense was a reasoned choice and that he should stand trial April 16 as planned.

Padilla was initially accused of plotting to explode a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S. After his arrest in 2002, President George W. Bush declared him an "enemy combatant," which allowed authorities to hold him in military custody without charges. In November 2005, Padilla and four co- defendants were charged with supporting terrorists and conspiring to murder people in a foreign country.

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I hope stories like this shame those who oppose gay rights.

February 28, 2007
First US Soldier Injured In Iraq Is Gay
Once a Marine, always a Marine. That pretty much sums up the life of retired Sgt. Eric Alva, who was sworn into the Marine Corps at 19, stationed in Somalia and Japan and lost his right leg when he stepped on a land mine on March 21, 2003, the first day of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As the war's first injured soldier, Alva was an instant celebrity. He was on "Oprah." President Bush awarded him the Purple Heart. Donald Rumsfeld visited. And strangers in Alva's native San Antonio still insist on paying for his dinner at Chili's. Last fall Alva, 36, contacted the Human Rights Campaign, the gay rights group, and asked to be involved in its lobbying effort. Today he'll stand alongside Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) when he introduces a bill to repeal the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel.

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I know what to do. Let's cut taxes again. Create trillions of dollars of more debt and hope that someday it trickles down to those who really need it. Everyone who supported the GOP supported cuts in poverty programs and they're responsible for this plight. I hope you're proud of the fact that the richest country on earth can't afford health care and shelter for its citizens. Christianity is dead in America.

February 28, 2007
Gov't estimates 754,000 homeless people
WASHINGTON - The nation has three-quarters of a million homeless people, filling emergency shelters through the year and spilling into special seasonal shelters in the coldest months, the government said Wednesday.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated there were 754,000 homeless people in 2005, including those living in shelters, transitional housing and on the street. That's about 300,000 more people than available beds in shelters and transitional housing.

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There's almost no chance this plan will pass, even though it should but even if it did, there's a waiver built in that lets Bush get around it. In a few short weeks, polls will be done and they'll all say Democrats look "weak." Then they'll be thrown out of power for another 12 years until they grow some balls.

It's now official. I can't support the Democratic Party. It's worthless.

February 23, 2007
Measure says troops must be fully rested, equipped, trained
House Democratic leaders, defending a plan by Rep. John Murtha, said Tuesday they will press ahead with legislation requiring all U.S. troops be fully equipped, trained and rested before being sent back to Iraq.

Despite rumors that Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco was backing away from the plan, which Republicans have decried as a "slow bleed" on the war, the speaker said Murtha's proposal on troop standards would be debated next week in committee and that she hopes to move it quickly to the floor.

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For years republicans have been putting their spending priorities in military spending bills (a 61% increase since 2001) and of course it makes them look strong on defense. Dems will now do the same and they'll look weak on defense because when the GOP did this, no one in the Democratic Party objected.

February 28, 2007
Democrats to attach spending to Iraq bill
WASHINGTON - While Democrats try to restrict how President Bush can spend the $100 billion he wants for Iraq, they also hope to load his measure up with $10 billion in add-ons — from aid for avocado growers to help for children lacking health insurance.

Lawmakers also hope to add money for drought relief in the Great Plains, better levees in New Orleans and development of military bases that are closing down.

The expected battle with the White House over the add-ons is getting far less attention than debate over Iraq, but it could reveal a lot about how much Democrats will be able to rewrite the Republican president's budget later this year.

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The good general can't even win wars in countries that have no militaries. And he's only now come to the conclusion the military's capability is eroding? IMO, the US has never looked weaker and more vulnerable.

February 26, 2007
Gen. Pace: Military capability eroding
WASHINGTON - Strained by the demands of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is a significant risk that the U.S. military won't be able to quickly and fully respond to yet another crisis, according to a new report to Congress.

The assessment, done by the nation's top military officer, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, represents a worsening from a year ago, when that risk was rated as moderate.

The report is classified, but on Monday senior defense officials, speaking on condition on anonymity, confirmed the decline in overall military readiness. And a report that accompanied Pace's review concluded that while the Pentagon is working to improve its warfighting abilities, it "may take several years to reduce risk to acceptable levels."

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Bush is trying to teach the Iraqis how to govern without the consent of governed - just like in the US. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling seeing how this fledgling democracy is being corrupted by corporate America.

February 28, 2007
Big Oil in, stability out under new Iraqi law
While debate rages in the United States about the military in Iraq, an equally important decision is being made inside Iraq - the future of its oil. A draft Iraqi law proposes to open the country's currently nationalized oil system to foreign corporate control. But emblematic of the flawed promotion of "democracy" by the administration of US President George W Bush, this new law is news to most Iraqi politicians.

A leaked copy of the proposed hydrocarbon law appeared on the Internet at the same time that it was introduced to the Iraqi

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Bush tried to make his case against Iran. General Pace said there was no intelligence supporting Bush's claims and Bush was forced to back down. Has a new era of diplomacy begun? We'd have to rehire all the diplomats who've resigned first.

February 28, 2007
US invites Iran and Syria to talks on Iraq in reversal of Bush policy
The Bush administration gave up one of the central tenets of its Middle East strategy yesterday, reversing its much criticised effort to isolate Iran and Syria by inviting both states to negotiations on stabilising Iraq.

The initiative, announced last night by the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, in testimony to the Senate appropriations committee will see America and Britain join Iraq and its neighbours in talks to try to rein in the country's sectarian violence.

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If the military had its way there would be no free speech left in this country. You may recall a Military Times poll which showed career soldiers thought the military should tell reporters what to report (no free press).

February 28, 2007
Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet
Army Times: Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media.

"Some soldiers believe this is a form of punishment for the trouble soldiers caused by talking to the media," one Medical Hold Unit soldier said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

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What word come to mind when you think about these Democrats; bold, decisive or weak? I'm thinking 99% of voters think they're weak. Americans want out of this war as soon as possible and they're doing absolutely nothing. If they can't stop this war, they should pack up their bags and go home.

February 28, 2007
Democratic Leaders Revamp War Plan
House Democratic leaders are developing an anti-war proposal that wouldn't cut off money for U.S. troops in Iraq but would require President Bush to acknowledge problems with an overburdened military.

The plan could draw bipartisan support but is expected to be a tough sell to members who say they don't think it goes far enough to assuage voters angered by the four-year conflict.

Bush 'hasn't to date done anything we've asked him to do, so why we would think he would do anything in the future is beyond me,' said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., one of a group of liberal Democrats pushing for an immediate end to the war.

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I think these numbers are very conservative. The Washington Post poll says the approval rating of Congress is only 41%. Americans are not satisfied. 56% of Americans support creating new rules so Bush can't continue his surge.

Support for a "six month" deadline for withdrawing troops remains at 46%. Almost the exact same it was in December 2005.

February 23, 2007
Majority in Poll Favor Deadline For Iraq Pullout
Opposition to Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq remained strong. Two in three Americans registered their disapproval, with 56 percent saying they strongly object. The House recently passed a nonbinding resolution opposing the new deployments, but Republicans have blocked consideration of such a measure in the Senate.

The Post-ABC poll found that 53 percent of Americans favored setting a deadline for troop withdrawals. Among those who favored a deadline, 24 percent said they would like to see U.S. forces out within six months and 21 percent called for the withdrawals to be completed within a year. The rest of those who supported a timetable said they do not support withdrawing all troops until at least a year from now.

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There's no doubt about it. The US Army doesn't care about its own troops. We've seen it at Walter Reed and now we see it here where they refuse to train their men properly.

February 27, 2007
2 Army units will forgo desert training
Some in Congress and others outside the Army are beginning to question the switch, which is not widely known. They wonder whether it means the Army is cutting corners in preparing soldiers for combat, since they are forgoing training in a desert setting that was designed specially to prepare them for the challenges of Iraq.

Army officials say the two brigades will be as ready as any others that deploy to Iraq, even though they will not have the benefit of training in counterinsurgency tactics at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., which has been outfitted to simulate conditions in Iraq for units that are heading there on yearlong tours.

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February 27, 2007
Honeybees Vanish
VISALIA, Calif., Feb. 23 — David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing.

In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation&'s most profitable.

"I have never seen anything like it," Mr. Bradshaw, 50, said from an almond orchard here beginning to bloom. "Box after box after box are just empty. There's nobody home."

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Faced with unsustainable government growth what did the GOP Congress do? They passed tax cuts and an unfunded prescription drug plan while they piled another $3 trillion of debt on the next generation.

February 23, 2007
Our Nation's Bleak Long-Term Fiscal Outlook
The long-term fiscal outlook results from a large and persistent gap between expected revenues and expected spending.

For GAO's "Baseline extended" simulation, closing the fiscal gap would require spending cuts or tax increases equal to 3.6 percent of the entire economy each year over the next 75 years, or a total of $26 trillion in present value terms. For GAO's alternative simulation, the gap is 7.5 percent of the economy, or about $55 trillion in present value terms. To put this in perspective, if we were to invest enough today to pay off these amounts over the next 75 years, the sums needed would amount to about $87,000 to $182,000 per person, or about $208,000 to $435,000 for each full-time worker.

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February 25, 2007
GIs Petition Congress To End Iraq War
Correspondent Lara Logan heard dissension in the ranks from a large group of service members who are fed up and have decided to go public. They're not going AWOL, they're not disobeying orders or even refusing to fight in Iraq. But they are doing something unthinkable to many in uniform: bypassing the chain of command to denounce a war they're in the middle of fighting.

60 Minutes gathered some of them in Washington, but they had to be off base, out of uniform and off duty to speak to Logan on camera.

They've all sent a petition, called "Appeal For Redress," to their individual members of Congress, letting them know that "Staying in Iraq will not work" and it's "time for U.S. troops to come home."

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The surge is supposed to work even though our soldiers can't tell who the enemy is. In what world do these pro war idiots live in?

February 22, 2007
U.S. Patrols Still Unable to Tell Friend From Foe
"Obviously, the soldiers lack the necessary information about where to look and who to look for," said the government engineer, who declined to give his name in an interview during a sweep through his western Baghdad neighborhood last Monday. "There are too many houses and too many hide-outs."

But U.S. troops, Iraqi soldiers and officials, and Baghdad residents say the plan is hampered because security forces cannot identify, let alone apprehend, the elusive perpetrators of the violence. Shiite militiamen in the capital say they are keeping a low profile to wait out the security plan. U.S. commanders have noted increased insurgent violence in the Sunni-dominated belt around Baghdad and are concerned that fighters are shifting their focus outside the city.

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We haven't had this many criminals working in government since the Reagan years.

February 27, 2007
Former Ney aide pleads guilty in congressional bribery case
WASHINGTON — The top aide to convicted former Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio pleaded guilty Monday to federal conspiracy charges stemming from a congressional bribery scandal that downed his boss.

Smiling nervously at times, William Heaton, 28, acknowledged accepting a golf trip to Scotland, expensive meals, and tickets to sporting events between 2002 and 2004 as payoffs for helping clients of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Heaton worked for Ney, a Republican, from September 2001 to July 2006, ultimately serving as his chief of staff.

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The poll also shows Pelosi has a higher approval rating than Gingrich ever had.

February 22, 2007
Dems lead on every major issue.

                                                     Both    Neither   No
                                     Bush    Dems   (vol.)   (vol.)    op.
a. The situation in Iraq              34      54       *        9       2
b. The U.S. campaign against
   terrorism                          39      52       2        5       2
c. The economy                        36      56       1        6       2
d. The federal budget                 32      59       1        6       2
e. Health care                        25      62       1        9       4

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Prison guards are taking their orders from a TV series and not their generals. Good grief, is there no end to this insanity?

February 25, 2007
Army tells Fox popular '24' TV series promotes torture in Iraq prisons
MIAMI, FL, USA -- After prison guards began torturing Iraqi prisoners using methods they saw on Fox TV's popular "24" series, US Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan warned the show's producers "24" was negatively impacting the training and performance of American troops.

Finnegan, dean of the US Military Academy at West Point, accompanied by veteran military and FBI interrogators, met with "24's" creative team in southern California in November to tell them "I'd like them to stop. They should do a show where torture backfires," according to an article in the February 19-26 issue of The New Yorker, by Jane Mayer.

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