Could Alberto Gonzales Be Disbarred?

May 29, 2007
Could Alberto Gonzales Be Disbarred?

While the political world obsesses over whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can survive the outcry over the politically motivated dismissal of eight United States Attorneys, the legal academy has been debating a different aspect of the fallout:

Could a case be made that the chief law-enforcement officer of the United States should be disbarred?

Bar-association rules, which are established by state associations—Mr. Gonzales is licensed in the state of Texas in addition to being admitted to the Supreme Court bar—typically forbid "conduct that involves deceit, fraud or misrepresentation." There are also various means of censuring lawyers for bad behavior that fall short of disbarment, such as a public reprimand.

"Lawyers are not allowed to lie," said Nancy Rapoport, an ethics expert and the former dean of the University of Houston Law Center. "That one, everyone agrees on."

Conyers: Impeach Bush & Cheney

May 30, 2007
Conyers: Impeach Bush & Cheney

DETROIT (AP) - Detroit Congressman John Conyers says he supports a national effort calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

But he stopped short today of pledging to take action to back it.

The veteran democratic lawmaker chairs the House Judiciary Committee, which would lead any impeachment hearings.

Conyers did say that he encourages nationwide efforts to build support for impeaching Bush.

Creation Museum: Yabba-dabba science

May 24, 2007
Creation Museum: Yabba-dabba science

THE CREATION MUSEUM, a $27-million tourist attraction promoting earth science theories that were popular when Columbus set sail, opens near Cincinnati on Memorial Day. So before the first visitor risks succumbing to the museum's animatronic balderdash — dinosaurs and humans actually coexisted! the Grand Canyon was carved by the great flood described in Genesis! — we'd like to clear up a few things: "The Flintstones" is a cartoon, not a documentary. Fred and Wilma? Those woolly mammoth vacuum cleaners? All make-believe.

Science is under assault, and that calls for bold truths. Here's another: The Earth is round.

Fitzgerald: Plame was covert agent

May 29, 2007
Fitzgerald: Plame was covert agent

May 29, 2007 - In new court filings, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has finally resolved one of the most disputed issues at the core of the long-running CIA leak controversy: Valerie Plame Wilson, he asserts, was a "covert" CIA officer who repeatedly traveled overseas using a "cover identity" in order to disguise her relationship with the agency.

Fitzgerald cites Wilson's covert status as part of his argument—advanced in two strongly worded memos filed in recent days—that I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, should be sentenced to up to three years in prison.

Intelligence Agencies: harsh techniques are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable

May 30, 2007
Intelligence Agencies: harsh techniques are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable

WASHINGTON, May 29 — As the Bush administration completes secret new rules governing interrogations, a group of experts advising the intelligence agencies are arguing that the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable.

The psychologists and other specialists, commissioned by the Intelligence Science Board, make the case that more than five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration has yet to create an elite corps of interrogators trained to glean secrets from terrorism suspects.

Military Rules Ban A Free Press

May 28, 2007
Military Rules Ban A Free Press

Since last year, the military's embedding rules require that journalists obtain a signed consent from a wounded soldier before the image can be published. Images that put a face on the dead, that make them identifiable, are simply prohibited.

If Joseph Heller were still around, he might appreciate the bureaucratic elegance of paragraph 11(a) of IAW Change 3, DoD Directive 5122.5:

"Names, video, identifiable written/oral descriptions or identifiable photographs of wounded service members will not be released without the service member's prior written consent."

Fitzgerald: Cheney Authorized CIA Agent Leak

May 29, 2007
Fitzgerald: Cheney Authorized CIA Agent Leak

The investigation, Fitzgerald writes, "was necessary to determine whether there was concerted action by any combination of the officials known to have disclosed the information about Ms. Plame to the media as anonymous sources, and also whether any of those who were involved acted at the direction of others. This was particularly important in light of Mr. Libby's statement to the FBI that he may have discussed Ms. Wilson's employment with reporters at the specific direction of the Vice President."

2007 Liability: $516,348 per U.S. household

May 28, 2007
2007 Liability: $516,348 per U.S. household

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

The loss reflects a continued deterioration in the finances of Social Security and government retirement programs for civil servants and military personnel. The loss — equal to $11,434 per household — is more than Americans paid in income taxes in 2006.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined.

Families charge inadequate mental health care fosters suicide among vets of Iraq war

May 28, 2007
Families charge inadequate mental health care fosters suicide among vets of Iraq war

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says that although suicides among troops returning from the war is a significant problem, the scope is unknown.

"The problem that we face right now is that there's no method to track veterans coming home," said Rieckhoff, who served in Iraq as a platoon leader in the first year of the war. "There's no system. There's no national registry."

More than four years into the war, the government has little information on suicides among Iraq war veterans.

"We don't keep that data," said Karen Fedele, a VA spokeswoman in Washington. "I'm told that somebody here is going to do an analysis, but there just is nothing right now."

The Defense Department does track suicides, but only among troops in combat operations such as Iraq and Afghanistan and in surrounding areas. Since the war started four years ago, 107 suicides during Iraq operations have been recorded by the Defense Manpower Data Center, which collects data for the Pentagon. That number, however, usually does not include troops who return home from the war zone and then take their lives.

Supreme Court Decimates Employment Anti Discrimination Law

May 29, 2007
Supreme Court Decimates Employment Anti Discrimination Law

The decision came in a case involving a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Ala., the only woman among 16 men at the same management level, who was paid less than any of her colleagues, including those with less seniority. She learned that fact late in a career of nearly 20 years — too late, according to the Supreme Court's majority.

The court held on Tuesday that employees may not bring suit under the principal federal anti-discrimination law unless they have filed a formal complaint with a federal agency within 180 days after their pay was set. The timeline applies, according to the decision, even if the effects of the initial discriminatory act were not immediately apparent to the worker and even if they continue to the present day.

Cheney Sidesteps Travel Disclosure Rules

November 15, 2005 (posted May 31,2007)
Cheney Sidesteps Travel Disclosure Rules

WASHINGTON, November 16, 2005 — Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff have been unilaterally exempting themselves from long-standing travel disclosure rules followed by the rest of the executive branch, including the Office of the President, the Center for Public Integrity has discovered.

Cheney's office also appears to have stuck taxpayers with untold millions in travel costs rather than accepting trip sponsors' funds that the rules would require to be disclosed.

The Ethics Reform Act of 1989 requires every executive "agency" to file a semiannual report of payments accepted from non-federal sources. Regulations implementing this provision state that the term "includes an independent agency as well as an agency within the Executive Office of the President."

Cheney lawyer told Secret Service not to keep copies of visitor logs

May 29, 2007
Cheney lawyer told Secret Service not to keep copies of visitor logs

WASHINGTON – A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney told the Secret Service in September to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official residence, a newly disclosed letter states.

The Sept. 13, 2006, letter from Cheney's lawyer says logs for Cheney's residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory are subject to the Presidential Records Act.

Such a designation prevents the public from learning who visited the vice president.

Paul Krugman: The Lunitic Fringe of the GOP Goes Mainstream

May 28, 2007
Paul Krugman: The Lunitic Fringe of the GOP Goes Mainstream

Here's the way it ought to be: When Rudy Giuliani says that Iran, which had nothing to do with 9/11, is part of a "movement" that "has already displayed more aggressive tendencies by coming here and killing us," he should be treated as a lunatic.

When Mitt Romney says that a coalition of "Shia and Sunni and Hezbollah and Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda" wants to "bring down the West," he should be ridiculed for his ignorance.

And when John McCain says that Osama, who isn't in Iraq, will "follow us home" if we leave, he should be laughed at.

But they aren't, at least not yet. And until belligerent, uninformed posturing starts being treated with the contempt it deserves, men who know nothing of the cost of war will keep sending other people's children to graves at Arlington.

Homeland Security: 0.01 percent of cases are related to terrorism

May 28, 2007
Homeland Security: 0.01 percent of cases are related to terrorism

• Group analyzed millions of records obtained from immigration courts
  
• 12 of 814,073 charged in past three years faced terrorism charges
  
• Report also found DHS filed very few "national security" charges
  
• DHS spokesman calls report "ill-conceived"
  

Of the 814,073 people charged by DHS in immigration courts during the past three years, 12 faced charges of terrorism, TRAC said.

Those 12 cases represent 0.0015 percent of the total number of cases filed.

The TRAC analysis also found that DHS filed a minuscule number of what are called "national security" charges against people in the immigration courts. The report stated that 114, or 0.014 percent of the total of roughly 800,000 individuals charged were charged with national security violations.

TRAC reported more than 85 percent of the charges involved more common immigration violations such as not having a valid immigrant visa, overstaying a student visa or entering the United States without an inspection.

Terror Seeps Out of Iraq

May 28, 2007
Terror Seeps Out of Iraq

The Iraq war, which for years has drawn militants from around the world, is beginning to export fighters and the tactics they have honed in the insurgency to neighboring countries and beyond, according to American, European and Middle Eastern government officials and interviews with militant leaders in Lebanon, Jordan and London.

Estimating the number of fighters leaving Iraq is at least as difficult as it has been to count foreign militants joining the insurgency. But early signs of an exodus are clear, and officials in the United States and the Middle East say the potential for veterans of the insurgency to spread far beyond Iraq is significant.

Another Top Bush Aide resigns

May 28, 2007
Another Top Bush Aide resigns

As the Bush administration inches closer to its concluding months, more top aides are headed out to the private sector. Sara M. Taylor, the White House political director and microtargeting guru who has been with George W. Bush from the outset of his first presidential campaign, is the latest staff member to leave the president's employ.

Taylor, 32, was one of the first people put on the payroll of the Bush campaign, trekking through snowy Washington to interview with Karl Rove and Bush, who was then governor of Texas. Taylor worked on the 2000 campaign, and later became a political aide in the White House.

Where have all the leaders gone?

May 26, 2007
Where have all the leaders gone?

LEE IACOCCA: Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!

I hardly recognize this country anymore. The president of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs.

Alberto Gonzales and the Geneva Convention

May 25, 2007
Alberto Gonzales and the Geneva Convention

But Gonzales wouldn't have to go to cases from Singapore to find how inhuman treatment was defined under the Geneva Convention.

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the Tokyo war crimes trial of major Japanese leaders, organized by American General Douglas MacArthur held months of hearings on the inhuman treatment of POWs and civilian internees. Prosecutors spent days summing up cases of inhuman treatment before the tribunal.

All the war crimes trials at the end of the Second World War came under the jurisdiction of the UN War Crimes Commission, and the U.S. and Britain were the main countries that planned the trials, so the records defining the term inhuman treatment were easily available to anyone who looked hard enough.

The Shape of a Shadowy Air War in Iraq

May 29, 2007
The Shape of a Shadowy Air War in Iraq

What we do know is this: Since the major combat phase of the war ended in April 2003, the U.S. military has dropped at least 59,787 pounds of air-delivered cluster bombs in Iraq -- the very type of weapon that Marc Garlasco, the senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls, "the single greatest risk civilians face with regard to a current weapon that is in use." We also know that, according to expert opinion, rockets and cannon fire from U.S. aircraft may account for most U.S. and coalition-attributed Iraqi civilian deaths and that the Pentagon has restocked hundreds of millions of dollars worth of these weapons in recent years.

Les Roberts especially laments just "how profoundly the press has failed us" when it comes to coverage of the war. "In the first couple of years of the war," he says, "our survey data suggest that there were more deaths from bombs dropped by our planes than there were deaths from roadside explosives and car bombs [detonated by insurgents]." The only group on the ground systematically collecting violent death data at the time, the NGO Coordinating Committee for Iraq, he notes, found the same thing. "If you had been reading the U.S. papers and watching the U.S. television news at the time," Roberts adds, "you would have gotten the impression that anti-coalition bombs were more numerous. That was not just wrong, it probably was wrong by a factor of ten!"

Analysis: The Bush take on U.S. opinion

May 28, 2007
Analysis: The Bush take on U.S. opinion

WASHINGTON — Confronted with strong opposition to his Iraq policies, President Bush decides to interpret public opinion his own way. Actually, he says, people agree with him.

Also in that session, Bush said: "I recognize there are a handful there, or some, who just say, 'Get out, you know, it's just not worth it. Let's just leave.' I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do as well."

In fact, polls show Americans do not disagree, and that leaving — not winning — is their main goal.

U.S. Opposition to Iraq War at All-Time High, Poll Shows

May 24, 2007
U.S. Opposition to Iraq War at All-Time High, Poll Shows

Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the war began, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Six in 10 Americans surveyed say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, and more than three in four say that things are going badly there — including nearly half who say things are going very badly, the poll found.

Beyond the war issue, the poll found widespread concern over the nation's overall direction. More Americans — 72 percent — now say that "generally, things in the country are seriously off on the wrong track" than at any time since the Times/CBS News poll began asking the question in 1983. The figure had been in the high 60's earlier this year.

War Stretches Nation's Ammo Supply

May 24, 2007
War Stretches Nation's Ammo Supply

"There are millions of rounds backordered because the war has put such a demand on the manufacturers," said Lana Ulner, manager of Rapid City, S.D.-based Ultramax Ammunition, a distributor for several manufacturers. "In some cases, it can take eight to 12 months."

The Army's demand for small caliber ammunition has soared from 426 million rounds in 2001 to 1.5 billion rounds in 2006, according to the Joint Munitions Command at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois.

Afghan children are forced to eat mud

May 26, 2007
Afghan children are forced to eat mud

Rural communities have seen some improvements, but essential services are scarce or inadequate. In provinces where Oxfam works such as Daikundi, there is no mains water or electricity, and virtually no paved roads. Average life expectancy in Daikundi is 42 and one in five children dies before the age of five. Afghan children chew on mud they scratch from the walls of their homes to stave off hunger.

America is bankrolling Afghanistan. It is responsible for more than half of all aid to the country (aid that accounts for about a third of GDP), and it plans to provide $10.6bn in the next two years. But as in Iraq, a vast proportion of aid is wasted. Political pressure in donor countries for rapid results has led to projects that are unsuitable and unsustainable. Most aid money goes to programmes in the opium-intensive, insecure provinces in the south. To neglect secure provinces is to invite the insurgency to spread.

A third of Afghans think democracy is incompatible with Islamic values, and many resent the massive foreign presence.

Flack or Flak: McCain vs Obama

May 25, 2007
Flack or Flak: McCain vs Obama

Radio host Rush Limbaugh, Politico senior political writer Jonathan Martin, and other media figures uncritically repeated Sen. John. McCain's (R-AZ) attack on Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) spelling of "flack jacket" with a "c" in "flack," without noting -- as MSNBC congressional correspondent Mike Viqueira did -- that "flack" is an "alternative to the spelling of 'flak.' " Indeed, the phrase "flack jacket" with a "c" appears on dozens of military websites.

Senator: Gonzales Obstructed Justice, Lied Under Oath

May 25, 2007
Senator: Gonzales Obstructed Justice, Lied Under Oath

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a former career prosecutor, states that after reviewing the testimony of Monica Goodling and other recent developments he is deeply concerned that Gonzales is guilty of obstruction of justice stemming from his efforts to coach Goodling about how to recall their prior meetings. He also noted the sharp inconsistencies between Gonzales’s testimony and that of other witnesses, and its conflict with documentary evidence and focused on his statement to the House Judiciary Committee that he had not reviewed his conversations with staffers now under investigation–now revealed to be a falsehood. Democrats now state they will hold a vote of no confidence in Gonzales in mid-June.

Troop Cut Expected After Iraq Report

May 27, 2007
Troop Cut Expected After Iraq Report

A conservative Republican senator said Sunday most lawmakers believe President Bush will focus on reducing U.S. troops in Iraq once a top general reports in September on the war's progress.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said any reduction will have to await a much anticipated report by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who will tell the president and Congress whether the current troop increase is working.

"By September, when General Petraeus is to make a report, I think most of the people in Congress believe, unless something extraordinary occurs, that we should be on a move to draw those surge numbers down," Sessions said.

Hezbollah speech not properly screened by US government network

May 16, 2007
Hezbollah speech not properly screened by US government network

WASHINGTON - Overseers of the United States government's Arabic-language satellite television network say a speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was not screened for anti-Israel content before broadcast because no supervisor spoke Arabic.

"Mistakes were made," Joaquin Blaya, of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, told the House Middle East subcommittee Wednesday, referring to the broadcast last December and others by the network, Al-Hurra, that he said "lacked journalistic or academic merit."

Al Hurra, the new "terror" network financed by America

May 18, 2007
Al Hurra, the new "terror" network financed by America

On March 12 in a Wall Street Journal editorial, Joel Mowbray detailed how Al-Hurra, under the leadership of former CNN producer Larry Register, had turned "into a platform for Islamic terrorists." In a May 8 follow-up editorial in Power Line, Mowbray follows Register's reaction to his editorial arguing that Al-Hurra's news director, Register, and his boss Brian Conniff, president of the network's parent company, the Middle East Broadcasting Network "hoodwinked Secretary of State Condi Rice, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, the Broadcasting Board of Governors [BBG], and Congress," by downplaying the extent to which the television network aired a controversial speech by Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah. Mowbray argues that Register originally assured press that only part of the speech, in which Nasrallah denied the Holocaust, aired before the network cut away. Mowbray also alludes to memos of Conniff to the BBG, Rice, and Congress in which Conniff consistently varies the actual air time of the speech, ranging from 25 to 60 minutes. Mowbray states that DVDs of the broadcast provided to Congress provide evidence that Al-Hurra carried the entire speech of 68 minutes and the network never cut away.

Iraqi Soldiers Killing Americans

May 27, 2007
Iraqi Soldiers Killing Americans

But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in the mission. The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber´s body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.

"I thought, 'What are we doing here? Why are we still here?' " said Sergeant Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division. "We're helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us."

Guantánamo detainee: stay in jail or face torture in home country

May 28, 2007
Guantánamo detainee: stay in jail or face torture in home country

The government was under pressure last night to allow a London man held in Guantánamo Bay for four years to return to Britain after the US cleared him for release from the notorious prison.

Jamil el-Banna was detained by the US in 2002 after Britain sent the CIA false information about him. He had also failed to accept an MI5 offer to turn informant.

If refused entry to Britain, Mr Banna could be returned to face torture in his native Jordan, from where he fled to Britain in 1994 after alleging ill treatment.

Goodling: Gonzales and possible witness tampering

May 23, 2007
Goodling: Gonzales and possible witness tampering

WASHINGTON - A former Justice Department official told House investigators
Wednesday that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tried to review his version of
the prosecutor firings with her at a time when lawmakers were homing in on
conflicting accounts.

"It made me a little uncomfortable," Monica Goodling, Gonzales' former White
House liaison, said of her conversation with the attorney general just before
she took a leave of absence in March. "I just did not know if it was
appropriate for us to both be discussing our recollections of what had
happened."

Anti-war groups resent Democratic dealmakings

May 23, 2007
Anti-war groups resent Democratic dealmakings

Anti-war activists vowed they will have long memories about the deal
Democratic leaders struck with the Bush administration this week on Iraq war
funding, warning that they will exact retribution from lawmakers in both
parties in 2008.

Enraged by what they considered capitulation by Democrats, anti-war leaders
vowed to redouble their efforts at defeating the next funding request when it
comes up as expected in September. The group MoveOn.org, which previously had
been an ally of the Democratic leadership on the war issue, in a statement
raised the specter of "in-district advertising and recruitment of primary
challengers" as punishment for Democrats who supported the deal.

Democrats Become the Minority Party

May 24, 2007
Democrats Become the Minority Party

WASHINGTON, May 23 — Congressional contortions over the Iraq spending
bill could end up with most House Democrats momentarily occupying the position
they were so desperate to vacate: the minority.

The decision by the Democratic majority to strip the measure of a timetable
for troop withdrawal has raised the prospect that it could be approved mainly
by Republicans with scattered Democrat support. The idea that many Democrats
would be left on the losing side in a consequential vote has exposed a sharp
divide within the party, drawn scorn from antiwar groups, confused the public
and frustrated the party rank and file.

Who Won The Iraq Spending Showdown?

May 24, 2007
Who Won The Iraq Spending Showdown?

Much of the this morning's coverage of the Iraq and Afghanistan war spending
bill focuses on who won and who lost the showdown. Some reports conclude that
Republicans may have won this round even if their victory is not complete and
may be short-lived.

The AP says "Democrats may have lost their fight with President Bush
over a timetable for ending the war in Iraq," but "they won billions of dollars
for farm aid, hurricane victims, veterans and health care for poor children."
President Bush "vetoed a $124 billion war funding bill containing $21 billion
in unrequested funds," but the White House negotiators "signed off on a $120
billion measure containing four-fifths of the additional money." Indeed,
although one reason President Bush cited for his veto of the first Iraq war
spending bill was the inclusion of "extraneous" funds by congressional
Democrats, the compromise he is expected to sign includes billions of dollars
of non-Iraq related funding.

May 24, 2007
Goodling admits she broke the law, accuses Gonzales of lying to
congress

In her testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Ms. Goodling removed all
doubt about whether partisan politics infected the Justice Department´s
treatment of federal prosecutors. She admitted that she investigated the party
affiliations, and even campaign contributions, of applicants for prosecutor,
and other nonpolitical jobs. "I know I crossed the line," she said of her
actions, which may have violated federal law. Her admission that partisan
politics was used to hire people only makes it more likely that it was also
used to fire people.

Ms. Goodling appeared to be straining to make her testimony helpful to Mr.
Gonzales, but when backed into a corner, she conceded that he had lied about
his role in the scandal.

Months after troop surge, violence rises in Iraq

May 23, 2007
Months after troop surge, violence rises in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three months into the U.S. buildup of troops in Iraq,
violence appears to be rising, both against American troops and Iraqi
civilians.

A body suspected of being one of three missing American soldiers was pulled
from the Euphrates River on Wednesday, and the U.S. military announced the
deaths of two Marines and seven soldiers in separate attacks Tuesday, bringing
to 80 the number of American service members who've died in Iraq so far this
month.

Lobbyist withdrew his nomination to head the Consumer Product Safety

May 23, 2007
Lobbyist withdrew his nomination to head the Consumer Product Safety
Commission

WASHINGTON — A manufacturing industry lobbyist withdrew his nomination
to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission Wednesday amid strong opposition
from some Senate Democrats and criticism from consumer groups.

President Bush had named National Association of Manufacturers lobbyist
Michael Baroody to head the commission, which oversees product recalls and
helps enforce federal consumer safety rules. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., moved to
block Baroody's confirmation, joined by Sens. Dick Durbin and Barack Obama.

A Widening Chasm Between Congressional Democrats and Voters on Impeachment

May 21, 2007
A Widening Chasm Between Congressional Democrats and Voters on Impeachment

So far, Democrats in Congress and at the top of the party hierarchy, out of
touch with public sentiment and worried that impeachment could hurt them with
"independents"--whom they mistakenly consider to stand somehow "in between"
Democrats and Republicans--have been following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's vow
that for the 110th Congress, "impeachment is off the table." They've been doing
more than that: they have been actively working to tamp down, and even to
crush, impeachment campaigns in the states. For example, in the state of
Washington, an effort to get the state to pass a joint legislative resolution
which would have compelled the Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings was
derailed after the Democratic leadership dispatched two of the state's leading
federal elected officials, Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Jay Inslee, to press
legislative leaders to block a floor vote. Similar pressure doomed efforts that
might have passed in the legislatures of New Mexico and Vermont (The Vermont
Senate did pass the resolution).

Increase in carbon emissions seen tripling since '90s

May 21, 2007
Increase in carbon emissions seen tripling since '90s

Emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning, the main culprit in
global warming, have increased three times faster in recent years than they did
in the 1990s, international climate researchers reported today.

And human-induced warming may have been responsible for an unprecedented
observation reported Monday by a second group of scientists, who said that for
the first time in 30 years of U.S. satellite monitoring of Antarctica, there is
"clear evidence" of snowmelt on some of the continent's highest and coldest
areas.

While Americans die, Iraq president is on a diet at Mayo Clinic

May 21, 2007
While Americans die, Iraq president is on a diet at Mayo Clinic

CHICAGO (AFP) - Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has begun a weight loss
treatment expected to last several weeks at the Mayo Clinic in the United
States.

The Mayo Clinic would not disclose what type of treatments Talabani would
receive as part of his "comprehensive examination," but the 74-year-old portly
politician said last week that the tests were aimed at helping him to shed some
weight.

The U.S. Seen Through Muslim Eyes

May 23, 2007
The U.S. Seen Through Muslim Eyes

When it comes to renovating America's image in the greater Islamic world,
the news is not getting any better.

An extensive, new public opinion survey conducted in four predominantly
Muslim countries finds not only that hard feelings toward the United States'
global role persist but that something more ominous is happening as well: Large
majorities believe that the United States is in some kind of a war against
Islam itself.

Roughly 8 in 10 people surveyed in Egypt, Indonesia, Morocco, and Pakistan
agreed that the United States is trying to "weaken and divide the Islamic
world." Bush administration officials, including the president, have frequently
said that they are doing nothing of the sort, and that they respect Islam as a
great religion. These views are particularly troubling since they come from
four countries that, traditionally, have had good relations with the United
States and that play an outsize role in the politics of the Islamic world.

I'm not sure why we have a congress anymore. Here we have absolute proof
that someone in the Justice Dept. lied under oath and I can't find a single
story about impeachment. We've never witnessed a more neutered and cowardly
congress in our history. They fund a war they know is and always was based on
lies and they let the Attorney General and his cronies lie to them under oath.
The Constitution is not safe with these sissies in power.

Goodling Accuses McNulty of Misleading Congress

May 23, 2007
Goodling Accuses McNulty of Misleading Congress

May 23 (Bloomberg) -- A former top Justice Department aide denied knowledge
of any improper White House role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and
accused Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty of misleading Congress about the
dismissals.

Monica Goodling, the former White House liaison for Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales, told the House Judiciary Committee she had no discussions before the
firings with Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, or then-White House
Counsel Harriet Miers.

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

May 22, 2007
Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black"
operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials
in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the
sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal
presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes
a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's
currency and international financial transactions.

Democrats to fund Iraq war with no pullout date

May 22, 2007
Democrats to fund Iraq war with no pullout date

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush won a battle over nearly
$100 billion to fund the Iraq war as Democratic leaders in Congress on Tuesday
abandoned efforts to withdraw troops for now but pledged to try again in
July.

Instead of setting schedules for pulling U.S. troops, it appeared the
Democratic-run Congress and the Republican White House agreed for the first
time to include conditions prodding Baghdad to make better progress toward
quelling violence or risk losing around $1.3 billion in U.S. reconstruction
aid.

1 in 8 Iraqis dies before fifth birthday

May 23, 2007
1 in 8 Iraqis dies before fifth birthday

(05-23) 04:00 PDT Baghdad -- Hanna Yousef Tamer watches hopelessly as her
year-old daughter, Mahdi, writhes on pink sheets in a crowded ward of the Ibn
Al-Baladi Pediatric Hospital in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. The
feeble child cries and looks around the bustling room through hollowed
eyes.

Her body is wasted from malnutrition and dehydration. But with the hospital
lacking basic medication and intravenous fluids, doctors and nurses can't do
much to help Mahdi. And while precious drugs are available in pharmacies, the
little girl's family can't afford them. Tamer, 27, lost another daughter,
Roqia, in 2005 when the 2-year-old died of the same disorders.

Gasoline costs U.S.consumers extra $20 bln

May 22, 2007
Gasoline costs U.S. consumers extra $20 bln

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The jump in U.S. gasoline prices this year has so far
cost consumers an extra $20 billion, or about $146 for each passenger car in
the country, the Government Accountability Office told Congress on Tuesday.

The national price for regular unleaded gasoline hit a record $3.22 a gallon
this week, and is up $1.05 since the beginning of February, according to the
Energy Department.