Americans' Confidence in Congress at All-Time Low

June 21, 2007
Americans' Confidence in Congress at All-Time Low

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON,
NJ -- The percentage of Americans with a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in Congress is at 14%, the lowest in Gallup's history of this measure -- and the lowest of any of the 16 institutions tested in this year's Confidence in Institutions survey. It is also one of the lowest confidence ratings for any institution tested over the last three decades.

Gallup's annual update on Americans' confidence in institutions shows that confidence ratings are generally down across the board compared with last year. The public's confidence ratings in several institutions, including Congress, are now at all-time low points in Gallup's history of this measure. These low ratings reflect the generally sour mood of the public at this time.

Of the 16 societal institutions tested in Gallup's 2007 update, Americans express the most confidence in the military. They have the least confidence in HMOs and Congress. Americans have much more confidence in "small" business than in "big" business.

How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties

June 25, 2007
How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties

In the meeting, the officials professed ignorance about Abu Ghraib. "Could you tell us what happened?" Wolfowitz asked. Someone else asked, "Is it abuse or torture?" At that point, Taguba recalled, "I described a naked detainee lying on the wet floor, handcuffed, with an interrogator shoving things up his rectum, and said, 'That's not abuse. That's torture.' There was quiet."

Taguba said that he saw "a video of a male American soldier in uniform sodomizing a female detainee." The video was not made public in any of the subsequent court proceedings, nor has there been any public government mention of it. Such images would have added an even more inflammatory element to the outcry over Abu Ghraib. "It's bad enough that there were photographs of Arab men wearing women's panties," Taguba said.

"The whole idea that Rumsfeld projects—'We're here to protect the nation from terrorism'—is an oxymoron," Taguba said. "He and his aides have abused their offices and have no idea of the values and high standards that are expected of them. And they've dragged a lot of officers with them."

New FBI Documents: Osama bin Laden May Have Chartered Saudi Flight Out of U.S. after 9/11

June 20, 2007
New FBI Documents: Osama bin Laden May Have Chartered Saudi Flight Out of U.S. after 9/11

(Washington, DC) -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released new documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") related to the "expeditious departure" of Saudi nationals, including members of the bin Laden family, from the United States following the 9/11 attacks. According to one of the formerly confidential documents, dated 9/21/2001, terrorist Osama bin Laden may have chartered one of the Saudi flights.

The document states:

"ON 9/19/01, A 727 PLANE LEFT LAX, RYAN FLT #441 TO ORLANDO, FL W/ETA (estimated time of arrival) OF 4-5PM. THE PLANE WAS CHARTERED EITHER BY THE SAUDI ARABIAN ROYAL FAMILY OR OSAMA BIN LADEN…THE LA FBI SEARCHED THE PLANE [REDACTED] LUGGAGE, OF WHICH NOTHING UNUSUAL WAS FOUND."

Fringe Science And $78 Billion Yields 'Gay Bombs' and Psychic Teleportation

June 21, 2007
Fringe Science And $78 Billion Yields 'Gay Bombs' and Psychic Teleportation

Just this month, the government confirmed that an Ohio Air Force laboratory had asked for $7.5 million to build a nonlethal "gay bomb," a weapon that would encourage enemies to make love, not war. The weapon would use strong aphrodisiacs to make enemy troops so sexually attracted to each other that they'd lose interest in fighting.

Just three years ago, the military funded a specious study of psychic teleportation, according to the Federation of American Scientists. An 88-page report prepared by the Air Force Research Lab contended that moving through mind powers is "quite real and can be controlled."

CIA Nominee Linked to Torture

June 19, 2007
CIA Nominee Linked to Torture

WASHINGTON, June 18 — In the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, at a time when the Central Intelligence Agency had long been out of the interrogation business, senior C.I.A. officers scrambled to build a program to question terror suspects in secret jails abroad.

To check on the legality of the harsh interrogation techniques they proposed, they turned to John A. Rizzo, who was then acting as the agency's top lawyer.

On Tuesday, Mr. Rizzo will go before the Senate Intelligence Committee for a confirmation hearing to become the C.I.A.'s general counsel, giving the new Democratic majority its first chance at a public airing of agency practices that drew condemnation abroad and set off a prolonged debate at home.

Six Detainees Transfered

June 19, 2007
Six Detainees Transfered

The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of six detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Two detainees were transferred to Tunisia and four detainees were transferred to Yemen. These detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes at Guantanamo Bay.

Approximately 80 detainees remain at Guantanamo who the U.S. government has determined eligible for transfer or release. Departure of these remaining detainees is subject to ongoing discussions between the United States and other nations.

A war on rewind, in a bleaker Baghdad

June 19, 2007
A war on rewind, in a bleaker Baghdad

At the White House last June, back from a secretive trip to Baghdad, an upbeat
President Bush told reporters assembled in the Rose Garden, "I sense something different happening in Iraq."

It's June again and those roses are once more in bloom. But in Baghdad the scene looks only bleaker.

To a visitor returning after a year, the something different is the spread of concrete blast barriers across ever more of the city, the accumulation of still more rubble, the sectarian "cleansing" of neighborhoods, the ruin of still more lives — of friends whose loved ones have fled, been kidnapped, been killed. And for those left behind, life is worse.

White House budget director resigns

June 19, 2007
White House budget director resigns

WASHINGTON — White House budget director Rob Portman is resigning and will be replaced by former Iowa Rep. Jim Nussle, Bush administration officials said Tuesday.

Nussle ran for governor of Iowa last year and was defeated. He has been serving in Iowa as an adviser in former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Leaves GOP

June 19, 2007
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg Leaves GOP

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday switched his party status from Republican to unaffiliated, a stunning move certain to be seen as a prelude to an independent presidential bid that would upend the 2008 race.

The billionaire former CEO, who was a lifelong Democrat before he switched to the GOP for his first mayoral run, said the change in voter registration does not mean he is running for president.

US agencies disobey 6 laws that president challenged

June 19, 2007
US agencies disobey 6 laws that president challenged

WASHINGTON -- Federal officials have disobeyed at least six new laws that President Bush challenged in his signing statements, a government study disclosed yesterday. The report provides the first evidence that the government may have acted on claims by Bush that he can set aside laws under his executive powers.

In a report to Congress, the non partisan Government Accountability Office studied a small sample of the bill provisions that Bush has signed into law but also challenged with signing statements. The GAO found that agencies disobeyed six such laws, while enforcing 10 others as written even though Bush had challenged them.

Petraeus Says Iraq Plan Won't Succeed By September

June 17, 2007
Petraeus Says Iraq Plan Won't Succeed By September

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- The odds of building a stable Iraqi government by September are slim, even with the addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to give lawmakers in Baghdad security, said the top U.S. general in the Middle East country.

The "aggregate level" of violence has not diminished since the troop increase began five months ago, General David Petraeus said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday." Asked whether he thought the strategy could succeed by early September when he's due to report to Congress, Petraeus was negative.

U.S. attorneys fallout seeps into courts

June 18, 2007
U.S. attorneys fallout seeps into courts

WASHINGTON — For months, the Justice Department and Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales have taken political heat for the purge of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

Now the fallout is starting to hit the department in federal courtrooms around the country.

Defense lawyers in a growing number of cases are raising questions about the motives of government lawyers who have brought charges against their clients. In court papers, they are citing the furor over the U.S. attorney dismissals as evidence that their cases may have been infected by politics.

White House denies prior knowledge of Abu Ghraib abuse

June 17, 2007
White House denies prior knowledge of Abu Ghraib abuse

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Sunday insisted that
President George W. Bush first learned about abuse at Iraq's
Abu Ghraib prison from media reports, contrary to assertions by a former top general that Bush likely knew about the scandal before it broke.

"The President said over three years ago that he first saw the pictures of the abuse on television," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is spending the weekend at his ranch.

Iraq on verge of genocidal war

June 18, 2007
Iraq on verge of genocidal war

The man who led the initial American effort to reconstruct Iraq after the war believes the country is on the brink of a genocidal civil war and its government will fall apart unless the US changes course and allows a three-way federal structure. He has also urged talks with Iran and other regional players.

Jay Garner, the former US general appointed two months before the invasion to head reconstruction in Iraq, admitted that before the 2003 war coordination between the various US departments and military had been disjointed.

Former intelligence officers: Republican Presidential Candidates Betray the Rule of Law and Our National Security

June 13, 2007
Former intelligence officers: Republican Presidential Candidates Betray the Rule of Law and Our National Security

As former intelligence officers -- most of us have served the United States in undercover positions -- we are saddened and appalled by the recent public comments of former Senator Fred Thompson, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Governor Mitt Romney -- one a potential candidate and the other two declared candidates for the Republican nomination for president -- with respect to the perjury and obstruction of justice conviction of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

These men misrepresent the case against Mr. Libby and call into question the integrity of a respected Federal Judge and U.S. attorney. Their positions with respect to the just and fair punishment meted out to Mr. Libby raise serious questions about their commitment to the rule of law free of partisan bias.

We are particularly concerned by the recent speech by Fred Thompson.

Mail Undelivered at Walter Reed

June 16, 2007
Mail Undelivered at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON (AP) - Turns out the trouble at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the focus of a firestorm of criticism over poor treatment of wounded war veterans, reached into the mailroom.

The Army said Friday that it has opened an investigation into the recent discovery of 4,500 letters and parcels - some dating to May 2006 - at Walter Reed that were never delivered to soldiers.

Pentagon may drop mental health questions

June 15, 2007
Pentagon may drop mental health questions

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. troops would no longer be asked to reveal previous mental health treatment when applying for security clearances under a proposal being considered by the Pentagon.

The idea stems from the finding that service members avoid needed counseling because they believe that getting it — and acknowledging it — could cost them their clearance as well as do other harm to their careers, The Associated Press has learned.

"This is just one of several items under review by the Department of Defense and the services in an effort to remove the stigma associated with mental health issues," said Air Force Maj. Patrick Ryder.

Justice Department Official Resigsn Over Attorney Firings

June 16, 2007
Justice Department Official Resigsn Over Attorney Firings

WASHINGTON - A senior Justice Department official who helped carry out the dismissals of federal prosecutors said Friday he is resigning. Mike Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, is the fifth Justice official to leave after being linked to the dismissals of the prosecutors.

Elston was accused of threatening at least four of the eight fired U.S. attorneys to keep quiet about their ousters. In a statement Friday, the Justice Department said Elston was leaving voluntarily to take a job with an unnamed Washington-area law firm.

President Bush And The National Debt

June 16, 2007
President Bush And The National Debt

On the day he took office, the National Debt stood at this unfathomable number:
$5,727.776.738,304.64

In fiscal shorthand, that's $5.7 trillion dollars. Trillion with a "T."

Six and a half years later, the Bureau of Public Debt tells us the National Debt clocks in at a staggering:
$8,835,268,597,181.95

That's $8.8 trillion – an increase of $3.1 trillion dollars since January 20, 2001. And that amounts to a jump of 54% during Mr. Bush's watch.

Democrats to revive Iraq war timetables

June 12, 2007
Democrats to revive Iraq war timetables

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Democrats will once again try to impose timetables for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Tuesday.

Reid said Democrats will use a defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2008 as a vehicle to revive two Iraq timetable amendments that they pushed unsuccessfully during a fight over Iraq funding in May.

Officials rebuked for disclosing Rove's ties to firings

June 13, 2007
Officials rebuked for disclosing Rove's ties to firings

WASHINGTON — The White House's former political director was furious at Justice Department officials for disclosing to Congress that the administration had forced out the U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Ark., to make way for a protege of Karl Rove, President Bush's political adviser, according to documents released late Tuesday.

Then-White House political affairs director Sara Taylor spelled out her frustrations in a Feb. 16 e-mail to Kyle Sampson, then the chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

FBI Terror Watch List includes more than 500,000 names

June 13, 2007
FBI Terror Watch List includes more than 500,000 names

A terrorist watch list compiled by the FBI has apparently swelled to include more than half a million names.

Privacy and civil liberties advocates say the list is growing uncontrollably, threatening its usefulness in the war on terror.

The bureau says the number of names on its terrorist watch list is classified.

How GOP presidential candidates apply their Christian moral ethics

June 12, 2007
How GOP presidential candidates apply their Christian moral ethics

And Giuliani replied that the dismissals were appropriate and that he would not change the current rules. He said, "This is not the time to deal with disruptive issues like this. . . . At a time of war, you don't make fundamental changes like this."

Hang on . . . isn't "a time of war" precisely the right time to allow all of God's creatures to pitch in, especially (in Giuliani's formulation) when Western Christian values are being threatened by global jihadists? Reports indicate that as many as 10,000 service members, including hundreds of language specialists, have already been dismissed by the military because they were openly gay. Is it really Christian, or even pragmatically wise, to undercut the war on terror in this fashion?

Yes, everybody on stage said.

Faith-based ships sold to pay bills

June 13, 2007
Faith-based ships sold to pay bills

In theory, it was simple: Congress gave two decommissioned Coast Guard cutters to a faith-based group in California, directing that the ships be used only to provide medical services to islands in the South Pacific.

In reality, the ships never got any closer to the South Pacific islands than the San Francisco Bay. The mission group quickly sold one to a maritime equipment company, which sold it for substantially more to a pig farmer who uses it as a commercial ferry off Nicaragua. The group sold the other ship to a Bay Area couple who rent it for eco-tours and marine research.

Republicans abandoning Bush

June 13, 2007
Republicans abandoning Bush

WASHINGTON - As President Bush attempts to revive the controversial immigration reform bill he supports, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Republicans are abandoning the president, which has dropped his job-approval rating below 30 percent -- his lowest mark ever in the survey.

But he isn't the only one whose support is on the decline in the poll. Congress' approval rating has plummeted eight points, bringing it below even Bush's. And just one in five believe the country is on the right track, which is the lowest number on this question in nearly 15 years.

Cunningham financier admits role in guilty plea

June 15, 2007
Cunningham financier admits role in guilty plea

A New York financier has admitted playing a key role in the scandal that brought down former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, according to a guilty plea unsealed this week.

Thomas Kontogiannis said he helped finance the purchase of Cunningham's $2.5 million house in Rancho Santa Fe, in a deal that evolved from two military contractors' alleged plans to bribe the congressman.

The home purchase – and the sale of Cunningham's previous home in Del Mar – was at the center of a scandal that resulted in a prison sentence of more than eight years for the former legislator.

How ready is your state's National Guard?

June 14, 2007
How ready is your state's National Guard?

Correspondents from across the USA spoke with governors, National Guard commanders and public affairs officers to determine each unit's equipment and preparedness levels for dealing with national disasters. The highlighted percentages listed are the estimated percentage of domestic equipment available to the National Guard in that state, provided by those sources. In some cases, no estimate of the percentage of available equipment was provided. Some sources cited security reasons, others were not certain enough of their inventory to provide a number. Shortages vary by unit, 1A, 7A. (N/A means percentage not available.)

Judge Orders FBI to Release NSL Abuse Records

June 15, 2007
Judge Orders FBI to Release NSL Abuse Records

Washington, D.C. - A judge ordered the FBI today to finally release agency records about its abuse of National Security Letters (NSLs) to collect Americans' personal information. The ruling came just a day after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the judge to immediately respond in its lawsuit over agency delays.

EFF sued the FBI in April for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request about the misuse of NSLs as revealed in a Justice Department report. This week, more evidence of abuse was uncovered by the Washington Post, and EFF urged the judge Thursday to force the FBI to stop stalling the release of its records on the deeply flawed program.

Prosecutors want prison for ex-officia

June 16, 2007
Prosecutors want prison for ex-official

WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors asked a judge Friday to give former U.S. Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles a substantial prison term.

In a 48-page memo, prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle that Griles assisted lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for jobs and other favors for four female "close personal friends," The Washington Post reported.

Foreclosure Rate Hits Historic High

June 15, 2007
Foreclosure Rate Hits Historic High

The percentage of U.S. mortgages entering foreclosure in the first three months of the year was the highest in more than 50 years, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

As the association released its numbers, the Federal Reserve held a hearing to determine whether regulators could do anything to crack down on abusive lending practices, which have exacerbated the problem.

FBI Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data

June 14, 2007
FBI Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data

An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism.

The new audit covers just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002, and so the mistakes in the FBI's domestic surveillance efforts probably number several thousand, bureau officials said in interviews. The earlier report found 22 violations in a much smaller sampling.

"The FBI's comprehensive audit of National Security Letter use across all field offices has confirmed the inspector general's findings that we had inadequate internal controls for use of an invaluable investigative tool," FBI General Counsel Valerie E. Caproni said. "Our internal audit examined a much larger sample than the inspector general's report last March, but we found similar percentages of NSLs that had errors."

Poll: Oil Companies, Bush Blamed for Record Gas Prices

June 13, 2007
Poll: Oil Companies, Bush Blamed for Record Gas Prices

WASHINGTON -- A new Quinnipiac poll released today shows that most Americans blame oil companies for high gasoline prices -- but many also blame President Bush.

The survey of 1,711 people, conducted June 5 to 11, found that while 43 percent thought oil companies were largely responsible for the runup in prices, 20 percent thought Bush was the reason.

Army plans to hire more psychiatrists

June 14, 2007
Army plans to hire more psychiatrists

WASHINGTON - Overwhelmed by the number of soldiers returning from war with mental problems, the Army is planning to hire at least 25 percent more psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers.

A contract finalized this week but not yet announced calls for spending $33 million to add about 200 mental health professionals to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health needs, officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Ritchie said long and repeat deployments caused by extended wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are causing more mental strain on troops. "At the time that the war began, I don't think anybody anticipated how long it would be going on," she said.

Vatican urges Catholics to stop giving Amnesty

June 14, 2007
Vatican urges Catholics to stop giving Amnesty

The Vatican has urged all Catholics to stop donating money to Amnesty International, accusing the human rights group of promoting abortion.

The Vatican, which regards life as sacred from the moment of conception, said it was an "inevitable consequence" of the group's policy change.

Amnesty said it was not promoting abortion as a universal right.

Six in Ten Support Easing Stem Cell Restriction

June 15, 2007
Six in Ten Support Easing Stem Cell Restriction

PRINCETON, NJ -- Last week, Congress passed legislation to loosen government
restrictions on funding medical research using stem cells obtained from
human embryos. This legislation is similar to a bill that President
George W. Bush vetoed last summer. The president has said he plans to
veto the current bill as well. Recent Gallup polling finds that most
Americans feel that embryonic stem cell research is morally acceptable,
favor easing the current restrictions on stem cell research, and
believe the president should not veto the new legislation.

According to an April 13-15, 2007, USA Today/Gallup
poll, only 31% of Americans say the president should veto a bill to
expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research; 64% of
Americans say the president should not veto the bill.

Poll: War Support Will Play Major Part in 2008 Election

June 66/15/2007 , 2007
Poll: War Support Will Play Major Part in 2008 Election

Gallup polling shows that Iraq is clearly the public's No. 1 policy
concern, and is likely to play a major role in voting decisions next
year. The June 1-3, 2007, poll finds 33% of Americans saying a
candidate's past and current positions on Iraq will be extremely
important in determining their vote next year, with an additional 41%
saying the candidate's positions will be very important. Only about one
in four Americans say these will be somewhat important (19%) or not
that important (6%).