New York Times
September 30, 2006
Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday.
The exchanges began with what Republicans now describe as an "overfriendly" e-mail message from Mr. Foley to the unidentified teenager. But news reports about the exchanges have led to the disclosure of e-mail correspondence with other former pages in which the discussions became more and more sexually explicit. Shortly after he was confronted by ABC News on Friday about the subject, Mr. Foley, who represented a south Florida district, resigned from the House.
The revelations set off a political upheaval, with Democrats and some Republicans alike calling for a full investigation of Mr. Foley's conduct and whether House leaders did enough to look into it. Members of the Republican leadership sought Saturday to detail how they had handled the case in an effort to defuse the matter, even as it was emerging as an issue in Congressional races.
September 30, 2006
September 29, 2006
Kentucky National Guard Nudie Cuties
WKRC 12 Cincinnati
September 29, 2006
U.S. Army officials are investigating allegations that women in a Kentucky National Guard unit posed nude for pictures with their M-16s and other military equipment. Kentucky National Guard spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Phil Miller says the allegations were reported to the commander of the 410th Quartermaster unit about a week to ten days before the company shipped out for Iraq on Aug. 26 from Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The Courier-Journal of Louisville reports that it had been independently provided a compact disc containing 232 photographs of at least a half-dozen nude and seminude women in various poses with military rifles and covering their breasts with American flag decals. An accompanying e-mail said the women photographed were from the Kentucky Guard. Miller said 11 of the 107 soldiers who deployed with the Danville-based unit are women."
September 29, 2006
U.S. Army officials are investigating allegations that women in a Kentucky National Guard unit posed nude for pictures with their M-16s and other military equipment. Kentucky National Guard spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Phil Miller says the allegations were reported to the commander of the 410th Quartermaster unit about a week to ten days before the company shipped out for Iraq on Aug. 26 from Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The Courier-Journal of Louisville reports that it had been independently provided a compact disc containing 232 photographs of at least a half-dozen nude and seminude women in various poses with military rifles and covering their breasts with American flag decals. An accompanying e-mail said the women photographed were from the Kentucky Guard. Miller said 11 of the 107 soldiers who deployed with the Danville-based unit are women."
September 23, 2006
Chris Matthews Interview with Bill Clinton
Think Progress
September 22, 2006
Rough Transcript of Chris Matthews Fox News Sunday, Interview with Ex-President Bill Clinton. What started out as an interview with Clinton over his humanitarian work quickly became an ambush interview regarding Clinton's efforts to get rid of Osama bin Laden. From the looks of it, Chris Matthew wishes he'd stuck with the humanitarian topics.
Bill Clinton seems more than happy to roll up his sleeves and discuss particular points of his presidency, and in particular his failing to kill Osama bin Laden. He dissuaded Matthews' topic-shifting and seems happy to identify the political enemies of the Democrats.
Amazing interview! If the Democrat nominee in 2008 doesn't put Bill Clinton on their campaign staff then they deserve to lose.
September 22, 2006
Rough Transcript of Chris Matthews Fox News Sunday, Interview with Ex-President Bill Clinton. What started out as an interview with Clinton over his humanitarian work quickly became an ambush interview regarding Clinton's efforts to get rid of Osama bin Laden. From the looks of it, Chris Matthew wishes he'd stuck with the humanitarian topics.
Bill Clinton seems more than happy to roll up his sleeves and discuss particular points of his presidency, and in particular his failing to kill Osama bin Laden. He dissuaded Matthews' topic-shifting and seems happy to identify the political enemies of the Democrats.
Amazing interview! If the Democrat nominee in 2008 doesn't put Bill Clinton on their campaign staff then they deserve to lose.
Terrorist Aliens Are Raping Your Daughter
Judicial-Inc
The most thoughtful whacko anti-Zionist, NWO, conspiracy web site I've yet to visit. More adventursome than Rense, better researched than Michael Savage's site, far more interesting than Matt Drudge's little blog.
The most thoughtful whacko anti-Zionist, NWO, conspiracy web site I've yet to visit. More adventursome than Rense, better researched than Michael Savage's site, far more interesting than Matt Drudge's little blog.
September 19, 2006
Polling Company Pleads Guilty to Fraud
Newsday.com
September 19, 2006
An employee of a company that conducted campaign polls for President George W. Bush, Senator Joe Lieberman and other Republican candidates pleaded guilty Tuesday to making up poll results, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Darryl Hylton, 42, of Hamden pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Guilford-based company, DataUSA, is now known as Viewpoint USA.
Hylton admitted that he conspired to falsify survey and polling results to meet deadlines or other requirements that DataUSA otherwise could not meet. He also admitted that he directed other DataUSA employees to falsify results in a variety of ways, including changing demographic information, such as gender, to satisfy client requirements. Hylton faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced on Dec. 11th.
September 19, 2006
An employee of a company that conducted campaign polls for President George W. Bush, Senator Joe Lieberman and other Republican candidates pleaded guilty Tuesday to making up poll results, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Darryl Hylton, 42, of Hamden pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The Guilford-based company, DataUSA, is now known as Viewpoint USA.
Hylton admitted that he conspired to falsify survey and polling results to meet deadlines or other requirements that DataUSA otherwise could not meet. He also admitted that he directed other DataUSA employees to falsify results in a variety of ways, including changing demographic information, such as gender, to satisfy client requirements. Hylton faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced on Dec. 11th.
September 18, 2006
How Important Is the Israel Lobby?
Middle East Quarterly
Vol. XII, No. 4, Fall 2006
Superb article on the effects of the Israel Lobby on US Foreign Policy.
Two well-known academics, Stephen Walt of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, published a working paper in March 2006 arguing that 'the Israel lobby' wields a disproportionate and detrimental influence on U.S. foreign policy. They defined the lobby as mysteriously large, including everything from Washington think-tanks, New York newspapers, and websites, to traditional lobby groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their study, however flawed, lent an air of academic respectability to a viewpoint of pervasive Israel lobby influence and power that has long preoccupied polemicists and a radical fringe. Read complete article
Vol. XII, No. 4, Fall 2006
Superb article on the effects of the Israel Lobby on US Foreign Policy.
Two well-known academics, Stephen Walt of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, published a working paper in March 2006 arguing that 'the Israel lobby' wields a disproportionate and detrimental influence on U.S. foreign policy. They defined the lobby as mysteriously large, including everything from Washington think-tanks, New York newspapers, and websites, to traditional lobby groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their study, however flawed, lent an air of academic respectability to a viewpoint of pervasive Israel lobby influence and power that has long preoccupied polemicists and a radical fringe. Read complete article
September 17, 2006
Bush Refuses To Meet With Ahmadinejad
YnetNews
September 15, 2006
US President George W. Bush declared Friday that he has no intention of meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to the United Nations headquarters in New York next week. When asked whether he would take advantage of the opportunity to meet with the Iranian president, he responded unequivocally, "No. No I will not meet with him."
Bush and Ahmadinejad are expected to carry speeches Tuesday in front of the UN General Assembly, with Bush’s oration scheduled for the morning hours and Ahmadinejad's for the evening. Bush addressed the press at the White House’s Rose Garden Friday.
September 15, 2006
US President George W. Bush declared Friday that he has no intention of meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to the United Nations headquarters in New York next week. When asked whether he would take advantage of the opportunity to meet with the Iranian president, he responded unequivocally, "No. No I will not meet with him."
Bush and Ahmadinejad are expected to carry speeches Tuesday in front of the UN General Assembly, with Bush’s oration scheduled for the morning hours and Ahmadinejad's for the evening. Bush addressed the press at the White House’s Rose Garden Friday.
September 16, 2006
Goat Transformed Into Human Corpse
CBS News
September 15, 2006
LAGOS (AP) A Nigerian murder suspect accused of killing his brother with an axe told police investigators he actually attacked a goat, which was only later magically transformed into his sibling's corpse, officials said Thursday. The man, whose name wasn't released, offered police his explanation after his arrest on Tuesday in the death of his brother the previous day at Isseluku village in southern Nigeria.
'He said that the goats were on his farm and he tried to chase them away. When one wouldn't move, he attacked it with an axe. He said it then turned into his brother,' Police Commissioner Udom Ekpoudom told the Associated Press. Murder suspects in Nigeria, where many people believe in black magic, sometimes claim spirits tricked them into killing. In 2001, eight people were burned to death after one person in their group was accused of making a bystander's penis magically disappear.
September 15, 2006
LAGOS (AP) A Nigerian murder suspect accused of killing his brother with an axe told police investigators he actually attacked a goat, which was only later magically transformed into his sibling's corpse, officials said Thursday. The man, whose name wasn't released, offered police his explanation after his arrest on Tuesday in the death of his brother the previous day at Isseluku village in southern Nigeria.
'He said that the goats were on his farm and he tried to chase them away. When one wouldn't move, he attacked it with an axe. He said it then turned into his brother,' Police Commissioner Udom Ekpoudom told the Associated Press. Murder suspects in Nigeria, where many people believe in black magic, sometimes claim spirits tricked them into killing. In 2001, eight people were burned to death after one person in their group was accused of making a bystander's penis magically disappear.
September 14, 2006
New Report Details Errors Before War
Washington Post
September 9, 2006
The long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report released yesterday sheds new light on why U.S. intelligence agencies provided inaccurate prewar information about Saddam Hussein and his weapons programs, including details on how Iraqi exiles who fabricated or exaggerated their stories were accepted as truthful because they passed Pentagon lie detector tests. The two newly declassified chapters of the report fueled political accusations yesterday that the Bush administration lied to justify invading Iraq.
The report notes that a DIA official who knew that the source was unreliable sat in on two meetings in which the mobile labs information was incorporated into the speech Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivered in February 2003 to the U.N. Security Council, but that the official did not realize the information was based solely on the word of the untrustworthy source.
One surprising conclusion from the CIA retrospective is that the agency now believes that aggressive U.N. inspections in Iraq in 1991 after the Persian Gulf War led Hussein to what it describes as a "fateful decision." He covertly dismantled and destroyed the undeclared nuclear, chemical and biological facilities, materials and actual weapons he had put together in the preceding decade -- along with "the records that could have verified that unilateral destruction."
As a result, there was no proof in 2002 and 2003 when the Iraqis claimed they had no weapons of mass destruction, and Hussein could not demonstrate he was in basic, if not complete, compliance with U.N. resolutions. Noncompliance with the Security Council's October resolution was the main U.S. public rationale for the invasion of Iraq.
September 9, 2006
The long-awaited Senate Intelligence Committee report released yesterday sheds new light on why U.S. intelligence agencies provided inaccurate prewar information about Saddam Hussein and his weapons programs, including details on how Iraqi exiles who fabricated or exaggerated their stories were accepted as truthful because they passed Pentagon lie detector tests. The two newly declassified chapters of the report fueled political accusations yesterday that the Bush administration lied to justify invading Iraq.
The report notes that a DIA official who knew that the source was unreliable sat in on two meetings in which the mobile labs information was incorporated into the speech Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivered in February 2003 to the U.N. Security Council, but that the official did not realize the information was based solely on the word of the untrustworthy source.
One surprising conclusion from the CIA retrospective is that the agency now believes that aggressive U.N. inspections in Iraq in 1991 after the Persian Gulf War led Hussein to what it describes as a "fateful decision." He covertly dismantled and destroyed the undeclared nuclear, chemical and biological facilities, materials and actual weapons he had put together in the preceding decade -- along with "the records that could have verified that unilateral destruction."
As a result, there was no proof in 2002 and 2003 when the Iraqis claimed they had no weapons of mass destruction, and Hussein could not demonstrate he was in basic, if not complete, compliance with U.N. resolutions. Noncompliance with the Security Council's October resolution was the main U.S. public rationale for the invasion of Iraq.
Warrantless Wiretapping Law Changing
Wired News
September 13, 2006
A bill radically redefining and expanding the government's ability to eavesdrop and search the houses of U.S. citizens without court approval passed a key Senate committee Wednesday, and may be voted on by the full Senate as early as next week.
By a 10-8 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB2453, the National Security Surveillance Act (.pdf), which was co-written by committee's chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) in concert with the White House.
The committee also passed two other surveillance measures, including one from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), one of the few senators to be briefed on the National Security Agency program. Feinstein's bill, which Specter co-sponsored before submitting another bill, rebuffs the administration's legal arguments and all but declares the warrantless wiretapping illegal.
In contrast, Specter's bill concedes the government's right to wiretap Americans without warrants, and allows the U.S. Attorney General to authorize, on his own, dragnet surveillance of Americans so long as the stated purpose of the surveillance is to monitor suspected terrorists or spies.
September 13, 2006
A bill radically redefining and expanding the government's ability to eavesdrop and search the houses of U.S. citizens without court approval passed a key Senate committee Wednesday, and may be voted on by the full Senate as early as next week.
By a 10-8 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved SB2453, the National Security Surveillance Act (.pdf), which was co-written by committee's chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) in concert with the White House.
The committee also passed two other surveillance measures, including one from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), one of the few senators to be briefed on the National Security Agency program. Feinstein's bill, which Specter co-sponsored before submitting another bill, rebuffs the administration's legal arguments and all but declares the warrantless wiretapping illegal.
In contrast, Specter's bill concedes the government's right to wiretap Americans without warrants, and allows the U.S. Attorney General to authorize, on his own, dragnet surveillance of Americans so long as the stated purpose of the surveillance is to monitor suspected terrorists or spies.
Bob Schieffer on National Security
CBS News
September 13, 2006
In a recent op-ed piece, Bob Schieffer offers this interesting perspective;
"I'm glad they took them out of those secret CIA prisons. For me, it's a matter of national security - ours. Democracies have no business running secret prisons. That's what our enemies do. If we are in a battle for the hearts and minds of people around the world, as the administration says we are, I won't feel very secure if the people around the world believe we are no different than our enemies."
September 13, 2006
In a recent op-ed piece, Bob Schieffer offers this interesting perspective;
"I'm glad they took them out of those secret CIA prisons. For me, it's a matter of national security - ours. Democracies have no business running secret prisons. That's what our enemies do. If we are in a battle for the hearts and minds of people around the world, as the administration says we are, I won't feel very secure if the people around the world believe we are no different than our enemies."
Connecting Iraq To The War on Terror
CBS News
September 6, 2006
"One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror," Mr. Bush said. "I believe it, but the American people have got to understand that a defeat in Iraq, in other words if this government there fails, the terrorists will be emboldened, the radicals will topple moderate governments. I truly believe that this is the ideological struggle of the 21st century. And the consequences for not achieving success are dire."
September 6, 2006
"One of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror," Mr. Bush said. "I believe it, but the American people have got to understand that a defeat in Iraq, in other words if this government there fails, the terrorists will be emboldened, the radicals will topple moderate governments. I truly believe that this is the ideological struggle of the 21st century. And the consequences for not achieving success are dire."
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