The Cheney Observer
Feds Supoenaed Records
Federal investigators have subpoenaed records from Springfield Consulting and Carlyle Group, whose advisors and board members have included President George H.W. Bush, former defense secretary Frank Carlucci, and Bush confidant and political powerbroker James Baker. The firm's current chairman is Louis Gerstner, former chief executive at IBM.
The list of influential persons and firms that have received millions of dollars of pension business and finder's fees is long and includes both Democrats and Republicans.
No one has been charged with a crime related to the payment of fees, but the political backlash has been furious. Investigations continue.
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17827
Treat All Capital the Same
The National Tax Service (NTS) has completed a probe of overseas equity funds operating in Korea and decided to slap five of them, including Lone Star and the Carlyle Group, with a W214.8 billion (about U.S.$214.8 million) tax bill. The most remarkable aspect is that the NTS for the first time vetoed tax avoidance by companies nominally based in a tax haven.
Foreign funds evade tax in Korea by establishing paper companies in tax havens. Thus the U.S.-based fund Lone Star has a subsidiary in Belgium, and the W280 billion profits from real estate it made in Korea were made in the name of that firm, so Lone Star did not pay a penny in tax on account of a dual taxation avoidance treaty between Korea and Belgium.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200509/200509300028.html
Robert Kjellander:
Bush Pioneer, Records Subpoenaed in Corruption Investigation. Robert Kjellander was named RNC treasurer in early August of 2005, soon after it was reported that a federal prosecutor investigating corruption at the Illinois Teacher's Retirement Systems, a state run teacher's pension fund. The subpoena specifically sought records relating to Kjellander's receipt of $4.5 million in fees from the Carlyle group, for helping to land the business with the pension fund. (AP, 8/10/05)
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=54366
This Warden Takes No Prisoners
Former Abu Ghraib General's Book Names Names; Backs Up Abuse Allegations
By Steve Young
(NOTE: This article is based on a live interview with Janis Kapinski on L.A.'s KTLK Steve Young Show)
Sept. 27, 2005 — HOLLYWOOD (apj.us) — It's getting to be a long and ignominious list, these bombthrowers on the Left — Scott Ritter, Richard Clarke, Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, Cindy Sheehan — all who might have been considered faithful friends of the Right until they opted for the greatest transgression again the Bush Administration: they told the truth.
Former Marine Ritter tread through the home fields of evil-doer Saddam looking for WMD, then screamed to 90% of America who didn't want to hear it, "There aint none!" Counter-terrorism expert Clarke, who worked for the last three Republican Presidents including George W, told the 9-11 commission that America owed the victims of 9-11 an apology for a massive screw up. Hailed as "truly inspiring" and "courageous" by W's dad, Wilson 'splained to the CIA that "Yellowcake's a fake." Plame was just a spy who they outed because...well, because they could. And Cindy Sheehan... no one tougher than a mother who's found that the cause her son had died for was not a cause at all. Not a soft target among them. Yet they each became delicious bull's eyes for the administration and their Lords of Loud.
These whistleblowers blew an ill wind for a presidency that doesn't cotton to standing in, or opting for, a draft. Exposing a misstep within the Bush administration assures having one's character and lives ripped to shreds and converted into anti-American, hate-the-troops, bulls-eye for the White House to hawk. Bush administration talking points are served up like raw meat to the damnation chuckers of the cabinet, congress, Robert Novaks and especially, the broadcast Lords of Loud.
But the Lords of Loud and the White House may be facing their most challenging task yet, as entering the fray comes the newest and perhaps most strong-headed of 'em all: the former commandant of the infamous Abu Ghraib prison — Janis Karpinski.
This lady is not a tramp. She's military; spent more time serving her country in a war torn country than her boss did serving a country he's ended up tearing apart.
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20050927Young.html
The War Against Tom DeLay
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
WASHINGTON
TO hear Tom DeLay tell it, his indictment last week by a Texas grand jury resulted from a vast left-wing conspiracy - the culmination of years of relentless pursuit by Democrats who, in Mr. DeLay's words, "drug my name through the mud."
Democrats, of course, brushed the accusation aside, saying Mr. Delay, a Texas Republican, had only himself to blame for the conspiracy charge that forced him to step aside as the House majority leader.
But in fact an extensive network of forces has been aligned against Mr. DeLay - a kaleidoscope of activists and liberals, clean-government advocates and legal experts, even a smattering of resentful conservatives and Republican moderates, all bound by their desire to see him stopped.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/weekinreview/02kornblut.html?pagewanted=print
Someone needs to put a leash on DeLay !!
Tom Delay is a Man and Ronnie Earle is a Dog
October 01, 2005 10:27 AM EST
At a 4:00 p.m. press conference on September 30, 2005, in the fashionable Hess Club in Houston Texas, I, along with 200 other friends and supporters of Congressman Tom Delay came to hear what he had to say about his recent indictment and we weren't disappointed.
Here was a man, who stood firmly and told the crowd simply that he did nothing wrong and the crowd roared with approval. He pointed to his track record of public service and again the crowd roared. Then he talked about Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and Earle's one man vendetta against all things Republican and the crowd of supporters booed at the mere mention of that "politician’s name".
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=8683
TPMCafe: Politics, Ideas and Lots of Caffeine
Whose Skin is Judith Miller Really Trying to Save?
By Russ Hoyle
From: TPMCafe Special Guests
Ever since Judith Miller was cited for contempt of court and threatened with imprisonment back in March, her central role in the White House leak probe has had an air of unreality about it. After all, as reporters never tire of writing, Miller never even wrote about Valerie Plame, or anything else having to do with the case.
But with Miller’s release from jail last Thursday, her cloudy motives have grown even murkier. It may be time to admit that we’ve probably been asking the wrong questions about Judith Miller. The chattering classes so far have completely ignored the possibility that what Miller is so determined to protect may have nothing to do with the Plame case.
It may, however, have plenty to do with I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice-president’s chief of staff, whom Miller met with on July 8, 2003 and spoke with at least once more that week, along with other unnamed officials, after her return from Iraq and the unsuccessful U.S. search for Saddam’s weapons. And it may have everything to do with protecting the White House officials who leaked classified intelligence – not about Valerie Plame toRobert Novak in the summer of 2003 – but to Miller herself about Iraq’s allegedly reconstituted nuclear weapons program in September 2002.
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/2/23022/6302
The Daily Texan
Free at last
When we first heard that New York Times reporter Judith Miller was being released from prison Thursday night, excitement broke out in the newsroom. That excitement quickly turned to concern at the news she would testify before the grand jury Friday.
Miller waited in jail for 85 days to prove her commitment to her journalistic principles. She refused to reveal the name of her source - in this case I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff - until she was sure she had his un-coerced permission.
Her sacrifice is honorable and we are certainly in no place to tell her she should have remained in that prison. However, her choice to testify - even with persmission - could have serious consequences.
While it is clear in this case that Libby actually wanted Miller to testify, in the future a source with less clout might be compelled to let their reporter testify to let them out of prison - effectively bolstering the effectiveness of imprisoning journalists.
As Myron Farber, a Times reporter who was jailed in the late 70s for refusing to turn over notes, said, "Smaller people might tremble more when the reporter calls back and sayd, 'can you release me?'"
The ethical implications of this case will no doubt continue to be discussed. But for now, we'd like to congratulate Judith Miller on her hard-earned freedom.
NYT reporter’s stand draws journalists’ anger, scepticism
HOWARD KURTZ
WASHINGTON, OCOTOBER 1: In the end, what did Judith Miller accomplish by spending 85 days in jail? Not much, say her detractors, over the deal the New York Times reporter struck with I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, to testify about their 2003 conversations on CIA undercover Valerie Plame.
Some of Miller's colleagues at the Times, who declined to be identified, say much of the staff is frustrated and confused. “Was this a charade or a real principle?” one staffer said. “She wanted to resurrect herself from the WMD thing,” a reference to Miller’s stories while embedded with a US military unit searching for illegal weapons in Iraq in 2003.
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=79249
FSRN Headlines
Judith Miller Testifies in front of Grand Jury
New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released from jail yesterday after getting the go ahead from the Vice President's Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby to disregard their confidentiality agreement. Gus Caravalho reports from Washington.
Scientists Say Global Warming Causes More Intense Hurricanes
Scientists today said climate change and the destruction of coastal wetlands could mean the same types of disasters New Orleans saw with Hurricane Katrina. Renee Feltz has more from Houston.
Former White House Official Under Fire
Conservative Commentator William Bennett was criticized by the White House today for saying that one way to reduce crime would be to abort black babies. On his talk show "Morning in America" Bennett made the comment in conversation with a caller about abortion.
BENNETT: "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."
White House Spokesperson Scott Maclellan said Bennett's comments were inappropriate, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid demanded an apology. Bennett was Education Secretary for the Reagan administration and Director of Drug Policy for Bush Senior.
VAWA Goes to Senate
The Violence Against Women Act was set to expire today, but lawmakers extended the bill to 2009. Leigh Ann Caldwell has more.
West Bank Palestinians Go to the Polls, Again
Palestininans in villages across the West Bank went to the polls yesterday in the third stage of municipal elections. Minar Jibreen reports.
Bolivian Protesters Call for the Extradition of Goni
In Bolivia, Police violently dispersed protestors at the US embassy calling for the extradition of former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada from the United States. The first of three protests by family members of those killed during the demonstrations to oust the former President seeks to try Sanchez de Lozada for genocide. October marks two years since he fled office to the United States.
http://www.pacifica.org/programs/fsrn/fsrn_050930.html
Pacifica Reports From Iraq
Pacifica Correspondent Aaron Glantz is making his second trip to Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. He will be filing a series of reports from Iraq, exclusively for Pacifica.org, called Pacifica Reports From Iraq.
Below is a list of these reports:
May 12 - US Army vs. the Posters of Muqtada al-Sadr
Iraq – US soldiers, backed by tanks and helicopters, launched a fresh attack today against fighters loyal to the firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the Iraqi city of Kerbala. The Associated Press reports up to 25 Iraqis and seven US soldiers were wounded in the battle, which began only hours after Iraqi leaders had agreed on a proposal aimed at ending the US standoff with Mr Sadr's Mahdi army militia... more
May 5 - More Abuses from the Gates of Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib, Iraq – President George W. Bush continued his efforts to contain outrage over the torture scandal at Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison – formerly Saddam Hussein’s most notorious lock-up. Speaking to the Pentagon-run Arab satellite station al-Hurra (the freedom), Bush said reiterated he was “appalled” at broadcast images of Iraq’s naked and hooded. He pledged a full investigation and accountability for what he insisted were the actions of a few... more
May 4 - Killing the Followers of Sadr
Baghdad, Iraq -- Dozens of followers of Muqtada al-Sadr sing songs of martyrdom as they carry the coffins of two of their slain comrades into the shrine of the revered Imam Ali in the Iraqi Holy City, Najaf. Every night, Sadr's fighters engage in pitched battle with the US military which has placed its tanks and soldiers just outside the city limits. But that's not where these men died... more
May 3 - Fallujah Begins to Bury Its Dead
Baghdad, Iraq -- A team of local volunteers in surgical masks lift the rotting corpse of a middle aged woman from its shallow grave in the front yard of a single family home. The owner of the house explains the woman has been lying dead in his front yard for three weeks. He says an American war-plane bombed her car as she fled the city with her husband, who is buried in the garden of the house next door. The destroyed remains of
http://pacifica.org/programs/reportfromiraq/
Stephanopoulos: Source Says Bush & Cheney Involved in Plamegate
On today's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos cited an unnamed source who claims that President Bush and Vice-President Cheney were involved in the decision to out Valerie Plame. As the old spiritual goes, "And the walls came a-tumblin' down!"
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/10/02/stephanopoulos_source_says_bush_cheney_involved_in_plamegate.php
Source to Stephanopoulos: President Bush Directly Involved In Leak Scandal
Stephanopoulos: President Bush Directly Involved In Leak Scandal?
Judd posted this: "Near the end of a round table discussion on ABC’s This Week, George Stephanopoulos dropped this bomb:
Definitely a political problem but I wonder, George Will, do you think it’s a manageable one for the White House especially if we don’t know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments but if he is able to show as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/10/02.html
Pundit Pap
For Sunday, October 5, 2005
Tom DeLay's Smarm Offensive Overshadowed by George stephanopoulos' Leak
By JJ Balzer & Jeff Koopersmith
October 2, 2005—WASHINGTON (apj.us)—Tom DeLay was all over the Sunday shows, trying desperately to save his career as the top Republican "playa" in the legislative branch. He did little to help his own cause—not even Chris Wallace was giving him a pass. And a parade of military brass was on hand to tell America that we're making just splendid progress in Iraqnam.
But the big news so far this Sunday happened on ABC's This Week.
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20051002punditpap.html
Tom DeLay Says He Will Continue to Advance Agenda (Update1)
Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, who stepped down as House majority leader after being indicted by a Texas grand jury on Sept. 28, said he still plans to participate in moving the Republican agenda forward.
``I can do my job, with or without the title,'' DeLay said today on ``Fox News Sunday.''
DeLay said he would continue to raise money and advise Speaker Dennis Hastert on initiatives to cut taxes, enforce immigration laws and reduce spending. DeLay, a Texas Republican, faces up to two years in prison on a charge of conspiracy in connection with corporate donations in his home state.
DeLay's legal problems have handed a potent political issue to Democrats, Representative Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican, said on CNN's ``Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a4pPCKflCXFY&refer=top_world_news
DeLay Predicts Reinstatement as House Majority Leader
By VOA News
02 October 2005
Tom DeLay
U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay predicts he will be cleared of a criminal conspiracy charge, and that he will soon be reinstated as majority leader in the House of Representatives.
The Republican congressman was speaking on the television program "Fox News Sunday," where he called the indictment against him "manufactured" and "frivolous."
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-10-02-voa38.cfm
Row flares between Jeb Bush and Jack T over games bill
You say potato and I say tomato
By Aaron McKenna: Sunday 02 October 2005, 09:52
LAST THURSDAY we ran a story based on a press release put out by Miami attorney and videogames watchdog Jack Thompson who claimed that he was requested by Florida Governor Jeb Bush to draft a violent video games bill. That's here. But according to the office of the Governor, he was bending the truth a little.
Thompson said he was asked to draft a bill similar to that currently awaiting signing or trashing in California, which would restrict the sale of violent and sexually explicit videogames to minors, and that if such legislation were passed Governor Bush had assured Thompson that he would sign the bill into law.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26629
War, Racism and Global Warming
October 02, 2005
The three days of anti-war actions in Washington, D.C. last weekend organized primarily by United for Peace and Justice were a huge victory for the progressive movement. From the Saturday rally and march co-organized with ANSWER, to the Peace and Justice Fair all day on the Washington Monument grounds, to the highly successful Operation Ceasefire concert/rally Saturday going late into the night attended by tens of thousands, to the tent revival inter-denominational religious service Sunday evening, to the mass lobbying of many hundreds on Capitol Hill Monday morning followed by almost 400 people getting arrested in front of the White House Monday afternoon-all of it was a powerful manifestation of our movement's growing political strength.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=1&ItemID=8857
How local officials voted on Roberts nomination to the Supreme Court
By Alison Vekshin and Elizabeth Piet
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The Senate last week confirmed appeals court judge John Roberts to become the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court.
All 55 of the Senate's Republicans and half of the Democrats voted 78-22 in favor of Roberts, who will succeed the late William Rehnquist. Independent James Jeffords of Vermont also voted for Roberts.
Roberts' supporters lauded his legal background and his ability to fairly interpret the law and the Constitution.
http://www.heralddemocrat.com/articles/2005/10/02/texas_news/state01.txt
Bill Bennett's Call for Genocide
By Leo Walsh
Related stories: right wing watch
10-01-05, 9:07 am
The archconservative opinion rag National Review welcomed hypocritical gambling addict and anti-public education ideologue William Bennett back into the public spotlight this past week. Not because Bennett is leading some sort of new campaign on a far right issue that the wing nut journal has endorsed, but because of his racist suggestion that to reduce crime policymakers ought to abort African American babies.
To Bennett's credit he posed genocide only as a hypothetical, but insisted that its underlying premise is true.
While the White House officially treated Bennett's call for genocide in the same fashion as they treated right-wing televangelist Pat Robertson's call to illegally assassinate President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, most right-wing loudmouth's courageously remained silent about Bennett's hot potato. (In a muted press release, the White House described Bennett's comment as "inappropriate.")
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/1941/1/122/
Wilson and the Iraq War.
When did the war between Joe Wilson and The White House start in spring 2003?
The actions, and war, against Joe Wilson from The White House Staff, started already in March 03, several days before the start of the Iraq war, the 19. of March 03.
See my article about the 3 month activity, before July 03, here: http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/8/5/525/20717
When the international renowned Dr. Mohammad El Baradei told the U.N. Security Council March 7, 2003, that the British reports, on a possible uranium selling from Niger to Iraq, was unsubstantial and based on forged documents, was it a basic attack on US plans to attack Iraq.
And when Joe Wilson went to TV (CNN) a few days later, and told the audience, that US government was untruthful on the Niger case, and he could prove it. It was then, long before his July article, the war between Wilson and The White House started. Not in July.
We was clearly aware in Europe, at that time, long before the Iraq war, that the US government, and its president George Bush, was not credible, when they told the World, they could prove (without doubt) that Iraq had NBC-weapons.
http://houseoflabor.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/1/112739/959
ROVE AIDE CALLED TO TESTIFY TOOK HIS MESSAGES
John Byrne
A former senior aide to Bush adviser Karl Rove who reportedly gave testimony to a grand jury investigating the leaking of a
CIA agent's identity answered phones and took Rove's messages, RAW STORY has discovered.
According to a 2004 Salon piece, she also had a role with one of conservative Washington's leading men, Grover Norquist, in which she took messages for Rove and called Norquist to screen callers.
"For two years, the assistant who answered Rove's phone was a woman who had previously worked for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a close friend of Norquist's and a top DeLay fundraiser," Salon reported. "One Republican lobbyist, who asked not to be named because DeLay and Rove have the power to ruin his livelihood, said the way Rove's office worked was this: 'Susan took a message for Rove, and then called Grover to ask if she should put the caller through to Rove. If Grover didn't approve, your call didn't go through.'"
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/ROVE_AIDE_CALLED_TO_TESTIFY_TOOK_HIS_MESS_0802.html
Karl Rove Has Complete Confidence in President Rover?
U.S.
Does Karl Rove really have complete confidence in President Rover? After the President´s roundtable discussion that occured Monday, he should.
During yesterday’s roundtable discussion in Texas, the man most Americans describe as President Bush stated "Karl´s got my complete confidence. He´s a valuable member of my team,"
The Washington Post has called this comment as Bush’s strongest defense yet of Rove, the architect of his presidential campaigns.
Which support of Karl Rove at this time raises some very interesting, if not ludicrous questions.
The truth is—many people have wondered out loud if Karl Rove really is George Bush’s brain. The President’s comments that he has “complete confidence” almost makes one wonder if that brain is completely void of thought.
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=4652
I did not vote for Bush
http://www.ididnotvote4bush.com/pages/1/index.htm
Judith Miller walks
But the principle of confidentiality seems to stumble
Saturday, October 01, 2005
On general principles, we're against journalists being jailed for doing their job, so we applaud New York Times reporter Judith Miller's release on Thursday. Miller had served 85 days for refusing to testify about a confidential source, for refusing to answer a question she never should have been asked.
And we'd love to join her ringing cry on release, "I went to jail to preserve the time-honored principle that a journalist must respect a promise not to reveal the identity of a confidential source."
But when we actually trace the details on this story, it gets harder to see just what the principle behind Miller's appalling incarceration was. Worse, it seems that the principle of guaranteeing confidentiality to a source -- a vital tool for journalists discovering and reporting things that powerful people don't want revealed -- has taken a battering from virtually everyone involved.
http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1128164541276760.xml&coll=7
Libby Is to Cheney What Cheney Is to Bush
By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
Friday, September 30, 2005; 4:57 PM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has Dick Cheney as his behind-the-scenes adviser and problem solver. The vice president has his own man who fits that description: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
His job as Cheney's chief of staff gives Libby extraordinary influence and access in all corners of White House policy-making, particularly national security. But, just as Cheney doesn't talk about his conversations with Bush, Libby does not promote what he does for the vice president.
Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington in this March 1, 2001 file photo. New York Times reporter Judith Miller was released Thursday Sept. 29, 2005 after agreeing to testify in the investigation into the disclosure of the identity of a covert CIA officer after securing an unconditional release from Libby, two people familiar with the case said. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette, File) (Joe Marquette - AP)
Unlike many senior White House officials, Libby avoids the Sunday talk shows and rarely is quoted by name.
However, his quiet contacts with reporters have pushed Libby into the spotlight as a grand jury investigates whether White House officials leaked the name of a covert CIA operative, Valerie Plame.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/30/AR2005093001218.html
Leak probe's focus shifts to top Cheney aide
Reporter who spent 85 days in jail testifies about her interview with 'Scooter' Libby
By CAROL D. LEONNIG and JIM VANDEHEI
Washington Post
PRISON TIME
Judith Miller's sentence was the third-longest among those incarcerated for refusing to identify anonymous sources, according to a list from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:
• The longest: Freelance writer Vanessa Leggett served 168 days in 2001 after she balked at participating in a 1997 murder investigation involving a Houston socialite.
Source: Newsday
WASHINGTON - New York Times reporter Judith Miller told a grand jury Friday about her conversations with Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide in 2003, moving the two-year investigation into whether senior Bush administration officials illegally leaked covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity a step closer to its end.
Sources familiar with Miller's testimony say her account of two discussions with Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, that July are similar to the account Libby reportedly gave the grand jury last year.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3377421
Conspiracy Theories and the Fight for Truth
By Danny Schecter
MediaChannel.org
Aug 02, 2005
Washington, D.C. - Remember the "Jersey Girls?" That's a phrase we haven't heard in a while, a reference to several New Jersey-based widows who lost their husbands in the attack on the World Trade Center on 9-11. They were ordinary apolitical suburbanites, mostly with Republican leanings, who did an extraordinary thing in questioning the Administration's version of the attack and demanding that their government do so as well.
That led, after nearly a year of well-informed, frustrating and persistent lobbying, to the launch of the 9-11 investigation formally known as The National Commission On Terrorist Attacks Upon The United States.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/5-8-2/30806.html
Daily Briefing: Scrap the News Cycle
Bush nominates White House counsel Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor.
Fitzgerald may seek criminal conspiracy charge from leak investigation. "Scooter" Libby discussed Valerie Plame with at least two reporters but maintains he did not say her name or unveil her covert status; testimony of Libby and Karl Rove appears to contradict early White House statements.
Tom DeLay: "I think it will be over and be over very, very soon, and I think I will go back and be majority leader."
Christopher Shays (R-Conn.): "We got elected basically by saying we would live by a higher moral standard, and I don't think recently we have."
Majority of governors want states, not the Pentagon, to oversee responses to national disasters.
http://www.wonkette.com/politics/lewis-libby/index.php
Cheney aide revealed as source of CIA leak
Julian Borger
Scandal involving Lewis Libby threatens White House directly
WASHINGTON: An investigation into a White House intelligence leak was nearing its conclusion after a New York Times reporter, jailed in July for refusing to testify, identified U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's leading aide as her principal source.
Judith Miller was released from a prison in Virginia, where she had spent 12 weeks, and appeared in a federal court in Washington on Friday to give her account of a scandal that has been hanging over the administration for two years.
According to lawyers involved in the case, Ms. Miller identified Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, the Vice-President's chief of staff, as the government official she had spoken to in July 2003 about a CIA undercover agent, Valerie Plame.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/02/stories/2005100201161400.htm
Taking Out the Trash: Cheney Directly Involved In Leak Scandal
In today’s New York Times an anonymous source reveals that Cheney was directly involved in the strategy to discredit former ambassador Joe Wilson:
A lawyer who knows Mr. Libby’s account said the administration efforts to limit the damage from Mr. Wilson’s criticism extended as high as Mr. Cheney. This lawyer and others who spoke about the case asked that they not be identified because of grand jury secrecy rules.
On July 12, 2003, four days after his initial conversation with Ms. Miller, Mr. Libby consulted with Mr. Cheney about how to handle inquiries from journalists about the vice president’s role in sending Mr. Wilson to Africa in early 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq was trying acquire nuclear material there for its weapons program, the person said.
This is an effort by the White House to reveal more details about Cheney’s role on their own terms. The information was leaked to the New York Times on Saturday, the day when the fewest number of people read the paper. Also, it is presented in a way that makes Cheney’s involvement sound innocuous as possible.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/10/01/taking-out-the-trash/
The Bush-Cheney Gazillions Tour
Get Out Your Checkbooks. It's a Bundle of Fun
by Ward Harkavy
October 22 - 28, 2003
President Bush's re-election campaign has coupled the time-honored tradition of the chicken-dinner whistle-stop tour with the 21st-century technology of electronic check-tracking and a bit of Texas terminology to produce a monster of political fundraising.
"Soft money" has been outlawed. And individual contributions are limited to $2,000 each. Now the key word is "bundling."
Bush has three levels of bundlers who woo friends and allies to high-ticket (usually $1,000-a-plate) campaign lunches and dinners. Rangers are those committed to raising at least $200,000 each for the campaign; Pioneers have a goal of $100,000; and Mavericks are the under-40 crowd aiming at $50,000 each. (During the 2000 campaign, Bush had only the Pioneer category, of which Enron's Ken Lay was a member.)
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0343,harkavy,48033,1.html
Congressman calls VP too old and sick for the job
October 1, 2005, 6:01 AM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) _ For the second time in recent months, the dean of New York's congressional delegation has questioned whether Vice President Dick Cheney is fit for the duties of his office.
In an interview in August on NY1, the New York City-based all-news channel, Rep. Charles Rangel suggested that Cheney might be too sick to perform his job.
On Friday evening, Rangel was asked in a follow-up talk on the station
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--rangel-cheney1001oct01,0,4252015.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Prosecutor Tightlipped About Plame Case
It has been two years since a grand jury began looking into the Valerie Plame CIA identity case, a criminal investigation that could close up shop shortly or cause more pain for the Bush White House. Following Friday's grand jury testimony by New York Times reporter Judith Miller, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald gave no indication of his plans and his spokesman refused to comment. New York Times reporter Judith Miller, center, smiles as she is accompanied by New York Times Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr., left, and New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, right, as she leaves the courthouse in Washington Friday, Sept. 30, 2005. Miller testified before a grand jury Friday, ending her silence in the investigation into whether White House officials leaked the name of a covert CIA operative, Valerie Plame. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)
http://www.scoopt.org/article2591-prosecutor-tightlipped.html
Sure they want him to stay. He manipulates issues like no one else can. That is how he got in trouble in the first place.
Newsweek: 39% see DeLay in serious wrongdoing; 73 % see GOP 'too close' to big business
New York- Thirty-nine percent of Americans believe that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay probably engaged in "serious wrongdoing," according to the new Newsweek Poll. When asked if Tom DeLay engaged in wrongdoing, or if this week's indictment was more likely a case of DeLay's political opponents wanted to embarrass him, 39 percent of those polled say DeLay was probably engaged in serious wrongdoing, 28 percent believe it is a case of his political opponents wanting to embarrass him; while 10 percent are not aware of any charges being brought against him. Among Republicans, 21 percent believe DeLay was probably engaged in serious wrongdoing while 47 percent believed it was more likely his opponents were trying to embarrass him.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Newsweek_Monday_39_percent_see_DeLay_1001.html
Chron editorial board:
Tom DeLay?
Who's that?
Thursday, the editorial page of every major newspaper in the state (along with "national" newspapers) weighed in on the DeLay indictment.
The Chronicle was silent, instead running another "In the aftermath of Katrina" editorial.
The Chronicle editorial page offered nothing on the topic yesterday, instead choosing to run a laughable "In the aftermath of Katrina" editorial that contended the wild tales from New Orleans circulated by major media were not the fault of major media (when in fact, the vaunted "fact checking" and editors and extensive resources devoted to New Orleans quite clearly failed at basic journalism -- vetting and reporting FACTS).
The Chronicle editorial page offered nothing on the topic today, instead choosing to run another "aftermath of Katrina" editorial. The editorial idealists must be tired of bloggers laughing at them, though, because they busted out a thesaurus and came up with "In the wake of..." as a substitute. That's even funnier, actually.
Maybe the editorial idealists will be all rested up by tomorrow (it's HARD to put out a newspaper in the midst of a big news event, as the reader representative reminded us, and apparently takes quite a bit of time to recover), and can offer some opinion about the DeLay indictment.
http://www.bloghouston.net/item/1914/catid/3
Some 5,400 trailers delivered to Miss.
JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Some 5,400 trailers had been delivered for occupancy in Mississippi for those made homeless from Hurricane Katrina.
More than 7,700 people have moved into the trailers, according to Bechtel, one of four companies chosen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up temporary housing for displaced families.
Bechtel has also hired 1,600 people -- mostly via local suppliers and contractors -- to help set up the trailers.
Bechtel has set up temporary emergency housing operation centers in three southern Mississippi counties -- Hancock, Harrison and Jackson -- where more than 14,500 people have registered with FEMA for housing.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20051001-19071400-bc-us-katrina-trailers.xml
Well, why should there be a shadow over Jeb?
Jeb Bush defends $192 million charter of ships for storm relief
BY TOM STIEGHORST
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - (KRT) - Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday defended Carnival Cruise Lines' $192 million charter of three ships for hurricane relief, saying critics who have labeled it a "sweetheart deal" are wrong, and that the unfair charge could inhibit companies in Florida from stepping forward in the future if a similar hurricane situation develops here.
Bush spoke to about 1,300 travel agents at a cruise industry show at the Broward County Convention Center.
"There's some senators and politicians up there in Washington criticizing this and I think its wrong," Bush said at Cruise3sixty, an expo sponsored by the Cruise Line Industry Association. Bush said the deal was done during a crisis.
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/12787449.htm
Worker injured on Big Dig gets $8 million settlement
October 1, 2005
BOSTON --A Big Dig construction worker injured when he was impaled by a steel beam will receive at least $8 million in a settlement reached with the companies managing the massive highway project and a subcontractor.
Natalio Elias, of New Bedford, suffered brain damage after he was injured in July 2000, when an 8-foot-long piece of steel fell from a crane and impaled his skull.
Under the settlement, which is believed to be the largest liability settlement involving a Big Dig worker since the project began 15 years ago, Elias and his family will receive $8 million in damages and up to $7.3 million more for medical expenses throughout his life.
Elias, 42, had sued Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, which oversees the mammoth project, and Mark Equipment Corp., the subcontractor that provided the crane involved in the accident.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/01/worker_injured_on_big_dig_gets_8_million_settlement/
A Flood of Money
In the Gulf, a gold rush for government funds
By Angie C. Marek
There's a price for luxury. Just ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency. On September 1, when FEMA officials thought they would have thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina to house and feed, along with hundreds of emergency workers, the disaster management agency signed a no-bid contract with the Carnival Corp., owners of a fleet of luxe cruise ships. The deal: The feds would get three ships, Holiday, Ecstasy, and Sensation, with food included, all for a cool $236 million for six months.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051010/10hurricane.htm
The New Orleans Aftermath and an Ugly Glimpse of the Future
October 01, 2005
The most important and lasting story of New Orleans is not the catastrophe wrought by nature, important as that is. It's the planned and now being implemented one brought to that city and its benighted majority poor and mainly black population by the combined and complicit federal, state and local governments beholden to corporate interests. The overwhelming destruction and human misery and death caused by a natural phenomenon has quickly metamorphosed into an extraordinary golden opportunity for business profit and predation. The brazen and out of control Bush administration has taken full advantage by rewarding its corporate cronies well with lucrative contracts for what they and the major media call "rebuilding." What's really happening is something much different and well concealed that should be exposed as a national scandal. It's exploitive predatory disaster capitalism that's an unexpected "windfall" [excuse the pun] for the usual corporate "favorites" - Halliburton [of course, always first chosen], Bechtel, and the oil, chemical and all other corporations that will benefit from redevelopment contracts plus those to receive large federal subsidy handouts [above the large ones already gotten] . And, of course, all this will be funded, as it always is, mostly by middle and low income taxpayers who receive only the bill and none of the benefits.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=8851
Pakistan struggling for establishment of independent Palestinian state: Musharraf
Saturday October 01, 2005 (2033 PST)
KAKUL, October 02(Online): President General Pervez Musharaff has said that Pakistan is committed to its principle stand and struggling very hard for the creation of independent Palestinian State based on West Bank and Gaza.
He stated this while addressing a passing out parade ceremony of 112 PMA long course and integrated course-31 in Pakistan Military Academy here on Saturday.
President said that he had been engaged in creation of independent Palestian including West Bank and Gaza and would make all possible initiatives in future in this regard.
He further said that Palestian cadets who had got training in the PMA long course would be helpful in achieving the freedom and creation of homeland.
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=120994
NY MOSQUE LEADERS INDICTED
Grand Jury Indicts Two N.Y. Mosque Leaders.
ALBANY, N.Y. Sep 29, 2005 — A federal grand jury has handed up new indictments charging two leaders of an area mosque with conspiring to support terrorists, the U.S. Attorney said Thursday.
The superseding indictment returned Thursday also charges Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain with attempting to provide support to Jaish-e-Mohammed, an Islamic extremist group based in Pakistan that is on the State Department’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations.
Aref also was charged with making a false statement when he answered “none” to an immigration question asking him to list any organizations to which he had belonged. He also was charged with making false statements to the FBI when he was arrested in August 2004 and denied he was a member of the Islamic Movement in Kurdistan. At the time, he also denied knowing Mullah Krekar, believed to be the founder of Ansar-al-Islam, a radical Islamic fundamentalist group. Thursday, September 29, 2005
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=19683
Hey Florida scum . . . it’s time for you to run!
Oct 1, 2005
by Doug Giles ( bio archive contact )
“. . . if you do that which is evil, be afraid.”
1 Rom.13.4
As of this Saturday, October 1, 2005, the law abiding citizens of Florida have been “given back” the already God-given, Constitution-given and no-duh-right to defend themselves, and if need be, use deadly force in so doing. That’s right . . . if you decide to rape, rob, car jack or accost a Floridian, you might want to think twice about that brain fart, as that may be the last thing you do before your soul wings its way to Hades.
If you’re the little weed contemplating these things, you should reflect a bit longer on the wisdom of this course of violent action, because we the people can now wale on you and be protected from criminal prosecution and/or an inane civil suit.
Here’s what Floridians are now afforded via The Castle Doctrine. This beautiful new law basically gives the average Joe who gets criminally assaulted while minding his own beeswax three essentials things:
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/douggiles/2005/10/01/158897.html
