The Cheney Observer


Cheney Defiant on Classified Material
Executive Order Ignored Since 2003
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A01
Vice President Cheney's office has refused to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released by a congressional committee yesterday.
Since 2003, the vice president's staff has not cooperated with an office at the National Archives and Records Administration charged with making sure the executive branch protects classified information. Cheney aides have not filed reports on their possession of classified data and at one point blocked an inspection of their office. After the Archives office pressed the matter, the documents say, Cheney's staff this year proposed eliminating it.
Vice President Cheney's office hasn't complied with an executive order on classified data since 2003. (Gerald Herbert - AP)
The dispute centers on a relatively obscure process but underscores a wider struggle waged in the past 6 1/2 years over Cheney's penchant for secrecy. Since becoming vice president, he has fought attempts to peer into the inner workings of his office, shielding an array of information such as the names of industry executives who advised his energy task force, costs and other details about his travel, and Secret Service logs showing who visits his office or official residence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102309.html?hpid=topnews



Rove Linked To Siegelman Prosecution
Yeah, I know this is, in one sense, a local story, but it's also another link in the chain of evidence running from Rove to the Justice Department.
And by a Republican attorney. This will be interesting to watch.
In the rough and tumble of Alabama politics, the scramble for power is often a blood sport. At the moment, the state's former Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, stands convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Siegelman has long claimed that his prosecution was driven by politically motivated, Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys.
Now Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, has been implicated in the controversy. A longtime Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top G.O.P. operative in the state say that Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys.
According to the affidavit, William Canary, GOP operative and Riley campaign advisor (and now President & CEO of the Business Council of Alabama), told a group on a conference call that there was no need to worry about Siegelman's election challenge because "his girls" would take care of it. "His girls" being, apparently, his wife Leura Canary, the US Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, and Alice Martin, the US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. Canary also allegedly said that "he had already gotten it worked out with Karl and Karl had spoken with the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice was already pursuing Don Siegelman."

http://tehipitetom.blogspot.com/2007/06/rove-linked-to-siegelman-prosecution.html




Who Is The Scariest GOP Presidential Candidate?
By: Jane Hamsher
The Carpetbagger wants to know:
* Rudy Giuliani — Matt Taibbi recently made the case that the former NYC mayor is actually “worse than Bush.” Giuliani is autocratic, thin-skinned, and self-absorbed. He’s inexperienced, ignorant about policy specifics, and his only selling point (performance on 9/11) doesn’t stand up well to scrutiny. His campaign is built around demagoguery — driven solely by fear.
* John McCain — A shadow of his former self, the senator appears to be a man who’ll do anything to win. McCain is combative and intolerant of dissent. He defends the indefensible and lashes out angrily at anyone who dares to disagree with him. He’s become dishonest, condescending, and egotistical, while pandering shamelessly to some of the worst elements in Republican politics.
* Mitt Romney — The man appears to have no real convictions at all. On most of the major political issues of the day, Romney believed the exact opposite fairly recently, and has struggled to explain his metamorphosis from moderate governor to far-right candidate.
* Fred Thompson — The actor/lobbyist/senator doesn’t seem to have any real rationale for seeking the presidency, other than the belief he might win. Thompson is at least as phony as Romney — the red truck story should be humiliating to him — and developed a Bush-like reputation for being lazy and incurious. He considers moving to northern Virginia “getting out of Washington” and his most valuable skill seems to be his ability to pretend to be someone else.
Tancredo might indeed be the scariest but the institutional GOP probably hates him just about as much as the left does these days so it’s not really much of a threat. Personally I find “Double Gitmo” Romney’s willingness to turn himself into some morally blighted cartoon soundbite the scariest, because he actually does have that lantern jawed presence that makes him an appropriate front man for the hermetically sealed right wing parallel universe.
And yes, Rudy might actually be “worse than Bush.”
So who’s your nominee and why?

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/06/17/who-is-the-scariest-gop-presidential-candidate/



Florida Rep Starts Legal Defense Fund
By Paul Kiel - June 22, 2007, 1:00 PM
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) filed papers with the House of Representatives establishing a legal defense fund earlier this week.
Federal investigators stepped up their probe of Feeney's ties to Jack Abramoff in April. Abramoff brought Feeney along on one of his infamous golf junkets to Scotland, this one in 2003. Feeney was one among three lawmakers on the trip -- the other two were ex-Reps. Bob Ney (R-OH) and Tom DeLay (R-TX).
As Roll Call reported in April, Feeney has made two payments totaling $23,000 to the law firm Patton Boggs for legal counsel to represent him for an ethics committee probe of the trip. The committee ruled in January that the trip was improper and fined Feeney $5,643. It would seem that Feeney needs more help paying to defend himself against possible criminal charges.
Via PoliticalMoneyLine.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003507.php



Sen. Bill Frist To Teach Healthcare Policy
By Staff
Jun 20, 2007
Former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist is heading for Princeton University in the fall.
Frist, a 1974 graduate of Princeton, is to teach courses on public health policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. His schedule calls for him to teach a graduate course this fall and an undergraduate one in the spring.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_21287504.shtml



Frist to teach at Princeton
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
By CHRIS NEWMARKER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON -- Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is returning to his alma mater, Princeton University, to teach courses on government health policy, the university said Tuesday.
Frist, a U.S. senator from Tennessee from 1995 until January this year, has been appointed as a visiting professor for the 2007-08 academic year, and will serve as a lecturer at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
The 55-year-old Frist will teach a graduate course at the Wilson School on health policy during the fall semester, and an undergraduate course on a similar subject in the spring.
"His years of experience in public service as a doctor and as a leader in the U.S. Senate make him an ideal practitioner-professor," said Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Wilson School.
Princeton wouldn't disclose whether Frist is receiving any pay for the lecturing job.
Frist said in a Princeton news release that he hoped to "bridge the practical and the theoretical" while teaching students.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxNTQ4ODUmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXky



Michael Moore, Tom DeLay 'Sicko' Debate Is Off
By Staff
Jun 23, 2007
A U.S. TV debate on healthcare between filmmaker Michael Moore and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has been called off.
"Sicko," Moore's latest movie, focuses on the healthcare industry.
ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" arranged the debate, Variety reported Friday, but Moore pulled out, saying he had agreed to debate former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who left Congress to become the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbyist.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/entertainment/article_21288159.shtml



501 Days until election day.
MORNING UPDATE:
Karl Rove in Michigan tonight.
Hike in CAFE standards passed in the middle of the night. Senators Levin and Stabenow cut a “deal” that “slows” the bleeding, but is still a bad deal for domestic auto manufacturers.
Now the bill moves to the House where congressional Democrat leaders from Michigan need to put up a fight. Can Congressman Dingell and Stupak deliver?
Michigan has Democrat leaders who won’t “buck” their San Francisco Democrats for the good of the auto industry…what good are Levin and Stupak if they can’t represent Michigan???
TAXES…still the talk of the town in Lansing…stay tuned and talk to your state legislators!
State Senator Nancy Cassis is introducing legislation to make Michigan a “Right to Work” state…making union membership voluntary?

http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/06/articles-of-i-2.html



Our poor, underpaid federal judges
June 22, 2007 - 7:02am.
Layers get rich. Judges don't
By PAUL F. CAMPOS
Recently, Chief Justice John Roberts devoted his entire annual report on the federal judiciary to complaining about how little federal judges are paid. (Trial court judges are paid $165,000 per year, while appellate court judges and Supreme Court justices subsist on annual salaries of $175,000 and $203,000, respectively).
Roberts is playing the role of an administrator trying to wheedle a pay raise out of Congress for his department, so a certain amount of hyperbole in his rhetoric is to be expected. Still, Roberts' description of the situation as "a constitutional crisis that threatens to undermine the federal judiciary" is a bit much.
Roberts focuses on the fact that judicial salaries haven't kept pace with the salaries of what he calls "senior law professors at top schools." And this is true -- while the salaries of such persons have nearly doubled in real terms over the past 40 years, judicial salaries have declined slightly.
Roberts also points out that federal judges now make about as much as new law school graduates hired by top firms, and only a small fraction of what the senior partners in those firms take home.
He speculates that this situation will "inevitably result in a decline in the quality" of federal judges, since the pool is becoming restricted to "persons so wealthy that they can afford to be indifferent" to their salaries, or people who would be getting a raise by becoming a judge.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/2759



Inside the Statehouse
George W. Bush's legacy
The presidency of George W. Bush will be viewed by history in two different lights.
His Iraq blunder has devastated our nation. Besides the thousands of American lives lost, our respect and admiration has been
destroyed worldwide, and he has incurred the largest financial deficit in our lifetimes with his hapless invasion. It will take years, maybe decades, to recover from the Bush Iraq debacle. Historians will be no kinder to Bush than the 72 percent of Americans who abysmally disapprove of his policy.
However, the religious right will hail him for decades as the Messiah. He ran as a social conservative and he has delivered. He has been as unwavering in his devotion to his conservative beliefs and his commitment to the social brethren as he has to his war. Religious conservatives comprise over one third of the Republican Party base. This core of religious conservatives elected Bush twice. Polling indicates the overwhelming turnout of social conservatives in swing states like Ohio made the difference in 2004.

http://www.clarkecountydemocrat.com/news/2007/0621/Editorial/048.html



Cheney Delivers USS Carriers to the Middle East - It wasn't just War Games

http://wonkette.com/politics/dept'-of-let.s-play-a-game/weekend-forecast-hot-with-a-chance-of-cheney-starting-another-war-271489.php



Cheney Verses the National Archives
by Robin Weage
Staff Writer ToTheCenter.com
Is the vice president’s office part of the executive branch? That question is at the heart of a dispute between Cheney’s office and the National Archive’s Information Security Oversight Office (ISSO).
The ISSO is charged, under a presidential order, with the responsibility to ensure that classified information and documents used by the executive branch are protected and maintained properly. The order also requires the executive branch to keep track of and report to the ISSO on how much material it has classified or declassified.
The fight started in 2003 when Cheney’s office stopped providing information to the ISSO. It escaladed further in 2004 with his staff’s refusal to admit the agency’s people from conducting an onsite inspection of their classified information.
Documents released on Thursday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Henry Waxman, showed that William Leonard, director of ISSO, sent at least two letters to David Addington requesting that Cheney’s office comply with the presidential directive. In response he was told that the vice president’s office “does not believe it is included in the definition of ‘agency’ as set forth in the order,” nor is it an “entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information.” The additional letters were ignored.

http://tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=2296



Cheney Claims He’s Not Part of Executive Branch
James Joyner
Friday, June 22, 2007
Yesterday afternoon, Justin Rood broke the strange story of Dick Cheney’s claim of Vice Presidential immunity from executive orders.
Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.
Bill Leonard, head of the government’s Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), told Waxman’s staff that Cheney’s office has refused to provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to Waxman.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/06/cheney_claims_hes_not_part_of_executive_branch/



Article. II. - The Executive Branch Note
Section 1 - The President Note1 Note2
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html



CHENEY IS A FRAUD. He uses his power as Vice President to facilitate his ability to his corruption. I. Lewis Libby is a casualty to Cheney's power addiction. In the case regarding Cheney's Energy Committee, convened two weeks after taking 'the oath of office' Cheney claimed Executive Privilege to protect the proceedings of that committee from leaking to the public and hence damage the 2004 campaign. He cannot claim Executive Privilege on one hand and deny it on the other. The Vice President's office is not that schizophrenic. It usually is not that much of a political mine field either.

The claim presented in the government’s Cheney briefs is that the processes of Presidential advice- and information-gathering are beyond Congress’ power to regulate. Activities of the executive branch beyond Congress’ power to regulate are also beyond Congress’ power of inquiry or investigation as well. See Barenblatt v. United States. No balancing of competing interests is appropriate because Congress lacks any authority to interfere or inquire.

http://www.law.duke.edu/publiclaw/supremecourtonline/commentary/chevuni



Libby Ordered to Prison While Awaiting Appeal
by Nina Totenberg
All Things Considered, June 14, 2007 · A federal judge has refused to delay the prison sentence of former White House aide Lewis Libby.
Libby was sentenced to 30 months for lying to a grand jury and FBI investigators about the leak of a CIA operative's identity. His lawyers asked Judge Reggie Walton to allow Libby to remain free pending appeal, but Walton said Libby must report on whatever date is set by the Bureau of Prisons.
That usually takes some weeks, which the judge says is enough time to ask the appeals court for a stay of his order.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11086535



Is Dick Cheney trying to create his own Fourth Branch of Government? He should be subject to the Senate's Security rules.
Submitted by crew on 22 June 2007 - 11:41am. Dick Cheney
The Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney, is trying to create a new legal status for himself. This latest development raises serious new questions about Cheney -- and who, if anyone, has authority over his actions. In Cheney's mind, it seems no one does.
CREW just issued this news release asking these new questions that need to be answered about Dick Cheney:
In light of new revelations that Vice President Cheney is claiming that his office is not subject to an executive order governing the handling of classified information because as president of the Senate he has both legislative and executive duties, CREW asks if Vice President Cheney is attempting to create a fourth branch of the government?
Under his argument, if Mr. Cheney is not subject to executive branch security requirements, surely he must be subject to Senate rules.
To safeguard sensitive information, in 1987 the Senate created the Office of Senate Security, which is part of the Secretary of the Senate. The Security Office’s standards, procedures and requirements are set out in the Senate Security Manual, which is binding on all employees of the Senate.
So, if Mr. Cheney is a member of the Senate, he must adhere to the following:
a requirement that any of his staff needing access to classified information undergo a security clearance and complete written non-disclosure agreements;
physical security requirements, that the Security Office is empowered to implement, including any necessary inspections; and
investigations of suspected security violations by employees, such as the security violation committed by Scooter Libby when he unlawfully disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, then a covert CIA operative.
In addition, Mr. Cheney and his staff would be subject to investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, which has the responsibility to investigate allegations of improper conduct which may reflect upon the Senate, including violations of law and the rules and regulations of the Senate.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said Mr. Cheney’s arguments raise new questions:
Since there is no fourth branch of government to which Mr. Cheney could belong, by claiming the Office of the Vice President is within the legislative branch does Mr. Cheney agree that he is subject to Senate security procedures?
Mr. Cheney’s office refused to describe its 2003 classification activities to the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA), but is he now willing to describe them to the Senate Security Office?
If Mr. Cheney does not believe that NARA’s Information Security Oversight Office can conduct on-sight inspection of Mr. Cheney’s office to see how sensitive material is handled, does he agree that the Senate Security Office can conduct such an inspection?

http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/29167



There seems to be a whole lot of 'former' people in power that are attempting to exert power over a pardon for Scooter. Maybe they figure they might need the favor returned someday. Although. Libby's career is over.

The Libby lobby's pardon campaign
Having never expressed remorse for his crime, Scooter Libby instead enlisted his neoconservative friends to win him reduced prison time.
By Sidney Blumenthal
Pages 1 2
June 7, 2007 Those who served most closely with him described their feelings with persuasive intensity. One after another they used the same words: "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Gradually, however, Major Ben Marco breaks through his brainwashing to discover that Raymond Shaw is a sleeper agent programmed to install the Manchurian candidate as president.
One after another, in nearly the same language, in letters that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledged had been prompted by I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in his attempt to mitigate a harsh sentence for his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice, dozens of people described the former chief of staff to the vice president with the warmest feelings.
"I know Mr. Libby to be a patriot, a dedicated public servant, a strong family man, and a tireless, honorable, selfless human being," wrote Donald Rumsfeld, the former secretary of defense.
"Mr. Libby was one of the most dedicated public servants I have known in my career," wrote Eric Edelman, the undersecretary of defense for policy.
"I can say, without hesitation, that Scooter was among the finest and most selfless public officials with whom I have ever worked," wrote John Hannah, Vice President Cheney's national security advisor.
"Scooter Libby is one of the most genuine, kind, hardworking and patriotic people I know," wrote Elizabeth Denny, Cheney's social secretary.
One after another, the letter writers declare that Libby's "character" is "inconsistent" with the jury's verdict. These same words -- "character" and "inconsistent" -- appear dozens of times.
"The Scooter Libby I have known for a number of years now is someone about whom such crimes as perjury and obstruction of justice seem as improbable to me as life on Mars," wrote Midge Decter, the neoconservative writer. Her husband, Norman Podhoretz, the neoconservative editor emeritus of Commentary magazine, wrote: "Like everyone else who knows him, I find it inconceivable that a man of his sterling character, who is also famous for his lawyerly scrupulousness, could deliberately have told lies to a grand jury, or for that matter to anyone else." (Decter and Podhoretz's son-in-law, Elliott Abrams, convicted of lying to Congress in the Iran-Contra scandal and subsequently pardoned, is a deputy national security advisor.)
Unmoved by these letters, Judge Reggie Walton imposed a sentence of two and a half years and a $250,000 fine, and told Libby, "Your lies blocked an extremely serious investigation, and as a result you will indeed go to prison." Almost immediately, Cheney praised Libby's "personal integrity," and added his wish that the sentence will be overturned on appeal: "Speaking as friends, we hope that our system will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine man." Thus, Cheney encouraged his former chief of staff to maintain his steadfast refusal to implicate his former boss in the crimes Libby felt compelled to cover up with his lies to the grand jury.
To be sure, others convicted of crimes often submit similar testimonials before sentencing. But most of those who throw themselves on the mercy of the court express sorrow at what they have done. Libby, however, refused to show remorse. He offered no contrition, only an exercise in victimhood. Like the child who has killed his parents and demands mercy for being an orphan, Libby tried to murder the truth and then got dozens of people to plead for leniency based on his good character.
The act of procuring these letters is further evidence of Libby's stove-piping of disinformation. Libby could not reasonably have expected to sway the judge, but there is a higher authority to which he is appealing. These letters constitute the beginnings of the Libby Lobby's pardon campaign.
Ironically, the longest, most detailed and among the most personal letters supporting Libby is also the most damaging. In "Re: Character Reference for I. Lewis Libby," Paul Wolfowitz writes, "I am currently serving, until June 30 of this year, as President of the World Bank." Either obtusely or obliquely, Wolfowitz's opening line emphasizes the symbiotic nature of their careers, both men having fallen from grace within weeks of each other after years of collaboration. "It is painful for me to reflect on the fact that his life would have been very different if we had never met. He would almost certainly now be a successful attorney in Philadelphia." Wolfowitz describes their 35-year association, going back to when he was an assistant professor at Yale and Libby was his assistant, and how he recruited Libby to serve as his assistant in the State Department and then in the Defense Department. According to Wolfowitz's account, Libby was an indispensable man in ending the Cold War, winning the Gulf War and waging the "global war on terror." But he was also, Wolfowitz writes, of "service to individuals."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/06/07/scooter_libby/index.html



Politico's Allen gushed over Romney's PowerPoint slides, still can't find space for Giuliani ISG story
In the June 22 edition of his daily "Politico Playbook," Politico chief political correspondent Mike Allen praised former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's (R) June 21 speech on national security at the American Enterprise Institute's World Forum as "very ambitious and serious" and dubbed Romney "Multimedia Mitt," inviting readers to "[c]heck out the 31 Power Point slides former Gov. Romney used last night." Allen, however, offered no explanation as to why Romney's speech was, as he put it, "very ambitious and serious." Indeed, Allen acknowledged that he had not seen Romney's speech and hadn't read it in full -- he noted that the speech was "closed to the press under AEI rules" and that the campaign released only "excerpts" of the speech. Moreover, Allen did not note, as the weblog Think Progress did, that the excerpts of Romney's "serious" national security speech included no substantive remarks on the Iraq war.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200706220007?f=h_latest



McCain Campaign Apologizes to Romney
Friday June 22, 2007 9:31 PM
AP Photo MNCL103, AZMY103
By AMY LORENTZEN
Associated Press Writer
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - John McCain's presidential campaign has apologized to Republican rival Mitt Romney for comments about the Mormon church allegedly made by a volunteer earlier this year.
The incident dates to a meeting of Iowa Republican activists in April, where McCain's Warren County chairman, Chad Workman, is alleged to have made negative comments about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Mormon faith. Romney is a Mormon.
A participant at the meeting said Workman questioned whether Mormons were Christians, and he referenced an article alleging that the Mormon church supports the Islamic militant group Hamas. The participant talked to The Associated Press on Friday on condition of anonymity because he is involved in Iowa politics and wanted to protect his identity.
In response to a question on whether Mormon women were more likely to be stay-at-home mothers, the participant said Workman associated the treatment of Mormon women with the Taliban.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6729267,00.html



Romney aide takes leave amid probes
By Glen Johnson, Associated Press Writer June 22, 2007
BOSTON --An ever-present aide to Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney took a leave of absence Friday after he became the subject of investigations in two states for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer. His attorney denied the charges.
Jay Garrity, who serves as director of operations and is constantly at the side of the former Massachusetts governor, is accused of leaving a lengthy message with the answering service of a plumbing company on Mother's Day, identifying himself as "Trooper Garrity" of the Massachusetts State Police and complaining about erratic driving by a company driver.
The district attorney in Boston is investigating the call, which was tape recorded by an after-hours operator. Impersonating an officer is a misdemeanor charge carrying a fine of up to $400 and one year imprisonment.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/06/22/romney_aide_takes_leave_amid_probes/



This is what John Kerry wanted to do in 2004.

Romney says he would expand the military
Jun 22 2007 1:43PM
Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. (AP) Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says if elected president, he would expand the military by 100-thousand troops.
He says the expansion is needed to aid a U-S Army worn thin by frequent rotations in Iraq. And he says improved benefits may be needed, to get enough people to sign up.
The former Massachusetts governor spoke in Helena today, at the the Montana Republican Convention.
Romney says if he, or any Republican is elected president, there will be a war waged on terrorists.

http://www.kxmb.com/News/137396.asp



Joking.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney calls for fresh U.S. strategy in war on terrorism
By Liz Sidoti
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:48 p.m. June 21, 2007
WASHINGTON – Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney called for “new course” in the fight against terrorists on Thursday and, in a swipe at Democrat John Edwards, said: “The war on terror is not a bumper sticker.”
Speaking to a conservative group, Romney argued that “there is a real war being waged by violent jihadists.”
The former Massachusetts governor did not mention Edwards by name, but the remark was clearly directed at the Democratic presidential candidate who has contended that the war on terror is little more than a “bumper sticker” slogan.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20070621-1848-romney-terrorism.html




Probe Opens: Did Mitt Romney's Staff Harass 'NYT' Reporter?
Published: June 22, 2007 10:20 PM ET
CONCORD The New Hampshire Attorney General‘s Office has opened an investigation into whether presidential hopeful Mitt Romney‘s staff might have made an illegal traffic stop.
ConserveNH President Paul Nagy wrote a letter to Attorney General Kelly Ayotte asking her to check if Romney aides illegally stopped a New York Times reporter, checked his license plate against a database and overstepped their authority.
One of ConserveNH‘s founder, Patrick Hynes, works for Sen. John McCain‘s political action committee, Straight Talk America.
McCain‘s New Hampshire spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker denied any connection between the campaign and the letter.
Romney‘s campaign on Wednesday denied a report that aides pulled over Times reporter Mark Leibovich, who was trailing the former Massachusetts governor‘s caravan in New Hampshire, checked his license plates and told him to leave.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/departments/newsroom/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003602358



This Cannot be True
On July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed that an unidentified object with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outsid Roswell, New Mexico.
Many claim this well-known incident has long been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and government. But why?
Well, what you may NOT know is that, exactly 9 months after that historic day, in March 1948, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Rush Limbaugh, Condolezza Rice, and Dan Quayle were born.
Labels: conspiracy theory

http://greenerblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/this-cannot-be-true.html



The 'fallout' from Neocon Abramoff:

Family Behind Foxwoods Loses Hold in Tribe
MASHANTUCKET PEQUOT INDIAN RESERVATION, Conn. — Things are different now for the Hayward family, who took this tiny tribal nation on a dizzying odyssey two decades ago from virtual dust to startling wealth and power.
With Haywards at the helm, the Pequots built one of the most profitable casinos in the world here, a teal and lavender fortress known as Foxwoods that looms like Xanadu above the rustic woods.
Within a few years, the tribe traded in a life of pig farming and maple sugaring for one of lavish homes, expensive cars and private school educations.
But 15 years after Foxwoods opened, the family that brought the Pequots back from the brink, that repopulated an almost empty reservation and rebuilt its economic soul, says the tribe has cast it aside in recent years.
Richard A. Hayward, a former pipefitter who led the tribe for 23 years, has rarely been seen on the reservation since being deposed as the Pequot leader several years ago.
The rest of the 70-member Hayward clan say they, too, have been shunned by the Pequot family that now controls the tribal government.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/nyregion/22pequot.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&hp&oref=slogin



Doolittle: Congress to get tough on Iraq War
By Dave Moller, davem@theunion.com
12:01 a.m. PT Jun 22, 2007
Congress members expect progress in the Iraq War by the end of the year, when they want Iraqis to be in more control of their own destiny, said Congressman John Doolittle, R-Roseville, Thursday.
"Congress will increasingly take a tougher line on this," as President Bush's tenure winds down, Doolittle said in a conference call with Northern California reporters. Bush leaves office in January 2009, right after the general elections in November 2008.
Doolittle said a good chance exists for some American troops to be coming home before the president leaves office but presented no specific plans or ideas toward that end.

http://www.theunion.com/article/20070622/NEWS/106220172



McCain's Support Drops Among Iowa Republicans
June 22nd, 2007 @ 6:07am
by KTAR Newsroom
Senator John McCain's standing has dropped in Iowa among Republican contenders in the presidential race.
Once viewed as a front-runner, he's now in single digits.
Former presidential advisor David Gergen thinks he knows why. "Obviously his stand on the war as well as his stand on immigration -- both of those have caused him unhappiness in different parts of the Republican party."
"Beyond that, he's a very different candidate now. Sadly, tragically, I think his years as a prisoner of war may be catching up with him maybe in terms of his age."
The Mason-Dixon Poll of Iowa Republicans shows Mitt Romney with 25 percent support, Fred Thompson comes in second and Rudy Giuliani third. McCain had about six percent support.
McCain's camp disagrees with the poll numbers. "His campaign says it's an aberration and it may well be, some polls have wide variances between other polls. The problem is his campaign is saying the same exact thing about a recent South Carolina poll that shows John McCain dropped from double digits to 7 percent," says CNN's John King.

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=521141



McCain receives warm welcome from Pawlenty
ST. PAUL - Republican presidential candidate John McCain got a warm welcome here Thursday from his political ally, Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
McCain visited Minnesota to raise money at a St. Paul home, where a private reception with him was going for $2,300 a head and general admission was $1,000 per person.
The Arizona senator is struggling against Republican rivals Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney and may face more complications if actor Fred Thompson gets into the race. But Pawlenty has been behind his candidacy since last year.
The Republican governor has made five out-of-state trips this year to Iowa, Michigan and New Hampshire as a national co-chairman of McCain's campaign.
The two men have nothing but praise for each other.
McCain called Pawlenty “one of the real rising stars in the Republican Party” at an airport news conference, even as he deflected yet another question about picking the Minnesota politician as his running mate.
For his part, Pawlenty talked up McCain's skills at consuming one of the delicacies of the Minnesota State Fair, which the duo visited in 2004: “He eats cheese curds like a monster,” the governor said.

http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2007/06/22/news/news6.txt



Why Does Cheney Still Have Access To Secrets?
by Steve Soto
With the revelation over the last several days that the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has argued that it is not bound by Executive Branch rules on the handling of classified information, and Cheney’s retaliation against the National Archives for requesting an accounting from him on the matter, there are many questions that the media and the Democratic leadership should pursue immediately.
If the OVP now argues that it is not bound by executive branch rules, then how can the OVP argue that it is covered by executive privilege?
If the OVP is not entirely an Executive Branch entity, does this not undermine its legal defense in the Cheney Energy Task Force case?
IF the OVP argues that it is not bound by executive branch rules governing the handling of classified information, then why hasn’t President Bush pulled the security clearances of Cheney and all his staff?
How can Congress and the American people have confidence that the Bush Administration is protecting our national security and our classified assets and secrets as long as the OVP exempts itself from protecting those secrets and those assets?
When do Jay Rockefeller and Silvestre Reyes take aggressive action to hold the White House accountable for not protecting national security information?

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/010540.php



Reason for concern in Halliburton's books
JONATHAN WEIL
GUEST COLUMNIST
Investors have shrugged off almost all the bad news at Halliburton Co. the past few years -- accusations of overbilling the Army and bribing foreign officials, along with scrutiny over business dealings in Iran and non-compete bids on government work.
Instead of tanking, the company's stock has soared.
The same investors might take notice, though, if Halliburton's financial statements were in doubt, and a former company accounting executive says they are.
Anthony Menendez, who was Halliburton's director of technical accounting research and training, has accused the world's second-largest oilfield-services company of using so-called bill-and-hold accounting and other undisclosed practices to "distort the timing of billions of dollars in revenue." In short, Menendez says this allowed Halliburton to book product sales improperly, before they occurred.
The allegations are part of a 54-page complaint Menendez filed against Halliburton with a Labor Department administrative law judge in Covington, La., who released the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Menendez, who resigned last year and is seeking unspecified damages, says Halliburton retaliated against him in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act's whistle-blower provisions after he reported his concerns to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the company's audit committee.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/320954_halliburton24.html



Published on Thursday, February 5, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times
Scalia Was Cheney Hunt Trip Guest; Ethics Concern Grows
by David G. Savage and Richard A. Serrano
PATTERSON, La. — Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia traveled as an official guest of Vice President Dick Cheney on a small government jet that served as Air Force Two when the pair came here last month to hunt ducks.
The revelation cast further doubts about whether Scalia can be an impartial judge in Cheney's upcoming case before the Supreme Court, legal ethics experts said. The hunting trip took place just weeks after the high court agreed to take up Cheney's bid to keep secret the details of his energy policy task force.
According to those who met them at the small airstrip here, the justice and the vice president flew from Washington on Jan. 5 and were accompanied by a second, backup Air Force jet that carried staff and security aides to the vice president.
Two military Black Hawk helicopters were brought in and hovered nearby as Cheney and Scalia were whisked away in a heavily guarded motorcade to a secluded, private hunting camp owned by an oil industry businessman.
The Times previously reported that the two men hunted ducks together while the case was pending, but it wasn't clear then that they had traveled together or that Scalia had accompanied Cheney on Air Force Two.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0205-02.htm



Don't copy Washington state's union dues law
Bradley A. Smith
The U.S. Supreme Court last week articulated what should have been obvious: Unions do not have a First Amendment right to spend on politics the forced dues taken from nonunion employees. But right-of-center activists would be unwise to embrace the misguided law that the high court just upheld.
In Washington v. Washington Education Association (WEA) and Davenport v. WEA -- cases brought by attorneys for the state of Washington and the National Right to Work Foundation -- the court unanimously slapped down a dangerous ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court.
In writing the opinion of the high court, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote unequivocally, "unions have no constitutional entitlement to the fees of nonmember employees."

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070622/OPINION01/706220306/1008



BOOK CAPSULES
By Ron Wynn, rwynn@nashvillecitypaper.com
June 22, 2007
Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas
By Kevin Merida and Michael A. Fletcher
(Doubleday)
Washington Post editor Kevin Merida and White House reporter Michael A. Fletcher first wrote about Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas in a 2002 profile.
They’ve expanded that treatment in this book that’s ignited a firestorm in several circles.
Some outraged liberals feel they give Thomas far more credit than he deserves in their contention that his legal skills and credentials are much better than detractors claim. But there are just as many conservatives who feel the pair has unfairly denigrated Thomas for his positions on affirmative action, crime and abortion, and they have implied without substantive proof that Thomas lied during confirmation hearings about both the Anita Hill controversy and whether he’d previously formed opinions on Roe V. Wade.
Then there’s been plenty of folks on African-American Web sites upset with them over the lengthy discussion in Supreme Discomfort about such topics as favoritism shown toward lighter-skinned people in the black community, class bias and regional prejudices.

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=12&screen=news&news_id=56805



American Customs: A Fiver To Enter The Land Of The Free
FREEDOM may be about to cost a little bit more as the US Government ponders whether or not to slap a $10 tourist tax on Britons entering the self-styled home of the brave.
The proposals were drawn up by the Discover America Partnership which represents a number of tourist groups and are set to be debated by the US congress.
Governor Tom Ridge, a former secretary of Homeland Security, who unveiled the new plans says: “Securing our nation's borders and facilitating travel are not mutually exclusive. Our borders are the intersection of security and prosperity. We must have the will to eliminate inefficiencies and build the most secure and traveller friendly entry process possible."
The money would be used to improve security at US ports as well as helping to fund an information campaign for tourists visiting the country.
However, the US tourist industry has become increasingly concerned at the impact the new security regime is having on visitor numbers. Indeed, visits by Britons to the States fell from 4,703,000 in 2001 to 4,345,000 in 2005, despite the extremely favourable exchange rate.
Jonathan Lhowe, of Visit New England.com, is worried. “People complain that they are not made to feel very welcome when they arrive and making them pay for the privilege is not going to help. If you are trying to bring in a family, you could be paying $40 or $50. Nobody loves a tax, but for legislators at least tourists don't have a vote,” says he.
Although £5 for freedom sounds reasonable...

http://www.anorak.co.uk/money/public-purse/174514.html



Global Market Brief: Relief for Argentina's Energy Shortage?
June 21, 2007 19 30 GMT
Source: Stratfor
Summary
Argentine businessman Enrique Eskenazi is buying 25 percent of Spanish company Repsol YPF's stake in YPF, Argentina's most important energy company. This move is the beginning of a process to bring YPF under Argentine control and likely heralds a more rational energy policy taking shape in a country facing debilitating energy shortages.
Analysis
Argentina is experiencing an energy shortfall, as it is only receiving 4.6 million cubic meters of the 7.7 million cubic meters of natural gas it needs daily from Bolivia. Over the past few weeks, the worsening shortage has led to energy rationing in both Argentina and Chile's industrial sectors. At the same time, Argentine businessman Enrique Eskenazi is in the process of buying a 25 percent stake in the country's leading energy company, YPF, from Spanish parent company Repsol YPF.

http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/06/global-market-brief-relief-for.html



Oho. The article unpacks Waxman’s allegations that there was hanky-panky among the big dogs in the news room, that night. According to eyewitness accounts given to Waxman:
“[Jack] Welch and other visitors ‘distracted’ NBC News Director of Elections Sheldon R.Gawiser with repeated questions about how his projection decisions were made.
* Welch had access to raw election data that weren't available to news anchors,writers, producers or other on-air reporters.
* After instruction about reading the data, Welch later concluded that Bush had wonFlorida, and shared his analysis with Gawiser. Witnesses told Waxman that ‘atalmost the same time, John Ellis--George W. Bush's cousin and Fox News' seniordecision desk official—…’”
(Italics mine, but I’d prefer the words to jump out and eject porcupine quills)
“’…called both the Florida and the national election for George W.Bush. Immediately after this announcement, Mr. Welch was observed standing behindDr. Gawiser with his hand on his shoulder, asking why NBC was not also calling theelection for Bush.’"
(!!!!!!!!!!) Wait! It gets better.
“According to Waxman's sources, ‘shortly after this,’ Gawiser called the election forBush. A similar call was made by all major television news outlets within minutes.”
Well, this apparently drove Waxman bonkers, because there were congressional hearings going on about the election reporting “snafus.”
Waxman asked the then-NBC News chief Andy Lack for internal video of the evening, which Lack said Waxman could have.
Then Lack took it back, and told Waxman to go fly a kite.
Waxman was very bothered about this. He wrote that the incident raised "troubling questions." Waxman fired back with an eight-page letter, several months later, to NBC boss Bob Wright, “suggesting,” according to the LA Times, that “Welch pressured news staffers to call Florida for Bush.”

http://www.cintrawilson.com/dregs/2007/06/the_dregulator_vol_vi_13_meet.php



Don't argue with me, I just read the stuff. When I find articles that are particularly bigoted I put them here. Quite frankly, I find it liberating to realize while Democrats include all segments of American reality, including minorities, women and children (That was children, not fetus. Republicans say grossly little about children and children's rights, especially when it comes to quality education.), there is a delineation of difference that includes race when adhering to social ethics and justice. I find the issue regarding 'an opportunity' for Black Republicans to bridge the political 'gap' an insult to the values they have chosen for themselves. Somehow, they are supposed to 'leap' some kind of Democratic divide based on race alone. That isn't a bigoted view of the world? Ah. Yeah, it is. Then the 'White Man Obama Thing'; like where did that come from? He is an African and a brilliant man. If he can't 'cut it' against an opponent such as Clinton then it is based in 'experience.' If the shoe was on the other foot and Obama had longevity in the legislature along with exposure to White House and Governor procedure as Hillary has as First Lady of both DC and Little Rock; he might be in a far heftier lead. The fact Obama is an attractive a candidate as he is speaks to his atriculation of the issues and willingness to 'brave' the 'inexperience' component of his candidacy. He's doing rather well, I think. Being appealing to 'White Foks' has little to do with his candidacy. I believe any pitfalls he faces has to do with experience, trip wires if you will once in office. I also believe the 'dye is not cast.' So, We'll see.


Friday, June 22, 2007
America and Race 2007
Back a generation or so ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said ” I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Sadly, it appears that most of the nation is working hard to prevent that from becoming reality. And that includes the government which is charged with ending such discrimination.
Let’s start with the government. Try to do anything with the government, and you will find yourself filling out paperwork. And what always shows up early in that paperwork, as soon as people are involved? That’s right, a demand to know the demographics, including the race of the person(s) concerned. Besides the obvious problem with demanding to know the race of an applicant or participant in a program before deciding on whether to accept them, there is also the poor consideration that not everyone has just one race. My wife and I, for example, are different races, so there is no neat simple box to check for my daughter, and I am personally offended by demands that we identify her by her race. Sure, they can say that they will not use race in their judgments, but the only real way to make sure there is no racial bias is to not ask that question. It simply has no virtue, and no explanation justifies the practice.

http://stolenthunder.blogspot.com/2007/06/america-and-race-2007.html



Barack Obama's White Appeal and the Perverse Racial Politics of the Post-Civil Rights Era
Written by Paul Street
Thursday, 21 June 2007
Page 1 of 10
Barack Obama's vaunted cross-racial appeal means whites have finally found a Black politician they feel comfortable with - in contrast to their feelings about the great bulk of African Americans. Is that a good thing? Emphatically not, since it is predicated on the belief that Obama isn't really "all that Black." Obama actively encourages notions of his own "exceptionalism" through his "deep willingness to accommodate white supremacy." His declaration that Blacks have already come "90 percent of the way" to racial equality signals to many that the days of having to listen to African American complaints are almost over - when nothing could be further from the truth.
"'Now we can finally forget about race completely' is the basic white wish seeking fulfillment in the election of someone like Obama."
I once gave a talk about racism that was followed by an interesting comment from a middle-aged white man. "You can't seriously imagine that racism is still a big problem in the United States," this man said, "when millions of white Americans are ready to vote for Barack Obama, a black man, for president."

http://www.izania.com/articles/political/barack-obama%27s-white-appeal-and-the-perverse-racial-politics-of-the-post%11civil-rights-era/



Comments of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on DHS Announcement of Draft Plan for New WHTI Border-Crossing Requirements
WASHINGTON, June 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today (Wednesday), theU.S. Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and State announced draft plansfor moving forward with implementation of the Western Hemisphere TravelInitiative (WHTI). Their action comes as momentum is building in both theSenate and the House to move the next WHTI implementation date forward 17months. Beginning Jan 31, 2008, DHS plans to begin initial elements of WHTIimplementation at land and sea ports of entry by ending the routinepractice of accepting oral declarations alone. At that point, U.S. andCanadian citizens will need to present either a WHTI-compliant document ora government-issued photo ID, such as a driver's license, plus proof ofcitizenship, such as a birth certificate. The Secretary of HomelandSecurity, in consultation with the Secretary of State, will then set a dateto implement the full requirements of the land and sea phase of WHTI. DHSand State expect the date of full WHTI implementation to be during thesummer of 2008. Leahy is the chief sponsor of the Leahy- Stevens Amendmentto delay implementation, passed last week by the Senate AppropriationsCommittee, during markup of the annual DHS funding bill. The House passed asimilar amendment a day later. Leahy's comments on the draft plan follow:"WHTI in the hands of DHS is like a skydiver who jumps first and triesto pack his parachute on the way down. Today's huge passport backlogs,prompted by the launch of DHS's requirement for air travel passports, arejust a taste of the chaos that's likely next summer when they want to startenforcing passport checks at our land and sea borders, which account forten times the volume for air travel.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/06-20-2007/0004612441&EDATE=



ZEOX Corporation
TSX VENTURE: ZOX
Jun 21, 2007 08:16 ET
ZEOX Receives Non-Exclusive Patent Rights From Halliburton
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - June 21, 2007) - Mr. LuVerne E.W. Hogg, President and CEO of ZEOX Corporation (TSX VENTURE:ZOX) is pleased to announce that ZEOX has received from Halliburton Energy Services Inc, non-exclusive world-wide license rights to globally commercialize five patents and intellectual property rights related to Zeolite-based lightweight concrete products for use in the oil and gas industry. Terms and conditions will remain confidential due to the competitive nature of the industry.
ZEOX and Halliburton originally entered into a joint development agreement in July 2001. The collaborative agreement outlined the terms whereby final technical qualification and performance specification work could be conducted for products marketable across the oil and gas industry service sector. The technologies involved have been fully tested and are ready for commercialization.
The Halliburton license rights will be added to the world wide Technology License Agreement with the National Research Council of Canada ("NRC") for the rights to United States Patent 5,494,513, Canada Patent 2180483 and Mexico Patent 195989 for Zeolite-Based Lightweight Concrete Products that were created as a result of collaborative research between the NRC and ZEOX.
The Company has been actively engaged in developing its mineral reserves, production capacity and distribution capabilities in the implementation of the first stage of its business model. The Company has 275 customers and is now capable of handling large-scale customer demand from its mines and production facilities in Arizona, Nevada and California. Additional capacity and distribution is currently being established in Saskatchewan.
For a more complete business and financial profile of the Company, management encourages interested parties to view the Company's documents posted on sedar.com.

http://www.marketwirecanada.com/2.0/release.do?id=744657



American Firm Fights Back Against Chinese Product Counterfeiter
By Bill Rodgers
Washington
20 June 2007
A photograph taken at a Chinese trade show of a company misrepresenting itself as ABRO
Cracking down on intellectual property theft is extremely difficult, sometimes even when a counterfeiter has been identified. This has been the case for an American exporter, whose glues, epoxies and automotive products are sold in more than 180 countries. For years, a Chinese firm has counterfeited the company's products and even stolen its corporate identity.
In this second in a series of reports, Bill Rodgers takes a look at how Indiana-based ABRO Industries – and its suppliers – have tried to fight back against product piracy.
Peter Baranay
At ABRO Industries headquarters in South Bend, Indiana, company president Peter Baranay ponders his next move against the counterfeiters that cost his firm some $15 million annually in sales. For years, his company's products have been copied – and sold around the world under the ABRO label – primarily by one firm: Hunan Magic Power Industrial Company.
"They have truly stolen our identity,” says Baranay. They have represented themselves at trade shows in China as ABRO Industries, they have represented [themselves] to customers who have come to them to buy product as ABRO Industries. They have stated they are the owner of the ABRO trademark in China, which is a total falsehood."

http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-06-20-voa52.cfm



Anti-terror license money sits unused
By Steve Geissinger, MEDIANEWS SACRAMENTO BUREAU
Article Last Updated: 06/20/2007 12:36:04 PM PDT
SACRAMENTO — After Sept. 11, 2001, tens of thousands of patriotic Californians began paying at least an extra $50 each for memorial license plates — believing their contributions were helping to fight the war on terror.
But legislative paralysis beginning in 2002 prevented the state from spending a penny of the money, expected to total $7.2 million by the end of the coming 2007-08 fiscal year, according to the Legislative Counsel's Office.
"It boggles the mind," said 43-year-old businessman Lou Baglietto, an unhappy purchaser of one of the plates.
Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, and other lawmakers are working with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders to free up the money authorities said is needed for security.
Some local and regional government agencies in the Bay Area are pleading for relatively small amounts — hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Year after year since the 2002 launch of the program, lawmakers failed to agree on varying proposals to use the anti-terrorism plate funds on better security for city buses, or on rail transit or in ports. Unrelated politics and the constant north-south tug-of-war contributed to the logjam.
This month, however, lawmakers swiftly advanced legislation by Torrico and Assemblywoman Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach, to break the deadlock.
"This bill will address the fact that millions of dollars in existing anti-terrorism plate funds have gone unused," Karnette said.

http://origin.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_6184333



Border alert reads like Bikers for Dummies
'Over-the-top' guidelines sent out ahead of Hells Angels run
Andrew Mayeda, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Odds are, he'll be riding an "American made" motorcycle and sporting a bulletproof vest over his tattooed torso.
But he could also roll up in a mundane rental car accompanied by a gaggle of lawyers.
These are some of the telltale signs that Canadian border guards have been given to identify biker-gang members at the border, according to an alert sent out by the Canada Border Services Agency last summer.
In an alert sent out last year, border guards were told, 'It is unlikely members of the Hells Angels will be wearing their colours when arriving at ports of entry.'
Peter Redman, The National Post
The alert was distributed to frontline officers ahead of a Hells Angels motorcycle run in Amherstburg, Ont., last June.
At times, the guidelines read like a sanitized statement of the obvious.
Border guards were told, "It is unlikely members of the Hells Angels will be wearing their colours when arriving at ports of entry.
"Members do not ordinarily travel alone. If driving motorcycles, they usually drive American made."
But not all biker-gang members will pull up in their Harleys, notes the alert, which was obtained under federal access-to-information law by immigration lawyer Richard Kurland.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=77156c71-509c-4834-9d32-ad92739e9d1a



Gulf Watch: Complaint charges Halliburton with shady accounting practices
A former accounting executive with Halliburton Inc. says the company engaged in illegal accounting practices, ignored his warnings about
them, and then retaliated against him when he took his concerns to federal authorities.
Anthony Menendez -- former director of accounting research and training for Halliburton -- made the allegations in a complaint filed with a
U.S. Department of Labor administrative law judge in Covington, La. and recently made public in response to a Freedom of Information
Act request. Menendez claims Halliburton was booking product sales before they occurred, distorting its revenue numbers.
The company has denied the allegations.
Menendez also charges that Halliburton improperly accounted for income taxes, off-balance-sheet entities, and foreign-currency adjustments. He first made his allegations to the Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2005, and three months later alerted
the company's audit committee, reports Bloomberg News columnist Jonathan Weil:
In a Jan. 3 court filing, Halliburton said the SEC had closed its inquiry into the company's accounting practices.
Menendez told me, though, that he met with SEC investigators at the agency's Fort Worth, Texas, office as recently as March 28. He also
shared a March 14 letter from an enforcement-division attorney there, which shows the travel itinerary the SEC arranged for him to
attend that meeting. Mann, the Halliburton spokeswoman, declined to comment on whether the company has been notified of further
SEC inquiries into Menendez's allegations.
A Houston-based company that recently announced it was moving its corporate headquarters to Dubai, Halliburton holds multimillion federal reconstruction contracts in Iraq as well as the post-Katrina U.S. Gulf Coast.
The company is already under investigation in the U.S. for bribery, bid rigging, defrauding the military and illegal business ties with Iran. It's currently divesting ownership in its KBR subsidiary, which among other things has come under fire for serving contaminated food and water to U.S.troops in Iraq. It was also criticized after one of its subcontractors hired illegal immigrants to perform Katrina-related work.

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2007/06/gulf-watch-complaint-charges.asp



A little bit about Blackwater USA
by clammyc
Thu Jun 21, 2007 at 09:26:14 AM PDT
I have been meaning to write a piece about Blackwater USA for a while now, and after seeing Turkana’s post from Sunday, I figured that now is as good a time as any.
We have all heard stories about Blackwater USA as well as Halliburton in Iraq, the salaries they get, the no-bid contracts, the deaths of "contractors" who are in Iraq and other snippets of stories. And while there is much known and reported about Halliburton – more so because of the ties to Vice President Cheney, there hasn’t been much written around here regarding Blackwater – at least not much other than the reports of their people being killed, the potential for them to sue based on this and a few other blurbs here and there.
clammyc's diary :: ::
What I want to do here is give some background information on Blackwater – but not in the term of what they are doing in Iraq, but more so how they got to be so powerful and lucrative. Of course, there are many ties to the Bush administration(s) as well as the republican party, and that is really my focus here. You know, more cronyism that results in billions of dollars from We the People to line the pockets of major republican party donors which then can be funneled back to the republican party. Lather, rinse, repeat.
From their website:
We are not simply a "private security company." We are a professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations firm who provides turnkey solutions. We assist with the development of national and global security policies and military transformation plans. We can train, equip and deploy public safety and military professionals, build live-fire indoor/outdoor ranges, MOUT facilities and shoot houses, create ground and aviation operations and logistics support packages, develop and execute canine solutions for patrol and explosive detection, and can design and build facilities both domestically and in austere environments abroad.
I’ll lay off the whole discussion of "professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and stability operations" since that is supposed to be what our own military does. And of course, that would beg the question as to whether we are headed towards a second, privatized military which is not bound by the Geneva Conventions (oh wait, those are "quaint" anyway) or other international law. Or even US law, for that matter.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/21/122311/452


The Moscow Times

Moscow's Wealthy Push the Boat Out
By Max Delany
Staff Writer
Vladimir Filonov / MT
Potential buyers taking off their shoes to get a closer look at a boat at the third annual yacht festival on the Moscow River near Gorky Park on Thursday.
President Vladimir Putin may have donated his to a monastery and Roman Abramovich given one to a friend, but it seems like everybody else is trying to get their hands on a yacht. Everybody with enough money, that is.
The rise in yacht sales, and the kind of people who are buying them, speaks volumes about the number and tastes of Russia's rich. The latest vogue is not one for the thrifty.
"For a mid-range yacht it costs $500,000 to $600,000, so of course they need to have a lot of spare cash and not that many people earn that sort of money," said Andrei Amelin, director of Allyachts.ru.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/001.html



Opening Night in Moscow
The Moscow International Film Festival opens this week with new organizers and an emphasis on Russian film.
By Tom Birchenough
Published: June 22, 2007
It may have been organized in something of a rush, but the 29th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), which opened Thursday and runs around the city through June 30, seems to have got its act together. That's encouraging for the future of an event that over the last decades has often relied on past glories, rather than forming any real connection to the contemporary film world. This was particularly sad in recent years, given that Russia now has one of the world's few rapidly growing cinema industries, both in terms of domestic production and in terms of the distribution of international films.
This year's festival looks promising, despite the fact that a new team was brought in to run the event just over two months ago. The previous organizing body, Interfest, was replaced in a state tender bid late March by the newly established Mediafest agency. The organizers have brought in some of those involved in planning last year's event, but nevertheless, this year's festival was clearly put together on a very tight schedule.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/101.html



Russian Speakers are More Prone to Suicide
By Natalya Krainova
Staff Writer
Highest suicides in
2004 per 100,000 people
The top five measures the government should take to improve the business environment:
1. Lithuania - 40.2
2. Belarus - 35.1
3. Russia* - 34.3
4. Kazakhstan - 29.2
5. Slovenia - 28.1
6. Hungary - 27.7
7. Estonia - 28.1
8. Japan - 25.5
9. Latvia - 24.3
10. Ukraine - 23.8
*State Statistics Service puts the figure at 32.2 in 2005.
Source: WHO
Russian Internet forums and communities abound with people looking for easy ways to commit suicide and inviting others to join them.
Popular blog site LiveJournal.com alone has 124 Russian-language communities interested in suicide, with names like Self-Killers Club, Suicide World, and Suicide Truth. The Russian Internet is teeming with chat rooms and forums to discuss the issue, such as Last-limit.narod.ru, Pagesofpain.narod.ru and Danaja666.narod.ru.
Many communities and forums say their goal is suicide prevention, but visits over several days found people eagerly exchanging information on how to commit suicide and find a suicide partner.
"Somebody help me, advise me how to accomplish a certain suicide with medicine," says a comment posted in the LiveJournal community Suicid_mir.
One of the answers to the request reads: "I don't think drugs [are best], most likely [jumping] from a high floor [will do]. I am replying to you because I am looking for someone to accompany me. I am scared to do it alone, but together would be easier, I believe."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/002.html



Sakhalin Energy's Greer Steps Down
By Max Delany
Staff Writer AP
David Greer
David Greer, the Sakhalin Energy deputy CEO running the giant Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project, has left the company unexpectedly just weeks after a leaked e-mail he wrote revealed the pressure that managers working there were facing.
Greer's departure comes as Shell is adjusting to ceding control of the $20 billion project to Gazprom after sustained state pressure.
"I can confirm that David Greer has left the company to pursue other business interests," Sakhalin Energy spokesman Ivan Chernyakhovsky said Thursday. He did not elaborate on Greer's future plans.
"He decided to leave the company and left the company," Chernyakovsky said. "We wish him well in his future after working at Sakhalin Energy for 3 1/2 years."
Chernyakovsky said any suggestion that the departure of Greer, a 27-year Shell veteran, was connected to the leaked e-mail was "pure speculation."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/041.html



Kimmitt Urges Further Russian Investment in the United States
Bloomberg
Yury Mashkov / Itar-Tass
Kimmit told AmCham members Thursday that U.S. barriers would be kept low.
U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Robert Kimmitt on Thursday invited Russians to invest in the United States and urged the Russian government to help U.S. companies invest in Russia.
"There was tremendous growth" in foreign direct investment to the United States, which reached $169 billion last year, the highest level since 2000, Kimmitt said at American Chamber of Commerce meeting. "FDI creates jobs. It's an important lubricant for the global economy, but it creates jobs at home."
Kimmitt arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for talks with government officials on investing the country's oil windfall in U.S. securities, clarifying rules for foreign investment in Russian strategic sectors and inviting the country to invest in the United States.
"We are open to investment," Kimmitt said. "We're going to work hard to keep investment barriers low and we hope that the same will be the case in Russia and other trading partners of the United States."
Of 1,430 cross-border transactions in 2006, 92 percent did not raise any security concerns, which means only 113 were reviewed by a government committee, Kimmit said. There are "statutory prohibitions" on majority foreign ownership of airlines, media, nuclear enrichment and some transportation companies in the United States.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/042.html



Western Bosses Seen Uneasy About Russia
By Tai Adelaja
Staff Writer
Western executives are more uncomfortable about doing business in Russia than in any other major emerging-market economy and many seem to have only a "rudimentary knowledge" of the country's booming market, a new survey has found.
In some of the most surprising findings, one in three company directors in the United States, Britain, France and Germany could not name the ruble as the Russian currency, while one in seven thought Russia's main product was vodka, said the survey, which was conducted by Datamonitor and published Thursday by British Telecom.
"Building Business with BRICS" polled more than 800 senior executives in companies from a range of sectors, with turnovers from $10 million to over $1 billion, on their attitudes toward doing business in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
While 61 percent of respondents said it was "crucial" for their success that their business be able to work with the BRICS countries, 24 percent rated Russia as the BRICS country in which they were least comfortable doing business, compared with India at 7 percent. Less than one in 10 chose Russia as their most comfortable of the BRICS countries to do business in, with just 3 percent of the British respondents picking Russia.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/044.html



President Says No Need to Feel Guilty
The Moscow Times
President Vladimir Putin lashed out at foreign countries Thursday for trying to make Russia feel guilty about "black pages" in its history.
"Others cannot be allowed to impose a feeling of guilt on us," Putin told a group of social studies teachers at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Interfax reported. "Let them think about themselves."
While he did not directly name the United States, Putin made an obvious reference to the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and cited the Vietnam War in defending Russia's past.
"We did not use nuclear weapons against a civilian population, nor did we pour chemicals over thousands of square kilometers and drop seven times as many bombs as were dropped in World War II on a small country, as took place in Vietnam," Putin said. "We did not have other black pages, like, for example, Nazism."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/014.html



U.S. Urged to Accept Azeri Radar
Combined Reports
Senior government officials warned on Thursday that a snub from Washington over Moscow's proposal to share an Azeri radar base would strengthen their belief that Russia was the real target of a planned U.S. missile defense system in Central Europe.
General Yury Baluyevsky, chief of the General Staff, said that with Iran posing no immediate missile threat, the aim of the planned U.S. sites in Poland and the Czech Republic clearly must be against Russia's nuclear missile arsenal.
"That is a litmus test," Baluyevsky told reporters of President Vladimir Putin's proposal for the shared use of the Russia-rented early warning radar in Azerbaijan. "The entire world will see the true aim of this system."
Baluyevsky described the U.S. plans as part of efforts to weaken Russia's nuclear deterrent and referred to what he said were U.S. Cold War-era plans for a disarming nuclear first strike, using missile defenses, that would deprive Russia of the ability to retaliate.
"I don't want to see that even in my worst nightmare," he said.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/015.html


In the Spotlight
Suddenly Sasha's sarcastic editor barks at her, "If I don't like your very first column, I will fire you."
By Anna Malpas
Published: June 22, 2007
The heroine of CTC's new sitcom "All of a Sudden" is a champion figure skater who reinvents herself as a pop singer in a sexy girl group drooled over by the male half of the nation. Then she ditches the sequins and goes into acting, swiftly bagging the lead role in a primetime show. Actually that's not the plot -- although it should be -- but the career path of the show's lead actress, the former ice dancer and former Blestyashchiye singer Anna Semyonovich. And I haven't even mentioned the breasts.
So formidable are the above assets that the scriptwriters have been forced to make them a central feature of the show, which is a copy of a sitcom that aired in the United States, "Suddenly Susan." That show starred Brooke Shields, and I haven't seen it, but still feel pretty sure her cleavage didn't loom over the proceedings in the same way. Perhaps there were eyebrow jokes. Anyway, the first episodes of the Russian version this week showed a male character clinging to Semyonovich's embonpoint and a female character summing her up with an Italian-style hand gesture.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/112.html



In Cold Blood
Oligarchs and politicians duke it out at Russia's expense in Brent Ghelfi's pulse-pounding action thriller.
By Saul Austerlitz
Published: June 22, 2007
The recipe for an action hero is a well-guarded secret, albeit one that has changed little since the days of Mickey Spillane. A liberal splash of violence, a dash of sex, a pinch of political or underworld intrigue, and voila! -- Airport Novel SoufflО. Served hot, it can feed millions (empty calories notwithstanding), but prepared incorrectly, the dish can be downright revolting. Brent Ghelfi's debut entry into the field retains much of the classic recipe, featuring an amoral, shadowy operator who proceeds through a brutal world on his own terms, with one major shift: This Jason Bourne stand-in is Russian, and the setting for "Volk's Game" is the capitalist wonderland of Putin's Russia.
Alexei Volkovoy is one of the many businessmen looking to turn post-communist speculation in his favor, dabbling in a wide variety of lines: "drugs, identity theft, pictures, and a Russian brides operation that caters to the middle classes of America and industrialized European and Asian countries." Volkovoy is also, secretly, still a colonel in the Russian Army, working covertly for a general with his fingers in every pie worth tasting in Moscow. Volk, as he is known, is the product of a harsh childhood and even harsher experiences on the battlefield: "Dead mother, disappeared father, late-era Soviet poverty, and five years of killing or worse in Chechnya." It is the killing in Chechnya, which cost him a leg, that informs his daily work in Moscow, with the brutality of that internecine struggle contributing to his irrepressible sweet tooth for gore. It is a taste that Ghelfi shares with his hero, as "Volk's Game" is splashed with blood and speckled with untold horrors.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/106.html



No Place for Nuclear Secrets
By Cristina Chuen
To Our Readers
The Moscow Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters for publication should be signed and bear the signatory's address and telephone number.
Letters to the editor should be sent by fax to (7-495) 232-6529, by e-mail to oped@imedia.ru, or by post. The Moscow Times reserves the right to edit letters.
A brouhaha began brewing in the Arctic a couple of weeks ago, as the Norwegian public was buffeted with news of a new scientific study pointing to nuclear dangers at an old Russian naval base located on the Kola Peninsula, about 50 kilometers from the Norwegian border. Some Russian officials responded by labeling the study a "provocation."
In fact, the risk of a nuclear accident at the Andreyeva Bay base is very small but not nonexistent. Assurances by State Duma Deputy Valentin Luntsevich that control systems "provide a 99.9 percent guarantee that no explosion can take place" are cold comfort when the 0.1 percent remainder represents the chance of a grave nuclear incident.
The real issue is not simply whether Russia's nuclear legacy is still dangerous. It is whether Russia will finally share all of the information necessary to make wise decisions on handling the problem. Promises Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg received during a four-day visit to Russia at the beginning of June that the removal of spent nuclear fuel from Andreyeva Bay would begin in 2010 leave open the question of whether the information needed to repackage the fuel safely is available. A further question is what will happen to the nuclear fuel after it is moved.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/006.html



RESO Shelves Plans to Float 20% Stake
Reuters
Retail insurance company RESO-Garantia has canceled plans to float a 20 percent stake on domestic bourses, Vedomosti reported Thursday, quoting unidentified sources.
RESO, the country's fourth-largest insurer, had wanted to raise up to $500 million and become the country's first listed insurer.
Vedomosti quoted one source close to the company as saying shareholders had decided to cancel a road show they had planned to start on June 10 and to postpone the IPO after they saw the results of pre-marketing.
The paper also quoted a banking source as saying RESO owners were not happy with the level of demand from investors and the price proposed by organizers. Brothers Sergei and Nikolai Sarkisov control the company, which has 800 points of sale.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said earlier this month it would buy 10 percent of RESO for $150 million.
The Russian insurance market is booming, and total insurance premiums have grown 3.5 times in the last four years, according to Finance Ministry data. It is expected to reach 750 billion rubles ($29 billion) by the year's end.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/22/046.html



A Liberal Interpretation of 'Normal'
By Boris Kagarlitsky
The blockade by demonstrators at the Group of Eight summit this month in Heiligendamm, Germany, apparently made an impression on President Vladimir Putin. Or perhaps it was the rising tensions between Moscow and Washington. Whatever the reason, Putin's speeches since have been peppered with statements best characterized as anti-globalist.
Putin has criticized plans for U.S. anti-ballistic missile system sites in Central Europe, openly expressed his displeasure with Washington's policies, and at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum even questioned the usefulness of the global economy's sacred cow -- the World Trade Organization. The G8 summit did not help overcome the disagreements among the participants. On the contrary, it brought to the fore just how serious they were. Western European leaders -- and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in particular -- made little headway with the United States on the environmental, and Moscow left without a single concession on military issues. Russia's ...

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/06/21/007.html




The Washington Post, AKA the follow up to The New York Times.

I mean that sincerely. The New York Times has put so much on the line over the past seven years of this Neocon administration in the White House to salvage the USA at every turn from abuse of power and there is literally no benefit to them except the gratification of 'being the first' to the story.

In many ways, the Neocon leakers had a secondary agenda to 'sacrifice' the NYTimes by 'demise of the mighty.' Little did the leakers realize that the people that 'stand their ground' with the NYTimes were not about to be demised by their attempts.

We wanted the truth and were willing to stand with the paper through thick and thin. At any rate, The Washington Post, in my opinion and is reflected in these articles show very little 'risk taking' so much as simply 'following up' on stories begun by others. It has become a way to survive with 'the truth' in a corrupt Neocon town. It's unfortunate. One would think 'the Bush leaks' would first find their footing with 'the local' liberals rather than those hundreds of miles away.

Odd.

Political Hiring in Justice Division Probed
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A01
Karen Stevens, Tovah Calderon and Teresa Kwong had a lot in common. They had good performance ratings as career lawyers in the Justice Department's civil rights division. And they were minority women transferred out of their jobs two years ago -- over the objections of their immediate supervisors -- by Bradley Schlozman, then the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights.
Schlozman ordered supervisors to tell the women that they had performance problems or that the office was overstaffed. But one lawyer, Conor Dugan, told colleagues that the recent Bush appointee had confided that his real motive was to "make room for some good Americans" in that high-impact office, according to four lawyers who said they heard the account from Dugan.
In another politically tinged conversation recounted by former colleagues, Schlozman asked a supervisor if a career lawyer who had voted for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a onetime political rival of President Bush, could still be trusted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002543.html?hpid=topnews



Justice Dept.'s No. 2 to Counter Claims of Untruths Over Firings
McNulty Also to Tell Panel He Doesn't Think Officials Misled Him
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A04
Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty today will defend his past statements about the firings of U.S. attorneys, rebutting allegations from other Bush administration officials that he misled Congress by suggesting there was no substantial White House role in the dismissals, according to prepared remarks released yesterday.
McNulty, who is leaving the Justice Department this summer, also will tell a House Judiciary subcommittee that he does not believe that other senior officials, including former Justice aide Monica M. Goodling, purposely hid the extent of the White House's role in the firings.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002234.html?hpid=topnews



Plan to Cut Federal Security Unit Decried
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A01
The Bush administration wants to overhaul the troubled agency in charge of security at most federal buildings, cutting personnel and giving a bigger role to local police. Lawmakers are fighting the plan, saying that it could leave government employees more vulnerable to crime or attacks by terrorists.
The police agency, the Federal Protective Service, employs about 15,000 contract security guards at government buildings nationwide. It has been under fire for its performance in the Washington region, where a report last year found that 30 percent of the service's guards analyzed had expired certifications.
Brian Smith, a Federal Protective Service guard at an FDA office in College Park, said some guards were ready to walk off their jobs this month after a contractor failed to pay them. "There was a feeling of frustration," he says. (By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)
In addition, security guards threatened to walk off their jobs at some D.C. area government facilities this month after they hadn't been paid by their contractor. The Protective Service had hired the contractor without realizing that it was run by a felon and his wife, according to interviews. The incident is the subject of a hearing on Capitol Hill today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002536.html?hpid=topnews



How many years of killing Iraqis and the State Department ONLY NOW is concerned about filling it's diplomatic corp? It's called negligence. The Executive Branch of the USA is incompetent. Why aren't these people being impeached? Political reasons?

Rice Orders That Diplomatic Jobs in Iraq Be Filled First
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A11
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered this week that U.S. diplomatic positions in Iraq must be filled before any other State Department openings in Washington or overseas are made available, raising the possibility that soon the agency will be forced to order its employees to serve in Iraq.
"It is my fervent hope that we will continue to see sufficient numbers of Foreign Service and Civil Service employees volunteering for Iraq service, but we must be prepared to meet our requirements in any eventuality," Rice said in a message to employees.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002294.html?hpid=topnews



Top Iraqi Officials Growing Restless
Vice President Has Tried to Quit; Shiite Leaders in Disarray
By Joshua Partlow and Robin Wright
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A01
BAGHDAD, June 20 -- Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi, a senior Shiite politician often mentioned as a potential prime minister, tendered his resignation last week in a move that reflects deepening frustration inside the Iraqi government with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Other senior Iraqi officials have considered resigning in recent weeks over the failures of their government to make progress after more than a year in power, according to Iraqi and U.S. officials.
Abdul Mahdi said he was provoked by the second bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra on June 13, in which he said corrupt police abetted Sunni insurgents. "The two minarets were as important to us as September 11, and we should be accountable to the people," Abdul Mahdi said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "We should be doing more to move in a positive direction -- on corruption, accountability and defending the important sites."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002489.html?hpid=topnews



Explosions Strike Baghdad's Green Zone
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 21, 2007; 3:35 AM
BAGHDAD -- A series of mortars or rockets slammed into the U.S.-controlled Green Zone on Thursday, and an official said at least one round struck a parking lot used by the Iraqi prime minister and his security detail.
The barrage occurred a day after the U.S. military acknowledged "an increasing pattern of attacks" against the sprawling complex on the west bank of the Tigris River despite a security crackdown now in its fifth month.
Smoke rises over a heavily protected Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, that houses the US Embassy and Iraqi government after a volley of mortars landed Thursday, June 21, 2007. There were no immediate reports on casualties. (AP photo/Dusan Vranic) (Dusan Vranic - AP)
A huge plume of black smoke billowed into the sky and helicopters buzzed overhead after about nine blasts occurred in quick succession around 10 a.m.
At least one mortar round struck a parking lot used by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his security detail, an official from the prime minister's office said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062100203.html?hpid=topnews



Dozens of Insurgents Killed in Iraq Offensive
Bombmaking Material Found in Diyala Province
By John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A18
BAGHDAD, June 20 -- U.S. and Iraqi forces continued targeting Sunni insurgents in the city of Baqubah north of Baghdad on Wednesday, the second day of a major new offensive aimed at stamping out the Sunni extremist group al-Qaeda in Iraq.
About 10,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops are participating in the new offensive, called Arrowhead Ripper, which began early Tuesday in Diyala province, a mixed Sunni-Shiite-Kurdish province north and east of Baghdad that, in recent months, has become a stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the most violent area in the country outside of the capital. Forty-one insurgents and one American soldier were killed in two days of fighting, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062001874.html?hpid=topnews



24 Emaciated Boys Found At Baghdad Orphanage
Iraqi Official Denies Allegations of Abuse
By John Ward Anderson and Dahlia Farooq
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A18
BAGHDAD, June 20 -- U.S. and Iraqi troops discovered an orphanage with "24 severely malnourished and abused boys" 10 days ago in the al-Fajr neighborhood of northern Baghdad, the U.S. military said Wednesday. The boys, ages 3 to 15, "were found naked in a darkened room without any windows," the military said in a statement.
Photographs obtained by CBS News, which broke the story Monday, showed emaciated children lying naked on concrete floors in their own waste, some tied to their beds. Nearby, soldiers discovered a locked room with food and clothing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002230.html?hpid=topnews



Something "W"rong with protecting the best interest of America?

Gatekeepers of Hillaryland
The Candidate's Coterie From Her White House Days Is Back Together, All for One and One for All
By Lois Romano
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A01
The seasoned Hill aide knew what she was getting into when she agreed to become Hillary Clinton's chief of staff. The woman was quite prepared for all eyes to be on the biggest celebrity arriving in Congress, the first lady of the United States, who was expected to use her Senate seat as a springboard back into the White House.
But what caught Tamera Luzzatto unawares was the full force of the Hillary machine already in place and making decisions.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002567.html?hpid=topnews



Cindy. Cindy Sheehan. Take note ! You stood strong for Casey's legacy. Be proud, sweetie. You, Gold Star Families for Peace, Code Pink, Highway Bloggers, and all the others that walked for peace in their own personal statements have been heard.

Antiwar Democrats Are Less Critical As Clinton Takes A New Tack on Iraq
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A03
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) drew only modest boos at a gathering of liberal activists yesterday, a sign of how well her changing position on Iraq is playing in the antiwar wing of her party.
Last year, speaking at the Campaign for America's Future conference, Clinton was loudly hissed when she said it is not "smart strategy" to set a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq. This year, the same group applauded Clinton as she described a bill she introduced to deauthorize the war and the recent vote she cast against funding it, both positions she has adopted since becoming a candidate for president in January.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062001802.html?hpid=topnews



Walter Reed and Beyond follows the care and treatment of the men and women who came home from battle in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. It examines the promises made, and the reality lived, in the aftermath of war. The most recent series describes the struggles of the wounded who are returning with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/walter-reed/?hpid=rightpromo1



Study Finds 1.8 Million Veterans Are Uninsured
Figure Has Grown by 290,000 Since 2000, Professor Tells House Veterans Panel
By Christopher Lee`
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A09
As the nation struggles to improve medical and mental health care for military personnel returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, about 1.8 million U.S. veterans under age 65 lack even basic health insurance or access to care at Veterans Affairs hospitals, a new study has found.
The ranks of uninsured veterans have increased by 290,000 since 2000, said Stephanie J. Woolhandler, the Harvard Medical School professor who presented her findings yesterday before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. About 12.7 percent of non-elderly veterans -- or one in eight -- lacked health coverage in 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, she said, up from 9.9 percent in 2000. Veterans 65 and older are eligible for Medicare.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002161.html?hpid=moreheadlines



Schwarzenegger's Post-Partisanship in Peril?
By David S. Broder
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A23
SACRAMENTO -- In the heat of Central Valley, with midday temperatures over 100 degrees, Democratic legislators are preparing to test their working partnership with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the ultimate crucible by asking voters to relax the limits on their time in office.
They hope that by joining forces with the governor on a wide range of big issues, they will gain enough credit that their constituents will let them stay in office beyond the strict time imposed by a 1990 term-limits initiative.
But before they take the new limits to the polls in an initiative planned for next February's presidential primary, the legislature and governor must agree on a redistricting reform that will take line-drawing out of politics and put it in the hands of a nonpartisan commission. Schwarzenegger has made approval of the redistricting reform the condition for his supporting the term-limits initiative.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062001868.html?hpid=opinionsbox2



A Run, or the Runaround?
Bloomberg, Other Non-Candidates Master Art of Being Vague
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A03
It was clear that New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was enjoying himself yesterday as he toyed with the press corps there, taking 20 minutes of questions about the city's 311 telephone information system at a news conference just a day after he bolted the Republican Party, but offering not a clue about his intentions.
So goes the long tease.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002256.html?hpid=topnews



Student Loan Overhaul Advances
Votes Expected By House, Senate
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A01
Democrats in Congress are pushing to overhaul the nation's student loan system with legislation that would cut federal subsidies to lending companies by as much as $19 billion, channel most of those savings to student aid and ease repayment rules for borrowers.
The Senate education committee overwhelmingly approved its version of the legislation yesterday, one week after the House education panel took similar action. Senior Democrats predicted that the bills would come to a vote by the end of next month and would be reconciled without significant difficulty.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002488.html?hpid=topnews



University Accused of Lying to Hide Killing
Eastern Michigan Official Apologizes
By Kari Lydersen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page A10
CHICAGO -- A janitor found Laura Dickinson dead in her Eastern Michigan University dorm room in December, naked below the waist, a pillow over her face. The door was locked, and her keys were gone.
No foul play was suspected, the university announced. As the campus mourned and Dickinson's family gathered to bury the 22-year-old rower, police opened an investigation. But school authorities stuck to their story for more than two months -- even after they learned that the medical examiner had found semen on her body and even as police questioned other students and faculty and took DNA samples -- until the arrest of a fellow student on rape and homicide charges.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002172.html?hpid=moreheadlines



Secrecy Pervaded Smithsonian on Small's Watch
Independent Panel Also Faults Regents And Others for Lack of Spending Scrutiny
By James V. Grimaldi and Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 21, 2007; Page C01
Leaders of the Smithsonian in the past seven years took extraordinary steps to keep secret the amount of top executives' compensation, lavish expense-account spending, ethical missteps and management failures, an independent report released yesterday shows.
Former secretary Lawrence M. Small, with the help of his top deputy, Sheila P. Burke, took advantage of a vast gap in oversight to set his own salary, spend freely, take unlimited leave and ignore policy to pursue private agendas, according to the independent review committee, which was established by the Smithsonian Board of Regents to investigate reports of excessive spending and management abuses.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/20/AR2007062002443.html?hpid=moreheadlines



CIA to Air Decades of Its Dirty Laundry
Assassination Attempts Among Abuses Detailed
By Karen DeYoung and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A01
The CIA will declassify hundreds of pages of long-secret records detailing some of the intelligence agency's worst illegal abuses -- the so-called "family jewels" documenting a quarter-century of overseas assassination attempts, domestic spying, kidnapping and infiltration of leftist groups from the 1950s to the 1970s, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said yesterday.
The documents, to be publicly released next week, also include accounts of break-ins and theft, the agency's opening of private mail to and from China and the Soviet Union, wiretaps and surveillance of journalists, and a series of "unwitting" tests on U.S. civilians, including the use of drugs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102434.html?hpid=topnews



Troops Pushing South Through Insurgent Area
Searches, Airstrikes in Iraq Attempt to Isolate Fighters
By Joshua Partlow and John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A01
PATROL BASE MURRAY, Iraq, June 21 -- More than 1,200 American soldiers are pushing south along the Tigris River through a Sunni insurgent haven known as Arab Jubour, a formidable operation that is part of an overall U.S. strategy to take control of the terrain encircling the capital.
In Baqubah, north of Baghdad, Americans are fighting in city streets to detain insurgents and destroy their bomb-making facilities. In Arab Jubour, south of the capital, they are moving amid dense palm groves and along dusty canal roads in a grinding door-to-door search that began Saturday.
The operations, involving thousands of additional U.S. troops, came as the military announced the deaths of 14 soldiers and Marines in five attacks since Tuesday, bringing the total for that period to 15. Nine of the soldiers were killed by two large roadside bombs in Baghdad. Two died near Arab Jubour when explosives buried under a dirt road destroyed their Bradley Fighting Vehicle on Tuesday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062100597.html?hpid=topnews



By Executive Order, Crocs Aren't Chic
By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page C01
Crocs have been given the presidential seal of approval but this is not necessarily a good thing.
George W. Bush was photographed recently in a pair of black Crocs -- Cayman style, $29.99 -- as he was heading out from the White House to ride his bike. He wore the clunky resin clogs -- which have ventilation holes and a heel strap -- with a pair of black shorts, a white camp shirt, a baseball cap with the image of an unidentified Scottish terrier and black bike socks imprinted with the presidential seal. He had the backstraps of his Crocs flipped forward so they rested on the top of the shoes -- turning them into slides. This subtle gesture -- coupled with the subdued color -- actually made the exceedingly unattractive shoes look tolerable.
Could they have been in a goodie bag at the May fundraiser for the Virginia Republican Party, which, according to the Associated Press, Crocs Chairman Rick Sharp hosted and Bush attended?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102403.html?hpid=topnews


17 Killed in Kenyan Violence
By TOM ODULA
The Associated Press
Friday, June 22, 2007; 6:38 AM
NAIROBI, Kenya -- A surge in violence killed at least 17 people in and around the Kenyan capital, including two people found beheaded and 14 killed in gunbattles, police said Friday.
Three people, including the two who were beheaded, were found slain an area on the outskirts of Nairobi where police have been cracking down on the banned sect Mungiki.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062200333.html?hpid=moreheadlines


25 Civilians Killed in Afghan Violence
By AMIR SHAH
The Associated Press
Friday, June 22, 2007; 7:31 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Taliban militants attacked police posts in southern Afghanistan, triggering NATO airstrikes that left 25 civilians dead, including three infants and the local mullah, a senior police officer said Friday.
NATO said its overnight bombardment killed most of a group of 30 insurgents and blamed them for the deaths of any innocents, saying they had launched "irresponsible" attacks from civilian homes.
Afghan policemen hold their hands on their chests to respect the families of police killed in a bomb attack as they leave the mosque after a funeral ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 20, 2007. Dozens of mourners, including President Hamid Karzai, filed into the mosque in central Kabul to pay respects to the families of police killed in a bomb attack Sunday that killed as many as 35 people, the deadliest insurgent attack since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy) (Farzana Wahidy - AP)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai criticized the mounting civilian toll from NATO and U.S.-led military operations as "difficult for us to accept or understand."
The police posts came under fire late Thursday in Gereshk district of Helmand province, Mohammad Hussein Andiwal, provincial police chief, told The Associated Press.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062200205.html?hpid=moreheadlines



Sentencing Guidelines 'Reasonable,' Justices Rule
By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A02
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that criminal sentences within guidelines set by a federal commission are generally entitled to be upheld on appeal, a decision that limits legal options for defendants who feel that they have been punished too harshly.
By a vote of 8 to 1, the court held that, even though it recently ruled that the sentencing ranges set by the U.S. Sentencing Commission are no longer mandatory, judges who follow them may be presumed to have acted reasonably.
The ruling, Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote for the majority, "simply recognizes the real-world circumstance that when the judge's discretionary decision accords with the Commission's view . . . it is probable that the sentence is reasonable."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102088.html?hpid=moreheadlines



8 Minutes After 911 Call, A Rescue From Madness
By Sari Horwitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A01
BLACKSBURG, Va. "We've been hurt," the voice whispered, terrified, into a cellphone.
On the other end of the line, Virginia Tech Police Lt. Debbi Morgan could hear gunfire. It was so loud that it sounded as if someone was shooting right into the receiver.
"Where are you?" Morgan asked, doing her best to stay calm.
"Two-Eleven Norris Hall," the voice said so softly that it was obvious to Morgan that the person did not want to be heard.
There's a shooting! 211 Norris Hall! Morgan shouted to two dispatchers. Happening now.
"Are you still there?" Morgan asked.
Silence.
Gasping for breath.
Pop. Pop.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102497.html?nav=hcmodule



Senators Deride Justice Reassignments
Prosecutor Firings and Staff Decisions Draw Hill Criticism
By Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A03
Democratic senators responded caustically yesterday to reports that a former head of the Justice Department's civil rights division pushed aside three minority women on his staff to "make room for some good Americans," as the lawmakers implored his successor to remove all political taint from the agency's work.
Wan Kim, the current assistant attorney general for civil rights, distanced himself from the hiring practices and statements in 2005 of his predecessor, Bradley J. Schlozman, and said he first heard of them hours before they were reported in The Washington Post this week. "At a very minimum, those are intemperate, inopportune remarks," said Kim, the division's second-in-command at the time.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102291.html?nav=hcmodule



The Debate: No Contact Allowed
A middle schooler puts his arm around his girlfriend and is sent to the school office for unlawful touching.
Two 14-year-old girls are kicked off a city bus and called "sickos" for kissing.
Since when has the human touch become so problematic? Bans on fighting make sense. Rules against excessive public displays of affection, sure. But hugging, handshakes, high fives, kisses -- these are normal behavior for kids and adults.
"You get into shades of gray," Fairfax County's Kilmer Middle School principal Deborah Hernandez said. "The kids say, 'If he can high-five, then I can do this.' ... You have to have an absolute rule with students, and wiggle room and good judgment on behalf of the staff."
I disagree. You need to teach right and wrong. And you need to fight the battles worth fighting, not enforce rules as though the world is black and white with only your values. What do you think? Do adults punish kids too much for the wrong things? Have we forgotten to teach rather than enforce? Or do "no, no, no" rules make sense?

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/parenting/?hpid=news-col-blogs



Focus on Sudan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/interactives/sudan/?hpid=multimedia1&hpv=national



The Return of Saint Ralph
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; 7:34 AM
When Ralph Nader ran for president seven years ago, an awful lot of people saw him as a spoiler pursuing an ego trip.
But after a long career as a citizen activist and agitator, many also saw him as a principled man addressing issues that the major parties preferred to ignore. He wound up with 2.7 percent of the vote.
When Nader ran again in '04, his candidacy was widely viewed as an exercise in vanity. He was a non-factor and got 0.38 percent of the vote.
Based on this stellar track record, Nader wants to . . . run again?
Risk becoming a laughingstock?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html?hpid=news-col-blogs



The Ripple Effect Of Refinery Fires
Production Breakdowns Push Gas Costs Higher Across Industry
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page D01
In February, fire broke out at a 74-year-old oil refinery in the heart of the Texas Panhandle.
At about 2 o'clock on a Friday afternoon, liquid propane escaped from storage tanks, formed a vapor cloud and ignited. Within minutes, buttresses that held pipes 25 to 30 feet above the ground collapsed, spilling more fuel on the fire. Three 1-ton cylinders of toxic chlorine gas were damaged. A dozen people were injured, one critically.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102122.html?hpid=sec-business



Tenn. High School Loses 10-Year Battle Over Recruiting
By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A02
The Supreme Court decided unanimously yesterday that a state high school athletic association may restrict its member schools from contacting potential student-athletes.
The decision capped a 10-year, multimillion-dollar legal battle between the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association and athletic powerhouse Brentwood Academy, a private school near Nashville that boasted the state's most successful football coach.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062100818.html?hpid=sec-nation



Rights Court Says Russian 'State Agents' Killed Chechen Activist
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A15
MOSCOW, June 21 -- The European Court of Human Rights found Thursday that a Chechen woman who had appealed to the court and was subsequently slain in her home along with three members of her family was "extra-judicially executed by State agents," according to the judgment.
Zura Bitiyeva, a local human rights activist, had accused the Russian state of subjecting her to inhuman and degrading treatment after she was arrested in January 2000. She was held at the Chernokozovo detention center, a notorious facility that has been the subject of investigations by human rights groups. She was released without charge the following month. In April of that year, after a period in the hospital, she appealed to the court.
Three years later, on May 21, 2003, a group of men wearing the uniforms of Russian special forces burst into Bitiyeva's home in the middle of the night, the judgment said.
Neighbors and Bitiyeva's daughter, who was hiding in another building off the family courtyard, heard six or seven shots. Bitiyeva's daughter, who later received asylum in Germany, found the bodies of her mother, father, brother and uncle. Their hands and feet had been taped and they had been shot in the head.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062102483.html?hpid=sec-world



EPA Chief Proposes Tougher Ground-Level Pollution Standards for Ozone
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A09
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said yesterday that current limits on ozone air pollution do not adequately protect public health as he released a proposed regulation to lower the limit by as much as 20 percent in coming decades. The proposal came under immediate attack by business and industry groups.
"New scientific evidence indicates that the impact of ozone is more significant than we previously thought," Johnson said. "That's why we're proposing to strengthen the ozone standard."
Johnson said, however, that the agency will accept public comments from groups that challenge the proposed change in the standard.
Johnson said research has clearly shown that allowable levels of ozone can lead to disease but added: "I recognize that others don't agree with that, and I want to provide an opportunity for them to provide comments on which we can make an informed decision."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062100845.html?hpid=sec-health



Voucher Students Show Few Gains in First Year
D.C. Results Typical, Federal Study Says
By Amit R. Paley and Theola Labbé
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page B01
Students in the D.C. school voucher program, the first federal initiative to spend taxpayer dollars on private school tuition, generally performed no better on reading and math tests after one year in the program than their peers in public schools, the U.S. Education Department said yesterday.
The department's report, which researchers said is an early snapshot, found only a few exceptions to the conclusion that the program has not yet had a significant impact on achievement: Students who moved from higher-performing public schools to private schools and those who scored well on tests before entering the program performed better in math than their peers who stayed in public school.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062101295.html?hpid=sec-education



Wrong Target
If it takes off, a congressional assault on China for its overvalued currency will surely boomerang.
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A18
THIS WOULD seem to be an odd time for Congress to start a trade war with China. American exports are booming, both to China and the rest of the world; they set a record in April, and the overall trade deficit dropped 3 percent in the first quarter of 2007. Thanks in part to this good news, the economy is growing well, and unemployment remains low. Meanwhile, China's explosive growth and bottomless demand for imports is fueling a global economic expansion that is improving living standards for countless millions of people, especially in the developing world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062101866.html



Knighthood for a Literary Lion
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A19
Later in this column, I'm going to defend Britain's decision to award a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie, despite a sharp official complaint from the Pakistani government and bitter protests elsewhere in the Muslim world. But first, a story and some shameless name-dropping.
One day in 1993, when I was The Post's bureau chief in London, I got a phone call from a journalism acquaintance I barely knew, inviting me and my wife to dinner. I accepted, then almost immediately started thinking of reasons to back out -- I had other things to do, I needed a break from socializing, who was this guy anyway. A few days later, I called back with some lame excuse.
"No, you don't understand, you have to come," he said.
I persisted.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/21/AR2007062101862.html


A (Mostly) Mighty HeartThe Mariane Pearl movie can't escape the shadow of Angelina Jolie.
By Dana Stevens
Posted Thursday, June 21, 2007, at 6:04 PM ET
Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl
The heart referred to in the title of Mariane Pearl's book, A Mighty Heart, was that of her husband, Daniel, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and executed by Islamic militants in Pakistan in 2002. But the eponymous organ in the movie A Mighty Heart, Michael Winterbottom's brusque, economical account of the days after the abduction, belongs to Mariane herself. Though Danny (Dan Futterman) appears in brief, mainly silent flashbacks throughout the film, we see nothing of his time in captivity. This is not a movie about being kidnapped, but about searching frantically for your missing mate—and the audience, armed with the sickening knowledge that Pearl will be decapitated on video five weeks after his disappearance, can only sit and watch with steadily mounting dread.

http://www.slate.com/id/2168864?nav=wp

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