The Rooster
"Okeydoke"
Friday, May 04, 2007
V-22 debate continues despite deployment decision
A V-22 Osprey, belonging to the United States Marines, prepares to land at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia, 13 April 2007. The aircraft, which flies like a plane and takes off and lands like a helicopter, will be deployed to Iraq in September after more than two decades in development.
AFP PHOTO/SAUL LOEB
(Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
7:40 p.m. ET, 4/13/07
For weeks the V-22 Osprey was tested over Camp LeJeune. It was firt found to have a computer component problem. With that supposedly fixed, the decision was immediatlely made to send the vehicles and their pilots to Iraq. No testing beyond a few flights over the base and a few simple maneuvers. No long term study, nothing to reassure anyone involved with the Osprey that is was safe. Just, go to Iraq. Why? Because Cheney doesn't believe they will crash as simply as US helicopters?
The Arab Nations state it will take five years, as a goal, to stabilize Iraq. I wish them a lot of luck ! It looks like Saudi Arabia is ready to take them on.
Saudi Arabia arrests 172 in anti-terror sweep
Saudis say vast terrorism ring planned to blow up oil installations, attack officials and break militants out of jail.
Saudis say vast terrorism ring planned to blow up oil installations, attack officials and break militants out of jail.
By Michael SlackmanTHE NEW YORK TIMESSaturday, April 28, 2007
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi security officials said Friday that they had broken up a vast terrorist ring, arresting 172 men who planned to blow up oil installations, attack public officials and military posts, and storm a prison to free terrorist suspects.
The wide-ranging plot was uncovered over seven months, officials said, as one lead yielded another, allowing authorities to seize a cache of weapons buried in the desert and more than $5.3 million in cash.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi security officials said Friday that they had broken up a vast terrorist ring, arresting 172 men who planned to blow up oil installations, attack public officials and military posts, and storm a prison to free terrorist suspects.
The wide-ranging plot was uncovered over seven months, officials said, as one lead yielded another, allowing authorities to seize a cache of weapons buried in the desert and more than $5.3 million in cash.
Fifth U.S. chopper goes down in Iraq, killing 7
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Seven people were killed Wednesday when a Marine helicopter crashed outside Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Crew members and passengers were on the CH-46 Sea Knight when it went down in Anbar province. The military said the cause of the crash is under investigation.
It was the fifth U.S. helicopter to go down in Iraq in almost three weeks.
Crew members and passengers were on the CH-46 Sea Knight when it went down in Anbar province. The military said the cause of the crash is under investigation.
It was the fifth U.S. helicopter to go down in Iraq in almost three weeks.
US helicopter shot down in Iraq
Friday, 27 May, 2005, 02:31 GMT 03:31 UK
A US helicopter has crashed in Iraq, after coming under small arms fire, the US military has said.
Two helicopters were conducting operations near Baquba, 60km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Both were hit; one crashed and the other managed to land safely at a nearby airbase. Two soldiers died in the crash, the US military said.
The American military has secured the scene of the crash, US Central Command said in a statement.
The Pentagon said that it was an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, a one-engined two-seater craft, which had been shot down.
Two helicopters were conducting operations near Baquba, 60km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
Both were hit; one crashed and the other managed to land safely at a nearby airbase. Two soldiers died in the crash, the US military said.
The American military has secured the scene of the crash, US Central Command said in a statement.
The Pentagon said that it was an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, a one-engined two-seater craft, which had been shot down.
The U.S. death toll from a downed Chinook helicopter near Fallujah, has risen to 15, U.S. military officials say.
Sunday, November 2, 2003 Posted: 8:51 AM EST (1351 GMT)
The helicopter was shot down by a shoulder-type missile, about 60 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, at 8 a.m. Sunday, witnesses told CNN.
It was one of three separate attacks Sunday, which saw at least one other U.S. servicemen killed in a convoy attack in Baghdad at about midnight.
It is the deadliest combat day for the U.S. since March 23, the day 28 American troops died in battle.
The helicopter was shot down by a shoulder-type missile, about 60 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, at 8 a.m. Sunday, witnesses told CNN.
It was one of three separate attacks Sunday, which saw at least one other U.S. servicemen killed in a convoy attack in Baghdad at about midnight.
It is the deadliest combat day for the U.S. since March 23, the day 28 American troops died in battle.
Osprey to be deployed to Iraq with Marines in September
WASHINGTON - Ten new V-22 Osprey will be in Iraq for combat by September, the Marine Corps said Friday.
Built by Boeing Co. and Bell, a unit of Textron Inc., the planes' deployment marks a significant reversal for an aircraft program that was nearly scrapped after two deadly test crashes and a history of mechanical failures.
Built by Boeing Co. and Bell, a unit of Textron Inc., the planes' deployment marks a significant reversal for an aircraft program that was nearly scrapped after two deadly test crashes and a history of mechanical failures.
The V-22 Osprey tilt rotor craft heads for Iraq, safety questions linger
We had no sooner posted our story entitled, "Problem plagued Osprey tilt rotor aircraft reported on track for becoming operational," (Defense Electronics & Analysis, April 11, 2007), than the Defense Department announced that the V-22 Osprey would be sent to Iraq this December. When it arrives it will be the first time that it will be asked to perform a combat role. Nonetheless, the dialogue as to both the safety and worthiness of the VS-22 goes on unabated.
Because of its checkered safety record in test flights, the V-22 will be kept on a short leash. However, the restrictions that are to be imposed may be so severe that the tilt rotor craft may have difficulty fulfilling its missions. It may mean that these aircraft, which cost $80 million each, will not be able to evade enemy fire, simply because they lack the agility of the Vietnam-era helicopters they are replacing. Consequently, the V-22 may be more vulnerable to being shot down.
Because of its checkered safety record in test flights, the V-22 will be kept on a short leash. However, the restrictions that are to be imposed may be so severe that the tilt rotor craft may have difficulty fulfilling its missions. It may mean that these aircraft, which cost $80 million each, will not be able to evade enemy fire, simply because they lack the agility of the Vietnam-era helicopters they are replacing. Consequently, the V-22 may be more vulnerable to being shot down.
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
GOP hopefuls stand by their man
Republicans back Iraq war in first debate
By John Whitesides / Reuters
SIMI VALLEY, California - Republican White House contenders offered a strong show of support for the military mission in Iraq during their first debate on Thursday and said U.S. troops should not come home until the war was won.
In the early stages of a 90-minute debate at the presidential library of conservative Republican hero Ronald Reagan, most of the 10 Republican candidates in the 2008 race rallied around the war effort led by President George W. Bush.
"We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos, there will be genocide, and they will follow us home," said Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has led the charge in support of the war and backs Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9741
"I'm the commander guy."-- George W. Bush
Iraqi Blocs Opposed to Draft Oil Bill
By Edward Wong and Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times
ERBIL, Iraq, May 2 — Kurdish and Sunni Arab officials expressed deep reservations on Wednesday about the draft version of a national oil law and related legislation, misgivings that could derail one of the benchmark measures of progress in Iraq laid down by President Bush.
The draft law, which establishes a framework for the distribution of oil revenues, was approved by the Iraqi cabinet in late February after months of negotiations. The White House was hoping for quick passage to lay the groundwork for a political settlement among the country’s ethnic and sectarian factions. But the new Kurdish concerns have created doubts about the bill even before Parliament is to pick it up for debate.
The issue comes at a delicate moment for Mr. Bush, who on Wednesday began negotiations with Congressional Democrats over a new war-spending measure.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9743
The Republican Debate Clip Show
http://wonkette.com/politics/disinherit-the-wind-dept%27/the-republican-debate-clip-show-257744.php
Tommy Thompson: Sure, go ahead. Fire the gays. by Joe Sudbay (DC) ·
5/03/2007 09:48:00 PM ET
It wouldn't be a Republican debate without some gay bashing. Tommy Thompson delivered:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/05/tommy-thompson-sure-go-ahead-fire-gays.html
Acalanes students walk out for war protest
About 35 Acalanes High School students walked off campus Tuesday morning to protest the Iraq war and call for troops to be withdrawn.
The group left school at lunch and crossed the street to the southwest corner of Pleasant Hill and Deer Hill roads in Lafayette. For about 40 minutes, they stood on the vacant lot holding signs reading "Bring the troops home" and "Draft Bush."
"As non-voting citizens, the way to enact change is through protest and activism," said student Kennan Cronen.
The protest was not "just to be able to skip school," he added.
The gathering was peaceful until a student with a different point of view walked over, took a piece of paper from which an organizer had been reading aloud and ripped it.
"You're all hypocrites," he said before tearing up at least two signs and pushing a few students.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_5793516
Bush Veto Incites Protest Over 101
Anti-War Activists Elicit Honks of Support, Police Lectures
A the very least, Santa Barbara residents opposed to the current U.S. war in Iraq learned that a surprising number of truck drivers are leaning to the left these days, judging by the number of air horns that sounded.
Planned by MoveOn.org, a rally on the Micheltorena overpass Wednesday evening allowed about 80 activists to vent their frustration about President George Bush's recent veto of congressional legislation that would have set a date for a pullout of American troops from Iraq.
http://www.independent.com/news/2007/may/02/bush-veto-incites-protest-over-101/
Peace coalition protests war, Bush veto
By Michael Yoder, StaffIntelligencer Journal
Published: May 03, 2007 2:05 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Members of Congress failed to override President Bush's veto of the $124 billion war-spending bill that called for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, but that didn't stop local activists from expressing their displeasure.
A group of 25 members of Lancaster Coalition for Peace and Justice turned out on the steps of the Lancaster County Courthouse Wednesday night to protest Bush's veto and to call for an end to the bloodshed in Iraq. The group marched around the city block carrying protest signs and mock coffins draped in American flags.
The protest lasted about an hour.
The glances of people in their automobiles driving by on King Street greeted the protesters, along with an occasional honk of support or the shaking of heads in disapproval.
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/203676
Residents protest war, Bush, veto
End the war now! Friends for Peace! War is not the answer! Bring the troops home! Impeach Cheney, then Bush!
Those are just a sampling of the signs that were held up during a rally at the corner of Market and Patrick streets Wednesday evening to protest the war in Iraq and President Bush's recent veto of a bill that would have set a timeline to bring the troops home.
About 100 people turned out, waving signs, banging drums and bells, flashing the peace sign, and chanting, "No more war!"
The protesters were greeted mainly with a positive response as many drivers honked their horns and waved as they passed by. One woman even yelled out "Bush sucks!" as she drove away.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=59680
War critics protest along McGalliard
MUNCIE -- Skip Ullman held a sign suggesting the $442 billion spent on the Iraq War could have been better spent on children's health care, Hurricane Katrina victims and student college loans.
"I keep seeing all these kids getting killed and for what reason?" asked Ullman, an electrician at Borg-Warner Automotive. "Because Bush and Cheney want oil."
Kresha Warnock, a Ball State University instructor, said she just wanted the troops home after her son, David, who serves in the Army infantry, was seriously injured last December, when the Humvee he was driving ran over a roadside bomb, killing another infantryman riding in the vehicle.
"I believe this war was entered into under false pretenses," she said.
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS01/705030350/1002
U.S. examines Iraq battlefield ethics
By Pauline Jelinek / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A new Pentagon survey of troops in Iraq found that only 40 percent of Marines and 55 percent of Army soldiers would report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.
In the first internal military study of battlefield ethics in Iraq, officials said Friday they also found that only a third of Marines and roughly half of soldiers said they believed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity.
The study also found that long and repeated deployments were increasing troop mental health problems. And it showed that more than 40 percent of Marines and soldiers said torture should be allowed to save the lives of troops.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9749
Family exhumes body of local soldier to look for clues into her mysterious death
(KMOV) -- News 4 is taking you behind the scenes of the investigation into the death of a local soldier.
The death of Private Lavena Johnson is clouded in controversy and allegations of a cover up.
News 4's Matt Sczesny was there as investigators exhumed the body of Private Johnson and conducted a new autopsy.
For almost two years, Private Lavena Johnson's body has been at Jefferson Barracks Cemetary.
Her family believes some secret about her death is still there, waiting to be found.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9746
LaVena Johnson autopsy results: "inconclusive"
Last night's KMOV-TV story (including video) on the case of Pfc. LaVena Johnson - an account of her body's exhumation and autopsy - provided little progress in the attempt to clarify the cause of her death in Iraq in 2005. The autopsy team, which included St. Louis chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Graham and St. Louis County medical examiner Dr. Mary Case, reported inconclusive findings after a three-hour examination. The process will now move to include the weapon - an M-16 rifle - which may have fatally wounded LaVena. More findings will be posted as they are made available.
http://www.lavenajohnson.com/
Help find the truth about the death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/pfc_lavena_johnson/
London Show to Bring the Troops Home
The Scala, Monday June 4, doors open 7.00pmsupported by Ed Harcourt, Frank Turner, Mark Thomas & MC Mark SteelA benefit for the Stop the War Coalitionwww.stopwar.org.uk
http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/
Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. With its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"--yet most people have never heard of it.
http://www.nationbooks.org/book.mhtml?t=scahill
Letter From Atlanta
Like many of you reading this, I just stood on the sidelines and watched.Oh, I cheered: “We’re all wearing the blue dress now.” was an early favorite.Where would I find the cardboard? Where can I find a projector? When do I have time to do it? What if I got caught? I had every excuse. I had good intentions, but just couldn’t commit to doing one.
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2007/05/letter-from-atlanta.html
'Please Don't Throw Me in that Veto Patch' ...by Mike Ferner
As expected, Resident Bush immediately vetoed the Democrats “$100 Billion for the War and An Illusion of Withdrawal Bill” otherwise known as HR1591, but now this? MoveOn and the DemBoosters are ringing some kind of dizzy alarm: “Emergency Iraq Rally…show our leaders we mean business…tell Congress this is the key moment to stand strong against the President's veto.”
Come again?!
For all the wrong reasons The Pretender has briefly delayed the next payment of war money and created a momentary crisis among the Empire's leadership. OK, so don't pin a medal on the guy, but at least define the current state of affairs as one to take advantage of: get serious about occupying local Congressional offices, tying up traffic, shutting down universities – resisting as if…well, as if lives depended on it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=873
Husband Says Army Didn't Deliver as Promised
By Kelli O'Hara / WECT
CAROLINA BEACH -- Former soldier Tony Snider feels slighted -- he's angry about how his wife, Julie, was recruited by the Army.
He says she isn't getting everything she was promised, such as a signing bonus that never materialized.
"It's not about the money or the rank, it's about a promise," he said.
Snider isn't the only one criticizing the methods the military uses to find new troops.
Critics say, with the Iraq war raging, standards have been loosened and recruits manipulated in order to meet goals.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9747
From a mother who lost a son in Iraq
Logan, Utah Herald Journal
To the editor:
Ruben Navarrette’s recent column on Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch sure brought life crashing towards me. As the mother of the last man to die after the Jan. 20, 2007, Karbala, Iraq, attack, I can say that having a son die in Iraq is not the kind of sacrifice that brings warmth to the heart. It does not inspire the soul. But it does capture the imagination. I imagine the horror he went through being kidnapped, transported around Iraq for an hour and a half, then executed.
That raid was well planned. The local Karbala army and police knew the attack was coming and did nothing to help our soldiers. The vendors that normally work the area did not come to work that day. The construction workers that usually work long daily hours did not come to work. During the raid, the governor of Karbala Province was heard on the radio demanding that no one react to the attack without his direct order. The head of the Karbala police would not allow American soldiers into his office during the attack, although it had one of the best views of the area. Another high-ranking Karbala police officer was heard talking and laughing on his cell phone after the attack. He was describing the attack as if he witnessed it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=874
Haaretz
U.S. official: Demands not being imposed on anyone
By Avi Issacharoff and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents
Deputy U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Friday that the United States would not enforce the demands listed in a document presented to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, detailing actions for both sides to implement. He also said that there is no deadlines for taking the recommended actions."These are suggestions and ideas that we have circulated, it's not any kind of formal agreement nor is it something that is being enforced on anybody," he told reporters.
"There is no effort to try and say 'Next week, you'll do this, the week after that, you'll do that,'" Casey said. "The idea would be to do these in fairly quick order, though."He said the measures are related to implementing phase one of the road map peace plan for the region.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855602.html
Benchmark Document / Israel concerned by Washington's demands
By Avi Issacharoff and Aluf Benn
Senior officials fear a confrontation with Washington over a document of benchmarks it has presented to Israel and the Palestinian Authority setting a detailed timetable for measures each side must implement. The document sets a schedule for removing roadblocks and opening passages in the territories and upgrading the Palestinian forces loyal to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Israel is also urged to approve requests for weapons, munitions and equipment required by defense forces loyal to Abbas. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to arrive on May 15 to discuss implementing the plan.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855660.html
EU coordinates payments with Palestinian gov't
By Reuters
The European Union and Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad have agreed to start making regular partial payments to Palestinian workers at the same time each month, European officials said yesterday. Palestinian officials said the coordinated payments, expected to begin arriving in accounts within a few days, would make it easier for government workers to cope with a year-old economic embargo of the Hamas-led government, because they would receive more money on a schedule closer to a normal salary.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855668.html
PA officials deny reports Abbas may resign over int'l sanctions
By Reuters
A senior official in Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party said Friday afternoon that though Abbas is increasingly concerned about an ongoing international boycott of the Palestinian government, he has has not threatened to resign or call early elections over the impasse, despite earlier reports to the contrary.Abbas met Wednesday and Thursday with leading Fatah members.One of the Fatah officials, Nabil Shaath, denied reports that in these meetings, Abbas threatened to resign or call early elections if the sanctions aren't lifted soon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855834.html
The conspicuously absent issue
By Ze'ev Schiff
While the Winograd Committee report is only partial, some important issues are missing and others are not dealt with sufficiently. The committee did a thorough job, and poked into hidden corners, but one still gets the feeling that the phrasing of the report was done under pressure. It is good the committee insisted on publishing an interim report first, and left the testimony of the prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff for the next stage. That was the logically correct order, and it is a pity the High Court was dragged into a petty dispute over this.
One issue that is conspicuously absent is the way the conflict on the Palestinian front affected the Second Lebanon War - a subject the committee did not address at all. The confrontation with the Palestinians has been going on for years, and generations of Israel Defense Forces soldiers focused on it, as if it were Israel's major struggle and all future battles would be modeled on it. This kind of thinking negatively affected the army's performance in Lebanon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855676.html
Peres' responsibility
By Haaretz Editorial
Had Ehud Olmert displayed last summer an iota of the wisdom and judgment he is exhibiting during the struggle for his political career, the prime minister would have saved the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people the heavy losses and serious damage caused by the Second Lebanon War. However, Olmert's energetic handling of the mini-crisis in Kadima does not in any way diminish his direct responsibility for the serious crisis that occured on the northern border. His success at dousing the budding uprising in the coalition does not lessen the responsibility of its members for the implications of the continued presence of the prime minister and defense minister in their offices.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855674.html
Jerusalem Post
Conference on Iran crisis adjourns in deep deadlock
Under fire for stalling a 130-nation nuclear meeting, Iran on Friday accused the US of being the real culprit, as the conference adjourned for the weekend in deep deadlock over Teheran's opposition to language of the gathering's agenda.
With the dispute in its fifth day, several non-Iranian diplomats at the conference said it could be dissolved without progress by Monday unless differences were resolved.
At issue is Teheran's refusal to accept a phrase calling for the "need for full compliance with" the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
That position has delayed adoption of the agenda since the conference opened Monday. Teheran argues the language could lead it to become a target at the meeting because of its refusal to heed UN Security Council demands to cease uranium enrichment and other parts of its nuclear program that could be misused to make nuclear weapons.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198613115&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US confirms efforts to ease ME tensions
The State Department confirmed Friday that US officials have recommended a series of steps that Israel and the Palestinians could take to ease continuing tensions.
"We've circulated some ideas on this," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey, commenting on Israeli press reports and statements by the chief Palestinian Authority negotiator, Saeb Erekat. Casey said there were no deadlines for taking the recommended actions.
They include calls for Israel to ease the burden on the Palestinian people by removing roadblocks and other barriers to give them better trade and business access, he said. They also call for the Palestinians to ensure that any Israeli moves are not met with an increase in attacks, he added.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198612299&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Iranian FM: US worsening Iraq situation
Iran's foreign minister on Friday said the US-led occupation of Iraq has caused pain and suffering and worsened the situation in the war-torn country.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters that the world should not be dominated by one or two powers, and blamed the United States' policies in Iraq for bolstering the deteriorating situation there.
"The polices of the occupation forces in Iraq are basically flawed, and the policies have failed, and we must try to correct these policies," Mottaki said.
Mottaki was in this Red Sea resort for an international conference on the future of Iraq that brought together Iraq's neighbors and other world powers including the US.
Mottaki's speech angered the Iraqi delegation, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has sought to bridge the disputes between Teheran and Washington and - more broadly - rally all the deeply divided nations of the region behind a plan to stabilize Iraq.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198611638&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Palestinian journalists increasingly targeted
Attacks on Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip increased significantly last month, according to a report published Thursday.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian human rights group announced that 30 Palestinians were killed in internal fighting in the Palestinian territories during April - 22 in the Gaza Strip and eight in the West Bank.
It said at least 14 Palestinians were kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen during the same period and that some were brutally tortured or shot in the lower parts of the body.
The report about the journalists was published by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198609639&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Editor's Notes: A searing indictment
For page after relentless page it continues, exposing, layer after horrifying layer, a picture of Israel's military and political capabilities so dismal, so complacent and amateurish, as to defy belief. "It can't really be this bad, can it?" you find yourself saying as you turn the pages. And then comes yet another clause, highlighting yet another untenable reality, to confirm that, yes, it really can be.
And this, remember, is only the interim report of the Winograd Committee into the failings related to the Second Lebanon War. This is the critique of that part of the war that was widely supported by the public.
Having had six years to prepare, Israelis had reasonably assumed the IDF was ready and waiting with an effective response to Hizbullah. Chillingly and caustically, Winograd divests us of that misguided confidence, and heaps mountains of blame on those who left us so vulnerable. The final report, cataloguing the stubborn maintenance of the failed hit-and-hope response even as 4,000 Katyushas fell and 163 Israelis were killed, awaits us in the summer.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198606909&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
PM aides downplay 'irrelevent' TA rally
The key to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert remaining in power lies not with the politicians in his party and coalition or the masses in Kikar Rabin, but with the five members of the Winograd Committee, sources close to Olmert said Thursday.
Olmert's associates downplayed the rally, saying it was "irrelevant" as long as there was no chance of the Knesset unseating the prime minister. They said the unity among Right and Left in the square was meaningless if the two sides could not agree on an alternative to Olmert.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198609364&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Jordan Times
King reiterates Palestinian state top Jordanian priority
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah on Thursday reiterated that establishing an independent Palestinian state is a top Jordanian priority.
The King told a group of Palestinian thinkers and opinion leaders at a meeting that Jordan is committed to exerting diplomatic and political efforts to revive the Middle East peace process and push for resuming Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The Monarch said Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli opinion leaders play an important role to promote peace and help realise Mideast peoples’ aspiration for ending the conflict.
He called on the thinkers to explain to their Israeli counterparts that Arabs are strongly committed to peace.
The King added that gathering momentum in the Israeli society was necessary for backing international peace efforts.
King Abdullah said the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which enjoys Arab consensus, provides a suitable launchpad for Palestinian-Israeli negotiations that would lead to tangible results.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Why Arabs are unimpressed by the Winograd report
Rami G. Khouri
A combination of vindication, disdain and renewed concerns about Israeli militarism are the dominant reactions in the Arab world to the preliminary report of the Winograd Commission released on April 30 in Israel. The commission harshly rebuked three senior Israeli political and military leaders for their conduct during last summer’s 34-day war with Lebanon’s Hizbollah Party, leaving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister and Labour Party leader Amir Peretz in dismal shape before Israeli public opinion.
The former army chief of staff, Dan Halutz, had already resigned in disgrace after the war.
The Arab sense of vindication stems from the feeling that Israel had performed poorly in the war and had not achieved its primary strategic objectives: smashing Hizbollah, removing the armed Lebanese resistance movement from the south of Lebanon, returning the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers in Hizbollah’s hands, reaffirming Israel’s deterrence posture with the entire Arab world and Iran, and ensuring that all wars with the Arabs are fought in Arab lands, not in Israel.
Arab analysts were quick to recall Monday that Israel had also been forced to accept a UN-mandated ceasefire in August, after failing to win on the battlefield.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion2.htm
France’s path not taken
By Hans-Werner Sinn
The new president of France, be it Nicolas Sarkozy or Ségolène Royal, will face a tough challenge when it comes to putting the French economy back on its feet.
While the world economy is booming for the fourth consecutive year, with a historically unprecedented growth rate of about 5 per cent, the French economy is limping. In 2006, it grew by only 2.2 per cent, while growth rates of only 2.1 per cent and 1.9 per cent can be expected for 2007 and 2008, respectively, according to a recent
forecast by the German Economic Research Institutes. This is significantly below the average of the old EU countries for these three years — 2.7 per cent, 2.6 per cent, and 2.4 per cent, respectively.
France is currently one of Europe’s laggards, only slightly ahead of Italy and Portugal. Even Germany is performing better. With a growth rate of 2.7 per cent, the German economy clawed its way back to the average of the old EU countries in 2006, and it can be expected to grow at 2.4 per cent in 2007 and 2008, far faster than France.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion6.htm
War is becoming old fashioned
Jonathan Power
Are the great powers really as war-prone as the traditional balance of power theorists, like former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, and Chicago professor, John Mearsheimer, argue?
I think the evolution of history in all its complexity tells us something else. Even though human beings have made war as far back as we know, this doesn’t predetermine our future, and it doesn’t necessarily prove there will be more of the same.
We should wind the historical clock back to the 15th century. It is then that we can take advantage of the late Evan Luard’s fascinating study of war in European societies. He divided up the history of warfare into five periods: The Age of Dynasties (1400 to 1559), the Age of Religions (1559-1648), the Age of Sovereignty (1649-1789), the Age of Nationalism (1789-1917) and the Age of Ideology, from 1917 onwards.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion5.htm
Ill timed
The International Criminal Court has, all of a sudden, decided to use its authority and take to task a Sudanese minister and a general in the armed forces of the country.
The ICC came into being in 1998 with much fanfare and hope that it will more effectively bring to account crimes perpetrators across the globe. Yet, the international tribunal was mostly idle since it became operational, about five years ago. Now it decided to make its presence felt by seizing upon the Darfur conflict.
Why the court hibernated for such a long time despite the fact that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been taking place in many regions of the world is anybody’s guess.
To be sure, in Darfur, grave human rights violations have indeed been committed, including the kind that could qualify as crimes against humanity. But the resolution of the conflict there can be best attained by political means, and by securing Khartoum’s cooperation, not by prosecuting two Sudanese officials.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion1.htm
Harvard’s Women’s Leadership Board offers scholarships to Jordanian students
AMMAN (JT) — The Women’s Leadership Board (WLB) at Harvard University on Thursday announced two fellowships for Jordanian students in honour of Her Majesty Queen Rania’s visit.
The fellowships are for undergraduate women to study at Harvard Summer School, which caters to students from over 50 countries. The programme will allow the selected students to expand their academic experience, benefit from exchange and exposure to different countries and cultures and enhance their leadership skills through special seminars in communication, strategic thinking and networking.
“Thanks to these summer internships, which combine education with empowerment, bright young Jordanian women are set to gain valuable leadership skills… learning from women like you and perhaps sharing some of their stories,” Queen Rania said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews1.htm
Higher costs cut profit of International Tobacco and Cigarettes Company
By Samir Ghawi
AMMAN — The International Tobacco and Cigarettes Company (ITCC) attributed the sharp drop in consolidated profit last year to higher operational costs of the parent firm.
The financial statements and closing accounts covered three subsidiaries for the first time.
The 15th annual report showed a net profit after provisions, tax and minority interests at JD0.40 million at the end of 2006 compared to JD3.20 million the previous year.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/economy/economy1.htm
Rice meets Syrian FM, greets Iranian as world rallies for Iraq
50 states adopt International Compact for stabilising violence-ravaged country in 5 years
…Delegates overwhelmingly adopted the International Compact with Iraq (ICI), whose goal Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki explained was "to rebuild a unified, democratic and federal Iraq and to distribute its wealth fairly"….
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news2.htm
'Killed Qaeda man not group chief’
BAGHDAD (AFP) — The US military killed a senior Al Qaeda figure this week in Iraq but the dead man was not the group's chief as was claimed by Iraqi officials, spokesman Major General William Caldwell said on Thursday.
Caldwell told reporters that US forces killed Al Qaeda in Iraq's "senior information minister", whom he identified as Muharib Abdul Latif Juburi, early on Tuesday just north of Baghdad. He played key roles in the kidnapping and murder of US peace activist Tom Fox and American journalist Jill Carroll in 2006 among other high-profile actions, Caldwell said.
Previously, Iraqi officials had reported that the dead man was Abu Ayyub Masri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
But Caldwell said that US officials would have immediately been able to identify Masri's corpse, and that they were positive they had in fact killed Abdul Latif, a lesser but still senior figure.
"We killed him on a target objective at 1:42am west of Taji on May 1," Caldwell said. "This is the individual that has caused some confusion and was the senior Al Qaeda person killed." "His was the only body we took at the site," he added.
"DNA testing and photo identification confirmed this yesterday (Wednesday)." Caldwell said the confusion arose when Abdul Latif's body was released for burial to a tribal member who was subsequently arrested at a police checkpoint as he left the city with the corpse.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news3.htm
Tens of thousands tell Olmert to resign over war report
TEL AVIV (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters streamed to a central Tel Aviv square after sundown Thursday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert because of a scathing inquiry report about the way he ordered and handled last summer's bloody, costly but inconclusive war in Lebanon.
Olmert remained defiant, hoping to beat back a rising wave of calls to step down. A day after his popular foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, joined the chorus, Olmert's aides felt she had not dealt him a mortal political blow. But they admitted that a large-scale public protest campaign could bring him down.
Thursday's turnout appeared to top 100,000, though police refused to estimate the crowd's size.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news4.htm
Sudan, Chad sign reconciliation deal in Riyadh
RIYADH (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno signed a reconciliation accord in the Saudi capital on Thursday aimed at ending tensions between their two countries.
The televised signing took place at a summit hosted by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, with the deal committing each of the parties to refrain from supporting rebels in the other country.
The meeting had begun as press reports from Khartoum said the two sides had agreed in principle to form a joint border force and to deploy observers.
Relations between the two countries nosedived after deadly border clashes between Sudanese and Chadian soldiers on April 9, in and around the war-torn Darfur region.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news5.htm
Iran ex-nuke negotiator arrested
TEHRAN (AP) — Iranian authorities have arrested the country's former nuclear negotiator, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor and key rival, and he reportedly could face an espionage charge.
The hardline president, meanwhile, insisted his country will not retreat "even an iota" on its nuclear programme.
The Iranian state-run news agency said Hossein Mousavian was arrested Monday in the capital, Tehran. Iran did not officially release any details about the specific charges against him. But the semiofficial Fars news agency — which is deemed close to the elite Revolutionary Guards — said Mousavian could face espionage charges.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news6.htm
After trip to Lebanon, top UN lawyer reports deadlock in Hariri tribunal negotiations
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The UN's top lawyer said he has failed to persuade Lebanon's rival factions to approve an international tribunal in the assassination of a former prime minister, prompting the US to warn that the Security Council could create one without Lebanese approval.
Nicolas Michel, the undersecretary general for legal affairs, told the council Wednesday that on a trip to Lebanon last month, he found the anti-Syria, Western-backed ruling coalition and the pro-Syria opposition deadlocked over the tribunal. The opposition insists on a veto-wielding share in a new Cabinet before any action on the tribunal, which must be approved by the parliament.
Michel said the two sides "expressed support in principle for the establishment of the tribunal" but could not reach an agreement.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news8.htm
Baghdadi leaves fractured but virile insurgency
By Joseph KraussAgence France-Presse
BAGHDAD — The death of Iraqi militant leader Abu Omar Baghdadi is the latest blow to Al Qaeda’s bid to carry the mantle of a relentless Sunni rebellion amid challenges from rival insurgents.
Thursday’s announcement by the Iraqi government that Baghdadi had been killed came two days after a similar claim, as yet unverified, that Al Qaeda in Iraq kingpin Abu Ayyoub Masri had been killed in an internal feud.
But it is far from clear whether the infighting that has erupted within the Sunni insurgency will weaken it or simply give it an equally uncompromising but more nationalist face.
Baghdadi’s death was reported just as three Iraqi insurgent groups launched a merger in an explicit challenge to his “Islamic State of Iraq” — the umbrella group aimed at uniting Sunnis under the banner of radical Islam.
“In order to confront local, regional, and international challenges, an agreement has been concluded between three groups, the Islamic Army in Iraq, the Army of the Mujahedeen and the Ansar Al Sunna to form a united front,” the group said in a statement posted on a jihadi website.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news9.htm
PM criticises attempts to undermine Jordanian position
AJLOUN (JT) — Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on Thursday said it was unfortunate that some Jordanians would repeat accusations made by certain Israeli parties.
During a meeting with dignitaries and citizens of the Ajloun Governorate yesterday, Bakhit said it was also unfortunate that some political forces and leaders of parties, including the Islamic Action Front, would repeat Israeli statements that seek to instill doubt and undermine Jordan’s position on the Palestinian question.
Bakhit told the gathering that His Majesty King Abdullah stood before the US Congress and addressed US Congressmen in a clear and powerful manner in support of the Palestinian question, like no other Arab or Muslim leader has done before.
In his address, the King highlighted the great injustice suffered by the Palestinians, stressing that the Palestinian question is the core issue that needs to be solved as soon as possible.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews2.htm
continued …
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
GOP hopefuls stand by their man
Republicans back Iraq war in first debate
By John Whitesides / Reuters
SIMI VALLEY, California - Republican White House contenders offered a strong show of support for the military mission in Iraq during their first debate on Thursday and said U.S. troops should not come home until the war was won.
In the early stages of a 90-minute debate at the presidential library of conservative Republican hero Ronald Reagan, most of the 10 Republican candidates in the 2008 race rallied around the war effort led by President George W. Bush.
"We must win in Iraq. If we withdraw, there will be chaos, there will be genocide, and they will follow us home," said Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has led the charge in support of the war and backs Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9741
"I'm the commander guy."-- George W. Bush
Iraqi Blocs Opposed to Draft Oil Bill
By Edward Wong and Sheryl Gay Stolberg / New York Times
ERBIL, Iraq, May 2 — Kurdish and Sunni Arab officials expressed deep reservations on Wednesday about the draft version of a national oil law and related legislation, misgivings that could derail one of the benchmark measures of progress in Iraq laid down by President Bush.
The draft law, which establishes a framework for the distribution of oil revenues, was approved by the Iraqi cabinet in late February after months of negotiations. The White House was hoping for quick passage to lay the groundwork for a political settlement among the country’s ethnic and sectarian factions. But the new Kurdish concerns have created doubts about the bill even before Parliament is to pick it up for debate.
The issue comes at a delicate moment for Mr. Bush, who on Wednesday began negotiations with Congressional Democrats over a new war-spending measure.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9743
The Republican Debate Clip Show
http://wonkette.com/politics/disinherit-the-wind-dept%27/the-republican-debate-clip-show-257744.php
Tommy Thompson: Sure, go ahead. Fire the gays. by Joe Sudbay (DC) ·
5/03/2007 09:48:00 PM ET
It wouldn't be a Republican debate without some gay bashing. Tommy Thompson delivered:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/05/tommy-thompson-sure-go-ahead-fire-gays.html
Acalanes students walk out for war protest
About 35 Acalanes High School students walked off campus Tuesday morning to protest the Iraq war and call for troops to be withdrawn.
The group left school at lunch and crossed the street to the southwest corner of Pleasant Hill and Deer Hill roads in Lafayette. For about 40 minutes, they stood on the vacant lot holding signs reading "Bring the troops home" and "Draft Bush."
"As non-voting citizens, the way to enact change is through protest and activism," said student Kennan Cronen.
The protest was not "just to be able to skip school," he added.
The gathering was peaceful until a student with a different point of view walked over, took a piece of paper from which an organizer had been reading aloud and ripped it.
"You're all hypocrites," he said before tearing up at least two signs and pushing a few students.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_5793516
Bush Veto Incites Protest Over 101
Anti-War Activists Elicit Honks of Support, Police Lectures
A the very least, Santa Barbara residents opposed to the current U.S. war in Iraq learned that a surprising number of truck drivers are leaning to the left these days, judging by the number of air horns that sounded.
Planned by MoveOn.org, a rally on the Micheltorena overpass Wednesday evening allowed about 80 activists to vent their frustration about President George Bush's recent veto of congressional legislation that would have set a date for a pullout of American troops from Iraq.
http://www.independent.com/news/2007/may/02/bush-veto-incites-protest-over-101/
Peace coalition protests war, Bush veto
By Michael Yoder, StaffIntelligencer Journal
Published: May 03, 2007 2:05 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Members of Congress failed to override President Bush's veto of the $124 billion war-spending bill that called for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, but that didn't stop local activists from expressing their displeasure.
A group of 25 members of Lancaster Coalition for Peace and Justice turned out on the steps of the Lancaster County Courthouse Wednesday night to protest Bush's veto and to call for an end to the bloodshed in Iraq. The group marched around the city block carrying protest signs and mock coffins draped in American flags.
The protest lasted about an hour.
The glances of people in their automobiles driving by on King Street greeted the protesters, along with an occasional honk of support or the shaking of heads in disapproval.
http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/203676
Residents protest war, Bush, veto
End the war now! Friends for Peace! War is not the answer! Bring the troops home! Impeach Cheney, then Bush!
Those are just a sampling of the signs that were held up during a rally at the corner of Market and Patrick streets Wednesday evening to protest the war in Iraq and President Bush's recent veto of a bill that would have set a timeline to bring the troops home.
About 100 people turned out, waving signs, banging drums and bells, flashing the peace sign, and chanting, "No more war!"
The protesters were greeted mainly with a positive response as many drivers honked their horns and waved as they passed by. One woman even yelled out "Bush sucks!" as she drove away.
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?storyID=59680
War critics protest along McGalliard
MUNCIE -- Skip Ullman held a sign suggesting the $442 billion spent on the Iraq War could have been better spent on children's health care, Hurricane Katrina victims and student college loans.
"I keep seeing all these kids getting killed and for what reason?" asked Ullman, an electrician at Borg-Warner Automotive. "Because Bush and Cheney want oil."
Kresha Warnock, a Ball State University instructor, said she just wanted the troops home after her son, David, who serves in the Army infantry, was seriously injured last December, when the Humvee he was driving ran over a roadside bomb, killing another infantryman riding in the vehicle.
"I believe this war was entered into under false pretenses," she said.
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/NEWS01/705030350/1002
U.S. examines Iraq battlefield ethics
By Pauline Jelinek / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A new Pentagon survey of troops in Iraq found that only 40 percent of Marines and 55 percent of Army soldiers would report a member of their unit for killing or wounding an innocent civilian.
In the first internal military study of battlefield ethics in Iraq, officials said Friday they also found that only a third of Marines and roughly half of soldiers said they believed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity.
The study also found that long and repeated deployments were increasing troop mental health problems. And it showed that more than 40 percent of Marines and soldiers said torture should be allowed to save the lives of troops.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9749
Family exhumes body of local soldier to look for clues into her mysterious death
(KMOV) -- News 4 is taking you behind the scenes of the investigation into the death of a local soldier.
The death of Private Lavena Johnson is clouded in controversy and allegations of a cover up.
News 4's Matt Sczesny was there as investigators exhumed the body of Private Johnson and conducted a new autopsy.
For almost two years, Private Lavena Johnson's body has been at Jefferson Barracks Cemetary.
Her family believes some secret about her death is still there, waiting to be found.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9746
LaVena Johnson autopsy results: "inconclusive"
Last night's KMOV-TV story (including video) on the case of Pfc. LaVena Johnson - an account of her body's exhumation and autopsy - provided little progress in the attempt to clarify the cause of her death in Iraq in 2005. The autopsy team, which included St. Louis chief medical examiner Dr. Michael Graham and St. Louis County medical examiner Dr. Mary Case, reported inconclusive findings after a three-hour examination. The process will now move to include the weapon - an M-16 rifle - which may have fatally wounded LaVena. More findings will be posted as they are made available.
http://www.lavenajohnson.com/
Help find the truth about the death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/pfc_lavena_johnson/
London Show to Bring the Troops Home
The Scala, Monday June 4, doors open 7.00pmsupported by Ed Harcourt, Frank Turner, Mark Thomas & MC Mark SteelA benefit for the Stop the War Coalitionwww.stopwar.org.uk
http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/
Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. With its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"--yet most people have never heard of it.
http://www.nationbooks.org/book.mhtml?t=scahill
Letter From Atlanta
Like many of you reading this, I just stood on the sidelines and watched.Oh, I cheered: “We’re all wearing the blue dress now.” was an early favorite.Where would I find the cardboard? Where can I find a projector? When do I have time to do it? What if I got caught? I had every excuse. I had good intentions, but just couldn’t commit to doing one.
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2007/05/letter-from-atlanta.html
'Please Don't Throw Me in that Veto Patch' ...by Mike Ferner
As expected, Resident Bush immediately vetoed the Democrats “$100 Billion for the War and An Illusion of Withdrawal Bill” otherwise known as HR1591, but now this? MoveOn and the DemBoosters are ringing some kind of dizzy alarm: “Emergency Iraq Rally…show our leaders we mean business…tell Congress this is the key moment to stand strong against the President's veto.”
Come again?!
For all the wrong reasons The Pretender has briefly delayed the next payment of war money and created a momentary crisis among the Empire's leadership. OK, so don't pin a medal on the guy, but at least define the current state of affairs as one to take advantage of: get serious about occupying local Congressional offices, tying up traffic, shutting down universities – resisting as if…well, as if lives depended on it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=873
Husband Says Army Didn't Deliver as Promised
By Kelli O'Hara / WECT
CAROLINA BEACH -- Former soldier Tony Snider feels slighted -- he's angry about how his wife, Julie, was recruited by the Army.
He says she isn't getting everything she was promised, such as a signing bonus that never materialized.
"It's not about the money or the rank, it's about a promise," he said.
Snider isn't the only one criticizing the methods the military uses to find new troops.
Critics say, with the Iraq war raging, standards have been loosened and recruits manipulated in order to meet goals.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9747
From a mother who lost a son in Iraq
Logan, Utah Herald Journal
To the editor:
Ruben Navarrette’s recent column on Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch sure brought life crashing towards me. As the mother of the last man to die after the Jan. 20, 2007, Karbala, Iraq, attack, I can say that having a son die in Iraq is not the kind of sacrifice that brings warmth to the heart. It does not inspire the soul. But it does capture the imagination. I imagine the horror he went through being kidnapped, transported around Iraq for an hour and a half, then executed.
That raid was well planned. The local Karbala army and police knew the attack was coming and did nothing to help our soldiers. The vendors that normally work the area did not come to work that day. The construction workers that usually work long daily hours did not come to work. During the raid, the governor of Karbala Province was heard on the radio demanding that no one react to the attack without his direct order. The head of the Karbala police would not allow American soldiers into his office during the attack, although it had one of the best views of the area. Another high-ranking Karbala police officer was heard talking and laughing on his cell phone after the attack. He was describing the attack as if he witnessed it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=874
Haaretz
U.S. official: Demands not being imposed on anyone
By Avi Issacharoff and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents
Deputy U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Friday that the United States would not enforce the demands listed in a document presented to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, detailing actions for both sides to implement. He also said that there is no deadlines for taking the recommended actions."These are suggestions and ideas that we have circulated, it's not any kind of formal agreement nor is it something that is being enforced on anybody," he told reporters.
"There is no effort to try and say 'Next week, you'll do this, the week after that, you'll do that,'" Casey said. "The idea would be to do these in fairly quick order, though."He said the measures are related to implementing phase one of the road map peace plan for the region.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855602.html
Benchmark Document / Israel concerned by Washington's demands
By Avi Issacharoff and Aluf Benn
Senior officials fear a confrontation with Washington over a document of benchmarks it has presented to Israel and the Palestinian Authority setting a detailed timetable for measures each side must implement. The document sets a schedule for removing roadblocks and opening passages in the territories and upgrading the Palestinian forces loyal to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Israel is also urged to approve requests for weapons, munitions and equipment required by defense forces loyal to Abbas. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to arrive on May 15 to discuss implementing the plan.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855660.html
EU coordinates payments with Palestinian gov't
By Reuters
The European Union and Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayyad have agreed to start making regular partial payments to Palestinian workers at the same time each month, European officials said yesterday. Palestinian officials said the coordinated payments, expected to begin arriving in accounts within a few days, would make it easier for government workers to cope with a year-old economic embargo of the Hamas-led government, because they would receive more money on a schedule closer to a normal salary.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855668.html
PA officials deny reports Abbas may resign over int'l sanctions
By Reuters
A senior official in Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party said Friday afternoon that though Abbas is increasingly concerned about an ongoing international boycott of the Palestinian government, he has has not threatened to resign or call early elections over the impasse, despite earlier reports to the contrary.Abbas met Wednesday and Thursday with leading Fatah members.One of the Fatah officials, Nabil Shaath, denied reports that in these meetings, Abbas threatened to resign or call early elections if the sanctions aren't lifted soon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855834.html
The conspicuously absent issue
By Ze'ev Schiff
While the Winograd Committee report is only partial, some important issues are missing and others are not dealt with sufficiently. The committee did a thorough job, and poked into hidden corners, but one still gets the feeling that the phrasing of the report was done under pressure. It is good the committee insisted on publishing an interim report first, and left the testimony of the prime minister, defense minister and chief of staff for the next stage. That was the logically correct order, and it is a pity the High Court was dragged into a petty dispute over this.
One issue that is conspicuously absent is the way the conflict on the Palestinian front affected the Second Lebanon War - a subject the committee did not address at all. The confrontation with the Palestinians has been going on for years, and generations of Israel Defense Forces soldiers focused on it, as if it were Israel's major struggle and all future battles would be modeled on it. This kind of thinking negatively affected the army's performance in Lebanon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855676.html
Peres' responsibility
By Haaretz Editorial
Had Ehud Olmert displayed last summer an iota of the wisdom and judgment he is exhibiting during the struggle for his political career, the prime minister would have saved the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people the heavy losses and serious damage caused by the Second Lebanon War. However, Olmert's energetic handling of the mini-crisis in Kadima does not in any way diminish his direct responsibility for the serious crisis that occured on the northern border. His success at dousing the budding uprising in the coalition does not lessen the responsibility of its members for the implications of the continued presence of the prime minister and defense minister in their offices.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/855674.html
Jerusalem Post
Conference on Iran crisis adjourns in deep deadlock
Under fire for stalling a 130-nation nuclear meeting, Iran on Friday accused the US of being the real culprit, as the conference adjourned for the weekend in deep deadlock over Teheran's opposition to language of the gathering's agenda.
With the dispute in its fifth day, several non-Iranian diplomats at the conference said it could be dissolved without progress by Monday unless differences were resolved.
At issue is Teheran's refusal to accept a phrase calling for the "need for full compliance with" the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
That position has delayed adoption of the agenda since the conference opened Monday. Teheran argues the language could lead it to become a target at the meeting because of its refusal to heed UN Security Council demands to cease uranium enrichment and other parts of its nuclear program that could be misused to make nuclear weapons.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198613115&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
US confirms efforts to ease ME tensions
The State Department confirmed Friday that US officials have recommended a series of steps that Israel and the Palestinians could take to ease continuing tensions.
"We've circulated some ideas on this," said deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey, commenting on Israeli press reports and statements by the chief Palestinian Authority negotiator, Saeb Erekat. Casey said there were no deadlines for taking the recommended actions.
They include calls for Israel to ease the burden on the Palestinian people by removing roadblocks and other barriers to give them better trade and business access, he said. They also call for the Palestinians to ensure that any Israeli moves are not met with an increase in attacks, he added.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198612299&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Iranian FM: US worsening Iraq situation
Iran's foreign minister on Friday said the US-led occupation of Iraq has caused pain and suffering and worsened the situation in the war-torn country.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters that the world should not be dominated by one or two powers, and blamed the United States' policies in Iraq for bolstering the deteriorating situation there.
"The polices of the occupation forces in Iraq are basically flawed, and the policies have failed, and we must try to correct these policies," Mottaki said.
Mottaki was in this Red Sea resort for an international conference on the future of Iraq that brought together Iraq's neighbors and other world powers including the US.
Mottaki's speech angered the Iraqi delegation, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has sought to bridge the disputes between Teheran and Washington and - more broadly - rally all the deeply divided nations of the region behind a plan to stabilize Iraq.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198611638&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Palestinian journalists increasingly targeted
Attacks on Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip increased significantly last month, according to a report published Thursday.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian human rights group announced that 30 Palestinians were killed in internal fighting in the Palestinian territories during April - 22 in the Gaza Strip and eight in the West Bank.
It said at least 14 Palestinians were kidnapped by Palestinian gunmen during the same period and that some were brutally tortured or shot in the lower parts of the body.
The report about the journalists was published by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198609639&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Editor's Notes: A searing indictment
For page after relentless page it continues, exposing, layer after horrifying layer, a picture of Israel's military and political capabilities so dismal, so complacent and amateurish, as to defy belief. "It can't really be this bad, can it?" you find yourself saying as you turn the pages. And then comes yet another clause, highlighting yet another untenable reality, to confirm that, yes, it really can be.
And this, remember, is only the interim report of the Winograd Committee into the failings related to the Second Lebanon War. This is the critique of that part of the war that was widely supported by the public.
Having had six years to prepare, Israelis had reasonably assumed the IDF was ready and waiting with an effective response to Hizbullah. Chillingly and caustically, Winograd divests us of that misguided confidence, and heaps mountains of blame on those who left us so vulnerable. The final report, cataloguing the stubborn maintenance of the failed hit-and-hope response even as 4,000 Katyushas fell and 163 Israelis were killed, awaits us in the summer.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198606909&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
PM aides downplay 'irrelevent' TA rally
The key to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert remaining in power lies not with the politicians in his party and coalition or the masses in Kikar Rabin, but with the five members of the Winograd Committee, sources close to Olmert said Thursday.
Olmert's associates downplayed the rally, saying it was "irrelevant" as long as there was no chance of the Knesset unseating the prime minister. They said the unity among Right and Left in the square was meaningless if the two sides could not agree on an alternative to Olmert.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178198609364&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Jordan Times
King reiterates Palestinian state top Jordanian priority
AMMAN (JT) — King Abdullah on Thursday reiterated that establishing an independent Palestinian state is a top Jordanian priority.
The King told a group of Palestinian thinkers and opinion leaders at a meeting that Jordan is committed to exerting diplomatic and political efforts to revive the Middle East peace process and push for resuming Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The Monarch said Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli opinion leaders play an important role to promote peace and help realise Mideast peoples’ aspiration for ending the conflict.
He called on the thinkers to explain to their Israeli counterparts that Arabs are strongly committed to peace.
The King added that gathering momentum in the Israeli society was necessary for backing international peace efforts.
King Abdullah said the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which enjoys Arab consensus, provides a suitable launchpad for Palestinian-Israeli negotiations that would lead to tangible results.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Why Arabs are unimpressed by the Winograd report
Rami G. Khouri
A combination of vindication, disdain and renewed concerns about Israeli militarism are the dominant reactions in the Arab world to the preliminary report of the Winograd Commission released on April 30 in Israel. The commission harshly rebuked three senior Israeli political and military leaders for their conduct during last summer’s 34-day war with Lebanon’s Hizbollah Party, leaving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister and Labour Party leader Amir Peretz in dismal shape before Israeli public opinion.
The former army chief of staff, Dan Halutz, had already resigned in disgrace after the war.
The Arab sense of vindication stems from the feeling that Israel had performed poorly in the war and had not achieved its primary strategic objectives: smashing Hizbollah, removing the armed Lebanese resistance movement from the south of Lebanon, returning the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers in Hizbollah’s hands, reaffirming Israel’s deterrence posture with the entire Arab world and Iran, and ensuring that all wars with the Arabs are fought in Arab lands, not in Israel.
Arab analysts were quick to recall Monday that Israel had also been forced to accept a UN-mandated ceasefire in August, after failing to win on the battlefield.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion2.htm
France’s path not taken
By Hans-Werner Sinn
The new president of France, be it Nicolas Sarkozy or Ségolène Royal, will face a tough challenge when it comes to putting the French economy back on its feet.
While the world economy is booming for the fourth consecutive year, with a historically unprecedented growth rate of about 5 per cent, the French economy is limping. In 2006, it grew by only 2.2 per cent, while growth rates of only 2.1 per cent and 1.9 per cent can be expected for 2007 and 2008, respectively, according to a recent
forecast by the German Economic Research Institutes. This is significantly below the average of the old EU countries for these three years — 2.7 per cent, 2.6 per cent, and 2.4 per cent, respectively.
France is currently one of Europe’s laggards, only slightly ahead of Italy and Portugal. Even Germany is performing better. With a growth rate of 2.7 per cent, the German economy clawed its way back to the average of the old EU countries in 2006, and it can be expected to grow at 2.4 per cent in 2007 and 2008, far faster than France.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion6.htm
War is becoming old fashioned
Jonathan Power
Are the great powers really as war-prone as the traditional balance of power theorists, like former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, and Chicago professor, John Mearsheimer, argue?
I think the evolution of history in all its complexity tells us something else. Even though human beings have made war as far back as we know, this doesn’t predetermine our future, and it doesn’t necessarily prove there will be more of the same.
We should wind the historical clock back to the 15th century. It is then that we can take advantage of the late Evan Luard’s fascinating study of war in European societies. He divided up the history of warfare into five periods: The Age of Dynasties (1400 to 1559), the Age of Religions (1559-1648), the Age of Sovereignty (1649-1789), the Age of Nationalism (1789-1917) and the Age of Ideology, from 1917 onwards.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion5.htm
Ill timed
The International Criminal Court has, all of a sudden, decided to use its authority and take to task a Sudanese minister and a general in the armed forces of the country.
The ICC came into being in 1998 with much fanfare and hope that it will more effectively bring to account crimes perpetrators across the globe. Yet, the international tribunal was mostly idle since it became operational, about five years ago. Now it decided to make its presence felt by seizing upon the Darfur conflict.
Why the court hibernated for such a long time despite the fact that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been taking place in many regions of the world is anybody’s guess.
To be sure, in Darfur, grave human rights violations have indeed been committed, including the kind that could qualify as crimes against humanity. But the resolution of the conflict there can be best attained by political means, and by securing Khartoum’s cooperation, not by prosecuting two Sudanese officials.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion1.htm
Harvard’s Women’s Leadership Board offers scholarships to Jordanian students
AMMAN (JT) — The Women’s Leadership Board (WLB) at Harvard University on Thursday announced two fellowships for Jordanian students in honour of Her Majesty Queen Rania’s visit.
The fellowships are for undergraduate women to study at Harvard Summer School, which caters to students from over 50 countries. The programme will allow the selected students to expand their academic experience, benefit from exchange and exposure to different countries and cultures and enhance their leadership skills through special seminars in communication, strategic thinking and networking.
“Thanks to these summer internships, which combine education with empowerment, bright young Jordanian women are set to gain valuable leadership skills… learning from women like you and perhaps sharing some of their stories,” Queen Rania said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews1.htm
Higher costs cut profit of International Tobacco and Cigarettes Company
By Samir Ghawi
AMMAN — The International Tobacco and Cigarettes Company (ITCC) attributed the sharp drop in consolidated profit last year to higher operational costs of the parent firm.
The financial statements and closing accounts covered three subsidiaries for the first time.
The 15th annual report showed a net profit after provisions, tax and minority interests at JD0.40 million at the end of 2006 compared to JD3.20 million the previous year.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/economy/economy1.htm
Rice meets Syrian FM, greets Iranian as world rallies for Iraq
50 states adopt International Compact for stabilising violence-ravaged country in 5 years
…Delegates overwhelmingly adopted the International Compact with Iraq (ICI), whose goal Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki explained was "to rebuild a unified, democratic and federal Iraq and to distribute its wealth fairly"….
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news2.htm
'Killed Qaeda man not group chief’
BAGHDAD (AFP) — The US military killed a senior Al Qaeda figure this week in Iraq but the dead man was not the group's chief as was claimed by Iraqi officials, spokesman Major General William Caldwell said on Thursday.
Caldwell told reporters that US forces killed Al Qaeda in Iraq's "senior information minister", whom he identified as Muharib Abdul Latif Juburi, early on Tuesday just north of Baghdad. He played key roles in the kidnapping and murder of US peace activist Tom Fox and American journalist Jill Carroll in 2006 among other high-profile actions, Caldwell said.
Previously, Iraqi officials had reported that the dead man was Abu Ayyub Masri, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
But Caldwell said that US officials would have immediately been able to identify Masri's corpse, and that they were positive they had in fact killed Abdul Latif, a lesser but still senior figure.
"We killed him on a target objective at 1:42am west of Taji on May 1," Caldwell said. "This is the individual that has caused some confusion and was the senior Al Qaeda person killed." "His was the only body we took at the site," he added.
"DNA testing and photo identification confirmed this yesterday (Wednesday)." Caldwell said the confusion arose when Abdul Latif's body was released for burial to a tribal member who was subsequently arrested at a police checkpoint as he left the city with the corpse.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news3.htm
Tens of thousands tell Olmert to resign over war report
TEL AVIV (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters streamed to a central Tel Aviv square after sundown Thursday, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert because of a scathing inquiry report about the way he ordered and handled last summer's bloody, costly but inconclusive war in Lebanon.
Olmert remained defiant, hoping to beat back a rising wave of calls to step down. A day after his popular foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, joined the chorus, Olmert's aides felt she had not dealt him a mortal political blow. But they admitted that a large-scale public protest campaign could bring him down.
Thursday's turnout appeared to top 100,000, though police refused to estimate the crowd's size.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news4.htm
Sudan, Chad sign reconciliation deal in Riyadh
RIYADH (AFP) — Sudanese President Omar Bashir and Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno signed a reconciliation accord in the Saudi capital on Thursday aimed at ending tensions between their two countries.
The televised signing took place at a summit hosted by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, with the deal committing each of the parties to refrain from supporting rebels in the other country.
The meeting had begun as press reports from Khartoum said the two sides had agreed in principle to form a joint border force and to deploy observers.
Relations between the two countries nosedived after deadly border clashes between Sudanese and Chadian soldiers on April 9, in and around the war-torn Darfur region.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news5.htm
Iran ex-nuke negotiator arrested
TEHRAN (AP) — Iranian authorities have arrested the country's former nuclear negotiator, an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's predecessor and key rival, and he reportedly could face an espionage charge.
The hardline president, meanwhile, insisted his country will not retreat "even an iota" on its nuclear programme.
The Iranian state-run news agency said Hossein Mousavian was arrested Monday in the capital, Tehran. Iran did not officially release any details about the specific charges against him. But the semiofficial Fars news agency — which is deemed close to the elite Revolutionary Guards — said Mousavian could face espionage charges.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news6.htm
After trip to Lebanon, top UN lawyer reports deadlock in Hariri tribunal negotiations
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The UN's top lawyer said he has failed to persuade Lebanon's rival factions to approve an international tribunal in the assassination of a former prime minister, prompting the US to warn that the Security Council could create one without Lebanese approval.
Nicolas Michel, the undersecretary general for legal affairs, told the council Wednesday that on a trip to Lebanon last month, he found the anti-Syria, Western-backed ruling coalition and the pro-Syria opposition deadlocked over the tribunal. The opposition insists on a veto-wielding share in a new Cabinet before any action on the tribunal, which must be approved by the parliament.
Michel said the two sides "expressed support in principle for the establishment of the tribunal" but could not reach an agreement.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news8.htm
Baghdadi leaves fractured but virile insurgency
By Joseph KraussAgence France-Presse
BAGHDAD — The death of Iraqi militant leader Abu Omar Baghdadi is the latest blow to Al Qaeda’s bid to carry the mantle of a relentless Sunni rebellion amid challenges from rival insurgents.
Thursday’s announcement by the Iraqi government that Baghdadi had been killed came two days after a similar claim, as yet unverified, that Al Qaeda in Iraq kingpin Abu Ayyoub Masri had been killed in an internal feud.
But it is far from clear whether the infighting that has erupted within the Sunni insurgency will weaken it or simply give it an equally uncompromising but more nationalist face.
Baghdadi’s death was reported just as three Iraqi insurgent groups launched a merger in an explicit challenge to his “Islamic State of Iraq” — the umbrella group aimed at uniting Sunnis under the banner of radical Islam.
“In order to confront local, regional, and international challenges, an agreement has been concluded between three groups, the Islamic Army in Iraq, the Army of the Mujahedeen and the Ansar Al Sunna to form a united front,” the group said in a statement posted on a jihadi website.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news9.htm
PM criticises attempts to undermine Jordanian position
AJLOUN (JT) — Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on Thursday said it was unfortunate that some Jordanians would repeat accusations made by certain Israeli parties.
During a meeting with dignitaries and citizens of the Ajloun Governorate yesterday, Bakhit said it was also unfortunate that some political forces and leaders of parties, including the Islamic Action Front, would repeat Israeli statements that seek to instill doubt and undermine Jordan’s position on the Palestinian question.
Bakhit told the gathering that His Majesty King Abdullah stood before the US Congress and addressed US Congressmen in a clear and powerful manner in support of the Palestinian question, like no other Arab or Muslim leader has done before.
In his address, the King highlighted the great injustice suffered by the Palestinians, stressing that the Palestinian question is the core issue that needs to be solved as soon as possible.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews2.htm
continued …
Morning Papers - continued
The Cheney Observer
A Recent Opinion Shows a Clear Split Between Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito On Federalism Issues - With Roberts Displaying Justice O'Connor's Respect for the States, and Alito Lacking that RespectBy MARCI HAMILTON
Thursday, May. 03, 2007
This week, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in United Haulers v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority. The topic - the Dormant Commerce Clause -- is not a barn-burner, but the decision does provide an early indication of how Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito are each likely to analyze states rights questions and other issues.
As readers will recall, Justice Alito replaced Justice O'Connor on the Court. But will he betray her legacy of respect for the states?
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20070503.html
Schools and Race: Still separate after all these years
…The court's two newest justices—Samuel Alito and the chief justice, John Roberts—are serving their first full term together in 2006-07. And although the new court has sometimes aligned in unexpected ways, George Bush's two appointees have given a more conservative tilt to some important decisions. Most notable was a five-to-four ruling last week upholding a congressional ban on partial-birth abortions. Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate, had previously provided a pivotal vote against abortion restrictions. Last week's ruling thus seemed to confirm that her replacement by Justice Alito will lead to a conservative shift in at least some types of cases. Race-conscious education policy, which Justice O'Connor broadly favoured, is among the areas most likely to change.In the coming weeks the court will announce its decision on a pair of cases that it heard in December, involving the Jefferson County school district and another in Seattle. Both districts act aggressively to maintain racial balance in their schools, but may not be able to continue.In Seattle, where places in the most popular high schools are scarce, officials use race to decide who gets left out, so that a school's racial mix will not deviate too much from the district average. Jefferson County uses a broadly similar system to ensure that black students, who are 35% of the total, make up 15% to 50% of the student mix in every school. A white student's mother has claimed that he was deprived of a good school place there to preserve this racial mix, violating his rights. Lower courts have upheld both districts' methods, but the newly conservative Supreme Court is examining the issue.
http://nationaladd.blogspot.com/2007/05/schools-and-race-still-separate-after.html
Scholarship on Chinese law cited in US Supreme Court opinion
Yes, it has really happened. In footnote 2 of his dissent in United Haulers Assn., Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority (April 30, 2007), Justice Alito cites Owen, Sun, & Zheng, Antitrust in China: The Problem of Incentive Compatibility, 1 J. of Competition L. & Econ. 123 (2005) and Qin, WTO Regulation of Subsidies to State-owned Enterprises (SOEs): A Critical Appraisal of the China Accession Protocol, 7 J. of Int'l Econ. L. 863 (Dec. 2004). Qin is the only law professor in the group - she's at Wayne State.
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/china_law_prof_blog/2007/05/scholarship_on_.html
Post Mortem for the Stock Market
May 1, 2007By Mike Whitney"There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class that’s winning." Investment tycoon, Warren BuffettThe real estate market is crashing faster than anyone had anticipated. Housing prices have fallen in 17 of 20 of the nation’s largest cities and the trend lines indicate that the worst is yet to come. March sales of new homes plummeted by a record 23.5% (year over year) removing all hope for a quick rebound. Problems in the subprime and Alt-A loans are mushrooming in previously “hot markets” resulting in an unprecedented number of foreclosures. The defaults have slowed demand for new homes and increased the glut of houses already on the market. This is putting additional downward pressure on prices and profits. More and more builders are struggling just to keep their heads above water. This isn’t your typical 1980s-type “correction”; it’s a full-blown real estate cyclone smashing everything in its path.
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/05/post-mortem-for-stock-market.html
Blackstone, Carlyle May Team Up for Ten Network Bid (Update2)
By Joyce Moullakis and Miriam Steffens
May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group may join forces to bid as much as A$2.7 billion ($2.2 billion) for Ten Network Holdings Ltd., Australia's third most-watched television station, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
The U.S. firms are in a stronger position after Merrill Lynch & Co.'s buyout unit and San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman LLC pulled out on concern the price is too high, said the people, who declined to be identified as the talks are private. NBK Capital, National Bank of Kuwait's investment banking unit, is also bidding.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aOJzzPki96b0&refer=australia
Welsh Carson continues directories acquisitions Shanny Basar
02 May 2007
A portfolio company owned by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has bought a directories business after the US private equity group bought a firm in the same sector last year.
has agreed to sell its directory publishing business to Local Insight Media for $435m (€320m) becoming the latest incumbent telephone company to sell its directories to focus on its core businesses.
Lehman Brothers was financial advisor to Hawaiian Telcom which was formed in 2005 by private equity firm The Carlyle Group, following its purchase of the Hawaii assets of US telecoms firm Verizon Communications. The company plans to use proceeds of the sale to pay down existing debt and to continue investment in infrastructure.
Local Insight Media, a portfolio company of Welsh Carson was advised by Wachovia Securities and Merrill Lynch. The company produces directories and internet-based local search services in Cincinnati, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Last October, Welsh Carson sold Dex Media, the phone listings arm formerly owned by Qwest Communications, to US rival RH Donnelley.
Qwest Communications sold Dex Media in 2002 to The Carlyle Group and Welsh Carson for $7.1bn in what was then the second largest buyout. The two private equity firms are thought to have made a profit of $1.9bn between them in less than two years when they floated Dex Media in 2004.
In December Welsh Carson bought Windstream Yellow Pages, the directory publishing business of US telecoms company Windstream for $850m.
Carlyle bids to wrest work from BAE
By James Boxell, Defence Industries Correspondent
Published: May 2 2007 21:59 Last updated: May 2 2007 21:59
Carlyle, the US private equity firm, has offered to take over the running of Britain’s multi-billion pound nuclear submarine-building programme, in a direct challenge to BAE Systems, the UK’s biggest arms maker.
The buyout group has established strong ties with the Ministry of Defence after leading the privatisation of Qinetiq, the former defence research laboratories. However, its attempt to take a lead role in such a strategically important sector will be controversial.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/30c5ed8e-f8da-11db-a940-000b5df10621,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F30c5ed8e-f8da-11db-a940-000b5df10621.html&_i_referer=
Standard Life sells Tanfield site for £23m
STANDARD Life has sold its vacant Tanfield office complex in Edinburgh for just over £23 million.
The building was developed by the life and pensions giant in 1990 for its own occupation. However, staff were moved out almost three years ago following a major strategic review by the company.
Yesterday, Standard Life's investment arm confirmed it had sold the 204,000sq ft complex to a joint venture between Bellhouse Joseph and the Carlyle Group for £23.15m - less than the £25m price tag originally placed on the building.
Ed Bellhouse, managing director of Bellhouse Joseph, said: "We plan to refurbish it and sub-divide the space into smaller units suitable for multiple occupancy."
Cameron Stott, director of Jones Lang LaSalle Scotland, added: "There was significant interest in Tanfield from in the UK and abroad."
http://business.scotsman.com/banking.cfm?id=681072007
When a corporation such as Carlyle is dabbling in nuclear submarines, book publishing firms and broadcast networks, the warning flags go up.
Carlyle Group Entity Acquires 427 S. LaSalle for $34M
Facility To Undergo Additional Renovations
CRG West, a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group, purchased the building at 427 S. LaSalle from 427 South LaSalle LLC for $34 million, or about $210 per square foot. The 162,000-square-foot property known as the Telegraph Building will be home to a carrier-neutral data center with the capability to handle "high-density server and enterprise applications on a local, regional, and international level," according to a public statement by CRG West. The facility will also undergo renovations to re-condition the space and add 6 megawatts of emergency backup power. According to CRG's Web site, the space will be available sometime during the second quarter of this year. CRG West operates global data centers and manages property in the United States. It manages a portfolio in excess of 2 million square feet. There were no brokers involved in this transaction.
http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=8D56E3AC62331F751D5EA9E93B1DA2B1
Carlyle to invest $20 mln in S.Korea tutoring firm
SEOUL, May 3 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] said on Thursday that it will invest up to $20 million in a South Korean private education institute and continue to chase the business sector in other parts of Asia.
The committed investment in unlisted Topia Academy Inc. marks the Washington-based firm's entrance into South Korea's $8 billion after-school private tutoring sector.
It was not immediately known how many shares Carlyle will take in Topia, which competes with Megastudy Co. Ltd. (072870.KQ: Quote, Profile , Research), South Korea's top online and offline lecture provider.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=etfNews&storyID=2007-05-03T064751Z_01_SEO219755_RTRIDST_0_CARLYLE-KOREA.XML
Major League (PE edition): Back to the Minors
Private Equity International magazine has its first ever ranking of the top 50 PE firms in terms of capital raised over the last five years (since January 2002). The publication makes the claim that this is "the first time that private equity firms have been ranked by size using a consistent methodology."
Some stats -
- Out of the top 50, there's only one Asian firm (Pacific Equity Partners from Sydney), 11 in the UK and 33 in the US - The total buying power of the top 50 applying a 5x leverage multiple is a whopping $2.76 trillion - The total number of people putting this buying power to work - 3,597 - The top 50 firms participate in 75% of total financial sponsor deals by volume, but only 27% of all financial sponsor deals
Here is a list of the top 20, from PEI:
1 The Carlyle Group $32.5 billion2 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts $31.1 billion3 Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area $31 billion4 The Blackstone Group $28.36 billion5 TPG $23.5 billion6 Permira $21.47 billion7 Apax Partners $18.85 billion8 Bain Capital $17.3 billion9 Providence Equity Partners $16.36 billion10 CVC Capital Partners $15.65 billion11 Cinven $15.07 billion12 Apollo Management $13.9 billion13 3i Group $13.37 billion14 Warburg Pincus $13.3 billion15 Terra Firma Capital Partners $12.9 billion16 Hellman & Friedman $12 billion17 CCMP Capital $11.7 billion18 General Atlantic $11.4 billion19 Silver Lake Partners $11 billion20 Teachers' Private Capital $10.78 billion
http://www.dealbreaker.com/2007/05/major_league_pe_edition_back_t.php
Carlyle offer for Freeport on hold while Takeover Panel investigates
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The previously recommended offer by Carlyle Group, through its fund CEREP II LLC, for shopping centre operator Freeport PLC is on hold whilst an investigation is carried out by the Takeover Panel, it announced today.
On March 19 Carlyle offered 410 pence for each Freeport share, valuing the company at 155.3 mln stg.
At that date, Carlyle said it had irrevocable undertakings for about 18.6 mln of Freeport's shares, or 49.2 pct, from Laxey Partners Ltd, Guinness Peat Group PLC, Schroder Investment Management Ltd and Freeport's directors.
http://www.hemscott.com/news/latest-news/item.do?newsId=42494406810323
Blackstone, Carlyle mull bid for Ten-report
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Private equity groups The Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group have teamed up for a possible A$3.2 billion bid for Australian TV broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Ltd., The Australian newspaper reported on Friday in an unsourced report.
It said Blackstone and Carlyle will soon begin due diligence on Ten, which has been put up for sale by majority shareholder Canada's CanWest Global Communications Corp..
The newspaper said a sale was not a certainty because of minority shareholder issues, and differing views on valuations.
"The private equity groups are only willing to pay below A$3 per Ten share, but... CanWest is seeking bids north of A$3," The Australian said. Ten, Australia's third-biggest TV broadcaster, reported disappointing first-half profits in March on higher costs and a subdued advertising market, but said performance should improve this year. Its shares closed at A$3.25 on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSSYD22512020070503
Date 2… And What About Ten?
Australasian Investment ReviewSydney, May 4, 2007 (ACN Newswire) - For the Ten Network the next few days should see news on whether a buyout will happens, or whether the controlling CanWest group of Canada will reject any offer and convert its stake into a controlling holding of around 57 per cent.Up to the end of the old legislation CanWest was limited to a voting stake of a fraction under 15 per cent compared to its economic stake of around 56.8 per cent.A decision was expewcted around now in the original timetable from CanWest which also has its NZ media business, MediaWorks, on the market in a separate sale process.CanWest decided to test the waters when it looked like the new media laws would come into force late last year after being approved by the Senate. The proclamation by the Government took a little while longer.Ten is helping find a buyer with CanWest having undertaken to get an offer for the minorities should it accept an offer for its stake.The second largest holder after CanWest is the WIN Group of Bruce Gordon and his family. That's currently around 14 per cent. It's been suggested that he would work with News Corp to buy Ten but so far there has been no sign of that and WIN has been battling PBL Media for control of Nine stations in Perth, Newcastle and in Adelaide.According to media reports there are just two front runners left for Ten: the US private equity giants, the Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group.
http://www.acnnewswire.net/press/en/36364/Australasian-Investment-Review.html
Carlyle Group's Pearlstine Terms Bid for Dow Jones `Very High'
By Courtney Dentch
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Norman Pearlstine, managing director of the Carlyle Group LP, said News Corp.'s $60-a-share bid for Dow Jones & Co. is ``very high'' and he would be surprised if another company offered the same premium.
The offer, which values Dow Jones at $5 billion, won't be ``easily matched by anyone else,'' Pearlstine said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The former executive editor at Dow Jones's Wall Street Journal also said he doesn't see New York-based Dow Jones becoming a $60-a-share stock company.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=afo6xOHiVU6A&refer=news
Freeport shares drop as Carlyle seeks to drop bid
By John Bowker
LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in retail outlet operator Freeport fell 5 percent on Friday after it emerged that its U.S. private equity buyer Carlyle Group wanted to pull out of the agreed deal.
http://business.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=694282007
Providence joins Apax in Thomson unit bid-sources
Fri May 4, 2007 7:12 PM BST
By Michael Flaherty
NEW YORK, May 4 (Reuters) - Providence Equity Partners has joined Apax Partners in a bid for Thomson Corp.'s (TOC.TO: Quote, Profile , Research) text book publishing unit, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The auction has entered its last phase and final bids are due at the end of next week, with the unit expected to fetch well above $5 billion thanks to strong demand from private equity suitors, the sources said.
The auction got fresh attention on Friday amid speculation that Thomson, a Canadian publisher, could use proceeds from the sale to finance a bid for Reuters Group Plc (RTR.L: Quote, Profile , Research) (RTRSY.O: Quote, Profile , Research), the news and financial services provider. Reuters said on Friday it had received a takeover approach but did not identify the bidder. To read that story please click on [ID:nL04405067].
Reuters reported in March that Bain Capital, Blackstone Group [BG.UL] and Thomas H. Lee Partners [THL.UL], the former owners of publisher Houghton Mifflin Co., had joined together to bid for Thomson's text book business. The three firms have declined to comment on the auction.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. [KKR.UL] and Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] are also said to be interested, though a separate source close to the matter said the two firms are not partnered on the deal. Previous press accounts put the two together in the auction. It was unclear where the firms stood on Friday: KKR declined to comment, and Carlyle did not return messages seeking comment.
Warburg Pincus has been mentioned as an interested party, but it was unclear on Friday if it was still in the bidding. The firm declined to comment.
Providence Equity, which also declined to comment, is a buyout firm focused on media and communications. It recently closed a $12 billion buyout fund.
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=allBreakingNews&storyID=2007-05-04T181234Z_01_N04328987_RTRIDST_0_THOMSON-LEARNING-BIDS.XML
So Long, And Thanks For All The Indictments
After a decade of buying power and influence on the Hill, former Rep. Tom DeLay's ARMPAC (Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committe) is going out of business says Paul Kane at Capitol Briefing. The subject of intense legal scrutiny, the activities of ARMPAC, and its local offshoot TRMPAC, placed purveyor Tom DeLay in hot water from which he has yet to escape.
http://www.campaignmoney.org/blog/2007/05/02/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-indictments
Jack Abramoff is obviously cooperating with investgators
By Kirstin EllisonPosted on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 05:31:45 PM EST
Jack Abramoff is yakking away - at least, that's the implication the Sacramento Bee gives in an excellent article summarizing the sudden flurry of Abramoff-related activity around the country.
"It's not clear to me or my lawyers exactly what they're doing," Doolittle said Thursday of his own case.
Really? This might clarify some things for you, sir:
The flurry of activity can be traced to the federal courthouse in Miami, where prosecutors revealed last month that they're prepared to reduce Abramoff's sentence for fraud in connection with his purchase of a fleet of gambling ships.Prosecutors said he had more to tell about Washington corruption, and they were offering a lower sentence as an elixir to lubricate his tongue.
Seems to have worked, no? Since Bob Ney went to prison, nothing much had been happening in the investigation. Then, all of a sudden in the last couple of weeks we get:
Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) home is raided.
Kevin Ring, former aide to Doolittle and close friend of Abramoff's, resigns from his law firm.
Mark Zachares pleads guilty to conspiracy with Abramoff.
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) announces he's being asked questions about an Abramoff-funded golf trip he took in 2003 - the same trip Zachares was on.
Reports surface that Ed Buckham, former aide to Tom DeLay and lobbyist extraordinaire, may be nearing charges, which chould ensare DeLay. Buckham could also be a link between the Abramoff investigation and the Duke Cunningham bribery case (see also Brent Wilkes).
The common denominator? Jack Abramoff.
Yep, he's talking.
http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/4/30/17028/4501
Elect Noriega: The Knockout Punch to Tom Delay
Cross posted at Burnt Orange Report
The May 12th special election to fill the Houston City Council seat vacated by Shelley Sekula-Gibbs has received very little press coverage, and everyone agrees that Election Day promises low voter turnout. Coming off all the exciting victories of 2006, this race seems to be flying under the radar, but electing Melissa Noriega should be important to progressive voters everywhere. It’s certainly important to Houston’s GLBT community, as we have the opportunity to replace an advisory on council with a friend, but, beyond that, it seems to me that electing Noriega would deliver one more knockout punch to the regressive, corrupt politics of Tom Delay.
http://thecaucusblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/elect-noriega-knockout-punch-to-tom.html
Conference on Iraq
4 May 2007
WHILE the two-day Iraq-conference under way in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt may not be able to provide for a foolproof plan for Iraq’s reconstruction or security, it may have a very significant, though indirect, bearing upon the matter.
On the surface, the delegates are meeting to endorse the much-debated five-year International Compact for Iraq (ICI), but more importantly the gathering would bring US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in close proximity with, among others, her Iranian and Syrian counterparts. And since all parties have indicated a meeting on the sidelines, the major conference is, for all intents and purposes, a last ditch effort by the West to engage with Iraq’s neighbours in an attempt to quell the violence once and for all.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2007/May/editorial_May8.xml§ion=editorial&col=
10 GOP Hopefuls Invoke Reagan
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Sharing a stage for the first time, the 10 Republican presidential hopefuls alternated between tough talk and optimism Thursday night as they wrapped themselves in the conservative mantle of the party’s patron saint and their spiritual host, Ronald Reagan. Invoking the name of the nation’s 40th president nearly 20 times -- and mostly ignoring the current occupant of the White House -- the contestants repeatedly faulted the direction of Washington under GOP rule, and promised change. “On why we lost the election in 2006, it’s because we did lose our way,” said Sen. John McCain of Arizona. “We began to value principle over power, and spending got out of control.” “We went to Washington to change Washington -- Washington changed us,” said former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson. “We forgot to come up with new ideas, big ideas like Ronald Reagan.”
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=352318&Category=23&subCategoryID=
McCain, Giuliani, Romney Qualify Support for Bush's Policies
By Kristin Jensen and Kim Chipman
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- The 10 Republican presidential hopefuls mostly supported restricting abortion rights and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons during their first debate last night, while distancing themselves from President George W. Bush's policies.
Appearing together for the first time ahead of the 2008 primary elections, most of the candidates agreed on the importance of the U.S. prevailing in Iraq. Then they criticized the way Bush has handled the conflict.
``We must win in Iraq,'' Arizona Senator John McCain said. Without mentioning the president by name he said, ``The war was terribly mismanaged and now we have to fix a lot of the mistakes that were made.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a.2K3kR7DryU&refer=home
Matt Renner: Tenet Battled With Office of Special
Thursday, 3 May 2007, 10:56 amOpinion: Matt Renner
Tenet Battled With the Office of Special Plans
By Matt Renner t r u t h o u t Report From: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050207A.shtmlWednesday 02 May 2007
In his book, "At the Center of the Storm," former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet describes efforts by Pentagon and White House officials to subvert pre-Iraq war intelligence assessment by the CIA.
Tenet focuses on the actions of a group inside the Pentagon that sent the Bush administration bogus intelligence on Iraq's weapons program and ties to terrorist organizations that supported the administration's policy.
This group was recently criticized by a Department of Defense inspector general report from February 9, 2007, which found that a policy-shop known as "the Office of Special Plans," headed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, acted "inappropriately" by cooking intelligence to reflect a "mature and symbiotic" relationship between Iraq and al-Qa'ida. This characterization was never supported by the CIA, but was presented as fact by Feith's office to White House policy makers in the run up to the Iraq war.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00091.htm
Helen Thomas: Tenet Spills Some Secrets
By Helen Thomas
Thursday, 03 May 2007
WASHINGTON -- Former CIA director George Tenet, one-time keeper of some of the nation's biggest secrets, has spilled some of the goods in his $4 million memoirs.
So now he tells us!
His retrospective on the prelude to the Iraq war -- now in its fifth year -- appears to corroborate earlier indications that toppling the Saddam regime was high on President Bush's agenda from the start of his administration.
Tenet has been somewhat of a convenient scapegoat for the Iraqi debacle, even though Bush conferred on him the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian award when they parted company in 2004.
He was originally an appointee of the Clinton administration and had served as CIA chief since 1997. As a carryover to the new administration, Tenet was eager to ingratiate himself with the new president during a period of probation, when he apparently lived up to his reputation for telling the president what he wanted to hear.
Tenet's book "At the Center of the Storm" takes shots at Vice President Dick Cheney and some hawkish Pentagon advisers but goes easy on Bush, described as "well-intentioned."
But Tenet said there was never a "serious debate" concerning an Iraqi threat before the U.S. invasion in March 2003.
http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1206&Itemid=35
Ayoon Wa Azan ( Will I Live to See…. )
Jihad el-Khazen Al-Hayat - 03/05/07//
Will we - or will I - live to see Dick Cheney, together with the figureheads of the neo-conservatives, tried on the charge of pushing the US into an unjustified war on Iraq, where a million Iraqis have been killed and other millions were displaced inside and outside Iraq?
A poet once said: "He who has outlived his enemy by a single day, has realized the highest of what he ever wished for." I have no personal enemies, whether the US vice-president or others, but Cheney is the enemy of the Arabs, Muslims and the people of Iraq. When he is tried for perpetrating war crimes, equivalent to genocide, the families of the victims and I will have realized our goal; taking into account that I am asking for justice for the people of Iraq, nothing for myself.
I have called more than once for Cheney to be tried. I am not alone in this, as scores of campaigns are also calling for his trial. There are also calls, which have reached the Congress, to impeach him.
http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/05-2007/Article-20070503-51b609f7-c0a8-10ed-01b2-ede8021e1ef0/story.html
George Tenet on the staircase with the neocons
In his book and on TV, former CIA Director George Tenet remembers all the things he should've said before we invaded Iraq but didn't.
By Juan Cole
Apr. 30, 2007 The French call it "the spirit of the staircase" (l'esprit d'escalier), the clever reply to someone that comes to you on your way up to the bedroom after a cocktail party. In his new book, released Monday, former CIA Director George Tenet has delivered himself of hundreds of pages on the staircase, imagining what he should have said or could have said to Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice and the other neoconservatives who marched the country to war in Iraq using the pretext of Sept. 11. In his April 29 interview with "60 Minutes" touting the book, Tenet came across as a spectacularly tragic Walter Mitty, daydreaming about how things would have been different if only he had spoken up, if he'd only been a James Bond-style spymaster instead of a timid, fawning bureaucrat. But of course, when it really mattered, at the critical juncture of his seven-year tenure as CIA chief, Tenet said nothing.
Tenet has revealed for the first time that he encountered Pentagon advisor Richard Perle on the day after the Sept. 11 attacks. As Tenet recounted the story on "60 Minutes," Perle "said to me, 'Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday; they bear responsibility.'" Tenet told interviewer Scott Pelley that he was startled at the allegation. "It's September the 12th," said Tenet. "I've got the manifest with me that tells me al-Qaida did this. Nothing in my head that says there is any Iraqi involvement in this in any way, shape or form, and I remember thinking to myself, as I'm about to go brief the president, 'What the hell is he talking about?'"
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/05/george-tenet-on-staircase-with-neocons.html
Why There Was No Exit Plan
http://nevadathunder.com/?p=3965
Crossing a line at Justice
How an attorney general handles outside political forces is critical to the mission of true justice. Alberto Gonzales could have learned a thing or two from one of his Justice Department predecessors: RFK.
By Ronald Goldfarb
The current agonies of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales call to mind a dramatic moment in the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Department. Members of his organized crime section were in RFK's office reviewing our pending investigations and cases. One of our group advised Kennedy that his grand jury investigations were about to lead to the indictment of the then-mayor of a large Midwestern city, one that had voted for his brother John Kennedy in the close presidential election of 1960.
When my colleague completed his report about the big scalp about to be added to our list of political corruption cases, RFK was quiet. It happened that the scalp in question belonged to President Kennedy's ambassador-designate to Greece. The attorney general smiled slightly and facetiously remarked: "Well, that's nice. Now my brother's going to have to put me on the Supreme Court." The indictment went forward and included others in the city's political (Democratic) machine. All were convicted.
That anecdote is relevant today as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers the attorney general's recent dismissals of several U.S. attorneys. When it comes to the proper administration of justice in the Department of Justice, there are politics and there are politics.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/05/crossing_a_line.html
Lampson tops Rove's hit list for 2008 election
Federal probe looks into presentation that targets Dems
WASHINGTON — The political slide shows that landed President Bush's adviser Karl Rove in the middle of an investigation named the congressman who replaced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as the White House's No. 1 target.
Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, tops the list of the "2008 House Targets: Top 20," part of a presentation made to executive branch employees, possibly illegally. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, also was on the list at No. 12.
Critics have alleged the presentation was political and violated laws restricting executive branch employees from using their jobs for political activity.
The White House has defended the presentations as informational briefings for appointees and acknowledged last week there have been briefings at several agencies.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4763295.html
Rove speaks at N.C. convention
Hendersonville Some political heavy-hitters - including Presidential adviser Karl Rove - were in North Carolina over the weekend to motivate their base and take shots at the opposition.Speaking to about 300 people at a local annual Republican convention near Asheville, Rove on Saturday blasted Democrats for what he called tax-and-spend policies and their approach to the war in Iraq.During his 45-minute speech, Rove told the crowd at West Henderson High School they can play an important role in helping the GOP rebound from the 2006 election, urging them to bring undecided voters to their side.
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070430/NEWS/704300365/-1/State
Rove Implicated in DC Prostitute Scandal
Washington, DC (Rotters) – Accused "DC Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey today released clandestine photographs that implicated top Bush political advisor Karl Rove in the growing sex for hire scandal that is rocking the nation's capitol. Palfrey continued to maintain that the services provided through her business were all legal and strictly above board.
The real problem for Rove and the White House that has arisen from the release of the photograph is that it appears to show Bush's political advisor engaging in the practice of unlawfully deleting emails and other documents which had been subpoenaed by California Representative Henry Waxman in his ongoing investigation into administration abuse and waste.ABC news claims that it was able to track down and interview the coed appearing in the photograph with Rove, but withheld her identity.
http://www.unconfirmedsources.com/?itemid=2484
McNulty Asserts He Knew Little of Firings, Aides Say (Update2)
By James Rowley
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty told congressional investigators he was surprised to learn in late October of a plan to fire U.S. attorneys and didn't know why they were targeted for removal, Senate aides said.
McNulty, questioned in private on April 27 by House and Senate lawyers, said he never asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or his former chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, the reasons for the eight dismissals, said one aide. The two aides spoke on condition of anonymity.
Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that seven U.S. attorneys who were asked to resign on Dec. 7 were drawn from a ``consensus'' of senior Justice Department officials. Neither Gonzales nor Sampson, who also testified before the committee, could say why individual prosecutors were singled out.
House and Senate committees are questioning whether aides to President George W. Bush ordered the dismissals for partisan motives, such as to spur investigations of Democrats or thwart prosecutions of Republicans.
``We are pursuing all of the leads to figure out who was responsible,'' said Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat. ``All signs point to the White House and particularly Mr. Rove, in terms of choosing the victims of their purge.''
Karl Rove
Bush has refused to let Karl Rove, his top political adviser, and other presidential aides testify under oath before Congress on the firings. House and Senate panels have authorized subpoenas for Rove and other aides, including former White House Counsel Harriet Miers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aQQNxTshI75Y&refer=us
Diving Deeper Into The Muck Of Bush Scandals
By Bernard WeinerThe Crisis Papers
When looking at daily news reports, we all tend to fall into the trap of focusing on juicy details of the scandaldu jour. It's natural to do so. But often by concentrating so carefully on the minutiae, we miss seeing the import of the larger picture.
So let's just take two representative scandals from the CheneyBush Administration -- those derived from the Iraq War and those surrounding the firing of the U.S. attorneys -- and see where they overlap and what they might represent when viewed from a longer-range perspective.
1. THE IRAQ WAR
The first thing to recognize is that the Iraq War was never about conquering Iraq per se. It was about using Iraq for a variety of sub-rosa purposes: to secure control of the huge oil reserves there and in the rest of the Middle East; using Iraq as an example to convince other Arab leaders to be more agreeable to U.S. demands or face America's "shock & awe"; to establish a "democratic" government willing to do America's bidding as a model for the region (the sleazy convicted felon Chalabi was the original choice to be "our man" heading that government); to maintain a permanent, massive U.S. presence there to help carry out America's political aims in the Greater Middle East; to remove Iraq's ability to attack Israel, America's one certain ally in the region.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00067.htm
Private Equity International Creates First Ever Ranking of Private Equity Firms
NEW YORK and LONDON, May 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- The PEI 50, a new ranking from Private Equity International magazine, reveals that the world's 50 largest private equity direct investment programs have raised a total of US$551 billion since 2002
The first ever ranking of the world's 50 largest private equity direct investment programs reveals that these firms have raised a total of US$551 billion of equity capital since 2002.
http://www.pr-inside.com/private-equity-international-creates-first-r109551.htm
A New Pecking Order for Private Equity
April 30, 2007, 4:45 pm
Who is the world’s biggest private equity firm?
It’s a timely question, given the steady drumbeat of record-setting buyout funds that have been announced in the past year or so (not to mention all the buzz about private equity firms that might go public). Wall Street lives for bragging rights, so it is only natural to ask who is on top. But crowning a No. 1 firm is not a simple matter, as Private Equity International explains in its May issue. It all depends on how you measure.
In its list of the world’s 50 largest private equity firms, the magazine used an unconventional yardstick. Instead of looking at assets under management, it ranked the contenders by the amount of funds they have raised since the beginning of 2002.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/a-new-private-equity-pecking-order/
TPG May Sell Stake to Pension Funds, Person Says (Update3)
By Hui-yong Yu
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- TPG Inc., the U.S. buyout firm led by David Bonderman and James Coulter, may sell a stake to pension funds that invest in its corporate takeovers, said a person with knowledge of the firm's discussions.
The talks are at an early stage and it isn't known what TPG may do, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential. One proposal involves pension funds converting their investments in TPG funds into shares of a new publicly traded company, the person said.
TPG, formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, would follow similar plans from buyout firms including Leon Black's Apollo Management LP. Blackstone Group LP, led by Stephen Schwarzman, is raising $4 billion in an initial public offering. Fortress Investment Group LLC, a New York-based manager of hedge funds and private equity, went public in February in a deal that raised almost $635 million.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aYFDf_A8D1to&refer=news
Hard Rain Journal 5-1-07: “Just Another Brick in the Wall …”
-- Thom Hartmann Interviews Larry Johnson, All You Need to Know About George Tenet
Image: Picasso, GuernicaThom Hartmann: How do you think this is all going to play out?Larry Johnson: Well, this is, you know, like Pink Floyd, “just another brick in the wall.” What George Tenet does is corroborate what Richard Clarke said, i.e., that very early on the administration was obsessed with going after Saddam, and had no intention of taking out Al Qaeda. They were obsessed with Saddam. Thom Hartmann: Is this PNAC? Is this oil? Is this political capital? Or is it all of the above?Larry Johnson: All of the above.Thom Hartmann: Yes. That’s my sense of it as well. My sense of it is that George Bush wanted to do it for political capital, Cheney wanted to do it for his oil buddies, and the ideologues in the administration wanted to do it for the PNAC purposes, i.e., “Let’s create empire.” And it was the perfect storm. The right people got together at the right time in the right place …Larry Johnson: And the American people are paying a terrible price today.Thom Hartmann Show, Air America Radio, 4-30-07Hard Rain Journal 5-1-07: “Just Another Brick in the Wall …” -- Thom Hartmann Interviews Larry Johnson, All You Need to Know About George Tenet
http://words-of-power.blogspot.com/2007/05/hard-rain-journal-5-1-07-just-another.html
Air America
http://www.airamerica.com/
TPG Seen Interested in Sale to Investors
Associated Press 05.01.07, 1:38 PM ET
Private equity firm TPG Group might consider selling a small portion of the firm to private investors, according to a published report on Tuesday.
The Wall Street Journal said the buyout firm formerly known as Texas Pacific Group was considering the sale of a 20 percent stake to a few of its pension fund investors.
The company, which was founded by turnaround specialists David Bonderman and Jim Coulter, has an estimated $30 billion in capital under management. It has been responsible for a string of big deals, including the $45 billion takeover of energy provider TXU Corp. (nyse: TXU - news - people )
A spokesman for TPG refused to comment on speculation about a possible sale.
Selling to a private investor, or even going public, has become a trend among Wall Street's big buyout firms. Blackstone Group has unveiled plans for an initial public offering of its management business, which does not include its portfolio of companies.
Carlyle Group and Apollo Management are also said to be considering similar moves.
TPG's sale could raise billions of dollars, and was seen as a possible first step before an eventual IPO, according to the Journal.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/01/ap3672817.html
Onex and Teachers' make list of top 50 buyout firms
The Carlyle Group topped a ranking of the world’s top 50 buyout firms by raising US$32.5-billion for direct private equity investment over the past five years.The firms have raised a combined US$551-billion since 2002, which accounts for more than two thirds of all funds raised during that period, according to the report from Private Equity International (PEI) magazine.
When that capital is combined with leverage, those 50 firms had the capacity to make more than US$2.75-trillion in transactions, it said.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which is in talks to buy BCE Inc., ranked second, followed by Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area and The Blackstone Group.
Teachers’ Private Capital, part of The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, was the top-ranked Canadian name with US$11-billion set aside for private equity investment during the five-year term. Onex Corp’s private equity business ranked 33rd with US$6.3-billion.
Meanwhile, TPG Inc. is reportedly mulling the sale of a minority stake, after other buyout firms have done the same to their fund investors. Formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, it ranked fifth in the PEI rankings.
http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/2007/05/01/onex-and-teachers-make-list-of-top-50-buyout-firms.aspx
Harman Buyout Hinged on Option to Buy In
Firm's Founder Wanted To Protect Its Investors
By Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff WriterWednesday, May 2, 2007; Page D01
When private-equity bankers Kohlberg Kravis Roberts phoned Sidney Harman last November to make a pitch for buying Harman International, Harman turned them down flat.
He didn't want "mountains of debt" piled onto the balance sheet of the audio and navigation system company he had built over decades, he said, and he wanted owners of Harman stock to share in a piece of any new business.
When KKR called back later, putting up half the purchase price in cash and offering Harman stockholders a chance to take some stake in the new firm, they had a deal. By the time Harman's board of directors approved the sale last month, a new form of private equity was born, allowing ordinary investors in public companies to keep a piece of the business after it is bought out and taken private.
"If I can figure out how to take full credit for it, I will," Harman said yesterday in his first interview since the sale was announced last week. "We knew it was going to be an innovative approach."
The $8 billion deal created a stir on Wall Street, where private-equity firms such as KKR, Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group have been under scrutiny for buying public companies at a premium, then taking them private and frequently selling them for a bigger profit, leaving some shareholders feeling shortchanged.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101745.html?hpid=sec-business
George W. Bush's ResumeGeorge W. Bush
http://www.ansarishare.com/forum/george-w-bushs-t28421.html?s=d86348c9d98d966f8cf730bd4fe4be13&t=28421
Waste Haulers Lose Top Court Fight on Trash-Flow Laws (Update3)
By Greg Stohr
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Local governments can steer garbage to their own dumps and processing facilities, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, dealing a blow to Waste Management Inc. and other trash-hauling companies.
The justices, voting 6-3, upheld a ``flow control'' plan adopted by New York's Oneida and Herkimer counties to reduce environmental hazards and spur recycling. The court rejected hauler arguments that the rules unconstitutionally discriminate against interstate commerce by barring shipments to sites that charge lower fees.
``There is no reason to step in and hand local businesses a victory they could not obtain through the political process,'' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=alZXNoIezHvs&refer=us
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments In Case Over Wisconsin Antiabortion Group's Appeal Of Campaign Finance Law
Main Category: Abortion News
Article Date: 30 Apr 2007 - 6:00 PDT Article Also Appears In
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a challenge of a lower court ruling in favor of a Wisconsin antiabortion group's constitutional challenge to the McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance law, the New York Times reports (Greenhouse, New York Times, 4/26).
Wisconsin Right to Life in its lawsuit challenging McCain-Feingold was seeking permission to run television and radio advertisements within 30 days of a 2004 primary that mentioned Sen. Russell Feingold's (D-Wis.) name and focused on his opposition to several of President Bush's judicial nominees. The group claims that the campaign finance law's provisions that prohibit the use of interest groups' "issue ads" during the weeks preceding an election are unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in August 2004 unanimously rejected WRTL's challenge to the provisions in the law. WRTL appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in January 2006 said that when it had upheld the law's provision concerning "electioneering communications" against a "facial challenge" in 2003, it did "not purport to resolve future as-applied challenges." The justices ordered the district court "to consider the merits of WRTL's" challenge. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in December 2006 overturned provisions of the law that restrict issue ads during the weeks before federal elections (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/22). The Federal Election Commission and a group of lawmakers led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) are arguing for the provisions to be upheld, the AP/Forbes reports (Frommer, AP/Forbes, 4/25). The justices are scheduled to issue a ruling before the end of June, the Miami Herald reports (Doyle, Miami Herald, 4/26).
Hearing Comments Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy have said the law should be struck down on free-speech grounds. According to the Los Angeles Times, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito also are "likely" to overturn the provisions, but Roberts said he is not convinced the law should be struck down entirely. He asked how advocacy groups could be exempted from the law so they could sponsor ads that focus on issues, not candidates (Savage, Los Angeles Times, 4/26). The District of Columbia circuit court panel ruled that WRTL ads were not campaign ads but general issue ads and that the government did not demonstrate a compelling enough argument to impose restrictions on groups' free-speech rights. The decision also said that the portion of the McCain-Feingold law banning issue ads paid for by corporate or union money is unconstitutional because it imposes campaign finance restrictions on groups that are using ads to advance legislative policy (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/22). James Bopp, an attorney who represents WRTL, said that at a minimum the Supreme Court should permit ads that focus on issues that were pending before Congress (Los Angeles Times, 4/26).
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=69101
Ex-CIA analyst: Forged 'yellowcake' memo 'leads right back to' Cheney
A former CIA analyst claims that falsified documents which were meant to show that Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime had been trying to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger can be traced back to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Appearing on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson Show, Ray McGovern who served in the CIA for twenty-seven years, said, "the [forged] memo leads right back to the doorstep of the Vice President of the United States."
According to McGovern, former CIA Director George Tenet told his "coterie of malleable managers" at the CIA to create a National Intelligence Estimate "to the terms of reference of Dick Cheney's speech of August 26, 2002, where Dick Cheney said for the first time Saddam Hussein could have a nuclear weapon in a year, he's got all kinds of chemical, he's got all kinds of biological weapons."
McGovern, who at one time chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief, also claimed to have evidence that the memo leads back to Cheney, but he would not say what it was, except that the names of the people involved were "in the public domain."
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/ExCIA_analyst_Forged_yellowcake_memo_leads_0430.html
Feminists Say Impeach Bush and Cheney Now: Act on Bush's War on Women
by Feminist Issues Group - SFGreen Party Monday Apr 30th, 2007 5:07 PM
The Bush Administration declared a war against women the day it was sworn in, said feminist leaders of the San Francisco Green Party (SFGP) today. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney need to be impeached immediately, urged the Feminist Issues Group (FIG), a working group of the SFGP. While pressure from the grassroots to impeach Bush and Cheney continues to build, FIG criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her failure to act and for declaring the impeachment issue "off the table".
Green Party members, who have been calling for impeachment since 2003, took part in Beach Impeach over the weekend. "It was one of many pro-impeachment events that have taken place in Pelosi's backyard," said Erika McDonald, FIG Co-Founder and local Green Party Spokesperson. Feminist leaders pointed to the international gag rule, attacks on reproductive rights, health misinformation and discrimination as reasons why women across the US and around the world are paying the price for the misogyny of Bush and his allies. "In addition to the catastrophic war, women are the main caretakers for the young and old. We have seen our domestic budget slashed, wages decrease, violence increase, and our lives and liberties diminished," said Vicki Leidner, Chair of FIG. "The party is over. These people have got to go," said Leidner. Members of FIG expressed disappointment and disgust at Congress's failure to hold Bush accountable. "Members of Congress who take orders from corporate paymasters are incapable of upholding the Constitution any more than the Administration. Six years of lies and denials of global warming puts every life on this planet at risk. This deceit has consequences for every living thing. It is up to the people to demand impeachment. It will take the ever-increasing numbers of people in third parties or declining to state a party and those disgusted with the behavior of their respective Republican and Democratic parties to unite. Impeachment IS on the table - that is the democratic and political process," said Leidner.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/04/30/18407172.php
Kirby: Cheney gets his revenge
Article Last Updated: 04/30/2007 12:18:33 AM MDT
Dick Cheney wrecked my wife's car on Thursday. Considering the evil he's reportedly connected to in the world, it seemed a little petty even for a vice president. It was partly my fault. It wouldn't have happened if I had stayed away from politics, a subject every bit as convoluted and boring as religion, but with fewer manners. However, the report of an anti-Cheney protest on BYU property was too good to pass up. It was being allowed at a place where having a different opinion is said to be OK as long as you keep your mouth shut about it. So I've heard. The only difference of opinion I've ever had with BYU was over a parking ticket that cost more than a new liver.
http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_5782402
Murtha Raises Possibility of Impeaching Bush and Cheney
April 29, 2007 (EIRNS)—To the manifest shock of CBS-TV interviewer Bob Schieffer, Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.), the ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee, raised the possibility of impeaching Bush and Cheney on the "Face the Nation" show today.
At the end of a 10-minute discussion, Murtha said, "There are four ways to influence the President: public opinion, elections, impeachment, and the purse." Schieffer interjected, in slight paraphrase, `Wait a minute! Wait did you say? Impeachment? Are you serious?' Murtha replied, "I said, there are four ways..." and he repeated his formulation again, only expanding the final phrase to "power of the purse." The unquestionable implication was that the first two "ways" have already been used, and the fourth way is being attempted now:
http://www.larouchepub.com/pr/2007/070429murtha_impeach.html
Romney Hires Real Hunter Cofer Black
BLACK OPS Romney, Cofer (inset)
The same week Mitt Romney pooh-poohed the importance of capturing Osama Bin Laden, he announced that former top counterterrorism official Cofer Black was joining his campaign as an advisor. It's nothing if not a unique pairing of a square-jawed Mormon who fibbed about his hunting exploits to appear rugged and a pudgy-faced bad-ass super spy who caught Carlos the Jackal and vowed to President Bush after 9/11 that Al Qaeda members would have "flies crawling across their eyeballs."
Even more interesting is the apparent daylight between their views on Bin Laden. In an interview, Romney said capturing Bin Laden would achieve only "a very insignificant increase in safety" and that it was "not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/04/cofer-black-joins-romney-campaign.php
Police not liable for chase that left man quadriplegic - US court
9:45AM Tuesday May 01, 2007
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court ruled today that a police officer cannot be held liable for ramming a fleeing car during a high-speed chase, forcing the vehicle off the road and resulting in severe injury or even death for the driver.
By an 8-1 vote, the high court ruled the officer's conduct reasonable because the car chase initiated by the suspect posed a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical injury to others.
Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority that an officer's attempt to end a dangerous high-speed car chase that threatened the lives of innocent bystanders did not violate the Constitution, even if it placed the fleeing motorist at risk of serious injury or death.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10437137
Federal security report'Rich history' of public corruption a high risk
By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno Pacific Daily News gdumat-ol@guampdn.com
The 2002 federal report that assessed Guam and the Northern Marianas' vulnerability to possible terror attacks also mentions a history of corruption in the local governments.
With that in mind, allowing the Northern Marianas to continue control over immigration and for Guam to keep its customs authority could be a weak link to securing America's borders, according to the report.
The level of corruption, lack of capability and influence of insular and cultural considerations inherent in both territorial governments present a constant detriment" to federal authorities, according to the report.
"On Guam, political personages and members of their families have been allowed to pass freely through territorial customs checkpoints without personal or baggage inspection as a matter of routine," according to the report.
Gerard Bautista, GIAA air terminal manager, said airport officials would reserve comment until they have a chance to view the report.
Though the report is five years old, and was initially labeled "sensitive -- for official use only," it recently became a public topic as it was mentioned in last week's conspiracy charge against former Northern Marianas official-turned-congressional staffer Mark D. Zachares.
Zachares pleaded guilty last week in the U.S. District Court of Virginia, making him the 11th defendant to plead guilty or be convicted in the federal investigation into fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff's lobbying activities.
Of all the defendants in the Abramoff scandal, he has the closest ties to Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
The CNMI government paid about $7 million for Abramoff to lobby against a U.S. takeover of immigration control in the CNMI. The plea agreement states the CNMI payments occurred between 1996 and 2001.
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070501/NEWS01/705010303/1002
The Gulf Coast Embargo
Foreign aid after Katrina refused, misused, or continues to go unused (WaPo):
Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.
Opinion from Dambala:
Katrina exposed this country's dirty little secret...we're not so super. For that, New Orleans must be isolated in this country's collective consciousness as an anomaly. New Orleans was such an embarrassment that the Bush administration couldn't accept the nearly 1 billion dollars in aid being offered by other countries.
I don’t disagree with this assessment. But I would add that even if it was not seen as an embarrassment to the Bush administration, his State Department was incapable of accepting and using the aid. This is the result of one-way relations with foreign countries. We are no longer able to participate in the world community as a member. We know how to give, but not receive. We have isolated ourselves and can only “receive” by forcibly taking with our superior military and economic might.
http://dapoblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/gulf-coast-embargo.html
'Lil' Bush' to Air on Comedy Central in June
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/1633
Diverse mix finds reasons to party
By SHELBY HODGECopyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
TOOLS
IT was just the right mix of bad boys, social sophisticates, pretty women and captains of capitalism that filled the San Remo Room at Tony's Saturday night.
The occasion for the wild mix was the joint birthday celebration of Sheridan Williams and hubby John Eddie Williams. At the behest of the generous hosts, the wines and champagne flowed like water at the spare-no-expense party for 80. Profusions of peonies, roses and orchids from the Empty Vase decorated the party scape.
Andrea and Mayor Bill White, seldom anchored to one event an evening, remained throughout the dinner. Über developer Vincent Kickerillo and wife Mary held court at one table, while divorce attorney Bob Piro and wife Dr. Mary Riley presided at another. Kristen and Lee Nix, Diane and John Connally III, Terry Rambin and Philip Schneidau, Molly and Ford Hubbard III, Bruce Buckley, Melissa and Dr. Chuck Brunicardi, Ned Barnett, Raymond Baron and Jay Rosenstein were among the room full of notables.
Even Donna and Tony Vallone, who seldom take time out from the Saturday night restaurant crush to party privately, sat down for the celebration right through the soufflé dessert.
In another corner
Things were hopping throughout the restaurant. At one large table, Ericka and Jeff Bagwell were joined by a jovial group comprised of Maria and Neil Bush, Debbie and Rudy Festari, Laura and John Spalding, and Suzette and Darryl Betts.
It was an early b'day celebration for the retired Astro, who had come from the team's victory at Minute Maid Park that evening.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/society/4759519.html
Griffith and Roger in the spotlight Barbour, Posted: April 30, 2007
by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - Barbour, Griffith and Roger has been in the media spotlight for activities other than its lobbying of Washington decision-makers to terminate the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation's federal acknowledgement. The Financial Times reported recently on the Taiwan National Security Council's early termination of a $4.5 million contract with BGR, whose chairman, Ed Rogers, is a longtime Republican administration insider. The contract termination was said to reflect ''internal political tensions'' among Taiwanese officials, but it came at a time when BGR was embroiled in litigation involving allegations that the firm and Diligence LLC, one of BGR's offshoots, engaged in corporate espionage on behalf of the Alfa Group, one of BGR's biggest clients, the report said. The lawsuit filed by IPOC International Growth Fund, an offshore business, accuses Diligence of impersonating intelligence agents to illegally obtain information on an IPOC audit, the Legal Times reported. Diligence and another BGR offshoot called New Bridge Strategies were set up in 2003 to take advantage of ''business opportunities'' provided by the Iraq war, according to Source Watch. The three companies are intricately connected to the Bush administration and Republican politics. Rogers is vice chair of both New Bridge Strategies and Diligence. He served in the White House during the Reagan administration, on the Bush/Quayle campaign and in the current Bush administration. He co-founded BGR with Haley Barbour, the current governor of Mississippi, a longtime Republican insider and former longtime Republican National Committee chairman. Robert Blackwill, former ambassador to India, former deputy national security adviser to the current administration and former Iraq administrator, is BGR's president. New Bridge Strategies is headed by Joe Allbaugh, Bush's campaign manager in 2000 and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency until March 2003. Lanny Griffith, CEO of BGR, is a director of New Bridge, according to The New York Times. Neil Bush, the president's brother, has been paid a $60,000 annual consulting fee by New Bridge to aid in the procurement of contracts for companies seeking to do business in Iraq. When the company was set up in 2003, its Web site - www.newbridgestrategies.com - said, ''The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary skills and experience to be effective both in Washington, D.C., and on the ground in Iraq,'' according to a New York Times report.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414950
Halliburton "overweight," target price raised
Monday, April 30, 2007 10:09:25 AM ET
Lehman BrothersNEW YORK, April 30 (newratings.com) - Analyst James D Crandell of Lehman Brothers maintains his "overweight" rating on Halliburton Co (HAL.NYS), while raising his estimates for the company. The target price has been raised from $38 to $45.In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company is well positioned to benefit from the anticipated recovery in the industry, in view of its diverse product and geographic positioning. Halliburton posted its 1Q07 EPS from continuing operations ahead of the estimates. The EPS estimates for 2007 and 2008 have been raised from $2.15 to $2.35 and from $2.70 to $3.00, respectively, to reflect lower interest expenses, a lower tax rate and higher revenues.
http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_1522455.html
KBR first-quarter net up 7.7 percent
Fri 4 May 2007, 16:44 GMT
(Recasts, adds comment, details, updates share price)
By Anna Driver
HOUSTON, May 4 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction services company KBR Inc.posted a 7.7 percent increase in first-quarter earnings on Friday, helped by income from its work in Iraq.
KBR, which has drawn scrutiny from auditors, congressional Democrats and the U.S. Justice Department for the quality and pricing of its work for the U.S. Army in Iraq, also said it expects reduced revenue in the near-term, due to project delays.
The company, which was spun off from Halliburton Co.last month, said net income rose to $28 million, or 17 cents a share, from $26 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations were 18 cents a share, compared with 15 cents a year ago.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnBNG195064.html
KBR says sees reduced revenue near-term on delays
HOUSTON, May 4 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction services firm KBR Inc. (KBR.N: Quote, Profile , Research) expects reduced revenue in the near term due to delays in gas projects, the company's chief executive said on a conference call on Friday.
For example, KBR has experienced cost overruns and delays in its 50 percent owned gas-to-liquids project in Escravos, Nigeria, and has identified $63 million in additional costs for that project.
Bill Utt, the company's chief executive officer, also told analysts that the the company's "first quarter did not meet our expectations."
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=marketsNews&storyID=2007-05-04T160158Z_01_N04337233_RTRIDST_0_KBR-RESULTS-CALL-URGENT.XML
Dick Cheney, Iraq and Halliburton
ronbeas2.blogspot.com/2007/04/halliburton-cheney-and-iraq.htmlsent by ronbeas since 5 days 17 hours 31 minutes, published about 5 days 6 hours 46 minutes
Dick Cheney took Halliburton towards bankruptcy while he was CEO. It continued the slide down after he became VP - until the invasion of Iraq that is. After Iraq and it's no bid contracts the fortunes of Halliburton and war profiteer Dick Cheney dramatically improved. The graphic tells the entire story
http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=11999
Dated :
Abdullah, Cheney Review Ties
Javid Hassan & Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
RIYADH, 6 August 2005 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has been invited to visit the US by Vice President Dick Cheney.
King Abdullah also held a meeting with Cheney at his farm in Janadriyadh, near Riyadh, during which the two leaders reviewed their bilateral relations, and the situations in Palestine and Iraq as well as issues that came to the forefront during the Saudi-US summit at President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Cheney’s meeting capped the visit of the high-level delegation he led to the Saudi capital, where he extended condolences to King Abdullah on the demise of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and to congratulate King Abdullah on his accession to the throne.
The US delegation also included former President George Bush, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They also called on Crown Prince Sultan.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=68033&d=6&m=8&y=2005
Halliburton Secretly Doing Business with Key Member of Iran’s Nuclear Team
Scandal-plagued Halliburton, the oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick was secretly working with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and, allegedly, selling the officials' oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, according to Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies’ business dealings. Just last week a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, whose military unit just reported a 284 percent increase in its second quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the financial means to build a nuclear weapon.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jason_le_050805_halliburton_secretly.htm
Report ties Cheney aide to CIA story
By DIEDTRA HENDERSON Boston Globe Staff Wednesday, July 20, 2005
WASHINGTON - I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, was a second source for a Time magazine article that revealed the identity of a covert CIA agent, the magazine reported Sunday, undercutting repeated White House denials.For two years, the Bush administration has said that neither top presidential adviser Karl Rove nor Libby was involved in identifying Valerie Plame, the covert CIA agent first named in a July 2003 article by syndicated columnist Robert Novak.Last week, Rove, Bush's deputy chief of staff, was identified as a confidential source of Time reporter Matthew Cooper and that disclosure led to some Democrats calling for Rove's resignation while others pressed for the revocation of his security clearance. The disclosure also resulted in the White House no longer denying Rove's involvement and instead declining to comment because the matter is under investigation.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/07/20/news/9eb15f04c9b146048725704200597fb7.txt
Tom DeLay’s Legal Defense Fund Needs A Legal Defense Fund
As you may remember, we’ve been keeping a close eye on Tom DeLay’s legal defense fund. Through the “Drop the Hammer” campaign, we pressured three major corporate donors to stop contributing.
Now, DeLay’s legal defense fund is facing more problems:
Congressional records show that DeLay accepted contributions from five lobbyists and one lobbying firm totaling $8,000 between 2001 and 2004. He has returned $3,500 from two of the donors.
By my calculation, that leaves $4,500 in illegal contributions outstanding.
Full disclosure: four other politicians, from both sides of the aisle, also accepted illegal campaign contributions from lobbyists.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/05/tom-delays-legal-defense-fund-needs-a-legal-defense-fund/
continued …
A Recent Opinion Shows a Clear Split Between Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito On Federalism Issues - With Roberts Displaying Justice O'Connor's Respect for the States, and Alito Lacking that RespectBy MARCI HAMILTON
Thursday, May. 03, 2007
This week, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in United Haulers v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority. The topic - the Dormant Commerce Clause -- is not a barn-burner, but the decision does provide an early indication of how Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito are each likely to analyze states rights questions and other issues.
As readers will recall, Justice Alito replaced Justice O'Connor on the Court. But will he betray her legacy of respect for the states?
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20070503.html
Schools and Race: Still separate after all these years
…The court's two newest justices—Samuel Alito and the chief justice, John Roberts—are serving their first full term together in 2006-07. And although the new court has sometimes aligned in unexpected ways, George Bush's two appointees have given a more conservative tilt to some important decisions. Most notable was a five-to-four ruling last week upholding a congressional ban on partial-birth abortions. Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate, had previously provided a pivotal vote against abortion restrictions. Last week's ruling thus seemed to confirm that her replacement by Justice Alito will lead to a conservative shift in at least some types of cases. Race-conscious education policy, which Justice O'Connor broadly favoured, is among the areas most likely to change.In the coming weeks the court will announce its decision on a pair of cases that it heard in December, involving the Jefferson County school district and another in Seattle. Both districts act aggressively to maintain racial balance in their schools, but may not be able to continue.In Seattle, where places in the most popular high schools are scarce, officials use race to decide who gets left out, so that a school's racial mix will not deviate too much from the district average. Jefferson County uses a broadly similar system to ensure that black students, who are 35% of the total, make up 15% to 50% of the student mix in every school. A white student's mother has claimed that he was deprived of a good school place there to preserve this racial mix, violating his rights. Lower courts have upheld both districts' methods, but the newly conservative Supreme Court is examining the issue.
http://nationaladd.blogspot.com/2007/05/schools-and-race-still-separate-after.html
Scholarship on Chinese law cited in US Supreme Court opinion
Yes, it has really happened. In footnote 2 of his dissent in United Haulers Assn., Inc. v. Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority (April 30, 2007), Justice Alito cites Owen, Sun, & Zheng, Antitrust in China: The Problem of Incentive Compatibility, 1 J. of Competition L. & Econ. 123 (2005) and Qin, WTO Regulation of Subsidies to State-owned Enterprises (SOEs): A Critical Appraisal of the China Accession Protocol, 7 J. of Int'l Econ. L. 863 (Dec. 2004). Qin is the only law professor in the group - she's at Wayne State.
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/china_law_prof_blog/2007/05/scholarship_on_.html
Post Mortem for the Stock Market
May 1, 2007By Mike Whitney"There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class that’s winning." Investment tycoon, Warren BuffettThe real estate market is crashing faster than anyone had anticipated. Housing prices have fallen in 17 of 20 of the nation’s largest cities and the trend lines indicate that the worst is yet to come. March sales of new homes plummeted by a record 23.5% (year over year) removing all hope for a quick rebound. Problems in the subprime and Alt-A loans are mushrooming in previously “hot markets” resulting in an unprecedented number of foreclosures. The defaults have slowed demand for new homes and increased the glut of houses already on the market. This is putting additional downward pressure on prices and profits. More and more builders are struggling just to keep their heads above water. This isn’t your typical 1980s-type “correction”; it’s a full-blown real estate cyclone smashing everything in its path.
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/05/post-mortem-for-stock-market.html
Blackstone, Carlyle May Team Up for Ten Network Bid (Update2)
By Joyce Moullakis and Miriam Steffens
May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group may join forces to bid as much as A$2.7 billion ($2.2 billion) for Ten Network Holdings Ltd., Australia's third most-watched television station, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
The U.S. firms are in a stronger position after Merrill Lynch & Co.'s buyout unit and San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman LLC pulled out on concern the price is too high, said the people, who declined to be identified as the talks are private. NBK Capital, National Bank of Kuwait's investment banking unit, is also bidding.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aOJzzPki96b0&refer=australia
Welsh Carson continues directories acquisitions Shanny Basar
02 May 2007
A portfolio company owned by Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has bought a directories business after the US private equity group bought a firm in the same sector last year.
has agreed to sell its directory publishing business to Local Insight Media for $435m (€320m) becoming the latest incumbent telephone company to sell its directories to focus on its core businesses.
Lehman Brothers was financial advisor to Hawaiian Telcom which was formed in 2005 by private equity firm The Carlyle Group, following its purchase of the Hawaii assets of US telecoms firm Verizon Communications. The company plans to use proceeds of the sale to pay down existing debt and to continue investment in infrastructure.
Local Insight Media, a portfolio company of Welsh Carson was advised by Wachovia Securities and Merrill Lynch. The company produces directories and internet-based local search services in Cincinnati, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Last October, Welsh Carson sold Dex Media, the phone listings arm formerly owned by Qwest Communications, to US rival RH Donnelley.
Qwest Communications sold Dex Media in 2002 to The Carlyle Group and Welsh Carson for $7.1bn in what was then the second largest buyout. The two private equity firms are thought to have made a profit of $1.9bn between them in less than two years when they floated Dex Media in 2004.
In December Welsh Carson bought Windstream Yellow Pages, the directory publishing business of US telecoms company Windstream for $850m.
Carlyle bids to wrest work from BAE
By James Boxell, Defence Industries Correspondent
Published: May 2 2007 21:59 Last updated: May 2 2007 21:59
Carlyle, the US private equity firm, has offered to take over the running of Britain’s multi-billion pound nuclear submarine-building programme, in a direct challenge to BAE Systems, the UK’s biggest arms maker.
The buyout group has established strong ties with the Ministry of Defence after leading the privatisation of Qinetiq, the former defence research laboratories. However, its attempt to take a lead role in such a strategically important sector will be controversial.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/30c5ed8e-f8da-11db-a940-000b5df10621,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F30c5ed8e-f8da-11db-a940-000b5df10621.html&_i_referer=
Standard Life sells Tanfield site for £23m
STANDARD Life has sold its vacant Tanfield office complex in Edinburgh for just over £23 million.
The building was developed by the life and pensions giant in 1990 for its own occupation. However, staff were moved out almost three years ago following a major strategic review by the company.
Yesterday, Standard Life's investment arm confirmed it had sold the 204,000sq ft complex to a joint venture between Bellhouse Joseph and the Carlyle Group for £23.15m - less than the £25m price tag originally placed on the building.
Ed Bellhouse, managing director of Bellhouse Joseph, said: "We plan to refurbish it and sub-divide the space into smaller units suitable for multiple occupancy."
Cameron Stott, director of Jones Lang LaSalle Scotland, added: "There was significant interest in Tanfield from in the UK and abroad."
http://business.scotsman.com/banking.cfm?id=681072007
When a corporation such as Carlyle is dabbling in nuclear submarines, book publishing firms and broadcast networks, the warning flags go up.
Carlyle Group Entity Acquires 427 S. LaSalle for $34M
Facility To Undergo Additional Renovations
CRG West, a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group, purchased the building at 427 S. LaSalle from 427 South LaSalle LLC for $34 million, or about $210 per square foot. The 162,000-square-foot property known as the Telegraph Building will be home to a carrier-neutral data center with the capability to handle "high-density server and enterprise applications on a local, regional, and international level," according to a public statement by CRG West. The facility will also undergo renovations to re-condition the space and add 6 megawatts of emergency backup power. According to CRG's Web site, the space will be available sometime during the second quarter of this year. CRG West operates global data centers and manages property in the United States. It manages a portfolio in excess of 2 million square feet. There were no brokers involved in this transaction.
http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=8D56E3AC62331F751D5EA9E93B1DA2B1
Carlyle to invest $20 mln in S.Korea tutoring firm
SEOUL, May 3 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] said on Thursday that it will invest up to $20 million in a South Korean private education institute and continue to chase the business sector in other parts of Asia.
The committed investment in unlisted Topia Academy Inc. marks the Washington-based firm's entrance into South Korea's $8 billion after-school private tutoring sector.
It was not immediately known how many shares Carlyle will take in Topia, which competes with Megastudy Co. Ltd. (072870.KQ: Quote, Profile , Research), South Korea's top online and offline lecture provider.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=etfNews&storyID=2007-05-03T064751Z_01_SEO219755_RTRIDST_0_CARLYLE-KOREA.XML
Major League (PE edition): Back to the Minors
Private Equity International magazine has its first ever ranking of the top 50 PE firms in terms of capital raised over the last five years (since January 2002). The publication makes the claim that this is "the first time that private equity firms have been ranked by size using a consistent methodology."
Some stats -
- Out of the top 50, there's only one Asian firm (Pacific Equity Partners from Sydney), 11 in the UK and 33 in the US - The total buying power of the top 50 applying a 5x leverage multiple is a whopping $2.76 trillion - The total number of people putting this buying power to work - 3,597 - The top 50 firms participate in 75% of total financial sponsor deals by volume, but only 27% of all financial sponsor deals
Here is a list of the top 20, from PEI:
1 The Carlyle Group $32.5 billion2 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts $31.1 billion3 Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area $31 billion4 The Blackstone Group $28.36 billion5 TPG $23.5 billion6 Permira $21.47 billion7 Apax Partners $18.85 billion8 Bain Capital $17.3 billion9 Providence Equity Partners $16.36 billion10 CVC Capital Partners $15.65 billion11 Cinven $15.07 billion12 Apollo Management $13.9 billion13 3i Group $13.37 billion14 Warburg Pincus $13.3 billion15 Terra Firma Capital Partners $12.9 billion16 Hellman & Friedman $12 billion17 CCMP Capital $11.7 billion18 General Atlantic $11.4 billion19 Silver Lake Partners $11 billion20 Teachers' Private Capital $10.78 billion
http://www.dealbreaker.com/2007/05/major_league_pe_edition_back_t.php
Carlyle offer for Freeport on hold while Takeover Panel investigates
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The previously recommended offer by Carlyle Group, through its fund CEREP II LLC, for shopping centre operator Freeport PLC is on hold whilst an investigation is carried out by the Takeover Panel, it announced today.
On March 19 Carlyle offered 410 pence for each Freeport share, valuing the company at 155.3 mln stg.
At that date, Carlyle said it had irrevocable undertakings for about 18.6 mln of Freeport's shares, or 49.2 pct, from Laxey Partners Ltd, Guinness Peat Group PLC, Schroder Investment Management Ltd and Freeport's directors.
http://www.hemscott.com/news/latest-news/item.do?newsId=42494406810323
Blackstone, Carlyle mull bid for Ten-report
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Private equity groups The Blackstone Group and Carlyle Group have teamed up for a possible A$3.2 billion bid for Australian TV broadcaster Ten Network Holdings Ltd., The Australian newspaper reported on Friday in an unsourced report.
It said Blackstone and Carlyle will soon begin due diligence on Ten, which has been put up for sale by majority shareholder Canada's CanWest Global Communications Corp..
The newspaper said a sale was not a certainty because of minority shareholder issues, and differing views on valuations.
"The private equity groups are only willing to pay below A$3 per Ten share, but... CanWest is seeking bids north of A$3," The Australian said. Ten, Australia's third-biggest TV broadcaster, reported disappointing first-half profits in March on higher costs and a subdued advertising market, but said performance should improve this year. Its shares closed at A$3.25 on Thursday.
http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSSYD22512020070503
Date 2… And What About Ten?
Australasian Investment ReviewSydney, May 4, 2007 (ACN Newswire) - For the Ten Network the next few days should see news on whether a buyout will happens, or whether the controlling CanWest group of Canada will reject any offer and convert its stake into a controlling holding of around 57 per cent.Up to the end of the old legislation CanWest was limited to a voting stake of a fraction under 15 per cent compared to its economic stake of around 56.8 per cent.A decision was expewcted around now in the original timetable from CanWest which also has its NZ media business, MediaWorks, on the market in a separate sale process.CanWest decided to test the waters when it looked like the new media laws would come into force late last year after being approved by the Senate. The proclamation by the Government took a little while longer.Ten is helping find a buyer with CanWest having undertaken to get an offer for the minorities should it accept an offer for its stake.The second largest holder after CanWest is the WIN Group of Bruce Gordon and his family. That's currently around 14 per cent. It's been suggested that he would work with News Corp to buy Ten but so far there has been no sign of that and WIN has been battling PBL Media for control of Nine stations in Perth, Newcastle and in Adelaide.According to media reports there are just two front runners left for Ten: the US private equity giants, the Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group.
http://www.acnnewswire.net/press/en/36364/Australasian-Investment-Review.html
Carlyle Group's Pearlstine Terms Bid for Dow Jones `Very High'
By Courtney Dentch
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Norman Pearlstine, managing director of the Carlyle Group LP, said News Corp.'s $60-a-share bid for Dow Jones & Co. is ``very high'' and he would be surprised if another company offered the same premium.
The offer, which values Dow Jones at $5 billion, won't be ``easily matched by anyone else,'' Pearlstine said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The former executive editor at Dow Jones's Wall Street Journal also said he doesn't see New York-based Dow Jones becoming a $60-a-share stock company.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=afo6xOHiVU6A&refer=news
Freeport shares drop as Carlyle seeks to drop bid
By John Bowker
LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in retail outlet operator Freeport fell 5 percent on Friday after it emerged that its U.S. private equity buyer Carlyle Group wanted to pull out of the agreed deal.
http://business.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=694282007
Providence joins Apax in Thomson unit bid-sources
Fri May 4, 2007 7:12 PM BST
By Michael Flaherty
NEW YORK, May 4 (Reuters) - Providence Equity Partners has joined Apax Partners in a bid for Thomson Corp.'s (TOC.TO: Quote, Profile , Research) text book publishing unit, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The auction has entered its last phase and final bids are due at the end of next week, with the unit expected to fetch well above $5 billion thanks to strong demand from private equity suitors, the sources said.
The auction got fresh attention on Friday amid speculation that Thomson, a Canadian publisher, could use proceeds from the sale to finance a bid for Reuters Group Plc (RTR.L: Quote, Profile , Research) (RTRSY.O: Quote, Profile , Research), the news and financial services provider. Reuters said on Friday it had received a takeover approach but did not identify the bidder. To read that story please click on [ID:nL04405067].
Reuters reported in March that Bain Capital, Blackstone Group [BG.UL] and Thomas H. Lee Partners [THL.UL], the former owners of publisher Houghton Mifflin Co., had joined together to bid for Thomson's text book business. The three firms have declined to comment on the auction.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. [KKR.UL] and Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] are also said to be interested, though a separate source close to the matter said the two firms are not partnered on the deal. Previous press accounts put the two together in the auction. It was unclear where the firms stood on Friday: KKR declined to comment, and Carlyle did not return messages seeking comment.
Warburg Pincus has been mentioned as an interested party, but it was unclear on Friday if it was still in the bidding. The firm declined to comment.
Providence Equity, which also declined to comment, is a buyout firm focused on media and communications. It recently closed a $12 billion buyout fund.
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=allBreakingNews&storyID=2007-05-04T181234Z_01_N04328987_RTRIDST_0_THOMSON-LEARNING-BIDS.XML
So Long, And Thanks For All The Indictments
After a decade of buying power and influence on the Hill, former Rep. Tom DeLay's ARMPAC (Americans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committe) is going out of business says Paul Kane at Capitol Briefing. The subject of intense legal scrutiny, the activities of ARMPAC, and its local offshoot TRMPAC, placed purveyor Tom DeLay in hot water from which he has yet to escape.
http://www.campaignmoney.org/blog/2007/05/02/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-indictments
Jack Abramoff is obviously cooperating with investgators
By Kirstin EllisonPosted on Mon Apr 30, 2007 at 05:31:45 PM EST
Jack Abramoff is yakking away - at least, that's the implication the Sacramento Bee gives in an excellent article summarizing the sudden flurry of Abramoff-related activity around the country.
"It's not clear to me or my lawyers exactly what they're doing," Doolittle said Thursday of his own case.
Really? This might clarify some things for you, sir:
The flurry of activity can be traced to the federal courthouse in Miami, where prosecutors revealed last month that they're prepared to reduce Abramoff's sentence for fraud in connection with his purchase of a fleet of gambling ships.Prosecutors said he had more to tell about Washington corruption, and they were offering a lower sentence as an elixir to lubricate his tongue.
Seems to have worked, no? Since Bob Ney went to prison, nothing much had been happening in the investigation. Then, all of a sudden in the last couple of weeks we get:
Rep. John Doolittle's (R-CA) home is raided.
Kevin Ring, former aide to Doolittle and close friend of Abramoff's, resigns from his law firm.
Mark Zachares pleads guilty to conspiracy with Abramoff.
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) announces he's being asked questions about an Abramoff-funded golf trip he took in 2003 - the same trip Zachares was on.
Reports surface that Ed Buckham, former aide to Tom DeLay and lobbyist extraordinaire, may be nearing charges, which chould ensare DeLay. Buckham could also be a link between the Abramoff investigation and the Duke Cunningham bribery case (see also Brent Wilkes).
The common denominator? Jack Abramoff.
Yep, he's talking.
http://www.commonblog.com/story/2007/4/30/17028/4501
Elect Noriega: The Knockout Punch to Tom Delay
Cross posted at Burnt Orange Report
The May 12th special election to fill the Houston City Council seat vacated by Shelley Sekula-Gibbs has received very little press coverage, and everyone agrees that Election Day promises low voter turnout. Coming off all the exciting victories of 2006, this race seems to be flying under the radar, but electing Melissa Noriega should be important to progressive voters everywhere. It’s certainly important to Houston’s GLBT community, as we have the opportunity to replace an advisory on council with a friend, but, beyond that, it seems to me that electing Noriega would deliver one more knockout punch to the regressive, corrupt politics of Tom Delay.
http://thecaucusblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/elect-noriega-knockout-punch-to-tom.html
Conference on Iraq
4 May 2007
WHILE the two-day Iraq-conference under way in Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt may not be able to provide for a foolproof plan for Iraq’s reconstruction or security, it may have a very significant, though indirect, bearing upon the matter.
On the surface, the delegates are meeting to endorse the much-debated five-year International Compact for Iraq (ICI), but more importantly the gathering would bring US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in close proximity with, among others, her Iranian and Syrian counterparts. And since all parties have indicated a meeting on the sidelines, the major conference is, for all intents and purposes, a last ditch effort by the West to engage with Iraq’s neighbours in an attempt to quell the violence once and for all.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/editorial/2007/May/editorial_May8.xml§ion=editorial&col=
10 GOP Hopefuls Invoke Reagan
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Sharing a stage for the first time, the 10 Republican presidential hopefuls alternated between tough talk and optimism Thursday night as they wrapped themselves in the conservative mantle of the party’s patron saint and their spiritual host, Ronald Reagan. Invoking the name of the nation’s 40th president nearly 20 times -- and mostly ignoring the current occupant of the White House -- the contestants repeatedly faulted the direction of Washington under GOP rule, and promised change. “On why we lost the election in 2006, it’s because we did lose our way,” said Sen. John McCain of Arizona. “We began to value principle over power, and spending got out of control.” “We went to Washington to change Washington -- Washington changed us,” said former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson. “We forgot to come up with new ideas, big ideas like Ronald Reagan.”
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=352318&Category=23&subCategoryID=
McCain, Giuliani, Romney Qualify Support for Bush's Policies
By Kristin Jensen and Kim Chipman
May 4 (Bloomberg) -- The 10 Republican presidential hopefuls mostly supported restricting abortion rights and preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons during their first debate last night, while distancing themselves from President George W. Bush's policies.
Appearing together for the first time ahead of the 2008 primary elections, most of the candidates agreed on the importance of the U.S. prevailing in Iraq. Then they criticized the way Bush has handled the conflict.
``We must win in Iraq,'' Arizona Senator John McCain said. Without mentioning the president by name he said, ``The war was terribly mismanaged and now we have to fix a lot of the mistakes that were made.''
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a.2K3kR7DryU&refer=home
Matt Renner: Tenet Battled With Office of Special
Thursday, 3 May 2007, 10:56 amOpinion: Matt Renner
Tenet Battled With the Office of Special Plans
By Matt Renner t r u t h o u t Report From: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050207A.shtmlWednesday 02 May 2007
In his book, "At the Center of the Storm," former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet describes efforts by Pentagon and White House officials to subvert pre-Iraq war intelligence assessment by the CIA.
Tenet focuses on the actions of a group inside the Pentagon that sent the Bush administration bogus intelligence on Iraq's weapons program and ties to terrorist organizations that supported the administration's policy.
This group was recently criticized by a Department of Defense inspector general report from February 9, 2007, which found that a policy-shop known as "the Office of Special Plans," headed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, acted "inappropriately" by cooking intelligence to reflect a "mature and symbiotic" relationship between Iraq and al-Qa'ida. This characterization was never supported by the CIA, but was presented as fact by Feith's office to White House policy makers in the run up to the Iraq war.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00091.htm
Helen Thomas: Tenet Spills Some Secrets
By Helen Thomas
Thursday, 03 May 2007
WASHINGTON -- Former CIA director George Tenet, one-time keeper of some of the nation's biggest secrets, has spilled some of the goods in his $4 million memoirs.
So now he tells us!
His retrospective on the prelude to the Iraq war -- now in its fifth year -- appears to corroborate earlier indications that toppling the Saddam regime was high on President Bush's agenda from the start of his administration.
Tenet has been somewhat of a convenient scapegoat for the Iraqi debacle, even though Bush conferred on him the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian award when they parted company in 2004.
He was originally an appointee of the Clinton administration and had served as CIA chief since 1997. As a carryover to the new administration, Tenet was eager to ingratiate himself with the new president during a period of probation, when he apparently lived up to his reputation for telling the president what he wanted to hear.
Tenet's book "At the Center of the Storm" takes shots at Vice President Dick Cheney and some hawkish Pentagon advisers but goes easy on Bush, described as "well-intentioned."
But Tenet said there was never a "serious debate" concerning an Iraqi threat before the U.S. invasion in March 2003.
http://www.fcnp.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1206&Itemid=35
Ayoon Wa Azan ( Will I Live to See…. )
Jihad el-Khazen Al-Hayat - 03/05/07//
Will we - or will I - live to see Dick Cheney, together with the figureheads of the neo-conservatives, tried on the charge of pushing the US into an unjustified war on Iraq, where a million Iraqis have been killed and other millions were displaced inside and outside Iraq?
A poet once said: "He who has outlived his enemy by a single day, has realized the highest of what he ever wished for." I have no personal enemies, whether the US vice-president or others, but Cheney is the enemy of the Arabs, Muslims and the people of Iraq. When he is tried for perpetrating war crimes, equivalent to genocide, the families of the victims and I will have realized our goal; taking into account that I am asking for justice for the people of Iraq, nothing for myself.
I have called more than once for Cheney to be tried. I am not alone in this, as scores of campaigns are also calling for his trial. There are also calls, which have reached the Congress, to impeach him.
http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/OPED/05-2007/Article-20070503-51b609f7-c0a8-10ed-01b2-ede8021e1ef0/story.html
George Tenet on the staircase with the neocons
In his book and on TV, former CIA Director George Tenet remembers all the things he should've said before we invaded Iraq but didn't.
By Juan Cole
Apr. 30, 2007 The French call it "the spirit of the staircase" (l'esprit d'escalier), the clever reply to someone that comes to you on your way up to the bedroom after a cocktail party. In his new book, released Monday, former CIA Director George Tenet has delivered himself of hundreds of pages on the staircase, imagining what he should have said or could have said to Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice and the other neoconservatives who marched the country to war in Iraq using the pretext of Sept. 11. In his April 29 interview with "60 Minutes" touting the book, Tenet came across as a spectacularly tragic Walter Mitty, daydreaming about how things would have been different if only he had spoken up, if he'd only been a James Bond-style spymaster instead of a timid, fawning bureaucrat. But of course, when it really mattered, at the critical juncture of his seven-year tenure as CIA chief, Tenet said nothing.
Tenet has revealed for the first time that he encountered Pentagon advisor Richard Perle on the day after the Sept. 11 attacks. As Tenet recounted the story on "60 Minutes," Perle "said to me, 'Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday; they bear responsibility.'" Tenet told interviewer Scott Pelley that he was startled at the allegation. "It's September the 12th," said Tenet. "I've got the manifest with me that tells me al-Qaida did this. Nothing in my head that says there is any Iraqi involvement in this in any way, shape or form, and I remember thinking to myself, as I'm about to go brief the president, 'What the hell is he talking about?'"
http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/05/george-tenet-on-staircase-with-neocons.html
Why There Was No Exit Plan
http://nevadathunder.com/?p=3965
Crossing a line at Justice
How an attorney general handles outside political forces is critical to the mission of true justice. Alberto Gonzales could have learned a thing or two from one of his Justice Department predecessors: RFK.
By Ronald Goldfarb
The current agonies of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales call to mind a dramatic moment in the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Department. Members of his organized crime section were in RFK's office reviewing our pending investigations and cases. One of our group advised Kennedy that his grand jury investigations were about to lead to the indictment of the then-mayor of a large Midwestern city, one that had voted for his brother John Kennedy in the close presidential election of 1960.
When my colleague completed his report about the big scalp about to be added to our list of political corruption cases, RFK was quiet. It happened that the scalp in question belonged to President Kennedy's ambassador-designate to Greece. The attorney general smiled slightly and facetiously remarked: "Well, that's nice. Now my brother's going to have to put me on the Supreme Court." The indictment went forward and included others in the city's political (Democratic) machine. All were convicted.
That anecdote is relevant today as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers the attorney general's recent dismissals of several U.S. attorneys. When it comes to the proper administration of justice in the Department of Justice, there are politics and there are politics.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/05/crossing_a_line.html
Lampson tops Rove's hit list for 2008 election
Federal probe looks into presentation that targets Dems
WASHINGTON — The political slide shows that landed President Bush's adviser Karl Rove in the middle of an investigation named the congressman who replaced former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as the White House's No. 1 target.
Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Beaumont, tops the list of the "2008 House Targets: Top 20," part of a presentation made to executive branch employees, possibly illegally. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, D-San Antonio, also was on the list at No. 12.
Critics have alleged the presentation was political and violated laws restricting executive branch employees from using their jobs for political activity.
The White House has defended the presentations as informational briefings for appointees and acknowledged last week there have been briefings at several agencies.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4763295.html
Rove speaks at N.C. convention
Hendersonville Some political heavy-hitters - including Presidential adviser Karl Rove - were in North Carolina over the weekend to motivate their base and take shots at the opposition.Speaking to about 300 people at a local annual Republican convention near Asheville, Rove on Saturday blasted Democrats for what he called tax-and-spend policies and their approach to the war in Iraq.During his 45-minute speech, Rove told the crowd at West Henderson High School they can play an important role in helping the GOP rebound from the 2006 election, urging them to bring undecided voters to their side.
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070430/NEWS/704300365/-1/State
Rove Implicated in DC Prostitute Scandal
Washington, DC (Rotters) – Accused "DC Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey today released clandestine photographs that implicated top Bush political advisor Karl Rove in the growing sex for hire scandal that is rocking the nation's capitol. Palfrey continued to maintain that the services provided through her business were all legal and strictly above board.
The real problem for Rove and the White House that has arisen from the release of the photograph is that it appears to show Bush's political advisor engaging in the practice of unlawfully deleting emails and other documents which had been subpoenaed by California Representative Henry Waxman in his ongoing investigation into administration abuse and waste.ABC news claims that it was able to track down and interview the coed appearing in the photograph with Rove, but withheld her identity.
http://www.unconfirmedsources.com/?itemid=2484
McNulty Asserts He Knew Little of Firings, Aides Say (Update2)
By James Rowley
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty told congressional investigators he was surprised to learn in late October of a plan to fire U.S. attorneys and didn't know why they were targeted for removal, Senate aides said.
McNulty, questioned in private on April 27 by House and Senate lawyers, said he never asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales or his former chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, the reasons for the eight dismissals, said one aide. The two aides spoke on condition of anonymity.
Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that seven U.S. attorneys who were asked to resign on Dec. 7 were drawn from a ``consensus'' of senior Justice Department officials. Neither Gonzales nor Sampson, who also testified before the committee, could say why individual prosecutors were singled out.
House and Senate committees are questioning whether aides to President George W. Bush ordered the dismissals for partisan motives, such as to spur investigations of Democrats or thwart prosecutions of Republicans.
``We are pursuing all of the leads to figure out who was responsible,'' said Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat. ``All signs point to the White House and particularly Mr. Rove, in terms of choosing the victims of their purge.''
Karl Rove
Bush has refused to let Karl Rove, his top political adviser, and other presidential aides testify under oath before Congress on the firings. House and Senate panels have authorized subpoenas for Rove and other aides, including former White House Counsel Harriet Miers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aQQNxTshI75Y&refer=us
Diving Deeper Into The Muck Of Bush Scandals
By Bernard WeinerThe Crisis Papers
When looking at daily news reports, we all tend to fall into the trap of focusing on juicy details of the scandaldu jour. It's natural to do so. But often by concentrating so carefully on the minutiae, we miss seeing the import of the larger picture.
So let's just take two representative scandals from the CheneyBush Administration -- those derived from the Iraq War and those surrounding the firing of the U.S. attorneys -- and see where they overlap and what they might represent when viewed from a longer-range perspective.
1. THE IRAQ WAR
The first thing to recognize is that the Iraq War was never about conquering Iraq per se. It was about using Iraq for a variety of sub-rosa purposes: to secure control of the huge oil reserves there and in the rest of the Middle East; using Iraq as an example to convince other Arab leaders to be more agreeable to U.S. demands or face America's "shock & awe"; to establish a "democratic" government willing to do America's bidding as a model for the region (the sleazy convicted felon Chalabi was the original choice to be "our man" heading that government); to maintain a permanent, massive U.S. presence there to help carry out America's political aims in the Greater Middle East; to remove Iraq's ability to attack Israel, America's one certain ally in the region.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0705/S00067.htm
Private Equity International Creates First Ever Ranking of Private Equity Firms
NEW YORK and LONDON, May 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- The PEI 50, a new ranking from Private Equity International magazine, reveals that the world's 50 largest private equity direct investment programs have raised a total of US$551 billion since 2002
The first ever ranking of the world's 50 largest private equity direct investment programs reveals that these firms have raised a total of US$551 billion of equity capital since 2002.
http://www.pr-inside.com/private-equity-international-creates-first-r109551.htm
A New Pecking Order for Private Equity
April 30, 2007, 4:45 pm
Who is the world’s biggest private equity firm?
It’s a timely question, given the steady drumbeat of record-setting buyout funds that have been announced in the past year or so (not to mention all the buzz about private equity firms that might go public). Wall Street lives for bragging rights, so it is only natural to ask who is on top. But crowning a No. 1 firm is not a simple matter, as Private Equity International explains in its May issue. It all depends on how you measure.
In its list of the world’s 50 largest private equity firms, the magazine used an unconventional yardstick. Instead of looking at assets under management, it ranked the contenders by the amount of funds they have raised since the beginning of 2002.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/a-new-private-equity-pecking-order/
TPG May Sell Stake to Pension Funds, Person Says (Update3)
By Hui-yong Yu
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- TPG Inc., the U.S. buyout firm led by David Bonderman and James Coulter, may sell a stake to pension funds that invest in its corporate takeovers, said a person with knowledge of the firm's discussions.
The talks are at an early stage and it isn't known what TPG may do, said the person, who declined to be identified because the discussions are confidential. One proposal involves pension funds converting their investments in TPG funds into shares of a new publicly traded company, the person said.
TPG, formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, would follow similar plans from buyout firms including Leon Black's Apollo Management LP. Blackstone Group LP, led by Stephen Schwarzman, is raising $4 billion in an initial public offering. Fortress Investment Group LLC, a New York-based manager of hedge funds and private equity, went public in February in a deal that raised almost $635 million.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aYFDf_A8D1to&refer=news
Hard Rain Journal 5-1-07: “Just Another Brick in the Wall …”
-- Thom Hartmann Interviews Larry Johnson, All You Need to Know About George Tenet
Image: Picasso, GuernicaThom Hartmann: How do you think this is all going to play out?Larry Johnson: Well, this is, you know, like Pink Floyd, “just another brick in the wall.” What George Tenet does is corroborate what Richard Clarke said, i.e., that very early on the administration was obsessed with going after Saddam, and had no intention of taking out Al Qaeda. They were obsessed with Saddam. Thom Hartmann: Is this PNAC? Is this oil? Is this political capital? Or is it all of the above?Larry Johnson: All of the above.Thom Hartmann: Yes. That’s my sense of it as well. My sense of it is that George Bush wanted to do it for political capital, Cheney wanted to do it for his oil buddies, and the ideologues in the administration wanted to do it for the PNAC purposes, i.e., “Let’s create empire.” And it was the perfect storm. The right people got together at the right time in the right place …Larry Johnson: And the American people are paying a terrible price today.Thom Hartmann Show, Air America Radio, 4-30-07Hard Rain Journal 5-1-07: “Just Another Brick in the Wall …” -- Thom Hartmann Interviews Larry Johnson, All You Need to Know About George Tenet
http://words-of-power.blogspot.com/2007/05/hard-rain-journal-5-1-07-just-another.html
Air America
http://www.airamerica.com/
TPG Seen Interested in Sale to Investors
Associated Press 05.01.07, 1:38 PM ET
Private equity firm TPG Group might consider selling a small portion of the firm to private investors, according to a published report on Tuesday.
The Wall Street Journal said the buyout firm formerly known as Texas Pacific Group was considering the sale of a 20 percent stake to a few of its pension fund investors.
The company, which was founded by turnaround specialists David Bonderman and Jim Coulter, has an estimated $30 billion in capital under management. It has been responsible for a string of big deals, including the $45 billion takeover of energy provider TXU Corp. (nyse: TXU - news - people )
A spokesman for TPG refused to comment on speculation about a possible sale.
Selling to a private investor, or even going public, has become a trend among Wall Street's big buyout firms. Blackstone Group has unveiled plans for an initial public offering of its management business, which does not include its portfolio of companies.
Carlyle Group and Apollo Management are also said to be considering similar moves.
TPG's sale could raise billions of dollars, and was seen as a possible first step before an eventual IPO, according to the Journal.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/01/ap3672817.html
Onex and Teachers' make list of top 50 buyout firms
The Carlyle Group topped a ranking of the world’s top 50 buyout firms by raising US$32.5-billion for direct private equity investment over the past five years.The firms have raised a combined US$551-billion since 2002, which accounts for more than two thirds of all funds raised during that period, according to the report from Private Equity International (PEI) magazine.
When that capital is combined with leverage, those 50 firms had the capacity to make more than US$2.75-trillion in transactions, it said.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which is in talks to buy BCE Inc., ranked second, followed by Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area and The Blackstone Group.
Teachers’ Private Capital, part of The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, was the top-ranked Canadian name with US$11-billion set aside for private equity investment during the five-year term. Onex Corp’s private equity business ranked 33rd with US$6.3-billion.
Meanwhile, TPG Inc. is reportedly mulling the sale of a minority stake, after other buyout firms have done the same to their fund investors. Formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, it ranked fifth in the PEI rankings.
http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/2007/05/01/onex-and-teachers-make-list-of-top-50-buyout-firms.aspx
Harman Buyout Hinged on Option to Buy In
Firm's Founder Wanted To Protect Its Investors
By Thomas Heath
Washington Post Staff WriterWednesday, May 2, 2007; Page D01
When private-equity bankers Kohlberg Kravis Roberts phoned Sidney Harman last November to make a pitch for buying Harman International, Harman turned them down flat.
He didn't want "mountains of debt" piled onto the balance sheet of the audio and navigation system company he had built over decades, he said, and he wanted owners of Harman stock to share in a piece of any new business.
When KKR called back later, putting up half the purchase price in cash and offering Harman stockholders a chance to take some stake in the new firm, they had a deal. By the time Harman's board of directors approved the sale last month, a new form of private equity was born, allowing ordinary investors in public companies to keep a piece of the business after it is bought out and taken private.
"If I can figure out how to take full credit for it, I will," Harman said yesterday in his first interview since the sale was announced last week. "We knew it was going to be an innovative approach."
The $8 billion deal created a stir on Wall Street, where private-equity firms such as KKR, Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group have been under scrutiny for buying public companies at a premium, then taking them private and frequently selling them for a bigger profit, leaving some shareholders feeling shortchanged.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101745.html?hpid=sec-business
George W. Bush's ResumeGeorge W. Bush
http://www.ansarishare.com/forum/george-w-bushs-t28421.html?s=d86348c9d98d966f8cf730bd4fe4be13&t=28421
Waste Haulers Lose Top Court Fight on Trash-Flow Laws (Update3)
By Greg Stohr
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Local governments can steer garbage to their own dumps and processing facilities, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, dealing a blow to Waste Management Inc. and other trash-hauling companies.
The justices, voting 6-3, upheld a ``flow control'' plan adopted by New York's Oneida and Herkimer counties to reduce environmental hazards and spur recycling. The court rejected hauler arguments that the rules unconstitutionally discriminate against interstate commerce by barring shipments to sites that charge lower fees.
``There is no reason to step in and hand local businesses a victory they could not obtain through the political process,'' Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=alZXNoIezHvs&refer=us
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments In Case Over Wisconsin Antiabortion Group's Appeal Of Campaign Finance Law
Main Category: Abortion News
Article Date: 30 Apr 2007 - 6:00 PDT Article Also Appears In
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a challenge of a lower court ruling in favor of a Wisconsin antiabortion group's constitutional challenge to the McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance law, the New York Times reports (Greenhouse, New York Times, 4/26).
Wisconsin Right to Life in its lawsuit challenging McCain-Feingold was seeking permission to run television and radio advertisements within 30 days of a 2004 primary that mentioned Sen. Russell Feingold's (D-Wis.) name and focused on his opposition to several of President Bush's judicial nominees. The group claims that the campaign finance law's provisions that prohibit the use of interest groups' "issue ads" during the weeks preceding an election are unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in August 2004 unanimously rejected WRTL's challenge to the provisions in the law. WRTL appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in January 2006 said that when it had upheld the law's provision concerning "electioneering communications" against a "facial challenge" in 2003, it did "not purport to resolve future as-applied challenges." The justices ordered the district court "to consider the merits of WRTL's" challenge. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in December 2006 overturned provisions of the law that restrict issue ads during the weeks before federal elections (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/22). The Federal Election Commission and a group of lawmakers led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) are arguing for the provisions to be upheld, the AP/Forbes reports (Frommer, AP/Forbes, 4/25). The justices are scheduled to issue a ruling before the end of June, the Miami Herald reports (Doyle, Miami Herald, 4/26).
Hearing Comments Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy have said the law should be struck down on free-speech grounds. According to the Los Angeles Times, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito also are "likely" to overturn the provisions, but Roberts said he is not convinced the law should be struck down entirely. He asked how advocacy groups could be exempted from the law so they could sponsor ads that focus on issues, not candidates (Savage, Los Angeles Times, 4/26). The District of Columbia circuit court panel ruled that WRTL ads were not campaign ads but general issue ads and that the government did not demonstrate a compelling enough argument to impose restrictions on groups' free-speech rights. The decision also said that the portion of the McCain-Feingold law banning issue ads paid for by corporate or union money is unconstitutional because it imposes campaign finance restrictions on groups that are using ads to advance legislative policy (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 1/22). James Bopp, an attorney who represents WRTL, said that at a minimum the Supreme Court should permit ads that focus on issues that were pending before Congress (Los Angeles Times, 4/26).
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=69101
Ex-CIA analyst: Forged 'yellowcake' memo 'leads right back to' Cheney
A former CIA analyst claims that falsified documents which were meant to show that Iraq's Saddam Hussein regime had been trying to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger can be traced back to Vice President Dick Cheney.
Appearing on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson Show, Ray McGovern who served in the CIA for twenty-seven years, said, "the [forged] memo leads right back to the doorstep of the Vice President of the United States."
According to McGovern, former CIA Director George Tenet told his "coterie of malleable managers" at the CIA to create a National Intelligence Estimate "to the terms of reference of Dick Cheney's speech of August 26, 2002, where Dick Cheney said for the first time Saddam Hussein could have a nuclear weapon in a year, he's got all kinds of chemical, he's got all kinds of biological weapons."
McGovern, who at one time chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief, also claimed to have evidence that the memo leads back to Cheney, but he would not say what it was, except that the names of the people involved were "in the public domain."
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/ExCIA_analyst_Forged_yellowcake_memo_leads_0430.html
Feminists Say Impeach Bush and Cheney Now: Act on Bush's War on Women
by Feminist Issues Group - SFGreen Party Monday Apr 30th, 2007 5:07 PM
The Bush Administration declared a war against women the day it was sworn in, said feminist leaders of the San Francisco Green Party (SFGP) today. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney need to be impeached immediately, urged the Feminist Issues Group (FIG), a working group of the SFGP. While pressure from the grassroots to impeach Bush and Cheney continues to build, FIG criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her failure to act and for declaring the impeachment issue "off the table".
Green Party members, who have been calling for impeachment since 2003, took part in Beach Impeach over the weekend. "It was one of many pro-impeachment events that have taken place in Pelosi's backyard," said Erika McDonald, FIG Co-Founder and local Green Party Spokesperson. Feminist leaders pointed to the international gag rule, attacks on reproductive rights, health misinformation and discrimination as reasons why women across the US and around the world are paying the price for the misogyny of Bush and his allies. "In addition to the catastrophic war, women are the main caretakers for the young and old. We have seen our domestic budget slashed, wages decrease, violence increase, and our lives and liberties diminished," said Vicki Leidner, Chair of FIG. "The party is over. These people have got to go," said Leidner. Members of FIG expressed disappointment and disgust at Congress's failure to hold Bush accountable. "Members of Congress who take orders from corporate paymasters are incapable of upholding the Constitution any more than the Administration. Six years of lies and denials of global warming puts every life on this planet at risk. This deceit has consequences for every living thing. It is up to the people to demand impeachment. It will take the ever-increasing numbers of people in third parties or declining to state a party and those disgusted with the behavior of their respective Republican and Democratic parties to unite. Impeachment IS on the table - that is the democratic and political process," said Leidner.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/04/30/18407172.php
Kirby: Cheney gets his revenge
Article Last Updated: 04/30/2007 12:18:33 AM MDT
Dick Cheney wrecked my wife's car on Thursday. Considering the evil he's reportedly connected to in the world, it seemed a little petty even for a vice president. It was partly my fault. It wouldn't have happened if I had stayed away from politics, a subject every bit as convoluted and boring as religion, but with fewer manners. However, the report of an anti-Cheney protest on BYU property was too good to pass up. It was being allowed at a place where having a different opinion is said to be OK as long as you keep your mouth shut about it. So I've heard. The only difference of opinion I've ever had with BYU was over a parking ticket that cost more than a new liver.
http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_5782402
Murtha Raises Possibility of Impeaching Bush and Cheney
April 29, 2007 (EIRNS)—To the manifest shock of CBS-TV interviewer Bob Schieffer, Rep. John Murtha (D-Penn.), the ranking Member on the House Appropriations Committee, raised the possibility of impeaching Bush and Cheney on the "Face the Nation" show today.
At the end of a 10-minute discussion, Murtha said, "There are four ways to influence the President: public opinion, elections, impeachment, and the purse." Schieffer interjected, in slight paraphrase, `Wait a minute! Wait did you say? Impeachment? Are you serious?' Murtha replied, "I said, there are four ways..." and he repeated his formulation again, only expanding the final phrase to "power of the purse." The unquestionable implication was that the first two "ways" have already been used, and the fourth way is being attempted now:
http://www.larouchepub.com/pr/2007/070429murtha_impeach.html
Romney Hires Real Hunter Cofer Black
BLACK OPS Romney, Cofer (inset)
The same week Mitt Romney pooh-poohed the importance of capturing Osama Bin Laden, he announced that former top counterterrorism official Cofer Black was joining his campaign as an advisor. It's nothing if not a unique pairing of a square-jawed Mormon who fibbed about his hunting exploits to appear rugged and a pudgy-faced bad-ass super spy who caught Carlos the Jackal and vowed to President Bush after 9/11 that Al Qaeda members would have "flies crawling across their eyeballs."
Even more interesting is the apparent daylight between their views on Bin Laden. In an interview, Romney said capturing Bin Laden would achieve only "a very insignificant increase in safety" and that it was "not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person."
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2007/04/cofer-black-joins-romney-campaign.php
Police not liable for chase that left man quadriplegic - US court
9:45AM Tuesday May 01, 2007
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court ruled today that a police officer cannot be held liable for ramming a fleeing car during a high-speed chase, forcing the vehicle off the road and resulting in severe injury or even death for the driver.
By an 8-1 vote, the high court ruled the officer's conduct reasonable because the car chase initiated by the suspect posed a substantial and immediate risk of serious physical injury to others.
Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority that an officer's attempt to end a dangerous high-speed car chase that threatened the lives of innocent bystanders did not violate the Constitution, even if it placed the fleeing motorist at risk of serious injury or death.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10437137
Federal security report'Rich history' of public corruption a high risk
By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno Pacific Daily News gdumat-ol@guampdn.com
The 2002 federal report that assessed Guam and the Northern Marianas' vulnerability to possible terror attacks also mentions a history of corruption in the local governments.
With that in mind, allowing the Northern Marianas to continue control over immigration and for Guam to keep its customs authority could be a weak link to securing America's borders, according to the report.
The level of corruption, lack of capability and influence of insular and cultural considerations inherent in both territorial governments present a constant detriment" to federal authorities, according to the report.
"On Guam, political personages and members of their families have been allowed to pass freely through territorial customs checkpoints without personal or baggage inspection as a matter of routine," according to the report.
Gerard Bautista, GIAA air terminal manager, said airport officials would reserve comment until they have a chance to view the report.
Though the report is five years old, and was initially labeled "sensitive -- for official use only," it recently became a public topic as it was mentioned in last week's conspiracy charge against former Northern Marianas official-turned-congressional staffer Mark D. Zachares.
Zachares pleaded guilty last week in the U.S. District Court of Virginia, making him the 11th defendant to plead guilty or be convicted in the federal investigation into fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff's lobbying activities.
Of all the defendants in the Abramoff scandal, he has the closest ties to Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.
The CNMI government paid about $7 million for Abramoff to lobby against a U.S. takeover of immigration control in the CNMI. The plea agreement states the CNMI payments occurred between 1996 and 2001.
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070501/NEWS01/705010303/1002
The Gulf Coast Embargo
Foreign aid after Katrina refused, misused, or continues to go unused (WaPo):
Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent.
Opinion from Dambala:
Katrina exposed this country's dirty little secret...we're not so super. For that, New Orleans must be isolated in this country's collective consciousness as an anomaly. New Orleans was such an embarrassment that the Bush administration couldn't accept the nearly 1 billion dollars in aid being offered by other countries.
I don’t disagree with this assessment. But I would add that even if it was not seen as an embarrassment to the Bush administration, his State Department was incapable of accepting and using the aid. This is the result of one-way relations with foreign countries. We are no longer able to participate in the world community as a member. We know how to give, but not receive. We have isolated ourselves and can only “receive” by forcibly taking with our superior military and economic might.
http://dapoblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/gulf-coast-embargo.html
'Lil' Bush' to Air on Comedy Central in June
http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/1633
Diverse mix finds reasons to party
By SHELBY HODGECopyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
TOOLS
IT was just the right mix of bad boys, social sophisticates, pretty women and captains of capitalism that filled the San Remo Room at Tony's Saturday night.
The occasion for the wild mix was the joint birthday celebration of Sheridan Williams and hubby John Eddie Williams. At the behest of the generous hosts, the wines and champagne flowed like water at the spare-no-expense party for 80. Profusions of peonies, roses and orchids from the Empty Vase decorated the party scape.
Andrea and Mayor Bill White, seldom anchored to one event an evening, remained throughout the dinner. Über developer Vincent Kickerillo and wife Mary held court at one table, while divorce attorney Bob Piro and wife Dr. Mary Riley presided at another. Kristen and Lee Nix, Diane and John Connally III, Terry Rambin and Philip Schneidau, Molly and Ford Hubbard III, Bruce Buckley, Melissa and Dr. Chuck Brunicardi, Ned Barnett, Raymond Baron and Jay Rosenstein were among the room full of notables.
Even Donna and Tony Vallone, who seldom take time out from the Saturday night restaurant crush to party privately, sat down for the celebration right through the soufflé dessert.
In another corner
Things were hopping throughout the restaurant. At one large table, Ericka and Jeff Bagwell were joined by a jovial group comprised of Maria and Neil Bush, Debbie and Rudy Festari, Laura and John Spalding, and Suzette and Darryl Betts.
It was an early b'day celebration for the retired Astro, who had come from the team's victory at Minute Maid Park that evening.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/society/4759519.html
Griffith and Roger in the spotlight Barbour, Posted: April 30, 2007
by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - Barbour, Griffith and Roger has been in the media spotlight for activities other than its lobbying of Washington decision-makers to terminate the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation's federal acknowledgement. The Financial Times reported recently on the Taiwan National Security Council's early termination of a $4.5 million contract with BGR, whose chairman, Ed Rogers, is a longtime Republican administration insider. The contract termination was said to reflect ''internal political tensions'' among Taiwanese officials, but it came at a time when BGR was embroiled in litigation involving allegations that the firm and Diligence LLC, one of BGR's offshoots, engaged in corporate espionage on behalf of the Alfa Group, one of BGR's biggest clients, the report said. The lawsuit filed by IPOC International Growth Fund, an offshore business, accuses Diligence of impersonating intelligence agents to illegally obtain information on an IPOC audit, the Legal Times reported. Diligence and another BGR offshoot called New Bridge Strategies were set up in 2003 to take advantage of ''business opportunities'' provided by the Iraq war, according to Source Watch. The three companies are intricately connected to the Bush administration and Republican politics. Rogers is vice chair of both New Bridge Strategies and Diligence. He served in the White House during the Reagan administration, on the Bush/Quayle campaign and in the current Bush administration. He co-founded BGR with Haley Barbour, the current governor of Mississippi, a longtime Republican insider and former longtime Republican National Committee chairman. Robert Blackwill, former ambassador to India, former deputy national security adviser to the current administration and former Iraq administrator, is BGR's president. New Bridge Strategies is headed by Joe Allbaugh, Bush's campaign manager in 2000 and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency until March 2003. Lanny Griffith, CEO of BGR, is a director of New Bridge, according to The New York Times. Neil Bush, the president's brother, has been paid a $60,000 annual consulting fee by New Bridge to aid in the procurement of contracts for companies seeking to do business in Iraq. When the company was set up in 2003, its Web site - www.newbridgestrategies.com - said, ''The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary skills and experience to be effective both in Washington, D.C., and on the ground in Iraq,'' according to a New York Times report.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096414950
Halliburton "overweight," target price raised
Monday, April 30, 2007 10:09:25 AM ET
Lehman BrothersNEW YORK, April 30 (newratings.com) - Analyst James D Crandell of Lehman Brothers maintains his "overweight" rating on Halliburton Co (HAL.NYS), while raising his estimates for the company. The target price has been raised from $38 to $45.In a research note published this morning, the analyst mentions that the company is well positioned to benefit from the anticipated recovery in the industry, in view of its diverse product and geographic positioning. Halliburton posted its 1Q07 EPS from continuing operations ahead of the estimates. The EPS estimates for 2007 and 2008 have been raised from $2.15 to $2.35 and from $2.70 to $3.00, respectively, to reflect lower interest expenses, a lower tax rate and higher revenues.
http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_1522455.html
KBR first-quarter net up 7.7 percent
Fri 4 May 2007, 16:44 GMT
(Recasts, adds comment, details, updates share price)
By Anna Driver
HOUSTON, May 4 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction services company KBR Inc.
KBR, which has drawn scrutiny from auditors, congressional Democrats and the U.S. Justice Department for the quality and pricing of its work for the U.S. Army in Iraq, also said it expects reduced revenue in the near-term, due to project delays.
The company, which was spun off from Halliburton Co.
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnBNG195064.html
KBR says sees reduced revenue near-term on delays
HOUSTON, May 4 (Reuters) - Engineering and construction services firm KBR Inc. (KBR.N: Quote, Profile , Research) expects reduced revenue in the near term due to delays in gas projects, the company's chief executive said on a conference call on Friday.
For example, KBR has experienced cost overruns and delays in its 50 percent owned gas-to-liquids project in Escravos, Nigeria, and has identified $63 million in additional costs for that project.
Bill Utt, the company's chief executive officer, also told analysts that the the company's "first quarter did not meet our expectations."
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=marketsNews&storyID=2007-05-04T160158Z_01_N04337233_RTRIDST_0_KBR-RESULTS-CALL-URGENT.XML
Dick Cheney, Iraq and Halliburton
ronbeas2.blogspot.com/2007/04/halliburton-cheney-and-iraq.htmlsent by ronbeas since 5 days 17 hours 31 minutes, published about 5 days 6 hours 46 minutes
Dick Cheney took Halliburton towards bankruptcy while he was CEO. It continued the slide down after he became VP - until the invasion of Iraq that is. After Iraq and it's no bid contracts the fortunes of Halliburton and war profiteer Dick Cheney dramatically improved. The graphic tells the entire story
http://www.buzzflash.net/story.php?id=11999
Dated :
Abdullah, Cheney Review Ties
Javid Hassan & Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
RIYADH, 6 August 2005 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has been invited to visit the US by Vice President Dick Cheney.
King Abdullah also held a meeting with Cheney at his farm in Janadriyadh, near Riyadh, during which the two leaders reviewed their bilateral relations, and the situations in Palestine and Iraq as well as issues that came to the forefront during the Saudi-US summit at President George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Cheney’s meeting capped the visit of the high-level delegation he led to the Saudi capital, where he extended condolences to King Abdullah on the demise of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and to congratulate King Abdullah on his accession to the throne.
The US delegation also included former President George Bush, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They also called on Crown Prince Sultan.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=68033&d=6&m=8&y=2005
Halliburton Secretly Doing Business with Key Member of Iran’s Nuclear Team
Scandal-plagued Halliburton, the oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick was secretly working with one of Iran’s top nuclear program officials on natural gas related projects and, allegedly, selling the officials' oil development company key components for a nuclear reactor, according to Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge into both companies’ business dealings. Just last week a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, whose military unit just reported a 284 percent increase in its second quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the financial means to build a nuclear weapon.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jason_le_050805_halliburton_secretly.htm
Report ties Cheney aide to CIA story
By DIEDTRA HENDERSON Boston Globe Staff Wednesday, July 20, 2005
WASHINGTON - I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, was a second source for a Time magazine article that revealed the identity of a covert CIA agent, the magazine reported Sunday, undercutting repeated White House denials.For two years, the Bush administration has said that neither top presidential adviser Karl Rove nor Libby was involved in identifying Valerie Plame, the covert CIA agent first named in a July 2003 article by syndicated columnist Robert Novak.Last week, Rove, Bush's deputy chief of staff, was identified as a confidential source of Time reporter Matthew Cooper and that disclosure led to some Democrats calling for Rove's resignation while others pressed for the revocation of his security clearance. The disclosure also resulted in the White House no longer denying Rove's involvement and instead declining to comment because the matter is under investigation.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/07/20/news/9eb15f04c9b146048725704200597fb7.txt
Tom DeLay’s Legal Defense Fund Needs A Legal Defense Fund
As you may remember, we’ve been keeping a close eye on Tom DeLay’s legal defense fund. Through the “Drop the Hammer” campaign, we pressured three major corporate donors to stop contributing.
Now, DeLay’s legal defense fund is facing more problems:
Congressional records show that DeLay accepted contributions from five lobbyists and one lobbying firm totaling $8,000 between 2001 and 2004. He has returned $3,500 from two of the donors.
By my calculation, that leaves $4,500 in illegal contributions outstanding.
Full disclosure: four other politicians, from both sides of the aisle, also accepted illegal campaign contributions from lobbyists.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/08/05/tom-delays-legal-defense-fund-needs-a-legal-defense-fund/
continued …
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