From American Progress:
Think Fast
"The Great Wall of Adhamiya" is only one of at least ten Baghdad neighborhoods that are slated to become -- or already are -- "gated communities." "They've been doing it in Florida, and the old people seem to like it," joked the platoon's leader, Sgt. 1st Class Charles Schmitt.
Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said that the American military would "respect the wishes" of the Iraqi government regarding a barrier being built around Adhamiya, but he stopped short of saying construction would stop. Sunni Arab and Shiite groups sharply criticized the idea, saying the wall would increase sectarian hatred and fuel efforts to partition the country.
The London Times reported that the White House is drawing up a list of candidates to succeed Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank. "Most prominent on the list is Ashraf Ghani, the man credited with overhauling the economy of Afghanistan after September 11."
Classes at Virginia Tech are set to resume today. "Students and faculty were expected to gather at 7:15 a.m. Monday near the dormitory where the first victims. ... At 9:45 -- the time of the second shooting -- the university planned a moment of silence, with a single bell tolling from the tower of the main administration building. A minute later, the bell will toll 32 times -- once for each victim -- as 32 white balloons are released from the field below."
"A dramatic pay gap emerges between women and men in America the year after they graduate from college and widens over the ensuing decade," according to a new study. "One year out of college, women working full time earn 80 percent of what men earn." Ten years later, that number drops to 69 percent.
David Iglesias, the fired New Mexico U.S. attorney, said investigating the White House's role is the logical next step. "If I were Congress, I would say, 'If the attorney general doesn't have answers, then who would?' There's enough evidence to indicate that Karl Rove was involved up to his eyeballs."
In contrast to her previous resistance to talks, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is urging Iran to join her at a high-level conference on the future of Iraq next week, "signaling that Washington is now ready for a serious exchange of views with Tehran after several months of resisting Iran's advances in the region."
"FEMA exposed taxpayers to significant waste -- and possibly violated federal law -- by awarding $3.6 billion worth of Hurricane Katrina contracts to companies with poor credit histories and bad paperwork," according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General.
And finally: DOUTH U R GOOD AT TXTING? Over the weekend, 250 people competed to be U.S. Texting Champion, with txt tests ranging from "what we do in life echoes in eternity" to "OMG, nd 2 talk asap." Eventually, 13-year-old Morgan Pozgar won the competition, after she typed "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" in 15 seconds. "It's all about the thumbwork," she said. "It's about balance."
Wrap...
Monday, April 23, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Lit Agent Dijkstra reps one tough book on military docs & torture...
From San Diego Union-Tribune :
Military medicine, torture examined
By Peter Rowe
STAFF WRITER
April 21, 2007
What was Dr. Steven H. Miles thinking?
Not about blockbuster sales, that's clear. Best sellers require race-against-the-clock “24”-style thrills, Olympian sex or, at least, a 10-day plan for washboard abs.
Dr. Steven H. Miles, a physician and bioethicist, is appalled that so many doctors, nurses and medics condoned torture in the war on terror.While writing his latest book, the University of Minnesota Medical School professor focused elsewhere. He mined a mountain range of government documents. He unearthed accounts of deaths and maimings. He issued a grisly indictment of his own profession. Then he wrapped the whole package in the feel-bad title of the year, “Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity and the War on Terror.”
“This has been a tough sell,” said his agent, Sandra Dijkstra.
What was Miles thinking?
“When I saw the photographs from Abu Ghraib,” he said, “I wondered where the doctors and nurses were.”
The answer: They were present or nearby. In U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, medical personnel helped determine the nature and severity of torture. They ignored abuse. And they covered up the most heinous cases.
That, in a blood-stained nutshell, is what Miles found. What is he thinking?
“Where these things occurred, they occurred in the context of a general command breakdown,” he said. “Nobody was stopping abuses, period.”
The shame, then, doesn't belong to the medical profession alone. In the military, though, they are the only parties who have taken an oath to protect and heal patients, even if these patients are prisoners of war or “enemy combatants.”
Off the battlefield
Military medical ethics is rich territory for civilian second-guessers, or so many in uniform believe. (Miles, it should be noted, is not a veteran.) “The certainty of opinion,” said Col. Basil Pruitt, a physician, in a 1992 lecture on this topic, “is directly proportional to the square of the distance from the site of combat.”
But Miles notes that his book is about noncombat actions of the military medical profession. “This is not about battlefield ethics. This is about the treatment of unarmed prisoners.”
Neither, he insists, is this a matter of a squeamish civilian suddenly coming face to face with the harsh realities of war. “In World War II, we really set the standard for the treatment of prisoners.” Miles notes that President Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell, called the use of torture by U.S. forces an “innovation.”
This innovation, Miles said, can be used against us: “This prevents us from appealing to the world for the same norms of civilized behavior for our soldiers.”
The Bush administration, though, has maintained that terrorists – even those captured by the military, during military operations, in the midst of a war – are not soldiers, and are thus exempt from the Geneva Convention. But that's not the only convention barring medical professionals from taking part in torture. Similar declarations have been adopted by the United Nations, the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, the World Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians and others.
This White House has waved all that aside. “We have said to the world that a chief executive can invoke national emergency or national sovereignty and can step outside” international agreements, Miles said.
Again, such a precedent could be used against the United States, a nation that often holds itself up as a model to the world.
“This is not a matter of war-making,” Miles insisted. “It is a matter of international law.”
[click this link to continue: www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070421/news_1c21oath.html
Wrap...
Military medicine, torture examined
By Peter Rowe
STAFF WRITER
April 21, 2007
What was Dr. Steven H. Miles thinking?
Not about blockbuster sales, that's clear. Best sellers require race-against-the-clock “24”-style thrills, Olympian sex or, at least, a 10-day plan for washboard abs.
Dr. Steven H. Miles, a physician and bioethicist, is appalled that so many doctors, nurses and medics condoned torture in the war on terror.While writing his latest book, the University of Minnesota Medical School professor focused elsewhere. He mined a mountain range of government documents. He unearthed accounts of deaths and maimings. He issued a grisly indictment of his own profession. Then he wrapped the whole package in the feel-bad title of the year, “Oath Betrayed: Torture, Medical Complicity and the War on Terror.”
“This has been a tough sell,” said his agent, Sandra Dijkstra.
What was Miles thinking?
“When I saw the photographs from Abu Ghraib,” he said, “I wondered where the doctors and nurses were.”
The answer: They were present or nearby. In U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, medical personnel helped determine the nature and severity of torture. They ignored abuse. And they covered up the most heinous cases.
That, in a blood-stained nutshell, is what Miles found. What is he thinking?
“Where these things occurred, they occurred in the context of a general command breakdown,” he said. “Nobody was stopping abuses, period.”
The shame, then, doesn't belong to the medical profession alone. In the military, though, they are the only parties who have taken an oath to protect and heal patients, even if these patients are prisoners of war or “enemy combatants.”
Off the battlefield
Military medical ethics is rich territory for civilian second-guessers, or so many in uniform believe. (Miles, it should be noted, is not a veteran.) “The certainty of opinion,” said Col. Basil Pruitt, a physician, in a 1992 lecture on this topic, “is directly proportional to the square of the distance from the site of combat.”
But Miles notes that his book is about noncombat actions of the military medical profession. “This is not about battlefield ethics. This is about the treatment of unarmed prisoners.”
Neither, he insists, is this a matter of a squeamish civilian suddenly coming face to face with the harsh realities of war. “In World War II, we really set the standard for the treatment of prisoners.” Miles notes that President Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell, called the use of torture by U.S. forces an “innovation.”
This innovation, Miles said, can be used against us: “This prevents us from appealing to the world for the same norms of civilized behavior for our soldiers.”
The Bush administration, though, has maintained that terrorists – even those captured by the military, during military operations, in the midst of a war – are not soldiers, and are thus exempt from the Geneva Convention. But that's not the only convention barring medical professionals from taking part in torture. Similar declarations have been adopted by the United Nations, the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses, the World Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians and others.
This White House has waved all that aside. “We have said to the world that a chief executive can invoke national emergency or national sovereignty and can step outside” international agreements, Miles said.
Again, such a precedent could be used against the United States, a nation that often holds itself up as a model to the world.
“This is not a matter of war-making,” Miles insisted. “It is a matter of international law.”
[click this link to continue: www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070421/news_1c21oath.html
Wrap...
Gonzales: How to shut down the press....
From: http://harpers.org/subjects/NoComment :
[an excerpt]
April 21, 10:30 AM
The Plot Against the First Amendment
In June, a case is slated to go to trial in Northern Virginia that will mark a first step in a plan to silence press coverage of essential national security issues. The plan was hatched by Alberto Gonzales and his deputy, Paul J. McNulty—the two figures at the center of a growing scandal over the politicization of the prosecutorial process. This may in fact be the most audacious act of political prosecution yet.
But so far, it has gained little attention and is poorly understood.
In the summer of 2005, Alberto Gonzales paid a visit to British Attorney General Peter Goldsmith. A British civil servant who attended told me “it was quite amazing really. Gonzales was obsessed with the Official Secrets Act. In particular, he wanted to know exactly how it was used to block newspapers and broadcasters from running news stories derived from official secrets and how it could be used to criminalise persons who had no formal duty to maintain secrets. He saw it as a panacea for his problems: silence the press. Then you can torture and abuse prisoners and what you will—without fear of political repercussions. It was the easy route to dealing with the Guantánamo dilemma. Don't close down Guantánamo. Close down the press. We were appalled by it.” Appalled, he added, “but not surprised.”
Britain has of course never had a media with the freedom of the American press. John Milton railed against the abusive requirements of licensing without making headway. Britain had the tradition of Royal Prerogative, a tradition of branding political rabble rousers with the mark “SL” for “seditious libeler.” Of course, many of those seditious libelers emigrated to America, which helps explain why this was an issue contributing to a revolution that broke out in 1776. The erstwhile colonists heard Milton's appeal and followed it, producing a decisive parting of the ways in the English-speaking world. But that's all very inconvenient history, which is certain soon to be expunged from the history books. After all, those who control the present, control the past. And Gonzales had come down with a very bad case of Official Secrets envy.
By May 2006, Gonzales was on ABC's “This Week” program, convinced he had found the link. Could the United States gag the media to prevent its publication of classified information?
“It depends on the circumstances.” Gonzales explained, “There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility. That's a policy judgment by the Congress in passing that kind of legislation. We have an obligation to enforce those laws.”
This, to be sure, is the same Alberto Gonzales who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee and insisted in the face of an incredulous Senator Arlen Specter that the Constitution incorporated no guarantee of habeas corpus.
He is an attorney general possessed of a copy of the Constitution which is strangely different from that ratified by the states in 1789 and amended to include the Bill of Rights in 1791.
And he is the attorney general who felt that the limitations of FISA with respect to surveillance without warrants didn't matter, though he couldn't coherently articulate a reason why. (That, after all, is why you have John Yoo.)
When he says “we have an obligation to enforce those laws,” he means of course to enforce the laws the way he and the president secretly understand them.
[click top link to continue reading]
Wrap....
[an excerpt]
April 21, 10:30 AM
The Plot Against the First Amendment
In June, a case is slated to go to trial in Northern Virginia that will mark a first step in a plan to silence press coverage of essential national security issues. The plan was hatched by Alberto Gonzales and his deputy, Paul J. McNulty—the two figures at the center of a growing scandal over the politicization of the prosecutorial process. This may in fact be the most audacious act of political prosecution yet.
But so far, it has gained little attention and is poorly understood.
In the summer of 2005, Alberto Gonzales paid a visit to British Attorney General Peter Goldsmith. A British civil servant who attended told me “it was quite amazing really. Gonzales was obsessed with the Official Secrets Act. In particular, he wanted to know exactly how it was used to block newspapers and broadcasters from running news stories derived from official secrets and how it could be used to criminalise persons who had no formal duty to maintain secrets. He saw it as a panacea for his problems: silence the press. Then you can torture and abuse prisoners and what you will—without fear of political repercussions. It was the easy route to dealing with the Guantánamo dilemma. Don't close down Guantánamo. Close down the press. We were appalled by it.” Appalled, he added, “but not surprised.”
Britain has of course never had a media with the freedom of the American press. John Milton railed against the abusive requirements of licensing without making headway. Britain had the tradition of Royal Prerogative, a tradition of branding political rabble rousers with the mark “SL” for “seditious libeler.” Of course, many of those seditious libelers emigrated to America, which helps explain why this was an issue contributing to a revolution that broke out in 1776. The erstwhile colonists heard Milton's appeal and followed it, producing a decisive parting of the ways in the English-speaking world. But that's all very inconvenient history, which is certain soon to be expunged from the history books. After all, those who control the present, control the past. And Gonzales had come down with a very bad case of Official Secrets envy.
By May 2006, Gonzales was on ABC's “This Week” program, convinced he had found the link. Could the United States gag the media to prevent its publication of classified information?
“It depends on the circumstances.” Gonzales explained, “There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility. That's a policy judgment by the Congress in passing that kind of legislation. We have an obligation to enforce those laws.”
This, to be sure, is the same Alberto Gonzales who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee and insisted in the face of an incredulous Senator Arlen Specter that the Constitution incorporated no guarantee of habeas corpus.
He is an attorney general possessed of a copy of the Constitution which is strangely different from that ratified by the states in 1789 and amended to include the Bill of Rights in 1791.
And he is the attorney general who felt that the limitations of FISA with respect to surveillance without warrants didn't matter, though he couldn't coherently articulate a reason why. (That, after all, is why you have John Yoo.)
When he says “we have an obligation to enforce those laws,” he means of course to enforce the laws the way he and the president secretly understand them.
[click top link to continue reading]
Wrap....
Ah, hell....Blue Angel crashed.
Breaking news:
The pilot of a U.S. Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 jet that crashed at an air show in South Carolina is dead, the Beaufort County coroner says.Watch the latest video now on CNN.com.
Access at http://CNN.com. CNN - The most trusted name in news.
Wrap...
The pilot of a U.S. Navy Blue Angels F/A-18 jet that crashed at an air show in South Carolina is dead, the Beaufort County coroner says.Watch the latest video now on CNN.com.
Access at http://CNN.com. CNN - The most trusted name in news.
Wrap...
Sci-Fi writer, David Brin, is dead right....
From www.davidbrin.blogspot.com :
[an excerpt]
I bristle when I see the military portrayed as a beneficiary of this administration's treacherous madness.
In fact the US military is the number one victim. Name any other group of Americans who have suffered anywhere near as much, from horrific strategic and tactical blunders, mismanagement, perniciously insane MICRO-management by draft-dodging amateurs, betrayal of professionalism, and the gradual undermining of a powerful, honorable moral code.
Until the democrats wake up to their BEST AND MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE -- the destruction of US military readiness and the Bushite betrayal of our uniformed professionals, endangering the entire nation -- we will remain at the mercy of culture war.
Wrap....
[an excerpt]
I bristle when I see the military portrayed as a beneficiary of this administration's treacherous madness.
In fact the US military is the number one victim. Name any other group of Americans who have suffered anywhere near as much, from horrific strategic and tactical blunders, mismanagement, perniciously insane MICRO-management by draft-dodging amateurs, betrayal of professionalism, and the gradual undermining of a powerful, honorable moral code.
Until the democrats wake up to their BEST AND MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE -- the destruction of US military readiness and the Bushite betrayal of our uniformed professionals, endangering the entire nation -- we will remain at the mercy of culture war.
Wrap....
Friday, April 20, 2007
Posada: Contract agt for Bush 41's CIA....
From Wayne Madsen Report.com :
April 20-22, 2007
As a follow-up to our story yesterday about Cuba-American relations, jailed Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was released from a prison in New Mexico yesterday and flown on a private jet accompanied by federal agents to a welcoming crowd of Cuban-Americans in Miami. Posada was ordered released by El Paso-based US federal judge Kathleen Cardone after payment of a #350,000 bail bond. Posada is wanted by Cuba and Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cubana Flight 455 off Barbados that killed 73 men, women, and children from a number of countries, including Cuba, Guyana, and North Korea. Among the dead were the entire Cuban national fencing team.
Members of the Cuban community in Miami, according to the Spanish newspaper Informacion, welcomed Posada as a "hero" and "patriot." The Justice Department failed to argue that Posada should have remained in jail because he was a wanted terrorist but merely wanted him detained because he entered the United States illegally. The US Fifth District Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected the Justice Department request and ordered Posada released pending trial for the immigration violation. Posada was a contract agent for the CIA when he helped carry out the terrorist bombing of Cubana 455. The Director of the CIA at the time was George H. W. Bush.
Wrap...
April 20-22, 2007
As a follow-up to our story yesterday about Cuba-American relations, jailed Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was released from a prison in New Mexico yesterday and flown on a private jet accompanied by federal agents to a welcoming crowd of Cuban-Americans in Miami. Posada was ordered released by El Paso-based US federal judge Kathleen Cardone after payment of a #350,000 bail bond. Posada is wanted by Cuba and Venezuela for the 1976 bombing of a Cubana Flight 455 off Barbados that killed 73 men, women, and children from a number of countries, including Cuba, Guyana, and North Korea. Among the dead were the entire Cuban national fencing team.
Members of the Cuban community in Miami, according to the Spanish newspaper Informacion, welcomed Posada as a "hero" and "patriot." The Justice Department failed to argue that Posada should have remained in jail because he was a wanted terrorist but merely wanted him detained because he entered the United States illegally. The US Fifth District Court of Appeals in New Orleans rejected the Justice Department request and ordered Posada released pending trial for the immigration violation. Posada was a contract agent for the CIA when he helped carry out the terrorist bombing of Cubana 455. The Director of the CIA at the time was George H. W. Bush.
Wrap...
Pentagon to Military Officers: Shut Up!
From Information Clearing House:
Pentagon prevents military officers from testifying before House panel :
Pentagon lawyers abruptly blocked mid-level active-duty military officers from speaking Thursday during a closed-door House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee briefing about their personal experiences working with Iraqi security forces.
http://govexec.com/dailyfed/0407/042007cdam2.htm
Wrap...
Pentagon prevents military officers from testifying before House panel :
Pentagon lawyers abruptly blocked mid-level active-duty military officers from speaking Thursday during a closed-door House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee briefing about their personal experiences working with Iraqi security forces.
http://govexec.com/dailyfed/0407/042007cdam2.htm
Wrap...
From Gonzales to watermelons..both veggie & fruit?
From American Progress:
Think Fast
"In more than five hours of often-combative testimony" yesterday, Alberto Gonzales, "grim-faced, clasping his hands and hunched over, struggled to offer a coherent explanation for the dismissals" of eight U.S. Attorneys. He "appeared frustrated, weary and at times combative," and "angered" committee members "as he invoked a faulty memory more than 50 times."
The U.S. military is constructing a 3-mile-long concrete wall in Baghdad "to cut off one of the capital's most restive Sunni Arab districts from the Shiite Muslim neighborhoods that surround it, raising concern about the further Balkanization of Iraq's most populous and violent city."
"A suicide bomber breached Baghdad's heavy security presence again Thursday, killing a dozen people in a mostly Shiite district a day after more than 230 people died in one of the Iraq war's deadliest episodes of violence."
A new national poll shows "a third of Americans say global warming ranks as the world's single largest environmental problem, double the number who gave it top ranking last year." Seven in 10 Americans want federal action on global warming, and about half of those surveyed think the government should do "much more" than it is doing now.
"A bill giving Washington, D.C. its first full seat in Congress cleared the House yesterday, marking the city's biggest legislative victory in its quest for voting rights in nearly three decades." But the bill doesn't appear to have enough votes to break a Senate filibuster, and President Bush has vowed a veto.
"The number of returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans visiting Department of Veterans Affairs walk-in clinics has more than doubled since 2004, while the clinics' staff has increased by less than 10%, agency records show."
"In an early morning statement Friday, the World Bank's board said that Thursday's meeting to discuss issues raised by President Paul Wolfowitz's handling of the terms of his girlfriend's employment...ended without a final resolution. The board asked an ad hoc committee for 'early recommendations' on what action, if any, to take."
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), a strong proponent of gun-rights who once served on the National Rifle Association's board of directors, is leading talks with the NRA in hopes of resurrecting a bill to "bolster the national background-check system and potentially block gun purchases by the mentally ill."
And finally: "Oklahoma already has the strawberry as its official fruit, so the state Senate cleared the way Tuesday to declare the watermelon the state vegetable." The Senate debated over whether the watermelon is a fruit or vegetable. "I guess it can be both," State Sen. Don Barrington (R) conceded.
Wrap...
Think Fast
"In more than five hours of often-combative testimony" yesterday, Alberto Gonzales, "grim-faced, clasping his hands and hunched over, struggled to offer a coherent explanation for the dismissals" of eight U.S. Attorneys. He "appeared frustrated, weary and at times combative," and "angered" committee members "as he invoked a faulty memory more than 50 times."
The U.S. military is constructing a 3-mile-long concrete wall in Baghdad "to cut off one of the capital's most restive Sunni Arab districts from the Shiite Muslim neighborhoods that surround it, raising concern about the further Balkanization of Iraq's most populous and violent city."
"A suicide bomber breached Baghdad's heavy security presence again Thursday, killing a dozen people in a mostly Shiite district a day after more than 230 people died in one of the Iraq war's deadliest episodes of violence."
A new national poll shows "a third of Americans say global warming ranks as the world's single largest environmental problem, double the number who gave it top ranking last year." Seven in 10 Americans want federal action on global warming, and about half of those surveyed think the government should do "much more" than it is doing now.
"A bill giving Washington, D.C. its first full seat in Congress cleared the House yesterday, marking the city's biggest legislative victory in its quest for voting rights in nearly three decades." But the bill doesn't appear to have enough votes to break a Senate filibuster, and President Bush has vowed a veto.
"The number of returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans visiting Department of Veterans Affairs walk-in clinics has more than doubled since 2004, while the clinics' staff has increased by less than 10%, agency records show."
"In an early morning statement Friday, the World Bank's board said that Thursday's meeting to discuss issues raised by President Paul Wolfowitz's handling of the terms of his girlfriend's employment...ended without a final resolution. The board asked an ad hoc committee for 'early recommendations' on what action, if any, to take."
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), a strong proponent of gun-rights who once served on the National Rifle Association's board of directors, is leading talks with the NRA in hopes of resurrecting a bill to "bolster the national background-check system and potentially block gun purchases by the mentally ill."
And finally: "Oklahoma already has the strawberry as its official fruit, so the state Senate cleared the way Tuesday to declare the watermelon the state vegetable." The Senate debated over whether the watermelon is a fruit or vegetable. "I guess it can be both," State Sen. Don Barrington (R) conceded.
Wrap...
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Blackwater USA...New camp in Portrero CA?
From San Diego Union-Tribune:
Blackwater in Potrero? No way
April 19, 2007
If there is any career pursuit that we, as Americans, have come to despise, it is that of the military mercenary. Our contempt for war's hirelings has historic underpinnings. British efforts to quell the American Revolution depended heavily on thousands of smartly trained, well-paid Hessians – German-speaking troops who inflicted some of the costliest casualties on George Washington's ragtag army.
Often glamorized as “soldiers of fortune,” mercenary forces will enlist in a cause not out of patriotism but after asking, “What's in it for me?”
Many Americans have felt troubled by the Bush administration's willingness to “outsource” much of the war in Iraq to private contractors. Feeding of the troops, plus certain maintenance and supply operations traditionally undertaken by the military itself, have been consigned to commercial management. Ex-Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld defended the practice as a way to foil what he called “the Pentagon bureaucracy.” When Rumsfeld resigned, the number of civilians employed in Afghanistan and Iraq had reached nearly 100,000 – roughly two-thirds the number of our uniformed troops engaged there.
More recently, the Pentagon has also entrusted a number of highly sensitive security tasks in Baghdad and elsewhere to private hands: to an 8-year-old company called Blackwater. For the first time ever, our U.S. military has relinquished high-risk operations to armed civilians who are answerable to a contract employer, not to the chain of command. Although relied upon to preserve order in specified trouble spots, or to man military prisons such as Abu Ghraib, Blackwater has thus far operated outside the military justice system, its hired hands not subject to courts-martial.
Involvement in quasi-military missions has emboldened this shadowy band to take the next step. Blackwater's original services were limited to training policemen or providing security guards for non-government clients. Now it announces itself ready to help keep or restore peace anywhere in the world.
That was the message its vice chairman, Cofer Black, delivered in February to a Special Operations Forces Exhibition in Amman, Jordan. “We are not simply a private security company,” Black asserted. “We are a professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping and stability operations firm which provides turnkey solutions.”
[continue reading at this link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070419/news_lz1e19vandeer.html ]
PS: Remember Cofer Black? http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602black.html
Wrap...
Blackwater in Potrero? No way
April 19, 2007
If there is any career pursuit that we, as Americans, have come to despise, it is that of the military mercenary. Our contempt for war's hirelings has historic underpinnings. British efforts to quell the American Revolution depended heavily on thousands of smartly trained, well-paid Hessians – German-speaking troops who inflicted some of the costliest casualties on George Washington's ragtag army.
Often glamorized as “soldiers of fortune,” mercenary forces will enlist in a cause not out of patriotism but after asking, “What's in it for me?”
Many Americans have felt troubled by the Bush administration's willingness to “outsource” much of the war in Iraq to private contractors. Feeding of the troops, plus certain maintenance and supply operations traditionally undertaken by the military itself, have been consigned to commercial management. Ex-Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld defended the practice as a way to foil what he called “the Pentagon bureaucracy.” When Rumsfeld resigned, the number of civilians employed in Afghanistan and Iraq had reached nearly 100,000 – roughly two-thirds the number of our uniformed troops engaged there.
More recently, the Pentagon has also entrusted a number of highly sensitive security tasks in Baghdad and elsewhere to private hands: to an 8-year-old company called Blackwater. For the first time ever, our U.S. military has relinquished high-risk operations to armed civilians who are answerable to a contract employer, not to the chain of command. Although relied upon to preserve order in specified trouble spots, or to man military prisons such as Abu Ghraib, Blackwater has thus far operated outside the military justice system, its hired hands not subject to courts-martial.
Involvement in quasi-military missions has emboldened this shadowy band to take the next step. Blackwater's original services were limited to training policemen or providing security guards for non-government clients. Now it announces itself ready to help keep or restore peace anywhere in the world.
That was the message its vice chairman, Cofer Black, delivered in February to a Special Operations Forces Exhibition in Amman, Jordan. “We are not simply a private security company,” Black asserted. “We are a professional military, law enforcement, security, peacekeeping and stability operations firm which provides turnkey solutions.”
[continue reading at this link:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070419/news_lz1e19vandeer.html ]
PS: Remember Cofer Black? http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_hr/092602black.html
Wrap...
Our weird little emperor...Bush...
From Information Clearing House:
Hail and Farewell: the End of the American Empire
By Gore Vidal
Obviously, our weird little emperor is incapable of moral reflection, thus inviting us to reflect morally upon him as he has gone about his systematic wrecking of our common empire.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17558.htm
[click link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Hail and Farewell: the End of the American Empire
By Gore Vidal
Obviously, our weird little emperor is incapable of moral reflection, thus inviting us to reflect morally upon him as he has gone about his systematic wrecking of our common empire.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17558.htm
[click link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Edwards pays for haircuts...
From AP via Breitbart:
Edwards Reimbuses Campaign for Haircuts
Apr 19 11:33 AM US/Eastern
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat John Edwards is trying to get out of a hairy situation, reimbursing his presidential campaign $800 for two visits with a Beverly Hills stylist.
Two $400 cuts by stylist Joseph Torrenueva, who told The Associated Press that the former North Carolina senator is a longtime client, showed up on Edwards' campaign spending reports filed this weekend. Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said it never should have been there.
"The bill was sent to the campaign. It was inadvertently paid," Schultz said. "John Edwards will be reimbursing the campaign."
Edwards is also the subject of a popular YouTube spoof poking fun at his youthful good looks. The video shows the candidate combing his tresses to the dubbed-in tune of "I Feel Pretty."
Federal Election Commission records show Edwards' campaign also spent $250 in services from Designworks Salon in Dubuque, Iowa, and $225 in services from the Pink Sapphire in Manchester, N.H.
Schultz said those services were legitimate campaign expenditures to prepare Edwards for media appearances.
Political candidates often have hair and makeup done before media appearances. Edwards rival Hillary Rodham Clinton got some attention last year when her campaign paid $2,500 for two hairstyling sessions that the campaign classified as media production expenses.
Wrap...
Edwards Reimbuses Campaign for Haircuts
Apr 19 11:33 AM US/Eastern
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrat John Edwards is trying to get out of a hairy situation, reimbursing his presidential campaign $800 for two visits with a Beverly Hills stylist.
Two $400 cuts by stylist Joseph Torrenueva, who told The Associated Press that the former North Carolina senator is a longtime client, showed up on Edwards' campaign spending reports filed this weekend. Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said it never should have been there.
"The bill was sent to the campaign. It was inadvertently paid," Schultz said. "John Edwards will be reimbursing the campaign."
Edwards is also the subject of a popular YouTube spoof poking fun at his youthful good looks. The video shows the candidate combing his tresses to the dubbed-in tune of "I Feel Pretty."
Federal Election Commission records show Edwards' campaign also spent $250 in services from Designworks Salon in Dubuque, Iowa, and $225 in services from the Pink Sapphire in Manchester, N.H.
Schultz said those services were legitimate campaign expenditures to prepare Edwards for media appearances.
Political candidates often have hair and makeup done before media appearances. Edwards rival Hillary Rodham Clinton got some attention last year when her campaign paid $2,500 for two hairstyling sessions that the campaign classified as media production expenses.
Wrap...
Gonzales: I know nuuutthhhhiiiinnnnggggg....
From Tom Dispatch.com :
Tomgram: Swanson, Will We Ever See the Last of Gonzales?
Many of you may not have had the time to tune into the testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee. So, as a public service, before David Swanson pursues the subject in vivid depth below, here's just the nub of what you need to know about his morning appearance, as taken down by your trusty scribe. Think of it as a little 3-minute primer for a busy world on the state of (in) Justice (Department of…) in America:
Gonzales' introductory statement: "I shoulda been more precise… My misstatements were my mistakes, no one else's… I have been extremely forthcoming with information… not the actions of someone with something to hide…"
Responses to Committee Chairman Sen. Leahy (D-VT.): "I can only recall… I don't recall… I did not know… it appears… I was not responsible for… I have no recollection… Again, Senator, I was not responsible for compiling that… I don't recall a specific mention… It appears… as I recall… I don't recall Senator Dominici ever…That rationale was not in my mind, as I recall… Senator, that's an answer that I have to get back to you… Senator, I'd like to give you that information, but…"
Responses to Sen. Specter (R-PA.): "Senator, I don't want to quarrel with you… Based on what I thought, what I understood was going on… I believed that was ongoing… I don't recall… What I recall is… I don't recall whether Mr. Mercer presented me the numbers… Senator, I have no recollection about that, but I presume that that is true… Senator, I do recall having a conversation with Mr. Rove… Senator, you're talking about a series of events that occurred over possibly 700 days… putting it in context, Senator, I would say that my involvement was limited… Senator, of course, in hindsight…"
Reponses to Sen. Kennedy (D-MA.): "I think that's a fair question, Senator… I was not the person in the Department who had the most information… Since then, I have gone back and looked at the documents available to Congress… I'm not aware that anyone… I believe that I had a good process… Senator, I did not review the document… Senator, I think it's a good question… I don't recall in connection to this review process Mr. Sampson was involved in… I don't recall everyone who was there… Senator, there may have been other discussions…"
Responses to Sen. Brownback (R-KS.): "I do not recall what I knew about… I just don't recall the reason… It appears there were concerns about… Now, in hindsight… I'm not aware of any new facts here… She's the other person, quite candidly, Senator, that I don't recall… I myself was confused, quite frankly, when I testified… Generally, I recall…"
Responses to interjection by Chairman Leahy: "Sir, I don't recall sending a follow-up quite frankly. I don't know if it was a mistake or misstatement in my testimony… "
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=188110
Wrap...
Tomgram: Swanson, Will We Ever See the Last of Gonzales?
Many of you may not have had the time to tune into the testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee. So, as a public service, before David Swanson pursues the subject in vivid depth below, here's just the nub of what you need to know about his morning appearance, as taken down by your trusty scribe. Think of it as a little 3-minute primer for a busy world on the state of (in) Justice (Department of…) in America:
Gonzales' introductory statement: "I shoulda been more precise… My misstatements were my mistakes, no one else's… I have been extremely forthcoming with information… not the actions of someone with something to hide…"
Responses to Committee Chairman Sen. Leahy (D-VT.): "I can only recall… I don't recall… I did not know… it appears… I was not responsible for… I have no recollection… Again, Senator, I was not responsible for compiling that… I don't recall a specific mention… It appears… as I recall… I don't recall Senator Dominici ever…That rationale was not in my mind, as I recall… Senator, that's an answer that I have to get back to you… Senator, I'd like to give you that information, but…"
Responses to Sen. Specter (R-PA.): "Senator, I don't want to quarrel with you… Based on what I thought, what I understood was going on… I believed that was ongoing… I don't recall… What I recall is… I don't recall whether Mr. Mercer presented me the numbers… Senator, I have no recollection about that, but I presume that that is true… Senator, I do recall having a conversation with Mr. Rove… Senator, you're talking about a series of events that occurred over possibly 700 days… putting it in context, Senator, I would say that my involvement was limited… Senator, of course, in hindsight…"
Reponses to Sen. Kennedy (D-MA.): "I think that's a fair question, Senator… I was not the person in the Department who had the most information… Since then, I have gone back and looked at the documents available to Congress… I'm not aware that anyone… I believe that I had a good process… Senator, I did not review the document… Senator, I think it's a good question… I don't recall in connection to this review process Mr. Sampson was involved in… I don't recall everyone who was there… Senator, there may have been other discussions…"
Responses to Sen. Brownback (R-KS.): "I do not recall what I knew about… I just don't recall the reason… It appears there were concerns about… Now, in hindsight… I'm not aware of any new facts here… She's the other person, quite candidly, Senator, that I don't recall… I myself was confused, quite frankly, when I testified… Generally, I recall…"
Responses to interjection by Chairman Leahy: "Sir, I don't recall sending a follow-up quite frankly. I don't know if it was a mistake or misstatement in my testimony… "
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=188110
Wrap...
$$$$, Dogs, $$$$...Films and books....
From Publishers Lunch Weekly:
FICTION/DEBUT:
Adena Halpern's THE TEN BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE, the heartwarming and humorous story of a young LA personal shopper who dies before her time-- run over by a Mini-Cooper -- who narrates her assignment to prove herself worthy of staying on the top level of heaven (which includes calorie-free ice cream, walk-in closets and a hunky guy next door) by making right some relationships left behind, to Allison Dickens atPlume, by Brian DeFiore at DeFiore and Company (NA). Frank Rich's son (and Paris Review editor)
Nathaniel Rich's THE MAYOR'S TONGUE, the dual stories of a rebellious son of a wealthy Italian immigrant and an older protagonist, who is trying to cope with his wife's impending death, to Sean McDonald at Riverhead, in a very nice deal, by Elyse Cheney at Elyse Cheney Agency (NA).
HORROR:
Successful podcasting horror author Scott Sigler's INFESTED, about an everyman's bloody battle against a mysterious parasite that hijacks his body and pushes his thoughts into a psychotic rage, the sequel CONTAGIOUS, in which those murder-inducing parasites are just the first wave of a more sinister plot, and a third, stand-alone book, to Julian Pavia at Crown, at auction, by Byrd Leavell at Waxman Literary Agency(world). Rights: lkaplan@randomhouse.com for foreign rights.
MYSTERY/CRIME:
NYT bestselling author and two-time Edgar winner T. Jefferson Parker's LA OUTLAWS, moving to Ben Sevier at Dutton, for publication in February 2008, in a two-book deal, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA).
Elena Forbes' DIE WITH ME (the opening chapter of which was shortlisted for the 2005 Debut Dagger Award), the first in a series introducing Detective Mark Tartaglia and the rest of Homicide West Team Five as they investigate a rash of apparent suicides involving young girls plunging to their deaths from church naves around London, to David Adams at MacAdam/Cage, in a two-book deal, by David Forrer at Inkwell Management, on behalf of Sarah Lutyens at Luytens & Rubinstein (US). daveadams@macadamcage.com
THRILLER:
TV producer Julie Kramer's STALKING SUSAN, about a TV reporter who follows a lead about a serial killer who targets women named "Susan" and kills them in a distinctive manner on the same date every year, to Stacy Creamer at Doubleday, in a two-book deal, by Elaine Koster at Elaine Koster Agency (NA).
Tom Rob Smith's debut thriller CHILD 44 and a second novel, to Mitch Hoffman at Grand Central, in a pre-empt, by Jim Rutman at Sterling Lord Literistic on behalf of James Gill at PFD. Translation: Jessica Craig, jcraig@pfd.co.uk jgill@pfd.co.uk
GENERAL/OTHER:
David Collins' MONEY TALKS, pitched as taking on the ego-driven, power-obsessed world of New York real estate in the way The Devil Wears Prada approached the fashion business and Bonfire of the Vanities treated Wall Street, to Laurie Chittenden at William Morrow, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management (NA).
FILM:
Film rights to Dana Vachon's MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS, to Anonymous Content, reportedly for "high six figures," at auction, with Steve Golin (Babel, Being John Malkovich) producing along with Shawn Simon and Matt DeRoss, by Justin Manask at IPG, on behalf of David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects.
UK:
Journalist and former investment editor at the International Herald Tribune Martin Baker's MELTDOWN, with creative input (and contract negotiation) from his wife, City fund manager Nicola Horlick, a thriller set in Paris dealing with high finance, murder, jurisprudence, sex and politics and the biggest conspiracy theory imaginable, to Jeremy Trevathan at Pan Macmillan, in a pre-empt, for publication in January2008 (world).c.noel@macmillan.co.uk
Art Williams Jr.'s THE ART OF MAKING MONEY: My Adventures in a Counterfeit Life, with Jason Kersten, based on an article in Rolling Stone about the rise and fall of this counterfeiter, to Ken Barlow at Ebury, at auction, by James Gill at PFD, on behalf of Scott Waxman at Waxman Literary Agency. Translation: farley@waxmanagency.com Italian and Dutch language rights to to Rizzoli and Luitingh, by Luigi Bernabo Associates and Ulf Toregard at Sane Toregard, respectively, on behalf of Farley Chase at the Waxman Literary Agency.
William Langewiesche's THE FERAL ZONE: TRAVELS THROUGH THE END OF THE NATION STATE, a look at different areas of the world where national boundaries will increasingly be rendered obsolete, to Michal Shavit at Allen Lane/Penguin Press, for publication in 2009, by Farrar, Straus (UK/Commonwealth).
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:
Rule the Freakin' Markets author Michael Parness's RULE YOUR FREAKIN' RETIREMENT, a practical guide to cashing in early and making the most of your investments so that you can live the good life, to Phil Rezvin at St. Martin's, by Greg Dinkin of Venture Literary (World).
Workplace blogger and author of the forthcoming BRAZEN CAREERIST Penelope Trunk's book cheering the exodus from corporate life into entrepreneurship, drawing on interviews, academic research, and personal experience to formulate a new set of rules for entrepreneurship, to Rachel Klayman at Crown, in a pre-empt, by Susan Rabiner at Susan Rabiner Literary Agency (world). Rights: kschulze@randomhouse.com
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
WHEN THE MISSISSIPPI RAN BACKWARDS author Jay Feldman's MANUFACTURING HYSTERIA, a history of the federal government's efforts, in times of real or exaggerated threat, to curtail civil liberties and suppress dissent by stigmatizing minorities, from the scapegoating of German Americans and pacifists in World War I to the Alien Enemy Control program during World War II to the current scapegoating of Arab andMuslim Americans, to Andrew Miller and Dan Frank at Pantheon, by Steve Wasserman at Kneerim & Williams (NA).
MEMOIR:
Tom Bloch's STAND FOR THE BEST: My Journey from CEO of H&R Block to Successful Inner-City School Teacher, about giving up the security, status and pay of being a Fortune 100 CEO and never regretting it, and his experiences have much to say about how to educate children who are often left behind, to Kate Bradford at Jossey-Bass, by Jeff Herman at the Jeff Herman Agency (world). Jeff@jeffherman.com
Dog trainer, tv pet expert and host of syndicated radio show, Pet Talk Harrison Forbes's THE LEASH THAT BINDS, an inspirational memoir featuring the working dogs he has owned, trained, and known, to Daniela Rapp at St. Martin's, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2008, by Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary Management (world).
NARRATIVE:
CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier's BOMBED!, including Dozier's battle back from critical injuries sustained in a Baghdad bombing, plus making it as a woman in the world of network TV, and much more, to Linda Cunningham at Meredith, by Paul Fedorko at Trident Media Group (NA).
London Sunday Times bestselling author Stephen Foster's WALKING OLLIE, OR WINNING THE LOVE OF A DIFFICULT DOG, a humorous account of the author's tribulations with a skittish lurcher puppy, to Marian Lizzi atPerigee, by George Lucas at Inkwell Management, on behalf of Short Books (NA).
POP CULTURE:
Recent winner of the YouTube Video Award for Best Series based on viewer voting AskANinja.com creators Douglas Sarine and Kent Nichols's THE NINJA HANDBOOK: A Guide for Non-Ninjas To Become More Ninja-like, claiming to be the first "video podcast to book" deal, to Julian Paviaat Crown, at auction, by Joe Veltre of Artists Literary Group (NA). Ask a Ninja is represented by UTA and manager John Elliott at Mosiac Media.
TRUE CRIME:
ATF agent Jay Dobyns's and Nils Johnson-Shelton's ALMOST ANGELS: The True Story of the First Cop to Infiltrate the Hells Angels - the World's Most Infamous and Impenetrable Motorcycle Gang, documenting Dobyns's stint undercover in the Arizona Hells Angels, running guns, riding bikes, and ultimately helping to take down a chapter of the infamous, mysterious organization, to Rick Horgan at Crown, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management (NA).
CANADA:
Twenty-seven year-old CBC producer and food critic Kathryn Borel's CHATEAU SHITFACED, about the author and her French father touring the wine regions of Alsace, Burgundy, Cotes du Rhone and Languedoc, combining the dysfunctional road trip of Sideways with the father-daughter dynamics of Father of the Bride, in an effort to reaffirm their bond and reach a new level of understanding as adults, to Leah Marie Fairbank at Wiley Canada, by Sam Hiyate at The RightsFactory. sam@therightsfactory.com
Wrap...
FICTION/DEBUT:
Adena Halpern's THE TEN BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE, the heartwarming and humorous story of a young LA personal shopper who dies before her time-- run over by a Mini-Cooper -- who narrates her assignment to prove herself worthy of staying on the top level of heaven (which includes calorie-free ice cream, walk-in closets and a hunky guy next door) by making right some relationships left behind, to Allison Dickens atPlume, by Brian DeFiore at DeFiore and Company (NA). Frank Rich's son (and Paris Review editor)
Nathaniel Rich's THE MAYOR'S TONGUE, the dual stories of a rebellious son of a wealthy Italian immigrant and an older protagonist, who is trying to cope with his wife's impending death, to Sean McDonald at Riverhead, in a very nice deal, by Elyse Cheney at Elyse Cheney Agency (NA).
HORROR:
Successful podcasting horror author Scott Sigler's INFESTED, about an everyman's bloody battle against a mysterious parasite that hijacks his body and pushes his thoughts into a psychotic rage, the sequel CONTAGIOUS, in which those murder-inducing parasites are just the first wave of a more sinister plot, and a third, stand-alone book, to Julian Pavia at Crown, at auction, by Byrd Leavell at Waxman Literary Agency(world). Rights: lkaplan@randomhouse.com for foreign rights.
MYSTERY/CRIME:
NYT bestselling author and two-time Edgar winner T. Jefferson Parker's LA OUTLAWS, moving to Ben Sevier at Dutton, for publication in February 2008, in a two-book deal, by Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group (NA).
Elena Forbes' DIE WITH ME (the opening chapter of which was shortlisted for the 2005 Debut Dagger Award), the first in a series introducing Detective Mark Tartaglia and the rest of Homicide West Team Five as they investigate a rash of apparent suicides involving young girls plunging to their deaths from church naves around London, to David Adams at MacAdam/Cage, in a two-book deal, by David Forrer at Inkwell Management, on behalf of Sarah Lutyens at Luytens & Rubinstein (US). daveadams@macadamcage.com
THRILLER:
TV producer Julie Kramer's STALKING SUSAN, about a TV reporter who follows a lead about a serial killer who targets women named "Susan" and kills them in a distinctive manner on the same date every year, to Stacy Creamer at Doubleday, in a two-book deal, by Elaine Koster at Elaine Koster Agency (NA).
Tom Rob Smith's debut thriller CHILD 44 and a second novel, to Mitch Hoffman at Grand Central, in a pre-empt, by Jim Rutman at Sterling Lord Literistic on behalf of James Gill at PFD. Translation: Jessica Craig, jcraig@pfd.co.uk jgill@pfd.co.uk
GENERAL/OTHER:
David Collins' MONEY TALKS, pitched as taking on the ego-driven, power-obsessed world of New York real estate in the way The Devil Wears Prada approached the fashion business and Bonfire of the Vanities treated Wall Street, to Laurie Chittenden at William Morrow, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management (NA).
FILM:
Film rights to Dana Vachon's MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS, to Anonymous Content, reportedly for "high six figures," at auction, with Steve Golin (Babel, Being John Malkovich) producing along with Shawn Simon and Matt DeRoss, by Justin Manask at IPG, on behalf of David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects.
UK:
Journalist and former investment editor at the International Herald Tribune Martin Baker's MELTDOWN, with creative input (and contract negotiation) from his wife, City fund manager Nicola Horlick, a thriller set in Paris dealing with high finance, murder, jurisprudence, sex and politics and the biggest conspiracy theory imaginable, to Jeremy Trevathan at Pan Macmillan, in a pre-empt, for publication in January2008 (world).c.noel@macmillan.co.uk
Art Williams Jr.'s THE ART OF MAKING MONEY: My Adventures in a Counterfeit Life, with Jason Kersten, based on an article in Rolling Stone about the rise and fall of this counterfeiter, to Ken Barlow at Ebury, at auction, by James Gill at PFD, on behalf of Scott Waxman at Waxman Literary Agency. Translation: farley@waxmanagency.com Italian and Dutch language rights to to Rizzoli and Luitingh, by Luigi Bernabo Associates and Ulf Toregard at Sane Toregard, respectively, on behalf of Farley Chase at the Waxman Literary Agency.
William Langewiesche's THE FERAL ZONE: TRAVELS THROUGH THE END OF THE NATION STATE, a look at different areas of the world where national boundaries will increasingly be rendered obsolete, to Michal Shavit at Allen Lane/Penguin Press, for publication in 2009, by Farrar, Straus (UK/Commonwealth).
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:
Rule the Freakin' Markets author Michael Parness's RULE YOUR FREAKIN' RETIREMENT, a practical guide to cashing in early and making the most of your investments so that you can live the good life, to Phil Rezvin at St. Martin's, by Greg Dinkin of Venture Literary (World).
Workplace blogger and author of the forthcoming BRAZEN CAREERIST Penelope Trunk's book cheering the exodus from corporate life into entrepreneurship, drawing on interviews, academic research, and personal experience to formulate a new set of rules for entrepreneurship, to Rachel Klayman at Crown, in a pre-empt, by Susan Rabiner at Susan Rabiner Literary Agency (world). Rights: kschulze@randomhouse.com
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
WHEN THE MISSISSIPPI RAN BACKWARDS author Jay Feldman's MANUFACTURING HYSTERIA, a history of the federal government's efforts, in times of real or exaggerated threat, to curtail civil liberties and suppress dissent by stigmatizing minorities, from the scapegoating of German Americans and pacifists in World War I to the Alien Enemy Control program during World War II to the current scapegoating of Arab andMuslim Americans, to Andrew Miller and Dan Frank at Pantheon, by Steve Wasserman at Kneerim & Williams (NA).
MEMOIR:
Tom Bloch's STAND FOR THE BEST: My Journey from CEO of H&R Block to Successful Inner-City School Teacher, about giving up the security, status and pay of being a Fortune 100 CEO and never regretting it, and his experiences have much to say about how to educate children who are often left behind, to Kate Bradford at Jossey-Bass, by Jeff Herman at the Jeff Herman Agency (world). Jeff@jeffherman.com
Dog trainer, tv pet expert and host of syndicated radio show, Pet Talk Harrison Forbes's THE LEASH THAT BINDS, an inspirational memoir featuring the working dogs he has owned, trained, and known, to Daniela Rapp at St. Martin's, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2008, by Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary Management (world).
NARRATIVE:
CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier's BOMBED!, including Dozier's battle back from critical injuries sustained in a Baghdad bombing, plus making it as a woman in the world of network TV, and much more, to Linda Cunningham at Meredith, by Paul Fedorko at Trident Media Group (NA).
London Sunday Times bestselling author Stephen Foster's WALKING OLLIE, OR WINNING THE LOVE OF A DIFFICULT DOG, a humorous account of the author's tribulations with a skittish lurcher puppy, to Marian Lizzi atPerigee, by George Lucas at Inkwell Management, on behalf of Short Books (NA).
POP CULTURE:
Recent winner of the YouTube Video Award for Best Series based on viewer voting AskANinja.com creators Douglas Sarine and Kent Nichols's THE NINJA HANDBOOK: A Guide for Non-Ninjas To Become More Ninja-like, claiming to be the first "video podcast to book" deal, to Julian Paviaat Crown, at auction, by Joe Veltre of Artists Literary Group (NA). Ask a Ninja is represented by UTA and manager John Elliott at Mosiac Media.
TRUE CRIME:
ATF agent Jay Dobyns's and Nils Johnson-Shelton's ALMOST ANGELS: The True Story of the First Cop to Infiltrate the Hells Angels - the World's Most Infamous and Impenetrable Motorcycle Gang, documenting Dobyns's stint undercover in the Arizona Hells Angels, running guns, riding bikes, and ultimately helping to take down a chapter of the infamous, mysterious organization, to Rick Horgan at Crown, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management (NA).
CANADA:
Twenty-seven year-old CBC producer and food critic Kathryn Borel's CHATEAU SHITFACED, about the author and her French father touring the wine regions of Alsace, Burgundy, Cotes du Rhone and Languedoc, combining the dysfunctional road trip of Sideways with the father-daughter dynamics of Father of the Bride, in an effort to reaffirm their bond and reach a new level of understanding as adults, to Leah Marie Fairbank at Wiley Canada, by Sam Hiyate at The RightsFactory. sam@therightsfactory.com
Wrap...
DOJ Bureacrats yelling for help....
From American Progress:
ADMINISTRATION -- POLITICIZATION CONTINUES IN NON-POLITICAL RANKS OF DOJ:
A "Group of Concerned Justice Department Employees" have sent an anonymous letter to both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees revealing that "the non-political ranks of Justice employees...are consistently and methodically being eroded by partisan politics."
As Politico explained, "Under normal circumstances, the various divisions at Justice review applications from potential hires, set interviews and send the list to the Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management, which gives the green light to proceed." The letter detailed, however, that the recruitment office is "no longer the final step...because the list had to go higher" -- to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.
The letter continues that "when the list of potential interviewees was returned, it had been cut dramatically...many sections were left with fewer potential interviews than vacant slots to fill."
In a Dec. 5, 2006, meeting scheduled in response to the complaints, McNulty's chief of staff was "offensive to the point of [being] insulting" and claimed that his "screening panel" had struck people from the list because of "grades, spelling errors on applications, and inappropriate information about them on the Internet."
Justice Department staff, however, found that among those individuals rejected by McNulty's office, "one common denominator appeared repeatedly" -- they had "interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for a 'liberal' cause, or otherwise appeared to have 'liberal' leanings."
The letter concluded that "while the current political appointees repeatedly remind everyone that the U.S. Attorneys 'serve at the pleasure of the President,' the Department's career attorneys serve the people of the United States" and urged Congress to "include this politicizing of the career ranks in your questioning of Attorney Gonzales and his staff."
The Justice Department has refused to comment on the letter.
Wrap...
ADMINISTRATION -- POLITICIZATION CONTINUES IN NON-POLITICAL RANKS OF DOJ:
A "Group of Concerned Justice Department Employees" have sent an anonymous letter to both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees revealing that "the non-political ranks of Justice employees...are consistently and methodically being eroded by partisan politics."
As Politico explained, "Under normal circumstances, the various divisions at Justice review applications from potential hires, set interviews and send the list to the Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management, which gives the green light to proceed." The letter detailed, however, that the recruitment office is "no longer the final step...because the list had to go higher" -- to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.
The letter continues that "when the list of potential interviewees was returned, it had been cut dramatically...many sections were left with fewer potential interviews than vacant slots to fill."
In a Dec. 5, 2006, meeting scheduled in response to the complaints, McNulty's chief of staff was "offensive to the point of [being] insulting" and claimed that his "screening panel" had struck people from the list because of "grades, spelling errors on applications, and inappropriate information about them on the Internet."
Justice Department staff, however, found that among those individuals rejected by McNulty's office, "one common denominator appeared repeatedly" -- they had "interned for a Hill Democrat, clerked for a Democratic judge, worked for a 'liberal' cause, or otherwise appeared to have 'liberal' leanings."
The letter concluded that "while the current political appointees repeatedly remind everyone that the U.S. Attorneys 'serve at the pleasure of the President,' the Department's career attorneys serve the people of the United States" and urged Congress to "include this politicizing of the career ranks in your questioning of Attorney Gonzales and his staff."
The Justice Department has refused to comment on the letter.
Wrap...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Conservatism and food poisoning....
From Tom Paine.com :
E. Coli Conservatism
Rick Perlstein
April 18, 2007
First, they came for the spinach.
I remember the day last September. The supermarket had a new kind of salad dressing, one that looked like it would taste good with spinach. I went to the produce section to buy a bag. But they all had been recalled. Three people had died from E. coli contamination from eating spinach. I decided I could live without the spinach.
Next they came for the peanut butter, and I didn't pay much attention. I don't much like peanut butter.
Then they came for the tomatoes. Then the Taco Bell lettuce. Then the mushrooms, then ham steaks, then summer sausage. I started worrying. Then, they came for the pet food.
I remember the sinking feeling, hearing that dogs and cats had died eating contaminated food. Then the flash of guilt—had we poisoned our dogs? I remember hearing the name of the manufacturer, my wife searching the web frantically for a catalogue of its products, the stab of fear when we found the name of the food our own dogs eat. Then the wave of relief—it was only canned food; our dogs eat dry.
I began investigating more. One of the things I learned was that the Food and Drug Administration hasn't been able to confirm "with 100 percent certainty" that the offending agent didn't go into human food. Then it neglected to reveal the name of the tainted product's U.S. distributor.
It is time to get to the root of the problem. I blame the conservatism.
I've been studying the conservative turn in American politics pretty much fulltime since 1997. I never was a conservative. But I admired conservatives. The people then running the Democratic Party just did not seem to me strong people. They were "triangulators"—splitting every difference, selling out any principle, in the ever-illusive quest to divine the American people's fickle beliefs at that particular moment. They did not lead. They followed—Chamberlains, not Churchills.
I wrote a book that came out in 2001 about the conservatives who took over the Republican Party in the early 1960s. Whatever my differences with them ideologically, I didn't write a single negative word about the conservative movement for nearly seven years. Until then, I considered them honorable adversaries. They inspired me. They took risks for a cause. They were principled. They were endlessly determined.
I've come to different conclusions now. They were, yes, endlessly determined. It was over 35 years ago, in "Conscience of a Conservative," when Barry Goldwater wrote these stirring words: "I have little interest in streamlining government or making it more efficient for I mean to reduce its size." Twenty years after that, President Reagan intoned at his first inaugural address, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
But Barry Goldwater lost his 1964 presidential race in a landslide. Reagan was inaugurated, and we began seeing headlines like "Wide Spectrum of Regulations Set for Reagan Team's Scalpel." But actually, the Reagan team wasn't able to deregulate all that much, or nearly as much as they wished; the political obstacles, in the 1980s, were just too great.
For these brief four years, however, between the Republican takeover of the Senate in 2002 under President Bush and the recent return of Congress to Democratic control, the scalpel has become a machete. We've been able to witness a natural experiment: What would have happened if Goldwater and Reagan had been able to get their way?
Surveying the results, what once looked to me like principle now looks to me now like mania. Conservatism has been killing Americans. The recent food safety crisis is only one case study.
Let's start connecting the dots.
[Click link below to continue reading]
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/18/e_coli_conservatism.php
Wrap...
E. Coli Conservatism
Rick Perlstein
April 18, 2007
First, they came for the spinach.
I remember the day last September. The supermarket had a new kind of salad dressing, one that looked like it would taste good with spinach. I went to the produce section to buy a bag. But they all had been recalled. Three people had died from E. coli contamination from eating spinach. I decided I could live without the spinach.
Next they came for the peanut butter, and I didn't pay much attention. I don't much like peanut butter.
Then they came for the tomatoes. Then the Taco Bell lettuce. Then the mushrooms, then ham steaks, then summer sausage. I started worrying. Then, they came for the pet food.
I remember the sinking feeling, hearing that dogs and cats had died eating contaminated food. Then the flash of guilt—had we poisoned our dogs? I remember hearing the name of the manufacturer, my wife searching the web frantically for a catalogue of its products, the stab of fear when we found the name of the food our own dogs eat. Then the wave of relief—it was only canned food; our dogs eat dry.
I began investigating more. One of the things I learned was that the Food and Drug Administration hasn't been able to confirm "with 100 percent certainty" that the offending agent didn't go into human food. Then it neglected to reveal the name of the tainted product's U.S. distributor.
It is time to get to the root of the problem. I blame the conservatism.
I've been studying the conservative turn in American politics pretty much fulltime since 1997. I never was a conservative. But I admired conservatives. The people then running the Democratic Party just did not seem to me strong people. They were "triangulators"—splitting every difference, selling out any principle, in the ever-illusive quest to divine the American people's fickle beliefs at that particular moment. They did not lead. They followed—Chamberlains, not Churchills.
I wrote a book that came out in 2001 about the conservatives who took over the Republican Party in the early 1960s. Whatever my differences with them ideologically, I didn't write a single negative word about the conservative movement for nearly seven years. Until then, I considered them honorable adversaries. They inspired me. They took risks for a cause. They were principled. They were endlessly determined.
I've come to different conclusions now. They were, yes, endlessly determined. It was over 35 years ago, in "Conscience of a Conservative," when Barry Goldwater wrote these stirring words: "I have little interest in streamlining government or making it more efficient for I mean to reduce its size." Twenty years after that, President Reagan intoned at his first inaugural address, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
But Barry Goldwater lost his 1964 presidential race in a landslide. Reagan was inaugurated, and we began seeing headlines like "Wide Spectrum of Regulations Set for Reagan Team's Scalpel." But actually, the Reagan team wasn't able to deregulate all that much, or nearly as much as they wished; the political obstacles, in the 1980s, were just too great.
For these brief four years, however, between the Republican takeover of the Senate in 2002 under President Bush and the recent return of Congress to Democratic control, the scalpel has become a machete. We've been able to witness a natural experiment: What would have happened if Goldwater and Reagan had been able to get their way?
Surveying the results, what once looked to me like principle now looks to me now like mania. Conservatism has been killing Americans. The recent food safety crisis is only one case study.
Let's start connecting the dots.
[Click link below to continue reading]
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/04/18/e_coli_conservatism.php
Wrap...
From Iraq withdrawal to pardon for Door's Morrison...
From American Progress:
Think Fast
A CNN poll finds that most Americans (72%) say they are closely following the ongoing dispute over timetables for Iraq withdrawal. "Six in ten think that they would wind up siding with the Democrats in this dispute; 37% say they are more likely to take the President's side."
The New York Times writes that the selection of comedian Rich Little as headliner for the White House Correspondents Association dinner this weekend is seen as "a symbol in the liberal blogosphere for what its members consider the proclivity of Washington reporters to give Mr. Bush and his administration a pass."
"The World Bank's board of directors is scheduled to convene tomorrow and may try to figure out what to do about calls that the bank's president, Paul Wolfowitz, resign because he gave a big raise and promotion to his girlfriend, Shaha Riza."
Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) will name an independent panel to conduct "a very thorough after-action review" of the events surrounding Monday's mass shooting at Virginia Tech. "The idea is to do this after any significant incident," Kaine said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The House yesterday passed the Taxpayer Protection Act, to protect taxpayers against "identity theft, deceptive Web sites and loan sharks." It also makes it "easier for taxpayers to retrieve property lost as a result of a wrongful Internal Revenue Service levy and directs the IRS to notify lower-income people that they qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit."
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq has requested changes that would break down that firewall between the military's public affairs office and "Pentagon efforts that use deception, propaganda and other methods to influence foreign populations."
"Under criticism for poor treatment of injured soldiers, the Pentagon announced new measures Tuesday to provide more health screenings, improve its record-keeping system and simplify an unwieldy disability claims system."
And finally: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is "seriously thinking" about granting Doors singer Jim Morrison a posthumous pardon for his "1970 indecent exposure and profanity convictions stemming from a Miami concert the year before." "He died when he was 27. That's really a kid, when you think about it, and obviously he was having some challenges. There's some dispute about how solid the case was," Crist said.
Wrap...
Think Fast
A CNN poll finds that most Americans (72%) say they are closely following the ongoing dispute over timetables for Iraq withdrawal. "Six in ten think that they would wind up siding with the Democrats in this dispute; 37% say they are more likely to take the President's side."
The New York Times writes that the selection of comedian Rich Little as headliner for the White House Correspondents Association dinner this weekend is seen as "a symbol in the liberal blogosphere for what its members consider the proclivity of Washington reporters to give Mr. Bush and his administration a pass."
"The World Bank's board of directors is scheduled to convene tomorrow and may try to figure out what to do about calls that the bank's president, Paul Wolfowitz, resign because he gave a big raise and promotion to his girlfriend, Shaha Riza."
Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) will name an independent panel to conduct "a very thorough after-action review" of the events surrounding Monday's mass shooting at Virginia Tech. "The idea is to do this after any significant incident," Kaine said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The House yesterday passed the Taxpayer Protection Act, to protect taxpayers against "identity theft, deceptive Web sites and loan sharks." It also makes it "easier for taxpayers to retrieve property lost as a result of a wrongful Internal Revenue Service levy and directs the IRS to notify lower-income people that they qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit."
Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq has requested changes that would break down that firewall between the military's public affairs office and "Pentagon efforts that use deception, propaganda and other methods to influence foreign populations."
"Under criticism for poor treatment of injured soldiers, the Pentagon announced new measures Tuesday to provide more health screenings, improve its record-keeping system and simplify an unwieldy disability claims system."
And finally: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is "seriously thinking" about granting Doors singer Jim Morrison a posthumous pardon for his "1970 indecent exposure and profanity convictions stemming from a Miami concert the year before." "He died when he was 27. That's really a kid, when you think about it, and obviously he was having some challenges. There's some dispute about how solid the case was," Crist said.
Wrap...
Wal-Mart rips off US for tax payments due...How?
Well, well. Talk about chapter and verse. PR Newswire has not only the amounts of tax Wal-Mart did and didn't pay, and when, but explains precisely how they're getting away with it.
And if there's one thing we know, it's that if one corporation knows how to do it, then they all do. It's something else to consider how many taxes corporations are NOT paying!
Read on:
From PR Newswire:
WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire
Wal-Mart appears to be skipping out on its fair share of taxes that most Americans have to pay to help support state governments. New research conducted in part by a leading non-partisan, non-profit tax organization reveals that Wal-Mart avoided $2.3 billion in state income taxes, cutting its payment to state governments almost in half between 1999 and 2005:
Over those seven years, Wal-Mart reported $77.4 billion in pretax U.S. profits to its shareholders. But it reported a total state income tax bill of only $2.4 billion, just 3.16% of those profits.
(1) Had Wal-Mart paid taxes at the statutory state corporate tax rates for the same period, it would have paid $4.7 billion in state income taxes.
[continue reading by clicking the link above]
Wrap....
http://www.prnewswire.com/news/index_mail.shtml?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-16-2007/0004566650&EDATE=
And if there's one thing we know, it's that if one corporation knows how to do it, then they all do. It's something else to consider how many taxes corporations are NOT paying!
Read on:
From PR Newswire:
WASHINGTON, April 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire
Wal-Mart appears to be skipping out on its fair share of taxes that most Americans have to pay to help support state governments. New research conducted in part by a leading non-partisan, non-profit tax organization reveals that Wal-Mart avoided $2.3 billion in state income taxes, cutting its payment to state governments almost in half between 1999 and 2005:
Over those seven years, Wal-Mart reported $77.4 billion in pretax U.S. profits to its shareholders. But it reported a total state income tax bill of only $2.4 billion, just 3.16% of those profits.
(1) Had Wal-Mart paid taxes at the statutory state corporate tax rates for the same period, it would have paid $4.7 billion in state income taxes.
[continue reading by clicking the link above]
Wrap....
http://www.prnewswire.com/news/index_mail.shtml?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-16-2007/0004566650&EDATE=
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
From gun laws to not enough ice to build igloos!
From American Progress:
Think Fast
Gun control advocates said the Virginia Tech shootings "pointed to the need for tougher laws, while supporters of gun rights generally kept their heads down." The Brady Campaign said the incident underscored "how easy it is for an individual to get powerful weapons in our country." The NRA deplored the tragedy but declined to comment "until all the facts are known." The White House said, "The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed."
$2.3 billion: The amount in state taxes that Wal-Mart, now the largest company in the world, appears to have skipped out on using corporate tax shelters.
"The tax burden in the U.S. is shifting away from the rich, to the point where in a few years it could change from being progressive to effectively flat, a new study shows."
"Over the past six months, American troops have died in Iraq at the highest rate since the war began. ... From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. April, with 58 service members killed through Monday, is on pace to be one of the deadliest months of the conflict for American forces."
While Paul Wolfowitz was serving as Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon directed a military contractor to hire his World Bank girlfriend Shaha Ali Riza to spend a month in 2003 studying issues related to setting up a new government in Iraq. Former Undersecretary of Defense Dough Feith "said he had no recollection of any request by his office to have Ms. Riza hired."
"President Bush has reneged on his promises to Katrina's victims," the New York Times editorial page writes. "Over a year and a half later, there are 64,000 people still sleeping in trailers in Louisiana and far too many communities without schools, hospitals and other basics. These are unacceptable failures."
The arctic north is experiencing some of the worst impacts of global warming. "Inuit hunters are falling through thinning ice and dying. Dolphins are being spotted for the first time. There's not enough snow to build igloos for shelter during hunts."
"The national average price for gasoline in the U.S. rose for the 11th straight week, according to a government report released Monday."
And finally: Fashion lessons for Congress from Xtina. "Next week, Members of Congress will be getting some fashion cues from pop star Christina Aguilera. Aguilera designed a scarf and tie that Lifetime TV and nonprofit partners including the National Center for Victims of Crime will distribute to every Member of Congress on Monday." But Christina won't be there to deliver them herself because she's "on tour."
Wrap...
Think Fast
Gun control advocates said the Virginia Tech shootings "pointed to the need for tougher laws, while supporters of gun rights generally kept their heads down." The Brady Campaign said the incident underscored "how easy it is for an individual to get powerful weapons in our country." The NRA deplored the tragedy but declined to comment "until all the facts are known." The White House said, "The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed."
$2.3 billion: The amount in state taxes that Wal-Mart, now the largest company in the world, appears to have skipped out on using corporate tax shelters.
"The tax burden in the U.S. is shifting away from the rich, to the point where in a few years it could change from being progressive to effectively flat, a new study shows."
"Over the past six months, American troops have died in Iraq at the highest rate since the war began. ... From October 2006 through last month, 532 American soldiers were killed, the most during any six-month period of the war. April, with 58 service members killed through Monday, is on pace to be one of the deadliest months of the conflict for American forces."
While Paul Wolfowitz was serving as Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon directed a military contractor to hire his World Bank girlfriend Shaha Ali Riza to spend a month in 2003 studying issues related to setting up a new government in Iraq. Former Undersecretary of Defense Dough Feith "said he had no recollection of any request by his office to have Ms. Riza hired."
"President Bush has reneged on his promises to Katrina's victims," the New York Times editorial page writes. "Over a year and a half later, there are 64,000 people still sleeping in trailers in Louisiana and far too many communities without schools, hospitals and other basics. These are unacceptable failures."
The arctic north is experiencing some of the worst impacts of global warming. "Inuit hunters are falling through thinning ice and dying. Dolphins are being spotted for the first time. There's not enough snow to build igloos for shelter during hunts."
"The national average price for gasoline in the U.S. rose for the 11th straight week, according to a government report released Monday."
And finally: Fashion lessons for Congress from Xtina. "Next week, Members of Congress will be getting some fashion cues from pop star Christina Aguilera. Aguilera designed a scarf and tie that Lifetime TV and nonprofit partners including the National Center for Victims of Crime will distribute to every Member of Congress on Monday." But Christina won't be there to deliver them herself because she's "on tour."
Wrap...
Monday, April 16, 2007
How to track the missing emails....
From The Wayne Madsen Report.com :
April 16, 2007
One of our readers has identified the fact that the same two mail servers were used by the Republican National Committee and two Bush-Cheney 04 web sites: georgewbush.com and gwb43.com. The two mail servers are: 10 mailscan1.smartechcorp.net and 10 mailscan2.smartechcorp.net. The IP addresses for the two servers are: IP addresses are 64.203.97.101 and 64.203.98.245, respectively. Because they both have a "10" priority that means that they backed each other up.
Another reader contacted Sen. Patrick Leahy's office with detailed technical information on how to retrieve the missing e-mails from the servers involved in White House, Justice Department, and RNC inter-communications. That individual was given a brush-off by a Leahy staffer. If Leahy and his staff are waiting for the Bush administration to come up with the missing e-mails, they are sadly mistaken. Leahy's staff needs a course in what phone calls to pay attention to. In the case referred to above, he and his staff flunk the test for Computer Forensics 101.
Wrap...
April 16, 2007
One of our readers has identified the fact that the same two mail servers were used by the Republican National Committee and two Bush-Cheney 04 web sites: georgewbush.com and gwb43.com. The two mail servers are: 10 mailscan1.smartechcorp.net and 10 mailscan2.smartechcorp.net. The IP addresses for the two servers are: IP addresses are 64.203.97.101 and 64.203.98.245, respectively. Because they both have a "10" priority that means that they backed each other up.
Another reader contacted Sen. Patrick Leahy's office with detailed technical information on how to retrieve the missing e-mails from the servers involved in White House, Justice Department, and RNC inter-communications. That individual was given a brush-off by a Leahy staffer. If Leahy and his staff are waiting for the Bush administration to come up with the missing e-mails, they are sadly mistaken. Leahy's staff needs a course in what phone calls to pay attention to. In the case referred to above, he and his staff flunk the test for Computer Forensics 101.
Wrap...
No Gonzales hearing until Thursday...
From the NY Times Online:
WASHINGTON, April 16 — The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the hearing, originally set for Tuesday, in which Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is to testify about the dismissals of eight United States attorneys.
The session was postponed because of the shootings at Virginia Tech and is now scheduled to begin Thursday at 9:30 a.m., said David Carle, a spokesman for Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the panel.
Mr. Carle said Senator Leahy and the committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, decided to reschedule the hearing after conferring with Mr. Gonzales, who Mr. Leahy said may be preoccupied on Tuesday with matters related to the shootings. The hearing is considered an all-important chance for Mr. Gonzales to answer questions and clear up confusion over the dismissals of the prosecutors, which Democrats and Republicans alike say were mishandled.
Wrap...
WASHINGTON, April 16 — The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the hearing, originally set for Tuesday, in which Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales is to testify about the dismissals of eight United States attorneys.
The session was postponed because of the shootings at Virginia Tech and is now scheduled to begin Thursday at 9:30 a.m., said David Carle, a spokesman for Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the panel.
Mr. Carle said Senator Leahy and the committee’s ranking Republican, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, decided to reschedule the hearing after conferring with Mr. Gonzales, who Mr. Leahy said may be preoccupied on Tuesday with matters related to the shootings. The hearing is considered an all-important chance for Mr. Gonzales to answer questions and clear up confusion over the dismissals of the prosecutors, which Democrats and Republicans alike say were mishandled.
Wrap...
From Iraq kids to Bill Clinton....
From American Progress:
Think Fast
"About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health."
"Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled his six ministers out of Iraq's beleaguered coalition government on Monday as he pushed his demand for a rapid withdrawal of US troops from the country." Prime Minister Maliki's government is expected to survive.
"Middle-class Americans, listen up: the I.R.S. is much more likely to audit you this year. Those caught cheating can expect to pay about $4,100 more on average in income taxes. ... Audits of these middle-class taxpayers rose to nearly 436,000 last year, up from about 147,000 returns in 2000."
"Americans by a narrow margin agree that Don Imus should have lost his nationally-syndicated radio show last week, but while whites are evenly divided on the issue a sizeable majority of African Americans support the firing, according to a poll released today."
"Six years after declaring the U.S. killing of Korean War refugees at No Gun Ri was 'not deliberate,' the Army has acknowledged it found but did not divulge that a high-level document said the U.S. military had a policy of shooting approaching civilians in South Korea."
"A defiant Paul D. Wolfowitz said Sunday that he would not resign as president of the World Bank in the face of controversy over his role in securing a State Department job and large raise for his girlfriend, a former communications official at the bank."
67: Percentage of Americans, "including a narrow majority of Republicans," who "see political motivations behind last year's firings of eight chief federal prosecutors." Americans also believe Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign by a margin of 45 percent to 39 percent."
Rudy Giuliani will speak tomorrow at the university founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, a major appearance for the former mayor before a conservative crowd."
And finally: Presidential sympathy for Britney Spears. During a speech yesterday at the Claremont Colleges, President Bill Clinton shifted from globalization to "express sympathy" for Spears, "whose unusual behavior since her separation from husband Kevin Federline culminated in February when she shaved her head bald. 'A lot of people have trouble when they're in their 20s and they're instantly famous, and they have all these pressures going on,' he said. 'She should be allowed to go through it by herself.'"
Wrap...
Think Fast
"About 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health."
"Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr pulled his six ministers out of Iraq's beleaguered coalition government on Monday as he pushed his demand for a rapid withdrawal of US troops from the country." Prime Minister Maliki's government is expected to survive.
"Middle-class Americans, listen up: the I.R.S. is much more likely to audit you this year. Those caught cheating can expect to pay about $4,100 more on average in income taxes. ... Audits of these middle-class taxpayers rose to nearly 436,000 last year, up from about 147,000 returns in 2000."
"Americans by a narrow margin agree that Don Imus should have lost his nationally-syndicated radio show last week, but while whites are evenly divided on the issue a sizeable majority of African Americans support the firing, according to a poll released today."
"Six years after declaring the U.S. killing of Korean War refugees at No Gun Ri was 'not deliberate,' the Army has acknowledged it found but did not divulge that a high-level document said the U.S. military had a policy of shooting approaching civilians in South Korea."
"A defiant Paul D. Wolfowitz said Sunday that he would not resign as president of the World Bank in the face of controversy over his role in securing a State Department job and large raise for his girlfriend, a former communications official at the bank."
67: Percentage of Americans, "including a narrow majority of Republicans," who "see political motivations behind last year's firings of eight chief federal prosecutors." Americans also believe Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign by a margin of 45 percent to 39 percent."
Rudy Giuliani will speak tomorrow at the university founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, a major appearance for the former mayor before a conservative crowd."
And finally: Presidential sympathy for Britney Spears. During a speech yesterday at the Claremont Colleges, President Bill Clinton shifted from globalization to "express sympathy" for Spears, "whose unusual behavior since her separation from husband Kevin Federline culminated in February when she shaved her head bald. 'A lot of people have trouble when they're in their 20s and they're instantly famous, and they have all these pressures going on,' he said. 'She should be allowed to go through it by herself.'"
Wrap...
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Emptywheel and Greenwald making waves...
"Emptywheel" has some stringent questions that should be asked of Gonzales during his testimony on Tuesday.
You may remember her work, blogging live and reporting, at the Libby trial. Just terrific. Here's the link:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/04/questions_for_a.html#more
********************************
And over at Salon, Glenn Greenwald has a terrific piece on all those missing emails. Seems to me that sometime in the last few months, there was an outcry over the Bush people going over to the Archives and having all kinds of records thrown away. Does anyone recall that?
Wrap...
You may remember her work, blogging live and reporting, at the Libby trial. Just terrific. Here's the link:
http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2007/04/questions_for_a.html#more
********************************
And over at Salon, Glenn Greenwald has a terrific piece on all those missing emails. Seems to me that sometime in the last few months, there was an outcry over the Bush people going over to the Archives and having all kinds of records thrown away. Does anyone recall that?
Wrap...
Surge! Worked for Vietnam, didn't it?
From Information Clearing House:
CAUGHT ON TAPE !!! Presidents Bush & Johnson!: 1 minute video: :
George Bush & Lyndon Johnson used the same sales pitch for troop surge. 50,000 American Troops were killed AFTER Johnson successfully used the pitch.
http://snipurl.com/1gl9r
Wrap...
CAUGHT ON TAPE !!! Presidents Bush & Johnson!: 1 minute video: :
George Bush & Lyndon Johnson used the same sales pitch for troop surge. 50,000 American Troops were killed AFTER Johnson successfully used the pitch.
http://snipurl.com/1gl9r
Wrap...
Without bees...we die in four years...
From The Independent:
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.
[click link to continue: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
Wrap...
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees
By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross
Published: 15 April 2007
It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.
They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.
The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.
[click link to continue: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
Wrap...
Saturday, April 14, 2007
BushCo doesn't want courts to hear THESE cases..
From www.scotusblog.com/movabletype :
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Narrower role for Court on electronic spying?
10:06 AM Lyle Denniston
The Bush Administraton's draft of proposed new legislation on electronic spying to gather foreign intelligence would narrow significantly the role that the Supreme Court now has to hear challenges by targets of this kind of surveillance. The draft bill was made public on Friday. The text can be found here. It has not yet been introduced formally in Congress. A description and analysis of changes that would be made in existing law can be found beginning on page 51 of the text.
The Administration's current program of electronic surveillance of suspected foreign threats is under challenge in a lengthy list of cases in the regular federal courts. A key one, for example, is awaiting a ruling by the Sixth Circuit Cour based in Cincinnati, involving constitutional challenges to the controversial program by individuals and groups that believe they were targeted for overhearding of their international communications. Another case is pending in the Ninth Circuit Court based in San Francisco.
Under existing law, the Supreme Court would have full authority to hear appeals by either side in any of those cases, employing the usual certiorari process.
The draft bill, however, seeks to bar almost any role for lower federal courts in hearing challenges to such eavesdropping, and to circumscribe appeals to the Supreme Court.
[click the link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Narrower role for Court on electronic spying?
10:06 AM Lyle Denniston
The Bush Administraton's draft of proposed new legislation on electronic spying to gather foreign intelligence would narrow significantly the role that the Supreme Court now has to hear challenges by targets of this kind of surveillance. The draft bill was made public on Friday. The text can be found here. It has not yet been introduced formally in Congress. A description and analysis of changes that would be made in existing law can be found beginning on page 51 of the text.
The Administration's current program of electronic surveillance of suspected foreign threats is under challenge in a lengthy list of cases in the regular federal courts. A key one, for example, is awaiting a ruling by the Sixth Circuit Cour based in Cincinnati, involving constitutional challenges to the controversial program by individuals and groups that believe they were targeted for overhearding of their international communications. Another case is pending in the Ninth Circuit Court based in San Francisco.
Under existing law, the Supreme Court would have full authority to hear appeals by either side in any of those cases, employing the usual certiorari process.
The draft bill, however, seeks to bar almost any role for lower federal courts in hearing challenges to such eavesdropping, and to circumscribe appeals to the Supreme Court.
[click the link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
BushCo scams injured Iraqi vets...
Here's a wonderful way to show support for the troops...
Insult to Injury
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041407D.shtml
An extensive investigation by US News and a new Army inspector general's report reveal that the system for determining veteran's benefits is beset by ambiguity and riddled with discrepancies. Indeed, Department of Defense data examined by US News and military experts show that the vast majority - nearly 93 percent - of disabled troops are receiving low ratings, and more have been graded similarly in recent years. What's more, ground troops, who suffer the most combat injuries from the ubiquitous roadside bombs, have received the lowest ratings.
******************************
So how do you like that? Talk about spitting in the face of heroes. Absolutely disgusting. How those people can look at themselves in the mirror is beyond me. Maybe they don't dare for fear of seeing exactly what scumbags they are. UGH!
Wrap...
Insult to Injury
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041407D.shtml
An extensive investigation by US News and a new Army inspector general's report reveal that the system for determining veteran's benefits is beset by ambiguity and riddled with discrepancies. Indeed, Department of Defense data examined by US News and military experts show that the vast majority - nearly 93 percent - of disabled troops are receiving low ratings, and more have been graded similarly in recent years. What's more, ground troops, who suffer the most combat injuries from the ubiquitous roadside bombs, have received the lowest ratings.
******************************
So how do you like that? Talk about spitting in the face of heroes. Absolutely disgusting. How those people can look at themselves in the mirror is beyond me. Maybe they don't dare for fear of seeing exactly what scumbags they are. UGH!
Wrap...
Lieberman likes Bush's idea of a War Czar....
And lemme tell you, so do I! If there's anyone I would pick, it would be Lieberman, the Independent, the former Dem who votes consistently for BushCo positions. So here's the article:
From Congress Daily:
Key senator backs creation of 'czar' for Iraq reconstruction
By Chris Strohm, CongressDaily
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., says he supports the idea of appointing a senior-level official in the Bush administration to manage operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, adding that his committee might be able to play "a constructive role" in creating the new post.
"I like the idea," Lieberman told CongressDaily in an interview Thursday. "For all the people who have argued that the administration has been too focused on the military aspect of Iraq and Afghanistan, this is a way of saying, as I understand it, that ultimate victory is going to come not just because of military success but also . . . mostly because of political and economic success."
The Washington Post reported this week that aides to President Bush are evaluating a plan to create a so-called czar for Iraq and Afghanistan who would be empowered to cut through bureaucratic obstacles.
Lieberman, an independent who parts with Democrats on Iraq, said he envisions such a czar being primarily responsible for the non-military aspects of "post-conflict management," particularly in supporting provisional reconstruction teams. "This is a line that I think is unique and interesting to me and to our committee and so you can count on us to follow it," he said.
Lieberman's committee held a hearing last August to examine problems civilian agencies were having coordinating reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
The April 2 announcement that Meghan O'Sullivan is resigning as deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan opens the door to create the new post, Lieberman said. But the position would likely have to be outside the National Security Council structure to work, he added.
"I think to get somebody really top notch, you'd probably have to take the person out of the NSC and have the person reporting probably directly to the president," he said. "One might say the NSC should be doing it but they're not an administrative operation."
Lieberman acknowledged the czar would be responsible for coordinating some military aspects of reconstruction but indicated that would be primarily related to providing security for civilian agencies. He also said the choice would not become part of the military chain-of-command, emphasizing that Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, should continue to report to Adm. William Fallon, who heads the U.S. Central Command.
Provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq were first formed in 2005, Lieberman said, but could not get the necessary military protection from the Defense Department under the management of then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"I think the folks at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld maybe, felt that if we put all of these soldiers to protect these civilians that are trying to rebuild the provinces we're going to have to take them away from other combat that they're involved in. We should have done both," Lieberman said.
Lieberman also said that a new czar would do essentially what L. Paul Bremer was supposed to do as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority until 2004. But Lieberman said the biggest difference now is that Iraq has its own government.
**************
What a fine idea...not what Bush, our esteemed, so-called Commander In Chief, had in mind, but no matter. Just think of the possibilities here:
1)Lieberman takes the job 5 Generals have been too wise to take.
2)Lieberman falls on his ass...there's no question but that he will.
3)Now BushCo has the perfect patsy to blame. He can say:
a)I trusted a Democrat to do the job, and he failed.
b) A Democrat failed the troops, failed the Iraqis.
Lieberman...the perfect fall guy.
Who has supported the BushCo illegal invasion of Iraq from the very start, who lost the Dem Primary and so declared himself an Independent and won the Senate seat with mass support and cash from the Republicans.
What a patsy he will make! Take the job, Lieberman!!!
Wrap....
From Congress Daily:
Key senator backs creation of 'czar' for Iraq reconstruction
By Chris Strohm, CongressDaily
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., says he supports the idea of appointing a senior-level official in the Bush administration to manage operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, adding that his committee might be able to play "a constructive role" in creating the new post.
"I like the idea," Lieberman told CongressDaily in an interview Thursday. "For all the people who have argued that the administration has been too focused on the military aspect of Iraq and Afghanistan, this is a way of saying, as I understand it, that ultimate victory is going to come not just because of military success but also . . . mostly because of political and economic success."
The Washington Post reported this week that aides to President Bush are evaluating a plan to create a so-called czar for Iraq and Afghanistan who would be empowered to cut through bureaucratic obstacles.
Lieberman, an independent who parts with Democrats on Iraq, said he envisions such a czar being primarily responsible for the non-military aspects of "post-conflict management," particularly in supporting provisional reconstruction teams. "This is a line that I think is unique and interesting to me and to our committee and so you can count on us to follow it," he said.
Lieberman's committee held a hearing last August to examine problems civilian agencies were having coordinating reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
The April 2 announcement that Meghan O'Sullivan is resigning as deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan opens the door to create the new post, Lieberman said. But the position would likely have to be outside the National Security Council structure to work, he added.
"I think to get somebody really top notch, you'd probably have to take the person out of the NSC and have the person reporting probably directly to the president," he said. "One might say the NSC should be doing it but they're not an administrative operation."
Lieberman acknowledged the czar would be responsible for coordinating some military aspects of reconstruction but indicated that would be primarily related to providing security for civilian agencies. He also said the choice would not become part of the military chain-of-command, emphasizing that Army Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, should continue to report to Adm. William Fallon, who heads the U.S. Central Command.
Provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq were first formed in 2005, Lieberman said, but could not get the necessary military protection from the Defense Department under the management of then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"I think the folks at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld maybe, felt that if we put all of these soldiers to protect these civilians that are trying to rebuild the provinces we're going to have to take them away from other combat that they're involved in. We should have done both," Lieberman said.
Lieberman also said that a new czar would do essentially what L. Paul Bremer was supposed to do as head of the Coalition Provisional Authority until 2004. But Lieberman said the biggest difference now is that Iraq has its own government.
**************
What a fine idea...not what Bush, our esteemed, so-called Commander In Chief, had in mind, but no matter. Just think of the possibilities here:
1)Lieberman takes the job 5 Generals have been too wise to take.
2)Lieberman falls on his ass...there's no question but that he will.
3)Now BushCo has the perfect patsy to blame. He can say:
a)I trusted a Democrat to do the job, and he failed.
b) A Democrat failed the troops, failed the Iraqis.
Lieberman...the perfect fall guy.
Who has supported the BushCo illegal invasion of Iraq from the very start, who lost the Dem Primary and so declared himself an Independent and won the Senate seat with mass support and cash from the Republicans.
What a patsy he will make! Take the job, Lieberman!!!
Wrap....
Friday, April 13, 2007
Pelosi could handle Bush's job better than he does.
From truthout.org :
Pelosi: "The President Is Not King"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041307B.shtml
On the "Today Show," Nancy Pelosi sat down with Campbell Brown to discuss her trip to Syria as well as the stand-off between the White House and Congress over war-funding. Pelosi said: "The president is not king, the president is the president of the United States. America is a democracy. We have to make decisions based on our judgment. Thus far, the president's judgment hasn't been good in terms of, say, for example, the war on Iraq. So with all due respect to the president and the role he has, we want respect for the role we have. And members of Congress have gone on fact-finding trips since our country began. We're not going to stop because the president wants to avoid the facts and doesn't want to engage in dialogue."
[click link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Pelosi: "The President Is Not King"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041307B.shtml
On the "Today Show," Nancy Pelosi sat down with Campbell Brown to discuss her trip to Syria as well as the stand-off between the White House and Congress over war-funding. Pelosi said: "The president is not king, the president is the president of the United States. America is a democracy. We have to make decisions based on our judgment. Thus far, the president's judgment hasn't been good in terms of, say, for example, the war on Iraq. So with all due respect to the president and the role he has, we want respect for the role we have. And members of Congress have gone on fact-finding trips since our country began. We're not going to stop because the president wants to avoid the facts and doesn't want to engage in dialogue."
[click link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Sample: Lee Iacocca to punk rock official state song!
From American Progress:
Think Fast
Former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca lambastes the Bush administration in his new book. "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?" Iacocca writes. "Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. ... But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.'"
Gov. John Corzine (D-NJ) was seriously injured yesterday in a hit-and-run car accident, hospitalizing him "with fractured ribs, a broken leg, and chest injuries." Corzine did not "appear to have suffered life-threatening injuries."
Rudy Giuliani's (R) current foreign policy advisers include retired Gen. Jack Keane, the architect of President Bush's Iraq escalation policy, and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.
"Four years after Iraq's Saddam Hussein was deposed by U.S.-led troops, an international panel charged with recommending invitations for an exclusive meeting of the world's democracies" has ruled that Iraq is "not invited," the same status the country had under Hussein's rule. Last year, Iraq had observer status at the Community of Democracies meeting.
"President Bush is threatening to veto a Senate intelligence bill that's laced with provisions that would force the White House and spy agencies to be more responsive to Congress."
Advocacy groups are scoring a "surprising success in an effort to link the Olympics, which the Chinese government holds very dear, to the killings in Darfur, which, until recently, Beijing had not seemed too concerned about."
$100,000: The legal fees paid this year by Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), who is wresting with separate investigations probing whether Renzi "introduced legislation that benefited a military contractor that employs his father," and whether he "helped promote the sale of land that netted a former business partner $4.5 million."
As many as 6 million prepared meals worth more than $40 million that were "stockpiled near potential victims of the 2006 hurricane season spoiled in the Gulf Coast heat last summer when the Federal Emergency Management Agency ran short of warehouse and refrigeration space."
And finally: Some Connecticut lawmakers are pushing the state to adopt Connecticut Fun, a 1983 tune by the band Punkestra, as the state's official punk song. Peter Detmold of the punk band New London’s Reducers is "amused" by the whole idea: "Well, I just wonder if that sort of recognition is true to the punk ethos. I guess it seems wrong-headed or oxymoronic for a punk-rock song to be official anything, and you wonder what (the legislature) is supposed to be paying attention to."
Wrap...
Think Fast
Former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca lambastes the Bush administration in his new book. "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?" Iacocca writes. "Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. ... But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course.'"
Gov. John Corzine (D-NJ) was seriously injured yesterday in a hit-and-run car accident, hospitalizing him "with fractured ribs, a broken leg, and chest injuries." Corzine did not "appear to have suffered life-threatening injuries."
Rudy Giuliani's (R) current foreign policy advisers include retired Gen. Jack Keane, the architect of President Bush's Iraq escalation policy, and former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton.
"Four years after Iraq's Saddam Hussein was deposed by U.S.-led troops, an international panel charged with recommending invitations for an exclusive meeting of the world's democracies" has ruled that Iraq is "not invited," the same status the country had under Hussein's rule. Last year, Iraq had observer status at the Community of Democracies meeting.
"President Bush is threatening to veto a Senate intelligence bill that's laced with provisions that would force the White House and spy agencies to be more responsive to Congress."
Advocacy groups are scoring a "surprising success in an effort to link the Olympics, which the Chinese government holds very dear, to the killings in Darfur, which, until recently, Beijing had not seemed too concerned about."
$100,000: The legal fees paid this year by Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), who is wresting with separate investigations probing whether Renzi "introduced legislation that benefited a military contractor that employs his father," and whether he "helped promote the sale of land that netted a former business partner $4.5 million."
As many as 6 million prepared meals worth more than $40 million that were "stockpiled near potential victims of the 2006 hurricane season spoiled in the Gulf Coast heat last summer when the Federal Emergency Management Agency ran short of warehouse and refrigeration space."
And finally: Some Connecticut lawmakers are pushing the state to adopt Connecticut Fun, a 1983 tune by the band Punkestra, as the state's official punk song. Peter Detmold of the punk band New London’s Reducers is "amused" by the whole idea: "Well, I just wonder if that sort of recognition is true to the punk ethos. I guess it seems wrong-headed or oxymoronic for a punk-rock song to be official anything, and you wonder what (the legislature) is supposed to be paying attention to."
Wrap...
California's new death chamber...
From the Sacramento Bee:
New death chamber under construction
By Ryan Lillis - Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:09 pm PDT
Friday, April 13, 2007
Legislative officials were surprised to learn this week that the state is building a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison as part of a response to a federal judge's ruling that California's lethal injection methods are unconstitutional, The Bee has learned.
Staff members with the California Legislative Analyst's Office were made aware of the project during a visit to the prison on Tuesday, according to Dan Carson, director of the office's criminal justice section.
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not tell legislators the project had begun. LAO staffers were "surprised" to learn the construction had started, Carson said, adding the project is "very far along."
Carson said paperwork indicates the price tag on the project is $399,000. Projects costing less than $400,000 can be paid for out of discretionary funds; legislators do not need to be notified of such projects.
"We are not making an assertion at this point that there was any violation of state rules," Carson said.
In December, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled San Quentin's 69-year-old chamber was cramped and had inadequate lighting. Construction on a new chamber began last month and is expected to be completed in May, according to Lt. Eric Messick, a spokesman for the prison.
Fogel's ruling came after a lawsuit brought on behalf of convicted killer Michael Angelo Morales, who sued the state in response to questions of whether inmates were awake during previous executions. Fogel eventually found seven cases in which inmates may not have been unconscious when they were injected with the drug that was to kill them.
Morales stands convicted of the rape and murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell in a Lodi vineyard in 1981.
In addition to the space concerns, Fogel determined four other problems with the state's execution process: inconsistent and unreliable screening of execution team members; a lack of meaningful training and oversight of the execution team; inconsistent and unreliable record keeping; and improper mixing, preparation and administration of sodium thiopental, a barbiturate sedative.
A spokeswoman for the corrections department would not comment on the new chamber. Under a judge's ruling, the state does not have to discuss its progress until May 15.
Wrap...
New death chamber under construction
By Ryan Lillis - Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:09 pm PDT
Friday, April 13, 2007
Legislative officials were surprised to learn this week that the state is building a new death chamber at San Quentin State Prison as part of a response to a federal judge's ruling that California's lethal injection methods are unconstitutional, The Bee has learned.
Staff members with the California Legislative Analyst's Office were made aware of the project during a visit to the prison on Tuesday, according to Dan Carson, director of the office's criminal justice section.
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not tell legislators the project had begun. LAO staffers were "surprised" to learn the construction had started, Carson said, adding the project is "very far along."
Carson said paperwork indicates the price tag on the project is $399,000. Projects costing less than $400,000 can be paid for out of discretionary funds; legislators do not need to be notified of such projects.
"We are not making an assertion at this point that there was any violation of state rules," Carson said.
In December, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled San Quentin's 69-year-old chamber was cramped and had inadequate lighting. Construction on a new chamber began last month and is expected to be completed in May, according to Lt. Eric Messick, a spokesman for the prison.
Fogel's ruling came after a lawsuit brought on behalf of convicted killer Michael Angelo Morales, who sued the state in response to questions of whether inmates were awake during previous executions. Fogel eventually found seven cases in which inmates may not have been unconscious when they were injected with the drug that was to kill them.
Morales stands convicted of the rape and murder of 17-year-old Terri Winchell in a Lodi vineyard in 1981.
In addition to the space concerns, Fogel determined four other problems with the state's execution process: inconsistent and unreliable screening of execution team members; a lack of meaningful training and oversight of the execution team; inconsistent and unreliable record keeping; and improper mixing, preparation and administration of sodium thiopental, a barbiturate sedative.
A spokeswoman for the corrections department would not comment on the new chamber. Under a judge's ruling, the state does not have to discuss its progress until May 15.
Wrap...
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Films 'n books from Thrillers to Science....
From Publishers Lunch Weekly:
THRILLER:
Former CIA officer and 10th Grade author Joseph Weisberg's LXMALIBU, about two compassionate spies, who, in the face of incredible circumstances -- and at the risk of their respective careers -- both try to keep their informants out of harm's way, to Colin Dickerman at Bloomsbury, by David McCormick at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency (world).
GENERAL/OTHER:
Ira Sher's SINGER, a humorous, dark tale of two men's restless fixation upon the rise and fall of the Singer Sewing Company and the string of deadly motel fires that chases them through the heart of Dixie, to Tina Pohlman at Harcourt, for publication in 2009, by Bill Clegg at William Morris Agency (NA).
Iowa librarian Vicki Myron and former HCI editorial director Bret Witter's DEWEY, a Small Town, a Library and the World's Most Beloved Cat, about a kitten found in the library's book drop who grew into a beloved town mascot, to Karen Kosztolnyik at Grand Central, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, reportedly for about $1.25 million, by Peter McGuigan at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
YOUNG ADULT:
Cecilia Galante's HERSHEY HERSELF, about a young girl with a natural talent for the piano who is determined to get her family out of a battered women's shelter, to Molly McGuire at Simon & Schuster Children's, at auction, by Jessica Regel at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.
FILM:
Film rights to David Standish's HOLLOW EARTH, about the wild history of scientists and writers proposing habitable land or even entire civilizations thriving beneath the earth's surface, to DreamWorks, for an animated feature film about a journey to the center of the earth, on behalf of Leslie Breed at the Leslie Breed Literary Agency, by Hotchkiss and Associates.
Edward Gorey's THE DOUBTFUL GUEST, about a quirky family whose life is turned upside down when a mysterious and mischievous creature arrives unannounced and unwelcome, bringing trouble with him and wreaking havoc, to Walden Media and Fox 2000 with the Jim Henson Company producing, for development as a live-action feature film.
William Nack's SECRETARIAT: THE MAKING OF A CHAMPION, a biography of the Triple Crown-winning racehorse who won the Belmont Stakes by a record-breaking thirty-one lengths, to producers Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray (MIRACLE, THE ROOKIE, INVINCIBLE) at Disney, on behalf of Sterling Lord at Sterling Lord Literistic, by Hotchkiss and Associates.
BIOGRAPHY:
Gerald Martin's biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, drawing on "privileged access" to Marquez and his friends, literary colleagues, and rivals, to Bill Swainson at Bloomsbury, for publication in 2008 (when Penguin UK will reissue the Marquez backlist) by Elizabeth Sheinkman at Curtis Brown UK (UK/Commonwealth, and translation).
Last Train to Paradise and Meet You in Hell Les Standiford's THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS, the story of how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol, which not only rejuvenated his career, but helped shape Christmas as the holiday it is today, again to Rachel Klayman at Crown, by Kim Witherspoon at Inkwell Management.
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
Journalist Jonathan Lyons' ALCHEMY OF THE MIND: How the Arabs Invented the West, describes how, while Western Europe slipped into violence and illiteracy after the fall of Rome, Arab culture preserved and advanced the frontiers of knowledge, building on the likes of Plato and Aristotle and eventually sparking the European Renaissance, to Peter Ginna at Bloomsbury, by Will Lippincott at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.
Slate columnist Jessica Winter's PRINT: The Life and Mind of the Written Word, a broad exploration of the events and innovations that have shaped the way we communicate through the written word, from the creation of moveable type and the mass production of books, to the institution of the free public library and the dawn of the "networked" book, to Tim Bent at
Oxford University Press, by Jud Laghi at LJK Literary Management (World English).
Nina Burleigh's UNHOLY BUSINESS: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land, a story of a controversial biblical antiques forgery case, which offers a look inside Biblical archaeology today in all its complexity -- including the powerful political, religious, and financial forces that can drive it into producing hoaxes, to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at Smithsonian Books, in a very nice deal, by Deborah Grosvenor at Grosvenor Literary Agency (World English).antonyk@si.edu
HEROES AMONG US, oral histories by heroic combatants in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who have received such awards as the Medal of Honor, Silver Star, and Navy Cross, edited by Major Chuck Larson, to Mark Chait at Caliber, by Flip Brophy at Sterling Lord Literistic.
MEMOIR:
The first African-American to lead his team to a Super Bowl championship, Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker's QUIET STRENGTH: The Principles, Practices & Priorities of a Winning Life, to Janis Long Harris at Tyndale, by D.J. Snell, Jr. at Legacy (US).
Newsweek Baghdad correspondent Michael Hastings' memoir I LOST MY LOVE IN BAGHDAD, about his time in Iraq and the death there in January of his fiancee Andi Parhamovich, pitched as having "elements of Anthony Swofford's Jarhead and of the Vietnam classic, Michael Herr's Dispatches," to Nan Graham at Scribner, for publication in spring 2008, by Sarah Chalfant at The Wylie Agency.
NARRATIVE:
NYT columnist Pete Bodo's WHITETAIL NATION: A Year of Deer Hunting in America, delving into this subculture to discover what makes people hunt, while also following the author's own exciting quest for the big buck, to Susan Canavan at Houghton Mifflin, by Scott Waxman at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).
Arts journalist and Artforum contributor Sarah Thornton's SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD, a narrative journey through the booming international art market and the high-stakes global culture of production, criticism, buying, and selling that surrounds it, to Tom Mayer at Norton, at auction, by David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects (world).ekerr@wwnorton.com
SCIENCE:
Artist/naturalist Julie Zickefoose's LIFE BIRDS, exploring the lives of birds over years of intimate, close-up observations, conveying an understanding of their individuality and inner lives in a new way, to Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (NA).
Wrap...
THRILLER:
Former CIA officer and 10th Grade author Joseph Weisberg's LXMALIBU, about two compassionate spies, who, in the face of incredible circumstances -- and at the risk of their respective careers -- both try to keep their informants out of harm's way, to Colin Dickerman at Bloomsbury, by David McCormick at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency (world).
GENERAL/OTHER:
Ira Sher's SINGER, a humorous, dark tale of two men's restless fixation upon the rise and fall of the Singer Sewing Company and the string of deadly motel fires that chases them through the heart of Dixie, to Tina Pohlman at Harcourt, for publication in 2009, by Bill Clegg at William Morris Agency (NA).
Iowa librarian Vicki Myron and former HCI editorial director Bret Witter's DEWEY, a Small Town, a Library and the World's Most Beloved Cat, about a kitten found in the library's book drop who grew into a beloved town mascot, to Karen Kosztolnyik at Grand Central, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, reportedly for about $1.25 million, by Peter McGuigan at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
YOUNG ADULT:
Cecilia Galante's HERSHEY HERSELF, about a young girl with a natural talent for the piano who is determined to get her family out of a battered women's shelter, to Molly McGuire at Simon & Schuster Children's, at auction, by Jessica Regel at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.
FILM:
Film rights to David Standish's HOLLOW EARTH, about the wild history of scientists and writers proposing habitable land or even entire civilizations thriving beneath the earth's surface, to DreamWorks, for an animated feature film about a journey to the center of the earth, on behalf of Leslie Breed at the Leslie Breed Literary Agency, by Hotchkiss and Associates.
Edward Gorey's THE DOUBTFUL GUEST, about a quirky family whose life is turned upside down when a mysterious and mischievous creature arrives unannounced and unwelcome, bringing trouble with him and wreaking havoc, to Walden Media and Fox 2000 with the Jim Henson Company producing, for development as a live-action feature film.
William Nack's SECRETARIAT: THE MAKING OF A CHAMPION, a biography of the Triple Crown-winning racehorse who won the Belmont Stakes by a record-breaking thirty-one lengths, to producers Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray (MIRACLE, THE ROOKIE, INVINCIBLE) at Disney, on behalf of Sterling Lord at Sterling Lord Literistic, by Hotchkiss and Associates.
BIOGRAPHY:
Gerald Martin's biography of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, drawing on "privileged access" to Marquez and his friends, literary colleagues, and rivals, to Bill Swainson at Bloomsbury, for publication in 2008 (when Penguin UK will reissue the Marquez backlist) by Elizabeth Sheinkman at Curtis Brown UK (UK/Commonwealth, and translation).
Last Train to Paradise and Meet You in Hell Les Standiford's THE MAN WHO INVENTED CHRISTMAS, the story of how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol, which not only rejuvenated his career, but helped shape Christmas as the holiday it is today, again to Rachel Klayman at Crown, by Kim Witherspoon at Inkwell Management.
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
Journalist Jonathan Lyons' ALCHEMY OF THE MIND: How the Arabs Invented the West, describes how, while Western Europe slipped into violence and illiteracy after the fall of Rome, Arab culture preserved and advanced the frontiers of knowledge, building on the likes of Plato and Aristotle and eventually sparking the European Renaissance, to Peter Ginna at Bloomsbury, by Will Lippincott at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin.
Slate columnist Jessica Winter's PRINT: The Life and Mind of the Written Word, a broad exploration of the events and innovations that have shaped the way we communicate through the written word, from the creation of moveable type and the mass production of books, to the institution of the free public library and the dawn of the "networked" book, to Tim Bent at
Oxford University Press, by Jud Laghi at LJK Literary Management (World English).
Nina Burleigh's UNHOLY BUSINESS: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land, a story of a controversial biblical antiques forgery case, which offers a look inside Biblical archaeology today in all its complexity -- including the powerful political, religious, and financial forces that can drive it into producing hoaxes, to Elisabeth Dyssegaard at Smithsonian Books, in a very nice deal, by Deborah Grosvenor at Grosvenor Literary Agency (World English).antonyk@si.edu
HEROES AMONG US, oral histories by heroic combatants in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq who have received such awards as the Medal of Honor, Silver Star, and Navy Cross, edited by Major Chuck Larson, to Mark Chait at Caliber, by Flip Brophy at Sterling Lord Literistic.
MEMOIR:
The first African-American to lead his team to a Super Bowl championship, Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker's QUIET STRENGTH: The Principles, Practices & Priorities of a Winning Life, to Janis Long Harris at Tyndale, by D.J. Snell, Jr. at Legacy (US).
Newsweek Baghdad correspondent Michael Hastings' memoir I LOST MY LOVE IN BAGHDAD, about his time in Iraq and the death there in January of his fiancee Andi Parhamovich, pitched as having "elements of Anthony Swofford's Jarhead and of the Vietnam classic, Michael Herr's Dispatches," to Nan Graham at Scribner, for publication in spring 2008, by Sarah Chalfant at The Wylie Agency.
NARRATIVE:
NYT columnist Pete Bodo's WHITETAIL NATION: A Year of Deer Hunting in America, delving into this subculture to discover what makes people hunt, while also following the author's own exciting quest for the big buck, to Susan Canavan at Houghton Mifflin, by Scott Waxman at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).
Arts journalist and Artforum contributor Sarah Thornton's SEVEN DAYS IN THE ART WORLD, a narrative journey through the booming international art market and the high-stakes global culture of production, criticism, buying, and selling that surrounds it, to Tom Mayer at Norton, at auction, by David Kuhn at Kuhn Projects (world).ekerr@wwnorton.com
SCIENCE:
Artist/naturalist Julie Zickefoose's LIFE BIRDS, exploring the lives of birds over years of intimate, close-up observations, conveying an understanding of their individuality and inner lives in a new way, to Lisa White at Houghton Mifflin, in a very nice deal, by Russell Galen at Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency (NA).
Wrap...
Horrors! Vonnegut smoked!!!
From truthout.org :
Kurt Vonnegut Dies at 84
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041207K.shtml
Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle" and "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84.
[ So this most excellent writer, from reports, fell and the results of that fall killed him. Now how could that possibly be? The NY Times online even published a photo of the man exhaling cigarette smoke. The man was a life-long smoker, and everybody knows that if one even gets a whiff of tobacco smoke, one is liable to fall over dead on the spot. I mean, he was only 84. Right? Right. ]
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Kurt Vonnegut Dies at 84
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041207K.shtml
Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Cat's Cradle" and "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84.
[ So this most excellent writer, from reports, fell and the results of that fall killed him. Now how could that possibly be? The NY Times online even published a photo of the man exhaling cigarette smoke. The man was a life-long smoker, and everybody knows that if one even gets a whiff of tobacco smoke, one is liable to fall over dead on the spot. I mean, he was only 84. Right? Right. ]
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Only fools believe the White House...
From truthout.org :
Leahy: 'I Do Not Believe the White House'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041207A.shtml
President Bush's aides are lying about White House emails sent on a Republican account that might have been lost, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy suggested Thursday, vowing to subpoena those documents if the administration fails to cough them up.
[click link above to continue reading]
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Leahy: 'I Do Not Believe the White House'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041207A.shtml
President Bush's aides are lying about White House emails sent on a Republican account that might have been lost, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy suggested Thursday, vowing to subpoena those documents if the administration fails to cough them up.
[click link above to continue reading]
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Katrina "pork" to banging the gavel...
From American Progress:
Think Fast
White House officials privately concede that much of the added domestic funding projects in the Iraq supplemental is necessary, contrary to President Bush's claim that they are "pork barrel projects." "We agree that the funding is needed," one official said, specifically citing added funds for homeland security and to help Gulf Coast states still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
"Tony Blair yesterday claimed the spate of knife and gun murders in London was not being caused by poverty, but a distinctive black culture. His remarks angered community leaders, who accused him of ignorance and failing to provide support for black-led efforts to tackle the problem."
"A librarian who fended off an FBI demand for computer records on patrons said Wednesday that secret anti-terrorism investigations strip away personal freedoms." George Christian said his experience "should raise a big patriotic American flag of caution" about the strain that the Bush administration has put on civil liberties.
The war in Iraq has "spawned new terror in the region," the Oxford Research Group, a British think tank, states in a new report. The United States and Britain have tried to "keep the lid on" terrorism problems with military force but "failed to address the root causes." The report also states that Iran, Syria, and North Korea have become "emboldened."
"Al Qaeda's new affiliate in North Africa asserted responsibility Wednesday for the deadliest attacks in Algeria's capital in a decade as 24 people were reported killed and 222 injured in bombings that shattered the prime minister's headquarters and a police base."
Conservative state legislators killed an effort yesterday to hang Coretta Scott King's portrait in Georgia's Capitol, next to a photo of her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Mrs. King certainly is a wonderful humanitarian...but this is not a museum," said State Rep. Calvin Hill (R).
"Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections." Just 120 people have been charged with voter fraud crimes, and 86 convicted as of last year.
And finally: Freshmen Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) "are locked in a tight race over who will be class geek." They are competing to win the Golden Gavel Award, which "goes to any senator who has presided over the Senate for 100 hours in any given year." At this point, Klobuchar is winning by a mere 20 minutes.
Wrap...
Think Fast
White House officials privately concede that much of the added domestic funding projects in the Iraq supplemental is necessary, contrary to President Bush's claim that they are "pork barrel projects." "We agree that the funding is needed," one official said, specifically citing added funds for homeland security and to help Gulf Coast states still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
"Tony Blair yesterday claimed the spate of knife and gun murders in London was not being caused by poverty, but a distinctive black culture. His remarks angered community leaders, who accused him of ignorance and failing to provide support for black-led efforts to tackle the problem."
"A librarian who fended off an FBI demand for computer records on patrons said Wednesday that secret anti-terrorism investigations strip away personal freedoms." George Christian said his experience "should raise a big patriotic American flag of caution" about the strain that the Bush administration has put on civil liberties.
The war in Iraq has "spawned new terror in the region," the Oxford Research Group, a British think tank, states in a new report. The United States and Britain have tried to "keep the lid on" terrorism problems with military force but "failed to address the root causes." The report also states that Iran, Syria, and North Korea have become "emboldened."
"Al Qaeda's new affiliate in North Africa asserted responsibility Wednesday for the deadliest attacks in Algeria's capital in a decade as 24 people were reported killed and 222 injured in bombings that shattered the prime minister's headquarters and a police base."
Conservative state legislators killed an effort yesterday to hang Coretta Scott King's portrait in Georgia's Capitol, next to a photo of her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Mrs. King certainly is a wonderful humanitarian...but this is not a museum," said State Rep. Calvin Hill (R).
"Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections." Just 120 people have been charged with voter fraud crimes, and 86 convicted as of last year.
And finally: Freshmen Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) "are locked in a tight race over who will be class geek." They are competing to win the Golden Gavel Award, which "goes to any senator who has presided over the Senate for 100 hours in any given year." At this point, Klobuchar is winning by a mere 20 minutes.
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Why did Gonzales lie???
From Information Clearing House:
Alberto Gonzales is a Symptom
By William Sumner Scott, J.D.
04/11/07
"ICH"
On March 13, 2007, Alberto Gonzales, attorney general, said: "I never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood." to describe his lack of involvement in the replacement of eight US District Attorneys. Subsequent releases of documents and testimony have proved he was actively involved.
On March 23, 2007, in response to a Senate subpoena, an appointment calendar was produced that disclosed that Gonzales was provided over an hour long meeting on November 27, 2006, that resulted in approval of a detailed plan for the dismissal of eight competent district attorneys.
On March 29, 2007, one of his aides, D. Kyle Sampson, gave testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee to confirm that Gonzales had participated in the deliberations that led to the dismissals. One of the Senators questions forced Sampson to admit that Gonzales had been less than truthful during his March 13 press conference.
Why would a person of Gonzales intellect make false statements to the press? False statements were not necessary to justify their removal. The President was granted authority in the Patriot Act to change the Attorney General and the District Attorneys without Senate approval. The President instructed Gonzales to replace the competent eight with Bush loyalists.
Gonzales’ is too bright and experienced to lie without the belief that he would not be questioned. After all he had been a Texas Supreme Court Judge. He was used to his pronouncements being received with impunity. Now that he has been exposed, why he lied becomes important. He had to believe at the time he lied that the adverse consequences of the truth would be catastrophic.
[cont reading at: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17519.htm ]
Wrap...
Alberto Gonzales is a Symptom
By William Sumner Scott, J.D.
04/11/07
"ICH"
On March 13, 2007, Alberto Gonzales, attorney general, said: "I never saw documents. We never had a discussion about where things stood." to describe his lack of involvement in the replacement of eight US District Attorneys. Subsequent releases of documents and testimony have proved he was actively involved.
On March 23, 2007, in response to a Senate subpoena, an appointment calendar was produced that disclosed that Gonzales was provided over an hour long meeting on November 27, 2006, that resulted in approval of a detailed plan for the dismissal of eight competent district attorneys.
On March 29, 2007, one of his aides, D. Kyle Sampson, gave testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee to confirm that Gonzales had participated in the deliberations that led to the dismissals. One of the Senators questions forced Sampson to admit that Gonzales had been less than truthful during his March 13 press conference.
Why would a person of Gonzales intellect make false statements to the press? False statements were not necessary to justify their removal. The President was granted authority in the Patriot Act to change the Attorney General and the District Attorneys without Senate approval. The President instructed Gonzales to replace the competent eight with Bush loyalists.
Gonzales’ is too bright and experienced to lie without the belief that he would not be questioned. After all he had been a Texas Supreme Court Judge. He was used to his pronouncements being received with impunity. Now that he has been exposed, why he lied becomes important. He had to believe at the time he lied that the adverse consequences of the truth would be catastrophic.
[cont reading at: www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17519.htm ]
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Corporation steals rain forest.....
From truthout.org:
Vast Congo Rainforests Sold for "a Few Bags of Sugar"
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/041107EA.shtml
The Odzala rainforest is part of the national park in central Democratic Republic of Congo. On February 8, 2005, representatives of a major timber firm arrived to negotiate a contract with the traditional landowners. Few in the village realized that the talks would transform all their lives, but in just a few hours, the chief, who had received no legal advice and did not realize that just one tree might be worth more than $7,500 in Europe, had signed away his community's rights in the forest for 25 years.
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Vast Congo Rainforests Sold for "a Few Bags of Sugar"
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/041107EA.shtml
The Odzala rainforest is part of the national park in central Democratic Republic of Congo. On February 8, 2005, representatives of a major timber firm arrived to negotiate a contract with the traditional landowners. Few in the village realized that the talks would transform all their lives, but in just a few hours, the chief, who had received no legal advice and did not realize that just one tree might be worth more than $7,500 in Europe, had signed away his community's rights in the forest for 25 years.
Wrap...
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