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HavenWorks.com/california/archive/2007 |
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- California Archive
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Money
- 
Politics
- 
Federal
- 
Housing
- 
Legislation
- 
New
Jersey - 
Georgia
- 
California
- 
Texas
- 
Utah
- 
Maryland
- 
Nevada
- 
Oregon
- 
Washington
- 
2004
Election - 
US
- 
Netherlands
- "Lender
Lobbying Blitz Abetted Mortgage Mess: Ameriquest
Pressed For Changes in Laws; A Battle in New Jersey." ... "During the housing
boom, the subprime industry succeeded at more than just writing mortgages.
It also shot down efforts by some states to curtail risky lending to borrowers
with spotty credit." ... "Ameriquest Mortgage Co. [ACC Capital Holdings],
until recently one of the nation's largest subprime lenders, was at the
center of those battles. Working with a husband-and-wife team of Washington
lobbyists, it handed out more than $20 million in political donations and
played a big role in persuading legislators in New Jersey and Georgia to
relax tough new laws. Those victories, in turn, helped blunt efforts by
other states to crack down on reckless lending, critics of the industry
contend." ... "Home loans made by Ameriquest and other subprime lenders
are defaulting now in large numbers, roiling global credit markets and
sparking debate about whether regulators and lawmakers should have anticipated
the mess and taken action. A close look at Ameriquest's lobbying and political
donations shows how the subprime industry maneuvered to defeat legislation
that might have contained some of the damage." ... "Data from federal and
state campaign-finance records, Internal Revenue Service filings, and the
National Institute on Money in State Politics show that from 2002 through
2006, Ameriquest, its executives and their spouses and business associates
donated at least $20.5 million to state and federal political groups. In
comparison, over the same time period, Countrywide Financial, another large
subprime lender, gave about $2 million in campaign gifts, and spent an
additional $6.7 million lobbying in Washington, records indicate." ...
"Some of the giving by Ameriquest executives and associates was high-profile.
[Republican] President Bush received more than $200,000 for his 2004 re-election
campaign, and Ameriquest founder Roland Arnall and his wife, Dawn, contributed
more than $5 million to political organizations that backed the president.
Last year, [Republican] President Bush appointed Mr. Arnall ambassador
to the Netherlands, and his wife took over as chairman of Ameriquest's
parent company. California [Republican Governor] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
campaigns received at least $1.4 million, along with stacks of tickets
to a Rolling Stones concert that were used to lure big donors." ... "Last
year, ACC Capital, its [Ameriquest Mortgage Company] parent company, agreed
to pay $325 million to settle regulators' claims that it charged excessively
high mortgage rates and didn't adequately disclose loan risks. Some of
the state attorneys general who signed the settlement, including Greg Abbott
of Texas, received campaign donations from the firm. Utah's attorney general,
Mark Shurtleff, received a $1,000 contribution and Rolling Stones tickets."
... "Ameriquest also handed out Rolling Stones tickets to state legislators
in Georgia, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and California,
according to ethics records and local news accounts." ... "Federal lawmakers
didn't pose much of a threat to the subprime industry in recent years.
Members of Congress received at least $645,000 in donations from Ameriquest
and large sums from other big subprime lenders, Federal Election Commission
records indicate." ... "ACC Capital, Ameriquest's parent company, and its
executives gave more than $350,000 to Texas politicians in 2006, including
$100,000 to [Republican Governor] Gov. Rick Perry, according to state records."
-By Glenn R. Simpson -WSJ.com
Dick
Cheney
- 
Car
- Manufacturers
- 
Fumes
- Corporate
- Government
- 
Environmental
- 
Science
- Politics
- California
- 
Climate
- "Cheney
accused of blocking Californian bid to cut car fumes."
... "The US [United States Republican] vice-president, Dick Cheney, was
behind a controversial decision to block California's attempt to impose
tough emission limits on car manufacturers, according to insiders at the
government Environmental Protection Agency." ... "Staff at the agency,
which announced last week that California's proposed limits were redundant,
said the agency's chief went against their expert advice after car executives
met Cheney, and a Chrysler executive delivered a letter to the EPA [Environmental
Protection Agency] saying why the state should not be allowed to regulate
greenhouse gases." ... "EPA staff members told the Los Angeles Times that
the agency's head, the [Republican President] Bush appointee Stephen Johnson,
ignored their conclusions and shut himself off from consultation in the
month before the announcement. He then informed them of his decision and
instructed them to provide the legal rationale for it, they said." -By
Dan Glaister -Guardian.co.uk
Stephen
Johnson - 
Mary
E Peters
- Dick
Cheney
- Government
- Political
- Gas
- Auto
- Makers
- 
Fuel
- Economy
- Laws
- Environmental
- 
Health
- Safety
- American
- 
People
- Transportation
- California
- 
History
- 
Global
- Climate
- Clean
Air Act - "EPA
blocks California bid to limit greenhouse gases from cars."
... "The [Republican President] Bush administration blocked efforts by
California and 16 other states Wednesday to limit greenhouse gas emissions
from cars and trucks, setting up a political and legal fight over whether
states can take a lead role in combatting global warming." ... "[Republican
President Bush's] Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen
Johnson rejected California's request for a waiver from the federal government
to impose its tough tailpipe emissions standards. The other states were
poised to adopt similar rules if California's request was granted." ...
"The states represent nearly half the U.S. [United States] population,
and their laws would effectively require automakers to cut greenhouse gas
emissions nationwide, despite [Republican] President Bush's rejection of
mandatory national standards." ... "Johnson said Congress' passage of an
energy bill this week that raises fuel economy standards for all cars and
trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 made the state laws unnecessary."
... "California officials said they believed Johnson had long ago decided
to oppose the state's waiver, and said he was using the newly passed energy
bill as an excuse. Nothing in the new law prevents states from taking stronger
action, they said." ... ""I find this disgraceful," said [California Democratic
Senator] Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.[Democratic-California], who helped
write the fuel-economy law. "The passage of the energy bill does not give
the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] a green light to shirk its responsibility
to protect the health and safety of the American people from air pollution.""
... "It was the first time the EPA has flat-out denied a waiver request
by California under the Clean Air Act. The law gives California special
authority to set stronger standards because the state has a long history
of smog and other air-quality problems." ... "California officials complained
that EPA's decision-making process for the waiver was tainted months ago
when
documents revealed that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters led a lobbying
campaign to urge lawmakers to call the EPA and oppose the waiver request."
... "Automakers have been meeting regularly at the White House to discuss
the new fuel-economy standards. The Detroit News reported that [Republican]
Vice President Dick Cheney met with the CEOs [Chief Executive Officers]
of Chrysler and Ford this fall to try to influence the policy." -By
Zachary Coile -SFGate.com
Fed
- Money
- Politics
- 
Investigate
- Law
- History
- People's
- Homes
- Consumer
- California
- 
New
York
- 
Wyo
- "Fed
Shrugged as Subprime Crisis Spread." ... "Until the
boom in subprime mortgages turned into a national nightmare this summer,
the few people who tried to warn federal banking officials might as well
have been talking to themselves." ... "Edward M. Gramlich, a Federal Reserve
governor who died in September, warned nearly seven years ago that a fast-growing
new breed of lenders was luring many people into risky mortgages they could
not afford." ... "But when Mr. Gramlich privately urged Fed examiners to
investigate mortgage lenders affiliated with national banks, he was rebuffed
by Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman." ... "In 2001, a senior Treasury official,
Sheila C. Bair, tried to persuade subprime lenders to adopt a code of “best
practices” and to let outside monitors verify their compliance. None of
the lenders would agree to the monitors, and many rejected the code itself.
Even those who did adopt those practices, Ms. Bair recalled recently, soon
let them slip." ... "And leaders of a housing advocacy group in California,
meeting with Mr. Greenspan in 2004, warned that deception was increasing
and unscrupulous practices were spreading." ... "John C. Gamboa and Robert
L. Gnaizda of the Greenlining Institute implored Mr. Greenspan to use his
bully pulpit and press for a voluntary code of conduct." ... "“He never
gave us a good reason, but he didn’t want to do it,” Mr. Gnaizda said last
week. “He just wasn’t interested.”" ... "“The Federal Reserve could have
stopped this problem dead in its tracks,” said Martin Eakes, chief executive
of the center [Center for Responsible Lending]. “If the Fed had done its
job, we would not have had the abusive lending and we would not have a
[home] foreclosure crisis in virtually every community across America.”"
... "Mr. Greenspan and other Fed officials repeatedly dismissed warnings
about a speculative bubble in housing prices. In December 2004, the New
York Fed issued a report bluntly declaring that “no bubble exists.” Mr.
Greenspan predicted several times — incorrectly, it turned out — that housing
declines would be local but almost certainly not nationwide." ... " “Why
are the most risky loan products sold to the least sophisticated borrowers?”
Mr. Gramlich asked in a speech he prepared last August for the Fed’s symposium
in Jackson Hole, Wyo[Wyoming]. “The question answers itself — the least
sophisticated borrowers are probably duped into taking these products.”"
(1, 2,
3)
-By Edmund L. Andrews with contributions by Gretchen
Morgenson -NYTimes
Wave
- Technology
- Company
- 
Canada
- San
Francisco - California
- Oregon
- US
- Global
- Climate
- "PG&E
agrees to buy power from Canadian firm's proposed 'wave park'."
... "The dream of generating electricity from the ocean's waves will take
a major step forward today when Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announces
its support for plans to build the nation's first commercial wave power
plant off the coast of Northern California, the latest step in the state's
efforts to combat global warming." ... "The plant will consist of eight
buoys bobbing in the water 2 1/2 miles offshore, each buoy generating electricity
as it rises and falls with the waves. If all goes as planned, the "wave
park" will begin operating in 2012." ... "The power it generates won't
be much - enough to light 1,500 homes at most. But it represents another
potential front in the fight against climate change. California has ordered
utilities such as PG&E to buy more power from renewable sources that
don't spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and heat the planet. The
utilities are turning to the sun, the wind and now the ocean as a result."
... "San Francisco's [California] PG&E won't build or own the proposed
wave park, near Eureka [California], which will be designed and built by
Canadian company Finavera. Instead, PG&E has agreed to buy the plant's
power." ... "That promise will help Finavera get financing for the project
by showing potential investors that it already has a customer. It's an
unusual step for a technology that, until now, has existed more in the
lab than in the water." ... "There's no guarantee that the project will
work. Finavera's prototype buoy sank off the Oregon coast earlier this
year, for reasons the company hasn't completely nailed down." -By
David R. Baker -SFGate.com
Connie
Mack - 
Florida
- California
- Wyoming
- "Reps.
Mary Bono, Connie Mack marry." ... "[California Republican
Representative] Mary Bono, who was married to late singer-turned-politician
[Republican] Sonny Bono and replaced him in Congress after his death, has
married U.S. [United States Florida Republican Representative] Rep. Connie
Mack." ... "Mack, a Republican representative from Florida, and Bono, R-Palm
Springs [California-Republican], had been dating for two years." ... "
Bono and her previous husband, former Wyoming businessman Glenn Baxley,
filed for divorce in 2005." -AP
via -PE.com
Julie
MacDonald
- Animals
- Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Agricultural
- Business
- California
- 
WVa
- "7
federal wildlife decisions to be revised: A [Republican
President Bush] political appointee had overruled recommendations by staff
scientists on endangered species. She quit under a cloud." ... "Federal
wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered
species and critical habitat made by an Interior Department political appointee
who quit in the spring amid charges of improper meddling in scientific
decisions." ... "California's arroyo toad and red-legged frog could regain
protection that federal biologists determined was crucial to their survival,
according to a letter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent Friday to
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman [West Virginia Democratic Representative]
Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.). Rahall released the letter publicly Tuesday."
... "Former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald, a civil
engineer from California with no formal training in natural sciences, routinely
questioned and sometimes overruled recommendations by biologists and other
field staffers, according to documents, interviews and a review by the
department's inspector general. The review outlined instances in which
MacDonald advocated altering scientific conclusions in ways that led to
reduced protection for imperiled species and that favored developers and
agricultural businesses. And she was rebuked for providing internal documents
to lobbyists." ... "Under her direction, proposed habitat protection for
the endangered arroyo toad, a tiny amphibian that once inhabited many Southern
California creek regions, was slashed by 93%. Similarly, the protected
area proposed for the threatened California red-legged frog was reduced
from 4.1 million acres to 450,000 acres." -By Janet
Wilson -LAtimes
California
- Environmental
- Technology
- Industry
- "California
county turns to sewer water to increase drinking supplies."
... "It used to be so final: Flush the toilet and waste be gone." ... "But
this week, for millions of people here in Orange County [California], pulling
the lever will be the start of a long, intense process to purify the sewage
into drinking water - after a hard scrubbing with filters, screens, chemicals
and ultraviolet light and the passage of time underground." ... "On Friday,
the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say
is the world's largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase
drinking water supplies. They and others hope it serves as a model for
authorities worldwide facing persistent drought, predicted water shortages
and projected growth." ... "The process, called by proponents "indirect
potable water reuse" and "toilet to tap" by the wary, is getting a close
look in several cities." ... ""These types of projects you will see springing
up all over the place where there are severe water shortages," said Michael
Markus, the general manager of the Orange County district, whose plant,
which will process 70 million gallons, or nearly 3 billion liters, a day,
has already been visited by water managers from across the globe." ...
"The finished product, which district managers say exceeds drinking water
standards, will not flow directly into kitchen and bathroom taps; state
regulations forbid that." ... "Instead it will be injected underground,
with half of it helping to form a barrier against seawater intruding on
groundwater sources and the other half gradually filtering into aquifers
that supply 2.3 million people, about three-quarters of the county." (1,
2)
-By Randal C. Archibold
-IHT.com
Secret
- 
Rudolph
W Giuliani
- California
- Money
- Election
- Law
- Politics
- 2008
Election - New
York
- 
Jet
- Poor
- Countries
- "Publicity-shy
Giuliani backer in spotlight: Backer of plan many
Democrats think could sink their chances at presidency." ... "Paul E. Singer
is the founding partner of one of the oldest hedge funds around. And while
he has become a major donor to Republican and conservative causes in recent
years, he has largely managed to stay out of the limelight, even avoiding
having his picture appear in newspapers." ... "But this year Mr. Singer
became one of the biggest supporters of [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate] Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign, making his jet
available to Mr. Giuliani, while Mr. Singer and workers at his companies
have donated $200,000 to the campaign. And he became the largest individual
backer of a California ballot initiative that many Democrats believe could
sink their chances of winning the presidency." ... "Suddenly, the normally
low-profile Mr. Singer, a New Yorker, found himself singled out by Democrats
intent on beating back the California effort before it gained any steam."
... "Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, questioned “Paul
Singer’s involvement in this dirty trick aimed at stealing the White House.”
A group of Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission
charging that Mr. Singer had been acting on behalf of Mr. Giuliani in his
efforts to change the California law — which Mr. Singer and the campaign
deny. And the Democratic National Committee drew attention to the part
of Mr. Singer’s business that involves buying the debt of poor countries
at a discount and then seeking repayment in full — prompting an article
in The Times of London labeling his firm, Elliott Associates, a “vulture
fund.”" (1, 2)
-By Michael Cooper and Leslie Wayne
-NYTimes via -MSNBC
Voting
Machines - San
Francisco - California
- 
Nebraska
- Politics
- "California
suing Nebraska voting machine maker for $15 million."
... "California Secretary of State Debra Bowen sued a Nebraska voting machine
company on Monday, seeking fines and reimbursements of nearly $15 million
from the firm for allegedly selling nearly 1,000 uncertified machines to
San Francisco and four other counties." ... "San Francisco's 558 AutoMARK
ballot-marking devices were among 972 of the machines that Election Systems
& Software sold in California last year without putting them through
the state testing process." ... ""ES&S ignored the law over and over
and over again, and it got caught," Bowen said in a statement after filing
suit against the company. "I am not going to stand on the sidelines and
watch a voting system vendor come into the state, ignore the laws and make
millions of dollars from California's taxpayers in the process."" -By
John Wildermuth -SFGate.com
Howard
Krongard
- US
- 
Iraq
- 
Blackwater
- Business
- 
Military
- Law
- Politics
- Calif
- "State's
inspector general defends record." ... "In a stunning
move, the State Department official responsible for ensuring the agency
operates ethically recused himself Wednesday from any investigations related
to Blackwater Worldwide after admitting to lawmakers that his brother is
a member of the embattled security contractor's advisory board." ... "The
revelation by Howard Krongard, the department's inspector general, came
as Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee were
defending him from what they said were politically motivated attacks."
... "[California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.,
and other Democrats on the committee seized on the admission as further
evidence Krongard has politicized his office and undermined inquiries that
targeted Blackwater or that might embarrass [Republican President] Bush
administration officials." ... "Krongard first told the committee his brother,
Alvin Krongard, had assured him several weeks ago that he had no financial
interest or connections to Blackwater, which is the subject of several
federal investigations related to its work in Iraq." ... "Before the break,
committee Democrats produced a July 26 letter from Blackwater CEO Erik
Prince inviting Alvin Krongard to join his company's advisory board." -By
Richard Lardner -AP
via -SeattlePI
Ron
Paul
- 
Tom
Tancredo - 
Duncan
Hunter
- 2008
Election - 
Media
- Texas
- 
Colorado
- California
- 
Iowa
- "Iowa
GOP inundated by irate calls from Ron Paul fans."
... "The Iowa Republican Party put out an advisory Tuesday setting standards
for participation in a Dec. 4 debate it is sponsoring with Fox News. The
phone has been ringing off the hook ever since." ... "That's because the
sponsors said participants need to average 5% support among Republicans
in recent national or Iowa polls -- and so far, Texas [Representative and
2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rep. Ron Paul is one of
the candidates not making the cut." ... "Colorado [Representative and 2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rep. Tom Tancredo and California
[Representative and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rep.
Duncan Hunter also fall below the 5% threshold at this point."
-USATODAY
Los
Angeles - California
- Police
- Government
- 
Mapping
- Religious
- Peoples
- Race
- Civil
Libertarians - Scientific
- 
Terrorism
- 
Intelligence
- Law
- "LAPD
defends Muslim mapping effort: Police call program
an effort to improve relations with Islamic community. Civil libertarians
criticize profiling while other skeptics note that population is dispersed
and defies easy classification." ... "The [Los Angeles, California] LAPD's
plan to map Muslim communities in an effort to identify potential hotbeds
of extremism departs from the way law enforcement has dealt with local
anti-terrorism since 9/11 and prompted widespread skepticism Friday." ...
"In a document reviewed Friday by The Times, the LAPD's Los Angeles Police
Department's counter-terrorism bureau proposed using U.S. census data and
other demographic information to pinpoint various Muslim communities and
then reach out to them through social service agencies." ... "LAPD officials
said that it is crucial for them to gain a better understanding of isolated
parts of the Muslim community. Those groups can potentially breed violent
extremism, the LAPD said in its plan." ... ""This is not . . . targeting
or profiling," Police Chief William J. Bratton said Friday in defending
the program. "It is an effort to understand communities," he said." ...
"But the effort sparked an outcry from civil libertarians and some Muslim
activists, who compared the program to religious profiling." ... "Others
noted that the effort faces enormous practical difficulties. The U.S. Census
Bureau is barred by law from asking people for their religious affiliation.
As a result, there is no scientific data on the size of the nation's Muslim
population, let alone its location, with estimates of the population nationwide
ranging from about 1.4 million adults in a Pew Research Center study this
year to the 7 million or more claimed by some community organizations."
... "Census data on ancestry also would not yield accurate Muslim estimates,
because significant numbers of ethnic Iranians are Jewish and many ethnic
Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians are Christians." (1, 2)
-By Richard Winton, Teresa Watanabe, and Greg Krikorian
with contributions by Jean-Paul Renaud -LAtimes
Photo
- Media
- Intelligence
- Politics
- California
- 
Wildfire
- Emergency
- "Just
Who Was At That Fake FEMA Briefing? CBS News Obtains
A Photo Of The "Press" Gallery Full Of FEMA [Federal Emergency Management
Agency] Staffers." ... "CBS News has obtained this photo of the
now infamous fake FEMA press conference held during the California wildfires.
The photo, taken by a FEMA employee, is one of the only known photos of
the press gallery of that event." ... "The gallery is not filled with members
of the press but with high-level agency employees." ... "At the podium
on the left is Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson, the second in command at FEMA."
... "It was announced Thursday that an internal investigation had found
that FEMA's press secretary encouraged, and in some cases instructed, employees
to pose as reporters and ask questions at the fake news conference." ...
"Since the briefing [former director of public affairs at FEMA, John "Pat"]
Philbin - who, at the time of the news conference, already had accepted
a job at the office of the director of national intelligence - lost his
new post before he even started because of the incident."
-CBSNews
Michael
Bernard Mukasey
- 
Alberto
R Gonzales - Water
- Torture
- Politicians
- Human
Rights - Law
- 
Conn
- Calif
- New
York- 
Ind
- 
Del
- 
La
- Neb
- "Senate
Confirms Mukasey By 53-40: Historically Low Tally
for New Attorney General." ... "The final tally gave [Republican President
Bush's Attorney General nominee Michael Bernard] Mukasey the lowest number
of yes votes for any attorney general since 1952, just weeks after lawmakers
of both parties had predicted his easy confirmation. Mukasey takes the
place of Alberto R. Gonzales, who left under a cloud of scandal in September."
... "He avoided defeat only because a half-dozen Democrats voted in favor
of the appointment along with Republicans and Democrat-turned-independent
Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn. [Connecticut])." ... "Mukasey, 66, had outraged
many lawmakers and human rights groups by repeatedly refusing to classify
waterboarding, a simulated-drowning technique, as torture. His few Democratic
supporters said last night that, although they are troubled by his equivocal
views on waterboarding, they believe Mukasey represents the best possibility
for change at the troubled Justice Department. "This is the only chance
we have," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif. [California])." ... "The
other Democrats in favor of the confirmation were Sens. Charles E. Schumer
(N.Y. [New York]), Evan Bayh (Ind. [Indiana]), Thomas R. Carper (Del. [Delaware]),
Mary Landrieu (La. [Louisiana]) and Ben Nelson (Neb.)." ... "Mukasey garnered
the lowest number of yes votes among confirmed attorneys general since
James P. McGranery, who was approved by a vote of 52 to 18 in 1952 during
the [Democratic President Harry] Truman administration. The only recent
competitor is [Republican President Bush's nominee] John D. Ashcroft, who
attracted 58 yes votes from the GOP-controlled Senate in 2001." (1, 2)
-By Dan Eggen Paul Kane with contributions by Madonna
Lebling -WashingtonPost
California
- Air
- Environment
- Enforcement
- Government
- Auto
- Makers
- Global
- 
Planet
- Climate
- "California
sues EPA over emissions: The state seeks to force
the agency to move more quickly on its request to enforce tough regulations."
... "California sued the federal government today, demanding that the [Republican
President Bush led] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency act now to give
the states the power to enforce tough regulations on automakers in the
fight against global warming." ... "The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the
way last summer for the EPA to approve state regulations to limit emissions
of greenhouse gas from automobile tailpipes. But no action has been forthcoming."
... "The EPA has said it will act on the state's request by year's end,
but today's move was a major assault on the federal government's perceived
lack of action on what many national and world leaders consider the No.
1 threat to the planet." -By Marc Lifsher
-LAtimes
Nancy
Nord
- 
Children
- Safety
- Politics
- Government
- Consumer
- Law
- Enforcement
- Manufacturer
- Travel
- Money
- 
China
- 
Spain
- US
- San
Francisco - California
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
- 
SC
- "Industries
Paid for Top Regulators' Travel: Two Heads of Product
Safety Agency Accepted Trips From Manufacturer Groups." ... "The chief
of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken
dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture
industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained
by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups
and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards."
... "The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting
chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were
paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products
ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals
totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San
Francisco [California], New Orleans [Louisiana] and a golf resort on Hilton
Head Island, S.C. [South Carolina.]" ... "Consumer groups and lawmakers
intensified their criticism of the CPSC this summer after several highly
publicized recalls of Chinese-made toys that contained hazardous levels
of lead. Critics have long charged that the agency has become too close
to regulated industries, opting for "voluntary" standards and repeatedly
choosing not to take legal action against businesses that refuse to recall
dangerous products." ... "Government-wide travel regulations state that
officials from agencies such as the CPSC should not accept money for travel
from nonfederal sources if the payments "would cause a reasonable person
. . . to question the integrity of agency programs or operations."" ...
""This is a blatant violation of the ethics code," said Craig Holman, an
expert on governmental ethics law for the nonprofit consumer advocacy group
Public Citizen." ... "The records show that Nord and Stratton repeatedly
accepted gift travel for events from industries subject to CPSC enforcement."
(1,
2,
3)
-By Elizabeth Williamson
-WashingtonPost
Nancy
A Nord
- Children
- Safety
- Consumer
- Law
- Enforcement
- US
- China
- Manufacturing- Business
- 
Halloween
- California
- "US
House speaker wants product safety chief to go."
... "The top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives called on Tuesday
for the nation's chief product safety regulator to resign, following a
wave of recalls this year of millions of lead-tainted toys made in China."
... "As the [Republican President] White House and business groups criticized
legislation meant to beef up safety oversight, House Speaker [California
Democratic Representative] Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats urged the ouster
of Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Acting Chairman Nancy Nord."
... "The safety agency, criticized at a September hearing for having just
one employee testing toys, has come under intense scrutiny amid the flurry
of recalls." ... "In early October alone, recalls ranged from Cub Scout
badges to play blocks and Halloween candy buckets." ... ""Any commission
chair who ... says we don't need any more authority or any more resources
to do our job does not understand the gravity of the situation," Pelosi
said." (1, 2,
3)
-By Kevin Drawbaugh and Diane Bartz with contributions
by Julie Vorman -Reuters
California
- Wildfire
- Politics
- Government
- Military
- Weather
- Winds
- "Aircraft
sat as California wildfires took hold." ... "As wildfires
were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping
helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government
rules and bureaucracy." ... "How much the aircraft would have helped will
never be known, but their inability to provide quick assistance raises
troubling questions about California's preparations for a fire season that
was widely expected to be among the worst on record." ... "It took as long
as a day for Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters to
get clearance early this week, in part because state rules require all
firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters"
who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived,
the powerful Santa Ana winds stoking the fires had made it too dangerous
to fly." ... "The National Guard's C-130 cargo planes, among the most powerful
aerial firefighting weapons, never were slated to help. The reason: They've
yet to be outfitted with tanks needed to carry thousands of gallons of
fire retardant, though that was promised four years ago."
-AP via -CNN
California
- Aircraft
- Politics
- "O.C.
Fire Chief: 'Had we had more air resources, we would have been able to
control this fire'." ... "At least a dozen Orange
County [California] homes had burned by this morning and thousands more
were in danger as flames as high as 75 feet devastated rural canyon communities,
fire officials said." ... "The Santiago fire continued to push east today,
fueled by brittle canyon brush as it threatened communities around Modjeska
Canyon. On Tuesday, panicked residents begged firefighters for help." ...
"Local fire officials were similarly frustrated, arguing that if the state
had provided adequate aircraft and personnel Sunday, the devastation could
have been prevented." ... ""It is an absolute truth -- had we had more
air resources we would have been able to control this fire," Orange County
Fire Authority Chief Chip Prather said." (1, 2)
-By Mike Anton -LAtimes
California
- Wildfires
- Disaster
- San
Diego - Homes
- People
- History
- "Wildfires
Cause More Than $1B In Damage: Thousands Of Homes
In Southern Calif. [California] In Peril; Nearly 1 Million People Evacuated."
... "On the fourth day of a vicious firestorm, exhausted firefighters and
weary residents looked forward Wednesday to a break - an expected slackening
of the fierce wind that has fanned the state's explosive wildland blazes."
... "San Diego County officials say the property damage from this week's
wildfires has reached at least $1 billion countywide." ... "[Republican]
President Bush continued to step up federal engagement in the California
wildfire emergency Wednesday, signing a major disaster declaration that
funnels money to people whose property losses aren't covered by insurance."
... "Bush had already declared a federal emergency on Tuesday for seven
California counties, triggering short-term federal help. On Wednesday,
responding to a late-night request from [Republican Governor] Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Bush went a step further and issued the broader major disaster
declaration." ... "With nearly 1 million people ordered out, it marks one
of the largest evacuations in U.S. history, reports CBS' The Early
Show co-anchor Harry Smith." ... "The fires have burned 410,000
acres, or about 640 square miles." ... "The 16 wind-fed wildfires have
destroyed nearly 1,500 homes. " (1, 2)
-AP via -CBSNews
Alberto
Gonzales - 
Karl
Rove
- 
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- Criminal
- US
Attorneys - Politics
- Government
- Law
- Hatch
Act - Washington
- 2004
Election - 
New
Mexico - San
Diego - California
- "Gonzales
could be prosecuted, McKay says." ... "The U.S. Inspector
General may recommend criminal prosecution of [Republican President Bush's]
departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation,
possibly as early as next month, the fired former U.S. attorney for Western
Washington told a Spokane audience Friday." ... "His refusal to open a
federal criminal investigation into voter fraud allegations in Gov. Chris
Gregoire’s razor-thin victory over Republican challenger Dino Rossi in
2004 [election] may be the reason he was fired, John McKay told the Federal
Bar Association." ... "Appointed by President Bush in October 2001 to the
top law enforcement job in western Washington, McKay said he believes he
and seven other U.S. attorneys were fired last December by Gonzales for
political reasons, perhaps with former White House chief of staff Karl
Rove pulling strings." ... "Gonzales “lied about” reasons for the firings
when questioned under oath in July by the Senate Judiciary Committee and
now has hired a lawyer and is refusing to answer questions from the Inspector
General, McKay said." ... "“There was a conspiracy to politicize the Justice
Department,’’ the former U.S. attorney said, “and they did not get away
with it.”" ... "[Former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David] Iglesias has filed
a Hatch Act complaint, alleging Rove and other White House officials may
have violated that federal law in his firing." ... "[Former San Diego,
California U.S. Attorney Carol] Lam has said she believes her firing was
tied her office’s aggressive investigation of Rep. [California Republican
Representative] Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a Republican congressman who later
pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion." -By
Bill Morlin -SpokesmanReview.com
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- 
Brent
Wilkes - 
Jerry
Lewis - Duncan
Hunter
- 
Tom
DeLay
- 
Roy
Blunt
-
Dennis
Hastert - Money
- Politics
- Lawmakers
-Travel
- Flying
- Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- San
Diego - California
- Texas
- 
Missouri
- 
Hawaii
- Florida
- Nevada
- 
Idaho
- 
Illinois
- "Witness:
Contractor Gave Lawmaker Perks." ... "[Former California
Republican Representative Randy "Duke"] Cunningham, a San Diego Republican
who held seats on the powerful House intelligence and defense appropriations
committees, was elected to eight terms before resigning in 2005. He pleaded
guilty that year to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from [Brent] Wilkes
and others and is serving an eight-year prison sentence." ... "[Wilkes
nephew and employee Joel] Combs testified Wednesday that his uncle communicated
with other prominent lawmakers, including California Republicans Jerry
Lewis and Duncan Hunter, former House Majority Leader [Republican] Tom
DeLay of Texas, Republican Whip [Missouri Representative] Roy Blunt, and
Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat." ... "But the relationship with
Cunningham was at the center of Wilkes' success in Washington, and Combs
said his uncle worked to keep the lawmaker happy - efforts that included
staking his nephew money to purposely lose in poker games with the lawmaker."
... "Combs recalled dinners at Washington's fancy Capital Grille restaurant,
shooting lessons, and trips to Florida, Las Vegas [Nevada] and Idaho provided
by Wilkes for the congressman from 1998 until 2002. During that period,
Cunningham made calls to Pentagon officials on Wilkes' behalf and helped
secure about $90 million in federal contracts for Wilkes' company." ...
"The perks included a $20,000 stay in a private villa at a resort in Hawaii,
where Wilkes, Combs and the congressman went diving - an expedition captured
in an underwater video that was played for jurors. Combs said he also hired
women from an escort service for his uncle and the congressman." ... "Wilkes
also paid to fly Cunningham and former House Speaker [Illinois Republican
Representative] Dennis Hastert from a golf outing in Palm Springs [California]
to San Diego [California] for a reception and then back to Washington on
private jets, Combs testified." -By Allison Hoffman
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
US
- 
Mexico
- China
- Manufacturing
- Politics
- Duncan
Hunter
- US
Immigration - Law- Calif
- 2008
Election - "Lawmakers
blast DHS for building border fence with Chinese steel."
... "House members allied with the domestic steel industry blasted the
[Republican President Bush run] Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on
Thursday for building a fence on the Mexican border with Chinese steel."
... "GOP presidential hopeful Rep. [California Republican Representative
and 2008 election Presidential Candidate] Duncan Hunter (Calif.), who authored
a bill signed into law last year mandating 850 miles of fence along the
border, said DHS should have gone to U.S. producers to procure any necessary
steel or pipe." ... "“The Department of Homeland Security has, the last
time I checked, $800 million cash on hand available to build the border
fence. So they don’t have to go and get cut-rate deals to build the border
fence,” Hunter said. U.S. pipe makers can “easily” supply the products
necessary for the fence, Hunter insisted." -By Ian
Swanson -TheHill.com
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- Brent
Wilkes - Money
- Politics
- Government
- Military
- Ca.
- Hawaii
- "Prostitutes
testify in Ca. bribery trial." ... "A prostitute
whom prosecutors say a defense contractor provided to former Rep. [California
Republican Representative] Randy "Duke" Cunningham testified Wednesday
that the congressman fed her grapes as she sat naked in a hot tub before
they headed to a bedroom at a Hawaiian resort." ... "The woman spoke at
the trial of Brent Wilkes, who is accused bribing Cunningham with $700,000
in cash and perks in exchange for help securing about $90 million in government
contracts. Wilkes has denied the charges." ... "Donna Rosetta said she
was chauffeured to a private villa at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in
Kamelua, Hawaii, in August 2003 by an escort service she worked for. Cunningham
and Wilkes invited her and a second woman to undress and slide into a hot
tub before Cunningham invited her upstairs, Rosetta said." ... ""They were
smoking cigars and talking about some meeting they had earlier," Rosetta
said." ... "She and Cunningham went to a bedroom, and he tipped her $50
to $80, she said." ... "The other woman, Tammy McFadden, testified that
Wilkes and Cunningham appeared to be arguing about who would go upstairs
with which woman." ... ""The one I ended up with was the one who was running
the show," said McFadden, referring to Wilkes. She described Cunningham
as "the boisterous one" and said he was overbearing." -By
Allison Hoffman -AP
via -NewsObserver.com
Religious
- 
University
- Home
- Remodeling
- Jet
- Trip
- Autos
- 
Clothes
- Money
- Political
- Family
- 
Oklahoma
- Texas
- California
- "Scandal
brewing at Oral Roberts." ... "[Televangelist Oral
Roberts son and Oklahoma's Oral Roberts University President] Richard Roberts
is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish
spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects,
use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas,
and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay."
... "She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes,
awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending
scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described
in the lawsuit as "underage males."" ... "San Antonio [Texas] televangelist
John Hagee, a member of the ORU board of regents, said the university's
executive board "is conducting a full and thorough investigation."" ...
"The university reported nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005, according
to the IRS." ... "Oral Roberts is 89 and lives in California." ... "Richard
Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students
and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa [Oklahoma]
mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of
the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have
worked on the campaign." -By Justin Juozapavicius
-AP via -Yahoo
US
- Iraq
- History
- Blackwater
- Military
- Business
- Politics
- Calif
- "Blackwater
blamed for guard deaths." ... "Blackwater USA triggered
a major battle in the Iraq war in 2004 by sending an unprepared team of
guards into an insurgent stronghold, a move that led to their horrific
deaths and a violent response by U.S. forces, says a congressional investigation
released Thursday." ... "The private security company, one of the largest
working in Iraq and under scrutiny for how it operates, also is faulted
for initially insisting its guards were properly prepared and equipped.
It is also accused of impeding the inquiry by the Democratic staff of the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee." ... "The results of the
staff inquiry come less than a week before Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL
and Blackwater's founder, is scheduled to testify before the committee,
which is chaired by [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman,
D-Calif., a longtime critic of Blackwater." ... "The March 2004 incident
involving Blackwater was widely viewed as a turning point in the Iraq war
after images of the mutilated bodies of the four guards were seen around
the world. Four days after the Blackwater guards were killed, a major military
offensive, known as the Battle of Fallujah, began." ... "The combat lasted
almost a month in Fallujah, which is 40 miles west of Baghdad [Iraq's capital].
At least 36 U.S. military personnel were killed along with 200 insurgents
and an estimated 600 civilians, the congressional investigation found."
-By Richard Lardner and Mike Baker
-AP via -Yahoo
Transportation- Auto
- Industry
- Environmental
- Air
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Los
Angeles - CA
- "E-mails
show DOT chief fought state on emissions: Official
lobbied against letting California enforce own standard for tailpipe exhaust."
... "U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, with the knowledge of
the [Repuublican President Bush] White House, directed a behind-the-scenes
effort to block California's request for its own, more stringent tailpipe
emission standard, according to documents released Monday by a congressional
committee." ... "A trail of e-mails show Peters prodding her staff this
spring to persuade members of Congress and state governors to oppose California's
request, now pending with the Environmental Protection Agency, to enforce
its own standards. To contact members, DOT staffers used a list of congressional
districts with auto facilities provided by the auto industry." ... "Secretary
Peters "asked that we develop some ideas A.S.A.P. about facilitating a
pushback from governors (esp. D's) and others opposed to piecemeal regulation
of emissions, as per CA's waiver petition," Jeff Shane, Peters' undersecretary
for policy, told staffers in a May 22 e-mail about the California request.
"Esp. D's" meant "especially Democrats."" ... "In another e-mail, a DOT
staffer told Peters' chief of staff that Marty Hall, chief of staff at
the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was "OK with (the secretary)
making calls" to lobby Congress." ... "The e-mails were released Monday
by [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of
the House Oversight Committee. Waxman, a Los Angeles [California] Democrat,
said the documents, along with interviews with Hall and other staffers,
showed that "the administration is trying to stack the deck against California's
efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles" and that
"political considerations — not the merits of the issue" — will determine
EPA's decision." ... "California is allowed under the Clean Air Act to
set its own emissions standards if it secures a waiver from the EPA. At
least 11 other states are waiting to adopt the California standard, designed
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from new models in 2016,
which has made this a major environmental issue." -By
Frank Davies -MNG
via -MercuryNews
Government
- 
Electronic
- 
Surveillance
- Data
- Travelers
- Flying
- Driving- 
Reading
- People
- Civil
Liberties - US
- International
- San
Francisco - California
- 
Alaska
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Law
- "Collecting
of Details on Travelers Documented: U.S. Effort More
Extensive Than Previously Known." ... "The U.S. government is collecting
electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly,
drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they
travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys,
and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents
obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government
officials." ... "The personal travel records are meant to be stored for
as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort
to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country.
Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated
Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists
from innocent people entering the country." ... "Officials yesterday defended
the retention of highly personal data on travelers not involved in or linked
to any violations of the law. But civil liberties advocates have alleged
that the type of information preserved by the department raises alarms
about the government's ability to intrude into the lives of ordinary people.
The millions of travelers whose records are kept by the government are
generally unaware of what their records say, and the government has not
created an effective mechanism for reviewing the data and correcting any
errors, activists said." ... "The activists alleged that the data collection
effort, as carried out now, violates the Privacy Act, which bars the gathering
of data related to Americans' exercise of their First Amendment rights,
such as their choice of reading material or persons with whom to associate.
They also expressed concern that such personal data could one day be used
to impede their right to travel." ... ""The federal government is trying
to build a surveillance society," said John Gilmore, a civil liberties
activist in San Francisco whose records were requested by the Identity
Project, an ad-hoc group of privacy advocates in California and Alaska.
The government, he said, "may be doing it with the best or worst of intentions.
. . . But the job of building a surveillance database and populating it
with information about us is happening largely without our awareness and
without our consent."" (1, 2)
-By Ellen Nakashima with contributions by Julie Tate-WashingtonPost
Secret
- 
Phone
- 
E-Mail
- Surveillance
- Company
- Consumer- Lawsuit
- Politics
- Terrorism
- Government
- Intelligence
- San
Francisco - California
- "Case
Dismissed? The secret lobbying campaign your phone
company doesn't want you to know about." ... "The nation’s biggest telecommunications
companies, working closely with the [Republican President Bush] White House,
have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve
a measure wiping out all private lawsuits against them for assisting the
U.S. intelligence community’s warrantless surveillance programs." ... "The
campaign—which involves some of Washington's most prominent lobbying and
law firms—has taken on new urgency in recent weeks because of fears that
a U.S. appellate court in San Francisco [California] is poised to rule
that the lawsuits should be allowed to proceed." ... "If that happens,
the telecom companies say, they may be forced to terminate their cooperation
with the U.S. intelligence community—or risk potentially crippling damage
awards for allegedly turning over personal information about their customers
to the government without a judicial warrant." ... "But critics say the
language proposed by the White House—drafted in close cooperation with
the industry officials—is so extraordinarily broad that it would provide
retroactive immunity for all past telecom actions related to the surveillance
program. Its practical effect, they argue, would be to shut down any independent
judicial or state inquires into how the companies have assisted the government
in eavesdropping on the telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. residents in
the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks." ... "Among those coordinating
the industry’s effort are two well-connected capital players who both worked
for President George H.W. Bush: Verizon general counsel William Barr, who
served as attorney general under 41, and AT&T senior executive vice
president James Cicconi, who was the elder Bush's deputy chief of staff."
... "Working with them are a battery of major D.C. lobbyists and lawyers
who are providing "strategic advice" to the companies on the issue, according
to sources familiar with the campaign who asked not to be identified talking
about it. Among the players, these sources said: powerhouse Republican
lobbyists Charlie Black and Wayne Berman (who represent AT&T and Verizon,
respectively), former GOP senator and U.S. ambassador to Germany Dan Coats
(a lawyer at King & Spaulding who is representing Sprint), former Democratic
Party strategist and one-time assistant secretary of State Tom Donilon
(who represents Verizon), former deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick
(whose law firm also represents Verizon) and Brad Berenson, a former assistant
White House counsel under President George W. Bush who now represents AT&T."
(1,
2,
3)
-By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball
-MSNBC/Newsweek
Gay
- People
- Politics
- San
Diego - California
- "Sanders
changes mind on gay marriage: Mayor supports effort
to overturn state ban." ... "A tearful [San Diego California Republican]
Mayor Jerry Sanders made a dramatic shift yesterday, explaining that he
can no longer oppose same-sex marriages because he does not want to deny
justice to people like his daughter, who is a lesbian." ... "Joined at
a late afternoon news conference by his wife, Rana Sampson, the San Diego
mayor announced he will back a City Council decision to support same-sex
marriage before the state Supreme Court, where California's ban on it awaits
review." ... "He began by explaining his refusal to veto the council's
decision, saying his beliefs had “evolved significantly” since 2005, when
he established his stance on civil unions during his first mayoral campaign."
... "In the time since, he said he realized he could not accept “the concept
of a separate-but-equal institution.” Because of that, he continued, he
was unwilling to send the message to anyone that “they were less important,
less worthy or less deserving of the rights and responsibilities of marriage.”
" -By Jennifer Vigil -Union-Tribune
Howard
J Krongard - US
- Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- Military
- 
Accounting
- Law
- Government
- 
Employees
- Blackwater
- Money
- Politics
- California
- "State
Dept. Official Accused of Blocking Inquiry." ...
"A top House Democrat began an inquiry on Tuesday into accusations that
the State Department's inspector general repeatedly interfered with investigations
into fraud and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, including security defects
at the new United States Embassy in Baghdad [Iraq's capital]." ... "[Democratic]
Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the chairman of the Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform, sent the inspector general, Howard
J. Krongard, a 14-page letter spelling out accusations made by several
current and former employees of Mr. Krongard's office who documented their
charges with e-mail messages." ... ""One consistent element in these allegations
is that you believe your foremost mission is to support the [Republican
President] Bush administration, especially with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan,
rather than act as an independent and objective check on waste, fraud and
abuse on behalf of U.S. taxpayers," Mr. Waxman wrote. He invited Mr. Krongard
to respond to the accusations at a committee hearing on Oct. 16." ... "Mr.
Waxman told Mr. Krongard that he had been accused of impeding an investigation
of a security company suspected of "illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq."
The Associated Press reported that the unnamed company was Blackwater."
-By David Stout with contributions by Brian Knowlton
-NYTimes
Howard
Krongard
- Karl
Rove
- 
Kenneth
Tomlinson
- Media
- Politics
- Calif
- "Waxman:
State Department IG tried to shield Bush administration from embarrassment."
... "House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman
[Democratic California Representative] Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will investigate
allegations that State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard “interfered
with ongoing investigations to protect the State Department and the White
House from political embarrassment.”" ... "The lawmaker said that former
assistant inspector general for investigations John DeDona and former deputy
assistant inspector general Ralph McNamara both have contacted his office.
Waxman added that both individuals resigned from their posts because Krongard
“repeatedly halted or impeded investigations undertaken by their office.”"
... "The lawmaker also alleges that the inspector general “interfered with
an on-going investigation into the conduct of Kenneth Tomlinson, the head
of Voice of America and a close associate of Karl Rove, by passing information
about the inquiry to Mr. Tomlinson.”" -By Klaus Marre
-TheHill.com
University
- Free
Speech - Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Law
- Los
Angeles - California
- "GOP
politician sent email asking how to stop naming of dean."
... "A conservative [Republican] Los Angeles County politician asked about
two dozen people in an e-mail last month how to prevent the University
of California, Irvine from hiring renowned liberal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky
as its founding law school dean, a spokesman for the politician said Friday."
... "Making Chemerinsky the head of the law school "would be like appointing
al-Qaida in charge of homeland security," Michael Antonovich, a longtime
Republican member of the county Board of Supervisors, said in a voicemail
left with The Associated Press." ... "He was not available for further
comment on why he was getting involved in the situation at a campus located
outside his jurisdiction in Orange County [California]." ... "Chemerinsky,
a frequent legal commentator who represented exposed CIA [Central Intelligence
Agency] agent Valerie Plame, has repeatedly said Drake told him he was
out because he was "too politically controversial" due to his liberal activism."
-By Gillian Flaccus -AP
via -SFGate.com
Justice
- 
Food
- Politics
- Los
Angeles - California
- "Taxpayers
eat $7 million government lunch tab." ... "Hungry
attendees at [the Republican President Bush run] Justice Department conferences
have been enjoying millions of dollars in meatballs and other goodies courtesy
of U.S. taxpayers, according to an inspector general's report released
Friday." ... "The report cited $5 meatballs and cans of soft drinks each
costing $4.55 among reasons 10 conferences during 2005 and 2006 cost nearly
$7 million." ... "One four-day conference of 1,500 people in Los Angeles
[California] cost the Justice Department $394,000 in August 2005." ...
"In addition to the platters of Swedish meatballs and soda pop, the Justice
Department paid more than $13,000 for cookies, according to the inspector
general's office." ... "A Senate committee requested the report on Justice
Department conferences, which, in fiscal year 2006, cost taxpayers nearly
$46 million, including travel, programming, food and associated costs.
Year to year costs show such meetings have totaled from $33.8 million in
2001 to a high of $58 million in 2004." -CNN
US
- Iraq
- Military
- California
- Nevada
- 
NC
- "Petraeus,
Crocker Face Skepticism on Drawdown." ... "Plans
by [Republican] President Bush to announce a withdrawal of up to 30,000
U.S. troops from Iraq by next summer drew sharp criticism yesterday from
Democratic leaders and a handful of Republicans in Congress, who vowed
to try again to force Bush to accept a more dramatic change of policy."
... "A second day of testimony by Gen. [General] David H. Petraeus, the
U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker yielded some of
the most biting GOP [Republican] objections since the president announced
his troop buildup in January. Several Republicans joined Democrats in saying
that Petraeus's proposal to draw down troops through the middle of next
summer would result only in force levels equivalent to where they stood
before the increase began, about 130,000 troops." ... "[House Speaker,
California Democratic Representative Nancy] Pelosi said she told Bush that
he was essentially endorsing a 10-year "open-ended commitment." [Senate
Majority Leader, Nevada Democratic Senator Harry] Reid said the president
wants "no change in mission -- this is more of the same."" ... "Even [North
Carolina Republican Senator] Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), a mainstream
conservative who has never publicly strayed from the administration's position
on Iraq, made it clear that she would now support "what some have called
action-forcing measures."" ... ""The difficulty of the current American
and Iraqi situation is rooted in large part in the Bush administration's
substantial failure to understand the full implications of our military
invasion and the litany of mistakes made at the outset of the war," Dole
said." (1, 2)
-By Michael Abramowitz and Jonathan Weisman
-WashingtonPost
Craig
- 
Vitter
- 
Stevens
- DeLay
- 
Ney
- Cunningham
- 
Sherwood
- 
Renzi
- 
Doolittle
- 
Jefferson
- Politicians
- Lawmakers
- Homosexual
- Idaho
- Louisiana
- Alaska
- Texas
- 
Ohio- California
- 
Pennsylvania
- 
Arizona
- 2008
Election - "House
G.O.P.'s History Could Repeat in Senate." ... "The
embarrassing [Idaho Republican Senator] Larry Craig episode combined sex
and the justice system – always a potent political mix and one reason the
Republican leadership moved so swiftly to jettison Mr. Craig." ... "Already,
Mr. Craig is the star of a Web
video from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee featuring a
lineup of recent Republican scandals being shown to the tune of the “Bad
Boys” theme song from the television show “Cops.” It seeks to ridicule
Republican claims to hold the moral high ground." ... "Mr. Craig’s guilty
plea to a sexually related disorderly conduct charge only served to remind
people about Mr. [Louisiana Republican Senator] Vitter’s [alleged prostitution]
case – and prompt accusations of a double standard since Republicans took
no action against the Louisiana lawmaker for his heterosexual incident
compared to Mr. Craig’s homosexual one." ... "Republicans can point to
the indictment of Louisiana Democrat[ic Representative] William Jefferson,
but Democrats can counter with the names of Senators Craig, Vitter and
[Alaska Republican Senator Ted] Stevens not to mention those of former
Representatives [Texas Republican] Tom DeLay, [Ohio Republican] Bob Ney,
[California Republican] Duke Cunningham and [Pennsylvania Republican] Don
Sherwood." ... "Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, another Republican
under investigation, has already announced he will not seek re-election
[in 2008] and top aides to [Republican] Representative John Doolittle of
California, a former member of the Republican leadership, were called before
a grand jury this week." -By Carl Hulse
-NYTimes
E-Mail
- Computer
- Tech
- Company
- Government
- Communications
- Archive
- Presidential
Records Act - Law
- Politics
- California
- "Bush
E-Mail Mystery Deepens: White House Won't Name Tech Contractor."
... "The [Republican President Bush] White House will not identify a private
company which appears to be involved in the disappearance of millions of
White House e-mails." ... "According to the White House, at least five
million e-mails were not properly archived and may be lost forever, in
apparent violation of the Presidential Records Act. The post-Watergate
law states that communications relating to official activity in the offices
of the president and vice president are owned by the American public and
cannot be destroyed." ... "The firm worked for the Information Assurance
Directorate, under the White House chief information officer, [California
Democratic Representative Henry] Waxman said he was told." -By
Justin Rood -ABCNEWS.com
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Intelligence
- Political
- Marketing
- Lawmakers
- 
Va
- Calif
- Nev
- "Lawmakers
Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone'." ... "The
sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green
Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military
of no particular rank. So when [Virginia Democratic Representative] Rep.
James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was
holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out." ... "In the soldier's
hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's
meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier
know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy,"
read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary
statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in
American history."" ... "The bio of [California Democratic Representative]
Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) -- "TAU (rhymes with 'now')-sher," the
bio helpfully relates -- was no less pointed, even if she once supported
the war and has taken heat from liberal Bay Area constituents who remain
wary of her position. "Our forces are caught in the middle of an escalating
sectarian conflict in Iraq, with no end in sight," the bio quotes." ...
""This is beyond parsing. This is being slimed in the Green Zone," Tauscher
said of her bio." ... "Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the
codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what
the Pentagon and the [Republican President] Bush administration have wanted
the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and [Nevada Republican
Representative] Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified
Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently
to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security
whisked the man away before he could make his point." ... "Tauscher called
it "the Green Zone fog."" ... ""Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis
and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was
deliberately manipulated."" -By Jonathan Weisman
-WashingtonPost
Homeowners
- Market
- Law
- California
- "Bush's
plan for aiding homeowners is less than it appears."
... "[Republican] President Bush on Friday unveiled his plan to address
homeowners who face foreclosure in the nation's credit crunch and housing
slump." ... "The plan was announced days before Congress returns from its
August recess with housing issues high on its agenda. The proposals, however,
duplicate efforts already under way by Congress and other federal agencies,
would help at most 21 percent of the homeowners facing foreclosures and
would do little to help areas in which inflated real estate prices are
a problem." ... "Bush called on Democrats to approve a modernization of
the Federal Housing Administration, which passed the House of Representatives
last year with bipartisan support but was quashed by Senate Republicans."
... "He promised to require greater disclosure from lenders, a move on
which federal bank regulators already have provided guidance. He promised
to get tough with unscrupulous mortgage brokers, but they're largely regulated
on the state level. And during a briefing Friday, a senior administration
official acknowledged that the plan would do little to help states with
high real estate prices, such as California." -By
Kevin
G. Hall -McClatchyDC.com
China
- Environmental
- Health
- Politics
- Air
- Land
- Water
- Coal
- Weather
- Science
- Industrial
- History
- International
- 
South
Korea - 
Japan
- USA
- California
- Los
Angeles - 
EU
- Sports
- Children
- "As
China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes."
... "No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without
creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big
dollops of public wealth to undo." ... "But just as the speed and scale
of China’s rise as an economic power have no clear parallel in history,
so its pollution problem has shattered all precedents. Environmental degradation
is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions,
that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public
but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party. And
it is not clear that China can rein in its own economic juggernaut." ...
"Public health is reeling. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause
of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed
for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people
lack access to safe drinking water." ... "Chinese cities often seem wrapped
in a toxic gray shroud. Only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city
dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union. Beijing [China's
capital] is frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological
deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics." ... "Environmental
woes that might be considered catastrophic in some countries can seem commonplace
in China: industrial cities where people rarely see the sun; children killed
or sickened by lead poisoning or other types of local pollution; a coastline
so swamped by algal red tides that large sections of the ocean no longer
sustain marine life." ... "China is choking on its own success. The economy
is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates.
But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from
a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires
colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available,
and dirtiest, source." ... "China’s problem has become the world’s problem.
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants
fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea [capital], and Tokyo [Japan's capital].
Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles [California, USA] originates
in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research." (1, 2,
3,
4,
5,
6)
-By Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley
-NYTimes
Consumer
- Housing
- History
- California
- Illinois
- 
Minnesota
- Texas
- "Drop
Foreseen in Median Price of U.S. Homes." ... "The
median price of American homes is expected to fall this year for the first
time since federal housing agencies began keeping statistics in 1950."
... "Economists say the decline, which could be foreshadowed in a widely
followed government price index to be released this week, will probably
be modest — from 1 percent to 2 percent — but could continue in 2008 and
2009. Rather than being limited to the once-booming Northeast and California,
price declines are also occurring in cities like Chicago [Illinois], Minneapolis
[Minnesota] and Houston [Texas], where the increases of the last decade
were modest by comparison." ... "The reversal is particularly striking
because many government officials and housing-industry executives had said
that a nationwide decline would never happen, even though prices had fallen
in some coastal areas as recently as the early 1990s." ... "While the housing
slump has already rattled financial markets, it has so far had only a modest
effect on consumer spending and economic growth. But forecasters now believe
that its impact will lead to a slowdown over the next year or two." ...
"Unless the real estate downturn is much worse than economists are expecting,
the declines will not come close to erasing the increases of the last decade."
(1, 2)
-By David Leonhardt and Vikas Bajaj
-NYTimes
Government
- Intelligence
- Wiretap
- Secrets
- Phone
- E-Mail
- 
Internet
- Messages
- Technology
- Companies
- Politics
- San
Francisco - California
- "Classified
evidence debated: Court likely to allow suit against
AT&T, reject wiretap case." ... "A federal appeals court holding a
high-stakes hearing Wednesday in San Francisco [California] on President
Bush's clandestine eavesdropping program appeared inclined to keep alive
a lawsuit accusing AT&T of illegally letting the government intercept
millions of Americans' phone calls and e-mails." ... "At the same hearing,
however, the panel appeared skeptical about a suit by a defunct Islamic
charity that said it had evidence that it and two of its lawyers had been
wiretapped - the only such case in the nation filed by an alleged target
of the surveillance program. The snag is that the evidence, a document
that the government inadvertently released to the plaintiffs in 2004, is
classified top secret and thus can't be used in court to prove that the
calls were overheard." ... "The two-hour hearing by the Ninth U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals involved two different cases with a common theme: the
Bush administration's argument that the details of the program were so
sensitive that a lawsuit challenging any aspect of it would pose an unacceptable
risk of exposing state secrets." ... "The AT&T suit, like several cases
pending against other telecommunications companies, accuses the firm of
giving the National Security Agency unlimited access to customers' phone
calls, e-mails and message records. Plaintiffs in the AT&T case have
submitted a declaration by a former company engineer who said he helped
install equipment at the company's San Francisco office that would divert
Internet messages to a room reserved for government-cleared employees."
-By Bob Egelko -SFGate.com
US
- China
- Manufacturing
- Market
- Baby
- Safety
- Environmental
- Science
- Consumer
- WalMart
- Calif
- "Some
Baby Bibs Said to Contain Levels of Lead." ... "Certain
vinyl baby bibs sold at Toys “R” Us stores appear to be contaminated with
lead, laboratory tests have shown, making the inexpensive bibs another
example of a made-in-China product that may be a health hazard to children."
... "The vinyl bibs, which feature illustrations of baseball bats and soccer
balls and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh characters, are sold for less than $5
each under store brand labels, including Especially for Baby and Koala
Baby." ... "Tests this summer, financed by the Center for Environmental
Health of Oakland, Calif. [California], found lead as high as three times
the level allowed in paint in several styles of the bibs purchased from
both Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores in California." ... "“These bibs
are exposing children to lead in an unnecessary way,” said Caroline Cox,
research director at the Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit agency
that for the last decade has been testing consumer products for lead, in
an effort to remove them from the market." ... "The bibs were imported
for Toys “R” Us by Hamco Baby Products, the same company that made the
bibs for Wal-Mart." ... "Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us are jointly controlled
by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital and Vornado Realty Trust. Hamco
is a unit of Crown Crafts." -By Eric Lipton
-NYTimes
US
- International
- Secret
- Government
- Phone
- Wiretapping
- Internet
- Intelligence
- Database
- Technology
- Law
- San
Francisco - California
- "NSA
Judge: 'I feel like I'm in Alice and Wonderland'."
... "Spectators lined up outside the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco [California] starting at noon to guarantee a seat at a much-anticipated
legal showdown over the government's secret wiretapping program." ... "The
hearing involves two cases: one aimed at AT&T for allegedly helping
the government with a widespread datamining program allegedly involving
domestic and international phone calls and internet use; the other a direct
challenge to the government's admitted warrantless wiretapping of overseas
phone calls." ... "Jon Eisenberg, (right [photo at Wired.com]) an Oakland-based
[California] attorney, is arguing on behalf of a now-defunct Islamic charity
Al-Haramain and its lawyers, who claim to have been accidentally given
a Top Secret log of their own phone conversations, which they say proves
the government illegally eavesdropped on them without warrants." ... "The
courtroom filled quickly with more than 20 attorneys in the courtroom well,
and 80 spectators seated and standing. Another 40 filed into
an overflow courtroom, including Mark Klein, the former AT&T engineer
who provided internal company documents to the EFF. Those documents allegedly
show that AT&T built a secret spying room for the NSA in its San Francisco
internet switching center. " ... "The government says the purported log
of calls between one of the Islamic charity directors and two American
lawyers is classified Top Secret and has the SCI level, meaning that it
is "secure compartmented information." That designation usually applies
to surveillance information" -By Kevin Poulsen
-Wired
China
- Global
- Business
- Canada
- US
- Calif
- Children
- Safety
- Consumer
- "More
than 18 million Mattel toys on recall globally."
... "Mattel Inc. announced more problems with its Chinese-made products
Tuesday, recalling nearly 18.7 million toys around the globe because of
dangers associated with small magnets or lead paint." ... "The announcement,
which covers about 18.2 magnetic toys and another 436,000 made with lead
paint, comes less than two weeks after the toymaker recalled nearly one
million Chinese-made toys sold in the U.S. because of excessive amounts
of lead in the paint." ... "Nearly one million toys have been recalled
in Canada, Mattel said in statement released Tuesday. They include about
890,000 magnetic toys such as Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures,
and 32,800 Sarge die-cast cars that contain lead paint." ... "In an interview
with CBC from the company's headquarters in El Segundo, Calif. [California],
Mattel's executive vice-president Bryan Stockton did not rule out the possibility
of more recalls." ... "In the United States, nearly nine million toys were
included in Tuesday's recall, officials from the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission said at a news conference in Washington [DC]." ... "If
more than one magnet is swallowed, they can attach to each other and cause
intestinal perforation, infection or blockage, which can be fatal." ...
"While Stockton said Mattel is now testing every single batch of toys made,
in China and elsewhere, the company will continue manufacturing goods in
the Asian country. " -CBC.ca
J
Dennis Hastert - DeLay
- 
Foley
- Cunningham
- Ney
- Legislation
- History
- Illinois
- Texas
- Ga
- La
- Florida
- California
- Ohio
- "Hastert
Planning to Retire at End of 2008, GOP Sources Say."
... "After less than a year as a rank-and-file House member, former Speaker
[Illinois Republican Representative] J. Dennis Hastert is expected to call
an end to a political career that made him the longest serving Republican
Speaker in the history of the House of Representatives." ... "Hastert,
65, was first elected to Congress in 1986 after GOP [Illinois Republican
Representative] Rep. John E. Grotberg retired. He quietly worked his way
up the ranks in the House, propelled into the Republican leadership in
1994 by then-Rep. [Texas Republican Representative] Tom DeLay, R-Texas."
... "Hastert ran DeLay’s successful upstart campaign for majority whip
after Republicans captured control of Congress, and DeLay in turn named
Hastert as his chief deputy. Four years later, in 1998, DeLay helped to
elevate Hastert to Speaker after [Georgia Republican Representative] Newt
Gingrich, R-Ga., stepped down following the loss of GOP seats in that year’s
elections and [Louisiana Republican Representative] Robert L. Livingston,
R-La., withdrew abruptly from contention after acknowledging an extramarital
affair." ... "Throughout his time as Speaker, Hastert was personally popular
with rank-and-file Republicans, who never saw him as part of the ethics
problems that plagued DeLay and former [Florida Republican Representative]
Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. (1995-2006), or the criminal misdeeds of former
[California Republican Representative] Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif.
(1991-2005) and [Ohio Republican Representative] Bob Ney, R-Ohio (1995-2006)."
... "He also set a standard for the GOP majority by only allowing legislation
on the floor of the House that was backed by the “majority of the majority,”
[of Republicans] an approach that all but denied Democrats a chance to
help shape legislation." ... "The minority party had little say in conferences
with the Senate during Hastert’s tenure, because conference committees
became an after-the-fact formality that rubber-stamped deals worked out
by a handful of House and Senate Republican members who operated under
the thumb of party leaders." -By Jonathan Allen with
contributions by Alan K. Ota, Martin Kady II, and David Nathe
-CQPolitics.com
Alberto
R Gonzales - Politics
- DNA
- Law
- California
- "Gonzales
could get say in states' executions: Proposed rules
would let the attorney general sign off on 'fast tracking' death penalty
appeals." ... "The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations
that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over
death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power
to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to
federal courts." ... "The rules implement a little-noticed provision in
last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney
general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate
counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held
by federal judges." ... "Under the rules now being prepared, if a state
requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use "fast track" procedures
that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal
to the federal courts after conviction in a state court." ... "The move
to shorten the appeals process and effectively speed up executions comes
at a time of growing national concern about the fairness of the death penalty,
underscored by the use of DNA testing to establish the innocence of more
than a dozen death row inmates in recent years." ... "About 3,350 people
are on death row in the U.S., including more than 600 in California." (1,
2)
-By Richard B. Schmitt with contributions by Henry
Weinstein -LAtimes
US
- 
Sudan
- 
Iran
- China
- 
Mitt
Romney
- Oil
- Money
- People
- Human
Rights - 2008
Election - 
Massachusetts
- California
- Iowa
- Nevada
- "Romney
portfolio has link to Sudan: The GOP candidate's
trustee has recently sold other potentially controversial holdings." ...
"[2008 election] Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney divested from
companies doing business in Iran, but he still holds stock in an oil company
that does business in Sudan -- where the government is accused of sponsoring
genocide -- his financial disclosure report filed Monday shows." ... "Romney,
the wealthiest presidential contender, is worth $190 million to $250 million,
with investments spread among stocks, treasuries and high-end funds. R.
Bradford Malt, Romney's attorney, acts as sole trustee of what until Monday
was a blind trust, and makes investment decisions." ... "His wealth is
key to his candidacy. As he did when he successfully ran for Massachusetts
governor in 2002, he is dipping into his accounts. He has lent his presidential
campaign more than $9 million." ... "According to the report, Romney holds
stock in China Petroleum and Chemical (also known as SinoPec), an oil supply
company that has dealings in Sudan, according to an organization dedicated
to ending the genocide in the African nation's Darfur region." ... "[Republican]
President Bush has denounced the killings of tens of thousands of civilians
in Darfur [Sudan] and declared that genocide is being committed. California
and early-voting Iowa are among the states where officials have urged divestment."
... "The report shows that Romney has numerous offshore holdings." ...
"His biggest single holding appears to have been MGM Mirage, owners of
a major casino in Las Vegas [Nevada]." (1, 2)
-By Dan Morain
-LAtimes
Gordon
Smith - Dick
Cheney - Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Federal
- Investigation
- History
- Portland
- Ore
- California
- 
Fish
- Food
- 
Farmers
- Business
- "Smith
backs Cheney on salmon kill controversy." ... "[Oregon
Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon], is siding
with [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney over a massive fish kill on
the Klamath River in 2002, saying there is no evidence it was caused by
water diversions to farmers." [The Klamath River runs through Oregon and
California] ... "Smith also defended Cheney's role in intervening with
federal officials to help farmers in the Klamath Basin and cast doubt that
the salmon die-off caused sharp commercial costal [coastal] fishing restrictions."
... "The House Natural Resources Committee is investigating whether Cheney
exerted improper political influence to override scientifically based management
of the water resources." ... "Environmentalists, often at odds with Smith,
say his stance contradicts a study by the California Department of Fish
and Game, which found that the water diversions played a key role in the
deaths of some 77,000 salmon." ... "The California Fish and Game report
cited several factors leading to the fish kill, the largest in recorded
West Coast history." ... "There were larger-than-normal salmon returns,
warm water and low river flows that combined to crowd the fish, hastening
the spread of disease." ... "The report concluded that, "River flow and
the volume of water in the fish-kill area were atypically low," and that
the river flow was the only factor controlled by humans." ... ""It's stretching
credibility to claim that the flow management decisions by the [Republican
President] Bush administration in 2002 had nothing to do with the low flows
in the Klamath River," said Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild, a Portland-based
environmental group." -AP
via -kgw.com
US
- Political
- Terrorism
- Government
- Foreign
- Intelligence
- Communications
- Surveillance
- Law
- 
Wisconsin
- California
- "Reported
Drop in Surveillance Spurred a Law." ... "At a closed-door
briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers
with some troubling news. American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25
percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few
months earlier." ... "Congress needed to act quickly, intelligence officials
said, to repair a dangerous situation." ... "Some lawmakers were alarmed.
Others, jaded by past intelligence warnings, were skeptical." ... "The
report helped set off a furious legislative rush last week that, improbably,
broadened the [Republican President Bush] administration’s authority to
wiretap terrorism suspects without court oversight." ... "To many Democrats
who opposed the action, it was a reflection of fear mongering by the White
House, and political capitulation by some fellow Democrats." ... "“There
was an intentional manipulation of the facts to get this legislation through,”
said Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, a Democrat on the Intelligence
Committee who voted against the plan." ... "Representative [California
Democratic Representative] Jane Harman, Democrat of California, said the
White House “very skillfully played the fear card.”" (1, 2)
-By Eric Lichtblau, James Risen, and Mark Mazzetti
-NYTimes
US
- Global
- Iraq
- Military
- Money
- US_Debt
- Calif
- "Bush
May Try to Cut Corporate Tax Rates: President Cites
Need To Compete Globally." ... "[Republican] President Bush said yesterday
that he is considering a fresh plan to cut tax rates for U.S. corporations
to make them more competitive around the world, an initiative that could
further inflame a battle with the Democratic Congress over spending and
taxes and help define the remainder of his tenure." ... "The focus on economic
issues on Bush's last day in Washington before leaving town today for most
of the rest of the month reflected a White House strategy to confront Democrats
on tax and spending issues." ... "Democrats quickly returned fire, noting
that Bush inherited a surplus that turned into a deficit and that he never
vetoed a spending bill during the six years that Republicans controlled
Capitol Hill, even as the budget grew by 50 percent." ... ""After six years
of reckless spending in Washington, President Bush is the last person who
should brag about fiscal responsibility," said [California Democratic Representative]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She accused the president of misrepresenting
Democratic spending plans, which she said come in lower than his and have
received some Republican support. And she said Bush wants "to spend $2,800
each second . . . to keep our troops in the middle of a civil war in Iraq.""
-By Peter Baker with contributions by David S. Hilzenrath
and Lori Montgomery -WashingtonPost
Sports
- Drug
- Law
- San
Francisco - California
- "Bonds
Sets Baseball's Home Run Record: Giants Slugger Passes
Aaron With No. 756." ... "Seven fifty-five, the most cherished number in
baseball if not all of American sports, lived a good, long, noble life.
Spawned from the powerful bat of an aging slugger named Hank Aaron on July
20, 1976, it grew in stature over the years, surviving the occasional challenge
and ruling over the record book even as other, lesser records fell. But
on a cool Tuesday night near the shores of San Francisco Bay [San Francisco,
California], 755 finally perished at the hands of a relentless, controversial
invader from the west named Barry Lamar Bonds. Seven fifty-five is gone.
Behold, 756." ... "Only three players in the last 86 years have held the
sport's signature mark. Babe Ruth first captured it in 1921, then surrendered
it posthumously to Aaron in 1974. And now, for better or worse, it belongs
to Bonds." ... "Across the land, baseball fans, including many who play
and run the game, are unsure what to make of 756 because of the player
who struck it. Bonds is alleged to have used steroids beginning in the
late 1990s, fueling a late-career explosion in offensive production that
is unparalleled in baseball history. Even as Bonds took aim at Aaron's
record this summer, a grand jury continued to investigate him for possible
perjury and tax evasion charges stemming from his involvement with an alleged
steroids ring." ... ""This record is not tainted," Bonds said in his postgame
news conference. "It's not tainted at all. At all. Period. You guys [in
the media] can say whatever you want."" -By Dave Sheinin
-WashingtonPost
US
American - Mexico
- Los
Angeles - Calif
- US
Immigration - Civil
Liberties - Law
- "Deported
in Error, Missing and Months Later Home." ... "An
American missing in Mexico for nearly three months after being wrongfully
deported has been found and reunited with his family here [Los Angeles,
California]." ... "The man, Pedro Guzman, 29, was taken into custody on
Sunday at the border crossing in Calexico, Calif., as he tried to enter
the United States, said Mark D. Rosenbaum, legal director of the American
Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which has represented the
family." -By Randal C. Archibold
-NYTimes
Hacking
- 2008
Election - Electronic
- Voting
Machines - Los
Angeles - California
- Politics
- "39
counties' vote systems in question: [Los Angeles,
California] L.A.'s InkaVote method may be recertified, but others face
starting from scratch with a primary [2008] election looming." ... "County
election officials scrambled on Saturday to develop contingency plans for
the February presidential primary election after California's secretary
of state imposed broad restrictions on electronic voting machines that
she said are susceptible to hacking." ... "Secretary of State Debra Bowen
decertified the voting machines used in 39 counties, including Los Angeles
County's InkaVote system." ... "The decision places California at the center
of the national debate on electronic voting machines. And with Bowen's
action, the state now has some of the nation's strictest regulations governing
their use." ... "Last week, Bowen's office released its audit of the electronic
voting machines used in California that found some could be manipulated
either by breaking into the hardware or by hacking into the software."
... "The hardest-hit counties were the 39 using machines manufactured by
Diebold Election Systems or Sequoia Voting Systems. Bowen ruled that those
machines could be used only in special circumstances." ... "During the
March 2004 primary in California, touch-screen voting terminals by Diebold
malfunctioned, and state election officials discovered that the machines
contained uncertified software." (1, 2,
3)
-By Hector Becerra and Jordan Rau
-LAtimes
Hacking
- 2008
Elections - Electronic
- Voting
Machines - Politics
- Los
Angeles - California
- "State
decides to secure electronic voting machines: [California]
Secretary of State orders more precautions be taken against tampering,
and withdraws support of the InkaVote Plus machines used in Southern California."
... "Expressing concern that several brands of electronic voting machines
used in California were vulnerable to tampering, Secretary of State Debra
Bowen late Friday ordered new security protections be added and limited
the use of two types of machines that were to be used in next year's [2008]
elections in several Southern California counties." ... "Bowen also withdrew
state approval of the InkaVote Plus machines used in Los Angeles County
[California], saying that the machines' maker, Election Systems and Software,
had failed to submit its equipment to her office in time to analyze its
vulnerability to hacking." ... "Bowen ordered that some machines made by
Diebold Election Systems and Sequoia Voting Systems be limited to one per
polling place to limit the chances that they could be tampered with." ...
"The security requirements Bowen imposed include: reinstalling the software
before the Feb. 5. election to ensure it has not already been tampered
with; placing special seals at vulnerable parts of the machines to reveal
tampering; securing each machines at the close of each day of early voting;
assigning a specific election monitor to safeguard each machine; and conducting
a complete manual count of all votes cast." ... "Alan Dechert, president
of Open Voting Consortium, and group that is critical of the electronic
voting machines, said many activists would be critical that Bowen did not
completely decertify those machines. "She's not asking for changes to hardware
or software," he said. "This is not really doing much for transparency.""
(1, 2)
-By Jordan Rau and Hector Becerra
-LAtimes
Alberto
R Gonzales - Karl
Rove
- 
Sara
M Taylor
- Political
- Federal
- Employees
- Media
- Markets
- California
- 2004
Election - 2006
Election - 2008
Election - "Gonzales
Now Says Top Aides Got Political Briefings." ...
"Justice Department officials attended at least a dozen political briefings
at the [Republican President Bush] White House since 2001, including some
meetings led by Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and
others that were focused on election trends prior to the 2006 [election]
midterm contest, according to documents released yesterday." ... "Attorney
General Alberto R. Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week
that he did not believe that senior Justice Department officials had attended
such briefings. But he clarified his testimony yesterday in a letter to
Congress, emphasizing that the briefings were not held at the agency's
offices." ... "Internal guidelines forbid partisan meetings at the Justice
Department and sharply restrict the ability of employees to participate
directly in election campaigns or other political activities, a Justice
official said yesterday." ... "[California Democratic Representative Henry]
Waxman is investigating whether the meetings violated the Hatch Act, which
prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity
on federal government property." ... "Top ambassadors in early January
learned from Rove and [Sara M.] Taylor the top 36 targets among House Democratic
incumbents in the 2008 [election] races, while State Department employees
at a White House meeting in 2001 learned what the most critical media markets
were for Bush's reelection in 2004 [election]." -By
Dan Eggen and Paul Kane -WashingtonPost
John
McCain
- US
Immigration - Law
- Arizona
- South
Carolina - California
- 2008
Election - "Republicans
hardening stance on immigration." ... "An anti-immigration
backlash has taken hold among Republicans in the Capitol, led in some cases
by the staunchest supporters - [2008 election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Arizona Senator] Sens. John McCain and [Republican Senator] Jon Kyl
of Arizona and [Republican Senator] Lindsey Graham of South Carolina -
of the failed Senate bill derided by many as amnesty." ... "[California
Democratic Representative] Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a San Jose [California] Democrat,
fended off GOP efforts Friday to block what in normal times would be noncontroversial
"private bills" to remedy the most compelling individual plights of a handful
of illegal immigrants caught in the labyrinth of immigration law." ...
"Late Thursday night, Republicans walked out of a House vote to protest
what they said was an attempt by Democrats to reverse a GOP win on a motion
to deny benefits to illegal immigrants in an agriculture spending bill."
... "Republicans said the vote was gaveled to a close as members were still
voting, and that they actually prevailed 215-213." ... "Democrats apologized
the next day for the snafu, but refused to change the vote in which they
ultimately defeated the anti-illegal immigrant measure." -By
Carolyn Lochhead -SFGate.com
California
- Newspaper
- Law
- "7
Arrested in Death of Oakland Newspaper Editor." ...
"A day after a prominent newspaper editor was shot to death downtown [Oakland,
California], the police here on Friday arrested seven men and seized several
weapons that they suspected were used in his killing and those of two other
men." ... "Oakland police officials said they suspected that the men were
part of a group operating “a very violent criminal enterprise” out of a
neighborhood bakery." ... "The arrests came after a predawn raid by SWAT
teams at the bakery, the Your Black Muslim Bakery, and three bakery-owned
properties, where the police found several firearms, including the gun
they believe was used to kill the editor, Chauncey Bailey, of the weekly
Oakland Post." -By Jesse McKinley with contributions
by Carolyn Marshall
-NYTimes
Electronic
- Voting
Machine - Election
- Hacking
- Technology
- Secrecy
- California
- 2008
Elections - Politics
- "Virus
attack on single e-voting machine could tilt election:
Review of Deibold's source code shows an attacker with access to a one
electronic voting machine could change the outcome of an election using
viruses." ... "Diebold Election Systems voting
machines are not secure enough to guarantee a trustworthy election,
and an attacker with access to a single machine could disrupt or change
the outcome of an election using viruses, according to a review of Diebold's
source code." ... ""The software contains serious design flaws that have
led directly to specific vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit to
affect election outcomes," read the University of California at Berkeley
report, commissioned by the California Secretary of State as part of a
two-month "top to bottom" review of electronic voting systems certified
for use in California." ... "The assessment of Diebold's source code revealed
an attacker needs only limited access to compromise an election." ... ""An
attack could plausibly be accomplished by a single skilled individual with
temporary access to a single voting machine. The damage could be extensive
-- malicious code could spread to every voting machine in polling places
and to county election servers," it said." ... "The report, titled "Source
Code Review of the Diebold Voting System," [PDF] was apparently
released Thursday, just one day before California Secretary of State Debra
Bowen is to decide which machines are certified for use in California's
2008 presidential primary elections." ... "The source-code review identified
four main weaknesses in Diebold's software: vulnerabilities that allow
an attacker to install malware on the machines, a failure to guarantee
the secrecy of ballots, a lack of controls to prevent election workers
from tampering with ballots and results, and susceptibility to viruses
that could allow attackers to an influence an election." -By
Sumner Lemon -IDG.net
via -InfoWorld
Secret
- US
- World
- Intelligence
- E-Mail
- Communications
- Spying
- Government
- Law- Politics
- 
John
A Boehner
- Ohio
- Illinois- California
- New
York
- "Ruling
Limited Spying Efforts: Move to Amend FISA Sparked
by Judge's Decision." ... "A federal intelligence court judge earlier this
year secretly declared a key element of the [Republican President] Bush
administration's wiretapping efforts illegal, according to a lawmaker and
government sources, providing a previously unstated rationale for fevered
efforts by congressional lawmakers this week to expand the president's
spying powers." ... "House Minority Leader [Ohio Republican Representative]
John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) disclosed elements of the court's decision in
remarks Tuesday to Fox News as he was promoting the administration-backed
wiretapping legislation. Boehner has denied revealing classified information,
but two government officials privy to the details confirmed that his remarks
concerned classified information." ... "The judge, whose name could not
be learned, concluded early this year that the government had overstepped
its authority in attempting to broadly surveil communications between two
locations overseas that are passed through routing stations in the United
States, according to two other government sources familiar with the decision."
... "The practical effect has been to block the NSA's [National Security
Agency's] efforts to collect information from a large volume of foreign
calls and e-mails that passes through U.S. communications nodes clustered
around New York and California." ... ""There's been a ruling, over the
last four or five months, that prohibits the ability of our intelligence
services and our counterintelligence people from listening in to two terrorists
in other parts of the world where the communication could come through
the United States," Boehner told Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto in a Tuesday
interview." ... "Commenting on Boehner's remarks, [Illinois Democratic
Representative] Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the House Democratic Caucus chairman,
said yesterday that "John should remember the old adage: Loose lips very
much sink ships."" (1, 2)
-By Carol D. Leonnig and Ellen Nakashima with contributions
by Dan Eggen, Barton Gellman, and Paul Kane -WashingtonPost
Home
- Employees
- New
York
- California
- "American
Home to Declare Bankruptcy, Employees Told by Managers."
... "[New York-based] American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a U.S. lender
that halted operations yesterday, intends to file for bankruptcy, according
to two employees told of the decision by managers in meetings." ... "American
Home would become the second-biggest U.S. mortgage lender to seek bankruptcy
protection this year and the biggest that caters to people with good credit.
The company this week stopped making loans and fired 90 percent of its
7,000 employees after a surge in borrower defaults prompted investment
banks to quit extending credit. American Home issued almost $60 billion
of loans last year from 550 offices in 47 states." ... "At least 11 other
mortgage companies have declared bankruptcy in the past year, most of them
because of losses on so-called subprime loans made to people with blemished
or limited credit histories. The biggest, Irvine, California-based New
Century Financial Corp., sold subprime mortgages." -By
Bob Ivry and Bradley Keoun -Bloomberg
Noteworthy
- Media
- Terrorism
- San
Francisco - California
- Illinois
- Connecticut
- 2008
Election - "Dodd,
Talk Show Host Exchange On-Air Jabs." ... "[Rupert
Murdoch's Foxnews Host] Bill O'Reilly told [2008 election Democratic Presidential
Candidate and Connecticut Senator] Chris Dodd, "I don't have any respect
for you" and "if I were Joe Lieberman, I would never talk to you again.""
... "Dodd fired back that the talk show host says "a lot of things [that]
are vile on a daily basis" and that studies show O'Reilly says something
derogatory about people or groups once every 6.8 seconds." ... "Dodd's
presidential campaign has been itching for the confrontation all week.
"Support Chris Dodd's strong stance against partisan media," says the front
page of the Dodd campaign website. The site urges viewers to "stand up"
against O'Reilly by contributing." ... "O'Reilly set the tone early in
the five-minute interview. He told listeners about his distaste for the
liberal blog Daily Kos and this week's convention, called Yearly Kos, in
Chicago [Illinois]. The convention is expected to attract most of the Democratic
presidential candidates, including Dodd." ... "[Dodd to O'Reilly,] "You
ought to be far more candid with your viewing audience here and tell them
your real objection here is the ideology of Daily Kos," the senator said."
... "On the argument went, with Dodd noting that in 2005, O'Reilly suggested
he wouldn't mind seeing San Francisco's [California] Coit Tower blown up
by al-Qaida." -By David Lightman
-Courant.com
US
- Afghanistan
- California
- Arizona
- Sports
- Pat
Tillman
- Military
- Politics
- "Retired
general censured in Tillman case." ... "The Army
censured a retired three-star general Tuesday for a "perfect storm of mistakes,
misjudgments and a failure of leadership" after the 2004 friendly-fire
death in Afghanistan of Army Ranger Pat Tillman." ... "Army Secretary Pete
Geren asked a military review panel to decide whether Lt. Gen. Philip Kensinger,
who led Army special forces operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11
attacks, should also have his rank reduced." ... "Geren said he considered
recommending a court-martial for Kensinger but ruled it out." ... "[California
Democratic Senator] Sen. Barbara Boxer and [California Democratic Representative]
Rep. Mike Honda, both Democrats from Tillman's home state of California,
said there still too many unanswered questions." ... ""We still don't know
the full story about the way the Pentagon and this [Republican President
Bush] administration managed this tragedy," Boxer said in a statement.
"In my view, the Army should reconsider today's announcement and instead
move forward with harsher penalties."" ... "Geren said that investigations
have conclusively shown that accidental fire from U.S. troops was responsible
for the death in Afghanistan of Tillman, who had walked away from a $3.6
million contract with the Arizona Cardinals [football team] to become an
Army Ranger." -By Richard Lardner and Erica Werner
with contributions by Scott Lindlaw -AP
via -Yahoo
Alberto
Gonzales - Surveillance
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Calif
- WVa
- 
SD
- "Gonzales,
Senators Spar on Credibility: Account of Meeting
In '04 Is Challenged." ... "[Republican President Bush's] Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales testified yesterday that top congressional leaders
from both parties agreed in March 2004 to continue a classified surveillance
activity that Justice Department officials had deemed illegal, a contention
immediately disputed by key Democratic lawmakers." ... "[California Democratic
Representative] Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and [West Virginia Democratic
Senator] Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), who were briefed on the program
at the time, said there was no consensus that it should proceed. Three
others who were at the meeting also said the legal underpinnings of the
program were never discussed." ... ""He once again is making something
up to protect himself," Rockefeller said of the embattled attorney general."
... "Pelosi, Rockefeller and former [South Dakota Democratic] senator Thomas
A. Daschle (D-S.D.), who were members of the Gang of Eight at the time,
also sharply disputed Gonzales's description of the White House meeting.
Daschle said in a statement that he could not recall the meeting and is
"quite certain that at no time did we encourage the AG or anyone else to
take such actions." He added: "This appears to be another attempt to rewrite
history."" ... "Rockefeller said that lawmakers were never asked to give
the program their approval and that administration officials' infrequent
briefings about it were short and involved "virtually no questions."" -By
Dan Eggen and Paul Kane with contributions by Walter Pincus
-WashingtonPost
Harriet
Miers
- US
Attorneys - Politics
- San
Francisco - California
- "Pelosi
promises congressional contempt charge for Harriet Miers:
Speaker reiterates impeachment is not on her agenda." ... "Congress this
week will take the next step to force the [Republican President] Bush administration
to hand over information about the dismissal of U.S. attorneys and the
politicization of the Justice Department, House Speaker [California Democratic
Representative] Nancy Pelosi said Saturday." ... "The House Judiciary Committee
will bring contempt of Congress charges against the administration this
week, said the San Francisco Democrat. She did not specify who the subject
of the action would be, but Pelosi spokesman, Brendan Daly, said later
it would be former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who defied a House
Judiciary Committee subpoena to appear." ... ""They have disregarded the
call of Congress for information about their politicizing the Department
of Justice. We can document that. Those are actual facts and we will bring
the contempt of Congress forth," said Pelosi, who spoke with reporters
at a San Francisco workshop for people who want to become U.S. citizens."
... "Contempt of Congress is defined by federal law as action that obstructs
the work of Congress, including investigations." -By
Wyatt Buchanan -SFGate.com
John
Doolittle
- 
Jack
Abramoff
- Tom
DeLay
- US
- Northern
Mariana Islands
- Calif- Money
- Politics
- "Marianas
governor and Doolittle ally says cooperating in probe."
... "The governor of the Northern Mariana Islands said Thursday he's cooperating
with the Justice Department's corruption investigation around jailed GOP
lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which is focused in part on GOP [California Republican
Representative] Rep. John Doolittle of Rocklin, Calif." ... "The tiny U.S.
commonwealth also is still trying to get back some of the millions it paid
Abramoff's firms over the years, said [Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands Governor] Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, a one-time Abramoff ally who
counted Doolittle among his congressional supporters." ... ""When I have
a friend that friend always remains a friend," said Fitial, who became
House speaker of the Marianas in 2000 after intervention from two former
aides to former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. After becoming speaker
Fitial pushed for Abramoff's contract to continue." -By
Erica Werner -NCTimes.com
Government
- Environmental
- Health
- Science
- Politics
- Children
- Air
- Safety
- Hurricane
Katrina - Emergency
- Manufactured
- Homes
- Construction
- Louisiana
- California
- Lawmakers
- "FEMA
Suppressed Health Warnings for Workers, Katrina Victims:
Agency Rejected Environmental Testing on Formaldehyde Gas Levels." ...
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency [run by the Republican President
Bush administration] has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field
workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems that may
be linked to elevated levels of formaldehyde gas released in FEMA-provided
trailers, lawmakers said today." ... "Committee Chairman [California Democratic
Representative] Henry L. Waxman (D-Calif.) called FEMA's bureaucratic neglect
of storm victims "sickening."" ... "Nearly 5,000 pages of documents turned
over to the committee "expose an official policy of premeditated ignorance,"
Waxman charged. "Senior officials in Washington didn't want to know what
they already knew, because they didn't want the legal and moral responsibility
to do what they knew had to be done."" ... "In May, FEMA said its own tests
of 96 new trailers near Baton Rouge [Louisiana] last September and October
found formaldehyde at 1.2 parts per million, but levels dropped to 0.3
parts per million after four days of ventilation. FEMA said that is the
accepted threshold used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
for its manufactured homes." ... "But Mary C. DeVany, an occupational health
and safety engineer advising the Sierra Club, testified that that exposure
limit of 0.3 parts per million is 400 times greater than the normal limit
for year-round exposure set by the CDC-affiliated Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Register. It is also three times the daily exposure limit recommended
by the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health, she said."
... ""This misapplication and skewing of scientific results is at best
unethical and grossly misrepresents and attempt to minimize the adverse
health effects being experienced by thousands of travel trailer residents,"
DeVany said." ... "Formaldehyde is a common wood preservative used in construction
materials such as particle board, plywood, glue, curtains, molded plastic
and countertops." ... "The chemical can cause vision and respiratory problems.
It has been linked to higher rates of asthma, bronchitis and allergies
in children with long-term exposure." (1, 2,
3)
-By Spencer S. Hsu -WashingtonPost
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- 
Kyle
Dustin "Dusty" Foggo - 
Porter
J Goss - 
Mitchell
Wade - Brent
Wilkes - Lawmakers
- Government
- Intelligence
- Money
- Politicians
- San
Diego - California
- Fla
- "Cunningham
report portrays entangled panel: The still-unreleased
findings say intelligence committee aides were used by the California congressman,
now in prison for bribery." ... "An internal investigation that the House
Intelligence Committee has refused to make public portrays the panel as
embarrassingly entangled in the [California Republican Representative]
Randy "Duke" Cunningham bribery scandal." ... "The document describes breakdowns
in leadership and controls that it says allowed Cunningham — the former
congressman (R-Rancho Santa Fe) who began an eight-year prison term last
year for taking bribes and evading taxes — to use his House position to
steer millions of dollars to corrupt contractors." ... "The report provides
the most detailed account to date of how former CIA Executive Director
Kyle Dustin "Dusty" Foggo, whose indictment on charges of defrauding the
government was recently expanded, allegedly used committee connections
to advance his career at the agency." ... "For all its finger-pointing
at staffers, the document fails to address whether other committee members
were aware of Cunningham's abuses or were culpable. For instance, the report
avoids any scrutiny of former [Florida Republican Representative] Rep.
Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), who was chairman of the panel when Cunningham's
most egregious abuses occurred." ... "The report's principal author said
in an interview that the terms under which he was hired to conduct the
investigation prevented him from examining lawmakers' roles." ... "The
document says that Cunningham began pressing to fund special projects from
the moment he joined the House Intelligence Committee in 2001, and that
his demands intensified." ... "One project, a Pentagon counterintelligence
program known as Project Fortress, was being handled by contractor Mitchell
Wade, who has since pleaded guilty to paying bribes to Cunningham." ...
"The report suggests that Cunningham began working more closely with Wade,
leading to a rift with Brent Wilkes, another contractor accused of bribing
the congressman." ... "An indictment filed May 10 in U.S. District Court
in San Diego accuses Foggo of accepting lavish meals and vacation trips
while using his position at the CIA to try to steer more than $100 million
in agency funds to [contractor Brent] Wilkes." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Greg Miller -LAtimes
David
Vitter - Gay
- Father
- Health
- Science
- Politics
- Louisiana
- Calif
- "His
Own Words Likely to Confront Vitter." ... "In a statement
last Monday night, [Louisiana Republican Senator David] Vitter apologized
for committing a ``very serious sin in my past,'' acknowledging that his
Washington phone number was among those called several years ago by an
escort service that prosecutors say was a prostitution operation. Telephone
records show that the service called Vitter's number five times from 1999
to 2001, while he was a [Louisiana Republican Representative] U.S. House
member." ... "Vitter, a married father of four, last month urged colleagues
to devote more federal spending to programs urging sexual abstinence among
teens. The best way to avert teen pregnancy, he wrote, is ``by teaching
teenagers that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards
is the best choice for health and happiness.''" ... "In a June 2006 Senate
speech supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage, Vitter
said it was ``well overdue that we in the Senate focus on nurturing, upholding,
preserving and protecting such a fundamental social institution as traditional
marriage.''" ... "Several lawmakers including [California Democratic Senator]
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., publicly accused Vitter of hypocrisy this
week." -By Charles Babington
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
Government
- Workers
- California
- Los
Angeles - Environment
- "Forest
Service Short of Firefighters." ... "Weeks into a
wildfire season that has already burned parts of Catalina Island, Los Angeles
and Lake Tahoe, swaths of California's flammable national forests are some
days protected by nothing more than luck." ... "On any given day, about
40 of 271 U.S. Forest Service engines remain in firehouses rather than
on patrol, idled by a shortage of supervisors. Meanwhile, the combined
effects of sustained drought, last winter's freeze and a searing heat wave
has dramatically raised fire danger levels this season." ... "An exodus
of highly trained mid- and upper-level firefighters from the career ranks
of the federal agency is at least partly to blame for the fact that 13
percent of the service's 3,600 full-time positions in California are vacant."
... "Nationally, fire planners from all five federal agencies that handle
firefighting are dealing with the departure of a generation of top managers
hired during a firefighting expansion in the late 1970s. That has left
behind too few career firefighters qualified to run engines, oversee forests
or command large fire operations." -ByAllison Hoffman
-AP via
-TIME.com
California
- Air- Environment- Legislation
- Industry
- Global
- Climate
- "State's
global warming fight claims two air-quality officials."
... "The messy departure of the chairman and executive director of California's
Air Resources Board, if nothing else, reflects the extremely intense, largely
clandestine struggle in the state capitol over how [California Republican
Governor] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's much-ballyhooed anti-global warming
crusade is to be implemented." ... "Schwarzenegger says he fired ARB Chairman
Robert Sawyer last week because the veteran energy researcher was moving
too slowly on cleaning up the San Joaquin Valley's dirty air. But Sawyer
and ARB Executive Director Catherine Witherspoon, who resigned Monday,
have a far different version, one that rings truer. They contend that Schwarzenegger's
chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, and other aides wanted them to slow down
on implementing anti-global warming legislation passed last year." ...
"On Monday, in an interview with Fresno Bee reporter E.J. Schultz, Witherspoon
called the administration's rationale a "cover-up" and added, "The real
reason for firing him [Robert Sawyer] . . . was climate change policy."
She said, "The day-to-day orders that we receive from the governor's office
are to do less, to delay, to not burden industry."" -By
Dan Walters -MercuryNews
US
- Iraq
- 
Philippines
- Mexico
- Florida
- California
- Military
- July
4th - Immigrant
- Politics
- "Taking
U.S. citizenship oaths in Iraq: Hundreds of American
immigrants serving in the military are naturalized in ceremonies around
the
war-torn country." ... "U.S. soldiers and Marines filed into the marble
hall of Saddam Hussein's former Al Faw Palace on Independence Day [July
4th, 2007] as foreigners at home as well as here. But they left the room
as American citizens." ... "Standing under a glittering chandelier, 161
service members took the oath of citizenship Wednesday, the largest group
to be naturalized at once in Iraq since the conflict began in March 2003.
The mostly young, mostly male troops with last names such as Toledo and
Serrano stitched across the backs of their caps vowed to "support and defend
the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America against all
enemies," an abstract promise with a deeper daily meaning here." ... "Near
the front of the hall, Pfc. Mark Ayson, with a black brace on one wrist
and an M-4 rifle slung across his back, had tears in his eyes." ... "Ayson,
26, of Pensacola, Fla. [Florida], was born in the Philippines and immigrated
to the U.S. with his family when he was 8." ... "A large contingent of
Mexican Americans from California milled around carrying U.S. flags, a
gift from the government, along with their new citizenship certificates
and pieces of red, white and blue sheet cake." ... "U.S. immigration officials
swore in 325 service members as citizens during ceremonies across Iraq
on Wednesday [July 4th]." (1, 2)
-By Molly Hennessy-Fiske-LAtimes
California
- Air
- Environment
- Business
- Politics
- Los
Angeles - "Schwarzenegger
pressured air-quality board, Democrats charge." ...
"[California Democratic] Assembly Speaker Fabian Nu`ñez on Monday
called for an investigation into whether the [California Republican Governor
Arnold] Schwarzenegger administration has wrongly interfered with the state's
air resources board as it begins to develop new air emission standards."
... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has traveled around the globe touting the
state's unprecedented emissions law, AB 32, which was passed amid worldwide
fanfare last year as he sought re-election. But critics now contend that
the governor may have pressured the board to slow down implementing the
new rules to appease business interests." ... ""The administration is interfering
with CARB's [California Air Resources Board] ability to implement the laws
of California, and to say I'm troubled is an understatement," said Nu`ñez,
a Los Angeles Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation. "We're going to
get to the bottom of this. We want to know if CARB was being manipulated
by the administration . . . and to what extent those left in charge of
the air resources board are committed to fully implementing AB 32 to the
letter of the law."" -By Steven Harmon
-MercuryNews
Ken
Calvert
- Real
Estate - Money
- Politics
- History
- California
- "Grand
jury finds Jurupa agency violated laws." ... "The
Jurupa Community Services District violated state law when it sold 4 acres
of public land to [California Republican Representative] Rep. Ken Calvert
and his investment partners without first offering it to other public agencies
-- including the local park district that wanted it, the Riverside County
[California] grand jury concluded in a report released Tuesday." ... "The
grand jury recommends that the water and sewer agency turn over the $1.2
million it pocketed from the sale, minus costs, to the Jurupa Area Recreation
and Park District." ... "The 4 acres were deeded to the Jurupa Community
Services District in 1976 in lieu of annexation fees. Historical documents
and news reports at the time indicate the land was to be used for recreation
purposes." ... "The park district had expressed an interest in buying the
land for park use in 2001." ... "Instead, the community services district
quietly sold the land to Calvert, R-Corona, and his partners in 2005 without
the required notification to other public agencies and without publicly
marketing the land." -By Sandra Stokley
-PE.com
US
- 
Australia
- 
Dominican
Republic - US
Immigration - Labor
- Lawsuit
- Money
- Grover
Norquist
- California
- "Aussie
hired by state GOP embroiled in immigration lawsuit."
... "Michael Kamburowski, the Australian immigrant hired as a top official
in the California Republican Party, was ordered deported in 2001, jailed
three years later for visa violations -- and has filed a $5 million wrongful
arrest lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according
to U.S. District Court documents." ... "Kamburowski was named in March
to be the chief operating officer of the California GOP. He is responsible
for the state party's multimillion-dollar budget and oversees campaign
funds and financing for the nation's largest state GOP organization." ...
"As the state GOP's new operating officer, the 35-year-old Kamburowski
was handpicked for the post by state Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring,
who became party chief in February." ... "Kamburowski is a former registered
lobbyist for Americans for Tax Reform and a top operative for the Ronald
Reagan Legacy Project, both founded by conservative activist Grover Norquist.
Nehring -- also a former senior adviser and consultant to Norquist's Washington,
D.C., operation -- worked with Kamburowski at Americans for Tax Reform
in the 1990s." ... "But Kamburowski's former boss in the Dominican Republic
resort town of Punta Cana -- where Kamburowski worked until February --
expressed astonishment that the Australian was hired for such an important
financial job in a major political party.v"I wouldn't give him my company
to run, I can tell you that,'' said Rico Pester, the owner of Re/Max Island
Realty in the fashionable Caribbean beach region." -By
Carla Marinucci and Lance Williams -SFGate.com
Dick
Cheney
- Secrecy
- Intelligence
- Archives
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Government
- Calif
- "Cheney
Defiant on Classified Material: Executive Order Ignored
Since 2003." ... "[Republican] Vice President Cheney's office has refused
to comply with an executive order governing the handling of classified
information for the past four years and recently tried to abolish the office
that sought to enforce those rules, according to documents released by
a congressional committee yesterday." ... "Since 2003, the vice president's
staff has not cooperated with an office at the National Archives and Records
Administration charged with making sure the executive branch protects classified
information. Cheney aides have not filed reports on their possession of
classified data and at one point blocked an inspection of their office.
After the Archives office pressed the matter, the documents say, Cheney's
staff this year proposed eliminating it." ... "The aggressive efforts to
protect the operations of his staff have usually pitted Cheney against
lawmakers, interest groups or media organizations, sometimes going all
the way to the Supreme Court. But the fight about classified information
regulation indicates that the vice president has resisted oversight even
by other parts of the Bush administration. Cheney's office argued that
it is exempt from the rules in this case because it is not strictly an
executive branch agency." ... ""He's saying he's above the law," said [California
Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of
the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which released a series
of correspondence yesterday outlining the situation. "It just seems to
me this is arrogant and shows bad judgment."" -By
Peter Baker -WashingtonPost
Dick
Cheney
- 
I
Lewis Libby Jr
- Secrets
- Intelligence
- Government
- Archives
- Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
- Leandro
Aragoncillo
- Philippines
- California
- "Cheney
in Dispute on Oversight of His Office." ... "For
four years, [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney has resisted routine
oversight of his office’s handling of classified information, and when
the office in charge of overseeing classification in the executive branch
objected, the vice president’s office suggested that the oversight office
be shut down, according to documents released today by a Democratic congressman."
... "The oversight office, a unit of the National Archives, appealed the
issue to the Justice Department, which has not yet ruled on the matter."
... "The archives’ division that oversees classification and declassification,
the Information Security Oversight Office, is an obscure part of the federal
bureaucracy." ... "[California Democratic Representative Henry] Mr. Waxman
asserted both in his letter and the interview that Mr. Cheney’s office
should take the efforts of the National Archives especially seriously because
it has had problems protecting secrets." ... "He noted that the vice president’s
former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., was convicted of perjury and
obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury and the F.B.I. [Federal
Bureau of Investigation] during an investigation of the leak of classified
information — the secret status of Valerie Wilson, the wife of a [Republican
President] Bush administration critic, as an undercover Central Intelligence
Agency officer." ... "He added that in May 2006 a former aide in Mr. Cheney’s
office, Leandro Aragoncillo, pleaded guilty to passing classified information
to plotters trying to overthrown the president of the Philippines." ...
"“Your office may have the worst record in the executive branch for safeguarding
classified information,” Mr. Waxman wrote to Mr. Cheney." (1, 2)
-By Scott Shane -NYTimes
Dick
Cheney
- Government
- Intelligence
- Secrets
- Archives
- Law
- Politics
- California
- "Waxman
decries Cheney security exemption." ... "House Democrats
on Thursday denounced [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney's idea of
abolishing a government office charged with safeguarding national security
information — and criticized him for refusing to cooperate with the agency."
... "Cheney's office — over the objections of the National Archives — has
exempted itself from a presidential executive order that seeks to protect
national security information generated by the government, according to
the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform." ... "Cheney's
office provided the information in 2001 and 2002, then stopped. [California
Democratic Representative] Henry Waxman, chairman of the committee, said
Cheney's office claims it need not comply with the executive order because
it is not an "entity within the executive branch."" -By
Deb Riechmann -AP
via -Yahoo
Dick
Cheney
- Government
- Intelligence
- Secrets
- Law
- Politics
- Calif
- "Cheney
Power Grab: Says White House Rules Don't Apply to Him."
... "[Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is
not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore
not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified
information by government agencies, according to a new letter from [California
Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney." ...
"Bill Leonard, head of the government's Information Security Oversight
Office (ISOO), told Waxman's staff that Cheney's office has refused to
provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit
to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to
Waxman." ... "As director of the tiny, 25-person Information Security Oversight
Office, Leonard is responsible for keeping track of the nation's secrets
and making sure they are properly protected." -By
Justin Rood Reports -ABCNEWS.com
Jack
Abramoff
- 
Ralston
- Alberto
Gonzales - Karl
Rove
- Political
- Government
- E-Mail
- Communications
- Presidential
Records Act - Law
- US
Attorneys - California
- "Report:
White House aides used GOP e-mail to skirt law."
... "E-mail records are missing for 51 of the 88 White House aides with
Republican Party accounts, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
reported Monday." ... "The White House says the accounts were set up to
keep political work separate from official business, but investigators
concluded White House officials used the accounts to conduct official business
in a way that circumvented the Watergate-era Presidential Records Act."
... "The committee, led by California Democrat [Represenative] Henry Waxman,
began looking into the GOP e-mail accounts after messages from the accounts
turned up in two cases -- the case of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff
and the 2006 firings of eight U.S. attorneys by the Justice Department."
... "[Susan] Ralston told investigators that [Attorney General Alberto]
Gonzales, now attorney general, knew [Karl] Rove was using his party e-mail
account for official business, "but took no action to preserve Mr. Rove's
official communications," the report states."
-CNN
Karl
Rove
- Government
- Historical
- E-Mail
- Archives
- Presidential
Records Act - Law
- Politics
- California
- "Bush
aides may have illegally lost e-mail, Dems say."
... "Karl Rove and dozens of other White House staffers appear to have
illegally routed official e-mails through a Republican group that subsequently
deleted them, a congressional report said on Monday." ... "By using Republican
National Committee e-mail accounts for official business, senior White
House aides may have broken a law [the Presidential Records Act] requiring
them to preserve presidential records, the House Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform said in an interim report." ... ""This should be
a matter of grave concern for anyone who values open government and the
preservation of an accurate historical record," said committee Chairman
[Representative] Henry Waxman, a California Democrat." (1, 2)
-By Andy Sullivan -Reuters
Karl
Rove
- Sara
M Taylor
- Scott
Jennings - Government
- E-Mail
- 2004
Election - Presidential
Records Act - Law
- Calif-
"Bush
Officials Used RNC Server for Private E-mails." ...
"Almost 90 White House officials have maintained private e-mail accounts
on the server of the Republican National Committee, including top advisers
such as Karl Rove and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card,
according to a House committee report released today." ... "The RNC has
preserved more than 140,000 e-mails sent or received by Rove, but only
130 were written before President Bush won re-election in 2004, according
to the report. The committee has preserved another 100,000 e-mails from
two of Rove's top lieutenants, former White House political director Sara
M. Taylor and deputy political director W. Scott Jennings, according to
the House Oversight Committee." ... "The committee, chaired by [California
Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), has been investigating
whether the e-mail accounts run by the RNC and the Bush-Cheney '04 [2004
election] campaign committee violated the Presidential Records Act, which
requires that every White House official "assure that the activities, deliberations,
decisions, and policies that reflect the performance of his constitutional,
statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties are adequately documented.""
-By Paul Kane -WashingtonPost
Michael
Elston
- Alberto
Gonzales - US
Attorneys - Law
- Politics
- Seattle
- Washington
- Phoenix
- Arizona
- San
Diego - California
- Little
Rock - 
Arkansas
- "Justice
Dept. Official To Quit: [Michael] Elston Had Role
in Prosecutor Firings." ... "Former U.S. attorney John McKay of Seattle
[Washington] told Congress that on Jan. 17 -- before McKay stepped down
-- he received a call from Elston that he "greatly resented." He said Elston
attempted to "buy my silence by promising that the attorney general [Alberto
Gonzales] would not demean me in his Senate testimony."" ... ""My handwritten
and dated notes of this call," McKay told Congress, "reflect that I believed
Mr. Elston's tone was sinister and that he was prepared to threaten me
further if he concluded I did not intend to continue to remain silent about
my dismissal."" ... "Paul K. Charlton, who was the U.S. attorney in Phoenix
[Airzona], said that he, too, received a call that day in which Elston
offered "a quid pro quo agreement: my silence in exchange for the attorney
general's." Another former prosecutor, Carol C. Lam of San Diego [California],
said Elston accused her of "leaking" word of her dismissal to the press
"and criticized me for talking to other dismissed U.S. attorneys."" ...
"Former U.S. attorney Bud Cummins of Little Rock [Arkansas] also recounted
a Feb. 20 conversation with Elston that Cummins said contained a "threatening
undercurrent" warning that Justice Department officials would retaliate
if he or his colleagues spoke to journalists or volunteered to testify
in Congress." -By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein-WashingtonPost
US- Canada
- Technology
- Worker
- Mexican
- Immigrants
- California
- "State
GOP fills a critical post with Canadian." ... "The
California Republican Party has decided no American is qualified to take
one of its most crucial positions -- state deputy political director --
and has hired a Canadian for the job through a coveted H-1B visa, a program
favored by Silicon Valley tech firms that is under fire for displacing
skilled American workers." ... "Christopher Matthews, 35, a Canadian citizen,
has worked for the state GOP as a campaign consultant since 2004. But he
recently was hired as full-time deputy political director, with responsibility
for handling campaign operations and information technology for the country's
largest state Republican Party operation, California Republican Party Chairman
Ron Nehring confirmed in a telephone interview this week." ... "The hiring
of two immigrants at top Republican Party posts has handed ammunition to
critics who note that many Republicans have spoken critically about the
impacts of waves of Mexican immigrants." ... ""The hypocrisy is disgusting,"
said longtime Democratic Party activist Gloria Nieto, policy director at
San Jose-based Services Immigration Rights and Education Network, or SIREN,
an immigrant advocacy nonprofit organization." ... "Nieto argued that the
party has painted Latinos "as the brown menace. ... But it's perfectly
OK to hire people from outside the country? What does it say about the
Republican Party that they import their hired guns?"" -By
Carla Marinucci -SFGate.com
Emergency
- LA
- California
- "Woman
dies in ER lobby as 911 refuses to help: Tapes show
operators ignored pleas to send ambulance to L.A. hospital." ... "A woman
who lay bleeding on the emergency room floor of a troubled inner-city hospital
died after 911 dispatchers refused to contact paramedics or an ambulance
to take her to another facility, newly released tapes of the emergency
calls reveal." ... "In the recordings of two 911 calls that day, first
obtained by the Los Angeles Times under a California Public Records Act
request, callers pleaded for help for Rodriguez but were referred to hospital
staff instead." ... "“I’m in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the
nurses don’t want to help her out,” Rodriguez’s boyfriend, Jose Prado,
is heard saying in Spanish through an interpreter on the tapes." ... "“They’re
watching her there and they’re not doing anything. They’re just watching
her,” Prado said." -AP
via -MSNBC
Secretive
- Harriet
E Miers
- Karl
Rove
- Sara
M Taylor
- 
D
Kyle Sampson
- Gonzales
- US
Attorneys - Law
- E-Mail
- Calif
- "Bush
Aides Helped Respond to Firings, E-Mails Show." ...
"Several high-ranking White House officials were closely involved in crafting
a public response to the uproar over the firing of a group of U.S. attorneys,
according to documents
released late yesterday." ... "Then-White House counsel Harriet E.
Miers and aides to presidential adviser Karl Rove were deeply enmeshed
in debates over how to respond to the controversy as early as mid-January,
when [California Democratic Senator] Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) questioned
the spate of prosecutor departures in a Senate floor speech, according
to e-mails that the Justice Department turned over to the House and Senate
judiciary committees." ... "The 46 pages of e-mails show that Miers and
others --including her deputy, William Kelley, and the White House political
affairs director at the time, Sara M. Taylor -- were involved in spirited
and sometimes angry e-mail exchanges as the secretive firings operation
began to unravel in public. Many of the exchanges also included D. Kyle
Sampson, who coordinated the firings as Gonzales's chief of staff." -By
Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
Michael
Battle
- Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- Michael
Elston
- San
Diego - California
- US
Attorney - Government
- Money
- Law
- Politics-
"Letter
to Washington: The show goes on." ... "A few days
after learning last December that she was to submit her resignation effective
Jan. 31, [San Diego California US Attorney Carol] Lam asked Michael Battle,
then the head of the U.S. attorney executive office, for extra time to
ensure “an orderly transition – especially regarding pending investigations
and several significant cases that were set to begin trial in the next
few months,” Lam wrote in her answers [respongind to House Judiciary Committee
questions]." ... "At the time, Lam was investigating corruption cases stemming
from her successful prosecution of former [California Republican Representative]
Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the Rancho Santa Fe Republican who pleaded
guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion charges after admitting to taking
more than $2.4 million in bribes. Cunningham was sentenced to more than
eight years in federal prison. Besides Lam, four other prosecutors were
presiding over corruption investigations when they were dismissed." ...
"About a month passed when Lam got a call from Michael Elston, Gonzales'
former chief of staff, telling her that her request for extra time was
“not being received positively” and that she “should stop thinking in terms
of the cases in the office.”" ... "“He insisted that I had to depart in
a matter of weeks, not months, and that these instructions were 'coming
from the very highest level of the government,' ” Lam wrote." ... "Lam
submitted her resignation Jan. 16, effective Feb. 15." -By
Dana Wilkie -Copley
via -Union-Tribune
US
Immigration - Families
- Government
- Law
- Politics
- Calif
- "Immigration
fees to rise sharply." ... "The [Republican President]
Bush administration will announce increases in immigration application
fees Wednesday that will nearly double the cost of citizenship and almost
triple the cost of becoming a legal permanent resident." ... "Under the
increases, which cover almost all immigration benefits, the cost of bringing
a foreign fiance or fiancee will jump from $170 to $455. The price tag
for a green card, or a legal permanent resident visa, will rise from $325
to $930, and the cost of citizenship papers will increase from $330 to
$595." ... "Critics reacted quickly. Rep. [California Democratic Representative]
Joe Baca, D-Calif., head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the
group was concerned that the fee increases would put citizenship out of
reach for many. "Many Hispanic families will be hurt by this decision,"
Baca said, adding that the agency should have worked with Congress "to
provide a more workable, just solution."" -By Nicole
Gaouette -LAtimes
Hans
von Spakovsky - Finance
- Law
- Enforcement
- Civil
Rights - California
- "Politics
could cloud election panel's work." ... "The six-person
Federal Election Commission, which enforces campaign-finance laws, is entering
the presidential election season with three temporary commissioners who
have not been confirmed by the Senate, two commissioners whose terms have
expired but who have not been replaced, and one vacancy." ... "Next month,
however, Senator Dianne Feinstein , a California Democrat and new chairwoman
of the Senate Rules Committee, plans to hold a hearing on the possibility
of confirming four of the commission members." ... "They include the members
who were given recess appointments in January 2006 -- Republican Hans von
Spakovsky and Democrats Robert Lenhard, and Steven Walther -- along with
Republican David Mason , whose six-year term expired in 2003, but who stayed
on as a holdover and has now been nominated for a second term by Bush."
... "Democrats are expected to question von Spakovsky about his prior work
as a voting-rights lawyer in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division,
when it approved a Texas redistricting map that favored Republicans. The
map was later ruled illegal by the Supreme Court." -By
Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe
Cunningham
- Renzi
- 
Gibbons
- Jerry
Lewis - Miers
- Sampson
- 
Griffin
- Rove
- Noteworthy
- Secret
- US
Attorneys - Law
- Money
- Politics
- Los
Angeles - California
- Arizona
- Nevada
- Arkansas
- "The
U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer."
... "There is yet another United States attorney whose abrupt departure
from office is raising questions: Debra Wong Yang of Los Angeles [California]."
... "Carol Lam, the United States attorney in San Diego [California], was
fired after she put [California Republican Representative] Randy Cunningham,
known as Duke, in prison. Paul Charlton, in Arizona, was dismissed while
he was investigating [Arizona Republican Representative] Rick Renzi. Dan
Bogden, in Nevada, was fired while he was reportedly investigating [Republican]
Jim Gibbons, a congressman who was elected [Nevada] governor last year."
... "Ms. Yang was investigating [California Republican Representative]
Jerry Lewis, who was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee."
... "Ms. Yang says she left for personal reasons, but there is growing
evidence that the White House was intent on removing her. Kyle Sampson,
the Justice Department staff member in charge of the firings, told investigators
last month in still-secret testimony that Harriet Miers, the White House
counsel at the time, had asked him more than once about Ms. Yang. He testified,
according to Congressional sources, that as late as mid-September, Ms.
Miers wanted to know whether Ms. Yang could be made to resign. Mr. Sampson
reportedly recalled that Ms. Miers was focused on just two United States
attorneys: Ms. Yang and Bud Cummins, the Arkansas prosecutor who was later
fired to make room for Tim Griffin, a Republican political operative and
Karl Rove protégé." ... "Press reports say she [Ms. Yang]
got a $1.5 million signing bonus to become a partner in Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher, a firm with strong Republican ties." ... "Gibson, Dunn was defending
Mr. Lewis in Ms. Yang’s investigation." -By Adam Cohen
-NYTimes
Secret- 
Paul
McNulty
- Michael
Elston
- US
Attorneys - Law
- Politics
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Seattle
- Washington
- San
Francisco - California
- "Justice
Official Says He Was Directed To Call Fired Prosecutors."
... "The chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty
has told congressional investigators that phone calls he placed to four
fired U.S. attorneys -- calls that three of the prosecutors say involved
threats about testifying before Congress -- were made at McNulty's direction."
... "Michael Elston, the chief of staff, told congressional investigators
in a closed-door session on March 30 that McNulty specifically instructed
him to make the phone calls after the Justice Department's No. 2 official
learned that the fired prosecutors might testify before Congress about
their dismissals." ... "At least one member of Congress has questioned
whether the phone calls might constitute obstruction of justice." ... "Elston
said that McNulty directed him to place calls to fired U.S. attorneys Paul
Charlton of Arizona, Bud Cummins of Arkansas, and John McKay
of Seattle [Washington], all of whom said they felt pressured to keep quiet.
Elston also placed a call to federal prosecutor Kevin Ryan of San
Francisco [California], as directed, but did not speak to him. The calls
were placed between January and March of this year -- before details about
the political motivations for the firings became public." ... "On Wednesday,
the House Judiciary Committee made public formal
correspondence from three fired prosecutors who said they thought that
Elston was trying to intimidate them into keeping quiet." -By
Murray
Waas -NationalJournal
Health
- Science
- Consumer
- Food
- Drug
- Safety
- Terrorism
- Emergencies- Lawmakers
- Politics
- Animal
- Pets
- Pennsylvania
- Colorado
- 
Michigan
- Calif
- 
Kan- Mass
- "FDA
plan to close field labs draws fire." ... "A Food
and Drug Administration plan to close seven of 13 field laboratories has
angered some lawmakers, government workers and safety advocates, who fear
the move will chase away skilled veteran employees and hurt the FDA's ability
to respond to public health emergencies." ... "The FDA's field labs inspect
and analyze food, drugs, animal medications and feeds, medical devices
and other health products." ... "The labs check for compliance with federal
guidelines, protect consumers from unsafe, ineffective and mislabeled products,
and help investigate public health threats such as product tampering, bio-terrorism,
food-borne illnesses and contaminated blood supplies." ... "Several of
the facilities helped investigate the recent pet food scare and E. coli
and salmonella outbreaks in spinach and peanut butter. On the heels of
these crises, the proposed lab closings have been met with strong suspicion."
... "Over the next several years, the FDA wants to close labs in Philadelphia
[Pennsylvania]; Denver [Colorado]; Detroit [Michigan]; Alameda, Calif.
[California]; Lenexa, Kan.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Winchester, Mass
[Massachusetts]. Those operations and an estimated 250 employees would
then be moved to five multi-purpose "mega-labs" that could handle all types
of FDA testing." ... "But some fear that fewer labs would delay the testing
of food, biological medical products or drugs in the event of a public
health emergency." -By Tony Pugh
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
Los
Angeles - California
- US
Immigration - Children
- People
- Civil
Righs - Free
Speech - 
TV
- 
Radio
- Photo
- Journalist
- Censorship
- "Cop
Tactics At Immigration Rally Draw Ire: L.A. Police
Seen Firing Rubber Bullets Into Crowds That Included Children. " ... "Police
Chief William J. Bratton said Wednesday some of the police tactics to clear
immigration protesters from a park were "inappropriate," as numerous news
videos showed officers striking people with batons and firing rubber bullets
into crowds that included children." ... "After a peaceful day of immigration
marches, Los Angeles police say a small group in a downtown park pelted
them with rocks and bottles, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.
Police responded with force." ... "The Radio and Television News Association
of Southern California called for an investigation." ... ""There is evidence
that officers knocked reporters to the ground, used batons on photographers
and damaged cameras, possibly motivated by anger over journalists photographing
efforts by officers to control the movements of marchers," the group said
in a statement." -AP
via -CBSNews
US
- Iraq
- Military
- Money
- Legislation
- History
- California
- Nev
- "Bush
vetoes war funding bill, but fight isn’t over: Democrats
promise to push the issue; compromise discussions planned." ... "Returning
to the White House tonight from a visit to Central Command in Florida,
the president made good on his promise to veto a war spending bill that
sets a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops." ... "Earlier on Capitol
Hill, Democrats had the stage — signing a $124 billion war supplemental
that sets a goal of withdrawing most combat forces from Iraq by April 2008."
... ""This legislation respects the wishes of the American people to end
the Iraq war," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi [California Democratic
Representative] said." ... ""A veto means denying our troops the resources
and the strategy that they need," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
[Nevada Democratic Senator], said." ... "The measure passed five days ago,
but sending the bill to the White House on this day carried a political
message. It was May 1, 2003, when the president, standing beneath a "Mission
Accomplished" banner, announced — prematurely — the end of major combat
operations in Iraq." -By David Gregory
-MSNBC
US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Military
- Terrorism
- Money
- Legislation
- History
- Nevada
- California
- "Bush
vetoes war-funding bill with withdrawal timetable."
... "Four years to the day after standing on the deck of an aircraft carrier
and declaring "major combat operations" in Iraq were over, President Bush
on Tuesday vetoed a war-spending bill that calls for the start of a withdrawal
of American combat troops from the conflict." ... ""It makes no sense to
tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing. All the terrorists would
have to do is mark their calendars. ... Setting a deadline for withdrawal
is setting a date for failure, and that would be irresponsible," Bush said
in a televised address after the veto." ... "After the speech, Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada [Democratic Senator], said the ball was now
in Bush's court." ... ""Now he has an obligation to explain his plan to
responsibly end this war," Reid said." ... ""If the president thinks [that]
by vetoing this bill he'll stop us from working to change the direction
of the war in Iraq, he is mistaken," Reid added." ... "Standing beside
Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California [Democratic Representative],
said: "The president wants a blank check. The Congress is not going to
give it to him."" ... "The spending bill, which Congress passed last week,
funds military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it also calls for
the withdrawal of U.S. troops beginning in October, with the goal of getting
all U.S. combat forces out of Iraq by the end of March 2008." -Contributed
to by Dana Bash and Ted Barrett -CNN
Secret
- Military
- Politics
- Pat
Tillman
- Family
- People
- Lawmakers
- California
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- "Soldier:
Army ordered me not to tell truth about Tillman."
... "The last soldier to see Army Ranger Pat Tillman alive, Spc. Bryan
O'Neal, told lawmakers that he was warned by superiors not to divulge --especially
to the Tillman family -- that a fellow soldier killed Tillman." ... "O'Neal
particularly wanted to tell fellow soldier Kevin Tillman, who was in the
convoy traveling behind his brother at the time of the 2004 incident in
Afghanistan." ... ""I wanted right off the bat to let the family know what
had happened, especially Kevin, because I worked with him in a platoon
and I knew that he and the family all needed to know what had happened,"
O'Neal testified. "I was quite appalled that when I was actually able to
speak with Kevin, I was ordered not to tell him."" ... "Asked who gave
him the order, O'Neal replied that it came from his battalion commander,
then-Lt. Col. Jeff Bailey." ... ""He basically just said ... 'Do not let
Kevin know, that he's probably in a bad place knowing his brother's dead,'
" O'Neal told House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman
Henry Waxman [California Democratic Representative]. "And he made it known
I would get in trouble, sir, if I spoke with Kevin on it being fratricide.""
... "The military instead released a "manufactured narrative" detailing
how Pat Tillman died leading a courageous counterattack in an Afghan mountain
pass, Kevin Tillman told the committee. (Watch
Kevin Tillman accuse the military of lying [video])" ... "Also
Tuesday, former Pfc. Jessica Lynch told the House panel that the military
lied about her capture." ... "Lynch testified that after her vehicle was
attacked in Iraq in March 2003, she suffered a mangled spinal column, broken
arm, crushed foot, shattered femur and even a sexual assault." ... "But
it only added insult to injury, literally, when she returned to her parents'
home in West Virginia, which "was under siege by media all repeating the
story of the little girl 'Rambo' from the hills of West Virginia who went
down fighting," Lynch said. (Watch
Lynch set the record straight [video])" ... ""It was not true,"
she said before gently chiding the military. "The truth is always more
heroic than the hype."" ... "Waxman, D-California, said the military "invented"
tales about Tillman and Lynch. (Watch
Lynch describe her bond with the Tillman family [video])" ...
""The bare minimum we owe our soldiers and their families is the truth,"
Waxman said. "That didn't happen for two of the most famous soldiers in
the Iraq and Afghanistan wars."" -CNN
Consumer
- Health
- Safety
- Enforcement
- Money
- Politics
- Government
- Legislation
- Georgia
- California
- Mich
- "FDA
Was Aware of Dangers To Food: Outbreaks Were Not
Preventable, Officials Say." ... "The Food and Drug Administration has
known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter
plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that
killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product
recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show." ... "Overwhelmed
by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the
agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers
to police themselves, according to agency documents." ... "Congressional
critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency
is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply." ...
""This administration does not like regulation, this administration does
not like spending money, and it has a hostility toward government. The
poisonous result is that a program like the FDA is going to suffer at every
turn of the road," said [Michigan Democratic Representative] Rep. John
D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the full House committee. Dingell is
considering introducing legislation to boost the agency's accountability,
regulatory authority and budget." (1, 2)
-By Elizabeth Williamson
-WashingtonPost
Doolittle
- Abramoff
- Family
- Money
- Government
- Lawmaker
- Politics
- Virginia
- Calif
- "FBI
Raids Business of Congressman's Wife." ... "The FBI
on Friday raided the Northern Virginia home consulting business owned by
the wife of [California Republican Representative] Rep. John T. Doolittle
(R-Calif.), whose ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff have been under
investigation for two years, sources familiar with the matter said." ...
"Doolittle's wife, Julie, operates Sierra Dominion Financial Services Inc.
out of the couple's home in Oakton [Virginia]. Since 2005, a Justice Department
task force has been looking into payments made by Abramoff and other lobbyists
to Doolittle's wife and the
