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John
Edwards
- 
Iowa
- 
Families
- 
Jobs
- 
Money
- 
Attorney
General - 
North
Carolina
- 
2008
Election - "Edwards
the orator energizes audience." ... "Dayton Countryman
said he's been around long enough to know what it means when a supposedly
underdog presidential candidate can pack more than 500 folks into a social
hall in this town [Boone, Iowa] of 12,000 people." ... ""This ought to
scare the hell out of the other campaigns," Countryman said Sunday as he
watched more and more people come in from the cold to hear [2008 Election
Democratic Presidential Candidate] Democrat John Edwards speak." ... "The
89-year-old lawyer is a former Iowa attorney general who recently became
a Democrat after more than 50 years as a Republican. He said he's fed up
with what's going on in Washington, D.C., and he'll caucus for Edwards
because he believes the former North Carolina senator will stand up." ...
"Edwards has been drawing increasingly large and energetic crowds in recent
weeks as he presses his case that America needs a fighter in the White
House. His audiences are filled mainly with people who are middle age or
older, and he's banking that such Iowans have been most likely to show
up in caucuses." ... ""The corporate greed that's stealing your children's
future, that's destroying middle-class jobs in this country, it's not just
destroying the middle class for Democrats. It's destroying the middle class
for independents. It's destroying the middle class for Republicans," Edwards
said." -By Tony Leys -DesMoinesRegister
Mike
Huckabee - 
Mitt
Romney
- Iowa
- 
Television
- Ads
- 
Crime
- Money
- Illegal
- Immigrants
- 
Colleges
- Abortion
- 
Health-Care
- 
Arkansas
- 
Massachusetts
- 2008
Election - "Huckabee:
Romney running 'dishonest' campaign." ... "Former
Arkansas [Governor and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate]
Gov. Mike Huckabee blasted Republican presidential rival [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney as running a "desperate
and dishonest" campaign and predicted the former Massachusetts governor
won't be the Republican nominee." ... "Romney has been blasting Huckabee's
record on crime and taxes as governor of Arkansas in [Iowa] television
ads in the last days of the race." ... "Asked on Monday on CNN's "American
Morning" why he felt the need to respond to Romney's attacks, Huckabee
said, "I think a lot of people are deceived, and you have to ask do people
want to elect a president who has been dishonest in order to get the job
and said things about his opponents that simply aren't true?"" ... "With
the two men locked in a statistical dead heat atop the latest Iowa polls,
Romney has been airing television ads criticizing Huckabee for raising
state spending, backing in-state tuition for illegal immigrants at state
colleges and granting more than 1,000 pardons and commutations." ... "Huckabee
has said the claims are taken out of context, and hit back by questioning
the sincerity of Romney's opposition to abortion -- which was covered by
the state health care program Romney pushed through in Massachusetts."
-CNN
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
Mitt
Romney - Mike
Huckabee - 
John
McCain
- Iowa
- Television
- Ads
- 2008
Election - 
New
Hampshire - 
Arizona
- Illegal- Immigrants
- "Romney,
Huckabee attack each other in Iowa." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney's blistering ads criticizing
[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mike Huckabee and [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain drew sharp rebukes
from their targets and wary responses from voters Saturday, as candidates
barnstormed Iowa five days before the nation's first presidential voting
takes place in caucuses here." ... "Romney launched a new one against McCain
in New Hampshire on Saturday." ... ""McCain championed a bill to let every
illegal immigrant stay in American permanently," the 30-second TV spot
says. "He even voted to allow illegal immigrants to collect Social Security.""
... "The tone was similar to one Romney rolled out Friday in Iowa against
Huckabee." ... ""Soft on government spending," the ad charges. "His foreign
policy? 'Ludicrous,' says Condoleezza Rice." ... "Huckabee fought back
Saturday." ... ""Every time you turn on your television you're going to
see all the terrible things my opponents said I did," he told hundreds
crowded into a restaurant in Indianola [Iowa]. "Mitt Romney's not only
attacking me. He's now attacked John McCain, he's attacked Rudy Giuliani,
he's attacked everybody. He's not telling people why he ought to be president.""
... "McCain, the Arizona senator, dismissed Romney's charges and called
him "a phony."" -By David Lightman with contributions
by Jim Morrill -McClatchyDC.com
US
- 
Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- 
Military
- Money
- Legislation
- Reconstruction
- "Bush
rejects defense bill by pocket veto." ... "[Republican]
President Bush on Friday used a "pocket veto" to reject a sweeping defense
bill because he dislikes a provision that would expose the Iraqi government
to expensive lawsuits seeking damages from the Saddam Hussein era." ...
"In a statement, Bush said the legislation "would imperil billions of dollars
of Iraqi assets at a crucial juncture in that nation's reconstruction efforts.""
... "The president's objections were focused on a provision deep within
legislation that sets defense policy for the coming year and approves $696
billion in spending, including $189 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also in the legislation were improved veterans benefits and tighter oversight
of contractors and weapons programs." ... "The pocket veto means that troops
will get a 3 percent raise Jan. 1 instead of the 3.5 percent authorized
by the bill." -By Ben Feller
-AP via -Yahoo
Government
- Corporations
- Employee
- 
Retirees
- Health
- Law
- Politics
- 
History
- "U.S.
Ruling Backs Benefit Cut at 65 in Retiree Plans."
... "The [Republican President Bush run] Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
said Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits
for retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare." ... "The
policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two
classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65
and more limited benefits — or none at all — for those older." ... "More
than 10 million retirees rely on employer-sponsored health plans as a primary
source of coverage or as a supplement to Medicare, and Naomi C. Earp, the
commission’s chairwoman, said, “This rule will help employers continue
to voluntarily provide and maintain these critically important health benefits.”"
... "But AARP and other advocates for older Americans attacked the rule.
“This rule gives employers free rein to use age as a basis for reducing
or eliminating health care benefits for retirees 65 and older,” said Christopher
G. Mackaronis, a lawyer for AARP, which represents millions of people age
50 or above and which had sued in an effort to block issuance of the final
regulation. “Ten million people could be affected — adversely affected
— by the rule.”" ... "The new policy creates an explicit exemption from
age-discrimination laws for employers that scale back benefits of retirees
65 and over. Mr. Mackaronis asserted that the exemption was “in direct
conflict” with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967." ... "Under
the new rule, employers may, if they choose, provide retiree health benefits
“only to those retirees who are not yet eligible for Medicare.” Likewise,
the rule says, retiree health benefits can be “altered, reduced or eliminated”
when a retiree becomes eligible for Medicare." ... "Further, employers
will be able to reduce or eliminate health benefits provided to the spouse
or dependents of a retired worker 65 or over, regardless of whether benefits
for the retiree are changed." -By Robert Pear
-NYTimes
Secret
- Torture
- 
Terrorism
- Government
- Detainee
- 
Intelligence
- Law
- 
Virginia
- 
Christmas
- "Senate
meets briefly to block Bush." ... "The House was
quiet as a mouse the day after Christmas. But across the Capitol, the [Democratic
controlled] Senate was operating in an unusually efficient manner in its
ongoing power struggle with [Republican] President Bush." ... "A nine-second
session gaveled in and out by [Virginia Democratic Senator] Sen. Jim Webb,
D-Va.[Democratic-Virginia], prevented Bush from appointing as an assistant
attorney general a nominee roundly rejected by majority Democrats. Without
the pro forma session, the Senate would be technically adjourned, allowing
the president to install officials without Senate confirmation." ... "Democrats
wanted to block one such recess appointment in particular: Steven Bradbury,
acting chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Counsel.
Bush nominated Bradbury for the job and asked the Senate to remove the
"acting" in his title." ... "Democrats would have none of it, complaining
Bradbury had signed two secret memos in 2005 saying it was OK for the CIA
[Central Intelligence Agency] to use harsh interrogation techniques — some
call it torture — on terrorism detainees." -By Laurie
Kellman -AP
via -Yahoo
Secret
- 
Dick
Cheney
- 
David
Addington - Government
- Archives
- Law
- Politics
- "Challenging
Cheney: A National Archives official reveals what
the veep wanted to keep classified--and how he tried to challenge the rules."
... "J. William Leonard learned the hard way the perils of questioning
[Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney. The veteran National Archives
official challenged claims by the Office of Vice President (OVP) to be
exempt from federal rules governing classified information. His efforts
touched off a firestorm—and a counter-strike by Cheney's chief of staff,
David Addington, who tried to wipe out Leonard's job." ... "Now, Leonard
is quitting as director of the Archives' Information Security Oversight
Office (ISOO)—the unit that monitors the handling of government secrets.
He tells NEWSWEEK that his fight with Cheney's office was a "contributing"
factor in his decision to retire after 34 years of government service."
... "Leonard-described by National Archivist Allen Weinstein as "the gold
standard of information specialists in the federal government"-spoke to
NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff." ... "[Newsweek:] So how did matters escalate?"
... "[J William Leonard:] The challenge arose last year when the Chicago
Tribune was looking at [ISOO's annual report] and saw the asterisk [reporting
that it contained no information from OVP] and decided to follow up. And
that's when the spokesperson from the OVP made public this idea that because
they have both legislative and executive functions, that requirement doesn't
apply to them.…They were saying the basic rules didn't apply to them. I
thought that was a rather remarkable position. So I wrote my letter
to the Attorney General [asking for a ruling that Cheney's office had to
comply.] Then it was shortly after that there were [email] recommendations
[from OVP to a National Security Council task force] to change the executive
order that would effectively abolish [my] office." ... "[Newsweek:]
Who wrote the emails?" ... "[J William Leonard:] It was David Addington."
(1, 2, 3)
-By Michael Isikoff -Newsweek
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
Mitt
Romney
- Political
- Corporation
- Marketing
- History
- Gay-Rights
- Pro-Choice
- Stem
Cell - Science
- Health
- Law
- Religious
- Salt
Lake City - Utah
- Massachusetts
- New
Hampshire - US
- Torture
- Prison
- Guantanamo
Bay - 
Cuba
- 2008
Election - "Romney
should not be the next president." ... "[2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt] Romney's main business experience
is as a management consultant, a field in which smart, fast-moving specialists
often advise corporations on how to reinvent themselves. His memoir is
called Turnaround - the story of his successful rescue of the 2002 Winter
Olympics in Salt Lake City [Utah] - but the most stunning turnaround he
has engineered is his own political career." ... "If you followed only
his tenure as governor of Massachusetts, you might imagine Romney as a
pragmatic moderate with liberal positions on numerous social issues and
an ability to work well with Democrats. If you followed only his campaign
for president, you'd swear he was a red-meat conservative, pandering to
the religious right, whatever the cost. Pay attention to both, and you're
left to wonder if there's anything at all at his core." ... "As a candidate
for the U.S. [United States] Senate in 1994, he boasted that he would be
a stronger advocate of gay rights than his opponent, [Massachusetts Democratic
Senator] Ted Kennedy. These days, he makes a point of his opposition to
gay marriage and adoption." ... "There was a time that he said he wanted
to make contraception more available - and a time that he vetoed a bill
to sell it over-the-counter." ... "The old Romney assured voters he was
pro-choice on abortion. "You will not see me wavering on that," he said
in 1994, and he cited the tragedy of a relative's botched illegal abortion
as the reason to keep abortions safe and legal. These days, he describes
himself as pro-life." ... "There was a time that he supported stem-cell
research and cited his own wife's multiple sclerosis in explaining his
thinking; such research, he reasoned, could help families like his. These
days, he largely opposes it. As a candidate for governor, Romney dismissed
an anti-tax pledge as a gimmick. In this race, he was the first to sign."
... "In the 2008 campaign for president, there are numerous issues on which
Romney has no record, and so voters must take him at his word. On these
issues, those words are often chilling. While other candidates of both
parties speak of restoring America's moral leadership in the world, Romney
has said he'd like to "double" the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay [Cuba],
where inmates have been held for years without formal charge or access
to the courts. He dodges the issue of torture - unable to say, simply,
that waterboarding is torture and America won't do it." ... "When New Hampshire
partisans are asked to defend the state's first-in-the-nation primary,
we talk about our ability to see the candidates up close, ask tough questions
and see through the baloney. If a candidate is a phony, we assure ourselves
and the rest of the world, we'll know it." ... "Mitt Romney is such a candidate.
New Hampshire Republicans and independents must vote no."
-ConcordMonitor.com
Mitt
Romney
- Pro-Choice
- Stem
Cells - Illegal
- Immigrant
- Health
- Crime
- Politics
- History
- Massachusetts
- 
Michigan
- 2008
Election - "King
said George Romney didn't march: But, as usual, the
truth wasn't good enough for Mitt." ... "Running for Senate in Massachusetts,
in 1994, and trying to establish pro-choice credibility that he had done
nothing to earn, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt]
Romney told stories about his mother, Lenore Romney, running on a strong
pro-choice platform in her own unsuccessful bid for public office in 1970.
Those tales were debunked by Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara."
... "Then, as now, Romney tried to buttress his statement with weak documentation
at odds with the precision of the claim: in that case, Romney provided
the Globe with a vaguely-worded campaign document that could be read as
supporting the pre-Roe v Wade status quo, in which abortion was a felony
in Michigan. ''I support and recognize the need for more liberal abortion
rights while reaffirming the legal and medical measures needed to protect
the unborn and pregnant woman [sic]," the document read." ... "Again, at
that time, Romney did not just pass along falsehood as fact. He sold it
as personal truth, speaking of the painful memories of a close relative's
death, from complications of an illegal abortion." ... "Romney was telling
that tale, of course, when it was politically expedient to be pro-choice.
Today, needing to be pro-life, he has a new, highly personal and emotional
tale of personal conversion after a doctor showed him how stem cells are
handled in research — another specific but uncorroborated story, about
which even the doctor involved has expressed skepticism." ... "Romney once
favored gun control; now, needing gun-rights voters, he has falsely claimed
to be a "lifelong hunter" and to have been endorsed in 2002 by the National
Rifle Association – an endorsement the NRA never gave him. Needing to establish
anti-illegal-immigrant credentials, he boasts of an attitude that he never
displayed while governor — when he expressed no concern over several "sanctuary
cities" in the state — until the very end of his term, when he had turned
his attention to the Republican Presidential nomination." ... "This week,
he finds the need to attack [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidat]
Mike Huckabee on crime, and so Romney has re-invented his record there,
falsely claiming, in a new ad, to have cracked down on methamphetamine."
... "It is not just that these are untruths. They are the actions of a
man desperate to cater to the whims of his audience. What they want, he
must appear to be. " -By David S. Bernstein
-ThePhoenix.com
Mike
Huckabee - Prisoners- Guantanamo
- Cuba
- US
- Military
- Law
- Arkansas
- 2008
Election - "Huckabee:
Gitmo Is "Too Nice"." ... "Asked about Guantanamo
[American military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba], [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate] Mike Huckabee said he had visited the facility
and said it was “disappointing” that military personnel were eating meals
that averaged $1.60 while the detainees were eating Halal meals that cost
over $4 each." ... "“The inmates there were getting a whole lot better
treatment than my prisoners in Arkansas. In fact, we left saying, ‘I hope
our guys don’t see this. They’ll all want to be transferred to Guanatanmo.
If anything, it’s too nice.”" ... "Huckabee has said Guantanamo is more
a “symbolic issue” than anything else since the detainees are treated better
than prisoners in the US. Today Huckabee said, “Where they are detained
is of less importance to me than that they are detained…until we know they
are of no threat to us.”" -By Joy Lin and Mary Hood
-CBSNews
Tom
Tancredo - Mitt
Romney
- Illegal
- Immigration
- 
Colorado
- Iowa
- 2008
Election - "Tancredo
pulls out, backing Romney: Says he has best chance
of winning." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Tom
Tancredo pulled out of the presidential race yesterday and endorsed [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney, saying his erstwhile
rival is the Republican with the best chance to win the White House and
continue the fight to end illegal immigration, an issue the Coloradan helped
push to the forefront of the campaign." ... "The fifth-term congressman,
who consistently polled at the bottom of the nine-candidate GOP [Grand
Old Party=Republican] field, said he dropped out two weeks before the Iowa
caucuses because he feared his continued candidacy could enable an opponent
favoring a less-stringent approach to immigration to win."
-BostonGlobe
Secret
- Intelligence
- War
- Criminal
- Videotapes
- Censorship
- Politics
- Military
- Terrorism
- Texas
- "Subpoena
of CIA officials threatened: Justice Dept. [department]
action in tape destruction probe angers House panel chairman, who expects
testimony from two top intelligence agency officials." ... "The chairman
of the House Intelligence Committee, chafing at the Justice Department's
handling of a probe into missing CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] interrogation
tapes, threatened Wednesday to subpoena two top CIA officials to jump-start
the panel's own investigation." ... "The department, which is conducting
a criminal inquiry with the CIA inspector general into revelations that
a CIA official destroyed videotapes of two terrorism suspects being interrogated
in 2005, asked the panel last week to defer its inquiry." ... "Committee
Chairman [Texas Democratic Representative] Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas)
has called a hearing for Jan. 16. He said he expected testimony from both
acting CIA general counsel John Rizzo and Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., the former
head of the agency's operations branch, who authorized destroying the tapes."
-By Richard B. Schmitt
-LAtimes
Mitt
Romney
- 
Rudy
Giuliani
- Mike
Huckabee - Tom
Tancredo - Criminal- Illegal
- Employer
- Immigrants
- Employees
- Language
- Terrorism
- History
- Colo
- 
New
York
- Arkansas- US
- 
Mexican
- 
People
- Noteworthy
- 2008
Election - "GOP
hopefuls run in a hypocrisy derby." ... "Everybody
knows that [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney
was running - as [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy
Giuliani put it - a "sanctuary mansion." But not many people know that
he was not the only one." ... "No less an anti-immigrant zealot than [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Colorado Representative]
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.[Republican-Colorado]), the would-be President
who built a failing campaign on the single issue of persecuting "criminal
aliens" - as he is fond of calling undocumented immigrants - also has a
few skeletons in his closet." ... "Listen to this: Five years ago, when
Tancredo wanted to install a home theater and make other renovations in
his house, he had no qualms hiring a contractor that - gasp! - also employed
undocumented workers." ... "The man who had said, "[The face of illegal
immigration] is the face of murder. It is the face of infiltration into
the country of people who are coming to do us great harm," wasn't at all
troubled by the fact that only two in the crew of five or six laborers
spoke English." ... "[In 1994, then New York Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani
said] "If you come here and you work hard, and you happen to be in an undocumented
status, you're one of the people who we want in this city," he told The
New York Times in 1994." ... "While in Arkansas, he [Arkansas Republican
Governor and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee]
was instrumental in bringing a Mexican Consulate to Little Rock [Arkansas's
capital]. That consulate issued thousands of identification forms that
now, after he has become a presidential hopeful, Huckabee has begun to
call "illegal immigrant identification cards."" ... "And do not forget
that if he is elected President, he has vowed to expel the nation's estimated
12 million undocumented immigrants within 120 days, which comes to deporting
100,000 people per day." -By Albor Ruiz -NYDailyNews.com
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
John
Edwards
- 
Ron
Paul
- Mike
Huckabee - Noteworthy
- 
Journalists
- Politics
- Corporations
- Legislation
- 
Telecom
- Money
- 2008
Election - "Media
hostility toward anti-establishment candidates."
... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards, [2008
Election Republican Presidential Candidate Ron] Paul and [2008 Election
Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee are obviously disparate
in significant ways -- ideologically, temperamentally, and otherwise. But
there is a vital attribute common to those three campaigns that explains
the media's scorn: they are all, in their own ways, anti-establishment
candidates, meaning they are outside and critical of the system of which
national journalists are a critical part, the system which employs and
rewards our journalists and forms the base of their identity and outlook.
Any candidate who criticizes and opposes that system -- not in piecemeal
ways but fundamentally -- will be, first, ignored and, then, treated as
losers by the press." ... "It is very striking how little Edwards' substantive
critique of our political system has penetrated into the national discourse.
That's because the centerpiece of his campaign is a critique that is a
full frontal assault on our political establishment. His argument is not
merely that the political system needs reform, but that it is corrupt at
its core -- "rigged" in favor of large corporate interests and their lobbyists,
who literally write our laws and control the Congress. Anyone paying even
casual attention to the extraordinary bipartisan effort on behalf of telecom
immunity, and so many other issues driven almost exclusively by lobbyists,
cannot reasonably dispute this critique." ... "Yet because that argument
indicts the same Beltway culture of which our political journalists are
an integral part, and further attacks the system's power brokers who are
the friends, sources, and peers of those journalists, they instinctively
react with confusion, scorn and hostility towards Edwards' campaign. They
condescendingly dismiss it as manipulative populist swill, or cynically
assume that it's just a ploy to distinguish himself by "moving left." In
the eyes of our Beltawy press, the idea that our political system is "rigged"
or corrupt must be anything other than true or sincerely held." ... "As
Digby notes [**],
Ron Paul is going to raise more money than any Republican candidate this
quarter; he just topped the record for most money raised in a single day;
and has now exceeded Howard Dean's 2004 quarter total when Dean was at
the peak of his online fundraising prowess. Huckabee is now tied for the
lead in national polls and is leading in several of the key early states.
Yet our establishment media stars continue to sneer at these anti-establishment
candidates as though they are aberrational jokes, and there is virtually
no serious effort to understand the meaning of their success." ... "Worse,
whenever these candidates are discussed, it almost never entails any discussion
of the critiques they are making. Is Edwards right that corporations and
lobbyists dictate legislation in Washington and that this state of affairs
is profoundly anti-democratic and corrupt? Are Paul's criticisms of our
bipartisan imperial policies and his warnings of resulting financial unsustainability
(and increasing anti-Americanism) accurate? Is Huckabee's claim true that
the GOP has obliterated the economic prospects of its own middle- and lower-middle-class
followers?" -Glenn
Greenwald -Salon
Secret
- 
Alberto
R Gonzales - David
S Addington - Dick
Cheney
- 
Harriet
E Miers
- Torture
- War
- Crimes
- Tapes
- Censorship
- Law
- Politics
- Military
- Government
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- History
- US
- Iraq
- "Bush
Lawyers Discussed Fate of C.I.A.Tapes." ... "At least
four top [Republican President Bush] White House lawyers took part in discussions
with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether
to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives
from Al Qaeda, according to current and former administration and intelligence
officials." ... "The accounts indicate that the involvement of White House
officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November
2005 was more extensive than [Republican President] Bush administration
officials have acknowledged." ... "Those who took part, the officials said,
included Alberto R. Gonzales, who served as White House counsel until early
2005; David S. Addington, who was the counsel to [Republican] Vice President
Dick Cheney and is now his chief of staff; John B. Bellinger III, who until
January 2005 was the senior lawyer at the National Security Council; and
Harriet E. Miers, who succeeded Mr. Gonzales as White House counsel." ...
"It was previously reported that some administration officials had advised
against destroying the tapes, but the emerging picture of White House involvement
is more complex. In interviews, several administration and intelligence
officials provided conflicting accounts as to whether anyone at the White
House expressed support for the idea that the tapes should be destroyed."
... "One former senior intelligence official with direct knowledge of the
matter said there had been “vigorous sentiment” among some top White House
officials to destroy the tapes. The former official did not specify which
White House officials took this position, but he said that some believed
in 2005 that any disclosure of the tapes could have been particularly damaging
after revelations a year earlier of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq."
... "The current and former officials also provided new details about the
role played in November 2005 by Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the chief of
the agency’s clandestine branch, who ultimately ordered the destruction
of the tapes." ... "The officials said that before he issued a secret cable
directing that the tapes be destroyed, Mr. Rodriguez received legal guidance
from two C.I.A. [Central Intelligence Agency] lawyers, Steven Hermes and
Robert Eatinger. The officials said that those lawyers gave written guidance
to Mr. Rodriguez that he had the authority to destroy the tapes and that
the destruction would violate no laws." ... "Current and former officials
said the two lawyers informed the C.I.A.’s top lawyer, John A. Rizzo, about
the legal advice they had provided." (1, 2)
-By Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane with contributions
by David Johnston -NYTimes
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 prod