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2007 Law Enforcement News:

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

Pakistan - Terrorism - Politics - Police - Religious - Female - History - "Benazir Bhutto assassinated." ... "Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in the wake of a suicide bombing that killed at least 14 of her supporters, doctors, a spokesman for her party and other officials said." ... "Bhutto suffered bullet wounds in the aftermath of the bomb attack, TV networks were reporting." ... "Police warned citizens to stay home as they expected rioting to break out in city streets as a shocked Pakistan absorbed the news of Bhutto's assassination." ... "Bhutto, who led Paksitan from 1988 to 1990 and was the first female prime minister of any Islamic nation, was participating in the parliamentary election set for January 8, hoping for a third term." ... "A terror attack targeting her motorcade in Karachi killed 136 people on the day she returned to Pakistan after eight years of self-imposed exile." -Contributed to by Mohsin Naqvi -CNN

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

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

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 products.”" (1, 2, 3) -By Edmund L. Andrews with contributions by Gretchen Morgenson -NYTimes
Mitt Romney - Mike Huckabee - Crime - Drug - Religious - Television- Ad - Iowa - New Hampshire - South Carolina - 2008 Election - "Romney continues Huckabee attacks." ... "This week, the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt] Romney campaign launched a TV ad in Iowa accusing [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee of being soft on crime and reducing punishments for those caught manufacturing meth." ... ""I think people recognize this is very critical time in our nation's history and the issues are important," he said. "This is not just about feel-good. This is about how we would deal with important issues."" ... "Romney's "feel-good" comment was a reference to Huckabee's own television ad currently running in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, in which Huckabee dons a red sweater and tells viewers that "what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ."" ... "Romney questioned whether the ad, with its clear Christian overtones, is politically appropriate. He said he hopes "we don't divide America on the basis of faith."" -By Peter Hamby-CNN

Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Drug - Criminality - Race - Religion - New Hampshire - Iowa - South Carolina - 2008 Election - "Clinton's stereotyping of Obama may backfire." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama said Friday that he accepted the apology of Democratic presidential rival [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton after Bill Shaheen, Clinton's New Hampshire cochairman, suggested that Obama's teenage drug use would hurt him in the general election." ... "It was clear, though, that the apology did not cover all the recent shots at Obama that raise questions as to whether the Clinton campaign is getting desperate." ... ""The kindergarten stuff was not mentioned," Obama said in an interview after a morning town hall event here in eastern Iowa. The Clinton team was ridiculed in political circles for dredging up an Obama kindergarten I-want-to-be-president essay." ... "That leaves open as to how far the Clinton campaign, whose poll leads have evaporated in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, will go to stereotype Obama as not only naive, but cast him in a sinister light in a nation where black drug use and criminality is exaggerated in the media and where Muslims face undue wariness. Earlier this week, the Clinton staff fired two Iowa volunteer coordinators for circulating a hoax e-mail saying Obama, a Christian, was a Muslim who might help destroy the United States." -By Derrick Z. Jackson -BostonGlobe via -SeattlePI
University - Politics - New Jersey - "Police: Princeton student faked attack, e-mail threats." ... "A [New Jersey] Princeton University student who argued that his conservative views were not accepted on the campus confessed to fabricating an assault and sending threatening e-mail messages to himself and some friends who shared his views, authorities said Monday." ... "Princeton Township police said Francisco Nava was not immediately charged with any crime, but the investigation was continuing." ... "Nava claimed to have been assaulted Friday by two men off-campus, police said. But he later confessed that scrapes and scratches on his face were self-inflicted, and that the threats were his work, too, said Detective Sgt. [Sergeant] Ernie Silagyi." -By Geoff Mulvihill -AP via -Newsday.com

Secret - Surveillance - Terrorism - Crime - Telecommunications - Companies - Government - Legislation - Politics- Intelligence - Drug - Consumer - Wireless - Technology - United States - Global - Space - Colorado - New Jersey - "Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry." ... "For months, the [Republican President] Bush administration has waged a high-profile campaign, including personal lobbying by President Bush and closed-door briefings by top officials, to persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting companies from lawsuits for aiding the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program." ... "But the battle is really about something much bigger. At stake is the federal government’s extensive but uneasy partnership with industry to conduct a wide range of secret surveillance operations in fighting terrorism and crime." ... "The N.S.A.’s reliance on telecommunications companies is broader and deeper than ever before, according to government and industry officials, yet that alliance is strained by legal worries and the fear of public exposure." ... "To detect narcotics trafficking, for example, the government has been collecting the phone records of thousands of Americans and others inside the United States who call people in Latin America, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program remains classified. But in 2004, one major phone carrier balked at turning over its customers’ records. Worried about possible privacy violations or public relations problems, company executives declined to help the operation, which has not been previously disclosed." ... "In a separate N.S.A. [National Security Agency] project, executives at a Denver [Colorado] phone carrier, Qwest, refused in early 2001 to give the agency access to their most localized communications switches, which primarily carry domestic calls, according to people aware of the request, which has not been previously reported. They say the arrangement could have permitted neighborhood-by-neighborhood surveillance of phone traffic without a court order, which alarmed them." ... "The federal government’s reliance on private industry has been driven by changes in technology. Two decades ago, telephone calls and other communications traveled mostly through the air, relayed along microwave towers or bounced off satellites. The N.S.A. could vacuum up phone, fax and data traffic merely by erecting its own satellite dishes. But the fiber optics revolution has sent more and more international communications by land and undersea cable, forcing the agency to seek company cooperation to get access." ... "[An ATT engineer is claiming in a lawsuit that as early as February 2001,] “What he saw,” said Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs along with Carl Mayer, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the [Republican] Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”" (1, 2) -By Eric Lichtblau, James Risen, and Scott Shane -NYTimes

Mike Huckabee - Law - Politics - Money - Arkansas - Prison - 2008 Election - "Huckabee DWI clemency, donations raise questions." ... "Questions are being raised about then-Gov. [former Arkansas Governor and now 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee's 2004 decision to grant clemency to a repeat Driving While Intoxicated offender in Arkansas named Eugene Fields, despite the objections of a law enforcement official at the time. Documents obtained by NBC News reveal Fields' case was handled differently from any other DWI clemency or pardon granted by Huckabee, and some Republicans are now suggesting significant political contributions may have influenced the governor's decision." ... "In August 2001, Fields, of Van Buren, Ark. [Arkansas], was convicted of his fourth DWI charge, a felony in the state of Arkansas, was sentenced to six years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Fields reported to prison in August of 2003." ... "But prison records obtained by NBC News show that six weeks into that six-year sentence, Fields' application for clemency, a commutation of his sentence the governor could issue to grant Fields an early release from prison, was unanimously supported by the parole board. Within months, Huckabee issued his intent to grant executive clemency to Fields, who was released from prison soon thereafter." ... "Some Arkansas Republicans are also questioning whether Fields' clemency was tied to sizeable political contributions." ... "According to Federal Election Commission records, a month after Fields' appeal was denied, his wife made a $5,000 donation to the State Republican Party in June of 2003. A month later, she made an additional $5,000 donation, again to the Republican Party of Arkansas. The following month, Fields reported to prison and began his clemency application process. He was a free man in less than a year." ... "A former elected official in Arkansas with fundraising experience for the State Republican Party says the timing of Mrs. Fields' donations raises serious questions about their intended purpose." ... "Prior to his wife's donations, Fields had made a $10,000 donation to the Republican Party of Arkansas in October of 2000 under "Fields Investment Company," the name of his business. Both Mrs. Fields' 2003 donations and Mr. Fields' 2000 donation placed them among the largest, individual donors to the Republican Party of Arkansas in those years, on par with donations from members of the Walton family, of the Wal-Mart department store chain." -By Amna Nawaz -MSNBC

US - Iraq - Military - Police - Terrorism - Politics - Christmas - "Christians in Basra told not to celebrate to protest 2 deaths." ... "The Christian archbishop of Basra on Tuesday canceled the celebration of Christmas in that southern city to protest the deaths of a brother and sister, both Christians, as bombings and mayhem struck at cities throughout Iraq." ... "Archbishop Imad al Banna said Christians in Basra should still pray to mark Christmas, but should forgo such celebratory trappings as trees, gift-swapping and family gatherings to protest the deaths of Maysoon Farid, a 30-year-old cashier at a local pharmacy, and her brother Osama, 33. The two were found dead Monday night, dumped in a neighborhood controlled by the Shiite Muslim Mahdi Army militia." ... "Meanwhile, two police officers in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] were killed by a car bomb that struck near the homes of two prominent politicians, while south of Fallujah, in the west, family members mourned a 9-year-old girl who they said was killed by U.S. troops." -By Leila Fadel and Ali al Basri with contributions by Hussein Kadhim in Baghdad and Jamal al Dulaimy -McClatchy
Mike Huckabee - Fred Thompson - Mitt Romney - Employed - Illegal - Immigrants - Enforcement - Tennessee - Massachusetts - Iowa - 2008 Election - Ad- US - Cuba - Money - "Huckabee rivals go on the attack." ... "Former Tennessee [Senator and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Sen. Fred Thompson’s campaign kept up a steady stream of attack, criticizing [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee for everything from past support for ending the Cuban embargo to allegedly allowing state hard drives and servers to be destroyed while he was governor." ... "And CNN’s John King reports that former Massachusetts [Governor and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign announced that it plans to run a television ad in Iowa that targets Huckabee’s record on illegal immigration. The spot, which attacks him by name, hits the airwaves Tuesday." ... "Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said the ad was intended to highlight the difference between the former Massachusetts governor’s “pro-enforcement record” – under assault after recent revelations that he employed illegal immigrants on his property – and Huckabee’s somewhat softer stance in the past." -By John King, Alexander Mooney and Rebecca Sinderbrand -CNN

I Lewis "Scooter" Libby - Dick Cheney - Criminal - Government - Intelligence - Politics - "Libby drops appeal in CIA leak case." ... "Former [Republican President Bush] White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is no longer appealing his conviction in the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] leak case, a tacit recognition that continuing his legal fight might only make things worse." ... "Libby, the former chief of staff to [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction but [Republican] President Bush commuted his 30-month prison sentence in July. As a convicted felon, Libby will lose his law license and, in some states, cannot vote." ... "He might have had a chance to avoid those consequences had he won on appeal, but at a new trial his commutation would be meaningless and Libby would again face potential prison time." ... "Libby, 57, was convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation into the 2003 leak of [American Undercover] CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. He was the only person to face criminal charges in the case." ... "The decision to withdraw his appeal means Libby will remain a convicted felon. President Bush could wipe away the conviction with a full pardon, something he has refused to rule out." -By Matt Apuzzo with contributions by Deb Riechmann -AP via -Yahoo

Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Drug - Government - Politics - Qatar - Hong Kong - North Korea - Crime - Global - US - 2008 Election - "Giuliani Won't Release Client Names." ... "For the past year, though, Giuliani has declined to identify his clients on the grounds that they entered into confidentially agreements with his firm." ... "Giuliani formed the consulting firm in early 2002, offering "management consulting service to governments and business" and over the next five years it earned more than $100 million. That income, along with a robust speaking schedule, helped transform the moderately well-off public servant into a globe-trotting consultant whose net worth is estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars." ... "Giuliani Partners has represented a pharmaceutical company mired in a lengthy investigation; a confessed drug smuggler who hired Giuliani to ensure his security company could do business with the federal government; and the horse racing industry, which was eager to recover public confidence after a betting scandal." ... "But many of the firm's clients have never been listed on its web site or identified publicly by associates, and two of the most controversial arrangements among them only surfaced in recent weeks. One involved a 2005 agreement to provide security advice to the government of Qatar. The second stemmed from a deal to assist a partnership proposing a Southeast Asian gambling venture. Among the partners were relatives of a Hong Kong billionaire who has ties to the regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Il and has been linked to international organized crime, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune." -By Matthew Mosk-WashingtonPost
Rudy Giuliani - Police - Politics - Trips - Apartments - New York - Indigent - Lawyers - US - Qatar - Terrorism - 2008 Election - "Giuliani Defends Girlfriend's Expenses." ... "Former New York Mayor [and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani on Sunday defended the expenses incurred by his security detail as he was beginning an extramarital affair with current wife Judith Nathan, saying police made the decision after she had received threats." ... "Giuliani in recent weeks has faced a barrage of questions about New York police security costs for his trysts with Nathan and about his business clients, which have included the Persian Gulf country of Qatar. The Gulf state is a U.S. ally, but allegations have been made that some prominent Qatari officials sheltered suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. " ... "Records first reported by Politico.com last month showed repeated trips between 1999 and 2002 to Long Island, where Nathan had a condominium. Giuliani's first trip was from Aug. 31 to Sept. 1, 1999 - months before he acknowledged the breakdown of his second marriage in the spring of 2000." ... "Security costs for those trips were charged to agencies like the New York City Loft Board, which regulates loft apartments and was billed $34,000. The Office for People with Disabilities was charged $10,000, while the Assigned Counsel Administrative Office, which provides lawyers for indigent defendants, was charged roughly $400,000. " -By Libby Quaid -APvia -CBSNews
Joe Biden - Investigate - Military - Government - Intelligence - Terrorism - Videotapes- Censorship - Politics - Delaware - 2008 Election - "Biden calls for Special Counsel to investigate CIA." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Delaware Senator] Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware, says the Justice Department needs to go further than it has, by calling for the appointment of Special Counsel to investigate the CIA's destruction of videotapes that included the interrogation of terrorism suspects." ... "“Under federal law, the Attorney General may appoint a Special Counsel to prosecute matters when he or she determines that an investigation by the Department itself would present a conflict of interest, or there are other extraordinary circumstances and it would be in the public interest to do so. I believe these conditions are met," the Democratic presidential hopeful said in a news release Sunday." ... "“This is a White House that has sanctioned and pushed for the kind of interrogation techniques captured on those video tapes," Biden said. "This is a White House that was informed of the CIA’s desire to destroy those tapes. Thus, it is possible this investigation could lead to the [Republican President Bush] White House."" -By Jamie Crawford -CNN

Mike Huckabee - Law - Politics - Arkansas - Missouri - Religious - 2008 Election - "Parole officials: Huckabee pushed rapist's release: Former Arkansas governor says he didn't free the man who later killed at least one woman, but board members say they felt pressured." ... "With [Pastor Jay D.] Cole's urging, and with [Wayne] DuMond insisting he was "born again," [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee played a key role in setting free a rapist who was supposed to serve many more years, say three of the seven members of the state board that paroled DuMond." ... "After being released, DuMond moved to Missouri, where less than a year later he suffocated the mother of three in a Kansas City [Missouri] suburb. Police suspect that he killed another woman there as well." ... "Though he acknowledged discussing the case with the [Arkansas] state parole board, Huckabee said that conversation was "simply part of a broader discussion" initiated at the request of the board chairman. "I did not ask them to do anything," he said." ... "Three board members recalled it differently. They said Huckabee raised the issue of DuMond's release, asking to discuss the matter with them in a closed session. They said his religious beliefs, and the influence of the evangelical community from which he came, drove him." ... ""We felt pressured by him," said board member Ermer Pondexter. "I felt compelled to do it. . . . It was a favor for the governor."" ... "Looking back, she added, "I regret it."" ... "Parole board member Deborah Springer Suttlar said Huckabee did not mince his feelings about DuMond: "He wanted him out."" (1, 2) -By Richard A. Serrano with contributions by Richard Fausset -LAtimes

Secret - Porter J Goss - Michael V Hayden - Military - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Videotapes - Censorship - Officers - Safety - Prisoner - Torture - War Crimes - Law - Politics - "C.I.A. Destroyed Tapes of Interrogations." ... "The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about the C.I.A’s [Central Intelligence Agency] secret detention program, according to current and former government officials." ... "The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terror suspects — including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in C.I.A. custody — to severe interrogation techniques. They were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy, several officials said." ... "The C.I.A. said today that the decision to destroy the tapes had been made “within the C.I.A. itself,” and they were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value. The agency was headed at the time by Porter J. Goss. Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Goss declined this afternoon to comment on the destruction of the tapes." ... "The existence and subsequent destruction of the tapes are likely to reignite the debate over the use of severe interrogation techniques on terror suspects, and their destruction raises questions about whether C.I.A. officials withheld information about aspects of the program from the courts and from the Sept. 11 commission appointed by [Republican] President Bush and Congress. It was not clear who within the C.I.A. authorized the destruction of the tapes, but current and former government officials said it had been approved at the highest levels of the agency." ... "General [CIA Director, General Michael V Hayden] Hayden said in a statement that leaders of Congressional oversight committees were fully briefed on the matter, but some Congressional officials said notification to Congress had not been adequate." (1, 2) -By Mark Mazzetti with contributions by Eric Lichtblau and Scott Shane -NYTimes

Mike Huckabee - Women - Families - Law - Politics - History - Arkansas - Prison - Missouri - Crime - 2008 Election - "Mothers hold Huckabee partially responsible for daughters' murders." ... "[2008 Election Republican] Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that he is "heartbroken" over the pain suffered by the families of two women murdered in Kansas City [Missouri] more than six years ago." ... "Authorities say the two victims, Carol Shields and Sara Andrasek, were killed by the same man —Wayne DuMond, who was released from an Arkansas prison in 1999, a year before Shields' murder." ... "Their mothers say Huckabee is responsible, at least in part, for DuMond's release." ... ""What a fool," said Lois Davidson, Shields' mother. "Thinking he could rule the country when he couldn't even do a good job as governor of Arkansas."" ... "Janet Williams, Andrasek's mother: "Wayne DuMond should have never been on the streets in Missouri. ... When politics are involved, people get hurt, and Sara and Carol Shields paid the ultimate price with their lives."" ... "A jury sent DuMond to prison in 1985 for the rape of 17-year old Ashley Stevens, a distant relative of then-[Democratic Governor]Gov. Bill Clinton. While awaiting trial on the rape charge, DuMond was castrated — some say by assailants, other say he did the job himself." ... "But his conviction and imprisonment became a rallying point for Clinton critics and some Republicans in Arkansas, who said they believed DuMond was in prison because of the Clinton connection, and that he was actually innocent of the charges." ... "In 1996, then-[Republican Governor]Gov. Huckabee joined the discussion, saying he planned to commute DuMond's sentence to time served, in part because evidence in the case was "questionable."" ... "Some parole board members have since said they made the decision without pressure from Huckabee; others, though, said he had talked with them about his desire that DuMond be released." ... ""He made it obvious that he thought DuMond had gotten a raw deal and wanted us to take another look at it," former board member Charles Chastain said in 2001. "Some board members who were usually very tough about letting people out ... (later) voted in favor of him, and seemed eager to."" -By Dave Helling with contributions by DeAnn Smith -McClatchy

Secret - Larry Craig - Gay - Idaho - Colorado - Minnesota - Airport - Police - Law - 2008 Election - Money - "More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig: Allegations made since news of the Minneapolis case broke lend weight to rumors about [Idaho Republican Senator Larry] Craig." ... "David Phillips. Mike Jones. Greg Ruth. Tom Russell." ... "Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention." ... "They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay, I never have been gay." Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure." ... "A fifth gay man, who is from Boise [Idaho's capital] but who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, offered a recent and telling account: He was in a men's restroom at [Colorado's] Denver International Airport in September 2006 when the man in the next stall moved his hand slowly, palm up, under the divider. Alarmed, the man said he waited outside the restroom and then identified the man in the adjoining stall as Craig, whom he had met in Idaho." ... "Craig, 62, says he was a victim of "profiling" when he was arrested June 11 at [Minnesota's] Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in an adjoining stall in a men's restroom. Craig pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August. He is appealing his conviction, financed by his 2008 re-election fund." ... "Craig has said he hoped to keep his guilty plea secret." -By Dan Popkey -IdahoStatesman.com

Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Cops - Car - Family - Travel - Gas - Account - New York - Pennsylvania - Christmas - 2008 Election - "City taxpayers picked up tab for Judith Giuliani's visit to kin in Pennsylvania." ... "In the fall of 2001, [New York City, New York] city cops chauffeured [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents' Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the taxpayers' dime." ... "Records show that city cops refueled at an ExxonMobil station down the road from Nathan's childhood home in Hazleton on Oct. 20, 2001, while Giuliani stayed behind in New York attending 9/11 funerals." ... "A similar receipt pops up at a different Hazleton gas station two months later, when Nathan apparently went home for a pre-Christmas visit with her parents." ... "The records show that - in addition to using [New York] City Hall funds to take Giuliani and Nathan to 11 secret trysts in the Hamptons, as has been previously reported - taxpayers were paying to ferry Nathan on long-distance trips without Giuliani, now a Republican contender for President." ... "The expenses were all paid with a City Hall American Express card funded with money from mayoral office units that had nothing to do with travel or security." -By Michael Saul and David Saltonstall -NYDailyNews.com
Hillary Rodham Clinton - Virginia - New Hampshire - Police - Mental - 2008 Election - "Clinton calm in hostage crisis." ... "When the hostages had been released and their alleged captor arrested, a regal-looking [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis." ... "The image, broadcast just as the network news began, conveyed the message a thousand town hall meetings and campaign commercials strive for — namely, that the Democratic presidential contender can face disorder in a most orderly manner." ... ""I am very grateful that this difficult day has ended so well," she declared as she stood alone at the microphone." ... "Aides said Clinton was home Friday afternoon, getting ready to deliver a partisan speech in Virginia to the Democratic National Committee, when she was told three workers in her Rochester, N.H. [New Hampshire], headquarters had been taken hostage by a man claiming to have a bomb." ... "Police later arrested 47-year-old Leeland Eisenberg of Somersworth, N.H., and charged him with kidnapping and reckless conduct. They said he walked into the office, demanding to speak to Clinton and complaining about inadequate access to mental care." -By Glen Johnson -AP via -Yahoo

Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Accounting - History - New York - Police - 2008 Election - "Rudy Giuliani campaign team backtracks on tryst talk." ... "The uproar grew Thursday over expenses for [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's protection during his trysts with Judith Nathan as his campaign's initial defense - that its accounting methods were the same as previous mayors' - unraveled." ... "Joe Lhota, a deputy mayor in Giuliani's City Hall, told the Daily News Wednesday night that the administration's practice of allocating security expenses to small city offices that had nothing to do with mayoral protection has "gone on for years" and "predates Giuliani."" ... "When told budget officials from the administrations of Ed Koch and David Dinkins said they did no such thing, Lhota caved Thursday, "I'm going to reverse myself on that. I'm just going to talk about the Giuliani era," Lhota said. "I should only talk about what I know about."" ... "The embarrassing backtrack comes as Giuliani rushed to network airwaves to defend himself against allegations his administration deliberately attempted to conceal the taxpayer cost of his NYPD protection while he engaged in secret Hamptons liaisons with Nathan, his then-mistress and current wife." (1, 2) -By David Saltonstall and Michael Saul -NYDailyNews.com
Secret - Rudy Giuliani - Police - Car - Accounting - Politics - New York - 2008 Election - "NYPD Chief Casts Doubt on Giuliani Expense Story." ... "New questions were raised today about [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's explanation for submitting police security expenses to obscure city agencies while he was mayor of New York [City, New York] and carried on a secret affair with his mistress, who also was given use of a police driver and city car." ... "Giuliani said Thursday the unusual billing practice was not intended to hide anything but instead to speed payment of American Express credit card bills." ... "But the current New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today he knew of no problems with the delay of payments before Giuliani was mayor, when Kelly served under Mayor David Dinkins, or since." -By Brian Ross and Richard Esposito -ABCNEWS.com
Rudolph W Giuliani - Crime - History - Economy - Housing - Transit - Law - Politics - New York - New Hampshire - Illinois - 2008 Election - "Citing Statistics, Giuliani Misses Time and Again." ... "Discussing his crime-fighting success as mayor, Mr. Giuliani [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City, New York] told a television interviewer that New York was “the only city in America that has reduced crime every single year since 1994.” In New Hampshire this week, he told a public forum that when he became mayor in 1994, New York “had been averaging like 1,800, 1,900 murders for almost 30 years.” When a recent Republican debate turned to the question of fiscal responsibility, he boasted that “under me, spending went down by 7 percent.”" ... "All of these statements are incomplete, exaggerated or just plain wrong." ... "For instance, another major American city claims to have reduced crime every year since 1994: Chicago [Illinois]. New York [City, New York] averaged 1,514 murders a year during the three decades before Mr. Giuliani took office; it did not record more than 1,800 homicides until 1980. And Mr. Giuliani’s own memoir states that spending grew an average of 3.7 percent for most of his tenure; an aide said Mr. Giuliani had meant to say that he had proposed a 7 percent reduction in per capita spending during his time as mayor." ... "Last weekend, speaking about his belief in supply-side economics, Mr. Giuliani said, “I lowered, argued for lowering, and got the hotel occupancy tax lowered by 33 percent. And I was collecting $200 million more from the lower tax than the city had been collecting from before I was mayor from the higher tax.”" ... "In fact, the increase in revenues from the hotel occupancy tax was just over a quarter of what Mr. Giuliani asserted — the city’s hotel tax revenues grew by roughly $58 million during his term, according to the city’s Independent Budget Office — and a booming economy, as well as the reduction in crime Mr. Giuliani helped produce, probably played a part." ... "Factcheck.org has reported that the Giuliani campaign exaggerated when it boasted on its Web site that “Mayor Giuliani increased the police force from 28,000 to 40,000,” noting that most of that increase came from his merger of the Transit and Housing Police Departments with the New York Police Department, a transfer of more than 7,000 existing officers to the department." (1, 2) -By Michael Cooper -NYTimes
Scott J Bloch - Karl Rove - Federal - Investigators - Computer - Politics - Employees - Campaigns - "U.S. Special Counsel Says He Won't Provide Files." ... "A U.S. official overseeing a probe of potential [Republican President Bush] White House misconduct declared through a spokesman yesterday that he will not give federal investigators copies of personal files that he deleted from his office computer." ... "The decision by Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch escalates the confrontation between the Bush appointee and the White House, each of which is investigating the other." ... "Bloch's office is tasked with upholding laws against whistle-blower retaliation and partisan politicking in federal agencies. Earlier this year, Bloch directed lawyers in his office to look into charges that former Bush adviser Karl Rove inappropriately deployed government employees in Republican political campaigns." ... "Attorneys representing the staff members in the complaints against Bloch cited the latest dispute in calling for his resignation." ... ""At the time that he initiated this probe of Karl Rove, we thought he was doing this to make himself bulletproof so the White House could not take disciplinary action against him," said Debra Katz, an attorney for the staff members. Bloch denied that charge and said the Rove investigation is the responsibility of his office." -By Elizabeth Williamson -WashingtonPost

Rudy Giuliani - Terrorism - Money - Politics - US - Qatar - Military - Intelligence - Osama bin Laden - Law - Enforcement - 2008 Election - "Giuliani's Ties to Qatar Raise Questions for Mr. 9/ll." ... "Contracts awarded to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's private security firm in the Gulf state of Qatar were overseen by a government minister suspected of harboring the al Qaeda terrorist who planned the 9/ll attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, according to security consultants in the region." ... "Since 2005, Giuliani Partners and its Giuliani Security & Safety (GS&S) unit has provided security consulting and advice in Qatar through contracts overseen by the country's Interior Ministry, which is currently run by a member of the royal family who has long been accused of supporting al Qaeda, according to security consultants familiar with the area." ... "The current interior minister, Sheik Abdullah Bin Khalid al-Thani, was suspected of sheltering Mohammed at his farm and tipping him off to the arrival of CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] teams coming to arrest the al Qaeda strategist back in 1996, according to the National Security Council's former chief counterterrorism adviser and ABC News consultant Richard A. Clarke, former CIA agent Robert Baer and a 2004 Congressional Research Service report." ... "Khalid al-Thani is also believed to have welcomed Osama bin Laden on two visits to the farm, according to an Oct. 10, 2007 CRS study." ... "The firm's work in Qatar was too close for comfort to former law enforcement agents familiar with the country." ... ""We have a guy who could be president who's taking money from the same accounts that harbored terrorists," said Baer, the former CIA agent." -By Marcus Baram -ABCNEWS.com
Rudolph Giuliani - Mitt Romney - Bernie Kerik - Police - Law - Immigrants - New York - Massachusetts - 2008 Election - Hillary Clinton - "Republicans eat their own in increasingly nasty race." ... "At Wednesday's CNN/YouTube debate, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and] former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani accused [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and] former Massachusetts Gov. [Governor] Mitt Romney of running a "sanctuary mansion" because Romney had illegal immigrants doing yard work at his home. Earlier in the week, Giuliani's campaign manager called Romney a "mediocre one-term governor."" ... "Romney has lambasted Giuliani's judgment in hiring as police commissioner Bernie Kerik, who was indicted on corruption charges recently. Both candidates routinely accuse each other of resembling Hillary Clinton, perhaps the unkindest cut of all among Republicans." -By Matt Stearns with contributions by William Douglas and David Lightman -McClatchyDC.com
Secret - Rudolph Giuliani - New York - Police - Car - Transport - Traveling - Politics - 2008 Election - "Giuliani's Mistress Used N.Y. Police as Taxi Service." ... "Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com." ... ""She used the PD [Police Department] as her personal taxi service," said one former city official who worked for Giuliani." ... "New York papers reported in 2000 that the city had provided a security detail for Nathan, who became Giuliani's third wife after his divorce from Donna Hanover, who also had her own police security detail at the same time." ... "The former officials told ABCNews.com the extra costs involved overtime and per diem costs for officers traveling with Giuliani to secret weekend rendezvous with Nathan in the fashionable Hamptons resort area on Long Island." -By Richard Esposito -ABCNEWS.com

Noteworthy - Scott Bloch - Karl Rove - Military - Government - Computer - Intelligence - Company - Hacking - 2006 Election - Politics - Employee - Justice - Investigation - Kan - "Head of Rove Inquiry in Hot Seat Himself: Bloch Used Private Company, Geeks on Call, to Delete Files On His Office Computer." ... "The head of the federal agency investigating [Republican President Bush's former aide] Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call." ... "TScott Bloch runs the Office of Special Counsel, an agency charged with protecting government whistleblowers and enforcing a ban on federal employees engaging in partisan political activity. Mr. Bloch's agency is looking into whether Mr. Rove and other White House officials used government agencies to help re-elect Republicans in 2006." ... "TAt the same time, Mr. Bloch has himself been under investigation since 2005. At the direction of the White House, the federal Office of Personnel Management's inspector general is looking into claims that Mr. Bloch improperly retaliated against employees and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination." ... "TRecently, investigators learned that Mr. Bloch erased all the files on his office personal computer late last year. They are now trying to determine whether the deletions were improper or part of a cover-up, lawyers close to the case said." ... "In an interview, the 49-year-old former labor-law litigator from Lawrence, Kan., confirmed that he contacted Geeks on Call but said he was trying to eradicate a virus that had seized control of his computer." ... "Mr. Bloch believes the White House may have a conflict of interest in pressing the inquiry into his conduct while his office investigates the White House political operation." ... "Depending on circumstances, erasing files or destroying evidence in a federal investigation can be considered obstruction of justice." ... "Mr. Bloch had his computer's hard disk completely cleansed using a "seven-level" wipe: a thorough scrubbing that conforms to Defense Department data-security standards. The process makes it nearly impossible for forensics experts to restore the data later. He also directed Geeks on Call to erase laptop computers that had been used by his two top political deputies, who had recently left the agency." -By John R. Wilke -WSJ.com
Rudy Giuliani - Travel - Politics - New York - Police - Government - Law - 2008 Election - "Giuliani billed obscure agencies for trips." ... "As [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records." ... "The documents, obtained by Politico under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants." ... "At the time, the mayor’s office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing “security.”" ... "The Hamptons visits resulted in hotel, gas and other costs for Giuliani’s New York Police Department security detail." -By: Ben Smith -Politico.com

Secret - US - Iraq - Texas - Oil - Money- Criminal - UN - Food - "Texas oilman Wyatt sentenced to year in prison." ... "Texas oilman Oscar Wyatt was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Tuesday for conspiracy in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, becoming the most prominent figure jailed over corruption in the program to buy oil from Saddam Hussein's Iraq." ... "Under his plea agreement, prosecutors dropped four other counts against him, cutting short a trial in which they made a case that he paid secret kickbacks to Saddam's government to win oil contracts from Iraq." ... "U.S. criminal investigations into the corrupted U.N. program has so far produced the convictions of seven individuals and two companies, including Chevron Corp. which agreed to pay $30 million to resolve criminal and civil liabilities." (1, 2) -By Christine Kearney with contributions by David Wiessler -Reuters
Bernard Kerik - Officer - Race - Politics - Rudy Giuliani - New York - 2008 Election - "Settlement for former corrections officer who claims Bernard Kerik had race bias." ... "The city [New York City, New York] will pay $125,000 to settle a suit by a former Correction Department officer who claimed that disgraced ex-Commissioner Bernard Kerik sidetracked his career because he's African-American." ... "Former Deputy Warden Eric Deravin agreed to the payout on the day his federal racial discrimination trial was set to start in Manhattan [borough of New York City]." ... "Deravin claimed he was passed over for promotion six times between 1998 and 2000 after he successfully fended off a harassment claim lodged by Kerik's former lover, Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero." ... "Deravin was promoted in May 2000." ... "Kerik admitted a nearly two-year romantic relationship with Pinero that ended in early 1997. Then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani [now 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] named Kerik commissioner the following year." -By Thomas Zambito -NYDailyNews.com

Secret - Rudolph Giuliani - Nevada - New York - US - Singapore - China - North Korea - International - Crime - Law - 2008 Election - "Giuliani's business ties create challenge: Was a consultant for controversial tycoon." ... "Nine days after registering his presidential exploratory committee last November, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudolph Giuliani appeared in Singapore to help a Las Vegas [Nevada] developer make a pitch for a $3.5 billion casino resort." ... "Though the bid ultimately failed, and there was nothing illegal about the involvement, it drew Giuliani into a complex partnership with the family of a controversial Hong Kong [China] billionaire who has ties to the regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Il and has been linked to international organized crime by the U.S. government." ... "Giuliani's participation as a security consultant in the Singapore gambling venture illustrates the challenge he faces while attempting to win the Republican presidential nomination with a law-and-order message while maintaining a far-flung, international business portfolio, an unknown portion of which remains in the shadows." ... "Even today, more than a year after the former New York mayor signaled his intention to run for the presidency, it remains impossible to fully evaluate Giuliani's business dealings because he has declined to list all of the clients in Giuliani Partners, the consulting firm he founded and heads." (1, 2, 3) -By Andrew Zajac and Evan Osnos with contributions by Rick Pearson -ChicagoTribune

Alphonso Jackson - Criminal - Corporate - Federal - Housing - Politics - Law - New Orleans - Louisiana - Georgia - Virgin Islands - SC - "A Helping Hand." ... "By all accounts, Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson is a tough, hands-on manager who gets what he wants. "He's not flying at the 50,000-feet level," says a former senior official in the Housing and Urban Development Department. "He is definitely into the weeds." Yet when it comes to dealing with contracts at HUD, Jackson insists he never gets involved -- "I don't mess" with contracts, he said in a sworn interview with federal investigators last year. But his record as secretary, and as deputy secretary before that, suggests otherwise." ... "Behind the scenes, Jackson has helped to arrange lucrative contract work running into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for friends and associates who went to work at HUD-controlled housing authorities in New Orleans [Louisiana] and the Virgin Islands, according to people familiar with his actions. Indeed, one of Jackson's good friends, Atlanta [Georgia] lawyer Michael Hollis, appears to have been paid approximately $1 million for managing the troubled Virgin Islands Housing Authority. Before landing at the authority, some sources said, Hollis had no experience in running a public housing agency." ... "Jackson's past efforts to aid his friends are causing him no end of headaches. For several months, a federal grand jury, Justice Department prosecutors, the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation], and the HUD inspector general's office have been exploring Jackson's role in contracting decisions at the housing department. According to people familiar with the investigation, federal agents are focusing on Jackson's relationship with one friend in particular, William Hairston, a stucco contractor from Hilton Head Island, S.C. [South Carolina.]" ... "In interviews several weeks ago with National Journal, Hairston acknowledged that Jackson had helped him land a lucrative job around January 2006 at the Housing Authority of New Orleans, or HANO. HUD and a former HANO official have said that Hairston was paid about $485,000 for working as a construction manager at HANO during an 18-month period. As it turns out, new information uncovered by National Journal suggests that Hairston was paid even more than that. HSD, a Georgia company that was affiliated with Hairston, was paid $186,280 under a direct contract with HUD, federal procurement records show. A HUD document identified Hairston as a representative of HSD." ... "Federal investigators are digging deep into Jackson's relationship with Hairston, a sometime golfing buddy of the secretary's. According to the people familiar with the inquiry, federal investigators are also reviewing allegations that Hairston did work on Jackson's vacation home in Hilton Head." ... "Simply put, investigators are exploring whether Jackson lied when he said he did not get involved in HUD contracting. Federal criminal investigators would not comment on their inquiry." ... "At least four associates of Jackson have benefited from contracts awarded at the New Orleans and Virgin Islands housing authorities." -By Edward T. Pound -NationalJournal
Bernard Kerik - Rudolph Giuliani - Media - TV - Business - Politics - Police - Government - New York - History - 2008 Election - "Regan opens Fox's can of worms: Judith Regan's lawsuit against Fox sets up the possibility of some very interesting disclosures, says Richard Aregood." ... "Her most recent fame came from her role as the paramour of the former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, meeting him for assignations in a city apartment intended to provide respite for 9/11 rescue workers." ... "News Corporation owns, among other properties, the New York Post, the 20th Century Fox movie studio, DirecTV, the Fox Network, Fox News and the recently acquired Wall Street Journal." ... "The Fox News chief, Roger Ailes, is a long-time Republican activist dating back to the days of the [Republican President] Richard Nixon administration, and a close associate of former New York mayor and [2008 Eelction] Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani." ... "Ailes managed Giuliani's first and unsuccessful race for mayor in 1989, and Giuliani later officiated at Ailes's wedding. When Fox News was a start-up, then-Mayor Giuliani pushed so hard to force cable networks such as Time-Warner to carry it that a federal judge hearing a subsequent lawsuit blocked the mayor's plan to put Fox on a city-owned channel, calling it "special advocacy" to "reward a friend and further a political viewpoint". Guiliani was a highly visible tablemate and guest of Ailes and Fox at the most recent White House Correspondents' Dinner." ... "Regan's 70-page filing, in spite of its frustrating lack of elaboration on its most spectacular allegations, paints a picture at considerable variance from the 24-hour news network's "fair and balanced" slogan." ... "Her central point, which might seem credible to anyone who has seen a Sean Hannity-Giuliani televised lovefest, is that Fox's coverage of the presidential race is determined by its desire to promote Giuliani. In fact, she alleges in court papers that "a senior executive" had advised Regan to "lie to, and withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik"." ... "Indeed", it adds, "another News Corp. executive similarly advised Regan not to produce clearly relevant documents in connection with the government's investigation of Kerik"." ... "This "senior executive", she says, tried to go beyond withholding facts from federal investigators that might hurt Guiliani or Kerik, his partner in the security consulting firm Giuliani Partners. "In fact", the suit says, "as is typically done when Fox News on-air talent and commentators receive their 'talking points', this executive attempted to influence any information that Regan might be asked to give regarding Kerik"." -Guardian.co.uk

Rudolph W Giuliani - Bernard Kerik - Media - Company - Politics - 2008 Election - Publisher - New York - Police - Government - "Regan says she was told to lie to protect Giuliani: In a lawsuit against News Corp., the former publisher alleges that she had to keep quiet on an affair with the mayor's top cop." ... "Former publisher Judith Regan filed a $100-million defamation lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and other defendants Tuesday, alleging she was asked by company officials to lie to federal investigators in order to protect [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential bid." ... "Amid a flurry of allegations, the one most likely to cause a stir is Regan's charge that News Corp.'s political agenda was to protect the campaign of former New York Mayor Giuliani, especially when it came to the controversies over former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, whom Giuliani had recommended for the post of Homeland Security secretary. Regan said she confided to company executives as early as 2001 that she had been having an affair with Kerik, whose memoir, "The Lost Son," she published shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks." ... "After [Republican] President Bush nominated Kerik for Homeland Security secretary in 2004, Regan alleges in her suit, one executive "advised Regan to lie to, and to withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik."" ... "The company then launched a campaign to discredit her, because it feared that she might disclose information that would be politically hurtful to Giuliani, the suit said. Kerik subsequently withdrew his name from consideration amid a cloud of legal questions over his past behavior and fitness for office; he was indicted last week on federal charges, including tax fraud." -By Josh Getlin -LAtimes
Michael B Mukasey - US - Iraq - Blackwater - Business- Military - Law - Politics - North Carolina - "F.B.I. Says Guards Killed 14 Iraqis Without Cause." ... "Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case." ... "The F.B.I. investigation into the shootings in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] is still under way, but the findings, which indicate that the company’s employees recklessly used lethal force, are already under review by the Justice Department." ... "Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek indictments, and some officials have expressed pessimism that adequate criminal laws exist to enable them to charge any Blackwater employee with criminal wrongdoing. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. declined to discuss the matter." ... "The case could be one of the first thorny issues to be decided by Michael B. Mukasey, who was sworn in as attorney general last week. He may be faced with a decision to turn down a prosecution on legal grounds at a time when a furor has erupted in Congress about the administration’s failure to hold security contractors accountable for their misdeeds." ... "Representative David E. Price, a North Carolina Democrat who has sponsored legislation to extend American criminal law to contractors serving overseas, said the Justice Department must hold someone accountable for the shootings." ... "“Just because there are deficiencies in the law, and there certainly are,” Mr. Price said, “that can’t serve as an excuse for criminal actions like this to be unpunished. I hope the new attorney general makes this case a top priority. He needs to announce to the American people and the world that we uphold the rule of law and we intend to pursue this.”" (1, 2) -By David Johnston and John M. Broder with contributions by Paul von Zielbauer -NYTimes

Don Young - Criminal - Transportation - Construction - Real Estate - Jet - Travel - Money - Politics - Alaska - New York - Florida - "Alaska lawmaker promoted earmarks, raked in cash." ... "As chairman of the House transportation committee, Alaska Congressman Don Young flew at least three times to upstate New York aboard a sleek jet owned by Robert Congel, an ambitious shopping mall developer seeking federal highway dollars." ... "With Young’s help, Congel got millions of dollars to boost his dream of building the largest mall in North America. The veteran Republican congressman got something, too: more than $33,000 in political donations from Congel, his family and his associates." ... "For Young, the Congel story was hardly unusual. Time after time, Young approved millions of dollars for highway projects for people who in turn fattened his campaign coffers." ... "With money pouring in from transportation interests, Young amassed $6.5 million in political contributions from 2001 to 2005. Facing weak political opposition at home, he didn’t need much for his campaign. Instead, Young tapped his campaign fund to travel the country, often lavishly and in corporate jets, to meet with more developers and view their proposed highway projects." ... "Now, though, Young’s campaign donations are going for another purpose. He’s spent nearly $450,000 on criminal defense lawyers after he learned of an FBI investigation into his relationships with political donors, who include a Florida real estate developer seeking a highway ramp near his undeveloped land." -By Greg Gordon and Erika Bolstad-McClatchyDC.com
Rudy Giuliani - Police - New York - Politician - 2008 Election - "Former Controversial Congressman Charged With DWI." ... "Former [New York Republican Representative] Rep. John Sweeney was charged with aggravated DWI when he was pulled over by State Police early this morning on the Northway with a 23-year-old woman in his car, police told the Daily News." ... "Sweeney got his political start as executive director of the state GOP, where he helped [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani win his first mayoral campaign in 1993 and also worked on [Republican] George Pataki's successful bid to oust former [Democratic Governor] Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1994." ... "The ex-congressman has a history of alcohol-related incidents, and he and his estranged wife have indicated alcohol was a factor in the domestic incident which led to an embarassing police report [PDF] that was leaked to the Daily News, the Albany Times Union and Newsday shortly before last year's congressional election." -By Joe Mahoney -NYDailyNews.com
US - Iraq - Criminal - Business - Military - Politics - Accounting - "Broken Supply Channel Sent Weapons for Iraq Astray." ... "As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, American officials entrusted an Iraqi businessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training to help quell the violence." ... "By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor. But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some American officials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand — Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors." ... "“This was the craziest thing in the world,” said John Tisdale, a retired Air Force master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. “They were taking weapons away by the truckload.”" ... "Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the American military lost track of some 190,000 pistols and automatic rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq’s security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors discovered in the past year." ... "These discoveries prompted criminal inquiries by the Pentagon and the Justice Department, and stoked fears that the arms could fall into enemy hands and be used against American troops. So far, no missing weapons have been linked to any American deaths, but investigators say that in a country awash with weapons, it may be impossible to trace where some ended up." ... "While the Pentagon has yet to offer its own accounting of how the weapons channel broke down, it is clear from interviews with two dozen military and civilian investigators, contracting officers, warehouse managers and others that military expediency sometimes ran amok, the lines between legal and illegal were blurred and billions of dollars in arms were handed over to shoestring commands without significant oversight." ... "Some investigators said that because military suppliers to the war zone were not required to record serial numbers, it was unlikely that the authorities would ever be able to tell where the weapons went." ... "Many of those weapons were issued when [General] Gen. David H. Petraeus, now the top American commander in Iraq, was responsible for training and equipping Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005. " (1, 2, 3) -By Eric Schmitt and Ginger Thompson with contributions by Margot Williams and James Glanz -NYTimes

Bernard Kerik - Rudy Giuliani - Money - Politics - Police - 2008 Election - "Feds: Bernard Kerik's a scammer who ripped off city." ... "[Former New York City, New York Police Commissioner] Bernard Kerik lied, schemed and sold out the city - all under the nose of his mentor and pal, [2008 Election Republican] presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani." ... "In meticulous detail, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia assembled count after count painting Kerik as a money-grubbing liar who tried to cover his tracks." ... "The indictment says the misdeeds took place as Giuliani promoted his former driver to the top levels of his administration, from running city prisons to heading the largest police force in America." ... "The indictment charges Kerik with conspiracy, tax fraud, making false statements and depriving the city of his honest services. If convicted, he faces up to 142 years in prison and up to $4.75 million in fines." ... "The indictment starts in 1998, after Giuliani made Kerik correction commissioner, continues through 2000, when he named him police commissioner, and ends in 2006, after Giuliani's recommendation that Kerik run the Homeland Security Department imploded. " -By Thomas Zambito and Greg B. Smith -NYDailyNews.com
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

Alberto Gonzales - Bradley Schlozman - Michael Mukasey - Poor - Race - Politics - People - Election - Civil Rights - Enforcement - "Justice Department returns to enforcing voter laws." ... "The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is reversing course and has begun taking steps to enforce a 1993 law that's intended to make it easier for poor minorities to register to vote." ... "The division, which has come under attack for allegedly pursuing policies aimed at suppressing the votes of Democratic-leaning minorities, has demanded that 18 states provide evidence that they're complying with the National Voter Registration Act." ... "If it is fully pursued, this new action will represent the first significant return to traditional enforcement of voting-rights laws since a scandal erupted earlier this year over the alleged politicization of the Justice Department." ... "McClatchy Newspapers disclosed last spring that the Civil Rights Division had failed to enforce a variety of voting-rights laws intended to protect the ability of minorities, especially African-Americans, to vote. The controversy led to the resignations of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and seven other officials, including Bradley Schlozman, the former acting civil rights chief." ... "Now attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, whose confirmation was debated by the Senate Thursday night, has pledged to insulate the agency's law enforcement decisions from partisan politics." ... "Some election watchdog groups are skeptical, saying that the enforcement push might be a cosmetic response to widespread criticism and congressional scrutiny of the division." -By Greg Gordon -McClatchyDC.com
Bernard Kerik - Rudolph Giuliani - Secret - Apartment - Book - Money - Law - New York - New Jersey - "Ex-NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik surrenders in corruption probe." ... "[Former Police Commissioner Bernard] Kerik is charged with conspiracy, tax fraud, making false statements and depriving the city of his honest services while he was [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Rudolph] Giuliani’s corrections commissioner and top cop." ... "The one-time nominee to be [Republican] President Bush’s Homeland Security czar faces charges that carry a top prison sentence of 142 years, if convicted. He also faces more than $4 million and fines, and would have to repay $255,000 in free rent he got from a Manhattan developer." ... "Kerik is charged with trying to convince city investigators that a New Jersey contractor secretly renovating his Bronx apartment was free of mob ties." ... "He also faces multiple allegations of tax fraud, including failing to report those renovations as income, hiding $75,000 in income from his book, “The Lost Son, and to taking a bogus $80,000 charitable donation." -By Thomas Zambito and Greg B. Smith -NYDailyNews.com
John McCain - Rudolph Giuliani - Bernard Kerik - US - Iraq - Police - Military - Torture - Prisoner - Law - Politics - 2008 Election - New York - World - Religion - "McCain questions Giuliani's judgment." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain told reporters he had never approved of [former New York City, New York police commissioner Bernard] Kerik as a candidate for head of the DHS [Department of Homeland Security]." ... ""I went to Baghdad [Iraq's capital] shortly after the initial victory and met in Baghdad with Bremer, Sanchez and Kerik was there,” McCain said referencing former L. Paul Bremmer and [Lieutenant General] Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. “Kerik was supposed to be there to help train the police force. He stayed two months and one day just left.”" ... ""That's why I never would have supported him to be the head of Homeland Security because of his irresponsible act when he was over there in Baghdad to try to help train the police."" ... "McCain also rebuked the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Rudolph Giuliani and former] New York mayor for his unwillingness to categorize water boarding as torture." ... ""He doesn't understand. He doesn't have the experience or judgment to lead this nation," McCain, a former prisoner of war, told reporters." ... ""I mean this is a defining issue about America. It means that he clearly does not understand the moral implications of torturing someone and what it does to our standing in the world and what it does to our ability to win this struggle to win radical Islamic extremism," he continued." -By Sareena Dalla -CNN

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
Bernard B Kerik - Rudolph W Giuliani - Crime - Money- Apartment - Construction - Wiretapping- Politics - New York - New Jersey - 2008 Election - "Kerik Indictment on Tax and Corruption Charges Imminent." ... "Federal prosecutors are planning to unveil an indictment against former New York City police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik as early as week's end, spotlighting alleged corruption that occurred a decade ago when he worked was a trusted adviser to former New York mayor -- and now [2008 Election Republican] presidential candidate -- Rudolph W. Giuliani, according to people familiar with the case." ... "Kerik, 51, rejected a plea bargain earlier this year and was informed by prosecutors that he was likely to be indicted on charges that could include tax evasion or tax fraud, public corruption and filing false information regarding his failed 2004 nomination to be [Republican] President Bush's homeland security chief." ... "The federal investigation has focused on gifts that Kerik is alleged to have accepted while New York City's corrections chief and police commissioner, including $165,000 in apartment renovations in 1999 from a New Jersey construction company that sought his help overcoming allegations of ties to organized crime so it could compete for business from Giuliani's mayoral administration." ... "Last year, Kerik pleaded guilty to a New York state ethics charge in connection with those gifts and was placed on probation. Federal authorities pursued their own, broader investigation that also examined Kerik's conduct during his vetting to be the homeland security nominee." ... "The FBI also has investigated whether Kerik played a role in a conspiracy to commit illegal wiretapping involving former New York attorney general candidate Jeanine Pirro." -By John Solomon -WashingtonPost

Fred D Thompson - Criminal- Drug - Money - Jet - 2008 Election - "Thompson Adviser Has Criminal Past." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing." ... "Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of "Thompson's Airforce."" ... "Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of flights." ... "Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation." (1, 2, 3) -By Matthew Mosk with contributions by Alice Crites, Jonathan Weisman, and Sarah Cohen -WashingtonPost

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 Nord - US- China - Manufacturers - Children - Safety - Politics - Government - Consumer - Law- Enforcement - Illinois - "Toy risk isn't a game." ... "Worried about all those potentially hazardous toys coming in from China? Here's how worried your Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, D.C., is: It has only one full-time employee testing toys." ... "That ridiculous number is apparently OK with the agency's acting chairwoman Nancy Nord, who has riled legislators and consumer groups by campaigning against a Senate bill that would increase the consumer agency's federal funding so it can rebuild the agency's dramatically downsized staff." ... "Heads are rolling in China over bad toys, bad food, bad medicine and bad tires (admittedly, the crackdowns are more about protecting exports than protecting consumers). But even as consumer worries escalate in this country following the recall of more than 20 million toys this year, Nord prefers a hands-off approach to keep manufacturers happy. For her, the consumer protection reform act --unanimously approved by a Senate committee yesterday -- is "unnecessary."" ... ""It's appalling that as someone who works with parents who have lost children, she would turn down added resources or powers to protect children," Nancy Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger, a Chicago[Illinois]-based group, told us. "What's needed is an aggressive protector of consumer rights."" -SunTimes.com

Michael Mukasey - Alberto R Gonzales - Joseph R Biden - 2008 Election - Torture - US Attorneys - Criminal - Politics - "Mukasey's reply draws more fire: The attorney general nominee declines to call water-boarding torture, as Democrats on Senate panel had sought." ... "[Attorney General] Atty. Gen.-designate Michael B. Mukasey, adopting a middle ground on an issue that has become central to his nomination, said coercive interrogation methods, including a form of simulated drowning, were "over the line" and "repugnant." But he declined to say whether he thought so-called water-boarding was a form of torture that would be illegal in all cases." ... "His position, detailed in a letter late Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where his nomination to succeed Alberto R. Gonzales has stalled, fell short of assurances sought by some leading Democrats and cast doubt over whether Mukasey would be confirmed." ... "One member of the Judiciary Committee, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Delaware Senator] Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), said Tuesday that Mukasey did not go far enough in condemning torture, and that he would vote against the nomination. "We cannot have a United States attorney general who will equivocate and dissemble on this matter," said Biden, a presidential candidate." ... "Late Tuesday, the [Republican President Bush] White House released Mukasey's responses to the other questions." ... "In them, Mukasey indicated he would not be willing to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of politicization of the department under Gonzales, including the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year." ... "Biden had asked Mukasey whether he would appoint a special prosecutor in the event that the inspector general uncovered potential criminal conduct by Gonzales or other personnel." -By Richard B. Schmitt -LAtimes
US - Global - Ron Paul - Criminal - E-Mail - Internet - Hacking - 2008 Election - Politics - Texas - "'Criminal' Botnet Stumps for Ron Paul, Researchers Allege." ... "If Texas congressman [and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Ron Paul is elected president in 2008, he may be the first leader of the free world put into power with the help of a global network of hacked PCs spewing spam, according to computer-security researchers who've analyzed a recent flurry of e-mail supporting the long-shot Republican candidate." ... ""This is clearly a criminal act in support of a campaign, which has been committed with or without their knowledge," says Gary Warner, the University of Alabama at Birmingham's director of research in computer forensics. "The question is, will we see more and more of this, or will this bring shame to the campaigns and will they make clear that this is not a form of acceptable behavior by their supporters?" Warner pointed to provisions of the federal Can-Spam Act." ... "Ron Paul spokesman Jesse Benton says the campaign has no knowledge of the scam. Warner himself says that he has no reason to believe that the Paul campaign had anything to do with these messages." ... "Some participants in the online political world have long suspected Paul's technically sophisticated fan base of manipulating online tools and polls to boost the appearance of a wide base of support. But the UAB analysis is the first to document any internet shenanigans." -By Sarah Lai Stirland -Wired

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
Nancy A Nord - Children - Safety - Politics - Manufacturing - Industry - Consumer - Law - Enforcement - Government - "Strengthening of Consumer Agency Opposed by Its Boss." ... "The top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation that would strengthen the agency that polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools." ... "On the eve of an important Senate committee meeting to consider the legislation, Nancy A. Nord, the acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has asked lawmakers in two letters not to approve the bulk of legislation that would increase the agency’s authority, double its budget and sharply increase its dwindling staff." ... "Ms. Nord opposes provisions that would increase the maximum penalties for safety violations and make it easier for the government to make public reports of faulty products, protect industry whistleblowers and prosecute executives of companies that willfully violate laws." ... "The measure is an effort to buttress an agency that has been under siege because of a raft of tainted and dangerous products manufactured both domestically and abroad. In the last two months alone, more than 13 million toys have been recalled after tests indicated lead levels of almost 200 times the safety ceiling." ... "Ms. Nord’s opposition to key elements of the legislation is consistent with the broadly deregulatory approach of the [Republican President] Bush administration." ... "She opposed making it easier to bring criminal prosecutions of companies that knowingly sell defective products and also criticized a measure that would make it easier for the commission to publicly disclose reports of faulty products." -By Stephen Labaton -NYTimes
Michael Mukasey - Torture - Politics - Government - Enforcement - Vermont - "Bush nominee Mukasey draws more heat on torture." ... "Michael Mukasey, [Republican] U.S. President George W. Bush's nominee to be attorney general, said on Tuesday he does not know if any waterboarding interrogation methods that may be used by the United States constitute unlawful torture." ... "Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat[ic Senator], said he was unsatisfied with Mukasey's letter, written in response to questions submitted to him after his confirmation hearing earlier this month." ... ""I remain very concerned that Judge Mukasey finds himself unable to state unequivocally that waterboarding is illegal and below the standards and values of the United States," Leahy said." ... "Leahy said he will await Mukasey's written responses to other questions before scheduling a committee vote on whether to send the nominee to the Senate for confirmation as the chief U.S. law enforcement officer." -By Thomas Ferraro with contributions by Richard Cowan -Reuters
US - Iraq - Military - Government - Law - Politics - Blackwater - Criminal - Business - "Exclusive: ABC News Obtains Text of Blackwater Immunity Deal: State Department Grants Immunity to Guards Investigated for Shooting Iraqi Civilians." ... "ABC News has learned the exact wording of the immunity deal the State Department granted Blackwater security guards involved in a September shooting incident that left 17 Iraqis dead." ... "The security guards were given a limited immunity called "use immunity" in exchange for giving sworn statements about their involvement in the Sept. 16 shooting incident." ... "The wording of the immunity is included at the beginning of the Blackwater guards' sworn statements, which have been obtained by ABC News." ... "In each of the statements, the guards begin by saying "I understand this statement is being given in furtherance of an official administrative inquiry," and that, "I further understand that neither my statements nor any information or evidence gained by reason of my statements can be used against me in a criminal proceeding, except that if I knowingly and willfully provide false statements or information, I may be criminally prosecuted for that action under 18 United States Code, Section 1001."" ... "The immunity deal was granted in the immediate aftermath of the shooting by State Department officials in Iraq who were under intense pressure to quickly explain what happened in the face of allegations by Iraqi officials that the contractors murdered civilians in cold blood." ... "The immunity granted to the Blackwater guards is more limited in scope than so-called "transactional immunity" which would prevent any proscution for the alleged crimes. But the immunity granted to the guards means that anything said in the statements -- and anything learned as a result of the statements -- cannot be used by prosecutors." ... ""It's a nightmare for prosecutors," said legal expert Eugene Fidell. " (1, 2) -By Jonathan Karl and Kirit Radia -ABCNEWS.com
US - Iraq- Military - Government - Politics - Blackwater - Criminal - Business - "U.S. promised Blackwater guards immunity, officials say." ... "State Department investigators promised Blackwater guards immunity from prosecution for last month's deadly shooting of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad [Iraq's capital], according to officials familiar with the matter." ... "That could potentially complicate any attempt to bring criminal charges in the case, the officials said." ... ""They were told their statements can't be used against them," said one U.S. government official. "But this doesn't necessarily mean charges can never be brought against these guys."" ... "A second official called the limited immunity "surprising and confusing" and questioned the authority of the State Department's diplomatic security investigators to unilaterally make immunity decisions." -By Terry Frieden with contributions by Elise Labott -CNN

Mitch McConnell - Criminal - Money - Politics - Military - KY - US - Britain - Saudi Arabia - "McConnell marks funds for contractor: Firm Under Investigation for Bribery." ... "[Kentucky Reputlican Senator] Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a "longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations."" ... "McConnell tucked money for three weapons projects for BAE Systems into the defense appropriations bill, which the Senate approved Oct. 3. The Defense Department failed to include the money in its own budget request, which required McConnell to intercede, said BAE spokeswoman Susan Lenover." ... "BAE is based in Great Britain but has worldwide operations, including a Louisville [Kentucky] facility that makes naval guns and employs 322. McConnell has taken at least $53,000 in campaign donations from BAE's political action committees and employees since his 2002 re-election. United Defense Industries, which BAE purchased two years ago, pledged $500,000 to a political-science foundation the senator created, the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville." ... "In June, BAE confirmed that the Justice Department is investigating possible corruption in its Saudi Arabian deals. According to British media reports, BAE set up a slush fund with hundreds of millions of dollars in a Washington, D.C., bank to bribe Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan in order to win weapons contracts. Bandar, who heads the Saudi National Security Council, has denied the allegation." -By John Cheves -Kentucky.com

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

US - Iraq - Kuwait - Charles E Williams - Howard Krongard - Military - Government - Construction - Corporation - Criminal - "Criminal probe into U.S. Embassy in Iraq construction." ... "A mortar shell smashed into the hulking new U.S. [United States] Embassy that's under construction in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] last May, damaging a wall and causing minor injuries to people inside the building. It also exposed enormous problems in the management of what's become a $592 million government construction project." ... "The State Department contractor in charge of the project, James L. Golden, attempted to alter the scene of the blast, according to government officials familiar with the incident. The State Department inspector general prevented Department officials from investigating the incident, according to interviews and documents." ... "A congressional committee is examining whether the walls of the still-unfinished embassy complex, which are supposed to be blast-resistant, performed as they should have during the mortar attack." ... "U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker banished Golden from Iraq, but he continues to oversee the construction of the embassy in Baghdad; to be the liaison with the contractor, Kuwait-based First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting Co.; and to supervise other projects for the State Department's Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) bureau." ... "McClatchy Newspapers has also learned that:" ... "— Aspects of the embassy's construction are the subject of at least one U.S. government criminal investigation, according to officials in Congress and the administration." ... "— In order to rush the project, the long-time head of OBO, retired Army Maj. Gen. [Major General] Charles Williams, signed a waiver in July 2005 allowing a sole-source contract to be awarded to First Kuwaiti." ... "In a letter to State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard last month, [California Democratic Representative Henry] Waxman said that former and current staff members in Krongard's office told the committee that he'd refused to help investigate alleged wrongdoing by First Kuwaiti and an unnamed top State Department official." -By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay -McClatchyDC.com

Karl Rove - Alberto Gonzales - Alabama - US Attorneys - Criminal - Politics - "Rove Linked to Alabama Case." ... "A Republican lawyer claims she was told that Karl Rove — while serving as [Republican] President Bush's top political adviser — had intervened in the Justice Department's prosecution of Alabama's most prominent Democrat. Longtime Alabama G.O.P. activist Dana Jill Simpson first made the allegation in June, but has now provided new details in a lengthy sworn statement to the House Judiciary Committee. The Committee is expected to hold public hearings on the Alabama case next week as part of its investigation of possible political interference by the Bush Administration in the activities of the Department of Justice." ... "Simpson said in June that she heard a close associate of Rove say that the White House political adviser "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Don Siegelman, a former Democratic governor of Alabama, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys. Siegelman was later indicted on 32 counts of corruption, convicted on seven of them, and is currently serving an 88-month sentence in Federal prison." ... "If Simpson's version of events is accurate, it would show direct political involvement by the White House in federal prosecutions — a charge leveled by Administration critics in connection with the U.S. attorney scandal that led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales." ... "She [Simpson] recalls conversations in early 2005 with Rob Riley, Jr., son of Alabama's current Republican governor, over his father's coming gubernatorial race, in which Siegelman appeared to be the top Democratic challenger. The younger Riley, she says, told her that his father and Bill Canary, the state's top Republican political operative and a longtime friend of Rove, contacted Rove in late 2004, after which he intervened with the Justice Department's Public Integrity section to push for criminal prosecution of Siegelman." -By Adam Zagorin-TIME.com

Larry Craig - Ted Haggard - Gay - Idaho - Minnesota - Airport - Police - "'Sen. Craig visited me' says escort who claimed relationship with Haggard." ... "The gay escort whose allegations forced the resignation of nationally renowned evangelist Ted Haggard now says he was also visited by Idaho [Republican Senator] Sen. Larry Craig." ... "Craig is the Republican senator who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges earlier this year after his arrest in a Minneapolis [Minnesota] airport bathroom for propositioning an undercover police officer." -By Nicole Vap with contributions by Paula Woodward and Jeffrey Wolf -9News.com

Jeff Sessions - Karl Rove - Ala - US Attorneys - Money - Political - Enforcement - "Selective Justice in Alabama?" ... "On may 8, 2002, Clayton Lamar (Lanny) Young Jr., a lobbyist and landfill developer described by acquaintances as a hard-drinking "good ole boy," was in an expansive mood. In the downtown offices of the U.S. Attorney in Montgomery, Ala. [Alabama], Young settled into his chair, personal lawyer at his side, and proceeded to tell a group of seasoned prosecutors and investigators that he had paid tens of thousands of dollars in apparently illegal campaign contributions to some of the biggest names in Alabama Republican politics. According to Young, among the recipients of his largesse were the state's former attorney general [Alabama Republican Senator] Jeff Sessions, now a U.S. Senator, and [Republican] William Pryor Jr., Sessions' successor as attorney general and now a federal judge. Young, whose detailed statements are described in documents obtained by TIME, became a key witness in a major case in Alabama that brought down a high-profile politician and landed him in federal prison with an 88-month sentence. As it happened, however, that official was the top Democrat named by Young in a series of interviews, and none of the Republicans whose campaigns he fingered were investigated in the case, let alone prosecuted." ... "The case of Don Siegelman, the Democratic former Governor of Alabama who was convicted last year on corruption charges, has become a flash point in the debate over the politicization of the [Republican President] Bush Administration's Justice Department. Forty-four former state attorneys general — Republicans and Democrats — have cited "irregularities" in the investigation and prosecution, saying they "call into question the basic fairness that is the linchpin of our system of justice."" ... "[Republican] Leura Canary, the U.S. Attorney whose office drove Siegelman's prosecution, is married to Bill Canary, Alabama's most prominent political operative and a longtime friend of [Republican] Karl Rove's. In May an Alabama lawyer and Republican activist named Dana Jill Simpson gave a notarized statement that she heard Canary say Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. Attorneys." ... "Young testified that he had furnished Siegelman with an all-terrain vehicle and a motorcycle, lavishing money on the Governor and his aides. But he was an equal-opportunity influence monger. Early in the investigation, in November 2001, Young announced that five years earlier, he "personally provided Sessions with cash campaign contributions," according to an FBI memo of the interview. Prosecutors didn't follow up that surprising statement with questions, but Young volunteered more. The memo adds that "on one occasion he [Young] provided Session [sic] with $5,000 to $7,000 using two intermediaries," one of whom held a senior position with Sessions' campaign. On another occasion, the FBI records show, Young talked about providing "$10,000 to $15,000 to Session [sic]. Young had his secretaries and friends write checks to the Sessions campaign and Young reimbursed the secretaries and friends for their contributions."" ... "If true, Young's statements describe political money laundering that would be a clear violation of federal law. In 1996, when Young said he had made the contributions, it was illegal to give a candidate more than $1,000 for a primary or general campaign." (1, 2, 3) -By Adam Zagorin -TIME.com

US - Iraq- Police - Government - Military - Law - Blackwater - "Sources: Blackwater contractor wrote first U.S. report on shooting." ... "A Blackwater contractor wrote an initial U.S. government report about how his colleagues killed Iraqi civilians in a September shooting that strained U.S.-Iraqi relations, government and industry sources told CNN." ... "The Iraqi government claims private contractors with Blackwater USA, who were guarding a U.S. diplomatic convoy, killed as many as 20 civilians on September 16 in western Baghdad's [Iraq's capital] Nasoor Square." ... "The incident produced an outcry in Iraq and raised questions about the accountability of foreign security contractors in Iraq, who under an order laid down by the U.S.-led occupation government are not subject to Iraqi law for actions taken within their contracts." ... "Blackwater -- which provides security to U.S. diplomats -- says its employees responded properly to an insurgent attack on a convoy, and the State Department initial "spot report" written by the Blackwater contractor underscores that scenario and doesn't mention civilian casualties." ... "However, that account is at odds with what the Iraqis are saying. A senior Iraqi National Police official participating in the Iraqi governmental probe of the shooting said the Blackwater gunfire was unprovoked and the guards fired randomly, killing and wounding several civilians." ... "The Blackwater contractor, Darren Hanner, drafted a two-page "spot report" on the letterhead of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security for the embassy's Tactical Operations Center, said a source involved in diplomatic security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad." ... "The TOC -- which tracks and monitors all incidents and movements involving diplomatic security missions -- has outsourced positions to Blackwater and another private firm, the embassy source said." -Contributed to by Jomana Karadsheh, Zain Verjee, and Suzanne Simons -CNN

Burma[Myanmar] - Military - Police - Politics - History - Religious - "Nine dead after troops fire into crowds of democracy protesters: · Mayhem as crackdown gathers pace on 10th day of protests · Civilians take to streets after hundreds of monks arrested." ... "Burmese troops and riot police battled to put an end to the 10th consecutive day of protests against the country's military dictatorship that has maintained an iron grip on power for 45 years, firing automatic weapons into crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators in Rangoon after they flouted warnings to clear the streets or face "extreme action"." ... "A Japanese photographer, Kenji Nagai, 50, was among at least nine people killed in the fierce clashes. Thousands of protesters played a deadly game of cat and mouse with the police and troops, continually dispersing as they were attacked and reforming to taunt the security forces who used teargas, baton charges and live ammunition against them." ... "Fewer monks were seen on the streets yesterday as up to 500 had been arrested and many others confined to their quarters by soldiers who raided six monasteries around the capital from dawn onwards. Leaders of the National League for Democracy were also rounded up." ... "Pools of blood remained in monastery dormitories and stairwells where the troops had smashed in windows and doors, and beat the young novices as they lay sleeping. In some raids shots were fired and a senior abbot at Moe Ngway monastery was said to have died later in the afternoon." ... "The ferocity of the attacks on the monks, the ransacking of monasteries that saw Buddhist relics vandalised and gold looted, according to diplomatic sources, shocked ordinary Burmese people, who revere the clergy." -By Ian MacKinnon -Guardian.co.uk
Pakistan - Military - Police - Politics - History - "Chief justice orders Musharraf to release opposition activists: · Government ordered to give reason for crackdown · President awaits key court ruling on re-election bid." ... "Pakistan's chief justice ordered the release of hundreds of opposition activists yesterday as [Pakistan] President Pervez Musharraf pushed ahead with controversial plans for re-election in eight days' time. Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry ordered government officials to free the activists, mostly from Nawaz Sharif's PML-N party, whom the police had been rounding up since the weekend. The interior minister said 200 people were in custody; the opposition put the figure in the thousands." ... "The judge, who scored a historic court victory over General Musharraf in July, also demanded an explanation for a security crackdown across the capital, Islamabad. Hundreds of riot police flooded on to the streets at dawn and main roads were blocked to prevent expected protests." ... "But the president may have to cross his greatest hurdle today, when the supreme court is expected to rule on a major challenge by opposition parties, who claim that Gen Musharraf's re-election bid is illegal and unconstitutional." ... "Analysts say that if Gen Musharraf loses the court battle he may resort to emergency rule or impose martial law. He has tried to assuage concerns by promising to resign from the army - but only if he is re-elected." -By Declan Walsh -Guardian.co.uk

Myanmar[Burma] - Military - Police - Politics - History - Religious - "Police Clash With Monks in Myanmar." ... "The government of Myanmar [Burma] began a violent crackdown today after tolerating more than a month of ever-larger protests in cities around the country, clubbing and tear-gassing protesters, firing shots into the air and arresting hundreds of the monks who are at the heart of the demonstrations." ... "Despite threats and warnings by the authorities and despite the beginnings of a violent response, tens of thousands of chanting, cheering protesters flooded the streets, witnesses reported. Monks were in the lead, “like religious storm troopers,” as one foreign diplomat described the scene." ... "Though the crowds were large and energetic, they were smaller than on previous days, apparently in part because of the deployment of armed soldiers to prevent monks from leaving some of the main temples." ... "But it appeared that an attempt by the military to halt the protests through warnings, troop deployments and initial bursts of violence had not succeeded. Analysts said that the next steps in the crackdown might be yet more aggressive and widespread." ... "Tens of thousands of people were reported to be demonstrating in the streets of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city." ... "The demonstrations have grown from several hundred people protesting a fuel price rise in mid-August to as many as 100,000 Sunday, led by tens of thousands of monks in the largest and most sustained antigovernment protests since 1988." ... "That earlier peaceful uprising was crushed by the military, which shot into crowds, killing an estimated 3,000 people. It was during the turmoil a decade ago that the current military junta took power in Myanmar, and it has maintained its grip by arresting dissidents, quashing political opposition and using force and intimidation to control the population." -By Seth Mydans -NYTimes

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
US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Accounting - Politics - Terrorism - Crime - Database - "What Defines a Killing as Sectarian? U.S. Military Teams Analyze and Tally Each Civilian Death." ... "On Sept. 1, the bullet-riddled bodies of four Iraqi men were found on a Baghdad [Iraq's capital] street. Two days later, a single dead man, with one bullet in his head, was found on a different street. According to the U.S. military in Iraq, the solitary man was a victim of sectarian violence. The first four were not." ... "Such determinations are the building blocks for what the [Republican President] Bush administration has declared a downward trend in sectarian deaths and a sign that its war strategy is working. They are made by a specialized team of soldiers who spend their nights at computer terminals, sifting through data on the day's civilian victims for clues to the motivations of killers." ... "Apparent contradictions are relatively easy to find in the flood of bar charts and trend lines the military produces. Civilian casualty numbers in the Pentagon's latest quarterly report on Iraq last week, for example, differ significantly from those presented by the top commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, in his recent congressional testimony. Petraeus's chart was limited to numbers of dead, while the Pentagon combined the numbers of dead and wounded -- a figure that should be greater. Yet Petraeus's numbers were higher than the Pentagon's for the months preceding this year's increase of U.S. troops to Iraq, and lower since U.S. operations escalated this summer." ... "The charts are difficult to compare: Petraeus used monthly figures on a line graph, while the Pentagon computed "Average Daily Casualties" on a bar chart, and neither included actual numbers." ... "In an Iraq assessment released this month, the Government Accountability Office said it "could not determine if sectarian violence had declined" since the U.S. troop buildup began in the spring and saw no decrease in overall attacks against civilians as of the end of July." ... "The U.S. intelligence community considers more than numbers in making its war assessments. "What the Iraqis perceive" about their country and their daily lives "may be more important than what the numbers are," said a senior intelligence official, who discussed the subject on the condition of anonymity. Even so, he said, intelligence officials found contradictions in the available statistics as they wrote last month's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, whose conclusions were somewhat less optimistic than the military's." (1, 2) -By Karen DeYoung -WashingtonPost

Pakistan - Military - Police - Politics - "Musharraf arrests opposition leaders: Police raids round up politicians planning demonstrations against the President; politicians fear democratic process has broken down." ... "Opposition leaders were arrested over the weekend in Pakistan as General Pervez Musharraf extended his crackdown on dissent ahead of a presidential election." ... "Heavy police raids rounded up politicians, who had been planning to spearhead demonstrations in the [Pakistan] capital of Islamabad this week against Gen. Musharraf's re-election plans. Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League, the party of exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and some religious party chiefs were taken away. All were members of an opposition coalition, the All Parties Democratic Movement, that has vowed to end the rule of Gen. Musharraf, who is both president and head of Pakistan's military." ... "Imran Khan, the cricketer turned politician, warned that democratic process has broken down in Pakistan." ... ""This is descending into a complete banana republic," he said in an interview. "Whatever obstacles come into Musharraf's way, he is determined to remove them. And all for one reason: to stay in power," he said." ... "Similarly to this weekend's pre-emptive crackdown, the government took no chances when Mr. [Nawaz] Sharif tried to return from seven years of exile earlier this month. He was deported immediately on landing at Islamabad airport. His party activists were arrested and all roads leading to the airport were sealed off to ensure that no crowds turned out to greet him." -By Saeed Shah -TheGlobeAndMail.com

US - Iraq - Howard Krongard - Blackwater- Money - Employees - Military - Law - Enforcement - Politics - North Carolina - Virginia - "Rules of engagement are sketchy when private security firms are deployed in war." ... "The fog of war keeps getting thicker." ... "Iraq's decision to temporarily ban Blackwater USA after a fatal shooting of civilians in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] reveals a growing web of rules governing weapons-bearing private contractors but few signs U.S. agencies are aggressively enforcing them." ... "Nearly a year after a law was passed holding contracted employees to the same code of justice as military personnel, the [Republican President] Bush administration has not published guidance on how military lawyers should do that, according to Peter Singer, a security industry expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington." ... "Blackwater, based in Moyock, North Carolina, is one of three private security firms employed by the State Department to protect its personnel in Iraq. The two others, both of which are headquartered in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, are Dyncorp, based in Falls Church, Virginia, and Triple Canopy of Herndon, Virginia." ... "In a letter to Howard Krongard, the State Department inspector general, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Krongard impeded a Justice Department probe into claims that a "large private security contractor was smuggling weapons into Iraq."" ... "Although the security company is not named in the letter, several senior administration officials confirmed it is Blackwater." (1, 2) -AP via -IHT.com

Pete Kott - Ben Stevens - Ted Stevens - Secret - Alaska - VECO - Oil - Money - Crime - Politics - 2006 Election - "Witness in Alaska says he had oil company contacts: Ex-CEO who pleaded guilty says he talked with top unit officials" ... "Veco Corp.'s former chief executive told a federal jury Thursday that he was in regular contact with officials at ConocoPhillips and BP's Alaska divisions while bribing state lawmakers there to limit the state's oil production tax." ... "Bill Allen, ex-CEO of Veco, the [Alaska] Anchorage-based oil-services contractor, made the claim at the bribery and fraud trial of former Alaska state [Alaska state Republican Representative] Rep. Pete Kott. Allen told jurors in Anchorage federal court that he paid Kott about $8,000 to help fund the lawmaker's 2006 re-election campaign in exchange for his vote and influence with other representatives during a legislative debate over state oil taxes. Kott denied the charges." ... "Allen said he wanted to keep oil taxes low for his oil producer clients, whom he called "the three big boys" in secretly recorded conversations, and encouraged them to build a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48 states. The clients were ConocoPhillips, BP and Exxon Mobil, he said." ... "On Thursday Allen claimed to have paid phony consulting fees to [Alaska state Republican Senator] Ben Stevens. Ben and [his father, Alaska Republican Senator] Ted Stevens have denied any wrongdoing and haven't been charged with a crime." -By Tony Hopfinger -Bloomberg via -Chron
Michigan - Politician - Crime - Student - "Michigan GOP activist gets 5 years for sex assault." ... "[Republican Michael Flory, 33,] A Michigan lawyer who sexually attacked a 21-year-old woman at a Young Republicans convention here [Cleveland, Michigan] said Thursday that he disgraced himself, his family and his political party." ... "[Judge Peter] Corrigan sentenced Flory, the longtime head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans, to five years in prison." ... "The woman, a Detroit [Michigan] college student, said she drank herself sick at a Warehouse District bar on July 8, 2006, during the National Federation of Young Republicans' convention. Flory, who led her state's delegation, offered to take her back to her room. There, she said, he forced her into sexual "atrocities" and called her degrading names." ... "The woman and Assistant County Prosecutor Carol Skutnik said Flory and his friends later executed a campaign of Internet postings and whispers within the state GOP [Republican Party], accusing the victim of loose morals and character assassination. " (1, 2) -By Jim Nichols -PlainDealer
Mark Foley - Gay - Teenage - Student - Electronic - Mail - Internet - Messages - Florida - Enforcement - Politics - "Foley Unlikely to Be Prosecuted; Lewd Internet Messages Too Old." ... "Disgraced former [Florida Republican Representative] Congressman Mark Foley, whose e-mails and instant messages to teenage former congressional pages shocked the country, may avoid criminal prosecution in Florida because of the state's three-year statute of limitations." ... "The Florida Department of Law Enforcement did not start a criminal investigation of Foley until November 2006, making it nearly impossible to prosecute what some officials regarded as the best case, an explicit instant message sent by Foley to a 17-year-old high school student in February 2003, when Foley was in Pensacola, Fla." ... "Under Florida law, it is a third-degree felony both to use the Internet "to seduce, solicit, lure or entice" a minor "to commit any illegal act...relating to lewdness and indecent exposure" and to transmit any "information or data that is harmful to minors...via electronic mail," which includes instant messages." -By Vic Walter and Krista Kjellman -ABCNEWS.com

US Immigration - Government - Law - Enforcement - "ICE: Tab to remove illegal residents would approach $100 billion." ... ""-Estimate doesn't include cost of finding illegal immigrants, nor court costs." ... "-Department of Homeland Security's annual budget is about $35 billion." ... "It would cost at least $94 billion to find, detain and remove all 12 million people believed to be staying illegally in the United States, the federal government estimated Wednesday." ... "Julie Myers, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, gave the figure during a hearing before a Senate committee Wednesday." -CNN

Larry E Craig - Gay - Politics - Minnesota - Airport - Police - Idaho - Newspaper - "Craig Asks Court to Let Him Withdraw His Plea of Guilty." ... "Lawyers for [Idaho Republican] Senator Larry E. Craig filed court papers yesterday asking that he be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in a Minnesota airport sex sting." ... "In an affidavit, Mr. Craig said that he was “deeply panicked” in the aftermath of his arrest June 11 on suspicion of soliciting a plainclothes officer in a men’s room at [Minnesota's] Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and that, with an Idaho newspaper already investigating his sexuality, he signed a guilty plea on Aug. 1 to try to keep the arrest from being disclosed." ... "The [police] officer said Mr. Craig had peeped into his stall, entered the adjacent stall, touched the officer’s foot with his own and made hand signals known to be silent code for soliciting sex in the restroom." -By Duff Wilson -NYTimes

United States - Afghanistan - Pakistan - Osama bin Laden - Terrorism - Intelligence - Law - Enforcement - Politics - "Intelligence officials contradict White House on bin Laden." ... "Contradicting [Republican] President Bush's counter-terrorism adviser, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement chiefs and a Cabinet member said Monday that Osama bin Laden remained the most dangerous terrorist threat to the United States six years after the 9-11 attacks." ... "Eliminating the threat that the al Qaida leader and his inner circle pose from their sanctuary in Pakistan's remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan "is our number one priority," Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell told a Senate committee." ... "The assessments by McConnell, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FBI Director Robert Mueller came a day after White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend called bin Laden "a man on the run from a cave who is virtually impotent other than these tapes."" ... "Townsend was commenting on the release of the first bin Laden video in nearly three years, which surfaced Friday on the Internet." ... "McConnell recalled that a comprehensive U.S. intelligence assessment issued in July warned that the gravest terrorist threat to the United States for the next three years is bin Laden and the plots to attack American targets that he and his lieutenants are hatching in their sanctuary in Pakistan." -By Jonathan S. Landay -McClatchyDC.com

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
John Edwards - US - International - Terrorism - Intelligence - Police - New York - History - Financial - Immigration - Secret - Torture- Prisons - Spying - Civil Liberties - Law - Safe - 2008 Election - "Edwards proposes international anti-terrorism body." ... "[2008 election] Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards proposed a new international body to fight terrorism on Friday, rejecting the tactics of U.S. [Republican] President George W. Bush as an unnecessary assault on civil liberties." ... "Edwards chose New York City [New York] four days ahead of the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks to unveil his anti-terrorism strategy, starting with a Counterterrorism and Intelligence Treaty Organization, or CITO." ... ""CITO will allow members to voluntarily share financial, police, customs and immigration intelligence. Together, nations will be able to track the way terrorists travel, communicate, recruit, train and finance their operations," Edwards said in a speech at New York's Pace University." ... "In an interview with Reuters, he also vowed to rescind many Bush policies, including the use of secret prisons, warrantless domestic spying and the extraordinary rendition of suspects to third countries, where critics say they may be tortured." ... ""I wouldn't do any of those things," Edwards said. "It's not necessary to violate every basis on which America exists to keep the American people safe. You can protect the rights of Americans and effectively fight terrorism."" -By Daniel Trotta -Reuters

US - Iraq - Military - Religious - Politics - "Iraq says won't disband police despite U.S. report." ... "Iraq's Interior Ministry said on Thursday it would not disband the national police despite a report by an independent U.S. panel that will recommend scrapping and reorganizing the force." ... "But police interviewed by Reuters on the streets of Baghdad [Iraq's capital] spoke despairingly of a force they saw as harboring criminal elements, too weak to tackle militias and with many police loyal to their sect rather than the state." ... ""The national police have proven operationally ineffective," said the panel headed by retired General James Jones, the former top U.S. military commander in Europe." ... ""Sectarianism in its units undermines its ability to provide security; the force is not viable in its current form," the report said. "The national police should be disbanded and reorganized."" ... "The mostly Shi'ite force is widely believed to be infiltrated by Shi'ite militias and its members are often accused of colluding in sectarian violence against minority Sunni Arabs and roadside bomb attacks on U.S. forces." (1, 2, 3) -By Ross Colvin with contributions by Waleed Ibrahim and Susan Cornwell -Reuters
US - Iraq - Military - Police - Politics - "Iraqi Army Unable To Take Over Within A Year, Report Says: Breakup of National Police Is Urged." ... "Iraq's army, despite measurable progress, will be unable to take over internal security from U.S. forces in the next 12 to 18 months and "cannot yet meaningfully contribute to denying terrorists safe haven," according to a report on the Iraqi security forces published today." ... "The report, prepared by a commission of retired senior U.S. military officers, describes the 25,000-member Iraqi national police force and the Interior Ministry, which controls it, as riddled with sectarianism and corruption. The ministry, it says, is "dysfunctional" and is "a ministry in name only." The commission recommended that the national police force be disbanded." ... "The report expresses concern about what it calls the massive U.S. military logistical "footprint" in Iraq and its effect on perceptions and problems. "The unintended message conveyed is one of 'permanence,' an occupying force, as it were," the report says. It recommends reconsideration of "efficiency, necessity . . . and cost" and calls for "significant reductions, consolidations and realignments" of U.S. forces." ... "Although the administration has said repeatedly that security improvements will create "breathing space" for Iraqi sectarian and political forces to move toward national reconciliation, the commission turns that equation on its head, saying that long-term security advances are impossible without political progress." ... "Despite all that remains to be done on the military front, it says, "the single most important event that could immediately and favorably affect Iraq's direction and security is political reconciliation. . . . Sustained progress within the Iraqi Security Forces depends on such a political agreement." All progress, it concludes, "seems to flow from this most pressing requirement."" (1, 2) -By Karen DeYoung -WashingtonPost

US - Iraq - Military - Construction - Money - Politics - Government - Accounting - Investigations - Texas- Oil - Water - "Iraq Contractors Tap Law Firms: A civil 'war zone' of investigation." ... "The war in Iraq has an army of high-profile attorneys working to steer defense contractors through a minefield of lawsuits and federal investigations involving war profiteering and fraud." ... "During the past year, several defense contractors hired to help rebuild Iraq have come under federal investigation or faced litigation for allegedly defrauding the government. Government officials estimate that $10 billion in Iraq-related contracts are unaccounted for and may have been lost to fraud or other misconduct." ... "Currently, about 80 federal investigations looking into contract fraud are under way, and more than 20 cases have been referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution, according to congressional testimony offered by federal auditors. During the last three years, contract fraud investigations have yielded 10 arrests, five indictments, five convictions and two imprisonments." ... "High-caliber law firms have lined up to help guide defense contractors through investigations and prosecutions and relieve their fears of prosecution, not receiving payment or being banned from doing business with the government." ... "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Vinson & Elkins of Houston [Texas] are representing former Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc., which is facing scrutiny over a $25.7 billion contract to help rebuild oil services in Iraq." ... "Patton Boggs of Washington has come to the aid of Halliburton, the largest private contractor in Iraq, which is facing congressional scrutiny." ... "Washington's Brand Law Group is advising Fluor, a U.S. engineering and construction firm that is facing questions over its $1.1 billion water and sewage contract in Iraq. " -By Tresa Baldas -NLJ.com via -Law.com
Larry Craig - Gay - Idaho - Minnesota - Police - Law - "Craig may not be resigning after all." ... "In a surprise twist, [Idaho Republican Senator] Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) has left open, albeit slightly, the possibility that he will not resign from the Senate if he succeeds in his fight to clear his name of allegations that he solicited sex in a Minnesota airport restroom in June." ... ""Sen. Craig still intends to resign," his spokesman, Dan Whiting, said in an interview Tuesday night. "That being said, Sen. Craig wants it clear he's fighting these charges, both in Minneapolis and in the Senate Ethics Committee, and if the wheels of justice are able to turn quick enough, meaning before Sept. 30, he may -- and I emphasize may -- not resign." ... ""At this point, it's a very small door that he's left open," Whiting added." ... "Craig pleaded guilty last month to disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. He was arrested in June by an undercover police officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at [Minnesota's] Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport." -By Richard Simon -LAtimes

Neil Volz - Bob Ney - Jack Abramoff - Michael Scanlon - Tony Rudy - David Safavian - Money - Law - Politics - Ohio - "Document details Volz’s cooperation in Abramoff case." ... "A new court document details the extent to which Neil Volz, who at one point was the top aide of former [Ohio Republican Representative] Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) before going to work for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, assisted federal authorities in building a case against the lawmaker that resulted in a guilty plea on charges of bribery and public corruption last year." ... "Volz was one of the first people to begin to explore cooperating with federal prosecutors in its investigation of the wide-ranging corruption scheme Abramoff and others perpetrated. According to a “substantial assistance memorandum” filed in the D.C. district court Wednesday, his cooperation was both “timely and substantial.”" ... "In May of last year, Volz pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring with Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Tony Rudy and others to commit honest services fraud and to violate the federal one-year lobbying ban, For his help in bringing down Abramoff, Ney and others, prosecutors are recommending home confinement as punishment." ... "In February 2006, he began providing “unlimited cooperation in dozens of debriefings, and his cooperation was substantial, especially in connection with the investigation and prosecutions of Ney, [William] Heaton and [General Services Administration chief of staff] David Safavian,” according to the document." -By Susan Crabtree -TheHill.com

Alberto R Gonzales - Political - US Attorneys - Government - Jobs - Surveillance - Intelligence - Enforcement - Vermont - "Justice Department Investigating Whether Gonzales Misled Congress." ... "The Justice Department’s inspector general is examining the veracity of congressional testimony by embattled Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales." ... "[Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick] Leahy and other lawmakers are not convinced that Gonzales did not lie to them about several matters, including: the U.S. attorney dismissals; a 2004 hospital room encounter involving Gonzales and former Attorney General John Ashcroft; and the Justice Department’s misuse of its investigative tools. Four other Senate Judiciary Democrats have asked Solicitor General Paul D. Clement to appoint a special counsel to explore whether Gonzales has perjured himself." -By Keith Perine -CQ.com
Larry Edwin Craig - David Vitter - Ted Stevens - Gay - Religion - Law - Enforcement - Idaho - Louisiana - Alaska - 2008 Election - "Craig Faces Growing Republican Pressure to Resign (Update3)." ... "Republican lawmakers and Christian groups are increasing pressure on [Republican] Idaho Senator Larry Craig to resign, saying he can't resurrect his political career after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with a restroom incident." ... "Three Republicans in Congress yesterday demanded Craig resign and party leaders in the Senate yesterday forced him to relinquish his committee leadership posts." ... "Craig, 62, was deciding whether to seek re-election [in 2008] before his arrest, and since has become the target of jokes, putting his immediate political future in doubt, said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster and strategist. In defending himself, Craig denied being gay." ... "Should Craig resign, [Republican] Idaho Governor Butch Otter would appoint someone to fill the seat until the 2008 election." ... "Still, Craig's troubles add to a list of Republican embarrassments, including Louisiana [Republican] Senator David Vitter's public apology after his phone number was linked to a Washington escort service, and Alaska [Republican] Senator Ted Stevens's acknowledgement that he is under an FBI corruption probe." -By Julianna Goldman and Lorraine Woellert -Bloomberg

Larry Craig - Homosexual - Law - Politics - History - Idaho - Minnesota - 2008 Election - "Men's room arrest reopens questions about Sen. Larry Craig: Idaho senator pleads guilty to disorderly conduct after incident at Minnesota airport that echoes previous allegation of homosexual conduct." ... "[Idaho Republican Senator] Sen. Larry Craig, who in May told the Idaho Statesman he had never engaged in homosexual acts, was arrested less than a month later by an undercover police officer who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him in an airport men's room." ... "The arrest at a Minnesota airport prompted Craig to plead guilty to disorderly conduct earlier this month. His June 11 encounter with the officer was similar to an incident in a men's room in a Washington, D.C., rail station described by a Washington-area man to the Idaho Statesman. In that case, the man said he and Craig had sexual contact." ... "The Minnesota arrest was first reported Monday by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper." ... "In an interview on May 14, Craig told the Idaho Statesman he'd never engaged in sex with a man or solicited sex with a man. The Craig interview was the culmination of a Statesman investigation that began after a blogger accused Craig of homosexual sex in October. Over five months, the Statesman examined rumors about Craig dating to his college days and his 1982 pre-emptive denial that he had sex with underage congressional pages." ... "The most serious finding by the Statesman was the report by a professional man with close ties to Republican officials. The 40-year-old man reported having oral sex with Craig at Washington's Union Station, probably in 2004. The Statesman also spoke with a man who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him at the University of Idaho in 1967 and a man who said Craig "cruised" him for sex in 1994 at the REI store in Boise [Idaho's capital]. The Statesman also explored dozens of allegations that proved untrue, unclear or unverifiable." ... "Craig, 62, was elected to Congress in 1980. Should he win re-election in 2008 and complete his term, he would be the longest-serving Idahoan ever in Congress. His record includes a series of votes against gay rights and his support of a 2006 amendment to the Idaho Constitution that bars gay marriage and civil unions." ... "On Aug. 9, the day after his guilty plea in Minnesota, Craig told the Statesman he had yet to decide whether he would seek re-election in 2008." ... "Former Democratic [Representative] Rep. Larry LaRocco announced in April that he will run for the Senate." -By Dan Popkey -IdahoStatesman.com

Larry Craig - Mitt Romney - Idaho - Utah - Law - Politics - - 2008 Election - "Senator Craig withdraws from Romney campaign role." ... "[Idaho Republican] US Senator Larry Craig resigned tonight as Senate co-chairman for [2008 election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, within hours after news broke of Craig's guilty plea to disorderly conduct after an incident in a men's bathroom." ... "In February, Romney announced that Craig of Idaho and [Utah Republican Senator] Robert Bennett of Utah would serve as co-Senate liaisons." ... "In May, Romney's campaign announced that Craig would be co-chairman of the Romney for President Idaho Leadership Team." ... "After reports of Craig's arrest, the Romney campaign made private a YouTube video in which Craig also praised Romney." -By Foon Rhee -BostonGlobe
Larry Craig - Mitt Romney - Gay - Idaho - Minnesota - Airport - Privacy - Law - Politics - 2008 Election - "Idaho senator arrested in airport." ... "[Idaho Republican Senator] Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho pleaded guilty this month to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after being arrested at the Minneapolis airport." ... "A Hennepin County court docket showed Craig pleading guilty to the disorderly conduct charge Aug. 8, with the court dismissing a charge of gross misdemeanor interference to privacy." ... "He is up for re-election next year [2008 election]." ... "He has been one of [2008 election] Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's top Senate supporters, serving as a Senate liaison for the campaign since February." ... "Roll Call quoted the Aug. 8 police report as saying that Craig had handed the arresting officer a business card that identified him as a member of the Senate." ... ""What do you think about that?" Craig is alleged to have said, according to the report." -By Steve Karnowski with contributions by Matthew Daly, Fred Frommer, and John Miller -AP via -Yahoo
Larry Craig - Gay - Idaho - Minnesota - Airport - Law - Politics - "Republican senator arrested, reportedly for lewd conduct." ... "[Idaho Republican Senator] Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, was fined earlier this month for a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge stemming from his arrest in June at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, according to Minnesota criminal records." ... "While the criminal records did not provide details of why Craig was arrested, Roll Call newspaper reported Monday that he was apprehended by a plainclothes police officer investigating complaints of lewd behavior in an airport men's room." ... "Last fall, Craig's office publicly denied assertions by an Internet blogger Mike Rogers that the senator was gay, dismissing speculation about his sexuality as "completely ridiculous."" ... "He has supported a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, telling his colleagues that it was "important for us to stand up now and protect traditional marriage, which is under attack by a few unelected judges and litigious activists."" ... "In 1996, Craig also voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages and prevents states from being forced to recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples legally performed in other states." ... "Craig has also opposed expanding the federal hate crimes law to cover offenses motivated by anti-gay bias and, in 1996, voted against a bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, which failed by a single vote in the Senate." -Contributed to by Dana Bash -CNN
Larry Craig - Idaho - Minnesota - Airport - Law - Politics - "Craig Arrested, Pleads Guilty Following Incident in Airport Restroom." ... "[Idaho Republican Senator] Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon." ... "Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8." ... "A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a “he said/he said misunderstanding,” and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon." ... "After he was arrested, Craig, who is married, was taken to the Airport Police Operations Center to be interviewed about the lewd conduct incident, according to the police report. At one point during the interview, Craig handed the plainclothes sergeant who arrested him a business card that identified him as a U.S. Senator and said, “What do you think about that?” the report states." -By John McArdle with contributions by Steven T. Dennis -RollCall.com

US - China - Manufacturer - Industry - Children - Brain - Safety - Government - Police - Consumer - Environmental - Law - Politics - History - "Efforts to crack down on lead paint thwarted by China, Bush Administration." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration and China have both undermined efforts to tighten rules designed to ensure that lead paint isn't used in toys, bibs, jewelry and other children’s products." ... "Both have fought efforts to better police imported toys from China." ... "Lead paint is toxic when ingested by children and can cause brain damage or death. It’s been mostly banned in the United States since the late 1970s, but is permitted in the coating of toys, providing it amounts to less than six parts per million." ... "The Bush administration has hindered regulation on two fronts, consumer advocates say. It stalled efforts to press for greater inspections of imported children’s products, and it altered the focus of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), moving it from aggressive protection of consumers to a more manufacturer-friendly approach." ... "“The overall philosophy is regulations are bad and they are too large a cost for industry, and the market will take care of it,” said Rick Melberth, director of regulatory policy at OMBWatch, a government watchdog group formed in 1983. “That’s been the philosophy of the Bush administration.”" ... "Today, more than 80 percent of all U.S. toys are now made in China and few of them get inspected." ... "But as recently as last December, the Sierra Club sued the Bush administration after the Environmental Protection Agency rebuffed a petition to require health and safety studies for companies that use lead in children’s products." -By Kevin G. Hall -McClatchyDC.com

US - Iraq - Military - Political - Press - Religion - Terrorism - Police - Money - "The War as We Saw It." ... "Viewed from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)" ... "The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the “battle space” remains the same, with changes only at the margins. It is crowded with actors who do not fit neatly into boxes: Sunni extremists, Al Qaeda terrorists, Shiite militiamen, criminals and armed tribes. This situation is made more complex by the questionable loyalties and Janus-faced role of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Army, which have been trained and armed at United States taxpayers’ expense." ... "A few nights ago, for example, we witnessed the death of one American soldier and the critical wounding of two others when a lethal armor-piercing explosive was detonated between an Iraqi Army checkpoint and a police one. Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and