2006 Miscellany News Archive

MISCELLANY NEWS ARCHIVE 2006 ARCHIVES
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20061225
US - Iraq- Christmas
"In Baghdad, a Christmas patrol." ... "The sun was just beginning to rise, bringing a dim glow on a cold and clear Christmas morning in Baghdad, but the U.S. Army mission was late." ... "The Stryker armored vehicles were supposed to have rolled from Forward Operating Base Loyalty 11 minutes ago, at 6:30 a.m., yet soldiers were still milling about outside the green machines, shivering in bulletproof jackets and Kevlar helmets." ... "Christmas was another working day for many in the battalion, heading out to cordon off a dangerous section of eastern Baghdad and go house to house searching for insurgents, weapons and bomb-making materials." ... "But the holiday - and thoughts of friends and family back home - never left their minds." -By Will Weissert -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20061224
US - Iraq - People -Police - Military - Politics
"12,000 Iraqi policemen killed since '03; 6 U.S. soldiers killed." ... "Some 12,000 Iraqi policemen have been killed since the ouster of Saddam Hussein, the country's interior minister said Sunday, as clashes, a suicide bomber and weekend explosions killed more than a dozen Iraqi officers and six American soldiers." ... "Police and police recruits have been frequent targets of insurgent attacks. In one of the worst single attacks, a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a line of national guard and police recruits waiting to take physicals in February 2005. The blast in Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killed 125." ... "Police have also been blamed for violence. Gunmen in Iraqi army and police uniforms have been responsible for recent bank robberies in Baghdad and the kidnapping of more than 40 workers and volunteers at the Iraqi Red Crescent." ... "The Iraqi Ministry of Health estimated in November that 150,000 Iraqi civilians been killed in the war that began in 2003. Other estimates put the figure as low as 51,000 or as high as 600,000." -AP via -USATODAY
20061222
Opinion - Politics
"Most outrageous comments of 2006." ... "How extreme were conservative commentators in their remarks this year? How about calls to nuke the Middle East and an allegation that a "gay ... mafia" used the congressional page program as its own "personal preserve." Right-wing rhetoric documented by Media Matters for America included the nonsensical (including Rush Limbaugh's claim that America's "obesity crisis" is caused by, among other things, our failure to "teach [the poor] how to butcher a -- slaughter a cow to get the butter, we gave them the butter"), the offensive (such as right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel's question about "Barack Hussein Obama": is he "a man we want as President when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam? Where will his loyalties be?"), and the simply bizarre (such as William A. Donohue's claim that some Hollywood stars would "sodomize their own mother in a movie"). Since there were so many outrageous statements, we included a list of honorable mentions along with the top 11, which, if not for Ann Coulter, we might have limited to 10." -MediaMatters.org
20061013
UK - Iraq - Politics
"General seeks UK Iraq withdrawal: The presence of UK armed forces in Iraq "exacerbates the security problems" and they should "get out some time soon", the head of the British Army has said." ... "Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt told the Daily Mail that the military campaign fought in 2003 had "effectively kicked the door in"." ... "He also said that initial planning for the post-war period had been poor." ... "There are currently more than 7,000 British soldiers in Iraq, based largely in Basra in the south of the country." ... "BBC political editor Nick Robinson described Sir Richard's remarks as "quite extraordinary"." ... "He said the new head of the British army's comments "directly contradicted so much of what the government had said"." ... "Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, also said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning"." ... "Major General Patrick Cordingly said: "I think it is a very brave thing for him to say. I do agree. I think there comes a time when you have got to let Iraq get on and look after its own security."" -BBC /News
20061001
Children - Enforcement - Politics - Mark Foley - History - Florida
"GOP Staff Warned Pages About Foley in 2001." ... "A Republican staff member warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for [Florida Republican] Congressman Mark Foley, according to a former page." ... "Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office." ... "Loraditch says that some of the pages who "interacted" with Foley were hesitant to report his behavior because "members of Congress, they've got the power." Many of the pages were hoping for careers in politics and feared Foley might seek retribution." -By Maddy Sauer and Anna Schecter -ABCNEWS.com
Secret -Children - Crime - Politics - Mark Foley - Florida - John Boehner - Ohio - La - NY - Ill - Ala - 2006 Election
"G.O.P. Aides Knew in Late ’05 of E-Mail." ... "Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between [Florida Republican] Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday." ... "Among those who became aware earlier this year of the fall 2005 communications between Mr. Foley and the 16-year-old page, who worked for Representative Rodney Alexander, Republican of Louisiana, were [Ohio Republican] Representative John A. Boehner, the majority leader, and [New York Republican] Representative Thomas M. Reynolds of New York, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Mr. Reynolds said in a statement Saturday that he had also personally raised the issue with Speaker J. Dennis Hastert [Illinois Republican]." ... "Democrats moved quickly to criticize Mr. Reynolds, who while overseeing House campaigns nationally is facing the potential of a serious [2006 Election] challenge from Jack Davis, a wealthy businessman who has vowed to spend at least $2 million of his own money in the contest. “Tom Reynolds had a moral obligation to protect our children,” said Curtis Ellis, a spokesman for Mr. Davis." ... "At the Justice Department, an official said that no investigation was under way but that the agency had “real interest” in examining the circumstances to see if any crimes were committed." ... "Several of Mr. Foley’s former colleagues demanded a criminal inquiry." ... "Representative Robert E. Cramer, an Alabama Democrat who was co-chairman with Mr. Foley of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, condemned Mr. Foley’s actions as “shocking and disturbing.”" ... "“Anyone, including Foley, involved in this type of behavior should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Mr. Cramer said." (1, 2) -By Carl Hulse and Raymond Hernandez with contributions by Kate Zernike, David Johnston, and Abby Goodnough -NYTimes
20060928
US - Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - Terrorism - Money - Politics
"Cost of Iraq war nearly $2b a week." ... "A new congressional analysis shows the Iraq war is now costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week -- nearly twice as much as in the first year of the conflict three years ago and 20 percent more than last year -- as the Pentagon spends more on establishing regional bases to support the extended deployment and scrambles to fix or replace equipment damaged in combat." ... "The upsurge occurs as the total cost of military operations at home and abroad since 2001, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will top half a trillion dollars, according to an internal assessment by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service completed last week." ... "The spike in operating costs -- including a 20 percent increase over last year in Afghanistan, where the mission now costs about $370 million a week -- comes even though troop levels in both countries have remained stable. The reports attribute the rising costs in part to a higher pace of fighting in both countries, where insurgents and terrorists have increased their attacks on US and coalition troops and civilians." ... "Another major factor, however, is ``the building of more extensive infrastructure to support troops and equipment in and around Iraq and Afghanistan," according to the report." -By Bryan Bender -BostonGlobe
20060919
Thailand - Politics - "Thailand's PM ousted in military coup." ... "In the dead of night and without firing a shot, Thailand's military overthrew popularly elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday amid mounting criticism that he had undermined democracy." ... "The sudden, well-orchestrated coup _ the first in 15 years and a throwback to an unsettled era in Thailand _ was likely to spark both enthusiasm and criticism at home and abroad. The military said it would soon return power to a democratic government but did not say when." ... "Striking when Thaksin was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, army commander Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin sent tanks and troops into the drizzly, nighttime streets of Bangkok. The military ringed Thaksin's offices, seized control of television stations and declared a provisional authority loyal to the king." ... "The coup leaders declared martial law, revoked the constitution and ordered all troops not to leave duty stations without permission from their commanders. The stock exchange was to be closed Wednesday, along with schools, banks and government offices." -By Denis D. Gray with contributions by Jocelyn Gecker -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
20060905
Mexico - Law - History - "Mexican election is decided; everything else still up in air." ... "Mexico's electoral court on Tuesday certified conservative Felipe Calderón as the nation's next president after two months of recounts and allegations of fraud." ... "While the decision ended the post-election legal saga, the political fallout from the closest presidential race in Mexican history is far from over." ... "Leftist runner-up Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he's not giving up. The former Mexico City mayor says his opponent won through fraud. He may try to set up a "parallel" government." ... "The electoral court said it had found no evidence of systematic fraud in the vote. The court threw out results from some polling places, citing mathematical errors and other problems. The tribunal's decision cannot be appealed." -By Sara Miller Llana -USATODAY
20060901
Iran - Military - Energy - Technology - UN - "Highly Enriched Uranium Found at Iranian Plant." ... "The global nuclear monitoring agency deepened suspicions on Thursday about Iran’s nuclear program, reporting that inspectors had discovered new traces of highly enriched uranium at an Iranian facility." ... "Inspectors have found such uranium, which at extreme enrichment levels can fuel bombs, twice in the past. The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded that at least some of those samples came from contaminated equipment that Iran had obtained from Pakistan." ... "But in this case, the nuclear fingerprint of the particles did not match the other samples, an official familiar with the inspections said, raising questions about their origin." ... "In a six-page report to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, the agency withheld judgment about where the material came from and whether it could be linked to a secret nuclear program." (1, 2) -By Elaine Sciolino with contributions by William J. Broad and David E. Sanger -NYTimes
20060830
Iraq - Religious - Political - Military - Health - "Iraqi Hospitals Are War's New 'Killing Fields': Medical Sites Targeted By Shiite Militiamen." ... "In growing numbers, sick and wounded Sunnis have been abducted from public hospitals operated by Iraq's Shiite-run Health Ministry and later killed, according to patients, families of victims, doctors and government officials." ... "As a result, more and more Iraqis are avoiding hospitals, making it even harder to preserve life in a city where death is seemingly everywhere. Gunshot victims are now being treated by nurses in makeshift emergency rooms set up in homes. Women giving birth are smuggled out of Baghdad and into clinics in safer provinces." ... "In most cases, family members and hospital workers said, the motive for the abductions appeared to be nothing more than religious affiliation. Because public hospitals here are controlled by Shiites, the killings have raised questions about whether hospital staff have allowed Shiite death squads into their facilities to slaughter Sunni Arabs." ... "According to patients and families of victims, the primary group kidnapping Sunnis from hospitals is the Mahdi Army, a militia controlled by anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that has infiltrated the Iraqi security forces and several government ministries. The minister of health, Ali al-Shimari, is a member of Sadr's political movement." (1, 2, 3) -By Amit R. Paley with contributions by Saad Sarhan -WashingtonPost
20060821
Iran - UN- Technology - Politics - "Iran turns away U.N. nuclear inspectors: Move comes after Khamenei vows Tehran will pursue technology." ... "Iran has turned away U.N. inspectors wanting to examine its underground nuclear site in an apparent violation of the Nonproliferation Treaty, diplomats and U.N. officials said Monday." ... "The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality of the information, told The Associated Press that Iran's unprecedented refusal to allow access to the facility at Natanz could seriously hamper international efforts to ensure that Tehran is not trying to make nuclear weapons." ... "The revelation came on the eve of Iran's self-imposed Aug. 22 deadline to respond to a Western incentives package for it to roll back its disputed nuclear program." ... "The United Nations has given Tehran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment." -AP via -MSNBC
20060817
Secret - US - International - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Law - Free Speech - Privacy - Telephone - Internet - Civil Righs - Journalists - Educators - Michigan - "NSA eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional: Justice Department says it will appeal judge's decision." ... "A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the U.S. government's domestic eavesdropping program is unconstitutional and ordered it ended immediately." ... "The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling, saying the program was "a critical tool that ensures we have in place an early warning system to detect and prevent a terrorist attack."" ... "In a 44-page memorandum and order, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, -- who is based in Detroit, Michigan -- struck down the National Security Agency's program, which she said violates the rights to free speech and privacy. (Read the complete ruling -- PDF)" ... "The defendants "are permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly utilizing the Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP) in any way, including, but not limited to, conducting warrantless wiretaps of telephone and Internet communications, in contravention of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Title III," she wrote." ... "She further declared that the program "violates the separation of powers doctrine, the Administrative Procedures Act, the First and Fourth amendments to the United States Constitution, the FISA and Title III."" ... "She went on to say that "the president of the United States ... has undisputedly violated the Fourth in failing to procure judicial orders."" ... "The lawsuit, filed January 17 by civil rights organizations, lawyers, journalists and educators, "challenges the constitutionality of a secret government program to intercept vast quantities of the international telephone and Internet communications of innocent Americans without court approval."" -With contributions by Bill Mears and Andrea Koppel -CNN
Iraq - Weather - "Iraq doubles funding for oil imports." ... "Iraq has doubled the money allocated for importing oil products in August and September to tackle the country's worst fuel shortage since Saddam Hussein's 2003 ouster, a senior Iraqi official said Thursday." ... "Iraq has been plagued by periodic fuel shortages since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The current crisis comes amid higher demand for fuel to power generators and cool homes and offices as summer temperatures reach 120 degrees." -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
20060816
Israel - Lebanon - Terrorism -Politics - "Many Israelis see a strategic defeat: In Israel, critics condemn strategy behind war." ... "Scathing indictments of the way the Israeli government and its military have conducted the longest war in the nation's history filled the country's newspapers and airwaves yesterday, as Israelis began to feel safe enough to return to their national pastime of blistering political debate." ... "Israeli analysts across the political spectrum branded the war against Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon ``an embarrassing defeat" for a ``semi-rookie government" that should have known the goals it set for itself were ``impossible to achieve."" ... "On the second day since July 12 without Hezbollah rocket attacks, many Israelis looked around and declared themselves sorely disappointed with a war that forced a million people to flee their homes in northern Israel and killed 150 Israelis and more than 800 Lebanese. The war inflamed anger across the Muslim world -- without dealing a decisive blow to Hezbollah or bringing home the two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping by the Lebanese militant group triggered the fighting." ... "The outrage came from the left and the right." -By Anne Barnard and Matthew Kalman -Boston/Globe
20060815
TV - Telecom - Marketing - Industry - Media - Consumer - Wisconsin - "FCC questions TV stations on 'fake news'." ... "The Federal Communications Commission has mailed letters to the owners of 77 television stations inquiring about their use of video news releases, a type of programming critics refer to as "fake news."" ... "The probe was sparked by a study of newsroom use of material provided by public relations firms. The study, entitled "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed," was compiled by the Center for Media and Democracy, a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization that monitors the public relations industry." ... "When stations air video news releases, they are required to disclose to viewers "the nature, source and sponsorship of the material that they are viewing," according to the FCC." -AP via -USATODAY
20060813
Britain - Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - Intelligence - Historical - Terrorism - Religion - Mental Health - Enforcement - "These ludicrous lies about the West and Islam." ... "There is indeed a plausible argument that military action in recent years has made Britain less, not more, secure. In particular, the conduct of the war in Iraq, regardless of the virtues of removing Saddam Hussein from office, has been riddled with error. The absence of weapons of mass destruction, removal of which was the premise for war, has undermined trust in the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, engagement in Iraq has made it harder to secure victory in Afghanistan, where the anti-terror justification for war was rock solid." ... "But even within the bleakest possible analysis of Mr Blair's foreign policy, it is still simply not true that the West is waging war on Islam. Just as it is not true that the CIA was really behind the 11 September attacks or any other arrant conspiratorial nonsense that enjoys widespread credence in the Middle East and beyond. It is also a logical and moral absurdity to imply, as some critics of British policy have done, that mass murder is somehow less atrocious when it is motivated by an elaborate narrative of political grievance." ... "If young British Muslims are alienated, that is sad and their anger should be addressed. But anyone whose alienation leads them to want to kill indiscriminately has crossed a line into psychopathic criminality. Policy cannot be dictated by the need to placate such people." ... "British Muslim leaders are entitled, along with everybody else, to raise questions about the conduct and consequences of Mr Blair's foreign policy. But they have a more immediate responsibility to promote the truth: that Britain is not the aggressor in a war against Islam; that no such war exists; that there is no glory in murder dressed as martyrdom and that terrorism is never excused by bogus accounts of historical victimisation." -Observer.co.uk via -Guardian.co.uk
20060812
Government - Military - Plane - Terrorism - Technology - "Focused on 9/11, U.S. Is Seen to Lag on New Threats." ... "The Department of Homeland Security has taken significant steps since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to make it much harder to turn a plane into a flying weapon. But a nearly obsessive focus on the previous attacks may have prevented the federal government from combating new threats effectively, terrorism experts and former agency officials say." ... "The arrests overseas this week of people accused of planning to use an explosive that would be undetectable at airports illustrates the significant security gaps, they said." ... "While the department has hardened cockpit doors and set up screening for guns and knives, it has done far too little to protect against plastic and liquid explosives, bombs in air cargo and shoulder-fired missiles, the experts say." ... "The nation is still at risk from the same “failure of imagination” cited by the 9/11 commission as having contributed to the success of the 2001 attack, several argued." ... "“They are reactive, not proactive,” said Randall J. Larsen, a retired colonel in the Air Force who is chairman of the military strategy department at the National War College in Washington. " -By Eric Lipton and Matthew L. Wald with contributions William J. Broad -NYTimes
20060811
Government - Terrorism - Technology - Money - Law - "Bush Staff Wanted Bomb-Detect Cash Moved: Bush Administration Sought Permission to Divert $6 Million for Explosives Detection Technology." ... "While the British terror suspects were hatching their plot, the Bush administration was quietly seeking permission to divert $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new homeland explosives detection technology." ... "Congressional leaders rejected the idea, the latest in a series of steps by the Homeland Security Department that has left lawmakers and some of the department's own experts questioning the commitment to create better anti-terror technologies." ... "Homeland Security's research arm, called the Sciences & Technology Directorate, is a "rudderless ship without a clear way to get back on course," Republican and Democratic senators on the Appropriations Committee declared recently." ... "The department failed to spend $200 million in research and development money from past years, forcing lawmakers to rescind the money this summer." ... "The administration also was slow to start testing a new liquid explosives detector that the Japanese government provided to the United States earlier this year." (1, 2, 3) -By John Solomon with contributions by Leslie Miller-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20060809
US - International - Military - Intelligence - Detainees- Human Rights -War Crimes Act - Enforcement - Politics - "Retroactive war crime protection proposed." ... "The Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would retroactively protect policymakers from possible criminal charges for authorizing any humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal." ... "The move by the administration is the latest effort to deal with treatment of those taken into custody in the war on terror." ... "At issue are interrogations carried out by the CIA, and the degree to which harsh tactics such as water-boarding were authorized by administration officials. A separate law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, applies to the military." ... "One section of the draft would outlaw torture and inhuman or cruel treatment, but it does not contain prohibitions from Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions against "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."" -By Pete Yost -AP via -MercuryNews
20060808
US - Government - Military -Brain - Science - Money -Terrorism - Iraq - "Center for war-related brain injuries faces budget cut." ... "Congress appears ready to slash funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries caused by bomb blasts, an injury that military scientists describe as a signature wound of the Iraq war." ... "House and Senate versions of the 2007 Defense appropriation bill contain $7 million for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center — half of what the center received last fiscal year." ... "Proponents of increased funding say they are shocked to see cuts in the treatment of bomb blast injuries in the midst of a war." ... "George Zitnay, co-founder of the center, testified before a Senate subcommittee in May that body armor saves troops caught in blasts but leaves many with brain damage. "Traumatic brain injury is the signature injury of the war on terrorism," he testified." -By Gregg Zoroya -USATODAY
20060802
Reporters - Phone - Privacy - Religion - Texas - Illinois - "U.S. Wins Access to Reporter Phone Records." ... "A federal prosecutor may inspect the telephone records of two New York Times reporters in an effort to identify their confidential sources, a federal appeals court in New York ruled yesterday." ... "The 2-to-1 decision, from a court historically sympathetic to claims that journalists should be entitled to protect their sources, reversed a lower court and dealt a further setback to news organizations, which have lately been on a losing streak in the federal courts." ... "The dissenting judge said that the government had failed to demonstrate it truly needed the records and that efforts to obtain reporters’ phone records could alter the way news gathering was conducted." ... "The case arose from a Chicago grand jury’s investigation into who told the two reporters, Judith Miller and Philip Shenon, about actions the government was planning to take against two Islamic charities, Holy Land Foundation in Texas and Global Relief Foundation in Illinois. Though the government contended that calls from the reporters tipped off the charities to impending raids and asset seizures, the investigation appears to be focused on identifying the reporters’ sources. No testimony has been sought from the reporters, and there has been no indication that their actions are a subject of the investigation." -By Adam Liptak -NYTimes
20060730
Lebanon - Israel - UN - History - "Dozens killed in Lebanon air raid: More than 54 civilians, at least 34 of them children, have been killed in a town in south Lebanon in the deadliest Israeli strike of the conflict so far." ... "Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a house in Qana, which was crushed after a direct hit." ... "Lebanon's prime minister denounced "Israeli war criminals" and cancelled talks with the US secretary of state." ... "Israel said it regretted the incident - but added that civilians had been warned to flee the village." ... "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would "continue to act with no hesitation against Hezbollah" which has been firing rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon." ... "Qana was the site of an Israeli bombing of a UN base in 1996 that killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive, which was also aimed at destroying Hezbollah." -BBC /News
20060728
Noteworthy - Secret - Military - Intelligence - Terrorism - Detainee - Civil Righs - Politics - "Bush Submits New Terror Detainee Bill." ... "U.S. citizens suspected of terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration, say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill." ... "According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all "enemy combatants" until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy combatants as anyone "engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners who has committed an act that violates the law of war and this statute."" ... "Legal experts said Friday that such language is dangerously broad and could authorize the military to detain indefinitely U.S. citizens who had only tenuous ties to terror networks like al Qaeda." ... "Scott L. Silliman, a retired Air Force Judge Advocate, said the broad definition of enemy combatants is alarming because a U.S. citizen loosely suspected of terror ties would lose access to a civilian court — and all the rights that come with it. Administration officials have said they want to establish a secret court to try enemy combatants that factor in realities of the battlefield and would protect classified information." ... "The administration's proposal, as considered at one point during discussions, would toss out several legal rights common in civilian and military courts, including barring hearsay evidence, guaranteeing "speedy trials" and granting a defendant access to evidence. The proposal also would allow defendants to be barred from their own trial and likely allow the submission of coerced testimony." -By Anne Plummer Flaherty -AP via -SFGate.com
20060727
World - Oil - Consumers - "UPDATE 2-Exxon Mobil profit tops $10 bln on soaring prices." ... "Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest public oil company, on Thursday reported quarterly profit surged 35 percent to top $10 billion, driven by yet another quarter of sharply higher oil prices." ... "Revenue jumped 12 percent to $99.03 billion, from $88.57 billion a year earlier." ... "The company's latest results are sure to reignite calls for windfall profit taxes on Big Oil companies, who have come under attack over the past year for posting record profits as consumers struggle with soaring gasoline prices."-Reuters
20060724
Enforcement - Politics - "Panel chides Bush on bypassing laws: ABA group cites limits to power." ... "President Bush should stop issuing statements claiming the power to bypass parts of laws he has signed, an American Bar Association task force has unanimously concluded in a strongly worded 32-page report that is scheduled to be released today." ... "The bipartisan panel of legal specialists includes a former FBI director, a former federal appeals court chief judge, former Republican officials, and leading scholars." ... "The panel said presidents do not have the authority to declare that sections of the bills they sign are unconstitutional, and that they thus need not be enforced as Congress wrote them." ... "Bush has used these so-called signing statements to challenge more than 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office, more than all previous presidents combined." ... "``The president's constitutional duty is to enforce laws he has signed into being, unless and until they are held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court," the report said. ``The Constitution is not what the president says it is."" -By Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe
20060723
Randy Cunningham - Secret - Government - Political - Business - Legislation - California - "Study: Ex-Rep. Made Use of 'Black' Budgets: Study: Cunningham Slipped Items Into Classified Bills That Benefited Him, His Associates." ... "An independent investigation has found that imprisoned former [California Republican] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham took advantage of secrecy and badgered congressional aides to help slip items into classified bills that would benefit him and his associates." ... "The finding comes from Michael Stern, an outside investigator hired by the House Intelligence Committee to look into how Cunningham was able to carry out the scheme. Stern is working with the committee to fix vulnerabilities in the way top-secret legislation is written, said congressional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the committee still is being briefed on Stern's findings." ... "Cunningham's case has put a stark spotlight on the oversight of classified or "black" budgets. Unlike legislation dealing with social and economic issues, intelligence bills and parts of defense bills are written in private, in the name of national security." ... "Federal prosecutors found that Cunningham accepted $2.4 million in bribes, including payments for a mansion, a Rolls-Royce and a 65-foot yacht, in return for steering defense and intelligence contracts to certain companies. Cunningham pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than eight years in prison." (1, 2, 3) -By Katherine Shrader -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20060721
Dick Cheney - Secret - Government - Intelligence - Law - Privacy - PA - "Surveillance Bill Meets Resistance in Senate." ... "A Senate surveillance bill personally negotiated by President Bush and Vice President Cheney ran into immediate trouble this week, as Democrats and other critics attacked the proposal while key GOP leaders in the House endorsed a different bill on the same topic." ... "The Senate legislation, drafted during negotiations between the White House and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), would allow the administration to submit the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program to a secret intelligence court for review of its legality." ... "The proposal was billed as a rare and noteworthy compromise by the administration when unveiled last week. But the legislation quickly came under attack from Democrats and many national security experts, who said it would actually give the government greater powers to spy on Americans without court oversight." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
20060720
Karl Rove - Stem Cell - Health - Science - Oregon - Missouri - "Experts rip Rove stem cell remark: Researchers doubt value of adult cells." ... "When White House political adviser Karl Rove signaled last week that President Bush planned to veto the stem cell bill being considered by the Senate, the reasons he gave went beyond the president's moral qualms with research on human embryos." ... "In fact, Rove waded into deeply contentious scientific territory, telling the Denver Post's editorial board that researchers have found "far more promise from adult stem cells than from embryonic stem cells."" ... "But Rove's negative appraisal of embryonic stem cell research--echoed by many opponents of funding for such research--is inaccurate, according to most stem cell research scientists, including a dozen contacted for this story." ... ""[Rove's] statement is just not true," said Dr. Michael Clarke, associate director of the stem cell institute at Stanford University, who in 2003 published the first study showing how adult stem cells replenish themselves." ... "Dr. Markus Grompe, director of the stem cell center at the Oregon Health and Science University, is a Catholic who objects to research involving the destruction of embryos and is seeking alternative ways of making stem cells. But Grompe said there is "no factual basis to compare the promise" of adult stem cells and cells taken from embryos." ... "Last week, the journal Science published a letter from three researchers criticizing the claim that adult stem cells are preferable to embryonic stem cells. The authors included Dr. Steven Teitelbaum of Washington University in St. Louis [Missouri], who has used adult stem cells to treat bone diseases in children. The authors wrote that the exaggerated claims for adult stem cells "mislead laypeople and cruelly deceive patients."" -By Jeremy Manier and Judith Graham -ChicagoTribune
20060719
Illinois -Legal - History - "Probe: Black Chicago Suspects Tortured: Probe Finds Chicago Police Tortured Scores of Black Suspects in 1970s, 1980s to Get Confessions." ... "Chicago police beat, kicked, shocked or otherwise tortured scores of black suspects in the 1970s and 1980s to try to extract confessions from them, prosecutors reported Wednesday." ... "However, the prosecutors appointed by a Cook County judge four years ago to look into torture allegations said that the cases are too old or too weak to prosecute anyone now." ... "Prosecutors Robert D. Boyle and Edward Egan said they found evidence that police abused at least half the 148 suspects whose cases were reviewed. Nearly all of the suspects were black." ... "The release of the report was the subject of a legal battle. The Illinois Supreme Court eventually denied a request from a former prosecutor, identifiedin court documents only as "John Doe," to block portions from being released." (1, 2, 3) -By Don Babwin with contributions by Sharon Cohen and Carla K. Johnson -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20060715
Science - Government - Religion - Politics - "Public Schools Perform Near Private Ones in Study." ... "The Education Department reported on Friday that children in public schools generally performed as well or better in reading and mathematics than comparable children in private schools. The exception was in eighth-grade reading, where the private school counterparts fared better." ... "The report, which compared fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores in 2003 from nearly 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools, found that fourth graders attending public school did significantly better in math than comparable fourth graders in private schools. Additionally, it found that students in conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind their counterparts in public schools on eighth-grade math." -By Diana Jean Schemo -NYTimes
20060713
Babies -Science - History - "Preemie Births Mysteriously On the Increase: Infertility Treatments Thought to Be One Major Cause." ... "Their story is a familiar one in the United States. More than 12 percent of all babies born in 2004 were premature, according to a report released today by the prestigious Institute of Medicine in Washington." ... "The report estimates that each year there are 500,000 pre-term babies born, a 30 percent increase since the early 1980s." ... "About 10 percent of premature babies are conceived by infertility treatments, said Dr. Marie McCormick, a pediatrician and one of the committee members who helped author the IOM report." ... ""Couples need to understand that the goal is not just to have a baby but to have a full-term baby," said Dr. Laura Riley, an obstetrician and director of Labor and Delivery at Massachusetts General Hospital. She was also helped author the IOM report." (1, 2) -By Dr. Archana Reddy -ABCNEWS.com
20060712
US - Iraq - Guantanamo Bay - Cuba - Military - Prison - Politics - "GOP Senator Criticizes Appeals Court Nominee." ... "A key Senate Republican clashed yesterday with President Bush's pick for a federal appeals court, taking aim at the nominee's past support for harsh interrogation methods at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." ... "At a Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C. [Republican]) said that Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II had pushed for the tactics over the objections of top uniformed military lawyers who considered the policy process a "sham."" ... "The result, Graham told reporters after the hearing, was "legal confusion" that contributed to the scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison -- and the attendant courts-martial and other career damage for those held responsible." ... "Noting that the U.S. commander in Iraq during Abu Ghraib, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, has seen his career stall, Graham said, "The question is whether enough things went wrong on [Haynes's] watch that he needs to be held accountable."" -By Charles Lane -WashingtonPost
20060707
US - Iraq - Terrorism - Politics - Intelligence - "Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts." ... "A decade after the Pentagon declared a zero-tolerance policy for racist hate groups, recruiting shortfalls caused by the war in Iraq have allowed "large numbers of neo-Nazis and skinhead extremists" to infiltrate the military, according to a watchdog organization." ... "The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks racist and right-wing militia groups, estimated that the numbers could run into the thousands, citing interviews with Defense Department investigators and reports and postings on racist Web sites and magazines." ... ""We've got Aryan Nations graffiti in Baghdad," the group quoted a Defense Department investigator as saying in a report to be posted today on its Web site, www.splcenter.org. "That's a problem."" -By John Kifner -NYTimes
20060706
World - Fuel - Ocean - Animals - Food - Science -Seattle - Washington - "High acidity infiltrates the oceans." ... "Corals and shelled sea creatures face an uncertain future in oceans made increasingly corrosive by the industrial emissions that fuel global warming, a government report warned Wednesday." ... "Human activities, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, have upset a natural balance in ocean acidity, concludes the report called Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers: A Guide for Future Research." ... "From corals to sea snails to microscopic plankton, the creatures affected underpin many ocean food chains, say the authors of the report, a document reflecting the views of 50 top experts in ocean chemistry. The research was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other federal agencies." ... ""We have very clear evidence, and there is no doubt this is occurring," says report co-author Richard Feely of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle [Washington]." -By Dan Vergano -USATODAY
20060705
US - Iraq - Military - Prison - Law - "House Wants Abu Ghraib Whistleblower Info: House Seeks Pentagon Information on GI Who Says He Was Hassled for Blowing Whistle on Abu Ghraib." ... "Lawmakers have issued a subpoena seeking Pentagon information on a soldier who says he suffered retaliation for reporting abuses at Abu Ghraib prison." ... "The subpoena from the House Government Reform Committee seeks all communications relating to information provided by Army Spc. Samuel Provance about the Iraq prison, where U.S. mistreatment of detainees caused an international uproar." -By Pauline Jelinek -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20060704
US - Afghanistan - Military - People - Nevada - "Fallen Soldier Gets a Bronze Star but No Pagan Star." ... "At the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the small town of Fernley, Nev., there is a wall of brass plaques for local heroes. But one space is blank. There is no memorial for Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart." ... "That's because Stewart was a Wiccan, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion -- a five-pointed star within a circle, called a pentacle -- to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers." ... "The department has approved the symbols of 38 other faiths; about half of are versions of the Christian cross. It also allows the Jewish Star of David, the Muslim crescent, the Buddhist wheel, the Mormon angel, the nine-pointed star of Bahai and something that looks like an atomic symbol for atheists." ... "Stewart, 34, is believed to be the first Wiccan killed in combat. He was serving in the Nevada National Guard when the helicopter in which he was riding was shot down in Afghanistan last September. He previously had served in the Army in Korea and Operation Desert Storm. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star." (1, 2) -By Alan Cooperman -WashingtonPost
20060628
Children's - Health - "Secondhand Smoke: It's All Bad: The surgeon general says findings are 'indisputable': No level of exposure is safe, and the children of smokers are especially at risk." ... "Twenty years after the first surgeon general's report on secondhand smoke, the evidence is now "indisputable" that the noxious fumes are a major health threat that kills an estimated 50,000 people each year, a new federal study said Tuesday." ... "There is no level of exposure to smoke that is safe, and the children of smokers are at special risk, Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona said in releasing the new report." ... ""I am here to say the debate is over, the science is clear," Carmona said during a televised news conference from Washington. "Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance. It is a serious health hazard."" ... "Studies in the two decades since the first federal report confirm that secondhand smoke is linked not only to heart disease and lung cancer, but also to breast cancer, childhood cancer, nasal sinus cancer, ear infections and asthma. Recent results have also shown a clear link to sudden infant death syndrome." -By Thomas H. Maugh II and Erin Cline -LAtimes
Israel - Palestine - Egypt - Politics - "Israeli Troops Move Into Gaza: Captured Soldier Sought; Palestinians Reach Political Pact." ... "Israeli ground troops pushed into the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in a military operation aimed at freeing a captured soldier whose fate has transfixed much of the country. The incursion was the military's first major move into Gaza since the Israeli government withdrew all troops and settlers from the enclave nine months ago." ... "An undisclosed number of troops reportedly entered the strip at its southern end, near the city of Rafah on the Egyptian border. Hours earlier, Israeli military officials said, military aircraft bombed two bridges in central Gaza to prevent the gunmen who abducted Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19, during a Sunday attack on an army post at the strip's southeastern edge from moving him around Gaza or into Egypt." ... "The violence overshadowed an agreement earlier in the day by leaders of Hamas, the radical Islamic movement that controls the Palestinian government, on a unified political agenda advocated by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to ease the economic sanctions against the government." ... "According to Palestinian negotiators here, Hamas agreed to establish a national-unity government as part of an accord signed by the largest Palestinian political factions. If formally signed Wednesday as scheduled, the agreement would signal a major shift by Hamas's political leaders, who for the first time would effectively endorse a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." (1, 2) -By Scott Wilson with contributions by Bradley Graham Samuel Sockol -WashingtonPost
20060626
Noteworthy - Secret - US - Belgium - International - Financial - Consumer - Civil Liberties - Free Speech - Media - Government - Terrorism - Law Enforcement - Intelligence - Politics - "What the Government Knows: While an overseas program to track bank records has unleashed a political storm, the domestic Patriot Act has already made a wealth of financial data available to U.S. law enforcement agencies." ... "Over the last four years, U.S. law enforcement agencies have gained access to over 28,000 financial records inside the United States under a little known provision of the USA Patriot Act that parallels the secret international bank data program disclosed by news organizations last week, Treasury Department records show." ... "The disclosure of the overseas program-under which Treasury Department officials have tapped into the records of a vast Belgian-based international financial database called Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications)-has kicked up a storm of controversy. Some critics have decried the program as another example of the administration's invasion of privacy in the name of the war on terror. At the same time, President Bush today condemned as "disgraceful" the disclosure of the operation, which intended to help the government track overseas money movements of suspected terrorists. "For people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America," Bush told reporters in Washington." ... "But the international program is only one part of a much broader, if little publicized, Treasury Department effort to probe suspect financial records-including thousands of bank accounts, wire transfers and other transactions involving individuals, companies and nonprofit organizations inside the United States." ... "Although it has received little attention, the Patriot Act program has produced a wealth of previously unavailable financial data that has been shared with U.S. law enforcement agencies-without any notice to the account holders who are being investigated. Since the fall of 2002, when the program began, U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN)-an arm of the Treasury Department-has directed searches of 4,397 "subjects of interest" and received reports back on 28,463 accounts and financial transactions, according to recent Treasury records." (1, 2) -By Michael Isikoff -MSNBC/Newsweek
20060625
US - World - Money - "Buffett to Give Gates, Family Charities $37 Billion (Update1)." ... "Warren Buffett, the world's second- richest person, will give away 85 percent of his $44 billion fortune starting in July, a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. spokesman said today, in the biggest individual pledge to charity ever." ... "Most of the money will go to the foundation started by his close friend Bill Gates, the only person in the world with a bigger personal fortune than Buffett, the 75-year-old Berkshire Hathaway chairman and chief executive officer." ... "Buffett's commitment, based on the $3,071.09 closing price of Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares June 23, is valued at more than $37 billion, exceeding the more than $29 billion that Microsoft Corp. Chairman Gates earmarked for his foundation." -By Nancy Kercheval -Bloomberg
20060623
Terrorism - Law Enforcement - Civil Liberties -Illinois - Florida - "Indictment of suspected terrorists contains little evidence of plot." ... "Even as Justice Department officials trumpeted the arrests of seven Florida men accused of planning to wage a "full ground war against the United States," they acknowledged the group did not have the means to carry out the plan." ... "The Justice Department unveiled the arrests with an orchestrated series of press conferences in two cities, but the severity of the charges compared with the seemingly amateurish-nature of the group raised concerns among civil libertarians." ... ""We're as puzzled as everyone else," said Howard Simon, the director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "There's no weapons, no explosives, but this major announcement."" ... "The seven men are charged with conspiring to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago [Illinois] and FBI buildings in five cities." ... "Simon of the ACLU said his organization is reserving judgment until it gets more information." ... ""We count on our law enforcement officers to make a distinction between people who are trash talking or making serious threats," he said. "But this one requires more information for the general public to be able to make a judgment as to which category they fall into."" -By Marisa Taylor and Lesley Clark -KnightRidder via -KansasCity.com
20060622
Phone - Companies - Consumer - Government - Intelligence - Law - Law Enforcement - "AT&T revises privacy policy, says owns customer data." ... "AT&T Inc. said on Wednesday it was revising its privacy policy, explaining to customers that it owns their phone records and can hand them over to law enforcers if necessary." ... "The changes take effect on Friday and come at a time when AT&T and other phone companies face lawsuits claiming they aided a U.S. government domestic spying program by giving the National Security Agency call records of millions of customers without their permission." -Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com
20060621
David Safavian - Abramoff - Government - Money - Politics - "Ex-Aide To Bush Found Guilty: Safavian Lied in Abramoff Scandal." ... "A federal jury found former White House aide David H. Safavian guilty yesterday of lying and obstructing justice, making him the highest-ranking government official to be convicted in the spreading scandal involving disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "Safavian, a former chief of staff of the General Services Administration, was convicted in U.S. District Court here of covering up his many efforts to assist Abramoff in acquiring two properties controlled by the GSA, and also of concealing facts about a lavish weeklong golf trip he took with Abramoff to Scotland and London in the summer of 2002." ... "The jury found him guilty of obstructing an inquiry by the inspector general's office of the GSA and of lying to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, a GSA ethics officer and the GSA inspector general. He was acquitted of obstructing the Senate's probe. He faces up to 20 years in jail and $1 million in fines; sentencing was set for Oct. 12." (1, 2) -By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum-WashingtonPost
20060619
Government - Water - Science- Clean Water Act - Business - Michigan - Anthony Kennedy - "Clean Water Act Reach Limited: U.S. Supreme Court Overview." ... "The U.S. Supreme Court limited the reach of the Clean Water Act, saying it applies only to wetlands with a close connection to a river, lake or some other major waterway." ... "The justices, voting 5-4, ordered a new round of hearings for two sets of Michigan landowners whose efforts to build on their property have been stymied by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The majority was divided in its reasoning, with Justice Anthony Kennedy refusing to join four other justices in putting even more restraints on the federal regulators." ... "Kennedy's separate opinion now becomes the controlling law. He established a new test, saying the Corps can regulate only wetlands that have a ``significant nexus'' to a major waterway. He also said that in both cases before the justices, the Corps had at least some evidence of that type of connection." -By Greg Stohr -Bloomberg
Google search the cases:
- Rapanos v. U.S., 04-1034: <Google-[News]>
- Carabell v. Army Corps of Engineers, 04-1384 <Google-[News]>
20060615
Noteworthy - Government - Police - Civil Righs - Politics - Samuel Alito - Sandra Day O'Connor - Homes - "Police don't have to knock, justices say: Alito's vote breaks 4-4 tie in police search case." ... "The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that police armed with a warrant can barge into homes and seize evidence even if they don't knock, a huge government victory that was decided by President Bush's new justices." ... "The 5-4 ruling clearly signals the court's conservative shift following the departure of moderate Sandra Day O'Connor." ... "The case tested previous court rulings that police armed with warrants generally must knock and announce themselves or they run afoul of the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches." -AP via -CNN
20060614
US - Iraq -Military - Opinion - Massachusetts - "Kerry demands US troop pullout: Regrets his vote for war resolution." ... "Senator John F. Kerry [Massachusetts Democrat] is placing himself at the center of congressional action over the war in Iraq this week with a crisply worded resolution to require President Bush to withdraw almost all US troops by the end of this year." ... "The measure has exposed Kerry to attacks from Republicans and some Democrats, as critics rushed to tag the plan as a ``cut-and-run" strategy. But it also has made him a rallying point for antiwar activists." ... "``My friends, war is no excuse for its own perpetuation," Kerry said before a group of cheering liberal activists who had gathered in Washington yesterday for a ``Take Back America" conference. ``It is essential to acknowledge that the war itself was a mistake -- to say the simple words that contain more truth than pride. . . . It was wrong and I was wrong to vote for that Iraqi war resolution."" ... "``It was right to dissent from a war in 1971 that was wrong and could not be won," Kerry said in his speech. ``And now, in 2006, it is both a right and an obligation for Americans to stand up to a president who is wrong today, [and] dissent from policies that are wrong today, and end a war in Iraq that weakens the nation each and every day we are in it."" -By Rick Klein -BostonGlobe
20060612
Hacker - Government - Nuclear - Energy - Computer - Identity Theft - New Mexico - "Energy Dept. Tells Workers of Data Theft." ... "Energy Department officials have informed nearly 1,500 individuals that their Social Security numbers and other information may have been compromised when a hacker gained entry to a department computer system eight months ago, a spokesman said Monday." ... "The computer theft occurred last September, but Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and his deputy, Clay Sell, were not informed of it until last week. It was first publicly disclosed at a congressional hearing on Friday." ... "The file that was compromised contained the names, Social Security numbers, security clearance levels and place of employment of 1,502 people working throughout the government nuclear weapons complex [in New Mexico]." -H. Josef Herbert -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
20060610
Internet - Phone - Privacy - Politics - Electronic - Technology - Police - "Appeals court backs Bush on wiretaps." ... "A federal appeals court sided with the Bush administration Friday on an electronic surveillance issue, making it easier to tap into Internet phone calls and broadband transmissions." ... "The court ruled 2-1 in favor of the Federal Communications Commission, which says equipment using the new technologies must be able to accommodate police wiretaps under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, known as CALEA." ... "Judge David Sentelle called the agency's reading of the law a reasonable interpretation. In dissent, Judge Harry Edwards said the FCC gutted an exemption for information services that he said covered the Internet and broadband." ... "The FCC "apparently forgot to read the words of the statute," Edwards wrote." -AP via -USATODAY
20060608
Global - Industry - Climate -Disaster - Politics - Earth - Environment - Entertainment - UN - Seattle - Washington - "Does Gore overheat global warming?" ... "Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," continues to trigger heated discussions about global warming, as well as Mr. Gore's political ambitions, real or imagined." ... "But how close to the mark is his representation of the science tying humanity's industrial activity to changing climate aka anthropogenic global warming?" ... "In short, say several climate researchers, he basically gets it right, although one can question some aspects of the presentation." ... ""I worry that the movie is a little heavy on disaster scenarios," says David Battisti, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington in Seattle and director of the university's Earth Initiative. Over the course of the coming century, he says, average conditions are likely to change in ways that should prompt action now; it doesn't require extreme examples to make the point." ... "After viewing the film, he says, his impression is that nothing in it "misstated the science in a qualitative way."" ... "Indeed, his colleague Eric Stieg, also with the University of Washington, has noted that the film includes research that is only a few months old and clearly relevant to the discussion - research that won't appear in the next UN summary of climate science, slated for release early next year. The newest studies were too late to be included in the next UN summary, which is published about every six years and widely cited in public debates." -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor
20060607
Noteworthy - Government - Military - Intelligence - Computer - Database - Identity Theft - Law Enforcement - Maryland - "Data Theft Affected Most in Military: National Security Concerns Raised." ... "Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel -- including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force -- were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said yesterday, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft." ... "The department announced that personal data for as many as 1.1 million active-duty military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members may have been included on an electronic file stolen May 3 from a department employee's house in Aspen Hill [Maryland]. The data include names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, VA spokesman Matt Burns said." ... "Defense officials said the loss is unprecedented and raises concerns about the safety of U.S. military forces. But they cautioned that law enforcement agencies investigating the incident have not found evidence that the stolen information has been used to commit identity theft." ... "Army spokesman Paul Boyce said: "Obviously there are issues associated with identity theft and force protection."" ... "For example, security experts said, the information could be used to find out where military personnel live. "This essentially can create a Zip code for where each of the service members and [their] families live, and if it fell into the wrong hands could potentially put them at jeopardy of being targeted," said David Heyman, director of the homeland security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)." ... "Another worry is that the information could reach foreign governments and their intelligence services or other hostile forces, allowing them to target service members and their families, the experts said." (1, 2) -By Ann Scott Tyson and Christopher Lee with contributions by Ernesto Londoño -WashingtonPost
20060606
Government - Intelligence - Military - Politics - "Congress, courts push back against Bush's assertions of presidential power." ... "Republican and Democratic House leaders join forces to protest the FBI search of a congressman's office. The Senate Intelligence Committee demands fuller briefings from the CIA. The Supreme Court hears a landmark case challenging presidential war powers." ... "After five years of a concerted White House campaign, there are tentative signs that Congress and the courts are beginning to push back against what has been the greatest expansion of presidential powers in a generation or more." ... "Those pushing back include some congressional Republicans and conservative jurists who have been among President Bush's chief allies. The efforts surely would intensify if Democrats won control of the House or Senate in November's elections — and with it the power to convene hearings and issue subpoenas." ... "The Bush administration has taken a series of actions to expand presidential powers: Enabling past presidents and vice presidents to restrict release of their papers after the 12-year period set in law has expired. Refusing to allow aides to testify before Congress about the federal response to 9/11 and to Hurricane Katrina, arguing that might discourage staffers from providing "unvarnished advice" in the future. Asserting wartime powers to ignore federal laws and international treaties when the president says national security is at stake." ... ""The administration has been very consistent," [Oregon's Portland State University professor of Public Administration Phillip] Cooper says. "At every turn the White House has issued a reading as expansive as possible for its own authority, a reading as narrow as possible of congressional authority, and in some cases pre-empted the courts."" -By Susan Page -USATODAY
20060605
US - Iraq -International - Prisoner - Human Rights - Intelligence - Politics - "Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule: The Pentagon's move to omit a ban on prisoner humiliation from the basic guide to soldier conduct faces strong State Dept. opposition." ... "The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards." ... "The decision could culminate a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department fiercely opposes the military's decision to exclude Geneva Convention protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the Defense Department officials acknowledged." ... "For more than a year, the Pentagon has been redrawing its policies on detainees, and intends to issue a new Army Field Manual on interrogation, which, along with accompanying directives, represents core instructions to U.S. soldiers worldwide." ... "President Bush's critics and supporters have debated whether it is possible to prove a direct link between administration declarations that it will not be bound by Geneva and events such as the abuses at Abu Ghraib or the killings of Iraqi civilians last year in Haditha, allegedly by Marines." ... "But the exclusion of the Geneva provisions may make it more difficult for the administration to portray such incidents as aberrations. And it undercuts contentions that U.S. forces follow the strictest, most broadly accepted standards when fighting wars." (1, 2) -By Julian E. Barnes -LAtimes
20060603
Government - Military - History - Computer - Identity Theft - "IDs of active personnel on stolen laptop." ... "Personal data on up to 50,000 active Navy and National Guard personnel were among those stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee last month, the government said Saturday in a disclosure that goes beyond what VA initially reported." ... "The VA has previously said the stolen data involved up to 26.5 million veterans discharged since 1975, as well as some of their spouses; veterans discharged before 1975 also were deemed at risk if they submitted claims to the agency." -AP via -USATODAY
20060602
Gay - Religious - Law - 2004 Election - 2006 Election - "Bush to Press for U.S. Ban on Same-Sex Marriage." ... "President Bush is beginning a major push for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, part of a new campaign to appease cultural conservatives who say he and his party abandoned their issues after the 2004 elections." ... "Democrats accused the White House of trotting out a reliable hot-button issue to help soothe and re-energize disgruntled conservative voters five months before the midterm Congressional elections. "Everybody's going to see through it," said Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee." ... "But, in a new twist this year, some conservative activists expressed similar cynicism. They said Mr. Bush and the Republicans in Congress had a long way to go to convince social conservatives that they viewed the issue as anything but a politically convenient tool that they picked up only when they needed to motivate their core voters." -By Jim Rutenberg -NYTimes
20060601
Reporters - Law Enforcement - Politics - Sports - Drugs - San Francisco - California - "Justice Dept. Is Criticized by Ex-Official on Subpoenas." ... "Subpoenas issued last month to reporters for The San Francisco Chronicle were criticized yesterday by a former chief spokesman for Attorney General John Ashcroft as a "reckless abuse of power."" ... "The former spokesman, Mark Corallo, made similar statements in an affidavit filed in federal court yesterday. He said Mr. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto R. Gonzales, had acted improperly in issuing the subpoenas." ... ""This is the most reckless abuse of power I have seen in years," Mr. Corallo said in an interview. "They really should be ashamed of themselves."" ... "The subpoenas, part of an effort to identify The Chronicle's sources for its coverage of steroid use in baseball, would not have been authorized by Mr. Ashcroft, Mr. Corallo said. "You just don't ride roughshod over the rights of reporters to gather information from confidential sources," he added." -By Adam Liptak -NYTimes
20060531
US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Phone -Privacy - Law - "Gore: Bush is 'renegade rightwing extremist'." ... "Al Gore has made his sharpest attack yet on the George Bush presidency, describing the current US administration as "a renegade band of rightwing extremists"." ... "Denying that his politics have shifted to the left since he lost the court battle for the 2000 election, Mr Gore says: "If you have a renegade band of rightwing extremists who get hold of power, the whole thing goes to the right."" ... "In the years since, he has been a steady critic of specific Bush administration policies. He opposed the war on Iraq at a time when most prominent Democrats were supporting it, and more recently spoke out against what he called "a gross and excessive power grab" by the administration over phone tapping." -Oliver Burkeman and Jonathan Freedland -Guardian.co.uk
20060530
Noteworthy - Opinion - US - Military - Terrorism - Countries - Intelligence - Libya - Egypt - Lebanon - China - North Korea - Iran - "Neo-cons question Bush’s democratisation strategy." ... "President George W. Bush has likened the “war on terrorism” to the cold war against communism." ... "Addressing military cadets graduating from West Point, Mr Bush reaffirmed at the weekend that the US “will not rest until the promise of liberty reaches every people in every nation”." ... "But as the US struggles to assert itself on the international stage, the president’s most radical supporters now dismiss this as mere rhetoric, and traditional conservatives are questioning the wisdom of a democratisation strategy that has brought unpleasant consequences in the Middle East." ... "Neo-conservative commentators at the American Enterprise Institute wrote last week what amounted to an obituary of the Bush freedom doctrine." ... "“Bush killed his own doctrine,” they said, describing the final blow as the resumption of diplomatic relations with Libya. This betrayal of Libyan democracy activists, they said, came after the US watched Egypt abrogate elections, ignored the collapse of the “Cedar Revolution” in Lebanon, abandoned imprisoned Chinese dissidents and started considering a peace treaty with Stalinist North Korea." ... "The neo-conservatives offered no explanation for desertion of the doctrine, other than a desire to make quick but transitory short-term gains. “The president continues to believe his own preaching, but his administration has become incapable of making the hard choices those beliefs require,” they wrote." -By Guy Dinmore -FT.com
East Timor - Police -Politics- Australia - "Emergency rule for E Timor leader: East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao [formerly: Jose Alexandre Gusmao] is to assume emergency powers to try to defuse mounting looting and unrest." ... "Mr Gusmao, a highly respected former guerrilla leader, said he would take over national security and defence." ... "This would give him control over the army and police, which have been split by internal disputes and gang violence." ... "His announcement came after fresh looting hit the capital, Dili, despite the presence on the streets of an Australian-led peacekeeping force." -BBC /News
Political - Hacking - Technology - Business - Voting Machine Risks - Utah- California - Pennsylvania - "Debating the Bugs of High-Tech Voting: Test of Software in Machines Renews Security Concerns." ... "A coalition of voting rights activists and prominent computer scientists argues that some of the machines are not sufficiently secure against tampering and could result in disputed elections, while voting machine vendors and many election officials say that view is exaggerated." ... "The latest dispute occurred several weeks ago after it was discovered at a test in Utah that someone with a reasonable knowledge of computer code could gain access to and tamper with the system software on a popular brand of voting machine manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. The developments prompted California and Pennsylvania to send urgent warnings to counties that use Diebold's touch-screen voting systems to take additional steps to secure them." ... "In California, David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who consults with the state on its elections, said he was "stunned when he found out" about the vulnerability identified in the Utah test and agreed with the "frequently expressed opinion that this is the worst vulnerability that we have ever seen."" -By Zachary A. Goldfarb -WashingtonPost
20060529
Indonesia - Earthquake - Homeless - Food - U.N. - "Trickle Of Aid Reaches Quake Survivors: Death Toll Tops 5,400; About 200,000 People Made Homeless In Indonesia." ... "A trickle of aid began reaching survivors of the Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 5,400 over the weekend, but desperate villagers said the meager deliveries were not enough." ... ""We have 300 families in this village and have only gotten two sacks of rice," said Lastri, 27, begging beneath the blazing sun, a 5-month-old baby in her arms. "It's not enough."" ... "More aid was on the way — a U.N. World Food Program was scheduled to arrive near the quake zone on Java island on Tuesday with high-energy biscuits and blankets, tents and generators, and U.N. trucks traveled roads lined with increasingly desperate children, women and elderly seeking handouts." -AP via -CBSNews
20060527
Burma - Military - Law - Prison - Aung San Suu Kyi- UN - "Myanmar Extends Suu Kyi's Arrest." ... "The Myanmar government today extended the house arrest of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite intense international pressure and a personal appeal from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan." ... "Suu Kyi, who advocates peaceful change to bring democracy to the country, has been detained for more than 10 of the last 17 years. She was last arrested three years ago after her motorcade was attacked in an apparent attempt to assassinate her." ... "Her detention had been due to expire today. For many, Suu Kyi embodies the democracy movement in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and the decision of the military regime to detain her for an additional period of at least six months was a major setback for the opposition." -By Richard C. Paddock -LAtimes
20060525
Australia - East Timor -Political - History - "Australia Sends Troops to Control East Timor Unrest (Update1)." ... "Australian soldiers will arrive in East Timor as early as today after the government asked for assistance to control unrest in and around the capital, Dili, acting Australian Prime Minister Peter Costello said." ... "Shooting continued in Dili late yesterday during clashes between soldiers and groups of army deserters, Costello said. Australia may send as many as 1,300 soldiers, Defense Minister Brendan Nelson told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio today." ... "East Timor, or Timor-Leste, a country of about 1 million people, voted for independence in a 1999 referendum after a 24- year occupation by Indonesia, which invaded the territory when it was a Portuguese colony in 1975. The unrest began last month when former soldiers rioted in Dili during protests over the dismissal of about 600 servicemen for desertion." ... "Costello, Australia's Treasurer, is acting prime minister because Prime Minister John Howard and his deputy Mark Vaile are traveling overseas." -Gemma Daley -Bloomberg
20060523
Police - Military- Identity Theft - Hacking - Electronic - Consumer - "Personal Data on Veterans Is Stolen: Burglary Leaves Millions at Risk Of Identity Theft." ... "As many as 26.5 million veterans were placed at risk of identity theft after an intruder stole an electronic data file this month containing their names, birth dates and Social Security numbers from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee, Secretary Jim Nicholson said yesterday." ... "A career data analyst, who was not authorized to take the information home, has been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of investigations by the FBI, local police and the VA inspector general, Nicholson said. He would not identify the employee by name or title." ... "The theft represents the biggest unauthorized disclosure ever of Social Security data, and it could make affected veterans vulnerable to credit card fraud if the burglars realize the value of the data, one expert said." ... "Although publicly revealing the incident may alert the thieves to the value of the data, Nicholson said VA officials decided that veterans needed to know to monitor their credit scores and credit card and bank statements." (1, 2) -By Christopher Lee and Steve Vogel -WashingtonPost
20060522
Secret - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Journalists - Politics - "Prosecution of Journalists Is Possible in NSA Leaks." ... "Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales raised the possibility yesterday that New York Times journalists could be prosecuted for publishing classified information based on the outcome of the criminal investigation underway into leaks to the Times of data about the National Security Agency's surveillance of terrorist-related calls between the United States and abroad." -By Walter Pincus -WashingtonPost
20060521
2006 Election - Political - Hacker - Technology - "Will Your Vote Count in 2006? 'When you're using a paperless voting system, there is no security,' says Stanford's David Dill." ... "Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the voting booth, here comes more disturbing news about the trustworthiness of electronic touchscreen ballot machines. Earlier this month a report by Finnish security expert Harri Hursti analyzed Diebold voting machines for an organization called Black Box Voting. Hursti found unheralded vulnerabilities in the machines that are currently entrusted to faithfully record the votes of millions of Americans." ... "How bad are the problems? Experts are calling them the most serious voting-machine flaws ever documented. Basically the trouble stems from the ease with which the machine's software can be altered. It requires only a few minutes of pre-election access to a Diebold machine to open the machine and insert a PC card that, if it contained malicious code, could reprogram the machine to give control to the violator. The machine could go dead on Election Day or throw votes to the wrong candidate. Worse, it's even possible for such ballot-tampering software to trick authorized technicians into thinking that everything is working fine, an illusion you couldn't pull off with pre-electronic systems. "If Diebold had set out to build a system as insecure as they possibly could, this would be it," says Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor and elections-security expert." -By Steven Levy 20060529Issue -MSNBC/Newsweek
20060518
Business - "Greenspan says US housing boom is over." ... "Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday that the "extraordinary" boom in the U.S. housing market in recent years is over." ... "Greenspan said there was a "high degree of froth in the system," and that it was clear that home equity extraction and the turnover of home sales was waning." (1, 2) -Reuters
20060516
Government - Phone - Company -Noteworthy - Reporters- Free Speech - Civil Liberties - Privacy - Law - Politics - "FBI Acknowledges: Journalists Phone Records are Fair Game." ... "The FBI acknowledged late Monday that it is increasingly seeking reporters' phone records in leak investigations." ... "Officials say the FBI makes extensive use of a new provision of the Patriot Act which allows agents to seek information with what are called National Security Letters (NSL)." ... "The NSLs are a version of an administrative subpoena and are not signed by a judge. Under the law, a phone company receiving a NSL for phone records must provide them and may not divulge to the customer that the records have been given to the government." -Brian Ross and Richard Esposito -ABCNEWS.com
Saudi Arabia - Religious - Media - Free Speech - Women - Law - Politics - Drive - "Saudis nix pictures of women in newspapers." ... "King Abdullah has told Saudi editors to stop publishing pictures of women as they could make young men go astray, newspapers reported Tuesday." ... "In recent months, newspapers have published pictures of women - always wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf - to illustrate stories with increasing regularity. Usually the stories have had to do with women's issues. The papers have also started publishing a range of views on causes that are not generally accepted in Saudi Arabia - such as women having the right to drive and vote." ... "The country adheres to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Women are not allowed to vote and stand in municipal elections - the only type of election permitted in the kingdom." ... "The king also called on editors to stop printing stories that portray the country in a negative light." ... "All media in Saudi Arabia are either state owned or state guided." -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20060515
Government - Law Enforcement - Phone - Intelligence - Reporters - Free Speech - Civil Liberties - Privacy - Law - Politics - "Federal Source to ABC News: We Know Who You're Calling." ... "A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources." ... ""It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick," the source told us in an in-person conversation." ... "ABC News does not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls." ... "Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation." -Brian Ross and Richard Esposito -ABCNEWS.com
20060514
Mother's Day !-)

Dick Cheney - Michael Hayden - Government -Terrorism - E-Mail - Phone - Privacy - Law - Politics - "Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping." ... "In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials." ... "But N.S.A. lawyers, trained in the agency's strict rules against domestic spying and reluctant to approve any eavesdropping without warrants, insisted that it should be limited to communications into and out of the country, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the debate inside the Bush administration late in 2001." ... "The N.S.A.'s position ultimately prevailed. But just how Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the agency at the time, designed the program, persuaded wary N.S.A. officers to accept it and sold the White House on its limits is not yet clear." ... "As the program's overseer and chief salesman, General Hayden is certain to face questions about his role when he appears at a Senate hearing next week on his nomination as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Criticism of the surveillance program, which some lawmakers say is illegal, flared again this week with the disclosure that the N.S.A. had collected the phone records of millions of Americans in an effort to track terrorism suspects." (1, 2) -By Scott Shane and Eric Lichtblau -NYTimes
20060513
Secret - Michael Hayden - Government - Phone - Intelligence - Terrorism - Privacy - Law - Opinion - "Newsweek Poll: Americans Wary of NSA Spying: Bush's approval ratings hit new lows as controversy rages." ... "Has the Bush administration gone too far in expanding the powers of the President to fight terrorism? Yes, say a majority of Americans, following this week's revelation that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone records of U.S. citizens since the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to the latest NEWSWEEK poll, 53 percent of Americans think the NSA's surveillance program "goes too far in invading people's privacy," while 41 percent see it as a necessary tool to combat terrorism." ... "President Bush tried to reassure the public this week that its privacy is "fiercely protected," and that "we're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans." Nonetheless, Americans think the White House has overstepped its bounds: 57 percent said that in light of the NSA data-mining news and other executive actions, the Bush-Cheney Administration has "gone too far in expanding presidential power." That compares to 38 percent who think the Administration's actions are appropriate." ... "News of the NSA's secret phone-records program comes at an especially awkward time for the president. His nominee for the top job at the CIA-former NSA head Gen. Michael Hayden-heads into confirmation hearings on the Hill next week. With Democrats expressing outrage over the surveillance program, and several Republicans voicing concern as well, the hearings could turn into something of a Congressional probe into the NSA's collection of phone data." ... "According to the Newsweek poll, 73 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of Republicans think the NSA's program is overly intrusive." (1, 2) - By David Jefferson -MSNBC/Newsweek
20060511 US - Government - Military - Mental Health - Afghanistan - Iraq- "Study shows combat stress aid falls short." ... "Less than one-quarter of the U.S. military's Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who show signs of post-traumatic stress are referred for additional mental health treatment or evaluation, a government study finds." ... "The report released Thursday said about 5 percent of the veterans interviewed after they returned from combat tours appeared at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. Of those, about 22 percent are referred for more health care." ... "The Government Accountability Office said the Defense Department cannot guarantee that those who need referrals get them, and there appear to be inconsistencies in how health care workers from the different military services determine who needs a referral." -By Lolita C. Baldor -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20060510
UK - US - Guantanamo Bay - Cuba -Military - Terrorism - Prisoners - Human Rights - "U.K. Attorney General Calls for U.S. to Close Guantanamo Camp." ... "U.K. Attorney General Peter Goldsmith called on the U.S. to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for terror suspects, saying it is ``unacceptable.''" ... "``There are certain principles on which there can be no compromise,'' Goldsmith said during a speech in London today. ``Fair trial is one of those.''" -By Reed V. Landberg -Bloomberg
Human Rights - Politics - China -Cuba - Pakistan - Russia - Saudi Arabia - Azerbaijan - Iran - Venezuela - "New U.N. Rights Group Includes Six Nations With Poor Records." ... "Six nations with poor human rights records were among those elected to the new Human Rights Council on Tuesday, although notorious violators that had belonged to the predecessor Human Rights Commission did not succeed in winning places in the new group." ... "China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, countries cited by human rights groups as not deserving membership, were among the 47 nations elected to the council. But in a move hailed by the same groups, both Iran and Venezuela failed to attract the needed votes." -By Warren Hoge -NYTimes
20060509
China - Free Speech - Education - Computer - Internet - Politics - Police - "As Chinese Students Go Online, Little Sister Is Watching." ... "For several hours each week she [sophomore Hu Yingying of Shanghai Normal University] repairs to a little-known on-campus office crammed with computers, where she logs in unsuspected by other students to help police her school's Internet forums." ... "Once online, following suggestions from professors or older students, she introduces politically correct or innocuous themes for discussion." ... "Politics, even school politics, is banned on university bulletin boards like these. Ms. Hu says she and her fellow moderators try to steer what they consider negative conversations in a positive direction with well-placed comments of their own. Anything they deem offensive, she says, they report to the school's Web master for deletion." ... "Part traffic cop, part informer, part discussion moderator — and all without the knowledge of her fellow students — Ms. Hu is a small part of a huge national effort to sanitize the Internet. For years China has had its Internet police, reportedly as many as 50,000 state agents who troll online, blocking Web sites, erasing commentary and arresting people for what is deemed anti-Communist Party or antisocial speech." ... "But Ms. Hu, one of 500 students at her university's newly bolstered, student-run Internet monitoring group, is a cog in a different kind of force, an ostensibly all-volunteer one that the Chinese government is mobilizing to help it manage the monumental task of censoring the Web." (1, 2) -By Howard W. French -NYTimes
20060507
Michael Hayden - Noteworthy - Secret - Government - Military - Terrorism - Intelligence - Civil Liberties - Telecom - Privacy - Law - Pennsylvania - "House Panel Chairman Opposes Hayden as Next CIA Chief (Update1)." ... "The Republican chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee urged the White House not to nominate Air Force Lieutenant General Michael Hayden to head the civilian Central Intelligence Agency." ... "The appointment may spark a political confrontation over Hayden's role in the government's warrantless wiretapping of suspected terrorists, a secret operation that alarmed civil liberties groups and angered Democrats. Lawmakers from both parties said his confirmation hearings in the Senate may provide an opportunity to examine a program the White House refuses to discuss in detail." ... "The Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said the confirmation process and the budget are the only tools Congress has to extract information from the White House on the wiretapping." ... "``If the Senate has a mind to assert its constitutional prerogatives here, then we could use this for leverage to find out,'' he told ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``I think people do want to know what's going on to protect civil liberties.''" -By Avram Goldstein with contributions by Catherine Larkin and Viola Gienger -Bloomberg
20060506
US - Iraq - Foreign - Military - Terrorism -Intelligence - Politics - Porter Goss - "The Fix-It Man Leaves, but The Agency's Cracks Remain." ... "Porter J. Goss was brought into the CIA to quell what the White House viewed as a partisan insurgency against the administration and to re-energize a spy service that failed to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks or accurately assess Iraq's weapons capability." ... "But as he walked out the glass doors of Langley headquarters yesterday, Goss left behind an agency that current and former intelligence officials say is weaker operationally, with a workforce demoralized by an exodus of senior officers and by uncertainty over its role in fighting terrorism and other intelligence priorities, said current and former intelligence officials." ... "As a result of all these factors, said these sources and outside experts who work with the CIA, the number of case officers has skyrocketed, but there has been no dramatic improvement in how spies collect intelligence about terrorist targets." ... "As important, Goss -- who did not like to travel overseas or to wine and dine foreign intelligence chiefs who visited Washington -- allowed the atrophy of relations with the foreign intelligence services that helped the CIA kill or catch nearly all the terrorists taken off the streets since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in the view of these officials and several foreign intelligence officials." (1, 2) -By Dana Priest with contributions by Thomas E. Ricks and Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
20060505
Gas - Car - Company - Environment - Alaska - Water - "Conflicting Loyalties as Republicans Confront High Gas Prices." ... "Under pressure to deal with high gasoline prices, President Bush and Republican leaders in Congress are struggling to marry a newfound zeal for energy conservation with their traditional loyalty to big cars and Big Oil." ... "Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are also renewing their wish list for the oil industry — opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [Alaska] for exploration and drilling, as well as millions of additional acres in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast. They are also blocking calls for a windfall profits tax on the major oil companies." ... "The political pressures created by soaring gasoline prices have pulled Republicans in Congress and the administration in different directions. While blocking higher taxes on the oil industry, for example, the While House and Senate Republicans are likely to try to eliminate or at least cut back on $2 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas drilling that Congress passed less than a year ago." ... "At the same time, unlike Democrats, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly defeated proposals for higher fuel-economy requirements on passenger cars. Indeed, in the 2004 presidential election, they ridiculed such proposals as job-losing Democratic ideas." ... "In five years, House Republicans have defeated three bills to raise the average fuel efficiency of cars to 33 miles a gallon, from 27.5." -By Edmund L. Andrews -NYTimes
20060504
World - Net - Media - Free Speech - "Net censorship spreads worldwide." ... "Repressive regimes are taking full advantage of the net's ability to censor and stifle reform and debate, reveals a report." ... "Written by the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) pressure group the report highlights the ways governments threaten the freedom of the press." ... "The report has a section dedicated to the internet and the growing roster of nations censoring online life." ... "This censorship is practised on every continent on Earth, said the report." -By Mark Ward -BBC /News
[PDF] - "Freedom of the Press Worldwide in 2006." -RSF.org / English
20060430
Government - Law - Politics - Military - Immigration - Nuclear - Science - History - Opinion - NY - "Bush challenges hundreds of laws: President cites powers of his office." ... "President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution." ... "Among the laws Bush said he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, ''whistle-blower" protections for nuclear regulatory officials, and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research." ... "Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional." ... "David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive-power issues, said Bush has cast a cloud over ''the whole idea that there is a rule of law," because no one can be certain of which laws Bush thinks are valid and which he thinks he can ignore." ... "''Where you have a president who is willing to declare vast quantities of the legislation that is passed during his term unconstitutional, it implies that he also thinks a very significant amount of the other laws that were already on the books before he became president are also unconstitutional," Golove said." ... "Golove said that to the extent Bush is interpreting the Constitution in defiance of the Supreme Court's precedents, he threatens to ''overturn the existing structures of constitutional law."" ... "A president who ignores the court, backed by a Congress that is unwilling to challenge him, Golove said, can make the Constitution simply ''disappear."" -By Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe
Noteworthy - Secret - Government - Intelligence - Privacy - Terrorism - Politics - "Examples of the president's signing statements." ... "The federal government is instructed to follow the statements when it enforces the laws." ... "March 9: Justice Department officials must give reports to Congress by certain dates on how the FBI is using the USA Patriot Act to search homes and secretly seize papers." ... "Bush's signing statement: The president can order Justice Department officials to withhold any information from Congress if he decides it could impair national security or executive branch operations." ... "Dec. 30, 2005: US interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment." ... "Bush's signing statement: The president, as commander in chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks." -By Charlie Savage -Boston/Globe
20060426
Consumer - Internet - Telecommunications - Companies - Law - Massachusetts - Microsoft - Intel - "Net Neutrality Debate Heats Up: As a House committee gears up to vote on whether to require the FCC to enforce the notion of equal Internet access for all parties, the blogosphere is weighing in." ... "Congress continued to debate network neutrality Wednesday as a group opposing companies' push for tiered access gained momentum." ... "At the same time, the SavetheInternet.com Coalition announced that more than 250,000 people signed their petition calling for protection of net neutrality. The coalition, which joins libertarians and gun owners with liberal and business groups, gathered the signatures supporting Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Ed Markey's amendment in less than a week." ... ""Both sides of the political blogosphere have galvanized behind this political issue – with nearly 500 blogs linking to www.SavetheInternet.com within days," SavetheInternet.com announced." ... "The AARP, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Free Press, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, MoveOn.org, Gun Owners of America, MySpace.com and Vint Cerf are among those claiming that the Internet's level playing field is threatened." ... "Meanwhile, opposition continued to grow this week as dontmesswiththenet.com launched, while Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini and IAC/InternActiveCorp. Chairman and CEO joined the fight. They sent a letter to several representatives stating that net neutrality has supported innovation and empowered people and must be protected." -By K.C. Jones -InformationWeek
Working - Money - "More working Americans go without health-care coverage." ... "The percentage of working-age Americans with moderate to middle incomes who lacked health insurance for at least part of the year rose to 41% in 2005, a dramatic increase from the 28% in 2001 without coverage, a study released on Wednesday found." ... "Moreover, more than half of the uninsured adults said they were having problems paying their medical bills or had incurred debt to cover their expenses, according to a report by the Commonwealth Fund, a private health care policy foundation." -AP via -USATODAY
20060425
Nepal - Military - "Nepal's king agrees to bring back parliament." ... "The monarch [King Gyanendra] did not acknowledge demands for a constituent assembly, a key condition for the Maoists who have helped the parties mount the campaign for the restoration of democracy." ... "Such an assembly would write Nepal a new, possibly republican, constitution that might end centuries of Shah dynasty rule. Without the promise of a new constitution, analysts doubt the Maoists will lay down arms and re-enter mainstream politics." ... "In a television appearance last Friday, the king offered to hand over executive power to an interim government, but kept the right to dismiss prime ministers and exercise control over the army, a stalling tactic that galvanised the democracy movement." -By Jo Johnson and Binod Bhattarai -FT.com
20060424
New York - Air - Environment - Science - Government - Terrorism - Law Enforcement - "Official: 9/11 Health 'Warning'." ... "The government's point man on Sept. 11 health programs said he is worried that an autopsy linking a retired detective's death to recovery work at ground zero may be a warning sign of other life-threatening cases." ... "Dr. John Howard also said it will take time to determine whether there is a scientific link between deaths and exposure to toxic dust. Some epidemiologists have said it will take 20 years or more to prove such a link." -AP -CBSNews

Secret - Government - Intelligence - Noteworthy -Reporters- Calif. - Massachusetts - "Democrats Suggest Double Standard on Leaks: White House Aides' Actions Are Cited." ... "Key Democratic legislators yesterday joined Republicans in saying they do not condone the alleged leaking of classified information that led to last week's firing of a veteran CIA officer. But they questioned whether a double standard exists that lets the White House give reporters secretly declassified information for political purposes." ... ""I don't know this woman, and I do not condone leaks of classified information," said Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, referring to the firing of Mary McCarthy." ... "Harman added that "while leaks are wrong, I think it is totally wrong for our president in secret to selectively declassify certain information and empower people in his White House to leak it to favored reporters so that they can discredit political enemies," she said on Fox News Sunday." ... "Then drawing a parallel to the Plame case, [on ABC's "This Week," Massachusettes Senator John] Kerry said that with McCarthy, "you have somebody being fired from the CIA for allegedly telling the truth, and you have no one fired from the White House for revealing a CIA agent in order to support a lie. That underscores what's really wrong in Washington, D.C."" -By Walter Pincus -WashingtonPost
20060422
Secret - Government - Military - Intelligence - Terrorism - Prisons - "C.I.A. Fires Senior Officer Over Leaks." ... "The Central Intelligence Agency has dismissed a senior career officer for disclosing classified information to reporters, including material for Pulitzer Prize-winning articles in The Washington Post about the agency's secret overseas prisons for terror suspects, intelligence officials said Friday." ... "The C.I.A. would not identify the officer, but several government officials said it was Mary O. McCarthy, a veteran intelligence analyst who until 2001 was senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council, where she served under President Bill Clinton and into the Bush administration." ... "The dismissal of Ms. McCarthy provided fresh evidence of the Bush administration's determined efforts to stanch leaks of classified information. The Justice Department has separately opened preliminary investigations into the disclosure of information to The Post, for its articles about secret prisons, as well as to The New York Times, for articles last fall that disclosed the existence of a program of domestic eavesdropping without warrants supervised by the National Security Agency. Those articles were also recognized this week with a Pulitzer Prize." (1, 2) -By David Johnston and Scott Shane -NYTimes
20060420
Georgia - Government - Law - Civil Righs - Politics - "Georgia OKs Bible classes, Commandments." ... "Georgia became what is believed to be the first state to offer government-sanctioned elective classes on the Bible, with Gov. Sonny Perdue signing a bill into law Thursday." ... "The governor also signed a bill permitting the display of the Ten Commandments at courthouses, an issue that has raised thorny constitutional questions." ... "Critics say the measures blur the line between church and state. National civil rights groups said they want to see how the laws are implemented before deciding whether to challenge them in court." -By Shannon McCaffrey -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
US - World - Government - Secrets - "Intel Chief Says Personnel Number 100,000: Intelligence Chief Negroponte Says U.S. Intelligence Personnel Total 100,000." ... "Nearly 100,000 Americans are working in intelligence in the U.S. and around the world, the nation's spy chief says, revealing the number for the first time." ... "In a speech at the National Press Club marking his first year on the job, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte indicated his willingness to make some normally classified information public." ... "Secrecy expert Steven Aftergood of the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists welcomed the disclosure and said the government had no reason to keep the figure secret." ... "The government has long protected details about the size and budget of its spy agencies, which include the CIA, National Security Agency, parts of the FBI and other lesser-known outfits, such as the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency." (1, 2, 3,) -By Katherine Shrader -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20060419
Parents -Telecom - Technology - Opinion - "Watch Out, Kids: With GPS Phones, Big Mother Is Watching." ... "Ever since the first telecom engineer figured out how to cram a Global Positioning System receiver into a cellphone, people have worried about how "They" might exploit those features." ... "Last week, Sprint Nextel Corp. introduced a new service called Family Locator that lets parents track their kids' whereabouts, using the GPS capabilities in each child's cellphone. For $9.99 a month, you can get a fix on your little ones' locations as long as they are on your Sprint account and carry one of the 30 Sprint or Nextel phones that allow this monitoring." ... "The whole idea of tracking your family in this manner is weird and alarming on some levels. So is the notion that we're all so deathly afraid for our kids that there's even a market for this." -By Rob Pegoraro -WashingtonPost
20060418
Kansas - Abortion - Law Enforcement - Doctors - Teachers - "Judge rules for Kan. abortion rights group." ... "In a victory for an abortion rights group, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that abortion clinic doctors and other professionals are not required under Kansas law to report underage sex between consenting youths." ... "The ruling by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten was a setback for Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion foe." ... "Kline contended a 1982 Kansas law requiring doctors, teachers and others to alert the state and law enforcement about potential child abuse covers consensual sex between minors. He argued that the law applies to abortion clinics, and later extended that to other health professionals and teachers." ... "Kline said he had not decided whether to appeal." -By Roxana Hegeman with contributions by John Hanna -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20060417
Iran -Military - Energy - Technology -UN - Politics - "New Iran Nuke Claim Causes Concern." ... "Iran's recent claim it was conducting research and tests on a more sophisticated type of nuclear enrichment centrifuge could significantly speed the process of making fuel for either electrical plants or bombs, analysts familiar with the technology said." ... "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told students Wednesday that the Islamic republic was testing the P-2 centrifuge — a more sophisticated type. A day earlier, he trumpeted Iran's success in enriching uranium using a less-sophisticated type of centrifuge." ... "Last month, the U.N. Security Council demanded that Iran stop all enrichment activity by April 28 because of suspicions the program really aims to make weapons. But Iran has rejected the demand and announced last week that, for the first time, it had enriched uranium with 164 of the less-sophisticated P-1 centrifuges." -AP via -CBSNews
20060415
US - World - Oil - Consumer - Texas - "For Leading Exxon to Its Riches, $144,573 a Day." ... "For 13 years as chairman and chief executive, Lee R. Raymond propelled Exxon, the successor to John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust, to the pinnacle of the oil world." ... "Under Mr. Raymond, the company's market value increased fourfold to $375 billion, overtaking BP as the largest oil company and General Electric as the largest American corporation. Net income soared from $4.8 billion in 1992 to last year's record-setting $36.13 billion." ... "For his efforts, Mr. Raymond, who retired in December, was compensated more than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for The New York Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant. That is $144,573 for each day he spent leading Exxon's "God pod," as the executive suite at the company's headquarters in Irving, Tex., is known." ... "Shareholder advocates point to what they describe as stealth compensation arranged for Mr. Raymond but not disclosed in proxy filings. Consumer groups complain that while last year's rise in global oil prices left many consumers feeling less prosperous, oil executives have become a lot richer from the higher prices. And some corporate governance experts argue that much of Mr. Raymond's pay came from easy profits generated by skyrocketing oil prices." (1, 2) -By Jad Mouawad -NYTimes
20060414
Company - People - "Exxon Chairman Gets $400 Million Retirement Package Amid Soaring Gas Prices: Exxon Made Record Profits in 2005." ... "Last year, Exxon made the biggest profit of any company ever, $36 billion, and its retiring chairman appears to be reaping the benefits." ... "Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes." -ABCNEWS.com
20060413
US - Iraq -Opinion - Politics - "Rumsfeld Rebuked By Retired Generals: Ex-Iraq Commander Calls for Resignation." ... "The retired commander of key forces in Iraq called yesterday for Donald H. Rumsfeld to step down, joining several other former top military commanders who have harshly criticized the defense secretary's authoritarian style for making the military's job more difficult." ... ""I think we need a fresh start" at the top of the Pentagon, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005, said in an interview. "We need leadership up there that respects the military as they expect the military to respect them. And that leadership needs to understand teamwork."" ... "Batiste's comments resonate especially within the Army: It is widely known there that he was offered a promotion to three-star rank to return to Iraq and be the No. 2 U.S. military officer there but he declined because he no longer wished to serve under Rumsfeld. Also, before going to Iraq, he worked at the highest level of the Pentagon, serving as the senior military assistant to Paul D. Wolfowitz, then the deputy secretary of defense." ... "Batiste said he believes that the administration's handling of the Iraq war has violated fundamental military principles, such as unity of command and unity of effort. In other interviews, Batiste has said he thinks the violation of another military principle -- ensuring there are enough forces -- helped create the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal by putting too much responsibility on incompetent officers and undertrained troops." (1, 2) -By Thomas E. Ricks -WashingtonPost
US - Iraq - Military - Politics - "Analysis: Criticism Mounts Vs. Rumsfeld." ... "A growing number of commanders who served under him [Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld under Republican President George Bush] say he has botched the Iraq operation, ignored the advice of his generals and should be replaced." ... "Two more retired generals called for Rumsfeld's resignation on Thursday, bringing the number this month to six." ... "Retired Army Major Gen. John Riggs told National Public Radio that Rumsfeld fostered an "atmosphere of arrogance." Retired Gen. Charles Swannack told CNN that Rumsfeld micromanaged the war. "We need a new secretary of defense," he said." ... "Joining the criticism earlier this week was retired Army Maj. Gen. John Batiste, who served as an infantry division commander in Iraq until last November. He called for a "fresh start at the Pentagon," accusing Rumsfeld of ignoring sound military decision-making and seeking to intimidate those in uniform." ... "Earlier calls for Rumsfeld's replacement came from retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Gregory Newbold and retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton." (1, 2, 3) -By Tom Raum -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20060412
US- Iraq - Noteworthy - Secret - Military - Technology - Intelligence - "Lacking Biolabs, Trailers Carried Case for War: Administration Pushed Notion of Banned Iraqi Weapons Despite Evidence to Contrary." ... "On May 29, 2003, 50 days after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory for his administration in Iraq: Two small trailers captured by U.S. and Kurdish troops had turned out to be long-sought mobile "biological laboratories." He declared, "We have found the weapons of mass destruction."" ... "The claim, repeated by top administration officials for months afterward, was hailed at the time as a vindication of the decision to go to war. But even as Bush spoke, U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true." ... "A secret fact-finding mission to Iraq -- not made public until now -- had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons. Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president's statement." ... "The three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped "secret" and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories." ... "The contents of the final report, "Final Technical Engineering Exploitation Report on Iraqi Suspected Biological Weapons-Associated Trailers," remain classified. But interviews reveal that the technical team was unequivocal in its conclusion that the trailers were not intended to manufacture biological weapons." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Joby Warrick with contributions by Alice Crites -WashingtonPost
Secret - Government - Archives - History - Politics - Connecticut - "Archives OK'd removing records, kept quiet." ... "Previously public intelligence documents, some more than 50 years old, have been sealed under a secret agreement between the National Archives and three federal agencies, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act." ... "The 2002 agreement, obtained by The Associated Press and released by archivists this week, shows the agency agreed to keep quiet about U.S. intelligence's role in the deal that shut off access to thousands of previously unclassified CIA and Pentagon documents." ... "Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican who has led hearings into the resealing of records, described the deal as "the culture of secrecy as tragicomic opera. One government agency has to sneak into the files of another ... to reclassify material that may have been on the public record for a decade or more."" -By Randy Herschaft and Frank Bass -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20060411
Government - Military -Intelligence - Politics - Law - Dick Cheney - Lewis Libby - "Six in Ten Americans Critical of Bush on Leaks: But Bush job approval holds steady at 37%." ... "The latest USA Today/Gallup poll finds more than 6 in 10 Americans critical of President George W. Bush on the leak controversy. The more closely people are following the issue, the more likely they are to say he did something illegal rather than unethical. The poll also shows that 37% of Americans continue to approve of Bush's job performance, unchanged from last month. While that is a low rating -- and among the lowest of the Bush administration -- it represents no change in four Gallup polls conducted since the end of February." ... "The leak controversy erupted into the news last week, when a court filing revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, testified that he was authorized to leak classified information by President Bush through Cheney. The president has long been critical of administration officials who have leaked information, and there are still questions as to how this revelation might relate to the leaking of a former CIA operative's name. While most political and legal observers acknowledge that Bush's actions in authorizing the release of classified information were not illegal, there are political implications to the controversy." -By David W. Moore -Gallup.com/Poll
20060410
US - Iran - Religious - Military - Intelligence - Politics - "The Iran Plans: Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?" ... "The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium." ... "American and European intelligence agencies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), agree that Iran is intent on developing the capability to produce nuclear weapons. But there are widely differing estimates of how long that will take, and whether diplomacy, sanctions, or military action is the best way to prevent it. Iran insists that its research is for peaceful use only, in keeping with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that it will not be delayed or deterred." ... "There is a growing conviction among members of the United States military, and in the international community, that President Bush’s ultimate goal in the nuclear confrontation with Iran is regime change. Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has challenged the reality of the Holocaust and said that Israel must be “wiped off the map.” Bush and others in the White House view him as a potential Adolf Hitler, a former senior intelligence official said. “That’s the name they’re using. They say, ‘Will Iran get a strategic weapon and threaten another world war?’”" ... "A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was “absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb” if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.”" ... "One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’”" -By Seymour M. Hersh 20060417 issue -NewYorker
US Immigration - Law - Politics - Food - Workers - Nebr. - NC - "Immigration rallies begin to take toll on US workplace." ... "Amid calls for a nationwide work stoppage and economic boycott, throngs of immigration-reform advocates rallied across the U.S. again Monday." ... "Several meatpacking plants either temporarily shut down or operated on a reduced schedule because of a lack of production-line workers, many of whom are immigrants." ... "Industry giant Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) said some of its facilities, including a plant in Madison, Neb., will be closed, partly because of the planned rallies and partly because of poor livestock market conditions." ... "Futures traders and other meat-industry sources reported that at least two Swift & Co. beef plants were operating at reduced speeds Monday, apparently because of employee shortages. Also, a large Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD) pork plant in North Carolina [NC] wasn't operating, industry sources said." ... "The full brunt of immigrants' economic power could be felt May 1. That's when some advocate groups are calling for a national "Day Without an Immigrant" that could involve millions of workers taking the day off to show solidarity behind the reform movement." -By Richard Gibson -MarketWatch
20060409
Religion - Politics - "Christ Among the Partisans." ... "There is no such thing as a "Christian politics." If it is a politics, it cannot be Christian. Jesus told Pilate: "My reign is not of this present order. If my reign were of this present order, my supporters would have fought against my being turned over to the Jews. But my reign is not here" (John 18:36). Jesus brought no political message or program." ... "This is a truth that needs emphasis at a time when some Democrats, fearing that the Republicans have advanced over them by the use of religion, want to respond with a claim that Jesus is really on their side. He is not. He avoided those who would trap him into taking sides for or against the Roman occupation of Judea. He paid his taxes to the occupying power but said only, "Let Caesar have what belongs to him, and God have what belongs to him" (Matthew 22:21). He was the original proponent of a separation of church and state." ... "Those who want the state to engage in public worship, or even to have prayer in schools, are defying his injunction: "When you pray, be not like the pretenders, who prefer to pray in the synagogues and in the public square, in the sight of others. In truth I tell you, that is all the profit they will have. But you, when you pray, go into your inner chamber and, locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father, and your Father who sees you in hiding will reward you" (Matthew 6:5-6). He shocked people by his repeated violation of the external holiness code of his time, emphasizing that his religion was an internal matter of the heart." (1, 2) -By Garry Wills -NYTimes
US - Iraq - Government - Political - Secrets -Lewis Libby - Dick Cheney -Telecom - Privacy - Military - Prisons -UN - Media - "Libby testimony shows a White House pattern of intelligence leaks." ... "The revelation that President Bush authorized former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to divulge classified information about Iraq fits a pattern of selective leaks of secret intelligence to further the administration's political agenda." ... "Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials have reacted angrily at unauthorized leaks, such as the exposure of a domestic wiretapping program and a network of secret CIA prisons, both of which are now the subject of far-reaching investigations." ... "But secret information that supports their policies, particularly about the Iraq war, has surfaced everywhere from the U.N. Security Council to major newspapers and magazines. Much of the information that the administration leaked or declassified, however, has proved to be incomplete, exaggerated, incorrect or fabricated." -By Warren P. Strobel and Ron Hutcheson with contributions by James Kuhnhenn -KnightRidder via -MercuryNews
20060407
Government -Terrorism- Intelligence - Secrets -Aviation -Transportation - Politics - "Judge blasts government secrecy: Moussaoui judge grants 9/11 families access to documents." ... "The judge in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial ruled Friday that families of September 11 attack victims are entitled to the same unclassified aviation security documents the government turned over to the al Qaeda conspirator's defense team." ... ""I've always been troubled to the extent which our government keeps things secret from the American people," U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said, granting the families' request after a hearing." ... ""It is amazing what some agencies think is secret," Brinkema added. "As a culture, we need to be careful not to be so wrapped up in secrecy that we lose track of our core values and laws."" ... "Her order, issued over the objection of government lawyers, allows attorneys for 9/11 families to obtain copies of documents related to pre-September 11 aviation security once the Moussaoui trial ends." -By Phil Hirschkorn -CNN
Terrorism - Government - Telephone - Privacy - Law - Politics -Calif. - "Warrantless Wiretaps Possible in U.S.." ... "Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales left open the possibility yesterday that President Bush could order warrantless wiretaps on telephone calls occurring solely within the United States -- a move that would dramatically expand the reach of a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program." ... "In response to a question from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Gonzales suggested that the administration could decide it was legal to listen in on a domestic call without supervision if it were related to al-Qaeda." ... ""I'm not going to rule it out," Gonzales said." ... "In yesterday's testimony, Gonzales reiterated earlier hints that there may be another facet to the NSA program that has not been revealed publicly, or even another program that has prompted dissension within the government. While" -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
20060406
US - Iraq - Government - Nuclear - Military - Intelligence - Law - Lewis Libby - Dick Cheney -Karl Rove - Politics - "Bush Authorized Leak to Times, Libby Told Grand Jury." ... "A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of President Bush, according to a new court filing from the special prosecutor in the case." ... "The court papers from the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, do not suggest that Mr. Bush violated any law or rule. However, the new disclosure could be awkward for the president because it places him, for the first time, directly in a chain of events that led to a meeting where prosecutors contend the identity of a CIA employee, Valerie Plame, was provided to a reporter." ... "Mr. Fitzgerald's inquiry initially focused on the alleged leak, which occurred after a former ambassador who is Ms. Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times questioning the accuracy of statements Mr. Bush made about Iraq's nuclear procurement efforts in Africa." ... "While prosecutors initially said Mr. Libby was the first government official to disclose Ms. Plame's identity, it subsequently emerged that a Washington Post reporter, Bob Woodward, learned earlier about her CIA employment from another government official. Neither Mr. Woodward nor Ms. Miller wrote about Ms. Plame at the time. Another journalist, Robert Novak, first disclosed the employment of Mr. Wilson's wife in a syndicated column released on July 14, 2003. The columnist based his story on interviews with Mr. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and another official who has not been officially identified." ... "Prosecutors argued that Mr. Libby covered up his role in the disclosures because "he knew the White House had publicly staked its credibility on there being no White House involvement in the leaking of information about Ms. Wilson." They also noted that Mr. Bush publicly declared he would fire anyone found to have leaked classified information." -By Josh Gerstein -http://NYSun.com
US - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Dick Cheney - Lewis Libby - Politics - "Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks." ... "Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff has testified that President Bush authorized him to disclose the contents of a highly classified intelligence assessment to the media to defend the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq, according to papers filed in federal court on Wednesday by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case." ... "I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby testified to a federal grand jury that he had received "approval from the President through the Vice President" to divulge portions of a National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to the court papers. Libby was said to have testified that such presidential authorization to disclose classified information was "unique in his recollection," the court papers further said." -By Murray Waas with contributions by Brian Beutler -NationalJournal
20060331
Government - Intelligence - Law - History - Russ Feingold - Wisconsin - "Nixon Aide Urges Censure Of Bush." ... "Nixon White House counselor John Dean asserted Friday that President Bush's domestic spying exceeds the wrongdoing that toppled his former boss from power, and a veteran Republican snapped that Democrats were trying to "score political points" with a motion to censure Mr. Bush." ... ""Had the Senate or House, or both, censured or somehow warned Richard Nixon, the tragedy of Watergate might have been prevented," Dean told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Hopefully the Senate will not sit by while even more serious abuses unfold before it."" ... "Testifying to a Senate committee on Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold's resolution to censure Mr. Bush, Dean said the president "needs to be told he cannot simply ignore a law with no consequences."" (1, 2) -AP -CBSNews
20060330
US - Iraq - Karl Rove - Secret - Government - Nuclear- Military - Intelligence - 2004 Election - "Insulating Bush." ... "Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, cautioned other White House aides in the summer of 2003 that Bush's 2004 re-election prospects would be severely damaged if it was publicly disclosed that he had been personally warned that a key rationale for going to war had been challenged within the administration. Rove expressed his concerns shortly after an informal review of classified government records by then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley determined that Bush had been specifically advised that claims he later made in his 2003 State of the Union address -- that Iraq was procuring high-strength aluminum tubes to build a nuclear weapon -- might not be true, according to government records and interviews." ... "Hadley was particularly concerned that the public might learn of a classified one-page summary of a National Intelligence Estimate, specifically written for Bush in October 2002. The summary said that although "most agencies judge" that the aluminum tubes were "related to a uranium enrichment effort," the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Energy Department's intelligence branch "believe that the tubes more likely are intended for conventional weapons."" ... "Three months after receiving that assessment, the president stated without qualification in his January 28, 2003, State of the Union address: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production."" -By Murray Waas with contributions by Brian Beutler -NationalJournal
Antonin Scalia - Photo -Journalism - Free Speech - Law - Politics - Language - Humor -People - Massachusetts - "Photographer: Herald got it right." ... "Amid a growing national controversy about the gesture U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made Sunday at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross [Boston, Massachusettes], the freelance photographer who captured the moment has come forward with the picture." ... "“It’s inaccurate and deceptive of him to say there was no vulgarity in the moment,” said Peter Smith, the Boston University assistant photojournalism professor who made the shot." ... "Smith was working as a freelance photographer for the Boston archdiocese’s weekly newspaper at a special Mass for lawyers Sunday when a Herald reporter asked the justice how he responds to critics who might question his impartiality as a judge given his public worship." ... "“The judge paused for a second, then looked directly into my lens and said, ‘To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’ ” punctuating the comment by flicking his right hand out from under his chin, Smith said." ... "The Italian phrase means “(expletive) you.”" (1, 2) -By Marie Szaniszlo -BostonHerald.com
Free Speech - Civil Liberties - Prison - Humor - Iowa - "Man's naughty comment on tickets lands him in front of judge." ... "A Grundy County [Iowa] man's act of civil disobedience almost landed him in jail Monday." ... "Judge Jeffrey Harris ordered him [John Gould] to pay $76.20 in fines, surcharges and court costs. The court turned down Gould's request to pay within six weeks." ... "So Gould wrote a check for the full amount. He added the words "eat (scatological term deleted)" on the memo line." ... "Harris rejected arguments by Gould's attorney, Brandon Adams, that the message was protected free speech under the 1st Amendment to the Constitution." ... "The judge sentenced Gould to five days in jail but gave him the option of purging the decision if Gould apologized to the Clerk of Court and the court." -By Jeff Reinitz -WCFCourier.com
US - Iraq - Turkey -California - 2006 Election - Terrorism -Web - Photo - Media - "Candidate admits 'stupid' Web error: Conservative [Republican Howard Kaloogian] uses photo of Turkey, calls it Baghdad." ... "A leading conservative California congressional candidate who has made support for the war in Iraq a central issue acknowledged Wednesday that a campaign Web site photo -- billed as a peaceful street scene taken during his recent trip to Baghdad [Iraq] -- was actually photographed in Turkey." ... "The campaign posted the photo from Kaloogian's July trip to Iraq, a mission dubbed the "Truth Tour" and organized to "tell the American people about the accomplishments (troops) are making in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the fight against terrorism,'' according to the tax-exempt group Move America Forward, a conservative grassroots organization Kaloogian helped found." ... "The caption read that "we took this photo of downtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq'' which is "much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it -- in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.''" ... "But bloggers on the popular liberal Daily Kos Web site revealed the photo depicted a street scene in Turkey." -By Carla Marinucci -SFGate.com
DailyKos.com
Terrorism - Emergency - Airport - Transportation - Communications - Technology - Money - "Report: TSA Got Little for $1 Billion." ... "A company awarded a $1 billion contract for airport security equipment performed so poorly that the Homeland Security Department's inspector general recommended that the project be put out for bid again." ... "The inspector general, Richard Skinner, found in a report released Thursday that Unisys received most of the $1 billion without providing the Transportation Security Administration much of the equipment "critical to airport security and communications."" ... "The federal officials who head airport security at hundreds of airports complained that Unisys supplied antiquated equipment and that their radios didn't always communicate with each other inside the same concourse _ a crucial function during an emergency." -By Leslie Miller -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com
20060329
Government - Intelligence - Law Enforcement - Privacy - Politics - Illinois - "Judges on Secretive Panel Speak Out on Spy Program." ... "Five former judges on the nation's most secretive court, including one who resigned in apparent protest over President Bush's domestic eavesdropping, urged Congress on Tuesday to give the court a formal role in overseeing the surveillance program." ... "In a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the secretive court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, several former judges who served on the panel also voiced skepticism at a Senate hearing about the president's constitutional authority to order wiretapping on Americans without a court order. They also suggested that the program could imperil criminal prosecutions that grew out of the wiretaps." ... "Judge Harold A. Baker, a sitting federal judge in Illinois who served on the intelligence court until last year, said the president was bound by the law "like everyone else." If a law like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is duly enacted by Congress and considered constitutional, Judge Baker said, "the president ignores it at the president's peril."" -By Eric Lichtblau -NYTimes
20060328
Antonin Scalia - US - Cuba - Guantanamo Bay - Government - Military - Terrorism -Prisons - "Scalia's Recusal Sought in Key Detainee Case: Retired Officers Say Justice's Impartiality Is in Question After Remarks on Combatants." ... "On the eve of oral argument in a key Supreme Court case on the rights of alleged terrorists, a group of retired U.S. generals and admirals has asked Justice Antonin Scalia to recuse himself, arguing that his recent public comments on the subject make it impossible for him to appear impartial." ... "In a letter delivered to the court late yesterday, a lawyer for the retired officers cited news reports of Scalia's March 8 remarks to an audience at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland. Scalia reportedly said it was "crazy" to suggest that combatants captured fighting the United States should receive a "full jury trial," and dismissed suggestions that the Geneva Conventions might apply to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." ... "The retired officers are Brig. Gen. David M. Brahms, Brig Gen. James P. Cullen, Vice Adm. Lee F. Gunn, Rear Adm. John D. Hutson and Rear Adm. Donald J. Guter. They have filed a friend of the court brief in the case opposing the military commissions, on the grounds that denying Geneva Conventions protections to detainees at Guantanamo Bay could result in their denial to U.S. troops by their captors abroad." -By Charles Lane -WashingtonPost
20060327
Terrorism - Enforcement - Environment - Food - Civil Liberties - Free Speech - Privacy - Law - Politics - 2004 Election -Seattle - WA - CO - "FBI Keeps Watch on Activists." ... "The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show." ... "For years, the FBI's definition of terrorism has included violence against property, such as the window-smashing during the 1999 Seattle [WA] protests against the World Trade Organization. That definition has led FBI investigations to online discussion boards, organizing meetings and demonstrations of a wide range of activist groups. Officials say that international terrorists pose the greatest threat to the nation but that they cannot ignore crimes committed by some activists." ... "The FBI's encounters with activists are described in hundreds of pages of documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act after agents visited several activists before the 2004 political conventions." ... ""They don't know where Osama bin Laden is, but they're spending money watching people like me," said environmental activist Kirsten Atkins. Her license plate number showed up in an FBI terrorism file after she attended a protest against the lumber industry in Colorado Springs [CO] in 2002." (1, 2) -By Nicholas Riccardi -LAtimes
US - Britain - Iraq - Military - UN - "Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says." ... "In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush's public ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war." ... "But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times." ... "The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein." ... "Those proposals were first reported last month in the British press, but the memo does not make clear whether they reflected Mr. Bush's extemporaneous suggestions, or were elements of the government's plan." -By Don Van Natta Jr. -NYTimes
20060326
Antonin Scalia - US - EU - Switzerland -Guantanamo- Cuba - Military - Prison - Politics - "U.S. high court judge said to slam detainee rights." ... "U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dismissed the idea that Guantanamo detainees have constitutional rights and called European concerns over the issue hypocritical, Newsweek magazine reported on Sunday." ... "The comments, which Newsweek said were recorded at a private appearance by Scalia in Switzerland on March 8, emerge before a Supreme Court hearing this week on a legal challenge by a Guantanamo [Cuba] prisoner against U.S. military tribunals." ... "Ethics experts said the impression that Scalia had already made up his mind before the hearing should mean that he will voluntarily drop out of the proceedings." -Reuters via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
US Immigration - Labor - Religious - Civil Righs - Law - "500,000 Pack Streets to Protest Immigration Bills: The rally, part of a massive mobilization of immigrants and their supporters, may be the largest L.A. has seen." ... "A crowd estimated by police at more than 500,000 boisterously marched in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall along the U.S.' southern border." ... "Spirited but peaceful marchers — ordinary immigrants alongside labor, religious and civil rights groups — stretched more than 20 blocks along Spring Street, Broadway and Main Street to City Hall, tooting kazoos, waving American flags and chanting, "Sí se puede!" (Yes we can!)." ... "At a time when Congress prepares to crack down further on illegal immigration and self-appointed militias patrol the U.S. border to stem the flow, Saturday's rally represented a massive response, part of what immigration advocates are calling an unprecedented effort to mobilize immigrants and their supporters nationwide." (1, 2) -By Teresa Watanabe and Hector Becerra -LAtimes
20060325
Government - Terrorism - Health - Privacy - Civil Liberties - Law - Politics - "DOJ: NSA Could've Monitored Doctor's Calls." ... "The National Security Agency could have legally monitored ordinarily confidential communications between doctors and patients or attorneys and their clients, the Justice Department said Friday of its controversial warrantless surveillance program." ... "Responding to questions from Congress, the department also said that it sees no prohibition to using information collected under the NSA's program in court." ... "``Because collecting foreign intelligence information without a warrant does not violate the Fourth Amendment and because the Terrorist Surveillance Program is lawful, there appears to be no legal barrier against introducing this evidence in a criminal prosecution,'' the department said in responses to questions from lawmakers released Friday evening." -By Katherine Shrader with contributions by Mark Sherman -AP via -Guardian.co.uk
20060324
US - China - Government - Transport- Nuclear - Terrorism - Military - Intelligence - "U.S. Hiring Hong Kong Co. to Scan Cargo: U.S. Hiring [a Chinese] Hong Kong Conglomerate to Help Detect Nuclear Materials Passing From Bahamas to U.S.." ... "But U.S. customs agents won't be on site to supervise the machine's use as a nuclear safeguard for the American shoreline that is just 65 miles away from Freeport. Under an unusual arrangement, a Hong Kong company [Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. in a no bid contract] will help operate the detector." ... "While President Bush recently reassured Congress that foreigners would not manage security at U.S. ports, the Hutchison deal in the Bahamas illustrates how the administration is relying on foreign companies at overseas ports to safeguard cargo headed to the United States." ... "Three years ago, the Bush administration effectively blocked a Hutchison subsidiary from buying part of a bankrupt U.S. telecommunications company, Global Crossing Ltd., on national security grounds." ... "And a U.S. military intelligence report, once marked "secret," cited Hutchison in 1999 as a potential risk for smuggling arms and other prohibited materials into the United States from the Bahamas." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Ted Bridis and John Solomon with contributions by Bill Foreman and Jim Gomez -AP via -ABCNEWS.com
20060323
US - Global - Jobs - Economy - Accountants - Computer -Web - "Will Your Job Survive?" ... "In the new global order, [Princeton University economist Alan] Blinder writes, not just manufacturing jobs but a large number of service jobs will be performed in cheaper climes. Indeed, only hands-on or face-to-face services look safe. "Janitors and crane operators are probably immune to foreign competition," Blinder writes, "accountants and computer programmers are not."" ... "There follow some back-of-the-envelope calculations as Blinder totes up the number of jobs in tradable and non-tradable sectors. Then comes his (necessarily imprecise) bottom line: "The total number of current U.S. service-sector jobs that will be susceptible to offshoring in the electronic future is two to three times the total number of current manufacturing jobs (which is about 14 million)." As Blinder believes that all those manufacturing jobs are offshorable, too, the grand total of American jobs that could be bound for Bangalore or Bangladesh is somewhere between 42 million and 56 million." -By Harold Meyerson -WashingtonPost
20060322
US - Iraq - Political -Terrorism - Military - History - "Reporters in Iraq under fire there, and from critics." ... "As they begin a fourth year covering the war in Iraq, journalists there face increasing threats to their safety and increasing criticism of their work." ... "Newspapers and other media have cut the number of reporters in the war zone. The reporters who remain in Iraq find leaving their hotels or rental houses difficult for fear of being killed or kidnapped." ... "On Monday, the multinational group Reporters Without Borders said 86 journalists and news assistants have been killed in Iraq since U.S. forces crossed the border from Kuwait three years ago. By contrast, the group said, 63 journalists were killed in Vietnam during the 22-year period of the war there." ... "Thirty-eight journalists have been kidnapped, Reporters Without Borders said. Five of those kidnapped were killed." ... "Journalists know they may be the next targets of insurgents, terrorists or kidnappers looking to draw attention, make a political statement or obtain a lucrative ransom. Long gone are the days, such as in mid-2003, when reporters could walk the streets, visit shops and engage Iraqis in conversation over dinner at restaurants." -By Mark Memmott -USATODAY
20060321
Afghanistan - Religion - Law - Politics -US - Military - "Death could await Christian convert." ... "In the days of the Taliban, those promoting Christianity in Afghanistan could be arrested and those converting from Islam could be tortured and publicly executed." ... "That was supposed to change after U.S.-led forces ousted the oppressive, fundamentalist regime, but the case of 41-year-old Abdul Rahman has many Western nations wondering if Afghanistan is regressing." ... "Rahman, a father of two, was arrested last week and is now awaiting trial for rejecting Islam. He told local police, whom he approached on an unrelated matter, that he had converted to Christianity. Reports say he was carrying a Bible at the time." ... ""They want to sentence me to death, and I accept it," Rahman told reporters last week, "but I am not a deserter and not an infidel."" ... "The Afghan constitution, which is based on Sharia, or Islamic law, says that apostates can receive the death penalty." ... "Rahman's case illustrates a split over the interpretation of the Afghan constitution, which calls for religious freedom while stating that Muslims who reject Islam can be executed." -Contributed to by Elise Labott -CNN
20060319
Government - Climate -Fuel - Air - Ice - Environment - Science - Politics - "Rewriting The Science." ... "As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn't want you to hear but he's going to say them anyway." ... "Hansen is arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming. He's the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science." ... "Asked if he believes the administration is censoring what he can say to the public, Hansen says: "Or they're censoring whether or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I'm allowed to say it."" ... "What James Hansen believes is that global warming is accelerating. He points to the melting arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show massive losses of ice to the sea." ... "Those human changes, he says, are driven by burning fossil fuels that pump out greenhouse gases like CO2, carbon dioxide. Hansen says his research shows that man has just 10 years to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming reaches what he calls a tipping point and becomes unstoppable. He says the White House is blocking that message." (1, 2, 3) -Produced By Catherine Herrick and Bill Owens -60 Minutes -CBSNews
20060315
Gov - Mil - Intel - Terrorism - Environment - Religious - Civil Liberties - Politics -Pennsylvania - "FBI Took Photos of Antiwar Activists in 2002." ... "An FBI agent in Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania] photographed members of an antiwar activist group in 2002, according to documents released yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the disclosure marks the latest incident in which the FBI has monitored left-leaning groups." ... "An FBI report from November 2002 indicates that an agent photographed members of the Thomas Merton Center as they handed out leaflets opposing the impending war in Iraq. The report called the group a "left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism."" ... "The incident is the latest disclosure by the ACLU involving antiwar protesters, environmental groups and religious organizations that have been monitored by FBI agents or other anti-terrorism investigators." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
20060312
Government - Law - Intelligence - Privacy - 2008 Election - Wisconsin - "Feingold Calls for Bush to Be Censured Over Spying." ... "A Democratic senator who is widely believed to be considering a run for the White House in 2008 said today that he would seek to censure President Bush because of his domestic eavesdropping program." ... "The senator, Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin, said, "What the president did by consciously and intentionally violating the Constitution and laws of this country with this illegal wiretapping has to be answered." He added, "Proper accountability is a censuring of the president, saying, 'Mr. President, acknowledge that you broke the law, return to the law, return to our system of government.' "" -By John Files -NYTimes
20060310

Listen - Government - Law - Politics-Sandra Day O'Connor - "O'Connor Decries Republican Attacks on Courts." ... "Newly retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took on conservative Republican critics of the courts in a speech Thursday. She told an audience at Georgetown University that Republican proposals, and their sometimes uncivil tone, pose a danger to the independence of the judiciary, and the freedoms of all Americans." -By Nina Totenberg-NPR /News
Transcript: "Retired Supreme Court Justice hits attacks on courts and warns of dictatorship." [as relayed by Nina Totenberg of NPR News partial transcript follows:] ... "Nina Totenberg: In an unusually forceful and forthright speech, O’Connor said that attacks on the judiciary by some Republican leaders pose a direct threat to our constitutional freedoms." ... "[Nina Totenberg:] I, said O’Connor, am against judicial reforms driven by nakedly partisan reasoning. Pointing to the experiences of developing countries and former communist countries where interference with an independent judiciary has allowed dictatorship to flourish, O’Connor said we must be ever-vigilant against those who would strongarm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, she said, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings." via Raw Story
20060309
Government - Military - Intelligence - Privacy - Politics - "Ex-Justice Lawyer Rips Case for Spying: White House's Legal Justifications Called Weak." ... "A former senior national security lawyer at the Justice Department is highly critical of some of the Bush administration's key legal justifications for warrantless spying, saying that many of the government's arguments are weak and unlikely to be endorsed by the courts, according to documents released yesterday." ... "David S. Kris, a former associate deputy attorney general who now works at Time Warner Inc., concludes that a National Security Agency domestic spying program is clearly covered by a 1978 law governing clandestine surveillance, according to a legal analysis and e-mails sent to current Justice officials." ... "Kris, who oversaw national security issues at Justice from 2000 until he left the department in 2003, also wrote that the Bush administration's contention that Congress had authorized the NSA program by approving the use of force against al-Qaeda was a "weak justification" unlikely to be supported by the courts." -By Dan Eggen and Walter Pincus -WashingtonPost
Secret - Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Civil Liberties - Privacy - Politics - "G.O.P. Plan Would Allow Spying Without Warrants." ... "The plan by Senate Republicans to step up oversight of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program would also give legislative sanction for the first time to long-term eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant, legal experts said on Wednesday." ... "Civil liberties advocates called the proposed oversight inadequate and the licensing of eavesdropping without warrants unnecessary and unwise. But the Republican senators who drafted the proposal said it represented a hard-wrung compromise with the White House, which strongly opposed any Congressional interference in the eavesdropping program." ... "The Republican proposal would give Congressional approval to the eavesdropping program much as it was secretly authorized by Mr. Bush after the 2001 terrorist attacks, with limited notification to a handful of Congressional leaders." -By Scott Shane and David D. Kirkpatrick -NYTimes
20060308
Government - Intelligence - Privacy - Law - W.Va. - "Republicans Kill Request for Spy Program Inquiry: GOP senators reject Democrats' call but agree to form a panel to monitor the operation." ... "Republican members of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday defeated a Democratic push to investigate a domestic espionage operation authorized by President Bush, but pledged to increase scrutiny of the controversial program through a newly created subcommittee." ... "The developments enraged Democrats but delivered mixed results for the White House, which avoided a full-scale investigation of the spying operation, according to Senate Republicans, by agreeing to provide detailed briefings on the program to a larger number of lawmakers." ... "Emerging from a closed-door session in which Democrats lost two party-line votes, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), the vice chairman of the committee, said the outcome pushed the panel "further into irrelevancy" and reflected the influence of the Bush administration." ... ""The committee is, to put it bluntly, basically under the control of the White House," said Rockefeller, who had campaigned for a committee investigation and argued that all members of the panel ought to have full access to information on the program." -By Greg Miller and Maura Reynolds -LAtimes
20060306
South Dakota - Abortion- Women's - Health - "South Dakota law bans nearly all abortions: Legislation sets up court challenge." ... "[Republican] Gov. Mike Rounds signed legislation Monday banning nearly all abortions in South Dakota, setting up a court fight aimed at challenging the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion." ... "The bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman's life. It would make no exception for cases of rape or incest." -AP via -CNN
20060305
US Immigration - Work - Business -Enforcement - Politics - "The Search for Illegal Immigrants Stops at the Workplace." ... "It may seem that the United States government has declared all-out war against illegal immigration. During the last decade, the budget dedicated to enforcement of immigration laws has grown by leaps and bounds. The Border Patrol has about three times as many agents as it did in the early 1990's, and the southern border has been laced with high-tech surveillance gadgetry." ... "Yet a closer look reveals a very different portrait of immigration policy. It seems designed for failure. Most experts agree that a vast majority of illegal immigrants who make it across the border every year are seeking work. But the workplace is the one spot that is virtually unpoliced." ... "Demographers estimate that six million to seven million illegal immigrants are working in the United States; that is some 5 percent of the nation's work force. Yet in 2004, the latest year for which there is data, the immigration authorities issued penalty notices to only three companies." -By Eduardo Porter -NYTimes
20060228
US - Iraq -Military - Psychology - "A Third of U.S. Soldiers From Iraq War Seek Mental Health Care." ... "A third of U.S. soldiers who returned from the war in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 received mental health treatment within a year of ending their deployment, military researchers reported today in the Journal of the American Medical Association." ... "The study showed that soldiers' need for mental health services -- or at least their willingness to admit to a need -- grew after their deployment ended. Soldiers serving in Iraq had higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, and other mental health problems than those in Afghanistan, where troops were less likely to be involved in combat and see death." ... "``The more exposure to combat you had, the more likely you are to have mental health problems and to seek mental health services,'' said Col. Charles Milliken, an Army psychiatrist and co-author of the study, in an interview yesterday." -By Rob Waters -Bloomberg
20060227
US - United Arab Emirates - Water - Transportation - Business - Military - Terrorism - Politics - "Coast Guard: Intelligence gaps limited ports deal threat assessment." ... "The Coast Guard warned in December that the proposed takeover of some U.S. port operations by a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates raised "intelligence gaps" that made it difficult to assess the deal's possible threat to national security." ... "Because the government of the United Arab Emirates owns DP World, and because the UAE had connections to al-Qaida in the past, a political firestorm erupted earlier this month over fears that the company might make U.S. ports vulnerable to terrorist attack. The Bush administration says such fears are groundless and that the UAE is now an ally in the war on terrorism." ... "The document, prepared by the Coast Guard's Intelligence Coordination Center, said the intelligence gaps included the security environment at DP World terminals, the backgrounds of company personnel and whether there was any foreign influence in the company's operations." -By William Douglas and James Kuhnhenn -KnightRidder via -MercuryNews
US - Iraq - Dick Cheney - Military - Government -Energy - Politics - Accounting - "Army to Pay Halliburton Unit Most Costs Disputed by Audit." ... "The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary for nearly all of its disputed costs on a $2.41 billion no-bid contract to deliver fuel and repair oil equipment in Iraq, even though the Pentagon's own auditors had identified more than $250 million in charges as potentially excessive or unjustified." ... "The contract has been the subject of intense scrutiny after disclosures in 2003 that it had been awarded without competitive bidding. That produced criticism from Congressional Democrats and others that the company had benefited from its connection with Dick Cheney, who was Halliburton's chief executive before becoming vice president." ... "This is unlikely to be the last time the Army and Halliburton meet over negotiated costs. On a separate contract in Iraq, for logistics support to the United States military, more than $11 billion had been disbursed to Kellogg Brown & Root by mid-January, according to the Army Field Support Command, based in Rock Island, Ill. Pentagon auditors have begun scrutinizing that contract as well." (1, 2) -By James Glanz -NYTimes
20060225
South Dakota - Women's - Abortion -Health - Politics - "S. Dakota OK's wide abortion ban: Bill sets stage for legal fight." ... "South Dakota lawmakers approved a ban on nearly all abortions yesterday, setting up a frontal assault on Roe v. Wade at a time when some activists see the US Supreme Court as more willing than ever to overturn the 33-year-old decision." ... "Governor Mike Rounds, a Republican, said he was inclined to sign the bill, which would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless it was necessary to save the woman's life. The measure would make no exception in cases of rape or incest." -By Chet Brokaw -AP via -BostonGlobe
20060224
New York - Police - Air - Environment - Terrorism - "Tale Of The 'Walking Dead'." ... "Last month, James Zadroga, a 34-year-old New York City police detective, died of a respiratory disease he contracted during rescue and recovery operations at Ground Zero — the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center." ... "Shortly after finishing his rescue and recovery work at the World Trade Center, Zadroga developed a chronic cough, shortness of breath and acid reflux. He was plagued by nightmares and headaches. Within months, he needed oxygen tanks, antibiotics and steroid injections on a regular basis." ... "More than four years after hijackers rammed passenger jets into the twin towers, at least a dozen people who worked at Ground Zero have died of diseases attributed to the witch's brew of deadly chemicals and toxic substances that filled the air at the disaster site." ... "Thousands of other Ground Zero workers are suffering from serious respiratory ailments. The victims include police officers, firefighters, construction workers and even immigrant laborers. Some call these forgotten men and women the "walking dead."" ... "Estimates vary, but tens of thousands of workers and residents have reported some lingering effects from Ground Zero exposure. Of the roughly 70,000 people currently enrolled in Mount Sinai's World Trade Center health study, more than 60,000 suffer some kind of respiratory problem." (1, 2, 3) -By Stephen Smith -CBSNews
GOV - Military - Intelligence -Politics - California - "Defense contractor: I paid $1 million in bribes." ... "Mitchell Wade pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiring with former [California Republican] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham to bribe the lawmaker with cash, cars and antiques, and to help him evade millions of dollars in tax liability." ... "Wade, former president of defense contractor MZM Inc. in Washington, also acknowledged making nearly $80,000 in illegal campaign contributions in the names of MZM employees and their spouses to two other members of Congress, who were not identified." ... "MZM does classified intelligence work for the military. MZM's government contracts soared from less than $1 million a year to tens of millions of dollars annually in recent years." -AP via -CNN
20060222
US - United Arab Emirates - Government - Transportation - Politics - "White House Refuses to Back Down on UAE Ports." ... "DOBBS: President Bush's family and members of the Bush administration have long-standing business connections with the United Arab Emirates, and those connections are raising new concerns and questions tonight in some quarters about why the president is defying his very own party leadership and his party in defending the Dubai port deal." ... "Christine Romans reports."
...
"CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a major investor in The Carlyle Group, the private equity investment firm where President Bush's father once served as senior adviser and is a who's who of former high-level government officials. Just last year, Dubai International Capital, a government-backed buyout firm, invested in an $8 billion Carlyle fund." ... "Another family connection, the president's brother, Neil Bush, has reportedly received funding for his educational software company from the UAE investors. A call to his company was not returned." ... "Then there is the cabinet connection. Treasury Secretary John Snow was chairman of railroad company CSX/. After he left the company for the White House, CSX sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World for more than a billion dollars." ... "In Connecticut today, Snow told reporters he had no knowledge of that CSX sale. "I learned of this transaction probably the same way members of the Senate did, by reading about it in the newspapers."" ... "Another administration connection, President Bush chose a Dubai Ports World executive to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. David Sanborn, the former director of Dubai Ports' European and Latin American operations, he was tapped just last month to lead the agency that oversees U.S. port operations."
...
"DOBBS:" ... "The United Arab Emirates not only has friends in high places in government, it also has high-powered lobbying connections. This oil- rich nation has been lavishing hundreds of thousands of dollars on K Street, lobbying friends to push its point of view and its goals. One of those friends we found out today is none other than Senator Dole, former Senator Dole." -LouDobbs.com -CNN/TRANSCRIPTS
20060221
Women - Abortion - Health - Politics - Sandra Day O'Connor - Samuel Alito - John Roberts - "Supreme Court to look at federal ban on late-term abortion." ... "It's not new territory for the court, which in 2000 split 5-4 when it struck down a similar state ban because it lacked a health exception for women." ... "But Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who voted with the majority in that case, has been replaced by Justice Samuel Alito, whose views on abortion are widely expected to be more restrictive." ... "The case could be the first in which Alito, with other court conservatives including new Chief Justice John G. Roberts, helps chart a more restrictive trajectory for the court's handling of abortion laws." -By Stephen Henderson -KnightRidder via -RealCities
Business - "Lands Potentially Eligible for Sale by State and National Forest." -US Forest Service
20060220
Government - Political - Business -Oregon - "Forest sale would target land throughout Oregon." ... "The Bush administration plan to sell off 300,000 acres of public land is expected to include more than 10,000 acres in Oregon — from a parking lot in The Dalles to land in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area." -AP via -OregonLive.com
Government - Business -School - Politics - South Dakota - "S.D. delegation opposed to land sale idea." ... "A plan by the Bush administration to sell public land in South Dakota and elsewhere to help pay for rural schools is meeting opposition from the state's congressional delegation." ... "Some 300,000 acres of national forest and other public lands would be sold. Included is 14,000 acres in the Black Hills National Forest, the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, and the Fort Pierre National Grasslands." -AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
20060216
US - World - Water - Transportation - Nuclear - Terrorism - Politics - "White House Defends Port Sale to Arab Co.." ... "The Bush administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential security risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major American ports." ... "Four senators and three House members asked the administration Thursday to reconsider its approval. The lawmakers contended the UAE is not consistent in its support of U.S. terrorism-fighting efforts." ... "U.S. lawmakers said the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. They also said the UAE was one of only three countries to recognize the now-toppled Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government." ... "Critics also have cited the UAE's history as an operational and financial base for the hijackers who carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." (1, 2) -By Ted Bridis and Devlin Barrett -AP via -WashingtonPost
Government - Intelligence - Civil Liberties - Privacy - "U.S. must release domestic spying documents: Judge rules in favor of civil liberties group in freedom-of-information case." ... "A federal judge Thursday ordered the Justice Department to respond within 20 days to requests by a civil liberties group for documents about President Bush's domestic eavesdropping program." ... "The ruling was a victory for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which sued the department under the Freedom of Information Act in seeking the release of the documents." -Reuters via -MSNBC
20060213
Business -CA - "Out of the retail rat race: Consumer group doesn't buy notion that new is better." ... "About 50 teachers, engineers, executives and other professionals in the [California] Bay Area have made a vow to not buy anything new in 2006 -- except food, health and safety items and underwear." ... ""We're people for whom recycling is no longer enough," said one of the members of the fledgling movement, John Perry, who works in marketing at a high-tech company. "We're trying to get off the first-market consumerism grid, because consumer culture is destroying the world."" ... "They call themselves the Compact. They have a blog, a Yahoo group and monthly meetings to reaffirm their commitment to the rule, which is to never buy anything new." -By Carolyn Jones -SFGate.com
20060212
Government - Police - Business - Employee - Technology - Ohio - "US group implants electronic tags in workers." ... "An Ohio company has embedded silicon chips in two of its employees - the first known case in which US workers have been “tagged” electronically as a way of identifying them." ... "CityWatcher.com, a private video surveillance company, said it was testing the technology as a way of controlling access to a room where it holds security video footage for government agencies and the police." ... "Embedding slivers of silicon in workers is likely to add to the controversy over RFID technology, widely seen as one of the next big growth industries." -By Richard Waters -FT.com
20060211
Government - Business - School - Politics - History - "Large Sale of Forest Planned: The White House wants to help pay for rural roads and schools by auctioning 300,000 acres of what it considers non-vital parcels." ... "Congress must approve the plans, which several experts said would amount to the largest land sale of its kind since President Theodore Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and created the modern national forest system." (1,