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2007 Miscellany News History Archives


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2007 Miscellany Archive:

20071231

Dennis Kucinich -

Joe Biden -

Chris Dodd -

Ron Paul -

Duncan Hunter -

Television -

Politics -

US -

Iraq -

Military -

2008 Election -

New Hampshire

"FOX, ABC to reduce debate fields." ... "This weekend’s [New Hampshire] presidential debates and forum will not include some nationally-known candidates, and the chairmen of the state Republican and Democratic parties are not happy." ... "Fergus Cullen and Raymond Buckley say the decisions by ABC News, WMUR and, in Cullen’s case, FOX News, are inconsistent with the New Hampshire primary’s tradition of providing a level playing field for all candidates." ... "ABC News and WMUR-TV (Channel 9) confirmed today that they have established performance-based criteria for Saturday night's pair of presidential debates. Those rules could leave several relatively well-known candidates on the outside looking in, including [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates] Democrats Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd." ... "And Cullen confirmed that FOX News has invited only five presidential candidates to a GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] forum scheduled for Sunday night, leaving out [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidates] Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter." ... "GOP candidate Paul has said that FOX News is “scared of me” and has called the network “propagandists for this (Iraq) war, and I challenge them on the notion that they are conservative.”" -By John Distaso

-UnionLeader.com

20071230

Mitt Romney

Mike Huckabee

John McCain

Iowa

Television

Ads

2008 Election

New Hampshire

Arizona

Illegal

Immigrants

"Romney, Huckabee attack each other in Iowa." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney's blistering ads criticizing [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mike Huckabee and [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain drew sharp rebukes from their targets and wary responses from voters Saturday, as candidates barnstormed Iowa five days before the nation's first presidential voting takes place in caucuses here." ... "Romney launched a new one against McCain in New Hampshire on Saturday." ... ""McCain championed a bill to let every illegal immigrant stay in American permanently," the 30-second TV spot says. "He even voted to allow illegal immigrants to collect Social Security."" ... "The tone was similar to one Romney rolled out Friday in Iowa against Huckabee." ... ""Soft on government spending," the ad charges. "His foreign policy? 'Ludicrous,' says Condoleezza Rice." ... "Huckabee fought back Saturday." ... ""Every time you turn on your television you're going to see all the terrible things my opponents said I did," he told hundreds crowded into a restaurant in Indianola [Iowa]. "Mitt Romney's not only attacking me. He's now attacked John McCain, he's attacked Rudy Giuliani, he's attacked everybody. He's not telling people why he ought to be president."" ... "McCain, the Arizona senator, dismissed Romney's charges and called him "a phony."" -By David Lightman with contributions by Jim Morrill

-McClatchy

20071229

Ron Paul -

Television -

Politics -

New Hampshire -

Iowa -

US -

Iraq -

Military -

2008 Election

"Paul: Fox News is 'scared of me'." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Ron Paul said the decision to exclude him from a debate on Fox News Sunday the weekend before the New Hampshire Primary is proof that the network "is scared" of him." ... ""They are scared of me and don't want my message to get out, but it will," Paul said in an interview at a diner here. "They are propagandists for this war and I challenge them on the notion that they are conservative."" ... "Paul, the Republican Texas Congressman, was wrapping up his final day of campaigning in New Hampshire until the Iowa Caucuses on Thursday." -By James Pindell

-BostonGlobe

20071228

Economic -

Construction -

History

"Sales of New Homes in U.S. Dropped 9% to 12-Year Low (Update3)." ... "Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell to a 12-year low in November, pointing to bigger declines in construction that will hobble economic growth throughout 2008." ... "Purchases dropped 9 percent to an annual pace of 647,000 and October sales were revised down to a 711,000 rate, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Last month's sales were weaker than the lowest forecast in a Bloomberg survey. " ... "A Bloomberg survey of 68 economists forecast sales would fall to an annual pace of 717,000 from a previously reported 728,000 rate in October, according to the median estimate. Economists' forecasts ranged from a low of 685,000 to a high of 750,000." ... "Sales of new homes were down 34 percent from the same time last year, the biggest 12-month drop since January 1991." ... "The housing recession has deepened since the August turmoil in subprime mortgages led to a worldwide credit shortage. Stricter borrowing standards and a freeze on lending to borrowers with poor credit put mortgages out of reach for more potential buyers. That's driving home prices lower, weakening sales as people hold out for even bigger reductions." -By Bob Willis

-Bloomberg

20071227

US -

Iraq -

Afghanistan -

Worldwide -

Military -

Government -

Accounting -

Terrorism -

Politics -

History -

Alaska -

Ted Stevens

"Wars Cost $15 Billion a Month, GOP Senator Says." ... "The latest estimate of the growing costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the worldwide battle against terrorism -- nearly $15 billion a month -- came last week from one of the Senate's leading proponents of a continued U.S. [United States] military presence in Iraq." ... ""This cost of this war is approaching $15 billion a month, with the Army spending $4.2 billion of that every month," [Alaska GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican Senator] Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations defense subcommittee, said in a little-noticed floor speech Dec. [December] 18." ... "While most of the public focus has been on the political fight over troop levels, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) reported this month that the [Republican President] Bush administration's request for the 2008 fiscal year of $189.3 billion [$189.3/12=$15.775 billion per month] for Defense Department operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and worldwide counterterrorism activities was 20 percent higher than for fiscal 2007 and 60 percent higher than for fiscal 2006." (1, 2) -By Walter Pincus

-WashingtonPost

20071226

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Family -

Poll - Idaho -

Oregon -

Afghanistan

"Military family members share public's division on Iraq war, Bush: Polls: Almost half say invasion was a mistake." ... "Close family members of U.S. [United States] troops are split on whether the Iraq invasion was a mistake, and 55% disapprove of [Republican] President Bush's job performance, according to USA TODAY/Gallup Polls focusing on immediate relatives of servicemembers." ... ""They've maxed out on the troops. You've got guys who are over there on their fourth or fifth tours. It's ridiculous," says Jeanette Knowles, 40, of Mountain Home, Idaho, whose brother, Jeff, served a tour in Iraq with the Oregon National Guard." ... "More than 1.5 million servicemembers have been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, and Army combat tours last up to 15 months." -By Gregg Zoroya

-USATODAY

20071224

Secret -

Dick Cheney -

David Addington -

Government -

Archives -

Law -

Politics

"Challenging Cheney: A National Archives official reveals what the veep wanted to keep classified--and how he tried to challenge the rules." ... "J. William Leonard learned the hard way the perils of questioning [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney. The veteran National Archives official challenged claims by the Office of Vice President (OVP) to be exempt from federal rules governing classified information. His efforts touched off a firestorm—and a counter-strike by Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, who tried to wipe out Leonard's job." ... "Now, Leonard is quitting as director of the Archives' Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO)—the unit that monitors the handling of government secrets. He tells NEWSWEEK that his fight with Cheney's office was a "contributing" factor in his decision to retire after 34 years of government service." ... "Leonard-described by National Archivist Allen Weinstein as "the gold standard of information specialists in the federal government"-spoke to NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff." ... "[Newsweek:] So how did matters escalate?" ... "[J William Leonard:] The challenge arose last year when the Chicago Tribune was looking at [ISOO's annual report] and saw the asterisk [reporting that it contained no information from OVP] and decided to follow up. And that's when the spokesperson from the OVP made public this idea that because they have both legislative and executive functions, that requirement doesn't apply to them.…They were saying the basic rules didn't apply to them. I thought that was a rather remarkable position. So I wrote my letter to the Attorney General [asking for a ruling that Cheney's office had to comply.] Then it was shortly after that there were [email] recommendations [from OVP to a National Security Council task force] to change the executive order that would effectively abolish [my] office." ... "[Newsweek:] Who wrote the emails?" ... "[J William Leonard:] It was David Addington." (1, 2, 3) -By Michael Isikoff

-Newsweek

20071222

Families -

Poverty -

Agriculture -

Christmas-Holidays - Thanksgiving - Gasoline -

Households -

Money -

People

"Food Bank Shelves Going Bare At Holidays: High Living Costs Hurting Donations, While Increasing Demand By Needy Families." ... "The reports from across the country are dismaying: Food pantries are running short and cannot meet the needs of all those seeking help." ... "In the Department of Agriculture's most recent study of hunger in America, released in November, more than 35.5 million Americans, including 12.6 million children, were found to have "low" or "very low food security" (defined as households where hunger was prevalent, where there was not enough money to buy adequate food supplies, where food purchased did not last, or where family members had to cut down or skip meals - sometimes not eating for a day or longer)." ... "That's roughly 1 in 9 households. And the numbers are rising from last year." ... "Everywhere, people are feeling the crunch of rising gasoline and grocery prices, as well as utility bills, rent and mortgage payments." ... "Those factors also are cutting into people's ability to donate to food banks for others in need." ... "At Thanksgiving, the [America's Second Harvest] organization estimated that food banks nationally were short a total of 15 million pounds of food, or roughly 11.7 million meals. "

-AP via -CBSNews

20071221

John Edwards -

Working -

Family -

College-Education -

Money -

Race -

Des-Moines -

Iowa -

NC -

Barack Obama -

Hillary Clinton -

2008 Election

"The Road Warrior: Even if he loses in Iowa's bigger cities, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards can still win by wrapping up smaller, far-flung precincts." ... "For months, Edwards has been rounding up support in the state's rural precincts where the front runners have paid less attention. While [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary] Clinton have drawn crowds in the thousands in places like Des Moines [Iowa] and Ames [Iowa], Edwards has been winning over people in tiny towns like Sac City [Iowa] (population: 2,189). That's important, the strategists say, because under Iowa's arcane caucus rules, a precinct where 25 people show up to vote gets the same number of delegates as a place that packs in 2,500. In other words, even if he loses to Obama and Clinton in the state's bigger cities, he can still win by wrapping up smaller, far-flung precincts that other candidates have ignored. "The bulk of our support is in small and medium counties," says Jennifer O'Malley, Edwards's Iowa state director. O'Malley says Edwards has visited all 99 counties in the state; the campaign has so far trained captains covering 90 percent of all 1,781 precincts. Rural voters are sometimes reluctant to caucus, so the campaign has been enlisting respected community leaders to encourage first-timers to get past their apathy or fear." ... "This could be wishful thinking from an ailing campaign. But it's worth keeping in mind just how wrong the media echo chamber can be when it comes to predicting winners and losers. At about this time four years ago, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was the press-anointed darling who could seemingly do no wrong in Iowa. Dour John Kerry was scorned by reporters as the should-have-been who had blown it and couldn't possibly win. But on caucus night, Kerry wound up the victor—and Dean wound up screaming. Reporters were left to wonder what they had missed. One story the talking heads may be missing this time: just how badly John Edwards hates to lose." ... "The desire to get ahead—to win—is no small thing for Edwards. He was raised in the depressed town of Robbins, N.C. [North Carolina], where his father, Wallace, worked in a now long-gone textile mill. It's a biographical detail the candidate mentions so often in speeches and campaign ads that it can sometimes border on self-parody. Yet his father's story is what Edwards's campaign, and political career, is all about. His dad worked his way up in the mill and was promoted to supervisor. But without a college degree, there was only so far he could rise. "He heard his mother and I talk about it at the dinner table, so he knew what I was faced with," his father tells NEWSWEEK. Money was scarce. Wallace was determined that John and his younger brother and sister, Wesley Blake and Kathy, would attend college. He set an example of self-improvement. He took classes offered by the mill, and tuned in to the education channel on TV early each morning when the station aired lessons in statistics and probability." ... "Tall and good-looking—and he knew it—John Edwards was a popular student and a star football player, skinny but fast. His high-school friend John Mashburn remembers Edwards as a leader. "In a little redneck town, he was different," he says. There was still racial tension in Robbins in the early 1970s, and black students were sometimes mistreated. In protest, several of them once held a sit-in. Edwards persuaded his white friends to join in. "Johnny got a lot of the athletes, myself, our girlfriends … he was instrumental in encouraging us," Mashburn says. John Frye, another high-school friend, says it was a gutsy thing to do. He "stuck his neck out," Frye recalls. "There was a price to pay in how some folks treated him after that. We had people who didn't embrace desegregation even though it had been a bridge crossed years earlier."" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By Arian Campo-Flores and Suzanne Smalley

Dec 24, 2007 Issue -Newsweek

20071220

Secret -

Intelligence -

War -

Criminal -

Videotapes -

Censorship -

Politics -

Military -

Terrorism -

Texas

"Subpoena of CIA officials threatened: Justice Dept. [department] action in tape destruction probe angers House panel chairman, who expects testimony from two top intelligence agency officials." ... "The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, chafing at the Justice Department's handling of a probe into missing CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] interrogation tapes, threatened Wednesday to subpoena two top CIA officials to jump-start the panel's own investigation." ... "The department, which is conducting a criminal inquiry with the CIA inspector general into revelations that a CIA official destroyed videotapes of two terrorism suspects being interrogated in 2005, asked the panel last week to defer its inquiry." ... "Committee Chairman [Texas Democratic Representative] Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) has called a hearing for Jan. 16. He said he expected testimony from both acting CIA general counsel John Rizzo and Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., the former head of the agency's operations branch, who authorized destroying the tapes." -By Richard B. Schmitt

-LAtimes

20071219

John Edwards -

Ron Paul -

Mike Huckabee -

Noteworthy -

Journalists -

Politics -

Corporations -

Legislation -

Telecom -

Money -

2008 Election

"Media hostility toward anti-establishment candidates." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Ron] Paul and [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee are obviously disparate in significant ways -- ideologically, temperamentally, and otherwise. But there is a vital attribute common to those three campaigns that explains the media's scorn: they are all, in their own ways, anti-establishment candidates, meaning they are outside and critical of the system of which national journalists are a critical part, the system which employs and rewards our journalists and forms the base of their identity and outlook. Any candidate who criticizes and opposes that system -- not in piecemeal ways but fundamentally -- will be, first, ignored and, then, treated as losers by the press." ... "It is very striking how little Edwards' substantive critique of our political system has penetrated into the national discourse. That's because the centerpiece of his campaign is a critique that is a full frontal assault on our political establishment. His argument is not merely that the political system needs reform, but that it is corrupt at its core -- "rigged" in favor of large corporate interests and their lobbyists, who literally write our laws and control the Congress. Anyone paying even casual attention to the extraordinary bipartisan effort on behalf of telecom immunity, and so many other issues driven almost exclusively by lobbyists, cannot reasonably dispute this critique." ... "Yet because that argument indicts the same Beltway culture of which our political journalists are an integral part, and further attacks the system's power brokers who are the friends, sources, and peers of those journalists, they instinctively react with confusion, scorn and hostility towards Edwards' campaign. They condescendingly dismiss it as manipulative populist swill, or cynically assume that it's just a ploy to distinguish himself by "moving left." In the eyes of our Beltawy press, the idea that our political system is "rigged" or corrupt must be anything other than true or sincerely held." ... "As Digby notes [**], Ron Paul is going to raise more money than any Republican candidate this quarter; he just topped the record for most money raised in a single day; and has now exceeded Howard Dean's 2004 quarter total when Dean was at the peak of his online fundraising prowess. Huckabee is now tied for the lead in national polls and is leading in several of the key early states. Yet our establishment media stars continue to sneer at these anti-establishment candidates as though they are aberrational jokes, and there is virtually no serious effort to understand the meaning of their success." ... "Worse, whenever these candidates are discussed, it almost never entails any discussion of the critiques they are making. Is Edwards right that corporations and lobbyists dictate legislation in Washington and that this state of affairs is profoundly anti-democratic and corrupt? Are Paul's criticisms of our bipartisan imperial policies and his warnings of resulting financial unsustainability (and increasing anti-Americanism) accurate? Is Huckabee's claim true that the GOP has obliterated the economic prospects of its own middle- and lower-middle-class followers?" -Glenn Greenwald

-Salon

20071218

Wave

Technology

Company

Canada

San Francisco

California

Oregon

Global

Climate

"PG&E agrees to buy power from Canadian firm's proposed 'wave park'." ... "The dream of generating electricity from the ocean's waves will take a major step forward today when Pacific Gas and Electric Co. announces its support for plans to build the nation's first commercial wave power plant off the coast of Northern California, the latest step in the state's efforts to combat global warming." ... "The plant will consist of eight buoys bobbing in the water 2 1/2 miles offshore, each buoy generating electricity as it rises and falls with the waves. If all goes as planned, the "wave park" will begin operating in 2012." ... "The power it generates won't be much - enough to light 1,500 homes at most. But it represents another potential front in the fight against climate change. California has ordered utilities such as PG&E to buy more power from renewable sources that don't spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and heat the planet. The utilities are turning to the sun, the wind and now the ocean as a result." ... "San Francisco's [California] PG&E won't build or own the proposed wave park, near Eureka [California], which will be designed and built by Canadian company Finavera. Instead, PG&E has agreed to buy the plant's power." ... "That promise will help Finavera get financing for the project by showing potential investors that it already has a customer. It's an unusual step for a technology that, until now, has existed more in the lab than in the water." ... "There's no guarantee that the project will work. Finavera's prototype buoy sank off the Oregon coast earlier this year, for reasons the company hasn't completely nailed down." -By David R. Baker

-SFGate.com

20071217

Chris Dodd -

Corporate -

Government -

Spy -

Law -

Intelligence -

Politics -

Telephone -

Internet -

E-Mails -

Electronic -

Civil Liberties -

2008 Election -

Foreign -

American -

Nevada -

Conn -

Wisc -

VT -

Mass

"Spy law showdown postponed until next year." ... "Congress won't decide until next year whether to pass a complex law that would let telephone and Internet companies off the hook from lawsuits alleging illicit cooperation with federal government spies." ... "In something of an unexpected move, U.S. Senate Majority Leader [Nevada Democratic Senator] Harry Reid took to the Senate floor on Monday evening and announced he would postpone debate on the so-called FISA Amendments Act [FISA: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]. That bill, which has already been approved in a closed-door meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would grant such corporate immunity and make it easier for the feds to snoop on phone calls and e-mails involving foreigners and Americans without a warrant, drawing rampant criticism from civil liberties groups." ... "Earlier in the day, however, it appeared more certain that the Senate would move ahead with a vote to approve the controversial Senate measure, which would provide legal immunity to electronic communications providers that have allegedly opened up their networks to the National Security Agency and other federal spies since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Above vocal objections from some Democrats, the senators nevertheless voted 76-10 to limit debate and other stalling tactics related to the bill." ... "But in the end, last-minute rallying from Democrats opposed to the telecommunications immunity provisions applied the necessary pressure." ... "Perhaps most notably, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Connecticut Senator] Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), a presidential hopeful, devoted nearly the entire day to delivering one impassioned speech after another about his opposition to granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies accused of providing illegal assistance to government spying programs. Other influential Democratic senators, including [Wisconsin Democratic Senator] Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), [Vermont Democratic Senator] Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), and [Massachusetts Democratic Senator] Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) echoed his concerns at various points during the day." -By Anne Broache

-CNET

20071216

Secret -

Surveillance -

Terrorism -

Crime -

Telecommunications -

Companies -

Government -

Legislation -

Politics -

Intelligence-

Drug -

Consumer-

Wireless -

Technology -

United States -

Global -

Space -

Colorado -

New Jersey

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

-NYTimes

20071215

Hacking -

Ohio -

Voting Systems -

Computers -

Elections -

Technology -

Politics -

2008 Election

"Ohio Elections Official Calls Machines Flawed." ... "All five voting systems used in Ohio, a state whose electoral votes narrowly swung two elections toward [Republican] President Bush, have critical flaws that could undermine the integrity of the 2008 general election, a report commissioned by the state’s top elections official has found." ... "“It was worse than I anticipated,” the official, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said of the report. “I had hoped that perhaps one system would test superior to the others.”" ... "At polling stations, teams working on the study were able to pick locks to access memory cards and use hand-held devices to plug false vote counts into machines. At boards of election, they were able to introduce malignant software into servers." ... "Ms. Brunner proposed replacing all of the state’s voting machines, including the touch-screen ones used in more than 50 of Ohio’s 88 counties. She wants all counties to use optical scan machines that read and electronically record paper ballots that are filled in manually by voters." ... "The study released Friday found that voting machines and central servers made by Elections Systems and Software; Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold; and Hart InterCivic; were easily corrupted." -By Bob Driehaus

-NYTimes

20071214

John Edwards

Online

Finance

Law

Politics

History

North Carolina

2008 Election

"FEC Rules Against Online Fundraiser ActBlue and John Edwards." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and] Former North Carolina senator John Edwards can't match up the more than $4 million he's raised from thousands of individuals through an innovative online raising hub because of an outdated 1971 campaign finance law." ... "The Federal Election Commission [FEC] on Friday decided that the more than $4.2 million raised for the Democratic presidential candidate by ActBlue doesn't conform to what's defined as individual contributions under federal regulations, and thus can't be eligible for matching funds under the public financing system that the candidate opted for earlier this year." ... ""A matchable contribution consists of 'a gift of money made by a written instrument which identifies the person making the contribution by full name and mailing address,'" wrote FEC attorneys in an opinion that the commission approved Friday afternoon. "The Matching Payment Act specifically excludes from the definition of matchable contribution 'funds received by a political committee which are transferred to that committee from another committee.'"" ... "ActBlue is registered as a political action committee." ... "The problem is that the money that ActBlue sent along to John Edwards was sent as a weekly agglomerated check rather than funneled along marked from individuals." -By Sarah Lai Stirland

-Wired

20071213

Noteworthy -

Industrial -

Government -

Accounting -

Environmental -

Health -

Safety -

Politics -

Air -

Water -

Ground

"EPA was pressured to weaken toxic report rules." ... "The [Republican President Bush] White House pressured the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] to weaken requirements that companies annually disclose releases of toxic chemicals, congressional auditors say." ... "In a study scheduled to be released next week, the Government Accountability Office says the changes mean that industry will have to file 22,000 fewer reports each year, reducing an important public monitoring tool on industrial emissions." ... "The EPA rushed to complete the changes because of "pressure" from the White House Office of Management and Budget to reduce the regulatory burdens on industry, says the report obtained by The Associated Press. The White House overstated the cost-savings to industry of making the changes, it added." ... "For more than two decades, industries and businesses have had to disclose to the EPA the amount of toxic chemicals they produce, store and discharge into the air, water and ground." ... "Last December, the EPA reduced the amount of information that needed to be disclosed in the Toxic Release Inventory Report, or TRI, process." -By H. Josef Hebert

-AP via -Chron

20071212

Mitt Romney -

Mike Huckabee -

Religion -

2008 Election

"Romney hits Huckabee on remark on Mormonism." ... ""Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?" [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Mike] Huckabee asks, according to a preview of the article posted on the Times website. He made the comment after being asked whether he believes Mormonism is a cult, as some evangelical Christians do." ... "On morning news shows today, he [Mitt Romney, 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] said the comments amounted to an attack that was un-American." ... ""I think attacking someone's religion is really going too far," Romney said on the "Today" show. It's just not the American way, and I think people will reject that."" ... "On MSNBC, he called the comment "an old attack. I was sad to see it come out again....Attacking someone's faith is simply un-American." " -By Foon Rhee

-BostonGlobe

20071211

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Police -

Terrorism -

Politics -

Christmas

"Christians in Basra told not to celebrate to protest 2 deaths." ... "The Christian archbishop of Basra on Tuesday canceled the celebration of Christmas in that southern city to protest the deaths of a brother and sister, both Christians, as bombings and mayhem struck at cities throughout Iraq." ... "Archbishop Imad al Banna said Christians in Basra should still pray to mark Christmas, but should forgo such celebratory trappings as trees, gift-swapping and family gatherings to protest the deaths of Maysoon Farid, a 30-year-old cashier at a local pharmacy, and her brother Osama, 33. The two were found dead Monday night, dumped in a neighborhood controlled by the Shiite Muslim Mahdi Army militia." ... "Meanwhile, two police officers in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] were killed by a car bomb that struck near the homes of two prominent politicians, while south of Fallujah, in the west, family members mourned a 9-year-old girl who they said was killed by U.S. troops." -By Leila Fadel and Ali al Basri with contributions by Hussein Kadhim in Baghdad and Jamal al Dulaimy

-McClatchy

20071210

Rudy Giuliani

Federal

Energy

Legislation

Politics

Wind

Technology

Environment

2008 Election

Massachusetts

Georgia

Ohio

"Giuliani Firm, Utilities Team Up to Fight Renewable-Energy Plan." ... "A lobbying blitz by some of the U.S.'s biggest utility companies is likely to strangle the most potent provision in energy legislation that's making its way through Congress." ... "[Atlanta, Georgia-based] Southern Co., [Ohio based] American Electric Power Co. and other producers hired top Washington lobbyists, including [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's firm, to help defeat a measure that would force them to boost electricity generated by wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy to 15 percent of the U.S. total by 2020. That's up from less than 2 percent today, and is a move the industry says would cost at least $67 billion." ... "The Senate failed on Dec. 7 to get the 60 votes needed to move the legislation, a day after the House of Representatives approved it. To get the bill to [Republican] President George W. Bush's desk this year and steer clear of a White House veto threat, the Senate will probably have to pass a weakened measure." ... "``The lobbying effort led by Southern Co. is the principal obstacle to America unleashing a renewable-electricity revolution,'' says Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat[ic Representative] who has led the fight for a federal standard on the new energy sources." ... "The legislation pits the utilities and oil companies against wind and solar-electricity producers, as well as venture-capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where former [Democratic] Vice President Al Gore is a partner. Those firms have made billions of dollars in clean-energy-technology investments, which would pay off if the bill becomes law." -By Daniel Whitten and Tina Seeley

-Bloomberg

20071209

Joe Biden -

Investigate -

Military -

Government -

Intelligence -

Terrorism -

Videotapes -

Censorship -

Politics -

Delaware - 2008 Election

"Biden calls for Special Counsel to investigate CIA." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Delaware Senator] Sen. Joe Biden, D-Delaware, says the Justice Department needs to go further than it has, by calling for the appointment of Special Counsel to investigate the CIA's destruction of videotapes that included the interrogation of terrorism suspects." ... "“Under federal law, the Attorney General may appoint a Special Counsel to prosecute matters when he or she determines that an investigation by the Department itself would present a conflict of interest, or there are other extraordinary circumstances and it would be in the public interest to do so. I believe these conditions are met," the Democratic presidential hopeful said in a news release Sunday." ... "“This is a White House that has sanctioned and pushed for the kind of interrogation techniques captured on those video tapes," Biden said. "This is a White House that was informed of the CIA’s desire to destroy those tapes. Thus, it is possible this investigation could lead to the [Republican President Bush] White House."" -By Jamie Crawford

-CNN

20071208

John Edwards -

United States -

Canada -

Mexico -

Working -

Families -

Multinational -

Corporate -

Media -

Government -

2008 Election -

New Hampshire

"Edwards Condemns NAFTA." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said Saturday he wants to replace the empty promise that NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] would create millions of jobs with his own promise to be a tough negotiator on trade deals." ... "On the 14th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Edwards condemned the deal that lowered trade barriers between the United States and Canada and Mexico, arguing that it has paved the way for a series of deals that put the interests of multinational corporations ahead of working families." ... ""NAFTA was sold to the American people with promises that it would grow the economy and create millions of new jobs. But today, we know those promises were empty," he said. "In all three countries, it has hurt workers and families while helping corporate insiders."" ... "He also told voters in Derry [New Hamshire] that those corporate powers are in danger not only of controlling what comes out of government but the election process itself. Responding to a woman who said she resented media conglomerates trying to dictate the outcome of the presidential campaign, Edwards said the concentration of media ownership has become unhealthy for democracy." ... ""This all goes back to the same problem. Are the big corporate interests in Washington going to decide what's going to happen with your democracy and what's going to happen with your government? You can't let them decide what's going to happen with your elections," he said. "Then, they're not only controlling your democracy, they're controlling your elections.""

-AP via -CBSNews

20071207

Iraq

Afghanistan

Military

Families

Politics

Poll

"Bush loses ground with military families." ... "Families with ties to the military, long a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of [Republican] President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority concluding the invasion was not worth it, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found." ... "The views of the military community, which includes active-duty service members, veterans and their family members, mirror those of the overall adult population, a sign that the strong military endorsement that the [Republican President Bush] administration often pointed to has dwindled in the war's fifth year." ... "Nearly six out of every 10 military families disapprove of Bush's job performance and the way he has run the war, rating him only slightly better than the general population does." ... "And among those families with soldiers, sailors and Marines who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, 60% say that the war in Iraq was not worth the cost, the same result as all adults surveyed." ... "Military families are only slightly more patient: 35% are willing to stay until victory; 58% want the troops home within a year or sooner." ... "When military families were asked which party could be trusted to do a better job of handling issues related to them, respondents divided almost evenly: 39% said Democrats and 35% chose Republicans." -By Faye Fiore

-LAtimes

20071206

Secret -

Porter J Goss -

Michael V Hayden -

Military -

Government -

Terrorism -

Intelligence -

Videotapes -

Censorship -

Officers -

Safety -

Prisoner -

Torture -

War Crimes -

Law -

Politics

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

-NYTimes

20071205

US -

Iran -

Nuclear -

Military -

Intelligence -

Politics

"Bush told in August that Iran nuke program 'may be suspended'." ... "[Republican] President Bush was told in August that Iran's nuclear weapons program "may be suspended," the White House said Wednesday, which seemingly contradicts the account of the meeting given by Bush Tuesday." ... "[Admiral] Adm. Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, told Bush the new information might cause intelligence officials to change their assessment of the Iranian program, but said analysts needed to review the new data before making a final judgment, White House press secretary Dana Perino said late Wednesday." ... ""Director McConnell said that the new information might cause the intelligence community to change its assessment of Iran's covert nuclear program, but the intelligence community was not prepared to draw any conclusions at that point in time, and it wouldn't be right to speculate until they had time to examine and analyze the new data," Perino said in a statement issued by the White House." ... "The new account from Perino seems to contradict the president's version of his August conversation with McConnell and raised new questions about why Bush continued to warn the American public about a threat from Iran two months after being told a new assessment was in the works." -By Ed Henry

-CNN

20071204

Rudolph W Giuliani -

Terrorism -

Politics -

Legislation -

United States -

Foreign -

Ethiopia -

Maryland -

Texas -

2008 Election

"Giuliani’s Firm Lobbied for Bill Considered Threat." ... "Although [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudolph W. Giuliani is campaigning as President Bush’s staunch ally in the war on terror, his law office has lobbied Congress on behalf of legislation that the Bush administration calls a threat to antiterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa." ... "Mr. Giuliani was not personally involved in the lobbying last year on behalf of the company’s client, the American wing of a dissident Ethiopian political party known as the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, leaders of the group said." ... "But the firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, used Mr. Giuliani’s name in its pitch to win the assignment, and his clout was a reason it landed the job, said Seyoum Solomon, an Ethiopian-American from Maryland who helped negotiate the deal." ... "The lobbying contract, signed in January 2006, is one of the few that Mr. Giuliani’s firm, based in Houston [Texas], has had with clients looking to influence United States foreign policy." ... "The law firm, which Mr. Giuliani joined in 2005 and which pays him more than $1 million a year, specializes in corporate finance and energy matters." (1, 2) -By Eric Lipton and Russ Buettner with contributions by Jeffrey Gettleman

-NYTimes

20071203

Noteworthy -

Housing -

Consumers -

Employed -

People -

Fla

"Foreclosure gridlock threatens economy: Millions 'in limbo' face possible default as adjustable mortgages reset." ... "Like a lot of Americans, Anne Violette is having trouble with her mortgage." ... "Violette, a self-employed photographer, moved to Delray Beach, Fla. [Florida], in 2004 and bought a home with a 30-year fixed-rate loan. A year later, she said, a friend in the mortgage industry sold her on the idea of refinancing with an adjustable-rate mortgage that saved her hundreds of dollars a month." ... "Violette said her problems began when she learned that the rate on her loan could nearly double, despite assurances that it would not rise more than a half-percent a year for the first three years. Eventually her monthly payments rose by $900, and she was unable to keep up. She began making calls to the lender, moving from one department to another, to see if she could work out a payment plan." ... "“They say, 'I’m sorry, but we can’t restructure your loan until you’re caught up,'” she said. “But I keep saying, ‘I can never be caught up until you restructure my loan.'”" ... "After more phone calls, Violette found a bank representative who agreed to help modify her mortgage. That was in August. The bank had her house appraised, but then she got a letter from another bank saying they had taken over her loan. In October, she called the first bank to find out where things stood and learned that the title company she used when she bought the house is out of business and that her loan is "in limbo," she said." ... "As consumers watch home prices slump and their equity melt away, some economists fear the housing recession could spill over to the broader economy." ... "25Over the next four years, some $1.5 trillion in mortgages are scheduled to reset, according to an analysis by Credit Suisse." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By John W. Schoen

-MSNBC

20071202

Iraq -

Religious -

Freedom -

Terrorism -

History -

People -

US -

Military

"Vicar: Dire Times For Iraq's Christians: Tells 60 Minutes Most Of Iraq's Christians Have Fled Or Been Killed." ... "From the time of Jesus, there have been Christians in what is now Iraq. The Christian community took root there after the Apostle Thomas headed east." ... "But now, after nearly 2,000 years, Iraqi Christians are being hunted, murdered and forced to flee -- persecuted on a biblical scale in Iraq's religious civil war. You'd have to be mad to hold a Christian service in Iraq today, but if you must, then the vicar of Baghdad [Iraq's capital] is your man. He's the Reverend Canon Andrew White, an Anglican chaplain who suffers from multiple sclerosis and from a fanatical determination to save the last Iraqi Christians from the purge." ... "He was first sent to Baghdad by the Archbishop of Canterbury nine years ago, well before the Christian persecution." ... ""You were here during Saddam’s reign. And now after. Which was better? Which was worse?" [60 minutes correspondent Scott] Pelley asked." ... ""The situation now is clearly worse” than under Saddam, White replied." ... ""There’s no comparison between Iraq now and then," he told Pelley. "Things are the most difficult they have ever been for Christians. Probably ever in history. They’ve never known it like now."" ... "To understand the history of Iraqi Christianity, start with the Last Supper. One saint to the right of Jesus is the Apostle Thomas, who took the gospel and headed east after the death of Christ." ... "In modern times, under Saddam, Christians were treated much the same as Muslims; Saddam's right hand man, Tariq Aziz, was Christian." ... "Before the war, it's estimated there were about a million Christians in Iraq. They were a small minority, but free to worship, free to build churches, and free to speak the ancient language of Jesus, Aramaic. But, after the invasion, Muslim militants launched a war on each other and the cross." ... "On Sunday, Aug. 1, 2004, five churches were bombed. The Iraqi Christian community, which had survived invasions by Mongols and Turks, was driven out under American occupation. No one can be sure, but Canon White estimates most of Iraq's Christians have fled or been killed. Those still here are too old, too ill or too poor to run." ... "There seems to be less violence now in part because of the surge of U.S. forces but also because the purge of Christians from Dora is largely complete." (1, 2, 3) -Contributed to by Scott Pelley

-60 minutes -CBSNews

20071201

Secret

Rudy Giuliani

Cops

Car

Family

Travel

Gas

Account

New York

Pennsylvania

Christmas

2008 Election

"City taxpayers picked up tab for Judith Giuliani's visit to kin in Pennsylvania." ... "In the fall of 2001, [New York City, New York] city cops chauffeured [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's then-mistress, Judith Nathan, to her parents' Pennsylvania home 130 miles away on the taxpayers' dime." ... "Records show that city cops refueled at an ExxonMobil station down the road from Nathan's childhood home in Hazleton on Oct. 20, 2001, while Giuliani stayed behind in New York attending 9/11 funerals." ... "A similar receipt pops up at a different Hazleton gas station two months later, when Nathan apparently went home for a pre-Christmas visit with her parents." ... "The records show that - in addition to using [New York] City Hall funds to take Giuliani and Nathan to 11 secret trysts in the Hamptons, as has been previously reported - taxpayers were paying to ferry Nathan on long-distance trips without Giuliani, now a Republican contender for President." ... "The expenses were all paid with a City Hall American Express card funded with money from mayoral office units that had nothing to do with travel or security." -By Michael Saul and David Saltonstall

-NYDailyNews.com

20071130

John Edwards -

Des-Moines -

Iowa -

Economic -

2008 Election -

2004 Election

"The evolution of John Edwards." ... "At its core, Edwards' message of fairness is the same in his 2008 [Election] campaign it was in 2004 [Election], scholars and political observers say. However, it is sharper and more confrontational, reflecting the increased urgency felt by Democratic voters to reverse course, and the pressure on the candidate to remain relevant in an altered political environment." ... "But rather than targeting the [Republican President] Bush administration, he has trained his assault on corporate interests." ... ""Anybody who's really been watching for the whole time and is thinking about it would see there's a very clear pattern to this," Edwards said in a Des Moines Register interview. "If you were to sort of sum it up, what I would say is in 2004, I talked about two Americas. In 2008, I'm talking about taking on the fight and the substance necessary to create one America."" ... "Edwards is referring to the metaphor that fueled his late Iowa surge and second-place caucus finish in 2004. In a Des Moines [Iowa] speech in late December 2003, he condemned the notion of "one America that does the work and another that reaps the reward."" ... "But Edwards is more combative this time around. He is no longer content to talk about economic inequity - he prescribes an aggressive effort to root out special interests in Washington, D.C." ... ""It is time to give these entrenched interests, that are standing against America, hell," Edwards told thousands of Iowa Democrats this month at the state party's fall fundraiser in Des Moines. "That's the only way we're going to win this fight."" -By Thomas Beaumont

-DesMoinesRegister

20071129

Home -

Building -

Markets

"Home prices: Worst drop since '70: New home prices were down 13% in October, yet sales pace still falls well short of forecasts. August and September sales reading cut." ... "The biggest plunge in new home prices in 37 years was not enough to revive October sales, according to the government's latest reading on the battered housing and home building markets." ... "Also depressing sales and prices was a record 191,000 completed new homes on the market that have not yet been sold." ... "The report showed that the median price of a new home sold in October plunged 13 percent from year-earlier levels to $217,800. It was most severe year-over-year drop since September 1970, when the median price was only $22,600, or less than the cost of a typical new car purchase today." ... "And the price figure may actually be underestimating how the bottom has fallen out of prices in recent months." -By Chris Isidore

-CNN

20071128

Rudy Giuliani -

Travel -

Politics -

New York -

Police -

Government -

Law -

2008 Election

"Giuliani billed obscure agencies for trips." ... "As [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records." ... "The documents, obtained by Politico under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants." ... "At the time, the mayor’s office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing “security.”" ... "The Hamptons visits resulted in hotel, gas and other costs for Giuliani’s New York Police Department security detail." -By: Ben Smith

-Politico.com

20071127

Mitt Romney

Religious

Politics

Government

National-Security

2008 Election

People

Massachusetts

Foreign

"Religious Minority Candidate Mitt Romney Comes Out In Favor Of Religious Bigotry." ... "In a recent interview with [2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former conservative Fox News pundit Mansoor Ijaz asked the former [Massachusetts] governor whether he would consider nominating a Muslim to be a member of his national security cabinet. Ijaz reports:"

I asked Mr. Romney whether he would consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that “jihadism” is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today. [Emphasis added:] He answered, “…based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration.”

"Note to Romney: As a Mormon running for President, you’re going to need to come up with a better justification for religious bigotry against Muslims." ... "According to the CIA World Factbook (which uses 2002 numbers), Mormons comprise just 2 percent of the U.S. population, while Jews and Muslims comprise 1 percent each. Based on 2001 numbers, there were 2.8 million Mormons and 1.1 million Muslims in the United States. Surveys since that time indicate that the number of Muslims may have eclipsed the number of Mormons living in the U.S." -By Faiz Shakir

-ThinkProgress.org

20071126

Trent Lott -

Mississippi -

South Carolina -

Racism -

History -

2008 Election -

2012 Election

"Trent Lott announces his resignation." ... "Mississippi [Republican Senator] Sen. Trent Lott, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, announced Monday he will retire from the Senate by end of year." ... "Lott's colleagues elected him as the Senate's Republican whip last year, a redemption for the Mississippian after his ouster five years ago as the party's Senate leader over remarks he made at retiring [Republican Senator] Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party. Lott had saluted the South Carolina senator with comments later interpreted as support for southern segregationist policies." ... "Mississippi's [Republican Governor] Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, will appoint Lott's temporary replacement, who will serve until the 2008 elections, when voters will elect someone to serve out the balance of Lott's term, which runs through 2012." ... "The smooth-spoken Lott found himself in hot water in December 2002 after Thurmond's party. Lott said Mississippi voters were proud to have supported Thurmond when he ran for president on a segregationist platform in 1948, and added: "If the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either.""

-MSNBC

20071125

Fred Thompson -

TV -

Business -

Politics -

2008 Election -

Tennessee -

New Hampshire -

South Carolina

"Thompson charges Fox News is biased against his campaign." ... "Former [Tennessee Republican Senator and 2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) suggested on Sunday that Fox News is biased against his campaign, charging that the network highlights commentators who have been critical of his run for the presidency." ... "In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," host Chris Wallace pressed Thompson on how some conservatives have lambasted Thompson's campaign and showed clips of Fox conservative commentators Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes criticizing the former senator." ... "Thompson said, "This has been a constant mantra of Fox, to tell you the truth." He noted that other conservatives have praised his bid for the GOP nomination and took issue with a Fox promo that focused on polling in New Hampshire, where Thompson is registering in the single digits." ... "He said he is running second in national polls and has been leading or tied for the lead in South Carolina for "a long, long time."" ... "Thompson, in a firm, but measured tone, scolded Wallace: "...for you to highlight nothing but the negatives in terms of the polls and then put on your own guys who have been predicting for four months, really, that I couldn't do it, kind of skew things a little bit. There's a lot of other opinion out there."\" -By Bob Cusack

-TheHill.com

20071124

United States -

Iraq -

Military -

Politics -

Economic -

History

"Ex-coalition leader says Bush failed to have plan: Sanchez: It's time to withdraw troops, let Iraq take responsibility." ... "Retired Army [Lieutenant General] Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who led coalition forces through the first critical year of Iraq's insurgency, said Saturday in a nationally broadcast radio address that [Republican] President Bush had failed to "devise a strategy for victory" and that the time had come to withdraw U.S. troops." ... "In the Democratic rebuttal to Bush's weekly radio address, Sanchez offered conditional support to a House war funding bill that requires combat troops to be out of Iraq by the end of 2008." ... "As the coalition commander, Sanchez said in Saturday's broadcast, he personally witnessed "the administration's failure to devise a strategy for victory in Iraq that employed, in a coordinated manner, the political, economic, diplomatic and military power of the United States. That failure continues today."" ... "He predicted it would take at least a decade to reverse the damage done to the Army's ability to fight future wars." ... "The service, he added, is at its "lowest level"of force readiness since Vietnam." -By Sig Christenson

-MySanAntonio.com via -Chron

20071122

Afghanistan -

Terrorism -

Politics -

American -

"Afghanistan 'falling into hands of Taliban'." ... "The Taliban has a permanent presence in 54% of Afghanistan and the country is in serious danger of falling into Taliban hands, according to a report by an independent thinktank with long experience in the area." ... "Despite tens of thousands of Nato-led troops and billions of dollars in aid poured into the country, the insurgents, driven out by the American invasion in 2001, now control "vast swaths of unchallenged territory, including rural areas, some district centres, and important road arteries", the Senlis Council says in a report released yesterday." ... "On the basis of what it calls exclusive research, it warns that the insurgency is also exercising a "significant amount of psychological control, gaining more and more political legitimacy in the minds of the Afghan people who have a long history of shifting alliances and regime change"." ... "It says the territory controlled by the Taliban has increased and the frontline is getting closer to Kabul [Afghanistan's capital] - a warning echoed by the UN which says more and more of the country is becoming a "no go" area for western aid and development workers." -By Richard Norton-Taylor

-Guardian.co.uk

20071121

Secret -

Rudolph Giuliani -

Nevada -

New York -

US -

Singapore -

China -

North Korea -

International -

Crime -

Law -

2008 Election

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

-ChicagoTribune

20071120

Dick Cheney -

Karl Rove -

I Lewis "Scooter" Libby -

Intelligence -

Law -

Politics -

Book

"McClellan blames Bush for CIA leak deceit: Former spokesman says both president and vice president involved." ... "Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames [Republican] President Bush and [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] operative." ... "In an excerpt from his forthcoming book ["What Happened"], McClellan recount the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby were "not involved" in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame." ... ""There was one problem. It was not true," McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Monday. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president's chief of staff and the president himself."" ... "Bush's chief of staff at the time was Andrew Card."

-AP via -MSNBC

20071119

Military -

People -

Money -

Politics

"Wounded Soldier: Military Wants Part Of Bonus Back." ... "The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments." ... "To get people to sign up, the military gives enlistment bonuses up to $30,000 in some cases." ... "Now men and women who have lost arms, legs, eyesight, hearing and can no longer serve are being ordered to pay some of that money back." -By Marty Griffin

-KDKA.com

20071116

United Arab Emirates -

US -

Military -

Computer-

Technology

"Abu Dhabi buys stake in AMD." ... "Abu Dhabi's [United Arab Emirates' capital] Mubadala Development Co said on Friday it had bought 8.1 percent of U.S.-based Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the second-largest maker of computer processors." ... ""We have already bought the stake as of today," Mubdala's chief operating officer, Waleed al-Mokarrab al-Muhairi, told Reuters in a text message." ... "He did not say how much Mubadala, owned by the government of the world's sixth-largest oil exporter, had paid for the stake." ... "Still the deal could attract the attention of the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment, which vets acquisitions by overseas investors, particularly in technology and defense companies, on national security grounds, it said." (1, 2) -By Dayan Candappa with contributions by Valerie Lee, Justin Grant and Quentin Bryar

-Reuters

20071115

Bernard Kerik -

Rudolph Giuliani -

Media -

TV -

Business -

Politics -

Police -

Government -

New York -

History -

2008 Election

"Regan opens Fox's can of worms: Judith Regan's lawsuit against Fox sets up the possibility of some very interesting disclosures, says Richard Aregood." ... "Her most recent fame came from her role as the paramour of the former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, meeting him for assignations in a city apartment intended to provide respite for 9/11 rescue workers." ... "News Corporation owns, among other properties, the New York Post, the 20th Century Fox movie studio, DirecTV, the Fox Network, Fox News and the recently acquired Wall Street Journal." ... "The Fox News chief, Roger Ailes, is a long-time Republican activist dating back to the days of the [Republican President] Richard Nixon administration, and a close associate of former New York mayor and [2008 Eelction] Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani." ... "Ailes managed Giuliani's first and unsuccessful race for mayor in 1989, and Giuliani later officiated at Ailes's wedding. When Fox News was a start-up, then-Mayor Giuliani pushed so hard to force cable networks such as Time-Warner to carry it that a federal judge hearing a subsequent lawsuit blocked the mayor's plan to put Fox on a city-owned channel, calling it "special advocacy" to "reward a friend and further a political viewpoint". Guiliani was a highly visible tablemate and guest of Ailes and Fox at the most recent White House Correspondents' Dinner." ... "Regan's 70-page filing, in spite of its frustrating lack of elaboration on its most spectacular allegations, paints a picture at considerable variance from the 24-hour news network's "fair and balanced" slogan." ... "Her central point, which might seem credible to anyone who has seen a Sean Hannity-Giuliani televised lovefest, is that Fox's coverage of the presidential race is determined by its desire to promote Giuliani. In fact, she alleges in court papers that "a senior executive" had advised Regan to "lie to, and withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik"." ... "Indeed", it adds, "another News Corp. executive similarly advised Regan not to produce clearly relevant documents in connection with the government's investigation of Kerik"." ... "This "senior executive", she says, tried to go beyond withholding facts from federal investigators that might hurt Guiliani or Kerik, his partner in the security consulting firm Giuliani Partners. "In fact", the suit says, "as is typically done when Fox News on-air talent and commentators receive their 'talking points', this executive attempted to influence any information that Regan might be asked to give regarding Kerik"."

-Guardian.co.uk

20071114

Children -

Food -

Poverty -

Homeless

"Over 35.5 million found hungry in 2006." ... "More than 35.5 million people in this country went hungry in 2006 as they struggled to find jobs that can support them, a figure that was virtually unchanged from the previous year, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday." ... "Single mothers and their children were among the most likely to suffer, according to the study." ... "The 35.5 million people represented more than 1 in 10, or 12.1 percent, who said they did not have enough money or resources to get food for at least some period during the year, according to the department's annual hunger survey. That is compared with 35.1 million people who made similar claims in 2005." ... "The survey was based on Census Bureau data and does not include the homeless. About three-quarters of a million people were homeless on a given day in 2005, according to federal estimates." ... "Of the 35.5 million people reporting periods of hunger last year, 12.6 million were children." -By Hope Yen

-AP via -SeattlePI

20071113

Family

Law

Politics

"Buffett: Tax my kin, please: One of the world's richest men will have an opportunity to revive his campaign to preserve the estate tax at a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday." ... "Warren Buffett has said it before and he's likely to say it again to Congress on Wednesday: He thinks the heirs of the wealthy should be taxed on their inheritance." ... "Buffett, one of the world's richest men and now its biggest philanthropist, has been an outspoken critic of efforts to repeal the estate tax and is scheduled to testify at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on how current law affects estate tax planning." ... ""Without the estate tax, you in effect will have an aristocracy of wealth, which means you pass down the ability to command the resources of the nation based on heredity rather than merit," Buffett told the New York Times in 2001. "[Repeal would be like] choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."" ... "Typically, fewer than 2 percent of deaths result in estates sizeable enough to be subject to the estate tax. In 2006, for example, less than 1 percent resulted in taxable estates." ... "It's estimated that the estate tax will raise roughly $355 billion over the next 10 years under current law, according to the Tax Policy Center." -By Jeanne Sahadi

-CNN

20071112

Al Gore -

US -

Global -

Climate -

Planet -

Environment -

Energy -

Technology -

Politics -

Lawmakers

"Al Gore's next act: Planet-saving VC: The recovering politician is teaming with a legendary venture capitalist and bigtime moneyman to make over the $6 trillion global energy business. A Fortune exclusive." ... "[Former Democratic Vice President Al] Gore appears utterly comfortable with this drill, but in fact he's engaging in some on-the-job training. The recovering politician, environmental activist, and Nobel laureate is adding another title to his résumé: venture capitalist. After "a conversation that's gone on for a year and a half," according to Gore, he has decided to join his old pal John Doerr as an active, hands-on partner at Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley's preeminent venture firm." ... "According to Doerr, by 2009 more than a third of Kleiner's latest fund, which was raised in 2006 and totals $600 million, will be invested in technologies that aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Already Kleiner has invested more than $270 million from various funds in 26 companies that make everything from microbes that scrub old oil wells to electric cars to noncorn ethanol. Twelve of Kleiner's 22 partners now spend some or all of their time on green investments." ... "In turn, Doerr, the master networker whose greatest hits include initial investments in Netscape, Amazon (Charts, Fortune 500), and Google (Charts, Fortune 500), will join the exclusive advisory board of Generation Investment Management. That's the $1 billion investment company Gore started three years ago in London with David Blood, the former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, to analyze and invest in publicly traded "sustainable" companies. Over the past five weeks Gore, Doerr, and Blood agreed to give Fortune an exclusive look at their new alliance." ... "Already they've begun to pool information. Generation came across a small company engaged in carbon trading that Kleiner is analyzing, and Kleiner has shared intelligence about which startups could threaten the established companies in Generation's portfolio. In the long term, though, they want to help drive something much larger, "bigger than the Industrial Revolution and significantly faster," as Gore puts it." ... "They argue that to halt global warming, nothing less will be required than a makeover of the $6 trillion global energy business. Coal plants, gas stations, the internal-combustion engine, petrochemicals, plastic bags, even bottled water will have to give way to clean, green, sustainable technologies. "What we are going to have to put in place is a combination of the Manhattan Project, the Apollo project, and the Marshall Plan, and scale it globally," Gore continues. "It'd be promising too much to say we can do it on our own, but we intend to do our part."" (1, 2, 3) -By Marc Gunther and Adam Lashinsky

-Fortune via -CNN

20071111

US -

Iraq -

Criminal -

Business -

Military -

Politics -

Accounting

"Broken Supply Channel Sent Weapons for Iraq Astray." ... "As the insurgency in Iraq escalated in the spring of 2004, American officials entrusted an Iraqi businessman with issuing weapons to Iraqi police cadets training to help quell the violence." ... "By all accounts, the businessman, Kassim al-Saffar, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, did well at distributing the Pentagon-supplied weapons from the Baghdad Police Academy armory he managed for a military contractor. But, co-workers say, he also turned the armory into his own private arms bazaar with the seeming approval of some American officials and executives, selling AK-47 assault rifles, Glock pistols and heavy machine guns to anyone with cash in hand — Iraqi militias, South African security guards and even American contractors." ... "“This was the craziest thing in the world,” said John Tisdale, a retired Air Force master sergeant who managed an adjacent warehouse. “They were taking weapons away by the truckload.”" ... "Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the American military lost track of some 190,000 pistols and automatic rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq’s security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors discovered in the past year." ... "These discoveries prompted criminal inquiries by the Pentagon and the Justice Department, and stoked fears that the arms could fall into enemy hands and be used against American troops. So far, no missing weapons have been linked to any American deaths, but investigators say that in a country awash with weapons, it may be impossible to trace where some ended up." ... "While the Pentagon has yet to offer its own accounting of how the weapons channel broke down, it is clear from interviews with two dozen military and civilian investigators, contracting officers, warehouse managers and others that military expediency sometimes ran amok, the lines between legal and illegal were blurred and billions of dollars in arms were handed over to shoestring commands without significant oversight." ... "Some investigators said that because military suppliers to the war zone were not required to record serial numbers, it was unlikely that the authorities would ever be able to tell where the weapons went." ... "Many of those weapons were issued when [General] Gen. David H. Petraeus, now the top American commander in Iraq, was responsible for training and equipping Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005. " (1, 2, 3) -By Eric Schmitt and Ginger Thompson with contributions by Margot Williams and James Glanz

-NYTimes

20071110

Bernard Kerik -

Rudy Giuliani -

Money -

Politics -

Police -

2008 Election

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

-NYDailyNews.com

20071109

John McCain -

Rudolph Giuliani -

Bernard Kerik -

US -

Iraq -

Police -

Military -

Torture -

Prisoner -

Law -

Politics -

2008 Election -

New York -

World -

Religion

"McCain questions Giuliani's judgment." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain told reporters he had never approved of [former New York City, New York police commissioner Bernard] Kerik as a candidate for head of the DHS [Department of Homeland Security]." ... ""I went to Baghdad [Iraq's capital] shortly after the initial victory and met in Baghdad with Bremer, Sanchez and Kerik was there,” McCain said referencing former L. Paul Bremmer and [Lieutenant General] Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. “Kerik was supposed to be there to help train the police force. He stayed two months and one day just left.”" ... ""That's why I never would have supported him to be the head of Homeland Security because of his irresponsible act when he was over there in Baghdad to try to help train the police."" ... "McCain also rebuked the [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Rudolph Giuliani and former] New York mayor for his unwillingness to categorize water boarding as torture." ... ""He doesn't understand. He doesn't have the experience or judgment to lead this nation," McCain, a former prisoner of war, told reporters." ... ""I mean this is a defining issue about America. It means that he clearly does not understand the moral implications of torturing someone and what it does to our standing in the world and what it does to our ability to win this struggle to win radical Islamic

20071108

Edwards -

Obama -

Hillary -

Giuliani -

Military -

Money -

Terrorism -

Safety -

Des-Moines -

Iowa -

North Carolina -

Illinois -

2008 Election

"Edwards Picked Over Obama as 'The Un-Hillary': Former North Carolina Senator Nabs Coveted Iowa Endorsement." ... "Caucus4Priorities, a group seeking to redirect spending from the Pentagon to domestic needs, plans to endorse [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards Friday in Des Moines [Iowa]." ... "The decision to endorse Edwards over Illinois [Senator and 2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Sen. Barack Obama came down to "courage versus caution," according to the group's executive director." ... "He impressed the group on Oct. 26 when he demonstrated during an Iowa town-hall meeting that he would not back down in the face of Republican attacks. The day before, during an interview with a conservative talk-show host, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate Rudolph] Giuliani said that Democratic support for lower Pentagon spending showed a lack of concern for what Giuliani calls "the terrorists' war on us."" ... ""Edwards gave an excellent answer," said Huppert. "He said we have to stop buying into their frame which equates spending money on the Pentagon with keeping us safe. He also said we can't have a Democratic candidate who cowers and runs away from this issue."" ... ""For whatever reason," she said, "John Edwards has decided he is going to take this on and he has staked out the position quite convincingly of being the un-Hillary."" (1, 2) -By Teddy Davis

-ABCNEWS.com

20071107

Children -

Safety -

Science -

US -

Australia -

Canada -

China -

Manufacture -

Industry -

Christmas

"'Date rape' drug scare in popular toy: Chinese-made craft beads pulled from shelves in U.S. and Australia." ... "A toy that has been hyped on top-10 lists for the Christmas season has been pulled from the shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found it contains a chemical that converts into a powerful "date rape" drug when ingested." ... "Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the Chinese-made craft beads, called Aqua Dots in the U.S. and Bindeez in Australia." ... "Aqua Dots, distributed by Toronto[Canada]-based Spin Master Toys, appeared on many toy experts' list of must-have holiday toys." ... "Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. The compound -- made from common and easily available ingredients -- can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death." ... "The toys' manufacturer, Australia-based Moose Enterprises, said Bindeez and Aqua Dots are made at the same factory in Shenzhen in China's southern Guangdong province."

-AP via -SeattlePI

20071106

Dick Cheney -

Dennis Kucinich -

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Intelligence -

Law -

Ohio -

2008 Election

"Debate on Cheney impeachment averted." ... "House Democrats on Tuesday narrowly managed to avert a bruising debate on a proposal to impeach [Republican Vice President] Dick Cheney after Republicans, in a surprise maneuver, voted in favor of taking up the measure." ... "Republicans, changing course midway through a vote, tried to force Democrats into a debate on the resolution sponsored by longshot [2008 Election Democratic] presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich." ... "The anti-war Ohio Democrat, in his resolution, accused Cheney of purposely leading the country into war against Iraq and manipulating intelligence about Iraq's ties with al-Qaida." ... "The resolution said that Cheney, "in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of vice president," had "purposely manipulated the intelligence process to deceive the citizens and Congress of the United States by fabricating a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the use of the U.S. Armed Forces against the nation of Iraq in a manner damaging to our national security interests."" -By Jim Abrams

-AP via -Yahoo

20071105

John McCain -

Rudy Giuliani -

Michael B Mukasey -

Torture -

Military -

Intelligence -

Law -

New York -

2008 Election

"Torture debate between McCain, Giuliani, gets personal." ... "The Republican debate over torture has become a debate over resumes, as [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain warns from personal experience about the dangers of harsh questioning and [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani takes credit for his skill with it as a prosecutor." ... "“When someone says waterboarding is similar to harsh interrogation techniques used against the mafia in New York City, they do not have enough experience to lead our military,” McCain said Sunday night at a town-hall meeting here." ... "McCain, a leading critic of attorney-general nominee Michael B. Mukasey’s refusal to define waterboarding as illegal, was responding to comments made Friday by Giuliani in which the former U.S. attorney – in broad, unspecific terms – appeared to defend the practice. " -By Sasha Issenberg

-Boston/Globe

20071104

Fred D Thompson -

Criminal -

Drug -

Money -

Jet -

2008 Election

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

-WashingtonPost

20071102

Nancy Nord -

Children -

Safety -

Politics -

Government -

Consumer -

Law -

Enforcement -

Manufacturer -

Travel -

Money -

China -

Spain -

US -

San Francisco -

California -

New Orleans -

Louisiana -

"Industries Paid for Top Regulators' Travel: Two Heads of Product Safety Agency Accepted Trips From Manufacturer Groups." ... "The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards." ... "The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco [California], New Orleans [Louisiana] and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C. [South Carolina.]" ... "Consumer groups and lawmakers intensified their criticism of the CPSC this summer after several highly publicized recalls of Chinese-made toys that contained hazardous levels of lead. Critics have long charged that the agency has become too close to regulated industries, opting for "voluntary" standards and repeatedly choosing not to take legal action against businesses that refuse to recall dangerous products." ... "Government-wide travel regulations state that officials from agencies such as the CPSC should not accept money for travel from nonfederal sources if the payments "would cause a reasonable person . . . to question the integrity of agency programs or operations."" ... ""This is a blatant violation of the ethics code," said Craig Holman, an expert on governmental ethics law for the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen." ... "The records show that Nord and Stratton repeatedly accepted gift travel for events from industries subject to CPSC enforcement." (1, 2, 3) -By Elizabeth Williamson

-WashingtonPost

20071101

Nancy Nord

China

Manufacturers

Children

Safety

Politics

Government

Consumer

Law

Enforcement

Illinois

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

-SunTimes.com

20071030

Michael B Mukasey -

Rudolph W Giuliani -

John McCain -

Prisoner -

Torture -

Law -

Opinion - Classified -

Government -

Politics -

Intelligence -

History -

New York -

Arizona

"Mukasey Unsure About Legality of Waterboarding." ... "In an effort to quell growing doubts in the Senate about his nomination as [Republican President Bush's] attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey on Tuesday declared that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques “seem over the line or, on a personal basis, repugnant to me” and promised to review the legality of all such techniques if confirmed." ... "But Mr. Mukasey told Senate Democrats he could not offer an opinion on whether waterboarding, which simulates drowning, is illegal torture because he has not been briefed on the details of the classified technique and does not want to suggest that Central Intelligence Agency officers who have used such techniques may be in “personal legal jeopardy.”" ... "Mr. Mukasey noted that Congress had not explicitly banned the use of waterboarding by the Central Intelligence Agency, though the method was outlawed for use by the military in the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. That left room for interpretation as to whether waterboarding or any other technique is prohibited as “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” treatment, he wrote." ... "All 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote to Mr. Mukasey last week asking that he clarify his position on waterboarding. “Your unwillingness to state that waterboarding is illegal may place Americans at risk of being subject to this abusive technique,” the senators wrote." ... "Last week, after [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor, said he wasn’t sure about waterboarding because he thought “the liberal media” might not have described it properly, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Senator John McCain of Arizona, who was tortured himself as a prisoner in North Vietnam, shot back." ... "“All I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition, it was used in Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia, and there are reports that it is being used against Buddhist monks today,” Mr. McCain said." -By Scott Shane

-NYTimes

20071029

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Government -

Politician -

EMail -

2008 Election -

Computer -

Web -

Hacking

"Gen. Petraeus' Spokesman Denies Sending Angry Email -- Plot Thickens." ... "A disturbing email allegedly sent by a top U.S. military spokesman to a leading blogger at Salon.com this past weekend is just starting to draw mainstream attention. Howard Kurtz at The Washington Post mentioned it today, for example. It requires a good deal of background information to fully appreciate it, so I will provide a link to Glenn Greenwald’s blog page at Salon where he offered extensive postings (and updates) Sunday [*] and today [*] about the email purportedly from Army [Colonel] Col. Steven Boylan. But E&P has its own correspondence from Boylan, and I want to focus on that." ... "The long and short of the Greenwald postings: For months the popular blogger -- a former attorney and author of the recent bestseller "A Tragic Legacy" -- has criticized the growing “politicization” of the military attached to Iraq, starting earlier this year and peaking around the appearance of [General] Gen. David Petraeus before Congress (and the media) in September. This was even before William Safire declared, this past weekend, that the general ought to be considered as a running mate for a [2008 Election] Republican candidate for president next year." ... "In the past, Greenwald had received, and printed, emails from Boylan, a public affairs officer and chief spokesman for Gen. Petraeus, denying this trend and/or defending the general. So when he received an angry email from Boylan yesterday, he posted much of it on his blog (and linked to the entire message), while asserting that the views and language in it proved his point about “politicization.”" ... "Then it got really interesting. Boylan in another note to Greenwald seemed to deny that he wrote the email, while denouncing Greenwald for publishing it. But he did not state this clearly and refused to respond to Greenwald’s subsequent request for clarity. Meanwhile, various purported computer experts compared past and present emails from Boylan to Greenwald and suggested (to the latter) that they did seem to come from the same military email address. But no one was certain and, at the least, it raised troubling questions about someone "hijacking" the email account of Gen. Petraeus's chief spokesman. " -By Greg Mitchell

-EditorAndPublisher.com

20071028

India -

US -

Child -

Labor -

Factory -

Christmas -

Clothing

"Indian 'slave' children found making low-cost clothes destined for Gap." ... "Child workers [in India], some as young as 10, have been found working in a textile factory in conditions close to slavery to produce clothes that appear destined for Gap Kids, one of the most successful arms of the high street giant." ... "Speaking to The Observer, the children described long hours of unwaged work, as well as threats and beatings." ... "Gap said it was unaware that clothing intended for the Christmas market had been improperly subcontracted to a sweatshop using child labour. It announced it had withdrawn the garments involved while it investigated breaches of the ethical code imposed by it three years ago." ... "The discovery of the children working in filthy conditions in the Shahpur Jat area of Delhi [India] has renewed concerns about the outsourcing by large retail chains of their garment production to India, recognised by the United Nations as the world's capital for child labour." ... "According to one estimate, more than 20 per cent of India's economy is dependent on children, the equivalent of 55 million youngsters under 14." -By Dan McDougall

-Observer.co.uk via -Guardian.co.uk

20071027

Mitch McConnell -

Criminal -

Money -

Politics -

Military -

KY -

US -

Britain -

Saudi Arabia

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

-Kentucky.com

20071026

John Edwards -

Corporate -

Law -

Kids -

Safety -

Employees -

Food -

Drug -

Des-Moines -

Iowa -

2008 Election

"Edwards Gets Tough on Business." ... "[2008 election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards is targeting Corporate America and what he argues are its corrupt and greedy practices. In a speech today in Des Moines, Iowa, he is outlining his plan to renew the “social contract” between business and government if elected president. “In corporate America, where a broader sense of social responsibility once held sway, a culture of greed has taken over. Instead of treating their employees fairly, being accountable to their shareholders and contributing to America’s prosperity, CEOs act like their corporations exist just to build their own massive fortunes,” says Edwards, according to speech excerpts provided to Washington Wire by his campaign." ... "Edwards is proposing, among other things, universal retirement accounts that employers would be required to provide if they don’t offer pension programs." ... "Edwards is also proposing stronger protections for workers seeking to unionize and increased shareholder rights. And he’s proposing to cap tax-deferred compensation funds for top executives at $1 million annually, and pushing for more disclosure of corporate governance structures, the pay and demographics of top corporate officers, as well as political contributions, government contracts, and taxes paid." ... "He also proposes tougher Food and Drug Administration inspection standards and safety regulations on products, like kids’ toys, made abroad." -By Susan Davis

-WSJ.com

20071025

California -

Wildfire -

Politics -

Government -

Military -

Weather -

Winds

"Aircraft sat as California wildfires took hold." ... "As wildfires were charging across Southern California, nearly two dozen water-dropping helicopters and two massive cargo planes sat idly by, grounded by government rules and bureaucracy." ... "How much the aircraft would have helped will never be known, but their inability to provide quick assistance raises troubling questions about California's preparations for a fire season that was widely expected to be among the worst on record." ... "It took as long as a day for Navy, Marine and California National Guard helicopters to get clearance early this week, in part because state rules require all firefighting choppers to be accompanied by state forestry "fire spotters" who coordinate water or retardant drops. By the time those spotters arrived, the powerful Santa Ana winds stoking the fires had made it too dangerous to fly." ... "The National Guard's C-130 cargo planes, among the most powerful aerial firefighting weapons, never were slated to help. The reason: They've yet to be outfitted with tanks needed to carry thousands of gallons of fire retardant, though that was promised four years ago."

-AP via -CNN

20071024

Government -

Politician -

History

"Bush is the biggest spender since LBJ." ... "[Republican President] George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since [Democratic President] Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he's arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ." ... "“He’s a big government guy,” said Stephen Slivinski, the director of budget studies at Cato Institute, a libertarian research group." ... "The numbers are clear, credible and conclusive, added David Keating, the executive director of the Club for Growth, a budget-watchdog group." ... "“He’s a big spender,” Keating said. “No question about it.”" ... "Take almost any yardstick and Bush generally exceeds the spending of his predecessors." ... "When adjusted for inflation, discretionary spending — or budget items that Congress and the president can control, including defense and domestic programs, but not entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare — shot up at an average annual rate of 5.3 percent during Bush’s first six years, Slivinski calculates." ... "That tops the 4.6 percent annual rate Johnson logged during his 1963-69 presidency." -By David Lightman

-McClatchyDC.com

20071023

US -

Iraq -

Afghanistan -

Military -

Politics

"War costs may total $2.4 trillion." ... "The cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could total $2.4 trillion through the next decade, or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in the country, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate scheduled for release Wednesday." ... "A previous CBO estimate put the wars' costs at more than $1.6 trillion. This one adds $705 billion in interest, taking into account that the conflicts are being funded with borrowed money." -By Ken Dilanian

-USATODAY

20071022

China -

Military

"Hu Stronger As China Communists Regroup." ... "President Hu Jintao emerged politically stronger after the Communist Party handed him a second five-year term on Monday, allowing him a freer hand to manage tensions over a rising wealth gap and boost spending on long-neglected social services." ... "Yet, in a potentially ominous sign, the country's top communists also promoted two potential successors as part of a new leadership lineup." ... "The move, likely a compromise adopted to postpone a final decision, conjured up the potential for internal divisions, an old bugbear for a party obsessed with unity but which has repeatedly suffered near-lethal splits during its history." ... "``We are keenly aware of our difficult tasks and great responsibilities,'' Hu said while introducing the new nine-man Politburo Standing Committee, the party's highest body." ... "Hu was also reappointed chairman of the commission controlling China's 2.3 million-member armed forces, which are officially loyal to the Communist Party, not the Chinese state. Hu wrested that position from his predecessor Jiang Zemin in 2004 as part of a consolidation of his power." -By Christopher Bodeen

-AP via -Guardian.co.uk

20071021

US -

Guantanamo Bay -

Cuba -

Political -

Military -

Prisoner -

Terrorism -

Secret -

Law -

2008 Election - "

Pressure Alleged in Detainees' Hearings: Ex-Prosecutor Says Pentagon Pushing 'Sexy' Cases in '08." ... "Politically motivated officials at the Pentagon have pushed for convictions of high-profile detainees ahead of the 2008 elections, the former lead prosecutor for terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay [Cuba] said last night, adding that the pressure played a part in his decision to resign earlier this month." ... "Senior defense officials discussed in a September 2006 meeting the "strategic political value" of putting some prominent detainees on trial, said Air Force Col. Morris Davis. He said that he felt pressure to pursue cases that were deemed "sexy" over those that prosecutors believed were the most solid or were ready to go." ... "Davis said his resignation was also prompted by newly appointed senior officials seeking to use classified evidence in what would be closed sessions of court, and by almost all elements of the military commissions process being put under the Defense Department general counsel's command, something he believes could present serious conflicts of interest." ... ""There was a big concern that the election of 2008 is coming up," Davis said. "People wanted to get the cases going. There was a rush to get high-interest cases into court at the expense of openness."" -By Josh White

-WashingtonPost

20071020

Noteworthy -

Global -

Climate -

Disaster -

Environment -

Water

"Rising seas threaten 21 mega-cities." ... "Cities around the world are facing the danger of rising seas and other disasters related to climate change." ... "More than one-tenth of the world's population, or 643 million people, live in low-lying areas at risk from climate change, say U.S. and European experts."

-AP via -Yahoo

20071019

Water

Emergency

Weather

Environment

History

Farm

Animals

Food

Georgia

Alabama

North Carolina

Tennessee

Kentucky

"Southeast drought hits crisis point." ... "Outdoor watering bans already cover the northern third of Georgia and dozens of cities, counties and towns in surrounding states. Farmers are selling cattle because pastures have dried up. Alabama's Elmore County had to bring in floating pumps and barges to extend its water intake pipe farther out into shrinking Lake Martin. Georgia might have to do the same at Lake Lanier, Atlanta's main water source." ... "Although rain is due today across parts of the region, it will barely dampen the 16-month drought. Through September, it is the region's driest year in 113 years of record-keeping. In five of the six worst-hit states, rain totals this year are close to a foot below normal." ... "It is the driest year on record for North Carolina and Tennessee, second-driest in Alabama and third-driest in Kentucky. A tree-ring study this summer of Tennessee's rainfall history shows this is the third-driest year for the state in at least 350 years, behind only 1839 and 1708." -By Patrick O'Driscoll and Larry Copeland with contributions by Jordan Schrader, Marty Roney, Leon Alligood, Ron Barnett, Jessie Halladay, Matt Reed, and Jennie Coughlin

-USATODAY

20071018

Randy "Duke" Cunningham -

Brent Wilkes -

Jerry Lewis -

Duncan Hunter -

Tom DeLay -

Roy Blunt -

Dennis Hastert -

Money -

Politics -

Lawmakers -

Travel -

Flying -

Government -

Military -

Intelligence -

San Diego -

California -

Texas -

Missouri -

Hawaii -

Florida -

Nevada -

Idaho -

Illinois

"Witness: Contractor Gave Lawmaker Perks." ... "[Former California Republican Representative Randy "Duke"] Cunningham, a San Diego Republican who held seats on the powerful House intelligence and defense appropriations committees, was elected to eight terms before resigning in 2005. He pleaded guilty that year to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from [Brent] Wilkes and others and is serving an eight-year prison sentence." ... "[Wilkes nephew and employee Joel] Combs testified Wednesday that his uncle communicated with other prominent lawmakers, including California Republicans Jerry Lewis and Duncan Hunter, former House Majority Leader [Republican] Tom DeLay of Texas, Republican Whip [Missouri Representative] Roy Blunt, and Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat." ... "But the relationship with Cunningham was at the center of Wilkes' success in Washington, and Combs said his uncle worked to keep the lawmaker happy - efforts that included staking his nephew money to purposely lose in poker games with the lawmaker." ... "Combs recalled dinners at Washington's fancy Capital Grille restaurant, shooting lessons, and trips to Florida, Las Vegas [Nevada] and Idaho provided by Wilkes for the congressman from 1998 until 2002. During that period, Cunningham made calls to Pentagon officials on Wilkes' behalf and helped secure about $90 million in federal contracts for Wilkes' company." ... "The perks included a $20,000 stay in a private villa at a resort in Hawaii, where Wilkes, Combs and the congressman went diving - an expedition captured in an underwater video that was played for jurors. Combs said he also hired women from an escort service for his uncle and the congressman." ... "Wilkes also paid to fly Cunningham and former House Speaker [Illinois Republican Representative] Dennis Hastert from a golf outing in Palm Springs [California] to San Diego [California] for a reception and then back to Washington on private jets, Combs testified." -By Allison Hoffman

-AP via -Guardian.co.uk

20071017

Mitch McConnell -

Children -

Health -

Politics -

E-Mails -

Media -

Radio -

Ad -

Money -

Kentucky -

Maryland

"McConnell knew of e-mails about boy: TV interview included denial." ... "Senate Minority Leader [Kentucky Republican Senator] Mitch McConnell knew last week --at a time when he was denying it -- that his staff had sent e-mails encouraging reporters to look into the background of a 12-year-old boy used by Democrats to support expansion of a health-care program." ... "In an interview Friday with WHAS-TV reporter Mark Hebert, the Kentucky Republican said his staff had not been involved in trying to push reporters to look into the financial situation of the boy's family." ... "But McConnell's communications director, Don Stewart, said in an interview Monday with The Courier-Journal that he had told McConnell about the Oct. 8 e-mails sometime around Thursday, the day before the interview with Hebert." ... ""The initial e-mails sent by Stewart were aimed at alerting reporters that bloggers were raising questions about the boy, Graeme Frost of Baltimore [Maryland], and his family's financial circumstances. He backed off that claim in his subsequent e-mails, he said, based on a report from a blogger whom he respected." ... "Stewart said he informed McConnell of his personal role in the matter around Thursday." ... "The next day, Friday, Hebert asked McConnell about the e-mails. The exchange was broadcast Sunday night and again last evening." ... "Hebert asked the senator whether his office was attempting to get reporters to look into Frost's background." ... ""No," McConnell answered." ... "The senator was then asked, "What was the deal with the e-mail from your staffer?"" ... "McConnell replied: "There was no involvement whatsoever."" ... "The boy and his family's circumstances became an issue after he was recruited by the Democrats to respond to [Republican] President Bush's Sept. 29 radio address regarding the expanded health program, which Bush vetoed Oct. 3." ... "Graeme and his sister, Gemma, suffered severe injuries in a 2004 car crash and were beneficiaries of the insurance program." -By James R. Carroll

-Courier-Journal.com

20071015

US -

Iraq -

Blackwater -

Company -

Politics

"Blackwater Is Soaked: An arrogant attitude only adds fuel to the criticism." ... "The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's [Iraq's capital] Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was confirmed by the head of another private security company. Asked to address this and other allegations in this story, Blackwater spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "This type of gossip has led to many soap operas in the press."" ... "Whatever else Blackwater is or isn't guilty of—a topic of intense interest in Washington—it has a well-earned reputation in Iraq for arrogance and high-handedness. Iraqis naturally have the most serious complaints; dozens have been killed by Blackwater operatives since the beginning of the war." (1, 2) -By Rod Nordland and Mark Hosenball with contributions by Larry Kaplow and Michael Hastings

-Newsweek via -MSNBC

20071014

United States -

Iraq -

Military -

Politics -

Kansas -

Illinois

"At an Army School for Officers, Blunt Talk About Iraq." ... "Here at the intellectual center of the United States Army [Fort Leavenworth, Kansas], two elite officers were deep in debate at lunch on a recent day over who bore more responsibility for mistakes in Iraq — the [Republican President Bush's] former defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, or the generals who acquiesced to him." ... "“The secretary of defense is an easy target,” argued one of the officers, Maj. [Major] Kareem P. Montague, 34, a Harvard graduate and a commander in the Third Infantry Division, which was the first to reach Baghdad [Iraq's capital] in the 2003 invasion. “It’s easy to pick on the political appointee.”" ... "“But he’s the one that’s responsible,” retorted Maj. [Major] Michael J. Zinno, 40, a military planner who worked at the headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the former American civilian administration in Iraq." ... "No, Major Montague shot back, it was more complicated: the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top commanders were part of the decision to send in a small invasion force and not enough troops for the occupation. Only Gen. [General] Eric K. Shinseki, the Army chief of staff who was sidelined after he told Congress that it would take several hundred thousand troops in Iraq, spoke up in public." ... "“You didn’t hear any of them at the time, other than General Shinseki, screaming, saying that this was untenable,” Major Montague said." ... "Much of the debate at Leavenworth has centered on a scathing article, “A Failure in Generalship,” written last May for Armed Forces Journal by Lt. Col. [Lieutenant Colonel] Paul Yingling, an Iraq veteran and deputy commander of the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment who holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago [Illinois]. “If the general remains silent while the statesman commits a nation to war with insufficient means, he shares culpability for the results,” Colonel Yingling wrote." -By Elisabeth Bumiller

-NYTimes

20071013

US -

Iraq -

Political -

Economic -

History

"'No end in sight' in Iraq, retired general says." ... "Retired Army Lt. Gen. [Lieutenant General] Ricardo S. Sanchez, who led U.S. forces in Iraq for a year after the March 2003 invasion, accused the Bush administration Friday of going to war with a "catastrophically flawed" plan and said the United States is "living a nightmare with no end in sight."" ... "Sanchez described the current troop increase in Iraq as "a desperate attempt by the administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war."" ... ""The administration, Congress and the entire interagency, especially the State Department, must shoulder the responsibility for this catastrophic failure, and the American people must hold them accountable," Sanchez told military reporters and editors. "There has been a glaring unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders.""

-WashingtonPost via -LAtimes

20071012

World -

Climate -

Science -

Education -

Emergency -

UN -

India -

US -

Politics -

2008 Election

"Gore and UN panel win Nobel prize: Climate change campaigner Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." ... "The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change"." ... "Mr Gore, 59, won an Oscar for his climate change film An Inconvenient Truth while the IPCC is the top authority on global warming." ... "IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri said he was "overwhelmed" by the award." ... "He told a cheering crowd of colleagues and journalists outside his office in Delhi [India's capital] that he hoped the award would bring a "greater awareness and a sense of urgency" to the fight against global warming." ... "The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the recipients' efforts to "lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract [climate] change"." ... "The committee said it wanted to bring the "increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states" posed by climate change into sharper focus." ... "It highlighted a series of scientific reports issued over the last two decades by the IPCC, which comprises more than 2,000 leading climate change scientists and experts." ... "Mr Gore was praised as "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted", through his lectures, films and books." ... "Speaking in Washington, Mr Gore praised the IPCC, "whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years"." ... ""We face a true planetary emergency," Mr Gore warned. "It is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."" ... "Correspondents say Mr Gore's selection has prompted supporters to renew calls for him to stand in next year's US presidential [2008 election] race. Until now, Mr Gore has said he will not run."

-BBC/News

20071011

Religious

Racism

"Ann Coulter on CNBC Show: Jews Need 'Perfecting'." ... "Appearing on Donny Deutsch's CNBC show, "The Big Idea," on Monday night, columnist/author [Republican] Ann Coulter suggested that the U.S. would be a better place if there weren't any Jewish people and that they needed to "perfect" themselves into -- Christians." ... "It led Deutsch to suggest that surely she couldn't mean that, and when she insisted she did, he said this sounded "anti-Semitic."" ... "Asked by Deutsch whether she wanted to be like "the head of Iran" and "wipe Israel off the Earth," Coulter stated: "No, we just want Jews to be perfected, as they say. ... That's what Christianity is. We believe the Old Testament."

-EditorAndPublisher

20071010

Racism

Radio

Politics

"Gibson knew school shooter was white because "[b]lack shooters don't" shoot themselves; "they shoot and move on"." ... "On the October 10 broadcast of his nationally syndicated Fox News Radio show, while discussing 14-year-old Asa H. Coon, who earlier that day shot four people at his Cleveland high school before killing himself, Fox News host [Republican] John Gibson asserted that "because the school is very heavily African-American, I did leap to a conclusion" that "the shooter might have been African-American." Gibson went on to say that he "knew this was not a classic hip-hop shooting" once he learned Coon killed himself. Gibson continued: "Hip-hoppers do not kill themselves. They walk away. Now, I didn't need to hear the kid was white with blond hair. Once he'd shot himself in the head, no hip-hopper." Gibson later stated, "I know the shooter was white. I knew it as soon as he shot himself. Hip-hoppers don't do that. They shoot and move on to shoot again." Gibson added: "I know there's a few of you who want to call me racist. But when you do, remind -- let me remind you, African-Americans are dying in major cities because people won't face this problem."" ... "After a commercial break, Gibson repeated his assertion: "All right, it turns out, though, the kid in Cleveland who did the shooting today -- three teachers, three students -- white." Gibson added: "And I could tell right away 'cause he killed himself. Black shooters don't do that; they shoot and move on.""

-MediaMatters.org

20071009

Secret

Osama bin Laden

Web

Communications

Terrorist

Surveillance

Company

Military

Intelligence

Politics

"Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets: Firm Says [Republican President Bush's] Administration's Handling of Video Ruined Its Spying Efforts." ... "A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release." ... "Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide." ... "The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group [Search for International Terrorist Entities], says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network." ... ""Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless," said Rita Katz, the firm's 44-year-old founder, who has garnered wide attention by publicizing statements and videos from extremist chat rooms and Web sites, while attracting controversy over the secrecy of SITE's methodology. Her firm provides intelligence about terrorist groups to a wide range of paying clients, including private firms and military and intelligence agencies from the United States and several other countries." ... "She spoke first with White House counsel Fred F. Fielding, whom she had previously met, and then with Joel Bagnal, deputy assistant to the president for homeland security. Both expressed interest in obtaining a copy, and Bagnal suggested that she send a copy to Michael Leiter, who holds the No. 2 job at the National Counterterrorism Center." (1, 2) -By Joby Warrick

-WashingtonPost

20071008

US -

Iraq -

Afghanistan

"Army needs three to four years to recover from Iraq strains: chief." ... "The US Army will need three or four years to recover from the strains of repeated deployments to Iraq even with a planned drawdown of US forces next year, the service's chief said Monday." ... "General George Casey said the army is "out of balance" after six years of warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, and facing unpredictable demands in an era of "persistent conflict."" ... "The long deployments and short time at home has left army units with little time to train for conventional warfare or contingencies other than Iraq." ... "Casey said it will take the army three to four years to gain the additional troops, training time and equipment needed to field an army ready for all kinds of warfare."

-AFP.com via -Yahoo

20071007

Drug

Money

Sales

Politics

Elderly

Consumer

Health

Law

Audits

Michigan

"Medicare Audits Show Problems in Private Plans." ... "Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the [Republican President] Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found." ... "The problems, described in 91 audit reports reviewed by The New York Times, include the improper termination of coverage for people with H.I.V. and AIDS, huge backlogs of claims and complaints, and a failure to answer telephone calls from consumers, doctors and drugstores." ... "Since March, Medicare has imposed fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies for marketing violations and failure to provide timely notice to beneficiaries about changes in costs and benefits." ... "The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint." ... "The audits document widespread violations of patients’ rights and consumer protection standards. Some violations could directly affect the health of patients — for example, by delaying access to urgently needed medications." ... "Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he had “verified countless stories of deceptive sales practices by insurance agents who prey upon the elderly and disabled to sell them expensive and inappropriate private Medicare plans.”" (1, 2) -By Robert Pear

-NYTimes

20071006

Religious

University

Home

Remodeling

Jet

Trip

Autos

Clothes

Money

Political

Family

Oklahoma

Texas

California

"Scandal brewing at Oral Roberts." ... "[Televangelist Oral Roberts son and Oklahoma's Oral Roberts University President] Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors' expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter's senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay." ... "She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as "underage males."" ... "San Antonio [Texas] televangelist John Hagee, a member of the ORU board of regents, said the university's executive board "is conducting a full and thorough investigation."" ... "The university reported nearly $76 million in revenue in 2005, according to the IRS." ... "Oral Roberts is 89 and lives in California." ... "Richard Roberts, according to the suit, asked a professor in 2005 to use his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner's bid for Tulsa [Oklahoma] mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university's nonprofit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have worked on the campaign." -By Justin Juozapavicius

-AP via -Yahoo

20071005

Larry Craig

Ted Haggard

Gay

Idaho

Minnesota

Airport

Police

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

-9News.com

20071004

Jeff Sessions -

Karl Rove -

Ala -

US Attorneys -

Money -

Political -

Enforcement

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

-TIME.com

20071001

US -

Iraq -

Police -

Government -

Military -

Law -

Blackwater

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

-CNN

20070928

Burma[Myanmar] -

Military -

Police -

Politics -

History -

Religious

"Nine dead after troops fire into crowds of democracy protesters: · Mayhem as crackdown gathers pace on 10th day of protests · Civilians take to streets after hundreds of monks arrested." ... "Burmese troops and riot police battled to put an end to the 10th consecutive day of protests against the country's military dictatorship that has maintained an iron grip on power for 45 years, firing automatic weapons into crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators in Rangoon after they flouted warnings to clear the streets or face "extreme action"." ... "A Japanese photographer, Kenji Nagai, 50, was among at least nine people killed in the fierce clashes. Thousands of protesters played a deadly game of cat and mouse with the police and troops, continually dispersing as they were attacked and reforming to taunt the security forces who used teargas, baton charges and live ammunition against them." ... "Fewer monks were seen on the streets yesterday as up to 500 had been arrested and many others confined to their quarters by soldiers who raided six monasteries around the capital from dawn onwards. Leaders of the National League for Democracy were also rounded up." ... "Pools of blood remained in monastery dormitories and stairwells where the troops had smashed in windows and doors, and beat the young novices as they lay sleeping. In some raids shots were fired and a senior abbot at Moe Ngway monastery was said to have died later in the afternoon." ... "The ferocity of the attacks on the monks, the ransacking of monasteries that saw Buddhist relics vandalised and gold looted, according to diplomatic sources, shocked ordinary Burmese people, who revere the clergy." -By Ian MacKinnon

-Guardian.co.uk

20070927

China -

Made -

Corp -

US -

Children -

Health -

Safety -

Law -

History -

Politics -

Ill

"600,000 toys join recall list: China-made knights, Thomas train pieces, jewelry contain lead." ... "In a year already notable for a record number of lead-based recalls, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced seven separate recalls Wednesday of Chinese-manufactured toys and children's jewelry for containing unlawful levels of lead, including 200,000 more of the Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys sold by a Chicago-area [Illinois] company." ... "The seven recalls, totaling more than 600,000 units, bring the total lead-based recalls in 2007 to 50 -- more than double the most recalls in any single previous year in the agency's history." ... "Oak Brook-based [Illinois] RC2 Corp. said it was recalling five additional railway toys -- two vehicles and three accessories -- due to excessive levels of lead in the paint. The company recalled 1.5 million railway toys in June." ... "Congressional committees have held hearings in recent weeks on the influx of lead-tainted toys and children's products. Earlier this month, [Illinois Democratic Senator] Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, "More than 25 million Chinese-manufactured toys have been recalled this summer alone. That is a staggering number and an indictment of our toy safety system."" -By Maurice Possley

-ChicagoTribune

20070925

Nuclear -

Energy -

Construction -

Industry -

Government -

Environmental -

Law -

Language -

Politics -

History -

Land -

Maryland -

New Jersey

"Nuclear Utilities Redefine One Word to Bulldoze for New Plants." ... "On tree-lined bluffs overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, where anti-nuclear activists won a landmark environmental victory 36 years ago, Constellation Energy Group Inc. is engineering atomic power's comeback." ... "This time, even if there are protests, bulldozers will roll." ... "That's because the [Maryland] Baltimore-based utility and its allies have found a way around a longstanding regulatory policy they say added a year or more to construction times for nuclear plants." ... "In April, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] agreed to industry demands that it reduce its oversight of initial work at reactor sites. By narrowing its definition of the word ``construction'' in agency rules, the NRC put off the required public hearings and permits that have waylaid past projects." ... "The untold story of how the energy lobby and the federal government worked to clear a path for new reactors -- backed by an NRC commissioner [Republican Jeffrey Merrifield] seeking a job in the [nuclear] industry -- reveals one way pro-nuclear forces have stolen a march on environmentalists." ... "Utilities and the administration of [Republican] President George W. Bush say they want new reactors on line by 2015. Power companies are rushing to take advantage of federal tax credits and loan guarantees in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, some of which begin to expire next year. The NRC says it expects to receive as many as 21 applications to build 32 new reactors, the first of which will be filed today by NRG Energy Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey." ... "The new construction rule is only the latest such initiative. In 2004, the NRC limited the public's ability to gather evidence and question witnesses during hearings." ... "By redefining ``construction'' to exclude excavation, road building and the erection of some cooling towers, the NRC could reduce its oversight without violating the 1971 court order." ... "Andrew Kugler, senior environmental project manager in the NRC's New Reactor Office, protested to the general counsel's office. Kugler said in an e-mail that the proposed rule would exclude from NRC regulation ``probably 90 percent of the true environmental impacts of construction.''" -By Elliot Blair Smith

-Bloomberg

20070922

Government -

Electronic -

Surveillance -

Data -

Travelers -

Flying -

Driving -

Reading -

People -

Civil Liberties -

US -

International -

San Francisco -

California -

Alaska -

Terrorism -

Intelligence -

Politics -

Law

"Collecting of Details on Travelers Documented: U.S. Effort More Extensive Than Previously Known." ... "The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials." ... "The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country. Officials say the records, which are analyzed by the department's Automated Targeting System, help border officials distinguish potential terrorists from innocent people entering the country." ... "Officials yesterday defended the retention of highly personal data on travelers not involved in or linked to any violations of the law. But civil liberties advocates have alleged that the type of information preserved by the department raises alarms about the government's ability to intrude into the lives of ordinary people. The millions of travelers whose records are kept by the government are generally unaware of what their records say, and the government has not created an effective mechanism for reviewing the data and correcting any errors, activists said." ... "The activists alleged that the data collection effort, as carried out now, violates the Privacy Act, which bars the gathering of data related to Americans' exercise of their First Amendment rights, such as their choice of reading material or persons with whom to associate. They also expressed concern that such personal data could one day be used to impede their right to travel." ... ""The federal government is trying to build a surveillance society," said John Gilmore, a civil liberties activist in San Francisco whose records were requested by the Identity Project, an ad-hoc group of privacy advocates in California and Alaska. The government, he said, "may be doing it with the best or worst of intentions. . . . But the job of building a surveillance database and populating it with information about us is happening largely without our awareness and without our consent."" (1, 2) -By Ellen Nakashima with contributions by Julie Tate

-WashingtonPost

20070920

Secret -

Phone -

E-Mail -

Surveillance -

Company -

Consumer -

Lawsuit -

Politics -

Terrorism -

Government -

Intelligence -

San Francisco -

California

"Case Dismissed? The secret lobbying campaign your phone company doesn't want you to know about." ... "The nation’s biggest telecommunications companies, working closely with the [Republican President Bush] White House, have mounted a secretive lobbying campaign to get Congress to quickly approve a measure wiping out all private lawsuits against them for assisting the U.S. intelligence community’s warrantless surveillance programs." ... "The campaign—which involves some of Washington's most prominent lobbying and law firms—has taken on new urgency in recent weeks because of fears that a U.S. appellate court in San Francisco [California] is poised to rule that the lawsuits should be allowed to proceed." ... "If that happens, the telecom companies say, they may be forced to terminate their cooperation with the U.S. intelligence community—or risk potentially crippling damage awards for allegedly turning over personal information about their customers to the government without a judicial warrant." ... "But critics say the language proposed by the White House—drafted in close cooperation with the industry officials—is so extraordinarily broad that it would provide retroactive immunity for all past telecom actions related to the surveillance program. Its practical effect, they argue, would be to shut down any independent judicial or state inquires into how the companies have assisted the government in eavesdropping on the telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. residents in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks." ... "Among those coordinating the industry’s effort are two well-connected capital players who both worked for President George H.W. Bush: Verizon general counsel William Barr, who served as attorney general under 41, and AT&T senior executive vice president James Cicconi, who was the elder Bush's deputy chief of staff." ... "Working with them are a battery of major D.C. lobbyists and lawyers who are providing "strategic advice" to the companies on the issue, according to sources familiar with the campaign who asked not to be identified talking about it. Among the players, these sources said: powerhouse Republican lobbyists Charlie Black and Wayne Berman (who represent AT&T and Verizon, respectively), former GOP senator and U.S. ambassador to Germany Dan Coats (a lawyer at King & Spaulding who is representing Sprint), former Democratic Party strategist and one-time assistant secretary of State Tom Donilon (who represents Verizon), former deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick (whose law firm also represents Verizon) and Brad Berenson, a former assistant White House counsel under President George W. Bush who now represents AT&T." (1, 2, 3) -By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball

-MSNBC /Newsweek

20070918

Howard Krongard -

Karl Rove -

Kenneth Tomlinson -

Media -

Politics -

Calif

"Waxman: State Department IG tried to shield Bush administration from embarrassment." ... "House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman [Democratic California Representative] Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) will investigate allegations that State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard “interfered with ongoing investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment.”" ... "The lawmaker said that former assistant inspector general for investigations John DeDona and former deputy assistant inspector general Ralph McNamara both have contacted his office. Waxman added that both individuals resigned from their posts because Krongard “repeatedly halted or impeded investigations undertaken by their office.”" ... "The lawmaker also alleges that the inspector general “interfered with an on-going investigation into the conduct of Kenneth Tomlinson, the head of Voice of America and a close associate of Karl Rove, by passing information about the inquiry to Mr. Tomlinson.”" -By Klaus Marre

-TheHill.com

20070914

Edwards -

Military -

Family -

US -

Iraq -

Newspaper -

Ad -

Opinion - Des-Moines -

Iowa -

2008 Election

"Elizabeth Edwards criticizes MoveOn.org ad." ... "MoveOn.org should not have labeled [General] Gen. David Petraeus “General Betray Us” in a controversial newspaper ad, Elizabeth Edwards said in Des Moines [Iowa] Friday." ... "“Someone who’s spent their life in the military doesn’t deserve ‘General Betray Us,’” said Edwards, wife of [2008 election] Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards." ... "Elizabeth Edwards spoke in an interview after a Des Moines campaign appearance. She noted that her father was a career naval officer, and she grew up on Navy bases, so she said she respects military service." ... "Elizabeth Edwards said the group could have made its point by simply using Petraeus’ own previous words about purported good news in Iraq without insulting him personally."

-DesMoinesRegister/News

Read MoveOn.org's Controversial Petraeus Ad

20070913

US -

Iraqi -

United Arab Emirates -

Texas -

Oil -

Money -

Law

"Compromise on Oil Law in Iraq Seems to Be Collapsing." ... "A carefully constructed compromise on a draft law governing Iraq’s rich oil fields, agreed to in February after months of arduous talks among Iraqi political groups, appears to have collapsed. The apparent breakdown comes just as Congress and the [Republican President Bush] White House are struggling to find evidence that there is progress toward reconciliation and a functioning government here." ... "Senior Iraqi negotiators met in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] on Wednesday in an attempt to salvage the original compromise, two participants said. But the meeting came against the backdrop of a public series of increasingly strident disagreements over the draft law that had broken out in recent days between Hussain al-Shahristani, the Iraqi oil minister, and officials of the provincial government in the Kurdish north, where some of the nation’s largest [oil] fields are located." ... "The oil law — which would govern how oil fields are developed and managed — is one of several benchmarks that the Bush administration has been pressing the Iraqis to meet as a sign that they are making headway toward creating an effective government." ... "Contributing to the dispute is the decision by the Kurds to begin signing contracts with international oil companies before the federal law is passed. The most recent instance, announced last week on a Kurdish government Web site, was an oil exploration contract with the Hunt Oil Company of Dallas [Texas]." ... "The Sunni Arabs who removed their support for the deal did so, in part, because of a contract the Kurdish government signed earlier with a company based in the United Arab Emirates, Dana Gas, to develop gas reserves." (1, 2) -By James Glanz with contributions by Ahmad Fadam, Ali Hamdani and Khalid al-Ansary

-NYTimes

20070912

World

Animals

Plants

"Gorillas and coral at top of endangered list." ... "The world's animal kingdom continues to be jeopardized as more than a hundred new species make it onto the endangered list." ... "The western gorilla, a Chinese dolphin and even coral are all at the top of the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) priority cases, according to the organization's Red List[*] released Wednesday." ... "Furthermore, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world's assessed plants are also endangered." ... ""This year's IUCN Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, the IUCN's director general in a news release. "The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis. This can be done, but only with a concerted effort by all levels of society.""

-CTV.ca

20070911

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Intelligence -

Accounting -

Politics

"Numbers cast doubt on U.S. claims: Analysts questioning military counts of civilian casualties." ... "Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker emphasized signs of progress in Iraq during their presentation to Congress on Monday and frequently interpreted events in the most optimistic light while downplaying more troubling signs." ... "A review of war statistics provides a number of examples in which the officials' analysis seemed incomplete." ... "For example, Petraeus placed a heavy emphasis on U.S. military figures showing a 45 percent drop in civilian deaths in Iraq since the peak of sectarian violence in December 2006 and a 55 percent drop in killings that the military judged "ethno-sectarian." But the December 2006 time frame that Petraeus used for the comparison was a high point in sectarian violence that predated the U.S. troop "surge."" ... "[Republican] President Bush announced the surge in January and the first U.S. troops under the strategy arrived in Iraq in late February. By then, violence already had subsided somewhat from the unprecedented levels of sectarian strife that racked Baghdad in 2006. Also, in previous years, there has been a surge of violence in Iraq during Ramadan, the monthlong Islamic holiday that begins later this week." ... "Analysts inside and outside the government, including the General Accountability Office in a recent report, also have questioned the military's counting of civilian casualties." ... "The Associated Press counted 1,809 civilian deaths in August, its second-highest monthly total this year." -By Mike Dorning with contributions by Aamer Madhani

-ChicagoTribune

20070910

Safety

Politics

Chinese

Industrial

Consumer

Goods

People

Food

Pets

"Import safety panel prefers prevention over border checks." ... "A panel appointed by [Republican] President Bush to review the safety of imported goods proposed Monday that the U.S. revamp its system to focus more on prevention rather than trying to catch unsafe goods with border inspections." ... "The panel of officials from 12 government departments and agencies was formed in July after a rash of recalls involving Chinese-made goods, including toothpaste containing antifreeze and pet food contaminated with an industrial chemical that reportedly led to the deaths of hundreds of cats and dogs." ... "The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates most imported foods, inspects less than 1% of incoming food shipments." -By Julie Schmit and David Jackson

-USATODAY

20070909

US -

Iraq-

Afghanistan -

Iran -

Military -

Media -

Marketing -

Intelligence -

Politics -

Ill

"Among Top Officials, 'Surge' Has Sparked Dissent, Infighting." ... "For two hours, [Republican] President Bush listened to contrasting visions of the U.S. future in Iraq. Gen. David H. Petraeus dominated the conversation by video link from Baghdad [Iraq's capital], making the case to keep as many troops as long as possible to cement any security progress. Adm. William J. Fallon, his superior, argued instead for accepting more risks in Iraq, officials said, in order to have enough forces available to confront other potential threats in the region." ... "The polite discussion in the White House Situation Room a week ago masked a sharper clash over the U.S. venture in Iraq, one that has been building since Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations, sent a rear admiral to Baghdad this summer to gather information. Soon afterward, officials said, Fallon began developing plans to redefine the U.S. mission and radically draw down troops." ... "One of those plans, according to a Centcom officer, involved slashing U.S. combat forces in Iraq by three-quarters by 2010. In an interview, Fallon disputed that description but declined to offer details. Nonetheless, his efforts offended Petraeus's team, which saw them as unwelcome intrusion on their own long-term planning. The profoundly different views of the U.S. role in Iraq only exacerbated the schism between the two men." ... "Fallon, who took command of Centcom in March, worried that Iraq was undermining the military's ability to confront other threats, such as Iran. "When he took over, the reality hit him that he had to deal with Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and a whole bunch of other stuff besides Iraq," said a top military officer." ... "Fallon was also derisive of Iraqi leaders' intentions and competence, and dubious about the surge. "He's been saying from Day One, 'This isn't working,' " said a senior administration official. And Fallon signaled his departure from Bush by ordering subordinates to avoid the term "long war" -- a phrase the president used to describe the fight against terrorism." ... "To Bush aides, [defense secretary Robert] Gates did not seem fully on board with the president's strategy, either. As a member of the congressionally chartered Iraq Study Group before his selection to head the Pentagon, Gates embraced proposals to scale back the U.S. presence in Iraq. Now that he was in the Cabinet, he kept his own counsel." ... "Another new arrival in the [Republican President Bush's] West Wing set up a rapid-response PR unit hard-wired into Petraeus's shop. Ed Gillespie, the new presidential counselor, organized daily conference calls at 7:45 a.m. and again late in the afternoon between the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the U.S. Embassy and military in Baghdad to map out ways of selling the surge." ... "From the start of the Bush plan, the White House communications office had been blitzing an e-mail list of as many as 5,000 journalists, lawmakers, lobbyists, conservative bloggers, military groups and others with talking points or rebuttals of criticism. Between Jan. 10 and last week, the office put out 94 such documents in various categories -- "Myths/Facts" or "Setting the Record Straight" to take issue with negative news articles, and "In Case You Missed It" to distribute positive articles or speeches." ... "Petraeus was doing his part in Baghdad, hosting dozens of lawmakers and military scholars for PowerPoint presentations on why the Bush strategy had made gains." ... "Some visitors suspected a skewed picture. "We only saw things that reinforced their message that the surge was working," said [Illinois Democratic Representative] Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)." (1, 2, 3, 4) -By Peter Baker, Karen DeYoung, Thomas E. Ricks, Ann Scott Tyson, Joby Warrick and Robin Wright with contributions by Julie Tate

-WashingtonPost

20070908

Mitt Romney -

Robert Lichfield -

Political -

Money -

Child -

Behavior -

Schools -

Utah -

Massachusetts -

Maine -

2006 Election -

2008 Election

"Businessman quits as fundraiser for Romney: Robert Lichfield of Utah is linked to the largest contribution in the 2006 Maine governor's race." ... "Robert Lichfield, a controversial Utah businessman linked to an organization facing civil allegations of child abuse and also connected to the largest contribution in the 2006 [election] Maine governor's race, has resigned from a fundraising position with [2008 election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney's presidential campaign." ... "Lichfield is named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by more than 100 families alleging that their teenaged children were mistreated at "behavior modification" centers associated with the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools, an organization that Lichfield founded." ... "Until he resigned from the Romney campaign, Lichfield was co- chairman of its Utah finance committee." ... "Lichfield's role with the former Massachusettts governor's campaign has come under scrutiny since the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram reported in May on both the civil lawsuit and Lichfield's connection to contributions totaling $250,000 to a political action committee established in Maine by the Republican Governors Association. " -By Kevin Wack

-MaineToday.com

20070907

Craig

Vitter

Stevens

DeLay

Ney

Cunningham

Sherwood

Renzi

Doolittle

Jefferson

Politicians

Lawmakers

Homosexual

Idaho

Louisiana

Alaska

Texas

Ohio

California

Pennsylvania

Arizona

2008 Election

"House G.O.P.'s History Could Repeat in Senate." ... "The embarrassing [Idaho Republican Senator] Larry Craig episode combined sex and the justice system – always a potent political mix and one reason the Republican leadership moved so swiftly to jettison Mr. Craig." ... "Already, Mr. Craig is the star of a Web video from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee featuring a lineup of recent Republican scandals being shown to the tune of the “Bad Boys” theme song from the television show “Cops.” It seeks to ridicule Republican claims to hold the moral high ground." ... "Mr. Craig’s guilty plea to a sexually related disorderly conduct charge only served to remind people about Mr. [Louisiana Republican Senator] Vitter’s [alleged prostitution] case – and prompt accusations of a double standard since Republicans took no action against the Louisiana lawmaker for his heterosexual incident compared to Mr. Craig’s homosexual one." ... "Republicans can point to the indictment of Louisiana Democrat[ic Representative] William Jefferson, but Democrats can counter with the names of Senators Craig, Vitter and [Alaska Republican Senator Ted] Stevens not to mention those of former Representatives [Texas Republican] Tom DeLay, [Ohio Republican] Bob Ney, [California Republican] Duke Cunningham and [Pennsylvania Republican] Don Sherwood." ... "Representative Rick Renzi of Arizona, another Republican under investigation, has already announced he will not seek re-election [in 2008] and top aides to [Republican] Representative John Doolittle of California, a former member of the Republican leadership, were called before a grand jury this week." -By Carl Hulse

-NYTimes

20070906

Noteworthy -

Government -

Debt -

Money -

Accounting -

Politics

"Brother, Can You Spare $9 Trillion? Mark Knoller On The Nation's Historic, And Rising, Debt." ... "Few took notice, but for the first time in U.S. history last Friday, the national debt hit an all-time high of $9 trillion." ... "To be exact, the total liabilities of the U.S. Government hit $9,005,648,561,262.70, according to the Bureau of the Public Debt at the Treasury Department." ... "But Mr. [Republican President] Bush almost never mentions the national debt. On the day he took office, the debt stood at $5.727 trillion. That means it has increased by 57 percent on his watch. So far." -By Mark Knoller

-CBSNews

20070905

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Construction -

Money -

Politics -

Government -

Accounting -

Investigations -

Texas -

Oil -

Water

"Iraq Contractors Tap Law Firms: A civil 'war zone' of investigation." ... "The war in Iraq has an army of high-profile attorneys working to steer defense contractors through a minefield of lawsuits and federal investigations involving war profiteering and fraud." ... "During the past year, several defense contractors hired to help rebuild Iraq have come under federal investigation or faced litigation for allegedly defrauding the government. Government officials estimate that $10 billion in Iraq-related contracts are unaccounted for and may have been lost to fraud or other misconduct." ... "Currently, about 80 federal investigations looking into contract fraud are under way, and more than 20 cases have been referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution, according to congressional testimony offered by federal auditors. During the last three years, contract fraud investigations have yielded 10 arrests, five indictments, five convictions and two imprisonments." ... "High-caliber law firms have lined up to help guide defense contractors through investigations and prosecutions and relieve their fears of prosecution, not receiving payment or being banned from doing business with the government." ... "Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Vinson & Elkins of Houston [Texas] are representing former Halliburton subsidiary KBR Inc., which is facing scrutiny over a $25.7 billion contract to help rebuild oil services in Iraq." ... "Patton Boggs of Washington has come to the aid of Halliburton, the largest private contractor in Iraq, which is facing congressional scrutiny." ... "Washington's Brand Law Group is advising Fluor, a U.S. engineering and construction firm that is facing questions over its $1.1 billion water and sewage contract in Iraq. " -By Tresa Baldas

-NLJ.com via -Law.com

20070904

US -

China -

Made -

Business -

Children -

Health -

Safety -

Brain -

Learning -

Consumer -

Food -

Environmental -

Pet

"Mattel Recalls 848,000 Barbie, Other Toys With Lead (Update3)." ... "Mattel Inc., the world's largest toymaker, recalled about 848,000 Chinese-made Barbie and Fisher-Price products whose paint may contain excessive levels of lead, its third in the past five weeks." ... "The 11 affected toys include Barbie kitchen, living room and other furniture items as well as Fisher-Price preschool Geo Trax Locomotive toys and Bongo Band drums. No injuries have been reported, Mattel said today." ... "Mattel has recalled 21 million Chinese-made products since the beginning of August. U.S. officials have raised alarm about tainted products from China including seafood containing harmful drugs, toothpaste with an ingredient found in antifreeze and pet food containing a chemical used to make plastic." ... "About 65 percent of Mattel toys are made in China." ... "Lead may be toxic if ingested by children and can cause brain damage, behavior and learning problems and slowed growth, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." -By Heather Burke

-Bloomberg

20070903

Iran

Nuclear

Energy

Military

Religion

Economy

Student

Free Speech

"On Two Fronts, One Nuclear, Iran Is Defiant." ... "Iran’s leaders issued dual, defiant statements on Sunday, with the president announcing that the nation had 3,000 active centrifuges to enrich uranium and the top ayatollah appointing a new Islamic Revolutionary Guards commander who once advocated military force against students." ... "The most recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency, released Thursday, said Iran had 1,968 centrifuges enriching uranium at its main Natanz plant, 328 in testing, and 328 in assembly — for a total of 2,624. The report noted that the assessment was accurate as of Aug. 19, or two weeks ago." ... "The goal of 3,000 centrifuges is significant to nuclear experts: they say that if Iran could spin that many centrifuges nonstop for a year, it could make enough highly enriched uranium for a single atom bomb." ... "[Iran's supreme leader] Ayatollah Khamenei announced that Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, who had led the force for a decade, would be replaced by Brig. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari." ... "The Guards, which has about 200,000 members, controls a huge empire that has a stake in every significant corner of Iran’s economy and its civil system of governance. Mr. Ahmadinejad was a member of the Guards during the 1980 to 1988 war with Iraq, and he has placed dozens of former members in leadership positions around the country and in the central government in Tehran." ... "The Guards are, by design, the most economic and politically independent body in the country, outside of the supreme leader’s office. General Jafari has an established record of support for the theocratic system of government, and its hard-line policies." -By Michael Slackman and Nazila Fathi with contributions by David E. Sanger and William J. Broad

-NYTimes

20070901

Mexico -

US -

Truck -

Safety -

Transportation -

Union -

Business -

Politics

"Mexico's trucks get OK to roll in U.S. next week." ... "Mexican truckers can begin hauling goods over the border into the U.S. as soon as Thursday after a federal appeals court on Friday refused a request from the Teamsters union and others to block the vehicles." ... ""This is the wrong decision for American working men and women. We will now proceed to litigate this case on the merits," Teamsters General President James Hoffa said in a statement. "We believe this program clearly breaks the law. We will continue to fight for safety and national security in the courts and in Congress."" -By Karen Gullo

-Bloomberg via -Chron

20070831

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Intelligence -

Political -

Marketing -

Lawmakers -

Va -

Calif -

Nev

"Lawmakers Describe 'Being Slimed in the Green Zone'." ... "The sheets of paper seemed to be everywhere the lawmakers went in the Green Zone, distributed to Iraqi officials, U.S. officials and uniformed military of no particular rank. So when [Virginia Democratic Representative] Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) asked a soldier last weekend just what he was holding, the congressman was taken aback to find out." ... "In the soldier's hand was a thumbnail biography, distributed before each of the congressmen's meetings in Baghdad, which let meeting participants such as that soldier know where each of the lawmakers stands on the war. "Moran on Iraq policy," read one section, going on to cite some the congressman's most incendiary statements, such as, "This has been the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history."" ... "The bio of [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Calif.) -- "TAU (rhymes with 'now')-sher," the bio helpfully relates -- was no less pointed, even if she once supported the war and has taken heat from liberal Bay Area constituents who remain wary of her position. "Our forces are caught in the middle of an escalating sectarian conflict in Iraq, with no end in sight," the bio quotes." ... ""This is beyond parsing. This is being slimed in the Green Zone," Tauscher said of her bio." ... "Brief, choreographed and carefully controlled, the codels (short for congressional delegations) often have showed only what the Pentagon and the [Republican President] Bush administration have wanted the lawmakers to see. At one point, as Moran, Tauscher and [Nevada Republican Representative] Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) were heading to lunch in the fortified Green Zone, an American urgently tried to get their attention, apparently to voice concerns about the war effort, the participants said. Security whisked the man away before he could make his point." ... "Tauscher called it "the Green Zone fog."" ... ""Spin City," Moran grumbled. "The Iraqis and the Americans were all singing from the same song sheet, and it was deliberately manipulated."" -By Jonathan Weisman

-WashingtonPost

20070830

US -

Iraq -

Military -

Intelligence -

Accounting -

Legislation -

Reconstruction -

Money

"Report Finds Little Progress On Iraq Goals: GAO Draft at Odds With [Republican President Bush] White House." ... "Iraq has failed to meet all but three of 18 congressionally mandated benchmarks for political and military progress, according to a draft of a Government Accountability Office report. The document questions whether some aspects of a more positive assessment by the White House last month adequately reflected the range of views the GAO found within the administration." ... "The strikingly negative GAO draft, which will be delivered to Congress in final form on Tuesday, comes as the White House prepares to deliver its own new benchmark report in the second week of September, along with congressional testimony from Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker. They are expected to describe significant security improvements and offer at least some promise for political reconciliation in Iraq." ... "The draft provides a stark assessment of the tactical effects of the current U.S.-led counteroffensive to secure Baghdad. "While the Baghdad security plan was intended to reduce sectarian violence, U.S. agencies differ on whether such violence has been reduced," it states. While there have been fewer attacks against U.S. forces, it notes, the number of attacks against Iraqi civilians remains unchanged. It also finds that "the capabilities of Iraqi security forces have not improved."" ... ""Overall," the report concludes, "key legislation has not been passed, violence remains high, and it is unclear whether the Iraqi government will spend $10 billion in reconstruction funds," as promised. While it makes no policy" ... "The person who provided the draft report to The Post said it was being conveyed from a government official who feared that its pessimistic conclusions would be watered down in the final version -- as some officials have said happened with security judgments in this month's National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq." -By Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks

-WashingtonPost

20070829

New Orleans -

Louisiana -

Mississippi -

Storm -

Flood -