From Crooks and Liars:
Bill Maher devotes a segment from his show “Real Time,” lampooning BillO over his ignorant racial remarks.
Bill with cornrows.. LOL!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Congress sneaks in Iraq funding.
This almost slipped by me this week. While they were busy authorizing spending to keep the government running, the Senate also handed Bush another huge blank check, to continue his Iraq folly uninterupted.
The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal debt limit by $850 billion -- from $8.965 trillion to $9.815 trillion -- and then proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill that gives the Bush White House at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq. Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority to tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new infusions of money for the occupation while the Congress works on appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and other agencies.
Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed appropriations process is completed -- probably in November -- the Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding.
Update: Adding insult to injury, Bush lambasted the Dems in his weekly address for "failing to complete annual spending bills on time" while he signed the measure. You might think he could have thanked them for the free money but the piece didn't even mention the funding.
http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/2007/09/congress-sneaks-in-iraq-funding.html
The Senate agreed on Thursday to increase the federal debt limit by $850 billion -- from $8.965 trillion to $9.815 trillion -- and then proceeded to approve a stop-gap spending bill that gives the Bush White House at least $9 billion in new funding for its war in Iraq. Additionally, the administration has been given emergency authority to tap further into a $70 billion "bridge fund" to provide new infusions of money for the occupation while the Congress works on appropriations bills for the Department of Defense and other agencies.
Translation: Under the guise of a stop-gap spending bill that is simply supposed to keep the government running until a long-delayed appropriations process is completed -- probably in November -- the Congress has just approved a massive increase in war funding.
Update: Adding insult to injury, Bush lambasted the Dems in his weekly address for "failing to complete annual spending bills on time" while he signed the measure. You might think he could have thanked them for the free money but the piece didn't even mention the funding.
http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/2007/09/congress-sneaks-in-iraq-funding.html
WAXMAN PISSED:"Cookie" Krongard, SUSPEND All Communications
September 28, 2007
The Honorable Howard J. Krongard
Inspector General
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Mr. Krongard:
I am writing to you about an exceptionally serious matter: reports that your senior staff has threatened officials that you could fire them if they cooperate with the Committee's investigation into your conduct.
On September 18, 2007, I wrote to you requesting your assistance with an Oversight Committee investigation into your actions as State Department Inspector General. In that letter, I described allegations from seven officials in your office that you interfered with on-going investigations in order to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment. I requested various documents related to the investigation, and I informed you that Committee staff would be conducting interviews of several officials in your ofÍice.
Two of the individuals who came forward were John A. DeDona, the former Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, and Ralph McNamara, the former Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations. They told my staff that they had resigned after you repeatedly halted or impeded investigations undertaken by their office. The other individuals who contacted my staff asked that their identities not be revealed because they feared that you would retaliate against them.
Today, I am writing to express my grave concern with the tactics your office has reportedly used in response to my request. This week, several current employees in your office -- including two who have agreed to go on the record -- informed the Committee that your senior staff attempted to coerce them not to cooperate with the Committee's inquiry and threatened their jobs and careers.
The two officials who agreed to go on the record about the threats are Special Agent Ron Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brian Rubendall. Both currently work in the investigations division of your office. Both are career federal investigators. Just last week, you referred to Special Agent Militana as "one of my best investigators" in a statement you released.
In addition to describing the threats he received, Special Agent Militana kept contemporaneous notes of these interchanges, which he has now shared with my staff.
Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall report that on September 25, 2007, one week after I sent my letter, your congressional affairs liaison and an attomey in the Counsel's office approached them about the Committee's invitation to be interviewed. They were taken into the offrce of the Deputy Inspector General, where your congressional liaison told Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall that they wanted to discuss their upcoming interviews.
At this point, according to Special Agent Militana, your congressional liaison told them they could suffer retaliation based on their cooperation with the Committee's investigation. According to Special Agent Militana, she stated: The majority are not friends. The minority staff has been helpful. They advise that you should never do a voluntary interview in a million years.
When Special Agent Militana questioned her statement, the congressional liaison told him: "You have no protection against reprisal. You have no whistleblower protections. Howard could retaliate and you would have no recourse."
The attorney informed Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall that although they might have some civil service protections against termination, he concurred with the congressional liaison. Special Agent Militana said that when he pressed the issue, the congressional liaison stated: "Howard can fire you. It would affect your ability to get another job."
Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall stated that at the end of this session, they felt angry that such threats were being used against them. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall informed my staff that as career investigators who deal with whistleblowers, they were shocked by the brazenness of these tactics.
They ultimately concluded that this activity was inappropriate and should be reported to the Committee.
Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall are not the only current employees to raise these concerns. Other employees have also reported that the congressional liaison and the attomey told them that if they appear before the Committee, you could take unspecified legal actions against them based on their statements.
I am appalled by these reports. As an Inspector General, you hold a position of special trust within the federal government. Your office is supposed to be an example of how to protect whistleblowers, not an example of how to persecute them.
It is unclear whether you directed your senior staff to engage in these activities or whether they took matters into their own hands. In either case, the threats against Special Agent Militana, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall, and others are reprehensible.
You should be aware -- and you should advise your staff -- that Congress has passed civil and criminal prohibitions against threatening and tampering with witnesses, retaliating against whistleblowers, and providing false information to Congress.' If Special Agent Militana's and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall's accounts are true, some or all of these provisions may be implicated.
The Committee will not tolerate any intimidation of potential witnesses. I direct you to instruct your staff, including your congressional affairs liaison and attorneys, to suspend all communications (other than those necessary to collect responsive documents) with employees the Committee is planning to interview. I also warn you against any further efforts to intimidate witnesses or prevent truthful communications with Congress.
If you have any questions about this matter, you should contact me personally.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Chairman
Via TPMmuckracker:
Krongard Aide 'Categorically' Denies Threatening Whistleblowers
I just got off the phone with Terry Heide, the congressional liaison for State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard. [snip]
"I categorically deny any and all of it," Heide said. "I did not intimidate them or threaten retaliation. I don't have the power to fire people."
The Honorable Howard J. Krongard
Inspector General
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Mr. Krongard:
I am writing to you about an exceptionally serious matter: reports that your senior staff has threatened officials that you could fire them if they cooperate with the Committee's investigation into your conduct.
On September 18, 2007, I wrote to you requesting your assistance with an Oversight Committee investigation into your actions as State Department Inspector General. In that letter, I described allegations from seven officials in your office that you interfered with on-going investigations in order to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment. I requested various documents related to the investigation, and I informed you that Committee staff would be conducting interviews of several officials in your ofÍice.
Two of the individuals who came forward were John A. DeDona, the former Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, and Ralph McNamara, the former Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations. They told my staff that they had resigned after you repeatedly halted or impeded investigations undertaken by their office. The other individuals who contacted my staff asked that their identities not be revealed because they feared that you would retaliate against them.
Today, I am writing to express my grave concern with the tactics your office has reportedly used in response to my request. This week, several current employees in your office -- including two who have agreed to go on the record -- informed the Committee that your senior staff attempted to coerce them not to cooperate with the Committee's inquiry and threatened their jobs and careers.
The two officials who agreed to go on the record about the threats are Special Agent Ron Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Brian Rubendall. Both currently work in the investigations division of your office. Both are career federal investigators. Just last week, you referred to Special Agent Militana as "one of my best investigators" in a statement you released.
In addition to describing the threats he received, Special Agent Militana kept contemporaneous notes of these interchanges, which he has now shared with my staff.
Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall report that on September 25, 2007, one week after I sent my letter, your congressional affairs liaison and an attomey in the Counsel's office approached them about the Committee's invitation to be interviewed. They were taken into the offrce of the Deputy Inspector General, where your congressional liaison told Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall that they wanted to discuss their upcoming interviews.
At this point, according to Special Agent Militana, your congressional liaison told them they could suffer retaliation based on their cooperation with the Committee's investigation. According to Special Agent Militana, she stated: The majority are not friends. The minority staff has been helpful. They advise that you should never do a voluntary interview in a million years.
When Special Agent Militana questioned her statement, the congressional liaison told him: "You have no protection against reprisal. You have no whistleblower protections. Howard could retaliate and you would have no recourse."
The attorney informed Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall that although they might have some civil service protections against termination, he concurred with the congressional liaison. Special Agent Militana said that when he pressed the issue, the congressional liaison stated: "Howard can fire you. It would affect your ability to get another job."
Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall stated that at the end of this session, they felt angry that such threats were being used against them. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall informed my staff that as career investigators who deal with whistleblowers, they were shocked by the brazenness of these tactics.
They ultimately concluded that this activity was inappropriate and should be reported to the Committee.
Special Agent Militana and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall are not the only current employees to raise these concerns. Other employees have also reported that the congressional liaison and the attomey told them that if they appear before the Committee, you could take unspecified legal actions against them based on their statements.
I am appalled by these reports. As an Inspector General, you hold a position of special trust within the federal government. Your office is supposed to be an example of how to protect whistleblowers, not an example of how to persecute them.
It is unclear whether you directed your senior staff to engage in these activities or whether they took matters into their own hands. In either case, the threats against Special Agent Militana, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall, and others are reprehensible.
You should be aware -- and you should advise your staff -- that Congress has passed civil and criminal prohibitions against threatening and tampering with witnesses, retaliating against whistleblowers, and providing false information to Congress.' If Special Agent Militana's and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rubendall's accounts are true, some or all of these provisions may be implicated.
The Committee will not tolerate any intimidation of potential witnesses. I direct you to instruct your staff, including your congressional affairs liaison and attorneys, to suspend all communications (other than those necessary to collect responsive documents) with employees the Committee is planning to interview. I also warn you against any further efforts to intimidate witnesses or prevent truthful communications with Congress.
If you have any questions about this matter, you should contact me personally.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Chairman
Via TPMmuckracker:
Krongard Aide 'Categorically' Denies Threatening Whistleblowers
I just got off the phone with Terry Heide, the congressional liaison for State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard. [snip]
"I categorically deny any and all of it," Heide said. "I did not intimidate them or threaten retaliation. I don't have the power to fire people."
Iran Labels CIA 'Terrorist Organization'
Iran's parliament on Saturday approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations," in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The hard-line dominated parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II, using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons.
"The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror," said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the Iranian parliament. The session was broadcast live on state-run radio.
The resolution, which is seen as a diplomatic offensive against the U.S., urges Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to treat the two as terrorist organizations. It also paves the way for the resolution to become legislation that — if ratified by the country's hardline constitutional watchdog — would become law.
The government is expected to wait for U.S. reaction before making its decision. In Washington, the White House declined to comment Saturday.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 76-22 in favor of a resolution urging the State Department to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. While the proposal attracted overwhelming bipartisan support, a small group of Democrats said they feared labeling the state-sponsored organization a terrorist group could be interpreted as a congressional authorization of military force in Iran.
The Bush administration had already been considering whether to blacklist an elite unit within the Revolutionary Guard, subjecting part of the vast military operation to financial sanctions.
The U.S. legislative push came a day after Ahmadinejad told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly that his country would defy attempts to impose new sanctions by "arrogant powers" seeking to curb its nuclear program, accusing them of lying and imposing illegal penalties on his country.
He said the nuclear issue was now "closed" as a political issue and Iran would pursue the monitoring of its nuclear program "through its appropriate legal path," the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated over Washington accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and has been supplying Shiite militias in Iraq with deadly weapons used to kill U.S. troops. Iran denies both of the allegations.
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2007&m=09&d=29&a=5
The hard-line dominated parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II, using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons.
"The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror," said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the Iranian parliament. The session was broadcast live on state-run radio.
The resolution, which is seen as a diplomatic offensive against the U.S., urges Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to treat the two as terrorist organizations. It also paves the way for the resolution to become legislation that — if ratified by the country's hardline constitutional watchdog — would become law.
The government is expected to wait for U.S. reaction before making its decision. In Washington, the White House declined to comment Saturday.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 76-22 in favor of a resolution urging the State Department to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. While the proposal attracted overwhelming bipartisan support, a small group of Democrats said they feared labeling the state-sponsored organization a terrorist group could be interpreted as a congressional authorization of military force in Iran.
The Bush administration had already been considering whether to blacklist an elite unit within the Revolutionary Guard, subjecting part of the vast military operation to financial sanctions.
The U.S. legislative push came a day after Ahmadinejad told world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly that his country would defy attempts to impose new sanctions by "arrogant powers" seeking to curb its nuclear program, accusing them of lying and imposing illegal penalties on his country.
He said the nuclear issue was now "closed" as a political issue and Iran would pursue the monitoring of its nuclear program "through its appropriate legal path," the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran have escalated over Washington accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons and has been supplying Shiite militias in Iraq with deadly weapons used to kill U.S. troops. Iran denies both of the allegations.
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2007&m=09&d=29&a=5
Rudy/Rudia skips minority debate to fundraise with Bo Derek
From Robert Greenwald:
We can imagine how busy Rudy is. Running for president while distorting your record on 9/11, takes a lot of time and energy. So I can't say we were surprised to learn that Rudy (plus Romney, Thompson and McCain) was too busy to attend Thursday night's debate on minority issues hosted by Tavis Smiley.But where was Rudy going? John Ehrenfeld, a BNF field producer, volunteered to track him down. Turned out he would be right here in Southern California accepting an endorsement from widely discredited Pete Wilson, who's known for exploiting racial division for votes, and pushing the horrible proposition 187. Then off to a $2300-a-plate fundraiser at the Biltmore Four Seasons in Santa Barbara with Bo Derek.
We can imagine how busy Rudy is. Running for president while distorting your record on 9/11, takes a lot of time and energy. So I can't say we were surprised to learn that Rudy (plus Romney, Thompson and McCain) was too busy to attend Thursday night's debate on minority issues hosted by Tavis Smiley.But where was Rudy going? John Ehrenfeld, a BNF field producer, volunteered to track him down. Turned out he would be right here in Southern California accepting an endorsement from widely discredited Pete Wilson, who's known for exploiting racial division for votes, and pushing the horrible proposition 187. Then off to a $2300-a-plate fundraiser at the Biltmore Four Seasons in Santa Barbara with Bo Derek.
Showtime with the Rugby Man!
Click to watch video.
Raw Video: Feds Detail Alleged Murder-For-Hire Plot
Sept. 26, 2007
State and federal authorities discuss charges against a Chicago police officer.
BREAKING NEWS: Rudy's fundraiser was mystery initiative backer
From LA Times:
A close friend and major fundraiser of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has identified himself as the mystery financer of the proposed California initiative to apportion the state's 55 electoral votes by congressional district instead of winner-take-all.
He is New York hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer. He said he provided the $175,000 to initially finance the petition drive to get the measure on the June 2008 ballot. But as The Times' Dan Morain revealed in an exclusive story on this website last night, the drive has foundered on internal disputes and lack of further financing.
The petition drive's backers had remained a mystery since the effort was first revealed here in a July Top of the Ticket item. Democratic critics portrayed it as a power grab to wrest away some of the state's electoral votes, which have all gone to the Democratic candidates for the past four presidential elections. Some 19 of the state's 53 congressional districts would seem likely to vote for a GOP presidential candidate, enough to swing some recent national elections.
A Giuliani campaign spokeswoman, Maria Comella, said today that Singer's donation "was completely independent from our campaign."
Singer oversees Elliott Associates, an $8 billion investment fund. He is also chairman of Giuliani's northeast fundraising operation that produced a third of the New Yorker's $33.5 million campaign war chest in the first six months of 2007. Singer and his employees have donated at least $182,000 to the Giuliani campaign so far this year.
"I made the contribution without any restrictions," Singer's statement said. Some Democrats have threatened legal action, complaining that federal campaign finance laws were violated if the Giuliani campaign was involved.
Tonight, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, issued a statement demanding to know "the truth about Rudy's involvement in and knowledge about this shameful effort to disenfranchise voters."
Morain will have a complete report late tonight on this website and in Saturday's print editions.
--Andrew Malcolm
Indecent-in-chief in bid to challenge Fox over expletives
The Bush administration is seeking to challenge News Corporation’s Fox Network before the Supreme Court after it lost a landmark indecency case against the media company in June.
Kevin Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, confirmed on Wednesday that the Office of the Solicitor General would seek a review of the lower court decision, which found that the US media regulator had failed to provide a “reasoned explanation” for a “180-degree turn” on its treatment of “fleeting expletives” on broadcast television.
Memo to Fred: It's time for a nap.
It's way past Grandpa's bedtime. Clueless Fred unaware of death penalty cases especially in his own state. Was he living in a cave???
From Crooks and Liars:
From what I hear, Fred Thompson, the actor-lobbyist-presidential candidate, has been having a little trouble raising money for his campaign. Perhaps, out of the goodness of our hearts, we could chip in and buy him a newspaper subscription.
Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Thursday he was unaware that a federal judge had ruled last week that lethal injection procedures in his home state were unconstitutional.
Thompson also told reporters he was unaware that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to consider a Kentucky case about whether lethal injection violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Thompson’s support for the death penalty was a major part of his campaign platform when he first ran for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee in 1994. Asked for his response to the recent Tennessee and Kentucky cases, Thompson responded, “I hadn’t heard that. I didn’t know.”
Dumbing of America Hypocrisy Tour
Larry Craig's bathroom stall! Haggard's meth hotel! See all the sites of GOP shame. Fun for kids!From SFgate.com:
Kids! Families! War-wary countrymen! Adorable schoolchildren! Hungry to see the real America? Love the idea of a crazy road trip across our fine 'n' scandalous land, one in which you get a real taste of just what kind of crow the local politicos get to eat for breakfast?
Well, search no more, good patriot. Your adventure travel package has arrived.
Yes, it's called Shame Tourism. Or maybe Hypocrisy Travel. Or Shame America! Travelocrisy? Honestly, we haven't really decided yet. There are just so many options.
But who cares? Because it's the latest craze in domestic tourism, specially designed for happy cynics and satirists and fatalists and contrarians and atheists and liberals alike, all you savvy fans of "The Daily Show" and DailyKos and the New Republic and the Nation and pretty much anyone who finds delight in learning of yet another bitter BushCo conservative caught with his hands in the tacky polyester pants of his fellow countrymen. Best of all, it's totally free!*
(*Note: does not include additional costs of food, gas, oil, environmental devastation, condoms, souvenir baggies of crystal meth, cocaine, Viagra, hookers, STD meds, or the sad and savage toll on any happy or optimistic outlook you may have deluded yourself into believing actually exists on this planet.)
Ahmadinejad invites the Clown to deliver speech in Iranian university
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited President Bush to speak at an Iranian university if the latter ever traveled to the Islamic Republic, state-run television reported Friday. Ahmadinejad caused an uproar during his visit to New York this week when he spoke at Columbia University. He faced tough questioning and the university's president presented him by saying Ahmadinejad exhibited "all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator."
"If their president plans to travel to Iran, we will allow him to make a speech" at a university, Ahmadinejad told state TV earlier this week before leaving New York to travel to South America.
The comments were aired on state TV Friday, the AP reported.
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
"If their president plans to travel to Iran, we will allow him to make a speech" at a university, Ahmadinejad told state TV earlier this week before leaving New York to travel to South America.
The comments were aired on state TV Friday, the AP reported.
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
GOP to support Iraq withdrawal plan — in 16 months.
Yup, after the Clown leaves office...
From Thinkprogress:
I’d heard rumors that some Republicans — most notably, the ones who are worried about re-election next year — were working on finding a third option. Apparently, they’ve thought way outside the box and come up with something.
A small group of Republicans facing election fights next year have rallied around war legislation they think could unite the GOP: call for an end to U.S. combat in Iraq, but wait until President Bush is out of office. […]
The proposal, by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, would require that Bush change the mission of U.S. troops from combat to primarily support roles, such as training Iraqi security forces and protecting U.S. infrastructure in Iraq. His legislation would set a goal of completing such a mission transition within 15 months.
If enacted immediately, that timeline would not kick in until Bush’s last couple weeks in office.
Co-sponsors of the bill include Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Norm Coleman of Minnesota. Of the sponsors, only Voinovich is not up for re-election in 2008.
And people wonder why it’s so difficult to take Republicans seriously on foreign policy matters.
From Thinkprogress:
I’d heard rumors that some Republicans — most notably, the ones who are worried about re-election next year — were working on finding a third option. Apparently, they’ve thought way outside the box and come up with something.
A small group of Republicans facing election fights next year have rallied around war legislation they think could unite the GOP: call for an end to U.S. combat in Iraq, but wait until President Bush is out of office. […]
The proposal, by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, would require that Bush change the mission of U.S. troops from combat to primarily support roles, such as training Iraqi security forces and protecting U.S. infrastructure in Iraq. His legislation would set a goal of completing such a mission transition within 15 months.
If enacted immediately, that timeline would not kick in until Bush’s last couple weeks in office.
Co-sponsors of the bill include Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Norm Coleman of Minnesota. Of the sponsors, only Voinovich is not up for re-election in 2008.
And people wonder why it’s so difficult to take Republicans seriously on foreign policy matters.
Ahmadinejad Cements Ties With Chavez, Other Leaders.
CARACAS, Venezuela -- The leaders of Iran and Venezuela cemented an alliance aimed at countering the United States while the Iranian president reached out to a new ally in Bolivia and declared that together, "no one can defeat us."
After being vilified during his U.N. visit this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled on to friendlier territory Thursday, first stopping in Bolivia — where he pledged $1 billion in investment — and then visiting Venezuela to meet President Hugo Chavez.
"Together we are surely growing stronger, and in truth no one can defeat us," the Iranian leader said through an interpreter. Apparently referring to the U.S., he said, "Imperialism has no other option: Respect the peoples (of the world) or accept defeat."
Chavez greeted the Iranian leader warmly on a red carpet in front of the presidential palace, where they both stood before microphones and let loose with rhetoric challenging Washington.
"We will continue resisting to the end in the face of imperialism," Ahmadinejad said. "And the age of imperialism has ended."
Chavez embraced the Iranian leader, calling him "one of the greatest anti-imperialist fighters" and "one of the great fighters for true peace."
In his defiant speech to the U.N. General Assembly this week, Ahmadinejad rebuked "arrogant powers" seeking to curb Iran's nuclear program.
Chavez also strongly defends Iran's nuclear research, insisting it is for peaceful energy uses despite U.S. charges it is aimed at making nuclear weapons. The Venezuelan leader also says his country plans to eventually develop a nuclear energy program.
Chavez said he was proud of Ahmadinejad's courage while under hostile questioning at New York's Columbia University. "An imperial spokesman tried to disrespect you, calling you a cruel little tyrant. You responded with the greatness of a revolutionary."
In Bolivia, the Iranian leader pledged investment over the next five years to help the poor Andean nation tap its vast natural gas reserves, extract minerals, generate more electricity and fund agricultural and construction projects.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, who joins Chavez as one of Iran's key allies, called Ahmadinejad's visit historic as the two nations established diplomatic relations for the first time.
Morales brushed off concerns about close ties to a country that the Bush administration says is a sponsor of terrorism, declaring that the "international community can rest assured that Bolivia's foreign policy is dedicated to peace with equality and social justice."
Ahmadinejad's trip underscored his growing ties to Latin American nations, including Nicaragua and Ecuador, even as the U.S. tries to isolate him internationally.
The closer relationship is viewed with alarm by the opposition in Venezuela and Bolivia, and by Washington. U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, said they remind him "of the relationship that Fidel Castro had with Russia." He urged Washington to reach out more to a region analysts say it has largely ignored since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Toward that aim, a bipartisan bill is being introduced in Congress on Friday that would establish a 10-year, $2.5 billion program aimed at reducing poverty and expanding the middle class in Latin America. It would require recipient countries to contribute and encourage matching funds from businesses and non-governmental organizations.
The program would bring more stability in the long run and help the United States "re-establish leadership in the hemisphere" by increasing development assistance by more than a third, said bill co-sponsor Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.
Chavez's government, for its part, has promised more than $8.8 billion in aid, financing and energy funding to the region this year.
Relations between Iran and Venezuela, meanwhile, have grown very close. Since 2001, they have signed trade agreements worth more than $20 billion in potential investment, according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA.
They have teamed up to begin producing cars, tractors and plastic goods, and signed an agreement to help Venezuela build public housing. Iran Air began flights between Tehran and Caracas, with a stopover in Syria, earlier this year.
Venezuelan Jewish leaders objected to the presence of Ahmadinejad, who has called for the end of Israel and questioned the history of the Holocaust.
"We raise our voice to condemn these statements by the Iranian leader which incite hatred, becoming a threat to world peace," the Venezuelan Confederation of Israeli Associations said in a statement. The country is home to a large Jewish population, including Holocaust survivors.
It was Ahmadinejad's third visit to Caracas.
Along with Nicaragua and Bolivia, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa also wants closer ties with Tehran, and Iran's PressTV reported last month that Iran will for the first time open an embassy in Quito.
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2007&m=09&d=28&a=2
After being vilified during his U.N. visit this week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled on to friendlier territory Thursday, first stopping in Bolivia — where he pledged $1 billion in investment — and then visiting Venezuela to meet President Hugo Chavez.
"Together we are surely growing stronger, and in truth no one can defeat us," the Iranian leader said through an interpreter. Apparently referring to the U.S., he said, "Imperialism has no other option: Respect the peoples (of the world) or accept defeat."
Chavez greeted the Iranian leader warmly on a red carpet in front of the presidential palace, where they both stood before microphones and let loose with rhetoric challenging Washington.
"We will continue resisting to the end in the face of imperialism," Ahmadinejad said. "And the age of imperialism has ended."
Chavez embraced the Iranian leader, calling him "one of the greatest anti-imperialist fighters" and "one of the great fighters for true peace."
In his defiant speech to the U.N. General Assembly this week, Ahmadinejad rebuked "arrogant powers" seeking to curb Iran's nuclear program.
Chavez also strongly defends Iran's nuclear research, insisting it is for peaceful energy uses despite U.S. charges it is aimed at making nuclear weapons. The Venezuelan leader also says his country plans to eventually develop a nuclear energy program.
Chavez said he was proud of Ahmadinejad's courage while under hostile questioning at New York's Columbia University. "An imperial spokesman tried to disrespect you, calling you a cruel little tyrant. You responded with the greatness of a revolutionary."
In Bolivia, the Iranian leader pledged investment over the next five years to help the poor Andean nation tap its vast natural gas reserves, extract minerals, generate more electricity and fund agricultural and construction projects.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, who joins Chavez as one of Iran's key allies, called Ahmadinejad's visit historic as the two nations established diplomatic relations for the first time.
Morales brushed off concerns about close ties to a country that the Bush administration says is a sponsor of terrorism, declaring that the "international community can rest assured that Bolivia's foreign policy is dedicated to peace with equality and social justice."
Ahmadinejad's trip underscored his growing ties to Latin American nations, including Nicaragua and Ecuador, even as the U.S. tries to isolate him internationally.
The closer relationship is viewed with alarm by the opposition in Venezuela and Bolivia, and by Washington. U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, said they remind him "of the relationship that Fidel Castro had with Russia." He urged Washington to reach out more to a region analysts say it has largely ignored since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Toward that aim, a bipartisan bill is being introduced in Congress on Friday that would establish a 10-year, $2.5 billion program aimed at reducing poverty and expanding the middle class in Latin America. It would require recipient countries to contribute and encourage matching funds from businesses and non-governmental organizations.
The program would bring more stability in the long run and help the United States "re-establish leadership in the hemisphere" by increasing development assistance by more than a third, said bill co-sponsor Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat.
Chavez's government, for its part, has promised more than $8.8 billion in aid, financing and energy funding to the region this year.
Relations between Iran and Venezuela, meanwhile, have grown very close. Since 2001, they have signed trade agreements worth more than $20 billion in potential investment, according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA.
They have teamed up to begin producing cars, tractors and plastic goods, and signed an agreement to help Venezuela build public housing. Iran Air began flights between Tehran and Caracas, with a stopover in Syria, earlier this year.
Venezuelan Jewish leaders objected to the presence of Ahmadinejad, who has called for the end of Israel and questioned the history of the Holocaust.
"We raise our voice to condemn these statements by the Iranian leader which incite hatred, becoming a threat to world peace," the Venezuelan Confederation of Israeli Associations said in a statement. The country is home to a large Jewish population, including Holocaust survivors.
It was Ahmadinejad's third visit to Caracas.
Along with Nicaragua and Bolivia, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa also wants closer ties with Tehran, and Iran's PressTV reported last month that Iran will for the first time open an embassy in Quito.
http://www.iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2007&m=09&d=28&a=2
Joyner calls out missing GOP candidates at debate.
From Thinkprogress:
At the beginning of last night’s PBS Republican presidential forum, radio host Tom Joyner introduced the event by poking fun at the four frontrunners who had decided to skip the event, saying “hello to those of you viewing from home.” The audience erupted into cheers at the jab.
Joyner: And let me take a moment right here and now to say hello to those of you viewing from home. Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Senator John McCain. Governor Mitt Romney. And Senator Fred Thompson. Well, you know, I had to call them out.
At the beginning of last night’s PBS Republican presidential forum, radio host Tom Joyner introduced the event by poking fun at the four frontrunners who had decided to skip the event, saying “hello to those of you viewing from home.” The audience erupted into cheers at the jab.
Joyner: And let me take a moment right here and now to say hello to those of you viewing from home. Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Senator John McCain. Governor Mitt Romney. And Senator Fred Thompson. Well, you know, I had to call them out.
Rudy/Rudia: Took Phone Call From Wife…Because of 9/11
From Crooks and Liars:
Rudy Giuliani is now saying that he took a cell phone call from his wife in the middle of a speech last week because of–wait for it–September 11. Of course.
Giuliani also addressed a cell phone call he took from his wife, Judith, last week during his speech to the National Rifle Association…
“And quite honestly, since Sept. 11, most of the time when we get on a plane, we talk to each other and just reaffirm the fact that we love each other,” he said.
Abramoff Investigation Reaches into DOJ.
From TPM:
From Peter Stone at National Journal (sub. req'd):
The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland to handle one aspect of the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling probe -- ex-Abramoff colleague Kevin Ring's lobbying of Justice officials.
According to lawyers familiar with the case, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein has recently sought documents and information relating to Ring's lobbying of members of former Attorney General John Ashcroft's staff.
They include David Ayres, Ashcroft's former chief of staff, and Robert Coughlin II, who worked on Justice's legislative affairs team and later became deputy chief of staff in the Criminal Division (which oversees the Abramoff investigation). Coughlin, who recused himself from the probe of his friend Ring, resigned abruptly from Justice in early April, citing personal reasons. Later that month, Ring announced that he was leaving his law firm of Barnes & Thornburg.
From Peter Stone at National Journal (sub. req'd):
The Justice Department has asked the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland to handle one aspect of the Jack Abramoff influence-peddling probe -- ex-Abramoff colleague Kevin Ring's lobbying of Justice officials.
According to lawyers familiar with the case, U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein has recently sought documents and information relating to Ring's lobbying of members of former Attorney General John Ashcroft's staff.
They include David Ayres, Ashcroft's former chief of staff, and Robert Coughlin II, who worked on Justice's legislative affairs team and later became deputy chief of staff in the Criminal Division (which oversees the Abramoff investigation). Coughlin, who recused himself from the probe of his friend Ring, resigned abruptly from Justice in early April, citing personal reasons. Later that month, Ring announced that he was leaving his law firm of Barnes & Thornburg.
Aqua Velva Fred Takes In Only $7 Million For Quarter
From TPM:
Fred Thompson's campaign is expected to report taking in over $7 million for the third quarter, according to CNN. Thompson only officially declared his candidacy early this month, but this is still a letdown in that he'd been actively courting donors and building his campaign through his "testing the waters" committee all Summer.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Spanky DeLay is WRONG. Roll Call reporter did not get Craig story from CREW.
From the CREW:
As we reported earlier, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay accused CREW of leaking the Larry Craig scandal to Roll Call. We knew that wasn't true. Now, as Raw Story reports, the reporter who did break the story flat out denies DeLay's bizarre claim:
"I can tell you categorically that CREW was not the source for our Larry Craig story," Josh Kurtz, who was first tipped off about the Idaho senator's arrest, told RAW STORY. Kurtz is political editor of Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper that first reported Craig's arrest.
CREW publishes an annual list of the "most corrupt" members of Congress called "Beyond DeLay," in honor of the former House majority leader.
The Houston Chronicle reported that DeLay said CREW was acting in concert with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign to distract attention from an emerging scandal revolving around rogue fundraiser Norman Hsu.
"Clearly Tom DeLay is still obsessed with CREW," Naomi Seligman Steiner, a spokeswoman for the group told RAW STORY. "Sure, by writing the ethics complaint against him we were instrumental in his downfall. But, after all these years, even we're surprised that he's resorted to making up conspiratorial theories about us."
Further undercutting DeLay's assertion is that reports of Norman Hsu questionable fundraising practices didn't break until a day after Roll Call broke Craig's story.
12-Year-Old Will Battle Bush For Dems On Children’s Health Care Issue
If the Democrats win big in 2008 partially due to the furor over President George Bush’s impending veto of a bill to fund children’s health care, they can thank the “little people.”
Kids like a 12-year-old boy who the Democrats have picked to give the Democrats’ answer to the President’s weekly radio address tomorrow.
And expect this to be the opening volley in young faces and voices putting a “human interest” spin on a veto that could be the worst political relations blunder since the Republicans shut down Congress after disputes with President Bill Clinton:
A 12-year-old boy who received life- saving care through U.S.-subsidized health insurance will speak for Democrats tomorrow in their response to President George W. Bush’s weekly radio address.Democrats chose Graeme Frost of Baltimore, instead of the lawmakers or governors who usually provide the party’s Saturday- morning broadcast, to press what they see as a political advantage from Bush’s vow to veto expansion of a kids’ health-care program.
http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/15359/12-year-old-will-battle-bush-for-democrats-on-childrens-health-care-issue/
Kids like a 12-year-old boy who the Democrats have picked to give the Democrats’ answer to the President’s weekly radio address tomorrow.
And expect this to be the opening volley in young faces and voices putting a “human interest” spin on a veto that could be the worst political relations blunder since the Republicans shut down Congress after disputes with President Bill Clinton:
A 12-year-old boy who received life- saving care through U.S.-subsidized health insurance will speak for Democrats tomorrow in their response to President George W. Bush’s weekly radio address.Democrats chose Graeme Frost of Baltimore, instead of the lawmakers or governors who usually provide the party’s Saturday- morning broadcast, to press what they see as a political advantage from Bush’s vow to veto expansion of a kids’ health-care program.
http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/15359/12-year-old-will-battle-bush-for-democrats-on-childrens-health-care-issue/
The Itchy and Scratchy show: ISOO Director Leonard bails out.
J. William Leonard, the director of the Information Security Oversight Office, is resigning from that position effective January 2008, leaving a significant void in the fragile mechanism for overseeing the government's national security classification system.The move was announced today in a National Archives news release. Mr. Leonard's letter of resignation is here (pdf).
Since becoming ISOO director in 2002, Mr. Leonard has been the preeminent official spokesman for a credible classification policy, which means he has also been an outspoken critic of classification practice as it actually exists.
"To be effective, the classification process is a tool that must be wielded with precision," Mr. Leonard said last year (pdf).
Despite this fact, he added, "few, if any, both within and outside Government, would deny that too much of the information produced by our agencies is classified."
"The integrity of the security classification program is essential to our nation's continued well-being. The consequences of failure are too high."
In pursuit of that integrity earlier this year, Mr. Leonard famously challenged the Office of the Vice President, which decided in 2003 that it would no longer submit to longstanding classification oversight procedures.
After the Federation of American Scientists filed a formal complaint concerning the OVP's non-compliance, Mr. Leonard urged Cheney aide David Addington to reconsider its position. When Addington ignored the request, Mr. Leonard exercised his authority to raise the issue with the Attorney General, who is obliged by the executive order on classification to render an interpretation of the order's requirements.
Although no response from the Attorney General was forthcoming, the episode turned the Vice President and his unchecked secrecy into an object of public ridicule. (See "Vice President Makes Secrecy Policy a Joke (Literally)," Secrecy News, June 26, 2007).
Mr. Leonard's unexpected resignation naturally invites speculation that the friction between him and the Office of Vice President was a factor in his departure. However, his associates say there is no specific evidence of that.
As a career security professional, Mr. Leonard has been immune to bluster and to bogus national security claims. He could not be intimidated by the cult of secrecy, since he was practically a founding member of it. As ISOO director, he conducted himself with dignity and with respect for the citizens and the national security that he served. It's hard to imagine who will replace him.
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2007/09/isoo_director_leonard_to_step.html
http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2007/09/isoo_director_leonard_to_step.html
WH distances itself from Limpballs on ‘phony soldiers’ remark.
Not one criticism from the WH on Limpballs' remark yet they bring out Purina, kittybowtie's real owner, to give the fluff.From Thinkprogress:
In a press briefing this morning, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was pressed specifically about Rush Limbaugh’s “phony soldiers” comment. She responded: “It’s not what the President would have used, no.”
Recall, Bush blasted the MoveOn ad as “disgusting,” and he lamented that more Democrats did not “speak out strongly” against it. TPM observes that the White House response to Limbaugh is “hardly the scathing condemnation that MoveOn earned at the hands of the President of course.”
In remarks on his radio station today, Rush Limbaugh refused to apologize for his “phony soldiers” remark, but instead turned his fire on Media Matters, the “drive-by media,” and Rep. John Murtha (D-PA). C&L has the audio.
US Congressman owned home with another man, took DC tax deduction while voting in NC.
Congressman Patrick T. McHenry (R-NC) purchased a residence in Washington, DC's Capital Hill neighborhood with another man, PageOneQ has learned. While he owned the home, McHenry and co-owner Scott G. Stewart claimed eligibility for the District of Columbia's Homestead Tax Deduction, a tax reduction program to encourage homeownership and residence in DC. At the same time McHenry was registered to vote, and did so, in Gaston County, North Carolina.According to records obtained from the Washington, DC Recorder of Deeds, McHenry, who was first elected to Congress in 2004, and Stewart owned the three bedroom, three-and-a-half bath home from February 2001 to January 2002. The house is located at 1360 D Street, SE, in a neighborhood near the US Capitol.
The DC Recorder of Deeds told PageOneQ that McHenry and Stewart received a $60,000 deduction off the property's assessed value for tax reduction purposes in the second half of 2001. In order to receive the tax reduction, homeowners are required to certify that the property is "occupied by the owner/applicant." The eligibility guidelines state that the "property must be the principal residence (domicile) of the owner/applicant."
At the same time he owned the home and claimed the deduction in DC, North Carolina Board of Elections records show that McHenry voted in Gaston County, NC. McHenry first cast a ballot in Gaston in November 1993. Subsequently, he voted in twenty different elections up through the November 7, 2006 General Election. On November 6, 2001 McHenry voted in a North Carolina polling location. On that date he was also receiving the Homestead Deduction on his DC property.
"Applicants need to submit a form to us that states the residence is their principal home," Irving Gwin of the DC Office of Tax and Revenue told PageOneQ. "The form includes questions about drivers' licenses, vehicle ownership, and voter registration."
McHenry aide indicted in voter fraud
At the time he owned the Capital Hill home and took the tax reduction for residents, McHenry was registered and voted in Gaston County, NC (see McHenry's voter record below). Earlier this year, McHenry campaign staffer Michael Aaron Lay was indicted on charges of voter fraud for registering at the McHenry home in North Carolina illegally. Lay, claimed the Gaston County prosecutor, voted in two Congressional primaries in which McHenry was running, including one which McHenry won by 85 votes. While Lay was being paid by McHenry's campaign at a Tennessee residence, he registered at McHenry's Requa Drive home in Cherryville. Lay was indicted on May 7th by grand jury and in August agreed to a deferred prosecution deal on misdemeanor charges of registering and voting illegally.
More on the story.
More on the story.
Violation of 23 U.S.C. § 2302.
l8 U.S.C. § 1505 ("Whoever corruptly, or by threats of force, or by any threatening letter or communication influences, obstruct, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law. . . or the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress -- Shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years. . . or both"); 23 U.S.C. § 2302 ("Any employee who has the authority to take, direct others to take, recommend, or approve any personnel action, shall not, with respect to such authority. . . take or fail to take, or threaten to take or fail to take, a personnel action with respect to any employee or applicant for employment because of a disclosure of information by an employee or applicant which the employee or applicant reasonably believes evidences a violation of any law, rule, or regulation, or gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety").
From Oversight and Reform Committee website:
Investigators working for Howard Krongard, the State Department Inspector General, say they were told “Howard can fire you” and “You have no protection against reprisal” if they cooperate with the Oversight Committee’s investigation.
Waxman Power!
Incident Reports Fault Blackwater in Fallujah Ambush
On February 7, 2007, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to initiate an investigation into the performance and accountability of private military contractors in Iraq. The hearing included the examination of one prominent case study: a pivotal event of the Iraq War in which four Blackwater USA security contractors were ambushed and killed in Fallujah on March 31, 2004, while escorting a convoy.
At the hearing, Blackwater’s General Counsel testified that the company acted responsibly in preparing for and executing the Fallujah mission. He asserted that the vehicles involved had an “appropriate” amount of protection and that the level of staffing was “the norm” given “the threat as it was known on the ground in Iraq.”
Since the hearing, the Committee has investigated what actually happened in Fallujah on March 31, 2004, and whether Blackwater approached its security duties responsibly. As part of this investigation, the Committee staff has reviewed documents based on the accounts of eighteen individuals with knowledge of the incident, including Blackwater’s Baghdad operations manager and project director, seven other Blackwater personnel who were based in Iraq or Kuwait, the three truck drivers escorted in the Blackwater convoy through Fallujah, and three personnel from a different government contractor who spoke to the Blackwater team the night before and morning of its ambush, as well as employees of another private security contractor and Blackwater’s contract partner. The Committee has also obtained, and the staff reviewed, unclassified investigative reports generated by the counterintelligence unit of the Coalition Provisional Authority — the U.S. entity that was governing Iraq at the time of the incident — and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
These eyewitness accounts and investigative reports conflict with Blackwater’s assertion that they sent the team out with sufficient preparation and equipment.
They portray a company that ignored multiple warnings about the dangers of traveling through Fallujah, cut essential personnel from the mission, and failed to supply its team with armored vehicles, machine guns, sufficient threat intelligence, or even maps of the area. Blackwater’s own employees described its conduct as “flat out a sloppy … operation” and a “ship about to sink.” Another Blackwater employee stated: “Why were they sent into the hottest zone in Iraq in unarmored, underpowered vehicles to protect a truck? They had no way to protect their flanks because they only had four guys.” Even the internal review conducted by Blackwater at the direction of Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, found that the team ambushed in Fallujah “[h]ad no time to perform proper mission planning” and “[w]as without proper maps of the city.”
The details of the events leading to the incident are disturbing, revealing an unprepared and disorderly organization operating in a hostile environment. Mistake apparently compounded mistake. According to the documents provided to the Committee:
o At the time of the Fallujah incident, Blackwater was taking over operations from a British security company, Control Risks Group. The project manager for the British company states that Blackwater “did not use the opportunity to learn from the experience gained by CRG on this operation, … leading to inadequate preparation for taking on this task.” The company’s incident report states that Blackwater was informed that Control Risks Group twice rejected the mission because of unacceptable security risks, reporting: “Blackwater were informed that we had turned this task down and the reasons why were given.”
o Prior to the Blackwater team’s departure, two of the six members of the team were cut from the mission, depriving both security vehicles of a rear gunner. These personnel were removed from the mission to perform administrative duties at the Blackwater operations center.
o Blackwater had a contract dispute with a Kuwaiti company, Regency Hotel & Hospitality, over the acquisition of armored vehicles for the Blackwater team. Blackwater officials instructed its employees to “string these guys along and run this … thing into the ground” because “if we stalled long enough they (Regency) would have no choice but to buy us armored cars, or they would default on the contract,” in which case the contractor who hired Regency “might go directly to Blackwater for security.” According to a Blackwater employee, Blackwater’s contract “paid for armor vehicles,” but “management in North Carolina made the decision to go with soft skin due to the cost.”
o One day before the Fallujah attack, Blackwater’s operations manager in Baghdad sent an urgent e-mail to Blackwater headquarters in North Carolina with the subject line “Ground Truth.” The e-mail stated: “I need new vehicles. I need new COMs, I need ammo, I need Glocks and M4s. … I’ve requested hard cars from the beginning. … Ground truth is appalling.”
o Because they were without maps and the mission had not been sufficiently planned, the Blackwater personnel arrived at the wrong military base the day before the attack, where they were forced to spend the night. A witness at the military base assessed that “the mission that they were on was hurriedly put together and that they were not prepared.”
Blackwater’s recalcitrance in responding to the Committee’s inquiry has also raised issues. The company consistently delayed and erected impediments to the Committee’s investigation, using tactics such as erroneously claiming that documents relating to the Fallujah incident were classified, seeking to have the Defense Department retroactively classify previously unclassified documents, and asserting questionable legal privileges.
On February 7, 2007, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing to initiate an investigation into the performance and accountability of private military contractors in Iraq. The hearing included the examination of one prominent case study: a pivotal event of the Iraq War in which four Blackwater USA security contractors were ambushed and killed in Fallujah on March 31, 2004, while escorting a convoy.
At the hearing, Blackwater’s General Counsel testified that the company acted responsibly in preparing for and executing the Fallujah mission. He asserted that the vehicles involved had an “appropriate” amount of protection and that the level of staffing was “the norm” given “the threat as it was known on the ground in Iraq.”
Since the hearing, the Committee has investigated what actually happened in Fallujah on March 31, 2004, and whether Blackwater approached its security duties responsibly. As part of this investigation, the Committee staff has reviewed documents based on the accounts of eighteen individuals with knowledge of the incident, including Blackwater’s Baghdad operations manager and project director, seven other Blackwater personnel who were based in Iraq or Kuwait, the three truck drivers escorted in the Blackwater convoy through Fallujah, and three personnel from a different government contractor who spoke to the Blackwater team the night before and morning of its ambush, as well as employees of another private security contractor and Blackwater’s contract partner. The Committee has also obtained, and the staff reviewed, unclassified investigative reports generated by the counterintelligence unit of the Coalition Provisional Authority — the U.S. entity that was governing Iraq at the time of the incident — and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
These eyewitness accounts and investigative reports conflict with Blackwater’s assertion that they sent the team out with sufficient preparation and equipment.
They portray a company that ignored multiple warnings about the dangers of traveling through Fallujah, cut essential personnel from the mission, and failed to supply its team with armored vehicles, machine guns, sufficient threat intelligence, or even maps of the area. Blackwater’s own employees described its conduct as “flat out a sloppy … operation” and a “ship about to sink.” Another Blackwater employee stated: “Why were they sent into the hottest zone in Iraq in unarmored, underpowered vehicles to protect a truck? They had no way to protect their flanks because they only had four guys.” Even the internal review conducted by Blackwater at the direction of Erik Prince, the owner of Blackwater, found that the team ambushed in Fallujah “[h]ad no time to perform proper mission planning” and “[w]as without proper maps of the city.”
The details of the events leading to the incident are disturbing, revealing an unprepared and disorderly organization operating in a hostile environment. Mistake apparently compounded mistake. According to the documents provided to the Committee:
o At the time of the Fallujah incident, Blackwater was taking over operations from a British security company, Control Risks Group. The project manager for the British company states that Blackwater “did not use the opportunity to learn from the experience gained by CRG on this operation, … leading to inadequate preparation for taking on this task.” The company’s incident report states that Blackwater was informed that Control Risks Group twice rejected the mission because of unacceptable security risks, reporting: “Blackwater were informed that we had turned this task down and the reasons why were given.”
o Prior to the Blackwater team’s departure, two of the six members of the team were cut from the mission, depriving both security vehicles of a rear gunner. These personnel were removed from the mission to perform administrative duties at the Blackwater operations center.
o Blackwater had a contract dispute with a Kuwaiti company, Regency Hotel & Hospitality, over the acquisition of armored vehicles for the Blackwater team. Blackwater officials instructed its employees to “string these guys along and run this … thing into the ground” because “if we stalled long enough they (Regency) would have no choice but to buy us armored cars, or they would default on the contract,” in which case the contractor who hired Regency “might go directly to Blackwater for security.” According to a Blackwater employee, Blackwater’s contract “paid for armor vehicles,” but “management in North Carolina made the decision to go with soft skin due to the cost.”
o One day before the Fallujah attack, Blackwater’s operations manager in Baghdad sent an urgent e-mail to Blackwater headquarters in North Carolina with the subject line “Ground Truth.” The e-mail stated: “I need new vehicles. I need new COMs, I need ammo, I need Glocks and M4s. … I’ve requested hard cars from the beginning. … Ground truth is appalling.”
o Because they were without maps and the mission had not been sufficiently planned, the Blackwater personnel arrived at the wrong military base the day before the attack, where they were forced to spend the night. A witness at the military base assessed that “the mission that they were on was hurriedly put together and that they were not prepared.”
Blackwater’s recalcitrance in responding to the Committee’s inquiry has also raised issues. The company consistently delayed and erected impediments to the Committee’s investigation, using tactics such as erroneously claiming that documents relating to the Fallujah incident were classified, seeking to have the Defense Department retroactively classify previously unclassified documents, and asserting questionable legal privileges.
Results of last week's poll.
Last week's poll asked:
US interest rate-setters have decided to cut rates for the first time since mid-2006. Have you been affected by the global credit squeeze?
Majority of the readers voted no. This week's poll is now up.
US interest rate-setters have decided to cut rates for the first time since mid-2006. Have you been affected by the global credit squeeze?
Majority of the readers voted no. This week's poll is now up.
State Dept. IG threatened the jobs and careers of whistleblowers,
From Thinkprogress:
Approximately 10 days ago, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard to report allegations from seven IG employees that he “has repeatedly interfered with on-going investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment.”
Krongard has thwarted investigations into waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq. He has also “refused to cooperate with an investigation into alleged weapons smuggling by a large, unidentified State Department contractor.”
Today, Waxman sent Krongard another disturbing letter that reveals the State Department Inspector General has been retaliating against the whistleblowers. Waxman writes:
This week, several current employees in your office — including two who have agreed to go on the record — informed the Committee that your senior staff attempted to coerce them not to cooperate with the committee’s inquiry and threatened their jobs and careers.
Approximately 10 days ago, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard to report allegations from seven IG employees that he “has repeatedly interfered with on-going investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment.”
Krongard has thwarted investigations into waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq. He has also “refused to cooperate with an investigation into alleged weapons smuggling by a large, unidentified State Department contractor.”
Today, Waxman sent Krongard another disturbing letter that reveals the State Department Inspector General has been retaliating against the whistleblowers. Waxman writes:
This week, several current employees in your office — including two who have agreed to go on the record — informed the Committee that your senior staff attempted to coerce them not to cooperate with the committee’s inquiry and threatened their jobs and careers.
BREAKING NEWS: Electoral initiative backers give up
From Crooks and Liars:
Congratulations to the Courage Campaign and everyone that joined in. I was going to fight this to the end. Remember, we have more voters than they do, so they need to cheat to win. We must always fight for our right to vote and not let the system get played by the sneaky Republican operatives.
Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California’s 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.
In an exclusive report to appear on this website late tonight and in Friday’s print editions, The Times’ Dan Morain reports that the proposal to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to one by congressional district is virtually dead with the resignation of key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds.
Congratulations to the Courage Campaign and everyone that joined in. I was going to fight this to the end. Remember, we have more voters than they do, so they need to cheat to win. We must always fight for our right to vote and not let the system get played by the sneaky Republican operatives.
Plagued by a lack of money, supporters of a statewide initiative drive to change the way California’s 55 electoral votes are apportioned, first revealed here by Top of the Ticket in July, are pulling the plug on that effort.
In an exclusive report to appear on this website late tonight and in Friday’s print editions, The Times’ Dan Morain reports that the proposal to change the winner-take-all electoral vote allocation to one by congressional district is virtually dead with the resignation of key supporters, internal disputes and a lack of funds.
Report: White House to Allow Lawyer Access for 14 Gitmo Prisoners.
From Democracynow.org:
The Washington Post is reporting the Bush administration will allow fourteen Guantanamo Bay prisoners the right to request lawyers for the first time since their capture. The move would grant the suspects their first outside contact aside from representatives of the Red Cross. The fourteen are all considered ‘high-value detainees’ transferred from overseas CIA prisons last year. The group includes the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The Washington Post is reporting the Bush administration will allow fourteen Guantanamo Bay prisoners the right to request lawyers for the first time since their capture. The move would grant the suspects their first outside contact aside from representatives of the Red Cross. The fourteen are all considered ‘high-value detainees’ transferred from overseas CIA prisons last year. The group includes the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Democracynow.org: Iraq War Vet to Return Medals.
An Iraq war veteran has announced he’s returning his military medals as an act of anti-war protest. Josh Gaines was awarded the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and National Defense Service Medal following a year-long tour of duty in 2004 and 2005. Gaines says he’ll send the medals to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld because he holds Rumsfeld responsible for sending him to Iraq.
Democracynow.org: Federal Prosecutors to Probe Chicago Torture Scandal
And federal prosecutors have announced they’re now conducting a criminal investigation of the Chicago police torture scandal. For nearly two decades a part of the city’s jails known as Area 2 was the epicenter for what has been described as the systematic torture of dozens of African-American males by Chicago police officers. In total, more than 135 people say they were subjected to abuse including having guns forced into their mouths, bags places over their heads, and electric shocks inflicted to their genitals. Four men have been released from death row after government investigators concluded torture led to their wrongful convictions. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald says his office will probe whether former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge and his subordinates lied under oath or obstructed investigations into the allegations. Fitzgerald also says prosecutors have re-opened an investigation into the 1987 fire that led to the conviction of one of the torture victims. The victim, Madison Hobley, has sued Burge and more than twenty officers for allegedly coercing him into falsely confessing to murders.
My name is Scooter 2.
Scooter Libby's prison pseudonym lives on. In the season premiere of NBC's My Name Is Earl last night, the show opened with Earl talking about his life in prison. He then mentioned that for the next two years, he'd be known as inmate 28301-016 -- the same number that the Bureau of Prisons issued to "Scooter" Libby.
LOL!
Revealed: Sen. Jim Bunning Put Secret Hold On Presidential Records Amendment.
From Thinkprogress:
Last week, ThinkProgress noted that an anonymous senator had placed a hold on a bill that would restore public access to Presidential records, which President Bush had sealed indefinitely with an executive order in 2001.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) was originally suspected of being the senator behind the secret hold until a member of his staff contacted ThinkProgress to “state for the record that” Sen. Coburn “is not holding this bill related to presidential records“:
With Coburn out of the running, the mystery of who was attempting to block public access to Presidential records continued. But now, the Sunlight Foundation has revealed that the senatorial hand behind the secret hold is Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY):
Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) now has an objection to moving forward with HR 1255, the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007. The bill would overturn an outrageous Executive Order that would keep presidential records hidden from public view indefinitely. […]
Now, whether or not he has had the hold all along, Senator Bunning has been forced to take responsibility for the objection. That makes us happy.
Last week, ThinkProgress noted that an anonymous senator had placed a hold on a bill that would restore public access to Presidential records, which President Bush had sealed indefinitely with an executive order in 2001.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) was originally suspected of being the senator behind the secret hold until a member of his staff contacted ThinkProgress to “state for the record that” Sen. Coburn “is not holding this bill related to presidential records“:
With Coburn out of the running, the mystery of who was attempting to block public access to Presidential records continued. But now, the Sunlight Foundation has revealed that the senatorial hand behind the secret hold is Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY):
Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) now has an objection to moving forward with HR 1255, the Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007. The bill would overturn an outrageous Executive Order that would keep presidential records hidden from public view indefinitely. […]
Now, whether or not he has had the hold all along, Senator Bunning has been forced to take responsibility for the objection. That makes us happy.
GOP Snubbing Of PBS Debate Is Part Of A ‘Pattern’ Of ‘Disrespect’ for ‘Black And Brown Americans’
From Thinkprogress:
Thursday, at 9 PM ET, talk show host Tavis Smiley will moderate a Republican presidential forum at Morgan Sate University in Maryland, where candidates will for the first time answer questions from “a panel exclusively comprised of journalists of color.”
Controversy is surrounding the event, however, as the four Republican frontrunners — Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Sen. John McCain — have all opted to ditch the debate. Empty lecterns will stand on the stage in their place.
Smiley has been blunt in his opinion of the candidate no-shows, telling USA Today that “no one should be elected president of this country in 2008 if they think that along the way they can ignore people of color.” On CNN’s Out In The Open last night, Smiley re-iterated that point, adding that the snub was part of an apparent pattern of disregarding minority groups and issues:
Fidel Castro vows to outlast the Clown.
Fidel Castro is terminally ill but has made it his goal to survive until George W. Bush leaves the White House, it emerged yesterday, as the Cuban dictator made his first television appearance in three months.
The 81-year-old gave an hour-long interview to debunk rumours of his death. Appearing alert but tired, he said simply: "Well, here I am," adding: "Nobody knows the day they are going to die."
Castro's son has said his father will not recover from the illness that caused him to disappear from public view this summer to undergo surgery, according to a forthcoming biography.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/23/wcastro123.xml
The 81-year-old gave an hour-long interview to debunk rumours of his death. Appearing alert but tired, he said simply: "Well, here I am," adding: "Nobody knows the day they are going to die."
Castro's son has said his father will not recover from the illness that caused him to disappear from public view this summer to undergo surgery, according to a forthcoming biography.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/23/wcastro123.xml
Ahmadinejad urges U.S. to change policy toward Iran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Tehran welcomes any positive change in US policies on Iran and believe that such a move would benefit the US itself. He made the remark in an interview with Aljazeera English channel on Thursday on the sidelines of the 62nd UN General Assembly session in New York.
He expressed the hope that the US would change its "war mongering policies" on Iran. To a question that the US president did not point to Iran's nuclear program during his speech and whether this indicated a the positive attitude of the White House on Iran Iran, he replied "We hope so. Of course this will be to their own benefit because it will prepare grounds for their cooperation with us."
The Iranian leader termed the UNSC resolutions on Iran's nuclear dossier as politically-motivated and said such resolutions are worthless because they have been ratified illegally. UNSC resolutions have been approved under US pressures, therefore they are illegal, he said.
The US has misused its veto power in this connection, he stressed.
Asked whether he was concerned about military action against Iran, Ahmadinejad said "why should such an option be on the table? war is a mishap and there is no reason for its occurrence. I do not think that any wise individual will take such a decision."
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
He expressed the hope that the US would change its "war mongering policies" on Iran. To a question that the US president did not point to Iran's nuclear program during his speech and whether this indicated a the positive attitude of the White House on Iran Iran, he replied "We hope so. Of course this will be to their own benefit because it will prepare grounds for their cooperation with us."
The Iranian leader termed the UNSC resolutions on Iran's nuclear dossier as politically-motivated and said such resolutions are worthless because they have been ratified illegally. UNSC resolutions have been approved under US pressures, therefore they are illegal, he said.
The US has misused its veto power in this connection, he stressed.
Asked whether he was concerned about military action against Iran, Ahmadinejad said "why should such an option be on the table? war is a mishap and there is no reason for its occurrence. I do not think that any wise individual will take such a decision."
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Jenna on the Block on Iraq: ‘It’s complicated.’
From Thinkprogress:
In her soon-to-be-aired interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Jenna Bush is very forthcoming about her marriage plans and her fiancée Henry Hager. But she was far more circumspect about her views on Iraq:
“You know I’m not here to talk about that, but I’m also not a policymaker,” she told Sawyer in an interview to be aired by ABC News’ 20/20 . “It’s a really complicated, obviously a very complicated subject. Everybody can agree on that.”
She said she understood critics who argue that she and her twin sister, Barbara, should serve in Iraq.
“Obviously I understand that question and see what the point of that question is for sure. I think there are many ways to serve your country,” she said.
In her soon-to-be-aired interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Jenna Bush is very forthcoming about her marriage plans and her fiancée Henry Hager. But she was far more circumspect about her views on Iraq:
“You know I’m not here to talk about that, but I’m also not a policymaker,” she told Sawyer in an interview to be aired by ABC News’ 20/20 . “It’s a really complicated, obviously a very complicated subject. Everybody can agree on that.”
She said she understood critics who argue that she and her twin sister, Barbara, should serve in Iraq.
“Obviously I understand that question and see what the point of that question is for sure. I think there are many ways to serve your country,” she said.
Senators, Admin Officials on Wilkes' List.
More subpoena power from Wilkes...
From TPM:
As if serving subpoenas on twelve members of the House wasn't enough, Brent Wilkes' lawyers apparently issued subpoenas to a number of senators and administration figures as well, it was disclosed today. At least two of those subpoenas, however, have not been served yet.
In a filing, the House's lawyers seeking to quash the twelve subpoenas, the House's general counsel reveals that he'd been advised by an investigator for Wilkes' lawyer Mark Geragos earlier this month that subpoenas had also been issued to:
-- Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
-- Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
-- Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
-- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
-- White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten
-- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
-- Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England.
A spokesperson for Sen. Levin said that he had not been served with a subpoena, and a spokesman for Sen. Rockefeller said the same, adding that the Senate legal counsel had told him that they hadn't received anything. So it may be that Geragos has decided to hold off serving those additional subpoenas, at least for now. (Update: Sen. Craig's spokesman also said that he had not been served. Later Update: Ditto for Sen. Inouye.)
From TPM:
As if serving subpoenas on twelve members of the House wasn't enough, Brent Wilkes' lawyers apparently issued subpoenas to a number of senators and administration figures as well, it was disclosed today. At least two of those subpoenas, however, have not been served yet.
In a filing, the House's lawyers seeking to quash the twelve subpoenas, the House's general counsel reveals that he'd been advised by an investigator for Wilkes' lawyer Mark Geragos earlier this month that subpoenas had also been issued to:
-- Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID)
-- Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
-- Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI)
-- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
-- White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten
-- Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
-- Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England.
A spokesperson for Sen. Levin said that he had not been served with a subpoena, and a spokesman for Sen. Rockefeller said the same, adding that the Senate legal counsel had told him that they hadn't received anything. So it may be that Geragos has decided to hold off serving those additional subpoenas, at least for now. (Update: Sen. Craig's spokesman also said that he had not been served. Later Update: Ditto for Sen. Inouye.)
Prosecutors subpoened Doolittle.
From TPM:
Prosecutors subpoenaed Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) for 11 years-worth of records as part of the ongoing Abramoff investigation, the AP reports:
Prosecutors recently demanded documents from Doolittle and five staffers, the congressman said. The subpoenas seek "virtually every record including legislative records" for the past 11 years, Doolittle's attorney David Barger said in a news release issued Thursday by the congressman's office.
"These efforts raise serious constitutional issues going to the very core of our separation of powers created by the Founding Fathers," Barger said.
The Constitution prohibits the executive branch from using its law enforcement powers to interfere with legislative business. Barger said he and Doolittle would "be vigilant" to ensure Congress' independence is "vigorously protected." Any court challenge would go before a federal judge, but the documents would be sealed.
Prosecutors subpoenaed Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) for 11 years-worth of records as part of the ongoing Abramoff investigation, the AP reports:
Prosecutors recently demanded documents from Doolittle and five staffers, the congressman said. The subpoenas seek "virtually every record including legislative records" for the past 11 years, Doolittle's attorney David Barger said in a news release issued Thursday by the congressman's office.
"These efforts raise serious constitutional issues going to the very core of our separation of powers created by the Founding Fathers," Barger said.
The Constitution prohibits the executive branch from using its law enforcement powers to interfere with legislative business. Barger said he and Doolittle would "be vigilant" to ensure Congress' independence is "vigorously protected." Any court challenge would go before a federal judge, but the documents would be sealed.
Jena 6 defendant released on bail.
JENA, La. - A black teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate prompted a massive civil rights protest here walked out of a courthouse Thursday after a judge ordered him freed.
Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he will no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.
"We still have mountains to climb, but at least this is closer to an even playing field," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize last week's protest.
"He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him," Sharpton said.
District Attorney Reed Walters' decision to abandon adult charges means that Bell, who had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on his aggravated second-degree battery conviction last month, instead could be held only until he turns 21 if he is found guilty in juvenile court.
The conviction in adult court was thrown out this month by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, which said Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that particular charge.
Walters had said he would appeal that decision. On Thursday, he said he still believes there was legal merit to trying Bell as an adult but decided it was in the best interest of the victim, Justin Barker, and his family to let the juvenile court handle the case.
"They are on board with what I decided," Walters said at a news conference.
Walters said Bell faces juvenile court charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime.
Bell is among six black Jena High School students arrested in December after a beating that left Barker unconscious and bloody, though the victim was able to attend a school function later the same day. Four of the defendants were 17 at the time, and legally adults under Louisiana law.
Those four and Bell, who was 16, all were initially charged with attempted murder. Walters has said he sought to have Bell tried as an adult because he already had a criminal record, and because he believed Bell instigated the attack.
The charges have been dropped to aggravated second-degree battery in four of the cases. One defendant has yet to be arraigned. The sixth defendant's case is sealed in juvenile court.
Critics accuse Walters, who is white, of prosecuting blacks more harshly than whites. They note that he filed no charges against three white teens suspended from the high school for allegedly hanging nooses in a tree on campus not long before fights between blacks and whites, including the attack on Barker.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 protesters marched in Jena last week in a scene that evoked the early years of the civil-rights movement.
Walters said the demonstration had no influence on the decision he announced Thursday, and ended his news conference by saying that only God kept the protest peaceful.
"The only way — let me stress that — the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community," Walters said.
"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."
When the Rev. Donald Sibley, a black Jena pastor, called it a "shame" that Walters credited divine intervention for the protesters acting responsibly, the prosecutor said: "What I'm saying is, the Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly."
After the news conference, Sibley told CNN that Walters had insulted the protesters by making a false separation between "his Christ and our Christ."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070927/ap_on_re_us/jena_six
Mychal Bell's release on $45,000 bail came hours after a prosecutor confirmed he will no longer seek an adult trial for the 17-year-old. Bell, one of the teenagers known as the Jena Six, still faces trial as a juvenile in the December beating in this small central Louisiana town.
"We still have mountains to climb, but at least this is closer to an even playing field," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped organize last week's protest.
"He goes home because a lot of people left their home and stood up for him," Sharpton said.
District Attorney Reed Walters' decision to abandon adult charges means that Bell, who had faced a maximum of 15 years in prison on his aggravated second-degree battery conviction last month, instead could be held only until he turns 21 if he is found guilty in juvenile court.
The conviction in adult court was thrown out this month by the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, which said Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that particular charge.
Walters had said he would appeal that decision. On Thursday, he said he still believes there was legal merit to trying Bell as an adult but decided it was in the best interest of the victim, Justin Barker, and his family to let the juvenile court handle the case.
"They are on board with what I decided," Walters said at a news conference.
Walters said Bell faces juvenile court charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime.
Bell is among six black Jena High School students arrested in December after a beating that left Barker unconscious and bloody, though the victim was able to attend a school function later the same day. Four of the defendants were 17 at the time, and legally adults under Louisiana law.
Those four and Bell, who was 16, all were initially charged with attempted murder. Walters has said he sought to have Bell tried as an adult because he already had a criminal record, and because he believed Bell instigated the attack.
The charges have been dropped to aggravated second-degree battery in four of the cases. One defendant has yet to be arraigned. The sixth defendant's case is sealed in juvenile court.
Critics accuse Walters, who is white, of prosecuting blacks more harshly than whites. They note that he filed no charges against three white teens suspended from the high school for allegedly hanging nooses in a tree on campus not long before fights between blacks and whites, including the attack on Barker.
An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 protesters marched in Jena last week in a scene that evoked the early years of the civil-rights movement.
Walters said the demonstration had no influence on the decision he announced Thursday, and ended his news conference by saying that only God kept the protest peaceful.
"The only way — let me stress that — the only way that I believe that me or this community has been able to endure the trauma that has been thrust upon us is through the prayers of the Christian people who have sent them up in this community," Walters said.
"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened. You can quote me on that."
When the Rev. Donald Sibley, a black Jena pastor, called it a "shame" that Walters credited divine intervention for the protesters acting responsibly, the prosecutor said: "What I'm saying is, the Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people, and they responded accordingly."
After the news conference, Sibley told CNN that Walters had insulted the protesters by making a false separation between "his Christ and our Christ."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070927/ap_on_re_us/jena_six
Tweety has issues.
Matthews To Dodd: 'Do You Find It Difficult To Debate A Woman?' — During last night's post-Democratic presidential debate analysis, MSNBC host Chris Matthews was hung up on the fact there is a woman running for president. After questioning Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) about Sen. Hillary Clinton's …
Matthews continued to focus on Clinton’s gender in a subsequent discussion with NBC’s Tim Russert, saying that “her husband” had her on a “short leash”:
Let me tell you how short Hillary’s leash is. She was asked by you, sir, about whether we’re going to get full disclosure of contributors to presidential libraries. And she did not feel that she had the latitude in her husband’s absence to give you an answer. She said, you’ll have to ask my husband, as if you’re a guy going door to door trying to sell someone and says you’ll have to wait for my husband to get home.
Matthews continued to focus on Clinton’s gender in a subsequent discussion with NBC’s Tim Russert, saying that “her husband” had her on a “short leash”:
Let me tell you how short Hillary’s leash is. She was asked by you, sir, about whether we’re going to get full disclosure of contributors to presidential libraries. And she did not feel that she had the latitude in her husband’s absence to give you an answer. She said, you’ll have to ask my husband, as if you’re a guy going door to door trying to sell someone and says you’ll have to wait for my husband to get home.
Memo to lawmakers: Are you going to punish Limpballs from his comments about the soldiers.
During the September 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh called service members who advocate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq “phony soldiers.” He made the comment while discussing with a caller a conversation he had with a previous caller, “Mike from Chicago,” who said he “used to be military,” and “believe[s] that we should pull out of Iraq.” Limbaugh told the second caller, whom he identified as “Mike, this one from Olympia, Washington,” that “[t]here’s a lot” that people who favor U.S. withdrawal “don’t understand” and that when asked why the United States should pull out, their only answer is, ” ‘Well, we just gotta bring the troops home.’ … ‘Save the — keeps the troops safe’ or whatever,” adding, “[I]t’s not possible, intellectually, to follow these people.” “Mike” from Olympia replied, “No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.” Limbaugh interjected, “The phony soldiers.” The caller, who had earlier said, “I am a serving American military, in the Army,” agreed, replying, “The phony soldiers.”
Edwards accepts public financing.
Edwards eyes millions from public kitty for race — ABOARD THE CNN ELECTION EXPRESS, New Hampshire (CNN) — Former Sen. John Edwards Thursday said he will accept public financing for his presidential campaign, and challenged his chief rivals for the Democratic nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to follow his lead.
NBC: Bin Laden may have escaped in Tora Bora again.
Memo to NBC: Bush don't give rat's behind on finding Bin Laden. Look for Bin Laden shopping on Columbus Day.
From Thinkprogress:
U.S. intel officials report that just last month, one of the world’s two most wanted men — bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri — was sighted in Tora Bora, Afghanistan. NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski reported last night:
U.S. intelligence and military officials tell NBC News overhead surveillance from an unmanned U.S. drone spotted a large al Qaeda security detail, the kind of protection that would normally surround al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden or his number two Ayman al-Zawahiri.
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