SPB News for Wednesday.

Palin picks Bush ex-official to be Alaska attorney general

WH won't deny executive order mulled to conceal abuse pics

NYT: Sosa Tested Positive For Performance-Enhancing Drug In '03

Report: Monica Conyers Faces Indictment In Detroit

GM To Sell Saab To Swedish Auto Consortium

Victims To Court: Madoff Deserves 'No Hope' And 'No Forgiveness'

House Approves $106B Supplemental War, Vaccine Spending Bill --Wasted billions includes $7.7 for pharma-terrorists' flu vaccines The House has narrowly approved a $106 billion bill to ensure financing for war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the coming months. The vote was 226-202. The measure contains about $80 billion to fund defense activities in Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of September. It also contains some $10 billion for foreign aid, $7.7 billion to foment the flu pandemic, and $1 billion in rebates for consumers who turn in their old cars for more fuel-efficient models.

Newly Released Detainee Statements Provide More Evidence of CIA Torture Program --CIA Continues to Suppress Information From Detainee Tribunals With Heavy Redactions (ACLU) The CIA today released still-highly redacted documents in which Guantánamo Bay prisoners describe abuse and torture they suffered in CIA custody. The documents were released as part of an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking uncensored transcripts from Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) that determine if prisoners held by the Defense Department at Guantánamo qualify as "enemy combatants." In previously released versions of the documents, the CIA had removed virtually all references to the abuse of prisoners in their custody; the documents released today are still heavily blacked out but include some new information.

Accused 9/11 mastermind: 'I make up stories' Accused al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed complained that interrogators tortured lies out of him, according to newly released sections of government transcripts. ''I make up stories,'' Mohammed said at one point in his 2007 hearing at Guantánamo Bay. In broken English, he described an interrogation in which he was asked the location of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. ''Where is he? I don't know,'' Mohammed said. 'Then he torture me. Then I said, 'Yes, he is in this area or this is al Qaeda which I don't know him.' I said no, they torture me.'' Yet at the same military tribunal hearing, Mohammed ticked off a list of 29 terror plots in which he took part.

CIA Mistaken on 'High-Value' Detainee, Document Shows --Abu Zubaida was held at secret CIA facility then transferred to Camp 7 at Gitmo. He was subjected 83 times to waterboarding. An 'al-Qaeda' associate captured by the CIA and subjected to torture said his jailers later told him they had mistakenly thought he was the No. 3 man in the organization's hierarchy and a partner of Osama bin Laden, according to newly released excerpts from a 2007 hearing. "They told me, 'Sorry, we discover that you are not Number 3, not a partner, not even a fighter,' " said Abu Zubaida, speaking in broken English, according to the new transcript of a Combatant Status Review Tribunal held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. President [sic] George W. Bush described Abu Zubaida in 2002 as "al-Qaeda's chief of operations." Abu Zubaida, a nom de guerre for Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, told the 2007 panel of military officers at the detention facility in Cuba that "doctors told me that I nearly died four times" and that he endured "months of suffering and torture" on the false premise that he was an al-Qaeda leader.

Gordon Brown is condemned over secret inquiry into Iraq war --Prime Minister cited national security as the reason The Prime Minister faced accusations of an "establishment stitch-up" after telling MPs that an investigation into the events leading up to the invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein would be held behind closed doors. He cited national security as the reason -- a claim attacked by MPs of all sides and the families of soldiers killed in the conflict. Mr Brown said the inquiry’s findings would not be published until after next year’s general election.

Iran says ready for partial vote recount Iran's Guardian Council says it is prepared to recount disputed ballot boxes as defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi calls for the annulment of the vote. "We are ready to recount those boxes that some presidential candidates claim to have been cheated," said Council spokesman Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei Tuesday.

Good Government Group Sues for White House Visitors' Logs The good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, filed a lawsuit today to force the President Obama to share White House visitors logs with the public. "We’re suing because the Obama Administration has made it clear that they are continuing the policies and practices of the Bush administration and claiming that White House visitors’ records are off limits to the public," said Anne Weismann, chief counsel for CREW. Last month CREW requested through the Freedom of Information Act that the Secret Service provide the organization with information related to top coal executives visiting the White House.

Obama to propose strict new regulation of financial industry The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests. Under the plan, expected to be released Wednesday, the government would have new powers to seize key companies -- such as insurance giant American International Group Inc. -- whose failure jeopardizes the financial system. Currently, the government's authority to seize companies is mostly limited to banks.

U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department contacted the social networking service Twitter over the weekend to urge it to delay a planned upgrade that could have cut daytime service to Iranians, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

Top Ayatollah slams Iran vote

Grand Ayatollah Montazeri rejects Ahmadinejad claim of 'landslide' win.

Legal Schnauzer: The criminal prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman is perhaps the best known case that apparently was infected with judicial bias. But recent news about cases that orginated in West Virginia and Georgia indicate the problem is widespread and difficult to combat.