Cheney Replaces Libby
Monday October 31, 2005
Vice President Cheney has split the responsibilities of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, into two, naming David S. Addington as chief of staff and John P. ... Read More
Wilma Still Impacting South Florida
Monday October 31, 2005
Hurricane Wilma, which came ashore like a garden-variety storm after torturing eastern Mexico, has faded from the national news scene but is still causing extensive problems in south Florida. Initially, ... Read More
Libby Resigns; Rove Future Uncertain (update2)
Friday October 28, 2005
Updated at 2.15 pm PDT
In outlining the case against VP chief of staff I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said this afternoon that in 2003, Valerie Plame was ... Read More
Miers Withdraws
Thursday October 27, 2005
Updated 10.55 am PDT
Harriett Miers has withdrawn her embattled candidacy for the Supreme Court, citing concerns about Senate questions related to her experience in the White House and her ... Read More
Grand Jury Indictments Today? (update 3)
Thursday October 27, 2005
Update 11.25 am PDT
No indictments today. Still no leak on whether Friday will mean indictments, call for empanelling new grand jury, or case closed. Speculation, however, is rampant.
Update 11.45 ... Read More
Bush Concedes Wage Battle
Wednesday October 26, 2005
An under-reported story in the fallout from Hurricane Katrina is how the federal government suspended prevailing wage law, effectively lowering the minimum wages paid to workers in the strike zone. ... Read More
Meeting Notes Implicate Cheney; Fitzgerald Explores Forgeries
Tuesday October 25, 2005
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has obtained notes from a 12 June 2003 meeting between Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, Scooter Libby, which show that Cheney knew Valerie ... Read More
National Review: Just Say No to Miers
Monday October 24, 2005
In calling for President Bush to withdraw her nomination, the National Review has joined other liberal and conservative voices criticizing Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court candidate. "But while ... Read More
Wilma Headed to Florida (update 7)
Monday October 24, 2005
Updated 1.45 am PDT
Hurricane Wilma, still a category 3 storm, is moving at 20 mph and is headed slightly less easterly than prior forecasts. There is a 71 percent chance ... Read More
Senate Rejects Reallocation Amendment
Monday October 24, 2005
Last week, freshman Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) tried, in vain, to trim some of the pork from the 2005 Transportation Bill and reallocate that money to infrastructure repairs post-Hurricane Katrina. ... Read More
Pentagon Financials Continue to Raise Questions
Monday October 24, 2005
A Pentagon purchasing program run by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is costing taxpayers an extra 20 percent, according to a Knight-Ridder report in
Sunday's Seattle Times. And its computer system ... Read More
Putting A Face On Controversy: Greenhouse, the Corps and Iraq
Monday October 24, 2005
Last week, the Washington Post profiled US Army Corps of Engineers whistleblower Bunny Greenhouse. It's not the first profile; Vanity Fair did one back in the spring. The picture both ... Read More
Perjury as "Technicality"?
Sunday October 23, 2005
Today's flashback courtesy of Political Wire:
"I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime ... Read More
The Sunday News Shows: NBC
Saturday October 22, 2005
NBC's Meet the Press
(podcast) with Tim Russert this Sunday features Sen. George Allen (R-VA), Foreign Relations Committee; Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison (R-TX), Vice Chairman, Senate Republican Conference; Sen. Charles Schumer ... Read More
Sunday News Shows: ABC
Friday October 21, 2005
ABC's This Week
(podcast) with George Stephanopoulos this Sunday features Howard Dean, chairman, Democratic National Committee and Oscar winner Mira Sorvino on the reality of 21st-century slavery. ... Read More
The Slow March to HDTV
Friday October 21, 2005
As the nation makes a slow march towards high-definition TV (digital transmission), what role will the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have in regulating content -- given that TV will be ... Read More
As the Spin Turns
Friday October 21, 2005
Y'all may be tired of Judy Miller, but I'm fascinated in the same way that one might watch a train wreck with jaw agap. Thursday, the National Journal reported that ... Read More
Miller's Security Clearance (update 4)
Friday October 21, 2005
Update - 21 October:
Jay Rosen reports at PressThink that the NY Times has failed to answer repeated questions about the nature of Judith Miller's security clearance. He hypothesizes why. None ... Read More
Taliban Fighter Bodies Burned?
Friday October 21, 2005
Videotapes are circulating the globe which show the burning of two bodies of alleged Taliban fighters. The US Army's Criminal Investigation Division is trying to determine if the soliders ... Read More
This Day in Political Infamy
Thursday October 20, 2005
Two infamous actions in political history took place today: In 1947, the US House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) launched hearings into allegations that Communists had infliltrated the American ... Read More
House OKs Religious Discrimination
Thursday October 20, 2005
Forty-year old legislation mandating non-discriminatory hiring practices is being slowly dismantled by this Republican Congress, with approval of the President. On 22 September, for the first time in its ... Read More
Intelligent Designer is God, Professor Says
Tuesday October 18, 2005
In a Pennsylvania case that pits evolutionary theory against intelligent design, a Lehigh University biochemistry professor said he believes God is the intelligent force behind complex biological processes. The professor, ... Read More
Dam Break Threatens Massachusetts
Tuesday October 18, 2005
A vulnerable, privately-owned 100-old wooden dam on the Mill River threatens Taunton, MA (map) with flooding up to 6 feet, according to ABC. Officials have closed schools, public offices and ... Read More
Hurricane Wilma Ties Records (updated)
Tuesday October 18, 2005
Update:
Wilma is the 12th hurricane of the 2005 season and is projected to become a major hurricane. Long-range forecasts, which have a high probability of error, have Wilma hitting ... Read More
DeLay Turned Down Deal
Monday October 17, 2005
Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle offered Rep. Tom DeLay the chance to plead guilty to a misdemeanor before being indicted on a felony charge and turned it down, according to ... Read More
The Blogosphere on Miller (update 2)
Sunday October 16, 2005
I pulled out the laptop tonight Saturday night to begin ordering my thoughts about Good Night and Good Luck ... but after a quick peek at GoogleNews, I discovered that ... Read More
Salvation Army Discrimination Dismissed; Possible Violation of 1st Amendment
Sunday October 16, 2005
Earlier this month, US Southern District Judge Sidney Stein ruled that the Salvation Army "cannot be sued for religious discrimination in hiring even though it receives government ... Read More
Editor & Publisher: Fire Miller
Sunday October 16, 2005
Editor & Publisher calls for the NY Times to fire Judith Miller "for crimes against journalism -- and her own paper."
My view: Miller did far more damage to her newspaper ... Read More
Miller and Plame : One More
Sunday October 16, 2005
I may go on "one-moring" for a while. The more I re-read the NY Times articles - the more my blood boils. In the fall of 2003, Judith Miller appears ... Read More
Bush Threatens Veto
Sunday October 16, 2005
Despite the fact that he has yet to veto anything coming out of Congress (a streak unmatched in modern American history), President Bush is threatening to veto the $440 billion ... Read More
Miller Talks; Confessional Contradicts Prior Reports of Libby's Role
Sunday October 16, 2005
New York Times reporter Judith Miller tells us what she told the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame leak. In short, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief ... Read More
Inflation Hits 25 Year High
Saturday October 15, 2005
Nationally, consumer prices jumped 1.2 percent last month - and 4.7 percent over the 12 month period ending in September - the Labor Department announced on Friday. This is ... Read More
More 2002 Mis-spent PAC Money
Saturday October 15, 2005
Associated Press reports that Rep. Tom DeLay's (R-TX) Americans for a Republican Majority PAC (ARMPAC) used "soft money" just before the 2002 election to fund a mailing for Rep. ... Read More
Judge Overturns Oregon Ballot Measure 37
Saturday October 15, 2005
In a blow to the "property rights" movement, Marion County (Salem, OR) Circuit Judge Mary James ruled Friday that Measure 37 violates five provisions of the Oregon and US Constitutions; ... Read More
Sunday News Shows: ABC
Friday October 14, 2005
ABC's This Week
(podcast) with George Stephanopoulos this Sunday features Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., Armed Services Committee, Richard Ben-Veniste, Former Watergate Prosecutor, and Joseph ... Read More
Sunday News Shows: NBC
Friday October 14, 2005
NBC's Meet the Press
(podcast) with Tim Russert this Sunday features Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee and member of the Intelligence Committee, Sen. ... Read More
Rove Testifies in Plame Investigation
Friday October 14, 2005
White House Advisor Karl Rove testified, for the fourth time, in the Valerie Plame Wilson investigation today. He spent about 4.5 hours in the federal courthouse. Rove's attorney said, "At ... Read More
Frist Hot Seat
Thursday October 13, 2005
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has subpoenaed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to obtain copies of his personal records as it investigates stock trades from this summer. AP ... Read More
Virginia Race Vicious
Thursday October 13, 2005
Running the "Willy Horton Play," Republican gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore uses two ads to attack Democratic candidate Timothy Kaine's opposition to the death penalty. Polls show that Virginians support ... Read More
The Truth About Global Warming
Tuesday October 11, 2005
On Sunday, the Seattle Times devoted a mind-boggling number of column inches (3+ pages, no ads) to its lead story, The Truth About Global Warming. The author, Sandi Doughton, was ... Read More
Krauthammer on Miers
Monday October 10, 2005
It's not the normal course of action for me to agree with conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. But his most recent column on the "dismaying" nomination of Harriet Miers to the ... Read More
Comedy Central Times Two
Monday October 10, 2005
The Washington Post reports that Comedy Central is about to give birth to a spin-off: the "[Stephen] Colbert Report" debuts next Monday, following the award-winning Comedy Central.
"The most common ... Read More
More On Bush Terror Speech
Saturday October 8, 2005
Columbia Journalism Review Daily reports that "White House apparently didn't expect anyone in the press would want more details" about the President's claims of disrupting 10 al Qaeda terrorist plots. ... Read More
Miers Less Liked Than Roberts
Saturday October 8, 2005
From RedState.org comes this tip about CNN's poll on Harriet Miers. A July poll showed that 77 percent of conservatives "thought the [John] Roberts nomination was excellent or good." ... Read More
Bush Approval Rating Hits New Low
Saturday October 8, 2005
US Liberals Guide Deborah White reports on the results of the latest CBS poll, which suggests that only 37% of us approve and 58% disapprove of how President Bush is ... Read More
Sunday News Shows: ABC
Saturday October 8, 2005
ABC's This Week
(podcast) with George Stephanopoulos this Sunday features Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ... Read More
House Ethics Committee Criticized
Friday October 7, 2005
The Seattle Times reported yesterday that Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA), chair of the House Ethics Committee, did not plan to investigate a 15-month old ethics complaint directed at Rep. Tom ... Read More
Suspects in NY Plot Arrested, In Iraq
Friday October 7, 2005
ABC News reports that three men suspected of involvement in a terrorist plot involving New York City subways have been arrested in Iraq. A fourth remains at large and may ... Read More
Sunday News Shows: NBC
Friday October 7, 2005
NBC's Meet the Press
(podcast) with Tim Russert this Sunday features former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan and Dr. Richard Land, President of The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission , Southern Baptist ... Read More
Rove to Testify for Fourth Time
Thursday October 6, 2005
Federal prosecutors have invited Karl Rove to provide 11th hour testimony before the grand jury investigating the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame, according to AP.
Lawrence O'Donnell, at the Huffington ... Read More
Koppel to Leave Nightline
Thursday October 6, 2005
Ted Koppel will step down from ABC's Nightline after the 28 November show. Koppel has anchored the show since its launch in 1980. Tip to Huffington Post.
Bush on Terrorism, Iraq
Thursday October 6, 2005
President Bush said today that since September 11, 2001, the United States and its partners have thwarted 10 al Qaeda plots, three inside US borders. In remarks made at ... Read More
RNC on Miers
Thursday October 6, 2005
FactCheck.org reports that the Republican National Committee (RNC) sent a mass e-mail urging support for Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, saying: "Before Ms. Miers was even announced many Democrat ... Read More
Bush Procurement Officer Indicted
Thursday October 6, 2005
David Safavian, General Services Administration (GSA) chief of staff from May 2002 - January 2004, "was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday on charges of ... Read More
Senate Limits Military Interrogation
Thursday October 6, 2005
The Washington Post reports that 90 Senators have voted "define and limit interrogation techniques that U.S. troops may use against terrorism suspects." Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), led the fight ... Read More
Miers Faces Rocky Road
Wednesday October 5, 2005
President Bush nominated a woman, Harriet Miers, to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, but the similarities end there. O'Connor (Stanford), who was named to the Court in ... Read More
DeLay Indicted - Again; Ties to Abramoff Also Under Investigation
Monday October 3, 2005
The Washington Post reports that Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) has been indicted in Texas on two new charges, brought by a new grand jury on Monday. One count is ... Read More
FEMA and Ice
Monday October 3, 2005
The "ice story" has become the poster child for FEMA, a clear picture of a dysfunctional agency. Three weeks ago, on 12 September, a Memphis TV station reported that ... Read More
Bush, Cheney Part of Plame Leak?
Monday October 3, 2005
On Sunday, ABC's George Stephanopolous said that "a source close to [the investigation] told me this week that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some ... Read More
Ronnie Earle's Political Prosecutions
Sunday October 2, 2005
Travis County (TX) District Attorney Ronnie Earle has a record of prosecuting politicians. Texas law does not allow the Attorney General to prosecute infractions dealing with state campaigns or crimes ... Read More