More info coming soon!

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. was rushed to a hospital Monday afternoon after suffering a seizure at his summer island home, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said.

Roberts, 52, fell on a dock after having a "benign idiopathic seizure," said Kathleen Landin Arberg, the court's public information officer. She said that Roberts has "fully recovered from the incident" but that he would remain at Penobscot Bay Medical Center here overnight for observation.

Arberg said the chief justice, who has presided over the court for two terms, suffered minor scrapes in the fall but that a "thorough neurological evaluation ... revealed no cause for concern."
Seattle Times

Roberts fell five to 10 feet and landed on the dock of his summer home, hitting the back of his head, according to the Courier Gazette of Rockland, Maine.

He appeared ashen and was foaming at the mouth, according to the paper.

Rehnquist also dealt with a bizarre health issue during his years on the court.

While serving as an associate justice in 1981, he checked into a hospital to kick an addiction to painkillers.

FBI reports released after his death show Rehnquist was plagued by hallucinations and imagined a CIA plot against him.
NY Post

Federal agents searched the home of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens on Monday, focusing on records related to his relationship with an oil field services contractor jailed in a public corruption investigation, a law enforcement official said.

Stevens, 83, has been under a federal investigation for a 2000 renovation project more than doubling the size of his home in Girdwood that was overseen by Bill Allen, a contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing Alaska state legislators.

An e-mail statement issued by Stevens through his Washington, D.C., spokesman said federal agents had alerted his attorneys that they wanted to search his home.

Stevens, who is the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, said the interests of justice would be best served if he commented after the investigation. "I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome," Stevens said. "The legal process should be allowed to proceed so that all the facts can be established and the truth determined."

The report said the government was failing to provide basics such as food and shelter for eight million people.

It warned of a humanitarian crisis that had escalated since the 2003 invasion.

It suggests that 70% of Iraq's 26.5m population are without adequate water supplies, compared to 50% prior to the invasion. Only 20% have access to effective sanitation.

Nearly 30% of children are malnourished, a sharp increase on the situation four years ago. Some 15% of Iraqis regularly cannot afford to eat.

Karl Rove, President Bush's political lieutenant, told a closed-door meeting of 2008 Republican House candidates and their aides Tuesday that it was less the war in Iraq than corruption in Congress that caused their party's defeat in the 2006 elections.

Rove's clear advice to the candidates is to distance themselves from the culture of Washington. Specifically, Republican candidates are urged to make clear they have no connection with disgraced congressmen such as Duke Cunningham and Mark Foley.
In effect, Rove was rebutting the complaint inside the party that George W. Bush is responsible for Republican miseries by invading Iraq.

Romney: Americans angry with Iraq war

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Friday that the country is angry over the lack of progress in the Iraq war, a stinging assessment of the Bush administration's handling of the conflict from a Republican candidate.

Campaigning in Iowa, the former Massachusetts governor also argued that despite the nation's frustration over the war, voters aren't ready to replace President Bush with a Democrat.

"I know the Democrats are getting all ready, they are measuring the drapes and getting the carpet all ready for how they are going to take over the White House, and I think they are going to get a big surprise," Romney told a crowd gathered at a golf course. "America is not happy with how the war in Iraq is going, and is angry. But America is not about to take a sharp left turn and put somebody in the White House who would turn America into a European-type state."

While Romney supported the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and backs Bush's current troop increase, he has repeatedly said the post-invasion period was "mismanaged" with a lack of preparation for the insurgency and adequate planning for a government handover.

No Shit Sherlock

The GOP also lost ground on the Economy this month with Democrats now trusted more 47% to 38%. In June,the Democrats' advantage was 47% to 40%.

Forty-three percent (43%) now trust Democrats more on Taxes, 41% trust Republicans more.

GOP Candidates Invited To Attend YouTube Debate

The Republicans take their turn answering unpredictable YouTube questions on September 17 in St. Petersburg, FL. When the the debate was announced by the state party, CNN and YouTube last Friday, Sen. John McCain immediately RSVP'd. Since then, silence from the other campaigns.

Mitt:

Republican Mitt Romney isn't sure yet whether he'll participate in the CNN/YouTube.com Republican debate in September, but he's no fan of the format.

"I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman," he said in an interview yesterday.

Rudy:

A Giuliani campaign source says that the ex-NYC mayor will most likely opt out of the 9/17 CNN/YouTube Debate in Florida. The reason: unspecified scheduling conflicts.

More from TPM:

You realize why Rudy doesn't like the YouTube debate format, right? He doesn't want the NY fire fighter's to get a clean shot at him on national TV. Maybe Newt was right. Maybe pygmies is the perfect word...

One of the thoughts that occurred to me with regards to the Democratic Youtube debate was how weird the questions for the GOP candidates could potentially be. For the Democratic debates, most of the issues that are on the table are pretty mainstream, like healthcare and Iraq and poverty and global warming, and thus its pretty difficult for the standard rank-and-file member of the democratic base to ask them in an amusing viral format like Youtube and still come out as looking too bizarre (unless they happen to be a talking snowman). As far as issues like illegal immigration and "coercive interrogation techniques" go, how does one ask questions like this in a Youtube format in an amusing way? The differences between the GOP base and the political mainstream can seem less extreme when asked by someone like Wolf Blitzer, but if presented from the standard GOP rank-and-file member of the base, it seemed like a great way to show how unhinged the GOP has become on some of these issues. Personally, I'm surprised the GOP ever got close to agreeing to this format, and once the Democratic debate happened and showed the format in action, I didn't see how it could have been pulled off by the GOP.

If elected, Romney vowed he would not embarrass the country as former President Bill Clinton did by having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

"I will not embarrass the people of this nation by doing anything in the White House that will in any way demean the institution of marriage," Romney said.

In the wake of the House of Representatives' approval of two articles of impeachment, Bill Clinton's approval rating has jumped 10 points to 73 percent, the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows.

That's not only an all-time high for Clinton, it also beats the highest approval rating President Ronald Reagan ever had.

"What we are witnessing is an out-of-control Congress which spends time calling for special prosecutors, starting investigations, issuing subpoenas and generally just trying to settle scores," said Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman. "All the while they fail to pass appropriations bills and important issues like immigration reform, energy and other problems go unanswered."

The Constitution's text is quite plain with respect to one mechanism by which Congress might give legal effect to whatever judgement it makes: Congress's spending powers. Congress clearly may cut off funds entirely and bring an armed conflict to an end. It may also take the intermediate step of providing that the President may not use military appropriations to alter the scope of nature of the conflict that Congress has authorized and funded, such as by prohibiting the President from using appropriated funds to increase troop levels or broaden a conflict into additional nations or territories.

The Constitution expressly grants Congress extensive powers relating to war, beyond the well-known appropriations power and the power to declare war. Specifically, the Constitution authorizes Congress to:

• Lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States
• Define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offenses against the law of nations
• Declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water
• Raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years
• Provide and maintain a navy
• Make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces
• Provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions
• Provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress
• Make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States or in any department of officer thereof.

These provisions plainly set forth an extensive role for Congress that goes far beyond the initial decision to declare war and subsequent decisions regarding its funding. This mass of war powers confers on Congress an ongoing regulatory authority with respect to the war. Indeed, these powers are so extensive that Chief Justice John Marshall opined... that "The whole powers of war (are), by the Constitution of the United States, vested in Congress...." As Commander in Chief, the President's role is to prosecute the war that Congress has authorized within the legitimate parameters Congress sets forth. Congress has exercised precisely this power to define the parameters of armed conflict or war on a number of occasions, some of which concern recent military engagements.

Thus, Congress may limit the scope of the present Iraq War by either of two mechanisms. First, it may directly define limits on the scope of that war, such as by imposing geographic restrictions or a ceiling on the number of troops assigned to that conflict. Second, it may achieve the same objective by enacting appropriations restrictions that limit the use of appropriated funds. Indeed, the reason that the Constitution explicitly limits appropriations for the Army to two years is in order to ensure that Congress oversees ongoing military engagements.

the man President Bush calls "Fredo"--was a Presidential nickname ever more apt?--should at long last be invited to spend more time with his family. Much more time. He should be a Soccer Dad, a Harry Potter Dad, a Couch Potato, Sleeping Late In The Morning The Better To Avoid Any Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings He Might Accidentally Stumble Into Dad, a Dad who doesn't leave the Gonzales family compound for any reason whatsoever without legions upon legions of intelligent adults accompanying him in a supervisory capacity.

Especially if he suddenly gets a hankering to serve his country once again. In which case, the legions upon legions of intelligent adults accompanying him in a supervisory capacity should move Heaven and Earth to convince Alberto Gonzales that "his country" is Kazakhstan. Or Portugal. Or Libya. Or Greece. Or [INSERT NAME OF ANY COUNTRY BUT THAT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Now, whatever your view concerning just how scandalous this scandal is and no matter what your opinion may be on the proposition that the U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President (and I think there is something to be said for the correctness of that proposition), it is near indisputable that Alberto Gonzales has created an Everest of a political problem for the Bush Administration with his "handling" of this issue.

Conyers Outfoxes Bushie in Contempt Showdown
by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
Wed Jul 25, 2007

Rep. John Conyers is methodically setting up the legal elements for Congress to pursue statutory and/or inherent contempt proceedings against executive branch officials in a manner that essentially wipes out any claim to executive privilege to shield the truth. A few weeks ago, I wrote a diary (here) on Impeachment by Frog-Marching Congressional Oversight, which suggested that Congress had a better chance -- according to US Supreme Court precedent -- to obtain evidence and testimony from the Bush gang if it conducted a "criminal proceeding" to investigate potential criminal or unlawful conduct by executive branch officials. The beauty of the "criminal proceeding" is that Bush is not likely to prevail on executive privilege claims. Well, it looks like the US Attorney probe has now been officially transformed into a "criminal proceeding" to determine whether Bush officials have violated specific laws.

Dems call for probe of Gonzales' statements

A group of Senate Democrats called Wednesday for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales perjured himself regarding the firings of U.S. attorneys and administration dissent over President Bush's domestic surveillance program.

"We ask that you immediately appoint an independent special counsel from outside the Department of Justice to determine whether Attorney General Gonzales may have misled Congress or perjured himself in testimony before Congress," four Democratic senators wrote in a letter Wednesday, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.

"It has become apparent that the Attorney General has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements" to the Judiciary Committee, they added.

Turd Blossom to be subpoenaed

Senate Democrats called for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied under oath and subpoenaed top presidential aide Karl Rove Thursday in a widening probe into the dismissal of federal prosecutors.

"It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements," four members of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement.

They dispatched the letter shortly before Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced the subpoena of Rove, the president's top political strategist.

"We have now reached a point where the accumulated evidence shows that political considerations factored into the unprecedented firing of at least nine United States Attorneys last year," said Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Iraq's largest bloc of Sunni politicians suspended membership in the government Wednesday, a bid that appeared timed to deepen disenchantment in Washington with the Shiite prime minister's faltering leadership.

The dramatic political development came as two suicide car bombers killed at least 50 soccer fans celebrating Iraq's ascension to the finals of a prestigious tournament. A total of 88 people were killed or found dead nationwide, according to police, morgue and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release information.

The Iraqi Accordance Front, which has six Cabinet seats and 44 of 275 in parliament, gave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki a week to meet its demands or see ministers quit the 14-month-old government.

In April, five ministers loyal to radical Shiite cleric cquit the government over al-Maliki's refusal to set a timeline for American forces to leave Iraq. Should the Accordance Front ministers quit, al-Maliki's so-called national unity government would be limping along with more than a fourth of the 38 Cabinet posts vacated by protest resignations.

Alaska's Young, Stevens Face Inquiry

WASHINGTON -- A senior House Republican has come under criminal investigation in the Justice Department's widening inquiry into alleged influence-peddling and self-dealing in Congress.

Rep. Don Young of Alaska, the former chairman of the House Transportation Committee, now is the subject of a continuing criminal inquiry involving possible political favors for a company in Alaska, people close to the case said. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the powerful former chairman of the Appropriations Committee and the longest-serving Senate Republican, is also now under criminal investigation, these people said.

Federal investigators are examining whether Rep. Young or Sen. Stevens accepted bribes, illegal gratuities or unreported gifts from VECO Corp., Alaska's largest oil-field engineering firm, people close to the case said.

It isn't known what VECO allegedly may have received in return. The company has been awarded a series of federal contracts since 2000, including contracts to provide logistics support for arctic research, among other projects.

HaHa!

The House Judiciary Committee voted today to seek contempt of Congress citations against a top aide to President Bush and a former presidential aide over their refusal to cooperate in an inquiry about the firing of federal prosecutors.

"It's not a step that, as chairman, I take easily or lightly," the head of the panel, Representative John D. Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, said before the committee voted to cite Joshua B. Bolten, the president's chief of staff, and Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel.

Democrats have scoffed at what several of them have termed the administration's arrogant, "take it or leave it" offer. Mr. Conyers said before today's vote that members of Congress could not tolerate a situation in which "our subpoenas can be readily ignored, where a witness under a duly authorized subpoena doesn't even have to bother to show up." Mr. Bolten and Ms. Miers refused to even appear before the committee.

But there is a further complication: the White House asserted recently that the law does not permit Congress to require a United States attorney to convene a grand jury or otherwise pursue a prosecution when someone refuses on the basis of executive privilege to testify or turn over documents.

"Oh Lord, why can't you help me lose weight?"
~Hillary Clinton on "What do you pray for."

"I don't know. I wasn't there."
~Mike Huckabee on "How long did God take to create the world?"

"I did what I often do when I'm confronted with a difficult decision. I prayed on it. Amen. And then I asked my wife. Amen. And, after consulting these two higher powers... "
~Barack Obama on describing his deliberations about whether to run for the state Legislature years ago.

Mitt: "Ann, did you ever in your wildest dreams think that I'd be here in (fill in town) speaking to (fill in group)?"
Ann: "Mitt, you weren't in my wildest dreams."
~Mitt Romney

"Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary - I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide."
~JFK, defusing allegations that his rich father was trying to buy him the 1960 election.

"I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience,"
~Ronald Reagan, defending his age at 73.

"I'm probably the only one who gets mailings from AARP and diaper services,"
~Chris Dodd, defending his age at 63 with two daughters ages 5 and 2.

"I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman...and a woman...and a woman."
~Mitt Romney, poking fun at his Mormon faith.

"You can't spend money on food when you're spending money on haircuts."
~John Edwards, when asked why he and his wife Elizabeth eat at Wendy's on their wedding anniversary.

"Dennis, the thing I like best about you is your wife."
~Joe Biden, when asked what he liked about Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

"Congress spends money like a drunken sailor," then adds "I received an e-mail recently from a guy who said, as a former drunken sailor, I resent being compared to members of Congress."
~John McCain

Humor

"The facts are that Al Qaeda terrorists killed Americans on 9/11, they're fighting us in Iraq and across the world, and they are plotting to kill Americans here at home again," Bush told a contingent of troops. "Those who justify withdrawing our troops from Iraq by denying the threat of Al Qaeda in Iraq and its ties to Osama bin Laden ignore the clear consequences of such a retreat."

Bush referred throughout his speech to what he said was newly declassified intelligence in his effort to draw connections between the Al Qaeda group in Iraq and the central Al Qaeda leadership that is believed to be operating from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.

But the White House and intelligence officials declined to provide any detail on the intelligence reports that Bush cited, including their titles, dates and origins.

Disfavor for Bush Hits Rare Heights

President Bush is a competitive guy. But this is one contest he would rather lose. With 18 months left in office, he is in the running for most unpopular president in the history of modern polling. The latest Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's job performance, matching his all-time low. In polls conducted by The Post or Gallup going back to 1938, only once has a president exceeded that level of public animosity -- and that was Richard M. Nixon, who hit 66 percent four days before he resigned.

- snip -

Yet Bush's political troubles seem to go beyond particular policies. Many presidents over the past 70 years have faced greater or more immediate crises without falling as far in the public mind -- Vietnam claimed far more American lives than Iraq, the Iranian hostage crisis made the United States look impotent, race riots and desegregation tore the country apart, the oil embargo forced drivers to wait for hours to fill up, the Soviets seemed to threaten the nation's survival.

"It's astonishing," said Pat Caddell, who was President Jimmy Carter's pollster. "It's hard to look at the situation today and say the country is absolutely 15 miles down in the hole. The economy's not that bad -- for some people it is, but not overall. Iraq is terribly handled, but it's not Vietnam; we're not losing 250 people a week. . . . We don't have that immediate crisis, yet the anxiety about the future is palpable. And the feeling about him is he's irrelevant to that. I think they've basically given up on him."

That may stem in part from the changing nature of society. When Caddell's boss was president, there were three major broadcast networks. Today cable news, talk radio and the Internet have made information far more available, while providing easy outlets for rage and polarization. Public disapproval of Bush is not only broad but deep; 52 percent of Americans "strongly" disapprove of his performance and 28 percent describe themselves as "angry."

25%

Specter: Okay... assuming you're leveling with us on this occasion...
Gonzo: May I may I
Specter: No, I want to move to the point about how could you get approval from Ashcroft for ANYTHING when he's under sedation and incapacitated? For ANYTHING?
Gonzo: May I continue the story Mr... aaaah Con.. aah Senator
Specter: No I want you to answer my question
.....
Specter: Not making any progress here. Let me go to another topic.

Please help us understand how you didn't mislead the committee?.... How can you say that you haven't decieved the committee?

I am just asking you a yes or no simple question just as Senator Specter has, and just like Senator Specter and others here, I'd like to get an answer to that question.

Sir, how can you say that you should stay on as Attorney General when we go through exercises like this?

(turning to Leahy) Mr. Chairman, I think we have to pursue this... because I've never heard anything like this. (referring to beginning criminal investigations against Fredo)

Schumer: Let me ask you this, who sent you to the hospital?
Gonzo: Senator what I can say is we'd had a very important meeting at the White House over...
Schumer: I didn't ask that, I didn't ask... you discussed the meeting... who sent you? Did anyone tell you to go?
Gonzo:It was one of the most important programs for the United States - it was important had been authorized by the President... I'll just say that, that the chief of staff to the President of the United States and the council to the President of the United States went to the hospital on behalf of the President of the United States.
Schumer: Did the President ask you to go?
Gonzo: We were there on behalf of the President of the United States
Schumer: I didn't ask you that. Did the President ask you to go?
Gonzo: Senator, we were there on behalf of the President of the United States
Schumer: Why can't you answer that question?
Gonzo: That's the answer that I can give you Senator
....
Schumer: Did you talk to the President about it beforehand?
....
Schumer: Sir, you're before this committee, you're supposed to answer questions, you've not claimed any privilege, I don't think there is any here, and I asked you a question, and you refuse to answer it. Why?
....
Schumer: Did the vice president send you?
Gonzo: Senator we were there on behalf of the President.
Schumer: Did you talk to the Vice President about it?
Gonzo: We were there on behalf of the President
Schumer: You will not answer that question as well?

"Well let's see if somewhere somehow we can find a question you'll answer"

GOP fundraiser to feature machine gun shoot

MANCHESTER - City Republicans will be packing some serious firepower at their next party fundraiser.

Tired of the usual chicken dinners, the Manchester Republican Committee is planning to arm supporters next month with Uzis, M-16 rifles and other automatic weapons for a day of target practice at a Pelham firing range.

"The thought just struck me one day: a machine gun shoot. What the heck?" said Jerry Thibodeau, the committee chairman.

The concept prompted shudders across the political aisle. Chris Pappas, the city Democratic party chairman, called the event "not just in poor taste; it is downright offensive."

"The citizens of Manchester have lived through a deadly spike in violent crime the past year-and-a-half, despite the campaign promises of (Mayor) Frank Guinta to lower crime rates," Pappas said. "That the mayor's political party would seek to glorify the use of machine guns for political gain is unconscionable."

I have a gun for them....

Ohio

My interview with Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland was delayed for a reason that explains why this Democrat is so popular in a state that was once considered a Republican bastion.

In the course of his travels on Saturday, Strickland discovered that a farm in a heavily Republican area near Cincinnati was celebrating its 200th anniversary as a family-run operation. The governor decided that he had to drop by and chat with some folks who probably didn't vote for him. Strickland is one Democrat who tries to leave no Republican behind.

-----

Strickland's political skill only partly explains Ohio's political transformation. A state that voted narrowly for President Bush in 2000 and 2004 not only elected Strickland as governor in 2006 but also sent Sherrod Brown, an economic populist with a far-more liberal public profile, to the U.S. Senate.

The conversion rate among Ohio voters in just two years was staggering. According to exit polling, 30 percent of Ohioans who voted for Bush in 2004 voted for Strickland in 2006; 20 percent of Bush's 2004 voters supported Brown.

Why the big change? Scandals involving former governor Robert Taft and former representative Bob Ney made even loyal Republicans squeamish. Strickland won a fifth of self-identified Republicans and a quarter of conservatives, while holding on to more than 90 percent of liberals and Democrats, and roughly 70 percent of moderates and independents. If national Democrats reached such numbers in 2008, they'd win the presidency decisively.

2008

GOP senators to chide Reid

Senate Republicans are preparing to take aim at Majority Leader Harry Reid over the August recess for being "all talk but no action" and helping drag the Democrat-led Congress' approval rating to a historic low, according to a document distributed to caucus members.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, is meeting with members yesterday and today to disseminate a message critical of Democrats for endlessly debating the Iraq war, stalling judicial nominations and squandering time on at least 300 investigations of the Bush administration.

"We really ought to be asking why this Democrat leadership won't allow Congress to move forward on serious policy debates," Mr. Kyl said, when asked about the talking-points memorandum he is circulating.

Then stop your fillibustering!

Outspoken Bush administration critic Sen. Russ Feingold renewed a call Sunday to censure President George W. Bush over the U.S. war in Iraq, but the Democrats' Senate leader discouraged the move.

"Congress needs to formally condemn the president and members of the administration for misconduct before and during the Iraq war, and for undermining the rule of law at home," Feingold said in a statement.

However, Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Senate Republicans were sure to block any censure vote.

"The president already has the mark of the American people that he's the worst president we've ever had, and I don't think we need a censure resolution in the Senate to prove that," Reid told CBS' "Face the Nation."

Official: U.S. may consider military strike on al Qaeda inside Pakistan

The United States will use any measure to deal with the al Qaeda terrorist organization, including a military strike inside Pakistan, a senior White House official said Sunday.

Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden T-shirts are displayed outside a garments shop in Islamabad, April 2007. A senior White House official said Sunday that the U.S. will use any measure to deal with the al Qaeda terrorist organization, including a military strike inside Pakistan.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)

"No question that we will use any instrument at our disposal to deal with the problem of (al Qaeda leaders) Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri and al Qaeda," said Fran Townsend, the president's homeland security adviser, when asked if the United States would use direct military force against Taliban or al Qaeda elements inside Pakistan.

In an interview with the CNN news network, Townsend said there were "no tools off the table," and that the United States would use all "our instruments of national power to be effective" to kill bin Laden and other high-ranking al Qaeda leaders.

U.S. Angers Pakistan over Al-Qaeda Claims

The United States was at the center of a new diplomatic row Monday after refusing to rule out military action against Al-Qaeda leaders sheltering inside Pakistan, one of its closest "war on terror" allies. The US director of national intelligence, Mike McConnell, said Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was in all likelihood alive and sheltering in a frontier zone where pro-Taliban Pakistani tribal leaders hold sway.

- snip -

But their comments signaled frustration over what US intelligence chiefs say is Al-Qaeda's resurgence in lawless parts of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

The US administration's latest remarks sparked a curt response from Islamabad. "Our stance is that Osama bin Laden is not present in Pakistan," Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told AFP in the Pakistani capital. "If anyone has the information he should give it to us, so that we can apprehend him.

STOKKE TO SUCCEED HASTERT? Robert D. Novak plans to report this weekend in his always-delicious tidbits column (which doesn't run in The Washington Post, but is usually in Saturday's New York Post):

"Former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has indicated to a close former aide that it is likely he will not run for a 12th term from his northern Illinois district and may even resign from Congress before his present term concludes. That runs counter to widespread speculation on Capitol Hill that Hastert will continue in the House for another two years as a private member with no leadership responsibilities. Since last year's Democratic takeover of Congress moved him out of the speaker's office, he has enjoyed returning to his former specialty of energy issues as a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A footnote: If Hastert does not run, a leading candidate will be his chief of staff, Mike Stokke. Before going on Hastert's staff, Stokke was an aide for both the Illinois state legislature and the governor's office in Springfield."

Chicago's top prosecutor appears on NPR game show

CHICAGO (AP) - The US attorney who went after former vice presidential aide Scooter Libby made a rare public appearance tonight in Chicago.

Patrick Fitzgerald sat as a guest on the National Public Radio show "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!"

-------

He wasn't asked about the commutation of Libby's sentence. But Fitzgerald did answer questions about other scooters, like the Segway.

At the end of the show, Sagal gave Fitzgerald a child's scooter. It was engraved with: "To Patrick Fitzgerald, USA, This one will stay where you put it."

Fitz!

President Bush will undergo a routine colonoscopy Saturday, and will transfer power to Vice President Dick Cheney during the procedure, expected to take about two and a half hours, the chief White House spokesman said.

Tony Snow said Friday that the procedure, during which a doctor looks for any signs of cancer, will be carried out at Camp David, Maryland, and the president will be placed under anesthesia.

Bush's last colonoscopy was in June 2002, and no abnormalities were found, Snow said.

Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings
White House Says Hill Can't Pursue Contempt Cases

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

Dictatorship

A country - a government - a military machine - can screw up a war seven ways to Sunday. It can get thousands of its people killed. It can risk the safety of its citizens. It can destroy the fabric of its nation.

But as long as it can identify a scapegoat, it can regain or even gain power.

....

The fault, brought down, as if a sermon from this mount of hypocrisy and slaughter by a nearly anonymous undersecretary of defense, has tonight been laid on the doorstep of... Sen. Hillary Clinton and, by extension, at the doorstep of every American - the now-vast majority of us - who have dared to criticize this war or protest it or merely ask questions about it or simply, plaintively, innocently, honestly, plead, "Don't take my son; don't take my daughter."

....

You have set this government at war against its own people and then blamed those very people when they say, "Enough."

....

This, sir, is your war.
Take it into your own hands, Mr. Bush.
Go to Baghdad now and fulfill, finally, your military service obligations.
Go there and fight, your war. Yourself.

Pentagon may need till Nov. for full Iraq review

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) - A September report on President George W. Bush's strategy in Iraq will show whether the plan is progressing, but a fuller assessment will take until November, a top U.S. commander said on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, deputy U.S. commander in Iraq, told reporters at the Pentagon that trends in the war-torn country have begun moving "in the right direction" since Bush's troop buildup became complete in mid-June.

"Forty-five days from now, September 1 ... I'll be able to make a bit more accurate assessment if it's something we think is going to continue or something we think is just a blip," he said in a video link from Baghdad.

"In order to do a good assessment, I need at least till November to do that," Odierno added.

3,618

Gonzales did not answer between 60 to 100 questions the last time he appeared, Leahy said. "I would like to avoid a repeat of that performance," he said.

He named Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, head of the panel .... In addition to Leavitt, Bush named the heads of seven other Cabinet departments to the group - the secretaries of State, Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, Transportation, and Homeland Security, and the attorney general - as well as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. Trade Representative, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Last month, the Food and Drug Administration said it would block Chinese catfish, basa, dace, shrimp and eel after tests of the farmed seafood found contamination with unapproved drugs. Toxins have also been found in Chinese exports of juice and toothpaste. And Chinese tires have been recalled for safety reasons.

With U.S. officials and consumers growing wary of Chinese goods in recent weeks, China has undertaken efforts to restore confidence in its products. In a counter-measure, it also announced Saturday that some U.S.-processed meat had shown signs of contamination and that imports from several large U.S. food companies would be blocked.

Secretary Jim Nicholson of the Veterans Affairs Administration abruptly resigned yesterday after months of struggles by the Bush administration to defend charges of shoddy healthcare for veterans injured in the Iraq war.

Nicholson, a former Republican National Committee chairman and a Vietnam veteran, was picked by President Bush to head the Veterans Affairs Administration in 2005. Planning to return to the private sector, he said his resignation is to take effect no later than Oct. 1. Nicholson, 69, is the latest in a line of senior officials heading for the exits in the final 1 1/2 years of the administration.

(snip)

"Secretary Nicholson's resignation should be welcome news for all veterans," said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "The VA under Secretary Nicholson has been woefully unprepared for the influx of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, consistently underestimating the number of new veterans who would seek care, and failing to spend the money Congress allotted to treat mental health issues."

(snip)

"The next secretary needs to be an advocate for veterans, not an apologist for the administration," said Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat and frequent critic of Nicholson who sits on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Yahoo:

US arrests Al-Qaeda in Iraq's link to bin Laden

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US forces have arrested the most senior Iraqi member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and believe he is a go-between between the group's foreign leaders and Osama bin Laden, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

Brigadier General Kevin Bergner said Khaled al-Mashhadani had told his US interrogators that the supposed Iraqi leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq was ficticious and a front for the group's Egyptian chief, Abu Ayyub al-Masri.

BBC:

US captures 'top Iraqi insurgent'

US forces say they have arrested a senior member of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group accused of being behind some of Iraq's deadliest violence.

The man was named as Khaled Mashhadani. He was captured earlier in July in the northern city of Mosul, officials said.

US military officials said he had told interrogators that the group's supposed leader, Omar al-Baghdadi, was a front.

They added Mashhadani was a "conduit" between its real Egypt-born leader in Iraq and top al-Qaeda figures globally.

Pace said earlier in Baghdad that the U.S. military is continuing various options for Iraq, including an even bigger troop buildup if President Bush thinks his "surge" strategy needs a further boost.

Gunmen in Iraq wearing military uniforms have killed 29 people in a village in Diyala province north of Baghdad, security officials said. A police spokesman said a large group of gunmen surrounded Duwailiya village and killed men, women and children.

It comes a day after more than 80 people were killed in a lorry bomb attack in the northern town of Kirkuk.

In Baghdad, at least 10 people, including four soldiers, were killed in a suicide car bomb targeting an Iraqi army convoy passing through Zayouna district.

Another car bomb exploded near the Iranian embassy in central Baghdad, killing four people.

The Pittsburgh newspaper owned by conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife yesterday called the Bush administration's plans to stay the course in Iraq a "prescription for American suicide."

The editorial in the Tribune-Review added, "And quite frankly, during last Thursday's news conference, when George Bush started blathering about 'sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved,' we had to question his mental stability."

(snip)

Scaife has been a loyal backer of Republican politicians and many conservative causes, and funded a network of investigations into President Clinton during the 1990s.

"I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary," Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. "If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."

"I made the decision to love him and to recommit to our marriage. To forgive is not always the easy choice, but it was, and is, the right choice for me," she said. "I am proud to be Wendy Vitter."

The latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that nearly a quarter of Republicans are unwilling to back top-tier hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain or Mitt Romney, and no one candidate has emerged as the clear front-runner among Christian evangelicals. Such dissatisfaction underscores the volatility of the 2008 GOP nomination fight.

More Republicans have become apathetic about their options over the past month.

A hefty 23 percent can't or won't say which candidate they would back, a jump from the 14 percent who took a pass in June.

None of the top candidates has a clear lead among Christian evangelicals, a critical part of the GOP base that has had considerable sway in past Republican primaries. Giuliani, a thrice-married backer of abortion rights and gay rights, had 20 percent support roughly even with Thompson and McCain who have one divorce each in their pasts. Romney, a Mormon who has been married for three decades, was in the single digits.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exhorted congressional critics of Iraq war policy Friday to give the Bush administration and the fledgling government in Baghdad until September to "make a coherent judgment of where we are."

On the morning after the House voted 223-201 for a Democratic proposal to force a U.S. troop withdrawal by next spring, Rice acknowledged in a round of television interviews that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government hasn't achieved as much progress as the administration would like.

"But we shouldn't just dismiss as inconsequential the progress that they have made," the secretary said.

Kindasleeza

"The ads running right now in my state aren't going to have an impact on what I do," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., a targeted senator. "If I took a poll in my state right now, Minnesotans would say, 'Get out of Iraq right now.' I'm not going to support that because I know it would be a disaster."

Invoking a privilege is one thing, but telling a person not to show up in response to a subpoena -- if only to actually invoke the privilege -- is quite another. It's not just worse, it's a felony under federal criminal law.

See for yourself.

18 U.S.C. Sec. 1505 : ... Whoever corruptly ... influences, obstructs, or impedes ... 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, or imprisoned not more than 5 years ... or both.

18 U.S.C. Sec. 1515(b): As used in section 1505, the term "corruptly" means acting with an improper purpose, personally or by influencing another, including ... withholding, or concealing ... information.

The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Ten days ago, Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case.

"The privilege does not entitle you to refuse to appear. The privilege entitles you to refuse to answer questions when you appear if those questions call for privileged information," said Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics professor at New York University law school. "No one can claim the privilege entitles you to ignore the body that subpoenas you."

U.S. Intel Warns al-Qaeda Rebuilt

U.S. intelligence analysts have concluded al-Qaeda has rebuilt its operating capability to a level not seen since just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, The Associated Press has learned.

Al-Qaeda is "considerably operationally stronger than a year ago" and has "regrouped to an extent not seen since 2001," the official said, paraphrasing the report's conclusions. "They are showing greater and greater ability to plan attacks in Europe and the United States."

The group also has created "the most robust training program since 2001, with an interest in using European operatives," the official quoted the report as saying.
Be Afraid

Chertoff has "gut feeling" about increased risk of attack

Fearing complacency among the American people over possible terror threats, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in Chicago Tuesday that the nation faces a heightened chance of an attack this summer.

"I believe we are entering a period this summer of increased risk," Chertoff told the Chicago Tribune's editorial board in an unusually blunt and frank assessment of America's terror threat level.
Be very afraid

"First of all, he can't fire him: He can appoint him but he can't fire him," said Elliot Feldman, the IBC's legal counsel.

But Schornack appears to have run afoul of a powerful right-wing legal group with deep, longstanding ties to the Republican Party.

In its defense, the IBC said in a statement: "Sooner rather than later, the Administration will be seen to prefer private property rights over national security and ready to undo an international treaty with Canada to serve that preference."

In the wake of U.S. Sen. David Vitter's apology after his phone number turned up in an escort service's call list, (Vincent Bruno) a member of the Republican State Central Committee called for him to resign.

Bruno said Vitter's actions violate the Republican Party's "Family Values" stance but he doesn't expect the party leadership to do anything about it. "We had David Duke and couldn't do anything about it."

"They think more of the party than the right thing to do," he said. "If they're not going to enforce family values, they ought to take it out of the vocabulary."

But several Republican colleagues rallied to Vitter's side in Washington.
"It's really an issue between he and his family and God, and that has been dealt with, thankfully," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. "He's a very good friend. He's a great legislator. So certainly I accept his apology, and hopefully it won't have any effect on his service here."

Bush picks black general to lead Africa operations

U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday nominated Army Gen. William Ward, the highest ranking black in the U.S. military, to lead the new Africa Command and coordinate military operations on the continent.

Bush's decision in February to create Africa Command came after months of discussion inside the Pentagon and reflected increasing U.S. strategic interest in the continent and worry that Islamic militants were finding safe haven there.

Ward, who must be confirmed by the Senate, is only the fifth black man to attain a fourth star, making him a full general.

"I am honored by President Bush's and (Defense) Secretary (Robert) Gates' confidence and look forward to the confirmation process," Ward said in a prepared statement.

Profilin'

"Do you have blacks, too?"
~Bush, speaking to President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil

Former White House aide Sara M. Taylor will refuse to testify today about matters President Bush has deemed shielded by executive privilege, but she will offer to respond to other questions from senators that do not breach White House confidentiality, her attorney said yesterday.

"In light of the president's direction, I will answer faithfully those questions that are appropriate for a private citizen to answer while also doing my best to respect the president's directive that his staff's communications be privileged."

Polls: Cheney Nears Quayle as Least Popular Veep

The highest rating for Mr. Cheney was 56 percent in August 2002. Mr. Cheney's favorability among Americans has also suffered - it fell to 13 percent in May, from a high of 43 percent in October 2000.

Update: Was Cheney on the DC Madamm's list while CEO of Halliburton?

His wife, Wendy, was asked by the Newhouse News reporter: If her husband was as unfaithful as former President Bill Clinton, would she be as forgiving as Hillary Clinton?

"I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary," Wendy Vitter told Newhouse News. "If he does something like that, I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me."

"I think fear is a very good motivating factor in a marriage," she added. "Don't put fear down."

The reports also alerted Gonzales in 2005 to problems with the FBI's use of an anti-terrorism tool known as a national security letter (NSL), well before the Justice Department's inspector general brought widespread abuse of the letters in 2004 and 2005 to light in a stinging report this past March.

Each of the violations cited in the reports copied to Gonzales was serious enough to require notification of the President's Intelligence Oversight Board, which helps police the government's surveillance activities. The format of each memo was similar, and none minced words.

U.S. Military Losses Hit 4,000 in Iraq, Afghanistan

Four thousand U.S. service members have died in U.S. President George W. Bush's "war on terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan 5 1/2 years after American forces ousted the Taliban in December 2001.

A total of 3,596 have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion that removed Saddam Hussein from power. Some 2,957 of that number were killed in action, according to the latest Department of Defense figures. More than 26,500 personnel have been wounded in that conflict, 11,959 of them so seriously they couldn't return to duty.

In Afghanistan, 404 American personnel have died, of which 224 were killed in action. Those deaths include 61 personnel who died in Pakistan and Uzbekistan in support of the operation. Some 1,361 have been injured; 813 of them couldn't return to duty.

In Iraq, an insurgency rages against U.S. and coalition forces. The first six months this year were the deadliest yet for the American military, with more than 580 killed.

Hague

President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.

The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.

The Iraqi government is unlikely to meet any of the political and security goals President Bush set for it in January when he announced a major shift in US policy, according to senior administration officials closely involved in the matter.

As US combat deaths have escalated, violence has spread far beyond Baghdad, and sectarian political divides have deepened, the administration must persuade lawmakers to use more flexible, less ambitious standards.

Prominent Shiite and Sunni Muslim politicians called on Iraqi civilians to take up arms to defend themselves after a weekend of violence that claimed more than 220 lives.

The idea of organizing local communities for their own defense has caught on here in recent months following the success of Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar province that took up arms to help drive al-Qaida from their towns and villages.

Debate is growing in the White House on whether President George W. Bush should announce a pullout of U.S. troops from parts of Iraq, The New York Times said.

The debate is driven in part by fear that Bush's Iraq strategy is losing what support remains among Senate Republicans, the Times said, citing administration officials.

The debate concerns whether Bush should try to prevent further defections in Congress by announcing his intention to begin a gradual withdrawal of troops from parts of Baghdad and other cities, the newspaper reported.

31% of approve of "President George W. Bush commuting the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby while leaving intact Mr. Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case;" 64% disapprove

11% favor a complete presidential pardon for Libby; 84% oppose

45% favor the idea of the House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against President Bush...while 46% oppose.

54% favor the idea of the House of Representatives beginning impeachment proceedings against Vice-President Cheney...while only 40% oppose.

Camp David is supreme getaway

When summer sunlight hits, the museum-like White House can seem more confining than ever.

So with temperatures high, President Bush is continuing a routine that has become a notable feature of his presidency: the weekend getaway to Camp David.

Today, Bush is departing for his 124th visit as president to the secluded compound in the Catoctin Mountains. Since his inauguration, he has spent all or part of 386 days at Camp David, according to records kept by Mark Knoller of CBS News in Washington, considered an authoritative source on such statistics. Only President Ronald Reagan spent more days there.

.....

But Camp David is not quite the top getaway destination for Bush. That would be his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he has spent all or part of 416 days since the start of his presidency, according to the White House - roughly a month more than at Camp David.

Now watch this drive!

WASHINGTON - Convicted former top White House aide I Lewis "Scooter" Libby has paid his fine of $250,400.

The U.S. District Court posted the canceled check on the docket this afternoon.

In commuting Libby's sentence, President Bush said that the former vice presidential aide had suffered enough and that the 30-month prison term ordered up by a federal judge was "excessive."

And the White House still wanted Libby to pay a fine of $250,000.00, and a $400 special assessment. But now there is a question on whether he will have to serve two years of supervised probation imposed by the trial judge.

Slap on the wrist

Sen. Joe Biden:

Tony Snow said that President Bush decided to commute Scooter Libby's two and a half year-prison sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice, because it was "excessive."

Yet last year the Bush Administration filed a "friend-of-the-court brief" with the Supreme Court, in an attempt to uphold a lower court's ruling that a 33-month prison sentence for Victor Rita, who was convicted of the same exact charges, perjury and obstruction of justice, was "reasonable."

Pres. Bush cited Libby's "years of exceptional public service" in commuting his prison sentence. But Libby is the classic Bushie chickenhawk - a neocon bureaucrat with no service record whose fingerprints are all over the worst military planning in American history.

Conversely, Victor Rita is the real deal:

Victor Rita is a very sympathetic defendant: he served 24 years in the Marine Corps, had tours of duty in Vietnam and the first Gulf war, and has received over 35 military metals and awards. Also, he is an elderly gentleman who suffers serious health problems.

Asshole

President Bush on Wednesday equated the war in Iraq with the U.S. war for independence. Like those revolutionaries who "dropped their pitchforks and picked up their muskets to fight for liberty," Bush said that American soldiers were also fighting "a new and unprecedented war" to protect U.S. freedom.

A Stark Edge in Race for '08 Cash
New Numbers Heavily Favor The Democrats

Campaign contributors to the 2008 presidential candidates heavily favored Democrats in the three-month period that ended Saturday, giving three dollars to the party's leading contenders for every two dollars they gave to the top Republican candidates.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's 258,000 contributors since January exceed the combined number of donors of former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), according to estimates provided by the campaigns.

Romney announced yesterday that he has lent his campaign $6.5 million from his personal fortune to supplement the $14 million he raised from April through June. Giuliani's campaign said it raised about $15 million during the quarter. Last week, McCain announced a dramatic staff shake-up after raising only $11 million, leaving him with just $2 million in the bank.

.....

Political observers said the Democratic enthusiasm is being fueled by anger over the Iraq war, while dissatisfaction among conservative Republicans with their choices has dampened the mood of traditional GOP givers.

2008

Was President Bush right to commute Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence?

Yes 20%
No 80%

Total Votes: 51030

Do you agree with President Bush's decision to commute former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence?

Yes 28%
No 72%

207866 responses

Do you agree with President Bush's decision to spare "Scooter" Libby prison time?

Yes 28%
No 72%

Total Votes : 12878

"Others point out that a jury of citizens weighed all the evidence and listened to all the testimony and found Mr. Libby guilty of perjury and obstructing justice. They argue, correctly, that our entire system of justice relies on people telling the truth. And if a person does not tell the truth, particularly if he serves in government and holds the public trust, he must be held accountable."

"I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said lied in a statement. "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison."

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disputed the president's assertion that the prison term was excessive. Libby was sentenced under the same laws as other criminals, Fitzgerald said. "It is fundamental to the rule of law that all citizens stand before the bar of justice as equals," the prosecutor said.

"Libby's conviction was the one faint glimmer of accountability for White House efforts to manipulate intelligence and silence critics of the Iraq war," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "Now, even that small bit of justice has been undone."

Like Libby's trial judge, two of the three judges who ruled against him Monday were Republican nominees.

The two latest arrests, made on Sunday night in Paisley, took the number detained to seven. Police said the men, aged 25 and 28, were not believed to be of Scottish origin.

A police source said the investigation was going very well and that they expected to make more arrests. The source said the plot bore "all the hallmarks" of al Qaeda and that there had been no warning of the attack on Glasgow airport on Saturday.

"This continues to be a fast-moving investigation," said Assistant Chief Constable John Malcolm of Strathcylde police in Scotland. "I would continue to urge people to be vigilant."

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled today that he would seek to hold White House officials in contempt of Congress if they do not comply with congressional subpoenas.

"If they don't cooperate, yes, I'll go that far," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), when asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he would ask Congress to hold President Bush in contempt if he refuses to respond to subpoenas.

"The president and vice president are not above the law anymore than you and I are," Leahy said.

If the White House continues to assert executive privilege, he said, the next step for Congress is to determine whether the claim is legitimate. "Based on the court cases," it is not, he said. If his colleagues agree, the Judiciary Committee and Congress will have to vote on whether to hold Bush in contempt, and if they vote in the affirmative, the case will be relayed to the U.S. attorney for prosecution.

Like Bush and unlike Churchill, Chamberlain came to office with almost no understanding of foreign affairs or experience in dealing with international leaders. Nonetheless, he was convinced that he alone could bring Hitler and Benito Mussolini to heel. He surrounded himself with like-minded advisers and refused to heed anyone who told him otherwise.

In the months leading up to World War II, Chamberlain and his men saw little need to build up a strong coalition of European allies with which to confront Nazi Germany -- ignoring appeals from Churchill and others to fashion a "Grand Alliance" of nations to thwart the threat that Hitler posed to the continent.

Like Bush, Chamberlain also laid claim to unprecedented executive authority, evading the checks and balances that are supposed to constrain the office of prime minister. He scorned dissenting views, both inside and outside government. When Chamberlain arranged his face-to-face meetings with Hitler in 1938 that ended in the catastrophic Munich conference, he did so without consulting his cabinet, which, under the British system, is responsible for making policy. He also bypassed the House of Commons, leading Harold Macmillan, a future Tory prime minister who was then an anti-appeasement MP, to complain that Chamberlain was treating Parliament "like a Reichstag, to meet only to hear the orations and to register the decrees of the government of the day."

As was true of Bush and the Republicans before the 2006 midterm elections, Chamberlain and his Tories had a large majority in the Commons, and, as Macmillan noted, the prime minister tended to treat Parliament like a lapdog legislature, existing only to do his bidding. "I secretly feel he hates the House of Commons," wrote one of Chamberlain's most fervent parliamentary supporters. "Certainly he has a deep contempt for Parliamentary interference."