"America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks it has announced."
~ Bush, January 10, 2007

"They have brought forward these benchmarks. And what the President is saying is, fine, we will judge you now less on your words and more on your performance."
~ Senior Bush Admin Official, January 10, 2007

"...the standards were "designed to lock in failure."
~ internal White House memo, August 30, 2007

"A bar was set so high, that it was almost not to be able to be met."
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, August 30, 2007

Asked to comment on the GAO draft, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, "General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker are there on the ground every day in Iraq, and it's important to wait to hear what they have to say." He disputed any suggestion that the July White House assessment did not consider all internal views, noting that it resulted from "a lengthy and far-reaching process throughout the State and Defense departments and other agencies."

Johndroe emphasized that "while we've all seen progress in some areas, especially on the security front, it's not surprising the GAO would make this assessment, given the difficult congressionally mandated measurement they had to follow."

Morning Shows Focus On Democrats, Conservative Watchdog Group Says

The major television network's morning news shows have devoted considerably more time to reporting on the Democratic candidates than they have on the Republican contenders, according to a conservative media watchdog group.

Morning shows on ABC, CBS and NBC devoted 284 campaign segments to Democratic candidates through the end of July, 152 to Republicans, and 81 stories on a possible independent run by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to the Alexandria, Va.-based Media Research Center.

.....

"There is no pretense of political balance. They are actively rooting for a Democratic victory next year, and they have the power to make a real difference," said Media Research Center founder L. Brent Bozell in a column appearing on the group's Web site.

"You've got a former first lady and a black senator fighting for the nomination," said Jim Bell, executive producer of NBC's "Today" show, according to AP. "That's historic. We're not going to make apologies for covering that."

Dumbazz

The president has vowed to veto eight of the 12 spending measures needed to keep the government operating. Bush opposes Democrats' efforts to add $22 billion to the $933 billion the administration is seeking for the portion of the budget that is subject to annual appropriations.

Congressional Democrats want the extra funds for education, veterans' health care and border security contained within the budgets of various federal departments and agencies.

The request -- which would come on top of about $460 billion in the fiscal 2008 defense budget and $147 billion in a pending supplemental bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- is expected to be announced after congressional hearings scheduled for mid-September featuring the two top U.S. officials in Iraq. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker will assess the state of the war and the effect of the new strategy the U.S. military has pursued this year.

The request is being prepared now in the belief that Congress will be unlikely to balk so soon after hearing the two officials argue that there are promising developments in Iraq but that they need more time to solidify the progress they have made, a congressional aide said.

Supporters of the war in Iraq ask that Congress and the public wait until next month before judging whether the surge in U.S. troops is raising the level of security. By Sept. 15, Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander on the ground, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to report on military and political progress in Iraq.

The problem with that request, as White House spokesmen repeatedly explained to the press last week, is that there isn't going to be a report by Petraeus and Crocker to Congress and the U.S. public. The Sept. 15 report will be written by the White House staff and sent to Congress above President Bush's signature. The president's report ostensibly will take into account suggestions made by Petraeus and Crocker, but the public will not know how closely the military assessment from the war zone tracks the political imperatives of the White House.

Pentagon won't make surge recommendation to Bush

In a sign that top commanders are divided over what course to pursue in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it won't make a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month's strategy assessment, but instead will allow top commanders to make individual presentations.

"Consensus is not the goal of the process," Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. "If there are differences, the president will hear them."

Military analysts called the move unusual for an institution that ordinarily does not air its differences in public, especially while its troops are deployed in combat.

White said it suggests that the military commanders want to be able to distance themselves from Iraq strategy by making it clear that whatever course is followed is the president's decision, not what commanders agreed on.

.....

At the same time, Morrell made it clear that the decision rests with the president, not the military.

Senator Craig defends his "I'm not gay" speech citing the "Degrees of Gayness"

In an exclusive interview with myfoxnewsonline.com , Senator Larry Craig tonight defended his stance on not being gay. Senator Craig showed up for the interview with his beard wife in tow.

Senator Craig stated that there are "degrees of gayness", and that according to these degrees, he is not gay.

When pressed for details on these "degrees of gayness", Senator Craig responded by saying:

"Well you see, there are numerous degrees of gayness, which can help you determine if you are gay or not. Let's say you're married, like me, for instance. By general decree my marriage to a female makes me not gay. The fact that I like sex with other men has nothing to do with this".

Senator Craig then went on to list the degrees of gayness:

1st degree: You're married, and Republican, but like getting sex from other men. Notice the key word from other men. If you receive oral sex from another man, or if you perform anal sex on another man, that doesn't make you gay because you're not the one sucking that dick or taking it in the ass.

2nd degree: You're married, and Republican, but like performing sex on other men. Since you're married it means you aren't gay, and besides, your wife only said she'd leave you if she caught you with another woman.

3rd degree: Here's where we draw the line at not being gay. The 3rd degree is any sexual contact with another man if you are unmarried and/or not a Republican. This makes you totally GAY!"

Satire

August 30 - the day after Katrina drowned the Gulf... this is what our fearless leader was doing.

Mr Bush said: "Iran's pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.

"Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies (we still have friends and allies?) to isolate Iran's regime to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late."

"I have authorised our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities."

GOP Sen. Larry Craig tells reporters 'I am not gay'

"First let me please apologize to my family, friends and staff and fellow Idahoans for the cloud placed over Idaho," he says. "I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport. I did nothing wrong and regret the decision to plead guilty."

Craig blames the Idaho Statesman, his local paper, for mounting an intensive investigation into reports that the GOP lawmaker was a homosexual who trolled public restrooms for sexual partners. The paper didn't publish anything about Craig's sexual orientation until this morning, after the arrest was reported by Roll Call.

"In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision," he tells reporters. "While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport or anywhere else I chose to plead guilty in the hope of making it go away."

Craig says he didn't seek counsel from his family, friends or attorney while deciding how to deal with the arrest. He has asked his attorney to review the matter and advise him on how to proceed.

How did he know about the foot tap then?

Mark Foley (R-FL): Resigned amid reports that he had sent sexually explicit Internet messages to at least one underage male former page.

Bob Allen (R-FL): Charged with offering to perform a sex act on an undercover male police officer.

Glenn Murphy (OH-Chairman of the Clark County Republican Party): Charged with performing an unwanted sex act on a man while he slept in a relative's Jeffersonville home.

Ted Haggard (CO-Pastor of New Life Church): Haggard admitted he had received a massage from a Denver man who claimed the prominent pastor had paid him for sex over three years.

Jeff Gannon (White House Correspondent-Gay Hooker): Has a male escort service on the side.

David Vitter (R-LA): Had an affair with the D.C. Madam's hookers while wearing diapers.

Randall Tobias (R-Bush appointed Global AIDS Ambassador): Same as Vitter.

Romney links Craig with Bill Clinton

In his interview on CNBC's Kudlow & Company (which will air later this afternoon), Mitt Romney had some sharp words for Sen. Larry Craig, who had endorsed the former Massachusetts governor's presidential campaign and was his Idaho chairman. "Once again, we've found people in Washington have not lived up to the level of respect and dignity that we would expect for somebody that gets elected to a position of high influence. Very disappointing. He's no longer associated with my campaign, as you can imagine... I'm sorry to see that he has fallen short."

And Romney also included this jab at Bill Clinton as he continued to talk about Craig: "I think it reminds us of Mark Foley and Bill Clinton. I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we'll just forgive and forget. And the truth of the matter is, the most important thing we expect from elected--an elected official is a level of dignity and character that we can point to for our kids and our grandkids, and say, 'Hey, someday I hope you grow up and you're someone like that person.' And we've seen disappointment in the White House, we've seen it in the Senate, we've seen it in Congress. And frankly, it's disgusting."

At least he got a b.j. from a WOMAN!

Foley is a REPUBLICAN! Craig is a REPUBLICAN! Vitter is a REPUBLICAN! Bob Allen is a REPUBLICAN! Glenn Murphy is a REPUBLICAN! Jeff Gannon is a REPUBLICAN! Pastor Ted Haggard is a REPUBLICAN!

Other than being REPUBLICAN, what do they have in common Mitt? Most of them are gay hypocrites.

U.S. Says Pope Immune From Molestation Lawsuit

The U.S. Justice Department has told a Texas court that a lawsuit accusing Pope Benedict XVI of conspiring to cover up the sexual molestation of three boys by a seminarian should be dismissed because the pontiff enjoys immunity as head of state of the Holy See.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Peter Keisler said in Monday's filing that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would be "incompatible with the United States' foreign policy interests."

There was no immediate ruling from Judge Lee Rosenthal of the U.S. District Court for the southern district of Texas in Houston. However, U.S. courts have been bound by such "suggestion of immunity" motions submitted by the government, Keisler's filing says.

A 1994 lawsuit against Pope John Paul II (search), also filed in Texas, was dismissed after the U.S. government filed a similar motion.

Values

According to the incident report, Sgt. Dave Karsnia was working as a plainclothes officer on June 11 investigating civilian complaints regarding sexual activity in the men's public restroom in which Craig was arrested.

Karsnia entered the bathroom at noon that day and about 13 minutes after taking a seat in a stall, he stated he could see "an older white male with grey hair standing outside my stall."

"I could see Craig look through the crack in the door from his position. Craig would look down at his hands, 'fidget' with his fingers, and then look through the crack into my stall again. Craig would repeat this cycle for about two minutes," the report states.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia's and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.

"At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area," the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that "I could ... see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider."

Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

Well, I don't know where the Senate's going to be on that issue of an up or down vote on impeachment, but I will tell you that the Senate certainly can bring about a censure resolution and it's a slap on the wrist. It's a, "Bad boy, Bill Clinton. You're a naughty boy." The American people already know that Bill Clinton is a bad boy, a naughty boy.

I'm going to speak out for the citizens of my state, who in the majority think that Bill Clinton is probably even a nasty, bad, naughty boy. The question issue now is simply this: Did he lie under oath? Did he perjure himself and did he obstruct justice? And that's where we're trying to go now in this truth-seeking process.

Good morning.

Thirteen years ago I entered public service to make a positive difference in the lives of others. And during this time I have traveled a remarkable journey, from my home state of Texas to Washington, D.C., supported by the unwavering love and encouragement of my wife Rebecca and our sons Jared, Graham and Gabriel.

Yesterday I met with President Bush and informed him of my decision to conclude my government service as attorney general of the United States effective as of September 17th, 2007.

Let me say that it's been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice. I have great admiration and respect for the men and women who work here. I have made a point as attorney general to personally meet as many of them as possible, and today I want to again thank them for their service to our nation.

It is through their continued work that our country and our communities remain safe, that the rights and civil liberties of our citizens are protected, and the hopes and dreams of all of our children are secured.

I often remind our fellow citizens that we live in the greatest country in the world and that I have lived the American dream. Even my worst days as Attorney General have been better than my father's best days.

Public service is honorable and noble. And I am profoundly grateful to President Bush for his friendship and for the many opportunities he has given me to serve the American people.

Thank you, and God bless America.

An influential U.S. Senate Republican says President Bush should announce an initial withdrawal of troops from Iraq on September 15. Senator John Warner of Virginia made his comments to reporters Thursday, just days after visiting Iraq.

Senator Warner, a member and former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says he is recommending that President Bush announce the beginning of a troop withdrawal from Iraq on September 15 as a way to press the Iraqi government into taking steps toward political reconciliation.

"Take into consideration the need to send a sharp and clear message throughout the region, to the United States, and one that people can understand; I think [there is] no clearer form of that than for the president to announce on the 15th, that in consultation with senior military commanders, he has decided to initiate the first step in a withdrawal of our forces," said Senator Warner.

Recently, a lot of focus has been placed upon goods coming from China because they pose serious health risks for both humans and animals. This problem exists because of lackadaisical quality control, inexperience and outright indifference by Chinese manufacturers. Compound that with an import system that does little to no inspection, as well as a Chinese government that places little value on human life, and it becomes a recipe for destruction.

While lead based paint on toys or seafood laced with antibiotics are of great concern, they could only be the tip of the iceberg and something far more sinister could be lying just below the surface.

Evidence is mounting that cheaply made goods from China do not meet the levels of safety that the American people expect and deserve. With that in mind, the question becomes a matter of not if a catastrophic event will occur, but when and how bad.

(snip)

For example, below are two pictures of a ruptured piece of pipe that was installed in the Huadian Datong Power Station in the Qinghai Province of China.

(click images for MUCH larger versions)

(snip)

What industries do not use metal of some type? Chemical refineries, water treatment and waste water facilities, natural gas/petroleum tank farms and pipelines are all susceptible to having these products installed as integral parts of their production and distribution systems. When you include other areas where steel is being used (buildings, railroads, bridges, and the automotive industry), one must wonder when and to what magnitude a crisis will happen.

(snip)

What is not as well known is that because of quality concerns, the Chinese government will not allow Chinese made goods to be used in critical areas of their power plants. Hence, you have the scenario that was presented above. So if the Chinese government is concerned enough to place a ban on Chinese goods, shouldn't we?

Bush's visit leaves some residents angry, but not over politics

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Towed and ticketed, several people on the Country Club Plaza are griping about President Bush's visit to the metro.

The president's motorcade made many in the metro smile Wednesday, as he was seen breakfasting with dignitaries and made a speech at the VFW convention.

Bill Cary was not among them, but it had nothing to do with politics.

"What angered me was the fact that I didn't have any notice," said Cary.

He is angry because at midnight Wednesday morning, the city towed his car because it was parked in front of his Plaza apartment on Roanoke Parkway. The problem was that the president's motorcade used Roanoke Parkway. As a result, so for security reasons, police made it an emergency no-parking zone and towed several cars overnight - including Bill's.

"I thought it was stolen," said Cary.

Wednesday morning, on his way to work, Cary said, he and several other unaware neighbors were forced to pay $145 to retrieve their cars from tow lots.

Adding insult to injury, Cary got a $38 ticket for parking in a no-parking zone.

"We park here everyday," Cary said. "It would have been easy to put up a notice saying you have 24 hours to remove your vehicle... We had no notice at all. My car was ticketed right after midnight and towed minutes after the ticket was written."

The city did not return our phone calls seeking comment, Cary said he is hoping in the spirit of the presidential visit the city will offer pardons for parking offenders.

"I would like to have the city reimburse people the towing expense and waive the ticket," he said.

Thanks Bush

Yesterday, Raw Story pointed out that former CIA operative Bob Baer told Fox News that the Bush administration will likely attack Iran in the coming months. "Iran policy is on close hold, but the feeling is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps sometime next six months or so," said Baer. (read what Baer said in this Time Magazine article)

Today, former U.N. ambassador John "the moustache" Bolton appeared on Fox News and responded. He said that while he couldn't confirm Baer's statements, he "absolutely" hoped they were true:

HEMMER: One final step here, too, that I want to take with you. You told one of our producers earlier today that you don't know if it's true - and you've made that clear in our interview here, that you don't know what the odds are or are not against that - but you hope it's true. Why do you hope it's true?

BOLTON: Absolutely. I hope Iran understands that we are very serious, that we are determined they are not going to get a nuclear weapon capability, and unless they change the strategic decision they've been pursuing for close to 20 years, that that's something they better factor into their calculations.

The Bush administration and China have both undermined efforts to tighten rules designed to ensure that lead paint isn't used in toys, bibs, jewelry and other children's products.

Both have fought efforts to better police imported toys from China.

The Bush administration has hindered regulation on two fronts, consumer advocates say. It stalled efforts to press for greater inspections of imported children's products, and it altered the focus of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, moving it from protections for consumers to a more manufacturer-friendly approach.

"The overall philosophy (of the administration) is regulations are bad, and they are too large a cost for industry, and the market will take care of it," said Rick Melberth, director of regulatory policy at OMBWatch, a government watchdog group formed in 1983.

Bush concerned about hurricane victims

MONTEBELLO, Quebec - President Bush, at a North American summit on Tuesday, offered U.S. assistance and expressed his concern for the citizens of Mexico and elsewhere whose lives were affected by Hurricane Dean.

"We stand ready to help," said Bush, standing alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "The American people care a lot about the human condition in our neighborhood and when we see human suffering we want to do what we can."

Security and trade issues dominated talks among the North American leaders who met at a posh chateau along the Ottawa River. The three leaders began talks Tuesday with a council of corporate executives, who are pushing for broader coordination across North America, from regulatory standards to emergency planning.

But not the blacks!

A graduate of Charles H. Flowers High School in Springdale, where she was in ROTC, Samuels, of Mitchellville, was killed by enemy fire Wednesday in Taji, Iraq. She was stationed there as an intelligence officer with Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, according to a Defense Department statement.

(snip)

She said her daughter was terrified to be in Iraq and planned to leave the military as soon as she could. Lawal also said her daughter was not cut out to be a soldier and tried to hide her fear during their telephone calls, including their last one, on Aug. 6, when Samuels called to wish her mother a happy birthday.

"She was just like the other soldiers," Lawal said. "They can't come out and say it because they will get in trouble, but many of them don't believe in this mission. She didn't."

(snip)

"I am very upset that this has happened," Samuels's distraught mother, Anika Lawal of Waldorf, said yesterday. "I want to know why I'm planning a funeral while George Bush is planning a wedding."

The Bush administration, fighting efforts by states and Congress to expand a popular U.S. health program for children in low-income families, is making it more difficult for families to sign up.

The 10-year-old program was designed to provide medical insurance to children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor, and can't afford to buy private health coverage. President George W. Bush has threatened to veto bills passed by the House and Senate to expand funding for Schip, which now covers 6 million children.

The new policy sets more-restrictive standards for states that want to expand eligibility to households above 250 percent of the poverty level, which amounts to $51,625 in annual income for a family of four. Tens of thousands of children would become uninsured in at least 23 states that provide, or plan to provide, coverage exceeding these limits, said Rachel Klein, deputy director of health policy for Families USA, a consumer group in Washington.

The CIA's top leaders failed to use their available powers, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop al-Qaida and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to Sept. 11, the agency's own watchdog concluded in a bruising report released Tuesday.

Completed in June 2005 and kept classified until now, the 19-page executive summary finds extensive fault with the actions of senior CIA leaders and others beneath them. "The agency and its officers did not discharge their responsibilities in a satisfactory manner," the CIA inspector general found.

While blame is heaped on Tenet and his deputies, the report also says that Tenet was forcefully engaged in counterterrorism efforts and personally sounded the alarm before Congress, the military and policymakers. In a now well-known 1998 memo, he declared, "We are at war."

The trouble, the report said, was follow-up.

"And I think there's a certain level of frustration with the leadership in general, inability to work -- come together..."

.....

"The fundamental question is, will the government respond to the demands of the people," the president said. "And if the government doesn't ... respond to the demands of the people, they will replace the government."

After 9/11, Rudy wasn't a rescue worker -- he was a Yankee

On Friday, a New York Times story examined Rudy Giuliani's schedule in the months after 9/11 to verify his controversial claim that, like rescue workers, he'd spent long hours at ground zero, and so was "in that sense ... one of them." In fact, the Times found, he only spent 29 hours at the terror site between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16.

What was he doing instead? Giuliani's beloved New York Yankees made it to the World Series in 2001. We decided to compare the time he spent on baseball to the time he spent at the ruins of the World Trade Center.

The results were, considering the mayor's long-standing devotion to the Bronx Bombers, unsurprising. By our count, Giuliani spent about 58 hours at Yankees games or flying to them in the 40 days between Sept. 25 and Nov. 4, roughly twice as long as he spent at ground zero in the 90 days between Sept. 17 and Dec. 16. By his own standard, Giuliani was one of the Yankees more than he was one of the rescue workers.

During three postseason playoff series that began Oct. 10, 2001, and ended Nov. 4, 2001, Giuliani attended every one of the team's home games, with the possible exception of the third game of the American League Championship Series, for which Salon could not confirm his attendance. According to Salon's arithmetic, Giuliani spent about 33 hours in stadiums -- this includes two World Series games he watched in Phoenix -- during the Yankees' 2001 postseason run, four hours more than he spent at ground zero. (We do not know if he stayed for every pitch, but famed baseball writer Roger Angell described Giuliani in the the New Yorker as a "devout Yankee fan, a guy who stays on until the end of the game.")

Play ball!

The White House said Monday that Gen. David Petraeus likely will testify before Congress on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The highly anticipated report from Petraeus and Crocker is seen as a potential turning point in America's involvement in Iraq. Several Republicans, who so far have refused to side with Democratic calls for withdrawal, have said they wanted to hear from Petraeus and Crocker before making any decisions regarding U.S. troop levels.

According to Bush spokesman Gordon Johndroe, the fact that the pair likely will appear before Congress on Sept. 11 has nothing to do with the anniversary of the attack, but was rather dictated by Congress's tight schedule.

Federal mine safety official's credentials questioned

The families of the Crandall Canyon miner's aren't the only ones raising questions about the handling of the rescue effort.

Many news organizations and blogs are also now asking questions about the governments role and the man chosen to lead the rescue effort, Mine and Health Safety Administrator, Richard Stickler.

Increasing attention is now being paid to Stickler, the federal government's main mine man.

Stickler used to be a mining executive who - according to various media reports - ran mines which had several fatalities and "...an incident rate that was often twice the national average."

After his nomination was twice rejected by the Senate, President Bush gave Richard Stickler the mine safety job with a recess appointment.

That's a presidential appointment made when congress is not in session.

Dick Stick

Pakistan frees 'al-Qaeda suspect'

A Pakistani computer expert alleged to have had links with al-Qaeda has been released without charge after three years in custody.

Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, 25, has been reunited with his family in the city of Karachi, officials and his lawyer said.

Mr Khan was accused of acting as a link between al-Qaeda leaders and militants.

His detention led to the arrest of a suspect in the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa, and information on terror plots in the UK and US.

Taliban, US in new round of peace talks

The few weeks between the visits to Pakistan of Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state who left last week, and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who arrives on September 10, could prove crucial in determining the fate of Afghanistan.

This is the timeline for secret three-party talks to establish teega (a Pashtu word for a peace deal that resolves a conflict) between the Western coalition forces in Afghanistan (with Pakistan), the Afghan government, and the anti-coalition insurgents of Afghanistan. The first round of talks has already begun in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, Asia Times Online has learned.

The outcome of the talks will to a large extent decide the agenda of Negroponte's visit and the course of the US-led "war on terror" in the region.

The talks are based on previous Pakistan-inspired efforts to secure peace deals between the insurgents and the Western coalition in specific areas in Afghanistan with the longer-term goal of incorporating the Taliban into the political process both in Kabul and in provincial governments.

A top Senate Democrat on Monday threatened to hold members of the Bush administration in contempt for not producing subpoenaed information about the legal justification for President Bush's secretive eavesdropping program.

"When the Senate comes back in the session, I'll bring it up before the committee," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I prefer cooperation to contempt. Right now, there's no question that they are in contempt of the valid order of the Congress."
MSNBC

The Bush administration yesterday signaled to Senate Democrats that it will provide the legal rationale for its domestic surveillance program if Democrats reciprocate by permanently updating the key law governing foreign spying.
WashTimes

By the time he arrived in Prague in June for a democracy conference, President Bush was frustrated. He had committed his presidency to working toward the goal of "ending tyranny in our world," yet the march of freedom seemed stalled. Just as aggravating was the sense that his own government was not committed to his vision.

As he sat down with opposition leaders from authoritarian societies around the world, he gave voice to his exasperation. "You're not the only dissident," Bush told Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a leader in the resistance to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "I too am a dissident in Washington. Bureaucracy in the United States does not help change."

Good luck with that George. You're not a coach. You're not even a player. You're a cheerleader, just like you were a cheerleader when the other guys were playing ball in college. And as a cheerleader, if you had smacked the quarterback on the ass on the sideline, you'd probably get your ass kicked. But that doesn't make you a dissident. It just makes you a poor leader, and a crybaby, and a loser. Now STFU, have your mommy bring you a dictionary, and look up "dissident".

Fox News reports but can't confirm' Vick, Qaeda accusation

Fox News carried a straight-faced report on Tuesday that NFL quarterback "Michael Vick is being sued for 63 trillion billion dollars" by Jonathan Lee Riches, a prisoner serving time at South Carolina's Williamsburg Federal Collection Facility.

Fox's story, in addition to inflating the damages sought by Riches--the inmate sought a mere $60 billion in damages--comes more than three weeks after the the plaintiff's court papers were filed on July 23, and arrives fairly late in the game for a story that was well-covered by bloggers as early as July 27.

Noting no new developments in the case, Fox's account added little veracity to a handwritten complaint that Vick stole two Riches' pit bulls, entered them in dog fights, subsequently sold the dogs on eBay, and, ultimately, used the proceeds to buy missiles from Iran on behalf of al Qaeda.

Shepard Smith, who recently promised he was "not going to do more crap," concluded the segment by stating, "Fox News can confirm none of this," followed by a heartfelt, "Good grief!"

Terra 1! Terra 2! Hike!

Under Rove's direction, this highly coordinated effort to leverage the government for political marketing started as soon as Bush took office in 2001 and continued through last year's congressional elections.

In the past few months, revelations about a few dozen political briefings that Rove's team conducted at federal agencies and several election-related slides from those briefings have touched off investigations into whether the White House improperly politicized federal workers or misused government assets to win elections.

Investigators, however, said the scale of Rove's effort is far broader than previously revealed; they say that Rove's team gave more than 100 such briefings during the seven years of the Bush administration. The political sessions touched nearly all of the Cabinet departments and a handful of smaller agencies that often had major roles in providing grants, such as the White House office of drug policy and the State Department's Agency for International Development.

The White House has repeatedly said that Rove's team stayed within the confines of federal law and that the meetings were an effort to ensure the president's agenda and those who supported it were fully promoted. But the Office of the Special Counsel, which protects whistleblowers, has concluded that the Hatch Act was violated during one such briefing, conducted for General Services Administration political appointees by J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs.

Between 1,000 and 2,000 demonstrators -- watched by a sizable police presence -- got a head start on the North American leaders' summit, which begins today in Montebello, Que., with meetings between Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and Felipe Calderon.

"Rallies at Parliament Hill are notoriously difficult to draw large crowds and I was impressed ... because there were events happening in other centres," Green party Leader Elizabeth May said.

"We are not anti-American," said Council of Canadians' national head Maude Barlow. "We are anti-George Bush."

Approximately 2,000 people joined a rally on Parliament Hill yesterday to protest the Security and Prosperity Partnership summit, which takes place in Montebello, Que., over the next two days

Protesters will not be allowed near the summit site but will have their activities relayed to the leaders by a most unconventional method: video link.

Calderon will remain in Canada for an extra day after the summit to have a one-on-one meeting with Harper on Wednesday.

The number of coalition military deaths in the war in Iraq has reached 4,000.

The gloomy milestone was reached as a U.S. general said there has been a rise in insurgents booby-trapping houses.

Most of the fatalities throughout the Iraq war -- almost 3,704 -- have been U.S. military service members. That number also includes seven civilians working for the Pentagon.

The nearly 300 others hail from countries, such as Italy, Poland and Ukraine, that have supported the U.S. effort, which began in March 2003.

R.I.P.

"A complete record of Mr. Giuliani's exposure to the site is not available for the chaotic six days after the attack, when he was a frequent visitor. But an exhaustively detailed account from his mayoral archive, revised after the events to account for last-minute changes on scheduled stops, does exist for the period of Sept. 17 to Dec. 16, 2001. It shows he was there for a total of 29 hours in those three months, often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble. In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts.

Toward a Realistic Peace
Rudolph Giuliani

We are all members of the 9/11 generation.

The defining challenges of the twentieth century ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall. Full recognition of the first great challenge of the twenty-first century came with the attacks of September 11, 2001, even though Islamist terrorists had begun their assault on world order decades before. Confronted with an act of war on American soil, our old assumptions about conflict between nation-states fell away. Civilization itself, and the international system, had come under attack by a ruthless and radical Islamist enemy.

Short of Purple Hearts, Navy tells vet to buy own

Korean War veteran Nyles Reed, 75, opened an envelope last week to learn a Purple Heart had been approved for injuries he sustained as a Marine on June 22, 1952.

But there was no medal. Just a certificate and a form stating that the medal was "out of stock."

"I can imagine, of course, with what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, there's a big shortage," Reed said. "At least, I would imagine so."

.....

After waiting 55 years, however, Reed decided to pay $42 for his own Purple Heart and accompanying ribbon - plus state sales taxes - at a military surplus store.

Support Our Vets!

Laura in 2005: "This is not a serious boyfriend. I hate to, I have to be the one to say it on television, but he's a very nice young man."

Senior congressional aides said yesterday that the White House has proposed limiting the much-anticipated appearance on Capitol Hill next month of Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker to a private congressional briefing, suggesting instead that the Bush administration's progress report on the Iraq war should be delivered to Congress by the secretaries of state and defense.

White House officials suggested to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee last week that Petraeus and Crocker would brief lawmakers in a closed session before the release of the report, congressional aides said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates would provide the only public testimony.

The legislation says that Petraeus and Crocker "will be made available to testify in open and closed sessions before the relevant committees of the Congress" before the delivery of the report. It also clearly states that the president "will prepare the report and submit the report to Congress" after consultation with the secretaries of state and defense and with the top U.S. military commander in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador.
WaPo

Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

And though Petraeus and Crocker will present their recommendations on Capitol Hill, legislation passed by Congress leaves it to the president to decide how to interpret the report's data.

"The bottom line here is the government declares something is a state secret, that's the end of it. No cases. . . . The king can do no wrong," said Judge Harry Pregerson, one of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit who grilled administration lawyers at length over whether a pair of lawsuits against the government should go forward.

"This seems to put us in the 'trust us' category," Judge M. Margaret McKeown said about the government's assertions that its surveillance activities did not violate the law. " 'We don't do it. Trust us. And don't ask us about it.' "

At one point, Garre argued that courts are not the right forum for complaints about government surveillance, and that "other avenues" are available. "What is that? Impeachment?" Pregerson shot back.

"Well, who decides if something is a state secret or not?" Pregerson asked. "Are you saying the courts are to rubber-stamp the determination of the executive of what's a state secret? What's our job?"
WaPo

The appeals concern two related questions that must be answered before the merits of the challenges can be considered: whether the plaintiffs can clearly establish that they have been injured by the programs, giving them standing to sue; and whether the state secrets privilege requires dismissal of the suits on national security grounds.

Though the questions are preliminary, the impact of the appeals court's ruling may be quite broad. Should it rule for the government on either ground, the legality of the N.S.A. programs may never be adjudicated.
NY Times

He...set a standard for the GOP majority by only allowing legislation on the floor of the House that was backed by the "majority of the majority," an approach that all but denied Democrats a chance to help shape legislation.

The minority party had little say in conferences with the Senate during Hastert's tenure, because conference committees became an after-the-fact formality that rubber-stamped deals worked out by a handful of House and Senate Republican members who operated under the thumb of party leaders.

Hastert further irritated the minority party by showing little desire to push committee chairmen to investigate problems in the executive branch, whether it was pre-war intelligence in Iraq or the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

In 2003, for example, Hastert held open a vote on a landmark Medicare drug bill for three hours, forcing a pre-dawn vote on a Saturday on what was then a major GOP priority.

The Bush administration is preparing to declare that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is a foreign terrorist organization, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

If imposed, the declaration would signal a more confrontational turn in the administration's approach to Iran and would be the first time that the United States has added the armed forces of any sovereign government to its list of terrorist organizations.

President Bush seemed to signal a tougher approach to Iran last week when he called attention to what American officials have said was an active role by the Revolutionary Guard in providing munitions, training and other support to Shiite militants who have been attacking American troops in Iraq. "When we catch you playing a nonconstructive role, there will be a price to pay," Mr. Bush said of Iran during a news conference on Thursday.

In recent months, there has been resurgent debate within the administration about whether the diplomatic path is working, with aides to Vice President Dick Cheney said to be among those pushing for greater consideration of military options.

Iran and Iraq have signed an energy accord.

The Iranian Oil Ministry said Baghdad and Teheran signed an agreement to build pipelines for the transfer of Iraqi crude oil and oil products. The ministry said the pipeline would transport crude oil from the Iraqi port of Basra to Iran's Abadan.

The accord, reported on Aug. 11, stipulated the Iranian purchase of 100,000 barrels of Iraqi crude. The crude would be refined in Iran's Bandar Abbas and resold to Iraq. No other details were reported.

In August 2006, Tehran and Baghdad signed a memorandum of understanding on energy issues that called on Iran to refine 100,000 barrels per day of Iraqi crude. In exchange, Teheran would supply two million liters per day of gasoline and other refined products to Iraq.

To some degree, the surge has shown some successes. But the real success Anderson, is coming from something totally different, and that is coming from America cutting deals with its former enemies - principally the Baathist insurgents, the Sunni insurgents. It's by cutting a deal with the Baath party, on the terms that the Baath party offered America 4 years ago, and had to wait for America to be battered in to submission to accept, that the tide has been turned against Al Qaeda. It's by unleashing the Baath that the Al Qaeda bombs are calming down, that the Al Qaeda attacks are starting to slow down.

By cutting these deals, the seeds are being sowed for a much broader more entrenched civil war that America will leave behind.

Don't forget, by supporting the Sunnis in the way that they are, the American administration right now is picking sides in the Civil War.

The number of bodies tortured, mutilated, victims of sectarian death squads that are showing up on the streets of Baghdad continues to rise and fall. Right now there's less than there used to be, but by less, that's still 20 tortured people showing up every morning.

Now, the numbers are down for a number of reasons. One is 2 million people have fled the country. Another 2 million are displaced internally in refugee camps. So there's simply fewer targets. And of those who remain in the capital and in the villages surrounding, they now must live in segregated communities, heavily defended by thier own militias, be they American backed Sunni militias, or Iranian backed Shia militias.

This place has been Ethnically Cleansed and segregated. So deaths are down because it's much harder to kill each other until America withdraws, and the real battle begins.

Public Letter to Harold Ford, Jr., Re: The O'Reilly Factor and Free Republic

The Honorable Harold Ford, Jr.
Chairman
Democratic Leadership Council
600 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 400
Washington, D.C. 20003

Dear Rep. Ford,

I appeared with you on the O'Reilly Factor on July 31, 2007, in my capacity as spokesman for FreeRepublic.com to discuss politics on the Internet. The host, Bill O'Reilly, falsely accused FreeRepublic.com of having the following comments on its site: "Homosexuals are dogs," "I hate blacks," "Hillary Clinton should be assassinated," and "A stray bullet should kill her."

To be blunt, those comments were made up by the O'Reilly Factor.

The O'Reilly Factor was not able to provide documentation that those comments appeared on FreeRepublic.com. A request for an on air retraction and apology has been ignored.

Let me assure you that, contrary to how the O'Reilly Factor portrayed FreeRepublic.com to you and the viewing public, FreeRepublic.com is not a site where people feel comfortable posting a comment such as "I hate blacks."

As I made clear on the broadcast, those alleged comments cited by Mr. O'Reilly would be in violation of our posting guidelines and would not be tolerated by our moderators.

It is unfortunate that the O'Reilly Factor stooped to making up comments to besmirch the reputation of FreeRepublic.com in order to appear 'fair and balanced' in its campaign against the Daily Kos. Being that the O'Reilly Factor has declined to correct the record, I am writing you personally so that any misconception you have of FreeRepublic.com is cleared up.

Sincerely,

Kristinn Taylor
Spokesman
FreeRepublic.com

Loofah

To: kristinn

"I stopped watching The O'Reilly Factor 2-3 years ago because he's too liberal"

18 posted on 08/11/2007 2:02:03 PM PDT by American Quilter (I want Supreme Court justices who make Clarence Thomas look liberal!)
[ Post Reply Private Reply To 1 View Replies ]

The hugely unpopular draft was discontinued in 1973 at the end of the Vietnam War, and today the Army recruits soldiers for its all-volunteer force-10,000 in July, with a goal of 80,000 new soldiers this year-with offers ranging from a chance to win an iPod to a $20,000 bonus to sign-ups who can start basic training before October. But incentives might not be enough to supply soldiers for the increasingly unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last week, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute-President Bush's "war czar"-told NPR that the draft has "always been an option on the table" and that it "makes sense to certainly consider it."

Re-implementing the draft would be the job of Selective Service System, which already aggressively enforces registration by all young men between 18 and 25. With no current risk of being called up and the relative ease of adding one's name to the roles, compliance is high, but newly eligible teenagers, lax in follow-through skills, are gently reminded that "[r]efusal to register is a federal crime" punishable by a fine of $250,000 and "up to 5 years imprisonment." The form letter (below) from SSS director William Chatfield persuasively tells one 18-year old, "our objective is to register you, not to have you prosecuted."

It may be of some comfort to the recipients of such correspondence and their parents, many of whom themselves were wary of the draft during the 1960s and early 1970s, that if the draft is reinstated, it will be "more fair and equitable" than it was during most of the Vietnam War. "There would be fewer reasons to excuse a man from service."

Rove leaves more second-term blues for White House

The resignation of Karl Rove, architect of President George W. Bush's election triumphs and a crucial behind-the-scenes policy guru, is the latest sign of the White House's diminished agenda and shattered dreams of a Republican super-majority, analysts said.

Rove, the last and most prominent of Bush's inner circle of Texas advisers to quit the administration, leaves a lame-duck president suffering from low approval ratings, an unpopular war in Iraq and public rejection in the 2006 elections.

With Democrats in control of Congress and brimming with optimism about the 2008 White House race, Rove's talk of a lasting and historic shift to Republican dominance seems long ago.

"This closes the chapter where George Bush and Karl Rove thought they were building a new Republican majority that would last a generation. That is clearly off the table," said Cal Jillson, a political analyst at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"At this point all they are trying to do is save some of the signature items from their first term and hand off the war in Iraq to the next guy in better shape than it looks today," Jillson said.

Loser

Two senior Justice Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in a teleconference with reporters, reiterated the administration's position that it was invoking the so-called "state secrets privilege" in arguing that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must dismiss the cases because they threaten to expose information authorities say is essential to the nation's security.

"The case cannot be litigated in light of the national security interest involved," one official said.

The officials spoke on the condition that their names would not be published because, they said, it was the government's protocol not to comment on pending litigation.

Mr. Rove said he had first considered leaving a year ago but stayed after his party lost the crucial midterm elections last fall, putting Congress in Democratic hands, and Mr. Bush's problems mounted in Iraq and in his pursuit of a new immigration policy.

Ms. Perino said Mr. Rove would leave at the end of August.

Q: Do you think the U.S. or U.N. forces should have moved into Baghdad?

Cheney: No.

Q: Why not?

Cheney: Because if we'd gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone. There wouldn't have been anybody else with us. It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq. None of the Arab forces that were willing to fight with us in Kuwait were willing to invade Iraq.

Once you got to Iraq and took it over, and took down Saddam Hussein's government, then what are you going to put in its place? That's a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you can easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off. Part of it the Syrians would like to have to the west. Part of eastern Iraq the Iranians would like to claim - fought over for eight years. In the north you've got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey.

It's a, it's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq.

The other thing was casualties. Everyone was impressed with the fact we were able to do our job with as few casualties as we had. But for the 146 Americans killed in action, and for their families it wasn't a cheap war. And the question for the president in terms of whether or not we went on to Baghdad and take additional casualties in an effort to get Saddam Hussein was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth? Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right.

Four days after President Bush signed controversial legislation legalizing some warrantless surveillance of Americans, the administration is citing the law in a surprise motion today urging a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the NSA spy program.

The lawsuit was brought by lawyers defending Guantanamo Bay prisoners. The lawyers and others alleged the threat of surveillance is chilling their First Amendment rights of speech, and their clients' right to legal representation.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, is expected to argue today that the new law violates the Fourth Amendment's requirement that judges approve warrants for surveillance.

"Congress has ceded further power to an administration that has done nothing but abuse its power and betray the trust of the American people, center attorney Shayana Kadidal said. "Congress has given the president and attorney general virtually unchecked power to spy on international calls of Americans without any oversight or accountability from the courts."

Perhaps most surprising of all, Obama actually finished third as the preferred general election candidate of registered Republicans, at 6.7 percent, behind Romney (21.8 percent), and Giuliani (10 percent), but ahead of Thompson (5.2 percent) and McCain (1.8 percent).

In a sign that Iowa Republicans are not happy with their field of presidential candidates, 31.1 percent declared themselves undecided, topping even Romney's total. "I think it isn't that it's unexpected, but we certainly believe that the Republicans are considerably more discontented than the Democrats," Redlawsk said. "And it's harder to find people who say they're planning to attend the Republican caucuses ... Republicans seem much less mobilized and more discontented."

"We look also at how satisfied people are with their choice, and 16.1 percent of Republicans said they were very satisfied," Redlawsk said. In contrast, 40.1 percent of Democrats said they were very satisfied.

President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, vacationing within miles (km) of each other in New England, will have lunch on Saturday, opening what the White House called a new era in relations between the two countries.

(snip)

"I'm sure he'll talk about some international matters, but this is not a summit, this is not something with an agenda. The agenda is come by and let's visit," Snow said.

"It looks like we're on the verge of a new era of relations with the French, which is a good thing," Snow said.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't we had "relations with the French" for some time now? Weren't they part of the coalition of the Allies in that little unpleasantness in the early part of the last century in Europe, against the original Axis? Before that, didn't the "era of relations" include being part of the Entente Powers in "The War to End All Wars"?

Even before that, didn't our "era of relations" with the French go back even further, when they helped us out with a little skirmish - of some significance from what I've been told - when we were, in fact, "fighting them here" instead of over there. What was that called again.... oh yeah, the frikking Revolutionary War.

"New era of relations" with the French my ass.

Freedom Fries For Everybody!

President Bush said Wednesday that he is considering a fresh plan to cut tax rates for U.S. corporations to make them more competitive around the world, an initiative that could further inflame a battle with the Democratic Congress over spending and taxes and help define the remainder of his tenure.

Advisers presented Bush with a series of ideas to restructure corporate taxes, possibly eliminating narrowly targeted breaks to pay for a broader, across-the-board rate cut. In an interview with a small group of journalists afterward, Bush said he was "inclined" to send a corporate tax package to Congress, although he expressed uncertainty about its political viability.

Democrats quickly returned fire, noting that Bush inherited a surplus that turned into a deficit and that he never vetoed a spending bill during the six years that Republicans controlled Capitol Hill, even as the budget grew 50 percent.

Thanks to an increasingly complex coverage system, many U.S. kids who are privately insured are actually having more trouble getting recommended vaccines than kids who have no insurance at all, experts say.

"We need to be able to support the public sector safety net so these children have some place to go, because right now, they have nowhere to go," said lead researcher Dr. Grace M. Lee, assistant professor of ambulatory care and prevention and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Children with private health insurance often have plans that don't cover all the recommended vaccines, or the vaccine may be covered but not its administration.

In 2000, an estimated 14 percent of children aged 0 to 17 were underinsured in the United States, according to background information in the study. These children may be referred to public health clinics, but now, it seems, those clinics are no longer able to provide the needed vaccines.

The former Massachusetts governor said his sons were showing their support for the country by "helping get me elected."

Romney, who did not serve in Vietnam due to his Mormon missionary work and a high draft lottery number, was posed the question by an anti-war activist after a speech in which Romney saluted a uniformed soldier in the crowd and called for donations to military support organizations.

Romney's five sons range in age from 37 to 26 and have worked as real estate developers, sports marketers and advertising executives. They are now actively campaigning for their father and have a "Five Brothers" blog on Romney's campaign Web site.

Romney noted that his middle son, 36-year-old Josh, was completing a recreational vehicle tour of all 99 Iowa counties on Wednesday and said, "I respect that and respect all those and the way they serve this great country."

The law, signed Sunday by President Bush after being pushed through the Senate and House over the weekend, does not contain provisions for outside oversight -- unlike an earlier House measure that called for audits every 60 days by the Justice Department's inspector general.

In a conference call with reporters yesterday, officials familiar with the program said they had not worked out all the details of internal oversight, noting that the law was only a day old. But the officials, who spoke to reporters on the condition that they not be identified, said surveillance activities would require a sworn certificate and affidavit, which would be reviewed for accuracy by inspectors general from the Justice Department or intelligence agencies.

It is left to the director of national intelligence and the attorney general to "assess compliance with such procedures" and report their assessments to the House and Senate intelligence panels, the statute states.

Gonzalez is also required to provide semiannual reports to the House and Senate intelligence and Judiciary committees, which are to include any accounts of abuse or noncompliance that Justice and intelligence officials discover in their internal reviews.

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Department of Justice asking that the Counterespionage Section of the National Security Division initiate an investigation into whether House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-OH) violated the law by leaking classified information.

In a July 31, 2007 interview with Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto, Rep. Boehner disclosed an aspect of a Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court's decision regarding warrantless wiretapping, stating:

There's been a ruling, over the last four or five months, that prohibits the ability of our intelligence services and our counterintelligence people from listening in to two terrorists in other parts of the world where the communication could come through the United States.

Rep. Boehner apparently made his remarks to Mr. Cavuto in an effort to blame Democrats for failing to pass legislation overriding the court's decision, stating: "The Democrats have known about this for months. We have had private conversations, we have had public conversations that this needs to be fixed. And Republicans are not going to leave this week until this problem is addressed."

Notably, Minority Leader Boehner has previously expressed strong concerns over illegal leaks for political gain. In discussing a long-running court case regarding an illegally intercepted phone call that Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) released to the media, Rep. Boehner stated: "When you break the law in pursuit of a political opponent, you've gone too far. Members of Congress have a responsibility not only to obey the laws of the country and the rules of our institution, but also to defend the integrity of those laws and rules when they are violated."

Saw your picture of George with Gary Babineau. He was certainly part of getting the kids off the bridge and there were many, many ordinary heroes that day, but another young man was the one responsible for getting the kids off the bus (which was sitting next to a semi engulfed in flames). So why didn't George choose that young man for his photo-op? Could it be that he's Hispanic? Why yes, I do believe it could be. George is a schmuck. (I also can't believe he took the opportunity to take a partisan swipe at the Democrats while he was here.)

Here's his story:
Saved by hero, and by seconds

While the president may not recognize Jeremy Hernandez, many others have stepped up to show their gratitude:
Dunwoody College offers rescuer chance to resume studies for free

Jenna
Minneapolis

FBI agents searched the home of a former Justice Department lawyer last week in an effort to determine who leaked details of the warrantless eavesdropping program to the news media, Newsweek magazine reported yesterday, citing two anonymous legal sources.

The agents, who had obtained a classified search warrant, took Thomas Tamm's desktop computer, two laptops belonging to his children and some of Tamm's personal files, Newsweek reported.

"It was a shameful act for someone to disclose this very important program in a time of war," President Bush said four days after the Times report. "The fact that we're discussing this program is helping the enemy."

Rudy Giuliani's daughter is supporting Barack Obama

There's one vote that Rudy Giuliani definitely can't count on in his 2008 presidential bid: his own daughter's. According to the 17-year-old Caroline Giuliani's Facebook profile, she's supporting Barack Obama.

On her profile, she designates her political views as "liberal" and-until this morning-proclaimed her membership in the Facebook group "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)." According to her profile, she withdrew from the Obama group at 6 a.m. Monday, after Slate sent her an inquiry about it.

In what may be an effort to avoid public connection to her famous father, the future Harvard freshman and recent graduate of Trinity School in Manhattan uses a slight variation of her name on the Facebook site. But she didn't lock her profile, allowing any Facebook user with access to the Harvard or Trinity School networks (more than 42,000 people) to view her detailed profile. (As a Harvard student, I was able to see it.)

9/11

We shall continue to target you, at home and abroad, just as you target us, at home and abroad, and these spy dens and military command and control centers from which you plotted your aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq," said Adam Gadahn, a Californian also known as Azzan al-Amriki.

And then he was sitting in a crowded Iraqi canteen with hundreds of soldiers and Donald Rumsfeld came on the television to thank Joe Darby by name for handing in the photographs.

Rather than turn on him for betraying colleagues, most of the soldiers in his unit shook his hand. It was at home where the real trouble started.

Mr Darby and his family have moved to a new town. They have new jobs. They have done everything but change their identities.

US intelligence agencies will no longer need a warrant to eavesdrop on US citizens' international phone calls and emails after George Bush signed a temporary surveillance bill yesterday.

The law, which was approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives just before Congress adjourned for the summer, had been made a priority by Mr Bush and his chief intelligence officials.
Guardian

Intelligence agencies will no longer need a warrant to collect communications between the United States and overseas, including the conversations of Americans, so long as the intelligence investigation is directed at a person believed to be outside the U.S. The conversation does not have to be about terrorism, just a matter of foreign intelligence interest.

The administration has said its intent is not to collect information on Americans. But critics say intelligence agencies are only required to delete Americans' private information from their records if it is deemed not relevant to the investigation.

A little-noticed provision in the new law also suggests that warrantless physical searches of homes and businesses inside the United States may be allowed if the investigation concerns a foreign target of an intelligence investigation, a congressional aide said.
Baltimore Sun

"Many provisions of this legislation are unacceptable, and although the bill has a six month sunset clause, I do not believe the American people will want to wait that long before corrective action is taken."
Congressional Quarterly

Bush criticises talk of US strike on Pakistan-govt

ISLAMABAD, Aug 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday described the prospect of U.S. strikes against al Qaeda in Pakistan as "unsavoury", saying Washington respected its ally's sovereignty, the Pakistani government said.

Bush made the comments to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in a telephone call to congratulate Pakistanis ahead of the 60th anniversary of their independence on Aug. 14.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said this week that the United States must be willing to strike al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan.

A Pakistani foreign ministry statement said: "President Bush stated that the United States fully respected Pakistan's sovereignty and appreciated Pakistan's resolve in fighting al Qaeda and other terrorist elements.

U.S. willing to hit terrorists inside Pakistan, officials say

Washington - Top Pentagon and State Department officials said Wednesday that U.S. special forces would enter Pakistan if they had specific intelligence about an impending terrorist strike against the United States, despite warnings from the Pakistani government that it would not accept American troops operating independently inside its borders.

The statements were the clearest assertion yet of the Bush administration's willingness to act unilaterally inside tribal areas in northwestern Pakistan where al-Qaeda's top commanders are now believed to have taken refuge. But the officials also voiced strong support for Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who they said has repeatedly backed U.S. anti-terrorism efforts in the region at great political cost.

"If there were information or opportunity to strike a blow to protect the American people," U.S. forces would immediately act, Peter Verga, the acting assistant secretary of defense for international security, said during an unusual joint session held by the House Armed Services and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

GOP Voters Still Back Iraq Invasion
CBS News Poll Shows Republican Voters Still Support Going To War, Even If They Think It's Going Poorly

Most Americans think the Iraq war is going badly - two-thirds say so in the latest CBS News/New York Times Poll - and for most, the bad results they see now also mean the decision to go war was wrong in the first place.

That connection doesn't hold for Republicans, though: They tend to call the war the right thing no matter how they see it going. That's not just loyalty to President Bush - many in his party do in fact question how he is handling Iraq now - but it's also because of their views on how best to fight terrorism; their still-salient memories of Saddam Hussein; and their willingness to give the administration credit for going after perceived threats, past and present.

53% of Republicans think the war in Iraq is going well.

73% of Republicans support the war by calling it the right thing to have done.

21% of Independents who see things going badly call the decision the right thing to do.

15% of Democrats who think it's going badly (nearly all of them) say the same.

There were hints of this Saddam-centered calculus even early in the war, too. In the summer of 2003, when Iraq's supposed cache of weapons of mass destruction had still failed to turn up, most Republicans said it didn't matter to them. They told us that the war would still have been worth it if there were no weapons - because, they volunteered when asked why, Saddam was out of power. (Most Democrats, by comparison, said it did matter.)

Dumbazz's

The top aide to White House political adviser Karl Rove refused to answer at least a dozen questions from a Senate committee Thursday about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year, asserting -- as expected -- a claim of executive privilege by President Bush.

Scott Jennings, who also is a special assistant to Bush, arrived at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with his attorney, Mark Paoletta, to avoid a contempt citation.

The panel had subpoenaed both Jennings and Rove, but Rove refused to show up.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, asked Jennings, "Where is Karl Rove? Why is he hiding? Why does he throw a young staffer like you into the line of fire while he hides behind the White House curtains?"

President George W. Bush, who will travel to the scene of the disaster tomorrow, said the federal government would help rebuild the bridge in the city that will host next year's Republican National Convention.

"We in the federal government must respond, and respond robustly, to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity - that bridge - gets rebuilt as quickly as possible," Bush said.

Press secretary Tony Snow said while the inspection did not indicate the bridge was at risk of failing, "If an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions."

Expanded coverage faces White House veto

It is nothing short of shameful that 9 million American children are not covered by either public or private health insurance.

And now that the U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation in a 225-204 vote largely along party lines that would expand coverage of the State Children's Health Insurance Program to insure an additional 5 million children, President Bush is threatening a veto.

Bush said in Cleveland Wednesday that he would oppose "Congress's attempt to federalize medicine."

Federalize medicine? What are the Medicare and Medicaid programs, if not federalized medicine? And where would we be without those?

Children Left Behind

THE PRESIDENT: The budget I've sent to Congress fully funds America's priorities. It increases discretionary spending by 6.9 percent. My Cabinet Secretaries assure me that this is adequate to meet the needs of our nation.

Unfortunately, Democratic leaders in Congress want to spend far more. Their budget calls for nearly $22 billion more in discretionary spending next year alone. These leaders have tried to downplay that figure. Yesterday one called this increase -- and I quote -- "a very small difference" from what I proposed. Only in Washington can $22 billion be called a very small difference. And that difference will keep getting bigger. Over the next five years it will total nearly $205 billion in additional discretionary spending. That $205 billion averages out to about $112 million per day, $4.7 million per hour, $78,000 per minute.

Put another way, that's about $1,300 in higher spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year for the next five years. That's a lot of money -- even for career politicians in Washington. In fact, at that pace, Democrats in Congress would have spent an extra $300,000 since I began these remarks.

Iraq war priced at $4,700 a second

The war in Iraq is costing British and American taxpayers more than $US4000 ($4700) a second.

Washington's Congressional Budget Office estimated that as of June, up to $US500 billion ($580 billion) had been spent on combat operations in Iraq.

The tally is snowballing at the rate of $US10 billion a month, which translates to around $US4000 every second.

Analysis says war could cost $1 trillion

The war in Iraq could ultimately cost well over a trillion dollars -- at least double what has already been spent -- including the long-term costs of replacing damaged equipment, caring for wounded troops, and aiding the Iraqi government, according to a new government analysis.

Specter, too, said Gonzales misled the committee. But Specter said the attorney general's testimony did not amount to perjury; it was a crucial if reluctant vote of support.

"I don't think he did try to provide frank answers," Specter said. "It was more than confusion, it was misleading."

At one point, Specter said Gonzales should not have any say in the intelligence gathering at issue. "This is a temporary bill at most," the senator said. "I think we can do without an attorney general for six months, we've done without one for a long time."

The US government cannot account for 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to an investigation carried out by the Government Accountability Office.

According to the July 31 report, the military "cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armour and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces."

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US commanders often accuse foreign powers such as Iran of supplying arms to illegal militias fighting in Iraq, but the report shows they cannot fully account for the hundreds thousands of weapons they brought in themselves.

On the July 30 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage reacted to news that Chief Justice John Roberts had suffered a seizure that day by raising the possibility that "his health was in some way tampered with by the Democrats." Savage said, "Something's wrong with this picture," after noting that Roberts' seizure occurred just three days after Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said he would seek in general to reject any future Supreme Court nomination made by President Bush. Schumer told the American Constitution Society (ACS) in a July 27 speech: "I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court except in extraordinary circumstances." Schumer said that, since the confirmation of Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, the court had come to represent "what a diminishing clique of conservative ideologues wish for."

Savage asked, "Am I to believe there's no connection between Charles Schumer on Friday saying he would never appoint, or never, excuse me, approve another Bush appointment to the court, to any court? And then the chief justice suffers a so-called seizure two days later? You're telling me there's no possibility of a conspiracy by the Democrats to have caused this seizure in some manner?" He added: "Tell me it's not possible, and I'll tell you you're a liar."

Wiki: "He was heavily criticized for his work on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Gun Owners of America, and for accepting donations from people associated with white supremacists and the founding of the militia movement."

"Kobach beat Taff and Lightner in the primary election, but later lost the election to Congressman Dennis Moore with a 55%-43% margin, Moore's largest victory to that date."

Cheney admits was wrong about "last throes" in Iraq

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged on Tuesday he was wrong in 2005 when he insisted the insurgency in Iraq was in its "last throes."

It was Cheney's most direct public admission of how badly the administration had underestimated the strength of America's enemies in the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.

But Cheney, an architect of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, otherwise gave no ground in an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" as he defended President George W. Bush's Iraq policy.

He said the Bush administration would still send troops into Iraq if it could do it all over again, even knowing what it knows now, including that more than 3,000 U.S. military personnel would be killed.

"I firmly believe," Cheney said, "that the decisions we've made with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan have been absolutely the sound ones in terms of the overall strategy."

Burrrrrr