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News -01-09-07 House Passes Sweeping Anti-Terror Measure (CBS News) "Anti-terror legislation sailed through the House on Tuesday, the first in a string of measures designed to fulfill campaign promises made by Democrats last fall." 01-07 -01-10-07 President Bush's Speech to the Nation (CNN News) This is the text of President Bush's speech. 01-07 -01-11-07 Defense Secretary Recommends Adding 92,000 More Troops (MSNBC News) "At a briefing to add details about President Bush's new Iraq strategy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday said he would recommend increasing the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops over the next five years." "The cost of the troop increase would be enormous." 01-07 -01-11-07 House Passes Stem Cell Research Bill (MSNBC News) "The Democratic-controlled House Thursday passed a bill bolstering embryonic stem cell research that advocates say shows promise for numerous medical cures." 01-07 -01-11-07 Media Pound Bush Plan to Increase Troops in Iraq (USNews.com) "Most media analysts greeted President Bush's new Iraq strategy with marked skepticism, if not outright hostility." 01-07 -01-11-07 Poll: Bush Plan Fails to Bolster Public Confidence (ABC News) "Americans broadly reject President Bush's plan for a surge of U.S. forces into Iraq, with substantial majorities dismissing his arguments that it'll end the war more quickly and increase the odds of victory, an ABC News/Washington Post poll finds." 01-07 -01-11-07 Reports: Iraqi Security Forces Weak (USA Today) "President Bush's plan to secure Iraq by committing 21,500 more U.S. troops rests on a shaky foundation: the Iraqi military." 01-07 -01-11-07 Senators Debate President Bush's Plan for Iraq (PBS News) "We're joined now by California Democrat Barbara Boxer, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and by Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee." Sen. Boxer, who is not supportive of President Bush's plan: "And when you have the second-most-senior Republican on the committee saying, and I quote, that the surge is, quote, 'the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out' -- that's Senator Hagel -- that, to me, is the strongest of signals to this administration to change course and not go forward with this." "Sen. Graham, who is supportive of trying President Bush's plan: "I'm looking for Iraqis to turn in the people who are making the bombs. And they'll never turn those people in if they believe the police and the army can't protect them." 01-07 -01-11-07 Senators Grill Rice Over Bush's Plans (VOANews.com) "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday resisted calls for U.S. outreach to Iran and Syria over what the Bush administration sees as efforts by those countries to destabilize Iraq. In Senate testimony, Rice said the United States is not prepared to pay a diplomatic price for such contacts." "Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joseph Biden, said "congressional action in 2002 authorizing the invasion of Iraq does not provide for cross-border military action against Iran or Syria, and said any Bush administration attempt to construe it as such would generate a Constitutional confrontation." 01-07 -01-11-07 U.S. Attacks Iran's Consulate (MSNBC News) "Iraqi officials said Thursday that the U.S.-led multinational forces detained five Iranians in an overnight raid on Tehran’s diplomatic mission in the northern city of Irbil." 01-07 -01-12-07 House Passes Bill for Negotiating Medicare Costs (CNN.com) "The House approved legislation Friday requiring the government to negotiate with drug companies to lower the prices of medicines for Medicare patients." 01-07 -01-12-07 Republican Support for President Reduced After Speech (USNews.com) "On Capitol Hill, the President's plan was the object of strong attacks yesterday -- from both sides of the aisle. Some reports suggest the President's support among Republicans may be quickly collapsing." 01-07 -01-14-07 Bush Policies Reversed in New Plan (MSNBC News) "The plan unveiled by Bush last week calls for many people who lost their jobs under Bremer's de-Baathification decree to be rehired. It calls for more Sunnis, who were marginalized under the CPA, to be brought into the government. It calls for state-owned factories to be reopened. It calls for more reconstruction personnel to be stationed outside the Green Zone. It calls for a counterinsurgency strategy that emphasizes providing security to the civilian population over transferring responsibility to local military forces." New overall coordinator of the American reconstruction effort, Timothy M. Carney, claims "such measures could have been effective three years ago. Today, he worries they will be too little, too late." 01-07 -01-16-07 U.N: Over 34,000 Civilians Killed in Iraq in 2006 (ABC News) "Twin car bombs tore through a leading Baghdad university as students left classes Tuesday in the deadliest attack in Iraq in nearly two months, and the United Nations reported 34,452 civilians were slain last year, nearly three times more than the government reported." 01-07 -01-17-07 Attorney General: Judges Unfit to Rule on Terror Policies (MSNBC News) "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says federal judges are unqualified to make rulings affecting national security policy, ramping up his criticism of how they handle terrorism cases." 01-07 -01-17-07 Bush Administration Agrees to Oversight by Panel (MSNBC News) "The Bush administration has agreed to let a secret but independent panel of federal judges oversee the government’s controversial domestic spying program, the Justice Department said Wednesday." 01-07 -01-17-07 Ethics Legislation Sidetracked in the Senate (MSNBC News) "Democrats’ hopes of starting off their control of the Senate with a far-reaching commitment to ethics reform received a painful jolt Wednesday, their ethics and lobbying legislation sidetracked by a dispute with Republicans." 01-07 -01-17-07 U.S. House Takes on Big Oil (Christian Science Monitor) "A bill to be voted on Thursday would cut federal benefits by a third and give them to renewable-energy programs." 01-07 -01-18-07 House Approves Bill to Cut Student Loan Rates (CBS News) "The House overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday that would cut the interest rate on many student loans in half." 01-07 -01-18-07 Manual to Allow Executions Based on Hearsay (MSNBC News) "The Pentagon has drafted a manual for upcoming detainee trials that would allow suspected terrorists to be convicted on hearsay evidence and coerced testimony and imprisoned or put to death." "Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and some Democrats have said the legislation will be shot down by the courts as unconstitutional because it bars detainees from protesting their detentions. Under the law, only individuals selected for military trial are given access to a lawyer and judge; other military detainees can be held until hostilities cease." 01-07 -01-18-07 Retired Generals Disapprove of Bush's Plan in Iraq (CBS News) " 'This administration's handling of the war has been characterized by deceit, mismanagement and a shocking failure to understand the social and political forces that influence events in the Middle East,' " former Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar said. Hoar "once commanded all American forces in the Middle East...." 01-07 -01-18-07 Senators Agree to Voice Opposition to Bush Plan in Iraq (CBS News) "A group of senators that includes a prominent Republican war critic announced agreement Wednesday on a resolution opposing President Bush's 21,500-troop buildup in Iraq, laying the groundwork for a major clash between the White House and Congress over the war." " 'It is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq, particularly by escalating U.S. troop presence in Iraq,' the resolution says." 01-07 -01-18-07 U.S. House on Schedule for 100-Hour Goals (MSNBC News) "The final piece was on deck for a vote Thursday: energy legislation that imposes billions in fees, taxes and royalties on oil and gas companies and uses the money to promote renewable fuels." "The items passed so far would:  * Make the government negotiate for lower Medicare prescription drug prices. It passed last Friday.  * Expand federally funded stem cell research. It passed Jan. 11.  * Raise the federal minimum wage. It passed Jan. 10.  * Seek to bolster terrorism-fighting efforts. It passed Jan. 9.  * Change rules governing ethics, lobbying and the budget. These changes were passed on Jan. 4-5." 01-07 -01-18-07 U.S. Troops Going It Alone in South Baghdad (CBS News) " 'Ninety to 100 percent of the area's residents either actively or passively support the insurgency,' estimates Odom, who calls them well-armed and well-trained." " 'We can go in and clear any area but until there is an Iraqi security structure to come in behind us, and establish a long term presence, true progress in this area will be difficult to achieve,' said Garrett." 01-07 -01-21-07 A Majority of Americans Not Happy About Bush's Plans (MSNBC News) "In the latest NEWSWEEK poll Bush’s approval rating remains at its all-time low as his plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq is met with widespread disapproval." 01-07 -01-21-07 What Is the "State of the Union" Speech? (BBC News) "The annual State of the Union address is the keynote speech by the president to Congress in which he sets out his agenda for the next year and highlights his accomplishments to the American people." 01-07 -01-22-07 Arab Supporters of U.S. War Now Resentful (MSNBC News) "And nearly four years after the invasion they [Arab supporters] backed, their sense of frustration, resentment and even betrayal speaks volumes about how withered American standing is in the Middle East today and how far the region itself has deteriorated, riven as it is by escalating conflicts, worsening sectarian tension and a simmering struggle with an ascendant Iran." " 'It's a success story for al-Qaeda, a success story for autocratic Arab regimes that made democracy look ugly in their people's eyes. They can say to their people: "Look at the democracy that the Americans want to bring to you. Democracy is trouble. You may as well forget about what the Americans promise you. They promise you death," ' said Salameh Nematt, a Jordanian analyst and the former Washington bureau chief for the Arabic-language daily newspaper al-Hayat." 01-07 -01-22-07 Poll on the State of the Union: Unhappy With Bush (ABC News) "President Bush faces the nation this week more unpopular than any president on the eve of a State of the Union address since Richard Nixon in 1974." 01-07 -01-23-07 Bush's Own Republicans Not Swayed by the State of the Union Speech (ABC News) "Dozens of Republican leaders joined Democrats in taking aim at President Bush's State of the Union address last night." 01-07 -01-23-07 Bush's State of the Union Speech (CBS News) Provides the full text of President Bush's State of the Union Speech. 01-07 -01-23-07 Bush's State of the Union Speech - Democratic Response (CBS News) "Freshman Sen. James Webb, D-Va., delivers his party's response to President Bush's 2007 State of the Union Address." 01-07 -01-30-07 Allegation: Bush Officials Misled Public on Global Warming (CNN News) "The Democratic chairman of a House panel examining the government's response to climate change said Tuesday there is evidence that senior Bush administration officials sought repeatedly 'to mislead the public by injecting doubt into the science of global warming.' " 01-07 -02-02-07 Bush to Request $245 Billion for War Costs (CBS News) "The Bush administration will ask for another $100 billion for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior administration official said Friday." "The war costs come on top of a record request for the Defense Department's core budget, which is expected to reach about $480 billion in 2008.” 02-07 -02-02-07 Intelligence Report: Path for Iraq Is Headed Straight Down (CBS News) "The report, which is called a National Intelligence Estimate, or NIE, says the problem is not just a civil war. Rather, Iraq is spiraling toward implosion, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin." " 'The NIE does a very nice job of making clear the trajectory that Iraq is on,' says former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollard. 'And that trajectory is straight down.' ” 02-07 -02-03-07 Florida Cleans Up After Tornado (ABC News) "President Bush designated four central Florida counties as disaster areas, releasing millions of dollars in aid for recovery and individual assistance." 02-07 -02-04-07 Massive Migration From Iraq (MSNBC News) "Nearly 2 million Iraqis -- about 8 percent of the prewar population -- have embarked on a desperate migration, mostly to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The refugees include large numbers of doctors, academics and other professionals vital for Iraq's recovery." 02-07 -02-05-07 Court-Martial Begins for Soldier Refusing to Go to Iraq (ABC News) "First Lt. Ehren Watada said the war in Iraq is illegal and he won't go. His court-martial began today. Watada will be tried for refusing to deploy to Iraq with his unit and for 'conduct unbecoming an officer' for his many public statements against the war." 02-07 -02-05-07 Iraqi's Blame U.S. for Massive Attack in Market (New York Times) "A growing number of Iraqis blamed the United States on Sunday for creating conditions that led to the worst single suicide bombing in the war, which devastated a Shiite market in Baghdad the day before. They argued that the Americans had been slow in completing the vaunted new American security plan, making Shiite neighborhoods much more vulnerable to such horrific attacks." "In advance of the plan, which would flood Baghdad with thousands of new American and Iraqi troops, many Mahdi Army checkpoints were dismantled and its leaders were either in hiding or under arrest, which was one of the plan’s intended goals to reduce sectarian fighting. But with no immediate influx of new security forces to fill the void, Shiites say, Sunni militants and other anti-Shiite forces have been emboldened to plot the type of attack that obliterated the bustling Sadriya market on Saturday, killing at least 135 people and wounding more than 300 from a suicide driver’s truck bomb." 02-07 -02-06-07 Funding Can Make Geothermal Competitive With Coal Plants (Christian Science Monitor) "With such funding, the cost of enhanced geothermal power could fall from 8 to 9 cents a kilowatt hour today to less than 5 cents as the technology is deployed, making it competitive even with big coal-fired power plants, the MIT report says. Because EGS emits little carbon dioxide, it could become competitive with coal power if regulation makes carbon emissions costly." 02-07 -02-07-07 Defense Secretary: Debate in Congress Will Not Hurt Troop Morale (ABC News) Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates said "they did not think debate in Congress would hurt the morale of troops in combat, undercutting an assertion by many congressional Republicans that members opposing the war were undermining the fighting forces there." 02-07 -02-07-07 Mistrial Declared in War Objector's Trial (CNN News) "A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the court-martial of an Army lieutenant who refused to deploy to Iraq, saying the soldier did not fully understand a document he signed admitting to elements of the charges." 02-07 -02-07-07 Republican Strategists See Hilary's Election as Inevitable (CBS News) "What many conservatives regard as the nightmare scenario — President Hillary Rodham Clinton — is increasingly seen by veteran Republican politicians and strategists as a virtual inevitability." 02-07 -02-08-07 Doubts About Iran (MSNBC News) "President Bush insists that Iraq's neighbor is fueling the insurgency in Baghdad. Does the intelligence back him up?" 02-07 -02-09-07 FDA Approves a Device to Save the Limbs of Soldiers (MSNBC News) "A plastic shunt that can temporarily rejoin the severed blood vessels of soldiers wounded on the battlefield won federal approval Friday, following an expedited review." 02-07 -02-23-07 A Hidden Cost of the War: Contractor Casualties (ABC News) "In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs normally handled by the U.S. military, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press. " "The U.S. has outsourced so many war and reconstruction duties that there are almost as many contractors (120,000) as U.S. troops (135,000) in the war zone." 02-07 -02-23-07 Obama and Clinton Conflict (New York Times) "After weeks of watching in frustration as Senator Barack Obama presented himself as a fresh face gliding above partisan politics, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has drawn Mr. Obama onto a muddy political field, engaging him in a back-and-forth that recalls the kind of Washington bickering Mr. Obama has decried." 02-07 -02-23-07 U.S. Apologizes for Arresting Iraqi Politician's Nephew (CNN News) "The U.S. ambassador to Iraq has issued an apology for the detention of a close relative of a top Shiite politician." "Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the most powerful Shiite political parties in Iraq, criticized the U.S. military, saying Friday's detention is an indication of the military's lack of understanding of the Iraqi society." 02-07 -02-23-07 White House Opposes War Authority Limits (ABC News) "The White House said Friday it would oppose any attempt by Senate Democrats to revoke the 2002 congressional resolution authorizing the war in Iraq and to restrict U.S. troops to a limited mission as they prepared to withdraw." 02-07 -02-23-07 Withdrawing from Banks in Iraq (Washington Times) "There is nothing routine about a trip to the bank in Baghdad." "Confronted by criminal gangs on the streets and demands for bribes from tellers in the branches -- not to mention long lines, shortages of bank notes, and other inconveniences -- many Iraqis are opting simply to keep their savings at home." 02-07 -02-26-07 The "Fear Industrial Complex" (ABC News) Barry Glassner, author of "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things," said the fear industrial complex is composed of politicians, activist groups and corporations that all sell us on the idea that they can provide safety from the very dangers they are scaring us about." " 'Whenever somebody's trying to scare us, the question to ask is 'Are they benefiting from it, and in what way?' " said Glassner. 'If they're selling us a product, if they're selling us their political campaign or their cause or whatever it is, we should ask how big is the danger, really? Is it big, is it small, or is it just that they stand to benefit by making us scared?' " 02-07 -02-26-07 Woodruff, Injured in Iraq, Looks at the Human Cost of War (ABC News) "From chilling accounts of the roadside attack in Iraq that nearly took his life, to a shocking investigation into the plight of military families dealing with injuries to their loved ones, Bob Woodruff returns to ABC News Tuesday night with a hard-hitting look at the human cost of war." "Woodruff says that he and others at ABC News will continue to report on this story because 'the human cost of war is sometimes overlooked,' and injured veterans 'need support that matches their sacrifice.' " 02-07 -03-02-07 Army Secretary Fired in Veterans Scandal (CBS News) "Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey abruptly stepped down Friday as the Bush administration struggled to cope with the fallout from a scandal over substandard conditions for wounded Iraq soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center." 02-07 -03-02-07 Gabbard Was a First, In Life and Death (CBS News) "In both life and death, Marilyn Gabbard was a first. She was the highest-ranking enlisted woman in the history of the Iowa National Guard, CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports — and the first woman from there to die in combat." 03-07 -03-03-07 Italy Wants the U.S. to Assume Responsibility for Shooting Death (ABC News) "Italy has raised the stakes in a spat with the United States over the killing by a U.S. soldier of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq, saying Washington must set things right by assuming responsibility for the death." 03-07 -03-03-07 Scientist: We Are on the Path to a Catastrophe (CBS News) According to Michael MacCracken, chief scientist of the Climate Institute, " 'We're on a path to exceeding levels of global warming that will cause catastrophic consequences, and we really need to be seriously reducing emissions, not just reducing the growth rate as the president is doing.' " 03-07 -03-03-07 The New Mobile Homeless (ABC News) "And now the city has a new class of resident, not quite homeless — but doesn't have a home either. They are the working poor who live in their cars, trucks and campers. Call them the mobile homeless." 03-07 -03-03-07 Value of Top Financial Firms Drops (Bloomberg.com) "Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley, which earned a record $24.5 billion in 2006, suddenly have become so speculative that their own traders are valuing the three biggest securities firms as barely more creditworthy than junk bonds." 03-07 -03-05-07 Faith-Based Initiative Challenged in Supreme Court (Christian Science Monitor) "If you follow the normal rules that you have to be injured in some direct way before you can complain about what the government has done, the [prohibition against the] establishment [of religion] clause would never get enforced in the courts, Lupu says. "The government would put up crèches and crosses and menorahs and would spend money on religion, and nobody could challenge it because nobody is hurt in obvious ways by those kinds of activities.' " "Had the courts consistently enforced the rule on standing, establishment-clause cases filed by ordinary Americans would be rare to nonexistent. But in 1968 the Supreme Court carved out an exception that allows taxpayers to file establishment-clause lawsuits challenging congressional spending that benefits religion." "It is that 1968 exception that is at the center of Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation. The Hein in the case is Jay Hein, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives." 03-07 -03-05-07 Generals Apologize for Reed Army Hospital Care for Injured Soldiers (PBS News) "Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who was recently fired as head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley apologized for substandard outpatient care at the medical center and vowed to improve the system at a House hearing Monday." Also see Iraq Veterans 03-07 -03-05-07 Grand Canyon Skywalk Near Completion (MSNBC News) "The concrete and steel pathway is being paved with 90 tons of toughened glass. It will be cantilevered 70 feet out over the lip of the rim to offer steely-nerved visitors a dizzying glimpse of the Colorado River valley almost a mile beneath their feet." 03-07 -03-05-07 U.N. Forsees Boom in Afghan Poppy (ABC News) "A 'cancer of insurgency' in southern Afghanistan could drive the 2007 opium poppy harvest to record levels, the U.N. drug agency chief said Monday." "The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime predicted that last year's harvest record would be broken by an increase in 15 provinces, including Helmand the world's largest poppy-growing region and the scene of a growing number of attacks by Taliban fighters who use opium to fund their insurgency." 03-07 -03-05-07 Veterans Hospitals Unprepared to Treat Brain Injuries of Returning Soldiers (PBS News) "The Veterans Administration is unprepared to care for brain-injured Iraq war veterans once they leave rehabilitation centers and return home to VA hospitals, a new documentary reports. An advocate and the VA secretary discuss treating the injuries." Also see Iraq Veterans. 03-07 -03-06-07 Proposed Legislation Requires President to Gain Approval Before Going to War With Iran (Washington Times) "Freshman Sen. James H. Webb Jr. yesterday introduced legislation to force President Bush to seek congressional authorization before using force against Iran." "He said the measure is meant to restore a system of legislative checks on executive power that he thinks Mr. Bush has skirted since Congress approved the Iraq war in October 2002. Though Mr. Webb wants troops to come home from Iraq as soon as possible, he noted Congress' inability to block funding U.S. forces in that conflict." 03-07 -03-06-07 Vice-President's Former Chief of Staff Found Guilty (ABC News) "Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff is now a convicted felon." "I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby has been found guilty of four of five charges in the CIA leak case stemming from a three-year investigation and trial that revealed the innermost workings of the top levels at the Bush White House." "A jury found Libby guilty of charges claiming he lied to the FBI and a grand jury, and obstructed justice." 03-07 -03-07-07 The Battle Over Fired U.S. Attorneys (Christian Science Monitor) "The Bush administration's controversial firing of eight US attorneys sets up a major clash between the White House and the new Congress, as Democrats step up efforts to rein in new presidential powers." "At issue is whether the Justice Department's decision to replace these top federal prosecutors was a political purge and, if so, what Congress can do about it." 03-07 -03-08-07 Democrats: Bring Troops Home Next Year (CBS News) "House Democratic leaders vowed Thursday to pass legislation setting a deadline of Sept. 1, 2008, for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq, a challenge to President Bush's war policy that drew a blunt veto threat in return." "To make the overall measure more attractive politically, Democrats also intend to add $1.2 billion to Mr. Bush's request for military operations in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is expected to mount a spring offensive." "CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports the bill also includes a prohibition of any war against Iran unless Congress approves it first, a bar against torture, and more money for military and veterans' health care than the administration asked for." "As described by Democrats, the legislation will require Mr. Bush to certify by July 1 and again by Oct. 1. whether the Iraqi government is making progress toward providing for the country's security, allocating its oil revenues and creating a fair system for amending its constitution." 03-07 -03-08-07 Democrats: Bring Troops Home Next Year (Guardian Unlimited) Provides a British view of the proposed legislation. "If Congress approves the plan [to redeploy American troops in Iraq], Mr Bush faces a dilemma: he could veto the bill, but would then be without the funds to prosecute war. Although he has alternative sources, he would struggle to find $100bn. He appears intent on the US remaining in Iraq, at least until he leaves office in January 2009." "In their proposal, the Democrats suggest that the withdrawal deadline should be brought forward if the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, fails to deliver on promises to deploy more Iraqi troops and taking steps to reduce sectarian violence." 03-07 -03-08-07 Study: Carbon Trading Has Not Worked (MSNBC News) " 'A responsible approach to solving this crisis [of global warming],' Al Gore said recently at New York University's Law School, would be 'to authorize the trading of emissions ... globally.' Emissions trading, also called carbon trading, is being expanded in the European Union and Japan." "The scale of the inefficiency of emissions trading was revealed in a study published in the scientific journal Nature last month. The nearly $6 billion already spent on projects to curb emissions of HFC-23, a potent greenhouse gas, had the same impact on the environment as would $132 million worth of equipment upgrades." 03-07 -03-09-07 FBI Illegally Used the Patriot Act (CBS News) The FBI improperly and, in some cases, illegally used the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the United States, a Justice Department audit concluded Friday." "At issue are the security letters, a power outlined in the Patriot Act that the Bush administration pushed through Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The letters, or administrative subpoenas, are used in suspected terrorism and espionage cases. They allow the FBI to require telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit bureaus and other businesses to produce highly personal records about their customers or subscribers — without a judge's approval." -03-12-07 "No EMail" Fridays (ABC News) " 'I'm announcing a ban on e-mail every Friday,' Ellison's memo read. 'Get out to meet your teams face-to-face. Pick up the phone and give someone a call. … I look forward to not hearing from any of you, but stop by as often as you like.' " "The no-e-mail-Friday idea landed with a thud." 03-07 -03-12-07 Army Surgeon General Leaves Office (ABC News) "[Lt. Gen. Kevin] Kiley, who served as the commander of the Walter Reed center from 2002 to 2004, came under withering criticism after stories in the Washington Post exposed the poor treatment and deplorable living conditions facing some wounded soldiers at Walter Reed [Army Medical Center]." 03-07 -03-13-07 Attorney General Rejects Calls for Resignation (ABC News) "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales rejected growing calls for his resignation Tuesday as scores of newly released documents detailed a two-year campaign by the Justice Department and White House to purge federal prosecutors." " 'This purge was based purely on politics, to punish prosecutors who were perceived to be too light on Democrats or too tough on Republicans,' [Sen. Charles E.] Schumer said. 'Attorney General Gonzales has either forgotten the oath he took to uphold the Constitution or just doesn't understand that his duty to protect the law is greater than his duty to protect the president.' " "Republicans also joined in the criticism." 03-07 -03-13-07 Controversy Over the Firing of Federal Attorneys (MSNBC News) "Justice Department officials, led by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, told lawmakers under oath that the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys in December was made solely by the Justice Department and said the decision was based on performance, not politics." "E-mails released Tuesday, however, revealed that the firings were considered and discussed for two years by Justice Department and White House officials." 03-07 -03-13-07 Poll: Bush Not Doing Enough for Iraq Veterans (CBS News) "After a week of Congressional hearings investigating reports of shoddy treatment of veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, most Americans are critical of the Bush administration's efforts for the wounded soldiers returning from the Iraq War, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds." 03-07 -03-14-07 Army Corps of Engineers Placed Faulty Pumps in New Orleans (ABC News) "The Army Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect New Orleans by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press." 03-07 -03-15-07 Pentagon: Mastermind of September 11 Attack Confessed (CNN News) "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, admitted to those attacks and numerous others during a U.S. military hearing on Saturday, according to an edited transcript of the hearing released by the Pentagon Wednesday." 03-07 -03-17-07 CIA Agent Plame: Outed for 'Political Reasons' (MSNBC News) "Valerie Plame, the CIA operative whose outing led to the conviction of a top Bush Administration official, told Congress on Friday she believes her identity was disclosed for 'purely political reasons.' " "Plame, whose outing triggered a federal investigation, answered questions for the first time. She said that she always knew her identity could be discovered by foreign governments but said she was surprised to be identified by her own government. 'My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior officials in the White House and State Department,' Plame testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 'I could no longer perform the work for which I had been highly trained.' " 03-07 -03-17-07 Civilian Deaths from War in Iraq Hard to Calculate (BBC News) "More than 3,400 soldiers from the coalition have died so far, but US forces do not keep complete records of civilians killed in the conflict." "Nor does the Iraqi government have a precise figure, although estimates from the health ministry in November 2006 ranged from 100,000 to 150,000 dead." "This contrasts with a survey of Iraqi households published by the Lancet, which suggested that about 655,000 Iraqi deaths had occurred "as a consequence of the war", by July 2006. " 03-07 -03-18-07 Senior Officials: Abusive Interrogations Continued in Gitmo (MSNBC News) "Speaking publicly for the first time, senior U.S. law enforcement investigators say they waged a long but futile battle inside the Pentagon to stop coercive and degrading treatment of detainees by intelligence interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." "In the end, the law enforcement investigators said, they were not able to stop abusive interrogations, but they were able to slow them." 03-07 -03-18-07 The True Costs of War in Iraq (MSNBC News) "But even though the war has turned out to be much more expensive than Bush administration officials predicted on the eve of the March 2003 invasion, it is relatively affordable — at least in historical terms." "Iraq eats up less than 1 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, compared with as much as 14 percent for Vietnam and 9 percent for Korea." "In a study co-authored with Columbia University economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Bilmes estimated that the real price of the Iraq war, when you add up spending to date, future costs and economic impacts such as elevated oil prices, is well over $2 trillion." 03-07 -03-19-07 California Moves Its Primary to February (PBS News) "After much speculation, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger officially moved the state's primary to Feb. 5, adding the delegate-rich behemoth to the list of states vying for more influence in the presidential nomination process." 03-07 -03-19-07 Public Support for War in Iraq Sliding Faster (Christian Science Monitor) "As the nation takes stock of a war it embarked on four years ago Tuesday, those who regret that decision now outnumber supporters by 14 percentage points. Accelerating the slide, say opinion analysts, were bipartisan criticisms of US war policy by the Iraq Study Group and concerns that the mission has been obscured by civil war." 03-07 -03-20-07 Japan Vows to Lead in Fight Against Global Warming (USA Today) "Japan aims to play a leading role in the post-Kyoto battle on global warming and will seek the full engagement of the USA and China, the world's top two polluters, officials said Tuesday." "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will ask his cabinet ministers to develop a package of proposals to present to next year's Group of Eight summit of world leaders which Japan will host, they said." 03-07 -03-20-07 Postal Rates Set to Rise on May 14th (USA Today) "Americans will pay 2 cents more to mail a first-class letter beginning May 14, but they will be able to buy a new type of stamp that could shield them from future price increases." 03-07 -03-21-07 House Panel Votes to Supoena Bush Aides in Firings (MSBC News) "A House panel on Wednesday defied the White House and authorized subpoenas for President Bush’s political adviser, Karl Rove and other top aides, setting up a constitutional showdown over the firings of eight federal prosecutors." "By voice vote and without objection, the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law decided to compel the president’s top aides to testify publicly and under oath about their roles in the firings." 03-07 -03-21-07 Senate Revokes Bush's Authority to Replace Attorneys Without Approval (International Herald Tribune) "The Senate voted overwhelmingly today to revoke the authority it granted the Bush administration last year to name federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation." "By a vote of 94 to 2, the Senate restored the previous system for naming federal prosecutors." 03-07 -03-23-07 Documents Show the Attorney General Approved Firings (MSBC News) "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals." 03-07 -03-23-07 Report: Iraq's Humanitarian Crisis (MSBC News) "A new investigation obtained by NBC News says there is another humanitarian crisis in Iraq — displaced people inside the country — and gives the United States and United Nations failing grades for helping them with their most basic needs." " 'The future is dark, not only for my children, it is for the next generation if the situation stays the same,' Ghazi says." "Now they are among 1.9 million Iraqis displaced in their own land — in effect, by ethnic cleansing." 03-07 -03-25-07 Republican Support for Attorney General Erodes (MSBC News) Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "has said he participated in no discussions and saw no memos about plans to carry out the firings on Dec. 7 that Democrats contend were politically motivated." "His schedule, however, shows he attended at least one hourlong meeting, on Nov. 27, where he approved a detailed plan to execute the prosecutors’ firings." "To Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., Gonzales 'does have a credibility problem. ... We govern with one currency, and that’s trust. And that trust is all important. And when you lose or debase that currency, then you can’t govern. And I think he’s going to have some difficulties.' " 03-07 -03-29-07 Ex-Aide Contradicts U.S. Attorney General (ABC News) "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was briefed regularly over two years on the firings of federal prosecutors, his former top aide said Thursday, disputing Gonzales' claims he was not closely involved with the dismissals. The testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee by Kyle Sampson, the attorney general's former chief of staff, newly undercut Gonzales' already shaky credibility." 03-07 -03-29-07 Senate Votes to Withdraw Troops from the Civil War in Iraq (MSNBC News) "Senate Democrats ignored a veto threat and pushed through a bill Thursday requiring President Bush to start withdrawing troops from 'the civil war in Iraq,' dealing a rare, sharp rebuke to a wartime commander in chief." 03-07 -04-01-07 Fred Thompson, Actor, Likely to Run for President (MSNBC - Newsweek) "It looks as if Fred Thompson is getting ready to run for president. Friends of the former Tennessee senator turned actor (anonymous to protect their relationship) say he's increasingly tempted to enter the 2008 Republican primaries, fueled in part by new polls that show he's got a serious shot at the White House. A Gallup poll released last week found Thompson ranked No. 3 behind front runners Rudy Giuliani and John McCain with 12 percent support among Republicans—all before he's even formally launched a campaign." 04-07 -04-01-07 New Mark Set in Raising Funds for President (MSNBC News) "Shattering previous records, Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton collected $26 million for her presidential campaign during the first three months of the year and transferred an additional $10 million from her Senate fundraising account, aides said Sunday." 04-07 -04-01-07 Saudi Arabia Taking Over Lead in the Middle East (MSNBC - Newsweek) "How the Saudi king, disillusioned with Bush, is trying to save the Arabs." 04-07 -04-02-07 Democrats Lead With Budget Bill (Christian Science Monitor) "Before leaving town last week, the House and Senate passed plans to spend nearly $3 trillion in the next fiscal year." "At the heart of the new budget documents is commitment by both the House and Senate to get back to pay-as-you-go rules, which require lawmakers to find offsets for new spending or new tax cuts." 04-07 -04-02-07 Supreme Court Rejects Bush's Position on Pollution (ABC News) "For the first time in its history, the U.S. Supreme Court has waded into the political debate on global warming." "Under the Bush administration, the Environmental Protection Agency or EPA has argued that carbon dioxide and the like aren't pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and therefore, the agency has no power to regulate them." "In a sweeping 5-4 decision released Monday, the Supreme Court rejected that position, declaring that Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from cars." 04-07 -04-04-07 White House Exposes "Earmarks" by Congress (LATimes.com) "In a direct challenge to Congress and the way it does business, the White House on Wednesday unveiled an online list of all the pet spending projects lawmakers tucked in the federal budget for the 2004-05 fiscal year." Rep. Jeff Flake "hailed the database as a step forward. 'Whenever any members of Congress can basically write a check to a group at home without any real oversight, and when people in Congress basically will look the other way if you'll offer them the same courtesy when they offer earmarks, you'll have something ripe for abuse,' Flake said. 'We shouldn't be surprised when we have a Duke Cunningham.' " "It also does not include any earmarks requested by the administration. As a result, it contains fewer earmarks than some other sources. For example, the Congressional Research Service found $48 billion in earmarks in its review." 04-07 -04-05-07 Iraqi Merchants Take Issue With McCain's Remarks on Security (MSNBC News) "On a two-day visit to Iraq, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) declared after a short walk in a market that Baghdad was becoming safer under a new security plan. But after his departure, Iraqi merchants and U.S. military officials said his upbeat assessment is far from the reality they experience every day." 04-07 -04-08-07 Military Commanders: More Time Needed to Determine Success (MSNBC News) "While Washington appears headed toward a political endgame on Iraq, with the White House and Congress sparring over benchmarks and pullout dates, the war on the ground is at an ebb tide. All sides -- including U.S. military strategists and Iraqi sectarian leaders and insurgents, as well as regional players such as Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- are waiting to see whether the new U.S. approach to make the Iraqi capital safer will work. Soldiers on the ground tend to see the Washington debate as irrelevant, and the perspective of many politicians in Washington is that the military schedule is simply too slow." 04-07 -04-08-07 Washington Post: Questionable Decisions of Bush Administration Exposed (MSNBC News) "The selection of [Bernard B.] Kerik in December 2004 for one of the most sensitive posts in government became an acute but brief embarrassment for Bush at the start of his second term. More than two years later, it has reemerged as part of a federal criminal investigation of Kerik that raises questions about the decisions made by the president, the Republican front-runner to replace him and the embattled attorney general." 04-07 -04-10-07 Is the "Surge" in Baghdad Working? (New York Times) New York Times reporters comment that "there is little sign that the Baghdad push is accomplishing its main purpose: to create an island of stability in which Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs and Kurds can try to figure out how to run the country together. There has been no visible move toward compromise on the main dividing issues, like regional autonomy and more power sharing between Shiites and Sunnis." "For American troops, Baghdad has become a deadlier battleground as they have poured into the capital to confront Sunni and Shiite militias on their home streets. The rate of American deaths in the city over the first seven weeks of the security plan has nearly doubled from the previous period, though it has stayed roughly the same over all, decreasing in other parts of the country as troops have focused on the capital." 04-07 -04-13-07 Controversy Grows for Wolfowitz at the World Bank (New York Times) "Paul D. Wolfowitz’s tenure as president of the World Bank was thrown into turmoil on Thursday by the disclosure that he had helped arrange a pay raise for his companion at the time of her transfer from the bank to the State Department, where she remained on the bank payroll." "The events injected a new ugliness into what had already been a bitter rift between Mr. Wolfowitz and many of the bank’s employees, who have questioned his suitability for the job as a former deputy secretary of defense and architect of the Iraq war, and have challenged many of his policies at the bank, especially those cracking down on corruption in which he suspended aid to several countries without consulting the board." 04-07 -04-14-07 Evidence Revealed of Possible U.S. War Crimes During Korean Conflict (CBS News) "Six years after declaring the U.S. killing of Korean War refugees at No Gun Ri was 'not deliberate,' the Army has acknowledged it found but did not divulge that a high-level document said the U.S. military had a policy of shooting approaching civilians in South Korea." "When asked last year, the Pentagon didn't address the central question of whether U.S. investigators had seen the document before issuing their No Gun Ri report. Ex-Army Secretary Louis Caldera suggested to The Associated Press that Army researchers may have missed it." The document said: " 'If refugees do appear from north of U.S. lines they will receive warning shots, and if they then persist in advancing they will be shot,' the ambassador told Rusk, cautioning that these shootings might cause 'repercussions in the United States.' Deliberately attacking noncombatants is a war crime." 04-07 -04-14-07 U. S. Marshalls Serving in Iraq (USA Today) "In the 21st century, the nation's first lawmen have a broad global mission, capturing fugitives, protecting judges, running the Witness Protection Program, and even training Iraqis." 04-07 -04-15-07 Testing for Hidden Racial Bias (MSNBC News) "While Don Imus has apologized for his racial slurs, he insists he’s not a racist. But is it possible that virtually all of us have a hidden racial bias, hidden even from ourselves? Several years ago Dateline brought together two groups of volunteers, African-American and white, who agreed to take a test, scientifically designed to answer just that question." 04-07 -04-16-07 Legal Conflict Between Executive and Legislative Branches of Government? (Christian Science Monitor) "Whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales remains in his job or not, the furor over fired US prosecutors seems set to continue for weeks to come." "The matter of the prosecutors has thus expanded from a narrow inquiry into a multiheaded investigation that could result in direct legal conflict between the legislative and executive branches of the US government." 04-07 -04-16-07 Should Virginia Tech Have Cancelled Classes? (ABC News) "After this morning's tragedy at Virginia Tech, some students are questioning some of the school's actions, specifically, why the university's administration did not cancel classes after the first shooting and why it took more than two hours to inform students through e-mail about the shootings." 04-07 -04-16-07 U.S. Soldier to Be Tried in Italy for Murder (BBC News) "A US soldier is due to be tried in a Rome court with the murder of an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq in March 2005." "The agent, Nicola Calipari, was shot dead on his way to Baghdad airport." "He was escorting Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist who had just been freed by kidnappers." 04-07 -04-16-07 Winners of the Pulitzer Prize (ABC News) "Winners and finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prizes. Pulitzer juries make up to three recommendations in each category without listing them in order of preference. The Pulitzer Board, which awards the prizes, is not limited to those recommendations in choosing a winner." 04-07 -04-16-07 Worst Mass Shooting in Modern Ameridan History (ABC News) "A tranquil college campus in Virgina became a killing field Monday morning. At least 33 people are dead in the worst mass shooting in modern American history." "Police at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Va., said that the shootings happened at a dormitory and then at a classroom on opposite sides of the university campus." 04-07 -04-18-07 At Least 183 Killed in Baghdad Explosions (MSNBC) "Suspected Sunni insurgents penetrated the Baghdad security net Wednesday, hitting Shiite targets with four bomb attacks that killed at least 183 people — the bloodiest day since the U.S. troop surge began nine weeks ago." 04-07 -04-18-07 Attorney General Contradicts His Own Testimony (ABC) "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' assertion that he was not involved in identifying the eight U.S. attorneys who were asked to resign last year is at odds with a recently released internal Department of Justice e-mail, ABC News has learned." 04-07 -04-18-07 Journalists in Afghanistan Protest Raid on TV Station (ABC News) "More than 100 journalists on Wednesday protested a police raid ordered by Afghanistan's attorney general on a private TV station that has fueled concern over growing government harassment of the media." 04-07 -04-18-07 President and Democrats Disagree on Iraq (ABC) "President Bush sparred across the table with Democratic congressional leaders opposed to the Iraq war on Wednesday in a prelude to a veto showdown over a conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 U.S. troops." 04-07 -04-18-07 Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Some Abortions (MSNBC) "The Supreme Court upheld the nationwide ban on a controversial abortion procedure Wednesday, handing abortion opponents the long-awaited victory they expected from a more conservative bench." 04-07 -04-19-07 How Smart Mobs Coped With a Massacre (MSNBC News) "College’s response to tragedy illustrated how wired world now works." "The way students and teachers passed along information during the Virginia Tech massacre — via cellphone videos and campus-watching Webcams, via text messages and Web bulletin boards — demonstrates how the wired world has changed in the 21st century, one of the prophets of the new age says." 04-07 -04-19-07 Report: Iraq's Oil Reserves May Be Double of Former Estimates (MSNBC News) "Iraq’s oil reserves could be nearly twice as large as previously estimated, containing more than 200 billion barrels, a new analysis of the war-torn country’s oil resources says." 04-07 -04-19-07 Senate Grills Attorney General (MSNBC News) "His job in jeopardy, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted Thursday he played only a small role in the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors. Skeptical senators reacted with disbelief." " 'We have to evaluate whether you are really being forthright,' Sen. Arlen Specter bluntly informed the nation's chief law enforcement officer." "The Pennsylvania Republican said Gonzales' description was 'significantly if not totally at variance with the facts.' " 04-07 -04-20-07 A Breach in Nuclear Security (Time Magazine) "New Mexico police got more than they bargained for last fall when they responded to a call about a domestic dispute in a trailer park near Los Alamos National Laboratory. Not only had they stumbled on paraphernalia for making the drug crystal meth; they also found thousands of pages of highly classified documents detailing the designs of U.S. nuclear weapons." 04-07 -04-20-07 Hero at Virginia Tech Buried (ABC News) "A Holocaust survivor gunned down trying to save his students from the Virginia Tech shooting rampage was buried in Israel Friday to the sobs of his grieving family." 04-07 -04-20-07 U.N. Report Omits Iraqi Civilian Casualties (ABC News) "The United Nations will not include Iraqi civilian casualty figures in its next human rights report, a spokesman said Friday, omitting what many had viewed as a rare, reliable indicator of suffering in Iraq." 04-07 -04-21-07 Out-Sourcing the CIA (Time Magazine) "President Bush and Senate Republicans say they object to the Democrats' draft authorization because of provisions like making the overall intelligence budget public and creating a statutory inspector general for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Bush said last Thursday that unless these and other provisions that add Congressional oversight of the intelligence community are stripped from the authorization, he will veto it." "But does anyone seriously believe Osama bin Laden would be deterred from attacking the United States if he found out we are spending more on intelligence than everyone thinks? I called around to check with my former colleagues. 'Who cares whether the intelligence budget is $25 or $75 billion?' a recently retired CIA officer told me, bringing up only one real problem that bothers him. 'The entire budget is being flushed down the drain — into contractors' pockets.' " "He has a point. With contractors rumored to make up 50-60% of the CIA's workforce it is difficult to tell who is running the place." 07-06 -04-22-07 Albuquerque Journal: Senator Asked Bush to Fire New Mexico Attorney General (Albuquerque Journal) "Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias was fired after Sen. Pete Domenici, who had been unhappy with Iglesias for some time, made a personal appeal to the White House, the Journal has learned." "Domenici had complained about Iglesias before, at one point going to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before taking his request to the president as a last resort." "In the spring of 2006, Domenici told Gonzales he wanted Iglesias out." "Gonzales refused. He told Domenici he would fire Iglesias only on orders from the president." 04-07 -04-22-07 Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald Dies (Millender-McDonald.gov) "In 1997, a Glamour Magazine survey identified Congresswoman Millender-McDonald as 'one of eleven women who will change the world.' " 04-07 -04-22-07 The Anatomy of Violence (MSNBC News) "Pathological genes, a disturbed mind, social isolation and a gun culture are not enough. Mass murderers also need the individual will to pull the trigger." 07-06 -04-24-07 Tunnel in the Ocean (CNN News) "For more than a century, entrepreneurs and engineers have dreamed of building a tunnel connecting the eastern and western hemispheres under the Bering Strait -- only to be brought up short by war, revolution and politics." "Now die-hard supporters are renewing their push for the audacious plan -- a $65 billion highway project that would link two of the world's most inhospitable regions by burrowing under a stretch of water connecting the Pacific with the Arctic Ocean." 04-07 -04-25-07 Americans Siding With Dems Against Bush (MSNBC News) "As the Democrat-controlled Congress and the White House clash over an Iraq spending bill, with President Bush vowing to veto it because it contains withdrawal deadlines, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that a solid majority of Americans side with the Democrats." 04-07 -04-25-07 Congress and President in a Constitutional Confrontation on Iraq War (Christian Science Monitor) "In a move that both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue have anticipated for weeks, Congress and President Bush are heading into their first direct confrontation over funding the Iraq war." "At the heart of the dispute is a tension locked into the Constitution over who directs a war. As commander in chief, Bush says that he and generals on the ground determine the deployment of US forces, not members of Congress." "Democrats say that Congress must use its war-funding powers to force the president to change course on a war that most Americans no longer support." " 'Congress has a right to do what it's doing. We still have civilian supremacy in this country, which still includes Congress,' says Louis Fisher, an expert on presidential war powers at the Library of Congress." 04-07 -04-25-07 House Approves Supoena for the Secretary of State (MSNBC News) "In rapid succession, congressional committees Wednesday ramped up their investigations of the Bush administration by approving a subpoena for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and granting immunity to a key aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales." 04-07 -04-25-07 House Passes Bill With Deadlines for Iraq (MSNBC News) "A sharply divided House brushed aside a veto threat Wednesday and passed legislation that would order President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq by Oct. 1." "Passage puts the bill on track to clear Congress by week’s end and arrive on the president’s desk in coming days as the first binding congressional challenge to Bush’s handling of the conflict now in its fifth year." 04-07 -04-25-07 Senate Passes Bill With Deadlines for Iraq (BBC News) "The US Senate has voted to approve a bill which requires US troops to start withdrawing from Iraq by October." 04-07 -04-27-07 Former CIA Chief Claims No Known Serious Debate Before Invading Iraq (MSNBC News) "The book is highly critical of Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials, who Tenet argues rushed the United States into war in Iraq without serious debate — a charge the White House rejected Friday. Beyond that, he contends, the administration failed to adequately consider what would come in the war’s aftermath." 04-07 -04-28-07 Political Meetings at Federal Agencies Disclosed (MSNBC News) "The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said." "The existence of one such briefing, at the headquarters of the General Services Administration in January, came to light last month, and the Office of Special Counsel began an investigation into whether the officials at the briefing felt coerced into steering federal activities to favor those Republican candidates cited as vulnerable." "Such coercion is prohibited under a federal law, known as the Hatch Act, meant to insulate virtually all federal workers from partisan politics. In addition to forbidding workplace pressures meant to influence an election outcome, the law bars the use of federal resources -- including office buildings, phones and computers -- for partisan purposes." 04-07 -04-28-07 U.S. Failed to Use Most of the Aid from Allies for Katrina Victims (MSNBC News) "Allies offered $854 million in cash and in oil that was to be sold for cash. But only $40 million has been used so far for disaster victims or reconstruction, according to U.S. officials and contractors. Most of the aid went uncollected, including $400 million worth of oil. Some offers were withdrawn or redirected to private groups such as the Red Cross. The rest has been delayed by red tape and bureaucratic limits on how it can be spent." "In addition, valuable supplies and services -- such as cellphone systems, medicine and cruise ships -- were delayed or declined because the government could not handle them. In some cases, supplies were wasted." 04-07 -05-01-07 Bush Vetoes Iraq Spending Bill (MSNBC News) "President Bush used his veto pen for only the second time Tuesday after Congress sent him a war spending bill that would impose timelines to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, which he called a 'prescription for chaos.' " " 'With one stroke of his pen, President Bush has stubbornly ignored the will of the American people, the majority of Congress and, most disturbingly, the realities on the ground in Iraq,' said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill." 05-07 -05-01-07 Discussion of George Tenet's Book on Invading Iraq (PBS News) David Boren, former Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee: "And it reminds me of just the opposite sort of situation we faced during the first Gulf War, when I went down to the White House to talk to the first President Bush. And I remember saying, 'Why don't we go on in? We pushed Saddam out of Kuwait. Why don't we go into Iraq right now?' " "He said three things: First, Senator, what's your exit strategy? Second, he said, Let's think about the Kurds, the Shias, the Sunnis. Let's think about the civil war that might take place. Let's worry about upsetting the balance of power in the Middle East and strengthening countries like Iran versus other friends and allies of ours in the region." "And, you know, that was the kind of thoughtful discussion that took place then. And what really comes across in this book [by the former Director of the CIA] is the absence of that kind of thoughtful discussion this time around." Larry Johnson, former CIA analyst: "He [George Tenet] was an excellent Senate staffer to Senator Boren. He did an excellent job on the Senate Intelligence Committee. But as a director of Central Intelligence, responsible for being the Dutch uncle to tell presidents and vice presidents uncomfortable truths, on that he failed, failed miserably, and American soldiers have paid a bloody price because of it." 05-07 -05-01-07 Venezuela Takes Over Private Oil Fields (PBS News) "In a move meant to advance and fund his nationalism agenda, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday nationalized the remaining privately operated oil fields valued at $30 billion." "Chavez, meanwhile, described the turnover as the end of the era of U.S.-oriented policies that opened up oil reserves to foreign investment." "Chavez still will need outside investment to develop the Orinoco region, which could help Venezuela surpass Saudi Arabia as the country with the most reserves, the AP reported." 05-07 -05-02-07 Congress and Bush in Stalemate Over Iraq (MSNBC News) "President Bush's veto of an Iraq war spending bill that set timelines for U.S. troop withdrawals puts new pressure on Democrats in Congress to craft a compromise even as their caucus grows more fractious on the topic." "[House leader] Pelosi, who was to join Republican and Democratic leaders from both houses in a meeting with Bush on Wednesday, told reporters after Bush's remarks: 'The president wants a blank check. The Congress is not going to give it to him." "Democrats will work with the White House, she said, "but there is great distance between us right now.' " 05-07 -05-05-07 Former Supervisor of Prosecutors Contradicts Attorney General (MSNBC News) "A former deputy attorney general lavished praise yesterday on most of the eight U.S. attorneys who were fired after he left the job, testifying that only one of them had serious performance problems." "The testimony from Comey, a highly regarded former prosecutor who is now general counsel for Lockheed Martin, further undermines claims by Gonzales and his aides that dissatisfaction with the prosecutors' work led to their dismissals. It also underscores the extent to which the firings, which originated in the White House, were handled outside the normal chain of command at Justice." "Top Justice officials first said that all but one of the prosecutors were fired for performance issues, but documents released by the department later showed that perceived loyalty to Bush and his policies was a major factor and that most had good job reviews." 05-07 -05-05-07 Poll: Bush Hits a New Low (MSNBC News) "It’s hard to say which is worse news for Republicans: that George W. Bush now has the worst approval rating of an American president in a generation, or that he seems to be dragging every ’08 Republican presidential candidate down with him." 05-07 -05-07-07 Chief Takes "Indefensible" Police Off the Streets in Los Angeles (ABC News) "Police Chief William Bratton said Sunday that up to 60 members of an elite squad that swarmed into a park and fired rubber bullets during a May Day immigration rally are no longer on the street." 05-07 -05-11-07 House Votes for Funding War on an Installment Plan (MSNBC News) "The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday night to pay for military operations in Iraq on an installment plan, defying President Bush’s threat of a second straight veto in a fierce test of wills over the unpopular war." 05-07 -05-11-07 Poll: Congress and Bush Share Low Approval (MSNBC News) "People think the Democratic-led Congress is doing just as dreary a job as President Bush, following four months of bitter political standoffs that have seen little progress on Iraq and a host of domestic issues." 05-07 -05-11-07 Resurgent Dallas to Have a New Mayor (New York Times) "Now the question is who will lead a resurgent Dallas. After five turbulent years, Laura Miller, perhaps the nation’s only investigative reporter turned big-city mayor, is not running again, setting off a wild scramble to head the nation’s ninth-largest metropolis, long troubled by crime, scandals, racial polarization and government gridlock." 05-07 -05-11-07 Stamp Prices Jump 2 Cents to 41 Cents (MSNBC News) "It will cost a bit more to mail letters and parcels starting Monday [May 14th, 2007]. A first-class letter will go up 2 cents to 41 cents." 05-07 -05-14-07 Congress and White House Negotiate on Conditions for War Funding (Christian Science Monitor) "It's almost 100 days after President Bush requested emergency funds for the Iraq war, and Congress and the White House are converging on a deal that includes benchmarks for progress for the Iraqi government, including a national oil law and provincial elections." 05-07 -05-14-07 Wolfowitz May Be Ousted as President of the World Bank (MSNBC News) Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank president, may become "the first president dismissed in the 62-year history of the [World] Bank if its board of directors votes him out this week. Last week a special committee declared that he violated ethics rules by setting up his female companion, Bank employee Shaha Riza, in a high-paid State Department post. He is accused of doing this and then launching an internal-corruption probe, a seemingly hypocritical act that has many on the Bank's 10,000-person staff calling for his resignation." 05-07 -05-15-07 Moral Majority Founder Falwell Dies (MSNBC News) "The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73." 05-07 -05-15-07 New Position of "War Czar" Filled (MSNBC News) "President Bush has chosen Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, the Pentagon's director of operations, to oversee the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as a 'war czar' after a long search for new leadership, administration officials said Tuesday." "The White House has sought a war coordinator to eliminate conflicts among the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies. Lute will seek to cut through bureaucracy and deliver fast responses when requests come in from U.S. military commanders and ambassadors." 05-07 -05-15-07 Two Key Members of Bush Administration Resign (MSNBC News) "In a blow to the Bush administration, the deputy attorney general and the only Democrat on the White House's Privacy and Civil Liberties Board have resigned." 05-07 -05-17-07 Minorities Now One-Third of U.S. Population (MSNBC News) "The number of people in the United States from ethnic or racial minorities has risen to more than 100 million, or around one third of the population, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday." 05-07 -05-17-07 Wolfowitz Resigns (Financial Times) "Paul Wolfowitz announced his resignation as president of the World Bank shortly after 6pm on Thursday, bringing to an end a turbulent two-year tenure as chief of the world’s leading development institution." "This follows the publication of a devastating report Monday into his handling of a secondment package for Shaha Riza, a bank official with whom he was romantically involved. "The report found that Mr Wolfowitz had broken the bank’s code of conduct, three staff rules and the terms of his contract." 05-07 -06-06-07 Democratic Debate: Is America Safer Now? (New York Times) "The Bush administration’s efforts to thwart terrorism at home have created a fissure among the three leading Democratic presidential candidates, with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton coming under attack for saying that America is safer now than before 9/11 — contrary to a popular line of argument among some Democratic officials." 06-07 -06-07-07 Congress Passes Bill Supporting Stem Cell Research (MSNBC News) "The Democratic-controlled Congress passed legislation Thursday to loosen restraints on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, but the bill’s supporters lacked the votes needed to override President Bush’s threatened veto." 06-07 -06-11-07 Bush Cannot Order Indefinite Military Detention (BBC News) "President George W Bush cannot order the indefinite military detention of a Qatari man accused of being an al-Qaeda agent, a US appeals court has ruled." " 'To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, even if the president calls them "enemy combatants", would have disastrous consequences for the constitution - and the country,' the court opinion said." 06-07 -06-12-07 Cheap, Deadly Form of Heroin Aimed at Teens (CNN News) "A cheap, highly addictive drug known as 'cheese heroin' has killed 21 teenagers in the Dallas area over the past two years, and authorities say they are hoping they can stop the fad before it spreads across the nation." " 'Cheese heroin' is a blend of so-called black tar Mexican heroin and crushed over-the-counter medications that contain the antihistamine diphenhydramine, found in products such as Tylenol PM, police say. The sedative effects of the heroin and the nighttime sleep aids make for a deadly brew." 06-07 -06-14-07 Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger, Environmental Heroes? (Christian Science Monitor) "They're also doing big things. Specifically, they're doing big things that Washington has failed to do. In a time of federal policy paralysis, when partisanship-on-crack has made compromise almost impossible, when President George W. Bush's political adviser is a household name but his domestic policy adviser was unknown even in Washington until he was arrested for shoplifting, cities and states are filling the void. Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger happen to be the best examples of this phenomenon as well as the best known. Bloomberg is 65; the Last Action Hero is turning 60; they've got better things to do than bicker and posture. 'These are two exceptional and forceful guys who don't need the job at all; they had pretty damn good lives before they got into politics,' says their mutual friend Warren Buffett. 'They're in office to get things done. And they're doing that a lot better than anyone in D.C.' " 06-07 -06-14-07 Immigration Bill Revived (CBS News) "Key senators tentatively agreed on a plan to revive a stalled immigration bill on Thursday, aided by President Bush's support for a quick $4.4 billion aimed at 'securing our borders and enforcing our laws at the work site.' " 06-07 -06-15-07 Army Chief Was Forced Out (BBC News) "The US military's outgoing top commander, Gen Peter Pace, says he opposed the decision to replace him at the end of his first term." 06-07 -06-17-07 British Prime Minister Knew US Had No Post-War Plan (Guardian Unlimited) "Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, told The Observer: 'These frank admissions that the Prime Minister was aware of the inadequacies of the preparations for post-conflict Iraq are a devastating indictment.' " "Within a year Britain lost any hope of a proper reconstruction in Iraq when post-war planning was handed to the Pentagon at the beginning of 2003." "The failure to prepare meant that Iraq quickly fell apart. Greenstock adds: 'I just felt it was slipping away from us really, from the beginning. There was no security force controlling the streets. There was no police force to speak of.' " 06-07 -06-17-07 Interview With Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki (MSNBC News) "In a candid interview, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki talks about his struggles, relationship with President Bush and nation's future." 06-07 -06-17-07 States Preempt Federal Government on Immigration (Christian Science Monitor) "Frustrated by federal inaction, state and local governments are passing laws at a record pace." 06-07 -06-18-07 Democrats Propose to Support Renewable Fuels (New York Times) "Senate Democrats are seeking a major reversal of energy tax policies that would take billions of dollars in tax breaks and other benefits from the oil industry to underwrite renewable fuels." 06-07 -06-19-07 Bloomberg Switches Parties (CBS News) "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg switched his party status from Republican to unaffiliated Tuesday, WCBS-TV reports, a move certain to be seen as a prelude to an independent presidential bid that would upend the 2008 race." 06-07 -06-21-07 Cheney Claims Himself Exempt from Oversight (Los Angeles Times) "Gordon Silverstein, a constitutional scholar at UC Berkeley, said Cheney's claims were all the more noteworthy given his repeated assertions of executive privilege, based on his senior position within the Bush administration, as a reason why he has not had to testify before Congress or provide lawmakers with information on such national security issues as torture, interrogation and CIA renditions of terrorists." " 'Here's a guy who raises "executive privilege" to historic levels to exempt himself from all rules and oversight, and now he says he's not part of the executive branch?' said Silverstein. 'Here we have a subordinate part of the executive branch asserting independent constitutional authority even against its own superior. It is flabbergasting.' " 06-07 -06-22-07 Court Gives Email Privacy Protection (Time Magazine) "In a startling decision this week, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati ordered the feds to keep their mitts off e-mail stored with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Yahoo! unless they notify the sender first or show that he doesn't consider the e-mail private. The ruling was based on the conclusion that most people think e-mail, like letters or phone conversations, is private, and protected under the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable government searches and seizures." "That seems a pretty fair conclusion, but the amazing thing is that no court has ever reached it before. In other words, we've been living under a legal regime that essentially assumes we don't much care if, say, Alberto Gonzales sees our e-mails after they leave our outbox. So for a federal appeals court to upend that regime is a big deal, as experts like Professor Orin Kerr at George Washington University Law School will tell you." " 'If this case sticks around,' says Kerr, 'it's the most important decision involving the Fourth Amendment in a long time for new technologies.' " 06-07 -06-22-07 Psychological Trauma to U.S. Troops Rising (Guardian Unlimited) "Mr Gates was responding to concern by a Pentagon mental health taskforce report that incidence of psychological trauma is rising with prolonged combat duty: 38% of regular soldiers, 31% of marines, 49% of national guard, and 43% of marine reservists had symptoms of post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems within three months of returning from active duty." 06-07 -06-27-07 Elizabeth Edwards vs Ann Coulter (MSNBC News) The wife of Presidential candidate John Edwards called in to "Hardball" to talk to Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator. "[Elizabeth] Edwards: You wrote a column a couple years ago which made fun of the moment of Charlie Dean's death, and suggested that my husband had a bumper sticker on the back of his car that said ask me about my dead son. This is not legitimate political dialogue." "Coulter: Yeah why isn't John Edwards making this call?" "Edwards: I'm making this call as a mother. I'm the mother of that boy who died. My children participate -- these young people behind you are the age of my children. You're asking them to participate in a dialogue that's based on hatefulness and ugliness instead of on the issues and I don't think that's serving them or this country very well." 06-07 -06-27-07 Number 2 at Department of Interior Gets Prison Time (MSNBC News) "Former Deputy Interior Secretary James Steven Griles - who pleaded guilty in March to a single felony charge of obstructing justice by lying to a Senate committee about his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff - was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to 10 months in prison and a fine of $30,000.00." 06-07 -06-27-07 Republican Support for the Iraq War Is Slipping (MSNBC News) "Republican support for the Iraq war is slipping by the day." "After four years of combat and more than 3,560 U.S. deaths, two Republican senators previously reluctant to challenge President Bush on the war announced they could no longer support the deployment of 157,000 troops and asked the president to begin bringing them home." 06-07 -06-27-07 White House and Cheney Subpoenaed on Spying (CBS News) "The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday for documents relating to President Bush's controversial eavesdropping program that operated warrant-free for five years." Visitors sometimes misspell as supenaed or supoenaed. 06-07 -06-28-07 "We're Not Going to Kill Our Way to Victory" (CBS News) "Support grows for uprooting terror havens rather than relying on firefights." "It is not uncommon for a battle-ready Army special forces team to rumble into a remote village and spend most of its time painting mosques, drilling wells and running medical clinics." " 'It's basically anything that doesn't involve combat operations against terrorists,' said Andrew Feickert, a national defense specialist at the Congressional Research Service in Washington. 'As Admiral Olson has said, we're not going to kill our way to victory.' " 06-07 -06-28-07 Vice President Cheney's Real Power (CBS News) "BARTON GELLMAN, The Washington Post: Well, I don't think there's any doubt that he's the most powerful vice president there's been and that he is the dominant player among all the president's advisers and operators in this government wherever he chooses to play. He is influential across a much broader span of government policy than we knew going into this." "But he is not only clearly the president's closest adviser, what we found is maybe more meaningful, is that, in many cases, he is the one who is sifting the options." "He's the one who's sort of narrowing down the potential options for the president to a very small number. And so, when the president's deciding, for example, on Supreme Court nominees there are only five names that get to him. And those are the ones that have passed an extensive vetting by Cheney." 06-07 -06-28-07 White House Refuses to Answer Subpoenas (CBS News) "President Bush, moving toward a constitutional showdown with Congress, asserted executive privilege Thursday and rejected lawmakers' demands for documents that could shed light on the firings of federal prosecutors." 06-07 -06-29-07 Grading the June Democratic Presidential Debate (Time Magazine) Time's Mark Halperin grades the candidates. "Obama and Clinton scored big at a forum focused on America's minority communities. But the most memorable — and odd — performance of the night went to Joe Biden." 06-07 -06-30-07 Poll: More Americans Want the US Out of Iraq (CBS News) "A CBS News poll shows Americans are increasingly dissatisfied with the Iraq war, President Bush and the Congress, as well as the overall direction of the country." "More Americans than ever before, 77 percent, say the war is going badly, up from 66 percent just two months ago. Nearly half, 47 percent, say it's going very badly." 06-07 -06-30-07 Supreme Court Approves Student's Anti-Bush T-Shirt (CBS News) "The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by the Williamstown school district of a ruling that it violated Guiles' rights by censoring his T-shirt." 06-07 -06-30-07 Supreme Court Rejects School Diversity Plans (Christian Science Monitor) "While the race of a student can be one of many characteristics taken into consideration to achieve diversity in the student body, it may not become the predominant criterion that determines which students are admitted to the most popular schools in a district." "Both of the challenged enrollment plans in Louisville and Seattle attempted to address de facto segregation tied in part to housing patterns. The voluntary desegregation programs were aimed at preventing the school districts from sliding into a starkly segregated environment with minority students isolated in inner-city schools and white students isolated in suburban schools." 06-07 -07-01-07 Obama Reports Record Amount in Donations (CBS News) "Sen. Barack Obama reported Sunday raising at least $32.5 million for his presidential campaign from April through June, a record for a Democratic candidate." 07-07 -07-02-07 Bush Spares Cheney's Aide From Prison Sentence (MSNBC News) "President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby from a 2½-year prison term in the CIA leak investigation Monday, delivering a political thunderbolt in the highly charged criminal case. Bush said the sentence was just too harsh." 07-07 -07-02-07 Buy a Hummer, Get a $25,000 Tax Break (ABC News) "It's one of the many loopholes buried within the fine print of the tax code: Business owners who purchase heavy luxury SUVs, those weighing over 6,000 pounds, get to take deductions up to $25,000." "Now some members of Congress are pushing to close the so-called Hummer Tax Loophole. Led by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., the Ways and Means Committee passed an energy bill last week that is expected on the House floor next month." 07-07 -07-02-07 The Golden Conspiracy in California (US News) "Each month, three or four steamships set sail from San Francisco loaded with millions of dollars' worth of gold, wealth that fueled the Union's economic engine during the Civil War. Even Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was grateful for California's contribution to the war effort. 'I do not know what we would do in this great national emergency were it not for the gold sent from California,' Grant once wrote. But all that cash could just as easily have gone to the other side. Though most history books glide over the role the West Coast played in the War Between the States, California came very close to being part of the South, a defection that could easily have altered the outcome of the conflict." 07-07 -07-03-07 Life in Iraq: Dating Difficult (Time Magazine) "Those still seeking love have fewer places to find it. Many once liberal university campuses are now policed by fanatical Shi'ite student groups associated with the hard-line cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They impose strict segregation of the sexes and beat up those who dare to fraternize. Parents concerned about the violence in the streets force their children, especially daughters, to remain indoors. Only the bravest go out for dinner, since restaurants are popular targets for suicide bombers." 07-07 -07-04-07 Americans Cynical About Bush's Clemency (MSNBC News) "Cynicism greeted President George W. Bush's decision to spare a former White House aide from going to prison, with some Americans saying people with presidential connections have long been above the law." 07-07 -07-06-07 Court Dismisses Challenge to Domestic Spying (MSNBC News) "A federal appeals court ordered the dismissal Friday of a lawsuit challenging President Bush’s domestic spying program, saying the plaintiffs had no standing to sue." 07-07 -07-06-07 Live Earth in the USA (BBC News) "Washington DC has been added as a venue for the series of Live Earth concerts, organised by former US Vice-President Al Gore to highlight climate change." "Country couple Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood will be among the artists performing on The Mall in the US capital on Saturday." "Nine cities will stage gigs, including Sydney, Tokyo, Johannesburg, Shanghai, Hamburg, New Jersey and Rio de Janeiro." 07-07 -07-10-07 Registered Traveler Program Coming to Airports (Christian Science Monitor) "The registered traveler program, conceived after 9/11 as a way to speed frequent fliers through airports' long and unpredictable security lines, is finally gaining national momentum." "Though it isn't expected to be operational in enough airports to ease those jam-packed security lines for this peak flying season, it should help by next summer, when as many as 20 major airports are expected to have special security lanes for registered travelers." 07-07 -07-10-07 Report: Americans Become More "Adult-Centered" (Christian Science Monitor) "Americans' child-free years are expanding as empty-nest seniors live longer and more young adults delay – or skip – childbearing. In 1960, nearly half of all households had children under 18. By 2000, the portion had fallen to less than a third, and in a few short years it's projected to drop to a quarter, according to a report from the National Marriage Project." 07-07 -07-11-07 Behind McCain's Campaign Problems (Time Magazine) "Every serious candidate for President has his share of difficult days. But few are as horrendous, especially this many months before primary season begins, as the one John McCain suffered through Tuesday. Just an hour before he had to go to the floor of the Senate to defend President Bush's Iraq policy against a growing Republican rebellion, the onetime frontrunner for the GOP nomination accepted the resignation of his top two campaign staffers, manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver." 07-07 -07-11-07 Lady Bird Johnson Dies (US News) "Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94." 07-07 -07-11-07 Republican - Behind McCain's Campaign Problems (Time Magazine) "Every serious candidate for President has his share of difficult days. But few are as horrendous, especially this many months before primary season begins, as the one John McCain suffered through Tuesday. Just an hour before he had to go to the floor of the Senate to defend President Bush's Iraq policy against a growing Republican rebellion, the onetime frontrunner for the GOP nomination accepted the resignation of his top two campaign staffers, manager Terry Nelson and chief strategist John Weaver." 07-07 -07-13-07 Executive Privilege Battle May Hit Courts (Washington Post) "A court battle over President Bush's broad but largely untested claims of executive privilege grew more likely yesterday when a House panel took the first step toward bringing contempt charges against former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers." 07-07 -07-17-07 Senate to Pull an "All-Nighter" (ABC News) "Senators are apparently set to pull an all-nighter today after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he'd keep the Senate in session to consider forcing an Iraq troop withdrawal deadline on President Bush." 07-07 -07-17-07 Tracking Candidate Support on Web Social Networks (TechPresident.com) Tracks support of presidential candidates on Facebook.com, MySpace.com, and YouTube.com. 07-07 -07-18-07 Replacing the Head of Veterans Affairs (Time Magazine) "President Bush has a job opening for the head of a department with a crushing backlog of work, a sharp increase in demand for services and a battered public image." 07-07 -07-19-07 YouTube.com Users Will Question the Candidates (MSNBC News) "In their next debate, Democrats will face video questions from voters." 07-07 -07-19-07 YouTube.com Users Will Question the Candidates (MSNBC News) "In their next debate, Democrats will face video questions from voters." 07-07 -07-25-07 Senators Consider Perjury Charges Against U.S. Attorney General (MSNBC News) "Senate Democrats called for a perjury investigation against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Thursday and subpoenaed top presidential aide Karl Rove in a deepening political and legal clash with the Bush administration." " 'It has become apparent that the attorney general has provided at a minimum half-truths and misleading statements,' four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote in a letter to Solicitor General Paul Clement." 07-07 -07-25-07 Senators Consider Perjury Charges Against U.S. Attorney General (New York Times) "Documents indicate eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales." "The documents underscore questions about Gonzales' credibility as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization." 07-07 -07-26-07 FBI Fined for Withholding Evidence of Innocence (MSNBC News) "A federal judge Thursday ordered the government to pay more than $101 million in the case of four men who spent decades in prison for a 1965 murder they didn't commit after the FBI withheld evidence of their innocence." 07-07 -07-26-07 Spielberg Pressures Chinese on Dafur (ABC News) "Steven Spielberg, under pressure from Darfur activists, may quit his post as artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, unless China takes a harder line against Sudan, a representative of the film director told ABC News." "China, Sudan's largest oil customer and perennial defender, has come under renewed scrutiny in the lead up to the Olympics, as the country juggles its need for cheap energy with its desire to host a trouble-free games." 07-07 -07-27-07 Senate Defies Bush on Homeland Security Bill (MSNBC News) "The Senate passed the first of 12 spending bills on Thursday night, smashing President Bush’s budget for border control and other homeland security programs." "The bill also greatly exceeds Bush’s request for homeland security grants to state and local governments for improving disaster planning and training, interoperable radio equipment, and paying for new fire and rescue equipment." 07-07 -07-28-07 Iraq Refuses to Take Over Reconstruction Projects (MSNBC News) "The Iraqi government has refused to take control of more than 2,000 U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, a move that could jeopardize the country’s credit line and cost American taxpayers, according to a report by an American watchdog agency." "The report, which was dated Wednesday, found that no completed projects had been transferred to the national government since June 30, 2006. It said 2,362 completed projects valued at $5.3 billion were pending as of May 31." 07-07 -07-30-07 Foreclosures Rise 58 Percent in 2007 (MSNBC News) "The number of U.S. homes facing foreclosure surged 58 percent in the first six months of the year, the latest sign of mounting problems in the mortgage industry, a data firm said Monday." 07-07 -07-31-07 US Credit Woes Ripple Across the Globe (Christian Science Monitor) "It's a good thing that the world economy had a head of steam going into this summer, because it now faces financial headwinds made in the USA." "On Monday, shares of the German industrial bank IKB plummeted as the bank announced its earnings would be hit hard by the rising default rate of American subprime home loans." 07-07 -08-01-07 Behind the Surveillance Debate (MSNBC News) "A federal judge's secret ruling restricting the intelligence community's surveillance powers helped spur a Capitol Hill bid to grant Bush new authority." 08-07 -08-01-07 Elections Officials Face New Rules (MSNBC News) "The state officials who run the nation’s elections — most with little oversight — are facing new efforts to limit what have been widely criticized as political and financial conflicts of interest." 08-07 -08-03-07 Interview with the Speaker of the House (PBS.org) "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has faced criticism over the Democrats' inability to force change on the Iraq war. In an interview, she talks about the Democratic war strategy and other issues." 08-07 -08-03-07 Senate Votes to Expand Eavesdropping Power (MSNBC News) "The Senate, in a high-stakes showdown over national security, voted late Friday to temporarily give President Bush expanded authority to eavesdrop on suspected foreign terrorists without court warrants." "The House, meanwhile, rejected a Democratic version of the bill." 08-07 -08-04-07 House Passes Changes to Spy Program (New York Times) "Under pressure from President Bush, the House on Saturday gave final approval to changes in a terrorist surveillance program despite serious objections from many Democrats about the scope of the executive branch’s new eavesdropping power." 08-07 -08-07-07 Spy Chief's Role in Espionage Bill Questioned (LATimes.com) "The director of national intelligence is supposed to be non-political, but some lawmakers think the White House used McConnell for partisan purposes." 08-07 -08-11-07 Billy Graham: Friend to Presidents (ABC News) "He's preached to every president since Harry Truman. It is one of the most unique series of friendships in modern politics, counseling these leaders under the tremendous stresses of war, politics and personal scandals. But evangelist Billy Graham simply refers to the last 11 presidents as his 'friends.' " 08-07 -08-11-07 Story Behind Expansion of the President's Spy Authority (New York Times) "At a closed-door briefing in mid-July, senior intelligence officials startled lawmakers with some troubling news. American eavesdroppers were collecting just 25 percent of the foreign-based communications they had been receiving a few months earlier." "By Aug. 2, the two sides seemed relatively close to a deal. Mr. McConnell had agreed to some increased role for the secret court, a step that the administration considered a major concession, the White House and Congressional leaders said." "But that night, the talks broke down. With time running out, the Senate approved a Republican bill that omitted the stronger court oversight. The next day, the House passed the bill." 08-07 -08-11-07 Subprime Contagion Is Spreading (Bloomberg.com) "The $2 trillion market for mortgages not backed by government- sponsored agencies is at a standstill. That's just the beginning. Other types of mortgages are suffering. So are firms and banks that package the debt for investors. The ripples were felt in Europe and Asia, where central banks offered cash to banks amid a credit crunch. And some corporations, from countertop makers to railroads, are blaming the mortgage meltdown and housing slump for earnings that fell short of analysts' estimates." 08-07 -08-13-07 Karl Rove to Resign in August (CNN News) "Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush's senior political adviser, will voluntarily step down from his White House post at the end of the month, senior administration officials said Monday." 08-07 -08-14-07 How "Enemy Combatant" Designation Was Used Against a U.S. Citizen (CNN News) "By April 2003, Padilla had already spent 10 months in isolation at the brig. Ultimately, he was housed in the same cell, alone in his wing, for three years and seven months, according to court documents." " 'I'm not a psychologist, but if he is not profoundly psychologically disturbed from that experience then he is a stronger man than me,' says Steven Kleinman, a retired US Air Force Reserve colonel and former interrogator." "He [Padilla] has 'undergone a profound, tremendously prolonged psychological stress involving extended periods of utter isolation and deprivation,' the psychiatrist writes. Grassian's report concludes: 'Given the extensive research on this issue, much of it funded by the United States government, it follows necessarily that the United States government was well aware of the likely consequences of its conduct in regard to Mr. Padilla.' " "Officials have repeatedly said that the US doesn't use torture. 'The Department of Defense policy is clear – we treat all detainees humanely,' says Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Defense Department spokesman." 08-07 -08-16-07 American Padilla Found Guilty on Terrorism-Related Charges (CNN News) "The jury in the Jose Padilla terror trial has found the American guilty of conspiracy to support Islamic terrorism overseas." 08-07 -08-16-07 E-Voting a Non-Starter (BBC News) "A group of researchers at Johns Hopkins and Rice universities in the US got their hands on the source code of one of the most widely-used electronic voting systems, from Diebold Election Systems, and did a security audit on it." "The system they look at is called a 'direct election recording', or DRE, system. It runs on specially adapted touch screen systems in voting booths, but it is the software that would form the basis of an online voting system too." "DRE systems were available to over a fifth of people voting in the 2002 US congressional elections." "The researchers found dozens of security holes in the voting system. In order to vote, each person had to insert a special card, but the system did not check that the same person was not voting many times." "It was also possible to change the order that candidates were presented on the screen without changing the internal codes assigned to each one, so that voters could be tricked into voting for the wrong person." 08-07 -08-16-07 Petraeus: Surge Is Over (MSNBC News) " 'We know that the surge has to come to an end,' Petraeus said, according to the Associated Press. 'I think everyone understands that, by about a year or so from now, we've got to be a good bit smaller than we are right now. The question is how do you do that . . . so that you can retain the gains we have fought so hard to achieve and so you can keep going.' " 08-07 -08-16-07 Sunnis Leave Negotiations (PBS.org) Efforts to revise the constitution in violence-ravaged Iraq threatened to come off the rails when negotiations with key Sunni politicians ended after their largest bloc in parliament left the government Aug. 1." 08-07 -08-16-07 The Growing Role of China in the World (US News) "After years focusing on its own economy, China has begun to go global in influence as well as economics. With growing interests around the globe—from mines in Peru to peacekeepers across Africa to pipelines into Central Asia—China is finding it can no longer live by its doctrine of "nonintervention." In Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East, China is beginning to use its influence in ways that may prove problematic for the United States." 08-07 -08-18-07 Reagan Advisor Dies (CBS News) "Michael K. Deaver, one of Ronald Reagan's closest White House advisers and the director of the president's picturesque and symbolic public appearances, died Saturday. He was 69." 08-07 -08-21-07 Bush Administration Moves to Limit Children's Health Insurance (PBS.org) "The White House issued new guidelines for a low-income children's health insurance program that would essentially check states' efforts to broaden coverage to those at higher income levels." "Congress is considering legislation to increase funding for the program by $35 billion or $50 billion over five years. President Bush, however, has proposed an increase of $5 billion over five years to the current $25 billion funding level in order to ensure that the program does not become a substitute for private coverage, he has said." 08-07 -08-21-07 Warrantless Wiretaping Law Extension May be Reviewed (Christian Science Monitor) "The administration's warrantless wiretapping program looks set to be the subject of renewed and bitter wrangling between Congress and the White House when lawmakers return to Washington in September." 08-07 -08-22-07 Bush Reaffirms Support for Iraq Prime Minister (PBS.org) "President Bush reiterated his continued support of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in a speech Wednesday after criticizing the embattled leader earlier this week. Experts discuss the president's relationship with the prime minister." 08-07 -08-22-07 CIA Report Identifies Missteps Before September 11 (New York Times) "The administration's warrantless wiretapping program looks set to be the subject of renewed and bitter wrangling between Congress and the White House when lawmakers return to Washington in September." 08-07 -08-24-07 Editorial: Bush's Risky Vietnam Comparison (Time.com) "Politically, President Bush has reached the point all gamblers fear: being so far down that higher stakes start to look worth the risk. Public support for his handling of the war in Iraq is already abysmal, with 70% against him and only 25% still in his camp. So perhaps he felt he had very little to lose when Wednesday, in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Mo., he effectively doubled down, arguing not only that America needs to stay in Iraq until a stable democracy can take root, but also implying we should have done the same in Vietnam a generation ago." 08-07 -08-25-07 Doctor Tells Why Patients Died During Katrina Flooding (MSNBC News) "Dr. Anna Pou was accused of murdering nine patients in a New Orleans hospital wracked by Katrina, but a grand jury declined to indict her. Now she gives her side of the story." 08-07 -08-27-07 Attorney General Gonzales Resigns (CNN News) "Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation Monday in a brief statement at the Justice Department." "Bush will likely nominate Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to the position, senior administration officials said." 08-07 -08-27-07 California's 911 Centers Overwhelmed (KTVU News) "California's emergency agencies are struggling to adapt to a surge in calls from cell phones that have overwhelmed the state's 911 system, leading to lost calls and long waits, according to a published report." 08-07 -09-08-07 Edwards Rails Against Lobbyists (Time.com) "In a raw populist appeal, Democrat John Edwards on Saturday accused presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton of defending a lobbyist-driven political system that is 'rigged against regular Americans' and killed her plan for universal health care." 09-07 -09-08-07 Petraeus to Say Stay the Course (CBS News) "President Bush's top two military and political advisers on Iraq will warn Congress on Monday that making any significant changes to the current war strategy will jeopardize the limited security and political progress made so far, The Associated Press has learned." 09-07 -09-09-07 Most Are Skeptical of Petraeus Report (ABC News) "Fifty-three percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll think Gen. David Petraeus' progress report on the 'surge' of