Monday, April 30, 2007

Stand Up With Our Troops, End the War

More than 1909 soldiers signing on, since Jan of 2007

Prissy is posting this only, because its a very special announcement. Write if you want to know more. Let Prissy know if you can attend, she knows there are many military Dearest Readers...{whisper} Former CIA Larry Johnson might be one of the attendees.

Prissy is running a special for military/CIA/FBI/Police guys and gals who attend. We have also heard they will be treated to a lovely luncheon after the event.

**Save the Date**

NOTED CORRECTION TO THIS POST: Prissy had to change the word "petition" to Appeal. Sorry for the mistake.

Memorial Day Weekend-"A Soldiers Walk for Soldiers"

*Public participation to support our troops in their communication to end the war is vital*

Mark your calender for May 27, 2007 - Meet at the Ohio Statehouse Veterans memorial in downtown Columbus at 12:30 pm.

BIG Speakers coming- TBA.

Support our active duty military in their "Appeal for Redress" walk of support- for brothers and sisters in arms, on Memorial Day Weekend, Sunday May 27, 2007 step-off at 1 PM.

More information about the Appeal: http://www.appealforredress.org

The wording of the Appeal for Redress is short and simple. It is patriotic and respectful in tone. Frequently Asked Questions about the appeal (pdf) http://www.appealforredress.org/pdf/07_04_faqs.pdf

As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq. Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.

Please come dressed in uniform (if retired) or plain non uniform cameo jacket, pants etc. (active, reserve, Guard) You must be off duty to participate.

This is a not a political event. All participants should wear a hat. We will have a snare drum player to lead the walk. A flute or fife player would be just great too. Cadence walk from the Statehouse to the Federal Building where the Appeal will be read, along with a prayer for our troops and the Iraqi people.

We would like to limit participation in the walk to former or current soldiers and we need at least 24 to make a formation during the reading of the Appeal. The response has been overwhelmingly positive to this event, by the troops and the public.

Peace groups, the public, political leaders and others are welcome, limiting their own participation to signs of support for the walk and lot's of cheering for our brave troops;-)

Sponsoring and coordinating organizations: Military Families Speak Out-Central Ohio Chapter http://www.mfso.org , Progress Ohio http://www.progressohio.org , Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Artists for Political Reform, the Interfaith Alliance and many local churches and Peace groups and labor organizations

Questions: Military Families Speak Out Ohio or contact Progress Ohio Brian Rothenberg Executive Director of ProgressOhio, 265 S. 3rd St.,Columbus,Ohio 43215 614-441-9145 office Progress Ohio

Quotes of the Day

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~Abraham Lincoln

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all! By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall.~John Dickinson

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Trick or Treason

Well, America? Will you let them do it? Or is it time we call out the National Guard? Perhaps we should write and ask them what they intend to do to defend the constitution...

Hey Prissy, what about that "Truck Out"? Well, Dearest Readers, perhaps the DC metro police read blogs too. From Save America Fund:

posted 04/26/07 A SUCCESS IN SPITE OF GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE

TO ALL RALLY PARTICIPANTS: MANY of us showed up but were not allowed to go to the party. We were conspired against by our own government. Monday morning, April 23, about 11 AM, Drew Raines of A Marines Disquisition radio show, told me he could see on a live traffic cam for Montgomery county in DC, truckers lined up on the northbound I 95 into the D.C. Beltway, flags flying, banners on their trucks. Several hours later, he was told by some truckers, that the D.C. police were out in force and that no 18 wheelers were allowed on the Beltway for the next three days, the days of our rally, and they forced all the trucker traffic to go elsewhere. The truckers were also told that the only way they would be allowed on the beltway was if they were carrying a load in their trucks with a legal bill of lading that gave them permission to be in the capitol area.

We have also heard from a large convoy of protesting trucker that were coming into the beltway from the north, that the police were out in force up there too, pulling the truckers over and giving tickets to everyone participating in the convoy. We have heard this from all over the nation, same thing. So far we have heard from about 70+ truckers that got tickets, all over the US, for trying to participate in the slow roll around a capitol, or on the freeways. A convoy of 20+ truckers tried to go to Nashville capitol and were intercepted before they got there and told to leave or get ticketed, some still got tickets, same for Little Rock, same for Oklahoma City. Oklahoma city didn't give up though, we have heard that somewhere between 100 - 175 truckers showed up there, were turned away, regrouped and came back, but this time parking their trucks several blocks away from the capitol and joining the rally on the steps of the capitol, where a state senator joined them and said they had just unanimously passed a resolution urging Congress to repeal the Bush plan and to stop the NAU.

We may have been thwarted this time, but we are not through. We are now regrouping, and planning our second run at this for June, 14, 15, 16, but this time we will be far more organized and have a contact person in every state, organizing the truckers in that state.

I am deeply sorry for the tickets that were issued to those participating in the rally. I am so very grateful for every trucker who participated and the bravery and patriotism each and every one of you has shown. I cannot thank you enough for how hard you all worked to make this rally happen. Even though we were thwarted, I view this rally as a success. The true UPSIDE to all this is that many, many more truckers and concerned citizens know about the NAU and the Mexican truckers, NAFTA's damage to our economy, and our govt's plans to destroy our sovereignty and Constitution, so this next push to get the information out will educate just that many more people.

From Prissy's Inbox:

I was in Vietnam in 1967-68; was wounded on two occasions; received the Purple Heart, etc. I was almost killed or wounded by ‘friendly fire’ several times. The mother of a soldier killed by friendly fire wrote a book by that title that I recommend. A couple of times, when I was with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Central Highlands(think Platoon or Full Metal Jacket), we were returning to the camp area after an all-night ambush detail. Once, one of our own soldiers, lobbed a hand grenade at us, which knocked us down from the blast. Another time, we approached an M-60 machine gun and the gunner told us later that he nearly opened up on us before calling out the ‘password.”

After four months as a line doggie, I transferred to a LURP(Long Range Patrol Unit)(think Deer Hunter); operated in 6 man recon teams; 12 man ambush teams deep in the bush. Like Pat Tillman, I was Ranger trained. We monitored trails during Tet 1. We got hit by both ground artillery and navel guns many times. There was one episode where the shells where set to explode at tree top level and were shearing off the tops of the trees around us. Someone did not get the word that we were there, or got it wrong. Another bombardment lasted a long time as we clutched the ground and were lifted up by the explosions. We all received concussions from the impact. We had blood coming out of our ears and noses.

One time we hit a hot LZ(landing zone); the Vietcong were on us and opened fire. We were in a world of serious hurt and had to call in the Air Force jets; the jets, were firing rockets so close to us, that you could hear them whistle and scream by over our heads.

I am sure, any Iraqi vet will tell you, that everyday, GI’s are killed by ‘friendly fire.’ There is nothing disgraceful about that. The soldier is awarded a Purple Heart but the ‘Heart’ is slightly different than the awarded for wounds received from opposing forces fire.

I recently visited the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. They have a wing there for pro football players who served in the armed forces. Pat Tillman has a special section just for him.

Rather than just report what happened to Tillman, YOUR GOVERNMENT felt they were justified in manipulating public opinion through deception. From the World Can’t Wait Call, YOUR GOVERNMENT, ON THE BASIS OF OUTRAGEOUS LIES, is wagering a murderous and utterly illegitimate war in Iraq, with other countries in their sights.

There is no justification for lies told to Tillman’s family. How many people enlisted in the military after being inspired by the ‘Tillman story’spun to the media?

The Tillman incident is one more example of a CULTURE OF DECEIT promoted by the current administration.

In Washington D. C. at Operation Ceasefire I heard Cindy Sheehan speak. At one point in her talk, she paused, looked over her shoulder towards the White House and yelled, “SHAME ON YOU!.”

Steve Vargo,a Corrections specialist, is the Columbus chapter organizer of World Can’t Wait, www.columbuswcw.org and www.worldcantwait.org and www.waronwar.us

Hot Links

And I Didn't Speak Up

Neat idea...for May 13, 2007 Standing Women

We will be standing for the world's children and grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them. We dream of a world where all of our children have safe drinking water, clean air to breathe, and enough food to eat. A world where they have access to a basic education to develop their minds and healthcare to nurture their growing bodies. A world where they have a warm, safe, and loving place to call home. A world where they don't live in fear of violence--in their home, in their neighborhood, in their school, or in their world. This is the world of which we dream. This is the cause for which we will stand.

If you share this dream, please stand with us for five minutes of silence at 1 p.m. your local time on May 13, 2007, in your local park, school yard, gathering place, or any place you deem appropriate, to signify your agreement with this statement. We ask you to invite the men and boys who you care about to join you.

The guys should do this too-soldiers, policeman, steel workers, all of them. After all guys, don't you want to be watching the game with a tall cool one, instead of defending yourself? Think how much your back will hurt at 40, if you get in a lot of fights during your youth...oh you'll be sorry then, Misters.

Mind Prod.com What Republicans Pretend Not To Notice

Good guide to send to your right wing friends. The burden should be on them to explain why they uphold a policy that is not based on facts. Or reality...

Reuters Idea of U.S. threat to Russia is "ludicrous": Rice

- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed as nonsense the concerns of some Russian officials that a planned U.S. missile shield in eastern Europe could pose a strategic threat to Moscow.

Flashback The Guardian February 3, 2006 Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo

The memo seen by Prof Sands reveals:· Mr Bush told Mr Blair that the US was so worried about the failure to find hard evidence against Saddam that it thought of "flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft planes with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in UN colours". Mr Bush added: "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach [of UN resolutions]".

· Mr Bush even expressed the hope that a defector would be extracted from Iraq and give a "public presentation about Saddam's WMD". He is also said to have referred Mr Blair to a "small possibility" that Saddam would be "assassinated".

· Mr Bush told the prime minister that he "thought it unlikely that there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups". Mr Blair did not demur, according to the book.

And...Prof Sands says Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's UN ambassador at the time, told a foreign colleague he was "clearly uncomfortable" about the failure to get a second resolution. Foreign Office lawyers consistently warned that an invasion would be regarded as unlawful.

NYT Court Asked to Limit Lawyers at Guantánamo

So the treason cabal won't mind if we do the same when its "their turn" to play the wheel of justice?

San Mateo Daily News Accused molester's bail reduced Update on the child psychiatrist accused of molesting children under his care

Prosecutor Melissa McKowan called the case against (Dr. William) Ayres "incredibly grave."

"There are numerous people who were victimized by somebody in an extreme situation of trust," said McKowan. "This is as egregious a child-molest case as you can find."

Ayres practiced in San Mateo County for decades, seeing patients referred to him through local school districts and the county's juvenile court system. He also maintained a private practice.

Police first began investigating Ayres in 2002 after being told by a man who was a patient of Ayres in the 1970s that the doctor had molested him on multiple occasions. But the case had to be dropped after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling effectively changed the statute of limitations on such cases.

C-Net News Intel outlines plans to find missing e-mail

Last month, Intel said that a number of employees had failed to properly preserve e-mail related to AMD's allegations after some people forgot to save "sent" e-mail or assumed IT was backing up their folders. The report doesn't have much in the way of details beyond what Intel has already said, that despite the breakdown in its document retention policies it thinks it can cobble together the rest of the e-mail messages from backup tapes, e-mail preserved by those who properly followed retention procedures, and by looking at other employees within the same department or management team.

The mess goes all the way to the top: court transcripts indicated that CEO Paul Otellini was one of the individuals who thought IT was backing up his e-mail. But Intel noted that it did take a snapshot of every file on its network the day after AMD filed its lawsuit, which are the files that might have the evidence AMD seeks.

AMD said it was evaluating Intel's report before commenting further, but that it might seek to depose certain employees to learn more about the document retention lapses. Intel filed a number of exhibits under seal that contained the names of those on the document retention list, and AMD wants to review all of those documents.

It Was Johnson...a conspiracy theorists dream website. And remember- there are conspiracy theories because there are conspirators...It Was Johnson

NBC Threatens Witnesses in Garrison Trial- On Tape In the Lincoln assassination, three conspirators were nationally known newspapermen. In the Kennedy assassination we had the same situation-- several newspaper publishers conspired to mislead the public-- particularly those publications and broadcast entities owned by billionaire H.L. Hunt, who was also a close friend of Johnson.

Greg Palast Bush’s New US Attorney a Criminal? BBC Television had exposed 2004 voter attack scheme by appointee Griffin, a Rove aide.Black soldiers and the homeless targeted.

There’s only one thing worse than sacking an honest prosecutor. That’s replacing an honest prosecutor with a criminal.

There was one big hoohah in Washington yesterday as House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers pulled down the pants on George Bush’s firing of US Attorneys to expose a scheme to punish prosecutors who wouldn’t bend to political pressure.

But the Committee missed a big one: Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove’s assistant, the President’s pick as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin, according to BBC Television, was the hidden hand behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 citizens prior to the 2004 election.

Truth Dig Despite Incompetence, Gonzales Isn’t Going Anywhere by John Dean

Some of the most important and revealing information during this hearing did not come from Gonzales, but rather from the newest member of the committee, freshman Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.RI). Senator Whitehouse is the former Attorney General of Rhode Island, and a former U.S. Attorney. He thus understands well how the Justice Department should operate, and how it actually is operating.

In a premise to a question for Gonzales, Senator Whitehouse said he had found correspondence in the files of the Senate Judiciary Committee from the days when Orrin Hatch was chairman relating to an investigation of the relationship between the Clinton White House and the Justice Department (under Attorney General Janet Reno). Hatch was concerned about the independence of the Department of Justice, so he wanted to know who in the White House could speak with whom in the Justice Department. The correspondence showed that four people in the White House (the President, Vice President, chief of staff, and White House counsel) could speak with three people in the Justice Department (the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney and the Associate Attorney General)—period.

Senator Whitehouse discovered—and created a chart to make the point—that in the Bush White House, a shocking 417 people could speak with 30 different people in the Justice Department. It was a jaw-dropper. As Chairman Leahy said, when he asked Senator Whitehouse to continue when his time expired, in his thirty years on the Judiciary Committee, he had never seen anything like the open contacts from the White House to the Justice Department that had occurred in the Bush Administration.

Gonzales really had no response when asked about this subject. But this information shows that, in this Administration, the Department of Justice has become a mere political appendage of the White House. (I have a number of friends who are career professionals at the Department of Justice, and since Gonzales arrived, they have said that morale at the department has tanked, for they all feel the politicization of the place, and they do not like it. Many of these gifted, experienced professionals are leaving, which will hurt the Department, the government, and ultimately all of us.)

MSNBC Lieutenant colonel charged with ‘aiding the enemy’ faces multiple charges for alleged misconduct in Iraq

NBC News has learned that the commander of Camp Cropper, the massive U.S. Army detention center in Baghdad, has been charged with aiding the enemy.

The Army tells NBC News that military police arrested Lt. Col. William H. Steele several weeks ago and that he is being held at a detention facility in Kuwait. He now faces an Article 32 hearing, the military's equivalent of a grand jury investigation, to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute him.

An Army statement listed these charges against Steele: "One specification of a violation of Article 104, aiding the enemy; one specification of a violation of Article 134, retaining classified material; two specifications of violations of Article 133, conduct unbecoming an officer, for relationships involving an interpreter and another Iraqi female; five specifications of a violation of Article 92, failure to obey lawful orders for wrongfully storing classified materials, improperly marking classified materials, failing to obey an order from a superior officer, possession of pornography and dereliction of duty as an approving official for the expenditure of government funds."

Strange story lacking most details...So are Iraqi's the "enemy" or are we there to "liberate" them? Dubya needs to make up his mind.

Yahoo Congress passes Iraq bill, veto awaits

WASHINGTON - A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war.

At the White House, the president immediately promised a veto.

"It is amazing that legislation urgently needed to fund our troops took 80 days to make its way around the Capitol. But that's where we are," said deputy press secretary Dana Perino.

The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president's threatened veto. Nevertheless, the legislation is the first binding challenge on the war that Democrats have managed to send to Bush since they reclaimed control of both houses of Congress in January.

Dearest Readers, wait until you see Prissy do "too much cappuccino Perino." Coming soon from Indymedia...

Learn about poverty-hopefully not first hand...The Borgen Project POVERTY FAQ'S

Why do defense experts view global poverty as a threat to the United States? Poverty creates desperate people and unstable conditions. As the National Security Strategy of the United States says, “A world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2 a day, is neither just nor stable.”

PBS Bill Moyers BUYING THE WAR: Watch the Show

Buying the War:Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln wearing a flight suit and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. He was hailed by media stars as a "breathtaking" example of presidential leadership in toppling Saddam Hussein. Despite profound questions over the failure to locate weapons of mass destruction and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neo-cons now;" NPR's Bob Edwards said, "The war in Iraq is essentially over;" and Fortune magazine's Jeff Birnbaum said, "It is amazing how thorough the victory in Iraq really was in the broadest context."

How did the mainstream press get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein to 9-11 continue to go largely unreported? "What the conservative media did was easy to fathom; they had been cheerleaders for the White House from the beginning and were simply continuing to rally the public behind the President — no questions asked. How mainstream journalists suspended skepticism and scrutiny remains an issue of significance that the media has not satisfactorily explored," says Moyers. "How the administration marketed the war to the American people has been well covered, but critical questions remain: How and why did the press buy it, and what does it say about the role of journalists in helping the public sort out fact from propaganda?"

An excellent documentary-this shows all of the evidence needed to disprove what the White House was telling us in the lead up to the war was publicly available. The Knight-Ridder team knew and so did their readers. Transcript of program is available on the site .

That will serve them well in their future of journalism. And boy, weren't Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel cute heroes?

The careers of the liars will be over,just ask Judith Miller-Prissy hears she's available...

More about those excellent reporters and kudos to the big boys in suits who told them to find the truth! They are patriots too. Refreshing in the media and they should be rewarded accordingly. Knight-Ridder was bought by MCCLATCHY Newspapers, Prissy hopes the new owners appreciate this crew. The decisions, policies and intelligence behind the Iraq War

It's all there...series of articles that disprove the administrations case to go to war in Iraq. All the intelligence experts disagreed with the administrations public case for war-except for the ones who went on TV of course...

1 Old Boring Man Blogspot KR@georgewbush.com…

This frantic email from Jeffery Jennings is from when things started with the U.S. Attorney scandal. Notice the date, the server Karl Rove was receiving his emails on, the fact that Karl Rove was a part of things this early, and that Dana Perino [the Tony Snow clone] was already in the loop.

Sounds kind of governmental [rather than political]. To me, this is the most damning piece yet. It says, "Uh-Oh. We’re busted. Let’s get our stories straight and go into damage control mode." A bunch of petty criminals. The placement of the word, "allegedly," in those sentences is downright funny.

Go to the site to see the email. Hard to say it wasn't government business, in fact, impossible.

The Guardian Fascist America, in 10 easy steps

As difficult as this is to contemplate, it is clear, if you are willing to look, that each of these 10 steps has already been initiated today in the United States by the Bush administration.

Because Americans like me were born in freedom, we have a hard time even considering that it is possible for us to become as unfree - domestically - as many other nations. Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system of government - the task of being aware of the constitution has been outsourced from citizens' ownership to being the domain of professionals such as lawyers and professors - we scarcely recognise the checks and balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being systematically dismantled. Because we don't learn much about European history, the setting up of a department of "homeland" security - remember who else was keen on the word "homeland" - didn't raise the alarm bells it might have.

Note to Dearest Readers, If Condi refuses to testify we should insist she is treated like anyone else in that situation...

Quotes of the Day

Academic and aristocratic people live in such an uncommon atmosphere that common sense can rarely reach them.--Samuel Butler,(1835-1902)

A parent who sends his son into the world uneducated and without skill in any art or science does a great injury to mankind as well as to his own family, for he defrauds the community of a useful citizen and bequeaths to it a nuisance.--James Kent (1763-1847)

A man who has never gone to school may steal from a freight car; but if he has a university education, he may steal the whole railroad.--Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.--William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

From Richard S. Zera (1001 Quips & Quotes for Business Speeches)

A confident applicant for a job presented his credentials to a personnel manager. The manager looked over them and said, "I see you've got good recommendations from your church minister and Sunday-school teacher. That's good. And, I must admit, you look honest and appear to be of good character. Nevertheless, I'd like to see a recommendation from someone who knows you on weekdays."

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Gonzo Dances the Legal Limbo

There is no "limbo" according to the Pope. However, Gonzo may see it different these days.

Or can he see at all? Will his defense be that he needed new glasses? Maybe that explains why he signed off on the torture, caste off Geneva as a Gold Standard of humanity for the world, fired some of our best U.S. Attorneys and tells Dubya anything he wanted to do was legally fine by him. He felt strongly in the presidents "unitary authority." What country was he talking about? Can't be this one...

But after all, this is counsel who has never tried a case- so its not like he's a real lawyer.

His stint on the hot seat Thursday proved that. RAW Story cited an article that said he had a total of 71 "I don't recall" "I don't know" "I don't remember." John Stewart said 45 before lunch!

Note to Dearest Readers: Prissy has some interesting projects going on to tell you about...more soon!

Hot Links

Prissy likes the way these JAG's think...from Military Law Review - Volume 185 - Fall 2005 (in pdf)

EMERGENCY POWERS AND TERRORISM p. 83 In his classic concurrence analyzing separation of powers, Justice Jackson pointed out that the President is on strongest ground when he acts with congressional authorization, may or may not have constitutional powers when acting in congressional silence, and must have strong independent constitutional grounds when going against the will of Congress.

p. 84 Under that reasoning, to justify military force to perform civil law enforcement after passage of the posse comitatus legislation, the President would have to persuade a majority of the court that a genuine emergency existed sufficient to justify departure from specific congressional direction. After the experience of Korematsu, Duncan, and Youngstown, it is doubtful that anything short of imminent invasion could justify unilateral action in violation of the statute.

(bold PP)

Dubya, in America you govern, you do not rule...

A Shero steps forward! Yahoo Official takes risks warning on pet drug The first hints of trouble came with vague warnings from the outer reaches of the bureaucracy. She was "pushing too hard." She was "alarmist."

In June 2005, a Wyeth manager made a sales call at an Alabama veterinary practice, where he openly blamed (Dr. Victoria) Hampshire for the Proheart 6 recall, according to a confidential letter written by a vet there to the FDA. The Wyeth employee boasted that the company had her investigated by private detectives, and she had been "taken care of," according to the letter obtained by The Associated Press. He then predicted the drug's swift return to market.

That Wyeth manager, Glen Kimmorley, did not answer AP messages left at a home phone in his name. The Wyeth spokesman said Kimmorley "was expressing his own opinion and was not authorized to speak on behalf of the company." However, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has been investigating Hampshire's case, says Wyeth "tried to destroy a reputation."

He added: "Her own agency sold her down the river."

Hampshire still feels edgy, less trusting, shamefully naive about corporate influence on government. Her husband, Bob Balaban — himself a senior scientist at the National Institutes of Health — says she's "not the same person." They hope for more answers from Senate investigators.

This retaliation against people trying to make something better must stop. Prissy will have to note that when she gripes at Congress.

Good grief, have Dubya's people gone feral?

Angus-Reid PollingRussians Have Good Opinion of China

More people in Russia see China as an amicable country, according to a poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center. 27 per cent of respondents perceive China as a friendly state and an ally, up five points since July 2005.

An additional 36 per cent regard China as Russia’s strategic and economic partner, while 21 per cent consider it an economic and political rival and a competitor.

How do they see us? Don't ask...

This is London Power lines link to cancer in new alert

The report was drawn up by scientists, electricity company bosses, the National Grid, government officials and campaigners over two years after the Health Protection Agency accepted there was a weak statistical "association" between prolonged exposure to power fields and childhood leukaemia.

But the 40 members of the panel have clashed over the final details and conclusions.

It stops short of specifically recommending a ban on new homes and schools within 60 metres of power lines, or vice versa, which could wipe a total of £2 billion off property prices across Britain and limit land for housing developments.

But the report concludes that the Government should consider such a move, stating: "We urge government to make a clear decision on whether to implement this option or not."

Channel News Asia Iraq PM to lobby for Egypt talks

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will begin a regional tour on Sunday to drum up support for next month's international conference in Egypt aimed at quelling the raging bloodshed in Iraq.

His tour comes to the backdrop of a warning by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to Iraqi leaders that they need to work faster to reconcile their rival factions as American support cannot be taken for granted for ever.

Coffeyville Journal, more proof evangelicals need more than God... Female teacher charged with sexual relationship with student

Marsha Mote, a 37-year-old Tyro Community Christian School teacher, was charged Tuesday at the Montgomery County, Kansas courthouse with aggravated indecent liberties with one of her 14-year-old students.

Court documents filed Tuesday by Montgomery County Attorney Larry Markle accused Mote of unlawfully, feloniously and intentionally having sexual intercourse with a girl on March 1. The girl was both a student at the school and a member of the church. The incident involved penetration and is alleged to have occurred off of school and church property.

Tyro Christian Church Pastor David Bycroft stated Tuesday that he became aware of the incident on March 3 when Mote called him to her home. "Marsha admitted to having been in a compromising position with a minor," Bycroft stated. "She immediately resigned her teaching position at Tyro Community Christian School and was relieved of all of her volunteer duties at the Tyro Christian Church. I then contacted the sheriff of Montgomery County."

Mote is the wife of Tyro Christian School Associate Pastor Kevin Mote. He has taken a leave of absence.

It will, I believe, everywhere be found, that as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation -- Jane Austen

WaPo Congress Skeptical of Warhead Plan Lawmakers and Experts Question Necessity, Implications of a New Nuclear Weapon

Congressional hearings over the past several weeks have shown that the Bush administration's plan to move ahead with a new generation of nuclear warheads faces strong opposition from House and Senate members concerned that the effort lacks any strategic underpinning and could lead to a new nuclear arms race.

Experts inside and outside the government questioned moving forward with a new warhead as old ones are being refurbished and before developing bipartisan agreement on how many warheads would be needed at the end of what could be a 30-year process. Several, including former senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), suggested linking production of a new warhead with U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, a move the Bush administration has opposed.

Bush eliminated the "Mutual Assured Destruction Theory" that most military strategists took into account while planning national defense. Not so much a "theory " as it is common sense. Leave it to these guys to extinct the human race. Does Prissy believe they are that stupid? YES...

The Corruption Chronicles Imprisoned Mayor Says Pay Up

A former Connecticut mayor and once-prominent Republican politician serving a lengthy federal prison sentence for child sexual abuse had the audacity to claim that the city he once headed owes him tens of thousands of dollars in personal benefits.

Former Waterbury Mayor Philip A. Giordano was convicted in 2003 of 17 counts of child abuse involving the use of city-owned equipment to set up sexual liaisons with two young girls. He was sentenced to 37 years in federal prison and now claims that Waterbury owes him $61,000 for unused vacation, sick and personal days.

Giordano, a three-term Waterbury mayor, had also served as a Connecticut state representative and was the Republican challenger against popular incumbent Senator Joseph Lieberman in 2000. The child sex charges surfaced in 2001, during a federal corruption investigation into Giordano's administration. He was accused of taking kickbacks involving city contracts, making him Waterbury's third consecutive mayor to end up in court and the second to go to prison.

Have some time to donate for a good cause without leaving your favorite chair? Comb through Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by the good folks at CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Crew FOIA Documents

CREW explains the missing email scandal THE FACTS BEHIND THE WHITE HOUSE EMAIL SCANDALS

There are two separate email scandals:

- Top White House officials’ use of RNC email accounts and RNC destruction of those emails

- Five million EOP emails missing from White House (EOP) server from period 3/03 to 10/05

Times Online UK Secret memo on Iraq talks at the White House seen by 87 people

He was giving evidence for the prosecution in the trial of David Keogh, a civil servant who worked in a Cabinet Office communications centre, and Leo O’Connor, a political researcher working for a Labour MP, both of whom have pleaded not guilty to charges under the Official Secrets Act 1989 in relation to the unauthorised disclosure of the document. They face a maximum of two years in prison if found guilty.

Mr Rycroft, the first of several Downing Street witnesses expected to give evidence at the trial, said that he had stipulated at the top of his letter from Washington that “the document must only go to those who really need to see it”, and should not be copied to anyone else.

He said that he was surprised to discover that it had been given much wider circulation and had ended up on the desks of a number of officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Cabinet Office, MI6 and the Joint Intelligence Committee. A number of duty clerks and communications specialists had also seen it as part of their role to distribute it around Whitehall. All were in a position to have read the contents, Mr Rycroft said.

The prosecution accuses Mr Keogh of making an unlawful copy of the document, which had been faxed to the communications centre where he was on duty, and passing it to Mr O’Connor in the hope that it would end up in the public domain. Mr O’Connor slipped the document into a pile of papers belonging to Anthony Clarke, Labour MP for Northampton South. The MP handed it to Special Branch.

Forgive Prissy if she's mistaken, she was under the impression it was part of ones job not to allow illegal activity to occur while holding a position of public trust.

Forward Rumors Abound as Israel Levels Secret Charges Against Arab Pol

Despite the secrecy of the investigation — or because of it, according to Bishara — the case has touched off a furious political and ethnic fracas.

Bishara’s face was splashed across the front pages of Hebrew- and Arabic-language Israeli newspapers for days after the case was first leaked to the Arab-Israeli newspaper A-Sinara. Even the country’s embattled president did not get such extensive coverage after the initial reports that he was suspected of sexual misconduct.

Bishara has yet to be charged with wrongdoing; the investigation reportedly is ongoing. But the uproar has added a climactic element to a series of recent events that have combined to deepen mistrust between Arab and Jewish Israelis in the wake of last summer’s war in Lebanon. Various Arab political statements and initiatives have sparked Jewish fears of Arab radicalization. Jewish reactions, in turn, have sparked suspicions among Arabs of a looming crackdown on their freedom of speech.

The Bishara case has brought these mutual suspicions to a head, with many Arabs claiming that the investigation is a government attempt to silence critics, while Jewish commentators speculate that Bishara must be guilty of some act of disloyalty — typical, some charge, of his community as a whole.

Governments must understand that when they support actions coupled with secrecy and potential injustice or use devaluing methods in conducting their investigations-it will not be secret for long no matter which country or ethnic background. Nor should it be.

Zogby Zogby Poll on MSN: Most Don't Believe Stricter Gun Control Policies Will Prevent Mass Shootings Released: April 20, 2007

Two-thirds (69%) believe Virginia Tech shootings were the actions of a deranged man and could not have been prevented

Most Americans don't believe that stricter U.S. gun control policies would help prevent tragedies such as this week's shootings at Virginia Tech, a new MSN-Zogby poll shows.

While 59% don't think stricter gun control policies would help, 36% believe they could make a difference by helping to prevent future shootings. More than two in three Americans (69%) believe the recent shootings at Virginia Tech were the actions of a deranged man determined to inflict mayhem and could not have been prevented. But 16% believe stricter controls of guns and ammunition would have prevented the tragedy.

Lot's of gaps in the V Tech story...

BBC Afghanistan's bloody new year

It seems as if the Taleban's much-hyped spring offensive may have finally begun, but not in any formal sense, at least not in the contested provinces of southern Afghanistan.

There the British, American and other Nato forces remain on the front foot.

But since the country celebrated Nowruz - the Persian New Year - with picnics, dancing and kite flying competitions about a month ago, the insurgents have stepped up their attacks elsewhere.

In the past week alone, bombers have killed 25 people - most of them policemen and private security guards - in the normally peaceful northern town of Kunduz, in the Taleban's home city of Kandahar in the south and near the eastern border with Pakistan, in Khost.

Downing Street.org Record of Iraq War Lies to Air April 25 on PBS by David Swanson

Bill Moyers has put together an amazing 90-minute video documenting the lies that the Bush administration told to sell the Iraq War to the American public, with a special focus on how the media led the charge. I've watched an advance copy and read a transcript, and the most important thing I can say about it is: Watch PBS from 9 to 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25. Spending that 90 minutes on this will actually save you time, because you'll never watch television news again – not even on PBS, which comes in for its share of criticism.

While a great many pundits, not to mention presidents, look remarkably stupid or dishonest in the four-year-old clips included in "Buying the War," it's hard to take any spiteful pleasure in holding them to account, and not just because the killing and dying they facilitated is ongoing, but also because of what this video reveals about the mindset of members of the DC media. Moyers interviews media personalities, including Dan Rather, who clearly both understand what the media did wrong and are unable to really see it as having been wrong or avoidable.

Lebanon Daily Star Bush claims 'direction' in Iraq 'beginning to shift'

On the ground, US troops and helicopters fought with gunmen around a Shiite mosque in western Baghdad before prayers, killing two suspected insurgents, the American military said. US troops have started building a wall around a Sunni enclave in Baghdad, part of a strategy to "break the cycle of sectarian violence" in the Iraqi capital.

Two days after attacks in Baghdad killed more than 200 people, Bush defended the operation in the capital.

"There are still horrific attacks in Iraq, such as the bombings in Baghdad on Wednesday, but the direction of the fight is beginning to shift," he said.

Bush added that the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, "reports that it will be later this year before we can judge the potential for success, but the first indications are beginning to emerge. And they show that so far the operation is meeting expectations."

Yes, Dubya is going to "break the cycle" of violence with overwhelming violence. He doesn't yet understand they want us to leave and his "methods" only work for a day, at best.

Flashback Tue, Oct. 25, 2005CIA leak illustrates selective use of intelligence on Iraq

A Knight Ridder review of the administration's arguments, its own reporting at the time and the Senate Intelligence Committee's 2004 report shows that the White House followed a pattern of using questionable intelligence, even documents that turned out to be forgeries, to support its case - often leaking classified information to receptive journalists - and dismissing information that undermined the case for war.

The State of the Union speech was one of a number of instances in which Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and their aides ignored the qualms of intelligence professionals and instead relied on the claims of Iraqi defectors and other suspect sources or, in the case of Niger, the crudely forged documents.

Like the Niger allegation, almost all of the administration's claims that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had to be ousted before he could develop nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, use them against America or give them to al-Qaida terrorists have turned out to be false. No such weapons or programs have been found, and several official inquiries have concluded that there was no cooperation between Iraq and al-Qaida.

The indictments that may come in the CIA leak case this week aren't expected to delve into the administration's use of intelligence. The Senate Intelligence Committee agreed to examine the issue in 2004, when it reported on the spy agencies' errors, but it hasn't done so.

Word Yard The U.S. attorney purge and Watergate

U.S. attorneys are prosecutors who have enormous latitude and power to go after potential wrongdoing. They operate under the Justice Department’s direction but they have a tradition of independence, and both parties agree that they should be insulated from political pressure. They are political appointees — not political operatives.

The evidence continues to mount that the purged attorneys — loyal Republicans and Bush appointees all — were fired because (a) they weren’t aggressively pursuing an agenda of “cracking down on election fraud” that was a cornerstone of Karl Rove’s long-term strategy and (b) Rove wanted to ease them out so some of his young-turk up-and-comers could pad their resumes before the Bush administration sinks into its terminal mire.

At this point it sounds like we’re just dealing with some ugly political hardball. But as Josh Marshall (whose site has been a font of reporting and insight on this story from the beginning) has argued, the whole “election fraud” dimension has fouler partisan implications.

“Cracking down on electoral fraud” is a GOP code phrase; in practice, it means finding ways to keep poor and minority voters away from the polls. Two lengthy New York Times pieces — yesterday’s and today’s — have chronicled how little fire there is behind the GOP “election fraud” smoke. Gonzales and Rove kept pushing their U.S. attorneys to trump up election fraud cases, even as impartial or bipartisan investigations poking into these charges kept coming up empty.

From Project on Government Accountability, interesting book The Art of Anonymous Activism: Serving the Public While Surviving Public Service

Military.com Navy Commander Relieved of Post

The Navy gave no details on why Rankin's commander, Capt. Scott Stearney, lost confidence in his abilities. Stearney leads Carrier Air Wing 7, which includes Rankin's squadron.

"It's inappropriate to discuss the details because an investigation is ongoing. It's an internal situation," Aandahl said. "There could be a (criminal) charge. It's possible."

Aandahl said the loss of confidence in ability to command could be triggered under a broad range of scenarios from bad judgment to inappropriate conduct. For now, he said, Rankin will remain with the Eisenhower strike group, patrolling the Gulf and adjoining Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

The Eisenhower is currently visiting a port in the Persian Gulf that Aandahl declined to name.

Reuters Congress set to defy Bush on Iraq war

Bush has promised to veto any bill setting dates for removing U.S. combat soldiers from the Iraq war, now in its fifth year.

But when a Democratic-controlled panel of Senate and House of Representatives members meets on Monday to iron out differences between their respective bills, the product is expected to contain 2008 withdrawal dates.

Many lawmakers have been speculating those dates might be nonbinding, as sketched out by a Senate-passed bill.

"The longer we continue down the president's path, the further we will be from responsibly ending this war," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who on Thursday said the war in Iraq was "lost."

Tell congress "End the War" or be replaced!

UK Sunday Times Al-Qaeda‘planning big British attack’

Another plot could be timed to coincide with Tony Blair stepping down as prime minister, an event described by Al-Qaeda planners as a “change in the head of the company”.

The report, produced earlier this month and seen by The Sunday Times, appears to provide evidence that Al-Qaeda is active in Iran and has ambitions far beyond the improvised attacks it has been waging against British and American soldiers in Iraq.

There is no evidence of a formal relationship between Al-Qaeda, a Sunni group, and the Shi’ite regime of President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad, but experts suggest that Iran’s leaders may be turning a blind eye to the terrorist organisation’s activities.

The intelligence report also makes it clear that senior Al-Qaeda figures in the region have been in recent contact with operatives in Britain.

Quotes of the Day

A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.-- Alfred E. Wiggam

Violence, even well intentioned, always rebounds upon oneself. Lao Tzu, The Art of War

Man's enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself.--Lao Tzu

The evils of tyranny are rarely seen but by him who resists it. – John Hay, 1872

We have it in our power to begin the world again. -- Thomas Paine in "Common Sense" (1776)

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Dubya's Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

The war, missing emails, the Dubya and the Dick! Want it all to just end right now? Prissy has a cure for your frustrations-register your protest. Yes you can write a post card or make a call, but why not get really creative?

Creativity seems to have been stifled, most likely at an early age, in hard core right wingers. It puts them at a real disadvantage. If Americans during the American revolution had not been creative in their strategies, we may have lost...shudder at the thought.

Of course we did win and with it the right to tell our government when it is wrong-without fear of reprisal, as guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.Look, no net!

Not that Bushies concerned themselves with those pesky rights-no indeed-they stepped all over them. But we can demand their return with creative protesting.

Prissy will give you some ideas, let her know if you hear of a really creative (and legal!) protest method. Civil disobedience methods and tactics are welcome, as Prissy doesn't know much about those...

In Nancy Pelosi's district, military families have used sidewalk chalk to write her and her staff messages "END THE WAR" "You do not support the troops, only the war" "Impeach Bush for Blowing the Job" -oh there are many other slogans you can use. Freeway blogger has some great ones, if you need ideas.

Progress Ohio is having a campaign "What would you tell Senator Voinovich?" The winner gets a truck billboard with their saying on it, along with encouragement for others to call Voinovich. They will drive past the Senators house and neighborhood as well as his old stomping ground of Cleveland. The former governor really should know Ohioans better than to think he'll get away with his rubber stamp on Dubya's crazy foreign policies. Shame on him!

From Prissy's Inbox: May want to stock up enough for a couple of weeks, Dearest Readers Truckers Protest April 23-25 "Truck Out"

Participate in the TRUCKER'S "TRUCK OUT" RALLY, on April 23rd, 24th, and 25th. Join in on one or all three days to rivet every citizen's attention on the injustice being done to you and to our country by the criminal, reckless, and unprecedented actions of our Government.

Traprock Peace Center Presents Scott Ritter & former Congressman Andy Jacobs in INDIANAPOLIS

As Indiana National Guard members face call up for offshore deployments to Iraq, Veterans for Peace Indiana Chapter #49 invites you to discuss:

U.S. Policy in the Middle East: Wednesday April 18, 2007 7-8:30 pm Target Iran / The Role of Congress

Hear Scott Ritter US Marine, Gulf War Veteran and former UNSCOM Weapons Inspector and Honorable Andy Jacobs, Korean War Veteran and former Indiana Congressperson

Note to Dearest Readers: Scott Ritter thinks stopping a war with Iran may be impossible. As far as the missing emails go, remember that Rover and his laywer "found" 250 emails that the were previously unavailable-not "archived through the usual White House process." That and the emails were being sent through a non-government email account.

Patrick Fitzgerald's investigators made copies of the hard drives of all of Rovers' computers during the CIA Leak investigation.

Dearest Readers, Please let Prissy know if you will be traveling to the Columbus area. Betty and Prissy had the pleasure of meeting some Dearest Readers Saturday night and it was a lot of fun;-)

Coming up in Columbus: EARTH DAY April 22, 2007 Check the schedule of events here.

Hot Links

India Times Euro hits 2-year high versus $

The euro reached a two-year high against the dollar and approached a record versus the yen as signs of faster growth in Europe raised speculation the European Central Bank will increase interest rates.

Gains in the euro accelerated after it rose above $1.34, triggering orders to buy back the currency, traders said. ECB officials said this week that higher borrowing costs are needed to contain inflation as reports showed strength in manufacturing. The Bank of England kept rates unchanged on Thursday.

Mercury News San Mateo pyschiatrist arrested on molestation charges

Dr. William Ayers, 75, a well-known San Mateo County child psychiatrist, sat behind bars on $1.5 million bail Thursday night accused of several counts of child molestation in a case spanning decades.

Ayers - who treated children from the 1960s through last year - first came to the attention of authorities in 2002 when a victim reported that he was sexually assaulted on multiple occasions by the doctor during the 1970s. Authorities, however, were unable to prosecute the doctor because the case fell out of the statute of limitations.

But during a subsequent civil case against Ayers, several victims reported that they also had been molested by Ayers from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. None of those cases, however, fell within the statute of limitations.

Is he another 'Chester the Molester' republican? Just wondering...

India Times Pakistan offers to sell Iranian gas to India

Lending a new twist to negotiations on the tri-nation gas pipeline, Islamabad has offered to sell Iranian gas to India at its border to save New Delhi the bother over risks associated with safe transit of the fuel through Pakistani territory.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at a late night meeting with Petroleum Minister Murli Deora here on April 3 offered to buy 60 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from Iran, use half of it in his country and sell the rest to India at the Indo-Pak border, highly placed sources said.

This way India will neither have to deal with Iran, which faces UN sanctions over its nuclear programme, nor be bothered about cumbersome security of the 1,035-km pipeline stretch in Pakistan and safe delivery of gas at its border.

On the flip side, Pakistan may add some margin to the already high Iranian gas price.

ABC 7Cheney Hasn't Called Libby Since Trial

"Well, there hasn't been occasion to do so," Cheney said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS'"Face the Nation."

Libby is the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra affair two decades ago. He was found guilty last month of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

The episode undercut the Bush administration's credibility, one of a string of a bad-news stories that have hurt the president's standing.

President Bush and Cheney have expressed sadness for Libby and his family, but largely refrained from comment because the matter is an active legal case. Libby plans to appeal.

Dick is just mad because Scooter was caught...

Haaretz Israel Angry, Wants to Sell China Arms, US Says NO

Peretz told his hosts that he had suffered injuries when he was serving as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (sparing them details of the accident). Ivanov was the most impressive of them all: sharp, fluent and displaying the qualifications that have made him one of the two leading candidates to succeed Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gates, who will arrive in Israel tomorrow for a short visit, was limp and gray, quite the opposite of Ivanov. He did not radiate the power of someone who represents the defense establishment in the strongest country in the world.

In the mid-1980s, Gates was the head of the CIA intelligence administration and deputy to the CIA director, William Casey. In his professional capacity, Gates often met with people from the Mossad and Israeli military intelligence in Washington and Tel Aviv. They did not like him much. On one of his visits here, Yoram Hessel of the Tevel division for foreign relations at the Mossad accompanied him on a flight to the Golan Heights. Gates looked out over Syria and advised Israel not to leave the Golan. Now at the diplomatic level, he will take care not to repeat this.

Gates' visit to Israel reflects a decision not to boycott it: He must not skip Israel on his visit to the region, though he is known to be cooler toward it than his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld. There are no fateful issues that Gates is authorized to conclude with Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (whom he asked to meet, perhaps because of the rumor that she is getting closer to becoming prime minister) and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Dealing with Iran is the president's jurisdiction. In Iraq, the Pentagon has refrained from accepting overt Israeli help. Gaza, which the administration is making efforts to prevent from bursting into flames, belongs to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, even in the channel of Security Coordinator Keith Dayton. So what's left? Not a lot, mainly just the delicate issue of the sale of arms to other countries - an issue wrapped in hypocrisy on both sides.

It's probably a positive thing Israeli officials don't like Gates. Quite frankly, Prissy doesn't like or trust him much, either...

Salon Will Rush Limbaugh be Next Off Air?

At least, that was the fear at the Free Congress Foundation on April 13, where a panel discussion of an ancient broadcasting regulation quickly turned into a discussion of Don Imus and how his firing might portend a similar fate for some of the right's best-known media personalities. In the absence of any compelling evidence, participants in the latest of the conservative think tank's occasional Next Conservatism Forum series managed to convince themselves that the Fairness Doctrine, a rule that was scrapped by the Federal Communications Commission 20 years ago, was poised for a comeback, and was about to become a weapon in a liberal jihad against the right wing's freedom of speech.

In fact, the prominent conservatives, addressing a crowd of 30 on the ground floor of a Washington row house, described what sounded like a conspiracy. Panelist Ken Blackwell, formerly Ohio's secretary of state and the Republican candidate for governor last fall, said Imus was "not a conservative" and that "the left has sacrificed one of their own to give them a platform to go after true conservative talk show hosts." Cliff Kincaid, of the conservative media watchdog Accuracy in Media, said the Imus firing had been a revelation. "It wasn't exactly clear to me how [liberals] intended to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, but I think now with the Imus affair, we know ... [And it's a] short leap from firing Imus to going after Rush Limbaugh."

Established in 1949, the Fairness Doctrine was an FCC regulation that required broadcasters to give balance to opposing viewpoints in any opinion programming. Its abolition by the FCC during the Reagan administration is widely credited with making the explosion of conservative talk radio possible.

With the return of the Democrats to power in Congress, conservatives have become concerned that the Fairness Doctrine might be on its way back. William S. Lind, director of the Free Congress Foundation's Center for Cultural Conservatism and moderator of the April 13 panel discussion, said the choice of topics had been occasioned by an "emergency" -- the Fairness Doctrine's seemingly imminent return.

We can only hope...

Muckraker Gonzo Drinks GOP Koolaid "Can't Remember"

I tell you, it's hard work remembering what Alberto Gonzales remembers and doesn't remember.

In October of last year, President Bush had a conversation with Gonzales about U.S. attorneys. According to the White House's public statements, the conversation was a broad one, about voter fraud in three districts. Gonzales has said publicly that he doesn't remember such a conversation taking place.

But that's not what Kyle Sampson told congressional investigators this past weekend. According to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sampson said that in early March of this year, Gonzales told him about a conversation he'd had in October with Bush that was specifically about U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias. Remember that the White House was getting heavy pressure from Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and other New Mexico Republicans to can Iglesias.

So in early March, Gonzales told Sampson privately about this conversation (this was, by the way, before the White House had publicly disclosed that there had been any conversations between Bush and Gonzales about U.S. attorneys). But on March 26, Gonzales told NBC and the world that he didn't remember having any such conversation.

ABC Killer's Note: 'You Caused Me to Do This'

Cho Seung-Hui, the student who killed 32 people and then himself yesterday, left a long and "disturbing" note in his dorm room at Virginia Tech, say law enforcement sources.

Sources have now described the note, which runs several pages, as beginning in the present tense and then shifting to the past tense. It contains rhetoric explaining Cho's actions and says, "You caused me to do this," the sources told ABC News.

The number of dead is almost twice as high as the previous record for a mass shooting on an American college campus. That took place at the University of Texas at Austin on Aug. 1, 1966, when a gunman named Charles Whitman opened fire from the 28th floor of a campus tower. Whitman killed 16 and injured 31.

Seattle Times French intelligence service knew of al-Qaida hijacking plot in early 2001 (so did as many as 8 other countries intel warnings were also ignored, including Cuba and Germany)

"It wasn't about a specific airline or a specific day, it was not a precise plot," Lorenzi told The Associated Press. "It was a note that said, 'They are preparing a plot to hijack an airplane, and they have cited several companies."'

The Sept. 11 commission's report on the four hijacked flights has detailed repeated warnings about al-Qaida and its desire to attack airlines in the months before Sept. 11, 2001.

In a version declassified last September, the report shows that the Federal Aviation Administration's intelligence unit received "nearly 200 pieces of threat-related information daily from U.S. intelligence agencies, particularly the FBI, CIA, and State Department."

NDTV Patti Smith lashes out at Guantanamo Bay

Rocker Patti Smith said on Friday that her concern for the hundreds of men imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay compelled her to record a song about a former detainee.

"I feel responsible as an American citizen. It's a terrible injustice and I think it will be a stain upon us when history examines this period," said Smith.

Smith's Without Chains focuses on Murat Kurnaz, a German-born Turkish citizen who said he was kept under fluorescent lights for 24 hours at a time and complained of being beaten at the US military detention center in southeast Cuba.

And...In October, German prosecutors said they found no evidence linking Kurnaz to Islamic radicals in Pakistan or Afghanistan and formally dropped their investigation.

Reuters Over 250,000 still without power in U.S. East and Canada

More than 250,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday morning after a rare spring nor'easter hit on Sunday and Monday, knocking out electric service to more than 1.3 million customers from the Carolinas to Maine and Quebec.

Wired U.S. Watch Lists Sow Frustration and Fear

Elizabeth Kushigian spent time in an isolation room at Miami International Airport every time she returned from an international trip -- until a senator got her taken off a DHS watchlist.

For years, Elizabeth Kushigian never had a problem flying back-and-forth to Costa Rica, where she runs a local micro-lending nonprofit. But in 2004, she suddenly found it impossible to re-enter the United States without being ordered into a special isolation room at Miami International Airport. There, she'd wait for extra scrutiny.

"I was in the line where you come in and stamp your passport, and each time they would scan the passport and look at (the) screen and stiffen," Kushigian says. "I was on some sort of list. I don't know why; it could have been because of something I did in the '60s and in the early 1980s, I did some civil disobedience on behalf of El Salvador."

Kushigian is just a member of a growing club of American citizens whose lives have been touched by a slew of government watch lists proliferating with little oversight or redress mechanisms since the 9/11 attacks. Containing, by some estimates, hundreds of thousands of names submitted by dozens of agencies, the lists have not only snagged people like Kushigian -- who wind up on them for mysterious reasons -- they've also stigmatized and inconvenienced thousands of others whose names happen to be similar to an entry on the list.

Quotes of the Day

Few men of action have been able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time--British journalist, author, satirist, media personality, soldier-spy

There's a trick to the Graceful Exit. I begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over -- and to let go. It means leaving what's over without denying its value.--Ellen Goodman

Great Quotes from Catch-22

Morale was deteriorating and it was all Yossarian's fault. The country was in peril; he was jeopardizing his traditional rights of freedom and independence by daring to exercise them. Chapter 39, pg. 415

The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on.-- Yossarian, character

Open your eyes, Clevinger. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.-- Chapter 12, pg. 133-134

You know, that might be the answer - to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That's a trick that never seems to fail. Chapter 13, pg. 149