June 29, 2007
Thwarted Car Bomb Attack Tests Brown's Government
UPDATED.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's still-forming government is being put to the test on just his second full day on the job. A foiled car bomb attack in central London has Britain on high alert.
Scotland Yard reported this afternoon that the plot was more extensive than it may have initially feared, when authorities found a second car with explosives linked to the car near Piccadilly Circus found this morning. The second device -- found in a Mercedes, like the first -- was apparently left in a car parked illegally underground near Trafalgar Square. After it was towed to an area near Buckingham Palace, workers smelled gasoline, and because gas containers had been found in the first car, they investigated and uncovered bomb parts.
Three suspects were being sought in connection to the thwarted bombings. U.S. officials told NBC News that the three men have been identified and are said to be from near Birmingham, a heavily Muslim area of the country. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Continue reading "Thwarted Car Bomb Attack Tests Brown's Government"
Posted at 5:15 PM
Posted to:
Europe, Gordon Brown, U.K.
Share via
Cheney's Words Reveal He Counts Himself As Part Of The Executive Branch
Vice President Dick Cheney has viewed himself as part of the executive branch of government, according to transcripts of public statements, calling into question a statement by an aide that has been widely seen as a suggestion he is not.
Cheney has been ridiculed and criticized in recent days because of what has been interpreted as a claim that he does not have to comply with an executive order on classified information because he is not in the executive branch. The White House has asserted that the issue is moot, saying the way the order is written makes clear that the president did not intend it to apply to the vice president.
White House officials this week have repeatedly declined to declare Cheney a member of the executive branch, instead characterizing debate over his role as an intriguing constitutional question.
Continue reading " Cheney's Words Reveal He Counts Himself As Part Of The Executive Branch"
Posted at 3:25 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Dick Cheney
Share via
Democrats' Independence Day In Iowa
Ahead of Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit lengthy visit to Iowa over the Fourth of July holiday, her team is embracing the new campaign phenomenon of tracking.
This afternoon, Clinton's staff introduced "HillCam" -- "an exclusive behind-the-scenes look" at the trip, upon which she will be accompanied by Bill Clinton. One thing can be gleaned from the announcement: After a string of strong debate performances, her team is clearly confident that Clinton is not George Allen or Conrad Burns, who were both felled by problematic spontaneous moments on the trail when running for re-election last year.
On another note, the campaign has also been gearing up to introduce the former president in this race in a big way. The man from Hope has popped up here and there, but next week's Iowa trip is being hailed in a de facto way as his coming-out party on the trail.
Continue reading "Democrats' Independence Day In Iowa"
Posted at 2:52 PM
Posted to:
Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, WH 2008
Share via
Democrats Angle For Minority Support At Howard Forum
Though it's a safe bet that black and Latino voters will stick with the Democratic Party in 2008, there is a strong sentiment that the mostly white leadership has taken their support for granted -- a feeling the Rev. Al Sharpton capitalized on in his short-lived 2004 bid. And with post-Katrina dialogue on race and poverty largely disappeared from headlines, it's little wonder many voters of color feel their concerns are still being ignored.
Which makes yesterday's PBS-sponsored candidates forum such a significant event, no matter how debate-fatigued one might be at this point in the cycle. The debate was moderated by black and Latino journalists, and the audience, at Washington, D.C.'s Howard University, was largely black. The candidates were pressed on issues near and dear to minority communities, and will undoubtedly be held to their pledges should any one of them be voted into the White House.
Continue reading "Democrats Angle For Minority Support At Howard Forum"
Posted at 2:27 PM
Posted to:
Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, WH 2008
Share via
Supreme Court Reverses Course On Gitmo Cases
In a remarkable turnabout, at least two justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have changed their minds about a petition and have agreed to hear the case. More significant: the case is actually two petitions from foreign terror suspects challenging the Bush administration's power to hold them in Guantanamo.
Back in April, only three justices agreed to hear the detainees' arguments -- one short of the number needed to grant a review of the case. Two others, Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy disagreed, instructing the petitioners to exhaust the lower-court options, including the newly established military tribunal system, first.
In order to grant a hearing after initially denying one, the votes of five justices are needed. It's a safe bet that Stevens and Kennedy were the justices who changed their minds, and not Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia or Chief Justice John Roberts.
Continue reading "Supreme Court Reverses Course On Gitmo Cases"
Posted at 12:04 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Constitution, Guantanamo Bay, Supreme Court
Share via
Larry vs. Paris: The Watchable Version
No one at The Gate much cares about Paris Hilton. But we do care about our livelihood, journalism.
When those worlds collided in a big way last week, it was enough to send some of us whimpering under the covers. But thanks to the folks at ABC's super-late-night World News Now, it's all better.
Here is their dramatic re-enactment of the "interview." Enjoy.
Posted at 12:00 PM
Posted to:
Media
Share via
June 28, 2007
Supreme Court Rules Against School Desegregation Policies
UPDATED.
The modern-day Supreme Court has a tendency to save its touchiest cases for the end of the term, and that was certainly true today. In what was surely a coincidence on the justices' part, this morning's 5-4 decision [PDF] against two school districts' desegregation programs was handed down hours before PBS hosts the first 2008 presidential candidate forum that will focus on race-related issues.
Luckily for the Republican hopefuls, they will be spared having to defend the "right-wing judicial activists" who "turned Brown v. Board of Education on its head" during tonight's event at Howard University. Those criticisms of today's ruling are from Democratic candidate John Edwards, who was joined in the race to release a statement condemning the decision by first-tier rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
Continue reading "Supreme Court Rules Against School Desegregation Policies"
Posted at 6:02 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Constitution, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Race, Supreme Court, WH 2008
Share via
World Opinion: A Hostile Crowd
The United States may be the most powerful nation on the global playground, but when lunchtime rolls around, Uncle Sam shouldn't expect the other kids to save him a seat at the table.
With the war in Iraq and the Bush administration yielding low approval ratings both at home and abroad, it may not come as much of a surprise that the United States isn't winning any global popularity contests. A new, 47-nation poll [PDF] from the Pew Research Center reveals widespread discontent with U.S. economic policies and the spread of its "ideas and customs" abroad, including U.S. democratic ideals.
Most hostile to the United States were residents in majority-Muslim nations in the Middle East and Asia. President Bush seemed to acknowledge that fact in an address yesterday in Washington, where he announced that he'd appoint a special U.S. envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Meanwhile, the residents of Africa and Eastern Europe -- many of whom are nursing fledgling democracies of their own -- registered the warmest feelings toward Uncle Sam in the poll.
See today's Poll Track (subscription) for more details on the survey.
Posted at 3:34 PM
Share via
Cloture Vote Kills Immigration Bill
UPDATED.
The Senate failed to pass a cloture motion this morning to limit debate and proceed to consideration of the immigration reform bill. As promised, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pulled the measure from the floor, dashing the White House's hopes that a compromise on immigration reform could be reached by the end of the year.
Senators voted 53 to 46 against cloture; 60 votes in favor were needed to move forward.
Immediately following the vote tally, Reid acknowledged that "the vote is really disheartening to me in many ways," but praised the bipartisan efforts that led to the initial compromise and expressed hope for the bill's future. "This is a legislative issue that will come back. It's only a question of when," he said. "Hopefully a lesson we've all learned is that we have to work more closely together, and I hope we can do that."
In a brief statement following the bill's defeat, President Bush said he was disappointed in Congress' "failure to act" on the measure. "Congress really needs to prove to the American people that it can come together on hard issues," he added.
AP and CNN have senators' reactions to the failed vote.
Posted at 1:24 PM
Posted to:
Congress, Immigration, Senate
Share via
White House Rejects Congressional Subpoenas
UPDATED.
As expected, the White House is invoking executive privilege in response to an order from the Senate and House judiciary committees to hand over documents related to a round of firings of federal prosecutors last year.
In a letter to the committees, White House counsel Fred Fielding said President Bush "was not willing to provide your committees with documents revealing internal White House communications or to accede to your desire for senior advisors to testify at public hearings," AP reports. The senior advisers in question are Fielding's predecessor, Harriet Miers, and former White House political director Sara Taylor.
The effort to force transparency on the firings is a bipartisan one, and lawmakers have hinted that they are willing to take the executive branch to court in order to wrest documents and testimony relevant to the firings. Whether they actually do so while Congress is mired in a battle over immigration reform and an exit strategy from the Iraq war remains to be seen.
Legal Times has an excellent backgrounder on this White House's resistance to the attorneys firing probe.
Posted at 9:38 AM
Posted to:
Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Dick Cheney, President Bush
Share via
Bush Nominates New Chairman Of Joint Chiefs
President Bush officially nominated Navy Adm. Michael Mullen as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this morning.
"He was with me after the attacks of Sept. 11," Bush said, expressing confidence in Mullen's experience.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced in early June that the current man in the job, Gen. Peter Pace, would not be nominated for a second stint in the post.
Continue reading "Bush Nominates New Chairman Of Joint Chiefs"
Posted at 8:54 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Military, Peter Pace
Share via
June 27, 2007
Members-Only Sentiment Overtaking EU
As American lawmakers debate the cultural impact of immigrants in this country, some of their counterparts across the globe are also trying to pull a curtain around themselves. In the case of the European Union, nations that are already members seem to want to prevent others from joining their ranks.
The EU's explosive growth in 2004, when it added 10 nations, was of dubious wisdom, many members now believe. The body's failure to agree on a constitution has resulted in a disjointed entity, with conflicting and confusing trade and finance rules nearly nullifying the EU's raison d'etre.
Another common complaint is that some politically immature nations were permitted entry too soon. Two cases in point are Romania and Bulgaria, both of which joined this year. The former Eastern bloc countries narrowly escaped suspension of their EU membership today after coming under criticism for not bringing legal reforms up to snuff. Both countries are sapling democracies in which high-level corruption scandals are unfolding.
Continue reading "Members-Only Sentiment Overtaking EU"
Posted at 6:16 PM
Posted to:
EU, Europe, Turkey
Share via
Contest To Replace Millender-McDonald Heads For Runoff
California Assemblywoman Laura Richardson, a Democrat, took first place in a special open primary election Tuesday in the race to succeed the late Democratic Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, but fell short of the majority needed to avoid an Aug. 21 runoff. Richardson received nearly 38 percent of the vote in the 37th District, which includes Carson, Compton and part of Long Beach.
Richardson will face Republican John Kanaley, an Iraq war veteran and police officer who finished fourth, with just under 8 percent of the vote. The district is a Democratic stronghold, making Richardson the overwhelming favorite. Two other Democrats -- state Sen. Jenny Oropeza, with about 31 percent, and Valerie McDonald, the late lawmaker's daughter, with about 9 percent -- finished ahead of Kanaley.
-CongressDaily staff
Posted at 4:12 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Congress, House
Share via
First Two Amendments Fail In Renewed Immigration Debate
Two amendments designed to court conservatives who felt the original immigration reform bill was too lenient toward illegal immigrants failed in the first day of debate on the package since it first stalled in the Senate two weeks ago.
Senators voted 53 to 45 to kill a GOP-sponsored amendment that would have required illegal immigrants to return to their home countries in order to qualify for so-called Z visas that would offer a path to eventual citizenship. That proposal was announced earlier this week as part of a last-ditch effort to shore up support for a procedural vote on the entire reform package. The bill survived that vote, but the defeat of the first two amendments today appears to confirm expectations that the controversial reform package still has a rocky road ahead.
The second amendment under consideration was sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. By a more substantial 79-to-18 margin, the Senate voted to table the proposal, which would have required illegal immigrants seeking legal status to have been in the country for at least four years. As is, the bill offers legalization for any immigrant who arrived by Jan. 1, 2007.
The Senate will continue to debate the other amendments to the original reform package today under special procedural rules designed to expedite the process ahead of Congress' weeklong Independence Day recess.
Posted at 2:27 PM
Posted to:
Immigration
Share via
Iran On Road To Democracy? Thank Ahmadinejad.
Regime change is Washington's policy on Iran, and thanks to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the White House may just get its wish.
The oil-rich nation enacted fuel rationing this morning, sparking attacks on gas stations and further widening a growing rift between Iranians and Ahmadinejad's regime. The belligerent yet strangely charismatic leader is now deeply unpopular in his country, where a burgeoning pro-democracy movement appeared to be taking hold just before Ahmadinejad was elected two years ago on an anti-poverty, anti-corruption platform.
Instead of delivering sorely needed economic reforms -- Iran is on the precipice of a financial crisis, which the fuel rationing is meant to curtail -- Ahmadinejad landed his countrymen in the cross hairs of the United States. Never mind that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has sternly denied plans to invade Iran. Iranians fear becoming the next Iraq, and for propaganda purposes, Ahmadinejad has done little to persuade them otherwise.
Continue reading "Iran On Road To Democracy? Thank Ahmadinejad."
Posted at 1:36 PM
Posted to:
Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Share via
Tony Blair: An Emotional Farewell & A New Challenge
UPDATED.
It's official. Tony Blair tendered his resignation as prime minister of Great Britain in a private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II this afternoon at Buckingham Palace. Just a few hours later, Blair was officially named a new envoy to the Middle East, charged with leading the peace process on behalf of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.
Blair's former chancellor, Gordon Brown, took the helm shortly after Blair's official resignation, declaring outside 10 Downing Street, "Let the work of change begin."
Earlier, Blair spent his final morning at Downing Street clearing out his offices, bidding farewell to staffers and engaging in his final parliamentary session.
In an emotional appearance at the House of Commons, Blair paid tribute to the troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq and then spent about a half-hour answering final questions from members on domestic issues and foreign affairs. The sometimes hard-hitting questions were mixed with hearty congratulations, and Blair solicited laughter from his colleagues on several occasions. He finished by acknowledging his "fear" and "respect" for the House during his 10-year reign as prime minister and praised the political process as the "place for the pursuit of noble causes."
Continue reading "Tony Blair: An Emotional Farewell & A New Challenge"
Posted at 12:30 PM
Posted to:
Middle East, Tony Blair
Share via
Young Voters Could Be Boon To Democrats In '08
The good news for Democrats is that, according to a new poll of Americans aged 17 through 29, young people have already taken a relatively strong interest in the 2008 presidential election, and they appear to be most pumped about the Democratic Party's early front-runners.
The bad news? Democrats have been down this road before, and it didn't end well.
Continue reading "Young Voters Could Be Boon To Democrats In '08"
Posted at 12:18 PM
Posted to:
WH 2008
Share via
June 26, 2007
Immigration Bill Opponents Delay Debate
UPDATED.
Work on the immigration bill stalled in the Senate this afternoon after Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C., demanded that a slate of pending amendments be read out loud.
Majority Leader Harry Reid filed a cloture motion on the overall immigration measure that is expected to be voted on Thursday.
-Brian Friel
Posted at 6:30 PM
Posted to:
Immigration, Senate
Share via
CIA Unveils The 'Family Jewels'
The CIA today released two sets of newly declassified documents from the 1970s containing juicy details about the intelligence agency's activities, including a plot to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro, experiments with psychotropic drugs and controversial surveillance on journalists and activists.
The two documents, the so-called family jewels and the CAESAR-POLO-ESAU papers, are now available to the public in the CIA's FOIA Electronic Reading Room.
The CAESAR-POLO-ESAU papers are actually a compilation of two decades' worth of research on the Soviet Union and China. But the real treasure (pun intended) for history buffs and conspiracy theorists are the family jewels -- a nearly 700-page collection of responses to a 1973 directive from then-CIA Director James Schlesinger, who in the wake of the Watergate scandal asked CIA employees to disclose any activities they felt "might be inconsistent with the Agency's charter."
AP details some of the more intriguing elements of the document in a full report. And the New York Times has devoted an entire blog to dissecting the family jewels with the help of "a panel of intelligence experts and historians." The Times has also condensed all of the declassified documents into one handy PDF.
Posted at 4:20 PM
Share via
Senate Lunch Chatter: Voinovich Asks For Exit Strategy
UPDATED.
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, told reporters that he would send a letter to President Bush today urging him to develop a plan for an exit of U.S. troops from Iraq -- the day after Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., announced his support for a troop drawdown on the Senate floor.
Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said Lugar's speech was constructive but he would hold off on discussing his ideas for the war until the defense authorization bill reaches the Senate floor after the Fourth of July recess.
Continue reading "Senate Lunch Chatter: Voinovich Asks For Exit Strategy"
Posted at 4:15 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
Share via
Immigration: Let's Try This Again
The Senate voted 64 to 35 just after noon in favor of a cloture motion to proceed to debate on the contentious immigration bill that stalled two weeks ago. Twenty-four amendments are lined up to be considered before Thursday, when a vote on a cloture motion to limit further debate on the bill itself is expected to be held.
CongressDaily has a PDF (subscription) of the pending amendments.
Since the first attempt to move on the reform package failed, the White House and GOP senators have hammered out several amendments designed to attract more support for the compromise from hard-line conservative members.
Continue reading "Immigration: Let's Try This Again"
Posted at 1:33 PM
Posted to:
Immigration, Senate
Share via
Blair To Be Named Envoy
Tony Blair won't be available for tea after he leaves 10 Downing Street.
Instead, he'll be shuttling between the Palestinians and Israelis as the special envoy for the Mideast Quartet. The outgoing British prime minister wouldn't confirm the appointment, but AP quotes Blair as saying from London, "I think that anybody who cares about greater peace and stability in the world knows that a lasting and enduring resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue is essential.... As I have said on many occasions, I would do whatever I could to help such a resolution come about."
AP also reports that the members of the international diplomatic Quartet -- the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- plan to make simultaneous announcements from Washington, New York, Brussels and Moscow tomorrow.
Posted at 1:30 PM
Posted to:
Europe, Middle East, Tony Blair, U.K.
Share via
Democrats Reflect On Six-Month Mark
Six months into the majority, House Democrats have little to show in terms of new laws, but they say they have helped change the debate about the war in Iraq and claim credit for passing other measures that await action in the Senate.
"As far as the House is concerned, we have been very successful," Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., told CongressDaily. "We've passed a lot of legislation. Democrats in the Senate have run into the same problems that Republicans did in the Senate."
But as they look to define the rest of the session and set themselves up for the 2008 election cycle, the division between both parties in the Senate and resulting delays in completing key election promises remain problematic.
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily (subscription) for more of today's news.
Posted at 7:23 AM
Posted to:
Congress, House, Senate
Share via
June 25, 2007
News Roundup: Whitman Testimony, Taylor Trial
Supreme Court. The justices ruled in favor of the Bush administration's faith-based initiatives today in a 5 to 4 decision that states the White House won't be blocked from distributing federal money to religious organizations.
Nation. Former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman testified on the 9/11 attacks before Congress today about the air quality at the World Trade Center site. She charged her critics with directing "misinformation, innuendo, and outright falsehoods" at the EPA.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Whitman Testimony, Taylor Trial"
Posted at 5:20 PM
Share via
Radio Free Internet
Make that radio-free Internet. In protest of new regulations that would increase fees for online music vendors, a slew of Internet broadcasters are set to go silent tomorrow.
Two online giants, Yahoo and Live365, are both participating in the Day of Silence, as well as smaller but popular online broadcasters like Pandora and some National Public Radio affiliates. A March ruling from the Copyright Royalty Board mandated a price hike for online music, saying more royalties needed to be collected.
See Technology Daily (subscription) for more details.
Posted at 2:58 PM
Share via
SCOTUS Strikes Issue Ads Provision
Is this the death knell for McCain-Feingold?
In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that issue ads financed by corporate and labor interests will be allowed to mention names of candidates. McCain-Feingold had originally outlawed them, but the court decided that was an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of speech.
In question was whether Wisconsin Right to Life broke the law in airing an ad within two months of Election Day 2004 that pressed Sen. Russell Feingold (D), who was running for re-election, not to obstruct President Bush's judicial nominees. Because it dealt with an issue rather than something like a direct endorsement or attack on a candidate, the majority ruled it acceptable.
Continue reading "SCOTUS Strikes Issue Ads Provision"
Posted at 10:58 AM
Posted to:
Constitution, Supreme Court
Share via
Gaza Strife, Multimedia-Style
New Internet audio and video allegedly came out of the Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours highlighting the plights of people kidnapped and being held captive in the region now controlled by Hamas.
The first is video footage of Alan Johnston, a BBC reporter who was captured more than three months ago. Still shots from the video show Johnston against a black background, strapped with an explosive belt and looking pale.
"I've been dressed in what is an explosive belt, which the kidnappers say will be detonated if there is any attempt to storm this area. They say they're ready to turn the hideout into what they describe as a death zone if there is an attempt to free me by force."
Continue reading "Gaza Strife, Multimedia-Style"
Posted at 10:52 AM
Posted to:
Middle East, Palestinians
Share via
June 22, 2007
News Roundup: S.C. Firefighters, Atlantis Landing
Nation. Nine firefighters were buried in North Charleston, S.C., today after they were killed in a fire in a furniture store Monday -- the largest single loss of firefighters' lives since the 9/11 attacks.
Space. The space shuttle Atlantis touched down safe and sound at Edwards Air Force Base in California today. Weather concerns forced NASA to scrap its planned Florida landing for the second time.
Continue reading "News Roundup: S.C. Firefighters, Atlantis Landing"
Posted at 3:17 PM
Share via
Barrasso Named To Wyoming Senate Seat
UPDATED.
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) today appointed conservative state Sen. John Barrasso (R), an orthopedic surgeon, to fill the Senate vacancy caused by the death of Republican Sen. Craig Thomas (R) just 18 days ago.
"There are many factors that went into this decision, and it was the sum of these factors that led me to this choice. While I don't intend to indulge the speculation on why I made this decision, I will say that I hope I made the right choice," Freudenthal said in a statement.
Continue reading "Barrasso Named To Wyoming Senate Seat"
Posted at 2:36 PM
Posted to:
Congress, Senate
Share via
Take Back America: The Final Wrap-Up
If Democrats were plagued by disunity earlier in the decade when the GOP was riding high, no one would know it now. In their minds, Republicans are shouldering that problem in the current election cycle with feuds playing out between the moderate and conservative factions of the party over immigration and Iraq. These days, Democrats are pumped.
For the liberal activists at the Take Back America conference this week at the Washington Hilton, the 2008 presidential election seems firmly in their grasp. In fact, many of the 3,000 participants were alarmingly bold, calling throughout the three-day meeting for President Bush's impeachment and pushing for a more liberal agenda in Congress.
NationalJournal.com has the full online exclusive available to subscribers.
Posted at 12:27 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Democrats, WH 2008
Share via
Civilian Death Toll In Afghanistan Continues To Mount
Officials announced today that 25 civilians, including nine women and three young children from one family, were killed in a NATO airstrike aimed at Taliban insurgents in a small village in southern Afghanistan last night. A NATO spokesman said the strike, which also killed 20 fighters, was in response to an insurgent attack earlier in the evening.
Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Smith of NATO expressed regret for the casualties but insisted that "it was insurgents who initiated this attack, and in choosing to conduct such attacks in this location and at the time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate.”
A U.S. airstrike in eastern Afghanistan also killed seven children on Sunday, just as human rights groups were issuing reports blaming both coalition and insurgent forces for a huge spike in civilian deaths in 2006. Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed the issue with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Kabul earlier this month.
Posted at 10:38 AM
Posted to:
Afghanistan, Asia
Share via
Waxman vs. Cheney
UPDATED.
Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, issued a letter [PDF] to Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday accusing him of trying to bypass a presidential executive order mandating safeguards for classified information.
According to the letter, Cheney rebuffed a 2004 request by the National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office for an inspection of his office pursuant to the order, claiming the vice president's office was not "an entity within the executive branch" and therefore did not have to comply.
"I question both the legality and the wisdom of your actions," Waxman wrote. Citing a series of alleged leaks from Cheney's office, including the Valerie Plame case, Waxman concluded that "it would appear particularly irresponsible to give an office with your history of security breaches an exemption from the safeguards that apply to all other executive branch officials."
Going a step further, Waxman's documents suggest that Cheney's office was trying to subvert the oversight system itself. When monitors at the National Archives protested the attempt to put them off, the New York Times reports, the vice president's office threatened to shut down their whole department.
Continue reading "Waxman vs. Cheney"
Posted at 9:32 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Congress, Dick Cheney, House
Share via
June 21, 2007
News Roundup: Iraq Deaths, Fuel Economy, Lebanese War
Iraq. Pentagon officials today detailed a spate of recent troop deaths -- at least 15 soldiers in the last two days.
Congress. The Senate reached a compromise this afternoon on energy, agreeing to raise auto fuel economy standards from 27.5 to 35 miles per gallon. But a group of Republican senators remains determined that no such compromise will be struck on immigration.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Iraq Deaths, Fuel Economy, Lebanese War"
Posted at 6:00 PM
Share via
Vietnamese President's Visit Awash In History, Controversy
For the first time since the end of the Vietnam War, the president of Vietnam is visiting the United States this week. Nguyen Minh Triet arrived yesterday, is meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers today, and will visit President Bush at the White House tomorrow, where the two will sign a preliminary bilateral trade pact.
A newly minted WTO member, Vietnam is seeing rapid economic growth. Triet has been a member of the Communist Party since 1965, but as president has been an advocate for his country's integration into the world economy. A large delegation of Vietnamese businessmen is accompanying him on his visit.
But Vietnam is drawing criticism for alleged human rights abuses. Triet has jailed at least eight dissidents this year.
The group Reporters Without Borders issued an open letter to Bush today asking him to press Triet on human rights during their meeting tomorrow. The letter accuses Hanoi of "promising progress on human rights to ingratiate itself with the international community," then resuming its repression of free speech once it was admitted to the WTO.
Continue reading "Vietnamese President's Visit Awash In History, Controversy"
Posted at 2:30 PM
Posted to:
Vietnam
Share via
Is Bloomberg Eyeing Unity '08?
A few hours after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he was leaving the Republican Party, a little-known Web site was so overwhelmed with traffic that it crashed. Unity '08, a grassroots campaign to elect a bipartisan presidential ticket next year, is suddenly attracting a lot of attention.
Unity '08 is the brainchild of some long-ago Republican and Democratic campaign operatives who bonded over their mutual fury at partisan politics. They are trying to do what most experts think is impossible: ignite an uprising from the political middle.
The group is aiming to stage a virtual convention next June, where delegates will choose a presidential ticket online. But there's a twist: The presidential and vice presidential candidates must seek the nomination as a team and they must be from different political parties. One of the candidates could even be an independent. An independent such as, say, Bloomberg.
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free.
Posted at 2:04 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, WH 2008
Share via
Iwo Jima Becomes Iwo To
Before the historic World War II battle, the tiny Pacific Island south of the Japanese mainland was known as Iwo To. On nautical maps, however, it was listed as Iwo Jima -- "jima" and "to" both mean "sulfur" and are represented by the same character, but they sound different.
The name became recognizable to Americans because of an Associated Press photographer's work in capturing soldiers raising a flag on the island's mountaintop. The emblematic photo cemented "Iwo Jima" in the minds of English speakers.
But the tiny population of the island (only about a thousand people lived there before the war) never accepted the name change. They recently requested that the Japanese government change it back, and the government agreed. A new map with "Iwo To" -- pronounced "ee-woh-toh" -- will be published this fall.
AP has reaction from U.S. and Japanese soldiers, many of whom aren't pleased with the change.
Posted at 11:34 AM
Posted to:
Asia, Japan
Share via
Harkin & Specter To Add Stem Cell Provision To Spending Bill
In the wake of President Bush's veto of embryonic stem cell legislation Wednesday, leaders of the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee said they will include a provision in their spending bill to allow federal funding of a limited number of embryonic stem cells lines above the number Bush halted research at in 2001.
The move by Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., will allow federally funded research on embryonic stem cell lines derived before June 15, 2007, Harkin spokeswoman Jennifer Mullin said.
To be included in the spending measure would be the ethical guidelines in the bill that had been passed by Congress requiring federally funded embryonic stem cells be derived from embryos that come from in vitro fertilization clinics where they were slated for destruction.
Continue reading " Harkin & Specter To Add Stem Cell Provision To Spending Bill"
Posted at 10:45 AM
Posted to:
Congress, Health
Share via
June 20, 2007
News Roundup: World Refugee Day, Walter Reed Shooting
World. Nations around the globe observed World Refugee Day today, with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasizing the international cooperation necessary to solve refugees' humanitarian crises.
Economy. United Airlines flights closed down for two hours today when a computer malfunction grounded all the airline's departures.
Continue reading "News Roundup: World Refugee Day, Walter Reed Shooting"
Posted at 5:13 PM
Share via
Take Back America: Obama Wins Straw Poll
With 29 percent of the 737 votes cast, Barack Obama won the Politico's straw poll at the progressive Take Back America conference this afternoon. Results were revealed right after 3 p.m.
John Edwards placed second with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Hillary Rodham Clinton with 17 percent. When the first and second choices were taken together, Obama also led with nearly 60 percent, followed by Edwards with 54 percent, and Clinton with 33 percent.
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (D) pollster Stan Greenberg revealed the results with the Politico's John Harris. Greenberg said that the straw poll's real contest was between Edwards and Obama for the progressive activist vote. (That could explain Clinton's third-place finish -- the activist, progressive audience is not as receptive to the New York senator as the whole Democratic base might be.)
Continue reading "Take Back America: Obama Wins Straw Poll"
Posted at 4:49 PM
Posted to:
Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, WH 2008
Share via
Gaza Isolated, Bombarded As Refugee Crisis Persists
As the United Nations marks World Refugee Day, hundreds of Palestinians remain encamped for a sixth day at the Erez tunnel between Gaza and Israel, hoping to be allowed to pass through Israel into the West Bank. (It was reported yesterday that the number of refugees there was 600, but Israel claims the number is closer to 200.)
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, newly installed as defense minister, did open the borders today to foreign nationals fleeing Gaza and to some Palestinians needing emergency medical treatment.
At the same time, however, Israel launched air and ground attacks against Hamas in Gaza, leaving four Palestinians dead.
Gaza City's main hospital is still grappling with the challenge of treating the 500 people wounded in last week's civil strife. The U.N. is urging that Gaza's border crossings be opened, or else food supplies may run out in two to four weeks.
The U.N.'s IRIN has a report on the plight of the estimated 4.4 million Palestinian refugees worldwide.
Posted at 3:44 PM
Posted to:
Israel, Middle East, Palestinians
Share via
Stem Cell Bill Stops At Bush's Desk
President Bush today vetoed a bill that would have eased federal funding restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. It's the third veto of his presidency; the first was for another piece of stem cell legislation in 2006 and the second was for the Iraq spending bill on May 1.
Congress passed the stem cell legislation by fairly large majorities -- 247 to 176 in the House in June; 63 to 34 in the Senate in April -- but the margins aren't close to the two-thirds super-majorities needed to override a presidential veto. (Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has promised to hold an override vote anyway.)
At today's White House press briefing, spokesman Tony Fratto announced that Bush would launch a new initiative that could make federal dollars available for work on "pluripotent" stem cells, which can become any cells except those that result in a fetus.
Continue reading "Stem Cell Bill Stops At Bush's Desk"
Posted at 2:43 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Health, President Bush
Share via
Bloomberg Drops The 'R'
UPDATED.
Michael Bloomberg quit the Republican Party yesterday, fueling speculation that the New York City mayor is considering a run at the White House as an independent.
"I believe this brings my affiliation into alignment with how I have led and will continue to lead," Bloomberg said in a statement.
In a news conference today on city business, he strongly denied interest in a White House bid, pledging to fill out his term as mayor through 2009.
But this latest change in party affiliation -- Bloomberg quit the Democratic Party in 2001 to avoid a crowded mayoral primary field -- is another in a series of hints at a possible presidential bid. His busy out-of-state travel schedule (including a trip to New Hampshire last weekend), comments by Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska (another Republican who some say wants to leave the party) about a possible Bloomberg-Hagel ticket, and speeches focusing on national issues have fed the rumors that he could run.
Yesterday's announcement came shortly after Bloomberg appeared with centrist Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., at a Hollywood forum on "bridging the political divide." "We need Washington to begin taking the same nonpartisan results-oriented approach that is succeeding in cities and states," Bloomberg said in his speech.
Photo: Spencer Tucker
Posted at 2:00 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Michael Bloomberg, WH 2008
Share via
North Korea Funds Unfrozen
More than $20 million was transferred into North Korean accounts Tuesday, as the United States freed up assets it had previously frozen because of fraud allegations. The transfer was part of a newly struck agreement under which Pyongyang would shut down its lone nuclear reactor.
A team of IAEA inspectors is set to visit the reactor site next week. For the second day in a row, the United States pushed for a fast pace on the negotiations.
"I think this is the time when everyone needs to kind of quicken the pace and work very hard" toward disarmament, said U.S. envoy Christopher Hill, speaking to reporters in Tokyo. He added that he hoped the shutdown could take place "within weeks, not months."
Yesterday, North Korea test-fired a missile in the direction of Japanese waters, but officials said the launch was just routine and wouldn't have an impact on new negotiations.
Posted at 11:52 AM
Posted to:
Asia, North Korea
Share via
June 19, 2007
Refugees Amass On Israeli Border
The breakup of the Fatah-Hamas unity government has created a potentially critical refugee crisis, as hundreds of people attempt to flee the Gaza Strip in fear of reprisals by militant Hamas, which now controls the territory. AP is reporting that 600 people are trapped in the Erez Tunnel at the Israeli border, hoping to pass through Israel to the West Bank.
Hamas promised amnesty for Fatah fighters, but according to one of the men hoping to escape at Erez, "They forgave people before, and later killed them. There's no way we'll go back."
Israeli officials have so far refused entry to most of the refugees, arguing that many of them may be terrorists and that their danger in Gaza is overstated. One Israeli officer told Israel Radio, "We don't think that all of them there are threatened.... There is a clear conflict between security needs and humanitarian considerations."
But at his news conference with President Bush at the White House today, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert differed somewhat with this assessment.
Continue reading "Refugees Amass On Israeli Border"
Posted at 5:32 PM
Posted to:
Fatah, Hamas, Israel, Middle East, Palestinians
Share via
OMB Director Portman To Resign
UPDATED.
President Bush said today that OMB Director Rob Portman is resigning and will be replaced by former House Budget Chairman Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican, just in time for a congressional showdown over spending and what is likely to be a contentious FY09 budget process.
Portman, who has served as budget director for just over a year, said he was leaving to spend more time with his family. He plans to remain at his post through July, while the Senate takes up Nussle's nomination.
Portman, who left Congress in 2005 to become U.S. Trade Representative and moved to the budget job last year, will return home to Cincinnati. An OMB spokesman said Portman has his eye on a run for statewide office, either in 2010 or 2012. Democratic Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland's term is up in 2010 and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown's term ends in 2012.
Continue reading "OMB Director Portman To Resign"
Posted at 4:00 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration
Share via
Take Back America: The Kennedy Contest
Today was a real zoo at Campaign for America's Future's fifth Take Back America conference. No wonder: Barack Obama and John Edwards delivered back-to-back speeches before the activist-heavy crowd.
The Democratic presidential race's two youngest hopefuls struck many of the same chords, two of which are the major messages touted by conference leaders: grassroots activity and the moral side of the issues facing the country.
Although both candidates stumped naturally on the overarching themes of their campaigns, it was all they could do not to utter former President John F. Kennedy's infamous inaugural address line, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." (Earlier in the day, MSNBC's Chris Matthews compared Obama to Bobby Kennedy during AFSCME's presidential forum. In Edwards' TBA speech, the candidate told the audience that he grew up watching the 1968 presidential hopeful.)
Continue reading "Take Back America: The Kennedy Contest"
Posted at 3:03 PM
Posted to:
Barack Obama, Campaigns, Democrats, John Edwards, Labor, WH 2008
Share via
Senate Lunch Chatter: Immigration Still Looming
Immigration remains the elephant in the halls of the Senate, despite energy legislation on the floor and a vote on union voting procedures looming. Republicans blasted a Finance Committee measure on energy taxes and the union vote as Democrats rallied with union leaders in advance of the vote.
But Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have agreed to bring immigration back up, although leaders said the details of which amendments would be allowed to garner enough votes for passage remained in the works.
-Brian Friel
Posted at 2:29 PM
Posted to:
Immigration, Senate
Share via
Bush & Olmert Try To Bolster Abbas
Although President Bush said this is a "period of great concern" over Gaza, he also deemed it an "exciting moment" in the Middle East peace process after meeting today with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Speaking at a joint press briefing at the White House, the two leaders both reiterated their support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has set up a new government in the West Bank after Hamas overtook his Gaza headquarters last week. Olmert said he will cooperate with Abbas and mentioned setting up a regular schedule of meetings.
Bush declared support for Abbas -- and rejected Hamas' new leadership in the Gaza Strip -- by emphasizing Abbas as the "president of all Palestinians" and calling him "a reasonable voice amongst extremism."
Continue reading "Bush & Olmert Try To Bolster Abbas"
Posted at 11:38 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Israel, Middle East, Palestinians, President Bush
Share via
Take Back America: Get Going, Grassroots!
Watch out, Washington. More than 3,000 progressives have descended upon the city, and they're hungry for change.
Monday marked the beginning of the fifth annual Take Back America conference, hosted by the Campaign for America's Future and sponsored by an abundance of unions and Democratic-leaning organizations. Here are some of The Gate's thematic observations about the conference's first day; check back for more dispatches as it progresses.
• Grassroots Activism: According to Jean Ross of the United American Nurses, this year's underlying theme is the importance of the grassroots movement. Indeed, every speaker this reporter heard urged listeners to take charge. Ross thinks some in the base are disappointed that congressional Democrats have been unable to push more of their agenda through, and for that reason citizen participation in the legislative process is more important than ever.
Continue reading "Take Back America: Get Going, Grassroots!"
Posted at 11:29 AM
Posted to:
Congress, Democrats, Labor, Senate, WH 2008
Share via
North Korea Test-Fires Missile
North Korea took half a step back today, after its one step forward this past weekend.
A Saturday announcement from North Korean officials that the International Atomic Energy Agency would be invited to supervise the shutdown of a nuclear reactor prompted hope in the international community that quick progress could be made. The United States jumped on the announcement, urging U.N. inspectors to shut the reactor down as part of their first visit next week.
But new reports came in today of North Korea firing a short-range missile toward waters near Japan. It's the second launch of its kind in two weeks.
Posted at 9:26 AM
Posted to:
Asia, Japan, North Korea
Share via
June 18, 2007
News Roundup: Pedophilia Ring, Energy Bill, Obama Apology
World. Officials in four countries, including the U.S., announced today that they have cracked a massive worldwide pedophilia ring centered in the U.K.
Congress. Democratic efforts to eliminate tax breaks for Big Oil and raise fuel mileage standards are under way in the Senate, even as energy lobbyists gear up to stop them.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Pedophilia Ring, Energy Bill, Obama Apology"
Posted at 6:27 PM
Share via
Rushdie Knighting Sparks Outcry
Pakistan and Iran are protesting vociferously after the announcement over the weekend that controversial novelist Salman Rushdie was to be knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
The lower house of the Pakistani parliament passed a resolution today condemning the knighthood, calling it an insult to Muslims worldwide. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, who introduced the resolution, referred to Rushdie as a "blasphemer." Religious Affairs Minister Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq was initially quoted as saying the knighthood would justify terror attacks against the West, but he later insisted his statement had been mistranslated.
In the city of Multan, protesters took to the streets and burned effigies of both Rushdie and the queen.
Continue reading "Rushdie Knighting Sparks Outcry"
Posted at 4:50 PM
Posted to:
Asia, Iran, Middle East, Pakistan, U.K.
Share via
'Extensive Destruction' Of White House E-Mails Found
A preliminary report from the House Oversight Committee finds "extensive destruction" of e-mails sent from the White House on RNC accounts.
The panel, led by Chairman Henry Waxman, also found that "at least 88" White House officials past and present used RNC e-mail accounts. The administration originally said only "a handful" of such accounts existed, and later said the number was "50 over the course of the administration."
In his noon briefing, press secretary Tony Snow dismissed the idea that the e-mails were intentionally destroyed, but did concede that the 140,000 e-mails in Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove's RNC account was "a lot of e-mails."
Using campaign accounts for official White House business and destroying administration records are violations of the Hatch Act and Presidential Records Act, respectively. The committee's report can be found here [PDF].
Posted at 1:54 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Congress, Karl Rove
Share via
Hamas To Feel The Squeeze As World Community Lines Up Behind Abbas
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert heads to Washington today as Western powers and Israel formulate a plan to cripple militant Hamas through isolation.
The EU and Israel have agreed to release aid and frozen tax revenues to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah government, which is in control of the West Bank. Abbas reaffirmed plans to seek a peace agreement with Israel; the moderate leader is backed by Washington and the EU. In a phone call to President Bush today, "President Abbas told Mr. Bush that this is the time to resume the political negotiations and to revive the hope of the Palestinian people," an Abbas aide said.
The White House seems poised to join the EU in re-releasing aid to the new Fatah government. That issue, along with resumption of peace talks, is expected to be on the table when Olmert and Bush sit down today.
The situation in Gaza, where unemployment and poverty are a much bigger problem than in the relatively peaceful West Bank, was already dire before Hamas gunmen wrested control of the region from Fatah. Now with the international community threatening to cut off the tiny Gaza Strip monetarily and Israel hinting it will do so physically, life for the area's nearly 1.5 million residents may get much, much worse.
Continue reading "Hamas To Feel The Squeeze As World Community Lines Up Behind Abbas"
Posted at 12:30 PM
Posted to:
Fatah, Israel, Palestinians
Share via
U.S. Attack On Mosque Kills Afghan Children
UPDATED.
U.S. forces said today that they had inadvertently killed seven children in an airstrike against a mosque and religious school in eastern Afghanistan that were being used as an al-Qaida safehouse. Several insurgents were also killed in the attack, which took place Sunday.
A coalition spokesman blamed al-Qaida for the casualties, claiming they were using the children as shields. "We are saddened by the innocent lives that were lost as a result of militants' cowardice," said Major Chris Belcher. Belcher said surveillance leading up to the attack had not revealed the children's presence at the mosque.
It was a bloody weekend in Afghanistan. Earlier Sunday in Kabul, a suicide bombing on a bus carrying police officers to a training compound killed 35 people and wounded 52. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which was the deadliest of its kind since the war began in 2001.
Continue reading "U.S. Attack On Mosque Kills Afghan Children"
Posted at 10:33 AM
Posted to:
Afghanistan, Al-Qaida, Terrorism
Share via
June 15, 2007
News Roundup: Nifong Resigns, Gates' Iraq Visit
UPDATED.
Courts. Michael Nifong resigned as Durham County DA this afternoon after testifying about his actions in the Duke lacrosse case and admitting he "crossed the line" of ethical standards.
World. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a surprise trip to Iraq today, after he met with the Russian defense minister to discuss a proposed missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Nifong Resigns, Gates' Iraq Visit"
Posted at 2:09 PM
Share via
Computers Fail Aboard Space Station
Cosmonauts tried for a second day to reboot computer systems on the International Space Station, and for the second day they failed. The computers, located in the Russian segment of the orbiting station, control its orientation but not its life-sustaining systems.
Valery Lyndin, spokesman for Russia's Mission Control, emphasized today that the crew's lives were not in jeopardy, but that support staff on the ground did not know the reason for the failure or when it might be corrected. Lyndin also said there were no plans to evacuate the space station; a NASA official called the chances of abandoning it remote.
Crew members on the space shuttle Atlantis, which is currently docked at the station, began conserving energy by turning off unnecessary power drains.
Posted at 12:16 PM
Share via
Abbas Picks New PM Amid Gaza Chaos
After officially disbanding the defunct unity government, Fatah-allied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today named Finance Minister Salam Fayyad as the new prime minister of the emergency government. Abbas dismissed Hamas-allied Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, who rejected the move and said he would not leave his post.
It has been a bad several days for Abbas' government. Bloody fighting has killed more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza Strip. Yesterday, Fatah fighters were executed in the streets.
And new photos released to the media this morning show masked men with machine guns overrunning the presidential compound in Gaza City, tearing pictures of Abbas and longtime Fatah leader Yasser Arafat off the walls. (Fatah guards surrendered the compound without the resistance that many had expected; Abbas is holed up in his office in the West Bank, which is now politically divided from the Gaza Strip.)
Continue reading "Abbas Picks New PM Amid Gaza Chaos"
Posted at 10:57 AM
Posted to:
Middle East, Palestinians
Share via
Hunter Pressures Navy On Catamaran
In a move sure to upset the admirals, House Armed Services ranking member Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., is pushing the Navy to transform an experimental catamaran developed in San Diego and long opposed by the service into an integral part of the fleet with a defined mission.
Hunter, whose wife christened the ship in 2005, inserted $22 million into the House-passed FY08 defense authorization bill for upgrades to L-3 Communications Corp.'s Sea Fighter catamaran, the latest in a series of earmarks he has added to defense bills to develop, build and deploy the vessel, formerly called the X-Craft.
But this year, Hunter went a step further. He tucked language into the committee report accompanying the bill to urge the Navy to take the ship from research to real-world operations.
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily (subscription) for more of today's news.
Posted at 10:22 AM
Posted to:
Congress, House, Military
Share via
Name That Future Bush Administration Official Book Title!
Last month, we proposed our first-ever contest -- and the response was respectable, considering The Gate had officially launched just one day before.
And the winner is... "The Unknown Unknowns: Don Rumsfeld Remembers."
Congratulations to reader Marcia Nelson!
Ms. Nelson also takes an honorable mention for "Never Duck the Enemy: Dick Cheney Shoots Straight On His White House Years," which came in second.
Posted at 9:54 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration
Share via
June 14, 2007
News Roundup: Palestinian Chaos, Foreclosures, Gay Marriage
Mideast. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dissolved the Hamas-Fatah unity government and issued a state of emergency in response to increasingly violent factional clashes in Gaza.
Iraq. After Wednesday's bombing of the Shiite shrine at Samarra, four Sunni shrines were attacked south of Baghdad today, but in Basra Sunnis and Shiites marched side by side to protest the violence.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Palestinian Chaos, Foreclosures, Gay Marriage"
Posted at 6:09 PM
Share via
Fun With Redistricting!
A new online game is sweeping Congress -- and don't worry, Sens. Clinton and Lieberman, it isn't "Grand Theft Auto."
"The Redistricting Game" was developed at the University of Southern California to help teach voters that "mapmakers" can have more control over an election outcome than candidates or issues. Politically engineered redistricting, which can protect incumbents and party dominance even if voters are inclined differently, was most recently a hot topic in a Supreme Court decision last year and in the political fall of former GOP top dog Tom DeLay. Lawmakers concerned "the system is out of whack" invited the game's developers to the Hill yesterday.
NPR's Andrea Seabrook was one of the few journalists there. And nowhere in her report on the game does Seabrook address the most important issue of all:
Is it fun?
Quite a few Gaters are well-versed in video gaming (and have fulfilling social lives as well, if you want to know), and decided to give "The Redistricting Game" a whirl. Following are various verdicts.
Continue reading "Fun With Redistricting!"
Posted at 4:57 PM
Posted to:
Redistricting
Share via
'Hamastan' A Long Time Coming
Just as Hamas' sweep of the parliamentary elections in January 2006 took the West by surprise, so, it seems, has the factional fighting in Gaza and the West Bank.
But longtime observers of the region say such spurts of instability are the norm for transitional states.
"This is not very different from many other conflicts taking place around the world," says Cato Institute Mideast expert Leon T. Hadar, noting that Sri Lanka's civil unrest, which gets far less news coverage, has a higher casualty count.
What makes the brewing civil war between Hamas and Fatah more of a story in the West, of course, is the potential for spillover in a region already splintered by the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Another gaping maw of unrest in the Middle East holds tremendous consequences for Israel's future, President Bush's bid to reverse the tide of militant Islam, and the West's deep economic and security interests in the region.
Tragically, the increasingly real possibility that militant Hamas will overtake outgunned, secularist Fatah was in many ways fated by the West's efforts to prepare the Palestinians for nationhood.
Continue reading "'Hamastan' A Long Time Coming"
Posted at 4:06 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Condoleezza Rice, Israel, Middle East, Palestinians, President Bush
Share via
Libby's Day In Court, Again
UPDATED.
Judge Reggie Walton denied I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's appeal today, saying the prison sentence of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff would not be delayed. Libby and his legal team are fighting to put off his 30-month sentence while he goes through the appeals process.
Libby's team has only 10 days to file the primary appeal for his perjury and obstruction convictions, although Walton said it may take several weeks before the Bureau of Prisons is ready to receive the prisoner.
A secondary appeal is also in the works -- not of the conviction itself but of today's decision, creating a new appeal on top of the initial one.
White House spokesman Tony Snow reiterated earlier today that the White House was going to let the legal process play out before weighing in on the case. Any delay in the process is largely thought to be in Libby's favor; if he rides out the clock until closer to the end of President Bush's term, it could increase Libby's chances of a presidential pardon.
Continue reading "Libby's Day In Court, Again"
Posted at 1:42 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby
Share via
Bush Affirms Support For Border Security Provision
As part of his continuing effort to court GOP support for the stalled immigration reform bill, President Bush endorsed a multibillion-dollar amendment today that attempts to shore up support among those who viewed the original deal as too lenient on illegal immigrants.
At a meeting of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez stood by the plan, crafted by the White House and a bipartisan group of senators Wednesday, which would immediately allocate $4.4 billion to enhance border security and law enforcement. "It would be effectively a mandatory spending account that would be continuously funded by fees and collections through the law. So all the money would always be set aside for border enforcement," White House press secretary Tony Snow explained this morning.
The amendment, proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would also increase the amount of time the government could take in answering illegal immigrants' requests for legal work permits.
The New York Times had a full report on the border security amendment this morning. CNN covered Bush's remarks today in Washington, while FOX News and MSNBC opted to broadcast the Los Angeles sheriff's department's press conference on Paris Hilton's incarceration instead.
Posted at 11:10 AM
Posted to:
Immigration
Share via
June 13, 2007
News Roundup: Gaza Siege, Central American Temblor
Mideast. Hamas forces appear poised to rout Fatah as fighting rages on in Gaza.
Congress. In response to the Virginia Tech shootings, the House passed what could become the first major gun control legislation since 1994, an NRA-endorsed bill designed to make it more difficult for criminals and the mentally ill to purchase firearms. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would ratchet up pressure on China over currency manipulation.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Gaza Siege, Central American Temblor"
Posted at 6:12 PM
Share via
Subpoenas Sent To Harriet Miers, Sara Taylor
UPDATED.
The Senate and House Judiciary committees stepped up their dual investigations of the U.S. attorney firings today by issuing subpoenas to former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former White House political director Sara Taylor. It was the first time the committees have ordered former White House officials to testify on an episode that continues to cast doubt on the political independence of the Department of Justice.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a subpoena for Miers to testify on July 12. Miers stepped down early this year, and is now back with Locke Liddell & Sapp, the Houston-based law firm she co-managed before joining the Bush administration in 2001. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy ordered Taylor before the committee on July 11.
(To read Miers' subpoena, click here [PDF]. To read Taylor's subpoena, as well as one ordering White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten to produce related documents, click here.)
Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate committee, painted the subpoenas as a last resort. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Specter said previous requests to speak with Taylor and Miers were met with silence.
But White House spokesman Tony Snow accused the lawmakers of seeking a "media circus" rather than the truth, citing the loads of internal documents already handed over to the committees. At the daily briefing, Snow reminded reporters that it is legal for President Bush to hire and fire federal prosecutors at whim, but said he was "not going to get into" why the White House didn't want officials testifying in public or under oath.
Continue reading "Subpoenas Sent To Harriet Miers, Sara Taylor"
Posted at 5:23 PM
Posted to:
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Karl Rove, President Bush, Tony Snow
Share via
Tommy Thompson's Still In It To Win It...
... the Ames straw poll, that is.
The GOP White House hopeful who launched his first broadcast ad of the cycle in the Hawkeye State yesterday said in a conference call this afternoon that he was sticking by his Iowa strategy. That means participating in the Aug. 11 straw poll that has traditionally been a gauge of candidates' standing in the crucial early caucus state but has been called into question now that two of the top Republican presidential candidates -- Rudy Giuliani and John McCain -- have opted out.
In the conference call, billed as a "major announcement" about the future of his campaign, Thompson acknowledged that most reporters were listening in to find out if he had decided to skip the poll as well or drop out of the race altogether. But he repeatedly stressed the importance of the Ames contest, calling it an example of the "best of American politics" and a "good thing for our country, Iowa and certainly the Republican Party." He said he hoped Giuliani and McCain would rethink their decisions not to participate, but suggested that regardless of who is tested in the poll, it will be an "event." He declined to say exactly how high he would have to place in order to remain in it for the long haul.
Responding to one reporter's question, Thompson also commented on his fundraising prospects, predicting an "adequate, but not great" second quarter.
-Irene Tsikitas
Posted at 3:32 PM
Posted to:
Tommy Thompson
Share via
Bush Taps Gillespie To Replace Bartlett
In other White House news...
Ed Gillespie, former chairman of the Republican National Committee and current head of the Virginia Republican Party, is President Bush's pick to replace outgoing White House counselor Dan Bartlett.
In a brief press announcement following a lunch meeting with both Gillespie and Bartlett, Bush said of his new hire, "He is a seasoned hand who has got excellent judgment. He's a good strategic thinker that I know will do a fine job."
Bush did not take questions on the dominant Washington story of the day, the subpoenas issued to two of his former aides.
AP has more on Gillespie and Bartlett.
Posted at 2:22 PM
Posted to:
Ed Gillespie
Share via
Lebanon Blast Kills Anti-Syrian Lawmaker
UPDATED.
Walid Eido, a prominent member of Lebanon's parliament, was killed today in an explosion in Beirut, CNN reports. Eido was an outspoken opponent of Syria, and his death appears to have been an assassination.
Ten people were killed in the blast outside a military sports club, including Eido's son and two bodyguards. The 65-year-old leader is the seventh opponent of Syria to be killed in recent years, and Lebanon has been hit with multiple explosions in the last few years.
The violence comes amid fresh concerns about Lebanon's border with Syria. The U.N. Security Council backed the Lebanese army yesterday, saying its envoy was alarmed at new reports of arms and fighters coming from Syria into Lebanon.
Posted at 2:06 PM
Posted to:
Lebanon, Middle East, Syria
Share via
GOP 2008: Room Enough For Two Thompsons?
Tommy Thompson can't catch a break.
The former Wisconsin governor, who just debuted his first broadcast ad of the cycle, entered the GOP race for the White House with one of the most diverse resumes: respected Midwestern governor for four terms, former Bush Cabinet member, private sector policy wonk.
But despite months of traipsing through the Hawkeye State (his goal has been to visit every county), Thompson's Iowa strategy was dealt a blow last week when Republican front-runners Rudy Giuliani and John McCain announced they were skipping the closely watched Ames straw poll this August. Their departure means current Iowa leader Mitt Romney is expected to take that contest easily.
Continue reading "GOP 2008: Room Enough For Two Thompsons?"
Posted at 1:01 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Fred Thompson, Republicans, Tommy Thompson, WH 2008
Share via
Republicans Could Block Spending Bills Over Earmarks
The wheels began to come off the appropriations process almost as soon as it got under way yesterday, with Republicans in both chambers threatening to shut down action on FY08 spending bills over a plan from House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., to hold earmarks until conference.
House Republicans offered nearly 100 amendments to a $36.3 billion Homeland Security spending bill and are threatening many more as the process moves forward on other bills.
And Senate GOP conservatives are threatening to block conferences on spending bills over Obey's tactic. Last year, they were able to successfully force leaders into punting on nine of 11 remaining spending bills.
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily (subscription) for more of today's news.
Posted at 9:23 AM
Posted to:
Congress
Share via
June 12, 2007
Embattled Al Hurra News Director Resigns
Larry Register quietly stepped down from the top editorial post at U.S.-funded Arabic-language TV network Al Hurra on Friday, amid intense criticism the network had started to embrace anti-American and anti-Israeli viewpoints.
The independently run network began broadcasting in nearly two dozen Middle Eastern countries in early 2004, as part of President Bush's directive to counter the swelling tide of anti-Americanism in that part of the globe. But so far, this arm of the war on terror has achieved little success.
Al Jazeera, the oft-maligned (in Washington) Arabic-language news giant, has only surged in popularity since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The independently run Qatar-based network is watched by more than 35 million viewers worldwide. In 2004, Al Jazeera shocked the advertising world by placing fifth behind Apple, Google, IKEA and Starbucks in online industry publication BrandChannel's annual survey.
Al Hurra was meant to reverse that trend. Instead, it, along with a "hearts and minds" State Department initiative, seem to have produced few positive results.
Continue reading "Embattled Al Hurra News Director Resigns"
Posted at 6:10 PM
Posted to:
Al Hurra, Israel, Media, Middle East, President Bush
Share via
Gaza Infighting Intensifies
About a month ago, Palestinians looked as though they could be headed for a civil war, and developments over the last few days have taken the Gaza Strip even further down that path.
The two governmental factions -- technically still part of a unity government -- turned on each other today, with Hamas fighters and Fatah forces battling in the street after the homes of both parties' leaders were attacked.
Hamas gunmen stormed and captured a Fatah security base, leading President Mahmoud Abbas (who is allied with Fatah) to declare that an attempted coup was taking place. More than 20 people have been killed since fresh violence began Sunday, and some analysts are speculating that the factions have passed the point of a cease-fire.
Hamas is largely thought to have the upper hand in the conflict; the radical religious party has been gaining momentum for some time. Fatah, the more moderate faction, is backed by the United States -- which, Time reports, has been pressuring Israel to ship ammunitions and weapons into Gaza to support Fatah. But even if Israel agreed, Fatah could be defeated by the time the shipments would arrive.
BBC News has photos of the conflict.
Posted at 4:39 PM
Posted to:
Israel, Middle East, Palestinians
Share via
Sudan OKs U.N. Peacekeepers
After months of resistance, the Sudanese government has agreed to allow a combined force of United Nations and African Union peacekeepers into the Darfur region, Reuters reports.
"AU Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit said Khartoum agreed to a hybrid, compromise force of between 17,000 and 19,000 troops and an additional 3,700 police," according to Reuters.
The White House has termed the killings of tens of thousands of Africans at the hands of Arab militias in the region genocide. President Bush announced new economic sanctions against the Sudanese government, which is accused by the international community of turning a blind eye to the carnage.
AP reported today on the U.N.'s efforts to rush food and aid to thousands of refugees from Darfur in the Central African Republic. The Council on Foreign Relations' Web site has an interactive, historical guide to the crisis.
Posted at 4:00 PM
Posted to:
Africa, Sudan
Share via
On Today's Sonny-Do List...
... make it rain.
OK, so Georgia's Sonny Perdue is not your typical governor, but he's no miracle worker. Instead, he put his faith in the Big Man Upstairs yesterday, declaring a day of prayer for rain in the parched Peach State. The current drought has left the state's vital agriculture industry in peril.
As of this afternoon, Accuweather.com was forecasting thunderstorms in Atlanta later this evening. Coincidence, or divine intervention? You be the judge.
Posted at 3:40 PM
Share via
No Word Of GOP Movement On Immigration After Bush Visit
Republican Senate leaders presented an upbeat report of their meeting with President Bush on comprehensive immigration reform this afternoon, but gave no indication of any deals made that might persuade more members of their party to back a compromise bill.
"The details of how we get from where we are now to the finish line is not something I'm prepared to discuss today," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, addressing reporters outside the Senate chamber.
Bush seemed to second McConnell's earlier criticism that Majority Leader Harry Reid prematurely pulled the bill off the floor after it failed a test vote for debate last week.
"I would hope that the Senate majority leader has that same desire to move the bill that I do, and these senators do, because now is the time to get it done," said the president, flanked by McConnell, Minority Whip Trent Lott, and border state Sens. Jon Kyl (Ariz.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas). "The status quo is unacceptable."
Continue reading "No Word Of GOP Movement On Immigration After Bush Visit"
Posted at 2:05 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Congress, President Bush, Senate
Share via
Rest Easy, Albanians....
U.S. officials know you didn't lift President Bush's watch.
(White House photo by Shealah Craighead)
Posted at 1:07 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, President Bush
Share via
Kurds, Turkey Appear To Pull Back From Fighting
Kurdish rebels declared a unilateral cease-fire with Turkey today, as that country's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, indicated he would seek out his Iraqi counterpart to put a lid on the brewing conflict.
AP reports that Turkey has not yet responded to the separatist PKK's statement, though it has ignored the organization's cease-fire calls in the past. The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, is considered a terrorist group by Turkey as well as by the United States.
AFP reports that Erdogan seems eager to seek out alternatives to a full-blown military incursion into northern Iraq. Last Wednesday, Turkey raised the hackles of Iraq and the United States when AP reported thousands of troops had entered northern Iraq. That turned out not to be the case, but Turkey has over the past week or so been amassing forces along the border, with the military gunning for cross-border raids on PKK fighters.
Continue reading "Kurds, Turkey Appear To Pull Back From Fighting"
Posted at 12:43 PM
Posted to:
Iraq, Kurds, Middle East, Turkey
Share via
100 Katrina Victims Still Await Burial
Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated much of New Orleans, 100 bodies of victims remain housed in a warehouse near the Superdome.
CNN reports that 70 of those bodies have been identified, but relatives are simply "too poor" or otherwise unable to claim them. The names of the other 30 victims are still unknown.
Dr. Frank Minyard, New Orleans' coroner, has so far raised $250,000 of the $400,000 he says is needed to break ground on a mausoleum for the unclaimed bodies. For now, those 100 people rest in numbered plastic-wrapped coffins inside the unmarked warehouse.
CNN.com has video of the on-air segment.
Posted at 10:55 AM
Posted to:
Katrina
Share via
Dems Ask Bush For Immigration Help As He Heads To Hill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday that he would be willing to schedule more floor debate for a bipartisan immigration compromise after the Senate completes its work on an energy bill, "if we see new cooperation and a clear way forward from the Republican Caucus."
"If we can work out something when we finish this energy bill to complete immigration, I want to do that," Reid said. A second floor debate on immigration would likely push the Senate's scheduled consideration of a defense authorization bill until after the Independence Day recess.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said most Republican senators have "made up their minds" on immigration. But, McConnell added, "I think there's a reasonable number of Republicans who, in the end are likely, unless this compromise gets unraveled in some way, in the end, are likely to help us get it through."
President Bush will meet with Senate Republicans today at their weekly policy luncheon to discuss immigration.
Continue reading "Dems Ask Bush For Immigration Help As He Heads To Hill"
Posted at 7:45 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Congress, Immigration, President Bush, Senate
Share via
June 11, 2007
Senate No-Confidence Vote On Gonzales Fails
UPDATED.
Lots of empty seats for this vote, which is actually a vote for a vote. Backers of a resolution "expressing the sense of the Senate that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales no longer holds the confidence of the Senate and of the American people" failed to get the 60 yeas to proceed to an actual vote.
The resolution was defeated as many expected, 53 to 38.
Continue reading "Senate No-Confidence Vote On Gonzales Fails"
Posted at 6:20 PM
Posted to:
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Senate
Share via
Bush Seeks To Round Up Republicans On Immigration Plan
Like many Americans this summer, President Bush will return to Washington tonight wishing he was back on vacation. (It wasn't technically a vacation, but Albania made sure it felt like one.)
But there will be no break for Bush, not so long as the Senate remains at a standstill on immigration reform. Speaking to reporters in Sofia, Bulgaria, earlier today, Bush said he has spoken with top Republicans on the compromise bill, and will venture up to the Hill tomorrow to persuade lawmakers to give the bill one more shot.
"Listen, a lot of progress was made between people in both parties making hard decisions necessary to move a comprehensive plan. It's in the nation's interest to get a comprehensive bill done. The political process sometimes isn't pretty to look at it," Bush said, having noted with criticism that senators today are voting on a technically meaningless no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Continue reading "Bush Seeks To Round Up Republicans On Immigration Plan"
Posted at 4:33 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Congress, Immigration, President Bush, Senate
Share via
'Enemy Combatant' Held In U.S. Ordered Released
A U.S. appeals court ordered Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri released after finding no evidence to support the Bush administration's assertion that he is an enemy combatant. Al-Marri, a Qatari national and legal U.S. resident when he was arrested in 2001, is the only person being held as an enemy combatant inside the United States.
Noting that al-Marri had never been charged in the nearly four years he was held in a South Carolina naval brig, Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diana Gribbon Motz ruled that the Military Commissions Act did not retroactively apply to al-Marri. "We conclude that we must grant al-Marri habeas relief. Even assuming the truth of the government's allegations, the president lacks power to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain al-Marri."
Continue reading "'Enemy Combatant' Held In U.S. Ordered Released"
Posted at 1:45 PM
Posted to:
Detainees
Share via
Mitt Romney = Hot. You = Not.
The Big Mo this presidential election cycle is as dependent on candidates' carefully tailored public personas as on their ground operations, fundraising machines, etc. That's nothing new. But YouTube's effectiveness in shaping the public's perception of candidates is very much the double-edged sword for their campaigns at the moment.
Readers who have better things to do than troll the Web for clips of candidates hedging, singing off-key and singing some more probably shouldn't dismiss the YouTube Effect out of hand. To save some time, a new Web site, PoliticsTV.com, offers a weekly rundown of their top 10 political videos.
Among the gems you may have missed last week: FOX News confusing John Conyers for William Jefferson, Patrick Leahy blowing up (again) during a committee hearing and Mitt Romney's rap debut.
You read correctly.
Continue reading "Mitt Romney = Hot. You = Not."
Posted at 12:50 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, House, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Senate, WH 2008, William Jefferson
Share via
Congress Looks To Funding & Energy...
... but not until the Senate holds its no-confidence vote today on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The non-binding resolution, which would step up pressure on Gonzales to resign, is not expected to garner the 60 votes needed to pass. But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of its sponsors, said in a statement that the resolution would pass with ease if Republicans "voted their conscience."
The House will vote this week on the first four FY08 appropriations bills, bereft of local project earmarks and representing $9.1 billion above President Bush's request. And the Senate will move on a potentially close cloture vote tonight on a motion to proceed to an energy package.
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily (subscription) for more of today's news.
Posted at 9:49 AM
Posted to:
Congress
Share via
Iraqi Parliament Ousts Speaker
In a closed session this morning, the Iraqi parliament voted to oust controversial Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani amid a swirl of scandal.
AP reports that al-Mashhadani, who was not present for the vote, was told to resign from his leadership role immediately, and al-Mashhadani's Sunni Arab parliamentary bloc was given a week to nominate his replacement. Deputy Speaker Khaled al-Attiyah will take over in the interim. Al-Mashhadani, meanwhile, will retain his seat.
Continue reading "Iraqi Parliament Ousts Speaker"
Posted at 9:20 AM
Posted to:
Iraq
Share via
June 08, 2007
News Roundup: Gonzales, CIA Prisons, Bork Suit
Congress. The Senate will hold a no-confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday.
Washington. White House waives travel restrictions for Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean after a backlog threatened to disrupt Americans' summer vacation plans.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Gonzales, CIA Prisons, Bork Suit"
Posted at 3:43 PM
Share via
Pace To Be Replaced As Joint Chiefs Chairman
Defense Secretary Robert Gates today said he would not renominate Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace in order to avoid a "backward-looking instead of forward-looking and contentious" congressional confirmation hearing.
Gates said he intended to renominate Pace -- the first Marine to serve in the position -- for another two years, but that consultation with lawmakers on the Hill forced his hand.
"I concluded that because General Pace has served as the chairman and vice chairman [of the Joint Chiefs] for the last six years, the focus of his confirmation would have been on the past instead of the future," Gates said, visibly unhappy at having to announce his decision.
The defense secretary, who's been on the job for less time than Pace has been chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said he would nominate Adm. Michael G. Mullen, currently chief of naval operations.
Continue reading "Pace To Be Replaced As Joint Chiefs Chairman"
Posted at 2:02 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, Peter Pace, Robert Gates
Share via
Dodd: Take That, MSM!
It's customary for campaign underdogs to complain about things like being left out of polls, debates and press coverage. But with the 2008 election's accelerated primary schedule expected to heavily favor the big shots, the little guys are doing more than just complain when they feel slighted by The Man. They are taking matters into their own hands.
Last month, GOP businessman John Cox attempted to sue FOX News Channel and the South Carolina Republican Party over his exclusion from a televised primary debate. Republican Ron Paul and Democrat Mike Gravel, meanwhile, have managed to squeeze enough controversy out of their sparse debate appearances to become the favorite underdogs of their respective races. Anyone who has ever written anything less than favorable about either candidate knows that they command a rabid legion of fans on the Web.
And then there's Christopher Dodd. The senior senator from Connecticut had a fairly impressive first quarter (subscription) in terms of fundraising and has been trying to raise his profile through advertising. Still, Dodd has barely moved in the polls since entering the race and failed to make a splashy impression in the first couple of debates.
Now, frustrated by the format CNN adopted in the recent New Hampshire debates, the Dodd camp is hitting back with a new feature on its Web site.
Continue reading "Dodd: Take That, MSM!"
Posted at 1:30 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Christopher Dodd, Democrats, John Cox, Media, WH 2008
Share via
WH Counsel Expands Legal Team
Fred Fielding, President Bush's third and most seasoned White House counsel, is eager to talk about the new team of lawyers he is building.
The question is how one -- plus 21 -- experienced in-house lawyers can influence a president's second-term choices. And with 68-year-old Fielding -- a survivor of Watergate as John Dean's deputy; a veteran counsel to President Reagan; a transition specialist for both Bush presidents; and an incisive inquisitor on the 9/11 commission -- the answer in 2007 is, We shall see.
"I hope my mark will be zero defects," he said in an interview with National Journal this week. "I hope that my mark will be this group of people I've assembled as our team -- that it will be one of the most exciting experiences in their professional and personal lives, and I hope that we will leave this a better place. Not to sound corny."
Continue reading "WH Counsel Expands Legal Team"
Posted at 12:36 PM
Posted to:
Bush Administration
Share via
Immigration: The End Of The Road?
The Senate late Thursday dealt a major blow to a bipartisan immigration bill, rejecting a motion by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to cut off debate on the measure as supporters could muster only 45 votes for it.
Reid then pulled the bill from the floor but left open the possibility that the Senate could revisit the measure at some point in the future. "I have every desire to complete this legislation," Reid said after the vote. "When is that? I don't know."
"I think we're giving up on this bill too soon," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "I doubt if the prospects get better with the passage of time."
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily (subscription) for more of today's news.
Posted at 11:36 AM
Posted to:
Congress, Immigration, Senate
Share via
Jefferson Pleads Not Guilty To Corruption Charges
UPDATED.
Rep. William Jefferson pleaded not guilty today to 16 counts of bribery, fraud and other criminal offenses. The Louisiana Democrat has been the subject of a two-years-long corruption probe that is most famous for the discovery of $90,000 in cash hidden in his freezer.
Speaking to reporters outside a federal court house in Arlington, Va., Jefferson said he was "absolutely innocent" of the charges against him, and accused the FBI and Justice Department of plotting to destroy him and his loved ones.
"We are truly a blessed family. We believe in public service. We believe in obeying the law. And we believe fervently in an almighty God," Jefferson said before cameras, with his wife by his side. "Incredibly, this is the same family that the U.S. attorney and FBI want you to believe is a family of bribers, racketeers and conspirators."
Continue reading "Jefferson Pleads Not Guilty To Corruption Charges"
Posted at 11:24 AM
Posted to:
Congress, House, William Jefferson
Share via
Avoiding His Father's Footsteps
When President Bush began feeling queasy before today's G-8 activities, he tried to nip it in the bud. He went on with his scheduled meeting with new French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but they met in Bush's private room and Sarkozy appeared before the cameras alone afterward. The president skipped two morning sessions, one with African leaders and one with developing nations that aren't members of the G-8.
White House counselor Dan Bartlett told reporters that Bush was having stomach trouble -- which Bartlett specified was probably caused by a virus rather than food poisoning, perhaps in an effort to avoid offending the German hosts at the seaside resort of Heiligendamm -- and joked that the president "didn't want to follow in the footsteps of his father in Asia." In 1992, the elder Bush took ill during a state dinner in Tokyo and wound up vomiting and collapsing next to the Japanese prime minister.
But Bush 43 is on the mend. He rejoined the conference in time for the closing lunch, and his plans to travel to Poland and Rome after the summit's conclusion today are still intact.
Posted at 7:42 AM
Posted to:
Bush Administration, G-8, President Bush
Share via
June 07, 2007
Attorney Firings: Cheney Squeezed Justice On Spy Program
The G-8 summit, the presidential campaigns, the immigration proposal and Paris Hilton (gulp) are sucking up all the oxygen in the news cycle. In another week, maybe, the latest development in the U.S. attorney firings saga wouldn't have been buried.
In written answers to questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey spelled out the strongest case yet that pushback on the warrantless wiretapping program in 2004 came directly from Vice President Dick Cheney.
In testimony before the committee last month on the abrupt firing of eight U.S. attorneys, Comey revealed surprising new details about DOJ's resistance to the controversial surveillance program implemented at the direction of the White House following the 9/11 attacks. Comey said that he and other top DOJ officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller, had decided to resign if the White House didn't agree to amend the program. Comey's testimony also revealed for the first time that former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a favorite villain of civil libertarians, had deemed the program illegal as well.
Continue reading "Attorney Firings: Cheney Squeezed Justice On Spy Program"
Posted at 7:10 PM
Posted to:
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Dick Cheney, James Comey, John Ashcroft
Share via
Palestinians Look To Israel To End Civil Strife
In the impoverished and stateless Gaza Strip, masked gunmen and suicide bombers are lionized as heroes following attacks on neighboring Israel. But the stunning victory of militant Hamas in January 2006 portended a different kind of unrest for the Palestinian people.
Hamas and Fatah politicians have been openly engaged in a power grab since then. That fight exploded onto the streets this year, in spurts of violence that have claimed dozens of lives.
Palestinians, already inured to violence, seem to be growing particularly tired of the fighting among their own. Reuters reports that Gazans are actually grateful for Israel's intervention.
Continue reading "Palestinians Look To Israel To End Civil Strife"
Posted at 3:37 PM
Posted to:
Israel, Middle East, Palestinians
Share via
London 2012 Logo: Look At Your Own Risk
The newly unveiled logo for the 2012 Summer Games in London is just sickening. Literally.
A promotional video starring the neon-colored, jagged-edged image has prompted nearly 20 complaints from people claiming the animation set off seizures. Noted neurophysicist Graham Harding told BBC News that the ad failed a machine test used by the TV industry to test images for safety. A nonprofit group called Epilepsy Action called for the logo to be scrapped after receiving "numerous complaints" of seizures from viewers of the ad.
And in an ominous statement, the group warned organizers against allowing the logo to be broadcast worldwide as planned. "We are concerned that the animated footage will not just be shown in the UK, where half a million people in the population have epilepsy, but it will also be shown all over the world."
Continue reading "London 2012 Logo: Look At Your Own Risk"
Posted at 2:14 PM
Posted to:
U.K.
Share via
G-8: U.S. To 'Seriously Consider' Emissions Goal
The world's largest industrialized nations were unable to persuade the United States to join them in a pledge to halve carbon emissions by 2050, but a decision by the U.S. to "seriously consider" that target was hailed as a victory by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized nations agreed: "In setting a global goal for emissions reductions in the process we have agreed today involving all major emitters, we will consider seriously the decisions made by the European Union, Canada and Japan which include at least a halving of global emissions by 2050."
Continue reading "G-8: U.S. To 'Seriously Consider' Emissions Goal"
Posted at 1:08 PM
Posted to:
Climate Change, G-8
Share via
Late-Night Vote Threatens Immigration Deal
A compromise immigration bill risks coming unraveled after the Senate voted to place a five-year limit on a program meant to provide employers with 200,000 temporary foreign workers annually. The 49-48 vote came shortly after midnight, and two weeks after the Senate, also by a one-vote margin, rejected the same amendment by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.
The reversal dismayed backers of the immigration bill, which is supported by President Bush. Business interests and their congressional allies were already angry that the temporary worker program had been cut in half from its original 400,000-person-a-year target. Bill supporters will try as soon as today to convince at least one senator to change his vote to reverse the outcome.
-CongressDaily staff
Posted at 10:11 AM
Posted to:
Congress, Immigration, Senate
Share via
Clinton's Club 44 Courts Women
If it wasn't crystal clear before, it became abundantly so during a campaign event last night: Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign team thinks the biggest hurdle standing between the New York senator and the Oval Office is Barack Obama.
Clinton's No. 1 rival for the Democratic presidential nomination was never mentioned by name, but the competition between the two was the underlying subtext of the otherwise women-focused event. With a major campus and youth outreach program led by former Rock The Vote director Hans Riemer and Young People for Obama events launching around the country that often star his wife Michelle, Obama has been making a play for the country's youngest eligible faction. Clinton, however, has intimated that she won’t be conceding any voting bloc.
Set in the pavilion on the corner of 11th and H Streets in downtown Washington, a handful of celebrities and female public figures were on hand to help Clinton kick off "Club 44" -- so-named because if elected, she would become the nation's 44th president. The hip and catchy-titled coalition calls on women between the ages of 18 and 29 to support her historic campaign to become the first woman to hold the presidency.
Continue reading "Clinton's Club 44 Courts Women"
Posted at 6:43 AM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, WH 2008
Share via
June 06, 2007
News Roundup: Giuliani & McCain Skipping Iowa Straw Poll
World. The United States refused to sign on to a greenhouse emissions cap as the G-8 summit got off to a rocky start in Germany. President Bush also tried to lower the temperature on the missile shield controversy by trying to assure allies that Russia "was not an enemy" and would not attack Europe.
Iraq. Baghdad was hit with two car bombings as the U.S. military announced the deaths of four more troops.
Continue reading "News Roundup: Giuliani & McCain Skipping Iowa Straw Poll"
Posted at 6:55 PM
Share via
Senate Immigrant ID Theft Proposal Defeated
Immigration hardliners who decry the "grand compromise" measure wending its way through the Senate got a little more ammunition today, when a proposal that would bar legal status for illegal immigrants who commit identity fraud was narrowly defeated, 51 to 46.
The proposal, introduced by Texas Republican John Cornyn, was designed to add teeth to the bill he and others have decried as amnesty by stripping away the option of earned legalization for illegal immigrants who have committed felonies, including identity fraud. But the proposal was rejected by Republicans Pete Domenici, Lindsey Graham, Jon Kyl, John McCain, Arlen Specter and others who sided with the Democrats.
No doubt these lawmakers, already seen as traitors to many in their base, will have trouble living down this vote. Many illegal immigrants have committed some kind of identity fraud in order to work and live in this country, usually in the form of fake Social Security numbers. The proposal threatened to negate one of the main tenets of the controversial immigration compromise, which is to provide an alternative to mass imprisonment or deportation of the 12 million people who are in the country illegally. McCain, Graham and Specter helped engineer the bill.
In order to deflect the coming attacks, Democrats lured away lawmakers with a competing proposal from Edward Kennedy, another architect of the compromise. The Massachusetts Democrat's offer denies legalization to those who've been convicted of sex offenses, gang-related activities, drunk driving and domestic violence. Kennedy's measure received bipartisan support in a 66-32 vote.
Continue reading "Senate Immigrant ID Theft Proposal Defeated"
Posted at 5:47 PM
Posted to:
Immigration
Share via
Wyoming's Hectic 2008
UPDATED.
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) has a delicate task on his hands in appointing a Republican to succeed deceased Sen. Craig Thomas.
Why? Because he himself has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for the November 2008 special election to replace Thomas and finish the four years that will remain of his term. Which means Freudenthal could be appointing his eventual general election opponent -- should he choose to run, of course. (Not to mention the emotional pall that will be cast over the whole process given the circumstances that necessitated it.)
Freudenthal, 56, is limited to two terms, and his second one began earlier this year, so he may be tempted to enter his own political future into the equation. If he chooses not to run next year, he would have to wait until he was out of office in 2010.
Continue reading "Wyoming's Hectic 2008"
Posted at 1:15 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Congress, Senate
Share via
GOP Debate: Who's Afraid Of Fred Thompson?
Most everyone tuning in to last night's CNN-sponsored Republican forum in New Hampshire already had him on their minds, so former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson did us all a favor by calling out the ghost at the very beginning: "My name is Thompson, Tommy. I’m the candidate, not the actor."
The actor Thompson being, of course, Fred Thompson -- star of "In The Line Of Fire," "Law and Order," and lately, the fevered dreams of many a GOP primary voter. Unfortunately for Tommy Thompson, that joke may have backfired, as National Review's Katherine Jean Lopez points out. By the time the next Republican debate arrives in August, it's a safe bet more than one of the third tier -- Tommy Thompson, Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul -- will have dropped out.
Duncan Hunter and Tom Tancredo, by contrast, have a better chance of hanging in as the two candidates who represent the hard right on immigration reform. Both have passionate followings, and the latest skirmish in the Senate over a compromise overhaul is only angering their supporters.
Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney may be the only sure bets to last through the summer. But purity is still an issue for this party, more so, arguably, than for the Democrats, and none of these men should count on an easy ride to the primaries.
Continue reading "GOP Debate: Who's Afraid Of Fred Thompson?"
Posted at 12:53 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, Jim Gilmore, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, Tommy Thompson, WH 2008
Share via
Turkish Troops Enter Northern Iraq
"Several thousand" Turkish troops have crossed the border into northern Iraq in what military leaders describe as a small-scale operation to root out Kurdish fighters, according to AP.
"Two senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the raid was limited in scope and that it did not constitute the kind of large incursion that Turkish leaders have been discussing in recent weeks," AP reports.
National Journal (subscription) reported on the growing tensions between Turkey and the Kurds in northern Iraq last month; see the full story for details.
Posted at 12:08 PM
Posted to:
Iraq, Middle East, Turkey
Share via
Protesters Block Access To G-8 Summit
As the first day of the G-8 summit progresses in Heiligendamm, multiple towns along Germany's quiet Baltic Sea coast have flooded with people: world leaders, delegates, their guests, media, security officials and protesters.
At least eight police officers were injured today in the town of Bad Doberan, a few miles from the resort town where the summit is actually taking place. Police turned water cannons on the crowd after officers were pelted with stones.
Continue reading "Protesters Block Access To G-8 Summit"
Posted at 11:33 AM
Share via
Step Away From The Pontiff
A man tried to do a swan dive into Pope Benedict XVI's jeep in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City today, leaping from the crowd over a barricade and coming within a few feet of the pontiff. He missed the back of the "popemobile," however, and security guards wrestled him to the ground.
Vatican police, who interviewed the man after the incident, identified him as a 27-year-old German. A spokesman said he is "clearly deranged but did not want to kill or harm the pope, he only wanted to draw attention to himself." He was taken to a psychiatric hospital in Italy after the incident.
The previous pope, John Paul II, was shot -- almost fatally -- by a Turkish man in the same square more than 30 years ago.
The Lede has more on today's incident, including video.
Posted at 9:50 AM
Share via
House Ethics Panel Announces Investigation Of Jefferson
The House ethics committee authorized an investigation of indicted Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., as leaders of both parties tried Tuesday to outmaneuver the opposition to claim the moral high ground.
Ethics Chairwoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, announced that an investigative subcommittee would be empanelled to review the charges against Jefferson, who was indicted Monday on 16 corruption-related charges.
Her announcement came just hours before the House voted to approve a resolution by Minority Leader John Boehner, D-Ohio, to force an ethics committee investigation and a Democratic countermeasure requiring the committee to investigate any member charged with a crime. Boehner's Jefferson-specific measure was approved, 373-26.
NationalJournal.com has the full story for free; see CongressDaily (subscription) for more of today's news.
Posted at 8:06 AM
Posted to:
Congress, Crime, House, William Jefferson
Share via
June 05, 2007
Third GOP Debate: What, You Guys Again?
Another day, another debate. CNN's Wolf Blitzer et al. are staying put in Manchester, N.H., tonight to host another meeting of the Republican candidates, just two days after the Democrats squared off on the same stage. If tonight's meeting seems a tad anticlimactic, or rather, pre-climactic, that might be because someone's still missing from the current slate.
Enter Fred Thompson. The former senator and "Law and Order" star once played the president on TV, and unlike Dr. Cliff Warner from "All My Children" ("I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV"), Thompson isn't selling cough syrup. Instead, he is positioning himself to be the candidate who cures what's ailing Republican voters.
NationalJournal.com's Poll Track (subscription) yesterday noted that voters already seem bored with what's on offer for 2008. Thompson sent ripples through the campaigns last week when he formed an exploratory committee. Sources close to the campaign told reporters the former Tennessee senator will formally declare his candidacy on the Fourth of July.
Continue reading "Third GOP Debate: What, You Guys Again?"
Posted at 5:40 PM
Posted to:
Campaigns, Fred Thompson, Immigration, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, WH 2008
Share via
Senate Lunch Chatter: Remembering Thomas
The death of Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas loomed over the luncheons today, with senators reminiscing about the three-term conservative, who tended to work behind the scenes.
Immigration also cast a heavy pall, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., threatened to file a cloture motion to wind up debate on the measure this week. Republicans said they would oppose cloture, demanding more time for amendments. Reid said he'd put off the bill if cloture fails.
Continue reading "Senate Lunch Chatter: Remembering Thomas"
Posted at 3:14 PM
Posted to:
Immigration, Iraq, Senate
Share via
