'MySpace' Parody Launches Film Career

MySpace: The Movie" was posted Jan. 28 to David Lehre's personal Web site, DavidLehre.com, and three days later it was placed on YouTube.com by a user named "eggtea," who downloaded it from Lehre's site and uploaded it to the popular video sharing site. About 20,000 videos are uploaded to YouTube each day and more than 15 million are watched. With 3.4 million viewings, "MySpace: The Movie" ranks as the site's most viewed video. The film also has been on rotation on Current TV, a new network aimed at the 18-to-34-year-old audience that reaches 20 million U.S. homes. Lehre was recently offered a development deal by MTVU, which is MTV's on-air, online and on-campus network.

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Lou Dobbs reports that "Dubai Ports World" officials have tried to silence him and get CNN to suppress his reports

DOBBS: "They are refusing to give any more interviews to CNN or allow them to video tape their operations overseas. To CNN's credit they have refused to comply with their demands".video

hit tip Crooks & Liars

Supreme Court Backs Abortion Protesters

The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to abortion clinics in a two-decade-old legal fight over anti-abortion protests, ruling that federal extortion and racketeering laws cannot be used to ban demonstrations. The 8-0 decision ends a case that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had kept alive despite a 2003 ruling by the high court that lifted a nationwide injunction on anti-abortion groups led by Joseph Scheidler and others. Anti-abortion groups brought the appeal after the appellate court sought to determine whether the injunction could be supported by charges that protesters had made threats of violence.

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Iraqi forces capture Zarqawi aide: TV

Iraqi Interior Ministry forces have captured a senior aide to al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraqi state television said on Monday. Iraqiya named the man as Abu Farouq and said he was captured with five others in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, west of the capital. It said Abu Farouq al-Suri, previously unknown to the media, was captured by the Wolf Brigade, one of several counter-insurgency units operating within the Shi'ite-run Interior Ministry but accused by Sunnis of targeting civilians in their community. The word Suri is Arabic for Syrian, indicating that the captured man may have come from Iraq's western neighbor. U.S. military spokespeople were unaware of the capture.

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Report on Bush's UK bike accident provides surprising new details

"[At] about 1800 hours the President approached the junction at speed on the bicycle. The road was damp at the time. As the President passed the junction at speed he raised his left arm from the handlebars to wave to the police officers present while shouting 'thanks, you guys, for comin.' "As he did this he lost control of the cycle, falling to the ground, causing both himself and his bicycle to strike [the officer] on the lower legs. [The officer] fell to the ground, striking his head. The President continued along the ground for approximately five metres, causing himself a number of abrasions. The officers... then assisted both injured parties....

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Powder in Texas Dorm Not Ricin, FBI Says

The FBI determined a powdery substance found in a roll of quarters at a University of Texas dormitory was not ricin after initial state tests had indicated it was the potentially deadly poison, a spokesman said Sunday. The FBI tests did not identify the substance, but they came back negative for the poison that is extracted from castor beans, said San Antonio FBI spokesman Rene Salinas.

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Chinese-made hoodies being recalled

Next Marketing Inc. of Wabash, Ind., said Friday it was recalling 22,000 hooded fleece pullovers. The Chinese-made garments have a drawstring through the hood, posing a strangulation hazard to children. In February 1996, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued guidelines to help prevent children from strangling or getting entangled on the neck and waist by drawstrings in upper garments, such as jackets and sweatshirts. No injuries have been reported. The recalled youth hooded fleece garments have drawstrings. They were sold in a variety of colors and many of them have the names of colleges and universities printed or embroidered on them. A sewn-in tag reads, "Lil Fan" or "LF 2."

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Body of Fla. Boot Camp Teen to Be Exhumed

The family of a teenager who died at a boot camp for juvenile delinquents plans to exhume his body for a second autopsy because they do not believe the official finding that the death was unrelated to a scuffle with guards.
Martin Lee Anderson's family disputes that he died from hemorrhaging caused by sickle cell trait, a normally benign condition, and not from a 30-minute confrontation with guards that was captured by a camp security camera.
"Saying (Anderson) died of sickle cell trait is like saying a man who was lynched died because he had a weak neck," said attorney Benjamin Crump.

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Google Ready To Appeal Photo Copyright Ruling

The company is expected to fight a recent court decision that it can't use thumbnail photos from an adult site.

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TIA Lives On

A controversial counter-terrorism program, which lawmakers halted more than two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates, was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending off charges that it has violated the privacy of U.S. citizens.

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Documents Reveal White House Deal on Ports

Under a secretive agreement with the Bush administration, a company in the United Arab Emirates promised to cooperate with U.S. investigations as a condition of its takeover of operations at six major American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The U.S. government chose not to impose other, routine restrictions. In approving the $6.8 billion purchase, the administration chose not to require state-owned Dubai Ports World to keep copies of its business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to orders by American courts. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate requests by the government.

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Iraq Blast Destroys Gold Dome of Shrine

Suspected insurgents blew up the gold-domed shrine in Samarra that houses two important Shiite imams today in an act apparently tailored to stoke sectarian passions between Iraq's Shiite majority and Sunni minority. Witnesses near the Askari shrine complex said it was badly damaged in one and possibly two 6:45 a.m. explosions. There was no official word of casualties, but some witnesses said victims might be under the rubble.Little of the massive gold dome remained, witnesses said. Residents were angrily chanting, "God is great." The explosions targeted the burial site of the 10th and 11th imams in the Shiite faith, both descendants of the prophet Muhammad. Also damaged was a basement to the shrine complex where the Imam Mahdi, the 12th and last figure in Shiism, was said to have disappeared.His possible reappearance is considered by Shiites as the heralding of a new age. The shrine complex in the mostly Sunni Arab city on the Tigris River is a major pilgrimage site for the world's Shiite Muslims. The attack is sure to heighten tensions in the power struggle between Iraq's Shiites and Sunnis, as well as stoke the anger of Shiites in Iran, the Persian Gulf states and South Asia.

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Iraq angrily rejects US sectarian warning

Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari angrily dismissed on Tuesday U.S. warnings to shun sectarianism in the country's new government, saying Iraqis would not accept interference in their affairs. Speaking after talks with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who echoed the U.S. call for a government of national unity in Iraq, the normally calm and diplomatic Jaafari said Iraq knew its own best interests. "When someone asks us whether we want a sectarian government the answer is 'no we do not want a sectarian government' -- not because the U.S. ambassador says so or issues a warning," he told a news conference. "...We do not need anybody to remind us, thank you."

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U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review

In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private historians.
The restoration of classified status to more than 55,000 previously declassified pages began in 1999, when the Central Intelligence Agency and five other agencies objected to what they saw as a hasty release of sensitive information after a 1995 declassification order signed by President Bill Clinton. It accelerated after the Bush administration took office and especially after the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to archives records.

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Dubai company set to run U.S. ports has ties to administration

The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House. One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose department heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port. Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet. The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and who was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. The ties raised more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

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Ex - Malaysia PM Says Abramoff Paid to Help

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize his 2002 meeting with President Bush, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.
Mahathir told reporters he was aware a payment was made to Abramoff, but he didn't know who made it. He said he had been persuaded by the U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation to meet with Bush at the time.
''It is true that somebody paid but it was not the (Malaysian) government,'' Mahathir said. ''I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government.'' Mahathir said the Heritage Foundation believed he could help ''influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies.''

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UAE Would Also Control Shipments of Military Equipment For The U.S. Army

There is bipartisan concern about the Bush administration’s decision to outsource the operation of six of the nation’s largest ports to a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because of that nation’s troubling ties to international terrorism. The sale of P&O to Dubai World Ports would give the state-owned company control of “the ports of New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.” A major part of the story, however, has been mostly overlooked. The company, Dubai Ports World, would also control the movement of military equipment on behalf of the U.S. Army through two other ports.

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Anesthesiologists Delay Calif. Execution

The planned execution of a man convicted of raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl was delayed until Tuesday night after two anesthesiologists refused to participate because of ethical concerns.
With the execution scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, defense lawyers requested a stay from the federal judge who last week ordered San Quentin State Prison to have an anesthesiologist on hand to minimize Michael Angelo Morales' pain as he was put to death by lethal injection. A second anesthesiologist was retained as a backup.

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Rumsfeld Wrong in Saying Press Propaganda Campaign Ended in Iraq?

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday that the controversial Pentagon-back program to plant propaganda in Iraqi newspapers had been completely shut down. This appears at odds with other statements recently, the Los Angeles Times reports, calling Rumsfeld's comments mistaken.

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Bush hands control of major US ports to United Arab Emirates

The Bush administration is facing criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike over its decision to allow an Arab company to run six major US ports. Senior Republican Senator, Lindsay Graham, says the decision to give the United Arab Emirates' government-owned ports company control over the operations of major ports in the United States was "unbelievably tone deaf". The UAE was used by some of the 9/11 terrorists as both an operational and a financial base.

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Senior Lawyer at Pentagon Broke Ranks on Detainees

One of the Pentagon's top civilian lawyers repeatedly challenged the Bush administration's policy on the coercive interrogation of terror suspects, arguing that such practices violated the law, verged on torture and could ultimately expose senior officials to prosecution, a newly disclosed document shows.
The lawyer, Alberto J. Mora, a Republican appointee who retired last month after more than four years as general counsel of the Navy, was one of many dissenters inside the Pentagon. Senior uniformed lawyers in all the military services also objected sharply to the interrogation policy, according to internal documents declassified last year.

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Woman sues McDonald's over fries content

The news last week that McDonald's french fries contain wheat and milk ingredients has resulted in a lawsuit filed Friday against the Oak Brook-based company.The Chicago law firm Dale and Pakenas filed suit in a Cook County court on behalf of Debra Moffatt of Lombard, alleging consumer fraud. The suit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages.Moffatt's lawyer, Thomas Pakenas, said his client suffers from celiac disease, which interferes with the absorption of nutrients and is triggered by eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley."You cannot sell gluten-free french fries when they have gluten," Pakenas said.

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NEWSWEEK: Inside Dick Cheney's dark, secretive mind

Dick Cheney has never been your normal politician. He has never seemed as eager to please, as needy for votes and approval and headlines as, say, Bill Clinton. Cheney can seem taciturn, self-contained, a little gloomy; in recent years, his manner has been not just unwelcoming but stand-offish. This is not to say, however, that he is entirely modest and self-effacing, or that he does not crave power as much as or more than any office-seeker. This, after all, is a man who, in conducting a search for George W. Bush's vice president, picked himself.


FULL NEWSWEEK ARTICLE

In N.C., GOP Requests Church Directories

The North Carolina Republican Party asked its members this week to send their church directories to the party, drawing furious protests from local and national religious leaders. "Such a request is completely beyond the pale of what is acceptable," said the Rev. Richard Land, head of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. During the 2004 presidential race, the Bush-Cheney campaign sent a similar request to Republican activists across the country. It asked churchgoers not only to furnish church directories to the campaign, but also to use their churches as a base for political organizing.
The tactic was roundly condemned by religious leaders across the political spectrum, including conservative evangelical Christians. Ten professors of ethics at major seminaries and universities wrote a letter to President Bush in August 2004 asking him to "repudiate the actions of your re-election campaign," and calling on both parties to "respect the integrity of all houses of worship."
Officials of the Republican National Committee maintained that the tactic did not violate federal tax laws that prohibit churches from endorsing or opposing candidates for office, and they never formally renounced it. But Land said he thought the GOP had backed down.

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Boot-camp tape sparks outrage

The release Friday of a videotape showing Bay County [Florida] guards restraining and striking a limp and seemingly lifeless 14-year-old has ignited national attention and cries for a special prosecutor in the case and even closing the state's juvenile boot camps.
The parents of Martin Lee Anderson, who died on Jan. 6, a day after the incident, believe the tape raises questions about an autopsy by District Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Siebert that said the boy died from internal bleeding caused by a genetic blood disorder and not from injuries in an altercation with guards.

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White House Aims to Protect New Texas Map

The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Bush administration's request to join Texas in defending a Republican-friendly congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay.
The administration will share time with Texas lawyers on March 1, when the court holds a special afternoon session to consider four appeals that stem from the bitter dispute over Texas congressional district boundaries. Justices are considering whether the Republican-controlled Legislature acted purely for partisan gain in 2003 when it threw out district boundaries that had been used in the 2002 elections, and whether the new map violated a federal voting rights law.
The Justice Department approved the plan although staff lawyers concluded that it diluted minority voting rights. The Bush administration asked the high court last week for permission to participate in the case, supporting Texas. The redistricting helped Republicans win 21 of Texas' 32 seats in Congress in the last election, up from 15.

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Media failed to report contradiction in Cheney's and Armstrong's alcohol claims

Reporting on Vice President Dick Cheney's admission that he had consumed "a beer at lunch" prior to accidentally shooting a hunting companion, numerous media outlets failed to report that Cheney's admission contradicted earlier statements by Katharine and Anne Armstrong, co-owners of the ranch where the accident occurred, who had said that Dr. Pepper was served with lunch and "heavily implied," according to The New York Times, that "no alcohol was served at all."

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Landslide Slams Village, 1,500 Missing

A rain-soaked mountainside disintegrated into a torrent of mud, swallowing hundreds of houses and an elementary school in the eastern Philippines on Friday. At least 23 people were confirmed dead, and 1,500 were missing.
"It sounded like the mountain exploded, and the whole thing crumbled," survivor Dario Libatan told Manila radio DZMM. "I could not see any house standing anymore."
The farming village of Guinsaugon on Leyte island, 420 miles southeast of Manila, was virtually wiped out, with only a few jumbles of corrugated steel sheeting left to show that the community of some 2,500 people ever existed.
Two other villages also were affected, and about 3,000 evacuees were at a municipal hall.
"We did not find injured people," said Ricky Estela, a crewman on a helicopter that flew a politician to the scene. "Most of them are dead and beneath the mud."
The mud was so deep — up to 30 feet in some places — and unstable that rescue workers had difficulty approaching the school. Education officials said 200 students, six teachers and the principal were believed to have been there.
Sen. Richard Gordon, head of the Philippine Red Cross, issued the casualty estimates and made an international appeal for aid. The provincial governor asked for people to dig by hand, saying the mud was too soft for heavy equipment.
There appeared to be little hope for finding many survivors, and only 53 were extricated from the brown morass before dark halted rescue efforts for the night, officials said.
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Coroner: Boy beaten in boot camp died of internal bleeding

The teenager beaten by guards in a state-run boot camp for juvenile delinquents died from internal bleeding caused by a blood disorder and not from any injuries he may have suffered while being restrained, a medical examiner reported Thursday.
Martin Lee Anderson suffered complications caused by sickle cell trait, Bay County medical examiner Dr. Charles Siebert said.
"It was a natural death," Siebert said. "The trait caused red blood cells to sickle and change shape, causing a whole cascade of events that led to bleeding and hemorrhaging."
However, there was no indication on the facility's intake form that the youth or his family were aware of the disorder that affects about one of every eight African Americans, Siebert said. The sickle cell disorder would not show up in routine bloodwork, he said.

"Unbelievable," said state Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican who chairs the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee. "It still does not justify the type of treatment this kid received in this boot camp."
Siebert said there were some bruises and abrasions on the body, but he attributed them to attempts to resuscitate the youth.
The autopsy was also met with skepticism by the Anderson family's attorney.
"The medical examiner said he died from internal bleeding," Tallahassee attorney Benjamin Crump said. "One thing we do know is that damage to his internal organs wasn't caused from this alleged sickle cell trait."
A videotape that allegedly shows guards beating Anderson will be made public Friday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in response to a lawsuit brought by The Miami Herald and CNN.
Barreiro and Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, viewed the tape last week of the events leading to the youth's death.
"He was so limp and not about to go anywhere and you see a guard punching his arm, a knee to the back of the leg to knock him back down to the ground and choking him," Barreiro said.
There were also some minor cuts behind Anderson's ears, possibly as a result of efforts by guards to gain control of the youth, Siebert said. No drugs were discovered by the autopsy.
Anderson died Jan. 6 at a Pensacola hospital where he was taken from the Panama City camp where he had become uncooperative and was restrained by guards, according to the Bay County sheriff's office. The 14-year-old boy's mother, Gina Jones, contends that her son was murdered by guards who beat him to death.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department said it has opened an investigation into the death.

Cheney Takes Blame for Shooting But 'Unapologetic' About Aftermath, Admits Drinking One Beer at Lunch

In an exclusive interview with Fox News' Brit Hume this afternoon, Vice President Dick Cheney took full responsibility for shooting his hunting companion, who has until now been pictured as the guilty party. The interview will not air in full until 6 p.m., but according to Hume, in summarizing the contents, the vice president remained "totally unapologetic" about the long lag in reporting the shooting to the public -- and also said that he had consumed one beer at lunch that day

Group sends soldiers Valentines from home

Members of the U.S. military all over the world will have a Valentine's Day surprise, thanks to a group of Purdue students. The club, Letters from Home, is sending 50 packages of candy and cards to members of the military. Each package has materials for three to four soldiers.
Caitlin Fizpatrick, a senior in the College of Liberal Arts and president of the organization, said they wanted to let troops who may not get as much mail as others know that they are still remembered. "I think that it's something that will remind them of home and let people know they care about them at home and appreciate what they're doing," she said. The group held a fund-raiser last week where interested people could sponsor a candy gram. Also, the group has received a grant from the University, which will help cover costs.
Emily Frurip, a senior in the School of Management and marketing director for the group, said that the grant can also help them send more items, such as magazines and disposable cameras. Frurip said the group, which has about 20 members, started a year and a half ago. They have sent packages for other times of the year as well, such as Halloween and the holiday season. "I think any holiday is a good excuse to get people together," she said. "People are more in the mood to help each other out."
Those interested in donating to or joining the group can send inquiries to purdueletters@yahoo.com. Also, organizations that want to set up a letter-writing or card-making session should contact the group at the same e-mail address.

Cheney Violates Cardinal Rule of Hunting

Vice President Dick Cheney apparently broke the No. 1 rule of hunting: be sure of what you're shooting at. Cheney wounded fellow hunter Harry Whittington in the face, neck and chest Saturday, apparently because he didn't see Whittington approaching as he fired on a covey of quail in Texas. Hunting safety experts interviewed Monday agreed it would have been a good idea for Whittington to announce himself - something he apparently didn't do, according to a witness. But they stressed that the shooter is responsible for knowing his surroundings and avoiding hitting other people.

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Bush Did Not Learn for Several Hours That Cheney Shot Hunter

President Bush did not learn for several hours that Vice President Dick Cheney was the shooter in a hunting accident in South Texas on Saturday afternoon that left a prominent Austin lawyer and Republican campaign supporter wounded by shotgun pellets in the neck, shoulder and chest, the White House said today.
In a briefing with the White House press corps, Scott McClellan, the president's spokesman, said he himself did not learn until about 6 a.m. on Sunday that it was Mr. Cheney who had shot the lawyer, Harry Whittington, 78, when the two were on a weekend quail hunting trip along with several others at the Armstrong Ranch in South Texas.
Mr. Whittington is still listed in stable condition at the intensive care unit of Christus Spohn Memorial Hospital in nearby Corpus Christi, Tex. Peter Banko, the hospital administrator, told reporters today that Mr. Whittington would be moved out of the intensive care unit later in the day but that no date had yet been set for him to leave the hospital.

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More Questions Raised About Delay in Reporting Cheney Misfire

The more than 18-hour delay in news emerging that the Vice President of the United States had shot a man, sending him to an intensive care unit with his wounds, grew even more curious late Sunday. E&P has learned that the official confirmation of the shooting came about only after a local reporter in Corpus Christi, Texas, received a tip from the owner of the property where the shooting occured and called Vice President Cheney's office for confirmation.The confirmation was made but there was no indication whether the Vice President's office, the White House, or anyone else intended to announce the shooting if the reporter, Jaime Powell of the Corpus Christ Caller-Times, had not received word from the ranch owner.

One of Powell's colleagues at paper, Beth Francesco, told E&P that Powell had built up a strong source relationship with the prominent ranch owner, Katharine Armstrong, which led to the tip. Powell is chief political reporter for the paper and also covers the area where the ranch is located south of Sarita.Armstrong called the paper Sunday morning looking for Powell, who was not at work. When they did talk, Armstrong revealed the shooting of prominent Austin attorney Harry Whittington, who is now in stable condition in a hospital. Powell then called Cheney's office for the confirmation around midday. The newspaper broke the story at mid-afternoon--not a word about it had appeared before then.The Cheney spokesman Powell spoke with, Lea Anne McBride, would not comment on whether the White House would have ever released the information had the Caller-Times not contacted them."I’m not going to speculate," McBride said, according to Powell. "When you put the call into me, I was able to confirm that account."Francesco, at the Corpus Christi paper, said she felt it was a bit odd that her newsroom had not received any information about the shooting since "we often call law enforcement in area, even on weekends. We checked in and didn’t hear anything about it."While E&P was first to raise the question about the delay Sunday afternoon, Frank James, reporter in the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau, put his how spin on it later in the day, asking, "How is it that Vice President Cheney can shoot a man, albeit accidentally, on Saturday during a hunting trip and the American public not be informed of it until today?"

U.S. Northeast Socked by Snowstorm; NYC Sets Record

The U.S. Northeast's first major snowstorm of the season descended on the region today, bringing people and traffic to a halt and blanketing New York City with the heaviest snowfall in its history.
About 26.9 inches (68.3 centimeters) of snow has fallen so far on New York City's Central Park Zoo, the Weather Channel reported. In December 1947, the park recorded 26.4 inches of snow. In Maryland, 22.5 inches fell in Baltimore's suburbs.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking at a news conference, said the roads should be cleared in time for Monday's morning commute, while urging workers to take mass transit.
New York City buses are experiencing about 15-minute delays and some subway lines are running with delays or on different tracks, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said on its Web site. The Long Island Rail Road is experiencing up to 30-minute delays, while the Metro North Railroad is experiencing delays of as many as two hours. Some New Jersey Transit trains are also running with delays and service changes.

Cheney accidentally shoots hunting companion

Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally wounded a companion with shotgun pellets on a weekend quail hunt in Texas, his office said on Sunday.
Cheney's companion, Austin lawyer Harry Whittington, 78, was listed in stable condition after being brought in on Saturday night, said Yvonne Wheeler, a spokeswoman for the Christus Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. Cheney's office said Whittington had been sprayed by birdshot while hunting at the Armstrong Ranch in south Texas, about 200 miles south of San Antonio.

VA Nurse Investigated for “Sedition” for Criticizing Bush

Laura Berg is a clinical nurse specialist at the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque, where she has worked for 15 years. Shortly after Katrina, she wrote a letter to the editor of the weekly paper the Alibi criticizing the Bush Administration. After the paper published the letter in its September 15-21 issue, VA administrators seized her computer, alleged that she had written the letter on that computer, and accused her of “sedition.”

full text of letter

Libby, Abramoff, Brown sing like birds

You've heard of the three tenors? Now three Washington figures, each of them implicated in either wrongdoing or incompetence, are singing like canaries.
You might call their song, "It Wasn't Just Me.''
"It Wasn't Just Me,'' sings Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's indicted former chief of staff.
This week, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald revealed in grand jury documents that Libby testified that his White House superiors authorized him to disclose intelligence information to the media.
The National Journal, citing knowledgeable sources, identified one of those superiors as Cheney.
The vice president authorizes leaks. That's quite a song.
"It Wasn't Just Me,'' sings former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who pleaded guilty last month to bribery.
When asked about Abramoff, who raised more than $100,000 for the Bush re-election campaign, the president said, "I don't know him."
"The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings and joked with me about a bunch of things, including details of my kids." Abramoff wrote in an e-mail. "Perhaps he has forgotten everything, who knows?"
"It Wasn't Just Me," sings former FEMA director Michael Brown.
He says his superiors knew a levee had broken the night Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
"So for them to now claim that we didn't have awareness of it is just baloney," Brown said.
Did the White House know?
"If I've told Joe Hagin or told Andy Card, I've told the president," Brown said, referring to the White House chief of staff, Card, and his deputy.
The three men are singing to save themselves -- by implicating higher-ups.

Republican overseeer of NSA calls for full congressional probe

A Republican lawmaker whose subcommittee oversees the National Security Agency has broken ranks with the White House and called for a full Congressional inquiry into the Bush administration's domestic spying program, a newspaper reported.
The The New York Times said Representative Heather Wilson of New Mexico, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, said in an interview that she had "serious concerns" about the surveillance program.
By withholding information about its operations from many lawmakers, she said, the administration has deepened her apprehension about whom the agency is monitoring and why, the report said.
Wilson, who was a National Security Council aide in the administration of President Bush's father, is the first Republican on either the House's Intelligence Committee or the Senate's to call for a full congressional investigation into the program, the paper said.
President George W. Bush has admitted authorizing the NSA to eavesdrop without warrants on the international communications of people inside the United States believed to have links with Al-Qaeda.
But his administration, backed by Republican leaders in both houses, has resisted calls for inquiries by either Congress or an independent prosecutor.
Wilson said in the interview she considered the limited congressional briefings about the program to be "increasingly untenable" because they left most lawmakers knowing little about it, The Times said.
She said the House Intelligence Committee needed to conduct a "painstaking" review, including not only classified briefings but also access to internal documents and staff interviews with NSA aides and intelligence officials, according to the report.
Wilson, a former Air Force officer, said she realized that publicizing her concerns over the surveillance program could harm her relations with the administration, the paper pointed out.
"The president has his duty to do, but I have mine too, and I feel strongly about that," The Times quoted her as saying

Injured soldier told to pay for body armor

The Pentagon is being challenged for demanding a West Virginia Army officer who was wounded in Iraq pay $700 for his damaged body armor.
The state's two Democratic senators, Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd, raised the issue of 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV with the Pentagon and within the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reported.
When the news broke after Rebrook's medical discharge from Fort Hood, Texas, last week, more than 200 people from across the country sent him donations totaling $5,700 in a show of support. However, the 25-year-old said he wouldn't keep the money, but rather donate it to a Louisiana woman who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina. He said the woman's son helped save his life in Iraq.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, said he would follow-up on why Rebrook was billed.
"That is a very unusual story," Schoomaker said. "I have no idea why we would ever do something like that."

Bush Plan Would Cut Survivor Benefits

If President Bush gets his way, the venerable $255 Social Security death benefit will fade into history. And 16- and 17-year-old high school dropouts will lose their monthly survivor payments. Not, however, if Democrats get their way.
"The Republican Congress has given a whole new meaning to the term 'women and children first,'" Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel , chairman of the House Democratic campaign committee, said Tuesday.
"There they go again," said New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the party's Senate campaign effort. "They can't resist trying to cut Social Security, and to cut a survivor, a widow or widower's benefits, it just shows how warped the priorities are in this budget."
White House officials defended the proposals, included in the budget that Bush submitted to Congress on Tuesday and estimated to trim costs by $3.4 billion over the next decade.
"Children who have lost a parent need every assistance and encouragement we can provide, and everything the federal government can do to encourage them to stay in school and get an education makes it that much more likely that they can succeed," said Scott Milburn, a spokesman at the Office of Management and Budget.
"Linking benefits to school attendance provides that encouragement and is, in fact, currently the rule for 19-year-olds. We think more children can be helped by lowering that age to 16," he said.

States Eye Picketing at Soldiers' Funerals

States are rushing to limit when and where people may protest at funerals — all because of a small Kansas church whose members picket soldiers' burials, arguing that Americans are dying for a country that harbors homosexuals.

During the 1990s, the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., went around picketing the funerals of AIDS victims with protest signs that read, "God Hates Fags." But politicians began paying more attention recently when church members started showing up at the burials of soldiers and Marines killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Legislation is being considered in at least 14 states, and several of the bills moving quickly, with backing from legislative leaders and governors.
If they pass, the bills could set up a clash between privacy and free speech rights, and court challenges are almost certain.
"We're not proposing to silence the speech of the Westboro Baptist Church, as offensive as most of us find that," said Kansas Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, a Republican. Instead, he said, he is trying to achieve a balance that respects "the rights of families to bury their dead in peace."

Mystery shrouds al-Qaida escape in Yemen

The mysterious escape of 23 dangerous al-Qaida operatives from a high-security prison in Yemen is bound to further strain U.S.-Yemeni relations.
Observers expressed fears that the flight of the convicted terrorists will increase tensions in relations between Sanaa and Washington, and expose serious deficiencies in the Yemeni security system.
"We do not know exactly what is going on behind the scenes in terms of reactions to the incident and its direct impact on Yemeni-U.S. relations, which have been extremely tense in the past phase," said political commentator and journalist Mounir Mawri.
"But one thing is certain is that regardless of the explanations of the incident, it will have sequels and consequences that should be taken seriously inside and outside Yemen," Mawri told the local English-language daily News.
U.S. anti-terror agencies, which are strongly present and rooted in Yemen, have not shown any special concern over the mass escape of al-Qaida operatives, including the main plotter of the attack on the USS Cole in the port of Aden in October 2000 in which 17 U.S. servicemen perished.
Official sources disclosed that 18 of the 23 al-Qaida operatives were tried and convicted in terrorist attacks, including the attack on the USS Cole and the French giant tanker, the Limburg. They were also convicted of forming terrorist cells and plotting to carry out attacks on foreign targets, especially American.

Super Bowl Broadcast to Have Tape Delay

ABC is putting a five-second defensive line between the Super Bowl and television viewers.The delay, according to ABC, is the first-ever in the 40-year history of the Super Bowl.
The tape delay, for the game itself as well as the pre-game, halftime and post-game entertainment, is an apparent echo of the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" that marred the 2004 broadcast on CBS.
While ABC confirmed the broadcast delay, network officials who could explain when the decision was made and why were not immediately available, an ABC spokeswoman said Friday.
A tape delay was in place for the past two years of ABC's "Monday Night Football."
The decision drew immediate praise from the Parents Television Council, a media watchdog group. The halftime show this year features the Rolling Stones.
"ABC has wisely decided to ensure that this year's Super Bowl is not hijacked by raunchy performers as it was in 2004," said L. Brent Bozell, PTC president. "Now, we hope that millions of families can safely watch this family program without the worry of seeing inappropriate sexual content or hearing vulgar language."

'Grandpa Munster' Al Lewis Dies at 95

Al Lewis, the cigar-chomping patriarch of "The Munsters" whose work as a basketball scout, restaurateur and political candidate never eclipsed his role as Grandpa from the television sitcom, died after years of failing health. He was 95.
Lewis, with his wife at his bedside, passed away Friday night, said Bernard White, program director at WBAI-FM, where the actor hosted a weekly radio program. White made the announcement on the air during the Saturday slot where Lewis usually appeared.
"To say that we will miss his generous, cantankerous, engaging spirit is a profound understatement," White said.
Lewis, sporting a somewhat cheesy Dracula outfit, became a pop culture icon playing the irascible father-in-law to Fred Gwynne's ever-bumbling Herman Munster on the 1964-66 television show. He was also one of the stars of another classic TV comedy, playing Officer Leo Schnauzer on "Car 54, Where Are You?"
But Lewis' life off the small screen ranged far beyond his acting antics. A former ballplayer at Thomas Jefferson High School, he achieved notoriety as a basketball talent scout familiar to coaching greats like Jerry Tarkanian and Red Auerbach.
He operated a successful Greenwich Village restaurant, Grandpa's, where he was a regular presence — chatting with customers, posing for pictures, signing autographs.

Not Enough Lifeboats!

Egyptian authorities admitted last night that a ferry that sank in the Red Sea with more than 1,400 people on board was unsafe and did not have enough lifeboats. More than 1,100 were feared dead.

The Al Salam Boccaccio 98, a 35-year old vessel driven out of European waters by stringent safety regulations, went down suddenly early yesterday morning local time, 57 miles from its destination at the Egyptian port of Safaga. Coast Guard ships pulled about 185 bodies from the sea, and at least 263 survivors escaped on lifeboats.
“The speed at which the ship sank and the fact that there were not enough liferafts on board confirm that there was a (safety) problem but we cannot anticipate the results of the investigation,” President Mubarak’s spokesman said.

ABC News has Woodruff video

ABC News executives in New York say they have not viewed the tape that was rolling when an Iraqi roadside bomb hit anchor Bob Woodruff and his cameraman.
The videotape is still in Doug Vogt's damaged camera, which was transported with the injured men to the United States, the New York Post reported Friday.
"It was hand-carried back from Iraq to Germany to Washington and now to New York," the ABC News spokesman said. "The tape is still in the camera."
It is unknown whether any of the explosion that injured Woodruff and Vogt or its aftermath appear on the tape.
Vogt, 46, was shooting video of Woodruff, 44, and the surrounding area as the two were standing in an Iraqi military vehicle when their convoy was rocked by a roadside bomb.
Both journalists are being treated at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.