A copy of Joseph Wilson's July 6, 2003 New York Times Op-Ed with Handwritten Notes by Vice President Cheney
Mineta testimony on Cheney stand down/shoot down censored
If Mineta’s testimony is to be taken into account, and there is no apparent reason why it should not be, questions about the timing of events the morning of 9/11 come into focus. Most obvious is, if the standing order given by the Vice President prior to the aircraft hitting the Pentagon was not a shoot down order, then what was it? Perhaps it was the danger of this question, and the danger that Cheney would have had to commit perjury to uphold the timeline reported in the mainstream press, that caused the Vice President to testify to the Commission along with the President in closed session, with no transcript, no witnesses, and no public accountability.
Judge's ruling keeps DeLay on ballot
A federal judge ruled today that Republicans cannot replace former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on the ballot for the 22nd Congressional District race.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, a Republican appointee, ruled that DeLay must appear on the Nov. 7 ballot as the GOP nominee for the congressional seat that DeLay abandoned last month. Sparks ruling was confirmed by Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Amber Moon.
If the Republicans lose on appeal, DeLay will have to decide whether to campaign for an office from which he already has resigned.When he announced his resignation, DeLay said he believed he could win re-election but thought he would be a drag on other Republican candidates for office because Democrats would use him as a lightening rod to raise money and attack the GOP in general. So he resigned and dropped his re-election bid.
Hollywood, Florida conservative files suit to stop mass surveillance by government
The Hollywood woman (Theresa Fortnash) has filed a lawsuit in Miami seeking to stop the government from gathering records on virtually every telephone call made within the United States. She wants a federal judge to block AT&T from handing phone logs to the federal government, even though President Bush says the program is critical to national security.
"I know people are going to say I'm hurting our country, and that's why I thought a long, long time before doing this,'' said Fortnash, a computer database designer and mother of a 10-year-old daughter. "But I love my country, and this program goes against everything our country is about and everything my party has been about."
Payroll Giant Gives Scammer Personal Data of Hundreds of Thousands of Investors
The latest corporate data breach is from a company you may never have heard of, even though one in six American workers gets paid by the firm.
Automatic Data Processing, one of the world's largest payroll service companies, confirmed to ABC News that it was swindled by a data thief looking for information on hundreds of thousands of American investors.
According to a company spokeswoman, ADP provided a scammer with personal information of investors who had purchased stock through brokerages that use ADP's investor communications services. Initial reporting indicates that these firms include a number of brand-name brokers, including Fidelity Investments and Morgan Stanley.
A Fidelity spokesman says the data breach compromised 125,000 of the 72 million active accounts at the brokerage.
Tax dollars to fund study on restricting public data
The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million to do research aimed at rolling back the amount of sensitive data available to the press and public through freedom-of-information requests.
Lay death may wipe out conviction, forfeiture
The sudden death yesterday of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay could make him an innocent man and shield his estate from tens of millions of dollars in forfeiture claims filed by federal prosecutors, legal experts said yesterday.
Under a precedent established by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in 2004, Lay's conviction may be vacated because he did not get a chance to have the appeals court review the jury's guilty finding.
Mexico Presidential Election Ballots Found in Dump
As the apparent victor in Mexico's presidential election switched back and forth Thursday morning, ballots were found in two garbage dumps, RAW STORY has learned. The news was accompanied by various wire reports showing that left wing candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador had rejected findings that his opponent Felipe Calderón was the winner.
Calderon wins disputed Mexico vote
Leftist candidate says he'll challenge results in court
A final count gave conservative Felipe Calderon a razor-thin victory Thursday in Mexico's presidential election after four days of uncertainty.
Leftist rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed that there were irregularities in the vote count and vowed to fight the results in court. He called for a demonstration by his supporters Saturday in Mexico City, where he was the popular mayor before seeking the presidency.
Oil companies reluctant to invest in Iraq
In Iraq's peaceful north, a trio of foreign oil companies have begun classic wildcat exploration, hoping a gusher of black gold will bring them untold wealth.
But the companies are little-known outside the industry — something that's unlikely to change until security improves. And the deals they have cut with the Kurdish regional administration bypassing the central government leaves them in a murky legal situation.
More than three years after the U.S.-led invasion, no big oil company has stepped forward to spend the huge sums necessary to tap Iraq's giant oil reserves and get crude flowing and revenues pouring into Iraq's government to help pay for food, jobs and even medical care.
"It will take a lot more to bring in the big guys," said Sharif Ghalib, a senior analyst with Energy Intelligence Research in New York.
Budget woes hit Army posts nationwide
A diversion of dollars to help fight the war in Iraq has helped create a $530 million shortfall for Army posts at home and abroad, leaving some unable to pay utility bills or even cut the grass.
In San Antonio, Fort Sam Houston hasn't been able to pay its $1.4 million monthly utility bill since March, prompting workers in many of the post's administrative buildings to get automated disconnection notices.
Fort Bragg in North Carolina can't afford to buy pens, paper or other office supplies until the new fiscal year starts in October.And in Kentucky, Fort Knox had to close one of its eight dining halls for a month and lay off 133 contract workers.
Navy Will Shift Military Might to Shallower Waters
Swift boats own a small but tortured part of Navy history. The shallow-water craft crewed by armed sailors patrolled the rivers of Vietnam, one of the most dangerous missions in the Navy.
Next year, the Navy will deploy a squadron of 220 sailors to patrol Iraq's Euphrates River on 39-foot versions of the boats. Starting with a dozen vessels which can carry 16 sailors each, their goal will be to stop shipments of weapons, bombs and fighters from Syria to Baghdad.
The deployment represents a departure from the Navy's emphasis on ships that dominate the "blue water" of the ocean and reflects a move to commit more resources to fighting insurgencies. After the Navy spent decades preparing for big wars by building aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines, its new Naval Expeditionary Combat Command is building small boats that specialize in fighting where the big ships cannot go — harbors, coastlines and rivers, or what sailors call the "green" and "brown" water.
After the U.S. effort in Vietnam ended in failure, naval warfare scholars questioned whether the Navy activities were effective, or if they were worth the risk to sailors. But in a reassessment, naval historians now contend that the river force was effective at stopping the Viet Cong guerrillas and pacifying the Mekong Delta.
Destroying an Iraqi City to Save It
The city of Ramadi, epicenter of the Iraqi insurgency, has already been reduced to such ruins that constantly under-fire American forces are planning to bulldoze three blocks in the center of the city and create a mini Green Zone in an attempt to gain the upper hand on the insurgents.
Arrogance aims to create a 'greater Israel' in Middle East
Speaker of Iraq's National Assembly Mahmoud al-Mashadani in a meeting with the representative of the Jurisprudence in Khorasan, Ayatollah Abbas Vaez Tabassi, here Thursday said that the major goal of the arrogance in occupying Iraq is to create a 'great Israel' in the region.
In a meeting, held at the meeting hall of Imam Reza's (AS) holy shrine, he said that this is while some politicians mistakenly led to believe that the US and other despotic powers attacked Iraq and occupied it to topple Saddam Hussein and lay their hands on its oil reserves.
"Saddam was appointed in Iraq by the US itself to help it materialize its arrogant goals. Now the US intends to assign another substitute in Iraq who will continue working towards its goals and will promote American culture in the region.
He called on Iran's government to include participation in Iraq's reconstruction, including that of Sunni mosques, on its agenda to thwart the growing threats and plots of the US in this country.
Draft Resolution Demands Israel Quit Gaza
Researchers Say U.S. Policy Influenced by Israel
Bush Nominates Anti-Regulatory Zealot To Head Public Safety Office
President Bush is expected to nominate Susan Dudley as the next head of an obscure but “super-powerful office that oversees many business regulations.” The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs holds sway over federal regulatory agencies like the EPA and helps set regulatory policy for a wide range of issues, from workplace safety to water quality.
The most recent head, John Graham, has “demonstrated consistent hostility to protections for public health, safety and the environment over his career.” And according to Frank O’Donnell of Clean Air Watch, Dudley “makes John Graham look like Ralph Nader.”
As the director of regulatory studies at the industry-backed Mercatus Center she has worked to oppose vital public health regulation as a “hidden tax” that hinders profits. Some of her targets:
Not surprisingly, Exxon Mobil has donated $80,000 to Dudley’s think tank.
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