-
 US_Debt.
Operation
TIPS
Total
Information Awareness: TIA Military Intelligence
Prgram, USA .Gov DARPA.mil
A-Z
Accounting
Art / Museums
Books+
BusinessNews
Censorship
Comics
/ Links
ComputerNews
Consumer
Dictionaries
Directories
Education
Energy
Entertainment
Environment
FIND
Free-Speech
Genealogy
Government.gov
Guides
Health Medical
History
Humor
I.P.
Intellectual
Property
Intelligence
Labor
Language
Law / Legal
>Law
Enforcement
Library
Links
Linux
Maps
Media
Military
Music & MP3s
NET / WEB
NEWS-STAND
NoteWorthy
Nuclear
Opinion
Parents
People
Politics
Privacy
Radio/ Online
Reference
Science &
Tech
Search/Engines
>SpecialEngines
Seniors
Space
Sports
Terrorism
Travel
TV /Channels
U.S.
Vocabulary
Weather
Webcasting
Women
World
UnitedStates News:
 ELECTION
2006
Alabama
News
Alaska
News
Arizona
News
Arkansas
News
California
News
Colorado
News
Connecticut
News
Delaware
News
Florida
News
Georgia
News
Hawaii News
Idaho News
Illinois
News
Indiana News
Iowa
News
Kansas
News
Kentucky
News
Louisiana
News
Maine
News
Maryland
News
Massachusetts
News
Michigan
News
Minnesota
News
Mississippi
News
Missouri
News
Montana News
Nebraska
News
Nevada News
New
Hampshire News
New Jersey
News
New Mexico
News
New York
News
North_Carolina
News
North
Dakota News
Ohio News
Oklahoma
News
Oregon
News
Pennsylvania
News
Rhode
Island News
South_Carolina
News
South
Dakota News
Tennessee
News
Texas
News
Utah
News
Vermont
News
Virginia
News
Washington
News
West
Virginia News
Wisconsin
News
Wyoming
News
FOCUS:
Special
Reports
9-11
Meta Index September 11 2001
CLONING
NEWS
STEM
CELL NEWS
ENRON
NEWS
MICROSOFT
NEWS
Top
|
GOVERNMENT News:
20080826
 Money
-  History
"FDIC
Warns of More Bank Troubles: The Government Insures
Depositors When Banks Fail, But Does It Have Enough Cash?" ... "The health
of U.S. banks is quickly deteriorating, and the government fund set up
to protect depositors might not have enough money to insure everybody,
analysts told ABCNews.com." ... "The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
or FDIC, insures bank deposits of up to $100,000 at nearly 8,500 of the
nation's banks and also keeps a watch list of banks that it considers in
trouble." ... "At the beginning of the year, 90 banks were on the FDIC
watch list. There are now 117, FDIC chairwoman Sheila C. Bair announced
at a news conference this afternoon. That is the highest number in five
years, but some analysts expect the list to grow even more in coming months."
... ""I think there's going to be a steady drip, drip, drip of bad news,"
said Sean Ryan, a banking analyst with Sterne Agee. "We've only seen the
very tip of the iceberg in terms of bank failures."" ... "The FDIC, created
in 1933 during the Great Depression to help restore the public's confidence
in the nation's banking system, receives no federal tax dollars and is
funded through the institutions that it insures. Currently it has $50.2
billion set aside to cover bank failures, nearly 20 percent of which is
likely to be depleted in the IndyMac insurance payback alone." (1, 2,
3)
-By Scott Mayerowitz -ABCNEWS.com
20080806
 Hillary
Rodham Clinton -  Dick
Cheney - Halliburton
KBR -  Blackwater
- Corporate
- Government
- Disaster
-  Politics
-  Military
-  Peoples
-  Health
-  Investigators
- Hurricane
Katrina -  Housing
-  US
-  Iraq
-  Cayman
Islands
"No
Crisis Is Immune From Exploitation Under Bush." ...
[By
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON:] "Tucked away on the Cayman Islands sits Ugland
House, an unassuming, nondescript building of modest scale and size. However,
according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO),
this five-story office building is home to more than 18,000 corporate entities,
nearly half of which have U.S. [United States] ties." ... "In the past
few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman
Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded. One of these companies, [Republican
Vice President Dick Cheney's] former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, has used
offshore tax havens to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in
federal taxes. To no one's surprise, instead of cracking down on KBR, the
[Republican President] Bush administration has rewarded the company in
April of this year with a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq." ...
"There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation
under the Bush administration. The examples of the waste, fraud and abuse
are legion -- from KBR performing shoddy electrical work in Iraq that has
resulted in the electrocution of our military personnel according to Pentagon
and Congressional investigators, to the firing of an Army official who
dared to refuse a $1 billion payout for questionable charges to the same
company. In another scam, the Pentagon awarded a $300 million contract
to AEY, Inc. [Incorporated], a company run by a 22-year-old who fulfilled
an ammunition deal in Afghanistan by supplying rotting Chinese-made munitions
to our allies." ... "But the fraud and waste are not limited to the war.
In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, for example, FEMA [Federal Emergency
Management Agency] awarded a contract worth more than $500 million for
trailers to serve as temporary housing. The contractor, Gulf Stream, collected
all of its money even though they knew at the time that its trailers were
contaminated with formaldehyde." ... "While touting fiscal responsibility,
[Republican] President Bush and his administration have lined the pockets
of political cronies like Halliburton and Blackwater. While calling for
earmark reform, the president has allowed no-bid and questionable contracting
throughout the federal government to dwarf earmark spending by a 10-to-1
ratio." -By Hillary Rodham Clinton
-WSJ.com
20080805
Political
-  Terrorism
-  Intelligence
- Crime
- Noteworthy
- Government
-  Law
- US
- Iraq
- Military
- History
-  Journalist
"Author
claims White House knew Iraq had no WMD: Journalist
Ron Suskind says [Republican President] Bush ordered forgery linking Saddam,
al-Qaeda." ... "President Bush committed an impeachable offense by ordering
the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] to to manufacture a false pretense
for the Iraq war in the form of a backdated, handwritten document linking
Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, an explosive new book claims." ... "The charge
is made in “The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of
Extremism” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind, released today."
... "Suskind says he spoke on the record with U.S. [United States] intelligence
officials who stated that Bush was informed unequivocally in January 2003
that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. Nonetheless, his book relates,
Bush decided to invade Iraq three months later — with the forged letter
from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam bolstering the U.S. [United
States] rationale to go into war." ... "“It was a dark day for the CIA,”
Suskind told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira on Tuesday. “It was the kind
of thing where [the CIA] said, ‘Look, this is not our charge. We’re not
here to carry forth a political mandate — which is clearly what this was
— to solve a political problem in America.’ And it was a cause of great
grievance inside of the agency.”" ... "The author writes that Bush’s action
is “one of the greatest lies in modern American political history” and
suggests it is a crime of greater impact than Watergate." ... "The letter"
... "On page 371 of “The Way of the World,” Suskind describes the [Republican
President Bush's] White House’s concoction of a forged letter purportedly
from the hand of [Iraqi intelligence chief Tahir Jalil] Habbush to Saddam
Hussein to justify the United States’ decision to go to war." ... "CIA
officers [Bob] Richer and John Maguire, who oversaw the Iraq Operations
Group, are both on the record in Suskind’s book confirming the existence
of the fake Habbush letter." -By Bob Considine
-MSNBC
 WATCH:
Ron Suskind interview on TODAY show.
Government
- Intelligence
- Secretly
- Marketing
- Media
-  Opinion
- Noteworthy
- Military
- Terrorism
- Political
- History
-  Book
- US
- Iraq
"Book
says White House ordered forgery." ... "A new book
by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA [Central
Intelligence Agency] to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the
head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein." ... "Suskind writes in “The
Way of the World,” to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery –
adamantly denied by the White House – was designed to portray a false link
between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war."
... "Suskind writes in his new book that the order to create the letter
was written on “creamy White House stationery.” The book suggests that
the letter was subsequently created by the CIA and delivered to Iraq, but
does not say how." ... "The author claims that such an operation, part
of “false pretenses” for war, would apparently constitute illegal White
House use of the CIA to influence a domestic audience, an arguably impeachable
offense." ... "Suskind writes that the White House had “ignored the Iraq
intelligence chief’s accurate disclosure that there were no weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time
to stop an invasion." ... "“They secretly resettled him in Jordan, paid
him $5 million – which one could argue was hush money – and then used his
captive status to help deceive the world about one of the era’s most crushing
truths: that America had gone to war under false pretenses,” the book says."
... "Suskind writes that the forgery “operation created by the White House
and passed to the CIA seems inconsistent with” a statute saying the CIA
may not conduct covert operations “intended to influence United States
political processes, public opinion, policies or media.”" ... "“It is not
the sort of offense, such as assault or burglary, that carries specific
penalties, for example, a fine or jail time,” Suskind writes. “It is much
broader than that. It pertains to the White House’s knowingly misusing
an arm of government, the sort of thing generally taken up in impeachment
proceedings.”" -By Mike Allen
-Politico.com
20080804
US_Debt
- Government
- Money
- Countrywide
Financial Corporation - Real
Estate -  North
Carolina -  New
York - US
-  United
Kingdom
"Fewest
Treasury Traders Since 1960 Hit Taxpayers (Update4)."
... "For the first time since 1960, when it created the network of securities
firms obligated to buy and sell Treasury bonds, the U.S. government has
the fewest bond traders making markets in its debt and a bigger burden
for American taxpayers financing record federal deficits."
... "The number of so-called primary government securities dealers declined
to 19 last month when Bank of America Corp., based in Charlotte, North
Carolina, acquired the troubled Countrywide Financial Corp. The sale was
the climax of dozens of bank failures, triggered by the biggest decline
in residential real estate since the Great Depression and the seizing up
of credit markets from New York to London [United Kingdom's capital]. The
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the agent of the U.S. Treasury, plans
to shrink the dealers again when JPMorgan
Chase & Co. completes its takeover of Bear Stearns Cos." ...
"The paucity of primary dealers coincides with the largest borrowing requirement
in American history and the acknowledgment by the administration of [Republican]
President George W. Bush that the U.S. will finance a budget deficit totaling
a record $482 billion next year. When the dealer system began 48 years
ago with 18 firms, the U.S. had a $300 million surplus. The group has shrunk
from a peak of 46 in 1988. " -By Sandra Hernandez
-Bloomberg
20080729
US_Debt
- History
- Government
- Politics
-  SD
-  SC
"Bush
to leave a record budget deficit of $482 billion:
[Republican President Bush] White House officials say the economy and a
bipartisan stimulus package caused the worsening picture for 2009, but
Democrats blame Bush's tax cuts and fiscal management." ... "Democrats
on Capitol Hill blamed the revised deficit figures on Bush's large tax
cuts and freewheeling spending." ... ""If we gave Olympic medals for fiscal
irresponsibility, President Bush would take the gold, the silver and the
bronze, because he's got the three highest record deficits ever," said
[South Dakota Democratic Senator] Sen. Kent Conrad (D-S.D.), chairman of
the Senate Budget Committee. "He sets records in every single category:
2009 would be the gold; 2004 the silver; 2008 the bronze."" ... "[South
Carolina Democratic Representative] Rep. John M. Spratt Jr. (D-S.C.) noted
that Bush inherited a budget surplus from his Democratic predecessor, so
the blame for the poor fiscal performance rests with him." ... ""Mr. Bush
came to office with the biggest surpluses in history and he will leave
office with the biggest deficit in history. That's the bottom line," said
Spratt, chairman of the House Budget Committee." -By
Maura Reynolds -LAtimes
20080728
 Jim
Adkisson - Terrorism
- Politics
-  Tennessee
- Church
- Gays
-  Jobs
- Government
-  Food
- Money
"Tennessee
church shooter angry at "liberals"." ... "A man [Jim
Adkisson] who opened fire inside a church, killing two people with a shotgun
hidden in a guitar case, was frustrated at being unable to find a job and
blamed liberals and gays, police said on Monday." ... ""It appears that
what brought him to this horrible event was his lack of being able to obtain
a job, his frustration over that, and his stated hatred of the liberal
movement," Knoxville [Tennessee] Police Chief Sterling Owen told reporters
of Sunday's incident at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church."
... "Suspect Jim Adkisson...." ... "... described his violent plans in
a four-page letter found at his home, which also explained that his age
and "liberals and gays" taking jobs had worked against him." ... "Another
recent setback was that Adkisson's allotment of government-issued food
stamps had been reduced, Owen said." -By Andrew Stern
with contributions by Michael Conlon and Jackie Frank
-Reuters via -IHT.com
20080718
Hillary
Clinton -  Women's
- Medical
-  Science
- Abortion
- Language
- Politics
-  Family
- Federal
- Money
- New
York
"Clinton
vows to fight "insulting" abortion plan." ... "A
[Republican President] Bush administration plan to define several widely
used contraception methods as abortion is a "gratuitous, unnecessary insult"
to women and faces tough opposition, [New York Democratic Senator] Sen.
Hillary Clinton said on Friday." ... "The former Democratic presidential
candidate joined family planning groups to condemn the proposal that defines
abortion to include contraception such as birth control pills and intrauterine
devices." ... "It would cut off federal funds to hospitals and states where
medical providers are obligated to offer legal abortion and contraception
to women." ... ""We will not put up with this radical, ideological agenda
to turn the clock back on women's rights," the New York senator told a
joint news conference with New York [Democratic Representative] Rep. Nita
Lowey, also a Democrat, at Bellevue Hospital." ... ""Women would watch
their contraceptive coverage disappear overnight," said Clinton." (1, 2)
-By Michelle Nichols with contributions by Ellen Wulfhorst
and Eric Beech -Reuters
20080714
 Barack
Obama - Military
-Police
- US
- Iraq
-  Afghanistan
-  Iran
-  Pakistan
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Government
- Money
- Political
-  McCain
-  Arizona
- 2008
Election
"My
Plan for Iraq." [By 2008 Election Democratic Presidential
Canidate Barack Obama] ... "The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki
for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an
enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment
of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term
success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States." ... "The
differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike [2008 Election Republican
Senator and Arizona] Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before
it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake
to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and
the Taliban [in Afghanistan] by invading a country [Iraq] that posed no
imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then,
more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion.
Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan
to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown." ... "In the 18 months since [Republican]
President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically
in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the
Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly
weakening its effectiveness." ... "But the same factors that led me to
oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown,
the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200
billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to
invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their
own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that
was the stated purpose of the surge." ... "The good news is that Iraq’s
leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a
timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. [Lieutenant
General] James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s
security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready
to assume responsibility for security in 2009." ... "Only by redeploying
our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation
and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for
the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment
and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator
McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous
commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government." ... "Ending
the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has
a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and
it never has been. As Adm. [Admiral] Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources
to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq."
... "As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing
at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan.
We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and
more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there. I would not
hold our military, our resources and our foreign policy hostage to a misguided
desire to maintain permanent bases in Iraq. " -By
Barack Obama -NYTimes
20080710
 John
Cowdery -  Kott
-  Kohring
-  Weyhrauch
-  Oil
- Money
- Politics
-  VECO
- Federal
- Crimes
-  Alaska
"Cowdery
indicted on two corruption charges." ... "The federal
indictment filed today against state [Alaska state Republican Senator]
Sen. John Cowdery revolves around the oil tax legislation pushed so hard
by Veco Corp. [Corporation] and its executives in 2006." ... "The Anchorage
Republican is charged with conspiracy and bribery, accused of scheming
with Veco executives to win over another senator in the battle for the
tax favored by North Slope oil producers." ... "According to the 16-page
indictment, Cowdery and others conspired to give the other state senator
$25,000, characterized as campaign contributions." ... "[Veco chief executive
Bill] Allen and Veco vice president Rick Smith have pleaded guilty to bribing
legislators, including Cowdery, to push through a version of an oil tax
favored by North Slope producers." ... "Two former legislators, [Republican]
Pete Kott of Eagle River [Alaska] and [Republican] Vic Kohring of Wasilla
[Alaska], are serving federal prison sentences after being convicted of
corruption charges related to the push for the tax. A third former legislator,
[Republican] Bruce Weyhrauch of Juneau [Alaska's capital], was indicted
too and is awaiting trial while courts consider an appeal on what evidence
can be heard." -By Lisa Demer
-ADN.com
20080706
 Don
Young -  Ted
Stevens -  Tom
DeLay - Federal
- Investigation
- Legislative
- Politics
- 2008
Election - Alaska
-  Texas
-  Virginia
-  Florida
-  Transportation
-  Construction
"When
Alaska's Young needed help, lobbyists ponied up."
... "Facing bad publicity and a dwindling campaign account, [United States
Alaska Republican Representative] U.S. Rep. Don Young last year turned
to the "AK Wolfpack," a group of more than 20 lobbyists, including former
Young staffers and retired former congressmen, with close ties to the Alaska
Republican." ... "Young's chief of staff, Mike Anderson, sent the Wolfpack
an e-mail to tell them that national Democrats planned aggressive fundraising
and claims of misconduct by Young to topple the 35-year incumbent congressman
and his fellow Alaska Republican [Senator], U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens." ...
"If they succeed, Anderson warned, "you and your clients will be impacted.""
... "They include Rick Alcalde, the lobbyist at the heart of a Young earmark
that is under federal investigation. They also include lobbyists Colin
Chapman, Anderson's immediate predecessor as Young's chief of staff, and
Randy DeLay, the brother of former Republican House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay of Texas. Randy DeLay lobbied on a Virginia highway project before
Young's transportation committee." ... "Anderson e-mailed his note a day
after The New York Times ran a front-page story about Young's earmarking
$10 million to study a Florida interchange that would benefit a developer
who had raised money for an earlier Young campaign. The paper described
the earmark as an "obvious" trade of campaign contributions for legislative
favors." -By Sean Cockerham and Erika
Bolstad -McClatchyDC.com
20080702
John
McCain -  Carl
H Lindner Jr - Terrorism
- Money
- Illegal
- Military
- Politics
- Federal
- Investigation
-  International
- Food
-  Colombia
- US
- Arizona
-  Ohio
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Backer's Firm Pleaded Guilty To Funding Terrorist Group In Colombia."
... "The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain oversaw the
payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that
is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States." ...
"Carl H. Lindner Jr., the billionaire Cincinnati [Ohio] businessman, was
CEO [Chief Executive Officer] of Chiquita Brands International from 1984
to 2001, and remained on the company's board of directors until May 2002.
Beginning under his tenure, Chiquita executives paid hundreds of thousands
of dollars to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (known by the
Spanish acronym AUC), which is described
by George Washington University's National Security Archive as an "illegal
right-wing anti-guerrilla group tied to many of the country's most notorious
civilian massacres."" ... "Following a Justice Department indictment
[pdf] last year, Chiquita admitted
to illegally funding the paramilitaries and agreed to pay a $25 million
fine. Chiquita's payments to the AUC began in 1997 and lasted seven years;
roughly half of the funds came after the group was designated
a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department in 2001."
... "According to the Justice Department, the payments "were reviewed and
approved by senior executives" of Chiquita, who knew by no later than September
2000 "that the AUC was a violent, paramilitary organization."" ... "Late
last week, Lindner co-hosted a $25,000-per-person fundraiser for McCain
and the Republican Party in the wealthy Indian Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati,
Ohio. The event raised about $2 million; Lindner also serves on McCain's
Ohio Victory Team." ... "While Lindner was CEO of Chiquita, the company
began sending money to the AUC through its shipping subsidiary Banadex.
A report
by the Organization of American States states that Banadex also engaged
in arms trafficking, helping to deliver 3,000 Nicaraguan AK-47 rifles and
millions of rounds of ammunition to the AUC in 2001. According to federal
prosecutors, when company officials realized the arrangement was illegal,
they switched to making the payments in cash." -By
Nico
Pitney -HuffingtonPost.com
20080630
John
McCain -  Tom
Loeffler - Susan
E Nelson -  Gordon
England -  EADS
-  European
- Military
-  Aircraft
-  Manufacturing
- Politics
- Government
-  Auditors
- US
- 2008
Election
"McCain’s
Boeing Battle Boomerangs." ... "Government auditors
ruled that the Air Force made "significant errors" when it rebid the [aerial
refueling tanker] contract and awarded the $35 billion project to Boeing's
chief rival, partners European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. [Company]
(or EADS) and Northrop Grumman. It's likely the Air Force will have to
redo the bid yet again, which analysts say will delay the replacement of
the fleet's 1950s-era refueling tankers. The auditors' ruling has also
cast light on an overlooked aspect of [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate John] McCain's crusade: five of his campaign's top advisers and
fund-raisers—including Tom Loeffler, who resigned last month as his finance
co-chairman, and Susan Nelson, his finance director—were registered lobbyists
for EADS." ... "Critics, including some at the Pentagon, cite in particular
two tough letters McCain wrote to Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England
in 2006 and another to Robert Gates, just prior to his confirmation as
Defense secretary. In the first letter, dated [September] Sept. 8, 2006,
McCain wrote of hearing from "third parties" that the Air Force was about
to redo the tanker competition by factoring in European government subsidies
to EADS—a condition that could have seriously hurt the EADS bid. McCain
urged that the Pentagon drop the subsidy factor and posed a series of technical
questions about the Air Force's process. "He was trying to jam us and bully
us to make sure there was competition by giving EADS an advantage," said
one senior Pentagon official, who asked for anonymity when discussing a
politically sensitive matter. The assumption within the Pentagon, the official
added, was that McCain's letters were drafted by EADS lobbyists. "There
was no one else that would have had that level of detail," the official
said." -By Michael Isikoff
-Newsweek
20080623
Media
- 
-  Radio
-  Communications
- Corporations
- Government
- Politics
"July
18 Deadline for Cross-Ownership Move Requests: Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals Gives Broadcasters, Media Activists Until July
18 to File Requests for Moving Appeal of FCC Decision." ... "The Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals gave broadcasters and media activists
until July 18 to file their requests for moving the appeal of the Federal
Communications Commission's decision
to loosen the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership." ...
"That's according to one of the parties involved." -By
John Eggerton -BroadcastingCable.com
20080622
Blackwater
- Corporate
- Military
- Federal
- Crime
- North
Carolina
"Blackwater
using cache of AK-47s: Rifles given to sheriff in
deal that skirts law." ... "The private military company Blackwater [owned
by Erik Prince] has found an unusual way to skirt federal laws that prohibit
private parties from buying automatic weapons. Blackwater bought 17 Romanian
AK-47s and 17 Bushmasters, gave ownership of the guns to the Camden County
[North Carolina] sheriff and keeps most of the guns at Blackwater's armory
in Moyock [North Carolina]." ... "Tiny Camden County -- population 9,271
-- is one of the most peaceful in North Carolina. In the last 10 years,
there have been two murders, three robberies and seven rapes reported.
The sheriff has just 19 deputies." ... "Sheriff Tony Perry said his department
has never used the 17 AK-47s outside of shooting practice at Blackwater.
None of his 19 deputies are qualified to use the AK-47s, Perry said, and
his department's need for automatic weapons is "very minimal."" ... "In
the summer of 2005, Blackwater CEO Gary Jackson signed two agreements with
[Major] Maj. Jon Worthington of the Sheriff's Office. Worthington has worked
as a firearms instructor for Blackwater." ... ""Blackwater has financed
the purchase of 17 Romanian AK-47 rifles for the Camden County Sheriff's
Office for use by Sheriff's Office," the agreement says. "The Camden County
Sheriff's Office will have unlimited access to these rifles for training
and qualification, and state of emergency use." Worthington and Jackson
also signed an agreement for the purchase of 17 Bushmaster XM15 E2S automatic
rifles." ... "Why did Blackwater strike this deal with the Camden County
sheriff?" ... ""Because they needed guns, I imagine," Jackson said." ...
"Under federal law, it is illegal for a person to receive or possess an
automatic weapon that is not registered to that person in the National
Firearms Registration and Transfer Record." -By Joseph
Neff -NewsObserver.com
20080621
 China
- Hackers
- US
- GOV
- Lawmakers
- Human
Rights - Politics
- Military
-Intelligence
- Investigation
- Va-  NJ
-  Ill
"More
congressional computers hacked from China." ... "More
Members of Congress have had their computers infiltrated by hackers within
China than initially suspected, a lawmaker has revealed." ... "[Representatives]
Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va. [Republican-Virginia), Chris Smith (R-N.J. [Republican-New
Jersey), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill. [Republican-Illinois]) admitted to having
data removed from their Capitol Hill computers last week, but Wolf says
there are more." ... "“I would suspect that the Foreign Affairs, Armed
Services, Intelligence, (and) Appropriations committees would all be top
targets,” Kirk said." ... "Wolf and Smith said they believe the hackers
focused on them because of their continued objections to China’s human
rights violations, and suspected that the hackers were looking for information
on dissidents." ... "The FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] asked the
lawmakers not to speak publicly, fearing that if they did, they would be
unable to track the IP addresses of the hackers, Kirk said." ... "“When
you’re in the middle of a criminal investigation, you try not to alert
the criminal of what’s happened so you can track it down,” he said." -By
Jordy Yager -TheHill.com
20080620
John
McCain - Criminal
- Financing- Lawyering
- Politics
- Federal
- 2008
Election
"McCain
Breaking the Law in Plain Sight." ... "I mentioned
earlier today that it was quite a thing to see John McCain denouncing Barack
Obama for breaking his word on public financing when McCain himself is
at this moment breaking the law in continuing to spend over the spending
limits he promised to abide by through the primary season in exchange for
public financing. (By the FEC's [Federal Election Commission's] rules,
we're still in the primary phase of the election and will be until the
conventions.)" ... "I want to return to this subject though because this
is not hyperbole or some throw away line. He's really doing it. McCain
opting into public financing, accepted the spending limits and then profited
from that opt-in by securing a campaign saving loan. And then he used some
clever, but not clever enough lawyering, to opt back out. And the person
charged with saying what flies and what doesn't -- the Republican head
of the FEC -- said he's not allowed to do that. He can't opt out unilaterally
unless the FEC says he can." ... "The most generous interpretation of what
happened is that McCain's lawyer came up with an ingenious legal two step
that allowed him to double dip in the campaign finance system, eat his
cake and spend it too. But even if you buy that line, successful gaming
of the system doesn't really count as strict adherence. And the point is
irrelevant since the head of the FEC -- a Republican -- says McCain cannot
do this on his own. " -By Josh Marshall
-TalkingPointsMemo.com
WATCH:
"TPMtv: [McCain] Campaign Finance Deformed"
-By Josh Marshall -Veracifier
20080619
Military
- Tech
-  Safety
- Investigation
- Government
- Accounting
- Politics
- US
-  Taiwan
"US
N-weapons parts missing, Pentagon says." ... "The
US military cannot locate hundreds of sensitive nuclear missile components,
according to several government officials familiar with a Pentagon report
on nuclear safeguards." ... "Robert Gates, US [Republican President Bush's]
defence secretary, recently fired both the US Air Force chief of staff
and air force secretary after an investigation blamed the air force for
the inadvertent shipment of nuclear missile nose cones to Taiwan." ...
"According to previously undisclosed details obtained by the FT, the investigation
also concluded that the air force could not account for many sensitive
components previously included in its nuclear inventory." ... "One official
said the number of missing components was more than 1,000." ... "The disclosure
is the latest embarrassing episode for the air force, which last year had
to explain how a bomber mistakenly carried six nuclear missiles across
the US." -By Demetri Sevastopulos
-FT.com
|
|
