Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday November 3 2006 - (813)

Friday November 3 2006 edition
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Congress Tells Auditor In Iraq To Close Office 2006-11-03 00:57:46 Investigations led by a Republican lawyer named Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., in Iraq have sent American occupation officials to jail on bribery and conspiracy charges, exposed disastrously poor construction work by well-connected companies like Halliburton and Parsons, and discovered that the military did not properly track hundreds of thousands of weapons it shipped to Iraqi security forces. And tucked away in a huge military authorization bill that President Bush signed two weeks ago is what some of  Bowen’s supporters believe is his reward for repeatedly embarrassing the administration: a pink slip. The order comes in the form of an obscure provision that terminates his federal oversight agency, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, on Oct. 1, 2007. The clause was inserted by the Republican side of the House Armed Services Committee over the objections of Democratic counterparts during a closed-door conference, and it has generated surprise and some outrage among lawmakers who say they had no idea it was in the final legislation. Read The Full Story U.S. Web Archive Said To Reveal How To Build Atomic Bomb 2006-11-03 00:56:49 Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who had said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.  But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq'ssecret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb. Last night, the government shut down the Web site after the New York Times asked about complaints from weapons experts and arms-control officials. A spokesman for the director of national intelligence said access to the site had been suspended “pending a review to ensure its content is appropriate for public viewing.” Read The Full Story Democrats Predict Voter I.D. Problems 2006-11-03 00:55:20 On Indiana's primary day, U.S. Rep. Julia Carson shoved her congressional identification card in a pocket, ran out of her house and raced down the street to be at her polling site when it opened at 6 a.m. The Democrat, seeking to represent Indianapolis for a sixth term, showed the card to a poll worker, who told her it was unacceptable under a new state law that requires every voter to show proof of identity. The law compels voters to show an I.D., issued by Indiana or the federal government, with a photograph and an expiration date. Carson's card was for the 109th Congress, but did not say when the session ends. "I just thought I was carrying the right thing - if you have a card that has a picture and shows it is current," she said. In the end, the poll worker telephoned a boss, and Carson was allowed to vote for herself in the five-way primary. But her close call in the light turnout of the May primary, she and other Democrats say, foreshadows turmoil and votes that are not counted when the nation goes to the polls for Tuesday's midterm elections. Read The Full Story Accused Of Gay Liaison, Head Of National Evangelical Group Resigns 2006-11-03 00:53:57 The Rev. Ted Haggard, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals and one of the nation’s most influential Christian leaders, resigned on Thursday, one day after a former male prostitute in Denver, Colorado,  said in television and radio interviews that he had had a three-year sexual relationship with Haggard. Haggard, who is married and has five children, has denied the accusation, saying in a television interview: “I am steady with my wife. I’m faithful to my wife.” He also said he had never met the man making the accusation. In addition to resigning from his post with the association, which represents millions of Christians from 60 denominations, Haggard said he was temporarily stepping down as head pastor of his 14,000-member Colorado Springs megachurch, New Life. He said he did not want his work to be hampered by the independent inquiry the church was starting. Read The Full Story U.S. Sweep Nets Nearly 11,000 Fugitives 2006-11-02 15:00:58 Nearly 11,000 sex offenders, gang members and other fugitives were swept up in what the Justice Department on Thursday called a sting targeting the “worst of the worst” criminals on the run. Last week’s roundup, led by the U.S. Marshals Service, included Allen Marksberry, an unregistered sex offender in Rickman, Tennessee, who was baby-sitting several young children when he was arrested on Oct. 24. Also nabbed were Demetrius Avery Jackson, an accused cop killer in Birmingham, Alabama, and Eric Dewayne Meneese, a Crips gang member, in Nashville, Tennessee. Read The Full Story Iran Test-Fires Longer Range Missile 2006-11-02 14:59:33 Iran test-fired dozens of missiles, including the Shahab-3 that can reach Israel, in military maneuvers Thursday that it said were aimed at putting a stop to the role of world powers in the Persian Gulf region. The show of strength came as Iran remains locked in dispute with the West over its nuclear program, which Washington says is geared to producing atomic weapons but Tehran says is only for generating electricity. The maneuvers came three days after U.S.-led warships finished naval exercises in the Gulf that Iran branded as "adventurist". State television reported that several kinds of missiles were tested, and broadcast footage of them being fired from mobile launchers. Read The Full Story Sheriff, 12 Officers Indicted For Selling Seized Drugs 2006-11-02 14:58:23 A sheriff and 12 uniformed employees were charged in a racketeering indictment unsealed Thursday that claims drugs and guns seized from criminals were resold to the community. A U.S. Postal Service employee, a probation officer and five citizens also were charged in the 34-count indictment. The charges include racketeering conspiracy, firearms charges, narcotics distribution, obstruction of justice and perjury. “It is disgraceful corruption,” said John Brownlee, U.S. attorney for western Virginia. Read The Full Story School Bus Driver Contests Firing For Flipping Off Bush 2006-11-02 14:48:30 A school bus driver fired after she reportedly made an obscene gesture at President Bush has filed a union grievance in an attempt to get her job back. The 43-year-old driver, whose name was not released, was driving middle school children back to school after a zoo visit on June 16 when the president and Republican Rep. Dave Reichert drove slowly by in a motorcade. From the bus, the children waved; with the windows down in their car, Bush and Reichert waved back. That’s when the driver gave the president the finger, according to Reichert and Issaquah superintendent Janet Barry. Read The Full Story Scientists: White House Silences Global Warming Research 2006-11-02 10:39:48  Two federal agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration tried to block government scientists from speaking freely about global warming and censor their research, a senator said Wednesday.  Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said he was informed that the inspectors general for the Commerce Department and NASA had begun "coordinated, sweeping investigations of the Bush administration's censorship and suppression" of federal research into global warming. "These investigations are critical because the Republicans in Congress have ignored this serious problem," Lautenberg said. He said the investigations "will uncover internal documents and agency correspondence that may expose widespread misconduct." He added, "Taxpayers do not fund scientific research so the Bush White House can alter it." Read The Full Story Scandals Could Cost Republicans Their House Majority 2006-11-02 00:50:51 Indictments, investigations and allegations of wrongdoing have helped put at least 15 Republican House seats in jeopardy, enough to swing control to the Democrats on Tuesday even before the larger issues of war, economic unease and President Bush are invoked. With just five days left before Election Day, allegations are springing up like brushfires. Four GOP House seats have been tarred by lobbyist Jack Abramoff's influence-peddling scandal. Five have been adversely affected by then-Rep. Mark Foley's unseemly contacts with teenage male House pages. The remaining half a dozen or so could turn on controversies including offshore tax dodging, sexual misconduct and shady land deals. Not since the House bank check-kiting scandal of the early 1990s have so many seats been affected by scandals, and not since the Abscam bribery cases of the 1970s have the charges been so serious. But this year's combination of breadth and severity may be unprecedented, suggested Julian E. Zelizer, a congressional historian at Boston University. Read The Full Story Commentary: Bush Owes Troops An Apology, Not Kerry 2006-11-02 00:49:47 Intellpuke: The following commentary is by Keith Olbermann, anchor of MSNBC's "Countdown" program. In it, Mr. Olbermann argues forcefully that it is President Bush, and not John Kerry, who should apologize to the men and women serving in the U.S. military. Mr. Olbermann's commentary begins here: On the 22nd of May, 1856, as the deteriorating American political system veered toward the edge of the cliff, U.S. Rep. Preston Brooks of South Carolina shuffled into the Senate of this nation, his leg stiff from an old dueling injury, supported by a cane. And he looked for the familiar figure of the prominent senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner. Brooks found Sumner at his desk, mailing out copies of a speech he had delivered three days earlier - a speech against slavery. The congressman matter-of-factly raised his walking stick in midair and smashed its metal point across the senator’s head. Congressman Brooks hit his victim repeatedly. Sen. Sumner somehow got to his feet and tried to flee. Brooks chased him and delivered untold blows to Sumner’s head. Even though Sumner lay unconscious and bleeding on the Senate floor, Brooks finally stopped beating him only because his cane finally broke. Read The Full Story Bush Works To Solidify Base With Defense Of Rumsfeld 2006-11-02 00:48:24 With less than a week before the election, President Bush sought to rally Republican voters on Wednesday with a vigorous defense of the war in Iraq and a vow to keep Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsefeld in office until the end of Bush’s term. Bush appeared on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, whose audience is a reservoir of conservative voters, to criticize Democrats as lacking a plan for victory in Iraq. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney also spent another day going after Senator John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee two years ago, for remarks that Republicans claim insulted the intelligence of American troops in Iraq. Read The Full Story	News Blog: Documentary Film Turns Black Gold Into Black Death 2006-11-03 00:57:19 Intellpuke: The following news blog is by Guardian Unlimited correspondent Mark Oliver, reporting from the 13th International Documentary Film Festival held in Sheffield, England. In it, Mr. Oliver on a Swiss documentary titlled "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash". His news blog begins here: "Oil is the excrement of the devil ... oil is the bloodstream of the world economy, oil is the blood of the dinosaurs, blood of the earth." This is from the opening of "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash", a Swiss-made documentary, and one of the most frightening films you are ever likely to see. A parade of oil industry experts, politicians and academics outline in shocking detail just how badly life could be impacted after the world's oil reserves have peaked - and claim we are just about at the peak now. Standards of living - not just for the developing world but also for the West - could be forced to dramatically shrink. Read The Full Story Foreign Lobbies Take Guise Of Non-Profits 2006-11-03 00:56:07 Early last year, two little-known nonprofit groups paid for U.S. Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-California) and his 12-year-old daughter to travel to South Korea and Malaysia. Their last stop was the Berjaya Beach & Spa Resort on the Malaysian island of Langkawi, where they bunked at an oceanfront chalet staffed with a personal butler, got massages and rode water scooters on Burau Bay. Doolittle's junket, which cost $29,400, was among the most expensive privately sponsored trips by members of Congress in recent years. The two groups that split the bills were not ordinary nonprofits. They were fronts for vigorous lobbying campaigns bankrolled by foreign entities and were operated by a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, Alexander Strategy Group, according to public records and people who worked with the firm. For five years beginning in 2001, the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council and the U.S.-Malaysia Exchange Association treated 12 members of Congress and 31 Capitol Hill staffers and their relatives to nearly $500,000 in trips that included stops at U.S. and overseas resorts, records show. Read The Full Story Poll: Allies Believe Bush More Dangerous Than Kim Jong-il 2006-11-03 00:54:36 America is now seen as a threat to world peace by its closest neighbors and allies, according to an international survey of public opinion published Friday that reveals just how far the country's reputation has fallen among former supporters since the invasion of Iraq. Carried out as U.S. voters prepare to go to the polls next week in an election dominated by the war, the research also shows that British voters see George Bush as a greater danger to world peace than either the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, or the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both countries were once cited by the U.S. president as part of an "axis of evil", but it is Bush who now alarms voters in countries with traditionally strong links to the U.S. The survey has been carried out by the Guardian in Britain and leading newspapers in Israel (Haaretz), Canada (La Presse and Toronto Star) and Mexico (Reforma), using professional local opinion polling in each country. Read The Full Story U.S. General: Iraq A 'Work Of Art In Progress' 2006-11-03 00:53:28 An American general in Baghdad called Iraq a "work of art" in progress Thursday in one of the most extraordinary attempts by the U.S. military leadership to put a positive spin on the worsening violence. On a day in which 49 people were killed or found dead around the country, Major General William Caldwell, the chief military spokesman, argued that Iraq was in transition, a process that was "not always a pleasant thing to watch. "Every great work of art goes through messy phases while it is in transition. A lump of clay can become a sculpture. Blobs of paint become paintings which inspire," Maj. Gen. Caldwell told journalists in Baghdad's fortified green zone. Read The Full Story Overfishing, Pollution, Global Warming Are Destroying Seafood Stocks 2006-11-02 15:00:08 Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades. If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, by 2050 the populations of just about all seafood face collapse, defined as 90 percent depletion, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a study published in Friday’s issue of the journal Science. “Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world’s ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems,” said lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. “I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are - beyond anything we suspected,” said Worm. Read The Full Story Mexico Violence Flares As Police, Protesters Clash 2006-11-02 14:58:58 Mexican riot police used tear gas and water cannon on Thursday to force back Molotov-cocktail hurling protesters as violence flared again in the city of Oaxaca. At least eight people were injured in the clash, including a Mexican newspaper photographer, who was hit by a firework launched from within the university grounds. Federal police who took over the city center at the weekend in a bid to end a conflict that has killed more than a dozen people and become a major headache for the national government, were initially pushed back by hundreds of protesters guarding the entrance to the state university, a protest nerve center. Read The Full Story California Suspect Faces Arson, Murder Charges 2006-11-02 14:54:41 Investigators said Thursday they are seeking arson and murder charges against a man in a Southern California wildfire that killed five firefighters. The suspect, Raymond Lee Oyler, 36, is already under arrest on suspicion of setting two other wildfires over the summer. Sheriff’s investigators sought to charge Oyler with murder, arson and use of an incendiary device, said  Undersheriff Neil Lingle. District Attorney-elect Rod Pacheco said prosecutors would file charges later Thursday. Read The Full Story Ex-Software CEO Kumar Sentenced To 12 Years 2006-11-02 14:44:39 The former chief executive of Computer Associates International Inc. was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $8 million on Thursday in an accounting fraud scandal estimated to have cost investors $400 million at one of the world's largest software companies. Sanjay Kumar, 44, had pleaded guilty in April to obstruction of justice and securities fraud charges at the company, which since has been renamed CA Inc. "I know that I was wrong and there was no excuse for my conduct," Kumar told the judge while reading impassively from a statement at his sentencing at federal court in Brooklyn. "I do apologize for my mistakes and ask for forgiveness from all involved." Read The Full Story U.S. Marshals Arrest 10,733 Fugitives 2006-11-02 09:42:54 Nearly 11,000 fugitives, including sex offenders, gang members and others wanted on a variety of charges from kidnapping to weapons offenses, were swept up last week in a 24-state operation, the Justice Department was to announce Thursday. Among the fugitives caught were 1,659 sex offenders â€" including 971 who failed to register with authorities as required by law â€" in what the government called the largest number ever captured in a single law enforcement effort. Read The Full Story News Blog: The Problem For Republicans In Kansas 2006-11-02 00:50:16 Intellpuke: The following news blog is by journalist Kevin Anderson, it appears in the Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006, edition of Britain's Guardian newspaper. Mr. Anderson's blog follows: My first journalism job was at a small daily newspaper in Hays, Kansas. I lived a half-hour west of Bob Dole's hometown of Russell and covered the 1996 presidential election locally through the eyes of his lifelong friends. I still keep an eye on Kansas politics and occasionally chat with my first editor. In liberal circles in the U.S., the question has been: What's the Matter with Kansas? Thomas Frank, a Kansan himself, wondered how conservatives convinced blue-collar Kansans to care more about social issues than economic issues, often to their own financial detriment. Now, Kansas seems to be showing what the problems are for Republicans in this year's midterm elections. The popular Democratic governor, Kathleen Sebelius, is famously saying that she is "converting Republicans one at a time", and largely down to her influence and popularity, nine former Republicans will be running as Democrats this year. The Washington Postreferred to her as the recruiter-in-chief (registration required). Here's something the Post said to challenge a little bit of perceived wisdom about Kansas: Read The Full Story William Styron, Noted Author Of 'Nat Turner' And 'Sophie's Choice', Dies 2006-11-02 00:48:55 William Styron, the Virginia-born author whose novels plunged readers into the dark edges of historical moments, died of pneumonia Nov. 1 in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Mr. Styron, 81, won most of the major literary awards of the 20th century, including the Pulitzer Prize for "The Confessions of Nat Turner," the National Book Award for "Sophie's Choice" and the National Medal of the Arts for his lifetime body of work. He partied with presidents and publishers, signed petitions on political issues and testified in court that he saw Chicago police beat demonstrators during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. His 1979 novel about the horrific decision forced on a character during the Nazi reign in Poland, "Sophie's Choice," was named one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library editorial board. His 1967 novel, "The Confessions of Nat Turner," about the leader of a real slave rebellion, sparked controversy among African American critics who said Mr. Styron did not understand the experience of slaves. His 1990 memoir of depression, "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness," made him a hero to advocates of destigmatizing mental illness and earned him a National Magazine Award. Read The Full Story
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