Justice Dept. Cites Obstacles in Blackwater Case
Jan 16 2008
Justice Department officials have told Congress that they face serious legal difficulties in pursuing criminal prosecutions of Blackwater security guards mercenaries involved in a September shooting that left at least 17 Iraqis dead. In a private briefing in mid-December, officials from the Justice and State Departments met with aides to the House Judiciary Committee and other Congressional staff members and warned them that there were major legal obstacles that might prevent any prosecution.
At:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/washington/16blackwater.html
From: CLG News
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O’Reilly said he’s “still looking” for the homeless veterans Edwards (and the VA) say are “out there”
Bill O’Reilly again baselessly challenged John Edwards’ claim that “200,000 men and women who wore our uniform proudly and served this country courageously as veterans will go to sleep under bridges and on grates,” telling radio host Ed Schultz, “[W]e’re still looking for all the veterans sleeping under the bridges, Ed. So if you find anybody, let us know. … They may be out there, but there are not many of them out there.” Schultz replied: “Well, they’re out there, Bill, don’t kid yourself.” According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, they are, in the approximate numbers Edwards asserted.
Read More
http://mediamatters.org/items/200801160009?lid=33739&rid=1724092
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Top Rumsfeld Aide Wins Contracts From Spy Office He Set Up
15 Jan 2008
A Pentagon office that claims to monitor terrorist threats to U.S. military bases in North America — and was once reprimanded by the U.S. Congress for spying on antiwar activists — has just awarded a multi-million dollar contract to a company that employs one of Donald Rumsfeld’s former aides. That aide, Stephen Cambone, helped create the very office that issued the contract. On January 7, QinetiQ North America (QNA), a major British-owned defense and intelligence contractor based in McLean, Virginia, announced that its Mission Solutions Group, had just signed a five-year, $30 million contract to provide a range of unspecified “security services” to the Pentagon’s Counter-Intelligence Field Activity office, known as CIFA.
At:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14898
From: CLG News
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National Security Archive Update, January 16, 2008 – White House Admits No Back-Up Tapes for E-mail Before October 2003
Responds to Court’s Questions; Claims Not to Know Whether Critical E-mails Were Erased
Despite Previously Acknowledging That as Many as 5 Million E-mails are Missing, White House Now Tells a Different Story
For more information contact:
Meredith Fuchs/Tom Blanton [National Security Archive] – 202/994-7000
John B. Williams/Sheila L. Shadmand [Jones Day] – 202/879-3939
Washington DC, January 16, 2008 – In response to a federal court order issued last week, the White House late last night refused to acknowledge any missing e-mails, instead stating that it “has undertaken an independent effort to determine whether there may be anomalies in Exchange e-mail counts” during the 2003-2005 period. A sworn statement by the Chief Information Officer of the White House Office of Administration filed with U.S. federal court just before midnight admitted the White House had recycled its e-mail back-up tapes before October 2003 and only began retaining the back-ups starting at that point.
“It strikes me as odd that they recognized a problem and changed their practice in 2003 to start saving the backups, but four-and-a-half years later they still have not yet figured out whether or what e-mails were deleted,” commented Meredith Fuchs, the Archive’s General Counsel. “It also is troubling that the problem may have started before October 2003, and they acknowledge that back-ups prior to that period were recycled and are gone.”
“Two years after a special prosecutor concluded that key e-mails were missing from the White House system administered by the Office of Administration, the White House astonishingly now admits it has no back-up tapes from before October 2003 and doesn’t know if any e-mails are missing,” said Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive.
The loss of White House e-mails first surfaced on January 23, 2006, when prosecutors in the Scooter Libby matter informed Mr. Libby’s defense counsel that they were unable to provide copies of e-mail records “because not all email records from the Office of the Vice President and the Executive Office of President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system.” The full scope of the problem was not appreciated until April 2007, when Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) issued a report stating that over 5 million e-mails were missing throughout the Executive Office of the President. At that time, White House spokesperson Dana Perino acknowledged the lost e-mails.
Sheila L. Shadmand, counsel for the Archive, commented: “It is a victory to finally get the White House to respond to the Archive’s claims, but somehow I suspect we will have many battles ahead of us to preserve the documentary history of the government for the American public.”
“This declaration may mean that records about policy and decisions in the Executive Office of the President are not entirely lost, but in many respects it raises more questions. We still do not know what was lost, why it was lost, and what steps we have to take to recover it–assuming it is still recoverable,” explained Ms. Fuchs.
On January 8, Magistrate Judge Facciola of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the White House to answer a series of questions about the missing e-mails, asserting that the information was “time-sensitive” because any back-ups of the missing e-mails “are increasingly likely to be deleted or overridden with the passage of time.” Judge Kennedy had previously ordered the preservation of e-mail back-up tapes held by the Executive Office of the President (EOP) in the consolidated lawsuits filed by the National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Visit the Web site of the National Security Archive for more information about today’s posting.
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This is not merely a subprime crisis
By Wolfgang Munchau
January 14 2008 02:00
If this had been a mere subprime crisis, it would now be over. But it is not, and nor will it be over soon. The reason is that several other pockets of the credit market are also vulnerable. Credit cards are one such segment, similar in size to the subprime market. Another is credit default swaps, relatively modern financial instruments that allow bondholders to insure against default. Those who such sell such protection receive a quarterly premium, based on a percentage of the amount insured.
The CDS market is worth about $45,000bn (£23,000bn). This is not an easy figure to imagine. It is more than three times the annual gross domestic product of the US. Economically, credit default swaps are insurance. But legally, they are not, which is why this market is largely unregulated.
Technically, they are swaps: two parties swap payments streams – one pays a regular premium for protection, the other pays up in case of default. At a time of low insolvency rates, many investors used to consider the selling of protection as a fairly risk-free way of generating a steady stream of income. But as insolvency rates go up, so will be the payment obligations under the CDS contracts. If insolvencies reach a certain level, one would expect some protection sellers to default on their obligations.
So the general health of this market crucially depends on the rate of insolvencies. This in turn depends on the economy. The US and Europe are the two largest CDS markets in the world. It is now widely recognised, including by the Federal Reserve, that the US economy is heading for a sharp downturn, possibly a recession. The eurozone, too, is heading for a downturn, but possibly not quite as sharp.
…
Complete article at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0d89eff0-c242-11dc-8fba-0000779fd2ac.html
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BUSH OF ARABIA: WHAT ALL THE TALK SHOWS MISSED
By Barry Lando, AlterNet
While Bush was suggesting Arabs might lower their oil prices, they were using their profits to pick up a slice of America’s most powerful bank.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/74062/
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HOW TO RIG AN ELECTION: CONFESSIONS OF A REPUBLICAN OPERATIVE
By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
Allen Raymond, a former Republican National Committee operative, shares secrets from the GOP bunker.
http://www.alternet.org/democracy/74030/
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Top 25 Censored news stories of 2007 – #20 Bottled Water: A Global Environmental Problem
Source:
OneWorld.net, February 5, 2006
Title: “Bottled Water: Nectar of the Frauds?”
Author: Abid Aslam
Faculty Evaluator: Liz Close
Student Researchers: Heidi Miller and Sean Hurley
Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief—often mistaken—that it is better for us than what flows from our taps. Worldwide, bottled water consumption surged to 41 billion gallons in 2004, up 57 percent since 1999.
“Even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is increasing—producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy,” reports Earth Policy Institute researcher Emily Arnold. Although in much of the world, including Europe and the U.S., more regulations govern the quality of tap water than bottled water, bottled water can cost up to 10,000 times more. At up to $10 per gallon, bottled water costs more than gasoline in the United States.
“There is no question that clean, affordable drinking water is essential to the health of our global community,” Arnold asserts, “But bottled water is not the answer in the developed world, nor does it solve problems for the 1.1 billion people who lack a secure water supply. Improving and expanding existing water treatment and sanitation systems is more likely to provide safe and sustainable sources of water over the long term.” Members of the United Nations have agreed to halve the proportion of people who lack reliable and lasting access to safe drinking water by the year 2015. To meet this goal, they would have to double the $15 billion spent every year on water supply and sanitation. While this amount may seem large, it pales in comparison to the estimated $100 billion spent each year on bottled water.
Tap water comes to us through an energy-efficient infrastructure whereas bottled water is transported long distances—often across national borders—by boat, train, airplane, and truck. This involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels.
For example, in 2004 alone a Helsinki company shipped 1.4 million bottles of Finnish tap water 2,700 miles to Saudi Arabia. And although 94 percent of the bottled water sold in the U.S. is produced domestically, many Americans import water shipped some 9,000 kilometers from Fiji and other faraway places to satisfy demand for what Arnold terms “chic and exotic bottled water.”
…
Complete article at:
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Borowitz Report – Huckebee Mauling Shocker
Gay Tiger Attacks Huckabee
Animal ‘Taunted’ By Bestiality Remarks
After making remarks in which he directly equated homosexuality with bestiality, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee was attacked at the San Francisco Zoo by a gay tiger.
Mr. Huckabee had scheduled a campaign stop at the zoo where he made his controversial remarks about homosexuality and bestiality, not realizing that he was standing within earshot of a Bengal tiger with a homosexual lifestyle.
According to onlooker Tracy Klujian, 27, “The way that tiger started growling during the speech, you could tell that it felt like it was being taunted.”
As Mr. Huckabee’s remarks about homosexuality and bestiality reached their crescendo, the irate tiger leaped over an eighteen-foot barrier and began mauling the presidential candidate.
Within minutes, police responding to a 911 call rushed to the scene, where they fired tranquilizer darts at both the tiger and Mr. Huckabee, who had continued to make his offensive remarks throughout the mauling.
According to one aide, the unfortunate tiger attack incident had done nothing to change Mr. Huckabee’s position on gay marriage: “Not only that, but now he’s opposed to tigers marrying other tigers.”
In other campaign news, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney used a speech in South Carolina to tout his life experience, including his stint as a generic white male Clipart illustration.
And in Florida, former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson picked up the endorsement of the National Association of Jowly Grouches.
Mr. Thompson promised the Grouches that if elected, he would tell those damn kids to get off their lawn.
Elsewhere, frustrated by persistent questions about steroid use, pitcher Roger Clemens through a car at a reporter.
Andy’s Only West Coast Appearance – April 24
Andy makes his only scheduled West Coast appearance Thursday, April 24 at University of California, Santa Barbara. 8 PM at Campbell Hall. Tickets available at https://artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu
Andy with Susie Essman and Jeffrey Toobin – May 13
Andy hosts “Countdown to ’08″ on Tuesday, May 13 at 8 PM at the 92nd St. Y with his special guests Susie Essman (HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Jeffrey Toobin (CNN, bestselling author of The Nine). The Y is located at 92nd St. and Lexington Avenue. For tickets, go to www.92y.org .
http://www.borowitzreport.com/
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three thousand words
Rex Babin: stimulus
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/BabinR/2008/BabinR20080118_low.jpg
Paul Conrad: is there anything in the u.s that’s not busted?
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmpco/2008/tmpco080114.gif
Bad Reporter(Don Asmussen): product review; doping: steroids
http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/pictures/2008/01/18/badreporter18-900×298-cart.gif
