June 8, 2004 Tuesday |
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Agency's document justified torturing
WASHINGTON - In August 2002, the Justice Department advised the White House that torturing al-Qaida terrorists in captivity abroad "may be justified," and that international laws against torture "may be unconstitutional if applied to interrogations" conducted in President Bush's war on terrorism, according to a newly obtained memo..
Ashcroft Says Bush Rejects Use of Torture |
Is Tenet where the buck stops? THE PAIN ON President Bush's face when he announced the resignation of CIA Director George Tenet was evident. ... |
Washington Post Editorial 6-7-04 |
I don't trust an Attorney General that speaks in tongues.
"They remind me of teenagers who got their inheritance too soon and couldn't wait to blow it." --Bill Clinton on the Bush White House
The-World-Is-A-Safer-Place-Without-Saddam-News
Car bombs shake two Iraqi cities; six European soldiers die in ... Boston Globe, MA
Memo Offered Justification for Use of Torture washingtonpost.com
Florida Voter Viagra
Kast quits as Florida elections chief 5 months before election
Less than five months before the Nov. 2 election, veteran elections official Ed Kast is quitting his job overseeing the state's voting machinery. Secretary of State Glenda Hood named the agency's top lawyer, Dawn Roberts, to replace him…
One sunny day in 2005 an
old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd
been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the U. S. Marine standing guard and
said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and
no longer resides here."
The old man said, "Okay" and walked away.
The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same
Marine, "I would like to
go in and meet with President Bush." The Marine again told the man, "Sir, Mr.
Bush is no longer
president and no longer resides here." The man thanked him and, again, just
walked away.
The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very
same U. S. Marine,
saying "I would like to go in and meet with President Bush."
The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said,
"Sir, this is the third
day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you
already that Mr. Bush is no
longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?"
The old man looked at the Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just love
hearing it."
The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow."
Sent in by Joi
Are you a Democrat or a Republican?
“I am not a registered anything. I vote both parties. I did vote for Bush. My husband did, too. Now we're A.B.B. -- Anyone but Bush. We have lost the moral high ground in this country”. – Sherron Watkins – Enron Whistleblower in a New York Times Interview
New Documents
Suggest Enron's Lay, Skilling, Washington Lobbyist Knew About Company's Trading
Schemes In California
The Baltimore Chronicle, MD - 6-7-04
…On May 17, 2001, Enron Chairman Ken Lay called a secret meeting at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., in an effort to get some of the state's rich and famous to lobby the California Legislature about getting "deregulation right this time." Lay apparently paid close attention to Enron's trading profits. A few months earlier, Sue Mara, an Enron governmental affairs employee phoned Bob Badeer, an Enron trader, with a question from Ken Lay. Following public comments by Davis about the state of California's energy crisis, Mara said Lay personally wanted to know if Davis's comments had affected the price of power in the forward market. That Lay would be interested in such minute details contradicts the former chairman's public statements that he had no idea about the shenanigans taking place inside of Enron.
California's current Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who unseated Davis in a contentious recall election last year, attended the meeting at the Peninsula Hotel with Lay, as did former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and junk-bond king Michael Milken and other luminaries. Lay handed the attendees a seven-page document that contained so-called solutions to the state's electricity crisis….
George, Ken and Benito
Aljazeerah.info
"It was as if Osama bin Laden, hidden in some high mountain redoubt, were engaging in long-range mind control of George Bush, chanting 'invade Iraq, you must invade Iraq." --Richard Clarke, Bush's former counterterrorism coordinator, on Bush's response to 9/11
Disturbing News
Phone calls played from 9/11 planes Chicago Tribune
Short accuses UK of abandoning Sudan for Iraq The Scotsman, UK
Korea, US fail to agree on Yongsan base move Korea Herald, South Korea
CBS News | Gov't Turf Battle Over Terror? | June 7, 2004 12:32:38
"I don't think he's stupid. I think we're stupid, because if we weren't, he wouldn't talk to us this way." –-Daily Show host Jon Stewart, on President Bush
Republican Shenanigans
Bush hopes luxury island summit will heal rifts Ireland Online, Ireland
Rice assails al-Jazeera TV Middle East Online, UK
Court says Bush can open borders to Mexican trucks USA Today
Diebold stops top executives from making political donations USA Today
Rowland Condo Topic in Impeachment Hearing Biloxi Sun Herald, MS
Gallup Approval Rating for Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton and Bush2
How sweet it is: Respect for Clinton rebounds among Americans
USA Today 5-23-03
...Only Abraham Lincoln (chosen
by 15%) and John F. Kennedy (13%) finished ahead of Clinton (11%) in the April
poll, which asked Americans who was "the greatest" president. George W. Bush
managed to tie Clinton for third place.
Ronald Reagan, a conservative icon, garnered 10% of the vote, followed by
Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington, Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter. Bush's
father, the 41st president, was chosen by just 2% of the respondents, tying with
Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson. ..
So
Clinton was more popular than Reagan in 2003. Gee, listening to the cable
news channels I sure thought otherwise. I
found
this article on Altercation .
Economy still reflects influence of Reagan Seattle Times, WA
Celebrating Reagan the man, not the myth Boston Globe, MA
Not all mourn Gipper New York Daily News, NY
A Rose-Tinted President The Guardian
The terrible legacy of the Reagan years The Guardian
On This Day
In 1985, Shiite Moslem gunmen commandeered TWA Flight 847 carrying 153 passengers and crew from Athens to Rome. The ordeal ended 17 days later in Beirut, where one of the hostages, a U.S. sailor, was killed.
Biz/Tech News
Martha Stewart's sentencing is delayed - Baltimore Sun
Good News
Franken draws a growing audience (but no pay) New York Daily News, NY
Colorado Republicans Lose Redistricting Effort - New York Times
Senators ask Bush to relax stem cell policy Cape Cod Times, MA
Military Families Protest Iraq Services
Wilmington Morning Star, NC - 6-8-04
It's been 550 days since members of the 94th Military Police Company left their
homes. Children have been born, marriages delayed, jobs put on hold. And family
members Monday demanded...
"I wouldn't kick President Bush out of my bed." --Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Carson Kressley
The transit of Venus across the sun is projected onto a hand. Five transits of Venus have been recorded -- the last occurred in 1882. (HO)
Peace.