Archive for July 3rd, 2007
Global Warming vs. “Dog Mess”
July 3rd, 2007
I do not put much weight in polls period, but I found this one particularly interesting in reading the topics considered more pressing than Global Warming. Perhaps we should put a few of these topics on polls we run here in the states.
‘Scepticism’ over climate claims
The Ipsos Mori poll of 2,032 adults – interviewed between 14 and 20 June – found 56% believed scientists were still questioning climate change.
There was a feeling the problem was exaggerated to make money, it found.
The Royal Society said most climate scientists believed humans were having an “unprecedented” effect on climate.
The survey suggested that terrorism, graffiti, crime and dog mess were all of more concern than climate change.
I’ve seen polls which address many different topics but “dog mess,” that is a new one by me.
Whether it is 2.000 or 1.500, or 20,00 people polled on a topic, I have always felt polls can be skewed to favor the result the pollster is searching for and have rarely believed they present the true climate of our citizens.
Posted in 
NYT denied classified material
July 3rd, 2007
Judge dismisses ‘New York Times’ lawsuit
How refreshing to read the above headline today.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a New York Times lawsuit against the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, saying classified documents the newspaper was seeking under the Freedom of Information Act were properly withheld.
The Times sued the two departments in federal court in April 2006 over their refusal to hand over documents connected to the government’s warrant-free wiretapping program.
It might even do Congress well to review this decision (the italicized portion in particular) as the judge also noted:
In a decision filed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said the government was justified in not handing over classified material because it fell under exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act, including attorney-client privilege and presidential communications privilege.
The judge, who reviewed government descriptions of the classified material, agreed with government arguments that the departments didn’t have to turn over the papers for reasons including protecting the confidentiality of how the United States gets it intelligence information.
This is a huge loss for the “Paper of “Record” but in my opinion a big win for the American people.
Bottom line, we simply do not need the disclosure of classified National Security secrets revealed once again by any publication in this country.
Most Disagree With Bush’s Libby Decision
July 3rd, 2007
The numbers don’t look good.
A new SurveyUSA instant poll finds just 21% of Americans agree with President Bush’s decision to commute Scooter Libby’s prison sentence, 60% say Bush should have left the judge’s prison sentence in place, and 17% wanted a full pardon.
Only those familiar with the case were asked to react to the President’s action.
Partisan breakdown: 32% of Republicans agree with the President’s decision, compared to 14% of Democrats and 20% of Independents.
Clinton pardons
July 3rd, 2007
I posted an article on how President Bush lacked compassion when it came to Pardons.
J commented on the post and gave me this link.
I must say I’m totally embarrassed over the pardons that President Clinton gave.
We Democrats have nothing to brag about and maybe we should stay mute on this subject.
ALLEN, Verla Jean Everton, Arkansas False statements to agency of United States
ALTIERE, Nicholas M. Las Vegas, Nevada Importation of cocaine
ALTSCHUL, Bernice Ruth Sherman Village, California Conspiracy to commit money laundering
ANDERSON, Joe, Jr. Grove Hill, Alabama Income tax evasion
ANDERSON, William Sterling Spartanburg, South Carolina
Conspiracy to defraud a federally insured financial institution, false statements to a federally insured financial institution, wire fraud
AZIZKHANI, Mansour T. Huntsville, Alabama Conspiracy and making false statements in bank loan applications
BABIN, Cleveland Victor, Jr. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Conspiracy to commit offense against the United States by utilizing the U.S. mail in furtherance of a scheme to defraud
BAGLEY, Chris Harmon Harrah, Oklahoma Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine
BANE, Scott Lynn Mahomet, Illinois Unlawful distribution of marijuana
BARBER, Thomas Cleveland Hampton, Florida Issuing worthless checks
BARGON, Peggy Ann Monticello, Illinois Violation of the Lacey Act, violation of the Bald Eagle Protection Act
BHATKA, Tansukhlal Income tax evasion
BLAMPIED, David Roscoe Ketchum, Idaho Conspiracy to distribute cocaine
BORDERS, William Arthur, Jr. Washington, D.C. Conspiracy to corruptly solicit and accept money in return for influencing the official acts of a federal district court judge (Alcee L. Hastings), and to defraud the United States in connection with the performance of lawful government functions; corruptly influencing, obstructing, impeding and endeavoring to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice, and aiding and abetting therein; traveling interstate with intent to commit bribery
BOREL, Arthur David Little Rock, Arkansas Odometer rollback
BOREL, Douglas Charles Conway, Arkansas Odometer rollback
BRABHAM, George Thomas Austin, Texas Making a false statement or report to a federally insured bank
BRASWELL, Almon Glenn Doravilla, Georgia Conspiracy to defraud government with respect to claims; perjury
BROWDER, Leonard Aiken, South Carolina Illegal dispensing of controlled substance and Medicaid fraud
BROWN, David Steven New York, New York Securities fraud and mail fraud
BURLESON, Delores Caroylene, aka Delores Cox Burleson Hanna, Oklahoma Possession of marijuana
BUSTAMANTE, John H. Cleveland, Ohio Wire fraud
CAMPBELL, Mary Louise Ruleville, Mississippi Aiding and abetting the unauthorized use and transfer of food stamps
CANDELARIA, Eloida False information in registering to vote
CAPILI, Dennis Sobrevinas Glendale, California Filing false statements in alien registration
CHAMBERS, Donna Denise Memphis, Tennessee Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, use of a telephone to facilitate cocaine conspiracy
CHAPMAN, Douglas Eugene Scott, Arkansas Bank fraud
CHAPMAN, Ronald Keith Scott, Arkansas Bank fraud
CHAVEZ, Francisco Larios Santa Ana, California Aiding and abetting illegal entry of aliens
CISNEROS, Henry G.
CLINTON, Roger
COHN, Stuart Harris New Haven, Connecticut 1. Illegal sale of gold options
2. Illegal sale of silver options
Members Of Libby Legal Defense Trust.
July 3rd, 2007
This list isn’t meant to offend anyone. It’s just interesting to see who has been drumming up support for Scooter Libby.
I hope this doesn’t come back to bite Fred Thompson. He is one Republican that I could vote for.
Spencer Abraham Government 12-Jun-1952 US Secretary of Energy, 2001-05
Lawrence Bathgate Attorney 17-May-1939 GOP activist
William Bennett Government 31-Jul-1943 Former Drug Czar and gambling man
Wayne L. Berman Activist 8-Nov-1956 Washington lobbyist
Stuart Bernstein Diplomat 1938 US Ambassador to Denmark, 2001-05
Richard W. Carlson Diplomat 1941 US Ambassador to the Seychelles, 1991-92
Lewis M. Eisenberg Activist c. 1942 Granite Capital International Group
David Flaum Activist c. 1953 Flaum Management Company
Steve Forbes Business 18-Jul-1947 Owner and publisher of Forbes magazine
Sam Fox Business 1929 US Ambassador to Belgium
Francis Fukuyama Author 27-Oct-1952 The End of History and the Last Man
G. Michael Green Attorney 29-Sep-1958 Washington tax attorney
Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. Business 27-May-1933 CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb, 1994-2001
Sheldon Kamins Business ? Blum Frank & Kamins
Jack Kemp Politician 13-Jul-1935 American politican, football player
Jeane Kirkpatrick Government 19-Nov-1926 7-Dec-2006 Reagan’s UN Ambassador
Michael Kojaian Business 25-Nov-1930 Kojaian Management Corporation
Howard Leach Diplomat 19-Jun-1930 US Ambassador to France, 2001-05
Bernard Lewis Scholar 31-May-1916 Middle East scholar
Fred Malek Government 22-Dec-1936 Nixon’s Jew counter
Mary Matalin Politician 19-Aug-1953 Political creature
Ed Meese Government 2-Dec-1931 Attorney General under Reagan, 1985-88
Philip Merrill Publisher 28-Apr-1934 10-Jun-2006 Capital Gazette Communications
Don Nickles Politician 6-Dec-1948 US Senator from Oklahoma, 1981-2005
Bill Paxon Politician 29-Apr-1954 Congressman from New York, 1989-99
Marty Peretz Publisher c. 1937 Co-owner, The New Republic
Mercer Reynolds Politician 17-Jun-1945 Chief fundraiser behind GWB presidential campaigns
Nina Rosenwald Philanthropist ? Sears Roebuck heiress
Dennis Ross Diplomat c. 1949 US Envoy to the Middle East
Mel Sembler Diplomat 1930 US Ambassador to Italy, 2001-05
Ron Silver Actor 2-Jul-1946 Wiseguy
Alan Simpson Politician 2-Sep-1931 US Senator from Wyoming, 1979-97
Allan Tessler Business c. 1936 Epoch Investment Partners
Fred Thompson Actor 19-Aug-1942 Actor turned Senator from Tennessee
James Woolsey Government 21-Sep-1941 CIA Director, 1993-95
Bush’s Use of Pardons Isn’t Very Compassionate.
July 3rd, 2007
The White House recently announced that President Bush issued pardons to 16 individuals. Their offenses included bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the government, possession of marijuana and cocaine, and mail fraud. During his first term, Mr. Bush issued a mere 31 pardons and commutations. To date he’s issued 113 pardons and three commutations. That’s less than any two-term president in the modern era. In fact, you have to go back to George Washington to find a president who served two-terms and made fewer acts of clemency.
Today, it’s hard to think of President Bush apart from his political philosophy of “Compassionate Conservatism.†After all, he went out of his way to promote the concept. Given that the Founding Fathers gave the presidency the power to pardon as a means of demonstrating the government’s mercy, you would think that President Bush would make good use of it. While it’s difficult to think of compassion in numerical terms, issuing a paltry 116 pardons and commutations doesn’t seem very compassionate.
“First, Do No Harm.”
July 3rd, 2007
I don’t know if the title of this post is part of the Hypocratic Oath doctors take, but I do know it’s something they are taught while in medical school.
It seems some were not in class the day this was discussed, or crossed their fingers while taking the oath.
LONDON — At least three physicians were among the suspects arrested in Britain’s car-bomb plots, and authorities announced three new arrests — including a doctor in Australia — as the investigation spread overseas yesterday.
British media reports said an Indian doctor was among the eight persons in custody, and another outlet said at least five of the detainees in Britain were physicians. British police confirmed that a Palestinian doctor and Iraqi physician were among those held, and Australian officials said a foreign doctor working there had been detained in the case.
It was asked by Ayschlay in one of the threads a week or so ago what makes terrorism.
The prevailing thought is the poverty in which they live and the lack of hope for a better future.
Having doctors involved in plots to kill innocent people—as many as they could—would seem to put the lie to that theory.
They are, after all, well educated, well paid and have hopes of a great future.
I don’t know what makes a terrorist a terrorist except pure, unadulterated hatred for something. That something in this case appears to be hatred for all things not Muslim.
Scooter Libby’s Pals, Trusting In Providence.
July 3rd, 2007
Another view and the people that made it happen.
The men behind The Man Behind Dick Cheney are relieved.
They are people of means and influence, ambassadors and honorables, and they’ve raised millions to pay for the legal expenses of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Yesterday evening they learned, along with the rest of us, that the president has commuted Libby’s 30-month sentence and the vice president’s former chief of staff won’t be going to jail for lying.
Former ambassador to Italy and developer Mel Sembler was returning from a fundraiser, and his chartered flight had just touched down in St. Petersburg, Fla.
“I got off the airplane and picked up my telephone and turned it back on again and found about 12 phone messages,” said Sembler, the chairman of the Libby Legal Defense Trust. “I was most pleased with my president.”
Richard Carlson, former ambassador to the Seychelles, was standing near his wife when he heard the news from an Associated Press reporter.
“My wife burst into tears,” Carlson said.
As a certain wealthy blond socialite recently learned, no amount of money can guarantee a Get Out of Jail Free card. But — and this is a big but– if one’s prison sentence should suddenly be commuted by the nation’s highest elected official, a large pile of money still comes in handy. Because jail or no jail, one has to pay one’s lawyers.
Enter: friends in high places. Through personal contributions, fundraising efforts and direct mail, the 29 men and two women of Libby’s legal defense trust have raised close to $5 million, according to Sembler and Carlson. They plan to continue raising money; both believe Libby’s legal fees amount to more than the money in hand. And if he continues to appeal his conviction, the bill will rise.
The advisory committee of Libby’s trust is made up of developers, investors, publishers, think-tankers. There’s former senator Fred Thompson, the “Law & Order” star and Republican presidential aspirant — who even held a fundraiser for Libby at his McLean home, according to Carlson.
Third US soldier charged with murder.
July 3rd, 2007
A THIRD US soldier has been charged with murdering an Iraqi civilian and placing a firearm on the corpse during operations south of Baghdad, the US military said today.
Sergeant Evan Vela has been charged with premeditated murder and “one specification alleging he wrongfully placed a weapon with the remains of a deceased Iraqi”, the US military said.
Sgt Vela is also charged with making a false statement and obstruction of justice, and has been placed in pre-trial confinement.
On Saturday, the military announced Staff Sergeant Michael Hensley and Specialist Jorge Sandoval from the same unit had been charged with “premeditated murders of three Iraqi nationals in three separate incidents”.
Bush’s move cheers conservative base.
July 3rd, 2007
Here is one By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer
Eddie Mahe is a happy man.
With his decision to keep I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby from going to prison, President Bush has provoked a firestorm of controversy but avoided what might have been even more damaging to his presidency: defections of Republican loyalists who are among the last to support the beleaguered White House.
Libby’s fate had become a cause celebre among conservative GOP activists, even as the public overwhelmingly opposed a presidential pardon.
Bush’s action shows that, with a little more than 18 months remaining in his second term and his influence at its lowest ebb, he is still willing to rely on his signature leadership style — one that risks polarizing the country to take stands that satisfy his conservative base.
After the Republican rout in the 2006 midterm elections, Bush gave signs that he might try a more pragmatic, centrist approach. But his main attempt to do so — backing a bipartisan bill to overhaul immigration law — ended in a spectacular failure when the bill died in the Senate last week. And the immigration debate had badly strained Bush’s relationship with conservatives, who were furious that he supported a bill they believed would allow amnesty for illegal immigrants.
“He’s playing to his base,” said Fred I. Greenstein, a political scientist at Princeton University. “He’s sort of retreating to his hard disk — his core beliefs.”
A CNN poll found that 72% opposed a presidential pardon, and 19% supported it. But many analysts say that Bush had little to lose and much to gain politically by siding with the minority view. Bush chose to commute Libby’s 30-month jail sentence, but did not pardon him.
“He won’t antagonize anyone who didn’t already hate him, and he will give solace and encouragement to the people who like him but are having doubts about his resolve,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster.
Among the encouraged was Eddie Mahe, a former Republican National Committee official, who said, “I shot my fist in the sky and said, “Yay!’ “
Bush Lets Libby Walk.
July 3rd, 2007
Here is an interesting point of view by David Corn of the Nation.
Now comes the fall out.
It’s appropriate.
The president who led the nation into a disastrous war in Iraq by peddling false statements and misrepresentations has come to the rescue of a White House aide convicted of lying.
Before the ink was dry on today’s court order denying Scooter Libby’s latest appeal — a motion to allow him to stay out of jail while he was challenging his conviction — George W. Bush commuted Libby’s sentence. Libby will no longer have to serve the 30-month prison sentence ordered by federal district court Judge Reggie Walton. He will, though, have to pay the $250,000 fine that was part of the sentence.
The commutation — which is not a pardon and does not erase Libby’s conviction — is a reminder that Bush and his crew do not believe in accountability. Bush has been rather stingy in the use of his pardon power. And regulations issued by his Justice Department note that recipients of pardons should serve their sentences and demonstrate contrition before obtaining presidential absolution. (Libby had expressed no remorse and was not scheduled to report to jail for several weeks.)
Yet with this commutation, Bush ducked those requirements, and he is allowing Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, who was found guilty of lying to federal investigators in the CIA leak case, to go unpunished. The fine will be no problem for Libby. His neoconservative friends and admirers will kick in to cover that tab. (Perhaps even Cheney will send a check.)
Libby had become a symbol of the Bush White House’s problem with the truth. After all, his lies had been designed to block FBI agents and federal prosecutors from learning the full truth of a White House effort to discredit a critic who had accused the Bush administration of twisting the prewar intelligence. And now the final act in the long-running CIA leak scandal — Bush’s commutation — stands as another symbol of this grand theme: lying doesn’t really bother this crowd.
