WOW! What is going on in the Republican Party.

Breaking news from Roll Call:

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men’s public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon.
Craig’s arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.

Craig then entered the stall next to Karsnia’s and placed his roller bag against the front of the stall door.
“My experience has shown that individuals engaging in lewd conduct use their bags to block the view from the front of their stall,” Karsnia stated in his report. “From my seated position, I could observe the shoes and ankles of Craig seated to the left of me.”

Craig was wearing dress pants with black dress shoes.

“At 1216 hours, Craig tapped his right foot. I recognized this as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct. Craig tapped his toes several times and moves his foot closer to my foot. I moved my foot up and down slowly. While this was occurring, the male in the stall to my right was still present. I could hear several unknown persons in the restroom that appeared to use the restroom for its intended use. The presence of others did not seem to deter Craig as he moved his right foot so that it touched the side of my left foot which was within my stall area,” the report states.

Craig then proceeded to swipe his hand under the stall divider several times, and Karsnia noted in his report that “I could … see Craig had a gold ring on his ring finger as his hand was on my side of the stall divider.”

Karsnia then held his police identification down by the floor so that Craig could see it.

“With my left hand near the floor, I pointed towards the exit. Craig responded, ‘No!’ I again pointed towards the exit. Craig exited the stall with his roller bags without flushing the toilet. … Craig said he would not go. I told Craig that he was under arrest, he had to go, and that I didn’t want to make a scene. Craig then left the restroom.”

In a recorded interview after his arrest, Craig “either disagreed with me or ‘didn’t recall’ the events as they happened,” the report states.

A spokesman for Craig described the incident as a “he said/he said misunderstanding,” and said the office would release a fuller statement later Monday afternoon.

Story

Confirmed as of now The NY Times is reporting Alberto Gonzales has telephoned in his resignation.

WACO, Tex., Aug. 27 — ­ Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. A senior administration official said he would announce the decision later this morning in Washington.

Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.

Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Attorney General’s resignation had not yet been made public.

This is amazing, Why hasn’t someone thought of this before? There are still geniuses in government.

Undocumented immigrants are starting to leave Arizona because of the new employer-sanctions law.

The state’s strong economy has been a magnet for illegal immigrants for years. But a growing number are pulling up stakes out of fear they will be jobless come Jan. 1, when the law takes effect. The departures are drawing cheers from immigration hard-liners and alarm from business owners already seeing a drop in sales.

It’s impossible to count how many undocumented immigrants have fled because of the new law. But based on interviews with undocumented immigrants, immigrant advocates, community leaders and real-estate agents, at least several hundred have left since Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano signed the bill on July 2. There are an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona.

“I would say we are losing at least 100 people a day,” said Elias Bermudez, founder of Immigrants Without Borders and host of a daily talk-radio program aimed at undocumented immigrants.

Immigration hard-liners say the exodus is a sign the employer-sanctions law is working, even before it becomes official. The law is aimed at shutting off the job magnet by imposing harsh penalties on employers caught knowingly hiring unauthorized workers. Violators face a 10-day suspension of their business license for a first offense and could lose their license for a second offense.

“This is exactly what it is supposed to do. (Illegal immigrants) have no business being here, none,” said Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, the main architect of the employer-sanctions law. “Shut off the lights, and the crowd will go home. I hope they will all self-deport.”

Story

Hat Tip: Captain’s Quarters.

Barack Obama is the latest of the Democratic presidential candidates to attend a Sunday worship service and give a campaign speech.

When is the IRS going to crack down on churches that allow this?

I guess when a Republican tries it.

It appears the Iraqi government has accomplished more while in recess than our Congress has accomplished all year.

Iraq’s top Shi’ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political leaders announced on Sunday they had reached consensus on some key measures seen as vital to fostering national reconciliation.

The agreement by the five leaders was one of the most significant political developments in Iraq for months and was quickly welcomed by the United States, which hopes such moves will ease sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands.

But skeptics will be watching for action amid growing frustration in Washington over the political paralysis that has gripped the government of Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore congratulated Iraq’s leaders on the accord, hailing it in a statement as “an important symbol of their commitment to work together for the benefit of all Iraqis.”

…

“I hope that this agreement will help Iraq move beyond the political impasse,” Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih told Reuters. “The five leaders representing Iraq’s major political communities …. affirmed the principle of collective leadership to help deal with the many challenges faced by Iraq.”

Maliki’s appearance on Iraqi television with the four other leaders at a brief news conference was a rare show of public unity.

The other officials present were President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd; Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi; Shi’ite Vice President Adel Abdul-Mahdi, and Masoud Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Iraqi officials said the five leaders had agreed on draft legislation that would ease curbs on former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party joining the civil service and military.

Consensus was also reached on a law governing provincial powers as well as setting up a mechanism to release some detainees held without charge, a key demand of Sunni Arabs since the majority being held are Sunnis.

Yasin Majid, a media adviser to Maliki, told Reuters the leaders also endorsed a draft oil law, which has already been agreed by the cabinet but has not yet gone to parliament.

But a statement from Talabani’s office said more discussions were needed on the draft oil law and constitutional reforms. Committees had also been formed to try to ensure a “balance” of Shi’ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds in government.

The oil law is seen as the most important in a package of measures stalled by political infighting in Maliki’s government.

Now to see if our Congress approves of their plan to get on their feet, and to see what Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have to say about the situation militarily and diplomatically in Iraq.

We should have known something was up when Maliki went into Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, a week and a half ago. He literally was taking his life in his own hands as they are a Sunni stronghold and he is Shiite.

Disavowing al Sadr didn’t hurt his cause any either. Now if we can just catch al Sadr and shut down his militia.

If this wasn’t so sad it would be funny.

In a nation called the world’s superpower, only 17 percent of young adults in the United States could find Afghanistan on a map, according to a new worldwide survey released today.

The young U.S. citizens received poor marks generally in geography. But then, as results showed, their counterparts in other countries were hardly star students.

The National Geographic–Roper 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey polled more than 3,000 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden and the United States.

Sweden scored highest; Mexico, lowest. The U.S. was next to last.

“The survey demonstrates the geographic illiteracy of the United States,” said Robert Pastor, professor of International Relations at American University, in Washington, D.C. “The results are particularly appalling in light of September 11, which traumatized America and revealed that our destiny is connected to the rest of the world.”

About 11 percent of young citizens of the U.S. couldn’t even locate the U.S. on a map. The Pacific Ocean’s location was a mystery to 29 percent; Japan, to 58 percent; France, to 65 percent; and the United Kingdom, to 69 percent.

Are Young U.S. Citizens Americentric?

Despite the threat of war in Iraq and the daily reports of suicide bombers in Israel, less than 15 percent of the young U.S. citizens could locate either country.

Story

I wonder if it will taste as good.

Dunkin’ Donuts, the food-on-the-go chain whose name celebrates a treat that’s symbolic of unhealthy eating, is trying to refresh its image by largely eliminating trans fat across its menu, Homer Simpson be damned.

Dunkin’ planned to announce Monday that it has developed an alternative cooking oil and reformulated more than 50 menu items – doughnuts included. The Canton, Mass.-based chain says its menu will be “zero grams trans fat” by Oct. 15 across its 5,400 U.S. restaurants in 34 states.

About 400 locations nationwide that took part in a four-month test already have made the switch to a new blend of palm, soybean and cottonseed oils. That includes all restaurants in New York City and Philadelphia, which are forcing restaurants to phase out their use of artery-clogging trans fat.

The ice cream chain Baskin-Robbins, another unit of Dunkin’ Brands Inc., plans to be zero grams trans fat by Jan. 1.

Dunkin’ isn’t claiming it will become “trans fat free,” but does say any trans fat in foods including doughnuts, croissants, muffins and cookies will fall below half a gram per serving. Federal regulations allow food labels to say they’ve got zero grams of trans fat, provided levels fall below the half-gram threshold.

Let’s stop kidding ourselves. These people don’t want peace. Let’s pull out and let them have at it.

A new political accord between Iraq’s main Sunni Arab, Shi’ite and Kurdish leaders will not be enough to lure boycotting Sunni Arabs back into the government, a spokesman for the biggest Sunni Arab bloc said on Monday.

In a rare positive political development, Sunni Arab Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi joined Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other leading Shi’ite and Kurdish politicians to announce late on Sunday that they had agreed on key issues.

Although they did not announce details, they said they had agreed on a mechanism for releasing detainees, the text of a law on distributing oil revenue and measures to readmit former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party to public life.

All of those were key demands of the Sunni Arab bloc, the Accordance Front, which triggered a political crisis by pulling its six ministers out of Maliki’s government on August 1. Hashemi is a member of the Front but did not resign his post.

But Saleem al-Jubouri, a leading Front member of parliament and spokesman, said the deal reached on Sunday would not by itself be enough to lure the ministers back into the cabinet.

“We are not boycotting political dialogue, but this does not mean that we are returning to the government,” he told Reuters.

Story

I didn’t think that Karl was out. I can’t prove it but I think that he still has his nasty little fingers in the pie.

K arl Rove may be leaving the Bush administration, but at least one aspect of Rovism — the effort to try to pivot off a perceived political liability and turn it into a strength — seems hard-wired into the White House psyche.

That could be seen in President Bush’s widely discussed speech last week drawing lessons from America’s engagement in Asia since World War II. From the beginning of the Iraq War, the White House has resisted analogies to Vietnam, apparently convinced that any association with such an unpopular venture was a political loser for the president.

When Bush was asked at a news conference in June 2006 whether he saw any parallels between Iraq and Vietnam, he replied with a simple “No.”

That posture changed markedly with Bush’s Kansas City, Mo., address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, as the president waded into the thicket of Vietnam reinterpretation. While suggesting that he did not want to re-litigate the war, Bush sought to focus the audience on what he described as the horrific consequences of the U.S. withdrawal — Vietnamese reeducation camps in which many perished and the hundreds of thousands of people murdered by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

The inference was clear: The people who think America can get out of Iraq with minimal human costs are sadly mistaken. “Whatever your position is on that debate,” Bush said, “one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America’s withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like ‘boat people,’ ‘reeducation camps’ and ‘killing fields.’ “

Story

If someone has an active case of tuberculosis he or she has to be isolated for the sake of the public’s health.

A young man in Georgia was told Friday he has tuberculosis and didn’t believe it, so he started to walk out to go back to his house and then to Mexico.

Friday evening the young man was put into a special isolation cell in the jail where he has a ventilation system that does not allow the air from his cell to circulate into the rest of the jail.

Good move, especially after the last case a couple of months ago.

When doctors told Francisco Santos he had tuberculosis Friday, health officials said the Gwinnett County 17-year-old refused to believe it.

Then the wiry, dark-haired youth refused to submit to any treatment. Worse, he said he was walking out of the Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville and heading back to his home country of Mexico, officials said.

Francisco Santos lives in Norcross with at least one parent and several younger siblings, records show.

“I think he was scared,” said David Will, attorney for the Gwinnett County Board of Health.

Gwinnett health officials found themselves in a bind. They had a person with a case of active, contagious tuberculosis, refusing treatment and threatening to carry the disease to a foreign country.

They also were aware of the recent incident involving Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker, who also has tuberculosis. After Speaker left for his wedding in Greece, a national news conference set off an international health scare.

In this case, the Gwinnett officials acted decisively: They put Santos in jail Friday evening, in a rare act of a government agency confining a sick person. Santos is the only inmate in a special medical isolation cell designed for inmates with contagious conditions. The cell, which measures about 15 feet by 20 feet, has a special ventilation system that keeps the air from reaching other inmates.

The 5-foot-5 teenager has a toilet, sink, bed and a mirror made of polished metal. Two deputies guard him and the other medical inmates.

Will, the county health attorney, said Santos was detained because he is a public health threat.

“He has active, contagious TB,” Will said Saturday. “He is at risk of communicating that with anybody he comes in contact with.”

Will said Santos is being held under a court order for confinement. He’ll stay in that cell until either he starts cooperating and accepting treatment, or a judge makes some other decision at a Sept. 5 hearing. At that commitment hearing, the judge could decide to place him in a hospital with security.