The six deaths bring the number of U.S. troops to have died in Iraq this month to 90, the highest number of American deaths there since January, when 107 Americans were killed. November 2004 saw the highest number of U.S. deaths in a single month -- 137.
a NOC who was caught spying in Shanghai in 1951 and died after 19 years in a Chinese prison. To this day, the CIA denies he was an agent.
| You're A Crazy Drunk |
 When you drink, you get wrecked - and it ain't pretty. |
Legal experts consider the 55-year-old Alito so ideologically similar to Justice Antonin Scalia that he has earned the nickname "Scalito."
In 1991, in one of his more well-known decisions, he was the only dissenting voice in a 3rd Circuit ruling striking down a Pennsylvania law that required women to notify their husbands if they planned to get an abortion.
A majority of Americans say the indictment of senior White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby signals broader ethical problems in the Bush administration, and nearly half say the overall level of honesty and ethics in the federal government has fallen since President Bush took office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey.
The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems "with ethical wrongdoing" in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an "isolated incident." And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush.
The case against Libby: He testified that he learned from NBC correspondent Tim Russert the identity of a covert CIA officer who is the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson. Russert says they never discussed it.
The facts, prosecutor Fitzgerald said, are that the month before the conversation with Russert, Libby learned about the CIA status of Valerie Plame from Cheney, from a senior CIA officer and from an undersecretary of state.
| You Are 32 Years Old |
 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. |
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents used a land mine and a roadside bomb to kill three U.S. Army soldiers and wound four on Saturday in attacks that brought to eight the number of American service members who have died in the last three days.
Ayatollah Sistani, one of Iraq's most senior Shia clerics, will not endorse any political groups for December's election, his spokesman has said.
The grand ayatollah wants Iraqis to vote according to their beliefs, Sheikh Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai said in a sermon on Friday.
The ayatollah's statement may worry the ruling Shia-led coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance. His support before the January election helped them win over many Iraqi Shia.
During the worst of the storm, with the engine dead, one sail shredded and the 70-mph wind off the Massachusetts coast shrieking in the rigging, the 33-foot ketch Sara Gamp rolled wearily onto its side and seemed ready to succumb, the skipper said.
Visibility was about 100 yards in cold rain and mountainous seas. The slender Virginia-based vessel had been pounded for hours by the nor'easter that enveloped it this week. And its 74-year-old captain, a veteran Washington mariner who already had been swept off the deck once, was cold, bruised and hallucinating.
Indictments in the case were the first in a nearly two-year investigation into the public unmasking of an undercover CIA operative. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has scheduled a 2 p.m. ET news conference.
AUSTIN, Texas. A grand jury investigating an alleged campaign finance scheme asked Thursday for all e-mails sent and received in 2002 by three indicted associates of Rep. Tom DeLay.
The latest subpoenas request correspondence to and from e-mail addresses belonging to John Colyandro, Jim Ellis and Warren RoBold. The grand jury did not ask DeLay, a Texas Republican, to provide e-mails.
Colyandro was executive director of a political action committee founded by DeLay. Ellis runs DeLay's national fund-raising committee. RoBold is a Republican fund-raiser in Washington.
WASHINGTON -- The American Red Cross said Thursday that its response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita has depleted its Disaster Relief Fund, forcing it to borrow $340 million to cover costs - the first time in its 124-year history that the charity has sought a loan for disaster relief.
Of the $2 billion in donations the organization said it needs to handle relief efforts from the Gulf Coast hurricanes, it has received $1.3 billion and spent all of it.
The U.S. Attorney’s office announced in April that it was investigating Mr. Noe for possible violations of federal campaign finance laws. Sources have told The Blade that authorities believe Mr. Noe gave money to several people who then contributed to the Bush-Cheney campaign.
It is clear that Senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House -- disclosures that would undermine a President's ability to receive candid counsel.
In response to working families and their unions, as well as community and religious groups and some members of Congress, President George W. Bush on Oct. 26 rescinded his executive order that allowed contractors to pay substandard wages to construction workers rebuilding Gulf Coast areas devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The order, which suspended the federal Davis-Bacon Act, now will expire Nov. 8.
Grassroots activists sent more than 350,000 e-mails and letters to their representatives demanding fair wages be reinstated for the Gulf Coast, where skilled, full-time workers average less than $20,000 a year in pay.
| You Are Chinese Food |
 Exotic yet ordinary. People think they've had enough of you, but they're back for more in an hour. |
The presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu was confirmed in Croatia
{snip}
French authorities were today examining the bodies of 11 starlings found dead in the centre of the country. The birds were all found under the same tree in the city of Macon and initial lab tests were expected later today. Slovenia and Hungary were also testing birds found dead for signs of bird flu.
Yesterday, German authorities confirmed that dead wild geese in western Germany had tested positive for the disease.
It's getting hard to keep track of all the lies we've been told. Here's a quick cheat sheet:
Meanwhile, at the other end of the pipe, we have Cheney, constantly pushing for more evidence to show that Iraq is trying to build a bomb. And, lo and behold, each time Cheney pushes, a new report surfaces from an unnamed foreign intelligence service claiming Iraq is trying to buy uranium. And whenever the skeptics push back with evidence that casts doubt on that thesis, yet another report surfaces, with more detailed, albeit, false information.
"The underlying theme in most of these cases is the insistence of more self-determination," she said. "And the more I think about these issues, the more self-determination makes sense."
The American Civil Liberties Union today made public an analysis of new and previously released autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan
snip
The documents show that detainees were hooded, gagged, strangled, beaten with blunt objects, subjected to sleep deprivation and to hot and cold environmental conditions.
"There is no question that U.S. interrogations have resulted in deaths," said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. "High-ranking officials who knew about the torture and sat on their hands and those who created and endorsed these policies must be held accountable. America must stop putting its head in the sand and deal with the torture scandal that has rocked our military."
snip
The documents show that detainees died during or after interrogations by Navy Seals, Military Intelligence and "OGA" (Other Governmental Agency) -- a term, according to the ACLU, that is commonly used to refer to the CIA.
The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody.
Four civilians and one policeman have been killed in two attacks near the Afghan capital Kabul. In the first, which happened late on Monday evening around fifteen kilometres to the south of the city, a group of rebels fired missiles at a convoy of coalition military vehicles led by American troops.
snip
Afghanistan has seen a steady escalation of violence this year, mostly blamed on supporters of the deposed Taliban regime
It tells the story of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the US military's Afghan allies after the siege of Kunduz. According to eyewitnesses, some three thousand of the prisoners were forced into sealed containers and loaded onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison. Eyewitnesses say when the prisoners began shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck, killing many of them. The rest suffered through an appalling road trip lasting up to four days, so thirsty they clawed at the skin of their fellow prisoners as they licked perspiration and even drank blood from open wounds.
Witnesses say that when the trucks arrived and soldiers opened the containers, most of the people inside were dead. They also say US Special Forces re-directed the containers carrying the living and dead into the desert and stood by as survivors were shot and buried. Now, up to three thousand bodies lie buried in a mass grave.
Influential conservatives who oppose the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court are raising money to escalate their campaign to persuade her to withdraw from consideration.
The White House has sought to corral conservative support and has succeeded in forging alliances with prominent leaders such as Dr. James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, and Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society.
But many conservative intellectuals and the rank and file remain adamantly opposed to President Bush's choice to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
In response to a reporter's question at the end of a cabinet meeting, Mr. Bush said he will not destroy the process of getting candid advice from top aides by disclosing those documents to the Senate. He said that will make it impossible for him and future presidents to make sound decisions, CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller reports.
The revival of body counts, a practice discredited during the Vietnam War, has apparently come without formal guidance from the Pentagon's leadership. Military spokesmen in Washington and Baghdad said they knew of no written directive detailing the circumstances under which such figures should be released or the steps that should be taken to ensure accuracy.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., was given considerable information about his stake in his family's hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings.
Managers of the trusts that Frist once described as "totally blind," regularly informed him when they added shares of HCA Inc. -- his family's health care company -- or other assets to his holdings, according to letters from the trustees to Frist and the Senate which are required by the trust agreements.
He's won an Emmy as a comedy writer: as a stand-up he drew crowds of over 20,000: his comedy albums sold millions: he had a million-selling disco single: he's written best-selling books and successful plays: he's penned hit screenplays and starred in many of the most memorable comedies of the last twenty years.
| Everything Pizza |
 Diverse and adaptable You enjoy the full buffet of life It's hard to you play favorites with friends... or flavors There's very little that you dislike! |
Millions of Iraqis believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed.
The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, shows that up to 65 per cent of Iraqi citizens support attacks and fewer than one per cent think Allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their country.
67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;
43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;
72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.
The opinion poll, carried out in August, also debunks claims by both the US and British governments that the general well-being of the average Iraqi is improving in post-Saddam Iraq.
BAGHDAD, Oct. 22 -- Four U.S. contractors were killed last month when their convoy took a wrong turn, drove into a town north of Baghdad and was attacked by an angry mob, a senior U.S. military official said Saturday.
Intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the White House overstated the gravity of the plots by saying that they had been foiled, when most were far from ready to be executed. Others noted that the nation's color-coded threat index was not raised from yellow, or "elevated" risk of attack, to orange, or "high" risk, for most of the time covered by the incidents on the list.
snip
"It's safe to say that most of the [intelligence] community doesn't think it's worth very much."
| You Should Get a JD (Juris Doctor) |
 You're logical, driven, and ruthless. You'd make a mighty fine lawyer. |
Television news broadcasts have been filled in recent days with images of U.S. Navy cargo ships offloading relief supplies in Karachi, olive-drab Chinook helicopters disgorging bundles of tents and blankets in isolated mountain villages, and American soldiers -- some diverted from military operations in Afghanistan -- working with their Pakistani counterparts to evacuate the injured.
Hughes, who is undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, made her remarks at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, south of Jakarta, one of several stops during her three-day visit to the world's most populous Muslim country. The students at the prestigious institution confronted her with emotional objections about the U.S. rationale for war in Iraq, similar to those she faced last month in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
In a dramatic e-mail, Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote Times' employees he wished he'd more carefully interviewed Miller and had "missed what should have been significant alarm bells" that she had been the recipient of leaked information about the CIA officer at the heart of the case.
"Judy seems to have misled (Times Washington bureau chief) Phil Taubman about the extent of her involvement," Keller wrote in what he described as a lessons-learned e-mail. "This alone should have been enough to make me probe deeper."
| You Are Likely an Only Child |
 At your darkest moments, you feel frustrated. At work and school, you do best when you're organizing. When you love someone, you tend to worry about them. In friendship, you are emotional and sympathetic. Your ideal careers are: radio announcer, finance, teaching, ministry, and management. You will leave your mark on the world with organizational leadership, maybe as the author of self-help books. |
That creates a classic conflict, not of personality, not of competence, not of ideology, but of simple constitutional prerogatives: The Senate cannot confirm her unless it has this information. And the White House cannot allow release of this information lest it jeopardize executive privilege.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad said Friday that it will take as long as two years before the Iraqi army can operate on its own, with the necessary military leadership and supplies.
he gave regular updates to people in contact with then-FEMA Director Michael Brown as early as Aug. 28, one day before Katrina made landfall.emphasis added
In most cases, he was met with silence. In an Aug. 29 phone call to Brown informing him that the first levee had broke, Bahamaonde said he received a polite thank you from Brown, who said he would check with the White House.
Brown's press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening. "He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes," wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy.
"We now have traffic to encounter to go to and from a location of his choise (sic), followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you."
Chertoff vowed to "re-engineer" U.S. preparedness after the storm that killed more than 1,200 people and devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But he also blamed Brown and FEMA leaders, saying, "We certainly have to fill out the ranks of FEMA in terms of its senior level with experienced staff who can deal with all of the elements" of its mission.
Vanderwall was arrested after he contacted a Virginia Beach police officer who was posing as an underage boy in an Internet chat room, according to prosecutors. The officer agreed to meet with Vanderwall at a Virginia Beach park on the evening of Jan. 10. Vanderwall was arrested when he showed up at the park.
Under the Geneva conventions the burial of war dead "should be honorable, and, if possible, according to the rites of the religion to which the deceased belonged".
US soldiers in Afghanistan burnt the bodies of dead Taliban and taunted their opponents about the corpses, in an act deeply offensive to Muslims and in breach of the Geneva conventions.
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A Spanish judge issued an international arrest warrant Wednesday, charging three U.S. soldiers with murder in the death of a Spanish television cameraman in Baghdad.
Jose Couso was killed as U.S. forces advanced to take control of the Iraqi capital in April 2003, a National Court spokeswoman said.
National Court investigating magistrate Santiago Pedraz issued the warrant for the arrests of the three soldiers and their eventual extradition to Spain. They are wanted on charges of murder and a crime against the international community, according to the warrant.
Officials in south Florida ordered visitors out of the Florida Keys, the first U.S. evacuations caused by the storm, the Associated Press reported from Florida.
Iraqi election officials said they were investigating "unusually high" vote totals in 12 Shiite and Kurdish provinces, where as many 99 per cent of the voters were reported to have cast ballots in favour of Iraq's new constitution
Al-Hayat reports that 643,000 votes were cast in Ninevah Province (capital: Mosul). At the time it filed, 419,000 had been preliminarily counted, and the vote was running 75 percent in favor. Ninevah Province was the most likely place that Sunni Arabs opposing the constitution might be able to get a 2/3s "no" vote.
Several of my knowledgeable readers are convinced that the Ninevah voting results as reported so far look like fraud. One suspected that the Iraqi government so feared a defeat there that they over-did the ballot stuffing and ended up with an implausible result.
One of my Iraqi-American correspondents compared the turnout statistics from Ninevah and Diyala provinces last Jan. 30 to those coming out now, and found the current numbers completely unbelievable.
Even in areas where morbidity was low, those incapacitated by the illness were often so numerous as to bring much of everyday life to a stop. Some communities closed all stores or required customers not to enter the store but place their orders outside the store for filling. There were many reports of places with no health care workers to tend the sick because of their own ill health and no able bodied grave diggers to inter the dead. Mass graves were dug by steam shovel and bodies buried without coffins in many places.
Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers pledged support in 1989 for a constitutional amendment banning abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother, according to material given to the Senate on Tuesday.
As a candidate for the Dallas city council, Miers also signaled support for the overall agenda of Texans United for Life agreeing she would support legislation restricting abortions if the Supreme Court ruled that states could ban abortions and would participate in pro-life rallies and special events.
two members of the Texas judiciary who stated she'd move to overturn Roe v. Wade if confirmed. The participants included the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Gary Bauer of American Values, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and the Rev. Bill Owens, a black minister, and Justice Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court and Judge Ed Kinkeade, a Dallas-based federal trial judge.
Conservative defenders of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby have settled on their No. 1 talking point: the grand jury investigation into the CIA leak scandal represents the "criminalization of politics."
According to a database search, every single television reference to the CIA leak scandal as the "criminalization of politics" in the last 30 days has been on Fox. Even more stunning: on every occassion, the phrase was introduced into the segment by a Fox News anchor or correspondent, never by a guest.
Wholesale prices jumped 1.9 percent in September, the Labor Department reported today, the sharpest monthly surge in 15 years. The culprit was soaring energy prices.
Prices for energy-related goods advanced 7.1 percent, compared with a 3.7 percent increase in August. The price of natural gas led the way with a startling 9 percent rise.
Rep. Robert W. Ney, R-Ohio, placed comments in the Congressional Record favorable to Abramoff's 2000 purchase of the casino boat company, SunCruz Casinos. Two years later, Ney sponsored legislation to reopen a casino for a Texas Indian tribe that Abramoff represented.
Ney approved a 2002 license for an Israeli telecommunications company to install antennas for the House. The company later paid Abramoff $280,000 for lobbying. It also donated $50,000 to a charity that Abramoff sometimes used to secretly pay for some of his lobbying activities.
Meanwhile, Ney accepted many favors from Abramoff, among them campaign contributions, dinners at the lobbyist's downtown restaurant, skybox fundraisers, including one at his MCI Center box in Washington, and a golf trip to Scotland in August 2002.
1. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2. Reform Judaism (86%)
3. Liberal Quakers (83%)
4. Orthodox Quaker (79%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (76%)
6. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (65%)
7. Sikhism (65%)
8. Eastern Orthodox (64%)
9. Orthodox Judaism (64%)
10. Roman Catholic (64%)
11. Neo-Pagan (62%)
12. Bahá'à Faith (62%)
13. Seventh Day Adventist (58%)
14. New Age (57%)
15. Islam (55%)
16. Mahayana Buddhism (48%)
17. Theravada Buddhism (47%)
18. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (44%)
19. Secular Humanism (42%)
20. New Thought (41%)
21. Hinduism (37%)
22. Scientology (37%)
23. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (34%)
24. Taoism (34%)
25. Jehovah's Witness (30%)
26. Jainism (27%)
27. Nontheist (22%)
Also sometimes referred to as secular, modern, or humanistic. This is an umbrella term for Protestant denominations, or churches within denominations, that view the Bible as the witness of God rather than the word of God, to be interpreted in its historical context through critical analysis. Examples include some churches within Anglican/Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ.
Beginning this week, House GOP lawmakers will take steps to cut as much as $50 billion from the fiscal 2006 budget for health care for the poor, food stamps and farm supports
Republicans intend to follow a budget drafted earlier this year that would extend tax cuts that were set to expire, he said. Those extensions would add $70 billion to the deficit.
That tax package was to have been developed and debated this month under a schedule laid out in spring. Instead, it will be delayed by several weeks or a month to make room for Hurricane Katrina legislation, the chairmen of the House and Senate tax-writing committees said.
| Your World View |
You are a fairly broadminded romantic and reasonably content. You value kindness and try to live by your ideals. You have strong need for security, which may be either emotional or material. You respect truth and are flexible. You like people, and they can readily make friends with you. You are not very adventurous, but this does not bother you. |
NEW ORLEANS -- Many of the thousands of homeowners in the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the hardest-hit areas in the city, lacked flood insurance because the neighborhood in theory was supposed to be relatively safe, local insurance agents and residents said.
Most of the area sits outside the "high-risk" flood districts designated on federal maps used for insurance, and so, unlike homeowners elsewhere in this low-lying city, most in the Lower Ninth Ward were not legally required by lenders to buy flood coverage.
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Tropical Storm Wilma formed Monday in the northwestern Caribbean, tying the record for the most storms in an Atlantic season.
The storm is following a path that some forecasters believe could menace the Gulf Coast later this week as a hurricane.
Wilma is the 21st named storm of the season. The only other time that many storms formed since record keeping began 154 years ago was in 1933.
At 5 a.m. EDT, Wilma had top sustained winds near 40 mph, just above the threshold for tropical storms. It was centered about 175 miles southeast of Grand Cayman and drifting southwest near 3 mph.
But on July 17, 2000, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act went down to defeat, to the astonishment of supporters who included many anti-gambling groups and Christian conservatives.
A senior aide to then-Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) helped scuttle the bill in the House. The aide, Tony C. Rudy, 39, e-mailed Abramoff internal congressional communications and advice, according to documents and the lobbyist's former associates.
Rudy received favors from Abramoff. He went on two luxury trips with the lobbyist that summer, including one partly paid for by Abramoff's client, eLottery Inc. Abramoff also arranged for eLottery to pay $25,000 to a Jewish foundation that hired Rudy's wife as a consultant, according to documents and interviews. Months later, Rudy himself was hired as a lobbyist by Abramoff.
snip
Abramoff quietly arranged for eLottery to pay conservative, anti-gambling activists to help in the firm's $2 million pro-gambling campaign, including Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, and the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition. Both kept in close contact with Abramoff about the arrangement, e-mails show. Abramoff also turned to prominent anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist, arranging to route some of eLottery's money for Reed through Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform.
snip
DeLay, an outspoken opponent of gambling, was an instrument, witting or unwitting, in eLottery's campaign, documents and interviews show. Along with Rudy, he was a guest on a golfing trip to Scotland. As majority whip, he cast a rare vote against his party on the Internet gambling bill and for the rest of the year helped keep the measure off the floor. He told leadership colleagues that another vote could cost Republican seats in the hard-fought 2000 elections.
For the first time this clearly, Miller, in Saturday's article, admits, "WMD--I got it totally wrong," but then goes on to say that "all" of the other journalists, and experts and analysts, also were wrong. "I did the best job I could," she said.
The article reveals, also for the first time, that Keller took her off Iraq and weapons issues after he became editor in July 2003. Nevertheless, he admits, "she kept drifting on her own back into the national security realm," making one wonder who was in charge of her.
Three days after the quake struck, the American Red Cross reported contributions of only $45,000. By contrast, three days after quatrain hit the Gulf Coast, the relief agency said it had received $17 million in cash and pledges. It has now collected more than $1.1 billion.
Deborah Goldberg, spokeswoman for the Red Cross, added: "I think there's a feeling of what might be next. After all, the hurricane season is not finished. There are also wildfire out west and severe flooding in the east, and people don't know what to expect."
| You Are 40% Weird |
 Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it! |
The grand jury investigating the CIA leak case pressed White House senior adviser Karl Rove yesterday to more fully explain his conversations with reporters about CIA operative Valerie Plame, including discrepancies between his testimony and the account provided by a key witness in the investigation, according to a source familiar with Rove's account.
Making his fourth appearance before the grand jury, Rove answered a broad range of questions for 4 1/2 hours, including why he did not initially tell federal agents about a July 2003 conversation about Plame with the witness, Time magazine's Matthew Cooper, the source said.
A strain of the H5N1 flu virus that resists the antiviral drug Tamiflu has been analysed by scientists. Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, is expected to be almost the only defense against the virus in the early stages of any H5N1 pandemic.
But New Scientist can reveal that this discovery does not mean the drug will become useless. The mutation that made the virus resistant is already well known in ordinary human flu, and it seems to make both ordinary flu - and now H5N1 - less able to cause further infections.
Iraq's Sunni Arab minority made a violent reentry into politics Friday, bombing offices of a political party that urged support for a new U.S.-backed constitution while posting insurgents and tribal fighters at some polling places to ensure that Sunni voters could vote safely Saturday against the proposed charter.
The Government Accountability Office has concluded that the Education Department engaged in illegal ``covert propaganda'' by hiring Williams to promote the No Child Left Behind Act without requiring him to disclose that he was being paid. The Education Department's inspector general has also reviewed the Williams deal, which was part of a broader contract that the education agency had with Ketchum, a public relations firm.
Now the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia is investigating whether Williams accepted public money without performing his required duties, said Dan Katz, chief counsel for Lautenberg. The attorney's office has a range of potential remedies, from suing to recover the money to possible criminal charges, Katz said.
Which sorry excuse of a Muppet are you?
hat tip to the Green Knight
Travis County prosecutors want to know how U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, purchased a 2004 Toyota Sienna minivan, subpoenaing all records surrounding the transaction, as well as telephone records from DeLay, his campaign and his daughter.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle subpoenaed records from Toyota Motor Credit Corp., including purchase agreements, credit documents, receipts, copies of checks and any information on a possible trade-in and down payment.
it has bee reported that nine people in Turkey have been tested for the disease.
They had been in contact with pigeons which died. An official was quoted as saying the risk of a positive result was small
It comes a day after officials confirmed that an outbreak in Turkey was caused by the H5N1 virus which is potentially fatal to humans.
Since sweeping to power 8 1/2 months ago in the first elections since Hussein's fall, Iraq's long-persecuted Shiite majority has proved all but unstoppable in its quest to remake the country its way. Few places have profited from the ascendancy as much as Najaf, a city of 500,000 awash in reconstruction projects and only intermittently plagued by insurgent attacks. When the country votes again Saturday, this time on whether to approve a draft constitution mostly written by Shiite leaders, Najafis are expected to endorse it overwhelmingly.
Hakim and the Supreme Council continue to push for a separate Shiite-majority state, arguing that Iraq's national leadership has a long history of mistreating Shiites. "Shiites suffered and were insulted by the central government for many years, and this is a form of protection," said Anwar Shimirti, a top Supreme Council official in Najaf.
Sadr's more populist following, drawn mostly from Shiite slums in Iraq's largest cities, contends that such a proposal undermines national unity. Sahib Amiri, who heads a branch of Sadr's organization, said that even though his movement could benefit from the formation of a federal state, it rejected the notion on principle.
Most of Iraq is in a state of anarchy, with insurgents controlling parts of Baghdad just half a mile from the so-called Green Zone,
For the first time in the poll, Bush's approval rating has sunk below 40 percent, while the percentage believing the country is heading in the right direction has dipped below 30 percent. In addition, a sizable plurality prefers a Democratic-controlled Congress, and just 29 percent think Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers is qualified to serve on the nation's highest court.
People close to the inquiry said Mr. Frist, the Tennessee Republican who is Senate majority leader, was recently served with a commission subpoena for documents, which was believed to be the first such request of him. The sources, who asked to remain unidentified because of the confidential nature of the investigation, would not characterize the substantive nature of the documents being sought.
In a statement, Bob Stevenson, the spokesman for Mr. Frist, did not directly address the existence of the subpoena but said the senator had been "fully cooperating with the authorities conducting the inquiries and will continue to do so, including keeping our public comments to a minimum."
Character, we were all so piously told seven years ago, was what elevated Bill Clinton's lie about an extramarital dalliance to an issue of national gravity and justified his impeachment.
snip
isn't it curious how in the public discourse today one rarely hears references to character as a material issue with respect to political leadership? If an extramarital affair was proof of a vacant character, wouldn't questionable actions that actually affect people -- soldiers, covert agents, Congress, storm victims and the like -- be exponentially more serious?
Apparently not. The word from the character crowd today is that we mustn't involve ourselves in the ''blame game.'' We're told that we must wait until people are actually found guilty at trial before we dare venture an opinion on whether their actions were unseemly.
snip
We're told not to question the character of the man who assured us that anyone found to be involved in the matter would no longer be part of the administration -- yet has fired no one.
snip
We're told that intentional efforts to manipulate public opinion with undisclosed payments to talk show hosts, a White House-planted phony reporter (who ran a gay escort service on the side; what would the Clintonphobes have made of that seven years ago?) and actors posing as genuine TV news reporters in what amounted to taxpayer-supported propaganda pieces -- deeds the General Accountability Office has called out-and-out illegal -- was just a little enthusiastic advocacy.
We're told that hiring incompetent cronies to run an agency charged with preparing for and responding to disasters -- well, no one has tried to defend that one, though the usual suspects have tried mightily to shift the blame.
We're told that there's nothing odd about the president nominating yet another close crony -- his own counsel -- to the Supreme Court, and then calling her the most qualified candidate for the position.
We hear excuses for a top party figure who thinks black babies are criminally inclined at the moment of birth, and mostly silence regarding an influential party supporter who openly advocates assassinating a democratically elected foreign leader.
We're told that profoundly misleading statements by leaders we implicitly trust and that caused Congress and the nation to support the invasion of another country, shouldn't be considered lies because, well, they haven't admitted they were lies. We're told it's immaterial that but for those inaccurate statements, the public, and possibly even Congress, might not have supported the war campaign.
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none of this has stirred the old ''character'' crowd to comment. Character, as I understood its usage seven years ago, referred to those qualities that went beyond minimum expectations
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Evidently, character is only an issue when the other side's is in question. Is hypocrisy also an element of character?
