And I know I don't need to remind you about this, Patrick, but I'll be watching, along with many others.
Don’t you just love it when Bushco subverts our government to decide whether or not we need to know something they think is important?Angry Democratic lawmakers called for investigations Friday into the Central Intelligence Agency's destruction in 2005 of at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two al-Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody.Good. It’s long past time to stop treating this cabal of crooks with kid gloves (and I took a shot at Jay Rockefeller a couple of days ago, but based on this, he seems to be “getting his back up also”; we’ll see what kind of a “follow-through” there is, though).
In a statement to employees on Thursday, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, said that the decision to destroy the tapes was made “within the C.I.A.” and that they were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value.Says you (and once again, Bushco just refuses to get “advise and consent, separation of powers, congressional oversight”…you know, how our democracy is supposed to work!).
But gosh, didn’t Joe Biden vote to confirm Hayden as the CIA director here? And I seem to recall that Biden thought Hayden was "a nice guy."
I truly hope Kevin Ferris of The Philadelphia Inquirer has hit bottom with this column today; I don’t want to imagine how he could possibly sink any lower.Back Channels An Iraq campaign for hopeI really wish the Inquirer had the integrity to add a comments feature to all of its online content as many other news organizations have by now. The responses to this would have been hilarious (so….fighting the scourge of AIDS throughout the world, most notably sub-Saharan Africa, is part of the War on Terra?? I suppose you could claim that, but let’s stay on Iraq for now, get out and redeploy to Afghanistan, OK?).
Upbeat Bush knows his change in strategy changed the war's dynamic.
By Kevin Ferris
Inquirer Commentary Page Editor
There's a photo of Lyndon Johnson, alone at a conference table. The president's chair is pushed back, and he leans forward, hunched over. His left hand holds his glasses and the arm of a chair next to him for support. His right elbow is on the table, with his forehead resting on his right fist.
Behind him is a bust of his assassinated predecessor. Kennedy's youth and vigor seem to mock the anguish of Johnson, a president who looks worn-down, bereft of hope.
Contrast that image with the current war president, who met with about a dozen journalists in the Oval Office last week. He's seated in front of the fireplace decorated for Christmas with artificial greenery and sugared pine cones. A bust of a resolved Churchill is just behind Bush's left shoulder, another of a reflective Lincoln to his right.
"I'm feeling pretty upbeat about life these days," George W. Bush says as he opens the floor to questions.
And why shouldn't he? Last year at this time, the Democrats had just won majorities in Congress. They and the Iraq Study Group wanted to call it quits in a violence-plagued Iraq. If Bush had followed the Vietnam script, he, too, would have despaired and accepted defeat.
Instead, he ordered the surge. The change in strategy and troop levels changed the war's dynamic.
"I . . . believe in the power of leadership to affect the course of history," Bush tells the journalists.
He's talking about the just-completed Annapolis summit - Mideast envoy and former Prime Minister Tony Blair was leaving the West Wing as the journalists were gathering - but that belief applies to this president and Iraq as well.
Bush will be judged by historians for errors made on his watch, perhaps as harshly as his critics slam him today. But if the positive trends in Iraq continue, he, along with the U.S. military, will also receive - and richly deserve - credit for the turnaround.
Listen to him in person for an hour and 15 minutes, and the president's passion and enthusiasm make it clear that abandoning Iraqis to terrorists was never an option.
"If you think we are in a struggle with extremists and radicals, success in Iraq is essential to the security of this country," he says. "I believe it."
And that ideological struggle with killers requires an alternative ideology: hope.
"The only way radicals can recruit is when they find hopeless people," he says. "That's why, for example, an HIV/AIDS initiative is important. That's why a malaria initiative is important. And that's why confronting tyranny is important, because tyrannies are the most likely form of government to create hopelessness."
In Iraq, the central front in the campaign for hope, Bush is confident of success. "Security begets better economics; both beget better politics," he says.
No, the central government hasn't followed the benchmark prescription for success drafted by U.S. politicians. But there is political movement. Local and regional Sunni leaders have reached out to Americans to fight al-Qaeda. Sunnis and Shias are attempting reconciliation locally. In turn, they are demanding more from Baghdad.
Those demands, Bush says, have produced "significant revenue-sharing from the central government to the provinces."
Oil income is being shared - most of the country's revenue comes from oil - even without a national revenue-sharing law.
Sharing the wealth is crucial to a democratic Iraq, Bush says. "It will be a part of the healing process that needs to happen," he says.
Local and national leaders won't always agree on spending and priorities, but that's life in a democracy.
"It's a constant issue, just like here," Bush says. "And it will constantly evolve."
The next step, Bush says, is a long-term strategic relationship to help "deal with the mindset of people who wonder whether or not there is a security commitment by the United States."
And by next year?
"My hope is that we put [Iraq] in a position where the momentum, the freedom momentum, is strong and powerful . . . so that the decisions are easier to make for the next president."
Bush stands, as do the guests. The last-minute questions begin. He lists the historical nonfiction he's recently read, along with the novel A Confederacy of Dunces, a title that must make detractors smile and press aides wince.
An insecure president worried about criticism might not have mentioned it. But this is a confident, upbeat man who describes his White House years as a "joyous experience." He's secure in his principles, grounded by faith and family, and full of hope for his country and its future.
(You have to think a minute about this pic, I know, but it’s appro- priate…trust me.)In his Oct. 26 column (republished in the CT on the 26th, but originated on the 23rd), Dan Thomasson enshrined the latest lie into media common knowledge. Then Doonesbury attempted to drive it into deeper public awareness, as funny page simpletons repeated the lie. The course whereby this lie arrived at its destination should alarm every American.Sounds like this should have been written by Dr. Earl Tilford, who once threatened that we would be invaded by Venezuela (haven’t been able to find much about him online lately, though, which is a triumph for informed discourse).
Seamless integration of press, politician, and propagandist on such a grand scale is indistinguishable from the tactics employed by communist regimes. The lie that radio personality Rush Limbaugh referred to soldiers opposed to the conduct of the Iraq war as “phony soldiers” prompted Congressman Patrick Murphy to launch a personal attack and Sen. Robert Casey to sign a letter of censure.Here is a link to Patrick Murphy’s post on HuffPo about this; I’d love to read through what Patrick said and highlight key points, but I’m having a technical issue with HuffPo in that my browser window frequently locks up from this location when I try to read their content (my guess is some kind of scripting conflict with a pop-up ad or something). I’ll keep at this.
Media Matters for America, an Internet site Sen. Hillary Clinton claims to have “helped start,” initiated the process.Oh brother…
Their “phony soldiers” version was repeated verbatim by print and broadcast outlets, and within hours the president’s press secretary was being asked if Mr. Bush agreed with Limbaugh’s assessment that soldiers who disagree with the administration are “phony soldiers.” Within hours, senators and congressmen were offering condemnations and threats from their chambers and elsewhere. In terms of choreography and coordination, the attack was as stunning as any Broadway spectacle.I suppose, pretty much parroting in a way what the right-wing noise machine (with Limbaugh often figuring prominently) has been inflicting on our discourse for years. And if you want to read just one example of this (there are many, many others, most notably the Terri Schiavo circus), this tells you how Hillary Clinton’s “laugh” became the “news” story of the days a couple of months ago.
Even for a cynical and informed observer, the breadth and synchronization of this attack was awesome. Imagine if the full weight of media, every avenue of information – broadcast, print, even cartoon – tried to crush you with slander.I don’t have to imagine, Callahan. I watched you and your fellow travelers inflict this on President Bill Clinton from the early stages of his campaign until the moment he left office.
Imagine if the United States Senate, with total power of regulation over your profession, bludgeoned you with this lie. Whatever one thinks of Limbaugh, he would not be crushed, and the parties to this attack were thoroughly discounted. In particular, the credibility of dominant media has fallen so far that the news reporting must be considered for entertainment purposes only.That last sentence is solely Callahan’s laughable opinion, and to this day, I have not seen an apology forthcoming from Media Matters, VoteVets or anyone else who quite rightly held Limbaugh to account because no such apologies are necessary.
For anyone who heard Limbaugh’s show in real time on Sept. 26, it was impossible to miss his meaning.That much is true.
Inspired by an ABC News broadcast about soldiers who misrepresent or fake their service, termed by ABC the “Phony Heroes,” Limbaugh, on Sept. 25, aired a morning update (a monologue that runs proceeding the show) discussing phony soldiers. This morning update was an exposition of how the anti-war movement presents soldiers who are abject frauds, such as Jesse Macbeth, or military personnel who submit fraudulent accounts, such as Scott Beauchamp. In either case they are celebrated for their ability to discredit, demoralize and endanger the U.S. military with fabrication being irrelevant.It’s laughable at this point to watch someone like Callahan create more of a smokescreen in defense of Limbaugh here as to what he really meant when the Media Matters transcript plainly shows that Limbaugh was not referring to Macbeth or Beauchamp by name, but just for the record, here is the story on Macbeth (and only Limbaugh would have the gall to utter the phrase “genuine phony soldier” as he does here with a straight face).
On Sept. 26, a caller to Limbaugh’s show, referring presumably to anti-war activists, stated, “they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and spout to the media.” Limbaugh responded, “the phony soldiers.” After ending the telephone conversation, Limbaugh read the text; “Here is a morning update we did recently about fake soldiers.”Callahan should read this account of what happened in Haditha, particularly this excerpt…
He detailed how the phony soldier and anti-war hero Macbeth’s false accounts of U.S. atrocities were publicized and even translated into Arabic by anti-war media. His outrage was with the purpose of the phony soldier paradigm, employed to damage the stature and morale of the U.S. military. By extension, Congressman Murtha’s deceitful description of Marine conduct in Haditha fits this template.
The Pentagon has said little publicly about the Haditha deaths, and in Iraq the incident has caused little controversy - US troops there are already viewed by most Iraqis as trigger-happy and indifferent to civilian casualties.And by the way, “Democrat” Congressman John Murtha (Even overseas? Oy…) is mentioned at the very end of the story after all of the grisly details have bee presented, and the quote about “Iraq’s My Lai” is not associated to him, but to “media commentators.”
Now four marines in that group, including Staff Sgt Frank Wuterich, 26, are facing charges of unpremeditated murder.
A further four face lesser charges over alleged failures in investigating and reporting the incident.
The US military has confirmed that 24 Iraqi civilians died in Haditha that day, none of them killed by a roadside bomb.
Col Stewart Navarre, announcing the charges on 21 December 2006, said: "The reporting of the incident up the chain of command was inaccurate and untimely."
From that exchange, Media Matters inferred an abuse of authentic soldiers where no reference is made, and ignored the lengthy discussion where phony soldiers are defined. Clinton’s Internet proxy offered the tedious and inane defense that allowing the caller 90 seconds to make an additional unrelated point before referencing only one example of numerous and documented phony soldiers somehow nullified the truth.I don’t know what the hell that sentence means, and at this point, I don’t really care because Callahan is flat wrong anyway.
And the axis of Internet propagandists, corrupt politicians, and subservient press, in ferocious unison, tried to destroy a man and his reputation. Where do our politicians fall within this axis of weasels?Yep, Rush knows all about trying to destroy reputations, whether or not it’s through his sickening spectacle of imitating Michael J. Fox’s symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (here) or impugning 12-year-old Graeme Frost who committed the unpardonable offense (in Limbaugh’s evil eye) of standing up to President Nutball and his veto of SCHIP (here).
It is telling that Murphy and Casey chose the dishonor of propagating a lie instead of promoting the truth about phony soldiers and the incredible damage inflicted by false portrayals of the character and conduct of our American servicemen. And it is telling that among the large body of American media only radio penetrates institutional deception.I think the best way for me to end this is to let Jon Soltz of VoteVets have the last word here (via ThinkProgress – I have more “fun” to get to shortly).
This AP News story tells us about a new single just released by Billy Joel titled "Christmas in Fallujah," in which he asked 21-year-old singer-songwriter Cass Dillon to sing the vocals. As the story notes, Joel thought the song should be sung by someone "about a soldier's age," and he wanted to help someone else (Dillon) benefit from his experience, which is a classy thing to do.
I don’t know what cost-cutting move the Sacramento Bee (a McClatchy paper) will come up with next based on this story; a worrisome trend, I'd say.
This is a local thing that doesn’t pertain to politics, but it’s a pet peeve of mine, so here goes.Untold billions of dollars in dental care have been saved by water supply fluoridation, since this procedure has been credited with lowering the occurrence of cavities by as much as 60 percent in children up to 16 years of age. Since mouth infections can be fatal, lives have also been saved by a technique that requires no extra time or application by the general public.The crux of Monahan’s argument seems to be that most people in his experience and immediate community obtain all the fluoride they need from direct application of fluoride directly to their teeth at the dentist’s office during their regularly scheduled appointments, so it is unnecessary to fluoridate the water. And of course, since we’re talking about Bucks County, PA, which remains (on the whole) the “Republican land of God and guns,” Monahan ends his column with this…
For those lower socioeconomic communities where social work research has clearly demonstrated that insufficient brushing with fluoridated toothpaste and lack of regular professional dental care exist, the enforced introduction of fluoride into the water system is merited. Elsewhere, it is merely one more instance of governmental intrusion by the folks who believe that “government that intrudes the most works the best.”Well, isn’t that special (and let’s all click the heels of our shoes together three times and say, “I hope I don’t lose my dental insurance coverage,” each time we do, OK?).
Tooth decay is making a comeback, fueled by junk food, spurred by social changes, and abetted by an unusual culprit - bottled water.So it looks like even the people who load up the SUV or the min-van every weekend to head down to B.J.s and buy cases of bottled water are at risk of increased tooth decay without fluoridation also – wouldn’t you agree then, Dr. Monahan? It’s not merely a problem for “lower socioeconomic communities” then, is it (and this Wikipedia article provides more information).
"I had a three-year-old kid come in the other day," says Toronto dentist Sheldon Rose, D.D.S., "and he had at least two cavities that I could see. I haven't seen that for years."
Like most dentists, Dr. Rose blames the usual suspects - snack foods, soft drinks, lack of parental supervision of food. But bottled water also plays a role, he and others suspect.
"It's not the water that's causing the decay," said Jack Cottrell, D.D.S., president of the Canadian Dental Association (CDA). "It's the lack of fluoride."
And by the way, regarding Iran and the latest NIE, Little Ricky Santorum weighed in today on the pages of (where else) The Philadelphia Inquirer (here) with this somewhat obscure detail…We must view this information in light of the continued obsession of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the return of the Twelfth Imam. That's the ninth-century Shiite leader who, according to his view of Shiite theology, will return to earth to lead them after an Armageddon in which Islam has conquered Christians and killed the Jews.Wow, do you think we’d better turn that “Eye Of Mordor” somewhere else in the Middle East then, former Senator “39 Percent Approval Rating” (here)?
From today’s New York Times here…President Bush’s lame-duck attempt to repair the Repub- lican Party’s thread- bare fiscal reputation is an increasingly reckless game. In the latest exercise of irresponsibility for political gain, Mr. Bush reportedly wants to slash counterterrorism funding for front-line police and firefighters.And as noted last night regarding DHS (as noted in the editorial), if Dubya was really serious about money management (and he isn’t, because he doesn’t know the meaning of that phrase), he would start with trying to fix that now-wretched agency "run" by Mike "City of Louisiana" Chertoff (and exploited in the ways noted in this video).
The administration’s own Homeland Security agency requested $3.2 billion for this first responder aid to high-risk cities and states in the 2009 budget — the one that Mr. Bush’s successor will inherit. The White House is considering cutting that request by more than half to $1.4 billion by eliminating grants for port and public transit security, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
While Mr. Bush wrestles with more responsible members of his own administration, his larger and more immediate game is to portray the narrow Democratic majority in Congress as feckless overspenders.
In October, he vetoed a sensible bill that would have provided health insurance for millions of uninsured children. In the name of faux fiscal discipline, he is threatening to veto budget measures that the nation needs for effective government.
Mr. Bush is clearly hoping that the public will somehow forget that he is the one who spent the last seven years running up huge deficits and debt with his off-the-books war in Iraq and serial tax cuts customized for his affluent political base. Mr. Bush’s Republican allies on Capitol Hill are also hoping that the voters will forget how they abetted the president through all those years. Those fiscal turncoats are now scrambling to pose once more as budget hawks to survive in next year’s watershed election.
The differences between the Democrats’ spending bills and Mr. Bush’s budget are not that large. And the Democrats are offering to split the difference. But Mr. Bush isn’t interested in compromise.
He’s decided the real political traction comes with manufactured standoffs and blame-the-Congress gridlock. And he clearly doesn’t care who suffers — the nation’s vulnerable cities or vulnerable children without health insurance.
As the White House plays out its cyncial scenario, loyalists are flinching.
“This isn’t a bridge to nowhere. We’re talking about life and death,” Representative Peter King of New York, the top Republican on the House’s Homeland Security Committee, warned of first-responder cuts. Having played along so far with the grand Bush strategy, Mr. King is alarmed now and threatening to vote against sustaining future vetoes.
Republicans sweating political survival beyond Mr. Bush’s desperate endgame would be wise to follow Mr. King’s lead, not the president’s.
Dure Kim John ill,And he’s finally going to The Middle East also? Ya’ think, on some level, George W. Milhous Bush is starting to get the hang of this whole “president” thing?
I hop yure r gun to bide bi tha gree ment to disabul yure nukuler pro graam be four I leve off iss in Januery uf two thousan ann nine. I haaf to du suum thin too haf uh legucy lik mah daddy diid when he wus presedent.
Sinceerely,
Goerge W. Bush
P.S. Jus’ jokin’ aah bout tha “little pigmy” and “asses of eveil” there…hee heee.
This New York Times story from Monday tells us about the latest individuals honored by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts last Sunday at our nation’s capital, and this Washington Post article more of less “dishes” on the gossipy tidbits for consumption by our entertainment media about the party that followed.So it looks like star pitcher Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox is going to campaign for Senator Honor And Virtue when the latter campaigns in Manchester, New Hampshire huh?
Here’s a bit of a history lesson…The sexual revolution that began in the 1960s has left two major problems in its wake. The first is the historic increase in non-marital births that have contributed so heavily to the Nation’s domestic problems including poverty, violence, and intergenerational welfare dependency. The second is the explosion of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) that now pose a growing hazard to the Nation’s public health.I didn’t say it was fact, I just said it was a history lesson – in wingnuttia, I mean.
To address these problems, the goal of Federal policy should be to emphasize abstinence as the only certain way to avoid both unintended pregnancies and STDs.
In a troubling reversal, the nation's teen birth rate rose for the first time in 15 years, surprising government health officials who had no immediate explanation.Indeed not; you could say that, in terms of accomplishing the goals of reducing both STDs and unplanned pregnancies, “abstinence only” education “doesn’t even make it to second base.”
…
U.S. health officials said it was possibly a one-year statistical blip and not the beginning of a new upward trend.
But several experts said they have been expecting a jump. They blame the increase on increased federal funding for abstinence-only health education programs that do not teach how to use condoms and other contraception.
Some key sexually transmitted disease rates have been rising, including syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. The rising teen pregnancy rate is part of the same phenomenon, said Dr. Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health.
"It's not rocket science," she said.
...We have to note that obtaining open-source intelligence in America has become more difficult, because traditional news shows have become more comedic and more comedic news shows more authoritative.How right you are, Tommy. Why, it seems like just the other day when I witnessed your famous “hold your nose and vote for Gore or Kerry for President” act that the Democrats supposedly went through during the 2000 and 2004 elections (captured by the fine folk at Media Matters here), though I never saw a photo of a voter actually doing so. However, I can tell you from my own experience that I have assumed this position when reading many of your columns.
…9/11 has made America afraid and therefore stupid.That actually is quite correct, and you were the standard bearer in that department around the May 2003 time frame as I recall (here – fortunately for Friedman, the YouTube video for this golden moment has apparently been pulled...afraid and more than a little obnoxious also, right Tommy?).
…all the U.S. presidential candidates are distancing themselves from the core values that made America such a great power and so different from us — in particular America’s long commitment to free trade, open immigration and a reverence for scientific enquiry wherever it leads.You know, Friedman really should pay attention to the Democratic presidential primary from time to time; I don’t hear any of the candidates speaking against scientific news or discovery in any way. And the only place you’re going to hear opposition to common-sense immigration policy is out of the mouths of Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee and those individuals of the same party.
…using Iran to how (sic) punch home his message on how to handle today's terrorism challenges. Invoking Ronald Reagan, Giuliani warns voters that a certain mindset is needed defeat those who threaten the United States and that he has it.It would actually be funny were it not so pathetic. As noted here…
Entitled "One Hour," the former New York City Mayor and Reagan justice official steals a page from his stump speech and uses the Iranian hostage crisis of the late 70's and early 80's to illustrate how he would approach dealing with "tyrants and terrorists."
Using black and white stock footage of those Americans that were held by the Iranians for 444 days, Giuliani reminds viewers that they were released within one hour, the hour in which Ronald Reagan took the oath of office.
…On October 18, 1980, George H. W. Bush, Republican candidate for vice president of the United States, flew to Paris to negotiate with representatives of Iran over the release of 52 hostages held by that country.Gee, Rudy, what a shame that you’ve sunk so low in the polls that you now feel it’s necessary to unofficially team up with Mike Huckabee so both of you can go after Willard Mitt Romney (here). Guess that Pat Robertson endorsement isn’t worth as much as you thought, huh?
By doing so, Bush and his co-conspirators were in potential violation of the International Commerce Acts of 1798 which prohibit any American citizen or party from negotiating with a foreign power in matters of national policy or military action.
Although numerous Republican activists and two Congressional committees claimed that no such effort or trip was attempted, more than a dozen credible sources told of their knowledge of the trip and its results.
Bush, representing Ronald Reagan and himself, told representatives of the Iranian government, including cleric Mehdi Karrubi, that a Reagan administration would provide arms and other assistance to Iran in response to its release of the 52 remaining hostages.
According to reports by Robert Parry, ". . . Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe . . . said he saw Bush attend a final round of meetings with Iranians in Paris."
"Ben-Menashe said he was in Paris as part of a six-member Israeli delegation that was coordinating the arms deliveries to Iran. He said the key meeting had occurred at the Ritz Hotel in Paris."
"Ben-Menashe said the Paris meetings served to finalize a previously outlined agreement calling for release of the 52 hostages in exchange for $52 million, guarantees of arms sales to Iran, and unfreezing of Iranian moneys in U.S. banks. The timing, however, was changed, he said, to coincide with Reagan's expected Inauguration on Jan. 20, 1981."
I wanted to take a minute and note this post by Paul Krugman from his blog for a couple of reasons. The first is because it’s refreshing (and a bit shocking, actually) to watch him call out fellow Times writer Kit Seelye on her reporting of the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama health insurance proposals (with Krugman highlighting the absolutely absurd claim by Seelye that the AEI is somehow “nonpartisan”).…John Edwards has just called Mr. Obama's bluff, by proposing that individuals be required to show proof of insurance when filing income taxes or receiving health care. If they don't have insurance, they won't be penalized - they'll be automatically enrolled in an insurance plan.For more information on this and other proposals from the Edwards campaign, click here.
That's actually a terrific idea - not only would it prevent people from gaming the system, it would have the side benefit of enrolling people who qualify for S-chip and other government programs, but don't know it.
(And the title of this post is aimed at Jeff Jubelirer of the Cradle of Liberty Council of Philadelphia, Delaware and Montgomery County).Diaz has said that if the scouts did not respond by his Dec. 3 deadline - by either relenting on the policy or paying a $200,000-a-year "fair-market rent" - he would actively begin looking for a new tenant for the 79-year-old building at 22d and Winter Streets near Logan Square.Maybe, but given the fact that the Boy Scouts refuse to relent on their ban of gays, there’s no way they should be charged only a dollar a year of rent on the structure (and given the wide discrepancy between that amount and the fair market value, you know the taxpayers of the city of Philadelphia are picking up that tab).
The Cradle of Liberty Council built the Beaux Arts structure in 1928 on Fairmount Park land that the city agreed to lease to it in perpetuity for a dollar a year.
Perpetuity, however, could not outlast recent U.S. Supreme Court cases holding that taxpayer money cannot be used to support private groups that knowingly discriminate.
Last year, Diaz wrote to the scouts that it was impossible to reconcile the group's policies on homosexuals and atheists with the city's antidiscrimination fair-practices law.
Cradle of Liberty officials maintain that they have used a "don't ask, don't tell" practice but cannot change the policies without violating their charter from the national scouting organization.
Jubelirer said the scouts should not be required to pay additional rent for a building the scouting council built, spent $2.6 million renovating in 1994, and pays $60,000 a year to maintain.
"The council could not afford it, and it's not feasible," Jubelirer added.
"We're letting it pass. We feel it's a political, arbitrary deadline"…Oh really? This little drama has been going on since last May, Jeff. And the city must comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Why is that so difficult to understand?
A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.Ya’ think Jeff needs to keep working on the “obedient” thing?
(Posting is iffy for tomorrow, by the way.)A federal appeals court yesterday threw out a hard-fought agreement between publishers and freelance writers to pay the writers for electronic reproduction of their work.It sounds like the legal rationale here from Judge Chester J. Straub (such as it was) was that the writers weren’t allowed to claim damages because they had not registered their work with the U.S. Copyright Office, though in dissent, Judge John Walker said that the non-registration was “a malleable procedural rule” only.
In a 2-to-1 decision, an appellate panel ruled that the courts had no jurisdiction over the copyright dispute and that a lower court erred in accepting the writers’ lawsuit and approving the settlement.
A political neophyte considering a run for Congress…29-year-old (Jon) Powers wondered what kind of reaction he would get from those he'd served with. He had no idea how to assemble a staff or how running in his native New York would affect his family life.Go, Patrick (and as always, to help, click here).
The conversation ended with a clear message from Murphy, Powers recalled. ''He literally looked at me across the table, and said, 'You have to do it.'''
Murphy, the Bucks County Democrat who emerged from the 2006 congressional races as the first and only Iraq war veteran elected to Congress, is looking for company in Washington. And he's not waiting around to see if it shows up.
The 34-year-old former Army captain is helping out other veterans as they jump into a different kind of combat than the one they faced in Iraq: campaigns for U.S. House seats against Republicans.
''I want to have battle buddies in Washington,'' Murphy said in a recent interview. ''I want these guys to stand there with me.''
…
At least 17 have announced candidacies for 2008, roughly split between the major parties, according to congressional campaign offices. Several others remain on the fence.
Murphy and his campaign staff are helping -- giving tips on honing a message on Iraq, dealing with the media and holding fundraisers -- a handful of them, Murphy said.
There's Powers, a former U.S. Army captain who led an artillery platoon before assisting a battalion commander in Najaf and Baghdad, now a declared candidate in New York. There's John Boccieri, an Air Force Reserve major vying for an open House seat in Ohio. And there's Doug Denneny, a 22-year Navy veteran who is running in Virginia.
…plans to walk from Boston to Washington, D.C., to confront House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in hopes of persuading Congress to take up the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.Go John (you truly have the thanks of a grateful nation).
