Novak suspended by CNN

Novak Told to Take a Break...

More...

Transcript of Bob Novak's walkout from INSIDE POLITICS

CARVILLE: Yes. You know the two happiest people in America today about this decision, is Bill Nelson and Jay Leno. I mean --

HENRY: Bill Nelson the Democratic Senator.

CARVILLE: The Democratic Senator and Jay Leno. That -- I mean, they're going to go nuts over this. They're messing with my makeup, but you really don't know who it is. I mean, let's say this. She's going to be good for the humor circuit. She's going to be good for the speech circuit and she's good for a lot. And I think that Nelson -- I think, it's probably no secret that the White House wanted the speaker to run and I suspect that the Nelson people are, you know, feeling pretty good here today.

NOVAK: A couple of points here. The first place, don't be too sure she's going to lose. All the establishment's against her and I've seen these Republican -- anti-establishment candidates who do pretty well. Ronald Reagan, I guarantee you that the establishment wasn't for him. We just elected a senator from Oklahoma, Senator Tom Coburn, everybody in the establishment was against him. She might get elected -- So, wait.

Just let me finish what I'm going to say, James. Please, I know you hate to hear me, but you have...

CARVILLE: He's got to show these right-ingers that he's got backbone. Show them you're tough.

NOVAK: Well, I think that's bullshit. And I hate that. Just let it go.

(Novak leaves set.)

More...

Greenspan admits housing buble in some sectors

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, admitted for the first time that some sectors of the country may face drops in housing prices during the next few years.

WASHINGTON, May 20 - Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, suggested on Friday that the red-hot housing market is becoming a little too exuberant for its own good.

Skip to next paragraph

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, spoke at the Economic Club of New York at the Hilton New York hotel on Friday.

Text: Greenspan's Remarks

"Without calling the overall national issue a bubble, it's pretty clear that it's an unsustainable underlying pattern," Mr. Greenspan told the Economic Club of New York at the Hilton New York hotel in Midtown.

Mr. Greenspan emphasized that he sees no sign of a nationwide housing bubble, but he acknowledged concerns over "froth" in the market and pointed to a big increase in speculation in homes - particularly in second homes. As a result, he said, there are "a lot of local bubbles" around the country.

The comments of the Fed chairman were the closest he has come to acknowledging the possibility that housing prices may be poised for a fall in some parts of the country.

The issue is sensitive for the Federal Reserve, because its policy of keeping interest rates low has helped propel housing prices upward even when the rest of the economy was dragging.

But the housing issue highlights an unusual quandary for the central bank: even though it has raised short-term interest rates eight times since last June, long-term interest rates and mortgage rates are actually lower than they were one year ago.

More...

Showdown begins

Filibuster showdown begins in the Senate. Whatever comes down, rest assured it will hurt the Republicans more. They have the most seats in Congress.

Both political parties have begun the showdown over judicial nominations in a weakened position, facing low approval ratings for their performance in Congress that compound the political risks in the confrontation.

Few strategists expect any of the arguments over the GOP's bid to thwart Senate filibusters to sway many voters in the 2006 elections. But many analysts believe the conflict could increase and solidify the public antagonism toward Washington surfacing in polls — especially if the dispute, as is likely, deepens Capitol Hill's partisan acrimony and impedes action on problems more tangible to voters, from gasoline prices to Social Security.

More...

Senators push for filibuster deal

A bi-partisan group of Senators is pushing for a last minute filibuster deal, threaten to undercut Frist's leadership.

A bipartisan group of senators continued negotiating behind closed doors Thursday to engineer a deal that would head off a showdown vote next week on changing the Senate filibuster rule.

A bipartisan deal would undercut the effort by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to lower the number of votes needed to stop debate on a judicial nominee from 60 to 51.

The group seeking compromise is headed on the GOP side by Arizona Sen. John McCain, Virginia Sen. John Warner, Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, and on the Democratic side by Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Any deal that allows some Bush appeals court nominees to be "thrown overboard" would be unacceptable to Frist, but if six Republicans went along with the Democrats on this, then Frist would be powerless to stop it.

If Frist put the filibuster rule change to a vote next Tuesday, and six GOP senators voted 'no,' the majority leader would have failed. Frist, whom some in Washington think has presidential ambitions, has placed his credibility at stake by arguing so strongly in favor of giving every judicial nominee an up-or-down vote.

More...

Frist to force vote on fillibuster

Frist is vowing to force a vote on whether filibusters will be allowed for Judicial nominations in the Senate. I think he's just paying bad cop. Once the vote is passed through, the Senate will virtually shut down.

Setting the stage for a politically charged showdown, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced Friday he will press beginning next week for the first of President Bush’s conservative court nominees long blocked by Democrats.

“It is time for 100 senators to decide the issue of fair up-or-down votes for judicial nominees after over two years of unprecedented obstructionism,” Frist’s office said in a statement.

Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he was ready. “The time has come for Republican senators to decide whether they will abide by the rules of the Senate, or break those rules for the first time in 217 years,” he said in a written statement.

Stack up on the Blueberrys and Grean Tea

Ingesting antioxidents or raising the human body's ability to produce them may be the key to longer life.

Mice engineered to produce high levels of an antioxidant enzyme lived 20% longer and had less heart and other age-related diseases, they found.

If the same is true in humans, people could live beyond 100 years.

The University of Washington work in Science Express backs the idea that high reactive oxygen molecules, called free-radicals, cause ageing.

More....

Judicial Watch calls for an investigation of Hillary Clinton

Conservative watch-dog group Judicial Watch is calling for an investigation of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) NY. The group, made famous by its constant dogging of the Clintons, alleged she knew of

A conservative watchdog group with a history of dogging the Clintons urged a Senate panel on Monday to investigate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton over a Hollywood fundraiser for which a former staffer faces charges.

The fundraiser is the focus of a federal trial set to begin Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Prosecutors charge that former finance director David Rosen understated the cost of the star-studded August 2000 gala, which raised money for Clinton's senatorial campaign. Rosen denies the charges.

Under the campaign finance laws then in effect, underreporting the cost of the event would have given the Clinton campaign more money to spend on the race. The senator has not been charged in the case.

More...

Senator Schumer pleads for President Bush to intervene in filibuster fight

Senator Charles Schumer of NY pleads for President Bush to intervene in the Senate Filibuster battle. In the speech, the Senator accuses the Republican party of being beholden to a small core of arch conservatives. Perhaps Mr. Schumer is willing to give the President a hand at Social Security in exchange...

Schumer, D-New York, delivered his party's weekly radio address Saturday, in which he decried "a whiff of extremism in the air the likes of which we haven't seen in decades."

Without naming any, Schumer criticized "small groups ... trying to undermine the age-old checks and balances that the Founding Fathers placed at the center of the Constitution."

Democrats have blocked 10 of Bush's appellate court choices with the threat of filibusters, which means those nominees would need 60 votes to be confirmed. Republicans are considering using their majority to change rules to require a simple majority vote for confirmation.

More...

Tom DeLay: "favor-trader extraordinaire"

The Times explains how Tom DeLay, like Bill Clinton before him, is somehow surviving a growing list of scandals.

Politicians are not always the most courageous lot. The first whiff of scandal, the first taint of defeat, usually makes them run - hence the popular saying that if you want a friend in this town, get a dog.

But Republicans in the House have not run from Tom DeLay, who, like Bill Clinton before him, has defied political gravity in recent months. Three of his former aides have been indicted in an investigation of campaign fund-raising practices; a close lobbyist friend is under criminal investigation; the House ethics committee is preparing to reconsider allegations that Mr. DeLay and his staff members violated travel rules.

Rather than try to protect themselves and engineer a coup, Republican members are throwing a tribute party for him this week. President Bush is also standing firm, even taking him along on Air Force One.

Raising a simple question: Why?

His supporters say that Mr. DeLay, the House majority leader, has done nothing wrong - that he's the target of unfair attacks from Democrats bent on partisan revenge. Yet the volume of outspoken support also speaks to the strong personal loyalty many have for Mr. DeLay. How is it that he is more popular among Republicans than, say, President Bush's proposals for Social Security?

More...

Negroponte sets up Spy shop

Negroponte is moving swifty to set up the new shop at the New Federal Office Building.

One of John Negroponte's first moves was to set up an organization that includes four deputies for intelligence collection, analysis, coordination with government consumers of intelligence, and overall management of the spy community.

With two weeks on the job, Negroponte has chosen people for all but one of those four slots, according to the senior officials familiar with the new structure, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

That includes the promotion of Thomas Fingar, who has run the State Department's intelligence office since July 2004, to be the deputy for intelligence analysis.

Fingar has been interviewed by Senate investigators regarding how analysts working under him have been treated by John Bolton, the embattled nominee to be U.N. ambassador.

More...

Microsoft to support Gay Rights

Microsoft will reverse its decision and will support gay rights legislation in Washington State.

In a turnaround Friday, Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer said the company will support gay rights legislation.

Ballmer made the announcement in an e-mail to employees two weeks after gay rights activists accused the company of withdrawing its support for an anti-discrimination bill in its home state after an evangelical pastor threatened to launch a national boycott. The bill died by a single vote in the state Senate in late April. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)

More...

Bush assualt aginst the Environment continues.

This one needs no comment...


The last 58.5 million acres of untouched national forests, which President Clinton had set aside for protection, were opened to possible logging, mining and other commercial uses by the Bush administration Thursday.

New rules from the U.S. Forest Service cover some of the most pristine federal land in 38 states and Puerto Rico.

Ninety-seven percent of it is in 12 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Governors can submit petitions within 18 months to stop road building on some of the 34.3 million acres where it would now be permitted, or request that new forest management plans be written to allow the construction on some of the other 24.2 million acres.

More...

Travel scandal won't go away

This scandal keeps getting worse...

When House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) left Washington last August to attend a friend's funeral in his home state and give a political speech in Ohio, he didn't wait in long security lines for a nonstop commercial flight.

Instead, he hopped aboard a waiting private jet at Dulles International Airport that belongs to the corporation that owns Cracker Barrel stores -- just one of about 30 companies with legislative interests before Congress that have provided this service to Blunt.

More...

Filibuster issue ignites Adwars

Interest groups are intensifying the ad in states that are crucial to the eventual winner of the looming Senate debate on the of the filibuster against judicial nominees.

The fight over federal judicial nominees shifts this week from Capitol Hill to America's living rooms, with interest groups escalating an ad war in an effort to swing senators their way.

Progress for America, a conservative advocacy group, launched an ad Monday in the states of five Republican and five Democratic senators considered pivotal to whether the Senate changed its rules to prevent filibusters over some of President Bush's conservative nominees to the federal bench.

People for the American Way, a liberal group, is responding with an ad scheduled to begin running today in the same states. It portrays the filibuster — a parliamentary tactic in which senators talk as long as they want to prevent a vote — as an effective check against one party having too much power.

More...

The Death of the American Beer Drinker

Sales of beer, once a "slam dunk" economic indicator, is falling behind the increasing sales of wine and hard liquor. The problem, according to Slate's Daniel Gross, is that Americans are trading the "high-carb beer for cardiac-friendly merlot." Are Americans become more and more Yupified? Or is it the Two Americas theme being applied at the mall, where the rich are spending more on wine and the poor less on beer?

When the economy is booming, we pound a six-pack of Bud with our buddies and watch the game. When the economy is lousy, we pound a six-pack of Coors with our buddies and watch the game. When the economy is flat, we pound a six-pack of Miller with our buddies and watch the game. This is why companies that make beer—like those that make diapers, electricity, and cereal—have countercyclical stocks. When the economy hits a soft patch, investors take refuge in them.

But now there's a fear in our beer. Last week, two leading beer companies reported disappointing results. Anheuser-Busch, which claims more than half the U.S. beer market, announced it was suffering from falling demand and rising costs. The volume of Bud and Michelob sold in the U.S. fell 2.7 percent from the year-ago quarter. Newly merged cross-border beer powerhouse Molson Coors reported a loss, with net sales in the U.S. down 2 percent, and U.S. operating income off by nearly one-third. The most recent trading statement of Miller, the No. 2 U.S. beer brand now owned by SABMiller, showed marginal growth. In the past two years, according to Gary Hemphill, managing director of Beverage Marketing Corp., beer volume has risen at a meager 0.5 percent annual rate.

More...

Rice reassures allies on North Korea

Condiliza Rice got tough with the North Koreans after they tested a short range missile. In her statement, the Secretary of State said there's no doubt the United States can defend its allies in Asia, mainly Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. Does Ms. Rice really believe we remain in Iraq, keep Iran at bay with its own nuclear issue, hunt Al Qaeda, protect Taiwan, and use the chainsaw favored by Mr. Bush and his inner circle (see Ms. Bush's comments below.) The answer is no, and the Koreans know it.

Responding to reports that North Korea launched a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan on Sunday, Rice said, "I don't think there should be any doubt about our ability to deter whatever the North Koreans are up to."

And, in reassuring South Korea, Japan and other allies in the Pacific area, Rice told reporters: "This is not just between the United States and North Korea."

A suggestion Thursday by Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, that North Korea might be able to strike American territory with a nuclear-tipped missile also has raised tensions and concerns.

More...

Bob Hunter, Greanpeace Cofounder

Bob Hunter, one of the founders of Greanpeace, Defender of the Environment, dies at 63...

He helped to found Greenpeace in 1971 and went on to draw global attention with campaigns against nuclear testing and pollution of the world's oceans.
Mr Hunter, 63, was also well-known for his work as a journalist and author.
"Bob was an inspirational storyteller, an audacious fighter and an unpretentious mystic," Greenpeace Canada Chairman John Doherty said.
"He was serious about saving the world while always maintaining a sense of humour."

More...

Former President Clinton lashes out at Bush Oil Policies

Former President lashes out at Bush Administrataion oil policies, but urges support Democracy in Iraq.

Former President Bill Clinton lashed out at the Bush administration's energy policies Friday, criticizing them as "dumb economics" during a wide-ranging speech to a friendly crowd at Brown University.

But Clinton encouraged Americans to support democracy in Iraq, and said they should encourage the Bush administration to work with the rest of the world in bringing peace to the region.

The former president said those who opposed going to war with Iraq had to put those feelings aside. "You should want it to work now," he said.

Clinton -- received enthusiastically by more than 4,000 students, politicians and top state Democratic fundraisers -- called Bush's energy policy selfish. "I also think it's really dumb economics," he said.

A Bush administration-backed bill passed by the House this month includes tax cuts and subsidies to energy companies, and would open a wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil exploration.

Andrew Card: Democrats are Obstructionists; Should try to work with Republicans Instead

Real easy to talk about working together, after five years of relentlessly shoving legislation down your thought...

Andrew Card, appearing on three talk shows, also reaffirmed the president's support for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican whose ties to lobbyists have raised ethics questions, and John R. Bolton, the embattled nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

"We'd like to see more cooperation from the Democrats," Card said. "We have some serious problems in this country that must be addressed. We'd like to see the Democrats be part of the solution rather than just carp about the problem," he told "Fox News Sunday."

More...

Former Gov. Cuomo (D) NY reponds to the Republicans threat to end judicial filibustering

In his speech, Cuomo points out that more people voted for Democratic Senators than Republican ones. This is possible because the Senate actaully represents the states in Congress. That's why Montana, with a population of 902,194 (Wikipedia) has the Same number of senators as New York, with a population of 19,190,115 (Wikipedia).

Cuomo, in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address, said Senate Republicans "are threatening to claim ownership of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, hoping to achieve political results on subjects like abortion, stem cells, the environment and civil rights that they cannot get from the proper political bodies."

"How will they do this? By destroying the so-called filibuster, a vital part of the 200-year-old system of checks and balances in the Senate," Cuomo said.

More...

Laura Bush, Desperate Houswife

Laura Bush complained about the President's sleeping habits (too much) at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner. Notice her reference to Rumsfield and Cheney in her quip about the chainsaw solution her husband likes. Seems to me the Fist Lady knows who the bad guys in the administration are, namely those that may have pushed her husband into hasty decisions, perhaps based on les than credible information.

When Laura Bush wisecracked at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner on Saturday night that she was a "desperate housewife" married to a president who was always sound asleep by 9 p.m., the popular first lady accomplished two things. She brought down a very tough house, and she humanized her husband, whose sagging poll numbers are no match for her own.
Judging from the laughter in the Washington Hilton ballroom at Mrs. Bush's words - "George's answer to any problem at the ranch is to cut it down with a chain saw, which I think is why he and Cheney and Rumsfeld get along so well" - Mrs. Bush has a future in political stand-up comedy.
Whether her cheeky one-liners will shore up her husband as he struggles with Social Security, gas prices and combative Democrats is another question entirely. But her zingers showed how much the White House relies on her to soften her husband's rough edges at critical moments, much as she did with her extensive travels and fund-raising in the 2004 campaign.

More...

Bush Plan Met With Skepticism in Congress

President Bush's embrace of Social Security benefit cuts that would hit 70 percent of future retirees received a wary reception from both parties yesterday as Congress prepared to move ahead with remedies for the retirement system's financial problems.

House leaders vowed to press on with a Social Security bill, starting with hearings that will begin May 12 and culminating with legislation, "probably in early June," said Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.), the Ways and Means chairman, who is likely to be instrumental in crafting the legislation.

More...

Bush a Robin Hood?

New York Times columnist John Tierney claims the President is sticking it to the Democrats by submitting a plan that actually helps the poor by tacking away from those that are better off.

Democrats have good reason to be aghast at President Bush's new proposal for Social Security. Someone has finally called their bluff.

They tried yesterday to portray him as just another cruel, rich Republican for suggesting any cuts in future benefits, but that's not what the prime-time audience saw on Thursday night. By proposing to shore up the system while protecting low-income workers, Mr. Bush raised a supremely awkward question for Democrats: which party really cares about the poor?

For decades Democrats have pointed to Social Security as a triumph of communal generosity, proof that Americans (or at least non-Republican Americans) will work together to make sure that no widow is reduced to eating cat food. The program has been wonderful for liberals' self-esteem. What it has actually done for the poor is another matter.

More...

Bush Social Security Plan Helps Poor

After nearly five years of rewarding the most fortunate, the plan touted by President Bush seeks to reduce benefits for the middle class while at the same time benefiting the bottom third of society. In his speech Thursday, Bush even envisioned the poor saving up assets that they in turn pass to their children.

As the full dimensions of President Bush's Social Security plan come into view, so too does a broader vision: improving benefits for the poorest Americans while reducing the reliance of everyone else on government programs that long have seen them through economic difficulties.

Although Bush devoted most of his prime-time news conference Thursday to describing how he would expand Social Security protections, virtually all of his improvements would be aimed at the bottom one-third of American wage earners. The remaining two-thirds would see their future Social Security benefits curtailed, a reduction that they'd be encouraged to make up by saving and investing of their own.

More...

FBI Raids house of Republican Fundraier

Agents spend three hours looking for evidence.

The federal probe into whether local Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe was illegally funneling money to the Bush campaign had been ongoing for months. It reached a turning point Wednesday night.
FBI agents swept into Mr. Noe’s Maumee condo about 7:30 p.m., spending three hours scouring the home of one of the most prominent Republicans in northwest Ohio. They were looking for evidence of violations of federal campaign contribution laws.
The federal probe is studying Mr. Noe’s campaign contributions to the President, and specifically contributions made by others who may have received money from Mr. Noe, possibly allowing him to exceed the $2,000 spending cap.
Jon Richardson, Mr. Noe’s attorney, said the search was “very civilized” and that Mr. Noe’s wife, Bernadette, cooperated with agents who removed “some property” from the condo. Mr. Noe was not home at the time of the search.

More...

Cool Star Wars movie available for free

If you can't wait until May 19 for Star Wars, maybe you would like to check out fan made movie Revelations. It's only 250MB, but its special effects are incredible (probably better than the effects in Episode IV.)
More...

Difficult First 100 Days for Bush

It has been a tough 100 days for the President. Kind of reminds me of Clinton's first 100 days, when nothing seemd to go right.

One hundred days into his second term, President Bush has lost much of the political muscle he boasted about after winning re-election. Gas prices are rising, his approval ratings are sagging and Americans are unhappy with his handling of the economy and Iraq.

Now he's trying to sell a Social Security plan that would cut future benefits for all but low-income retirees giving opponents fresh ammunition. Even before Bush unveiled his new proposal and despite a 60-day sales campaign a majority of Americans thought he had mishandled Social Security, too.

Along with his other troubles, Bush has had to prop up two endangered Republicans: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, accused of ethical lapses, and John Bolton, the president's choice for U.N. ambassador, criticized for his judgment and treatment of

More...

Bush Plan Cuts Social Security

No longer facing re-election, Bush to lay hand on Third Rail of politics. To pass, his plan must first win more support from Congressional Republicans, who nay feel a curt in social security benefits clashes directly with their plans to remain in office or climb up the political ladder.

President Bush called Thursday night for cutting Social Security benefits for future retirees to put the system on sound financial footing, and he proposed doing so in a way that would demand the most sacrifice from higher-income people while insulating low-income workers.

Saying the retirement program is headed for "bankruptcy," a term his opponents say is an exaggeration, Mr. Bush edged tentatively - but for the first time explicitly - into the most politically explosive aspect of the debate over how to assure Social Security's long-term health: the benefit cuts or tax increases needed to balance the system's books as the baby boom generation ages and life expectancy increases.

Full Transcript

More...

Democrats and Republicans uncertain who might win Filibuster battle

As the battle for the filibuster looms, a few wavering GOP Senators have cast doubt on the outcome. With Senators Collins(Maine), Chafee (RI), McCain (AR) and Snowe (Maine) seeming to waver in favor of the Democrats, Frist hopes may rest with Warner (VA), Specter of PA and Hagel of Virginia. If you are in any of these districts, call your local Senators office to give him your view on the subject.

As few as two or three uncommitted GOP senators have left Democrats and Republicans uncertain who might prevail in an eventual showdown in the battle over judicial filibusters, sources in both parties said yesterday.
The uncertainty has helped spur a recent compromise offer from Democrats and a go-slow approach by Republican leaders, even as an anticipated vacancy on the Supreme Court draws nearer. The push to persuade the small cluster of holdouts to support a ban on filibusters of judicial nominees is seen as a crucial test of Majority Leader Bill Frist's tenure as the chamber's top Republican, senators in both parties say.

More...

"Big wet kiss to the far right."

Frist offers Democrats 100 hour debate limit on judicial nominees.

With a showdown looming, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist refused to budge Thursday on his demand that Democrats forego filibusters against all of President Bush's nominees to federal appellate court benches or the Supreme Court.
Frist offered to retain the right to filibuster district court nominees in exchange for 100 hours of debate and guaranteed confirmation votes on the nation's highest judgeships.
The Senate's top Republican also said that under his plan, senators would no longer be able to block nominees in the Judiciary Committee.
"Judicial nominees are being denied. Justice is being denied. The solution is simple, allow senators to do their jobs and vote," Frist said in a speech on the Senate floor.

More...

Signs the Economy is Weakenning

Rising gas prices batter economy.

The American economy slowed during the first quarter to its weakest pace in two years, the government reported today, as business spending faltered and the trade deficit widened.

The nation's gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in the United States, grew at an annual clip of 3.1 percent, to $187.9 billion, compared with forecasts of 3.5 percent growth. That was its weakest performance since the first quarter of 2003, when it rose only 1.9 percent.

Today's report, issued by the Commerce Department, is the latest in a series of economic reports that have pointed to slower growth in the second quarter.

More...

Bush in Major Q&A with Reporters Today

May blast Democrats on Bolton, filibuster Social Security.

President Bush on Thursday night will address motorists’ concerns about high gas prices and push for Social Security reform during the sixth news conference since his November re-election.
The news conference is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT Thursday in the East Room. The White House has asked television networks to broadcast the prime-time session.White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the president’s news conference was timed to coincide with the end of administration officials’ nationwide tour to convince Americans that the nation’s retirement system needs to be revamped. In a 10-to 12-minute opening statement, McClellan said Bush would “talk in more specific ways” about his ideas for achieving a bipartisan solution to Social Security’s future solvency problems

More...

Ethics rules restored in House by 406 to 20

The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to reverse Republican-written rules that led Democrats to shut down the ethics committee. Republicans backed the resolution grudgingly.
The Republicans, accused of writing the rules to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay from investigations, heeded Speaker Dennis Hastert’s call for a retreat in order to end the deadlock on the evenly divided panel. The vote was 406-20.
In debate, Democrats continued to attack DeLay’s conduct. Republicans countered that they didn’t make a mistake but accepted political reality: In a committee with five members of each party, Democrats would not supply any votes to let the committee operate without a reversal of the rules.
“We were absolutely right,” said Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif.

More...

Congress to mint new Dollar

Like lemmings rushing into the fjords, Congress cannot seem to resist a leap into the dollar-coin money pit.
Despite two wildly unsuccessful attempts to introduce a dollar coin, legislators are trying again.
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to create a new $1 coin, which would accompany the current Sacagawea piece. The measure enjoyed enormous bipartisan support, passing by a vote of 422 to 6. Assuming a companion bill makes it through the Senate, the nation would be on its way to taking another stab at a dollar coin.
This time, however, lemmings might fly.
The Presidential $1 Coin Act was led in the House by Michael Castle (R-Del.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). In the Senate, shepherds are John Sununu (R-N.H.) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Supporters realize that the dollar coin is the Rodney Dangerfield of American money. So they make clear that any new coin would augment -- not replace -- paper currency.

More...

Time has silly piece on DeLay's cigar smoking

I'm not a big a Fan of Mr. DeLay, but this is obviously pile it on...
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes, according to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a cigar is an economic prop to a brutal totalitarian regime. Arguing against loosening sanctions against Cuba last year, DeLay warned that Fidel Castro "will take the money. Every dime that finds its way into Cuba first finds its way into Fidel Castro's blood-thirsty hands.... American consumers will get their fine cigars and their cheap sugar, but at the cost of our national honor."

More...

President Bush evacuated to bunker, Vice President Cheney was moved to unidentified Secured Location

False alarm at White House.

President Bush was rushed from the Oval Office to an underground shelter and Vice President Dick Cheney was taken to a secure location Wednesday on fears that an unidentified aircraft had entered restricted space near the White House. Officials said it was a false alarm.

More...

Gore blasts GOP on Judges during rally in Washington

Gore calls GOP filibuster drive as a drive towards one-party domination.

Former Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday blamed Republican "lust for one-party domination" for the GOP campaign to change Senate rules on filibustering judicial nominees, and he assailed religious zealots for driving the effort.

Wading into the political fight that has roiled the Senate, the 2000 Democratic presidential candidate and former Tennessee senator warned that altering rules that have served the nation for 230 years would result in a breakdown in the separation of powers.

"What makes it so dangerous for our country is their willingness to do serious damage to our American democracy in order to satisfy their lust for one-party domination of all three branches of government," Gore said of the GOP in a speech. "They seek nothing less than absolute power."

The Senate is bracing for a showdown over Republicans' threat to use their majority to change the parliamentary rules to ban judicial filibusters a tactic in which opponents can prevent a vote on a nomination with just 41 votes in the 100-member body.

Minority Democrats have used the filibuster to block confirmation votes on 10 of President Bush's appeals court choices, arguing that the nominees are too conservative for lifetime appointments.

More...

President to press the need for more oil refineries.

In his second major speech on energy policy, the resient will announce plans to use closed army bases to create more refineries. Recent polls have shown that more than fifty percent of Americans do not aprove of the way Mr. Bush is handling the energy crisis. Saudi Arabias Crown Prince visited Mr. Bush at his Crawford Branch, yet the visit generated more headlines of teh two leaders holding hands than any tangible result.

Under pressure over high energy prices, President Bush on Wednesday will propose tackling the root causes of the problem by encouraging new oil refineries be built at closed military bases and jumpstarting construction of new nuclear power plants.
In a speech, Bush will also propose giving federal regulators the lead authority to decide where to locate terminals for processing imported natural gas. States have increasingly been taking the lead on this issue.
And the president will propose adding vehicles that use clean-burning diesel fuel to the list of automobiles eligible for $2.5 billion in tax credits over 10 years to encourage further use of this technology. Other eligible vehicles are hybrids powered by gasoline and electricity and fuel-cell vehicles.
Senior Bush administration officials unveiled details of the president's proposals on Tuesday night. It will be his second energy speech in a week.

More...

GOP split on Social Security

What a differance a second term makes.

A badly divided Senate Finance Committee yesterday held the first hearing examining President Bush's efforts to restructure Social Security. While the Democrats remained united in their opposition, there were signs of cracks in the Republicans' support for the president.

After months of political positioning, the stakes were high as the committee took up Bush's signature domestic issue for his second term. The White House has framed the Social Security debate as a matter of political courage, challenging both parties to secure the program's long-term solvency while giving all Americans an ownership stake in their economy. But over the course of the president's Social Security tour, public support for Bush's proposal has fallen, and Democrats see the issue as their best chance to make political gains in Washington.

More...

House Ethics Rules, changed on behalf of Tom DeLay, to be Reveresed.

Despite President Bush's support of Tom DeLay yesterday, House Republicans have signaled that they will roll back the ethic rule change created to protect Mr. DeLay.

House Republican leaders, acknowledging that ethics disputes are taking a heavy toll on the party's image, decided yesterday to rescind a controversial rule change that led to the three-month shutdown of the ethics committee, according to officials who participated in the talks.

Republicans touched off a political uproar in January by changing a rule that had required the ethics committee to continue considering a complaint against a House member if there was a deadlock between the committee's five Republicans and five Democrats. The January change reversed this, calling for automatic dismissal of an ethics complaint when a deadlock occurs.

More...

Bob Dole throws support behind Frist

Former Sen. Dole calls for an up and down vote on judicial nominations.

IN the coming weeks, we may witness a vote in the United States Senate that will define the 109th Congress for the ages. This vote will not be about war and peace, the economy or the threat from terrorism. It will focus instead on procedure: whether the Senate should amend its own rules to ensure that nominees to the federal bench can be confirmed by a simple majority vote.

I have publicly urged caution in this matter. Amending the Senate rules over the objection of a substantial minority should be the option of last resort. I still hold out hope that the two Senate leaders will find a way to ensure that senators have the opportunity to fulfill their constitutional duty to offer "advice and consent" on the president's judicial nominees while protecting minority rights. Time has not yet run out.

More...

Bolton Investigation Widening.

Karl Rove predicted yesterday that Bolton would be confirmed by the Senate. I wonder what he thinks abut todays front story in the New York Times.

WASHINGTON, April 26 - In a widening of the inquiry into John R. Bolton's nomination to be ambassador to the United Nations, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee intends to conduct formal interviews in the next 10 days with as many as two dozen people, Congressional officials said Tuesday.

Those to be interviewed include a former deputy director of central intelligence and a former assistant secretary of state. The two officials, John E. McLaughlin and John S. Wolf respectively, have not spoken publicly about Mr. Bolton's nomination, but both have been described by others as having clashed with him on personnel matters related to intelligence.

President stands firmly behind Tom DeLay

I don't understand. Right now, teh President is in an uphill battle to promote his Social Security Plan. Yet here he is standing pat with Tom DeLay, a man fighting many battles of his own (see below.) Could it be that teh President needs DeLay to ass his agenda, thereby making the true Speaker's role a mere ceremony? Seems to me the President needs all the help he can get, which right now should mean keep away from DeLay. Could it be arrogance?

President Bush offered a gesture of support today for Tom DeLay, the embattled House majority leader, by giving him a ride back to Washington from their home state of Texas aboard Air Force One.

Mr. Bush is near the end of a 60-day series of personal forays around the country to build support for his efforts to overhaul the Social Security system and offer workers the chance to divert some of their payroll taxes into personal investment accounts that they would manage for themselves. With opinion polls showing only tepid public support for the plan, Congress began hearings today on ways to overhaul Social Security, and Democratic leaders held rallies in New York and Washington to express opposition to the president's proposals.

More...

Bill Frist downplays deal with the Democrats on the filibuster

Frist says he will not back down from the "nuclear option."

Reacting to a Democratic offer in the fight over filibusters, Republican leader Bill Frist said Tuesday he isn't interested in any deal that fails to ensure Senate confirmation for all of President Bush's judicial nominees.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid had been quietly talking with Frist about confirming at least two of Mr. Bush's blocked nominees from Michigan in exchange for withdrawing a third nominee. This would have been part of a compromise that would have the GOP back away from a showdown over changing Senate rules to prevent Democrats from using the filibuster to block Mr. Bush's nominees.
But Frist, in a rare news conference conducted on the Senate floor, said he would not accept any deal that keeps his Republican majority from confirming judicial nominees that have been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"Are we going to step back from that principle? The answer to that is no," Frist said.

More...

Remembering how much the GOP loved the filibuster

Maybe the Republicans actually believe that the Democrats are a dad party that will never again challenge for majority rule. Why else would they forget how much they loved the filibuster?

The days were as dark for Republicans then as they are for Democrats today.
Bill Clinton had defied the odds and his scandalous reputation to unseat an incumbent Republican president. Worse still, the Democrats had gained control of both houses of Congress.
I remember seeing Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the GOP minority leader, interviewed soon after the 1992 election. He was dour and trying to salvage some kind of hope for his party out of the stunning results. All he could cling to, really, was that it took 60 votes to get just about anything done in the Senate, and his party would have the power to stop most legislation.
Asked about using the filibuster, Dole mentioned specifically the Workplace Fairness Act.
This bill was everything Democrats dreamed of, and all that Republicans loathed. It was a sop to organized labor, giving workers the right to strike without fear of being permanently replaced. It held out the possibility of greatly strengthening labor's hand and perhaps reversing its decline within private-sector workplaces.
In the labor vs. capital equation, the GOP believed at its core that the way to strengthen the economy was to tip the balance in favor of Capital, aka, employers. Moreover, the Workplace Fairness Act would add considerable muscle to the Democratic base.
On June 15, 1993, it passed the U.S. House 239-190. In the Senate, 53 of the 100 senators favored it. But it didn't become law because Senate rules said it took 60 votes to end debate and force a final vote on the bill. The Workplace Fairness Act died, and Labor's long, slow decline has continued, much to the delight of the GOP.

More...

Christian Right should support the filibuster

Leave it to Slate writer (in this case Timothy Noah) to figure things out from a different perspective. Noah writes:

Why the Christian right would be nuts to eliminate the filibuster.
I stand with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist in favoring elimination of the filibuster. As I explained in an earlier column (and elaborated in a radio debate with Slate editor Jacob Weisberg), the filibuster is anti-democratic because it thwarts the will of the Senate majority by routinely requiring a 60-vote supermajority to bring legislation and nominations to the Senate floor. This is more or less what Frist said in yesterday's "Justice Sunday" speech, which Christian conservatives broadcast yesterday to hundreds of like-minded churches. (To watch the video, click here.) "I don't think it's radical to ask senators to vote," Frist said. Frist isn't willing to extend the "simple majority rules" principle beyond judicial nominations, but it's entirely logical to do so, and if Frist succeeds it will only be a matter of time before the filibuster is eliminated for legislation, too. I'm all for it.

What I can't figure out is why the Christian right is for it, too. "This simulcast would not be necessary if the Senate's most liberal members would distance themselves from the interest groups that hold them in thrall," says an April 23 statement by Tony Perkins, president of FRC Action, the Family Research Council's lobbying arm. But if any special-interest group is playing a role in the battle over Bush's judicial nominations, it's the Christian right itself. The Christers' failure to recognize that their policies appeal only to a minority of the electorate has led them to favor a Senate rule change that would damage their interests severely over the long term.

Support for the filibuster, remember, is premised on the idea that the government shouldn't be susceptible to the tyranny of the majority. But I find very little evidence to support the idea that majority opinion in the United States is particularly tyrannical. The real problem in American politics, if you ask me, is the tyranny of the minority—or rather, of a variety of different minorities, known collectively as interest groups, which use a variety of means (including the filibuster) to exert power beyond their number. That's true going back to the origins of the republic, when a minority of slaveholders in the South managed to exert their will over the rest of the country. Today, the most powerful interest group, or at least the most obnoxious, is the Christian right.

More....

Rove sure that Bolton will be confirmed..

Rove: Bolton will be confirmed; judges deserve vote

WASHINGTON — Karl Rove rejected a compromise with Senate Democrats Monday on long-stalled nominations for the federal judiciary and strongly defended President Bush's choice of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations. (Audio: Rove speaks out)

More...

The shredders are humming in the Capitol...

So, Tom DeLay isn't the only one traveling for free. We shouldn’t be surprised: Congress has raised its salary seven times since '89 while increasing the minimum wage just once. Since then, Congressional salaries have grown by about $52,o00. Now we're hearing that besides the high salary, perks, and all that other good stuff, they’re not even pay for their vacations...

A new study shows that members of Congress have taken more than $16 million in privately financed trips over the past five years, with many of the trips sponsored by non-profit groups that are not obligated to disclose who paid the bills.

The results of the study by PoliticalMoneyLine, an Internet site that compiles campaign finance information, were first reported by USA Today.

The problems of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, have placed a spotlight on congressional travel. DeLay has been accused of a spate of alleged ethical lapses, including travel that may have been paid for by a lobbyist.

More...

Why Dems need to pray for Tom DeLay, too...

Like I said before, absolute power corrupts...

A couple of years ago, Tom DeLay was chomping on a cigar at a Washington restaurant with some lobbyists. The manager went over to tell him he couldn't smoke because the restaurant was located on property leased from the federal government, which bars smoking. "I am the federal government," DeLay replied, in words that will follow the onetime exterminator from Sugar Land, Texas, like ants at a picnic.

The line reeks of the arrogance and self-importance that may bring DeLay low, but it also has the advantage of being true: all three branches of the federal government belong to Republicans, and the autocratic House majority leader is the purest representation of the breed. On every issue—ethics, the environment, guns, tax cuts, judges—he is a clarifying figure for anyone who might be confused about the true nature of today's GOP.

More...

Both political parties grabbing onto the third rail.

This Social Security thing is going nowhere..

(CBS/AP) Congress took up President Bush's request to draft Social Security legislation on Tuesday, as the Senate Finance Committee assessed ways to create private investment accounts as a precursor to the panel drafting a bill.

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the committee's Republican chairman, brought down the gavel with a declaration that members not only solve the program's most immediate financial problems, but set it on a path to "sustainable solvency" so future members of Congress will be spared the task.

"If this Congress is going to muster the courage, and if we're going to accept the responsibility we should to address Social Security reform this year, we should do more than just kick the can down the road a while," Grassley told a packed hearing room.

More....

Filibuster Rule Change Opposed

More signs of overreaching by the Republicans...

As the Senate moves toward a major confrontation over judicial appointments, a strong majority of Americans oppose changing the rules to make it easier for Republican leaders to win confirmation of President Bush's court nominees, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

GOP leaders are threatening a rule change to prohibit the use of filibusters to block judicial nominees and have stepped up their criticism of the Democrats for using the tactic on some of Bush's nominees to the federal appellate courts. They say they are prepared to invoke what has become known as the "nuclear option" to ensure that Bush's nominees receive an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.

More...

Frist, Reid work on deal over judge approvals

Looks like the nuclear option is no longer an option...

Frist, Reid work on deal over judge approvals. Acceptance by Democrats may hinge on concession by GOP on filibuster ban, nickname dteh "nuclear option."

WASHINGTON - In private talks with Majority Leader Bill Frist, the Senate’s top Democrat has indicated a willingness to allow confirmation of two of President Bush’s seven controversial appeals court nominees, but only as part of a broader compromise requiring Republicans to abandon threats to ban judicial filibusters, officials said Monday.

Read More ...

Trouble brewing for GOP unity

Thanks to the strong unity demonstrated by Senate Democrats in there opposition to the right wing agenda, moderate Republicans feel they are gaining in power , and importance...


WASHINGTON — Conflicts are multiplying between congressional Republican moderates and the White House as President Bush pursues his aggressively conservative second-term agenda.

The unexpected resistance to Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton as U.N. ambassador from several Senate Republicans marks the latest, and potentially most intense, clash. But battles over Social Security, Bush's budget proposal and ending the filibuster for judicial nominations also are raising tensions inside the party.

Read More...

The President and the Prince, hand in hand...look like Girly Men.

President Bush, looking very un-Texan, woos Saudi prince, both risk looking like Girly Men.

President Bush walks hand in hand yesterday with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the President's Crawford, Tex., ranch. Bush pleaded with the prince to boost Saudi Arabis' oil output. President Bush pleaded with Saudi allies yesterday to boost oil output swiftly to help lower skyrocketing gas prices blamed for tanking the economy - and his popularity. Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley called Bush's meeting with Crown Prince Abdullah "good news for the markets" - but there was no evidence the Saudis had offered anything new but a long-term plan to boost production by 2009. As Bush appealed for help from his frail, longtime oil pal, the President faced a job disapproval rating that climbed to 49% in a new Gallup Poll. "The crown prince understands that it is very important ... to make sure that prices are reasonable," Bush said before Welcoming Abdullah again at his Texas ranch.

Read More...

The United States is undergoing 'Faith War, " says blocked Judicial Nominee

Just in case you were wondering why the Senate Democrats have blocked the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the United State U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, her an article from the Los Angeles Times covering a speech she gave at a Catholic ceremony last Sunday, where she declared that the United State is at war...

WASHINGTON — Just days after a bitterly divided Senate committee voted along party lines to approve her nomination as a federal appellate court judge, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown told an audience on Sunday that people of faith were embroiled in a "war" against secular humanists who threaten to divorce America from its religious roots, according to a newspaper account of the speech.

Brown's remarks come as a partisan battle over judges has evolved into a national debate over the proper mix of God and government and as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) ponders changing the chamber's rules to prevent Democrats from using procedural moves to block confirmation of conservative jurists such as Brown.


Read More...

Would Newt Gingrich Run as a Democrat?

I always thought Elanor CLift was crazy. Well, here she is urging former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) to run for President. As a Democrat...

The charges against Tom DeLay embody everything voters hate about Washington. Can the Dems turn it to their advantage?
It’s 1994 all over again—except the party in power has an R by its name. Whoever grabs hold of the reformist message could make history repeat itself. The Democrats are beginning to understand there is a greater opportunity here than dislodging DeLay. Next week Democrats Rahm Emanuel of Illinois and Marty Meehan of Massachusetts are introducing lobbying reform legislation that would. among other things, require every organization that pays for congressional travel to list publicly all their sources for money. “It’s been 10 years since we dealt with anything having to do with lobbying, and it’s clear we need lots more transparency,” Emanuel told NEWSWEEK.

But Democrats can’t pass anything in the House, and they have trouble getting media attention. What they need is a compelling personality to carry the message. The ultimate irony is that it could be Gingrich. Who better to run for president against the discredited Republican establishment?

Read More...

Tyranny by the Minority? Only in the U.S.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.)is readying a nuclear bomb in the United States Senate to end of the filibuster.

Republicans say that Democrats have abused the filibuster by blocking 10 of the president's 229 judicial nominees in his first term (about 5% of the nominees). Frist calls this small percentage a "formula for tyranny by the minority." Further describing the filibusters as intolerable, Frist has hinted he may resort to a maneuver, dubbed the "nuclear option," to end filibusters for judicial nominations.

"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," he said in a speech to the Federalist Society last month, labeling the use of filibusters against judicial nominees a "formula for tyranny by the minority." Frist wants to limit the minority's party's power altogether, creating a true tyranny of the majority. (I just love the Republicans tend to describe things from the bottom up.

Well, he better hope the Republicans don'to lose the Senate in next year's elections, because every rule change he makes to ensnare the minority will be work against him with a vengence if he loses control.

Hope for the Dems...

After last year's election, it was pretty easy to write off the Democratic Party. Despite the closeness of the 2000 elections, the party failed to win the Presidency and lost seats in both Houses of Congress. Yet, there is reason for hope...


Unexpectedly, Capitol Hill Democrats Stand Firm

By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 25, 2005; Page A01

Democrats were supposed to enter the 109th Congress meek and cowed, demoralized by November's election losses and ready to cut deals with Republicans who threatened further campaigns against "obstructionists." But House and Senate Democrats have turned that conventional wisdom on its head.

They have stymied President Bush's Social Security plan and held fast against judicial nominees they consider unqualified. To protest a GOP rule change, they have kept the House ethics committee from meeting. And they have slowed -- and possibly derailed -- Bush's nomination of John R. Bolton to become ambassador to the United Nations.

Read More at...

Popemobile or "Jeeplike"?

There's some confusion as to what to call the new Popemobile...

Not your father's popemobile ...

After his inaugural speech, the new pope took a victory lap around St. Peter's Square. But there's some confusion about how to refer to his ride. The LAT calls it an "an open-backed Fiat sport-utility vehicle." The WP and USAT both call it "Jeep-like." The WSJ twice refers to it as a "white open-topped vehicle." The NYT calls it simply a "popemobile." But unlike JP2's popemobile, this vehicle has no bulletproof glass. "It was not the same 'popemobile' that John Paul used," writes the LAT, "but it made a similar point."

Jay Dixit is a writer in New York. He has written for the New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely..

May 2 issue - La Colline ("the hill") is the perfect place to hold a fund-raising dinner for a Republican congressman: it's two blocks from the Capitol, in the same building as the studios of Fox News. Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, the embattled House majority leader, is to be feted there this week by lobbyist Glenn LeMunyon, one of an army of former DeLay aides who make a living peddling access to the GOP machinery they helped to build. LeMunyon's clients include Lockheed Martin and Verizon. Last year, at the Republican convention, he threw a series of bashes for Texas's members of Congress, featuring big-time rock acts and offering the opportunity (if you paid enough money) to have your picture taken with the politicians. "Republicans have much more fun than Democrats," LeMunyon said. This week's event is more low key: a quiet dinner, $2,000 for individuals, $5,000 for political action committees, with the proceeds going to DeLay's 2006 House race in Houston. "It's just a fund-raiser," said LeMunyon. "He probably does these things, like, eight times a week."The Republicans have officially over-reached. The Red states gave them enough of an advantage nationwide that gave them enough of an electoral advantage to win both Houses of Congress, Since 2000, they've acted like they have a clear mandate. Well, if Tom DeLay is the poster child of this mandate, it doesn't bode well for the Bush agenda.Read more at Newsweek.com...

Final Blow for Tom DeLay?

House Rules are quite simple. They bar lawmakers from accepting travel and related expenses from registered lobbyists. A congressman should not have his expense paid with someone else's cash. It doesn't get any clearer than that.
DeLay Airfare Was Charged To Lobbyist's Credit Card

The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, according to two sources who know Abramoff's credit card account number and to a copy of a travel invoice displaying that number. DeLay's expenses during the same trip for food, phone calls and other items at a golf course hotel in Scotland were billed to a different credit card also used on the trip by a second registered Washington lobbyist, Edwin A. Buckham, according to receipts documenting that portion of the trip.

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Staff
Sunday, April 24, 2005

The Hubble Telescope turns 15 years old!

Check out these splendid Galleries at Space.com....

	Happy 15th, Hubble! Two Stunning New Pictures By SPACE.com Staff posted: 22 April 2005 03:05 pm ET

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken about 750,00 images in its 15 years in space. Celebrating the launch on April 24, 1990, Hubble officials released two more pretty pictures.

The images were to be released Monday, but they were provided in advance to the media and were posted to a British web site Friday afternoon. SPACE.com contacted the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates Hubble, to verify that an embargo had been broken.

While Hubble's future is uncertain, its capabilities are unquestioned as the sharp-eyed observatory continues to produce stunning photographs of faraway places.

The new images are fresh views of two of the most famous objects previously photographed by Hubble.

My God, even Firefox isn't safe!

Open source means you can fix it yourself, if you like

No program is perfect, but bugs in open source software are less of a problem, says technology analyst Bill Thompson.

The Firefox open source browser is full of bugs, some of which are rather serious. In March Danish security firm Secunia reported that it had found eight. Some could be used to trick users into giving away confidential information. Others could let hackers get access to people's computers.
Every few days there are new ones.

Check it out...

Volkswagen is really macking great cars...maybe Ford and GM should try to emulate them...

olkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, said yesterday that its first-quarter profit almost tripled, ending two years of declines, on cost cuts and increased sales of Audis.

The company reiterated that its full-year profit would rise. Net income rose to 70 million euros ($92 million) from 26 million euros, Volkswagen said in a statement to the Frankfurt stock exchange. Profit beat the median estimate of 57 million euros of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

	Advertisement

Sales fell 2.4 percent, to 21.1 billion euros.

"As expected, the most important automotive markets experienced a relatively difficult start to 2005," the company said in the statement. "We believe that price pressure will continue unabated."

Patrick Juchemich, an analyst at Sal. Oppenheim in Frankfurt, commented, "This will bring a bit of relief to shareholders who have feared that the situation would get worse." Mr. Juchemich, who has a neutral rating on the stock, added, "The outlook is at least realistic that pricing pressure isn't going away."

Bernd Pischetsrieder, Volkswagen's chief executive, plans to cut 3.1 billion euros in costs this year and has frozen wages in Germany to stem the earnings slide. The Western European market, where the company gets more than half its sales, shrank 2.5 percent in the first quarter, while rebates in the United States and competition in China are putting pressure on profit.

In case you want to see some pretty Russian swindlers....

See them here...

Here's a sample:

Alexandrova, Tania - Magadan, Russia Phone: no phone Address: City of Magadan proletarskya,3-15 Russia Details: Prewritten letters; requests money for visa and tickets. First reported: Bob

Alexeenko Irina - Samara Russia Email: lastochka1976@pochtamt.ru Address: 40b Lebedeva Street, Apt. #4, Samara, Russia Details: She initiates contact, requests money for visa/passport/airline tickets. Then she asks for more money to be put in an account as proof for the INS that she can support herself. First reported: Dave.S

Altybaeva, Dinara - Tashkent, Uzbekistan Phone: 99871-1253103 Email: dinaria_velvet@mail.ru Address: N/A Details: Found on Absolute Agency. Typical visa/ticket fraud. Wants you to send money to come to America. Has friend in Travel Agency with connections to get visas to UK or USA. Sends lots of photos with each email. Then some sexy pics to entice you. Doesn't want you to come to her city. Says meeting weill be "impossible". Only meeting in your country will be ok. Absolute Agency doesn'ty care. They have many scammers in their site. First reported: Brian

Andriyanova Natasha - Tuymen Russia Email: Natal2008@inbox.ru Address: Russia . Tyumen. str. Green 163-11 Details: Asks for money for visa and tickets to be sent by Western Union. First reported: Ringo Second reported: Tim Money should be sent via Western Union to: Intermediary: Bank Of New York, New York, S.W.I.F.T.: IRVTUS3N Acc/No. 890-0372-664 Account with institution: SWIFT; MENARU2PMOS, Bank Menatep St.Petersburg, Moscow Brunch To beneficiary's account: Acc/No. 30301840200450000017 Beneficiary customer: Yoshkar-ola Branch of Bank "Menatep SPB" Details of payment: Firstname - Nataliya, Surname - Andriyanova, Acc/No - 42301840200171000092