Bill Clinton News Blog @newzblogz.com

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush has tried for years to reassert a White House right to keep secrets from Congress. Now, he must decide how far he wants to go to keep aides from testifying about the firing of prosecutors.

If he claims executive privilege and the dispute ends up in court, the fight with Congress will be refereed by a judicial branch that recently hasn't been kind to the presidency in fights over subpoenas.

Advertisement

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Poor misunderstood Tom DeLay. Those golf trips were legit! The Democrats are mean! He's for principles and policy-making and for his efforts, was subjected to an untrammeled smear campaign.

Yeah, right. These salvos and more are gloriously detailed in DeLay's new book, No Retreat, No Surrender: One American's Fight, a blistering call to arms for conservatives to rise up with him, and reclaim this country.

Oh, Mr. DeLay. You comedian! Back in the day, he would have been the first to sneer at the culture of victimization, and yet here he is, blaming everyone but himself for the forces that drove him from office.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Politicians say the darndest things. They are, as a group, funnier than just about anyone but professional comedians. They make us giddy with their tortured locutions -- Ronald Reagan saying that trees cause pollution and Bill Clinton's parsing of the meaning of "is" are among the all-time hits. Still, few politicians have a record of hilarity as consistent as Tom DeLay's.

Less than a year after he left Congress in disgrace, having been indicted for campaign-finance chicanery and with a bevy of ex-aides and cronies already found guilty, the former House Republican leader is back to his routine. This time, instead of taking to the House floor to declare that the Columbine High School shootings were the obvious outgrowth of working mothers who use birth control and the teaching of evolution (not necessarily in that order), DeLay has put his deepest thoughts into print.

The result is his new book, "No Retreat, No Surrender," a title which NBC's Meredith Vieira pointed out is inconsistent with DeLay's own relinquishing of his Texas congressional seat. But why quibble? DeLay has produced a work that, if nothing else, gives him money to pay his legal bills and gives us a chance to marvel at the peculiar combination of ego and delusion that drives him and others who honor us with their leadership.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

O ver the last few days, the Bush administration has tried to quell the growing furor over the firing of U.S. attorneys by proclaiming that it did nothing wrong. Although eight top prosecutors were fired, apparently for political reasons, Bush spokesmen insist the U.S. attorneys have no right to complain, because they serve "at the pleasure of the president."

But dismissing prosecutors because of their perceived political disloyalty strikes at the heart of our system of justice.

The first week I became a federal prosecutor in 1997, my supervisor gave me a lecture.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Anti-war protest coverage; Clinton, Bush and prosecutor firings

Friday, March 23, 2007

On March 18, the Dayton Daily News showed its bias by publishing four stories on the anti-war protesters and only a mention of the significant number of counter protesters who support our troops.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

AWELL-PUBLICIZED flood of e-mails between Justice Department officials has breached the levee of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' credibility, exposing inaccuracies in his statements to Congress and the American people. The discrepancies in his statements, even more than the administration's unusual firing of eight federal prosecutors for reasons of patronage and partisanship, have weakened public confidence that Gonzales can meet the high standards of his office.

Gonzales initially claimed that the forced resignations were not politically motivated, but constituted a routine personnel shuffle. His Justice Department subordinates then falsely asserted the firings were justified by poor performance, when in fact most of the fired prosecutors had glowing evaluations.

Political motives clearly played a role in the firing of several of the U.S. attorneys, including Carol Lam in San Diego, who successfully prosecuted U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham on bribery charges. That investigation expanded to ensnare a former top CIA official, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who along with his best friend, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, faces fraud and conspiracy charges. In New Mexico, David Iglesias was fired after GOP officials complained he had not charged Democrats suspected of voter fraud before last November's elections.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Democrats and Republicans agreed Thursday: Their thoughts and prayers are with John and Elizabeth Edwards as she again battles cancer.

But they disagreed on what difficulties Edwards will face in continuing his presidential campaign.

Elizabeth Edwards said she hadn’t considered asking her husband to withdraw from the campaign. “It’s unbelievably important that we get this election right,” she said.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

A former owner of the Hotel Jerome assailed Aspen City Council on Thursday, claiming city leaders drove away the expected Oklahoman-based owners who recently brokered a deal to sell the historic building to unknown developers from Chicago.

"The Jerome is finished. It's over," predicted Dick Butera, a longtime resident who owned the hotel from 1985 to 1990. "We can have a funeral. It's sad."

Elysian Development Group, a Chicago-based firm that formed in 2003, is purchasing the hotel from Oklahoma Publishing Co., which bought the property in 2005 from longtime owner Jim McManus, who once owned the hotel jointly with Butera. A representative from Elysian said the deal could close "within weeks."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

I don't know why there is such a fuss being made over Scooter Libby lying. I hope that the geniuses on Capitol Hill don't spend as much of the taxpayers' money, time and energy pursuing his lies as they did Bill Clinton's lies to the whole world about Monica Lewinsky.

Has everyone forgotten what a misguided fiasco that was? Hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars, not to mention the time and energy wasted, because, in the end, Bill Clinton paid no consequences. Once again, the taxpayers are the only ones who paid.

History is repeating itself, and if we get sucked in again, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Give ol' Scooter the same slap on the hand that we gave Billy and let's get on with something that we are really going to do something about.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats cheered Vice President Al Gore's return to Capitol Hill Wednesday to testify on global warming; Georgia Republican Lynn Westmoreland didn't.

As Gore visited with former colleagues on the House floor around lunchtime, Rep. Westmoreland argued that the Democrat was violating recently enacted ethics rules rescinding floor privileges for former congressmen working as agents of a foreign government.

Because Gore serves as an adviser to Britain on climate change, Westmoreland said, he shouldn't have been allowed.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - Democrat John Edwards said Thursday that his presidential campaign "goes on strongly" in the face of a repeat cancer diagnosis for his wife, Elizabeth, a somber development that thrust his White House bid into uncharted territory.

The couple revealed that Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer had spread to her bone during a news conference designed to reassure the public about the prognosis for her health and his candidacy."The bottom line is, her cancer is back," said John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee and former senator, at a news conference in their hometown of Chapel Hill, N.C. "We are very optimistic about this, because having been through some struggles together in the past, we know that the k...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON — Democrat John Edwards said Thursday that his presidential campaign "goes on strongly" in the face of a repeat cancer diagnosis for his wife, Elizabeth, a somber development that thrust his White House bid into uncharted territory.

The couple revealed that Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer had spread to her bone during a news conference designed to reassure the public about the prognosis for her health and his candidacy.

"The bottom line is, her cancer is back," said John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee and former senator, at a news conference in their hometown of Chapel Hill, N.C. "We are very optimistic about this, because having been through some struggles together in the past, we know that the key is to keep your head up and keep moving and be strong."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

NEW YORK (AP) For months, former New York Post scribe Jared Paul Stern was at the center of unseemly accusations that he tried to shake down billionaire Ronald Burkle in exchange for good press in the newspaper's gossip pages.

Now Stern has fired back in a lawsuit filed Thursday against Burkle, the Post's archrival Daily News - even former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Stern accuses of attacking him in an effort to suppress negative stories about themselves.

Represented by a longtime critic of the Clintons, Stern alleges the defendants defamed and inflicted emotional distress on him and wrecked his job as a contributor to the Post's hugely popular Page Six gossip column. He seeks unspecified damages.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

SAN JOSE, Calif. - When presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife stood before TV cameras Thursday to share some of their most personal family business, the couple looked the image of solidarity, courage and commitment.

Elizabeth Edwards' cancer had returned. It was incurable, but treatable. Edwards put his arm around his wife and pulled her close. The personally painful moment was laid out for the world to see.

In this era of candidates-as-open-books, they had no choice. More than ever, the personal lives of the candidates running for president - for better or worse - have been brought to the forefront. And, voters, more than ever, demand such transparency.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

In a column last week, I misspelled the last name of Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bob Lilly by leaving an "L" out of his last name. It was an "L" of an error. When it was pointed out to me, I did what any responsible and professional adult would do in that situation by first denying the error and then by attempting to destroy all evidence of it.

Since neither of those options worked, I've been informed that the only right and mature thing to do is to issue an apology. So there, I issue an apology. That was easy.

What? Oh, OK. I'm now told that the apology must be sincere and heartfelt. So let me say that with regards to the misspelling of Mr. Lilly's name, mistakes were made and I take full responsibility — just as long as it's understood that taking full responsibility doesn't mean that I admit to doing anything wrong.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

INDIAN HILL, Ohio - Former President Clinton helped raise about $400,000 for his wife's presidential campaign during a fundraiser at a friend's home, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Clinton spent more than two hours Wednesday night at the suburban Cincinnati home of lawyer Stan Chesley, who hosted the $2,300-per-ticket event for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bill Clinton mingled with guests, posed for photographs and then spoke to the crowd for more than 30 minutes.

"It was a fantastic event, and he stayed a lot longer than anybody expected," Chesley told The Cincinnati Enquirer after the fundraiser.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

* First-time writer: Respect the president, even if you disagree

* No wonder Alcoa is short on electricians

* Former mayor Gibbs seeks 1st Ward seat

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - Democratic California Sen. Barbara Boxer refereed a blistering verbal assault on Al Gore by the leading Republican skeptic on global warming Wednesday as the former vice president returned to Capitol Hill to call for immediate congressional action to save the planet.

Gore, whose documentary film "An Inconvenient Truth" recently won an Academy Award, had a heated exchange with Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who tried to paint the Tennessee Democrat as an overzealous hypocrite when Gore ducked a question about whether he would sign a pledge to have his household cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The testy exchange came in an otherwise laudatory hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer heads.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON -- As vice president of new concepts development, Darrell Woods helped San Antonio-based Luby's develop a smaller restaurant that can be staffed with only 35 full-time employees, compared with 70 in the low-price chain's full-size cafeterias.

The prototype was designed to help Luby's, which owns and operates 224 restaurants in the South, expand into smaller markets. But it also demonstrates Luby's concerns about labor costs -- and helps explain why the chain says it would hire fewer welfare recipients if Congress raises the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.15.

When Congress last raised the minimum wage, in 1996 and 1997, managers of Luby's restaurants kept their costs down by scheduling fewer hours for their employees: Chainwide, Luby's employed about 500 fewer people than it would have if the minimum wage had not been increased.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Someday, historians will wonder why the highest officials in the Bush Justice Department believed they could inflict heavy-handed political abuse on federal prosecutorsand get away with it. The punishment of the eight dismissed U.S. attorneys indicates a strong sense of impunity in the White House, as if the president and his aides assumed nobody would complain about these outrages or attempt to hold them accountable. The precedent for their misconduct was set long ago.

There was once another Republican prosecutor who insisted on behaving professionally instead of obeying partisan hints from the White House. His name was Charles A. Banks, and his story begins in the summer of 1992, as the presidential contest entered its final months, with Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton leading incumbent President George H.W. Bush.

Banks had already served for five years as the U.S. attorney in Little Rock. As an active Republican who had run for Congress and still aspired to higher office, he counted Clinton among his political adversaries. The first President Bush had recently selected him as a potential nominee for the federal bench. So nothing could have better served Banks' personal interests than a chance to stop the Clintons and to preserve the Bush presidency.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Former President Bill Clinton attended a fund-raiser today for his wife’s presidential campaign at the home of Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Lundergan.

Lundergan says 114 people contributed to Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign at the private luncheon event. Lundergan said he didn’t know how much was raised but called it successful.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton did not attend the luncheon, which was not an official party event.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

This alternative minimum tax mess can be fixed just as fast and easily as the Bush administration messed it up.

Consider this: The AMT was originally written to assure that the wealthiest taxpayers pay income tax because there have always been tax-avoidance schemes in which only the wealthiest taxpayers could afford to invest. People with intelligence wrote the original AMT law to make sure these schemes wouldn't allow those taxpayers to pay no tax.

It would certainly be harder to find this level of intelligence in Washington right now, but there must be some who are bright enough to adjust the AMT law so it can fulfill its original purpose without snaring middle-class taxpayers. While other adjustments would be necessary to fine-tune the AMT, the two major changes are very simple and straightforward:

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

ASHINGTON, March 20 — For all its efforts to apply economic and political pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, the United States has never used a potentially potent tool in its arsenal — penalties on foreign companies that assist Iran in producing oil and natural gas.That may be about to change. The Bush administration has quietly been warning energy companies, including Shell, Repsol and SKS, the Malaysian oil company, as well as the governments of China, India, Pakistan and...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Readers express a variety of opinions in their letters to FLORIDA TODAY.

Tougher penalties needed for underage drinking

I want to thank FLORIDA TODAY's editorial board for its endorsement of Florida Senate bills 326, 328, 376, and 410, which would toughen penalties related to underage drinking.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

President Bush's telephone call Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resembled the dubious vote of confidence from a general manager before the coach is fired.

As a former part owner of the Texas Rangers, Bush understands the sports analogy.

The president doesn't need a "yes man."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

It's truly amazing. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are criticized for their multiple marriages and lack of family values that this might indicate.

Some people have still not gotten over Bill Clinton's outrageous adulterous sex life during his time in the White House.

We want a family man in office, with a solid marriage and high moral standards.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Richard Nixon invoked it during Watergate, President Bill Clinton briefly asserted it during the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, and President George W. Bush might next claim executive privilege in his battle with Congress.

A possible confrontation moved a step closer on Wednesday when a Democratic-led congressional subcommittee approved subpoenas to be used if White House aides refuse to testify under oath about the firing of eight U.S. prosecutors.

The action came the day after a defiant Bush vowed to oppose in court, if necessary, any subpoenas for his close political aide Karl Rove or other White House advisors.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

(AP) ? Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad:

The (Nashville) Tennessean, on early presidential primaries:

It is looking entirely likely that Tennessee's presidential preference primary will occur on Feb. 5, 2008, joining as many as 12 other states in moving up their primaries. ...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - The mystery creator of the Orwellian YouTube ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic operative who worked for a digital consulting firm with ties to rival Sen. Barack Obama.Philip de Vellis, a strategist with Blue State Digital, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that he was the creator of the video, which portrayed Clinton as a Big Brother figure and urged support for Obama's presidential campaign.De Vellis, 33, said he resigned from the firm on Wednes...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON – President Bush and Congress clashed Tuesday over an inquiry into the firing of federal prosecutors and appeared headed toward a constitutional showdown over demands from Capitol Hill for more information about internal White House deliberations.

Under growing political pressure, the White House offered to allow members of congressional committees to hold private interviews with Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff; Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel; and two other officials. It also offered to provide access to some e-mail messages and other communications about the dismissals, but not those between White House officials.

Democrats promptly rejected the offer, which specified that the officials would not testify under oath, that there would be no transcript of what they said and that Congress would not subsequently subpoena them.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

WASHINGTON - A defiant President Bush vowed Tuesday to fight any effort by Congress to compel the testimony of top White House advisors about the firing of federal prosecutors, setting up a potential constitutional showdown and the first major direct confrontation with the new Democratic majority on Capitol Hill.

The president also defended embattled Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales and accused Democrats more broadly of trying to score "political points" rather than "gather facts" over the dismissal last year of eight United States attorneys. He offered instead to release all White House communications related to the issue and to allow the aides to be interviewed privately but not under oath, a proposal that Democrats rejected.

"There is no indication that anybody did anything improper," the president said in a brief statement in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. "We will not go along with a partisan fishing expedition aimed at honorable public servants."

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

It was heartening to read your editorial on Tuesday about the Naples St. Patrick?s Day parade.

Although I was not able to attend this event, I?m certain your description was accurate. I?m referring to the comment about the participation of local and out-of-town school marching bands.

Now, I certainly do not dislike the Irish (some of my best friends are Irish and I?ve been known to sample green beer on St. Patrick?s Day), but where does this event rank in relation to the Fourth of July?

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

A local charity has benefitted recently from the works of local scouts pursuing high honors.Bea's Kids, a nonprofit organization that offers after-school tutoring and homework help to children in Carrollton and Farmers Branch, has received help lately from a couple of local high school students.Andrew Wetzfeld, 17, completed his Eagle Scout project with the Boy Scouts just prior to the 2006-2007 school year, and Humaira Patel currently, 17, is pursuing her Gold Award with the Girl Scouts.Both s...

Wetzfeld said he and fellow Scouts stood outside a local Wal-Mart and handed fliers to shoppers entering the store. Shoppers took the lists inside and added a few extra items to their purchases, which they then donated to the collection of school supplies.Two weeks later, Wetzfeld, his brother Nathan and two fellow troop members brought the collected supplies to Bea's Kids and distributed them to the students."I thought it was pretty cool how they run the things up there [at Bea's Kids]," Wetzfe...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Religious broadcaster and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson and I stand shoulder to shoulder when it comes to bong hits for Jesus.

I am fairly certain that I have never stood shoulder to shoulder with the televangelist on any other subject, but I’m with him in defending a Juneau, Alaska, high school student who held up a banner on a public street that said “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”

I’m not sure what “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” means. It might be a religious message, a generous offer to a Hispanic friend or a high school attempt at humor.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Conservative icon Newt Gingrich has wiped away whatever doubts I had that he might be planning to run for president.

The former House speaker has revealed on national television that he conducted an affair with a young staffer, who is now his wife, while seeking President Bill Clinton?s impeachment in connection with, of all things, an affair with a young intern. Gingrich admitted in an interview with James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group, that he had ?fallen short of my own standards. There?s certainly times when I?ve fallen short of God?s standards.?

I leaped to one conclusion: Oh, yeah, Newt?s running.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

This is a one-question IQ test for Georgia’s legislative leadership: When should our state hold its 2008 presidential primary?

Choose the best answer: Feb. 5, Feb. 12, Feb. 19, Feb. 26, March 5.

We’ll give you a few hints later on. First, here’s why our primary date is important.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 10:09 PM MDT

WASHINGTON - It's fair to speculate that I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, will not serve a day in prison. The question of a presidential pardon is mainly a question of timing, as President Bush made clear when he said he would stay out of the situation until the legal process has run its course.Mr. Bush has clearly learned the lesson of how much political harm a premature pardon can do.Days after coming into office in 1974, P...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

I'm appalled by your decision to print excerpts from James Ford Seale's 1964 letter (March 19 article, "Letter exposes dark era of South / Seale's writings suggest Klan believed murder was God's will"). Did you consider that you are helping to perpetuate the very hatred that is contained in his letter? Your reason for printing such condescending rhetoric was: "Editors at The Commercial Appeal decided to print them because of the importance of the document to Seale's pending trial on kidn...

Many people are still suffering from the wounds of racism. You did your readers and the citizens of this area a disservice by printing excerpts from this. It holds no historical truth, only the small-minded thinking of some misguided individuals.

E. Michael Yarber

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Ho boy. Washington is all agog over the administration's decision to replace a bunch of U.S. attorneys -- eight of them at last count. Therefore the rest of the country is supposed to be all agog over it, too.

Let's hope the usual partisans about to beat this non-scandal into the ground, and the media that dutifully repeat and amplify their accusations, will excuse some of us for not joining the pile-on.

Because it's not as if federal prosecutors held nonpolitical, Civil Service-protected positions. These are all political appointments, and any administration is entitled to un-appoint them. That privilege goes with a political party's winning a presidential election and, with it, getting to distribute the spoils of victory. Or in this case, re-distribute them when it takes a mind to.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Welcome to Viewpoints. We want you to share your views and comments on issues large or small, serious or humorous. You have four methods for sending a letter.

Voice: 478-744-4493.

E-mail: letters@macontel.com. (Do not send attachments)

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Readers express a variety of opinions in their letters to FLORIDA TODAY.

Why punish Libby but give Berger a pass?

In reference to your March 8 editorial headlined, "Libby's lies," if you believe 25 years in prison is an appropriate sentence for Scooter Libby, I would like to know what you feel would have been a fair sentence for former Clinton White House National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Washington ?- President Bush and Congress clashed Tuesday over an inquiry into the firing of federal prosecutors and appeared headed toward a constitutional showdown over demands from Capitol Hill for more information about internal White House deliberations.

Under growing political pressure, the White House offered to allow members of congressional committees to hold private interviews with Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff; Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel; and two other officials. It also offered to provide access to some e-mail messages and other communications about the dismissals, but not those between White House officials.

Democrats promptly rejected the offer, which specified that the officials would not testify under oath, that there would be no transcript of what they said and that Congress would not subsequently subpoena them.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

The Alexandra Nechita Show at Masterworks Gallery was a great success.

On March 3 and 4 an incredible crowd came to Naples' Masterworks gallery, where area art enthusiasts and collectors came out to marvel at the one-of-a kind masterpieces created by 21 year old artist Alexandra Nechita.

Families attended with their children, who came to paint with a master not far from their own age.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Officers' homophobia is out of closet | Comments (0)

Cynthia Tucker

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      BOSTON — Every generation or so, the news media redefine what is and is not fair game in how they cover the personal lives of people in politics.

      Seven decades ago, the press decided that it would keep one of Franklin D. Roosevelt's secrets. It didn't photograph him in his wheelchair or write about his paralysis, and most of the country never knew he couldn't walk.

      Nearly a half-century ago, the media reaffirmed the zone of privacy allowed presidents, deciding not to pursue stories about John F. Kennedy's womanizing. His affairs weren't known publicly till long after his death.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Women?s History month is as good a time as any to assess women?s advancement as impacted by the Bush administration. Here?s my assessment: What advancement?

There is one ? at least one ? group of women whose careers have advanced or status has improved in these past six years: women employed by or married or related to men employed by the Bush administration.

This exclusive coterie includes Condoleezza Rice, Margaret Spellings, Elaine Chao, Laura Bush, Jenna Bush, etc. In so many ways, most of the rest of us have either watched the obstacle course become increasingly littered with obstacles, or stood idly by as our government chips away at laws designed to help women gain parity.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      WASHINGTON — Running out of time and influence, President Bush faces a rough road in the twilight of his presidency regardless of who controls Congress.

      The once-unshakable loyalty of congressional Republicans is weakening. After marching in lockstep with the White House for six years, GOP lawmakers are looking at the political calendar and thinking about their own futures rather than Bush's legacy in his last two years in office.

      Republicans are in a sour mood, scarred by corruption scandals, held in low esteem by voters and divided over issues from deficit spending to immigration reform. Many GOP candidates shunned Bush in their campaigns, fearing he would hurt rather than help them.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      NEW YORK — Chelsea Clinton, the 26-year-old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was re-elected Tuesday, is famous enough to be mentioned regularly in gossip columns.

      But as she discovered Tuesday, being famous does not count for much when trying to vote on Election Day.

      Clinton arrived at a polling place on West 20th Street in Manhattan shortly after it opened at 6 a.m., only to have election workers tell her that her name was not in the book of registered voters. The book listing her name had apparently been sent to the wrong polling place, so they could not let her walk into a voting booth and pull the lever.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Alan Hansen (3/15, Letters) is “not prepared to defend the (Dr.) Jerry Johnston.” He then proceeds to vilify The Star for printing the facts about one Rev. Johnston. This man is worthy of reverence?

Unlike Mr. Hansen, I will try to keep this short yet still try to address the nonissues he raised. The parishioners were “disgruntled” because they asked to see where the money went and were shown the door. How is seeking the truth about finances anti-evangelical? My church prints and puts in each parishioner’s hand an annual report that shows what money came in, how it was spent or where it’s at. Yes, my church does this every year and nobody has to ask.

I love the use by Mr. Hansen of the words “charity” and “priorities” in his ad hominem attack upon reporter Judy Thomas and The Star. My question is how does a credit card with a $2,500 annual fee help Johnston in his evangelical quest to spread God’s word?

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

      SELMA, Ala. — Evoking the passions and rivalries of the civil rights era, Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., made deeply personal appeals to voters in the sanctuaries of black churches here on Sunday, and then joined former President Bill Clinton for a march across a bridge where white police beat black Alabamians nearly 42 years ago.

Rob Carr, Associated PressPresidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., far left, white shirt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, along with former President Bill Clinton, walk Sunday in Selma, Ala., to mark the 42nd anniversary of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March.

      It was an extraordinary sight: The Clintons and Obama, competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination, locking arms — with two black congressman in between them — and walking down Martin Luther King Jr. Street to commemorate the footsteps of black demonstrators who were met with violence as they tried to march to Montgomery to demand civil rights in 1965.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

AUSTIN – None of the GOP presidential front-runners has generated much support among Republican Party loyalists in Texas, whose early favorite to head the ticket in 2008 hasn't even announced – Newt Gingrich.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have few enthusiastic backers on the State Republican Executive Committee.

Support for Arizona Sen. John McCain in the party's governing body appears near zero, according to The Dallas Morning News canvass of committee members.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Conservative Evangelical Christian voters have come a long way in a short time. From their nearly unanimous condemnation of Bill Clinton for his extramarital affairs, a growing number of these "pro-family" voters appear ready to accept several Republican presidential candidates who do not share their ideal of marriage and faith.

Among those seriously under consideration by these church-going folks is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been married three times and who had an affair with the woman now his wife when he was married to wife number two. The second wife, Donna Hanover, once recorded a political commercial for Giuliani, touting his virtues as a husband. She called him "honest and very kind" and "this is the kind of man I wanted to be the father of my children" and "Rudy is such a great Dad." It's on Y...

Another of the thrice married is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who, last week, trod the Damascus Road to Colorado Springs. On the syndicated radio program of psychologist James Dobson, Gingrich confessed that he had an extramarital affair with the woman to whom he is now married while he was married to his second wife. Gingrich acknowledged not living up to his own standards, or God's.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This |