Thursday News Bucket – PLEASE UNRECOMMEND

20 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 6:56 am

   for Libby: Newsweek/MSNBC

   But there’s one significant roadblock on the path to Libby’s salvation: Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff does not qualify to even be considered for a presidential pardon under Justice Department guidelines.

   From the day he took office, Bush seems to have followed those guidelines religiously. He’s taken an exceedingly stingy approach to pardons, granting only 113 in six years, mostly for relatively minor fraud, embezzlement and drug cases dating back more than two decades. Bush’s pardons are “fewer than any president in 100 years,” according to Margaret Love, former pardon attorney at the Justice Department…

   …The president has since indicated he intended to go by the book in granting what few pardons he’d hand out–considering only requests that had first been reviewed by the Justice Department under a series of publicly available guidelines.

   What are those guidelines?  Well, here’s a tart:

   Those regulations, which are discussed on the Justice Department Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/pardon, would seem to make a Libby pardon a nonstarter in George W. Bush’s White House. They “require a petitioner to wait a period of at least five years after conviction or release from confinement (whichever is later) before filing a pardon application,”  according to the Justice Web site.

   Not that Bush has trouble breaking the rules, but he has always been stingy with the pardons (going back to being the Texas governor), preferring instead to allow mentally disabled people to be put to death. (google “George w bush mentally disableed pardons” and you’ll see what I mean).  And if I’m not mistaken, Abu was his counsel then too.

   Not sure, but I think Scooter may be screwed on the pardon.

   • 

     CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 6:59 am

     from the NYT:

     Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, did not rule out an eventual pardon for Mr. Libby, who served from 2001 until his indictment in October 2005 as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

     “As we pointed out before, there is a process, you know, and it’s available to anybody who has been convicted in the United States,” Mr. Snow said.

     Some legal experts believe that any appeals will take so long that the issue of a pardon may outlast the 2008 campaign, minimizing the political risks to Republicans and President Bush.

     Meanwhile, the online futures exchange Intrade.com has offered Libby pardon futures.

     “There’s good interest in the market already,” John Delaney, the Intrade chief executive, said by telephone from Dublin. He said traders so far had collectively predicted a 23 percent chance of a pardon by the end of 2007 and 63 percent by the end of President Bush’s term.

     • 

       CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 7:09 am

       odd coincidence: WashPo

       No one knows better than Libby how politically hazardous a pardon can be. Before he became Cheney’s chief of staff, Libby served as an attorney for Marc Rich, the financier whose pardon by President Bill Clinton in the last hours of his administration provoked a storm of complaints. Now Libby finds himself in the same situation as his onetime client, hoping for a president’s beneficence.

2. 

   CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 7:18 am

   while my head explodes: Boston Globe

   Congressional Democrats have dramatically scaled back their plans to shape the course of the Iraq war, bowing to pressure from Republicans and conservative Democrats to pursue only nonbinding measures, at least for now, as they push to bring the troops home.

   In the House, Democratic leaders now concede that they do not have enough votes to use their control over federal spending to force President Bush to begin withdrawing troops. Instead, lawmakers are drafting a far milder bill that would include guidelines for troop readiness — requirements that the president could waive at his discretion.

   In the Senate, efforts to repeal the original 2002 resolution authorizing force in Iraq have faltered as well, amid deep divisions among Democrats. Instead, Senate leaders are scrambling to find a compromise that would mandate a limited mission for US troops, but even that probably would not pass, and may not force the president’s hand anyway.

   With their thin majority in Congress, Democrats are now confronting the reality that finding a strong, legally binding antiwar measure that also keeps their party together may not be possible.

   “It’s a very delicate thing to be able to achieve, and I’m just not sure it can be achieved,” said Senator Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat from Nebraska. “It’s going to be tough….

   Listen up, Dems.  If you don’t want to do the job you were elected to do, resign.  Go home, retire, whatever.  You knew what the job was when you ran for it, you get paid plenty, and have benefits most Americans only dream of.  Get off your asses and represent the majority of people in this country for a change.

3. 

   ask on March 8, 2007 at 7:26 am

   Congo arrest over missing uranium

   The Democratic Republic of Congo’s top atomic energy official is being held over allegations of uranium smuggling.

   Atomic energy centre director Fortunat Lumu and an aide have been questioned since their arrest on Tuesday.

   A large quantity of uranium is reported to have gone missing in recent years, although state prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba did not reveal any figures.

   He told the BBC an “important quantity” of uranium was taken from the nuclear centre and they were investigating.

   • 

     CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 7:42 am

     Gee, I wonder where that uranium went…Maybe Cheney and Bush will tell us?

     • 

       stormkite on March 8, 2007 at 4:36 pm

       It was in Nigeria a few years ago, I’m told…  

4. 

   on March 8, 2007 at 7:32 am

   Deval Patrick and Ted pander to left wing view of amnesty for “illegals” in New Bedford.  Yes, perhaps a small story but a wonderful illustration of how false memes are enforced.
   SPPNA,Amero,Trans-Texas Corridor!

   • 

     CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 7:40 am

     Hi Lasthorseman.  Do you have a link to the story you mentioned?  I’d like to read it.

     • 

       Man Eegee on March 8, 2007 at 12:20 pm

       if their pandering had anything to do with the 100+ children that were left abandoned.

       • 

         CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 12:22 pm

         That’s sick.  Of course, it’s always easier for bullies to pick on women and children.

         Thanks, ManEe.

       • 

         on March 8, 2007 at 12:44 pm

         You have to admit it serves the purpose of the destruction of America.
         First the government gets to claim “a crack down” on illegal immigrantion to those of a right wing bent.
         Second it does create a problem, kids suddenly with no parents, which of course is immediately picked up by our “news” service.  Still there is a plan to unite the three countries, the more I look into it the more I find the government to be totally aware of it so the issue of immigration “enforcement” then becomes an operation geared towards keeping the NAU in the “conspiracy” theory category.

         • 

           Man Eegee on March 8, 2007 at 12:49 pm

           we have very different ideas of what “America” is.

5. 

   CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 7:46 am

   No YouTube for you: BBC

   Access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube has been suspended in Turkey following a court order.

   The ban was imposed after prosecutors told the court that clips insulting former Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had appeared on the site.

   According to Turkish media, there has been a “virtual war” between Greek and Turkish users of the site, with both sides posting insulting videos.

   Don’t let W get any ideas…

6. 

   olivia on March 8, 2007 at 9:52 am

   BBC — The top US general in Iraq says the military alone cannot provide a solution to the country’s conflict.

   Gen David Petraeus, in his first news conference since taking the command last month, said it was critical that alienated groups be brought into talks.

   […]

7. 

   olivia on March 8, 2007 at 9:54 am

   BBC — A group of Norwegians who were fathered by German soldiers in World War II are suing the Norwegian authorities at the European Court of Human Rights.

   The former war children claim they suffered widespread abuse and discrimination after the war.

   […]

8. 

   olivia on March 8, 2007 at 9:56 am

   globeandmail — Here’s one more thing to think about as you stare at the ceiling tonight, waiting to nod off — you should have savoured sleep while you were still young.

   Human beings get the best sleep of their lives between the ages of 6 and 12, says one of Canada’s foremost experts on children’s sleeping disorders. It’s never the same after that

   […]

   Now we know why FM naps and sleeps so much … 😉

   • 

     CabinGirl on March 8, 2007 at 1:01 pm

     Where is FM, anyway?

     Thanks for letting me borrow the birds today.  🙂

     • 

       olivia on March 8, 2007 at 1:04 pm

       He mentioned a h/a in a comment a few days ago that, so I’m thinking (hoping) he’s recuperating from it.

9. 

   olivia on March 8, 2007 at 10:24 am

   

   International Women’s Day — Celebrated on 8 March, International Women’s Day (IWD) is the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential.

   INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2007 Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls — Eliminating violence against women remains one of the most serious and urgent challenges of our time. Every one has a responsibility to act when confronted with violence. Each one of us has a duty to support and sustain a political and social environment where violence against women and girls is not tolerated; where friends, family members, neighbors, men and women, intervene to prevent perpetrators to go unpunished.

   Struggle for equality and freedom in developing countries — Figures compiled by the British government, development agencies and human rights groups resemble a roll call of shame:

   • Two-thirds of the world’s 800 million illiterate adults are women as girls are not seen as worth the investment, or are busy collecting water or firewood or doing other domestic chores.
   • Domestic violence kills and injures more people in the developing world than war, cancer or traffic accidents.
   • Every minute a woman dies as a result of pregnancy complications.
   • Violence against women causes more deaths and disabilities among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war.
   • Women produce half the world’s food, but own less than two per cent of the land.
   • Of the more than one billion people living in extreme poverty, 70 per cent are women