Larisa Alexandrovna, Muriel Kane and Lindsay Beyerstein | MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA | May 1

Raw Story - Six days after Simpson sent the letter to Leach, her house caught fire.

In two states where US attorneys are already under fire for serious allegations of political prosecutions, seven people associated with three federal cases have experienced 10 suspicious incidents including break-ins and arson.

These crimes raise serious questions about possible use of deliberate intimidation tactics not only because of who the victims are and the already wide criticism of the prosecutions to begin with, but also because of the suspicious nature of each incident individually as well as the pattern collectively. Typically burglars do not break-into an office or private residence only to rummage through documents, for example, as is the case with most of the burglaries in these two federal cases.

In Alabama, for instance, the home of former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman was burglarized twice during the period of his first indictment. Nothing of value was taken, however, and according to the Siegelman family, the only items of interest to the burglars were the files in Siegelman's home office.

Siegelman's attorney experienced the same type of break-in at her office.

Roger Hickey has a great post at ourfuture.org on the "dangerous fraud" that is John McCain's healthcare plan. As I point out ad nauseam in The Real McCain, McCain's positions are not simply fraudulent. The "straight-talker" rarely limits himself to simple dishonesty.

First, read the email The McCain Campaign sent out today on this issue:

Washington | May 1

AP - President Eisenhower overruled some of his military commanders in summer 1958, ordering them not to use nuclear weapons against China if communist forces blockaded the Taiwan Strait, according to declassified Air Force documents.

Eisenhower "made it clear that the Chinese would be given a warning with conventional explosives before he would authorize dropping of the deadlier ordnance" on Chinese territories, according to the documents made public by George Washington University's National Security Archive.

Agonistas may find some enjoyment in Bob Ellis :
abc.net.au - unleashed - Last Monday Hillary Clinton said she'd "obliterate" Iran if Iran attacked Israel and on Tuesday picked up some Jewish, redneck, gun-loving, wog-hating, duck-shooting, Catholic and early-dementia votes in nursing homes and by 10 per cent won handily the "rust-belt", "lunch-bucket" and Amish-cluttered state of Pennsylvania in which she was leading by 30 per cent a month before.

"The road to the White House," she then exulted to her weeping followers, "runs through Pennsylvania!" - later amending this to "the road to Pennsylvania Avenue runs through Pennsylvania!"

Jason Miller | April 30

Federal News Radio - The two years Doan has been in the job at GSA has been marked by run-ins with Congress, GSA's inspector general, contracting mistakes and a Hatch Act violation for holding political meetings on federal property during the workday.

Lurita Doan's controversial tenure as the General Services Administration's administrator has come to an end.

The White House asked her to resign and she tendered her resignation yesterday, sources confirmed.

GSA this morning confirmed Doan has resigned from her position.

Jennifer Loven | Washington | April 29

AP -
Bush Blames Congress for Not Passing Foreclosure, Gas Bills
The President Says Congress Is Not Sending Him Bills That He Can Sign

President Bush says Congress is blocking his proposals to deal with high gas prices and dragging its feet on legislation to make more student loans available and ease the mortgage crunch.

Bush told a Rose Garden news conference Tuesday that it's a "tough time for our economy." He said Americans were "understandably anxious" about the economy.

Daniella Zalcman (cc)

Is that Tough Enough?

Michael Collins
"Scoop" Independent News
Washington, D.C.

One would have to strain to be shocked that a racist ad is finding its way out of the bowels of conservativism in North Carolina. For political observers from the 1980s will remember that Senator Jesse Helms--an early sign of the shift of racially conservative whites in the South from their ancestral home in the Democratic Party to the GOP--was a master of using divisive tactics to undermine his African-American opponent for the U.S. Senate (not to mention white opponents such as Governor Jim Hunt, too).

Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, recalled this unsavory record upon Helms' retirement in 2002:

Zachary Coile | Washington | April 23

San Francisco Chronicle - When the Bush administration announced proposed regulations Tuesday to raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015, even some environmentalists applauded. But then they read the fine print.

Tucked deep into a 417-page "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" was language by the Transportation Department stating that more stringent limits on tailpipe emissions embraced by California and 17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the new federal standards and are "expressly and impliedly preempted" by federal law.

As an Internet Organizer for Progressive Future, I've been busily spreading the otherwise buried reports of the atrocities and abuses committed by military contractors in Iraq. As outraged as they made me, I had to wonder why these stories failed to reach the mainstream American public. Now I know why.

In an extensive article on the front page of Sunday's New York Times, David Bartow exposes how the Pentagon recruited, groomed, prepped and, one may go so far as to say, bribed a team of "military analysts." This team consisted of retired military men, defense lobbyists and private contractor representatives, who were then unleashed upon the mainstream media to deliver manipulated testimony on the war. Highlights of the detailed investigation of the Pentagon's highly strategized manipulation of war reporting are as follows:

By Bob Geiger

Citing "the Bush administration's failure to take aggressive action to enforce and punish wartime fraud," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on Friday introduced legislation to crack down on the massive fraud and theft by some defense contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan and allow the government to criminally prosecute guilty parties even after the war is over.

S. 2892, the Wartime Enforcement of Fraud Act of 2008, would close a loophole in the 66-year-old Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act, that allowed the government to investigate and prosecute contracting fraud up to three years after the end of a war, but that does not apply to the current Bush-McCain war in Iraq because it was never formally declared.

David Barstow | Washington | April 20

NYT - In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.

The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.

The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks.

(Also posted by Agonist tjfxh - editors)

Kevin G. Hall | Washngton | April 18

McClatchy Newspapers - Before the SBA, Preston served as executive vice president of the ServiceMaster Company. Among its businesses are TruGreen ChemLawn, the nation's largest lawn-care company, and the pest-control company Terminix.

President Bush's nomination Friday of Steve Preston to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development came under fire for the nominee's lack of housing experience amid the worst national housing downturn in memory.

Critics and some key lawmakers said that Preston, who heads the Small Business Administration, was a lawn-care and pest-control business executive before Bush put him at the SBA in 2006.

"In seeking to fill this important Cabinet post I looked for a leader with an impressive background in finance; someone who understands the important role the housing market plays in the broader economy," the president said. "I sought a reformer who would act aggressively to help Americans obtain affordable mortgages ... and be able to keep their homes."

Richard Norton-Taylor|April 18 | The Guardian

The US's most senior general was "hoodwinked" by top Bush administration officials determined to push through aggressive interrogation techniques for terror suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, the Guardian can reveal.

The development led to the US military abandoning its age-old ban on the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners.

General Richard Myers, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff from 2001 to 2005, wrongly believed that inmates at Guantánamo and other prisons were protected by the Geneva conventions and from abuse tantamount to torture.

The way he was duped by senior officials in Washington - who believed the Geneva conventions and other traditional safeguards were out of date - is disclosed in a devastating account of their role, extracts from which will be published in tomorrow's Guardian.

The other night at our debate watching party, applause frequently erupted at Obama's remarks on various points - rejecting the accusation of an association with the Weathermen, etc etc. So when Obama mentioned talking to Iran:

I have said I will do whatever is required to prevent the Iranians from obtaining nuclear weapons. I believe that that includes direct talks with the Iranians where we are laying out very clearly for them, here are the issues that we find unacceptable, not only development of nuclear weapons but also funding terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as their anti-Israel rhetoric and threats towards Israel. I believe that we can offer them carrots and sticks, but we've got to directly engage and make absolutely clear to them what our posture is.

Many have already pored over the ins and outs of a Democratic debate tailor-made for "Enquiring minds" earlier this week on ABC. Well guess who just happens to be coming to dinner...or This Week, this weekend?

Why none other than John McCain!

So in the spirit of seeing how all the candidates deal with "scandal," or just being queried about everyone they have associated with since that 6th grade teacher who crossed the street against a red light (do you denounce her Senator Obama? Denounce and reject her!?! Or perhaps just reject?), here are some questions that John McCain should be asked on your show this weekend, Mr. Stephanopoulos (sorry, old habit from when I had you as a professor at Columbia).

Although, I guess I always have been one. But it is still good fun...

George over at Electric Politics has a post up addressed to me about Tibet. Give it a read. Suffice it to say, I think our major disagreement right now, although I will comment in detail later, is that I think Bush, if problems continue in Tibet through the Olympics, should sit out the opening ceremonies. But, more on Tibet, China and the US later, first give George a read.

This has been coming for a long time. I’ve been watching the politicians in Washington very closely to see exactly how they intended to manage an administration that is so extremely neo-conservative that they are dangerous to this country and the world. I’ve seen heroic stances by some like Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, Russ Feingold and even Ron Paul. However, this is not enough. We’ve seen Cynthia McKinney disenfranchised as well as others that have stood up to tyranny and war. Meanwhile, while all of this has taken place, the Democratic Party has been split down the middle and has offered no protection or support to any that oppose the horrendous regime in Washington.

"The United States does not torture."
Pres. Bush, Sept. 6, 2006

Zubaydah, Bush and the Bureaucracy of Torture

Michael Collins
Washington, D.C.

The devastating attack of 9/11 conferred unprecedented popularity on the Bush administration. This was more a reflection of the strong desire for national unity in the wake of a tragedy than an endorsement of Bush policies.

After the attack, there was a frantic effort inside the administration to show a major success in their newly proclaimed war on terror. The administration knew what the public didn't: Far from being surprised by airplanes used as weapons, they'd had a series of warnings from intelligence sources that commercial airplanes were indeed the next weapon of choice by terrorists. Once that information became public, the Bush administration would need something more to boost its image.

This goes beyond hollow laughter. Since when did armies go around 're-liberating'

The Independent - After his latest shenanigans, I've come to the conclusion that George Bush is the first US president to march backwards. First we had weapons of mass destruction. Then, when they proved to be a myth, Bush told us we had stopped Saddam's "programmes" for weapons of mass destruction (which happened to be another lie).

Now he's gone a stage further. After announcing victory in Iraq in 2003 and "mission accomplished" and telling us how this enormous achievement would lead the 21st century into a "shining age of human liberty", George Bush told us this week that "thanks to the surge, we've renewed and revived the prospect of success".

Now let's take a look at this piece of chicanery and subject it to a little linguistic analysis. Five years ago, it was victory – ie success – but this has now been transmogrified into a mere "prospect" of success. And not a "prospect", mark you, that has even been glimpsed. No, we have "renewed" and "revived" this prospect. "Revived", as in "brought back from the dead". Am I the only one to be sickened by this obscene semantics? How on earth can you "renew" a "prospect", let alone a prospect that continues to be bathed in Iraqi blood, a subject Bush wisely chose to avoid?

My first reaction was to literally laugh out loud...until I realized this n'er-do-well has been elected President twice.

'A moment I've been dreading. George brought his n'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work.'

From the REAGAN DIARIES----

Shakesville - Reading is Fundamental is an organization that's been around since the 60's and, according to its site, is: "the oldest and largest children's and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States." RIF delivers books and literacy help to the children and families who need them most.

All RIF programs combine three essential elements to foster children's literacy: reading motivation, family and community involvement, and the excitement of choosing free books to keep.

RIF is in trouble. In a move that is, by now, completely unsurprising, Bush has eliminated all funding for the program--funding that has been given by every administration since 1975--in the 2009 proposed budget.

And if you'd like to learn more about The Real McCain, please pick up a copy of my new book for the low-low price of $10.