Plato's Beard » Bush Tracker

Rove escapes?

ravi — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 15:26:20 +0000

NPR : Rove Won't Be Charged in CIA Leak Case
by Linda Wertheimer and Don Gonyea

Morning Edition, June 13, 2006 · Prosecutors have apparently decided not to charge senior White House adviser Karl Rove with any crimes in the CIA leak investigation. Rove's lawyer says his client was advised of the decision Monday.

Bush Tracker Update

ravi — Tue, 30 May 2006 21:26:35 +0000

Forbes: Rep. Lewis (R) Subject of Federal Probe

The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles has opened an investigation into House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis and his dealings with a lobbyist with connections to disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Corruption

NYT: C.I.A. Aide's House and Office Searched

Federal agents conducted searches on Friday at the office and home of Kyle Foggo, who stepped down this week as the Central Intelligence Agency's third-ranking official. The searches were part of a widening criminal investigation of possible contracting fraud that has also focused on lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee.

Corruption

InfoClearing: 105 Killed In Afghanistan

The Taliban death toll from fighting Wednesday night and Thursday ranged up to 87, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Also, 14 Afghan police officers, one American civilian, a Canadian soldier and an Afghan civilian also were killed in the fighting, officials said.

AfghanWar

InfoClearing: Iraq is Disintegrating

Across central Iraq, there is an exodus of people fleeing for their lives as sectarian assassins and death squads hunt them down. At ground level, Iraq is disintegrating as ethnic cleansing takes hold on a massive scale.

Iraq

BBC: US 'must end secret detentions'

The US should close any secret "war on terror" detention facilities abroad and the Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba, a United Nations report has said.

Guantanamo

TP: Hastert hearts Abramoff too

Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is seeking to determine his role in an ongoing public corruption probe into members of Congress, ABC News has learned from high level official sources.

Abramoff

Corruption

Marines massacre in Haditha

A group of enraged Marines entered homes in the Iraqi town of Haditha and murdered their occupants, including children, in cold blood. And it's not an isolated incident.

Iraq

Bush Tracker Update

ravi — Thu, 11 May 2006 19:02:49 +0000

NYT: 10 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

Ten American soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed Friday in eastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border, the United States military said Saturday.

AfghanWar

NYT: Ney(R) aide with Abramoff ties pleads guilty

A former top aide to Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring with the lobbyist Jack Abramoff to corrupt public officials and said gifts had been "corruptly offered to and accepted by" Mr. Ney.

Corruption

BBC: 1000+ people died in Baghdad in April

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has called on Iraqis to help stop sectarian violence after figures showed it killed 1,091 people in Baghdad last month.

Iraq

NYT: HUD Secretary rejection of Bush critic

The administration's housing secretary sought to head off a furor today over his recent account of scuttling a government contract because the person who was about to get it was critical of President Bush.

Cronyism

Corruption

AP: Coin Dealer Asks to Change Pleas

A major GOP fundraiser accused in a state rare-coin investment scandal is asking to change his not guilty pleas on federal charges that he illegally funneled donations to President Bush's re-election campaign.

Corruption

ABC: Bush on NSA "Data Collection"

President Bush did not confirm or deny a newspaper report Thursday that the National Security Agency was collecting records of tens of millions of ordinary Americans' phone calls.

Bush Tracker Update

ravi — Tue, 09 May 2006 20:38:44 +0000

Guardian: Video shows Bush warned about Katrina

The US president, George Bush, was warned before Hurricane Katrina struck that it could cause huge devastation, according to leaked video footage.

Katrina

MSNBC: Ex Govt Insider Natsios on Iraq reconstruction

Natsios publicly gave vent to his long-suppressed frustrations over the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq occupation. … [H]e harshly criticized the Coalition Provisional Authority led by L. Paul Bremer III for botching the reconstruction effort and allowing ill-qualified or corrupt contractors to dominate it.

Corruption

Iraq

Cronyism

NYT: More on Iraq detainee torture by Army

In the windowless, jet-black garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball.

Iraq

Torture

ABC: Abramoff gets almost 6 years

Disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison in a Florida fraud case, the minimum sentence allowed.

Corruption

Abramoff

BBC: Afghan fighting leaves 34 dead

US-led coalition forces say they have killed 32 "enemy fighters", assumed to be the Taleban and their allies in clashes in southern Helmand province.

AfghanWar

SFGate: DeLay aide Tony Rudy flips

A former top aide to Rep. Tom DeLay has agreed to plead guilty to charges in the widening federal investigation of lobbyist fraud, a law enforcement official said Friday.

Corruption

NYT: DeLay calls it quits from politics

Representative Tom DeLay, the relentless Texas conservative who helped lead House Republicans to power but became ensnared in a corruption scandal, said today that he had decided to leave Congress and relocate to Virginia, a move that could clear the way for a special election to replace him.

Corruption

NYT: US report is bleak on Iraq status

An internal staff report by the United States Embassy and the military command in Baghdad provides a sobering province-by-province snapshot of Iraq's political, economic and security situation, rating the overall stability of 6 of the 18 provinces "serious" and one "critical."

Iraq

AlterNet: Another Bush Iraq memo

The Manning memo uncovers even more evidence that the president knew his case for invading Iraq was based on bogus intelligence.

Propaganda

Iraq

Nation: Italy leaves US coalition

The Italian withdrawal will be the latest blow to the administration spin that suggests the occupation is a multinational initiative. A score of countries have withdrawn their troops or are in the process of doing so. Many of the exits were hastened by elections that — as in Italy this week — saw voters chose political leaders and parties that promised to quit the coalition.

Iraq

Salon: What Rumsfeld knew

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was personally involved in the late 2002 interrogation of a high-value al-Qaida detainee known in intelligence circles as "the 20th hijacker." He also communicated weekly with the man in charge of the interrogation, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, the controversial commander of the Guantánamo Bay detention center.

Torture

Guantanamo

NYT: Inquiry says CIA flew 1000 torture flights

Investigators for the European Parliament said Wednesday that data gathered from air safety regulators and others found that the Central Intelligence Agency had flown 1,000 undeclared flights over European territory since 2001. Sometimes the planes stopped to pick up terrorism suspects who had been kidnapped to take them to countries that use torture, the investigators added.

Torture

Guantanamo

NYT: NO Evacuees housing grants will end soon

Thousands of hurricane evacuees who counted on a year of free housing and utilities are being told by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that they are no longer eligible for such help and must either pay the rent themselves or leave.

Katrina

NYT: Still battering the Katrina homeless

The federal government's disastrous handling of the Katrina housing crisis is looking more and more like an attempt to force displaced families into the streets. The latest chapter came when the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed many families who had expected to have their rent paid for a year that they would soon be forced to assume their own housing costs or to leave their homes and apartments.

Katrina

AlterNet: Potential evidence of Illegal Spying

Bush Tracker Update

ravi — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:13:22 +0000

I haven’t posted an update for a while, but I plan to make this more regular (at least once a week, when there is news, which I guess is almost assured with this administration!). The below includes some dated material (unfortunately):

Cronyism	Inexperienced 28-year old for Homeland Security Hoelscher has no management experience, a review of his professional credentials shows. He came to government in 2001 as a low-level White House staffer, arranging presidential travel, according to news reports. He earned $30,000 a year, salary documents show.
Cronyism Orwellianism	Corp crony replaces Corp crony at Interior Kempthorne has very close ties to the same industries he would oversee in the Interior Department. In his last reelection campaign, he raised $86,000 from timber, mining and energy industries that wanted greater access to national forests in his state.
Katrina	Bush knew of Katrina, after all The US president, George Bush, was warned before Hurricane Katrina struck that it could cause huge devastation, according to leaked video footage.
Iraq	Feb 23: 47 dead, 90 mosques attacked Dozens of factory workers were pulled off buses and gunned down in northeast Baghdad, leaving 47 dead, and at least 90 Sunni mosques have been attacked.
Torture	US torture buddies stay mum in Europe Five European countries have not given information about allegations of covert CIA prison transport flights, Europe’s human rights watchdog has said.
Torture	Almost 100 prisoners died in US custody Almost 100 prisoners have died in US custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since August 2002, according to US group Human Rights First.
Iraq Propaganda	Operation Iraqi Propaganda alive and functioning Donald Rumsfeld is backing off his claim last week that the Pentagon had stopped paying to plant stories in the Iraqi news media.
Elections	TP: Department of Disenfranchisement The Department of Justice recently approved Georgias plan to force voters to show a state-issued ID that can be obtained in only 59 of the states 159 counties, none of which are in the six counties with the highest percentage of African Americans.
Iraq Torture	More Abu Ghraib pictures released February 15, 2006 by Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service TV
Iraq	Ex-CIA dude says Iraq data was distorted CIA veteran Paul Pillar charges the administration with the selective use of intelligence about Iraq’s unconventional weapons and the chances of postwar chaos in Iraq.
Katrina	Republicans save butt blasting Bush for Katrina Republican report says the Bush administration delayed the evacuation of thousands of New Orleans residents by failing to act quickly on early reports that the levees had broken during Hurricane Katrina.

More coming up I am sure!

Bush Tracker Update

ravi — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:55:33 +0000

More tidings from the frontiers of the Bush revolution:

Corruption	Ohio GOP coin scandal charges
Guantanamo	Film: Road to Guantanamo U.N. Report Criticizes U.S. for Gitmo
Afghan War	Pakistanis killed in US strike Afghan blast kills four US troops
Economy	U.S. Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High
Abramoff	Three More Lawmakers Linked to Abramoff WH says: Oh, you meant that photo?
Katrina	US government ‘failed’ on Katrina
Iraq	C&L video of UK soldiers’ abuse

And so on it goes…

Bush Tracker Update

ravi — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 18:35:20 +0000

I have decided to create an entire new category: Bush Tracker, sort of a “Where are they today?” section on the ever-growing set of BushCo acts of obscenity and where they stand currently. In fact there are so many (stealing elections to Katrina to illegal wiretapping) that at some point I may have to create subcategories.

Here’s the update for today:

Katrina	WH knew of levee’s failure on night of storm
Plame	Scooter: Cheney made me do it!
Patriot Act	GOP wants Patriot Act after all
Elections	Still a squeaker in Ohio
Wiretap	People like the spying!
Cronyism Environment	Young Deutsch leaves NASA with small bang
Abramoff	Abramoff differs about buddy Bush

Let us see if I am able to keep up with the rate at which these guys can act!