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August 6, 2007
I'm now posting at News Buster. Come visit! Breaking Wire will have a new format soon.
Thanks!
August 5, 2007
Bush Signs Law Widening Reach for Wiretapping
They also said that the new law for the first time provided a legal framework for much of the surveillance without warrants that was being conducted in secret by the National Security Agency and outside the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law that is supposed to regulate the way the government can listen to the private communications of American citizens.
“Freemasonry and the Founding of the United States”
The most obvious evidence of this influence in the shaping of the United States is in its Great Seal, adopted in essentially its present form in 1782. (Considerable opposition was expressed to the Presidential decision in 1935 to place on the new dollar bill this "dull emblem of the Masonic fraternity", as professor Charles Eliot Norton referred to the central symbol on the reverse side -- the unfinished pyramid capped by the "All-Seeing Eye".)
If one imagines that the founders of this country were a motley citizenry of farmers, shopkeepers and country gentlemen, the Great Seal symbols from the ancient traditions of Freemasonry seem a puzzling choice.
Afghan president sees no gain in bin Laden hunt
In the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the United States and its allies have essentially gotten nowhere lately, says Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"We are not closer, we are not further away from it," Karzai said ahead of his two-day summit with President Bush at Camp David, Md. "We are where we were a few years ago."
Flashback - Report: Bin Laden Already Dead
Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.
Flashback - Bin Laden 'probably' dead
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation's counter-terrorism chief, Dale Watson, says he thinks Osama bin Laden is "probably" dead.
39 counties' vote systems in question
County election officials scrambled on Saturday to develop contingency plans for the February presidential primary election after California's secretary of state imposed broad restrictions on electronic voting machines that she said are susceptible to hacking.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified the voting machines used in 39 counties, including Los Angeles County's InkaVote system.
Top Ten Myths About the Illegal NSA Spying on Americans
White House High-Security Locks Broken: Bumped and Picked at DefCon
A group of researchers has cracked the security features in what are supposed to be the world's most secure locks locks that are used at the White House, the Pentagon, embassies and other critical locations.
Energy search goes underground
Scientists say this geothermal energy, clean, quiet and virtually inexhaustible, could fill the world's annual needs 250,000 times over with nearly zero impact on the climate or the environment.
CIA, not Pakistan, should be asked about Osama’s whereabouts
Owais Ahmed Ghani, governor of Balochistan, said here on Thursday that it is the CIA and not Pakistan that should be asked where Osama Bin Laden is, since it was the CIA that recruited, trained and shepherded the future chief of Al Qaeda during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the ensuing conflict.
Pakistan, he said in answer to a question at a speaking engagement arranged by a local think tank, had never had anything to do with Bin Laden. “In fact, Bin Laden always hated Pakistan,” he added.
Trillions of dollars are missing from the US government.
What's going on? Where is the money? How could this happen? Where are the checks and balances? How much more has gone missing?
A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program
A surprising number of people close to the case are dubious of Mohammed’s confession. A longtime friend of Pearl’s, the former Journal reporter Asra Nomani, said, “The release of the confession came right in the midst of the U.S. Attorney scandal. There was a drumbeat for Gonzales’s resignation. It seemed like a calculated strategy to change the subject. Why now? They’d had the confession for years.” Mariane and Daniel Pearl were staying in Nomani’s Karachi house at the time of his murder, and Nomani has followed the case meticulously; this fall, she plans to teach a course on the topic at Georgetown University. She said, “I don’t think this confession resolves the case. You can’t have justice from one person’s confession, especially under such unusual circumstances. To me, it’s not convincing.” She added, “I called all the investigators. They weren’t just skeptical they didn’t believe it.”
Foot-And-Mouth Outbreak Prompts Britain to Ban Meat and Dairy Exports, Halt Animal Movement
Britain raced to avert economic disaster Saturday by halting meat and dairy exports and the movement of livestock around the country after foot-and-mouth disease was found on a southern English farm.
Flashback - Stolen foot-and-mouth virus 'released deliberately'
Asian Stocks Decline on U.S. Housing Concerns; Sony, BHP Slide
Asian stocks fell, led by Macquarie Bank Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co., on concern losses in the U.S. mortgage market may slow the world's biggest economy.
ABC Reset Republican Debate Tally After Ron Paul Win?
ABC TV apparently reset its tally of who won the Republican debate it broadcast on August 5, Sunday morning.
Doomsday Simulations Help U.S. Gird for Hurricanes, Terrorism
Spurred by the twin disasters of Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina, officials at the Department of Homeland Security have gotten the message. They're using graphic modeling to predict a disaster's human and economic toll, expose weak spots in defenses and train policy makers in improving their crisis responses.
Ron Paul at debate on ABC 8-5-07
FBI raids DOJ attorney's home in search for warrantless wiretap information leaker
Bush Isn't Spying on al Qaeda ... He's Spying on You
The extraordinary secrecy surrounding the spying operations revealed in Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony is not aimed at al-Qaeda, but at the American people.
It’s Payback Time: FBI Raids Home of Suspected NSA Leaker
This past week, the Bush administration added insult to injury over its illegal program of NSA domestic surveillance. During the very time Congress was debating codifying President Bush’s lawbreaking by revising the FISA law many of his allies have been afraid to publicly challenge as unconstitutional, Alberto Gonzales’ DOJ was raiding the home of a former Justice official to identify the person who first brought the illicit program to light.
Ron Paul Blasts "Unconstitutional, Undeclared Wars" at GOP Debate
43 Congress Members for Impeachment
Forty-three Congress Members now stand in one manner or another for impeachment.
Seventeen have signed on as cosponsors of H. Res. 333, a bill proposing articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. H Res 333 cosponsors include, Dennis Kucinich, Jan Schakowsky, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Keith Ellison, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Lee, Albert Wynn, William Lacy Clay, Yvette Clarke, Jim McDermott, Jim Moran, Bob Filner, Sam Farr, Robert Brady, Tammy Baldwin, Donald Payne.
Rudolph Giuliani would be 'terrible' president
The former top antiterrorism aide to Rudolph Giuliani has launched a stinging critique of the former New York mayor over the September 11 atrocity, attacking a key pillar of his challenge for the White House.
Democratic US Congress approves Bush's spy bill
Civil liberties groups charged the measure would create a broad net that would sweep up law-abiding U.S. citizens.
Warrantless Spying To Usher In Brain Chips For The Masses
Extracted From: Monitoring People's Thoughts Through Warrantless Searches
The New World Order Network
It should be obvious by now, that the CIA and their network were not afraid of the oversight committees (a dog and pony show for the American people) that was set up in the 70's to watch over the intelligence community around the same time this black budget program appears to have first come online.
So you have the CIA with its documented sordid past of being involved in, overthrowing governments, assassinations, drug running, spying on Americans, conducting human experimentation, corroborating with Nazi war criminals, working with mobsters, money laundering, and here recently bring involved in the medieval practice of torture, sneaking around in society for 30 or so years, while having technology to monitor peoples thoughts, building up a network, while hiding behind a cloak of secrecy,
They used their thought monitoring technology to build up their network, by screwing with peoples minds and terrorizing them in order to manipulate them to do their bidding. Blackmailing others they found useful to further their cause, along with a segment of evil like minded defects they chose to let in on their plot,
These people prey on society like a dangerous spreading cancer. Although their network that I and others talk about and warn you about seems to be made up of a wide cross section of the population, some of the most useful individuals that make up their network, that they use to mold society to their liking, are judges, politicians, civil servants, military officers, a segment of the intelligence community, and of course the press.
Later on in order to legitimize their covert operation and bring online their technologies for the surveillance society, they (the secret network within the Government and their comrades) staged and/or let 9/11 happen. Then they passed dangerous, draconian legislation trampling the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the rule of law and started a Global Never Ending War on Terror, that in truth, in fact, in reality, rests and is based on a foundation of lies and fraud.
These people are best described as double traitors. Not only are they traitors to their own country, they are also traitors to the human race that they seek to control, enslave, and exterminate.
Common sense should tell you that they never would have tried to pull off the made for tv attack on September 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center had they not of had an embedded network in place to make sure the event happened, the personnel in place to suppress and cover up what really happened, and the means to put out prolonged propaganda in the form of spin and disinformation in order to keep the public distracted, misinformed, dumbed down, confused and terrorized by their continual fear mongering.
Considering the fact that the illegal Iran Contra affair, (known as the secret government within the government) was trading guns for drugs and went on for five years before it became known and it involved 1000's of participants, it should not be difficult to fathom what I said above about having a secret network in place to cover for the real criminals that had most to gain from such an event.
Flashback - Super-soldiers may get brain-chip
US military experts are attempting to create an army of super-human soldiers who will be more intelligent and deadly thanks to a microchip implanted in their brains.
Scientists believe the implant will vastly improve the memory of troops so that they can recall every detail of their training and become more effective fighters.
Researchers at the University of Southern California's bio-engineering department have created the chip, which acts in exactly the same way as the hippocampus the part of the brain that deals with memory.
Flashback - Mind Games
New on the Internet: a community of people who believe the government is beaming voices into their minds. They may be crazy, but the Pentagon has pursued a weapon that can do just that.
Flashback - The brain scan that can read people's intentions
A team of world-leading neuroscientists has developed a powerful technique that allows them to look deep inside a person's brain and read their intentions before they act.
The research breaks controversial new ground in scientists' ability to probe people's minds and eavesdrop on their thoughts, and raises serious ethical issues over how brain-reading technology may be used in the future.
Flashback - Patent Number 3951134: Apparatus and method for remotely monitoring and altering brain waves (30+ year old technology)
Flashback - Smart Dust
"Smart dust" devices are tiny wireless microelectromechanical sensors (MEMS) that can detect everything from light to vibrations. Thanks to recent breakthroughs in silicon and fabrication techniques, these "motes" could eventually be the size of a grain of sand, though each would contain sensors, computing circuits, bidirectional wireless communications technology and a power supply.
Video - TerrorStorm
TerrorStorm delivers a powerful sucker punch to the architects of global terrorism and how they stage false-flag events to achieve political and sociological ends.
Washington Post: U.S Financing Iraqi Insurgency
U.S. commanders are offering large sums to enlist, at breakneck pace, their former enemies, handing them broad security powers in a risky effort to tame this fractious area south of Baghdad in Babil province and, literally, buy time for national reconciliation.
Alberto Gonzales and the Coup Against Democracy
Gonzales’ July 24 appearance before the Senate’s Judiciary Committee was a disgrace by any standards. Even Republican members of the committee rightly doubted the man’s integrity, and the testimony made by a Gonzales subordinate, FBI Director Robert Mueller, contradicted his boss’ own accounts. Members of both parties are now up in arms; Republicans fear that Gonzales’ sinking reputation will harm their political positions further, and Democrats, not daring to take on the President himself, are instead confronting a man who was merely responsible for providing the legal wrapping for the administration’s illegal acts.
The Abu Ghraib whistleblower's ordeal
The US soldier who exposed the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison found himself a marked man after his anonymity was blown in the most astonishing way by Donald Rumsfeld.
Kidnapped’ Filipinos build US embassy
An American civilian contractor has described scenes of panic and hysteria last year as Filipino construction workers were told that they were on a plane bound for Baghdad rather than Dubai.
Passengers jumped out of their seats screaming in protest until a gun-toting air steward ordered them to sit down, claimed an emergency medical technician travelling on the same flight.
The Instruments of Tyranny
Two years ago, in an article entitled “It Can’t Happen Here,” Congressman Ron Paul cautioned, “We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching.”
A lot can happen in two years.
Congressman Ron Paul's Secret Revealed
By Jennifer Haman
Paper Ballots For California!
Secretary Of State Announces De-Certification/Re-Certification Plans For E-Voting Systems
So why is the Iowa straw poll using touch-screen voting machines?
Foot and mouth came from American research centre three miles from farm outbreak
An American pharmaceutical company appeared to be responsible for the foot and mouth outbreak in Britain.
Virus leak causes FMD in southern England
The government-funded Institute for Animal Health's Pirbright Laboratory, which is studying the disease, is located some six kilometers from the affected farm.
A number of sources reported that it hosted an international drill last month during which live viruses of foot-and-mouth disease were used.
High-security centres where scientists produce the virus
When Dr Debby Reynolds, the chief veterinary officer, said that the foot and mouth virus found on the Surrey farm may have come from a laboratory, she could only have meant one of the two organisations in the UK licensed to work with the live virus. The Institute for Animal Health Pirbright laboratory and the Merial Animal Health Company's vaccine manufacturing laboratory lie adjacent to, but separate from, each other three-and-a-half miles from the infected farm.
Al-Qaeda vows attacks on US missions
An American member of al-Qaida threatened foreign diplomats and embassies across the Islamic world in a new video Sunday, saying they would targeted as "spy dens."
"We shall continue to target you at home and abroad just as you target us at home and abroad," Adam Gadahn, an American convert to Islam who has been indicted for treason in the United States, said in the video.
Flashback - Fake Al-Qaeda
"Spy Dens"
Another 911 - Another Israeli (Mossad) Spy Ring
Why I had to tell the world what they’d done
Joe Darby tells of his agonising decision to report fellow soldiers for abuse at Abu Ghraib, knowing his life would be in danger for ever
Video - America: Freedom to Fascism
GOP's Ron Paul keeps building support
This Texan just isn't going away anytime soon. Ron Paul's growing base of support and money for the coffers has GOP stalwarts scratching their heads.
'Torture flight' airline sued by MI5 informer
After a month being interrogated in Gambia, he was rendered to the CIA's 'dark prison' in Kabul on a US charter plane, chained, immobilised and in nappies. Later he spent four years in Guantanamo Bay before being released in March, cleared of any connection with terrorism.
He has joined a legal action already filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three other detainees, including a UK resident, Binyam Mohammed, an Ethiopian.
Video - Hacking Democracy
This documentary exposes the vulnerability of electronic voting machines. The film follows investigative journalist Bev Harris as she investigates the security and accuracy of electronic voting systems.
The Vote Counter
There's been a risk of cheating and fraud in the historical election cycle ever since mankind invented voting. The machines have evolved along with the process, although their use varies from state to state, and sometimes even among districts. In the beginning there weren't really machines. Colonial Americans cast their votes by placing balls, coins, bullets or beans (hey, you work with what you have) into a container, and the "votes" were then tallied. Sometimes they relied on voice votes, in which the voter simply stated the name of his candidate; smaller communities relied on this method all the way through the Civil War. if nothing else, it made it more difficult to cheat, but voter anonymity (and the associated protection from pressure or reprisals) was pretty much nonexistent.
Afghan victory 'could take 38 years'
British troops could remain in Afghanistan for more than the 38 years it took them to pull out of Northern Ireland. That is the bleak assessment by Army commanders on the ground in Helmand province.
Each DNA swab brings us closer to a police state
The move to widen the UK genetic database is yet another example of a relentless desire to monitor every aspect of our everyday lives
Litvinenko case could be called Berezovsky case – former FSB chief
It would be more precise to describe the cases of Alexander Litvinenko and Andrei Lugovoi as the case of Boris Berezovsky, former Federal Security Service Director and Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Veterans Affairs Nikolai Kovalyov told Interfax.
"We have encountered the Litvinenko case, or rather the Lugovoi case, although it would be more correct to call it the Berezovsky case," he said.
August 4, 2007
Congress yields to pass Bush spying bill
The Congress yielded to President George W. Bush on Saturday and approved legislation to temporarily expand the government's power to conduct electronic surveillance without a court order in tracking foreign suspects.
Civil liberties groups charged the measure would create a broad net that would sweep up law-abiding U.S. citizens. But the House of Representatives gave its concurrence to the bill, 227-183, a day after it won Senate approval, 60-28.
Monitoring People's Thoughts Through Warrantless Searches
Ex-CIA agent Plame barred from revealing tenure dates
A federal judge ruled Friday that former CIA agent Valerie Plame cannot divulge the dates she worked for the agency in her forthcoming book, "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House."
The decision by U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones was a victory for the CIA, which had argued such information was classified.
Rupert Murdoch and the Luck of the Bancrofts
Zimbabwean president approves surveillance law allowing state monitoring of Internet, phones
President Robert Mugabe has approved a law that will give the government sweeping powers to monitor the Internet and mobile and fixed telephones in a country where the independent press has been gagged.
The official Herald newspaper said Saturday that the Interception of Communications Act would allow the government to "sift for information it deems subversive or used for organized crime."
Bush beats Nixon for disapproval
George W. Bush has sunk below Richard Nixon and could break Harry Truman's record for persistent unpopularity among modern U.S. presidents.
The latest Gallup Poll found that Bush's popularity had been below 40 percent for six consecutive quarters, the Dallas Morning News reports. Nixon ended his five-quarter streak by resigning in 1974
Bush’s Executive Order on Lebanon Even Worse than the One on Iraq
George W. Bush is churning out executive orders and Presidential directives just as fast as Dick Cheney’s lawyers can fill up yellow legal pads.
The power that he is asserting no, grabbing with these executive orders is astonishing and alarming. Such power imperils our liberties and our democratic system of government.
Was the pin-up boy of Bush's War on Terror assassinated?
He was the pin-up boy of Bush's War on Terror. But the story of Pat Tillman's heroic death soon started to unravel. Today comes the most astonishing claim of all - that he was assassinated by his own side
Baghdad: 6 million people, 117 degrees and no water
Life without hope
In the US, there are 2,270 prisoners who were sentenced as children to life without parole. They will die behind bars.
Foot and mouth returns
Outbreak at cattle farm in Surrey leads to national ban on movement of all livestock
Top general warned Bush on Tillman death.
Just a day after approving a medal claiming former NFL player Pat Tillman had been cut down by "devastating enemy fire" in Afghanistan, a high-ranking general tried to warn President Bush that the story might not be true, according to testimony obtained by The Associated Press.
Senate Passes Bush Terrorism Spy Bill
The Senate, in a high-stakes showdown over national security, voted late Friday to temporarily give President Bush expanded authority to eavesdrop on suspected foreign terrorists without court warrants.
The House, meanwhile, rejected a Democratic version of the bill.
Democratic leaders there were working on a plan to bring up the Senate-passed measure and vote on it Saturday in response to Bush's demand that Congress give him expanded powers before leaving for vacation this weekend.
Gonzales Now Says Top Aides Got Political Briefings
Justice Department officials attended at least a dozen political briefings at the White House since 2001, including some meetings led by Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and others that were focused on election trends prior to the 2006 midterm contest, according to documents released yesterday.
Another Record Poppy Crop in Afghanistan
Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.
As President Bush prepares for weekend talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, divisions within the U.S. administration and among NATO allies have delayed release of a $475 million counternarcotics program for Afghanistan, where intelligence officials see growing links between drugs and the Taliban, the officials said.
British woman watches in shock as Israeli bulldozers raze her home west of Occupied Jerusalem
Six months pregnant and exhausted, British mother Jessica Barhoum is still shocked that Israeli authorities ordered her, her husband and their baby out of bed at daybreak and pulverized their home.
Israel's Jewish Problem in Tehran
So why hasn't Iran started by wiping its own Jews off the map?
At U.S. base, Iraqis must use separate latrine
A&M official resigns to focus on closed bioweapons labs
Texas A&M University's vice president of research says he will resign his position to focus all of his energy on bringing the school's federally funded biodefense research program into compliance.
Israeli army carries a wide-scale abduction campaign in several areas of West Bank
Iraq bleeds US Treasury, enriches contractors
In a report to US lawmakers this week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that the war in Iraq could cost US taxpayers more than a trillion dollars when the long-term costs of caring for soldiers wounded in action, military and economic aid for the Iraqi government, and ongoing costs associated with the 190,000 troops stationed in Iraq are totaled up.
‘The credit crunch is here'
Credit Crunch: Credit crunches are usually considered to be an extension of recessions. A credit crunch makes it nearly impossible for companies to borrow because lenders are scared of bankruptcies or defaults, which result in higher rates. The consequence is a prolonged recession (or slower recovery) resulting from the supply of credit having shrunk.
Keith Shaughnessy, president of Foundation Mortgage Corp., declared today that the credit crunch has arrived. Who is Keith Shaughnessy? No one particularly important, and therefore his declaration wouldn't be significant...except that the CFO of investment bank Bear Stearns pretty much echoed this claim when he said, "It's been as bad as I've seen it in 22 years. The fixed-income market environment we've seen in the last eight weeks has been pretty extreme."
China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate
Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people.
August 3, 2007
Bush Signs Homeland Security Bill
President Bush signed legislation Friday that intensifies the anti-terrorism effort at home, shifting money to high-risk states and cities and expanding scrutiny of air and sea cargo.
The bill requires screening of all cargo on passenger planes within three years and sets a five-year goal of scanning all container ships for nuclear devices before they leave foreign ports. It also elevates the importance of risk factors in determining which states and cities get federal security funds. That would mean more money for such cities as New York and Washington. It also puts money into a new program to ensure that security officials at every level can communicate with each other.
Hidden story behind conspiracies
White House Uses Its Own Illegal Conduct To Wage Political Offensive Over FISA Legislation
Earlier today, the White House rejected an agreement that had been struck between congressional leaders and the Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell to make changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), opting instead to launch a fresh political offensive over its spying activities. House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) explained to CQ (sub. req.) the administration pushed for more changes after Democrats reached an agreement with McConnell:
“DNI McConnell told us, ‘We need these three things.’ We gave them to him. Then he turned around and said, ‘Well, I have some other concerns.’”
Ron Paul Leads Republicans in Web Traffic by a Whopping 45%
If web traffic has any relevance in determining which candidate becomes the next US President, Ron Paul has just won....by a long shot.
A recent review by ClickZ.com has the Texas Republican representative with 45.38% of the overall market share, followed by Mitt Romney at a distant 13.93%.
Ron Paul Supporters Denounce Iowa Diebold Use
American Home shuts, 7,000 to lose their jobs
American Home Mortgage Investment Corp said last night it plans to close most operations today.
The lender said nearly 7,000 employees will lose their jobs as it becomes one of the biggest casualties of the U.S. housing downturn.
Court: FBI Violated Constitution in Raid
The FBI violated the Constitution when agents raided U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office last year and viewed legislative documents, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Media Blitz for War: The Big Guns of August
By Norman Solomon
Dems Complicit in Bush Power Grab
Unbelievably, the Democratic leadership in Congress seems about to cave in to Bush and grant him, of all things, more power to spy on Americans.
This, even as Alberto Gonzales continues to dissemble about the spying that has already been going on.
Blackwater USA and University of Illinois Police Training Institute Announce Partnership
CA Releases Source Code Review of Voting Machines -- New Security Flaws Revealed; Old Ones Were Never Fixed
A team of computer scientists tasked with examining the source code of voting machines used in California (and elsewhere across the country) finally released their much-anticipated report on Thursday and it contains significant information that could lead the secretary of state to decertify the machines on Friday (the last day by which Secretary of State Debra Bowen can make decisions that affect voting machines that will be used in 2008).
Murtha nabs $150M pork
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Appropriations defense panel, has secured the most earmarked dollars in the 2008 military spending bill, followed closely by the panel’s ranking member Rep. Bill Young (R-Fl
A Summer of Discontent with Washington
As official Washington winds down for its summer holiday, all three branches of government are coming under fire from the American public. Just 29% approve of the way President Bush is handling his job, and only slightly more, 33%, approve of the job performance of the Democratic leaders of Congress. Even the U.S. Supreme Court is not immune from the current round of public disaffection: The court's favorable rating has fallen from 72% in January to 57% currently.
Good news from Baghdad at last: the oil law has stalled
Glad tidings from Baghdad at last. The Iraqi parliament has gone into summer recess without passing the oil law that Washington was pressing it to adopt. For the Bush administration this is irritating, since passage of the law was billed as a "benchmark" in its battle to get Congress not to set a timetable for US troop withdrawals. The political hoops through which the government of Nouri al-Maliki has been asked to jump were meant to be a companion piece to the US "surge". Just as General David Petraeus, the current US commander, is due to give his report on military progress next month, George Bush is supposed to tell Congress in mid-September how the Maliki government is moving forward on reform.
NYC Considers Permits for Pictures
Filmmakers and Photographers Troubled by Proposed Rules for Using Cameras in New York City
New secret search powers
Under the laws, officers from the federal police and other agencies would be able to execute "delayed notification warrants", allowing them to undertake searches, seize equipment and plant listening devices in businesses and homes.
Police and security officers will be able to assume false identities to gain entry and conduct the surreptitious searches.
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