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The Daily Muck
The government’s largest terrorist financing case ended yesterday in a mistrial. The prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation was supposed to be a high profile win for the Justice Department. The case has been controversial since allegations surfaced that a "summary of wiretapped conversations attributed inflammatory anti-Jewish statements to members of the charity that were not found in the actual transcripts of the conversations.” (US News & World Report)
Is Blackwater heading south? To the border, that is. Blackwater is planning on building a massive 824-acre military training site just eight miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. According to Salon, Blackwater executives have “lobbied the U.S. government since at least 2005 to help train and even deploy manpower for patrolling America's borders.” (Salon)
A NASA spokesman said that denying the Associated Press’s request to see a database on safety lapses in U.S. aviation on the grounds that it might scare the public "was probably not the best thing to do." NASA will review the AP’s request, submitted 14 months ago, and will release a final report after they analyze all the data. (The Washington Post)
Mitt Romney’s make-over is proving expensive. Harper’s Magazine is reporting that Romney “has employed more than a hundred different consultants, making combined payments to them of at least $11 million—roughly three times the amount spent by John McCain or Rudy Giuliani.” But even with all this money for branding, or perhaps because of it, “the image of slickness is heightened by Romney’s appearance and persona” and “the problem of phoniness can never be far from the brain.” (Harpers)
Senator Sanders (I-VT) will vote against Mukasey's confirmation as Attorney General. As Sanders explains, "we need an attorney general who does not believe the president has unlimited power," and "we need an attorney general who understands that torture is not what this country is about, and we need an attorney general who clearly understands the separation of powers inherent in our Constitution." (AP)
Larry Craig is dipping into his campaign funds to pay legal bills from his expensive bathroom rest stop. Since bathroom behavior doesn't quite fit in to the general category of legislative duties, this use of campaign cash might raise issues with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) if they determine these expenditures to be “personal use.” (Politico)
Lobbyists are working hard at “workarounds.” An example: new laws prohibit lawmakers from taking trips with lobbyists, but lobbyists are looking for ways to partner with non-profits so that these entities may provide lawmakers with free travel. (Washington Post)
Comments (10)
Tom wrote on October 23, 2007 9:57 AM:How is it we attack training camps in other countries and label them terrorists, yet allow Blackwater to build a hugh traing camp in the US? What possible use could someone like Bush have for a private army?
gt wrote on October 23, 2007 10:11 AM:FRC action leadership sits on knowledge of false results from its "value voters debate poll"
The FRC action committee is sitting on the knowledge that their online poll for christians and value voters that could not attend their DC meetings. These people who maybe to busy, elderly, disabled may have had a large block of their votes disenfranchised. Voters calling on Friday and Monday notified the FRC action group that there votes were denied when they tried to vote online. FRC action representatives seemed genuine in saying they dont understand why as of yet this happened but have notified their leadership of the problem.
With so much distrust by the public on polls, electioneering to get the "right" candidate into washington that turns out to be the nations worst nightmare this is not sitting well with the groups who already say as conservatives they feel betrayed.
The question is how long will they FRC and Tony Perkins sit on these facts?
What benefit does it have?
Who were the winners Romney and Huckabee.
Romney has strong problems because of his mormon faith with the base and Huckabee is hated and distrusted by value voters who faught the McCain/Kennedy/Bush illegal immigration and amnesty bills passage. Huckabee at the time was a strong supporter of the bill and even stronger in Arkansas law willing to slander other christians and call them racists and try whatever opportunistic tacticts he felt he could get away with.
Will this divide and fracture the christian base when it gets out that their FRC is sitting on this knowledge????
Jake D. wrote on October 23, 2007 10:44 AM:Senator Sanders (I-VT) can certainly vote against Mukasey's confirmation as Attorney General, since a majority of Senators, including Senator Lieberman (ID-CT) will vote FOR Mukasey's confirmation -- at least SOME Senators are still patriots rather than traitors during wartime -- can we just allow Vermont to succeed?
TheraP wrote on October 23, 2007 11:03 AM:Following up on Tom's question: And how it we urge some countries, Turkey comes to mind, to refrain from invading others, when it's apparently ok for us to do that - preemptively?
Richard L. Adlof wrote on October 23, 2007 11:09 AM:Jake D.,
Please explain how mindlessly voting for a jack-booted thug patriotic?
Jake D. wrote on October 23, 2007 11:21 AM:Because we are at war, and because Mukasey is not a "jack-booted thug" -- even if he is, have you forgotten about Janet Reno and Waco? Want to bet that Mukasey gets more Democrat votes than just Senator Lieberman? You guys STILL haven't kicked Joe out of the caucus -- why do you think that is?
Jake D. wrote on October 23, 2007 11:28 AM:As I pointed out to you on a thread yesterday, Adlof, if Hillary gets back into the White House, Janet Reno with Waco and Ruby Ridge will become fond memories (I think that thread was about FBI files once again mysteriously disappearing only to reappear after tax audits and other political scores are settled). At least Bush only sent suspected terrorists to Gitmo.
Joe Bowman wrote on October 23, 2007 2:16 PM:Jake D. Heres betting you know jack-shit about war. You are some IDIOT who sucks on Cheney's extremity. So, kiss my Hillbilly ass!!!! Joe Bowman
Jake D. wrote on October 23, 2007 3:05 PM:No thanks, Joe. I haven't met the Vice President, but I did serve in the Army during the Korean War. How about you?
Alguien wrote on October 23, 2007 4:18 PM:Jake D:
"Senator Sanders (I-VT) can certainly vote against Mukasey's confirmation as Attorney General, since a majority of Senators, including Senator Lieberman (ID-CT) will vote FOR Mukasey's confirmation -- at least SOME Senators are still patriots rather than traitors during wartime -- can we just allow Vermont to succeed?"
FYI: Vermont does not need your permission to SUCCEED. [It's doing pretty well as a state, don't you think?]
SECEDE would be a different story.
You, on the other hand, sound like the kind of guy who should consider SECEDING from the mainstream to go hide in some cabin in the deep South and ruminate over your formaldehide-preserved "conservative" ideology with your fellow "registered Independent" Klansmen.