WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Most private contractors keeping tabs on billions of dollars in governmental spending for the U.S. House Appropriations Committee have been let go.
With about 60 investigators gone, the shakeup leaves only 16 full-time employees in the unit, USA Today reported.
Committee spokesman John Scofield said that the quality of the unit's work had been questioned by leaders of the Republican-controlled committee.
The US State Dept.'s “countermisinformation” office headed by Todd Leventhal is the subject of a nationally syndicated article originally published in the Hartford Courant, and reprinted in major papers, including the San Francisco Chronicle.
Leventhal, and the Bush administration’s “truth ministry” (the US State Department "Identi... (more)
Short movie on the controlled demolition of building 7 that fell later that day on september 11th. The owner, Larry Silverstein, said it himself: "pull it".
The Department of Justice is investigating whether Rep. Jane Harman and the pro-Israel group worked together to get her reappointed as the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Did a Democratic member of Congress improperly enlist the support of a major pro-Israel lobbying group to try to win a top committee assignment? That's the question at the heart of an ongoing investigation by the FBI and Justice Department prosecutors, who are examining whether Rep. Jane Harman ... (more)
Always warning that other nations might use dirty bombs against US, our government has been using the dirtiest bomb on earth since the first Gulf war. <... (more)
Cheney Still Lying About Iraq-Al Qaeda Link Just last month, the Senate Intelligence Committee — chaired by Bush-ally Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) — concluded that there was absolutely no relationship between Saddam Hussein and the late al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Nevertheless, in an interview with a South Bend, Indiana television station yesterday, Vice President Cheney falsely asserted ... (more)
Mike Wallace: And Woodward says that no matter what's occurred in Iraq, Mr. Bush does not welcome any pessimistic assessments from his aides, because he is sure that his war has Iraq and America on the right path.
Bob Woodward: Late last year, he had key Republicans up to the White House to talk about the war, and said 'I Will Not Withdraw Even If Laura And Barney Are The Only Ones Supporting Me.' Barney is his dog."
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Lawyers for accused terrorism supporter Jose Padilla say U.S. authorities drugged him with LSD or PCP, filled his cell with ``noxious fumes'' and threatened to slash him with a knife while he was being held without charges.
In court papers seeking dismissal of charges against Padilla, his lawyers said the abuse occurred after President George W. Bush declared him an ``enemy combatant'' following his arrest in 2002. The designation allowed Padilla, a U.S.... (more)
The U.S. government is rebuilding the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, and it's going to be better than ever!
Shane Harris at National Journal tells us today that despite efforts to kill TIA, it has lived on in a quiet corner of the NSA. Now, it's taking form as "Tangram," a program in which former TIA contractors build on existing TIA research to create a new, enhanced form of the program.<... (more)
The U.S. Defense Department quietly announced on Monday that mandatory anthrax vaccinations would resume for military personnel and civilians deploying to 28 countries across the globe and even for some based in the U.S. The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs said, “Time and again (this vaccine) has been looked at by experts, … and each time the conclusion is the vaccine is safe and it is effective.”
Tell that to the family of Jesse Lusian. ... (more)
U.S. Army North, the Army’s newest service component command reached full operational capability Monday, which means that it is fully manned, equipped and ready to assume its mission.
As part of Army transformation, USARNORTH was formed to become the dedicated Army service component command to Northern Command, the unified command responsible for defending the homeland and coordinating defense support of civil authorities.
Death squads from the Ministry of Interior posing as Iraqi police are killing more people than ever in the capital, emerging evidence shows.
The death toll is high - in all 1,536 bodies were brought to the Baghdad morgue in September. The health ministry announced last month that it will build two new morgues in Baghdad to take their capacity to 250 bodies a day.
Many fear a government hand in more killings to come. The U.S. military has revealed that the 8th Iraqi ... (more)
Saint Peters, Missouri Mayor Shawn Brown, 34, pleaded guilty yesterday to solicitation of a bribe from Australian red light camera vendor Redflex in June (read indictment). Brown, who refuses to step down as mayor despite the admission to the felony charge, now faces 18 to 24 months in prison. The plea agreement was designed to save Brown from the maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Brown's crime was recorded on tape when he took the $2750 check he demande... (more)
German state premiers have agreed on a monthly license fee for computers that can access television and radio programs via the Internet. The move has attracted criticism.
German state premiers agreed on Thursday that any household or company that does not already have a license will have to pay the new levy of 5.52 euros ($6.92) monthly, which is the same as the one currently charged for radio access.
German households pay just over 17 euros ($21.31) a month to wat... (more)
Tony Blair was questioned in the House of Commons yesterday on his involvement with the secretive Bilderberg Group. Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Baker asked Blair to provide a full answer to a previous 12th October question about Bilderberg and whether Mr Blair had had any involvement in Bilderberg Conferences since he became Prime Minister in 1997.
A comment that was not meant to be heard and has since been subject to an intense spin effort betrays the true arrogance of so-called "world leaders" and their apologist media mouthpieces. Vladimir Putin's adulation for Israeli President Moshe Katsav's alleged rape of ten women goes right to the root of the nature of unquestioned power.
The BBC reports,
Mr Putin's comment was made at the end of a press conference held by Mr Putin ... (more)
CONCORD, Calif. -- A 16-year-old girl is back in school Friday after school officials recanted their decision to suspend her for bringing hot sauce to school, NBC11's Jodi Hernandez reported.
School officials said Laura Martin's $25 bottle of Mad Dog 357 sauce hurt two students on Thursday.
The Concord High School senior said she and her friend Stephanie Goins, 15, were given a two-day suspension for possession of a deadly weapon.
(CBS News) NEW YORK More than half a billion dollars earmarked to fight the insurgency in Iraq was stolen by people the U.S. had entrusted to run the country's Ministry of Defense before the 2005 elections, according to Iraqi investigators.
Iraq's former minister of finance says coalition members like the U.S. and Britain are doing little to help recover the money or catch suspects, most of whom fled the country. The 60 Minutes investigation also turned up audio recordings of a s... (more)
In some ways, amid the internecine bloodletting, torture, spiking American casualties, death-dealing confusion, and general mayhem, here's all you need to know about the Iraqi "government" of Nouri al-Maliki. When the Prime Minister wanted to c... (more)
The United States was founded during a war of rebellion; it was a revolutionary war. The dangers our founding fathers faced were very real, including hanging.
Did they run from this danger? No. They stood firm and created our Constitution, the envy of the people of the world. Today, most elected federal-officials think "we the people" do not need the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Why? We have a president who, with a signing statement, declares the laws of the land do not ap... (more)
On October 21, a U.S. naval battle group led by the USS Eisenhower will arrive in the Gulf of Hormuz, just off the coast of Iran. There is every good likelihood that such a deliberately provocative act will lead to what will be termed as an Iranian attack on an American vessel. This Tonkin-like incident will be used as the justification for a U.S. military strike against Iran – or alternatively, for a mighty rattling of American sabers at the perfidious Persians that stokes war fever and "... (more)
