Filed at 10:13 pm, Saturday March 31st 2007
by Arlen Parsa
The President’s supplemental Iraq & Afghanistan funding bill is being dubbed as an “emergency provision” and the White House is urging its passage as soon as possible. NYT’s The Cacus blog today:
Mr. Bush and Dana Perino, the deputy press secretary for the White House, have said in recent days that money for the troops would […]
Filed under: Iraq Related, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 6:21 pm, Saturday March 31st 2007
by Arlen Parsa
In these final hours of frantic fundraising before the first fundraising quarter of the 2008 elections per the FEC is over, candidates are sending emails out to their email lists asking supporters if they can spare a few more dollars before the midnight deadline.
Although the full fundraising and expenditure reports from each campaign are not […]
Filed under: Presidential election, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 2:56 pm, Saturday March 31st 2007
by Arlen Parsa
This just in: the Republican Congressman who looks eerily like Dan Aykroyd has now called for Attorney General Gonzales’ resignation! The Associated Press reports:
“I trusted him before, but I can’t now,” said five-term Rep. Lee Terry, whose district includes metropolitan Omaha.
Gonzales’ credibility took a blow this past week during testimony by his former chief of […]
Filed under: Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 12:04 pm, Saturday March 31st 2007
by Arlen Parsa
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has written a letter to Attorney General Gonzales insisting he issue a statement to clear David Iglesias’ name.
Iglesias was the US Attorney for New Mexico that the Department of Justice fired last year over what it termed “performance related reasons.” Gonzales’ former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, testified under oath Thursday […]
Filed under: Z-Feature, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 9:49 am, Saturday March 31st 2007
by Arlen Parsa
Apparently the Affordable Suites Hotel has a discriminatory policy of not serving gay customers:
A gay couple looking to rent a hotel room say they were turned away because of their sexuality.
“She wasn’t discreet about it,” said Jason Pickel, referring to a hotel employee. “She was not apologetic. She just said, ‘We do not rent to […]
Filed under: Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 9:24 am, Saturday March 31st 2007
by Arlen Parsa
“I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution… I believe in an attorney general who is actually the people’s lawyer, not the president’s lawyer.”
– Barack Obama, 3/30/07, on the President and the US Attorney scandal.
Filed under: Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 11:08 pm, Friday March 30th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
A new report from the Institute of Medicine says that “President Bush’s $15 billion plan to fight AIDS globally is seriously hampered by restrictions imposed by Congress and the administration,” according to the New York Times tomorrow. The three key problems cited in the study are the following:
-The requirement that 33 percent of all money […]
Filed under: Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 8:54 pm, Friday March 30th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
This happened last week so you might have already heard about it, but it bares bringing up even now. In Texas, a Republican state senator is proposing that women be paid $500 not to have abortions.
As Nicole of Crooks and Liars says, this is wrong on so many levels that it’s hard to know where […]
Filed under: Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 5:19 pm, Friday March 30th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
NYT today on Gonzales’ third “clarification” of his involvement in the US Attorney firing scandal:
“There obviously remains some confusion about my involvement in this. My reputation and integrity is very important, so let me try again to clarify my involvement.”
Mr. Gonzales said he had asked Mr. Sampson to “coordinate an effort within the department to […]
Filed under: Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 4:27 pm, Friday March 30th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
So is the President’s escalation in Iraq working? Iraq Slogger provides this information today:
Suicide attacks and car bombings have soared 30 percent in Iraq since the start of a security crackdown in Baghdad last month, while attackers have become more brutal in their choice of methods, a U.S. General said at the Pentagon Friday.
Maj. Gen. […]
Filed under: Iraq Related, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 12:50 pm, Friday March 30th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
Kyle Sampson’s seven-hour-long testimony yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee easily raised more questions than answers.
Sampson, who testified under oath, admitted that his former boss, Attorney General Gonzales mislead the public and Congress about his role in the US Attorney firing scandal when he said that he was not involved in it. On March 13th […]
Filed under: Z-Feature, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 8:35 am, Friday March 30th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
Senate- Iraq
Now that the Senate passed the President’s emergency funding provision, the bill will be reconciled with the House version passed last week. It is unknown how long this process will take.
The Money Race
As per our special political calendar, the FEC’s first quarter ends Saturday and each campaign is trying to out-fundraise the others. Meanwhile […]
Filed under: Z-The Daily Brief, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 1:30 am, Friday March 30th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
I just went to USA Today’s website, and there’s zero mention of the big stories that are rocking Washington. No mention of Kyle Sampson, no mention of Alberto Gonzales, no mention of the US Attorney firing scandal at all.
No mention of the Senate passing the Iraq bill, and only one mention of Iraq and has […]
Filed under: News Media, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 11:23 pm, Thursday March 29th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John Edwards may have the upper-hand in some ways. The three, all frontrunners in the top tier of Presidential candidates becoming known as “the big six” have no official duties related to the government, so they have more free time than many of the colleagues with work in the House […]
Filed under: Z-Feature, Z-TDB Blog
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Filed at 8:34 pm, Thursday March 29th 2007
by Arlen Parsa
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty released the following op-ed today, on the connection between the death penalty and the US Attorney firings:
At least three U.S. attorneys – Paul Charlton of Arizona, Margaret Chiara of Michigan, and Kevin Ryan of California – were dismissed after clashing with the Justice Department over death penalty […]
Filed under: Z-TDB Blog
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