Remember Valerie Plame Wilson? Well, she was apparently working on Iran when she was outed as a CIA agent by Robert Novak, and the outing allegedly damaged America’s ability to track Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Republican senators received a flood of angry e-mails and phone calls in response to their plan to mail $100 checks to voters to ease the pinch of ever-rising gasoline prices. Even Rush Limbaugh said the GOP was treating Americans like “whores.”
The mostly Hispanic immigrants flooded the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Miami and other cities, causing shutdowns at ports, factories and construction sites. The total impact is unknown.
Read ”The Case for Globalized Labor,” which argues that it is “economically and morally wrong for the world’s poor immigrants to be locked out of work in the richest countries.”
“Death squads,” “ethnic cleansing” and political assasinations are the realities of the democracy said to be emerging in Iraq. The New York Times paints a grim picture of the new Iraq, as both Sunnis and Shiites flee their homes in response to escalating sectarian violence.
The president and his wife, Laura, did not seem amused at the blistering “tribute” satirist Stephen Colbert gave them at the annual White House Correspondent’s Dinner.
The Justice Dept. pored through the bank, library or telecom records of 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents--without a court’s approval. Apparently this was legal--it’s just the first time the FBI is publicly disclosing hard numbers.
The all-but-passed bill would allow Mexicans to possess small amounts of hard drugs for personal use. Some U.S. observers fear this will prove a huge draw for Americans.
The radio talk show host has been arrested for concealing information in order to obtain prescription drugs. He turned himself in to Palm Beach County, Fla., authorities and was released on $3,000 bail.
The United Nations is taking the drastic step because of severe funding shortfalls. Other than Libya, none of Sudan’s partners in the Arab League have contributed any money. “This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made,” says a U.N. director.
The U.S. State Department’s annual report on worldwide terrorism said Sunni and Shiite extremists groups are working inside Iraq to create a terrorist haven. Also, the report names Iran as the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism.
For the first time in its history, the UK’s equivalent of the CIA is advertising for agents. The MI6 website says: “Staff who join SIS can look forward to ... a stimulating and rewarding career which, like [James] Bond’s, will be in the service of their country.”
Two families have filed suit against a Massachusetts town and its public school system over a teacher’s reading of a gay-themed fairy tale to children.
The president signed a bill that didn’t pass both the House and the Senate, and “anyone who has passed the sixth grade knows that before a bill can become law, both houses of Congress must approve it,” says Rep. John Conyers.
Constitutional lawyer and blogger Glenn Greenwald’s book ”How Would a Patriot Act” has hit No. 1 on the online retailers’ list. Greenwald attacks the president for abusing the Constitution and setting himself up as a monarch.
First in a blog, then in a best-selling memoir, a 21-year-old prostitute from Sao Paulo, Brazil, has revealed a country “that is not always as uninhibited as the world often assumes.”
Bush’s first spokesman describes how the televised briefings we see on TV have much more to do with preening and posturing than serious Q & A.
We think the administration needs more public grilling, not less, but it’s worth hearing his argument.
Chevron in the White House
