Politics

Clinton Made Almost $7.5 Million in Speaking Fees in 2005

Staff / Truthdig Jun 16, 2006 The former president earned a staggering $650,000 for just two appearances before major gatherings in Canada by motivational speaker Tony Robbins, according to financial document filed by Hillary Clinton. It's good to be the former president Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

GOP Engineers Sham Vote on Iraq

Staff / Truthdig Jun 16, 2006 The fierce debate on the Iraq war that began in Congress on Thursday will culminate on Friday with a nonbinding resolution that includes: labeling the Iraq war as part of the war on terror, and opposition to setting an "arbitrary" withdrawal date. Democrats decried the vote as an election-year sham. Video: Dems rip GOP lawmakers during Thursday's debate. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Three Hundred Twenty Billion Little Pieces

Staff / Truthdig Jun 16, 2006 America has allocated just under $320 billion to date on the Iraq war--a price tag so staggeringly large that it has almost become an abstraction. To help put that number into context, we're asking our readers to chime in with suggestions as to what else you could buy for $320 billion. (Primer: $320 billion would fund America's adoption of the Kyoto Protocol.) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Eating at Lobbyists’ Troughs, Congress Votes Itself a Pay Raise

Staff / Truthdig Jun 15, 2006 House and Senate lawmakers embraced a $3,300 pay raise that would increase their salaries to $168,500. Meanwhile, it's been reported that members of the House's own ethics committee took over $1 million in privately funded (read: lobbyist-funded) trips last year. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Joe Conason: A Whiff of Brimstone, a Shameful Silence on Coulter

Joe Conason / Truthdig Jun 15, 2006 "With the predictable regularity of a locust plague, Ann Coulter and her enablers at the once-reputable firm of Random House have issued yet another volume of fascistic entertainment. Now the hard-drinking, trash-talking, fortysomething bachelorette bills herself as a Christian moralist, in holy battle against the liberal heathens." Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Molly Ivins: Eye to Eye in Iraq

Molly Ivins / Truthdig Jun 15, 2006 The media continues to fizz with excitement at Bush's "spontaneous" trip to Iraq, and his "eye to eye" with Prime Minister Maliki. However, continuously escalating violence reveals his visit to be just another misleading "Mission Accomplished" photo-op moment. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Bush’s Favorite Writer Leaving the White House

Staff / Truthdig Jun 15, 2006 Michael Gerson wrote every major speech of Bush's presidency, led a crusade to fund the fight against AIDS, malaria and poverty, and pushed for stronger action in Darfur. He also formulated Bush's plan to spread democracy around the globe--with somewhat mixed results. No apparent scandal here: He'd been talking about leaving since 2004. Dig deeper

Private Boehner Memo on Iraq Surfaces

Staff / Truthdig Jun 15, 2006 Think Progress got ahold of Majority Leader John Boehner?s confidential strategy memo for Thursday?s congressional debate on the Iraq war. Think Progress says the memo aims to "exploit," "attack" and "create a false choice." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

U.S. Officials Seeing New Home-Grown Terror Cells

Staff / Truthdig Jun 14, 2006 This is according to Scott Redd, director of the National Counterterrorism Center. These groups of Islamic radicals are made up of disaffected men in their teens and 20s who draw moral inspiration from Al Qaeda and use the Internet to organize and plan potential attacks. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Rove Won’t Be Charged in Leak Case

Staff / Truthdig Jun 14, 2006 That's the word from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and Rove's lawyer. This comes after months of behind-the-scenes negotiations between the two sides. Bush called Fitzgerald's conduct throughout the proceeding "dignified." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

FEMA Funds Spent on Divorce, Sex Change

Staff / Truthdig Jun 14, 2006 The government doled out as much as $1.4 billion in bogus assistance to supposed victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Sounds like FEMA did a "heckuva job." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Tom Friedman: What Does Being Right Have to Do With It?

Staff / Truthdig Jun 14, 2006 N.Y. Times columnist Tom Friedman, speaking on CNN, doesn't seem to see the problem in his having been spectacularly wrong on almost every major Iraq-related issue for the past four years. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )