Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Other Items

I'm tired and the site of Elisabeth Bumiller's byline wasn't a pleasing one. Her article in this morning's New York Times is entitled "Cheney Sees 'Shameless' Revisionism on War" -- but no, Cheney's not gazing in the mirror. What he is doing is distorting history. And, surprisingly, Bumiller notes some inconsistencies between his statements and the public record. Such as this (in regards to his claim that everyone saw the same intelligence):

Mr. Cheney did not mention that the administration had access to far more extensive intelligence than Congress did, like the highly classified daily briefing provided for the president by the Central Intelligence Agency.

From the article, we'll also note two Democratic responses:


Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement, "The only thing dishonest and reprehensible is the way the administration distorted, misrepresented and manipulated the intelligence to justify a war America never should have fought," adding, "It defies belief that the vice president can continue to say with a straight face that Congress had the same intelligence as the president and vice president had."
Senator John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who ran against Mr. Bush for president in 2004, said Mr. Cheney was "still misleading America" about the war.

No mentioning of the Downing Street Memos.

Philip Shenon's "Former DeLay Aide Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy" details Michael Scanlon's guilty plea:


He acknowledged in a plea agreement that he and Mr. Abramoff, identified in the court papers as "Lobbyist A," agreed to make lavish gifts to public officials, including all-expense-paid trips to Europe and the Super Bowl, in exchange for official actions.
Federal law enforcement officials portrayed the plea bargain, under which Mr. Scanlon faces up to five years in prison, as an important development in the larger criminal investigation of Mr. Abramoff, who has been under scrutiny by a grand jury here for more than a year.
The investigation, which initially centered on accusations that Mr. Abramoff had defrauded tribal casinos of tens of millions of dollars in lobbying fees, has created alarm on Capitol Hill, where the lobbyist and his junior partner, Mr. Scanlon, claimed friendships among the Republican leaders of Congress.
Prosecutors have not named any of the public officials who were the targets of Mr. Scanlon's scheme.
But court papers in the case filed Monday and last week singled out one member of Congress - "Representative No. 1" - as a focus of Mr. Scanlon's illegal lobbying, asserting that the lawmaker accepted gifts, including a 2002 golf trip to Scotland and regular meals at Mr. Abramoff's restaurant, "in exchange for a series of official acts and influence."
Representative Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Administration Committee, has acknowledged that he is the lawmaker, while saying there was no quid pro quo with Mr. Abramoff or Mr. Scanlon. Mr. Ney, who was subpoenaed this month by the grand jury investigating Mr. Abramoff, has said he was "duped" by the lobbyists.

Alessandra Stanley has a look back at Ted Koppel in the arts section. I enjoy Stanley's writing style but I disagree with nearly every sentence in the piece. As soon as this posts, another take on Ted Koppel & Nightline will post. I doubt we have any Koppel lovers in the community, but if there are any, read Stanley's take. (My take is the complete opposite -- I could, as always, be wrong. And thanks to Dallas and two other members who helped me hunt down links throughout the night. It was a long night for everyone involved and we wouldn't have the post about to go up without them.)

Rod e-mails to note a topic for today's Democracy Now!:

Tuesday, November 22: Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's former chief of staff, joins us to talk about prewar intelligence, torture of detainees and the cabal in the White House.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.








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