"The London Guardian said the U.S. offered to scare Iran during thestandoff with Britain. U.S. planes were going to buzz Iranian bases butTony Blair said no. Tony Blair could be the first leader to win the NobelPeace Prize for turning down American aid."- Argus Hamilton=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Drastic Measureshttp://www.cagle.com/working/070410/thompson.jpg=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Has the Patriot Act, together with the presidential declaration ofemergency on 9/11 (not revoked!), become our new de facto Constitution?SPY CHIEF WANTS EXPANDED POWERSMcConnell signals more aggressive posture on surveillance authorityhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18046106/President Bush's spy chief is pushing to expand the government'ssurveillance authority at the same time the administration is under attackfor stretching its domestic eavesdropping powers.National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell has circulated a draft billthat would expand the government's powers under the Foreign IntelligenceSurveillance Act [FISA], liberalizing how that law can be used.According to officials familiar with the draft changes to FISA, McConnellwants to:- Give the NSA the power to monitor foreigners without seeking FISA courtapproval, even if the surveillance is conducted by tapping phones ande-mail accounts in the United States. "Determinations about whether acourt order is required should be based on considerations about the targetof the surveillance, rather than the particular means of communication orthe location from which the surveillance is being conducted," NSA DirectorKeith Alexander told the Senate last year.- Clarify the standards the FBI and NSA must use to get court orders forbasic information about calls and e-mails -- such as the number dialed,e-mail address, or time and date of the communications. Civil libertiesadvocates contend the change will make it too easy for the government toaccess this information.- Triple the life span of a FISA warrant for a non-U.S. citizen from 120days to one year, allowing the government to monitor much longer withoutchecking back in with a judge.- Give telecommunications companies immunity from civil liability fortheir cooperation with Bush's terrorist surveillance program. Pendinglawsuits against companies including Verizon and AT&T allege they violatedprivacy laws by giving phone records to the NSA for the program.- Extend from 72 hours to one week the amount of time the government canconduct surveillance without a court order in emergencies. ...=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=How about "No"? Does "No" work for you, Mike?=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--="Homeland Security circulated a draft bill Tuesday that would expandgovernment power to secretly spy on Americans. The president no longerkeeps track of batting averages. Now that he is raising money for hislibrary, he charts adultery statistics."- Argus Hamilton=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Dick the Parrothttp://www.cagle.com/working/070411/lowe.gif=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=THE FBI'S TERRORISM TRADEOFFhttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/311046_fbiterror11.htmlThousands of white-collar criminals across the country are no longer beingprosecuted in federal court -- and, in many cases, not at all -- leaving atrail of frustrated victims and potentially billions of dollars in fraudand theft losses.It is the untold story of the Bush administration's massive restructuringof the FBI after the terrorism attacks of 9/11.Five-and-a-half years later, the White House and the Justice Departmenthave failed to replace at least 2,400 agents transferred tocounterterrorism squads, leaving far fewer agents on the trail of identitythieves, con artists, hatemongers and other criminals.Two successive attorneys general have rejected the FBI's pleas forreinforcements behind closed doors. ...- Overall, the number of criminal cases investigated by the FBI nationallyhas steadily declined. In 2005, the bureau brought slightly more than20,000 cases to federal prosecutors, compared with about 31,000 in 2000 --a 34 percent drop.- White-collar crime investigations by the bureau have plummeted in recentyears. In 2005, the FBI sent prosecutors 3,500 cases -- a fraction of themore than 10,000 cases assigned to agents in 2000.- Civil rights investigations, which include hate crimes and police abuse,have continued a steady decline since the late 1990s. FBI agents pursued65 percent fewer cases in 2005 than they did in 2000. ...=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Days the color-coded federal terror alert system has been in place: 1,852Days spent at terror alert level Blue or Green: 0- Bill in Portland Maine=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=I Love Dis Show....http://www.creators.com/editorial_cartoons/1/866_thumb.gif=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=U.S. Counter-Counterterrorism Unit Successfully Destroys WashingtonMonumenthttp://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_counter_counterterrorism_unitThe Department of Homeland Security announced Monday that itsCounter-Counterterrorism Unit successfully carried out its largest andmost complex anti-anti-terror exercise to date, destroying the WashingtonMonument in a massive explosion that left 122 dead, dozens more injured,and the area around the National Mall a chaotic scene of smoke and debris."We learned from Sept. 11 that we can't just sit back and wait for theterrorists to attack us," said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff at a pressconference held in front of an on-site triage tent, gesturing to theblackened stump of the 122-year-old obelisk as divers pulled bodies fromthe nearby reflecting pool. "We still have a lot of work to do, but thisoperation exceeded our expectations. If we hadn't destroyed the WashingtonMonument today, we would never have known how vulnerable it was toattack.""Now it can never be destroyed by terrorists," Chertoff added. ...=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--="Halliburton was discovered Monday to be engaged in giant constructionprojects in Iran despite U.N. sanctions, although Halliburton says theprojects are completed. The pressure was really on to do a good job. Oncethe smart bomb blows off the roof, everyone with a satellite is going toknow if it's shoddy construction."- Argus Hamilton=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Ya Think?!?http://images.ucomics.com/comics/wpnan/2007/wpnan070401.gif=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Don Imus Pardoned by President Bushhttp://www.pugbus.net/artman/publish/04127002_11_pardonyou.shtmlFormer MSNBC personality Don Imus was pardoned by President Bush yesterdayin a surprising exercise of executive privilege. The timing of the pardonwas unusual. Outgoing presidents generally issue pardons on their last dayin office right before catching the helicopter out of Washington.Some observers are speculating, therefore, that by acting early PresidentBush may be signaling his own resignation."Why else would the president pardon the only public figure whosepopularity is lower than his?" asked CNN's Wolf Blitzer.Regarding Mr. Imus, the president said: "I know what it's like to haveyour every word parched for hidden addenda. I also know what it's like tomake statements on the basis of faulty intelligence. We now realize inhindsight that the members of the Rutgers women's basketball team do nothave nappy hair, and they don't look like hos either, but how was Mr. Imusto know that? I am, therefore, pardoning Mr. Imus. It is time for thisnation to move on and to rededicate itself to victory against the realterrorists--the ones in Iraq, who kill way more Negroes than Mr. Imus'remarks ever did." ...=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Syria Story "Exploited By Journalists Looking For Fake Controversy"http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/04/richard_holbroo.phpDavid Gregory: But why is it appropriate to have Congress and haveDemocratic leaders pursuing a shadow foreign policy?Amb. Richard Holbrooke: David. David. They're not pursuing a shadowforeign policy. They're making trips to the region. The Republican grouphad gone out before her. She had Republicans on her group. Congressmen aresupposed to travel to understand better how to spend the taxpayers' money,which is their responsibility. ...I think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion by a deliberateambush plan by the opposition, in this case the Republicans, and frankly,exploited by journalists who are just looking for a fake controversy.There is no issue here. Congressman Wolf, a major Republican, was in theregion a few days earlier. Republicans were on her trip. There's no issue.None.=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--="Somehow or other in this whole dispute we've forgotten the fact thatSpeaker [Newt] Gingrich went to the Middle East and blasted the Clintonadministration when he had that position, and Speaker Hastert told theColumbian military that they could deal directly with theRepublican-controlled congress and bypass the Clinton administration.Look, they may dislike the messenger---in this case Nancy Pelosi---but shewent over there and she articulated the president's message to Assad toclose the border, stop undermining Lebanon, and start talking to Israel."- Donna BrazileThis Week with George Stephanopoulos=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Bad News, Sir....http://images.ucomics.com/comics/tmdsu/2007/tmdsu070407.gif=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--="The Speaker had met with President Bush in the halls of the U.S. Capitoljust the day before we left and mentioned to him that we were going toSyria. No response at all from the President. The State Department wascertainly aware of our traveling to Syria and our full itinerary. Andthere were State Department officials in every meeting that we had on this[congressional delegation]. So that is all hogwash as far as I'mconcerned."- Rep. Nick Rahall [D-WV]=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Me? Isolated?http://www.cagle.com/working/070409/britt.jpg=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--="The Speaker and many of her Democratic allies have become so drunk withgrandiose visions of deposing Bush that they break bread with terroristsand enemies of the United States. The Speaker's words and actions carryconsequences for U.S. policy, and they certainly did our allies no favorslast week. Instead of standing united with the president and Congressagainst the Syrian menace, Mrs. Pelosi chose to needlessly divide us."- Rep. Eric Cantor [R-VA], Chief Deputy Minority Whip=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Excerpt of Sen. Hillary Clinton's radio interview with WSYR (Syracuse, NY)http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=272076&&Interviewer: Nancy Pelosi has taken that trip to Syria which raised a lotof controversy. What was your take on that? Were you pleased that she didthat or do you think that was a mistake?Senator Clinton: No I think that both her delegation, which was primarilyDemocrats, and a Republican delegation that was there approximately at thesame time are doing the right thing. We have got to engage thesecountries. Obviously we have serious differences with a country likeSyria, but we're sure not making progress towards our goals in the regionby isolating and ignoring them. So I wish the President were engaged inthe region, in the way that I would think a President should be. You knowwe were always engaged, whether it was a Republican or DemocraticPresident. With the former Soviet Union, we had a Communist Empire withthousands of missiles pointed at us, with Presidents who said that theywanted to bury us, running proxy wars against us. We never stoppedengaging and talking and we never gave up on our values. In fact I thinkwe learned a lot about our adversaries which helped us eventually bringabout their decline and defeat in the Cold War. Well I think that's themuch smarter way. I don't agree with the President's view that we don'ttalk to bad people because clearly that's not a smart way to figure outhow you can bring leverage on them and that's what I'm interested in.=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Yes, It Belongs To You Too!http://www.cagle.com/working/070410/sack.jpg=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=The world is so much safer without Saddam, isn't it?AL-QAEDA CLAIMS ALGIERS BOMBINGhttp://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21543281-5005961,00.htmlBOMBS killed 30 people in Algeria's capital today, attacks claimed byal-Qaeda that raised fears the north African oil exporter was slippingback into the intense political violence of the 1990s. ...=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=Miss Me?http://www.cagle.com/working/070409/stantis.jpg=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=RICHARDSON'S N. KOREA VISIT YIELDS NUKE BREAKTHROUGHhttp://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=31553&cat=NMTOPSTORIESNew Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's visit to North Korea appears to beyielding unexpected fruit.Richardson, part of a bipartisan delegation dispatched to North Korea toreturn remains of U.S. MIAs, appears to have secured a concession from thecommunist state on its developing nuclear weapons program.Monday, a North Korean nuclear arms negotiator relayed to Richardson thatthe country would be willing to allow international U.N. arms inspectorsinto the country if some $25 million in North Korean money that has beenfrozen is released.On Tuesday, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill signaled from Tokyo the U.S.willingness to deal. ...=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=N.Korea Trip Explainedhttp://www.cagle.com/working/070411/trever.gif=--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--= =--=BREAKING NEWS from PNN.news.com-- President Bush to take long weekend, "just to get his mind off things";says he never fully recovered from that weekend he worked last spring.(crystalair.com)PNN:Making you more informed and obnoxious than when you woke up.*************************************************************© 2007 PBen News Network, Inc. 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