Fox News

01/17/06

The extent of high-dollar lobbyist Jack Abramoff's criminal behavior might become the biggest congressional scandal in decades, but to clear the air lawmakers in Washington must first grapple with the slippery equation that includes lobbying, politicians, money and legislation. The root problem, analysts say, is that the political process is being corrupted by money linked to lobbying -- not a new problem by any means, but a pervasive one that further erodes public trust in the legislative system. And even when rules seek to strike a balance between what should and should not be allowed in the lobbyist-lawmaker relationship, not everyone is going to follow them, added congressional scholar Norm Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181834,00.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

San Francisco Chronicle

01/17/06

Sen. Hillary Clinton on Monday blasted the Bush administration as 'one of the worst' in U.S. history and compared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to a plantation where dissenting voices are squelched. Speaking during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, Clinton also offered an apology to a group of Hurricane Katrina survivors 'on behalf of a government that left you behind, that turned its back on you.' Her remarks were met with thunderous applause by a mostly black audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem. The House 'has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about,' said Clinton, D-N.Y. 'It has been run in a way so that nobody with a contrary view has had a chance to present legislation, to make an argument, to be heard'...

http://tinyurl.com/9hvku


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

01/17/06

House Speaker Dennis Hastert urged new restrictions on gifts from lobbyists Tuesday, responding to a scandal that already has claimed two Republican leaders and raised GOP fears about this year's elections. Hastert, confronting a political crisis spawned by the Jack Abramoff scandal, promoted legislation that would end the practices of lobbyists footing the bill for lunches or arranging lavish 'fact-finding' trips for members of Congress to warm-weather resorts...

http://tinyurl.com/9fuj2


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was "unlikely" because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles, according to a secret memo that was recently declassified by the State Department.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011806Z.shtml

There is a bit of painful humor that I've heard from black schoolteachers who grew up during the era of the integration movement and have subsequently seen its goals abandoned and its early victories reversed, writes Jonathan Kozol. If you want to see a really segregated school in the United States today, start by looking for a school that's named for Martin Luther King or Rosa Parks.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011806O.shtml

Michael Scherer writes: Civil liberties attorneys have been searching for the picture-perfect plaintiffs to challenge President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program. The dilemma they faced was obvious: the only known targets of the secret spying are suspected or convicted terrorists, hardly the most politically palatable victims of government abuse. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union revealed its solution to this problem in a spectacular fashion. It filed suit against the National Security Agency with a collection of litigants that reads like the guest list of an Arianna Huffington dinner party.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011806N.shtml

Illegal eavesdropping swept up vast quantities of Americans' private communications without any reasonable belief that they could be related to terrorism. The National Security Agency flooded the Federal Bureau of Investigation with thousands of names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and other tips that virtually all led to dead ends or to innocent Americans.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011806K.shtml

Abramoff had "a few staff-level meetings" at the Bush White House, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said Tuesday. But he would not say with whom Abramoff met, which interests he was representing, or how he got access to the White House.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011806I.shtml