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  The Nation

  http://makethemaccountable.com/index.php/2008/05/19/the-nati...
  109 days ago in Make Them Accountable · Authority: 161

  The Nation 19-May-08 Bush lectures Arab world on political reform, women’s rights SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - President Bush lectured the Arab world Sunday about everything from political repression to the denial of women’s rights but ran into Palestinian complaints he is favoring Israel in stalled Mideast peace talks. “Freedom and peace are within your grasp,” Bush said despite scant signs of progress. Bush ends 5-day Middle East trip with few concrete gains SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt_Wrapping up a five-day tour of the Middle East, President Bush on Sunday told his Arab allies that expanding democratic reforms and isolating the “spoilers” — Iran and Syria — were crucial steps to a secure and prosperous future for the region. Bush says Palestinians’ plight “breaks my heart” SHARM EL SHEIK, Egypt_ President Bush said Saturday that “it breaks my heart” that the Palestinian people have been unable to establish an independent homeland and he vowed anew to try to forge an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by year’s end. You can believe him if you want to. Bush Once Again Fails To ‘Jawbone’ King Abdullah At His Horse Ranch Into Increasing Oil Production (Think Progress) During the 2000 presidential campaign, President Bush criticized the Clinton administration for high fuel prices and said that as president, he would take a much tougher approach — “jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.”… Last January, Bush went to Saudi Arabia to “jawbone” King Abdullah into increasing oil production in an effort to bring rising gas prices down in the United States. But perhaps because the jawboning session occurred in the comforts of the King’s horse ranch, the King declined Bush’s kind request.” Bush was back in Saudi Arabia today meeting with the King to make a second appeal for the oil-rich nation to increase its crude output. But again, instead of jawboning, Bush took the horse farm approach and failed once again. Judge delays first war crimes trial at Gitmo. (Think Progress) Yesterday, a military judge “postponed the first war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, saying he wants to wait until the Supreme Court makes its highly anticipated ruling on the right of detainees to challenge their confinement in civil courts.” The case will now be delayed until July 21, to avoid “‘potential embarrassment, waste of resources and prejudice to the accused,’ if the Supreme Court ruling forces a halt to the proceedings mid-trial.” Defense lawyers for Salim Ahmed Hamdan had requested a postponement, but military prosecutors said they were “eager to go to trial.” F.B.I. Gets Mixed Review in Interrogation Report WASHINGTON — A new Justice Department report praises the refusal of F.B.I. agents to take part in the military’s abusive questioning of prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, but it also finds fault with the bureau’s slow response to complaints about the tactics from its own agents, people with knowledge of the still-secret report said. U.S. planning big new prison in Afghanistan. (Think Progress) In “a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come,” the New York Times reports today that “the Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex” at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. As Justin Peters notes at Slate, the Times’ article doesn’t reveal until its final paragraphs that “some detainees have been held without charge for more than five years” at the current Bagram detention facility. Sanchez may have been commander in Iraq, but he says he was just following orders WASHINGTON — To hear retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez explain it, the mistakes of the Iraq war that happened while he was in command there weren’t his fault. Not Abu Ghraib, not the birth of the insurgency, not the decision to let rebel cleric Muqtada al Sadr survive. AP IMPACT: Thousands killed in 1950 by US’s Korean ally DAEJEON, South Korea - Grave by mass grave, South Korea is unearthing the skeletons and buried truths of a cold-blooded slaughter from early in the Korean War, when this nation’s U.S.-backed regime killed untold thousands of leftists and hapless peasants in a summer of terror in 1950. New commission to study WMDs announced WASHINGTON - Soon after taking office, the next president will get some advice about how to prevent a nuclear attack on the U.S., researched and written by top experts on weapons of mass destruction. Hans von Spakovsky withdraws as FEC nominee. (Think Progress) [Friday], Hans von Spakovsky — President Bush’s nominee to the FEC and a lighting rod for criticism over his history of voter suppression at the Justice Department — withdrew his nomination. The Senate had blocked Spakovsky over concern about his tenure at the DOJ, where he unilaterally approved stringent voter ID laws and blocked investigations into voter discrimination. As border fence goes up, illegal traffic slows down RANCHO ANAPRA, Mexico — When mechanic Adrian Hernandez finishes building his new shanty — part home, part auto repair shop — nobody in tiny Rancho Anapra will live closer to the United States. Nor, in his mind, any farther away. Employment verification plan: Big Brother or big improvement? WASHINGTON — For critics, the idea is an Orwellian nightmare: The federal government would begin signing off on every hiring decision made in the United States. Feinstein seeks to attach guest-worker plan to Iraq war funding bill WASHINGTON — Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has changed her tune about using Iraq war spending bills to provide temporary legal status for illegal farm workers. House GOP throws Iraq funding into chaos House Republicans knocked the carefully choreographed Iraq war funding process into chaos Thursday when they declined to vote for $162.5 billion for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The vote was a GOP protest against the tactics of Democrats, who added hard-to-veto domestic spending to the measure and bypassed the committee process. Instead of voting “yes” or “no” on the funding measure, 132 Republicans instead voted “present.” Because of that, the measure failed by eight votes. In the final tally, 141 members voted yes, 149 voted no, 132 voted present and 12 did not vote. House Republican leaders said they were seeking to demonstrate that Democrats could not pass the spending bill on their own. Pelosi ends Iraq visit after talks on vote, security: officials BAGHDAD (AFP) - US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi discussed Iraq’s upcoming provincial elections and security issues during a flying visit to Baghdad, officials said on Sunday. Kennedy awaiting test results at Boston hospital BOSTON - Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy remained in the hospital Sunday, awaiting test results that could explain why the 76-year-old Democrat suffered a seizure a day earlier. Judge Bork Settles Slip and Fall Lawsuit Former appellate judge and Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork settled his $1 million lawsuit (plus punitive damages) against the Yale Club for a slip and fall injury for an undisclosed amount of money. Judge Bork has been a leading advocate of restricting plaintiffs’ ability to recover through tort law. Texas cities sue to suspend border fence construction WASHINGTON — Mayors from Texas border cities are suing the Department of Homeland Security over construction of 670 miles of fencing along the Southwest border. ‘Little old granny’ a trend in drug trade SMITHFIELD - Ruth Davis banked on looking like just another granny in the slow lane. But the 65-year-old Floridian was on business. A high-dollar delivery — 33 pounds of premium pot — was locked up in the trunk of her rented Chevy Impala. She set her cruise on 74 as she headed north on Interstate 95 through Johnston County, bound for New York. Alaska governor wants residents to get energy rebates Gov. Sarah Palin is proposing an energy cost relief plan to give Alaskans $100-a-month debit cards and pour state dollars into electric utilities so they’ll slash their bills to ratepayers. Ethics questions raised by Kansas D.A.’s speaking solicitations A private, anti-abortion Web site is soliciting donations and speaking engagements for a local Kansas district attorney, even as he pursues criminal charges against a Kansas abortion provider. Costs of raid on polygamist sect in the millions and mounting AUSTIN — Providing foster care for the 460-plus children seized at a polygamist ranch six weeks ago could cost taxpayers as much as $1.5 million a month, and that does not take into account the millions the state is on the hook for dispatching countless caseworkers and law officers to West Texas in the days after the raid. Alabama sheriffs feed inmates on $1.75 a day BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over… Critics charge that Alabama is, in effect, paying law enforcement to skimp on food and may be rewarding sheriffs for mistreating prisoners. “It’s a bad system, and it ought not be that way,” said Buddy Sharpless, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama.

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