Archive for the 'The Congress' Category

House panel probes neocon phone jamming in New Hampshire election

Published by
elophan
May 14, 2008 in Election Fraud, Newz, The Congress and The GOP. 1 Comment

By ANDREW MIGA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A House panel is probing the Election Day 2002 phone-jamming plot by GOP operatives against New Hampshire Democrats.

Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., wants the panel to focus on key “unanswered questions” about whether the White House played a role in the plot — and whether the Justice Department dragged its feet on the case for political reasons.

“I want to know what the connection was between the White House, the Republican National Committee and the conspiracy to jam phones,” said Hodes, who was scheduled to testify Wednesday before a joint panel of two Judiciary Committee subcommittees.

Hodes said the public deserves to know whether political interference delayed prosecution of the case until after the 2004 elections and President Bush’s re-election. The controversy over the alleged political firings of eight federal prosecutors underscores the need to hold the Justice Department accountable, he said.

The phone-jamming scandal has led to at least three criminal prosecutions and a lawsuit that was settled with Republicans paying the Democrats $135,000.

Allen Raymond, a Republican consultant who served three months in prison for his role organizing the jamming, will also testify. He wrote a book entitled “How to Rig an Election.”

Charles McGee, former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican Party, pleaded guilty and served seven months in prison for his role in the scheme. More…

Share This

Democrats plan surtax on high income earners to pay for veterans’ education

Published by
elophan
May 14, 2008 in Education, Military, Newz, The Congress and Veterans. 0 Comments

NEW YORK (Reuters) - House Democrats are proposing a surtax on high-income earners as a way to fund an expansion of education benefits for veterans, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

Under the proposal, a surtax of 0.5 percent will be levied on couples earning more than $1 million a year, and individuals earning more than $500,000 a year, the Journal said, citing Democratic aides. More…

If shrub vetoes it, that would once again prove how much he HATES the members of our military. -Sue

Share This

Top Vet In Congress Calls For Repeal Of Ban On Gays In Military

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 12, 2008 in Human Rights, Military, Newz, Policies and Procedures, The Congress and Veterans. 0 Comments

From 365Gay:

 (Washington) Rep. Sestak (D-PA) is the latest in a growing number of former military brass calling for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law banning lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel from serving openly in the military. 

Sestak (pictured), who had served as a three-star Admiral and who spent thirty-one years in the Navy, is the highest ranking military veteran in Congress.”It is easy for me to see why ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ should be repealed,” Sestak told the Equality Forum. 

“Once you have served in war and faced danger with a gay service member, how can you come home and say gay people should not enjoy equal rights? It is simple. ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ must be repealed.”

Sestak joins 16 other veterans in Congress who are co-sponsors of legislation to lift the ban on openly gay service. 

“Veterans like Admiral Sestak, who have dedicated their lives to serving this country, are leading the movement in Congress to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. 

 Article Continues @ Sourced Site.

Share This

Dorgan to introduce supplement funding amendment prohibiting offshore contractors

Published by
elophan
May 8, 2008 in KBR, Newz, Taxes, The Congress, The Dems and The War in Iraq. 0 Comments

By ELISE CASTELLI, Federal Times

A top Senate Democrat wants government contractors to stop dodging U.S. tax laws by setting up offshore firms in known tax havens.

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said May 7 he will offer an amendment to the fiscal 2008 emergency Defense Department supplemental to restrict any of the supplemental funds from going to firms that set up offshore subsidiaries to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

Houston-based KBR, which holds a multibillion-dollar Army logistics contract, lists its 10,500 employees working in Iraq as employees of two Cayman Island firms that don’t have phone numbers or offices, Dorgan’s statement said. Another logistics and construction firm, IAP Worldwide Services, hires Americans through offshore subsidiaries to avoid paying Social Security taxes, according to the statement. More…

YAY!!!!! -Sue

Share This

Senate Democrats Seeking a Special Tax on Oil Profits

Published by
elophan
May 8, 2008 in Gas Prices, Newz, Taxes, The Congress and The Dems. 0 Comments

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for a temporary special tax on oil companies’ profits and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package. The Democrats are also seeking federal penalties on energy price gouging and a suspension of oil deliveries into the government’s emergency reserve.

Senate Republicans strongly oppose any additional oil industry taxes, which are widely viewed as unlikely to be enacted and would almost certainly prompt a veto by President Bush.

The proposed 25 percent profits tax would apply just to oil company earnings above what would be considered “reasonable” and only if those profits are not reinvested in expanding refinery capacity or renewable energy sources, according to a summary of the proposals.

The tax would expire after two years.

The only section of the Democrats’ proposal that seems to have widespread bipartisan support is suspending deliveries into the government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve until oil prices drop to $75 a barrel. More…

Share This

House Panel Votes to Authorize Subpoena of VP Cheney’s Top Aide

Published by
elophan
May 6, 2008 in Law and Justice, Newz, The Congress and The Executive Branch. 0 Comments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Democratic-led U.S. congressional panel voted on Tuesday to authorize its chairman to subpoena Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff in its probe of possible U.S. torture of suspected terrorists.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, may issue a subpoena as early as Wednesday for David Addington, who maintains he is immune from being required to testify before Congress. A court fight is likely if he refuses to show up.

The subcommittee authorized the subpoena shortly before beginning a hearing into what Nadler describes as the role of administration lawyers in creating abusive interrogation techniques after the September 11 attacks. More…

Share This

Republicans threaten to throw tantrum over Iraq funding

Published by
elophan
May 6, 2008 in Newz, The Congress, The GOP and The War in Iraq. 0 Comments

By MARTIN KADY II, Politico

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is about to lead her party into a major showdown over Iraq funding by violating two Democratic campaign pledges in one fell swoop.

To the critics, whether anti-war activists or House Republicans, Pelosi has made her feelings clear: Get over it.

This week’s maneuvering over a $200 billion war spending bill has revealed Pelosi self-confidently playing what she believes — with increasing evidence — is a strong hand.

Strong enough that she is expected to break one promise — her 2006 pledge for a more open and inclusive committee process — by circumventing the powerful House Appropriations Committee on the Iraq bill.

And when the final Iraq bill reaches the president’s desk, any troop withdrawal conditions are likely to be gone from the legislation. That is another 2006 pledge that has fallen by the wayside.

Pelosi’s calculation, say political analysts, seems clear. Democrats are using the Iraq bill as leverage for billions of dollars in domestic spending priorities. As for anti-war activists, they seem to accept the speaker’s logic: More than 40 previous Iraq votes have left Democrats maxed out in terms of legislative efforts to dictate an end to the war over a veto-wielding President Bush.

Most of all, the early signs are that there will not be a backlash from voters. Democratic victories in recent special elections — Don Cazayoux in Louisiana and Bill Foster in Illinois — suggest that individual candidates are not suffering from the low public approval ratings that are afflicting the Democratic Congress.

House Republicans, protesting the bypassing of the Appropriations Committee, promise floor theatrics, with numerous floor votes when the Iraq bill comes for a House vote.

Explaining the threatened tantrum, Jo Maney, spokeswoman for Republicans on the House Rules Committee, said: “You said you were going to do something and you didn’t. They are using process for political objectives.” More…

Share This

Rep. Filner Accuses Veterans Affairs Dept. of Criminal Negligence

Published by
elophan
May 6, 2008 in Health Care, Military, Newz, The Congress and Veterans. 0 Comments

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner accused the Department of Veterans Affairs Tuesday of criminal negligence in the handling of data about the number of veterans who have committed suicide.

E-mails among VA officials were recently disclosed during a trial in San Francisco that suggested some might have been attempting to hide the number of attempted suicides by those under the agency’s care. More…

Share This

Cheney: History will show Bush created a ‘more hopeful world

Published by
Gene Shinai
May 4, 2008 in Insult and Injury, Middle East, Newz, Policies and Procedures, Politics, The Congress, The Executive Branch, The GOP and The War in Iraq. 0 Comments

From Rawstory:

George W. Bush has made the world a more hopeful place.This from Vice President Dick Cheney, who spoke to a crowd of Oklahoma Republicans Friday evening. 

“When the history is written, it will be said this is a safer country and more hopeful world because George Bush was president,” Cheney said, according to Oklahoma’s Tulsa World.Of Iraq, Cheney quipped: “Our strategy is the right strategy. The only way we can lose is to quit.”

If the US departs, he said, it would show America “doesn’t have the stomach for a fight.” Cheney himself received five draft deferments to avoid service in the Vietnam war.To justify a US presence in the wartorn region, Cheney cited the Russian experience in Afghanistan.

“We were engaged in that country, lending support to the mujahadeen against Soviet forces,” he said. “Afterwards, everybody walked away and forgot about Afghanistan. What followed was a civil war and the emergence of the Taliban. In 1996, Osama Bin Laden was invited into Afghanistan. He trained thousands of terrorists, some of whom were part of the attacks here on the United States.”

He didn’t mention the the US pulled out of Afghanistan as well, after the defeat of the Soviets, or that US business, including those in Texas during George W. Bush’s term as governor, engaged in business with the Taliban regime.

“His remarks did not cover any new ground,” the Tulsa paper noted. “He plugged Oklahoma’s Republican congressional delegation and presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain, advocated more oil wells and refineries as the solution to rising gasoline prices and predicted dire economic consequences if current temporary tax cuts and incentives are not made permanent.”

Slams Democrats for bill Bush vetoed 

Article Continues @ Sourced Site. 

 

 

Share This

Senate panel votes to block money for Iraq reconstruction

Published by
elophan
May 1, 2008 in Newz, The Congress and The War in Iraq. 0 Comments

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A Senate panel has agreed to block U.S. funding for Iraq reconstruction projects worth more than $2 million and to try to force Baghdad to cover the costs of training and equipping the country’s security forces.

The provision, included in a 2009 defense policy bill approved this week by the Senate Armed Services Committee, comes as Democrats draft a similar provision within separate legislation that would cover this year’s war spending.

The efforts are part of the latest push on Capitol Hill to get Iraq to spend more of its own money and spare U.S. taxpayers. Democrats and many Republicans say it is unfair that Iraq is looking at pulling in as much as $70 billion in oil revenues this year while Americans grapple with soaring fuel prices at the pump.

The defense policy bill, which has not been approved by the full Senate, would not cut off smaller rebuilding projects. It specifically supports a program that allows military commanders to spend money on emergency relief projects, as well as an effort that dispatches civilian reconstruction teams to work with local provincial officials.

The bill would require the administration to work with Baghdad to obligate its own money for smaller reconstruction projects before U.S. money is used.

It also says the U.S. must initiate negotiations with Iraq on a broader agreement to share the costs of combat operations in Iraq. More…

Share This

« Previous Entries

  • Support The H.O.R.N.

    Monthly Subscriptions
    Rock ($10 USD)
    Paper ($25 USD)
    Scissors ($50 USD)
    Hammer! ($100 USD)
  • To donate by mail

On Air!



Streaming and Archives made possible by
The White Rose Society

Chatroom


  • One Billion Bulbs The Head On Radio Network Bulbs Change Statistics


  • H.O.R.N. Widgets




    • Subscribe

    Subscribe to my RSS Feeds

    Archives

    Categories

    Close
    E-mail It