American Family VOices from Miriam V

AM Feed - August 26, 2005

Hot Topics
List of 3 items
Prosecutors in San Diego have alleged that Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham
(R-CA) violated federal bribery laws when he "demanded and received" a hefty
price
tag for his home, which was sold to defense contractor Mitchell Wade in
2003. Wade then sold the home for a $700,000 loss, but the company he
founded,
MZM Inc., has taken in over $160 million in Defense contracts over the past
three years. The allegation that Cunningham "demanded" the high price
undermines
any theory that he was nothing more than an inactive bystander in the deal.
Shortly after selling his home to Wade for $1.675 million, Cunningham
purchased
another home for $2.55 million.
[link]
A highly classified report from the CIA inspector general's office has
reprimanded dozens of CIA officials for performance failures before 9/11. At
the
top of the list is former CIA Director George Tenet, who was censured for
failing to develop and carry out a plan against al Qaeda. Tenet stepped down
last summer. The report recommended that current CIA Director Porter Goss
set up "accountability boards" to deal with those officials mentioned by the
report that are still serving in the agency. Of course, the Bush
administration's colossal failure to demand accountability from any of its
members is
legendary, so it remains to be seen if this latest report can change that
trend.
[link]
Four leading gay rights groups have combined to release a statement opposing
the nomination of John Roberts for the US Supreme Court. The groups
concluded
that, based on Roberts' records, he "would not vote to protect our civil
rights from those who are, at this moment, fighting so hard to take them
away."
Roberts did offer pro bono services in the gay rights case of Romer v.
Evans, but that amounted to fewer than 10 hours of work, and the groups
decided
that it did not cancel out his record of hardline conservative ideology that
he crafted over decades of work.
[link]
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Morning Snark
List of 1 items
After the Plame leak, were CIA investigators wary of handing over a highly
classified report to the Bush administration? Will anyone really be shocked
if
the authors' ATM information just "happens" to pop up on some website?
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