"I am certain," Mr. Cook wrote, "the real reason he went to war was that he found it easier to resist the public opinion of Britain than the request of the president of the United States."
A year before, Mr. Cook wrote, Mr. Blair had instructed the cabinet: "We must steer close to America. If we don't, we will lose our influence to shape what they do."

Sixteen people accused of rapes or sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy are still on active duty as officers in the U.S. military

According to reports this week by the St. Petersburg Times' Paul de la Garza, the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa inflated its budget at the Pentagon's request to conceal $20-million from Congress.

The meeting with Enron occurred ten days after rolling blackouts darkened California for two consecutive days; Schwarzenegger has previously said that he does not remember such a meeting.
The meeting was meant to be an opportunity to gain business community support for Enron's "comprehensive solution" to the energy crisis. In one e-mail, Enron's VP of Public Relations wrote: "We'd like to position this meeting as an insider's conversation of what's going on with the energy situation. This meeting should be for principals only."

Jayson Blair was only a fluke deviation. Miller strikes right at the core of the regular functioning news machine."
This is the new standard of journalism. If you don't act obsequious enough, and don't play along by the new rules, you will simply be shut out of the game.

The analysis released Thursday also correlated the misperceptions with the primary news source of the mistaken respondents. For example, 80 percent of those who said they relied on Fox News and 71 percent of those who said they relied on CBS believed at least one of the three misperceptions.
The comparable figures were 47 percent for those who said they relied most on newspapers and magazines and 23 percent for those who said they relied on PBS or National Public Radio.
Bush himself saying in May: "We found the weapons of mass destruction … and we'll find more as time goes by."
By contrast, less than a quarter of those polled who had none of the misconceptions backed the war.

The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken.
It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off.
Here's the story Arnold doesn't want you to hear. The biggest single threat to Ken Lay and the electricity lords is a private lawsuit filed last year under California's unique Civil Code provision 17200, the "Unfair Business Practices Act." This litigation, heading to trial now in Los Angeles, would make the power companies return the $9 billion they filched from California electricity and gas customers.
But if Arnold is selected, it's hasta la vista to the $9 billion. When the electricity emperors whistle, Arnold comes – to the Peninsula Hotel or the Governor's mansion.

evilBay Repeatedly Cancels Auctions for Schwarzenegger Issue of Oui

in a state with over 35 Wal-Marts, all selling guns. Obviously, other stores and people sell guns, but Wal-Mart would seem to be a major supplier in these parts, as in the rest of the United States.

People can be cruel, at any most age. He’s 15, and according to the news sources has acne and *has been seen alone. *


An F.B.I. inquiry proceeded quietly for two months until a counterleaker struck. The referral to Justice had been reported on MSNBC, but when it hit the front page of The Washington Post, that story had a sensational angle: "A senior administration official said that before Novak's column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife."

"The video footage we captured on film is the most brazen and shameless display of public homosexuality I've ever seen," Mawyer says." And to think it occurred at Disney World is simply stunning and beyond belief."

millertime: One major rule that she consistently violates, when she is not sharing a byline, is that of "protecting the paper's neutrality." The editors know, of course, that she is an ideological neo-conservative, close to the Bush administration neo-cons, and thoroughly identified with them. She had called for the overthrow of Saddam's regime in non-Times publications and had also spoken out before the war in public speeches for which she was paid.
She is known inside the paper to be very pro-Israel. She has had an extensive relationship with Daniel Pipes' Mideast Forum. Benador Associates lists her as a speaker. She has participated in conferences funded in part by departments of the Israeli government. Israeli security services funnel information through her, sources she occasionally cites.
Her smallpox article was a piece of structured propaganda from start to finish, based on a single source making allegations to the CIA. As one Times source told me: "There were more red flags on this story than in Moscow on May Day."
This is actually what Miller did: the interview was conducted by e-mail, Miller added that "if I don't hear back from you I'll assume it's OK to use." Not hearing back, she used it. But the scientist didn't check her e-mail further that day.

The University Students' Union has come out swinging. It publicized a call last night for all students to boycott the 200 professors who signed a petition in support of the "rebel pilots," and not to sign up for their courses.
The students' letter did not understate their case: "You [professors], with your confused ideas, are not worthy of imparting knowledge to anyone, and we are ashamed of you. Refusal to carry out orders is against the country's laws and it eats away at the foundations of democracy. It is incumbent on a well-founded state to condemn and uproot phenomena of this nature."
Deputy Education Minister Tzvi Hendel (National Union) told Arutz-7 that he will try to ensure that *no writings of those* who publicly supported the pilots will be taught in public schools.

The name of the CIA front company was broadcast yesterday by Novak, the syndicated journalist who originally identified Plame.

The full text of President Bush's exclusive interview with Fox News' Brit Hume aired Monday night:
but in terms of advice on how to make decisions, the best advice to get is from people like Rice and Powell and Rumsfeld and Cheney and Tenet and Snow and Evans and Card.

BUSH: Well, I pray daily, and I pray in all kinds of places. I mean, I pray in bed, I pray in the Oval Office. I pray a lot. And just different -- as the spirit moves me. And faith is an integral part of my life.

BUSH: I would never use God to promote foreign policy decisions. I recognize that in the eyes of an almighty, I am a lowly sinner... a lot of people pray for me. Seriously. ... it gives me strength and humility, to think others would take time to pray for me.

BUSH: I don't think they're going badly. I mean, obviously I think they're going badly for the soldiers who lost their lives

And then at 8:00, generally Andy Card will be here when I walk in. He's here earlier than I am. And he'll be here with the latest, and I'll ask him what's in the newspapers worth worrying about

Then at 8:00, Tenet, vice president, Condi, Andy and a CIA briefer come in. And shortly thereafter, Tom Ridge, Bob Mueller, and John Gordon, national security adviser for all my security will -- and Fran Townsend will complete the room, and we'll analyze the threats.

BUSH: Yeah, kind of, I guess, you know.

BUSH: This painting to me says that it's very important for all of us in life to serve something greater than ourselves. As a man of faith, that is the Almighty's will. As a president, my job is not to promote a religion

HUME: There are people who suggest that, look, you wouldn't have to be dealing with these people at all if you hadn't gone into Iraq. That these, in some sense, are newly recruited or newly minted terrorists. What's your view of that?
BUSH: That's probably the same type of person that says that *therapy would work* in convincing terrorists not to kill innocent life.

BUSH: Yes. Well, I think in my speech on the Abraham Lincoln, if they *looked* at the words, I said it's still a dangerous place.
(mr ed HA HA HA 'mission accomplished'!)

BUSH: No question Arafat has failed. And, you know, *the sad thing* is that we're really the only country in the world who says that.

BUSH: They're pretty good about not creating -- raising expectations here in the Oval Office.

BUSH: I mean, Senator Kennedy, who I respect, and with whom I have worked, should not have said we were trying to bribe foreign nations. I mean, my regret is -- I don't mind people trying to pick apart my policies, and that's fine and that's fair game. But, you know, I don't think we're serving our nation well by allowing the discourse to become so uncivil that people say -- use words that they shouldn't be using.

BUSH: I appreciate people's opinions, but I'm more interested in news. And the best way to get the news is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world.

(mr ed - why has card disappeared since 911?)