Chicago Tribune | Intelligence watchdog slow to bite WASHINGTON — When a privacy-rights group requested records to show how many times a secretive presidential oversight board had asked the Justice Department to investigate possible violations of intelligence-gathering laws since 2001, the answer that came back last month was as simple as it was startling. Zero. One possible reason: For more than half of President Bush’s first term, the Intelligence Oversight Board had no members because Bush did not appoint anyone to it. Bush didn’t make appointments to the board until March 17, 2003, well after his administration had begun an…

DeLay to Resign From Congress Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), a primary architect of the Republican majority who became one of the most powerful and feared leaders in Washington, said today that he will give up his seat rather than face a “nasty” and expensive reelection fight that was becoming a referendum on his ethical troubles. Now that a major source of rot has stepped down (no doubt to face even more criminal charges, so he’ll need the money for his defense fund), the race for his old seat in Texas just got a lot more interesting. With a viable Independent…