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…

Middle East” href=”http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article355178.ece”>Independent Online Edition > Middle East The Pentagon has revealed that coalition forces are spending millions of dollars establishing at least six “enduring” bases in Iraq – raising the prospect that US and UK forces could be involved in a long-term deployment in the country. It said it assumed British troops would operate one of the bases. Almost ever since President Bush claimed an end to “major combat operations” in Iraq on 1 May 2003, debate has focused on how quickly troops could be withdrawn. The US and British governments say troops will remain in Iraq “until the…

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Ex-stripper evangelizes to sex industry RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The phone rang — again — and Heather Veitch answered in her three-bedroom tract home. It was another radio station, this time from Detroit, and the disc jockey wanted to hear the tale of the stripper turned evangelist. “I don’t try to change their life,” she said of the women she seeks out at strip clubs. “I just want them to have a relationship with God.” Amazingly, this does not appear to be an April Fool’s joke. The same story shows up on a lot of…

People planning a hunger strike in San Francisco might want to change their focus – they’re blaming Sen. Arlen Specter, R-PA for the big bad anti-illegal immigrant bill, but it’s a HOUSE bill sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-WI. Specter’s actually a pretty decent pol who has a much more humane proposal on the table. Specter’s proposal would actually create a process for illegal immigrants to gain legal status and his efforts have won the praise of numerous immigrant advocates. It’s Sensenbrenner’s bill that critics say would criminalize illegal aliens and those who harbor and help them. Via The Swamp…

Mike Shuster of National Public Radio filed the most comprehensive, and damning, timeline story to mark the 3-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. NPR : Iraq Three Years Later: The Path to War This week marks the third anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq. Mike Shuster tracks the events leading up to the U.S.-led invasion. These include Bush administration claims — since discredited — of ongoing Iraqi nuclear weapons development and links with al Qaeda. I was grateful to my local station, WBEZ, for not running their normal pledge drive schedule that morning – they just…

Chicago Tribune | Bush Marks Anniversary, Never Says ‘War’ WASHINGTON — President Bush marked the anniversary of the Iraq war Sunday by touting the efforts to build democracy there and avoiding any mention of the daily violence that rages three years after he ordered an invasion. The president didn’t utter the word “war.” “We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq,” the president assured a public that is increasingly skeptical that he has a plan to end the fighting after the deaths of more than 2,300 U.S. troops. Bullshit, Mr Resident. Mission not accomplished. It’s an…

BBC NEWS | Americas | US evangelicals warn Republicans Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the US mid-term elections. I want to know why prominent progressive Christians and secular, non-religious political progressives aren’t contacting their Congresspersons to warn them they “must do better” in the struggle for the separation of church and state in this country. The story claims that about one-quarter of Americans self-identify as evangelical Christians. Of that number, how many are actually progressives, rather than conservatives? The way they run things in Washington, you’d…

Salon has posted an archive of Abu Ghraib photos. Boing Boing notes that no officer or CIA operative has ever been prosecuted or convicted – it’s just been the small fry in the photos. Also BB notes that Smartfilter would prevent viewing the archive due to “nudity.” This amounts to a worse kind of censorship than mere anti-prurient Puritanism.