Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.
UPDATE 5: Feb 2008 interview of Stevens about his personal life at his home (the one that is the root of the investigation):
News conference by US Department of Justice to be held at 120pm.
UPDATE - There's also a diary on the PA ad by Sheddhead here that predated mine (Sorry!) but I didn't see. :)
I guess we shouldn't be surprised at anything the Clinton "dead-ender" campaign does these days, but this should make for a fun exchange at the debate tonight.
When you're running to be Commander-in-Chief, it's never a good idea to lie, but to lie about coming under sniper fire in a war zone when in reality you were greeted by children and flowers is particularly offensive to veterans.
UPDATED 101PM - The pilot of the C17 that flew Hillary and Chelsea Clinton to Bosnia speaks out:
Summary of pilot's comments:
No evasive landing... There was a steep descent because the airstrip is surrounded by mountains.
No bullets or sniper fire...We never would have landed there if there were any such thing.
No "sitting on flackjackets.." The only place I've ever heard of that was in the movie Apocalypse Now.
Today, the hubby and I went to his parent's house for lunch. My in-laws are aged 77 and 71. They're slowing down, but still active. Both are still registered Democrats, but I don't think they've voted for a Dem since Strom Thurmond switched parties. My father-in-law thought Nixon was a communist, and refers to Carter as "Ole Peanut." The most oft used phrase I've heard my father-in-law use to describe George W. Bush is "good Christian man." I've recounted here before the differences in our family over the war in Iraq and the very ugly holiday dinner when I snapped while my son was in Iraq and screamed at my father-in-law to tell me "one damned thing in Iraq" worth my child/his grandchild being killed for.
My in-laws are generally well-meaning people these days. There's normally a lot of "daylight" between the in-laws and hubby/sons/I on politics, but their views are not uncommon among Southerners of their age. I was feeling a bit punchy today and asked my FIL, "So, who are you rooting for in the presidential election?"
His response, "I like Barack Obama best." My husband almost choked at hearing his father, who voted for George Wallace, utter those words...
CBS Marketwatch is reporting on the early Tuesday trading in the Asian markets.
Read and weep, my friends:
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slumped 6.2% to 22,347.02 in the early minutes, after tumbling 5.5% in the previous session. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index plummeted 8.1% to 12,440.57.
Japan's Nikkei 225 average tumbled 3.9% to 12,800.90, while the broader Topix index skidded 3.5% to 1,248.61. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 extended losses into the 12th straight session, slumping 5% to 5,303.70 and New Zealand's NZX 50 index lost 2.6% at 3,553.20, while South Korea's Kospi shed 3.9% at 1,617.23.
China's Shanghai Composite, which fell more than 5% in the previous session, sank 2.6% to 4,783.42, while Taiwan's Weighted index tumbled 5.6% to 7,658.71.
Guess what? Those figures were as of 9pm EST. In the past hour or so, these markets have declined even further.
Breaking news says that the Serena Hotel in Kabul was atacked by suicide bombers and AK-47 wielding terrorists. At least two were killed, and several others were injured. The Taliban is claiming credit for the attack.
It appeared to be the first direct attack on a hotel in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
The 6:12 p.m. attack came on a night the Norwegian embassy was holding a meeting at the Serena Hotel. An American inside said she saw a body she believed to be dead and pools of blood in the lobby, and hotel employees reported two dead. She said three foreigners were wounded.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, told The Associated Press that four militants with suicide vests attacked the hotel—one bomber who detonated his explosives and three militants who threw grenades and fired guns and then fled. The claim could not be verified but came very soon after the attack. The bomber was not included among the count of the dead.
The LA Times is reporting that: Clinton aides hint now things'll get nasty.
While you were sleeping, the chartered jet of the third-place finisher in the Iowa Democratic caucus winged its way from Des Moines to Manchester, N.H. And it sounds like some decisions were made on that plane that may alter the course of that party's presidential race.
At her concession speech in Des Moines Thursday night Hillary Clinton was all gracious and determined and smiling. But hours later on that flight someone named Mark Penn, who happens to be her chief political strategist, ominously told a gaggle of reporters, including The Times' Peter Nicholas, that the campaign's focus needs to shift now onto, you might have guessed, someone named Barack Obama.
A new al Qaeda propaganda ad, headlined “Wait for the Big Surprise” and featuring a digitally altered photograph of President George Bush and Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf standing in front of a burning White House, was posted on the Internet today.
The brief clip from al Qaeda’s “as Sahab” propaganda arm juxtaposes the doctored photo of Bush and Musharraf along with previously seen images of al Qaeda’s top leadership — Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and Adam Gadahn — as well as a photo of an SUV in a motorcade.
There is no additional information provided in the ad, and it closes with the words, “Soon — God willing,” written across the screen and repeated several times.
519 posted on 08/01/2007 5:33:26 PM PDT by JoeBrooks
My husband and I leave for our university teaching assignments in China in 29 more days (yeah!) and so, we've been researching China and Chinese culture quite a bit. We're also taking our almost 16-year old son with us, and so, we've made this a family project. It's been pretty cool learning Mandarin together each day, and trying to gather information about our new home.
In our research, we've concluded that Americans are ethnocentric - and this may explain in part why we're getting our asses kicked in the global economy.
As many of you know from my recent diaries, I received an offer back in March to teach at a university in China for two months this fall. My wonderful husband told me to "go for it!"
Last weekend, we began preparing for my departure next month. Hubby convinced me to switch to MAC and bought me a MacBook. Thanks to all the Mac Kossacks out there who gave me great advice in this diary.
As the time for my departure grew imminent, I began thinking about the
actuality of being apart from husband, kid, and dog for 60+ days and was
beginning to get sad. On Wednesday, which was coincidentally the day that
our younger son was returning from a month in Europe, I received an e-mail
from the Dean in China who asked, "I know you mentioned that your husband
has an MBA and would want to teach for us in the future, but is there any
chance he'd be available to come over and teach during the fall with you?"
Giving into the threats of the Democrat-controlled Congress, Vice President Cheney announced this morning that he will begin releasing records to the public.
The first record dump was supposed to be released late last Friday, but alas, due to persistent problems with White House e-mail servers, there was a delay until this morning...
My older son's laptop died a brutal death last week, and I haven't gotten myself a new laptop in two years, so, I did what any responsible parent would do for their college-aged son...I bought myself a new laptop and am giving him my old one.
My husband became a Mac person a few months ago when he bought his new laptop, and after much cajoling and a promise from him that he would buy my new laptop out of HIS checking account instead of MINE or OURS if I agreed to change my unflexible ways and get a MacBook, I assented.
UGH. First things first - I've spent all morning transferring my music from the old computer to the new one. I just uploaded Office for Mac and will be transferring docs now. I can figure all that out, and thanks to my portable hard drive, it's pretty mindless work. My questions are below the flip...
This morning, my husband, oldest son, and myself all received an e-mail from the Edwards' campaign seeking money. We didn't sign up on any of the 2008 candidates' websites (we're all undecided, unimpressed with the 08 candidates at this point), so I assume we were e-mailed from the 04 campaign lists. No harm, no foul, on that count, though.
The e-mail, which appears to be targeted towards North Carolina voters, is printed below the flip...
While I am certain that Tenet's book will contain great political fodder and maybe even a smoking gun, there is no way in Hell I will buy it, nor will I be watching any of his interviews on TV. If Tenet wants to tell his side of the story, let him put his hand on the bible and testify in front of a Congressional committee or a grand jury - THEN, I'll listen to what he has to say.
I was furious reading the advance press on his book, which goes on sale tomorrow. One article notes:
Tenet writes: "Policy makers have a right to their own opinions, but not their own set of facts." Here again, Tenet blames himself for not pulling Cheney aside and telling him the WMD assertion was "well beyond what our analysis could support."
Not pulling Cheney aside? WTF? How about NOT TELLING CONGRESS OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WE WERE ABOUT TO SEND OUR CHILDREN OFF TO FIGHT A WAR BASED ON A LIE?
As I noted in a comment in an unrelated thread, I would be apoplectic if my son, who served in Baghdad and Kandahar, were still in the military. More than half of the soldiers killed are in the 17-22 year old age bracket that my son is STILL in. Why aren't we seeing as much about their lives as we've seen about the students killed at VT last week? They have clean-cut, babyfaces too - here's a pic of my son on his "freedom flight" out of the war zone:
No one seems to give a flip that the casualty count is "surging" along with the tour extensions and increased number of soldiers in Iraq.
