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:: 2.26.2004 ::
Today's Headlines
House panel sidetracks resolution calling for spy probe Under a thick partisan overcast, the House International Relations Committee on Wednesday sidetracked a resolution calling for a congressional probe of the circumstances surrounding the public outing of a CIA agent whose husband had debunked a Bush administration claim that Iraq obtained uranium from Africa.
By a 24-22 margin, the GOP-controlled committee voted along straight party lines to report the resolution adversely to the House. Richard Perle quits the Defense Policy Board Perle is a leading figure of the "neo-conservative" ideological school, and outlines his strong views on wielding U.S. military power against Islamic radicals in his new book, An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror.
He was a major advocate of the war in Iraq and has advocated a stronger U.S. hand in the entire Middle East region. More recently, he has called for the resignation of CIA Director George Tenet and Defense Intelligence Agency head Adm. Lowell Jacoby.
Senior Pentagon officials said that, despite the controversial statements and writings, Rumsfeld did not ask for Perle's resignation.
Last March, Perle stepped down as chairman of the same board. The move followed published news reports questioning whether his work with a company seeking favor with the Pentagon was a conflict of interest for such a senior adviser. Perle has consistently insisted he did nothing wrong.
And his attorney, Samuel Abeday, told ABCNEWS today Perle is quitting the board altogether so he can sue the news organizations that "falsely accused him of conflicts of interest." 9/11 panelist may quit over Bush secrecy "I am no longer ... feeling comfortable that I'm going to be able to read and process what I need in order to participate in writing a report about how it was that 19 men defeated every single defensive system the U.S. put up to kill 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11." White House's limits upset 9/11 panel President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney... will meet only with the panel's top two officials and that Bush will submit to only a single hour of questioning, panel members said Wednesday.
The commission, which has 10 members and is bipartisan, said it also had been informed by the White House that Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, had rejected its request that she testify in public about the intelligence reports she received before the attacks. Hastert to block 9/11 commission extension House Speaker Dennis Hastert told President Bush on Wednesday he would not bring up any legislation to authorize the 60-day extension proposed by the commission and endorsed by the White House, according to Hastert spokesman John Feehery.
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White House chief of staff Andy Card spoke to Hastert on Monday to reiterate Bush's support for the extension, but Hastert had made up his mind some time ago and "isn't going to budge," Feehery said.
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Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore have agreed to meet privately with all members of the commission, the statement said. Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside that our administration is so obviously invested in getting at the real truth in these matters?
And just so you know the government is taking our economic issues seriously, here's a lovely letter from Michigan Rep. John Dingell to the President's chief economic advisor. Apparently, the recently released Economic Report of the President not only claims unprecedented job growth, but also suggests that many service jobs could be re-classified as "manufacturing."
Building Blue-Collar … Burgers? But reclassifying fast food workers as manufacturing employees could have other advantages for the administration.
It would offset somewhat the ongoing loss of manufacturing jobs in national employment statistics. Since the month President Bush was inaugurated, the economy has lost about 2.7 million manufacturing jobs, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That continues a long-term trend.
And the move would make the growth in service sector jobs, some of which pay low wages, more appealing. According to government figures, since January 2001 the economy has generated more than 600,000 new service-providing jobs. You can read the report yourself, here. The part about how to define manufacturing can be found on page 78 of the PDF, or 73 of the report.
Thanks to Fark, Google etc. for all the links.
:: Deb 3:44 PM :: permalink ::
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