JEANE PALFREY: Update #4 – Telephone Record’s Distribution…

by- Suzie-Q @ 8:19 PM MST

Hello…

As of this writing, my attorneys and I continue to wait patiently for Judge Gladys Kessler, to rule upon the motion before her to lift the injunction on the 13 years of telephone records. A hearing was held on the matter on June 5, 2007, in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. What was anticipated to be a quick decision – perhaps, even from the bench on June 5th – now has turned into a month long wait.

However, a judgment must be made on the matter, one way or the other. The Court simply cannot refuse to make a decision. Of course, it is my sincerest hope and belief when it does rule – the Court will remove the injunction and thus, allow the phone records to be released. Once lifted, I have every intention of distributing the records, en masse to any responsible member of the American press, media or blogger communities OR licensed private detective, who wishes to receive a full set of the records.

I think it is important though before doing so, to state how and why I have come to the conclusion the records should be distributed; especially, at this juncture.

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100 Civilians Die In U.S.-NATO Air Assault In Afghanistan

punditman says @ 9:35 EDT: Winning hearts and minds, one massacre at a time.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 30 — Just a week after Afghan President Hamid Karzai chastised international forces for being “careless,” Afghan officials reported Saturday that possibly 100 or more civilians had been killed in a NATO and U.S.-led assault.

The battle in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, which was prompted by a Taliban ambush, began Friday night and continued into Saturday morning, Afghan officials said. It ended with international forces bombing several compounds in the remote village of Hyderabad.

“More than 100 people have been killed. But they weren’t Taliban. The Taliban were far away from there,” said Wali Khan, a member of parliament who represents the area. “The people are already unhappy with the government. But these kinds of killings of civilians will cause people to revolt against the government.”

Another parliament member from Helmand, Mahmood Anwar, said that the death toll was close to 100 and that the dead included women and children. “Very few Taliban were killed,” he said.

More…

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Veteran Republican Senator Tells Bush It’s Time To Stop ‘Punting’ The Ball On Iraq

by- Suzie-Q @ 5:08 PM MST

Senator Richard Lugar, the most prominent Republican yet to break ranks with the US administration over Iraq, called Sunday for an “orderly” withdrawal of US troops in the coming months.

President George W. Bush should embrace moderates from both sides in Congress to chart a new path forward, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on CBS News.

The group would examine forming “a diplomatic forum to bring together all the neighboring countries, and we meet continuously and we talk about our interests in Iraq but also our interests with each other,” he said.

“Then withdrawal of a majority of American troops in a calm, orderly way over the next few months so that we refurbish our ability to meet problems elsewhere in the world,” Lugar said.

“I think we are too much stretched and I would add to that our recruiting problems have become severe.”

Lugar sent shock waves through political Washington last Monday by taking to the floor of the Senate to argue that Bush’s “surge” of US troops had not translated into meaningful progress by Iraqi authorities.

“I hope something will come of this — now, not punting the ball down to September,” Lugar said.

The following video is from CBS’s Face the Nation, broadcast on July 1.

Watch the video

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Afternoon Jukebox… Dear Mr. President

by- Suzie-Q @ 3:59 PM MST

Good Afternoon Justice Bloggers!

I found this video at the Hard-Boiled Dreams of the World blog. Thank you JoeC!

This is my favorite song by Pink.

Pink- Dear Mr. President

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Whoa! Here We Go… D.C. Madam Vows To Release Records

by- Suzie-Q @ 12:01 PM MST

Once injunction is lifted, 46 pounds of phone registers will be available to media

The 46 pounds of Sprint phone records, stored meticulously over the D.C. Madam’s 13-year escort service, is a scandal in waiting that looms large over the nation’s capital.

And if the current court-ordered injunction is lifted, allowing Deborah Jeane Palfrey access to her files, she vows to send every last name and phone number to any journalist, blogger or private detective wanting them.

“I kind of think it will be like deciphering the Da Vinci Code,” said Palfrey, in an exclusive Times-Herald interview Friday at a local coffee shop.

Of the more than 10,000 client names within the phone records, “a couple dozen to 100 or so” are Washington D.C. bigwigs.

“Statistically, this is absolutely a certainty,” she said.

Already, such capital movers and shakers, as Dick Morris, a longtime Bill Clinton political adviser, were named as clients of Palfrey’s Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort service she ran from her Vallejo home. Federal prosecutors say she employed more than 100 “prostitutes,” earning about $2 million.

In the interview, Palfrey declined to discuss her former business or whether it involved prostitution.

“Does it really matter at this point? I think there are bigger fish to fry here,” she said.

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Doolittle Earmarked $300,000 For Client Of Former Aide

by- Suzie-Q @ 11:15 AM MST

On Wednesday, Pete Evich, the former legislative director for scandal-plagued Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), said “he was recently contacted by federal investigators in their probe of Doolittle’s ties to jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.”

Evich is currently a lobbyist representing Sierra College. CQ reports today that perhaps not coincidentally, Doolittle requested a $300,000 earmark for Sierra College in the 2008 Financial Services appropriations bill.

Rep. John T. Doolittle, who’s been caught up in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, has requested a substantial earmark for a college represented by one of his former aides, who, coincidentally, has just been contacted by the FBI.

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Lieberman Uses Foiled British Terror Plot To Push For Greater U.S. Domestic Spying

by Geezer Power …10:44:01 AM PDT

Well…Believe it or not Lie-berman is using the latest terrorist fiasco to call for increased domestic spying here in the US, and that the Senate Judiciary Committee shouldn’t be issuing subpoenas over such a petty issue.
Bring your barf bags because there is a video of this little #*%@$!

Think Progress

Posted by Faiz at 11:22 am

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) used the foiled terror attempts in London to call for greater domestic spying here in the United States. Lieberman said, “I hope these terrorist attacks in London wake us up here in America to stop the petty partisan fighting going on about…electronic surveillance,” in apparent reference to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subpoenas for documents related to Bush’s NSA warrantless wiretapping program.

Read More!

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Lieberman: Another Portrait Of Utter Incompetence

by- Mentarch … 13:35 EDT

Dixit Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT): “I hope these terrorist attacks in London wake us up here in America to stop the petty partisan fighting going on about electronic surveillance (…) We’re at a partisan gridlock over the question of whether the American government can listen into conversations or follow email trails of non-American citizens (…) The Brits have got something smart going (…) They have cameras all over London (…) I think it’s just common sense to do that here much more widely (…) I would say that Democratic candidates, in the larger questions of American security, have been disappointing“.

So, in other words: the U.S.A. need more electronic surveillance, because they must fear the terrorists, and it is the fault of the Democrats – who are weak on security – that the U.S.A. are not safe enough and that there is not allowance for increased, wide-spread domestic surveillance.

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Australia Plans To Withdraw Troops From Iraq

by- Suzie-Q @ 9:21 AM MST

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister John Howard is secretly planning to begin withdrawing Australian troops from Iraq by February 2008, Australian media reported on Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph, quoting an unnamed senior military source, described Howard’s withdrawal plan as “one of the most closely guarded secrets in top levels of the bureaucracy”.

The Sunday Telegraph said the drawdown of troops would focus on soldiers based in southern Iraq on security duty with Iraqi soldiers.

Australia has about 1,500 soldiers, sailors and airmen in and around Iraq.

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REPORT: Public Expresses Solid Opposition To Bush On Iraq

by- Suzie-Q @ 8:09 AM MST

This week, Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and George Voinovich (R-OH) joined a growing chorus of conservative voices dissenting from the administration on the war in Iraq. Lugar said that victory in Iraq is “almost impossible.” Voinovich predicted that “many of us are going to look at legislation that will limit the number of troops.”

But while conservative lawmakers are dissenting in greater numbers, the White House is still insisting that we are making progress in Iraq. As recently as June 18, Tony Snow maintained that President Bush is “impressed and reassured by the progress [Iraq is] making on political, security and economic reforms.” Despite these rosy assessments however, recent public opinion polls suggest that most Americans aren’t buying what the President is selling.

According to an analysis of public opinion polls by American Progress fellow Ruy Teixeira, 54 percent of Americans believe that the situation in Iraq has gotten worse and only 29 percent believe that the United States is winning the war on terrorism:

Despite Lugar’s criticisms of the Bush administration, he has no intention of acting on his rhetoric. Earlier this week he said that congressional measures aimed at curtailing U.S. military involvement in Iraq, including “so-called timetables, benchmarks,” are “very partisan” and “will not work.” But the American public broadly supports pulling out troops:

As Teixeira notes, the “public’s verdict on the surge is clear. We can only hope that this overwhelming opinion will embolden more and more members of Congress to call for (as Sen. Voinovich put it) ‘a comprehensive plan for our country’s gradual military disengagement’ from Iraq.”

Think Progress

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