Bush Sets Libby Free!

WASHINGTON, July 2 — President Bush said today that he had used his power of clemency to commute the 30-month sentence for I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, who was convicted of perjury in March and was due to begin serving his time within weeks.

The action, announced just hours after a federal appeals court denied Mr. Libby’s request to allow him to remain free while his case is on appeal, spares Mr. Libby his prison term, but it does not excuse him from stiff fines or probation.

In a statement issued early this evening announcing his decision, Mr. Bush said he had listened to both critics and defenders of Mr. Libby, who was convicted of four felony counts for lying during a C.I.A. leak investigation.  Click here to read more the New York Times.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Opposition to Iraq War in the United States has hit a record high while President George W. Bush’s approval ratings (now consistently below 30%) have plunged to new low, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

The results from the USA Today/Gallup poll came as US lawmakers renewed debate on war policy in Iraq with Bush facing unprecedented pressure from within his own Republican party to change course.

The poll showed that seven in 10 Americans favor removing nearly all US troops from Iraq by April. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said the United States had made a mistake in deploying troops to Iraq — the first time that figure exceeded 60 percent, the paper said. Click here to read more from the Associated Press.

Meanwhile with domestic political pressure building from both Republicans and Democrats, W (worst ever) maintains that he knows best and that he will refuse to review Iraq policy until next fall. The New York Times reports that with his Iraq policy under intensified criticism and debate, President Bush reiterated his “stay the course” message today.

As Mr. Bush was speaking, Congress was beginning an intensive two-week debate on the war. A growing number of lawmakers, including several prominent Republicans as well as Democratic opponents of the war, are now voicing skepticism and pessimism. They seem sure to use a Senate debate on a military-spending bill this week as an occasion for a renewed barrage against the administration’s policy. Some critics will try to attach troop-withdrawal timetables to the bill. Click here to read more from the New York Times.

Do we remember the days of Surgeon General Koop and the Anti-Smoking Campaigns that changed American’s views of tobacco? Have you wondered why Richard Carmona was so silent as more and more Americans come to realize that our health systems are broken. Nearly twenty percent of Americans have no health coverage or have too little. Health care bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy even beyond sub-prime loans!

New York Times, July 10th

Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations. The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm.

Dr. Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings. Dr. Carmona is one of a growing list of present and former administration officials to charge that politics often trumped science within what had previously been largely nonpartisan government health and scientific agencies.
And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’s longtime ties to a “prominent family” that he refused to name. Click here to read more in the New York Times.

Congratulations Chris on this National Recognition

Casa Grande Valley Dispatch, July 11th

At the general session June 26, the National Sheriff’s Associaton Board of Directors presented Vasquez with the 2007 National Crime Victim Services Award.

The sheriff was given the award that recognizes “outstanding achievement by a sheriff’s office in support of victims.” It is funded by the Office for Victims of Crime, U.S. Department of Justice and is administered by the Crime Victim Services Committee.

In 2004, Vasquez established a Victim Services Unit and a Volunteer Services Program within the sheriff’s office. About 20 volunteers support deputies and victims through on-call, crisis response to the crime scene or hospital, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Volunteers can be dispatched quickly from their homes, which are scattered across the county, directly to crime victims. The volunteers provide grief and loss intervention, assistance to victims in meeting their basic needs, referrals to other organizations and agencies, transportation and follow-up contact. They also accompany deputies for death notifications.

Every volunteer applicant undergoes an extensive testing and background investigation that includes traffic and criminal history checks, fingerprinting, written and in-person interviews. Applicants admitted into the program must complete 40 hours of orientation training and attend 3-hour monthly meetings and in-service training.

Gov. Janet Napolitano honored the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office in March 2007 with “Special Recognition” to the Victim Services Unit for “serving the public through community volunteering.” In April 2006, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard recognized the Volunteer Services Program for distinguished service to victims of crime.

Click here to read the full story this national award for Chris Vasquez.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors has unanimously aplproved the creation of a health district funded by a small increase in the sales tax. The tax will raise about $4 million annually (it amounts to a thin dime on a $100 purchase) and will be used to expand operating hours at public clinics around the county and to purchase and operate mobile health vans to visit local schools and communities. The first project is to increase the rate of immunizations for children under the age of five years. Statistics show that only half of Pinal’s children are immunized against various diseases like polio before they enter school. The national rate of immunizations is nearly 80%. Furthermore, as many Pinal children are home schooled, a sizable percentage of these kids never get the vaccines.

Click here to read the short story regarding approval in the East Valley Tribune.

The SaddleBrooke Democrats and the Pinal Democrats are especially pleased by this action. As hard to believe as it may seem, the Republicans led by an Oracle activist, mounted a drive to oppose and disrupt the creation of the health district. In response, the SaddleBrooke Democrats and Pinal Democrats sent hundreds of emails to supporters all over Pinal County. We asked friends all over to send emails of support to the Supervisors. We are pleased to say that many many emails were sent and that quite a few Democrats showed up to the public hearing held last month and to the Supervisor’s meeting held this week.

The Republicans showed up and argued that no public monies should be spent on child immunizations. Further they argued that such immunizations were contrary to the religious beliefs of some. One person even stood up and said that child immunizations were not scientifically proved and that their administration could lead to autism. Is it really possible that the Republicans have forgotten polio? Are these the family values they talk about?  Shame on them!

From of All Places Fox 11 Arizona, July 13th, Brady McCombs of the Arizona Daily Star
Immigrants are a $222 million fiscal gain for Arizona and their departure would result in a $29 billion annual loss in economic output, according to a study released by the UA.

The annual tax revenue generated by immigrant labor, $1.64 billion, outweighed estimated fiscal costs, $1.41 billion, for a net gain of $222.6 million, researchers concluded after analyzing figures from 2004. Immigrants accounted for nearly $44 billion, or 12 percent, of the state’s economic output, resulting in 399,000 full-time-equivalent jobs, the study found.

The analysis, released this week, was intended to increase the understanding of the economic impact of immigration in Arizona, said Judith Gans, the study’s author and immigration-policy program manager at the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. The 1 1/2-year study was funded by the Thomas R. Brown Foundation in Tucson, which funds academic research and promotes education about the economy.

“The more we have good data about what’s at stake, the more calmly we can look at this issue,” said Gans. “By focusing so much on security in some squares, it’s easy to ignore what it might cost us economically.” Click here to read more at Fox News Channel 11.

Our regular July meeting will be held Saturday, July 14th 2007. Speakers to be arranged. The meeting starts at 3:30 pm following a half hour of social interaction. As normal, the meeting will be held at the Activities Center (HOA #1) at 64518 E Galveston Lane. Following the meeting we will have a pot luck buffet at the home of one of our members. See you there!

The Pinal County Democrats hold their meetings at 7pm on the third Wednesday of each month in Florence. We generally gather for a dutch treat supper at about 5:30 pm at the A&M Pizza on Highway 287 west of Florence. This is great opportunity to meet and greet fellow Democrats in an informal setting. The meeting is held at the offices of the Pinal County Attorney at 31 N Pinal St. Carpooling is generally available from SaddleBrooke.

New York Times, July 26th

The dispute over the truthfulness of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales reached a new intensity today as the F.B.I. Director, Robert S. Mueller 3d, contradicted Mr. Gonzales’s sworn testimony before a Senate committee.

Mr. Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee that the Bush administration’s secret eavesdropping program was the main topic at an encounter in the hospital room of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft on March 10, 2004, contrary to what Mr. Gonzales told a Senate panel on Tuesday.
At the time, Mr. Gonzales was the White House counsel, and Mr. Ashcroft was recovering from gall bladder surgery. That March night, Mr. Gonzales went to the hospital room with Andrew H. Card Jr., then White House chief of staff.

In his testimony before the Senate panel on Tuesday, Mr. Gonzales said the subject in the hospital room was “intelligence activities” under debate in the administration, but not the secret eavesdropping program.

But Mr. Mueller contradicted that version of events today, several hours after four Senate Democrats called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate whether Mr. Gonzales perjured himself before Congress.

Mr. Mueller was testifying at an F.B.I. oversight hearing when he was questioned by Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas.
“Did you have an understanding that the conversation was on T.S.P.?” the Congresswoman asked, using the shorthand for terrorist surveillance program.

“I had an understanding the discussion was on an N.S.A. program, yes,” Mr. Mueller replied, using the abbreviation for the National Security Agency. A moment later, he added that the discussion was on the warrant-less eavesdropping program “that has been much discussed, yes.”

The conflict in accounts could be significant, because Mr. Gonzales’s critics have accused him of trying to convey the false impression that the N.S.A. program had spawned no serious dissension within the Bush administration.  Click here to read more.

The Bush administration boasts of its ability to rebuild Iraq thus aiding in the ultimate goal of “bringing democracy to the savages”.  (Remember this is the administration that was responsible for getting relief to New Orleans after Katrina!)  Here is a story from the New York Times about how your tax dollars are being put to work for world peace!  Please note that the Americans decided what projects to undertake and what resources to put where without so much as the tip of a hat to the Iraqis. Please, it is time for regime change in Washington!

New York Times, James Glanz, July 28th

Iraq’s national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects, forcing the United States either to hand them over to local Iraqis, who often lack the proper training and resources to keep the projects running, or commit new money to an effort that has already consumed billions of taxpayer dollars.

The conclusions, detailed in a report released Friday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a federal oversight agency, include the finding that of 2,797 completed projects costing $5.8 billion, Iraq’s national government had, by the spring of this year, accepted only 435 projects valued at $501 million. Few transfers to Iraqi national government control have taken place since the current Iraqi government, which is frequently criticized for inaction on matters relating to the American intervention, took office in 2006.

The United States often promotes the number of rebuilding projects, like power plants and hospitals, that have been completed in Iraq, citing them as signs of progress in a nation otherwise fraught with violence and political stalemate. But closer examination by the inspector general’s office, headed by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has found that a number of individual projects are crumbling, abandoned or otherwise inoperative only months after the United States declared that they had been successfully completed. The United States always intended to hand over projects to the Iraqi government when they were completed. Click here to read more in the New York Times.