BREAKING: John Edwards and wife holding press conf on Thursday

UPDATE: More from the NYT

Mr. Edwards canceled an appearance in Iowa on Wednesday, so he could go to a follow-up doctor’s appointment with his wife. Early in the day, associates of Mr. Edwards said they had no reason to believe the check-up was anything to worry about, but late Wednesday evening two friends said they believed the news was bad.

After the campaign announced its intention to hold a press conference on Thursday in North Carolina, concern quickly among former and current aides to the Edwards family. One close family friend reached Wednesday evening declined to comment on the announcement, but said it would affect at least temporarily the future of the campaign.

UPDATE: AP story is out.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Wednesday visited the doctor with his wife, Elizabeth, who is recovering from breast cancer. He announced they would hold a news conference in their hometown on Thursday to discuss her health.

The campaign refused to answer any questions about what the Edwardses learned at the doctor's appointment or how it might affect his candidacy. Edwards had cut short a trip to Iowa Tuesday night to be with his wife Wednesday but still attended a barbecue fundraiser later in the evening in their hometown of Chapel Hill, N.C.

ABC News is reporting breaking news that John Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, are holding a press conference Thursday at noon. No one yet knows why, but you don't mysteriously announce a press conference with your wife if it's good news. This comes on the heels of Edwards canceling a campaign appearance recently in order to attend a doctor's appointment with his wife, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. More on that here.

What does this mean?

1. That everything is okay. Unlikely. You don't announce a press conference with your wife, and not tell the details in advance, if it's the good news that her doctor's appointment went well.

2. That Edwards is dropping out of the race and that his wife is seriously ill. Obviously we don't know, and I don't like speculating about someone's health like this. But this seems the most likely possibility at this point.

3. That Edwards is taking a break from campaigning to tend to his wife. This is also possible, but geez, that's still not good news for his campaign or for his family of course.

4. And finally, it's possible that Elizabeth Edwards' cancer is back, but that John Edwards is trying to decide what to do. He may actually not have decided, and is perhaps giving it until tomorrow to decide. That would explain announcing the press conference, but also explain why the vagueness.

Again, I hate to speculate, but this is very strange and on its face doesn't look good. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

News? Read the rest of this post...

More on Dick Cheney's connections to Duke Cunningham scandal

I'm digging deeper into this Carol Lam/White House/Duke Cunningham story. Very odd stuff.

Check out the following from the LA Times. Now, keep in mind that MZM was the firm bribing Cunningham, and the firm that Cunningham was directing the federal contracts to. The thing is, MZM had no revenue yet in 2001, but somehow from somewhere they had $100,000 to pay off Cunningham at the same time. Also, MZM had never had any federal contracts. But somehow they get on the preferred vendor list and their first contract is with Dick Cheney's office in the White House. And the amount of money Cheney's people pay MZM is the exact amount of money that is needed to buy Duke Cunningham's boat.

How and why did Dick Cheney's office help this nobody suddenly get rolling?

MZM Inc. was incorporated in 1993 but had not posted any revenue as late as 2001. Still, the company began paying for Cunningham's expenses, according to court documents. In November 2001, a company check for $12,000 paid for three nightstands, a leaded-glass cabinet, an antique washstand and four armoires.

In December 2001, a $50,000 company check was sent to a mortgage banker, who in turn made out a check to Cunningham for the same amount. In January 2002, the company's American Express card was used to purchase a leather sofa and a sleigh bed for Cunningham.

In all, more than $100,000 in cash and furnishings were given to Cunningham even before MZM had posted its first revenue.

Although MZM had no experience with government contracts, the General Services Administration in May 2002 placed the company on a list of approved information technology service providers, a key step for the company to get business from federal agencies.

The first contract, worth $140,000, came from the White House — to provide office furniture and computers for Vice President Dick Cheney.

Two weeks later, on Aug. 30, 2002, Wade purchased a yacht, later christened "Duke-Stir," for $140,000, according to court documents. Cunningham used the yacht, docked at the Capital Yacht Club, as his home in Washington — and the scene of parties for lobbyists and others.

The money and gifts MZM gave Cunningham were a small price to pay for the ultimate prize. In September 2002, the General Services Administration signed a so-called blanket purchase agreement with MZM totaling $250 million over five years.

Under the agreement, specific computer services for the Pentagon would be contracted to MZM without competition.

Read the rest of this post...

Was Carol Lam Targeting The White House Prior To Her Firing?

This is a very disturbing story from ThinkProgress. Read it through carefully. $140,000 changes hands between the White House (Dick Cheney's office, to be specific) and an outside contractor who then immediately turns around and pays the same amount of money, exactly, to buy a boat for Randy Duke Cunningham. And who put Randy Duke and the outside contracter in jail? US Attorney Carol Lam. Was she onto Cheney and the White House when they fired her? Read the rest of this post...

FOX News needs to come out of the closet

I wish I'd invented that quote, but it was Democratic strategist Paul Begala, speaking of FOX News' conservative bias. Hell, that's like saying the DNC has a liberal bias. FOX News is a propaganda arm of the Republican party, period. And it's about time the Democrats stood up to FOX and said they're no longer going to enable the network's racist, homophobic, sexist agenda. And that's what Democrats did when they canceled a planned presidential primary debate to be hosted by FOX this summer. Begala has more:

As a loyal Democrat and paid commentator on CNN, I am hopelessly biased -- but at least I admit it. The folks at Fox News, on the other hand, are just as hopelessly biased -- and they deny it. While I openly admit that I love all things Clinton, think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is strong and brave, see Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as Harry Truman reincarnated and don't believe George W. Bush would know the truth if it bit him on the ass, Fox insults our intelligence by feigning fairness....

For those who need reminding of Fox's agenda -- using its "fair and balanced" credibility to smear Democrats and help Republicans -- here's the bill of particulars:

* Fox News' founder and guiding genius, Roger Ailes, was the chief media strategist for President George H.W. Bush. When you have a Republican political consultant running a news network, don't be surprised if that network becomes a propaganda tool for the Republican Party.
* After the 2006 elections, Fox Senior Vice President John Moody sent a memo to news staff instructing them: "Be on the lookout for any statements from the Iraqi insurgents ... thrilled at the prospect of a Dem-controlled Congress."
* Robert Greenwald's film "Outfoxed" exposed 33 similar memos from Moody before the 2004 elections. On Bush: "His political courage and tactical cunning are worth noting in our reporting through the day." On Iraq: "Do not fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of U.S. lives and asking out loud 'Why are we there?'"
* Fox's Iraq coverage was so biased that a university study showed 80 percent of Fox viewers believed one of these three falsehoods: Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11; WMDs were found in Iraq; or most of the world supported Bush's Iraq war. Fox is entitled to its own opinions, but not its own facts.
* Fox hired George W. Bush's first cousin, John Ellis, to chair its Election Night desk in 2000. Not surprisingly, Ellis spoke with Bush five times that night, and Fox was the first network to "call" Florida for Bush.
* Fox identified alleged pervert and GOP Congressman Mark Foley of Florida as a Democrat.
* Fox's headline when Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted on four of five felony counts was straight out of Pravda: "Scooter Libby Found Not Guilty of Lying to FBI Investigators."
* Fox reported that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was educated in a Muslim madrassa -- and then tried to pin the smear on Hillary. It was a twofer that went for naught, thanks to solid reporting by CNN. The network sent real journalists to Indonesia, interviewed people, gathered facts and reported the news: Obama's school was public and nondenominational.
* More Fox smears and misinformation are captured in the YouTube videos at www.FoxAttacks.com.

More from Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. Read the rest of this post...

War profiteers in Iraq have cheated the U.S. of billions -- and the GOP provided no oversight while it happened

War profiteers have benefitted handsomely from the war in Iraq. They've done it with little oversight. In my opinion, anyone who commits fraud or waste or abuse in a war zone is guilty of treason. They endanger the lives of our soldiers for profit:

[Special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction Stuart] Bowen's comments came in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as lawmakers complained that assessing fines is not enough to stop the billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse plaguing Iraq reconstruction projects. Auditors last month told Congress that about $10 billion has been squandered by the U.S. government on Iraq reconstruction aid because of contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses.

The U.S. has appropriated more than $38 billion for Iraq relief and reconstruction, including some money for security forces and economic programs, according to the latest quarterly report from the special inspector general, released in January.

Assessing fines isn't enough. War profiteers should be in jail doing hard labor.

Of course, for the past four years of the war, there was no oversight. Leaders of the oversight committees, like Susan Collins who chaired the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, shunned their responsibility. Collins would not hold the Bush Administration accountable for the war that she helped them start. Kay in Maine exposes the real Susan Collins at Turn Maine Blue. Over the past few years, Susan Collins had a chance to be a bold, independent leader, like her predecessor Margaret Chase Smith. She didn't. She did the bidding for Bush. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Lunch time chat. Read the rest of this post...

Tony Snow says president must let his senior advisers testify under oath

The problem is that Snow said this ten years ago, about Bill Clinton. The Chicago Trib's blog has Snow's entire article he wrote about Clinto, here are some excerpts:

"The wall of separation between Mr. Clinton and his deeds remains strong because minions have stuck to their alibis. But now comes an episode in which the Man from Hope stands alone. It is his recent attempt to claim executive privilege for counselors Bruce Lindsey and Sidney Blumenthal and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Mr. Clinton can't blame his lawyers for this latest feint. He alone can assert the privilege. The maneuver places him at the heart of his administration's ongoing effort to use executive privilege as a way of concealing the truth about whether the president exposed himself....

"Earlier in this administration, then-White House legal counsel Lloyd Cutler decreed that the White House never would assert privilege in the face of a criminal investigation. He merely was reiterating long-standing executive-branch policy along those lines. President Ronald Reagan didn't invoke privilege in Iran-contra, and neither did President George Bush.

"But precedent is gone, and Mr. Clinton wants to protect conversations about a chubby intern from Hollywood. In so doing, he becomes the first president since Richard Nixon to use executive privilege in a criminal inquiry.

"Evidently, Mr. Clinton wants to shield virtually any communications that take place within the White House compound on the theory that all such talk contributes in some way, shape or form to the continuing success and harmony of an administration. Taken to its logical extreme, that position would make it impossible for citizens to hold a chief executive accountable for anything. He would have a constitutional right to cover up.

"Chances are that the courts will hurl such a claim out, but it will take time.

"One gets the impression that Team Clinton values its survival more than most people want justice and thus will delay without qualm. But as the clock ticks, the public's faith in Mr. Clinton will ebb away for a simple reason: Most of us want no part of a president who is cynical enough to use the majesty of his office to evade the one thing he is sworn to uphold the rule of law.''

Read the rest of this post...

House Committee votes to authorize use of subpoenas for Rove, Miers

CNN just reported that a House Committee voted to authorize the use of subpoenas in the U.S. Attorneys scandal that could let them obtain the sworn testimony of Karl Rove and others.

The House Judiciary Committee isn't messing around. The Democrats know that to get the truthful testimony of White House officials, they'll need them under oath. The vote today gives Chairman John Conyers a powerful tool, if he needs it.

Here's how AP is reporting this development:

A House panel on Wednesday approved subpoenas for President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove and other top White House aides, setting up a constitutional showdown over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

By voice vote and without dissent, the House Judiciary subcommittee on commercial and administrative law decided to compel the president's top aides to testify publicly and under oath about their roles in the firings.

Read the rest of this post...

Gore on Global Warming at the Capitol

Al Gore is testifying now on the House side. C-SPAN3 has it live. And, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has a live webcast. Read the rest of this post...

Another reason why Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) is despicable. She says Walter Reed scandal is "overblown"

In Congresswoman Jean Schmidt's world, all those wounded soldiers at Walter Reed must have been lying. And, Dana Priest and Anne Hull from the Washington Post (who will probably win awards for their reporting) were just causing trouble. Schmidt has a different story to tell about Walter Reed:

Rep. Jean Schmidt wrote in her weekly column sent out to reporters on Monday that stories about horrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center were "overblown."

Schmidt, a Clermont County Republican, decided to take "several hours" to travel to the hospital in Washington, D.C., to see the situation "first hand."

Her conclusion?

"I found the situation at Walter Reed to be overblown by both politicians and the media."

She is a typical Republican who does not support the troops. She really is despicable.

Hat tip Talking Points Memo. Read the rest of this post...

No oath and no transcipt lets the liars keep lying

Exactly:

Congress has the right and the duty to fully investigate the firings, which may have been illegal, and Justice Department officials’ statements to Congress, which may have been untrue. It needs to question Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s chief political adviser, Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, and other top officials.

It is hard to imagine what, besides evading responsibility, the White House had in mind. Why would anyone refuse to take an oath on a matter like this, unless he were not fully committed to telling the truth? And why would Congress accept that idea, especially in an investigation that has already been marked by repeated false and misleading statements from administration officials?

The White House notes that making misrepresentations to Congress is illegal, even if no oath is taken. But that seems to be where the lack of a transcript comes in. It would be hard to prove what Mr. Rove and others said if no official record existed.

Liars lie. Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Liars. The Bush Administration is filled with pervasive liars. They've been lying for six years -- and they've gotten away with it. Think about what Bush said yesterday: His staff can talk to Congress, but not under oath. No one in America could get that deal. Most of us wouldn't think that telling the truth is a bad thing. But, most of us don't work for George Bush.

Al Gore returns to Capitol Hill today to talk global warming. Finally, there will be an honest discussion of climate change in D.C.

And, the Democratic leadership is counting votes building towards tomorrow's showdown over the Iraq appropriation. It's close. And, of course, the Republicans are doing everything they can to keep the war going without any accountability. That's what they've done for four years now.

Wow. That's a lot of ranting for an early Wednesday morning. There's a lot to rant about.

Start ranting. Read the rest of this post...

Mugabe using hit-squads, Angola to send police

The rumors of Mugabe using thugs and hit squads to target opposition members sounds like more of the same to me, but Angola sending in 2000 police to help the government repression, that is beyond shocking. Angola is a country that suffered from years of war and is littered with mines even today making agriculture very dangerous and difficult.

The communist government of Angola has become rich to the tune of billions thanks to oil being discovered along with other natural resources though very little has ever made it back into the infrastructure of the country. The Bush administration recently gave preferred trading partner status to the oil-rich country despite its poor reputation for human rights, rampant corruption and inability to provide basic needs for its people. The communist government also sold off fishing rights to the EU, thus leaving few alternatives for feeding its own population.

Since the US does have a close relationship with Angola, I would expect to see some action taken to prevent or at least firmly protest this proposed move by the government to crush opposition to the brutal dictatorship of Robert Mugabe. Read the rest of this post...

Another case where government oversight was needed

"Business can self regulate" is one of those fantasy-land ideas that the right loves but repeatedly, the facts speak for themselves. Business consistently proves that it needs rules and is unable to operate without a proper framework. This doesn't mean crushing business and making it impossible to make a profit (as some countries do) but what it does mean is creating an environment where companies can be successful though not at the expense of employees, environment and consumers.

Overly lax federal oversight and cost-cutting by BP were factors in a 2005 explosion at the oil giant's Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured 170, the worst U.S. industrial accident since 1990, a government report found.

Though companies have plenty of safeguards for individual workers' safety, there is a potentially deadly lack of sound procedures to measure process safety, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, which released the report Tuesday.

At a public meeting Tuesday night where the board approved the report, Chairwoman Carolyn W. Merritt vowed that the agency would follow up on the report's safety recommendations until they are adopted.

"The 15 men and women who died here two years ago must not be allowed to perish in vain," Merritt said at the meeting.

Read the rest of this post...