Category: Federal government

Props to Eric Cantor

From the AP via NBC4: Only 18 Lawmakers Shun Pet Projects:

A new report from a budget watchdog group said that an overwhelming majority of lawmakers asked for billions of dollars for pet projects last year.

The group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, said only 12 members of the house and six members of the Senate opted not to seek so-called “earmarks.” But the rest of Congress racked up $18 billion work of pork barrel spending.

That would be $18,000,000,000.

[…]

The lawmakers who decided not to ask for money for pet projects include Virginia Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor.

Bloggers and Journalists = Homeland security threat?

I-kid-you-freakin’-not, from the AP via WUSA9: Trains, Bloggers Are Threats In Drill:

It’s the government’s idea of a really bad day: Washington’s Metro trains shut down. Seaport computers in New York go dark. Bloggers reveal locations of railcars with hazardous materials. Airport control towers are disrupted in Philadelphia and Chicago. Overseas, a mysterious liquid is found on London’s subway.

And that’s just for starters.

Those incidents were among dozens of detailed, mock disasters confronting officials rapid-fire in the U.S. government’s biggest-ever “Cyber Storm” war game, according to hundreds of pages of heavily censored files obtained by The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department ran the exercise to test the nation’s hacker defenses, with help from the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department, CIA, National Security Agency and others.

The laundry list of fictional catastrophes – which include hundreds of people on “No Fly” lists suddenly arriving at airport ticket counters – is significant because it suggests what kind of real-world trouble keeps people in the White House awake at night.

And it shows what idiots are at the Department of Homeland [In]Security.

Imagined villains include hackers, bloggers and even reporters. After mock electronic attacks overwhelmed computers at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, an unspecified “major news network” airing reports about the attackers refused to reveal its sources to the government. Other simulated reporters were duped into spreading “believable but misleading” information that worsened fallout by confusing the public and financial markets, according to the government’s files.

Isn’t this the point when you call Jack Bauer to find the source?

The $3 million, invitation-only war game simulated what the U.S. described as plausible attacks over five days in February 2006 against the technology industry, transportation lines and energy utilities by anti-globalization hackers. The government is organizing another multimillion-dollar war game, Cyber Storm 2, to take place in early March.

So, bloggers and journalists are homeland security threats, now?

Where’s the wargame for the thousands of people coming across our southern border? What about the northern border?

How about the Iraqis illegally entering through the southern border? Illegal border crossing isn’t just for people from Central America anymore.

Wait, I forgot what Director Chertoff of the Department of Homeland [In]Security has previously said: ““We’re living in a world in which lettuce and fruit is not being picked because we are enforcing the law.”

And, another comment:

Secretary Chertoff: I mean, I understand it’s personally difficult—must be personally difficult sometimes for people to hear discussion on the radio or on television or on blogs which is intemperate, where people are called names. That’s where I do think we step over the line if someone says that you’re a sellout or a traitor if you support the bill. Or sometimes—I mean, I don’t spend a lot of time in the blogosphere but sometimes I see blogs. And, you know, when people write blogs, some of them are well reasoned. But some of them have a lot of capital letters and exclamation points and a lot of language that you tend to hear in an Army barracks and a lot of cursing and attacking of other people’s motives. I don’t think that that’s particularly helpful.

How about a nerve gas attack at a mall? Or a suicide bomber? We still haven’t caught the anthrax mailer!

How about totally incompetent security checks at the airport? How does a 16 year-old get on an airplane with a bag that has rope, handcuffs, and duct tape?

How about our ports? Wait, I forgot, Dubai isn’t running them, so everything is safe there. *snort*

Rep. Jo Ann Davis dies of breast cancer

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Rep. Jo Ann Davis dies of breast cancer:

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis died this morning at her Gloucester home after a battle with breast cancer. She was 57.

Davis was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and had a re-occurrence earlier this year.

She had been undergoing treatment at Duke University and was doing well, but her condition deteriorated in the last week, according to a press release from her office.

Service arrangements have not been released.

Davis was a Republican who represented the 1st District.

UPDATE: From the AP via WTOP: Congresswoman Dies After Cancer Fight:

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, who represented southeastern Virginia for seven years, died Saturday morning after a two-year battle with breast cancer, her office said.

Davis, 57, died at her home in Gloucester.

Davis, a Republican, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and had a reoccurrence earlier this year. Her health took a turn for the worse during the past week, her office said.

She was first elected to Congress in 2000, and was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Her first piece of legislation, passed by the House in 2001, increased the life insurance benefit paid to survivors of military members killed on duty.

Before Congress, Davis served in the Virginia House of Delegates. She was a former real estate broker and a horse enthusiast.

She underwent chemotherapy treatments and a mastectomy when she was first diagnosed in 2005. When her cancer returned, she underwent chemotherapy again and often monitored hearings from home.

She is survived her husband, Chuck, two sons and a granddaughter.

UPDATE #2: From the AP via WTOP: Political Leaders React to Death of Jo Ann Davis:

Reactions to the death of U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-1st, who died Saturday at her home in Gloucester after a two-year battle with breast cancer:

“I always admired Congresswoman Davis’ strong convictions and the tenacity that she brought to bear in acting on them. We shared a warm friendship built around a mutual enjoyment of equestrian sports.”

_U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va.

“Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis made history when she became the first female Republican elected to the House of Representatives from the commonwealth in 2000. She inspired Virginians as she battled breast cancer while continuing to serve the commonwealth.”

_Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

“Virginia has lost a passionate advocate for better government, and her legacy as a defender of conservative principles will always be remembered.”

_John Hager, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

“When her career took her to Washington, the entire commonwealth, and the country, benefited. She was a leader of integrity, common sense, and decency. …In a city where so many seek the bright lights of national publicity over the hard work of effective governing, Jo Ann always focused on the latter.”

_Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

“She was a good friend and a tireless advocate for America’s First District, as both she and Herb Bateman referred to the 1st Congressional District of Virginia. While we had different political loyalties, we had no differences in our efforts to work together for the Hampton Roads area and especially the shipping and defense industries.”

_U.S. Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-3rd.

“It is fitting that the month of October is dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness. Even as she battled through her own personal adversity, Jo Ann saw her illness as an opportunity to help others and raise awareness for this disease. Her efforts will live on through the lives that she touched.”

_U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake, R-2nd.

“She was a dependable conservative voice on the challenges of our time, but I believe that her greatest contribution was the devoted manner in which she attended to the affairs of her district and the constituents she served.”

_Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling.

UPDATE #3: Hate to bring this up so soon, but from The Washington Post: Special Election Will Decide Successor to Va. Rep. Davis [emphasis mine]:

The successor to U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), who died yesterday at age 57, will be chosen during a special election on a date to be set by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), state officials said.

[…]

State law does not require Kaine to set the election date within a prescribed amount of time. An aide to the governor said that if Kaine decides not to call for a special election Nov. 6, Election Day for state and local offices, the special election could not be held until 30 days later, according to state law.

“We’re still researching exactly how this will be done,” said Delacey Skinner, Kaine’s communications director.

[…]

Two state Republican sources said yesterday that several names have emerged as potential candidates to run for Davis’s seat. Those include state Del. Robert J. Wittman (R-Westmoreland), Del. Melanie L. Rapp (R-York), Sen. Ryan T. McDougle (R-Hanover), Russ Moulton, former chairman of the 1st District Republican Committee, and GOP activist Paul Jost.

A Democratic source said at least one candidate might emerge from the party: Phil Forgit, an elementary school teacher who ran against Rapp in 2003.

For those not paying attention, Robert Wittman is the delegate for part of Caroline County (along with Robert Orrock and Chris Peace) while Ryan McDougle is the state senator for all of Caroline County.

Anti-Semite/racist James "Jim" Moran opens his mouth again…

From The Washington Post:

Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) has again come under fire from local Jewish organizations for remarking in a magazine interview that the “extraordinarily powerful” pro-Israel lobby played a strong role promoting the war in Iraq.

In an interview with Tikkun, a California-based Jewish magazine, Moran said the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is “the most powerful lobby and has pushed this war from the beginning. I don’t think they represent the mainstream of American Jewish thinking at all, but because they are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful — most of them are quite wealthy — they have been able to exert power.”

Moran’s remarks were criticized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and the National Jewish Democratic Council. Ronald Halber, executive director of the first group, said Moran’s remarks are anti-Semitic and draw on ugly stereotypes about Jewish wealth, power and influence.

“He uses several age-old canards that have been used throughout history that have brought violence upon Jews,” Halber said this week. “He uses clearly anti-Semitic images such as Jewish control of the media and wealthy Jews using their wealth to control policy.”

Ira N. Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said in a published statement that there is nothing wrong with criticizing the pro-Israel lobby but that Moran’s statements go beyond that to defamation by making a “phony” connection between AIPAC and the Iraq war.

“Rep. Moran’s comments are not only incorrect and irresponsible,” Forman said. “They are downright dangerous.”

[…]

In 2001, he [Moran] angered groups by saying in an appearance before the American Muslim Council that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was coming to Washington “probably seeking a warrant from President Bush to kill at will with weapons we have paid for.”

The next year, Moran returned $2,000 in political contributions from a Muslim activist with ties to the anti-Israeli groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

And in 2003, at an antiwar forum in Reston, Moran said: “If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq, we would not be doing this. The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should.”

Said Halber this week: “There are only so many mistakes he can make before it’s fair to call him an anti-Semite.”

I would say we’re at that point now. And don’t forget his racist acts back in 2000; from The Washington Post via LexisNexis, “Parents File Complaint Against Va.’s Moran; Lawmaker Says Boy Tried to Steal Car”:

The parents of the 8-year-old boy who allegedly tried to steal Rep. James P. Moran Jr.’s car Friday by claiming he had a gun have filed a complaint with an Alexandria magistrate and hired a lawyer, saying that their son did nothing wrong and was cursed and manhandled by the congressman.

The child merely admired Moran’s Toyota, the parents said, adding that Moran (D-Va.) then grabbed the boy by the neck and cursed at him.

Moran, who disputed the parents’ contentions, has not pressed charges against the boy but was obviously conflicted about how to proceed yesterday. Twice he reversed his decision, first telling a reporter he had decided to prosecute, then calling back an hour later to say he would not.

[…]

According to police, the boy approached Moran in the parking lot of Cora Kelly School and Recreation Center, claiming that he had a gun in his pocket and demanding that Moran give up his car keys.

Moran told police that he grabbed the boy and hauled him inside to the director’s office. The boy was not armed.

[…]

The boy’s mother, Melanie Gaitwood, yesterday gave her version of the incident, which occurred as Moran was picking up his children.

Gaitwood said her older son, age 9, came running home saying someone was trying to choke his brother.

Gaitwood said she went immediately to Cora Kelly. “My son was in the office, screaming and crying,” she said. “The director said, ‘This is the man right here that accused your son of trying to steal his car.’ I said, ‘What the hell are you talking about? He’s just 8 years old.’ ”

According to Gaitwood, Moran then insulted her.

Moran said the mother was “just screaming the vilest obscenities at me because I didn’t let him go. . . . And I said, ‘Ma’am, your son said he had a gun. He tried to steal my car.’ And she started with all the f’s. . . . I said, ‘Well, I think we found the problem.’ ”

Yesterday, Gaitwood told a reporter that a witness had seen Moran grab her son, a second-grader, around the neck and the leg. Then the boy’s father, Alonzo Griffen, arrived and referred questions to the family’s attorney, Ted J. Williams.

Also, from the AP via LexisNexis, “Congressman says boy tried to steal car, parents call congressman a thug”:

[Ted] Williams [the parents’ lawyer], who also threatened to sue, called it a case of a “white congressman’s word against that of a young black kid.” He said Moran should apologize and agree to meet with the parents.

[…]

He [Williams] also sent school transcripts identifying the child as Michael Green, an “A” student.

What a freakin’ joke…

From the AP via NBC 4 in Washington, D.C.: Former Va. ACLU President Gets 7 Years For Downloading Child Porn [emphasis mine]:

A former president of the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has been sentenced to seven years in prison for downloading child pornography.

The prison term imposed on Charles Rust-Tierney, 52, of Arlington, is one year less than the minimum sentence suggested under federal sentencing guidelines. But it’s more than the five-year term requested by defense attorneys. Rust-Tierney also received 10 years of supervised release following his prison term.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III gave Rust-Tierney credit for what he said was “an otherwise exemplary life” that included decades of service as a public defender in the District of Columbia representing the mentally ill. Several dozen people wrote letters to Ellis on Rust-Tierney’s behalf, and more than 20 people attended Friday’s hearing in support of him.

[…]

According to court documents, Rust-Tierney started accessing child pornography online as early as June 2004. He used his home computer to access child pornography Web sites at least five times between March 2005 and October 2006. In a two-week period in January 2006, he accessed more than 850 digital images and videos of child pornography from one Web site. About 560 images and 137 videos of child pornography were found on computers and digital media taken from Rust-Tierney’s home.

Ellis said Friday that the pornography downloaded by Rust-Tierney “was of the most abhorrent kind,” including torture and sexual assaults on children as young as 6.

[…]

Prosecutor Edward McAndrew urged Ellis to impose an eight-year sentence, in line with federal sentencing guidelines. He suggested in court papers that many of Rust-Tierney’s supporters would be less likely to stand with him had they actually seen the type of pornography that Rust-Tierney was receiving.

“The children of this country are at maximum peril when their guardians exploit them,” McAndrew said.

More details from The Washington Post: Va.’s Ex-ACLU Chief Gets 7 Years for Child Porn [again, emphasis mine]:

A former Arlington County youth sports coach and civil rights lawyer who once headed Virginia’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison for buying child pornography that prosecutors labeled sadistic and masochistic.

Charles Rust-Tierney, 51, pleaded guilty in June to downloading hundreds of pornographic images of children as young as 4. Authorities said Rust-Tierney used a computer in his 11-year-old son’s bedroom to view the files, which included a six-minute video that depicted sexual torture of children, set to a song by the rock band Nine Inch Nails.

[…]

Authorities said Rust-Tierney used his home computer to purchase Internet access to commercial child pornography Web sites at least five times between March 2005 and October 2006, spending about $420. During one two-week span, he accessed more than 850 digital image and video files of child pornography on one site. Many of these files showed children under the age of 12 being forced to engage in sexual acts with adult males, authorities said.

Rust-Tierney has been in jail since his arrest.

A federal magistrate who declined to release him in March described the images she viewed as “the most perverted and nauseating and sickening type of child pornography” she had seen in 10 years on the bench.

Ellis also refused to release Rust-Tierney, saying he posed “a serious risk of harm to the community.” The judge added that “the term ‘child pornography’ does not convey the depravity” of the images that were downloaded.

Yet, more details, from WUSA 9 in Washington, D.C.: Youth Coach In Court On Child Porn Charges [again, emphasis mine]:

They say Rust-Tierney had video showing, among other things, the sexual torture of infants and toddlers. The judge said she’d never heard of child pornography that vile and said because of that, Rust-Tierney would stay behind bars until his trial.

And finally, from Bill O’Reilly (whom I can’t stand to watch or listen to): A Journalistic Cover-up [again, emphasis mine]:

Tierney apparently told the feds that he paid for the child porn using a Paypal account and then downloaded images of prepubescent girls being violently raped onto CD-Rom disks, which the authorities seized in his home.

One of the images Tierney was in possession of showed a little girl tied up and screaming while being violently raped.

Why isn’t he in jail?

From The Politico: Shays screams at Capitol Police officer, later apologies:

On Thursday afternoon, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) got into a loud, angry dispute with a U.S. Capitol Police officer at the security checkpoint inside the entrance of the West Side of the Capitol. On Friday, Shays, a veteran lawmaker, offered a public apology for the incident and said that he wants to meet with the officer personally to reiterate how sorry he is.

Shays reportedly grabbed the officer during the dispute over whether the officer should allow a group of tourists to enter the building, said several sources. Tourists are not allowed to use the West Front entrance, but Shays was trying to bring the group through that entrance anyway. The officer refused to allow them in, and Shays then “yelled and screamed” at the officer, including using profanity, the sources said.

The officer had more tolerance than I would have.

Hat tip: Matt “threat to democracy” Drudge

Dissecting an article, line by line…

From the AP via My Way: Plame Lawsuit Dismissed in CIA Leak Case:

Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to disclose her identity in 2003. Plame said that violated her privacy rights and was illegal retribution for her husband’s criticism of the administration.

Poor babies, you attack someone (by lying) and you’re supposed to be a protected class. Grow up.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments.

Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove, former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Why is it the real leaker, a gossiper, is the last one named?

[…]

Plame’s identity was revealed in a syndicated newspaper column in 2003, shortly after Wilson began criticizing the administration’s march to war in Iraq.

Criticizing the administration by lying, The Honorable Joe “I didn’t even file a written report” Wilson.

[…]

“This case is not just about what top government officials did to Valerie and me.” Wilson said in a statement. “We brought this suit because we strongly believe that politicizing intelligence ultimately serves only to undermine the security of our nation.”

Politicizing intelligence like you did?

Bates also sided with administration officials who said they were acting within their job duties. Plame had argued that what they did was illegal and outside the scope of their government jobs.

If it was illegal, why isn’t Armitage in prison right now? Apparently, rebutting criticism is against the law if done against The Honorable Joe Wilson.

[…]

Bates, a former Whitewater prosecutor, was appointed to the bench in 2001 by Bush.

He better hide from the media and the “nut roots“.