IRS Ordered to Stop Collecting Katrina Back Taxes Until After Elections
Mark W. Everson, the IRS chief with close ties to the Bush White House, has ordered his agency to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 elections, saying he did so in part to avoid negative publicity. Four former I.R.S. commissioners, who served under presidents of both parties, said that delaying collections because of an election is improper and indefensible.
Cheney Endorses Waterboarding as ‘No-Brainer’
Vice President Dick Cheney agreed with a conservative radio host that the use of waterboarding—or simulated drowning—is a “no-brainer†when questioning terror suspects Cheney’s enthusiasm for the technique is hard to square with the positions of Sens. John McCain and John Warner—two of the main sponsors of the Military Commissions Act—who say their bill outlawed the practice. The US has long considered waterboarding – which dates back at least to the Spanish Inquisition – to be torture and a war crime.
As early as 1901, a US court martial sentenced Major Edwin Glenn to 10 years hard labour for subjecting a suspected insurgent in the Philippines to the “water cure”. After the second world war, US military commissions successfully prosecuted as war criminals several Japanese soldiers who subjected US prisoners to waterboarding. In 1968, a US army officer was court martialled for helping to waterboard a prisoner in Vietnam.
Update: Cheney says he was talking about dunking, but not waterboarding.
Karl Rove Protégé Behind Racy Tennessee Ad
Republican Candidate Website Features Killer Margarita Recipe
Texas Rep. Kay Granger, who’s running for re-election, for bringing the party to the Republican Party with her “killer margarita” recipe. We’re not sure about beer as an ingredient, but applaud the question marks denoting the pitcher can be any size a voter wants. Granger’s campaign slogan is “Celebrating Our Nation’s Values,” and there’s nothing more American than getting sloshed on wacky recipes you find on the Internet.
Ex-Bush official receives 18 month prison sentence
David Safavian, 39, who resigned from his job last year on the same day that the criminal complaint was signed, once worked at the General Services Administration and the White House budget office. Safavian was sentenced on four counts and received an 18 month prison sentence for obstructing justice in connection with the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal.
Memory expert in CIA leak case forgot that she met prosecutor
A memory expert testifying on behalf of a former aide to Vice President Cheney who is accused of lying to prosecutors in the CIA leak case forgot that she had met the special prosecutor before and was reduced to “stuttering” and “backpedaling” on the stand. Elizabeth F. Loftus, a professor of criminology and psychology at the University of California at Irvine, was trying to bolster I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s defense, but prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald “sliced” her up.
Dirty Election Ads
In New York, the NRCC ran an ad accusing Democratic House candidate Michael A. Arcuri, a district attorney, of using taxpayer dollars for phone sex. “Hi, sexy,” a dancing woman purrs. “You’ve reached the live, one-on-one fantasy line.” It turns out that one of Arcuri’s aides had tried to call the state Division of Criminal Justice, which had a number that was almost identical to that of a porn line. The misdial cost taxpayers $1.25.
· In Ohio, GOP gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell, trailing by more than 20 points in polls, has accused front-running Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland of protecting a former aide who was convicted in 1994 on a misdemeanor indecency charge. Blackwell’s campaign is also warning voters through suggestive “push polls” that Strickland failed to support a resolution condemning sex between adults and children. Strickland, a psychiatrist, objected to a line suggesting that sexually abused children cannot have healthy relationships when they grow up.
· The Republican Party of Wisconsin distributed a mailing linking Democratic House candidate Steve Kagen to a convicted serial killer and child rapist. The supposed connection: The “bloodthirsty” attorney for the killer had also done legal work for Kagen.
· In two dozen congressional districts, a political action committee supported by a white Indianapolis businessman, J. Patrick Rooney, is running ads saying Democrats want to abort black babies. A voice says, “If you make a little mistake with one of your hos, you’ll want to dispose of that problem tout de suite, no questions asked.”
· In the most controversial recent ad, the Republican National Committee slammed Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) for attending a Playboy-sponsored Super Bowl party. In the ad, a scantily clad white actress winks as she reminisces about good times with Ford, who is black. That ad has been pulled, but the RNC has a new one saying Ford “wants to give the abortion pill to schoolchildren.”
Some Democrats are playing rough, too.
Regards,
Jim
Andy Hailey