by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or interesting (or both) Washington-related stories.
The House passed major lobbying reform legislation to require lobbyists and lawmakers to disclose significantly more, including the earmarks members of Congress seek and whether they have any financial interests in them, and the campaign contributions lobbyists collect and "bundle" before they pass them along to lawmakers.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. won its $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, potentially giving him his most influential platform in the U.S. yet for his conservative views, which critics believe could eventually damage the newspaper's reputation for journalistic integrity.
U.S. military officials said Shiite militias were the greatest threat in Iraq, not the al Qaeda terrorist group, as President Bush has insisted.
Fearing they could be depicted by President Bush as weak on national security if they don't act, congressional Democrats are working to enlarge the federal government's electronic wiretapping powers before they depart for their August recess.
The Bush Administration's electronic surveillance efforts were much broader than the terrorist surveillance program President Bush has publicly disclosed, the national director of intelligence told Congress.
State election officials are under pressure to limit their political and financial conflicts of interest.
A retired three-star general was censured for his mishandling of the probe following the friendly fire death in Afghanistan of Army corporal Pat Tillman, a former National Football League star.
The UN authorized a 26,000 military force of UN and African peace-keeping personnel for Darfur, Sudan.
Republican presidential candidates have lagged behind Democrats in offering detailed health care plans despite high voter interest in the issue.
A U.S. attorney who had prosecuted a maker of the painkiller OxyContin was asked by a Justice Department official, at the request of a company official, to slow the prosecution and after his refusal found his name on the list of prosecutors to be fired.
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Comments
This link is how various people will be using their time in August:
http://www.grimmy.com/editorials.php
Posted by: Doug Zook | August 1, 2007 8:46 AM
"U.S. military officials said Shiite militias were the greatest threat in Iraq, not the al Qaeda terrorist group, as President Bush has insisted."
I wonder if this will mean that John D will quit claiming that most of the violence in Iraq is caused by Al Qaeda?
Nah, what am I thinking, John D has never let the facts get in the way of his arguements before, why should this be any different.
Posted by: Tony | August 1, 2007 9:17 AM
Notice how everybody is piling on Al Maliki lately.
Ken Pollack, he of the Clinton connections and the recent, things are getting better in Iraq message, speaks disparagingly of Baghdad and the central government. Military leaders sing the praises of provincial warlords while dissing Maliki.
The authors of a shocking report on poverty rates and lack of access to food, water, sanitation, medical care and just about everything eles in Iraq in the wake of the American occupation speak of the need to bypass the central govenrment quagmire to get
development aid to people.
"Senior military officials"
say Shiite militias (Maliki is Shia) are the problem, not Al Qaeda, in Iraq.
Sunni leaders depart the
"unity" govenrment in latest news, despite billions of dollars of military bribes to Sunni Arab countries from Clueless Condi and utterly useless Gates. And those countries, despite the bribes, are being very
close-mouthed about helping out with money for Iraq.
How long is Bush going to prop Al Maliki up? And what happens if Al Maliki goes?
Would it be cheaper to just make Iraq the 51st state?
They'd be thrilled. They all want to immigrate here.
The violence would stop at once. There would be a little piece of America in the Middle East. Etc.
Posted by: Helena | August 1, 2007 9:35 AM
"It's sad, we held a wake. We stood around a pile of Journals and drank whiskey"
-Anonymous veteran reporter WSJ
Posted by: Bubba | August 1, 2007 10:27 AM
Nothing about the Sunnis walking out of the Iraqi government?
Posted by: Cheryl | August 1, 2007 12:31 PM