Daily news digest 3/17-19/2007
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TOP STORIES
4
Years After Start of War, Anger Reigns
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031700539.html
Thousands of
demonstrators protesting the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq marched on
the Pentagon yesterday, jeered along the way by large numbers of angry
counter-protesters. Organizers billed the antiwar rally as marking the 40th
anniversary of the 1967 march on the Pentagon. At times, verbal clashes during
the cold and blustery day demonstrated that the bitter divisions of four
decades ago sparked by Vietnam are very much alive in the debate over Iraq. The march, part of a weekend of protests that included smaller demonstrations in
other U.S. cities and abroad, comes as the Bush administration sends more
troops to Iraq in an attempt to regain control of Baghdad and Congress
considers measures to bring U.S. troops home.
RELATED: War anniversary draws protesters to D.C.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-17-war-protest_N.htm
RELATED: In March,
Protesters Recall War Anniversaries
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/us/18protest.html
Amid
Concerns, FBI Lapses Went On
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/17/AR2007031701451.html
FBI counterterrorism
officials continued to use flawed procedures to obtain thousands of U.S.
telephone records during a two-year period when bureau lawyers and managers
were expressing escalating concerns about the practice, according to senior FBI
and Justice Department officials and documents. FBI lawyers raised the concerns
beginning in late October 2004 but did not closely scrutinize the practice
until last year, FBI officials acknowledged. They also did not understand the
scope of the problem until the Justice Department launched an investigation,
FBI officials said. Under pressure to provide a stronger legal footing,
counterterrorism agents last year wrote new letters to phone companies
demanding the information the bureau already possessed. At least one senior FBI
headquarters official -- whom the bureau declined to name -- signed these
"national security letters" without including the required proof that
the letters were linked to FBI counterterrorism or espionage investigations, an
FBI official said. The flawed procedures involved the use of emergency demands
for records, called "exigent circumstance" letters, which contained
false or undocumented claims. They also included national security letters that
were issued without FBI rules being followed.
RELATED: Official Alerted F.B.I. to Rules Abuse 2 Years Ago, Lawyer Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/washington/19letter.html?ref=washington
Justice
Dept. Recognized Prosecutor's Work on Election Fraud Before His Firing
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801077.html
One of the U.S.
attorneys fired by the Bush administration after Republican complaints that he
neglected to prosecute voter fraud had been heralded for his expertise in that
area by the Justice Department, which twice selected him to train other federal
prosecutors to pursue election crimes. David C. Iglesias, who was dismissed as U.S. attorney for New Mexico in December, was one of two chief federal prosecutors invited to teach
at a "voting integrity symposium" in October 2005. The symposium was
sponsored by Justice's public integrity and civil rights sections and was
attended by more than 100 prosecutors from around the country, according to an
account by Iglesias that a department spokesman confirmed. Iglesias, a
Republican, said in an interview that he and the U.S. attorney from Milwaukee, Steven M. Biskupic, were chosen as trainers because they were the only ones
identified as having created task forces to examine allegations of voter fraud
in the 2004 elections.
RELATED: Prosecutor's Firing Was Urged During Probe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/18/AR2007031801263.html
RELATED: Accounts of
Prosecutors' Dismissals Keep Shifting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601046.html
RELATED: Gonzales
apologizes to U.S. attorneys
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-18-gonzales-mea-culpa_N.htm
RELATED: Senator
Insists Bush Aides Testify Publicly
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/washington/19attorneys.html
Plame Says Administration 'Recklessly'
Revealed Her
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031600276.html
Valerie Plame, the
former CIA officer at the heart of a four-year political furor over the Bush
administration's leak of her identity, lashed out at the White House yesterday,
testifying in Congress that the president's aides destroyed a career she loved
and slipped her name to reporters for "purely political motives."
Plame, breaking her public silence about the case, contended that her name and
job "were carelessly and recklessly abused" by the government.
Although she and her colleagues knew that "we might be exposed and
threatened by foreign enemies," she said, "it was a terrible irony
that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover."
RELATED: Plame shows theatrical side of Congress
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-17-plame-drama_N.htm
RELATED: ‘Purely
Political Motives’ in Outing, Ex-Agent Says
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/washington/17testify.html
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Legislation
doubles state's standard for renewable energy
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1174111200/12
A plan to double the
state's renewable energy standard is on its way to the governor. Not long after
the Colorado Senate approved a bill to increase to 20 percent the amount of
electricity power companies must generate by 2020, the House gave its final nod
to it, officially sending it off to Gov. Bill Ritter, who said he will sign it
soon. Amendment 37, which voters approved in 2004, calls for a 10 percent
standard by 2015. But because power companies are nearing or already exceeding
that goal, they agreed to double it, said Sen. Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village, who introduced HB1281 with Reps. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, and Rob Witwer,
R-Evergreen. "We have an opportunity to invest in Colorado's new renewable
energy - the wind, solar and biomass - which will only benefit the economy of
our rural communities," Schwartz said.
RELATED: Energy bill goes to Ritter
http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/07/news070317_3.htm
Colorado caucuses may move to Feb. 5
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5462776
On Thursday, California - the most populous state - moved its primary to Feb. 5, and another 20 states
may end up holding their caucuses and primaries on that day. Although Colorado
Democrats are leaning toward moving up the presidential - as well as the local
and state - caucuses, Republicans may want to conduct them separately. There is
concern the earlier date may not give GOP candidates for local and state
offices enough time to campaign. However, Madden said that lawmakers could
possibly change the statute so each party could do what it wants. That was
wholeheartedly supported by state GOP chairman Dick Wadhams. "I think
giving both parties maximum flexibility is a good way to approach it," he
said. "I applaud the Democratic leadership."
RELATED: Colorado caucus move gaining support
http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/mar/17/legislature-2007/
Leaders
fret as mineral funds soar
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/19/3_19_1A_mineral_leases.html
When Gov. Bill Ritter
announced last week he was not angling to divert federal mineral-lease revenues
into education spending, Western Slope leaders let out a collective sigh of
relief. Even as local officials celebrated the governor’s midstream policy
shift, they unanimously agreed this will not be the last time the Western Slope
will have to fight to retain its energy- impact funds. Mesa County Commissioner
Craig Meis said lawmakers every year inevitably set their sights on mineral
revenues. Meis, who serves as chairman of the Associated Governments of
Northwest Colorado, said because federal mineral-lease revenues are increasing
so rapidly, lawmakers will try to tap them. “It’s a growing revenue stream, and
most of the other streams into state government are not growing at that pace,
so severance tax, mineral lease and the oil shale trust fund will always be a
target for everyone’s pet projects,” Meis said. “That’s why I lay awake sleepless
during the legislative session.”
Hope
strong among followers
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5427861,00.html
Fifteen-year-old
Andrew Craig waited for about half an hour to hear Barack Obama's speech and to
shake his hand. Then he waited about 20 minutes more for the Illinois senator
to autograph a paperback copy of his memoir, Dreams from My Father. "I was
elated that I got to meet, hopefully, the person who might become
president," the Denver teen said after a campaign aide handed back his
autographed book. Now he just has to wait until the 2012 election to vote in a
presidential campaign. "Hopefully, I can vote for him in his second
term," Andrew said. Hope was a recurring theme among those interviewed
following Sunday's rally.
RELATED: Obama rouses crowd
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/elections/article/0,2808,DRMN_24736_5427859,00.html
RELATED: Obama:
"The country calls us"
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5468740
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/031907.htm
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