Jackie Robinson's jersey from the baseball exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute.  

Chlorine bottles as chemical weapons?

Global Security Newswire: "New Jersey Local Police Designate Chlorine Bottle Incidents as Terrorist Acts" Law enforcement officials in the New Jersey town of Woodbridge have labeled an incident Saturday night in which a chlorine-filled bottle was thrown into a bar as a crime of terrorism involving chemical weapons, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, May 5). A chlorine-filled water bottle exploded after being thrown through an open window into the Pioneer Tavern, injuring one man when some of the chlorine splashed into his eyes, police said. The man and two emergency first responders were treated at a local hospital. Two other incidents involving exploding bottles occurred Saturday night, and an exploded bottle was found in the driveway of an area school, AP reported (Associated Press, June 2)."

DHS Newswire

PRESS RELEASE: Leading Washington Publisher Launches DHS Newswire To Provide Daily Homeland Security Coverage The new online wire service, DHS Newswire, provides daily homeland security stories and updates from flashpoints at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Congress, GAO, think tanks, government agencies and private industry. The subscriber-based service is designed to inform decision makers from both private industry and government on top stories affecting defense and homeland security. RESTON, VA (PRWEB) June 7, 2004 -- Federal Employees News Digest, Inc. (FEND), publisher of some of the most widely read news and information products for the federal workforce, today announced that it has launched a Washington-based daily newswire targeted at homeland security professionals. The new online wire service, DHS Newswire (http://www.dhsnewswire.com), provides daily homeland security stories and updates from flashpoints at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Congress, GAO, think tanks, government agencies and private industry. The newswire’s staff monitors scores of government and industry information centers to provide subscribers with concise, focused homeland security news and information. Designed to inform decision makers from both private industry and government on top stories affecting homeland security, this new subscriber-based service provides the latest breaking news – as well as ongoing updates on critical issues and events. In succinct, readable form, DHS Newswire keeps readers up to date with the news and intelligence of the day on terrorist threats affecting the United States -- and what appropriate organizations are doing about it. DHS Newswire coverage is carefully selected every day from a broad spectrum of homeland security issues to give busy readers the right mix of information about the critical events that shape their lives. "DHS is a huge, complicated department -- the largest one created by the federal government since the New Deal," said Linda Young Gsell, FEND Publisher and President. "But much of the real hands-on responsibility for ensuring homeland security is distributed all across the federal government. That’s why we’ve designed DHS Newswire to track homeland security developments not only at DHS -- but wherever and whenever they happen." DHS Newswire is staffed by Washington journalists with solid, research-based reporting skills developed covering both the federal government and the private sector. They provide subscribers with latest on important inside moves at DHS and other federal agencies, Congressional activities and pending legislation, important RFPs and awards, the latest security research, homeland security industry developments, cyber security, government spending, and key homeland security happenings from around the country. The service also runs in-depth features and reports, as well as interviews with some of the nation’s leading homeland security experts –both inside and outside the government. The service currently features a special question and answer session with Michael Byrne, former director of the DHS Office of National Capital Region Coordination, and now Director of Justice and Public Safety for Microsoft Public Sector. To see it, go to http://www.dhsnewswire.com . Subscriptions to DHS Newswire are available at http://www.dhsnewswire.com/subscribe . The publisher is currently offering a special charter subscription rate of $195 per year that includes a daily headline news service delivered by e-mail. About Federal Employees News Digest, Inc. (FEND) FEND (http://www.FederalDaily.com), whose federal reporting has helped readers make sense of government issues since 1952, is also the publisher of the weekly Federal Employees News Digest, Federal Workers Compensation Update, the 2004 Federal Employees Almanac, and the free e-mail weekly newsletter, Federal Daily -- as well as the creator of a wide range of reports, seminars and audio-conferences to help the federal workforce. FEND is a private, woman-owned small corporation located in Reston, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Lockboxes, Iraqi Loot and a Trail to the Fed

from The New York Times

Gonzales says prisoner's rights memo just a draft

from HoustonChronicle.comm AUSTIN -- White House counsel Alberto Gonzales on Friday defended a controversial memo he wrote concerning prisoner rights under the Geneva Conventions as a draft that never reached the president. Gonzales, attending a ceremony unveiling his portrait at the Texas Supreme Court, said he normally wouldn't comment in public about legal advice he's given to President Bush. But he said he thinks language from the draft memo has been "quoted out of context." "In this particular case, what I can say is the memo that everyone is focusing on is a draft memo," said Gonzales. "It was circulated for comment to various agencies. People made comments to that draft that came back. It was revised and a final version went to the president. "What has been commented on is a version of a memo that never went to the president. It was a draft, and a lot of the language that's been quoted out of context or incompletely never made it into the final draft," Gonzales added. The Jan. 25, 2002, memorandum outlined the legal argument for exempting Taliban and al-Qaida fighters from Geneva Conventions protections on how prisoners of war are treated. In it, he noted the need to quickly extract intelligence from prisoners. The memo, first reported by Newsweek last month, also said the war on terror "renders quaint" provisions such as supplying detainees with "commissary privileges (or) athletic uniforms." Gonzales, a former Houston lawyer, was appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush to the Texas Supreme Court in January 1999. He served for two years before being tapped for the job of chief counsel to the president. Gonzales often is mentioned as a potential nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who served for seven years on the Texas court, also was honored with a portrait.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Trailer

Fahrenheit 9/11 Trailer

"We anticipate no issue"

"since action has been coordinated w VP's office." From Judicial Watch. Judicial Watch today released a Department of the Army memo entitled “Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition for the Execution of the Contingency Support Plan,” dated 28 February 2003, that was obtained in response to a lawsuit Judicial Watch filed against the Department of the Army over the production of Kellogg, Brown & Root (“KBR”) “sole-source” contracting records under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). Earlier this week Judicial Watch released a Pentagon e-mail concerning the KBR contract award stating: “We anticipate no issue; since action has been coordinated w VP’s office.” Judicial Watch filed it’s lawsuit against the Department of the Army on February 25, 2004. The FOIA also sought records concerning KBR costs, deadlines, spending limits, bonus scales, timetables and requirements. Sole source contracts are awarded to a company without the company’s having to go through a competitive bidding process. Judicial Watch filed its FOIA requests with the Defense Department on April 6, 2003 and June 16, 2003. On September 12, 2003, Judicial Watch reported that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers claimed justification and approval documents for the award of a sole source contract to KBR and a number of e-mail messages were classified documents, and could not be disclosed to the public. The Corps of Engineer’s counsel went on to say that: “The [original KBR sole source] contract is for a period of two years, with three one-year options, and the total amount of the contract cannot exceed $7 billion dollars.” Interestingly, KBR moved the court to intervene in the litigation in order to protect its commercial and financial interests. Judicial Watch did not object to KBR’s motion. The case is before the US District Court for the District of Columbia. To view the document click here

bad news for Democrats

John F. Kerry Stack: Kerry Assembles "Doomsday" Team He's actually gathering his advisors to come up with a strategic response in case the Bush people happen to announce the capture of Osama bin Laden in October, or if there is another terrorist attack. "Kerry's presidential campaign is preparing for a so-called October Surprise, including the capture of Osama bin Laden and a potential terrorist attack in the United States." The capture of Osama bin Laden would be bad news for these people! Good news for America is bad news for Democrats. Why can't you figure out a way to join in the happiness or relief that people will feel about it and try to get yourselves in on it on a positive way, instead of trying to figure out how to spin the bad news that bin Laden has been captured, if indeed it happens? The article goes on to say that this group "is able to think outside the box," and that the issues they are discussing are being kept top secret by the campaign. However, we found out about them nevertheless, didn't we?

This'll be interesting

California to Sue Enron for Market Manipulation I wonder how the Gubernator feels about this. June 4, 2004 California's attorney general plans to file a civil suit against Enron, charging the bankrupt energy-trading firm with market manipulation during the Western power crisis that began in 2000. The suit will seek millions of dollars in damages and the return of profits arising from Enron's alleged market rigging. NPR's Elaine Korry reports. more here.

Opec move unlikely to affect oil price

from the Financial Times...

Opec's latest unsuccessful attempt to cool soaring oil prices has given speculators few excuses to sell crude futures. The oil cartel has been trying to talk prices down for two weeks before Thursday's Beirut meeting. Comments about a temporary suspension of output quotas heightened expectations that something big was in the offing to show it was serious about bringing crude futures prices down from their record levels. However, some ministers admitted the decision to increase production quotas by an amount less than the market was expecting would have little impact on dragging prices down. "I don't expect any effect on prices with this agreement," Rafael Ramirez, the Venezuelan energy minister, told reporters. Jamal Qureshi, energy analyst at PFC Energy, said the Opec decision followed a pattern whereby the oil cartel builds up expectations that it is going to produce more but then fails to deliver. "It shows that their strategy of trying to manage inventories by keeping a tight rein on supply hasn't changed. This does not give the funds any reason to short the market," Mr Qureshi said from the sidelines of the Beirut meeting. If prices remain near record levels when the group next gathers in Vienna next month, Opec will be in a position to put a bit more than the promised 500,000 barrel increase on the table as it still has some capacity of about 1.5m barrels a day. The agreement on a staggered quota increase underlines the split within Opec. While ministers agree that much of the high oil price is due to concerns about security of oil supplies, the tight gasoline situation in the US and speculative activity, their outlook on demand sustainability differs. Iran, Opec's second largest producer with about 4m b/d, suggested a 1.5m b/d quota increase and its resistance to a straight 2.5m b/d increase was one of the main reasons for the decision to increase the quotas in two stages. Opec officials said Iran was doubtful that demand would continue to grow at the current level, saying that the current projected increase for this year of 2m b/d which is the highest rate in 16 years, could not be sustained. Iran believes that if Opec ramps up production on expectations that current market growth will continue it will lead to a glut of oil. This view is met with some sympathy by other Opec members, which remember the price hitting $10 in 1998 shortly after the oil cartel increased production by one of its highest rates in anticipation of continuing strong demand from the Asian tiger economies. Saudi Arabia is more optimistic about the outlook, but feels that demand is adequately met, and there will need to be more calls from customers before it will lift output from the 9.1m b/d projected for June. The decision also reflects the horse-trading that takes place among Opec members with Algeria and Nigeria wanting higher quota allowances as they have consistently produced over their quotas, while Indonesia and Venezuela have struggled to match theirs.

the kiss of death

Only in America. Boxing promoter Don King stumps for Bush

Woohoo! FIRST PLACE!

"We need to take Iraq out of the sole hands of the US"

How could anyone think that Wesley Clark former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, would be a more astute decision-maker than George Bush? Hey Kerry, would you please make Clark your running mate? He would have been a better candidate than you are.

Concerns rise over chemicals as targets

from Boston.com

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security watchdogs call them "prepositioned weapons of mass destruction" for terrorists: huge tanks of concentrated deadly gases that the chemical industry stores near densely populated areas and that railroads bring through cities en route to somewhere else. The United States harbors more than 100 chemical facilities where an accident would put more than a million people at risk, according to documents filed with the Environmental Protection Agency. One is in Boston: A chemical distributor acknowledged in its filing that in a worst-case scenario if a tank holding 180,000 pounds of vinyl acetate -- a highly flammable liquid -- ruptured, it would send a 4.9-mile-long toxic cloud through the city. As federal security officials warn that Al Qaeda is poised to strike the United States again, the presence of these highly toxic chemicals in the midst of cities may be the most vulnerable point in the nation's defenses. But proposals to reduce that risk by requiring the use of alternative chemicals or rerouting hazardous tankers around a city have faltered. Fear of such an attack on a chemical facility prompted bipartisan momentum in Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for requiring the chemical industry to switch to less dangerous processes where possible. Although many Republicans supported the measure initially, many changed their minds after intense industry lobbying, and the bill died on the Senate floor. Nearly three years later, the laws regulating chemical plants remain the same as before Sept. 11 -- a striking exception to an otherwise transformed security landscape. Similarly, support has emerged for new regulations on railroads that carry dangerous materials such as chlorine through urban areas. Rupturing a chlorine rail tanker would produce a 40-mile-long cloud of the same deadly gas used as a weapon in World War I. But a first-in-the-nation proposal by the District of Columbia City Council to reroute tankers carrying such hazardous cargo around the nation's capital has been stalled for months: The chemical and rail industries objected, with backing from the Bush administration.

More here

Columns: The man behind all the bad decisions

By ROBYN E. BLUMNER, originally printed in the St. Petersburg Times. who else but Alberto Gonzales? Put this one in the no shit file.

President Bush is not a "heads will roll" kind of leader, probably because you have to be willing to admit mistakes happen in order to hold someone responsible for them. Okay, maybe criticizing Bush will get you bounced faster than an honest accountant at an Enron convention - just ask Paul O'Neill - but a major-league screw-up does little to alter one's career trajectory. George Tenet was kept in the central intelligence driver's seat even after the failures of 9/11; Donald Rumsfeld was touted by Bush as a "really good secretary of defense" despite the discovery of military-run torture chambers; and Lt. Gen. William Boykin, who famously announced that his Christian God is better than the Muslims', may be under investigation but has kept his post. But there is perhaps no figure who has his fingerprints on more short-sighted, backward and counterproductive Bush administration policies than does White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. The loyalist attorney from Texas, who was general counsel to Bush as governor and was appointed by him to the Texas Supreme Court, is reportedly a favorite adviser to the president because he can synthesize complicated issues down to a sentence or two, fitting neatly within the president's attention span. Since joining the administration in 2001, Gonzales, 49, has been a guiding force in a swath of administration decisions that have hobbled America's commitment to the rule of law and have cost our nation goodwill and respect around the world. But rather than giving Gonzales a shove toward the door, the president is said to have him on a short list of potential nominees for the first vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Here's the recipe: Generate international animus toward our nation, produce shoddy work, dissemble in the press and who knows, you too could one day sit on the nation's highest court. There have been many Gonzales missteps but attention has focused recently on a memorandum he wrote to Bush on Jan. 25, 2002, in which he said that the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war should not apply to al-Qaida or Taliban prisoners. Gonzales said the war on terrorism "in my judgment renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners." While he raises the possible downsides, including provoking "widespread condemnation among our allies," and potentially undermining "U.S. military culture which emphasizes maintaining the highest standards of conduct," Gonzales nonetheless recommends dumping the Conventions in order to preserve "flexibility." The memo could be titled "do as we say, not as we do." With unexplained logic, it states that anyone who mistreats U.S. personnel could still be charged with war crimes, yet says the Convention - the international law from which the definition of war crimes is derived - should not apply to the actions of the United States. This loophole lawyering, from the man whose former law firm in Houston represented Enron, was an invitation to torture anyone labeled an enemy combatant. He gave legal cover to ungoverned interrogations, resulting in the abuse reports that are now streaming out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo. Joseph Onek, director of the Liberty and Security Initiative of the Constitution Project, says it was this kind of thinking that turned the world from supporting our invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 to standing against us: "When you think about it, Guantanamo became a symbol around the world for American disrespect for law." He calls Gonzales' judgment "a disaster." Also contributing to this environment was the presidential order, written by Gonzales, authorizing the use of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects. The order produced howls of protest by setting up a proceeding so lacking in basic due process that it appeared to have the makings of a star chamber. In defense of the plan, Gonzales wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times calling the tribunals "full and fair." The column was a study in half-truths, including the claim that anyone detained or tried by a military commission "in the United States" would ultimately have the protections of our civilian courts "through a habeas corpus proceeding." In fact, the administration is holding foreign enemy combatants outside the United States, for the sole purpose of defeating their rights of habeas corpus. And whether the administration can get away with this outrage is a question currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. Gonzales has also been a fierce defender of presidential secrecy, helping to put prior presidential records and Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force records out of reach. "He has been a major advocate of virtually untrammeled presidential prerogatives," said Elliot Mincberg, general counsel for People for the American Way, who worries about a Gonzales nomination if Bush is re-elected. Mincberg has good reason to worry. Gonzales is a loyal Bush soldier whose work has shattered America's moral authority and standing in the world. That should buy him a spot on a Bush Supreme Court, don't you think?