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Michael Cohen is asking Judge Kimba Wood to suppress legal documents related to his relationship with Donald Trump in his trial over payments to the pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. Wood also officiated at a non-denominational wedding service for billionaire George Soros in 2013. She was nominated as Attorney General by President Bill Clinton but withdrew in a flap over her hiring of a nanny who was not eligible to work in the U.S. As a cash-strapped student she once spent five days in a training course to be a Playboy bunny. Kimba Maureen Wood is a Senior United States District...

Richard Mellon Scaife, the reclusive right-wing billionaire who financed a “family values” crusade that almost bought down President Bill Clinton, has offered surprising praise for the politician he once despised - and admitted they both share an interest in philandering. The heir to the Mellon banking fortune was once scorned by Democrats as the shadowy figure behind what Hillary Clinton dubbed “the vast right-wing conspiracy”. Mr Scaife backed the so-called Arkansas Project that produced a series of stories in the American Spectator magazine into Mr Clinton’s sex life, including the notorious “Troopergate” piece that spurred Paula Jones’ sexual harrassment suit...

The Bush administration's vow this week to block contempt charges from Congress could prove to be a successful strategy for protecting White House documents about the multiple firings of U.S. attorneys, Democratic legal scholars and legislative aides said yesterday. This week, Bush administration officials disclosed that they will never allow a U.S. attorney to pursue contempt charges on behalf of Congress, noting that the Justice Department cannot be required to act against a decision by the president. But administration officials and other legal scholars, including some Democrats, noted that Justice Department lawyers in the Clinton administration made a similar argument...

Excerpt - Matt Sheffield's post over at Ace's place ("The Attempted Crucifixion of Frank Luntz") noted the heat PBS had received for having GOP pollster Frank Luntz participate as an analyst at last Thursday's Democrat debate: The blog left's puppet master, David Brock, sends out an "alert" informing them that someone who might possibly be conservative is going to be allowed to report as a "mainstream" journalist. ..... Thankfully, PBS has not backed down. Luntz, who is a respected pollster and is often quoted in liberal publications is not getting the shaft, making him one of the very few Republicans...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered U.S. Embassy posts in Baghdad filled ahead of others worldwide, saying it's essential diplomats sent to Iraq be the most qualified. In a cable sent to all U.S. missions abroad and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Rice disclosed a new hiring plan amid increasing criticism of American efforts in Iraq. It is designed to prevent a potential severe vacancy problem and, in part, reduce resistance from anti-war elements in the State Department who have been accused of holding up appointments and discouraging diplomats from going to Iraq. SNIP Officals familiar with the...

Houston is at a turning point. With a boost from noted urbanist Joel Kotkin, our city has begun recasting its national reputation from "that ugly, sprawling, weird city without zoning" to the exemplar city for "Opportunity Urbanism," a compelling new paradigm for cities in the 21st century. This paradigm asserts that the fundamental (but recently forgotten) core mission of cities is to accelerate the upward social and economic mobility of its inhabitants. This may sound obvious to the average person, but in the wonkish world of urban policy and planning, the themes of the past decade have been environmentalism (smart...

Grocer sentenced in food stamp fraud case Posted by Mike Tobin May 31, 2007 14:41PM Categories: Breaking News, Crime The leader of one of the biggest food-stamp fraud rings in Ohio was sentenced to less than three years in prison Thursday during a secret hearing. U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster sentenced Amin Salem to 33 months in prison for his role in a $7.7 million food stamp fraud ring dating back to 1995. It's the second time Salem has been convicted of stealing from the program designed to feed poor people. Salem was supposed to be sentenced last...

Dear MoveOn member, Every June, thousands of leaders, activists, thinkers and bloggers gather in Washington, DC at one of the biggest progressive conferences of the year—the Take Back America conference. This year I'll be helping kick it off, and we'll be joined by an amazing list of speakers—from John Edwards to Ned Lamont to Nancy Pelosi. And there are workshops and presentations on everything from universal health care to corporate reform. The folks at Take Back America are offering a special rate for MoveOn members, but it's only valid for a few more days. Want to join us on June...

A relative has been in the hospital, and then rehab at a nursing home, for a couple of months. The other day I took the 90-year-old over to his house. We weren’t there for a minute when the phone rang. It was a telemarketer. In less than ten minutes, two other sales calls came in. The elderly, often housebound and lonely, are particularly susceptible to phone pitches. Some companies specifically target them for scams. Last month the New York Times ran a story on an information broker business, infoUSA, which sells lists for telemarketing. According to the Times, a list...

For all of the posturing by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee during the testimony of former Department of Justice political appointee Monica Goodling, they and their Democrat colleagues in the Clinton administration went to far greater lengths to identify and track the political activities of career and politically appointed lawyers in the Department of Justice and elsewhere. "We knew the political affiliation of every lawyer and political appointee we hired at the Department of Justice from January 1993 to the end of the Administration," says a former Clinton Department of Justice political appointee. "We kept charts and used them...

June 4, 2007 issue - The United States Department of Justice has not always been above politics. John F. Kennedy, after all, appointed his brother and consigliere Robert to be attorney general. But the Justice Department is supposed to stand for the rule of law—to be the enforcer of the laws of the United States, not the place presidents go to get around the law. Independence is an important tradition in the columned limestone building on Constitution Avenue. It is worth remembering that before Richard Nixon could find someone at the Justice Department willing to fire the Watergate special prosecutor...

BERGER'S ETERNAL SECRET May 27, 2007 -- It now looks like the American people will never learn how - and why - Bill Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy "Sticky Fingers" Berger, stole and destroyed classified documents from the National Archives. That's because Berger - in a significant, but little-noticed, move - has short-circuited the last investigation into his sordid little burglary. As Byron York reports at National Review Online, Berger last week voluntarily surrendered his law license. Now, that's hardly as serious a step as it sounds, since - as Berger freely admitted - "I have not [practiced law] for...

A federal judge approved an immunity deal Friday allowing former Justice Department aide Monica Goodling to testify before Congress about the firing of eight federal prosecutors. Goodling, who served as the department's White House liaison, has refused to discuss the firings without a guarantee that she will not be prosecuted. Congress agreed to the deal, Justice Department investigators reluctantly agreed not to oppose it and U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan gave it final approval Friday. "Monica Goodling may not refuse to testify," Hogan began his brief order, which said that Goodling could not be prosecuted for anything other than perjury...

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) is calling on the Justice Department either to drop its investigation of his wife and former political associates or else to bring charges quickly. DeLay said he has given the FBI documents exonerating his wife, but an associate of the former lawmaker said that agents have followed up with a fresh round of subpoenas. The inquiry appears to be focused on determining whether DeLay’s wife, Christine, earned her pay from two organizations controlled by Ed Buckham, a lobbyist once closely affiliated with the former Republican leader, according to sources interviewed by federal investigators....

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own set of facts." That cardinal rule of the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan comes in for mention in George Tenet's memoir "At the Center of the Storm." An unusual kind of irony, then, that Mr. Tenet is now attempting to rehabilitate himself in official Washington, and so he must paint himself as a dissenter, a truth-teller, a man railroaded by the Bush administration. The memoirist's natural tendency to recount the most favorable train of events thus takes on its own momentum. In Mr. Tenet's case, this puts the man at...

Hawking his new book, At the Eye of the Storm, former CIA Director George Tenet bared his soul Sunday night to Scott Pelley of the CBS news magazine, 60 Minutes. Some preliminary thoughts about his jaw-dropping performance are in order. 1. Tenet met every morning with President Bush. Indeed, he was the point person at the national-security briefing — the daily session Bush, from the beginning of his presidency, has made a point of taking more seriously than his predecessor did. Tenet now claims that in the summer of 2001, he was convinced al Qaeda was on the verge of...

<p>PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Opinion Research Corporation, a leading provider of global market research and consulting services, today announced the establishment of a formal polling partnership with CNN, one of the world's most respected and trusted sources for news and information. The CNN Poll will become the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll.</p>

The latest- the blogs are all over this- go to them and use their links:   Foley Setup? - Part V - Uncovering the Conspiracy--I don’t think I’ve ever seen a political conspiracy unravel as fast as this one that involves former representative Mark Foley. These you must read to catch up on the story...MacsMind - Foleygate Part IVMacsMind - Foleygate Part V   [Foley Outer] Mike Rogers Tried To Blackmail Senator On Alito Vote--Rogers was named as one of Genre Magazine’s Men We Love. http://www.pageonenewsmedia.com/docs/bio.html Here's the list of intimidation. http://www.blogactive.com/2006_06_01_blogactive_archive.html I don't think that these Gay activists who...

Information compiled from the Washington Post, “Congressional Sex Scandals in History,” and other sources. 10. Sen. Daniel Inouye. The 82-year-old Hawaii Democrat was accused in the 1990s by numerous women of sexual harassment. Democrats cast doubt on the allegations and the Senate Ethics Committee dropped its investigation. 9. Former Rep. Gus Savage. The Illinois Democrat was accused of fondling a Peace Corps volunteer in 1989 while on a trip to Africa. The House Ethics Committee decided against disciplinary action in 1990. 8. Rep. Barney Frank. The outspoken Massachusetts Democrat hired a male prostitute who ran a prostitution service from Frank’s...