Free Republic

The state worker who unwittingly ran an improper child-support check on the man known as Joe the Plumber told lawmakers yesterday that a deputy director later "dictated" how she was supposed to cover it up. Vanessa Niekamp, an administrator for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Office of Child Support and a 15-year state employee, said that when Deputy Director Doug Thompson came into her office, "He appeared very upset, his neck was bright red, and he was shaking. He closed my door." Thompson told her she must write an e-mail to the agency's information-security officer, and then...

State worker says she was forced to cover up 'Joe the Plumber' records check Thursday, December 4, 2008 10:24 PM By Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The state worker who unwittingly ran an improper child-support check on the man known as Joe the Plumber told lawmakers today that a deputy director later "dictated" how she was supposed to cover it up. Vanessa Niekamp, an administrator for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Office of Child Support and a 15-year state employee, said that when Deputy Director Doug Thompson came into her office, "He appeared very upset, his neck...

State employee says she was ordered to check out Joe the Plumber Friday, October 31, 2008 8:21 PM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch Vanessa Niekamp said that when was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case. Niekamp didn't know she just had checked on "Joe the Plumber," who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain's example in a debate of an average American. The senior manager would not learn...

They say that journalism is “instant history.” And if journalism is instant history, then blogging is instant history coupled with gut reactions. And if “instant history” must be revised and/or retracted from time to time, just imagine the complications when it comes to blog-like gut reactions. And if you can’t imagine it read THIS POST which discusses Capitol Hill Blue’s retraction of a highly controversial post blasting Republican “maverick” Ron Paul. In fact, Capitol Hill Blue top Editor Doug Thompson has emailed us that he didn’t know this piece had been posted by an overzealous editor, he subsequently had that...

Which means at this point that the burden is on Mr. Thompson to supply evidence: # that there is a "George Harleigh"; and # and that he is the man described and quoted in innumerable articles, who taught Political Science at SIU and worked in the Nixon and Reagan administrations. If "George Harleigh" is a pseudonym, that fact should be disclosed, and if there is a person calling himself "George Harleigh" whose remarks are being repeated, it falls on Doug Thompson to provide some evidence that this man is who he says he is. Under the circumstances, until I hear...

In the days, weeks and months following September 11, 2001, George W. Bush both surprised and impressed me with his handling of a national crisis. Like many who watched Bush squeak into office via the Supreme Court’s intervention, I didn’t expect much of Dubya. Yet he appeared to grow into the job and handled 9-11 with an adroit mixture of compassion and anger. Maybe, I thought, this guy might be up to the job after all. That was then. This is now. Now I’m not so sure. As Bush prepares to lead us into war with Iraq, a war that...

Thursday, November 10, 2005 Note from DC:This is re-published here due to the need for its widest dissemination. If what is claimed here is true, we are in for the wildest ride this country has EVER had. GOP memo touts new terror attack as way to reverse party's declineBy DOUG THOMPSONPublisher, Capitol Hill BlueNov 10, 2005, 06:19 Email this articlePrinter friendly page A confidential memo circulating among senior Republican leaders suggests that a new attack by terrorists on U.S. soil could reverse the sagging fortunes of President George W. Bush as well as the GOP and "restore his image as...

(WRITER'S NOTE: Last week, I published a column entitled "The Madman of Pennsylvania Avenue." It was written during a time when I was letting a memory of a family tragedy depress me and affect my judgment. The column was pulled within two hours of its posting after family and friends convinced me that it went too far. Unfortunately, given the speed of the Internet, it has already been picked up and reprinted in full on other sites. This column was over the top, even for me, and I apologize for it. It has been erased from the files of this...

Some of the die-hard, rabid right-wingers who still support George W. Bush’s immoral and illegal actions tried recently to overload my email system by flooding it with bitches and moans over recent columns about their poster boy for destruction of the Constitution. Their grand plan didn’t work. My anti-spam filter caught most of them because it quite properly considers GOP-generated mail spam (as it does for Democratic-generated mail). The handful of messages that got through cried about the language I use to describe their President. “Your crude, obscene language destroys your credibility,” one said. “Why not just shut up and...

LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Huckabee Thursday denounced a bill by Sen. Jim Holt that would deny state benefits to illegal immigrants as un-Christian, un-American, irresponsible and anti-life. Holt, R-Springdale, replied later that Christian charity does not include turning a blind eye to lawbreaking. Senate Bill 206, filed Wednesday, also would require proof of citizenzhip to register to vote and would require state agencies to report suspected cases of people living in the country illegally. "Somebody needs to ask Sen. Holt what welfare this bill would stop," Huckabee said in a question-and-answer period with reporters on Thursday morning. Many aid...

<p>In a statement made Monday to NewsMax.com, Nancy Reagan said she was strongly endorsing President Bush's re-election and rejected a published Internet report that she was not backing his re-election.</p> <p>Joanne Drake, the chief of staff for former President Ronald Reagan’s office in Los Angeles, said in a statement on behalf of the former first lady, “Mrs. Reagan supports President Bush’s re-election 150 percent.” Published reports have suggested that Mrs. Reagan was unhappy with President Bush for his opposition to taxpayer-funded stem cell research that kills human embryos, which Mrs. Reagan has supported after her husband’s long bout with Alzheimer’s disease.</p>

Bush Knew About Leak of CIA Operative's Name By Staff and Wire Reports Jun 3, 2004, 05:28 Witnesses told a federal grand jury President George W. Bush knew about, and took no action to stop, the release of a covert CIA operative's name to a journalist in an attempt to discredit her husband, a critic of administration policy in Iraq. Their damning testimony has prompted Bush to contact an outside lawyer for legal advice because evidence increasingly points to his involvement in the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to syndicated columnist Robert Novak. The move suggests the...

President George W. Bush’s increasingly erratic behavior and wide mood swings has the halls of the West Wing buzzing lately as aides privately express growing concern over their leader’s state of mind. In meetings with top aides and administration officials, the President goes from quoting the Bible in one breath to obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as “enemies of the state.” Worried White House aides paint a portrait of a man on the edge, increasingly wary of those who disagree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in...

<p>Vietnam. So long ago yet so vivid still in the minds of so many. Long enough ago that the history of the conflict is now taught in high schools and colleges – all too often by young men and women too young to have served there if – in fact – they served at all.</p> <p>Vietnam. A name conjured up now whenever somebody wants to question what is happening in Iraq. Another Vietnam, they say. Another debacle for America.</p>

Bill Clinton is back on the campaign trail, stumping for Democratic Presidential candidates in Iowa. Looks like he’s back up to a few of his other tricks too. Commenting on the Bush tax-cut package, Clinton told a campaign crowd “I never had a nickel until I left the White House.” Same Bill Clinton. Same pack of lies. All you have to do is look at the last financial disclosure statement Clinton filed before leaving the White House on January 20, 2001. It shows Bubba left 1600 Pennsylvania a rich man, with a net worth somwhere between $1 million and $5...

Time to stop pussyfooting around. George W. Bush is a liar. Many in his administration are liars as well. They wouldn't know the truth if it walked up and bit them in the ass. For the past few months, the pro-Bush forces have told us the jury is still out on whether or not he told the truth about weapons of mass destruction and some other key misstatements of facts that were used to justify the invasion of Iraq. The war, Bush told us in his grandstanding photo op on board an aircraft carrier, ended May 1 (although the relatives...

In coming weeks, Democratic elected officials will question the President’s intentions on the pending war with Iraq. Writers and broadcasters friendly to the Democratic cause have already been provided talking points suggesting the war is about oil, not terrorism. “The talking points were developed before the end of last year and sent out to operatives and friendly media,” one Democratic consultant confided. “No Democratic member of Congress will question the President’s patriotism openly but we will use the media and other surrogates to raise doubts.” Capitol Hill Blue obtained a copy of the talking points when the Democratic National Committee...

Dems plan to undermine America to beat Bush CapitolHillBlue ^ | January 6, 2003 | By DOUG THOMPSON Posted on 01/28/2003 2:07 AM EST by JohnHuang2 Democrats plan to undermine public confidence in President George W. Bush by challenging his credibility and raising doubts about America, sources within the party tell Capitol Hill Blue. A multi-pronged attack against Republicans and the President will focus not only on economic issues, but question American values, raise doubts about how this country is viewed by other nations and question the patriotism of Bush and his party. The extensive campaign, developed by senior...

Capitol Hill Blue, the oldest daily news site on the Internet, has been sold to a group of working Washington journalists. Doug Thompson Media, owner and operator of the web site since its debut on the Web on October 1, 1994, announced today that it has agreed to sell the site to Capitol Hill Journalism Partnership. "Capitol Hill Blue is a pioneer in web-based journalism," said partnership spokesman William J. Lowrey. "We intend to honor that tradition and improve upon it." The partnership is composed of working, Washington-based journalists who work for print, broadcast and web-based media outlets. "We intend...

Hey, I can understand them pulling anything TLBSHOW posts (hehehe), but there are lots of comments being pulled, and most concern the recent discovery that Crapitol Hill Blue has been using an unnamed source that doesn't exist and that has left a vapor trail after being in contact with Doug Thompson for over 20 years!

<p>"If I promise you the Moon and the Stars, Would you believe it?</p> <p>Games people play in the middle of the night" - Alan Parsons Project, "Games People Play"</p> <p>The recent fiasco experienced by the New York Times over the creative writing exploits of Jayson Blair should have served as a warning to journalists to be careful over the information they publish. A news outfit depends upon its credibility, just as surely as our society depends upon news reporting in order for people to make judgments over their own governance. Yet it appears that some lessons are not easily learned, as was recently demonstrated by some events which are to this moment still unfolding.</p>

CNN Anchor Pushes Anti-bush Rumor -- Four Hours after its Retraction! When Castigating George Bush for Passing on Bogus Information, Aaron Brown Passes on Web Story He Should Have Known Was False In the 1990s, the World Wide Web was denigrated in media circles as a nest of White House-bashing conspiracy theorists, a fact-free zone where the scandal stories were too good to check. Last night, CNN NewsNight anchor Aaron Brown pulled a fascinating, though embarrassing trick: While castigating the President for passing on bogus information, he passed on a bogus Internet story he should have known was false. After...

One way in which liberal media bias creeps into network and cable TV news is through innuendo. It raises a question - regardless of truth or fact - but permits the news organization to slip off the hook by claiming it had merely broached an issue and not made a declarative statement. A fine example of media bias by innuendo was made Wednesday evening by CNN anchor Arron Brown regarding when the Bush administration realized they had relied on forged documents to assert that Iraq was seeking African uranium for a nuclear program. The White House Monday admitted it...

<p>Recently, this web site discovered it has been played as a sucker by a source that was used in seven stories that ran in Capitol Hill Blue from September 2002 until July of 2003.</p> <p>The person in question was quoted as an unnamed source in six of the seven articles and by name (Terrance J. Wilkinson) in the seventh. We later learned the name was bogus even though I had known (or thought I knew) the person by that name for more than 20 years.</p>

Democrats plan to undermine public confidence in President George W. Bush by challenging his credibility and raising doubts about America, sources within the party tell Capitol Hill Blue. A multi-pronged attack against Republicans and the President will focus not only on economic issues, but question American values, raise doubts about how this country is viewed by other nations and question the patriotism of Bush and his party. The extensive campaign, developed by senior Democratic consultants and party leaders, was launched last week with attacks on the Bush economic plan by Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Richard Gephardt. In coming weeks, Democratic...

I am having a back and forth with Japan Today regarding their publishing of an article which appeared in Capitol Hill Blue that has subsequently been exposed to be false.Japan Today did not get the article from Capitol Hill Blue though. They got it from Truthout.org, a leftist propaganda outfit.I wanted to see if Truthout.org even had the story up on their site. I went to their main page, Truthout.org and checked. Nothing. I noticed a search box up at the top. So I took a phrase from the original article, sought significant quantities and hit search.Bingo.Here is what the...

In this article on Capitol Hill Blue, there are the following lines:"The report had already been discredited," said Terrance J. Wilkinson, a CIA advisor present at two White House briefings. "This point was clearly made when the President was in the room during at least two of the briefings." Bush's response was anger, Wilkinson said. "He said that if the current operatives working for the CIA couldn't prove the story was true, then the agency had better find some who could," Wilkinson said. "He said he knew the story was true and so would the world after American troops secured...

After weeks of denial, the White House Monday finally admitted President Bush lied in his January State of the Union Address when he claimed Iraq had sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa. The acknowledgment came as a British parliamentary commission questioned the reliability of British intelligence about Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Bush said in his State of the Union address that the British government had learned that Saddam recently sought significant quantities of uranium in Africa. The president's statement was incorrect because it was based on...

Damn, I hate it when I've been had and I've been had big time. In 1982, while I was working for Congressman Manuel Lujan of New Mexico, a man came up to a me during a gathering in Albuquerque and introduced himself as Terrance J. Wilkinson. He said he was a security consultant and gave me a business card with his name and just a Los Angeles phone number. A few weeks later, he called my Washington office and asked to meet for lunch. He seemed to know a lot about the nuclear labs in New Mexico and said he...

Sooner or later, American paranoia about terrorists had to bring the conspiracy theorists out of the closet to claim the sniper who has killed nine ordinary people in the Washington suburbs the past two weeks is part of a giant al Qaeda plot. “Yeah and he could be a little green man from Mars,” laughs Jonathan Burlingame, a former intelligence agent who tracked terrorists for 30 years. “Suggesting this is part of some al Qaeda plot only shows how little most people know about how international terrorism works.” Homeland Security officials say publicly they are “not ruling out” international terrorism...