Free Republic

December 12, 2008, 0:00 a.m. Down on BrownerRegression we can’t afford. By Michelle Malkin Yet another Clintonite has been wheeled out of the political morgue to serve in the Obama administration. Carol Browner, a neon-green radical who headed the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993-2000, is widely rumored to be the president-elect’s choice for “energy czar.� But an ethical cloud still hangs over Browner’s EPA legacy. It doesn’t take a team of Ivy League lawyers to figure out that this is one more headache the Hope and Change crew doesn’t need. In the spirit of reaching across the aisle, let...

The myth that to delete data really securely from a hard disk you have to overwrite it many times, using different patterns, has persisted for decades, despite the fact that even firms specialising in data recovery, openly admit that if a hard disk is overwritten with zeros just once, all of its data is irretrievably lost. Craig Wright, a forensics expert, claims to have put this legend finally to rest. He and his colleagues ran a scientific study to take a close look at hard disks of various makes and different ages, overwriting their data under controlled conditions and then...

Last week the Archive of the Czech Security Forces posted data on the internet compiled by former Czechoslovakia’s military counter-intelligence. The data lists some 140,000 names of people who were either monitored by the military counter-intelligence or were agents, and it hasn’t taken long for the files to stir controversy. Czech TV reported that five of the country’s MPs, including Social Democrat and former Olympic ski jumper Pavel Ploc, were among those listed. He and the other deputies reacted quickly, denying cooperation of any kind with the Communist intelligence service, saying they were now considering legal action in response. The...

The Marine Corps is charging two of its own in connection with a theft ring that involved the stealing of secret files on potential terrorists. The widening investigation already has produced one conviction. Both Marines were called back to duty at Camp Pendleton and charged in late June with breaking military law, though the charges were not announced until yesterday. Gunnery Sgt. Eric L. Froboese and Master Sgt. Reinaldo Pagan, both reservists, were charged as part of a probe into the mishandling and compromise of classified information, the Marine Corps said. Pagan is charged with dereliction of duty and orders...

<p>THE office computer of suspended Power Authority Inspector General Daniel Wiese was "wiped totally clean" of e-mails and other records just days before being seized by investigators probing an alleged State Police dirty-tricks squad, The Post has learned.</p> <p>The computer, believed to contain sensitive details of Wiese's communications with State Police officials, was grabbed last month at the Power Authority's headquarters in White Plains under a subpoena issued by the office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a source close to the authority said.</p>

Details of Hillary Clinton's firing from the House Judiciary Committee staff for unethical behavior as she helped prepare articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon have been confirmed by the panel's chief Republican counsel. Franklin Polk backed up major claims by Jerry Zeifman, the general counsel and chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee who supervised Clinton's work on the Watergate investigation in 1974, reported columnist Dan Calabrese in a column republished by WND. Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, called Clinton a "liar" and "an unethical, dishonest lawyer." He contends Clinton was collaborating with allies of the Kennedys to block revelation...

HillaryXFiles.com Leads Efforts to Release Clinton Secret FilesMon Jan 21, 1:44 PM ET To: POLITICAL EDITORS Contact: Bob Sturm, +1-703-396-6974; After 6 PM Eastern time, contact Vi Shields, +1-703-906-6542 or Bob Sturm, +1-703-368-1812, all of HillaryXFiles.com MANASSAS, Va., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new website, www.HillaryXFiles.com, will lead the charge for the release of the Clinton Secret Files -- the files about Hillary Clintons involvement in White House affairs that President Bill Clinton has refused to let the public see. The site features a petition demanding that the files be released so that voters will have the information they need...

After last week's release by Judicial Watch of internal documents of Hillary Clinton's Health Care Task Force, many of us waited to see the national news media cover their disturbing contents. No surprisingly, none of them did so. Despite the proposals to use smears against critics of the government and to turn the DNC into a domestic espionage unit for the White House against its opponents, the mainstream news media has shown little interest in even noting the fact that this evidence appeared in a microscopic sample of the three million documents that have been blocked from public scrutiny. Let's...

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Detailed schematics of a military detainee holding facility in southern Iraq. Geographical surveys and aerial photographs of two military airfields outside Baghdad. Plans for a new fuel farm at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The military calls it "need-to-know" information that would pose a direct threat to U.S. troops if it were to fall into the hands of terrorists. It's material so sensitive that officials refused to release the documents when asked. But it's already out there, posted carelessly to file servers by government agencies and contractors, accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. In a survey...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A Navy investigator testified Wednesday that a computer disk seized from the brother of a Chinese-born engineer accused of stealing U.S. defense technology secrets contained encrypted files. Nicholas Mikus, an investigative computer specialist for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, said the files could only be unlocked with a specific "key," a chain of 113 letters that was stored on a floppy disk. Mikus was the latest witness called by the government in its case against Chi Mak, an engineer accused of passing sensitive military information to the Chinese government for more than 20 years. Mak, a...

PARIS: Victor Hugo was a miserly money-grubber, poet Rimbaud "a monstrosity", and Verlaine "a worthless human being" - such are the verdicts on 19th-century French literary lions found in long-forgotten police files recently published in Paris. Even more startling than the unflattering portraits, says Bruno Fuligni, an employee at the National Assembly, or French parliament, who discovered the dust-covered files and compiled them into a book, is the vigour and thoroughness with which the most revered writers of that era were spied upon by snitches and secret police. "Beyond criminals and political figures, there are files on writers and artists....

Jefferson case informant files complaint with policeShe says odd 'things' occurred after FBI tip Tuesday, August 29, 2006 By Bruce Alpert WASHINGTON -- A Virginia woman told police that "things have been happening" since she went to the FBI 17 months ago with a complaint that led to the continuing corruption probe against Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans. Lori Mody, who wore a hidden microphone to tape conversations with Jefferson, said in her July 24 complaint to the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department that the toilet in a McLean, Va., home she is getting ready to sell broke between July...

WASHINGTON A government watchdog group asked federal regulators Thursday to determine if Rep. Gary Miller failed to pay taxes on several real estate transactions. A spokesman for Miller, R-Diamond Bar, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The Los Angeles Times reported this month that Miller avoided paying millions of dollars in taxes on real estate deals under a tax break that protects people forced to sell their property. But local officials said they never made him sell his land, the newspaper said. In a complaint, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked the Internal Revenue Service to...

Atrocities against civilians and prisoners by Army soldiers during the Vietnam War were more common than originally disclosed to the public, according to a Los Angeles Times review of recently unsealed government files. Some 9,000 pages of archives - the largest collection of documented war crimes in Vietnam - include sworn witness testimony, investigative files and status reports for top military brass that detail 320 wartime atrocities substantiated by the Army. Still, few soldiers were held accountable for the war crimes, according to the newspaper. The abuse was not restricted to one rogue Army division, but was committed by every...

I got access to a computer at FBI headquarters recently and took the opportunity to see what they had on me. A lot, as it turned out. Up popped my name in an investigation of Scott Ritter, the former top Iraq arms inspector turned administration critic. I'd interviewed him on the telephone several times in the late 1990s. Scrolling down, I also saw a note on my 1972 membership in a group of graduate students and faculty who wrote scholarly articles against the war in Vietnam, evidently related to an investigation of Jane Fonda. There were also excerpts of articles...

In a filing Thursday at U.S. District Court in the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby CIA/Leak case, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald -- in a 19-page affidavit -- offered few clues about the identity of the official or officials involved in the leak of former CIA employee, Valerie Wilson Plame's name to reporters, other than Libby himself. Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was indicted last year on charges that he lied about how he learned Plame’s identity and when he told reporters. The affidavit does not unravel the mystery of who Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward's "official"...

A Republican lawyer who works as legal counsel to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has filed an initiative that would raise the minimum wage--but also abolish the eight-hour day for overtime. Thomas Hiltachk filed the "Fair Pay Workplace Flexibility Act of 2006" with the Attorney General on Feb. 10. If it makes it to the ballot and is passed by voters, it would lift the state's minimum wage from the current $6.75 to $7.25 on July 1, 2007, and to $7.75 a year later. The initiative does not include automatic cost-of-living increases known as indexing. The initiative would also codify several rules...

Files 'lost' at bird flu centre By Charles Clover, Environment Editor (Filed: 02/12/2005) Confusion rose over the handling of bird flu in Britain yesterday when the Government said it had overlooked 2,000 birds processed by the quarantine centre where the first cases were found. Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, said "misfiled" records showed that the birds from Tanzania had passed through the centre in July and August - two months before the disease was found. It had been thought previously that no shipments had passed through Pegasus Birds, in Essex, since March. She added in a Commons written statement that...

Files on Himmler 'murder' exposed as fake By Ben Fenton (Filed: 02/07/2005) Documents from the National Archives used to substantiate claims that British intelligence agents murdered Heinrich Himmler in 1945 are forgeries, The Daily Telegraph can reveal today. It seems certain that the bogus documents were somehow planted among genuine papers to pervert the course of historical study. Himmler: Forgeries implicated Churchill in his 'murder' The results of investigations by forensic document experts on behalf of this newspaper have shocked historians and caused tremors at the Archives, the home of millions of historical documents, which has previously been thought immune...

Since the inception of controversy over University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, the Rocky Mountain News has led all other media in news coverage, investigation and analysis. Now, that newspaper has published the results of a detailed, exhaustive two-month investigation into multiple allegations against the embattled professor. The five-part series of reports, which began on June 4, constitute remarkable journalism of a kind too rarely practiced, regardless of subject matter. It is thorough; it is careful; it is balanced. It is investigatory and scholarly, analytical and insightful, as clear and as compellingly written as any complicated, contentious story can be....

When I first heard the “big news” of the unmasking of "Deep Throat," my immediate reaction was: who cares? It isn’t just that the whole Watergate brouhaha happened long before I was even born. It was that the whole brouhaha was child’s play compared to what would go on in the Clinton White House. At best, Watergate was a about a second rate breaking and entering, not committed by or with the knowledge of Richard Nixon; one use of executive privilege to slow down the investigation of the break-in for a couple of weeks; and one lie, which wasn’t even...

Scores of lawmakers disclose travel files One representative missed the reporting deadline by years. The Associated Press Scrutiny of Majority Leader Tom DeLay's travel has led to the belated disclosure of at least 198 previously unreported special interest trips by House members and their aides, including eight years of travel by the second-ranking Democrat, an Associated Press review has found. At least 43 House members and dozens of aides had failed to meet the one-month deadline in ethics rules for disclosing trips financed by organizations outside the U.S. government. The AP review of thousands of pages of records covered pre-2005...

At the risk of piling on, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, in the latest of a series of strained attempts to justify a judicial-filibuster strategy that annihilates Senate traditions, has utterly destroyed the civility that once prevailed in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body. Reid took the floor to decry Republican attempts to restore the old traditions of voting yes-or-no on a president's judicial nominees. About two-thirds of the way through a 30-minute talk, he added the following ad-libbed passage: "Henry Saad would have been filibustered, anyway. He's one of those nominees. All you need to do is have a member...

A memo leaked to Narco News by some brave soul within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers a revealing insight into the so-called war on terrorism. In short, the memo seems to show that for at least one federal law-enforcement agency, investigating terrorism is not unlike the childhood game of “Duck, Duck, Goose.” The memo, issued on March 28 by a high-ranking official with DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), essentially orders supervisors in the field to sanitize terrorism-related case files maintained in a major law-enforcement computer system called TECS. All told, TECS contains about 12,000 terrorism-related...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to block the federal government from leasing to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a site where more than 100 Mormons died in 1856. The ACLU claims the government converted Martin's Cove into a religious site and gave the church authority to place unconstitutional restrictions on visitors. "It's a violation of the First Amendment, and specifically it entangles church and state because the government has entered into a partnership with the LDS church," said Mark Lopez, an ACLU attorney in New York. The 25-year lease, signed with...

Jury probes effort to smear GOP Testimony focuses on State Police files and McGreevey's campaign A state grand jury is hearing testimony into allegations that former State Police officials and a former state senator conducted a covert operation that used confidential files in an effort to smear Republicans and help James E. McGreevey run for governor four years ago. ...A key witness in the investigation, retired State Police Lt. Vincent Bellaran, said in an interview this week he has testified three times before the grand jury in Trenton. In return for his testimony, Bellaran said, prosecutors who report to state...

When communist rulers cracked down on Poland's Solidarity movement in 1981, Malgorzata Niezabitowska risked prison to smuggle out photographs of tanks on Warsaw's streets and police turning water cannons on protesters. Today, Niezabitowska, the spokeswoman for Poland's first post-communist government in 1989-90, faces allegations that she collaborated with the secret police of the very regime she struggled against. The case is the most sensational to arise from Poland's recent opening of communist-era files to victims, journalists and historians. Such files have haunted former Eastern bloc countries since the end of the Cold War. Hungary, like Poland, is only now moving...

Gonzales misrepresented role in assisting President Bush escape jury duty WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the State Bar of Texas requesting an investigation into misrepresentations White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales made in a written response to a question posed to him by the Senate Judiciary Committee which is considering Gonzales’s nomination for Attorney General. The complaint alleges that Gonzales inaccurately portrayed his role in appearing before a Texas court when President Bush, then Governor of Texas, was summoned for jury duty. Gonzales has...

- Debt would be reduced by more than $5 billion - Mirant Americas Generation would receive a full recovery - All assets and operations would remain intact ATLANTA, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mirant (OTC Pink Sheets: MIRKQ - News) today filed its proposed Plan of Reorganization (the "Plan") and Disclosure Statement, putting into motion a process intended to allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 protection by mid-year. The documents were filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth division, where the Honorable D. Michael Lynn is presiding over the case. The Plan...

For all the freepers that enjoyed the John Kerry "Massachussettes" file, well.. Apparently you enjoyed it a LOT! We ripped through 40 Gig of transfer in something like 72 hours... What I need is Freepers with some webspace to mirrie this SWF file, contact me, and I'll make the file available and list you as a Mirror. My Mail-box has been flooding since 10 a.m. eastern with people requesting the file. HELP!!!

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 6) - James Belushi has sued his next-door neighbor, actress Julie Newmar, accusing her of a "campaign of harassment" to drive him from his home. In a lawsuit filed Nov. 2, the 50-year-old actor claims Newmar vandalized his estate by destroying a fence and landscaping. He also contends she bad-mouthed him to neighbors and friends, spied on his family and caused a nuisance by playing loud music directed at his backyard. A telephone number for Newmar, who played Catwoman in the 1960s television series "Batman," was not immediately available. A call to Belushi's lawyers was not returned...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Republicans have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing two Los Angeles radio personalities of "criminal behavior" for attacking a local congressman on-air and endorsing his Democratic opponent. The National Republican Congressional Committee contends that ongoing criticism of Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, by KFI-AM talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou represents an illegal in-kind donation of more than $25,000 to Dreier's challenger. "This behavior is illegal and must be appropriately punished," the committee says, adding that violating the law carries a penalty of fines and jail time. The hosts of the...

Dear Sir, As a long time employee of the federal government, I have confidence in the records that each government agency maintains. Many official federal records have formed the basis for legal decisions, major or minor. US courts find such records acceptable as evidence in criminal and civil trials, and, as evidence, these records are highly sought by parties of interest to major legal decisions. Obviously, such documents would be helpful in the determination of a citizen’s suitability to seek the highest office in the land.

Date: 8/8/02 Case Style: Bill L. Burkett v. William W. Goodwin, Jackie L. Taliaferro and Archie M. Meador Case Number: 03-01-00302-CV Judge: Puryear Court: Texas County of Appeals, Third Appellate District Plaintiff's Attorney: David Van Os Defendant's Attorney: Kamilla L. Stokes Description: Bill Burkett, a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Texas Army National Guard, brought a personal injury action against appellees, William Goodwin, Jackie Taliaferro, and Archie Meador, all of whom were his superior officers. (1) Burkett appeals from the trial court's order dismissing his lawsuit. While Burkett sets out his appellate issue as "whether the court below erred in...

Mr. Kerry and the FBI Gary Aldrich Monday, September 13, 2004 (Excerpt) ". . . .Meanwhile, Kerry continues to refuse to release his complete military records which would answer a number of important questions. . . . So, why isn’t the mainstream media pounding on Kerry to get his Military records? Lurking just around the corner are some federal records which may have an even greater impact on Kerry’s bid for the presidency, but mainstream investigative journalists are avoiding this issue like the plague. "Somewhere. . .are 14 cartons worth of investigative reports involving Mr. Kerry’s activities when he returned...

Berger still under investigation Washington, DC, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- The investigation of former national security adviser Sandy Berger's use of classified material "is ongoing and continuing," a U.S. official said Thursday. The Justice Department does not acknowledge that Berger is a target of an investigation, but the source told United Press International a report saying Berger has been "cleared" is untrue.

I'll have the Sandy Berger and a side of liesAnn Coulter (archive) August 5, 2004 I was under the naive impression that Clinton administration scandals would end once the Clinton administration ended. Even I, someone who has not exactly had her eyes closed to Clinton-era buffoonery, did not imagine that the most corrupt administration in the history of the country would find a way to keep having scandals while out of office. But poor old Sandy Berger ends up in hot water long after everyone's gone home. Someday we'll be reading about Clinton officials causing incidents in nursing homes. (Which...

Does anyone know how the whole FBI files thing worked out? Were the files found and recovered? All of them, some of them? I simply can't remember how that whole thing worked out and would appreciate any info.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former national security adviser Sandy Berger, the subject of a criminal investigation over the disappearance of terrorism documents, stepped aside on Tuesday as an informal adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "Mr. Berger does not want any issue surrounding the 9/11 commission to be used for partisan purposes. With that in mind he has decided to step aside as an informal adviser to the Kerry campaign until this matter is resolved," said Lanny Breuer, Berger's attorney. The investigation had threatened to become a political problem for Kerry a week before his nominating convention in Boston in...

MIDI - HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE RAIN I went in the archives room...poor Slick Willy's sensing doom I knew I must do something right away My decision had been smart...keep them by my private parts But I must make sure there's no DNA I must know, have you seen the missing files? I must know, have you seen the missing files? They're last seen safe down in my pants I must take a load, you know...in my small portfolio I knew Willy put all his faith in me I thought that nobody'd seen...that included snitch John Dean My...

1:00pm Ancient Aliens TVG, CC 2:00pm Secret UFO Files TVG, CC 3:00pm UFOs: Testing the Evidence TVG, CC 4:00pm UFOs vs. the Government TVG, CC 5:00pm Roswell: Secrets Unveiled TVG, CC 6:00pm ET Tech TVPG, CC 7:00pm Crop Circle Controversy TVG, CC 8:00pm UFOs: What You Didn't Know TVG, CC 9:00pm Flying Pyramids Soaring Stones TVG, CC 12:00am UFOs: What You Didn't Know TVG, CC 1:00am Flying Pyramids Soaring Stones TVG, CC

http://www.geocities.com/~goldenoldies/jukebox5060.htm MIDI - LAST KISS I came back home and was quite surprised...I could hardly believe my eyes Some files were gone pertaining to Ketchup Boy...is Terry Lenzner thug and scumbag still in Clinton's employ I had written the book that's called "Home to War"...and to this story, there's much more FOIA gave me stuff...for Ketchup Boy, it might become rough As Desi'd say -- "There's some 'splaining to do"...if people know, he could be through 'Cause Scott Camil foamed at the bit...that was the day that Kerry quit Oh where oh where can the files be...some thugs took them...

A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday rejected the Justice Department's attempt to obtain abortion records from Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a ruling likely to halt demands for as many as 1,000 patient files from clinics around the country, including the Washington area, according to Justice officials and the family-planning group.

The White House hardened its defence of President George W. Bush's National Guard service Wednesday, saying his critics are "trolling for trash." Yet, several members of an Alabama unit Bush was assigned to said they couldn't recall ever seeing him. The Associated Press contacted more than a dozen people who were members of the Montgomery-based 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Group in 1972. All were quick to point out that the unit had as many as 800 members and Bush was not yet famous. Bush, who spent most of his service in Texas, received permission to perform his duties in Alabama while...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Terri Carlin wants to make Janet Jackson's bare breast into a federal case. Carlin filed a proposed class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court this week against Jackson, singer Justin Timberlake, broadcasters MTV and CBS and their parent company, Viacom. Carlin alleges in the Feb. 4 suit that she and others who watched the halftime show during the Super Bowl were injured by the performers' lewd actions when Timberlake ripped off part of Jackson's costume, exposing her breast. In the lawsuit, Carlin charges that the exposure and "sexually explicit conduct" by other performers during the show injured...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US intelligence experts are examining tonnes of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s intelligence files hoping to trace the regime's alleged weapons of mass destruction, press reports said. The documents seized after the fall of Baghdad were a trove comparable to the files of Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, which collapsed in 1989, an anonymous source told The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation refused to comment on the reports. According to The Wall Street Journal, some information gleaned from...

Wed October 15, 2003 01:07 PM ET By Greg Frost WORCESTER, Mass. (Reuters) - A civilian translator at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp for al Qaeda and Taliban suspects had hundreds of documents labeled "secret" in his possession when he was arrested last month, an FBI agent said on Wednesday. Prosecutors accused Ahmed Fathy Mehalba last month of lying to federal officials about classified information he was carrying when he arrived in the United States from Egypt, where he had been visiting relatives. The arrest of Mehalba, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Egyptian descent, brought to three the number of...

Two Bank of Montreal computers containing hundreds, potentially thousands, of sensitive customer files narrowly escaped being sold on eBay.com late last week, calling into question the process by which financial institutions dispose of old computer equipment. Information in one of the computers included the names, addresses and phone numbers of several hundred bank clients, along with their bank account information, including account type and number, balances and, in some cases, balances on GICs, RRSPs, lines of credit, credit cards and insurance. Many of the files were dated as recently as late 2002, while some went back to 2000. The computers...

Kohl loses battle to keep Stasi files secret By Kate Connolly in Berlin (Filed: 18/09/2003) The former German chancellor Helmut Kohl yesterday lost a legal attempt to prevent the publication of thousands of pages of potentially explosive records compiled about him by the East German secret police, the Stasi. A court in Berlin decided that, as a public figure, Mr Kohl's files should be made accessible to researchers. The ruling, which overturns an earlier decision, is in line with a new law passed by parliament last year. Lawyers for Mr Kohl, who did not appear in court, said they would...

Despite aggressive challenges by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to on-line music suppliers like the defunct Napster, two-thirds of Internet users in the US who copy digital music on-line say they don't care if the music is copyrighted, according to the report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The report, entitled "Music Downloading, File-sharing and Copyright," also found that 27 percent of users who download music files are concerned about copyright, while 6 percent said they don't know enough or don't have a position on the issue. The number of users who share files on-line and...