Three US Workers Face Investigation Over Obama Email

Boston Globe:
WASHINGTON - Three federal employees are being investigated for unlawful political activities after they allegedly sent an e-mail falsely accusing Barack Obama of being a "radical Muslim," the Globe has learned.

The US Office of Special Counsel - the independent federal agency responsible for enforcing a law banning civil service workers from engaging in political activism while performing their official duties - has launched investigations of two employees at one agency and one employee at another agency. All three are believed to have forwarded the erroneous chain e-mail about Obama from their government e-mail accounts.

Lou Dobbs: E-Machines Threatening Democracy

C&L:
Just days away from the South Carolina primary, Lou Dobbs warns about the dangers of electronic voting systems. Um, Lou? Where were you in 2004? 2000?
The reality is, because no one thinks — we’re focusing on this, the issue is that these machines are not reliable to the degree they should be and with a paper trail, verified paper system. There is — at least you’re protecting the integrity of the system so you have a recount. People must understand, you can’t have a recount without that.

Welcome to our world, Lou. Just shows you that the netroots have been ahead of the curve and it’s the MSM that must catch up. On a related note–not that it will assuage those who want to believe otherwise–NH’s Democratic primary recount has ended and they’ve found very few errors and the results remained basically the same.

To watch the video Click Here

Bush officials lied 935 times: study

Center for Public Integrity:
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

EXCLUSIVE: CHENEY EMAIL MISSING FROM DAY WHITE HOUSE ORDERED TO SAVE CIA LEAK EMAILS

Rawstory:

New report shows archives gone on several key days in Plame investigation

Among the sixteen days for which email are missing from Vice President Cheney's office is Sept. 30, 2003, the same day the day the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced they were investigating who outed former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson.

That morning, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales ordered the president and the vice president's staff to "preserve all materials that might be relevant" to an inchoate Justice Department probe.

Anti-choice group mails plastic fetuses.

Thinkprogress:

Wisconsin is “under fire” for mailing an “informational letter, a fundraising envelope and a small plastic fetus” to 44,000 people. According to Wisconsin Right to Life, “the plastic figure represents an 11- or 12-week fetus” and is meant “to mark the 35-year anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade.”

Countdown: Torturers Like Us [VIDEO]

C&L:

Keith Olbermann speaks with retired Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift (whose successful representation of the Hamdan case brought to light many of the atrocities happening at Guantanamo) about the sad and disturbing news that Canada has placed the U.S. on a watch list–along with Iran, China, Syria and others–for being a country that tortures its prisoners, due in no small part to our criminally shameful treatment of Canadians Maher Arar and Omar Khadr (imprisoned in Guantanamo at the age of 15).
What a proud legacy Bush and Cheney will leave this country with.

To watch the video Click Here

Huckabee: Amend Constitution to be in 'God's standards'

Be afraid...be very afraid.

Rawstory:

The United States Constitution never uses the word "God" or makes mention of any religion, drawing its sole authority from "We the People." However, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee thinks it's time to put an end to that.

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

Joint Chiefs Chairman: Close Guantanamo

Guardian UK:
The chief of the U.S. military said he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been “pretty damaging” to the image of the United States.

“I’d like to see it shut down,” Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October.

His visit came two days after the sixth anniversary of the prison’s opening in January 2002. He stressed that a closure decision was not his to make and that he understands there are numerous complex legal questions the administration believes would have to be settled first, such as where to move prisoners.

Nasty Obama E-mails False

Newsweek:

Dueling chain e-mails claim he's a radical Muslim or a 'racist' Christian. Both can't be right. We find both are false.

Summary
If these two nasty e-mail messages are any indication, the 2008 presidential campaign is becoming a very dirty one.

One claims that Obama is "certainly a racist" by virtue of belonging to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, which it says "will accept only black parishoners" and espouses a commitment to Africa. Actually, a white theology professor says he's been "welcomed enthusiastically" at the church, as have other non-blacks.

Another e-mail claims that Obama "is a Muslim," attended a "Wahabi" school in Indonesia, took his Senate oath on the Koran, refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and is part of an Islamic plot to take over the U.S. Each of these statements is false.

Recession in the US 'has arrived'

Guardian UK:
The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch.
It said that Friday's employment report, which sent shares tumbling worldwide, confirmed that the US is in the first month of a recession.
Its view is controversial, with banks such as Lehman Brothers disagreeing.
But a reserve member of the committee that sets US rates warned that it could do little about the below-trend growth expected in the next six months.

France best, U.S. worst in preventable death ranking

Reuters:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.
If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.

'Yes, We Can' -- The Magic Behind Obama's Message

Alternet:

There is a simple -- but profound -- reason why Barack Obama appears headed for the Democratic nomination, and it comes down to three simple words: I, we and you.
Have you seen Obama lately? Or heard him speak? Or listened carefully? I was one of the nine million Americans who saw Saturday's debates on ABC-TV. I was with a friend who is a skilled facilitator, and we immediately saw and heard why Obama is different from the rest of the Democratic (and Republican) pack.