http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/blair/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:07:24 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418485/posts U.S. intelligence chief Dennis C. Blair faced tough questions about his future Wednesday as the Obama administration fended off criticism over the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Publicly, the White House was standing by Mr. Blair, the United States' top spymaster, who is responsible for coordinating intelligence gathering among 16 agencies, saying the four-star admiral had the full confidence of the president. "This is not about one person or one agency," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. Also Wednesday, it was revealed that a similar effort, starting in Somalia, to down a jetliner was thwarted... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418485/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:07:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417274/posts The White House has published an internal memo to calm tension between CIA director Leon Panetta and Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, who is seeking increased control over covert operations, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The classified order asserts the Central Intelligence Agency's direct authority over secret missions abroad, but also reminds the agency to work closely with Blair, who heads the US intelligence establishment, a US intelligence official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to the LA Times, Blair was seeking more control over missions that include drone strikes and paramilitary operations in Pakistan. Blair... AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417274/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:58:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406698/posts The title of that article above, from the LA Times, is titled: WMD Not Point Of Iraq War. Of course it wasn't. It was One of MANY reasons for that war, one of which....and the most important in my opinion...was Saddam's support of terrorists. After 9/11 we could not allow this tyrant to continue to support our enemies while thumbing his nose at the entire world for the previous 13 years. As the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Phase II investigation report on pre-war Iraq Intelligence stated: Conclusion 10: Statements in the major speeches analyzed, as well additional statements, regarding... Flopping Aces http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406698/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:04:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406545/posts It would have been right to remove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein even without evidence he had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Tony Blair has said. The former prime minister said it was the "notion" of Saddam as a threat to the region which tilted him in favour of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. But his words have attracted critics - among them Hans Blix, who was in charge of the UN team searching Iraq for WMD. BBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406545/posts#comment Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:55:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390052/posts Tony Blair was out of the running as Europe's first president on Thursday after Gordon Brown dropped the former Prime Minister as his candidate. The Prime Minister made the decision after accepting that Mr Blair had no chance of winning the new post. Instead, he was backing another Briton - Baroness Cathy Ashton, the EU trade commissioner - to become the EU's foreign affairs chief, his spokesman said. She had earlier won support from European Socialist parties for the foreign policy job, making her front-runner for the post, the second top job being allocated by EU leaders at a summit... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2390052/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:23:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2384857/posts CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair squared off in May over Blair's effort to designate his own representative at U.S. embassies to be his personal eyes and ears abroad, instead of relying on CIA station chiefs. Two intelligence officials said Thursday that the CIA won a monthslong turf battle with the Office of National Intelligence, assuring the primacy of CIA station chiefs over other U.S. intelligence operations and personnel around the world. The territorial dispute was resolved only after it got all the way to the office of national security adviser Gen. James Jones. The CIA... ap http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2384857/posts#comment Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:22:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2375189/posts Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Presidential Actions • Executive Orders The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release October 29, 2009 President Obama Signs Executive Order to Amend Executive Order 13462 THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary __________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release October 28, 2009 EXECUTIVE ORDER ---------------- AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 13462 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Executive Order 13462 of February 29, 2008, is amended... WHITEHOUSE.gov http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2375189/posts#comment Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:49:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372177/posts Jayson Blair, who was at the center of a major journalism scandal as a New York Times reporter in 2003, will be the featured speaker at Washington and Lee University’s 48th Journalism Ethics Institute on Friday, Nov. 6. The title of Blair’s talk is “Lessons Learned.” The public is invited to the presentation at 5:30 p.m. in Stackhouse Theater, Elrod Commons. Blair resigned from the Times after an investigation found that he had plagiarized and fabricated major portions of stories that he had written during four years with the Times. Some of the stories that he covered in this manner... Rockbridge Weekly http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372177/posts#comment Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:31:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2368193/posts Tony Blair could be crowned first President of Europe at a special summit of EU leaders next month. Diplomatic sources say French President Nicolas Sarkozy is pushing for an extraordinary meeting in Brussels to install the former prime minister in the new £275,000-a-year post... Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2368193/posts#comment Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:51:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2362618/posts Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, mounted a direct attack on the Government over the invasion and occupation of Iraq when he used a national memorial service commemorating the servicemen killed in the conflict to accuse Tony Blair and his ministers of failing to “measure the price” of military action. Delivering his address in St Paul's Cathedral before a congregation including the Queen, Gordon Brown and Mr Blair himself, the spiritual head of the Church of England accused the former prime minister of indulging in rhetoric before the 2003 invasion, while leaving ordinary servicemen and women to pick up the... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2362618/posts#comment Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:04:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2354942/posts TONY Blair is set to be made the first President of Europe in weeks, The Sun can reveal. He will be nominated by EU leaders in Brussels if, as expected, Ireland backs the hated Lisbon Treaty in tomorrow's referendum. A senior Government source said: "If we get a 'Yes' vote it will all move very, very quickly. Tony could be named by the end of October." The leaders of the EU's 27 nations, not the voters, will choose the president. Former PM Mr Blair would not formally take up the powerful position until all EU countries ratified the Treaty. Even... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2354942/posts#comment Mon, 5 Oct 2009 02:38:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352498/posts A senior Government source said: "If we get a 'Yes' vote it will all move very, very quickly. Tony could be named by the end of October." The leaders of the EU's 27 nations, not the voters, will choose the president. UK Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2352498/posts#comment Thu, 1 Oct 2009 15:02:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353036/posts Tony Blair is in line to be proclaimed Europe’s first president within weeks if the Irish vote “yes” in today’s referendum. Senior British sources have told The Times that President Sarkozy has decided that Mr Blair is the best candidate and that Angela Merkel has softened her opposition. The former Prime Minister could be ushered into the European Union’s top post at a summit on October 29. Ms Merkel, the German Chancellor, was opposed to Mr Blair because she believed that the post should go to a country that had adopted the euro but British sources said that she may... Times Online UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2353036/posts#comment Fri, 2 Oct 2009 01:47:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2339781/posts Tony Blair has revealed that after ignoring a stern warning from his great-grandmother about marrying a Catholic, he now finds his new-found faith has become the driving force in his life as he seeks to clear up the world's religious conflicts. Speaking to L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's daily newspaper, Blair said today he considers Pope Benedict's belief that God is central to politics, society, economics and culture "brilliant". Weeks after a packed Catholic conference in Italy gave Blair an ovation for his words about the universality of Catholicism, the pope's newspaper was equally effusive, calling the convert "a gentleman, educated,... Guardian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2339781/posts#comment Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:44:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2329547/posts British human rights lawyer, Cherie Blair has called on the Church to reconsider its opposition to artificial contraception because it may be holding back women's careers. Ms Blair is wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. She told an audience at Edinburgh International Book Festival she believed the church should be "more positive" about permitting women to use artificial birth control as a means of regulating their fertility, UK's The Herald reports. A devout Catholic who encouraged her husband, Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, to convert from Anglicanism after he left office in 2007, Mrs Blair has previously... Cathnews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2329547/posts#comment Tue, 1 Sep 2009 17:12:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320288/posts Jayson Blair knows his new profession — life coach — smacks some people in the face like a bad punchline. "People say, 'Wait a minute. You're a life coach?' That makes no sense,'" says Blair, the ex-journalist best known for foisting plagiarism and fabrications into the pages of The New York Times. "Then they think about my life experiences and what I've been through and they say 'Wait a minute. It does make sense.'" Blair, 33, resigned from the Times in 2003, leaving a journalistic scandal in his wake. The resulting furor led the paper's top two newsroom executives to... Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320288/posts#comment Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:36:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2304940/posts LONDON (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be asked to testify to a panel investigating the Iraq war, the head of the inquiry said Thursday. Former civil servant John Chilcot said the inquiry, set up by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, would look at British involvement in the war, covering the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July this year. "The people we invite to give evidence will be those we judge ... are best placed to supply the information we need to conduct our task thoroughly," the inquiry chairman told a news conference.... Flopping Aces http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2304940/posts#comment Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:54:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2297648/posts In George Orwell’s “1984,” government censors erase all traces of news articles embarrassing to Big Brother by sending them down an incineration chute called the “memory hole.” On Friday, it was “1984” and another Orwell book, “Animal Farm,” that were dropped down the memory hole — by Amazon.com. In a move that angered customers and generated waves of online pique, Amazon remotely deleted some digital editions of the books from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them. An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2297648/posts#comment Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:54:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294951/posts Around the world, government-run health care is failing patients. Long waiting times, rationing or denying life-saving treatments and lower-quality care are common in government systems like Great Britain and Canada. Maybe that’s why major government systems are looking to the United States for innovations that make health care work better for everyone. Some policymakers in Congress want a public plan to “compete” with private health insurers. Everyone agrees that we can improve our health care system, but why would anyone expect government-run health care to work for patients in the United States when it doesn’t work for other countries? Click... Handsoffmyhealth.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2294951/posts#comment Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:31:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284853/posts The post of President of the European Council is enshrined in the EU's reforming Lisbon Treaty, which can't come into force until all 27 member states have ratified it. So far only 23 nations have completed that process. Whoever is picked for the job would serve a two-and-a-half-year term, renewable once. The new top job is also aimed at finally answering former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's famous 1970 question: "Who do I call if I want to call Europe?" If the Lisbon Treaty does get the greenlight, notably at a second Irish referendum on the subject due in... France 24 - AFP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284853/posts#comment Fri, 3 Jul 2009 14:52:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2268465/posts June 9, 2009 FDIC is calling the Kettle Black In a column at www.Marketwatch.com - David Weidner compares FDIC's Sheila Blair to Donald Trump. As weidner put it, Blair is "stepping where the government's other banking regulators refuse to go: the executive suite." Weidner continued "Blair's attack has been mostly good news for those interested in seeing a stable, if not sexy, banking system. By threatening the things most precious to bank executives -- their pay and jobs --." Blair and the FDIC? This is definitely a case of the emperor having no clothes if there ever was one. What... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2268465/posts#comment Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:49:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2266392/posts Tony Blair believes Gordon Brown's political future is doomed because of 'the darkness in his heart' and his 'lies' - and feels Mr Brown has no one to blame but himself. The former Prime Minister's devastating verdict on his successor is a blow to Mr Brown's hopes of surviving further moves to topple him, expected this week. Publicly, Mr Blair has kept out of the row. However, The Mail on Sunday can disclose that privately he shares the view held by Labour rebels that Mr Brown will lead the Party to a disastrous defeat at the next Election. .................................................. Daily Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2266392/posts#comment Sat, 6 Jun 2009 23:35:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2259493/posts WASHINGTON - A turf war between the two senior intelligence chiefs over the role of CIA station chiefs in U.S. embassies has forced National Security Adviser James L. Jones to step in to mediate, according to current and former U.S. government officials. The jockeying between CIA director Leon Panetta and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair centers on Blair's effort to choose his own representatives abroad instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs, the current and former officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the dispute. Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2259493/posts#comment Thu, 28 May 2009 02:13:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2253930/posts A leading figure in the Catholic church has claimed that the charity threatens human rights and religious freedom. At a conference in the Vatican, Prof Michel Schooyans, an expert on bioethics and demography, said Blair wanted to remake the world's major religions and use them to expand "new rights". The Belgian priest argued that its goals could not be realised "except at the price of sacrificing religious freedom, of the imposition of a 'politically correct' interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures and of the sabotage of the natural foundations of law". Mandrake reported earlier this month that William Chapman, the foundation's... The Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2253930/posts#comment Tue, 19 May 2009 15:17:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2249450/posts Daily Blog Obama & Blair: False Messiahs? BY Tom McFeely Tuesday, May 12, 2009 10:50 AM Msgr. Michel Schooyans, an international human-rights expert, says President Barack Obama has a flawed, totalitarian vision of human existence. In his May 1 address at the Vatican to the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, posted here at the Chiesa.com website, Msgr. Schooyans warned that Obama is motivated by a “messianic” desire to reorder the world in keeping with the presidentÂ’s political pro-abortion philosophy. One of the significant aspects of the talk given by Msgr. Schooyans, who is professor emeritus... NationalCatholicRegister http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2249450/posts#comment Tue, 12 May 2009 19:18:51 GMT