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The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined "Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine." The story relayed how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that "he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months … ‘U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,'" the prime minister said. The White House employee had intended to send the...

Sent to jail by a judge who said he didn’t believe she had owned up to her involvement in steroids and a check-cashing scheme, track star Marion Jones has now turned to a different kind of judge - President Bush.

The Bush administration's decision to send a top U.S. diplomat, William Burns, to meet with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator at a European Union-led meeting in Switzerland is a victory for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The White House insists the move does not signify a change in policy toward Tehran. Washington has vowed it will not negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program until it temporarily suspends uranium enrichment. The White House claims the meeting is "a one-time U.S. participation," and that Mr. Burns - the State Department's third-highest ranking diplomat - will only "listen, not negotiate." This is irrelevant. The...

Felons Seeking Bush Pardon Near a Record By CHARLIE SAVAGE WASHINGTON — Felons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office, a time when many other presidents have granted a flurry of clemency requests. Among the petitioners is Michael Milken, the billionaire former junk bond king turned philanthropist, who is seeking a pardon for his 1990 conviction for securities fraud, the Justice Department said. Mr. Milken sought a pardon eight years ago from President Bill Clinton, and submitted a new petition in June. In addition, prominent federal inmates are...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJuly 19, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This is a challenging time for families across our nation. I know many families are worried about rising prices at the pump and declining home values. So this week my Administration took steps to help address both these challenges. To help address the pressure on gasoline prices, my Administration took action to clear the way for environmentally responsible offshore exploration of key parts of the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS. Experts believe that these areas of the OCS could...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Thursday threatened to veto legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives that would force oil companies to give up undrilled federal leases and ban the export of crude drilled in Alaska...

President Bush said Friday he will soon agree with the Iraqi government on a "general time horizon" for when U.S. troops will leave Iraq, a significant shift in White House policy that it said would nonetheless remain conditional based on events on the ground. By the end of this month, the two governments hope to finalize an agreement that will allow U.S. troops to stay in Iraq into 2009 and will include what the White House described as goals for down the road, when more troops can come out.

Al Qaeda in Israel? Say it isn't so! Israel Matzav:Six 'Israeli Arabs,' two from the north and four from 'east' Jerusalem, have been arrested and indicted for allegedly setting up an al-Qaeda cell in Jerusalem. One of the six - a student at Hebrew University - has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Bush during his visit here in May. The thing about the Israelis is that it seems that they know how to arrest guys like this, just not keep them locked up.

A Trip Down Memory Lane Red Planet CartoonsRemember what President Bush was saying back in 2001? Think back seven years to when Bush delivered the same message THEN that Americans are demanding NOW of Congress: "Drill, Drill, Drill"? He was ridiculed and called a greedy oilman by the same cheerleaders who now run interference for Barack Obama and congressional Democrats: the mainstream press. Red Planet Cartoons has done an invaluable service, both in producing the cartoon above AND reproducing the quote below from a 2001 Time article on energy policy. In May, convinced the nation was terrified of going California...

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush. Israel's Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush's delegation. The suspect then posted queries on Web sites frequented by al Qaeda operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a...

"This is not a record to be proud of, and I think the American people deserve better," Bush said.

Now that an executive branch ban on offshore oil exploration has been lifted, the time has come for Democrats in Washington to lift their own ban on increased domestic supply. Americans are demanding that Congress do something about record-high gas prices. They recognize that prices will not go down unless supplies go up. And they also know that the only thing now standing in the way of more domestic supply is the Democratic refusal to allow it...

My new book White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement places conservatism within the big picture of modern American history. The book traces the origins of modern conservatism to the 1920s. It explains why conservativism triumphed in the late twentieth century and why it is has fallen into disarray under the leadership of President George W. Bush. The review of my book in the New York Times by former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum shows that at least some diehard defenders of the Bush administration do not wish to enter into in a serious conversation about...

President George W. Bush recently declared that Congress should permit drilling on the offshore continental shelf. Shortly after his decree the price of oil began dropping and the drop continued today. In our small rural area the price of gasoline dropped from $4.09 on Wednesday to $3.83 on Thursday. Drill here, drill now, drop prices!

Hearing set on "imperial Bush presidency" Thu Jul 17, 2008 5:52pm EDT By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Impeachment is out for President George W. Bush, but a top U.S. lawmaker said on Thursday he wants to take a look at his "imperial presidency." House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers announced his panel would examine possible administration wrongdoing, which has included complaints that Bush misled the United States into the Iraq war in 2003. "Over the last seven plus years, there have been numerous credible allegations of serious misconduct by officials in the Bush administration," said Conyers, a Michigan Democrat....

The Bush administration didn’t waste much time after its lifting of the executive ban on off-shore drilling to make its second big gesture towards the oil markets. Late yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management opened 3.9 million acres of land in Alaska for drilling and exploration. The land had already been reserved for petroleum production, but had been kept in limbo by complaints and legal action by environmentalists: The US federal government on Wednesday said it would open 3.9m acres of land in a designated petroleum reserve in Alaska for drilling as a means to help curb rising petrol prices....

Last update: 3:22 p.m. EDT July 17, 2008 GRACANICA, Serbia, July 17, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The following statement was issued today by His Grace ARTEMIJE, Bishop of Ras and Prizren, and pastor of Orthodox Christians in the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija: "On July 21, President George W. Bush is scheduled to meet with Hashim Thaci, styled by some 'Prime Minister' of the separatist Albanian Muslim administration in the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. As pastor of the Orthodox Christian people of Kosovo, I protest to the fullest possible degree the fact that President Bush would...

TORONTO -- No wonder George W. Bush isn't looking as sprightly as he did when he landed aboard the USS Lincoln five years ago. Then it was all "Mission Accomplished," as the banner strung across the flat-top behind him proclaimed. After just a few weeks of warfare, the Taliban had evaporated in Afghanistan and Saddam's regime had collapsed in Iraq. In 2003, Mr. Bush could have retired from the field as victor, but he wanted to bring democracy to the region and stayed. Now he will probably have to retire a loser. Five years ago, at the high noon of...

DAKAR (Reuters) - Senegal's president said on Thursday George W. Bush told African leaders at one stage the United States might send troops to Sudan's Darfur if they did not act to halt what he saw as genocide there. President Abdoulaye Wade said Bush, who has lobbied strongly for robust international action to end the five-year-old conflict in Darfur, ... Commenting on the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor's move this week to seek a war crimes arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Wade said Bush had "always proclaimed loudly and clearly that the United States considered Bashir had...

Despite President Bush's less-than-subtle jab this week, Florida is not the reason why gas prices are more than $4 per gallon. On Monday, Mr. Bush indulged his passion for empty symbolism by lifting a presidential ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, a ban his father established. The gesture is symbolic because Congress would have to go along, and Congress won't, primarily because Democrats won't.

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 07/16/2008 Pelosi Statement on Bush Administration Effort to Redefine Contraception as Abortion Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on reports that the Bush Administration’s is drafting a proposed rule that would place new restrictions on domestic family planning programs. While current law already allows health care providers and professionals to refuse to provide abortions based on their religious beliefs, this provision would threaten the funding of organizations and health facilities if they do not hire people who would refuse to provide birth control. “If the Administration...

Immigrants infected with HIV may no longer be banned from living in the U.S. for the first time in more than 20 years. A $50 billion Senate bill (SB 2731) intended to combat AIDS in Africa and other impoverished areas may effectively repeal a 1987 ban prohibiting travel and immigration for people infected with HIV. The U.S. is one of several countries to have such a rule, including Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Russia, the Associated Press reports. Supporters of the proposal say the policy is dated and must be eliminated. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, said even China has lifted...

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:17,18

Dear Mr Obama As I understand it George W Bush was wrong about Iraq... While Mr Bush seems like a decent man trying to make good decisions I understand from many of your supporters that he is really a Stupid person . Dick Cheney (who is Evil) and other Bad people really hated Saddam Hussein . They wanted to kill Innocent Iraqis ,maybe for their oil I guess. They talked Mr Bush, the US Congress and the American people into a disastrous WAR in IRAQ Gee, I guess that was really really Bad. It makes me really really mad at...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers defied a White House veto threat on Wednesday and voted to bar CIA contractors from interrogating suspected terrorists, in the latest clash over detainee treatment in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism. The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved the provision in adopting a broad measure to authorize funding of U.S. intelligence agencies for the 2009 fiscal year. A related bill awaits action in the Senate. Passage of the multibillion dollar bill came on a voice vote, indicating broad assent, despite the White House veto threat issued earlier in the day. In addition to the contractor ban,...

Oil prices fell sharply Tuesday on concerns that a slowing U.S. economy will decrease demand for oil. The price of crude oil in New York at one point fell more than $9 a barrel in New York trading, the biggest one-day drop in dollar terms in 17 years. Oil later eased up from its low, but still closed down 4.5 percent at $138.69 a barrel. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned lawmakers Tuesday that the U.S. economy faces the dual threat of slowing growth and inflation. Analysts say that points to lower U.S. demand for oil going forward.

George Bush U-turn opens way to nuclear talks between US and Iran Tim Reid in Washington President Bush is sending a top US diplomat to meet Iran’s nuclear negotiator this weekend, a major break with his hardline stance towards Tehran and the closest contact between the countries since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In a significant departure from Mr Bush’s long-standing refusal to talk to Tehran until it has abandoned its nuclear enrichment programme, William Burns, the Under-Secretary of State and America’s third most senior diplomat, will travel to Switzerland to attend talks between Iranian and European officials on Saturday.

President Bush's action Monday in lifting the ban on offshore drilling for oil and gas had the sound of his fulfilling one more promise to the American oil industry that is his base before he leaves office. It is a piece of irony that the ban he eliminated had been put in place by his father as president in 1990. Fortunately for Americans who oppose drilling off America's coastlines, a congressional ban on it instituted in 1982 remains in effect and is unlikely to be removed by this Congress before its end. Some 24 states' coasts are affected by the...

The US federal government on Wednesday said it would open 3.9m acres of land in a designated petroleum reserve in Alaska for drilling as a means to help curb rising petrol prices. “This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump,” said C. Stephen Allred, assistant US Secretary for Land and Minerals. “Together with proposed new production from other offshore and onshore areas, these increased supplies will help to stabilise energy costs.’’ The Alaska decision follows one by President George W. Bush on Monday to lift a presidential ban on drilling on the US outer...

WASHINGTON -- For a generation, most people accepted the idea that the core of what makes America tick was an economy governed by free markets. And whatever combination of goods, services and jobs the market cooked up was presumed to be fine for the nation and for its citizens -- certainly better than government meddling. No longer. Spurred by the continued housing crisis, turmoil in financial markets, spiking oil prices, disappearing jobs and shrinking retirement savings, the nation and its political leaders have begun to sour on the notion that the current market system is the key to a fair,...

THIS IS NOT A DRILLJuly 16, 2008 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or as she is called on the Big Dogs blog, "the worst speaker in the history of Congress," explained the cause of high oil prices back in 2006: "We have two oilmen in the White House. The logical follow-up from that is $3-a-gallon gasoline. It is no accident. It is a cause and effect. A cause and effect." Yes, that would explain why the price of oral sex, cigars and Hustler magazine skyrocketed during the Clinton years. Also, I note that Speaker Pelosi is a hotelier ......

 It was a Friday, the last day of October and four days before the presidential election of 1992 when ignominious special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh handed down a scurrilous indictment of Cap Weinberger, former Secretary of Defense.  The ensuing media explosion dominated the news until election day and was a final humiliation of the beleaguered Bush administration enmeshed in a campaign grossly mismanaged by James Baker, undermined by Ross Perot and outsmarted by Bill Clinton.  When it happens to your own father, you don’t easily forget the value of timing.Hence the White House announcement yesterday concerning drilling on government controlled property.  The annual renewal of...

President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.

New Campaign 2008 Jib Jab video/cartoon http://www.jibjab.com/

Have you noticed that Barack Obama is actually running unopposed for the Presidency? Not since 1996 has it been this dispiriting, this embarrassing to be on the right. A dozen years ago, we all knew Bob Dole didn’t stand the proverbial snowball’s chance of becoming President, since the conservative base loathed the former Kansas Senator and independent voters regarded the veteran as too old for the job. Now, twelve years later, we’re in the exact same spot with John McCain. I hate to say this, but I have abandoned all hope for a McCain victory in November. The candidate is...

“All the illegal border crossings are down. It looks like the border patrol is doing their job. There’s really no need for a wall like that,” said Mark Abeyta from east El Paso. The El Paso sector has reported that they have apprehended 25,500 illegal border crossers during the first nine months of this fiscal year. This is the lowest since 2000, and it was made possible because of more barriers, increased agents and the zero-tolerance policies. Currently the Department of Homeland Security has completed around 300 miles of pedestrian and vehicle fencing and they expect to have a total...

Following are the remarks President Bush made at Tuesday's White House news conference about energy issues.To help address the pressure on gasoline prices my administration took action this week to clear the way for offshore exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf. It's what's called OCS. Congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980s; I've called on Congress to remove the ban. There was also an executive prohibition on offshore exploration. So yesterday, I issued a memorandum to lift this executive prohibition. With this action, the executive branch's restrictions have been removed, and this means...

Leadership: Policy paralysis in Washington keeps fuel prices high and the economy sluggish. The Democratic-controlled Congress refuses to act — which means the voters may act against it come November.President Bush has begun a bully pulpit offensive demanding that Congress act regarding today's high energy costs. We like what we hear. "Now the ball is squarely in Congress' court," he said Monday, calling for "legislation to facilitate responsible offshore exploration." On Tuesday, the president went much further in showing his ex-oilman's knowledge of the dynamics of the domestic oil industry and the global energy markets. Drilling for more domestic oil,...

NEW YORK -- "The era of big government is over." So said President Bill Clinton more than 12 years ago in a statement that was never accurate. The government stayed big. And after the recent -- and justified -- interventions to prop up some big U.S. financial institutions, it's appropriate to say the era of government is now bigger than ever. It's going to stay that way for a long while, regardless of who becomes the next president. Neither of the presumptive major candidates -- Barack Obama and John McCain -- is a traditional, hands-off economic conservative. That's a...

There was a fantastic article today in National Review Online by Kudlow praising Dubya for putting pressure on Congressional Demos to drop ban on offshore drilling. Kudlow writes: "Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long. And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash so-called oil speculators. And today we had a real-world example as to why they are wrong. All of them. Reid, Pelosi, Obama, McCain — all of them." Kudlow adds: "Crude-oil futures for August...

In a dramatic move yesterday President Bush removed the executive-branch moratorium on offshore drilling. Today, at a news conference, Bush repeated his new position, and slammed the Democratic Congress for not removing the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and elsewhere. Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136. Now isn’t this interesting? Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long....

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush pressed lawmakers Tuesday to lift a ban on offshore oil drilling, saying "the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress." President Bush wants Congress to repeal a law that prohibits offshore oil drilling. On Monday, the president lifted an executive order that prohibited offshore drilling. A 1981 law barring the practice remains in effect, however, and Congress would have to vote to repeal the law before any drilling could occur. Congressional Democrats have opposed efforts to repeal the ban. "The sooner Congress lifts the...

Noted scientist, Arnold Schwarzenegger, cast his eye over the political landscape and wagged his finger at the Bush administration. Schwarzenegger, governor of California, said the decision to delay a decision on regulations affecting greenhouse gases showed it did not believe in global warming. The Bush Administration's refusal to guzzle some of Arnold's global warming Kool-Aid upset the Left Coast governor. The Last Action Hero decided a lecture was the solution. Schwartzenegger might not have realized he was also lecturing a majority of Americans for being nonbelievers. According to Pew Research Center: Americans generally agree that the earth is getting warmer,...

President won't ask Americans to conserve gasoline, despite rising oil costs. Photo: AP President Bush said Tuesday that he will not call on Americans to conserve gasoline despite the rising price of oil, saying consumers are "smart enough" to figure out for themselves that they should drive less. "They're smart enough to figure out whether they're going to drive less or not. I mean, you know, it's interesting what the price of gasoline has done," Bush said at a news conference in the White House press room, "is it caused people to drive less. That's why they want smaller cars:...

WASHINGTON – Fearing environmental damage to the state's coastline, California's top leaders made it clear Monday that they want nothing to do with President Bush's plan to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. Bush said his approach would reduce pressure on record gasoline prices, and he urged Congress to follow his lead. "Failure to act is unacceptable," Bush said. But as soon as the president made the announcement in a Rose Garden ceremony, California's Democratic leaders accused Bush of cozying up to oil interests. They said his plan would do nothing to lower gasoline prices. "Once again, the oilman in...

President Bush news conference 10:20AM ET

"You arrogant ass! You've killed US!" The line comes from an enraged Soviet Navy officer to his superior, Captain Tupolev, in the film version of Tom Clancy's thriller The Hunt for Red October. Clancy fans will remember Tupolev as the Soviet submariner tasked with destroying the Russian super-sub Red October, captained by Tupolev's old teacher, the defecting Marko Ramius (Sean Connery). Egotistical, obsessed with getting Ramius, in the heat of battle the not very bright Tupolev impulsively launches a torpedo against the advice of his senior officer. Too late he realizes the torpedo has been led back to a target...

That was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's catchphrase last week as she continued to grope for an energy policy. One of her ideas was to request "a small drawdown" in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, no irony intended. At least President Bush has finally called the Speaker's bluff by rescinding the 1990 executive ban on offshore energy exploration. With Mr. Bush's belated decision yesterday, Congress's moratorium on offshore drilling is now the last major political barrier to increasing domestic oil-and-gas production. Yet Democratic leaders have refused to schedule even a single hearing on the topic. House Appropriations Chairman David Obey recently shut...

Rising energy prices have prompted President George to rescind an executive order enacted by his father and extended by President Bill Clinton to ban offshore drilling. “The time for action is now,” President George W. Bush said in a Rose Garden speech Monday afternoon. A memorandum signed by the President rescinds former President George H.W. Bush’s 1990 executive order drafted in response to pressure from the environmental lobby after a 3 million gallon oil spill off the coast of California in 1969. The current President Bush argued “advances in technology have made it possible to have the oil production out...

Last time I checked the calendar, it was still not 6/6/6 -- which means we're more than a month shy of the apocalypse. Yet when you see the political left and right coalesce on anything having to do with the White House, you're left to wonder: What could cause such an event of biblical proportions? Two words: Tony Snow. Snow is the Bush administration's new press secretary. So let the gravitas flow freely: Apparently one man is seen as worthy -- and, get this, from both sides of the aisle.