GOP feathers Cubin's nest

By NOELLE STRAUB
Star-Tribune Washington bureau & wire reports

Filed 10.31.06

WASHINGTON -- Facing the prospect of losing their majority in Congress and increasingly uneasy about Rep. Barbara Cubin's re-election chances, national Republicans are pouring nearly $250,000 into Wyoming to run TV ads against Democratic challenger Gary Trauner.

Also hoping to boost Cubin’s chances, Vice President Dick Cheney will make a return campaign appearance in Wyoming on Saturday. But the Republican incumbent must also now contend with a new Wyoming group called Republicans for Trauner.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the Casper Star-Tribune)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY) & some Big Ol' scary, pimpin' Hair" on-line stock photo

Houdini: "Master Spook," says new book

By LARRY McSHANE
The ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed 10.27.06

NEW YORK (AP) - Eighty years after his death, the name Harry Houdini remains synonymous with escape under the most dire circumstances. But Houdini, the immigrants' son whose death-defying career made him one of the world's biggest stars, was more than a mere entertainer.

A new biography of the legendary performer suggests that Houdini worked as a spy for Scotland Yard, monitored Russian anarchists and chased counterfeiters for the U.S. Secret Service - all before he was possibly murdered.

(Click & Read on courtsey of My Way)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Houdini, master of escape" courtsey of Atria Brooks

Blix: Iraq "pure failure," better off under Saddam

By IOL NEWS
South Africa

Filed 10.26.06

IOL - Former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Wednesday described the United States-led invasion of Iraq as a "pure failure" that had left the country worse off than under the rule of Saddam Hussein.In unusually harsh comments to Danish newspaper Politiken, the diplomatic Swede said the US government had ended up in a situation in which neither staying nor leaving Iraq were good options.

(Click & Read on courtsey of IOL NEWS)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Dr. Hans Blix" via on-line stock

Dude, where's my head? Memory expert pressed in C.I.A. leak case

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed 10.27.06

(AP) - The special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case tangled with a psychologist who testified about memory research, forcing her to acknowledge errors and misstatements in her research. The prosecutor, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, left, spent three hours cross-examining the psychologist, Elizabeth Loftus.

(Click & Read on courtsey of The NY Times)

Artwork: "Egoplex" by Anonymous

Snoop....BUSTED during SoCal fly-by!

By The ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed 10.27.06

(AP) BURBANK, Calif. -- Snoop Dogg was arrested on suspicion of illegal drug and gun possession, police said.

The rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, was arrested at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at Bob Hope Airport, police said. Snoop Dogg posted $35,000 bail and was scheduled to appear in court Dec. 12.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the San Jose Mecury News)

Photo Caption & Credits: "Rap Star Snoop Doggy Dog" via The Associated Press

Gays to wed in New Jersey, state's high court rules

BREAKING NEWS...!

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP) New Jersey's highest court ruled Wednesday that gay couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but that lawmakers must determine whether the state will honor gay marriage or some other form of civil union.

(Click & Read on courtsey of Breitbart.com)

Foxy Brown, goin' down over some bitches in le salon!

By The Associated Press

(AP) - Foxy Brown was sentenced Tuesday to three years' probation for a fight with two nail salon employees, finally ending an assault case that dragged on for more than two years.

Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, tried to withdraw her guilty plea but a judge said the agreement was legitimate and imposed the sentence.

"I'm innocent," Brown argued before Judge Melissa C. Jackson, claiming she felt rushed at the time she made the plea agreement.
(Click & Read on courtsey of CBS News)

Photo Captions & Credits "Rapper Foxy Brown" via The AP

NYT's columnist must kiss some judge's no account ass, judge rules

By JERRY MARKON
Washington Post Staff Writer

Filed 10. 24. 06

A federal judge has ordered the New York Times Co. to disclose the confidential sources used by Nicholas D. Kristof in columns that explored whether a former Army scientist was responsible for the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks.

The ruling, made public yesterday, came in a lawsuit filed by the former scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, contending that the paper defamed him in a series of Kristof columns in 2002 that identified him as a "likely culprit."

Hatfill has been identified by authorities as a "person of interest" in the anthrax-spore mailings that killed five people and sickened 17. No one has been charged in the attacks.

(Click & Read on courtsey of The Washington Post)

Photo Captions & Credit: "Romancing the Press" by "Worth"

Squeezed in Star Valley

By WHITNEY ROYSTER and JEFF GEARINO
Star-Tribune staff writers

Filed 10.15.06

AUBURN -- It's 1 in the afternoon on a rainy Thursday, and Jody Bagley is doing something he'd rather you not know.

Bagley, a regional vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, is herding lambs onto a truck.

He's a cattleman, but his work as a rancher has him dabbling in all kinds of activities, including helping a friend load lambs on this day. Bagley raises some sheep and was filling the truck with some of his stock as well.

Click & Read on courtsey of the Casper Star-Tribune)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Floral Borealis" by Gil Brady for The Cowboy Times

Clinton says right wing has hurt U.S., predicts win by Democrats

By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
The Associated Press

10.12.06

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The nation has been "jammed into an ideological corner" by conservative Republicans and is primed for a power shift in the November elections, former President Bill Clinton said Thursday.

"This is an election unlike any other I have ever participated in," Clinton told Democratic supporters at a fundraiser in Las Vegas.

"For six years this country has been totally dominated - not by the Republican Party, this is not fair to the Republican Party - by a narrow sliver of the Republican Party, its more right-wing and its most ideological element."

(Click & Read on courtsey of the Las Vegas Sun)

'boarder's mysterious death inspires cross

By ANDREW WYATT and GIL BRADY
Casper Star-Tribune

JACKSON -- Perched on the snowy spine of Rendezvous Peak on the "last tram day" of the 2005-06 winter season here, the man who would, snowboard in tow, later attempt to return on foot and by thumb to this restful crest considered his future.

Six months ago, Benjamin Bradley and two friends took a last gander at the edge of Cody Peak: Blue spring skies sawed by the gilded jags of the Tetons. One gal pal, who said she used to call the professional snowmaker “The Gentle Giant,” recalled Bradley’s plan that day to take even more extreme snowboarding treks this winter.

(Click & Read on courtsey of the Casper Star-Tribune)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Ben Bradley (left) & best friend, Travis McAlpine, get ready to mow some sic-nar-pow-pow at Jackson Hole Mt. Resort last January" courtsey of Randy Shacket

TIPSTER HOTLINE...Call Sgt. Dennis Claman @ (307) 352.6720

Reid Got $1M in Land Sale

By JOHN SOLOMON and KATHLEEN HENNESSEY
The Associated Press

10.11.06

WASHINGTON - Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid

collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale

even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.

In the process, Reid did not disclose to Congress an earlier sale in which he transferred his land to a company created by a friend and took a financial stake in that company, according to records and interviews.
(Click & Read on courtsey of the Casper Star-Tribune) Photo Caption & Credit: "Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)" via The AP

Johansson denies she's fast

The ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP) Scarlett Johansson says that while monogamy might go against instinct, she's happy in her relationship with boyfriend and recent "Black Dahlia" co-star Josh Hartnett."

Josh is very sweet," the 21-year-old actress says in an interview in Allure magazine's November issue, on newsstands Oct. 24. "He's a good boy. A great person. I'm very lucky and I'm very happy. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not promiscuous.
(Click & Read on courtsey of CBS News)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Scarlett Johansson as 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'"

'I never had stock options with that company, not once. Not ever'

By SHARON THEIMER and BOB LEWIS
The Associated Press

10.08.06

RICHMOND, Va. - For the past five years, Sen. George Allen, has failed to tell Congress about stock options he got for his work as a director of a high-tech company. The Virginia Republican also asked the Army to help another business that gave him similar options.

Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, such as stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.
(Click & Read on courtsey of The Casper Star-Tribune)
Photo Captions & Credits: "Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia) & Democratic challenger James Webb after a recent debate" via The AP

N. Korea says it's gone Nuclear

BREAKING....NEWS!
The Associated Press

10.8.06

(AP) SEOUL, South Korea - Yonhap news agency reported Monday that a government official says there are "signs" of a North Korean nuclear test.

(Click & Read on courtsey of The Casper Star-Tribune)

North Korea's threatened nuclear test moved to the top of the diplomatic agenda Sunday as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flew to China to try to coordinate international pressure on Pyongyang to desist. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Photo Captions & Credits: A South Korean protester burns a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il during a rally at the Imjingak Pavilion, near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of Panmunjom, South Korea, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006.

Hastert Must Go

A freely available LA Times EDITORIAL
10.06.06

His leadership of the House was already bad enough before the Mark Foley scandal.

DENNIS HASTERT SHOULD RESIGN as speaker of the House of Representatives. Not necessarily because he failed to act quickly when shown evidence suggesting that Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) was abusing his power with teenagers — not all the details are known, though the ones that are don't look good.

No, the Illinois Republican should resign because he's an unimaginative politician and an uninspired legislator. Unfortunately, these days that just makes him a typical congressional Republican.

At his job-preserving news conference Thursday, Hastert said, "The buck stops here," then proceeded to blame some of this Republican scandal on the Democratic Party. "I haven't done anything wrong, obviously," he added.

That sound you hear is Harry Truman rolling over in his grave. Still, it was an improvement over the speaker's contention Monday that critiquing his oversight amounted to nothing more than "woulda, coulda, shoulda."

To repeat: Even disregarding the well-documented rumors of Foley's unhealthy obsession with young interns dating to at least 1995, and accepting Hastert's insistence that his office first heard about Foley's misbehavior last fall, the speaker had more than enough information to launch an investigation. Instead, he was more interested in protecting his party's fortunes than the safety of minors.

(Click & Read on Courtsey of The Los Angeles Times)

Photo Captions & Credits: "House Speaker Dennis Hastert" by The Associated Press

Records show Tenet briefed Rice on Al Qaeda Threat

By PHILIP SHENON and MARK MAZZETTI
New York Times

Filed 10.02.06

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001, about the looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

The account by Sean McCormack came hours after Ms. Rice, the secretary of state, told reporters aboard her airplane that she did not recall the specific meeting on July 10, 2001, noting that she had met repeatedly with Mr. Tenet that summer about terrorist threats. Ms. Rice, the national security adviser at the time, said it was “incomprehensible” she ignored dire terrorist threats two months before the Sept. 11 attacks.

(Click & Read on courtsey of The New York Times)

Photo Captions & Credits: "Sec. of State Condi Rice before 9/11 Committee" courtsey of American Progress