Confronting The VP May Be Impolite. Is It A Crime?

March 21, 2012

NPR

By Nina Totenberg

“So apparently it’s now a crime to disagree with your elected officials. Dick Cheney is a war criminal.” –KTRN

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Wednesday in a case involving the arrest of a Colorado man who was thrown in jail after telling Vice President Cheney in 2006 that the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq were “disgusting.”

Environmental consultant Steven Howards is suing the Secret Service agents who arrested him, contending that the arrest violated his First Amendment rights because it was nothing more than retaliation for the views he expressed to the vice president. The case pits the need for protecting public officials against the rights of citizens to express their views to the people elected to represent them.

What makes this case doubly fascinating is the fact that even the Secret Service agents involved in the arrest do not agree on what happened. The agents who actually saw the encounter testified they saw no threatening action.

In contrast, the agent who made the arrest, Virgil Reichle, accused the others of covering up, and some of Reichle’s fellow agents have testified that he asked them to change their reports to match his. All have acknowledged that if any of these accusations is true, it would amount to a crime under federal law.

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Dick Cheney Cancelled His Trip To Canada Because It’s Too Dangerous For Him

March 14, 2012

Business Insider

By Shlomo Sprung

“Aww, poor Dick Cheney. If he was a decent human being, he wouldn’t have to fear for his life traveling to the evil country known as … Canada.” –KTRN

After sending tens of thousands of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan during his eight years as U.S. Vice President, Dick Cheney canceled a speaking engagement in Canada because it was deemed “too dangerous.”

George W. Bush’s former right-hand man was scheduled to appear in Toronto on April 24 to discuss his time in office and the current American political situation, but bowed out because of demonstrations last fall in Vancouver when Cheney visited. The demonstrations stemmed from Cheney’s approval and endorsement of water boarding and sleep deprivation as methods of interrogation during the Bush administration.

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The Kevin Trudeau Show: 9-10-11

Today, Kevin explains why wheat bread isn’t as good for you as you once thought and why doing a mineral detox is so vital to your long-term health. Plus, hair care expert, Anthony Morrocco, stops by to reveal the disturbing truth about the commercial hair care products you use on a regular basis! You’ll never look at your shampoo the same again!

Self Help:
Beautiful Hair Naturally
Weight Loss Cure
The Fountain of Youth
Untainted Meat & Dairy
Get Vitamin D3 Free For Life!

Health:
Herpes Linked To Alzheimer’s Disease
A New Excuse To Put You On Drugs!
Diet Soda Linked To Heart Risk
Cell Phones DO Cause Tumors

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What’s The Real Unemployment Rate?

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Joe Biden: Secret Service Covers His Rental Too

August 2nd, 2011

AOL Real Estate

By: Ann Brenoff

Managing income property is the bane of many a landlord’s existence. But Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has locked in a tenant, on the cottage next to his waterfront home, that likely won’t be bouncing checks or moving out any time soon: The U.S. Secret Service detail that’s hired to protect him.

To recap: Our tax dollars not only pay for the vice president’s protection, they are also feathering his pocket with a steady rent check. Yes, it’s legal. We leave it to the public to decide whether it’s right for the vice president to have snagged this tenant in Greenville, Del., where the rental vacancy rate for 2010 was a whooping 33.6 percent, according to Melissa Kresin, a survey spokesperson at the U.S. Census Bureau. The national vacancy rate is 9.2 percent.

According to a Washington Times story, Biden (shown in the background of the above photo, as a Secret Service agent watches over him) has collected more than $13,000 from the agency charged with protecting him in his waterfront home in a Wilmington suburb. The arrangement came about after a previous tenant moved out. The agency is paying the same rent as the last tenant.

Under federal purchasing documents that the newspaper ferreted out, Biden — listed as a “vendor” — stands to gain up to $66,000 by the time the government contract expires in the fall of 2013.

Taxpayer watchdog groups and others are already jumping on the “what was he thinking?” bandwagon.

Said Leslie Paige, spokeswoman for the Citizens Against Government Waste, “He should be afforded every single protection available to him and his family, as should every vice president and president. But … you’d think the vice president, who shepherded the deficit committee, would think twice about charging the Secret Service rent. Why would he need the money? I don’t get it.”

Biden’s mother lived in the space until her death in January 2010. It was then rented to a private tenant. When that tenant left, the Secret Service took it over after having leased other space in the Wilmington area. The Secret Service is required by law to ensure the safety of current and former national leaders and their families.

Click here for the full report from AOL Real Estate

The Kevin Trudeau Show: 7-9-11

Today, Kevin explains why wheat bread isn’t as good for you as you once thought and why doing a mineral detox is so vital to your long-term health. Plus, hair care expert, Anthony Morrocco, stops by to reveal the disturbing truth about the commercial hair care products you use on a regular basis! You’ll never look at your shampoo the same again!

Self Help:
Beautiful Hair Naturally
Weight Loss Cure
The Fountain of Youth
Untainted Meat & Dairy
Get Vitamin D3 Free For Life!

Health:
Herpes Linked To Alzheimer’s Disease
A New Excuse To Put You On Drugs!
Diet Soda Linked To Heart Risk
Cell Phones DO Cause Tumors

Wealth:
What’s The Real Unemployment Rate?

Everything Kevin:
Become An Insider!
Kevin is on YouTube!
Sign Up For Kevin’s FREE Podcast
Follow Kevin on Twitter
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Take Trudeau on the Go! Click here to download this show to your iPod, mp3 player, or PC through iTunes!

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The Kevin Trudeau Show: 6-29-11

Today, Kevin reveals the gruesome details behind the government’s secret plan to wipe out the elderly population! Plus, find out why wheat bread isn’t as good for you as you once thought and why doing a mineral detox is so vital to your long-term health.

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Nigeria to Interpol: Arrest Dick Cheney!

December 6th, 2010

AOL News

By: Mara Gay

Julian Assange may be getting some unlikely company.

If Nigeria has its way, former Vice President Dick Cheney will be next on Interpol’s international “wanted” alert, for bribery charges related to his time as the CEO of Halliburton.

Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency says it plans to file charges against Cheney in connection with $180 million in bribes a Halliburton subsidiary paid to Nigerian officials to help secure a $1.2 billion contract during his tenure as head of the company. “We are filing charges against Cheney,” Femi Babafemi, the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chief, told Reuters today.

Halliburton admitted to the charges in a U.S. court last year and paid $579 million in civil penalties, but Cheney himself was not implicated.

Now, though, Nigerian officials want to try Cheney, and on their own turf at that. Apparently they plan to ask Interpol, the international police agency, to issue an alert for the former vice president in the next three days, similar to the one issued for WikiLeaks head Assange. The alert “will be issued and transmitted through Interpol,” Godwin Obla, chief counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, told Bloomberg.

Click here for the full report from AOL News

Critical Players Doubt Strategy in Afghanistan Will Succeed

September 21, 2010

The New York Times

By: Peter Baker

Some of the critical players in President Obama’s national security team doubt his strategy in Afghanistan will succeed and have spent much of the last 20 months quarreling with one another over policy, personalities and turf, according to a new book.

The book, “Obama’s Wars,” by the journalist Bob Woodward, depicts an administration deeply torn over the war in Afghanistan even as the president agreed to triple troop levels there amid suspicion that he was being boxed in by the military. Mr. Obama’s top White House adviser on Afghanistan and his special envoy for the region are described as believing the strategy will not work.

The president concluded from the start that “I have two years with the public on this” and pressed advisers for ways to avoid a big escalation, the book says. “I want an exit strategy,” he implored at one meeting. Privately, he told Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to push his alternative strategy opposing a big troop buildup in meetings, and while Mr. Obama ultimately rejected it, he set a withdrawal timetable because, “I can’t lose the whole Democratic Party.”

But Mr. Biden is not the only one who harbors doubts about the strategy’s chances for success. Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, the president’s Afghanistan adviser, is described as believing that the president’s review did not “add up” to the decision he made. Richard C. Holbrooke, the president’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, is quoted saying of the strategy that “it can’t work.”

Mr. Woodward, the longtime Washington Post reporter and editor, was granted extensive access to administration officials and documents for his account, including an interview with Mr. Obama. The New York Times obtained a copy of the book before its publication by Simon & Schuster, scheduled for next week. The White House had no comment on the book Tuesday night.

Although the internal divisions described have become public, the book suggests that they were even more intense and disparate than previously known and offers new details. Mr. Biden called Mr. Holbrooke “the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met.” A variety of administration officials expressed scorn for James L. Jones, the retired Marine general who is national security adviser, while he referred to some of the president’s other aides as “the water bugs” or “the Politburo.”

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, thought his vice chairman, Gen. James E. Cartwright, went behind his back, while General Cartwright dismissed Admiral Mullen because he wasn’t a war fighter. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates worried that General Jones would be succeeded by his deputy, Thomas E. Donilon, who would be a “disaster.”

Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was overall commander for the Middle East until becoming the Afghanistan commander this summer, told a senior aide that he disliked talking with David M. Axelrod, the president’s senior adviser, because he was “a complete spin doctor.” General Petraeus was effectively banned by the administration from the Sunday talk shows but worked private channels with Congress and the news media.

And the book recounts incidents in which Adm. Dennis C. Blair, then the national intelligence director, fought with Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, and John O. Brennan, the counterterrorism adviser.

During a daily intelligence briefing in May 2009, Mr. Blair warned the president that radicals with American and European passports were being trained in Pakistan to attack their homelands. Mr. Emanuel afterward chastised him, saying, “You’re just trying to put this on us so it’s not your fault.” Mr. Blair also skirmished with Mr. Brennan about a report on the failed airliner terrorist attack on Dec. 25. Mr. Obama later forced Mr. Blair out.

Beyond the internal battles, the book offers fresh disclosures on the nation’s continuing battle with terrorists. It reports that the C.I.A. has a 3,000-man “covert army” in Afghanistan called the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams, or C.T.P.T., mostly Afghans who capture and kill Taliban fighters and seek support in tribal areas. Past news accounts have reported that the C.I.A. has a number of militias, including one trained on one of its compounds, but not the size of the covert army.

The book also reports that the United States has intelligence showing that manic-depression has been diagnosed in President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and that he was on medication, but adds no details. Mr. Karzai’s mood swings have been a challenge for the Obama administration.

As for Mr. Obama himself, the book describes a professorial president who assigned “homework” to advisers but bristled at what he saw as military commanders’ attempts to force him into a decision he was not yet comfortable with. Even after he agreed to send another 30,000 troops last winter, the Pentagon asked for another 4,500 “enablers” to support them.

The president lost his poise, according to the book. “I’m done doing this!” he erupted.

To ensure that the Pentagon did not reinterpret his decision, Mr. Obama dictated a six-page, single-space “terms sheet” explicitly laying out his troop order and its objectives, a document included in the book’s appendix.

Mr. Obama’s struggle with the decision comes through in a conversation with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who asked if his deadline to begin withdrawal in July 2011 was firm. “I have to say that,” Mr. Obama replied. “I can’t let this be a war without end, and I can’t lose the whole Democratic Party.”

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Biden Says Says Dems Will ‘Shock’ Everyone In Midterm

July 19, 2010

Breitbart

Vice President Joe Biden brushed aside suggestions on Sunday that Democrats will suffer big losses in November midterm elections, vowing that Barack Obama’s governing party will “shock the heck out of everybody.”

Speaking on the ABC News program “This Week,” Biden dismissed prevailing wisdom that Democrats, 17 months into Obama’s transformative residency in the White House, would suffer a drubbing at the hands of salivating Republicans.

“I don’t think the losses are going to be bad at all,” Biden said. “I think we’re going to shock the heck out of everybody.”

Biden said he was “confident when people take a look at what has happened since we’ve taken office in November and comparing it to the alternative, we’re going to be in great shape.”

The vice president said he believes the Obama administration will get credit from voters for helping guide the economy out of recession and passing key legislation on health care and financial reform.

“It’s just going to take time,” Biden said.

“The election is not until November. And I think we’re going to have to firmly make our case.”

Obama has launched into campaign mode in recent weeks, hoping to transform the spectacular grassroots support from Democrats and independent voters which propelled him to the presidency in 2008 into a full-bodied platform for his party in the upcoming congressional races.

In a swing through western states earlier this month, Obama sought to brand Republicans as extreme and incompetent, reminding voters the party were in charge when the economy pitched into the deepest recession since the 1930s.

“I think we can make it and especially in the context of who’s going to be opposing us,” Biden said Sunday.

“Compared to the alternative, I think we’re going to get a fair amount of credit by November and I think we’re going to do fine.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell meanwhile Sunday insisted voters see the ballooning national debt as a key concern over any achievement from Obama, as he dismissed criticism of Republican obstructionism — most recently for opposition to extending insurance for the millions of out-of-work Americans.

“We’re all for extending unemployment insurance, the question is, when are we going to get serious… about the debt,” McConnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

Voters, he said, are most concerned for the trillion-dollar budget deficit, and slammed the Obama White House for going on a “gargantuan spending spree.”

The Democrat’s House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, however urged a focus on a positive election year, calling to a move beyond the ongoing debate over racism in the conservative “Tea Party” movement that has divided voters.

“What we need to be doing is talking about the issues and solutions and what happened in the past to get us in the ditch we are in,” Hoyer told CNN.

“If we do that, this will be a positive election. If we try to inflame differences and create division, that will not be positive and that’s what some are doing.”

The Tea Party, a mostly conservative grass roots revolt against Obama administration economic and health reform policies, has electrified the Republican Party base ahead of the November elections.

Biden earlier came to the defense of his political foes in the conservative movement, saying that while “some of the Tea Party folks expressed racist views” he added that he “wouldn’t characterize the Tea Party as racist.”

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Threat For Joe Biden Leads To Arrest

June 18, 2010

1500 AM Federal News Radio

Cybersecurity Update – Tune in weekdays at 30 minutes past the hour for the latest cybersecurity news on The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris (6-10 a.m.) and The DorobekInsider with Chris Dorobek (3-7 p.m.). Listen live at FederalNewsRadio.com or on the radio at 1500 and 820 AM in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

* It’s been said “good fences make for good neighbors.” Now good firewalls make for better neighbors. Barry Ardolf, 45, of Minneapolis has been accused of using his neighbor’s Wi-Fi network to send threatening emails to vice president Joseph Biden. The NewNewInternet reports if that weren’t enough, Ardolf also sent child pornography to his neighbor’s coworkers using a fake email account he set up in his neighbor’s name. Ardolf has turned down a plea deal and now faces a minimum of seven years in federal prison on charges of aggravated identity theft and making threats to the life of the President of the United States and his successors.

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