November 2005

Here's an interesting article compliments of the

Associated Press:

Bush Orders Staff to Review Ethics
Rules

President Bush, reacting to the indictment of a high-level White House
aide in the CIA leak case, has ordered his staff to get a refresher on
ethics rules.

In a memo sent to all White House aides on Friday, the counsel's office
said it will hold briefings next week on ethics, with a particular focus on
the rules governing the handling of classified information. Attendance is
mandatory for anyone holding any level of security clearance.

"There will be no exceptions," the memo said.

The week after, the counsel's office is holding sessions on general
ethical conduct for the rest of the staff.

"The president has made clear his expectation that each member of his
Executive Office of the President (EOP) Staff adhere to the spirit as well
as the letter of all rules governing ethical conduct for EOP Staff," the
memo said.

After a two-year investigation, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of
staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted last week, charged with lying
to investigators and the grand jury about leaking the CIA status of Valerie
Plame, who was a covert officer. Plame's CIA status was exposed in July 2003
after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the
administration of twisting intelligence before the war to exaggerate the
Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is said to be still considering
whether Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, illegally misled
investigators. Libby has resigned and Rove remains on the job.

People may read my blog and think I am a little hard on Republicans. Well
there is perfect reasons for this. Here is a little piece of news about some of
the Republican leaders in my own county..

From today's

Cincinnati Enquirer

Butler County GOP officials
investigated in bar fight

One of three left his credit behind at Putter's, police say

By Sheila McLaughlin Enquirer staff writer

The investigation into a late-night barroom brawl led police to three
officials of the Butler County Republican Party after one of them left his
credit card behind, police say.

A complaint filed with the Butler County Sheriff's Department said that
central committee Chairman Quentin Nichols, of West Chester; Tim Dearwester
of Hamilton, a member of the central committee; and Sean Maloney of Liberty
Township, a member of the executive committee, allegedly assaulted the
bartender at Putter's Tavern & Grill shortly after midnight Oct. 26.

Adam William told deputies he approached the trio about a plastic
advertising sign being damaged in the men's room. He asked them to leave
after one of the men threatened him with a pool stick and another made
sexual remarks about the bar's owner, the police report said.

The men then jumped on William and punched and hit him with a chair
before the fight moved outside at the Cincinnati-Dayton Road establishment,
resulting in a bench being damaged, William told police.

For those of you who read about bird flu spreading to humans and think its
some new disease or problem that is just now occurring, I would like to set the
record straight.

Actually, the first signs of bird flu spreading to humans was in 1997. The
case occurred in Hong Kong and the seriousness was quickly realized. The
following is an article I found on News Bank from December 11, 1997

Paper: The Cincinnati Post

Title: Bird flu found in humans

Date: December 11, 1997

 Doctors expressed concern this week that a rare bird flu discovered in
humans in Hong Kong could cause a widespread epidemic, but said it was too
early to tell how serious the threat was.

"That's what everybody is wondering about - whether this is the beginning
of another pandemic," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "That's why we very much would like to
identify how this virus is transmitted, and whether there are additional
cases in the Hong Kong population," Fukuda said in a news conference.

A 3-year-old boy died in May after contracting the influenza A H5N1
virus, the first time the bird flu was found in humans.

Three more cases have since been found. A 2-year-old boy was hospitalized
but recovered, a 54-year-old man died and a 13-year-old girl is in critical
condition. Copyright 1997 The Cincinnati Post

Article

link (subscription required)

Tom Delay vowed his innocence and his desire to a speedy trial to clear his
"good" name after his indictment. Well the first delay was caused by him when
his attorney complained that the judge assigned to the case was partisan. Judge
Perkins had given to the Kerry campaign last year and also donated money to
Moveon.org. On Tuesday, Delay won his complaint and Perkins was removed.

Well now that partisan politics seem to play a part in our judicial process,
this forced prosecutor Ronnie Earl to request the administrative judge be
removed because of his ties to the Republican party. Earlier today, Judge
Schruab rescued himself from the case sending it to the top court in the state
to make the decision on who would preside.

Well as luck would have it for Delay, he was assigned Robert Perkins, a
Democrat judge. The decision was made by Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice
Wallace Jefferson. Ironically, Jefferson is a Republican and was also aided by
TRMPAC which is the political organization at the center of the Delay trial.

It appears that Delay does not recognize the laws of his own state, which
could be why he has been indicted by two grand juries. Texas law requires judges
to run on a partisan ticket and allows them to give to political causes. Judge
Perkins is a registered Democrat and gave $200 to Moveon and $1,975 to
Democratic causes per

News Meat. Shraub gave a total of

$2,500 to Republican causes.