BitchNews Headline News

The WP confirms: President Bush today named appeals court Judge Samuel A. Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. Alito, 55, serves on the Philadelphia-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where his record on abortion rights and church-state issues has been widely applauded by conservatives and criticized by liberals. See the profile of Samuel A. Alito Jr.

CNN reports: "The Senate minority leader said Sunday that President Bush and Vice President Cheney owe the country an explanation of "what’s going on" in the administration and called for Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to be fired."  So whats your take on this hole mess?

From the Washington Post: A majority of Americans say the indictment of senior White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby signals broader ethical problems in the Bush administration, and nearly half say the overall level of honesty and ethics in the federal government has fallen since President Bush took office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey.

The poll, conducted Friday night and yesterday, found that 55 percent of the public believes the Libby case indicates wider problems "with ethical wrongdoing" in the White House, while 41 percent believes it was an "isolated incident." And by a 3 to 1 ratio, 46 percent to 15 percent, Americans say the level of honesty and ethics in the government has declined rather than risen under Bush.

See also: A Leak, Then a Deluge: Did a Bush loyalist, trying to protect the case for war in Iraq, obstruct an investigation into who blew the cover of a covert CIA operative?

The United Nations top expert on bird flu says the fatal virus will hit Africa within weeks, and it could be the most dangerous development yet in the spread of the fatal disease.

Dr Joseph Domenech from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation is warning that Africa might not be able to contain the outbreak quickly, which could create a greater chance for the virus to jump from birds to humans. Source abc.net.au.

See also Bird flu journey, an interactive map from BBC, watch the spread of the killer virus around the world.

From the Washington Post: Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted today by a federal grand jury after a nearly two-year investigation into the leak of a CIA agent’s identity.  BBC notes: Libby case dominates US media. Scotsman News writes: Bush rocked as senior Cheney aide is indicted for perjury. CBS News highlights: The Blogs On Libby. and from CNN: Capitol Hill reacts to Libby’s indictment.

The WP reports: By most familiar comparisons, the $9.92 billion profit earned by Exxon Mobil Corp. in just three months is almost unimaginable. It would cover all Social Security benefit payments for three months. It would pay for an Ivy League education for about 60,000 kids. It would pay the average list price for more than 160 Boeing 737s. It would fund the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than two months.

And Forbes comments: A record earnings season for the oil industry is stoking increased grumbling from politicians, citizens and activists who want the U.S. government to levy a windfall profits tax on companies that are enjoying their highest profits ever.

So whats you take? Do they just suck us dry or do they deserve those huge profits?

The Washington Post shows profiles of individuals often mentioned as persons President Bush might nominate for the Supreme Court. This list first ran in The Post on Sept. 5, 2005. The names mentioned there are: Samuel A. Alito Jr., Edith Brown Clement, Emilio M. Garza, Alberto R. Gonzales, Edith Hollan Jones, J. Michael Luttig, Michael W. McConnell, Larry Thompson and J. Harvie Wilkinson I.
Other possible Supreme Court nominees (Associated Press) So who would you pick?

The Times Online reports: Saddam Hussein received $1.8 billion in bribes from more than 2,200 companies in the scramble for lucrative contracts under the UN’s Oil-for-Food programme, investigators claimed today.
 
Russia harboured the most companies involved in the programme, followed by France, according to the inquiry led by Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board.

Many of the firms which benefited were obscure front companies, but the report also includes major names, including Volvo, Siemens and DaimlerChrysler.

The complete report on the Manipulation of the Oil-for-Food Programme (27 October 2005) is available online for downloading here from the iic-offp.org (Independent Inquiry Committee) website. (You can download the report at that link as hole or in part)

The Washington Post reports: Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) yesterday called for the withdrawal of 20,000 troops from Iraq by year’s end as the first step in a proposal that would significantly reduce U.S. military forces in the region over the next 15 months.

Kerry offered a middle ground between those advocating an immediate drawdown of the more than 150,000 U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and the Bush administration, which has declined to set a timetable for a decreased U.S. military presence.

So whats your opinion for the best way out? I feel there isn’t any easy answer to this, probably a gradual withdrawal synchronized with training enough Iraqi troops to handle their own security. In the end Iraq will need to handle itself and the sooner that happens the better.