From the DNC’s Associated Press:

Sen. Specter Threatens to Block NSA Funds

27 April, 2006

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said Thursday he is considering legislation to cut off funding for the Bush administration‘s secret domestic wiretapping program until he gets satisfactory answers about it from the White House.

Specter said he had informed President Bush about his intention and that he has attracted several potential co-sponsors. He said he‘s become increasingly frustrated in trying to elicit information about the program from senior White House officials at several public hearings.

"It is true that we have no assurance that the president would follow any statute that we enact," Specter said. He said he‘s considering adding an amendment to stop funding of the program to an Iraq war-hurricane relief bill being debated by the Senate this week and next.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said allegations that NSA domestic wiretapping operations are abusive or unconstitutional are outrageous and that Congress is committed to vigorous oversight of the program.

This buffoon knows he will never be re-elected again, so he is doing everything he can to endear himself to our one party media to ensure a glowing epitaph in history.

The man has no concept of loyalty. Or patriotism. He is the epitome of everything that is wrong with career politicians.

After Karl Rove finished testifying before Fitzgerald’s grand jury his lawyer Robert Luskin issued the following statement:

Karl Rove appeared today before the grand jury investigating the disclosure of a CIA agent’s identity. He testified voluntarily and unconditionally at the request of special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to explore a matter raised since Mr. Rove’s last appearance in October 2005. In connection with this appearance, the special counsel has advised Mr. Rove that he is not a target of the investigation. Mr. Fitzgerald has affirmed that he has made no decisions regarding charges. At the request of the special counsel, Mr. Rove will not discuss the substance of his testimony.

See if you can find any evidence of this statement from Karl Rove’s attorney in any of the news stories about him on the wires at this moment:

Rove Testifies Again in CIA Leak Case CRI,China- 11 minutes ago (White House aide Karl Rove arrives at federal court in Washington, Wednesday, April 26, 2006. Photo: AP). Top White House aide Karl …

Rove Testifies Again in CIA Leak Case Santa Maria Times,CA- 21 minutes ago WASHINGTON – White House aide Karl Rove spent almost four hours at the federal courthouse Wednesday, during which he made his fifth grand jury appearance in …

Rove returns to grand jury Arkansas Times,AR- 22 minutes ago Karl Rove today testified in front of the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame’s identity as an undercover CIA agent.…

Karl Rove makes fifth grand jury appearance ABC 4,Salt Lake City- 27 minutes ago WASHINGTON (AP) – Presidential adviser Karl Rove appeared at ease after appearing for a fifth time before a grand jury looking into the leaking of a CIA …

Rove testifies in leak case ABC News- 31 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Karl Rove appeared on Wednesday before a US grand jury probing the leak of a CIA officer’s identity but his lawyer said there was still …

Bush advisor appears before grand jury in CIA leak case Xinhua,China- 32 minutes ago WASHINGTON, April 26 (Xinhua) — US President George W. Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, appeared on Wednesday before a grand jury that investigates …

White House aide Rove testifies in leak case Independent Online,South Africa- 42 minutes ago Washington – President George Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, testified on Wednesday before a federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert …

Rove Appears Before Grand Jury in Leak Case Again Chicago Tribune,United States- 45 minutes ago WASHINGTON — White House political advisor Karl Rove today went to a courthouse where he testified for the fifth time before a federal grand jury …

Rove testifies in leak case Reuters- 48 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Karl Rove appeared on Wednesday before a US grand jury probing the leak of a CIA officer’s identity but his lawyer said there was still …

Target Letter Drives Rove Back to Grand Jury OpEdNews- 48 minutes ago Karl Rove’s appearance before a grand jury in the CIA leak case Wednesday comes on the heels of a "target letter" sent to his attorney recently by Special…

Rove Testifies Again in CIA Leak Case The Tribune-Democrat,PA- 54 minutes ago White House aide Karl Rove spent almost four hours at the federal courthouse Wednesday, during which he made his fifth grand jury appearance in the Valerie …

Karl Rove makes his fifth grand jury appearance Katu.com,OR- 56 minutes ago WASHINGTON – Top White House aide Karl Rove made his fifth grand jury appearance in the Valerie Plame affair Wednesday, undergoing several hours of questioning …

Update 11: Rove Testifies Again in CIA Leak Case Forbes- 1 hour ago Top White House aide Karl Rove made his fifth grand jury appearance in the Valerie Plame affair Wednesday, undergoing several hours of questioning about a new …

Rove Finishes Fifth Grand Jury Appearance KWTX,TX- 1 hour ago (April 26, 2006)—White House adviser Karl Rove made his fifth appearance Wednesday before a grand jury investigating the leak of the name of CIA agent …

Rove Testifies Again in CIA Leak Case ABC News- 1 hour ago White House aide Karl Rove arrives at federal court in Washington, Wednesday, April 26, 2006. Rove prepared to testify for a fifth …

Rove testifies again in CIA leak case TheNewsTribune.com (subscription),WA- 1 hour ago WASHINGTON (AP) – White House aide Karl Rove spent almost four hours at the federal courthouse Wednesday, during which he made his fifth grand jury appearance …

Rove facing grand jury in leak investigation International Herald Tribune,France- 1 hour ago WASHINGTON Karl Rove, the senior counselor to President George W. Bush, was expected to appear Wednesday before a federal grand jury investigating the leak of …

Top White House aide Rove testifies in leak case Reuters- 1 hour ago WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) – President George W. Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, testified on Wednesday before a federal grand jury investigating …

Rove in court over his role in leaking CIA name MSNBC- 1 hour ago Karl Rove, chief political strategist to George W. Bush, US president, made his fifth appearance before a grand jury in Washington on Wednesday to clarify …

Rove testifies before grand jury again DailyIndia.com,NY- 1 hour ago WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) — Top White House aide Karl Rove Wednesday was called before a US federal grand jury looking into the leak of a CIA agent’s name to …

Isn’t that weird? Don’t you think after all these months of claims to the contrary, the announcement that Rove is not being investigated for leaking would be news? Apparently, not to our one party media.

Instead we get reportage such as this:

Karl Rove’s appearance before a grand jury in the CIA leak case Wednesday comes on the heels of a "target letter" sent to his attorney recently by Special …

And notice that they manage to keep calling Valerie Plame a covert agent.

The latest on these "Democrat activists," as our one party media likes to call them.

From the DNC's Associated Press:

4 Sentenced for Election Day Tire Slashing

By GRETCHEN EHLKE, Associated Press Writer Wed Apr 26, 1:24 PM ET

MILWAUKEE – A congresswoman's son and three Democratic campaign workers were sentenced Wednesday to four to six months in jail for slashing tires outside a Bush-Cheney campaign office on Election Day 2004.

The men pleaded no contest in January to misdemeanor property damage. A fifth worker was found not guilty.

"This case had to be a public example of what can happen when you interfere with voters' rights," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who rejected prosecutors' recommendation of probation for the four men.

The state Republican Party had rented more than 100 vehicles to give rides to voters and poll monitors on Nov. 2, 2004. The cars were parked outside a GOP campaign office when the tires were punctured. The vandalism left the drivers scrambling for new vehicles.

Among those sentenced Wednesday were Sowande A. Omokunde, the son of U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisconsin, and Michael Pratt, the son of former acting Milwaukee Mayor Marvin Pratt.

"I love my son very much. I'm very proud of him," Moore said. "He's accepted responsibility."

Omokunde was sentenced to four months in jail; Pratt and Lewis Caldwell of Milwaukee were sentenced to six months; and Lavelle Mohammad of Milwaukee was sentenced to five months. All were granted work-release privileges.

Brennan also ordered them to pay a $1,000 fine each, in addition to the $5,317 in total restitution ordered earlier.

The four could have faced up to nine months in jail term and fines of $10,000.

Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes in the 2004 election ended up going to Democrat John Kerry.

(Thanks to JohnX and English Queen for the heads up.)

From The Prowler at the American Spectator:

McCarthy in Denial

By The Prowler
4/26/2006 12:08:54 AM

Outed CIA analyst Mary McCarthy is denying through her lawyers that she was the source for the Washington Post’s Dana Priest in revealing the secret prisons that housed terrorists overseas. McCarthy’s lawyers, though, aren’t throwing cold water on the notion that McCarthy may have had political inclinations and agendas that came into play with what even they termed unauthorized or undisclosed contacts with journalists.

Perhaps that’s why the Howard Dean and others at the Democrat National Committee are looking to some of their donors to set up a legal defense fund for McCarthy.

"If Scooter Libby can have a legal defense fund and website, then McCarthy should have one too," says a DNC staffer. "The DNC wouldn’t set it up, we’d have some of our donors do it on the outside. There are plenty of consultants willing to help on this one, we think."

The whole legal defense fund notion is interesting if only because McCarthy is claiming that there is no need for one. The FBI has not received a request from the CIA to formally investigate her activities while an active CIA employee, and McCarthy claims she wasn’t the source. So case, closed, right?

Well, not quite. Republicans in both the House and the Senate view McCarthy as the first of what they believe are four or five individuals who used access to information for political purposes.

"Going back to the Presidential election in 2004, there was a lot of negative information coming out of Democratic campaigns," says a former Bush Administration staffer. "And it wasn’t the kind of stuff that was readily available from opposition research. This was leaked material. A lot of it wasn’t national security related, but it established a pattern that has followed form for almost two years now. There is orchestrated leaking, and the FBI, the CIA and Congress has to do something about it."

Fairly or unfairly, McCarthy may become a test case, and given her interest in the law, it should be quite the learning experience for all involved.

Good thing we have the famously unbiased Los Angeles Times to reassure us that McCarthy is not political:

Fired CIA Officer Likely Won’t Face Charges Over Leak

Former colleagues described her as cautious and respected. "I thought she was a competent, quiet, good intelligence officer," said Richard J. Kerr, a former deputy CIA director who worked with McCarthy. "She was certainly someone you had respect for and saw not as an ideologue or someone who would end up putting herself in this position."

I’d hate to see what would have happened if she waspolitical.

A flowchart, based on what we know to date, courtesy of FrontPage Magazine’s Jennifer Verner:

Enlarge

It’s a little more informative though slightly less colorful than this schematic from Mind In The Qatar:

Of course these connections will need to be updated as more information surfaces.

From the "Paper Of Treason," the New York Times:

C.I.A. Defends Officer's Firing in Leak Case

By MARK MAZZETTI and SCOTT SHANE
April 26, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 25 — The Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday defended the firing of Mary O. McCarthy, the veteran officer who was dismissed last week, and challenged her lawyer's statements that Ms. McCarthy never provided classified information to the news media.

But intelligence officials would not say whether they believed that Ms. McCarthy had been a source for a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles in The Washington Post about secret C.I.A. detention centers abroad. Media accounts have linked Ms. McCarthy's firing to the articles, but the C.I.A. has never explicitly drawn such a connection.

In response to questions Tuesday, the intelligence officials declined to say whether discussion of the prisons had been part of what they described as a pattern of unauthorized contacts between Ms. McCarthy and reporters.

One intelligence official, who was granted anonymity to speak more candidly about the sensitive issue, said it was unclear how much access Ms. McCarthy, who had been assigned to the agency's inspector general's office, had to specific details about the secret prisons.

A C.I.A. spokeswoman, Jennifer Millerwise Dyck, said: "The officer was terminated for precisely the reasons we have given: unauthorized contacts with reporters and sharing classified information with reporters. There is no question whatsoever that the officer did both. The officer personally admitted doing both."

Ty Cobb, a lawyer representing Ms. McCarthy, said again on Tuesday that she never admitted divulging sensitive material. "She did not confess, orally or in writing, to leaking classified information," Mr. Cobb said.

Since 2004, the inspector general's office has been investigating the agency's role in the interrogation and detention of high-level terrorist suspects, as well as its network of secret jails abroad. At a minimum, intelligence officials said, Ms. McCarthy's work in that office gave her access to some of the agency's most sensitive information, including details about highly secret "compartmented programs."

Officials said that Ms. McCarthy's security clearance was pulled when she was fired, but that no consideration was given to taking away the pension she had earned as a career C.I.A. employee.

Acting before Ms. McCarthy's dismissal, the House Intelligence Committee asked John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, to study whether it should be possible to take away a pension from a retiree who was subject to only administrative or civil punishment and not criminal prosecution. A provision in the intelligence reauthorization bill, which goes to the House floor Wednesday, gives Mr. Negroponte 90 days to study whether pensions of intelligence officers who leak classified information should be revoked.

Gee, it would seem that Ms. McCarthy and her mouthpieces are liars.

What a shock.

Officials said that Ms. McCarthy's security clearance was pulled when she was fired, but that no consideration was given to taking away the pension she had earned as a career C.I.A. employee.

Why not?

It seems to me she has "earned" something much worse than her pension.

Mary McCarthy’s boss is CIA Inspector General John Leonard Helgerson.

Helgerson is married to the former Martha Emmie Winders. According to this genealogy site, the Helgersons have a daughter named Katherine:

Martha Emmie WINDERS(3) was born on Aug 3 1943. Parents: William Flemon WINDERS and Mary JENKINS.

She was married to John Leonard HELGERSON on Dec 30 1969. Children were: Katherine Mary HELGERSON, Paul William HELGERSON.

The FEC records show the following for Federal Government "analyst" Katherine Helgerson:

Non-Federal Receipts "Exempt From Limits"

HELGERSON, KATHERINE
MC LEAN, VA 22101
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT/ANALYST
 

KERRY, JOHN F     VIA JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC
	05/31/2004	1000.00	24981231770

HELGERSON, KATHERINE M
MCLEAN, VA 22101
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT/ANALYST
 

KERRY VICTORY 2004
	08/05/2004	1000.00	24971551006

HELGERSON, KATHERINE M
MCLEAN, VA 22101
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
 

KERRY, JOHN F     VIA JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC
	08/05/2004	1000.00	24991240474

Maybe it’s just a coincidence. And even if this his daughter, Mr. Helgerson might not be of a Democrat persuasion.

But still it gives pause.

More good news for the Republicans republic from the DNC’s Associated Press:

 

Rep. McKinney Files to Run for Re-Election

By SHANNON McCAFFREY, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA – Amid a swarm of television cameras, U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney arrived at the state Capitol on Monday to file for re-election.

McKinney smiled broadly but didn’t comment on her recent scuffle with a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

"Hello, so good to see you," the Democratic congresswoman said as she made her way around the House chamber.

McKinney was one of dozens of candidates filing the required paperwork and fees Monday to run for office. Elected officials and those hoping to unseat them shook hands and hugged friends and supporters. Campaign T-shirts and buttons were everywhere.

Gov. Sonny Perdue was expected to file his qualifying papers in the afternoon.

McKinney flashed her Georgia driver’s license at photographers in an apparent jab at the incident in Washington in late March. She allegedly struck a Capitol Hill police officer who stopped her for bypassing a security checkpoint at a House office building. A grand jury is weighing whether to bring criminal charges in the incident.

Along with her paperwork, McKinney submitted a check for $4,863, the filing fee required of candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Earlier, McKinney’s Democratic opponent, DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson, filed his own qualifying papers.

"I think that citizens in the 4th District are tired of constant controversy," Johnson said. "They want effective leadership in the halls of Congress."

Party officials must submit qualifying information on candidates to the Secretary of State’s office by May 1.

I don’t know if it’s a good idea for a reporter to put "Cynthia McKinney" and "jab" in the same sentence.

She might be threatened by her or one of her hired goons.

From the DNC’s Associated Press:

Transit Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint, center, marches across the Brooklyn Bridge with Rev. Al Sharpton, front right, and New York City teachers union head Randi Weingarten, front left, and other union supporters Monday, April 24, 2006, in New York. before turning himself in to serve a 10-day jail sentence for leading an illegal transit strike in New York city days before Christmas 2005.

Vigil Held for NYC Transit Union Chief

By ELIZABETH LeSURE
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 25, 2006; 4:39 AM

NEW YORK — After a boisterous send-off complete with speeches, cheering crowds and a march across the Brooklyn Bridge, transit union boss Roger Toussaint began serving a 10-day jail sentence. Supporters started an overnight vigil in his honor.

Toussaint surrendered Monday to start his sentence for leading last year’s three-day transit strike that paralyzed the city during the Christmas shopping rush and violated a state law banning strikes by public employees.

Early Tuesday morning, about a dozen supporters, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, gathered across the street from the jail. Sharpton said he planned to visit Toussaint later Tuesday.

Before he turned himself in, Toussaint marched across the Brooklyn Bridge, the same pedestrian route that tens of thousands of New Yorkers were forced to use during the strike. Drivers honked their horns and union members held hands to form barriers around their leader.

"I stand here today because a judge has found me guilty of contempt of court," Toussaint told supporters. "The truth of the matter is that I have nothing but contempt for a system that gives employers free rein to abuse workers."

Speaker after speaker hailed Toussaint as a hero who bravely stood up for the rights of the common man by demanding fair treatment on pensions, health care and wages. They screamed chants such as "Long live Roger Toussaint!", "Long live the union!" and "Let’s hear it for Roger!"

"It’s going to turn Roger Toussaint into an icon," Tony Young, a cleaner for the transit authority who was in the crowd, said of Toussaint’s jail term.

Gov. George Pataki disagreed. At a public appearance, Pataki said he wants people to remember the plight of Matthew Long, a firefighter who was run over by a private bus while he was bicycling to work during the strike — suffering a crushed pelvis.

"I would prefer that the people of New York think and pray of the firefighter who has gone through many operations and faces many more before he can walk, instead of someone who actually provoked this illegal action," Pataki said.

The 60-hour strike ended without a contract between Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the bus and subway system. Union members voted last week to approve an offer they had rejected in January, but the MTA has said it doesn’t have to accept the vote because the dispute is in binding arbitration.

The 33,000-member union was fined $2.5 million for the strike and plans to appeal.

Toussaint’s very public jailing evoked memories of 1966, when transit union president Michael J. Quill was jailed amid a 10-day strike starting on New Year’s Day. The 56-year-old labor leader, who had a history of heart attacks, grew ill in jail and was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he heard the announcement of a settlement.

Never mind that this thug’s illegal strike cost New York City one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000.00) in lost revenue. (A fact the AP felt unworthy of mention.)

Still, it’s always nice to see the professional racebaiter Rev. Al Sharpton getting some press.

From our friends at CNSNews:

Acquitted Anti-War Protestors Promise More Protests

Nathan Burchfiel
Correspondent

(CNSNews.com) – Less than a week after a federal magistrate judge acquitted four anti-war protesters who had been charged with demonstrating outside the White House without a permit last October, their leader promised more civil disobedience.

Twenty- five members of Peace Action were arrested last Oct. 15, along with Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who became a figurehead of the anti-war movement after her son, Army Spec. Casey Sheehan, was killed in Iraq.

The demonstrators staged a "die-in" at the White House to represent the American soldiers who had been killed in Iraq; the total had climbed to 2,000. However, the protesters did not obtain a permit for the event.

According to Peace Action political director Paul Kawika Martin, most of the protesters paid the $75 fine for demonstrating without a permit while a few fought the charges in court.

They could have faced six months in jail and a $500 fine, but Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal, agreeing that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges.

There are strict rules regarding protests near the White House, including that demonstrators remain 40 yards away from the fence, refrain from displaying signs and remain in motion. The federal court handling the case did not respond to requests for official court documents and a representative for Robinson declined comment.

"The prosecution was just sloppy in their case," Martin told Cybercast News Service. "They didn’t prove a lot of letters of the law."

Martin said he was happy the case was dismissed but said he was prepared to pay a fine or serve time in jail because "that’s part of doing civil disobedience, that you’re willing to take the consequence."

The case was dismissed before Martin argued his position to the court, but he posted his prepared statement on Peace Action’s blog. "We were arrested for the crime of civil disobedience and thus are on trial here today defending ourselves," he wrote. "However it is our contention that it is not we who should be on trial but rather the target of our protest: the Bush administration."

In his statement, Martin compared the anti-war protesters to "those who participated in the Boston Tea Party, the womens’ (sic) suffrage movement, the civil rights movement and others who held the vision and displayed the courage to go to jail for justice."

Martin told Cybercast News Service that plans are underway for future acts of civil disobedience. "We’ve tried other ways of redress," he said. "We have lobbied Congress, we have petitioned Congress, we have sent letters to the president and it’s still not happening.

"There will be civil disobedience here in the Capitol," Martin said. "It’s definitely going to happen." He didn’t elaborate on plans other than to mention that anti-war activists are conducting low-key sit-ins at congressional offices with hopes of urging their senators and representatives to support a withdrawal of troops.

He said there are also plans for civil disobedience at a New York City protest scheduled for the next weekend.

Martin said anti-war protesters will continue to break the law "the longer that we continue to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq and we continue to have dead U.S. soldiers coming home and dead Iraqis being killed."

The judge said "the prosecution failed to prove the charges"?

Didn’t she see the thousands of photographs that were taken of Mother Sheehan illegally protesting at the White House gate without a permit?

In fact, the honorable judge could have seen the illegal demonstration chronicled in loving detail by Cindy’s own pals at Civil Resistance at White House.

Or she could have availed herself of the many video recordings of this historic event, such as done by the Washington Post.

Justice might not be blind, but clearly DC Judge Deborah Robinson is:

By the way, this is the same judge who let Sandy Berger off with the mildest slap on the wrist. (Try and guess her party affiliation.)

The message is clear.

As long as you hate America, you don’t have to worry about obeying its laws.

The co-founder of William Goodfellow's Center For International Policy says being stooges for Fidel Castro wasn't enough.

An article from two years ago by our good friends at CNSNews:

Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1990

Liberal Says He Was Fired for Criticizing Aristide, Black Caucus

By Marc Morano and David Thibault
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writers
March 16, 2004

(CNSNews.com) – T he co-founder of a left-wing foreign policy think tank has told CNSNews.com that he was forced out of his job two years ago for complaining about the think tank's growing support of then-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the financial connections between Aristide and the Congressional Black Caucus.

In 1975, James Morrell helped create the Center for International Policy (CIP), a Washington, D.C.-based group that pressures the U.S. to consider a foreign government's human rights record when it hands out foreign aid.

But in 2002, Morrell said, he grew increasingly unhappy over the CIP's support for Aristide, who was facing growing criticism at home and abroad for failing to enact promised reforms in his poverty-stricken country; for the fraud that attended the Haitian elections of 2000; and for the violence that was allegedly being committed by the president's supporters.

Morrell told CNSNews.com he believes he was fired at a time when his CIP colleagues were seeking Haitian government money to advocate on behalf of Aristide.

The CIP's attorney, Paul Reichler, was "one of the people on the [Aristide government's] payroll," according to Morrell, "and was telling [CIP president] Bob White at that time that he could also resume that advisory relationship with Aristide through the center."

Morrell had already taken his frustrations to the press, granting an interview to the Wall Street Journal in which he criticized the payments the Aristide government was making to Ron Dellums, a former U.S. representative from California and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. But just before the interview was published, Morrell said, Dellums came to the CIP "and really charmed the pants off of all of them."

When the Wall Street Journal article was published, Morrell said, it sealed his fate.

"Aristide had told [Reichler] that there was an enemy at the Center … and that was me," Morrell said. "So when my article came out in the Wall Street Journal, they kind of called me on the carpet and forced me out."

William Goodfellow, the CIP's executive director, told CNSNews.com that far from doing Aristide's bidding, the organization closed its Haiti project in June 2001, about nine months before Morrell left.

Goodfellow said it was Morrell who continued to focus on Haiti even after others at the CIP concluded that none of the parties in Haiti or the Bush administration were listening to anything the CIP had to say on the subject.

"Mr. Morrell continued to work on Haiti, and we told him that we did not have a Haiti project because we had no income … and he came back to us with a proposal to get funding from very conservative Haitian businessmen who had a particular internecine fight with Aristide," Goodfellow said.

Goodfellow added that the CIP had no interest in taking money from people "with an axe to grind," and after telling Morrell that he could no longer focus on Haiti while working at the CIP, Morrell eventually left. He had been with the group for 28 years.

Morrell "got too deeply involved in the personalities rather than focusing on U.S. policy, which is really our job as a research center," Goodfellow said. "He became involved in a family squabble inside Haiti."

As for Morrell's contention that the CIP wanted a place on Aristide's payroll, Goodfellow said the charge was "simply not true."

"Dellums may well have been getting funding from the Haitian government. He was a consultant or lobbyist" and "the Haitians had a number of people on the payroll," Goodfellow acknowledged. However, "the [CIP] was not cozy with Aristide. [CIP President Bob] White had criticized Aristide in a number of press interviews and in a book."

Morrell is still taking aim at the Congressional Black Caucus, which he faults for continuing to support Aristide. That support, Morrell said, may be the result of past financial dealings.

"After being here in D.C., for a while, I can't explain the vociferousness [of the Black Caucus's support of Aristide] any other way," Morrell said.

Dellums has received almost $500,000 to lobby on behalf of Aristide, Morrell said, and "is constantly up there (in Washington), jawboning."

Morrell's account of his ouster comes as Aristide arrived back in the Caribbean Monday, accompanied by one of his most vocal supporters, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, who is also a prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Aristide arrived in Jamaica after flying from the Central African Republic, where he had taken temporary refuge following his resignation. He insists he was "kidnapped."

To Aristide's opponents in Haiti, Aristide's arrival in neighboring Jamaica is too close for comfort. "It's very unfriendly on the part of Jamaica. We cannot accept this," said Haiti's new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue Monday.

The Bush administration, which provided for Aristide's safe departure from Haiti on Feb. 29 amid a growing rebellion, is also critical of his return to the area.

The administration has been accused by Aristide's supporters at the Congressional Black Caucus as well as by black activists Jesse Jackson and Randall Robinson of kidnapping Aristide and taking him out of Haiti. But Morrell believes Aristide's supporters in Washington are doing a disservice to democracy and to the Haitian people.

"I cannot see the possible justification for taking this money to argue some Haitian dictator's case against his domestic opposition," Morrell said. "That is essentially what it was.

"It would be a lot cheaper if instead of all the money [the Haitian government] spent on foreign lobbyists, if they would just correct the elections (of 2000)," Morrell added.

Other Haitian activists have criticized the Congressional Black Caucus for its support of Aristide.

"President Aristide's way of governance has been less than desirable and the Black Caucus's support of him has been repulsive to a lot of Haitian Americans," Francois Guillaume, Jr. told CNSNews.com. Guillaume is a spokesman for the League of Young Haitian Professionals based in Florida.

"We are organizing a protest in downtown Miami, doing as much as we can to get truth out because their version of [the] story is not representing the Haitian views," Guillaume said.

Guillaume believes the Congressional Black Caucus is ignoring Aristide's true record of corruption and of trampling human rights.

"Most Haitians deplore [Aristide]. He armed regular thugs and known criminals, he [gave] them arms to promote his ideas," he said.

Guillaume wrote an open letter to the Black Caucus last week, expressing his "deep disappointment among Haitians and Haitian-Americans concerning the actions of certain Democratic congressional members who are using the plight of the Haitian people for their own political agendas.

"At this point in our history, where we are presented with a real chance of building a true democratic country, we find the accusations of certain members of the Black Caucus counterproductive and even inhibitive to the Haitian national unity initiative," read Guillaume's letter addressed to the "representatives of the Congressional Black Caucus.

"Kidnapping and 'coup d'etat' charges emanating from lobbyists and Democrats looking to use this issue as a 'ticket item' against the Bush administration in this electoral year is perceived within the Haitian-American community as unimaginative and conniving," he added.

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, blames the Bush administration for Aristide's downfall and for the chaos in Haiti that preceded it.

"We are just as much a part of this coup d'etat as the rebels, looters or anyone else," Rangel said.

Given the history of the CIP, I believe Morrell.

Hey, in case you haven’t seen the latest news from Reuters:

Bush’s approval ratings hit new low

Mon Apr 24, 2006 4:23 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush’s approval rating fell to 32 percent, a new low for his presidency, a CNN poll showed on Monday.

The survey showed that 60 percent of Americans disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job.

Bush’s poll numbers have languished below 40 percent in recent months, hit by growing public opposition to the Iraq war, his administration’s mishandling of the initial response to Hurricane Katrina and political missteps plus rising gas prices.

If you think you’ve heard this earth-shattering news before — you have.

About 81,200 times before:

          

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