Sun, 10 Jun 2007 08:30:06 -0700 http://northboroughdems.org/ en-us http://northboroughdems.org/images/logo.gif http://northboroughdems.org/ webmaster@northboroughdems.org http://northboroughdems.org/Article25.html Tuesday, April 17, 2007 Governor extends tax deadline TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF The rough weather has yielded some relief for taxpayers. Federal and state officials have said the deadline for filing returns has been extended to midnight Thursday. The deadline for federal and state taxes had been midnight tonight. Sun, 10 Jun 2007 08:30:06 -0700 http://northboroughdems.org/Article24.html How a Three-Word Mantra Has Undermined America By Zbigniew Brzezinski Sunday, March 25, 2007; Page B01 The "war on terror" has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration's elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America's psyche and on U.S. standing in the world. Using this phrase has actually undermined our ability to effectively confront the real challenges we face from fanatics who may use terrorism against us. The damage these three words have done -- a classic self-inflicted wound -- is infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks when they were plotting against us in distant Afghan caves. The phrase itself is meaningless. It defines neither a geographic context nor our presumed enemies. Terrorism is not an enemy but a technique of warfare -- political intimidation through the killing of unarmed non-combatants. Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:57:42 -0700 http://northboroughdems.org/Article23.html By Carol D. Leonnig and Amy Goldstein Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A01 A federal jury convicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby yesterday of lying about his role in the leak of an undercover CIA officer's identity, culminating a four-year legal saga that transfixed official Washington and revealed the inner workings of the White House and the media. After 10 days of deliberations, the 11 jurors found Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff guilty of four felony counts of making false statements to the FBI, lying to a grand jury and obstructing a probe into the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. The jury acquitted him of one count of lying to the FBI about his conversation with a Time magazine reporter. Libby is the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-contra scandal nearly two decades ago. Fri, 09 Mar 2007 06:24:08 -0800 http://northboroughdems.org/Article22.html By Jonathan Weisman and Peter Baker Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, February 22, 2007 As the British announced the beginning of their departure from Iraq yesterday, President Bush's top foreign policy aide proclaimed it "basically a good-news story." Yet for an already besieged White House, the decision was doing a good job masquerading as a bad-news story. What national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley meant was that the British believe they have made enough progress in southern Iraq to turn over more of their sector to Iraqi forces. To many back in Washington, though, what resonated was that Bush's main partner in Iraq is starting to get out just as the president is sending in more U.S. troops. Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:05:48 -0800 http://northboroughdems.org/Article21.html By MICHAEL MOSS Published: December 17, 2006 New York Times BAGHDAD — In a cavernous room that once displayed gifts given to Saddam Hussein, eight men in yellow prison garb sat on the floor facing the wall, guarded by two American soldiers. Among them was Abdulla Sultan Khalaf, a Ministry of Industry employee seized by American troops who said they found 10 blasting caps and 100 sticks of TNT. When his name was called, he stood, walked into a cagelike defendant’s box and peered over the wooden slats at a panel of three Iraqi judges of the central court. The judges reviewed evidence prepared by an American military lawyer — testimony from two soldiers, photographs and a sketch of the scene. The evidence went largely unchallenged, because Mr. Khalaf had no lawyer. The judges appointed one, but Mr. Khalaf had no chance to speak with him. Mr. Khalaf told the judges that the soldiers were probably chasing a rogue nephew and denied that the explosives were his or ever in his house. “Let me examine the pictures,” he insisted. The judges ignored him. His lawyer said nothing, beyond declaring Mr. Khalaf’s innocence. The trial lasted 15 minutes. The judges conducted six trials of similar length and depth before lunch, then deliberated for four minutes. Five defendants were found guilty; one was acquitted. “The evidence is enough,” Judge Saeb Khorsheed Ahmed said in convicting Mr. Khalaf. “Thirty years.” Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:44:51 -0800 http://northboroughdems.org/Article20.html By Peter Taylor Reporter, BBC series Al Qaeda: Time To Talk? Europe has become a hunting ground for al-Qaeda recruits. Largely disillusioned with US foreign policy, several young Muslims are making the journey east, some to become suicide bombers. In his new television series, Peter Taylor talks to a woman in Paris whose life was turned upside-down when her boyfriend went to fight in Iraq. Barbara had known Peter since their schooldays. "He was the clown in the classroom, always making everyone laugh," she told me. "He was very gentle and always had time for everybody. He was like a big brother and protected me at that time." Sat, 02 Sep 2006 08:38:44 -0700 http://northboroughdems.org/Article18.html This article is by Michael R. Gordon, Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker. New York Times WASHINGTON, Aug. 16 — The number of roadside bombs planted in Iraq rose in July to the highest monthly total of the war, offering more evidence that the anti-American insurgency has continued to strengthen despite the killing of the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Along with a sharp increase in sectarian attacks, the number of daily strikes against American and Iraqi security forces has doubled since January. The deadliest means of attack, roadside bombs, made up much of that increase. In July, of 2,625 explosive devices, 1,666 exploded and 959 were discovered before they went off. In January, 1,454 bombs exploded or were found. Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:58:26 -0700 http://northboroughdems.org/Article17.html ROBERT PEAR Published: August 13, 2006 WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 — The White House is clashing with governors of both parties over a plan to cut Medicaid payments to hospitals and nursing homes that care for millions of low-income people. he White House says the changes are needed to ensure the “fiscal integrity” of Medicaid and to curb “excessive payments” to health care providers. But the plan faces growing opposition. The National Governors Association said it “would impose a huge financial burden on states,” already struggling with explosive growth in health costs. Sun, 13 Aug 2006 10:09:05 -0700 http://northboroughdems.org/Article16.html April 6, 2006 12:26 AM PDT by Declan McCullagh chronicles the intersection of politics and technology from Washington, DC. Evidence provided by a former AT&T technician proves that the telecommunications company secretly and unlawfully opened its networks to government eavesdroppers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said Thursday. Alert readers may remember that EFF sued AT&T in January, alleging it illegally cooperated with the National Security Agency's secret eavesdropping program. Then, in an odd twist last week, the Bush administration objected to EFF including some internal AT&T documents in court (the Feds claimed they might be classified). Now EFF seems to have cleared that up and has filed them in court, although they're still under seal. Thu, 06 Apr 2006 06:57:47 -0700 http://northboroughdems.org/Article15.html By HASSAN M. FATTAH Published: February 9, 2006 BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 8 — As leaders of the world's 57 Muslim nations gathered for a summit meeting in Mecca in December, issues like religious extremism dominated the official agenda. But much of the talk in the hallways was of a wholly different issue: Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad. The closing communiqué took note of the issue when it expressed "concern at rising hatred against Islam and Muslims and condemned the recent incident of desecration of the image of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the media of certain countries" as well as over "using the freedom of expression as a pretext to defame religions." Thu, 09 Feb 2006 07:13:16 -0800