Tuesday

Bush prepares to veto House stem cell bill
No vetos issued in six years of presidency; Override vote likely to fail.

An Eyewitness Report From DemocracyFest
BradBlogger Steve Viele provides details and photos -->
Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Steve Viele has sent me a nice email containing his account of Saturday morning at DemocracyFest and a few pics of Brad there. Way cool.
The following is from Steve…

Just got back from a Saturday morning at Democracy Fest on the campus of San Diego State University in San Diego. I got to listen to Brad's panel on Election Integrity (more on that in a moment) and I also got to meet and shake hands with both Congresswoman Maxine Waters (who is being awarded the "Backbone" award there, among other activities she'll be involved in) and California State Senator Debra Bowen (hopefully, the next California Secretary of State).
Brad was on a discussion panel called "Voting Integrity and Election Reform" that also included the aforementioned Debra Bowen and Alan Dechert, Co-founder and President/CEO of the Open Voting Consortium. It was moderated by Craig Elsten from the San Diego Air America affiliate who, incidentally, did a great 45 min. plus interview with Brad on his show the Sunday before last (July 2) that Brad never even posted or linked to on BradBlog (guess he's getting so busy and popular and making so many appearances that he has to pick and choose which ones to post on his blog!). This panel was one of the first (five different panels occur simultaneously during each session) that started the day's main activities at 9:30 AM and took place in the largest venue at the event, Montezuma Hall, an auditorium that I believe I heard seated 800 people and was about 2/3 full.

— Click here for REST OF STORY!… —

Former CIA Director Woolsey: ‘I Think We Ought To Execute Some Air Strikes Against Syria’ »

Today, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack stated that the United States’ position with respect to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East is to deescalate the tensions:
We believe that finding a way to deescalate the tensions in the current crisis…is really the way forward to achieve that ultimate goal which everybody agrees upon.

But Joseph Cirincione explained this morning that deescalation works against the goals of neoconservatives. Those who argued strenuously for a preemptive war against Iraq are now clamoring for a deeper regional war against Iran and Syria.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who signed his name to a letter addressed to President Clinton in 1998 arguing for the Iraq war, appeared on Fox to make the case against Syria. “I think we ought to execute some air strikes against Syria,” adding, “The last thing we ought to do now is to start talking about cease-fires and the rest.” Watch it.


The New York Times still hasn’t retracted
its false story about Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY). Write the Public Editor Byron Calame at public@nytimes.com. July 17, 2006 4:04 pm

Government misleading pregnant teens.

“Federally funded pregnancy resource centers often mislead pregnant teens about the medical risks of abortion, telling investigators who posed as pregnant 17-year-olds that abortion leads to breast cancer, infertility, and mental illness,” a new report by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) shows. “87 percent of the centers reached by investigators provided false or misleading information about abortion.” July 17, 2006 3:23 pm