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Rumsfeld Resigns

From the NYTimes:

"President Bush was expected to announce Rumsfeld's departure and Gates' nomination at an afternoon news conference. Administration officials notified congressional officials in advance."

"Last week, as he campaigned to save the Republican majority, Bush declared that Rumsfeld would remain at the Pentagon through the end of his term."

"Rumsfeld, 74, was in his second tour of duty as defense chief. He first held the job a generation ago, when he was appointed by President Ford."

Rumsfeld Resigns as Defense Secretary After Big Election Gains for Democrats - New York Times

N.J. Court Backs Rights for Gay Unions

The State Supreme Court in New Jersey said today that under equal protection guarantees of the state constitution, same-sex couples �must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes.�

Click for the whole article: N.J. Court Backs Rights for Gay Unions - New York Times

North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test

From the Boston Globe:
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test yesterday in brazen defiance of the United States, China, and other world powers, which have sought for more than three years to persuade the reclusive Communist regime to give up its covert nuclear weapons program.

A White House official said late last night that the United States condemned the nuclear test and would seek action in the Security Council today.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency said the test took place at 10:36 a.m. local time today, or 9:36 p.m. yesterday in the United States
North Korea conducts nuclear test - The Boston Globe

More Americans Have Now Died In Iraq Than Died On 9/11

Via Yahoo News, an article by RJ Eskow: Here are the numbers: 3,015 Americans have died in Iraq as of September 9. 2,666 of these were military deaths and 349 were civilians.

A total of 2,973 people died on 9/11. Most, although not all, were Americans.

Read the rest of this article here: RJ Eskow: DARK MILESTONE: More Americans Have Now Died In Iraq Than Died On 9/11 - Yahoo! News

Pipeline Untested for 14 Years

The severely corroded pipeline that forced the shutdown of the country's largest oil field had not been internally inspected or cleaned by BP Oil for at least 14 years, according to U.S. Department of Transportation records.

The lines at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field carry eight percent of the domestic crude oil production but are exempt from federal regulation.

Pipelines regulated by the federal government are required to be tested every five years.

Read the rest here- The Blotter

BP shuts Alaska oilfield

The outage will cut global daily oil output by about half a percent, putting more strain on an already tight market. Beutel said he believed the news in Alaska was outweighing even new threats out of Iran to shut production there if that country is hit with United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program.

"This is almost all Alaska," he said about Monday's price hikes. "It doesn't look like something that will have a quick fix or can be ignored by the markets. I think it's going to be measured in weeks, not days, and it could drag on for months."
BP shuts largest U.S. oil field due to damaged pipeline - Aug. 7, 2006

Castro Steps Down Temporarily

For the first time in 47 years, Fidel Castro has temporarily relinquished power to his brother, Raul. He is recovering from intestinal surgery and will require several weeks of rest. Castro remains out of sight after surgery

Ken Lay Dies

A spokeswoman for Aspen Valley Hospital confirmed that Lay arrived at the hospital at 1:41 a.m. MT and was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m. MT.

In a statement, the Pitkin County Sheriff's office said a coroner's autopsy is pending and autopsy results will be available later this week.

Lay, 64, was awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of conspiracy and fraud in the Enron trial in May.

Ken Lay, Enron founder, dead at 64 - Jul. 5, 2006

Guilty

HOUSTON, May 25 � Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, the chief executives who guided Enron through its spectacular rise and even more stunning fall, were found guilty today of fraud and conspiracy in a case that led the parade of corporate scandals in recent years that emerged from the get-rich-quick stock market excesses of the 1990's.
Enron Chiefs Guilty of Fraud and Conspiracy - New York Times

Historians Rate the President

In almost every survey of historians dating back to the 1940s, three presidents have emerged as supreme successes: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. These were the men who guided the nation through what historians consider its greatest crises: the founding era after the ratification of the Constitution, the Civil War, and the Great Depression and Second World War. Presented with arduous, at times seemingly impossible circumstances, they rallied the nation, governed brilliantly and left the republic more secure than when they entered office.
Calamitous presidents, faced with enormous difficulties -- Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Hoover and now Bush -- have divided the nation, governed erratically and left the nation worse off. In each case, different factors contributed to the failure: disastrous domestic policies, foreign-policy blunders and military setbacks, executive misconduct, crises of credibility and public trust. Bush, however, is one of the rarities in presidential history: He has not only stumbled badly in every one of these key areas, he has also displayed a weakness common among the greatest presidential failures -- an unswerving adherence to a simplistic ideology that abjures deviation from dogma as heresy, thus preventing any pragmatic adjustment to changing realities. Repeatedly, Bush has undone himself, a failing revealed in each major area of presidential performance.

Rolling Stone : The Worst President in History?

For the American public's opinion, click here for the latest CBS NY Times polls.

White House E-mail Records Missing?

The prosecutor in the criminal case against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff said in a January 23 letter that not all e-mail was archived in 2003, the year the Bush administration exposed the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

"Bottom line: Accidents happen and there could be a benign explanation, but this is highly irregular and invites suspicion," said Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists government secrecy project.
"A particular subset of records sought in a controversial prosecution have gone missing," Aftergood said. "I think what is needed is for the national archivist to ascertain what went wrong and how to ensure it won't happen again."

CNN.com - White House e-mail records missing? - Feb 2, 2006

Another 70 Billion for Wars

The White House has told Congress to expect war funding requests for $70 billion this year, which will come on top of 2007 budget requests. Bush to seek $120 billion for wars, sources say - Politics - MSNBC.com

Cindy Sheehan Arrested

Sheehan, who was invited to attend the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., was charged with demonstrating in the Capitol building, said Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. The charge was later changed to unlawful conduct, Schneider said. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an antiwar slogan to the speech and covered it up until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays were not allowed, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.

The T-shirt bore the words �2,245 Dead � How Many More??� in reference to the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, protesters told NBC News.

Capitol Police arrest antiwar activist Sheehan - Politics - MSNBC.com

State of the Union

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The following is a transcript of the full text of President Bush's State of the Union address, released by the White House before the delivery of the speech: CNN.com - Text�of Bush's State of the Union speech - Jan 31, 2006

DeLay Steps Down

DeLay is battling campaign finance charges in Texas and was forced to step aside temporarily as majority leader last fall after he was charged in his home state. He has consistently maintained his innocence and said he intended to resume his leadership post once cleared.
His about-face came amid growing pressure from fellow Republicans who were concerned about their own political futures in the wake of this week's guilty pleas by lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

DeLay Steps Down as House Majority Leader - New York Times