The Afternoon Round-Up

Scandal Sheet
- White House political director and Karl Rove protege Sara Taylor is resigning.
Beltway Blotter
- Nancy Pelosi and friends head to Syria next week to meet with President Bashar Al-Assad. Are they just completely tone-deaf or what? 
- (Cue the haunting music score) The most powerful room in Congress: Don’t look at the light!
Corporate Culture
- Is [...]

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Romney Flips on Reagan

Mitt Romney’s wife just sent out a fundraising letter, headlined “Meeting challenges as Ronald Reagan did.”
In the letter, she writes that Americans are looking for “someone who will communicate with the American people and our neighbors abroad to meet our challenges as Ronald Reagan did.”
How times have changed – during his 1994 debate with Senator [...]

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The Wake-Up Call

- Giuliani was briefed on Bernie Kerik’s bad side before making him police commissioner in 2000
- Pork Goes to War (along with soldiers, citrus and spinach get funding, too)
- Citizen K Street: How Gerald Cassidy rose to become one of DC’s top lobbyists
- Long before Attorneygate, Jack Abramoff was hired to get rid of Guam’s [...]

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Synchronize Your Scandals!

In another email from the latest batch released by the Justice Department, Google’s AdSense program exhibits an impish sense of humor.
Look at the ad that’s automatically placed on top of this Email (page 57) from Gonzalez hatchet man Kyle Sampson:
“The Abscam Sting: ScandalTheCardGame.com”

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The News Sieve

Scandal Sheet
- Running updates on the Kyle Sampson testimony 
Beltway Blotter
- Members of Congress, don’t worry too much about those new restrictions on lobbying junkets: One-night stands are still OK! 
- Is the government weakening regulations on car door locks to protect manufacturers from hefty lawsuits?
Iraq
- The White House tests the logical limits of spin: “Gen. [...]

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The Softer Side of Gonzalez’s Hatchet Man

Forget those US Attorneys!
How about investigating whether Kyle Sampson, top aide to Alberto Gonzalez and the man in the hot seat at today’s Congressional hearings… is actually such a great father to his kids?
In recently released Emails (page 74), the man who orchestrated the firings is revealed leaving the office early on February 23, an [...]

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A More Civil War? Iraqis
Spending $ To Lobby on Capitol Hill

Judging by the actions of some of their fellow Iraqis, maybe Shiite militants and Sunni insurgents can soon be persuaded to drop their weapons and to start paying high-priced lobbyists to fight their battles.
In recent weeks, several prominent Iraqi groups, including the Kurds and the Iraqi Red Crescent, have signed contracts with powerful lobbying firms in D.C. [...]

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The News Sieve

Iraq
- Speaking out of both sides of his mouth: Saudi King Abdullah, speaking at the Arab summit, slams the “illegitimate foreign occupation” of Iraq. But on the same day, he told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that the US must be assisted and that all sectors of society in Iraq must be included to [...]

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Mad Meow Disease? Menu Foods
Was Already Cited By FDA in 2004

Menu Foods, who made that batch of rodenticide-tainted pet food responsible for the deaths of at least 104 dogs and cats, was already on the radar of the Food and Drug Administration.
Back in February 2004, they were required to recall some cat food due to a failure to carry a warning about Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. Three months later, they were [...]

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The News Sieve - Now With Categories!

Scandal Sheet
- Were US Attorney firings part of a plot to fix the 2008 election?
Beltway Blotter
- More security for chemical plants? Industry lobbyists have their own ideas
- Interior Dept plans to weaken the Endangered Species Act 
- How much the government awards in attorneys’ fees
Ephemera
- The biggest sundial in the world
- A flautist beatboxing the [...]

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