WASHINGTON — Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff had hundreds more contacts with top White House officials than those Bush administration officials had previously acknowledged, according to a congressional report to be released on Friday. The report by the House Government Reform Committee, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, said the panel found about 485 contacts between Abramoff and his associations and the White House, including 10 with Karl Rove, who is President George W. Bush’s top political adviser. The committee based its findings on 14,000 pages of e-mails and billing records spanning three years ending in 2003, the committee report said. The White House challenged the credibility of the report, saying it was based on material originally generated by Abramoff. Abramoff and associates have pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and related crimes in an influence-peddling scandal that reached into the U.S. Congress. ‘The billing records that are the basis for this report are widely regarded as fraudulent in how they misrepresent Abramoff’s activities and level of access. There is no reason why they should suddenly be viewed as credible,’ White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. The committee findings, first reported by ABC TV, found […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce on Friday renewed its partnership with the agency that manages the Internet addressing system for another three years, but agreed to a much lighter touch in what experts called a big move toward private-sector control of the global network. The agreement extends the time that the U.S. government maintains its effective control of the Internet’s underpinnings beyond the current contract’s expiration, which was set for Saturday. But officials said the agreement with Icann, the California-based nonprofit group that keeps technical tabs on the Internet, also gives it more autonomy. In addition, it calls for a midterm review in 18 months, the soonest point at which Icann could become free of U.S. government oversight. ‘The top line is that this is a major step forward for Icann to become completely autonomous,’ said Paul Twomey, the Australian who is chief executive of Icann. Though much of the foundation of the Internet came out of U.S. government and university research, the network has become a critical tool in global commerce, communications and, for some countries, national security. Countries in Asia and the Middle East in particular have strenuously […]
Night vision is not known for helping anyone get better in the bedroom, but infrared cameras reveal that women become aroused as quickly as men. In previous research, sexual arousal was generally detected with instruments that require genital contact and manipulation. One might argue that can spoil the mood. Thermal imaging technology, which uses cameras that detect heat given off by different objects, is a relatively non-invasive way of measuring the time it takes a person to reach peak arousal. So researchers focused the cameras on the genitals of test subjects while the subjects watched footage of pornography, travel shows and horror clips. This provided measurements of heat from both the sexually aroused and from whatever arousal or lack of it was spurred by the other programming. ‘Comparing sexual arousal between men and women, we see that there is no difference in the amount of time it takes healthy young men and women to reach peak arousal,’ said Irv Binik, a McGill University psychology professor and founder and director of the Sex and Couple Therapy Service of Royal Victoria Hospital. Binik and colleagues were able to detect temperature changes to within 100th of a degree. […]
ARBIL, Iraq — When the Kurdish President, Massoud Barzani, banned the Iraqi flag from being flown on top of public buildings in Kurdistan this month, the Iraqi Kurds took a further symbolic step towards de facto independence. He justified the ban by saying ‘so many pogroms and mass-killings were committed in its name’. The Iraqi Kurds are not seeking statehood, calculating that this is not now in their interests, but they want a degree of autonomy that amounts almost to the same thing. ‘If there is no federal solution there is no hope for this country,’ Mr Barzani told The Independent in his mountain-top headquarters in Salahudin overlooking the Kurdish capital, Arbil. Mr Barzani’s refusal to allow the Iraqi flag to be hoisted was sharply criticised by politicians in Baghdad. The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, produced a bizarre endorsement of his national emblem saying: ‘Not only the Kurds were slaughtered under this flag, but many Iraqis were slain under this flag. Iraq was slain under this flag.’ But to many Arab Iraqis the flag means a lot. In Mosul, where Arabs and Kurds are in conflict, the mainly Arab police force went around insisting that shopkeepers and […]
Nearly 90% of the 9 million children who lack health insurance live in households with at least one working parent, according to a report released Thursday by consumer group Families USA. And three in 10 uninsured kids live in families with two working parents, the report found. ‘I think it changes what might be a stereotype about who uninsured people or uninsured children are,’ says Ron Pollack, the group’s executive director. The report finds Vermont has the lowest rate of uninsured children at 5.6%. Hawaii, Michigan, and New Hampshire also had rates among the nation’s lowest. Meanwhile, more than 20% of children in Texas remain without medical coverage, ranking that state at the top. Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, and Montana all had uninsured rates above 16%, according to the report. It concludes that uninsured children were three times as likely to go without a doctor visit in the past year and five times as likely to have an untreated dental or vision problem as children with coverage. Kids’ Insurance Debate Continues The 1997 law creating the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for low-income children expires next year. Congress will have to […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
