Volume 5-Our World: The White House and CIA Investigations

The White House and CIA Investigations

The White House is waiting for the results of a CIA leak investigation that has been going on for two years. This odd turn of events, which barely made any headlines two years ago, has been the downfall of Mr. Lewis Libby, chief of staff for vice-president Cheney.

The story began two years ago when Robert Novak wrote an article on Joe Wilson, former U.S. diplomat. A week before the article was published, Mr. Wilson made public claims against the Bush administration. He accused the pre-war intelligence of twisting facts to support a war against Iraq.

Mr. Novak’s article, published on July 14, 2003, explored the CIA’s decision to send Mr. Wilson to Africa to check out the claims made by the Bush administration officials. Halfway through this article by Mr. Novak, he noted that Mr. Wilson, “never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction.” When asked where he got his information about Mrs. Plame, Mr. Novak said that “two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.”

This leaking of information caused Mrs. Plame to lose her job, which received an angry response from Mr. Wilson. He argued that whoever had leaked the information was trying to get Mrs. Plame fired to pay him back for what he had declared the week before. Novak protested innocence in the case and attempted to defend the administration, saying that he never got a call from the administration leaking the information, and that he didn’t know Mrs. Plame was an undercover agent. He said that he wrote the article before asking Mr. Wilson for comments on his wife, which Mr. Wilson refused to do.

Since Novak was cleared of the charges, the prosecutors attempted to find the two sources who had leaked the information to Mr. Novak. Two of the Washington journalists, Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper refused to reveal their sources and fought all the way to the Supreme Court, where they lost.

Mr. Cooper, being threatened with charges of contempt of court, revealed that Mr. Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s top political counselor, was one of his sources. He said that Mr. Rove had told him that Mr. Wilson’s wife was a CIA agent involved with weapons of mass destruction, although never giving her name or status as undercover agent. After getting that information from Mr. Rove, he asked for confirmation from Mr. Lewis Libby, who gave it.

Ms. Miller, who had never written anything about Mrs. Plame, was sent to jail for 85 days because she had refused to reveal her sources, which was considered contempt of court. Mr. Libby, who turned out to be her source, told her it was okay to reveal him, so she testified and then was released. The information he had given her? That Mrs. Valerie Plame, “may have worked on unconventional weapons at the CIA.”

The prosecutor, Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald, in investigating the case, zeroed in on Mr. Libby and Rove. Mr. Rove has been spared from charges of perjury for not telling the jury about his conversation with Matt Cooper, but Libby was indicted and could be convicted of making false statements as well because of the contradictions between his and other reporter’s testimonies. If this does happen, he could face up to 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines. This is a hefty price to pay, which shows how important this issue is.

In light of the recent Harriet Miers stepdown, the CIA issue, and Iraq war deaths, the whole White House is dealing with a lot right now. Please say a prayer for our leaders. They have a big responsibility, but God is the one who directs their paths.

Volume 4-Our World: Earthquake In Pakistan

Earthquake in Pakistan

On Saturday, October 8, 2005, a 7.8 earthquake hit close to Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. The U.N. estimates that 30,000 people died (after the final count is in, we’ll have a more accurate number). Tens of thousands were injured and about 2 million are estimated to be homeless. Early Thursday, a 5.6 magnitude aftershock ripped through parts of Pakistan. Earthquake specialists have said that these aftershocks could continue for several more months. Searchers said today that they will continue searching for survivors. Major General Shaukat Sultan Khan of the Pakistani military explained: “The effort to pull people out of the debris is continuing. Today, our focus is to move to far-off areas, whether by helicopters, on animals or through roads. If there are injured, they will be brought back for medical treatment.” There is still lots of hope for finding other survivors and lots of them. In the meantime, the volunteers have been holding mass burials and setting up tent camps for the found survivors. The latter is very urgent, as the Himalayan rains are soon to hit. There is much aid to these poor people who have lost everything. Substantial amounts of aid are reported to have arrived and are hard at work. Helicopters are busily rescuing people from villages as well. Doctors in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, have been amputating quite a few limbs. Unfortunately, it will probably continue. Fortunately, many evacuees have been rescued, and will continue to be. There is discouragement as to how many helicopters are going out to the villages and rescuing the injured, but the hospitals are doing all they can right now. Many are going to have a hard time reconstructing after this devastation, especially since electricity, water, telephones and hospitals were damaged. Thankfully, they have been restored to large cities. Still, there are two million people estimated to be homeless right now. In spite of the gloomy statistics, there is a miracle to be found in all this. On Friday, October 14, 2005, a little eighteen month-old girl was rescued from the rubble of her home six days after the quake occurred. Her two brothers and mother had died, but she was found by the rescue team under a door which protected her from the rubble. When she was discovered, she was unconscious, but upon being given first aid and regaining consciousness, she clung to one of the doctors in the team and wouldn’t stop crying. The team walked seven miles to the village, where they were directed by some villagers to the little girl’s home where they found her. She and her father, Mohammed Afzal survived the devastation and are now safe. Mr. Jan Egeland, the UN’s top relief coordinator, has asked that people give more to the cause. Their goal of getting 272 million for relief has not yet been reached. They are only at 50 million. If they don’t get enough, he explained what he thought would be the likely outcome: “If we don’t work together, we will become a disaster within a disaster. It will take billions of dollars to rebuild…To reconstruct, this will take five to ten years.” The country would like about two million blankets and 100,000 large tents before winter sets in. With all the natural disasters, a question comes to mind: “Are we living in the End Times?” What is going on? Some day we will know for sure, but for now we must remain strong in our faith in Christ. As Christians, we should pray for the souls of the lost in Pakistan as well as giving money if we have the resources and the ability. May God bless your efforts, and may your prayers be effective!

Focus--Feature Articles

TABOR and How It Affects You

TABOR has been in effect for thirteen years. Do you know how it affects you and the people around you? TABOR is perhaps the best thing that has happened to us, as a state, financially, in the past ten years. The Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is a really good thing, because it limits government spending and gives us more power. Unfortunately, it is being threatened by Referenda C and D. If it is put on “time out”, it may never be allowed to come out of the corner after the experimental five years for Refs C and D are up. TABOR, the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, was put into effect in 1992. The whole purpose it has served has been to restrain the government concerning the finances of Colorado. TABOR restrains the government spending so that the people of Colorado can have their say in what happens to their tax money. It limits taxes and makes the government return any money made in surplus revenue above the limit TABOR has set. That means less money is taken away from us, and sometimes we even get tax returns! If that’s not enough, we are also given the right to vote on tax increases and government debt. If we decide that the government should spend its money on something else, so be it! The government does not run itself-the people run the government. It’s called a republic-a nation created by the people for the people. Now, why all the fuss about TABOR and Referenda C and D? Referenda C and D are threatening to destroy TABOR by making it ineffective. It will still exist, but the government will have been able to sidestep it this way and that. Supporters of Referenda C and D say that TABOR will simply be put on a “time out”, but those who know anything about government will see that TABOR will be effectively eliminated for all intensive purposes. Now, if you understand why TABOR is so great, you will see that Referenda C and D are not so great. We want to have power over government spending. Remember: this is a republic, which means it is a country created by the people, for the people.

The Health Racket

Another way to become healthy, besides exercising, is to find and use good recipes like the following:

Apple Bread

Ingredients: 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 eggs 1-1/2 cups Sucanat, or packed brown sugar 1/2 cup oil 1 Tablespoon vanilla 2 cups diced apple (without skins) 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1 teaspoon flour Mix flour, cinnamon, soda, salt, and baking powder together. Beat eggs and add Sucanat or brown sugar and oil. Add vanilla and dry ingredients. Stir in apples. Mix walnuts in a teaspoon of flour and add to batter. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Makes: 2 loaves If you have any good, healthy recipes that you would like to share with others, please give a copy of it to me, along with your name, and I will happily put it in this newsletter.

The President's Challenge

The whole purpose of this department is to give you the most up-to-date information about health ideas, fitness routines, healthy recipes and more. If you have any ideas you'd like to share, please let me know, and I'll try to get it in here. Have you decided that you need to get in shape? Perhaps you want to lift those 50-pound feedbags, but just can't make it. Perhaps you're just trying to lift your little brother, who just happens to be a little more than you can handle. Whatever you're trying to do, my suggestion is that you go to The President's Challenge. The website is http://www.presidentschallenge.org/. I have been trying this out, and it seems to be working...of course, one can't tell after only a few days. Anyhow, please visit this website and tell me what you think.