10. Homeland Security reports that allegations of Miers' ongoing sexual harassment of Jeff Gannon in the Lincoln bedroom have been linked to a shadowy Al Qaeda Web site. A nervous White House awaits results of DNA tests on a cat o' nine tails found hidden behind the Lincoln portrait.

9. On a party line vote, Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee ruled that Supreme Court nominees should not be required to answer questions phrased with any words that may be used in future cases appearing before the court.

8. In strongly worded denial, a furious Miers dismissed accusations that Katherine Harris provided her with eyeliner application tips during the 2000 Florida recount.
   

To ensure that the 2000 Republican National Convention meets the highest ethical standards, Convention General Co-Chairman Andy Card today named three distinguished members of the Bar to advise him on any ethical issues that may arise during the convention.

"I am pleased that these highly respected individuals will assist me in running this convention under the high standards upon which Governor Bush has insisted," Card said.

Ms. Miers, the former president of both the State Bar of Texas and the Dallas Bar Association, specializes in litigation. She has received numerous awards recognizing her accomplishments, including the 1997 Woman of the Year by Today's Dallas Woman and the Women of Excellence Award given by Women's Enterprise Magazine. [Emphasis added]

Were the two awards given exclusively on the basis of merit or did nepotism and/or cronyism play any significant role?

Is there any precedent for a Senator's recusal from a Committee on the Judiciary Supreme Court confirmation hearing  based on conflict of interest?

Is there any precedent for a Supreme Court nominee being a longtime major campaign contributor to the President making the nomination?

The Cornyn Connection

Texas Senator John Cornyn is a member of the Committee on the Judiciary that will be deciding whether or not to recommend a Miers confirmation to the full Senate. Federal Election Commission records indicate that for the time period extending from 2001 through 2005 Cornyn was one of the top 3 beneficiaries of Miers' former law firm's PAC. In fact, Locke Liddell & Sapp LLP PAC was one of the top 5 committee donors to Senator Cornyn's campaigns. The Senator also received significant additional campaign contributions directly from the firm's employees.

• She appeared to be comfortable with allowing blocks of text borrowed from other authors to be published under her name without any acknowledgement or formal attribution.

• She did not seem to feel obligated to ensure that her writings published at the official White House Web Site were proofread to identify and correct glaring errors.

• She appeared willing to continue to recite partisan political talking points after they had been largely dismissed as inaccurate or misleading to the public.
  

Miers' Ask the White House responses also include some statements that may serve as the basis for a few provocative confirmation hearing questions.

The San Antonio Express News¹ described Bush's impression of his appointment:

Miers is known for a reserved, soft-spoken demeanor coupled with a tenacity so fierce that Bush recently characterized her as a ``pit bull in size 6 shoes.''

Warning: This diary includes profanity-laden quotations from an adult Web site and descriptions of adult content.

To avoid paying a $10 donation to ogle nude women at an adult Web site, it appears that American soldiers have agreed to trade photos from their personal collections of images of horribly mutilated Iraqi corpses. Yes, for a lousy ten bucks, it seems that some of our men in uniform are allegedly selling the last remaining shreds of dignity of their fellow human beings.

The Associated Press summarized the findings of the Army's preliminary investigation into the matter:

After an initial look at complaints about U.S. soldiers posting photos of Iraq war dead on an Internet site, Army investigators concluded they had too little evidence to pursue criminal charges.

So much for that quaint Geneva Convention! Can you imagine Americans shrugging and looking the other way while pictures of the mutilated bodies of their sons and daughters were displayed on a foreign pornographic Web site?

Dueling Events

Early Saturday afternoon, San Francisco residents faced the choice between participating in the Loveparade or A.N.S.W.E.R.'s march to "Stop the War Against Iraq", etc., etc., etc.  Local residents who opted not to participate in either event were greeted by more than the usual traffic nightmare as north/south access routes in the city were completely severed by the closure of 2+ miles of Market Street.

No, this image of Michael D. Brown is not from the current weekly edition of the Presidential Prayer Team for Kids. It is from an archived edition published last year as Hurricane Ivan was approaching. It appears that the web site staff may not wish to encourage children to spend their prayer time on out of favor leaders.

On September 9, Michael D. Brown still remained at the helm of FEMA. However, within a few hours of the announcement of Thad W. Allen's new responsibilities, an image of the Admiral captioned "Photo courtesy of the White House" was prominently displayed in the #1 slot under "Other Leaders to Pray For":

Paulison's questionable recommendation that families stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting to protect against bio-terror attacks caused a stampede on hardware stores and considerable embarrassment for former Homeland Security director Tom Ridge.

Days before Bush originally nominated Paulison to the Homeland Security Department, the Miami-Dade Fire Chief suspended three African-American firefighters who removed an American flag from a fire truck claiming that the banner was blocking their view. The incident turned into a high-profile case where Paulison was accused of discrimination and violating the free-speech rights of his employees.

The Boston Herald is one of several publications to report that the consecutive FEMA directors were college roommates:

Soon after, Brown was invited to join the administration by his old Oklahoma college roommate Joseph Allbaugh, the previous head of FEMA until he quit in 2003 to work for the president's re-election campaign.

Columnists Paul Krugman and Molly Ivins also state that Brown was "Allbaugh's college roommate". However, the biographies of the two men do not appear to support the premise that they could have been sharing a living space while both were attending college.

It appears that the FEMA web site was updated since the President's announcement on Thursday, September 8. The opening Katrina aid application page includes this rather confounding statement regarding the last update date:

Today, the Associated Press reported:

[Brown] heatedly denied suggestions by some news organizations that he had padded his resume, answering some charges point by point:

_He was assistant to the city manager in Edmond, Okla. "I have no clue" why the FEMA Web site says he was assistant city manager, an important distinction.

If Brown took a moment to reread the transcript of his Senate Confirmation hearing, he might begin to have a clue.

At the hearing, Senator Jim Bunning said to Brown:

You were an Assistant City Manager in Edmund, Oklahoma...

Senator Joseph Lieberman stated:

...early in his career, [Brown] was assistant city manager in Edmond with responsibility for police fire and emergency services.

A 12/03/2001 White House press release nominating Michael D. Brown as Deputy Director of FEMA states:

...from 1975 to 1978, Brown worked for the City of Edmond, Oklahoma, overseeing the emergency services divisions.

A few key facts:

(1) Brown was born on November 11, 1954.
(2) Brown received his BA from Central State University in 1978.
(3) US Census data indicates that the population of Edmond, Oklahoma increased from 16,600 in 1970 to 34,600 in 1980.

Military families disturbed by a sea of crosses erected by anti-war protesters near President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, have removed crosses bearing the names of their fallen children and transferred them to another site to show support for American troops in Iraq.

Anti-war protesters "never asked for my permission to put up a cross for my son for their cause," said Gary Qualls, whose son was killed in Iraq. "They are not respecting our sons and daughters."

A separate temporary memorial is actually being created for the sons and daughters of military families who support the war. Ironically, these actions are being taken by the same individuals who have accused Cindy Sheehan of 'using' her son's death to publicize her strongly held views on the war.

This morning, registered customers received the following alert:

On 8/11 at 2:30AM Central SCAN USA broadcast an Informational alert containing information of a graphic nature, sourced from the Centers for Disease Control. While we typically do not edit alerts, due to the graphic sexual nature of this particular alert, the alert has been removed from the system.

No action needed -- the alert with the title HEALTH ADVISORY - CAN I GET HIV FROM ORAL SEX? has been removed.

You can give the kids a head start on the President's new science curriculum concepts by planning a family vacation to the Museum of Earth History in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. You may wish to begin your tour with a visit to the Eden exhibit:

A large, panoramic still life display featuring a representation of how Eden might have looked. This exhibit includes a 20 foot waterfall and lush vegetation, with a full size skeleton of a Thescelosaurus and a skeletal skull replica of Stan, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The thread encourages Kos readers to spread the word in an effort to discredit the high-profile Schmidt campaign. I would be sorry to see the Daily Kos credited as a source of what I believe appears to be inaccurate information.

What is the best mechanism to quickly get alleged error(s) verified and a diary updated? I added my concerns with the supporting evidence in the comments section several hours ago. However, I am troubled by the likelihood that many readers will not take the time to read through the entire thread.

I would like to emphasize that I do not wish to be critical of the author of this diary in any way. I agree completely with the premise that Jean Schmidt is probably not being entirely forthcoming in her statements about Thomas Noe. And, like many of us, I have missed a detail or two when constructing an argument.