May 5 newsletter: "Blair On Board?"

[Nothing Without Hope]

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Tonight on Countdown
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Voters cast ballots in village halls, schools and even pubs across Britain Thursday in a national election that is expected to give Prime Minister Tony Blair a third term in office despite widespread anger over the Iraq war. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7706165/

Two fake grenades packed with an explosive powder went off early Thursday outside a building whose tenants include the British Consulate in New York, blasting out a ground floor window but injuring no one, officials said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7743260/

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

Insurgents killed at least 20 people in three separate attacks targeting Iraqi security forces in Baghdad on Thursday, including one by a man who set off hidden explosives while waiting in line outside an army recruitment center, police said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7721003/

The FBI is having problems building an adequate corps of intelligence analysts in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Justice Department inspector general reported. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-fbi05.html

A man suspected of being a serial killer was arrested and freed three times in the last several years because the FBI's computerized fingerprint system failed to correctly identify him. During that period, authorities believe, the man killed four women. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-killer5may05,1,3695640.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Two Republicans on the House ethics committee say they'll step aside from any investigation of Tom DeLay, acknowledging their contributions to the majority leader's defense funds will lead others to question their impartiality. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7573410/

Runaway Bride Apology - slated for 4 pm today. Mo Rocca joins us tonight.

A phone message, saying don't talk to the press, was left on the voicemail of a former contestant of "American Idol," Corey Clark, an ABC "Primetime Live" report revealed. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7747495/

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
A state police trooper stopped a high school drug-awareness presentation in Muncie, Indiana, to arrest a student in another part of the school on a charge of trying to sell marijuana. Detective Darrell Thornburg was speaking to a Delta High School health class when administrators alerted him about possible drug dealing in the school. Students told school administrators about the 16-year-old selling the drug, Sgt. Rod Russell said. The student was taken to a juvenile detention facility and faces charges of possession of marijuana and juvenile delinquency. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CLASS_DISMISSED?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
Now that's what I call a show and tell.

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
Americans overseeing cash handouts for rebuilding in southern Iraq could not adequately account for almost $100 million, and now criminal investigators are trying to figure out the money trail, according to a new audit by a government watchdog. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7737306/

Four years after a little girl's headless body was found, police identified an Oklahoma woman as her mother and charged her Thursday with murdering the child who became known as Precious Doe. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7747095/

Defenders of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection are boycotting four days of hearings - beginning Thursday - over the science curriculum in Kansas, where the state Board of Education is made up of a majority of conservatives critical of what they see as errors in the standard theory. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7736155/

Al Gore may have been lampooned for taking credit in the Internet's development, but organizers of the Webby Awards for online achievements don't find it funny at all. In part to "set the record straight," they will give Gore a lifetime achievement award for three decades of contributions to the Internet. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7746308/

A winery took up the age-old question, What do women want, and came up with this answer: A lower-alcohol wine. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7747076/

A British team will try to break the speed record for electric-powered cars weighing more than 2,200 pounds, using a vehicle that has 52 batteries and no mechanical gears. Nevada agreed to shut down a state highway Thursday for the torpedo-shaped car's attempt to top 300 mph. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7746332/

[Catchawave]

1. Mo Rocca's going to be on tonight !?!

Yayyy!! Talking about the Runaway Bride too, and I doubt it will be seriously :)

[Nothing Without Hope]

2. I just emailed him this - it'll be too early for him to cover tonight, but

maybe later on?

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Subject: breaking story: Bush/Cheney owe $320,000 to Abramoff
Date: May 5, 2005 3:58:48 PM EDT
To: [e-mail]

This story has just broken online at Raw Story. Unpaid loads are donations. I'll paste the title and the first three paragraphs below - the rest of the story is at the link:
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/abramoff_florida_recount_bush_505.htm

Best,
XXXXXXXXXX
"Nothing Without Hope" at Democratic Underground
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UNPAID BILLS
Bush Florida 2000 recount committee still owes lobbyist's former firm $320k
By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

If so, the photograph taken of President George W. Bush and embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was priceless—the windswept DeLay strutting down the tarmac beside the president, two Republican leaders rankled by political setbacks joined at the hip.

There’s a backstory that lurks behind Bush’s decision to stand by DeLay. It involves Greenberg Traurig, the firm that employed the powerful lobbyist who paid for palatial DeLay junkets, and Abramoff staffers, who were footsoldiers in the Florida recount. Greenberg Traurig has yet to receive more than $320,000 in legal fees charged to a Bush committee during the 2000 Florida recount, RAW STORY can confirm.

As a corporation, Greenberg’s unpaid tab represents a massive in-kind campaign contribution, far larger than anything that went unreported by DeLay. But it appears to be legal: corporations are allowed to donate any amount to the nebulous type of committee employed during the recount. It would, however, violate the committee's self-imposed $5,000 contribution limit from individual donors.

(more of the story at the link: http://rawstory.com/exclusives/byrne/abramoff_florida_recount_bush_505.htm