Aggressive followers and participants in U.S. politics often have strong opinions about the Downing Street Minutes.  Most other Americans have not heard of or are not clear about what the Downing Street Minutes are. 

How is this possible?  Here we have the official government minutes from a meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials, including a briefing by Richard Dearlove, then-director of Britain's CIA equivalent, MI-6, who had just returned from meetings with high U.S. Government officials in Washington.  While the meeting recorded in these minutes occurred on July 23, 2002, months before President Bush submitted his resolution on Iraq to the United States Congress and months before Bush and Blair asked the United Nations to resume its inspections for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the minutes make clear that Bush had decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by launching a war which, Dearlove reports, would be "justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD [weapons of mass destruction]."  Dearlove continues: "But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

WASHINGTON -Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese made the following statement today in reaction to Pope Benedict's anti-gay comments regarding marriage. In talking about marriage equality the Pope referenced "pseudo-matrimonies" and said, "Matrimony and the family are not, in reality, a casual sociological construction or the fruit of specific historic and economic situations."

"It is unfortunate that the Pope would choose so early in his pontificate to sweepingly condemn so many faithful Catholics. There is a long Biblical tradition of showing love and compassion for all. It is from that tradition that so many fair-minded Catholics want to see their Pope speaking. It's sad that he's choosing to ignore that tradition and to divide his followers."

"No one in the fight for marriage equality is asking any church to perform or recognize these marriages. What we're asking for are equal rights and responsibilities under the law. There are millions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics who should feel welcomed by their Church. Today they do not."

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Senator Bill Frist and the Bush White House seem to share strongly held minority political viewpoints that they are trying to impose on the majority of American citizens. Both seem to be abusing their positions of political power to “rule over” Americans instead of “representing” Americans.

Frist is willing to permanently divide the Senate by attacking long-standing Senate traditions in order to impose radical, Right Wing judicial nominees selected by the Bush White House. Although Bush has been able to get Senate approval for hundreds of judicial nominees, a handful of his nominees hold extreme legal views that would prevent them from giving a fair hearing to workers, consumers, the poor and powerless.

"To regulate what the people are allowed to hear about in an election is worryingly reminiscent of communistic behaviors not American freedoms."

Cleveland, OH – Jim Petro's receipt of the Delaware County GOP endorsement isn't all that it could be.  It is tainted by the exclusion of one republican candidate for Governor.

The Delaware County Republican party specifically excluded Pete Draganic from speaking at the June 6th event.  Perhaps they are afraid of the impact that a grassroots candidate with people appeal will have on the primary election.  Maybe they are insipidly content with the establishment candidates who have been at the helm while Ohio has remained beached.

Pete Draganic has spoken and will speak at other such events alongside the other gubernatorial candidates.  It is only Delaware County that has intentionally and systematically excluded him from participation in their event.

The Pete Draganic campaign, supporters of Draganic and other GOP party leaders had urged the Delaware County GOP to reconsider their decision to not fairly include their candidate but to no avail.

On June 6, members of a student organization at The Ohio State University sent the president of the school over 500 letters requesting that the university admit to failing to respond appropriately to a rape case in 2002.

"You, like a person, should have the integrity to stand up and admit when you've made a mistake," said Jennifer Yoder, co-chair of Women and Allies Rising in Resistance, a student organization dedicated to fighting violence against women.

Yoder addressed a group of around 30 at a press conference held for the letter send-off. University officials hovered in the back of the room, and a camera was sent from university relations to record the event. University spokeswoman Elizabeth Conlisk asked for a copy of Yoder's speech, and headed to a back room to speak off the record to reporters, declining comment on the lawsuit.

In 2002 on OSU's campus, a student named Jeremy Goldstein sexually violated another student. OSU's response, after finding him in violation of OSU's sexual misconduct policy, was simply to move him to another dorm, alerting no one in the new or old dorm as to the reason