NFL COMMISSIONER SEARCH COMMITTEE APPOINTED

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

WWW.NFLMedia.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NFL-21 4/5/06

COMMISSIONER SEARCH COMMITTEE APPOINTED

NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE appointed an eight-member committee to lead the
search for a new commissioner, the NFL announced today.
The eight members of the committee are:
• Al Davis, Oakland Raiders
• Lamar Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs
• Woody Johnson, New York Jets
• Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys
• Robert Kraft, New England Patriots
• Mike McCaskey, Chicago Bears
• Jerry Richardson, Carolina Panthers
• Dan Rooney, Pittsburgh Steelers
Jerry Richardson and Dan Rooney will serve as co-chairs of the committee.
Commissioner Tagliabue announced on March 20 that he will retire by the end of July.
The next regularly scheduled league meeting will take place on May 23-24 in Denver.
# # #

John Kerry Sends Email Asking President Bush To "Tell The Truth" About Iraq

I just got this email from the office of Senator John Kerry

Dear Zenophon,

"Tell the truth. Fire the incompetents. Get out of Iraq. Have health care for all Americans. These are pretty simple messages, and they're worth fighting for today."

That's what I said yesterday when I appeared on "Meet the Press" to push our call for two deadlines and an exit from Iraq.

You and I both know it will take a massive citizen effort to force a President bogged down in this war to change his course - but doing so is our moral responsibility.

I urge you to join me today in calling for the withdrawal of American combat troops by the end of 2006 - and sooner than that if Iraqi politicians allow the civil war to grow and continue to delay, squabble and jockey for their own political turf while our brave soldiers sacrifice life and limb every day to create the conditions for democracy.

Sign our Out of Iraq in 2006 Petition Now

Fortunately, more and more people are stepping forward to join in our call to bring our troops home by the end of this year. Political leaders like Russ Feingold, Max Cleland, and Gary Hart have endorsed our plan -- and grassroots support for our call to action is growing.

Still, the President and his administration remain frozen in place, boxed in by George W. Bush's stubborn refusal to admit that he has America on the wrong course in Iraq. The President seems content to endlessly wait for various political factions in Iraq to get their act together.

That's totally unacceptable. And you and I have a moral responsibility to do everything in our power to make George W. Bush do what he likes to do the least - and that's confront reality head-on.

Sign our Out of Iraq in 2006 Petition Now

I'm not suggesting that this will be easy. The fact is, it would be far easier to challenge the President on other topics if all we were interested in is scoring political points.

But, no one in 2006 -- Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative -- can refuse to step forward and offer clear ideas on Iraq. And, with 133,000 courageous American men and women putting their lives on the line for democracy in Iraq, it is essential for you and other members of our three-million person johnkerry.com community to take action.

I need you to join me in leading an all-out effort to turn this President's wrong-headed policy on Iraq around. And ask your friends and family to do the same by forwarding this email to them.

Sign our Out of Iraq in 2006 Petition Now

Our soldiers have done their jobs. They can't resolve political differences between Iraqis in an escalating civil war. It can't be done militarily; it can't be done from a Humvee or a helicopter. It can only be accomplished by a dramatic change of course, turning away from George W. Bush's aimless "stay for as long as it takes" approach. You and I have to try to make this administration change their approach before it's too late.

I urge you not to wait another day before signing onto this profoundly important fight for a better way.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

P.S. Late Saturday night I went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. The Wall is a powerful reminder of our moral obligation to tell the truth. As you walk down the ramp, you find yourself literally engulfed as the Wall, tens of thousands of names etched on it, gets higher and higher.

There are far too many people whose names are on the Wall who died after leaders in Washington knew that our policy wasn't working. We need to get Iraq right for our soldiers today before we let history repeat itself.

NFL TO IMPLEMENT "FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING"

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
WWW.NFLMedia.com

NFL TO IMPLEMENT "FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING" DURING
SEVEN OF FINAL EIGHT SUNDAYS OF 2006 SEASON
ALLOWS TEAMS TO PLAY THEIR WAY ONTO NBC SUNDAY NIGHT SCHEDULE

The NFL this season will implement for the first time in its history a primetime "flexible scheduling"
element on Sundays in Weeks 10-15 and in Week 17.

Flexible scheduling will ensure quality matchups on Sunday night in those weeks and give surprise
teams a chance to play their way onto primetime.

The 2006 NFL schedule will list start times for all Sunday games during the "flex" weeks as 1:00 PM
ET, except for games played in the Mountain or Pacific Time zones, which will be listed at 4:05 PM ET
or 4:15 PM ET.

The NBC Sunday night time slot for "flex" weeks will list teams as "TBD."

Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to
games airing on Thursday, Saturday or Monday nights.

Just as the six major college football conferences have done for many years, the NFL now will have
additional flexibility to move the start times of games on Sundays, using a 12-day notice format.
For example, a game scheduled for Sunday, November 26 could move from a 1:00 PM ET kickoff to
an 8:15 PM start, but the change would be made and announced no later than Tuesday, November
14.

The NFL has commonly moved games between 1:00 PM ET and 4:15 PM ET (eight times last
season) on Sunday afternoons. The new practice allows the NFL to employ flexible scheduling to
include one of its primetime package of games – on Sunday evenings.

Sunday afternoon games, as in the past, can still be moved between 1:00 and 4:05 or 4:15 PM ET.

In Week 17, in order to ensure a Sunday night game with playoff implications, the decision to move
the start time may be made on six days notice.

CBS and FOX will each be able to protect a total of five games in the seven weeks of flexible
scheduling, but not more than one game in any week.

During the 2005 regular season, the NFL conducted a study with mock flexible scheduling. An eightperson
task force consisting of team executives, one from each division, was consulted on a weekly
basis. In addition, television network partners and the NFL's broadcasting department participated
weekly in the process.

-- more --

"NFL Flexible Scheduling 101"
- Begins Sunday, November 12, 2006 (Week 10)
- In effect Weeks 10-15 and Week 17.
- Not in effect Week 16 due to holiday weekend.
- Only Sunday afternoon games in Weeks 10-15 and 17 are subject to being
moved into the Sunday night window.
- The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 PM ET during flex weeks
except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed
at 4:05 or 4:15 PM ET.
- No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
- The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce on
12 days notice the game being moved to 8:15 p.m. ET and may also announce
games moving to 4:15 p.m. ET.
- Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game
with playoff implications.
- The NBC Sunday night time slot in "flex" weeks will list teams as "TBD."
- Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject
to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
- NFL schedules all games.
- CBS and FOX each get to protect a total of 5 games in the 7 weeks of flexible
scheduling, but not more than one game in any week.
- Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or
eligible for a move to Sunday night.

# # #

Bush Ordered CIA Leak: MSNBC

Libby: Bush himself authorized leak on Iraq
Former Cheney aide says president OK’d giving prewar intel to media
EXCLUSIVELY ON MSNBC.COM

Updated: 1:11 p.m. ET April 6, 2006

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney’s former top aide told prosecutors that President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.

The authorization came as the Bush administration faced mounting criticism about its failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the main reason the president and his aides had given for going to war.

Libby’s participation in a critical conversation with Miller on July 8, 2003, “occurred only after the vice president advised defendant that the president specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the National Intelligence Estimate,” the papers by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated. The filing did not specify the “certain information.”

'Unique' circumstances

“Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller — getting approval from the president through the vice president to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval — were unique in his recollection,” the papers added.

Libby is asking for voluminous amounts of classified information from the government in order to defend himself against five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the Plame affair.

He is accused of making false statements about how he learned of Plame’s CIA employment and what he told reporters about it.

Her CIA status was publicly disclosed eight days after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.

In 2002, Wilson had been dispatched to Africa by the CIA to check out intelligence that Iraq had an agreement to acquire uranium yellowcake from Niger, and Wilson had concluded that there was no such arrangement.

Libby says he needs extensive classified files from the government to demonstrate that Plame’s CIA connection was a peripheral matter that he never focused on, and that the role of Wilson’s wife was a small piece in a building public controversy over the failure to find WMD in Iraq.

Fitzgerald said in the new court filing that Libby’s requests for information go too far and the prosecutor cited Libby’s own statements to investigators in an attempt to limit the amount of information the government must turn over to Cheney’s former chief of staff for his criminal defense.

According to Miller’s grand jury testimony, Libby told her about Plame’s CIA status in the July 8, 2003, conversation that took place shortly after the White House aide — according to the new court filing — was authorized by Bush through Cheney to disclose sensitive intelligence about Iraq and WMD contained in a National Intelligence Estimate.

The court filing was first disclosed by The New York Sun.

Katie Couric - CONGRADULATIONS! You Deserve It!

I thought I'd post this as I've not seen anyone do it. Congradulations, Katie! And thanks to CBS and its president Leslie Moonvies for constant forward thinking.

Some people think the evening TV news anchor is supposed to be a man. I say that's stupid. I don't get how some can think of themselves as smart and yet constantly fall into the kind of "box" thinking that keeps the best person for a job from getting that position.

I'll never understand that aspect of the human condition.

But I digress.

I think Couric will show that she is worth -- more than worthy -- of the place held by Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Bob Schieffer (who I really liked in the position).

Best of luck, Katie.

Brian Doyle - What Was This Guy Thinking? A 14- Year Old?

I really don't understand why there are grown men who find 14-year old girls -- or younger -- sexually attractive. What is it? Power? I just can't understand how a person lets their brain get wired to think in those terms.

And do they know how much such a view can wreck their lives? Do they care? Wow, it's something else, indeed that men -- and women, if you think about all the teacher sex scandals -- are drawn to kids. Weird.

Homeland Security official arrested in child sex sting
Sheriff: Suspect chatted online with detective posing as teen girl

Wednesday, April 5, 2006; Posted: 11:38 a.m. EDT (15:38 GMT)

Department of Homeland Security deputy press secretary Brian J. Doyle faces extradition to Florida.


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Department of Homeland Security official was arrested Tuesday night on charges of using his computer to seduce a child after he allegedly struck up sexually explicit conversations with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, is charged with seven counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and 16 counts of transmission of harmful material to a minor, according to the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's Office.

Doyle, a deputy press secretary, will be placed on administrative leave, although it's unclear if it he will be paid, a department official said.

Bill Gates Work World Is Almost Paperless....But That's True For Most Internet CEOs

According to CNN, Bill Gates doesn't need lot of paper in his office. But neither do I. He remarks that e-mail is the preferred way to communicate, but does that mean a lot of misunderstandings? I too use email, but it still doesn't beat the phone for complete understanding.