Some context: Norquist grew up in Weston, Massachusetts. He is the son of Carol (nee Lutz) and Warren Elliott Norquist (a vice president of Polaroid Corporation), and is of Swedish ancestry. His brother, David Norquist has served in senior posts in Republican administrations at both the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Norquist became involved with politics at an early age when he volunteered for the 1968 Nixon campaign, assisting with get out the vote efforts.
Prior to the November 2012 election, 238 of 242 House Republicans and 41 out of 47 Senate Republicans had signed ATR's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", in which the pledger promises to "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rate for individuals and business; and to oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates." The November 6, 2012 elections resulted in a decline in the number of Taxpayer Protection Pledge signatories in both the upper and lower houses of the 113th Congress: from 41 to 39 in the Senate, and from 238 to "fewer than ... 218" in the House of Representatives. According to journalist Alex Seitz-Wald, losses in the election by Norquist supporters and the "fiscal cliff" have emboldened and made more vocal critics of Norquist. In November 2011, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blamed Norquist's influence for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction's lack of progress, claiming that Congressional Republicans "are being led like puppets by Grover Norquist. They're giving speeches that we should compromise on our deficit, but never do they compromise on Grover Norquist. He is their leader." Since Norquist's pledge binds signatories to opposing deficit reduction agreements that include any element of increased tax revenue, some Republican deficit hawks now retired from office have stated that Norquist has become an obstacle to deficit reduction. Former Republican Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY), co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, has been particularly critical, describing Norquist's position as "[n]o taxes, under any situation, even if your country goes to hell."
is the pledge still in effect?
A:
Some context: I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby (first name generally given as Irv, Irve or Irving; born August 22, 1950) is an American lawyer and former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney. From 2001 to 2005, Libby held the offices of Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs and Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States and Assistant to the President during the administration of President George W. Bush. In October 2005, Libby resigned from all three government positions after he was indicted on five counts by a federal grand jury concerning the investigation of the leak of the covert identity of Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame Wilson. He was subsequently convicted of four counts (one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury, and one count of making false statements), making him the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since John Poindexter, the national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra affair.
On March 6, 2007, the jury convicted him on four of the five counts but acquitted him on count three, the second charge of making false statements when interviewed by federal agents about his conversations with Time reporter Matthew Cooper. After being questioned by the FBI in the fall of 2003 and testifying before a Federal grand jury on March 5, 2004, and again on March 24, 2004, Libby pleaded not guilty to all five counts. According to the Associated Press, David Addington, Cheney's legal counsel, described a September 2003 meeting with Libby around the time that a criminal investigation began, saying that Libby had told him, "'I just want to tell you, I didn't do it'... I didn't ask what the 'it' was.'" Libby retained attorney Ted Wells of the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to represent him. Wells had successfully defended former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy against a 30-count indictment and had also participated in the successful defense of former Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan. After Judge Reggie Walton denied Libby's motion to dismiss, the press initially reported that Libby would testify at the trial. Libby's criminal trial, United States v. Libby, began on January 16, 2007. A parade of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists testified, including Bob Woodward, Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post and Judith Miller and David E. Sanger of The New York Times. Despite earlier press reports and widespread speculation, neither Libby nor Vice President Cheney testified. The jury began deliberations on February 21, 2007.
And what happened during the trial
A: Judge Reggie Walton denied Libby's motion to dismiss,
Some context: Rose was born April 14, 1941, in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of four children born to Harry Francis "Pete" and LaVerne Rose. He was a member of the Order of DeMolay as a young boy and was encouraged by his parents to participate in sports. He played baseball and football at Western Hills High School. Although Rose was small for his age, he earned the starting running back position on his freshman football team.
During a spring training game against the Chicago White Sox in 1963, the Reds' regular second baseman, Don Blasingame, pulled a groin muscle; Rose got his chance and made the most of it. During another spring training game against the New York Yankees, Whitey Ford gave him the derisive nickname "Charlie Hustle" after Rose sprinted to first base after drawing a walk. Despite (or perhaps because of) the manner in which Ford intended it, Rose adopted that nickname as a badge of honor. In Ken Burns' documentary Baseball, Mickey Mantle claimed that Ford gave Rose the nickname after Rose, playing in left field, made an effort to climb the fence to try to catch a Mantle home run that everyone could see was headed over everything. Rose made his major league debut on April 8, 1963 (Opening Day) against the Pittsburgh Pirates and drew a walk in his first plate appearance. After going 0-for-11, Rose got his first Major League hit on April 13, a triple off Pittsburgh's Bob Friend. He hit .273 for the year and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award, collecting 17 of 20 votes. Rose entered the US Army Reserves after the 1963 baseball season. He was assigned to Fort Knox for six months of active duty, which was followed by six years of regular attendance with a 478th Engineering Battalion USAR at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. At Fort Knox, he was a platoon guide and graduated from United States Army Basic Training January 18, 1964, one week before his marriage to Karolyn. Rose then remained at Fort Knox to assist the sergeant in training the next platoon and to help another sergeant train the Fort's baseball team. Later in his Fort Thomas service, Rose served as company cook which entailed coming in early for the one weekend/month meeting so that he could get out early enough to participate in local Reds games. Other Reds players in the unit included Johnny Bench, Bobby Tolan and Darrel Chaney.
Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
A:
During another spring training game against the New York Yankees, Whitey Ford gave him the derisive nickname "Charlie Hustle"