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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/18/poll_intermittent_voters_critical?mode=PF
Poll: Intermittent voters critical
By Will Lester, Associated Press Writer | October 18, 2006
WASHINGTON --Call them the occasional voters.
They mean to take the time and go to the polls, but politics is anafterthought and they never get around to voting. These intermittent votersaccount for about one in five in the country, according to an AssociatedPress-Pew poll.
These voters share some attributes with more consistent voters. They havethe same sense of duty and feel guilty when the election goes by and theydidn't vote. Those elements make them a bloc of untapped voters in the Nov.7 midterm elections, when turnout is critical.
Other characteristics of these voters: They are less economically well-offthan regular voters, less educated and definitely not as politically savvy.
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https://c4.erightsweb.com/edweek/show/remoteDenial.do?sitecode=default&url=http://www.edweek.org%2Few%2Farticles%2F2006%2F10%2F18%2F08biz.h26.html&reason=2&denialReason=1893964%3A16%3B&requestId=4559&session=null&tag=www.edweek.org
Published: October 18, 2006
Big Business Going to Bat for NCLB
Competitiveness Is Cited as Reason to Retain Law
By David J. Hoff
Large companies and major business groups are known for hiring well-heeledlobbyists to push for their interests, especially in such areas as tax andspending laws. But their federal lobbying presence on education issues hasbeen relatively modest. Until now.
As Congress gears up to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, businessgroups are laying the groundwork to have their voices heard in the process.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable-two prominentWashington-based groups representing business owners and chief executives oflarge corporations, respectively-announced last month that they have formeda coalition with other business groups to protect the nearly 5-year-old education law from major changes.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0610180130oct18,1,3493827.story?track=rss
Obama dips toe in 2008 waters
Toll on his family called key concern
By Jill Zuckman, Washington Bureau. Tribune staff reporter Mitch Dudek in Chicago contributed to this report
October 18, 2006
WASHINGTON -- While Sen. Barack Obama launches the most public of booktours, with appearances on "Oprah Winfrey," the "Today" show, "Larry KingLive" and "Meet the Press," he also is more intensively examining whether torun for president in 2008, reaching out to Democratic operatives and tryingto reconcile the demands of a national campaign on his family.
Obama (D-Ill.) has been having quiet conversations with colleagues andfriends about a prospective White House run, but a key concern is whetherhis wife, Michelle, would support it and whether he could manage the timeaway from their two young daughters.
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http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/18/jordan
Gallaudet's President Has His Say
For the last few weeks, Gallaudet University has been torn apart byprotests - led by students but joined by faculty, staff and alumni - overthe selection last spring of Jane K. Fernandes, the provost, to succeed I.King Jordan, the university's president for the last 18 years. Jordan, thefirst deaf person to preside over the world's most prominent university forthe deaf, himself was selected after a 1988 student protest over the hiringof another (hearing) person for president. Jordan had been extremelypopular, but Monday, three days after he ordered the arrest of 133 studentswho had been blocking access to the campus, the university's Faculty Senatevoted no confidence in him and the Board of Trustees, and called onFernandes to resign. On Tuesday, the same day he announced he was callingoff this week's planned homecoming activities because of the continuedturmoil, he spoke to Inside Higher Ed about the controversy and aboutGallaudet's future.
Q: How are you handling the votes from the faculty?
A: Well, obviously, I was very disappointed in the votes and in the numbers.But right now, there's a lot of emotion. Emotions are running very high andit's a stressful time on the campus. I would like to think that if the votestook place in a different environment and different circumstances, that thenumbers would be very different.
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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org
WI: Group--Diocese Flouted Law In Supporting Gay Marriage Ban
Milwaukee Channel.com, WI, October 17, 2006
http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/10097107/detail.html
Group: Diocese Flouted Law In Supporting Gay Marriage Ban
Residents To Vote On Referendum On Nov. 7
MADISON, Wis. -- A watchdog group is accusing the Catholic Diocese ofMadison of failing to disclose its attempts to influence the gay marriagereferendum in the upcoming election.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign asked the state Elections Board to takeaction against the diocese for failing to register its activities.
The proposed constitutional amendment would ban gay marriage and civilunions.
The group cited a flier prepared by the diocese and distributed outside aCatholic church in Madison. The flier said that "A yes vote upholds theCatholic teaching that marriage is a union between a man and a woman."
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/10/18/battles_brewing_on_torture_detainees/?page=full/
The Boston Globe
Battles brewing on torture, detainees
Bush signs, hails rules; foes vow legal challenge
By Farah Stockman and Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | October 18, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday signed into law new rules oninterrogating detainees and prosecuting suspected terrorists at GuantanamoBay, calling the measure ``one of the most important pieces of legislationin the war on terror."
But as Bush and a group of key Republican senators hailed the compromisethat led to the passage of the new rules last month, the American CivilLiberties Union called it ``one of the worst civil liberties measures everenacted in American history." Groups of defense lawyers vowed to fight thenew law in court, calling it ``blatantly unconstitutional" because it deniesdetainees the right to challenge their detention in court.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701094_pf.html
What Democrats Would Do
By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, October 18, 2006; A21
Against their better judgment, the Democrats are starting to taste it. Inthe House, the number of Republican incumbents polling under 50 percentconsiderably exceeds the number of seats the Democrats need to pick up tomake Nancy Pelosi speaker. Controlling the Senate depends on winning two ofthe contests in three Upper South states -- Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia --that could go either way.
And then what? Putting a fleet of carts before a herd of horses, let's lookat the legislation that the Democrats would push through the House and justmaybe through the Senate. (Even if they win the upper house, of course,they'll still need the support of a number of Republicans to overcome afilibuster.)
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/world/middleeast/18mideast.html?pagewanted=print
October 18, 2006
Abbas Threatens to Dismiss Hamas Government
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Oct. 17 - The president of the Palestinian Authority, MahmoudAbbas, warned Tuesday that the current Palestinian political crisis wasintolerable, and suggested he would dismiss the Hamas-led government if therival factions could not agree soon on a national unity government.
"To maintain the status quo is impossible," Mr. Abbas said in remarksbroadcast on Palestinian television. "As the person in charge, I amobligated to consider all options that could get us out of this crisis."
Mr. Abbas's speech, delivered from the West Bank city of Ramallah, was theclearest signal yet that he was prepared to act against the Hamasgovernment. With Israel and Western governments cutting off the flow ofmoney to the Palestinian Authority, the Hamas government has barelyfunctioned since coming to power more than six months ago.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/world/europe/18britain.html?hp&ex=1161230400&en=a133eb4ce4ba829f&ei=5094&partner=homepage
October 18, 2006
Blair Criticizes Veils as 'Mark of Separation'
By ALAN COWELL
LONDON, Oct. 17 - Prime Minister Tony Blair joined a passionate andincreasingly contentious debate on Tuesday over the full-face veils worn bysome British Muslim women, calling it a "mark of separation."
It was the first time Mr. Blair had so explicitly backed Jack Straw, theleader of the House of Commons, who raised Muslim ire this month by sayinghe did not believe that women should wear the full-face veil, a headdresswith only a narrow slit for the eyes. Mr. Straw had asked Muslim womenmeeting with him to remove their veils, arguing that it preventedcommunication and set the wearer apart.
"It is a mark of separation, and that is why it makes other people fromoutside the community feel uncomfortable," Mr. Blair said at a regular newsconference, echoing some of Mr. Straw's sentiments.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/us/politics/18poll.html?ei=5094&en=4d5ba620e9153e44&hp=&ex=1161230400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
October 18, 2006
Alarm Bells for G.O.P. in a Battleground State
By JOHN M. BRODER and MEGAN THEE
The bellwether state of Ohio appears to have become hostile terrain forRepublicans this year, with voters there overwhelmingly saying Democrats aremore likely to help create jobs and concluding by a wide margin thatRepublicans in the state are more prone to political corruption than areDemocrats, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Home this year to closely watched races for governor, United States Senateand a growing roster of competitive House seats, Ohio is one of the mostcontested battlegrounds of 2006, and one in which voters at this point arestrongly favoring Democrats on many issues.
The Democratic candidates for governor and Senate hold commandingdouble-digit leads over their Republican opponents in the poll, andrespondents said they intended to vote for the Democratic candidate for theHouse in their district by 50 percent to 32 percent.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/washington/18inquire.html?ei=5094&en=9908552e4af36779&hp=&ex=1161230400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
October 18, 2006
Report Spells Out Abuses by Former Congressman
By MARK MAZZETTI
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 - Former Representative Randy Cunningham pressured and intimidated staff members of the House Intelligence Committee to help steermore than $70 million in classified federal business to favored militarycontractors, according to a Congressional investigation made public onTuesday.
The investigation found that Mr. Cunningham, a California Republican who isserving an eight-year prison sentence for bribery, repeatedly abused hisposition on the committee to authorize money for military projects, oftenover the objections of staff members who criticized some of the spending aswasteful.
The inquiry also found that despite numerous "red flags" about the proprietyof a particular contract for work on a controversial Pentagoncounterintelligence program, committee staff members for three years"continued to accept and support Mr. Cunningham's growing requests for thisproject."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/opinion/18wed1.html?pagewanted=print
October 18, 2006
Editorial
The Odor From Capitol Hill
As predicaments go for champions of family values, few can top theembarrassment suffered by Representative Curt Weldon when federal agentsraided the home of his daughter, a Washington lobbyist, in search ofevidence that the powerful lawmaker helped her with lucrative clients. Thegrand jury is still out on the investigation, and Mr. Weldon, a PennsylvaniaRepublican, says he is innocent. But with each fresh scandal, the tattooingof the G.O.P.-run 109th Congress continues in pre-election polls.
Voters had no sooner adjusted to the shock of seeing Representative MarkFoley, Republican of Florida, disgraced from office by his come-ons toCongressional pages than Bob Ney took his turn on the pre-election scandalsmorgasbord. Representative Ney, Republican of Ohio, pleaded guilty to beinga principal in the quid-pro-quo insiders' market run by Jack Abramoff, thecorrupt Republican lobbyist who is cooperating with investigators about histies to Congress and the White House.
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Forwarded from Susan Fishkorn
Tri-County - chances@attglobal.net
http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=14049
Published on Tuesday, October 17, 2006 by The American-Republican
(Waterbury, Connecticut)
Clergy Group's Billboard Airs Torture Issue
by Michael Puffer
WATERBURY -- As early as today, drivers heading east out of Waterbury will be confronted by a billboard image of a bound and exhausted Abu Ghraib prisoner with spittle running down his chin.
A Connecticut-based clergy group opposed to the Iraq war -- Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice -- is sponsoring the billboard, along with a twin billboard unveiled in Stratford on Monday. The message accuses three incumbent Republican members of Congress and Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman of supporting a move by President Bush to legalize torture of terror suspects.
At issue is the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which Bush is expected to sign into law today.
The act suspends the right of "unlawful enemy combatants" to challenge their imprisonment in a public court, and also redefines what constitutes torture. It was crafted to allow the CIA to continue a terrorist interrogation program that was recently made public.
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http://www.grist.org/cgi-bin/printthis.pl
Give and Takings
Property-rights initiatives threaten environmental protections in four Western states
By Dan Whipple
When you hear the phrase "a perfect storm," it's likely to conjure images ofroiling whitecaps, perhaps a daring Coast Guard rescuer dangling from ahelicopter to pull half-drowned sailors from their foundering vessels.Chances are the last thing it will bring to mind is land-use regulation.
But in four Western states, the unexpected confluence of two largelyunrelated land-use issues -- a "perfect storm" of popular dissatisfaction -- is threatening to undo rules that have guided the development of Western communities for a generation or more.
On Election Day, voters in Arizona, California, Idaho, and Washington willface statewide ballot initiatives that would require taxpayers to paylandowners if a zoning rule or environmental law reduces the speculativevalue of their property. In some places, if a government couldn't pay, itwould have to waive rules that limit what, or where, a landowner may build.These "regulatory takings" initiatives are styled after a controversialinitiative, Measure 37, that Oregon voters approved in 2004 -- but this time, supporters have a new weapon in their arsenal.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Cnews%5Cstories.nsf&docid=6783F73AECA00C5286257209006BC315
Missouri Supreme Court tosses voter ID law
By Kelly Wiese
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monday, Oct. 16 2006
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri voters won't need to show a photo ID at the polls after all, after the state Supreme Court today struck down the newrequirement.
A lower judge ruled last month that the ID requirement was anunconstitutional infringement on the fundamental right to vote. The Supreme Court agreed in a 6-1 unsigned opinion.
The law required voters to present a photo identification card issued byMissouri or the federal government to cast a ballot starting with theNovember election.
Opponents argued people impersonating others when voting is rare, and thatthe ID requirement would especially harm the poor, elderly and disabled whomay be less likely to have a driver's license.
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http://www.local10.com/money/10098108/detail.html
Lay Conviction Vacated By Judge
Energy Company Founder Died July 5
POSTED: 4:19 pm EDT October 17, 2006
UPDATED: 4:32 pm EDT October 17, 2006
HOUSTON -- A federal judge Tuesday vacated the conviction of Enron's latefounder Kenneth Lay, wiping out a jury's verdict that he committed fraud andconspiracy in one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history.
Lay was convicted of 10 counts of fraud, conspiracy and lying to banks intwo separate cases on May 25.
Enron's collapse in 2001 wiped out thousands of jobs, more than $60 billionin market value and more than $2 billion in pension plans.
Lay died of heart disease July 5 while vacationing with his wife, Linda, inAspen, Colo.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/16/foley/index.html
Poll: Foley scandal ranks low among election issues
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Only about a quarter of Americans say the scandalover former Rep. Mark Foley will be "extremely important" in how they votein November's congressional elections, according to a CNN poll releasedTuesday.
That figure falls far below issues such as Iraq, terrorism and theeconomy.
The Foley scandal ranked fifth on a list of five topics in a pollconducted Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corp. (Read the complete
Iraq and the threat of terrorism topped the list, with 43 percent ofthe 1,012 adults polled saying each would be extremely important to theirNovember 7 vote, compared with 33 percent for the economy.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_101406B.shtml
Government Appeals Wiretapping Decision
Reuters
Saturday 14 October 2006
Washington - The Bush administration on Friday appealed a federal judge's ruling this summer that a controversial post-September 11, 2001,domestic spying program was illegal.
The Justice Department, in documents filed with a federal court inCincinnati, argued that President George W. Bush had acted within the law inauthorizing the surveillance of domestic wiretaps of international telephonecalls.
In its appeal, the government stated that the federal judge's ruling"dismantles a tool that already has helped detect and disrupt al Qaedaplots."
It stated that US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's decision directlyconflicts with the Supreme Court's direction to "proceed with great cautionin resolving challenges in this extraordinarily sensitive context."
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http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20061017&Category=ZNYT02&ArtNo=610170347&SectionCat=NEWS30&Template=printart
Married and Single Parents Spending More Time With Children, Study Finds
New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 Despite the surge of women into the work force, mothersare spending at least as much time with their children today as they did 40years ago, and the amount of child care and housework performed by fathershas sharply increased, researchers say in a new study, based on analysis ofthousands of personal diaries.
We might have expected mothers to curtail the time spent caring for theirchildren, but they do not seem to have done so, said one of the researchers,Suzanne M. Bianchi, chairwoman of the department of sociology at theUniversity of Maryland. They certainly did curtail the time they spent onhousework.
The researchers found that women still do twice as much housework and childcare as men in two-parent families. But they said that total hours of workby mothers and fathers were roughly equal, when they counted paid and unpaidwork.
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