**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US ATrays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4456024.html
Jan. 8, 2007, 8:22PM
Bush's energy plans rile NRA members
Public land open to oil, gas drilling has limited access to hunters, anglers
By BLAINE HARDEN
Washington Post
SEATTLE - After years of close association with the Republican Party andhard-nosed opposition to federal land-use regulation, the National RifleAssociation is being pressured by its membership to distance itself fromPresident Bush's energy policies that have opened more public land for oiland gas drilling and limited access to hunters and anglers.
"The Bush administration has placed more emphasis on oil and gas than accessrights for hunters," said Ronald L. Schmeits, second vice president of theNRA, a member of its board of directors and a bank president in Raton, N.M.
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CBSNews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/09/ap/politics/mainD8MHFQG80.shtml
Senate Torn Over Ethics Panel Measure
Independent ethics commission likely to be tough sell in the Senate
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2007
By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer
(AP) Presidential candidates from both parties are urging the Senate to setup an independent office to probe ethical questions involving fellowsenators. That could be a tough sell.
There is some "institutional resistance," said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., apotential candidate who has long championed the notion of an independentoffice of public integrity that would take over some of the self-policingduties of the Senate ethics committee.
"A lot of members are concerned about the use of an independent commissionas a political club to beat them over the head," Obama said at a newsconference Monday as debate on ethics legislation opened.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801440_pf.html
Bundles of Influence
The checks that lobbyists collect matter more than the ones they sign.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; A14
THE MOST pernicious aspect of the relationship between lawmakers andlobbyists doesn't involve skybox tickets or golf junkets. It centers on therole that lobbyists play in providing lawmakers with the campaign cash theyneed to survive. Lobbyists write their own checks, which must be disclosed.But lobbyists are even more valuable to politicians in their role asbundlers, tapping their clients and other networks to deliver campaign cashfar in excess of what they are permitted to contribute personally. Themaster of the bundling game was President Bush, with his $200,000-and-upRangers and his $100,000-and-up Pioneers.
Yet while you can be assured that lawmakers and their campaigns know whotheir big bundlers are, and that the bundlers keep careful track of how muchthey help bring in, the people aren't let in on the news. That informationought to be made public, especially regarding those who make their livingsseeking to influence Congress.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_010607F.shtml
White House Visitor Records Closed
By Pete Yost
The Associated Press
Friday 05 January 2007
Washington - The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed anagreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandaldeclaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not opento the public.
The Bush administration didn't reveal the existence of the memorandum ofunderstanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with alegal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering theproduction of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of VicePresident Dick Cheney.
In a federal appeals court filing three weeks ago, the administration'slawyers used the memo in a legal argument aimed at overturning the judge'sruling. The Washington Post is suing for access to the Secret Service logs.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/16423159.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Jan. 10, 2007
DISTRICT 13 RACE
Voting-machine maker blasts politician
The dispute over the race to replace Rep. Katherine Harris continued with avoting machine manufacturer accusing a congresswoman of trying to intimidatethe courts.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON - The manufacturer of voting machines under scrutiny in SarasotaCounty accused a House Democrat Tuesday of trying to ''intimidate'' and''unduly influence'' a Florida appeals court.
The move by Election Systems & Software comes days after Rep. JuanitaMillender-McDonald, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House AdministrationCommittee, wrote a letter to the First District Court of Appeal inTallahassee. She said she was ''concerned'' that a lower court judge haddeclined to give Democrats access to the software used in voting machines inthe contested District 13 congressional election.
Democrat Christine Jennings is challenging the results of the Novemberelection. She contends in a lawsuit that the ATM-style machinesmalfunctioned and gave the election to Rep. Vern Buchanan, the Republicanwho last week was sworn into office.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.alternet.org/rights/46307/
Government Documents Are Declassified in Name Only
By Jon Wiener, LA Times
Posted on January 6, 2007, Printed on January 10, 2007
On December 31 at midnight, hundreds of millions of pages of secretgovernment documents were automatically declassified -- the result ofPresident Bush's Executive Order on Declassification, which covers allnational security documents 25 years old or older.
They included 270 million pages of FBI files, according to the New YorkTimes, covering, among other topics, the civil rights movement, 1960santi-war protests and organized crime up to 1981. In all of Americanhistory, there has never been anything like this avalanche of information.
But if you called the National Archives on Wednesday, as I did (it wasclosed Tuesday for the national day of mourning for President Ford), youwould have been told that none of these newly declassified documents areavailable -- and won't be, maybe for years.
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USAToday.com
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-08-bush-speech_x.htm
A big speech is a first step; follow-up key
Updated 1/9/2007 8:27 AM ET
By David Jackson, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - When President Bush addresses the nation Wednesday about a "newway forward" in Iraq, it will be just the first of many steps he'll take tosell his plan to Congress and the public.
Presidents have long made the most of their bully pulpit to set the tone forthe nation or to deliver news, whether it was Franklin Roosevelt telling aDepression-ravaged nation in 1933 that "the only thing we have to fear isfear itself" or Lyndon Johnson shocking the country in 1968 by using aspeech about Vietnam to say he would not run for re-election.
Whether a presidential speech can make a difference depends on thefollow-up, analysts say.
"All he can do is start a long-term process, which is going to requireperformance much more than promise," says George Edwards, a politicalscience professor at Texas A&M University.
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tampabay.com
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/10/news_pf/Worldandnation/_06_was_warmest_for_U.shtml
'06 was warmest for U.S. in century
Greenhouse gases and El Nino are to blame, says the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration.
WASHINGTON POST
Published January 10, 2007
WASHINGTON - Last year was the warmest in the continental United States ofthe past 112 years - capping a nine-year warming streak "unprecedented inthe historical record," the government said Tuesday. It also said thatclimate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels has set the stage forthe ever hotter temperatures.
According to the government's National Climatic Data Center, therecord-breaking warmth - which caused daffodils and cherry trees to bloomthroughout the East this past New Year's Day - was the result of bothunusual regional weather patterns and the long-term effects of the buildupof carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
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LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-walmart9jan09,1,5010899,print.story?coll=la-headlines-business
Civil rights activists decry Wal-Mart
By Abigail Goldman
Times Staff Writer
January 9, 2007
Religious and civil rights leaders in Los Angeles and other big cities saidMonday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stood in the way of Martin Luther KingJr.'s goals of civil and economic equality.
The group of 100 activists from 10 cities demanded that the world's largestretailer increase pay and offer better health benefits - a rallying cry forcritics of the company.
"Too often, we hear that for our communities, any job is a good job," theRev. Lennox Yearwood, chief executive of the Hip Hop Caucus in Washington,said in a statement.
"We reject the idea that minority communities should settle for low-payingjobs without a future."
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16423189.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Jan. 10, 2007
Following in the footsteps of failure
OUR OPINION: CHAVEZ'S MANEUVERS IMPERIL VENEZUELA'S FUTURE
As President Hugo Chávez is sworn into his second term today, Venezuela'sfuture hangs in the balance. With great fanfare on Monday, Mr. Chávezproclaimed himself a ''communist'' and said, ''We are heading towardsocialism.'' More likely the country is heading toward human and economiccatastrophe.
As he consolidates authority and moves to nationalize electric andtelecommunications companies, Mr. Chávez follows the path of his mentorFidel Castro, who turned one of the region's most prosperous countries intoone of the poorest and most oppressed. A similar fate may await Venezuelansshould Mr. Chávez succeed in his quest to install the communism thatmiserably failed in the Soviet Union, its satellites, Cuba and wherever itis practiced.
Financial pariah
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-hlpmedicare10jan10,0,638593,print.story?coll=sfla-news-sfla
Seniors on Medicare pay 10 times more for drugs than veterans, advocacygroup finds
By Diane C. Lade
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 10, 2007
Seniors pay as much as 10 times more for their most commonly prescribeddrugs under Medicare than veterans do under their federal drug benefit,primarily because veterans officials by law can negotiate directly withpharmaceutical manufacturers for bulk discounts, according to a new study.
Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit advocacy group, looked atthe 20 top drugs prescribed to seniors and found the lowest prices chargedby the top five Medicare plans exceeded the lowest prices with the U.S.Department of Veterans Affairs. The difference ranged from 34 percent forPlavix, used to prevent heart attacks and strokes, to more than 10 timesmore for Zocor, a lipid-lowering agent made by Merck & Co., according to thereport released Tuesday.
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_top14jan10,0,4342908.story?coll=sns-newsnation-headlines
Sen. Kennedy Seeks Universal Health Plan
By KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press Writer
Posted January 10 2007, 7:37 AM EST
WASHINGTON -- The federal government should join his home state ofMassachusetts in enacting universal health coverage, says Sen. EdwardKennedy, the new chairman of the Senate committee with jurisdiction overnumerous health issues.
Massachusetts is the first state to require everyone to have healthinsurance, just as drivers must have automobile coverage.
Kennedy has his own version of what universal health coverage would looklike. He wants to extend Medicare to all. But, in prepared remarks for ahearing scheduled Wednesday, he signaled an intent to consider programsbeing tried in the states.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901503_pf.html
The Green Gripe With Obama: Liquefied Coal Is Still . . . Coal.
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A11
Who, but who, would soil the environmental reputation of Barack Obama?
The Democratic senator from Illinois gets stellar marks from greens. Just afew months ago he was calling global warming "real," saying: "It is here. .. . We couldn't just keep burning fossil fuels and contribute to thechanging atmosphere without consequence."
So why then, environmentalists ask, is Obama backing a law supporting theexpanded use of coal, whose emissions are cooking the globe? It seems theanswer is twofold: his interest in energy independence -- and his interestin downstate Illinois, where the senator's green tinge makes the coalindustry queasy.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901872_pf.html
With Iraq Speech, Bush to Pull Away From His Generals
By Michael Abramowitz, Robin Wright and Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A01
When President Bush goes before the American people tonight to outline hisnew strategy for Iraq, he will be doing something he has avoided since theinvasion of Iraq in March 2003: ordering his top military brass to takeaction they initially resisted and advised against.
Bush talks frequently of his disdain for micromanaging the war effort andfor second-guessing his commanders. "It's important to trust the judgment ofthe military when they're making military plans," he told The WashingtonPost in an interview last month. "I'm a strict adherer to the commandstructure."
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010800732_pf.html
States Paying New Attention to Children
By ROBERT TANNER
The Associated Press
Monday, January 8, 2007; 4:24 PM
-- Governors and legislators return to work this month with renewed interestin the needs of their youngest citizens, bringing a slew of ideas on healthinsurance and education.
Expanding health coverage to all children is emerging as a goal in manystates, even as debate continues over how to provide care to all theuninsured, adults and youngsters alike.
"This is not only an economic crisis. It's a human crisis and it demandsaction now," Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, said last week. Hepromised to reduce the cost of care for families and businesses, and ispushing hard to expand the state's health insurance program to cover allchildren.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901630_pf.html
Schwarzenegger Agenda Could Flex California's Muscle
Governor Aims to 'Blaze the Way'
By Sonya Geis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A03
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9 -- A lesson from California: Never underestimate theambition of a former Mr. Universe. Over the past week, Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger (R) has unleashed a torrent of proposals to shake upeverything in his state from health care to road-building to politicsitself, all in an effort to reshape his party and set a national agenda.
The most recent offering, in Schwarzenegger's State of the State addressTuesday, is a plan to cut vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases by 10percent. He will require petroleum refineries to reduce the carbon contentof their fuel over the next 13 years -- a signal to any doubters that hisrecent aggressive positioning as an environmentalist is not mere politicaltheater.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901812_pf.html
Life at $7.25 an Hour
As House Prepares to Vote on Minimum-Wage Increase, Issue Is Complex forThose Who Earn, or Pay, That Amount
By David Finkel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A01
ATCHISON, Kan. -- It was payday. Money, at last. Twenty-two-year-old RobertIles wanted to celebrate. "Tonight, chimichangas!" he announced.
He was on his way out of the store where his full-time job pays him $7.25 anhour -- the rate that is likely to become the nation's new minimum wage.Life at $7.25: This is the life of Robert Iles, and with $70 in a walletthat had been empty that morning, he headed to a grocery store where for$4.98 he bought not only 10 chimichangas but two burritos as well.
From there he stopped at a convenience store, where for $16.70 he filled thegas tank of the car he purchased when he got his raise to $7.25; then hewent to another grocery store, where he got a $21.78 money order to pay downsome bills, including $8,000 in medical bills from the day he accidentallysliced open several fingers with a knife while trying to cut a tomato; andthen he headed toward the family trailer 19 miles away, where his parentswere waiting for dinner.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901331_pf.html
Don't Give Up On Iraq Yet
By Tariq al-Hashimi
Wednesday, January 10, 2007; A13
During my recent visit to Washington I found a nation fatigued by news of afaraway battle that seemed to creep closer with each fallen soldier. I foundan administration wearied by infighting among an Iraqi government that seemsincapable of reaching simple agreements. The chaos and sectarian destructionplaguing my people are slowly becoming just statistics in passing headlines,as we become a nation whose people spend more time each day preparing fordeath than for life.
Many Americans unfortunately believe that Iraq can no longer be salvaged.Even some in the Bush administration see a civil war as inevitable.
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Washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010900169_pf.html
Democrats Recapture Part of Hispanic Vote
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; 2:22 AM
WASHINGTON -- Democrats recaptured a big part of the Hispanic vote in thisyear's elections, support that Latino activists caution won't necessarily bethere in the next contest.
Nearly seven in 10 Hispanic voters supported Democrats in the congressionalelections, according to exit polls. But that's not the whole story.Republican candidates in several key states did well among Hispanics,suggesting that Latinos could be important swing voters in the 2008presidential election.
"Part of the defection had to do with dissatisfaction with the president,not necessarily satisfaction with the Democrats," said Clarissa Martinez deCastro, state policy director for the National Council of La Raza, thenation's largest Hispanic civil rights group. "The Democrats will have tomake sure they address the concerns of Latinos to keep that support."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/opinion/10wed2.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Editorial
Venezuela Inc.'s Hostile Takeover
President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela - the very portrait of a modern LatinAmerican strongman - is not content to exercise near-total political andmilitary control of his country. Now he is tightening his grip on theVenezuelan economy. That's bad news for foreign investors, but even more sofor the Venezuelan people who will have to pay the price for an economyplagued by increasing inefficiency and corruption.
Mr. Chávez announced this week that he would nationalize electricity andtelecommunications companies. Venezuela's biggest telecommunications companyis partly owned by Verizon Communications. Its largest publicly tradedelectricity company is controlled by another American company, the AESCorporation. Mr. Chávez also declared his intention to take control of fourmultibillion- dollar oil projects with significant investments from foreigncompanies.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/us/10health.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Schwarzenegger's Plan for Universal Care Draws No Universal Agreement
By JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9 - When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took the oath ofoffice last Friday, he called on legislators in Sacramento to set asideparty loyalty in favor of "the Party of California."
And sure enough, just 96 hours later, Democrats and Mr. Schwarzenegger'sfellow Republicans are already in agreement: his first big idea of hissecond term - a sweeping plan unveiled Monday to assure health care to allCalifornians - is promising and ambitious, but faces a long, hard fightbefore enactment.
Chief among the challenges, politicians and policy analysts said Tuesday, isthe enormous number of political players - from big labor and big insuranceto small-county government - that would be affected by any universal healthcare bill.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/business/worldbusiness/10venezuela.html?ei=5094&en=ea641afc8fbbf687&hp=&ex=1168491600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Venezuelan Plan Shakes Investors
By SIMON ROMERO and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
CARACAS, Venezuela, Jan. 9 - Verizon Communications had been looking tolighten its exposure to Latin America for some time when it struck a deal inApril to sell investments in three properties in Puerto Rico, the DominicanRepublic and Venezuela.
Now, it probably wishes it had disconnected its Latin lines even sooner.
The company could possibly lose up to several hundred million dollars,thanks to President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who threatened to nationalizethe country's main telephone and electricity companies.
Investors reacted with alarm here and in markets in the United States andthroughout Latin America on Tuesday as they measured the impact of the planby Mr. Chávez to nationalize crucial areas of the economy. Memories of pastnationalizations during another turbulent era, in places like Cuba andChile, helped drive down the Caracas stock exchange's main index by almost19 percent.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/washington/10judges.html?ei=5094&en=5c108b792ee44a94&hp=&ex=1168491600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Bush Drops Plans to Renominate 3 Judges
By NEIL A. LEWIS
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9 - In an apparent effort to lower the temperature in thefierce battle over federal judges - and in a concession to politicalreality - President Bush said Tuesday that he was dropping plans to nominatethree of his choices for the federal appeals courts who have been vigorouslyopposed by Senate Democrats.
The White House announced that the three candidates, all conservatives, hadthemselves asked for their names to be withdrawn. But the announcement waswidely taken to mean that the president had decided that renominating themwould be a needlessly provocative act, one that would anger Democratswithout sufficient political payoff from conservatives for sticking by thenominees.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/weekinreview/07lizza.html?pagewanted=print
January 7, 2007
The Invasion of the Alpha Male Democrat
By RYAN LIZZA
WASHINGTON
NANCY PELOSI'S carefully crafted introduction to the American people lastweek seemed to reinforce some stereotypes of the so-called mommy party. Onthe day she made history as the first woman to be elected speaker, sheappeared on the House floor, surrounded by children and bedecked in pearls.
But even as this nurturing image dominated the news, the swearing-inceremony on Thursday was notable for another milestone in gender politics:the return of the Alpha Male Democrat.
The members of this new faction, which helped the Democrats expand intomajority status, stand out not for their ideology or racial background butfor their carefully cultivated masculinity.
"As much as the policy positions is the background and character of theseDemocrats," says John Lapp, the former executive director of the DemocraticCongressional Campaign Committee who helped recruit this new breed ofcandidate. "So we went to C.I.A. agents, F.B.I. agents, N.F.L. quarterbacks,sheriffs, Iraq war vets. These are red-blooded Americans who are tough."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/opinion/10wed4.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Editorial
A Good Call in New York
Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York set an important national example this weekwhen he announced that the state corrections department would back away froma longstanding policy of charging prison inmates and their families morethan six times the going rate for collect calls made from prison.
Prisons all over the country began gouging inmates and their families whentelephone companies started paying legalized kickbacks - called "commissions" - to the state prison systems in return for a monopoly on theservice. These schemes place a huge financial burden on inmate families, whotend to be among the poorest in the nation, and who must often choosebetween paying phone bills and putting food on the table.
The Spitzer administration, which plans to waive its commission andrenegotiate the current contract with its prison telephone carrier,estimates that the cost of a collect call from prison will drop by abouthalf once the program goes into effect. That's good as far as it goes. Butthe better solution would be to introduce a cheaper, debit calling systemlike the one used in federal prisons, where inmates use computer-controlledaccounts to pay for calls.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/science/10climate.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Agency Affirms Human Influence on Climate
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
President Bush has said it.
A lot of government scientists have said it.
But until yesterday, it appeared that no news release on annual climatetrends out of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under theBush White House had said unequivocally that a buildup of greenhouse gaseswas helping warm the climate.
The statement came in a release that said 2006 was the warmest year for the48 contiguous states since regular temperature records began in 1895. Itsurpassed the previous champion, 1998, a year heated up by a powerfulepisode of the periodic warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean by El Niño.Last year, another El Niño developed, but this time a long-term warmingtrend from human activities was said to be involved as well.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/world/europe/10poland.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
In Poland, New Wave of Charges Against Clerics
By CRAIG S. SMITH
KRAKOW, Poland, Jan. 9 - Poland was convulsed in finger-pointing andrecrimination on Tuesday as more allegations of former secret-policecollaborators among the Roman Catholic clergy members spilled onto thecountry's front pages, sullying an institution that for decades wasconsidered spotless in its fight against Communism.
And the stream of disclosures now promises to become a torrent: here inKrakow, the Rev. Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski is preparing to publish a bookthat will identify 39 priests whose names he found in Krakow's secret policefiles, three of whom are now bishops in the Polish church.
Perhaps the most explosive assertion by people in the church is that thetaint of collaboration was known for decades but kept quiet out of respectfor - or perhaps even at the behest of - the Polish-born Pope John Paul II,who died in 2005.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/us/10calif.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Schwarzenegger Orders Cuts in Emissions
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and FELICITY BARRINGER
SACRAMENTO, Jan. 9 - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that he wouldask regulators to require the state's petroleum refiners and gasolinesellers to cut by 10 percent the emissions of heat-trapping gases associatedwith the production and use of their products.
The order for cuts, which the governor wants completed by 2020, followsCalifornia's trademark pattern of hitching its environmental aspirations toits market muscle. It also represents one of the first examples of a stateor a national government regulating the fuel in its passenger vehicles aspart of a strategy to reduce both emissions that contribute to climatechange and dependence on foreign oil.
The plan, which Mr. Schwarzenegger delivered to legislators Tuesday night inhis State of the State address, was the second part of a one-two policypunch the governor announced this week. On Monday, he proposed providinghealth care to all the state's residents, which unlike the emissions plan issubject to approval by the Legislature.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/opinion/10wed3.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Editorial
Well-Grounded Ethics Reform
The Senate's new majority leader, Harry Reid, like most of his colleagues onboth sides of the aisle, is an admitted frequent flier on poshlobbyist-provided corporate jets. So we were very pleased yesterday when heproposed legislation that would require senators to pay the fullcharter-flight fare if they wanted to ride in the style of a C.E.O.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the issue further with a full House ban on privatejet perks, enacted through a rules change, not legislation. But SenatorReid'sinitiative could be just as effective, provided no loopholes creep in as theSenate takes up wide-ranging proposals for ethics reform.
No less vital to the new Democratic majority's corruption-fighter claims isthe need to create a public integrity office of nonpartisan professionals tohelp Congress police its own misbehavior. The Republican-controlled Senaterejected the idea last year, but voters soon put a new hand on the gavel.Senator Reid and Ms. Pelosi should both move quickly to create such anoffice.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Giuliani-2008.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Giuliani's Business Links May Hurt Bid
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:00 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As Rudy Giuliani prepares to run for president, it isincreasingly clear he will have to revamp the global businesses that bearhis name and link him to everything from jogger backpacks to nuclear powerplants.
The former New York City mayor has created an exploratory committee toprepare to run for president next year, and aides concede that competing forthe nation's highest office will force major changes in how Giuliani handleshis businesses.
''Obviously, there would have to be significant adjustments,'' said hisspokeswoman Sunny Mindel. She did not elaborate.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Carter-Baptists.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Carter, Clinton Back Moderate Baptists
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:21 a.m. ET
ATLANTA (AP) -- With the help of former President Carter, Baptists who havedistanced themselves from the conservative Southern Baptist Conventionannounced plans Tuesday for a major meeting that aims to improve the Baptistimage and broaden its agenda.
Carter, who left the Southern Baptists in 2000 after the denomination cameunder conservative control, and former President Bill Clinton, also aBaptist, joined leaders of about 40 Baptist groups in making theannouncement at The Carter Center.
''Our goal is to have a major demonstration of harmony and a commoncommitment to personifying and to accomplish the goals that Jesus Christexpressed,'' Carter said.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Generation-Next.html?pagewanted=print
January 10, 2007
Generation Next More Confident, Tolerant
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 12:16 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The young adults of Generation Next are more optimistic,more tolerant and more likely Democratic voters than their predecessors,according to a new study.
The group's tilt toward the Democratic Party is far different from theprevious younger generation, known as Generation X, who grew up during theReagan administration of the 1980s and was more inclined to supportRepublicans.
''This portends a significant political impact as they get more engaged,''said Scott Keeter, a researcher from the Pew Research Center. ''If theycarry their party leanings with them, that will make a big difference.''
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/opinion/10dowd.html
January 10, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Love Among the Ruins
By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
It isn't really a romance turned sour, because it was never sweet.
The American military's cocky heroes were supposed to sweep in and carry offa poor, grateful Iraq to security and bliss, like Richard Gere did DebraWinger in the finale of "An Officer and a Gentleman." The strategy was: Lovelift us up where we belong/Where the eagles cry/On a mountain high.
Didn't happen. Yet the search goes on, in this country obsessed with hookupsand breakups, for the right relationship metaphor to describe our deadlyembrace of Iraq.
My colleague Tom Friedman wrote last week: "Whenever I hear this surge idea,I think of a couple who recently got married but the marriage was never verysolid. Then one day they say to each other, 'Hey, let's have a baby, thatwill bring us together.' It never works. If the underlying union is notthere, adding a baby won't help."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_politics19jan08,0,675341.story
Romney Kicks Off Fundraising Campaign
By GLEN JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
January 8, 2007, 9:27 PM EST
BOSTON -- White House hopeful Mitt Romney and 400 of his backers raised morethan $6.5 million on Monday in a glitzy fundraising blitz that will forceall Republican rivals to take notice.
"They've come together and blown us away today, and humbled us at the sametime," said the former Massachusetts governor as he clutched the hand of hiswife, Ann.
The figure dwarfed the $2 million that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., raised andthe $1 million collected by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. LikeRomney, the two have created committees exploring bids for the GOP'spresidential nomination.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/opinion/05krugman.html
January 5, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
First, Do Less Harm
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Universal health care, much as we need it, won’t happen until there’s achange of management in the White House. In the meantime, however, Congresscan take an important step toward making our health care system lesswasteful, by fixing the Medicare Middleman Multiplication Act of 2003.
Officially, of course, it was the Medicare Modernization Act. But as welearned during the debate over Social Security, in Bushspeak “modernize” isa synonym for “privatize.” And one of the main features of the legislationwas an effort to bring private-sector fragmentation and inefficiency to oneof America’s most important public programs.
The process actually started in the 1990s, when Medicare began allowingrecipients to replace traditional Medicare — in which the government paysdoctors and hospitals — with private managed-care plans, in which thegovernment pays a fee to an H.M.O. The magic of the marketplace was supposedto cut Medicare’s costs.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16413182.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Jan. 08, 2007
O'Donnell: Trump is 'obsessed with me'
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Rosie O'Donnell says Donald Trump is a man obsessed. "It's theway I look. He can't resist. I love when people say you're fat like youdon't know," O'Donnell joked Monday on ABC's "The View." "... It's alwaysthe first comment of someone who disagrees with you if you happen to be onthe plus side."
Trump has been hurling insults at O'Donnell since she criticized his newsconference with Miss USA Tara Conner last month. Trump announced that Connerwould be allowed to keep her title, which had been in jeopardy because ofunderage drinking.
"Boy, did I hit a nerve with that guy," O'Donnell said Monday, calling Trumpa "comb-over bunny" for his relentless attacks on her, which include sayingthat Barbara Walters, creator of "The View," had told him she didn't wantthe 44-year-old comedian on the show.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801418_pf.html
It's Not All About the iPods, Oprah
By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; A15
There can't be more than a handful of people on Earth who are better atchoosing their words than Oprah Winfrey. So I was stunned last week to reada quote from her that was so . . . so totally un-Oprah.
She was talking about the new $40 million school for poor young girls shehas built in South Africa and her awareness that some people would ask whyshe hadn't spent that money to benefit poor students at home. She alreadygives millions to educate underprivileged children in the United States, andanyway, she told Newsweek, the two situations are different. South Africahas desperate poverty and rudimentary infrastructure. The Americaneducational system may have its faults, but "it does work."
Point made. But she wasn't done.
"I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stoppedgoing. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there," she said. "If youask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers.In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms sothey can go to school."
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/ats-ap_politics13jan08,0,6316032.story
Democrats Recapture Part of Hispanic Vote
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press Writer
January 9, 2007, 2:22 AM EST
WASHINGTON -- Democrats recaptured a big part of the Hispanic vote in thisyear's elections, support that Latino activists caution won't necessarily bethere in the next contest.
Nearly seven in 10 Hispanic voters supported Democrats in the congressionalelections, according to exit polls. But that's not the whole story.Republican candidates in several key states did well among Hispanics,suggesting that Latinos could be important swing voters in the 2008presidential election.
"Part of the defection had to do with dissatisfaction with the president,not necessarily satisfaction with the Democrats," said Clarissa Martinez deCastro, state policy director for the National Council of La Raza, thenation's largest Hispanic civil rights group. "The Democrats will have tomake sure they address the concerns of Latinos to keep that support."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/08/AR2007010801424_pf.html
The Archbishop's Bargain -- and Poland's
By Anne Applebaum
Tuesday, January 9, 2007; A15
Like so many other scandals, this one unfolded in a pattern at once familiarand depressing. First there was an unsubstantiated leak in a somewhatmarginal weekly; then a denial. Then there were more substantial leaks inmore mainstream media; then more denials. Then, all at once, there werebehind-the-scenes maneuvers, interventions at high levels and, finally, atthe last possible minute, a resignation.
But this scandal had a few twists: Instead of a politician, the authorityfigure in question was the newly appointed archbishop of Warsaw, StanislawWielgus. Instead of political hacks, the behind-the-scenes maneuversfeatured Pope Benedict and high-ranking priests. Instead of sex or money,the scandal revolved around the archbishop's alleged collaboration withcommunist secret police in the 1970s. And instead of announcing hisresignation at a news conference (customarily with a supportive wife weepingsoftly in the background), the archbishop made his surprise speech duringthe Mass celebrating his new appointment.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/opinion/09tue2.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
Editorial
Common Sense on the Census
Last November, the director of the Census Bureau, C. Louis Kincannon, andthe deputy director, Hermann Habermann, abruptly decided to quit,acknowledging tensions with their bosses in the Bush administration butgiving no other details. Both men are statisticians who had served in theirpositions since 2002 and, before that, had decades of experience as civilservants.
The leadership problems - on top of severe budget cuts - threaten to throwthe preparations for the 2010 census into disarray. At stake is the accuracyof the next count and, with it, the legitimacy of important decisions thatare rooted in the census, including the drawing of electoral districts andthe allocation of government resources.
Various steps must be taken now to ensure an accurate count, starting withan investigation by the committees that oversee the bureau - Oversight andGovernment Reform in the House, and Homeland Security and GovernmentalAffairs in the Senate - into why the men quit. This will clear up adistracting mystery and is necessary to ensure that the new directors do notconfront the same obstacles.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/opinion/10friedman.html
January 10, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
My Favorite Green Lump
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Colstrip, Montana
All environmentalists have their favorite "green" energy source that theythink will break our addiction to oil and slow down climate change. I'vecome out to Montana to see mine. It's called coal.
Yes, yes, I know, you thought I was going to say corn ethanol or switchgrass or soybean diesel. Well, one day they all might reach a scale that canget us off oil. But the cheap, available fuel that China, India and Americaall have in abundance today - and are all going to burn for the nextdecade - is coal. So unless we can burn coal in a cleaner way, you can kissthe climate goodbye - we'll all be wearing bikinis and shorts in Manhattanin January.
When it comes to what it will take to "green" coal, there's no more informedor intrepid tour guide than Montana's Democratic governor, Brian Schweitzer.The governor, a bulldozer of a man, met me in Billings in his little propplane, we flew into a winter gale that tossed us around like salad pieces,and then we set down on a makeshift runway in Colstrip, on the edge of acoal strip mine. On the way back, after flying through another howling stormthat caused me to dig my nails so deeply into the armrests I left myfingerprints in the leather, I thanked the pilots profusely. The governorsimply bellowed, "I'm glad we had our best interns flying today!"
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16415082.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Tue, Jan. 09, 2007
Guess who is opening, reading your mail
OUR OPINION: CONGRESS MUST HOLD HEARINGS ON SIGNING STATEMENTS
The postal legislation that President Bush signed into law last month seemsinnocent enough. It gives the government the right to open mail without awarrant if there is suspicion that it may contain a bomb, anthrax or someother threatening substance. President Bush said the law gives thegovernment no power that it doesn't already have. The U.S. Postal InspectionService agrees. But the law isn't as benign as it seems.
This law is more like the Trojan Horse of Greek mythology, in which theGreeks used a hollowed out giant wooden horse to invade and conquer Troy.President Bush attached a ''signing statement'' to the law that allows apresident to authorize a search of mail in an emergency to ''protect humanlife and safety'' and ``for foreign intelligence collection.''
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/washington/09sentencing.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
Congress Is Expected to Revisit Sentencing Laws
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 - Federal sentencing laws that require lengthy mandatedprison terms for certain offenses are expected to come under fresh scrutinyas Democrats assume control of Congress.
Among those eagerly awaiting signs of change are federal judges, includingmany conservatives appointed by Republican presidents. They say theautomatic sentences, determined by Congress, strip judges of individualdiscretion and result in ineffective, excessive penalties, often forlow-level offenders.
Judges have long been critical of the automatic prison terms, referred to asmandatory minimum sentences, which were most recently enacted by Congress in1986 in part to stem the drug trade. Now influential judges across theideological spectrum say that the combination of Democratic leadership andgrowing Republican support for modest change may provide the best chance inyears for a review of the system.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/us/09calif.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&pagewanted=print
January 9, 2007
California Plan for Health Care Would Cover All
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday proposedextending health care coverage to all of California's 36 million residentsas part of a sweeping package of changes to the state's huge, troubledhealth care system.
A total of 6.5 million people, one-fifth of the state's population, do nothave health insurance, far more than in any other state. At least onemillion of the uninsured are illegal immigrants, state officials say.
Under Mr. Schwarzenegger's plan, which requires the approval of theLegislature, California would become the fourth and by far the largest stateto attempt near universal health coverage for its citizens. The other threestates are Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.
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Forwarded from Ron Mills:
http://Politalk1.blogspot.com
Iraq War Hearings Schedule
From Joe Biden's office, here's the tentative schedule for the SenateForeign Relations Committee Hearings on Iraq:
Tuesday, January 9, 2007 2:30-5 PM
a.. Closed Intelligence Community Briefing
Wednesday, January 10, 2007 9:30 AM
Topic: Where We Are – A Current Assessment of Iraq and the Region
Witnesses:
a.. Phebe Marr, Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and author ofThe History of Iraq
b.. Mike O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow of Foreign Policy Studies at theBrookings Institution
c.. Yahia Said, Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of GlobalGovernance at the London School of Economics and consultant to the UnitedNations on the Compact with Iraq
d.. Paul Pillar, former National Intelligence Officer for the Near Eastand South Asia
Thursday, January 11, 2007 10:00AM
Topic: The Administration’s Plan for Iraq
Witnesses:
a.. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Thursday, January 11, 2007 2:00 PM
Topic: Alternative Plans -- Troop Surge, Partition, Withdrawal, Strengthenthe Center.
more..... Contact us for the full article.
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SALON
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/01/08/fascism/print.html
The holy blitz rolls on
The Christian right is a "deeply anti-democratic movement" that gains forceby exploiting Americans' fears, argues Chris Hedges. Salon talks with theformer New York Times reporter about his fearless new book, "AmericanFascists."
By Michelle Goldberg
Jan. 08, 2007 | Longtime war correspondent Chris Hedges, the former New YorkTimes bureau chief in the Middle East and the Balkans, knows a lot about thesavagery that people are capable of, especially when they're besotted withdreams of religious or national redemption. In his acclaimed 2002 book, "WarIs a Force That Gives Us Meaning," he wrote: "I have been in ambushes ondesolate stretches of Central American roads, shot at in the marshes ofSouthern Iraq, imprisoned in the Sudan, beaten by Saudi military police,deported from Libya and Iran, captured and held for a week by IraqiRepublican Guard during the Shiite rebellion following the Gulf War, strafedby Russian Mig-21s in Bosnia, fired upon by Serb snipers, and shelled fordays in Sarajevo with deafening rounds of heavy artillery that threw outthousands of deadly bits of iron fragments." Hedges was part of New YorkTimes team of reporters that won a 2002 Pulitzer Prize for explanatoryreporting about global terrorism.
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Media Matters
More controversial McCain campaign hires -- will the media continue toignore?
http://mediamatters.org/items/200701080004
As Media Matters for America documented, the media largely overlooked Sen.John McCain's (R-AZ) hiring of Republican operative Terry Nelson as a senioradviser to his political action committee, despite Nelson's association withseveral prominent GOP scandals. In addition to Nelson, other members ofMcCain's political team have also been touched by controversy and have thusfar not gained significant media attention.
Patrick Hynes
Political consultant and blogger Patrick Hynes was reportedly hired byStraight Talk America, McCain's political action committee, in May 2006.However, National Review Online blogger Jim Geraghty first reported on July26 that Hynes' consulting firm, New Media Strategics, did not announce thatit had been hired by Straight Talk America until July 24. In the interveningtime, according to Geraghty, Hynes wrote several blog entries toutingMcCain's potential presidential candidacy, attacking former Gov. Mitt Romney(R-MA), a possible McCain rival, and accusing other bloggers of havingundisclosed financial ties to presidential candidates, without everdisclosing his own ties to McCain.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
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