**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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Forwarded from Ron Mills:
http://Politalk1.blogspot.com
This has to be a milestone: A new poll has found that the American peopledislike President Bush more than they dislike ... Dick Cheney. The poll --by Fox News, of all people -- finds that President Bush's unfavorable ratingis 58%, while Cheney's unpopularity rating is five points lower at 53%. Bushcan, however, still take some small solace from the fact that his approvalrating is one point higher than Cheney's; the President's is 38%, while theVP's is 37%.
Meanwhile, here are a couple of other numbers that are striking for a Foxpoll: Only 39% of Americans view the GOP favorably, and 49% view themunfavorably. Meanwhile, a majority of respondents -- 51% -- have a favorableview of Dems, compared to only 35% who have an unfavorable view of what Foxlikes to call the "Democrat Party."
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/011807_foxnewspoll.pdf
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801511_pf.html
Cheney's Enigmatic Influence
By David Ignatius
Friday, January 19, 2007; A19
After six years, it remains one of Washington's enduring mysteries: How doesVice President Cheney shape decisions in the tight inner circle of the Bushadministration? There's a sense that Cheney's influence is on the riseagain, at least with Iraq policy, but that's after many months in which hisallies say his role was diminished.
To outside observers, Cheney has been the political equivalent of a blackhole -- exerting a powerful but mostly invisible force on decisions. Theoffice of the vice president has had a gravitational weight that sucked inother personalities and entire branches of the government without emittinglight or heat that would explain the decision-making process.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801508_pf.html
Hold Off On Net Neutrality
By David Farber and Michael Katz
Friday, January 19, 2007; A19
The Internet needs a makeover. Unfortunately, congressional initiativesaimed at preserving the best of the old Internet threaten to stifle theemergence of the new one.
The current Internet supports many popular and valuable services. Butexperts agree that an updated Internet could offer a wide range of new andimproved services, including better security against viruses, worms,denial-of-service attacks and zombie computers; services that require highlevels of reliability, such as medical monitoring; and those that cannottolerate network delays, such as voice and streaming video. To provide theseservices, both the architecture of the Internet and the business modelsthrough which services are delivered will probably have to change.
Congress failed to pass legislation amid rancorous debate last summer, butlast week a group of senators reintroduced several initiatives under thebanner of "network neutrality."
Network neutrality is supposed to promote continuing Internet innovation byrestricting the ability of network owners to give certain traffic prioritybased on the content or application being carried or on the sender'swillingness to pay. The problem is that these restrictions would prohibitpractices that could increase the value of the Internet for customers.
Traffic management is a prime example. When traffic surges beyond theability of the network to carry it, something is going to be delayed. Whenchoosing what gets delayed, it makes sense to allow a network to favortraffic from, say, a patient's heart monitor over traffic delivering a musicdownload. It also makes sense to allow network operators to restrict trafficthat is downright harmful, such as viruses, worms and spam.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801777_pf.html
Judge's Footnote On Adultery Stirs a Tempest In Michigan
By John Flesher
Associated Press
Friday, January 19, 2007; A08
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., Jan. 18 -- People who cheat on their spouses knowthere can be a steep price to pay if they get caught. But life in prison?
It's possible in Michigan, though unlikely.
In a footnote to a ruling involving a drugs-for-sex case, a Michigan appealscourt said that if state law were enforced as written, adulterers could beput away for life.
The ruling has generated a little unwanted publicity for Michigan AttorneyGeneral Mike Cox, who acknowledged an extramarital affair in 2005.
Adultery is still a crime under state law, punishable by a short prisonsentence, but no one has been prosecuted for the offense since 1971. And thevoters did not hold Cox's infidelity against him, electing him to a secondterm last year.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16494347.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Fri, Jan. 19, 2007
America's baggage is Obama's burden
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
President Obama?
No, not yet. But, the intention of Sen. Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois,to move toward that goal seems clear with this week's news that he isforming an exploratory committee to raise money toward a possible WhiteHouse bid. Count me among those who regard the bid as a foregone conclusion.
Strike while the iron is hot. Isn't that what the axiom says? And whose ironhas ever been hotter than Obama's? The man is a rock star, a combinationplate of handsome, intelligent and charismatic that has his supportersgiddy. On the other hand, the battlefield of presidential politics islittered with the bones of rock stars for whom the giddiness of supporterswas not enough. John Anderson and Ross Perot come to mind.
There are two obvious pitfalls facing Obama. One is his lack of experience.His two years in the Senate represent the sum of his federal résumé, thoughhe also has under his belt many years in the Illinois statehouse and as aconstitutional lawyer and community activist.
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LATimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-obama19jan19,1,243007,print.story?coll=la-news-politics-national
Black leaders still sizing up Obama
The senator will have to vie with Clinton and Edwards for African Americanvotes.
By Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writer
January 19, 2007
WASHINGTON - As pastor of the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Sumter,S.C., the Rev. James Blassingame feels pride at the thought of electing thecountry's first black president. But Blassingame, one of his state's mostprominent black ministers, will not support Sen. Barack Obama's bid toachieve that historic goal.
Instead, the minister will campaign for one of Obama's white rivals for theDemocratic nomination, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. Obama, hesaid, is a "stranger" with a faraway home and little-known biography,whereas Edwards - "he's a homeboy."
Other black leaders are wary that the relatively untested senator fromIllinois might prove weak in the general election.
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CBSNews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/19/ap/politics/mainD8MO3QO00.shtml
House Dems to Support Iraq Resolution
House Democrats will back resolution saying troop buildup not in U.S.interest, Pelosi says
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2007
By DAVID ESPO AP Special Correspondent
(AP) Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged the support of House Democrats on Thursdayfor legislation declaring that President Bush's decision to send additionaltroops to Iraq is "not in the national interest of the United States."
Pelosi's commitment came as Senate Democrats said they intend to beginadvancing a nonbinding measure next week that criticizes the White House'snew strategy.
Democrats sought to bring public pressure to bear on the president's newpolicy as Bush and senior administration officials worked to limitRepublican defections when the issue comes before Congress.
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Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/01/19/abortions_elusive_middle_ground?mode=PF
ELLEN GOODMAN
Abortion's elusive middle ground
By Ellen Goodman | January 19, 2007
DO YOU worry that things are getting too touchy-feely on the home front? Areyou afraid that the plea for common ground is becoming the all-too-commonwisdom? Do you wonder if the culture warriors are becoming pacifists?
Cynics, take heart. We offer you advance word from the troops preparing forMonday's annual March for Life marking the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.The parade's theme this year is "Thou Shalt Protect the Equal Right to Lifeof Each Innocent Human in Existence at Fertilization. No Exception! NoCompromise!"
No exception! No compromise! Lots of exclamation points!
For at least a dozen years, anti abortion activists tried to portray theirpro choice opponents as the extremists. In one Republican Congress afteranother, bills such as those banning so-called "partial-birth abortion" wereaimed more at moving public opinion than reducing the need for abortion. Prolifers had their eyes on the single prize of finding Supreme Court justiceswho would overturn Roe.
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Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2007/01/19/global_cooling?mode=PF
GLOBE EDITORIAL
Global cooling
January 19, 2007
SINCE THE Bush administration still refuses to deal seriously with globalwarming, it has been left to the states to curb the greenhouse gas emissionsthat trap the sun's heat. Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick fulfilled animportant campaign pledge by re enlisting Massachusetts in a pact ofNortheastern states committed to capping the carbon dioxide released bytheir electric utilities.
Much of the groundwork in drawing up the regional greenhouse gas initiativefor its now eight members was done by officials in the Romneyadministration. In all likelihood, Mitt Romney and not Patrick would havesigned the pact if Romney had not decided to carve out apresidential-candidate profile for himself that does not include strongaction against global warming. Instead, Romney in 2005 disavowed his aides'work, saying it would raise ratepayers' electric bills.
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Local10.com
http://www.local10.com/health/10775747/detail.html?treets=mia&tid=2655619429813&tml=mia_health&tmi=mia_health_1_11150201182007&ts=H
Pay-For-Delay Keeps Generics Away, Study Says
POSTED: 4:33 pm EST January 17, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Drug companies increasingly are reaching legal settlementsthat delay the introduction of cheaper generic medicines and cheat Americansof billions of dollars a year in savings, federal regulators on Wednesdaytold lawmakers seeking to ban the agreements.
The Federal Trade Commission and others allege the settlements allowbrand-name pharmaceutical companies to pay off would-be generic competitors,which then agree to delay introduction of their less costly but otherwiseidentical versions of the original medicines.
The FTC issued a report Wednesday, to coincide with a Senate JudiciaryCommittee hearing on the topic, that shows the settlements have become morecommon since two 2005 appeals court decisions upheld their legality.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801510_pf.html
Balanced Priorities
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, January 19, 2007; A19
Ask yourself which politician you trust more.
On the one side, a president who campaigned on a balanced-budget pledge,then dug the country hundreds of billions of dollars deeper into debt withhuge tax cuts and an unpaid-for war, and now promises a balanced budget fouryears after he leaves office.
On the other side, a former senator who says that while he wants to containthe deficit, he has higher priorities than a perfectly balanced budget,specifically universal health insurance coverage and substantial investmentsin alternative energy.
That is the choice offered by George W. Bush and John Edwards, the NorthCarolina Democrat whose left-of-center presidential candidacy will have thesalutary effect of challenging Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton torespond with specifics of their own.
Edwards's ideas on the budget have the additional virtue of reminding usthat the argument over arriving at a balanced budget by 2012 is largelyphony. The real issue, given the burgeoning costs of health care and theretirement of the baby boomers, is how to put policies in place now thatachieve sustainable fiscal balance -- meaning low if not zero deficits --over the next 30 years.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/washington/19ethics.html?ei=5094&en=bf4ca4108c9b072b&hp=&ex=1169269200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
Jaanuary 19, 2007
Senate Passes Vast Ethics Overhaul
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 - The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed sweepingchanges to ethics and lobbying rules, overcoming bipartisan reluctance toban many of the favors that lobbyists do for lawmakers and to illuminate theshadowy legislative practice of earmarking money for special projects.
The Senate's action makes the start of the 110th Congress a watershed momentin the history of K Street and Capitol Hill. Interpreting the results of theNov. 7 election as a reaction to corruption scandals when Congress was underRepublican control, the Senate has joined the House in adopting broad newrules that go beyond the proposals Republicans introduced last year, theones that Democrats campaigned on, or the extensive changes House Democratsrecently passed.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/us/19smoking.html?ei=5094&en=b968ef06cba0c15c&hp=&ex=1169269200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 19, 2007
Maine City Bans Smoking in Cars With Children
By PAM BELLUCK
BANGOR, Me. - Tonya Henderson will have to be more careful where she lightsup her Marlboros.
Bangor is banning smoking in cars if children are present, and Ms.Henderson, 24, is accustomed to having a cigarette when her boyfriend's7-year-old daughter is in the back seat.
She is just the kind of person City Council members had in mind when theypassed the ordinance, which has delighted some and angered others andprompted complaints about invasion of privacy and even threats to boycottthe city, Maine's second-largest. The ordinance, which takes effect on Jan.19, allows the police to stop cars if an adult is smoking while a childunder 18 is a passenger. The smoker can be fined $50.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html?ei=5094&en=634749b014beb26a&hp=&ex=1169269200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 19, 2007
Israel Transfers $100 Million to Abbas
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:18 a.m. ET
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel said Friday it had paid $100 million in frozen taxfunds to the Palestinians and rescinded a contentious decision for a newWest Bank settlement, strengthening the hand of moderate President MahmoudAbbas ahead of crucial weekend talks in Damascus with his Hamas rivals.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the payment, the first suchtransfer since the militant Islamic Hamas won control of the Palestiniangovernment in March 2006, was made Thursday night.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz, meanwhile, ordered plans for the Maskiotsettlement frozen indefinitely ''in order to look carefully at theimplications,'' ministry officials said, speaking on condition of anonymitybecause of the issue's sensitivity.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/business/19fed.html?pagewanted=print
January 19, 2007
Fed Chief Warns That Entitlement Growth Could Harm Economy
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 - Warning against complacency over the federal deficit,Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, said Thursday that recentpositive trends on the budget were a "calm before the storm," masking along-term danger posed by looming deficits in Social Security and Medicare.
"The longer we wait, the more severe, the more draconian, the more difficultthe adjustment is going to be," Mr. Bernanke said in response to a questionat a Senate hearing about when lawmakers should tackle the growth ofspending in the twin entitlement programs. "I think the right time to startis about 10 years ago."
Mr. Bernanke's comments were consistent with his past warnings, and those ofhis predecessor, Alan Greenspan, about the unfinanced cost of the postwargeneration's retirement. But his tone was more urgent, and it seemed aimedat the arrival of a new Democratic-led Congress that is just now setting itspriorities.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/business/19carbon.html?pagewanted=print
January 19, 2007
A Coalition for Firm Limit on Emissions
By FELICITY BARRINGER
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 - Ten major companies with operations across theeconomy - utilities, manufacturing, petroleum, chemicals and financialservices - have banded together with leading environmental groups to callfor a firm nationwide limit on carbon dioxide emissions that would lead toreductions of 10 to 30 percent over the next 15 years.
Introduction of this group, which includes industry giants like GeneralElectric, DuPont and Alcoa, is aimed at adding to the recent impetus forCongressional action on emissions controls and the creation of a market inwhich allowances to emit carbon dioxide could be traded in a way thatachieves the greatest reduction at the lowest cost.
The diversity of the coalition - some members had already come out for otherforms of emissions control, like a carbon tax or voluntary controls, butothers had been silent on climate-change issues until now - could send astrong signal that businesses want to get ahead of the increasing politicalmomentum for federal emissions controls, in part to ensure that theirlong-term interests are protected.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?ei=5094&en=2cf7a23e1a8d0a8e&hp=&ex=1169269200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 19, 2007
Rebuke in Iran to Its President on Nuclear Role
By NAZILA FATHI and MICHAEL SLACKMAN
TEHRAN, Jan. 18 - Iran's outspoken president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appearsto be under pressure from the highest authorities in Iran to end hisinvolvement in its nuclear program, a sign that his political capital isdeclining as his country comes under increasing international pressure.
Just one month after the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctionson Iran to curb its nuclear program, two hard-line newspapers, including oneowned by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on the presidentto stay out of all matters nuclear.
In the hazy world of Iranian politics, such a public rebuke was seen as asign that the supreme leader - who has final say on all matters of state -might no longer support the president as the public face of defiance to theWest.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?ei=5094&en=2cf7a23e1a8d0a8e&hp=&ex=1169269200&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
January 19, 2007
Rebuke in Iran to Its President on Nuclear Role
By NAZILA FATHI and MICHAEL SLACKMAN
TEHRAN, Jan. 18 - Iran's outspoken president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appearsto be under pressure from the highest authorities in Iran to end hisinvolvement in its nuclear program, a sign that his political capital isdeclining as his country comes under increasing international pressure.
Just one month after the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctionson Iran to curb its nuclear program, two hard-line newspapers, including oneowned by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on the presidentto stay out of all matters nuclear.
In the hazy world of Iranian politics, such a public rebuke was seen as asign that the supreme leader - who has final say on all matters of state -might no longer support the president as the public face of defiance to theWest.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011801758_pf.html
GSA Chief Scrutinized For Deal With Friend
No-Bid Contract A Mistake, She Says
By Scott Higham and Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 19, 2007; A01
The chief of the U.S. General Services Administration attempted to give ano-bid contract to a company founded and operated by a longtime friend,sidestepping federal laws and regulations, according to interviews anddocuments obtained by The Washington Post.
Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a former government contractor appointedby President Bush, personally signed the deal to pay a division of herfriend's public relations firm $20,000 for a 24-page report promoting theGSA's use of minority- and woman-owned businesses, the documents show.
The contract was terminated last summer after GSA lawyers and other agencyofficials pointed out possible procurement violations, including the failureto adequately justify the no-bid deal or have it reviewed in advance bytrained procurement officers, officials said.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/18/AR2007011800895_pf.html
Pentagon Releases Rules for Trials of Terrorism Suspects
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 19, 2007; A13
The Defense Department yesterday released its detailed rules for militarytrials of terrorism suspects, a move that reignited last year's controversyover a joint decision by the Bush administration and the Republican-ledCongress to restrict key detainee rights during such trials.
The 238-page manual, issued after a three-month drafting effort, closelytracks the Military Commissions Act, approved mostly by Republicans inSeptember. It incorporates controversial rules blocking a detainee's rightto challenge his or her detention and allowing prosecutors to use hearsayinformation or coerced evidence if a military judge rules that it isreliable and relevant.
The manual is meant to prescribe how military commissions will try some ofthe roughly 395 prisoners now detained at the military prison at GuantanamoBay, Cuba. Officials predicted yesterday that 60 to 80 will face thecommissions.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16489587.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 18, 2007
Prize-winning columnist Art Buchwald dies at 81
WASHINGTON - (AP) -- Columnist and author Art Buchwald, who for over fourdecades chronicled the life and times of Washington with an infectious witand endeared himself to many with his never-say-die battle with failingkidneys, is dead at 81.
Buchwald's son, Joel, who was with his father, disclosed the satirist'sdeath, saying he had passed away quietly at his home late Wednesday with hisfamily.
Buchwald had refused dialysis treatments for his failing kidneys last yearand was expected to die within weeks of moving to a hospice on Feb. 7. Buthe lived to return home and even write a book about his experiences.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Ohio News Now
http://www.ohionewsnow.com/?jrl=616053&sec=home&email=yes&story=sites%2f10tv%2fcontent%2fpool%2f200701%2f911958824.html&clk=70296
Student Being Bullied Online
Reported by Stephanie Mennecke
Threats made on MySpace.com have one central Ohio girl too scared to even goto school.
Officials say it's a growing problem across America. Bullies are takingtheir fright tactics from school hallways right into your home.
One high school freshman in Pickaway County says the bullying carries overinto the school.
"If they're around me, they'll say stuff to make sure I can hear it. Orthey'll purposely run into me with their shoulder," the girl who is bulliedonline told 10tv.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/opinion/19fri2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Editorial
Apology Not Accepted
Published: January 19, 2007
It is hard to render a convincing apology when you are not reallyapologizing. Consider Charles Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary ofstate for detainee affairs, who has been trying to spin his way out of hisloathsome attempt to punish lawyers who represent inmates of the GuantánamoBay internment camp.
Last week, Mr. Stimson expressed his "shock" that major American law firmswould represent terrorism suspects, hinted that they were paid by unsavorycharacters and suggested that companies should reconsider doing businesswith them. On Wednesday, Mr. Stimson said he apologized and regretted thathis comments "left the impression" that he was attacking the integrity ofthose lawyers.
It was not just an impression. It was exactly what he did. Mr. Stimsonactually read out a list of law firms during an interview with a radiostation friendly to the Bush administration.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
The Washington Post
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/01/the_foreign_world_of_barack_ob.html#more
William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security
Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 01/18/2007
The Foreign World of Barack Obama
To say that Barack Obama has no national security credentials is both anunderstatement and irrelevant.
When it comes to national security, moreover, perhaps Obama's inexperiencecould even be turned into an asset.
That is if the Senator from Illinois were willing to reach outsideconventional wisdom and the foreign policy establishment, and go on a searchfor new ideas and new ways of looking at the problem.
"The decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, andthe problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precariousplace," Obama says.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/printer_011807L.shtml
Where Is the Energy for Freedom?
By Kelpie Wilson
t r u t h o u t | Environmental Editor
Thursday 18 January 2007
Are we in Iraq to bring freedom to the Iraqi people, as Bush says, orare we in Iraq to preserve the "easy motoring" freedom of American consumersby staking our claim to Iraq's oil?
For those who have even a passing acquaintance with the geopoliticalreality of how the world's remaining oil is distributed, the answer isobvious: "It's the oil, stupid." Iraq has the world's second-largest reserveof the light, sweet crude oil that sells for billions upon billions ofdollars in the world economy.
And, while some analysts explain Bush's Iraq troop surge as a means topreserve his self-image as "commander in chief" by prolonging the war untilhe can leave his office and the mess to the next administration, it is morelikely, as explained by Truthout's UK correspondent, Chris Floyd ("New OilLaw Means Victory in Iraq for Bush"), that the surge is buying time untilthe Iraqi government ratifies the new hydrocarbon law that divvies up Iraq'soil profits.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
The Columbus Dispatch
http://www.dispatch.com/print_template.php?jrl=616053&story=dispatch%2f2007%2f01%2f18%2f20070118-A1-01.html&rfr=nwsl&clk=70257
Without a passport, you're heading straight for trouble
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tom Reed and Steve Stephens
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Andy Cooper will be flying to Jamaica soon - by way of the Upper Arlingtonpost office.
The sun-soaked Caribbean island has become a favorite vacation spot for the24-year-old Arlington resident, but for the first time in three visits hemust have a U.S. passport.
"I'm going to the post office to apply for one," he said this week. "I'vealready told the two guys who are flying with me that they have to do thesame."
New travel regulations effective Tuesday will require U.S. citizens to havevalid passports to enter the country by air from Mexico, Canada, Bermuda orthe Caribbean.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/16482113.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Wed, Jan. 17, 2007
Obama record in state legislature offers possible ammunition for critics
RYAN KEITH
Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may havea lot of explaining to do.
He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. Hesupported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, butopposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intrudersin their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on.
With only a slim, two-year record in the U.S. Senate, Obama doesn't havemany controversial congressional votes which political opponents can frameinto attack ads. But his eight years as an Illinois state senator aresprinkled with potentially explosive land mines, such as his abortion andgun control votes.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Colorado
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5287145,00.html
Bill would sidestep Electoral College
By The Associated Press
January 18, 2007
Highlights from the legislature on Wednesday:
. Lawmakers tentatively approved a measure that would set up a deal withother states in presidential election years to give all the state'selectoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote.
. The House Judiciary Committee approved a measure that adds people withdisabilities to the Amber Alert missing person program.
New bills introduced would:
. Revise rules for statewide reservoirs to require water remaining at theend of the year to be counted against the next year's supply.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/17/AR2007011701985_pf.html
Bush Retreats on Use of Executive Power
Allowing Court's Role in Surveillance Is Latest Step Back
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 18, 2007; A04
President Bush's decision to submit his warrantless-surveillance program tothe jurisdiction of a special intelligence court represents the latest stepback from the expansive interpretation of executive power he has assertedsince the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Under pressure from Congress and the courts, Bush in the past six months hasclosed secret overseas CIA prisons, transferred previously unidentifieddetainees to regular military custody, negotiated congressional approval fortribunals to try foreign terrorism suspects and accepted at least someregulation of how harshly such prisoners could be interrogated.
Bush has hardly surrendered his effort to broadly define the commander inchief's authority to wage war in the modern era. Just last weekend, he andVice President Cheney told Congress that it has no business trying to stopthe president from sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq. But in other ways,Bush has engaged in a series of strategic fallbacks intended to preservewhat authority he can while fending off escalating political andconstitutional challenges.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
The Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/16487654.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Jan. 18, 2007
No-spank bill on way
By Mike Zapler
MediaNews Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO - The state Legislature is about to weigh in on a question thatstirs impassioned debate among moms and dads: Should parents spank theirchildren?
Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, wants to outlaw spankingchildren up to 3 years old. If she succeeds, California would become thefirst state in the nation to explicitly ban parents from smacking theirkids.
Making a swat on the behind a misdemeanor might seem a bit much for some --and the chances of the idea becoming law appear slim, at best -- but Lieberbegs to differ.
``I think it's pretty hard to argue you need to beat a child 3 years old oryounger,'' Lieber said. ``Is it OK to whip a 1-year-old or a 6-month-old ora newborn?''
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-pollresults,0,5156443.htmlstory
The Sun-Sentinel
Results of recent Sun-Sentinel news polls
These polls are not scientific. Poll results are not posted here if there isevidence of tampering that skewed results.
Jan. 17 Barack Obama, the popular Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois, ispoised to run for president as the most formidable African-Americancandidate ever. Would you consider voting for him in 2008?
41.0%
Yes. (3996 responses)
41.1%
No. (4009 responses)
17.9%
I don't know enough about him to make a decision. (1751 responses)
9756 total responses
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http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/19/opinion/19krugman.html?pagewanted=print
The New York Times
January 19, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Surging and Purging
By PAUL KRUGMAN
There's something happening here, and what it is seems completely clear: theBush administration is trying to protect itself by purgingindependent-minded prosecutors.
Last month, Bud Cummins, the U.S. attorney (federal prosecutor) for theEastern District of Arkansas, received a call on his cellphone while hikingin the woods with his son. He was informed that he had just been replaced byJ. Timothy Griffin, a Republican political operative who has spent the lastfew years working as an opposition researcher for Karl Rove.
Mr. Cummins's case isn't unique. Since the middle of last month, the Bushadministration has pushed out at least four U.S. attorneys, and possibly asmany as seven, without explanation. The list includes Carol Lam, the U.S.attorney for San Diego, who successfully prosecuted Duke Cunningham, aRepublican congressman, on major corruption charges. The top F.B.I. officialin San Diego told The San Diego Union-Tribune that Ms. Lam's dismissal wouldundermine multiple continuing investigations.
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