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FLORIDA RED AND BLUE!!!!
Do your part to fight the right-wing state-wide anti-gay initiativeto amend the Florida constitution.
Friday, September 28, at the GLCC, Ft. Lauderdale - 11:45am to 1:30pm.
Michael and I promised to get a minimum of 10 people to attend thislow dollar boxed lunch - only $25 - to learn about Florida Red And Blue andthe multiple efforts to overcome this hateful amendment. Florida Red andBlue has already raised over $1 million, but our work is only beginning.
Will you support us with this? Every GLBT person in Florida needs to be apart of this effort.
Boxed Lunch Series
$25
Friday, September 28
Noon - 1:30pm
Networking 11:45am
GLCC - Ft. Lauderdale
Send us an e-mail and let us know if you'll join us on the 28th.
And...... If you can't attend, we'll be glad to accept your check made outto
"Florida Red and Blue."
Ray and Michael
rays.list@comcast.net
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/opinion/21krugman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
September 21, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Health Care Hopes
By PAUL KRUGMAN
All the evidence suggests that it has finally become politically possible togive Americans what citizens of every other advanced nation already have:guaranteed health insurance. The economics of universal health care aresound, and polls show strong public support for guaranteed care. The onlything we have to fear is fear itself.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of that around.
True, one kind of fear seems, provisionally, to have been overcome: thetimidity of Democratic politicians scarred by the failure of the originalClinton health plan.
To see how much things have changed, consider Hillary Clinton's evolution.Just 15 months ago, The New York Times reported that "her plans to expandcoverage are tempered and incremental," and that "she continues to shy fromthe ultimate challenge: describing what a comprehensive Democratic healthcare plan would look like."
Indeed, when she was asked how costs might be controlled, she demurred: "Itdepends on what kind of system you're devising. And that's still not at allclear to me, what the body politic will bear."
But that was then.
John Edwards broke the issue of health care reform open in February, when heproposed a smart and serious plan for universal health insurance - andbravely announced his willingness to pay for the plan by letting some of theBush tax cuts expire. Suddenly, universal health care went from being adistant progressive dream to something you could actually envision happeningin the next administration.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/opinion/21fri1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
September 21, 2007
Editorial
In Search of a Congress
If you were one of the Americans waiting for Congress, under Democraticcontrol, to show leadership on the war in Iraq, the message from the Senateis lear: "Nevermind." The same goes for those waiting for lawmakers to fixthe damage done to civil liberties by six years of President Bush and arubber-stamp Republican Congress.
The Democrats don't have, or can't summon, the political strength to makesure Congress does what it is supposed to do: debate profound issues likethese and take a stand. The Republicans are simply not interested in aserious discussion and certainly not a vote on anything beyond Mr. Bush'sincreasingly narrow agenda.
On Wednesday, the Senate failed to vote on two major bills. One would haverestored basic human rights and constitutional protections to hundreds offoreigners who are in perpetual detention, without charges or trial. Theother was the one measure on the conduct of the Iraq war that survived theDemocrats' hasty retreat after last week's smoke-and-mirrors display by Gen.David Petraeus and President Bush.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/opinion/21kaplan.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
September 21, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Lost at Sea
By ROBERT D. KAPLAN
THE ultimate strategic effect of the Iraq war has been to hasten the arrivalof the Asian Century.
While the American government has been occupied in Mesopotamia, and ourEuropean allies continue to starve their defense programs, Asianmilitaries - in particular those of China, India, Japan and South Korea -have been quietly modernizing and in some cases enlarging. Asian dynamism isnow military as well as economic.
The military trend that is hiding in plain sight is the loss of the PacificOcean as an American lake after 60 years of near-total dominance. A fewyears down the road, according to the security analysts at the privatepolicy group Strategic Forecasting, Americans will not to the same extent bethe prime deliverers of disaster relief in a place like the Indonesianarchipelago, as we were in 2005. Our ships will share the waters (and theprestige) with new "big decks" from Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Then there is China, whose production and acquisition of submarines is nowfive times that of America's. Many military analysts feel it is mounting aquantitative advantage in naval technology that could erode our qualitativeone. Yet the Chinese have been buying smart rather than across the board.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/opinion/21fri2.html?ref=opinion
September 21, 2007
Editorial
Mocking the Powerless and the Powerful
A trail of blood leads from the genocide in Darfur back to the highestlevels of government in Khartoum. So Sudan's announcement earlier this monththat it would form its own committee to investigate human rights violationsin Darfur never inspired tremendous hope. Khartoum's choice to lead thecommittee, however, was even more cynical than we could have imagined and adeliberate slap in the face to the United Nations and the InternationalCriminal Court.
Ahmad Harun - whose appointment was announced while the United Nationssecretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was in Sudan for talks on the crisis - isone of only two people the court has charged so far with war crimes andcrimes against humanity in Darfur.
As Sudan's interior minister from 2003 to 2005, Mr. Harun recruited, fundedand armed the janjaweed militias, who murdered at least 200,000 people anddrove 2.5 million more from their homes. Now, as minister of humanitarianaffairs, he controls the fate of the survivors. He decides when and whereaid organizations can go, and some of these international agencies, on whomhundreds of thousands of refugees depend for their survival, have accusedMr. Harun of blocking their work.
The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Mr. Harun's arrest inthe spring, but Sudan denied its jurisdiction and refused to cooperate
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/opinion/21fri3.html?ref=opinion
September 21, 2007
Editorial
Oh, That Past
One of the divertissements and disillusions of the primary season iswatching the presidential contenders double back in denial of their ownlocal political roots as they play to the biases of their parties' nationalnominating base. A prime example occurs today when Rudolph Giuliani, formermayor of New York - where the murder rate made him a chief advocate ofbanning assault weapons on the home front - seeks the blessing of theNational Rifle Association.
As he approaches his speech in Washington before the N.R.A.'s lock-n-loadzealots, the Giuliani campaign denies that its contender is trying to reviseand amend his well-documented past as a fervid City Hall lobbyist forfederal gun controls.
"What works in New York doesn't necessarily work in Mississippi or Montana,"the Giuliani campaign now declares, presenting the candidate as a trueadherent of states' rights when it comes to the gun mayhem taking 30,000American lives a year. (We're sure he'd rather not remember that PresidentBill Clinton lauded him for helping pass the now-defunct national ban onassault weapons.)
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/washington/21bush.html?pagewanted=print
September 21, 2007
Bush Threatens Veto of Child Health Bill
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 - President Bush, bracing for a series of battles withCongress over spending, threatened on Thursday to veto a bill expanding apopular children's health insurance program, calling it "a step towardfederalization of health care."
The program expires Sept. 30, and Congress is on the verge of renewing it byproviding coverage to an additional 4 million children over the 6.6 millionalready enrolled - at an additional cost of $35 billion over five years. Mr.Bush says the bill would expand a program aimed at helping the poor beyondits original intent.
The veto threat is just one of nearly a dozen the White House has issuedrecently aimed at a variety of bills including measures on educationspending and financing for medical research. With the fiscal year endingSept. 30, Mr. Bush and Congressional Democrats are headed for a showdownover spending similar to the one that preceded the government shutdown of1995.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/science/21arctic.html
September 21, 2007
Scientists Report Severe Retreat of Arctic Ice
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Sept. 20 - The cap of floating sea ice on the ArcticOcean, which retreats under summer's warmth, this year shrank more than onemillion square miles - or six Californias - below the average minimum areareached in recent decades, scientists reported Thursday.
The minimum ice area for this year, 1.59 million square miles, appeared tobe reached Sunday. The ice is now spreading again under the influence of thedeep Arctic chill that settles in as the sun drops below the horizon at theNorth Pole for six months, starting Friday.
The findings were reported by the National Snow and Ice Data Center inBoulder, Colo., and posted online at www.nsidc.org.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/education/21stanford.html
September 21, 2007
Rumsfeld as Fellow Draws a Protest at Stanford
By JONATHAN D. GLATER
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 19 - The appointment of Donald H. Rumsfeld, theformer defense secretary, as a distinguished visiting fellow at the HooverInstitution is drawing fierce protests from faculty members and students atStanford University and is threatening to rekindle tensions between theinstitution, a conservative research body, and the more liberal campus.
Some 2,100 professors, staff members, students and alumni have signed anonline petition protesting Mr. Rumsfeld's appointment, which will involveadvising a task force on ideology and terrorism. Faculty members say heshould not have been offered the post because of his role in the Bushadministration's prosecution of the Iraq war.
"We view the appointment as fundamentally incompatible with the ethicalvalues of truthfulness, tolerance, disinterested enquiry, respect fornational and international laws and care for the opinions, property andlives of others to which Stanford is inalienably committed," the petitionreads.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092002629.html?hpid=topnews
A Separatist Revolution Percolates in Belgium
Many in Flemish North Advocate Split From French-Speaking South
By Molly Moore and John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 21, 2007; Page A12
BRUSSELS -- In the back room of an exclusive social club across the streetfrom the U.S. Embassy here, Flemish separatists are plotting the breakup ofBelgium.
In their tailored suits and silk ties, they appear unlikely rebels. Their67-year-old leader, Remi Vermeiren, is the retired president of one ofBelgium's biggest banks. Today, along with nearly half of his Flemishcompatriots, he advocates slicing the country in half, creating twoindependent nations: Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north andFrench-speaking Wallonia in the south.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092001956.html
Drive Time for the 'Jena 6'
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, September 21, 2007; Page A19
How did thousands of African Americans come to descend on the town of Jena,La., yesterday for a march and rally that brought to mind the heady days ofthe civil rights movement? The answer says as much about what has changedover the past half-century as it says about what hasn't.
Most people know the outlines of the story by now, but here's a synopsis:Black students at the local high school sat under a tree that everyone knewwas a place where white students usually congregated. White students reactedby hanging three nooses in the tree. Racial tensions escalated from there,including fights in which both black and white students got roughed up, butno one was seriously injured. Local officials, who are white, handled thewhite offenders with a "boys will be boys" attitude -- a few brief schoolsuspensions, basically. Black offenders were expelled from school, arrestedand charged as adults with felony offenses, including attempted murder.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092001958.html
Jim Crow Comes for Our Kids
By Amina Luqman
Friday, September 21, 2007; Page A19
Something about the case of the "Jena 6" has sparked a rumbling within theblack community. It's ironic, sadly, because there is an everyday samenessto what has happened. Consider: A racially provoked incident and alackluster community response -- same as ever. Extreme charges brought forless-than-spectacular alleged crimes -- same as ever. An overzealousprosecutor, an inept defense attorney, an all-white jury, witnesses notcalled, a quick guilty verdict -- same, same, same. Unfortunately, any ofthese elements is less than extraordinary in black American life.
Why do the Jena 6 resonate? How have they pierced the desensitizing barriersthat black Americans use for everyday survival? What about the case made mymother's stomach knot up, my sister's eyes well with tears? What has driventhousands to travel to Jena, La., to protest? Perhaps it's the confluence ofelements, how they mix together into a poisonous cocktail of injustice, thatfeels different. Or maybe it's less about what happened and more about thefact that it happened to our children.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092001955_pf.html
Middle East Volcano
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, September 21, 2007; A19
On Sept. 6, something important happened in northern Syria. Problem is, noone knows exactly what. Except for those few who were involved, and they'renot saying.
We do know that Israel carried out an airstrike. How do we know it wasimportant? Because in Israel, where leaking is an art form, even thebest-informed don't have a clue. They tell me they have never seen abetter-kept secret.
Which suggests that whatever happened near Dayr az Zawr was no accidentalintrusion into Syrian airspace, no dry run for an attack on Iran, no strikeon some conventional target such as an Iranian Revolutionary Guard base or aweapons shipment on its way to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Circumstantial evidence points to this being an attack on some nuclearfacility provided by North Korea.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/851/story/245326.html
Posted on Fri, Sep. 21, 2007
Don't infringe on my rights, bro!
By RON SACHS
One of the most widely viewed videos seen by millions on the Web this weekis of an obnoxious young student who rudely asked questions while at a forumwith Sen. John Kerry at the University of Florida in Gainesville.After interrupting the proceedings to ask his questions, UFtelecommunications senior Andrew Meyer had his microphone cut off, wasforcefully escorted from the forum and was shocked with a Taser. As thevolts coursed through his body, Meyer's painful screams reverberated throughan auditorium hushed in stunned silence.
Arrogant, obnoxious
If you watch the video (it's all over the Web), you'll see that Meyer'squestions to Kerry -- of allegations of voter fraud in Ohio, of impeachingPresident Bush and of the senator's membership in the secretive Skull &Bones fraternity -- were rude. Meyer's attitude was arrogant, obnoxious andabrasive. But the last time I checked, that's not a felony in the UnitedStates -- or else many more of us would find ourselves in jail.
What does seem criminal is the collective indifference of the detachedmembers of the audience, including Kerry, the man who could have beenpresident.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/story/242637.html
Posted on Wed, Sep. 19, 2007
When the justice system lacks justice
By LEONARD PITTS JR.
White men taking sledgehammers to the door of the jailhouse in Marion, Ind.,intending to murder three African-American prisoners. The sheriff orders hismen not to interfere.
White men hearing testimony tying two white defendants conclusively to thekidnap, torture and murder of a black boy in Money, Miss. The jury takesless than an hour to set them free.
White men with badges arresting three civil rights workers for an allegedtraffic violation in Neshoba County, Miss. Forty-four days later, theworkers' bodies are dug out of an earthen dam.
There are other examples -- literally thousands -- but let three suffice tomake the point. Which is that African Americans have frequently found thejustice system to be about anything but justice. From the day slavery ended,that system has often been its surrogate, a tool used specifically for thesuppression and control of black people.
There was no artifice about it. This conspiracy of beat cops and countysheriffs and DAs and judges and senators and attorneys general operatedopenly and with impunity. Everyone knew there were simply different rules,different enforcement and different punishment for blacks.
Maybe your impulse is to seal all that off in a mental box called history,interesting, lamentable, but hardly relevant. In which case, what will yousay about Jena?
Meaning, of course, the tiny Louisiana town now infamous for a series ofevents that began a year ago when a black high school student asked theprincipal if it was OK for him to sit under a shade tree white kids claimedas theirs. The principal told him yes. But the next day, nooses were foundhanging in the tree.
The principal wanted the white kids who did it expelled, but thesuperintendent overruled him, briefly suspending them instead. Expulsion, hefelt, was excessive for this ``prank.''
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From Pew Research Center
http://pewresearch.org/
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Petraeus' Proposals Draw Public Approval, But Fail to Lift War SupportA new Pew survey finds most Americans (57%) approve of the general'srecommendations for troop withdrawals, but just 16% say Petraeus' statementshave made them more optimistic about the war, while 67% say their views wereunchanged by the general's report. Read more
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/596/petraeus-proposals-draw-public-approval-but-fail-to-lift-war-support
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Voter Impressions: Clinton Seen as 'Tough' and 'Smart' -- Giuliani as'Energetic'
Views of Hillary Clinton are more sharply drawn than those of other leading candidates in either party. Two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leanerssay Clinton is the Democratic candidate who jumps to mind when they hear theword tough; more than half associate her with smart. Among GOP voters,pluralities name Giuliani as the Republican candidate most closely linkedwith energetic, compassionate and optimistic, as well as tough and smart.
Read more
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/599/voters-election
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Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-petraeussep21,1,4525832.story
GOP rips Obama, Clinton for not backing rebuke of anti-war ad
By Ann Sanner
Associated Press
September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON
Republicans on Thursday tried to turn a controversial anti-war newspaper adagainst Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obamaafter neither voted to condemn it.
The Senate voted 72-25 to pass a resolution condemning a MoveOn.org ad thatreferred to Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, as"Gen. Betray Us." The liberal group's full-page ad appeared last week in TheNew York Times.
Clinton of New York voted against the measure and Obama of Illinois did notvote.
"This amendment was a stunt designed only to score cheap political pointswhile what we should be doing is focusing on the deadly serious challenge weface in Iraq," Obama said in a statement. "By not casting a vote, Iregistered my protest against this empty politics."
Among the presidential hopefuls, Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona andSam Brownback of Kansas voted for the resolution sponsored by Sen. JohnCornyn (R-Texas). Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut voted againstit.
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-moveon21sep21,1,5735285.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Senate squares off with MoveOn
By Maura Reynolds, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Republicans escalated a rhetorical war with Democrats overpolitical advertising on Thursday, as the Senate voted 72 to 25 to condemnan attack on the U.S. commander in Iraq by the liberal activist groupMoveOn.org.
President Bush entered the fray for the first time, describing a newspaperad sponsored by MoveOn.org -- which ridiculed Army Gen. David H. Petraeus as"General Betray Us" -- as "disgusting."
"I felt like the ad was an attack not only on Gen. Petraeus, but on the U.S.military," Bush said at a news conference. "Most Democrats are [more] afraidof irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org . . . than they are ofirritating the United States military. That was a sorry deal."
The full-page ad was published in the New York Times on Sept. 10, the firstday Petraeus testified before Congress on conditions in Iraq. It has sparkeda controversy fueled by Republican politicians who believe that it cast apall over their Democratic opponents.
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-cause21sep21,0,4076298,print.story?coll=la-home-center
AUSE CÉLÈBRE / TINA DAUNT
MoveOn ad shakes some up
By TINA DAUNT
CAUSE CÉLÈBRE
September 21, 2007
IT looked for a while as if MoveOn.org had become one of Hollywood'sfavorite liberal advocacy groups, especially for those looking for a placeto express their antiwar sentiments without incurring a lot of unfavorablepublicity.
Directors and celebrities lined up to help the Internet-based organizationformed in 1998 in the wake of President Clinton's impeachment. Oliver Stonedirected an antiwar ad for the group, as did Rob Reiner. Moby offered hismusical talent, rallying other artists like Michael Stipe and Eddie Vedderto get involved. Director Richard Linklater and writer Aaron Sorkin produceda series of anti-Bush ads in the run-up to the 2004 election. ProducerRobert Greenwald and actor Mike Farrell organized celebrities on behalf ofthe group before the war even started.
But last week when MoveOn ignited controversy by issuing an ad attackingArmy Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the American troops in Iraq,entertainment industry politicos began to wonder if the group had gone toofar and in fact become a liability for the largely Democratic Hollywoodcrowd.
"Most people saw it as a mistake that really hurt progressive candidates,"said one Hollywood insider, who asked not to be named because he continuesto be involved in fundraising efforts. "We just handed the Republicans agift. It's like MoveOn has become tone-deaf. I think people will be morecautious and careful about what they do with MoveOn in the future."
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-congress21sep21,0,6741193.story?coll=la-home-center
Democrats fail to gain ground on Iraq
Party leaders still haven't found ways to outmaneuver Bush or gain enoughGOP support for antiwar efforts.
By Noam N. Levey
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - -- Slouching in a chair in his Capitol suite Thursdayafternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made little show of hiding hisfrustration over the defeat of Democrats' latest bid to rein in the Iraqwar.
"The power of the White House was too much," the Nevada Democrat saidglumly.
Despite days of lobbying and cajoling, Reid and other Democratic lawmakerson Wednesday had failed again to persuade more than a handful of Republicansto back a proposal to give troops more rest between deployments -- a movethat would constrain their use in Iraq.
And although Reid and other senior Democrats pledged to keep working onlegislation to force an end to the 4 1/2 -year-old war, none offered any newideas on how to outmaneuver a president who has derailed every effort thisyear challenging his wartime leadership.
Senior Democrats still have not devised ways to counter the influence of themilitary officials whom the Bush administration sends to Capitol Hill tocaution against congressional meddling in national security.
The Democratic leaders remain tied to an antiwar movement that repulses manymoderate Republicans, lawmakers who most recently recoiled at the newspaperad by MoveOn.org attacking Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commanderin Iraq, ahead of his congressional testimony last week.
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-race21sep21,1,6975841.story?coll=la-news-politics-national&track=crosspromo
'Jena Six' case puts candidates on the spot
Obama and Clinton could court black support by joining in protests, but suchaction could be a political liability down the road. So far, they're keepingtheir distances.
By Peter Wallsten
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - -- In their quest for black voters, Democratic presidentialfront-runners Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama raced to Selma, Ala.,six months ago to commemorate a historic civil rights march. Each usedtightly scripted church sermons to declare their personal links to thefreedom fighters of the 1960s.
But Thursday, as thousands poured into a small Louisiana town to protest thecase of six black youths that has emerged as a cause celebre for themodern-day civil rights movement, the candidates kept their distance --addressing the issue with measured statements and appearances this week onblack-oriented radio shows.
The contrast underscored the challenges posed to each candidate by the caseof the so-called Jena Six.
Both Clinton and Obama need black support, particularly in the crucial SouthCarolina Democratic primary, where half of the electorate is black and pollsshow the front-runners competing neck and neck for that bloc. But bothcampaigns also must avoid potential political damage from becoming linkedtoo closely to a racially explosive case that may carry far less moralclarity in the minds of the broader electorate than do the civil rightsbattles of old.
"I'm a little disappointed," Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.),chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said of the candidates'responses to the Jena case.
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/09/21/mukasey_vows_to_fire_aides_who_talk_with_white_house/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
Mukasey vows to fire aides who talk with White House
By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press | September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush's pick for attorney general has promised to fireany Justice Department employee who discusses sensitive cases with the WhiteHouse without his approval, a leading Democratic senator said yesterday.
Earlier this week, retired federal judge Michael Mukasey told anothersenator he would also fire employees who failed to report being asked aboutcases by politicians, such as elected lawmakers.
The pledges were part of Mukasey's attempts to soothe critics, includingthose in Congress, who believe the Justice Department has become too closeto White House politics.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday, chairman Patrick Leahyrecounted asking Mukasey during a private meeting about White House meddlingin criminal and civil cases.
"And he said, 'I'll tell you right now, if anybody calls any member of theJustice Department, if I'm attorney general they'll be given two numbers:It'll be the telephone number of the attorney general and the telephonenumber of the deputy attorney general. And they'll be told that if they wantto talk to anybody, these are the only two people who can talk about thiscase. And we may well not talk about it,' " Leahy, Democrat of Vermont,quoted Mukasey.
Mukasey continued by adding that if a Justice Department employee discussescases "with somebody outside, whether from the White House or members ofCongress or something else like that, they will be fired," Leahy recalled."That's the kind of attitude I like."
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/09/21/30m_could_put_gingrich_on_track_for_white_house/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
$30m could put Gingrich on track for White House
September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - Former House speaker Newt Gingrich says he still might run forpresident if supporters will pledge $30 million by November.
"You can't bring all your good ideas if you don't have the resources tocommunicate," Gingrich told reporters yesterday.
Gingrich is holding a national Internet-based workshop next week. Afterward,his top political adviser, Randy Evans, will spend October seeing if he cangenerate pledges of $30 million, which Gingrich said would be needed tocompete with the leader in the GOP presidential money chase, formerMassachusetts governor Mitt Romney.
On Nov. 1, if the pledges pan out, Gingrich will consider running, he said.He didn't say when he would decide but noted that Nov. 13, when RonaldReagan announced his candidacy in 1979, is a "propitious" date.
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/09/21/bush_challenges_lawmakers_to_renew_child_health_plan?mode=PF
Bush challenges lawmakers to renew child health plan
By Kevin Freking, Associated Press | September 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush challenged Democrats yesterday to quickly renewa popular children's health insurance program and accused them of "puttingpoor children at risk" for political purposes.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program is set to expire Sept. 30.Democrats are pushing for a $35 billion spending increase. But Bush hasthreatened to veto it and has proposed a $5 billion increase.
Some Democrats, he said, believe they can score political points by sendinghim a bill they know he will veto.
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