NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST December 15, 2007

**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.

=

NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/us/15lsu.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1197720668-YgRj0glIWAIZ/DehXH2Anw&pagewanted=print

2 L.S.U. Students Shot Dead Inside Campus Apartment

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 15, 2007

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Two graduate students were found shot to death lateThursday at a Louisiana State University apartment, and officials decided tokeep the campus open on Friday while the police searched for three killers.

The victims, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam, both Ph.D.students from India, were found inside an apartment at the Edward Gaycomplex late Thursday night after the authorities received an emergencycall.

Police patrols were increased on the 28,000-student campus on Friday. Thedecision not to lock down the campus was made by the police after theydetermined that the shooting was an isolated attack, said Sean O'Keefe, theuniversity chancellor.

Mr. Allam's pregnant wife called 911 at 10:37 p.m. Thursday after findingthe men dead, campus officials said. Mr. Komma, a biology student, had beenvisiting Mr. Allam, who was in the chemistry program.

The men were each shot once in the head, said Charles Zewe, a universityspokesman. Mr. Komma, 31, was bound with a computer cable, and Mr. Allam,33, was found near the door. Mr. O'Keefe said that nothing appeared to bestolen, leaving the police unclear about a motive.

Three men were seen leaving the area, and the police searched for them onFriday, Mr. Zewe said.

The apartment building where the shootings occurred is designated formarried and graduate students and is on the edge of the campus, close to oneof Baton Rouge's highest-crime areas. The complex has a tall fenceseparating it from the off-campus neighborhood, but it has no gates orsurveillance cameras.



=

Abstinence-only? Abstain

Palm Beach Post Editorial
Saturday, December 15, 2007

Twenty-thousand more babies were born to teenagers in 2006 than in 2005. Theincrease in the teen birth rate was the first in 15 years - proof,obviously, that abstinence-only education is working.

Stunningly illogical, right?

Yet despite overwhelming evidence that abstinence-only-until-marriageprograms do not work, the United States spends $176 million on suchprograms. Last month, a study commissioned by the nonpartisan NationalCampaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy concluded: "At present,there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delaysthe initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence, or reduces thenumber of sexual partners."

The study did find success, however - with comprehensive sex educationprograms.

With the nation's sixth-highest rate of teen pregnancy and second- highestrate of annual HIV infection, Florida, in particular, should make it apriority to replace ineffective abstinence-only programs with comprehensiveeducation about reproductive health, sexually transmitted diseases andcontraception.

At the urging of Superintendent Michael Lannon and with the support ofcommunity leaders, the St. Lucie County School Board on Tuesday approved acurriculum that will teach students about condoms. The board approved theGet Real About AIDS curriculum for fourth through 12th grades in response tothe county's near-epidemic rates of HIV infection among African-Americans -the highest in the state. "I have to ask myself," board member Judi Millersaid, "what the numbers will be in the future if we don't adopt thiscurriculum."

more....



=

NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/us/15episcopal.html?pagewanted=print

Anglican Archbishop Faults Factions

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
December 15, 2007

The archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, sent a lengthyletter to the members of his warring Anglican Communion on Friday, sayingthat both sides had violated the Communion's boundaries and put the churchin crisis.

He criticized the American branch, the Episcopal Church, for departing fromthe Communion's consensus on Scripture by ordaining an openly gay bishop andblessing same-sex unions, "in the name of the church."

But the archbishop faulted conservative prelates in Africa, Asia and LatinAmerica for annexing American parishes and an entire California diocese thathave recently left the Episcopal Church, and for ordaining conservativeAmericans as bishops and priests.

"There can be no doubt that these ordinations have not been encouraged orlegitimized by the Communion over all," the archbishop wrote, contradictingthose conservatives who said they were acting with his approval.

Of all the new moves, he wrote: "On the ground, it creates rivalry andconfusion. It opens the door to complex and unedifying legal wrangles incivil courts."

more . . . . .



=

WashingtonPost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402160.html

BRITAIN
Anglican Leader Reaffirms Exclusion of Two Bishops

The archbishop of Canterbury said Friday he would not reverse his decisionto exclude a gay U.S. bishop from joining other bishops at a global Anglicangathering next year.

The office of Archbishop Rowan Williams said he also had not changed hismind about refusing an invitation to Martyn Minns, a traditionalist who wasconsecrated as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Nigeria to minister todisaffected Episcopalians in the United States. He is a former rector ofTruro Church in Fairfax City, Va.



=


Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
frishkorn@bellsouth.ne

Published on Friday, December 14, 2007 by WexlerWantsHearings.com
A Case for Impeachment Hearings

by Robert Wexler (D-FL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)

On November 7, the House of Representatives voted to send a resolution ofimpeachment of Vice President Cheney to the Judiciary Committee. As Membersof the House Judiciary Committee, we strongly believe these importanthearings should begin.

The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegationsof abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes andmisdemeanors under our constitution. The charges against Vice PresidentCheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, therevelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, andthe illegal wiretapping of American citizens.

Now that former White House press secretary Scott McClellan has indicatedthat the Vice President and his staff purposefully gave him falseinformation about the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent toreport to the American people, it is even more important for Congress toinvestigate what may have been an intentional obstruction of justice.Congress should call Mr. McClellan to testify about what he described asbeing asked to "unknowingly [pass] along false information." In addition,recent revelations have shown that the Administration including VicePresident Cheney may have again manipulated and exaggerated evidence aboutweapons of mass destruction - this time about Iran's nuclear capabilities.

Some of us were in Congress during the impeachment hearings of PresidentClinton. We spent a year and a half listening to testimony about PresidentClinton's personal relations. This must not be the model for impeachmentinquires. A Democratic Congress can show that it takes its constitutionalauthority seriously and hold a sober investigation, which will stand instark contrast to the kangaroo court convened by Republicans for PresidentClinton. In fact, the worst legacy of the Clinton impeachment - where theGOP pursued trumped up and insignificant allegations - would be that itdiscourages future Congresses from examining credible and significantallegations of a constitutional nature when they arise.

more....



=

Columbus Free Press

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2920

Departments; Election Issues
Ohio Secretary of State confirms 2004 election could have been stolen

by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
December 14, 2007

Ohio's Secretary of State announced this morning that a $1.9 millionofficial study shows that "critical security failures" are embeddedthroughout the voting systems in the state that decided the 2004 election.Those failures, she says, "could impact the integrity of elections in theBuckeye State." They have rendered Ohio's vote counts "vulnerable" tomanipulation and theft by "fairly simple techniques."

Indeed, she says, "the tools needed to compromise an accurate vote countcould be as simple as tampering with the paper audit trail connector orusing a magnet and a personal digital assistant."

In other words, Ohio's top election official has finally confirmed that the2004 election could have been easily stolen.

Brunner's stunning findings apply to electronic voting machines used in 58of Ohio's 88 counties, in addition to scanning devices and centraltabulators used on paper ballots in much of the rest of the state.

Brunner is calling for widespread changes to the way Ohio casts and countsits ballots. Her announcement follows moves by California Secretary of StateDeborah Bowen to disqualify electronic voting machines in the nation'sbiggest state.

In tandem, these two reports add a critical state-based dimension to thegrowing mountain of evidence that the US electoral system is rife withinsecurities. Reports from the Brennan Center, the Carter-Baker Commission,the Government Accountability Office, the Conyers Committee Task ForceReport, Princeton University and others have offered differing perspectivesthat add up to the same conclusion.

Coming in the state that decided the 2004 election for George W. Bush,Brunner's confirmation of the electoral system's vulnerabilities adds hugenew weight to the charge that the Buckeye State's vote count was stolen.

In a series of investigative reports dating to well before the 2004election, the Columbus Free Press and Freepress.org have documented severaldozen different means used by the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign to stealthe official 2004 vote count.

The final official tally for Bush---less than 119,000 votes out of 5.4million cast---varied by 6.7% from exit poll results, which showed a Kerryvictory. Exit polls in 2004 were designed to have a margin of error of about1%.

more...



=

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/world/16climate.html?hp

Timetable Is Set to Revive Climate Treaty

By THOMAS FULLER and ANDREW C. REVKIN
December 16, 2007

NUSA DUA, Indonesia - Delegates from nearly 190 countries wrapped up twoweeks of intense and at times emotional talks here on Saturday with atwo-year timetable for reviving an ailing, aging climate treaty.

The deal came after the United States, facing sharp verbal attacks in afinal open-door negotiating session, reversed its opposition to alast-minute amendment by India.

"We've listened very closely to many of our colleagues here during these twoweeks, but especially to what has been said in this hall today," PaulaDobriansky, who led the American delegation, told the other assembleddelegates. "We will go forward and join consensus."

The Bush administration had earlier made a significant change in policy,ending its long-held objection to formal negotiations on new steps to avoidclimate dangers. This time, the United States agreed to set a deadline foran addendum to the original treaty, the Framework Convention on ClimateChange, which was signed by President George H.W. Bush during his final yearin office in 1992.

The agreement notes the need for "urgency" in addressing climate change andrecognizes that "deep cuts in global emissions will be required."

more . . . . .



=

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/washington/15intel.html?hp

Delay Is Sought by Justice Dept. on C.I.A. Inquiry

By DAVID JOHNSTON and MARK MAZZETTI
December 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department asked the House Intelligence Committeeon Friday to postpone its investigation into the destruction of videotapesby the Central Intelligence Agency in 2005, saying the Congressional inquirypresented "significant risks" to its own preliminary investigation into thematter.

The department is taking an even harder line with other Congressionalcommittees looking into the matter, and is refusing to provide informationabout any role it might have played in the destruction of the videotapes.The recordings covered hundreds of hours of interrogations of two operativesof Al Qaeda.

The Justice Department and the C.I.A.'s inspector general have begun apreliminary inquiry into the destruction of the tapes, and Attorney GeneralMichael B. Mukasey said the department would not comply with Congressionalrequests for information now because of "our interest in avoiding anyperception that our law enforcement decisions are subject to politicalinfluence."

Over all, the position taken by Mr. Mukasey, who took office last month,represented what Justice Department officials described as an effort tocaution Congress against meddling in the tapes case and other politicallyexplosive criminal cases.

The Justice Department request was met with anger from both Republican andDemocratic members of the House Intelligence Committee, who said thedepartment was trying to interfere with their investigation. The committeehad summoned two C.I.A. officials to testify at a hearing next week, asession that will now almost certainly be postponed.

more . . . . .



=

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/opinion/15sat1.html?ref=opinion

Editorial: A Long Time Coming

December 15, 2007

It took 31 years, but the moral bankruptcy, social imbalance, legalimpracticality and ultimate futility of the death penalty has finallypenetrated the consciences of lawmakers in one of the 37 states thatarrogates to itself the right to execute human beings.

This week, the New Jersey Assembly and Senate passed a law abolishing thedeath penalty, and Gov. Jon Corzine, a staunch opponent of execution,promised to sign the measure very soon. That will make New Jersey the firststate to strike the death penalty from its books since the Supreme Court setguidelines for the nation's system of capital punishment three decades ago.

Some lawmakers voted out of principled opposition to the death penalty.Others felt that having the law on the books without enforcing it (NewJersey has had a moratorium on executions since 2006) made a mockery oftheir argument that it has deterrent value. Whatever the motivation ofindividual legislators, by forsaking a barbaric practice that grievouslyhurts the global reputation of the United States without advancing publicsafety, New Jersey has set a worthy example for the federal government, andfor other states that have yet to abandon the creaky, error-prone machineryof death.

New Jersey's decision to replace the death penalty with a sentence of lifewithout parole seems all the wiser coming in the middle of a month that hasalready seen the convictions of two people formerly on death row in otherstates repudiated. In one case, the defendant was found not guilty followinga new trial.

The momentum to repeal capital punishment has been building in New Jerseysince January, when a 13-member legislative commission recommended itsabolition. The panel, which included two prosecutors, a police chief,members of the clergy and a man whose daughter was murdered in 2000, citedserious concerns about the imperfect nature of the justice system and thechance of making an irreversible mistake. The commission also concluded,quite correctly, that capital punishment is both a poor deterrent and"inconsistent with evolving standards of decency."

more . . . . .



=

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/opinion/15sat2.html?ref=opinion

Editorial: The Court That May Not Be Heard

December 15, 2007

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the special court that reviewsgovernment requests for warrants to spy on suspected foreign agents in theUnited States, seems to have forgotten that its job is to ensure that thegovernment is accountable for following the law - not to help the Bushadministration keep its secrets.

Last week, the court denied a request by the American Civil Liberties Unionto release portions of past rulings that would explain how it hasinterpreted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. There arelegitimate national security concerns at stake, but the court should shareits legal reasoning with the public.

After the 9/11 attacks, the National Security Agency for years engaged indomestic spying that violated both FISA and the Constitution. Earlier thisyear, after a court ruled that the program was illegal, the Bushadministration said that in the future it would conduct surveillance withthe approval of the intelligence court. At the same time, it announced thata judge of the court had issued orders setting out how the program couldproceed.

The administration has repeatedly referred to these orders, but has refusedto make them public. As a result, it is impossible for the American people -and even some members of Congress - to know how the court reached itsconclusions, or the state of the law with respect to domestic surveillance.

Much of the information the intelligence court handles must be kept secret.If the government seeks a warrant to spy on a suspected terrorist it iscritical that the suspect not know. Even more general information about whatgroups the government is looking at, or what targets it believes to bethreatened, could be of enormous value to people who mean to do the UnitedStates harm. The public should not be given this information.

more . . . . .



=

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Pakistan.html?hp

Musharraf Lifts Pakistan's State of Emergency

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 15, 2007
Filed at 11:11 a.m. ET

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- President Pervez Musharraf lifted a six-week-oldstate of emergency Saturday and said in a nationally televised address thathe imposed it as a last resort to save Pakistan from destruction from anunspecified conspiracy.

Musharraf said unnamed conspirators had hatched a plot with members of thejudiciary to derail the country's transition to democracy. Parliamentaryelections, scheduled for Jan. 8, will determine who will form the nextgovernment.

''Against my will, as a last resort, I had to impose the emergency in orderto save Pakistan,'' Musharraf said. ''The conspiracy was hatched todestabilize the country. I cannot tell how much pain the nation and Isuffered due to this conspiracy.''

Musharraf has previously said he imposed the state of emergency to halt a''conspiracy'' by top judges to end his eight-year rule and ward offpolitical chaos that would hobble Pakistan's efforts against Islamicextremism. He has also insisted that the Supreme Court, which had beenpoised to rule on the legality of his October re-election, was acting beyondthe constitution.

''Now the conspiracy has been foiled, and the election will be held on Jan.8 ... in a free and fair manner,'' he said in the 20-minute address.

more . . . . .



=

The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/americas/15bolivia.html

Bolivians Now Hear Ominous Tones in the Calls to Arms

By SIMON ROMERO
December 15, 2007

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia - "Against narco-communism," reads one line of graffitiin this city in the lowlands of Bolivia. "To arms, Cruceños," reads another,calling on residents to fight the government of President Evo Morales, whoput the armed forces on alert this week as four eastern provinces movetoward greater autonomy.

Elsewhere in South America, such calls might be dismissed as mere bombast.
But not in Bolivia, where fears of political violence are intensifying inSanta Cruz, a bastion of opposition to Mr. Morales, a former coca grower andthe nation's first indigenous president.

Those tensions may reach a crest on Saturday. That is when leaders of SantaCruz province and three other provinces - Tarija, Beni and Pando - areexpected to declare their autonomy before tens of thousands ofantigovernment protesters. Santa Cruz's assembly has already taken a step inthat direction, passing a resolution on Thursday giving the province abigger share of tax and petroleum revenues and allowing it to constitute itsown police forces and create its own television network.

"They call us reactionaries, but we have a lot to react against," saidWilson Salas Pinto, 43, a director of the Bolivian Socialist Falange, aright-wing group here whose members wear black berets and parade with theirhands in the air à la Mussolini. "Evo wants to transplant Cuban Communism toBolivia. We're prepared to resist that project."

Upon first glance at the ethnic tensions here, it is easy to focus onincreasingly vocal fringe groups like the Falange. A counterpart on the leftis the Ponchos Rojos, or Red Ponchos, indigenous activists from the highplains who recently slit the throats of two dogs before television camerasas a warning to those who resist Mr. Morales's plans.

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401229.html

A Conversation With Pervez Musharraf

By Lally Weymouth
Sunday, December 16, 2007; B1

An angry President Pervez Musharraf defended imposing a state of emergencyon Pakistan and blamed the Western media for many of his problems -- fromincreased attacks by Islamic extremists to lawyers who have taken to thestreets to protest his suspension of the constitution and firing of thecountry's chief justice. In an interview with Newsweek-Washington Post'sLally Weymouth, the Pakistani president reiterated that he would lift thestate of emergency Saturday but will not reinstate judges who opposed him.Despite his opponents' doubts, Musharraf insisted he will ensure a free andfair election in January. But he refused to say whether he would endorse aconstitutional amendment to allow former prime minister Benazir Bhutto toserve a third term.

Q. Is there a difference now that you have shed your uniform andrelinquished your post of army chief of staff?

A. On a personal note, I loved my uniform. From the national point of view,I don't think there is a difference. I think the overall situation will bebetter and stro nger. The army is being managed by a chief of staffdedicated to the job, and I will be president of Pakistan, and if the twoare totally in harmony, the situation is better.

Q. You will appoint the heads of the army?

A. I will appoint the chief. The security services report to the presidentand the prime minister. . . . The ISI [military intelligence service]reports to the political leaders.

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401495.html

Medvedev's Russia vs. Putin's

By Sam Greene
From the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Saturday, December 15, 2007; 12:00 AM

Russia-watchers breathed a sigh of relief Monday with the news that VladimirPutin had selected his successor. Finally, we knew the name of Russia's nextpresident: Dmitry Medvedev. The initial consensus was, it could have beenworse. But what we learned on Monday is dwarfed by what we still do not knowabout Russia's immediate future.

To be fair, we know a lot more about Medvedev than we did about Putin in1999, when Boris Yeltsin unveiled him as Russia's second president. A lawyerwith a strong grasp of market economics, Medvedev has a proven knack forsoothing Russia's Western partners and international investors; Russia'sstock markets soared on the news of his anointment. Within Russia, he isseen as a relative liberal. Liberal because he has not been an outspokenproponent of strong-armed government, but a relative liberal, because he hasbeen more than willing to take part in massive state intervention into theeconomy.

Thanks in large part to his long friendship with the outgoing president --dating back to law school in Leningrad, followed by a stint together in St.Petersburg's city hall -- we know also that Medvedev is very much Putin'sman. Unlike other heirs apparent, such as Sergey Ivanov, with deep roots inthe security apparatus, Medvedev has very little power base of his own. Hisrise through the government, as well as his place atop Gazprom's board ofdirectors, is owed exclusively to Putin. As a result, any loyalty Medvedevcommands hinges entirely on the trust Putin has invested in him.

Medvedev's résumé, though, tells us very little about what Russia'spolitical future will look like. Yet if, as Medvedev has suggested, Putinsimply moves over to the prime minister's chair, Medvedev becomes littlemore than a lieutenant, and we continue to live with Putin's Russia.

It is pretty clear that Medvedev will not come to power through legitimatedemocratic elections. The support he enjoys from Putin and the Kremlin'sUnited Russia Party -- not to mention three other Kremlin-linked parties --is sufficient to ensure that the Russian political establishment, news mediaand bureaucracy will truly countenance no other candidate. Those who do runnonetheless, including opposition leader Mikhail Kasyanov, will get notraction.

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401706.html

Baseball on Steroids
The Mitchell report is stronger on diagnosis than on prescription.

Saturday, December 15, 2007; A20

A LONG-AWAITED report from former Senate majority leader George J. Mitchelldeserves credit for establishing, once and for all, that steroid use inMajor League Baseball is a serious and widespread problem. Dozens of playersand all 30 teams were implicated in the 409-page report, which includedextensive documentation such as courier receipts, canceled checks anddetailed individual accounts of the purchase and use ofperformance-enhancing drugs.

But the report falls short on solutions. Mr. Mitchell, for example,recommends that Commissioner Bud Selig establish an independent departmentunder the auspices of Major League Baseball to investigate allegations ofthe use of performance-enhancing drugs. That department would be led by asort of drug czar who would be required to report every significant allegedimpropriety to the commissioner. This would be an improvement over thecurrent system, which delegates investigation of performance-enhancing drugsto MLB's labor relations department (primarily responsible for overseeingthe collective bargaining agreement with the players) and the divisionresponsible for providing security for the players. Mr. Mitchell alsorightly calls for a hotline for anonymous tips, a program to educate playersabout the health effects of performance-enhancing drugs and unannounced,random drug tests, among other recommendations.

But the report is silent on a number of critical points. One glaringomission concerns the involvement of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA),the U.S. arm of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which administers the Olympicdrug testing program. Any serious push to abolish the use of such substancesas anabolic steroids and human growth hormone must include a trulyindependent overseer; the

USADA is such an organization and offers a more robust drug-screeningprogram. For example, baseball identifies 30 substances as banned from use;the USADA lists 60, giving athletes with a desire to artificially pump upperformance fewer options. The report also does not address the need forblood tests. Human growth hormone -- an increasingly popular drug amongprofessional and amateur athletes alike -- cannot, like steroids, bedetected through urinalysis.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has scheduled a hearingnext week with Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Selig and Donald Fehr, executive directorof the players union, to discuss the report's results. Lawmakers shouldpress the league and the players on USADA involvement and the incorporationof blood tests. And they should insist on prompt results or recall thewitnesses repeatedly to Capitol Hill to explain their inaction.

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401711.html

Waiting on the EPA
It's time the agency allowed California's tougher tailpipe emissionsstandards to take effect.

Saturday, December 15, 2007; A20

THE ENERGY BILL that overwhelmingly passed the Senate late Thursday willhelp curb America's addiction to oil. Its crown jewel is a hike in thecorporate average fuel economy for cars and light trucks from 25 miles pergallon to 35 mpg by 2020, the first boost in 32 years. Gone are the taxprovisions that riled Senate Republicans and President Bush, who now sayshe'll sign the bill when it reaches his desk. With the House all but certainto pass it next week, a significant piece of environmental legislationfinally is close to becoming law.

Mr. Bush had been pushing for the bill to designate the TransportationDepartment as the sole agency to regulate both fuel economy and tailpipegreenhouse gas emissions, in order, he said, to guard against "regulatoryuncertainty, confusion and duplication of efforts." Tailpipe emissions arethe provenance of the Environmental Protection Agency. If the EPA had beenstripped of that authority, California would have been blocked frominstituting its stringent tailpipe emissions standards. Now that Mr. Bushhas backed off, we urge him to light a fire under EPA Administrator StephenL. Johnson to grant California the waiver it needs.

In 2002, the California legislature mandated a 30 percent reduction inglobal warming-enhancing tailpipe emissions from cars and light trucks by2016, starting with the 2009 model year. The Golden State has the authorityto do this under the Clean Air Act, and other states can follow, as Marylandand 15 others intend to do, as long as the rules are not arbitrary and areat least as tough as federal regulations. All that's missing is a waiver,which the EPA has granted to California more than 40 times over threedecades but which has been slow in coming this time around.

The first request was made in 2005. Hearing nothing, Gov. ArnoldSchwarzenegger (R) wrote to Mr. Bush in April 2006 and October 2006. Stillnothing. In April this year, he threatened to take the EPA to court if adecision wasn't made by October. Mr. Johnson said he would make a judgmentby the end of the year. Mr. Schwarzenegger went to court on Nov. 8. Whatwill happen now is anybody's guess.

In addition to the foot-dragging at EPA, e-mails released in Octoberrevealed an aggressive lobbying effort against the waiver earlier this yearby the secretary of transportation. But the courts have been clear in theirsupport of the California tailpipe emissions law. On Wednesday, a federaljudge in California threw out an automaker lawsuit against the emissionsregulations. He buttressed his opinion by citing a September decision thattossed similar litigation in Vermont and the Supreme Court ruling inMassachusetts. v. EPA in April that affirmed the EPA's authority andobligation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402212.html?hpid=topnews

Bush's Budget Wins May Cost Him
Victories Over Democrats Could Increase Debt and Impede His Own Agenda

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; A01

As Congress stumbles toward Christmas, President Bush is scoring victoryafter victory over his Democratic adversaries. He has beaten back domesticspending increases, thwarted an expansion of children's health insurancecoverage, defeated tax hikes, won funding for the war in Iraq and pushedDemocrats toward shattering their pledge not to add to the federal deficitwith new tax cuts or rises in mandatory spending.

But the cost of those wins could be high, both for the federal debt and forthe president's own priorities.

Bush's steadfast stand against Democratic spending, coupled with his equallyresolute opposition to tax increases, could raise the federal debt thisfiscal year by nearly $240 billion. As Democrats struggle to meet hisdemands, they are jettisoning renewable-energy and conservation incentivesthat Bush championed, and they may ax some of his most cherished programs.

Even some Republicans bristle at the president's inflexibility. Bush haspledged never to sign bills with tax increases, even tax increases that heonce supported.

"I see the president trying to play catch-up in two years for not vetoinganything in the first six years, and probably regretting that he treated theRepublican Congress with softer gloves than he did a Democrat Congress,"said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the conservative ranking Republican onthe Senate Finance Committee. "He's kind of waking up to the necessity ofhaving a certain policy that ought to be consistently followed, even if it'sirrational."

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402214.html?hpid=topnews

Sealed Off by Israel, Gaza Reduced to Beggary

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 15, 2007; A01

GAZA CITY -- The batteries are the size of a button on a man's shirt, smallsilvery dots that power hearing aids for several hundred Palestinianstudents taught by the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children in Gaza City.

Now the batteries, marketed by Radio Shack, are all but used up. The fewthat are left are losing power, turning voices into unintelligible echoes inthe ears of Hala Abu Saif's 20 first-grade students.

The Israeli government is increasingly restricting the import into the GazaStrip of batteries, anesthesia drugs, antibiotics, tobacco, coffee,gasoline, diesel fuel and other basic items, including chocolate andcompressed air to make soft drinks.

This punishing seal has reduced Gaza, a territory of almost 1.5 millionpeople, to beggar status, unable to maintain an effective public healthsystem, administer public schools or preserve the traditional pleasures ofeveryday life by the sea.

"Essentially, it's the ordinary people, caught up in the conflict, payingthe price for this political failure," said John Ging, director of the U.N.Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, which serves the majority refugeepopulation. "The humanitarian situation is atrocious, and it is easy tounderstand why -- 1.2 million Gazans now relying on U.N. food aid, 80,000people who have lost jobs and the dignity of work. And the list goes on."

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402257.html?hpid=topnews

Crackdown on Child Pornography
Federal Action, Focused on Internet, Sets Off a Debate

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; A01

Lewd photographs of children were disappearing from adult bookstores. Childporn magazines in plain brown envelopes were no longer reaching customersthrough the mail. It was the early 1990s, and experts believed that federallaw enforcement efforts were ending child pornography.

"We thought this was one of those rare forms of social deviance, of criminalbehavior, that had been eradicated," said Ernie Allen, president of theNational Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "Except for a fixatedgroup of hard-core pedophiles, we thought it was gone."

But an increase of Internet-fueled child pornography has triggered a newfederal crackdown. Cybercrime, the majority of which involves childpornography, is now the FBI's third-highest priority, behindcounterterrorism and counterintelligence.

In the past 11 months, federal prosecutors in Virginia and Maryland havehelped convict or send to prison on child pornography charges the formerhead of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union, an Ivy Leagueprofessor, a sheriff's deputy, a Transportation Security Administrationemployee, an Army sergeant, a former Navy cryptologist, a contractor workingat Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a National Institutes of Health researcher anda U.S. Capitol Police officer.

"The problem is as bad as it appears," said Arnold E. Bell, unit chief ofthe FBI's Calverton-based Innocent Images National Initiative. "There arenot enough badges out there to cover all the people to be had in terms ofoffenders."

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121401844.html?hpid=moreheadlines

U.S. Now No. 2 Donor To Fund for Poor Nations

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; D01

Forty-five rich and middle-income nations agreed yesterday to provide arecord $25.1 billion to the World Bank for generous-term loans and grants tothe world's poorest countries. But for the first time since Dwight D.Eisenhower pushed for the creation of the bank's arm for helping the poorestof nations, the United States will no longer lead its anti-poverty charge.

After 47 years as the biggest donor to the World Bank's InternationalDevelopment Association (IDA), the United States will take a back seat toBritain in funding an organization whose efforts have helped build 8,500miles of roads in Ethiopia and tripled the number of girls in secondaryschool in Bangladesh.

Overall, the contributions pledged by the 45 nations were up 42 percent fromthe IDA's previous global fundraising effort, in 2005. Britain's donation of$4.3 billion over three years -- 49 percent higher than its 2005 gift -- wasthe single biggest pledge, boosted in part by the stronger British pound anda stepped-up foreign aid policy. The United States pledged $3.7 billion, 30percent more than its 2005 amount.

U.S. officials stressed that the increase in their pledge was the biggest inthree decades. The United States, which provided $22.7 billion indevelopment assistance last year, remains the world's most generous nationin foreign aid. But analysts and some critics described the U.S. fall to No.2 in IDA pledges as part of a trend, particularly during the Bushadministration, of emphasizing bilateral channels that provide greateraccountability and more flexibility in promoting U.S. interests overseas.Some have pointed to the Millennium Challenge Corp., the federal agencycreated in 2004 to lend to poor countries determined to have solid recordson "good governance" and "economic freedom."

"This is our biggest increase we've had since the Carter administration andit shows we believe strongly in this institution," said Clay Lowery,assistant Treasury secretary for international affairs. "We think the WorldBank is a strong way to get results, but we don't think it's the only way.We will always and continuously look for the best opportunities to getresults for the American people."

more . . . . .



=

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402028.html?hpid=moreheadlines

U.S. Immigration Agents Fell Short of Probe Goal

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; A02

U.S. immigration agents investigated only 139 suspected fraud cases referredby the main anti-fraud unit of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Serviceslast year, or less than 1 percent of 1 percent of about 6 millionapplications for citizenship, green cards and other benefits, federalinvestigators reported yesterday.

The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general, Richard L. Skinner,blamed a DHS policy set in February 2006 requiring that 100 percent ofsuspect applications be investigated, saying it overwhelmed claims officersand immigration investigators with work, rendering the policy all butuseless.

"The current USCIS strategy for addressing immigration benefit fraud yieldslittle measurable return," Skinner's office reported. Instead, agentsdiverted resources to higher priority national security and criminalbackground checks. DHS officials want to change the blanket policy but havenot decided how, Skinner said.

Agency spokesman Christopher Bentley said that "USCIS remains committed" toimproving anti-fraud efforts along with its sister investigative agency,U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "Neither ICE nor USCIS can helpthe fact the volume of potential fraud cases significantly exceeds thecapability of both agencies," USCIS Director Emilio T. Gonzalez wroteSkinner in a formal response.

The inspector general's report, dated Oct. 29 and released yesterday,underscores problems dating to the March 2003 launch of DHS, whichreorganized U.S. immigration agencies and expanded their duties. The reportalso highlights one of myriad hurdles to tougher U.S. immigrationenforcement, a subject of heated national debate since Congress failed topass a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws this summer.

more . . . . .


=

Video: Giuliani firm 'made millions' off data mining

http://ronnmills.blogspot.com/2007/12/video-giuliani-firm-made-millions-off.html



=

[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####