 |
HavenWorks.com/politics/archive/2003 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
/ 
/ Archive
/ 2003
- "Ashcroft
steps aside from CIA leak probe." ... "John Ashcroft,
US attorney-general, on Tuesday stepped aside from a politically charged
investigation into the leak of the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence
Agency officer." ... "Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago, will
take over the inquiry and report to James Comey, Mr Ashcroft's deputy at
the Department of Justice, which is running the investigation, and Christopher
Wray, assistant attorney-general." -By Marianne Brun-Rovet
-FT.com
- 
- "Electronic
voting firm acknowledges hacker break-in." ... "A
Bellevue, Wash., company developing security technology for electronic
voting suffered an embarrassing hacker break-in that executives think was
tied to the rancorous debate over the safety of casting ballots online."
... "VoteHere confirmed Monday that U.S. authorities are investigating
a break-in of its computers months ago, when someone roamed its internal
computer network. The intruder accessed internal documents and may have
copied sensitive software blueprints that the company planned eventually
to disclose publicly." -By Ted Bridis
-AP via -USATODAY
- 
- "Justice
Department endorses congressional redistricting by Texas Republicans."
... "The U.S. Department of Justice approved a Republican-backed congressional
redistricting map Friday, disappointing Democrats who staged two legislative
boycotts over redistricting and have sued over the new plan." ... "A federal
court panel considering legal challenges to the new map also gave Republicans
a victory Friday, ruling that that mid-decade redistricting is permissible
under state law." -By April Castro
-AP via -SFGate.com
- "Schwarzenegger
to Declare Money Emergency: Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger
to Declare Financial Emergency, Bypass Legislature to Help Cities." ...
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to declare a financial emergency and
bypass the Legislature to provide millions of dollars due cities and counties,
administration sources said." ... "To make up for $4 billion lost when
he cut the unpopular car tax, the governor will make a $40 million payment
to local governments to keep them from closing facilities and laying off
police officers and fire fighters, aides said Wednesday, speaking on condition
of anonymity." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Ex-Ill.
Gov. Ryan Indicted on Corruption." ... "Former Gov.
George Ryan, who gained a worldwide reputation as a critic of the death
penalty, was indicted Wednesday on charges of taking payoffs in a corruption
scandal that shadowed his entire four years in office and cut short his
political career." ... "Prosecutors said the 69-year-old Republican and
his family took cash, gifts, vacations and other favors to steer state
business to friends and associates while he was governor and, before that,
Illinois secretary of state." -By Mike Robinson
-AP via-AJC
- 
- 
ELECTION
2004 - "As
rivals sense a weak spot, Dean defends his stance on Iraq:
Kerry, Lieberman sharpen attacks." ... "Democrats trailing Howard Dean
in the presidential race said yesterday his statement that America is not
made safer by the capture of Saddam Hussein raises questions about his
political and national security judgment. The former Vermont governor responded
by casting himself as the victim of unjustified attacks and said such criticism
risks alienating the voters their party needs to win the White House in
2004." -By Glen Johnson
-Boston/Globe
- ELECTION
2004 - "Court
to enter fray over energy-policy task force: Supreme
Court will hear case alleging that industry leaders played a key role that
must be disclosed." ... "The US Supreme Court delivered a victory to the
White House Monday by agreeing to enter the long-running dispute over whether
Vice President Dick Cheney must publicly disclose details about the Bush
administration's energy policy task force." ... "The Supreme Court's decision
to take up the case is important for both political and constitutional
reasons. Even if a majority of justices rule against the White House, the
Supreme Court action could help the administration keep the task force
information under wraps for several more months and perhaps until after
the 2004 election, analysts say." -By Warren Richey
-CSMonitor
- ELECTION
2004 - "Senator
Breaux Won't Seek Re-election." ... "John B. Breaux,
a moderate Democratic senator and one of the few bipartisan dealmakers
left in Congress, announced Monday that he would not run for re-election
next year, becoming the fifth Southern Democrat to abandon the Senate."
... "Mr. Breaux, who has represented Louisiana in Congress for 31 years,
was often the senator Democrats and Republicans turned to when they needed
to cut through partisan gridlock and broker compromises, as Mr. Breaux
did on the recent Medicare legislation. His departure is seen not only
as a crippling blow to Democratic efforts to regain control of the Senate
but also as a setback to across-the-aisle cooperation, which is increasingly
rare these days." -By Jeffrey Gettleman -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Martin
takes over reins as 21st Prime Minister." ... "Paul
Martin became Canada's 21st Prime Minister on Friday, ending his quest
for the top job in the federal government and promising sweeping changes
to the way the country is governed." ... "It was the final step in his
journey to become prime minister after his election as Liberal Leader last
month." ... "Mr. Martin ran for the Liberal leadership in 1990 and lost
to former prime minister Jean Chretien. Mr. Martin officially took office
Friday from Mr. Chretien, who resigned earlier in the day." -By
Allison Dunfield -GlobeAndMail
-
- 
-
- "Bush:
Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge: Bush Says U.S.
Expects Halliburton to Repay Money if Company Overcharged for Gasoline
in Iraq." ... "President Bush said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney's
former company should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline
delivered in Iraq under a controversial prewar contract." ... "Pentagon
auditors say the company charged up to $61 million too much for delivering
gasoline to Iraqi citizens under a no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated
oil industry. Halliburton denies overcharging."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- 
- "US,
China find a new middle way: Chinese premier's visit
reflects a relationship characterized less by rivalry than moderation."
... "The welcome accorded Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Washington
this week highlights how much US-Chinese relations have improved since
the first months of the Bush administration." ... "This doesn't mean these
two giants of the world economy have become strategic partners, as Clinton
officials had hoped. From trade to Taiwan, there are too many differences
between them for that. But neither have they become strategic competitors,
as the Bush team once predicted they might." -By Peter
Grier and Amelia Newcomb -CSMonitor
- 
- ELECTION
2004 - "Supreme
Court upholds 'soft money' ban." ... "A sharply divided
Supreme Court upheld key features of the nation's new law intended to lessen
the influence of money in politics, ruling Wednesday that the government
may ban unlimited donations to political parties." ... "Those donations,
called "soft money," had become a mainstay of modern political campaigns,
used to rally voters to the polls and to pay for sharply worded television
ads." ... "The new rules have been in force during the early stages of
preparation for the 2004 elections for president and Congress."
-AP via -CNN
- ELECTION
2004 - "Campaign
Finance Law's Key Parts Upheld." ... "The U.S. Supreme
Court on Wednesday upheld the two key parts of landmark campaign finance
law designed to curb the influence of money in politics, a ruling affecting
the 2004 and future presidential and congressional elections." -By
James Vicini -Reuters
via -Wired
-
-
-
- "Bush
sides with China over Taiwan referendum." ... "President
George W. Bush yesterday underlined the growing importance the US attaches
to its relationship with China by bluntly telling Taiwan to drop plans
for a referendum that would be interpreted as a unilateral move towards
independence." ... "Mr Bush urged both sides to refrain from provocative
actions and not to challenge the status quo of the "one China" policy."
... "But typically loyal neo-conservatives, who have long viewed China
as the emerging strategic threat to the US, rounded on Mr Bush, accusing
him of suppressing the democratic aspirations of the Taiwanese." -By
Guy Dinmore -FT.com
- 
- 
- 
-
- "Rigging
election boundaries: When does it go too far? The
Supreme Court Wednesday takes up a case on political gerrymandering that
could affect districts across the US." ... "Now, for the first time in
17 years, the US Supreme Court has taken up a case to determine whether
at some point political gerrymandering becomes so egregious as to violate
safeguards in the Constitution." ... "There are alternatives to heavily
partisan gerrymandering. Four states -Arizona, Iowa, New Jersey, and Washington
- use commissions to draw congressional districts. But the combination
of increasingly detailed census information and mapping software has made
gerrymandering too attractive to party leaders." -By
Warren Richey -CSMonitor
- 
-
- "Effects
of Pennsylvania remap case may ripple to Texas: High
court to hear arguments on whether state's lines too partisan." ... "Along
the banks of the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh, there's a street
called Lincoln Avenue in a town called Charleroi. And improbable as it
seems, the future of Texas politics could reside there." ... "On one side
is the home of Frank Mascara. On the other is the rest of the U.S. House
district he used to represent. Such craftsmanship cost Mr. Mascara and
three other Democratic congressmen their jobs last year." ... "The Supreme
Court has never thrown out a redistricting plan on the grounds of partisan
gerrymandering. But it will hear arguments Wednesday on the Pennsylvania
map, and the implications could be huge for Texas, whose own new districts
are under assault in federal court this week." -By
Todd J. Gillman -DallasNews.com
ELECTION
2004 - "Al
Gore endorses Howard Dean: Gore: 'One candidate clearly
now stands out'." ... "Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean's bid for the Democratic
Party's presidential nomination on Tuesday, substantially deepening Dean's
fast-developing drive for dominance in the nine-candidate field of would-be
challengers to President Bush." ... ""I'm very proud and honored to endorse
Howard Dean to be the next president of the United States of America,"
Gore said." -Contributed to by John King and Kelly
Wallace -CNN
-
- "Bush
Whacked Online: Search Engine Trick Lists President
as ‘Miserable Failure’" ... "Type in "miserable failure" on the Google
Web site and the first Web link most likely to show up will take you directly
to the official online biography for the current occupant of the Oval Office.
(The trick will also sometimes work on Yahoo! and other search engines.)"
... ""This is not a political statement from Google, but rather a reflection
of a recent Web phenomenon," says a spokesman for Google in Mountain View,
Calif. "In this case, a select group of Web masters used the words [miserable
failure] to describe and link to George Bush's Web site."" ... "In other
words: the president has just been the latest victim of a "Google bomb,"
a crafty but simple manipulation of how the well-known online search engine
works." (1, 2,
3))
-By Paul Eng -ABCNEWS.com
- "Bush
Signs $400B[illion] Medicare Overhaul Bill." ...
"Overall, the new law will carry out the most extensive changes since Medicare's
creation in 1965. It adds a prescription drug benefit beginning in 2006.
At the same time, it encourages insurance companies to offer private plans
to millions of older Americans who now receive health care benefits under
terms fixed by the federal government. Leading Democrats have charged this
would lead to the destruction of the Medicare program as it was designed
at its inception during the Johnson administration."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- 
- 
-
-
- "North
Korea guarantee may pave way to accord." ... "The
Bush administration has agreed with South Korea and Japan to a broadly
worded set of principles to end North Korea's nuclear program, calling
for a ``coordinated'' set of steps in which five nations would offer North
Korea a security guarantee as it begins a verifiable disassembly of its
nuclear facilities, according to Bush administration and Asian officials."
... "The statement is being sent to China's leaders today, the officials
said, in hopes that Beijing will pass them on this week to Kim Jong Il,
the North Korean leader. But officials said that North Korea may judge
the offer far too vague, in part because it sets no timetable for energy
or economic aid to the country, and because it would require inspections
of suspect facilities that have never before been opened." -By
David Sanger -NYTimes
via -RegisterGuard
- "Pro-Putin
parties dominate Russian parliamentary election."
... "Allies of President Vladimir Putin won a sweeping victory in parliamentary
elections, according to preliminary results Monday, strengthening his hand
as he plots strategy for the second term he is expected to win next year."
... "Europe's top security and human rights watchdog condemned the elections
as a retreat from the democratic reforms Russia adopted after the fall
of the Soviet Union, saying that fawning media coverage of the president's
allies before the vote gave them an unfair advantage." -By
Danica Kirka -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "Kremlin
likely to gain power in next parliament: Russians
went to the polls Sunday to elect a Duma." ... "The Kremlin has tightened
control over the nation's media. Critics also say that United Russia has
bolstered its chances by forcing out opponents through court and election
commission challenges. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the election, last week criticized the
Kremlin for helping United Russia with "administrative resources." It also
noted a "clear bias" in state-owned media for pro-Kremlin parties, and
cases of "selective" application of candidate registration criteria." -By
Scott Peterson -CSMonitor
- 
- "Commonwealth
decides to extend year-old suspension of Zimbabwe."
... "The Commonwealth, whose nations represent one-third of the world's
6 billion people, banned Zimbabwe from its decision-making councils last
year, after Mugabe was widely accused of rigging re-election to continue
his 23-year rule." -By Glenn McKenzie
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
- 
-
- "Iraq
delays hand Cheney firm $1bn: ·Key contract
decisions postponed again. ·Blair drawn into row over lack of 'level
playing fields'." ... "Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run
by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction
work in Iraq by the US government without having to compete for it, thanks
to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition." ... "The
cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, rather than being fixed
at the outset, because the scope of the damage was unknown. The USACE described
the contract as a 'bridge to competition', but original plans to award
the work competitively in August have repeatedly slipped. So far, $1.7bn
has been made available to Halliburton for the work." -By
Oliver Morgan -Observer.co.uk
via -Guardian.co.uk
- 
- 
-
- "Arizonans
to visit Cuba base: McCain, Flake to inspect Guantanamo."
... "Sen. John McCain and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake will make separate visits
next week to the U.S. detention center where suspected terrorists are being
held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." ... "The trips by the two Republican lawmakers
from Arizona come as the government, under increasing domestic and international
pressure, moves toward releasing 100 or more prisoners and putting others
on trial in military courts after as long as two years." -By
Billy House and Jon Kamman -azcentral.com
-
- "Iraq
council wishes to stay on; Washington seen likely to grant extension."
... "Most members of Iraq's Governing Council want the U.S.-appointed body
to stay beyond July 1, the date set for a provisional Iraqi government
to take office." ... "The coalition agreement on handing sovereignty back
to Iraqis says the 25-seat interim body must cease to exist. But the Bush
administration, faced with mounting military casualties in Iraq and a re-election
campaign, could consider granting the council members' wishes to stay as
a small price to pay for the implementation of the political plan." -By
Hamza Hendawi -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- 
- 
-
-
- "Rumsfeld
Visits Georgia to Bind a Strategic Partnership."
... "The United States views Georgia as a strategic partner, in part for
its location, along an arc of instability in a region thought to be a crossroads
for terrorists. A pipeline set to open in 2005 linking Azerbaijan, which
Mr. Rumsfeld visited Thursday, and Turkey, NATO's only Islamic member,
runs across Georgia, as well." ... "Georgia's leaders, describing the desperate
state of their temporary government, said the treasury was so empty that
they had asked the United States to consider helping pay soldiers' salaries.
Satisfying the armed forces is viewed as important to keeping the peace
ahead of Jan. 4 elections." -By Thom Shanker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "S
Korea's Roh renews plan to relocate capital." ...
"President Roh Moo-hyun on Friday renewed his pledge to relocate South
Korea's administrative capital away from Seoul to encourage more balanced
regional development of the heavily centralised country." ... "Mr Roh promised
during his election campaign last year to build a new city in Chungcheong
province, in the middle of South Korea, to replace Seoul as the seat of
government." -By Andrew Ward
-FT.com
- "Blast
Near U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan: Explosion Occurred
Near U.S. Embassy in Afghan Capital of Kabul; No Injuries Reported." ...
"The blast occurred after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met
with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and held a news conference with him
at the Presidential Palace in another part of the city. But it was not
known if Rumsfeld was still in Kabul when the explosion occurred."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
-
-
- "White
House Seeks to Soften Mercury Rules." ... "The Bush
administration is working to undo regulations that would force power plants
to sharply reduce mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants, according
to a government document and interviews with officials." ... "The Nov.
26 document makes the case that the Environmental Protection Agency, under
President Bill Clinton, misread the Clean Air Act's requirements and that
there are less onerous ways to reduce the emissions." -By
Eric Pianin -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Bush
Is Urged to Maintain Import Tariffs for Steel." ...
"President Bush got a taste of the treacherous nature of trade politics
on Tuesday, hearing last-ditch pleas from some of his own supporters not
to proceed with plans to lift tariffs protecting the steel industry from
international competition." ... "What was supposed to be a quick trip here,
to a town once proudly known as Steel City, turned instead into a series
of low-key but high-stakes confrontations over the prospect that Mr. Bush
will soon announce a decision to cut off the tariffs, potentially hurting
steel makers, their employees and suppliers in Pennsylvania and other industrial
states like West Virginia and Ohio that are closely divided politically."
-By Richard W. Stevenson contributions by Elizabeth
Becker -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- ELECTION
2004 - "Economic
news isn't so bright in key states." ... "When unexpectedly
good job numbers suggested the long U.S. economic slump was finally over,
it looked as if Democrats would lose one of the weapons they had planned
to use to unseat President Bush next year. But persistently weak job markets
in a handful of crucial states still pose a serious threat to Republicans."
-By Peronet Despeignes
-USATODAY
-
- "Iraq
council resists powerful cleric: Majority backs
U.S. plan for picking interim government." ... "A majority of Iraq’s U.S.-appointed
Governing Council has decided to support an American plan to select a provisional
government through regional caucuses despite objections from the country’s
most powerful Shiite Muslim cleric, according to several council members."
... "The council's stance, the result of intense lobbying over the past
few days by the U.S. administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, could result
in a dramatic showdown with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has insisted
that a provisional government be chosen through a national election. If
the council persists in supporting the American plan, many in Iraq’s Shiite
majority, who regard the grand ayatollah as their supreme spiritual authority,
may reject the provisional government as illegitimate." -By
Rajiv Chandrasekaran -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- ELECTION
2004 - "Colo.
justices overturn voter districts: Redistricting
case could influence 2004 national elections." ... "In a decision that
could have national implications, the Colorado Supreme Court threw out
the state’s new congressional districts Monday because the GOP-led Legislature
redrew the maps in violation of the constitution. The General Assembly
is required to redraw the maps only after each census and before the ensuing
general election — not at any other time, the court said in a closely watched
decision. A similar court battle is being waged in Texas."
-AP via -MSNBC
ELECTION
2004 - "Bush
reelection team looking to register 3 million voters."
... "President Bush's reelection team, anticipating another close election,
has begun to assemble one of the largest grass-roots organizations of any
modern presidential campaign, using enormous financial resources and lack
of primary opposition to seize an early advantage over the Democrats in
the battle to mobilize voters in 2004." ... "Bush's campaign website already
has signed up 6 million supporters, 10 times the number that Democratic
presidential candidate Howard Dean has, and the Bush operation is in the
middle of an unprecedented drive to register 3 million new Republican voters.
The campaign has set county vote targets in some states and has begun training
thousands of volunteers who will recruit an army of door-to-door canvassers
for the final days of the election next November." -By
Dan Balz and Mike Allen-WashingtonPost
via -Boston/Globe
-
- Thanksgiving
- "Bush
Makes Secret Thanksgiving Visit to Iraq." ... "President
Bush secretly traveled to Baghdad and paid a surprise Thanksgiving Day
visit to U.S. troops on Thursday in a bid to boost the morale of forces
in Iraq amid mounting casualties." ... "In an elaborate plan to ensure
his security in the tense Iraqi capital, Bush slipped away from his Texas
ranch on Wednesday night, arrived in Iraq on Thursday and spent 2-1/2 hours
with the troops before flying back to the United States." -By
Steve Holland -Reuters
via -Wired
- 
- 
-
- "Pakistan,
Kashmir and India breathe easier with cease-fire."
... "Indian and Pakistani military commanders agreed yesterday to a cease-fire
along their common border, including the volatile and heavily militarized
front line in the disputed territory of Kashmir, officials in both countries
said." ... "The truce, which was to take effect at midnight last night,
is the first formal cease-fire between the nuclear-armed rivals since a
separatist insurgency began in Indian-controlled portions of Kashmir 14
years ago." -By Hari Kumar
-NYTimes via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Georgia
News - "Georgia
leader quits in velvet coup: Shevardnadze forced
out in tense standoff." ... "Eduard Shevardnadze last night ended his 30-year
domination of Georgia, stepping down as president after weeks of street
protests, in what his opponents hailed as a velvet revolution." ... "The
former Soviet foreign minister, lauded by the west for his role in ending
the cold war but hated at home for a presidency that turned authoritarian
and corrupt, looked exhausted after a weekend in which allies deserted
him and opponents stormed parliament, driving him out." ... ""I have quit.
I see that this [the political crisis] could not have ended bloodlessly
and I would have had to exercise my power. I have never betrayed my people,
and therefore I believe that, as president, I must resign," he said." -By
Nick Paton Walsh -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Seniors'
drug bill survives in House: GOP's late moves
win changes in Medicare." ... "After an extraordinary overnight session
of arm-twisting and parliamentary tricks, House Republican leaders narrowly
staved off defeat yesterday and passed a Medicare prescription drug benefit
that represented the most sweeping overhaul of the program in its 38-year
history." ... "The measure would provide nearly $400 billion in prescription
drug aid to seniors, and for the first time, allow private health care
firms to offer Medicare services long guaranteed by the federal government.
Its passage spared President Bush a political embarrassment over one of
his top priorities as the administration fought to push through his agenda
in the waning days of the legislative session." -By
Susan Milligan -Boston/Globe
- "12
Civilians Are Killed in a Car Bomb Attack in Kirkuk."
... "A car bomb killed 12 civilians today in the northern Iraqi city of
Kirkuk in an explosion aimed at the headquarters compound of a leading
Kurdish political party, an American military official said today." ...
"Most of the blast was absorbed by the perimeter wall of the compound,
which houses the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, and the car bomb was not
able to get close enough to the building to cause significant damage, the
official, from the coalition joint task force, said by telephone from Baghdad."
-By Terence Neilan -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
- "China
Warns Taiwan Against Independence." ... "In unusually
strong language, China ratcheted up the rhetoric against Taiwan in remarks
published Wednesday and threatened that "the use of force may become unavoidable"
if the island's leaders pursue independence." ... "The warning from Beijing
came as Taiwan prepares to elect a new leader in March. President Chen
Shui-bian, running for office again, has won over more voters since he
came up with plans for a new constitution and a law on referendums that
could conceivably lead to citizens voting on Taiwanese independence." -By
Audra An -AP
via -MercuryNews-BayArea
- Paul
Wellstone -
"Pilot
error caused Wellstone crash." ... "Pilots flying
too slowly on a landing approach caused the charter-plane crash that killed
Sen. Paul Wellstone, the pilots and five others last year, the National
Transportation Safety Board concluded Tuesday." ... "By voice vote, the
five-member board also adopted staff findings that the pilots lacked proper
training in crew coordination and were probably so inattentive or distracted
that they didn't react to the speed drop until too late." ... "Mild icing
from a light snowfall did not affect the descent of the twin-prop King
Air A100 before it crashed on Oct. 25, 2002, 2 miles southeast of the Eveleth-Virginia
Municipal Airport, in northern Minnesota, the panel concluded." -By
Greg Gordon -StarTribune.com
-
- "First
woman to be elected Louisiana gov. moves past historic win, starts transition."
... "Kathleen Blanco, moving past the victory that made her Louisiana's
first female governor, has begun sketching out her plans for health care,
education and economic development." ... "Blanco, the state's Democratic
lieutenant governor, defeated conservative Indian-American Bobby Jindal
with 52 percent of the vote in a runoff election that dashed the Republican
Party's hopes for a sweep of the Deep South." -By
Melinda Deslatte -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "Schwarzenegger
has made deft moves, so far." ... "Through bipartisan
appointments and overtures to politicians of both parties - in California
and on Capitol Hill - he has cast himself as the moderate consensus-builder
some say the Golden State has lacked since Ronald Reagan. Moreover, politicians
themselves acknowledge that his open and friendly manner is no small relief
after the Davis administration's legendary aloofness." ... "To be sure,
Schwarzenegger has his critics, who wish for more substance amid the style
and symbolism. But even among those who offer compliments grudgingly, there
is a sense that he has maintained much of the momentum from his comprehensive
Oct. 7 election, and that this position - as well as his moderate ideals
- gives him a unique opportunity to reshape the state." -By
Daniel B. Wood and Mark Sappenfeld -CSMonitor
-
- "U.S. to help pen
Iraq constitution." ... "We will write into that
constitution exactly the kinds of guarantees that were not in Saddam’s
constitution.,” L. Paul Bremer told ABC’s “This Week” from Baghdad, the
Iraqi capital." ... "“We’ll have a bill of rights. We’ll recognize equality
for all citizens. We’ll recognize an independent judiciary. We’ll talk
about a federal government."" ... "“All of these things will be in the
interim constitution which will also provide in a limited time, probably
two years, for a permanent constitution to be written that also embodies
those American values.”" ... "Bremer said Americans will work with the
Iraqi Governing Council in writing the interim constitution. There will
also be a side agreement dealing with security and the presence of U.S.
and coalition forces in Iraq, he said." ... "Bremer also said that the
U.S. military presence would remain for some time."
-AP and -Reuters
via -MSNBC
- ELECTION
2004 - Des_Moines
- "Clinton
defers to Dem hopefuls: Iraq war split is on
display as N.Y. senator plays host to Dean, rivals." ... "The most intriguing
non-contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, New York Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton played host to the six of the nine contenders at
the Iowa Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner
meeting in Des Moines on Saturday night. Although some observers had expected
prior to the event that Clinton would outshine the contenders, she played
a fairly deferential role as mistress of ceremonies." -By
By Tom Curry -MSNBC
- ELECTION
2004 - Des_Moines
- "For
Iowa Party Boss, a Time of Little Rest and Much to Do."
... "Gordon R. Fischer, the Iowa Democratic Party chairman, hunched into
the wind as he weaved through traffic on Fourth Street [Des Moines, Iowa]
in early November, late for the first of two meetings he had scheduled
at Java Joe's, a funky downtown coffeehouse that has become one of his
offices-on-the-run." ... "The annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner on Nov.
15 was days away, bursting at the seams with politicos, campaign workers
and the news media, and never enough seats to satisfy the well-connected.
Soon after, the Democratic contenders will have a debate yes,
another debate here on Nov. 24, which happens to be Mr. Fischer's
39th birthday. And in slightly more than two months, of course, Iowans
will gather at 1,994 caucuses around the state to cast the first binding
votes of the 2004 presidential race, all under the unforgiving gazes of
campaign staffs and thousands of journalists." -By
Rick Lyman -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Iraq
to get transition government by June-council:
Iraq's interim Governing Council said on Saturday a transitional sovereign
government would be in place by next June and an elected government would
follow by the end of 2005 after the drafting of a constitution."
-Reuters via -MSNBC
Georgia
News - "Protests
escalate against government in Georgia." ... "A post-election
standoff erupted into turmoil in Georgia on Friday as thousands of anti-government
protesters filled the streets, forming a human chain outside the presidential
compound and demanding the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze."
... "The protests, sparked by anger over the government's manipulation
of a parliamentary vote on Nov. 2, have swelled into a condemnation of
Shevardnadze's 12-year rule with its corruption, economic decline and breakdown
in government services." -By Seth Mydans
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
- ELECTION
2004 - "Dean
Says Iowa Win Could Lock Nomination." ... "Howard
Dean says if he wins the Iowa Democratic presidential caucus next January,
he should win the Democratic presidential nomination." ... "Dean, a former
Vermont governor, noted that he is running behind Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt
in the most recent poll of Iowa caucus-goers." -By
Nedra Pickler -AP
via -MercuryNews-BayArea
-
-
- 
- "New urgency,
risks in ‘Iraqification’: Some fear handover
could look like abandonment." ... "At least four factors forced the administration
to overhaul its military and political strategy in Iraq, despite the danger
that a new approach might actually diminish U.S. control over the country’s
future." ... "The foremost factor is security — from an Iraqi opposition
that has become more intense, more effective, more sophisticated and more
extensive. The other three are the failure of the Iraqi Governing Council
to act, the looming U.N. deadline of Dec. 15 for an Iraqi plan of action
and the U.S. elections just a year away, according to administration and
congressional officials and U.S. analysts." -By Robin
Wright and Thomas E. Ricks with contributions from Mike Allen
-WashingtonPost via -MSNBC
-
- "W.H.
to let 9/11 panel review briefings: The independent
commission investigating the September 11 terrorist attacks said Wednesday
the White House would let it review classified daily presidential intelligence
briefings." ... ""We believe this agreement will prove satisfactory and
enable us to get our job done," the commission said in a statement." ...
"But commission member Max Cleland, a former Democratic senator, said he
was "disgusted" by the deal." ... ""The White House gets to cherry-pick
how much access the nation's commission looking into 9/11 gets to crucial
documents," he said. "I'm ready to vote for subpoenas right now.""
-CNN
ELECTION
2004 - "Howard
Dean's Unlikely Road To a Major Boost From Labor:
AFSCME and SEIU Set to Announce Joint Endorsement." ... "When Andrew L.
Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), arrived
at the Washington condominium of Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), on the morning
of Nov. 3, he had no idea they were about to transform the battle for the
Democratic nomination." ... "With today's endorsements will come not only
more publicity for the Dean campaign, but the kind of institutional muscle
his grass-roots campaign has so far been lacking. McEntee summed up the
dividends this way: "We bring money, we bring boots on the ground, and
we bring blood and treasure to the process."" (1, 2)
-By Dan Balz-WashingtonPost
-
- "Federal
judges in New York, San Francisco halt abortion ban."
... "With the ink barely dry on legislation banning a controversial abortion
procedure, federal judges in San Francisco and New York yesterday put a
halt to the measure and set the stage for the most important legal tussle
over abortion rights in three decades." ... "The judges found that the
congressional ban on the procedure — known medically as "intact dilation
and extraction" but referred to by opponents as "partial-birth abortion"
— is likely to be unconstitutional because it provides no exceptions for
a woman's health, thus running afoul of a 2000 Supreme Court ruling that
struck down a similar Nebraska statute. President Bush signed the latest
ban into law Wednesday." -By Howard Mintz -Knight
Ridder via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
-
-
-
-
- "Bush
signs $87B Iraq aid package." ... "President Bush
on Thursday signed an $87.5 billion package approved by Congress for Iraq
and Afghanistan, calling the money a financial commitment by the United
States to the global war to defeat terrorism. "
-USATODAY
-
- "Federal
Judge Blocks New Abortion Law for Some Doctors."
... "A federal judge in Nebraska on Wednesday blocked a new anti-abortion
law from being enforced against some doctors and their affiliates, minutes
after it was signed by President Bush." ... "Citing constitutional concerns,
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf issued a temporary restraining order barring
U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft and the Justice Department from enforcing the
new law banning so-called partial birth abortions against four doctors
who practice in or are affiliated with practices in more than a dozen states."-Reuters
-
- "In
Japan, never give a lady a sweaty candidate:
In a bid to garner women's votes, the main opposition party issues 20,000
manuals that offer candidates advice on visual appeal." ... "Japan's main
opposition party is hoping to garner votes in the upcoming general election
by giving candidates a quick course on how to impress women." ... "Recent
newspaper polls show support among women for the Democratic Party of Japan
at around half the level seen among men. In an effort win back a share
of the female vote in the Nov. 9 poll, the party has distributed 20,000
copies of a manual for candidates on everything from personal hygiene to
fashion tips." -By Bennett Richardson
-CSMonitor
- "President
Decries General's Remarks: Bush says comments
about Muslims do not reflect his point of view. But firing doesn't seem
to be an option." ... "President Bush said Tuesday that controversial remarks
by Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin about Muslims and Islam do not "reflect
my point of view, or the view of this administration" — sharp language
from an administration that tends to circle the wagons when a member is
under attack." ... "Bush's move to distance himself from the outspoken
general was the strongest administration response to date to disclosures
of Boykin's frequent appearances before religious groups at which he characterized
the war on terrorism as a battle between Judeo-Christian tradition and
"Satan."" -By John Hendren-LAtimes
- ELECTION
2004 - "Dean's
New Iowa Ads Attack Rivals." ... "Former Vermont
governor Howard Dean launched new ads in Iowa and New Hampshire attacking
his major rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination on Iraq and
health care. Those rivals say Dean is worried that his momentum has slowed
and that he is in danger of slipping back." ... "New polls in Iowa show
that Dean and Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) are in a virtual tie for the
lead there, after a period in which Dean had slipped ahead of the man who
won the state in 1988. In New Hampshire, most new polls show Dean holding
a double-digit lead over Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), although one showed
his lead in single digits." -By Dan Balz -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
- "Bush threatens
a veto on Iraq aid as a loan." ... "The White House
has threatened to veto its own spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan if
Congress makes reconstruction aid a loan, taking its most forceful stand
yet on the issue even as more lawmakers supported a reimbursement from
Iraq." ... "Having declined to issue a veto threat last week, before the
Senate voted to lend up to $10 billion to Iraq, the White House surprised
many on Capitol Hill with its warning Tuesday. Some congressional officials
said the administration may have been trying to send a signal of its firm
intentions to other countries gathering in Madrid on Thursday for a conference
on providing aid to Iraq." -By David Firestone
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
- -
- "Senate votes
to ban abortion practice: Body, 64-34, joins
House in barring controversial ‘partial birth’ procedure." ... "The Senate
on Tuesday voted to ban the practice that critics call partial birth abortion,
sending President Bush a measure that supporters and foes alike said could
alter the future of U.S. abortion rights. A court challenge is certain."
... "Years in the making, the bill imposes the most far-reaching limits
on abortion since the Supreme Court in 1973 confirmed a woman’s right to
end a pregnancy." -AP
via -MSNBC
- "Koizumi
orders lower house of parliament be dissolved, paving way for elections."
... "Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ordered the lower house of Japan's
parliament dissolved Friday, paving the way for national elections that
he's counting on to strengthen his party." ... "The dissolution places
the 480 seats of the powerful lower house up for grabs. Koizumi is expected
to set Nov. 9 as the date for the balloting." -By
Kenji Hall -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- "Arnie
warns of challenges ahead: Film star Arnold
Schwarzenegger has admitted huge challenges lie ahead after his election
as governor of California." ... "Republican activists had triggered the
recall vote - the first in 82 years - following frustration at the budget
deficit, high levels of unemployment and struggling schools." ... "Only
one other governor has been recalled in United States history - North Dakota's
Lynn Frazier, in 1921." ... "Mr Schwarzenegger won with 48.7% support.
His closest rival, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat, garnered
31.7%." -BBC/News
-
- 
-
- "House unit
votes for sanctions on Syria: As White House
ends opposition, test for Arab ties is seen." ... "The House International
Relations Committee voted 33-2 for the Syria Accountability Act, which
demands that Damascus halt support for terrorism, end any programs to develop
weapons of mass destruction and withdraw its troops from Lebanon." ...
"The full House, where 275 of 435 members co-sponsored the bill, is expected
to pass the measure next week. The bill also has strong bipartisan support
in the Senate, where the Foreign Relations Committee is planning to examine
the measure this month." -By Brian Knowlton
-IHT.com
-
- 
- "Voters
back Arnold, oust Davis." ... "Californians staged
a historic revolt Tuesday by voting to throw Gov. Gray Davis out of office
and electing action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger — a Hollywood ending to
one of the most extraordinary political melodramas in the nation's history."
... "Davis, 60, banished from office less than a year after being elected
to a second term, becomes only the second governor in the nation's history
to be recalled." -By Kathy Kiely
-USATODAY
- ELECTION
2004 - "Clark's
campaign manager quits in fued over direction of presidential bid."
... "Wesley Clark's campaign manager quit Tuesday in a dispute over the
direction of the Democratic presidential bid, exposing a rift between the
former general's Washington-savvy advisers and his 3-week-old Arkansas
campaign team." ... "Donnie Fowler, 35, told associates he was leaving
over widespread concerns that supporters who used the Internet to draft
Clark into the race are not being taken seriously by top campaign officials."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
-
-
-
- "White
House stops blocking Syria bill." ... "Rep. Eliot
Engel, D-N.Y., the chief author of the Syria Accountability Act, says he
was told on Friday that the legislation had been put on the calendar for
a vote Wednesday by the House International Relations Committee. The measure
has support from a majority in both the House of Representatives and the
Senate." ... "The legislation had been blocked by the White House in the
run-up to the Iraq war while the administration sought to blunt Syrian
opposition to overturning Saddam Hussein's regime." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
-
"Bush
Unsure if Name Leaker Will Be Caught: Bush
Expresses Doubt That Leaker of CIA Official's Name Will Be Caught." ...
"Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, urged some 2,000 White House employees
to turn over any relevant documents by Tuesday night. White House lawyers
will screen the materials and decide which ones to send to the Justice
Department as part of a criminal inquiry into the leak, Bush spokesman
Scott McClellan said." ... "Investigators are trying to determine who leaked
to columnist Robert Novak and two Newsday journalists the identity of Valerie
Plame, a CIA operations officer who has served overseas. She is married
to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who publicly accused the Bush administration
of manipulating intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Amid
uncertainty, controversy, Calif. heads to the polls."
... "In the campaign's closing hours, Schwarzenegger insisted that allegations
that he had groped as many as 15 women had not affected his popularity
-- and yet was forced to confront one more allegation of misconduct late
yesterday. Many of his supporters contended the negative stories were part
of a political smear campaign." ... "The election today caps a recall effort
that started almost as soon as Davis was sworn in for his second term as
governor earlier this year, following a close and bitter reelection campaign
last fall. After struggling with the state's energy crisis and a deficit
that ballooned to $38 billion this year, Davis bore the brunt of the anger
of the electorate: More than 1 million voters signed the required petition
to launch the recall effort." -By Anne E. Kornblut
-Boston/Globe
-
-
- "Panel
Fires Shot Across FCC's Bow: Stevens Amendment
Maintains Cap on TV Networks' Size." ... "The Senate Appropriations Committee
dealt another potential setback to the Federal Communications Commission's
new media ownership rules yesterday, adding an amendment to a spending
bill that would prevent the agency from raising its cap on the size of
large broadcast television networks." ... "The Senate action follows similar
action by the House in July, in defiance of a threatened presidential veto.
It comes one day after a federal appeals court issued an emergency stay
preventing the new rules from taking effect until the court hears briefings
and conducts a review of the rules' merits." -By Frank
Ahrens -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Costly
aircraft lease stirs ire in Congress: Air Force
says deal for in-flight refuelers makes sense. Critics see $5.7 billion
giveaway to Boeing." ... "At issue is a replacement for the Air Force's
aging KC-135 aerial tankers, those gas stations in the sky that enable
bombers and fighters to attack targets halfway around the world (Afghanistan,
for example) and return home without having to land." ... "Boeing and the
Air Force are pushing a deal to convert 100 of the aircraft company's 767-model
airliners into tankers. The controversy starts with an agreement to lease
- rather than buy - the big jets." -By Brad Knickerbocker
-CSMonitor
- "Iraqi
Cabinet Takes Oath of Office." ... "Iraq's first
line-up of ministers to replace the ousted government of Saddam Hussein
formally took office on Wednesday, vowing to lead the country to democratic
self-rule." -Reuters
via -WashingtonPost
- "Burma's
junta details road map to 'fair' elections." ...
"Burma's military junta has outlined what it calls a "road map" for the
installation of an elected government, but critics warn that the vague
plan offers little proof of the military relinquishing its grip on power."
... "General Khin Nyunt, installed as prime minister in a Cabinet reshuffle
last week, says the junta will reconvene a long-suspended constitutional
convention and complete a new constitution before holding "free and fair
elections" for new legislative bodies." -By Amy Kazmin
-FT.com
ELECTION
2004 - "GOP
surges in campaign money race." ... "Bush is on course
to have $200 million to spend for the primaries; by comparison a Democratic
nominee who accepts public financing can spend no more than $45 million."
... "Although this money theoretically is for the primaries, Bush has no
primary opponent. He is thus able to spend his money from now to the Republican
convention in September 2004, giving him a major edge for the fall campaign."
-By Michael Kranish and Anne E. Kornblut
-Boston/Globe
-
- "Consensus
to fix power grid, but no unity on how: Blackout
has led to calls for more regulation and for Congress to pass long-delayed
energy bill." ... "The worst blackout in US history has moved improvement
of the nation's electrical grid to the top of Washington's fall policy
agenda." ... "Congress is already planning a range of hearings into what
went wrong, while administration officials are calling again for passage
of the mammoth energy bill now plodding through the legislative process."
... "But agreement about the issue's importance doesn't mean consensus
about what should be done. The politics of electricity are so complicated
they make, say, Medicare reform look routine by comparison." -By
Peter Grier and Faye Bowers with contributions from Gail Russell Chaddock
-CSMonitor
-
- Tucson
News - "Focus
on conservation as Bush visits the West: Trip
attempts to counter controversial environmental record." ... "President
Bush opened a three-week drive Monday to bolster his environmental image
by drawing attention to conservationist elements of White House policies
embraced by the oil, gas and logging industries." ... "Republican strategists
said the swing through the West was designed as insurance against expected
campaign portrayals of Bush as a negligent steward of the air, water and
land." ... "Bush flew from his ranch in Texas to a national forest near
Tucson to view the aftermath of the Aspen fire, an 85,000-acre wildfire
that destroyed 333 cabins and other buildings in June and July." -By
Mike Allen -WashingtonPost
via -SFGate.com
- "Liberian
president Taylor steps down." ... "Charles Taylor,
Liberia's warlord president, finally stepped down today." ... "Mr Taylor
resigned hours after his late arrival at a handing-over ceremony had prompted
rebels to threaten renewed fighting if he did not leave the country immediately."
... "Mr Taylor had promised to cede power to his vice president, Moses
Blah, at 11:59 GMT (12:59 BST) today." ... "However, it was well after
the appointed time when he arrived at his executive mansion, dressed in
a white safari suit and holding his trademark staff. Eventually, he stepped
down two and a half hours after the appointed time."
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Racial
initiative ignites medical worries: Researchers
fear Prop. 54 will hinder collection of data." ... "Researchers are sounding
alarms over the potential health effects of Proposition 54 -- the initiative
to ban state government from collecting racial or ethnic data -- fearing
it will jeopardize efforts to pinpoint cancer hot spots, keep tabs on disease
outbreaks and fashion effective health messages." ... "Initiative backers
say that opponents are using scare tactics and that they have no intention
of interfering with legitimate health research -- including epidemiological
studies and health surveys." -By Ulysses Torassa
-SFGate.com
-
- "Calif.
candidates hit campaign trail: Poll: Schwarzenegger
has the edge for now." ... "Californians will vote Oct. 7 in the nation’s
first gubernatorial recall election in 82 years. The race has attracted
193 candidates, including actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former baseball
commissioner Peter Ueberroth, political commentator Arianna Huffington,
and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat who says he opposes the recall
but wants to be on the ballot as an alternative in case it passes."
-AP and -Reuters
via -MSNBC
-
- "Taylor
prepares to leave Liberia: Liberia’s President
Charles Taylor prepared to step down reluctantly on Monday under pressure
from the United States to end slaughter that has gripped Liberia and West
Africa for nearly 14 years." ... "The former warlord is due to hand over
power to Vice-President Moses Blah, a former brother-in-arms from the Liberian
leader’s days of bush war and in Libya’s guerrilla training camps, at a
ceremony on Monday." -AP
and -Reuters via -MSNBC
-
- "Schwarzenegger
to run for governor: Film star Arnold Schwarzenegger
has announced he will run as a Republican candidate for governor of California."
... "Mr Schwarzenegger, best known for his role in the Terminator films,
revealed his intention during a taping of the American television programme
The Tonight Show, despite widespread rumours that he would not run because
of concerns expressed by his wife."-BBC/News
- "Colombian
leader has strong grip - and yen for yoga." ... "In
the year since he has taken office, President Álvaro Uribe has come
to mean many things to the Colombian people: Commander in chief, poncho-clad
populist, yoga enthusiast. But mostly, observers say, he has gained stature
as the strong leader many feel this nation has lacked for decades." ...
"But questions remain whether the president's first-year gains stem more
from his charisma than from broad reform. Even if they do represent tangible
progress, some wonder if Uribe can sustain the momentum." -By
Rachel Van Dongen -CSMonitor
- "Taylor reportedly
to resign Thursday." ... "Charles Taylor will formally
announce his intention to resign Thursday as president of Liberia, ending
years of brutal rule and clearing the way for a multinational peacekeeping
force to impose order, the West African alliance announced Wednesday as
U.S. Marines arrived in the country for the first time." ... "Taylor, a
former warlord blamed in 14 years of conflict in once-prosperous Liberia,
was expected to accept an offer of asylum from Nigeria, said Mohammed Ibn
Chambas, head of the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS,
the alliance that is organizing the peacekeeping effort." -By
Jim Miklaszewski with the -AP
and -Reuters via -MS-NBC
Karl
Rove - 
Gordon
Smith - 
Environmental
- 
Science
- 
Politics
- 
River
- 
Animals
- 
Agricultural
- Corporation
- Government
- 
Hatch
Act - Law
- 2002
Election - 
WVa
- California
- Portland
- 
Oregon
- "Oregon
Water Saga Illuminates Rove's Methods With Agencies."
... "In a darkened conference room, [Republican President Bush] White House
political strategist Karl Rove was making an unusual address to 50 top
managers at the U.S. [United States] Interior Department. Flashing color
slides, he spoke of poll results, critical constituencies -- and water
levels in the Klamath River basin." [The Klamath River runs from Oregon
into California] ... "At the time of the meeting, in January 2002, Mr.
Rove had just returned from accompanying [Republican] President Bush on
a trip to Oregon, where they visited with a Republican senator facing re-election
[2002]. Republican leaders there wanted to support their agricultural base
by diverting water from the river basin to nearby farms, and Mr. Rove signaled
that the administration did, too." ... "Three months later, Interior Secretary
Gale Norton stood with [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith in
Klamath Falls and opened the irrigation-system head gates that increased
the water supply to 220,000 acres of farmland -- a policy shift that continues
to stir bitter criticism from environmentalists and Indian tribes." ...
"Though Mr. Rove's clout within the administration often is celebrated,
this episode offers a rare window into how he works behind the scenes to
get things done. One of them is with periodic visits to cabinet departments.
Over the past two years Mr. Rove or his top aide, Kenneth Mehlman -- now
manager of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign -- have visited nearly every
agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data
and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial
races that could be affected by regulatory action." ... "On [January] Jan.
5, Mr. Rove accompanied the president to an appearance in Portland [Oregon]
with Mr. Smith. The president signaled his desire to accommodate agricultural
interests, saying "We'll do everything we can to make sure water is available
for those who farm."" ... "The next day, Mr. Rove made sure that commitment
didn't fall through the cracks. He visited the 50 Interior managers attending
a department retreat at a Fish and Wildlife Service conference center in
Shepherdstown, W.Va. [West Virginia] In a PowerPoint presentation Mr. Rove
also uses when soliciting Republican donors, he brought up the Klamath
and made clear that the administration was siding with agricultural interests."
...
"His remarks weren't entirely welcome -- especially by officials grappling
with the competing arguments made by environmentalists, who wanted river
levels high to protect endangered salmon, and Indian tribes, who depend
on the salmon for their livelihoods. Neil McCaleb, then an assistant Interior
secretary, recalls the "chilling effect" of Mr. Rove's remarks. Wayne Smith,
then with the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, says Mr. Rove reminded
the managers of the need to "support our base."" [note: the Hatch Act prohibits
political activities in federal offices.] ... "A National Marine Fisheries
Service biologist, Michael Kelly, has asked for protection under federal
"whistle-blower" laws, saying he was subjected to political pressure to
go along with the low-water plan and ordered to ignore scientific evidence
casting doubt on the plan. This month, a federal judge ruled the administration
violated the Endangered Species Act in the way it justified the water diversion."
-By Tom Hamburger -WallStreetJournal
via -OregonWild.org
-
- "Free
Suu Kyi now." ... "Burma's military junta is refusing
to free Aung San Suu Kyi, the popular politician and Nobel Peace Prize
winner ambushed and arrested by the regime's thugs at the end of May. Outraged
western governments are threatening sanctions. Asian leaders say sanctions
might backfire; they want discreet talks with Burma's generals and some
even want Burma included in future Asia-Europe meetings." ... "So far,
so normal. Fortunately, there is a chance of a diplomatic denouement very
different from the usual slanging match between east and west." ... "One
reason for optimism is that not all Asian countries are playing their usual
roles. Japan has suspended new aid for Burma following the latest arrest
of Ms Suu Kyi. Malaysia, more surprisingly, has also lost patience with
the regime in Rangoon." -FT.com
- "Recall
heard 'round the country? With signatures to
spare, California strides into political history - and havoc." ... "American
partici-patory democracy is headed for one of its most compelling and controversial
tests in decades, courtesy of California." ... "Under a century-old voter
reform law, the first successful recall election of any modern US governor
appears on target for this fall or next spring. With 1.6 million voter
signatures turned in Monday to the secretary of state - roughly twice what's
required to put Gov. Gray Davis to a special vote - Californians will likely
get their chance to toss out the silver-coifed Demo-crat with the lowest
approval rating of any governor in state history." -By
Daniel B. Wood -CSMonitor
- 2004
ELECTION - "Deficit
outlook soars to $455B." ... "The Bush administration
estimated Tuesday that the federal budget deficit will reach a record $455
billion this year, 50% larger than it predicted just five months ago."
... "The acknowledgement touched off a war of words sure to be fought through
the 2004 elections. The White House noted that its new forecast, including
a $475 billion deficit in 2004, represents a smaller percentage of the
nation's economy, or gross domestic product, than during the Reagan administration
in the 1980s. Democrats warned of even larger deficits to come once the
costs of occupying Iraq are included." -By William
M. Welch and Laurence McQuillan -USATODAY
- 
-
- "White
House downplays role of faulty report." ... "The
Bush administration defended on Wednesday its decision to go to war against
Iraq and downplayed the role of discredited intelligence in the decision."
... "At a Washington news conference hosted by the Arms Control Association,
a former senior official in the State Department's intelligence bureau
said the problem was not bad information but the tendency of policymakers
to exaggerate intelligence on Iraq." ... ""The administration has had a
faith-based intelligence attitude: 'We know the answers, give us the intelligence
to support those answers,' " said Greg Thielmann, who resigned last September
as chief arms proliferation analyst." -By John Diamond
-USATODAY
- 
-
- 2004
Presidential Election
- "Sept.
11 probers complain of delays: White House
slow in providing access to key documents, federal commission says." ...
"Leaders of a federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
complained Tuesday that the Bush administration had been too slow to provide
access to key documents and was intimidating witnesses by insisting that
CIA and FBI "minders" attend sensitive interviews." ... "The chairman of
the commission, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, said the delays were
threatening the panel's ability to meet its congressionally imposed deadline
and produce a final report before the 2004 presidential election." ...
"Kean and commission Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton were particularly critical
of the administration's insistence that interviews with intelligence or
law enforcement officials be supervised." -By Greg
Miller-LAtimes
via -SFGate.com
-
- 
- "Bush
touches down in Africa, denounces American slavery."
... "President Bush opened his five-day African trip Tuesday with a forceful
denunciation of America's slave-holding past and a pledge to
work more closely with African nations to help them build a prosperous
and peaceful future." ... "After meeting with the West African leaders
and his host for the day, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Bush rode
Wade's presidential yacht across Dakar's harbor to Goree Island, the westernmost
tip in Africa and the point of embarkation centuries ago for at least 1
million slaves." ... ""At this place, liberty and life were stolen and
sold," the president said. "One of the largest migrations of history was
also one of the greatest crimes of the century."" ... "Bush condemned slavery
in strikingly religious terms. "For 250 years, the captives endured
an assault on their culture and their dignity," he said. "The spirit of
Africans in America did not break. Yet the spirit of their captors was
corrupted. . . . Christian men and women became blind to the clearest commands
of their faith and added hypocrisy to injustice. A republic founded on
equality for all became a prison for millions."" -By
Richard W. Stevenson -NYTimes
with contributions by the -WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune.com
-
-
- "Baghdad
council starts work but can only advise." ... "Delegates
held the inaugural session on Monday of a new Baghdad city council, hailed
by the United States as a major step towards democracy in Iraq even though
it has only an advisory role." ... "Iraq's U.S. administrator Paul Bremer
praised the 37 councillors, chosen at neighbourhood meetings across the
city, for taking up their posts when other Iraqis cooperating with the
occupying authorities have come under violent attack." -By
Andrew Gray -Reuters
via -MSNBC
- "Mexican
Voters Punish Fox in Mid-Term Congressional Elections."
... "Mexican President Vicente Fox's party lost seats in mid-term elections
as voters, disappointed by slow growth, were drawn to opposition candidates
who promised more spending for public works, farm subsidies and social
aid." ... "The National Action Party lost at least 44 of its 202 seats
in the lower house, according to preliminary results released by the Federal
Electoral Institute in Mexico City. The Party of the Democratic Revolution
gained a minimum of 37 seats, almost doubling its presence in the lower
house. The electoral agency said final results will be ready in a week."
-Bloomberg
-
"Government
backers, Islamists win Kuwait poll." ... "Islamists
and pro-government candidates swept to victory in Kuwait's all-male parliamentary
elections in a major setback for pro-Western liberals demanding reforms,
results showed on Sunday." ... "The ruling al-Sabah family, which has come
under pressure to loosen its grip on power, was the big winner. Its loyalists
from bedouin tribes and other groups won about half of the 50-seat assembly,
while liberals were left with a handful of seats."-Reuters
via -MSNBC
- -
- "Taylor
accepts Nigerian asylum offer." ... "Liberian President
Charles Taylor on Sunday accepted Nigeria's offer of political asylum,
paving the way for his departure, a requirement President Bush laid down
for any U.S.-led peacekeeping force in the West African nation." ... "Neither
Taylor nor Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who made the offer during
a 90-minute meeting in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, indicated when Taylor
would actually leave. Both warned that too hasty a departure could spark
new fighting in the country, where hundreds were killed in a failed rebel
push into the capital last month." -By Tom Squitieri
-USATODAY
-
- "Turmoil
in Liberia [CNN Fact Sheet]." ... "Violence and tension
has gripped Liberia since Samuel Doe seized power in a 1980 coup that left
President William Tolbert dead. Doe, an ethnic Krahn, was the country's
first leader not descended from the freed American and West Indian slaves
who founded the West African country in the early 19th century. He ruled
as a dictator, and the election he won in 1985 was widely regarded as rigged."
... "In 1989, Charles Taylor -- once a member of the Doe government and
a descendant of the freed slave ruling class -- led a revolt that resulted
in Doe's execution and triggered a civil war involving several factions
that blighted Liberia for seven years. An estimated 200,000 people died
before a shaky peace agreement was mediated in 1996. Taylor's faction emerged
from the fighting as a dominant force, and when special elections were
held in 1997, he and his National Patriotic Party won an overwhelming victory."
-CNN / Fact
Sheets
- "Poll:
Majority back recall for California's Davis:
Enough signatures for ballot?" ... "A majority of voters believe Gov. Gray
Davis should be recalled in a special election, according to a poll published
Friday, hours after recall leaders claimed they had enough support to put
the question on the ballot." ... "The Los Angeles Times statewide poll
of 1,412 adults, 1,127 of them registered voters, found 51 percent want
Davis ousted, while 42 percent would reject a recall. The rest said they
didn't know what to do." -AP
via -CNN
- "Recall
milestone claimed: Backers of Gov. Davis doubt
reported totals." ... "The activists who are trying to recall Gov. Gray
Davis from office said Wednesday they had turned in enough signatures to
qualify for the ballot, and predicted they will surpass their goal of 1.2
million signatures by next week." ... "Recall opponents said they doubted
the numbers, because the pro-recall forces had inflated them early on."
-By Laura Kurtzman and Julie Patel
-MercuryNews-BayArea
-
- "Bush
pledges $3bn aid to Pakistan." ... "US president
George Bush has pledged $3bn (£1.8bn) in aid to Pakistan in return
for its help in the fight against global terrorism." ... "Following a meeting
with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, at Camp David yesterday, Mr
Bush praised his counterpart as "a courageous leader and a friend of the
United States", and proposed the aid package to "help advance security
and economic opportunity for Pakistan's citizens"." ... "The $3bn package,
which must be ratified by the US congress, is in addition to the cancellation
of $1bn in debts owed by Pakistan and will be paid over five years, Mr
Bush said." -By George Wright
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
-
- 
-
- "Britain
and Russia's tentative warming trend: President
Putin is in London this week in an historic visit by a Russian leader."
... "Having resolutely opposed the war that Britain waged with the United
States in Iraq, Putin is now determined not to be muscled out of the peace.
He insists that pre-war contracts with Iraq signed by oil giant LukOil
be upheld by the provisional authority in the country. He also wants Iraq's
former debts to Moscow, thought to be worth more than $8 billion, to be
repaid." ... "On Iran, where Russia is helping build an atomic power plant,
Putin denies that Russia is helping proliferate dangerous nuclear technology
and is staunchly defending Russia's economic interests." -By
Mark Rice-Oxley -CSMonitor
- "A
rare recall bid imperils Gray Davis." ... "In California's
153-year history, no governor has faced a recall. But as citizens line
up around the block to put one on the ballot, what was once seen as fantasy
has now taken a rock-hard reality." ... "Blame it on a $38 billion deficit,
the energy crisis, or Governor Davis's lack of charisma. Regardless, the
momentum has changed the political calculus in America's most influential
state capital." -By Mark Sappenfield
-CSMonitor
- "Boycott
hits Liberian talks: Liberia's main rebel group
says it is boycotting peace talks, accusing the chief mediator of allowing
President Charles Taylor to renege on a commitment to step down." ... "The
group - Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy - demanded that
mediator Mohamed Ibn Chambas leave the talks, calling him a "spokesman"
for President Taylor." ... "An agreement reached at the talks last week
gave the rebels and the government 30 days to establish an interim authority
that excluded President Taylor." -BBC/News
ELECTION
2004 - "Dean
formally announces White House run." ... "Democratic
presidential hopeful Howard Dean sought to redefine and broaden his liberal,
anti-war campaign in formally announcing his candidacy Monday, telling
disenchanted American voters, "You have the power!" to oust President Bush
and rid Washington of special interests." ... "Dean pledged to fight conservative
Republicans, docile Democrats and the rest of the Washington establishment
-- all of whom he holds responsible for turning Americans away from the
political system." ... "He accused Bush of dividing Americans, creating
a "chain of insurmountable debt" and promoting tax cuts "designed to destroy
Social Security, Medicare, our public schools and our public services through
starvation and privatization." -By Ron Fournier
-AP via -Salon
-
- "Galloway
seeks inquiry after papers exposed as fakes." ...
"George Galloway yesterday demanded a government inquiry after documents
alleging that he took more than $10m (£6.3m) from Saddam Hussein
were exposed as forgeries." ... "The suspended Labour MP claimed he was
the victim of a conspiracy and rejected an apology from the Christian Science
Monitor, threatening to extend his legal action to British newspapers,
including the Sun, which repeated the Boston-based title's accusations."
... "Paul Van Slambrouck, editor of the internationally circulated Monitor,
published an apology on its website after ink tests found two of the "oldest"
documents, dated 1992 and 1993, on which the paper based its incendiary
allegations in April were in fact written a few months ago." -By
Kevin Maguire -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "EU says it
plans to back talk with action: Union ready
to use force to combat weapons threat." ... "Showing signs of a more muscular
approach to their common foreign policy, European Union governments said
Monday they were ready to use force if necessary to combat the threat of
weapons of mass destruction." ... "Ministers from the 15 EU countries also
issued a series of tough joint statements to governments in the world's
hotspots." ... "Meeting in Luxembourg, the ministers urged Iran to "urgently"
sign an agreement that would allow for more inspections of its nuclear
facilities, told Cuba to stop repressing its dissidents, and stiffened
sanctions against Burma." -By Thomas Fuller
-IHT.com
-
"Iran
dissidents raise their voices: An influential
group of Iranian dissidents have issued an unprecedented declaration defending
the right to criticise their leaders." ... "Following five nights of violent
protests around Tehran University, the 248 reformists said the people of
Iran had "the right to fully supervise the action of their rulers"." ...
""Sitting or making individuals sit in the position of divine and absolute
power is a clear heresy towards God and a clear affront to human dignity,"
said the strongly-worded statement."-BBC/News
- "Few
People Likely to Escape Higher Taxes: As States
Craft Budget Plans, Few People Likely to Escape Higher Taxes or Fees."
... "Fines, fees, surcharges, taxes: Whatever you call it, the bottom line
is that cash-strapped states are seeking billions of new dollars from their
citizens, enough to potentially double the load of new taxes this year
and erase much of the windfall American taxpayers enjoyed in the 1990s."
... "An Associated Press analysis of budget work in all 50 states found
many are trying to target their tax hikes or increase fees allowing politicians
to make claims that they did not raise income taxes. But those states that
have raised across-the-board taxes such as income, sales or property taxes
will get more money." ... "The targets? Smokers, drinkers, gamblers. Drivers
and traffic offenders. Businesess small and large."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
"A
tribal rivalry may give clues to Iraq's future."
... "With Hussein gone, the US occupation facing many challenges, and Iraq's
political parties in their infancy, the country's most important power
center remains the tribes. Although largely urbanized, three-quarters of
all Iraqis are members of tribes and tribal identity has intensified since
the early 1990s, as Baghdad's authority buckled under the United Nations
embargo imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait. The tribe delivers services
like health and education, and its sheik employs a network of contacts
and resources that would be the envy of any political boss in late 19th-century
New York or Chicago." -By Stephen J. Glain
-Boston/Globe
- 
- "Poles
Return to Europe With EU Vote: Poles Vote 'Yes'
to Join EU, Fulfilling Aspirations to Return to Europe." ... "With 38 million
people, Poland would be the largest country to join the 15-nation bloc,
leading the largest wave of EU expansion and holding voting power equal
to Spain and behind only Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy." ...
"Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Lithuania have already approved
EU membership with referendums. The Czech Republic votes next week, followed
by Latvia and Estonia in September. Cyprus is leaving the decision to parliament."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
-
- "First steps
taken on Mideast plan: Vows made on settlers and terror."
... "Brought together by President George W. Bush, Ariel Sharon, the prime
minister of Israel, and Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister,
committed Wednesday to the first steps of a new international peace plan
that envisions two independent states along the Jordan River, Israel and
Palestine, and an end to decades of bloodshed in the Middle East." ...
"On a brilliant, sweltering afternoon on the Gulf of Aqaba, Sharon pledged
to immediately begin dismantling some "unauthorized outposts" of settlements
that have been set up on West Bank hilltops to extend and tighten Israel's
grip on the land where Palestinians want to carve out a state. Abbas for
the first time explicitly declared that "the armed intifada must end,"
a reference to the Palestinian uprising against Israel." -By
Elizabeth Bumiller and James Bennet -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
- "Hillary
Clinton recounts Bill's confession." ... "Hillary
Rodham Clinton says her husband's relationship with Monica Lewinsky caused
so much pain that, at one point, Buddy the dog
was the only member of the family willing to keep President Clinton company."
... "The Democratic senator from New York declares in her new memoirs that,
``As a wife, I wanted to wring Bill's neck,'' but she finally resolved
that she loved him, wanted to keep the marriage intact and supported what
he was doing as president." ... "Mrs. Clinton vividly describes her pain
over the betrayal in ``Living History,'' covering her eight years in the
White House. A copy of the book, which goes on sale next week, was obtained
by The Associated Press." -By Calvin Woodward and
Siobhan McDonough -AP
via -StarTribune.com
-
-
- "Bush
seeks backing for Mideast plan." ... "Arab leaders,
meeting with President Bush as he plunged into the labyrinth of Mideast
peace talks, pledged on Tuesday to fight terror and violence and called
on Israel to "rebuild trust and restore normal Palestinian life."" ...
""Terror must be opposed and it must be defeated," Bush said." ... "But
Bush, making his first major foray into Middle East peacemaking, made clear
that both Arabs and Israelis bear responsibility for achieving peace. "Israel
must deal with the settlements," he said. "Israel must make sure there's
a continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home.""
-AP via -USATODAY
- Israel
Palestine Roadmap
- "Israeli-Palestinian
Summit Ends on Positive Note." ... "Talks between
the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers ended on a positive note, setting
the tone for a three-way summit led by President Bush on taking the first
steps in a peace "road map."" ... "Israel announced a series of goodwill
gestures toward the Palestinians, including plans to release some prisoners,
but failed to agree on terms for an Israeli troop pullback in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip envisioned in the U.S.-backed plan." -By
Jeffrey Heller -Reuters
- ELECTION
2004 - "Democrat
Kucinich endorses medical pot use: He says
he'd issue executive order if elected president." ... "Rep. Dennis Kucinich
of Ohio became the first Democratic presidential candidate to endorse the
legalization of medical marijuana when he told The Chronicle on Wednesday
it should be available "to any patient who needs it to alleviate pain and
suffering," regardless of the current federal drug laws." ... ""Compassion
requires that medical marijuana be available" Kucinich said during a telephone
interview after a campaign stop in Cupertino. "We must have health-care
systems which are compassionate . . . so I support it without reservation.""
-By Carla Marinucci, John Wildermuth -SFGate.com
-
- "Redistricting:
the wars get more frequent: States like Texas
look to redraw maps every two years instead of every 10." ... "Mid-term
redistricting hasn't been seen in half a century, and this year's cartographical
flurry is raising questions about the potential abuse of a Constitutional
process pegged to census measures each decade. Now, some political watchers
fear the resurgence of redistricting is a tactic to lock in electoral shifts
- and gain the upper hand in Washington. Others defend redistricting as
the logical fallout of the 2002 elections, which solidified Republican
power in several states." -By Kris Axtman
-CSMonitor
-
- "President's
journey full of diplomatic challenges." ... "Most
of President Bush's overseas trips are carefully scripted and largely risk-free
occasions, notable for smiling photo ops and innocuous official statements,
not for difficult diplomacy." ... "The weeklong trip that begins Friday
is different. It will challenge Bush's diplomatic agility and leadership
as his political opponents at home wait to exploit any missteps. The president's
direct manner and charm have disarmed many world leaders, but grins and
straight talk won't be the only measure of success this time." -By
Judy Keen -USATODAY
- "Arafat
Move Clouds Mideast Peace Summit: Arafat's
Move to Assert Power Over Abbas Throws Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks
Into Confusion." ... "Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is sending a message
that he not Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is in charge of peace talks with
Israel, countering moves to sideline him and throwing a second Palestinian-Israeli
summit into confusion." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Bush signs
$350 billion tax cut." ... "The bill signing in the
East Room for the third-largest tax cut in the nation’s history came a
day after Bush — with no comment or ceremony — signed a bill allowing the
federal government to borrow as much as $7.4 trillion." ... "The $984 billion
increase in the federal debt limit is the largest on record, and it will
go in part to help pay for the new tax cuts that the Republican-run Congress
passed on close votes at Bush’s behest." -MS-NBC
with David Gregory and AP
-
- Israel
Palestine Road map
- "Israeli
Cabinet approves ‘road map’: Vote divided
on U.S.-backed peace plan." ... "The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday narrowly
approved a U.S.-backed peace plan that envisions a Palestinian state by
2005, but attached a number of conditions. It marked the first time that
an Israeli government formally affirmed the Palestinians’ right to statehood."
... "On Friday, the United States declared it would take the Israeli requests
into account but also said there would be no changes in the road map."
-AP via -MSNBC
- 
-
- "US
quietly eases rules for faith-based groups." ...
"The Bush administration has quietly altered regulations for the nation's
leading job training program to allow faith-based organizations to use
''sacred literature,'' such as Bibles, in their federally funded programs.
Civil liberties activists say the new rules blur the line between religion
and government." ... "The change, made by the US Labor Department last
month, could allow faith-based groups to use religious books as historical
texts or as inspirational stories for job seekers, as long as organizations
do not proselytize or conduct prayer sessions." ... "In a separate action,
the House is expected today to approve a change allowing private groups
that run job training programs to discriminate on the basis of religion
when they hire people to run them. That change, part of legislation to
renew the overall program, would lift a ban that has existed in federal
law for two decades." -By Susan Milligan
-Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
- "Halliburton
contract goes beyond extinguishing oil fires." ...
"An emergency contract the Bush administration gave to Halliburton Co.
to extinguish Iraqi oil fires also gave the firm a more lucrative role
in getting the country's oil system up and running, documents showed Tuesday."
... "A congressional critic of the Houston company, formerly run by Vice
President Dick Cheney, said the administration was hiding the expanded
role." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
-
- "White
House refuses to release Sept. 11 info." ... "The
Bush administration and the nation's intelligence agencies are blocking
the release of sensitive information about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, delaying publication of a 900-page
congressional report on how the terrorist assault happened." ... "Intelligence
officials insist the information must be kept secret for national security
reasons. But some of the information is already broadly available on the
Internet or has been revealed in interim reports on the investigation,
leading to charges that the administration is simply trying to avoid enshrining
embarrassing details in the report." -By Frank Davies
with contributions by James Kuhnhenn -Knight
Ridder via-Miami/Herald
-
-
- "Hail
to the Chicks! Dixie gives the Dixies a warm
welcome." ... "Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines began the band's U.S.
tour with an open invitation to heckle her. "If you're here to boo, we
welcome that because we welcome freedom of speech," she said from the stage
of Greenville, South Carolina's Bi-Lo Center Thursday night. "So we're
going to give you fifteen seconds to get whatever you have out."" ... "Instead,
the 15,000-strong crowd erupted in cheers." ... "It was the Dixie Chicks'
first U.S. concert since Maines told a London audience on March 10th that
they were ashamed the president is from their home state of Texas." -By
Andy Paras -RollingStone.com/news
-
-
- "State
of the Air 2003: Nearly Half the Nation at
Risk from Smog - Overshadows Temporary Improvement. American Lung
Association Forecasts Continued Unhealthful Air from Coast to Coast."
... "New York) Nearly half the American population—more than 137 million
Americans—continues to breathe unhealthy amounts of the toxic air pollutant
ozone (smog), according to the American
Lung Association State of the Air: 2003 report released today."
... "The annual report cites that moderate improvements in smog levels
are due to a break from summer heat, not air pollution cleanup activities,
further illustrating the urgency for Americans to fight for cleaner air
in the face of potentially devastating changes in the nation’s environmental
policies. The Lung Association anticipates increasing numbers in its 2004
report, which will include data from the hot 2002 summer." ... "The report
was released in the shadow of the Administration’s rollback of key Clean
Air Act provisions and additional proposals that would weaken public health
protections of that law, thereby denying tens of millions of Americans
healthy air for the foreseeable future." ... "The AmericanLung
Association urges Americans to contact members of Congress to
oppose any bills that would weaken the Clean Air Act and to contactEPA
by May 3, 2003 to oppose the proposed changes that would
weaken the New Source Review provisions. Americans can log on to www.lungusa.org
to make their voice heard to Congress and EPA on these critical issues."
-American Lung Association
-Action Network
- "Democratic
candidate Dean calls for Republican [Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum]
to resign leadership post." ... "Democratic presidential
candidate Howard Dean on Wednesday called for Republican Sen. Rick Santorum
to resign his leadership post after the lawmaker compared homosexuality
to bigamy, polygamy, incest and adultery." ... ""Gay-bashing is not a legitimate
public policy discussion; it is immoral. Rick Santorum's failure to recognize
that attacking people because of who they are is morally wrong makes him
unfit for a leadership position in the United States Senate," Dean said
in a statement." -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Shiites
gaining momentum." ... "After being suppressed for
35 years by Saddam's Baath Party, the leaders and faithful of the Shiite
branch of Islam, who represent perhaps 16 million Iraqis, are asserting
themselves and moving into the power vacuum left by the almost overnight
collapse of Iraq's secular government." ... "The U.S. military may control
the roads, ports and skies of Iraq, but in any neighborhood where Shiites
are in the majority, one is likely to find white-turbaned sheiks and imams
who have begun making the day-to-day decisions and policies." ... "The
Shiites' emerging power will be on display this week, when they converge
in massive numbers on Karbala, where Saddam was martyred in a decisive
7th-century battle that became the symbol for suffering and self-sacrifice
among Shiites for 1,300 years." -By John Daniszewski-LAtimes
via -RegisterGuard
-
-
- 
- "Local
Officials Rise Up to Defy The Patriot Act." ... "This
little city [Arcata, California] (pop.: 16,000) has become the first in
the nation to pass an ordinance that outlaws voluntary compliance with
the Patriot Act." ... "The Arcata ordinance may be the first, but it may
not be the last. Across the country, citizens have been forming Bill of
Rights defense committees to fight what they consider the most egregious
curbs on liberties contained in the Patriot Act. The 342-page act, passed
by Congress one month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with
little input from a public still in shock, has been most publicly criticized
by librarians and bookstore owners for the provisions that force them to
secretly hand over information about a patron's reading and Internet habits.
But citizens groups are becoming increasingly organized and forceful in
rebuking the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act for giving the federal
government too much power, especially since a draft of the Justice Department's
proposed sequel to the Patriot Act (dubbed Patriot II) was publicly leaked
in January." -By Evelyn Nieves-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Under
Fire: Colo. Rep. Criticized for 'Watered Down'
Air Force Academy Rape Inquiry." ... "Stunned victims and members of Congress
are sharply criticizing Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., for altering language
in a bill calling for Air Force Academy leadership to be held accountable
in the upcoming inquiry into the prestigious military institution's sexual
assault scandal." ... "By changing seven words of a relatively small amendment
to the $80 billion Iraq war-costs bill, critics charge Hefley has single-handedly
changed the direction and strength of the upcoming independent investigation."
-By Ed O'Keefe with contributions by Linda Douglass
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "How
to think about this war if you're against it:
I hope for a U.S. victory with minimum bloodshed and maximum freedom for
the Iraqi people. But I also want the cakewalk conservatives to pay for
their hubris politically." ... "With U.S troops poised on the outskirts
of Baghdad, a surreal political phenomenon is unmistakable: So far the
loudest establishment voices criticizing the Bush administration's war
plan belong to retired generals, unnamed active military leaders and former
Republican officials, while most prominent Democrats either proclaim their
support, or remain silent." ... "Why are so many war critics flummoxed
by talking about the war? Isn't it possible to critique the president without
giving aid and comfort to the enemy? And is pointing out the effort's shortcomings
the same as glorying in them? I've been struggling with these questions
since the war began. I'm not an antiwar Democrat; I'm just anti-this war,
at this time. I think Saddam is a bigger menace than most of the left seems
to; I think his flouting U.N. resolutions merited a tough international
response; I thought the world was on its way to crafting one when the Bush
administration pulled the plug on diplomacy. Yet even though I opposed
its timing, once the war commenced I reflexively wished it would be over
quickly. Now, though, while I didn't root for the administration's setbacks
in the war's early going, I have to admit they served to prove its hubris,
its dishonesty and the dashing arrogance of the administration's frightening
first-strike doctrine that the war on Iraq was meant to kick off. And even
if the battle for Baghdad ends quickly, there remains plenty to critique."
-By Joan Walsh -Salon
- ELECTION
2004 -
-
- "Kerry
says US needs its own 'regime change'." ... "Senator
John F. Kerry said yesterday that President Bush committed a ''breach of
trust'' in the eyes of many United Nations members by going to war with
Iraq, creating a diplomatic chasm that will not be bridged as long as Bush
remains in office." ... "''What we need now is not just a regime change
in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States,''
Kerry said in a speech at the Peterborough Town Library." -By
Glen Johnson -Boston/Globe
ELECTION
2004 - "Senator
Raises $7.4 Million for Presidential Campaign." ...
"Senator John Edwards of North Carolina said today that he had raised $7.4
million for his presidential campaign in the first three months of the
year, an amount likely to put him near the top of a crowded field of candidates
in the money race for the Democratic nomination next year." ... "The final
Edwards tally will not be officially submitted to the Federal Election
Commission for two weeks, when all campaigns must file information on their
fund-raising during the first quarter." ... "The Edwards campaign said
its total did not include any money transferred from Mr. Edwards's Senate
committee, which still has $1.4 million in the bank." -By
Richard A. Oppel, Jr. -NYTimes
via -Google-News
ELECTION
2004 - "NRCC
Raises Record $22.1M for Campaign: NRCC Raises
a Record $22.1M, Sen. Edwards Raises $7.4M As Race for Campaign Cash Heats
Up." ... "The National Republican Congressional Committee said Wednesday
it raised $22.1 million from January through March, a committee record."
... "The NRCC's first-quarter fund raising topped what it collected when
it could still accept big soft-money checks. In the first three months
of 2001, the committee raised a total of $18.8 million, and in 2002, the
last election year, it collected $21.5 million in the first quarter." ...
"The NRCC credited more than 100,000 new donors with helping it set a new
record." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
ELECTION
2004 - "Kerry
says presidential campaign has $8 million in bank."
... "In the presidential race, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said Wednesday
he raised about $7 million so far this year after transferring $2.9 million
from his Senate campaign to his presidential effort, putting his total
campaign receipts at $10 million. Kerry said he had $8 million of that
on hand to spend." ... "One of the other early entrants in the race, former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, has said he expected to raise at least $1.5 million
from January through March, meeting his goal." ... "Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry and Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt were expected to exceed $4 million
each in first-quarter fund-raising." -By Sharon Theimer
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
- "Rumsfeld
and Myers Assail Complaints About War Strategy."
... "Pentagon officials struck back today at critics of the military campaign
in Iraq, declaring that complaints about the handling of the war are misinformed,
inaccurate and harmful to American forces in combat." ... "Both officials
rejected various complaints about the military campaign — that it was launched
before there were enough troops deployed, that it relied too heavily in
the beginning on air power — as wrongheaded. Members of the Joint Chiefs
were unanimous in approving the plan beforehand, Mr. Rumsfeld and General
Myers said, and commanders in Iraq are getting all the men and equipment
they ask for." -By David Stout
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- "Offense
and Defense: The battle between Donald Rumsfeld
and the Pentagon." ... "Several senior war planners complained to me in
interviews that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his inner circle
of civilian advisers, who had been chiefly responsible for persuading President
Bush to lead the country into war, had insisted on micromanaging the war's
operational details." ... "On at least six occasions, the planner told
me, when Rumsfeld and his deputies were presented with operational plans—the
Iraqi assault was designated Plan 1003—he insisted that the number of ground
troops be sharply reduced. Rumsfeld's faith in precision bombing and his
insistence on streamlined military operations has had profound consequences
for the ability of the armed forces to fight effectively overseas.
They've got no resources, a former high-level intelligence official said."
... "The critical moment, one planner said, came last fall, during the
buildup for the war, when Rumsfeld decided that he would no longer be guided
by the Pentagon s most sophisticated war-planning document, the TPFDL—time-phased
forces-deployment list—which is known to planning officers as the tip-fiddle
(tip-fid, for short). A TPFDL is a voluminous document describing the inventory
of forces that are to be sent into battle, the sequence of their deployment,
and the deployment of logistical support." -By Seymour
M. Hersh 20030407
-NewYorker
-
-
-
-
- "Schröder
wins parliamentary backing over German troops." ...
"Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's government yesterday won an emergency
parliamentary vote concerning the involvement of German troops in Nato
missions in Turkey yesterday." ... "The opposition liberal Free Democrats
argued in its motion that the parliament should pass a resolution on the
deployment of German troops in Awacs surveillance aircraft used to patrol
Turkish airspace." -By Hugh Williamson in Berlin
-FT.com
-
- 
-
- "House
GOP leaders seek budget support." ... "Some Democrats
said Republicans were using the distraction of war to whisk a budget through
the Senate that would cut taxes on the wealthy while omitting money for
the costs of combat with Iraq. They said work on the budget should be postponed
until next week so lawmakers could focus on the war." ... ""We know why
we're being jammed on this right now," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa." ...
"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said while the Senate would
spend time discussing the war should the invasion begin, the chamber would
nonetheless complete the budget this week." -By Alan
Fram -AP via
-Miami/Herald
-
-
-
- "Bush's
new tax cut bid stirs outcry." ... "The Bush administration
is pushing for a new round of tax cuts even before it explains how much
war with Iraq will cost the American taxpayer, triggering cries of fiscal
irresponsibility and charges of a Texas political two-step." ... "''It's
indecent that we are debating reducing taxes for wealthy individuals when
our American servicemen are being fired upon in Iraq,'' Kennedy said."
-By Glen Johnson
-Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
- "ANALYSIS-As
war starts, financial cost to U.S. still secret."
... "Wars cost money as well as lives and estimates for the attack on Iraq
are high and rising." ... "Bush has been conspicuously silent on what the
action will cost U.S. taxpayers. But conservative calculations, assuming
a swift campaign that matches the speed of the 1991 Gulf War, reach up
to $100 billion." ... "This would be equivalent to one percent of U.S.
gross domestic product. But if the war gets bogged down, for example in
street-to-street fighting to take Baghdad, costs would rise." -By
Alister Bull -Reuters
via -Forbes /Magazine
-
-
-
-
- "Turkey's
Parliament OKs U.S. on Airspace." ... "Turkey's parliament
on Thursday voted to allow the U.S. military to use Turkish airspace for
a war in Iraq, a decision that took on added urgency now that U.S. bombers
have begun striking Iraq." ... "The United States for months has been pressing
Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member, to allow in 62,000 soldiers to open
a northern front against Iraq. But as the date for an Iraq war drew closer,
Washington requested the urgent use of Turkish airspace for overflights."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
-
-
- "US,
Turkey wrangle over last pieces of war plan:
Turkey could approve US overfly rights Thursday, but N. Iraq remains stumbling
block." ... "US officials have entered a stretch of last-minute maneuvering
to secure two missing components of the Bush administration's war strategy:
permission to fly over Turkey on the way to a northern assault against
Saddam Hussein's forces, and an agreement to keep Turkish troops from unilaterally
invading northern Iraq." ... "The Turkish government plans to bring a motion
to parliament Thursday to allow the US to use its airspace, but will not
propose a plan to base 62,000 troops here for a ground invasion." -By
Ilene R. Prusher and Seth Stern -CSMonitor
-
-
-
-
-
- "Germany
Guarantees U.S. Fly-over Rights in Iraq War." ...
"Germany guaranteed U.S. troops fly-over rights in an Iraq war on Wednesday
despite its own opposition to an attack and warnings that military action
may breach international law." ... "Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also rejected
opposition calls for a parliamentary vote on allowing German troops on
NATO reconnaissance flights over Turkey and on keeping nuclear and chemical
contamination detection units in Kuwait." -By David
Crossland -Reuters
-
-
-
- "Fantasy
Budget." ... "Following a surreal timetable, the
Senate and House are apt this week to approve budget resolutions that would
lock in huge tax cuts without setting aside a penny for war in Iraq. Then
the administration would unveil a "supplemental" spending request -- and
demand that a check be cut immediately." ... "For the administration, this
schedule carries two advantages. No war numbers are released to jeopardize
the tax package; then, once war is underway, Congress dares not challenge
a spending request. But why should Congress go along with such a charade?"-WashingtonPost
-
-
- /
-
- 
-
-
-
-
- "Swift
crash of alliance astonishes observers." ... "The
U.N. Security Council has lived through decades of sterile Cold War shouting
matches ended by vetoes, a Korean War approved only with the Soviets out
of the room, and French and British defiance of the council with their
1956 invasion of Egypt." ... "But no previous crisis was as threatening
to the established diplomatic order as the bitter public battle pitting
the French and Germans against the Americans and British over whether to
make war on Iraq, say veteran U.N. officials and foreign policy watchers."
... "Almost as surprising has been the American determination to exercise
power regardless of world opinion, and the resistance of many nations to
the U.S. agenda — which together threaten a collapse of the trans-Atlantic
alliance." -AP
via -QCTimes
-
-
-
- "Senator
Wants Fake Iraq Documents Probed: Sen. Jay
Rockefeller Wants FBI Investigation of Forged Documents That Were Used
Against Iraq." ... "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee
asked the FBI on Friday to investigate forged documents the Bush administration
used as evidence against Saddam Hussein and his military ambitions in Iraq."
... "Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia said he was uneasy about a possible
campaign to deceive the public about the status of Iraq's nuclear program."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Senate
Votes to Ban Disputed Abortion Procedure." ... "Abortion
opponents won their first victory in the new Republican-controlled Congress
today when senators voted overwhelmingly to outlaw a procedure that has
been at the center of the abortion rights struggle for the last eight years."
... "With significant Democratic backing, the Senate voted 64 to 33 to
approve a Republican-sponsored measure that would prohibit doctors from
performing the procedure that has come to be known as partial-birth abortion.
The measure now goes to the House, where it is expected to pass." (1, 2)
-By Carl Hulse -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
- "France
Rejects New U.K. Proposal on Iraq: France Rejects
New British Plan on Iraq Disarmament Tests at U.N., Says Deadline Not Realistic."
... "The British proposals "do not respond to the questions the international
community is asking," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said in a
statement. "It's not about giving a few more days to Iraq before resorting
to force but about resolutely advancing through peaceful disarmament.""
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Britain's
6-Point Plan on Iraq Is Met With Strong Opposition."
... "Sharp opposition, both from Europe and Iraq, was voiced today to a
new British proposal setting out six ways for Saddam Hussein to prove his
commitment to disarmament and avoid an invasion." ... "The French foreign
minister, Dominique de Villepin, said the plan, which would give United
Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq a short extension, perhaps to March
24, did not address the key issue of seeking a peaceful end to the showdown
with Iraq." -By Terence Neilan -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
- "Russia
warned on economic consequences of veto." ... "The
US ambassador to Russia said on Wednesday that economic and diplomatic
relations with the US could be damaged if Russia vetoed a United Nations
resolution authorising war with Iraq." ... "In an interview with Izvestiya,
a leading Russian newspaper, Alexander Vershbow urged Russia to "carefully
weigh all the consequences" of its vote in the UN Security Council. "It
makes a big difference whether Russia decides to use its veto or abstain,"
he said." -By Edward Alden and Rafael Behr
-FT.com
-
-
-
-
-
- "U.S.
Blasts France's Veto Threat on Iraq: U.S. Officials
Say France Sending Wrong Message to Iraq in Threatening to Veto British
Plan." ... "U.S. officials say France is sending exactly the wrong message
to Iraq's Saddam Hussein by threatening to veto a United Nations resolution
that would order him to disarm immediately or face war." ... "State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday that the stand of French President
Jacques Chirac is making it less likely Iraq can be disarmed peacefully
and the White House suggested for the first time that voting against the
resolution in the U.N. Security Council could damage a country's relationship
with the United States." -APvia
-ABCNEWS.com
- "Democrats
derailed by the war: The Democrats are split
over how to respond to the approaching war with Iraq." ... "The Senate
minority leader, Tom Daschle, has become more outspoken in recent days
over the war in Iraq." ... "He has said that the US is in danger of alienating
its allies, and called for a delay in passing the tax cuts President Bush
has proposed until the direct cost of the war is known." -By
Steve Schifferes -BBC/News
-
-
-
- "Britain, U.S.
offer U.N. amendments." ... "U.S. and British diplomats
on Wednesday were fine-tuning new amendments to their U.N. resolution on
Iraq in another attempt to nail down the nine votes needed for approval
in the Security Council. With the U.S.-imposed deadline for a vote early
this week slipping away, the allies hope that new “benchmarks” for disarmament,
including a televised appearance by President Saddam Hussein to renounce
weapons of mass destruction, will sway nations unwilling to back the March
17 ultimatum of the current draft." -MS-NBC
-
-
-
- "For
Blair, political risk runs the highest." ... "None
of America's allies for a possible war against Iraq is feeling more pressure
than Blair, who was further stung by poll results released yesterday that
showed only 19 percent of British residents support going to war without
a second UN resolution." ... "Blair's response has been to face his challengers
on prime-time television, while off-stage directing his top aides and diplomats
to find the nine votes on the UN Security Council required for a compromise
resolution that gives Iraq more time to comply." -By
John Donnelly and Beth Carney
-Boston/Globe
- "As
budgets shrink, class sizes expand." ... "From California
to Florida, states are on the verge of rolling back what was once thought
to be the most promising frontier of education reform: smaller class sizes."
... "Five years ago, when surpluses were the rule on Capitol Hill and across
the nation, President Clinton pledged $12 billion to the idea. A year earlier,
California alone promised $800 million. Yet now, states pinched by shrinking
budgets are looking for programs to cut, and class-size initiatives are
among the first on the chopping block." -By Mark Sappenfield
-CSMonitor
- 
- "Li
Peng Heads Into Uncertain Retirement: Li Peng,
China's Political Survivor, Heads Into Uncertain Retirement." ... "He is
China's political survivor: In 16 years at the highest levels of power,
Li Peng outlasted the upheaval of 1989, a scandal in which a corrupt protege
was executed and critics who said he was just too dumb to run the country."
... "This week, the 74-year-old Li steps down as chairman of China's legislature,
surrendering his last formal post in a sweeping handover of power to a
younger generation of leaders." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Democratic
Hopefuls Find Antiwar Minefield in Iowa." ... "With
the nation readying for a possible war, Democratic presidential candidates
in Iowa this weekend got a taste of the complicated new world that presumably
awaits them this spring — a world of trying to campaign for president at
a time of a war, or a near-war, that has captured the attention of the
nation while sowing ideological divisions within the Democratic party and
among the candidates." ... "The coming weeks or months are shaping up as
a period of American presidential campaign history unlike any since perhaps
1944, when Thomas E. Dewey found himself in the unenviable position of
campaigning against Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Roosevelt sought a fourth
term during World War II." ... "By contrast, in 1968 during the Vietnam
War the fighting was so far engaged and judged by so many Americans to
be a failure that two candidates built their campaigns entirely on an antiwar
platform." (1, 2)
-By Adam Nagourney -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
-
-
-
-
- "US
push for Iraq deadline quickens: Bush leads
intensive effort on UN resolution." ... "President Bush, spending the weekend
at the White House, where several thousand antiwar protesters gathered
yesterday, again made his case for quick action in Iraq." ... "''Unfortunately,
it is clear that Saddam Hussein is still violating the demands of the United
Nations by refusing to disarm,'' he said in his weekly radio address."
... "Council members who said they would vote against war, including veto-wielding
France and Russia, maintained that the destruction of the missiles is a
significant step forward and continued to press for more inspections. Paris
dispatched Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on a whistle-stop tour
of three African states - Angola, Cameroon, and Guinea - to urge them to
reject the US-backed resolution." -By Bryan Bender
and Geneive Abdo -Boston/Globe
- -
"House
postpones action on military tax breaks bill." ...
"House Republican leaders Thursday postponed action on a package of tax
breaks for military troops stationed overseas after members of their own
party threatened to mutiny over additions that would benefit off-shore
horse players and other special interests." -By Kathy Kiely
-USATODAY
- "Republicans
Can't Stop Estrada Filibuster: GOP Fails to
End Democratic Filibuster of Federal Appeals Court Judgeship Nomination
of Estrada." ... "Senate Republicans failed Thursday to break a Democratic
blockade on Miguel Estrada's nomination for a federal appeals court judgeship,
dealing President Bush his first major defeat since the GOP won control
of Congress last November." ... "The 55-44 vote after four weeks of ethnic-tinged
debate was five votes short of the 60 needed to end what had evolved into
a Democratic filibuster against Estrada. Bush nominated him two years ago
to become the first Hispanic on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia." -APvia
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
- "Grim
Future for World's Water." ... "World water reserves
are drying up fast and booming populations, pollution and global warming
will combine to cut the average person's water supply by a third in the
next 20 years, the United Nations said on Wednesday." ... "A report published
by the U.N. on Wednesday ahead of the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto,
Japan, criticized political leaders for failing to take action and, in
some cases, disputing the very existence of a water crisis."
-Wired
-
-
-
- "Should
libraries filter out Internet porn? The high
court weighs the protection of children against free-speech rights." ...
"The justices struck down the 1996 Communications Decency Act and remanded
to a lower court a case challenging the 1998 Child Online Protection Act."
... "Wednesday, the high court begins examining whether Congress's latest
attempt in this area, the Children's Internet Protection Act, is impermissible
censorship or a justifiable attempt to shield American youths from harm."
-By Warren Richey -CSMonitor
- Accounting
News - "GOP
will protect Bush economic plan from delays, but not the rest of his tax
cuts." ... "Congressional Republicans said Tuesday
they intend to give priority to President Bush's $726 billion economic
growth plan, effectively dimming the chances for enactment of the other
half of his tax cut proposals for the next decade." ... "The decision means
GOP leaders intend to fight for Bush's plan to cut the tax on corporate
dividends, for example, but that his call for making the huge 2001 tax
cuts permanent is unlikely to become law in the near future." -By
David Espo and Alan Fram -AP
via -SFGate.com
- 
- 
- ELECTION
2004 - "Bush's
'04 Campaign Quietly Being Planned: Advisers
See Raising Up to $250 Million." ... "President Bush has postponed his
reelection campaign until after a war with Iraq, but White House and Republican
Party strategists have begun planning for a contest in which they envision
raising as much as $250 million to wage a battle designed to break the
political stalemate of the 1990s and make the GOP the country's majority
party." ... "Preliminarily, the Bush team sees an opportunity to
expand the president's slender electoral majority by targeting several
states that were narrowly won by Al Gore in 2000. They include Iowa, Minnesota,
New Mexico and Oregon." -By Mike Allen and Dan Balz-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "Turkish
vote forces US to rethink war plan." ... "Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, head of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development party, said on
Sunday the government had yet to decide whether to resubmit approval for
the troop deployment to parliament this week, further complicating US plans
for an invasion of Iraq." -By Leyla Boulton and Peter
Spiegel -FT.com
ELECTION
2004 - "Florida's
Graham to Run for President." ... "Sen. Bob Graham
(Fla.), a proven vote-getter in one of America's essential swing states,
quietly entered the crowded field for the Democratic presidential nomination
yesterday, filing papers in Florida and Washington to set up a campaign
committee." ... "Graham brings to the race one of the best-rounded résumés
in politics: two successful terms as governor, five statewide victories
in a populous, moderate state and leadership of his party's senatorial
campaign committee. As chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, he
spent last year warning the nation that the Bush administration is not
doing enough to protect the homeland from terrorist attacks." -By
David Von Drehle -WashingtonPost
-
-
- "US
gives Iraq opposition its view of future: In
N. Iraq this week, a US envoy offered reassurances on post-Hussein roles."
... "In its efforts to broaden support for a military action against Iraq,
the US is telling key constituencies what they want to hear." ... "US envoy
Zalmay Khalilzad has offered opponents of Saddam Hussein soothing words
- and apparently little more - about their role in a future Iraqi government,
possible Turkish involvement in a US-led invasion force, and the duration
of US military rule in Iraq." ... "Khalilzad sought to calm opposition
fears - particularly among Kurds - about the part Turkey's military might
play in a US-led invasion of Iraq. Khalilzad insisted Wednesday the US
is "opposed to a Turkish unilateral role in here," adding that Turkish
participation in a coalition would have to be "fully coordinated" with
the US and come with a commitment to leave Iraq when the US leaves." -By
Cameron W. Barr -CSMonitor
-
-
- "Turkey
postpones U.S. deployment vote." ... "Turkey delayed
a vote on basing more than 60,000 U.S. troops there as the government failed
Thursday to persuade its legislators to back the deployment." ... "Parliament
had been expected to vote after a debate Thursday. But at the request of
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of the ruling Justice and Development
Party, it moved the debate to Saturday." -By Harmonie
Toros-AP via
-StarTribune
-
-
- "In
antiwar 'march,' protesters flood senators with calls, e-mail."
... "Antiwar protesters traded marching shoes for phones, fax machines,
and computers yesterday as part of a ''virtual march'' on the nation's
capital." ... "''We will let our fingers do the marching and demand that
our voices be heard,'' said Tom Andrews, the national director for Win
Without War, the group that organized the protest." ... "Andrews said about
400,000 people had registered through the group's website for the call-in
campaign." -By Vanessa Palo
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- "Blair
Suffers Major Party Revolt Over Iraq." ... "British
Prime Minister Tony Blair suffered by far the largest revolt he has faced
from his war-wary Labor Party but still won a parliamentary vote Wednesday
over tackling Iraq." -By Mike Peacock-Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "World's
first internet president logs on: Web already
shaping policy of new South Korean leader." ... "South Korea will stake
a claim to be the most advanced online democracy on the planet tomorrow
with the inauguration of a president who styles himself as the first leader
fully in tune with the internet." ... "The rise of webocracy has already
made South Korea a place of exhilarating but unpredictable change. In recent
months online campaigns have swung the presidential election, stirred tens
of thousands into anti-US protests and nudged government policy on the
nuclear standoff." -By Jonathan Watts
-Guardian.co.uk
- "Bush
promises to help U.S. governors." ... "States are
in their third year of shrinking revenues and budget cuts, with some $30
billion of additional cuts overall needed in the next few months. Next
year looks even worse, with governors predicting an $82 billion gap between
spending demands and their weak tax revenue."
-AP via -USATODAY
-
- "Pop
and Politics: Grammy Organizers Deny Stifling
Anti-War Artists." ... "Some musicians say they were warned not to use
the Grammy podium to make anti-war statements, but show organizers deny
any effort to stifle the artists." -ABCNEWS.com
Accounting
News - "Democrats
Call Bush Budget Irresponsible." ... "In the weekly
Democratic radio address, Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the top Democrat
on the House of Representatives Budget Committee, said Bush's budget proposals
would saddle the nation's children with a huge national debt."-Reuters
via -WashingtonPost
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Gephardt
banks on experience in Iowa." ... "U.S. Rep. Dick
Gephardt, D-Mo., who won the Iowa Caucuses in 1988, said Wednesday that
his experience — including mistakes — will help him as he tries again to
win the Democratic presidential nomination." ... "He is one of at least
eight candidates who will be trying to win over Iowa Democrats in the coming
months, but he is the only one who has done it before." -By
Kathie Obradovich -QCTimes
ELECTION
2004 - "Gephardt,
Taking Aim at White House, Sharply Attacks Bush."
... "Representative Richard A. Gephardt began his second campaign for president
in 16 years today with a fierce attack on President Bush's economic and
domestic polices and a pledge to push for health care coverage for all
Americans." ... "He portrayed the White House as overridden with "special
interest lobbyists," and said that Mr. Bush's policies had undermined the
nation's economic recovery, soiled the environment and neglected public
schools. Attacking the centerpiece of Mr. Bush's economic plan, Mr. Gephardt
vowed to "scrap the vast majority of the Bush tax cuts for wealthier Americans
and corporations."" ... ""President Bush has taken us right back to the
broken policies of the past, the economics of debt and regret — unaffordable
tax cuts for the few, zero new jobs, surging unemployment," Mr. Gephardt
told 400 supporters this morning at the elementary school he attended."
-By Adam Nagourney -NYTimes
via -Google-News
ELECTION
2004 - "Gephardt
Formally Opens Presidential Campaign." ... "Democrat
Richard Gephardt formally launched his 2004 presidential campaign on Wednesday,
blasting the Bush administration's economic policies and promising to lead
a crusade to "put hard-working Americans first."" ... "In the packed gymnasium
of his former elementary school in south St. Louis, the Missouri congressman
stressed his working-class Midwestern roots and said the nation could not
afford four more years of President Bush." -By John
Whitesides -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- ELECTION
2004 - "Moseley-Braun
joins 2004 presidential race: Democratic field
widens as former senator forms exploratory committee." ... "Former senator
Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois, the only African American woman ever elected
to the Senate, announced yesterday that she is forming a presidential campaign
exploratory committee, further expanding the crowded field of Democratic
candidates." ... "It's time to take the Men Only sign off the White House
door,” Moseley-Braun said during a speech at her alma mater, the University
of Chicago Law School. She was surrounded by family and friends, and some
of her supporters waved blue placards bearing the words “Ms. President.”"
-By David Von Drehle and Kari Lydersen -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- ELECTION
2004 - "Kucinich
exploring 2004 bid: Democrat to challenge Bush
on Iraq policy, workers’ rights" ... "The crowded Democratic presidential
field gained another entrant yesterday as Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich,
an outspoken critic of President Bush’s Iraq policy, announced that he
will file papers today to form an exploratory committee to seek his party’s
2004 presidential nomination." ... "Calling himself “an FDR Democrat” who
is running “to return the Democratic Party to its roots,” Kucinich made
the announcement at a labor-sponsored conference in Altoona, Iowa, where
the nomination contest will begin in January at the Iowa caucuses." -By
Edward Walsh -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
-
-
-
- "Liberal
Radio Is Planned by Rich Group of Democrats." ...
"The group, led by Sheldon and Anita Drobny, venture capitalists from Chicago
who have been major campaign donors for Bill Clinton and Al Gore, is in
talks with Al Franken, the comedian and author of "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big
Fat Idiot." It hopes to enlist other well-known entertainers with a liberal
point of view for a 14-hour, daily slate of commercial programs that would
heavily rely on comedy and political satire." ... "The plan faces several
business and content challenges, from finding a network of radio stations
to buy the program to overcoming the poor track record of liberal radio
shows. But it is the most ambitious undertaking yet to come from liberal
Democrats who believe they are overshadowed in the political propaganda
wars by conservative radio and television personalities." -By
Jim Rutenberg -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- "Liberal-leaning
radio network planned." ... ""We believe this is
a tremendous business opportunity," Atlanta radio executive Jon Sinton
said Monday. Sinton, who would be the network's chief executive, added,
"There are so many right-wing talk shows, we think it's created a hole
in the market you could drive a truck through."" ... "The group, led by
Anita Drobny, consists of investors who have financially supported Democratic
candidates." ... "Their group will be called AnShell Media L.L.C. and they
are initially investing $10 million while hoping for assistance from like-minded
entrepreneurs." -By Will Lester
-AP via -Salon
ELECTION
2002 News -
"Barr
seeks to return to Congress: 6th District candidate
says he needs to raise $3 million." ... "Former Congressman Bob Barr, the
incendiary Republican famous for driving the impeachment of President Clinton,
said Monday he wants to go back to Washington." ... "Barr became the first
of what is expected to be a small army of Republican candidates to enter
... [Georgia's] 6th Congressional District race to replace Johnny Isakson,
now a candidate for U.S. Senate." -By Jim Galloway-AJC
- "GOP
tries hand at redrawing districts [in Georgia]."
... "Republicans promised that when their turn came to draw Georgia's political
maps, they would not be tainted by power politics. Angry Democrats said
Monday the GOP failed miserably when it drew a new state Senate map." ...
"Senate Republican leaders provided the map to reporters late Friday after
most lawmakers had left for the weekend. The map was designed on a Republican's
computer, not in the state's nonpartisan legislative redistricting office."
-By Rhonda Cook-AJC
-
"GOP
plan would revive use of nuclear arms: Policy
paper urges new generation of warheads." ... "A group of House Republicans
proposed a fundamental shift in · America's nuclear weapons strategy
on Thursday, saying the · GOP would push
for the design and manufacture of a new generation of warheads, a more
aggressive policy on their use and steps that would make it easier to resume
nuclear testing." ... "The group of 23 lawmakers, as members of the policy
committee that helps set the House legislative agenda, specifically called
for the repeal of a decade-old law that prohibits the development of smaller,
low-yield weapons of less than 5 kilotons." ... "The panel, known as the
House Policy Committee, also urged that the U.S. government be allowed
to initiate pre-emptive nuclear attacks against hostile nations with caches
of biological or chemical weapons." -By James Sterngold
-SFGate.com
- "Filibuster
on Judgeship Stalls Senate Before Recess." ... "...
Democrats [are] blocking a vote on President Bush's nomination of Miguel
Estrada to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit." ... "Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic leader,
has asked the administration to provide the committee with memorandums
Mr. Estrada wrote when he was a Justice Department lawyer in which he offered
his views on Supreme Court cases." ... "Tonight [20030213],
the White House counsel, Alberto R. Gonzales, reaffirmed the administration's
refusal to do so, saying release of the memorandums would inhibit lawyers
from giving candid advice." -By
Neil A. Lewis -NYTimes via
-Google-News
- Accounting
News - "Bush
budget envisions lower taxes, record deficits:
The $2.23 trillion plan appears to take calculated risks as it tries to
boost the economy." ... "The $2.23 trillion budget for fiscal year 2004
would hold down spending on most domestic programs while boosting defense
and homeland security." ... "The administration is now projecting a deficit
of $307 billion this year, up from $157 billion." ... "But the fiscal year
2004 (FY2004) budget does not include the cost of a war with Iraq, estimated
at $50 to $60 billion. Nor does it include any large-scale relief to the
states, which are suffering their worst fiscal crisis in 50 years." -By
Linda Feldmann -CSMonitor
-
- "Illinois
ex-governor showed clemency to 643 prisoners." ...
"Including the 167 death sentences he commuted days before he left office,
the Republican granted 643 clemency requests during his four-year term,
almost twice as many as his predecessor granted in eight years." ... "Ryan's
unprecedented decision to wipe out every death sentence, reducing most
to life in prison, brought international attention to a state system where
17 people sent to death row had been cleared since capital punishment was
reinstated in 1977." -By Nicole Ziegler Dizon
-AP via -Boston/Globe
-
- 
- Accounting
News - "Bush's
Budget to Favor Military, Education: Proposal
Projects a Record Deficit." ... "Among the previously undisclosed spending
plans in Bush's 2004 budget are $100 million for the State Department to
advance democracy, literacy and economic opportunity in the Middle East,
and $756 million for school choice programs, including a plan for a pilot
school voucher program in the District, according to sources briefed on
the budget." ... "He calls for growth of $30.5 billion in spending that
is subject to Congress's annual appropriations process. The military would
get about $15 billion of that, and homeland security would get $4 billion."
... "The White House projects a $307 billion deficit for this fiscal year,
and $304 billion next year." -By Mike Allen and Jonathan
Weisman -WashingtonPost
- Accounting
News - "Bush
Unveils Ambitious New $2.25 Trillion Budget." ...
"The budget that President Bush sends to Congress on Monday would expand
the military, create a major new social entitlement, energize the economy
and, most likely, produce big deficits for the foreseeable future." ...
"The $2.25 trillion plan would offer something for almost everybody. It
would provide modest tax refunds up front and much bigger tax cuts down
the road. It would give the elderly a permanent new right to government-paid
prescription drugs. It would provide more money for the armed forces, for
domestic security, for medical research and for foreign aid." ... "Not
since the early days of Ronald Reagan's presidency has an administration
harbored such bold ambitions and such a lack of concern about red ink.
White House officials concede that deficits could top $300 billion this
year and next, and the budget will probably not project a return to surpluses
in the next five years." (1, 2)
-By Edmund L. Andrews and David Firestone
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- Space
Shuttle Columbia Disaster
- "Multiple
investigations will seek answers to space shuttle Columbia tragedy."
... "At least three government investigations will probe the Columbia disaster
and NASA's shuttle program director vowed to find the answers so America
can continue sending people into space." ... "An independent panel comprised
of experts from the Air Force and Navy -- which had five of the seven Columbia
crew members -- and officials from the Transportation Department and other
federal agencies will study the accident, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe
said." ... "The space agency will conduct its own investigation, as will
the House Science Committee chaired by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y."
-By Matt Kelley -AP
via -SFGate.com
- "Quiet Cheney
accrues power and influence: 'Adviser and counselor'
to president is focused on economy and security." ... "At the start of
the third year of the Bush administration, White House officials and outside
advisers say Cheney is ever more powerful. In the last three months, he
has immersed himself in three critical areas: national security, the economy
and domestic defense." ... "Cheney was a driving force behind the administration's
Project Bioshield, a plan to protect the nation against biological attack
that Bush announced in his State of the Union address. He was central to
the creation of the president's $674 billion economic package. He is wired
into the White House plans for a postwar Iraq." -By
Elisabeth Bumiller and Eric Schmitt -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
-
-
- "Unlikely
Allies Influenced Bush To Shift Course On AIDS Relief."
... "An unlikely coalition of Christian evangelicals and liberal activists
joined forces to help persuade President Bush to announce a remarkable
turnabout this week in his administration's approach to the international
AIDS crisis -- a tripling of U.S. spending on AIDS relief." ... "Bush surprised
even many Republicans when he used his State of the Union address on Tuesday
to call on Congress to spend $15 billion over the next five years to help
countries in Africa and the Caribbean fight the pandemic." -By
Mike Allen and Paul Blustein-WashingtonPost
- Accounting
News - "Deficit
of $199B seen for '03: Congressional Budget
Office boosts its estimates for fiscal shortfalls in 2003 and 2004." ...
"The Congressional Budget Office Wednesday increased its forecast for U.S.
government deficits to $199 billion this year and $145 billion in 2004,
affirming a bleak fiscal outlook already fueling battles over taxes and
spending in advance of the 2004 presidential election." ... "In August,
the CBO anticipated a deficit of $145 billion in 2003 and $111 in 2004.In
a report released Wednesday, the CBO also predicted the 10-year U.S. cumulative
budget surplus will rise slightly to $1.3 trillion from the $1 trillion
it last forecast." ... "As recently as 2001, the CBO predicted 10-year
surpluses of more than $5.6 trillion."
-CNN /fn
- "The
Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2004-2013."
-CBO.gov - "Congressional
Budget Office."
-
-
- "Poll
Suggests Public Is Growing Increasingly Cautious About Iraq As Bush Pushes
War." ... "A majority of Americans, 54 percent, say
they fear the Bush administration will move too quickly to take military
action against Iraq, according to a poll taken at a time administration
officials are giving strong signals that war will be necessary to disarm
Iraq." ... "Nearly four in 10, 39 percent, said they are concerned the
Bush administration will not move quickly enough, the poll by ABC News
and The Washington Post found." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
ELECTION
2004 - "Sharpton
Joins Democratic Presidential Field." ... "Controversial
civil rights leader Al Sharpton on Tuesday officially entered the Democratic
race for the White House in 2004, promising to speak for the disaffected
who have been shut out of the political process." ... "The controversial
48-year-old minister, head of the 25-chapter National Action Network, has
been a polarizing figure at the center of some of New York's most heated
controversies." -By John Whitesides-Reuters/Politics
ELECTION
2004 - "Off
and running: With Gore out of race, Lieberman announces presidential bid."
... "Sen. Joseph Lieberman, freed of his self-imposed pledge to defer to
Al Gore, announced Monday he is running for president in 2004 as "a different
kind of Democrat."" ... "Lieberman, a 60-year-old centrist, had long campaigned
against violent images in the media and was a strong supporter of the Gulf
War. He has remained an advocate of removing Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein,
and was heavily involved in homeland security and corporate accountability
legislation." -By Diane Scarponi
-AP via -SFGate.com
-
- "Big
setback, and new ire, on death penalty." ... "Most
Americans still believe in the death penalty. But a rising number of them
are asking: Is it used fairly?" ... "The answer, increasingly, seems to
be no." ... "Academic reports have revealed persistent bias. Media outlets
have publicized cases of error-prone defense attorneys, as well as the
potential for new DNA and other evidence to overturn death sentences."
... "This weekend, in the most dramatic move of all, Illinois Gov. George
Ryan emptied out the state's entire death row by handing out reduced sentences
to all 156 inmates. That marks the largest commutation of such sentences
since the United States Supreme Court overturned the death penalty in 1972."
-By Laurent Belsie
-CSMonitor
ELECTION
2004 - "Daschle
opts out of presidential race: In turnabout,
senator surprises aides days before campaign trip." ... "Daschle, in a
brief statement issued shortly after he shocked his aides with the turnabout,
said, ''My passion lies here in the Senate.''" ... "Aides also said his
experience might help Senate Democrats outmaneuver the Republicans, who
are led by the relatively inexperienced Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee,
the new Senate majority leader. In addition, Daschle's wife was expected
to face criticism because she works as an airline lobbyist after having
served as a top official at the Federal Aviation Administration, which
regulates the industry." -By Glen Johnson
-Boston/Globe
ELECTION
2004 - "Daschle
says he won't seek presidency in 2004." ... "Senate
Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, following in the footsteps
of former Vice President Al Gore, announced Monday that he would not run
for president in 2004." ... "He said he believes that a successful presidential
candidate has to be "100 percent focused on that single goal." He added
that he was "very close" to running, but was persuaded not to by a "gut
check" on how much he wanted to campaign. "When I truly confronted the
question of what it is I most want to do, and where my passion lies today,
I concluded I want to be here in the Senate," he said." -By
Muriel Dobbin -StarTribune.com
- "He
did it his way: [Minnesot's exiting Governor Jesse] Ventura goes out like
he came in." ... "... he expects to have no future
role in public affairs except as a voter. "I'd rather critique the media,"
he added, "because no one does that, and I think someone should. As of
Monday, you will fear me."" ... "Previous reports have said he might become
a talk show host on MSNBC." ... "According to Ventura's office, he has
chosen 60 district judges from among 1,348 applications, two associate
justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court, five judges of the state Court
of Appeals, two judges for the Tax Court and three for the Workers Compensation
Court of Appeals." ... ""I may be gone," he said, "but they will be presiding
over the state's courts for many years to come."" -By
Conrad deFiebre -StarTribune.com
ELECTION
2004 - "Senator
Edwards Enters Race for President." ... "Senator
John Edwards of North Carolina said yesterday that he intended to run for
president in 2004, promising that he would "champion the cause of regular
people," while harshly condemning President Bush's White House as being
"run for the benefit of insiders."" ... ""If I am the nominee of the Democrats
in 2004, what I will be is somebody who champions the cause of regular
people," Mr. Edwards, 49, said in a telephone interview from Raleigh, N.C.
"Not insiders, regular people —people who don't have lobbyists."" ... "Asked
if he was drawing a contrast with the current White House, Mr. Edwards,
a personal injury lawyer, responded with a burst of criticism of Mr. Bush."
... ""I don't think President Bush represents that," he said. "The president
— I'm afraid his administration often is controlled and run too much by
insiders and too often for the benefit of insiders."" -By
Adam Nagourney -NYTimes
via -Google-News
-
- -
"Foes
of Abortion Push for Major Bills in Congress." ...
"Galvanized by the Republican takeover of the Senate, opponents of abortion
are preparing a major push for new abortion restrictions in the next Congress,
beginning with a ban on the type of medical procedure they call partial
birth abortion." ... "They say they will also push for some other measures
already passed by the Republican-controlled House, including a bill making
it a crime to evade parental notification laws by taking a minor across
state lines for an abortion and legislation making it a separate crime
to harm a fetus during an attack on a pregnant woman." ... "The latest
stage of the abortion struggle begins at an emotional time for both sides:
Jan. 22 is the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision
that recognized a constitutional right to abortion." (1, 2)
-By Robin Toner -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
-
- "Why
Bush's war threats have extra gravitas: His
foreign policy style, marked by decisiveness, prompts a more serious respect
for US power." ... "Bush's unequivocal style in foreign policy matters,
to be sure, could also lead the US into a war with Iraq that could have
dire consequences. Already, his approach is contributing to growing anti-Americanism
in Arab countries. But in erasing some of the post-Vietnam reluctance to
use force, he has also created a less ambiguous, even if largely unsympathetic,
view of the US in Arab capitals." -By Linda Feldmann
-CSMonitor
| HavenWorks.com/politics/archive/2003 |
|
|
|
News-
|
>Stand |
|