360 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
This is still one of the best commercials and tributes to the fighting men and women of America:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/remember-our-tr.html
Folks asked about our commercials and where they could download them. Our entire TAX ad campaign is available on our web site for your review…defining the Michigan Republicans as standing for the taxpayer’s agenda. Listen and/or down them here:
http://www.migop.org/campaign_ads/campaign_ads.asp
Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and Flint Journal wrote strong stories and editorials supporting Michigan’s January 15th primary:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/flint-journal-k.html
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/detroit-news-re.html
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/democrats-poise.html
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/detroit-free-pr.html
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/detroit-news--e.html
The presidential “fix” bill has passed the Senate and is “held” in the House awaiting action. Call you state representative…especially Democrats and ask them to vote for the presidential primary “fix” to keep the primary on January 15th.
House Democrat Speaker Andy Dillion is in charge of scheduling the bill…call his office: 517-373-6339.
To find your Representative and phone numbers, check out this webpage:
http://house.michigan.gov/representatives.asp
Michigan voters deserve to have their voices be heard. Maximize participation and support restoring the January 15th, it’s ALL up to the House Democrats…again?!?
Here is the question for the Democrats…the day after Iowa & New Hampshire does every presidential candidate come to Michigan…or go elsewhere? It ALL in the Democrats hands.
To order your personalized Legacy Brick please visit www.migop.org/legacy, or contact Erin Meteer, Major Donor Program Manager at emeteer@migop.org.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/OPINION01/711120311/1069
IN OUR OPINION
Give state voters primary power
November 12, 2007
Michigan's best shot at making a big statement in next year's presidential election is a primary -- a full-fledged, state-sponsored election in which candidates from both sides compete to prove they'd be best to lead the nation, and address economic and environmental issues that are front and center here.
But with every passing day, the possibility of that primary seems to dwindle. Already, most of the Democratic presidential candidates have withdrawn from the ballot, and the Republican National Committee has threatened to cut the Michigan delegation in half at next summer's GOP nominating convention, all because the scheduled primary date disrupts the parties' rigid allegiance to Iowa and New Hampshire going first.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/POLITICS/711120407/1022
Monday, November 12, 2007
Decision 2008
Early primary is up to lawmakers
Action would keep Jan. 15 contest; some Dems push for caucuses instead.
Gordon Trowbridge and Charlie Cain / The Detroit News
After weeks of pledging to put Michigan in the center of the presidential campaign with a Jan. 15 primary, Michigan's political leaders may end that bid once and for all this week.
Without legislative action to save the primary from a court challenge, or a successful appeal of the ruling that has put the primary in doubt, Jan. 15 is off the campaign calendar, vastly diminishing both Michigan's clout in the campaign and the number of Michigan voters who could take part.
Lawmakers in Lansing failed last week in their first attempt to fix the problems identified by an Ingham County judge in the primary process. They could come back as soon as Tuesday to try again, but it remains unclear if Democrats, in particular, are willing to save the primary.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071111/OPINION01/711110584/1068/OPINION
Don't throw away the key
Prisons can safely save state millions by revising sentencing, parole rules
November 11, 2007
Facing its worst budget problems in modern times, the State of Michigan still incarcerates 50,000 people at a cost of nearly $35,000 per inmate per year. That adds up to nearly $2 billion -- more than 20% of the general fund budget -- for the Department of Corrections. While most of the people behind bars in Michigan are right where they belong, the state can and should take more steps to safely reduce the inmate population.
Michigan's incarceration rate -- 502 inmates per 100,000 people -- is out of whack. It is by far the highest in the Great Lakes region -- Illinois, for example, is 354, Ohio 414 -- and eighth-highest among the 50 states, according to the latest report from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. The state's staggering prison costs might be worth it if Michigan also was among the lowest-crime states, but it's not.
http://blog.mlive.com/saginawnews/2007/11/sheriff_patrols_could_hit_skid.html
Sheriff patrols may hit skids
Posted by Barrie Barber/The Saginaw News November 10, 2007 20:00PM
Categories: Business, Community news, Top Stories, police news
Massive suggested budget cuts could leave Saginaw County without round-the-clock sheriff department road patrols, with near zero coverage in rural areas and severely hamper response time, the agency's top leader warns.
County Controller Marc A. McGill has outlined $6 million in budget cuts to the County Board of Commissioners as options to pick from to deal with a $4 million project deficit next year.
Overall, cuts to county departments could mean the loss of 55 positions, but officials might avoid part or all of the job layoffs if commissioners offer early retirement buyouts, said County Administrator Michael E. Thompson.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/OPINION01/711120401/1007/OPINION
Monday, November 12, 2007
Stop lawmakers from gutting new courses
Improving student knowledge should trump short-term savings
The state's tough new high school curriculum is the most important education reform in Michigan in a decade, but it's being threatened by politicians who are putting short-term savings ahead of the state's long-term interests.
While other states and nations are rapidly implementing innovative education reforms to compete for knowledge economy jobs, Michigan lawmakers are considering major cuts that will undermine two of the most essential economic boosters: the new high school curriculum and state assessment.
The curriculum and assessment work hand in hand. The tougher courses will improve the preparedness of high school graduates, and state testing holds schools accountable for properly teaching the courses.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/OPINION03/711120409/1007/OPINION
Monday, November 12, 2007
Amber Arellano
Michigan should cultivate best charter schools
Call it Michigan's Charter School Battle, Act X.
State Democrats are working discreetly on education reforms that could include the expansion of the number of Michigan charter schools allowed under the state charter cap.
This buzz comes on the heels of Ohio's crackdown on low-performing charter schools. Its attorney general is suing to close three failing schools and investigating dozens of others.
In Detroit, civic and business leaders are actively working on or encouraging others to create multiple new charters for the city, with start dates as early as 2009 and 2010.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/OPINION01/711120398/1007/OPINION
Monday, November 12, 2007
Don't create workers' comp gravy train for firefighters
State Rep. Steve Tobocman doesn't hesitate when asked who is behind proposed legislation that practically guarantees workers' compensation payments to firefighters who are stricken with certain illnesses: The firefighters' union, the House majority leader says.
Not that we're surprised. Special interests, and particularly public-sector unions have enormous influence in Lansing, a fact directly connected to the increasing cost of government.
But if a lawmaker admits that a public-sector union generated a piece of legislation, it's probably a good reason to kill the bill.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/NEWS05/711120326/1007
Immigrants seek clout in push to be citizens
Activist groups foster boom
November 12, 2007
During her first 15 years in the United States, Esther Gavia was content to live in Detroit without becoming a naturalized citizen.
But in recent months, the Mexico native has grown increasingly concerned about what she sees as a rising anti-immigrant mood. And so, she is lining up to apply for naturalization, part of a growing number of legal permanent residents across Michigan and the nation moving to become U.S. citizens.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/NEWS05/711120385/1007
Ceremony honors U.S. veterans
Guns, music help to mark special day at cemetery
November 12, 2007
Adrian Cervini Sr. saw plenty of battlefields as he fought in World War II and the Korean War.
He saw many lives end on those battlefields, too.
Cervini remembers those fallen soldiers daily. On Sunday, he was surrounded by at least 800 people at Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly to honor the men and women who have battled for the country.
"I'm lucky. I survived," said Cervini, 79, motioning to the cemetery's rounded white tombstones. "When I come here, it brings us closer together."
With collars turned to the chill of Fagan Lake, people gathered at the annual Veterans Day ceremony. They listened to speakers and bowed their heads in prayer.
A Marine's long road home
After an Iraq bomb left him in a coma with Traumatic Brain Injury, a Saginaw man struggles to be normal
November 11, 2007
BAY CITY -- A Purple Heart hangs on the wall over his pillow. Photos from Iraq are taped above the desk. A Marine Corps flag is pinned above the bed.
One year after surviving a roadside bomb in Iraq, inside a warm, comfortable, private group home that specializes in treating patients with brain injuries, Cpl. Andrew Love sits on his bed, trying to remember what happened.
Sometimes he's frustrated, but he can't remember why.
"I want to be normal like everybody else," Love says, speaking slowly because he has a hard time talking. "I want to be normal again."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071111/NEWS07/71111026/1008/NEWS06
Manistee soldier dies in accident at Ft. Riley, Kan.
November 11, 2007
FT. RILEY, Kan. — A soldier from Michigan has died of injuries suffered in a single-vehicle accident at Ft. Riley, Kan.
Spc. Nicholas Suriano of Manistee was a cannon crew member assigned to 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division.
The 26-year-old Suriano entered the Army in September 2003. He arrived at Ft. Riley in June.
The Friday accident is being investigated. Fort Riley officials aren’t releasing other details for now.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjM5YzVmNmQwMGIzMmI2YjMxZjM5YzMyNjI0YTI5OTc=
November 9, 2007 6:00 AM
The Race Rudy Will Run
Giuliani talks state-by-state strategy.
By Byron York
There’s been a lot of speculation in political circles about how, precisely, national frontrunner Rudy Giuliani plans to win the Republican nomination. Not long ago, some observers believed his strategy was not to worry terribly about Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina and instead pin his hopes on big wins in the big states, beginning with Florida. Then, Giuliani seemed to be placing new emphasis on the early states, suggesting he had changed his plans. But only now are the outlines of his strategy coming into focus, and it turns out both theories were true.
Wednesday, after the announcement that Pat Robertson was endorsing his candidacy, Giuliani sat down with me for a talk about strategy. The plan he described basically involves counting backward from February 5, that is, first establishing himself in the mega-primary states — with Florida a must-win contest — and then taking up the fight in the smaller early states. It’s a big-risk, big-reward strategy, given the possibility that another candidate might dominate the early primaries, knocking Giuliani out of the running before the big states began to vote.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MmE0NGVkNjg4NGExOGYzOTU2YTk0NTE5Yzc5OGM0ZDU=
November 9, 2007 12:00 AM
New York Cowboy
A continuation of the Republican brand.
By Rich Lowry
Rudy Giuliani’s downfall in the Republican primary fight has been much predicted, but little in evidence. He just got the endorsement of the Christian conservative leader Pat Robertson and has stubbornly stayed atop national polls all year long.
His success has spawned theories about the changing nature of the Republican Party, and how social conservatives have “grown up” in their willingness to accept a pro-choice candidate. The key to Rudy’s appeal, though, isn’t his heterodoxy, but how the sensibility of his candidacy is in the Republican mainstream running from Ronald Reagan through George W. Bush.
http://www.creators.com/opinion/lawrence-kudlow.html?columnsName=lku
America's Mayor Is on a Roll
While Hillary Clinton is slipping in the polls, Rudy Giuliani is on a roll. This is a big swing of momentum. Even the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll puts the two frontrunners in a dead heat.
Sen. Clinton was hurt badly by her flip-flopping performance in last month's Democratic debate. America's mayor, on the other hand, just got a hugely important endorsement from the Rev. Pat Robertson. The message to social conservatives is clear: It's now OK to vote for Rudy.
Why Rudy? Robertson named out-of-control federal spending, appointing conservative judges, reducing crime and, perhaps most importantly, "the overriding issue (of) defending against (the) bloodlust of Islamic terrorists," as issues that strongly favor Giuliani. On the other hand, he called abortion — something of a sticky subject for Giuliani — "only one issue" of importance.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2VlZTJmNmQzMzI5YTAwZWQ1ZTY4MzdhYjcwN2NmNDU=
November 9, 2007 6:00 AM
‘Trust Is More Important than Agreement’
Is it enough?
By Matthew J. Franck
“Isn’t it better that I tell you what I really believe instead of pretending to change all of my positions to fit the prevailing wind?”
So asked Rudy Giuliani at the “Values Voter Summit,” on October 20. It’s a powerful rhetorical question. Simultaneously Giuliani declared that flip-flopping and pandering are beneath him, and intimated that he is superior to his leading rival, Mitt Romney, who is famous for having changed his mind on the subject of abortion rights. I’m no waffler, no quick-change artist when I face a different constituency, says Rudy. “I believe trust is more important than 100% agreement.” And so Hizzoner has made trust the currency of his campaign, and he links trust to consistency: I’m the same guy yesterday, today, tomorrow, and the day after that.
http://www.nysun.com/article/66255
Giuliani's Hold on Lead Spot Is Eroding
By RUSSELL BERMAN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
November 12, 2007
WASHINGTON — Mayor Giuliani's hold on the front-runner's perch in the Republican presidential nomination is eroding, with two new polls showing that Mitt Romney is opening up a widening lead in New Hampshire, site of the first primary.
While Mr. Giuliani has maintained his lead in national polls and in several state surveys, the former Massachusetts governor is now comfortably ahead in both Iowa and New Hampshire, two hotly contested early-voting states that have traditionally played a crucial role in determining the Republican nominee.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071111/D8SR9PHO0.html
Romney Aides Oppose Speech on Religion
Nov 11, 1:08 AM (ET)
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
HOLDERNESS, N.H. (AP) - Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney said Saturday his political advisers have warned him against giving a speech explaining his Mormon faith.
During a house party overlooking Squam Lake, Romney was asked by voters if he would give a speech outlining his religious beliefs and how those beliefs might impact his administration, much like then-Sen. John F. Kennedy did as he sought to explain his Catholic faith during the 1960 election.
"I'm happy to answer any questions people have about my faith and do so pretty regularly," the former Massachusetts governor said. "Is there going to be a special speech? Perhaps, at some point. I sort of like the idea myself. The political advisers tell me no, no, no - it's not a good idea. It draws too much attention to that issue alone."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SQETR00&show_article=1
Play of the Day: McCain's Mom on Mormons
Nov 9 07:33 PM US/Eastern
MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) - John McCain's 95-year-old mother, in a swipe at her son's rival Mitt Romney, said Friday that Mormons were to blame for the scandal that rocked the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Roberta McCain laid out why her son, John, deserves to win the Republican presidential nomination. But in evaluating McCain's primary rivals, she criticized Romney's Mormon faith and his time in Salt Lake City.
"As far as the Salt Lake City thing, he's a Mormon and the Mormons of Salt Lake City had caused that scandal. And to clean that up, again, it's not a subject," Roberta McCain said.
John McCain quickly stepped in: "The views of my mothers are not necessarily the views of mine."
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGFmNDk2ODg5ZDhjODBlNzg0Y2E2MjIwZDVjYmE4ZjI=
November 9, 2007 4:00 AM
Showdown of the Godless Pro-Choicers?
Hillary vs. Rudy
By Paul Kengor
The polling numbers on a Hillary-Rudy showdown point to a profound shake up. The latest Pew Research Center survey shows that Hillary would defeat Rudy easily. The reasons they cite, however, are shocking, and constitute a total reversal from recent presidential races.
In a head-to-head race with Rudy, reports Pew, Hillary would win the south and even manage to score evenly with voters who attend church at least once a week — voters who twice opted for George W. Bush by margins of almost two to one, and elected him to the presidency for two terms. A Rudy nomination loses slam-dunk Republican constituencies, begun by Ronald Reagan, and solidified by George W. Bush.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/NATION/111120058/1001
'24' chief scoffs at Hillary
By Robert Stacy McCain
November 12, 2007
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Hollywood producer Joel Surnow dismissed as "nuts" the notion that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton can be elected president and said he and other conservatives in the entertainment industry are leaning toward supporting Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign.
The executive producer of Fox's Emmy-winning counterterrorism thriller "24," interviewed after a Saturday speech to a conservative student group, also predicted that the current screenwriters' strike would be "hugely long" and settled to the disadvantage of the writers union.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2848250.ece
November 11, 2007
Fear of a dynasty denies Hillary Clinton votes
BILL CLINTON is finding it difficult to transfer voters’ affections for him to his wife as opponents exploit concerns that two dynasties – the Bush and Clinton families – could dominate American politics for 28 years.
The former president was in the small town of Glenwood, on the fringes of western Iowa, campaigning for Hillary last week. “I feel like an old racehorse who is semi-retired,” he said with self-deprecating charm. “Every now and then they drag me out of the barn and see if I can make it round the track one last time.”
The audience loved it but his mission in Iowa was deadly earnest. Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama by only three points in an early voting state which advisers in both camps say will provide the key to victory or sudden death in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on January 3. John Edwards is narrowly behind them in third place. As soon as Hillary left Iowa, Bill stepped in to fill her place.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071112/OPINION03/711120395/1007/OPINION
Monday, November 12, 2007
Bob Herbert
Hillary faces tough sell with women
The United States is in the midst of the most important presidential election campaign since World War II, and if there has ever been a time when women voters had the opportunity to decisively affect the nation's future, it's now.
Hillary Clinton's historic candidacy has heightened the interest of women voters who would no doubt have been paying close attention to this election in any event because of its classic lineup of issues, including the war in Iraq, a highly uncertain economy and the makeover of the Supreme Court, with its implications for abortion, civil liberties and so on.
A national poll conducted for the Lifetime television network showed that nearly 40 percent of women feel that voting in the 2008 election will be more important than in previous years.
But most of those voters are not yet committed to a particular candidate.
http://www.townhall.com/video/FoxNews/2176_071026-103615_102607_an_clinton_F1200
'How Dare You'
Former President Clinton confronts 9/11 conspiracy theorist at Hillary Clinton fundraiser
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/11/obama-i-deserve-a-tax-increase/
November 11, 2007
Obama: I deserve a tax increase
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday he will push for higher Social Security taxes if elected, viewing it as the best option for improving the retirement program's finances.
Obama and several other Democratic presidential candidates previously have signaled support for lifting the cap on the amount of income that is taxed to provide monthly Social Security checks.
But during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama said taxing more of a person's income was the option he would push for if elected president. He objected to benefit cuts or a higher retirement age.
http://blogs.dmregister.com/?cat=33
Sun 11.11.2007 2:28 AM
The leading Democratic presidential candidates showed up for the Iowa Democratic Party’s big Jefferson Jackson Dinner Saturday night.
Five of them gave really good speeches.
Barack Obama’s was excellent.
It was one of the best of his campaign. The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucus-goers his way. His oratory was moving and he successfully contrasted himself with the others - especially Clinton - without being snide or nasty about it.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/11/the_line_high_stakes_in_2010_g.html
The Line: High Stakes in 2010 Govs Races
With the 2007 elections behind us, the gubernatorial landscape for 2008 is decidedly sparse. There are just 11 races on the slate for next November, and only four of those -- Indiana, Missouri, Washington and North Carolina -- are expected to be truly competitive.
Thus, The Fix's eye has already started to wander to 2010, when 36 states will hold governors races. Due to term limits, nearly half of those (17) will be open seats. The governors' landscape is all the more important when you consider that the winners in 2010 will exert considerable influence over the decennial redistricting process that will reshape the lines of congressional and legislative districts across the country.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/339xjzhq.asp
Don't Blame Democracy
It's still the solution--not the problem.
by Peter Wehner
11/19/2007, Volume 013, Issue 10
Two and a half years ago--in the wake of elections in Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories, and especially Iraq (as well as the fall of Lebanon's pro-Syrian government)--we were witness to what became known as the "Arab Spring." Commentators were declaring President Bush's "freedom agenda" a success.
In February 2005, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman declared the Iraqi election a "tipping point" in Middle East history. "[W]e're seeing the equivalent of the fall of the Berlin Wall there," Friedman said. Such unlikely voices as NPR's Daniel Schorr, the Washington Post's Jefferson Morley, and columnists in Der Spiegel and the Guardian were saying, explicitly or in essence, "Bush was right."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/opinion/11friedman.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Democracy’s Root: Diversity
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 11, 2007
Last Tuesday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican — the first audience ever by the head of the Catholic Church with a Saudi monarch. The Saudi king gave the pope two gifts: a golden sword studded with jewels, and a gold and silver statue depicting a palm tree and a man riding a camel.
The BBC reported that the pope “admired the statue but merely touched the sword.” I think it is a great thing these two men met, and that King Abdullah came bearing gifts. But what would have really caught my attention — and the world’s — would have been if King Abdullah had presented the pope with something truly daring: a visa.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_urbanities-monticello.html
Monticello’s Shadows
What Jefferson’s fabled home reveals about the Founding Father’s mind and heart
In the summer of 1786, still mourning his beloved wife’s death four years earlier and soon to begin sleeping with her 15-year-old half-sister, his slave Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson fell in love with a beautiful English painter named Maria Cosway. Head over heels in love: for the 43-year-old minister to France tried to impress the twentysomething Maria by jumping a fence, and the resulting dislocated wrist troubled him the rest of his life. With his good hand, he wrote Maria a 4,500-word love letter, a half-mock philosophical “dialogue” in which his “Head” contends that he should have stuck to “intellectual pleasures” that “ride serene and sublime above the concerns of this mortal world,” while his “Heart” replies, in highly charged terms, that the happiness of love is worth the pain of loss, and that “the solid pleasure of one generous spasm of the heart” outweighs all the philosopher’s “frigid speculations.” The letter, whose stated conflict stands for an unspoken conflict over Jefferson’s love for a married woman, goes on to spin a fantasy that one day Maria will come and stay with him at Monticello, the mountaintop architectural masterpiece near Charlottesville, Virginia, that is the outward embodiment of this Enlightenment magus’s brilliant mind. And like the letter to Maria, it, too, reveals the deep conflicts between its author’s intellectual Head and the confused, darker realities that his philosophy can’t resolve.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071112/budget_veto_fight.html?.v=1
Democrats Confront Bush Over Spending.
Monday November 12, 4:28 am ET
By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer
|
Congressional Democrats in Spending Standoff With Bush.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush may have lost a veto battle last week on a water projects bill, but GOP allies in Congress are sticking with him in another, bigger veto showdown over government spending.
Democrats are struggling to draw up a playbook to finish this year's spending bills for Cabinet departments, the most basic job of Congress. While the new budget year began Oct. 1, Democrats have completed action on just two bills -- funding defense and health and education programs.
Some of the Democrats' early decisions have appeared to cede even more leverage to Bush, while internal divisions within the party have contributed to the delays in getting bills finished and sent to the White House.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071111/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_guns_5
Supreme Court could take guns case
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Sun Nov 11, 12:03 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Supreme Court justices have track records that make predicting their rulings on many topics more than a mere guess. Then there is the issue of the Second Amendment and guns, about which the court has said virtually nothing in nearly 70 years.
That could change in the next few months.
The justices are facing a decision about whether to hear an appeal from city officials in Washington, D.C., wanting to keep the capital's 31-year ban on handguns. A lower court struck down the ban as a violation of the Second Amendment rights of gun ownership.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071111/D8SRJNAG0.html
Cheney Pays Tribute to Veterans
Nov 11, 12:25 PM (ET)
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney paid tribute Sunday to veterans of the Iraq war, honoring them for keeping the United States democratic and free and hoping "they will return in victory."
In a 10-minute Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery, Cheney said soldiers from World War I to "the current fight against terrorism" have served their country valiantly and "above all they kept us free at the land we call home."
"Free to live as we see fit, free to work, worship, speak our minds, to choose our own leaders," the vice president said. "May the rest of us never take them for granted."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8SRKO580&show_article=1
Intel Official: Expect Less Privacy
Nov 11 02:36 PM US/Eastern
By PAMELA HESS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - As Congress debates new rules for government eavesdropping, a top intelligence official says it is time that people in the United States changed their definition of privacy.
Privacy no longer can mean anonymity, says Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence. Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information.
Kerr's comments come as Congress is taking a second look at the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071112111020.i7su5obq&show_article=1
Iran police unveil 'vice list'
Nov 12 07:10 AM US/Eastern
Iranian police have unveiled a list of "vices" -- including makeup, un-Islamic dress and decadent movies -- being targeted in an ongoing moral crackdown, a conservative newspaper reported on Monday.
The list was published in the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper as part of a police drive launched in April which has seen the arrest of "thugs", raids on underground parties, seizures of satellite dishes, and street checks of improperly dressed individuals.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week urged police to keep up its crackdown on social vices, saying they must "fulfill their duties regardless of some opposition and propaganda."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071111163737.rs2yskk5&show_article=1
Rice denies US on warpath with Iran
Nov 11 12:37 PM US/Eastern
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied Sunday that the United States was bent on war with Iran and renewed an offer of reconciliation talks if the Islamic republic renounces its nuclear drive.
Interviewed on ABC television, Rice was pressed on a Senate resolution passed in September that labeled Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist operation -- a step that critics said had brought war nearer.
She said that President George W. Bush was clear "that he's on a diplomatic path where Iran comes into focus."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/11/asia/pakistan.php
Musharraf gives no date for end of emergency rule
By Jane Perlez and David Rohde
Published: November 11, 2007
ISLAMABAD: In a defiant news conference Sunday, the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, refused to give a date for the end of the de facto martial law that he imposed more than a week ago and suggested that it would continue indefinitely, including during parliamentary elections in early January.
Speaking one day after President George W. Bush offered support for Musharraf, the general said the emergency decree was justified by the need to fight terrorism and would "ensure absolutely fair and transparent elections."
Bush said Saturday that he supported Musharraf because "we share a common goal" in the fight against Al Qaeda, an endorsement the general appeared to use to his advantage Sunday as he justified his extrajudicial measures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/weekinreview/11ellick.html?_r=1&ref=europe&oref=slogin
As It Rises, Russia Stirs Baltic Fears
By ADAM B. ELLICK
Published: November 11, 2007
VILNIUS, Lithuania
EVEN as Jonas Kronkaitis, now retired as Lithuania’s top general, admires the transformation of this once drab Soviet city into a proud member of the New Europe, a worry eats at him: Russian power is rapidly returning to the Baltics, only this time the weapons are oil and money, not tanks.
General Kronkaitis has a unique perspective. He fled Lithuania to America as a boy in 1944, and served nearly 30 years in the United States Army before returning to command his newly independent country’s military in the 1990’s. He engineered its entry into NATO in 2004, thinking this would help cement security for the tiny Baltic nation. Now he says his hopeful view was wrong.
