Free Republic

There will be a record number of presidential candidates before the voters on the general election ballot in Florida. Secretary of State Kurt Browning has certified 13 candidates, including U.S. Sen. John McCain and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, for the Nov. 4 election; with space on the ballot to write-in another. County supervisors of elections are expected to complete their ballots early next week, as they have to be ready to mail overseas by Sept. 20. The ballot also includes perennial candidates James Harris of Florida’s Socialist Workers Party and Ralph Nader, now of the Ecology Party of Florida, along...

Kansas City Chief's star tight-end Tony Gonzalez performed the Heimlich on a choking diner in Huntington Beach Ken Hunter, a long-time San Diego Charger's fan, has a new favorite team. The 45-year-old Huntington Beach resident says he'll now root for the Kansas City Chiefs after the team's star tight-end Tony Gonzalez came to his rescue Thursday night at a local restaurant. "I'm a permanent member of the Tony Gonzalez fan club," Hunter said Monday. It all began after a chunk of filet mignon somehow lodged into Hunter's throat while he was dining at Capone's Italian Restaurante on Beach Boulevard. That's...

On Sunday, July 29, Chris Wallace interviewed Senator Russ Feingold on Fox News. Wallace observed that Democrats had received thousands of documents related to the firing of the U.S. attorneys. He asked if the Senator could point to one smoking gun that had been discovered in those documents indicating that a crime had been committed. The Senator stammered that he could not name specifics but that he was sure that a crime had been committed. What crime this might be is never explained. The Democrats are angry because U.S. attorneys were apparently fired for failing to prosecute vote fraud. Democrats...

Like the pope, the president doesn't admit error. This was an early governing principle in the Bush White House. Policies could "evolve." Talking points could be replaced by new ones that contradicted the earlier ones. The president could even resist a centralized approach to homeland security and then announce the creation of the second-largest department in the history of the federal government devoted to that purpose. But a president could never admit a blunder, because it irrevocably diminished his authority. This led to a famously awkward press conference in April 2004 where President Bush was unable to come up with...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned, officials said Monday, ending a monthslong standoff with critics who questioned his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department. Republicans and Democrats alike had demanded his resignation over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush had defiantly stood by his Texas friend until accepting his resignation Frid(AP) — ay, according to senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.The Justice Department planned a news conference for 10:30 a.m. EDT, in Washington. Bush planned to discuss Gonzales' departure at his Crawford, Texas, ranch...

The president won't fire Alberto Gonzales. He needs him to protect White House secrets, including the scheming roles of Cheney and Rove.

Matt Gonzalez, the former San Francisco supervisor who was city progressives' last hope for a big-name candidate to challenge Mayor Gavin Newsom in his re-election quest, said Monday he will not run for mayor this fall. The decision follows weeks of serious consideration by Gonzalez, who narrowly lost to Newsom in 2003, and paves the way for the mayor to run for re-election in November without facing serious opposition. In an interview with The Chronicle Monday, Gonzalez said polling showed voters seem to be complacent about the problems the city faces and do not hold Newsom accountable for those ills...

Maria Rivera sits in the Cobb County Jail, facing deportation after a traffic stop. If the Mableton mother of three, who is here illegally from Mexico, had been pulled over in any other county in Georgia, she likely would have bailed out and gone on with her life. But Cobb County's jail is at the forefront of local enforcement of immigration laws, going a step further than many states and further than a new Georgia law requires. Cobb has trained some sheriff's deputies to determine the legal status of all foreign born inmates at the jail, no matter how minor...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A powerful Senate Republican on Tuesday told Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to consider appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the firings of federal prosecutors. Sen. Arlen Specter told the embattled attorney general such that a scenario may now be necessary because, the senator maintained, Bush administration officials have made statements that might have the effect of shutting down congressional supervision. ``The constitutional authority and responsibility for congressional oversight is gone,'' said Specter, the Judiciary Committee's senior Republican. Gonzales sat just a few feet away, at the witness table, as Pennsylvania Republican declared: ``If that is to happen,...

Breaking News: Iowa State Department Faculty Acknowledge ID Played Role in Gonzalez's Tenure Denial According to a story to be published in the May 26 edition of World Magazine (already available online here), two faculty members of the department that denied tenure to Guillermo Gonzales at Iowa State University have admitted that his work on ID played a role in the denial. While Prof. Eli Rosenberg, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, insisted to the magazine that intelligent design "was not an overriding factor" (emphasis added), he then conceded according to the magazine that Gonzalez's pro-ID book The...

Through Cryptic Subterranean (via War on Guns), we learn of Senator Lautenberg's (D-NJ) latest salvo: S. 1237, "A bill to increase public safety by permitting the Attorney General to deny the transfer of firearms or the issuance of firearms and explosives licenses to known or suspected dangerous terrorists." Yep, you read that correctly. The Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms would now be subject to denial--not when found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, nor even indicted by a grand jury, or even charged by a prosecutor with a...

Preview and Analysis for Weekend of April 21st and 22nd, 2007 Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows: NBC's "Meet the Press" Ex-Virginia Police Super. Gerald MassengillEx-DHS Secretary Tom RidgeDoris Kearns GoodwinNBC's David GregoryNewsweek's Jon MeachamNBC's Pete Williams CBS's "Face the Nation" Sen. Patrick LeahyJim and Sarah BradyCriminal profiler Gregg McCray Fox News Sunday" VA Lieutenant Governor Bill BollingGWU Pres. Stephen TrachtenbergSen. Arlen SpecterSen. Chuck Schumer CNN "Late Edition" Sen. Sam BrownbackVA. AG Bob McDonnellNew York Times' Thomas FriedmanEx-Clinton counsel Lanny DavisCNN's Bill SchneiderCNN's Jeanne Meserve ABC's "This Week" Newt GingrichSen. Chris Dodd and Jackie DoddSam DonaldsonCokie RobertsGeorge Will...

Preview and Analysis for Weekend of March 31st and April 1st, 2007 Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows: NBC's "Meet the Press" Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UtahRep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. CBS's "Face the Nation" Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.presidential counselor Dan Bartlett Fox News Sunday Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.Kevin Martin, chairman of the FCC. CNN "Late Edition" Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.Rev. Al SharptonDavid IgnatiusMichael WareCandy CrowleyJeff GreenfieldJoe Johns ABC's "This Week" Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.Presidential counselor Dan BartlettFormer Wisconsin Gov. Tommy ThompsonCal Ripken Jr. Week three of the...

Preview and Analysis for Weekend of March 24th and 25th, 2007 Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows: NBC's "Meet the Press" Former U.S. Attorney David InglesiasFormer U.S. Attorney John McKaySen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. CBS's "Face the Nation" Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Former U.S. Attorney H.E. "Bud" Cummins." Fox News Sunday" Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. CNN "Late Edition" Samir Sumaidaie, Iraqi ambassador to U.S.John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-UtahLanny Davis, former Clinton special counselDonna BrazileEd Gillespie, former RNC chairman. ABC's "This Week" Sen. Chuck Hagel,...

Democrats are having a blast since taking control of Congress. A day without something new to investigate is like a day without sunshine for them. Dismissed US attorneys. Valerie Plame. Iraq. The Federal Communications Commission. Conditions at Walter Reed Hospital. The FBI looking for terrorists. The Federal Emergency Management Agency?s delivery of housing grants. And the month?s not over yet. The Washington Post reported that ?In two months, Democrats have held 81 hearings on Iraq. ?This is just the beginning,? said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. ?What a difference a year makes.?? Earlier this month,...

One reason I have been urging Republicans to man their battle stations against Democrats is that Democrats are in perpetual, full-blown war mode against Republicans. The Democrats' militant approach to the manufactured Justice Department scandal illustrates the point. If Democrats, as they profess, are inclined toward bipartisanship and conciliation, why are they always alleging GOP scandal even before they have any idea what the facts are? The answer is that it's all about discrediting the president and augmenting their own power, which is why they always try to tie Cheney or Rove personally to every event they mischaracterize as a...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An incompetent attorney general, who says he wasn't fully aware that nearly 10 percent of the U.S. attorneys who work for him throughout the country were being fired and permitted the 110,000-person Justice Department that he leads to give inaccurate information at best, or simply lie about it at worst, to the Congress and the American people, has the full confidence of the president who's lost the confidence of most people. And this is what passes for a big-time, dramatic, historic constitutional crisis in 21st century America? You've got to be kidding. This is the most...

In moves designed to, yet again, work towards placing members of the Bush Administration (specifically the Left’s favorite whipping boy—political aide Karl Rove) in jeopardy, Democrats and their supplicant RINOs have launched their latest of an increasing number of investigations into anything and everything that is “Bush and Republican”. This time it is a Democrat attack against the firing of a number of US Attorneys in an attempt to have Attorney General Alberto Gonzales fired and top Bush officials grilled by a Democrat-run investigatory committee. This seems eerily reminiscent of the old USSR politburo. First, allow me to place something...

LOS ANGELES, March 20 ? Among the cases of the eight federal prosecutors dismissed by the Department of Justice last year, none brought more accusations of egregious political retaliation than that of Carol C. Lam. Democrats in Congress and others have suggested that Ms. Lam, the former United States attorney in San Diego, was ousted largely to stymie her investigations of Republicans and Defense Department officials, after a prosecution of a Republican congressman from California. But interviews with law enforcement officials in California and an examination of e-mail released by the Justice Department demonstrate that Ms. Lam was a source...

Preview and Analysis for Weekend of March 17th and 18th, 2007 Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows: NBC's "Meet the Press" Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa.Former Rep. Tom Andrews, D-MaineFormer House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-TexasRichard Perle, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute CBS's "Face the Nation" Defense Secretary Robert GatesSenator Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "Fox News Sunday" Former U.S. attorney Bud Cummins of ArkansasFormer U.S. attorney David Iglesias of New MexicoSenator Arlen Specter, R-Pa.Senator John Kerry, D-Mass.Alyssa Mastromonaco, campaign aide to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. CNN "Late Edition" National security adviser Stephen HadleyRep. John Murtha, D-Pa.Former...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A fired federal prosecutor said Friday he doubted his investigation into Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt's administration was connected to his dismissal. Former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, a federal prosecutor in Arkansas, was removed from his job in December -- one of eight U.S. attorneys replaced in recent months by President Bush's administration. Cummins in October publicly cleared Blunt's administration of wrongdoing in the awarding of Missouri license office contracts, saying he closed an investigation without pursuing criminal charges. Cummins said the Justice Department told him he was being fired to make room for someone...

Congressional Democrats are in full cry over the news this week that the Administration's decision to fire eight U.S. Attorneys originated from--gasp--the White House. Senator Hillary Clinton joined the fun yesterday, blaming President Bush for "the politicization of our prosecutorial system." Oh, my. As it happens, Mrs. Clinton is just the Senator to walk point on this issue of dismissing U.S. attorneys because she has direct personal experience. As everyone once knew but has tried to forget, Mr. Hubbell was a former partner of Mrs. Clinton at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock who later went to jail for...

Democratic senators say Gonzales should go Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:34 PM ET By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign following disclosures of mass firings of federal prosecutors and a report the FBI improperly obtained information on private citizens, top Democratic senators said on Sunday. In addition, a key Republican voiced concerns of his own about Gonzales and his embattled Justice Department, although he stopped short of calling for a resignation. "I think we need a change in the top at the Justice Department," said Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a member of...

Democrats have placed a big, red X on Republican Sen. Pete Domenici's back. The New Mexico Republican's "questionable behavior" may soon make him the target of an obstruction of justice probe, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said on Thursday. Domenici is up for reelection in 2008. Democrats say Domenici faces a Senate Ethics Committee investigation for his "improper contact" with one of the eight federal prosecutors fired by the Bush administration late last year. Democrats insist the U.S. attorneys, all of them Bush administration appointees, were fired for "blatantly political reasons." One of those dismissed prosecutors, David Iglesias, says Domenici...

WBKO has learned a Bowling Green Police officer has been killed. A Bowling Green Police officer was killed along with a suspect this afternoon. The incident happened at 1036 Vine Street. Police say the 34-year old and eight-year veteran David Whitson died at the Medical Center. The other man who died was 26-year-old Rojelio Gonzalez-Pacheco. Kentucky State Police are investigating the incident. Warren County Coroner Kevin Kirby says the officer was pronounced dead at 11:35 am. Kirby says another person was pronounced dead as well. No other information was immediately available. Autopsies will be conducted in Louisville tomorrow. Stay connected...

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have asked for congressional hearings and reviews by the White House and Justice Department into the conviction of two U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot and wounded a fleeing drug suspect. The agents, convicted by a federal jury in El Paso in March, face 20 years in prison at a sentencing hearing next month. "It appears the facts do not add up or justify the length of the sentences for these agents, let alone their conviction on multiple counts," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat. "Border Patrol agents have a difficult and often dangerous...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Aug. 17, after an 18-month deployment under the Atlantic Fleet’s Sea Swap initiative. The crew that returned to Norfolk assumed command of the ship Feb. 22, and successfully completed a deployment to the Persian Gulf, Horn of Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. While deployed, Gonzalez was tasked with assisting non-combatant evacuation efforts in Lebanon. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel to arrive in support of the evacuation efforts. “We’re an air defense platform and that is our job; we provided air defense...

ATLANTA - Five men convicted in Miami for being unregistered Cuban intelligence agents are not entitled to a new trial, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The five argued on appeal that pervasive community prejudice against the Cuban government and publicity surrounding the case prevented them from receiving a fair trial. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit threw out all the convictions last August, ruling that pretrial publicity combined with pervasive anti-Castro feeling in Miami didn't allow for a fair trial. The government asked the full appeals court to reconsider. The entire 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with...

Sunday, July 2, 2006 ELIAN – Elian Gonzalez has never spoken before about the battle between the U.S. and Cuba that he was in the middle of five years ago when he was just 6. He does now in an interview with Bob Simon. Draggan Mihailovich is the producer. AL QAEDA’S TOWN – When terrorist insurgents led by Al Qaeda took over the Iraqi town of Tal Afar, the U.S. military had to devise a way of retaking it. Their methods have become a blueprint for the war on terror. Lara Logan reports. Josh Yager is the producer. FIRST...

WASHINGTON - Heeding President Bush's order, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist summoned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to his Capitol Hill office Friday to defuse their constitutional confrontation over last weekend's FBI search of a lawmaker's office. "We've been working hard already and we'll continue to do so pursuant to the president's order," Gonzales said on his way into Frist's suite just off the Senate floor. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, meanwhile, said he too is working with the Justice Department to set up guidelines for the FBI to review materials it seized during the raid of the offices of Rep. William...

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information, citing an obligation to national security. The nation's top law enforcer also said the government will not hesitate to track telephone calls made by reporters as part of a criminal leak investigation, but officials would not do so routinely and randomly. "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that is a possibility," Gonzales said, referring to prosecutions. "We have an obligation to enforce those laws. We have an obligation to ensure that...

Writing on behalf of his One America political action committee, former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards sent an email Saturday seeking signatories in an effort to expand the powers of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate President Bush’s role in the strategic leaking of information related to Iraq. In the form letter on Edwards’ site, he writes, "I urge you to extend Mr. Fitzgerald’s charter to include the behavior of the President in this disgraceful affair." The letter to supporters, while unlikely to influence the investigation, signals that Edwards continues to remain active on the political scene, and could...

Immigration officers barred from key data Ex-official raises security concerns By Jerry Kammer COPLEY NEWS SERVICE March 7, 2006 WASHINGTON – Many immigration officers handling requests for green cards, citizenship and other immigration benefits do not have access to key law enforcement and national security databases, said a top federal security official who quit over the issue. The officers' access to the databases, which would allow them to check whether an applicant had a criminal record or was on the terrorism watch list, was cut off because the government has failed to complete required background checks on the immigration adjudicators....

ABOARD USS GONZALEZ (NNS) -- The guided-missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), currently deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of maritime security operations (MSO), rescued six Iranian mariners Feb. 28 after they had been adrift for 10 days. Gonzalez’s bridge team first spotted the crippled dhow while conducting MSO in the Central Persian Gulf. Once the destroyer’s watchstanders identified the distressed vessel, the ship immediately changed its course to render assistance. The Iranians explained that their dhow’s engine and rudder failed Feb. 8. “Patrolling warships are sometimes called on for humanitarian interventions,” said Cmdr. Robert D. Randall, the ship’s...

MANAMA, Bahrain – Cmdr. Jack Noell, commanding officer of DDG Crew Sierra, turned over command of the guided missile destroyer USS Gonzalez (DDG 66) Feb. 21, to Cmdr. Robert Randall and DDG Crew Golf at an exchange of command ceremony here. Gonzalez is taking part in the Navy's Sea Swap program, which is designed to increase forward naval presence by keeping the ship continuously present in its area of operations while swapping crews at six-month intervals. The Sea-Swap initiative has enabled Gonzalez to remain forward deployed since March 25, 2005 conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the U. S. Naval...

Gonzales Calls NSA Eavesdropping 'Lawful' By KATHERINE SHRADER ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says the Bush administration's electronic eavesdropping program "may make the difference between success and failure" in stopping the next terrorist attack. But even before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Monday, Democrats accused the administration of depriving Congress of information about the program. Suggesting Republicans too may have tough questions for Gonzales, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., called Gonzales' legal explanations to date "strained and unrealistic." In a statement prepared for the hearing, Gonzales called the monitoring program "reasonable" and "lawful." He...

Gonzales Says NSA Criticism Misleading By PETE YOST ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended the Bush administration's domestic spying program Tuesday and suggested that some critics and news reports have misled Americans about the breadth of the National Security Agency's surveillance. Gonzales said the warrantless surveillance is critical to prevent another terrorist attack within the United States and falls within President Bush's constitutional authority and the powers granted by Congress immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. At a Georgetown Law School Forum, Gonzales said the nation needs "to remember that ... it's imperative for...

02.12.05 | Diplomatic sources in Caracas report about an opinion trend that appears to be gathering force. The "electoral boycott" hypothesis, peddled by Venezuela's officialdom and its OAS sidekicks, has it that the decision of opposition political parties to withdraw from Assemblymen elections on December 4 constitutes, at best, a "boycott" and at worse "an electoral coup." Chavez opponents also stand accused of having, irresponsibly, broken an agreement with the OAS whereby participation in the race was a given. Let me be real clear about the reason that prompted such a reaction by the opposition. On Wednesday 23 an audit...

ABOARD USS CLEVELAND, Arabian Sea (NNS) -- Members of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 are currently leading a group of six coalition ships conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the North Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. The strike group’s flagship, USS Tarawa (LHA 1) and the amphibious transport dock USS Cleveland (LPD 7) are joined by the guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79). The French ships Var (FS 608) and Lafayette (FS 710), and the Pakistani frigate Badr (PNS 181) round out the coalition task group. MSO are part of ESG-1’s regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. 5th...

HOW TRADESPORTS AND OTHER OUTCOME STOCK EXCHANGES WORK Tradesports is a stock exchange which sells "shares" of "stocks," which can be traded just as if they were business stocks... except that rather than paying dividends, their value is based on the perceived likelihood of an outcome, and instead of business shares, the shares of possible outcomes to current events are sold. When one of several outcomes occurs, the stock of that outcome becomes worth 100 units (=$10). All shares of stock of other outcomes become worthless, once it is known that the outcome will not occur. The theory is that...

http://www.ktvu.com/video/4946889/detail.html

August 8, 2005 — US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald got a vote of confidence from his boss Monday. There had been speculation Fitzgerald's aggressive investigations in Chicago and Washington might have angered important people and that Fitzgerald might not get reappointed. Patrick Fitzgerald makes a lot of powerful people squirm by aggressively prosecuting high-level political corruption in both parties and by forcing reporters to either reveal their sources in the CIA leak case or go to jail. So, there has been speculation that President Bush might be under pressure to replace Fitzgerald when his term expires in October. But if Monday...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT There was a breakfast meeting at the White House today, and the president came out and discussed it. His meeting was with -- Let's see, who did he meet? -- Arlen Specter, Harry Reid, Patrick Leahy and Bill Frist. Yeah. So he met with Specter, Leahy, Frist and Senator Harry Reid about the current vacancy and what might be an up-coming one. Just to set this up: last week, the president sort of smacked down some conservatives for daring to suggest that the attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, would be an unacceptable Supreme Court nominee because of substantive issues....

We have all heard that Alberto Gonzalez might be on Bush's short list of possible Supreme Court nominees. Conservatives don't trust him and expect him to be another O'Connor or worse, a David Souter. We are also aware that Rhenquist is expected to announce his retirement soon, too. And finally, Ginsburg is not in the best of health and Justice Stevens is 85 years old causing speculation that Bush could nominate FOUR Supreme Court nominees before his term ends. My thinking is this, Bush cuts a backroom deal with the 'Rats to allow his buddy Alberto Gonzalez into the Supreme...

President Bush will nominate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to be chief justice of the Supreme Court after William Rehnquist joins Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and announces his retirement, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol predicted on Sunday. "The chief justice will step down this week," Kristol, who accurately forecast last month that O'Connor would be the first to go, told "Fox News Sunday." "The president is planning to announce two nominations for those vacancies before he leaves for Crawford at the end of the month," he predicted. "I've been told that the White House has told certain people to keep their...

Edward Whelan makes a great point in National Review Online: appointing Alberto Gonzalez to the Supreme Court could prove to be disastrous in the War on Terror...

YEAS (60) REPUBLICANS (54) Alexander, L. (TN) DeWine (OH) McCain (AZ) Allard (CO) Dole (NC) McConnell (KY) Allen, G. (VA) Domenici (NM) Murkowski (AK) Bennett (UT) Ensign (NV) Roberts (KS) Bond (MO) Enzi (WY) Santorum (PA) Brownback (KS) Frist (TN) Sessions, J. (AL) Bunning (KY) Graham (SC) Shelby (AL) Burr (NC) Grassley (IA) Smith, G. (OR) Chafee (RI) Gregg (NH) Snowe (ME) Chambliss (GA) Hagel (NE) Specter (PA) Coburn (OK) Hatch (UT) Stevens (AK) Cochran (MS) Hutchison (TX) Sununu (NH) Coleman (MN) Inhofe (OK) Talent (MO) Collins (ME) Isakson (GA) Thomas, C. (WY) Cornyn (TX) Kyl (AZ) Thune (SD) Craig...

Factions line up for two Texas Hispanics By MICHAEL HEDGES Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - The two Texas conservative Hispanics seen as among the front-runners for a U.S. Supreme Court nomination are drawing support from different ends of the political spectrum. Many conservative activists back federal appeals Judge Emilio Garza, while liberals and moderates see U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as a less extreme option. As President Bush examines a select list of possible nominees, there is speculation that he would make history by nominating a Hispanic for the first time. Garza, of San Antonio, tops the...

Welcome to Conflagration Central, otherwise known as Washington, D.C. We unfortunate denizens are beyond exhausted from observing repeat rounds of the low state of American politics' never-ending series of bar brawls. We will be all the more drained after we observe the pending battle between the fire-breathing, over-reaching, power-drunk far Right-ies and the limp, listless Left-ies. That, as each side seeks to destroy the other over the next U.S. Supreme Court nominee. It's come down to this in American politics: Do you want venal, overt prevarication or do you want inept, feckless incompetence? The former is today's GOP. The latter...

It's happened. Just this morning. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has announced her retirement. Throughout her tenure, Justice O'Connor has been part of the razor-thin majority that has kept Roe v. Wade from being dismantled. Now, for the first time in over a decade, there's a vacancy on the Supreme Court. And unless we act quickly, it will be filled by a right-wing extremist bent on ending a woman's right to choose. We knew a retirement was coming, but if you're like me, today's announcement still came as a shock. Yes, this is a long weekend, but the next few weeks...