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Bonner, Jo Alabama, 1st Everett, Terry Alabama, 2nd Rogers, Mike Alabama, 3rd Aderholt, Robert Alabama, 4th Cramer, Robert E. "Bud" Alabama, 5th Bachus, Spencer Alabama, 6th Davis, Artur Alabama, 7th Young, Don Alaska, At Large Faleomavaega, Eni F. H. American Samoa Renzi, Rick Arizona, 1st Franks, Trent Arizona, 2nd Shadegg, John Arizona, 3rd Pastor, Ed Arizona, 4th Mitchell, Harry E. Arizona, 5th Flake, Jeff Arizona, 6th Grijalva, Raul Arizona, 7th Giffords, Gabrielle Arizona, 8th Berry, Marion Arkansas, 1st Snyder, Vic Arkansas, 2nd Boozman, John Arkansas, 3rd Ross, Mike Arkansas, 4th Tauscher, Ellen California, 10th McNerney, Jerry California, 11th Speier,...

MOSCOW: Reiterating the need for a diplomatic solution of the vexed Iranian nuclear problem, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday urged Tehran to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency to fully (IAEA) thrash out all the remaining issues. According to the Kremlin press office release, in his telephonic conversation with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoudy Ahmadinejad, Medvedev "urged Iran to fully cooperate" with the UN nuclear watchdog to clarify all the remaining issues." "Medvedev once more expressed Russia's view that the dispute over the Islamic Republic's controversial uranium enrichment programme should be resolved through diplomacy," the release said. Russia,...

The price of European emission permits is rising so rapidly that German companies are threatening to leave the country.... And the environment may, in the end, be no better off. They sat silently through two lectures, but then they couldn't control their anger any longer. The civil servants from the Environment Ministry, the Environment Agency and the German Emissions Trading Authority made it sound easy for industry to take up carbon trading. It was just too much for the managers to tolerate. "If that's the shape the trading will take, we will simply move our cement operation to Ukraine," a...

Speaker Pelosi in R.I.: ‘Things can be different’01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, July 19, 2008 By Felice J. Freyer Journal Staff Writer PROVIDENCE –– Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House, appeared before a cheering crowd of nearly 100 people in a steamy union hall yesterday to denounce the “record of failure” of the Bush administration and promise a better America under Barack Obama. “We absolutely must win,” she said, urging everyone to work for the election of the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Pelosi said she was “counting every minute of every hour of every day” until President Bush leaves...

Common sense is a trait that you don't normally associate with airlines, yet they have just enough to figure out they shouldn't be burning $167-a-barrel jet fuel to fly empty planes to nowhere. In mid-June Northwest Airlines subsidiary Mesaba Aviation gave notice it would terminate twice-daily service between its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub and Iron Mountain, Mich. (pop. 8,154). Even with $1.1 million annual subsidy from the feds to fly the route, it can't make a profit. Prudent move, except it can't stop flying without a nod from Department of Transportation, which is under orders from Congress to keep carriers serving...

Energy: A day after House Democrats pretend to be in favor of drilling, Sen. Diane Feinstein calls offshore drilling a "distraction." Mark Sept. 30 on your calendar. It's the day Democrats have to put up or shut up.When President Bush lifted the executive order banning exploration and drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, two things happened almost immediately: The world price for oil started to drop and the Democrats panicked. They could no longer hide under the umbrella the order provided. On Sept. 30, when the Interior Department's 2008 appropriations expire, the Democrats will have to reauthorize the congressional ban...

Congress: Unwilling to allow any expansion of drilling in American territory, Democrats are instead focused on changing American lifestyles. It's consistent with the goals of the party that wants to run everyone's lives. Sponsored in the House by Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer and co-sponsored by four other Democrats and one Republican,Connecticut's Chris Shays, the Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of 2008 is, like much of the nonsense dreamed up in Washington, misnamed. It should be called the Central Planning and Potomac Manipulation Act of 2008. Rather than dealing with the supply side by increasing domestic production...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Bush "a total failure" on Thursday, among the California Democrat's harshest assessments to date of the president."God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States -- a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an exclusive interview. The comments came two days after the president sharply criticized Congress over what he described as relative inaction over the course of the legislative term. At the White House on Wednesday, Bush noted that there...

Twice convicted of felonies, James Francis Barton Jr. faces charges of violating a federal law barring felons from owning guns after police found seven pistols, three shotguns, and five rifles at his home south of Pittsburgh. As a defense, Barton and several other defendants in federal gun cases argue that last month's Supreme Court ruling allows them to keep loaded handguns at home for self-defense.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri, July 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain came out swinging at Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama at a town hall meeting in Kansas City Missouri over the latter's stand on abortion, reports the Wall Street Journal.McCain brought up his pro-life record on abortion at the meeting on Thursday, after a discussion about the problem of sexually graphic material on the internet."I also would like to say one other thing very quickly to you - that is, I am proud of my record of protecting and advocating the rights of the unborn. I believe...

When he was a state senator in Illinois in June 2002, Barack Obama was explicitly asked by Chicago media personality Jeff Berkowitz whether he supports school vouchers. “I would support anything that is going to be better for the children of Illinois,” he said. He emphatically added that “I am not closed minded on the issue.” In February 2008, Obama spoke to reporters from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the issue. Still keeping an open mind, he said, “If there was any argument for vouchers, it was ‘Let’s see if the experiment works.’ And if it does, whatever my preconception,...

The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents. Production of the first capsule -- consisting of two sealed rooms that can fit into the fuselage of a large military aircraft -- has already begun. Air Force officials say the government needs the new capsules to ensure that leaders...

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded today to a story last night by CNN’s Anderson Cooper on attempts by some Catholics to get the McCain campaign to oust Catholic author and activist Deal Hudson from the Catholics for McCain National Steering Committee: “Anderson Cooper said last night that those opposed to Hudson were citing two reasons why he should be dumped from the McCain campaign as an advisor: Hudson ‘harassed an 18-year-old female college student 10 years earlier,’ and his ‘brokering a deal between a meeting of conservative Catholics and San Antonio mega-preacher John Hagee.’ “There is nothing Catholic about...

"Considerable presence" of skeptics The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the society had previously called the evidence for global warming "incontrovertible."...

Shares of merger partners Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) are trading higher today following reports that FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat who had been expected to oppose the deal, has proposed terms to the company on which he would vote to approve it. As Reuters notes, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed that the deal be approved as long as the companies agree to provide radios that receive both services, cap prices for three years, offer programming on an “a la carte” basis, and make 24 channels available for non-commercial and minority programming. Adelstein wants...

Mexico to honor Sen. Kennedy for work on immigration Friday, July 18, 2008 - Updated 7m ago MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government is honoring U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy for his defense of immigrant rights. Mexico announced today it will award Kennedy the Aguila Azteca, the highest honor the government can bestow on foreign dignitaries. An announcement on Mexico’s federal registry says Kennedy will be presented with a sash in the United States. Mexico says the Massachusetts Democrat has denounced injustices against migrants and "highlighted the importance of addressing illegal immigration by looking for an integral solution." Kennedy co-sponsored an...

"The eyes of the world are now on the Volt," McCain said at a meeting... McCain: Electric car 'vital' to oil independence (AP) At GM plant, McCain calls for an electric vehicle tax credit Los Angeles Times, CA - 4 hours ago Trying to inject hope into a struggling auto industry, he says a $5000 credit should be given to consumers who buy cars like the Chevy Volt, now a prototype ... McCain Talks with GM workers Washington Post, United States - 2 hours ago By Juliet Eilperin WARREN, Mich.--Speaking to a group of General Motors Corp. employees, Sen. John...

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Europe will be challenged by a President Barack Obama to contribute more to global security and will no longer have the "easy out" of pandering to anti-Bush sentiment, according to a top adviser to the Democratic candidate. But the former Rhodes Scholar, who took her Master's degree and doctorate in international relations at New College, Oxford, made clear that an Obama administration would also challenge Europe to do more after a Democratic victory in November's election. "It would signal a return to the more pragmatic and bi-partisan traditions of American foreign policy, which have been lost to ideology in the...

Just on Fox: Obama spokesperson arguing that, because Obama's father was Kenyan and that Obama was raised in part in Africa, and because he is so much smarter and nuanced, Obama has far better foreign policy credentials than McCain. I waited for the reporter to start laughing but he remained professional and did not. More... Another Obama spokesman (Howard Woldson) is now arguing that Bill Clinton will be one of Obama's biggest assets during the campaign as an Obama spokesman with "amazing, natural political skills." More

(Fifth in a series of ten. For other articles in this series, click on View all articles by John Armor on ChronWatch -- and "Blogs by this author.") The powers of the president were designed to be sufficient to lead the nation, and insufficient to dominate the nation. In the hands of a self-restrained leader such as the first president, George Washington, the extent of powers of the chief executive were not a potential problem. In the 20th century, both books and articles have decried the "imperial presidency." The thesis is that recent presidents have successfully claimed more power than...

One day Americans are moaning about the harmful impact of cheap oil and the next they're grousing about the harmful impact of expensive oil. Which one is it? As a disreputable sort, I freely confess to having a fondness for oil. Actually, I have a mild crush on all carbon-emitting fuels that feed our prosperity. But I'm especially fond of cheap oil. For many years, those who spread apocalyptic global-warming scenarios have warned me that a collective national sacrifice was needed to save the world. One option, we were told, was to make gas artificially expensive, forcing our ignorant, energy-gobbling...

"David Remes, a Covington & Burling partner, lowered his pants on Monday at a conference in Yemen to demonstrate the treatment of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Photo: " "“I’d been to Guantanamo in mid-June,” explained Remes, “and there’s a certain amount of normalcy that has settled over the normal miserable conditions of confinement, which amount to solitary confinement without sleep and without sunlight and without anyone to talk to. So at the news conference, I said that, in addition to this torment, which has become so typical that we don’t even talk about it anymore, now the torment also...

For years I have heard from many sources that the Clinton Administration was able to create a budget surplus and then the Bush Administration came in and squandered this surplus. This is repeatedly reported so someone tell me how my perception of this issue is in error. Here's what seems to be apparent to me: By dramatically defunding the military and intelligence agencies the Clinton Administration was able to show on paper a projected 10 year federal budget surplus. The terrorists attacks of September 11th occured. The Bush Administration needed to dramatically refund the defunded military and intelligence agencies. This...

UC Berkeley, eager to resolve the tree-sitters' standoff outside Memorial Stadium before football season begins, asked a judge Thursday to allow construction on a sports training center to begin as soon as next week. The university also asked the city of Berkeley, a neighborhood group and a group of oak tree advocates, who have sued UC to block the project, to put up a $1.5 million-a-month bond if they choose to appeal the judge's ruling on whether the $125 million training center can be built safely and legally. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller said she will decide soon...

I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector. FullCAM models carbon flows in plants, mulch, debris, soils and agricultural products, using inputs such as climate data, plant physiology and satellite data. I've been following the global warming debate closely for years. When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty good: CO2 is a greenhouse gas, the old...

The Democratic National Committee is asking America to weigh in on its party platform, and this week kicks off more than 1,300 meetings to hear from voters across the country on the big question: What should Democrats stand for - and against? If the idea sounds politically challenging, or even risky - think Rush Limbaugh and his dittoheads weighing in - San Francisco attorney Michael Yaki, who heads the party's platform committee, says not to worry. In fact, he's even invited Limbaugh and his dittoheads to come on down and take part in the meetings that will happen around the...

***This article was in my college's newspaper. Nice to see some common sense in a college these days. It's a bit old, but still good.*** When it comes to freedom from government oppression, the First Amendment gets all the credit. When it comes to those liberties we all readily enjoy - speech, religion, assembly, petition and press - there is such a strong and unified understanding in America that these are inalienable rights that they're hardly ever questioned. Yet when it comes to the Second Amendment and what should be an inalienable right to bear arms, the concept of personal...

PHOENIX - People who hire "coyotes" to get them into this country can be prosecuted under a state law aimed at the smugglers, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. In the first decision of its kind in the state, the judges rebuffed even the comments of Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, one of the architects of the 2005 legislation, that it was never designed to go after the immigrants themselves. Judge Lawrence Winthrop, writing for the court, said it is possible that Paton may have intended that the migrants be considered the victims of the crime of human smuggling. "This...

... The United States is the only country to take the position that some police misconduct must automatically result in the suppression of physical evidence. The rule applies whether the misconduct is slight or serious, and without regard to the gravity of the crime or the power of the evidence. “Foreign countries have flatly rejected our approach,” said Craig M. Bradley, an expert in comparative criminal law at Indiana University. “In every other country, it’s up to the trial judge to decide whether police misconduct has risen to the level of requiring the exclusion of evidence.” But there are signs...

WASHINGTON, DC - Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today introduced the Drive America on Natural Gas Act to promote the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vehicles. Inhofe also introduced the American Affordable Fuels Act to relieve pain at the pump. "As Americans continue to suffer from high gas prices, we need to take advantage of our abundant domestic supply of natural gas for use as a transportation fuel," Senator Inhofe said. "The Drive America on Natural Gas Act adds flexibility to the current Renewable Fuels Standard...

LIVE pigs are due to be shot by US Army troops, who will then treat their gunshot wounds in an exercise for soldiers headed for Iraq. The medical trauma exercise is due to take place in Honolulu today and will be conducted under the supervision of vets. Major Derrick Cheng, a spokesman for the 25th Infantry Division, said: “It’s to teach Army personnel how to manage critically injured patients within the first few hours of their injury.” The soldiers are learning emergency lifesaving skills needed on the battlefield when there are no medics, doctors or facility nearby, he said. But...

The Air Force is defending plans underway for pricey luxury quarters that can be constructed and inserted into military jetliners, saying they are necessary for official travel for both military and civilian leaders, and end up saving costs in the long run. The Washington Post reported Friday that at least four top generals have made tweaks like changing the color of leather furniture and wooden floor panels, adding cost to the price tag of the program, which has met with friction on Capitol Hill. The program will build living quarters pods as well as pallets holding chairs that could be...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhEarYCi_50

ON AIR Q&A: T. Boone Pickens Fri. Jul 18, 2008 Tammy Haddad spoke with Texas oil magnate T. Boone Pickens for the July 18 edition of "National Journal On Air." This is a transcript of their conversation. Q: I'm Tammy Haddad this is National Journal On Air and we have the man of the hour with us, T. Boone Pickens, welcome Mr. Pickens. Pickens: Thank you Tammy. Q: You know, you have really changed the world with your conversation about wind energy, PickensPack.com is really an incredible website-these videos, the ads, what you're doing. For those who haven't seen it,...

[...] But we're burying the real news here. It seems that Heller may not have brought his gun with him to register, but he was armed with a load of candidate petitions, Duggan said. Seems that Heller is planning to run for the House seat currently held by Eleanor Holmes Norton. Heller is seeking signatures to be on the ballot as a libertarian candidate. A man identifiying himself as J. Bradley Jansen, who said he was Heller's campaign manager, said Heller must get 3,000 signatures and has until the end of August to collect them.

Just received this from my assembly member Fuller. I don’t know if they will listen, but it can’t hurt to give them an opinion.

California on Thursday became the first state in the nation to approve green building standards to cut energy and water usage, a move that officials say will help the state meet its ambitious goals to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The plan, adopted by the California Building Standards Commission, requires that all new construction - from commercial buildings to homes, schools and hospitals - reduce energy usage by 15 percent, water use by 20 percent and water for landscaping by 50 percent. A voluntary form of the code is scheduled to kick in on July 1, 2009. "There is no statewide...

A John McCain supporter recently challenged my criticism of the candidate's position on amnesty and posed the following question, in part: " Are we going to insist on a strict application of the law? Are we going to increase government spending and expand police powers to root out people who have done what immigrants have done for generations? Wouldn't we be better to set a timeline and give permanent resident status to those who have become Americans while focusing on those who come here for less admirable reasons?" My response was as follows: This time, we had damn well better...

One day Americans are moaning about the harmful impact of cheap oil and the next they're grousing about the harmful impact of expensive oil. Which one is it? As a disreputable sort, I freely confess to having a fondness for oil. Actually, I have a mild crush on all carbon-emitting fuels that feed our prosperity. But I'm especially fond of cheap oil. For many years, those who spread apocalyptic global-warming scenarios have warned me that a collective national sacrifice was needed to save the world. One option, we were told, was to make gas artificially expensive, forcing our ignorant, energy-gobbling...

NASHVILLE -- A federal court jury convicted former state senator John Ford of all six charges in connection with his $850,000 in consulting work for two major TennCare contractors. Ford, 66, is already serving a 5 1/2 year sentence for a separate conviction on federal bribery charges in Memphis. He faces up to 20 years in the Nashville case but sentencing will not occur for several weeks, possibly months. The middle Tennessee jury deliberated a total of eight hours -- six on Thursday -- before returning to the courtroom where it sat since the trial began on July 1. The...

Lost amid news about rising fuel costs, falling stock prices, mortgage foreclosures, and one African-American’s nutty surgical wish are stories of push backs by communities fed up with illegal immigration. Out in Thousand Oaks, Calif., earlier this month, some residence scored a small victory by effectively closing down for a day a city-sponsored day-labor center. Last year Judicial Watch wrote the mayor about the organization’s concerns that the city was violating federal immigration laws by spending more than $133,000 of public funds between 2001 and 2007 to subsidize what amounts to city-sanctioned criminal activity, since mostly illegal aliens hang out...

Washington -- Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff on Monday blamed tightened security on the U.S.-Mexico border for increased violence there, and he said the border probably will not be fully secured until 2011, two years after President Bush leaves office. "(Increased violence) is what typically happens when you start to enforce and make it harder to fight over the shrinking pie, so to speak, and who gets the best opportunity to exploit the additional space that's left," Chertoff said at a news conference at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Monday. "That's a good...

Is the Bush administration crumbling? Asia experts Liu Kin-ming and June Teufel Dreyer, in postings on the Taiwan Policy Forum listserv today, ask a pertinent question. The answer, unfortunately, is “yes.” An exhausted Dubya is now doing everything he once said he would not. The President, for example, is rewarding North Korea prior to surrender of its nuclear weapons. On Wednesday, the administration agreed to talk with Iran even though the Islamic Republic is continuing to enrich uranium and undoubtedly maintaining a covert bomb program. And on the same day, it was revealed that the Bush White House is undermining...

A few nights ago, I had occasion to attend an event at a conservative organization here in Phoenix. I will not say which organization, but I have it on good authority—and observed for myself—that the organization is slowly being taken over by libertarians.In many ways, conservatives and libertarians draw from the same ideological well: 18th century classical liberalism. We have much in common when it comes to the notion that government should be limited. Of course, it's a matter of degree; conservatives see a need for a small government, to be sure—but not quite so small as the libertarians.We...

Add another quote to the litany of idiocy issued by Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., over the years. "To suggest somehow that (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) are in trouble is simply not accurate," Sen. Dodd said during CNN's "Late Edition" Sunday. "The facts are that Fannie and Freddie are in sound situations. They have more that adequate capital, in fact more than the law requires." Recall the scene in the film "Animal House," in which the character played by Kevin Bacon attempts to block a stampede of panicked citizens by crying, "All is well!" Sen. Dodd performs a credible...

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will push for another economic stimulus package of approximately $50 billion. The California Democrat told CNN she favors that amount as a compromise between spurring the stagnating U.S. economy without forcing the nation deeply into more debt. I would hope we could have about a $50 billion -- there are others who want more, she said in a partial transcript released by the Speaker's office. But I think in the stimulus packages, you have to look at what helps stimulate the economy without spending more money than you should because you weight the...

The first time I learned about the practice I was horrified. It was the mid-1990s. The source was Sharon Dunsmore, a nurse in a hospital NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) who wrote a small booklet about the experience. One day on the job she had been summoned “stat” to the delivery room to deal with an “oops abortion”—a failed abortion in which the baby unexpectedly survived, or, as Dunsmore quoted the pediatrician on the scene, “had the audacity to survive.” The team struggled as to whether to continue intubating the child—now a little boy, not a “fetus”—who clearly was not...

This now available from the U.S. State Department: "2009 Mosques of America Wall Calendar: Limited Edition for Ramadan." "Yep, you read that correctly. It's 'perfect for Muslim outreach efforts," according to a commentary at the Gates of Vienna blog. "Where's the ACLU on this one?" Screen capture of State Department's offering of "Mosques of America" calendar The product was being advertised by "Global Publishing Solutions," a division of the U.S. State Department, until bloggers started talking about it. Officials then apparently hid the page behind the security of a password-protected wall. However, the page is still viewable in a Google...

This column will demonstrate how the Democratic Party and its candidate for president, Sen. Barack Obama, base their proposed foreign policy and their approach to the war in Iraq on lies and misconceptions. The Democratic Party and Mr. Obama are simply confused, perhaps deliberately so, about why we went to war in Iraq, and have ignored the clear and unambiguous facts and the record. The Democrats and their candidate are caught up in the sweet sounds of fancy oratory and soaring rhetoric, and have little room for hard facts or cold reality. Ironically, if the Democrats would finally face the...