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PARIS -- French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to ban the wearing of face-covering veils in public spaces, as Europe toughens its approach to integrating Muslim immigrant communities. On the eve of Bastille Day, when France celebrates the birth of what was to become a staunchly secular republic, the 577-seat National Assembly lower house voted by 335 votes to one for a total ban. The bill will now go to the Senate in September, but opponents of the ban in its proposed form worry that it will eventually be overturned by the judges of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest legal body.

Republican Reps. Darrell Issa of California, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Chris Smith of New Jersey are calling for a probe to investigate whether Obama administration officials are violating federal law by using taxpayer money to lobby for a new constitution in Kenya that supports and legalizes abortion. “The U.S. is spending taxpayer money on Kenya’s constitutional referendum,” Issa told The Daily Caller. “The underlying concern is that U.S. funds and efforts are being used to interfere in Kenya’s internal debate over abortion, which is part of the debate over the new constitution. There is evidence that U.S. funds are...

The debate agitating many in New Jersey right is whether or not the state’s Governor, Chris Christie, is actually doing much to reform the state as it needs to be. I have to say that I wasn’t impressed with him during his campaign for the Republican nomination against Steve Lonagan. Having no interest in the politics of politic, he sounded like a big government Republican to me. With that in mind, I was nicely surprised by the turn that Christie’s campaign against Corzine took and by some of his policies. He talked about small government, the need for reforming New...

President Barack Obama announced Saturday that he is nominating a retired Air Force general who currently serves as the Pentagon’s top intelligence official, James Clapper, to become Director of National Intelligence, a job that entails great responsibility but has been beset by uncertain authority since its creation in 2005. “Timely, accurate intelligence is uniquely important,” Obama said during a brief morning appearance with Clapper in the sunny Rose Garden. “I’ll be looking to Jim to ensure that we have the most capable and efficient intelligence community possible. Intelligence must be collected and analyzed quickly. It must be shared and integrated...

I voted for you,” the caller said in a voice mail to Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler’s district office. “If you vote for that stimulus package, I’m gonna kill you. Simple as that.” The FBI says the caller was a 70-year-old resident of Shuler’s North Carolina district with a history of mental illness and a cache of guns. In the weeks before calling Shuler’s office, the FBI says, the caller beat and choked his wife. She told the FBI that she’d tried to clear her home of guns — and that she went to bed at night with a can of...

Tensions are rising inside the House Intelligence Committee over the White House's refusal to fully brief lawmakers on events leading up to the arrest of accused Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad. Angry at having been kept in the dark during previous terrorist incidents, all nine Republican members of the committee have sent a letter to President Obama accusing the administration of withholding critical national security information. "A clear pattern has emerged," the lawmakers write, "of the administration refusing to provide requested briefings or information or to engage with us despite repeated requests on issues such as Guantanamo, the Fort Hood...

"Should the Legislature congratulate the Boy Scouts of America on the anniversary of the granting of its federal congressional charter despite the fact that this organization steadfastly continues to discriminate against individuals because of their sexual orientation or religious views?"

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Immigrant rights groups Wednesday slammed Arizona lawmakers after they approved a bill which will allow police officers to determine whether suspects are in the United States legally. Arizona's House of Representatives passed the bill by a margin of 35 votes to 21 during a session on Tuesday, the legislature's website showed, mirroring a similar measure passed by the border state's Senate earlier this year. The bill will now proceed to Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer to be signed into law. The bill makes it a misdemeanor offense for an individual to lack proper immigration paperwork and...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Frustrated by recent political setbacks, tea party leaders and some conservative members of the Oklahoma Legislature say they would like to create a new volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.

KABUL – Afghan President Hamid Karzai threatened over the weekend to quit the political process and join the Taliban if he continued to come under outside pressure to reform, several members of parliament said Monday. Karzai made the unusual statement at a closed-door meeting Saturday with selected lawmakers — just days after kicking up a diplomatic controversy with remarks alleging foreigners were behind fraud in last year's disputed elections. Lawmakers dismissed the latest comment as hyperbole, but it will add to the impression the president — who relies on tens of thousands of U.S. and NATO forces to fight the...

Pro-Life Lawmakers Shot At, Threatened For Opposing Pro-Abortion Health Bill Washington, DC -- Two pro-life Republican lawmakers announced today that they were the victims of harassment and violence from people upset that they voted against the pro-abortion health care bill. Rep. Eric Cantor's Richmond campaign office was shot at while Rep. Jean Schmidt received a harassing phone call. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat6192.html

The Navy and Marine Corps face a much larger shortfall of fighter jets than expected, four senior members of the House Armed Services Committee warned Defense Secretary Robert Gates. In a letter to Gates, the lawmakers said Pentagon assumptions of a shortfall of 100 fighter jets are “too optimistic.” Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) signed the letter along with ranking Republican Rep. Buck McKeon (Calif.). Two other panel members with jurisdiction over Navy programs, Reps. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) and Todd Akin (R-Mo.), also signed the letter to Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of...

Lawmaker Who Called Bart Stupak Baby Killer Still Unknown Washington, DC -- The pro-life Republican lawmaker who called Rep. Bart Stupak during his comments against a pro-life procedural motion Sunday night is still unknown. The comment came as Stupak opposed a motion to send the pro-abortion health care bill back to committee to add an abortion funding ban. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat6170.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – CIA officials briefed at least 68 U.S. lawmakers between 2001 and 2007 on enhanced interrogation methods like simulated drowning that were being considered or used against captured al Qaeda members, .. The once-secret CIA papers, obtained in a lawsuit by the conservative legal foundation Judicial Watch, shed new light on which lawmakers knew the details of the controversial interrogation program and when. ... The declassified memos show the program began after the capture of al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi-born Palestinian .. In a statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence dated April 12, 2007,...

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has had his share of problems dealing with state lawmakers, referring to them as "girlie men" early in his tenure. One of his would-be successors, GOP candidate Meg Whitman, indicated this week that she wouldn't come bearing flowers should she be elected. In an interview Tuesday with Dennis Prager, a conservative radio host, Whitman said she wants to "reorient" legislators to focus on more important issues, threatening to use her veto pen, much as Schwarzenegger has, to get them in line. She added that none of the legislation approved last year was "on point." "The governor...

SACRAMENTO — A California lawmaker and his wife were treated by the insurance industry to a two-night stay, with spa treatments, at an exclusive Pebble Beach resort. Another received free passes to Sea World San Diego, along with Disneyland tickets. Yet another got a coveted ticket to the 2008 Holiday Bowl college football game. In each case, the lawmaker not only accepted the perks and freebies but also apparently failed to report them as required by state law, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press under the California Public Records Act. In all, 38 current members of California's Assembly...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the U.S. economy is on the mend and that his administration's focus over the coming months will be on creating more jobs. In a campaign-style speech to a meeting of House Democrats, Obama said Thursday that lawmakers made tough choices in enacting economic measures over the past year, including some that were unpopular.

MESA, Ariz. – Arizona House Republicans on Tuesday proposed a sweeping package of tax cuts aimed at helping businesses, with Speaker Kirk Adams saying the incentives are needed to spur economic development and add high-paying jobs in the state. The package proposed for consideration in the legislative session that starts next Monday includes both corporate and individual income tax cuts and decreases in property taxes paid by businesses. "Arizona is not as competitive as it needs to be with job retention and job growth," Adams said. The Mesa Republican was flanked by a half-dozen fellow GOP representatives during a news...

Black Lawmakers under Ethics SpotlightWashington AFRO Zenitha Prince Posted: Nov 09, 2009 November 8, 2009) - Are seven investigations too many to be a coincidence? All seven of the full-scale ethics investigations currently underway in the U.S. House of Representatives are focused on African-American lawmakers—and it would be eight if the committee conducting the investigations hadn’t deferred to the Justice Department’s investigation involving Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. The disparity is beginning to raise some eyebrows. “I don’t think they (Black lawmakers) are scared—they’re upset. They think [Congressional Black Caucus] members are being singled out,” Rep. Elijah Cummings, former chairman of...

A leaked document shows that House ethics investigators are probing the activities of nearly three dozen lawmakers — an ethical dust storm that will empower the Republicans and could imperil efforts to get health care reform through the House next week. The House ethics committee said Thursday that it was opening two new investigations — one into the foreclosure scandal of Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) and one involving financial questions about Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and her husband. But shortly after the committee met, chairs Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) interrupted proceedings on the House floor to say...