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On December 5, 2008, only ten days before the electoral college votes, the nine Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will meet in private to review Obama's citizenship status. Leo Donofrio's case, "Leo C. Donofrio, v. Nina Mitchell Wells, Secretary of State of the State of New Jersey, United States Supreme Court Docket No. 08A407," regarding Obama's citizenship has reached a new level. The case has been "distributed for conference." This docketing today by the court should send ripples of fear through the Obama camp. Obama has been proceeding at lightening speed to put together a cabinet and take possession...

Life in southern Israel is unbearable. Since last January, on average, 6.3 mortars and rockets have been fired from Gaza on southern Israel every day. As Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilna'i warned the heads of the communities around Gaza last week, due to the improvements in the Palestinian arsenal since Israel vacated Gaza two years ago, the Palestinians now field missiles and rockets with extended ranges that place 130,000 Israelis under threat of missile attack. Wednesday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi made clear that if Israel wishes to secure its citizens there is only one thing it...

CAMP AL ASAD, Iraq (Aug. 8, 2006) -- When Army Maj. John W. Penree decided to pay his nephew, Marine Sgt. Peter A. Penree Jr., a visit in Iraq’s Al Anbar province, the timing couldn’t have been better. The circumstances, however, probably could have. Both men are currently deployed to Iraq – Penree Jr., serves with the Hawaii-based 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment in western Al Anbar Province; Maj. Penree with the Wiesbaden, Germany-based 3rd Corps Support Command in Balad, Iraq. Penree Jr., a 23-year-old Marine infantryman from Frankfort, N.Y., was wounded recently when a suicide bomber drove a truck...

SACRAMENTO – A two-house committee approved a new state budget of roughly $131 billion yesterday, setting the stage for Senate and Assembly votes this week that could produce the first on-time budget in two decades. But Democrats sent the new spending plan to the legislative floors despite opposition from Republicans, with the apparent hope that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would help negotiate agreements on remaining differences. Republican legislators, whose votes are needed for the two-thirds approval of both houses required to pass a budget, made it clear that they want changes made in the plan that was approved by the committee....

SINGAPORE, June 2, 2006 – The world should not be surprised at the pace in which democracy is progressing in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld takes questions from reporters at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore June 2. Rumsfeld is in Singapore for the 5th International Institute for Security Studies Asia Security Summit. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley, USN  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Rumsfeld is in Singapore to attend a conference of Asian and Pacific defense ministers. The new Iraqi government has come under...

I know this happens every year in the Legislature, and sometimes I think that those who read my weekly discussion on Sacramento must get bored that I keep saying the same things over and over. Then I realize, the news media does not report these events. In fact, I think that people wouldn’t believe it if the newspaper or television did report it. As I walk through the halls of the Capitol, I feel a little like Alice as she walked through Wonderland. I know I have seen a number of the white rabbits (who are always looking at their...

LOS ANGELES - Scientists have processed more than a dozen new photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which arrived at the Red Planet last month, including its first color image. The crisp test images released Friday revealed pocked craters, carved gullies and wind-formed dunes in Mars' southern hemisphere. The diverse geologic features show the importance of water, wind and meteor impacts in shaping the Martian surface, scientists said. The orbiter, the most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet, reached Mars on March 10 and slipped into an elliptical orbit. Over the next six months, it will dip into...

MILLINGTON, Tenn. (NNS) -- The Navy is encouraging Sailors and their families to take part in the 2006 election season with help from the Navy Voting Assistance Program. The program and its Navy Voting Assistance officers can assist with the process of absentee voting in time for the start of this year’s election season, which begins March 7. “The Navy Voting Assistance Program is here to assist every Sailor who is eligible to vote,” said Lt. Dave Truman, Navy Voting Assistance Program manager, Commander, Navy Installations Command, Millington Detachment. “Sailors can still vote in their state primary through the process...

The U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of the Bush administration's heavy-handed threats to prosecute Oregon physicians has revived the debate over whether California should allow doctors to help their terminally ill patients commit suicide. The fact that Oregon's law has survived the court challenge does not make physician-assisted suicide good public policy. It emphatically is not, for the simple reason that it exposes the most vulnerable members of society – the elderly, the disabled, the poor, the mentally impaired, the terminally ill – to unwarranted pressures to take their own lives because they are a financial burden on their families and...

City officials grilled on recovery process Wednesday, October 26, 2005 By Bruce Eggler Staff writer New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin takes a bite of a beignet (pastry) during the re-opening of the 153-year old Cafe Du Monde in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, October 19, 2005. Wednesday is the first day of business for the New Orleans landmark since it was closed down due to Hurricane Katrina. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Members of a state legislative committee pressed New Orleans officials Tuesday for answers to a long list of questions about the status of post-Katrina recovery efforts and plans for...

I was looking over the tax reform commission members some I recognize some I don't. I am thinking about Meirs and the fiasco it has become and I thought..... "We need a way to automatically build a connecting matrix of political or power people and their organizations to be able to go to that name like a map and see who that person is connected to, what organizations they support etc. This way as people post it would some how high light their name to indicate they have a matrix history you can refer to. Sort of like that 6...

WASHINGTON -- The legalities of disaster recovery can seem murkier than floodwater, but for some Air Force families, making claims for belongings destroyed by Hurricane Katrina will be easier, thanks to Air Force paralegals. Two teams of Airmen from various Air Education and Training Command bases arrived at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., recently to help survivors navigate the legal claims system to recover or get reimbursement for their personal property on base. "The purpose of the teams is to go into the affected areas, evaluate the extent of the damages, document that information and assist the military member filing...

WASHINGTON – When Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham first responded to questions about his dealings with defense contractor Mitchell Wade, he stressed that his position on the House defense appropriations subcommittee did not enable him to secure contracts for Wade's company, MZM Inc. "I do not have the authority or ability to award a contract to Mr. Wade's company and no single member of Congress, no matter how influential, can dictate to the armed services who will be awarded contracts," the Rancho Santa Fe Republican said during a June 23 news conference. While Cunningham's claim is technically correct under the government's...

One month after the ninth presidential elections in June, 2005, statistics have been released that not only confirm the widespread irregularities in the voting, but even corroborate the suspicions that the outcome of the elections would have been different if the rigging were prevented. During the first phase of the elections, people had noticed unlawful interventions in the elections process and had made their observations known. But few then suspected the extent of the manipulations and that they would actually be so gross as to alter the outcome of who got into the presidential palace. What Rafsanjani, Moin and even...

Refusing to relinquish her extended fifteen minutes of fame, Anita Hill is back in the news. After doing all she could to prevent a black man, Clarence Thomas, from becoming a Supreme Court Justice, Hill is now attacking President Bush's nomination of John Roberts, saying she fears his selection could lead to "an all-white-male Supreme Court." God forbid. Sadly, hardly anyone noticed her racist and sexist comments. The liberal press simply yawned, since white males remain the primary targets of abuse by journalists, academics and feminists. They have been victims of affirmative action, quotas and reverse discrimination. Hill knows this,...

I may be going against the conservative grain here, but I am not as bothered by the prospect of questions from Senate Judiciary Committee members seeking to determine how John Roberts' judicial philosophy might guide him in considering certain specific questions of constitutional law, including abortion. I certainly agree that judicial nominees should not telegraph how they intend to vote on a particular case that is either before or on its way to the Court, but I think both sides have used this more as an excuse to shield their respective nominees. There are limited other ways to determine a...

Even Democrats are beginning to sense that the American people have had about enough of their mindless obstructionist tactics. Most of us know what the Constitution says. The President has the sole right to appoint Supreme Court nominees and the Senate has the obligation to offer advice, then their consent or dissent as the case may be. We understand that the Democrats power is limited to underhanded character assassination leading up to another abuse of the filibuster. Who do you think removed them from all other forms of power in Washington? But despite the recent “damn the torpedoes elitists” mindset...

America is suffering from a bunch of P.E.S.T.’s. Victims of Post Election Selection Trauma, or more commonly know as crazy liberals who have decided to hate democracy because George Bush beat them twice. Shortly after the November election, the American Health Association identified this affliction in Boca Raton, Florida, with some of its symptoms being: “feelings of withdrawal, feelings of isolation, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, nightmares, and pervasive moodiness, including endless sulking.” How Rob Gordon, Executive Director of the AHA, was able to differentiate these symptoms from the normal behavior of most liberals I have no clue, but none the...

"Estradification": In the spirit of confirmation battles spawning a new lexicon (e.g., "Borking") the Washington Times reports today [http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20050721-115711-9900r.htm] on what some Republicans are calling "Estradification"--requiring the Justice Department to turn over internal legal memoranda written by Roberts while he worked in the SG's office. The refusal by the White House to surrender these sorts of documents was the basis for the Estrada filibuster (hence the name) as well as the current Bolton stalemate. Regardless of the merits of the request, it seems highly unlikely that the White House will surrender these documents. The tone of the article suggests that...

Illinois' senior Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the Assistant Democrat Leader in the U.S. Senate, has wasted little time in launching against Judge John Roberts, President Bush's choice for the Supreme Court slot being vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Durbin has said that the President's decision to put forward John Roberts, 50, who he termed a "controversial nominee" guarantees a "controversial nomination process." Durbin previously clashed with Roberts during the confirmation process for the federal judgeship he now holds. Durbin questioned Roberts characterization of the Rehnquist Court as not necessarily conservative, saying that the the record of the court...

John G. Roberts pairs a youthful demeanor with a sharp, seasoned legal mind that has impressed Ivy League professors, government lawyers and U.S. presidents. Befitting his age of 50 and limited time on the appellate court, the book on his judicial decisions remains a work in progress. President Bush on Tuesday tapped Roberts to become the nation's 109th Supreme Court justice, introducing the Harvard honors graduate, former clerk to William Rehnquist and successful Washington attorney to the nation in prime time. "He has argued 39 cases before the Supreme Court and earned a reputation as one of the best legal...

Before President George W. Bush could grasp his next breath following his announcement of Justice John G. Roberts for the U.S. Supreme Court, Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Patrick Leahy stumbled to the minority party reaction podium for a quick precursor to the upcoming litmus test they have planned for the new nominee. They don’t even attempt to deny it anymore. “All questions are legitimate,” New York Democrat and Judiciary Committee member Charles E. Schumer said earlier this month. “What is your view on Roe vs. Wade? What is your view on gay marriage?” Schumer took great pains to be...

LAURA BUSH APPEARED ON NBC'S Today show last Tuesday, speaking from a classroom in Cape Town, South Africa. She answered a couple of questions about the Supreme Court vacancy created by the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, volunteering that she "would really like for [her husband] to name another woman." Asked later that day about his wife's comment, President Bush replied that he had "talked to her yesterday. And listen, I get her advice all the time. I didn't realize she put this advice in the press. She did? Well, good. We're definitely considering people from all walks of...

The retirement of Justice O’Connor didn’t ignite the battle for the heart and soul of America, but it sure will kick it into high gear. The impending retirement of Chief Justice Rehnquist will shift that battle into overdrive and the political mental midgets’ pomposity into overload. [Balderdash from a pompous ass, for you sadly educated left-wing-nuts.] The first thing one must ponder on this topic is how the Supreme Court of the United States became the front line of this battle in the first place. According to one of my favorite founders Thomas Jefferson, "A free people claim their rights...

Perhaps Sen. Charles Schumer should have taken the Quiet Car. Here’s what the New York Democrat reportedly was overheard saying the other day on Amtrak: “Even William Rehnquist is more moderate than they expected. The only one that resulted how they predicted [was] Scalia. So most of the time they’ve gotten their picks wrong, and that’s what we want to do to them again.” Whether or not this quote from the Drudge Report is accurate, the sentiment is correct: The litany of conservative disappointments over Supreme Court appointments is a long one. Earl Warren. Harry Blackmun. John Paul Stevens. Anthony...

Certain seasons or events have historically spawned their own lexicons which are unique to those events and used almost exclusively to describe them. Late in the college football season, some games have what are unfailingly called, “serious bowl implications.” Likewise vice-presidential candidates must possess ''gravitas'' and Super Bowls oddly acquire roman numerals. So. too. does the Supreme Court nomination process require its own terminology, especially when the president is a Republican. Over the next several weeks there are a number of ordinary words and phrases that will be used ad nauseam in reference to whomever President Bush submits to the...

The four senators who met with President Bush at the White House Tuesday morning discussed a number of potential Supreme Court nominees, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said he thinks they've agreed not to name those names. "We have a long ways to go," Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters after the breakfast meeting at the White House. He said President Bush has hundreds or thousands of names to go through and "he didn't give us any names." Nevertheless, Reid added, "There were a lot of names discussed at the meeting, of which we're not going to talk about any of...

The former Senate Majority Leader, now a noted peacemaker, may be tapped to help lead the party's strategy on a new high court nominee The battle on Capitol Hill over filling one, possibly two, U.S. Supreme Court vacancies is heating up fast. Faced with a high-powered lineup of GOP tacticians and advisers, Senate Democrats are now working to assemble their own team. One key person under consideration to lead the effort, several Democratic sources tell BusinessWeek Online, is former Democratic Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine, chairman of the board at Walt Disney (DIS ) and chairman of law...

In addition to the havoc wrought by the judiciary in our times, there is the havoc wrought on the judiciary itself by others. Some have blamed the murders of a judge not long ago, and the murder of another judge's family, on critics of judicial activism. But, in each of these cases, the motive seems plainly to have been personal animosity growing out of a judge's ruling against the particular individuals concerned. It is doubtful if these murderers had ever read a law journal article or a Federalist Society paper on judicial activism. It is one of many signs of...

Process for Reserve, Guard to enter regular Army has been streamlined By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes Mideast edition, Saturday, June 25, 2005 Brig. Gen. Sean Byrne, the Army’s director of personnel management, right, swears in Sgt. Maj. Terry Grezlik, the first soldier to make the reserve-to-active switch under the Army’s new policy. ARLINGTON, Va. — Army National Guard and Reserve soldiers who have been mobilized for the war on terror can use a new streamlined entry process into the regular Army. On June 17, Army officials announced that they are eliminating the long-standing practice of having mobilized reserves...

Instead of a magic wand, Harry Reid uses his mouth. And in place of fighting on the side of good, Harry readily and passionately embraces the dark forces. As Senate Minority leader, Reid has already taken the Democrat art of obstructionism far beyond that of his predecessor Tom Daschle. And in a manner similar to the infamous and ongoing Howie Dean screams, no Republican is safe from his rantings and invented falsehoods. Harry’s once quick smile has turned into a leer and his demeanor has degraded to that of a permanently enraged and deranged man. Yikes! His apprentice training is...

The contentious debate over judicial confirmations is often portrayed as a referendum on the notion of a "living Constitution." Conservatives like U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia believe that judges should adhere to the original text of the Constitution as expressed in the meaning of the words and their understanding at the time the Constitution was ratified. Liberals respond that the Constitution must be adapted to reflect changes in society's values and attitudes. However, these viewpoints are not, in fact, mutually exclusive. In truth, no one seriously believes the Constitution is "dead." America's founding fathers provided a procedure for amending...

If a sentient being from a different universe were to observe and assess the cultural debate in the United States, it would likely conclude that proponents for the various sides are locked in a life and death struggle for supremacy, and the being would not be far wrong. In a recent speech, one of President' Bush's Judicial Nominations, Justice Janice Rogers Brown of the California Supreme Court asserted that the cultural divide in the United States is as marked as anytime since the Civil War. The ACLU is reported to have severely criticized her for her "intemperate" remarks. This raises...

Hypocrite - noun, one who pretends to be what he is not or to have principles or beliefs that he does not have. The Democrats' efforts to block President Bush's qualified judicial nominees are not only hypocritical but are examples of partisan politicking at its worst. Republicans in the Senate are working to ensure that all of President Bush's judicial nominees receive a fair and final up-or-down vote. Despite Senate history and tradition, Democrats are aggressively trying to prevent qualified judges from receiving what's been afforded every judicial nominee for over 200 years. During the Clinton Administration, Democrats demanded up-or-down...

Although Terri’s case has evolved into an emotionally charged disputed issue as to what Terri’s wishes are, our legal system has been resorted to to carry out Terri’s wishes, not her husbands wishes, not he parents wishes, but Terri’s wishes. One would hope all opposing parties, and I mean all those who have strong feelings in the matter, would, at the very least, want Terri to receive the full protection and due process of law as provided for under Florida’s constitution and law. Unfortunately, due process of law has not occurred in Judge Greer’s Star Chamber Court, as I shall...

Cardinals, Conclaves and a New Pope    FR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS Recently, the media has speculated on the health and condition of Pope John Paul II, and on his death. When our Holy Father dies and goes to his heavenly reward, how will the next pope be elected? The procedure for electing the pope has evolved over the history of the Church. In the early centuries, the clergy and people of Rome elected the successor, who usually had worked very closely with the previous pope. In 1059, Pope Nicholas II further regulated the process of electing the pope, making the...

Richard Burke spent Monday in Salem, making the rounds of legislative staff to get a feel for the political climate in the Capitol while lawmakers were busy on the floor or elsewhere in the building. Burke, who heads Oregon's Libertarian Party, feels the temperature may be more or less right for a coalition of Libertarians, Republicans and other conservative activists to leave a stamp not only on the state's nearly $12 billion budget, but possibly even on the process lawmakers use to draft one every two years. "You see a little bit of the coalition creeping in there," Burke said...

Danny Westneat / Times staff columnist Counter for a day finds few bugs in recount process Lindsay McClellan is sitting across from me, sifting through a 4-inch stack of ballots, when she says the words that could change the course of state history: "We've got a smudge." I've been hired to count votes in the governor's race. We are sitting at a cramped folding table under fluorescent lights, one of 80 three-person teams that are counting, one at a time, King County's 898,574 votes. All activity at our table stops instantly. The glowering observers from the political parties loom over...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

In a petition to the Iraqi electoral commission, an array of Sunni and Kurdish political parties and individuals on November 26 called for a six-month delay in Iraq's national elections for two reasons: "To address the current security situation and to complete the necessary administrative, technical, and systematic arrangements."The interim Iraqi government, with American support, quickly rejected this appeal and a spokesman for the Shiites insisted that the planned date of January 30, 2005, is "non-negotiable." But there are good reasons to postpone the vote until Iraq is truly ready for it, even if that is months or years away.While...

Every time the writer sees, hears or reads about another American becoming a casualty in Iraq, he cannot help but see the faces of the Democrat Candidates and their cohorts rising in the plumes of smoke that invariably accompany a roadside ambush. Those candidates knew, or being smarter than the rest of us, should have known that the remains of Hussien’s defunct regime and “foreign fighters” were encouraged by their rhetoric. Of course they did, and they didn’t care! Remember, and never forget, the left, American or otherwise, and the Bathists who are latter day Marxists, have the same political...

"I think it's very important for our friends, the Israelis, to have a peaceful Palestinian state living on their border. And it's very important for the Palestinian people to have a peaceful, hopeful future." So spoke President Bush just two days after his re-election, just exactly as news reports were leaking Yasser Arafat's demise.The combination of Mr. Bush's stunning new mandate and Mr. Arafat's near-death condition will lead, I predict, to a quick revival of Palestinian-Israeli diplomacy after months of relative doldrums and to massive dangers to Israel.The doldrums will cease because the Bush administration views Mr. Arafat as the...

Before the first vote was cast, Finnish Senator Kimmo Kiljunen, one of the international election monitors, asked Senator John Kerry to "work for uniform election rules for the entire country at the federal level." After the election, Konrad Olszewski, another international monitor stationed in Miami, complained that Venezuela, Republic of Georgia, and Serbia, all had a better system of voting than America does. "They have one national election law and use the paper ballots I really prefer over any other system," Olszewski told the International Herald Tribune. . . . . To read the entire Canada Free Press newspaper column,...

Nearly four years have elapsed since the Oslo process (1993-2000) between Israelis and Palestinians foundered in bloodshed. Over that period, two U.S. administrations have tried to forge policies that would reduce the violence and point toward a solution to the conflict.It has not been a single-minded pursuit. Since September 11, 2001, the prime focus of Washington has been the management of unprecedented U.S. military interventions in the region, which removed regimes from power in Afghanistan and Iraq. The notion of Israeli-Palestinian peace as the key to regional stability has been replaced by the war on terror and the insistence on...

Ah, the travails of a tiny country caught at the crossroads of greater powers. Sound familiar? Lithuania? Armenia? Israel? There have been so many holocausts that we could easily pick one out of a hat and discuss it. But because of recent developments in Damascus and Beirut, we’ll discuss Lebanon today. In a move I found quite surprising, the U.N. Security Council voted Friday in, support for a free and fair electoral process in Lebanon's upcoming presidential election, conducted according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence. The new U.N. resolution also called for, the restoration of...

Over dued Due Process by Linda Eddy John Kerry’s 1971 Senate testimony put into the American public’s mind stories of war crimes being done by American troops serving in Vietnam. These stories Kerry told to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and to the American people were based on lies by men falsely claiming to be Vietnam veterans. Here is what Kerry said: “I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed...

BREAKING NEWS: al-Sadr to Disband Militia, Leave Imam Ali Mosque By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 18, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Threatened with an imminent raid of the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf by Iraqi forces, radical Islamist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has agreed to disband his militia, vacate the mosque, and "enter into the mainstream political process." Pressure has been building against al-Sadr for quite some time now. The power-hungry cleric has been stirring up trouble in Najaf, Karbala, and Baghdad since early April. On May 21, over 2,000 Iraqis held a demonstration in the city of Karbala insisting that al-Sadr and...

It is no longer enough to be a good manager focusing on efficiency and "optimization," DoD's director of force transformation said here today. "It is more important to be a good manager and a transformational leader," Arthur K. Cebrowski said at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Defense 2004 conference. "The role of good management, of the transformational leader, is to look at and identify perfectly predictable surprises and act in advance," Cebrowski told those assembled. "The responsibilities of transformational leaders are to identify disparities before they take place and stop wasting time with optimizations and efficiencies that will...

The Arizona Republic Jul. 23, 2003 07:45 PM TEMPE - A U.S. District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming Tempe's smoking ban was unconstitutional ..Judge Roslyn O. Silver said in Tuesday's ruling that the ban "easily passes constitutional muster." She stated that a city does not need proof that smoking is a hazard, but can base regulation on the belief that is so. She also stated the ban is not an illegal. See Suit vs. smoking ban dismissed AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE Smoking bans and judicial tyranny July 28, 2003 I am amazed a federal Judge [Roslyn O. Silver] would...

The clear impression from the White House press conference held by George Bush and Ariel Sharon on Tuesday is that the U.S. president accepted the Israeli prime minister's argument that the primary issue is the dismantling of armed groups by the Palestinian Authority. In other words, Bush did not accept the argument put forward by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud (Abu Mazen), at their meeting last Friday, that he cannot move against groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, because this would precipitate a civil war. This is a clear indication that Bush is not prepared to get into a confrontation with...