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Democrats have good reason to be aghast at President Bush's new proposal for Social Security. Someone has finally called their bluff. They tried yesterday to portray him as just another cruel, rich Republican for suggesting any cuts in future benefits, but that's not what the prime-time audience saw on Thursday night. By proposing to shore up the system while protecting low-income workers, Mr. Bush raised a supremely awkward question for Democrats: which party really cares about the poor? For decades Democrats have pointed to Social Security as a triumph of communal generosity, proof that Americans (or at least non-Republican Americans)...

I find myself stunned by the magnitude of the quick victory President Bush has won on tort reform, with the new bill, now awaiting his signature federalizing most class action lawsuits. No longer will judges and juries in obscure rural counties of Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama be able to award hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to nebulous classes of supposedly injured consumers or shareholders, at the expense of productive corporations, on the thinnest of evidence. Instead , the federal judiciary, which used to be so beloved of the Democrats when it was intervening in Southern elections, will...

Stunned Dems, jubilant GOP look for lessons By Peter Savodnik November 4, 2004 Americans want gutsy, unwavering leadership on the war on terrorism, judges who won’t make laws, energy independence and a government that cuts taxes and spends less of their money. Above all, they want a president and a Congress that will lead the world and not be led by world opinion. Those were some of the lessons an emboldened Republican Party took away from Tuesday night’s election results, as the GOP held on to the White House for another four years and padded its House and Senate majorities....

MAKHACHKALA - Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev has been killed in a clash with two border guards in the mountains of Dagestan, the Federal Security Service confirmed on Monday. The body of the notorious field commander was found in the snow some 100 meters away from the bodies of two soldiers he had killed before the end. One of the most infamous Chechen filed commanders - Ruslan (also known as Khamzat) Gelayev was killed in the mountains of Dagestan on Saturday. On Monday Gelayev’s body was brought to Makhachkala, where two captured rebels from Gelayev’s group positively identified it as...

John Kerry (news - web sites) leaves with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, after a Democratic presidential hopefuls debate at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry (news - web sites) (D-MA) talks with candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (news - web sites) (D-OH) (R) after a candidates debate at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin February 15, 2004. Wisconsin holds its Democratic primary election on February 17. REUTERS/POOL-Morry Gash US ELECTION

Subject: Bert Kinzey discusses CNN Bert Kinzey is a former Army officer who became an expert in military aviation and has authored literally dozens of books, principally aimed at the aviation enthusiast and scale modeler, and that are definitely apolitical. However, with his research efforts on military subjects he has gained a wealth of contacts within the U.S. military, and is one of the premier authorities on military subjects in this country. Please read what Bert has to say about CNN. A letter from Bert Kinzey: Hello, Everyone, As many of you know, although some do not, I wrote a...

When John Jago phoned the social security office he felt as fit as a fiddle. It came as a surprise, therefore, when the woman at the end of the line told him he was dead. "I'm sorry Sir, but we have got you down as dead," she said. "You died on 12 March last year." Mr Jago, a healthy 52-year-old father of two, said: "I told her, 'Look, I'm alive, I'm talking to you. How on earth can I be dead?" It was not the first he had heard of his death. He had only called the social security office...