Other Political News

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$US110m towards anti-Castro activists

As Cuban President Fidel Castro prepares to celebrate his 80th birthday, the Government of the United States is spending up on a birthday gift the longstanding leader won't appreciate.

President George W. Bush has approved a $110-million program aimed at bolstering anti-Castro activists in Cuba and moving the country towards democracy.

But analysts say a transition to democracy in Cuba won't be as seamless as the US hopes.

North America Correspondent Michael Rowland reports.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: The US Government clearly hopes the end may be in sight for its Cuban nemesis.

Fidel Castro is not the robust revolutionary he used to be. After frustrating successive US presidents since he seized power in 1959, the Cuban leader is starting to show signs of age.

Analysts say his health has deteriorated and his legendary and lengthy public speeches are now few and far between.

In less than a month the one time firebrand turns 80, and the Bush administration has decided it's clearly time to step up preparations for life after Castro.

The State Department has released a democracy blueprint drawn up by the so-called Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the US is actively working for change in Cuba, and not simply waiting for change to happen.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: We are laying the groundwork to offer specific substantial assistance for a democratic transition in Cuba, including humanitarian aid and support for the recovery of those fundamental democratic rights and economic freedoms that lead to prosperity.

The Commission's second report keeps the promise that the United States has made to the people of Cuba: you have no greater friend than America, you can always count on our support, and we will be ready to stand with you through the process of transformation to your democratic future.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: The $110-million democracy fund will help finance opposition groups in Cuba and provide what the US calls uncensored information to Cuba through satellite radio and TV broadcasts.

The Cuban-born US Commerce Secretary, Carlos Gutierrez, says America stands ready to act once Fidel Castro dies.

CARLOS GUTIERREZ: We will do all this and more, provided we are asked by a Cuban transition government that is committed to dismantling all instruments of state repression and implementing internationally respected human rights and fundamental freedoms, including organising free and fair elections for a democratically elected new Cuban government within a period of no more than 18 months.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: Needless to say, the US plan hasn't gone down well with the Cuban Government.

The President of Cuba's National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, says it amounts to a sinister plan for regime change.

Other Cuban officials believe the ultimate US transition plan for Cuba continues to involve the assassination of Fidel Castro.

Analysts say the US strategy discounts the role of President Castro's 75-year-old brother, and heir apparent, Raul.

Jaime Suchlicki, the Director of Cuba Transition Project at the University of Miami, says Raul Castro is likely to be even more of a hardliner.

JAIME SUCHLICKI: Ah, and it's clear now, and there's a greater prominence of Raul now in the state-controlled media and other places, that he is the anointed successor. The question is, 1) is this going to be an individual succession, or is this going to be more of an institutionalised succession, and in the past month we have seen a strengthening of the party, the Communist Party of Cuba, the only party in Cuba.

We have seen the creation or the re-establishment of the secretariat of the party, with Raul and Fidel at the helm, so there is a vision that the Cuban leadership has that the succession not be an individual succession but an institutionalised succession, led by the party, the military and the security apparatus.

MICHAEL ROWLAND: So given that, and given the determination of Raul Castro to ensure things are largely unchanged, if and when he does succeed his brother, hopes of a, US hopes of a transition of government in Cuba from communism to democracy, at this stage, seem to be fairly far-fetched, don't they?

JAIME SUCHLICKI: Well, my view is … well, nothing is far-fetched because anything can happen in international relations, and there is always the imponderable.

My view is that the succession will be easier and quick, the transition in Cuba will be long and difficult.

ELEANOR HALL: And that's Jaime Suchlicki, the Director of the Cuba Transition Project at the University of Miami. He was speaking to our Washington Correspondent, Michael Rowland.

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US set to sign Russian WTO deal before G8


MOSCOW - The United States and Russia are poised to sign a deal on the eve of the Group of Eight summit paving the way for Russia to join the World Trade Organization, officials and diplomats said on Tuesday.

The White House played up hopes that Russia's decade-old bid to join the WTO could clear the last major hurdle when presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet on Friday, the eve of the G8 summit in St Petersburg.

International leaders sought to seize on the momentum that a U.S.-Russia trade deal would create to revive the stalled Doha round of global free trade talks.

Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted Bush as telling foreign correspondents he had sent a letter to Putin setting out the U.S. position.

"There is no lack of clarity about what should happen on the market access issue, from both sides' point of view," Bush said.

"I hope that we'll sort it out. I'm an optimist on this."

A bilateral trade deal would kick-start the first G8 summit to be hosted by Russia, and help ease recent antagonism over Moscow's growing assertiveness as a strategic energy exporter.

"I hope that we will manage to successfully conclude talks with the Americans before the start of the summit," Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov told reporters.

GOOD BET

A Western diplomat said: "If I was allowed to bet, I would put good money on a U.S.-Russia bilateral deal on WTO."

The head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia also forecast a WTO deal and said it could unlock billions of dollars in investments, above all in the energy and aircraft sectors.

"We are very confident that the United States and Russia will sign a bilateral agreement at the G8 or the day before," Andrew Somers told a news briefing in Moscow. "It's a historic opportunity that should not be missed."

Somers said U.S. Boeing Co. could subsequently sign a deal to sell 22 B-787 'Dreamliner' jets to Russian flag carrier Aeroflot. Boeing is competing with Europe's Airbus for the $3 billion order.

And, Somers said, "one or two" U.S. oil firms could be invited to join state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom in developing the vast Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea.

Chevron Corp and ConocoPhillips are on a five-firm shortlist for the $20 billion project to supply North America with liquefied natural gas shipped by tanker.

DOHA PUSH

Russia's Kommersant daily said the Americans had dropped demands that foreign banks should be able to open branches in Russia and that Russia crack down immediately on intellectual property abuses.

For its part, Russia would agree to open up its insurance market over seven years and agree to cut agricultural subsidies, which the paper said amounted to $9.2 billion annually.

A U.S. deal is the last big hurdle to WTO entry for Russia, the largest economy outside the 149-member club. Diplomats said this might, if it came off, change the atmosphere and get Russia interested in putting world trade on the G8 summit agenda.

The European Union urged progress on Doha in St Petersburg, calling on the United States to yield ground on farming subsidies, a key sticking point in the five-year-old Doha round.

"We hope that signal can come from this meeting ... We expect (the) Americans to make some positive moves," European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said in Brussels.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on G8 leaders to ensure that the Doha round succeeds, giving a fair deal to poorer countries. The Doha process is up against the clock, as Bush's fast-track power to sign trade deals expires in mid-2007.

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Paulson: U.S. Won't Retreat From Economy
Henry Paulson Takes Over As Treasury Secretary, Pledges U.S. Won't Retreat From Global Economy


WASHINGTON - Henry M. Paulson took over Monday as the nation's 74th Treasury secretary, pledging to make sure the country does not retreat from the global economy.

Paulson, the former head of Goldman Sachs Group, was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts in the Treasury Department's ornate Cash Room with President Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other dignitaries from the administration and Congress looking on.

"We must always remember that the strength of the U.S. economy is linked to the strength of the global economy," Paulson said in his brief remarks. "If we retreat from the global stage, the void is likely to be filled by those who do not share our commitment to economic reform."

Paulson said he planned to expand trade and investment, modernize international financial markets and "be vigilant in identifying and managing potential financial vulnerability."

Bush praised Paulson for giving up the top job at Goldman Sachs to become his third Treasury secretary as part of a Cabinet shake-up designed to bolster the president's sagging public approval ratings and stalled second term economic agenda.

With Paulson, the administration hopes it has obtained the same kind of economic star power that Robert Rubin, another former head of Goldman Sachs, brought to government when he served as Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration.

Paulson succeeds John Snow, who was praised by Bush for his leadership in the war against terrorism, including a formerly secret Treasury program to track thousands of international money transfers. Snow had succeeded Paul O'Neill, who was forced to resign over policy differences with the administration.

The president said Paulson would be his "leading policy adviser" and principal economic spokesman as the administration works to make the tax cuts of Bush's first term permanent while bringing federal spending under control and reigning in the growth of Social Security and Medicare.

Bush said the government's big benefit programs were "growing at a rate faster than inflation and faster than the economy and faster than we can afford." Bush's drive to overhaul Social Security with the introduction of private savings accounts went nowhere in Congress last year.

During his confirmation hearing, Paulson stuck close to the administration's economic policies, saying he strongly opposed tax increases, wanted to address the long-term obligations of Social Security and Medicare and wanted China to move more quickly in changing its currency policy.

Paulson, whose wife, two children and mother witnessed his oath taking, said during his remarks that he would work to make sure that the U.S. economy "remains a model of strength, flexibility and openness."

The head of Goldman Sachs since 1999, Paulson, who is reportedly worth more than $700 million, has agreed to divest his extensive holdings in the company. In a recent regulatory filing, Goldman Sachs said it paid Paulson a cash bonus of $18.7 million for a half-year's work for the company.

In a rare move, Bush walked rather than traveling by motorcade from the White House to the Treasury Department next door for the ceremony. Paulson was waiting for the president on the building's west steps.

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Gag order sought for US soldier accused of rape, murder of Iraqis

 Lawyers for a US Iraq war veteran accused of raping and murdering an Iraqi woman and killing three of her relatives requested a gag order that would bar even President George W. Bush from commenting on the case.

In a motion filed Tuesday, the court-appointed lawyers argued that Steven Green, 21, could not receive a fair trial if high-ranking officials in the Bush administration and the military continued to comment publicly on the case.

 "Strong and inflammatory opinion is rampant, including the president in a nationally televised interview deeming the alleged conduct of defendant to be a 'despicable crime' and opining that he was 'staining the image, the honorable image, of the United States military," defense attorney Scott Wendelsdorf wrote in the motion.

The motion asked for all parties involved in the case and all representatives of the Bush administration and defense department to refrain from commenting outside of court proceedings.

The former private with the US Army's storied 101st Airborne Division could face the death penalty if convicted over the latest alleged atrocities to taint the image of US soldiers in Iraq.

Green, who was honorably discharged for a "personality disorder," pleaded not guilty in civilian court last week.

Five other soldiers were charged in Iraq on Sunday in the March 12 incident, which only came to light on June 20 after a "combat stress debriefing" of other members of Green's unit. Those soldiers will face a military hearing in Iraq and, if indicted, could then be transferred back to the United States for a court-martial.

Green's case will be reviewed by a grand jury and, if indicted, he will be arraigned on August 8 in Kentucky.

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House approves bill banning Internet gambling

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a Republican-written bill to limit Internet gambling by making it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gaming sites.

Internet gambling generates some $12 billion annually worldwide, with half coming from American gamblers.

It remained unclear whether the Senate would approve similar legislation in the dwindling number of work days left before the November election.

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Congress to ban MySpace in schools? 
Lawmakers look to restrict access to popular social-networking sites

Bill would limit access to social networking sites


WASHINGTON - MySpace.com and other immensely popular social networking sites on the Internet were portrayed Tuesday as emerging playgrounds for sexual predators as lawmakers considered a measure to restrict their access in publicly funded schools and libraries.

"This is the hottest issue of the day," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told reporters after testifying before a House subcommittee examining possible new federal restrictions to protect young Internet users from pedophiles.

A bill by Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., would require schools and libraries that get federal funds to limit or ban access to social networking sites that could expose minors to sexual advances from adults.

The bill, called the Deleting Online Predators Act, has drawn opposition among schools, librarians and free-speech advocates, who warn that it would have limited effect and could unintentionally block access to scores of other Web sites. Officials of the sites also say they are taking aggressive steps to protect their users.

News Corp., MySpace's parent corporation, is committed to playing a lead role in helping develop safeguards on the Internet but does not believe that the legislation "will be effective in helping reach this shared goal," Rick Lane, a News Corp. vice president, said in a statement.

But Abbott called the measure a good step in combating Internet trolling by sexual predators who try to exploit the surging popularity of social networking sites such as MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and Xanga.

Abbott briefed subcommittee members on the results of his office's three-year-old Cyber Crimes Unit, in which undercover investigators posing as 13- and 14-year-old girls operate on popular Internet sites. The undercover investigations have resulted in the arrests of 84 suspected sexual offenders, including one man who was free on bail after being arrested five months earlier on a similar charge.

"In other words, while he was out on bond awaiting trial for illegal Internet solicitation of a minor, he was back on the Internet trolling for his next victim," Abbott said.

MySpace, which had 92 million members as of Tuesday and is one of the most widely used sites on the Internet, provides a forum for posting personality profiles, photos, music, instant messages and video streams. A 14-year-old girl in Austin, Texas, sued MySpace last month for $30 million, alleging that she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old MySpace user.

MySpace did not have a representative at the hearing. But News Corp. officials have said they work regularly with law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to protect its clients. The site also provides safety tips and warns its younger users to avoid meeting anyone they don't fully know.

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Judge orders Republican off ballot in Senate race

A judge on Wednesday ruled that a Republican legislator committed petition forgery and ordered him removed from the ballot in a key Senate race.

If upheld on an expected appeal, Judge Kenneth Fields' ruling removing Rep. Russell Jones from the ballot would deal a major blow to GOP hopes of winning a veto-proof majority in the Arizona Legislature in November.

Earlier Wednesday, a lawyer for Arizona Democrats argued that Jones repeatedly and deliberately misrepresented whether he personally collected voter signatures on nominating petitions for a key Senate seat and should be barred from running for office.

"I don't know whether it rises to the level of perjury ... but it wasn't the truth," attorney Paul Eckstein said of l Jones' testimony that he obtained signatures on petitions he signed as having personally collected.

Fields ruled last week that Jones could remain on the ballot the District 24 Senate race in La Paz and Yuma counties even though some of Jones' nominating petitions were invalid because he misrepresented that he had circulated them.

However, Fields reopened the case Tuesday after Democrats submitted new evidence they said indicated Jones misrepresented that he circulated additional petitions.

The Senate race in District 24 has statewide importance because Republicans hope to capture the seat now held by Sen. Robert Cannell, a Democrat not seeking re-election. They need the seat to help build a Senate majority big enough to override a veto by Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano.

Eckstein said House records submitted into evidence Wednesday indicated Jones was in Phoenix doing legislative business when he supposedly was collecting petition signatures at a Yuma retirement center on May 1.

"Being in the same state when signatures are being obtained isn't being present," Eckstein said Wednesday. "The more he talks and the more we dig, the more we find what he said wasn't true."

Jones attorney Scott Williams had objected to Fields' decision to reopen the case, and Williams said Wednesday at the close of the hearing that the Democrats hadn't met the required legal burden to prove their allegations.

Williams said the House attendance records for the days in question indicated that daily floor sessions typically lasted an hour or less. He said Jones often flew back and forth between Yuma and Phoenix.

Any irregularities with Jones' petitions don't rise to the level of petition forgery, as alleged by the Democrats, and shouldn't trigger a five-year candidacy ban intended for actual forgery of voter signatures, Williams said. "It should be reserved for those extreme cases."

Fields earlier in the hearing called both the allegations and the requested sanction extremely serious. "It is a pretty Draconian penalty," he said.

Said Eckstein: "This is the case to do it. This case is very bad."

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Mass. lawmakers don't address gay marriage

BOSTON - Massachusetts lawmakers ended debate on proposed constitutional amendments Wednesday before dealing with the most volatile issue on their agenda: a proposal to outlaw marriage for same-sex couples in the only state where it is legal.

The move to recess until Nov. 9 put off the decision on the politically charged issue until after the general election.

Senate President Robert Travaglini had said he intended to bring all 20 proposed amendments to a vote, but had warned lawmakers might not be able to get to every proposed amendment on Wednesday.

The House gallery erupted in applause from gay-rights activists after the vote to recess was announced. Opponents, however, condemned lawmakers for postponing debate.

"It's a real cop-out," said Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. "Trying to get legislators back two days after an election is really asking for the moon. I think that is really disingenuous to pick that date."

Lawmakers, who voted on half the amendments before recessing, could have voted to extend their work into the night. Opponents of gay marriage had been optimistic that they had the votes to move a step closer to putting the amendment on the 2008 ballot, and gay-rights supporters were happy to get a reprieve.

"We now have four more months to show legislators how well marriage equality is working in Massachusetts. We hope they will see that Massachusetts is ready to move on," said Marc Solomon, campaign director for gay rights group MassEquality.

If approved, the gay marriage amendment would block future gay marriages in Massachusetts. More than 8,000 same-sex couples have taken vows since gay marriages began in May 2004.

To get on the ballot, the question must twice win the backing of 25 percent — or 50 — of the state's 200 lawmakers: once during the current session and again during the session starting in January.

Rep. Mike Festa, a Democrat and gay marriage supporter, said that most members wanted to vote on the issue, but that "it's just that we have a lot of other business to do."

Hundreds of people on both sides of the issue rallied outside the Statehouse Wednesday as lawmakers made their way through a stack of proposed constitutional amendments dealing with everything from health care to redistricting.

"I think this is an issue for the people to decide," said Jonathan Gal, 39, of Lexington, wearing a sticker that read "Support One Man, One Woman." "I don't like the way this is being imposed on us by a small minority — the courts and the Legislature."

Across the street, supporters of same-sex unions cast the issue as one of civil rights.

"When does civil rights get put on the ballot for everyone to vote on?" said Jim Singletary, 44, of Salem, who last year married his longtime partner, Jim Maynard.

"This is for fairness for my family," Maynard said.

The debate came less than a week after New York's highest court rejected same-sex couples' bid to win marriage rights and Georgia's high court reinstated that state's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Gay marriage opponents in Massachusetts got a boost Monday from the Supreme Judicial Court, the same court that handed down the historic ruling legalizing gay marriage.

The court ruled that the proposed amendment could go forward, provided it clear the remaining legislative hurdles. Gay marriage supporters had sued to block the question.

Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriage, although neighboring Vermont and Connecticut allow same-sex civil unions that confer the same legal rights as heterosexual married couples.

A judge in Connecticut on Wednesday ruled that gay and lesbian couples have not been harmed by the state's decision to grant them civil unions but not marriage. Judge Patty Jenkins Pittman found that the difference is essentially one of semantics.

"The Connecticut Constitution requires that there be equal protection and due process of law, not that there be equivalent nomenclature for such protection and process," the judge wrote.

The plaintiffs, eight same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses, plan to appeal to the state's highest court.

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Ga. judge blocks voter ID law enforcement

The same federal judge who threw out Georgia's voter ID law last year blocked the state Wednesday from enforcing its revised law during this year's elections.

The ruling came less than two hours after the Georgia Supreme Court denied the state's emergency request to overrule a state court order that blocked enforcement of the new photo ID law during next week's primary elections and any runoffs.

U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy's ruling, which he delivered verbally from the bench, was much broader, also including the Nov. 7 general elections and any runoffs.

If the rulings stand, Georgia voters will not have to show a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot this year. The state's primary election — which would have been the first election for which the IDs were required — is scheduled for Tuesday. The general elections are Nov. 7.

Murphy said the state's latest attempt at requiring voter photo IDs discriminated against people who don't have driver's licenses, passports or other government IDs.

"That is the failure of this legislation as it stands," he said.

The judge last October rejected a more stringent voter ID requirement, saying it amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax because of the fees associated with getting the required ID. The Legislature this year passed a new law that made the IDs free and available in all counties.

Murphy commended lawmakers for addressing problems with the previous version but said more work is needed. The latest version still denies citizens equal protection under the law, he said.

"The court never said there cannot be a proper voter ID law," he said.

Mark Cohen, the state's lead attorney, declined to comment on whether the state would appeal. Unless the ruling is reversed, Murphy's injunction will remain in place through the November runoff elections.

Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue and other supporters of the IDs had argued they were needed to prevent election fraud. Civil rights groups challenged the law in both federal and state court, arguing that it discriminated against poor, elderly and rural voters. They also argued that voter fraud in Georgia stems from absentee ballot voting, an issue not even addressed by the law.

"They have chosen deliberately to legislate only in an area where there was no problem," Emmett Bondurant, the critics' lead attorney, told Murphy in court.

Cohen argued that Georgia must restore confidence in the election system.

"The public in general in this country has a great distrust for the voting system," he said. "People are questioning whether voting is going on properly."

He also said the law does not deny Georgians the right to vote, because voters may cast an absentee ballot.

On July 7, a county judge issued a temporary order blocking Georgia from enforcing the voter ID law in the primary and any runoffs.

The Supreme Court's decision pertained only to that order and does not prevent the case from coming before the high court again.

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House may renew landmark Voting Rights Act


House leaders cleared the way for a vote Thursday on renewing the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act after granting conservatives a chance to loosen requirements for bilingual ballots and restrictions on Southern states.

The changes were not expected to be added to the legislation, which would renew for 25 years a law widely considered the centerpiece of the civil rights movement. The original legislation abolished racist voting practices such as poll taxes and literacy tests.

Forty years have passed, but a dozen House hearings in the last year uncovered evidence that congressional districts still are sometimes drawn to water down the influence of ethnic communities and that minority voters are in some places disenfranchised.

House leaders scheduled a vote last month but then canceled it when a group of conservatives — mostly Southerners — said the bill singled out their states for Justice Department scrutiny without giving them credit for strides on civil rights.

Hours of negotiations in recent days yielded an agreement, approved 8-3 Wednesday by the Rules Committee, to allow votes on amendments proposing the changes pushed by the objectors.

Immigration and civil rights groups and lawmakers who support them are mobilized for a fight over what they see as the latest in a long history of attempts to undercut burgeoning political influence of racial minorities.

"I hope the House will see this for what it is and vote against these amendments," said Rep. John Lewis (news, bio, voting record), D-Ga., a veteran of the civil rights movement.

Late Wednesday, the supporters got some firepower from big business. Tyco, Comcast and Disney released letters to congressional leaders urging renewal of the act.

"Comcast's credo is to respect and reflect the customers, communities and cultures we serve," wrote executive vice president David L. Cohen, who noted that his company serves 21 million customers in 36 states and the District of Columbia. "We believe our support for the Voting Rights Act reauthorization is an important part of this commitment."

The amendments' sponsors — who hail from Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Florida and Alabama — say the renewal as written would unfairly single out their states for another quarter of a century.

The amendment with the most appeal, sponsored by Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, would renew the law for a decade rather than 25 years.

Others would strip the law of requirements to provide multilingual ballots in districts with high populations of non-English speakers, and change the formula for which states are subject to the Justice Department oversight.

House passage would send the measure to the Senate, where the leaders support the legislation. But some senators were voicing the same objections as their counterparts in the House.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., on Wednesday questioned why Congress needed to act now, when the act doesn't expire until next year.

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Missiles boost Japan's market for nuclear bunkers

Hiroyuki Mogi heaves open a thick concrete door to reveal a basement room lined with cans of food and bottles of water along with beds, an air filter and a laptop computer.

Like a growing number of Japanese alarmed by the threat of North Korean missiles, Mogi has made his own arrangements to protect himself and his family in case a nuclear bomb should land on Japan.

The government employee from Hino, western Tokyo, said in an interview he had packed enough food to feed his family of four for 10 days into a nuclear shelter in his basement, which is built to withstand temperatures of 1,500 Celsius (2,700 Fahrenheit).

"Since we have a neighbor like North Korea, we as individuals can't avoid shouldering the cost," said Mogi, 44. "Having a shelter at home gives us peace of mind."

Phones have been ringing constantly at precision machinery manufacturer Oribe-Seiki Co., which markets nuclear shelters like Mogi's, since Pyongyang fired off seven missiles last Wednesday.

North Korea has claimed to have nuclear weapons.

Oribe-Seiki, based in Kobe in western Japan, has fitted 80 private homes with nuclear bunkers since North Korea's 1998 launch of a ballistic missile that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific.

The deluxe shelter under Mogi's log-cabin-style house cost him more than $100,000, but smaller versions start at $20,000, the company said.

The cool underground space is not sitting empty while Mogi waits for disaster to strike. His 10-year-old daughter says she beds down there when Tokyo's summer heat makes it hard to sleep.

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Senate deal would open up Florida drilling


WASHINGTON - Senate GOP leaders said Wednesday they had forged an agreement to open up a potentially rich area for oil and natural gas exploration off Florida's Gulf coast.

But the proposal, which senators suggested was their final offer, may prove politically difficult to reconcile with an offshore drilling plan approved by the House. That plan could open a far larger area of the East and West Coasts for energy exploration.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, described the measure to expand exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, as "the best single energy arrangement we can make for the American people this year."

The plan would allow leasing in 8 million acres within so-called Lease Area 181, which is off the western coast of Florida, and another 6.3 million acres just south of the 181 site.

To protect the Florida coast, the plan would stipulate that drilling could not be undertaken within 125 miles of the state's shoreline through 2022.

The plan would also direct 37.5 percent of the future royalties from development in this area to four energy producing Gulf states, including Texas. Another 12.5 percent of the revenue would be deposited in a federal land and water conservation fund. The remainder of the royalties would go to the federal government.

"Through federal royalty sharing, the Gulf Coast states will be provided a means to protect important national eco- systems and prepare themselves for unforeseen natural disasters," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, said.

Lawmakers said the area contains an estimated 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil and 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Designed for support
The measure was designed to draw the support of Florida's two senators, who had previously threatened to filibuster any plan that involved drilling that could affect the state's beaches, which are a major draw for tourists.

Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., said he believed the plan would protect the state's beaches. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said that while the proposal was promising, he warned that the "devil is in the details."

While Domenici described the plan in general, he has not released details on where drilling would be allowed.

Nelson warned that he would fight any compromise with the House bill, which would end an Outer Continental Shelf drilling moratorium that Congress has renewed every year since 1981.

The House bill would allow drilling within 50 miles of the shoreline in an area that covers 85 percent of the country's coastal waters everywhere except the central and western Gulf of Mexico and some areas off Alaska. That law would allow state governments to decide to block drilling.

It is unclear whether the House and Senate could bridge differences on vastly different versions of energy legislation. Majority Leader Bill Frist said he had not talked to House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., about the bill. The majority leader said he hoped to vote on the Senate measure by the end of this month, before Congress adjourns for August recess.

'Long overdue'
House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., hailed the deal, calling it "great news" and "long overdue." But drilling supporters in the House complain the Senate proposal pushes the offshore debate back to where it was years ago, when the Clinton administration proposed opening up the 181 Area to exploration.

Despite the 125-mile buffer off Florida, some environmentalists were unhappy with the Senate deal.

"Today, Sen. Mel Martinez sold out Floridians and their coastline to Big Oil," said Tiernan Sittenfeld, legislative director of the League of Conservation Voters.

From an industry perspective, Tom Kearns, director of public affairs for the National Ocean Industries Association, said that while his group was encouraged that senators were moving on legislation, it opposed the ban through 2022 on drilling 125 miles off the Florida coast.

"We don't think moratoriums are good public policy," he said.

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Suspect Padilla gets access to secrets

Amid tight security, alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla is being permitted to personally view U.S. government secrets in advance of his trial on charges of conspiring to wage and support international terrorism.

Under a federal judge's order, Padilla is being allowed to examine classified documents and videotapes detailing his statements during 3 1/2 years in Defense Department custody as an unlawful "enemy combatant." That designation was dropped last fall when he was charged in a Miami terrorism case.

Defense lawyers in terrorism cases are regularly permitted to examine such classified material if they obtain government security clearances.

But it is unusual for an actual terror suspect to be given direct access to secrets. Padilla is a U.S. citizen once accused by the Bush administration of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb."

"There is not a long history of this. There have not been a lot of terrorist prosecutions in civilian courts," said Aitan Goelman, a former Justice Department terrorism prosecutor now in private practice in Washington.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke's order issued July 5 allows Padilla to view 32 Defense Department documents that summarize statements Padilla made during his years in military custody. He also can examine 57 videotapes of interrogations he underwent during that same period.

Padilla's attorneys said in court papers that they must examine the materials with their client to discover whether he was mistreated by interrogators, to refresh his memory and find possible leads for their defense and to ensure that prosecutors have turned over all the necessary material and accurately.

The attorneys and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Miami declined comment Thursday on the arrangement.

Security will be extraordinarily tight for these sessions. Padilla will be brought to a secure, inner area in the court complex but the door must remain open so a U.S. marshal can keep constant watch.

Cooke's order said the marshal must maintain "an appropriate distance" to prevent overhearing defense trial strategy. But if the marshal does overhear, "those communications shall not be communicated to any member of the government prosecution team," the judge said.

The challenge in national security cases is in striking a balance between a defendant's right to prepare an adequate defense and the government's interest in protecting its secrets, particularly sources and methods used to obtain intelligence.

"I think the government, in an abundance of caution these days, is protecting as much as it can," said Carl Tobias, law professor at the University of Richmond. "There is a tension between his constitutional rights to defend himself and see the evidence against him on the one hand and national security on the other hand."

Padilla and two co-defendants are scheduled to go to trial in September on charges of conspiracy and providing material support to Islamic extremist groups around the country. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and south Florida resident, was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare Airport. Authorities claimed then he had plotted to set off the "dirty bomb" as an al-Qaida soldier, but the Miami indictment does not mention that.

[Soldier4Christ]

Valerie Plame Sues Cheney, Rove, Libby
by Jay

USA Today:

    The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.
    In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby of revealing Plame’s CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration’s motives in Iraq.

    Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak’s column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.

    The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to determine whether there was any truth to reports that Saddam Hussein’s government had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon. Wilson discounted the reports, but the allegation nevertheless wound up in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address.

    The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children’s lives at risk by exposing Plame.

    “This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of … (Plame), whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country,” the Wilsons’ lawyers said in the lawsuit.

The Democratic Underground are ecstatic as the celebrate! No political agenda at all, move along.

The Corner:

    Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Valerie. Because, you see, if the suit is summarily dismissed, she and Joe will be laughingstocks. And if it goes any further, Dick and Karl and Scooter will have the right to do discovery — and then, I believe, Val ‘n’ Joe will reap the whirlwind.

[Soldier4Christ]

International Law For All Except Al Queda


Amnesty International today concerning Israel:

    “Amnesty International urged Israel to abide by international law Thursday”

Amnesty International on the United States:

    “There must be full disclosure of all other US “war on terror” detentions, which should be brought into full compliance with international law.”

But nowhere could I find a single reference where Amnesty International encouraged al Queda to follow that part of Geneva Convention (international law) which would mean al Queda detainees would lawfully be covered by the convention:

    (a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;

    (b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;

    (c) That of carrying arms openly;

    (d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.