Other Political News

[Soldier4Christ]

Japan, US agree to US troop realignment by 2014


    TOKYO, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Japan and the United States agreed on a sweeping plan to realign the U.S. military presence in Japan by 2014, though no overall expense was released, Kyodo News reported from Washington on Monday.

    The U.S.-Japan Roadmap for Realignment Implementation, providing details and timelines for implementing a package of realignment steps, was announced after a meeting in Washington between Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

    The plan notes that Japan will bear all construction and other costs for facilities for the realignment unless otherwise specified, while the U.S. side will bear the operational costs. However, the plan does not include a figure for the total expense.

    Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who was in Ghana on a visit, expressed satisfaction with the new agreement, saying it will serve to reinforce the bilateral alliance.

    According to the roadmap, 8,000 of some 18,000 U.S. Marines in Okinawa and their 9,000 family members will be moved to Guam by 2014, with Japan shouldering 6.09 billion U.S. dollars, or 59 percent, of the estimated 10.27 billion dollars.

    An airfield with two 1,800-meter runways will be built in Nago also by 2014 in order to realize the stalled relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station's heliport functions from downtown Ginowan, both in Okinawa, though no exact date was given for closing down Futenma.

    Besides, U.S. carrier-borne aircraft will be relocated from Atsugi Air Base in Kanagawa prefecture just outside Tokyo to Iwakuni Air Base in Yamaguchi prefecture by 2014 to disperse the burden of flight drills. Iwakuni will also be the host for KC-130 air tankers from Futenma.

    The U.S. Army Japan's headquarters in Camp Zama in Kanagawa prefecture will also be upgraded to a joint task force-capable command by September 2009 and its Ground Self-Defense Force counterpart command will be moved to the same camp by March 2013.

    The plan also included specifications as to the shared use of U.S. bases by the Self-Defense Force (SDF) for training as early as beginning this year and the sharing of data after the U.S. military sets up an X-band radar system for ballistic missile early warning at an SDF air base in Aomori Prefecture.

    American troops have been stationed in Japan since the end of World War II in 1945. Currently, there are about 50,000 U.S troops located in Japan. Local residents have long complained of crime, noise and crowding associated with the U.S. military presence.

    Tokyo and Washington preliminarily approved an overall realignment package on the U.S. military presence in Japan in October 2005. However, disagreements on cost sharing and others have kept them from nailing down the whole implementation plan before a March 31 deadline, as decided in October 2005.

    Details of some issues mentioned in the October accord, such as the return of some 1,500 hectares of land from U.S. bases in Okinawa, are yet to be finalized, according to Kyodo.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Court rules in on-the-job religion dispute

Tehama County properly set guidelines for one of its employees who brought his religion to work, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says.

Daniel Berry, who describes himself as an evangelical Christian, sued the Tehama County Department of Social Services, saying it had violated his First Amendment rights by prohibiting him from discussing religion with his clients, displaying religious items in his cubicle, and using a conference room for prayer meetings.

The department did not restrict Mr. Berry from talking about religion with his co-workers or from holding informal prayer meetings in the employee break room, but it said he could not display religious material in his cubicle, where he conducted 90 percent of his business with the department’s clients, the court notes.

Mr. Berry was reprimanded after he put a Spanish language Bible on his desk and hung a sign that read “Happy Birthday Jesus” on the wall of his cubicle.

In its ruling, the appeals court reached into Greek mythology: “We conclude that the Department has successfully navigated between the Scylla (a sea monster) of not respecting its employee’s right to the free exercise of his religion and the Charybdis (a nearby whirlpool) of violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by appearing to endorse religion.”

“We conclude that under the balancing test, the Department’s need to avoid possible violations of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment outweighs the restriction’s curtailment of Mr. Berry’s religious speech on the job,” says the unanimous three-judge ruling.

[Soldier4Christ]

Students suspended for 'anti-gay' shirts
Considering lawsuit over message 'Homosexuality is sin'

A dozen high school students suspended for wearing T-shirts expressing their religious beliefs are considering filing a lawsuit.

The students at Oakmont High School in the Sacramento, Calif., suburb of Roseville were participants in an event Thursday at more than 700 high schools across the nation to counter the homosexual-activist "Day of Silence," called the "Day of Truth."

The Oakmont students came to school Thursday with shirts emblazoned with the message: "Homosexuality is sin. Jesus can set you free."

School officials gave them an ultimatum: Remove the shirts or face disciplinary action. Thirteen students decided to keep their shirts on and were suspended for two days.

Kathleen Sirovy, principal of Oakmont High School, insisted the school's actions were justified as many students "were upset" because the shirts "were rude."

The non-profit legal group representing the students, Pacific Justice Institute, or PJI, said the school "did not address whether religious students might have been equally offended by pro-homosexual expression connected with the Day of Silence."

The 12 students have filed appeals of their suspensions with school district officials and are considering filing a lawsuit, PJI said.

Kevin Snider, the group's chief counsel, said PJI is committed "to providing a vigorous defense of these students' First Amendment rights."

Students at other area schools were suspended for similar actions, PJI said, including at Mira Loma High School in Sacramento and San Juan High School in nearby Citrus Heights.

Some supporters of the "Day of Silence" also questioned whether school officials were justified in silencing the opposition.

Lance Chih, a high school student and co-chairman of the Sacramento Regional Gay Straight Alliance, told the Sacramento Bee newspaper, "If they're stating their own belief that homosexuality is wrong, that's not promoting hate or violence against us. If I want to promote my civil rights, I can't tell another group of students that they can't do it."

PJI President Brad Dacus said "tolerance must be a two-way street."

"Our society cannot afford the suppression of religious viewpoints just because some people disagree with or don't like those views," he said.

The number of participants in the "Day of Truth" has doubled over last year, according to the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which sponsored the event.

ADF President, CEO and General Counsel Alan Sears sees the "Day of Truth" as an opportunity to express a different perspective than the "Day of Silence," promoted by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Educational Network.

"Allowing the communication of one viewpoint and claiming it's the only viewpoint is advocating, not educating," Sears said.

Meanwhile, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a lower-court ruling against a San Diego-area high school student who wore a T-shirt displaying the messages: "Homosexuality is shameful" and "Our school embraced what God has condemned."

In his majority opinion, Judge Stephen Reinhardt ruled the student's constitutional rights were not violated because the message on his shirt was offensive to homosexual students. Reinhardt has been involved in other controversial rulings, deciding last year parents have no "fundamental right" to exclusively provide information to their children about sexual matters and in 2002 concluding the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because of its reference to "under God."

[Soldier4Christ]

Post Office Proposes 3-Cent Rate Increase

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Postal Service said Wednesday it wants to raise the price of a first-class stamp by 3 cents - to 42 cents - and suggested a "forever" stamp that people could use as hedge against future rate inflation.

The changes would take effect in the spring of 2007 if approved by the independent Postal Rate Commission.

"A forever stamp would help ease the transition to any future price adjustments," board Chairman James C. Miller III said.

Postmaster General John E. Potter said the agency would not be making a rate change if it were not necessary.

"The Postal Service is not immune to the cost pressures affecting every household and business in America," Potter said.

For example, each penny increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline costs the post office $8 million, and payroll, health expenses and other costs also have been rising.

And, unlike private delivery companies, the post office cannot simply add a fuel surcharge to its rates.

The forever stamp would help soften the blow of a rate increase by allowing customers to stock up. As originally proposed it would sell for the first class rate and, once purchased, the special stamp would remain valid for whatever the first-class rate is when it is used, regardless of future increases.

Once the post office proposes a rate change, including the new stamp, the matter goes to the Postal Rate Commission, which holds hearings and has 10 months to consider the matter before responding.

The earliest a change would take effect would be May 2007.

The cost of a first-class stamp went from 37 cents to 39 cents in January. Before that, the price had been unchanged since 2002.

The proposed increase would boost the price of mailing a letter to 42 cents.

The increase in January was required so the post office could place some $3 billion in an escrow account, a step required in law.

The House and Senate have both passed bills to eliminate that requirement and efforts are under way to resolve differences between the two versions, but it also faces the threat of a presidential veto.

Since that increase went into the escrow account, the Postal Service still must cover rising costs of fuel, salaries, equipment and other expenses.

In addition to its own fuel expenses, the post office has about 70,000 employees who use their own vehicles and are reimbursed for fuel costs, and there are some 17,000 contractors whose rates are adjusted for rising fuel costs.

Overall, the Postal Service expects to finish this fiscal year about $2 billion in the red.

While a 3-cent increase in first-class stamps would be the most visible change, rates will change for other types of mail also.

For example, it currently costs 63 cents to mail a two-ounce first-class item whether it's a letter, large flat envelope or package. But the post office makes more than 30 cents on the letter, 10 cents on the flat and loses money on the package.

That means the agency will be looking at shape as well as weight in setting new rates, officials have said, particularly in the face of a decline in first-class mail as more people pay bills and send messages via the Internet.

Congress mandated the escrow requirement in 2003 when it passed a law reducing the amount of money the agency has to pay into its retirement system, which auditors said was being overfunded. Instead, Congress ordered the money to be used to reduce debt and, when that was done, to be put into the escrow fund.

The White House has opposed the release of the money from the fund because placing it there counts as income for the federal government and releasing it would have the effect of raising the deficit.

[Soldier4Christ]

Bill to ban 'mom, dad'
from texts advances
California law would remove sex-specific terms
from books, mandate pro-homosexual lessons


A bill requiring students to learn about the contributions homosexuals have made to society and that would remove sex-specific terms such as "mom" and "dad" from textbooks has passed another hurdle on the way to becoming the law of the land in California.

Having already been approved by the state's Senate Judiciary Committee, SB 1437, which would mandate grades 1-12 buy books "accurately" portraying "the sexual diversity of our society," got the nod yesterday of the Senate Education Committee.

The bill also requires students hear history lessons on "the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America."

"This bill is the most extreme effort thus far to transform our public schools into institutions of indoctrination that disregard all notions of the traditional family unit," said Karen England, executive director of Capitol Resource Institute. "SB 1437 seeks to eliminate all 'stereotypes' of the traditional family so that young children are brainwashed into believing that families with moms and dads are irrelevant."

SB 1437 not only affects textbooks and instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1-12, it also affects all school-sponsored activities.

"School-sponsored activities include everything from cheerleading and sports activities to the prom," said England. "Under SB 1437 school districts would likely be prohibited from having a 'prom king and queen' because that would show bias based on gender and sexual orientation."

England also says the bill would likely do away with dress codes and would force the accommodation of transsexuals on girl-specific or boy-specific sports teams.

England says the measure amounts to unneeded social experimentation.

"SB 1437 disregards the religious and moral convictions of parents and students and will result in reverse discrimination," she said.

Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl – a lesbian actress best known for playing Zelda in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" in the 1960s – the legislation would add "gender" (actual or perceived) and "sexual orientation" to the law that prohibits California public schools from having textbooks, teaching materials, instruction or "school-sponsored activities" that reflect adversely upon people based on characteristics like race, creed and handicap.

"We've been working since 1995 to try to improve the climate in schools for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender kids, as well as those kids who are just thought to be gay, because there is an enormous amount of harassment and discrimination at stake," Kuehl explained. "Teaching materials mostly contain negative or adverse views of us, and that's when they mention us at all."

"In textbooks, it's as if there's no gay people in California at all, so forget about it," she added.

[Soldier4Christ]

Did another Kennedy
get another road pass?
Patrick blames wreck on prescription drug,
bar hostess says congressman was drinking

WASHINGTON – Has another Kennedy received special treatment by police after another suspicious car wreck?

That's the question on everyone's lips in the nation's capital today following a report that Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., wrecked his car while admittedly under the influence of a prescription drug.

As Kennedy tells the story, "I never asked for any preferential treatment." Asked whether he received it, he said "that's up for the police to decide."

He also says he had taken a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness, but consumed no alcohol, before crashing his car near the Capitol.

However, a hostess at a popular Capitol Hill bar, the Hawk 'n' Dove, told the Boston Herald she saw Kennedy drinking in the hours before the crash.

"He was drinking a little bit," said the woman, who would not give her name.

Late last night as he left his office, Kennedy refused to say whether he had been to the Hawk 'n' Dove the night before, the paper reported.

A Herald reporter who visited bars where Kennedy is known to socialize said a bartender at the Tune Inn, next to the Hawk 'n' Dove, also said Kennedy was spotted in the Hawk 'n' Dove Wednesday.

The bar's manager, Edgar Gutierrez, said Kennedy is a regular, according to the Boston paper. Gutierrez said he was working Wednesday night but did not see the congressman.

In a statement explaining his actions, Kennedy said the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines.

Kennedy said that after working Wednesday evening he went home and took "prescribed" amounts of Phenergan and Ambien, another drug that he sometimes takes to fall asleep.

In his statement, Kennedy said he was apparently disoriented from the drugs when he got up a little before 3 a.m. Thursday and drove to the Capitol thinking he needed to be present for a vote.

"Following the last series of votes on Wednesday evening, I returned to my home on Capitol Hill and took the prescribed amount of Phenergan and Ambien," Kennedy said. "Some time around 2:45 a.m., I drove the few blocks to the Capitol Complex believing I needed to vote. Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication."

"At no time before the incident did I consume any alcohol," said Kennedy, going on to address questions about why he was not asked to take a sobriety test. "At the time of the accident, I was instructed to park my car and was driven home by the United States Capitol Police. At no time did I ask for any special consideration, I simply complied with what the officers asked me to do."

"I have the utmost respect for the United States Capitol Police and the job they do to keep Members of Congress and the Capitol Complex safe," he continued. "I have contacted the Chief of Capitol Police and offered to meet with police representatives at their earliest convenience as I intend to cooperate fully with any investigation they choose to undertake."

But some are questioning the incident and the way it was handled by police.

Louis P. Cannon, president of the Washington chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, who was not on the scene, said the congressman had appeared intoxicated when he crashed his Ford Mustang into a barrier on Capitol Hill.

"The officers on the scene, it is my understanding, smelled alcohol. And based on his demeanor and their experience, believed him to be intoxicated," Cannon told CBS News.

Cannon also says officers at the scene were instructed by an official "above the rank of patrolman" to take Kennedy home.

A letter written by Capitol Police officer Greg Baird to Acting Chief Christopher McGaffin said Kennedy appeared to be staggering when he left the vehicle after the crash about 3 a.m. The letter was first reported by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.

Baird wrote McGaffin that two sergeants who responded to the accident conferred with the watch commander and were ordered to leave the scene.

He said that after the officers left, Capitol Police officials gave Kennedy a ride home.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., is still remembered for his famous Chappaquiddick driving accident in 1969 in which Mary Jo Kopechne was killed when the car the senator was driving went off a bridge.

No autopsy was ever performed to determine her exact cause of death.

At the time, Kennedy claimed he tried several times to swim down to reach Kopechne to no avail. He came under fire for not reporting the incident to authorities until the next morning. In the interim he reportedly made an effort to call a family legal adviser.

[Soldier4Christ]

Study: U.S. double-billed for Katrina work
Democrats blame Corps of Engineers for lax oversight of contractors

WASHINGTON - Contractors who were paid billions of dollars for post-Hurricane Katrina cleanup double-billed the government for debris removal, overstated mileage claims to get extra fees and inflated prices by improperly mixing debris, a Democratic study revealed Thursday.

Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, compiled the report and blamed the U.S. Corps of Engineers for lax oversight of contractors.

The Corps’ director of civil works, Maj. Gen. Don Riley, defended his agency’s performance, telling a committee hearing that the Corps deployed the auditors who found the problems and are trying to recoup the money.

The report said contractors sometimes billed twice for removing the same debris and, in other cases, took advantage of extra payments of $2 per cubic yard for debris carried more than 15 miles. Auditors found mileage was overstated in more than 50 percent of the 303 trips they examined.

Contractors fraudulently mixed green waste with construction and demolition debris to inflate their billings by $2.84 per cubic yard, the report said.

Other instances of fraud found by auditors, Waxman’s report said, included double billing for housing trailers and abuse of government-issued credit cards.

In blaming the Corps, the report said the Army’s officials “regularly credited contractors with hauling more debris to dumps than they actually carried.” Auditors found that the Corps’ assessments of contractor performance were “overly generous,” “unusually high,” “more on the liberal side,” “often very liberal” and “consistently on the high side.”

The Corps also was blamed for allowing inflated charges in more than $300 million in contracts for temporary roof repairs using blue plastic sheeting.

Contractors indicted for fraud
Riley, of the Corps, said such problems were “exactly what I asked our auditors to find.” He said payments were withheld until the charges could be verified and the government has indicted several contractors on fraud charges.

Waxman asked Matt Jadacki, special inspector general for Gulf Coast Hurricane Recovery, whether Corps officials were doing their jobs to prevent fraud.

“We found some cases where there were no monitors,” Jadacki said.

Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said that Congress approved more than $63 billion for disaster relief, and ultimate recovery expenses may top $200 billion.

Davis said many of the contracts were awarded without competition, but government officials at the hearing said these contracts are being replaced with competitive awards.

Davis said the sole-source contracts allowed an “unprecedented opportunity for fraud and mismanagement.”

[Soldier4Christ]

U.S. Indicts Six on Alleged Fraud of Boston Project

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- A federal grand jury indicted six men for allegedly diverting 5,000 truckloads of bad concrete to the Boston highway and tunnel project known as the ``Big Dig,'' U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said.

The 135-count indictment comes after a joint federal and state investigation into Aggregate Industries NE Inc., the largest asphalt and concrete supply company in the six-state New England region, Sullivan said. The $14.6 billion Big Dig project aimed to ease congestion by rerouting Interstate 93 under downtown Boston via a tunnel.

Sullivan said concrete leftover from other projects was recycled, concrete that was over 90 minutes old was delivered to Big Dig sites and concrete that was rejected was often returned to the site later. When the concrete was brought back, double bills were submitted, Sullivan said.

``This is bad, this is pretty bad,'' said Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly. ``Unfortunately there were people in the Big Dig who thought they could get away with anything.''

Federal and state law enforcement officials arrested Gregory A. Stevenson, 53, of Furlong, Pennsylvania, and John J. Farrar, 43 of Canterbury, Connecticut, Sullivan said. Massachusetts residents Keith H. Thomas, 51 of Billerica; Gerard M. McNally, 54, of Rockland and Marc Blais, 36, of Lynn were also arrested.

Robert Prosperi, 64 of Lynnfield, Massachusetts, turned himself in.

Phone messages left for Prosperi, McNally, Farrar, Thomas and Blais weren't returned. A number for Stevenson couldn't immediately be found.

``No one in Massachusetts should be surprised to learn that a project so badly mismanaged, over budget and grossly delayed is now also facing allegations of criminal misbehavior,'' Republican Governor Mitt Romney said in a statement.

[Soldier4Christ]

Cops: Kennedy Was Under Influence
Capitol Police report says congressman's eyes watery, speech slurred

MAY 5--Here's the official Capitol Hill Police report on yesterday's early-morning crash involving a disoriented Representative Patrick Kennedy. According to cops, the Rhode Island Democrat (and son of Senator Ted Kennedy) appeared unsteady on his feet, had "red and watery" eyes, and had "slightly slurred" speech upon exiting his Ford Mustang after crashing the vehicle into a barricade near Capitol Hill. The reporting officer checked off a box indicating that Kennedy was under the influence of alcohol and that the politician's ability was "impaired." Kennedy, 39, has denied that alcohol was involved in the 2:45 AM accident, claiming instead that he was left disoriented by a reaction to the prescription drugs Abien, a sleep aid, and Phenergan, an antihistamine. Both drugs carry warnings that alcohol, taken in conjunction with the medications, may increase drowsiness and dizziness. Following the accident, Kennedy was driven home by police, who did not administer any field sobriety tests to the six-term congressman.

[Soldier4Christ]

Walkout stalls Senate action on property tax cuts

Finding herself on the losing side of a key amendment, Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, this morning walked out of a Senate Finance Committee hearing on House Bill 1, the property tax cut and education improvement bill she is sponsoring. Five other Republicans joined her, holding up progress on one of the key bills of the special session.

Shapiro objected to an amendment, which apparently had majority committee support, that would have taken part of the money she wants to spend on high school initiatives and use it to provide more equity in funding among districts.

Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, instructed the sergeant-at-arms to round up the missing members, but by late morning they were still gone. The panel recessed until 1 p.m.

Asked if he had a message for Shapiro, Ogden replied, "Come home, Florence."

[Soldier4Christ]

Senate ignores Bush veto threat

The US senate has ignored a warning from President George W Bush and backed an emergency spending bill which he has threatened to veto.

The Senate voted 77-21 to pass the $108.9bn bill. They had tacked about $14.4bn more spending on to the bill than Mr Bush said he would accept.

The White House repeated Mr Bush's vow to employ his veto for the first time.

Mr Bush had originally requested $92bn extra to spend on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on hurricane aid.

But senators have the power to add extra spending amendments, and they did so. The new commitments include $4bn in aid to farmers, $2.3bn to fight bird flu, and $2.5bn to boost security at US borders and ports.

Mr Bush initially accepted some $3bn of the additional commitments. But the bill's price tag had grown to $106bn by the time Mr Bush issued his veto threat last week, and has ballooned almost another $3bn since then.

"The president has made it very clear he would veto legislation that goes above and beyond what he called for," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan after the Senate vote.

'Have at it'

But the threat did not appear to deter some senators.

"If the president wants to veto a bill that funds the troops, if he wants to veto a bill that funds victims of Hurricane Katrina... have at it, have at it," said Senator Robert Byrd, the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The House of Representatives passed a bill in line with Mr Bush's request, and the two congressional chambers will meet for talks to try to come to a resolution by the end of this month.

[Soldier4Christ]

Carp-barrier funds tucked in Senate spending bill



ILLINOIS -- The U.S. Senate passed a spending bill Thursday that includes $400,000 to prevent the shutdown of an electric barrier intended to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

But it is still unclear if the money will be spent. President Bush has threatened to veto the $109 billion bill, most of which would pay for the war in Iraq and Gulf Coast hurricane relief, because it contains billions for additional projects added by lawmakers.

Senators added an amendment for the carp barrier at the urging of U.S. Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

If Congress doesn't set aside the money, the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to run out of funds to operate the carp barrier later this month.

[Soldier4Christ]

Puerto Rico Senate approves sales tax


SAN JUAN -- Puerto Rico moved a step closer to resolving a partial government shutdown, as the island's Senate voted yesterday to impose a sales tax of 5.9 percent and a new levy on large corporations.

The vote occurred on the fourth day of a shutdown that has closed Puerto Rico's public schools and put more than 90,000 government employees out of work. Puerto Rico has a deficit because the governor and Legislature have been unable to agree on a budget for the past two years.

The 15-to-10 Senate vote had the support of opposition lawmakers who have resisted Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá's proposed 7 percent sales tax, which he said was necessary to obtain a loan to pay government salaries for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

After the shutdown began Monday, Acevedo said he would agree to a 5.9 percent tax but needed a proposal from the Legislature. It wasn't immediately clear when the House of Representatives would take up the proposal. Puerto Rico currently has no sales tax.

Officials had warned that the shutdown could last until June 30 unless the governor and lawmakers agree on a way to repay a loan needed to make up for a $740 million budget shortfall.

[Soldier4Christ]

Senate panel approves flag-protection amendment




WASHINGTON — A Senate panel yesterday advanced a proposed constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration. The amendment reads: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."

The measure was approved on a 6-3 vote of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution, led by Kansas Republican Sam Brownback.

The House already has passed the amendment. Assessments differ on how likely the full Senate is to pass it. Although the 58 Senate co-sponsors are nine short of the two-thirds majority required to send constitutional amendments to the states, additional senators are likely to vote for the flag amendment, possibly putting it on the verge of passing.

Once a constitutional amendment is sent to the states, approval by three-fourths of the state legislatures is needed for ratification. All 50 state legislatures have already signaled they would approve such an amendment.

When the Senate last voted on a similar measure in 2000, 63 members voted in favor and 37 against, just four votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed. Brownback said he was not sure whether enough lawmakers would support the measure this time.

The Supreme Court in 1989 issued the first of two 5-4 decisions declaring that flag desecration amounts to free speech protected by the First Amendment. (The 1989 decision was Texas v. Johnson; the second ruling was 1990's U.S. v. Eichman.) Free-speech advocates say a constitutional prohibition on flag-burning would be censorship.

"Make no mistake, we are talking here about modifying the Constitution of the United States to permit the government to criminalize conduct that, however misguided and wrong, is clearly expressive and sometimes undertaken as a form of political protest," said Sen. Russ Feingold, ranking Democrat on the panel.

But Brownback defended his push for passage of the amendment, saying a prohibition against desecration of the flag "merely prohibits certain types of conduct, not a particular idea."

[Soldier4Christ]

Capitol Hill Watch | Senate Approves $109B Supplemental Spending Bill With More Than $2B in Pandemic Flu Preparedness Funding


      The Senate on Thursday approved a $108.9 billion FY 2006 emergency supplemental spending bill (HR 4939) that includes funding for pandemic flu planning, CongressDaily reports. The bill includes $2.6 billion to prepare for a potential pandemic flu outbreak and create a compensation fund for victims of experimental vaccines and other products designed to combat possible pandemics. According to CongressDaily, "wift agreement" on the bill with the House "will prove difficult." President Bush has threatened to veto the measure if it costs more than $94.5 billion (Cohn, CongressDaily, 5/4). According to the Boston Globe, the bill includes "a raft of special-interest provisions for farmers, fishermen and a major defense contractor, among many others" (Klein, Boston Globe, 5/5). House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, "The House will not take up an emergency supplemental spending bill ... that spends one dollar more than what the president asked for. Period" (Hurt/Fagan, Washington Times, 5/5). Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) said there will be "tremendous pressure" in conference to reduce the bill's price tag (CongressDaily, 5/4). House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said the Senate bill would be "dead on arrival" (Washington Times, 5/5).