Other Political News

[Soldier4Christ]

Purple Heart Stamp Reissued, Iraqi War Vets Honored



ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY, Va., May 26, 2006 – A new version of a postage stamp commemorating the Purple Heart and all those who have earned it was issued in a ceremony here today.

“Vile, offensive and organized protests have taken place around this country at funerals of fallen service members,” said Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman. The bill, he said, “will allow families to grieve for the loss of a loved one in peace.”

Buyer said he has been in discussions with the White House about the possibility of a Memorial Day signing for the bill, which has bipartisan support.

Under the bill, protests and demonstrations would be barred within 150 feet of the entry or exit from a national cemetery 60 minutes before and 60 minutes after a funeral. It covers Arlington National Cemetery or any of the other 124 national cemeteries.

Violating the law would be a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The bill also recommends but does not require states to impose similar restrictions. Six states have enacted similar bans, and several others are considering restrictions. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the protest restrictions in one state, Kentucky.

“For the past few years, small bands of protestors have gathered at the funerals of fallen military heroes,” said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Ind., the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman. “The conduct of those protestors has been as outrageous as it has been unwelcomed.”

The main focus of the legislation is to block protests by a Topeka, Kan., church headed by the Rev. Fred Phelps, which has appeared at many funerals of U.S. combat casualties claiming the deaths are punishment for the lax attitudes about homosexuals. Phelps and his followers from the Westboro Baptist Church have carried signs saying, “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who first introduced the bill, said he was not trying to inhibit free speech. He just wanted families to have the chance to “bury their American heroes with dignity and in peace,” Rogers said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Senate Indecency Bill To Prevail Sans Parlay



House and Senate leaders are mulling whether to hold a conference committee meeting to iron out differences between two bills affecting broadcast indecency; the differences include determining who can be held liable for violating current regulations, and how high a cap to put on those fines.

Typically, the compromises would be worked out in a committee hearing. But a Reuters report quotes House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Joe Barton, R., Tex., as saying that if such a conference isn’t scheduled “then the recommendation would be to accept the Senate bill.”

The Senate legislation raises the cap on individual indecency fines from $32,500 to $325,000, but it keeps those fines targeted at broadcast licensees. The House version includes language that would make it possible to fine individuals who utter an obscenity on radio and TV. The House version also has a provision that would compel a broadcaster to defend his or her license before the FCC after three indecency fines.

AFTRA officials fought the bill for the past 18 months, a campaign that culminated this past week with AFTRA members sending nearly 5,000 messages in opposition to individual fines.

"Individual fines would be devastating to our members, especially considering that performers and broadcasters don't make the decisions as to what goes on the air," according to actor James Lurie, chair of the AFTRA Legislative and Public Affairs Committee. "We asked senators to keep performer fines and license forfeiture out of the Indecency Act — and they listened. But we're still watching Congress to make sure performers, recording artists and broadcasters are not excessively penalized."

[Soldier4Christ]

Greenpeace in 'fact sheet' meltdown
Anti-nuclear 'Armageddonist' memo distributed without proofread


A spokesman for the environmentalist group Greenpeace is claiming an anti-nuclear memo issued last week for President's Bush's visit to the Limerick nuclear power plant near Pottstown, Pa., was an in-office joke that mistakenly got released, but no one at the organization is laughing.

Bush, on his second visit to a nuclear power plant within the last year, called for the expansion of nuclear power generation by reviving fuel processing, reducing regulations on the industry and developing procedures for handling radioactive wastes.

In many quarters, nuclear energy is increasingly seen as part of the solution to U.S. energy independence and as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Nuclear power helps us protect the environment and nuclear power is safe," the president said.

Greenpeace, in preparation for the president's visit, distributed a fact sheet opposing expansion of nuclear energy and warning of the dangers posed by the Limerick reactors.

"This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, the memo, issued by Greenpeace Media Officer Steve Smith, read.

Smith continued, apparently at a loss for words: "In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]."

Unfortunately, the fact sheet – fill-in-the-blank and all – was sent out.

Smith told the Philadelphia Inquirer a colleague who inserted the exaggerated language into a draft was responsible for the mix-up.

"Given the seriousness of the issue at hand, I don't even think it's funny," Smith said.

A final version of the fact sheet was later released, without mention of Armageddon. It warned of potential meltdowns and airplane crashes.

[Soldier4Christ]

South again rising against federal rule?
GOP judicial candidates argue Alabama's right to ignore Supreme Court rulings


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In a debate with powerful echoes of the turbulent civil rights era, four Republicans running for Alabama's Supreme Court are making an argument legal scholars thought was settled in the 1800s: that state courts are not bound by U.S. Supreme Court precedents.

The Constitution says federal law trumps state laws, and legal experts say there is general agreement that state courts must defer to the U.S. Supreme Court on matters of federal law.

Yet Justice Tom Parker, who is running for chief justice, argues that state judges should refuse to follow U.S. Supreme Court precedents they believe to be erroneous. Three other GOP candidates in Tuesday's primary have made nearly identical arguments.

"State supreme court judges should not follow obviously wrong decisions simply because they are 'precedents,'" Parker wrote in a newspaper opinion piece in January that was prompted by a murder case that came before the Alabama high court.

Parker is a former aide to Roy Moore, who became a hero to the religious right when he was ousted as Alabama's chief justice in 2003 for refusing to obey a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state courthouse.

Parker's opponent, GOP incumbent Drayton Nabers, has rejected Parker's theory of federal-vs.-state authority as "bizarre" and warned it would "lead to chaos both in the nation and the state."

Similarly, John Carroll, a former federal magistrate who is now dean of the law school at Samford University in suburban Birmingham, called Parker's position "absolutely wrong and without any basis."

"This view would create absolute anarchy. If this became the practice ... we would not have any law," Carroll said.

Parker's ideas may be appealing to Alabama voters, however. A poll in April showed him in a close race with Nabers, though 55 percent were still undecided.

Bashing the federal courts has often been a winning political strategy in the South.

During the 1950s and '60s, Southern politicians — Alabama Gov. George Wallace foremost among them — railed against federal court decisions striking down segregation in schools and public transportation. Segregationists asserted state sovereignty and states' rights against what they decried as tyrannical interference from Washington.

More recently, then-Gov. Fob James threatened in 1997 to call out the National Guard to protect Moore's right to display a Ten Commandments plaque in his courtroom.

There are nine seats on Alabama's Supreme Court, all now held by Republicans, and five are up for election.

The issue of the role of the U.S. Supreme Court has been boiling ever since Parker wrote the newspaper opinion piece criticizing his fellow justices in a murder case for following a decision by the high court that barred the execution of juvenile killers. Parker called the federal decision "blatant judicial tyranny."

"State supreme courts may decline to follow bad U.S. Supreme Court precedents because those decisions bind only the parties to the particular case," he wrote.

Alan Zeigler, a Birmingham lawyer running for Alabama's high court, said lower courts should follow direct orders of the Supreme Court in specific cases. But he said state justices have a duty to ignore precedent when the high court takes an unconstitutional position.

"What you'll have is what the founding fathers said we'd have — checks and balances," said Zeigler, who is making his first run for office. "It's getting back to something old, the Constitution."

Another candidate, Henry P. "Hank" Fowler, a member of Parker's staff, said conservative judges must stop surrendering to liberal Supreme Court opinions "without a word of protest." And lawyer Ben Hand said judges "can't just break the law and then point to the guy down the street in the black robe and say, 'He told me to.'"

For his part, Moore is running for governor against GOP incumbent Bob Riley, who has a big lead in the polls.

[Soldier4Christ]

Democrat: 'You don't need papers for voting' 
Candidate to replace Cunningham says she 'mispoke' before largely Latino audience

Busby on defense, says she misspoke

If an election can turn on a sentence, this could be the one: “You don't need papers for voting.”

On Thursday night, Francine Busby, the Democratic candidate for the 50th Congressional District, was speaking before a largely Latino crowd in Escondido when she uttered those words. She said yesterday she simply misspoke.

But someone taped it and a recording began circulating yesterday. After she made that statement at the meeting, Busby immediately said: “You don't need to be a registered voter to help (the campaign).”

She said that subsequent statement was to clarify what she meant.

The recording, which was played yesterday on Roger Hedgecock's radio talk show, jolted the campaign.

Busby, a Cardiff school board member, is in a tight race with Republican Brian Bilbray, a congressman-turned-lobbyist, who has based his campaign on a tough anti-illegal-immigration stance. Busby has focused her campaign on ethics reform. The two are vying to replace Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who was jailed after pleading guilty to taking bribes.

Busby said she was invited to the forum at the Jocelyn Senior Center in Escondido by the leader of a local soccer league. Many of the 50 or so people there were Spanish speakers. Toward the end, a man in the audience asked in Spanish: “I want to help, but I don't have papers.”

It was translated and Busby replied: “Everybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help. You don't need papers for voting, you don't need to be a registered voter to help.”

Bilbray said at worst, Busby was encouraging someone to vote illegally. At best, she was encouraging someone who is illegally in the country to work on her campaign.

“She's soliciting illegal aliens to campaign for her and it's on tape – this isn't exactly what you call the pinnacle of ethical campaign strategy,” Bilbray said. “I don't know how she shows her face.”

The two later met in a debate in Carlsbad last night.

Earlier, San Diego Minutemen volunteer Anthony Porrello said he got the tape from an an anonymous Minuteman and passed it on to the news media and talk radio. News of the gathering had circulated among local Minutemen before the meeting, according to William Griffith, the independent candidate in the race who has been endorsed by the San Diego Minutemen.

He attended, but did not hear the statement. He said he was in the back of the room.

“I heard what I expected to hear from a Democrat who supports amnesty,” he said. Busby says she doesn't support amnesty, but backs the comprehensive plan pushed by U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that includes opening a path to citizenship for people in the United States illegally if they pay penalties and abide by certain conditions.

Busby said that Republicans are now twisting her words. She does not in any way support or advocate that illegal immigrants vote, she said.

“I was clarifying the question that was being asked in Spanish and then stated that you do not have to be a registered voter to help the campaign because there were many people who appeared to be to be under 18 in the group who wanted to volunteer,” she said in a statement. “I'm not surprised that the Republican Party is making this last-minute, desperate ploy and it is absolutely false.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Prayer dispute fails to disrupt Shelby County graduation
Some students pray, others wave American flags



In spite of tensions over school prayer, heavy security and an unusual number of reporters, Shelby County High School's graduation happened without major disruption.

At the beginning, some of the students stood and quietly prayed the Lord's Prayer, while others who opposed school prayer stood and waved American flags to show their support of the Constitution.

Then both groups sat and the ceremony proceeded as planned. For the most part, the more than 300 graduates and their guests kept any disagreements low-key and civil, and the tenor of the crowd was festive.

"The kids were well-behaved and the crowd was well-behaved," said Principal Gary Kidwell.

The controversy began when a graduating senior, Arshiya Saiyed, an American-born Muslim, objected to including official prayers in the ceremony.

After meeting with the school board and a lawyer, Kidwell announced there would be no official invocation or benediction as there had been at past graduations. Two of the scheduled student speakers talked about the need to value diversity, and a third quoted a verse from the New Testament to applause from the crowd.

Valedictorian Jacqueline Ward said that while Shelby County is still largely white, middle class and Christian, it has diversity -- and that students will encounter more diversity as they enter the world.

"Though we may not agree with them, we must fully respect them and their views," she told the audience at the Frankfort Convention Center.

"Simply because a person is of a different race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or simply has a different ideology, that does not give us the right to treat them with less respect."

Salutatorian Justina Ellis spoke about being diagnosed with diabetes and how it was a more challenging year than she ever expected. "It brought me closer to my Lord," she said.

She drew loud applause when she quoted, "I can do anything through Him who strengthens me."

When Saiyed walked up to receive her diploma, there were some cheers and one or two boos from the guest area -- but not from fellow graduates.

Before the ceremony, pro-prayer supporters passed out stickers reading, "Smile, God loves you," and as many graduates received their diploma and shook hands with Kidwell, they affixed the stickers to his jacket.

Last month a federal judge prohibited a Russell County High School student from leading a prayer at her graduation after another student objected through the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky.

But Russell County students rose on their own during the ceremony and recited the Lord's Prayer. And Megan Chapman, the student who had been designated to lead the prayer, included religious messages in her remarks to graduates.

Saiyed, who plans to study law after attending Centre College, said she first raised the issue of prayer in discussions with a graduation planning committee. When that didn't work, she went to the ACLU, which wrote a letter to the principal.

School staff strongly urged reporters not to interview students, and they kept the media in a roped-off area in the back of the convention center.

Before the ceremony, Heather Whortenbury, a graduating senior, called the situation "crazy."

"We should be able to pray because it's our graduation," she said.

A plane flew over the convention center pulling a banner that read, "Let us pray."

Saiyed's sister, Gulu Saiyed, who graduated from Shelby County High two years ago, said some people were shunning Arshiya, but "I'm so proud of her."

Her father, Taj Saiyed, who owns a hotel, said, "I'm proud of what my daughter has done. She's standing up for our Constitution. It's not a religious issue. It's a constitutional issue."

Also yesterday, a law firm representing Chapman announced that it had filed a motion to have the court order overturned. Even though the graduation is over, the group hopes to prevent similar rulings in future cases, said attorney Mathew Staver of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel.

The motion argues that Chapman should have had a chance to appear in court before being ordered not to pray. It also says she should have been allowed to pray if she chose because, after the lawsuit was filed, students elected her as a student speaker without officially designating her to pray.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that clergy-led prayers at high school graduations and student-led prayers at high school football games violate the constitutional ban on government-sponsored religion.

Conservative groups have argued that these rulings still leave room for individual speakers at graduations to pray, as long as they are not chosen to speak for that purpose.

Lili Lutgens of the ACLU of Kentucky declined to comment on the Shelby County case but said that in general, as long as a student speaker is chosen by neutral criteria, that student "gets to say whatever they want to say."

[Soldier4Christ]

'Ten Commandments judge' has an uphill run

GALLANT, Ala. – Covered in dirt and sawdust, Roy Moore is spending Saturday not on the campaign trail, but restoring a dilapidated barn to house a horse for his wife.

Using an old bucket for a seat, Mr. Moore – known to millions outside Alabama as "the Ten Commandments judge" – explains that he doesn't really like politics. It's a peculiar statement from a man who wants to be his home state's next governor.

What Roy Moore likes is a good fight.

"I am firm about my convictions in right and wrong," he said.

The former state Supreme Court justice gained international attention in 2003, when he was removed from office after defying a federal court order to take down a Ten Commandments monument in the Alabama judicial building. Now, he's an underdog candidate in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary, which most expect incumbent Gov. Bob Riley to win.

Mr. Moore's underfunded campaign focuses on no new taxes, criticism of the status quo, and, always, religion. The candidate, who calls himself a conservative Christian, refuses to recognize most modern judicial barriers between church and state.

"If you forget God, you have no national morality," he told a cheering audience of 2,000 last year in Longview, Texas.

Supporters on the religious right – one of whom likened Mr. Moore to "Huey Long with religion" – find such rhetoric inspiring. "He stands up for what he believes," said Len Gavin, a former executive director of the Alabama GOP who is working as a volunteer for Mr. Moore.

But that appeal doesn't appear likely to translate into a win. Polls have him trailing Gov. Riley 2 to 1.

During the fight over the Ten Commandments monument, his defiance of the federal courts cost him even among some ideological allies. One of his critics was Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"In defending the right to have the Ten Commandments in public places, I'm not willing to sacrifice the principle of the rule of law," Dr. Land said in 2003.

Some think Mr. Moore is better at rallying a vocal core of supporters than at assembling a broad political base.

As governor, "he'd be obsessed with what he was obsessed with before – trying to insert religion in public life," said Richard Cohen of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which sued to remove the Ten Commandments monument.

Roy Moore was born in 1947 in the Appalachian foothills of northeast Alabama. He grew up in a house with no indoor plumbing. He bagged groceries to supplement his father's income as a construction worker.

He was admitted to the U.S. Military Academy, graduating in 1969. He served in the military police in Vietnam, where he would patrol at night with a sawed-off shotgun, searching for soldiers smoking pot or napping at their posts. Fellow officers dubbed him "Captain America" because of his rigid adherence to the rules.

"It wasn't meant to be flattering," he said.

He studied law at the University of Alabama and became a deputy district attorney in 1977. In 1982, he lost a bitterly contested election for circuit judge.

If he ever had a crisis of faith, it was then, he says. There didn't seem much for him in Alabama, so in his mid-30s he pulled up stakes. He bummed around Texas, kickboxing "to get the anger out." He drifted to Australia, where he worked as a cattle rancher.

After a couple of years, Mr. Moore went home, married and settled down to practice law. In 1992 he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the state circuit court. He took with him a wooden display of the Ten Commandments that had been in his law office and hung it on his courtroom wall. He opened court sessions with a prayer.

When the American Civil Liberties Union complained, Judge Moore called a news conference to say he was being religiously persecuted. The ACLU filed suit to get rid of the Ten Commandments. The suit was eventually thrown out, but not before it propelled the judge to statewide fame. In 2000, he was easily elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

His defining moment came when he placed a 5,200-pound granite Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda of the state judicial building. A federal judge ordered it removed, ruling that the chief justice's action violated the First Amendment prohibition against government establishment of religion. Justice Moore refused, calling the court order unlawful. On Nov. 13, 2003, Alabama's judicial ethics panel removed him from office.

Mr. Moore said the monument wasn't an establishment of religion but an "acknowledgment of God." The order to remove it, he said, represented "a misunderstanding of the First Amendment and the Constitution."

Campaigning, he criticizes special interests, taxes, political action committees, gay marriage and what he calls the tyranny of federal judges. He says it's wrong for Alabama to offer driver's license tests in multiple languages.

If elected, he said, he won't install a Ten Commandments monument in the Capitol.

"I think people know by now how I feel about the Ten Commandments," he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Capitol Hill scuffle may not affect McKinney's re-election bid



Two months after a scuffle between a Capitol Hill police officer and Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, it is unclear whether her actions may hurt or help her shot at re-election this year.

Some of her constituents and political experts agree the March 29 incident shouldn't matter much, and in fact the incident may give momentum to the fiery lawmaker known for her outspoken views and unconventional behavior.

"Everybody is still behind her 150 percent," said Parish Jordan, a 32-year-old Decatur car salesman, who says he plans to vote for McKinney in this year's elections.

"I was behind her from the beginning, and I'll be with her every step of the way," he said.

Supporters pointed to McKinney's character, her leadership and stands for seniors and ex-military personnel as evidence of her hard work, and to a bold, unapologetic and proud personality _ a trait some said explains why she argued with a police officer who did not recognize her as she entered a House office building.

Police said McKinney struck the officer as he tried to stop her, but the Democratic congresswoman countered she was acting in self-defense after the officer "inappropriately touched" her. In interviews, McKinney _ Georgia's first black woman elected to Congress _ has repeatedly blamed racial profiling for the incident.

"I was overwhelmed at what happened," Jordan said. "I thought it was very unfair to a woman."

McKinney's spokesman, Coz Carson, said she is no longer commenting on the matter. She has not responded to repeated interview requests and when approached at a constituent meeting Friday in Decatur, McKinney declined to comment on the matter.

Principal assistant U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips in Washington said a grand jury is looking into the scuffle to determine if criminal charges are warranted.

Hank Johnson, a Decatur lawyer challenging McKinney in the Democratic primary election on July 18, said what happened with McKinney was "a very unfortunate situation."

"We're forced to focus on this incident, at a time when we should be having a dialogue about the most pressing issues affecting our lives and those of our children ..." Johnson said. "I am hopeful that this matter will be resolved quickly so we can return to the issues that matter most to this district, our state and the nation."

While the March incident was a distraction, it may not be a deterrent for voters in McKinney's district just east of Atlanta, said David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.

"It would probably rally as many as it turned off. I don't see this is something that people are going to be all up in arms about," Bositis said.

He noted her strong base and showing in her 2004 return to the U.S. House of Representatives _ a seat she lost after five terms in 2002 to fellow Democrat Denise Majette, who campaigned on the premise that she would not embarrass the predominantly Democratic district as she claimed McKinney had.

"That's one of those tricks you can do once, but it usually doesn't happen again," Bositis said of McKinney's opponents' prior success in unseating her.

And her latest controversy doesn't seem to strike potential voters as "the same old Cynthia," who raised eyebrows when she accused former Vice President Al Gore of having a "low Negro tolerance level" and questioned the Bush administration's advance knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks.

As a retired law enforcement officer and Army veteran, Charles Wilson of Stone Mountain believes that in this case, the entire episode was little more than a misunderstanding.

"It could have been unintentional. I think her attitude could've been a little different after it happened," Wilson said. "But we all have regrets. ... We sit back and think about what we've said and done."

Wilson did not hestitate when asked if he plans to vote for McKinney in the fall.

"Most assuredly," he said. "She's helped a lot of seniors that I know. She's working on a disability case for me. I think she's done a lot for her district."

[Soldier4Christ]

Tide turns against Prop. 82
For first time, plurality opposes universal preschool measure


In a dramatic shift, voters say they would reject a statewide initiative on Tuesday's ballot that would provide free preschool for all California 4-year-olds, a Field Poll released today shows.

Forty-six percent of those surveyed said they would vote against Proposition 82, while 41 percent said they would vote in favor, according to the poll. But the outcome remains uncertain because 13 percent of likely primary voters were still undecided on the measure.

The poll was the first since the Field Poll began its surveys on Prop. 82 five months ago, in which the measure -- dubbed the Preschool for All Act -- trailed among likely voters.

In February, 55 percent of those surveyed backed the measure -- a margin of 21 percentage points over those who opposed Prop. 82. The lead fell to 13 points in April, when 52 percent of those surveyed said they supported the measure.

Prop. 82 would impose a 1.7 percent tax increase on California's wealthiest residents, defined as individuals who earn $400,000 a year and couples who make $800,000 a year. The increase would generate an estimated $2.4 billion a year by 2010 to pay for half-day public preschool programs for the state's 4-year-olds.

It also would mandate stricter qualifications for preschool teachers, including a provision that they have bachelor's degrees, and would set curriculum standards.

The idea was proposed by Hollywood actor-director Rob Reiner and is backed by the California Teachers Association and other unions.

The California Chamber of Commerce and anti-tax groups oppose it, as do some existing preschool providers who fear the measure would create an unwieldy bureaucracy and put some of them out of business.

The Field Poll tracked the movement in voter support after both sides intensified their campaigns in the weeks leading to Tuesday's election. Nearly 3 in 4 voters reported some awareness of the initiative that has drawn national attention.

The trend doesn't spell doom for Prop. 82, since 13 percent of the voters polled said they were still undecided and the spread is within the poll's margin of error. But it does indicate the measure is in big trouble, said Mark DiCamillo, the Field Poll director. Most telling, he said, is that "there is an erosion of support among core constituents.''

For example, the poll found that enthusiasm has waned since April among Democrats and women, two voting blocs the pro-Prop. 82 campaign has banked on.

More than half, or 53 percent, of Democrats said they would vote for Prop. 82, while just 25 percent of Republicans said they would back it. Among nonpartisan voters, 45 percent said they were in favor. Looking at the gender breakdown, support among women stood at 45 percent and at 37 percent among men.

It fared best among Latinos and poorer people.

Support was strongest in the Central Valley, followed closely by the Bay Area, Los Angeles County and other parts of Northern California, but it plunged in Southern California counties outside of Los Angeles, the poll found.

The poll was conducted May 23-31 of 663 Californians who said they were likely to vote in the upcoming election. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

"We're all for preschool, we know its value, we're committed to it. It's just (Prop.) 82 does not deliver on its hope and promise,'' said Pamela Rigg, president of the California Montessori Council and a spokeswoman in the campaign that opposes the measure.

She said she was heartened by the latest poll numbers.

"This is the direction we had hoped for, that as the voters learn more and more about Prop. 82, the obvious flaws and long-term implications are being realized,'' she said.

But Nathan James, a spokesman for the "Yes on 82" campaign, said the measure's backers haven't given up hope.

"From the beginning, we always knew the election would come down to the wire, and we remain confident that Prop. 82 will pass,'' he said. "California voters consistently supported measures that improve education.''

Despite the poll findings, he predicted that the strongest supporters will be more inclined to vote in Tuesday's election because of the hotly contested race in the Democratic primary for governor. The leading Democrats in the race, Phil Angelides and Steve Westly, support the preschool initiative.
Field Poll results

The Field Poll released today also found:

-- In the contested Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, state Sen. Jackie Speier of Hillsborough was the choice of 30 percent of likely Democratic voters, trailed by state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (25 percent) and state Sen. Liz Figueroa (8 percent). More than 1 in 3 voters were undecided.

-- In the Democratic primary race for state attorney general, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown held a commanding lead (51 percent to 24 percent) over Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo.

-- In the Republican primary battle for state controller, taxpayer advocate Tony Strickland was favored by 32 percent of likely GOP voters. He was trailed by business controller Abel Maldonado with 21 percent. The Democratic race for controller is much tighter, with 19 percent supporting Board of Equalization member John Chiang, and 18 percent backing state Sen. Joe Dunn of Santa Ana. In both races, more than 4 in 10 voters remain undecided.

-- The GOP primary for state treasurer is a close contest, with Assemblyman Keith Richman of Northridge (Los Angeles County) supported by 18 percent and Board of Equalization member Claude Parrish by 17 percent. Nearly 2 in 3 voters were undecided.

-- The Democratic primary for secretary of state put state Sen. Deborah Ortiz of Sacramento ahead of state Sen. Debra Brown of Marina Del Rey (Los Angeles County) 25 percent to 19 percent. A majority of voters were undecided.

[Soldier4Christ]

Supreme Court to Hear Schools Race Case

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide the extent to which public schools can use race in deciding school assignments, setting the stage for a landmark affirmative action ruling.

Justices will hear appeals from a Seattle parents group and a Kentucky parent, ruling for the first time on diversity plans used by a host of school districts around the country.

Race cases have been difficult for the justices. The court's announcement that it will take up the cases this fall provides the first sign of an aggressiveness by the court under new Chief Justice John Roberts.

The court rejected a similar case in December when moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was still on the bench. The outcome of this case will turn on her successor, Samuel Alito.

"Looming in the background of this is the constitutionality of affirmative action," said Davison Douglas, a law professor at William and Mary. "This is huge."

Arguments will likely take place in November. The court's announcement followed six weeks of internal deliberations over whether to hear the appeals, an unusually long time.

In one of the cases, an appeals court had upheld Seattle's system, which lets students pick among high schools and then relies on tiebreakers, including race, to decide who gets into schools that have more applicants than openings.

The lower court decision was based in part on a Supreme Court ruling three years ago, written by O'Connor, which said that colleges and universities could select students based at least in part on race.

The court also will also consider a school desegregation policy in Kentucky. That case is somewhat different, because the school district had long been under a federal court decree to end segregation in its schools. After the decree ended, the district in 2001 began using a plan that includes race guidelines.

A federal judge had said system did not require quotas, and that other factors were considered including geographic boundaries and special programs.

A mother, Crystal Meredith, claimed her son was denied entrance into the neighborhood school because he is white. The Jefferson County school district, which covers metropolitan Louisville, Ky., and has nearly 100,000 students, was ordered to desegregate its schools in 1974.

The court will also consider whether Seattle's so-called integration tiebreaker system, which has been discontinued, is tailored to meet a "compelling interest" by the school.

A group called Parents Involved in Community Schools sued in July 2000, arguing that it was unfair for the school district to consider race, and Seattle halted the system.

Lawyers for the Seattle school district had told justices that it was not known what the district's new school board and new superintendent would do now.

Under the district's plan, the first tiebreaker was whether an applicant has a sibling already at the school. The second tiebreaker was race: which applicant would bring the high school closer to the districtwide ratio of whites to nonwhites, roughly 40 percent to 60 percent. The third tiebreaker was distance, with closer students getting preference.

Seattle has about 46,000 public-school students. The racial tiebreaker helped some whites get into predominantly minority schools, and vice versa.

The cases are Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District, 05-908, and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 05-915.

[Soldier4Christ]

Roy Moore in governor vote today
'Ten Commandents judge' vies for Republican nomination


Alabama voters will decide today whether "Ten Commandments Judge" Roy Moore continues his bid for the governor's mansion.

After gaining national attention for his ouster from the state Supreme Court over refusal to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse, Moore entered his name in the Republican primary. But he faces long odds as a recent poll puts him 40 points behind incumbent Gov. Bob Riley.

Moore has criticized Riley for beginning annual property tax reappraisals and contends the governor's administration has done little to curb an "invasion" of illegal immigrants.

But Riley's term has featured record lows in unemployment and highs in economic growth. He also boasts a tax cut he helped pass this year.

Moore downplays the tax cut as a relatively small one and promises to control the Democratic-dominated Legislature through "leadership," the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

"People will listen if you propose appropriate legislation in an appropriate manner," Moore said.

Moore says he will roll back property appraisals to every four years and offer tax vouchers for people to send their children to private schools.

Moore, despite rejecting cash from political action committees, has kept pace with Riley's fund-raising – each reporting $1 million – through smaller donations, many from out of state, Riley, however, already has $2 million cash in hand.

Former Gov. Don Siegelman and Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley are the Democratic Party frontrunners.

Moore insists voters beneath pollsters' radar will lead him to victory today, but veteran political analyst William Stewart said there aren't nearly enough of those voters, the Birmingham News reported.

"I think Governor Riley's going to have a substantial win on Tuesday," Stewart said. "I think Governor Riley has used all the advantages of his incumbency."

The Birmingham paper said Moore has "tried to get beyond the Ten Commandments and the public memory of his removal from the chief justice's post in 2003" which has "led more than a few Republican voters to conclude they want a gubernatorial candidate who obeys the law."

Stewart contends Moore has not been able to move beyond his base issue.

"Even though people agree with Moore on his stand on the public acknowledgment of God, ... having the right position on religion, that's not enough to elect you governor of Alabama," Stewart said.

More has said that if elected, he won't install a Ten Commandments monument in the Capitol.

"I think people know by now how I feel about the Ten Commandments," he said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Republican wins contested California race
Bilbray takes seat held by Cunningham; Angelides to face Schwarzenegger

A former Republican congressman narrowly beat his Democratic rival early Wednesday for the right to fill the House seat once held by imprisoned Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a race closely watched as a possible early barometer of next fall's vote.

Republican Brian Bilbray emerged victorious after a costly and contentious race against Democrat Francine Busby, a local school board member who ran against Cunningham in 2004.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Bilbray had 56,016 votes or 49.5 percent. Busby trailed with 51,202 votes or 45 percent.

"I think that we're going back to Washington," Bilbray told a cheering crowd of supporters.

The race -- one of dozens of election contests in eight states -- was viewed by Democrats as an opportunity to capture a solidly Republican district and build momentum on their hopes to capture control of the House.

'Go, Phil, go'
State Treasurer Phil Angelides narrowly beat Controller Steve Westly in California’s gubernatorial primary, winning Los Angeles and San Francisco counties, to become the party’s challenger to Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in November. With 80 percent of precincts reporting, Angelides had 842,657 votes, 48 percent, to Westly’s 772,547 votes, or 44 percent.

“I’m standing here before you tonight as the nominee for governor,” Angelides said early Wednesday, while his supporters chanted, “Go, Phil, go!”

Westly, a former eBay executive, poured $35 million of his own money into the campaign, but was unable to overcome the labor unions that turned out the vote for Angelides. A low turnout made the unions’ efforts all the more important.

Votes still being counted
Elsewhere, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley easily beat back a GOP primary challenge from Ten Commandments judge Roy Moore, while Democratic former Gov. Don Siegelman — who campaigned while on trial on corruption charges — lost his comeback fight against the state’s first female lieutenant governor. Also in Alabama, voters passed a ban on gay marriage by a 4-to-1 margin.

Riley said voters saw state government has changed while he has been in office. “People appreciated the difference in the level of corruption we had in the past and the corruption we don’t have today,” he said. His challenger, Moore, said: “God’s will has been done.”

Another Washington corruption case figured in Montana’s primary, where GOP Sen. Conrad Burns sought the nomination for a fourth term. After his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff became known, Burns saw his popularity fall. He beat several primary challengers and won nearly three-quarters of the vote. His Democratic challenger in the fall will be state Senate President Jon Tester.

In Iowa, the retirement of two-term Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack set off a wide-open race. Secretary of State Chet Culver will face GOP Rep. Jim Nussle in the fall.

Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota also held primaries. Corruption and allegations of corruption — in California, Alabama and Montana — crisscrossed the country. Immigration was a campaign issue from the South to the Plains.

Immigration at center of campaign
Still, the biggest race was the one to replace Cunningham, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for taking bribes on a scale unparalleled in the history of Congress.

National Democrats spent nearly $2 million on the race; the GOP spent $4.5 million. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush recorded telephone messages for Bilbray, while the Democrats’ last two presidential candidates — John Kerry and Al Gore — urged supporters to back Busby.

Bilbray, made immigration the centerpiece of his campaign, proposing a fence “from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico” and restrictions to keep illegal immigrants from collecting Social Security and other benefits.

Busby, a local school board member, focused her campaign on public dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and the GOP-led Congress, and assailed Bilbray for working as a lobbyist in Washington. She consistently referred to him as “the lobbyist Bilbray.”

In New Jersey, Republicans chose Tom Kean Jr., the son of a popular former governor, to challenge Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez in the fall.

In the weeks leading up to Alabama’s gubernatorial primary, polls showed Riley with a growing lead on Moore, the former state chief justice who became a hero to the religious right in 2003 when he was ousted over his refusal to remove the Commandments monument from the state judicial building.

Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley fashioned an “I Love Lucy” campaign, while Siegelman had to campaign at night while on trial on corruption charges during the day. She won with 60 percent of the vote while Siegelman got just 36 percent. Riley took 67 percent of the vote, and Moore 33 percent.

A few races brought back some familiar names:

    * Jerry Brown — the former California governor, presidential candidate and current Oakland mayor — won the Democratic primary for attorney general.
    * George C. Wallace Jr., son of the former Alabama governor, trailed in the GOP primary for lieutenant governor to attorney Luther Strange but the race goes to a runoff because no one got 50 percent.
    * Hollywood director Rob Reiner was the leading backer of a measure in California to create a $2.4 billion universal preschool program, which went down to defeat by a 60-to-40-percent margin.

[Soldier4Christ]

Senate to consider letting Hawaiians pursue sovereignty

Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Akaka thinks Hawaiians should be allowed to govern themselves as Native Americans and Alaskans do, and after seven years of pushing a bill to start the process, the Senate is expected to take it up this week.
    Mr. Akaka says the bill is a way to give "indigenous" Hawaiians a sense of pride and a chance for sovereignty for the first time since 1893, when Queen Liliuokalani was deposed and lands were illegally seized by U.S. Marines and a cadre of sugar-plantation businessmen.
    "For the first time, if it passes, Hawaiians will have parity and be able to form a government entity to address their concerns, since the overthrow," Mr. Akaka said.
    Republican senators annually have blocked the legislation, saying it would violate the Constitution by establishing a sovereign race-based government. It is only coming up now through a deal worked out between Democratic and Republican leaders to move other bills.
    Opponents, including many native Hawaiians, say the bill opens up a "Pandora's box" of new race classifications and called the bill ambiguous as to what benefits it will bring.
    The bill calls for an Office of Native Hawaiian Relations in the Department of the Interior, and a Native Hawaiian Interagency Coordinating Group to administer programs, a commission that would certify who are indigenous Hawaiians, and provides a process of reorganization of the Native Hawaiian governing entity.
    "The bill will not authorize gaming in Hawaii. The bill will not allow private lands to be taken. The bill will not create a reservation in Hawaii," Mr. Akaka said.
    The legislation is supported by both Republican and Democratic senators, primarily those from states with substantial Native American and Eskimo populations, as well as the American Bar Association and Alaska Federation of Natives.
    Sen. Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, who has kept the bill from coming to the floor, said the creation of a native Hawaiian government -- composed only of redefined natives and whose members can only be voted in by native Hawaiians -- could divide Hawaii's people.
    "Unlike reservation Indians, Native Hawaiians do not live in one area of the State that is set aside for Indians; they live in the same cities and neighborhoods and on the same streets, as other Hawaiians do," Mr. Kyl said.
    Reservation Indian tribes have the power to tax, regulate and make laws for members. There are an estimated 400,000 Native Hawaiians living throughout the United States.
    Native Hawaiians also say it "too narrowly" redefines who is indigenous.
    "It is only for people of Native Hawaiian blood," said 'Ehu Kekahu Cardwell, director of the Koani Foundation, a grass-roots group dedicated to restoring the Hawaiian nation.
    "We want it to be for any descendants of kingdom nationals who were loyal to the queen during the time she was deposed. We want everyone to be able to have a say in how this turns out," Mr. Cardwell said.
    Leon Siu, a Chinese Hawaiian lobbying against the bill on Capitol Hill, said it has already caused division in Hawaii.
    "We reject a race issue being brought into our community; the bill will change the definition of who we are," he said. "Native Hawaiian is not a pure bloodline and ... this bill will introduce a new concept of racial apartheid."
    Mr. Siu's father fled China in search of a better life and settled in Hawaii 70 years ago, as did hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals from America, Japan, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines who became Hawaiian citizens.
    The Hawaiian monarchy historically never kept anyone from participating in its government structure and did not have a race-specific citizenship definition.
    One of the most salient points in the debate will be a history lesson on how Hawaii became a U.S. territory and a state, which Native Hawaiians say was an "illegal annexation."
    Queen Liliuokalani, the last Hawaiian monarch, was deposed in 1893 by a collection of sugar exporters doing business on the island with the complicity of the U.S. government.
    Hawaii became a U.S. territory under a congressional resolution passed in the late 1890s, but the Constitution states that the U.S. can only acquire land held by sovereign foreign nations through a formal treaty.
    The treaty authorized by the Safety Commission -- an illegitimate government established by the sugar plantation owners -- failed in Congress after 38,000 of the 40,000 natives living on the island in 1897 petitioned the Congress to reject it.
    Congress formally acknowledged that the coup was unlawful in an apology resolution in 1993.
    "This is just the next step in that process of acknowledging the wrong committed against the Native Hawaiian people and recognize them as a sovereign entity," said Donalyn Dela Cruz, spokeswoman for Mr. Akaka.

[Soldier4Christ]

UN Blasts US Over Criticism


‘Very Grave Mistake’ U.N. No. 2’s speech angers U.S.

The organization that could not manage their oil for food program and other programs that they were responsible for has slandered the United States and Fox News Service. They even got a chance to kicked Rush Limbaugh around.

One might believe that Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown is talking out of his ass. Sorry for the language, but, Brown has insulted me and the American heartland by his rant.

Brown accused the U.S. government of keeping the American heartland in the dark about the world body’s “good works?” Brown claims the United States relies on the United Nations as a diplomatic tool but doesn’t defend it against criticism at home. Brown blames Limbaugh and Fox News for distortion and misleading America. As soon as he can, Brown will sic the world body’s “unfreedom of speech police” on the American heartland. The truth really threatens the little “global village” that Brown lives in. Guess Brown and his donk lefti buddies want to alter reality and rewrite history.

Fortunately, Ambassador John Bolton shot back and warned that Brown’s comments could undermine United States support.

    “To have the deputy secretary-general criticize the United States in such a manner can only do grave harm to the United Nations ,,,, Even though the target of the speech was the United States, the victim, I fear, will be the United Nations,” Bolton said.

Mr Brown explain to me, on April 28, 2006, the UN indicated that it would suspend aid in Sudan and the Darfur region unless rebel attacks stop. Just who is that going to help? How about the multitude of U.N. rule violations, ethics issues, financial and sex scandals, and the UN troops raping the very people it is supposed to be helping that rocked your organization? Your world body needs some serious spring cleaning from the top down.

However, you and your donk lefti at the UN continue to hold heads high and place the blame on the United States.

More information on why one who lives in a glass house should not throw stones:

    * Group: U.N. Peacekeepers Trading Food for Sex
    * United Nations Probes Sale of Irreplaceable Stamp Archive
    * Report Slams U.N. Investigators

[Soldier4Christ]

Fort Lewis Officer Says He’ll Refuse To Deploy

Hat tip to Leaning Straight Up who says all that needs to be said. We will also leave questioning his patriotism for others. It is obvious he was hypnotised by the evil Bugotcha2ler and was not actually aware of the what he was saying when he made an oath to obey the orders of those appointed over him.

    As thousands of Fort Lewis Army troops prepare to head back to Iraq, one of their officers is making a stand.

    A lieutenant says he is going to refuse to go, saying it’s an unjust war. Anti-war groups are rallying to his defense.

    Lt. Ehren Watada of the Stryker Brigade writes, “I refuse to be silent any longer. I refuse to watch families torn apart, while the President tells us to ‘stay the course.’ I refuse to be party to an illegal and immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression.

    “I wanted to be there for my fellow troops. But the best way was not to help drop artillery and cause more death and destruction. It is to help oppose this war and end it so that all soldiers can come home.” - signed LT.

    His name had been kept a secret until now, but Lt. Watada’s father confirms that his son is taking this bold step and told the Honolulu Advertiser newspaper that he’s proud of his son.

    Fort Lewis says since the lieutenant hasn’t done anything official yet, there’s no violation. But should he decide to go ahead with this, he could be charged with ‘desertion’ or more likely with ‘missing the movement’ of his unit.

    It’s happened before with a sergeant who refused to go. Sgt. Kevin Benderman was sentenced to 15 months for refusing to go to Iraq.

    Lt. Watada asked for reassignment and tried resigning his commission, but the Army refused. His attorney tells us from Hawaii that Watada is not against all wars, just this one.

    “I’ve been doing this for nearly 40 years and I’m somewhat astounded that in the context of a war that is becoming increasing unpopular that they are relatively unsophisticated in addressing these issues,” said attorney Eric Seitz from Hawaii.

    This doesn’t sit well with fellow soldiers.

    “We’re here to serve our country and fight and that’s his job,” said Private Nathan Hanson. “It’s his duty.”

    Anti-war protestors, many of which demonstrated at the Port of Olympia recently, are rushing to his aid. They have put up a Web site believing he’s the first commissioned officer to refuse to go.

    The lieutenant says he’ll make his intentions official Wednesday at noon and that’s when his defense team will kick into gear.

Wonder if he’ll refuse to go to Leavenworth, too?