"The vice president is a tough human being, and he's very honest, and his integrity is his most cherished attribute. I don't blame anybody for standing up for their own integrity."

"I was shocked and dismayed at the gratuitous amount of violence and profanity ... I do not condone it."

Walking toward an Internet cafe in this balmy Mediterranean capital, Siham Bensedrine, a journalist and human rights advocate, quietly points out the secret police agent regularly assigned to watch her building. She chooses a cafe at some distance from her apartment, lest the owner take fright at her surfing the Web with foreign visitors and ban her.

... "In this country, all the sites that speak about freedom are blocked," sighs Mrs. Bensedrine, a short, wan woman dressed mostly in black, adding that she was forced to use the heavily monitored Web cafes because her phone line at home was inexplicably severed.

... Tunis has proven itself to be perhaps the most repressive Arab government, activists here say. Not only are many Web sites blocked, they say, but e-mail is also heavily monitored. The ability to offer Web services is kept within a small privileged circle. Web cafes are shuttered if deemed too lax about monitoring every site visited by patrons. Harsh jail sentences are meted out to young men convicted of creating or even visiting banned sites.

U.S. officials are also actively considering whether to declare that genocide is taking place in Darfur. Pierre-Richard Prosper, the U.S. war-crimes ambassador, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday that "we see indicators of genocide, and there is evidence that points in that direction."

Bobby Kahn, the chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party, said he wasn't surprised.

"Maybe I'll switch to the Republican Party so I can speak at the Democratic Convention and bash Bush," Kahn said. "It makes about as much sense."

Kahn was a top aide to Democratic Gov. Roy Barnes, who appointed Miller to the Senate following the death of Miller's predecessor, Republican Sen. Paul Coverdell.

"I advocated his appointment," Kahn said of Miller. "He said he would be independent and he was for a while, but he hasn't been lately. He's been in lockstep with the Republicans and I don't know what's happened to him. It's really kind of sad."

Do you remember when you started using the word "genocide?" And were your editors concerned about that word?

They weren't. I don't think it was an issue in the BBC. They almost couldn't believe that it was so one-sided. I remember having lots of conversations with editors when they'd say to me, "Yes, but Mark, you keep on reporting that these Tutsis are being killed. What-- I mean, these are just massacres all over the place." I said, "No, no, it's not. This is one-sided," and they found it difficult to swallow. I was accused of bias on a few occasions, privately by editors, but I said, "No, no, you've got to listen to what I'm saying. There's a genocide taking place in this country, and it's mostly the Tutsis that are getting killed, and some Hutus getting killed. That is what's happening." They said, "Yes, but you have-- Where's the balancing item?" I said, "There isn't a balancing item."

I remember very clearly when the RPF did do some killing. They killed some church people. I can't remember exactly where it was, but it became public that the RPF had killed some bishops, half a dozen of them. Undisciplined RPF elements had taken revenge, because the church had somehow been involved in a massacre of Tutsis. … I know that some RPF soldiers killed some bishops. The BBC seized on this immediately because they finally had what they thought was a balancing item -- to be fair.

To be fair to those editors in London, they were trying to do their job. This concept that a genocide was taking place hadn't taken grip on the world yet. It was just another African war to most people. … When the RPF killed those bishops, it became a huge story. Quite rightly, it was a big story, but it wasn't as huge as hundreds of thousands of people being killed. Somehow everyone grabbed onto it and wanted to tell that story again and again, because it somehow balanced the two sides. But the two sides weren't balanced; there were bad guys and there were relatively good guys.

The government's first witness was Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States attorney for Chicago. He was a prosecutor in Mr. Abdel Rahman's 1995 terrorism trial and later administered severe prison restrictions that were imposed on the sheik.

Mr. Fitzgerald testified that Ms. Stewart signed a series of agreements that she would not, among other things, convey messages from the sheik to the news media after visiting him in jail. After Ms. Stewart released some comments by the sheik to a Reuters reporter in Cairo in June 2000, Mr. Fitzgerald said he considered starting criminal proceedings against her.

But he was told not to by the F.B.I., Mr. Fitzgerald said, because the bureau had placed a higher priority on a separate intelligence investigation of Mr. Sattar [Stewart's paralegal] that it was pursuing.

Clinton's insistence on revisiting the past and dragging it into the present is bound to have a negative impact on Kerry's candidacy. First Reagan's death and now Clinton's memoir blot out Kerry's message and usurp his time in the sun. The run-up to the Democratic convention now must be fraught with the wreckage of Clinton's personal image.

Is it just a coincidence that the former president has strewn such dubious roses in the path of his possible successor as Democratic standard-bearer? One suspects that Clinton, of all people, knows exactly what he is doing and precisely why he is doing it.

A John Kerry campaign paper on the economy ... (includes) this peculiar observation:

In the United States last year, 638,000 more children went through their parents' bankruptcy than divorce. 1,690,000 saw their parents go bankrupt while 1,053,000 saw their parents divorce.

If Kerry favors a lower bankruptcy-to-divorce ratio, then it follows logically that he is pro-divorce. He's already done his part to bring the ratio down, splitting from his first wife, Julia Thorne, in the early 1980s.

Senate aides with knowledge of the encounter Tuesday said the vice president confronted Leahy about some of the Democrat's criticism about alleged improprieties in Iraq military contracts awarded to Halliburton Co. Cheney, who as vice president is president of the Senate, is a former CEO of Halliburton.

Leahy responded by criticizing the White House for standing by allies who had accused Democrats of being anti-Catholic last year in opposing one of President Bush's judicial nominees, said one Senate aide, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Cheney then responded, "F--- off" or "F--- you," the aide said.

The Pentagon's chief spokesman is downplaying the prospects for U.S. military intervention in the crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita acknowledges there is what he terms "a serious humanitarian situation" in the Darfur region.

But speaking to reporters at the Defense Department, Mr. Di Rita sidestepped a question Thursday about whether the Pentagon opposes direct American military intervention in Sudan just as declassified documents show it initially opposed action in Rwanda during the genocide there 10 years ago.

Mr. Di Rita made clear the Bush administration favors action in Sudan by other countries.

"That would be obviously the first best choice for something like that: get other countries that have capability to do that," he said. "It's been done before and we believe that's probably the best thing that we as a government can do is encourage [other] countries to be involved."

The Wrong Way to Mount Rushmore

a) I was thinking like a cat in heat
b) our ex-president frequently seemed to think that way, or
c) the Journal's reviewer was deliberately aiming for that effect.

The Coalition for a Fair Michigan (CFM) said today that they were happy to find common ground with the Michigan affiliate of the American Family Association (AFA), one of the lead proponents of the proposed constitutional amendment that would ban legal recognition of any relationships other than opposite-sex marriage. Last night, at a forum on the amendment held at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Saginaw, both sides agreed that the amendment would go much further than defining marriage by also eliminating any government-sanctioned domestic partnership benefits.

"I’m glad we could find common ground with the AFA, and I want to thank Gary Glenn for his willingness to be upfront on this point," said Wendy Howell, Campaign Manager for CFM. "Since we all agree that this amendment is about much more than marriage, it’s my hope that we can broaden the discussion to include all of the real and concrete impacts it would have on Michigan families rather than just focusing on its most divisive aspect."

When Israeli soldiers opened an exhibit this month documenting some of their own misdeeds while serving in the tense West Bank city of Hebron, they caused a brief stir.

At a photographic institute in Tel Aviv, the soldiers, all recently discharged, offer video testimony of gratuitous harassment and abuse of Palestinians, like firing tear gas just to get a reaction. Hanging on the wall are dozens of car keys confiscated from Hebron residents, a punishment both common and unauthorized, soldiers say.

... the Israeli military, which had expressed only mild dismay initially, has re-energized the debate surrounding the exhibit by confiscating the video testimony on Tuesday and calling in five soldiers for questioning on Wednesday.

The exhibit remains open, and the military said it took the actions not to suppress it but to investigate the abuses described by soldiers. The former soldiers maintain that the military is trying to silence them and to discourage others from speaking out.

... The five soldiers, [including Yehuda Shaul], spoke about their actions when questioned by the military on Wednesday, Mr. Shaul said. But they refused to identify others who speak anonymously in the video. These soldiers are not pictured, and their voices are distorted, though the television screen presents the text of their statements.

... "When we made the video, we promised not to give their names," Mr. Shaul said. "We feel the army doesn't really want to deal with the serious issues, they just want to make other soldiers afraid."

... the video testimony from 29 soldiers describes a litany of improper actions by members of the Nahal Brigade, charged with protecting 500 Jewish settlers surrounded by 130,000 Palestinians.

Through long, sweaty days and the endless, chilly nights, the soldiers describe how discipline unravels, fatigue and boredom set in, and they experience a rush in exercising power over those with no recourse. One soldier says a colleague would fire tear gas canisters "every time he climbed up to his post and came back from it.''

"If he saw a group of people standing and talking, he would fire the tear gas just to see them run and cough," the soldier added. "He got a big kick out of it."

... in a lengthy interview with Haaretz magazine, Mr. Shaul said the Hebron soldiers often used Palestinians as "human shields" despite an Israeli court decision forbidding the practice.

"Using a human shield means grabbing some fellow and sending him to open the door to a suspect's house, so if he shoots, this guy will take the bullets and not us," Mr. Shaul said. He was not aware of any Palestinians killed in this practice, but the risk was always present, he said.

A career CIA officer claims in a new book that America is losing the war on terror, in part because of the invasion of Iraq, which, he says, distracted the United States from the war against terrorism and further fueled al-Qaida’s struggle against the United States.

The author, who writes as "Anonymous," is a 22-year veteran of the CIA and still works for the intelligence agency, which allowed him to publish the book after reviewing it for classified information.

In an interview with NBC’s Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell, he calls the U.S. war in Iraq a dream come true for Osama bin Laden, saying, "Bin Laden saw the invasion of Iraq as a Christmas gift he never thought he’d get." By invading a country that’s regarded as the second holiest place in Islam, he asserts, the Bush administration inadvertently validated bin Laden’s assertions that the United States intends a holy war against Muslims.

In his book, titled "Imperial Hubris," he calls the Iraq invasion "an avaricious, premeditated, unprovoked war against a foe who posed no immediate threat," arguing against the concept of pre-emptive war put forward by President Bush as justification for the Iraq war.

Ethics is not dull etiquette. It is defined as the science of duty, and as with all science there is a method. Norms either are encoded or may be discerned under two theories: duty and consequence. The first asks: Is there a duty and to whom is it owed?

Consequence theory queries: Is someone harmed or benefited? An action is ethical if its consequence is more favorable than unfavorable.

The public harm and benefit of reviewing political documents evidencing corrupt practices, as the Democratic judiciary documents do, is plain.

[edit]

Republican staff owed no duty to Democrat senators. In fact, the code imposes a duty to disclose evidence of corruption "wherever discovered." Congress may have no whistleblower protection, but it maintains a whistleblower duty.

When we act, whether or not we achieve what we intend with our actions is often beyond our control, so the morality of our actions does not depend upon their outcome. What we can control, however, is the will behind the action. That is, we can will to act according to one law rather than another. The morality of an action, therefore, must be assessed in terms of the motivation behind it.

[edit]

Kant has shown that the acceptable conception of the moral law cannot be merely hypothetical. Our actions cannot be moral on the ground of some conditional purpose or goal. Morality requires an unconditional statement of one's duty.

[edit]

And in fact, reason produces an absolute statement of moral action. The moral imperative is unconditional; that is, its imperative force is not tempered by the conditional "if I want to achieve some end, then do X." It simply states, do X. Kant believes that reason dictates a categorical imperative for moral action. He gives at least three formulations of the Categorical Imperative:

1. "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." (Ibid., 422)

2. "Act as though the maxim of your action were by your will to become a universal law of nature." (Ibid)

3. Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only." (Ibid., 429)

How do you feel now when you hear U.S. senior officials -- Clinton, Albright, others -- talk about Rwanda? Of course Clinton went and apologized--

He didn't apologize.

Well, it was couched as an apology.

No, no. He went to reinforce the blackmail on the Rwandans. … When he was there in `98, he said, "Oh, I didn't know. We didn't realize." I've got all those quotes and stuff, which are outright lies. They knew, it was there as information, and it is evident that that information was either at his level or stopped within the structures. But the Americans knew what was going on inside there, and [it's awful] to go and excuse yourself -- the Belgians did the same thing -- in front of these people. The Americans scuttled any initiative to bring about a force to be able to save hundreds of thousands. How can they look at this guy and accept an apology?

But worse than that is that the Rwandans need American money. They need Belgian money to reconstitute themselves. What option do they have regarding Clinton coming in there and trying to excuse himself? Throw him out? No. Embarrass him? They gave him a bit of a hard time, but that was insignificant to what was deserved. These great leaders who go to these countries and ask for excuses, that's sort of like trying to get rid of the blood on their hands. Really what they're doing is imposing that on those people, blackmailing them to accept these apologies, so that it satisfies the people back home that we brought closure. "I went there and in humble statements I demonstrated that we had failed and that we are sorry about it." Bullshit. I have no time for any such actions.

OK, uncle. You win, Mr. President. If I buy a copy of your book, will you just shut up once and for all, go away, and never come back? It will cost me $35, but, judging strictly by weight, that isn't a bad price for so much cow manure.

This summer the Republicans are holding their National Convention at Madison Square Garden.

While they're here, make nice.

In a move that had the political world buzzing, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has delivered the back of his hand to Representative Bob Ney, an important Republican [Chairman of the Banking Committee, for instance] from rural Ohio. As the G.O.P. convention in August draws near, Mr. Ney was looking forward to a political power lunch this week at the mayor's Upper East Side town house. But he was disinvited right after he voted against a $446 million proposal to help New York and other high-risk areas fight terrorism.

Mass human destruction is unfolding today in Sudan, with the potential to bring a death toll even higher than that in Rwanda.

I mean it's a useless argument. Human beings are being killed in the thousands, it could be in the hundreds of thousands. You don't need the term "genocide" to decide to help other human beings. In fact, once they finally agreed to using the term genocide it did absolutely nothing, it changed nobody's perspective in any way, shape or form that brought any result on the field. On the contrary, the arguments were that the killing was over now, so is the deployment really so essential?

That whole exercise of numbers became a great perversion, because ultimately you don't need four thousand bodies to say that we've got a real problem. And the proof of that is that how many people died in that market in Sarajevo? Sixty? The whole damn world got really concerned, and the western world mobilized everybody they could to respond to that. … It was just an absolute perverse exercise of developed nations using excuses of sovereignty and nationalism and involvement and self-interest, to argue the way around one of the most fundamental premises: Are these people human? Do you have a capability? Then why aren't you doing something? Why is it that the black Africans sitting there being slaughtered by the thousands get nothing? Why is it when a bunch of white Europeans get slaughtered in Yugoslavia you can't put enough capability in there?

"The United States bowed to broad opposition on the Security Council today and announced that it was dropping its effort to gain immunity for its troops from prosecution by the International Criminal Court."

[Y]ou should reign in your Cornerites’ Clinton-bashing. It undercuts the recent plea made by Bush-defenders about the harsh “tone” of the alleged Bush-haters and how disrepectful, coarse, and nasty our public discourse has now become.

Exhibit A: The Corner of the last few days. Plainly, the Clinton-hatred was always there, was very real, and was far more personal than the mostly policy-based criticisms of Dubya you see in the mainstream and liberal press. A bit much (and I’m no Clinton fan).

Those who hate Clinton hate Clinton because they hate Clinton. It may seem counter-intuitive in today's climate, but it seems to me that the Clinton haters have the more honorable position....It seems to me to hate a man because of his policies alone is not a respectable position, unless of course you make the argument that the policies themselves are flatly evil. I think that's an almost impossible sell with Bush.

"... marriage is not solely for adults. Marriage is also for children. In fact, marriage is principally for the nurturing and development of children."

"The children of America have the right to have a father and a mother.

... circumstances can take a parent from the home, but the child still has a mother and a father. If the parents are divorced, the child can visit each of them. If a mother or father is deceased, the child can learn about the qualities of the departed. His or her psychological development can still be influenced by the contrasting features of both genders."

Same sex marriage doesn’t hurt my marriage, or yours. But it may affect the development of children and thereby future society as a whole ..."

"Has America been wrong about marriage for 200-plus years? ... For each state to preserve its own power in relation to marriage, within the principle of Federalism, a federal amendment to define marriage is necessary."

The release Tuesday of hundreds of pages of internal memos by the White House was meant to blunt criticism that President Bush had laid the groundwork for the abuses of Iraqi prisoners by condoning torture. The president insisted Tuesday: "I have never ordered torture."

... a 2002 order signed by Bush says the president reserves the right to suspend the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners of war at any time.

... The White House released Defense Department memos detailing some of the harsh interrogation methods approved -- and then rescinded -- by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in 2002 and 2003. The administration continues to refuse to say what interrogation methods are approved for use now.

... An Aug. 1, 2002, Justice Department memo argues that torture -- and even deliberate killing -- of prisoners in the terror war could be justified as necessary to protect the United States. The memo from then-assistant attorney general Jay Bybee (who is now a justice on the 9th Circuit) also offers a restricted definition of torture, saying only actions that cause severe pain akin to organ failure would be torture.

... The Justice Department backed away from Bybee's memo Tuesday. Senior department officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the memo would be rewritten because it contains advice that is too broad and irrelevant.

“The content of this report represents shocking information about the tragic truth involving enormous human suffering,” Cavic said, adding that Serbs need to face “the truth ... which, although not complete, still is frightening.”

"Those who have committed these crimes have lost face and cannot expect the whole Serb nation to lose its face because of them," Cavic said.

“I can't know if this address will be any consolation to the relatives of the Muslim victims of the crime committed by the Serbs. (But) I understand and share the pain of those who are still searching for their beloved ones,” he said.

So far as Taricani [the reporter] is arguing that the Attorney General's regulations should be imposed on DeSisto [the special prosecutor] by the courts, the short answer is that a government prosecutor could have subpoenaed Taricani consistent with the regulations. These require that reasonable grounds exist to believe that a crime has occurred and that prior efforts have been made by the prosecutor to get the necessary information from non-media sources. 28 C.F.R. §§ 50.10(b),(f)(1)-(3) (2003).

In Branzburg [v. Hayes, a 1972 case], the Supreme Court flatly rejected any notion of a general-purpose reporter's privilege for confidential sources, whether by virtue of the First Amendment or of a newly hewn common law privilege. The Court stressed inter alia the importance of criminal investigations, the usual obligation of citizens to provide evidence, and the lack of proof that news-gathering required such a privilege.

[snip]

What Branzburg left open was the prospect that in certain situations--e.g., a showing of bad faith purpose to harass--First Amendment protections might be invoked by the reporter.

[snip]

The three leading cases in this circuit require "heightened sensitivity" to First Amendment concerns and invite a "balancing" of considerations (at least in situations distinct from Branzburg). In substance, these cases suggest that the disclosure of a reporter's confidential sources may not be compelled unless directly relevant to a nonfrivolous claim or inquiry undertaken in good faith; and disclosure may be denied where the same information is readily available from a less sensitive source.

How far these constraints may be constitutional requirements (as opposed to prudential considerations) is unsettled; the Supreme Court twice rejected any automatic requirement that non-confidential sources be exhausted. In all events, in this case there is no doubt that the request to Taricani was for information highly relevant to a good faith criminal investigation; and, as already noted, that reasonable efforts were made to obtain the information elsewhere.

International agency Oxfam today attacked donor governments for failing to deliver enough funding to help an estimated two million people affected by the crisis in Darfur, western Sudan.

According to latest United Nations figures, the governments of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and rich Arab countries have been some of the least generous.

[edit]

The United Nations has appealed for almost $350 million to cover urgent needs this year for all its agencies working on the crisis. Yet, according to latest UN figures, this appeal has so far received just one third of the money needed, with contributions totaling only around $114 million.

In terms of bilateral contributions to the 2004 appeal, France has given just $3.45 million, Spain $600,000, Germany $7.14 million, Japan $3.29m, Italy $2.4 million, Saudi Arabia $204,000, and United Arab Emirates $82,000.

By comparison, the US has given $89.5 million and the UK has given $52.1 million.

Three months after a get-tough general took command of the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects, prisoners began a flurry of suicide attempts, according to military records.

Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller took over as commander at Guantanamo in November 2002 after interrogators criticized his predecessor for being too solicitous for the detainees' welfare.

Between January and March 2003, 14 prisoners at Guantanamo tried to kill themselves, according to Pentagon figures. That's more than 40 percent of the 34 suicide attempts by 21 inmates since the prison was opened in January 2002.

"We think that pushing someone to the brink of suicide, particularly where the person comes from a culture with strong taboos against suicide, and it is evidenced by acts of self-mutilation, would be a sufficient disruption of the personality to constitute a `profound disruption,'" Bybee, now a federal appeals court judge, wrote to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales.

Miller is now in charge of all military-run U.S. prisons in Iraq, a job he took after news broke of beatings and sexual humiliations last fall at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad.

Miller had visited Abu Ghraib in August and September and recommended interrogation techniques that military lawyers said had to be modified to comply with the Geneva Conventions on treating prisoners of war.

He also acknowledges that his failure to take action in 1994 to stop genocide in Rwanda "became one of the greatest regrets of my presidency."

An allegation that a high-ranking al Qaeda member was an officer in Saddam Hussein's private militia may have resulted from confusion over Iraqi names, a senior administration official said yesterday.
...
One of them is Ahmad Hikmat Shakir Azzawi, identified as an al Qaeda "fixer" in Malaysia. Officials say he served as an airport greeter for al Qaeda in January 2000 in Kuala Lumpur, at a gathering for members who were to be involved in the attacks on the USS Cole, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Iraqi military documents, found last year, listed a similar name, Lt. Col. Hikmat Shakir Ahmad, on a roster of Hussein's militia, Saddam's Fedayeen.
...
Allegations that Ahmad Hikmat Shakir Azzawi was under Iraqi intelligence control were raised last year in an article in the Weekly Standard by Stephen F. Hayes, and later discounted by U.S. intelligence officials. No such tie was indicated in the commission report.

The commission staff report, released Wednesday, prompted a vigorous response from the Bush administration, which had cited since 2002 an al Qaeda-Hussein link as one reason for going to war. Just last week, Vice President Cheney said in a television interview he "probably" knew intelligence about Iraq's ties to terrorists that the commission had not received, but added, "I don't know what they know."

What made the game unique was that it managed to eliminate, if only for a few adrenalized minutes, all those cruel social hierarchies that torment you so when you're young. It was a wholly egalitarian pastime and for a wholly unromantic reason: In trying to dodge the ball, you often failed to dodge the fellow players. The pale forehead of a geek would collide with the Herculean nose of a bully, knocking him flat on his face, and that was more than OK: It was the whole point. No one was safe. Everyone got hurt. Dodgeball, in short, wasn't Lord of the Flies so much as Fight Club for the Saturday cartoon set: I hit you; you hit me; see you here tomorrow.

The potential effects on the federal budget of recognizing same-sex marriages are numerous. Marriage can affect a person's eligibility for federal benefits such as Social Security. Married couples may incur higher or lower federal tax liabilities than they would as single individuals. In all, the General Accounting Office has counted 1,138 statutory provisions--ranging from the obvious cases just mentioned to the obscure (landowners' eligibility to negotiate a surface-mine lease with the Secretary of Labor)--in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving "benefits, rights, and privileges."(1) In some cases, recognizing same-sex marriages would increase outlays and revenues; in other cases, it would have the opposite effect. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that on net, those impacts would improve the budget's bottom line to a small extent: by less than $1 billion in each of the next 10 years (CBO's usual estimating period). That result assumes that same-sex marriages are legalized in all 50 states and recognized by the federal government.
...
On balance, legalization of same-sex marriages would have only a small impact on federal tax revenues, CBO estimates. Revenues would be slightly higher: by less than $400 million a year from 2005 through 2010 and by $500 million to $700 million annually from 2011 through 2014. Those amounts represent less than 0.1 percent of total federal revenues.
...
Recognizing same-sex marriages would increase outlays for Social Security and for the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program, CBO estimates, but would reduce spending for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and Medicare. Effects on other programs would be negligible. Altogether, CBO concludes, recognizing same-sex marriages would affect outlays by less than $50 million a year in either direction through 2009 and reduce them by about $100 million to $200 million annually from 2010 through 2014.

The United States plans to turn over legal, but not physical, custody of Saddam Hussein and some other prisoners to the Iraqi interim government soon after it takes over on June 30, a senior official said on Tuesday.

[edit]

"We understand the importance of transferring the high-value detainees to the Iraqi interim government upon their request, which we anticipate will be received shortly after July 1," the official in Iraq's U.S.-led administration said.

"Because the Iraqi interim government is not currently in a position to safeguard these detainees, at least in large numbers, our current plan calls for the transfer of legal responsibility over a certain number of high-profile detainees...while physical custody will remain with the multinational force in Iraq," he told reporters.

SEC. 364. PROTOCOL ON MEDIA COVERAGE OF RETURN TO UNITED STATES OF REMAINS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES WHO DIE OVERSEAS.

(a) PROTOCOL REQUIRED.--(1) Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall develop a protocol that permits media coverage of the return to the United States of the coffins containing the remains of members of the Armed Forces who die overseas.

(2) The protocol shall ensure the preservation of the dignity of the occasion of the return to the United States of members of the Armed Forces who die overseas.

(3) The protocol shall ensure the preservation of the confidentiality of the identity of each member of the Armed Forces whose remains are returning to the United States.

(b) REPORT.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a copy of the protocol developed under subsection (a).

The Supreme Court yesterday struck down a Texas patients' rights law in a ruling that bars all states from letting patients sue managed-care companies whose refusal to pay for treatment allegedly results in death or injury.

... President Bush touted the Texas law in his 2000 campaign, but his Justice Department opposed it in the two cases decided jointly yesterday.

In 1995, (then-Governor) Bush vetoed a patient’s bill of rights, one that contained many of the provisions that he praised last night: report cards on health maintenance organizations, liberal emergency room access, and the elimination of a gag clause forbidding doctors from telling patients about more costly treatment options than HMO coverage.

At the time, Bush said these provisions would be too costly to business. Bush did sign some of the provisions into law two years later. But he opposed the right to sue HMOs in court, a right last night he termed "interesting."

In light of the horrific acts of violence committed in Saudi Arabia by a group of fanatical extremists, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is releasing the following advisory statement to members of the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities. ADC feels it prudent to issue this advisory statement as we have confirmed reports of anti-Muslim acts of vandalism in Florida and hate-filled messages posted in New Jersey and other states this past weekend.

1) IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS PLACED IN PHYSICAL DANGER BECAUSE OF YOUR ETHNICITY, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN

2) IF YOUR PLACE OF WORK, PLACE OF WORSHIP, OR SCHOOL IS IDENTIFIED WITH ARABS AND/OR MUSLIMS

3) IF YOUR CHILD CAN BE IDENTIFIED AS ARAB OR MUSLIM, OR MAY BE CONFUSED FOR BEING OF MIDDLE-EASTERN ORIGIN

Actress Jeri Ryan accused ex-husband Jack Ryan of insisting she go to "explicit sex clubs" in New York, New Orleans and Paris during their marriage -- including "a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling."

Jack Ryan wanted her to have sex with him while others watched, the star of "Boston Public" alleged.

The Republican U.S. Senate candidate dismissed his ex-wife's allegations as "ridiculous accusations" and "smut" that she was dishing out … Those were the key revelations in documents from a 2000 and 2001 child custody battle that a judge ordered unsealed Monday.

I am now holding in my hands a copy of Clinton's book. Just picking it up is a stupifying act. I have to finish a review for NR by noon tomorrow--wish me luck.

Before the war, do you think Iraq did or did not provide direct support to the Al Qaeda terrorist group?

Iraq provided support, YOUR SUSPICION ONLY: 38%

Iraq provided support, SOLID EVIDENCE OF THAT: 23%

Iraq did not provide support: 33%

DK/No opinion: 6%

Do you think the Bush administration intentionally misled the American public about possible links between Iraq and the Al Qaeda terrorist group, or do you think the administration told the American public what it believed to be true about this?

Intentionally misled the American public: 48%

Told the American public what it believed to be true: 50%

DK/No opinion 2%

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told U.N. members not to use him "as an alibi" for their own inaction in helping 2 million people caught in fighting in Sudan's Darfur region.

[edit]

"We should avoid the situations where we allow member states to hide behind the secretary general, use him as an alibi for their own inaction," he told U.N. radio on its launch of a new program on Africa on Monday.

One of the world's worst humanitarian situations - the strife-torn Darfur region of western Sudan - could deteriorate further now that the area's rainy season has begun, hampering the delivery of life-sustaining aid and fostering a breeding ground for infectious diseases, a United Nations spokesman said today.

A Sudanese refugee mother breastfeeds her malnourished child at a refugee camp set up near a school in El Genina, in Sudan's northern Darfur province.

"We train the elephants every day to play soccer, kick the ball, and to keep from stepping on the other people," said Pattarapon Meepan, 19, whose father owns the Elephant Palace.

Minimum number of misleading statements on Iraq made by the Bush Administration's top officials since March 2002 : 237

[Source: Committee on Government Reform, Washington, D.C.]

* * * * * * * *

Percentage of these that contradicted, made selective use of, or mischaracterized existing government intelligence : 100

[Source: Committee on Government Reform, Washington, D.C.]

* * * * * * * *

Days before last year's invasion of Iraq that Osama bin Laden called Saddam Hussein a "socialist infidel" : 36

[Source: Al Jazeera (Doha, Qatar)/BBC Monitoring Service, Caversham Park, U.K.]

Days into the 1999 NATO bombing of Kosovo that candidate George W. Bush observed, "Victory means exit strategy" : 17

[Source: Houston Chronicle/NATO, Brussels hdqtrs.]

Number of blank votes recorded by touchscreen ...... 137
machines in a January election for Fla.'s
House of Representatives

Votes by which the race was won ........................... 12

Public schools in the wealthiest neighborhoods win state team championships at more than twice the rate of schools in the least wealthy neighborhoods, according to a USA Today database analysis of championships in 10 core sports in 27 states in all regions of the country.

The trend is most pronounced in Kentucky, where schools in the wealthiest neighborhoods won 15 state championships to every one won by a school in the least wealthy neighborhoods.

Schools in wealthier neighborhoods often have booster clubs that raise money beyond what is budgeted by school districts and can be used for any number of wish-list functions.

"Think about coaches, equipment, weight rooms" and places to play, says Bruce Weber, publisher of Scholastic Coach and Athletic Director magazine. "All those are things that money can buy."

LOONEYVILLE, W.VA.--The Christian Coalition has fallen far from its glory days as a pro-Republican fighting force in the 1990s. But now Pastor J. Allen Fine has a new political weapon.

"Gay marriage is societal suicide," says Mr. Fine, a religious broadcaster who was recently installed as state director of the coalition's West Virginia chapter. "We were asked on our radio program, 'Is sodomy still a sin?' It brought in so many calls and the dish of the fax machine overflowed."

'Dear President Castro, the nation which bankrolled the Bay of Pigs and once seriously considered ways to poison your coffee hereby apologizes for interrupting your phone service with a crank call.' That's a little bizarre, even by the standards of the last two administrations.

NationalReview.com, the Web site of the stalwart and engaging political magazine, includes (a reference to CNN's Aaron) Brown ... to explain alleged hypocrisy in the media's Iraq coverage. The problem is that the (magazine's) premise was quite wet.

The magazine bashed Brown for declaring on air that one had to see the video of prison humiliations by Americans at the Abu Graib prison to believe it, while allegedly not showing available video of prison atrocities during the Saddam Hussein era.

For starters, [Brown] notes that the line attributed to him was first spoken by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He then notes that Brown's show, "Newsnight," did on Oct. 30, 2003, run a Saddam torture tape, perhaps even the one National Review chided the media for not running. He suggests the magazine's writer watch his show a bit more often.

After months of lies, the president has given millions of people around the world reason to doubt that he has sent Americans into battle for the right reasons. The fact that Americans are expressing these doubts shows that the president is losing his ability to lead. If the president refuses to resign for the sake of the nation, I believe he should be impeached and face Senate trial.
—Dick Armey, 1998

It's hard to believe that the memo was poorly researched, so it makes one wonder whether the Justice Department was being disingenuous. A lawyer who is arguing to a court is allowed to be disingenuous because it is up to the judge to evaluate that argument against the adversary's and decide what the law is. But a lawyer who is writing an opinion letter is ethically bound to be frank.

How could Bybee have written such a scandalous opinion? Lawyers who tell their clients what they want to hear -- rather than the advice they need -- are sometimes rewarded with career advancement. Last year, Jay Bybee was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

There is a proud tradition of lawyers bravely telling clients not what they want to hear, but what the law requires. Judge Bybee's actions stand in stark contrast to the best traditions of the bar.

The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour.

The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

I feel bound to mention in a particular way children who are suffering and those who often grow to adulthood without ever having experienced peace. Children's faces should always be happy and trusting, but at times they are full of sadness and fear ... I invite everyone to help children to grow up in an environment of authentic peace. This is their right, and it is our duty.

An international movement of Roman Catholic priests out of countries where they have been accused of abusing children has continued even after the abuse scandal that swept the U.S. church in 2002 ...

Hundreds of priests accused of abuse have been moved from country to country, allowing them to start new lives in unsuspecting communities and continue working in church ministries, the newspaper reported in yesterday's editions.

... In one case, the Rev. Frank Klep, a convicted child molester who has admitted abusing one boy and is wanted on more charges in Australia, was placed in Apia, Samoa, in the South Pacific. Australia has no extradition treaty with Samoa.

Klep told the newspaper that neither he nor the church feels an obligation to tell anyone about his past. Few, if any, locals are aware of his history.

"I'd prefer to just leave it," Klep said. "If I felt I was still a risk to their children, then I'd think differently. But I don't think I am at risk anymore."

THE BUSH administration is waking up to Darfur, the western Sudanese province where Arab death squads have herded African villagers into refugee camps and are waiting for them to die. Two weeks ago Andrew Natsios, the administration's top aid official, estimated that at least a third of a million refugees are likely to perish for lack of food or basic medicines, and earlier this month Secretary of State Colin L. Powell acknowledged to the New York Times that the death squads have been supported by Sudan's government. Mr. Powell added that State Department lawyers are determining whether the killing, which the administration has already characterized as ethnic cleansing, may qualify for the term "genocide" -- a determination that would impose moral, political and arguably also legal obligations to intervene in Darfur

Article 1

The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.

I hold little brief for those who gripe overmuch about sins of omission, but when it comes to genocide, that most capital of crimes, omission is commission. We ought to have learnt that by now. We have not. Never again? Talk is cheap: after half a century, the phrase is a cruel joke, resounding down the ages and spat in the face of a dying African, alone with the corpses of his children in the vast desert.

Sudan's president, under international pressure to end killings of civilians in the western Darfur region, said the armed forces will disarm the Arab militias blamed for what the United Nations has called a humanitarian crisis.

President Omar el-Bashir said in a statement Saturday said he was ordering a "complete mobilization" of all Sudanese army and security forces to disarm all Darfur's warring parties, including the janjaweed ? nomadic Arab militia that the government has been accused of supporting.

Relief operations throughout the region fall far short of the massive needs and, as currently designed, will not succeed in preventing an entirely man-made famine from wiping out tens of thousands of lives throughout the region.

"Yes, it's true that in recent months we've repeatedly learned of plots by a specific country to attack U.S. troops or targets, but, nonetheless, we will firmly oppose any U.S. attempt to take military action against the country plotting those attacks."

"The Kremlin leader's comments were certain to bolster Bush, whose campaign for re-election in November is under pressure from the Iraq crisis."