Covenant News Wire Service

Newborn Boy Found Dead Under Sink

Police discovered the body of a newborn child in a Highland Township mobile home on Sunday.

Deputies responded to the home in the 200 block of Tamarack after officials at Huron Valley Hospital contacted them. A female patient was being treated at the hospital for severe bleeding when doctors discovered an umbilical cord, according to a crime report from the Oakland County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies found traces of blood throughout the home before locating the body of a 9-pound boy, wrapped in a towel under the bathroom sink.

Sheriff's deputies confirmed the child was a victim of homicide.

The mother reportedly told hospital officials that she didn't realize she was pregnant.

The sheriff's department has not released the name or age of the child's mother. Sheriff Michael Bouchard told Local 4 that they will be seeking charges against her.


http://www.clickondetroit.c
om/news/4147107/deta:l.html

Hillary Collapses During Speech

AMHERST, N.Y. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton collapsed Monday while delivering a speech to a local chamber of commerce, but quickly recovered and resumed her busy schedule.

Clinton, D-N.Y., was going to be taken to a hospital but then decided against it after being treated by an emergency crew at the scene, according to WBEN radio in Buffalo.

Her Washington, D.C., office issued a statement to the public and colleagues assuring them of her health.

"Thank you for your calls and thoughts. Senator Clinton is A-OK. She hadn't felt well and her doctors thought it was a stomach virus. When she was speaking at an event today in Buffalo, she needed to sit down, fainted briefly, then got immediate medical attention, and felt well enough to proceed with her planned schedule in that area. Again, from all she and we know, she had a bug that regularly hits us all," the statement to the Senate reads.

While at the prestigious Saturn Club in Buffalo to deliver a speech, the former first lady told the 150-person audience that she was feeling weak from a stomach ailment. She then hit the ground and briefly passed out in front of the crowd, Colleen DiPirro, president of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce

http://www.foxnews.com/st
ory/0,2933,145922,00.html

Hillary invite draws protest from GOP front organizations

GOPers Protest Invitation

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Republican abortion opponents on Friday urged a Catholic college to withdraw its speaking invitation to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because she is pro-choice.

The Democrat senator is scheduled to speak at Canisius College on Monday on the government's role in caring for the sick. The address is part of the college's "Corporal Works of Mercy" lecture series.

An aide said Clinton would not discuss abortion as part of her speech, and never intended to. Nor had Clinton considered canceling her appearance because of the objections.

"She's absolutely planning on being there," spokeswoman Jennifer Hanley said.

The Diocese of Buffalo received about 20 calls of protest by early Friday afternoon, spokesman Kevin Keenan said.

"People are upset that a Catholic college would be hosting Senator Clinton because of her pro-choice position when it comes to abortion," Keenan said.

He indicated the diocese would weigh in on the discussion later Friday.

Canisius is an independent college founded by Jesuits in 1870. College officials said they, too, received calls and e-mails protesting the appearance, but also received support for the decision to invite Clinton.

"We've heard from alumni who think that having speakers on campus with whom you may not agree is an essential part of the learning process that takes place at a Jesuit university," said John Hurley, vice president for college relations.

Clinton, long a supporter of abortion rights, as recently as Monday repeated her call for all sides in the debate to seek common ground and work together to reduce the number of abortions. The remarks came during an address to 1,000 abortion rights supporters.

Hurley said the college takes seriously protesters' concerns, "but in this case, we don't think that having Senator Clinton here constitutes an endorsement of her position on abortion or even her position on other things."

The president of the Buffalo Regional Right to Life Committee disagreed.

"They're giving her a platform," said Stasia Zoladz Vogel. "We know what she stands for."

Vogel, who called Clinton's appearance an affront to Catholics, said she had brought her concerns to the Buffalo bishop, Canisius officials and former Democratic Rep. John LaFalce, the series organizer.

The Republican National Coalition for Life and the Cardinal Newman Society used their Web sites to urge members to complain to Canisius' president, the Rev. Vincent Cooke.

The appearance will not be the senator's first at the college. She most recently spoke in August, announcing a women's small-business program.


http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--clin
ton-abortion0128jan28,0,6104218.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Hillary Supports 'Parental Notification' Laws

Clinton is pressed to clarify her stance on abortion laws

ALBANY -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent remarks on abortion, in which she expressed support for parental notification laws, have provoked concern among some advocates of abortion rights, with one organization asking the senator to clarify her stance on such laws.

The advocates said Mrs. Clinton appeared to be going out of her way to appeal to opponents of abortion with her comments on parental notification, made at a news conference on Monday that followed a speech to about 1,000 supporters of abortion rights.

In response, two of Mrs. Clinton's aides qualified her support for parental notification laws, saying she preferred an approach like New York's, which does not require minors seeking abortions to tell their parents, but does provide them with information about their medical options.

Mrs. Clinton's speech near the State Capitol drew a standing ovation at the end. She had strong praise for some abstinence-education programs, and at one point said, "I, for one, respect those who believe with all their hearts and conscience that there are no circumstances under which any abortion should ever be available."

Some Democratic Party strategists have suggested reconsidering the party's staunch support for abortion rights as a way to broaden its appeal to voters. Mrs. Clinton, widely considered a possible candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, was asked at the news conference if her views were in line with the national Democratic Party's thinking.

"I think so," Mrs. Clinton said. "I'm only speaking for myself. This is what I have advocated and believed for a very long time." She added, "I supported parental notification with a judicial bypass," referring to legal exceptions in which a judge gives a minor permission to get an abortion without informing her parents.

Mrs. Clinton's remark on parental notification raised concerns at Family Planning Advocates of New York State, which had invited Mrs. Clinton to speak at its annual conference on Monday, and among other groups, according to abortion rights supporters.

JoAnn M. Smith, president of Family Planning Advocates, said yesterday that she called Mrs. Clinton's staff members after the senator's remarks because some people within her organization were concerned. She asserted, however, that it was not a widespread feeling within her group.

"We thought that on the question of parental notification, she had misspoken," Ms. Smith said. "I had thought that her position on all health care is that there should be informed consent, and I think that is what in fact her position is."

Two aides to Mrs. Clinton said yesterday that while she once supported Arkansas's parental notification law, she now preferred New York's approach. New York is one of more than a dozen states that do not have a parental notification requirement; instead, health care providers have to give information about medical options and risks to patients, including those seeking abortions.

Under the parental notification laws of Arkansas and other states, minors must involve at least one parent in the decision or else receive permission from a judge to obtain an abortion on their own.

"Parental notification is something that we are particularly concerned about in New York State," said Carla M. Goldstein, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of New York City, which works with and helps finance Family Planning Advocates. "Reporters and the general public really need to understand the dangers of parental notification. Judicial bypass can end up creating a much later-stage pregnancy."

Ms. Goldstein added, "It can take at least several days for a decision, and it can melt into weeks, and the procedure gets more dangerous, then costs more money, and then it can get even later."

"We're really concerned that the Democratic Party, of which Hillary is a leader, has indicated that they may need to soften their stance on protecting women's reproductive health and freedom," she added.

Asked if Mrs. Clinton still supported state parental notification laws that include the judicial bypass option, a spokeswoman, Jennifer Hanley, said: "This is too sensitive and important of an issue to make it as black and white as yes or no. The senator believes that New York is the model. In states where it is the only option, then yes, she supports parental notification with judicial bypass."

Some abortion rights advocates expressed other concerns yesterday. Barbara de Leeuw, a Family Planning Advocates board member, praised Mrs. Clinton's speech overall but said she was "a little disappointed" that the senator did not speak more about "abstinence plus," a term for sexual education programs that provide both abstinence counseling and health-conscious advice for sexually active people.

Blue Carreker, a spokeswoman for Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, who attended the speech and said she enjoyed it on the whole, made note of Mrs. Clinton's statement of "respect" for anti-abortion absolutists.

"We feel pretty under the gun with some of the more extreme elements of that movement," Ms. Carreker said. "We've seen violence, we've seen harassment, we've seen a well-orchestrated campaign."

"I think we're all aware that she and many other leaders in the Democratic Party are trying to test out new approaches to the issue of abortion," Ms. Carreker added. "What better audience to test this with than 1,000 people who are dedicated to reproductive rights?"


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/28/
nyregion/28hillary.html?oref=login

Democrats divided over rethink on abortion

The Democratic party, shaken by its loss on "moral values" in last November's elections, has embarked on a rethink of its approach to the core issue of abortion rights.

Two of the leading candidates for the leadership of the Democrat national committee on February 12 have called on the party to embrace opponents of abortion - an idea that would once have been unthinkable in an organization where the right to choose is sacrosanct.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, with an eye to her potential candidacy in 2008, also joined the debate this week, telling a largely pro-choice crowd she sought "common ground" on America's most divisive issue.

"We can all recognize that abortion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic, choice to many, many women," Senator Clinton told a rally marking the 32nd anniversary of the supreme court decision legalizing abortion.

Ann Lewis, an aide to Ms Clinton who was until recently the director of the DNC women's vote center, insisted the senator remained staunchly pro-choice: "There is no reason to think that talking about moral values is synonymous with overturning the supreme court decision."

But it is impossible to ignore the impetus for the Democrats' soul-searching: exit polls from last November's election found that 22% of voters had been swayed by "moral values".

The discovery comes at a time when supporters of abortion rights are already feeling under siege, with the religious right chalking up a number of victories in the first four years of the Bush administration.

The very idea of a rethink has outraged powerful women's organizations within the Democratic establishment. They argue that John Kerry's failure to make his case on national security or the economy played a far larger role in the Democrats' defeat.

But several prominent Democrats have called on the party to recast its approach. The new Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid of Nevada, is opposed to abortion, although he has said he will not challenge party doctrine.

In next month's DNC contest, Tim Roemer, a anti-abortion former congressman from Indiana, and Howard Dean, the former presidential hopeful, have already put abortion on the agenda.

"I have long believed that we ought to make a home for pro-life Democrats," Mr Dean told NBC television.

Other party activists say it is time for Democrats to catch up with changes since the supreme court decision.

"The kind of moral and ethical frame we put on the issue is not necessarily the same thing as changing our position as to whether or not abortion should be legal," said Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice.

She argues that the Democrats' almost reflexive support for the "women's right to choose" fails to acknowledge the complex changes since the supreme court decision.

Three decades on, most American women have no memory of the pre-pill days, when there was only limited access to reliable contraception, and deadly backstreet abortions.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/internat
ional/story/0,3604,1399425,00.html

MSNBC Anchor is Gay Keynote Speaker for Republican Party

Chris Matthews, MSNBC “Hardball” Anchor, is to be a keynote speaker
at the 2005 Sodomite Log Cabin Republicans National Convention

Chris Matthews hosts “Hardball,” a nightly hour of in-depth political analysis and debate, Monday through Friday, 7-8 p.m. ET. Matthews also anchors MSNBC’s election coverage through 2006. Log Cabin National Convention includes panel discussions and speeches on a variety of topics affecting sodomites in Americans. MSNBC's politcal anchor is scheduled to be the sodomites' keynote speaker, Saturday April 2, 2005 at the National Dinner, Royal Sonesta Hotel, 300 Bourbon Street, New Orleans, LA.

More Burials for Aborted Fetuses Unlikely

Hospital, clinic officials say mortuary violated agreements

News that cremated remains of fetuses from Avista Adventist Hospital were being used in mass burials at Boulder's Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church came as a surprise to the hospital's CEO, he said Monday.

The Louisville-based hospital is the second local health provider to learn of its role in the burials after church officials decided last week to go public with their ceremonies by inviting the media to Sunday's post-mass service.

Officials from both the hospital and the Boulder Abortion Clinic say Crist Mortuary of Boulder violated their agreements and improperly gave cremated remains to the church to place under a Memorial Wall for the Unborn.

Church leaders conceded Monday that Sunday's was likely their last mass ceremony.

Officials with Crist Mortuary did not return phone calls.

John Sackett, CEO of Avista Adventist Hospital, said Monday that he was "troubled" by news that ashes from the hospital also were being used in the burial service.

He said Avista had a verbal agreement with Crist Mortuary that the remains were to be cremated and buried at the mortuary. Only those patients who make special requests should have their remains buried at a church.

"If you are Catholic, this is a wonderful thing," Sackett said. "But if you didn't consent, it violates everything we are about and our values. I am troubled by this."

Sackett said the hospital is going to be more definitive with the mortuary about how remains are handled in the future. He said that will likely mean a written contract.

Dr. Warren Hern, director of the Boulder Abortion Clinic, vowed Monday that remains from his clinic will never again be sent to the parish, likely ending the church's ability to conduct mass burials for the unborn.

"That is a masterpiece of an understatement," he said.

Hern claims he has had a contract with Crist Mortuary since 2001 that stated remains would not be used for religious purposes. The contract was meant to respect the wishes of the clinic's patients, Hern said.

"And they are furious," he said of his patients.

After learning of Sunday's mass burial, Hern demanded that all the remains that had not been buried be returned to the mortuary. Crist only requested half of the ashes back, however, and the church buried what officials said were the remains of between 300 and 500 fetuses. Susan LaVelle, chairwoman of the church's Respect Life Committee, has said the church was not making a political statement by going public with the service near the Roe vs. Wade anniversary. Rather, the timing was coincidental.

Church officials said that while they are open to receiving the remains of fetuses from other organizations, they do not expect to have any more mass burials with remains from the Boulder Abortion Clinic or Avista Hospital.

For Karon Dickinson that is good news.

The 41-year-old Gunbarrel resident said that when she became pregnant with triplets three years ago, doctors told her that two didn't have heartbeats and the third's heart was beating much slower than is viable for life. She opted to abort the pregnancy at the clinic and is assuming the ashes are now buried at the memorial.

"I feel like they are taking advantage of people and they really don't understand the circumstances," she said. "I suffered and I grieved three years ago and this brought it back for me. I am not Catholic, and I wouldn't want a burial service that doesn't represent my faith."


http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/city_news
/article/0,1713,BDC_2422_3495687,00.html

Democrats in search of identity

Shift in abortion stance could restore the party
by Terry Eastland

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has given a speech on abortion that is befuddling the political class. Did she, in her speech Monday to abortion rights supporters, say what she's always said on abortion, or something new?

Ms. Clinton affirmed her long-standing support for abortion rights, as declared in Roe vs. Wade. But "then she quickly shifted gears," The New York Times declared in a front-page story, "offering warm words to opponents of legalized abortion and praising the influence of 'religious and moral values' on delaying teenage girls from becoming sexually active."

A day later a Clinton aide told reporters that the senator had said nothing new and that the speech didn't merit A-1 coverage. So The Times was wrong to see the speech as an effort to reach out "beyond traditional core Democrats who support abortion rights" – or was it?

This much is clear: It would have been front-page news everywhere if Ms. Clinton had said that it's time for her party to quit defending Roe vs. Wade.

That would have been heresy to "traditional core Democrats," of course, but the truth is that the Democrats' fierce attachment to Roe is a big reason for the party's gradual decline.

In Roe, another anniversary of which passed last week – with the usual arguments, rallies and meetings, including the one Ms. Clinton attended – the Supreme Court declared a constitutional right to abortion so sweeping that it may be exercised for any reason up to the point of viability and even after that to preserve a woman's health.

Roe nullified state abortion laws everywhere. Yet Roe was vulnerable on many grounds, not least that it lacked rooting in the text and history of the Constitution.

As abortion-rights supporter Benjamin Wittes writes in the current Atlantic Monthly, Roe had "a deep legitimacy problem." But soon the Democratic Party swore allegiance to just such a decision. That meant as well a commitment to its disenfranchising effects, since Roe mandated policy. The party came to shut down dissent (recall that Robert Casey, the pro-life Pennsylvania governor, was barred from speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 1992) even as it advanced ever more strident defenses of Roe (no "warm words" for pro-lifers).

In the last Senate, Democrats routinely resorted to filibusters to block judicial nominees they regarded as opposed to Roe. And in John Kerry the party offered a presidential candidate who refused to talk about abortion in terms other than the narrowly legal ones of Roe, and who vowed to name only judges who would support Roe.

Now, in the wake of an election in which the Democrats lost badly, Democrats for Life aren't the only Democrats who understand that the party's position on Roe helps explain the party's ebbing fortune since the '70s, when it still held large majorities in both houses. Consider that in 1977-78, 125 of 292 House Democrats were pro-life, while in the last Congress only 28 of 203 House Democrats were. "There are a number of districts," says Kristen Day, the group's executive director, "that could be won by a pro-life Democrat" but which are held by Republicans "because of the pro-life issue."

As reported by Newsweek, John Kerry now echoes Kristen Day: "We have to find a different way to deal with the issue of abortion ... We have to find a way to bring ... right-to-life Democrats back to the Democratic Party."

The best way to do that would be for the party to quit defending Roe vs. Wade, quit saying the sky would fall if Roe were overruled, and quit making fidelity to Roe a litmus test for judges or for positions of party leadership. And to welcome democratic debate in which "the deeply held differences of opinion" on abortion that Ms. Clinton acknowledged in her speech could finally be aired in ways that matter.

Imagine if Ms. Clinton, while observing that she would favor abortion rights in such a debate, would say that. Imagine if John Kerry or Howard Dean or any other nationally prominent Democrat would say that. It would be big news, for sure.

Terry Eastland is publisher of The Weekly Standard.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opini
on/viewpoints/stories/012705dnedieastland.930b3.html

Safe, Legal, and Never

Hillary Clinton's anti-abortion strategy

Two days ago, marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Hillary Clinton gave a speech outlining her views on abortion, contraception, and abstinence. "Clinton Seeking Shared Ground Over Abortions," said the front page of the New York Times. "Hillary in the middle on values issues," agreed the Washington Times. But Clinton isn't trying to end the abortion war. She's repositioning her party to win it.

Clinton's speech basically updated the pro-choice message for the age of terrorism. She began by talking about Romania and China, two regimes that in the last two decades forced women to abort (in China's case) or not to abort (in Romania's case) pregnancies. Fifteen years ago, when legal abortion in this country was in doubt, pro-choice Democrats framed abortion laws as big government to turn libertarian voters against pro-life Republicans. Now that abortion's legality seems more secure, it's harder to scare libertarians about government in their bedrooms. And post-9/11 conservatism differs in emphasis from the conservatism of the late 1980s and 1990s. It's more like the Cold War, focused on right and wrong and freedom abroad. Tyranny overseas resonates at home. Bush says he's liberating women around the world; Clinton said Bush is repressing them with a "global gag rule" against internationally funded family planning.

It's hard for Americans to remember abortion bans here, much less imagine them today. What China and Romania illustrate is the ugly mechanics of turning anti-abortion morality into law. "Once a month, Romanian women were rounded up … taken to a government-controlled health clinic, told to disrobe while they were standing in line … [and] examined by a government doctor with a government secret police officer watching," Clinton recalled. "In China, local government officials used to monitor women's menstrual cycles and their use of contraceptives." In both cases, "the government was dictating the most private and important decisions," said Clinton. "With all of this talk about freedom as the defining goal of America, let's not forget the importance of the freedom of women to make the choices that are consistent with their faith and their sense of responsibility to their family and themselves."

Note the concluding words: faith, responsibility, family. This is the other side of Clinton's message: against the ugliness of state control, she wants to raise the banner of morality as well as freedom. Pro-choicers have tried this for 40 years, but they always run into a fatal objection: Abortion is so ugly that nobody who supports it can look moral. To earn real credibility, they'd have to admit it's bad. They often walk up to that line, but they always blink.

Not this time. Abortion is "a sad, even tragic choice to many, many women," said Clinton. Then she went further: "There is no reason why government cannot do more to educate and inform and provide assistance so that the choice guaranteed under our constitution either does not ever have to be exercised or only in very rare circumstances."

Does not ever have to be exercised. I searched Google and Nexis for parts of that sentence tonight and got no hits. Is the press corps asleep? Hillary Clinton just endorsed a goal I've never heard a pro-choice leader endorse. Not safe, legal, and rare. Safe, legal, and never.

Once you embrace that truth—that the ideal number of abortions is zero—voters open their ears. They listen when you point out, as Clinton did, that the abortion rate fell drastically during her husband's presidency but has risen in more states than it has fallen under George W. Bush. I'm sure these trends have more to do with economics than morals, but that's the point. Once we agree that the goal is zero, we can stop asking which party yaps more about fighting abortion and start asking which party gets results.

Admit the goal is zero, and people will rethink birth control. "Seven percent of American women who do not use contraception account for 53 percent of all unintended pregnancies," Clinton said. That number drew gasps from her pro-choice audience. I bet if she translated it to abortions, it would knock folks in Ohio out of their chairs. How many abortions are you willing to endure for the sake of avoiding the word "condom"? Clinton says we can cut the abortion rate through sex education, money for family planning, and requiring health insurers to cover contraceptives. What's your plan? Ban abortion and monitor everyone's womb like Romania did? Or ban it and look the other way while the pregnancies go on and the quacks take over?

Critics of birth control say the surest way to avoid unintended pregnancy is to avoid sex. They're right. I've heard a few liberals complain that this message is too preachy and encroaches on the sexuality of teenagers. With all due respect, it's time for Democrats to throw these people overboard. Many profound things are at stake in the abortion debate. Afternoon delight isn't high on the list.

Clinton seems to understand this. In her speech, she recalled campaigning for "teenage celibacy" a decade ago. She emphasized "the important role that parents can play in encouraging their children to abstain from sexual activity. … Research shows that the primary reason that teenage girls abstain is because of their religious and moral values. We should embrace this—and support programs that reinforce the idea that abstinence at a young age is not just the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do."

Abstain. Parents. Religious and moral values. The right thing. This is the way to shake up the Democratic position on abortion—not with tiny defensive concessions but with a big offensive to promote responsibility and bring down the abortion rate. Bush has used a similar strategy to commandeer the education issue. According to polls, it has worked.

A message of responsibility allows Democrats to turn the moral tables on the GOP. "I for one respect those who believe with all their hearts and conscience that there are no circumstances under which any abortion should ever be available," Clinton declared. Many reporters touted that line as an olive branch. They overlooked her next sentence: "But that does not represent even the majority opinion within the anti-abortion community. There are exceptions for rape and for incest, for the life of the mother." In other words, Clinton has read the polls. She knows that most people who oppose abortion think it should be allowed for rape victims, because these victims didn't choose to have sex. From a crude standpoint of sexual responsibility, they're innocent.

Clinton spent much of her speech excoriating the administration on this question. She blasted the Food and Drug Administration for dragging its feet on approving Plan B, a morning-after pill. Then she demanded that the Justice Department add discussion of such pills to its treatment protocol for rape survivors who "have had an unwanted pregnancy physically forced upon them." Aiming at cultural conservatives as well as liberals, she asked, "How is it possible that women who have been so victimized by violence can be victimized again by ideology?"

Above all, a message of responsibility breaks down the distinction between motherhood and contraception—the widespread attitude that there are two kinds of women: those who have babies and those who have birth control pills or, failing that, abortions. In reality, said Clinton, they are the same woman. "An average woman who wants two children will spend five years pregnant or trying to get pregnant and roughly 30 years trying to prevent pregnancy," she observed. You don't have to be against motherhood to line up behind birth control as the best anti-abortion strategy. You just have to be for it.

http://slate.msn
.com/id/2112712/

GA Bill Outlaws Abortion

Georgia Bill Outlaws Abortion
Excerpts from an abortion ban, House Bill 93, proposed Tuesday by Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta: "The State of Georgia has the duty to protect all innocent life from the moment of conception until natural death." "After three decades of legal human abortion, it is now abundantly clear that the practice has negatively impacted the people of this state in many ways, including economic, health, physical, psychological, emotional and medical well-being." "A fetus is a person for all purposes under the laws of this state from the moment of conception." "The practice of abortion has caused the citizens of this state an inestimable amount economically, including ... a significant reduction of the tax base and of the availability of workers, entrepreneurs, teachers, employees and employers that would have significantly contributed to the prosperity of this state." "Any person performing an abortion in this state shall be guilty of a felony."

Lawmaker's Bill Outlaws Abortion

Georgia Republican introduces legislation against pro-abort wishes
Without the blessing of pro-aborts in his own party, a Republican Georgia legislator has introduced a bill outlawing nearly all abortions in the state.

Rep. Bobby Franklin put forth the legislation Tuesday despite criticism from fellow Republican members of the state House.

According to a report in the Marietta Daily Journal, Franklin says his bill stand a better chance this year than last because the Democrats no longer control state government.

"If you don't have hope, you don't have any business being up here," he said, responding to criticism that his bill is likely dead in the water.

House members slammed the bill, saying it runs afoul of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

"This is just extreme and irresponsible," Rep. Rob Teilhet, a Democrat, told the paper. "It's flagrantly unconstitutional, and I'm just not sure what the point is."

Teilhet says Georgians "should ask themselves if they want legislators who propose legislation to make a point or if they propose a bill that really is about making life better."

Franklin's legislation prohibits abortion in all cases except when the mother's life is in danger and also makes it a felony for any doctor to perform the procedure.


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ne
ws/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42572

Gasps as Hillary woos pro-life vote

Senator Hillary Clinton, seen by many Democrats as their best bet to recapture the White House in 2008, has made an extraordinary appeal for support from Right-wing religious groups.

The wife of the former president Bill Clinton said she sought common ground on abortion and described herself as a "praying person".

Her words represented an attempt to repackage her image for American conservatives, many of whom despise what they see as her radical feminist views. During a speech on Monday night to mark the anniversary of Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalised abortion, Mrs Clinton drew gasps from an audience of hundreds of pro-abortion activists.

The New York Times reported that others shook their heads during the speech in Washington, especially when she cited statistics designed to show that pro- and anti-abortion groups could unite over the need to prevent unplanned pregnancies.

"There is an opportunity for people of good faith to find common ground in this debate. We should agree that we want every child in this country to be wanted, cherished and loved," Mrs Clinton said. "We can all recognise that abortion in many ways represents a sad, even tragic, choice to many, many women."

She also praised religious groups which have run chastity campaigns for young people, encouraging millions of teenagers to pledge sexual abstinence before marriage. Last week in Boston, Mrs Clinton spoke of God more than a dozen times and stated that she had always been a "praying person".

Backing President George W Bush's faith-based initiatives, which offer federal money for religious groups' charitable works, she said: "There is no contradiction between support for faith-based initiatives and upholding our constitutional principles."

Addressing a crowd including many religious leaders, she said there must be room for religious people to "live out their faith in the public square".

The New York senator has long been an advocate of a woman's right to choose. In 2000, she wrote in the New York Times: "I am and always have been pro-choice and that is not a right anyone should take for granted. There are a number of forces at work in our society that would try to turn back the clock … We must remain vigilant."

Yesterday, pro- and anti-abortion groups agreed that the speech marked a naked attempt to soften Mrs Clinton's image in "Red America", the heartland states that have twice voted Mr Bush into office.

Since November's election, the Democrats have engaged in a prolonged bout of introspection as to how to woo religious voters, who care profoundly about moral issues, particularly abortion. Many are angry with Mr Bush for failing to ban the procedure altogether.

Mrs Clinton may also be hoping to mobilise the black vote, which also has a big Christian element. Her husband had a genuine rapport with many blacks which paid off at the polls.

Either way, Mrs Clinton must address moral issues if she is to persuade Democrats that she is the right candidate for 2008. Some senior party figures have questioned her ability to reach beyond the traditional Democratic base.

But others, such as Dick Morris, a former senior adviser and pollster for Bill Clinton, said this month: "There is no way she is not going to win that nomination".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/200
5/01/26/whill26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/26/ixworld.html

Hillary's Abortion remarks criticized
In her remarks, Hillary Clinton said she would continue to support keeping abortion legal, but respected those who wish to ban it. She called for both sides to seek common ground around an effort to reduce abortion by curbing unwanted pregnancies. Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines said her comments were not new: "As Senator Clinton has done for over a decade, she emphasized her desire to focus on making abortions safe, legal and rare, and she emphasized that we should be able to find some common ground." "It's about time a Democrat stood up and said there are too many abortions in America, we ought to restrict the number, and people who oppose abortions are good people," Democrat political strategist Paul Begala said.

A Socialist-Communist Iraq

Iraqi Politicians Promise Socialist, Communist Solutions

Socialized Health Care, Subsidized Education and Welfare
WASHINGTON -- What kind of Iraqi government is the Bush administration sending Americans to fight and die for? What kind of government is Bush spending billions of U.S. tax-dollars to establish in Iraq? According to the U.S. State Department's Iraq Embassy website the political solutions to the problems in Iraq read like the Communist Manifesto. Iraqi political parties are promising socialized health care, government subsidized education and a government welfare system eliminating unemployment and poverty.

Several Iraqi parties mention the desire to work toward ensuring free universal health care in their party platforms. Several parties propose programs to eliminate illiteracy and guarantee free education for all Iraqi citizens. The Gathering of Independent Democrats addresses joblessness head-on, stating its ambition “to eliminate unemployment and poverty and invest Iraq’s resources for the welfare of its people and to improve their standards of living.” The United Iraqi Alliance likewise promises “to provide work opportunities to all Iraqis who are capable of working.”

Is establishing a Socialist-Communist agenda what Bush means when he says, "It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world."?

Communist Party Manifesto
EXCERPTS: "At this stage, the laborers still form an incoherent mass scattered over the whole country, and broken up by their mutual competition. If anywhere they unite to form more compact bodies, this is not yet the consequence of their own active union, but of the union of the bourgeoisie, which class, in order to attain its own political ends, is compelled to set the whole proletariat in motion, and is moreover yet, for a time, able to do so. At this stage, therefore, the proletarians do not fight their enemies, but the enemies of their enemies, the remnants of absolute monarchy, the landowners, the non-industrial bourgeois, the petty bourgeois. Thus, the whole historical movement is concentrated in the hands of the bourgeoisie; every victory so obtained is a victory for the bourgeoisie."

"Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty. But, you say, we destroy the most hallowed of relations, when we replace home education by social. And your education! Is not that also social, and determined by the social conditions under which you educate, by the intervention direct or indirect, of society, by means of schools, etc.? The Communists have not intended the intervention of society in education; they do but seek to alter the character of that intervention, and to rescue education from the influence of the ruling class."

32nd March for Life: Report

By Doug Phillips

Today was 32nd March for Life in opposition to abortion. My family has attended every March since 1974. In God's providence, this year was the first that my father was unable to attend. Dad was sorely disappointed.

Don't Wait for Heart Change for Law Change

“We don’t need to just change laws, we need to change hearts.”

On its face, this statement from President Bush made by speaker phone to the 2005 March for Life is completely true.

The problem is that when politicians make these comments it is usually code for the following conclusion: “We can not and WILL NOT take the legitimate and necessary action to shut down abortion because the American people are not emotionally ready. Therefore before proposing and implementing God-honoring measures, we will wait for the emotions of the people to catch up with our duty to prevent baby vivisection.”

But should godly leaders wait for consensus before enforcing righteous laws or acting to stamp out abominations?

Of course not. The Bible teaches that those who are in authority must rule righteously according to the law of God. If 99% of the voting public believes that parents may execute their children, our leaders must stand with God and not with the rebellious people. Consensus is a blessing. Consensus is a legitimate goal. But consensus is irrelevant to duty. If it is within the power and jurisdiction of a magistrate to prevent moral evil, he must, irregardless of whether any consensus exists for his action.

Yet another question is this: What happens when God’s law is enforced before the people “change their heart” (i.e. where no consensus for such laws exists?)

Cultural Polytheists and partisan sycophants often try to justify their pragmatic response to evangelical political infidelity by claiming that nothing can be done by “Christian” leaders in a nation of many faiths where there is no consensus for righteousness. Some go so far as to claim that it is morally wrong to enforce the law of God unless enough people have “changed hearts” to show statistical support for righteous laws.

But let me ask another question: Should parents wait for their children to have “changed hearts” before enforcing God’s law in the home? Should the rod of correction be withheld until sons and daughters “believe in their hearts” that such discipline is a good thing? Such thinking is a formula for perpetual infidelity.

The fact is this: Enforcing the law of God against unruly and sin-sick people is one of God’s appointed means for bringing about “changed hearts.” We are to enforce the rod on our children so that we will deliver their souls from Hell. In a nation where hearts are turned away from God, nonetheless, the enforcement of the law serves as a restraint against sin, and a God-appointed instrument to put people in the fear of the Lord.

Abortion is criminal conduct. It is unlawful. An aggressive president may not be able to shut down abortion in America in one day, but he can determine to only appoint judges who will enforce God’s law concerning the life of the unborn. He can defund all subsidies to abortion providers. In fact, he can make substantial efforts to wipe out the holocaust of babies. To read about the first one hundred ways a Christian president can shut down abortion in America, click here:

The First 100 Ways

Dear friends, the problem is not that we are unable to shut down abortion. The problem is not that we need to wait to act for people to have changed hearts. The problem is that when given an opportunity too many refuse to do what it is their oath and duty to do. Even worse, when those few politicians and judges actually do the right thing (i.e. Roy Moore) professing Christians end up crucifying them to advance their political careers. To quote Pogo: We have met the enemy, and he is us.


http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/?
archive=/2005_01_01_index.htm#110662401266588112

31 Marines killed in helicopter crash in Iraq

Four other Marines killed in apparent ambush

CNN Reports: Deadliest day for U.S. in Iraq war
31 Marines killed in chopper crash;
5 troops in other incidents
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Thirty-one Marines were killed in a helicopter crash near Iraq's border with Jordan, bringing the number of U.S. troops killed Wednesday to 36 -- the deadliest day for U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (MSNBC) - In the deadliest single incident involving U.S. troops in Iraq, 31 U.S. Marines were killed Wednesday after their helicopter crashed in the western desert area of Iraq, U.S. military officials told NBC News.

There were apparently no survivors among the Marines, who were mostly from the 1st Marine Division and were on board a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter that crashed near Ar Rutbah, officials said. Most of the Marines are believed to have been based in Camp Pendleton in Calif.

According to the initial investigation, the helicopter crashed due to a mechanical failure or poor weather conditions, military officials said. Iraq was hit by severe sandstorms that grounded all military aircraft two days ago.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the administration was "saddened anytime there is loss of life of our troops in harm's way."

President Bush, for his part, held a news conference Wednesday at which he defended his policy in Iraq and said he was confident that "millions of Iraqis will show bravery" by voting on Sunday. He declined to comment on the details of the crash, saying that he wasn't aware of all the facts.

Four more killed

In a separate incident, four U.S. Marines were killed in action in western Iraq, officials said.

The statement gave no further details, but WABC reporter Jim Dolan, who was embedded with the troops who were attacked, said the deaths came when insurgents ambushed a Marine convoy leaving the town of Haditha, west of Baghdad, hitting a vehicle with a rocket-propelled grenade.

News of the U.S. casualties came as Iraq was engulfed in a fresh wave of violence aimed at destabilizing the nation ahead of the election.

Three car bombs exploded Wednesday in Riyadh, a tense town north of Baghdad, killing at least five people, including three policemen. One of the car bombs targeted a U.S. convoy but there was no report of casualties, police said.

In Baghdad’s Sadr City district, Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops raided a Shiite mosque, detaining up to 25 followers of a radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, police and the cleric’s supporters said. Insurgents also attacked buildings linked to Sunday’s national elections. The rebels have threatened attacks against polling centers, candidates and voters in an attempt to derail the vote. Two schools slated to be used as polling stations were bombed overnight, and a bomb was found in a third school but defused.

Copter losses

The U.S. military has lost at least 33 helicopters since the March 2003 start of the Iraq conflict, according to a study by the Brookings Institution. At least 20 of them were brought down by hostile fire, the institution said.

Before Wednesday, the deadliest single incident involving U.S. troops in Iraq took place on Nov. 15, 2003, when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed in Mosul after colliding while trying to avoid ground fire, killing 17 U.S. soldiers and wounding five.

Earlier that same month, on Nov. 2, 2003, a Chinook transport helicopter was shot down by shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile near Fallujah, killing 16 American soldiers and wounding 26.

Last month, a suicide bomb exploded at a mess tent in a base near Mosul, killing 22 people including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.

Bombs in Baghdad

Meanwhile, a U.S. convoy was attacked Wednesday on the dangerous road to Baghdad airport and at least one vehicle was destroyed, witnesses said. The U.S. and British embassies banned their staffs from traveling on the road last year because of repeated attacks on the highway. There was no word on casualties.

U.S. troops found at least six bombs at different locations around Baghdad, the military said. Iraqi police discovered two more bombs in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where turnout in the Sunday national elections is expected to be high.

In a statement, the U.S. command said the six bombs were discovered early Wednesday in widely scattered areas of the Iraqi capital.

“We’ve been very successful finding and destroying improvised explosive devices in Baghdad, limiting the insurgent’s ability to kill or injure innocent Iraqis,” said Maj. Philip Smith, a spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division and Task Force Baghdad.

The car bombs in Riyadh, located about 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk, exploded at a police station, in front of the mayor’s office and along a road used by U.S. troops, police said. Nine people were injured in addition to the five deaths.

Residents of the insurgent-filled city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, reported clashes there Wednesday between U.S. troops and rebels. The fighting erupted when militants attacked a U.S. patrol with rocket-propelled grenades, the residents said. One Iraqi was killed and two were wounded, doctors said.


http://msnbc.msn
.com/id/6847225/

Witches Meet on Base

Wiccans Have Military Approval to Gather

Some members of the U.S. Air Force stationed at a Texan base have been attending a weekly gathering of the Wiccan sect. The meetings are carried out with military approval, as the base is one of the most religiously diverse in the nation, and that the base stresses first amendment religious rights.

According to the base spokesperson, religious groups are allowed unless accommodation is “contrary to good order and discipline.” In the base’s policy handbook, even the Church of Satan would be eligible to install a chaplain, though no spokesperson for that church has tried.

"All individuals assigned to Lackland are free to worship the faith of their choosing, whether traditional or non-traditional, as guaranteed to each of us under the U.S. Constitution," Oscar Balladares, the chief of Media Relations at the base, told WND, emphasizing that "Wiccan meetings revolve around discussions of caring for the Earth and its resources and do not include any type of Satanic worship."

"This form of witchcraft has nothing to do with sorcery, and is instead based on a reverence for nature, the worship of a fertility goddess, a restrained hedonism and group magic aimed at healing," states encyclopedia.com. (Exodus 22:18)

"At Lackland, Wiccans are provided the opportunity to meet for organizational and informational meetings and their activities are not deemed to be contrary to good order and discipline nor in violation of existing laws or policy," said Balladeres.

http://news.cross
map.com/read/2039

One World Global Agenda

World Economic Forum 2005

CEOs, Politicians Gather for World Forum
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Amid the expected star power of actors and singers, participants in this year's World Economic Forum said over-regulation is the biggest threat to global business growth. But whether that will stymie business from making headway in 2005 and beyond is likely to take a back seat to more serious issues at the annual corporate and celebrity gathering of the top names in industry, commerce, politics and entertainment.

Europe, World Economic Forum 2005 annual meeting gets underway in Davos
DAVOS, Switzerland -- More than 2,200 business, political, academic and media leaders convened on Wednesday in the Swiss resort of Davos for five days of brainstorming on the planet’s most pressing issues. The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting formally kicks off at 1730 GMT with WEF founder and chairman, Professor Klaus Schwab, and Swiss Confederation President Samuel Schmid welcoming participants to the session taking place under the slogan “Taking Responsibility for Tough Choices”. While both Clinton and his former vice president, Al Gore, will be participating in various panel debates during this year’s session, their attendance stands in marked contrast to the low level participation by representatives of the current administration of President George W. Bush. Special US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao were the sole top-level administration officials scheduled to visit Davos this year.

Saudi Team to Attend WEF
JEDDAH -- Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, (SAGIA), will lead a delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos. During the five-day summit that begins on Jan. 26, Al-Dabbagh will attend a number of meetings, introduce the Saudi investment climate to businessmen and give his vision of the future of the Saudi economy. He will also meet a number of CEOs of international companies in order to promote possible investment in the Kingdom. Al-Dabbagh said the delegation would highlight Saudi Arabia's efforts to improve its investment climate; an important aspect of this is simplifying and speeding the process for both domestic and foreign investment and offering benefits to both foreign and local investors. The Davos forum is one of the most important economic forums in the world. Thousands of economists, politicians, CEOs of businesses as well as world leaders regularly attend the forum.

'Moving The Global Agenda Forward'
The Wonderful World Of WEF
NEW YORK -- According to Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), this is a "crucial moment for the world and its leaders." So, what is a world leader to do? For Schwab, the answer is obvious: he should drop everything, go to a remote Swiss mountain village and mingle. WEF, better known as Davos, bills itself as the most important meeting of its kind in the world, probably because, year after year, it assigns itself the most important of tasks--which, by the Forum's definition, is "moving the global agenda forward in the broader interests of improving the state of the world." This year, the five-day gathering of great men and their shoulder-rubbers, will include more than 2,250 participants from 96 countries. That's about the same number of nations and participants as last year, but a more detailed look at the guest list shows that the WEF may be losing some of its cache.

Feature: The 5,118 ft. high debating club
Davos, Switzerland -- Spending five days holed up in a Swiss congress center putting to right the world's wrongs with thousands of other earnest politicians, businessmen, policy wonks, journalists and celebrities might not be everybody's idea of fun. Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway Monday described the very prospect as "pure torture." But year after year the most powerful people on the planet return to the ski resort of Davos for their annual fix of public debate and private arm-twisting.

Chirac, Blair head to Swiss Alps with Bono, Jolie for government-business forum
DAVOS, Switzerland -- French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are among European leaders taking centre stage at the World Economic Forum, an annual meeting of the rich, powerful and famous. Celebrities from rock star Bono to actress Angelina Jolie were also expected for five days of meetings starting Wednesday. Topping the agenda for the forum in this Swiss ski resort: how to more effectively fight poverty and AIDS in the developing world.

Sustainability report: ammunition for Lisbon mid-term review
Sustainable Development: EU Strategy
On the day the 'Lisbon' Barroso commission is presenting its priorities for the next five years to the European Parliament (see EurActiv 24 January), the 2005 "Environmental Sustainability Index" report (to be presented to the Davos World Economic Forum on 27 January) confirms that competitiveness and strong sustainability can go hand in hand. The "Environmental Sustainability Index" (ESI) for 2005 was produced by a team of environmental researchers from the Yale and Columbia Universities, in co-operation with the World Economic Forum and the EU's Joint Research Centre.

Newborn Thrown in Trash

Disposable baby generation

Palm Beach Worker Finds Dead Baby In Trash

WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- A worker sorting trash found a dead newborn on a conveyor belt at the Palm Beach County recycling center, police said.

Employees discovered the naked infant while separating metal and aluminum recyclables shortly after 9 p.m. Monday. There was no blanket, bag or other evidence found with the body that could help to identify him, Detective Charles Reed said.

Reed estimated that the baby was between a day and a week old.

The body was intact, but "it was not in the best of condition," Reed said. "It was mixed in with all the trash."

The infant could have come from anywhere in the county. More than 3,000 tons of trash are dumped daily at the facility and go through a series of machines before landing on the conveyor belt where workers separate the recyclables.

Detectives will try to track down the baby's mother by filing through hospital and doctor records and by combing through the trash for clues, Reed said.

John Booth, executive director of the solid waste authority, said it was unusual they found the baby at all.

"This would be the only place where the baby could be discovered," he said, because most of the process is automated.


http://www.wtlv.com/news/florida
/news-article.aspx?storyid=31279

CPC Vandalized

More than half the windows were shattered

Pregnancy Center Vandalized On Roe v. Wade Anniversary
Bowie, MD. -- The director of a Bowie pregnancy clinic says someone vandalized the clinic on Saturday -- the 32nd anniversary of the Row versus Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Executive Director Pamela Palumbo says vandals smashed windows and spray-painted pro-choice graffiti at the Bowie-Crofton Pregnancy Center on Northview Drive.

The nonprofit volunteer clinic provides intervention and prevention education, pregnancy counseling and sonograms to women.

Palumbo says more than half of the windows were shattered. The sidewalks and brick walls were spray-painted with words like "Choice" and "Womyn haters" and the anarchy symbol.

Police said no arrests have been made.

http://www.thewbalchannel.c
om/news/4125311/detail.html

P.G. clinic that counsels against abortion vandalized

http://www.thewbalchannel.c
om/news/4125311/detail.html

Arundel digest: Area news briefs

Clinic vandalized on abortion anniversary

Someone smashed windows and sprayed pro-choice graffiti at the Bowie-Crofton Pregnancy Clinic on the 32nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

The center, located at 4341 Northview Drive in Bowie, is a nonprofit volunteer clinic that provides intervention and prevention education, pregnancy counseling and sonograms to women.

After the physician next door called her on Saturday morning, Executive Director Pamela Palumbo said she found more than half of the windows were shattered.

Words such as "Choice" and "Womyn haters" and the anarchy symbol of an A with a circle around it had been sprayed on the sidewalks and brick walls.

"I just would take these actions as desperate attempts against choosing life," Ms. Palumbo said.

She said the clinic was almost ready to reopen this morning.

Prince George's County Police were unavailable for comment.

Court Watch

Court rejects 'Choose Life' plates case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined Monday to consider whether states may offer license plates with pro-life messages, leaving lower courts divided over whether the programs in a dozen states unconstitutionally restrict dissenting views. Without comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling that said South Carolina's license plates, which bear the slogan "Choose Life," violate the First Amendment because abortion rights supporters weren't given a similar forum to express their beliefs.

Fla. Loses Appeal in Terri Schiavo Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused on Monday to step in and keep a severely brain-damaged woman hooked to a feeding tube, all but ending a long-running right-to-die battle pitting her husband against her parents. It was the second time the Supreme Court dodged the politically charged case from Florida, where Republican Gov. Jeb Bush successfully lobbied the Legislature to pass a law to keep 41-year-old Terri Schiavo on life support.

Court OKs Dog Sniff During Traffic Stop
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police can have dogs check out motorists' vehicles for drugs even if officers have no particular reason to suspect illegal activity. The 6-2 opinion, written by Justice John Paul Stevens, stipulates police dogs may sniff only the outside of a car after a motorist is lawfully stopped for a traffic violation, such as speeding or failing to stop at a stop sign.

Court Orders Review of Sentencings
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court asked federal courts Monday to reconsider sentences for hundreds of defendants who contend they were wrongly punished under a sentencing system the court declared unconstitutional earlier this month.

Rehnquist Spurs Talk of Court Vacancy
WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's frailty at the inauguration is renewing speculation the Supreme Court soon will have its first vacancy in more than a decade. How soon is anybody's guess, though later rather than sooner may be better for President Bush, whose programs could stall in Congress once a fight over a high-court nomination begins.

Bush Refuses To Step Up And Be A Man

President Gives Pro-Lifers More 'Mealy Mouth Rhetoric' and No 'Substance'

`We're making progress,' Bush tells 32nd March for Life
WASHINGTON -- President Bush touted recent gains in restricting abortion at a National Mall rally by abortion opponents Tuesday, but he also urged patience among his fervent supporters, who hope that electoral victories in 2004 will bring major change to abortion laws in 2005.

"The America of our dreams, where every child is welcomed in law -- in life, and protected in law may still be some ways away," Bush said in a telephone address at the annual March for Life rally, held to oppose the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Bush cited last year's ban on what opponents call partial-birth abortion and a new law that allows prosecutors to charge a person who harms or kills a pregnant woman with "harming or killing the woman's unborn child" as gains in creating a "culture of life" in America.

Speaking from his retreat at Camp David, Md., Bush told thousands of demonstrators: "We're making progress, and this progress is a tribute to your perseverance and to the prayers of the people."

The crowd on the mall, many of them brought to Washington by churches around the country, was smaller than those of previous years, perhaps because of bad weather in the Midwest and Northeast over the weekend.

The crowd was also predominantly Republican - one protester's sign read "Visualize No Democrats." Among the speakers were several GOP conservatives, including Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and freshman Rep. Bobby Jindal, R-La.

Many demonstrators offered ambitious agendas for Congress. With possible retirements looming on the Supreme Court and stronger congressional Republican majorities, John Seiler, of Colwich, Kan., said he thinks Roe v. Wade won't stand much longer.

Seiler said that when he first started attending the annual anti-abortion march on Washington in 1990, "we were lucky to have one or two senators or representatives out here speaking to us," he said. "Now we go for an hour and we still don't get through them all."

The potential retirement most talked about, that of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, would at most end up replacing a current abortion opponent with another one, however. And inside the Capitol on Monday, lawmakers downplayed the chances of any major abortion initiatives passing this year.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., mentioned tax cuts, tsunami relief and welfare reauthorization as top legislative priorities, but made no promises on abortion other than to predict the Senate would "deal with" a bill to make it illegal to evade state parental-consent laws by transporting minors across state lines to have abortions. Congress has rejected such measures in the past.

Stephanie Tobin, of West Grove, Pa., said she hoped Bush would use his influence to further restrict abortion, but added that public opinion needs to change further before legal abortion can be rolled back.

Scientific advances such as ultrasound "are teaching people that life truly begins at conception," said Tobin, who traveled to the rally with churchgoers from her Philadelphia archdiocese. "People are really becoming educated on this issue."

While abortion opponents rallied, abortion-rights supporters vowed not to let the Bush administration overturn Roe v. Wade, which was decided on Jan. 22, 1973.

Bush "is going to hear from that pro-choice majority loud and clear" if he tries to end legal abortion, said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, a leading abortion-rights group.

Opinion polls in recent years have shown one-fifth of Americans supporting a general abortion ban, another fifth to one-quarter supporting abortion without restrictions, and the rest somewhere in the middle.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansa
scity/news/politics/10722947.htm?1c

10,000 Participate in Competing Rallies in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO -- Thousands took to the streets of this city Saturday on both sides of the abortion issue, in dual rallies and marches that served as a metaphor for the stark national polarization heightened by the fall election.

The events were among many planned across the country to commemorate or protest the 32nd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized abortion. But they presented the most contentious pairing of opposing views, delivering red state sentiments into the heart of beleaguered blue state terrain.

Antiabortion forces, who drew busloads of supporters from the Central Valley and beyond, had started planning their event last spring — well before President Bush's reelection. They cast their message with a feminist twist, emphasizing that "Women Deserve Better" than abortion.

"When they ask us today, 'What about the women,' we will not answer, 'What about the baby?' " Sally Winn, vice president of the Washington-based Feminists for Life of America, told a crowd of antiabortion backers that grew to the thousands as the crisp morning wore on. "We will give them a good answer. We will tell them, 'We refuse to choose between women and their children.' "

Bay Area officials and activists learned several months ago of the planned antiabortion incursion into liberal territory. They reacted viscerally and urgently, pulling together thousands of their own supporters to send a clear signal that San Francisco is and will remain in favor of abortion rights.

"I'm glad they're here," San Francisco City Atty. Dennis Herrera told a screaming crowd from the back of a flatbed truck where a panoply of city and state officials gave speeches. "I'm glad they're here because you are sending them a message: We will not return to a time of back-alley abortions."

The rallies were held separately, a little less than a mile apart. But as antiabortion forces followed San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada in prayer and sang the national anthem, their opponents were marching toward them.

While each group claimed to outnumber the other, more than 100 police officers worked to keep the two marches — which they estimated at a total of about 10,000 people — separate. But officials allowed abortion rights proponents to line the route of the opposing march, creating a gantlet for antiabortion forces to pass through. Officials reported two arrests, each on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

Organizers and some participants of the Walk for Life West Coast said they had hoped for dialogue. "If we can just stop screaming like we have for 32 years and listen to what women really want, I think we could make a difference," Winn said hopefully before the rally.

But while Winn's calls for healthcare, day care and a living wage for women did fall in line with sentiments of many abortion rights activists, that is where agreement ended.

Those who hope the high court will eventually overturn Roe vs. Wade pointed to 45 million babies "killed" since the law was changed. Many prayed, sang and carried crosses and rosaries. As they held banners exhorting "Abortion Hurts Women" and "Celebrate Life," they were met with critical chants and taunts.

"Pro Life, your name's a lie. You don't care if women die," yelled protesters, some of whom held up coat hangers. Other signs were more entreating. "Please Don't Force Your Beliefs on Me," read one.

San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland had all passed resolutions in recent days formally backing the counter-march and declaring Saturday to be Stand Up for Choice Day.

To them, the sentiments of their opponents, many of whom came to San Francisco from more conservative communities, are but one example of what they see as the Bush administration's push to turn back the clock on a host of civil rights.

A 51-year-old man from Marin who goes by the name Sludge was reprimanded by a police officer for tossing a condom into the sea of opposing marchers. "We support rights for the individuals who are under attack by the current administration," he said. "These people are just proxies for that administration."

But 49-year-old Matt Caligaris, a Mountain View banker who marched against abortion with his wife and three young children, said those stereotypes are unfair. "They've got a right and we've got a right" to expression, he said. "People don't realize how much opposition there really is to abortion."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/state/la-me-march23jan
23,1,6920512.story?coll=la-news-state&ctrack=2&cset=true

Abortionist flushed aborted babies down toilet

LAKEWOOD -- A township gynecologist who police said flushed aborted fetuses down toilets and tossed bloodied materials into garbage bins has been charged with operating an abortion clinic without a license to process or store medical waste.

Dr. Flavius Thompson, 60, of Linda Drive, Jackson, was arrested about 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Lakewood Police Department after he turned himself in. He was accompanied by his attorney Robert L. Tarver Jr. of Toms River, Detective Capt. Robert C. Lawson said.

Detective Lawrence Doyle, who is the investigating officer, charged Thompson. Doyle also charged Liza Berdiel, 24, of Rachel Court, who was Thompson's receptionist, with three counts each of performing nonsurgical abortion procedures without a license, and three counts of theft by deception for accepting payment for the procedures.

The Ocean County Prosecutor announced the charges against Berdiel last week.

Authorities said she was injecting pregnant women with drugs to induce an abortion. Berdiel also was charged with stealing a physician's prescription blanks and writing illegal prescriptions, authorities said.

Thompson alerted Lakewood Police that he had discovered that Berdiel was performing illegal abortions in his office, which is located at 535 East County Line Road, Suite 15, operating under the name Pleasant Women's Pavilion, a licensed abortion clinic.

There is no evidence that Thompson had any knowledge, just prior to alerting police that his receptionist was performing illegal nonsurgical abortions, Lawson said.

Police executed a search warrant on Thompson's clinic on Saturday, Lawson said. As a result, he was charged with violating the New Jersey Water Pollution Act, by flushing products of abortions into the sanitary sewer, Lawson said.

He is also charged with dumping class-three regulated medical waste, mainly human blood products and items saturated, dripping or caked with human blood into the trash to be carted to a place not authorized to accept medical waste by the state Department of Environmental Protection, Lawson said.

Thompson also was charged with storing medical waste without a permit from the state regulatory authorities for a time exceeding more than a year and having an expired regulated medical waste generator's permit.

Lawson said he could not describe the exact nature of the stored medical waste.

When the search warrant was served, Lakewood Police were joined by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and Sheriff's Department, the state Department of Health and Senior Services and the state Department of Criminal Justice, Lawson said.

The investigation is continuing.

Lawson said that the offenses are indictable and the doctor will have to appear in Superior Court at a date to be determined. He was released without bail, Lawson said.

On his Web site, Thompson lists two offices where gynecological services such as abortion and birth control are offered for low fees. The offices are in Lakewood and Trenton. A woman who answered the phone at the Lakewood office on Tuesday said the "doctor is extremely busy and could not answer any questions."

Sakana Alston, 35, lives in Howell and was visiting a pizzeria near the office complex that houses Thompson's clinic.

She is opposed to abortion, "but especially illegal abortion," Alston said.

The women won't even "know if things are sterilized properly, or if personnel are qualified," she said. "What if these were young women getting these illegal abortions (by Berdiel). They probably didn't want to tell anyone and they could have gotten that phone number by word of mouth."

If a doctor is not running a reputable health facility, "He should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Alston said.

http://www.app.com/app/sto
ry/0,21625,1181278,00.html

Related
Abortionist 'flushed babies down toilet'
Doctor's receptionist also faces charges for illegally performing terminations

1000 aborted fetuses to be buried by Catholic church

BOULDER, Colo. -- The remains of up to 1,000 fetuses, mostly from a prominent abortion clinic, will be buried Sunday by a Roman Catholic church that has quietly received ashes without the clinic's knowledge for years.

Sacred Heart of Mary Church told The Denver Post this week it would stage the ceremony to mark the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in 1973.

The announcement sparked scathing criticism from Boulder Abortion Clinic director Dr. Warren Hern, who had no idea the mortuary working with his clinic was sending ashes to the church.

"Anti-abortion zealots, Catholic or otherwise, have shown that they will stop at nothing to inflict guilt and to compound the grief, sadness and sense of loss that these women experience," Hern said in a statement. "These fanatics simply cannot leave other people alone with their most intimate sorrow."

Hern, a frequent target of anti-abortion protesters, said in his statement that the church and Crist Mortuary were plotting "a cynical exploitation of private grief for political purposes."

Mortuary director Chuck Myers, who has an agreement with the clinic to collect and cremate tissue, has been giving the ashes to the church since 2001. Myers also delivered ashes to the parish for three years in the mid-1990s while working as a funeral home director in nearby Lafayette, said parish volunteer Susan LaVelle.

"What was going to happen to those ashes if we didn't pick them up? Would they be thrown away? I hope my words would never harm someone. My message is one of healing," LaVelle said.

The arrangement does not violate state law, Department of Public Health spokesman Glenn Mallory said. Rules that dictate the disposal of hazardous waste in Colorado state require infectious waste consisting of recognizable human anatomical remains be disposed of by incineration or interment.

Women who have abortions in Colorado are allowed to dispose of the fetal remains. If they choose not to, funeral homes or medical-waste facilities do so.

LaVelle, who has been involved in burying remains from the clinic for years, said Sunday's ceremony would involve the remains of between 600 and 1,000 aborted fetuses from November 2003 through November 2004.

LaVelle said the parish has held similar unannounced burials twice a year since 2001. She said the parish priest agreed it was time the memorial be made public.

"Abortion can be a real controversial issue, but in my eyes and the eyes of people doing this in our church, we believe these babies deserve the dignity of a proper burial," LaVelle said.

Kate Horle, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said most of Hern's patients have fetuses with fatal anomalies. His clinic specializes in "late abortion for fetal disorders," according to its Web site.

"These women are devastated," Horle said. "To discover that an entity is essentially taking it upon themselves to create a religious service that may not be acceptable to the family is probably really painful."

Colorado Right to Life board member Phillip Hendrix dismissed the claim.

"I find it odd they have ethical concerns over that when they're the ones that are initiating that whole process (of abortion)," Hendrix said. "Fortunately, the church and others are trying to deal with the aftermath of what the abortion clinics are involved in that is helping people put their lives together."

Since the late 1990s, ashes have been buried at the church's "Memorial Wall for the Unborn." The wall is covered with plaques containing messages such as "My beautiful baby, I'm sorry."

Hern, one of only a handful of doctors who perform third-trimester abortions, has worn a bulletproof vest to some public appearances and has worked behind bulletproof glass since 1998, when someone fired five shots into his office.

He also authored an abortion textbook frequently used by doctors in the United States and other countries.


http://www.thedenverchannel.
com/news/4115710/detail.html

BOULDER, Colo. -- A Colorado Roman Catholic church is marking the anniversary of Roe-v-Wade by burying the cremated remains of aborted fetuses.

And family planning groups are outraged.

It turns out that a mortuary working with the Boulder Abortion Clinic has been sending the fetal ashes to Sacred Heart of Mary Church.

The clinic director wasn't aware of that. He says burying the ashes of up to a thousand aborted fetuses is a "cynical exploitation of private grief for political purposes."

Sunday is the 32nd anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

http://www.wtvo.com/Glo
bal/story.asp?S=2838855

Pro-Lifers Want City Fined For Picket Limits

Police ignore U.S. court order to let them picket near clinic

City officials 'are engaged in nothing short of lawless, renegade conduct in violation of their sworn duty to uphold the law,' lawyers say.


Abortion protesters in Allentown have launched another legal attack to prevent police from limiting their picketing, this time by asking a federal judge to hold the city in contempt of court.

Lawyers for the eight protesters are asking U.S. District Judge James McGirr Kelly of Philadelphia to fine top city officials $1,000 a day and consider imprisoning them if police continue to restrict picketing. Mayor Roy Afflerbach, Chief Joseph Blackburn, Assistant Chief Ronald Manescu and the city are the defendants.

''Defendants are engaged in nothing short of lawless, renegade conduct in violation of their sworn duty to uphold the law,'' lawyers for the protesters wrote.

The protesters' lawyers allege that police have repeatedly violated Kelly's August 2004 order to permit picketing at the Allentown Women's Center, an east-side clinic.

In his order, Kelly created rules for the protesters and police to govern where the abortion opponents could picket outside the center. Kelly issued that ruling after the protesters filed a lawsuit, claiming that police had been violating their rights to assemble, to exercise free speech and to practice their religion.

Since that ruling, police have filed 33 citations against protesters, according to the protesters' lawyers. Judges have cleared them in every case, except one, the lawyers said. That case is pending.

The results in those cases show that the ''evidence of wilful misconduct is overwhelming'' against police, the lawyers wrote in their Jan. 7 contempt motion. Police are trying to intimidate and harass the abortion opponents, according to lawyers Denis Brenan and Christopher Ferrara.

Brenan and Ferrara want Kelly to issue an order blocking police from charging their clients with loitering, trespassing and other offenses. They also want an order prohibiting police from limiting the protesters' ability to picket, distribute leaflets, pray, walk, stand and talk to pregnant women entering the clinic.

The city has not filed a formal reply to the contempt motion. But in an interview, lawyer Thomas Anewalt, representing the city, said police are frustrated and confused about how to deal with protesters because of ambiguities in Kelly's ruling.

''The cops really don't know what to do,'' Anewalt said. ''They're just flabbergasted.''

Kelly ruled that protesters are allowed to demonstrate on Keats Street, where the center's entrance is, as long as they do so on the ''public walkways'' without blocking the center's entrance, its parking lot or traffic.

But the lack of sidewalks outside the main entrance has complicated the matter. Police do not know where the ''public walkways'' are, if they exist at all, Anewalt said. For safety and to keep traffic moving, police say, they don't want protesters in the street.

According to Anewalt, officers have merely urged protesters to keep moving so they don't block the clinic entrance or the street and to refrain from actions that infringe on the rights of the clinic staff and patients — actions that could constitute harassment.

Officers are trying to fulfill their obligation to protect the safety of people on both sides of the abortion debate, regardless of their personal feelings, Anewalt said. ''They're really caught in the middle here,'' he said.

But the protesters claim that police have violated Kelly's order by requiring them to keep moving, to stay on one side of Keats Street, to walk back and forth continuously on Keats Street or to walk around the entire block.

The police are in ''open defiance'' of Kelly's order, according to the contempt motion. ''They are literally daring this court to stop their antics.''

Protester Kathleen Teay is one of several protesters who filed a written statement for the court, explaining how she believes the police actions are hampering her protest efforts.

''In particular,'' she wrote, ''I cannot distribute literature, speak to expectant mothers or show them what babies in the womb look like if I am forced to 'keep moving,' walk around the block and, as of Dec. 16, stay off Keats Street altogether.''

Teay wrote that, in early December, a pregnant women changed her mind about having an abortion after she talked to Teay. ''A 'save' like this will not be possible under the threats and restrictions defendants keep trying to impose on our First Amendment rights.''

Meanwhile, the protesters have another request pending in federal court to get the police to give them more freedom to picket. In November, they asked Kelly to issue an order — an injunction — declaring that police have violated his August ruling.

Kelly had not ruled on that request before that case was transferred to U.S. District Judge James Knoll Gardner in Allentown. Gardner has referred the case to U.S. Magistrate Arnold Rapoport to try to settle it.


http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b3-5contem
ptjan21,0,4819869.story?coll=all-newslocal-hed

Court Watch

Court Asked to Overturn Roe V. Wade
WASHINGTON -- The woman once known as "Jane Roe" has asked the Supreme Court to overturn its landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion 32 years ago. Norma McCorvey, whose protest of Texas' abortion ban led to the 1973 ruling, contends in a petition received at the court Tuesday that the case should be heard again in light of evidence that the procedure may harm women. "Now we know so much more, and I plead with the court to listen for witnesses and re-evaluate Roe v. Wade," said McCorvey, who says she now regrets her role in the case. Two lower courts last year threw out McCorvey's request to have the ruling reconsidered.

Roe v. Roe: McCorvey Rejects Abortion Decision
Thirty-two years after her case--Roe v. Wade--legalized abortion in the United States, the woman known as "Jane Roe" is petitioning the Supreme Court to reverse its decision. Norma McCorvey's quest to overturn the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling began two years ago in Dallas when her lawyers at the Justice Foundation filed a petition seeking a reversal.

Court Weighs Primary-Election Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court debated Wednesday whether voters from one political party should be allowed to cross over and vote in another party's primary, a practice forbidden in nearly half the states. Justices are reviewing a First Amendment challenge to Oklahoma's system by the Libertarian Party, which wants to open its primaries to voters registered as Democrats or Republicans in hopes of attracting more members.

Court Lets Stand Forced Blood Test Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined to consider Tuesday whether a police officer may take a blood test from a suspected drunken driver without a warrant. Justices let stand a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that said a forced blood test would not violate the driver's Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches, even if the driver already had submitted to a breath test.

Court Sidesteps Guantanamo Bay Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court prolonged the legal limbo of hundreds of terror suspects in a U.S. military prison in Cuba, refusing on Tuesday to consider whether the government's plan for military trials unfairly denies them basic legal rights. So far only a handful of the 550 detainees from about 40 countries have been charged with war crimes. More are expected once courts sort out how they may be tried. The legal uncertainty surrounding the men, many of whom were captured during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan in 2001, has prompted international criticism and spawned multiple court fights.

Court Hears Pa. Death Row Appeal
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court considered Tuesday whether a jury unfairly sentenced a Pennsylvania man to death on a 17-year-old murder conviction in a case expected to clarify death penalty standards for attorney conduct and jury instructions. Ronald Rompilla, 56, was convicted of robbing, stabbing and setting on fire a tavern owner in Allentown, Pa., in 1988. He argues his sentence should be overturned because jurors weren't told by the trial judge they could sentence him to life in prison without parole.

Court to Review Mich. Truck Fees
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said Friday it would decide if Michigan is overcharging truckers. The state lost a truck fees case at the high court nearly three years ago. About $70 million is at stake in the latest challenge. The American Trucking Associations and trucking companies want the justices to stop Michigan from charging $100 yearly fees.

Rehnquist Swears in Bush Despite Illness
WASHINGTON -- Looking frail but determined, his voice strained from thyroid cancer, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist emerged from months of seclusion to swear in President Bush. The 80-year-old Rehnquist managed a weak smile as he walked with a cane and took his place on the podium. His first public appearance in three months was brief. He administered the oath in a clear but raspy voice — very different from his usual deep-pitched speech. It was the fifth and very likely last time he will swear in a president.

Stoning 'devil' Bush

How Muslims mix Politics and Religion

Pilgrims stone "devil" Bush in haj ritual
MENA, Saudi Arabia -- Haj pilgrims have pelted stones at symbols of the devil, with many saying they were targeting U.S. President George W. Bush and other world leaders seen as oppressing Muslims. "Yes, the devil is Bush and that other one from Israel -- (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon. And there's Blair too," said Egyptian Tia'amah Mohammed on Friday. "We throw the stones so we can vent our anger at them." Many Muslims revile Bush for his perceived bias towards Israel and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Anger at Sharon also runs deep over Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and Jerusalem, the site of one of Islam's holiest shrines. "During the stoning I couldn't help thinking of Bush, Blair and Sharon," said British Muslim activist Yvonne Ridley.

Pilgrims "stone Satan" as Muslims mark Adha festival
MINA, Saudi Arabia -- Some 2.5 million Muslims took part in the "Stoning of Satan" ritual, as the Islamic world marked the Eid al-Adha feast of sacrifice following the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The pilgrims were stoning one of the "jamarat", or three pillars symbolising the devil, in the ultimate but also the most dangerous ritual of the hajj that last year saw 251 people killed in a stampede.

Hajj pilgrims stone symbolic Satan
MINA, Saudi Arabia -- Shuffling slowly but smoothly, huge crowds of people have hurled pebbles at pillars representing Satan, symbolically stoning the devil in a final ritual of their pilgrimage. Meanwhile, Muslims at the Hajj and around the world slaughtered sheep, cows and camels to mark the Feast of the Sacrifice holiday.

Pilgrims pray during Hajj zenith
Muslims save for years to perform the Hajj
More than two million Muslims from around the world have prayed on Mount Arafat on the most important day of the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The ascent to Mount Arafat, a hill 18km (11 miles) west of Mecca, is the high point of the five-day rituals. Saudi officials have mobilised more than 50,000 security staff to prevent possible stampedes or terror attacks.

Witches Kill Baby

Little girl had 40 puncture wounds and a snapped neck

Pagan tattoos may match baby girl's wounds

Photos of couple's religious markings studied in probe of toddler's death
Prosecutors have obtained photographs of a Springfield Township couple's neopagan tattoos in an effort to match the markings to puncture wounds on the woman's slain year-old daughter.

Daniel Duffield and Vanessa McGlumphy are charged in connection with the neck-snapping death of McGlumphy's 13-month-old daughter Jacqueline Mae Cooper.

Aside from the fatal neck injury, the toddler's body was also riddled with more than 40 puncture wounds, 12 broken ribs and a lacerated liver.

Prosecutors last week received permission from Summit County Common Pleas Judge Marvin Shapiro to photograph the couple to determine whether their religious tattoos match puncture wounds that appear on the toddler's feet.

According to court records, the child had puncture wounds on her foot in the shape of a Wicca or Celtic symbol.

In addition, prosecutors say that Duffield and McGlumphy told investigators that they wanted to raise the girl in their Wiccan faith, an earth-based religion sometimes called ``The Craft'' or the ``The Craft of the Wise.''

Duffield told investigators that he placed the Wiccan pentacle symbol on the girl's feet, prosecutors say.

Photos of the couple's markings were taken last week at the Summit County Jail, where the two are being held. Duffield's tattoos include a skull and dagger, an anarchy symbol, a demon and a Celtic cross, prosecutors say. McGlumphy's include a goat head, Medusa and a she-devil.

Prosecutors say a needle containing the child's DNA was found near her crib around the time of her death.

The child's puncture wounds, prosecutors contend, are evidence of abuse at the hands of Duffield and proof that McGlumphy ignored the girl's injuries.

``For (McGlumphy), Wicca is nothing but an appreciation and love of nature,'' said defense lawyer Tom Adgate, who represents the woman.

Adgate said his client ``didn't notice -- and she didn't condone'' -- the symbol puncture wounds. ``And she doesn't know when it was done.''

Duffield's lawyers could not be reached for comment.

Duffield, 32, is charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and felonious assault involving puncturing the girl's feet and face.

McGlumphy, 25, is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child endangering. Each has pleaded not guilty.

Both are scheduled for trial Monday, but Duffield has asked for a delay to allow his lawyers more time to prepare for trial. Shapiro is expected to rule on the request in a hearing.

The toddler died Oct. 6 from either a dislocation at the top of the spine -- from blunt impact to the head -- or a ``hyperextension/hyperflexion'' of the neck, according to autopsy reports.

On Tuesday, a juvenile court judge granted temporary custody of the girl's twin sister to McGlumphy's father. The arrangement was agreed to by the child's biological father.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/m
ld/myrtlebeachonl:ne/10569204.htm

Bobbie Jo Stinnett

Woman pleads not guilty to fetus kidnapping
Federal judge sets trial to begin in March
The Kansas woman accused of strangling a pregnant acquaintance and cutting the 8-month-old fetus from her womb pleaded not guilty Thursday, and is to stand trial the week of March 14, federal prosecutors said. Appearing before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge John Maughmer in Kansas City, Missouri, Lisa Montgomery pleaded not guilty to the charge of kidnapping resulting in death, said Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office there. Montgomery, 36, was represented by two public defenders, and the judge indicated he may appoint a third because of the potential for a death sentence. Prosecutors say Montgomery strangled 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett on December 16 in Skidmore, Missouri, then cut the near-term fetus from the mother's womb and kidnapped the baby.

January 19, 2005
Gruesome evidence, faked pregnancies,
insanity defense likely at stolen-baby trial
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Five times she faked pregnancies. At least once her stomach grew hard and large like an expectant mother's, even though she was incapable of having children. Desperate for a child, she killed an expectant mother and stole her baby, according to a grand jury indictment. Now, a jury may have to decide whether Lisa Montgomery was insane or should be held responsible for her alleged actions.

January 10, 2005
Family warned of lies about pregnancy
KANSAS CITY -- Members of Lisa Montgomery’s family say they tried to warn people that the woman was making up stories about being pregnant, and their concerns became even greater after learning in November that she had purchased a home birth kit. Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., is accused of strangling a pregnant Skidmore woman on Dec. 16 and cutting the woman’s 8-month-old fetus from her body. The baby was found the next day in Melvern after Montgomery and her husband spent the morning showing the newborn off around town as their own. Montgomery’s mother, Judy Shaughnessy, told The Kansas City Star she knew something was wrong when she began receiving congratulations about being a grandmother again. "I just said, ‘Yeah, right, she either stole it or bought it,’ " Shaughnessy told the newspaper for a story in yesterday’s editions.

January 03, 2005
Bail Is Denied In Fetus Kidnapping
A federal magistrate issued a written order Friday formally denying bail to a woman accused in the kidnapping of an 8-month fetus from a strangled pregnant woman. U.S. Magistrate John T. Maughmer said in his order that he found no set of conditions imposed on Lisa Montgomery that would reasonably ensure her appearance in court or the safety of others. He also rejected alternative forms of release for Montgomery such as house arrest and daily reporting.

January 03, 2005
'Womb Raider' Wanted To Buy Tot: Report
New York Post
The alleged evil "womb raider" who butchered a Missouri mom-to-be and stole her baby reportedly demanded $45,000 from her ex-hubby's new wife in a desperate bid to buy a child on the black market. Lisa Montgomery threatened and harassed Vanessa Boman, who is married to the Montgomery's former hubby, Carl Boman, before her alleged crime, the woman told a London newspaper. Montgomery allegedly told Vanessa Boman that she was going to "destroy" her if she didn't fork over the funds — and that made Boman fear that the unhinged sicko would do something brutal.

No release for suspect in killing
News-Leader.com
Kansas City -- The woman accused of killing an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb waived her right to a preliminary hearing Thursday, and a judge ruled she must remain behind bars. Attorneys for Lisa Montgomery did not ask for bond during a brief hearing before U.S. Magistrate John T. Maughmer, who granted the prosecution's request to keep her in jail. Maughmer said there is no condition, or combination of conditions, he could impose that would ensure she would appear if he released her from custody.

December 30, 2004
Ex-husband: Deceit Was Lifestyle
for Woman Accused of Stealing Fetus
BARTLESVILLE, Okla. (Knight Ridder Newspapers) - Carl Boman has had 20 years to figure out Lisa Montgomery, his ex-wife and the mother of his four teenage children. He said he knew her as untruthful and strangely obsessed with making people believe she was pregnant. But when Lisa Montgomery was accused Dec. 17 of strangling another woman to death and stealing her eight-month fetus, Boman saw her in a chilling new light. "I never would have thought she was capable of this," Boman said. "We can paint any picture we want. She is a chronic liar, very selfish and her self-esteem is very low. She is very critical of others. She is not the kind of person you would want to be friends with. But I'm still shocked."

'There Was a Desperation There'
Of all the details of the recent kidnapping and murder in Missouri, perhaps the most pathetic was the image of the murderer, Lisa Montgomery, holding a sweater-swaddled puppy as if it were an infant. The photo captures precisely the driving passion behind the crime -- the overwhelming desire for a baby to have and hold. According to those who knew her, Mrs. Montgomery's desire was an obsession. She repeatedly claimed to be pregnant, even though, according to her ex-husband, she had undergone permanent sterilization years ago; she perpetually wore maternity clothes; and she once told her pastor that if she could only have a baby, she and her current husband would be "attached at the hip." "There was a desperation there," he noted. Indeed there was. A desperate need to experience, if only for a year or two, unconditional love.

December 29, 2004
Judge Taps Lawyer
Lisa Montgomery claimed poverty Tuesday during her initial hearing before a federal judge in Missouri, prompting appointment of an attorney to defend the woman against a charge that could put her on death row. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Maughner presided over the 10-minute hearing Tuesday. Maughner instructed the federal public defender's office to represent Montgomery, and an attorney from that office, Anita Burns, was at Montgomery's side.

'Womb-Ripper' Wants Public Defender
New York Post
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A woman accused of killing an expectant mother and cutting the baby from her womb asked for a public defender yesterday during a court appearance. Lisa Montgomery answered a series of questions from the judge, who ruled that she would qualify for a public defender. It was not immediately known if a lawyer was appointed for her. Montgomery, 36, is accused of strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant.

Chilling slayings share too much
Fort Wayne News Sentinel
The likelihood is almost unfathomable. In more than 30 years of police work, Oklahoma deputy Wayne Metcalf has worked two cases where a mother-to-be was killed and her baby cut from her womb. "I held both of those babies, in both of those cases," said Metcalf, a deputy with the Hughes County Sheriff's Department in eastern Oklahoma. So a horrible feeling came to Metcalf as he heard a snippet of a radio broadcast about the December death of Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Missouri.

December 28, 2004
Montgomery appears in court
Lisa M. Montgomery, 36, appeared in an orange jumpsuit and shackles for the 10-minute hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Maughmer. She asked for a public defender to represent her, and Maughmer asked her a series of questions. Montgomery answered quietly -- her responses often inaudible to the those gathered in the courtroom. If convicted, Maughmer said, Montgomery faces a minimum of life in prison and a maximum of the death penalty.

Homicide Suspect Due in Court
Kansas City -- Attorneys for Lisa Montgomery face an immediate hurdle that could challenge the defense throughout her case: Her alleged confession to killing a pregnant woman and cutting the baby from the victim's womb. Montgomery is due in federal court today, her first appearance before a judge in Missouri. It is the next step in a long judicial process in which she will likely fight for a declaration of innocence — and possibly to save her own life.

Sleuths Follow Digital Crime Trails
Kansas City, Mo. -- First, they testified that a suspect in a Douglas County murder searched the Internet for terms including "How to murder someone and not get caught." Then they used computer records to find the Kansas woman suspected of strangling a pregnant Missouri woman and cutting her fetus from her womb.

December 27, 2004
Lisa Montgomery
Lisa M. Montgomery fits rare profile, expert says
In the first hours after Bobbie Jo Stinnett was murdered and her fetus cut from her womb, police and the FBI hunted for two men and a woman, based on a witness' report. They chased down a tip about a ring of thieves planning to sell the infant for $50,000 on the black market. But John Rabun, who has studied hundreds of infant abductions for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, knew who authorities should look for: A woman of child-bearing age who lives with a man. She is feigning her own pregnancy. She did this alone. She won't hurt this new infant. She'll parade the newborn around like a proud parent. And her husband will not have a clue.

Fate deals an evil hand
Two women whose destinies met in one shocking crime
They were two women from two completely different worlds until their paths collided, ending with an almost unfathomable crime. Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, a fresh-faced mother-to-be who was a high school cheerleader and honors student adored by her Missouri community, was building an ideal life with her childhood sweetheart. Lisa Montgomery, 36, was a twisted drifter and pathological liar who constantly claimed to be pregnant despite having had her tubes tied, neglected her four teenaged children and frightened Kansas neighbors and family members with her bizarre ways.

A ballad for Bobbie Jo
Nine days before Christmas, Lisa Montgomery of Melvern, Kan., went to the Skidmore, Mo., home of Bobbie Jo Stinnett — who was 8 months pregnant — and allegedly committed a crime that ought to have been unimaginable. She murdered the expectant mother to steal her unborn child. Three days later, The Washington Post began a remarkable investigative series by reporter Donna St. George. Miss St. George spent a year researching murders in which the victim was a pregnant woman or new mother. She learned "no reliable system is in place to track such cases." But her probing uncovered 1,367 cases nationwide over 14 years.

Pregnant Woman’s Death Leaves Two Towns Shaken
One town grieves over the unthinkable - a woman dead, her baby stolen from her womb - and another town is left stunned that one of its own could be responsible. About 175 miles apart but joined by tragedy and a baby named Victoria Jo, residents in Skidmore, Mo., and Melvern, Kan., say no one in either community will soon forget this holiday season. Skidmore is steeped in grief. Hundreds attended funeral services for Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, killed just a month shy of becoming a mother.

December 23, 2004
Lisa Montgomery waives preliminary hearing, case transferred to Missouri

Suspect in slain mom case waives preliminary hearing

Woman in fetus kidnapping case transferred to Missouri
Suspect accused of killing pregnant woman, taking baby

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri said Thursday that Lisa Montgomery -- the woman charged with strangling a pregnant woman, cutting the near-term fetus from her womb and kidnapping the baby -- will make an initial court appearance Tuesday in Kansas City, Missouri. Thursday morning, Montgomery, 36, waived her preliminary hearing in U.S. District Court in Kansas, and the court transferred federal custody from the District of Kansas to the Missouri district, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Todd P. Graves said in a written statement. The reason is that the crime occurred in Missouri. The Melvern, Kansas, woman's initial court appearance is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Western Missouri U.S. District Court, the spokesman said. Montgomery is to appear before U.S. Chief Magistrate John T. Maughmer in the federal courthouse. Her detention hearing is scheduled before Maughmer two days later, at 2 p.m. She is being held in a detention facility in Leavenworth, Kansas.

Bobbi Jo Stinnett Remembered By The Nation And the World
Hundreds of mourners gathered Tuesday in this small northwestern Missouri farming community for the funeral of a young pregnant woman who was strangled and whose baby girl was cut from her womb. The crowd filled the flower-filled Price Funeral Home and overflowed into the entrance for the service for Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23. Cars lined the streets on a bitter cold day. “I’ve known her since she was a baby,” said family friend Carl Montgomery. “She grew up into a beautiful swan.” The Rev. Harold Hamon, who married the Stinnetts in spring 2003 at the Skidmore Christian Church, spoke at the funeral; burial followed at a cemetery in Skidmore. Many mourners were unable to get into the service. Others, some crying and exchanging hugs, took turns letting each other get closer to the sanctuary. One tearful mourner carried a dozen pink roses, but became so distraught she had to be taken outside. Afterward, pallbearers waited outside as the gold coffin was placed into a hearse.

The Female Hannibal Lector
America was transfixed on the strange, almost unbelievable story that trickled out of the small, rural town where nothing bad ever happens. The gruesome, macabre story actually developed in the mind of the killer—a female Hannibal Lector who had befriended the victim whose death would arouse a nation. The friend desperately wanted a baby. She even managed to convince her husband—and the town in which she lived—that she was pregnant. Her friends had even thrown her a baby shower. Somewhere and at some warped time on that bizarre, twisted fantasy-riddled journey within her own mind, the woman decided she would kill her pregnant friend and simply claim the friend's baby as her own.

Slain pregnant woman to be buried today
The 23-year-old pregnant woman who was strangled and had her fetus cut from her womb will be buried today. Bobby Jo Stinnett was killed last week at her home in Missouri. Lisa Montgomery has been charged in the death and kidnapping of the infant. She's scheduled to be back in court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday.

Fateful Day When Butcher Met Victim
It was a big weekend for Bobbie Jo Stinnett. She and her husband, Zeb, traveled from their Missouri home to Abilene, Texas, where they entered one of their prize rat terriers in a dog show. Bobbie's dog won a blue ribbon, giving the owner two things to glow about — her victory and her new pregnancy. The other dog owners certainly noticed the ribbon on that April afternoon as they gathered around a tree for a photograph. And one of them — Lisa Montgomery, a Kansas girl — took particular interest in Bobbie's pregnancy. Eight months later, Montgomery would get into the Stinnett home by posing as a potential dog buyer, strangle Bobbie to death, rip open her body and steal her baby, police say. Breeders who knew Lisa said "She was the kind of person that could look you dead in the eye and lie."

Stolen Baby Suspect Arraigned
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The woman who allegedly strangled an expectant mother and cut the fetus out of her womb was arraigned on Monday before a packed courtroom. Lisa Montgomery, of Melvern, Kan., was charged with kidnapping resulting in death in her first court appearance.

N.C. Woman Helped Crack Stolen Baby Case
Franklin Woman Alerted FBI To Message Board Conversation
FRANKLIN, N.C. -- A North Carolina woman had a big role to play in the arrest of Lisa Montgomery, who is charged in the death of Bobby Jo Stinnett. Stinnett was found dead in her Missouri home Friday, and investigators say Montgomery cut Stinnett open and took her 8-month-old fetus. The big break in the case came from a phone call from a dog breeder in Franklin, North Carolina.

Pregnant-Slay Probe Followed Cyber Trail
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In the end, it wasn't a fingerprint or a blood spatter that led authorities to the woman suspected of strangling a mother-to-be and cutting the baby from her womb. It was an 11-digit computer code. Police zeroed in on Lisa Montgomery in the most 21st century of ways, by trolling computer records, examining online message boards and — most important — tracing an IP address, 65.150.168.223, to a computer at her Melvern, Kan., home. "That in and of itself led us to the home," Jeff Lanza, an FBI spokesman here said of the IP, or Internet protocol, address, the unique number given to every Internet-connected computer.

Father United with Baby Cut from Slain Mother
CHICAGO -- The father of a baby girl snatched from the womb of her strangled mother greeted the infant as a miracle as the two were united after a grisly murder that gripped the United States, a Kansas hospital said on Saturday. The girl, Victoria Jo Stinnett, was healthy and "a miracle," the Stormont-Vail hospital in Topeka, Kansas, quoted the girl's father, Zebulon Stinnett, as saying after the two were united late on Friday. The girl's mother, Bobbie Jo Stinnett, 23, had been found strangled in her Missouri home on Thursday with her abdomen sliced open, the baby gone and the umbilical cord cut.

Pregnant women slain more often than records show
WASHINGTON -- Their deaths passed quietly. Tara Chambers, 29, was gunned down on a June morning inside her North Carolina home. Rebecca Johnson, 16, was shot in the chest as she sat in a pickup truck in Oklahoma. Ana Diaz, 28, was killed in a parking lot in Reston, Va., as she stopped to get a friend on their way to work. They all were pregnant, with futures that seemed sure to unfold over many years. Their killings produced a few local headlines, then faded, each a seeming aberration in the community where it happened. But pregnant women like them have been slain in Maryland and Mississippi, in California and Kansas, in Ohio and Illinois.

Proud Couple Showed Off Baby Cut From Womb
Friends and neighbors of a Kansas couple were excited for them when they showed of their new baby at a local cafe and at their pastor's home, but the joy turned to shock and dismay when they discovered the baby was cut from the womb of a slain Missouri woman.

Joy Over New Baby Turns to Shock Over Crime
MELVERN, Kan. -- Dressed in pink and nestled in a baby carrier, the infant was paraded around town Friday, just as any newborn might be. Kevin and Lisa Montgomery dropped by the Whistle Stop Cafe on Main Street to give patrons a look, then there was a visit to the home of the Rev. Mike Wheatly, pastor of the First Church of God. "I held her in my arms for 15 minutes," Wheatly recalled Saturday.

Woman Charged in Stolen Fetus Case
A Kansas woman has been charged with kidnapping resulting in death in connection with the murder of Bobbie Stinnett of Skidmore, Missouri and the cutting of her unborn child from her womb. The baby was recovered alive and healthy at the woman's Melvern, Kansas home. Lisa M. Montgomer, 36, has been accused of going to Stinnett's home on the pretense of buying a dog, strangling the 23-year-old pregnant Bobbie Stinnett, and then cutting the premature baby girl from her womb. Police records indicate that Montgomery admitted to taking Stinnett's baby and lying to her husband about giving birth.

One Charged With Killing Mom, Taking Baby
MARYVILLE, Mo. -- A baby girl that had been cut out of her mother's womb was found after a frantic search, and authorities arrested the woman they say strangled the mother and stole the child. The child was found Friday in seemingly good health in an eastern Kansas home. A red Toyota similar to a description offered earlier by police was in the driveway. Lisa M. Montgomery, 36, of Melvern, Kan., was arrested later Friday and charged with kidnapping resulting in death.

Police Find Baby Believed From Slain Mom
SKIDMORE, Mo. (AP) - A baby who was cut from her mother's womb during a grisly slaying was found in good health Friday, bringing relief to authorities who had spent the last day frantically searching for the little girl. Two people were taken into custody, and the baby girl was transported to a hospital in Topeka, Kan., authorities said.

Police find baby they think is child of slain mother
SKIDMORE — A baby girl who apparently was cut from her mother's womb was found in good health this afternoon, a day after the slaying, and two people were being questioned, authorities said. Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said authorities were awaiting DNA testing to confirm the newborn is the child of Bobbi Joe Stinnett, an eight-months-pregnant woman found slain in her northwest Missouri home Thursday. The child was found in Kansas. "It's about as good as we can get, people," Espey said at a new conference.

Fetus Removed From Mother's Body
(CNN) -- Missouri authorities issued an Amber Alert for an infant who may have survived after a woman was slain and a fetus removed from her body. Bobbi Jo Stinnett, who was eight months' pregnant, was killed Thursday afternoon in her home in Skidmore in northwestern Missouri, the Nodaway County Sheriff's Department said. The initial Amber Alert said that "the fetus was extracted from the victim."

Amber Alert Out for Fetus Cut From Womb
SKIDMORE, Mo. (AP) - An eight-months-pregnant woman was slain in her home, and her fetus was then cut from her womb, authorities said. Believing the infant survived, they issued an Amber Alert early Friday. Bobbi Jo Stinnett's mother found her body Thursday afternoon. The 23-year-old woman had apparently been strangled. Authorities issued an alert hours later for the infant, a girl. "The doctors who examined Bobbi Jo gave us information indicating we probably would have a live child if we could find it," Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey said Friday. "The child would be in danger because of being one month premature." "Someone was wanting a baby awful bad," he had said earlier.

Man Found Guilty of Killing Woman and Unborn Child

Arizona Man Strangled Woman 8-Months Pregnant

Emmanuel Wayne Harris was found guilty of one count of murder for the strangulation death of Melissa Griffey and one count of manslaughter for killing Griffey's unborn child.

Scuffle in court follows Harris' verdict
BISBEE, Arizona. -- Emmanuel Wayne Harris was found guilty Wednesday of causing the deaths of Melissa Griffey and her stillborn baby, but insane.

The verdict touched off a wild melee in the courtroom of Presiding Superior Court Judge Tom Collins on Wednesday afternoon, when two men rushed up from the audience in an attempt to reach Harris as he was led out the door.

One of the men was the father of Griffey's 10-year-old son. The boy witnessed the murder. The other man was unidentified. Both men were allowed to leave the Cochise County Courthouse before anyone was able to decide whether or not to arrest them.

"We were anticipating problems," Division 1 Bailiff Steve Gerhardt said afterward. "We had a plan. We had extra bodies in there."

The first two rows of the gallery were roped off. Usually, only the first row is off limits.

In addition to two Sheriff's Department deputies who flanked Harris throughout the trial, two other burly deputies and two courthouse security officers were in the courtroom when Collins delivered his verdict at 3 p.m.

Collins quickly left the bench for his chambers, while deputies Luke Senesac and Danny Martinez whisked Harris toward the door, amidst sobbing and shouts from the gallery.

Suddenly, the two men leaped to their feet from near the back of the gallery and charged down the aisle leading to the door, shouting at Harris. The unidentified man repeatedly shouted, "I served with him."

Cpl. Steve Rice of the Sheriff's Department threw his 265 pounds against the duo, blocking their passage, as Sierra Vista Police Department Detective Brett Mitchell jumped from his seat at the prosecutor's table and charged into the fray. Standing next to the wooden railing separating the gallery from the attorney, courthouse Security Officer Becki Jones was knocked into the railing by the men, causing the railing to fall over. The diminutive officer scrambled back to her feet and let loose a shot of pepper spray into the rugby-like scrum.

Courthouse security officer Marty Jones grabbed and twisted an arm extended from the pile of jostling bodies, as Deputy Mike Donahue unholstered his Taser stun gun and aimed it down the aisle. The two men gradually calmed down and were led to seats in the gallery, as sobbing family members and friends of Melissa Griffey and Harris' grandmother were led out of the courtroom.

With no one in a position to decide to charge them, the men were allowed to leave the courthouse.

"We just wanted them off the property," Gerhardt said. "Nobody got hurt. Minor damage."

The verdict

Collins was on the bench for only a few minutes after deliberating more than two hours in his chambers. Harris' defense team had already stipulated to the defendant's guilt in murdering Griffey and the manslaughter charge for the death of her 8-month-old fetus. The main question was whether Harris was insane at that time. Collins ruled he was insane and set a commitment hearing for 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 17.

With that, Collins quickly left the bench. Harris, who sat stoically throughout the trial, appeared startled at the news. His eyes widened. His attorneys, Donna Beumler and Mark Suagee, of the Public Defender's Office, comforted him. Beumler began to cry as the deputies led Harris away in chains.

In reaching his verdict, Collins had to weigh conflicting views of the defendant's mental state on Aug. 25, 2003, when he strangled and killed Griffey in the manufactured home they shared in the Bel Aire Mobile Home Park.

During closing arguments, Beumler and Deputy County Attorney Gerald Till interpreted the testimony of witnesses differently and drew different conclusions. Beumler said the testimony proved that Harris was insane at the time of the murder. Till contended there was no proof.

Till called two witnesses Wednesday morning to rebut defense witnesses, who had described Harris, 28, as catatonic schizophrenic and insane on Aug. 25, 2003.

'Faking it'

Pamela Ousley, a registered nurse in the emergency room at Sierra Vista Regional Health Center, described her experience with Harris after he was brought into the hospital by paramedics the night of Aug. 23, 2003 - two days before the murder. Harris appeared to be unconscious, but she suspected he was faking it. After checking Harris' vital signs, Ousley wanted to obtain a urine specimen from Harris.

She asked Griffey, who had found Harris unconscious when she got home from work and accompanied him to the hospital, whether or not she could get a specimen in a portable urinal or by inserting a catheter up the urethra. Ousley said she thought that Harris was conscious and could hear her and would probably resist the catheter. Griffey said she would get a specimen with the urinal, so Ousley left the room. When Ousley returned, a specimen was in the urinal.

Ousley said a doctor tested Harris by using an "arm drop" technique in which a subject's arm is lifted above the person's face and then dropped. If the subject is unconscious, the arm will fall onto the face, Ousley said. In this case, Harris' arm fell to the side of his face. Also, an ammonia inhalant was placed under Harris' nose. After three tries, Harris sat up and opened his eyes, but did not speak.

"I felt he was faking," Ousley concluded.

Ousley was also on duty in the emergency room on Aug. 25, 2003, when Griffey's dead body was brought in.

On cross-examination, Beumler asked Ousley if she knew the difference between "unconscious" and "unresponsive," contending Harris was not unconscious but was unresponsive - meaning he might have been aware of what was being said.

Previous defense witnesses had described Harris as unresponsive on numerous occasions.

Tucson psychiatrist John LaWall followed Ousley to the witness stand. In addition to private practice, LaWall said he lectures in the University of Arizona's Department of Psychiatry.

LaWall said he saw Harris in his office for about 30 minutes on March 3, 2004, at Till's request. He did not receive Harris' records until several days later. On the basis of his meeting with Harris, "I thought that he was competent," LaWall testified. Harris understood the charges he faced.

"I thought he was malingering," LaWall said.

Malingering is a judicial-psychological term used to describe a person who is feigning mental illness in hopes of leniency from the court.

"I continue to believe there's no evidence that he didn't know what he was doing was wrong," LaWall said.

He said substance abuse could cause a psychotic episode, but he acknowledged there was no evidence to support that in this case.

LaWall challenged two defense witnesses who had diagnosed Harris as catatonic schizophrenic.

"Schizophrenic does not have its onset overnight," LaWall said. "Nothing pre-offense fits schizophrenia," he added, citing the same behaviors exhibited by Harris that Drs. Jill Hayes Hammer and Barry Morenz said were typical of catatonic schizophrenia. Both doctors said the condition can come on suddenly.

"Real mental illness doesn't work like that," LaWall said. The doctor contended that Harris knew exactly what he was doing when he strangled Griffey. Comments made by Harris during the act to Griffey's son and later to Griffey's brother showed he understood the nature of the act.

Any of the behaviors other witnesses described as bizarre could be faked, LaWall said.

Under cross-examination by Beumler, LaWall acknowledged that, at the time he met with Harris, he did not know that Harris had been receiving anti-psychotic medication for about three weeks prior at the jail. Several defense witnesses testified that Harris' behavior had dramatically improved after the administration of Resperidol. In his closing argument to Collins, Till said the warning - and comments Harris uttered to Griffey's son and brother while he strangled the woman for several minutes - proved Harris knew what he was doing.

"These words are the best evidence of the mind of the defendant," Till said.

The prosecutor called the episode a "domestic violence incident. There was some kind of dispute that resulted in Melissa being killed."

Till said there was little evidence offered to prove insanity.

In her closing argument, Beumler dismissed Till's comments about domestic violence as speculation and launched a lengthy Power Point presentation on evidence proving Harris' insanity, including an incident in which Harris ate a piece of Styrofoam at the jail.

"He belongs in a hospital," Beumler stated.

Collins agreed.

Prior to the verdict, representatives of both families involved told a Herald/Review reporter that they were considering civil suits against Sierra Vista Regional Health Center and Arizona State Hospital.

http://www.svherald.com/articles
/2005/01/20/local_news/news1.txt

Man in Bisbee found guilty of killing woman and her fetus
BISBEE, Ariz. -- A man in Bisbee has been found guilty of killing a woman and her fetus. Emmanuel Wayne Harris was found guilty yesterday of murdering Melissa Griffey. He was also found guilty of manslaughter for the death of Griffey's eight-month-old fetus. Harris' guilty but insane verdict caused a melee in the courtroom. Two men rushed up from the audience in an attempt to reach Harris as he was led out the door. One of the men was the father of Griffey's 10-year-old son. On August 25th, 2003, Harris strangled Griffey in a home they shared.

Text of Bush's Inaugural Speech

WASHINGTON -- The following is the text of President Bush's inaugural address Thursday:

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, members of the United States Congress, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half a century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical and then there came a day of fire.

We have seen our vulnerability and we have seen its deepest source. For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat. There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the maker of heaven and earth. Across the generations, we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way.

The great objective of ending tyranny is the concentrated work of generations. The difficulty of the task is no excuse for avoiding it. America's influence is not unlimited, but fortunately for the oppressed, America's influence is considerable, and we will use it confidently in freedom's cause.

My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve, and have found it firm.

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: The future leaders of your free country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."

The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.

And all the allies of the United States can know: we honor your friendship, we rely on your counsel, and we depend on your help. Division among free nations is a primary goal of freedoms enemies. The concerted effort of free nations to promote democracy is a prelude to our enemies defeat.

Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens:

From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well as a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause in the quiet work of intelligence and diplomacy the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments the dangerous and necessary work of fighting our enemies. Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice.

All Americans have witnessed this idealism, and some for the first time. I ask our youngest citizens to believe the evidence of your eyes. You have seen duty and allegiance in the determined faces of our soldiers. You have seen that life is fragile, and evil is real, and courage triumphs. Make the choice to serve in a cause larger than your wants, larger than yourself and in your days you will add not just to the wealth of our country, but to its character.

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To give every American a stake in the promise and future of our country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal.

In Americas ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people. Americans move forward in every generation by reaffirming all that is good and true that came before ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In America's ideal of freedom, the exercise of rights is ennobled by service, and mercy, and a heart for the weak. Liberty for all does not mean independence from one another. Our nation relies on men and women who look after a neighbor and surround the lost with love. Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?

These questions that judge us also unite us, because Americans of every party and background, Americans by choice and by birth, are bound to one another in the cause of freedom. We have known divisions, which must be healed to move forward in great purposes and I will strive in good faith to heal them. Yet those divisions do not define America. We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the author of Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength tested, but not weary we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.

President George W. Bush

2 Lesbians Charged With Rape

NORTHAMPTON -- Two women, one a Smith College student, pleaded innocent to rape and assault charges yesterday in connection with a sexual encounter that a prosecutor said started out consensual and turned into a rape involving handcuffs and knives.

Northampton District Court Judge W. Michael Goggins set bail at $2,500 cash or $25,000 surety for Rachel Ann Klobertanz, 22, and Augusta Claire Kendall, 22, at their arraignments yesterday morning. Kendall was released on bail yesterday morning.

The two appeared in court shackled and handcuffed, wearing jeans and hooded sweat shirts.

Assistant District Attorney Susan J. Loehn said the 20-year-old victim, who is a Smith College student as is Kendall, met the two defendants in downtown Northampton and went to their 104 South St. apartment.

The woman went there voluntarily, despite the fact she had obtained a restraining order against Klobertanz in August, according to Loehn and police reports. The incidents took place Friday night into Saturday morning, police said.

The three had "several bottles of champagne" and then went to a bedroom where the three engaged in consensual sex, according to Loehn and police reports. During the encounter, the victim was placed in handcuffs, although she did not remember how, police reports state. After Kendall slapped her face, the victim told the two she wanted to stop, police said.

They refused, and Kendall cut her abdomen and other areas of her body with a knife and raped her while Klobertanz held her legs, police said.

Kendall has no criminal record, while Klobertanz has a pending assault and battery charge in Rhode Island, Loehn said.

In an interview, Loehn, who had been with the Northwestern district attorney's office for more than 10 years, said while this case may be unusual, it is not the first time a woman has been charged with raping another woman here. It's unusual because of the level of violence that occurred, Loehn said.

The district attorney's office plans to seek indictments against the two in Hampshire Superior Court, Loehn said.

Their district court cases were continued to Feb. 18. Both are charged with two counts of aggravated rape, three counts of assault and battery, and one count each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and aggravated assault and battery. Klobertanz is also charged with violating a restraining order.

The victim had obtained the restraining order against Klobertanz in August, when she said the two had a fight about money, and Klobertanz got angry and pushed her into an antique clock and a bed, according to court documents.

"Then she grabbed me by the neck and tried to strangle me," the woman wrote in the affidavit she submitted when requesting the restraining order.

The incident took place in the victim's mother's house in North Kingston, R.I., where the two were reportedly living. The two had dated since March 2004, the victim said in court documents.

Also yesterday, a roommate of Kendall and Klobertanz obtained a restraining order bar- ring them from entering the apartment they had shared with him. The roommate, Gerard N. Tomasini, said that when the two were arrested at their 104 South St. apartment, police told him that the two had a knife collection.

Tomasini said in an affidavit that he had a long history of conflict with the two, including Klobertanz who had been living there without his consent since mid-October.

Defense lawyer David Roundtree, hired to represent Kendall, said his client has a 3.0 grade point average. Her mother, who works in alumni relations at Yale University, was in the courtroom, he said.

"There are some significant issues with respect to consent," Roundtree said.

Lawyer Thomas H. Estes, appointed to represent Klobertanz, said both women told police the sex was consensual. He noted they were still at their apartment when arrested.

http://www.masslive.com/chicopeeholyoke/republi
can/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1106124736321600.xml

Bush Upsets Some Supporters

Editor's note: Faced with the possibility of losing a major scam to raise millions of dollars from unsuspecting or naïve Christians, non-evangelizing activist groups are urging the Bush administration to reconsider pushing the 'gay' marriage ban after it was pointed out the "ban" will not pass in the Senate. Moreover, the fact that such a proposal makes the commandment of God concerning sodomy of no effect, seems to be of little interest to these "Christians" who have abandoned the Word of God to beg the State to define marriage for the Church. Christian involvement in politics cannot be supported when such involvement usurps the Word of God.

Furthermore, it is the responsibility of civil officials to "swing the sword to "...execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" -- and sodomites -- "...shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." For Christians to lobby the Bush administration and Congress to "resist the ordinance of God," not only teaches the public that God's commandments should be ignored, it encourages civil officials to display open resistance to "the powers that be are ordained of God "...and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."

Jesus said, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." Therefore, Christians involved in politics must first be "doers of the Word," and then teach civil officials to obey the commandments of God. --Jim Rudd

President Is Urged to Press Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

President Bush came under fire from some social "conservatives" yesterday for saying he will not aggressively lobby the Senate to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage during his second term.

Prominent "leaders" such as Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and many rank-and-file Bush supporters inundated the White House with phone calls to protest Bush's comments in an interview published Sunday in The Washington Post. "Clearly there is concern" among conservatives, Perkins said. "I believe there is no more important issue for the president's second term than the preservation of marriage."

Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family said, "I am sure [White House] phone lines are lighting up all over."

In the Post interview, Bush, for the first time, said senators have made it clear to him the amendment has no chance of passing unless courts strike down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which protects states from recognizing same-sex marriages conducted elsewhere. Challenges to the act are pending in state courts from California to Florida.

"It was not articulated that way in the campaign," Perkins complained.

Social "conservatives" who helped stoke record turnout for Bush in the 2004 election expressed concern that he is dropping the issue he passionately touted during the campaign now that he has been reelected. "The president is willing to spend his political capital on Social Security reform, but the nation is greatly conflicted on that issue," said Minnery, vice president of public policy for Focus on the Family. "The nation is united on marriage. The president's leadership is desperately needed." Minnery and Perkins called the White House to complain about Bush's position.

Some "conservatives," however, said they trust Bush will still push for the amendment, despite his remarks. Janet M. LaRue of Concerned Women for America, a Washington-based group that (receives federal funding) seeks to reverse the nation's "moral decline," said Bush was pointing to the realities of a divided Senate. "I think he was speaking practically about the fact that there are senators who are waiting to see whether the federal Defense of Marriage Act is struck down by a court," a position LaRue called "foolish."

Still, she said, "The responsibility for an amendment lies with Congress, not the White House."

Bush, whose reelection strategy was predicated on record-high turnout among social conservatives, especially evangelical Christians, will need the support of his base to help pressure Congress to approve his domestic agenda over the next four years, Republicans say. While Bush remains wildly popular among most conservatives, some are wondering whether the president will play down social issues in the second term as he seeks to cement a legacy focused more on cutting taxes and creating private Social Security retirement accounts. Last week, some Republicans complained that Bush's choice to head the Republican National Committee, Kenneth B. Mehlman, has picked an abortion rights supporter to be co-chairman.

The president is sensitive to the concerns of social "conservatives" and has tried to reassure them over the past two days that he remains as committed as ever to outlawing same-sex marriage, according to White House officials. Privately, some Bush advisers say the president is uncomfortable picking divisive political fights over abortion and same-sex marriage that cannot be won.

"The president will continue to advocate the need for a constitutional amendment to protect the sanctity of marriage," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters yesterday. "It is something he believes very strongly in. In fact, he has already spent a lot of political capital on getting that initiative moving."

"Remember, in the Senate, you have to have 67 votes to move a constitutional amendment forward," McClellan added. "And there are a number of members of the Senate that have said that they're not open to it until the Defense of Marriage Act faces a serious legal challenge. So that's just talking about the legislative reality."

Social "conservatives" agree it is an uphill fight in the Senate. But they worry Bush is undermining the chances before the second-term debate even begins. "It seems wrong to signal at the start of the new Congress that nothing is likely to happen," Minnery said. "We would like him to stoke this first, so when there is this precipitating event, we can hit the ground running."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
articles/A19167-2005Jan18.html?sub=AR

The New Pharisees

'Inside The Main Party Tent'

Role in Bush re-election gives non-evangelizing
'activist groups' status and access lacked in 2001

Forget the stress and last-minute headaches from President Bush's first inauguration. This time, Michelle Ammons is wrapping herself in her mother's fox-collared dress, stepping into the most exclusive of inaugural balls and celebrating.

"This year we want to go and just enjoy the inaugural," said the Christian Coalition executive staff member. "They've taken very good care of us."

In 2001, she and her colleagues were largely outside the official festivities, working hard to hold their own events, trying to prove their political mettle. This year, the Christian Coalition leaders and other religious "conservatives" will be inside the main party tents.

They're reaping the fruits of their efforts to help elect Bush in November. Not only are they celebrating a new term for a president they supported, but they're feeling feted.

They'll be close enough to see Bush place his hand on the Bible tomorrow. They'll be at the Texas and Wyoming Inaugural Ball that night. They'll be in VIP reserved seating at Friday's prayer service at the National Cathedral.

Of course, they'll have some of their own parties, too. But now those parties will be headlined by the most sought-after speakers and filled with the right inside-the-Beltway names.

The Traditional Values Coalition gala tonight has outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft as the scheduled speaker and presidential adviser Karl Rove and Bush's campaign manager Ken Mehlman on the guest list. That will come on the heels of last night's party, held by three Christian conservative groups, where Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was scheduled to speak and dozens of members of Congress were to have clinked glasses.

"We have a lot to be thankful for, said the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, founder of the Traditional Values Coalition.

At their gala four years ago, the headliners were mostly Christian speakers. Rove came by, but it was "more of a stop-by," said Sheldon.

This year, Sheldon expects Rove to mingle longer, especially since the Ritz-Carlton event will be more lavish and double the size with 800 guests. At the same time, religious leaders predict a larger presence of Christian conservatives in Washington for this inaugural.

Ammons of the Christian Coalition said that pastors from around the country have been swamping the group's phone lines to ask about how to get last-minute tickets. And groups such as the Family Research Council are holding open houses to give their membership a place to warm up between events. Outside events might also be encouraging more Christians to consider a trek to Washington this week.

A San Francisco atheist trying to block the inclusion of prayer at the inauguration ceremony appealed his case to the Supreme Court yesterday. The challenge, which was rejected by two lower courts, has enraged many Christians who see it as an act of religious discrimination.

A coinciding event that also will draw many religious "conservatives" to Washington is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Annually, anti-abortion groups march from the White House to the steps of the Supreme Court to mark the day and reiterate their intent to overturn that ruling. This year, 32nd annual March For Life events begin on Saturday, the anniversary, and extend through Monday, the day of the march. The last Bush inauguration helped the 2001 march ranks swell to 225,000.

"We have lots and lots of people coming in for that," said Ammons.

Beyond those events, interest in the inauguration is up from four years ago, Christian "conservative leaders" said, because there is a deeper sense of connection with Bush now that he is entering his second term.

Bush has long talked about his faith and how it informs his politics. But Sheldon said four years ago there was lingering trepidation about him.

Without a record, it was unclear how the new president would fare on issues that mattered to Christian conservative groups. "Now we know he's one of us," Sheldon said.

One Texas-based tour group that specializes in mission work and Christian-themed trips has designed its first-ever inaugural tour for students in Washington this week. Tommy Horan, the marketing director for Joshua Expeditions, said some customers wanted to wait until after the election before committing.

"If [John] Kerry had won, they weren't so sure they wanted to go," he said.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/
bal-te.christian19jan19,1,4170534.story?coll=
bal-nationworld-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true

Ala. Judge Rejects Rudolph
Bid to Drop Death Penalty

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A federal magistrate Tuesday rejected a defense claim that prosecutors erred in seeking the death penalty against serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph, who is set for trial this spring in a 1998 abortion clinic bombing.

In an advisory report that now goes to a district judge for review, U.S. Magistrate Judge T. Michael Putnam said Rudolph's lawyers were wrong in claiming the government waited too long to formally announce it would try to have Rudolph executed.

Arrested in May 2003 after more than five years as a fugitive, Rudolph is charged with using a bomb in a lethal crime, which carries a possible death sentence upon conviction.

Putnam said prosecutors informed the court of their desire to execute Rudolph in December 2003, or about 17 months ahead of the expected start of testimony in his trial this coming May. Putnam called the time lag "reasonable" and within the law.

But Putnam also said a defense request to bar the government from seeking capital punishment was premature, meaning it could come up again as the trial nears.

Putnam's recommendations go to U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith for final review.

Besides the Alabama bombing, Rudolph is charged with setting the bomb that killed a woman at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and a pair of bombings in Atlanta in 1997.


http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/bas
e/news-11/1106091850149440.xml&storylist=alabamanews

Hate crime targets display

Un-Constitutional 'Hate Crimes Law' used to charge four
pro-aborts for 'Vandalizim and Destruction Of Property'

3,000 pro-life crosses knocked over

REDDING, California -- Four men were charged with a hate crime Monday after allegedly knocking down almost 3,000 white crosses erected by local Christian organizations to symbolize the country's daily abortion rate.

The Hilltop Drive demonstration, in a grassy lot next to Christian Life Center, was vandalized about 3 a.m. Monday, project construction coordinator Steve Fitch said.

"They tore them out of the ground. They threw some of them over the fence and onto the freeway," he said.

A pager led Redding police to arrest friends Michael Lane, 19, of Redding, Clayton Heath, 20, of Anderson, Brian Fitzgerald, 20, of Chico, and Aaron Krzywicki, 20, of Santa Rosa.

The four were booked Monday at the Shasta County jail on suspicion of felony vandalism and a misdemeanor civil rights violation, Sgt. Roger Moore said. No more arrests are expected.

"It is a hate crime. Anytime you infringe on people's civil rights, it's a hate crime," Moore said.

Damaging property to intimidate or interfere with civil rights based on a person's race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender or sexual orientation, real or perceived, is illegal, he said.

In this case, "It's a religiously based display," Moore said.

About 110 volunteers from church-based schools and church-related groups took three hours Saturday to plant the crosses in the spot near Browning Street, Fitch said. They included students from Bishop Quinn High School, Liberty Christian High School and Simpson University, and representatives of CareNet Pregnancy Center of Tri-Counties, the Good News Rescue Mission and Pray Northstate. Christian Life Center provided the land.

The display was meant to peacefully illustrate the number of abortions done in the United States each day: about 3,000 according to statistics cited by the groups, said Rain Mahan, director of the Life Light Pregnancy Help Center.

"To see that many crosses together, it does make an impact," she said.

Eight-foot-long vinyl signs that read "Abortions done per day in the U.S.A." were also slashed and knocked down, Mahan said.

Last year, the groups posted crosses in a field along Interstate 5 south of Knighton Road. This year's display was much more visible, as well as accessible, she said.

"We knew when we went to that site that there would be more potential for vandalism, for sure," Mahan said.

Monday, drivers pulled over after spotting the downed crosses.

"People were stopping on the road and offering to help this morning. A lot of people were very upset," Fitch said.

The damage is estimated to exceed $600 in materials alone, Moore said. Building and painting the 3-foot-high crosses took about two months, Fitch said.

"You've got about 2,000 hours of labor into the crosses," he said.

Monday night, Fitch said he hoped to schedule volunteers on an all-night patrol to prevent more vandalism. Organizers hope to reconstruct the display Thursday afternoon, and anyone can help, he said.

Mahan said there is no plan to end the demonstration any sooner than the previously planned Jan. 29 date.

"This message really needs to be out there," she said. "I know the truth always hurts, but people need to know."


http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/ar
ticle/0,2232,REDD_17533_3478299,00.html

Death-Receptionist Charged

Clinic Receptionist Charged With Injecting Abortion Drugs

LAKEWOOD, N.J. -- An abortion clinic receptionist has been charged with injecting abortion-inducing drugs into three patients, apparently unbeknownst to abortionist Flavius Thompson, the "doctor" for whom she was working, authorities said Tuesday.

Liza Berdiel, 24, of Lakewood, an employee of Pleasant Woman’s Pavilion, 535 East Countyline Road, Lakewood, New Jersey, (phone 732-905-0017) was charged with three counts of unlicensed practice of medicine for performing abortions without a license, said Lt. Robert Urie, a spokesman for Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas F. Kelaher.

Berdiel also was charged with three counts of receiving money for performing medicine illegally, Urie said.

The woman, who was arrested Thursday and released after posting $20,000 bail, was working for Thompson and performed the abortions after work hours, Urie said.

“She was doing this without the doctor’s knowledge,” Urie said. “It was something pre-arranged. They may have thought this was under the doctor’s care, but she was doing it during non-office hours, when he was out of the office.”

Thompson cooperated with authorities investigating Berdiel, according to Urie.

Berdiel could not immediately be reached for comment. A call to a local phone listed under her last name went unanswered Tuesday. Thompson also could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the telephone at Pleasant Woman’s Pavilion said Thompson would not speak to a reporter.

“He’s extremely busy. He does not have time to talk to you today. He said he’s not interested,” said the woman, who would not give her name.

Urie could not immediately say how the alleged crimes came to the attention of authorities. It wasn’t clear when the injections allegedly occurred.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/state
/ny-bc-nj--unlicensedabortio0118jan18,0,
3860014.story?coll=ny-reg:on-apnewjersey

Democrats Turn to Leader of Religious Left

Democrats, reeling from the Republicans' success at courting churchgoers, are focusing new attention on a religious and political anomaly: Jim Wallis, one of the few prominent left-leaning leaders among evangelical Protestants.

At the start of the Congressional session, Senate Democrats invited Mr. Wallis to address their members at a private session to discuss issues. A group of about 15 House Democrats invited him to a breakfast discussion about dispelling their party's secular image. And NBC News has enlisted him to appear as a guest during its inauguration coverage opposite Dr. James C. Dobson, (erroneously believed to be one of the most prominent evangelical conservatives, but in actuality is a member of the Council for National Policy.

Last week, Mr. Wallis's publisher, a religious imprint of HarperCollins, released his new book, "God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It," moving it up from a publication date this spring to coincide with the inauguration. It immediately jumped to the top of the best-seller list at Amazon.com, where it hovered between No. 2 and No. 7 over the weekend.

Mr. Wallis, the founder and editor of the Christian magazine Sojourners, has written two previous books on similar themes, "Who Speaks for God?" and "The Soul of Politics," without making much of a splash, but since the November presidential election he has drawn a new level of attention, especially from Democrats and liberals.

"Failure makes you reassess," he said. "The Democratic Party has increasingly had a problem as being perceived as secular fundamentalists."

James P. Manley, a spokesman for the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said the reason Mr. Reid, a Mormon, had invited Mr. Wallis to speak was obvious. "It is clear from the results of the election that we Democrats need to be much more forceful and clear in communicating their faith and values to the electorate," Mr. Manley said.

"He can help us communicate with the rising number of evangelicals in the country, which is right now a Republican constituency," Mr. Manley said, "but which Wallis argues could easily become part of the Democratic constituency as well."

Mr. Wallis, a registered Democrat, told the senators that the Bible contains more than 3,000 references to alleviating poverty. He said Democrats needed to do a better job of explaining the moral and religious foundations of policies intended to help the poor, protect the environment and reduce violence.

He also urged the Democrats to look for middle ground on the social issues most troubling to religious traditionalists, like obscenity and abortion. Whatever their stance on abortion rights, he argued, Democrats need to treat its occurrence as a moral problem and propose ways to reduce it.

Several Roman Catholic senators, recalling that during the last election some conservative bishops condemned Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights, asked pointed questions on the subject, one person present said.

A few days later, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts echoed some of the same themes in a speech, calling for the party to "speak more directly to the issues of deep conscience" and emphasizing efforts to lower the abortion rate while preserving abortion rights.

Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, said that he and Mr. Wallis had talked often over the years but that the part of the speech that most reflected his influence was a discussion of poverty, not the senator's thoughts about abortion.

Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a Catholic who has led Democratic efforts to appeal to religious voters and who invited Mr. Wallis to talk with House Democrats, said many were frustrated at the public perception of the party as secular despite their personal devotion to their respective faiths. As a sympathetic evangelical Christian, Mr. Wallis could help "understand what the perceptions are," she said, applauding him for calling the federal budget "a moral issue."

But Dr. Richard Land, president of the ethics and religious liberty commission of the 16-million-member Southern Baptist Convention, called Mr. Wallis "a left-wing evangelical" ill-qualified to instruct Democrats on conservative Christian values. "The Democrats are turning to the guy they can find that is least scary to them," Dr. Land said.

He argued that Mr. Wallis misunderstood conservative evangelical voters because he conflated the moral issue of alleviating poverty with the practical issue of whether Democratic policies are the way to do it.

"I don't know anybody who is in favor of poverty," Dr. Land said. "He doesn't seem to have adequately comprehended that the debate is over, based on the 30-year experiment, about whether big government or free markets work better at producing wealth for everybody."


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/
01/17/politics/17wallis.html

Bush's Morning-After Pill Abortifacient

FDA set to decide on morning-after pill

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is considering whether to make morning-after birth control available without a prescription, and like most issues that involve sex and pregnancy, it has generated heated debate.

Fierce arguments have gone on inside and outside the Food and Drug Administration, which may decide as soon as this week whether drug stores can sell the emergency contraception known as Plan B without a prescription to women age 16 and older.

Each side accuses the other of manipulating science for political purpose.

Plan B supporters say the pill is a safe way to prevent thousands of unwanted pregnancies and the abortions that sometimes follow. Making the contraception available over the counter, they say, is crucial for women who might need the protection over a weekend or when it is difficult to obtain a prescription.

Plan B can prevent pregnancy for up to 72 hours after sex. The sooner the pill is taken, the more effective it is.

"Women's reproductive rights shouldn't hinge on someone else's schedule. We should have this at our fingertips. It should be next to condoms in drug stores," said Kelly Mangan, 22, president of the University of Florida's chapter of the National Organization for Women. She was arrested this month in a protest outside the FDA's headquarters in suburban Maryland.

Opponents worry that the drug encourages women - teenagers in particular - to have risky sex. If over-the-counter sales are permitted, older teenagers or adults might buy the pills for some of their younger friends or their sexual partners, critics say.

"It encourages risky sexual activity with the promise `just pop a pill in the morning and you don't need to worry about pregnancy,'" said Wendy Wright of Concerned Women of America, a conservative group that focuses on social issues.

"What we're concerned about is a number of young people who are not engaged in sexual activity who feel tremendous pressure, and this will only add to the pressure that is on them," Wright said.

Not contested, by either side, is that the drug is drug is safe or effective. Some who work for the FDA believed that questions about people's sexual behavior were overwhelming scientific ones, according to an internal agency memo written last year.

"Some staff have expressed the concern that this decision is based on non-medical implications of teen sexual behavior, or judgments about the propriety of this activity," said the memo by the FDA's acting drug chief, Dr. Steven Galson.

"These issues are beyond the scope of our drug approval process, and I have not considered them in this decision," wrote Galson, who last spring rejected the first application for Plan B's sale over the counter.

A study this month is providing evidence for both sides.

Researchers in San Francisco found that women who were given a supply of Plan B to keep at home were no more likely to have unprotected intercourse that women who had to go to a clinic or pharmacy for the contraceptive. Women with easy access were more likely to use Plan B, leading researchers to conclude that easy access could prevent unwanted pregnancies.

But the study, which only followed women for six months, found that the two groups had about the same pregnancy rate, undercutting the argument that Plan B prevents unwanted pregnancies and abortion.

Last May, the FDA rejected nonprescription sales of emergency contraception, against the overwhelming recommendation of the agency's own scientific advisers.

The FDA said it worried that there was not enough data about the pill's use by young teenagers. The agency promised to reconsider if the pill's manufacturer, Barr Laboratories of Pomona, N.Y., figured out how to sell over the counter only to those 16 and older.

In July, Barr again applied for approval. The company now proposes that drug stores check customers' ages to be certain that buyers are at least 16, an approach the FDA has not approved before. Younger teenagers could continue to get the drug with a doctor's prescription.

The morning-after pill is a higher dose of the contraceptive hormones found in the Pill. It prevents ovulation or fertilization, and can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting into the uterus.

Because medical experts do not consider a woman to be pregnant until after an egg implants into the uterus, the morning-after pill is not considered abortion, although some conservatives object to any interference with a fertilized egg.

If a woman already is pregnant, morning-after pills have no effect. But taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, they can cut a woman's chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent.

The decision to reject Barr's first application led critics to say that the FDA was bending to conservative politics.

"A treatment for any other condition, from hangnail to headache to heart disease, with a similar record of safety and efficacy would be approved quickly," three physicians on the FDA advisory committee wrote in an editorial published by the New England Journal of Medicine last April.

They said that requiring customers to prove their age or putting the drug behind the counter are steps "designed to intimidate women." The authors noted that the advisory committee rejected such moves.

"In this case, there is no medical dispute," they wrote. "Rather, the delay results from the concern of some groups ... that the availability of the drug may have a corrupting influence on sexual behavior. If easy access to the drug could have such an influence, it would seem that the battle had already been lost."

http://www.thestate.com/m
ld/thestate/10660891.htm

Bush Drops 'Gay' Amendment

Gladly Supporting the Sodomite Lobby Bush
Says He Will Not Push Gay Marriage Amendment

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said the public's decision to re-elect him was a ratification of his approach toward Iraq and that there was no reason to hold any administration officials accountable for mistakes or misjudgments in pre-war planning or managing the violent aftermath.

"We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 elections," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. "The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates and chose me."

With the Iraq elections two weeks away and no signs of the deadly insurgency abating, Bush set no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops and twice declined to endorse Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent statement that the number of Americans serving in Iraq could be reduced by year's end. Bush said he will not ask Congress to expand the size of the National Guard or regular Army, as some lawmakers and military experts propose.

In a wide-ranging, 35-minute interview aboard Air Force One on Friday, Bush also laid out new details of his second-term plans for both foreign and domestic policy. For the first time, Bush said he will not press senators to pass a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, the top priority for many social conservative groups. And he said he has no plans to cut benefits for the roughly 40 percent of Social Security recipients who collect monthly disability and survivors payments as he prepares his plan for partial privatization.

But it will be Iraq that dominates White House deliberations offstage. Over the next few weeks, Bush will be monitoring closely Iraq's plan to hold elections for a 275-member national assembly. He must deliver his State of the Union address with a message of resolve on Iraq, and he will need to seek congressional approval for roughly $100 billion in emergency spending, much of it for the war.

In the interview, the president urged Americans to show patience in coming months as Iraq moves slowly toward creating a democratic nation where a brutal dictatorship once stood.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/ke
ntucky/news/nation/10657618.htm

Related: Sodomite Publications:

Dems Tell Bush To Lay Off Gays
(Washington) The Democratic Party launched a petition Friday telling the White House not to push for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The DNC in its Pride at the Polls newsletter to more than 100,000 party supporters calls on President Bush to abandon his call for the amendment and to tell House Majority Leader Tom Delay to " stop discriminating against Americans." DeLay (R-Texas) has made it clear that it's at the top of the Republican legislative agenda, warning, "We will come back and come back until this is passed."

Bush Drops Gay Marriage Amendment
by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com Washington Bureau Chief
Washington) President Bush said Sunday that he will not press the Senate to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In a wide-ranging interview with the Washington Post Bush said that he remains opposed to gay marriage but believes there aren't the votes in the Senate to ensure the amendment would be adopted. "The point is, is that Senators have made it clear that so long as DOMA is deemed constitutional, nothing will happen. I'd take that admonition seriously," Bush told the Post. The change in position comes just days after Democrats called on the President to abandon his push for an amendment.

The Pentagon's 'secret sodomite weapon'

Aphrodisiac to change heterosexual men into sodomites?

US military chiefs are said to have considered developing an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy troops sexually irresistible to each other, according to a report in New Scientist.

The Sunshine Project, which exposes research into chemical and biological weapons, revealed the plans to the magazine.

Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the Pentagon proposal said.

Other ideas included chemical weapons that attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats to troop positions, making them uninhabitable.

Another was to develop a chemical that caused 'severe and lasting halitosis', to identify guerrillas trying to blend in with civilians.

There was also an idea to make troops' skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight.

According to the BBC, researchers also pondered a "Who? Me?" bomb, which would simulate flatulence in enemy ranks. This device had been under consideration since 1945.

But researchers had concluded that the premise for such a device was fatally flawed because "people in many areas of the world do not find faecal odour offensive, since they smell it on a regular basis", according to the BBC.

The proposals, from the US Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, apparently date from 1994.

The lab sought Pentagon funding for research into what it called "harassing, annoying and 'bad guy'-identifying chemicals".

Sunshine Project spokesperson Edward Hammond said it was not known if the proposed six-year research plan had been pursued. But Captain Dan McSweeney of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at the Pentagon told the BBC that the defence department receives "literally hundreds" of project ideas, but that "none of the systems described in that [1994] proposal have been developed".

http://lifestyle.iafrica.com/br
ain_food/bf_features/404072.htm

FBI May Monitor Web Use Without Warrant

Can the FBI Monitor Your Web Browsing Without a Warrant?

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the FBI and other offices of the US Department of Justice, seeking the release of documents that would reveal whether the government has been using the USA PATRIOT Act to spy on Internet users' reading habits without a search warrant.

At issue is PATRIOT Section 216, which expanded the government's authority to conduct surveillance in criminal investigations using pen registers or trap and trace devices ("pen-traps"). Pen-traps collect information about the numbers dialed on a telephone but do not record the actual content of phone conversations. Because of this limitation, court orders authorizing pen-trap surveillance are easy to get - instead of having to show probable cause, the government need only certify relevance to its investigation. Also, the government never has to inform people that they are or were the subjects of pen-trap surveillance.

PATRIOT expanded pen-traps to include devices that monitor Internet communications. But the line between non-content and content is a lot blurrier online than it is on phone networks. The DOJ has said openly that the new definitions allow pen-traps to collect email and IP addresses. However, the DOJ has not been so forthcoming about web surveillance. It won't reveal whether it believes URLs can be collected using pen-traps, despite the fact that URLs clearly reveal content by identifying the web pages being read. EFF made its FOIA request specifically to gain access to documents that might reveal whether the DOJ is using pen-traps to monitor web browsing.

"It's been over three years since the USA PATRIOT Act was passed, and the DOJ still hasn't answered the public's simple question: 'Can you see what we're reading on the Web without probable cause?'" said Kevin Bankston, EFF Staff Attorney and Bruce J. Ennis Equal Justice Works Fellow. "Much of PATRIOT is coming up for review this year, but we can never have a full and informed debate of the issues when the DOJ won't explain how it has been using these new surveillance powers."

The law firm of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary assisted EFF in preparing the FOIA request and will help with any litigation if the DOJ fails to respond.

http://magic-city-news
.com/printer_2779.shtml

Judge Rejects Atheist's Lawsuit to Block Inaugural Prayer

WASHINGTON - An atheist who tried to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance lost a bid Friday to bar the saying of a Christian prayer at President Bush's inauguration.

U.S. District Judge John Bates said Michael Newdow's claim should be denied because he already had filed and lost a similar lawsuit in a federal appeals court in California last year.

Bates also said Newdow had no legal standing to pursue his claim. Even if Newdow could show he had suffered injury because he was offended in hearing the prayer, Bates said the court did not have authority to stop the president from inviting clergy to give a religious prayer at the ceremony.

In a telephone interview from his home in Sacramento, Newdow said Bates had written a thoughtful opinion "but he came to the wrong conclusion." He said he planned to appeal.

Bates wrote, "The court's grave concerns about its power to issue an injunction against the president, which is the only method of redressing Newdow's alleged injuries, places in peril Newdow's standing to bring this action."

Even if he were to rule on the merits of Newdow's claims, Bates said, Newdow was unlikely to prevail. The judge relied heavily on a 1983 Supreme Court ruling that prayers at opening sessions of legislatures and other public bodies do not violate the separation of church and state.

Newdow argued that saying a Christian prayer at the Jan. 20 ceremony would violate the Constitution by forcing him to accept unwanted religious beliefs.

Attorneys representing Bush and his inaugural committee argued that prayers have been widely accepted at inaugurals for more than 200 years and that Bush's decision to have a minister recite the invocation was a personal choice the court had no power to prevent.

Newdow gained widespread publicity two years ago after winning his pledge case before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which ruled that public schools violated the separation of church and state by having students mention God.

The Supreme Court later threw out the ruling, saying Newdow could not lawfully sue because he did not have custody of his elementary school-age daughter, on whose behalf he sued. Newdow refiled the pledge suit in Sacramento federal court this month, naming eight other parents and children.

Newdow is both an emergency room physician and a lawyer and has represented himself in both legal actions.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/led
gerenquirer/news/politics/10649205.htm

Reservist Found Guilty

Abu Ghraib 'Ringleader' Convicted of Prisoner Abuse


Fort Hood jury finds Graner guilty in Abu Ghraib abuse case

FORT HOOD -- Spc. Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at Abu Ghraib, was found guilty today of abusing detainees in the first trial arising from the scandal at the Baghdad prison.

Graner, a 36-year-old reservist from Uniontown, Pa., was convicted on all of the counts he faced: conspiracy, assault, maltreating prisoners, dereliction of duty and committing indecent acts.

The jury of four Army officers and six senior enlisted men rejected the defense that Graner and other guards were merely following orders from intelligence agents at Abu Ghraib when they roughed up and sexually humiliated the detainees.

The jury deliberated for less than five hours. Each count required that at least seven of the 10 jurors to agree for conviction.

Graner stood at attention and looked straight ahead without expression as each of the verdicts was read by the foreman. His parents Charles and Irma Graner, who attended each day of the trial, held hands tightly as they listened.

The case next goes to the sentencing phase, which jurors said they wanted to begin this evening.

Both prosecutors and the defense are permitted to put on witnesses during a sentencing hearing. Graner can also testify, which he declined to do during the trial.

The jury accepted the prosecution's case with a few minor exceptions.

On one of the two aggravated assault counts he faced, he was found guilty of a lesser charge of battery. In addition, he was acquitted on eight of 25 instances of dereliction but, under military law, he was still convicted on the charge as a whole.

Graner, once a guard at a maximum-security prison in his home state, had faced up to 17 1/2 years behind bars, but the assault reduction lowered that ceiling to 15 years.

In his closing argument, Capt. Chris Graveline, one of the prosecutors, recounted incident after incident of abuse, buttressing many with photos and video taken inside the prison in November 2003, to make the case that Graner was a sadistic soldier who took pleasure in seeing detainees suffer.

"It was for sport, for laughs," Graveline said. "What we have here is plain abuse. There is no justification."

Defense lawyer Guy Womack countered that his client and other Abu Ghraib guards were under extreme pressure from intelligence agents to use physical violence to prepare detainees for questioning.

"It was a persistent, consistent set of orders," Womack said. "To soften up the detainees, to do things so we can interrogate them successfully in support of our mission. ... We had men and women being killed."

Womack reminded jurors that Saddam Hussein was not yet in U.S. custody when the alleged abuse happened.

"There was somebody very important on everybody's mind," he said. "Wouldn't it be logical to have your interrogators use pressure to get information to try to find him?"

Womack described the notorious photos taken inside the prison as "gallows humor" arising from unrelenting stress felt by the Abu Ghraib guards.

He also tried to plant the seed that Graner and the other low-level guards were being used in a cover-up to protect Army officers once those photos went public.

Graner stood accused of stacking naked detainees in a human pyramid and later ordering them to masturbate while other soldiers took photographs. He also punched one man in the head hard enough to knock him out, and struck an injured prisoner with a collapsible metal stick.

Three Abu Ghraib guards who had made plea deals with prosecutors testified at the trial. Two other guards are awaiting trial, along with Pfc. Lynndie England, a clerk at Abu Ghraib who last fall gave birth to a baby believed to be fathered by Graner.

Womack said Thursday that there was no need for Graner to tell his version of what went on inside the prison because his other witnesses were so effective in making the case.

Graveline used some of Graner's own e-mails as evidence of how much he enjoyed the pain he inflicted on detainees. In one e-mail, he described beating on prisoners as "a good upper-body workout, but hard on the hands."

The e-mail messages were given to jurors Tuesday. The New York Times, which said it got them from a person close to the defense, reported that they were sent to Graner's family and friends, including his young children.

"The guys give me hell for not getting any pictures while I was fighting this guy," said the message with the photograph of the howling detainee, according to the Times.

A photo of him stitching a detainee's wound had the note, "Things may have gotten a bit bad when we were asking him a couple of questions. O well," the Times reported.

In his presentation, Graveline cited an earlier comment by Womack, who sought to play down the pyramid incident by saying that cheerleaders build pyramids every day.

The prosecution said that might be a valid comparison if the cheerleaders were stripped naked and roughed up first.

But Womack said there was nothing wrong with stripping what the prisoners, whom he termed "hardened terrorists," and stacking them into a pyramid to control them.

"They did it in a safe manner so nobody would get hurt ... It was an ingenious move," he said. "If there was anything wrong, it was that they took a picture and they were smiling."


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/
ssistory.mpl/topstory/2991852

Rudolph team protests handwriting analysis

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Lawyers for serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph want a court to throw out the work of a handwriting analyst who examined his Bible, which prosecutors say contained the word "bombs" written beside an apocalyptic passage describing hail from heaven.

The defense, which lost a previous fight to have Rudolph's Bible excluded as evidence, contends handwriting analysis is inherently flawed and doesn't meet scientific standards required to be introduced in court.

In filings recently made public, Rudolph's lawyers asked a judge to hold a hearing on whether jurors in Rudolph's upcoming federal death penalty trial should be allowed to hear testimony by Carl R. McClary, a handwriting analyst with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. McClary matched Rudolph's handwriting with writing found on several documents and books including the Bible, according to the defense.

Prosecutors haven't filed documents stating whether they oppose a hearing. U.S. Attorney Alice Martin declined comment Friday, saying the goverment's written response was not due until next week.

Investigators and news reports have publicly tied Rudolph to the far-right Christian Identity movement — a claim his lawyers previously denied — and an agent testified last year he considered religion a motive for the deadly 1998 abortion clinic bombing in which Rudolph is awaiting trial in Birmingham.

Rudolph also is charged in the bombing that killed a woman at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and bombings outside an abortion clinic and a gay bar in Atlanta in 1997.

In a court document that provided the first glimpse of what could be crucial evidence in Rudolph's trial, prosecutors said the Bible found by agents in Rudolph's North Carolina trailer after the Birmingham bombing contained several handwritten notes that were important evidence.

Citing an example, prosecutors said the word "bombs" was printed in large letters in the margin beside Revelation 16:21, which was underlined. The passage, which many believe describes God's final judgment on a corrupt, immoral world, reads: "And there fell upon man a great hail storm out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the hail thereof was exceedingly great."

Without addressing Rudolph's Bible specifically, the defense submitted sworn statements from Seton Hall University law professor Mark Denbeaux, who said a 1987 study showed that handwriting analysts and laypeople were about equal in their ability to match handwriting samples, reaching the right conclusion only 52 percent of the time.

The defense also wants a judge to throw out fingerprint evidence that prosecutors could use in a bid to link Rudolph to the Alabama bombing, and it contends an explosives-sniffing dog that helped in searches of Rudolph's trailer and storage shed was unreliable.

Held without bond, Rudolph is set for trial this spring in the clinic bombing, which killed an off-duty police officer and critically injured a nurse. Officials said Rudolph requested a Bible shortly after he arrived at the jail in Birmingham.

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/bas
e/news-11/1105736044111950.xml&storylist=alabamanews

Christians Arrested Update

Hearings Scheduled For Next Week

Motion filed for Philadelphia protesters
Christians evangelizing at homosexual event seek federal relief

WorldNetDaily.com

One of the attorneys for the Christian protesters who are criminally charged for evangelizing at an outdoor homosexual event in Philadelphia has renewed an appeal in federal court, citing the Supreme Court statement "Speech cannot be ... punished or banned simply because it might offend a hostile mob."

The filing by the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy seeks emergency relief in federal district court based on evidence from a December preliminary hearing.

Though an arraignment of the four adult defendants was scheduled for yesterday, prosecutors again postponed the proceeding. The same thing happened last week when an arraignment was scheduled.

"Just as they did last week, they're not prepared," Michael Marcavage, the head of Repent America, the group that sponsored the October protest, told WND. "Last week they weren't ready, this week they're not ready, and now they're saying we have to come back again."

The government also postponed a bail hearing at which Marcavage and the other defendants had hoped to have a condition of their bail removed. That condition requires them to stay at least 100 feet away from any homosexual gathering.

Marcavage says both hearings are now scheduled for next week.


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ne
ws/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42356

Botched Abortion Victim Rushed to Hospital

Another story of a botched abortion at Tiller's mill

WICHITA, KS -- With sirens blaring and emergency lights flashing, an ambulance rushed an injured woman to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, KS at approximately 9:30 AM today, (Thursday, January 13, 2005), after an apparent botched abortion at Women’s Health Care Services, a late-term abortion mill run by the notorious George Tiller.

“They almost caused an accident at the intersection,” said witness Brenna Sullenger, who filmed the arrival of the ambulance at Wesley. “They were in a big hurry.”

First to arrive at the hospital was Tiller employee Edna Roach, a nurse’s assistant who often escorts injured women to the hospital from the mill. She was observed to carry medical files into the Emergency Room in an apparent effort to expedite the intake process.

The ambulance arrived a few moments later. Another witness Cheryl Sullenger noted, “As I pulled into the hospital parking lot, the EMTs were unloading the woman from the ambulance. I drove right past them and they appeared very grim and in a very big rush to get the woman inside. She was covered with a blanket.”

Tiller arrived a few minutes later in his armored Jeep, driven by another employee, Sara Phares. Pro-lifers on the scene asked Tiller, “How many more women have to be injured before you stop, George?”

Meanwhile, back at the abortion mill, Pro-life witnesses observed one of Tiller’s security guards expelling a KNSS (radio) reporter from their parking lot in an effort to institute a media blackout of this story.

“We are here to uncover and report the truth: Babies are dying and women are being maimed. As we near the 32nd memorial of Roe v. Wade, we must ask ourselves how much more human tragedy must we endure before we will take action to stop abortion now.” –Troy Newman, President, Operation Rescue.

http://www.operationrescue
.org/archives/000149.shtml

Wal-Mart's CEO on Offensive Against Critics

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, and its chief executive, Lee Scott, went on the offensive Thursday against critics of its employment policies and the impact its stores have on communities where they are located.

The company took out more than 100 full-page newspaper ads Thursday, outlining the wages and benefits it pays its employees and the good the Bentonville-based company says it brings to communities.

Scott said he wants Wal-Mart overcome its reputation as a company that does not pay well and has minimal full-time workers.

"We want to get those myths off the table, set the record straight," Scott said in a phone interview from New York City where he was making a round of media interviews Thursday.

Wal-Mart has been the target of lawsuits accusing the company of bias against women and not paying employees for all the hours they worked. Wal-Mart has vigorously fought the court actions.

The ad says the company's average pay is nearly twice the minimum wage, that 74 percent of its hourly workers are full time and that Wal-Mart offers health and life insurance, company stock and a 401-k retirement plan. Wal-Mart has more than 1 million domestic employees.

"We're taking this time to say, 'Hold on a minute, we have good jobs,'" Scott said.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams would not say how much the company spent on the advertising. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were among the papers in which Wal-Mart paid for the full-page ads.

The company has also been criticized by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which continues to try to organize Wal-Mart workers. And Wal-Mart's failed attempt to put a store in Inglewood, Calif., where the retailer lost a referendum last year, painted the company as an unwanted source of traffic and low-paying jobs.

"I thought it was ridiculous," Scott said of the attention drawn by the Inglewood failure. "We had a record number of stores open this past year ... (and) this year we will open a record number of stores." Scott said no one source of criticism prompted the new offensive. "I liken it to being nibbled to death by guppies," Scott said.

The company's Thanksgiving weekend sales failed to meet expectations, and Scott said that prompted Wal-Mart to become more aggressive in merchandising and the way it gets its message across.

But Scott said he does not dismiss concerns that people express when Wal-Mart wants to open a new store.

"I think there's lots of questions when Wal-Mart comes to a town that need to be answered. Not all of those questions are frivolous," he said.

Scott said he planned meetings with a variety of groups not associated with government to help explain Wal-Mart's employment practices, environment-related policies and how it deals with its suppliers. He would not name the organizations, saying did not want the groups to feel they were being used to garner media attention.

"We touch so many lives ... there is almost not a (non-government organization) that does not have an interest in what we as a company are doing," Scott said.

Wal-Mart shares were up 7 cents at $54.15 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It traded as low as $51.08 last summer.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=509&u=/a
p/20050113/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_scott_3&printer=1

Supreme Court Watch

Court Sidesteps Sodomites Adopting Children
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court rebuffed an appeal by four sodomites who challenged Florida's law banning sex perverts from adopting children. Florida is the only state with a blanket law prohibiting homosexuals from adopting children, and the court was told that other states can now feel free to copy Florida's law. Justices, in an unconstitutional opinion, barred the state of Texas in 2003 from criminalizing sodomy. The court said then that Texas "cannot demean their (sodomites) existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime." (News Source: The Associated Press)

Court: Sentencing System Wrongly Applied
WASHINGTON -- A splintered Supreme Court threw the nation's federal sentencing system into turmoil Wednesday, ruling that the way judges have been sentencing some 60,000 defendants a year is unconstitutional. In ordering changes, the court found 5-4 that judges have been improperly adding time to some criminals' prison stays. Courts can immediately expect a deluge of cases from inmates who claim they were wrongly sentenced. Congress may also craft its own solution, and the justices seemed to expect that.

Court Limits Detention for Immigrants
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the government may not indefinitely detain criminals who are illegal immigrants, undercutting a Bush administration policy applied to foreigners deemed too dangerous to be freed. In a separate ruling, the justices said the United States can deport immigrants without first getting permission from the receiving country. The 5-4 ruling will hasten the return of thousands of Somalis who have resisted going back to their war-torn homeland. The detention case involved two men who were part of the 1980 Mariel exodus, in which Cuban President Fidel Castro sent criminals and psychiatric patients to the United States along with thousands of other fleeing Cubans.

Court Will Review Death Row Wins
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said Friday it would review victories by death row inmates in Ohio and Tennessee, adding to an already busy year for capital punishment cases. While neither appeal involves blockbuster issues, they demonstrate the court's continuing interest in the death penalty and how it is imposed. Other cases the court is dealing with this term involve the constitutionality of executing juvenile killers, the rights of foreign nationals facing capital charges, and the practice of shackling death row defendants in front of the jury.

Court Won't Hear Gun Industry's Appeal
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined to consider dismissing a lawsuit seeking to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the 1999 shooting of a letter carrier by a white supremacist. Without comment, justices let stand a ruling of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that reinstated a lawsuit against gun manufacturers and distributors. The companies' weapons were used by Buford Furrow to kill Filipino-American Joseph Ileto and wound five people at a Jewish day care center in a Los Angeles-area rampage. A federal judge initially threw out the case, but a divided 9th Circuit panel reinstated the lawsuit in 2003. The panel said a since-repealed California statute immunizing gun manufacturers in product liability actions did not apply, because it did not address the plaintiffs' theories of negligent marketing and distribution. In urging their colleagues to rehear the case, dissenting Judge Consuelo Callahan wrote that courts should "be chary of adopting broad new theories of liability." Congressional legislation barring lawsuits targeting the industry failed last spring.

Court Considers Litigation of Spy Deals
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court considered Tuesday whether shadowy spy deals should ever end up in federal court, hearing the case of former Soviet-bloc spies who claim the CIA stiffed them on a pledge of lifetime support. At issue is a 130-year-old Supreme Court ruling that said former spies may not sue the U.S. government because of the secret nature of their pacts, which are made with the understanding that "the lips of the other were to be forever sealed."

Lawyer Argues Against Litigating Spy Deals
WASHINGTON -- Secret spy deals should never be litigated in court because of the danger to national security, the Supreme Court was told Tuesday, as it heard arguments in a case involving former Cold War spies who say the CIA backed out of a pledge of lifetime support. The Supreme Court is considering whether the former Eastern bloc diplomat and his wife may sue the CIA for allegedly breaking a promise to provide them financial security for life. "There's something inherent about an espionage relationship that you understand you have no protected status under the law," said acting Solicitor General Paul Clement.

Court Upholds Money Laundering Convictions
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court made it easier Tuesday for prosecutors to win money laundering convictions, ruling unanimously in a large religious scam case that the government does not have to prove "overt acts" by defendants. Justices upheld the convictions of two people accused of pocketing more than $1.2 million as part of a nationwide religious investment scheme. David Whitfield and Haywood "Don" Hall were convicted in Florida of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Court Won't Block KKK From Highway Cleanup
WASHINGTON -- Missouri lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday over its decision to bar a Ku Klux Klan group from a highway litter cleanup program. The court's rejection, made without comment, means that the KKK chapter must be allowed into Missouri's Adopt-A-Highway program, which is designed to save money by using volunteers for garbage pickup. Volunteer groups are publicly thanked with signs along the highway acknowledging their help.

Scalia Fears Chaos if Tribe Wins Tax Case
WASHINGTON -- In trying to determine where the modern Indian reservation ends and where tax laws begin, a Supreme Court justice worried Tuesday that a ruling in favor of an upstate New York tribe would create governmental chaos. The court heard arguments in the fight between the city of Sherrill, N.Y., over unpaid taxes on a gas station, convenience store and defunct T-shirt factory purchased by the New York Oneidas. The city foreclosed on the properties in 2000, and the tribe sued.

Court Declines to Hear Nader's Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined on Monday to consider whether Pennsylvania officials were wrong to keep Ralph Nader off the presidential ballot last November. At issue was whether more than 6,000 signatures on Nader's nomination papers were improperly deemed as invalid, leaving him short of the number required to be listed as an independent candidate.

Court Turns Down Traficant Appeal
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider former Rep. James A. Traficant's challenge to his bribery and racketeering conviction. The Ohio Democrat, notorious for his flamboyant speeches and unkempt hair, had been sentenced to eight years in prison and ousted from Congress in 2002. Traficant's lawyer contends that he was tried twice for the same crimes — by federal prosecutors and the U.S. House of Representatives.

Court Hears Securities Fraud Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court considered Wednesday the proper standard to prove securities fraud, a key question as investors seek to recoup billions in damages after the collapse of major companies such as Enron Corp. The high court heard arguments in the case of Dura Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is being sued for fraud following its November 1998 disclosure that its asthma drug dispenser didn't receive federal approval as expected. At issue is a ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed investors to proceed with their lawsuit under the corporate fraud theory of "loss causation."

Court Declines to Hear WorldCom Suit
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court let stand a lower ruling Monday that said the California Public Employees' Retirement System must proceed with its securities fraud lawsuit on behalf of WorldCom Inc. bondholders in federal, rather than state, court. At issue were two federal statutes, which disagreed on which court should hear the litigation after the telecom giant announced major accounting problems in 2002. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuit belongs in federal court to the extent it is "related to" a bankruptcy case.

Court to Review Arthur Andersen Case
Justices will review a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld the former Big Five accounting firm's June 2002 conviction. At issue is whether the jury instructions at trial were too vague and broad for jurors to determine correctly whether Andersen obstructed justice. "This appeal is enormously significant," said Stephen Presser, a business and law professor at Northwestern University, who called the government's prosecution "overkill." "You had one of the oldest, most venerable accounting firms in the nation, and this indictment destroyed the firm."

Court to Hear Drug Patent Dispute
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed to step into a dispute Friday over how far a patent can go to thwart a rival drug company's efforts to conduct research, a question with big-money ramifications in the pharmaceutical industry. Justices will review a lower ruling that a competitor's patent prohibited Germany's Merck KGaA from beginning research into a potential new anticancer drug, even if the drug could not feasibly be marketed until after the patent expired.

Rehnquist Not Expected Back on the Bench
WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will not preside on Monday when the Supreme Court returns from the holidays, a court spokeswoman said Friday. Rehnquist, who has thyroid cancer, missed about 25 cases that were argued in November and December while receiving chemotherapy and radiation. The 80-year-old chief justice was diagnosed with the disease in October and worked from home for two months after being hospitalized and undergoing a tracheotomy to help him breathe.

Religious Scam Case

Court Upholds Money Laundering Convictions

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court made it easier Tuesday for prosecutors to win money laundering convictions, ruling unanimously in a large religious scam case that the government does not have to prove "overt acts" by defendants.

Justices upheld the convictions of two people accused of pocketing more than $1.2 million as part of a nationwide religious investment scheme.

David Whitfield and Haywood "Don" Hall were convicted in Florida of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

They were leaders of the Greater Ministries International Church, which told people during roadshow meetings that God would double their money.

The church, which targeted Mennonite, Amish and Christian fundamentalist communities nationwide, took in hundreds of millions of dollars from 1996-99 and donors got little if any money back. Other church leaders were convicted of various charges.

The Supreme Court used appeals by Whitfield and Hall to clarify a matter that has divided lower courts, the proof required in money laundering conspiracy cases.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the court, said that because the federal law does not "expressly make the commission of an overt act an element of the conspiracy offense, the government need not prove an overt act to obtain a conviction."

The cases are Whitfield v. United States, 03-1293, and Hall v. United States, 03-1294.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=558&u=/ap/2005
0111/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_money_laundering_1&printer=1

School board decides against Bible class

FRANKENMUTH, Mich. -- After a year of controversy, Frankenmuth Public Schools officials have decided against adding a religious group's Bible class as an elective high school course.

Following the recommendation of superintendent Michael Murphy, school board members agreed Monday that the "Bible As Literature and History" class, based on materials from the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, would not be offered at Frankenmuth High School.

Murphy said the proposed class was too close to religion and too far from history, The Saginaw News reported.

"It appears to be more like the Bible "as' history and literature," he said. "It goes beyond talking about religion and becomes faith-based."

Murphy also said the class was not academically rigorous enough and said current classes in English, art and history, already include studies on how the Bible affects American society.

Murphy said the rejection was not based on the threat of lawsuits, and school board members said the decision did not rule out future consideration of similar classes, WSGW-AM in Saginaw reported.

Gary Pickelman was the only dissenting board member.

"Why is it that students can't read the Bible in school when prisoners can in prison?" he asked. "Why do I have to swear on a Bible in court, when the Ten Commandments cannot be displayed on federal grounds? Our society is messed up."

High school senior Paul Gehm also criticized the decision.

"The school board is making a huge mistake in denying students the right to learn from a piece of literature that was used by our founding fathers to start this country," said Gehm, 18, of Saginaw County's Birch Run Township. "This is about historical facts, not one religion over another."

The proposed class had raised the issue of whether the curriculum would have conformed to a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision barring public schools from indoctrinating children in religion but upholding the right to teach about religion.

The dispute in Frankenmuth, about 75 miles north of Detroit, was the latest skirmish in a nationwide battle between religious conservatives and church-state separationists over classes based on materials from the Greensboro, N.C.-based council.

The council says its curriculum conforms to the law. But People for the American Way and the American Civil Liberties union say its materials illegally promote religion.

The curriculum, based on the King James Bible, includes topics ranging from "Periods of Hebrew History in the Old Testament" to "The Parables of Jesus -- Literary Genre."

One year ago, hundreds of Frankenmuth parents and students asked the school board to offer a Bible course based on materials from the National Council.

The dispute came to a boil at a Jan. 13, 2004 school board hearing, when parents Marcia and Robert Stoddard submitted petitions signed by about 1,200 parents and students asking for the course.

About 100 people filled a middle school cafeteria, with shouts breaking out at one point between an avowed atheist and a course supporter.

The Frankenmuth district in Michigan's rural Thumb has about 1,200 students, 500 of them at the high school.

Saint or sinner? Court to rule on religious activist

He says he’s trying to keep sinners from burning in hell, but police say he tried to cause a riot.

Michael Marcavage, 25, of Lansdowne, will be in court today to answer to felony charges of riot, ethnic intimidation (the ethnicity being homosexuality, per state law) and conspiracy, in addition to several misdemeanor charges.

Police said Marcavage and 10 others were arrested Oct. 10 at the "Outfest" in Philadelphia, an annual block party of sorts hosted and heralded by the city’s gay and lesbian community.

Six of the 11 defendants had their charges dropped at an earlier court appearance.

Marcavage, who has been making waves as a protester and ultra-conservative activist since his student days at Temple University, visited Outfest with a few friends and a bullhorn.

According to one of his lawyers, Marcavage is an intelligent, reasonable man who utilizes his First Amendment right to share his opinions.

Police have had numerous run-ins with the man and, according to one arrest report, found him to be more troublemaker than activist.

Marcavage used bullhorns to "disrupt" Outfest and "failed to comply with police orders to move" from where he was sharing his opinion. That opinion, that all homosexuals will burn in hell lest they repent, was not well-received by the audience.

Eventually, Marcavage was arrested and hauled away from the party. The case has drawn significant attention and spawned debates on national TV.

"This has to do with the content of our message," Marcavage said. "We’re being maliciously prosecuted by an anti-Christian, Lynne Abraham."

Cathie Abookire, spokeswoman for the district attorney, said the office had no comment other than to say everyone’s rights must be protected.

One condition of Marcavage’s bail is that he stay at least 100 feet from homosexual events. He has filed a petition to have that condition revoked because he feels it’s unconstitutional, and also because he wants to attend more gay get-togethers in the spring.

"I don’t even know what it means," he said. "It’s ambiguous. Does it mean I’m not allowed to be near gay people?"

Brian Fahling, an American Family Association lawyer who is representing Marcavage in a civil suit and is asking a federal court to have the criminal charges thrown out, calls the case "outrageous.

"The police are supposed to enforce the law equally, unbiased," Fahling said. "These cops were showing solidarity with the crowd."

Fahling said the police had no right to quiet Marcavage or order him to move.

"When someone is speaking, if the crowd does not like it and there is a threat of violence, you don’t suppress the speech -- you control the crowd," Fahling said. "The First Amendment serves its highest purpose when people are stirred to anger."

Marcavage, a full-time minister who says he lives off income from investment properties, has been tossed out of the ballpark at Phillies Gay Day, been taken to a psychiatric ward by Temple University security guards, and was arrested recently after reading from the Bible at a Lansdowne borough council meeting, according to another of his lawyers, C. Scott Shields, who is representing him in the Philadelphia and Lansdowne cases.

"This case is unprecedented," Shields said. "This is the first time the Bible has formed the evidentiary basis for a hate crime. The authorities consider the Bible hate speech."

Marcavage isn’t dissuaded by the run-ins with the law. He said he intends to spread his message and encourage sinners to repent.

"The public celebration of sin needs to be addressed," he said. "As Christians, we need to be the light in the darkness."

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&
dept_id=18171&newsid=13730356&PAG=461&rfi=9

Nation's eyes on Christian protesters

A Philadelphia criminal case is getting considerable national attention. And it's not about political corruption.

Four members of a local Christian group, Repent America, are facing felony charges in connection with their behavior in the fall during the gay and lesbian community's annual Outfest celebration in Center City.

For allegedly trying to disrupt the event with their bullhorn-amplified, Scripture-based denunciations of homosexuality, they have been accused of criminal conspiracy, incitement to riot, and violating the state's law against hate crimes.

Several conservative Christian groups, including the American Family Association and Concerned Women for America, say the "Philadelphia Four" are being prosecuted solely for voicing their religious beliefs.

"This homofascism has come to our doorstep; it's in America," said Ralph Ovadal, head of Wisconsin Christians United, in a recent radio program. "Christians need to wake up and realize how quickly the walls are closing in on their religious liberties, on their religious duties to preach the gospel."

Outfest organizers say the defendants indulged in garden-variety gay-bashing on the day in question and seemed intent on provoking a physical confrontation that could have turned ugly.

"They were there with plain old homophobia, hiding behind the Bible, hiding behind the First Amendment," said Fanny Price, executive director of Philly Pride Presents. "I really think a couple of them are a danger to society... . They're trying to make themselves look like martyrs."

Charged are Michael Marcavage, 25, of Lansdowne, the leader of Repent America; James Cruise, 53, of Richmond, Va.; Mark Diener, 33, of Philadelphia; and Dennis Green, 38, of Petersburg, Va.

If convicted, they could receive lengthy prison sentences. As a condition of bail, they have been barred from getting within 100 feet of any "homosexual event."

Although the precise sequence of events is in dispute, the general outline of what happened Oct. 10 is relatively clear, thanks to several videotapes and the police report.

Early that afternoon, 11 demonstrators led by Marcavage entered the eight-block area around 13th and Chancellor Streets where Outfest was taking place. Marcavage had a Bible in one hand, a bullhorn tucked under the other arm, and a Repent America baseball cap on his head.

The demonstrators were no strangers to event organizers or police. Repent America had brought its message - "Homosexuality Is Sin, Christ Can Set You Free" - to previous gay-pride events. In addition, group members had been thrown out of Citizens Bank Park in August for bringing in a banner to protest the Phillies' observance of Gay Community Day.

Soon after their arrival, Marcavage and company were surrounded by Outfest's makeshift security force, which was armed with pink whistles and eight-foot-tall boards of pink-colored insulation mounted on sticks. The force's goal was to prevent the group's signs from being seen and its words from being heard.

Eventually, a crowd formed, and police, who said in their report that they wanted to prevent violence, instructed the demonstrators to go to the edge of the Outfest area. A videotape shows Marcavage asking officers to protect his own freedoms of speech and movement.

After complying with two orders to move and refusing a third, the demonstrators were told they would be arrested. At that point, Marcavage sat down in the street, forcing police to haul him away.

He says now that the felony charges stunned him.

"It's malicious prosecution, and they'll be held accountable," he said in an interview. Referring to the city's district attorney, he said: "I think that Lynne Abraham is attempting to set a precedent under the hate-crimes legislation that speaking from the Bible, the word of God, regarding homosexuality is a hate crime."

Through her spokeswoman, Cathie Abookire, Abraham said she was pursuing the charges in the belief that "everyone's rights must be protected."

Since the arrests, there have been several developments.

In December, the defendants went to federal court in Philadelphia, alleging that their free-speech rights had been violated. U.S. District Judge Petrese B. Tucker refused their request that she block local authorities from prosecuting the charges.

And in a preliminary hearing, Municipal Court Judge William A. Meehan, who is handling the case, dismissed charges against six of the demonstrators, reducing the size of the group to four. The status of the 11th protester, a 17-year-old girl, has yet to be determined.

In court today, C. Scott Shields, a Media-based lawyer who represents the four defendants, plans to seek the lifting of the order banning his clients from getting near gay events.

Several of the Christian groups have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the behavior of Abraham's office and the police. A department spokesman, Eric Holland, said officials were reviewing the request.

Meanwhile, the rhetoric used on behalf of the Philadelphia Four continues to heat up.

"Jim Crow has been resurrected in Philadelphia, and instead of being targeted at African Americans, he is targeting Christians," Joe Murray, a lawyer with the American Family Association's Center for Law and Policy, said during a radio program that reminded listeners that Philadelphia is the home of the Abscam scandal and the MOVE bombing.

"If this city were built on a swamp, I'd say it needs to be drained," Murray said, "because it's a dirty city."

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/news sentinel/news/local/10627664.htm

Illinois House Passes Sodomite Rights Bill

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois House on Tuesday passed a bill that bans discrimination against gays and sent it to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has said he supports the measure.

If the Democratic governor signs it, Illinois will join 13 other states that bar discrimination based on sexual orientation.

"This legislation sends a clear message that we will not allow our citizens to be discriminated against," Blagojevich said in a statement.

The measure would add "sexual orientation" to the state law that protects people from bias based on race, religion and similar traits. It applies to discrimination in such areas as jobs and housing.

Opponents argued it would lead to approval of gay marriage and allow cross-dressers to use rest rooms of the opposite sex.

Proponents couched the measure in terms of human rights, saying discrimination against gays and lesbians over housing and employment is just as wrong as discriminating against people because of race or religion.

"It's not about anything except basic human rights for the citizens of Illinois," said state Rep. Lou Lang.

The House's 65-51 vote came on the last possible day; the bill would have died had it not been approved before the new Legislature is sworn in Wednesday. The Senate approved it Monday by a vote of 30-27.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&u=/ap/
20050111/ap_on_re_us/illinois_gay_rights_2&printer=1

Satanist 'Hate Crimes' Charges

'Street Brawl' Prompts Satanist Hate Crime Charges

Ever since he was 12, Daniel Romano has cut a noticeable figure around Middle Village, a working class part of Queens. Mr. Romano, 20, who calls himself a Satanist, stands out, with his blue-tinted bouffant hairdo, his black clothing and fingernails, and the prominent crucifix, worn upside down.

Mr. Romano has long been teased for dressing like a "gothic kid" or simply a "goth," in a community with small homes, neat lawns and populated with many Roman Catholics.

But in recent weeks, two local teenagers began fixating on Mr. Romano, calling him names including "Satan worshiper," "baby sacrificer" and "hooker killer," the authorities say. On Sunday the verbal harassment turned into violence.

Mr. Romano, while walking on 72nd Street in Maspeth, was attacked by the two teenagers, the authorities say. Yesterday the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, announced that the young men, Paul C. Rotondi and Frank M. Scarpinito, both 18 and from Middle Village, would be charged with hate crimes, which carry harsher penalties and are usually leveled when an attack involves a victim's ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

Prosecutors say they attacked Mr. Romano because of his religious beliefs: They thought he worshiped Satan. They were arraigned yesterday on charges of second-degree assault as a hate crime, possession of a weapon and aggravated harassment. The charges could carry prison terms of up to 15 years.

About 2 p.m. on Sunday, prosecutors say, the teenagers pulled up in a car and one yelled to Mr. Romano, "Hey, Satan!"

The authorities said that both defendants then attacked Mr. Romano - Mr. Rotondi using a metal club, and Mr. Scarpinito wielding an ice scraper. Mr. Romano was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he received 12 stitches. On Monday, he filed a complaint with police officers, who arrested the two youths.

At their arraignment yesterday, prosecutors asked that they be held in $75,000 bail, but a judge set it at $5,000 and they were released. An assistant district attorney, George J. Farrugia, said the defendants believed that Mr. Romano worshiped Satan and "over the last month and a half, they have had it in for this kid, and have been abusive."

Mr. Scarpinito's lawyer, Richard Leff, called the charges "an abuse of the hate crime status," and said his client had never been in trouble. Mr. Rotondi's lawyer, Sean A. McNicholas, said prosecutors were calling this a hate crime because of "politics and press."

"The kid is gothic with blue hair: He falls into a category of kid," Mr. McNicholas said. "At worst, this is a simple dispute between kids, not an attack on a minority."

"If the accusation was that he was black or Asian or Latino or Jewish, it's one thing," he said. "They see this as a religious practice. It's a dispute between kids, the same way you have the nerds, the jocks, the artsy kids and the teacher's pets. What's next? Someone being accused of attacking a preppie, or a nerd?"

In an interview last night at his apartment, which he shares with his mother, Mr. Romano said that he was raised Catholic but is now a Satanist. A hard rock musician, he attended Talent Unlimited High School in Manhattan and leads a band.

Mr. Romano said he was working at a bagel store last summer when Mr. Scarpinito, who worked next door at a hardware store, began making fun of him.

"My allegiance is to Satan and I hate Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but I don't hurt anyone," Mr. Romano said. "I take out my anger in mosh pits and S-and-M clubs. I think it's ironic that the Christians got violent with the Satanist."

His mother, Debbie Romano, 48, said, "I'm a Christian, but he went the other way; I don't understand his beliefs, but he doesn't hurt nobody."

Michael Wilson contributed reporting for this article.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/12/nyregion/
12attack.html?ei=5006&en=6c06daaf2e5e0d8a&e
x=1106197200&partner=ALTAVISTA1&pagewanted=
print&position=

Consumer Reports CEO led Planned Parenthood

Revelation comes after story pushing abortion
from publication that claims it has 'no agenda'

By Ron Strom / WorldNetDaily.com

Despite the mission statement of Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports, stating the organization vows to maintain "independence and impartiality," the president and CEO of the nonprofit once led a state branch of Planned Parenthood.

The revelation comes in the wake of the magazine's recent article pushing abortion as birth control.

According to an online bio, James A. Guest, the organization's president and CEO, previously headed Planned Parenthood of Maryland. He also worked for a time as a legislative assistant to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and led anti-firearms groups Handgun Control Inc. and the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ne
ws/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42339

Where is Pro-Life Constituency for Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution?

By Ed Current / The Sierra Times

The lack of constituency for Article III in the U.S. Constitution among those so concerned about federal judicial tyranny is an ongoing mystery. Perhaps they have never read it, or having read it never understood the meaning or implications. Maybe they understood it as well as anyone, but rejected that approach in preference for more difficult Constitutional means of restoring the rule of law that federal courts routinely break.

The relevant portions of Article III are a mere 200 words involving only the first sentence of Section 1 and only the first two clauses of Section 2. The essence of those 200 words can be reduced to the following, which reveals the enormous power Congress has over the federal courts:

“The judicial power of the United States shall be vested…in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.”

“….the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction…with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”

Congress has plenary authority to regulate and even abolish all jurisdiction of the lower federal courts and it has near plenary authority to restrict the jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court.


http://www.sierratimes.c
om/05/01/10/edcurrent.htm

Feds Lead Investigation Because of Abortion Issue

Federal investigators have found evidence that Sunday morning's fire at an Olympia clinic where abortions are performed was started intentionally, and they now are searching for the culprit.

They have a few suspects, but none is in custody, Olympia Fire Capt. Kate McDonald said.

The person or persons responsible so far have not been linked to any organization that opposes abortion, said Scott Thomasson, a special agent with the Seattle office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is investigating the arson.

"It seems to be a random act at this time," Thomasson said.

The arson is a federal crime, however, because the Eastside Women's Health Clinic is a federally funded health care center, the ATF agent said. The arson does not constitute an act of domestic terrorism, and the FBI, which was investigating the crime Sunday, is no longer involved, Thomasson said.

The arsonist or arsonists ignited the roof of the clinic about 2 a.m. Sunday. Thomasson would not say what was used to start the fire.

Clinic co-owner Shelley Pacheco was tearful for a moment after ATF agents broke the news of the arson, but quickly grew resolute.

"I'm not going to be kicked down that easily," Pacheco said. "I don't feel that sense of fear."

The clinic's other owner, Nancy Armstrong, said she didn't think the crime was random.

"The first thing that comes to mind is they're anti-abortion," Armstrong said.

If it's not random, this would be the first time the clinic has been sabotaged in the five years the two women have run it, they said.

It's the first arson at a Washington abortion clinic since 2001, when a clinic in Spokane was targeted, Thomasson said.

The Olympia clinic does draw picketers every Thursday, Armstrong said. That's the day the clinic does abortions.

"They harass those patients" as well as patients who come in for cervical cancer surgery, she said.

The picketers have been a fixture since Pat Shively started the business in 1981. Armstrong and Pacheco were clinic employees who bought it from Shively before she died of ovarian cancer in February 2000.

Shively's three daughters remember living in fear of what abortion protesters might do to them or their mother.

"(My mother) wore a bulletproof vest to work," said Shively's daughter, Allison Wolfe. "She carried a Glock (handgun) in a fanny pack."

Wolfe recalled a weekend when every clinic worker had a pet die or nearly die -- they think someone poisoned them. She recalled a death threat her mother got and a day someone set fire to a piece of paper on the front door of their home.

"She worked late, and there were a lot of times when people would throw rocks at the windows (of our house)," said Wolfe. "We would lie on the floors scared."

But the girls grew up believing the risks were worth it, as their mother did, Wolfe said.

"She thought it was important to have a clinic for women, by women and have it be a feminist atmosphere. She was definitely a pro-choice activist," said Wolfe. "(Armstrong and Pacheco) were good friends with my mother, and they wanted to continue the tradition. It was important to all of them."

The clinic now has two practitioners and one physician who serve 30 to 40 patients a day, men and women. For many of those people, it's their primary care facility, said Armstrong.

The fire does not seem to have spread much beyond the roof: A passer-by called 9-1-1, and the Olympia Fire Department put out the fire within 15 minutes of arriving at the clinic at 2 a.m. Sunday.

And although Armstrong expects the damage to cost more than $100,000, especially if smoke and water harmed expensive medical equipment, she thinks the center will re-open quickly.

"They didn't accomplish anything. They didn't bring us down," she said of the arsonists. "Our patients shouldn't feel afraid. We will create a safe environment."

The Olympia Police Department is working with the ATF as they investigate the arson.

ATF agents sifted through debris on the roof of the building and scoured a field behind the clinic and nearby woods Monday. They are taking evidence back to their Maryland lab to investigate further.

The clinic's owners will be allowed back inside the building this morning, when they can assess the damage and decide how long it might take them to reopen. In the meantime, they are looking into temporary space for clinicians to see patients.

http://www.theolympian.com/home/ne
ws/20050111/topstories/66681.shtml

Preacher Dies During Sermon About Heaven

OVIEDO, Fla. -- A Presbyterian minister collapsed and died in mid-sentence of a sermon after saying "And when I go to heaven ...," his colleague said Monday.

The Rev. Jack Arnold, 69, was nearing the end of his sermon Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church in this Orlando suburb when he grabbed the podium before falling to the floor, said the Rev. Michael S. Beates, associate pastor at Covenant Presbyterian.

Before collapsing, Arnold quoted the 18th century Bible scholar, John Wesley, who said, "Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal. But when my work for Christ is done ... I go to be with Jesus," Beates said in a telephone interview.

Several members of the congregation with medical backgrounds tried to revive the minister and paramedics were called, but Arnold appeared to die instantly, Beates said.

Arnold had been the senior minister at the church until the late 1990s when he began traveling to Africa and the Middle East to teach pastors. The cause of death was believed to be cardiac arrest. He had bypass surgery five years earlier.

Beates also recounted Arnold's death in an e-mail he sent to members of the Central Florida Presbytery.

"We were stunned," Beates said. "It was traumatic, but how wonderful it was he died in his own church among the people he loved the most."


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a
p/20050111/ap_on_fe_st/preacher_collapses_2

Abortion Clinic Fire Ruled Arson _ But Not Terrorism

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- A fire that damaged an abortion clinic appears to have been a "random act" of arson without any evident link to anti-abortion groups, investigators say.

Scott Thomasson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives office in Seattle said Monday the federal agency and local police and fire investigators concluded that the fire was set with incendiary materials on the roof of the Eastside Women's Health Clinic.

Estimating damage at $500,000, Thomasson said he could not specify which flammable materials were used, adding that evidence has been collected for analysis at an ATF laboratory in Maryland.

Flames damaged the roof early Sunday morning when the clinic was empty and there was heat, water and smoke damage in offices. No one was injured.

Investigators were following several leads but had no suspects, Thomasson said.

No evidence was found to indicate involvement by any organization that opposes abortion, nor does the fire appear to have been domestic terrorism, so the FBI has withdrawn from the investigation, the ATF agent said.

"It seems to be a random act at this time," Thomasson said.

Nonetheless, he added, setting the fire violated federal law because the clinic is a federally funded health care center.

Co-owner Nancy Armstrong said she didn't think the fire was random.

"The first thing that comes to mind is they're anti-abortion," Armstrong said.

Jan. 22 is the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

The clinic receives 30 to 40 patients a day. Staff members met outside with patients who showed up Monday and worked to reschedule appointments. Other appointments were being rearranged through the clinic's answering service.

The clinic had been picketed every Thursday - the day abortions were performed - for 20 years without violence and received no recent threats, though some people have aroused suspicion, she said.

Armstrong said the fire destroyed old medical instruments and some documents but did not damage patient records and will not put the clinic out of business.

She said she hoped the clinic would be able to resume offering services at another location in a week or two.

"They didn't bring us down," Armstrong said. "Our patients shouldn't feel afraid. We will create a safe environment."


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?
category=6420&slug=WA%20Clinic%20Fire&dpfrom=th

Abortion Clinic Fire Ruled Arson

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Local and federal investigators have determined that a fire at an abortion clinic was intentionally set.

After sifting through the damage, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Olympia police and fire departments concluded the fire was started with incendiary materials on the roof, said Scott Thomasson, assistant special agent in charge of ATF's Seattle division.

Thomasson, who estimated damage at $500,000, said he could not specify what type of flammable materials were used. Evidence has been collected and will be sent to an ATF lab in Maryland.

The early Sunday morning fire damaged the roof at the Eastside Women's Health Clinic, causing heat, water and smoke damage in the building's offices, Olympia Fire Capt. Kate McDonald said.

It happened while the clinic was not staffed. No one was injured.

Investigators were following several leads but had no suspects, Thomasson said.

Nancy Armstrong, one of the clinic's owners, said the fire destroyed old medical instruments and some documents stored in an attic crawl space but did not damage patient records and will not put the clinic out of business.

Armstrong said the clinic has received no recent threats, though some people have aroused suspicion. The clinic has been picketed weekly for 20 years without any violence.

The clinic sees 30 to 40 patients a day. Staff members met outside with patients who showed up Monday and worked to reschedule their appointments. The clinic's answering service was also rescheduling appointments.

Armstrong said she hoped the clinic would be able to resume offering services at another location in a week or two.

The only confirmed arson at an abortion clinic in the United States last year was at a women's clinic in Lake Worth, Fla., in July, according to the National Abortion Federation.

An explosion in June 2001 outside a Tacoma medical clinic where a doctor performed abortions was investigated by the FBI. Damage was estimated at $6,000. The National Abortion Federation's Web site indicated the case remained open Sunday.

Jan. 22 is the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/l
ocal/207375_arson11.html

Fire Hits Olympia Clinic That Performs Abortions

FBI and other federal agents were investigating a fire early Sunday that extensively damaged an Olympia women's clinic where abortions were performed.

The fire damaged the roof of the Eastside Women's Health clinic and caused heat, water and smoke damage inside the building, said Capt. Kate McDonald, a spokeswoman for the Olympia Fire Department.

No one was injured in the 2 a.m. fire.

Cause of the fire was unknown, McDonald said.

Investigators hoped to determine today whether arson was involved.

Olympia fire officials said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the FBI were called in to help investigate.

McDonald said the FBI and ATF were asked to help because abortions are performed at the clinic and the cause of the fire was not known.

"If it turns out to be an arson, then there are various issues that have to be worked out," Special Agent Ray Lauer of the FBI in Seattle said last night.

For example, he noted, there is a federal law against blocking access to a place that performs abortions.

"Burning it down would be blocking access," he said.

Arson at such a clinic could also violate laws against domestic terrorism, he said.

Clinic officials were not immediately available for comment last night.

The only confirmed arson at a clinic offering abortions in the United States last year was at a women's clinic in Lake Worth, Fla., in July, according to the National Abortion Federation.

In June 2001, the FBI investigated an explosion outside a Tacoma medical clinic where a doctor performed abortions. Damage was estimated at $6,000.

The abortion federation's Web site indicated the Tacoma case remained open yesterday.

Jan. 22 is the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm
l/localnews/2002146685_clinic10m.html

Immigration Fix or Civil Rights Hit?

A bipartisan effort brewing in Congress calls for new, high-tech Social Security cards designed to purge undocumented workers from payrolls, but critics say it's nothing but a veiled and ominous effort to create a national identification system.

Sponsors of the bill, introduced last week, say the idea is not to punish employers, but to help them. No longer will they be left guessing whether they might have unknowingly hired illegal workers. But if they do, the bill calls for stiffer penalties.

The Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act is meant to build on a current experimental call-in program that employers can voluntarily use to check a job applicant's Social Security number.

Under the proposal, all job applicants — U.S. citizens and legal immigrants — would have to present a high-tech card that would either be run through a government-provided scanner or be called in for verification, said U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, a co-sponsor of the bill.

How it would work:

Under the proposed Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act, job applicants would have to present a high-tech Social Security card that would provide instant information on immigration status. Here's how it would work:


• The card could be run through a government-provided scanner or called in for verification.


• All job applicants — U.S. citizens and legal immigrants — would be required to present one.


• Employers who knowingly hire illegal workers could be fined as much as $50,000 per case.


• Costs include $100 million to set up the program, plus $40 million over four years for enforcement technology.


• The bill also calls for 10,000 additional jobs to manage the program.

Reyes, a former Border Patrol chief, said the law's success would reduce illegal immigration, taking pressure off border agents.

And it's not just another unrealistic piece of legislation meant to stir debate, Reyes said. It has attracted co-sponsors from both parties, including U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.

"We're serious about this. It's a meaningful proposal that addresses issues with national security, fraudulent documentation and illegal immigration all at the same time," Reyes said.

The bill would give the Homeland Security Department and Social Security Administration two years to work out the new card system, which would yield a new government database detailing job applicants' immigration status.

The current paper Social Security cards would be changed to resemble drivers' licenses, including the holder's photograph.

Employers would be required to sign a government form acknowledging they'd abide by the new standards. They wouldn't be punished if they fired workers who were unintentionally hired illegally.

But those caught knowingly employing undocumented workers would face fines as high as $50,000 per case, plus possible additional fines and as many as five years in prison.

The bill, which asks for $100 million for setup costs, also calls for $40 million over four years for new border enforcement technology, as well as 10,000 additional jobs at Homeland Security to manage the program.

The idea for the law grew out of a conversation a California congressman had with T.J. Bonner, president of the 10,000-member National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union. The vast majority of illegal crossers would be dissuaded from making the trip north if they knew nobody would hire them, Bonner said.

"When you analyze the problem, 98 percent of people come looking for work," he said. "If that traffic dries up, that would allow us to do our job."

Groups that have long called for curtailing immigration have found an answer in the bill.

Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said most employers are law-abiding and would welcome such a law.

It would essentially give Social Security cards the same protection as ATM or credit cards, and that's what employers have needed to know — that they've hired legal workers, Mehlman said.

He was optimistic that the public has tuned in to immigration issues and will not let the status quo stand. People will see this bill as the best bet for true immigration reform, he said.

Not if they're shown that the effort is a backdoor way to get a national I.D. card, said Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Reyes said such criticism was anticipated, and that's why the bill includes language clarifying that the new Social Security cards would not be used for identification purposes.

But people won't fall for the semantic trap, Johnson said. Employers would ask applicants to identify themselves by using the cards, so there'd be no question they would serve as de facto personal identification, he said.

Questions also remain about possible privacy violations with the new database. Bill sponsors may say it would be used only for employment purposes, but there's no telling if the government would eventually push to expand its use, Johnson said.

Business lobbyists said they're still looking at the proposal's language and have not drawn a final conclusion, but their first impression was not favorable.

Theresa Brown, immigration policy director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said tougher enforcement is acceptable, but it would work better if it were offered as part of a larger immigration reform package.

Even then, she said, it would be hard to convince employers it's their job to double as immigration law enforcers.

Just ask Del Wood.

"What a nightmare!" is how the 17-year owner of Italia Ristorante on the River Walk and board member of the San Antonio Restaurant Association reacted when told about the proposed law.

Though he understood the need to fix the country's paradoxical immigration system, Wood said small-business owners already have enough pressures from a sour economy to also worry about being heavily fined or even jailed for failing to do the government's work.

"Why even try to stay in business?" he said. "This is scary as hell."


http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/storie
s/MYSA010905.1B.immigration_bill.8ab3a50d.html

Jewish Hypocrisy

German Jewish leader rips cardinal
for comparing abortion to Holocaust

Germany's top Jewish leader lashed out Friday at a prominent figure in Germany's Roman Catholic church for appearing to compare abortion to the Holocaust.

In a sermon, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne seemed to compare abortion to mass killings under Hitler, Stalin and Herod. He also called abortion an act that puts "all previous crimes of humanity in the shadows" during a New Year's Day sermon, according to a prepared text of the homily.

Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews, called Friday for Meisner to take back his words.

"I expect that the cardinal will quickly and unequivocally distance himself from this unspeakable and offensive comparison," Spiegel said.

The comments also drew criticism from across the political spectrum Friday, with Green party chief Claudia Roth saying that Meisner "is tearing open old wounds." Meisner's office Friday declined to withdraw his comment. It was not a comparison to genocides, but to the "euthanasia" killings of those deemed mentally or physically handicapped under the Hitler and Stalin regimes, spokesman Menfred Becker-Huberti said.

"First, Herod, who had the children of Bethlehem killed; then, among others, Hitler and Stalin who had millions of people wiped out; and today in our times, unborn children are being killed a million times over," Meisner said in his sermon, Becker-Huberti confirmed.Germany's top Jewish leader lashed out Friday at a prominent figure in Germany's Roman Catholic church for appearing to compare abortion to the Holocaust.

In a sermon, Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne seemed to compare abortion to mass killings under Hitler, Stalin and Herod. He also called abortion an act that puts "all previous crimes of humanity in the shadows" during a New Year's Day sermon, according to a prepared text of the homily.

Paul Spiegel, president of the Central Council of Jews, called Friday for Meisner to take back his words.

"I expect that the cardinal will quickly and unequivocally distance himself from this unspeakable and offensive comparison," Spiegel said. The comments also drew criticism from across the political spectrum Friday, with Green party chief Claudia Roth saying that Meisner "is tearing open old wounds." Meisner's office Friday declined to withdraw his comment. It was not a comparison to genocides, but to the "euthanasia" killings of those deemed mentally or physically handicapped under the Hitler and Stalin regimes, spokesman Menfred Becker-Huberti said.

"First, Herod, who had the children of Bethlehem killed; then, among others, Hitler and Stalin who had millions of people wiped out; and today in our times, unborn children are being killed a million times over," Meisner said in his sermon, Becker-Huberti confirmed.


http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagenam
e=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid=1105154358250

North Dakota Legislative Branch

HOUSE BILL NO. 1227

  50238.0200

  Fifty-ninth
  Legislative Assembly
  of North Dakota


  Introduced by

  Representatives Ruby, Bellew, Carlson

  Senators Fischer, Thane


1   A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 12.1-16 and a new section to

2   chapter 43-17 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the protection of a preborn child

3   and the duty of physicians; and to provide a penalty.

4   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:

5       SECTION 1. A new section to chapter 12.1-16 of the North Dakota Century Code is

6   created and enacted as follows:

7       Intentional termination of human life - Preborn children. A person is guilty of a

8   class AA felony if the person intentionally destroys or terminates the life of a preborn child. For

9   the purpose of this section, "preborn child" includes a human being from the moment of

10   fertilization until the moment of birth.

11       SECTION 2. A new section to chapter 43-17 of the North Dakota Century Code is

12   created and enacted as follows:

13       Duty of physicians treating pregnant women. Any physician licensed under this

14   chapter who provides health care to pregnant women shall make, in all cases, every effort to

15   preserve both the life of the mother and the life of the preborn child. Medical treatment

16   provided to the mother by a licensed physician which may result in accidental or unintentional

17   injury or death of the preborn child is not a violation of this section. In addition to any penalty

18   imposed under section 1 of this Act, a physician who violates this section is also subject to

19   license revocation under this chapter.



Page No. 1                       50238.0200

OUTLAWING ABORTION

ND Legislature will consider outlawing abortion

Anyone who performs an abortion may face a murder charge under legislation introduced by a Minot lawmaker, who concedes the bill's prospects are dim but says it will help keep the issue in the public eye.

"The intent is not to be in people's face with it. It's just to let them know that it's important to a lot of people," said Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot.

The bill says anyone who "intentionally destroys or terminates the life of a preborn child" at any time during the woman's pregnancy is guilty of the state's most serious murder charge, which carries a maximum life prison term.

It would apply to a doctor who performed an abortion, or to a woman who took a drug intended to induce abortion, Ruby said. The law would not apply if a woman's pregnancy accidentally ended because of medical treatment, the bill says.

Jane Bovard, administrator of the Red River Women's Clinic, said she believes the proposal violates a woman's right to an abortion. The Fargo clinic is North Dakota's only abortion provider.

Abortion-rights foes are looking for a state legislature willing to approve a law that could be a vehicle to challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, Bovard said.

"It's an attempt to make abortion illegal, and ... to force a challenge that would go to the Supreme Court," Bovard said Friday.

Two years ago, a similar measure, sponsored by Rep. Sally Sandvig, D-Fargo, was soundly defeated in the House. The North Dakota Right to Life Association opposed the measure, as did North Dakota's two Roman Catholic bishops, because it could be applied to the woman as well as the doctor, director Stacey Pfliiger said.

Punishing women is not necessary to prohibit abortion, said Christopher Dodson, director of the North Dakota Catholic Conference. Only the physicians should be punished, he said.

"There are different ways to eliminate an evil," he said.

___

The bill is HB1227.


http://www.in-forum.com/ap/in
dex.cfm?page=view&id=D87FI2P82

Bail is denied in fetus kidnapping

A federal magistrate issued a written order Friday formally denying bail to a woman accused in the kidnapping of an 8-month fetus from a strangled pregnant woman.

U.S. Magistrate John T. Maughmer said in his order that he found no set of conditions imposed on Lisa Montgomery that would reasonably ensure her appearance in court or the safety of others. He also rejected alternative forms of release for Montgomery such as house arrest and daily reporting.

The order stemmed from a Dec. 30 hearing in which Montgomery did not challenge a pretrial detention motion filed by U.S. Attorney Todd Graves. According to the order, Maughmer based his decision on factors that include the violent nature of the crime.

Montgomery was charged with kidnapping resulting in death. Bobbie Jo Stinnett died in the Dec. 16 attack in her Skidmore, Mo., home. When Stinnett was found, her abdomen had been sliced open, the fetus was missing and the umbilical cord had been cut.

Authorities allege that Montgomery strangled Stinnett at the victim's Skidmore home and took the baby to her home in Melvern, Kan., where she told her husband and children she had just given birth.

The infant, named Victoria Jo Stinnett, survived and is with her father.

Montgomery, 36, has not entered a plea. The case is expected to go before a federal grand jury this month. If the grand jury returns an indictment, Montgomery will be arraigned and will enter a plea at that time.

If convicted, Montgomery could face life in prison or the death penalty.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kan
sascity/news/local/10594723.htm?1c

REAL 'PARENTAL CONSENT'

Grandparents Fight Murder Charges

All four grandparents of the murdered unborn grandchild, who was beat to death
by his teenage parents, showed up in court to defend the murderous assault.

A Richmond teen, charged with using a baseball bat to end his girlfriend's pregnancy, appeared in a Macomb County court Thursday.

When the 16-year-old boy showed up to court, he was with his parents, his girlfriend, and her parents, and even they opposed the prosecution.

The teenage boy is a junior firefighter, who volunteers for the elderly. He has never had a school detention, but on Thursday, he was charged with beating his girlfriend in the stomach repeatedly with a 22-inch souvenir baseball bat.

The 16-year-old allegedly did it with her consent, because they did not want to tell their parents she was pregnant.

Michigan State Police later found the 6-month fetus buried in a backyard.

The girl’s father argued against the charges outside the court.

"I would just like to say that this is a very tragic situation," he told reporters. "Two very good children thought that the one thing that they couldn’t come to us with was this pregnancy. It’s a shame, and this prosecution is a sham."

If convicted, the teenage boy, who has never had a sex education class, could be locked up for years.

"It’s a shame that we as parents did not see any kind of signs of anything being wrong," the teen’s father said.

Defense attorney Miranda Massie plans to challenge the charge, in part because the girl allegedly wanted her boyfriend to hit her in the stomach.

"That she consented to whatever contact occurred between them, that means, of necessity, as a bedrock, crystal-clear principle of Michigan law, that there is no assault.

But the bottom line is this: if this country keeps rolling back freedom of choice and rolling back abortion rights, what you’re going to see is more children attempting to perform back alley abortions on themselves," she said.

The teenage boy will be back in court again in March, and that’s when his attorney hopes to have the charge dropped.

http://www.wxyz.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/a
rticle/0,2132,WXYZ_15924_3450964,00.html

Consensual Beatings?

Newspaper Says It Was "Consensual Beatings" With A Baseball Bat
When Teenage Parents Deliberately Beat To Death Their Unborn Child

Abortion case touches on hot issues


By Chad Halcom / Special to The Daily Oakland Press

It would be hard to find a criminal case featuring more political hot-button issues: abortion, teen pregnancy, sex education in school, small-town scandal, politicians and the media, assaults and violence against women, and protection of family privacy.

But for two fathers from Armada and Richmond Townships, who spoke out for the first time Thursday on the case involving their children, the real issues may be parenting and good communication.

"These kids knew that they could talk to us. That's why we're so surprised that, at a point when we felt they should have needed to talk with us the most, that they couldn't," said the girl's father.

While the man's daughter is not a defendant in the case - in fact, the Michigan law being used to prosecute the case specifically makes her exempt - she was on hand with her parents as her 16-year-old boyfriend faced an assault charge for a series of consensual beatings with a baseball bat that ended her secret pregnancy last fall.

Police and prosecutors contend that the 16-year-old boy and his 16-year-old girlfriend sought ways to obtain an abortion last fall without notifying the girl's parents or anyone else of her pregnancy; they ultimately settled on a series of beatings in the abdomen over two weeks with a 22-inch souvenir-style bat until she miscarried in early October.

Defense attorney Miranda Massie, who is representing the boy, said the law is improperly applied in this case and accused Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith's office of "overreaching" and "political grandstanding."

"Mr. Smith is not just adding to the tragedy of this case by (prosecuting), but he is taking advantage of it for political gain," she said after Thursday's court hearing.

The case returns to court for an evidentiary hearing March 8. A trial could begin within a month or so after that hearing date.

Chad Halcom is a staff writer for The Macomb Daily.

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/sto
ries/010705/loc_20050107012.shtml

17-year-old girl part of 'Philadelphia 5'

Teen 1 of Christians facing
charges for protesting homosexuals

By Ron Strom / WorldNetDaily.com

While most of the media have focused on the four adult Christians arrested last year for protesting a homosexual event in Philadelphia, there also is a teenage girl who faces criminal charges for her participation.

Lauren Murch is one of the 11 Christians who were arrested on Oct. 10.

After a confrontation with a group called the Pink Angels, described by protesters as "a militant mob of homosexuals," the 11 Christians were arrested and taken into custody. All but Lauren spent the night in jail.

Eight charges were filed: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways.

None of the Pink Angels was cited or arrested.

After a preliminary hearing in December, Judge William Austin Meehan ordered four of the adult Christians to stand trial on three felony and five misdemeanor charges. If convicted, they could get a maximum of 47 years in prison.

Lauren, 17, also was ordered to stand trial, but in the juvenile justice system. She faces the same eight counts.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ne
ws/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42274

Gonzales Pledges Support For Abortion, But Then Disavows Torture Tactics

Bush's Pro-Abort Attorney General

Chalk Another One Up For The Pro-Aborts:
Gonzales Pledges Support For Abortion, But Then Disavows Torture Tactics?

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General-nominee Alberto Gonzales, under scorching criticism from senators, condemned torture as an interrogation tactic Thursday and promised to prosecute abusers of terror suspects. He also disclosed the White House was looking at trying to change the Geneva Conventions that protect prisoner rights.

Pressed at his confirmation hearing by senators from both parties, the White House counsel defended his advice to President Bush that the treaty's protections did not extend to al-Qaida and other suspected terrorists.

"Torture and abuse will not be tolerated by this administration," Gonzales told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. "I will ensure the Department of Justice aggressively pursues those responsible for such abhorrent actions."

Gonzales said that as attorney general, he would abide by the 1949 Geneva treaty. But he also said the White House was looking at the possibility of seeking revisions to the conventions.

"Now I'm not suggesting that the principles, the basic treatment of human beings, should be revisited," Gonzales said. "But there has been some very preliminary discussion: Is this something that we ought to look at?"

He said the discussions have not gone far. "It's not been a systematic project or effort to look at this question," Gonzales said. "But some people I deal with, the lawyers, indicate maybe this is something we should look at."

Sen. Charles Schumer later urged on Bush to consult Congress and he requested a congressional hearing. "My concern is not that these discussions are taking place, but that they are taking place in secret, behind closed doors, with no outside involvement," Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote the president.

Democrats _ and Republicans, at times _ criticized the Bush administration's policies on aggressive interrogation of terrorism suspects.

Gonzales is expected to be confirmed when Congress returns after Bush's inauguration on Jan. 20. He would be the nation's first Hispanic attorney general and replace John Ashcroft.

Democrats said it was Gonzales' January 2002 memo that led to the abuse of suspected terrorists. He had argued in his memo that the fight against terrorism "renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."

In the White House, Gonzales was at the center of decisions about "the legality of detention and interrogation methods that have been seen as tantamount to torture," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Added Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.: The "legal positions that you have supported have been used by the administration, the military and the CIA to justify torture and Geneva Conventions violations by military and civilian personnel."

Gonzales, wearing an American flag pin in his lapel, sat alone at the witness table. Family members sat behind him in the crowded hearing room. Senators addressed the former Texas Supreme Court justice as "judge," but pressed him repeatedly on administration policies.

Gonzales refused to back away from his legal opinion to Bush that terrorists captured overseas by Americans do not merit the conventions' protections.

"My judgment was ... that it would not apply to al-Qaida _ they weren't a signatory to the convention," he said.

Gonzales denied that any of the memos he wrote or reviewed in the White House had anything to do with the abuse.

"Would you not concede that your decision and the decision of the president to call into question the definition of torture, the need to comply with the Geneva Convention at least opened up a permissive environment of conduct?" asked Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat.

Gonzales said he was sickened and outraged by photos of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. He described the U.S. troops in those photos as "people who were morally bankrupt having fun." Other abuses of foreign detainees probably were caused because "there wasn't adequate training, there wasn't adequate supervision."

"I respectfully disagree that there was some kind of permissive environment," he said.

Gonzales' response to some questions seemed to contradict his description of the conventions in his January 2002 memo.

"I consider the Geneva Convention neither obsolete or quaint," he said at the hearing, promising to ensure U.S. compliance "with all of its legal obligations in fighting the war on terror."

Gonzales declined to give a legal opinion on the prisoner abuse, suggesting he did not want to prejudice a possible criminal case. That led to a 10-minute lecture from Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., on Democrats' long-standing complaints about Bush nominees' refusal to directly answer their questions.

"We're looking for candor, old buddy," Biden said. "I love you, but you're not very candid so far."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the administration "dramatically undermined the war effort" by "getting cute with the law."

"I think you weaken yourself as a nation when you try to play cute and become more like your enemy instead of like who you want to be," he said.

Gonzales objected to Graham's characterizations and noted the beheadings of Americans by terrorists. "We are nothing like our enemies, senator," Gonzales said.

"But we're not like who we want to be and who we have been, and that's the point I'm trying to make," Graham responded. "When you start looking at torture statutes and you look at ways around the spirit of the law, you're losing the moral high ground. ... I do believe that we've lost our way."

After hearing from Gonzales for more than seven hours, senators listened to three critics of the administration's policy on treatment of detainess. One of the witnesses, John D. Hutson, dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, N.H., said Gonzales' memo was "shallow in its legal analysis, shortsighted in its implications, and altogether ill-advised. Frankly, it was just wrong."

During his testimony, Gonzales also:

_supported the use of the Patriot Act, the government's post-Sept. 1 anti-terrorism. "I believe that in part because of the Patriot Act there has not been a domestic attack on United States soil since 9/11," he said.

_sidestepped questions on whether it was legal for Senate Democrats to filibuster Bush's judicial nominations last year.

_promised that his friendship with Bush would not affect him performance as attorney general. "I will no longer represent only the White House," he said. "I will represent the United States of America and its people. I understand the difference between the two roles."

_pledged support for Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision on a woman's right to an abortion. "As far as I'm concerned, it is the law of the land and I will enforce it," he said.

_said he would defend in court the 1996 law in which Congress said states do not have to recognize gay marriages.

_brushed off talk that he eventually be nominated for the Supreme Court if a vacancy occurs.

Schumer suggested that Democrats who supported Gonzales for attorney general would not necessarily do the same if he were picked for the high court.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/20
05/01/06/ap/headlines/d87etk4o0.txt

Shocking sex acts in schools

Philadelphia students as young as 5 are being caught in a variety of situations - even the rape of classmates. The district has hired abuse counselors to intervene.


At one Philadelphia public school earlier this month, two boys were caught alone in a rest room, one atop the other, their underpants off and their groins in each other's faces.

They were kindergartners.

And it was no isolated case.

Dozens of Philadelphia School District police reports over the last year detail instances of youngsters' ordering classmates to perform sex acts, grabbing private parts, simulating sex acts on one another, and writing sexually explicit notes that sound like something out of a pornographic movie.

It's happening in classrooms and hallways, in rest rooms and on playgrounds.

While the number of morals offenses declined in Philadelphia's schools in the last year, high-profile - sometimes violent - incidents involving the youngest of students have emphasized the problem anew. The cases have prompted the district and the city's Department of Human Services to hire a private counseling agency to screen children and provide help if necessary.

Last school year, of the 462 morals offenses, 145 cases - nearly a third - occurred among the district's 71,370 students in kindergarten through fourth grade. Through Nov. 30 this school year, 36 incidents were reported in those grades.

"You've had some high-profile cases of children at a very young age, attempting to engage in inappropriate sexual behavior," said Paul Vallas, the district's chief executive officer.

Some acts have turned criminal.

Last month at Stetson Middle School in Philadelphia's Kensington section, an 11-year-old boy was charged with raping a 12-year-old male classmate in a stairway. The same week, police charged a 12-year-old boy with forcing an 8-year-old girl to perform oral sex near some trash bins outside Alexander Wilson Elementary in West Philadelphia.

In January, the Joseph J. Peters Institute, a Philadelphia group that counsels victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse, will begin screening and helping young children who exhibit inappropriate sexual behavior in the city's schools. The $15,000 contract will cover 40 students, but could be expanded as needed, officials said.

While the institute will focus first on students in kindergarten through fourth grade first, there are plans to work with children through age 13, officials said.

"Instead of just punishing these kids, we need to get them evaluated," said Paul Fink, a psychiatrist who serves as a consultant to the school district.

The screening, Fink said, will consider: Has the child ever been abused? Is the child exposed to sexual behavior? Is the child exposed to pornography?

While screenings are subject to parental consent, the district can report suspected abuse to Human Services if a family declines to cooperate.

The district also in recent years has contracted with Ardmore-based Phoenix Education Group, which trains staff to recognize and respond to sexual abuse and sexual harassment among young children. There are 67 training sessions scheduled after the holiday break.

What years ago used to be natural curiosity that manifested itself in "playing doctor" or "show and tell" has taken on a more aggressive and sexual tone in some children, who are exhibiting acts that should be far beyond their knowledge.

Experts say Philadelphia's experience is part of a growing problem nationwide as youngsters are exposed to more explicit material on television and the Internet and in their homes.

"The stuff available at their fingertips - that is really going to change the development of a whole generation of youth," said Jill Levenson, a professor of human services at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., who researches sexual violence.

While some acts constitute assault, others appear consensual, such as the kindergartners' case at Willard Elementary in Kensington.

Students are acting out what they have seen or experienced in an abusive relationship, experts say.

"The more children are exposed to adultlike sexual behaviors, the more likely they are to try some of that on," said Thomas Haworth, director of child and adolescent services at the Peters Institute. "The children with their faces in each other's groins, that's not something you would come upon in normal childhood. That's adult sexual behavior."

The incidents have upset and shocked staff and parents.

Viviana Sweeney has yet to send her 5-year-old son back to school after a Nov. 8 incident in which a kindergarten teacher at Drew Elementary in University City discovered the boy and a classmate in a rest room, their underpants down. The other boy was lying atop her son, simulating sex with him.

Sweeney is upset that the boys were allowed together unsupervised in the rest room, which is in the classroom. Her son, she said, knows nothing of sexuality and was instructed by the other student.

"He's uncomfortable now bathing. He's constantly drawing pictures of police taking the bad guy away. It's affected him," said Sweeney, who is seeking to transfer her son to another school.

Sweeney said she is publicly discussing the incident because she wants parents to know about a danger that students face. "I just feel like it is really sad that most parents don't know what they are getting into when they are putting their child in public school," she said. "You are trusting the teacher, you are trusting the school to protect your child, and look what happens."

Drew Principal Maxine Jones said staff members do their best to monitor students.

"We don't have 1-to-1 ratios with children," she said. "We may have 1-to-30. It's difficult to watch children at every single minute."

Yet Harvey Rice, the state's safe-schools advocate who helps victims of violence in city schools, said the district should review its procedures on rest-room use, because many of the offenses have occurred there.

"I think we can see by the incident reports that it has to go all the way down to kindergarten now," Rice said.

Kindergarten teacher Erlene Bass Nelson - a 47-year veteran - said she had taken steps to be extra careful not to allow children in the rest room together again.

The incident, she said, happened just before dismissal. One boy had been in the rest room for a while, and the other said he had to go badly, so she told him to knock on the door and tell his classmate. A few minutes later, as she was preparing the other children to leave for the day, she saw the door ajar and found the boys.

"Naturally, I was shocked," Nelson said.

But she reacted calmly so that she wouldn't upset the boys, who were laughing and smiling. "I didn't want to make them feel guilty or shameful," she said.

Sweeney's son, she said, "jumped up and said, 'Oh, we were only doing it for fake.'"

CEO Vallas said that in addition to more training for staff and counseling for students, the district was improving school security, which should help lessen the cases of sexual misconduct. The district is adding surveillance cameras, increasing parent patrols, and encouraging more active hall-walking by school security, he said.

These efforts have already led to a sharp decline in morals offenses. But there's only so much schools can do, he said.

"When you have children as young as first grade engaging in sexualized behavior," he said, "that wasn't learned in the school."

At Willard School, principal Maritza Garay has overheard children talking about what they watched late at night on the adult-oriented Spice Channel.

"The children should be sleeping at that hour," Garay said. "Their minds and their bodies are not ready for that kind of information."

Nan Daniels, principal of Cassidy Elementary in West Philadelphia, said a sexually explicit note written by a fifth grader was traced to his exposure to pornographic movies at a friend's house. The note was so sophisticated that school officials at first thought adults were involved.

"The parent was extremely upset," Daniels said, "to see all this stuff written by her child."

Morals Offenses in City Schools

The Philadelphia School District reported 462 morals offenses in 2003-04. The incidents included:

Indecent assault: 310

Indecent exposure: 56

Rape and attempted rape: 10

Other sexual misconduct:86

That's down 20 percent from 2002-03, when 574 incidents occurred. Incidents reported that year include:

Indecent assault:403

Indecent exposure: 54

Rape and attempted rape: 10

Sexual misconduct: 107

Where to get help

Joseph J. Peters Institute, 100 S. Broad St., Suite 1700, Philadelphia 19110. 215-701-1560. Group counsels both victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Women Organized Against Rape, 1233 Locust St., Suite 202, Philadelphia 19107. 24-hour hotline: 215-985-3333. Provides counseling for victims and their entire families when incidents occur.

http://www.miami.com/mld/inquirer/news/
local/states/pennsylvania/10448861.htm

Andrea Yates Conviction Overturned

Andrea Yates Conviction Overturned

See profile of Andrea Yates

HOUSTON -- Andrea Yates' capital murder convictions for drowning her children were overturned Thursday by an appeals court, which ruled a prosecution expert witness gave false testimony at her trial.

Yates' lawyers had argued at a hearing last month before a three-judge panel of the First Court of Appeals in Houston that psychiatrist Park Dietz was wrong when he mentioned an episode of the TV show "Law & Order" involving a woman found innocent by reason of insanity for drowning her children.

After jurors found Yates guilty, attorneys in the case and jurors learned no such episode existed.

"We conclude that there is a reasonable likelihood that Dr. Dietz's false testimony could have affected the judgment of the jury," the court ruled. "We further conclude that Dr. Dietz's false testimony affected the substantial rights of appellant."

Click here to read the decision.

The court ruling returns the case back to the trial court for a new trial.

Jurors in 2002 sentenced Yates to life in prison in the 2001 deaths of three of her children. She was not tried in the deaths of the other two.

The defense's appeal cited 19 errors from her trial, but the appeals court said since the false testimony issue reversed the conviction, it was not ruling on the other matters. Among other things, Yates attorneys had claimed the Texas insanity standard is unconstitutional.

Prosecutors told the court last month there was no evidence Dietz intentionally lied and that the testimony was evoked by Yates' defense attorney during cross-examination. They also argued that Dietz's testimony wasn't material to the case and there was plenty of other testimony about Yates' plans to kill her children.

"We agree that this case does not involve the state's knowing use of perjured testimony," the appeals court said in its ruling. But the judges said prosecutors did use the testimony twice and referred to it in closing arguments.

Dietz testified the episode aired shortly before the drownings. Testimony during the trial had indicated Yates watched the television series.

A wet and bedraggled Yates called police to her home on June 20, 2001, and showed them the bodies of her five children: Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and 6-month-old Mary. She had called them into the bathroom and drowned them one by one.

According to testimony, Yates was overwhelmed by motherhood, considered herself a bad mother, and had attempted suicide and been hospitalized for depression.

Prosecutors acknowledged she was mentally ill but argued that she could tell right from wrong and was thus not legally insane.

The case stirred debate over the legal standard for mental illness and whether postpartum depression is properly recognized and taken seriously. Women's groups had harshly criticized prosecutors for pushing for the death penalty.

http://www.foxnews.com/st
ory/0,2933,143508,00.html

Teacher Charged With Having Sex With Student

Teacher Charged With Having Sex With Student

KPRC Click2Houston.com.

A Bay City high school teacher was arrested and charged with having sex with a student, Local 2 reported in an exclusive story Wednesday.

Janay Willson, 31, was indicted on two counts of sexual assault of a child.

Matagorda County officials said she had a sexual relationship with the 16-year-old male student in December 1999 and January 2000 but it did not come to light until 2004. The student has since graduated.

Willson was a nine-year veteran of the Bay City High School's English department.

Willson resigned from her job right before Christmas. She was suspended when the allegations first came to light on Oct. 31.

"It hurts so much to think that we would have anybody that would break that public trust," said Richard Walton, with the Bay City Independent School District.

Willson was arrested and posted a $40,000 bond.

She was not available for comment.

Residents of the small town were initially shocked to hear about the charges.

"You always think that that's something that happens somewhere else and not here," said Lynn Grebene, the school's Booster Club president.

But he said rumors have circulated for years.

"There's a part of you that believes it. There's part of you that doesn't want to believe it. It's just so far-fetched," Grebene said.

"I thought she was a very concerned teacher. I was absolutely flabbergasted to tell you the truth," said Sally Chitwood, a parent.

Sources told Local 2 that officials are awaiting paternity tests on one of Willson's children to determine if the student is the baby's father.

Willson is also facing an investigation by the State Board of Educators to determine if she will permanently lose her license to teach.


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=32
0&u=/ibsys/20050106/lo_kprc/2524619&printer=1

U.S. Is Only 12th 'Freest' Nation

U.S. Is Only 12th 'Freest' Nation

United States Drops Out of Top 10 'Freest' Economies

The Heritage Foundation, which promotes low taxes and limited government regulation, reports the United States is tied for 12th place with Switzerland in the 2005 Index of Economic Freedom. The world's second-largest economy, Japan, ranks 39th in the survey. The report shows "a net increase in global economic freedom" overall.

The United States has dropped out of the world's top 10 "freest economies" in a ranking released Tuesday by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The organization, which promotes low taxes and limited government regulation, said the United States was tied for 12th place with Switzerland in the 2005 Index of Economic Freedom.

Hong Kong retained its top ranking in the survey, followed by Singapore, Luxembourg and Estonia. Ireland and New Zealand tied for fifth place, followed by Britain, Denmark, Iceland and Australia in the top 10. Chile ranked 11th.

"Perhaps the greatest surprise in this year's index is the failure, for the first time, of the United States to make the top 10," the Washington-based research group said.

"Although its score remains unchanged from last year, and it is still classified as free, the United States -- now in a tie for 12th place with Switzerland -- has been 'treading water,' according to the editors, and hence has been surpassed by countries willing to open their economies still further."

The report, compiled with the Wall Street Journal, "demonstrates that the countries with the greatest degrees of economic freedom also enjoy the highest living standards," Heritage said.

"During the last nine years, countries that have done the most to improve their scores on the index's 10 measures of economic freedom have, in general, experienced the highest rates of economic growth. Iceland, for example, has improved steadily, producing a compound growth rate of 3.5 percent."

The report showed "a net increase in global economic freedom" overall in the global economy, with 86 scoring better this year than last year and 57 countries getting lower scores.

Overall, 17 countries are classified as having "free" economies, 56 as "mostly free," 70 as "mostly unfree" and 12 as "repressed."

The criteria used include free trade, taxes, government intervention in the economy, monetary policy, capital flows and foreign investment, property rights and informal market activity.

Among European nations outside the top 10, Germany ranked 18th, Italy 26th and France 44th.

Japan, the world's second-largest economy, ranked 39th in the survey.

The Asia-Pacific region offered sharp contrasts, with the two highest-ranked economies but also the two lowest-rated countries in the world, Myanmar and North Korea.

http://business.newsfactor.com/s
tory.xhtml?story_id=144.4246992

Bush Continues Push to Rip-Off Victims

Bush Continues Push to Rip-Off Victims of
Medical Malpractice With Jury Award Limits
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. -- President Bush pressured Congress Wednesday to pass legislation limiting jury awards for medical malpractice, saying the legal system favors attorneys who file baseless cases that drive up the cost of health care. In his first speechmaking trip of the new year and the first ever of a sitting president to Collinsville, Bush said that large malpractice awards have increased the cost of business so much that doctors have to close their businesses or scale back services. He said it also drives up the cost of personal health insurance.

THE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE INSURANCE PROBLEM

What to do with doctors who kill people
From state lawmakers to federal lawmakers the news continues about placing caps on monetary payouts that are ment to help victims of medical malpractice.

Doctor groups are lobbying for lower malpractice insurance rates, Insurance Companies are lobbying for caps on monetary payouts and Trial Attorneys are lobbying against both the doctors and insurance companies.

While politicians like President Bush take the side of their favorite campaign contributors, the People (future victims) are disenfranchised with little or no representation.

There is one side of this story however, that we never read or hear anything about, and I believe it's the side of the story that would solve the problem of high medical bills, insurance rates and attorney fees.

When people are injured or killed, and it is believed to be the fault of a doctor, instead of trying the case in civil court, the doctor should be tried in criminal court! If the doctor is found guilty of injuring or killing people then throw the criminal in prison!

Because of criminal prosecution, we will see a massive reduction in doctor related medical malpractice cases and therefore have no need for high medical bills, insurance rates and attorney fees. Except for doctors, if anybody else injures or kills people the alleged criminals are tried in criminal court.

We are absolutely stupid to give doctors the ability to buy "insurance" to avoid criminal punishment and then all they do is pass the expense to the consumer! The low percentage of bad doctors continue injuring or killing people, the demand for trial attorneys to defend victims continue unabated which means higher attorney fees and the medical insurance rates continue to go through the roof.

Criminal prosecution of bad doctors won't do away with medical malpractice insurance entirely. Once doctors are found guilty in criminal court and hauled off to prison, next bring the civil charges and then the insurance companies can pay to take care of the victims. Once the justice system starts throwing these criminal-doctors in prison we will see a massive reduction in medical malpractice cases, and the medical insurance companies will see that reduction in payouts. I mean massive reduction!

But right now, the public is being constantly subjected to the political spin, the criminals remain at large paying professional lobbyists and making hefty campaign donations to both political parties, and the American people are subsidizing this circus.

We don't need tort reform and medical malpractice caps, we need lawmakers who will write criminal laws and the justice system to start arresting, prosecuting and punishing doctors who injure and kill people! We need Justice! But becuase we do not have Justice points to the heart of the problem: Lobbyists bribing politicians to write laws that make the taxpayers pay for it.

--Jim Rudd

Unjust Law Is 'Law Without Equity'

Unjust Law Is 'Law Without Equity'

Teenage Mother Won't Be Charged for Murdering Baby
in Baseball Bat Abortion Case -- Thanks to Abortion Regulators
RICHMOND TOWNSHIP -- Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said his hands were tied when it came time to decide whom to charge in the baseball bat beating death of the unborn child being carried by a teenage mother. He decided Tuesday to do the only thing one state statute allowed: charge the boyfriend who wielded the bat, hitting his girlfriend in the stomach repeatedly over a two-week period, but let the girl off the hook, uncharged. The young mother, who was a willing participant in the induced abortion, law enforcement officials say - cannot be charged under that law because it specifically excludes the mother from criminal liability. Under a state law passed in 1999 - called the "Prenatal Protection Act" - that states only the person assaulting a pregnant woman resulting in a miscarriage is criminally liable. The pregnant woman, no matter how complicit in the termination, is not.

Editor's note: You might ask, how did Michigan ever come up with such an unjust law that prosecutes a person for intentionally murdering an unborn child but then lets another person off the hook? Even though that person conspired to murder, and, in fact was a willing participant in the murder, that person goes scot free? How can that happen?

Well, it may surprise you to find out that such double-minded unjust laws come from none other than Abortion Regulators. That's right, Abortion Regulators are to blame for allowing murderers to walk free in Michigan -- and Lord only knows how many states these abortion people have corrupted with their devilish regulations!

Pam Sherstad, from Right to Life of Michigan, tries to excuse her iniquity this way: "If that provision had not been written into the statute, it would have clashed with the federal law that allows abortions under the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S Supreme Court decision, said Pam Sherstad, spokeswoman for Right to Life of Michigan, which worked to pass the 1999 state law. "Abortion is obviously legal in the United States," Sherstad said, "and you can't have a state law that interferes with federal law. The Prenatal Protection Act was designed to protect pregnant women who are assaulted by someone resulting in the death of their unborn child. This is obviously a unique case."

No! you are wrong Pam Sherstad, this is not a unique case. Woman conspire to murder their unborn children all the time in the United States -- and over 4,500 mothers murder their children everyday -- be it abortion or abortifacent -- murder is the willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing of an innocent human being and these women are guilty!

But the thing that is really "unique" about this case is how this unjust law is getting national attention and exposing the inept perverted course of action taken by Right to Life of Michigan in particular and Abortion Regulators across the nation in general.

The abortion regulation mindset is flawed from the very first. As we see in Pam Sherstad's statement, Right to Life of Michigan acquiesces to the notion that a "right" to murder innocent people in fact exists, which then leads it to make the erroneous conclusion that the process of murdering people can be regulated through legislative actions, i.e. Michigan's Prenatal Protection Act.

The Baseball Bat Abortion story brings to light the foolishness of Abortion Regulators and why Christian pro-lifers must fight against such regulations. This news story tells how such regulations make the commandment of God of no effect by allowing a 16-year-old mother who willfully and deliberately took part in the murder of her unborn child and then she unjustly walks away free from prosecution.

These Abortion Regulators will be damned for their lawless iniquity, making the commandments of God of no effect and for teaching other people to do the same. They must be rebuked for their blood guilty actions and then called to repentance. --Jim Rudd

Crackdown on Christians: Philadelphia's Hate Crimes Regime

Crackdown on Christians: Philadelphia's Hate Crimes Regime

Lee Duigon / The Chalcedon Foundation

Imagine you woke up one morning to discover that, in your city, singing a hymn or reciting a Bible verse in public was a criminal offense.

Michael Marcavage doesn't have to imagine it. He lives in Philadelphia — a city that has, for the sake of "gay rights," imposed one of the harshest "hate speech" regimes in North America. Peacefully opposing the advancement of sodomy can land you in prison, if you do it in Philadelphia.

Marcavage and three of his friends face felony hate crime charges that could net each forty-seven years in prison. Charges have been dropped against another six of the original "Philadelphia 11," with one juvenile in the group removed from the case.

Police arrested the eleven on October 10. Marcavage led the peaceful protest against a homosexual street fair called "Outfest." On December 14, a Philadelphia judge ruled that the prosecutor could proceed with the case.

"Do I expect to go to prison?" Marcavage said. "I didn't expect to be prosecuted so aggressively, so why should I expect not to go to jail? The prosecutor calls us hateful and disgusting people; the district attorney says the Bible is hate speech, and they're out to make an example of us." ...

"Over the last ten years," William Devlin said, "I've been to pastor after pastor in this city, trying to get them to put pressure on the elected officials who've been pushing the homosexual agenda. They're all afraid to speak up. They're like the frog in the kettle: they've sat there in silence for all this time while the gays kept turning up the water temperature. Now it's come to a boil, and they're still in the pot."

Philadelphia's political leaders, he said, present themselves as born-again, evangelical Christians while energetically promoting "gay rights" at the expense of Christianity.


http://www.chalcedon.edu/art
icles/0501/050101-1duigon.php

U.S. attorneys complicit in arrest of Christians

U.S. attorneys complicit in arrest of Christians

Source says homosexual government lawyers
advised Philadelphia police at 'OutFest' event

By Ron Strom / WorldNetDaily.com

Homosexual attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department Civil Rights Division not only attended a large homosexual event in Philadelphia last year, but they advised police on the scene who arrested 11 Christian protesters, says a source within the agency.

According to the Justice Department employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, a number of agency attorneys from Washington, D.C., attended the October "OutFest" event, and, he says, they therefore are not likely to take up the cause of the five criminally charged Christians who believe Philadelphia officials violated their civil rights.

"Some of the lawyers in [the Civil Rights Division] participated in the gay-rights march," the source told WorldNetDaily, referring to the OutFest event. "They participate in those kinds of marches."

The Justice source said he estimated between 10 and 11 percent of the attorneys in the Civil Rights Division are homosexual.


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ne
ws/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42221

Pharisees to Celebrate at Bush Inaugural

WASHINGTON -- On Inauguration Day, January 20, pro-life and pro-family church leaders from Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions will stage a rare event combining prayers of thanksgiving with partying the night away.

Beginning at 7:00 p.m., Faith and Action, the National Clergy Council and Priests for Life will host 50 VIP guests from around the country at their Victorian-era Capitol Hill row house just a block from the US Capitol. Earlier in the day the group will personally witness the swearing in of George W. Bush to a second term and watch the Inaugural Parade along Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues.

The soiree will include both ordained and lay church leaders who played key roles in mobilizing their constituencies to turn out an unprecedented pro-life and pro-traditional marriage vote on Election Day. Special guest will be Evangelical author and former Time Magazine bureau chief David Aikman who will autograph copies of Man of Faith, his biography of George Bush. The program includes music, food and elegant horse and carriage rides. A heated tent in the building's garden will include a large-screen television so guests can watch the President and First Lady dance at the main ball.

The highlight of the evening, though, will be a special prayer service where guests will offer prayers of thanksgiving for the election outcome and intercession for Mr. Bush and members of his administration as they lead the country during the next four years. Special emphasis will be placed on asking God to give wisdom to Mr. Bush as he selects replacements to serve on the Supreme Court, located immediately across the street.

Members of the media (on assignment) are invited to attend but must call first to arrange entrance. Contact Dane Rose at Faith and Action, 202-546-8329.

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/
modules/news/article.php?storyid=1752

Specter elected chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee

Specter elected chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee

WASHINGTON -- Following a drawn-out political melodrama triggered by his own intemperate remarks, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., was elected chairman Tuesday of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.

The vote was 10-0 among fellow Republicans on the panel.

"I'm pleased," Specter said after the hour-long meeting in the offices of departing chairman Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah. "I've been on the committee for 24 years, and it's a real opportunity to deal with some very important issues which affect the American people."

The vote marked the conclusion of a long ordeal for Specter, 74, who ignited the ire of conservatives with postelection remarks suggesting that Supreme Court nominees would not be confirmed if they sought to roll back the 1973 ruling that granted abortion rights.

Faced with a relentless campaign of phone calls and faxes from conservative activists, GOP Judiciary Committee members withheld endorsing Specter until he promised in writing that he would support all of President Bush's judicial picks.

Specter also agreed to back other goals on the GOP agenda, including tort reform.

Tuesday, the GOP committee members were all smiles, joking that the secret ballot was no longer much of a secret. Specter, too, was relaxed and jovial, though he wore a bandage on the bridge of his nose as a result of the removal of a precancerous skin lesion.

"You should see the other guy," Specter said.

In addition to voting on all nominations to the federal bench, including Supreme Court justices, the Judiciary Committee deals with issues of legal reform and legislation relating to law enforcement. It also has oversight of the Justice Department and the FBI.

Specter said much of Tuesday's meeting was spent discussing proposed legislation on legal claims relating to asbestos exposure.

"We have a tremendous number of issues which we're going to be facing ... and I'm prepared," the former Philadelphia prosecutor said.

With the committee's backing, Specter now must receive the blessing of the 55 members of the Republican Conference, who are to meet Wednesday. In theory, they could reject the committee's choice, but that is unlikely.

Specter is expected to preside Thursday over his first Judiciary hearing, addressing the nomination of White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales to be U.S. attorney general.

Earlier in the day, as the 109th Congress convened, Specter was one of 34 senators elected Nov. 2 to be sworn in by Vice President Cheney. Specter, who begins his fifth term, will shortly become Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator.

http://www.macon.com/mld/mac
on/news/politics/10565458.htm

Rudolph Defense Disputes Claim He Planned To Flee After Bombing

Rudolph Defense Disputes Claim
He Planned To Flee After Bombing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Eric Rudolph's defense disputes the government's claim that he planned to turn fugitive after a 1998 Alabama abortion clinic bombing, arguing that he would have taken more provisions if he anticipated a life on the lam in North Carolina woods.

In court papers made public Tuesday, his lawyers said the one-time soldier and woodsman would have had "more than a last meal of a Whopper, Coke and fries at Burger King" and $109.06 in food from a North Carolina grocery had he made plans to hide out.

Rudolph, set for trial this spring in the federal death penalty case, was the subject of a manhunt after the deadly Birmingham clniic bombing and spent more than five years on the run before his arrest in 2003.

The defense also denied claims that agents knew Rudolph had disappeared because of the way they found his trailer two days after the bombing: The front door standing open, lights on, oatmeal on the table and dresser drawers on the floor, yet no one home.

"An equally valid conclusion which could also be drawn from the pulled out drawers on the floor was that (the) defendant was not a good housekeeper," Rudolph's lawyers claimed.

The defense is challenging the conclusions of a federal magistrate judge who agreed with prosecutors and decided that Rudolph had abandoned his trailer at Topton, N.C., shortly after the Alabama bombing, making it legal for agents to get search warrants and enter his home, which they did.

"For all law enforcement knew at the time the residence was searched, Rudolph had left on a lengthy camping trip and been careless in locking his door and turning off his TV before leaving," the defense argued.

Inside Rudolph's trailer, agents discovered items later found to contain explosives residue, according to the government. They also found materials that prosecutors contend could have been linked to bombs.

The defense previously has suggested that Rudolph remained a fugitive for so long because he feared being set up by the government, and evidence showed he told a friend that investigators were framing him for the crime. The papers made public Tuesday did not elaborate on what prompted his flight into the woods.

Besides the clinic bombing, which killed a policeman and critically injured a nurse, Rudolph is charged with setting bombs that killed a woman at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and two more in Atlanta in 1997.

Arrested near a grocery store trash bin in Murphy, N.C., Rudolph had at least two campsites in the mountains and had stockpiled food and other supplies in apparent preparation for disappearing into the wilderness, according to authorities.

Prosecutors have suggested that Rudolph fled into the woods after learning that police were after him because a witness saw his pickup truck in Birmingham after the clinic bombing.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/le
dgerenquirer/news/local/10564549.htm

Alabama Driver Licenses Will Have More Security

Alabama Driver Licenses Will Have More Security

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Alabama driver licenses, beginning in March, will have more security as a result of the 9/11 attacks and new federal identification standards.

The intelligence reform law signed by President Bush requires that the U.S. Department of Transportation and Homeland Security work with states to establish minimum identification standards for driver licenses, birth certificates and other forms of state-issued identification.

Backers of the new standards say it will make it harder to fraudulently obtain identification. Making licenses harder to fake also could reduce identity theft and underage drinking, public safety officials say.

Alabama issues a license made from a high-tech composite material. It's not just laminated paper anymore. It has more than 20 security features, some as simple as overlapping digital symbols — making it harder to cut and paste — and others invisible to the naked eye.

With the changes, behind every digital photo will be computer watermarks that only special police computers will be able to read. These watermarks contain demographic information about the cardholder. The cards also bear a blacklight-visible hologram.

Similar security features will be included on other forms of state-issued identification.

"The driver's license now is not just a driver's license," said Trooper Maj. C.R. Howell. "It is literally a passport that allows you to travel in this country and if you have one, you are viewed as a valid U.S. citizen."

Not everyone is excited about having the federal government tell states how to remake their licenses.

John Hurson, president of the National Conference of State Legislators, has called the federal mandate a "one-size-fits-all policy" that doesn't address states' individual safety concerns.

News reports from some states have highlighted questions about who will pay for the required work in states that, unlike Alabama, were not preparing to create a new license in the near future.

The idea of tighter security standards for issuing licenses nationwide is something that has concerned Howell for years. Alabama has been at the forefront in conducting criminal background checks and Social Security number verifications when issuing licenses, he said.

If more states would follow Alabama's example, he said, it could make a difference in the safety and security of the country.

Licenses are used as identification when opening bank accounts, applying for credit cards and even boarding airplanes.

Most people think it's petty to worry about creating a license that college students can't counterfeit in their dorm rooms, Howell told The Anniston Star for a story Sunday. But considering everything a license lets folks do, it's easy to see why Alabama considers it a felony to make a fake one.

The new license and ID cards will be nearly impossible to counterfeit, but that doesn't mean people won't try, Howell said.

"People who want to do that will always try," he said. "Our license is not totally secure. It never will be. But our job is to make it secure as best we can. I think we have done that."

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/bas
e/news-11/110469654178611.xml&storylist=alabamanews