Politics

Thanks, Big Government Conservatives

Lessons From The Medicare Prescription Drug Bill Debate
Despite the fact that the successful Republican-led effort to pass the Medicare prescription drug benefit will saddle American taxpayers with an additional $395 billion over the next decade (and probably several times more than that, given the typical accuracy of government spending projections) in social spending that would make Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson envious, there are a couple of positive outcomes of the vote. First, by turning an initially apparent loss on the supposed 15-minute vote into a victory, after the requisite arm-twisting and log rolling during what turned out to be a record three-hour vote, Republicans revealed how things are really done in Washington, D.C. In a striking similarity to the vote on the USA PATRIOT Act, the House majority’s leadership forced a vote on the monumental legislation in the middle of the night.

Bush: No Probe on WMD Intelligence
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said Friday "I want to know the facts" about any intelligence failures concerning Saddam Hussein's alleged cache of forbidden weapons but he declined to endorse calls for an independent investigation. The issue of an independent commission has blossomed into an election-year problem for the president, with Democrats and Republicans alike supporting the idea.

The Birth of the Neocons
“An invisible government”
Sean McMeekin’s recently published biography of Willi Münzenberg, the man rightly dubbed in the subtitle “Moscow’s propaganda wizard in the West” is a useful addition to the small literature on the all-important subject of media manipulation. It, and the other books on Münzenberg and related subjects, enable us to understand how secret services and covert operations are used to control public access to information, and to influence public opinion for political purposes.

Lawmakers Find 'Failures' in U.S. Intelligence
The House and Senate intelligence committees have unearthed a series of failures in prewar intelligence on Iraq similar to those identified by former weapons inspector David Kay, leading them to believe that CIA analysts and their superiors did not seriously consider the possibility Saddam Hussein no longer possessed weapons of mass destruction, congressional officials said.

Bush Seeks Big Jump in Missile Defense Spending
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration will ask Congress to boost spending on missile defense by $1.2 billion next year and nearly double funding to modernize the Army in the $401.7 billion U.S. military budget for 2005, according to Pentagon documents released on Friday.

News Flash! No WMDs!
Former chief US – not UN, but US – weapons inspector David Kay has admitted there appear to be no WMDs in Iraq. He believes now that Hussein maybe really did get rid of them over the last several years.

Head of The State Religion 'Anointed'

Pontifex Whatimus?
National Review anoints the head of the state religion
Complaining about a lack of respect accorded Mr. Dubya a few weeks ago in Atlanta, the National Review referred to our president as the "pontifex maximus of the American civil religion."

White House to Project Deficit of $521 bln in 2004
WASHINGTON -- The White House will project that the federal budget deficit will peak this year at $521 billion, surpassing congressional estimates and shattering records, people familiar with the budget said on Thursday.

Bush's Secret Weapon: Young 'Naive' Voters
Though it’s not clear who they’ll vote for, most 18- to 29-year-olds say for now, they’re behind both the president and the war in Iraq.

Seven U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan
KABUL -- An explosion near an arms cache in southern Afghanistan (news - web sites) killed seven U.S. soldiers on Thursday in one of the deadliest blows in months to American forces hunting Taliban and al Qaeda guerrillas. U.S. Central Command said in a statement the soldiers were killed when working near an ammunition dump in the southern province of Ghazni on Thursday afternoon. Another U.S. soldier was missing and an interpreter was also injured, the statement said.

Was There Insider Trading Before News of Mad Cow?
WASHINGTON - A federal investigation has been launched to determine whether commodities traders profited last month from advance knowledge of the first U.S. case of mad cow disease.

Tech Stocks Close Sharply Lower on Interest-Rate Worries
Technology shares finished lower Wednesday after a change in the Federal Reserve's language on interest rates left investors wondering how long rates will remain at current low levels. Amazon.com shares were weak as investors digested its fourth-quarter earnings report, and videogame shares also took a hit.

The USA Patriot Act Should Be Terminated

The President is Wrong,
The USA Patriot Act Should be Terminated
Why all the concern about the Patriot Act by millions of Americans? Here are a few, among many, reasons for alarm. Under the Patriot Act, the definition of terrorism is expanded to cover anyone or any group that tries to bring about change for political or ideological reasons and uses any kind of force to bring it about. This could range from nailing a poster to a courthouse door to carrying a picket sign.

Bush/Rove Political Strategy:
Triangulation or Capitulation?
For the past three years, the Bush administration, largely at the direction of political strategist Karl Rove, has sought to move the political agenda towards the middle, which from the vantage point of the Conservative grassroots that elected Bush, means away from their core values and principles. Bush and Rove presumed, somewhat arrogantly, that they were systematically taking liberal issues "off the table" for Democrats by essentially adopting them, when in fact they were taking those issues off the table for Conservatives who chiefly voted for Bush with the expectation that he would protect them from such things.

Give You Liberty or Give You Death
"The people of Iraq are free," said President Bush in his State of the Union speech. A few days later, a terrible problem presented itself. It seems that the best-selling popular music in Iraq heralds the resistance and condemns the occupation. Here's a sample lyric: "America has come and occupied Baghdad. The army and people have weapons and ammunition. Let's go fight and call out the name of God."

Iraq Bombings Kills 6 U.S. Soldiers
A bomb that exploded south of Baghdad killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded three others Tuesday night, hours after another bombing west of the capital killed three U.S. paratroopers and wounded one, the military said. In addition, two employees of Cable News Network died in a shooting south of Baghdad. Elsewhere, U.S. troops killed three suspected members of a guerrilla cell during raids Tuesday in the central Iraqi town of Beiji, the Army said. And a suspected car bomb was discovered near coalition and Iraqi Governing Council offices.

Muslim Bomber Kills Four in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber driving a van disguised as an ambulance blew up his vehicle Wednesday in front of a hotel frequented by Westerners, witnesses and police said. Iraqi police reported four people were killed, but the U.S. command said only the driver died. The bombing occurred about 6:40 a.m. after security guards opened fire on the vehicle — a white van with Red Crescent markings — as it maneuvered around concrete barriers in the street, witnesses said.

Ex-U.S. Inspector to Testify on Iraq WMD
WASHINGTON - Senators want to speak with the former top U.S. weapons inspector who said he couldn't find evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, a primary justification by President Bush for the war in Iraq. David Kay, who was scheduled to testify before a Senate committee Wednesday, is one of a number of U.S. officials who have recently adjusted their position on Saddam's weapons capabilities.

Fed Expected to Hold Low Interest Rates
WASHINGTON -- Jobseekers still find it difficult to get work and businesses aren't yet firing on all cylinders, leading economists to predict that the Federal Reserve will hold short-term interest rates at super-low levels in the months ahead.

Kerry wins New Hampshire primary
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts won New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary on yesterday, securing his status as the Democrat Party's front-runner and rocketing his candidacy into next week's frenzied round of cross-country contests. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was far behind in second place, enough to keep his hopes alive but far short of the close finish his aides said he needed to rebound from last week's weak third place in Iowa.

Time To Trade In The Republican Jalopy

Time To Trade In The Republican Jalopy
It's time that conservatives awaken to the reality that political parties come and go, that they are merely political vehicles through which principles may be transported into public policy. Whenever a political party abandons the principles people believe in, it is the duty of people to abandon the party for a more reliable form of transportation.

The Lie's The Limit? Where Does It End?
Those Americans not dumbed-down by media propaganda are already more than up to speed regarding the extracurricular activities of the Bush administration and the lies told by President George W. Bush to engineer an unnecessary war against a defenseless Third World dictatorship. If human rights are an issue, where was America relative to the cause for world justice as regards Rwanda? Considering the grounds for the impeachment of President George Bush, corruption wasn’t previously high up on the list of this administration’s betrayal of the public trust. It is now!

Give Me Back My Republic,
I am sick and tired of military empire
Since there is virtually no coverage of the Defense Department other than the SecDef's smart-alecky news conferences, I highly recommend Johnson's new book as well as his old one, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of an American Empire. If you look at the original publication date of his first book, you will find that it is quite prophetic.

Stress Epidemic Strikes American Forces in Iraq
Up to one in five of the American military personnel in Iraq will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, say senior forces' medical staff dealing with the psychiatric fallout of the war. This revelation follows the disclosure last month that more than 600 US servicemen and women have been evacuated from the country for psychiatric reasons since the conflict started last March.

Guard Member Charged For Refusing Anthrax Vaccine
An Ohio National Guard member has been charged by the Army with disobeying a lawful order after he again refused to take the anthrax vaccine. Specialist Kurt Hickman refused to take the series of shots on January 14 after his unit was deployed to Camp Atterbury in Indiana in preparation for going overseas. Hickman, who has said the vaccine can cause serious side effects, was formally charged on Friday as an active duty member of the Army, which places the case under the federal uniform code of military justice, according to Army Major Chris Pfaff.

US Troops Face Iraq Abuse Charges
Four US marine reservists are due in a military court on Monday to face charges of abusing Iraqi prisoners. The incidents are alleged to have happened last year at a detention facility in southern Iraq. Two of them face charges of negligent homicide, arising from the death of a Baath Party official.

Lincoln's Civil War Against New York
Between 1861 and 1865 there were two wars being fought simultaneously in the United States by Abraham Lincoln and his Republican administration. The first was to prevent the independence of the seceded Southern states. The second was a civil war in the North upon the six states controlled by the Democratic Party: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. The Union army was called upon to crush out their guerrilla war, insurrectionary acts, and full-scale military defiance. This opposition was provoked by Lincoln's attempt to insure loyalty through terror: arbitrary arrests of civilians, martial law and military trials for civilians hundreds of miles outside the war zone, confiscation of property of suspected traitors and the closing of anti-Republican periodicals. Thirty-eight thousand Northerners were arrested and taken to unknown places of confinement, without benefit of habeas corpus or trial by jury.

So, Is Radical Feminism A Socialist Front?
For the past 30 years I have followed the trajectory of feminism. Originally I was an ardent supporter of the ideology. But 15 years ago, it became clear that this religion of gender liberation had lost its moral compass. Now, feminism has become a parody of the very ideals it claims to promote. It was this dialectic that led me to research this series of articles on Socialism and Feminism.

Congress Cannot Be Appointed
In the months following the September 11th terrorist attacks, questions arose about whether Congress could continue to function if many of its members were killed or injured in a future terrorist attack. These concerns resulted in the creation of a commission that advocated a first in American history, namely the appointment of individuals to the U.S. House. A constitutional amendment has been proposed that would provide the method for such appointments following a catastrophe that killed or disabled a majority of the people in Congress.

Top Fiscal Watchdog Delivers Stinging Attack on Deficit
WASHINGTON --The U.S. comptroller general, David Walker, laid out a blistering attack on the nation's growing deficit yesterday, saying it is undermining the future of the nation and putting an all-but-intolerable tax burden on future generations. "The path we're on is imprudent and unsustainable,'' he said.

Bills Would Limit Lobbying by Campaign Consultants
The California Assembly on Monday unanimously approved two measures that would prohibit political consultants from lobbying state officeholders they help elect.

Ice Storm Pounds D.C. Area
A second blast of winter weather was expected to coat the region with ice last night, creating treacherous driving conditions this morning and the possibility of outages by the afternoon if tree limbs weighted with ice crash onto power lines. As the Washington area continued to dig out from the about 4 inches of snow that fell Sunday, forecasters predicted heavy freezing rain this afternoon lasting 3 to 6 hours, followed by light snow expected to start after 7 p.m.

George W. Bush is a Socialist and a Liar

Socialist W. Liar
George W. Bush is a socialist and a liar. If this weren’t evident to everyone already, his January 20 State of the Union address should suffice. While in the address Bush proved he believes that any conflict a person can experience – career, marriage, children, electricity, whatever – is the domain of the federal government, his comments on medicine alone show his absolute conviction that the central government is life’s answer to everything for everyone, and that he is often directly dishonest with us.

Bush Cautious About Banning 'Gay' Unions
When President Bush threatened to back a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in his State of the Union address last week, he sent a strong message to his conservative religious voter base. At the same time, analysts say, he carefully tailored it to avoid alienating the socially moderate swing voters he needs to win in November.

Bush's Sodomite White House
President Bush Expands Aids Policy Team
Evertz to Coordinate U.S. Role on Global Fund Board;
O'Neill Moving Into National Policy Office
Log Cabin Republicans -- GOP Sodomite Publication
WASHINGTON -- Following up on his commitment to a two-front war on the AIDS epidemic -- both at home and abroad -- President Bush is expected to appoint his director of national AIDS policy to coordinate U.S. policy on the international Global Fund to fight AIDS and infectious diseases, and Dr. Joe O'Neill to head up the Office of National AIDS Policy. The move would add another openly gay Bush Administration appointee on the administration's AIDS policy team, and adds manpower in the fight against the epidemic at home and abroad. "President Bush continues to lead where others merely offered speeches and rhetoric," said Rich Tafel, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. "With Scott Evertz and Joe O'Neill, we have two of the best qualified people in the nation on the President's team. (Jeremiah 5:9)

Timeline Of The Bush Administration On Gay Policy
Log Cabin Republicans -- GOP Sodomite Publication

Medical Consequences Of What Homosexuals Do
By Paul Cameron, Ph.D. Chairman / Family Research Institute
Throughout history, all civilized societies have condemned homosexuality. Until 1961 homosexual acts were illegal throughout America.

For Whom The Death Tolls
There is evidence of a concerted effort afoot to obfuscate the number of casualties in the US-led “war on terror.” May 1st was the day the president Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and declared the end to the war and the start of the occupation of Iraq. [1] Since then many casualty numbers have been publicized, most of them disingenuous fudges of the real death toll. There are many reasons why the casualty toll is understated, which we dissect in this brief essay. The Bush regime is doing its best to hide the human cost of its recent wars. Publicity of the soldiers’ deaths is bad during an election year, and would be bad for the continued justification for the American occupation of Iraq. If they are intent on hiding the casualty figures, then it behooves us to uncover and amplify them.

U.S. Helicopter Crashes in Iraq; Two Crew Missing
MOSUL, Iraq -- The U.S. military said it was hunting for the two-man crew of an armed reconnaissance helicopter that crashed Sunday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. A military spokesman in Baghdad said the Kiowa helicopter came down in the Tigris river in Mosul, about 390 km (240 miles) northwest of Baghdad, while on a search-and-rescue mission for a U.S. soldier who had been on a river patrol boat that went missing earlier.

U.S. Soldier Killed in Muslim Grenade Attack
TIKRIT, Iraq -- Insurgents fired a rocket propelled grenade at a Bradley fighting vehicle that was on patrol in central Iraq, killing a U.S. soldiers, a military spokeswoman said Sunday. The grenade, which was fired on Saturday in Baiji town, pierced the driver's compartment and critically wounded the soldier, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division.

DC Anti War Activists Move
Ahead with Class Action Suit
In Washington D.C., the city government is trying to settle several lawsuits brought by over 400 people who were arrested there during anti-war protests in September 2002. The arrests were criticized by the press, legal experts, and the city council, and an internal police investigation found the actions to have violated police procedures. While the plaintiffs in one case have accepted the government's offer, three other cases, including a class action suit, are moving forward. Darby Hickey of the D.C. Radio Co-op has this report.

Cheney Defends Iraq War to Europeans
DAVOS, Switzerland - Free nations, working together, must not shy from using force if diplomacy cannot deter terrorism and check the spread of the world's most dangerous weapons, Vice President Dick Cheney told Europe on Saturday.

Cops Combat Flood of Firearms,
Feds program may help turn the tide?
Guns are flooding Cincinnati's streets, police say, showing up frequently in the hands of suspects ranging from children to the elderly. As a result, police are increasing efforts to use a federal prosecution program that gives harsher penalties to the city's most violent offenders.

States' Database a Trove of Personal Info
NEW YORK -- A federally funded crime database run by seven states is looking increasingly to privacy advocates like a potent substitute for the data-mining program the Pentagon scrapped after public rebuke. Law enforcement officials and the private company that manages the database, known as Matrix, say it merely streamlines police access to information about suspects that authorities have long been able to get from disparate sources.

USAID Launches School Improvements Project
ISLAMABAD -- U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell Thursday joined in the inauguration of the USAID-funded School Enhancement Program (SEP) at a government school in Azizabad, Nilore. Dr. Haroona Jatoi, Joint Education Advisor, represented the Ministry of Education. The School Enhancement Program at the Azizabad school is one part of the $100 million five-year USAID education initiative for Pakistan.

India Attacks US on Plan to Ban Outsourcing
India's technology industry has attacked proposed new US legislation that bans the outsourcing of federal work to low cost countries arguing it is a protectionist measure contrary to the spirit of free trade. The US bill, which was passed by the Senate of Friday but has still to be signed by President George W. Bush before it becomes law, is the most significant attempt to stop outsourcing, a fast-growing industry trend that has led to the loss of thousands of highly-paid technology jobs in the US and become a hot political issue in a US election year.

East Gets Pounded By Winter Storms
Mid-Atlantic region -- The mid-Atlantic states are getting hammered by what could be the season's largest snowstorm. Up to ten inches are forecast for some parts of Maryland and Delaware. Several inches are already on the ground in the Washington DC suburbs.

Bush Asks U.N. to Resolve Iraq Conflict

Bush Asks U.N. to Resolve Iraq Conflict
The Bush administration is asking the United Nations for assistance in getting out of a dangerous political stalemate in the still embattled country. The United States has asked the United Nations to settle a U.S.-Iraqi dispute over how to select leaders to rule the country after U.S. occupation authorities hand over sovereignty on June 30. Some 100,000 troops will still remain after that.

Bush Lip Service
WASHINGTON -- President Bush praised anti-abortion marchers' "noble cause" as Democrats in Congress introduced a bill to block government interference in reproductive rights on Thursday, the 31st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion. "I know that good folks have gathered there on the Mall from every corner of America to take part in the 31st March For Life," Bush told the anti-abortion crowd by telephone from Roswell, New Mexico. "And I want you to pass on my best to each one of them in person, please, and tell them how much I appreciate their devotion to such a noble cause." In remarks repeatedly interrupted by applause, Bush noted that he signed a ban on so-called "partial birth" abortions last year, and was "vigorously defending" it against court challenges. (Read: Partial-Birth Ban of No Effect)

Welcome to BushRevealed.com!
This website serves as notice to Christians across this nation that President George Bush over the past few years has compromised his "Christian faith" by promoting evil and openly supporting wickedness. It is our hope and prayer that he would Repent and turn from such blatant sin. He is not our friend and cannot be trusted.

Congress Clears Huge Federal Spending Bill
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Congress on Thursday finally approved a huge $375 billion catchall federal spending bill for fiscal year 2004 that had been delayed for months by disputes over issues ranging from media ownership to gun records and food labels. The Senate voted 65-28 to pass the 1,200-page bill after Democrats, under pressure to free up its funding for everything from foreign aid, farm, veterans, education, transportation and health programs to the State Department and FBI, abandoned procedural tactics they had been using to oppose it. "Nobody here wants to be accused of shutting the government down," said Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.

Violence in Iraq Leaves Nine People Dead
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Attackers killed nine people in an outburst of violence, including four Christian women headed to jobs at a U.S. military base and two American soldiers. South of the capital, the security chief of Spanish troops in Iraq was shot in the head during a raid.

Court to Rule on Death Row Commutations
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - A year after former Gov. George Ryan cleared out the state's death row, the Illinois Supreme Court is considering whether he had the authority to commute sentences. The court was scheduled to rule Friday on a lawsuit that challenged Ryan's constitutional authority to commute the sentences of 32 inmates who were among those spared shortly before the Republican governor left office last January.

Ex-Enron Accounting Chief Is Indicted
HOUSTON -- Enron Corp.'s former accounting chief was charged on Thursday with helping engineer "massive fraud" that deceived Wall Street and pumped up Enron stock before its disclosure drove the company into bankruptcy.

George Bush - The Greater Of Two Evils

George Bush - The Greater Of Two Evils
I never thought I would find myself longing for the days of Bill Clinton. Sure, he was a pathological liar who laughed at the rule of law. But everyone knew that, so we kept an eye on him. Why is it that when the current occupant of the White House shows a similar inability to deal truthfully with the American people, we let him get away with it just because he calls himself a Republican and a Christian?

Welcome to BushRevealed.com!
This website serves as notice to Christians across this nation that President George Bush over the past few years has compromised his "Christian faith" by promoting evil and openly supporting wickedness. It is our hope and prayer that he would Repent and turn from such blatant sin. He is not our friend and cannot be trusted.

George Bush's America:
Expanding The Welfare-Warfare State
In his latest State of the Union speech, President Bush laid out his vision for America: more federal government spending on various new domestic programs and more foreign intervention to create free market societies and democracies, especially in the Middle East.

Senators Propose Illegal Immigration Reform Plan
WASHINGTON - The Senate's top Democrat joined a Republican colleague Wednesday in offering an immigration plan that would tie work to the prospect of legal residency for millions of people living in the country illegally. The senators proposed that undocumented workers and their families living in the United States be given the chance to become "invested stakeholders" in the country by earning legal permanent residence through work.

A Renewed Mexican-American War
News that the Bush administration will propose "sweeping changes to US immigration policy that would allow a portion of the eight million illegal aliens in this country to move toward legal status without a penalty" ignores the fact that Mexico has set upon a plan to repopulate the lands it lost to the US and to, in effect, alter the political structure of America by flooding its citizens into the US while retaining their allegiance to Mexico.

Some Dare to Call Dubya a Traitor
President George W. Bush along with Senator John McCain, want to give some eight to ten million illegal aliens, most of them from Mexico, legal status. Theoretically, the plan would legalize these aliens as "temporary workers," which would allow them to work freely in the United States without fear of deportation. I hear some hard-line conservatives call this proposal treason. I hear very little from the mainstream Democrats, but some people in Labor and on the Left have pegged this correctly for what it is. My opinion: this is a proposal which has something bad for everyone. And in the end, it will cause a violent revolution in two countries.

The Death Of America
One of the dubious blessings of Hegelian post-Christian humanism is a callous disregard for human beings. Like capital, they are just another element used to produce a profit. Paying a living wage which a few decades ago was the norm, is no longer a consideration, exploitation is both justified and rampant. The lack of regard for human life is, however, not the only factor. A nefarious cabal behind the despotic realignment of world boundaries is also culpable. Rulers have always assessed their opinions as higher than the rabble and have sought to make automans of their subjects by robbing them of individual responsibility and reducing them to serfdom.!

"Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph... And he said unto his people... Come on, let us deal wisely with them... Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens."

U.S. Leaders Highlight World Economic Forum Agenda
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND -- The World Economic Forum that opens on Wednesday in Davos Switzerland has chosen "Partnering for Security and Prosperity" as its theme. In light of America's war in Iraq, the war on terrorism and the falling dollar, this week will be a zinger. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton opens the five-day conference that will offer its 2,280 participants more than 190 workshops and sessions. Later in the week, Vice President Dick Cheney will address the audience.

'Heathen' Dean
Few people take the time to read the newspaper on Christmas morning, and so we can always count on some surprises to appear in that issue. This Christmas was no exception at the Boston Globe, with it's story on Democrat candidate for President Howard Dean's alleged committment to Christianity, entitled 'Seeking a new emphasis, Dean touts his Christianity.' As regards his never having mentioned his faith to the public before, Dean cites his "...'Northeast' tradition of not discussing religious beliefs in public," but that he intended to wear his faith out on his sleeve when campaigning in the South. Before he hits the Bible Belt, Dean should be advised of questions folks will have and several things that real Christians will expect/notice when he comes-a-callin':

How A Marxist Came To Be An American Hero
Martin Luther King Jr. was a dupe. He was used to advance an agenda back then and now after his death ( elevated to martyrdom, it seems) he is STILL being used.

Finance Victims May Sit on Stewart's Jury
NEW YORK -- A man who thinks he had a dishonest stockbroker and another who lost money in the Enron scandal are among the potential jurors who may decide Martha Stewart's fate, court papers released on Wednesday showed.

Israel Hits Hezbollah Bases in Lebanon

Israel Hits Hezbollah Bases in Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes struck Hezbollah in southern Lebanon late Tuesday, threatening to re-ignite another Arab-Israeli front that has been mostly calm for years. Israel said it was retaliating for a Hezbollah attack that killed one Israeli soldier and wounded another a day earlier, and said the attacks were intended as a message to Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.

Proposals Push Spending Beyond Budget
President Bush last night proposed an ambitious package of domestic spending that will drive up discretionary expenditures far more rapidly than his recent predecessors. The State of the Union initiatives that he wants passed this year include more spending for the Department of Education, a new assistance fund to help manufacturers recover from their recession and funding for a major, long-term expansion of NASA's space budget.

Abolish NASA
Neither the President nor supporters of this revamped NASA space program have come up with any real justification for continuing a multi-billion dollar boondoggle other than saying that it is our destiny to explore the solar system and beyond (see Donald Lambro’s Washington Times commentary). As that appears to be the only reason to continue funding NASA, taxpayers should demand that the whole program be abolished to reduce the federal budget deficit. $15.4 billion and Rising to ... $50 billion?

US Base on the Moon
Our base-mad administration now wants to establish a "research base" on the moon by 2020, or so the President proclaimed yesterday. It makes a certain sense actually. At our present pace, the United States will by then have established military bases -- as Chalmers Johnson indicates below – on just about every possible space left on our planet.

Spending Bill Fails Senate Hurdle
WASHINGTON -- In a preview of election-year battles to come, U.S. Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday failed to break an impasse over a massive spending bill needed to complete budget work left unfinished from last year.

Bush's Claims are Just Part of the Story
An analysis published last month by the Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute called the Iraq war "a strategic error of the first order" and "a detour" from defeating the main threat to America's security: al-Qaeda terrorists.

The Real Size of the Military Budget
When President Bush signed the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2004 on November 24, 2003, the event received considerable attention in the news media. At $401.3 billion, the public's visible cost of funding the nation's defense seemed to be reaching astronomical heights, and the president took pains to justify that enormous cost by linking it to the horrors of 9/11 and to the “war on terror.” He pledged that “we will do whatever it takes to keep our nation strong, to keep the peace, and to keep the American people secure,” clearly implying that such payoffs would accrue from the expenditures and other measures that the act authorizes.

Army Faults Its Treatment of Reserve Troops
WASHINGTON - Seeking to avert an exodus of part-time soldiers, the chief of the U.S. Army Reserve on Tuesday faulted the Army's treatment of reservists and proposed to give them a firmer notion of when they may be plucked from civilian life for active duty. Army Reserve soldiers have complained about getting very little notice before being summoned to active duty, repeated mobilizations, and equipment shortfalls.

Return Of The Dixiecrats?
Changing From A Donkey To A Rooster
The results of this fall's elections in the South, combined with the results from the 2002 elections, show a Democratic Party in a state of rapid decline. All the gains they've made from 1998 have been pretty much wiped out with the only exception being in Louisiana (Democrat Kathleen Blanco won the governor's race). But all that shows is the Pelican State is unique in Dixie for having a large group of soft partisan white voters in the Cajuns that helped Blanco get elected.

Gephardt Quits Second Run for White House
ST. LOUIS -- Democrat Dick Gephardt abandoned his second bid for the presidency Tuesday, delivering a political valedictory after some three decades of public service while putting his home state of Missouri up for grabs in the competitive primary race.

Martha Stewart Pleads Not Guilty
NEW YORK -- A color-coordinated Martha Stewart quietly pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to securities fraud charges that could land her in jail, while prospective jurors were quizzed behind closed doors by a judge worried that their privacy not be violated by the high-profile case.

Lawyers Begin Picking Martha Stewart Jury
NEW YORK - One by one, potential jurors took a seat across from Martha Stewart and answered questions from lawyers trying to decide which 12 will decide her fate in a stock-fraud trial.

Stop Bush's Promotion of Illegals Invading America

Stop Bush's Promotion of Illegals Invading America
There can be no question that Bush’s plan to give amnesty to illegal aliens is the promotion of lawlessness. It doesn't matter how nice an illegal might be or how cheap they will work. It doesn't matter if they have been here illegally for one week or one decade. If they sneak across the border, they have committed a crime under our laws and are subject to immediate deportation.

Free College for Illegals
Last fall, Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore released a memo to public-funded universities telling them not to admit illegal aliens. It seems like common sense to most Americans that illegal aliens should not be eligible for government services, except for a free deportation. But between the federal courts and the radical Latino lobby, things are not that easy. Thus the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund has sued the several Virginia universities—including William and Mary, which I attend—for not accepting illegal aliens.

We Know Bush Lied! So Are Americans Stupid?
Today, after spending millions of dollars looking for the weapons, they haven't found anything. And every Iraqi official captured, none of whom has any reason at all to lie, has said the same thing: There are no weapons of mass destruction... Now we have nearly 500 dead Americans who died to protect the United States from weapons that don't exist. And more will die, and for what reason?

LIES "R" US
Behind the eyes of a neocon in the position of power is a cold calculating murderer, a new barbarian, and what makes the neocon so effective is that they disguise themselves brilliantly as pious Romans. They project an image of normality, rational thinking individuals who have successfully convinced the masses that their idealism and intellectual mendacity is the true righteous path for national salvation and virtue. One fundamental aspect in a neocon that ordinary Americans must come to realize is that they hate God, and since they hate God and all His attributes like - God is Truth, they choose to serve the god of forces and illusion.

Bush to Grab Spotlight with State of Union Speech
WASHINGTON -- With his stay-the-course State of the Union message, President Bush will try to grab the spotlight on Tuesday night from Democrat challengers caught up in a tight race to challenge him for the White House in November. With the U.S. death toll now over 500 in Iraq (news - web sites), Bush will defend the Iraq war as justified in that Saddam Hussein was removed from power and a chance for "democracy" in the heart of the Middle East was created.

Did Gun Control Lead To September 11?
Near the Canadian border in Boundary County, Idaho during August of 1992, the federal government went berserk. At Ruby Ridge Randy Weaver suffered the loss of his wife and son -- neither of whom had committed a crime -- to government agents. The feds brought about an even worse debacle in Waco the next year, and other less breathtaking abuses of power have occurred with disturbing frequency. Both tragedies stemmed from enforcement of unconstitutional laws for alleged crimes that had harmed no one.

Bush Wants Increase in Domestic Security Spending
WASHINGTON -- Seizing on an issue critical to Americans and his own re-election campaign, President Bush will propose boosting domestic security spending by about 9 percent in his 2005 budget, congressional sources said on Monday. expected to nearly double U.S. aid to Afghanistan to nearly $1 billion in his budget for fiscal year 2005. The country has been hit by a new wave of violence from Taliban elements and possibly al Qaeda despite the U.S.-led invasion.

Network will not air anti-Bush ad during Super Bowl
NEW YORK -- CBS has rejected Super Bowl advertisements from two groups, saying the ads violated its advocacy rules. At the same time, the network has in the past and could again accept spots from the White House's antidrug office, raising questions about what is acceptable and what is not, and why.

Annan Guardedly OKs U.N. Team in Iraq
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan cautiously supported an American and Iraqi request that a U.N team study whether Iraq could have quick, direct elections for a transitional government. American and Iraqi officials asked Annan on Monday to send a team to study the possibility of elections, and Security Council diplomats universally supported the idea in later meetings with Annan.

Unjust War Is The Only Issue
America under Bush started a war, killed thousands of people, sacrificed hundreds of her own valiant soldiers and conquered a soveriegn nation, using the justification that this foreign government participated in a heinous terrorist attack and posed an immediate and serious danger to America. Which wasn't true.

USS Bataan Under Way to Support Iraq Effort
NAVAL STATION NORFOLK -- Kicking off another round of deployments, Senior Chief Petty Officer Robert Sanchez got under way Monday aboard the Norfolk-based USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, for a two- to three-month cruise in support of the war in Iraq. This Bataan's movement comes just six months after its return from a six-month deployment to the Middle East, where the ship broke the record for launching the most Harrier attack planes. The Bataan's picking up elements of a Marine air wing and supplies from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Martha Stewart Arrives at Court for Trial
NEW YORK - With a wave to a pair of supporters, Martha Stewart arrived at a Manhattan federal courthouse Tuesday for her first appearance at her closely watched trial. The trial, which could determine whether the style guru does time in prison, is to begin in earnest Tuesday as lawyers start narrowing down a jury pool to the 12 that will choose Stewart's fate. Hundreds of prospective jurors have already filled out questionnaires.

Muslim Attack Kills 20, Wounds 60

Muslim Attack Kills 20, Wounds 60 in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A white pickup truck loaded with 1,000 pounds of plastic explosives and several 155 mm artillery shells exploded at the main public gate to U.S. occupation headquarters Sunday, killing at least 20 bystanders and wounding more than 60 people, U.S. military officials said. It was the deadliest attack here since Saddam Hussein's capture last month.

Shiite Muslims Demand Elections in Protest
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims marched peacefully in Baghdad on Monday to demand an elected government, as U.S. and Iraqi officials prepared to seek U.N. endorsement of American plans for transferring power in Iraq.

3 U.S. Troops Hurt in Afghanistan Attack
KABUL, Afghanistan - Three U.S. soldiers were wounded in an attack on a southern Afghanistan base, a military spokesman said Monday. One attacker was killed in the gunfight that erupted when about 15 insurgents assailed the base at Deh Rawood in Uruzgan province early Sunday, Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said.

Afghanis Say U.S. Copter Attack Kills 11
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A U.S. helicopter attacked a house in a village in southern Afghanistan, killing 11 people, four of them children, Afghan officials said Monday. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military. The attack occurred around 4 a.m. Sunday, a day after U.S. forces hunting for Taliban insurgents searched Saghatho village, where the house was located, said Abdul Rahman, chief of Char Chino district in Uruzgan province.

Congress Starts Tuesday
WASHINGTON - The election-year session of Congress picks up this week where the last one left off. Senate Republicans still are trying to break a Democratic filibuster and the two sides agree on little beyond the extent to which partisanship has made lawmaking difficult.

U.S., U.K. Reach Deal With IAEA on Libya
VIENNA, Austria - The U.N. atomic watchdog agency will verify the scope and content of Libya's nuclear program, and U.S. and British experts will remove suspect materials from the North African country under an agreement reached Monday.

U.S. Eyes Space as Possible Battleground
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's plan to expand the exploration of space parallels U.S. efforts to control the heavens for military, economic and strategic gain. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld long has pushed for technology that could be used to attack or defend orbiting satellites as well as a costly program, heavily reliant on space-based sensors, to thwart incoming warheads.

IBM Memos Detail Overseas Jobs Savings
In a rare look at the numbers and verbal nuances a big U.S. company chews over when moving jobs abroad, internal documents from International Business Machines Corp. show that it expects to save $168 million annually starting in 2006 by shifting several thousand high-paying programming jobs overseas, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported.

Is China the Next Bubble?
As 2004 begins, China's economy looks as invincible as the Japanese, Southeast Asian and American economies of those earlier times. But recent excesses - from a frenzy of factory construction to speculative inflows of cash to soaring growth in bank loans - suggest that China may be in a bubble now, especially on the investment side of the economy.

Party Questions Faith-Based Initiative Amendment

Party Questions Faith-Based Initiative Amendment
ATLANTA -- The Constitution Party of Georgia (CPGa) has raised concerns over the current efforts of Gov. Perdue to amend the Georgia Constitution to encourage state funding of church ministries involved in charitable works. State Chairman Ricardo Davis stated that "Senate Resolution 560, the Faith-Based Initiative Amendment (FBIA), may undermine the ability of state-funded Christian ministries to communicate the life-changing message of the Gospel by limiting their Constitutionally-guaranteed right to free speech and exposing them to litigation from organizations antagonistic to the Gospel message."

Intelligence Concerns as U.S. Rotates Iraq Troops
BAGHDAD -- The U.S. military command is on track to replace almost its entire force in Iraq over the next four months, but there are concerns intelligence on insurgents could be lost as new troops take over from experienced hands. The United States currently has about 125,000 troops in Iraq but plans to bring virtually all of them home in rotation and replace them with a force of up to 110,000 fresher troops.

U.S. Joins Iraqis to Seek U.N. Role in Interim Rule
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, trying to rescue its troubled plan to restore sovereignty to Iraq, is joining Iraqi leaders to press the United Nations to play a role in choosing an interim government in Baghdad, administration officials said Thursday.

Bush's Immigration Plan Hurts Re-Election War Chest?
Comfortable with the biggest campaign war chest in history, President Bush's immigration initiative has angered conservative Republicans so much that some are refusing to donate to his re-election campaign, according to a Bush fund-raiser in Georgia. Phil Kent, a member of the host committee for a Bush fund-raiser in Atlanta yesterday, said he was told by several would-be donors that they would not attend the $2,000-per-person event because of the president's announcement last week on immigration reform.

Some Republicans Break With Liberal Leadership
National leaders of six conservative organizations yesterday broke with the Republican majorities in the House and Senate, accusing them of spending like "drunken sailors," and had some strong words for President Bush as well. "The Republican Congress is spending at twice the rate as under Bill Clinton, and President Bush has yet to issue a single veto," Paul M. Weyrich, national chairman of Coalitions for America, said at a news briefing with the other five leaders.

Bush to Revive Social Security Tax Plan
WASHINGTON - President Bush will use next week's State of the Union address to try to revive a proposal that would allow younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in the stock market, the White House said Friday. Bush is likely to renew his push for a new kind of tax-preferred savings accounts that could be used for retirement, college, health care or other purposes. Bush will address the nation in a televised speech before a joint session of Congress at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday, three years to the day after his inauguration and one day after the Iowa presidential caucuses.

Bush to Buy the 'Stupid' Christian Vote

Bush to Buy the 'Stupid' Christian Vote,
Talk Religious Groups, U.S. Money
WASHINGTON - President Bush is looking to inject election-year momentum into his push to let religious groups compete for more federal dollars on a sweep through the South aimed at attracting support from blacks and campaign cash. Bush has sought legislation to give religious groups access to federal funds as long as their services are available to anyone, but without requiring them to make fundamental changes. The idea could not pass Congress and lawmakers put forward instead a package of tax incentives for charitable giving.

New Website!
BushRevealed.com!
This website serves as notice to Christians across this nation that President George Bush over the past few years has compromised his "Christian faith" by promoting evil and openly supporting wickedness. It is our hope and prayer that he would Repent and turn from such blatant sin. He is not our friend and cannot be trusted.

"President Bush has repeatedly, and continues, to justify the wicked; from advancing the homosexual agenda, to funding abortionists, to praising Islam, to signing unconstitutional bills into law that further socialism and shred our Bill of Rights," said Steve Lefemine, director of Columbia Christians for Life.

BushRevealed.com contends president
is compromising faith, promoting evil
"So many well-meaning Christians continue to reject the truth about President Bush for the sake of conservatism," said Michael Marcavage, a preacher with Repent America. "As Christians, we are not conservatives, but disciples of Jesus Christ who recognize and proclaim where right and wrong come from. Therefore, we must vote righteously.

Campaign Finance Watchdogs Target New
'Soft Money' Groups in FEC Complaint
WASHINGTON -- Campaign finance watchdog groups asked federal election officials Thursday to stop three new partisan groups from using corporate and union money in the presidential and congressional elections. They contend two Democratic-leaning groups -- America Coming Together and the Media Fund -- and a Republican group, The Leadership Forum, are attempting to circumvent the nation's new campaign finance law and make sure the big donations the law bans continue finding their way into federal elections.

Pentagon: Troop Suicides on Rise
WASHINGTON -- At least 21 U.S. troops have committed suicide in Iraq, a growing toll that represents one of every seven American "non-hostile" deaths since the war began last March, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The 21 suicides represent nearly 14 percent of non-hostile deaths reported by the military, an increase over the proportion of 11 percent as of three months ago when the suicide number totaled 13.

Consumers Hit Hard by Rising Utility Bills
Higher energy prices are not good for the economy. They act like a tax on consumers, causing them to shell out disposable income. For the poor, it may mean the difference between keeping warm and eating. For corporate America - everyone from struggling airlines to long-haul truckers - it's another expense to absorb.

Israel Closes Gaza Crossing After Bombing
EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip - Israel shut down the Gaza Strip on Thursday, preventing thousands of Palestinians from reaching jobs, after a female suicide bomber killed four Israelis at a crossing into Israel. The army said that only humanitarian cases would be qualify for crossing the border.

Ex-Enron CFO Pleads Guilty to Fraud
Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Fastow, Enron Corp.'s former chief financial officer, pleaded guilty to orchestrating an accounting fraud, becoming the highest-ranking officer to admit wrongdoing in the energy trader's collapse. Fastow, 42, pleaded guilty in Houston to conspiring to commit wire and securities fraud. He agreed to serve 10 years in prison and to forfeit $23.8 million of his assets, the majority of which have been frozen by prosecutors. His plea paves the way for the U.S. Justice Department to focus its efforts on their criminal investigation of former Enron chief executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.

J.P. Morgan to buy Chicago's Bank One
Bank One Corp., Chicago's last hometown banking giant, will be acquired by New York's J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., diminishing the city's standing as a financial center and fanning worries about overconcentration in one of the nation's essential businesses.

Winter Storm Pummels East and Midwest
NEW YORK -- A winter storm packing fierce winds, frigid temperatures and snow pounded the Northeast on Thursday, causing school closings, flight delays and fender-benders. Temperatures weren't expected to rise out of the single digits Thursday across much of the region, and even worse conditions could be the offing for Friday, forecasters said. It was so cold in Maine that Gov. John Baldacci declared a civil emergency Wednesday. The temperature once again dipped well below zero Thursday morning, hitting 31 below at Ninemile Bridge.

Fox Supports Bush Proposal on Immigration

Fox Supports Bush Proposal on Immigration
MONTERREY, Mexico -- President Bush won strong support from Mexican President Vicente Fox on Monday for his new immigration proposal as the two leaders worked to smooth strained relations. ``In Mexico this is a very important step forward,'' the Mexican president said of Bush's proposal, which is designed to provide legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants working in the United States.

Losing America’s Livelihood
The U.S. is headed for Third World status unless we change government policies that are driving U.S. businesses offshore, destroying jobs and putting entrepreneurs out of business.

Gas Prices Hit Record High
MANATEE - Tight oil supplies have pushed gas prices to all-time January highs and caused crude oil prices to briefly spike above $35 a barrel Tuesday. The national average price for self-serve regular unleaded gas hit $1.561 a gallon Tuesday, an 8.7-cent jump in the past month and 9 cents higher than a year ago, AAA said. The average was the highest AAA has ever recorded in the month of January. Florida's average price of $1.61 was 13 cents higher than a month ago. Analysts said the combination of low oil supplies, high natural gas prices and cold weather in the Midwest and Northeast have fueled the rapid run-up in gas prices.

Bush Seeks $1B for Moon, Mars Missions
WASHINGTON — President Bush wants to set NASA on a new course for exploring the far reaches of the solar system, starting with a long-term research base on the moon but the White House says the venture won't require major spending increases in the short run. Bush is asking for a $1 billion boost to NASA's budget over five years to fund the start of a new American campaign in space intended to put a base on the moon and to land astronauts on Mars, administration officials say. Bush's proposal for $1 billion over five years, in effect, would provide startup funds for highly complex projects that could take decades and may require hundreds of billions of additional dollars to complete.

Granville Soldier Still Embroiled in Anthrax Dispute
GRANVILLE -- As a battle over the safety of anthrax vaccines heats up, Spec. Kurt Hickman of Granville is left with few clues on how his refusal to take the vaccine will affect his military future. Hickman, 20, was convicted in a Dec. 13 court martial after he refused to take the anthrax vaccination along with other members of his Ohio National Guard unit in preparation for being sent to the Middle East.

U.S. Forces Capture No. 54 in Iraq; Bomb Kills Five
BAGHDAD -- A car bomb blew up outside a police station in central Iraq Wednesday, killing five people and wounding nearly 30, while the U.S. military announced it had captured No. 54 on its list of the 55 most-wanted Iraqis.

Mother of Two Kills 4 in Israel-Gaza Border Attack
EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip -- A Palestinian mother of two blew herself up at the main border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip Wednesday, killing four Israelis and wounding seven people.

Reviving the Draft
With roughly half of our Army committed to the Iraq occupation, and additional geopolitical challenges looming on the horizon, the return of conscription is a very real possibility. ‘‘Should the Draft Be Reinstated"? asked the headline of a December 21, 2003 Time magazine story. Many National Guardsmen and Army Reservists — men and women who believed they had signed limited contracts to serve as part-time soldiers — are discovering that, in a very real sense, the draft has already been quietly revived.

State Ordered To Surrender Limbaugh's Medical Records
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A Florida appeals court says prosecutors must turn Rush Limbaugh's medical records over to the courts and keep them sealed, at least for now. The talk show host's lawyer says the state's seizure of the records "without following the due process defined in Florida law is a threat to everyone's fundamental privacy right." The court also ruled the American Civil Liberties Union can join Limbaugh in fighting to keep the documents private.

Impeach Bush!

Savage: Impeach Bush
In the latest indication President Bush is having problems with his conservative core political constituency, Michael Savage, one of talk radio's biggest stars, tonight called for the impeachment of President Bush over his plans to legalize millions of illegal aliens.

Border Patrol Union Calls Plan 'A Slap In The Face'
WASHINGTON – President Bush's proposal to grant temporary legal status to millions of illegal immigrants has many U.S. Border Patrol agents grumbling and bracing for a possible surge in illegal immigration. "Everybody thinks it's a slap in the face," said T.J. Bonner, a San Diego-based agent and head of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents 10,000 agents.

Red Carpet Treatment For Immigrants Spells Trouble
On the one hand President Bush wants to protect the Americans against terrorists and on the other hand, he wants to allow Mexicans to have free run of our borders. I can see how the border patrols who have risked their lives trying to at least attempt to keep illegal immigrants from crossing over the lax borders...as a slap in the face. Looks more like a real punch in the face. A punch that could later draw blood.

Immigrants Lose Colorado Medicaid Benefits Court Case
Legal immigrants in Colorado lost a class-action fight in federal court Monday to continue getting Medicaid benefits despite a state law that cut them off to save money. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stop the cutoff while a legal challenge to the state's action wends its way through the court system.

Supreme Court OKs 'Random Roadblocks'
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court gave police leeway Tuesday to use random roadblocks to track down criminals. Justices said in the 6-3 ruling that police checkpoint stops, when used to seek information about recent crimes, do not violate the privacy rights of other motorists. The ruling is a victory for Illinois and 14 other states which had asked the court to use the case to clarify how far police could go to seek information about crimes.

Supreme Court Rejects Sept. 11 Detention Appeal
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider whether the government properly withheld names and other details about hundreds of foreigners detained in the weeks and months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The high court turned down a request to review the secrecy surrounding detainees, nearly all Arabs or Muslims, who were picked up in the United States following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

ACLU Comes to Rush's Rescue
Talk about strange bedfellows, the American Civil Liberties Union has come to the aid of troglodyte talk-show host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh, who has admitted that he was addicted to prescription painkillers, is under investigation for buying more than 2,000 such pills, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. Limbaugh argues that the investigation is politically motivated, which prosecutors deny.

USA Today Reporter Admits Deception in Probe
WASHINGTON -- A top foreign correspondent with USA Today said he resigned from the newspaper because he allowed a translator to lie for him during an investigation of his work, The Washington Post reported Sunday. Jack Kelley, a 21-year veteran of America's best-selling daily, stepped down Tuesday after an internal probe into the accuracy of his stories, although he stood by his stories. USA Today announced the resignation but would not disclose details of the investigation, which had echoes of a probe over fabricated stories that hit The New York Times last year.

Internet Lets Soldiers, Loved Ones Stay Close
COLCHESTER -- Air Force Staff Sgt. Patrick Blevins got his first look at his newborn son Blake Ashton Blevins on New Year's Day -- via the Internet. That's because young Blake, only hours old, and his mother, Kristy, were still at the Tucson, Ariz., Medical Center and Patrick was at Bagram Air Base, a former Soviet base an hour north of Kabul, Afghanistan. "It's pretty amazing when you think about it," said Jay Blevins of Colchester, Patrick's father -- and first-time grandfather -- as he looked at a downloaded copy of a news story from the Arizona Daily News. Patrick's regular duty station is the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

Montana State Gets $10.5 Million Contract for Drug Study
BOZEMAN -- Montana State University has won a $10.5 million federal contract to research new drugs to fight diseases such as anthrax that could be used by terrorists. The goal is to develop a pill that people could take to strengthen their natural immune defenses, said Mark Jutila, the MSU immunology professor in charge of the research. In addition to doing basic science, MSU scientists will work with Ligocyte, a 5-year-old Bozeman company that has been developing drugs to treat inflammatory and infectious diseases. Ligocyte will work with MSU to screen up to 200,000 compounds to find the most effective drug.

The Real Message of Bush's Alien Amnesty

Real Message of the Bush Amnesty
If George Bush's amnesty for between 8 million and 14 million illegal aliens is enacted, you can kiss the old America goodbye. Consider what the president is saying with his amnesty. He is telling us that he cannot or will not do his constitutional duty to defend the states from invasion. He is saying he simply cannot or will not protect our borders or enforce our immigration laws. He is saying he will no longer send illegal aliens back.

Gas Prices Climb 7 Cents in Past 3 Weeks
CAMARILLO, Calif. -- After four weeks of stability or decline, retail gasoline prices surged more than seven cents per gallon in the past three weeks, an industry analyst said Sunday. The price for all three grades combined was $1.58 on Friday, up 7.1 cents since Dec. 19, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations nationwide. Several factors were responsible, including rising crude oil prices, a weaker U.S. dollar, colder weather that drove up demand for home heating oil and two U.S. gasoline reformulations, said analyst Trilby Lundberg.

The Decline And Fall Of The American Job
GOP, Dems representing corporations, not people
American jobs moved south, then further south, then all over the planet. The hot spot now is Communist China, which specializes in slave labor. We abhor that, of course, but what can we do? If we don't send our jobs there, our competitors certainly will, and where will we be then? Out of business, that's where.

Bush, Mexico President to Meet at Summit
CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox's meeting on Monday, just days after the White House announced a new U.S. immigration initiative, is a chance for the two to mend their strained relationship — and earn political capital as well. The two were expected to be smiling — at least for the cameras — when they met in Monterrey, Mexico, at the Summit of the Americas, a gathering of 34 democratically elected leaders in the Western Hemisphere.

Bomb Kills One U.S. Soldier, Wounds Two in Iraq
BAGHDAD -- A bomb exploded beside a U.S. convoy in central Baghdad Monday, killing one soldier and wounding two others, the U.S. Army said. In a statement, the military said the soldiers were attached to the 1st Armored Division. The attack brought to 343 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action in Iraq since the start of the war to topple Saddam Hussein.

Vaccine Link to Gulf War Syndrome
GULF War syndrome was probably caused by vaccines administered to soldiers before their departure to the region, according to a medical report whose findings are published in today's edition of The Times newspaper. The confidential report by senior army specialist Lieutenant Colonel Graham Howe, who examined a British soldier who suffered osteoporosis and depression after the Gulf War, found that "secret" injections he received before his expected deployment to the Gulf "most probably led to the development of autoimmune-induced osteoporosis".

Passenger Jets May Get Anti-Missile Systems
WASHINGTON - Concerned that airline travelers are increasingly vulnerable to terrorist missile attacks, the government is developing plans to equip commercial airliners with the same protective countermeasures that military pilots use to fend off enemy missiles.

Bush 'Worship' at Shinto Temple
Troubles Christians in Japan and U.S.
ORANGE, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- When President Bush entered the ornately beautiful Shinto Temple erected to house the spirits of the late Emperor Meiji he clapped once and bowed deeply, following the common etiquette of worship at such shrines. At the same time, the Prime Minister of Japan was left sitting in the car—forbidden from entering the shrine by a postwar constitution written by the U.S.

Guard Mom Must Leave Infant Behind as She Heads to Iraq

Guard Mom Must Leave Infant Behind as She Heads to Iraq
SKOWHEGAN, Maine — Under the Bush administration, a mother who is a soldier can stay home with a baby until the child is 4 months old. After that a mother can find herself sent to the front lines to be part of the war effort. Amanda Bolduc, who signed up for the National Guard at age 17 to help pay college expenses, reacted with stoicism to her situation. "You are never not in the military. When you sign on that dotted line, that´s the chance you take," she said.

The Church Must Oppose the Sin of Women at War
Vision Forum Ministries presents a forum of scholars, theologians, and journalists in opposition to the idea that a free people can survive while sending mothers and daughters to war.

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq Approach 500
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The number of American troops who have died in Iraq since the war began last March is nearing 500, more than U.S. losses in many regional conflicts of the past several decades: the Gulf War, Lebanon, Somalia, Panama, Grenada, Kosovo and Afghanistan. So far the Iraq conflict has cost the lives of 494 American service members, including nine who were killed Thursday in the crash of a Black Hawk medevac helicopter believed shot down near Fallujah. Most of the deaths - both combat and non-combat - have occurred since President Bush declared an end to major fighting on May 1.

Bush's 'gay' faith: 'Feels pretty, witty and gay'
President Bush Expands Aids Policy Team
Evertz to Coordinate U.S. Role on Global Fund Board;
O'Neill Moving Into National Policy Office
Log Cabin Republicans -- Sodomite Publication
WASHINGTON -- Following up on his commitment to a two-front war on the AIDS epidemic -- both at home and abroad -- President Bush is expected to appoint his director of national AIDS policy to coordinate U.S. policy on the international Global Fund to fight AIDS and infectious diseases, and Dr. Joe O'Neill to head up the Office of National AIDS Policy. The move would add another openly gay Bush Administration appointee on the administration's AIDS policy team, and adds manpower in the fight against the epidemic at home and abroad. "President Bush continues to lead where others merely offered speeches and rhetoric," said Rich Tafel, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. "With Scott Evertz and Joe O'Neill, we have two of the best qualified people in the nation on the President's team. (Jeremiah 5:9)

Timeline Of The Bush Administration On Gay Policy
Log Cabin Republicans -- Sodomite Publication

Supreme Court to Decide Enemy Combatant's Detention
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said on Friday it would decide whether a U.S. citizen seized abroad and branded an "enemy combatant" can be kept in a military jail in this country, a test case for President Bush's war on terror. The high court said it would hear an appeal by Yaser Esam Hamdi challenging whether U.S. officials have the power to detain him indefinitely in a Navy jail in Charleston, South Carolina, after his capture in Afghanistan in 2001.

Bush Plans Missions to the Moon, Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- President Bush is planning a permanent science base for astronauts on the moon that could serve as a steppingstone for sending humans ultimately on to Mars, according to senior administration officials. The president wants to aggressively reinvigorate the space program, still reeling from the Columbia tragedy nearly one year ago, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Wife of Ex-Enron CFO Will Go to Trial
HOUSTON - A judge said Friday that the wife of former Enron finance chief Andrew Fastow would go to trial as planned after a noon deadline for her to accept the judge's conditions on a plea deal passed with no word from her attorneys.

U.S. Copter Goes Down in Iraq, Killing 9

U.S. Copter Goes Down in Iraq, Killing 9
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A U.S. Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed Thursday near a stronghold of the anti-American insurgency, killing all nine soldiers aboard, the U.S. military said. Also Thursday, a U.S. soldier died of injuries suffered in a mortar attack a day earlier that wounded 33 other troops and a civilian west of Baghdad.

Judge Lets Military Resume Anthrax Vaccinations
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge issued an order Wednesday that would allow the military to resume anthrax vaccinations, the Justice Department said. U.S. District Judge Emmit Sullivan issued his decision from the bench, according to department spokesman Charles Miller. Sullivan had stopped the vaccinations on Dec. 22, ruling military personnel should not be used as "guinea pigs for experimental drugs." The Pentagon has not said whether it will resume the vaccinations.

Firms With Ties to U.S. Officials
Win Iraq Construction Contracts
WASHINGTON - A partnership of giant companies with ties to U.S. officials has been awarded a $1.8 billion Iraq reconstruction contract, the government said Tuesday. The Bush administration also announced plans to open bidding on an additional $5 billion in Iraq reconstruction work.

Bush Camp Rejects Iraq Cronyism Charges
The Bush administration today rebutted criticism of its decision to award a second, $1.8bn (£990m) contract for Iraqi reconstruction to Bechtel, the construction company giant that has close ties to Republican officials, and its partner, Parsons Corp. Bechtel executives gave thousands of dollars to President George Bush's 2000 election campaign and two of the company's top executives serve on advisory boards to the White House and the defence department.

Bush Amnesty Plan Raises Immigration Concerns
The massive new immigration initiative unveiled by the White House has Democrats and ethnic identity organizations accusing Republicans of election-year pandering, and has the Republican base wondering whether George W. Bush and the Republican Party has sold them out.

Americans Oppose Increase in Immigration
Most Americans adamantly oppose both increasing the amount of legal immigration to the United States and legalizing those immigrants now here illegally, the two key elements in President Bush's immigration overhaul proposal. On no other foreign policy issue do average Americans disagree more with government and business leaders and other "elites" than on immigration.

US Provides $100m for Education Reforms in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD -- US Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powel on Wednesday said that United States was very supportive to the Pakistan’s education sector and was providing 100 million US dollars for the education reforms. Under this three-year USAID funded program, 250 teachers will get training in United States in three major areas of Mathematics, Science and English. The first two groups comprising 52 people will depart on January 14 and January 16 this month.

Nuclear Experts Scour Cities For
'Dirty' Bombs, Other Terrorist Weapons
WASHINGTON -- Two days before New Year's Eve, Energy Department nuclear experts detected radiation coming from a storage rental building near downtown Las Vegas. The White House was called. FBI agents secured the site. Scientists sent a robot into the building, and it retrieved a duffel bag with a stainless steel capsule of radium used for treating cancer. The homeless man who provided them with a key to the storage site said he'd found the capsule a few years earlier. Officials breathed easier.

Dean makes a mess of his Job
After hearing Dr Dean's observation, beginning with 'If you know much about the Bible - which I do', a reporter asked about his favourite New Testament book. Dr Dean named Job, adding, 'But I don't like the way it ends... in some of the books of the New Testament; the ending of the Book of Job is different... There's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later'. The candidate returned an hour later to confess error: Job was in the Old Testament, not the New.

Federal Judges Uphold Texas Redistricting Plan
AUSTIN -- After twice leaving the state to stop a Republican-led redistricting effort, Democrats are once again looking beyond the borders of Texas to defeat the map -- this time to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. A three-judge federal panel on Tuesday upheld the map that could put up to six additional Republicans in Congress, but Democrats say they'll appeal to the high court.

Bush Seeks Legal Status for Millions of Illegal Aliens

Bush Seeks New Rights for Foreign Workers
WASHINGTON - Millions of illegal migrant farmers, hotel maids and others working in the shadows of American society would be granted legal status and freed from the threat of deportation under an election-year proposal President Bush wants Congress to approve. Bush called Mexican President Vicente Fox to brief him Wednesday morning in advance of Bush's speech later in the day at the White House.

One Christian’s Case Against John Ashcroft
I make semi-regular visits to the local federal prison (Cumberland, Maryland) to see a friend who is incarcerated there. As the other visitors and I wait in the prison camp lobby, we are greeted by pictures of President George Bush, the head of federal prisons, and U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft. The picture is airbrushed (or at least has hidden the prominent moles on Ashcroft’s face), which is a fitting thing, I believe, as it also serves as a metaphor for describing the current state of federal government justice: airbrushed on the outside, but the inside is thoroughly rotten and hideous to see in the full light of real justice.

U.S. Accused of killing Iraqi Couple
FALLUJAH, Iraq -- U.S. troops shelled a house after coming under fire in this hotbed of the anti-American insurgency, killing an Iraqi couple, witnesses said Wednesday. No immediate comment was made by the U.S. military, despite telephone calls and e-mail messages to troops based in the restive town of Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad.

Iraqi Soldiers March on Central Bank,
Four Shot In Iraqi Protest Over Pay
BASRA, Iraq -- Iraqi police have opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing protesters in the southern city of Basra. Shots rang out after former Iraqi soldiers marched on the Central Bank, demanding monthly stipends promised them by the U.S.-led coalition. Reporters say at least four people were shot.

America's 'Parallel Worlds'
Americans Deeply Split Over Politics
Americans are as deeply divided over party, ideology and values as they are over the legitimacy of the presidency of George W. Bush, a new poll shows. The splits are so profound that Mr. Bush and his Democrat challenger might as well be campaigning in two different, but parallel, worlds, said John Zogby, who conducted the survey for the O'Leary Report, published by political analyst Bradley S. O'Leary.

Dumb and Dumber...
Two years ago this week, President Bush's much heralded "No Child Left Behind" law went into effect. To mark the anniversary Mr. Bush has been busy visiting schools around the country defending this misguided plan against those who point out this scheme has done nothing but: Cause the federal education budget to soar to unprecedented proportions, Encourage teachers and administrators to lie and cheat to show gains in classroom achievement and now, it seems, Has resulted in lowering achievement among the brightest and the best- the talented and gifted kids.

Bush Campaign Has $99 Million in the Bank
WASHINGTON - President Bush heads into his re-election year with $99 million in the bank and plans to have millions more ready when a Democratic challenger emerges from the primaries, his campaign said Wednesday.

Bush on track to make history by forgoing veto power
WASHINGTON -- Aided by a Republican-controlled Congress, President Bush is on track to become the first chief executive since John Quincy Adams in the 1820s to complete a full term without vetoing one bill. He has, however, made frequent use of the veto threat, and so far that's been enough to get what he wants.

U.S. Reporters to Defy Order to Disclose Sources
WASHINGTON -- Amid concerns that journalists' rights may be under attack, the first of three reporters from major U.S. media outlets will defy on Wednesday an order by a federal judge to disclose their sources in an unfounded espionage case, their lawyers said.

Sources: Enron's Fastows in Plea Bargain Talks
WASHINGTON -- Andrew Fastow, former chief financial officer at bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp., and his wife, Lea, are negotiating plea bargains, but no deal has been signed, sources close to the talks told Reuters on Wednesday.

U.S. Army Buys $30 Million in Anthrax Shots

U.S. Army Buys $30 Million in Anthrax Shots
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Defense Department announced on Friday a $29.7 million order for anthrax vaccine based on the assumption that a federal judge's ban on mandatory inoculations will be reversed. Privately held BioPort Corp. of Lansing, Michigan, was awarded the Army order on Wednesday as part of a $245.6 million contract, the Pentagon said. The move demonstrates confidence "we will resume the anthrax vaccination program as it existed before the judge's order," said Bryan Whitman, a Defense Department spokesman. On Dec. 22 U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan barred the Pentagon from "inoculating service members without their consent."

Army Trying to Keep Troops From Leaving
WASHINGTON - About 7,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan who were planning to retire or otherwise leave the service in the next few months are getting new marching orders: Stay put. The Army is expanding what it calls a "stop loss" order to keep soldiers in uniform - even those who have met their contractual service obligation or are scheduled to retire - during a rotation of tens of thousands of troops that begins this month and is scheduled to finish in May.

Army Stops Many Soldiers From Quitting
To the Pentagon, stop-loss orders are a finger in the dike -- a tool to halt the hemorrhage of personnel, and maximize cohesion and experience, for units in the field in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Bush Begins 2004 With Massive Militarization of America
The new year began in the US under conditions of an unparalleled mobilization of police, army and federal law enforcement agents in major urban centers. Alleging a heightened threat of terrorist attacks and operating under the Department of Homeland Security’s “Orange Alert,” the Bush administration undertook measures such as were never seen during the Second World War or at the height of the Cold War.

How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech
When President Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up "free speech zones" or "protest zones," where people opposed to Bush policies (and sometimes sign-carrying supporters) are quarantined. These zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event.

Return of the Great Social Security Giveaway
Last year around this time I wrote about a serious threat to Social Security that was moving ever-closer--a threat so great that it could truly break the bank of our already dangerously fragile Social Security system. The threat is the ongoing "totalization" negotiations between the US and Mexican governments. An agreement on "totalization" would make hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens eligible for American Social Security. Press reports just last month reminded us that these talks are continuing and will likely be completed this year.

'Cannibal' Downloaded Torture and Gay Porn
Kassel, Germany - Investigators found hundreds of violent and pornographic images on the computer of a German information technology expert who confessed to killing a man and eating his flesh, an official testified at his murder trial on Monday. "We checked a total of more than 2 000 data files," Volker Kegel, an officer with Hessen state criminal authorities told the state court in Kassel. The images found, he said, ranged from homosexual pornography to torture.

Medical Consequences Of What Homosexuals Do
Throughout history, all civilized societies have condemned homosexuality. Until 1961 homosexual acts were illegal throughout America.

Bush's Sodomite White House
President Bush Expands Aids Policy Team
Evertz to Coordinate U.S. Role on Global Fund Board;
O'Neill Moving Into National Policy Office
Log Cabin Republicans -- Sodomite Publication
WASHINGTON -- Following up on his commitment to a two-front war on the AIDS epidemic -- both at home and abroad -- President Bush is expected to appoint his director of national AIDS policy to coordinate U.S. policy on the international Global Fund to fight AIDS and infectious diseases, and Dr. Joe O'Neill to head up the Office of National AIDS Policy. The move would add another openly gay Bush Administration appointee on the administration's AIDS policy team, and adds manpower in the fight against the epidemic at home and abroad. "President Bush continues to lead where others merely offered speeches and rhetoric," said Rich Tafel, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. "With Scott Evertz and Joe O'Neill, we have two of the best qualified people in the nation on the President's team. (Jeremiah 5:9)

Timeline Of The Bush Administration On Gay Policy
Log Cabin Republicans -- Sodomite Publication

Bush Bends to WTO Ruling
In "WTO Dictating U.S. Trade Policy" in our December 1 issue, THE NEW AMERICAN stated that President Bush would likely abide by the World Trade Organization’s edict that his steel tariffs violate WTO rules. Summarizing the real issue, we asked: "Will President Bush continue to kowtow to the demands of internationalist insiders by sacrificing American sovereignty at every opportunity, or will he reassert American independence and move to withdraw the United States from the United Nations, the WTO, the FTAA, and all the other sovereignty-snuffing international organizations we’re entangled with?" And we opined: "If the past is prelude, Mr. Bush, who has a long record of enthusiastic support for the entire modern international system, is unlikely to abandon the WTO."

Get US out! of the United Nations
Get US Out
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FBI wants sources named in CIA agent leak case
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents investigating the leaking of a CIA agent's identity to the press have asked members of the Bush administration to waive confidentiality agreements with reporters, Time magazine reports. The requests, if signed, would give investigators new ammunition for questioning reporters who so far have kept mum about the case, Time said.

White House won't say whether staffers will be asked
to nullify confidentiality agreements with reporters
ST. LOUIS -- President Bush wants his staff to cooperate with investigators trying to find out whether a Bush administration official leaked a CIA operative's name, but the White House won't say whether he'll ask staffers to release reporters from confidentiality agreements. Signing such confidentiality waiver forms could persuade reporters to disclose their confidential sources. That might help investigators find out if a Bush administration official leaked the name of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA officer, to syndicated columnist Robert Novak in July.

He who hesitates
He who hesitates, they say, is lost. Or, in politics, he who hesitates may be on the verge of finding something unpleasant. Attorney General John Ashcroft has been promising for months to find out who leaked the name of a CIA officer to a sympathetic columnist, which is a felony, and whether they did so simply to get back at a career foreign service officer who happened to be critical of the Bush administration and, also, happened to be married to said CIA officer.

Possible Martha Stewart jurors head to court Tuesday
NEW YORK -- Potential jurors in the upcoming trial of Martha Stewart will gather at a Manhattan courthouse Tuesday to fill out questionnaires to help lawyers decide which of them will hear the case. Lawyers for the government and the indicted homemaking maven will spend two weeks poring over the questionnaires, then convene in court Jan. 20 to interview some of the jurors in person.

ACLU sues NJ over voting rights for ex-cons
NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union and several minority advocates sued the state Tuesday, seeking to allow ex-convicts to vote while they are on probation or parole.

Euro Posts New All-Time High Against Dollar
FRANKFURT, Germany -- The euro pushed to a new high against the dollar Tuesday, rising above US$1.27 for the first time in a continuing rally paced by concerns about the U.S. budget and trade deficits. Europe's 12-nation currency bought about US$1.2708 in morning European trading, spiking as high as US$1.2725. On Monday, the euro peaked at US$1.2681.

Authorities Investigate 'Soft Money' Ties to GOP Leader

Authorities Investigate 'Soft Money' Ties to GOP Leader
AUSTIN, Texas — Authorities are conducting a criminal investigation into whether corporate money, including hundreds of thousands of dollars linked to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, improperly financed the Republican Party's takeover of the Texas Capitol. The probe is focused on several political and fund-raising organizations run by Republican activists, investigators said. One organization, the political-action committee Texans for a Republican Majority, has direct ties to DeLay, a Texas Republican and one of Washington's most powerful politicians.

Ex-Marine Who Nixed Anthrax Shot Seeks Upgrade
TWENTYNINE PALMS - It wasn't too long ago that Kevin Lotz envisioned himself as a lifelong Marine. Today, he'd be happy with a honorable discharge. Lotz, formerly a machine-gunner at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, was booted out in October with a bad-conduct discharge for refusing the anthrax vaccine.

Gutless coward in the White House places women in harm's way
Female Troops Play Bigger Role Than Ever in Iraq
WASHINGTON -- Female U.S. troops in Iraq have killed Iraqis with bombs and bullets. They've won medals for valor and Purple Hearts for combat wounds. They've been captured as prisoners of war, killed by enemy fire and buried as heroes in Arlington National Cemetery. U.S. women have participated more in combat in Iraq than in any war in U.S. history. They've taken roles that were nearly inconceivable just a decade or two ago -- flying fighter jets and attack helicopters, patrolling streets armed with machine guns and commanding units of mostly male soldiers. Seven have been killed in combat. Yet all this has gone without much comment in Washington, despite the attention given to rescued POWs Shoshana Johnson and Jessica Lynch. Six female soldiers have died in Iraq since October: Pfc. Analaura Esparza Gutierrez, Pfc. Rachel Bosveld, Pfc. Karina Lau, Spc. Frances Vega, Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth and Staff Sgt. Kimberly Voelz.

The Church Must Oppose the Sin of Women at War
Vision Forum Ministries presents a forum of scholars, theologians, and journalists in opposition to the idea that a free people can survive while sending mothers and daughters to war.

“Why Christians Should Not Vote for George W. Bush”
George W. Bush professes to be a Christian, goes to church, makes references to Bible verses, and says, “God bless America,” but so did Bill Clinton, so this alone cannot be sufficient to win our vote. Like Clinton, George Bush’s fruit was evident to all with eyes to see during his campaign against Gore. Many Christians were undoubtedly innocently ignorant of George W. Bush’s liberal tendencies and so easily susceptible to his conservative rhetoric, but far too many were willfully blind to his bad fruit.

Jesus is a Democrat, claims Dean as he woos Bush faithful
In a striking shift in strategy on the stump, Democrat presidential candidates are attempting to enlist God on their side to counter President George W Bush's overwhelming popularity among religious voters. Howard Dean, the Democratic frontrunner, is the latest to try the tactic. Despite previously sticking to his pledge to keep "God and guns" out of politics, he all but recruited Jesus Christ as a liberal Democrat in an interview over the Christmas period.

Pat Robertson: God told him it's Bush in a 'Blowout'
NORFOLK, Va. -- Pat Robertson said Friday that God told him President Bush will be re-elected in a landslide. "I think George Bush is going to win in a walk," the religious broadcaster said on his "700 Club" program on the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network, which he founded. "I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004. It's shaping up that way," Robertson said. "I predict that Pat Robertson in 2004 will continue to use his multimillion broadcasting empire to promote George Bush and other Republican candidates," Lynn said in a statement. "Maybe Pat got a message from (Bush political adviser) Karl Rove and thought it was from God."

Faking the Voice of the People
WASHINGTON – What happens when the voice of the people gets as fake as a television laugh track? That's what's happening to the "letters to the editor" column in scores of newspapers today, thanks to a tactic known as "AstroTurf." Borrowing a trick from lobbyists, interest groups are using phony grass roots letter writing campaigns to puff up their support. This week, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was caught distributing a form letter praising President Bush that ended up printed, often verbatim, in nearly 75 papers, according to "Fight Back Against Killer Astroturf," one of the many Internet "blogs" tracking this story.

Flashback
Bush Promoting Homosexual Agenda: Do Conservatives Care?
Christian conservatives regard President George W. Bush as a committed Christian and staunch conservative. This is very perplexing as Bush's track record on numerous key conservative issues is less than stellar, to put it mildly. For example, when one looks at Bush's record regarding favored treatment for the homosexual agenda, he discovers that Bush is every bit the pro-homosexual president that Bill Clinton was. Maybe more so.

Politics And Pews
While both parties seek religious voters, the messages and methods are very different. Democrats often speak in churches and usually talk about policy issues. Republicans almost never speak in churches, but often make faith and values central to their campaigns.

Good Intentions
Since the twin towers fell and our troops were sent overseas to do battle with the “enemies of freedom”, a new “Christian conservative patriotism” has emerged into the mainstream. Though it is indeed encouraging to see liberals largely on the sidelines these days, I find many of the emotionally-charged events choreographed into photo ops and crowd-pleasing rhetoric, a lot like the new spirituality behind the purpose driven, seeker-sensitive, church growth movement that is currently sweeping the country – an inch deep and a mile wide – powered by pragmatism, pleasure and pride, with a mesmerized following that will cheer and support, right or wrong, biblical or not, almost anything implemented by its leaders, merely because it has been labeled “Christian”, “conservative” and/or “patriotic”.

Cheney remains a force behind Bush
Dick Cheney has worked behind a veil of secrecy to become one of the most powerful U.S. vice presidents, regarded as a driving force behind the Iraq war and the Bush administration's industry-friendly energy policy.

Covert Catholics?: Group keeps a low
profile but commands high influence
Opus Dei's policy is to not disclose who is or isn't a member. But officials say that if public figures belonged to the group, surely that would be known in a culture where the lives of the famous are open secrets. The movement's critics — and some of the most vocal are Catholics — don't buy that argument. They claim a pledge of secrecy is written into the rules of the group, which some see as an underground conspiracy aimed at capturing power in the church by stealthily boring from within. Allegiances Shift Among Religious Voting Blocs
The increasing influence of religion in American life is widely expected to shake up the 2004 presidential contest, realigning some traditional voting blocs in ways that might surprise both major parties, political pollsters and experts say. Some Jewish and Muslim voters appear to be abandoning their past party affiliations and fewer evangelical Christians may go to the polls, adding to the volatility of the race.

11 Detained Over Christmas Prayer Meetings in Laos
Eleven Christians have been arrested for holding religious services on Christmas day in the southern Laotian province of Attapeu, a Paris-based exile group claims. The Lao Movement for Human Rights (LMHR) say they were arrested on December 27 and 28 according to "reliable informations".

Indonesia Asks US to Deport Escaped Christian
JAKARTA -- Indonesia has asked the United States to find and deport convicted Christian separatist leader Alex Manuputty, the foreign ministry said on Friday. “We have expressed to the US our concern over the whereabouts of Alex Manuputty and our request for him to be deported to Indonesia,” said spokesman Marty Natalegawa.