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Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Global warming puts 12 US parks at risk

ABC News
Global warming puts 12 US parks at risk: report
Reuters

WASHINGTON - Global warming puts 12 of the most famous U.S. national parks at risk, environmentalists said on Tuesday, conjuring up visions of Glacier National Park without glaciers and Yellowstone Park without grizzly bears.

All 12 parks are located in the American West, where temperatures have risen twice as fast as in the rest of the United States over the last 50 years, said Theo Spencer of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Rising temperatures, drought, wildfires and diminished snowfalls endanger wildlife and threaten hiking, fishing and other recreational activities" in the parks, Spencer said in a telephone news conference. "Imagine Glacier Park without glaciers or Yellowstone without any grizzly bears."

Most climate scientists believe Earth's surface temperature has risen over the last century or more, spurred by human activities that produce greenhouse gases, which trap heat like the glass walls of a greenhouse. Some skeptics doubt that people affect global climate change and say temperature fluctuations have occurred throughout history.

The report released by the council and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization stressed the connection between global warming and environmental damage at the parks, including the loss of specific wildlife, and called on the U.S. government to cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly in 10 years.

The report blamed global warming for threatening grizzly bears, an iconic species in Yellowstone Park.

BEETLES AND BEARS

The bears feed on whitebark pine seeds, but global warming has encouraged beetles to infest whitebark trees that grow at high altitudes where grizzlies feed; cold weather would normally kill the beetles but this has not occurred in recent years, said Janet Barwick of the council's Wild Bears Project.

This in turn forces the bears to move to lower altitudes to look for food to fatten up for the winter, making them more likely to move into areas where there are people and that leads to an increase in grizzly mortality, Barwick said.

Glaciers and ice caves have melted in North Cascades and Mt. Rainier parks, and mountaintops in Western parks could be snow-free in summer within decades, said Stephen Saunders of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization. He said all glaciers in Glacier National Park could be gone within 25 years.

The report said the parks at greatest risk are:

- Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico;

- Death Valley National Park, California;

- Glacier National Park, Montana;

- Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah and Arizona;

- Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California;

- Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming;

- Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado;

- Mount Rainier National Park, Washington state;

- North Cascades National Park, Washington state;

- Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado;

- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho;

- Yosemite National Park, California.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Iraq parliament speaker calls for US withdrawal

Iraq parliament speaker calls for US withdrawal

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani bitterly criticized US forces in Iraq, accusing them of "butchery" and demanded that they pull out of the country.

Mashhadani was speaking at a UN-sponsored conference on transitional justice and reconciliation in Baghdad, and his strongly worded attack appeared to embarrass his international hosts, who grimaced on the podium.

"Just get your hands off Iraq and the Iraqi people and Muslim countries, and everything will be all right," the conservative Sunni Islamist said, in a speech opening the conference.

"What has been done in Iraq is a kind of butchery of the Iraqi people," he said in a long winded speech that criticized the tactics of the coalition forces as well as US support for Israeli strikes against Lebanon.

The two day conference, which was originally supposed to be opened by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, will address the issue of dealing with the crimes of previous Iraqi regimes and a plan to reconcile the country's warring factions.

The prime minister is expected to name a reconciliation committee Saturday.

Mashhadani bluntly told the audience of UN officials, foreign experts, Iraqi politicians and civil society representatives that the Iraqi people had little use for foreign advice on running the country or foreign-sponsored conferences.

"If a reconciliation project is going to work it has to talk to all the people," he said. "It must go through our Iraqi beliefs and perceptions. What we need is reconciliation between Iraqis only, there can be no third party."

To underscore his distaste for US forces in Iraq, he related an anecdote about how US soldiers keep people waiting in lines at checkpoints for hours because they insist on resting their bomb-sniffing dogs.

"The sleep of American dogs is more important than people being stopped in the street for hours," he said, evoking chuckles among Iraqi delegates.

The UN representative who then opened the conference subsequently referred to Mashhadani's speech as "spirited".

Mashhadani is a member of the main Sunni Arab parliamentary bloc, the National Concord Front, which is a member of Maliki's national unity government.

More Troops Headed for Iraq

More Troops Headed for Iraq
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is moving ahead with scheduled troop deployments to Iraq next month as the U.S. military struggles to gain control of the escalating violence in Baghdad, according to a senior defense official.

The decision caps weeks of internal discussions about whether to delay or cancel the deployment of any units, which would have signaled an accelerated withdrawal of U.S. troops. It also underscores the difficulties in quelling the sectarian fighting and reflects remarks by the top U.S. commander in Iraq that he may shift more soldiers into Baghdad.

The military's current sentiment is to keep the status quo in Iraq, rather than moving toward a withdrawal that might be ill-advised considering the violence between the Sunnis and Shiites, the senior defense official said.

As units in Iraq prepare for their scheduled departure, military leaders had considered not sending all of the units that had been planned to replace them. But that idea has been put on hold, at least for now, according to the official.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions about troop decisions were private.

The move comes as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki prepares to make his first official visit to the United States, during which he is expected to talk about the progress being made by his 2-month-old national unity government.

Next week's high-profile visit could refocus Congress' attention on Iraq after a week consumed by the violence in Lebanon and Israel. And it will bring troop levels once again to the forefront in a nation becoming increasingly impatient with the war in Iraq - and a Congress eyeing its potential impact on the November elections with growing unease.

The past week was one of the most violent in Baghdad this year. Bombings and shootings soared by 40 percent, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said. Extremists were preparing "an all-out assault" on the capital in a decisive battle for the future of Iraq, he said.

Thousands more troops have been summoned to the capital to help quell the violence, and the top commander there, Gen. George Casey, said the U.S. would make sure "there are adequate forces available for the Iraqis to succeed in Baghdad."

During a visit to Iraq last week, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said political reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites is as important as the military effort in establishing security in Iraq. And he said it was too early to estimate when overall levels of U.S. forces in Iraq might begin to fall.

Rumsfeld and others have said repeatedly they will make decisions about troop levels based on conditions on the ground, and they have refused to be held to a timeline.

Among the units scheduled to deploy to Iraq later this summer are the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, out of Fort Bragg, N.C., and the 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, out of Fort Drum, N.Y.

There are about 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and military leaders have said they hoped to reduce that to about 100,000 by year's end. U.S. troop levels in Iraq have dropped from a peak of about 160,000 late last fall.

But in a reflection of the increasing violence, one brigade that had been stationed in Kuwait as a reserve force earlier this year is now almost entirely in Iraq, and at least one of its battalions was sent to Baghdad to bolster security.

For a few dollars, anyone can be an Iraqi policeman

For a few dollars, anyone can be an Iraqi policeman
By Nafia Abdel Jabbar and Patrick Fort / AFP

BAGHDAD - A disreputable crew of unshaven men wearing police uniforms pounces on a businessman before the horrified eyes of his wife as he leaves his home in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood.

Luckily for the hapless commuter, two crisply dressed "heroes" show up, swiftly disarm the attackers and derisively tear off their fake "Iraqi Police" armbands.

Welcome to the world of state-owned television's public service announcements.

Outside in the real streets, however, the heroes don't always arrive and survivors of incident after bloody incident report being attacked by gunmen wearing apparently official security uniforms -- with total impunity.

The attacks have reached such a level that the interior ministry this week issued phone numbers for its operations room so people can call to confirm the identities of gunmen in uniform.

"The ministry asked citizens to prevent such criminals from carrying out their dirty intentions by using the name of a force which works hard to serve the people," the ministry statement said.

Many Sunnis have accused the country's Shiite-dominated security forces of involvement in attacks and kidnappings, but would-be gunmen don't have to look far to find security uniforms.

"Iraqi army, police, ministry of interior, US army -- choose! We have all the uniforms," said one salesmen in Baghdad's downtown Tahrir Square.

With shirts available for 3.25 dollars (2.55 euros), pants at 5.50 dollars and an "IP" armband for one dollar, a hypothetical kidnapper would only have to spend 10 dollars for his disguise.

For those looking to add flair to the outfit, unit insignia and ranks range from 15 cents to a dollar. Genuine medals can even be bought at stores in the major hotels.

"I regret that military clothing can be found freely sold in the market or be imported," said Major General Abdel Aziz Mohammed in a briefing this week.

"We will import new uniforms that will be distributed to our units that no one will be able to obtain otherwise, and will be difficult to imitate," he said, repeating the oft-heard promise of new uniforms.

At the start of a month-old Baghdad security operation, the government also said that police and military units would wear new outfits that would be hard to imitate. They have yet to appear.

There is debate over whether the new outfits will even solve the problem. Merchants selling military garb point out that while some uniforms are counterfeit, most are the real deal -- obtained from soldiers and police themselves.

"It's members of the different units that sell their uniforms," said one salesman.

A major from the interior ministry walking through the market explained to AFP that he had come here to sell his new uniform and buy an old one.

The officer said he could make a little profit of between 20 and 30 dollars a uniform -- but still show superiors that his unit has the correct number of uniforms.

Salaries for soldiers and police range from 250 to 400 dollars per month, depending on rank, with soldiers making more than police in a country where prices always seem to be rising.

"We buy new uniforms for between 20 and 25 dollars and then resell them for 40 dollars, with the price depending on the state of the uniform. The price can go down," the salesman said.

On one occasion a member of the army sold 60 uniforms at once, but then the next day there was an operation. "They wanted them back. As a rule, we store the uniforms elsewhere," added the seller.

The true prizes in the market for military clothing are the rare US uniforms sold by the local interpreters working with the US army. These cost more than Iraqi uniforms, at around 70 dollars each.

The boots are particularly valued and cost 70 dollars a pair.

"The American boots are the best. Inimitable!" the salesman said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7613

Stem Cell Work Gets States’ Aid After Bush Veto

The New York Times
Stem Cell Work Gets States’ Aid After Bush Veto
By JODI RUDOREN

CHICAGO, July 24 — President Bush’s veto of legislation to expand federally financed embryonic stem cell research has had the unintended consequence of drawing state money into the contentious field and has highlighted the issue in election campaigns across the country.

Two governors seized the political moment Thursday, the day after the veto, to raise their ante for stem cell research.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, a Republican who helped Mr. Bush win a second term but has long disagreed with him on this research, cited the veto as he lent $150 million from the state’s general fund to pay for grants to stem cell scientists. In Illinois, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, a Democrat opposed to most every White House initiative, offered $5 million for similar grants in his state.

Before the announcements, the only money available was $72 million that five states had allocated for the research and $90 million that the National Institutes of Health had provided since 2001 for work on a restricted number of stem cell lines.

Several other governors, including one Republican, M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut, denounced the president’s veto, his first, in a sign of the political potency of the stem cell debate.

Within hours, too, the issue sprang to the forefront of some crucial campaigns, including ones for governor, senator and representative in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri and Tennessee.

In many cases, Republican moderates, mindful of consistent polls showing public support for expanded stem cell research and expecting the promised attacks from Democrats, sought to distinguish their positions from their president’s.

For Mr. Schwarzenegger, who is running for re-election in a state dominated by Democrats, support for stem cell research has helped position him as a centrist, but his Democratic opponent, Phil Angelides, the state treasurer, tried to one-up him by taking credit for the loan.

Sean Tipton, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, the lead lobbyist for the bill Mr. Bush vetoed, said, “In terms of actually getting some resources to the scientists, it turns out like it may be a good week.”

“I also think there’s symbolic significance,” Mr. Tipton said. “It sends a strong signal to patients that there are some politicians that care about them and want to see them taken care of.”

Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, said of the president, “While he recognizes that states have the legal power to use their own funds for embryonic stem cell research, he hopes researchers and entrepreneurs will focus on developing effective cures,” including those “that don’t involve controversial practices.”

Douglas Johnson of the National Right to Life Committee dismissed the initiatives in Illinois and California as a “public relations gimmick” to divert attention from a debate over whether scientists should be allowed to create embryos through cloning.

“It’s regrettable,” Mr. Johnson said, “but it’s really a matter of their trying to focus public attention on an issue that is significant but is not really the front line of this battle.”

In Florida, stem cell research is a rare point of contention between two Republicans vying to succeed the president’s brother Jeb as governor. But when one of them, Attorney General Charlie Crist, announced that he “respectfully” disagreed with the veto, his rival Tom Gallagher, the chief financial officer, accused Mr. Crist of taking “every opportunity to disagree with the governor and the mainstream of the party.”

Meanwhile, Rod Smith, the Florida state senator who is the Democratic candidate for governor, promised, “When I become governor, we are absolutely going to do stem cell research and we are going to fund it in this state.”

In Maryland, Democratic hopefuls in the governor’s race responded to the veto with visits to the homes of quadriplegics and patients with Parkinson’s disease who could benefit from stem cell research, while the Republican incumbent, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., pointed to his support of the research as evidence that he did not “govern from the right or the left but the center, where most of us are.”

In Colorado, Representative Diana DeGette, a Democrat and a sponsor of the vetoed legislation, staged a protest rally on Friday when the president visited her district for a $1,000-a-plate luncheon on behalf of Rick O’Donnell, a Republican who supports his position.

Nowhere is the issue hotter than in Missouri, where voters in November are likely to face a ballot initiative supporting stem cell research, and where Senator Jim Talent, a Republican who is seeking re-election, opposes it. Mr. Talent’s Democratic challenger, Claire McCaskill, the state auditor, highlighted the issue last week when she delivered the Democrats’ radio address and then initiated a conference call with national reporters to spotlight her support.

The moves in California and Illinois continue the patchwork pattern of public financing for stem cell research since 2001, when Mr. Bush announced his policy restricting how federal money could be used in the arena.

More than 100 bills have been considered over the past two years by dozens of state legislatures, with one, South Dakota’s, banning such research altogether and five — in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey — allocating state resources to the effort. Other states, including Indiana, Massachusetts, Virginia and Wisconsin, have taken steps to support stem cell science without directly paying for research, while Arizona, North Carolina and Virginia have formed groups to study their state’s role in the emerging field.

Mr. Schwarzenegger’s announcement on Thursday of the $150 million loan will provide the single largest public pot yet available.

“I think with one stroke, the president energized” the program, said Zach W. Hall, the president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which had an anemic $14 million to spread among 16 training grants before the veto, and which will soon be flush. “It’s not what we would have wanted, but it did have that beneficent side effect.”

For California, the $150 million is half the $300 million per year that would be provided under a decade-long, $3 billion bond issue that 59 percent of voters approved in 2004. Taxpayer groups sued to block the bonds and appealed a verdict in May that favored the state. At the same time, “bond anticipation notes” floated in the interim found little favor in the market. The $150 million loan is intended to fill that shortfall and would be repaid by bond proceeds, presuming the state prevails in court.

“Arnold is supposed to be a Republican, so I don’t understand his thinking here with President Bush. It seems like he’s going against the party line,” said Dana Cody, executive director of the Life Legal Defense Foundation, one of the groups suing the state. “It’s very inconsistent with the governor’s platform, if you will, of ‘we’re tired of being taxed.’ That’s $150 million coming out of the taxpayers’ pocket for something that is questionable at best because of the litigation.”

Asked at a news conference in Sacramento on Friday about the political implications of making such a forceful public move to oppose the president he has previously supported, Mr. Schwarzenegger said, “You don’t have to agree with someone on every issue.”

“It doesn’t matter to me what the president thinks about it, or what any party thinks about it,” the governor added. “I always try to do what’s best for the people of California.”

In Illinois, the $5 million would come out of the administrative budget in the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, and would be added to $10 million in grants awarded in April to hospitals and universities. A five-year, $100 million investment that Mr. Blagojevich pushed has been stalled in the Legislature.

Mr. Blagojevich, who was vacationing in Michigan when the new money was announced via a news release, declined an interview request, through a spokeswoman, Abby Ottenhoff.

“It was after the veto that the governor determined there were no more options,” Ms. Ottenhoff said. “This research is too important to put on hold until there is a new leader in the White House.”

Even with the limitations on federal financing, the overall financing available for stem cell research could be described as fairly robust, given that the research is still at a basic stage and that in addition to state money, philanthropies like the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have made contributions. Moreover, in the private sector, biotech companies like Geron, Advanced Cell Technology and Athersys conduct research on embryonic or adult stem cells.

While stem cell scientists applauded the states’ efforts, they cautioned that such an approach was not ideal.

“In the long term, I don’t think it’s a good idea to have individual states trying to mount efforts which are going to be more piecemeal, less effective and take more time than a federal effort,” said Douglas A. Melton, co-director of the Stem Cell Institute at Harvard University. “I don’t think states should mount their own militias either.”

Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, director of the Institute for Regeneration Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the $150 million was “absolutely a boon,” but that “if you’re an investigator in another state, besides Illinois or California, I think you’d be very frustrated right now.”

Candace Coffee, a Los Angeles resident who has suffered partial blindness, paralysis and constant headaches from Devic’s disease, appeared with Governor Schwarzenegger on Friday at his news conference.

“President Bush’s veto stole my hope,” Ms. Coffee said. “But just as quickly as our hope was stolen, it was renewed.”

"Deserter" Pushes the Envelope

Huffington Post
Peter Laufer
"Deserter" Pushes the Envelope

I've got breaking news to report about a U.S. soldier who deserted to Canada rather than be redeployed to fight in Iraq. Darrell Anderson is his name, I first met him last year while researching my book about U.S. soldiers rejecting the mission in Iraq. And he's not just any soldier. This veteran of the gruesome street fighting in Iraq came home with a Purple Heart, awarded for his injuries in gruesome George Bush's war of choice.

I've written about Darrell here at Huffington Post before, and passed along his stories of the how the war is decimating Iraqi civilians.

Darrell has been engaged in a political battle up in Canada, trying to convince the government there to grant him refugee status. But when I spoke with him the other day he told me he's realized his fight is not with the Canadian government, but with the Bush Administration. So he had another life-changing epiphany; he's had second thoughts about his exile up north. Not that he's worried much about deportation: He married a Canadian woman since I saw him, a romantic decision that probably will guarantee him permanent residency.

Here's what's happened. Darrell has decided to return to the U.S. He expects to be arrested when he presents himself to authorities at the border.

"The war's still going on," he told me. "If I go back, maybe I can still make a difference. My fight is with the American government."

It's not only anti-war work that's motivating Darrell to go home, he's thinking about his future. "Dealing with all the nightmares and the Post Traumatic Stress, I need support from my family." And he's not worried about those who question his courage because he deserted. "I've been to Iraq and now I'm going to go to jail. I've proved to myself and to anybody who doubts me that I'm not a coward."

He hopes his surrender stimulates the anti-war movement in the United States.

Darrell expects to be convicted of desertion and he says he'll use his trial and prison time to continue to protest the war; he imagines just the sight of him in a dress uniform covered with the medals he was awarded fighting in Iraq will make a powerful statement.

"I can't work every day and act like everything is okay," he says about his life in Toronto. "This war is beating me down. I haven't had a dream that wasn't a nightmare since I came to Canada. It eats away at me to try and act like everything's okay when everything's not. I can't live with myself living in Canada like everything's okay when I know innocent Iraqi children are dying everyday, and innocent Americans are going to Iraq and they're getting messed up in the head and committing atrocities. They shouldn't be going to jail, they're not the ones who wanted to go to Iraq and kill people, that's what they were trained to do."

Not that Darrell feels his time in Canada was a waste.

"There was no way I could have gone to prison at the time, I would have killed myself. I was way too messed up in the head to even think of sitting in a prison cell. I owe a lot to Canada. They saved my life. When I came back and was talking about the war, Americans were calling me a traitor. Canadians were the people who helped me when I was at my lowest point after the war."

Imagine the strength of character, the resolve, the courage that it takes for soldiers such as Darrell Anderson to stand up and repeat the refrain made famous by their Vietnam War compatriots, "Hell no, I won't go!" He and the other soldiers opposed to the war deserve our support for their heroic stand against the machine.

Bush spokesman Snow apologizes for stem cell remark

Reuters
Bush spokesman Snow apologizes for stem cell remark

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tony Snow, President George W. Bush's chief spokesman, apologized on Monday for saying Bush believed embryonic stem cell research amounted to "murder," saying he had overstated the president's position.

Snow, a former radio talk show host who took over as press secretary in May, created a bit of a stir in defending Bush's veto last Wednesday of legislation that would have expanded embryonic stem cell research.

"The president believes strongly that for the purpose of research it's inappropriate for the federal government to finance something that many people consider murder. He's one of them," Snow had said.

Asked about that comment on Monday, Snow told reporters: "I overstepped my brief there" and said he was sorry the remark became a subject for White House chief of staff Josh Bolten in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

"I feel bad about it," Snow said.

Bush himself said, in casting the veto, the legislation "crosses a moral boundary."

Asked if Bush considered it murder, Snow said: "He would not use that term."

Specter prepping bill to sue Bush

USA TODAY
Specter prepping bill to sue Bush

WASHINGTON (AP) — A powerful Republican committee chairman who has led the fight against President Bush's signing statements said Monday he would have a bill ready by the end of the week allowing Congress to sue him in federal court.

"We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president's acts declared unconstitutional," Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said on the Senate floor.

Specter's announcement came the same day that an American Bar Association task force concluded that by attaching conditions to legislation, the president has sidestepped his constitutional duty to either sign a bill, veto it, or take no action.

Bush has issued at least 750 signing statements during his presidency, reserving the right to revise, interpret or disregard laws on national security and constitutional grounds.

"That non-veto hamstrings Congress because Congress cannot respond to a signing statement," said ABA president Michael Greco. The practice, he added "is harming the separation of powers."

Bush has challenged about 750 statutes passed by Congress, according to numbers compiled by Specter's committee. The ABA estimated Bush has issued signing statements on more than 800 statutes, more than all other presidents combined.

Signing statements have been used by presidents, typically for such purposes as instructing agencies how to execute new laws.

But many of Bush's signing statements serve notice that he believes parts of bills he is signing are unconstitutional or might violate national security.

Still, the White House said signing statements are not intended to allow the administration to ignore the law.

"A great many of those signing statements may have little statements about questions about constitutionality," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "It never says, 'We're not going to enact the law.'"

Specter's announcement intensifies his challenge of the administration's use of executive power on a number of policy matters. Of particular interest to him are two signing statements challenging the provisions of the USA Patriot Act renewal, which he wrote, and legislation banning the use of torture on detainees.

Bush is not without congressional allies on the matter. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a former judge, has said that signing statements are nothing more than expressions of presidential opinion that carry no legal weight because federal courts are unlikely to consider them when deciding cases that challenge the same laws.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-24-lawyers-bush_x.htm?csp=34

Monday, July 24, 2006

Once the 'pro-cure' movement clarifies and penetrates, it will be hard to stand firm against saving the lives of your constituents

Newsweek
It Was the Veto of a Lifetime
Once the 'pro-cure' movement clarifies and penetrates, it will be hard to stand firm against saving the lives of your constituents.
By Jonathan Alter

July 31, 2006 issue - July 19, 2006, was a dark day for anyone who, like me, has experienced life-threatening illness. President Bush's veto of a modest bill that would have merely allowed surplus embryos from fertility clinics to be used for pathbreaking research instead of tossed in the garbage is more than a political blunder. And for those with a friend or relative who is sick—in other words, almost everyone—it is more than an abstraction. By slowing cures for several major diseases, this decision may well doom thousands to die prematurely. It contradicts the whole idea of what it means to be "pro-life."

To get the politics out of the way first: with the veto-override attempt failing, this was a big week for the Democrats, as many GOP consultants have publicly admitted. At least some of the 193 House members and 37 senators who voted against the bill—almost all of them Republicans—may well lose their seats on this issue, if not this November then in 2008 or 2010. Once the "pro-cure" movement clarifies and penetrates, it will be awfully hard to stand firm against saving the lives of your constituents. More immediately, embryonic-stem-cell research splits the GOP down the middle, with many in the party who oppose abortion (like Sens. John McCain, Orrin Hatch and Bill Frist) supporting it.

Because this was Bush's first veto—itself a newsworthy event—he found it harder to ignore the obvious questions: If destroying an embryo is "murder"—the Bush position, according to his spokesman—how can he support the existence of fertility clinics, which routinely throw out thousands of surplus embryos? His answer lay in last week's photo op, where he surrounded himself with cute babies "adopted" from these embryos. How many such "snowflake" babies are there? Despite federal funding and intense outreach, only 128 of 400,000 frozen embryos (.032 percent) have been adopted, says Sen. Arlen Specter. It turns out that couples using the clinics overwhelmingly prefer to donate their surplus embryos to science, while couples looking to adopt prefer babies already born who need homes, a large constituency of extremely needy children Bush seems to have put in second place.

"Anti-cure" activists have been reduced to two arguments for why federal support of embryonic-stem-cell research is unnecessary. The first is that private and state efforts are filling the gap. But the $3 billion California voters approved in 2004 has been tied up in lawsuits; so far, only $12.1 million has been spent. And even when more money is released, much of it will be wasted creating duplicative labs, because no lab that receives federal financing can take part in embryonic-stem-cell research.

The second argument made by opponents is that noncontroversial adult-stem-cell research is so promising that there's no need to mess with embryos. This is contrary to the principle of science, which is that you move ahead with all reasonable approaches because there's no telling what will work. These folks also hoped to confuse voters. In 2004, they did. Politicians could say they supported "stem-cell research" and avoid the fact that they opposed the embryonic part that holds the greatest promise for the most diseases.

Unfortunately, Democrats have been playing politics with people's lives, too. In order to keep opponents from fuzzing up the issue, they've often been slow to support promising new adult-stem-cell advances. GOP Sen. Sam Brownback made a preposterous floor speech last week comparing stem-cell research to destroying bald-eagle eggs. But to his credit, it was Brownback who made sure last year that the Senate, with Bush's support, overwhelmingly approved a bill funding a bank for umbilical-cord blood, an exciting breakthrough that can make transplants safer and more effective for thousands of people suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and a few other diseases.

If Sen. Mike Enzi and other key legislators would accelerate funding, the cord-blood bank can meet the need—and save many lives—in two or three years instead of six or seven. With more than 1,000 clinical trials underway for adult-stem-cell treatments, both parties need to acknowledge that federally funded embryonic research is dead for at least two and a half years and push much harder on the alternatives.

It is now almost five years since Bush's August 2001 stem-cell "compromise," which allowed for work on 60 existing cell lines. When most of those lines turned out to be unworkable or irrelevant to cures for humans, he didn't let the new facts affect him. In that sense, the whole issue is emblematic of what's wrong with the Bush presidency: his inflexibility, obsession with his conservative base, religious arrogance and contempt for scientific consensus. Most of all, last week's decision betrayed his oft-stated belief in the sanctity of life. The question, as in all moral issues, is whose life? I'll choose yours or mine over a piece of protoplasm no larger than the period at the end of this sentence.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13989890/site/newsweek/

Hoping to Leverage the 'Corruption Issue'

Newsweek
Congress: Hoping to Leverage the 'Corruption Issue'

July 31, 2006 issue - The defeat of former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed in a Georgia primary last week has raised Democratic hopes there may be further fallout from the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Reed, once a rising GOP star, lost his race for lieutenant governor after being hammered in campaign ads over his ties to the "convicted felon" Abramoff. Dem strategists are now betting that an anti-Abramoff backlash may prove a factor in three to six races—a potentially significant number, since a 15-seat gain would give them control in the House.

The most vulnerable GOP incumbent is Ohio Rep. Bob Ney, whose former chief of staff recently pleaded guilty in the Abramoff case. (Ney denies wrongdoing.) But others who are now viewed in potential trouble, strategists say, include Reps. J. D. Hayworth of Arizona (who initially neglected to report fund-raisers he held at one of Abramoff's sports skyboxes) and Charles Taylor of North Carolina (who pushed a project for one of Abramoff's Indian tribes shortly after the lobbyist's firm held a fund-raiser for him.)

But GOP operatives say the "corruption issue" could boomerang on the Democrats. Two Democratic incumbents are currently having to answer for their own ethical troubles: Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was caught on tape taking an alleged $100,000 bribe, and Alan Mollohan of West Virginia is the subject of a Justice inquiry into unreported loans and other financial irregularities. All the at-risk congressmen deny any wrongdoing.

—Michael Isikoff

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13990475/site/newsweek/

Iraq carnage continues as PM heads to U.S.

Yahoo! News
Iraq carnage continues as PM heads to U.S.
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

Bombs killed more than 60 people and wounded more than 200 Sunday in Baghdad and the northern oil center of Kirkuk — a dramatic escalation of violence as U.S. and Iraqi forces crack down on Iraq's most feared Shiite militia.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki left Sunday for talks in Washington this week with President Bush to discuss sectarian violence, which has risen sharply since Iraq's national unity government took office two months ago.

A suicide driver detonated a minivan at the entrance to a bustling market in Sadr City, the capital's biggest Shiite district and stronghold of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

At least 34 people were killed and 74 were wounded, the Iraqi army said in a statement. Eight more people died and about 20 were injured when a roadside bomb exploded two hours later at a municipal building in Sadr City about a half mile from the car bombing, the army said.

In Kirkuk, 180 miles to the north, a car bomb detonated at midday near a courthouse. The courthouse is located among a cluster of wooden shops and stalls, many of which burst into flames, engulfing the warren of crowded streets in roiling black smoke.

Twenty people were killed and 159 were wounded, police said. The tally of injured was so high because many people were trampled as panic swept shoppers, police said. Others suffered burns when the initial blast triggered secondary explosions in shops that sold chemicals and flammable liquids, police said.

Scenes at local hospitals were gruesome. Victims young and old lay bleeding on stretchers and gurneys, some of them scarred with horrific burns. Many lay unattended as doctors and nurses scrambled to care for the large number of wounded.

It was the fourth car bombing this month in Kirkuk, the center of Iraq's vast northern oil fields. Tensions have been rising in Kirkuk because the area's Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen all have rival claims to the region.

Also Sunday, the U.S. military announced that an American soldier assigned to the 1st Armored Division was killed the day before in Anbar province, a bastion of the Sunni-dominated insurgency.

The Sadr City car bombing was the second major suicide attack this month in the teeming slum district, where al-Sadr's Mahdi militiamen rule the streets. A July 1 suicide bombing in Sadr City was followed by a wave of reprisal killings of Sunnis.

Many Sunni politicians hold the Mahdi Army responsible for the wave of attacks against Sunnis that followed the Feb. 22 bombing at a Shiite shrine in Samarra. Al-Sadr's aides deny that the militia is doing any more than protecting Shiites from attacks by Sunni extremists including al-Qaida in Iraq.

So feared is the militia among Sunnis that many of them refer to any band of armed, masked Shiites as the Mahdi Army.

Hours before the Sunday blast, Iraqi troops and U.S. advisers launched raids in Sadr City and the mostly Shiite district of Shula, searching for suspected members of sectarian death squads, a U.S. statement said.

Two hostages were freed in the Sadr City raid, and two people were arrested in Shula, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

U.S. officials made no mention of al-Sadr or the Mahdi Army in statements about the raids.

"We are not concerned with whom they are affiliated. We are only concerned with taking people responsible for these illegal acts off the streets and will continue to do so aggressively," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said.

However, it was clear that the U.S.-led coalition is stepping up pressure against the Shiite militia in a bid to reduce sectarian violence, which U.S. officials now consider a greater threat than the Sunni-led insurgency.

Last week, British troops arrested the commander of Mahdi Army forces in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. On Saturday, U.S. and Iraqi troops killed 15 fighters in a three-hour gunbattle around al-Sadr's office in Musayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad. One Iraqi soldier was killed, the U.S. said.

Local officials also said U.S. and Iraqi troops Saturday raided al-Sadr's office in Mahmoudiya, scene of reprisal killings since suspected Sunni gunmen killed 50 people, mostly Shiites, in a raid last week on a market.

In Najaf, a senior al-Sadr lieutenant claimed the Americans want to crush the radical cleric's movement because he is the most prominent Shiite leader to oppose the U.S. military presence.

"We are the only group that rejects the occupation because we are nationalists," said Jalil al-Nouri. "We are the only political group that rejects their presence in the country and we demand that they leave. We are to the point, and we are clear."

Al-Sadr, scion of one of Shiite Islam's most prominent clerical families, led two uprisings against the Americans in 2004. The U.S. stopped short of capturing him under pressure from the Shiite clerical hierarchy.

After a cease-fire, al-Sadr has emerged as a major political force. He controls a movement modeled after Hezbollah in Lebanon, running charities, clinics — and an armed militia. Al-Sadr's followers hold 30 of the 275 seats in parliament and control five Cabinet ministries including health, transportation and agriculture.

Although al-Maliki has pledged to disband the militias, he relies on al-Sadr for political support. The prime minister's Dawa party was founded by al-Sadr's father-in-law, who was executed under Saddam Hussein.

___

Associated Press correspondents Bushra Juhi, Qais al-Bashir, Ryan Lenz and Bassem Mroue in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Kirkuk contributed to this report.

U.S. commanders encouraged abuse after Abu Ghraib report

USA TODAY
Group: U.S. commanders encouraged abuse after Abu Ghraib report

NEW YORK (AP) — The group Human Rights Watch said in a report released Sunday that U.S. military commanders encouraged abusive interrogations of detainees in Iraq, even after the Abu Ghraib prison scandal called attention to the issue in 2004.

Between 2003 and 2005, prisoners were routinely physically mistreated, deprived of sleep and exposed to extreme temperatures as part of the interrogation process, the report said.

"Soldiers were told that the Geneva Conventions did not apply, and that interrogators could use abusive techniques to get detainees to talk," wrote John Sifton, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The organization said it based its conclusion on interviews with military personnel and sworn statements in declassified documents.

A Pentagon spokesman, Cmdr. Greg Hicks, said he wasn't aware of the report, but noted the military is reviewing its procedures regarding detainees following a Supreme Court ruling that the Geneva Conventions should apply in the conflict with al-Qaeda.

The Bush administration had previously held that certain enemies, including terrorists, were illegal combatants and not protected by those rules.

The conventions prohibit "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment."

Human Rights Watch focused much of its report on a detention facility called Camp Nama at Baghdad International Airport.

One soldier, whose name was withheld from the report, described a suspected insurgent being stripped naked, thrown in the mud, sprayed with water and then exposed to frigid temperatures in an attempt to soften him up for interrogators.

Commanders, the soldier said, seemed confident that their treatment of prisoners was legal.

He described computerized authorization forms that had to be filled out before subjecting detainees to strobe lights, loud music, extreme heat or cold, or intimidation by barking dogs.

The allegations of abuse at the camp were first reported in March by The New York Times.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-23-detainee-abuse_x.htm?csp=34

C

Belt-tightening at bases in U.S. starts to strain

USA TODAY
Belt-tightening at bases in U.S. starts to strain

By Mark Sappenfield, The Christian Science Monitor
An Army long strained by the manpower demands of Iraq and Afghanistan is increasingly facing a new obstacle at home: The service is fast running out of money.

It is a story with a Dickensian twist — a tale of two bases that show how a force that received more than $100 billion for the current fiscal year doesn't have enough cash to mow the lawns or pay utility bills at installations nationwide.

The money is going to the war effort — to places like Anniston Army Depot in Alabama, where tanks chewed up by enemy mortars and desert sand are stripped down to the bolts and rebuilt before being sent back to Iraq.

Like many bases, Fort Carson in Colorado has helped pay the cost, closing two mess halls and skimping on staffing — even at a time when the base is growing.

The cuts are typical wartime belt-tightening. Yet they presage more difficult choices ahead, as the cost of waging America's wars of today throws into doubt not only the Army's readiness at home but also its preparations for the wars of tomorrow. With the annual cost of the Iraq war doubling since 2003 to about $100 billion, by most estimates, and with the Army needing $17.1 billion for repair and "reset" alone next year, "something has to go," says Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

Squeezing installations can achieve only so much, and the Army brass worries that the service's cherished program to modernize the force could be next. Already, House appropriators have approved a plan to cut the Future Combat System (FCS) by $325 million next year — in part to pay for the soaring cost of reset, ammunition, and fuel in Iraq.

While experts disagree on whether the primary money problem is the Iraq war or the Army's overambitious goals, they agree that the war's bulging budgets have added pressure — and congressional scrutiny — that might not have existed otherwise.

"The picture that emerges is that the Army simply can't make ends meet," says Dr. Thompson. "[FCS] doesn't deliver very much in the near term, and that's when all the Army's problems are."

Because of the escalating cost of the Iraq war, Army officials announced last week that they were banning all non-essential travel and cutting back on purchases not tied directly to the war. This mounting focus on the war — to the exclusion of virtually all else — is most obvious at the Army's installations, where the conflict in Iraq is not thousands of miles away but in every flip of the light switch and turn of the lug wrench.

Anniston's race to rehab

Just a few miles up the road from Talladega Superspeedway, the mechanics, welders, and metalsmiths of Anniston Army Depot style themselves "the pit crew of America's war fighters," says Paul Harper, general manager of production operations.

In truth, they do more than change the tires and fill the gas tank. Depots are where the Army sends equipment when it needs an overhaul, and at Anniston the race to keep America's tanks and trucks running has lasted three years now.

The war in Iraq, in particular, has worn out the Army's arsenal. Damage from bombs and mortars is to be expected in any war. But that alone is not what keeps Anniston in an almost constant buzz — repairs going on night and day, two shifts, with only Sundays off.

First, there is the dust, and it is everywhere — jamming bearings, gumming filters, and turning finely tuned electronics into scrap. Even in Anniston, the dust from Iraq "gets everywhere," says mechanic Reggie Henry. "Sometimes you open the doors and it kicks up little sandstorms."

Add to that the Army's operational tempo, and equipment has been wearing out five to 10 times faster than anticipated. Humvees that were already a decade old have been loaded with 100 pounds of armor they were not designed to carry and then driven five times more than expected. Helicopters are being used twice as much as planned. Tanks are driving 4,000 miles a year; they're programmed to drive 800.

On Anniston's work floor, tanks and other tracked vehicles line up single file — the battle-hardened, the blown-up, and the sand-gutted. Throughout the facility, stacks of refurbished drive shafts and new transmissions are everywhere. Outside, dozens of railroad cars bearing tanks are backed up at the entrance. Three train engines are working double time to shuttle equipment around the base's 47 miles of track.

In 2003, Anniston had 2,429 employees who worked 2.6 million manhours. This year, the numbers have jumped to 4,661 employees and 6.3 million manhours. The story is the same across the Army's other depots. During the first years of the war, Army units left much of their equipment in Iraq to cut down on transportation costs. Now the Army needs to work through the backlog, repairing vehicles that need more than routine maintenance.

This is reset, and last year the Army asked for $13.5 billion to do it. So long as the war continues, officials say, the Army will need at least that much to keep its equipment in working order. It often means tearing a vehicle down to the frame. In Anniston, it takes an average of 63 days per vehicle.

At the Red River Army Depot in Texas, Humvees actually come out of reset as a new model, with new transmissions, suspension systems, and engines. "Humvees go back to zero hours, zero miles," says Gary Motsek, director of support operations for Army Materiel Command.

Reset is one of the main reasons the cost of the Iraq war has increased so rapidly. The higher cost of fuel and ammunition has played a major role, too. "Before the war, we made about 35 million small-arms cartridges," says Mr. Motsek. "Now, we're producing more than 1.4 billion."

To make up for those costs, the Army has done what it always has done: skim from installations. "Installations have always been underfunded," says Ned Christensen, spokesman for the Pentagon's Installation Management Agency.

Belt-tightening at Fort Carson

But Cheryll Ingersoll has never seen anything like this in her 40 years at Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs Even before the war, the Pentagon was looking to save money by cutting services on bases. The war has only made things worse, says Ms. Ingersoll, the post's garrison resource manager.

Some $4 million of the budget simply failed to show up. "Most of the money that used to go to the installations and everywhere is now being redirected for the war," she says.

So Fort Carson has shut two dining halls and — like all Army posts — instituted a hiring freeze. Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio hasn't paid its utility bill since March. And Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri "can only fund payroll and most of the utilities for the rest of the year, so everything else is pretty much wiped out," says Ingersoll.

There are a lot of complaints and some brown grass at bases nationwide, but these are not the sorts of cuts that will affect the war effort, she acknowledges. The greater concern for many in the Army is what else might be sacrificed as the war continues. Last month, the Army chief of staff pleaded with Congress not to fund the current war at the cost of future plans. "We must not mortgage the future readiness of the force by focusing our resources solely on the current challenges," said Gen. Peter Schoomaker in a June 27 hearing.

To the Army, the future is the Future Combat System, a spectacularly complex and costly system of new weapons and cutting-edge communications currently under development. At a total cost of $161 billion, it promises a new generation of vehicles, fleets of drone aircraft and artillery, and computer networks that connect every soldier on the battlefield.

In many ways, FCS is the keystone of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's vision to transform the Army into a smaller, more agile fighting force. But it also will not field its first fully equipped brigade until 2014.

It is the armed forces' historic conundrum: Pay for the current force or invest in the future force? In the past, the Army has repeatedly opted for a more low-tech, manpower-intensive force. Through FCS, Mr. Rumsfeld and General Schoomaker are trying to change that — but Iraq may undermine the attempt.

"The other services are moving in the direction of cutting [manpower] in order to pay for modernization," says Steven Kosiak of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. With the Army stretched in the Middle East, he adds: "That is not something the Army can do right now."

In budget debates this spring, lawmakers clearly prioritized Iraq over the FCS. Some even sought to cut money for the FCS if the Army didn't spend its money to fully cover reset costs first. In the end, say some analysts, the Army has enough money to do what it needs to do. "They appear to be getting what they're asking for" through the annual budget and wartime supplemental spending, says Mr. Kosiak.

To him, the question is whether the Army is asking for — and prioritizing — the right things. In a sign of what could come, the Army has already begun to amend the FCS, cutting certain programs and modifying others. "Part of [the problem] is having modernization programs that aren't affordable," says Kosiak. "A lot of people look at [the FCS] and think it is a substantially more ambitious plan than they need."

Contributors: Patrik Jonsson in Anniston, Ala. and Jeff Oliver in Colorado Springs

Can Democrats Compete in the South?

washingtonpost.com
Rethinking Red States
Can Democrats Compete in the South?

If you want to understand why Democrats are the minority party in Congress, look at four states: Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky. Before the 1994 elections, when Democrats still controlled both chambers, these Southern states had 24 Democratic House members and 14 Republicans. Among senators, there were five Republicans and three Democrats.

Look today. There are 24 GOP House members and 15 Democrats, and all eight senators are Republicans.

Democrats acknowledge that their prospects for regaining control are dim until they start winning elections in this region. Several of this year's races are lab experiments in this effort, with Democrats testing new types of candidates, messages and media.

They hope to underscore that they do not fit stereotypes of Democrats as cultural liberals, and they hope to win voters with a mix of economic populism and traditional values. There is talk of raising the minimum wage and creating more jobs, but usually little about abortion or gun control.

Phil Kellam, who is challenging Rep. Thelma D. Drake in Virginia's 2nd District, is airing a TV ad that calls for ending the sale of violent video games to children and blocking their access to violent or pornographic Web sites. President Bush won Drake's district with 58 percent of the vote in 2004. But Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine won the same precincts in 2005.

Lately, Democrats have been thrilled to find their candidates in striking distance in some of these races. One of the Democrats' top targets is North Carolina's 11th District, where former Washington Redskins quarterback Heath Shuler is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Charles H. Taylor. In Virginia, James Webb, a former Republican who served as secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan, is being watched closely by Democrats to see if he can make Sen. George Allen sweat for reelection. In Kentucky's 4th District, Ken Lucas (D) is hoping to reclaim the seat he held from his 1998 until his retirement in 2004. Freshman Rep. Geoff Davis (R) is buoyed by Bush's 27-point margin in 2004.

In Tennessee, Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr., who is black, is trying to break a racial barrier by winning an open Senate seat against a Republican to be chosen in an August primary.

-- Shailagh Murray

Will Pocketbook Concerns Move Votes?

washingtonpost.com
Will Pocketbook Concerns Move Votes?

If the November elections become a referendum on the economy, Republicans have reason to worry.

For months, the White House and Democrats have battled to shape perceptions of the economy. Economic statistics suggest things generally continue to get better, but many voters are complaining every time they pump gasoline into their SUVs.

The spin war between the parties will forge on. But the underlying reality at this point is that Democrats and independents are more likely than Republicans to say the economy is the single most important issue determining their vote in November.

A recent Post poll showed that 27 percent of independents and 25 percent of Democrats cited the economy as their top voting issue, compared with 18 percent of Republicans. Other research shows that the more people make the economy No. 1, the more likely they are to vote Democratic.

Pocketbook issues could be felt most acutely in Midwestern states, where job growth has lagged behind that in the rest of the nation. That could affect the open contest in Wisconsin's 8th District, in the northeast part of the state. Rep. Mark Green (R) vacated the seat to run for governor, and state Assembly Speaker John Gard is the likely Republican nominee. Three Democrats are vying in a primary.

President Bush won 55 percent of the vote in that district in 2004. As it happens, that is precisely the percentage of residents statewide who said in a recent poll that the economy is the most important problem facing Wisconsin.

Two other open House races in the Midwest also could be sensitive to economic worries. One is an open seat in Ohio's 6th District; incumbent Ted Strickland (D) is running for governor. The race pits state Sen. Charlie Wilson (D) against Chuck Blasdel (R), speaker pro tempore of the state House.

In Minnesota's 6th District, where the economy is faring better and could benefit a Republican, children's advocate Patty Wetterling (D) and state Sen. Michele Bachmann (R) are vying for the seat Mark Kennedy gave up to become the GOP gubernatorial candidate.

Democrats may not escape the economic woes in the Midwest. Michigan has been hit particularly hard by job losses in recent years, complicating Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow's reelection campaign.

-- Chris Cillizza

Will Ballot Issues Drive Voters to the Polls?

washingtonpost.com
Tune In, Turn Out
Will Ballot Issues Drive Voters to the Polls?

While candidate races occupy the headlines, the outcome of the 2006 campaigns in some districts and states is likely to be swayed by ballot initiatives one side has brought up to boost the turnout and the vote for its nominees.

Politicians have discovered that voters who may be indifferent to the candidates can be mobilized when issues of importance to them are on the ballot, appealing to ideology or self-interest.

In Missouri, Democrats are hoping that ballot measures to increase the minimum wage and to finance research on embryonic stem cells will help their candidate, state Auditor Claire McCaskill, defeat Republican Sen. James M. Talent.

Labor unions collected twice the required number of signatures for the initiative to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour, and five other states -- Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Ohio -- will have similar initiatives. In all five, there are elections for Republican-held Senate seats or governorships -- or both.

But Republicans will play their own turnout cards. Conservatives and antiabortion groups in Missouri said they welcome the stem cell issue -- they said it will energize their voters, who regard the destruction of days-old embryos for stem cells as akin to taking a life.

As in 2004, bans on same-sex marriage have political currency. The legislatures of six states -- Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin -- have placed the issue on the ballot, hoping that once again it will bring religious conservatives to the polls. You can measure the impact especially well in Wisconsin, where Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle opposes the measure and his Republican opponent, Rep. Mark Green, supports it. But it could also affect turnout in the competitive Senate race in Virginia, where Republican Sen. George Allen is being opposed by former Navy secretary James Webb.

Other hot topics for the November ballot include tax-limitation measures in Florida, Maine and Rhode Island; smoking bans or higher tobacco taxes in California, Florida, Nevada, Idaho and South Dakota; and restrictions on the state's use of eminent domain in California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan and New Hampshire.

-- David S. Broder

American Bar Association says Bush's penchant for writing exceptions to laws he has just signed violates the Constitution

ABC News
Group Decries Bush's Law Interpretations
American Bar Association Panel Criticizes Bush's Practice of Attaching Challenges to New Laws
By GINA HOLLAND
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush's penchant for writing exceptions to laws he has just signed violates the Constitution, an American Bar Association task force says in a report highly critical of the practice.

The ABA group, which includes a one-time FBI director and former federal appeals court judge, said the president has overstepped his authority in attaching challenges to hundreds of new laws.

The attachments, known as bill-signing statements, say Bush reserves a right to revise, interpret or disregard measures on national security and constitutional grounds.

"This report raises serious concerns crucial to the survival of our democracy," said the ABA's president, Michael Greco. "If left unchecked, the president's practice does grave harm to the separation of powers doctrine, and the system of checks and balances that have sustained our democracy for more than two centuries."

Some congressional leaders had questioned the practice. The task force's recommendations, being released Monday in Washington, will be presented to the 410,000-member group next month at its annual meeting in Hawaii.

ABA policymakers will decide whether to denounce the statements and encourage a legal fight over them.

The task force said the statements suggest the president will decline to enforce some laws. Bush has had more than 800 signing statement challenges, compared with about 600 signing statements combined for all other presidents, the group said.

Noel J. Francisco, a former Bush administration attorney who practices law in Washington, said the president is doing nothing unusual or inappropriate.

"Presidents have always issued signing statements," he said. "This administration believes that it should make clear ... when the Congress is getting close to the lines that our Constitution draws."

Francisco said the administration's input is part of the give and take between the branches of government. "I think it's good that the debate is taking place at a public level," he added.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said last month that "it's important for the president at least to express reservations about the constitutionality of certain provisions."

The ABA report said President Reagan was the first to use the statements as a strategic weapon, and that it was encouraged by then-administration lawyer Samuel Alito now the newest Supreme Court justice.

The task force included former prosecutor Neal Sonnett of Miami; former FBI Director William Sessions; Patricia Wald, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; former Republican Rep. Mickey Edwards; and former Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein; and law school professors and other lawyers.

On the Net:

American Bar Association: http://www.abanet.org

I.R.S. to Cut Tax Auditors; Bush administration move to shield people with political connections and complex tax-avoidance devices from thorough audit

The New York Times
I.R.S. to Cut Tax Auditors
By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others.

The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency’s 345 estate tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, in less than 70 days. Kevin Brown, an I.R.S. deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts after The New York Times was given internal documents by people inside the I.R.S. who oppose them.

The Bush administration has passed measures that reduce the number of Americans who are subject to the estate tax — which opponents refer to as the “death tax” — but has failed in its efforts to eliminate the tax entirely. Mr. Brown said in a telephone interview Friday that he had ordered the staff cuts because far fewer people were obliged to pay estate taxes under President Bush’s legislation.

But six I.R.S. estate tax lawyers whose jobs are likely to be eliminated said in interviews that the cuts were just the latest moves behind the scenes at the I.R.S. to shield people with political connections and complex tax-avoidance devices from thorough audits.

Sharyn Phillips, a veteran I.R.S. estate tax lawyer in Manhattan, called the cuts a “back-door way for the Bush administration to achieve what it cannot get from Congress, which is repeal of the estate tax.”

Mr. Brown dismissed as preposterous any suggestion that the I.R.S. was soft on rich tax cheats. He said that the money saved by eliminating the estate tax lawyers would be used to hire revenue agents to audit income tax returns, especially those from people making over $1 million.

Mr. Brown said that civil service rules barred the estate tax lawyers from moving over to audit income taxes. An I.R.S. spokesman said that the agency had asked for permission to allow such transfers twice, but that the Office of Personnel Management had not responded.

Estate tax lawyers are the most productive tax law enforcement personnel at the I.R.S., according to Mr. Brown. For each hour they work, they find an average of $2,200 of taxes that people owe the government.

Mr. Brown said that careful analysis showed that the I.R.S. was auditing enough returns to catch cheats and that 10 percent of the estate audits brought in 80 percent of the additional taxes. He said that auditing a greater percentage of gift and estate tax returns would not be worthwhile because “the next case is not a lucrative case” and likely to be of relatively little value.

That is a change from six years ago, when the I.R.S. said that 85 percent of large taxable gifts it audited shortchanged the government. The I.R.S. said then that it would hire three more lawyers just to audit taxable gifts of $1 million or more.

Over the last five years, officials at both the I.R.S. and the Treasury have told Congress that cheating among the highest-income Americans is a major and growing problem.

The six I.R.S. tax lawyers, some of whom were willing to be named, all said that clear evidence of fraud was pursued vigorously by the agency, but that when audits showed the use of complicated schemes to understate the value of assets, the I.R.S. had become increasingly reluctant to pursue cases.

The lawyers said that the risk analysis system the I.R.S. used to evaluate whether to pursue such cases gave higher-level officials cover to not pursue tax cheats and, in the process, emboldened the most aggressive tax advisers to prepare gift and estate tax returns that shortchanged the government.

“This is not a game the poor will win, but the rich will,” said John Hruska, another I.R.S. estate tax lawyer in New York who, like Ms. Phillips, is active in the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents I.R.S. workers.

Colleen M. Kelley, the national union president, said: “If these lawyers are not there to audit the gift and estate tax returns, then a lot of taxes that should be paid will go uncollected, and that impacts every taxpayer who is paying their fair share.”