Mom Accused Of Child Killings

JAMES NEWS PHOTO
A mother accused of smothering her three young children left notes that officials say could help determine what led to the killings, and her priest said Sunday that she had expressed "tremendous remorse."

Paula Eleazar Mendez, 43, was in a county jail Sunday after being treated at a hospital for swallowing a toxic substance.

She had collapsed as officers arrived at her home Saturday morning in response to a telephone call from the children's father in New York. Inside the home, the officers found the bodies of the children, ages 6 to 8, lying side by side on a bed, said Chris Brackett, an investigator with the Sevier County Sheriff's Office.

"I do not believe there is any dispute as to who killed these three children, and therefore who will be charged," prosecutor Tom Cooper said. "However, we have not determined at this time the particular homicide charge or punishment we will be seeking."

The notes found in the house may help officials better understand what led to the killings, De Queen Police Chief Richard McKinley said, though he declined to disclose their contents.



A family priest who visited Mendez in a hospital Saturday night described a woman experiencing profound sorrow.

"She has tremendous remorse. She is deeply sorry," the Rev. Salvador Marquez-Munoz said Sunday before entering St. Barbara Catholic Church for Mass. "She asked for our prayers and forgiveness because she is realizing how much she has hurt the community, as well."

He identified the children as 8-year-old Elvis and 6-year-old twins, Samanta and her brother Samuel.

Autopsies were planned to determine whether the children had been poisoned or smothered, as their mother told police, Cooper said. The children's faces were not covered when police found them.

Cooper said an emergency room doctor told him Mendez had not ingested enough of the toxic substance to kill herself. Her arraignment is expected Monday, McKinley said.

In the house's yard Sunday was a seven-foot pile of burned papers. A page in a religion book bore the words "vamos a celebrar" — Spanish for "let's celebrate." A child's handwriting was scrawled in blue ink across some papers, and there were charred letters from a labor union in New York City.



The priest said Mendez, who moved to the United States from Mexico 10 years ago, had lived in New York until last summer, when she moved with her children to De Queen because wanted them to live in a safer environment.

He described her as a quiet, devout woman concerned about her children's welfare. She was not working, and her husband was supporting the family with a job in New York, he said. She and the children never missed Sunday services and attended religious education classes.

Mendez seemed "very loving," said M. Rocio Maya, 29, who attended the Mass and said that she had known Mendez for a few months. Maya said that she never saw Mendez strike her children and that she drove them to school, rather than allow them to ride a bus.

The children's father, Arturo Morales, 37, had planned to buy a house in De Queen with Mendez and move there for good, said Maya's husband, Juan Mosqueda.

Morales was to arrive in De Queen before a funeral was to be set. Associated Press
JAMES NEWS PHOTO

JAMES NEWS PHOTO Saddam Removed From Court

JAMES NEWS PHOTO
Saddam Hussein's trial collapsed into chaos shortly after resuming Sunday, with one defendant dragged out of court and the defense team walking out in protest. The former Iraqi leader was then escorted out after he shouted "down with traitors" and refused his new court-appointed lawyers.

The new chief judge, Raouf Abdel-Rahman, pressed ahead with the proceedings even after the opening drama, hearing three prosecution witness, as he sought to assert tight control over the court.

After 4 1/2 hours, the trial was adjourned until Wednesday, though Abdel-Rahman said if that day turns out to be a public holiday, the trial will resume Thursday. The Islamic new year is approaching, but its exact date depends on the sighting of a new moon to start the lunar month.
Associated Press. JAMES NEWS PHOTO

JAMES NEWS PHOTO Bigfoot

JAMES NEWS PHOTO
Malaysia plans to send two teams of scientists to scour its southern rainforests and track down a huge ape said to have been spotted there, a government official said Friday.

"Bigfoot" fever has dominated Malaysian newspaper headlines for several weeks now, with several dramatic sightings of a hairy, gorilla-like creature reported in the thick forest in the southern state of Johor.

One local man said he saw a 10-foot (three meter) tall ape standing on two legs beside a river, according to one report.

"Yes, the state government has decided to send teams of scientists to try and track it," said a state official who declined to be named. But he gave no further details.

The country is home to the orang-utan, a large red-haired ape that can grow the size of a small man, but they are not found in peninsular Malaysia -- although monkeys and gibbons are common.

National news agency Bernama has said the Johor state government intends to set up two expedition teams, one to explore the forests and a second to try and study the animal itself.

"We hope the expedition will be able to prove its existence," the agency quoted Chief Minister Abdul Ghani Othman as saying.

Bigfoot sightings across the world have featured mysterious and reclusive animals such as the north American sasquatch or the Himalayan yeti, whose existence has never been proved, but the Malaysian sightings are worth investigating, an environmentalist said.

"The national park is as big as Singapore island," said Vicent Chow, who works in the area and has often lobbied the state government to investigate past sightings. "It's quite possible there is something there."

The Endau-Rompin national park, where the sightings were reported, sprawls over an area of about 49,000 hectares.

"Natives who live in the jungle have seen it for generations and their legends call it the 'snaggle-toothed ghost'," said Chow. "Now we need forays by scientists to find it." KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters)
JAMES NEWS PHOTO

Frey Oprah King

JAMES NEWS PHOTO
I talked in the previous entry about how our news media is more interested in speculation than facts, and that only people who don't care about the truth believe them and read James Frey (or pay any attention at all to James Frey). That brings me to the amazing saga of Oprah and James Frey.

My oldest daughter, in Cornell Law School, evidently has fallen in love with Oprah. That has worried some members of our family, like me. I have to admit I have seen maybe 15 minutes total of Oprah in my whole life, and that was too much. This latest incident, however, actually tells me why my daughter might like her.

Oprah I merely can't watch. Larry King I despise. I actually saw about 10 minutes of Larry King's "interview" of James Frey (HOW do I see these things when I never watch these programs--as I have said in this Blog I just have an instinct that allows me to know all and see all with almost no actual time spent looking). It was the most embarrassing 10 minutes of interview I have ever seen. You can't ask more softball questions, or be more sycophantic, to an admitted liar than Larry King was to James Frey. I only watched it as long as I did because of the same type of sick fascination there is in watching a spectacular NASCAR wreck. It really is time for Larry King to go. I digress.



This is where Oprah got, sort of, in trouble. She called Larry King to evidently defend James Frey and approve of Larry King's God forgives, so can I, attitude. Remember, this was AFTER Frey had admitted he made up major parts of his book, "A Million Little Pieces".

Then Oprah thought about it. She invited Frey on her show, or maybe he was already invited. She was outraged on her show with righteous indignation. She virtally reamed him out (which he richly deserves--I don't even believe this guff I have seen in headlines about whether Oprah was "too harsh"). Oprah said she felt "duped" (no, I didn't see this, but I saw a CNN report on the "controversy"). So why did Oprah first defend Frey and then "ambush" him.

As I said above, the simplest explanation is that she thought about it. What my oldest daughter likes about Oprah is that she is "honest" about her feelings--and she is willing to candidly share them with her audience. I think that there can be no doubt that she connects with MANY women on a deep, probably emotional, level.

The unkind, and cynical, explanation of Oprah's about face is that she put her finger to the wind and decided her own reputation would suffer if she appeared to condone lying and deception. I tend NOT to believe this, and to be virtually sure that it is more complex than that. My own opinion is that Oprah DOES tend to be honest about her feelings--although I would suspect her feelings have a tendency to be what her audience expects them to be (yes, I am saying people can delude themselves).



I can see where people like my daughter would be impressed that Oprah would be willing to first call and express her feelings to Larry King, and then be willing to get really and honestly angry face to face with the author after she had had time for refection. To me, this has a FEEL of a much more honest emotional response, with real feelings, than Larry King is capable of.

The problem is that what it is NOT is reason. That is my problem with Oprah. To me, she is all emotion and no reason. I know. Maybe that describes women in general (if you are surprised by the sexism of THAT statement, you haven't been reading this Blog). However, if it makes women feel better about themselves to listen to her, who am I to say that she is not valuable?

I do worry about our society being that way, however. James Frey makes things up, and some people are willing to make excuses for him because his book may help addicts (remember Dan Rather's excuse that CBS may have used fabricated facts but the story was still "true"--it is in reality the same "defense"). Meanwhile, lots of people no longer like the Iraq War. Fine. There is certainly a fairly strong argument that the Iraq War was a mistake in judgment. But the people who now don't like the war are ANXIOUS to believe that President Bush LIED to get us into the war, when there is NO evidence to that effect (EVERYONE, including President Clinton, believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and the CIA Director guaranteed it to the President). So why are people willing to believe a lie themselves--the lie that President Bush got us into Iraq with a lie. It is an emotional reaction. It is a natural emotion to believe badly of someone who you believe got you into a bad situation, especially if he had previously convinced you he was doing right. If he didn't lie to you, wasn't your own judgment just as bad as his? If the President made a mistake, but you would have made the same mistake with the evidence he had, how can you criticize him? It is all emotion and not reason.

So you have the absolutely strange and wonderful situation where a lot of people are willing to EXUSE lies when they think "good" is being done, and condemn "lies" that were not lies at all--all based on emotion. I am sometimes accused of being too cold. However, I refuse to accept that all of this emotional lying to ourselves, and accepting lies and falsehoods we should not accept--to the point of making people rich--is a good thing. It is a bad and dangerous thing.

I can still remember Roger Ebert's review of Michael Moore's "documentary". He said he was reviewing the "film", and NOT whether what was in it was true. This was supposedly a "documentary". It is supposed to be factually true. It CANNOT be "good" if it is factually false (as it was). James Frey's supposedly "true" book CANNOT be worth reading if it is factually false. I am glad Oprah reached that conclusion in the end, even if I tend to believe she should have used reason before ever calling Larry King.
JAMES NEWS PHOTO
BY The Maverick Conservative

Gaza Strip

JAMES NEWS PHOTO
Thousands of activists from Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party demonstrated across the Gaza Strip on Friday, burning abandoned cars, shooting in the air and demanding corrupt leaders resign after their devastating election loss to the militant Hamas movement.

With Hamas winning a strong majority in parliamentary elections, Abbas said he will ask the Islamic group to form the next Palestinian government, but Fatah rejected a role in the new Cabinet and Israel ruled out peace talks in what could be the first steps to isolate the militant group after its election victory.

Acting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni asked world leaders not to legitimize a government led by Hamas, saying elections are not a "whitewash" for terrorist groups.

Livni told reporters that Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip last summer opened a window of opportunity in peace efforts, but with the election of Hamas, "the Palestinians slammed it shut."

In the first real violence since the vote, an argument between about 20 Hamas and Fatah loyalists in the Gaza town of Khan Younis degenerated into gunfire and rock- throwing Friday that left three injured. One man was treated for gunshot wounds and two for minor injuries caused by rocks, according to witnesses and hospital officials.

On Friday night, thousands of Fatah activists burned the abandoned cars outside the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City and shot in the air, demanding the resignation of corrupt party officials and insisting that Fatah form no coalition with Hamas.

About 1,000 angry party activists, including 100 gunmen, drove by Abbas' Gaza residence, although he was not home at the time. The Fatah defeat was seen as a rebuke to veteran — and corrupt — party leaders who have resisted calls for reform by its young guard.

After evening prayers, the protesters went back to Abbas' house, and fired rifles in the air, before marching and driving through the city, waving Palestinian flags, yellow Fatah flags and posters of the late Yasser Arafat.

"We don't want to join the Hamas government. We don't want corrupt leadership. We want reform and we want to fire all the corrupt," one group of thousands chanted at an earlier demonstration outside the parliament building in Gaza City.

"This demonstration is a natural reaction of Fatah supporters and members. We have one demand that the (Fatah) Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council should resign immediately," said Samir Mashrawi, a local Fatah leader who lost in the election. The protesters did not specifically call for Abbas' ouster.

Polls published Friday in Israeli newspapers showed support among Israelis for talks with a Palestinian government led by Hamas.

The United States and some European nations said Hamas must renounce violence and drop its demand to destroy Israel.

But Mahmoud Zahar, an incoming Hamas parliamentarian and one of the group's top leaders in Gaza, said the organization had no immediate plans to change its policy to recognize Israel or to restart peace efforts.

"Israel has nothing to give for the Palestinians. All the time they were wasting our time ... implementing nothing," he said. "If the Israelis have something to fulfill the basic demand of the Palestinian people concerning the occupied territories, detainees, question of Jerusalem, our national interests, we are going to re-evaluate this argument."

U.S. Consul-General Jacob Walles said Washington would halt aid to Palestinians should a Hamas-led government come to power and not renounce terror.

The U.S. gave the Palestinian Authority $400 million in direct aid last year and several million more through U.N. charities, Walles said. Some was given directly to Palestinian ministries.

"I don't see how we would do that if those ministries were controlled by Hamas," he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to meet in London on Monday with U.N., Russian and European leaders as the so-called "Quartet" of would-be international peacemakers evaluates the results and tries to decide how to proceed.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said he had asked Abbas to meet Sunday to discuss forming a new government. Abbas' office said no appointment has been made yet. Abbas said separately he would ask Hamas to lead the next government.

Israel was unprepared for the Hamas landslide. Foreign and Defense Ministry scenarios had put such a stunning blow to the long-ruling Fatah as a low probability, officials said.

But after the rout, acting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert quickly ruled out talks.

"The state of Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian administration if even part of it is an armed terrorist organization calling for the destruction of the state of Israel," Olmert said.

In Syria, a prominent Hamas leader pledged to continue resistance against Israeli occupation, although he did not specify if that meant violent opposition, and he stressed that the group would not yet recognize the Jewish state.

"As long as there is occupation and so long as our people's rights are usurped, our stand will remain as it is. We would resist the (Israeli) occupation to restore our rights," Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of the Hamas movement, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Hamas ideology does not recognize the presence of a Jewish state in an Islamic Middle East. In recent years, however, some Hamas leaders have grudgingly accepted the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, as long as it is understood to be only a stage toward freeing the rest of Palestine — meaning Israel.

Livni said she spoke to several foreign ministers and told them of the need to send "a very clear, unequivocal message ... that elections are not a whitewash for terror."

"In these talks, I also made clear what was decided in the consultation with the acting prime minister, that Hamas cannot be a partner of Israel and the fact that it will lead the Palestinian Authority, if indeed this is what will happen, this means the Palestinian Authority also cannot be a partner, in the eyes of Israel and the whole world," she said.

Avi Dichter, a former Israeli security services chief, said he didn't expect terrorism to rise once Hamas takes over.

"The moment they become partner to the Palestinian government, reality will become a lot more complicated for them than it was when they were a terror organization alone," Dichter told Army Radio.

Economic constraints are also likely to curb Hamas' extremism. With the Palestinian Authority dependent on foreign aid for its survival and on Israel for day-to-day needs such as electricity, water and the movement of people and goods, Hamas will have a hard time ignoring international calls to renounce violence.

Former President Carter told the AP the United States should increase its donations to U.N. and other aid groups earmarked for the Palestinians to make up for the cut in direct aid "so that the people can still continue to have food and shelter and health care and education."

Carter met Friday with Abbas, who told him that the Palestinian Authority could not pay salaries at the end of the month, even with foreign aid.

If aid is cut off, "it would create an element of chaos unless the money is made up by other sources," he said. "If the Arab countries come through and the European countries continue to help and maybe Japan, they could continue to operate."

Hamas leaders themselves have hinted that despite their hard-line ideology, they will be pragmatic and not disrupt daily life in the territories.

A poll conducted Thursday and published in the Maariv daily said 40 percent of Israelis say Israel should negotiate with Hamas if the group renounces its determination to destroy Israel. Another 27 percent say talks should be held with no conditions, based on the "road map" peace plan.

The poll showed 29 percent of Israelis favored cutting off all contacts with the Palestinians, freezing talks and resuming targeted killings of Hamas leaders. The poll of 552 people had a 4.2 percentage-point margin of error.

A second poll in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper showed that 48 percent of those questioned by the Dahaf Research Institute said Israel should negotiate with Hamas, while 43 percent said Israel should shun a Hamas-led government. The poll of 500 people had a 4.5 percentage point margin of error and was conducted Wednesday night, before Hamas' victory was announced. JAMES NEWS PHOTO

Seven Children Killed

LAKE BUTLER, Fla. - Seven adopted children from a single household were killed Wednesday in a fiery crash when their car was crushed between a truck and a stopped school bus in rural northern Florida.

The children, ranging in age from 15 years to 21 months, were alone in the car, headed toward their home about two miles north of the crash site. The truck hit them from behind, pushing their car into the bus and causing the car to burst into flames, police said.

"It's a very chaotic scene," said Lt. Mike Burroughs of the Florida Highway Patrol. "It's just a mangled, charred mess."

Everyone in the car was killed, including the 15-year-old girl who was driving illegally.

It was unclear why the children were unaccompanied. Burroughs identified the adoptive mother as Barbara Mann. He did not have further details about the family.

Evidence from the scene showed that the truck, which was carrying bottled water, did not brake before hitting the car on the two-lane road, Burroughs said.

The bus ended up 200 feet from where the car struck it, and the cab of the truck lay overturned near the scene, Burroughs said. The bus was at an approved bus stop, but it was not immediately clear whether children were getting on or off.

Nine students were on the bus, and three were thrown from the vehicle by the force of the crash.

Officials said three students were hospitalized in serious condition and two were in fair condition. Burroughs said he believed the other four were treated and released.

The drivers of the bus and the truck were also taken to hospitals. Trucker Alvin Wilkerson, 31, suffered minor injuries, and authorities planned to interview him. The bus driver, Lillie Mae Perry, was thrown from the vehicle, and her condition was not immediately known.

Burroughs said charges against Wilkerson were pending the investigation. He added that a blood sample would be tested for alcohol. "We want to know why he didn't see a big, large school bus," the officer said.

The car was driven by 15-year-old Nicki Mann, who was with siblings Elizabeth Mann, 15; Johnny Mann, 13; Heaven Mann, 3; Ashley Kenn, 13; Miranda Finn, 8 or 9 years old; and Anthony Lamb, almost 2 years old. Lamb was in the process of being adopted, Burroughs said.

Joy Clemins, who lives next to the crash site, said she heard the collision and ran out of her house.

"It was horrible. People were screaming, children were wandering around, two were lying the middle of the road," she said. "It is like they were walking around in a dream."



The bus was operated by the Union County school district, which has three schools from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade in the area about 60 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

School Superintendent Carlton Faulk said extra grief and guidance counselors will be on hand Thursday to help children deal with the tragedy.

Meanwhile, the

National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators.

Fatal accidents involving school buses are relatively rare. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 71 passengers and 42 drivers been killed since 1994 in school vehicles — an average of about 10 people per year. Associated Press

NEWSROOM 1/21/06

JAMES NEWS PHOTO

The Los Angeles Times and the New York Times lead with the final results of last month's Iraqi parliamentary election, in which Shiite religious parties made the strongest showing, as expected. But a coalition alliance—perhaps even with Sunnis—will still be necessary to form a government. The results also top the Wall Street Journal's world-wide newsbox. The Washington Post, by contrast, stuffs the election. (Though it had lots of room above-the-fold for an enormous picture of a whale swimming up the Thames.) The paper's top non-local story reports that a Defense Department analyst was sentenced to 12-and-a-half-years in prison yesterday for passing classified information to lobbyists and the government of Israel.

The Shiite-Kurd coalition that has ruled Iraq since the last election took 181 out of the 275 seats in parliament, leaving it three votes short of the two-thirds majority it needs to set up a new government. The Sunni parties made a solid showing, taking 58 seats, which makes it "the second-largest bloc," the NYT says. (The figures are fuzzy because at least two parties claim to represent Sunni interests; consequently, the LAT gives the Sunnis a slightly smaller take. The NYT has a snazzy online graphic that lays the results out in much more detail.) Now comes the part Iraqi politicians excel at: Weeks of bluster and backroom dealing over jobs and power in the new government. "Some politicians said they were concerned that the wrangling might last into March," says the LAT, "creating a power vacuum that would make it more difficult to fight the insurgency."

Despite the heartening Sunni showing, an LAT analysis says U.S. officials were "disappointed" by the results—they had hoped secular parties would do better—but have now turned their focus toward the "more modest goal" of convincing the religious and nationalist parties who won to play together nicely.

Lawrence Franklin pleaded guilty to passing classified information about Iran, his area of expertise, to a pair of officials at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the powerful lobbying group, and to an Israeli diplomat. He apparently believed that the pro-Israel lobbyists would be in a better position than he was to bring the information, still undisclosed, to the attention of the White House. The judge called Franklin "a loyal American" before issuing his sentence, which "fell at the low end of the federal sentencing guidelines," the WP says.

The Post also gives big play to a dispatch from Bolivia about its newly elected president, the alpaca-clad, Bush-baiting Evo Morales. The story explores whether Morales' lefty radicalism is more than just talk. An early test will be whether he follows through on campaign-trail hints that he will legalize the cultivation of coca, the plant from which cocaine is derived. Morales, a champion of the country's indigenous people and a former head of the coca growers' federation, contends that the plant can be put to uses Kate Moss could hardly imagine, such as making "teas, cakes, energy bars, skin creams, cough medicine and acne remedies." Legalization would mean the end of a $100 million-a-year program the United States sponsors to eradicate coca and while encouraging farmers to shift to other crops.

The LAT and WSJ front news of the Dow's loss of 213 points yesterday, or two percent of its value, the largest such drop since May 2003. The WSJ blames the slump on rising oil prices, while the LAT stresses weak earnings reports that "raised new concerns about the economy's health." The drop comes less than two weeks after the Dow broke 11,000, prompting a front-story in the NYT to trumpet "the renewed confidence of investors."

Only the NYT fronts the indictment of 11 environmentalists for allegedly staging 17 attacks on such targets as lumber interests and a ski resort between 1996 and 2001. No one died in the attacks, but they did an estimated $23 million in damage. At a news conference, FBI director Robert Mueller III said violent environmental groups were among the bureau's "highest domestic terrorism priorities." The WP's inside story arches a rhetorical eyebrow, recounting up high an Dec. 25, 1999 incident in which the group set fire to a wood product company's offices and left behind a note reading: "Early Christmas morning elves left coal in Boise Cascade's stocking."

Karl Rove popped his head above the foxhole he's been hiding in since Lewis Libby's indictment, the WP reports out front. In a feisty speech to the Republican National Committee, he previewed the GOP's attack plan for this year's midterm elections and attacked Democrats for their "ossified" thinking. Rove's fresh ideas: Republicans will fight terrorists and cut taxes.

In more sobering news for Republicans, the LAT fronts a piece that says many GOP members of Congress are worried about a big backlash over the federal government's blundering implementation of the new Medicare prescription drug program. Even conservatives are angry, polls show. The NYT has a well-crafted piece of its own about the Medicare woes, focusing on the plight of the mentally ill.

The NYT wraps into its lead the news that the deadline for the threatened execution of kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll passed yesterday. There was no word from her captors. The WP has the most extensive coverage in an inside piece, which reports that an influential Sunni politician begged for her release, "In the name of God, in the name of religion, in the name of any word of sympathy that exists in Iraq."

Meanwhile, in Mozambique, a judge sentenced a hit man to 30 years in prison for murdering the muckracking journalist Carlos Cardoso. Prominent figures that are suspected of ordering the killing, including the former president's son, have yet to be charged.

The WSJ fronts a fly-on-the-wall feature about the making of a new television series that's giving a new twist to an old staple: the half-hour sitcom. Even as network sitcoms about bumptious but loving families have gone the way of Dumont, HBO is trying to revive the form with a potty-mouthed new show, starring comedian Louis C.K. Innovation hasn't been easy: Some studio audiences don't know how to react to Sopranos-style cursing and edgy humor, and it turns out that those network commercial breaks "are part of a sitcom's DNA, providing curtain-like intermissions to a story."

The WP "Style" section drops in on a left-wing historian whose Bush-bashing work recently won an endorsement from an influential source: Osama bin Laden. After the Evil One gave a shout-out to William Blum's Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower in the taped message that surfaced Thursday, the book shot from the nether reaches of the Amazon.com's bestseller list to number 26. The unrepentant author tells the Post: "This is almost as good as being an Oprah book."

NEWS ROOM 1/20/06

The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal world-wide newsbox, and New York Times all lead with the first words from Osama Bin Laden in about a year. In the audio tape, which the CIA said appeared to be authentic and was first broadcast on al-Jazeera, Bin Laden warned of attacks coming against the U.S. and "offered" a vague "long truce." He made a similar gesture to Europe in 2004. The Los Angeles Times fronts Bin Laden but leads with Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL responding to government subpoenas and coughing up (in aggregated and not personally identifiable form) data on millions of users' search terms. The government wants the records—including all search terms used over the course of a week—as part of a suit to revive the anti-porn and constitutionally shaky Child Online Protection Act. Everybody else fronts the case but focuses on Google's decision to fight the subpoena. The search-term subpoenas and Google's opposition against them were first reported in the San Jose Mercury News.

USA Today reefers the tape and leads with the government announcing it will begin its "trusted travelers" program in June: Air passengers who undergo background checks and fork over about $100 annually will get access to express lines and might not have to do things like remove their jackets or shoes. The ACLU is pissed about the program, saying the lines faced by lumpen travelers are "going to be longer."

Bin Laden appears to have made the tape in the last month or so. He referenced reports—first aired in late November—that Bush had talked about bombing al-Jazeera's headquarters.

Amid all the speculation about Bin Laden's motives and objectives only the Journal seems to make the following obvious yet crucial point right up high: "Mr. bin Laden's ability to follow through on the threat is unclear."

Now moving on to that copious conjecture: With his "truce" offer—which was predicated on the U.S. pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan and ending support for Israel—Bin Laden was probably trying to look like a statesmen and shore up support among moderate Muslims disenchanted with the carnage jihadists have brought particularly against other Muslims. He was also probably hoping to take some spotlight from, and create some distance from, Musab al-Zarqawi, who seems keen on attacking Shiites. And then there's the fact that the tape was released just a few days after the U.S. airstrike that purportedly killed some key AQ men.

The more intriguing speculation: Analysts told the NYT Bin Laden's voice sounded "more labored, lacking the energetic quality typical of earlier recordings." Other told the LAT the same thing.

The WP and NYT front the Justice Department releasing a white paper asserting that the warrantless spying program is plenty legal. The analysis argues that the president simply has the constitutional power to do so. And moreover, the argument goes, the resolution Congress passed after 9/11 authorizing force against Afghanistan and al-Qaida "places the president at the zenith of his powers in authorizing the N.S.A. activities."

The president's snooping order was not obviously unconstitutional. But, as the non-partisan Congressional Research Service has suggested, it does appear to have skirted the law. "It's a pretty straightforward case where the president is acting illegally," one law prof told the NYT. "This is domestic surveillance over American citizens for whom there is no evidence or proof that they are involved in any illegal activity, and it is in contravention of a statute of Congress specifically designed to prevent this."

Everybody mentions yesterday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed only the bomber and wounded about 20. Islamic Jihad, which unlike Hamas is not taking part in the coming Palestinian elections, claimed responsibility. And two near-simultaneous bombings on one of Baghdad's most popular streets killed about 20 people.

The LAT fronts the Republican National Committee voting on a resolution to condemn President Bush's proposed guest worker program. The RNC is usually not so big on opposing the president's plans.

Along with Slate's John Dickerson, NYT-man Paul Krugman wonders about the White House's insistence on keeping mum about fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Co.'s contacts with the White House. Then Krugman throws a follow-up flame:

So I have a question for my colleagues in the news media: Why isn't the decision by the White House to stonewall on the largest corruption scandal since Warren Harding considered major news?

Don't know about that Harding reference, but Krugman has a point: Apart from the wires, TP has seen two stories on the silence—and they weren't in the LAT, NYT, Journal, or Post.

News Room

James News Photo

The New York Times leads with Pakistani officials now saying they do believe the recent U.S. airstrike, which killed about a dozen civilians, also in fact killed a handful of "senior" al-Qaida men, including the son-in-law of AQ's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The U.S. had posted a $5 million reward for one of the men. It's unclear how the Pakistanis know about the killings, since the suspected militants' bodies reportedly haven't been found. USA Today leads with federal mine regulators saying they want to pump up max allowable fines nearly four-fold to $220,000. Regulators don't have the power to make the change; only Congress does. Knight Ridder recently had an analysis showing a "dramatic reduction in the dollar amount of large fines for mine safety violations during the Bush administration." The Los Angeles Times leads with evidence Southern California's real estate market is cooling down just a bit: The rate of appreciation (not overall prices) dropped last year, the first time that's happened six years. The Washington Post leads with D.C. becoming the latest locale to offer emergency drug coverage for those getting shafted by snafus in the new Medicare pill program.

The LAT and NYT front the Supreme Court punting on a New Hampshire law requiring parental notifications for minors who want abortions. A lower court had overturned the law as unconstitutional, since it doesn't include a health exemption. Yesterday's ruling, which was unanimous and written by Justice O'Connor sent the law back to the lower court, saying that while a health exemption is required the court "need not have invalidated the law wholesale."

The WP and NYT both stuff the non-partisan Congressional Research Service concluding that the briefings the White House gave Congress about the warrantless spying were so limited as to be, ahem, "inconsistent with the law."

Nobody fronts the violence in Iraq, where about 50 people were reported killed in attacks. The NYT flags the discovery of "bodies of 36 Iraqis killed execution-style"; all appear to have been Sunnis recently hired as police. Two African telecom engineers were kidnapped when their "heavily defended" convoy was ambushed in Baghdad. Ten of their security guards were killed. In the southern city of Basra, two American contractors were reportedly killed by a roadside bomb.

The WP has a remarkable, and remarkably sobering, report from the Iraqi city of Baiji. The town hosts a key refinery and the Post says it's considered a "critical priority for the U.S. military." It has also been "long neglected by American forces and still firmly in the grip of insurgents." One sergeant said insurgents "have the place locked down. We have almost no support from the local people. We talk to 1,000 people and one will come forward." The U.S. unit now on the scene has been taking heavy casualties. "I didn't expect to lose so many friends so soon," said one soldier. (There's a lot more to this story—by Ann Scott Tyson—and it's today's must read.)

The NYT off-leads the special prosecutor investigating former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros issuing a final report alleging he was stonewalled by Clinton administration officials. The investigation lasted about a decade and cost $21 million. Cisneros pled guilty in 1999 of lying to investigators about tax evasion and then was pardoned by President Clinton. The report is due out today but was "obtained by The New York Times from someone sympathetic to the…investigation who wanted [its] criticism of the Clinton administration to be known."

A USAT Cover Story offers another candidate for Congress' finest: In 2003, California Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis (no jokes, please), was a key player in pushing through a $160 million Navy project that had been much criticized—including the previous year by Lewis himself. Right before the House voted for the program, a hedge fund connected to the project held a fundraiser for Lewis. Total takings: $110,000. Lewis says the money had nothing to do with his about-face, of course. He also acknowledged the dough "played a very significant role" in his winning the chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

The WP fronts Democrats unveiling their own "lobbyist reform" plan. It goes farther than the one Republican leaders offered Tuesday and includes rules for sunshine in currently murk-filled last minute negotiations on bills. But apparently, no mention of earmarks.

The Wall Street Journal and NYT both front the tumult in Tokyo's stock market, which dived Tuesday and then had to shut down yesterday because trading overwhelmed the system. The market made a comeback today.

The NYT goes inside with six former heads of the EPA, including five Republicans, getting together and warning that the White House needs to stop fiddling on global warming.

A frontpage piece in the Post flags a study out today showing promise for a once-a-day AIDS treatment pill. Barring the unexpected, it should be out by the end of the year.

The WP off-leads Secretary of State Rice saying she's going to reassign "hundreds" of diplomats from cushy positions in Europe to hotter spots in the Middle East and elsewhere.

It's not about Abramoff…Congress-wonks Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann offer up a NYT op-ed that's dull, lengthy, and nails the deeper troubles of the Capitol:

The problem starts not with lobbyists but inside Congress. Over the past five years, the rules and norms that govern Congressional deliberation, debate and voting—what legislative aficionados call "the regular order"—have routinely been violated, especially in the House of Representatives, and in ways that mark a dramatic break from custom….

Quick and decisive Congressional actions could minimize the damage done by the explosion of scandals related to Mr. Abramoff. But lobbying reform alone is a temporary solution. The real solution is for Congress to behave like the deliberative body it is supposed to be.

Gore AND McClellan PHOTO

JAMES NEWS PHOTO

Q You kept saying "lawful." It's true the President -- there is a law that permits the President to get a warrant and wiretap. But he has not been doing that; he's been breaking the law. Al Gore said he broke the law. The ACLU is filing a suit. Why does he break the law? I mean, he has the means and the tools to do what --

MR. McCLELLAN: I reject that wholeheartedly, Helen. The legal justification has been spelled out by the Department of Justice.

In terms of Al Gore's comments, I think his hypocrisy knows no bounds. It was the Clinton administration that used warrantless physical searches. An example is what they did in the case of Aldrich Ames. And it was the Deputy Attorney General under the Clinton administration that testified before Congress and said, "First, the Department of Justice believes and the case law supports that the President has inherent authority" -- inherent authority -- "to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes and that the President may, as has been done, delegate this authority to the Attorney General." This is testimony, public testimony before the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

I would also point out that a former associate Attorney General under the Clinton administration said that every President since FISA's passage has asserted that he retained inherent power to go beyond the Act's terms -- under President Clinton -- and he pointed to the Deputy Attorney General's comments that I just referenced. So --

Q Then you welcome a core test on whether this is really legal or not.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there's going to be a Judiciary Committee hearing and the Attorney General has indicated he looks forward to going before the Judiciary Committee and discussing the legal justification for this. We have already spelled that legal justification out for people to look at. And he looks forward to talking to the Judiciary Committee and testifying on these matters.

Q Scott, let me just follow on the criticism of Al Gore, who, as Helen notes, called the spying program a dangerous over-reach; said that it should be looked into by a special counsel; said later that this may even be an impeachable offense. At the same time you've got Senator Hilary Clinton calling this administration one of the worst in U.S. history, comparing your Republican-controlled House to a plantation where dissenting voices are squelched.

How do you respond to what seem to be --

MR. McCLELLAN: You're combining two things. Let me address the first one --

Q Right, but I mean, they're combined in a sense that they go to how the party is governing, how the President is governing --

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I just talked about Al Gore's comments and I said Al Gore's hypocrisy knows no bounds. If he is going to be the voice of the Democratic Party on national security matters, we welcome it, we look forward to the discussion. I think the American people clearly understand the importance of what we're trying to do to protect them and prevent attacks from happening. And that's why this authorization is so vital.

In terms of the comments you referenced from Senator Clinton, I think that they were out of bounds.

Q Well, what's going on here, do you think?

MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry?

Q I mean, where is this coming from? You've got two of the most high-profile Democrats saying these things; what do you think they're up to?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think we know one tends to like or enjoy grabbing headlines. The other one sounds like that the political season may be starting early.

Q So you think Gore is going to run again; is that -- (laughter.)

MR. McCLELLAN: I'll let you figure that one out. (Laughter.)

Q WCBS.com in New York quotes Senator Hillary Clinton telling the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network yesterday, "When you look at how the House of Representatives has been run, it's been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about." She went on to say, "I predict to you that this administration will go down in history as one of the worst that has ever governed our country." And my question is, does the White House believe that this, from a Clinton, was more or less offensive than the Al Gore hypocrisy outburst?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, they were, and I think they were way out of line. I indicated earlier in response to David Gregory's question. Thank you. END 2:04 P.M. EST

AUTHORIZED BY PRESIDENT BUSH James News Photo

James News Photo
The White House accused former Vice President Al Gore of hypocrisy Tuesday for his assertion that President Bush broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.

"If Al Gore is going to be the voice of the Democrats on national security matters, we welcome it," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in a swipe at the Democrat, who lost the 2000 election to Bush.

Gore, in a speech Monday, called for an independent investigation of the administration program that he says broke the law by listening in — without warrants — on Americans suspected of talking with terrorists abroad.

Gore called the program, authorized by President Bush, "a threat to the very structure of our government" and charged that the administration acted without congressional authority and made a "direct assault" on a federal court set up to authorize requests to eavesdrop on Americans.

Meanwhile, two civil liberties groups — the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights — filed federal lawsuits Tuesday seeking to block the eavesdropping program, which they called unconstitutional electronic surveillance of American citizens.

McClellan said the Clinton-Gore administration had engaged in warrantless physical searches, and he cited an FBI search of the home of CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames without permission from a judge. He said Clinton's deputy attorney general, Jamie Gorelick, had testified before Congress that the president had the inherent authority to engage in physical searches without warrants.

"I think his hypocrisy knows no bounds," McClellan said of Gore.

But at the time that of the Ames search in 1993 and when Gorelick testified a year later, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act required warrants for electronic surveillance for intelligence purposes, but did not cover physical searches. The law was changed to cover physical searches in 1995 under legislation that Clinton supported and signed.

Gore said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should name a special counsel to investigate the program, saying Gonzales had an "obvious conflict of interest" as a member of the Bush Cabinet as well as the nation's top law enforcement officer.

Gonzales, who has agreed to testify publicly at a Senate hearing on the program, defended the surveillance on cable news talk shows Monday night.

"This program has been reviewed carefully by lawyers at the Department of Justice and other agencies," Gonzales said on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes." "We firmly believe that this program is perfectly lawful. The president has the legal authority to authorize these kinds of programs."

On CNN's "Larry King Live," Gonzales said Gore's comments were inconsistent with Clinton administration policy.

"It's my understanding that during the Clinton administration there was activity regarding physical searches without warrants," Gonzales said. "I can also say it's my understanding that the deputy attorney general testified before Congress that the president does have the inherent authority under the Constitution to engage in physical searches without a warrant. And so, those would certainly seem to be inconsistent with what the former vice president was saying today."

Gore said there is still much to learn about the domestic surveillance program, but that he already has drawn a conclusion about its legality.

"What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and insistently," he said.

Bush has pointed to a congressional resolution passed after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that authorized him to use force in the fight against terrorism as allowing him to order the program.

Gore, however, contended that Bush failed to convince Congress to support a domestic spying program, so he "secretly assumed that power anyway, as if congressional authorization was a useless bother."

He said the spying program must be considered along with other administration actions as a constitutional power grab by the president. Gore cited imprisoning American citizens without charges in terrorism cases, mistreatment of prisoners — including torture — and seizure of individuals in foreign countries and delivering them to autocratic regimes "infamous for the cruelty of their techniques."

Shelley Winters James News Photo

James News Photo
On Saturday, January 14, Hollywood lost one of its greatest actresses. Shelly Winters, two time Oscar-winner, died at the age of 85 in a Southern California nursing home, where she was hospitalized in October after having a heart attack.

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, Winters played every kind of role, from glamorous to trashy, despite her impoverished upbringing forcing her to sell magazines in the street at the age of nine. She later became a salesgirl in the Garment District before getting her big break in an amateur review.

Her first Oscar for supporting actress came in 1959, for her portrayal of a woman hiding from the Nazis in The Diary of Anne Frank. Her second came for playing a blind woman in A Patch of Blue (1965).

In 1980 she released the autobiography, Shelley, Also Known As Shirley, where she gave details about her three marriages, as well as her affairs with high profile stars, such as Marlon Brando, Errol Flynn and Burt Lancaster.

One of her last public appearances was on the Johnny Carson show, where she plugged her second biography, The Best of Times -- The Worst of Times.

Winters leaves behind a daughter, Gina Vittoria, from ber second marriage with Italian actor, Vittorio Gassman.

Ayman al-Zawahri

JAMES NEWS PHOTO.
An airstrike in a remote Pakistani tribal area killed at least 17 people on Friday, and a senior Pakistani official said the target was a suspected al-Qaida hideout that may have been frequented by high-level operatives, possibly the No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

Citing unnamed American intelligence officials, U.S. news networks reported that it was a CIA strike and that al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, could have been at a targeted compound in the Bajur area or about to arrive.

There was no confirmation from either the Pakistani or U.S. government, but a senior Pakistani government official told The Associated Press that "there is 50-50 chance that some al-Qaida personality was at the home" that was hit in the border village of Damadola, about 125 miles northwest of the capital Islamabad.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Saturday that he had heard that the al-Qaida figure may have been al-Zawahri and that the information would be clearer later Saturday.

In Pakistan, the military only confirmed to The Associated Press that there had been explosions in a remote village near the Afghan border, but could not confirm the cause or casualties. The spokesman for President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said the incident was still being investigated.

"I am not in a position to say yes or no. We know that media is reporting it, but we have no such information, or any details. We are still investigating this matter," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told AP Saturday.

In Washington, Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence officials all said they had no information on the reports concerning al-Zawahri.

An AP reporter who visited the scene about 12 hours after what villagers said was an airstrike saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart. Villagers, who denied links to the Taliban or al-Qaida militants, had buried at least 15 people, including women and children, and were digging for more bodies in the rubble. There were no security forces in the area.

U.S. and Pakistani officials told NBC news that U.S. predator drones fired as many as 10 missiles.

Doctors told The Associated Press that at least 17 people died in the attack before dawn on Friday — the second deadly strike in a week near the Afghan border.

Sahibzada Haroon ur Rashid, a local lawmaker from a hard-line Islamic party, claimed it was a U.S. airstrike — opposite a region of Afghanistan where Islamic militants are active. In Kabul, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody said he had no reports on Friday's attack.

Residents of Damadola, a hillside hamlet about four miles inside northwestern Pakistan, said they heard aircraft overhead before bombs or missiles crashed through the Pashtun tribal village — blasts that were felt miles away.

The wreckage of the three houses destroyed was scattered in craters some 10 feet deep. Five women were weeping nearby, cursing the attackers. Dozens of others gathered to express condolences.

"My entire family was killed, and I don't know whom should I blame for it," said Sami Ullah, a 17-year old student, as he shifted debris from his ruined home with a hoe. "I only seek justice from God."

He said 24 of his family members were killed — among them his parents, four brothers, three sisters-in-law, three sisters and five nephews. He said his father, Bakht Pur, had been a laborer.

Digging through the cement rubble of his home, Shah Zaman, who lost two sons and a daughter, recounted hearing planes at about 2:40 a.m.

"I ran out and saw planes were dropping bombs," said Zaman, 40. "I saw my home being hit."

"I don't know who carried out this attack and why. We were needlessly attacked. We are law-abiding people. I think we were targeted wrongly," he said.

The attack was the latest in a series of strikes on the Pakistan side of the border with Afghanistan, unexplained by authorities but widely suspected to have targeted terror suspects or Islamic militants. Militant groups like al-Qaida and the Taliban are believed to be active in the border area, but Bajur itself is rarely troubled by violence.

In early 2004 during a major Pakistani counterterrorism operation in neighboring South Waziristan, Pakistani officials said on condition of anonymity that al-Zawahri was believed to be hiding in the area, but the reports were never substantiated.

Al-Zawahri has appeared regularly over the Internet and in Arab media, encouraging Muslims to attack Americans and U.S. interests worldwide.

Like bin Laden, his whereabouts had been unknown since the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan began following the terror attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

But he has continued to spread his message, including in a videotape broadcast Jan. 6 that said the United States' decision to withdraw some troops from Iraq represented "the victory of Islam."
In September, al-Zawahri said his terror network that was responsible for the bombings in July that killed 52 people on London's transit system. Associated Press.

Jonestown

JAMES NEWS PHOTO.
Jim Jones. Religious cult leader. Born in 1931 in Lynn, Indiana. An influential Indianapolis preacher, Jones formed the People's Temple in 1955, which he moved to California in the late 1960s. After Jones became the subject of criminal investigations, particularly with regard to his alleged diversion of cult members' donations for his personal use, he and about 1,000 followers relocated to Jonestown, Guyana, in 1977.

In November 1978, cult members killed Congressman Leo J. Ryan as he attempted to leave the People’s Temple compound after an investigatory visit. The following day, Jones orchestrated the mass suicide of more than 900 followers, who were compelled to drink cyanide-laced punch. Jones died the same day of a bullet wound to the head.

Newt Gingrich White Papers

JAMES NEWS PHOTO

White Papers
Newt on the Abramoff Scandal
Handout to the DC Rotary Club

Wednesday, January 4, 2006
by Newt Gingrich





“Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely”

Lord Acton



“It will not be denied, that power is of an encroaching nature, and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.”

Federalist Papers number 48, 1788



Lord Acton understood a principle which lay at the heart of the Founding Fathers development of a Constitution of limited effective government.



The Founding Fathers, having watched the corruption of the British governments of the 18th century, came to believe that power had to be limited, that there was an inherent bias toward corruption among those who had power and that big government was dangerous government.



The Abramoff scandal (and it is a scandal) is only one symptom of the growing profoundly unhealthy nature of power in Washington. Abramoff is the product of the system, not the system is the product of Abramoff. Abramoff did not create the system, but he did use it. It is important to start by stating flatly that this is not a lobbyist scandal. This is a lobbyist-incumbent-staff scandal. Abramoff and every other guilty person should go to jail.



The questions of lobbying should be looked at. But looking only at lobbyists protects the heart of the current system of incumbency protection-big government spending and power-Washington insider domination of the country which as a system is much more dangerous than the Abramoff scandal alone. The Congressional earmarks for pork, the special powers of Senators to blackmail the Executive Branch, the special provisions written into an overly complex tax code late at night in hidden meetings are symptoms of this larger problem of which Abramoff is only the tip of the iceberg. Efforts to focus reforms only on lobbying are efforts that will fail to move beyond the symptoms and look at the entire disease of corrupt power which is slowly engulfing the national government.



Consider these other symptoms:



One person spends $100 million personally to first buy a senate seat and then buy a governorship, and while spending that $100 million, votes for the McCain-Feingold bill to limit every middle class citizen to $2,500 an election per campaign.



Foreign governments and entities increasingly understand they can buy influence in Washington, and from the campaign scandals of 1996 to the recent donation of $20 million by a Saudi Prince to a major University, there has been a flood of foreign money designed to influence the most powerful government in the world.



The election process has turned into an incumbency protection process in which lobbyists attend PAC fundraisers to raise money for incumbents so they can drown potential opponents, thus creating war chests which convince potential candidates not to run and freeing up the incumbents to spend more time at Washington PAC fundraisers. The McCain-Feingold limits create ridiculously low contribution limits which requires more and more time be spent raising money in small amounts to maintain the war chests.



The very wealthy simply go through a loophole in the new campaign law and create irresponsible 527 organizations turning the 2004 Presidential campaign into the most relentlessly negative and harsh in modern times.



Senators abuse their power to blackmail the Executive Branch by allowing individual Senators to hold up Presidential appointments in order to extort things from the Executive Branch in a bazaar of negotiation.



Faced with incumbency protection, lobbyist friends, and huge war chests, House and Senate Members find it impossible to say no and simply keep bloating the federal government into a bigger and bigger engine of spending which attracts even more money into lobbying and interest group activities and makes the system even more vulnerable to corruption.



PRINCIPLES



The American people should be able to hold those to whom they loan power (incumbents) accountable and the bias of the system should be toward power back home rather than power in Washington.



Lobbying is an honorable and legitimate function but it should be transparent and accountable.



Middle class candidates should be able to challenge incumbents and millionaires with adequate resources raised from their own constituency.



Foreign influence buying is potentially fatal to our system of government and has to be tightly scrutinized and monitored.



Americans should expect the majority of the House and Senate to put the country first and to restrain or defeat those efforts at personal aggrandizement and personal power which undermine the effectiveness and the legitimacy of the government.



Members of Congress should apply at least as strong a set of rules to themselves as they have applied to business chief executive officers through the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation









FIRST STEPS TO REFORM



The Congress and the President should take these symptoms of dysfunction and corruption seriously and should look at the entire range of problems in a series of hearings and commissions which go to the very fundamentals of what the American people should expect and how the laws and regulations could be changed to strengthen the American people and weaken both the lobbyists and the incumbent politicians.



There are some practical reforms but they will go against the grain of the Washington elite and the establishment desire for bigger government with more rules and more regulations. Here are some key steps:



Abolish fundraising in Washington. There is no reason for incumbents to raise money in the capitol. Washington should be defined broadly so there are no loopholes for suburban fundraisers. The intent should be clear and decisive. Cut the connection between lobbying and campaign money;


Allow unlimited contributions by citizens in the Congressional District of a House race or in the state of a Senate race. There is no reason the honest working citizens back home should have a restriction on their donation while millionaires buy seats and lobbyists host special interest fundraisers. No single step would shift power toward home and away from Washington faster than allowing citizens unlimited funds to donate to elect their own candidates in their own district. One millionaires’ $100 million purchase of a Senate seat and a Governorship in New Jersey should stand as convincing proof that the average citizen should be allowed to donate to the poorer candidate to offset the big rich ability to buy power;


Require that all lobbying contacts between government officials (elected and unelected) and lobbyists be posted on the internet weekly so people can understand who is doing what. Require that the lobbyist file one report and the member or staff file a parallel report so there is a continuous process of confirming accuracy and honesty in reporting. Make it a felony to deliberately misreport;


Create a foreign travel approval board to certify that any non-government travel is a legitimate educational trip and not a sham event;


All special provisions (earmarks) should be required to have the members name and an explanation attached so people can identify who is putting in special provisions;


All spending bills (including conference reports and continuing resolutions) should be filed and have a mandatory 72 hour posting on Thomas before being voted on. This would allow the bloggers, the media, and citizen activists to identify any outrages before the vote rather than after;


All government grants and contracts should be posted on line so they can be scrutinized immediately. Transparency is the key first step toward accountability;


Any systematic or significant violation of the gift band by staff which shows up in the dual reporting system established in reform 3 should lead to immediate review and dismissal if guilty. There should be a staff violation review board and anyone who encounters violations should be encouraged them to report to the board. Staff arrogance and violation of the rules has become a larger problem than member violations and staffs have so much power in the modern gigantic Washington government that they have to be held to the standards of honesty and public service.

The Senate should review its rules and restrictions and bring them up to the House standard. In many ways the Senate rules are two decades behind the House in transparency, accountability and limitation of influence;


Require all foreign monies being used to influence government to be reported and posted on the internet so there is one center of information about the flow of cash. It will stun people to learn how many foreign entities now seek to influence the United States;


Establish a back home standard of honesty and expectations. If you can’t explain it back home without lying then it is wrong. Service before self is a pretty good standard even in Washington. If you have to pretend something is charitable when it is clearly personal it is wrong. Washington will presently get caught up in sophisticated, complicated self analysis when the facts are pretty simple. People did the wrong things and they should not be allowed to get away with it.






There are two broader measures that are symptomatic of an unhealthy system:



End the Senate hold system on Presidential appointments and eliminate the arrogance of individual Senators blackmailing the President of the United States over extraneous issues with the compliance of their colleagues in what is in effect a mugging of the Executive Branch and a major contribution to the arrogance of power in the Senate;


Shrink the size of the federal government and move power out of Washington and back to the 50 states, the 3300 counties and even more importantly to the American people. As long as government is this big, spends this much, and is this powerful the struggle to control and influence it will overwhelm any legal and regulatory remedy. All real reformers should want smaller government and less power in Washington.


Enforce the existing rules. Many of the problems exist because people have been winking at the rules. Punish the wrong doers. Eliminate from authority those with bad judgment. Set a clear standard of honesty and candor.

2000 election

After a bitterly contested election, Vice President Al Gore presides over a joint session of Congress that certifies George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 election.
2000 Elections