Keith Olbermann had Jonathan Turley on again to discuss Bush’s proposed changes to the Geneva Convention and torture.

An interview with Dr. Paul Cameron of the Family Research Institute on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show. about gays in the military. You can hardly believe this guy is for real. Can we waterboard him???Good Lord…….

When we vote, we assume the people we vote for are going to represent US. Not so……. they represent whoever can pay to be represented. Something’s gotta change.

Tariff Suspensions, Often Initiated by Companies Based Overseas, Keep Millions of Dollars From Flowing to the Treasury Each Year

By Joe Stephens
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 20, 2006; Page A01

For three generations, the Dungey family of Auburn, N.Y., has produced handmade dog collars and leashes for pet stores around the country. The family’s six-person shop has staved off competition from cheaper foreign labor by offering a range of products, from affordable “Sparky’s Choice” leashes to a $100 beveled-brass collar known as the “Gatsby.”

One day this spring, the company president, Anita Dungey, happened across a few words on a Web site, leading her to a startling discovery: One of her small advantages over imports was about to disappear, thanks to a little-noticed proposal in the Senate. The plan, it turned out, had been promoted by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Read the full article at the Washington Post

LAURIE KELLMAN
(AP)
09.19.2006, 07:06 PM

President Bush’s stalled anti-terrorism agenda edged forward Tuesday, with a rebellious House member rewriting her bill on wiretaps more to his liking and maverick Senate Republicans reopening talks over how to handle detainees.

Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., offered to substitute her original bill on giving legal status to Bush’s domestic surveillance program with a bill that would grant a key administration request: allow wiretapping on Americans in the event of an “imminent” terrorist attack.

In exchange, the administration would be required to share with Congress more details of the nature of the threat, presumably with the House and Senate Intelligence committees and some congressional leaders.

“Excesses are best prevented when intelligence activities are operated within a framework that controls government power by using checks and balances among the three branches of government,” Wilson said in a statement.

The substitute, to be considered Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee, represents a possible breakthrough in a bitter, election’season rift between the White House and GOP leaders on one side and Republican lawmakers concerned about Bush’s use of executive authority in his war on terror.

While the wiretapping question moved ahead, the second prong of Bush’s legislative war agenda - treatment of detainees - also showed signs of progress.

The White House and a group of Senate Republicans continued Tuesday to swap proposals on legislation authorizing the interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects.

The two sides remained at odds over how to adhere to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and at the same time allow the CIA to conduct effective interrogations.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said “progress was being made in good faith,” while Majority Leader Bill Frist said he hoped to vote on a final measure by the end of next week.

The Senate Armed Services Committee last week approved detainee legislation written by Warner, the panel’s chairman, and Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., but opposed by Bush. The White House has said the committee’s bill would put an end to the CIA interrogation program.

Bush’s measure would let coerced testimony be presented at terrorism trials but would deny defendants access to classified evidence in them. Bush also favors a narrower interpretation of the Geneva Conventions that would make it harder to prosecute U.S. interrogators for using harsh techniques.

Full article

“Republican lawmakers concerned about Bush’s use of executive authority in his war on terror.”

After reading about that horse and pony show, they didn’t seem overly concerned to me! As always, Bush will get his new toy.

Let the games begin…….. now we’re going to hear what Bush doesn’t want us to hear.

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 20, 2006; Page A05

Representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross are scheduled to begin meetings Monday with the 14 terrorism suspects who were held for years in secret CIA custody, the detainees’ first contact with the outside world since they were captured after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The meetings will be part of a routine Red Cross visit to the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said Simon Schorno, a Red Cross spokesman in Washington. About 12 officials, including interpreters, will spend about two weeks at the camp, he said.

Read more at the Washington Post

CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Jim McGreevey condemned gay marriage when he was New Jersey’s governor, but yesterday he said he’d love to tie the knot with boyfriend Mark O’Donnell.

“My opposition was all about political positioning,” McGreevey said in a wide-ranging interview at the historic Plainfield, N.J., mansion he shares with his partner.

His uncompromising stance against gay marriage, McGreevey added, also stemmed from “a fear of being discovered” that he, too, was homosexual. “I had to prove to everyone that I was a red-blooded American male,” he said.

McGreevey, 49, opened up about what he called his life-long “pattern of deception” as his memoir, “The Confession,” hit bookstores and a previously taped interview with Oprah Winfrey aired on ABC.

Link…

Wouldn’t it be nice to find a politician to stand up and defend something, even if it didn’t suit their personal needs or agenda, but just because it’s the right thing to do?!

Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
September 19, 2006

The Senate, which has been the major obstacle to strict border’security legislation this year, will take up a bill this week that calls for constructing 700 more miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“It’s time to secure the border with Mexico,” Majority Leader Bill Frist said last night before filing the parliamentary motions to force the House-passed bill onto the Senate floor in a final effort to get a major immigration bill on the president’s desk before the elections.
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Minority Leader Harry Reid, said the move “smacks of desperation” and was a “clear repudiation of President Bush’s call for comprehensive legislation.”
The Secure Fence Act of 2006, which was easily approved by the House last week, contains none of the “comprehensive” measures that President Bush, Democrats and some Senate Republicans have demanded. Those include provisions to grant citizenship rights to about 10 million illegal aliens living in the country and a guest-worker program that would usher hundreds of thousands more foreign laborers into the U.S.
“Mr. Frist was for comprehensive reform before he was against it,” Mr. Manley said.
On the Senate floor last night, Mr. Frist said he still supports comprehensive immigration reform legislation. But, he said, because no consensus can now be reached on other issues, Congress should move ahead with border security. It’s not “enforcement only,” he said, but “enforcement first.”
“Border security is the essential first step of any effort to enact immigration reform,” Mr. Frist said. “Only when we have convinced the American people of our commitment to securing our borders will we be able to reach a consensus on comprehensive immigration reform.”

Full article here

Is it election time or what???

ATLANTA A state judge Tuesday struck down as unconstitutional the latest version of a new Georgia law requiring voters to show a photo identity document.

State Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. ruled that the photo identity requirement disenfranchises otherwise qualified voters and adds a new, unconstitutional condition to voting.

“This cannot be,” Bedford wrote, pointing out that a photo identity is not required to register to vote in Georgia.

The case is expected to go to the Georgia Supreme Court before the Nov. 7 general election.

Supporters of the photo identity law, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue, have said it is needed to protect against voter fraud. Similar measures have been introduced in a number of other states.

Opponents argue it disenfranchises poor, elderly and minority voters who are less likely to have a driver’s license or other valid government-issued photo identity document. They argue it is a ploy to discourage likely Democratic voters.

Russ Willard, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office, said it would appeal the judge’s ruling “as quickly as possible.”

Article link

Is there no level a damn republican won’t stoop to? History has shown that the biggest cause of voter fraud is republican lack of ethics. Maybe Gov. Perdue will pursue that one… Oh, right!

I realize I-ve been remiss in not writing more on one of the subjects most dear to my heart: education. It’s, err, an issue not entirely separate from the politics (and music!) that form the main subjects of The Blue Herald.

A piece on the subject is here. (Apologies, this one has footnotes ‘n’ stuff, and I wasn’t up to recreating the whole thing this late. More political posts later this week! )

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA postponed the return of Atlantis for at least a day and examined the shuttle for damage that could prevent it from making the journey home after a mysterious object apparently fell off the ship in orbit Tuesday.

Space agency officials wanted extra time to establish whether the object was a vital piece of the shuttle - such as the tiles that protect it from the blowtorch heat of re-entry - and whether it harmed the spacecraft when it fell away.

Officials were not optimistic they would be able to identify the object, since the possibilities were almost endless, ranging from harmless ice to crucial thermal protection tiles. But the leading candidate was a plastic space-filler placed between the thermal tiles.

“The question is: What is it? Is it something benign? … Or is it something more critical we should pay attention to?” said Wayne Hale, space shuttle program manager. “We want to make sure we’re safe to land before we commit to that rather incredible journey through the Earth’s atmosphere.”

article here