George Loper's Website

Fourth Circuit Upholds Fredericksburg Prayer Policy

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:44:20 GMT

"A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today upheld Fredericksburg City Council’s policy requiring that formal prayers used to open its meetings be nonsectarian. The opinion was written by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was a guest-member of the panel when it heard oral arguments in Ma...

U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:27:34 GMT

"Political appointees at the Department of Labor are moving with unusual speed to push through in the final months of the Bush administration a rule making it tougher to regulate workers' on-the-job exposure to chemicals and toxins. The agency did not disclose the proposal, as required, in public notices of regulatory plans that it file...

Have Corporate-Sponsored Internet Pranks Gone Too Far?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:24:58 GMT

? "Late in May, a public-relations company based in Paris created some user accounts on YouTube and posted four short videos. The clips had been produced by a professional advertising studio to look thoroughly homemade–shaky camera, unscripted-sounding dialogue, no corporate logos or overt marketing pitches. In each one, sever...

Ben Greenberg Remembers Senator Gartlan

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:24:40 GMT

George, I would like to share my thoughts with you and your readers about Senator Joseph Gartlan, who just passed away after a brief illness. I first had the opportunity to meet Senator Gartlan early during the 1973 Virginia General Assembly session. I had the pleasure of bringing to him the recommendations of a legislatively created study ...

Gene Foster

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:28:54 GMT

"Eugene Abram Foster M.D., died Monday, July 21, 2008, at age 81, at the University of Virginia Medical Center with his loving family around him, his wife Jane, his three children, Susannah of Culver City, California, Ethan of Sedona, Arizona, and Rebecca of Charlottesville. He is also survived by his brother, Roger, of Long Beach, New ...

An Oilman's Bet Against Oil

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:23:42 GMT

"T. Boone Pickens has played a lot of odd roles over the years. There was the geologist who made most of his early money by snapping up the stock of big, undervalued oil and gas companies, a practice known as "drilling on Wall Street." The wealthy corporate raider who said he was defending the rights of ordinary shareholders. ...

Bosnian Serb Captured; Sought for War Crimes

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:28:58 GMT

"Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader indicted by a U.N. war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, was captured in Serbia on Monday. The arrest ends a decade-long manhunt that had repeatedly frustrated his Western pursuers and left festering one of the most murderous ch...

Turbine Time

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:00:08 GMT

"Americans spend $700 billion a year on foreign oil. According to one observer, this is an addiction, a crisis, and a trap. The country must pursue alternative energy sources as fiercely as it once shot for the moon. So far, so much liberal boilerplate. The critic in question, however, is a Republican oilman: T. Boone Pickens. As he puts ...

Logs Show Activist Surveillance Continued Despite Lack of Criminal Findings

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:13:00 GMT

"The March 16, 2005, meeting of the Maryland Campaign to End the Death Penalty convened as usual at the Electrik Maid community center in Takoma Park, with an agenda similar to that of any grass-roots group with a passionate cause but no hired help. Donations were solicited for signs, fliers and other administrative expenses. A table w...

Warming Alters Predator-Prey Balance

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:16:34 GMT

"ISLE ROYALE, Mich. -- For six decades since they loped across frozen Lake Superior to reach this rocky island, wolves have roamed 45-mile-long Isle Royale, the nation's least-visited national park. The wolves survived the extermination efforts by the island's few inhabitants, who in the 1950s and '60s saw them as mortal enemies. And th...

Ruling Gives South Dakota Doctors a Script to Read

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:57:10 GMT

"In a victory for antiabortion forces, doctors in South Dakota are now required to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the procedure "will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit last week lifted a preliminary injunction that prevented the language fr...

Cosmic Markdown: EPA Says Life Is Worth Less

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:40:46 GMT

"Someplace else, people might tell you that human life is priceless. In Washington, the federal government has appraised it like a '96 Camaro with bad brakes. Last week, it was revealed that an Environmental Protection Agency office had lowered its official estimate of life's value, from about $8.04 million to about $7.22 million. That ...

Md. Surveillance Ended in 2006, Governor Says

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:31:04 GMT

"Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that the Maryland State Police have ceased the surveillance of war protesters and death penalty opponents conducted under his predecessor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and called the monitoring a politically motivated mistake. "In retrospect, they should not have done it for the duration of time they ...

Joseph V. Gartlan Jr.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:27:04 GMT

"As a freshman senator in the Virginia General Assembly in 1972, Joseph V. Gartlan Jr. rose to the Senate floor to tell his colleagues that their budgetary sense was "appalling." Two years later, the Fairfax County Democrat questioned the ethics of legislators receiving per-diem expenses for days they spent at home. Fourteen ...

Police Spied on Activists In Md.

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:34:48 GMT

"Undercover Maryland State Police officers conducted surveillance on war protesters and death penalty opponents, including some in Takoma Park, for more than a year while Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was governor, documents released yesterday show. Detailed intelligence reports logged by at least two agents in the police department's Homeland...

Warming Is Major Threat To Humans, EPA Warns

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:28:10 GMT

"Climate change will pose "substantial" threats to human health in the coming decades, the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday -- issuing its warnings about heat waves, hurricanes and pathogens just days after the agency declined to regulate the pollutants blamed for warming. In a new report, the EPA said "it i...

Census Won't Count Gay Marriages

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:23:12 GMT

"Diane Curtis and Ellen Leuchs tied the knot in May 2004, less than a week after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage and a decade after beginning their life as a couple. To the U.S. Census Bureau, however, their marriage does not count. Or, more specifically, it will not be counted in the 2010 census. Although gay marriage is l...

Nude Developments at PBS? You'll Have to Stay Tuned

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:26:54 GMT

Nude Developments at PBS? You'll Have to Stay Tuned "After four days of genuflecting before cable networks at Summer TV Press Tour 2008, pressing executive producers about how they find the right balance of "boobs and beer" to attract the sought-after young male viewer, it's time for critics to don their Decency Police uni...

Offshore Drilling Backed as Remedy for Oil Prices

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:50:06 GMT

"On Jan. 28, 1969, a blowout on a Unocal rig six miles off the coast of California spilled 3 million gallons of oil into the waters off Santa Barbara. The blackened beaches and oil-soaked birds and seals became icons for the environmental movement and eventually brought oil exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United Sta...

Colorado Voters Will Be Asked When 'Personhood' Begins

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:41:40 GMT

"A proposal to define a fertilized human egg as a person will land on Colorado's ballot this November, marking the first time that the question of when life begins will go before voters anywhere in the nation. The Human Life Amendment, also known as the personhood amendment, says the words "person" or "persons" in th...

Kathleen 'Kat' Kinkade

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:52:36 GMT

"Kathleen "Kat" Kinkade, 77, a founding member of a rural Virginia commune called Twin Oaks Community, died July 3 of complications related to bone cancer. She had been a resident of Twin Oaks, about 35 miles southeast of Charlottesville, since its beginning in 1967. Eighty-five income-sharing adults and 15 children continue t...

Root Causes and The Seeds of a Cure

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:43:02 GMT

"ROYDON, England-- At the fringe of his two-acre garden, Richard Mabey stops alongside an oak tree to point out a nesting box he put up for the barn owls. He's seen owls in the adjoining field, and while they have yet to take up home in the oak tree, Mabey anticipates a day when they will. This hope for the future, in itself, is a small...

Iran Launches Nine Test Missiles, Says More Are Ready

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:26:32 GMT

"Iran test-fired nine missiles yesterday -- including at least one capable of striking Israel -- and asserted that thousands more are "ready for launch," but Bush administration officials played down the possibility of military action against the Islamic republic and belittled Tehran's claims of progress on its nuclear program. ...

Churches Use Creativity to Help Parishioners Deal With Gas Price Increases

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:33:58 GMT

"At St. Stephen Baptist Church in Louisville, the 14,000-member congregation billed itself as a "seven-day-a-week" hub of activity, with choir practices, ministry meetings or small groups scheduled every night. Then the Rev. Kevin Cosby noticed a drop-off. People couldn't afford the gas to drive to activities on several evenin...

Tower Gets Conditional OK

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:19:06 GMT

"During its Tuesday meeting, Charlottesville’s Board of Architectural Review reinforced the idea that the devil is in the details. “[Ten percent] or 15 percent of design is headache,” said Michael Osteen, Planning Commission liaison to the board. The architectural board largely favored design site plans for a nine-story...

G-8 Conference Tackles Global Warming Treaty

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:16:54 GMT

"RUSUTSU, Japan, July 9-- The leaders of the countries most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions pledged Wednesday to combat global warming, but developing countries such as China and India continued to balk at the approach favored by the United States. The 16 countries, along with the heads of the European Commission, the United N...

My photo made Joseph Dwyer famous. Did it also help lead to his death?

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:13:12 GMT

? "The e-mail was a punch in the gut: "the soldier you made famous -- killed himself last Saturday -- thought you should know." I thought I'd put photojournalism and war behind me four and a half years ago when I traded in the dusty battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan for law school in Miami. But those words reminded m...

More Illegal Immigrants Putting Affairs in Order

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:59:34 GMT

"A 30-year-old single mother from Manassas recently visited a notary public to formally arrange custody for her toddler son after she's gone. It's deportation, not death, that has her worried. With federal authorities stepping up raids and local police joining enforcement efforts, illegal immigrants and their advocates say that prepar...

Review Finds Slurs In '06 Saudi Texts

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:50:28 GMT

"A Saudi-funded academy in Fairfax County used textbooks as recently as 2006 that compared Jews and Christians to apes and pigs, told eighth-graders that these groups are "the enemies of the believers" and diagrammed for high school students where to cut off the hands and feet of thieves, a Washington Post review of the books ha...

Celebrity Passport Records Popular

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:49:38 GMT

"Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization inside the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity's records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people. The audit, by State's inspector general, was prompted by the di...

D.C. to Fund Cameras at High-Crime Metro Spots

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:32:46 GMT

"Metro Transit Police plan to install outdoor security cameras at 10 high-crime Metrorail stations in the District over the next six months, officials said yesterday. The District is providing $225,000 for the cameras. Police have recommended that an additional 20 suburban Metro stations be outfitted with exterior cameras, but Maryland ...

Doctors' Group Plans Apology For Racism

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:32:06 GMT

"The country's largest medical association is set to issue a formal apology today for its historical antipathy toward African American doctors, expressing regret for a litany of transgressions, including barring black physicians from its ranks for decades and remaining silent during battles on landmark legislation to end racial discrimina...

Putting Her Foot Down and Getting the Boot

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:36:54 GMT

"The ghost of Rummy is proving difficult to exorcise. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tried to sweep out the symbols of his predecessor's capricious reign, firing acolytes of Donald Rumsfeld and bringing glasnost to the Pentagon. But in one area, Rummy's Rules still pertain: the attempt to hide from public view the returning war d...

The Everyman Plan

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:47:08 GMT

"Columnist Steven Pearlstein answered questions yesterday with online readers. Here are excerpts from the conversation. Washington: When is someone going to bail out the common everyday man? We are pumping billions of taxpayer dollars into Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, IndyMac Bank . . . but I can't get anyone to help me keep from losing my...

D.C. Adding Gunfire Sensors

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:59:38 GMT

"The D.C. police department is expanding its ShotSpotter network throughout the city in an effort to react faster to gunfire and has plans to link the technology to surveillance cameras in hopes of catching gun-toting criminals in the act. Police said the ShotSpotter technology, which detects and locates gunfire, has aided homicide inv...

Out of the Wilderness

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:52:04 GMT

"On July 4th, normally the busiest public holiday of the year, tourists were put off by high petrol prices and more than 300 wildfires raging across California. On Memorial Day, traditionally the beginning of the summer season, it was cold. In 1999 there was a grisly murder. In 1997 the Merced river flooded, inundating a hotel and wiping ...

Dogs' New Trick: Finding Cellphones

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:36:04 GMT

"We could all use one from time to time: a dog that can find the darn cellphone. Maryland has three. Their job is to sniff out phones smuggled into prisons. "Seek," Sgt. David Brosky told his dog Alba yesterday, offering a public demonstration at the former Maryland House of Correction in Jessup. Alba made her way through ...

Altering the Economics of Civil Litigation

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:25:08 GMT

"No doubt they were throwing back double vodkas at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week following the Supreme Court's decision to cut the punitive damages in the Exxon Valdez oil spill to a week's worth of Exxon Mobil's profits. The chamber, through two affiliates, the National Chamber Litigation Center and the Institute for Legal Ref...

Gay-Marriage Opponents To Boycott McDonald's

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:30:42 GMT

"A group that opposes same-sex marriage has called for a boycott of McDonald's, saying the fast-food giant has refused "to stay neutral in the cultural war over homosexuality." The American Family Association (AFA) launched the boycott yesterday because McDonald's joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce severa...

The Mom Behind a Movement

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:20:12 GMT

"Old Town Alexandria's Abby Spangler didn't set out to start a national movement for tighter gun controls. But she took note when two students shot their classmates at Columbine High School in Colorado. She watched moms keep their kids inside when the D.C. snipers terrorized the Washington region. Then five Amish girls were shot in the...

Why are public schools so bad at hiring good instructors?

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:52:58 GMT

? "PS 49 in Queens used to be an average school in New York City's decidedly below-average school system. That was before Anthony Lombardi moved into the principal's office. When Lombardi took charge in 1997, 37 percent of fourth graders read at grade level, compared with nearly 90 percent today; there have also been double-digit i...

Daily Progress Shifts Printing to Richmond

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 21:16:34 GMT

"The Daily Progress on Monday shifted the printing and packaging of its 30,000-circulation daily and Sunday newspaper to the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Hanover County press center. This move to its sister newspaper’s facility affects 25 employees whose positions were eliminated. Subscribers’ delivery times will be unaff...

Rights like free speech don't always extend online

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 18:59:28 GMT

"Rant all you want in a public park. A police officer generally won't eject you for your remarks alone, however unpopular or provocative. Say it on the Internet, and you'll find that free speech and other constitutional rights are anything but guaranteed. Companies in charge of seemingly public spaces online wipe out content that's c...

Packing Protection or Packing Suicide Risk?

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 18:06:36 GMT

? "Seventeen years ago, a couple of criminologists at the University of Maryland published an interesting paper about the 1976 District ban on handguns -- a ban that was recently overturned by the Supreme Court on the grounds it was inimical to the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms to protect themselves. The research...

Views of Sacagawea

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 17:29:42 GMT

"Articles and historical documents dating from the early 20th century give a glimpse into the mind of Charles Keck, the celebrated New York sculptor, as he perceived and created the of-late controversial Lewis and Clark statue on West Main Street. Several area residents have said the depiction of Sacagawea, the Shoshone Indian who guid...

Race profiling eyed for terror probes

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:24:20 GMT

"The Justice Department is considering letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims, Arabs or other racial and ethnic groups. Law enforcement officials say the proposed policy would help them do exactly what Congress demanded after the Sept...

SF 'Sanctuary City' Policy Reversed

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:22:26 GMT

"Minors who commit crimes while in the United States illegally will be turned over to federal immigration officials, a reversal of a nearly 20-year-old San Francisco policy, Mayor Gavin Newsom said Thursday. Under a loophole in the city's sanctuary policy for illegal immigrants, minors who committed crimes were being flown home or house...

YouTube Ordered To Release User Data

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 16:44:40 GMT

"A federal judge in New York this week ordered the video-sharing site YouTube, the world's third-most-visited Web site, to release data on the viewing habits of its tens of millions of worldwide viewers. Tuesday's ruling, which amounted to only seven paragraphs in a 25-page opinion that was mostly about programming code and other matter...

West African Bushmen Denied U.S. Visas

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 16:01:36 GMT

"Three West African bushmen recruited to build an authentic mud-hut village at the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia were denied visas because they are too poor and inarticulate. In a letter to Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., Debra Heien, chief of the consular section for the U.S. in Nigeria, said one applicant "could not articulate...

Telling Doctors What to Think

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 15:49:24 GMT

"In 2005, South Dakota passed an unprecedented abortion law. The statute purports to be about ensuring that patients give informed consent. Planned Parenthood characterizes it differently: as an intrusion on the doctor-patient relationship, forcing doctors to give inaccurate medical facts and to be the state's ideological mouthpiece. Now,...

Iran Seriously Considering Nuclear Offer

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 19:34:20 GMT

"'Iran's senior diplomat said Tuesday that Tehran was seriously considering a new offer from six world powers to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program, and he praised the package as "constructive." The unusually positive remarks by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki to a small group of reporters raised hope that a nego...

In Manassas, the Medium Is the Issue

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 19:00:22 GMT

"In Manassas's quaint, red-brick Old Town neighborhood, a giant billboard greets visiting tourists and commuters, but it was not put there by the city or Chamber of Commerce. "PWC and Manassas the National Capital of Intolerence," it declares, in hand-painted, none-too-subtle red and blue block lettering. The sign, 40 feet lo...

Daily Progress Published Email Forward as Letter to the Editor

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 16:03:02 GMT

"On June 8, newspaper reader Chuck Mathewes opened his Daily Progress to a liberals-bashing letter attributed to Debra Weidman of northern Albemarle County. Chock full of cheeky one-liners, the letter announced, “I think owning a gun doesn’t make you a killer, it makes you a smart American,” and “I believe that if you&...

Privacy Advocate Avoids Charges Under New Va Law

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 15:48:20 GMT

"Authorities have agreed for now not to enforce a new state law aimed at Betty "BJ" Ostergren, an activist who has been fighting to keep Social Security numbers private. In her campaign to alert the public, Ostergren has posted the numbers of some state officials on her Web site, www.TheVirginiaWatchdog.com. Identity thieve...

Chef Proves School Lunch Can Be Healthy, Cheap

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 15:56:48 GMT

"Chef Dominique Valadier starts each day at 5:30 a.m., just as the fish market opens in the southern French provincial town of Salon de Provence. On one particular day, he picks up 20 pounds of fresh, live mussels at the market before heading off to Lycee de l'Emperi, the public high school where he is the cook. At the school, he pre...

Christian Site's Ban on 'G' Word Sends Homosexual to Olympics

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 15:02:44 GMT

"The American Family Association obviously didn't foresee the problems that might arise with its strict policy to always replace the word "gay" with "homosexual" on the Web site of its Christian news outlet, OneNewsNow. The group's automated system for changing the forbidden word wound up publishing a story about a wo...

Community Historical & Political Events for July and Beyond

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:14:58 GMT

July Note: No Miller Center Forums until further notice. Wednesday, July 16: ASAP's previously announced monthly meeting CANCELED (due to ill health of planned speaker). Saturday, July 19: 9:30 a.m. Monthly Albemarle / Charlottesville Democratic Breakfast. Tom Perriello, Democratic candidate for Congress in the Fifth District talks ab...

Iraq Points to Pullout by 2010

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:21:58 GMT

"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama conferred with senior Iraqi leaders, U.S. officials and military commanders Monday, as a spokesman for the Iraqi government declared that it would like U.S. combat forces to complete their withdrawal by the end of 2010. The comments by spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh mark the second time in recen...

Gilmore, Warner Wrestle With Past Credits, Criticisms

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:03:58 GMT

"Republican James S. Gilmore III and Democrat Mark R. Warner vigorously and repeatedly attacked each other on energy, fiscal responsibility and truthfulness Saturday in their first debate in the race for U.S. Senate. Gilmore occasionally raised his voice while accusing Warner of being a "typical Washington politician" who hid ...

Latino Voters Turning Away from McCain

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:48:50 GMT

"One of the dilemmas facing those who spoke at the National Council of La Raza this week was how to pronounce the Hispanic activist group’s name. The first syllable of the word raza (race, or people) requires a tricky, un-English tongue movement. Some of the anglophone speakers who tried it sounded as though they were about to choke....

Virginia Ceases Spending, Hiring

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:09:14 GMT

"Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's administration ordered state agencies to stop hiring, traveling and buying equipment and prepare for even more severe cuts as the state's budget surplus is almost gone amid an economic slowdown. In a memo to agency heads, Wayne M. Turnage, Kaine's chief of staff, said a "troubling trend" has developed ...

Ashcroft Testifies on Interrogation Policy

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:01:20 GMT

"Former attorney general John D. Ashcroft defended his approach to forestalling terrorist attacks but told lawmakers yesterday that he moved quickly to respond to concerns that some Justice Department memos employed shoddy reasoning. In his first Capitol Hill appearance to address national security issues since leaving the Justice Depar...

John Ashcroft, Riding Back on a White Horse

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:25:24 GMT

"The rehabilitation of John David Ashcroft has been a wonder to behold. When he left the Justice Department three years ago, he was the left's favorite demon, the symbol of all the dark and sinister practices of the Bush administration. "Apparently he wants to spend more time spying on his family," David Letterman mused. Bu...

Obama Adds 20 Va. Offices In a Big Push To Win State

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:20:04 GMT

"Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced Wednesday that it is adding 20 offices across Virginia, an unprecedented effort by a presidential candidate and another sign that he plans to compete vigorously in a state that has been on the sidelines during past presidential contests. The offices, which will open Saturday, will be in nearly eve...

On State's Election Map, Some Areas Are Purple Question Marks

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:12:30 GMT

"With Virginia shaping up as a battleground in the presidential contest between Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), a few counties and cities will be key in deciding whether the state goes blue this year for the first time since 1964. Just as the national map can be sliced into blue, red and purple states, so, too, c...

A Leader Left Behind?

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:15:06 GMT

? "Few political figures have been more confounding than the Rev. Jesse Jackson. In four decades of public service, he has lived at the crossroads of inspiration and exasperation -- keeping hope alive for many and driving others crazy. Last week, he managed to become what has eluded him during this historic presidential campaign:...

Bush's War Betrays the Sage of Monticello's Vision for Liberty

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:39:44 GMT

"George W. Bush's recent speech at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello home highlights contrasting presidential legacies for advancing liberty in the world. Ironically, President Bush sought to don the Jefferson mantle by claiming that, "We honor Jefferson's legacy by aiding the rise of liberty in lands that do not know the blessings of...

Germany Denies Being Pressured on Obama

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:56:28 GMT

"The German government strongly denied Friday that it had been pressured by the Bush administration to discourage Sen. Barack Obama from giving an address in front of the landmark Brandenburg Gate during his upcoming European tour. Obama's campaign has declined to confirm the dates of his trip, but politicians here continued to squabble...

On Campaign Trail, Democrats Put Their Faith in Book of James

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:29:14 GMT

"When Sen. Barack Obama talks about faith, he sometimes invokes the New Testament Book of James and its admonition that "faith without works is dead." As she competed for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York frequently did the same, often more regularly than Obama (D-Ill.), though what she called ...

Cheney's Staff Cut Testimony On Warming

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:22:32 GMT

"Members of Vice President Cheney's staff censored congressional testimony by a top federal official about health threats posed by global warming, a former Environmental Protection Agency official said yesterday. In a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), former EPA deputy associate administrator Jason K. Burnett said an official fro...

Candidates Refine Their Stances on a Changing Iraq

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:58:20 GMT

"Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday dismissed criticism that he is abandoning his principles to move toward the political center, saying he has been consistent in embracing moderate views on several issues, especially his belief that pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq must be done "carefully." Obama addressed what he called "this ...

Feingold on FISA

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:11:54 GMT

"Speaking at the New American Foundation the last week in June, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) argued that Senate Democrats, including Barack Obama, are wrong on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) compromise the House and Senate reached with the Bush administration. Feingold said the immunity provision for telephone companies ...

Candiates Net Huge Contributions Early

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:28:32 GMT

"Although the election won’t happen for another 16 months, the three candidates in Virginia’s 2009 governor’s race are already raking in piles of campaign cash. Del. Brian Moran, a Democrat from Alexandria and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, collected roughly $1.38 million from 939 donors during the first six mo...

Prospect of Drilling Roils Political Waters

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:56:00 GMT

"A new push in Washington to increase offshore oil and natural-gas drilling has intrigued politicians and alarmed environmentalists in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, where the ocean has been off-limits to exploration for 19 years. Energy experts, though, say Ocean City sunbathers probably won't find themselves staring out at oil rigs...

It's Funny How Humor Is So Ticklish

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:23:30 GMT

"Call it the attack of the Jonathan Swiftboaters. A New Yorker cover illustration, showing Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim fist-bumping his gun-toting wife, fell afoul of the humor police yesterday. To some, it was satire. To others, it was aid and comfort to the malice mongers who hide under the rocks of American politics. In the end, i...

Barry Taylor Comments on New Yorker Cover

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:07:52 GMT

George, Too many people will see it negatively and/or actually believe it. Barry Taylor (electronic mail, July 15, 2008)...

Rey Barry Comments on New Yorker Cover

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:22:26 GMT

George, "Sometimes the insularity of Manhattan can be as confining as small town prejudices. Living and working in the world's most self- important city doesn't give one a right to act irresponsibly. It just may mean that your head is stuck up your ass." -- The BuzzFlash Editor's Blog for July 15th No one has a rig...

Bush Rescinds Father's Offshore Oil Ban

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:14:38 GMT

"President Bush yesterday lifted a presidential ban on offshore oil drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf that was implemented by his father, escalating a confrontation with Democrats in Congress over how to cope with soaring gas prices. Lifting the presidential moratorium has no immediate effect on exploration because Congress has e...

Ex-Professor in Terror Probe Freed on Bond

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:10:00 GMT

"A federal judge yesterday ordered the release on bond of a former Florida professor charged with refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating whether Islamic charities in Northern Virginia were financing terrorists. As conditions of his release, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ruled, Sami al-Arian must submit to electro...

Jackson Incident Revives Some Black's Concerns About Obama

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:05:40 GMT

"The larger point of Jesse L. Jackson's criticism of Barack Obama -- if not the crude way he expressed it -- touched a nerve among some African American political activists who have been unhappy about the senator 's pointed critiques of absentee fathers and other problems in the black community. Jackson, an Obama supporter, spent much o...

Gramm Remark Adds to McCain's Difficulty in Addressing the Economy

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:00:46 GMT

"BELLEVILLE, Mich. -- Sen. John McCain ventured to an auto-parts supplier in this hard-hit Detroit suburb to express sympathy for those affected by Michigan's economic malaise and to talk up his ideas for creating jobs in the region. But a day after a top McCain economic adviser dismissed the nation's struggles as a "mental recessi...

Leading Men

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:55:06 GMT

"Wonderful moment in John Ford's "The Searchers," from way back in 1956: John Wayne, as the surly, violent Ethan Edwards, signals to his young compadre that it's time to move on in their pursuit of Scar, the Comanche chief who's murdered their family and kidnapped the youngest daughter, Debbie. "Let's go, blankethead,&quo...

Debate Over Guantanamo's Fate Intensifies

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:45:28 GMT

"The Bush administration is developing a long-range plan to empty the Guantanamo Bay military prison that could include asking Congress to spell out procedures for scores of suspected terrorists whom the government does not plan to bring to trial, administration officials and others familiar with high-level White House discussions on the ...

Obama May Consider Slowing Iraq Withdrawal

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:41:54 GMT

"FARGO, N.D. -- Sen. Barack Obama raised the possibility of slowing a promised gradual, 16-month withdrawal from Iraq if he is elected president, saying that Thursday he will consult with military commanders on an upcoming trip to the region and "continue to refine" his proposals. "My 16-month timeline, if you examine eve...

Obamanomics

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:35:34 GMT

"Barack Obama's selection of Jason Furman as a top economic adviser angered unionists and anti-globalization activists. The 37-year-old Harvard Ph.D. is perceived to be a neoliberal aligned with Citigroup executive Robert Rubin, who was Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary. Much of the criticism leveled at Furman is a response to a paper he ...

Why Here? Why Now?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:20:54 GMT

Why Here? Why Now? "President Bush’s decision to visit Friday’s naturalization ceremony at Monticello was an unusual move for a president who has tended to favor venues with friendly audiences. “Bush is so unpopular in so many places these days that it’s tough for him to find anywhere outside military academi...

Arthur Lichtenberger Comments on New Yorker Cover

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:02:54 GMT

George, The problem I have with the New Yorker's recent cover of terrorist Obama and wife is that it depicted nothing new compared to the images you can find on the Internet, posted by people who would have you believe the depiction to be true. The argument of the New Yorker is that they were parodying such posts, that the cover would lead ...

Obama Joins Fellow Senators in Passing New Wiretapping Measure

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:05:24 GMT

"The Senate easily approved legislation to overhaul government eavesdropping rules in terrorism and espionage cases and effectively granted immunity to telecommunications companies that participated in a secret domestic spying program, ending a contentious debate that has raged for more than two years. Among the 69 senators who voted &q...

Panel Suggests War Power Overhaul

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:48:32 GMT

"Under a proposed overhaul of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, future American presidents would be required by law to consult with congressional leaders before entering into any major armed conflict. The proposal by the bipartisan National War Powers Commission — co-chaired by former secretaries of state James A. Baker III and W...

Senate Candidates Prep for First Debate

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:03:14 GMT

"With the first debate between Virginia's top U.S. Senate candidates a little more than a week away, Republican candidate James S. Gilmore III might finally get a chance to define his race against Democrat Mark R. Warner on his terms. The two men, former Virginia governors with drastically different views of each other's records, will s...

Obama and the New Yorker

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:47:00 GMT

"The New Yorker says it's latest cover "satirizes the use of scare tactics and misinformation in the Presidential election to derail Barack Obama's campaign." The Obama campaign says it's "tasteless and offensive". (The McCain campaign concurs, of course.) The Obama campaign is right to be concerned, though not for the...

Bush Officials Condoned Regional Iraqi Oil Deal

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:14:06 GMT

"Bush administration officials told Hunt Oil last summer that they did not object to its efforts to reach an oil deal with the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, even while the State Department was publicly expressing concern that such contracts could undermine a national Iraqi petroleum law, according to documents obtained by ...

My Plan for Iraq

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:52:58 GMT

"The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United ...

A Shadow Bash in the Twin Cities

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:42:36 GMT

"Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) may have ended his presidential campaign, but the libertarian gadfly isn't exactly going quietly into the good night. Just because the national best-selling author has decided he won't be a spoiler for his party in November doesn't mean he won't perhaps spoil one day of the Republican Party's convention in Minneapo...

Obama Describes Spiritual Journey

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:33:10 GMT

"ST. LOUIS, July 5 -- Sen. Barack Obama ended a week's focus on values by giving a conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church a highly personal account of his spiritual journey and a promise that he will make "faith-based" social service "a moral center of my administration." The address, to one of the olde...

Obama would overhaul Bush's faith-based initiatives

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:36:26 GMT

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Science Monitor "In a campaign already strongly emphasizing faith, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama announced his intent to make federal funding of religiously based organizations a key part of his push to help the needy. His plan would overhaul and expand the controversial faith-...

Social activists hunt for congressional seats ... in G.O.P. districts

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:20:44 GMT

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Science Monitor "Scottsville, Va. - Except for the 10-year-old work boots he wears to every campaign stop, Tom Perriello – a netroots "social entrepreneur" – doesn't look like a close fit with the rural Virginia district he hopes will send him to Congress. He's not donning ...

Kaine Praises Albemarle for Land Conservation Leadership

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:07:50 GMT

"Visiting Beaver Creek Reservoir, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine praised Albemarle County on Thursday for its conservation of farmland and forests. The reservoir borders a 228-acre family farm whose owners sold their development rights for more than $1.3 million. The family is the first to benefit from a state conservation easement program th...

Nader in Charlottesville talks issues he feels Obama, McCain are neglecting

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:58:34 GMT

"Anti-corporation sentiments flourished at Gravity Lounge on Sunday afternoon, where White House hopeful Ralph Nader stopped by on his independent presidential campaign tour. “[Corporations] were never designed to rule us,” said Nader, who first appeared on the presidential ballot in 2000. “They were designed to be our s...

Obama's Constitutional Drift

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:49:58 GMT

"Barack Obama's rightward drift in recent weeks has hardly gone unnoticed or unrewarded. What's most fascinating about his efforts to appeal to the American center is the extent to which Obama, as a constitutional law professor and Harvard Law Review president, has repeatedly chosen the Bill of Rights as his vehicle for doing so. It's not...

Va. presidential race a toss-up for a change

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:37:18 GMT

"For the first time in 32 years, Virginia is considered a toss-up state in the presidential contest, this one pitting Republican John McCain against Democrat Barack Obama. Virginia’s status as a swing state was highlighted in an analysis Thursday by Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia...

Close Kerry-McCain Kinship Has Dissolved Since 2004

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 18:22:30 GMT

"Those who know them say they once shared a genuine affection for each other, born in large part from their shared experiences serving in the Vietnam War and their work together in the early 1990s on a Senate committee investigating the fate of prisoners of war and of those missing in action during the conflict. "This was not a lig...

Webb Takes Self Out of Veepstakes

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 17:34:08 GMT

"Virginia Sen. Jim Webb took himself out of contention for the vice presidency today, releasing a statement saying he intends to stay in the Senate and "under no circumstances" would he be Sen. Barack Obama's running mate. "At this time I am also renewing my commitment to work hard to make sure that Senator Obama wins bot...

Miller Center Panel Proposes New War Powers Consultation

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 21:09:30 GMT

Mark Warner's Blueprint to Win Virginia

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 21:01:40 GMT

"Former Virginia governor Mark Warner, the man who seven years ago broke the Republican stranglehold on statewide elected offices, told The Fix in an interview today that Barack Obama can be the first Democratic presidential candidate in more than 40 years to win the Commonwealth in the fall. The road map Warner laid out for Obama -- wi...

Green Convention Quiz from David RePass

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 14:21:36 GMT

George, The following quiz is based on a NY Times article Sunday (p. 14) about the green (inexperienced) people planning the green (environmentally) Democratic convention. Which of the following are requirements that these DNC planners have insisted upon? 1. All food must be organic and locally grown. 2. All food must include at least t...

100-plus give a lesson in free speech

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 17:53:06 GMT

"While thousands flocked to hear President Bush speak at Monticello on Friday morning, Dana Palmer stood by the side of Route 20 dressed like Lady Liberty to teach her kids a lesson in free speech. Palmer, her husband and their two children were among more than 100 people to protest Bush’s visit to Monticello with homemade signs, c...

Jesse Helms' Hard-Line Conservatism Helped Craft Republican Social Agenda

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:10:28 GMT

"Jesse Helms, the North Carolina Republican senator whose uncompromising conservatism made him one of America's leading crusaders against communism, liberalism, tax increases, abortion, homosexuality, affirmative action and court-ordered busing to integrate schools, died yesterday at Mayview Convalescent Center in Raleigh, N.C. He was 86....

Veterans Hit the Battlegrounds

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 17:26:46 GMT

"Sen. John McCain is getting battleground-state help this week from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who will appear in a television commercial aimed at convincing the public that the United States is winning the Iraq war and should stay to finish the job. Produced by Vets for Freedom, an organization of veterans of the two wars, the ad w...

McCain Puts New Strategist Atop Campaign

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 15:35:20 GMT

"Facing growing dissatisfaction both inside and outside his campaign, Sen. John McCain ordered a shake-up of his team yesterday, reducing the role of campaign manager Rick Davis and vesting political adviser Steve Schmidt with "full operational control" of his bid for the presidency. Schmidt becomes the third political operati...

Conservatives Ready To Battle McCain on Convention Platform

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:55:52 GMT

"Conservative activists are preparing to do battle with allies of Sen. John McCain in advance of September's Republican National Convention, hoping to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles. McCain has not yet sig...

Obama Says Mental Distress Doesn't Justify Late Abortion

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:55:28 GMT

"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says "mental distress" should not qualify as a justification for late-term abortions, a key distinction not embraced by many supporters of abortion rights. In an interview this week with "Relevant," a Christian magazine, Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions mu...

Obama May Consider Slowing Iraq Withdrawal

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:55:02 GMT

"Sen. Barack Obama raised the possibility of slowing a promised gradual, 16-month withdrawal from Iraq if he is elected president, saying that Thursday he will consult with military commanders on an upcoming trip to the region and "continue to refine" his proposals. "My 16-month timeline, if you examine everything I've sa...

Bush Welcomes New Citizens at Monticello

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:54:44 GMT

"Mary Patricia McFadyen, a native of Scotland, stepped up to the microphone just moments after being sworn in as an American citizen and thanked her friends and neighbors. But, she added, President Bush was also a powerful influence in her decision. “Mr. President, I’d like to thank you for inspiring me to complete this pro...

Obama Defends Compromise on New FISA Bill

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:54:10 GMT

"Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama responded yesterday to supporters dismayed by his support for a compromise version of the Foreign Intelligence Suveillance Act (FISA). One unhappy backer had formed the group "Senator Obama Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity -- Get FISA Right" on Obama's social networki...

McCain Puts New Strategist Atop Campaign

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:52:42 GMT

DCCC Radio Ad Blasts Goode on Oil

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:53:04 GMT

"A new radio advertisement condemning Congressman Virgil Goode's purported "support of big oil companies," hit airwaves this week, turning up the heat on the race for the 5th Goode District seat. Sponsored by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the ad features a George W. Bush-esque voice leaving a message on Good...

Obama Fiercely Defends His Patriotism

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:53:28 GMT

"INDEPENDENCE, Mo., -- Dogged by persistent rumors questioning his belief in country, Sen. Barack Obama journeyed to Middle America on Monday to lay out his vision of patriotism, conceding that he has learned in this presidential campaign that "the question of who is -- or is not -- a patriot all too often poisons our political debat...

Obama Backs Expanded Government-Funded Faith Organizations

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:53:50 GMT

"Sen. Barack Obama, continuing his outreach to white, swing voters, traveled to conservative eastern Ohio today to propose strengthening the White House program assisting faith-based social service organizations while insisting those groups not discriminate against aid recipients. Obama's $500-million-a-year Council for Faith-Based and ...

Obama Got Discount on Home Loan

Wed, 2 Jul 2008 14:46:32 GMT

"Shortly after joining the U.S. Senate and while enjoying a surge in income, Barack Obama bought a $1.65 million restored Georgian mansion in an upscale Chicago neighborhood. To finance the purchase, he secured a $1.32 million loan from Northern Trust in Illinois. The freshman Democratic senator received a discount. He locked in an int...

Nicaragua's Total Ban on Abortion Spurs Critics

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 15:15:38 GMT

"Jazmina Bojorge arrived at Managua's Fernando Vélez Paiz Hospital on a Tuesday evening, nearly five months pregnant and racked with fever and abdominal pain. By the following Thursday morning, both the pretty 18-year-old and the female fetus in her womb were dead. The mystery of what happened during the intervening 36 hours migh...

For Plan B, A Broader Reach

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 19:43:00 GMT

"Three months after the Food and Drug Administration decided that emergency contraception should be available to women 18 and older without a doctor's prescription, the over-the-counter version of Plan B -- the "morning after" pill -- began appearing in drugstores nationwide last week. Manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals shipped t...

The Bush Administration's Crazy New HHS Appointment

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 19:45:46 GMT

"On Monday, the federal office that oversees the nation's family-planning program got a new boss who doesn't believe in birth control. Eric Keroack is a Massachusetts obstetrician-gynecologist who argues that abstinence until marriage is the only healthy choice for women. Until recently, he served as medical director of a pregnancy-counse...

Children, Start Your Engines

Wed, 10 Aug 2005 18:32:52 GMT

"Like any self-respecting 5-year-old, Christian Elder has started whittling down his career options. He might want to be a professional baseball player, which is why this spring he played T-ball once or twice a week near his Charles County home. He also might want to be a professional NASCAR driver, which is why after the Saturday morning...

Hopping Puffin

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:08:08 GMT

Common Atlantic Puffin near Machias Seal Island, Maine, July 2, 2008...