House Republican leaders are expected to introduce a resolution today condemning The New York Times for publishing a story last week that exposed government monitoring of banking records. The resolution is expected to condemn the leak and publication of classified documents, said one Republican aide with knowledge of the impending legislation. The resolution comes as Republicans from the president on down condemn media organizations for reporting on the secret government program that tracked financial records overseas through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT), an international banking cooperative. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-Ariz.), working independently from his leadership, began circulating a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) during a late series of votes yesterday asking his leaders to revoke the Times’s congressional press credentials. The Standing Committee decides which organizations and reporters can be accredited, according to the rules of both the House and Senate press galleries. Members of that committee are elected by accredited members of those galleries. ‘Under no circumstances would we revoke anyone’s credentials simply because a government official is unhappy with what that correspondent’s newspaper has written,’ said Susan Milligan, a reporter for the Boston Globe, which is owned by […]
WASHINGTON — A Monday ruling making it easier for Kansas jurors to impose the death penalty may be the first sign that the Supreme Court’s two new justices will tip the balance away from tighter restrictions on capital punishment. Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito provided the pivotal votes in the Kansas decision. The decision supported a lower-court ruling that said when jurors believe the reasons for and against execution are equal, they must impose a death sentence. It’s a blow to death-penalty critics, who’ve said that the Constitution requires the reasons for execution to outweigh reasons against a death sentence. Previous rulings seemed to support that thinking, and the court’s most recent rulings on significant death penalty issues – raising standards for defense attorneys, outlawing executions of juveniles and the mentally retarded – had raised expectations that the Kansas case would extend that line. Roberts’ vote didn’t shift the court’s balance on death-penalty law. He replaced Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who wasn’t in the majority for most of the court’s significant death-penalty rulings. But Alito replaced Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, whose doubts about capital punishment had grown in recent years. Alito’s […]
The US Supreme Court decided it will weigh whether the federal government must regulate emissions of new cars to combat global warming as demanded by environmental groups and some state and city authorities. The case could open the way for the high court to deliver a crucial ruling on how the US government enforces environmental laws. Since 2003, 12 US states, several cities and a dozen environmental groups have waged a legal battle against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which has chosen not to curb greenhouse emissions on new cars. The EPA maintains that the federal Clean Air Act does not address global climate change and that carbon dioxide is not defined as a pollutant under the law. The administration of President George W. Bush has advocated voluntary controls instead of mandatory limits on emissions. The plaintiffs in the suit, which include the states of California, Massachusetts and New York, argue that the Clean Air Act obliges the EPA to regulate emissions from cars and power plants such as carbon dioxide and three other gases linked to global warming. Carbon dioxide and similar emissions are believed to trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere, causing […]
GRAND ISLAND, Nebraska — Vice President Dick Cheney accused the news media Monday of making ‘the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult.’ Cheney zeroed in on The New York Times in condemning the press for ‘publishing detailed information about vital national security programs.’ The attack, launched at a fund-raising luncheon for Republican congressional nominee Adrian Smith, was triggered by a story in The Times last week revealing a terrorist financial tracking program. Cheney also pointed to earlier news reports disclosing secret communications surveillance conducted without court approval. ‘The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future,’ the vice president declared. ‘Publishing this highly classified information about our sources and methods for collecting intelligence will enable the terrorists to look for ways to defeat our efforts,’ he said. Cheney’s criticism coincided with President Bush’s condemnation of the financial tracking disclosure during remarks to reporters at the White House on Monday. The sharp attack on The Times by Cheney, whose former chief-of-staff, Scooter Libby, has been accused of leaking national security information to the newspaper, stole the thunder at the GOP event. […]
People in America have fewer close friends nowadays than two decades ago, researchers announced today. New research compared studies from 1985 and 2004. On average, each person in 2004 reported 2.08 close friends-those they can discuss important matters with. That’s down from 2.94 people in 1985. People who said they had no one with whom to discuss such matters more than doubled, to nearly 25 percent. ‘The evidence shows that Americans have fewer confidants and those ties are also more family-based than they used to be,’ said Lynn Smith-Lovin, professor of sociology at Duke University. ‘This change indicates something that’s not good for our society,’ Smith-Lovin said. ‘Ties with a close network of people create a safety net. These ties also lead to civic engagement and local political action.’ The findings are published in the June 2006 issue of the journal American Sociological Review. The research also showed that people who talk only to family members about important matters increased from 57 percent to 80 percent over the two decades, while the number who depend totally on a spouse rose from 5 percent to 9 percent. The results are based on responses from […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
