Illegal alien kills 2 in Mark Twain's hometown

Illegal alien kills 2 in Mark Twain's hometown

Illegal alien kills 2 in Mark Twain's hometown
michaelsavage.com

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Mo. town outraged over killings, illegal immigrant

Mar 20 11:50 AM US/Eastern
By JIM SALTER
Associated Press Writer

HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP) - A Hannibal police officer was finishing up mundane paperwork on a quiet Saturday morning when Manuel Cazares walked into the station, blood splattered on his hands and shoes.
Cazares put his hands out, crossed them, and told the officer to arrest him.

"I killed two people," he allegedly said.

Details surrounding the allegations are far too common: an abusive relationship, a jilted lover, a sudden attack.

But some in this Mississippi River community of 17,000 best known as Mark Twain's hometown aren't just outraged by the violence. They also question why Cazares was in Hannibal at all.

Cazares admitted after his arrest that he is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. The 32-year-old had several run-ins with law enforcement before the homicides, but officials had never questioned his legal status.

Now he is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Feb. 28 deaths of his ex-girlfriend, 27-year-old Amanda Thomas, and 25-year-old Carl Patrick Epley.

"I don't know how this happens," said Tina White-Masengill, Thomas' sister. "My stepdad told police many times, 'I don't even think the guy's a legal citizen.'"

During his three years in Hannibal, Cazares managed to avoid detection, despite a few traffic violations and a property damage conviction after an arrest for allegedly beating up Thomas and tearing up her home. Thomas had a restraining order against Cazares, who got probation in the property-damage case.

Police say his name wasn't in a database maintained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police and Cazares' boss also say he had authentic-looking identification, including a Social Security card. And police noted that Cazares speaks fluent English.

Cazares' attorney did not return phone messages seeking comment. Cazares is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

Hannibal police declined several interview requests from The Associated Press, but said soon after the killing that they had received several angry calls, some with racial overtones.

Days after the killings, rocks were thrown through plate-glass windows at the Mexican restaurant where Cazares worked. The FBI decided against opening a hate-crime investigation after concluding that it was vandalism, not retaliation.

Hundreds of messages related to the case were posted on the Hannibal Courier-Post Web site, with several questioning why authorities hadn't been able to determine Cazares' legal status before. One suggested police should conduct raids to seek out other illegal immigrants.

"Of course we have folks who say that's unconstitutional and racial profiling so we have to ignore the problem until this sort of terrible tragedy takes place," the posting read. The newspaper eventually took down the postings.

At a news conference, police Capt. James Hark told reporters that tracking illegal immigrants is a federal responsibility. He said the department is sympathetic to the victims' families, "but, in retrospect, there's nothing in the system that would have prevented this from happening."

ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said the agency seeks to work closely with local police to uncover illegal immigrants.

"When local law enforcement suspect that they have arrested an illegal alien on criminal charges, we encourage them to forward those suspicions to ICE, where we will make the appropriate determination whether that person is in the country legally or illegally, and whether he is deportable," Rusnok said.

The relationship between Cazares and Thomas had long been rocky, with Thomas seeking restraining orders in 2007 and again early last year. Marion County prosecutor Tom Redington said the first order was dismissed when Thomas failed to appear at a court hearing; the second was dismissed at her request.

Thomas made a third attempt around Thanksgiving and obtained a restraining order that was supposed to keep Cazares away from the small brick duplex where she lived with their 20-month-old son and a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Yet neighbors said they often saw Cazares in the area.

"We pulled up one night and he drives up the street with his car lights off and just sits there watching her house," said neighbor Charles Thomas, who is not related to the victim.

In early February, Thomas told police she thought Cazares was stalking her. White-Masengill said her sister played cell phone messages for police, including one in which he said, "No one can love you like I do."

Redington said he didn't have Cazares arrested immediately because of the "on-again, off-again nature of their relationship." He asked Thomas to obtain records that would show that Cazares had been calling her, but she never got the records.

According to court records, Cazares offered the following account of the killings in his confession:

Despite the restraining order, he and Thomas had spent the night of Feb. 26 together after she called him. He thought they would be together again the next night.

Instead, Thomas went out. At some point she met up with Epley, a friend from her nearby hometown of Monroe City.

Cazares fumed when a friend told him he saw Thomas outside a bar. He stayed up late drinking beer, then went to Thomas' home the next morning and found her with Epley.

Cazares said he went to the kitchen, found a knife and stabbed Epley before turning the knife on Thomas.

He then drove around in Thomas' car before using her cell phone to call his mother. He told her "that I loved her and that I did something that was not right and for her to take care of herself."

He said he considered suicide, but instead quietly turned himself in.

Iran gives Obama mid-finger; our Chamberlain?

Iran gives Obama mid-finger; our Chamberlain?

Iran gives Obama mid-finger; our Chamberlain?
michaelsavage.com

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Iran's Leadership Ignores Obama Outreach, Says World Powers Cannot Block Nuclear Program
Friday, March 20, 2009


Print ShareThisTEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader said Friday that world powers had been persuaded they could not block Iran's nuclear progress — making no mention of a new-year's message sent by President Obama to his country, Reuters reported.

Neither Ayatollah Ali Khamenei nor Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad noted Obama's attempt to make a "new beginning" with their country in recorded messages they issued to mark the Iranian New Year.

Obama released the video Friday to coincide with the Iranian festival of Nowruz, which marks the arrival of spring. In the video, Obama says the U.S. is prepared to end the strained relations if Tehran tones down its combative rhetoric.

"This process will not be advanced by threats. We seek instead engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect," Obama said.

A press adviser to Iran's president downplayed the video, saying "minor changes will not end the differences."

Ali Akbar Javanfekr told the Iranian state-run English-language Press TV satellite station that Iran will never forget U.S. meddling in Tehran's affairs. The two countries broke off relations after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Socialized medicine: Britain's 'third world' hospital

Socialized medicine: Britain's 'third world' hospital

Socialized medicine: Britain's 'third world' hospital
michaelsavage.com

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Brown apologises for unacceptable failings at Stafford 'Third World' hospitalBy Jenny Hope
Last updated at 12:31 AM on 19th March 2009

There can be "no excuses" for what happened to patients at Stafford Hospital, the Prime Minister said today as he apologised to families caught up in the scandal.
Gordon Brown promised relatives they would be entitled to an independent review of case notes and said standards "fell far short" of what people could expect from the NHS.
A damning report form the Healthcare Commission yesterday detailed a catalogue of failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals.
Dehydrated patients were forced to drink out of flower vases, while others were left in soiled linen on filthy wards.
Relatives of patients who died at Staffordshire General Hospital told how they were so worried by the standard of care they slept in chairs on the wards.

Deb Hazeldine, 39, places a picture of her 67-year-old mother Ellen Linstead, below, on a tribute wall at Stafford Hospital. She died after catching Clostridium difficile and MRSA at the hospital

The 'shocking' catalogue of failures was released yesterday after an independent investigation by the Healthcare Commission.
It found Government waiting time targets and a bid to win foundation status were pursued at the expense of patient safety over a three-year period at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust.
The commission's report - revealed in yesterday's Daily Mail - said at least 400 deaths could not be explained, although it is feared up to 1,200 patients may have died needlessly.
Speaking to MPs at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Mr Brown said: "We do apologise to all those people who have suffered from the mistakes that have been made in the Stafford hospital."

Mr Brown insisted it was an isolated incident, saying the Healthcare Commission had assured him there were no other hospitals or parts of the NHS which had displayed similar failings.

"I believe we should focus on the individual mistakes made at the hospital," he said, adding that what had occurred was "unacceptable and should never be allowed to happen again".

Health Secretary Alan Johnson pledged high-level reviews of A&E services at the trust, and insisted the scandal was not being repeated at other NHS hospitals.
He said: 'It was a failure of management. Using targets as some kind of excuse is just poor management. There was a breakdown of communication.
'I can give a reassurance that what happened in Stafford is an aberration, it is not indicative of what is happening in other hospitals. As soon as the commission started to investigate they told the chief executive.

A tribute wall made by family members and loved ones at Stafford Hospital in memory of patients who have died

The commission launched its investigation in March last year after receiving 11 alerts about high mortality rates through an early warning system.
Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, said the true scale of the hospital's failures was not known.
But he said patients had died because of deficiencies at 'virtually every stage' of treatment.
Among the findings of the report were:

Receptionists carrying out initial checks on patients;
Two clinical decision units - one unstaffed - used as 'dumping grounds' for A&E patients to avoid missing waiting targets;

Nurses who turned off heart monitors because they didn't understand how to use them;
Delayed operations, with some patients having surgery cancelled four days in a row and left without food, drink or medication;
Vital equipment such as heart defibrilators was not working;
A savings target of £10million met at the expense of 150 posts, including nurses.

Julie Bailey (top) was so concerned about the treatment of her mother Bella (bottom) that she and other relatives slept in a chair at her bedside for eight weeks

The trust won foundation status last February. Its chief executive Martin Yeates and chairman Toni Brisby resigned earlier this month.
Investigators had been inundated with complaints from patients and relatives, including Julie Bailey, 47, who set up a campaign following the death of her mother, Bella, in November 2007.
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HERE'S OUR PICK OF THE BEST READER COMMENTS ... SCROLL DOWN TO LEAVE YOUR OWN

"My wife had treatment at this hospital and it was beyond belief. Staff tried to get my wife to believe she had already been given her tablets when they hadn't; later admitting they ran out and did not want to call out the Pharmacy! People were screaming for the toilet as their requests for assistance went unheeded."
Mick, Stafford


"My mother in law died at a hospital where her 'care' was almost non-existant. She died screaming in pain because nobody could be found to replace her morphine pump." Claire, Norfolk


"When my father was in hospital for months, he lay in a bed with dirty, torn blankets and grubby sheets. I asked to see the Hospital Manager and was walked through the most plush of offices. I was sickened and told her so." Sammy, UK

"My sister recently qualified as a nurse. During her training a fellow student commented to a manager that a doctor hadn't bothered to change his scrubs after undertaking a minor operation on a patient and wore the same ones for his next operation. She was warned any whistle blowing of that sort would result in her being kicked out." Jo, Middlesex
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She had been so concerned the 86-year-old that she slept in a chair on the ward for eight weeks.

'What we saw in those eight weeks will haunt us for the rest of our lives,' she said.
Thirsty patients drank out of flower vases, while others were screaming in pain and falling out of bed.
Hundreds of patients may have died after bosses at Staffordshire General focused on Government targets rather than safety.

She said: 'We're demanding a public inquiry. We want a change to this system where there's an emphasis on finance.'
Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: 'The public will be rightly shocked by the poor standards of care exposed at this hospital.
'It is unacceptable that the pursuit of targets - not the safety of patients - was repeatedly prioritised, alongside endless managerial change and a closed culture, which failed to admit and deal with things going wrong.'

Sonia Burnhill lost her husband Peter, below, while he was a patient at Stafford General Hospital

'DREADFUL, ABYSMAL, INEXCUSABLE'

Arthur Peacham died as a result of 'dreadful, abysmal, inexusable' care at the hands of Stafford Hospital, according to his wife, Gillian

Arthur Peacham, 68, had been retired for just two weeks when he was admitted to Stafford Hospital with back pain following a hernia operation.
After a week he was about to go home when staff told his wife, Gillian, that he had caught the C.difficile superbug.

After that, Mrs Peacham said, a series of 'horrendous' blunders helped lead to her husband's death on March 19, 2006, including failing to give him food and leaving him on 'filthy' wards.

'What happened to him was horrific,' said Mrs Peacham, 69.
'When they told me he had caught C. difficile they admitted they had known 11 other people on the ward were already infected but they had nowhere else to put him.

'They told us it wasn't contagious but my son checked on the internet and saw that it was highly contagious and could result in death.

'My husband went downhill from there. He was having trouble keeping food down and they were supposed to give him a special drink but they didn't feed him most of the time.

'Either they would forget to get a prescription from the doctor or they were too short- staffed to care for him.

Mr Peacham, an agronomist who had two sons and four grandchildren, was eventually moved to New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton in early March.

His widow said: 'There it was amazing. He was so clean and well looked after.
'Unfortunately by then it was too late. The C.diff had ravaged his body.'

She added: 'The care at Stafford Hospital was dreadful, abysmal, inexcusable.'

Obama wants citizenship for 'law-abiding illegals'?

Obama wants citizenship for 'law-abiding illegals'?

Obama wants citizenship for 'law-abiding illegals'?
michaelsavage.com

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Obama puts immigration reform on docket

March 19, 2009

On his very full plate, immigration was one issue that President Obama had yet to take on - until yesterday, when he discussed it with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

At a town hall meeting in southern California yesterday, Obama renewed his support for comprehensive reform, including a possible path to citizenship for law-abiding people who entered the country illegally, along the lines of the bill that stalled in Congress in 2007.

According to the White House account of yesterday's one-hour closed session, it was "a robust and strategic meeting" in which Obama announced he will go to Mexico next month to meet President Calderón and discuss, among other issues, effective, comprehensive immigration reform.

After the meeting, Representative Luis V. Gutierrez of Illinois, chairman of the Hispanic caucus's immigration task force, and advocacy groups said they were hopeful that Obama would address immigration reform this year.

"Although it is very early in his administration, he understands that for the immigrant community it's the 11th hour, and there is no time to waste," Gutierrez said in a statement.

Janet Murguía, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, added, "While we agree that our priority should be fixing the nation's economy, we also believe that we can initiate an immigration reform that will help us achieve long-term economic growth."

House passes 90% tax for AIG bonuses

House passes 90% tax for AIG bonuses

House passes 90% tax for AIG bonuses
michaelsavage.com

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House passes bill taxing AIG, other bonuses
Measure would place a 90 percent tax on some bailout related bonuses

WASHINGTON - Acting swiftly, the Democratic-led House approved a bill Thursday to slap punishing taxes on big employee bonuses at firms bailed out by taxpayers.

The bill would impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses given to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at American International Group and other companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.

"We want our money back now for the taxpayers," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Hours later, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona blocked an initial attempt by Senate Democrats to pass a bill aimed at recouping some of the $165 million in bonuses.

Majority Leader Harry Reid asked senators to agree by unanimous consent to approve a Senate version, but Kyl objected saying more time was needed to review the legislation which was introduced on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, House Democrats led the charge in an attempt to get in front of raging public anger over the AIG bonuses, even though a provision that would have made such payouts illegal was stripped from last month's $787 billion stimulus bill by its Democratic sponsors.

The vote to tax back most of the bonuses was 328-93. Voting "yes" were 243 Democrats and 85 Republicans. It was opposed by six Democrats and 87 Republicans.

The bonuses, totaling $165 million, were paid to employees of troubled insurer AIG over the weekend, including to traders in the unit that nearly brought about the company's collapse.

The wide margin of victory came despite sharp Republican attacks calling the legislation a ploy to paper over Obama administration missteps.

Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the bill was "a political circus" to divert attention from why the administration and congressional Democrats had not done more to block the bonuses.

However, although a number of Republicans first cast "no" votes, the political appeal of the legislation apparently won the day. In the closing moments of the roll call there was a heavy GOP migration from the "no" column to the "yes" side before the final vote was called.

Democratic leaders rushed the bill to the floor under a procedure that requires a two-thirds majority for passage.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he expected local and state governments to take the remaining 10 percent of the bonuses, nullifying the payouts.

Rangel said the bill would apply to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among others, while excluding community banks and other smaller companies that have received less bailout money.

A competing bill is gaining support in the Senate that would impose a 35 percent excise tax on the companies paying the bonuses and a 35 percent excise tax on the employees receiving them. The taxes would apply to all companies receiving government bailout money, but they are clearly geared toward AIG.

In the House, a nonbinding resolution to express "the sense of Congress that the president is appropriately exercising all of the authorities granted by Congress" to deal with economic crisis didn't fare as well as the vote to tax the bonuses. The vote on that measure was 255-160, short of the required two thirds margin.

A tax expert said there is plenty of precedent for levying punitive taxes on behavior that lawmakers find objectionable. Robert Willens, a corporate tax lawyer in New York, cited the steep excise taxes levied on money paid to firms to keep them from launching hostile takeover bids, known as "greenmail."

"You can write very narrowly tailored laws," Willens said. "And they can do it for bonuses already paid."

The bill passed as controversy swirled around the disclosure that, while Democrats and Republicans were both railing about the AIG bonuses, Democrats were also responsible for removing a provision, originally contained in stimulus legislation, to ban such bonuses.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said Wednesday his staff agreed to requests from the administration to delete the executive pay provision that would have applied retroactively to recipients of federal aid.

However, Dodd said he was not aware of any AIG bonuses at the time the change was made.

President Barack Obama, who took office just under two months ago, told reporters Wednesday that his administration was not responsible for a lack of federal supervision of AIG that preceded the company's demise.

But Obama added, "The buck stops with me."

Judge: Abu Ghraib detainees can sue Virginia contractor

Judge: Abu Ghraib detainees can sue Virginia contractor

Judge: Abu Ghraib detainees can sue Virginia contractor
michaelsavage.com

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Judge: Abu Ghraib detainees can sue Va. contractor
Mar 19, 4:34 PM EDT

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press Writer
Abu Ghraib Lawsuit (June 30, 2008).

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A federal judge rejected a defense contractor's claims that it was immune from lawsuits by four alleged torture victims at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

In a ruling made public Thursday, U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee rejected claims made by Arlington, Va.-based CACI that it couldn't be sued because its interrogators were performing their duties as the govern required. The company also said the case involves U.S. policy issues too sensitive for litigation.

The ruling allows four Abu Ghraib detainees - who were later released without being charged - to go forward with their lawsuit against CACI. The four allege torture and other crimes at the hands of CACI civilian interrogators hired by the Army.

The detainees' lawyer, Susan Burke, said Lee's ruling is "another step toward ensuring that this litigation will contribute to the true history of Abu Ghraib.

"These innocent men ... came to U.S. courts because our laws, as they have for generations, allow their claims to be heard here."

CACI's lawyer, William Koegel, said Lee could still dismiss the case as more facts emerge.

"Judge Lee's decision is far from the last chapter," Koegel said.

CACI and another contractor are defendants in a similar lawsuit filed in the District of Columbia, where a federal appeals court heard arguments last month.

CACI had argued that courts are not equipped to evaluate the detainees' claims because it requires delving into classified information and sorting through facts shrouded in "the fog of war."

But Lee noted that CACI has filed civil lawsuits alleging defamation of character against a radio host who held CACI responsible for Abu Ghraib atrocities.

"The court finds it ironic that CACI argues that this case is shrouded by the 'fog of war,' yet CACI saw only clear skies" when it pursued its own case, Lee wrote.

CACI has been aggressive in defending itself against accusations of wrongdoing at Abu Ghraib, where photos of detainee abuse that became public in 2004 shocked the national conscience.

While several military personnel have been convicted and sentenced for their roles in the abuse, no civilian contractors were ever charged.

Lee said CACI has provided no evidence that its interrogators' actions were consistent with policies established by high-ranking Pentagon officials. If it can provide such proof it might then qualify for immunity.

"CACI would have the court blindly accept its premise that the activities of Abu Ghraib were so heavily monitored that, but for the involvement and approval of high-level government officials, the atrocities could not have occurred," Lee wrote.

The case against CACI is one of at least a dozen at the Alexandria courthouse alone alleging wrongdoing by contractors on a variety of fronts, including whistleblower claims of contract fraud, forced labor of foreign contract workers under inhumane conditions and sexual harassment of female contract employees by their superiors.

Pelosi says enforcing immigration law 'un-American'

Pelosi says enforcing immigration law 'un-American'

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Pelosi Tells Illegal Immigrants That Work Site Raids are Un-American
The speaker of the House told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants recently that enforcement of immigration laws in the United States is "un-American."
By William Lajeunesse

FOXNews.com
Wednesday, March 18, 2009


EXCLUSIVE: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently told a group of both legal and illegal immigrants and their families that enforcement of existing immigration laws, as currently practiced, is "un-American."

The speaker, condemning raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, referred to the immigrants she was addressing as "very, very patriotic."

"Who in this country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families?" Pelosi told a mostly Hispanic gathering at St. Anthony's Church in San Francisco.

Video: Click here to view the video of Pelosi speaking.

"It must be stopped....What value system is that? I think it's un-American. I think it's un-American."

Pelosi said she was invited to the church by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., as part of his 17-city, cross-country tour called United Families, which he says is intended to put a human face on the immigration debate.

"We think that families are the cornerstone of our society and our nation, and an immigration system should preserve those families, not destroy them," Gutierrez told FOX News Capitol Hill Producer Chad Pergram on Tuesday.

The congressman is collecting petitions that ask President Obama to "stop the immigration raids and deportations that are tearing our marriages, families and children apart." He is expected to present those petitions when Hispanic members of Congress meet with the President Wednesday.

Click here for more video from FOX News..

On Saturday night, Pelosi joined Gutierrez before a cheering crowd at St. Anthony's chanting, "Si se puede," or "Yes we can."

Referring to work site enforcement actions by ICE agents, Pelosi said, "We have to have a change in policy and practice and again ... I can't say enough, the raids must end. The raids must end.

"You are special people. You're here on a Saturday night to take responsibility for our country's future. That makes you very, very patriotic."

"I was embarrassed by what she said," said Rick Oltman, with Californians for Population Stabilization, an anti-illegal immigrant group. "Exhorting illegal aliens for taking responsibility for our country's future.... In fact, sitting there in the audience.... I really resented that comment."

"I think it was pandering to the crowd but also insulting to American citizens who consider themselves to be patriotic, who obey the rule of law," said Oltman, who shot a video of the rally.

For more on this story, watch Special Report With Bret Baier at 6 p.m. EDT on FOX News Channel.

40% of U.S. births out-of-wedlock

40% of U.S. births out-of-wedlock

40% of U.S. births out-of-wedlock



US births break record; 40 pct out-of-wedlock
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
Mar 19, 1:41 AM EDT

ATLANTA (AP) -- Remember the baby boom? No, not the one after World War II. More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any other year in the nation's history - and a wedding band made increasingly little difference in the matter. The 4,317,119 births, reported by federal researchers Wednesday, topped a record first set in 1957 at the height of the baby boom.

Behind the number is both good and bad news. While it shows the U.S. population is more than replacing itself, a healthy trend, the teen birth rate was up for a second year in a row.

The birth rate rose slightly for women of all ages, and births to unwed mothers reached an all-time high of about 40 percent, continuing a trend that started years ago. More than three-quarters of these women were 20 or older.

For a variety of reasons, it's become more acceptable for women to have babies without a husband, said Duke University's S. Philip Morgan, a leading fertility researcher.


Even happy couples may be living together without getting married, experts say. And more women - especially those in their 30s and 40s - are choosing to have children despite their single status.

The new numbers suggest the second year of a baby boomlet, with U.S. fertility rates higher in every racial group, the highest among Hispanic women. On average, a U.S. woman has 2.1 babies in her lifetime. That's the "magic number" required for a population to replace itself.

Countries with much lower rates - such as Japan and Italy - face future labor shortages and eroding tax bases as they fail to reproduce enough to take care of their aging elders.

While the number of births in the U.S. reached nearly 4.3 million in 2006, mainly due to a larger population, especially a growing number of Hispanics, it's not clear the boomlet will last. Some experts think birth rates are already declining because of the economic recession that began in late 2007.

"I expect they'll go back down. The lowest birth rates recorded in the United States occurred during the Great Depression - and that was before modern contraception," said Dr. Carol Hogue, an Emory University professor of maternal and child health.

The 2007 statistical snapshot reflected a relatively good economy coupled with cultural trends that promoted childbirth, she and others noted.

Meanwhile, U.S. abortions dropped to their lowest levels in decades, according to other reports. Some have attributed the abortion decline to better use of contraceptives, but other experts have wondered if the rise in births might indicate a failure in proper use of contraceptives. Some earlier studies have shown declining availability of abortions.

Cultural attitudes may be a more likely explanation. Morgan noted the pregnancy of Bristol Palin, the unmarried teen daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The young woman had a baby boy in December, and plans for a wedding with the father, Levi Johnston, were scrapped.

"She's the poster child for what you do when you get pregnant now," Morgan said.

Teen women tend to follow what their older sisters do, so perhaps it's not surprising that teen births are going up just like births to older women, said Sarah Brown, the chief executive for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Indeed, it's harder to understand why teen births had been declining for about 15 years before the recent uptick, she said. It may have been due to a concentrated effort to reduce teen births in the 1990s that has waned in recent years, she said.

The statistics are based on a review of most 2007 birth certificates by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers also showed:

-Cesarean section deliveries continue to rise, now accounting for almost a third of all births. Health officials say that rate is much higher than is medically necessary. About 34 percent of births to black women were by C-section, more than any other racial group. But geographically, the percentages were highest in Puerto Rico, at 49 percent, and New Jersey, at 38 percent.

-The pre-term birth rate, for infants delivered at less than 37 weeks of pregnancy, declined slightly. It had been generally increasing since the early 1980s. Experts said they aren't sure why it went down.

-Among the states, Utah continued to have the highest birth rate and Vermont the lowest.

CDC officials noted that despite the record number of births, this increase is different from occurred in the 1950s, when a much smaller population of women were having nearly four children each, on average. That baby boom quickly transformed society, affecting everything from school construction to consumer culture.

Today, U.S. women are averaging 2.1 children each. That's the highest level since the early 1970s, but is a relatively small increase from the rate it had hovered at for more than 10 years and is hardly transforming.

"It's the tiniest of baby booms," said Morgan in agreement. "This is not an earthquake; it's a slight tremor."

---

On the Net:

The CDC report, including some state-by-state figures: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs

Obama Wants to Disarm U.S. Pilots

Obama Wants to Disarm U.S. Pilots

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Obama Wants to Disarm U.S. Pilots
Wednesday, March 18, 2009 12:19 PMBy: David A. Patten

The Obama administration is taking steps quietly to shut down the program that qualifies commercial airline pilots to carry firearms in jetliner cockpits in order to ward off another 9/11-type attack.

The administration recently diverted $2 million from a program to train and certify pilots to carry firearms safely while on duty. Instead, it is using the money to hire additional field inspectors to help discipline pilots who step out of line, according to a report in Tuesday’s Washington Times.

A Times editorial condemned the Obama administration's action, calling it “completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots.”

Since Obama took office, the approval process for certifying pilots to carry firearms has ground to a halt, the newspaper reports. Pilots are afraid to speak out about the behind-the-scenes maneuverings, for fear of retaliation, according to the newspaper. No cases have been reported in which pilots have brandished a weapon inappropriately or otherwise abused their eligibility to carry firearms.

About 12,000 pilots have been authorized to carry handguns while flying aircraft as part of the Federal Flight Deck Officers Program. Congress authorized the program in a 310-to-113 vote following the 9/11 attacks to help prevent terrorists from turning jetliners into flying bombs that could be used to attack key sites like the White House, the Pentagon, or Capitol Hill.

Paul Valone, a Second Amendment advocate who directs Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC.org), is calling for citizens to contract their congressional representatives to protest the administration’s anti-gun priorities.

Pilots are already required to pay for their own room and board during training, and use paid leave for the time they’re off the job. Every six months, the program requires them to be requalified for firearm use.

Valone writes on Examiner.com: “While bureaucrats . . . may have attempted to hamstring the program with burdensome requirements, training instructors and the Federal Air Marshals who now oversee the program routinely thank the FFDOs for their professionalism and dedication in protecting the nation’s air commerce against terrorism.”

Valone says the Obama administration is “dismantling yet another layer of defense against terrorism and defying the will of the American people.”

Since coming to power, the Obama administration has undertaken a series of moves that signal a major de-emphasis of programs enacted to keep America’s homeland safe from terrorist attack:


Obama’s choice for U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, labeled enhanced interrogation techniques as outright “torture” during his Senate confirmation hearings.


Obama banned waterboarding and ordered CIA interrogators to abide by U.S. Army Field Manual regulations.


He selected Clinton-era political operative Leon Panetta to serve as his CIA director. Panetta’s qualifications to run the agency have been questioned widely.


Obama announced that he would shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba within one year, raising the prospect of hardened terrorists entering the U.S. criminal justice system, or worse, being released to rejoin al-Qaida.


He indicated the U.S. defense budget would be sharply reduced.


He has sent a letter to Russian leaders, apparently offering to back off on the ballistic missile defense system that would protect Europe from Iran and North Korea.

These and other Obama administration moves recently prompted former vice president Dick Cheney to charge that Obama is returning to the Clinton-era view of terrorism as a law enforcement issue.

"Now he's made some choices that in my mind raise the risk to the American people of another attack," Cheney said of Obama on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

The Washington Times points out that about 70 percent of airline pilots have military backgrounds. With airport screening less than 100 percent effective, it states, armed pilots provide a second layer of defense.

“Only anti-gun extremists and terrorist recruits are worried about armed pilots,” the newspaper editorial says.

Obama-protest 'tea parties 'largely ignored by media

Obama-protest 'tea parties 'largely ignored by media

Obama-protest 'tea parties 'largely ignored by media
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Obama Protests aka Tea Parties Largely Ignored by Media
By Noel Sheppard (Bio Archive)
March 15, 2009 - 16:53 ET

Since CNBC's Rick Santelli first suggested a Chicago Tea Party to protest President Obama's plans to "stimulate" the economy and bailout homeowners through unrestrained government spending, organized demonstrations have been occurring across the fruited plain.

In fact, as Glenn Reynolds reported moments ago, there's one happening today in Cincinnati.

Unfortunately, unless you frequent conservative websites, you'd have no idea that such events were being staged.

Despite their lack of coverage, as Knoxnews.com revealed Sunday, these Tea Parties are springing up all over the country (image courtesy Geldpress):

Let's count 'em: Cincinnati, Nebraska, Tampa, Lexington, Ridgefield, Conn., Raleigh, Orlando, D.C., Staten Island, Pasadena, Boston, Rochester, N.Y., Jacksonville, Minnesota, Cleveland, Columbus, Mo., Little Rock, Ark., Philadelphia, Kansas City, Harrisburg, Green Bay, Salt Lake City, Fullertown, Lafayette, Boise, Monterey, Maui, Yonkers, Utah, Tucson, Phoenix, Hoboken and Chicago, to name a few.

Did you know there have been that many? If you didn't, don't feel embarrassed for these have gone almost totally ignored.

For instance, with the exception of Fox News and CNN, no major television outlet has covered even one of these events except the original proposed by Santelli on February 19.

Compare that to how these networks practically fell all over themselves to report war protests after the public's opinion changed concerning Iraq in late 2003.

As for print, Tea Parties have been completely ignored by the Washington Post, USA Today, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the Miami Herald, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

I guess Americans protesting the president's policies just isn't newsworthy when there's a Democrat in the White House.

*****Update: InstaGlenn's got many more pictures of Tea Parties here.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.

Had America only known what Obama meant to do...

Had America only known what Obama meant to do...

Had America only known what Obama meant to do...
michaelsavage.com

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HANSON: Maxing out a crisis card
Obama programs spiral spending upward
Victor Davis Hanson Sunday, March 15, 2009

COMMENTARY:

Imagine that last fall before being elected, Barack Obama had outlined the positions he has embraced since being inaugurated as president. An honest campaign speech could have gone something like this —

”As we approach Election Day, the American people should not waste the crisis we find ourselves in.

“Consequently, if elected, I promise to get us over the Bush financial meltdown with a stimulus program that will borrow $787 billion - which, of course, will add to the already sizable budget deficit (nearly $500 billion) projected in the Bush administration's last budget.

“By March of next year, my new $3.6 trillion budget will include a spending bill with more than 8,500 budget earmarks to target in-need constituents.

“In addition to the stimulus/borrowing plan, I intend to devote $634 billion to fund a new supplementary national health-care system. But that is not all. Unfortunately, the initial Bush bank bailout of some $700 billion also may well have to be augmented by an additional $750 billion.

“Although my new spending proposals may raise the federal deficit in my first year to $1.75 trillion, I promise the American people that by the end of my first term, I will halve the federal deficit - albeit adding another $3 trillion to $5 trillion to the national debt.

”Those savings can be accomplished by upping the federal income tax to about 40 percent on those rich 5 percent of Americans who currently pay only 60 percent of our aggregate income taxes - as well as lifting Social Security caps on their payroll taxes and cutting out many of their tax deductions.

”With state income taxes, federal income tax, Social Security and payroll taxes, along with new cutbacks in deductions, some of these rich will pay over 60 percent of their incomes in taxes. That is not an unreasonable rate in comparison with past levels - or the fact that well over 40 percent of Americans do not make enough to pay any federal income taxes.

“I expect that Wall Street may react negatively to these proposals. We may see the Dow fall an additional 2,000 to 3,000 points after I'm elected. It may descend to under 7,000 during my first weeks of office. And this may be the moment when the economy continues to cool and unemployment rises.

”But to deal with this reaction of entrenched interests, I promise a fresh team of hard-nosed American professionals - understanding that it is impossible to appoint some without past insider connections and occasional tax problems.

”From the former Clinton administration, I will select Rahm Emanuel to run my staff. To oversee revenue, Timothy Geithner will assemble a large team at Treasury. Sen. Clinton herself will run state, and I will anchor my Cabinet with pros like Tom Daschle, Eric Holder, Bill Richardson and Hilda Solis.

”On matters of protecting civil liberties, I assure the American people that I have examined the Patriot Act, the FISA accords and renditions - and I have discovered that they, in fact, do not shred our Constitution. I will, however, shut down Guantanamo Bay - but must keep it open another year and appoint a task force to study the issue.

“Our new direction in energy policy will center on cap-and-trade initiatives that promote wind and solar power. While we won't rule out oil, gas, coal and nuclear development, problems with greenhouse gas emissions and nuclear waste mean that these ossified 20th-century industries - including new offshore drilling development - must be discouraged and further taxed or regulated to subsidize our green future.

“Abroad, I promise to give America a new image. My first television interview will be with al Arabiya. Due both to new initiatives and my unique background, I can reassure them that no longer will the United States alienate the Muslim world. Our aim is to return to stable and friendly relations with the Middle East characteristic of 20 to 30 years ago.

“Indeed, on matters in the Middle East, I will bring back my suspended adviser Samantha Power. I look forward to her input, along with that of Charles Freeman, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and critic of Israel, as head of the National Intelligence Council, to craft new directions in the region

“We expect to open new dialogues with Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran without preconditions. And to further the cause of peace in the Middle East, the United States will pledge almost $1 billion to help rebuild the Gaza strip that is governed by Hamas.”

Now all that would have been hope and change that we could have voted on.

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and author of "A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War."

Muslim TV channel founder pleads not guilty in wife's beheading

Muslim TV channel founder pleads not guilty in wife's beheading

Muslim TV channel founder pleads not guilty in wife's beheading
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Orchard Park Man Pleads Not Guilty in Wife's Beheading
Posted By: Dave McKinley Date last updated: 3/15/2009 9:11:16 PM

Muzzammil Hassan arraigned hours before a special memorial service is held for his wife . Another service is planned for this weekend.

Muzzammil Hassan is charged with one count of second-degree murder for the Feb. 12 death of his wife, Aasiya, whose body was found beheaded at the offices of Bridges TV in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park.

Hassan, 44, founded the Muslim-American television channel in 2004 saying he hoped to balance negative portrayals of Muslims in the post 9-11 world.

According to Orchard Park police the couple was in the process of divorcing before Aasiya Hassan was stabbed multiple times and decapitated.

After the slaying the President of the National Organization for Women's New York chapter condemned the death as an honor killing -- a characterization local victim advocacy groups oppose.

Hours after Mr. Hassan appeared in court a Quranic Recitation was held for his wife at the Islamic Center in Amherst.

"In the Western sense you could call it a memorial service," explained Khalid Qazi, President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York.

"People will come in, both men and women, and they will read from the Koran and send blessings to Aasiya, the deceased," Khalid said.

Khalid also told 2 On Your Side the local Muslim Community remains "horrified, and has no satisfaction as to why such a horrible event would take place and for what reason this horrible event could take place".

Also attending the gathering was Susan Volk Sizemore, Executive Director of the Erie County Council on the Status of Women.

"When the unfortunate domestic violence death of Aasiya took place I was asked to get more involved. We have been working very closely with the (Islamic) community and its leaders to try and help them develop specific programs for their women on domestic violence issues and connect them with the different resources in Erie County," Sizemore said.

Sizemore also told WGRZ-TV that, "Buffalo's a little behind the times. In other large cities the Muslim community has very developed domestic violence programs."

Meantime, Islamic leaders like Khalid wonder if some of the inroads made toward inter-cultural understanding post 9-11 were set back by Mrs. Hassan's gruesome slaying.

"We feel lucky to be part of the Western New York community because it has always made us feel welcome and continues to do so. But an event like this puts you behind so much, especially when it is construed (as an honor killing) by the media and those who don't know Islam and try to be the experts on such issues."

An interfaith memorial service for Aasyia Hassan is scheduled for this coming Sunday at the Orchard Park Presbyterian Church, 4369 South Buffalo Street, Orchard Park.

The service which begins at 6pm is open to one and all.


WGRZ-TV, wgrz.com, Associated Press

California due to release convicted domestic terrorist

California due to release convicted domestic terrorist

California due to release convicted domestic terrorist
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California Due to Release Convicted Domestic Terrorist
Sunday, March 15, 2009

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A saga that began in the violent cauldron of California's 1970s radical counterculture and took a dramatic turn into a quiet middle-class neighborhood in Minnesota is about to come to an end.

Sara Jane Olson, who was a fugitive for a quarter-century after attempting to kill Los Angeles police officers and participating in a deadly bank robbery near Sacramento as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, is scheduled to be released from a California prison next week.

Her bid for freedom after serving seven years is not ending quietly.

Police leagues in Los Angeles and Minnesota are objecting to the terms of her parole, her attorneys are nervous after Olson was mistakenly released and sent back to prison a year ago, and people in her home state have conflicting views about the return of a woman with two identities — a quiet, caring community volunteer and a domestic terrorist.

Olson was freed by California corrections officials a year ago when they miscalculated her parole date. She was re-arrested five days later as she was about to board a flight to Minnesota, the state she adopted as her home during her life on the run.

"After what happened last year, I think she won't feel comfortable until she's back in Minnesota," said David Nickerson, one of her lawyers. "She is just anxious about getting out ... until she's home, until she knows it's real. She wants to be with her family."

Olson, 62, her red hair turned long ago to gray, is scheduled to be released Tuesday from the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco.

Where she goes next is a point of contention. Police leagues in Los Angeles and Minnesota object to having her paroled to Minnesota. Both have written to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to have Olson serve her parole in California, where her crimes were committed.

Former Los Angeles police officer John Hall was a target of one of two 1975 attempted bombings by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the urban guerrilla group most notorious for its kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst. The pipe bombs were placed beneath two police cars.

One bomb, packed with nails, failed to explode as Hall and his partner drove away from a restaurant in Los Angeles' Hollywood Division on an August night. A similar unexploded device was found under another police car miles away.

"That bomb should have gone off that night," Hall said. "I would have been just one of many people that would have been dead. It just brings up a lot of anger knowing that she's going to be released."

Hall recalls that a girl about 8 years old was watching from the restaurant.

"That little girl was waving at us as we drove off. If that bomb would have gone off, she would have been killed along with her family," said Hall, who served 31 years with the department. "I haven't forgiven her (Olson) in the least for what she's done and what she could have done to many more innocent people."

In addition to the attempting bombings and the Hearst kidnapping, the SLA had a long list of high-profile crimes during the mid-1970s, including the assassination of an Oakland schools superintendent and the shotgun slaying of Myrna Opsahl, a 42-year-old mother of four who was depositing a church collection at a bank near Sacramento when the group robbed it.

Olson was in the bank during that 1975 heist, which netted the SLA $15,000.

After her 1999 arrest, she pleaded guilty to the attempted bombings of the police cars and the death of Opsahl.

Olson, was born Kathleen Ann Soliah in North Dakota and grew up in Palmdale, in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

If her release goes as planned, her attorneys say she will be paroled to her mother's house in Palmdale and will have 24 hours to report to her California parole agent. Unless there is a change, she then will be allowed to return to St. Paul, Minn., where she changed her name and married Dr. Gerald "Fred" Peterson.

"Her release of course is a great relief," Peterson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press, declining a request for an interview. "We need to regroup in our home, and preserve our privacy as much as possible, and get our lives coordinated again. We're very happy to reunite."

Many of Olson's friends and former associates in Minnesota declined to comment about her release, fearing any statements might hurt her chances of getting out on schedule.

And some have simply run out of patience with the attention the case has gotten.

"I don't have anything to say," snapped Wendy Knox, artistic director of the Frank Theatre and a longtime friend of Olson's. "Every time something happens in that case I get 50,000 calls from reporters."

Others said they couldn't wait to see her again.

"I'm planning on giving her a big hug when she gets back and am going to count on her to do what she did before, which was read the New York Times to the blind and volunteer in all sorts of activities to help the less fortunate," said Andy Dawkins, a longtime family friend from St. Paul.

Not everyone will be happy to have her back. After Olson's arrest in 1999, Minneapolis gun store owner Mark Koscielski countered supporters with bumper stickers that said "Fight Terrorism — Jail Kathleen."

"She's a ... terrorist and she shouldn't be out of jail," Koscielski said.

The president of the St. Paul Police Federation, Dave Titus, wrote to Schwarzenegger last week arguing against letting Olson serve her parole in his city.

"Returning Soliah to the same neighborhood that harbored her during her 24-year flight from justice is hardly conducive to strict parole monitoring," Titus wrote. "If having a convicted domestic terrorist living in their midst didn't bother her neighbors, why would the State Department of Corrections think they would report her if she violated parole?"

Olson, then Soliah, was in her late 20s when she joined the SLA. The small band of mostly white, college-educated children of middle-class families was started in 1973 by an ex-convict named Donald DeFreeze. He died with five members of the group in a 1974 shootout with police at their Los Angeles hideout.

After the attempted bombings of the LAPD police cars, Olson fled to St. Paul, 1,900 miles away, where she acted in community theater, joined a church, taught English to immigrants, worked with senior citizens and raised the couple's three daughters.

She was arrested in June 1999 on a tip from the "America's Most Wanted" television show.

Opsahl's son, Jon Opsahl, said he is glad the saga is coming to an end.

"She did her minimal time and has paid her debt to society after all these years," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, she can leave the state as soon as possible and get back to her life."

Illegal alien leeches complainabout health care cuts

Illegal alien leeches complainabout health care cuts

Illegal alien leeches complainabout health care cuts
michaelsavage.com

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Budget Crunch Cuts Illegal Immigrants' Health Care
Sunday, March 15, 2009 1:33 PM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Graciela Barrios, an undocumented immigrant with few resources, has long relied on the county health clinic for the advice, medication and tests that have kept her diabetes under control.

But next month, Barrios and thousands like her will be on their own, and many more people across the nation face the same fate.

Bowing to recession-related budget pressures, Sacramento County recently took the drastic step of cutting non-emergency health services for illegal immigrants. Contra Costa County, on the east side of San Francisco Bay, will vote on a similar measure Tuesday.

Local health systems in other states are facing similar decisions as health officials find themselves trapped between dwindling federal, state and local funding streams and the growing number of newly uninsured who need services.

"The general situation there is being faced by nearly every health department across the country, and if not right now, shortly," said Robert M. Pestronk, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, based in Washington.

Data on the cost of health care for unauthorized immigrants is hard to come by, because community clinics and hospitals usually do not ask patients for their immigration status. But the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that about 59 percent of the 11.9 million illegal immigrants living in the United States have no health insurance, making up about 15 percent of the nation's approximately 47 million uninsured.

As the financial crisis takes a toll on local health systems and job losses spike the number of uninsured, health providers are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the needs of the people they serve, said Pestronk.

More than half of local health departments across the country laid off or lost employees in 2008, according to a survey in January by the health officials association. About one-third predicted layoffs in 2009.

In Sacramento County, such cuts initially meant closing three of six clinics. In February, with even less money and more patients lining up, county supervisors and health officials had to decide: close one more clinic, firing up to 40 staffers to save $2.4 million, or cut services to the approximately 4,000 illegal immigrants treated annually.

"It was very difficult ethically for me," said Keith Andrews, head of primary health services at the Department of Health and Human Service in Sacramento County. "People I've been caring for for years will be hurt."

Counties may legally cut services for illegal immigrants. Although hospitals receiving Medicaid funds must provide emergency care for anyone who needs it, there is no law requiring health providers to offer primary care.

Contra Costa County officials are doing the same hard math: if they vote to cut services to the 5,500 illegal immigrants they serve a year, they will save about $6 million.

After letting social workers go, cutting mental health services and seeing a delivery room built to handle 120 births a month accommodate 240, there were few other options, said Contra Costa Health Services Director William Walker.

"We've never had this crisis before," said Walker, who submitted the plan being voted on Tuesday. "We've tried to carefully slice what we thought we could without cutting off our ability to respond. Now we're looking at bad choices among bad choices."

Health officials and immigrant advocates say they do not know how many local health systems provide primary care to undocumented immigrants. Officials note that many hospitals and clinics do not ask a patient's immigration status, in part because treating chronic conditions such as asthma and hypertension keeps patients from emergency room visits that are far less effective and more expensive.

The fraying of the safety net provided by local health systems could have serious consequences _ not only for illegal immigrants, who are among the most vulnerable, but for the rest of the population, said Sonal Ambegaokar, health policy attorney at National Immigration Law Center.

"Cutting care, you save $100 today, but you may end spending $500 tomorrow when that person shows up in the emergency room because you didn't provide them with basic medication," said Ambegaokar. "It's shortsighted."

Asking local health officials to verify immigration status is problematic, said Julia Harumi Mass, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

"The devil's in the details. Asking county workers to act as immigration officials puts them in a difficult position," Mass said.

For Barrios, the financial crisis has had a double impact. The same economic forces that slashed Sacramento County's sales and property tax revenues took her husband's job in a landscaping firm, and the family's bills are piling up, she said.

"I have no insurance, no resources, nothing to fall back on," said Barrios, who has one daughter. "I have no idea what I will do."

7th graders get condom in health fair goodie bag

7th graders get condom in health fair goodie bag

7th graders get condom in health fair goodie bag
michaelsavage.com

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Clinton middle school students get condoms as part of health fair giveaway
BY Elizabeth Lazarowitz
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, March 13th 2009, 1:57 AM

Clinton middle school parents were in for awkward conversations Thursday night after some students got condoms as part of a school health fair giveaway.

"I kind of freaked out," said a Clinton seventh-grade girl, adding she was so shocked and embarrassed when she pulled a condom out of a goodie bag that she dropped it. "I turned to my friend and said, 'What do I do with this?' and I gave it to someone. I wasn't going to keep it."

The Ryan Medical Center, a health care provider located in the school, handed out the bags as part of an HIV/AIDS awareness program.

"This was an unfortunate error, and we are taking steps with our staff to ensure it does not happen again," said Barbra Minch, Ryan president and CEO.

Red-faced administrators rushed to e-mail a message to parents saying the racy handout was done without their knowledge and apologizing "if this unfortunate incident has caused anxiety for you or your child."

The condom giveaway was in violation of Department of Education policy, and the principal will review any future material that the Ryan Center wants to distribute to students, said DOE spokeswoman Marge Feinberg.

ACLU demands school lets kids get abortions without parental consent

ACLU demands school lets kids get abortions without parental consent

ACLU demands school lets kids get abortions without parental consent
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ACLU Urges California District to Let Kids Leave School for Medical Treatment Without Parental Consent
Friday, March 13, 2009

The ACLU is threatening to sue a California school district after it changed a policy to require teenagers get parental consent to leave campus for confidential medical services.

The Vista Unified School District board voted unanimously Thursday to change its existing policy that allowed students to be excused for confidential appointments — including abortions — without notifying parents, according to the North County Times.

The ACLU of San Diego County and the National Center for Youth Law claim the new policy violates state law, KPBS reported.

According to lawyers, California allows young people to leave school without parental consent to deal with sexual, mental, substance abuse or reproductive health issues, the station reported.

But school trustees say that depends on how the law is interpreted.

Several parents addressed the board saying under no circumstances would they want their children leaving school without their knowledge, especially to seek medical procedures that could include an abortion, the Times reported.

Others expressed concern over students who face parental abuse.

"Often the kids would rather die than tell their parents," local pediatrician John Rott said. "I think the effect on our most vulnerable children will be a negative one."

ACLU's David Blair Loy told KPBS that Vista is opening itself up to lawsuits and the civil rights group will consider one if the district keeps the policy.

“Any public entity, school district, city government that is actively breaking the law or enacts a policy that violates the law is open to litigation to strike down the policy,” Blair said.

Obama administration to end use of term 'enemy combatant'

Obama administration to end use of term 'enemy combatant'

Obama administration to end use of term 'enemy combatant'
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Obama admin. to end use of term 'enemy combatant'
By NEDRA PICKLER – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration said Friday that it is abandoning one of President George W. Bush's key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant. The Justice Department said in legal filings that it will no longer use the term to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

But that won't change much for the detainees at the U.S. naval base in Cuba — Obama still asserts the military's authority to hold them. Human rights attorneys said they were disappointed that Obama didn't take a new stance.

"This is really a case of old wine in new bottles," the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has been fighting the detainees' detention, said in a statement. "It is still unlawful to hold people indefinitely without charge. The men who have been held for more than seven years by our government must be charged or released."

In another court filing Thursday criticized by human rights advocates, the Obama administration tried to protect top Bush administration military officials from lawsuits brought by prisoners who say they were tortured while being held at Guantanamo Bay.

The Obama administration's position on use of the phrase "enemy combatants" came in response to a deadline by U.S. District Judge John Bates, who is overseeing lawsuits of detainees challenging their detention. Bates asked the administration to give its definition of whom the United States may hold as an "enemy combatant."

The filing back's Bush's stance on the authority to hold detainees, even if they were not captured on the battlefield in the course of hostilities. In their lawsuits, detainees have argued that only those who directly participated in hostilities should be held.

"The argument should be rejected," the Justice Department said in its filing. "Law-of-war principles do not limit the United States' detention authority to this limited category of individuals. A contrary conclusion would improperly reward an enemy that violates the laws of war by operating as a loose network and camouflaging its forces as civilians."

Attorney General Eric Holder also submitted a declaration to the court outlining President Barack Obama's efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year and determine where to place the 240 people held there. He said there could be "further refinements" to the administration's position as that process goes on.

"Promptly determining the appropriate disposition of those detained at Guantanamo Bay is a high priority for the president," Holder wrote.

Elisa Massimino, CEO and Executive Director of Human Rights First, urged the administration to use that opening. "We certainly hope it will use that opportunity to narrow the authority and make a clean break from the policies of the past," she said.

There are some changes in legal principles in Obama's stance. The Justice Department said authority to hold detainees comes from Congress and the international laws of war, not from the president's own wartime power as Bush had argued.

The Justice Department says prisoners can only be detained if their support for al-Qaida, the Taliban or "associated forces" was "substantial." But it does not define the terms and says "circumstances justifying detention will vary from case to case."

Retired Army Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a former Guantanamo official who has since become critical of the legal process, said it's a change in nothing but semantics.

"There's absolutely no change in the definition," Abraham said in a telephone interview. "To say this is a kinder more benevolent sense of justice is absolutely false. ... I think the only thing they've done is try to separate themselves from the energy of the debate" by eliminating Bush's phrasing.

On the topic of former administration officials, the Justice Department argued in a filing with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that holding military officials liable for their treatment of prisoners could cause them to make future decisions based on fear of litigation rather than appropriate military policy.

The suit before the appeals court was brought by four British citizens — Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith — who were sent back to Great Britain in 2004. The defendants in the case include former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and retired Gen. Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The men say they were beaten, shackled in painful stress positions and threatened by dogs during their time at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. They also say they were harassed while practicing their religion, including forced shaving of their beards, banning or interrupting their prayers, denying them copies of the Koran and prayer mats and throwing a copy of the Koran in a toilet.

They contend in their lawsuit that the treatment violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which provides that the "government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion."

The appeals court ruled against them early last year, saying because the men were foreigners held outside the United States, they do not fall within the definition of a "person" protected by the act.

But later in the year, the Supreme Court ruled that Guantanamo detainees have some rights under the Constitution. So the Supreme Court instructed the appeals court to reconsider the lawsuit in light of their decision.

Eric Lewis, attorney for the four, said Friday that military officials should be subject to liability when they order torture.

"The upshot of the Justice Department's position is that there is no right of detainees not to be tortured and that officials who order torture should be protected," Lewis said.

Last month in another court filing, the Justice Department sided with the Bush White House by arguing that detainees at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.

Whaddya mean, 'no special interests'? Obama election sparks surge in PACs

Whaddya mean, 'no special interests'? Obama election sparks surge in PACs

Whaddya mean, 'no special interests'? Obama election sparks surge in PACs
michaelsavage.com

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Obama's Election Helps Spark Explosive Growth in Political Action Committees
The Federal Election Commission says that on Jan. 1 there were 4,611 political action committees, 9 percent more than the 4,234 PACs a year earlier.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

More groups than ever are contributing money to presidential and congressional candidates as their strongest growth in a generation reflects the fervor over last year's White House election and a desire for access and clout on Capitol Hill.

The Federal Election Commission says that on Jan. 1 there were 4,611 political action committees, which are formed by companies, unions or other groups to raise and spend money to help presidential and congressional candidates. That was 9 percent more than the 4,234 PACs a year earlier.

Many of the ones created last year reflect the types of issues that President Obama and Congress, now largely controlled by Democrats, hope to tackle this year.

Among those forming new committees were the National Asphalt Pavement Association and several local branches of the International Union of Operating Engineers, whose members could benefit from paving new roads; the Patriot Coal Corp. of St. Louis, a large coal producer concerned about energy issues; and Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, Calif., a producer of medical devices for treating cancer, which could be affected by Obama's health care plans.

One of the 540 committees started in 2008 was set up the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, which represents businesses that handle human resources tasks for other companies. Its members hope lawmakers will make it easier for them to collect payroll taxes for their clients.

"It's achieved what we wanted to do," Milan Yager, the association's executive director, said of the $21,000 his group reported in contributions, a relatively tiny sum. "We've been able to go to some events" -- fundraisers -- "and meet members of Congress and their staff and have face time."

Such access is precisely why many groups form the committees, says Paul Herrnson, a professor of government at the University of Maryland who has written about campaign finance.

"The hope is that a member of Congress will consider them part of their policy team, in the sense that they'll take a phone call or meet with a representative of the group," Herrnson said.

While it is natural for the number of such committees to increase in presidential election years, last year's growth was the strongest in a presidential year since 1984, when there was a 14 percent boost.

The two-year election cycle of 2007 and 2008 also saw record spending of nearly $1.2 billion by PACs, compared with $1.1 billion the previous two years, the election commission said. In the previous presidential campaign of 2003 and 2004, PACs spent $843 million.

Of 2007-2008 spending, $234 million went directly to Democratic candidates and $178 million to Republicans. The rest went to indirect expenditures for candidates, contributions to parties or other PACs, and other expenses.

Most of the new committees spent small fractions of the huge sums expended by established groups. The PAC run by the National Association of Realtors contributed $3.9 million to candidates in 2008, the year's top amount, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

The strongest growth among committees was in those formed by ideological or political groups, which grew last year by 23 percent to 1,594. Largely reflecting activity in last year's campaigns, such new groups included OurGreatestFear.org, which raised money to oppose the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin, and PLR PAC, which helped finance conservative radio advertising aimed at the Hispanic community.

Islamic academy revises religious textbooks

Islamic academy revises religious textbooks

Islamic academy revises religious textbooks
michaelsavage.com

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Islamic school revises disputed books
Critics said religious textbooks cultivated intolerance
Matthew Barakat ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, March 13, 2009

An Islamic school in Northern Virginia with close ties to the Saudi government has revised its religious textbooks in an effort to end years of criticism that the school fosters hatred and intolerance.

While the Islamic Saudi Academy deleted some of the most contentious passages from the texts, copies provided to the Associated Press show that enough sensitive material remains to arm critics who claim the books show intolerance toward those who do not follow strict interpretations of Islam.


Astrid Riecken/The Washington Times Christine Brim is part of a group of critics who believe the textbooks at the Islamic Saudi Academy promote intolerance toward non-Muslims. The Northern Virginia school recently developed new Islamic studies textbooks in an effort to address the criticism.

The academy, which teaches nearly 900 students in grades kindergarten through 12th at its Alexandria campus, developed new Islamic studies textbooks for all grades after a 2008 congressional report called portions of the previous editions troubling. The school provided AP copies of the new textbooks, which revise language on hot-button issues such as requiring women to cover their heads and how Muslims should relate to people of other religions.

School officials say the books are part of the school's effort to promote universal values of tolerance and kindness, and modernize some of the lessons.

They've had to make similar defenses before.

The school was founded in 1984 and largely stayed out of the spotlight until the Sept. 11 attacks, which focused attention on the Saudi educational system. In December 2001, two former academy students, Mohammed El-Yacoubi and Mohammed Osman Idris, were denied entry into Israel when authorities there found Mr. El-Yacoubi carrying what the FBI believed was a suicide note linked to a planned martyrdom operation in Israel.

In 2005, a former academy valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was convicted in federal court of joining al Qaeda while attending college in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate then-President George W. Bush.

Last year, the school's then-director, Abdalla al-Shabnan, was convicted of failing to report a suspected case of child sex abuse.

Last year also was when the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report saying the school's textbooks contained several troubling passages, including one saying it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam and another saying "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people."

The new books don't contain those passages. AP reviewed them with assistance from Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, who has criticized the academy and the books used there and in schools in Saudi Arabia.

While the academy's books borrow extensively from those used in the Saudi system, they also revise and delete certain words and passages. For instance, the books used in Saudi Arabia say women must cover their face and body to conform with Islam's tenets. The academy's textbooks, though, only talk about covering the body. Words such as "kaffir," which is often translated as "infidel," have been replaced with more neutral words such as "non-Muslim."

However, some sensitive sections survived the revisions. One of the few references to Christians and Jews, or "People of the Book," disparages scholars in those faiths for rejecting the truth of Islam.


associated press Students, some wearing head scarves, socialize in front of the Alexandria school in 2005. The Islamic academy, which has close ties to the Saudi government, revised language on hot-button issues such as requiring women to cover their heads.

"Scholars of the People of the Book know that Islam is the true path because they find it in their books," an 11th-grade textbook reads. "But they shy away out of ignorance and stubbornness. And God knows their deeds and will judge them."

The school's director, Abdulrahman Alghofaili, said Judaism, Christianity and Islam all claim to "set themselves apart as singular representatives of divine truth and the path to salvation."

The passage in the textbook, he said, is no different from the First Commandment, which states, "You shall have no other gods before me."

Mr. al-Ahmed, whose group monitors politics and education in the Persian Gulf, said the revised texts now being used at the academy make some small improvements in tone.

But he said it's clear from the books that the core ideology behind them - a puritanical strain of Islam known as Wahhabism that is dominant within Saudi Arabia - remains intact.

"It shows they have no intention of real reform," Mr. al-Ahmed said.

Daycare serves kids windshield wiper fluid

Daycare serves kids windshield wiper fluid

Daycare serves kids windshield wiper fluid
michaelsavage.com

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Ten Children Hospitalized After Drinking Cleaning Fluidposted

03/13/09 5:58 pm

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Little Rock, AR - Authorities say 10 children at an Arkansas day-care center drank windshield wiper fluid after the owner served it from a container mistaken for Kool-Aid and placed in a refrigerator.

The day-care owner, Carolyn Bynum, voluntarily surrendered her state license Friday.

Doctors estimate the children, ages 2 to 7, drank about an ounce of the blue fluid late Thursday afternoon before realizing it tasted wrong. Only one child remains hospitalized in good condition after blood samples showed "measurable levels" of methanol, a highly toxic alcohol that can induce comas and cause blindness.

Child welfare officials interviewed Bynum Friday. Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, says Bynum accepted "total responsibility" for the incident.

White House misspells Brazilian leader's name, bumps visit with Obama

White House misspells Brazilian leader's name, bumps visit with Obama

White House misspells Brazilian leader's name, bumps visit with Obama
michaelsavage.com

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White House Misspells Brazilian Leader’s Name, Bumps Visit With Obama to Saturday
Brazil leader takes regional clout to White House
Friday, March 13, 2009
By Bradley Brooks, Associated Press

Rio de Janeiro (AP) - His meet-and-greet with the U.S. president was bumped to Saturday, and when the White House announced his official visit, they misspelled his name.

But when Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva becomes the first Latin American leader to sit down with President Barack Obama this weekend, he brings undisputed clout.

Silva runs the world's fifth-most-populous nation and ninth-largest economy and has close ties with leaders across the political spectrum. He's been asked to lobby Obama for free trade on behalf of conservatives in Colombia and for dropping the U.S. embargo against communist Cuba. Even Hugo Chavez has asked Silva to carry an olive branch to the new administration.

"I'm going to ask that the U.S. take a different view of Latin America," Silva said before leaving for Washington. "We're a democratic, peaceful continent, and the U.S. has to look at the region in a productive, developmental way, and not just think about drug trafficking or organized crime."

In fact, it's what Silva won't bring that shows how the global financial crisis has changed the geopolitical order.

"He will not have his hat in his hand or an outstretched palm saying 'I need money,'" said David Fleischer, a University of Brasilia political scientist. "But he will 'have his heels on' -- a Brazilian way of saying he is in the favorable position."

Brazil has become a major U.S. trading partner, with cautious economic policies that have helped it weather the crisis better than almost all other major economies. With huge new offshore oil finds and abundant ethanol, Brazil could be key to helping wean the U.S. off Venezuelan crude and shift to cleaner energies.

Still, the White House made several moves interpreted as snubs by the Brazilian media.

Silva aides said the trip was pushed forward from Tuesday because of the St. Patrick's Day holiday -- making Latin America once again look like an afterthought. Then, the White House announcement misspelled his name as "Luis Ignacio" and put "Lula" -- a nickname that decades ago became a legal part of the Brazilian leader's name -- in quotes.

The White House quickly corrected the mistake.

The meeting between Obama and Silva is expected to cover wide ground: The financial crisis, ending the Cuban embargo, energy, trade, and tempering relations with Venezuela and Bolivia -- both of whom have expelled U.S. ambassadors in the past year.

While such subjects have been broached between the two nations before, analysts say Brazil's stable economy and strong democracy give it new credibility.

For decades, global financial crises have humbled Latin America's commodity-driven economies, resulting in a familiar ritual: Leaders would travel to Washington, ask for bailout money, be chastised by experts at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and be forced to swallow austere and unpopular economic measures tied to the aid.

Now Silva wants a prominent role for Brazil and other emerging market nations in rewriting the rules for the global financial system, replacing dictates from these Washington-based organizations. It's a message he'll also take to April's G-20 summit in London.

Each time such policies were imposed in the past, sentiment toward the U.S. grew more hostile, fostering a rise in anti-American populist leaders such as Venezuela's Chavez, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa.

"Brazil is seen as the key partner in a new era of hemispheric relations," said Mauricio Cardenas, director of the Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. "Obama wants Brazil to play that role -- to be a bridge to Venezuela, Cuba and other not-so-friendly nations."

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said he thinks a personal relationship between Obama and Silva, both of whom broke through social barriers with their elections -- would significantly improve relations between the two nations.

"There is an intellectual affinity, I'd say, that will permit relations (between the U.S. and Brazil), that are good now, to become much more profound," he said.

Their biggest topic is likely to be energy -- biofuels and oil.

Brazil -- the world's largest exporter of ethanol -- has seen little traction on its demand that the U.S. lift a 53-cent-per-gallon import tariff on the alternative to gasoline. But in the past two years, Brazil has made offshore oil discoveries of some 80 billion barrels -- which could turn it into a major exporter of crude.

"Obama is likely to ask if Brazil can supply oil to the U.S. to diminish dependency on Venezuelan oil," Fleischer said. "Lula will say 'no' -- but will propose the U.S. remove its surcharge on ethanol imports and use Brazilian ethanol to meet its energy needs."

Silva stands on more solid economic ground than most leaders nowadays.

U.S. and European nations are struggling to keep banks afloat with massive government intervention -- long a major economic sin -- after fostering easy credit that helped create the U.S. housing bubble.

In contrast, Brazil under Silva already increased state control of its banking system, but maintained rules that made private banks averse to risky lending. The policy that seemed overly cautious and growth-stifling before the crisis now looks wise in the economic free fall.

Since being elected in 2002 as Brazil's first working-class president, Silva also embraced free market policies and made history last year when ratings agencies raised Brazil's debt to investment grade. Now data from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development show Brazil weathering the financial crisis better than most.

"Overall it remains fair to say that Brazil is likely to do better than most emerging markets, and undoubtedly better than in the past," said Luiz de Mello, who runs the OECD's Brazil and South America desks.