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Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/031307.htm
TOP STORIES
Cheney:
Antiwar Lawmakers Hurt Troops
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201284.html
Antiwar lawmakers in
Congress are undermining U.S. troops in Iraq by trying to limit President
Bush's spending requests for military operations, Vice President Cheney said
yesterday. "When members speak not of victory but of time limits,
deadlines and other arbitrary measures, they are telling the enemy simply to
watch the clock and wait us out," Cheney said in a speech to the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee. "When members of Congress pursue an
antiwar strategy that's been called 'slow bleed,' they are not supporting the
troops, they are undermining them." He said the House's nonbinding vote
against troop increases in Iraq last month was an example of "twisted
logic" and "not a proud episode in the history of the United States
Congress."
RELATED: Opposition Undercuts Troops, Cheney Says of Spending Bill
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/washington/13cheney.html?ref=washington
Firings
Had Genesis in White House
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201818.html
The White House
suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys,
a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last
year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will
provide to Congress today. The dismissals took place after President Bush told
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in October that he had received complaints
that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations,
according to a White House spokeswoman. Gonzales approved the idea of firing a smaller
group of U.S. attorneys shortly after taking office in February 2005. The aide
in charge of the dismissals -- his chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson -- resigned
yesterday, officials said, after acknowledging that he did not tell key Justice
officials about the extent of his communications with the White House, leading
them to provide incomplete information to Congress.
RELATED: Congress Demands Rove Testimony on Attorney Firings
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201148.html
RELATED: Key figure in
Justice Dept. to step down
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usattys13mar13,0,38283.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RELATED: Fast-Riser’s
High Hopes and Sudden Fall
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/washington/13sampson.html
In
Guatemala, Bush Vows to Push Immigration Changes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031200079.html
President Bush
defended a recent surge of deportations that have inflamed passions here in
Latin America, but vowed Monday to redouble efforts to overhaul immigration
laws and called on the Senate to pass comprehensive legislation by summer.
"The system needs to be fixed," he said during his first visit to
this impoverished nation, which many have fled seeking opportunities in the United States, legally and illegally. "It seems like to me, we've got to get this done
by August." Although he called that a goal rather than a deadline, it was
the first time Bush has prodded lawmakers with a time frame since Democrats
took over Congress. It also was a tacit acknowledgment that the next few months
represent his last chance to push through the most significant domestic
initiative remaining in his presidency. After that, aides contend, the approach
of the 2008 presidential primaries would make consensus implausible.
RELATED: In Guatemala, immigration tops Bush agenda
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bush13mar13,1,3717472.story?coll=la-headlines-world
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
Senators
hold field hearing on new federal farm bill
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5413019,00.html
Renewable energy will
be a big part of the new federal farm bill and Colorado agriculture will likely
have a big role in producing that alternative energy, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa,
said Monday. Harkin, the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman, said he would
also look at creating a permanent disaster relief fund in the farm bill for the
kind of storms that pounded southeast Colorado in December. An estimated 10,000
cattle died in the blizzards. Farmers and ranchers from across the state turned
out for the hearing, the first on the new farm bill to be held outside of Washington. ''I believe Colorado is going to play a very important role in the production
of energy from biomass,'' Harkin said in a news conference before the hearing
at the Adams County Fairgrounds 20 miles north of Denver.
RELATED: Coloradans detail farm-bill needs
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5421797
RELATED: Farmers ask
for better disaster programs
http://greeleytrib.com/article/20070313/NEWS/103130113
RELATED: Farmers give
insight on their role in energy boom
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070313/NEWS/103130116
4
counties on election watch list
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5414130,00.html
Secretary of State
Mike Coffman on Monday put four Colorado counties with problem- plagued
elections on a "watch list" and ordered three of them to use paper
ballot backups to their computerized voting machines next time. Under the
order, Denver, Douglas and Montrose counties must offer two voting systems
because of problems they had that prevented citizens from casting ballots.
Pueblo, which failed to verify signatures on absentee ballots, was ordered to
find a new way of storing signatures electronically. Coffman said he came close
to exercising his authority under state law to seek a court order to simply
take over the administration of elections in Montrose and Pueblo counties,
where officials actually violated state law. But he chose to order extra
supervision instead, noting he did not find any evidence of fraud.
RELATED: 4 county elections watched
http://www.denverpost.com/newsheadlines/ci_5421569
RELATED: Coffman wants
eye on Pueblo
http://pueblochieftain.com/metro/1173794377/2
Tiff on
war resolution
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5414149,00.html
A war of words over a
proposed war resolution intensified Monday, as Democrats and Republicans
prepare to do battle Wednesday when the measure is heard. Democratic lawmakers
say it's appropriate for the legislature to debate the resolution because the
cost of the conflict is resulting in fewer federal dollars to Colorado. The
resolution states it is not in the national interest of the United States to deepen its military involvement in Iraq. Republicans fear that the resolution will
undermine the troops. But Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, who introduced the war
resolution, said the arguments Republicans are making don't support the troops,
but rather support "the president's failed Iraq war policy."
"You don't support the troops by sending them inadequately trained and
equipped on their second or third deployment into the middle of an Iraqi civil
war," Tupa said. Said Sen. Mike Kopp, R-Littleton: "Democrats want to
make the resolution about the Bush administration. I think the issue is
rightness of the cause." Kopp is sponsoring a support-the-troops rally
before the hearing. Among those who plan to attend is Mary Smith, new
chairwoman of the Denver Republican Party.
RELATED: War protesters, military families may testify at Iraq hearing
http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15139
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/031307.htm
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