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BRAGGING RIGHTS (Roll Call, March 20)
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429554,00.html
Colorado's own liberal
blog, ProgressNow.com [ProgressNowAction.org -- ed.], was a winner in
this year's national Golden Dot awards, given to honor those who exhibit
excellence in using the Internet as a political tool. The awards were presented
over the weekend by the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet in Washington, D.C. ProgressNow was honored in three categories: Winner: Best online
get-out-the-vote campaign. Finalist: Outstanding state online campaign for
"Both Ways Bob," on GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez.
Finalist: Best political Web video, featuring a disabled veteran opposing U.S.
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Fort Morgan. To view: www.ProgressNowAction.org
Bush
Implores Nation, Congress To Show 'Courage and Resolve'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031900185.html
President Bush asked
skeptical Americans for additional patience as the Iraq war entered its fifth
year yesterday, saying that the United States can be victorious, but "only
if we have the courage and resolve to see it through." In a brief address
to the nation four years after he ordered U.S. forces to invade Iraq, Bush also warned the Democratic-led Congress not to pass a measure scheduled for a
vote in the House this week that would require troops to withdraw from the
conflict. "It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home," Bush said in an
eight-minute speech from the Roosevelt Room in the White House. "That may
be satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American
security would be devastating."
RELATED: Winning will not be easy, Bush says
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200134mar20,1,1069208.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Don’t ‘Pack
Up,’ Bush Says After 4 Years of War
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20prexy.html
FBI
Issues New Rules For Getting Phone Records
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901775.html
The FBI, which has
been criticized for improperly gathering telephone records in terrorism cases,
has told its agents they may still ask phone companies to voluntarily hand over
toll records in emergencies by using a new set of procedures, officials said
yesterday. In the most dire emergencies, requests can be submitted to the
companies verbally, officials said. This month, the bureau sent field agents a
new "emergency letter" template for seeking the records, shortly before
the public release of a report by the Justice Department's inspector general
that documented abuses of emergency phone-records collection by
counterterrorism agents, officials said. That report created a furor on Capitol
Hill and prompted FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to take personal
responsibility.
Justice
Job Considered For Ousted Prosecutor
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901726.html
With the Senate poised
to rein in the attorney general's powers to appoint federal prosecutors, the
Justice Department is engaged in discussions aimed at giving a new job to one
of the seven U.S. attorneys dismissed without explanation on Dec. 7, according
to a Capitol Hill Republican. Under fierce pressure from a Senate Republican,
Justice Department officials are considering a new position for Daniel Bogden,
the ousted U.S. attorney from Nevada who, agency officials explained to Congress,
was dismissed in an effort to get "new energy" into the job.
RELATED: Pelosi: `I believe we need a new attorney general'
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0703200146mar20,1,2314395.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
RELATED: Justice Dept.
worked to contain U.S. attorney fallout
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-usattys20mar20,0,3082655.story?coll=la-home-headlines
RELATED: New E-Mail
Gives Details on Attorney Dismissals
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20documents.html?ref=washington
RELATED: Changes
Sought in Naming of Prosecutors
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20attorneys.html?ref=washington
Congressional
hearing heats up over changes to climate reports
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate20mar20,1,1483477.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
Government scientists,
armed with copies of heavily edited reports, charged Monday that the Bush
administration and its political appointees had soft-pedaled their findings on
climate change. The accusations led Democrats and Republicans at the
congressional hearing to accuse each other of censorship, smear tactics and
McCarthyism. To underscore their charges of the administration's oil-friendly
stance, Democrats grilled an oil lobbyist who was hired by the White House to
review government climate change documents and who made hundreds of edits that
the lawmakers said minimized the impact of global warming. "You were a
spin doctor," Rep. John A. Yarmuth (D-Ky) told the lobbyist.
RELATED: Scientist accuses White House of 'Nazi' tactics
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-climate20mar20,1,1206407.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
RELATED: Material
Shows Weakening of Climate Reports
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/washington/20climate.html?ref=washington
Today’s complete national news
Colorado
More
Interest in Colorado Seat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/19/AR2007031901642.html
Colorado Attorney
General John Suthers (R) said Sunday that he is considering a run for the seat
being vacated by Sen. Wayne Allard (R) in 2008. "The attorney general
hasn't made a decision," spokesman Nate Strauch said yesterday. He
declined to offer a timeline for Suthers to make up his mind. Suthers was
elected as the state's top cop in 2004 and served previously as a U.S. attorney. Were he to jump in, Suthers would join former congressman Scott McInnis (R)
in the contest. Several other Republicans have been mentioned as possible
candidates, including Bob Schaffer, a Senate candidate in 2004, and Bentley
Rayburn, a 5th District candidate in 2006, as well as radio talk show host Dan
Caplis.
RELATED: McInnis concerned about 2008 Suthers Senate run
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_9b_McInnis_Response.html
Center
links partners in biofuel push
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5475269
Colorado's push to make motor fuel from
crops and waste products got a boost Monday with the unveiling of the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels. The center, nicknamed C2B2, will bring
public- and private-sector players together to accelerate renewable-fuel
development. "These new energy technologies will impact all facets of our
lives," said U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden. "Biorefining will strengthen
our national security, help create jobs and save our environment." The
center will operate as part of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, a
recently created consortium of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University and the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory in Golden. Chevron, one of the center's partners, said advancing
renewable fuels will complement, but not replace, development of oil and
natural gas.
RELATED: New tools for biofuels
http://coloradodaily.com/articles/2007/03/19/news/c_u_and_boulder/news2.txt
RELATED: Renewable
energy effort gets boost
http://coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/CSUZONE01/703200351/1002/NEWS01
Ritter's
proposal to manipulate property taxes for schools not new
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429359,00.html
A property tax
manipulation proposed by Gov. Bill Ritter last week to stabilize school funding
has been considered by lawmakers at least since 2004. But they rejected it as
either illegal or unpopular, even as a crisis in funding education loomed
larger with each budget year. "The property tax is never a popular tax and
it never will be," said former House Majority Leader Keith King,
R-Colorado Springs. King opposed a 2004 proposal similar to the one Ritter has
put forward. "I think, frankly, Gov. Ritter is taking a huge political
risk," King said. Colorado schools are funded by a combination of local
property taxes and state aid.
RELATED: Ritter’s education proposal faces hurdles in Legislature
http://www.gazette.com/onset?id=20353&template=article.html
RELATED: Mill levy
freeze proposal sidelined in Colorado Senate
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/03/20/3_20_1b_levy_freeze_frozen.html
'Predatory
lending' targeted by measure
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5429555,00.html
Linda Martin, who
bought rental properties to build a retirement nest egg, considers herself a
smart person. But the Lakewood resident choked back tears Monday as she told a
Senate committee that she's on the verge of losing all three of her rental
homes after becoming a victim of mortgage fraud. Martin said "a
fly-by-night mortgage broker" persuaded her to refinance her property with
so-called low-interest loans that in reality doubled her mortgage payments to
$2,600 a month on each home. "I felt like I had a reasonable amount of education,"
Martin said. "There is no way in God's heaven I would have signed notes if
I had known they doubled my payments. "I'm (here) today because something
needs to be done. Most of us in my situation are professionals. We have been
duped and tricked." Nearly a dozen witnesses testified on behalf of a
measure meant to target "predatory lending practices," reduce a
record number of foreclosures in Colorado and crack down on those who prey on
homeowners who can barely afford their payments.
RELATED: Bill for mortgage broker license passes
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_5475183
Today’s complete Colorado news
Today’s complete daily news: http://media.progressnowaction.org/digest/032007.htm
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