December 2005

"Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) has joined the list of distinguished speakers for Family Research Council's simulcast television program, "Justice Sunday III -- Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land!" The program is set for Sunday, Jan. 8 at Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and will broadcast live in churches across the nation in addition to being carried on hundreds of radio stations, via satellite and webcast on http://www.justicesunday.com . Justice Sunday III will help ensure that the voices of people of faith are heard in the great national debate on the courts and the future of our country." [Read more]

"The Enron plea deal just made -- with their chief accountant in the country's largest bankruptcy where workers lost all their pension money -- mandates a solution to the nation's pension crisis, and it is not complicated," former Chief of Staff of the U.S. House Aging Committee, Robert Weiner, said today.

"Pensions must be controlled by third parties -- in untouchable accounts -- and not by the companies themselves in order to guarantee their workers get their deserved retirement. The Enron bankruptcy declaration would have cost the workers NONE of their pension money if companies were required to put pension money in protected, untouchable third party accounts." [Read more]

"Richard A. Causey, the former chief accounting officer at Enron Corp., has pleaded guilty to a charge of securities fraud, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today." [Read more]

"The Reverend Jerry Falwell of Jerry Falwell Ministries and founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia has joined the list of distinguished speakers for Family Research Council's simulcast television program, "Justice Sunday III -Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land!" The program is set for Sunday, Jan. 8 at Greater Exodus Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and will broadcast live in churches across the nation in addition to being carried on hundreds of radio stations, via satellite and webcast on http://www.justicesunday.com." [Read more]

"The Justice Department will make available 17 documents from the National Archives related to Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., Wednesday, Dec. 28, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. EST. The documents will also be posted on the Archives's Web site at http://www.archives.gov/news/samuel-alito/." [Read more]

"Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today marked its second annual celebration of Festivus to acknowledge the disappointments and successes for taxpayers in 2005. In the sitcom Seinfeld, Festivus is a fictional holiday invented by Frank Costanza (George's father) to protest the commercialization of other December holidays. The Festivus dinner begins with the Airing of Grievances, where the celebrant tells family and friends all the ways they have disappointed him or her over the past year." [Read more]

"In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle dismisses the Bush Administration's claim that Congress granted President Bush authority to spy on American citizens in the 2001 Congressional legislation authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda." [Read more]

"Thanks to user-friendly web pages in both English and Spanish from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Alliance to Save Energy, consumers can take maximum advantage of new federal income tax credits for energy-efficiency home improvements and/or for purchasing fuel-efficient hybrid-electric vehicles." [Read more]

"President Bush's revelation that he authorized a secret program to allow the government to spy on American citizens has been met with widespread criticism. While a handful of Republican senators have joined Democrats in calling for Congressional hearings into whether the President broke the law by approving the program, Nevada Republican Congressman Jim Gibbons has refused to join the call for Congressional oversight and accountability." [Read more]

"House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) released the following statement today:

"Eight days ago, a bipartisan majority of the House, including 44 Democrats, voted for the PATRIOT Act conference report. Last night, the Senate ignored the will of the bipartisan majority of the House, a majority of the PATRIOT Act House-Senate conferees, and a clear majority of Senators by failing to consider the PATRIOT Act conference report. Instead, the Senate chose to punt the issue to next year by passing a six-month extension of the PATRIOT Act that contains none of the important civil liberties safeguards carefully negotiated by House and Senate conferees and included in the PATRIOT Act conference report." [Read more]

"Following is a transcript of remarks by President Bush upon departure from the White House today: The South Lawn

2:25 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: I hope you all have a happy holiday. This has been a year of strong progress toward a freer, more peaceful world, and a prosperous America. We had three sets of elections in Iraq. This is an amazing moment in the history of liberty. A new parliament has been seated in Afghanistan. Our economy is strong and getting stronger; people are working, we've added 4.5 million new jobs since April of 2003; productivity is up; small businesses are flourishing; home ownership is high. It's been a good year for the American people." [Read more]

"The National Archives at College Park will release 45 documents relating to Samuel Alito. These records total 744 pages from Record Group 60, Records of the Department of Justice, Files of John Bolton, Michael Carvin, Roger Clegg, Stephen Galebach, Brian Landsberg, Mark Levin, and Richard Willard. The National Archives found the documents, consisting of memoranda and other documents, in various folders in the files of these individuals during the processing of additional FOIA requests." [Read more]

"Revelations about the Administration's secret domestic spying program -- conducted by circumventing the courts -- has spotlighted yet again why checks and balances are so vital. In fact, they are so cherished that a federal judge has resigned from the secret court that should have been petitioned to decide if the activity was legal, and some legal scholars say the Administration may be misusing the judges of the court to exceed legal authority." [Read more]

"Following is a statement released today from Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, executive director of the American Public Health Association:

"We strongly oppose the Senate's actions last night on the budget and appropriations bills that cut almost $5 billion from the Medicaid program and that cut additional funding from other critical public health programs. These votes will have little impact in helping reduce the federal deficit, yet they will have serious repercussions for those who depend on public health programs such as Medicaid to meet their basic health needs." [Read more]

"A coalition of liberal interest groups working to defeat the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court has sharply stepped up their television advertising campaigns in Maine and Rhode Island in recent weeks. In doing so they have closed what was once a wide gap in total spending on television airtime relative to their conservative peers who back Alito's nomination." [Read more]

"Late last night Congress passed Senator John Kerry's (D-Mass.) bipartisan Small Business Drought Relief Act, which will ensure all small businesses damaged by drought have access to low-interest loans through the Small Business Administration (SBA). Kerry's legislation is cosponsored by Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), and has received widespread support among Governors and small businesses. The passage of the bill today marks the successful end of Kerry's three-year legislative battle to expand drought relief." [Read more]

"In a bipartisan vote, the Senate overwhelmingly passed Rep. Chris Smith's (R-N.J.) Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 (HR 972), legislation that strengthens the nation's current trafficking law (also authored by Smith in 2000) and authorizes new funds for investigation and prosecution of domestic trafficking within the United States." [Read more]

"Holocaust-deniers suffered setbacks in the United States and Europe this past year, but made gains in Arab and Muslim countries, according to this year's annual report on Holocaust-denial activity around the world." [Read more]

"Following is a letter by J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, to Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi:

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Democratic Leader, U.S. House of Representatives

Dear Ms. Pelosi,

I am writing to ask you for unanimous consent to approve the conference report on H.R. 4241, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. As you know, the House approved this measure on December 19, 2005 in a 212-206 vote. Unfortunately, the Senate has now made minor changes..." [Read more]

"Two days ago, President Bush took to the podium for a nationally televised news conference to explain why he approved a secret program to allow America's surveillance apparatus to spy on American citizens. Because he failed to give candid answers about the program, leaving so many unanswered questions, the president's explanation has been met with a parade of bad news in the last 48 hours." [Read more]

"Following is a transcript of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's press briefing on need for Senate to reauthorize the USA Patriot Act:

ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO R. GONZALES: For the past four years, the tools of the Patriot Act have been extremely viable in allowing us to deter and prevent attacks, to prosecute terrorism, and to prosecute other kinds of crimes. In ten days 16 of the provisions of the Patriot Act are scheduled to expire. That would be bad for this country." [Read more]

"In a hard-won environmental victory for every American who cares about protecting Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Senate voted today to reject attaching oil exploration in the pristine refuge to the massive Defense Appropriations bill. The 44-56 vote kept Arctic drilling from passing as part of the bill; drilling supporters needed at least 60 votes to keep the drilling provisions on the bill." [Read more]

"Approval of an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling would have been a good step in reducing reliance on foreign oil, according to scholars for the National Center for Policy Analysis' (NCPA) E-Team project." [Read more]

"Sue Swenson, executive director of The Arc of the United States and Stephen Bennett, president and CEO of United Cerebral Palsy, two of the nation's leading non-profit organizations advocating for people with disabilities, issued the following statement in response to the Congress' passage of the Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Reconciliation bill ("the Budget Reduction Act"):

"Nationwide, people with disabilities should be saddened to know that their United States Congress considers their health and well- being a less than worthy investment." [Read more]

"The following was released today by the U.S. Department of Justice:

If the USA PATRIOT Act is allowed to expire, we will return to a pre-9/11 mode of information sharing where there are not clear rules governing investigators' ability to share information with each other, where terrorists and spies can use technology against us, and where it is more difficult to investigate a potential terrorist attack that it is to catch a drug dealer, a mobster, or a white collar criminal." [Read more]

"Following are remarks by President Bush upon departure:

The South Lawn

10:11 a.m. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. The Senate is debating two very important measures, and I urge the United States Senate to pass the Defense Appropriations Bill. It is an important piece of legislation that provides necessary funding for our troops who are fighting in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and who are serving our country around the world. It's an obligation of every member of the United States Senate to provide necessary funding for our troops on the front lines so that we can fight and win the war on terror." [Read more]

"Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) is currently holding up legislation that the U.S. House of Representatives approved unanimously on Dec. 14. The bill, H.R. 972, targets purchasers of illegal sex acts and the traffickers who exploit the victims domestically. The End Demand for Sex Trafficking Act focuses on halting the trafficking of people, primarily women and children, in the United States for the purposes of prostitution and sexual slavery." [Read more]

"House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on her request to the director of National Intelligence to declassify a letter she wrote to the Bush Administration expressing concerns about the activities of the National Security Agency.

"When I learned that the National Security Agency had been authorized to conduct the activities that President Bush referred to in his December 17 radio address, I expressed my strong concerns in a classified letter to the Administration and later verbally." [Read more]

"The following is a statement by Frank O'Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch, in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposed standards for fine-particle pollution:

"The Bush administration is giving an early Christmas present to smokestack industries -- while sticking a sooty lump of coal in the stockings of breathers." [Read more]

"The U.S. Department of Justice released the following fact sheet today on Civil Liberties Safeguards in the USA PATRIOT ACT:

The Administration has scored a number of key victories in the War on Terror over the past four years, many as a result of expanded information sharing and investigative tools provided by the USA PATRIOT Act. On Dec. 31, 16 key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act will expire unless the Senate acts to reauthorize them." [Read more]

"VelvetRevolution.us, a coalition of more than 130 progressive organizations dedicated to an enlightened and accountable government, supports ranking House Judiciary Democrat Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) motion to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney for providing misleading information to Congress in advance of the Iraq war, failing to respond to written questions, and violating international law." [Read more]

"Following is an executive summary of a Senate Republican Policy Committee policy paper titled "The Strategy for Success in Iraq," released today:

Executive Summary

The terrorists in Iraq directly threaten the United States because, in their own words, their objective is to drive the United States and coalition forces out of Iraq and use the vacuum that would be created by an American retreat to gain control of that country. They would then use Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks against America, overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East, and try to establish a totalitarian Islamic empire that reaches from Indonesia to Spain." [Read more]

"An organization at the forefront of combating illegal FBI surveillance tactics in the seventies now urges Congress to undertake a complete and thorough review of reports that the Pentagon is spying on "peaceful anti-war and counter-military recruitment groups."

Calling it a "new McCarthyism," the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) also likened the troublesome revelation to the notorious COINTELPRO, an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program -- the covert FBI project aimed at undercutting Vietnam anti-war organizing and the civil rights movement." [Read more]

"According to recent press reports, Pentagon officials have been spying on what they call "suspicious" meetings by civilian groups, including student groups opposed to the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual military personnel." [Read more]

"The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity is greatly encouraged by the recent passage of both federal and state legislation that recognizes the reality of patient treatments and cures, not through embryonic stem cells, but through stem cells extracted from the umbilical cord blood.

"We are elated by news of these two significant pieces of legislation," said CBHD President, Dr. Andrew Fergusson, "as they recognize that science continues to yield treatments and cures without ethical compromise. Embryonic stem cell research is unethical and there are no clinically applicable results foreseeable." [Read more]

"News briefing by national environmental organizations will formally announce their opposition to the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court, the first time environmental groups have opposed a Supreme Court nominee since the nomination of Robert Bork. The groups will offer a detailed briefing regarding the reasons why Alito's nomination threatens public health, the environment, and many other rights and protections that Americans hold dear.

WHEN: TODAY, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 9:45 a.m. EST" [Read more]

"One year after the south Asian tsunami, more than half of the people in affected areas are back to work and economies are quickly returning to normal, according to a new report by Oxfam International.

The new report, "Back to Work," estimates that as many as 60 percent of the people who lost their jobs are earning a living again, and predicts that 85 percent of jobs will have been restored by the end of 2006." [Read more]

"House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Defense Appropriations conference report, which passed the House early this morning. Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to take out unrelated provisions, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and a more than $8.5 billion across-the- board cut in spending. Below is Pelosi's statement:

"Democrats believe that there is no more fundamental responsibility than to support our troops. We owe them a deep debt of gratitude for their courage, their patriotism, and for their sacrifices they are willing to make for our country. To show my support for our troops, I reluctantly voted for this deeply flawed appropriations bill." [Read more]

"The following is a text of a press briefing by Attorney General Gonzales and General Michael Hayden, principal deputy director for National Intelligence:

THE WHITE HOUSE

James S. Brady Briefing Room, 8:30 A.M. EST

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES: The President confirmed the existence of a highly classified program on Saturday. The program remains highly classified; there are many operational aspects of the program that have still not been disclosed and we want to protect that because those aspects of the program are very, very important to protect the national security of this country.

So I'm only going to be talking about the legal underpinnings for what has been disclosed by the President." [Read more]

"Following is the reaction of Sen. Patrick Leahy, ranking member, Senate Judiciary Committee, to the President's news conference comments about the USA PATRIOT Act:

"Unfortunately, the President persists in misstating the facts about the effort to fix the problems in the PATRIOT Act. There is no reason why the American people cannot have a PATRIOT Act that is both effective and that adequately protects their rights and their privacy." [Read more]

"Following is a transcript of remarks by President Bush in a press conference today:

The East Room

10:32 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Last night I addressed the nation about our strategy for victory in Iraq, and the historic elections that took place in the country last week. In a nation that once lived by the whims of a brutal dictator, the Iraqi people now enjoy constitutionally protected freedoms, and their leaders now derive their powers from the consent of the government. Millions of Iraqis are looking forward to a future with hope and optimism." [Read more]

"WHAT: On a telephone conference call, the Polly Klaas(r) Foundation will announce new data from a nationwide survey of the Internet behavior and experiences of children (ages 8-18). The responses from 1,468 youth reveal risks children take online and the frequency with which they communicate with strangers. A Foundation spokesperson will summarize the polling data and provide realistic guidance for parents in light of the findings, and a teenager and law enforcement expert on Internet safety will discuss the teen's own experience being nearly lured away by an adult.

WHEN: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT)" [Read more]

"Private Kyle Lawson, a 19-year-old Tucson resident, was physically assaulted and threatened at Fort Huachuca Army Base after fellow soldiers learned he is gay, according to a report in Sunday's Arizona Daily Star. Fearful for his safety, Private Lawson is leaving the Army, while the soldier accused of his assault appears to remain unpunished." [Read more]

"With public distrust of psychiatry ever-increasing-and government agency drug warnings at an all time high-Scientology's psychiatric watchdog shows it's much worse than you think.

Community and government leaders from across the globe were joined by ardent celebrity supporters Lisa Marie Presley, Priscilla Presley, Danny Masterson, Giovanni Ribisi, Leah Remini, Jenna Elfman, Catherine Bell and Marisol Nichols at the grand opening of a new state of the art museum Psychiatry an Industry of Death." [Read more]

"Friday, December 16, marked the end of the Howard Stern Show on "traditional radio." Beginning January 9, the Show will air on Sirius Satellite Radio, where it is expected to be unedited and be even filthier than it already is.

MIM President Robert Peters had the following comments:

"Prior to 1987, the FCC's test for determining whether an activity constituted 'broadcasting' was whether there was an 'intent for public distribution' and whether programming was 'of interest to the general... audience.'" [Read more]

"Following is a transcript of remarks by President Bush in an address to the nation (1 of 2):

The Oval Office

9:01 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Three days ago, in large numbers, Iraqis went to the polls to choose their own leaders -- a landmark day in the history of liberty. In the coming weeks, the ballots will be counted, a new government formed, and a people who suffered in tyranny for so long will become full members of the free world." [Read more]

Transcript of Remarks by President Bush in Address to the Nation Dec. 18 (2/2)

"Following is the reaction of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt., ranking member, Senate Judiciary Committee, chief Senate sponsor of the original USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, and a former prosecutor) to the President's Saturday radio address on the PATRIOT Act and on efforts led by Leahy and others in the Senate to make improvements in the proposed rewrite of the PATRIOT Act, which is now pending before Congress:

"Many of us who want improvements in the PATRIOT Act worked hard to help write and enact the original law in 2001. We want to make sure these tools are used against terrorists and not abused to undermine the hard-won rights that are the heritage of every American." [Read more]

"The following is a transcript of President Bush's radio address to the nation today:

The Roosevelt Room

10:06 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: As President, I took an oath to defend the Constitution, and I have no greater responsibility than to protect our people, our freedom, and our way of life. On September the 11th, 2001, our freedom and way of life came under attack by brutal enemies who killed nearly 3,000 innocent Americans. We're fighting these enemies across the world. Yet in this first war of the 21st century, one of the most critical battlefronts is the home front. And since September the 11th, we've been on the offensive against the terrorists plotting within our borders." [Read more]

"Following is a transcript of remarks by President Bush and ambassador to the United Nations from Iraq Samir Sumaidaie in a photo opportunity:

The Oval Office

1:40 P.M. EST

PRESIDENT BUSH: It's my honor to welcome the ambassador to the United Nations from Iraq. This good man has been a -- is an Iraqi patriot. He was there in Iraq right after liberation; he helped write the TAL, which is the go-by for the new constitution. He's serving his country in New York now. He was a voter yesterday in the elections." [Read more]

"MoveOn.org Political Action will begin airing a TV ad on Monday in select congressional districts, pointing out that the majority of Iraqis want U.S. troops out of Iraq. The ad urges members of Congress to heed the call of Americans and Iraqis alike, and provide an exit strategy from Iraq. The latest polls show that a large and growing number of Americans and Iraqis are opposed to the U.S. occupation." [Read more]

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