TV legend Jerry Orbach, who played Lennie Briscoe on "Law & Order" has died at 69

I am deeply saddened by this news. I found Jerry Orbach to very talented and gifted actor. His departure from Law & Order last year was devasting enough. Lennie Briscoe, his TV alterego, gave me much humor over the past several years. I always looked forward to Wednesday. TBS even took to having Lennie's wise-crack after the first commercial break during their re-runs. He will be missed and his loss will have great impact on the perfoming arts.

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December 29, 2004

Jerry Orbach, Star of 'Law & Order,' Dies at 69

By BEN BRANTLEY and RICHARD SEVERO

Jerry Orbach - who won fame on the New York stage as one of the last bona fide leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television as a New York detective on NBC's "Law & Order" - died on Tuesday night. He was 69.

The cause was prostate cancer, according to his agent, Robert Malcom.

In performances that spanned half a century, the Bronx-born Mr. Orbach came to embody two beloved New York archetypes: the musical matinee idol, to which he gave a refreshingly modern spin with his rugged and idiosyncratic persona, and the shrewd, irascible cop, a role he honed to a razor's edge as Detective Lennie Briscoe on "Law & Order."

After playing that role for 12 seasons, Mr. Orbach left the show at the end of last season with plans to star in "Trial by Jury," a spinoff that is scheduled to have its debut on NBC in the spring. His illness, which he first disclosed earlier this month, figured in the switch; Dick Wolf, the creator of the "Law & Order" programs, said the new program, on which Mr. Orbach was to appear only occasionally, was less taxing.

Whether singing "Try To Remember" as the dashing narrator of "The Fantasticks" in 1960 or trading barbs with fellow detectives and reluctant witnesses on television in recent years, Mr. Orbach exuded a wry, ragged masculinity that was all his own. As a star of musicals, he created a new kind of hero who was leagues away from suave, swaggering Adonises like John Raitt, Howard Keel and Alfred Drake (though like them, he sang in a resonant baritone). And he flourished at a time when the Broadway musical hero was fast becoming an endangered species.

In shows like "Promises, Promises," Neil Simon and Burt Bacharach's 1968 adaptation of the movie "The Apartment," and "42nd Street" in 1981, Mr. Orbach registered as a musical answer to the shaggier leading men who had begun to emerge on American movie screens, actors like Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson. His rough-edged individuality may account for his endurance on the Broadway stage in an era when other promising musical actors - including Larry Kert, Robert Goulet and Robert Morse - proved unable to follow through on their breakthrough successes.

Mr. Orbach may indeed have been the last of a breed: no male star since has matched the breadth and continuity of his career in musicals. Though he originated the part of the corrupt, silver-tongued lawyer Billy Flynn in Bob Fosse's 1975 production of the musical "Chicago," Mr. Orbach was at his best as a tough cookie with a melting center.

Writing in The New York Times of "Promises, Promises," the critic Clive Barnes said of Mr. Orbach's portrayal of the haplessly ambitious, morally bewildered hero: "He makes gangle into a verb because that is just what he does. He gangles. He also sings most effectively, dances most occasionally, and acts with an engaging and perfectly controlled sense of desperation."

Yet he was equally persuasive in 1981 as the dictatorial director in David Merrick's Broadway version of the movie "42nd Street," in which he managed to instill new vitality into the hoariest of show-biz clichés. When, at the conclusion of the show's opening night performance, Merrick shocked the audience and cast by announcing that its director, Gower Champion, had died, it was Mr. Orbach who had the taste and authority to request that the curtain come down.

Mr.. Orbach's other important roles on stage included Mack the Knife in the landmark off-Broadway production of "The Threepenny Opera" in the late 1950's and El Gallo, the benevolently interactive narrator in "The Fantasticks," which was staged at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in 1960 and went on to become the longest-running musical in New York. Walter Kerr, writing about that performance in The New York Herald Tribune, said, "Mr. Orbach is no doubt on his way."

He also appeared as the misanthropic puppeteer in "Carnival" in 1961 and was nominated for a Tony award for playing Sky Masterson in the 1965 revival of "Guys and Dolls." He won the Tony for best actor in a musical for "Promises, Promises."

His film work was less gratifying, though he appeared to good advantage as Gus Levy in "Prince of the City," Sidney Lumet's biting 1981 movie about corruption in the New York City Police Department, and as Jack Rosenthal in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors" in 1989. (His work in film also led to an unlikely friendship with the mobster Joey Gallo, after Mr. Orbach portrayed a character modeled on Gallo in the 1971 movie "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.")

It wasn't until the 1990's, when he started appearing as Lennie Briscoe in "Law and Order," that Mr. Orbach became a familiar name throughout the country. The rough edge that distinguished him on Broadway eased his transition to character roles like Briscoe, the recovering alcoholic who seemed to greet the discovery of each episode's crime with a world-weary shrug.

Mr. Orbach died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan, said Esther Carver, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

Jerome Bernard Orbach was born in the Bronx on Oct. 20, 1935, the only child of Leon Orbach, a restaurant manager with some experience in vaudeville, and the former Emily Olexy.

The Orbachs moved to Waukegan, Ill., when Jerome was in the seventh grade. In 1952, after graduating from Waukegan High School, where he was on the football and swimming teams, he enrolled at the University of Illinois but stayed only a year. He transferred to Northwestern, where he studied drama. He remained there until 1955 but left without earning a degree.

Mr. Orbach did menial work for stock companies before being awarded small parts; later, he said that the stock experience helped him control his voice and "not to do too much with my eyebrows."

In 1955, Mr. Orbach headed to New York and found a job almost immediately as the understudy for the role of the Street Singer in an acclaimed off-Broadway production of "The Threepenny Opera." He remained with the company for three years, eventually taking on Scott Merrill's role of Mack the Knife. He studied acting with Herbert Berghof, Mira Rostova and Lee Strasberg and took singing lessons with Hazel Schweppe. After leaving "Threepenny" in 1959, he worked with stock companies in Ohio, appearing in "Mr. Roberts," "The King and I" and "Harvey."

But it was the now fabled "Fantasticks," which opened at the Sullivan Street Playhouse on May 3, 1960, that established Mr. Orbach as a star. Soon after, he moved on to Broadway in "Carnival" Frances Herridge, writing in the Mirror, called him a "rare combination of powerful male actor and singer." She continued, "Once you've seen him, you're not likely to forget him."

Mr. Orbach remained busy with varied stage work in New York: "The Cradle Will Rock" (1964), revivals of "Carousel" and "Annie Get Your Gun" in the mid-1960's; Bruce Jay Freidman's comedy of neurosis "Scuba Duba" (1967) and "6 Rms Riv Vu" (1972), among others. His films include "Brewster's Millions" (1985); "Dirty Dancing"(1987); "Last Exit to Brooklyn" (1989); and "The Adventures of a Gnome Called Gnorm" (1993). On television, he appeared on "The Shari Lewis Show," "The Jack Paar Show," "The Nurses" and "Bob Hope Presents."

Mr. Orbach married Marta Curro in 1958. They were divorced in 1975. In 1979, he married Elaine Cancialla, who survives him. He is also survived by his two sons by his first marriage, Anthony, of New Jersey, and Christopher, of Manhattan, and two grandchildren.

After appearing in "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight," Mr. Orbach received a call from Gallo. "A cop that he knew had met us and told him that he'd met the guy who supposedly played him in the movie, that he was a nice guy, not like an actor," Marta Orbach recalled shortly after Gallo was gunned down in 1972. Through the Orbachs, Gallo briefly became one of the stranger fixtures of the show-biz social scene in Manhattan and was working on a memoir with Marta Orbach at the time of his death. Gallo lived in the Orbachs' Chelsea brownstone for a month and was married there a month before his murder.

With his portrayal of Lennie Briscoe on "Law and Order," Mr. Orbach achieved a worldwide fame that had previously eluded him. He became the face and frame of a typical New York cop, and the police liked what they saw. Mr. Orbach took the role seriously, so much so that he appeared in 2001 at a demonstration where police demanded higher wages from the Giuliani administration.

"All I can do is try and represent you guys on a TV screen and make you look as good as I can," Mr. Orbach was quoted as saying in Newsday. "I could never go out and not know if I'm coming home that night the way you do."


Carla Baranauckas contributed reporting for this article.

Michael Phelps gets 18 months probation for DUI

Idiot. Such a shame, he is much to hot to be such a thug...

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By Randall Chase



Dec. 29, 2004 | Salisbury, Md. -- Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps was sentenced to 18 months' probation Wednesday after pleading guilty to drunken driving.

Judge Lloyd O. Whitehead granted Phelps probation before judgment, meaning his record will be expunged if he follows the terms of probation. Phelps pleaded guilty to driving while impaired, and prosecutors dropped charges of driving under the influence, underage drinking and failure to stop at a stop sign.

"I recognize the seriousness of this mistake," Phelps told the judge in a packed courtroom. "I've learned from this mistake and will continue learning from this mistake for the rest of my life."

The 19-year-old Phelps was fined $250, must attend a meeting sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and must give speeches to students at three schools by June 1, advising them about making choices and warning them about the dangers of alcohol.

Whitehead also ordered Phelps to abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs during his probation.

As he left the courthouse, Phelps was besieged by people seeking autographs.

"The past few months have been extremely hard," Phelps said. "I'm looking forward to getting back into the water and getting back to a normal routine."

Under the terms of his probation, Phelps must report to a probation supervisor once a month by telephone or as directed by the court.

"The reason for that is because of his travel," State's Attorney Davis Ruark said.

Normally a probationer would have to report in person.

Phelps, who grew up near Baltimore, recently moved to Michigan. He's scheduled to enroll in January at the University of Michigan, where his longtime coach Bob Bowman is the new men's swimming coach. As a professional, Phelps cannot compete for Michigan.

Phelps won eight medals at the Athens Olympics, including six golds.

Whitehead agreed to go along with the terms of a probation agreement worked out between defense attorneys and the state.

"We learn from our mistakes, and this was a mistake," the judge said after listening to a description of Phelps' accomplishments, background, and community service.

Defense attorney Steve Allen described Phelps as a "remarkably decent young man."

"Michael knows he's a role model and he knows he made a mistake," said Allen, who said Phelps' arrest occurred during "a brief period of decompression after the Olympics."

Phelps was stopped by a state trooper on Nov. 4 for running a stop sign near Salisbury University, about 85 miles southeast of Baltimore.

Phelps was charged with driving under the influence, driving while impaired, violation of a license restriction and failure to obey a stop sign. Maryland's drinking age is 21.

Ruark told the judge that a state trooper stopped Phelps after seeing a car turn right at an intersection in downtown Salisbury without stopping at a stop sign, then abruptly make a left turn onto anther road. Ruark said the trooper detected "an extremely strong odor" of alcohol when he approached the car. And he reported that Phelps' eyes were bloodshot and glassy.

Phelps initially denied drinking, but after performing a variety of field sobriety tests, the trooper advised Phelps that he believed that he had been drinking.

"The defendant responded, 'I know. I'm sorry. I was just scared because I have a lot to lose,"' Ruark said.


- - - - - - - - - - - -

Ah, the righties are such decent people

Thanks to John over at AmericaBlog for this:
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Readers Want to Lock Up Al Neuharth (and Me, Too)
Apparently, it is now an act of treason to offer an editorial opinion on the Iraq war that goes against the conventional wisdom.

By Greg Mitchell

(December 29, 2004) -- Unless you've been living in a bubble the past few months, surely you know that the partisan divide in this country has grown wider with each passing minute and that growing numbers of Americans hate or at least distrust the press. They have their reasons, of course, and some of the reasons are even right. But some among us may not recognize how virulent the anti-media strain has become, and the possible consequences, so let the following case history serve as an eye-opener or reminder, as the case may be.

On the Thursday before Christmas, Al Neuharth, former Gannett bigwig and founder of USA Today, quietly suggested in his weekly column for that newspaper that the U.S. should start bringing home our troops from Iraq “sooner rather than later.”

This hardly seemed like a radical, traitorous notion. For one thing, it appeared in an opinion column, and surely, in our country, every American has a right to his or her opinion? Secondly, it came at a time when, according to Gallup, a majority of American now believe it was a mistake to invade Iraq in the first place, and feel the war is not going well for us. Finally, since so few in the media have called for a withdrawal, you would think those who strongly support the war would not feel unduly threatened by one man's opinion.

Yet, our brief article about the Neuharth column got linked at numerous other Web sites, and drew more letters, pro and con, than virtually any story we have ever posted. We presented a few excerpts from those letters in a second article on Dec. 24, but we did not quote from some of the nastiest--and, believe me, there were plenty in that category to choose from.

Just to give you an idea of what's out there, in the zeitgeist, here are a few additional extracts. They represent dozens of others in the same vein. One should keep in mind that Neuharth, besides his professional accomplishments, served his country in World War II in France, Germany and the Phillippines.

***
George Wyman: “Mr. Neuharth is simply UnAmerican.”

Jeffrey A. Norris: “Cowards and traitors like Al Neuharth want all the comforts they know and enjoy, without a sacrifice to buy it.”

Frank Butash, West Hartford, CT.: “Apparently it's easier to run with jackals than to stand up for your country when it needs support.”

Kenneth Genest: “They had two of these in World War 2. One was called Tokyo Rose and the other Axis Sally. Their job was to discourage the American soldiers. I see they have one now at USA Today.”

Walter Scott. Jr.: “You simply suck! Merry Christmas.”

Jerry Martin, San Francisco, CA.: “Yet another self-defeating fool with a large bank account shoots himself in the foot. Their dissent equals treason. The terrorists got him just like all the other rich liberals who side against our victory. They forget that wars end, and then the country takes stock of who was where. I encourage the fool to keep mouthing against our victory over the Muslim jihad, he'll pay the social price in the end.”

T. Conway: “Mr. Neuharth has made a serious business mistake. Watch the circulation drop over the next year. The Los Angeles Times experienced the same drop after they attacked Gov. Schwarzenegger...some never learn. P.S. What side did Mr. Neuharth fight for in WW II?”

Peter Kessler: “And as for the good war, WW II, the lefties were four-square for that one. Yes sir, they were saving the USSR, Stalin and Communism. It's sad we didn't join Hitler until he wiped out the USSR. Alger Hiss and the Uptown Daily Worker (The New York Times) be damned. I see you've joined the club. Well, you're probably a founding member.”

Joe McBride, Fort Dodge, Iowa: “Mr. Neuharth, thanks to you and your ignorance the terrorists are probably booking their flights to the U.S. now! If we pull out of Iraq with the job unfinished the terrorists will be bombing McDonalds, and blowing up malls and schools here, killing our innocent men, women and children.”

Craig Wood, Waianae, Hawaii: “Today's press undermines our troops and supports our enemies. They convince parents that supporting your President is dangerous. They concentrate their ire on any fight that involves the United States and ignore all others. Like the sex scandal in the Congo with United Nations forces…. But, let some Army private put panties on an Iraqi's head and all hell brakes loose….I hope that the people of the United States will ignore or, at least, recognize the agenda of those that choose our enemies over our fine military.”

Duggan Flanakin, Austin, Texas: “Neuharth should be tried for treason along with a lot of other blowhards who should be spending their energies condemning the barbarism of our enemies, the same people who destroyed the Twin Towers. Evidence is pouring in that Saddam financed Al Qaeda with Oil for Food money, and that puts Kofe Annan into the line of fire as well for blame for September 11th. “

Boots Harvey, Brentwood, CA: “One must recall that Churchill had to put up with the likes of Lord Haw-Haw, William Joyce, and his propaganda during WWII. In the end William Joyce was executed for giving aid and comfort to the enemy during war time. Would that the same fate befall Al Neuharth!”

Mel Gibbs: “The Patriot Act will put both of you (Al Neuharth and Greg Mitchell) on trial for treason and convict and execute both of you as traitors for running these stories in a time of war and it should be done on TV for other communist traitors like you two to know we mean business. This is war and you should be put in prison NOW for talking like this. Who the hell do you people think you are? You give aid and comfort to our enemies and aid them in murdering our proud soldiers. You people are a disgrace to America. Your families should be put in prison with you, then be made to leave and move to the Middle East ...You two guys
are evil bastards…This is a great Christian nation and god
wants us to lead the world out of darkness with great leaders like
President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Communists like Al and Greg will soon be in prison and on death row for your ugly papers. We won the election and now you are mad. We own America and all the rights, you people are trash, go back to Russia and Africa and take your friends with before we put you on death row after a fair trial.”

***

And then, on the other hand, we have this:

Justin Iovenitti: “We seem to have forgotten the value of discourse. His opinion piece urging the quick return of troops from Iraq is nothing more and nothing less than that: an opinion. There are Americans on both side of this issue, but neither can be disregarded as unpatriotic. The only way we betray our soldiers is through apathy. Unfortunately, we are more apt to hear he who yells loudest over the less audible voice of reason.”

I don't have a fucking mental illness...

This is simply outrageous!! The only mental illness I have is the depression I am suffering from reading this stuff. The mental illness that they should be speaking of is religion. I agree with Bill Maher, religion is a sickness!!

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THE BATTLE OVER SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
S.F. can't challenge 'mental disorder' argument
Judge won't allow city to submit opposing evidence
- Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 28, 2004


The judge who will decide the constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriage has refused to let San Francisco submit expert studies to counter their opponents' authorities, who contend that children need opposite- sex parents and that homosexuals can be cured.

The city fears that the presence of those declarations, without opposing evidence, might be used by an appellate court to justify the state's definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, a city lawyer said Monday.

"We don't want that hateful stuff to go into the record without being responded to,'' said Deputy City Attorney Kathleen Morris, citing a declaration by a psychiatrist who described homosexuality as a mental disorder. Morris said the city still hopes to get its own declarations into the record reviewed by San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer and the courts that review his ruling.

Last week, Kramer refused to remove the declarations by opponents of same- sex marriage from the case file or to let the city present contrary authorities. He said he intends to base his ruling on legal arguments, not factual disputes -- a signal that the judge may not think the statements already submitted contain anything that needs to be refuted.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that Kramer or an appellate court will disregard the declarations. A lawyer for opponents of same-sex marriage said the purpose of the sworn statements was not to establish facts about marriage or families but to show Kramer that there were possible rational grounds for the marriage law.

If the judge agrees with the legal test urged by defenders of the state law, "the city would have to show that all possible bases for the marriage laws were irrational,'' said Byron Babione, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund. The ADF represents the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, one of two organizations joining the state in defense of the law.

Kramer held hearings Wednesday and Thursday on lawsuits by San Francisco and groups of same-sex couples in the Bay Area and Los Angeles seeking to overturn the marriage law, and on suits by conservative groups seeking to uphold it. The judge has asked for written arguments on minor issues by Jan. 14 and is due to rule within 90 days of that date.

Attorney General Bill Lockyer is defending the law by arguing that the constitutional right to marry covers only the generally understood definition of marriage, and that California protects the rights of same-sex couples in a law that will become effective Saturday granting domestic partners most of the rights of spouses.

The Prop. 22 organization and another group, the Campaign for California Families, argue that the law is justified because husbands and wives make better parents than same-sex couples. Among the declarations they submitted to Kramer were statements from:

-- Jeffrey Satinover, a Princeton University lecturer and psychiatrist who specializes in "reparative therapy'' for gays, saying the American Psychiatric Association was misled into removing homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973.

-- Alan Chambers and Randy Thomas, leaders of a group called Exodus International, describing their "successful transformation from homosexuality to heterosexuality.''

-- Katherine Young, professor of religion at McGill University in Montreal, saying that "children need a parent of each sex'' because of inherent differences between men and women.

-- George Rekers, a psychologist and professor at the University of South Carolina, saying studies show children do better with heterosexual than with homosexual parents.

Morris, one of the city's lawyers, said the declarations were largely based on stereotypes and "contradicted by science.''

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...Imposter-In-Chief has been silent on the crisis for THREE DAYS!!

Bush Holds Press Conference on Disaster - Still Clueless
by Rob in Baltimore - 12/29/2004 11:05:19 AM



DEATH TOLL RISES TO 80,000
Bush Administration Response? Equivalent of Five Hours Spending in Iraq


After pressure, George Bush both increased aid and went on national television to talk about the human crisis in South East Asia. It took him three days to even start talking about it.

At a time when our nation has an opportunity to take a leadership role in the world, George Bush continues to be dragged kicking and screaming into engaging on this issue. Three days to respond seems reasonable to you? Three days was how long it took the bodies of the dead to decay so badly officials are now burying thousands in anonymous mass graves.

To continue putting Bush's monetary response in perspective, $35 million is what George Bush spends in Iraq in FIVE HOURS. As they say, money talks, bullshit walks. The rest of the world is watching, and George Bush has told everyone in the world how little a priority he puts on this human disaster.

Any wonder why I think President Clinton is the best president we've had in a half century?

Taken from Daily Kos:

Wed Dec 29th, 2004 at 09:27:48 MST

(From the diaries -- kos)
...In the long tradition of leaders such as Emperor Nero who let Rome burn and Marie Antoinette who told the starving to "let them eat cake", George W. Bush is still down in Texas on the ranch vacationing while ten of thousands of bodies are being discovered in the rubble & washing up on the beach.

According to the Washington Post, President Clinton has been the voice of America overseas during this tradgedy...

...In Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cut short his vacation and returned to work in Berlin because of the Indian Ocean crisis, which began with a gigantic underwater earthquake. In Britain, the predominant U.S. voice speaking about the disaster was not Bush but former president Bill Clinton, who in an interview with the BBC said the suffering was like something in a "horror movie," and urged a coordinated international response...
Of course, the White House doesn't like being shown up, but experts are saying that Bush's reaction to this event, may impact the global response to any future domestic terrorist attack...

...Earlier yesterday, White House spokesman Trent Duffy said the president was confident he could monitor events effectively without returning to Washington or making public statements in Crawford, where he spent part of the day clearing brush and bicycling. Explaining the about-face, a White House official said: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'We feel your pain.' "
Many Bush aides believe Clinton was too quick to head for the cameras to hold forth on tragedies with his trademark empathy. "Actions speak louder than words," a top Bush aide said, describing the president's view of his appropriate role.

Some foreign policy specialists said Bush's actions and words both communicated a lack of urgency about an event that will loom as large in the collective memories of several countries as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks do in the United States. "When that many human beings die -- at the hands of terrorists or nature -- you've got to show that this matters to you, that you care," said Leslie H. Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.

There was an international outpouring of support after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and even some administration officials familiar with relief efforts said they were surprised that Bush had not appeared personally to comment on the tsunami tragedy. "It's kind of freaky," a senior career official said...

Update [2004-12-29 2:30:48 by Rimjob]:

Here's an AFP article of President Clinton's interview on the disaster, and what he would like the response to be...


..."It is really important that somebody take the lead in this," he told BBC Radio 4's Today program.
"I think one of the problems is when everybody takes responsibility it's almost like no one's responsibility."

Clinton said individual countries should target aid at specific areas.

"Maybe what we should do is get countries or groups of countries to take responsibility for specific countries that were hurt," he said.

"I think if you did that you would have a better chance of seeing responsibilities fulfilled even when the emotional tug wanes"...

Wow, the assault on my life just keeps coming...

Where do these people come from??

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Campus club seeks right to exclude gays

ASU, Christian group battle in court

By Vincent J. Schodolski
Tribune national correspondent

December 28, 2004

TEMPE, Ariz. -- A legal confrontation is playing out here as a student organization seeks official recognition and money from a state-run university even though the students plan to exclude non-Christians and gays.

A group of Christian students at Arizona State University's law school formed a chapter of the Christian Legal Society, a national organization that unites Christian lawyers and law students for fellowship, mutual legal support, meetings and Bible readings.

After the university refused to recognize the group, the society's national headquarters in Washington, D.C., drafted a lawsuit challenging the university over its anti-discrimination policies, a move that echoes similar and sometimes successful efforts across the country.

In the lawsuit, the society argues that the members at Arizona State have a constitutionally protected right to organize and receive university recognition under the 1st and 14th Amendments.

Members of the Christian Legal Society must sign a statement of faith, a document that essentially is the Apostles' Creed. In the declaration, members attest to their faith in God and also say the Bible is the "inspired word of God."

Exclusionary position

Based on their interpretation of biblical passages on homosexuality, members draw the groundwork to exclude practicing homosexuals from membership. In the federal lawsuit, lawyers from the Christian Legal Society spell out their position.

The society at "ASU interprets its statement of faith to require that officers adhere to orthodox Christian beliefs, including the Bible's prohibition of sexual contact between persons of the same sex," the suit says.

"A person who engages in homosexual conduct or adheres to the viewpoint that homosexual conduct is not sinful would not be permitted to become a member or serve as an officer" of the group at Arizona State, the suit adds.

It goes on to say that a person who has engaged in homosexual acts but has "repented" or people who may have homosexual inclinations but do not act on those inclinations would be eligible for membership.

M. Casey Mattox, litigation counsel for the Christian Legal Society in Washington, said the group asked Arizona State to exempt the chapter from having to comply with university policies that required non-discrimination against people on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation.

Nancy Tribbensee, a staff attorney for the university, said Arizona State will not comply with the society's request. "We are aggressively defending" the non-discrimination policy, she said.

Tribbensee said the university was drafting its response to the society's complaint, which is due to be filed by Friday.

Previous successes

While Tribbensee said the school has no intention of settling with the group, the Christian Legal Society has been successful in previous attempts to get universities to grant exemptions.

In a recent case at Ohio State University, officials ultimately allowed a chapter to form and be recognized and allowed the group to refuse membership to non-Christians and homosexuals.

"It ended up in our changing our policy," said Amy Murray, assistant director of media relations at Ohio State.

Murray said the university, after reviewing the society's complaint, revised its non-discrimination policy to allow religious groups to establish their own policies regarding discrimination.

Some legal experts say the constitutional argument used by society lawyers is fairly solid and that the Ohio State officials probably concluded they would lose.

Following Scouts' lead

Richard Myers, a professor at the Ave Maria School of Law, a Roman Catholic institution in Ann Arbor, Mich., likened the society's legal argument to those used by the Boy Scouts of America. He referred to a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the organization had the right to exclude homosexuals from being scoutmasters.

"It is kind of standard for these kinds of exceptions," he said. "If they [universities] apply it only to religious groups, they have a slam-dunk case. This group [CLS] provides a different perspective and should be allowed to do so."

But other lawyers say that giving public money to a group that discriminates is illegal and morally wrong.

"They are forcing taxpayers to underwrite discrimination," said David Tseng, a Washington attorney who has specialized in non-discrimination law. "The endorsement of discrimination is appalling," he said.

Tseng, formerly executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said the use of public money was the crucial factor and that tax money should be spent to advance the public good.

The members of the Christian Legal Society "have the right to meet and to organize, but the example we are setting for students is that bigotry is acceptable," he said. "They are using the mantle of religion to mask a very blunt objective, that is to deny equality."

Can it be said any better?

What's Kenneth Blackwell hiding? Oh that's right a stolen election!

Ohio Official Refuses Interview Over Vote

Monday December 27, 2004 11:46 PM


AP Photo OHWS101

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS

AP Statehouse Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has requested a protective order to prevent him from being interviewed as part of an unusual court challenge of the presidential vote.

Blackwell, in a court filing, says he's not required to be interviewed by lawyers as a high-ranking public official, and accused the voters challenging the results of ``frivolous conduct'' and abusive and unnecessary requests of elections officials around the state.

Citing fraud, 37 people who voted for president Nov. 2 have challenged the election results with the Ohio Supreme Court. The voters refer to irregularities including long lines, a shortage of voting machines in minority precincts and problems with computer equipment.

President Bush defeated John Kerry by 119,000 votes, according to the official count by Blackwell. Ohio's 20 electoral votes gave Bush the 270 he needed for victory. Kerry conceded the morning after Election Day.

The challenge, with support from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, is based on comparison of reports of exit polling data with the official vote. Columbus lawyer Cliff Arnebeck and other lawyers on the case say they would like to see the supporting data that produced the exit poll results.

The voters ``are not trying to actually contest the presidential election but are merely using this litigation to cast public doubt on the voting system of the State of Ohio without a shred of evidence supporting their theories,'' Attorney General Jim Petro, representing Blackwell, said in last week's filing with the Ohio Supreme Court.

Petro said the voters ``are again engaging in frivolous conduct'' after a Dec. 20 request to interview elections board officials in 10 counties was denied.

Petro also argued that the state Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction over a federal election. Even if the court did, the attorneys for the voters aren't following the proper timelines for collecting evidence.

Arnebeck said Blackwell's request shows ``a lack of good faith'' in the process to contest elections.

On Dec. 21, officials named in Arnebeck's challenge learned that he planned to issue subpoenas to several high-ranking officials, including Blackwell, Bush and the president's political adviser, Karl Rove, according to Petro.

The state Supreme Court ``should halt their ability to subpoena any person until such time as they make a good faith showing for the reason to take any deposition,'' Petro said.

The last time a similar challenge was made to a statewide race came in 1990 when Paul Pfeifer contested Lee Fisher's 1,234-vote victory in the attorney general's race. Six justices of the court sided with Fisher.

Not so happy with a Bush 2nd Term are you?

Reelection Honeymoon With Voters Eludes Bush, Polls Say

His approval rating is lower than every president starting a second term since 1948. The inaugural speech will be an early test.
By Peter Wallsten
Times Staff Writer

December 28, 2004

WASHINGTON — Despite a clear-cut reelection and the prospect of lasting GOP dominance in Congress, President Bush prepares to start his second term with the lowest approval ratings of any just-elected sitting president in half a century, according to new surveys.

That distinction, which pollsters and analysts blame on public discontent over the war in Iraq, comes as Bush begins drafting two major speeches that could quickly recast his image: an inaugural address Jan. 20 and the State of the Union soon after. Bracketed between them is the Jan. 30 election in Iraq, another milestone that could affect public impressions of Bush.

His performance in those speeches and the outcome of the Iraqi vote could determine whether Bush regains the momentum from his Nov. 2 election victory in time to push through controversial initiatives such as revamping Social Security, rewriting the tax code, limiting lawsuits and trimming the budget deficit, analysts said.

A Gallup survey conducted for CNN and USA Today puts Bush's approval rating at 49% — close to his preelection numbers. That's 10 to 20 points lower than every elected sitting president at this stage since just after World War II, according to Gallup, which has been tabulating such data since Harry S. Truman won a full term in 1948.

Bush's Gallup rating echoed a survey published last week by ABC News and the Washington Post, which put his approval rating at 48%. That poll also found that 56% of Americans believed the Iraq war was not worth fighting. Time magazine also put Bush's overall approval at 49%.

"The question is, what happened to the honeymoon?" asked Frank Newport, editor of the Gallup survey.

David Winston, a Republican pollster who advises the Senate leadership, said, "Communications up front is going to be as important as any task that they have at this point. There is a lot of important messaging that this administration is going to have to do in January and in February. It's taking the issues and the agenda and beginning to set it up in a way that the American public has a clear understanding of the direction he's going to go."

White House officials say Bush is working on early drafts for both speeches, even as he takes his vacation at his Crawford, Texas, ranch.

Unlike other presidents, who cruised toward inaugural festivities on a tide of growing public support after reelection victories, Bush has had to somberly respond to mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq. Last week, he made a rare concession: "No question about it, the bombers are having an effect."

One person who met with Bush the same day a U.S. military mess tent was bombed in Iraq described the president as "distraught."

"A lot of the talk about momentum and agendas and political realignment is overdone, in the sense that it all depends on this contingent fact of how Iraq goes," said William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard.

Also complicating matters for Bush's postelection image is the anticipation that the first budget of his second term is likely to include unpopular cuts to social programs and even the Pentagon.

And the Bush administration has been criticized for failures in vetting former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who amid ethical concerns withdrew his name from nomination to be the next secretary of Homeland Security.

The approval rating for a second-term president is less crucial, given that he will not be facing the voters again.

But Bush has outlined an ambitious second-term agenda that will require support from skeptical Republicans and Democrats alike on Capitol Hill. He must be able to show continued support from the public. Otherwise, members of Congress, facing their own reelections in 2006, will be wary.

"If his approval rating falls, regardless of his winning the election, it's going to hurt his ability to convince Congress," said Alan Abramowitz, an Emory University political scientist. "Republicans have the majority and can do almost whatever they want if they stay together, but it's going to make it harder for them to get some bipartisan support for these initiatives."

Kristol said the new year would bring opportunities for Bush to showcase successes — if the administration handled them well. He noted the elections scheduled in Iraq and within the Palestinian Authority in January, along with a possible debate at home over a new Supreme Court chief justice. Also, Kristol said, Bush could point to the election in Ukraine as evidence of democracy spreading.

"It's a big opportunity, and it's a big challenge for Bush," said Kristol, referring to the flurry of events expected to unfold in early 2005. "All of the little stuff that's happened the last five weeks won't matter much after that."

Over 13,000 die in worst Earthquake and Tsunami in over 40 Years

What an event. Seriously, if you have a few extra bucks to donate to relief effort I am sure the International Red Cross and other organizations could really use it. My thoughts and prayers are with those families who have lost loved ones or have missing loved ones....


-----------

At Least 13,000 Die in Tsunami

Waves Generated by 9.0 Quake Cut a Swath in Southern Asia; Many Are Reported Missing
By Shankhadeep Choudhury and Paul Watson
Times Staff Writers

December 27, 2004

MADRAS, India — A series of towering waves triggered by a massive undersea earthquake killed more than 13,000 people Sunday, wiping out whole villages and hammering resorts across thousands of miles of coastline in South Asia and beyond.

Survivors described walls of water between 10 and 20 feet high toppling buildings and sweeping away victims from Indonesia to the Maldives. Even in Somalia, 3,000 miles from the quake's epicenter, nine deaths from the tsunami were reported.

The catastrophe began when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the world's biggest in 40 years, struck just before 7 a.m. beneath the Indian Ocean 155 miles southeast of Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The quake, about 200 times as powerful as the 1994 Northridge temblor, spawned tsunami waves that traveled at high speed through a region that lacks any warning system. Ocean buoys in a tsunami warning network can alert people to a lethal wave's approach hours before it hits, giving them time to move to higher ground.

Possibly the worst-hit country was Sri Lanka, a war-ravaged island off the southern tip of India, where wave after wave of surging tides created rivers of seawater that carried people away along with cars and the rubble of collapsing buildings. More than 6,000 people died there.

In Indonesia, health officials said more than 4,400 people were killed on Sumatra, most of them in the northern province of Aceh, where entire villages were swept away and bodies were lodged in trees. Many of the dead were children, officials said.

Nearly 2,300 were reported killed in India, 600 in Thailand, including tourists, and more than 40 in Malaysia. In the Maldives, more than 30 were dead and two-thirds of the capital, Male, was underwater. A dozen people in Myanmar and at least two in Bangladesh also died. Hundreds of thousands were left homeless.

At least three Americans were among the dead, two in Sri Lanka and one in Thailand, the State Department said.

As dawn broke today, aid teams from around the world rushed to devastated areas. Concern was mounting that decomposing corpses could spread disease and contaminate water supplies.

The United Nations said it would give cash grants to governments for immediate humanitarian needs — portable sanitation facilities, medical supplies, tents and helicopters for evacuation.

"This may be the worst natural disaster in recent history," U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told CNN. He said the longer-term effects might be as devastating as the tsunami itself.



Sri Lanka

When the waves hit Sri Lanka, anyone who could grab hold of anything that wasn't moving did so, and clung to it desperately for life, witnesses said. But many lost their grip and were pulled to their deaths.

Sri Lankan officials estimate that between 100,000 and 200,000 homes were destroyed, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said in a televised interview.

"We weren't very well prepared, I have to say, because we have not ever had to face this kind of disaster," said the Sri Lankan leader, whose country is struggling to overcome almost 18 years of civil war with Tamil Tiger separatists.

From rebel-held areas in the north, down the eastern coast to tourist resorts in the south, Sri Lanka suffered widespread devastation. Thousands of people were reported heading for the capital, Colombo, to seek shelter.

Rescue workers told the Reuters news agency that 22 of the dead in Yala were Japanese tourists.

Residents of Kosgoda, 45 miles south of Colombo, described their coastal town as a cemetery.

"There is no Kosgoda, no Kosgoda Village Hotel, no restaurants," said Jothimune Saman Perera, a 40-year-old tour operator, choking on sobs. "Everywhere there are bodies…. I have no words to explain."

Another Kosgoda resident, Kumani de Silva, 20, said a neighbor saw the first wave and warned her to drive away.

"Now all we have left is our clothes and the car. Our new hotel, with the big, blue roof — absolutely everything is gone, only the roof and the inner walls are left. The tuktuk [motorized rickshaw] has disappeared into the water, all the furniture, everything. Our other neighbor, a fat fisherman, is dead."

India

In India, tsunami waves pounded hundreds of miles of the country's eastern coast and even part of Kerala state on the western side of the nation's southern tip. In Madras, the devastation stretched about half a mile inland.

The death toll is expected to climb substantially because more than 3,000 people were reported missing in India's Tamil Nadu state alone. The toll rose steadily Sunday as the scale of the disaster became known.

Hundreds of fishing villages dot India's long, wave-battered eastern coast, and in beach areas of Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu, hundreds of bodies were recovered from tangles of fallen trees, splintered lumber and other debris.

In the Four Shore Estate, a middle-class housing complex on Madras' Marina Beach, the waves picked up stoves, televisions, refrigerators, furniture and even cars and sucked them out to sea, where they bobbed like beach toys before sinking. Nearby, poor fishermen and their families wept over the corpses of drowned loved ones.

Father Lawrence Raj, parish priest at the beachside Church of St. Thomas, was asleep when he felt the first shockwaves of the earthquake early Sunday, he said in an interview. People ran in panic during the tremor that Raj said persisted for 15 minutes.

"That was the strongest tremor that I have ever experienced," he said.

When calm returned, the priest sat down for breakfast. Just as he was finishing, about two hours after the temblor, he heard a loud noise and sent someone to investigate.

"He came back running, describing 15-foot-high waves," Raj said. "We could see the waves," which pounded the area, he added. Many of the dead "were either playing cricket [or] jogging near the beach."

Officials reported 300 people dead and 700 missing in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands, southwest of Thailand and north of the massive earthquake's epicenter.

Three Indian navy ships and several helicopters launched search-and-rescue operations along the coast.

At least 64 bodies, 18 of them children's, filled the morgue of the Royapettah government hospital in central Madras. Doctors treated 22 other people with serious injuries.

A 60-year-old man who identified himself as Ponurangan said he managed to survive by clinging to a coconut tree with all his strength.

The body of his 55-year-old wife, Davamani, was recovered Sunday afternoon, tangled in a tree, he said.

Arun Kumar, a 32-year-old cook, was working at a Juhu Beach country club in Madras, which officially has been renamed Chennai. He was packing up supplies for a party of 80 people when a huge wave engulfed him.

"I am lucky to be alive," said Kumar, who suffered a fractured right leg and dislocated his left arm.

Several hundred yards from the sea, in the Srinivasapuram slum of central Madras, slabs of broken concrete were strewn about with pieces of thatched roofs, scattered kitchen utensils and the remains of uneaten meals.

The huge waves had picked up a bus, shoved it several yards and smashed it against the wall of a community center built for 30,000 shanty dwellers, most of them families of fishermen or unskilled workers.

At least 94 people, more than half of them under 10 years old, have been reported missing from the slum.

Up to 1,000 shanties have been destroyed.

Indonesia

In Indonesia, at least 3,000 of the victims were in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, and officials said the death toll was likely to rise. Communication with many coastal areas was impossible, and the extent of the damage there remained uncertain.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government had dispatched aid officials to the region.

The province has been under strict military control for the last 18 months because of a separatist rebellion.

"We have stopped recovering bodies and will begin again first thing in the morning," Lt. Col. Belyuni, the military chief for North Aceh district, told El Shinta radio late Sunday. "It's possible the death toll will mount because many corpses are still caught up in trees."

Some residents watched as the waves approached, apparently without realizing the danger, and were swept out to sea, officials said.

Indonesia's Metro TV station showed a mother screaming and hugging her dead child. In other footage, residents ran in panic through the coastal city of Lhokseumawe.

More than 200 inmates escaped from a prison when a wave knocked down its walls in the town of Pidie in Aceh, Reuters quoted a police official as saying. A few later turned themselves in.

Thailand

In Thailand, officials said nearly 400 people died and hundreds were missing in the resort area of Phuket and the coastal region of Phang Nga to the north. The victims in Phuket included foreign tourists who were sunbathing or snorkeling.

Some witnesses said the wave struck Phuket at three stories and crashed into beach hotels. Afterward, cars and chairs littered the ocean offshore.

Michael Murtaugh, a resident of Phuket, said huge boats that had been resting in the harbor were thrown up side streets along with four-wheel-drive trucks that appeared to have flipped over repeatedly before they came to rest in hotel lobbies, restaurants and shops. The mile of paved beachfront promenade was destroyed, he said.

Murtaugh knew something was wrong when he heard helicopters and planes over Patong Beach for the first time since his arrival in Phuket in May.

"It wasn't long before people started streaming up our hillside road, dragging their soaked possessions in shock and bewilderment," he said. Many people were looking for friends or spouses who had disappeared.

On nearby Phi Phi Island, 200 bungalows at two resorts were swept out to sea, along with some of the resorts' staff and clients, Associated Press said.

Malaysia

In Malaysia, many victims drowned while swimming or riding jet skis near crowded beaches, many on weekend trips to the resort island of Penang. More than 100 people remained missing in Penang, the state's civil defense director, Mohamad Johari Mohamad Taufik, told Associated Press.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Aid for quake and tsunami victims

These aid agencies are among those accepting contributions for assistance that they or their affiliates will provide for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Asia. For links to these and other aid agencies, go to http://www.latimes.com/tsunami .

American Jewish World Service

45 W. 36th Street, 10th Floor

New York, NY 10018

800-889-7146

http://www.ajws.org



American Red Cross

International Response Fund

P.O. Box 37243

Washington, DC 20013

800-HELP NOW

http://www.redcross.org



Catholic Relief Services

P.O. Box 17090

Baltimore, MD 21203-7090

800-736-3467

http://www.catholicrelief.org



Direct Relief International

27 S. La Patera Lane

Santa Barbara, CA 93117

805-964-4767

http://www.directrelief.org

Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres

P.O. Box 2247

New York, NY 10116-2247

888-392-0392

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org

International Medical Corps

11500 W. Olympic Blvd., Suite 506

Los Angeles, CA 90064

800-481-4462

http://www.imcworldwide.org

Operation USA

8320 Melrose Ave., Ste. 200

Los Angles, CA 90069

800-678-7255

http://www.opusa.org

Source: Associated Press

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. Have a safe and happy holiday. Remember you can always leave if the family gets too bad.

Gregoire wins!

Washington Democrat Wins Governor's Race by 130 Votes (Update1)

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire won the state's governor's race by 130 votes, according to a hand recount that overturned a 42-vote victory initially awarded to Republican Dino Rossi.

Gregoire's lead widened from unofficial results released yesterday after King County, which includes Seattle, added 566 votes that were mistakenly left out of earlier tallies. During a third count completed today, Gregoire gained 920 votes, while Rossi picked up 748, according to election officials.

``As far as we're concerned, Christine Gregoire is the governor-elect,'' Kirsten Brost, a spokeswoman for the Democrats, said in an interview. ``We've had three counts and we're done.''

The conclusion of the hand count of more than 2.8 million ballots may not end a seven-week fight over the Washington governor's race. Republicans said they will fight to have other counties include hundreds of votes they claim were erroneously discarded. Washington has had a Democratic governor for the last 20 years.

It is the first time in Washington history that a recount of a statewide election has reversed the results. It was also the first hand recount of a statewide race.

`Not Over'

``This election is not over. At this point, I don't think too many people would consider Christine Gregoire a legitimate governor-elect,'' Mary Lane, a spokeswoman for Rossi, said earlier today. ``There have just been too many problems.''

All 39 Washington counties have now certified their results. Secretary of State Sam Reed, a Republican, plans to declare Gregoire the winner on Dec. 30. Rossi was declared the winner on Nov. 30, before Democrats requested the hand recount.

A victory for Gregoire, 57, would prevent the Republicans from expanding their hold over state governors' offices. Republicans hold the top elected office in 28 states, while Democrats control 22.

During the campaign, Rossi, 45, said two decades of Democratic control has battered an economy of a state that is home to Microsoft Corp., insurer Safeco Corp. and airplane factories of Boeing Co. Governor Gary Locke decided not to seek another term.

Gregoire, the attorney general since 1992, helped lead the negotiations with cigarette makers that produced a $206 billion settlement for U.S. states. Her office was chosen to represent Enron Corp. bondholders in their lawsuits against the once- dominant energy-trading company, and she was among state officials who have sued drug companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for allegedly overcharging customers.

Rossi is a commercial real-estate developer and former state senator.



To contact the reporter on this story:
William Selway in San Francisco at wselway@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Pittman at mpittman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 23, 2004 19:54 EST

Is L'il Kim in some political trouble?

Tremors that may signal political earthquake in North Korea

Jonathan Watts, East Asia correspondent
Thursday December 23, 2004

Guardian

European policymakers have been advised to prepare for "sudden change" in North Korea amid growing speculation among diplomats and observers that Kim Jong-il is losing his grip on power.
A EU delegation to Pyongyang recommended a review of the union's policy towards the peninsula, including proposals for closer engagement with North Korea and contingency plans for a possible collapse of the reclusive state, the Guardian has learned.

The sense of urgency was prompted by reports of divisions within the North Korean leadership and expectations that the second Bush administration will intensify pressure on a country the US president labelled part of an "axis of evil".

Despite boasting about its nuclear deterrent, North Korea has been left on the diplomatic backburner for the past 12 months.

Six-country talks aimed at resolving one of the world's last cold war conflicts have been postponed largely because the two main protagonists - Washington and Pyongyang - were awaiting the results of the US presidential election.

In the past month, however, the North Korean rumour mill has been working overtime. While no one is ever quite sure what is going on in one of the world's most closed countries, diplomats, intelligence agents, academics and defectors across the political spectrum and from several different countries are reporting signs of potentially destabilising change.

There are strong indications of a power struggle centring on the successor to Kim Jong-il.

Last weekend South Korean news agencies reported an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-nam, a son of the "Great Leader", while he was on a trip to Europe. The plan, which was foiled by Austrian police, is believed to have been hatched by supporters of a rival son.

Another possible successor, Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law, Chang Sung-taek, has been purged from government and possibly placed under house arrest, according to a South Korean intelligence official who testified to a parliamentary committee late last month. Mr Chang, who had close connections to the military, was often cited as Mr Kim's second-in-command, but he has not been seen in official leadership line-ups for more than a year.

Mr Kim has also been out of the public eye long enough to prompt rumours that he has been killed or struck down by disease. Such speculation is not unusual, but it coincides with reports that his portraits have been removed from several public places.

Since the summer Pyongyang residents have reported a security crackdown, with extra checkpoints and ID inspections. Even Chinese academics - usually cautious in criticising North Korea - say there have been a large number of high-level defections because of growing dissatisfaction with the political system.

Veteran North Korea watchers say government officials are contradicting one another and being forced to wear military uniforms instead of their usual civilian clothes. "I've never seen or heard so many signs of division within the leadership," said a western observer who has been travelling in and out of Pyongyang for more than five years. "Kim Jong-il seems to be losing control."

"There is a great deal of pressure coming from somewhere," a North Korea-based diplomat said. "We don't know whether it is internal or external, but something is going on."

In typically pugnacious style, North Korea denounced such speculation as part of a psychological warfare campaign by the US and its allies. "The system in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is politically stable and is as firm as a rock," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said. "No matter how noisily the US may cry out, we will take it as no more than a dog's barking at a moon."

Even if the reports are part of a new whispering campaign, it would be a sign of heightened pressure. Colin Powell, the main advocate of a cautious approach to North Korea, is leaving the White House next month. This will strengthen the position of hawks who favour a more combative policy, including taking the North Korean nuclear issue to the UN security council, which could lead to sanctions.

Japan is also taking a tougher stance. This week the foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura, said time was running out for Pyongyang. "The international community as a whole, the United Nations, will have to implement stricter policies, including sanctions," he said.

Alarmed at the prospect of instability in north-east Asia - an increasingly important centre of economic growth - European diplomats are urging EU policymakers to draw up contingency plans. The delegation to Pyongyang has called for a report, which is expected to be completed by early March.

"There is a lot of discussion now about how the EU should react in the event of a sudden change taking place in North Korea," a diplomat said. "The idea is to pull opinions together so we are prepared."

Among matters under consideration are an emergency fund to support refugees and rebuild the country in the event of a collapse, and the response of EU members to a US call for sanctions.

A sharpening of policy could cause another transatlantic rift. Most European countries have maintained links with North Korea, while the US has tried to isolate it. "One of the options is to intensify our engagement as a way of persuading them to shift their position in the six-party talks," said Glynn Ford, a European MP who has visited North Korea on several occasions.

"I'm in favour. The best way to persuade them is to use carrots rather than sticks."

Good piece from David Corn of "The Nation"

Not from "The Nation" rather from Alternet:

Back to Bush's Regularly Scheduled Problems
By David Corn, LA Weekly
Posted on December 23, 2004, Printed on December 23, 2004
http://www.alternet.org/story/20817/
It's back to the problems.

Recent events have once again proved the truism that it's easy to run for office, it's hard to govern – especially when you're an arrogant fellow pursuing bad policies. For George W. Bush, knocking off John Kerry was a swagger on the beach compared to dealing with the real stuff. All Bush had to do was lie about Kerry, deride him, make promises he can't keep, talk tough, and mount an under-the-radar effort to motivate millions of fundamentalist Christian voters who (for some reason) obsess over gay marriage. That's nada compared to, say, winning the war in Iraq.

Once the election dust settled, the Bush gang looked like country-bumpkin first-termers. It botched the appointment of one of the most important Cabinet members: secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The Bush White House did this by racing ahead with Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner and a Rudy Giuliani crony. It's not only that Bush's vetters missed Kerik's nanny problem. They apparently did not even do a Nexis search on the guy. Had they done so, they would have learned he was a nomination disaster waiting to happen. As New York City prisoner commissioner, he had diverted rebates from cigarette sales in prisons to an obscure foundation he ran. He had been entangled with a New Jersey construction firm with alleged mob ties. His leadership of the NYPD after 9/11 was dubbed "scandalous" by John Lehman, a Republican member of the independent 9/11 commission. He had been in charge of police training in Iraq – hardly a triumph. He had an arrest warrant issued against him in conjunction with a civil legal dispute. He was sued, in separate cases, for retaliating against a corrections official who backed a Democrat and against others who were in disputes with a corrections official with whom he was allegedly having an extramarital affair. He had parlayed his political connections and received millions of dollars from a company that did business with the Department of Homeland Security. And there was more. He was lucky he had a nanny he could hide behind.

The Kerik blunder was not the White House's only Cabinet-level screwup. Bush officials sent clear signals they wanted Treasury Secretary John Snow to hit the road. Then Bush announced Snow was staying put. This was no way for a president to treat the head of his economic team. After all, this is the guy who has to come out before the press and the business community and perform an all-important task: fudge the numbers. Can he do so effectively if he's peeved?

Then Bush got caught tapping the phones of Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Come on. If you're going to play this game, do it well and don't be found out. Worse (for Bush), the taps produced nothing the White House could use to force ElBaradei out of his post. The Bushies consider him too soft on Iran, and some Bush aides have been angling for his ouster. But they are probably also mad at him because ElBaradei showed them up. Before the invasion of Iraq, ElBaradei and his weapons inspectors declared there were no indications that Saddam Hussein had been reviving his nuclear weapons program. Yet Bush, Dick Cheney and their posse had claimed Hussein had been "reconstituting" his nuclear program. Now it's clear the International Atomic Energy Agency was right and Bush was wrong. So the obvious response from Bush is, off with his head!

Bush is facing trouble in Iran. Military experts tell me there are few effective military options for the Bush hawks. The Iranian nuclear weapons program – to the extent it exists – is probably dispersed, based in civilian areas and located deep underground. It is no easy target. And Iran – bigger and stronger than Iraq – is not invasion material, especially when U.S. forces are stretched thin next door. So what's a saber-rattling pre-emptionist to do? Ditto for North Korea.

Meanwhile, Iraq is not getting any easier. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld became the administration's Bonehead Number One when he dismissed a soldier's question about the lack of armor for the troops. Throughout the election, the Bush campaign denied Kerry's charge that Bush had not provided enough armor for the troops. It's not too tough to spin reporters; it's more difficult to spin unprotected soldiers. And on the first anniversary of Saddam Hussein's capture – remember when war backers hailed that development as the beginning of the end of the insurrection? – eight U.S. Marines were killed in different battles in Iraq. In one piece of good news for Bush, this bad news was chronicled by the Washington Post in a brief story on Page A17. (Scott Peterson still rates more media attention than dead American GIs.) As the January elections approach, the security situation in Iraq appears to be worsening. And the six-mile stretch of highway from the Green Zone in Baghdad to the international airport remains too dangerous for U.S. officials to travel. Doom-and-gloom is the official position of the CIA. The agency's station chief in Baghdad sent a cable in late November – which was leaked within two weeks – that offered a bleak view, noting security in Iraq is likely to deteriorate further. Just in time for the elections. The intelligence reform bill passed by Congress will not be of much help.

Then there's Social Security. For some odd reason, Bush seems to be serious about his promise to partially privatize Social Security. That is, he's still talking about it after the election. There appears to be no way for Bush to enact such a scheme without racking up $2 trillion in transition costs. Bush's tax cuts for the rich are projected to yield trillions of dollars in national debt, yet this explosion of red ink never became a hot topic during the presidential campaign. Will another $2 trillion in Bush-created debt finally pose him political trouble? Perhaps. At the same time, the folks around him have started to hint that retirement benefits may have to drop by 6 percent, even after supposed gains from private accounts are added to the picture. So let's see: more debt, lower benefits. Sounds like a winner. No wonder several Senate Republicans have said they won't support any Social Security legislation unless it is also endorsed by Democrats. They want political cover. Yet the conservative House Republicans have expressed no interest in negotiating with their Democratic colleagues. Can Bush navigate the political land mines? I'd rather choke on a pretzel.

During the campaign, I happened to share a long airplane ride with one of Kerry's top advisers. Several hours into our conversation, he told me that every once in a while Kerry would ask him, "What the fuck are we going to do?" Kerry had in mind Iraq and a Kerry victory. Thanks to Ohio, he does not have the burden of devising an answer to his own query. But Bush does – and not merely on Iraq. He's facing a boatload of ugly challenges and dilemmas. Democrats ought not to be too giddy about this, for Bush has demonstrated that when the going gets tough he is perfectly able to commit gigantic blunders with bad consequences for all and no punishment for him. But he is not going to be able to escape his problems by hitting the campaign trail. As an in-over-his-head president once said, "It's hard work."

The Democrats better brush up on their filibuster

Bush to Renominate Controversial Court Picks

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will resubmit to the Senate a group of judicial nominees blocked by Democrats as too conservative, the White House said on Thursday as it signaled the start of a second-term battle over the make up of federal courts.



Emboldened by his re-election victory and gains by Republicans in the Senate, Bush plans to resubmit 20 nominations for U.S. courts of appeals and district courts, the White House said.


Some nominees had been blocked over what Democrats regarded as conservative views; others stalled for other reasons.


The skirmishes are widely seen as a preview of a fight over the Supreme Court, where multiple vacancies are considered possible over Bush's second four-year term.


"It's a disservice to the American people to detract from the important work of the Senate to reconsider these failed nominees," said Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, the Senate's new Democratic leader.


The list to be resubmitted includes Priscilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice whose nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) in New Orleans has been blocked by Democrats since May 2001.


She has been criticized over decisions on abortion, the environment and lawsuits against corporations.


Another is former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, an outspoken foe of abortion rights, for the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Pryor was Alabama co-chairman of Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.


Republicans say Bush's nominees are highly qualified and deserve confirmation.


Democratic critics contend they are part of a presidential effort to pack the courts with right-wing ideologues.


Bush may make several nominations to the Supreme Court during his second term, because Chief Justice William Rehnquist (news - web sites) has been ill with cancer and other judges are believed close to retirement.


"The president nominated highly qualified individuals to the federal courts during his first term, but the Senate failed to vote on many nominations," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.


The delay "only exacerbates the issue of judicial vacancies, compounds the backlog of cases, and delays timely justice for the American people," he said.


The Senate has a constitutional obligation to vote on judicial nominees and Bush will press Congress on the issue when it reconvenes next year, he said.


During the hard-fought presidential campaign, Bush sought to brand Senate Democrats, who blocked his judicial nominees, as obstructionists.


Democrats counter that, during Bush's first term, the Senate confirmed more than 200 of his nominees to the federal judicial bench. Only 10 have been blocked outright.


McClellan said the 20 people being renominated by the president never received up or down votes; 16 of them have been waiting for more than a year for consideration.


"I hope that those who were responsible for obstructing those nominees learned an important lesson on Nov. 2," said Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican and Senate Judiciary Committee member.

Cornyn and other Republicans say the November election increased Bush's clout, though he still lacks the 60 votes to overcome a vote-blocking filibuster.

In addition to Owen and Pryor, the list of nominees include: Terrence Boyle, David McKeague, Susan Neilson, Henry Saad, Richard Griffin, William Myers, Janice Brown, Brett Kavanaugh, William Haynes, Thomas Griffith, James Dever, Thomas Ludington, Robert Conrad, Daniel Ryan, Peter Sheridan, Paul Crotty, Sean Cox, and J. Michael Seabright.

Must have missed this in WaPo this morning

Thanks to Buzzflash for having this link:


War Crimes

Thursday, December 23, 2004; Page A22


THANKS TO a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other human rights groups, thousands of pages of government documents released this month have confirmed some of the painful truths about the abuse of foreign detainees by the U.S. military and the CIA -- truths the Bush administration implacably has refused to acknowledge. Since the publication of photographs of abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison in the spring the administration's whitewashers -- led by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld -- have contended that the crimes were carried out by a few low-ranking reservists, that they were limited to the night shift during a few chaotic months at Abu Ghraib in 2003, that they were unrelated to the interrogation of prisoners and that no torture occurred at the Guantanamo Bay prison where hundreds of terrorism suspects are held. The new documents establish beyond any doubt that every part of this cover story is false.

Though they represent only part of the record that lies in government files, the documents show that the abuse of prisoners was already occurring at Guantanamo in 2002 and continued in Iraq even after the outcry over the Abu Ghraib photographs. FBI agents reported in internal e-mails and memos about systematic abuses by military interrogators at the base in Cuba, including beatings, chokings, prolonged sleep deprivation and humiliations such as being wrapped in an Israeli flag. "On a couple of occasions I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water," an unidentified FBI agent wrote on Aug. 2, 2004. "Most times they had urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18 to 24 hours or more." Two defense intelligence officials reported seeing prisoners severely beaten in Baghdad by members of a special operations unit, Task Force 6-26, in June. When they protested they were threatened and pictures they took were confiscated.

Other documents detail abuses by Marines in Iraq, including mock executions and the torture of detainees by burning and electric shock. Several dozen detainees have died in U.S. custody. In many cases, Army investigations of these crimes were shockingly shoddy: Officials lost records, failed to conduct autopsies after suspicious deaths and allowed evidence to be contaminated. Soldiers found to have committed war crimes were excused with noncriminal punishments. The summary of one suspicious death of a detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison reads: "No crime scene exam was conducted, no autopsy conducted, no copy of medical file obtained for investigation because copy machine broken in medical office."

Some of the abuses can be attributed to lack of discipline in some military units -- though the broad extent of the problem suggests, at best, that senior commanders made little effort to prevent or control wrongdoing. But the documents also confirm that interrogators at Guantanamo believed they were following orders from Mr. Rumsfeld. One FBI agent reported on May 10 about a conversation he had with Guantanamo's commander, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller, who defended the use of interrogation techniques the FBI regarded as illegal on the grounds that the military "has their marching orders from the Sec Def." Gen. Miller has testified under oath that dogs were never used to intimidate prisoners at Guantanamo, as authorized by Mr. Rumsfeld in December 2002; the FBI papers show otherwise.

The Bush administration refused to release these records to the human rights groups under the Freedom of Information Act until it was ordered to do so by a judge. Now it has responded to their publication with bland promises by spokesmen that any wrongdoing will be investigated. The record of the past few months suggests that the administration will neither hold any senior official accountable nor change the policies that have produced this shameful record. Congress, too, has abdicated its responsibility under its Republican leadership: It has been nearly four months since the last hearing on prisoner abuse. Perhaps intervention by the courts will eventually stem the violations of human rights that appear to be ongoing in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. For now the appalling truth is that there has been no remedy for the documented torture and killing of foreign prisoners by this American government.

Prop 200 OK'd: Let the legalized discrimination begin

Prop. 200 now law in Arizona

Tucson judge clears it; foes plan to appeal

Susan Carroll and Yvonne Wingett
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 23, 2004 12:00 AM

TUCSON - A federal judge on Wednesday lifted an order barring Proposition 200 from becoming law, clearing the way for state, county and municipal employees to immediately start reporting to immigration authorities suspected undocumented immigrants seeking public benefits.

U.S. District Judge David Bury's decision allowed Gov. Janet Napolitano to issue an executive order enacting the controversial voter-approved legislation Wednesday afternoon. The decision left some municipal officials across the Valley and state scrambling to prepare workers who will be required to ask all who apply for public welfare benefits for proof of citizenship.

Attorneys for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the legal advocacy group that sued to stop the government from enforcing the initiative, plan to appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco today or Monday. But state officials vowed that the law will go into effect and said workers will be equipped to deal with the new reporting requirements.

"Proposition 200 is now the law of Arizona," Napolitano spokeswoman Jeanine L'Ecuyer said. "And (the governor) expects that agencies will comply with the terms of 200 and any related issues."

The initiative requires state and local employees to verify the immigration status of people applying for public benefits and report undocumented immigrants or face possible criminal prosecution.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard issued an opinion that narrowly defined "public benefits" to mean welfare. For example, the Arizona Department of Economic Security administers five programs that are affected by Proposition 200, state officials said. They include General Assistance, Sight Conservation, Neighbors Helping Neighbors, Utility Repair, Replacement and Deposit and the Supplemental Payment Program.

Proposition 200 proponents have a lawsuit pending that would expand Goddard's definition to include considerably more services.

Bury, appointed to the Arizona court by President Bush, sided with attorneys defending Proposition 200, which was approved by 56 percent of Arizona voters Nov. 2. The judge's decision to lift the restraining order he signed Nov. 30 was assailed by immigrant advocates but hailed by Proposition 200 supporters who gathered outside the Tucson courthouse after a hearing.


'A huge win'


"This is a huge win for the taxpayers of the state of Arizona, the rule of law and the Constitution," said Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, who helped craft the initiative. "And it sends a message that we have the right to report those people who are in the country illegally, especially when they're attempting fraud."

Thomas Saenz, vice president for litigation for the legal-defense organization, criticized the judge's decision and vowed to continue to battle the initiative, which many immigrant rights advocates said could spark other states to push for similar legislation. Attorneys for the organization argued that the law was unconstitutional and would harm undocumented immigrants and state and municipal employees.

The organization sued in November on behalf of more than a dozen plaintiffs, including undocumented immigrants, their children and state employees from the Valley and Tucson.

"We think he (Bury) was wrong on the law," Saenz said. "We think he was wrong on weighing the harms. We think he did not understand clearly how devastating the effects of this law could be, and how unconstitutional it is."


Immigrant: 'It's racist'


Jesus Garcia, an undocumented immigrant from Sonora, said the proposition already has bred fear and uncertainty in immigrant communities. Garcia, a 47-year-old construction worker who has lived in Tucson since 1998 after spending nearly a decade in the Valley, said his wife is afraid to go to government offices, even though the couple's three children are U.S. citizens.

"I think it's racist," Garcia said. "They don't understand if (undocumented immigrants) receive help, it's not for them, it's for the kids who are U.S. citizens. They're trying to put pressure on immigrants, and it's very dangerous . . . because some won't seek help."

Napolitano ordered agencies to perform random checks to guarantee Proposition 200 is properly implemented. Starting today, state, county and municipal employees will have to alert federal immigration officials in writing of suspected undocumented immigrants seeking public benefits. Those who failed to do so could face a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by up to four months in jail and a $750 fine.

The measure also would give residents the right to sue the state, county or municipal government to remedy violation of federal immigration law.


Impact unclear


Many government officials said they remain unsure which services will be affected or to what degree. The DES has trained an estimated 2,350 employees to check documentation, officials said. If problems arise, the state will "defend any employee who makes a good-faith effort to follow the law," said Liz Barker, a DES spokeswoman.

In a packed hearing in Tucson federal court, Hector Villagra, the lead attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, told Bury that the law remains vulnerable to interpretation and urged the judge to issue an injunction until the state had a binding interpretation of the proposition.

"Immigrants would face a chilling effect from the initiative's reporting requirements," he warned before the decision.

Steve LaMar, representing the state government, argued that the "people of Arizona spoke" with the passage of Proposition 200 and that the judge, barring constitutional concerns, was bound to uphold the law.

"The people of Arizona spoke directly, and what is the message if we take up the plaintiff's flag?" he asked. "It breeds apathy, and we don't need that in America in 2004."

Bury said the government had addressed the court's "serious concerns" outlined in the temporary order issued in November and issued a written decision that rejected the fund's motion. He said the state interpretation does not go beyond the scope of federal law, which already requires proof of eligibility for public benefits.


Officials calm fears


After the hearing, immigrant advocates pushed for people to come forward if they believe they are wrongly denied benefits, while some government officials tried to calm fears about the proposition's impact.

"It's not a massive ruling that applies to all benefits," said Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, who opposed Proposition 200. She said Goddard's interpretation limits the law's impact. "You don't have to be worried about being deported. You don't have to worry about going to the banks or sending your children to school."

Elias Bermudez, executive director of downtown Phoenix's Centro de Ayuda (Center of Help), which prepares citizenship documents for immigrants, said immigrants won't know what benefits would be at stake. The main problem, he said, is that immigrants may not want to seek medical care for fear of being deported.

"It's a slap in the face to the Latino community," he said of the ruling. "We're very sad and feel sorry this is happening to our state."

Happy now, you Young Repugnant freaks?

Students to Bear More of the Cost of College
By GREG WINTER

College students in virtually every state will be required to shoulder more of the cost of their education under new federal rules that govern most of the nation's financial aid.

Because of the changes, which take effect next fall and are expected to save the government $300 million in the 2005-6 academic year, at least 1.3 million students will receive smaller Pell Grants, the nation's primary scholarship for those of low income, according to two analyses of the new rules.

In addition, 89,000 students or so who would otherwise be getting some Pell Grant money will get none, the analyses found.

"Season's greetings from Uncle Sam," said Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, which conducted one of the analyses and represents about 1,800 colleges and universities. "Your student aid stocking is going to be a little thinner next year."

Beyond the implications for Pell Grants, the new rules are expected to have a domino effect across almost every type of financial aid, tightening access to billions of dollars in state and institutional grants and, in turn, increasing the reliance on loans to pay for college. Taken together, many education experts say, the consequences for the nation's core financial aid programs are among the most substantial in a decade.

"This is the first time in at least 10 years where there's been a significant reduction for this magnitude of students," said Brian K. Fitzgerald, director of the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, which was created by Congress to advise the lawmakers on financial aid. It was this committee that performed the other analysis.

The changes are the denouement of a fight that has roiled Congress for more than 18 months. When the Bush administration first proposed altering financial aid rules last year, legislators stopped the revisions from taking hold, arguing that tough economic times meant students needed more help to attend college, not less.

But this year the administration found support from Congressional leaders seeking to constrain the cost of Pell Grants, an expense that has steadily increased as more low-income students go to college.

Even with the new rules, spending on Pell Grants, which could easily surpass $12 billion this fiscal year, may continue to increase, and the ranks of recipients will probably grow as well, because so many new students are applying for aid.

Without the changes, though, Pell Grant costs would be about $300 million higher than with them, according to figures from the White House Office of Management and Budget, since tens of thousands of additional students would be eligible for aid and hundreds of thousands more would receive larger awards.

Exactly how individual families will be affected depends greatly on their financial circumstances and on where they live. Parents who earn at least $15,000 will be negatively affected in every state except New Jersey and Connecticut. Those in states including New York, Massachusetts, Michigan, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina and Wisconsin will be among the hardest hit.

Many may see their federal grants decline by only a few hundred dollars, or not at all, some financial aid experts estimate. Others can be expected to contribute significantly more.

Painful though it may be, supporters of the new rules say, trimming back on awards has its benefits, especially for future students.

Educators and lawmakers on all sides have long agreed that the maximum Pell Grant, currently set at $4,050 a year, is wholly inadequate given today's college costs. But, supporters of the changes say, unless there is a serious effort to scale back the program, whose costs have been exceeding lawmakers' appropriations for it, Congress may never be in a position to give larger awards to the poorest of students, who need them the most.

"There aren't any easy answers, and there are consequences for wrongly adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the current budget shortfall," said David Schnittger, spokesman for the Republican majority on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

The debate stems from a seemingly small alteration to the federal financial aid formula, a complicated equation that either directly governs or heavily influences distribution of federal, state and institutional aid. Its purpose is to determine how much of a family's income is truly discretionary and therefore fair game for covering college expenses.

Much as with the federal income tax, the formula allows families to deduct some of what they pay in state and local taxes. This year the administration gained enough Congressional backing to reduce that amount significantly, in some cases cutting it by half or more. On paper, at least, that leaves families with more money left over to pay for college, even though state and local taxes have gone up in the last few years, not down.

The Department of Education, which issues the financial aid formula, says it has no choice but to update the deductions periodically.

"We're required by law to do this, and we can't pick and choose which parts of the law to follow," said Susan Aspey, a department spokeswoman.

Ms. Aspey said by e-mail yesterday that about 80,000 additional students - not 89,000 as the two analyses determined - would be receiving grants if the changes had not been made. She also said that nearly half of the nation's 5.3 million Pell recipients would not be affected, though that would appear to leave the possibility that the number affected will be even higher than the 1.4 million estimated in the two analyses. Ms. Aspey could not be reached last night for elaboration.


In adjusting the formula, the department is relying on data from 2002, which may not fully reflect the economic difficulties that many families have faced since then. Department officials, however, say the new formula is a lot more accurate than the previous one, which was at least a decade old.

The enormous University of California, with campuses scattered across the state, estimates that at least half of its 46,000 Pell Grant recipients will face some sort of reduction as a result of the changes. At the other end of the spectrum, Knox College, a small liberal arts institution in Illinois, says the changes will most likely reach upward to affect the middle class as well.

"Of course we focus on the students who have the greatest need, but these families are needy, too," said Teresa Jackson, Knox's director of financial aid. "They can't just sit down and write a check for $30,000 a year. I can appreciate the difficulty with the budget, but my gosh, to cut back on financial aid given the times doesn't make a lot of sense."