Patriot Act
U.S. Senator Ken Salazar has joined up with some like-minded fellows in the Congress to move for more restrictions on the Patriot Act. Here's the story from Yahoo!. Thanks to SoapBlox Colorado for the link.
Here's an editorial on the subject from the Denver Post [November 18, 2005, "Patriot Act curbs don't go far enough"]. They write, "A proposed congressional compromise on the expiring Patriot Act eliminates too many of the civil liberties protections that we had hoped to see reinstated, and we support a bipartisan effort (which includes Sen. Ken Salazar) to block final passage unless safeguards are reinstated. Congressional negotiators approved a compromise deal on the Patriot Act late Wednesday that limits FBI subpoena power and requires the Justice Department to more fully report its secret requests for information. But many worrisome parts of the law would remain intact. The police powers given the executive branch after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were too broad and created the potential for abuse of fundamental liberties."
Colorado Luis: "I am glad to see that Denver appears likely to bid for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. State Democratic Party First Chair Dan Slater, also known as the blogger who operates DemNotes, is mentioned in the Post's story about the bid, and Dan has been doing great work at his blog explaining the importance of bringing the Democratic Convention to the Mountain Region for only the second time in history, and for the first time since the Dems held their convention here way back in 1908."
Stygius: "So Italia Fredrica finally makes it to the Senate Indian Affairs committee. She used to be Interior Secretary Gale Norton's aide, and was mixed up in the Jack Abramoff funding of Norton's PAC -- seemingly in return for policy shifts at Interior."
Here's the coverage from the Denver Post [November 18, 2005, "Norton ex-aide: Influence not sold"]. From the article, "Chairman John McCain threatened at one point to have Federici held in contempt of Congress because he felt she wasn't answering his questions. He called her attempts to explain her interactions with Abramoff 'bizarre.'...After an unnamed tribal chief contributed, Federici sent a May 2001 e-mail to Abramoff asking, 'Is there something I can do to say thank you for his support for CREA - besides the time with Secretary Norton?'"
Oval Office 2008: "Noonan also has something to say to those conservatives who continue to regard McCain as not one of them. 'When they ran against each other for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, George W. Bush was the conservative and McCain the moderate maverick,' Noonan observes. 'Now, five years later, who looks more conservative? McCain, who worries about spending, regulation and immigration, or Bush?' I'm not sure that every conservative would answer that question in the same way that Ms Noonan would. Nonetheless, 'how conservative is John McCain?' is certainly a question that the Senator himself will no doubt be keen to answer on the campaign trail."
Political Wire: "Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), 'who helped guide the GOP to an expanded majority in the House three years ago,' said a Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade 'could hurt his party's political prospects and cause a 'sea change' in suburban voting habits,' reports the Boston Globe. Davis, who chaired the NRCC through 2002, admitted that 'Republicans have a political cushion with voters as long as Roe is intact.'"
Political Wire: "Two Chicago political operatives have filed paperwork with the FEC to establish a 'Draft Rudy Giuliani for President' organization, reports the New York Daily News. The organizations hopes to recruit coordinators for all 50 states by May."
Josh Marshall: "The White House doesn't need to win any debates. What they need is for their core supporters to have something to say. Anything. And to be able to say it loudly. The one thing that would be fatal for the White House from its defenders would be silence."
The Moderate Voice: "So now the pivotal question becomes: will the dramatic anti-war comments of the top Democrat on military spending - a longtime respected, decorated Vietnam veteran - prove to be a turning point in Congressional and public opinion on the Iraq war, or just another rhetorical blip on the media-saturated U.S. screen? At issue are the comments of Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), hardly the kind of person that can be accused of being unpatriotic....although that suggestion came later yesterday (see below). He sent major ripples through the news media, elite circles and both parties yesterday when he publicly broke with the administration over the wear and called for an immediate withdrawal."
Blogs for Bush: "By my calculations, Murtha took the anti-war line at least 18 months ago. How is his statement news? I'll tell ya how - because the MSM is working hand and glove with the Democrats to stymie President Bush and the GOP. There can't be any other explanation for news flashes about a man re-stating a position he's had for a year and a half. This is the most egregious example of the partisan bias I've ever seen in the MSM...they can't possibly have expected people to not find out about this, and they must have known themselves...so it is just utter contempt for the American people and the truth which made the Murtha story a major news event. The MSM doesn't care about truth anymore...they just want the Democrats to win and will assist their political drumbeat any way they can."
Bull Moose: "Put country first."
Pew Reseach: "Preoccupied with war abroad and growing problems at home, U.S. opinion leaders and the general public are taking a decidedly cautious view of America's place in the world. Over the past four years, opinion leaders have become less supportive of the United States playing a "first among equals" role among the world's leading nations. The goal of promoting democracy in other nations also has lost ground, and while most opinion leaders view President Bush's calls for expanded democracy in the Middle East as a good idea, far fewer think it will actually succeed. As the Iraq war has shaken the global outlook of American influentials, it has led to a revival of isolationist sentiment among the general public. Fully 42% of Americans say the United States should 'mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.' This is on par with the percentage expressing that view during the mid-1970s, following the Vietnam War, and in the 1990s after the Cold War ended. "
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
6:48:09 AM 
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