WASHINGTON — A majority of Americans consider the congressional influence-peddling inquiry surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff a major scandal, and they registered an anti-incumbent note in a poll released Monday. The issue of corruption ranked high on Americans’ list of concerns in the CNN/USA Today/Gallup survey, taken Friday through Sunday. But with the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate up for grabs in November, most of the 1,003 adults polled said they don’t think their own lawmakers are corrupt. President Bush’s job approval rating remained steady at 43 percent in Monday’s poll, which had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. His disapproval rating was 54 percent. Corruption ranked among the concerns most often cited by those polled, with 43 percent telling pollsters it would be an “extremely important” issue in 2006. By comparison, the war in Iraq and terrorism were tied for first at 45 percent, and health care followed, matching corruption with 43 percent. Only 42 percent of those polled said most members of Congress deserve re-election — the lowest response to that question since 1994, when Republicans took over the House and Senate. […]
WASHINGTON – In the 50 years that Grant Goodman has known and corresponded with a colleague in the Philippines he never had any reason to suspect that their friendship was anything but spectacularly ordinary. But now he believes that the relationship has somehow sparked the interest of the Department of Homeland Security and led the agency to place him under surveillance. Last month Goodman, an 81-year-old retired University of Kansas history professor, received a letter from his friend in the Philippines that had been opened and resealed with a strip of dark green tape bearing the words by Border Protection and carrying the official Homeland Security seal. I had no idea (Homeland Security) would open personal letters, Goodman told MSNBC.com in a phone interview. That’s why I alerted the media. I thought it should be known publicly that this is going on, he said. Goodman originally showed the letter to his own local newspaper, the Kansas-based Lawrence Journal-World. I was shocked and there was a certain degree of disbelief in the beginning, Goodman said when he noticed the letter had been tampered with, adding that he felt his privacy had been invaded. I think […]
Red letters flash inside the famous black eagle, symbol of the United Farm Workers: “Donate,” the blinking message urges, to carry on the dreams of Cesar Chavez. Bannered on websites and spread by e-mail, the insistent appeals resonate with a generation that grew up boycotting grapes, swept up in Chavez’s populist crusade to bring dignity and higher wages to farmworkers. Thirty-five years after Chavez riveted the nation, the strikes and fasts are just history, the organizers who packed jails and prayed over produce in supermarket aisles are gone, their righteous pleas reduced to plaintive laments. What remains is the name, the eagle and the trademark chant of “SÃÂ se puede” (“Yes, it can be done”) a slogan that rings hollow as UFW leaders make excuses for their failure to organize California farmworkers. Today, a Times investigation has found, Chavez’s heirs run a web of tax-exempt organizations that exploit his legacy and invoke the harsh lives of farmworkers to raise millions of dollars in public and private money. The money does little to improve the lives of California farmworkers, who still struggle with the most basic health and housing needs and try to get by […]
DETROIT, Michigan — Mr. Shufu Li, Chairman of the Geely Automobile Company, of Hangzhou, China, announced today in Detroit that Geely is ”… on track to enter the United States automobile market in the year 2008. Our goal is to present to the American people another choice for the family sedan, a vehicle that possesses the highest quality but is available at the lowest price,” said Mr. Li. Geely is the first domestic automobile manufacturer from China to participate in the annual Detroit Auto Show, organized and conducted by the Detroit Automobile Dealers Association. Each year the show attracts thousands of media reporters, automobile dealers from around the United States, and the general public. The presence of the first Chinese automobile manufacturer to ever participate in the show has given the 2006 show a very unique flavor. Chairman Shufu Li is a remarkable version of the American story of a self made man who has brought himself up from poverty to great wealth. ”I am just the son of a Chinese peasant farmer,” he will say, ”but I understand that hard work, determination, and courage in the face of enormous challenges will inevitably bring success.” Mr. Li’s remarkable […]
Every Supreme Court nominee bears a heavy burden to demonstrate that he or she is committed to the constitutional principles that have been vital in advancing fairness, decency and equal opportunity in our society. As Judge Samuel Alito approaches his confirmation hearings next week, the more we learn about him, the more questions we have about the credibility of his assurances to us. Consider these five areas: 1. 1985 job application : Alito was 35 when he applied for an important political position with Attorney General Ed Meese during the Reagan administration. Alito sought to demonstrate his “philosophical commitment” to Meese’s legal outlook. He wrote that the 1964 Goldwater presidential campaign had been his original political inspiration, even though he was only 14 at the time. His views on the law, he said, were inspired by his “deep disagreement with Warren Court decisions.” He strongly objected to “usurpation by the judiciary” of the powers of the president, and supported the “supremacy” of the elected branches over the judiciary. Not surprisingly, Alito got the job. The views expressed there raise serious concerns about his ability to interpret the Constitution with a fair and open mind. When this embarrassing […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
