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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldworldnet who wrote (680824)	4/27/2005 10:16:55 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 769670

Getting tips on Iraq’s most wanted Phone hot line helps fight against insurgency By Babak Behnam Producer NBC News Updated: 2:09 p.m. ET April 26, 2005 BAGHDAD, Iraq - Deep in the heart of Camp Liberty, not far from Baghdad International Airport and situated in an unassuming building on Saddam Hussein’s famed game reserve, is one of the 3rd Infantry Division's strategic weapons against the insurgency — a hot line for tips. During a recent visit, one of many phones rang on Frank's desk. He picked up the receiver and in Arabic answered, "Allo.” Within seconds he was trying to calm down an excited man. Frank, whose last name is not used to protect his security, reassured the caller that all the information would remain anonymous. "My brother, you are talking with the U.S. military. Your name is safe with us. Don't worry, I promise," said Frank as he scribbled the information down on a pad. Frank explained that most of the people who call are scared. They have even hung up on him in mid-conversation because someone has entered the room as they made their call. Frank hails from Arizona. He emigrated from Iraq to the United States in the late ’60s. He was enjoying his retirement until 9/11, when he felt it was his patriotic duty to help out his adopted country. When the U.S. military began recruiting Arabic translators, Frank joined the military as a subcontractor and now finds himself back in Iraq. New avenue in the battle against insurgents Television commercials, billboards, business cards and even keychains are used to promote the telephone hot-line campaign in Iraq. "It allows Iraqi people, who might not be comfortable with the newly established Iraqi police or Iraqi army, an avenue to give information. They want to help. They want to do something,” said Sgt. Maj. Jerry Craig. He runs the Joint Coordination Cell, the official military name of the hot-line center. Craig spoke highly of his unit, lavishing praise on his translators. He said the unit receives 50-60 calls a day. About 15 of those calls deliver some type of a result. The Joint Coordination Cell launched the first operational hot line last August. With its success, other bases have instituted call centers around the country. Meantime, Frank passed along the latest information to Sgt. Owen, his military liaison. The sergeant, sitting in front of three computer screens, accesses information across Iraq. "This man called about a suspicious-looking vehicle,” Frank told Owen. They discussed the nature of the call and decided to pass the information to the Iraqi National Guard. "We still get the majority of our information from our respective intelligence units," a top colonel at the unit said. "But these calls are very important in our fight against the insurgency." Feedback averts attacks Since the hot-line information travels only in one direction, the unit rarely knows the outcome of the work, with a few exceptions. One day a woman reported two roadside bombs in her neighborhood. The exact location was not readily discernible. Some time later as a joint Iraqi-U.S. military patrol was walking in a neighborhood in Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded. The woman called back to find out why no one had listened to her report. The unit immediately had the patrol contacted. It moved to a safe place and had the second explosive disarmed. Since the election in January, ordinary people have started to fight back against the insurgency. Various cities around the country held anti-insurgency rallies. In Baghdad reports of people taking on insurgents, sometimes engaging in gun battles, began to surface. Citizens even took on kidnappers, the newest criminal scourge. “The key to breaking the back of the insurgency is the involvement of the Iraqi people. They are tired of what’s going on here, and this is a way to stop it,” Craig said. Tip leads to arrest in helicopter investigation The change in sentiment was best illustrated after a commercial chartered helicopter was downed on April 21, killing 10 people on board, including six American security personnel. In addition, an insurgency videotape showed gunmen killing a Bulgarian pilot who survived the crash. Shortly after the incident, an anonymous caller’s tip led to the arrest of 10 suspects. For Frank, the translator, the best moment was when he received a call from a man who told him that he knew the location of a house where six people were being held hostage. The caller only had a description of the house. Painstakingly, Frank had the man map out the address. He immediately informed the Iraqi National Guard, which fanned out through the city and located the house. In a midnight raid, the guard stormed the house and was able to rescue all the hostages alive. Frank said with some satisfaction, “For sure that day I felt good.”

To: goldworldnet who wrote (680824)	4/28/2005 10:16:41 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

Father arrested over objections to homosexual curriculum in son’s kindergarten class. Article 8 Alliance ^ \| 4/27/2005 article8.org LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS, APRIL 27. Lexington parent, David Parker, was arrested today by the Lexington Police for “trespassing” at his son’s elementary school during a scheduled meeting with the principal and the city’s Director of Education over his objections to homosexual curriculum materials and discussions in his son’s kindergarten class. At the meeting, Parker demanded that the school inform him when homosexual subjects are to be discussed with his son, and allow his son not to be included in such activities. He said he would not leave until his request was granted. The Principal and the city’s Director of Education both refused his request. They then telephoned the Superintendent of Schools who also refused. Police were called, who told Parker that unless he left the school he would be arrested. Statement by David Parker(April 27, 2005): “I, David Parker, am the father of a kindergarten student at Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington, Massachusetts. Since the beginning of this school year, my wife and I have learned that school materials and discussions about gay-headed households/same-sex union issues have been exposed to the children. There are definitive plans to increase the teacher/staff/adult mediated discussions of these subjects. “We have officially stated on many occasions—to the Lexington school administration—a request that we be notified when these discussions are planned, and want our 6-year-old opted out of such situations when arising “spontaneously”. “Our parental requests for our own child were flat-out denied with no effort at accommodation. In our meeting on April 27, I, insisted that such accommodation be made and refused to leave the meeting room. I was informed that I would be arrested.” Parker will be arraigned on Thursday, April 28, in Concord District Court at 9 am. “This is an unbelievable outrage,” said Brian Camenker, a friend and Newton, Mass. parent. “It’s where last year’s same-sex ‘marriage’ ruling has brought us.”

To: goldworldnet who wrote (680824)	4/30/2005 4:03:42 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Cuomo warns of 'tyranny of the majority' Republicans threaten to end judicial filibustering Saturday, April 30, 2005 Posted: 1:28 PM EDT (1728 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- If Republicans rewrite Senate rules to more easily end filibusters, the country will experience "exactly the kind of `tyranny of the majority' that James Madison had in mind," former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo said Saturday. Cuomo, in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address, said Senate Republicans "are threatening to claim ownership of the Supreme Court and other federal courts, hoping to achieve political results on subjects like abortion, stem cells, the environment and civil rights that they cannot get from the proper political bodies." "How will they do this? By destroying the so-called filibuster, a vital part of the 200-year-old system of checks and balances in the Senate," Cuomo said. "The Republicans say it would assure dominance by the majority in the Senate," he said. "That sounds democratic until you remember that the Bill of Rights was adopted, as James Madison pointed out, to protect all of Americans from what he called the `tyranny of the majority."' "It sounds nearly absurd when you learn that the minority Democrats in the Senate actually represent more Americans than the majority Republicans do," Cuomo said. Democrats blocked 10 of President Bush's appellate court choices during his last term by filibustering. Bush re-nominated seven of them this term, and Democrats are threatening to block them again. They contend those seven are two sharply conservative to fill the lifetime appointments. Under Senate rules, 60 votes are needed in the 100-member body to end a filibuster. Republicans are threatening to use their majority to change the rules and require only a simple majority vote to end a filibuster. "The Republican senators should instead start working with the Democrats to address all the serious problems of this country in the proper forums -- in the Congress and in the presidency -- leaving the judges to be judges instead of a third political branch controlled by the whim of the politicians in power," Cuomo said. Cuomo, who was leading in Democratic polls in late 1991 when he pulled the plug on a possible presidential bid, lost the New York governorship in 1994 as he sought a fourth term against Republican Gov. George Pataki. He later turned down a chance to be considered by President Clinton for a Supreme Court seat.