Doctors removed the top of the man's head and put it in cold storage while they operated on his brain, the court in the western city of Koblenz said Tuesday.
Because the refrigerator was defective, the section of skull was not kept cool enough and could not be reattached. Doctors replaced the bone with a plastic prosthesis.
SACRAMENTO -- One of California's most powerful politicians is proposing a radical new way of drawing the state's voting districts -- one that would strip lawmakers like him of the power to create "safe" seats.
The proposal, from Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, would give the once-a-decade task to an independent panel chosen by the governor, the Legislature and a group of judges. Nuñez, a Los Angeles Democrat, hopes to ask voters to approve the idea in February when they choose presidential primary candidates.
Theoretically, the measure would balance some voting districts more
evenly between Democrats and Republicans, produce more competition and
thus result in more moderate winners.
"It'll align the Legislature a lot closer to the people of California," Nuñez said.
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They [the source's institution] have "instructions" (yes, that was the word used) from the Office of the Vice-President to roll out a campaign for war with Iran in the week after Labor Day; it will be coordinated with the American Enterprise Institute, the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, Fox, and the usual suspects. It will be heavy sustained assault on the airwaves, designed to knock public sentiment into a position from which a war can be maintained. Evidently they don't think they'll ever get majority support for this--they want something like 35-40 percent support, which in their book is "plenty."
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The Bush administration's lack of interest in recovering stolen funds is one of the great scandals of the war. The White House has failed to litigate a single case against a contractor under the False Claims Act and has not sued anybody for breach of contract. It even declined to join in a lawsuit filed by whistle-blowers who are accusing KBR of improper invoicing in Fallujah. "For all the Bush administration claims to do in the war against terrorism," Grayson said in congressional testimony, "it is a no-show in the war against war profiteers." In nearly five years of some of the worst graft and looting in American history, the administration has recovered less than $6 million.
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Making it clear he will resist Congressional pressure next month for anAn advertising campaign by a conservative group which includes as it's TV spokesperson none other than Ari Fleisher with the slogan "It's no time to quit. It's no time for politics."
early withdrawal, he signalled US troops will be in Iraq as long as he
is president and said the consequences of leaving "without getting the
job done would be devastating".
"We want to get the message to both Democrats and Republicans: Don'tAnd today we learn that the Pentagon is going to open it's own 24 hour news room:
cut and run, fully fund the troops, and victory is the only objective." - Said Ari
Shaping the Bush administration's message on the Iraq war has taken on new fervor, just as anticipation is building for the September progress report from top militaryBe sure you won't find any bad news on the Pentagon Channel.
advisers.For the Pentagon, getting out Iraq information will now include a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week Iraq Communications Desk that will pump out data from Baghdad -- serving as what could be considered a campaignwar room.
Sen. John Warner's suggestion that some troops leave Iraq by the end ofNevermind that Warner's suggestion is simply that--a suggestion--it's also bogus. The intention here is to make the Democratic leadership think they might be able to craft a veto proof bill calling for withdrawal. Well, that ain't happening. But it's a good trick and it's worked everytime so far, so why not try it again.
the year has roiled the White House, with administration officials
saying they've asked the influential Republican to clarify that he has
not broken politically with President Bush.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is expected to adviseOh look! There is internal debate and disagreement among Republicans and within the military, maybe the Democrats can build a consensus! Forget about it. It's cheese. And it just happened with the Warrantless Wiretapping Bill. Don't bite. That the approval rating of Congress is at 18% should serve as a reminder to Democrats that getting your head snapped off in the same mouse trap that bludgeoned you last time is not a good plan. And just because we can't win (lacking the actual votes in the Senate) doesn't mean we shouldn't fight (politically speaking.)
President Bush to reduce the U.S. force in Iraq next year by almost
half, potentially creating a rift with top White House officials and
other military commanders over the course of the war.
Administration and military officials say Marine Gen. Peter Pace is
likely to convey concerns by the Joint Chiefs that keeping well in
excess of 100,000 troops in Iraq through 2008 will severely strain the
military. This assessment could collide with one being prepared by the
U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, calling for the
U.S. to maintain higher troop levels for 2008 and beyond.
According to the Evans-Novak Political Report, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) will be resigning from Congress in November, instead of retiring at the end of his term. If true, this could have significant ramifications in determining his successor.
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I've been advocating for the National Popular Vote plan for some time. If the Electoral College were enacted after the 14th Amendment, it would be found unconstitutional. Every election in our system is majority-rule except for the one for the highest office in the land. Californians are disenfranchised every year as they watch small states like Wyoming get an outsized portion of the electoral vote.
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Alabama. 9 Electoral Votes. Bush won 2004 by 26%. (7/16 results)
Clinton 44 (39)
Giuliani 50 (54)
Clinton 47 (41)
Thompson 49 (55)
Clinton 48 (44)
Romney 46 (49)
Kentucky. 8 Electoral Votes. Bush won 2004 by 20%. (6/11 results)
Clinton 49 (44)
Giuliani 44 (47)
Clinton 51 (49)
Thompson 44 (45)
Clinton 53 (51)
Romney 41 (42)
Virginia. 13 Electoral Votes. Bush won 2004 by 8%. (6/11 results)
Clinton 49 (44)
Giuliani 46 (48)
Clinton 51 (50)
Thompson 42 (45)
Clinton 53 (51)
Romney 39 (40)
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In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are — an army of occupation — and force our withdrawal.
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....to guarantee an earmark payoff to one of his political contributors, Rep. Don Young (R-AK) actually went in and rewrote the text of a transportation spending bill after the thing had been passed by Congress and it was waiting to be signed by the president.
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In a move that would diminish the clout of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested Monday that he could support eliminating the two-thirds voting requirement for passing future state budgets.
"Everyone now has come to the conclusion -- all the leaders -- that we must work, as soon as the budget is over, work on a system that allows us to have a budget on time," the governor said. "If that means we should go and shoot for, as some suggested, a simple majority to pass the budget rather than a two-thirds vote, maybe that's the solution."
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The man described as the brain behind the George Bush presidency has resigned.
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Is there any doubt they are planning to hit us again? If it is to be, then let it be. It will take another attack on the homeland to quell the chattering of chipmunks and to restore America's righteous rage and singular purpose to prevail.
However, a recent survey commissioned by EdVoice indicates that reality does not line up with conventional wisdom.
Liu currently holds a commanding 22-point lead over Frommer, receiving 45 percent of the vote compared to 23 percent for Frommer. The remaining 33 percent are undecided, which is actually a small number for a legislative district in Los Angeles County.
Meanwhile, Jeff Denham responds to an editorial in the Modesto Bee which called on the
senator to cast the deciding vote in favor of the budget. "Stop playing 'Chicken
Little,'" writes Denham. "The governor and his Cabinet members are running
around saying 'The sky is falling!' because we don't have a budget. Nonsense.
The state has gone through this before and we will survive. Instead of
photo-ops and theatrics by the governor and the Democrats, he should call a
special session to force the Senate and Assembly back into session."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, lawmakers of both parties and government
watchdog groups say the state should take time after the deadlock is resolved to find
a better way to pass the annual spending plan.
"'When you get outFrom The Roundup
of Sacramento, you really realize that people want us to get our budget done on
time,' said Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines, a Republican from
the Fresno suburb of Clovis."
"'We are really governing ourselves like a Third World country,' Senate
President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Tuesday."
Meanwhile, officials in Yemen announced they had passed their budget on
time, and took offense at Perata's comparison...
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But it's hard not to have some suspicion that the Army has put itself in charge of investigating charges which, if true, would be deeply embarrassing to the Army; that it has provided itself a full exoneration through an investigation, the details of which it will not divulge; and it has chosen to use as its exclusive conduit for disseminating information about the case, The Weekly Standard, a publication which can at best be described as a charged partisan in the public controversy about the case in case.
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House leaders put the 'good bill' on the suspension calendar, which is a specific track for non-controversial legislation that requires a two thirds vote. Suspension calendar bills are often about things like naming post offices, and bills on this track do not go to the floor for amendments and debate. I asked a contact why this bill went on the suspension calendar, and she told me it's because there had been no hearings on the bill so it couldn't go to the floor (though she is going to get more information from a staffer who knows more about rules). McConnell, prodded by Bush, double-crossed the Democrats, and withdrew his support for the good bill, which then went down to defeat on the suspension calendar. Normally, the Senate's awful bill and the House's more reasonable one would be mashed together in conference, but in this case the Senate had already gone home. In other words, this was a procedural blunder. As a rule, you do not lose procedural fights like this in the House, as a friend told me it's like 'walking the pitcher'. The good bill should have been brought to the floor, but it was not. The whip operation, run by Clyburn, and the floor manager, Hoyer, failed to manage this properly.
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So what does this all say? It says that local blogs can be quite instrumental in influencing the political dialogue online AND offline. It says that local blogs can be key in making or breaking a local politician's career. It says that just as all politics is local, all local politics can be strongly affected by what's happening on the local blogosphere.
So what does this mean for us? This means that we should not be afraid to tackle local issues, and discuss local politics. Local affairs may not be "sexy" enough for the big national sites, but it's the local politics where the local netroots can have the biggest impact.
Don't believe me? Ask the New York State Democratic Party, or ask Richard Pombo, or ask Janet Nguyen (or Tan Nguyen for that matter!). They can tell you all about it. : )
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Coda: Barack Obama's campaign has already released a statement about the candidates' views on his proposal to go into Pakistan. "The fact that the same Republican candidates who want to keep 160,000 American troops in the middle of a civil war couldn't agree that we should take out Osama bin Ladin if we had him in our sights, proves why Americans want to turn the page on the last seven years of Bush-Cheney foreign policy," said campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
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The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses,
papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall may be violated.
not, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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There comes a time when giving in to the demolition of constitutional protections can no longer be considered a matter of being weak or unthinking. Rather it must be considered complicity.
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Bush is getting practically everything he asked for. Indeed, under Bush's warrantless-search program launched in 2001, the administration could conduct oversight-free surveillance only if it suspected someone on the call was a terrorist. Under the bill passed by the Senate yesterday, that condition no longer exists.
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Congressional Democrats, under pressure from the Bush administration, today proposed a six-month compromise that would expand the government's authority to conduct electronic surveillance of overseas communications in search of terrorists.
The proposal, according to House and Senate Democrats, would permit a secret court to issue a single broad order approving eavesdropping of communications involving suspects overseas and other people, who may be in the United States. That order "need not be individualized," according to a Democratic aide.
It also would compel compliance by private companies and address their liability for past cooperation with the government.
