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All humans generally live according to some set of priorities. A person may make a priority of health, of pleasure, of study, of almost anything, really. But it is practically a law of nature that a person must make a priority of something. Even those who lead unstructured existences unconsciously live according to some set of unarticulated priorities, if only according to something so basic as the primal need for food, drink, and shelter. For many people, religious practice — striving to obey God’s commandments — is a high priority, the highest, even. Yet this priority can come into conflict...

Bush says he's keeping bird flu a top priority as he visits lab in Vietnam Published: Monday, November 20, 2006 | 3:56 AM ET Canadian Press: MARGIE MASON HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) - U.S. President George W. Bush toured a bird flu lab Monday and praised Vietnam for its successful battle against the disease, pledging U.S. support and urging Southeast Asia to prepare for a potential pandemic. Bush arrived at the Pasteur Institute - one of Vietnam's top research institutes for communicable diseases - in southern Ho Chi Minh City to an enthusiastic reception from crowds gathered on...

California's landmark effort to set a cap on greenhouse gas emissions is just one step in a long-term strategy by the nation's most populous state to combat global climate change, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday in an interview. The governor said the global warming strategy for California, the world's 12th largest producer of greenhouse gases, will include further industrial reductions and initiatives such as placing greater emphasis on renewable energy and hydrogen-fueled cars. Schwarzenegger said he hopes California's efforts on global warming will inspire other states and the federal government, which has done little to curb the emissions scientists blame...

This year it was the Toll Road lease. Next year when lawmakers return to the Indiana Statehouse, the hot topic will be full-day kindergarten. Governor Mitch Daniels is making it one of his top priorities, and now we know how much statewide all day kindergarten would cost. Daniels has several plans to get it going across the state. One would make it available for the next school year in 2007-2008. The state budget office estimates it would cost about $166 million the first year. The second year would cost about $210 million. The other plans would phase in all-day kindergarten...

WASHINGTON, June 27, 2006 – The highest priority in funding the global war on terror is to ensure that the military members fighting it have all they need to win, a senior defense official told Pentagon reporters today. "This country is committed to making sure the men and women that are out there fighting this war are going to have the resources they need to be successful," said Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. The Defense Department has obligated $295 billion for the war on terror from Sept. 11, 2001, through March 2006, Whitman said. Those...

What should Bush's top policy priority be? Budget deficit Gasoline/energy Health care Homeland security Immigration Iraq Something else

3/28/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- In a turbulent world, with natural disasters striking at random and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan surging with a tide of violence, one thing has remained constant – U.S. States Air Force humanitarian relief operations. These operations, planned out of the Combined Air Operations Center, or CAOC, located here, have answered the call of those in need, from the bitter-cold Mountains of Afghanistan to the devastation left in the wake of the earthquake in Pakistan. “The bottom line is -- we’re here to help people,” said Brig. Gen. Darren McDew, director of mobility forces...

Workers continue work on the Sadr City Water Treatment Plant, which is one of the ongoing essential services re-building projects in Iraq. U.S. Army photo by Lt. Col. Otto Busher Coalition Priority: Restore Iraq's Essential Services The infrastructure projects, while providing services previously unavailable in many parts of rural Iraq, also provide needed jobs and income for citizens. By U.S. Army Sgt. Ann Drier363rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment BAGHDAD, Feb. 23, 2006 — Most Americans have difficulty thinking about not having running water, flushing toilets, weekly trash pickup or electricity 24 hours-a-day. We take for granted the things that...

[JURIST] A senior Hamas official speaking in Jerusalem has said that introducing Islamic sharia [Wikipedia backgrounder] as “a source of law” in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be "the No. 1 thing we will do" when Hamas takes up its seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council [official website] after the its shock victory [JURIST report] in Palestinian parliamentary elections earlier this week. Sheik Mohammed Abu Teir, who ran as the number two candidate on the Hamas ticket and who previously spent some 25 years in Israeli jails told a Canadian reporter “[s]haria has a soul in it and...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2005 – Stability operations are now a major priority for the Defense Department, on par with combat operations, and will receive more planning and funding, two DoD officials said here today. The officials were explaining DoD Directive 3000.05, which was signed Nov. 28. The directive provides guidance on stability operations and assigns responsibility for planning, training and preparing to conduct and support stability operations. The origins of the directive come from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said Jeffrey Nadaner, deputy assistant secretary of defense for stability operations. Before Sept. 11, many people within DoD thought of...

WASHINGTON - Americans are worried about fast-rising gasoline prices and want President Bush and Congress to make that their top domestic priority, according to an AP-Ipsos poll. With gas prices soaring toward $4 a gallon and fuel supply lines crippled by Hurricane Katrina, 24 percent of those polled listed fuel prices as their chief concern, second only to the war in Iraq. "The president's got to step up to the plate" on the fuel issue, said carpenter Barry Whittington, who lives near Deale, Md., and voted for Bush. "This is killing me." About one-fourth of adults younger than 65 named...

PHILADELPHIA - Violence by environmental and animal rights extremists against U.S. drug makers has increased so much in recent years that it's currently the FBI's top domestic terrorism issue, a top agency official says. "There has been an increase in the use of incendiary devices as well as explosive devices," said John Lewis, FBI deputy assistant director in charge of counterterrorism. "There's a very clear indication that there's no move to slow down or stop — in fact, just the opposite is true." The agency has about 150 open cases of arson, bombings and other violent crimes associated with militant...

Every so often, in the hushed galleries of Congress, history unfolds in a manner that casts the momentous business of Capitol Hill in stark, even humbling relief. Then there are moments spent discussing the Whizzinator. Yesterday morning in Room 2123 of the Rayburn Building, Rep. Bart Stupak, a sober-voiced Democrat from Michigan, held up an advertisement for the "drug-test subversion device," which received national attention last week when it was learned that an NFL player had been detained at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after authorities found the state-of-the-art prosthetic in his luggage (with a packet of dehydrated urine). The player...

“Expect the worst, and you’ll never be disappointed.” Some people, and especially lots of liberal media pundits, seem to live by that philosophy. As I look forward to the New Year I believe that a spirit of optimism and hope is appropriate. I personally prefer great expectations instead of cynical pessimism any day. So here are some good things I’m hoping for in 2005. On the domestic front, I believe that we are going to see the influence of real, true blue conservatives continue to increase as we work overtime to build and strengthen our base nationwide. The fact is,...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) will make air pollution a top priority in Congress early next year, starting with "an aggressive push" to build support for his pollution-cutting plan, senior administration officials said Saturday. At the same time, the administration will hold off until no later than March on a rule to cut pollution from power plants that would accomplish some of the same ends as Bush's anti-pollution plan, the officials told The Associated Press. The White House on Saturday told the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) of its game plan, which is meant to...

In a petition to the Iraqi electoral commission, an array of Sunni and Kurdish political parties and individuals on November 26 called for a six-month delay in Iraq's national elections for two reasons: "To address the current security situation and to complete the necessary administrative, technical, and systematic arrangements."The interim Iraqi government, with American support, quickly rejected this appeal and a spokesman for the Shiites insisted that the planned date of January 30, 2005, is "non-negotiable." But there are good reasons to postpone the vote until Iraq is truly ready for it, even if that is months or years away.While...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite increasing concern about terrorist threats to the United States, the FBI before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was hampered by a culture resistant to change, inadequate resources and legal barriers, the national commission investigating the attacks said on Tuesday. "From the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, FBI and Department of Justice leadership in Washington and New York became increasingly concerned about the terrorist threat from Islamic extremists to U.S. interests both at home and abroad," said the report, presented at a commission hearing. Attorney General John Ashcroft, his predecessor, Janet Reno, former FBI Director...

<p>What a shame it is that all of the "grave" concerns expressed by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle recently over what the White House knew last summer about future terrorist attacks don't extend to the important congressional role in appropriating the funds to fight the war against terrorism and protect the homeland from future murderous assaults.</p>

<p>Army officials believe they are in the cross hairs of Pentagon civilian policy-makers who want a smaller land force.</p> <p>Officers say they fear Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's cancellation of the Crusader howitzer last month is only the first round in shrinking the Army to meet 21st-century threats.</p>

Bill Summary & Status for the 106th CongressNEXT PAGE | PREVIOUS PAGE | NEW SEARCH Items 1 through 100 of 116 1. S.RES.303 : A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the treatment by the Russian Federation of Andrei Babitsky, a Russian journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.Sponsor: Sen Kennedy, Edward M.- Latest Major Action: 6/23/2000 Passed/agreed to in Senate: Resolution agreed to in Senate with an amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S5759-5760; text of measure as reported in Senate: CR S5759; text as passed Senate: CR S5760)Committees: Senate Foreign Relations 2....