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Statement of Kate Michelman on Today's Senate Judiciary Committee Vote 1/24/2006 11:32:00 AM To: National Desk, Supreme Court Reporter, Congressional Correspondent Contact: Jamie Shor, 202-628-7772 WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement of Kate Michelman, author of With Liberty and Justice for All, and former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America: "Today's vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee sets the stage for the next battle in the full Senate to protect a woman's constitutional right to choose. While not surprising, the vote illustrates the increasing ease with which politicians claim the pro-choice mantel, reap the political and...

Democrat blasts Bush before State of the Union By Donna Smith 20 minutes ago Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday urged President George W. Bush to "swagger" less and show more honesty and humility in his annual State of the Union speech to the nation next week. In a speech at a liberal think tank, Reid gave a scathing assessment of the state of the nation under Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress. "Republicans run good campaigns, but when it comes to actually governing and protecting Americans, they have a record of incompetence," Reid told an audience at the Center...

Pelosi Statement on President’s Comments on Raid on Student Aid Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to President Bush’s claim during a question and answer session following his speech at Kansas State University that student aid is not being cut: “President Bush’s comments today clearly show how out of touch he is with the needs of America’s students. In their budget, President Bush and Congressional Republicans have once again put the special interests ahead of our nation’s future by raiding student aid with a $12.7 billion cut. Increasing the cost of...

Pelosi Statement on President’s Speech on the War on Terror Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to President Bush’s speech on the war on terror at Kansas State University: “President Bush missed a critical opportunity today to explain why, more than four years after the 9/11 attacks, the American people are not as safe as they should be. “The 9/11 Commission’s final report card indicted the continued failure by the Bush Administration and the Republican Congress to meet the security needs of our nation and make Americans safer. “Security gaps at...

Dean: President Bush Fails to Explain Domestic Spying Program 1/23/2006 4:36:00 PM To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Karen Finney of Democratic National Committee, 202-863-8148 WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was Released today by the Democratic National Committee: President Bush today began a three-day public relations campaign aimed at selling his domestic spying program to the American people. Instead of answering questions about the legality of his program, President Bush offered little more than the standard, shopworn rhetoric and tired distortions we have heard since the program was revealed. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today issued...

NEW YORK - Entertainer Harry Belafonte, one of the Bush administration's harshest critics, compared the Homeland Security Department to the Nazi Gestapo on Saturday and attacked the president as a liar. "We've come to this dark time in which the new Gestapo of Homeland Security lurks here, where citizens are having their rights suspended," Belafonte said in a speech to the annual meeting of the Arts Presenters Members Conference

WASHINGTON - Democratic senators took the Bush administration to task Friday for four years of domestic spying, while the president fought back with a planned embrace of the intelligence agency that is carrying out the effort. In preparation for Senate hearings, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts noted that President Bush asserted in 2004 that "when we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so." That Bush statement came at the same time the National Security Agency was engaging — at the president's direction — in warrantless eavesdropping on Americans. "If President Bush can...

Leader Pelosi and Senate Assistant Leader Durbin to Deliver Pre- buttal Remarks to State of the Union Speech 1/20/2006 4:08:00 PM To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor Contact: Brendan Daly or Jennifer Crider, both of the Office of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, 202-226-7616; Joe Shoemaker or Nadeam Elshami, both of the Office of Senate Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin, 202-228-5643 News Advisory: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin will offer the 4th annual pre- buttal to the President's State of the Union Address at a National Press Club luncheon on Thursday, January 26. WHO:...

Al-Jazeera aired an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden on Thursday, saying al-Qaida is making preparations for attacks in the United States but offering a truce to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. The voice on the tape said heightened security measures in the United States are not the reason there have been no attacks there since the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings. Instead, the reason is "because there are operations that need preparations, and you will see them," he said. "Based on what I have said, it is better not to fight the Muslims on their land," he said. "We do...

Court nominee Samuel Alito has the confirmation vote of at least one Senate Democrat but several other Democrats said Wednesday they had lingering questions about the nominee and will vote against him. Before Senate Democrats met to discuss the nomination, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., emerged from a morning meeting with Alito and said he would vote against President Bush's Supreme Court nominee as too far outside the mainstream of judicial thinking. "He's just not right for Montana, he's just not right for America," Baucus said. "He's very polished and he answered all of the questions I was going to ask....

N.Y. lawmaker compares GOP-run House to a ‘plantation’ NEW YORK - Sen. Hillary Clinton on Monday blasted the Bush administration as “one of the worst” in U.S. history and compared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to a plantation where dissenting voices are squelched. Speaking during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, Clinton also offered an apology to a group of Hurricane Katrina survivors “on behalf of a government that left you behind, that turned its back on you.” Her remarks were met with thunderous applause by a mostly black audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem....

BRADY CENTER ANNOUNCES OPPOSITION TO NOMINATION OF JUDGE SAMUEL ALITO TO US SUPREME COURT Alito’s Judicial Activism In Machine Gun Case Prompts Brady Center’s First-Ever Opposition to Supreme Court Nominee For Immediate Release: 12-20-2005 Contact Communications: (202) 289-7319 Washington DC - The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence announced today that it is opposing the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is the first time the Brady Center has opposed a Supreme Court nomination. Judge Alito’s nomination poses serious dangers to the safety of our communities, our families, and our children, as evidenced by his...

After long and careful deliberation, the National Executive Board of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) unanimously voted to oppose the nomination. The Executive Board felt that contrary to President George W. Bush's statements that Alito would be a fair and impartial judge on the Supreme Court, the judge's well-documented track-record during his tenure under both the Reagan and Bush administrations, when he was Assistant to the Solicitor General from 1981-1985, Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General from 1985-1987, and U.S. Attorney for New Jersey from 1987-1990, as well as during his tenure as a Judge on the Third...

NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it will oppose the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the United States Supreme Court. "At a time when our president has claimed unprecedented authority to spy on Americans and jail terrorism suspects indefinitely, America needs a Supreme Court justice who will uphold our precious civil liberties," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Unfortunately, Judge Alito's record shows a willingness to support government actions that abridge individual freedoms." Throughout his career, Judge Alito has promoted an expansive view of executive...

Comparing Bush to Hitler; Lessons for Today “People look at all of this and think of Hitler, and they are right to do so. The Bush regime is setting out to radically remake the world, in a fascist way, and for generations to come.” From the Call for The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime “The Bush Administration is the most dangerous force that has ever existed. It is more dangerous than Nazi Germany because of the range and depth of its activities and its intentions worldwide. I give my full support to the Call to Drive...

The American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" on Sunday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Belafonte led a delegation of Americans including the actor Danny Glover and the Princeton University scholar Cornel West that met the Venezuelan president for more than six hours late Saturday and attended his television and radio broadcast on Sunday.

It's been widely acknowledged that President Bush had a bad year in 2005. One of the problems America faces as a result is the White House's willingness to make decisions based on what benefits the administration politically rather than what's right for America.The nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is just one example of this. The president hopes to make up ground with his right-wing base instead of appointing someone who will have the confidence of a wide range of Americans. Over the past few months, as we've learned more about...

Is This The Democracy We Are Fighting For? ...Barbra Streisand Posted on January 3, 2006 Why are we really fighting this war? First it was the search for WMDs. None were found. Then it was hunting for the terrorists and "smoking them out." Weve only created a breeding ground for more terrorists. Finally, President Bush insisted the mission in Iraq was worth it in order to bring democracy to the country and unseat Saddam Hussein, a very bad guy, but one who was contained economically, politically and militarily. Remember, he was our ally in the fight against Iran. And there...

Michael Moore’s site, the moonbat “peace mom” dispenses her special brand of wisdom, with the headache-inducing title: The Opposite of Good is Apathy. (Hat tip: Decision ‘08.) “I would say 30,000 more or less have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis,” said George on December 12, 2005. Even if one accepts this very low guess-ti-mate by George, his policies have been responsible for ten times the 3000 deaths on September 11, 2001. By his own admission, he is ten times the terrorist that Osama ever was. If George says 30,000 ... who...

In the first day of weeklong confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told Judge Samuel Alito to expect tough questioning, saying the record of the U.S. Supreme Court nominee "troubles me deeply." Eighteen committee members gave their opening statements, followed by a statement by Alito. Questioning will begin tomorrow. Kennedy pointed to controversy over President Bush's decision to order the National Security Agency to wiretap conversations between terrorists overseas and citizens in the U.S. "In an era when the White House is abusing power, is excusing and authorizing torture, and is spying on American citizens,...