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WASHINGTON - In his first State of the Union address to a Democratic-controlled Congress, President Bush is calling for Americans to slash gasoline consumption by up to 20 percent by 2017. Bush envisions the goal being achieved primarily through a sharp escalation in the amount of ethanol and other alternative fuels that the federal government mandates must be produced. The rest of the fuel use reduction is to come from raising fuel economy standards for passenger cars, Joel Kaplan, White House deputy chief of staff, told reporters in a briefing before Bush's Tuesday night speech to a joint session of...

George W. Bush is still the President of the United States, but these days, he hasn't been acting like it. That once-reassuring confidence is gone. Left behind is what those of us who didn't support the President in the 2000 primaries feared most: an uneasy and uncertain presence in the White House. His approval numbers are at an all-time low. Some have vainly tried to rally conservatives to stand behind the White House, but to no avail. These days, the White House is on defense, constantly. The message is muddled and confused, and the boss is a shadow of his...

America must do more to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and combat global warming, President George W Bush will say in the State of the Union address early tomorrow. Though he will stop short of calling for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, his speech is a watershed for an administration that has been sceptical about climate change. The annual speech assumes greater importance than some of Mr Bush's previous addresses since he has few remaining opportunities to set the national agenda before he becomes a lame duck president. Though he will not leave office until January 2009, next...

"It's not going to be a typical State of the Union address in the sense of going at great length through all the budget items," said spokesman Tony Snow. In fact, there is much at stake, some experts say. Snow said Bush will talk about "major issues, including the war on terror, energy, health care, immigration and education." Gone, apparently, will be detailed pleas for priorities — such as Social Security reform — that were DOA even when Bush's party ran Congress. A White House aide familiar with the speech but not authorized to speak about it publicly said the...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will propose a tax deduction of $7,500 for individuals and $15,000 for families regardless of whether they buy their own health insurance or receive medical coverage at work. The proposal, to be announced Tuesday in his State of the Union address, is aimed at giving the uninsured an incentive to purchase a medical plan. It also is designed to encourage those with generous plans to either embrace cheaper insurance or pay taxes on the part that exceeds the deduction, a Bush administration official familiar with the proposals said Saturday. If passed by Congress, the proposal...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 20 American service members were killed in military operations Saturday in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years, including 13 who died in a helicopter crash and five slain in an attack by militia fighters in the holy city of Karbala, military officials said. Saturday's toll was the third-highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities also announced two American combat deaths from Friday. The heavy toll...

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A former militia man convicted of tax evasion prepared for a government siege Friday at his fortress-like home, but U.S. marshals gave no indication they were planning to confront him. Ed Brown said he was ready for a swarm of federal agents to descend on his property to execute an arrest warrant issued after he failed to appear for the end of his trial. He and his wife contend that they did not have to pay income taxes, and his supporters say a conflict could be violent. "If Mexico came up on my land and tried...

(AP) WASHINGTON -- President Bush's State of the Union address on Tuesday gives him a second chance to defend his new Iraq strategy to a nation soured on the war and a Congress poised to vote against the plan. It will be the president's last major opportunity to shape America's legislative agenda before the fast-moving 2008 presidential campaign begins to drown out his message. Bush is expected to strike a conciliatory tone on some domestic issues where he believes he can work with the first Democratic Congress in 12 years. On Iraq, he is expected to stand firm. The nationally...

WASHINGTON — Over a smattering of opposition, U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida was elected today to be general chairman of the Republican Party. Martinez, 60, a native of Cuba, is the first Hispanic to hold the largely honorary position that has not existed in recent years. Mike Duncan of Kentucky was chosen to be the Republican National Committee's chairman and will be in charge of the party's day-to-day operations. In accepting the position, Martinez said: "I am truly humbled by the opportunity that you give me and the responsibility that you place upon me." A handful of delegates objected...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INVASION USA Congressmen appeal to Justice for border agents As prison sentences loom, Republican lawmakers petition attorney general -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: January 10, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez As two border patrol agents face the commencement of prison terms for shooting and wounding a man smuggling drugs into the U.S, five congressman are calling on Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to intervene. The lawmakers have asked President Bush to pardon Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, who were sentenced to 12 years and 11 years, respectively, in October. But the sentences are scheduled to begin...

Bush's way forward may be sensible. But his face showed fear—and that's no way to rally a war-weary nation. George W. Bush spoke with all the confidence of a perp in a police lineup. I first interviewed the guy in 1987 and began covering his political rise in 1993, and I have never seen him, in public or private, look less convincing, less sure of himself, less cocky. With his knitted brow and stricken features, he looked, well, scared. Not surprising since what he was doing in the White House library was announcing the escalation of an unpopular war. The...

So American troops are surging in Iraq, and withdrawing along our own border. What's wrong with this picture? Nothing, say the journalistic and political elites. Yet, before anything else, what we need is a surge of troops on the U.S.-Mexican border, which is a lot closer to home than Baghdad. On Jan. 6 The Arizona Republic reported that a small team of National Guard troops "abandoned their post near the border southwest of Tucson as four gunmen approached from Mexico."

TUCSON, Ariz. — National Guard troops at an observation post near the Mexico border were forced to flee a group of armed people, who later ran into Mexico, authorities said. The troops, who are not allowed to apprehend illegal border crossers, withdrew safely and no one was injured, said National Guard Sgt. Edward Balaban. U.S. Border Patrol officials are investigating the 11 p.m. Wednesday incident and trying to determine who the armed people were and why they approached the post near Sasabe, in the desert corridor between Nogales and Lukeville. Balaban said the troops didn't know how many people were...

Bush asserted this authority when he signed a postal overhaul bill into law Dec. 20. He then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions. That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, experts said. Bush's move came during the winter congressional recess and a year after his secret domestic electronic eavesdropping program was first revealed. It caught Capitol Hill by surprise. "Despite the president's statement that he may be able to circumvent a basic privacy protection, the new postal law continues to prohibit the government...

President Bush is willing to raise taxes. That reality was a big surprise to me 16 years ago, in 1990, when I was working in the White House. It's less of a surprise to me in 2006, when I am on the outside - because, after a while, you learn to identify the warning signs. In both cases, both Bushes have been willing to talk about "process" and "common ground." Here's the "on the table" language, right on the front page of yesterday's Washington Post: "Signaling a new flexibility on issues in the wake of the Democrats' wins, Bush said...

Sen. Arlen Specter, a 26-year Senate Republican, said he will visit Syria despite loud objections by the Bush administration, contending the situation in Iraq is so dire that it is time Congress step up to the plate and see what it can do. Specter, R-Pa., said in an interview late Friday that he is planning a trip to the Middle East that will include Israel and Syria. The senator said he and other Republicans are concerned that the administration's policies in the Middle East are not working and that other GOP members may follow in his footsteps. "I've talked to...

First, a quick note to those around the country who read this column each week. I'm still receiving e-mails and letters commenting on my recent column about political agendas creeping into private schools. I greatly appreciate the response. As I focus on one topic and then another from week to week, I find myself accused now of being a right-wing fanatic, and then a liberal softy who doesn't like Christians. Another frequent criticism is that I focus too much on happenings in Florida. Before this week's short and pointed message, let me address some of these criticisms. And forgive me,...

JOHN Bolton's resignation as the American ambassador to the United Nations makes it official: The Bush administration is now drifting idly toward a mixture of centrism and impotence. In less than a month, two of President Bush's stronger and more independent aides - Donald Rumsfeld and Bolton - have been dispatched. Rumsfeld's designated successor, former CIA head Robert Gates, is a leading member of the Beltway's permanent bureaucracy. The administration seems to be waiting for the Baker-Hamilton commission of old Washington hands to dictate U.S. policy on Iraq. Leaks from the commission suggest it will recommend a gradual U.S. withdrawal...

Congress will approve an immigration bill that will grant citizenship rights to most of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. after Democrats take control next month, predict both sides on Capitol Hill. While Republicans have been largely splintered on the issue of immigration reform, Democrats have been fairly unified behind the principle that the illegals currently in the country should get citizenship rights without having to first leave the country.