Free Republic

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An appeals court that failed to knock an energy regulation measure off California's Nov. 8 ballot considered Friday whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting initiative should go to voters. "This is not an easy case," Presiding Justice Arthur Scotland said as the court heard arguments on an attempt to overturn a Sacramento judge's order that removed the redistricting proposal from the ballot. "I have spent a lot of time on this," Scotland added. "It's not an easy call. If it's not an easy call why should the courts do a rush to judgment and risk making the wrong...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, hoping to revive his image as a bipartisan problem-solver, might try to capitalize on this week's budget deal by working out a series of compromises to avert an ugly and expensive election battle. But coming to terms with Democratic legislators on several of Schwarzenegger's proposals will be complicated. And interests on both sides, in the end, might prefer a November war. "I wouldn't go to Vegas and bet on (a deal),'' noted Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata on Friday. Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the state's $90.1 billion general fund budget early next week....

America considers dropping its two-war doctrine By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 06/07/2005) The Pentagon, stretched by the war in Iraq, is considering dropping a linchpin of American military strategy, the doctrine that requires it to be prepared to fight two major wars at the same time. Since the end of the Cold War the need to be able to fight two "near-simultaneous" wars in different theatres has dominated military thinking, with Iraq and North Korea seen as the most likely battlefields. US carrier George Washington was central to the two-war doctrine, but may now face the axe Now, with...

Vice PM Shimon Peres said today that the disengagement should be pushed forward rather than postponed due to its coincidence with a period commemorating past Jewish tragedies. “We knew it fell out on that date from the very beginning,” Peres said, referring to the recently publicized fact that the forced expulsion of Jews from Gaza and the northern Shomron will take place during the three weeks leading up to the 9th of Av [Tisha B’Av]. That time period commemorates the destruction of the Holy Temple and a myriad of other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people. A special ministerial...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Driving a super-sized sport utility vehicle on Maryland roads would cost $750 more a year under a measure being considered by state lawmakers. Delegate Bill Bronrott is promoting the registration renewal surcharge for owners of SUVs that weigh more than 6,000 pounds. "This bill is ... about the largest, heaviest passenger vehicles that are the least fuel efficient and the most toxic to our air, land and water," the Democrat told a House committee hearing Tuesday. SUVs covered by the legislation include the Hummer H2, Cadillac Escalade ESV, Lincoln Navigator and the GMC Yukon XL. "They...

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - Shaken by a corpse-selling scandal, University of California officials are considering tracking cadavers by barcode or radio frequency devices. The high-tech fix is one of a number of reforms UC is proposing in an effort to assure people that bodies donated to science will be used wisely. It's an important safeguard for a vital, but little-regulated area of modern medicine, experts say. "There's more regulations that cover a shipment of oranges coming into California than there is a shipment of human knees that are going from a body parts broker in one state to Las Vegas,"...

House GOP Considers Discipline Changes 11 minutes ago By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - House Republicans on Monday considered ways to make it harder to discipline members of Congress, prompted by a rebuke of Majority Leader Tom DeLay that infuriated some GOP colleagues. Preparing for a meeting to consider rules changes, some Republicans were ready to push for a new standard of conduct — a move that would base any future rebukes on more specific information than is required now. The change would continue a partisan feud over the House's method of disciplining lawmakers. Democrats opposed the change...

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Along a stretch of a state highway leading to Yosemite National Park, a band of conservationists has been buying up vacant land. The group has cobbled together about 400 acres in a desirable meadow off Highway 120. But the scrappy Tuolumne County Land Trust is no match for a proposed golf-course community that would rise next to its land onto a spur of Table Mountain, a 500-foot lava formation fabled by Western author Bret Harte. "A little land trust like ours - nobody even listens to us," said Marlee Powell, who also is Sonora's mayor. The only way to compete...

SACRAMENTO - Help wanted: Republican candidate sought to challenge liberal Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. Qualified candidates will be experienced office holders, preferably at the congressional level, politically moderate, with extensive political and fund-raising contacts. Excellent communication skills required; national television exposure preferred; close relationships with President Bush and Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger a plus. Anyone fit that description, besides San Dimas Rep. David Dreier? The question of Dreier's interest in higher office has emerged every two to four years since he was elected to the House in 1980. In 2003, his standing within the Republican-controlled Congress and his telegenic presence...

<p>Shanghai -- Zhang Like, a nursing student at Shanghai's Medical University No. 2, loves going to the movies, sometimes three times a week. But most Chinese films are too staid for her -- and it's especially frustrating that some of the "most interesting parts" of Hollywood blockbusters get chopped out, while other Western films don't make it here at all.</p>

U.S. Considers Revising Its Role in Iraq Friday August 8, 2003 1:09 AM By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - With American troops under constant fire in Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Thursday the U.S.-led military coalition may want to ``stand back a little'' and rely more on local forces to maintain security in the country. ``Iraqis have started to create security forces that will protect installations, so that you don't need a coalition military organization protecting that installation,'' Powell said. ``We have to be nimble, flexible, call audibles as the situation changes,'' he said at...

Judge considers motion to dismiss lawsuit against Cheney, Halliburton [actual headline] DALLAS - Halliburton Co. asked a federal judge Tuesday to throw out a lawsuit charging that the company and Vice President Dick Cheney, its former chief executive, misled investors by changing the way it counted revenue from construction projects. A lawyer for Judicial Watch, a public interest group that filed the lawsuit on behalf of three small investors, said the company tried to polish its financial reports beginning in 1998 by booking revenue on cost overruns before it was certain of getting paid. Halliburton shares dropped sharply when the...