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When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for governor in 2003, he promised to veto any bill that had not gone through the policy committees of the Senate and Assembly. This pledge, he said, was aimed at ending the practice of gut-and-amend bills – bills rewritten in the wee hours of the Legislature to avoid public scrutiny. "Bills are passed in a rush, in the middle of the night," Schwarzenegger said at the time. "There is no such thing as democracy in the dark." Schwarzenegger swept into office in 2003 because of such promises. Ever since, he has selectively gutted and amended...

WASHINGTON, July 10, 2007 – The Army fell short of its active-duty recruiting goal for June, but officials noted today that the Army is still ahead of its year-to-date goal and is expected to make its year-end goal. June marked the second month in a row that the Army missed its active-duty recruiting goal, according to statistics released today by the Defense Department. The active Army, with 7,031 accessions, came up almost 1,400 recruits below its 8,400-person goal. However, officials noted that it remains 741 recruits ahead of its year-to-date goal. The other three services met or exceeded their...

ADF President Alan Sears commends President Bush for promise to veto “hate crimes” legislation White House states that legislation is unnecessary and constitutionally questionable Thursday, May 03, 2007, 10:16 AM (MST) | ADF Media Relations | 480-444-0020 Comments SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Alliance Defense Fund President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears commended President Bush Thursday for his promise to veto H.R. 1592, the federal “hate” crimes legislation, if it reaches his desk. “All violent crimes are ‘hate’ crimes, and all crime victims deserve equal justice under the law,” said Sears. “The president rightly recognized that this bill was not only...

Obama lashes Bush for 'breaking his promises' to New Orleans By Alex Massie in Washington Last Updated: 2:01am GMT 30/01/2007 Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential hopeful, used a visit to New Orleans yesterday to contrast President George W Bush's stubborn determination to persevere in Iraq, and his apparent unwillingness to do the same in the rebuilding of the hurricane-hit city. During a special hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee in the city, Mr Obama said the President had broken his promises to the people of Louisiana by failing to do more to rebuild the city after it was hit...

FWD: From my friend Stan    Subject:  A New Direction?   Think about this, the Democrats now promise "A New Direction for America."   The stock market is at a new all-time high and America's 401K's are back. A new direction from there means, what?   Unemployment is at 25 year lows. A new direction from there means, what?   Taxes are at 20 year lows. A new direction from there means, what?   Federal tax revenues are at all-time highs.  A new direction from there means, what?   The Federal deficit is down almost 50%, just as predicted, over...

BERKELEY Leaders of California's public universities, roiled by reports that some top officials were quietly paid millions, are pledging to be more open about executive pay. At the California State University trustees' meeting in Long Beach on Tuesday, Chancellor Charles Reed endorsed a proposal to make sure the system's board members and the public knows about compensation deals given to departing executives. Meanwhile, officials at the University of California said they would be more public about setting salaries for the top ranks. "UC has an obligation to be open and accessible to the public, and the university is committed to...

'Green' Lib Dems promise they will penalise wealth By George Jones and Brendan Carlin (Filed: 20/09/2006) The Liberal Democrats took a decisive shift to the Left yesterday by enthusiastically adopting a tax package which could leave two million people £2,500 a year worse off. Although the party leadership claimed it would hit only the "top 10 per cent" – and millions of lower-income people would pay less tax – the measures will begin to bite on a family with an income over £54,000 a year. As Charles Kennedy received a warm reception on his return to the political front line...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2006 -- At the exact site of the most painful event in the Pentagon’s history -- the Sept. 11, 2001, attack that claimed 184 lives here -- a couple brought together through the tragedy recently became the first to exchange wedding vows in the Pentagon Memorial Chapel. Army Lt. Col. Nora Faust and Heinz Linderman exchange wedding vows in the Pentagon Memorial Chapel Aug. 3 as retired Army Chaplain Bruce Burslie officiates. Courtesy photo   '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “It’s like the phoenix rising from the ashes,” said Army Lt. Col. Nora Faust after...

Some miracles are harder than others to come by. On Wednesday, it looked like the Marines, a congressman and the Blue Star Mothers had moved enough medical mountains to keep a fallen Modesto Marine's promise to save a dying Iraqi girl.

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2006 – The top U.S. general in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador to Iraq issued a statement today expressing "heartfelt condolences" to the families of four Iraqi civilians killed March 12 in Iraq. "We understand this is painful, confusing and disturbing, not only to the family who lost a loved one, but to the Iraqi people as a whole," Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq, and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, said in their joint statement. "The loss of a family member can never be undone." The statement was issued in response to the...

td> U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. John Trotta enters a Humvee during a combat mission near Camp Blessing in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province. Trotta, from Orange Park, Fla., is company gunnery sergeant of Headquarters and Service Company of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. Courtesy photo U.S. Marine CorpsGunnery Sgt. John Trotta Marine Keeps Promise, Enlists to Fight for Country By Marine Sgt. Joe LindsayTask Force Lava Public Affairs JALALABAD, Afghanistan, April 21, 2006 — “I always told myself that if my country ever went to war, I would join the military and fight for her,” said Gunnery Sgt. John Trotta. He...

It was April Fool's Day this news item was reported – so I waited for confirmation that indeed this event actually happened. In London, former President Bill Clinton told the BBC that he would shake hands with Hamas if the Arab terrorist group provided the same assurances on rejecting terror as the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Asked if he would negotiate with the hard-line terrorists who have won elections in the Palestinian Authority, Clinton responded: "If they made the same assurances that Arafat did. He had made private assurances, and he made public assurances, that he did not support...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Legislative leaders returned to work Wednesday promising cooperation with each other and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger despite last year's special election battles and a general election just 11 months away. Saying they understand voters' growing discontent with Sacramento, lawmakers said they will set aside politics in favor of making progress on a number of issues. "The voters clearly said they want us to solve California's problems," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. "They don't want bickering, and they certainly don't want to be given the responsibility of solving the problems they sent us to do." The...

SIERRA VISTA — Those who serve in today’s America’s armed forces will be treated with respect, veterans of a couple of other wars said Friday. Miguel Arvizo, a veteran of the Korean conflict often called the Forgotten War, and Chuck Bianco, who served in Vietnam, a conflict that raised the American people’s level of hate for the military, promised those serving in harm’s way today in Iraq and Afghanistan will neither be forgotten nor dismissed as killers. Both former soldiers, who were wounded during their time in combat, spoke about the need for the nation to appreciate those who are...

What are you driven by? The last time I was sick, it was a Saturday and I flipped on the TV for an extraordinary long time. The whole day was exercise equipment, how to become real-estate rich with no money down, and Suze Orman gave me her steps to financial security. /cut/ The average person on the street will tell you that the role of churches and other religious institutions is to provide moral instruction—practical suggestions for successful living for the spirit, just as Suze Orman and Jake are there to help us out with our banking and bodies. /cut/...

Mark Twain said it best when he commented: "There are lies, damn lies and ballot initiatives." --snip-- One of these deceptions involves Proposition 71, the measure that created California's $3 billion stem cell research agency in 2004. In marketing this initiative, proponents said the state would receive not only miracle cures and reduced medical costs, but also up to $1.1 billion in royalties from new stem cell innovations. Now we are learning that this promise, at best, was misleading. At worst, it was a cynical ruse. As was entirely predictable, biotech leaders and many university leaders - key supporters of...

In a report released Friday, the investigative arm of Congress found that fully electronic voting machines hold promise for U.S. elections but still have security and reliability problems. E-voting failures in elections have been a problem in California, and the state's experiences are mentioned several times in the latest report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Analysts for the GAO found that crucial vote-recording and tallying files could be altered, that voting software often had weak or nonexistent password protections and that manufacturers had installed unapproved software in several places, including California. Yet fixing those problems could be years away....

Trade: CAFTA is often seen as a battle of big manufacturing corporations. But in reality it will benefit businesses across the board. Just ask Central American immigrants around Los Angeles, who say it's critical. We've been intrigued by the imminent passage of CAFTA, which sadly has been given short shrift by the media. So we did something different. We talked with some of the people and businesses most affected by CAFTA — those in Los Angeles' thriving Central American immigrant community. We found their comments enlightening. Take, for instance, Transportes Guzman in Los Angeles' Pico-Union district. There, boxes pile nearly...

Budget: Last week, the Governor introduced his budget proposal for the fiscal year July 1, 2005 through June 30, 2006. Predictably, Democrats assailed it as being harsh and draconian and laden with too many cuts. But let’s look at the facts. The Governor’s proposed budget increases spending in the General Fund by 4.2%. That is a greater spending increase than was contained in any of the last 3 budgets, the last 2 of which were Gray Davis budgets. It also is an increase about in line with the inflation and population growth for the year. He has increased education spending...

VIENNA, Nov 17 - Iran obtained weapons-grade uranium and a nuclear bomb design from a Pakistani scientist who has admitted to selling nuclear secrets abroad, an exiled Iranian opposition group said on Wednesday. The group, which has given accurate information before, also said Iran is secretly enriching uranium at a military site previously unknown to the United Nations, despite promising France, Britain and Germany that it would halt all such work. "(Abdul Qadeer) Khan gave Iran a quantity of HEU (highly enriched uranium) in 2001, so they already have some," Farid Soleiman, a senior spokesman for the National Council of...