Using President Bush - but Carefully

In an article today in the NY Times, more coverage was given to McCain's use of President Bush for the purposes of campaigning. Many in the GOP want to walk a very fine line - using Bush to reach the far right, but limiting his position on the campaign trail so as to not hurt McCain with the general public that do not favor Bush.

McCain and Bush try not to appear together too often...

The last time the two met — 83 days ago — President Bush promised that he would do whatever Senator John McCain asked him to do to help elect him the 44th president.

“You know, if he wants me to show up, I will,” Mr. Bush said in the Rose Garden. “If he wants me to say, ‘You know, I’m not for him,’ I will.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Bush’s role became much clearer when he held his first event for Mr. McCain. He will show up to raise money (thank you very much), and he will say and do as little as possible, at least in public view.

A large, and presumably public, fund-raiser at the Convention Center here was hastily rescheduled for the seclusion of a private home on Tuesday evening in Scottsdale. Mr. McCain’s main public appearance of the day was a foreign policy speech in Denver, not the visit by the president to his home state.

Mr. McCain used the speech, like others in recent weeks, to draw differences between his policies and Mr. Bush’s, even as Democrats redoubled their efforts to lash them together into an inextricable McBush ’08.

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Democrats Miss Marks to Finance Convention

The Democratic Party is struggling to raise money for its convention in Denver on Aug. 25-28, with fund-raising by the host committee falling far short of the party’s goals and lagging behind the Republicans’ efforts for their convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

So far, the Denver host committee is about $15 million short of the $40.6 million it must raise by June 16. With only $25 million raised so far, the committee is scrambling to offer a new round of special deals for corporate underwriters, as well as to devise a backup plan should the fund-raising fall short and plans for the convention need to be scaled down.

“We will raise the money,” Chris Lopez, a spokesman for the host committee, said. “We are working every day to get it done. We are in a situation where we have to get it done and we will. We can’t make any excuses.”

There are many reasons that have been floated for the money woes faced by the Denver committee. It is not uncommon for host committees to lag in fund-raising, only to see large donations arrive in the month before the convention. And some are concerned that the protracted nominating fight between Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has made fund-raising more difficult.

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Obama’s Staff Corrects WWII Story

The family tree of Senator Barack Obama has been the subject of much discussion – and inspection – since he arrived on the national political stage four years ago.
In response to a question at a Memorial Day appearance in New Mexico, Mr. Obama said an uncle helped liberate the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz during World War II. The problem? That story didn’t track with history, considering Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet forces.
So on Tuesday, the campaign acknowledged the senator made a mistake and mentioned the wrong camp. It actually was Buchenwald, according to spokesman Bill Burton.

“Senator Obama’s family is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II – especially the fact that his great uncle was a part of liberating one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald,” Mr. Burton said in a statement. “Yesterday he mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically.”
The correct story is that Mr. Obama’s great uncle, Charlie Payne – his grandmother’s brother – actually helped liberate Ohrdruf, a sub-camp of Buchenwald. Mr. Payne was a member of the 89th Infantry Division.
The Republican National Committee, which carefully tracks Mr. Obama’s statements, first distributed a copy of a story that questioned the Memorial Day claim.

Clinton’s Grand Design

The campaigns have become fond of those teaser e-mail messages. They make you think they’re making some big announcement (like, say, suspending their campaigns), but then it’s just some silly pitch.
So we knew something was afoot when we received a note from Chelsea Clinton with the subject “An important decision…”
Inside: “We need your help to make a critical decision — our next official campaign T-shirt.”

That’s right, with less than a week left in the primary campaign, the Clinton campaign is still working the silk screen. Supporters can vote among the finalists in a design contest the campaign held earlier this month.
The choices range from the snarky – “She was for universal health care before universal health care was cool” – to the earnest: “For everyone who’s been counted out but refused to be knocked out and for everyone who works hard and never gives up, this one is for you!” (Proper comma inclusion evidently was not a chief concern of the judges.)
The winning shirt will go on sale at the campaign’s online store.

I guess it's not over after all - at least - not to Hillary!

Want one? Click here to go to Hillary's store!

Senate Republicans block plan to improve medical care in California prisons

In a LA Times article this morning, it was announced that the GOP is blocking medical plan improvements for prisoners.

In an ominous sign for efforts to end federal oversight of state prisons, state Senate Republicans on Tuesday rejected a $7-billion proposal to build medical facilities intended to improve unconstitutionally poor healthcare for inmates.

The plan was created by a federal receiver and backed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who appointed the receiver, wrote a letter last week urging lawmakers to approve it.

But Senate Republicans balked at the bill's high price tag and objected that it had not been coordinated with other plans that could dramatically affect state prisons, such as a proposal for settling a federal court case on overcrowding by reducing the inmate population by tens of thousands.

In two days, some of the same Republican legislators, the Schwarzenegger administration, inmates' lawyers and other parties to the overcrowding case are scheduled to report in federal court whether they agree to the settlement, which would divert some convicted criminals and parole violators into local treatment programs, county jails and alternative forms of incarceration.

Advocates for inmates in the case assert that overcrowding is the main cause of substandard healthcare in California prisons. Republican lawmakers and some local officials have expressed reservations about the proposed deal. A panel of three federal judges is poised to hold a trial that could result in a mass release of prisoners if the settlement talks fail.

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Fla., Mich. can't be fully restored !!!

A Democratic Party rules committee has the authority to seat some delegates from Michigan and Florida but not fully restore the two states as Hillary Rodham Clinton wants, according to party lawyers.

Democratic National Committee rules require that the two states lose at least half of their convention delegates for holding elections too early, the party's legal experts wrote in a 38-page memo.

The memo was sent late Tuesday to the 30 members of the party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, which plans to meet Saturday at a Washington hotel. The committee is considering ways to include the two important general election battlegrounds at the nominating convention in August, and the staff analysis says seating half the delegates is "as far as it legally can" go.

Saturday's meeting is expected to draw a large crowd, with Clinton supporters among those encouraging a protest outside demanding that all the states' delegates be seated. Proponents of full reseating have mailed committee members Florida oranges and pairs of shoes to get their attention.

DNC officials are concerned about a potentially large turnout at the "Count Every Vote" rally outside the event and have asked the hotel staff to increase security to keep everyone safe. The DNC says the roughly 500 seats available to the public inside were taken within three or four minutes of becoming available online Tuesday.

Obama competitive against McCain

Barack Obama has done poorly in the Democratic primaries with women, Catholics and others who will be pivotal in this fall's presidential election. Yet early polling shows that with several of these groups, he's competitive when matched against Republican John McCain.

A look at voters who have been closely contested in recent presidential elections — or veered from one party to the other, making them true swing groups — shows a significant number have leaned toward Obama's rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the primaries. Besides women and Catholics, these include the elderly, the less educated and suburbanites, leading Clinton to argue that this makes her the Democrats' stronger candidate for the fall campaign.

Yet Obama's performance with these voters in the primaries doesn't necessarily mean he'd do poorly with them in the general election, assuming he nails down the last few convention delegates he needs to win the nomination.

Polls this month show the Illinois senator leading McCain among women, running even with him among Catholics and suburbanites and trailing him with people over age 65. Results vary by poll for those without college degrees. And though Obama trails decisively with a group that has shunned him against Clinton — whites who have not completed college — he's doing about the same with them as the past two Democratic presidential candidates.

Obama is doing well against McCain with groups he has dominated in the primaries. Polls show him ahead of the Arizona senator with young people and college graduates, though the results vary from poll to poll among independents.

McCain campaigns with Bush

John McCain's complex relationship with President Bush can be summed up with a simple saying: can't live with him, can't live without him.

The president's own popularity is bottom-of-the-barrel low. Even allies privately fret that he's an albatross for the Republican looking to succeed him. Voters are crying out for change amid a prolonged Iraq war and a weakened economy.

But Bush also is beloved among GOP loyalists. He's a proven campaigner who can raise serious money. Those are huge assets as Arizona Sen. McCain works to rally the Republican base and fill his coffers while facing the Democrats' unrivaled enthusiasm and record-breaking fundraising.

The president and his would-be successor were appearing together Tuesday for the first time in nearly three months at an event that epitomized both elements of their tricky alliance — they were holding a fundraiser with GOP faithful at a private home, without the media to document it.

By the McCain campaign's own planning, the only time Bush and McCain would be captured on camera would be after the event — and too late to make most evening newscasts — on the Phoenix airport tarmac in the shadow of Air Force One, just before the president departs. McCain's fundraisers typically are closed to the press; the White House deferred to the campaign. No statements were expected.

They're so happy together!!!

Business to McCain

Washington lobbyists aren’t the only ones trying to figure out their relationship with John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Some members of the business community are just as mystified about their role, if any, in the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign.

It’s a disorienting state for people who were recruited — or herded — into campaign assignments by an über-organized Bush-Cheney team during the past two presidential campaigns.

Some are explaining their quandary this way: The Bush campaigns, they say, were like cruise ships, with lots of space for everyone and crews eager to find jobs for all comers. Together, they sailed through the often rough waters to the White House — and reelection.

The McCain campaign seems more like a pirate ship. It has a small, feisty and loyal crew that’s uninviting to outsiders. It careens around the campaign seas, sometimes attacking, more often skirting disasters. It’s happy for others to come along for the journey; they just have to bring their own pirate ships.

It’s a metaphor that has been circulating throughout Washington in recent weeks. I heard this account from three different people in three different conversations last week. They all ended with the same bemused shrug.

Today's wars compared to World War II

President Bush, linking the wars of his tenure to the deadliest one in history, is asking the country to commit anew to postwar rebuilding.

In an address for Wednesday to more than 1,000 graduates of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Bush frames their futures by drawing back to the World War II generation. He links the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to postwar Germany and Japan six decades ago.

"America has assumed this obligation before," Bush said in prepared remarks released by the White House. "After World War II we helped Germany and Japan build free societies and strong economies. These efforts took time and patience, and as a result Germany and Japan grew in freedom and prosperity and are now allies of the United States."

The result, Bush says, was "generations of security and peace" in the United States.

"Today we must do the same in Afghanistan and Iraq," he says in the prepared comments. "And by helping these young democracies grow in freedom and prosperity we will once again reap the benefits in generations of security and peace."

Today's wars aren't over yet. As reconstruction unfolds, the enemy keeps fighting — not national militaries but a complex mix of militias and terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another difference: It remains in debate within the country whether the pre-emptive Iraq war has bolstered U.S. security or weakened it. Bush has expressed no doubts it was warranted.

At least 4,085 U.S. military members have died in the Iraq war. More than 430 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

The U.S. death toll in World War II was roughly 406,000. Overall, tens of millions of people died. The conflict transformed the globe; chief U.S. enemies of that day, Germany and Japan, re-emerged as major allies.

Bush's speech was expected to compare air power and warfare techniques of World War II and today. He also was to talk about the differences in the enemies that U.S. forces face.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Bush would zero in on one constant — "that freedom has the power to overcome tyranny and transform societies." That theme has underpinned Bush's foreign policy and was the calling of his second inaugural address.

The president is on a three-day trip through five states. The purpose is mainly to raise money for Republicans, something Bush remains strong at even as his influence wanes.

After the commencement, Bush was heading to Utah for two closed events to raise money for John McCain, the Arizona senator and presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and other GOP candidates. Bush held a similar event on Tuesday in Arizona, raising an estimated $3 million.

McCain - Obama Today

John McCain sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for not having been to Iraq since 2006, and said they should visit the war zone together.

"Look at what happened in the last two years since Senator Obama visited and declared the war lost," the GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting told The Associated Press in an interview Monday, noting that the Illinois senator's last trip to Iraq came before the military buildup that is credited with curbing violence.

"He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq and he has wanted to surrender for a long time," the Arizona senator added. "If there was any other issue before the American people, and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly."

McCain, a Navy veteran and Vietnam prisoner of war, frequently argues that he's the most qualified candidate to be a wartime commander in chief. In recent weeks, he has sought portray Obama, a first-term senator, as naive on foreign policy and not experienced enough to lead the military.

Tribute to troops on Memorial Day

President Bush paid tribute Monday to America's fighting men and women who died in battle, saying national leaders must have "the courage and character to follow their lead" in preserving peace and freedom.

"On this Memorial Day, I stand before you as the commander in chief and try to tell you how proud I am," Bush told an audience of military figures, veterans and their families at Arlington National Cemetery. Of the men and women buried in the hallowed cemetery, he said, "They're an awesome bunch of people and the United States is blessed to have such citizens."

That provoked a standing ovation from the crowd in a marble amphitheater where Bush spoke. "Whoo-hoo!" shouted one woman, who couldn't contain her enthusiasm.

Bush and his wife, Laura, traveled from the White House across the Potomac River to the rolling hillsides of Arlington. Along the way, one man stood with a sign that said: "Bring out troops home." But, otherwise, the presidential motorcade on a sparkling clear spring day was warmly greeted at the cemetery entrance by scores of people, including two men in hats, shirts and shorts made out of American flag material. Others visited gravesites where each white tombstone was marked with a tiny American flag.

Rove: Courts will have to decide

President Bush's former chief political adviser denied meddling in the Justice Department's prosecution of Alabama's ex-governor and said Sunday the courts will have to resolve a congressional subpoena for his testimony.

"Congress, the House Judiciary Committee, wants to be able to call presidential aides on its whim up to testify," Karl Rove said. "It's going to be tied up in court and settled in court."

Last week, the committee ordered Rove to appear July 10. Lawmakers want to ask him about the White House's role in firing nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman, D-Ala.

Also under congressional subpoena are Bush's chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, and his former counsel, Harriet Miers. The White House is citing executive privilege, the doctrine intended to protect the confidentiality of presidential communications, in refusing to let them testify.

Kennedy cancer bill

Sen. Edward Kennedy's battle with a malignant brain tumor is likely to put a dramatic personal stamp on a health care cause he first championed nearly 40 years ago: The nation's war on cancer.

Kennedy had already begun work on an overhaul of the 1971 National Cancer Act when his tumor was diagnosed, and advocates hope the fact that Kennedy has fallen victim to this disease will generate public support and lend new urgency to the need to update the bill.

"People think of Ted Kennedy as a fighter and as someone who has always been there for everyone," said Daniel E. Smith, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Cancer Society's advocacy arm. "The fact that he now is fighting this disease is a jolt. It's a wake-up call to everyone."

"With that diagnosis, the irony for us is Senator Kennedy has been one of our great champions," Smith said.

The 76-year-old Kennedy has been a prominent and passionate advocate of cancer research and other health care issues throughout his long tenure in the Senate.

US aid to Pakistan

The U.S. should rethink a multimillion-dollar program aimed at training and equipping a paramilitary force in Pakistan unless the country does more to keep terrorists from crossing the Afghan border, a Democratic senator said Tuesday.

Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters after a three-day trip to the region that U.S. officials have little confidence that segments of the Pakistan government, particularly its army, are working actively to stop the flow of Taliban fighters and weapons into Afghanistan. In some cases, these groups might even be providing support to terrorists, he said.

"If that's our intelligence assessment, then there's a real question as to whether or not we should be putting money into strengthening the Frontier Corps on the Pakistan side," Levin, D-Mich., said in a conference call from Qatar.

credit card fee info

Several U.S. senators want Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc, the dominant electronic payment companies, to break down detailed costs associated with transactions called interchange fees, according to letters obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

In letters to the two companies, the senators demanded information about methodologies and specific data used to establish interchange fees. The letters are dated May 23 and demand the information by June 3

The letters were signed by Democrats Richard Durbin of Illinois and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Republicans Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania.

"It is important that Congress fully understands the costs and fees imposed within the credit and debit card systems so we can ensure that these systems will continue to function effectively for all participants," they said.

The U.S. credit card industry last year rang up $42 billion in interchange fees, which are incurred each time a consumer uses a credit card to buy a product.

In the transaction, typically, a merchant's bank pays the interchange fee, ranging between 1.6 percent and 2 percent of the purchase price, but the merchant pays it indirectly as a component of a larger set of fees charged by the bank.

Consumer groups, grocery and drug stores and other retailers are concerned that the payment card industry is setting higher non-negotiable fees for card transactions and the system lacks transparency.

Bush hits 2008 trail

President George W. Bush has made it clear he is excited to get out on the campaign trail this election year to help Republicans keep the White House and retake Congress -- but do they want his help?

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has said he wants help from Bush, who can haul in enormous campaign cash. But McCain has walked a fine line with the unpopular Bush, backing the president on the Iraq war while bucking him on how to address climate change.

Bush will kick off raising money for McCain on Tuesday and Wednesday at three events in Arizona and Utah, but they will only be together at one and it will be out of the public eye. That has raised questions about whether Bush helps or hurts the Arizona senator.

"On the one hand (Republicans) want to keep their distance from the president in order to avoid being cast as a third Bush term, yet at the same time they need to tap into the fund-raising capacity of the president," said Anthony Corrado, a professor of government at Colby College in Maine.

The Reuters/Zogby poll last week found Bush's approval rating had fallen 4 percentage points to 23 percent, a record low for pollster John Zogby. Congress fared even worse, however, falling 5 points to 11 percent.

In a time-honored practice by presidents on the trail, Bush has scheduled non-campaign events on his three-day, five-state trip, which helps defray the enormous costs of hosting the presidential entourage for which candidates must pay.

Despite wrapping up the Republican nomination, McCain has lagged his Democratic rivals in raising money even though they have not finished their contest. McCain raised $18.5 million in April while New York Sen. Hillary Clinton pulled in $21 million and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama attracted $30.7 million.

"They probably want to do a lot of this now while there's attention still on the Democratic race," Corrado said, saying Bush will be best used in western and southern states.

Kentucky Senate: Lunsford (D) 49% McConnell (R) 44%

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Kentucky Senate race shows Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford with a five percentage point lead over long-time Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. The poll, conducted just two days after Lunsford won the Democratic nomination, shows the challenger with 49% of the vote while McConnell earns 44%.

These results stand in stark contrast to the Presidential race in Kentucky—John McCain leads Barack Obama by twenty-five percentage points. However, just 67% of McCain voters currently plan to vote for McConnell. Twenty-eight percent (28%) of McCain voters say they will split the ticket and vote for Lunsford. Recognizing the overall political dynamic, McConnell issued a statement last week indicating that he is looking forward to running against the "Lunsford-Obama plan for America."

Given the state's overwhelming preference for a GOP Presidential candidate, it makes sense for McConnell to link his opponent closely with the top of the Democratic ticket. It is not unusual for the number of ticket-splitters to decline dramatically as Election Day approaches.

Putin appointment

The United States is concerned about a new sign of deepening ties between Belarus and Russia at a time of heightened tensions with both countries.

On Tuesday, Russia and Belarus named Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to the post of prime minister of an alliance of the two neighbors.

Officials and analysts in Washington say it is unclear whether the move is a step toward closer political union or a mere formality. But it comes as U.S-Belarus relations have been in crisis. Belarus has protested U.S. sanctions aimed at punishment for its heavy-handed treatment of critics and intolerance of dissent. The standoff has led to the brink of cessation of diplomatic relations.

While tensions have also flared periodically between Moscow and Minsk, the announcement could be a sign that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is seeking closer ties with Russia in the face of the sanctions, a bad local economy and greater domestic opposition.

Karen Stewart, the U.S. ambassador to Belarus, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the United States will be watching for signs that that the alliance is deepening.

"We will have to wait and see what materializes," she said.

Stewart has been in Washington since March when she left Minsk under pressure from the Belarusian government. She returned after Belarus withdrew its ambassador to Washington.

She said that the United States would object to any union between the two countries, if their people were not given a say.

"We have no objection to the integration of states as long as it is voluntary, as long as the people have been able to express their will and it is mutually beneficial and does not erect barriers to the wider community of nations," she said.

Belarus immediately downplayed the significance Putin's appointment, announced by the Belarusian and Russian presidential offices.

The post — officially called the chairman of the union's Council of Ministers — has been held by the Russian prime minister since 2000. The position was created in December 1999, along with the post of chairman of the Supreme State Council, which has been held since its creation by Lukashenko.

Russia and Belarus signed an agreement in 1996 that envisaged close political, economic and military ties, but efforts to achieve a full merger have foundered. Structures of the alliance serve coordination purposes and have vague responsibilities.

Lukashenko angrily rejected a Kremlin proposal in 2002 to incorporate his nation into Russia, and negotiations on strengthening the union have stalled. He has also sparred with Putin over Russian energy exports. Last year, he denounced Russia as a "huge monster" when Russia more than doubled the price of natural gas and imposed a customs duty that made oil more expensive.

The new appointment follows Putin's transition from president to prime minister earlier this month and the inauguration of his hand-picked successor Dmitry Medvedev as the new president. Kremlin observers are watching for signs that Putin is trying to consolidate power in the new post.

Before the transition, some observers had speculated that Putin might become the president of a new unified state of Russia and Belarus after he stepped down earlier this month after eight years as Russian president. That speculation ended when Putin made clear he intended to become prime minister.

Many say that Russian politics are particularly hard to read at the moment, because the lines of authority between Putin and Medvedev are unclear. Lukashenko's decision making is even more murky.

"As Alice in Wonderland would say, 'It's getting curioser and curioser,'" said Leon Aron, director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute.

Aron said Lukashenko may be warming to Russia under the pressure of a bad economy, combined with rising commodity prices and well-aimed U.S. sanctions. Russia has recently provided loans to Belarus, ostensibly to help it handle rising Russian energy prices.

"I think it is in his interest in staying in power to do pretty much whatever Putin wants," he said.

CIA watching for al-Qaida

The U.S. is making "a big and continual push" to capture or kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, but his demise won't end the organization's menace, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Tuesday in an Associated Press interview. The CIA is equally interested in those jockeying to replace bin Laden in what he predicted will be a "succession crisis."

"It will be really interesting to see how that plays out. The organization is a lot more networked than it is ruthlessly hierarchical," Hayden said of the group behind the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. "How do you pick the next overall leader?"

A number of Egyptians are now part of al-Qaida's top echelon and may struggle for power among themselves. Bin Laden's current No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is an Egyptian.

Despite al-Qaida's resilience, taking out bin Laden would be a psychological blow to the organization, Hayden said.

"If there ever was a sense of invulnerability I think killing or capturing him would shatter it once and for all," he said.

Blackwater grand jury

Three Iraqis, including the father of a slain 9-year-old boy, appeared Tuesday before a federal grand jury investigating a deadly Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad involving Blackwater Worldwide contractors.

The Iraqis were escorted to the closed-door session by federal prosecutors who are overseeing the U.S. investigation into whether Blackwater security guards illegally fired into a crowded Baghdad intersection, resulting in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians.

An Iraqi police major told The Associated Press in Baghdad that two of his officers were flown to the United States several days ago to testify. The major, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said they were expected to remain in the United States for two weeks.

It was not known whether the officers, one of whom was identified as Serhan Dhiab, were among the three men meeting Tuesday with grand jurors at the federal courthouse in Washington.

One of the three Iraqis was Mohammed Abdul-Razzaq, whose son Ali, 9, was killed in the shooting. He left court holding what appeared to be a child's plush toy and a family portrait.

After about three hours behind closed doors, the men did not talk to reporters. But before leaving Iraq, Abdul-Razzaq told ABC News he agreed to testify because he wanted justice for "a crime that needs to be punished."

"It was a true massacre, a slaughter," Abdul-Razzaq said.

end of cable set-top boxes !!!

The set-top box, a necessary appendage for millions of cable television customers for decades, is moving toward extinction.

A leading television manufacturer, Sony Electronics Inc., and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association said Tuesday they signed an agreement that will allow viewers to rid themselves of set-top boxes, yet still receive advanced "two-way" cable services, such as pay-per-view movies.

In most cases, cable viewers also could dispose of another remote control since they could use their TV's control rather than one tied to the set-top box.

The agreement marks a significant meeting of the minds between cable companies and one of the world's dominant makers of consumer electronics. The two industries have been feuding for a decade about how best to deliver cable service to customers while allowing them to buy equipment of their own choosing.

Sony agreed to use the cable industry's technology in its sets as soon as possible but could not say when the first such televisions might be appear in stores.

The agreement is between Sony and the nation's six largest cable companies: Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Charter Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp. and Bright House Networks. The six companies serve more than 82 percent of cable subscribers.

Cable subscribers are generally locked into renting a set-top box from their provider if they want more than the most basic cable TV service.

Suu Kyi detention

Outrage over Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest will not detract from relief work, key donors said, as the United Nations on Wednesday reported small gains in getting aid to cyclone survivors.

The military regime quietly informed the Nobel Peace Prize winner that she would spend another year confined to her home in Yangon, where she has been locked away for most of the last 18 years.

The decision came just two days after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon left Myanmar following a donor conference that generated tens of millions of dollars in aid pledges in response to the cyclone that left 133,000 dead or missing.

Ban said that while he regretted the extension, Myanmar appeared "to be moving in right direction" with cyclone relief by allowing some international aid workers into the most devastated regions of Irrawaddy Delta.

That region had been sealed off to foreigners for three weeks after the storm, even though 2.4 million people were in desperate need of food, shelter and medicine.

During Ban's visit here, he convinced junta leader Than Shwe to give foreign disaster experts access to the region so that aid agencies can mount a full-scale aid effort.

"I hope that this marks a new spirit of cooperation and partnership between Myanmar and the international community," he said, adding that he planned to return to the country soon.

Myanmar cooperation

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that some foreign aid workers have gone into Myanmar's cyclone-ravaged delta without problems, reflecting a "new spirit of cooperation" by the ruling junta.

Ban flew to Myanmar last week and received promises from the country's ruling generals to allow international relief workers and international aid into the Irrawaddy Delta by helicopters, trucks and boats. Since the devastating cyclone early this month, all but a few international workers had been barred from the hardest-hit delta, the country's all-important rice bowl.

"The Myanmar government appears to be moving toward the right direction, to implement these accords," Ban told reporters a day after returning to New York. "Some international aid workers and NGOs have already gone into the regions of the Irrawaddy Delta, without any problem. I hope — and I believe — that this marks a new spirit of cooperation between Myanmar and the international community."

But the secretary-general stressed that more needs to be done, and full implementation of the agreement he reached with Myanmar's military ruler, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, "will be the key."

"I will be fully, continuously and personally engaged," he said. "I look forward to returning, before too long, to see for myself the progress we have made."

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters earlier that a significant number of visas are now being granted to international aid workers to help cyclone survivors.

500,000 people uprooted

More than half a million people have been uprooted by conflicts in the first five months of this year — the vast majority in Africa — and thousands of civilians have been killed from Darfur to Iraq, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Tuesday.

John Holmes told the United Nations Security Council that although peace is being consolidated in Ivory Coast, Nepal and East Timor and there have been some other positive developments, "millions of ordinary people are still trapped in the horror of war and conflict, hoping desperately to rise from the chaos that surrounds them into more peaceful times."

Holmes spoke at a daylong meeting of the council focusing on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, an issue that has produced four council resolutions but no real solution. A statement adopted by consensus and read at the end of Tuesday's meeting reaffirmed the council's commitment "to addressing the impact of armed conflict on civilians," including excessive use of force and sexual and gender-based violence.

Holmes stressed the "collective responsibility" of the U.N. and individual nations to prevent war, secure peace and protect civilians, citing varying degrees of progress.

Mediation in Kenya reduced post-election violence, he said, and the full deployment of peacekeepers in Chad, the Central African Republic and Darfur "has the potential to augment significantly efforts to protect and assist those caught in the turmoil of violence in the region."

"But the risks of deterioration are currently very great," Holmes warned, urging that the three missions receive all the required troops and resources.

UN probe of sex abuse by peacekeepers

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Tuesday the United Nations will investigate allegations by a leading children's charity that U.N. peacekeepers are involved in widespread sexual abuse of children.

The report by Save the Children UK, based on field research in southern Sudan, Ivory Coast and Haiti, describes a litany of sexual crimes committed by peacekeepers and international relief workers against children as young as 6.

It said some children were denied food aid unless they granted sexual favors; others were forced to have sex or to take part in child pornography; many more were subjected to improper touching or kissing.

"The report shows sexual abuse has been widely underreported because children are afraid to come forward," Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK, told Associated Press Television News.

"A tiny proportion of peacekeepers and aid workers are abusing the children they were sent to protect. It ranges from sex for food to coerced sex. It's despicable."

More action needed!!!

Much more needs to be done to prevent the killing and displacement of civilians in places such as Darfur, Somalia, Israel and Columbia, U.N. humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said on Tuesday.

Civilians continue to account for the majority of casualties in armed conflict, often in flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, Holmes told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on civilians in armed conflict.

In the first five months of this year, more than half a million people have been displaced by conflict, with 337,000 civilians fleeing Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Somalia and Sudan, he said.

Holmes called for the creation of a Security Council expert group on the protection of civilians, which he said would be an informal forum bringing together all council member states.

"A more consistent approach to integrating the protection of civilians into all relevant aspects of the Council's work could make a very real difference to the lives of millions trapped in the chaos and horror of war," he said.

Ambassadors from council and other U.N. member states gave speeches expressing support for Holmes' statement.

suits on retaliation in race

An unexpected blend of liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices gave workers more leeway Tuesday to sue when they face retaliation after complaining about discrimination in the workplace.

In two employment cases, one involving race and the other, age, the court took an expansive view of workers' rights and avoided the narrow, ideology-based decisions that marked its previous term.

The justices read parts of an 1860s civil rights act and the main anti-age bias law to include the right to sue over reprisals even though neither provision expressly prohibits retaliation.

Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the court in a case involving a black employee at a Cracker Barrel restaurant who was fired, said that previous Supreme Court decisions and congressional action make clear that retaliation is covered.

The idea that a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, known as section 1981, "encompasses retaliation claims is indeed well-embedded in the law," Breyer said in the 7-2 ruling.

The outcomes contrasted with rulings last term in which conservative majorities insisted on literal readings of federal laws over the objections of liberal dissenters who favored more expansive interpretations.

Summary of actions Tuesday

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court:

_Ruled that workers who face retaliation after complaining about race discrimination may sue their employers.

_Declared that a major anti-age bias law protects federal employees who faced retaliation after complaining about discrimination.

_Said Alabama's governor did not need advance approval from the federal government to fill a county commission vacancy with a fellow Republican appointee.

_Refused to step into the case of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who was convicted of steering contracts, tax fraud, misuse of tax dollars and state workers, and killing a bribery investigation.

Supreme Court sides with governor

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has ruled for Alabama's governor in a dispute over his attempt to fill a county commission vacancy with a fellow Republican appointee.

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In a 7-2 ruling, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says Gov. Bob Riley did not need advance approval from the federal government to fill the vacancy.

The case involves a provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that requires Alabama and several other states — most of them in the South — to get federal approval before changing election procedures that affect minority voters.

Ginsburg says the issue in this case is a narrow one that does not have broader application to voting rights disputes.

Court rules

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that a major anti-age bias law protects federal employees who faced retaliation after complaining about discrimination.

The court ruled 6-3 that a U.S. Postal Service employee may pursue her lawsuit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

The law does specifically bar reprisals against private sector employees who complain about discrimination. But it is silent as to federal workers. Justice Samuel Alito said the law indeed does apply to both categories of employees.

The case involves Myrna Gomez-Perez, a postal worker in Puerto Rico who alleged she was being discriminated against because of her age. Gomez-Perez, who was then 45, said that after she filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, she suffered a "series of reprisals" from her supervisors.

Gomez-Perez sued under the ADEA, claiming retaliation in violation of the law.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld a lower court's dismissal. The Supreme Court reversed that ruling Tuesday.

The Bush administration, which is backing workers in other age bias cases at the high court, said the ADEA does not afford federal workers protection from retaliation. It said Congress could have extended protections to federal workers, but didn't.

The case is Gomez-Perez v. Potter, 06-1321.

Court turns down former Illinois governor

The Supreme Court has rejected former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's appeal of his federal racketeering and fraud conviction.

The justices have no comment on their action, in response to Ryan's claim that he and his fellow defendant, businessman Larry Warner did not receive a fair trial.

Their lawyers argued that the trial judge replaced two jurors with alternates after deliberations in the case had already begun.

Ryan, 74, is serving a 6 1/2 year sentence in federal prison.

The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier upheld the convictions.

The case is Warner and Ryan v. U.S., 07-977.

McClellan whacks Bush

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence.

Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (Public Affairs, $27.95):

• McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war.

• He says the White House press corps was too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war.

• He admits that some of his own assertions from the briefing room podium turned out to be “badly misguided.”

Wartime PTSD cases jumped roughly 50 pct. in 2007

The number of troops with new cases of post-traumatic stress disorder jumped by roughly 50 percent in 2007 amid the military buildup in Iraq and increased violence there and in Afghanistan.

Records show roughly 40,000 troops have been diagnosed with the illness, also known as PTSD, since 2003. Officials believe that many more are likely keeping their illness a secret.

"I don't think right now we ... have good numbers," Army Surgeon General Eric Schoomaker said Tuesday.

Defense officials had not previously disclosed the number of PTSD cases from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Army statistics showed there were nearly 14,000 newly diagnosed cases across the services in 2007 compared with more than 9,500 new cases the previous year and 1,632 in 2003.

Schoomaker attributed the big rise over the years partly to the fact that officials started an electronic record system in 2004 that captures more information, and to the fact that as time goes on the people keeping records are more knowledgeable about the illness.

He also blamed increased exposure of troops to combat.

Factors increasing troop exposure to combat in 2007 included President Bush's troop buildup and the fact that 2007 was the most violent year in both conflicts.

More troops also were serving their second, third or fourth tours of duty — a factor mental health experts say dramatically increases stress. And in order to supply enough forces for the buildup, officials also extended tour lengths to 15 months from 12, another factor that caused extra emotional strain.

Officials have been encouraging troops to get help even if it means they go to civilian therapists and don't report it to the military.

"We're trying very hard to encourage soldiers and families to seek care and to not have them feel in any way, shape or form that we're looking over their shoulder or that we're invading their privacy," Schoomaker told a group of defense writers.

Noting that stigma is a problem in American civilian society, not just the military, he said, "I think that's the preferred way to do it."

The accounting of diagnosed cases released Tuesday shows those hardest hit last year were Marines and Army personnel, the two ground forces bearing the brunt of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army reported more than 10,000 new cases last year, compared with more than 6,800 new cases the previous year. More than 28,000 soldiers altogether were diagnosed with the disorder over the last five years, the data showed.

The Marine Corps had more than 2,100 new cases in 2007, compared with 1,366 in 2006. More than 5,000 Marines have been diagnosed with PTSD since 2003, the data showed.

Navy officials who would have data on Marine health issues did not return a phone call seeking to confirm the numbers released by Schoomaker's office.

Schoomaker said he believes PTSD is widely misunderstood by the press and the public — and that what is often just normal post-traumatic anxiety and stress is mistaken for full-blown PTSD.

Experts say many troops have symptoms of stress, such as nightmares and flashbacks, and can get better with early treatment.

Obama mistaken on name of Nazi death camp

The Barack Obama campaign said Tuesday the candidate mistakenly referred to the wrong Nazi death camp when relating the story of a great-uncle who helped liberate the camps in World War II.

The Democratic presidential candidate said the story is accurate except that the camp was Buchenwald, not Auschwitz.

"Senator Obama's family is proud of the service of his grandfather and uncles in World War II — especially the fact that his great-uncle was a part of liberating one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald," campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "Yesterday he mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically."

Aides said Tuesday that his grandmother's brother, Charlie Payne, helped liberate a Buchenwald sub-camp in April 1945 as part of the 89th Infantry Division.

In a meeting Monday with veterans, Obama discussed the importance of improving treatment for soldiers suffering post-traumatic stress. To illustrate his point, he talked about his own family.

"I had an uncle who was part of the first American troops to go into Auschwitz and liberate the concentration camps. The story in our family was that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn't leave the house for six months," Obama said. "Now, obviously something had really affected him, but at that time there just weren't the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain."

Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet forces as they marched across Poland in January 1945. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum says Americans liberated several death camps in Germany, including Buchenwald, Dachau and Mauthausen.

"On April 4, 1945, the 89th overran Ohrdruf, a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Ohrdruf was the first Nazi concentration camp liberated by U.S. troops in Germany," according to the museum. "A week later, on April 12, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and Omar Bradley visited Ohrdruf to see, firsthand, evidence of Nazi atrocities against concentration camp prisoners."

Obama's mistaken mention of the camp on Monday quickly generated Internet chatter, ranging from puzzlement to outrage. The Republican Party demanded an explanation.

"It was Soviet troops that liberated Auschwitz, so unless his uncle was serving in the Red Army, there's no way Obama's statement yesterday can be true," said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

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