FURTHERMORE. . .

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JOHN BRESNAHAN, POLITICO - Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has scheduled a
hearing next Tuesday in his Judiciary Committee subcommittee to explore
whether Congress has the authority to cut off funding for the U.S.
military campaign in Iraq. The move comes as Congress prepares to vote
on a congressional resolution opposing President Bush's escalation of
the war.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0107/2478.html

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JACQUI GODDARD, AUSTRALIAN - Manuel Noriega, the former military
dictator in Panama, is preparing to return to his homeland to face the
music for his murderous eight-year reign after being granted early
release from an American prison. The US Parole Commission has ruled he
will be set free from the federal prison in Miami on September 9, having
served almost two-thirds of a 30-year sentence for drug-trafficking and
racketeering. But his freedom is unlikely to last beyond his first steps
outside the jail. Noriega, 70, who was forced from power after the US
invasion of Panama in 1989, is wanted there and in France for crimes
perpetrated during his de facto rule.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21120063-2703,00.html

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BANSTETTER, STAR-TELEGRAM, TX - Passengers on an American Airlines
flight that was stuck on the tarmac in Austin for nearly 10 hours last
month are pushing for a national Passengers Bill of Rights to protect
traveling consumers. The proposal would require airlines to return
passengers to terminal gates after three hours on the tarmac. It would
also impose penalties on airlines for losing baggage and bumping
passengers, and create a consumer committee to review and investigate
complaints.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/16533365.htm

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WASHINGTON TIMES - Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has left
the Pentagon, but not the Defense Department. On Jan. 4, Mr. Rumsfeld
opened a government-provided transition office in Arlington and has
seven Pentagon-paid staffers working for him, a Pentagon official said.
The Pentagon lists Mr. Rumsfeld as a "nonpaid consultant," a status he
needs in order to review secret and top-secret documents, the official
said. . . The Pentagon official said former secretaries are entitled to
a transition office to sort papers, some of which can be taken with them
for a library, for archives or to write a book. The transition office
has raised some eyebrows inside the Pentagon. Some question the size of
the staff, which includes two military officers and two enlisted men.

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003211.html

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NATIONAL PRESS CLUB - The National Press Club has announced its
opposition to the U.S. Army's subpoenas of Oakland, Calif., freelance
journalist Sarah Olson and Honolulu Star Bulletin reporter Gregg
Kakesako. The subpoenas call for the reporters to testify at the Feb. 5
court martial of Army Lt. Ehren Watada, who refused to deploy to Iraq
and made several disparaging remarks about the conduct of the war. "The
National Press Club vehemently opposes any effort to subpoena reporters
over their work," said NPC President Jerry Zremski, Washington bureau
chief for The Buffalo News. "Subpoenaing reporters in an effort to make
the prosecution's case - particularly when the charge involves free
speech issues - is abhorrent and grossly perverts the foundation of
press freedom this nation is built on." The National Press Club, founded
in 1908, has more than 3,700 members in Washington, D.C., and worldwide.


http://www.defendthepress.org

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ASSOCIATED PRESS - The city will pay an atheist group $5,000 in
attorneys fees and will avoid holding religious events in the future in
the settlement of a lawsuit over a faith day rally. The Aug. 12, 2006,
Day of Faith rally was in response to a spiraling murder rate and the
July 26 shooting death of 8-year-old Dreshawna Davis. Her slaying
sparked community outrage and more aggressive measures to reduce the
homicide rate. The settlement reached Jan. 19 requires the city to write
New Jersey-based American Atheists Inc. a letter saying it did not
intend to violate the First Amendment and to warn department heads
against funding programs that "foster excessive entanglements with
religion." Despite the settlement, Mayor John Peyton defended the rally.
"I have no regrets - it was time well spent and money well spent,"
Peyton told The Florida Times-Union on Jan. 23. However, the city will
do a better job of consulting municipal attorneys "to make sure we don't
violate the separation of church and state," Peyton said.

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=18055

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METRO NEWSPAPERS - Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband was a major
beneficiary of military appropriations blessed by a subcommittee that
she headed, Metro Newspapers reports. Feinstein (D-Calif.) acted in a
conflict of interest while approving billions of dollars in military
construction expenditures for the global war on terror. . . Following
Feinstein's participation at the legislative level, large contracts were
awarded to two firms - URS Corporation and Perini Corporation - that
were controlled by an investment group headed by the senator's spouse,
financier Richard C. Blum.

http://aan.org/alternative/Aan/ViewArticle?oid=oid%3A177965

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BALLOT ACCESS - Connecticut has three types of political parties.
Qualified major parties nominate by primary; qualified minor parties
nominate by convention; unqualified parties nominate by primary.
Currently, Connecticut permits fusion for the first two types of party,
although not the third type. Connecticut State Senator Mary Ann Handley,
Deputy Majority Leader of the Senate, has [a bill] to outlaw all types
of fusion. Her action is surprising, since she herself was the
beneficiary of fusion in last November's election. She received 20,969
votes on the Democratic line and 1,118 on the Working Families line; her
only opponent received 14,064 votes solely on the Republican line.
Although she didn't need the Working Families votes in order to win, one
would think she appreciated them.

http://www.ballot-access.org/

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CARL BERNSTEIN: BUSH ADMINISTRATON HAS DONE 'FAR GREATER DAMAGE' THAN
NIXON
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?
vnu_content_id=1003537212


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