TIDBITS

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JOINT CHIEFS CHAIR SAYS GAY SEX IS IMMORAL

AP - Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, caused a
stir at a Senate hearing Wednesday when he repeated his view that gay
sex is immoral and should not be condoned by the military. . . "Are
there wonderful Americans who happen to be homosexual serving in the
military? Yes," he told the Senate Appropriations Committee during a
hearing focused on the Pentagon's 2008 war spending request. "We need to
be very precise then, about what I said wearing my stars and being very
conscious of it," he added. "And that is, very simply, that we should
respect those who want to serve the nation but not through the law of
the land, condone activity that, in my upbringing, is counter to God's
law."

Anti-war protesters sitting behind Pace jeered the four-star general's
remarks with some shouting, "Bigot!" That led Committee Chairman Sen.
Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to abruptly adjourn the hearing and seal off the
doors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092601771.html


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SPANISH NEWSPAPER: HUSSEIN WAS WILLING TO LEAVE FOR A DEAL

WASHINGTON POST - Less than a month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq,
Saddam Hussein signaled that he was willing to go into exile as long as
he could take with him $1 billion and information on weapons of mass
destruction, according to a report of a Feb. 22, 2003, meeting between
President Bush and his Spanish counterpart published by a Spanish
newspaper yesterday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602414.html


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JUDGE RULES AGAINST BREATH TESTS FOR PEDESTRIANS

CLICK ON DETROIT - U.S. District Judge David Lawson in Detroit issued an
injunction Wednesday blocking enforcement of a state law that penalizes
pedestrians under 21 who refuse to submit to such a test.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which had sued on behalf of four
college students, says Michigan is the only state in the country that
requires a pedestrian to submit to a breath test without a warrant.
"This is a tremendous victory for the civil liberties of young adults,"
said Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan.

In 2006, Mount Pleasant and Isabella County agreed to pay $5,000 to
Cullin Stewart and Samuel Maness and stop warrantless pedestrian breath
tests until Lawson issued a final ruling.

Both Stewart and Maness attended a 2003 post-prom party in Isabella
County where, according to the lawsuit, an interagency police task force
called the "Party Patrol" broke up the party, placed the students in a
circle and asked if they had been drinking. They had to blow into a
portable breath tester, according to the suit. Stewart was not charged,
but Maness was issued a citation accusing him of being a minor in
possession of alcohol.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/14212013/detail.html

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JUDGE RULES AGAINST PATRIOT ACT SEARCHES WITHOUT WARRANTS

AP - A federal judge ruled Wednesday that two provisions of the USA
Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow search warrants to
be issued without a showing of probable cause. U.S. District Judge Ann
Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended
by the Patriot Act, "now permits the executive branch of government to
conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without
satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment.". .
.

"For over 200 years, this nation has adhered to the rule of law -- with
unparalleled success. A shift to a nation based on extra-constitutional
authority is prohibited, as well as ill-advised," she wrote.

http://cbs5.com/breakingnewsalerts/local_story_269191331.html

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