Cyclone Larry Lashes Northeast Australia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 20, 2006
Filed at 6:15 a.m. ET
Dave Hunt/EPA
Children climb on a fallen tree in Cairns, Australia, in the aftermath of Cyclone Larry which passed through the region Monday.
CAIRNS, Australia (AP) -- The most powerful storm to hit Australia in decades laid waste to its northeastern coast on Monday, mowing down sugar and banana plantations and leaving possibly thousands of people homeless. But there were no reports of serious injuries, reflecting the preparedness of residents in the storm-prone region.
About a dozen people were treated at regional hospitals for minor cuts and abrasions, said Jim Guthrie, a spokesman for the state of Queensland's health department. Many people had taken shelter before the storm, or hunkered down in their homes.
''This is far north Queensland and most people live with cyclones year in, year out. They do take precautions,'' he said. ''We've come out of it extremely well.''
Cyclone Larry crashed ashore about 60 miles south of Cairns as a Category 5 storm, packing winds of up to 180 mph.
Cairns is a popular jumping-off point for visits to the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral system which runs parallel to the coast for more than 1,400 miles. Authorities said it was too early to assess possible damage to the reef, visited by nearly two million tourists each year.
In Innisfail, a farming town of 8,500 that was hardest hit, Mayor Neil Clarke estimated that thousands were left homeless. He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the airport was being cleared to house people in tents. More than 50,000 people were without power.
''It looks like an atomic bomb hit the place,'' he said.
The storm was so bad at its height overnight that police were unable to venture out and help terrified residents who called to say the winds had ripped roofs off buildings and destroyed their homes. As emergency services fanned out across the region later to assess the damage, they encountered scenes of devastation.
''The damage to dwellings is very extensive,'' Prime Minister John Howard told the Nine Network from Melbourne. ''Thank heavens it does not appear as though there have been any very serious injuries.''
Howard said he would visit the stricken region in coming days and the government would provide aid to homeless families. He said he was confident the cyclone would not cause the kind of chaos seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina last year.
''Australians are very good at responding to these things because everybody pitches in without restraint,'' he told reporters.
The main street of Innisfail was littered with the mangled remains of corrugated tin and iron roofs and shredded fronds from beach side palm trees. Queensland state leader Peter Beattie said more than half the homes in the town were damaged.
''Some have been flattened, roofs have been taken off,'' he told Macquarie Radio. ''The property damage has been immense.''
The storm also devastated banana and sugar cane plantations, the region's economic mainstay. Officials said damage would run into hundreds of millions of dollars.
Des Hensler, an Innisfail resident, took shelter by himself in a church, with water up to his ankles. ''I don't get scared much, but this is something to make any man tremble in his boots,'' he told the Seven television network.
Australia's military said it would send a medical team to the region. Helicopters would conduct low-level damage assessment flights.
State Disaster Coordination Center spokesman Peter Rekers warned residents to stay on their guard for deadly animals stirred up by the storm.
''Most of the casualties and deaths resulting from cyclones happen after the storm has passed,'' he warned. ''Keep your kids away from flooded drains, be aware of snakes and crocodiles. Those guys will have had a bad night too.''
The storm was the most powerful to hit Australia since Christmas Eve in 1974, when Cyclone Tracy destroyed the northern city of Darwin, killing 65 people.
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On the Net:
Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Center: http://www.bom.gov.au/weather/qld/cyclone/
Flooding in Texas Kills 1
(Flooding is going to occur when severe rains follows severe drought. The plants that hold the soil are dead so there will erosion as well. Plants require a lot of water. When rain occurs the roots soak up the water. Some of the water is used but most is evaporated into the air and creates humidity. It is that humidity that produces weather, etc. Plants are vital to a healthy planet. They can't exist for long without rain. )
DALLAS, March 19 — More than five inches of rain fell Sunday in parts of North Texas, causing high-rising floodwaters that killed at least one person, officials said.
A woman's body was recovered from Turtle Creek, where officials believed her car was swept into the water, said Senior Cpl. Max Geron of the police department.
Officials evacuated several homes in west Dallas because of rising floodwaters, Corporal Geron said. At least two rescues were reported in Arlington.
The storms were expected to continue through early Monday.
Rumor, Fear and Fatigue Hinder Final Push to End Polio
By CELIA W. DUGGER
and DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: March 20, 2006
BAREILLY, India — The cry went up the moment the polio vaccination team was spotted — "Hide your children!
Amit Bhargava for The New York Times
On returning home from school in New Delhi, Amitkumar removed the braces that keep his polio-withered legs straight.
On the Brink: Polio
A Fragile Immunity
Articles in this series will deal with five diseases — polio, guinea worm, measles, blinding trachoma and lymphatic filariasis — that are extinct in the developed world but stubbornly persistent in some poor nations. As the diseases hover on the brink of eradication, doctors and scientists face daunting obstacles as they struggle to finish the job.
In Nigeria, Aminu Ahmed is the president of the Kano State Polio Victims Association. He builds hand-cranked tricycles for other polio victims. His youngest child, Omar, 2, was born shortly before Kano's conservative Muslim government stopped its polio vaccinations. Now Omar has polio, too.
Some families slammed doors on the two volunteers going house to house with polio drops in this teeming city's decrepit maze of lanes, saying that they feared the vaccine would sicken or sterilize their children, or simply that they were fed up with the long drive to eradicate polio.
"We have a lot of other problems, and you don't care about those," shouted one woman from behind a locked door. "All you have is drops. My children get other diseases, and we don't get help."
Nearly 18 years ago, in what they described as a "gift from the 20th century to the 21st," public health officials and volunteers around the world committed themselves to eliminating polio from the planet by the year 2000.
Since then, some two billion children have been vaccinated, cutting incidence of the disease more than 99 percent and saving some five million from paralysis or death, the World Health Organization estimates.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/international/asia/20polio.html?hp&ex=1142917200&en=cbaeaec9c4369c17&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: March 20, 2006
BALTIMORE — Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups.
Focusing more closely than ever on the life patterns of young black men, the new studies, by experts at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions, show that the huge pool of poorly educated black men are becoming ever more disconnected from the mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than comparable white or Hispanic men.
Especially in the country's inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legal work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates have declined.
Although the problems afflicting poor black men have been known for decades, the new data paint a more extensive and sobering picture of the challenges they face.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/national/20blackmen.html?hp&ex=1142917200&en=6ca3ed1b3c6b74ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Behind Louisiana Aid Package, a Change of Heart by One Man
By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: March 20, 2006
Louisiana was in a foul mood on the February day that President Bush's Gulf Coast rebuilding coordinator, Donald E. Powell, stood before an audience of fellow bankers in Baton Rouge.
Mr. Powell changed his mind after taking a personal tour of the region.
Two weeks before, the administration had rejected Louisiana's housing recovery plan. Mr. Powell's own idea of housing aid excluded thousands of homeowners, many of them poor, who lived in the flood plain but did not have flood insurance when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Asked about those who had counted on federally built levees to protect them, Mr. Powell, a wealthy man from the dry Texas Panhandle, noted that he had been responsible enough to buy flood insurance for his home in Amarillo.
The members of the Louisiana Bankers Association were not won over. Nor was The Advocate, Baton Rouge's newspaper, which demanded Mr. Powell's dismissal, calling him a "flint-souled" bean counter whose only concern was "guarding the money."
Those with a more charitable view, Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, among them, complained that he lacked the authority to be effective, and some critics wondered if he was simply another presidential crony.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/national/nationalspecial/20powell.html?hp&ex=1142917200&en=8f0d52d85ab643ad&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Road to Nowhere
It seems insane that the National Park Service would even think of spending $600 million on a road that few people want and nobody needs — especially when the service has barely enough money to keep up appearances. But that could happen unless the Interior Department musters the courage to resist Representative Charles Taylor of North Carolina.
Mr. Taylor, who says a new road would stimulate the local economy, runs the subcommittee that controls the Interior Department's budget. For that reason, neither the park service nor Interior's outgoing secretary, Gale Norton, has publicly criticized the idea. But there is more at stake here than pleasing one's paymaster. The road would not only blow a hole in the department's budget; it would also leave a scar on one of the most popular national parks.
At issue is a 30-mile road proposed for the north side of Fontana Lake on the eastern edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The road was promised to the residents of Swain County in 1943 when the Tennessee Valley Authority built a major hydroelectric dam, creating the lake and flooding out an existing road. After a fitful start in the 1960's, the road was abandoned for environmental and budgetary reasons.
Those reasons still apply. The road, including three big bridges, each the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, would breach an unbroken tract of national forest, destroy wildlife habitat and poison hundreds of miles of streams. Its estimated cost of $604 million — up 40 percent from only a year ago — is three times the annual roads budget for the entire national park system, which is already suffering from a big repair backlog.
There is no pressing need for the project. Swain County has other roads. The road's opponents include Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, and Swain County's own commissioners. There is broad agreement that restitution of some sort is due the residents of the region, and that the spirit if not the letter of the original agreement should be honored. A cash settlement of $52 million has been proposed.
As Mr. Taylor has noted, this will not generate the jobs and income that the road project would. But it's fair, and it won't do lasting damage. Interior should endorse the settlement. The department's neutrality serves only to keep alive an idea that makes even less sense now than it did in 1943.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/opinion/20mon3.html
Cinderella Now Lingers Longer at the N.C.A.A.'s March Dance
By PETE THAMEL
Published: March 20, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY, March 19 — When George Mason defeated the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels on Sunday, the upset capped four of the most harried days in the history of the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/sports/ncaabasketball/20hoops.html
Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms?
By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN
Published: March 19, 2006
HUNDREDS of feet above Manhattan, the reception area of Proskauer Rose's headquarters boasts all of the muscular, streamlined ornamentation that symbolizes authority and power in a big city law firm — modern art, contemporary furniture, white marble floors, high ceilings and stunning views. The background music floating about this particular stage set is composed of the steady, reassuring cadences of talented, ambitious lawyers greeting their
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/business/yourmoney/19law.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Weekends With Dad, Courtesy of D.S.L.
By LYNETTE CLEMETSON
Published: March 19, 2006
WITH work and the school week behind them, Charles A. Mason III and his daughter, Arielle, who live more than 1,500 miles apart, prepared for their scheduled weekend visit. There was no packing involved, no plane tickets, no car rides or drop-offs. All it took was some instant messaging on their home computers and a little fidgeting in front of their respective Webcams, and father and daughter were chatting, playing checkers and practicing multiplication tables.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/fashion/sundaystyles/19CUSTODY.html
Hamas, Failing to Find Partners, Proposes Cabinet
Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse-Getty Images
Flags of Hamas and the smaller Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine waved together in Gaza City on Friday, but the P.F.L.P. opted out of a coalition, and Hamas presented its own cabinet lineup Sunday.
By GREG MYRE
Published: March 20, 2006
JERUSALEM, March 19 — Hamas delivered its proposed cabinet list to the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, on Sunday night. Hamas is expected to control the most important government ministries after weeks of negotiations failed to persuade other Palestinian parties to join its government.
Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader and prime minister-designate, presented the lineup to Mr. Abbas at a meeting in Gaza City. Pressed by reporters, Mr. Abbas declined to say whether he would give his approval, though aides said he was likely to do so. He said he would convene the Palestinian legislature, in which the militant Islamic Hamas has an absolute majority, for a vote of confidence on the cabinet.
"I pray to God to help us," Mr. Abbas said. "The task is not easy, neither for us nor for the new government."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/international/middleeast/20mideast.html
BBC
Cyclone batters Australian coast
Emergency workers were forced to stay away despite residents' pleas
A powerful tropical cyclone has hit Australia's north-east coast, packing winds of up to 290km/h (180mph).
Tropical Cyclone Larry smashed into Queensland at Innisfail, about 100km (62 miles) south of Cairns - forcing thousands to evacuate their homes.
Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie declared a state of emergency, saying it was the "worst cyclone in decades".
Three people have been reported injured so far and up to 50,000 homes are without power, according to officials.
The storm was initially a category five - the strongest possible - but was downgraded to a category four shortly after it crossed the coastline.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4823580.stm
CIA renditions strain Europe goodwill
By Gordon Corera
BBC security correspondent
Extraordinary rendition is now part of the CIA's tactics
It was just before midday on 17 February in 2003 when the quiet of a suburban street in Milan was momentarily disturbed.
The bearded man in a tunic was walking down Via Guerzoni when he was approached by two men speaking Italian. One asked for his papers.
Once they confirmed his identity, he was bundled into a white van.
This was a so-called extraordinary rendition - a term referring to the abduction of terrorist suspects and their removal to countries other than the US for imprisonment and interrogation.
The man taken was a radical Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. Those thought to be responsible, the CIA.
Abu Omar was believed to have been flown from an American airbase at Aviano in Italy, to Germany and then on to Egypt.
Torture claims
In 2004, he was briefly released, and phoned his relatives and friends back home.
A friend with whom Abu Omar was in contact later gave a statement to the police in which he claims the cleric was subjected to torture.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4822374.stm
US attacks UN official on 'jails'
Arbour said she welcomed Rice's strong anti-torture stance
Washington has rebuked UN human rights commissioner Louise Arbour for criticising its anti-terror tactics as the alleged secret jails row goes on.
Ms Arbour said reports the US was using secret overseas sites to interrogate suspects harmed its moral authority and she wanted to inspect any such centres.
The US said it was inappropriate and illegitimate for her to question US conduct on the basis of media reports.
The issue is dogging a European tour by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
"Lots of human rights... can be set aside temporarily... but not the right to life and not the protection against torture."
Louise Arbour
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
She will meet Nato foreign ministers on Thursday for formal talks but at a dinner on Wednesday the jails allegation reportedly already surfaced.
"There were a number of frank interventions, always respectful of Condoleezza Rice as a person," a source briefed on the dinner was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
On Wednesday, Ms Rice said American interrogators were bound by an international convention banning the use of torture, regardless of whether they were working in the US or abroad.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4508892.stm
US captures 13 Somali 'pirates'
The US warships were patrolling the seas off Somalia
Thirteen suspected pirates involved in clashes with the US Navy off the Somali coast on Saturday have been captured, a spokesman for the men says.
Saleban Aadan Barqad told the BBC that his men were protecting fishing stocks from foreign vessels when they were attacked by the Americans.
The group has demanded that the United States release the men.
On Saturday, the US Navy reported an exchange of fire between two of its ships and the suspected pirates.
One person was killed and five wounded in the incident, which happened early on Saturday as the ships were conducting maritime security operations, reports say.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4822722.stm
Rabbi calls for 'UN of religions'
By Danny Wood
BBC News, Seville
Metzger spoke at the opening of the three-day conference
The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, has called for the creation of a world body with representatives from the major religious groups.
Rabbi Metzger was addressing the International Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace in Seville, Spain.
He called for the formation of a "United Nations of religious groups".
The Imam of Gaza, Imad al-Faluji, said politicians lied but religious leaders had a different objective - to work towards a higher good.
The imams and rabbis at this conference, which opened on Sunday, say the world is in crisis and it is time they acted to restore justice, respect and peace.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4800194.stm
Talabani hopeful on US-Iran talks
Mr Talabani says civil war in Iraq is a low risk
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has welcomed the prospect of talks between the US and Iran over Iraq.
He rejected comments that civil war is already raging in Iraq, but said it had come close after the destruction of a Shia shrine in Samarra last month.
He also told the BBC he is optimistic a new government can be formed within two weeks - or four at the most.
He said all parties had reached agreement on many points which would also diminish the threat of civil war.
However, Mr Talabani said another incident like Samarra would be dangerous and would lead to more bloodshed.
But he said he believed the risk was currently low.
Mr Talabani's comments contrast sharply with those of the former interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi.
"."We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more - if this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is
Iyad Allawi
Former Iraq PM
Mr Allawi told the BBC Iraq was already in the grip of a civil war that could tear it apart, although Iraq had not got to the point of no return.
The UK and US have repeatedly denied Iraq is facing a civil war, but Mr Allawi suggested there was no other way to describe the sectarian violence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4823194.stm
Indonesia mine shut after attack
By Tim Johnston
BBC, Jakarta
The world's largest gold producer, US company Newmont, has suspended operations at a mine in Indonesia, after an attack on an exploration camp.
A group of about 50 unidentified people razed the camp on the island of Sumbawa on Sunday.
Nobody was injured in the incident as operators were warned of the attack and evacuated the camp's 200 residents.
The attack comes against a background of rising anger at Western mining and energy interests in Indonesia.
'Fine line'
Last week four security officers were killed in the province of Papua by protesters demanding the closure of another gold mine owned by US giant Freeport McMoRan.
There have also been demonstrations in Java against a decision to make the American Exxon Mobil company the operator of an oil and gas field owned jointly with Indonesia's state energy company.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4823842.stm
USA Today
Powerful tropical storm lashes northeastern Australia
SYDNEY (AP) — A powerful tropical cyclone ripped the roofs off buildings and uprooted trees in northeastern Australia, tearing across the region on Monday with devastating winds that pinned emergency workers inside despite pleas from terrified residents.
This satellite image shows cyclone Larry over northeastern Australia on Sunday.
Bureau of Meteorology
With winds up to 180 mph at its height, Tropical Cyclone Larry smashed into the coastal community of Innisfail, about 60 miles south of Cairns, a popular jumping-off point for the Great Barrier Reef, sending hundreds of tourists and residents fleeing for higher ground.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2006-03-19-cyclone-australia_x.htm
Second human bird flu case found in Egypt
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt reported its second human case of avian flu Sunday, and Israel continued its slaughter of hundreds of thousands of birds while waiting to learn if the disease had spread to poultry there.
Egyptian farmers collect dead chickens to be disposed at the village of Noqbas, north of Cairo, Sunday.
By Nasser Nasser, AP
A 30-year-old Egyptian who worked on a chicken farm in the province of Qalyoubiya was the second person infected by the virus in Egypt, the Health Ministry said Sunday.
The man, identified as Mohammed Bahaaeddin Abdel-Menem, was recovering in the hospital after being admitted Thursday with a fever, Deputy Health Minister Nasser el-Sayyed said.
Ibrahim al-Gazzar, a cousin of the latest victim, said he doubted that other villagers were educated enough to seek medical treatment. "They would think it was a normal flu — that will be a disaster."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-03-19-bird-flu_x.htm
Afghan man prosecuted for converting
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday.
The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told Associated Press in an interview. Such a conversion would violate the country's Islamic laws.
Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when his trial started last week, the judge said.
During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Mawlavezada said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-03-19-convert_x.htm
9 young hikers killed, 2 missing in Colombia mudslide
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A mudslide swept down on a scouting expedition in central Colombia, killing nine young hikers and leaving two others missing, authorities said Sunday. The scouts had just been bathing and practicing knots when they were carried away, survivors said.
The Colombian scouts, ranging in age from 12 to 19, were on an expedition Saturday with two guides near the snowcapped Nevado del Ruiz volcano close to their home city of Manizales, said German Salgado, regional president of the Scouting Association of Colombia.
The scouts were in a boulder-filled canyon when heavy rains caused the Chinchina river to rise several feet, sending down a crushing load of earth and rock that swept away the scouts as they were bathing and practicing knots.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-03-19-colombia-mudslide_x.htm
Grenade blast cripples Iraq vet's memory
By Russ Bynum, Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND HILL, Ga. — His 3-year-old son Nicholas' first steps, the first time Liam, his newborn, smiled — Staff Sgt. Douglas Piper lived to see them. Then his scarred memory erased even those precious moments.
Staff Sgt. Douglas Piper holds his acrylic prosthetic eye.
By Stephen Morton, AP
"I can't remember what they did yesterday," Piper says. "Sometimes, I can't remember what I did yesterday. The days are broken."
Iraq left the 30-year-old Piper in his own personal fog of war, one in which remembering the moments and days since April 2003 can be as confusing a puzzle as predicting his civilian future.
Three years ago, in the war's first month, Piper became one of the now more than 17,000 U.S. troops wounded in action. A grenade blast in Baghdad mangled his right eye, collapsed his right eardrum and slammed his brain against the inside of his skull.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-19-postwar-fog_x.htm
Motion to censure president deserves backing of the people
Thank God that at least Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., has the guts to do what's needed: censure President Bush for his authorization of the National Security Agency to monitor, without a warrant, international calls and e-mails of people inside the USA when one party may be linked to terrorism ("Feingold seeks censure of Bush," News, March 13, News, Tuesday).
President Bush knew the law, and he could have gone to Congress to get it revised if he found it unworkable. Instead, he couldn't even be bothered to do that.
We moan, fulminate or snicker, but this president won't be shamed into better behavior. He must be brought back forcefully to the rule of law. Our congressional lawmakers are the people who must do this, but they apparently need much more pressure from us to do so.
I pray that my fellow citizens of both parties will urge their senators to stand up with Sen. Feingold and hold this president accountable.
Peggy Datz, Berkeley, Calif.
'Silly' resolution
As further evidence of just how loopy the Democrats have become, I offer Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold's silly motion to censure President Bush for authorizing wiretaps that never offered Bush an ounce of personal gain, and therefore must have been done for the good of the nation.
Leading Democrats know Feingold has backed their party into a corner they can't afford to be in. Many in the Democratic Party are already dealing with a horrid reputation for being weak on national security issues — a big part of the reason they can't win most important elections anymore.
I don't know what is simmering in the cheese vats in Wisconsin these days that is causing folks to elect flakes like Feingold, but whatever it is, I'm glad it's not on my menu.
Mark Overholser, St. Paul Park, Minn.
Consider impeachment
Major kudos to Russ Feingold for taking a bold action against a president and administration that feel the laws do not apply to them.
What kind of opposition party sits back and merely gives lip service to illegal executive branch operations? It is no wonder the Democrats are wallowing in the cellar.
We have three more years of this president and his administration. Every day I wait in dread to hear the newest skewed, deceitful angle taken by these power-mongers.
If I were a member of Congress, I'd stand in the Capitol and shout to the people, much like Jimmy Stewart rails against corruption in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and I'd demand this president and vice president be impeached for crimes against the Constitution.
Patricia Green, Columbia, Mo.
Dems are fault finders
Just once, I'd like to see a liberal Democrat stand for something positive. Instead, here's Sen. Russ Feingold demonstrating the true colors of the left.
As part of the "I hate everything to do with President Bush" crowd, Feingold is now throwing around such terms as "censure" for no other purpose than to show the American people that he and his fellow liberals have contempt for the president.
If Bush says, "black," I'd bet the house Feingold and his political-left supporters would say "white." National security doesn't matter to the left because if Bush is for it, people like Feingold will find reason to be against it.
Ed Zak, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
Democrats should unite
I am disappointed in Senate Democrats who are running from Russ Feingold's motion to censure the president.
It is not the time for Democrats to pander to swing voters, nor is it the time to be cowed by this power-hungry administration. Now is the time to stand up for the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law.
The president broke the law when he authorized illegal, warrantless wiretapping. There should be consequences. Admittedly, censure would be little more than a slap on the wrist. But it's a start.
Edward Possing, South Milwaukee, Wis.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-03-19-letters-censure_x.htm
National weather maps
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wrain.htm
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