Every so often, a new diet is touted as the secret to good health, rapid weight loss and flatter abs. The truth is, the perfect diet is already out there
has religious and women’s groups up in arms over what they describe as an extremely offensive and distasteful show title.
The dramedy, based on Kim Gatlin’s novel of the same name, will be brought to life by famed
"A portion of the genome map -- the information stored in an organism's DNA -- of maize, carefully decoded by scientists. A new handheld DNA scanner may be able to analyze human DNA in under an hour -- but how will it be used?" /
There are a lot of theories on the subject, and I have a few of my own. First, I would strongly argue with the premise. My industry is certainly made up predominantly of liberal Democrats, but there is a surprising number found on the other side of the political spectrum. Lots of writers, producers, directors and performers are quite conservative in their views, but you don’t hear from them as much or as noisily as you do from the left. Part of it, sadly, is the fear that they’ll suffer professionally if they’re
"March 3: Teammates hoist Wes Leonard up after he hit the game-winning basket as the Fennville (Mich.) Blackhawks celebrate their victory against the Bridgman Bees, bringing their record to 20-0." /
, my ex-wife is Jewish. So, I guess I should've rolled all that out too."
Sheen also called into Wired 96.5 on Thursday evening, comparing the station to "Vatican assassins" hours after the station flew a heart-emblazoned banner over his home.
Sheen has given a constant stream of interviews and media appearances in the last several weeks mixed in with a halt in the production of his show, "Two and a Half Men" and custody battle with his estranged wife that saw the couple's twin toddlers removed from his home Tuesday night.
During an encore appearance Friday morning, he told host Chio he feels positive about his job situation, saying "it feels like the hot springs of Middle Earth is finally ready to explode outward."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Authorities are investigating a California girl's claim that her family tried to force her into an arranged marriage in Pakistan, prompting the 13-year-old to run away from home and hide in a nearby motel.
Jesse Marie Bender disappeared from her Southern California home Feb. 22. Local and federal authorities launched a nationwide search for the child after her mother, Melissa Bender, said she thought her daughter was kidnapped by someone she met on Facebook.
But the family's account fell flat when police found the girl early Wednesday hiding at the Black Horse Motel in Apple Valley, Calif.
Jesse Bender, who was found unharmed and in the company of her biological uncle, told police she ran away to avoid being forced into an arranged marriage in Pakistan.
Roxanne Walker, a spokeswoman with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office, told FoxNews.com that the teen lived in Hesperia, Calif., with her biological mother and stepfather, Mohammad Khan, a Pakistani native, but Walker said there were conflicting reports on whether Melissa Bender and Khan were legally married.
Walker said the girl was first reported as a juvenile runaway. She said the girl's mother told police that her daughter was upset about having to go on a two-month vacation to Pakistan. Melissa Bender then changed her story, Walker said, when she told authorities that Jesse may have been taken by a man she met on Facebook.
"She
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A Connecticut town must provide their union workers free coffee and milk, according to a ruling from the State Board of Labor Relations.
The board also ordered town leaders to reinstate
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A Texas lawmaker is pushing a bill that would ensure most people caught with small amounts of marijuana do not face jail time.
The proposal, which the Texas Democrat has introduced before, would make getting caught with an ounce or less of pot similar to getting pulled over for speeding. Instead of facing up to six months in jail, the culprit would face a maximum $500 fine.
Though it may not pass, the proposal is coming out of a state that for years carried some of the nation's toughest marijuana penalties.
Allen St. Pierre, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that marijuana possession, even a small amount, carried a felony penalty and automatic jail time throughout the 1970s in Texas. The Texas Legislature modified the law a few years ago so that local jurisdictions could choose to fine, not lock up, minor offenders.
State Rep. Harold Dutton wants to make sure those offenders don't face any jail time. His proposal would automatically downgrade possession of one ounce or less from a "Class B" to a "Class C" misdemeanor.
Legalization advocates are getting behind the bill.
"From our point of view ... to have such a huge state like Texas that traditionally, historically has been so against these reforms, that would be one more indication of these reforms bubbling up from the states," St. Pierre said, adding that 13 states have taken jail time off the table for possessing small amounts of marijuana.
But he said that even if it passed, Republican Gov. Rick Perry would likely veto.
Possession of between one and two ounces would still be punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Anyone caught with between two and four ounces would face up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Click here to read more at MyFoxAustin.
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If President Obama will no longer defend the federal law against gay marriage, Republicans controlling the U.S. House say they will.
House Speaker John Boehner said Friday he is convening a bipartisan legal advisory group to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Boehner's announcement comes a week after the Obama Justice Department said it would no longer defend the law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, a reversal for the Obama administration, which had defended it despite the president's misgivings with the policy. The nation's lawyers as recently as last month had filed a court motion in support of the law.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that the Justice Department would continue to enforce the law but no longer would defend its constitutionality in court challenges.
"It is regrettable that the Obama administration has opened this divisive issue at a time when Americans want their leaders to focus on jobs and the challenges facing our economy," Boehner said in a statement. "The constitutionality of this law should be determined by the courts
Brigham Young University is standing by its decision to suspend a top player from its men's basketball team, saying it will not "relax" the school's honor code and make an exception for Brandon Davies.
The school's athletic department announced Thursday that Davies, the Cougars' leading rebounder from Provo, is no longer part of the third-ranked team.
Officials still haven't said how Davies broke the honor code but sources told the Salt Lake City Tribune that he was suspended for violating a provision forbidding premarital sex.
"We understand that people across the country might think this is foreign to them and they're shocked and surprised but for us, we deal with this quite often," athletic director Tom Holmoe said at a press conference Thursday.
Davies, a sophomore, is still a student at BYU but it's unclear whether he will be allowed to play next season, Fox13Now.com reports.
After an ugly 82-64 loss to New Mexico on Wednesday -- the worst setback by a top-three team in six years -- coach Dave Rose insisted his team would recover from the shakeup.
"This team has found ways to win games all year and I have all the confidence in the world we'll continue to do that," he said. "We'll get better. We'll find ways to deal with the loss of a player that we've relied on. We found ways to deal with the loss of Chris Collinsworth when he got knee surgery. We'll find ways to get around this."
The Cougars (27-3, 13-2 Mountain West Conference) had climbed the Top 25 by winning 17 of 18 behind player of the year favorite Jimmer Fredette. But that surge came to a crashing halt against New Mexico, which has won four straight against BYU.
"They played well and beat us," Rose said. "Now we're faced with a new challenge and that is to try to respond after we've been beat."
Holmoe said making Davies' dismissal public was not an intent "to throw him to the wolves." But, he added: "We won't relax the honor code for a situation that has to do with a basketball player."
Click here to read more on BYU's decision to suspend Brandon Davies from Fox13Now.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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Associated Press
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A Connecticut man believed to be responsible for rapes and other attacks on 17 women in several states since 1997 and dubbed the East Coast Rapist has been arrested, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was captured Friday afternoon based on a lead from authorities in Virginia, U.S. Marshal Joe Faughnan said.
U.S. marshals detained the man in New Haven, one of New England's biggest cities, and he was being held by police for questioning, police spokesman Officer Joseph Avery said. No charges had been filed against the man, who has a New Haven address and is about 40 years old, he said.
"We're still working the case," Avery said. "At this point we're trying to put everything together, and there's been no formal charges at this time."
The East Coast Rapist eluded authorities for years despite committing a string of high-risk outdoor attacks, law enforcement officials say.
In a recent effort to generate new leads in the case, authorities posted sketches of the suspect on electronic billboards in states where attacks occurred -- Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island -- and in neighboring states.
Police also set up a website about the case at eastcoastrapist.com. Detective John Kelly in Fairfax County, Va., said the website generated 44,000 hits in 12 hours after it was launched late last month.
The attacker wore a mask or hooded sweatshirt to conceal his face in some attacks, investigators say. He typically approached women outdoors on foot and threatened them with a knife, screwdriver or a handgun, they say.
The last known attack occurred on Halloween night in 2009, when two teenagers on their way home from trick-or-treating in Woodbridge, Va., were raped, authorities say.
The cases have been linked by DNA. Investigators say they have cleared more than 700 suspects.
The FBI began a national digital billboard campaign to solve crimes in 2007. Since then, authorities say, at least 39 cases have been solved as a result of tips from the public.
Those cases include the identification of a serial bank robbery suspect within 24 hours after billboards went up in several southern states and the arrest of a man dubbed the Granddad Bandit a week after authorities received a tip from someone who saw a billboard.
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from an unlikely source this week: the British government, long one of the U.N.’s staunchest supporters.
In a sweeping and hard-nosed reorganization of priorities for its $10.6 billion multilateral foreign aid program, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron has pulled the financial plug entirely on four U.N. agencies at the end of next year, put three others judged merely
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A Revolutionary War-era letter stolen nearly 60 years ago was returned to the Massachusetts Archives, the Boston Globe reports.
The two-page letter was penned on May 25, 1775, by Joseph Warren, a major general and war hero who wrote about the colonists' victory at Fort Ticonderoga -- a historic battle that was influential in forcing the British troops out of Boston, according to the newspaper.
"It is an important part of our history and was probably the last official letter he wrote before he was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill,'' Secretary of State William F. Galvin told the Boston Globe. "It ties together a lot of significant historical events."
The letter was reportedly stolen about 60 years ago when the archives were kept in the basement of the State House.
It eventually made its way into the hands of a collector, the Globe reported, and when it was discovered after the collector's death while his estate was being liquidated, the state negotiated to buy it back for $8,000. Authorities don't suspect the collector was involved with the theft 60 years ago.
Click here to read more on the letter from the Boston Globe
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Salazar said.
But Sen. Landrieu noted that before the blowout, the government's own experts said production in the Gulf of Mexico this year would be 1.77 million barrels a day. Now that projection has dropped to 1.39 million.
In 2012, the government originally projected production of 1.82 million barrels a day, but now sees a decline to 1.14 million barrels a day.
That is a drop of 680,000 barrels a day, which equals about half of the global exports from Libya. Unrest in Libya has led to concerns over a disruption in that country’s exports, creating fears that are driving oil prices higher.
At the same time, some Republican senators charge the Environmental Protection Agency is out to kill the coal industry.
More than half the nation's electricity comes from coal, and Senate Minority Leader McConnell, R-Ky., accuses the EPA of sitting on mine applications, noting 79 are now in bureaucratic limbo.
"The EPA has turned the permitting process into a back-door means of shutting down coal mines by sitting on permits indefinitely, thus removing any regulatory certainty," he said.
So McConnell, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and others introduced a bill to force the EPA to use or lose its veto over mine applications within 60 days.
Print Email Share Comments Recommend View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment. View ArticleView All Comments Latest Politics Videos March 04, 2011Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:06:14 GMT6:03 PM EST
"March 4: NFL outside labor counsel Bob Batterman, right, followed by Paul Hicks, Executive VP/Communications & Government Affairs, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell arrive for football labor negotiations with the NFL players involving a federal mediator in Washington." /
"The Utah House was to vote as early as Thursday on legislation that would recognize gold and silver coins issued by the federal government as legal currency in the state. (AP)" /
A peculiar thing was happening in Iowa. The handicapped parking spaces always seemed to be full.
So state Republican Rep. Dave Tjepkes, teaming up with another lawmaker, set about to figure out why. What they found stunned them.
Nearly a half-million parking permits were in circulation in Iowa, covering about 270,000 people. That's close to 10 percent of Iowa's population.
"The numbers kind of speak for themselves," Tjepkes said.
Claiming some Iowans are clearly abusing the system, Tjepkes and Democratic Rep. Jim Lykam have proposed a new bill to bring some order to the handicapped permit free-for-all. As it turns out, Iowa doesn't have much of a system for checking up on people who've been issued a permit.
So if a permit holder no longer needs it, or dies, that pass can stay in circulation forever.
The statewide statistics, released last month, effectively confirmed for Tjepkes stories about how people were holding on to parking permits long after the loved ones who used them died.
"The joke we have is they pass them down to the future generations," he said.
But for lawmakers and disability advocates, it's no laughing matter. Those who have heart conditions or respiratory problems, or who are confined to a wheelchair, need those parking spots.
Tjepkes' and Lykam's proposal, which recently passed out of committee in the House, would make all new handicapped permits valid for five years. At that point, they would have to be renewed.
The solution, though, doesn't solve the problem of the more than 460,000 permits floating around Iowa, not all of which are legitimate.
Iowa officials were worried it would cost too much money to require everyone to renew their permits. Just mailing out the notifications could cost the state more than $100,000, one lobbyist told a local newspaper.
Sylvia Piper, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, expressed concern that the new proposal would "grandfather" in the old permits. She said she still thinks those permits should be "managed" better.
"We have serious violations of those spots for people who truly need to have those parking spaces available to them," she said.
Piper said she routinely monitors handicapped parking spots, confronting delivery truck drivers and people without permits who park in them. She said she hopes the legislative proposal makes a difference.
"It could be your mother. It could be your grandfather who is eventually going to need this," she said.
Tjepkes acknowledged the state can't claw back the questionable permits that may be out there. But by raising awareness about the problem, he hopes to guilt-trip any cheaters.
"Hopefully, their conscience will bother them to a degree that they will refrain from doing that," he said.
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"Feb. 22: This combination of photos of Jared Loughner was released by the U.S. Marshal's Service. The photo was taken in Phoenix while Loughner was in the agency's custody. (AP)" /
The unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent in February, hitting the lowest point in nearly two years as employers started hiring at a faster pace.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that several industries, including the manufacturing and construction sectors, saw job gains last month. In all, the economy added 192,000 jobs last month, marking the fastest pace of growth in almost a year. By contrast, state and local governments wrestling with budget shortfalls slashed 30,000 jobs, the most since November.
The government's report Friday bolstered hopes that employers will shift into a more aggressive hiring mode and allow the economic recovery to get on firmer footing.
The unemployment rate has been falling for three months, down from 9.8 percent in November. The jobless rate is now at the lowest point since April 2009.
House Speaker John Boehner called the numbers "welcome news," though he noted that the jobless rate is still "far above where the Obama administration promised it would be" when it pitched the stimulus package to the American people.
The number of unemployed people dipped to 13.7 million, almost double the number before the recession.
But Boehner called the improvement "a credit to the hard work of the American people" and Congress' vote to stop a tax hike at the beginning of the year.
"Now we must build on it by eliminating the job-crushing uncertainty being caused by excessive spending, borrowing, and regulating in Washington," Boehner said.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid countered that Republicans' "reckless spending plan" would only eliminate jobs. Both sides are locked in a bitter debate over how much to budget for the rest of 2011.
"To keep our economy moving in the right direction, Republicans should work with us to quickly pass a long-term budget that reduces the deficit while protecting jobs, and gives businesses certainty," Reid said.
The monthly unemployment rate is based on surveys conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics of thousands of households and businesses. The jobless rate is smaller than the actual percentage of people in the United States who are unemployed, since it does not count people who have stopped looking for work. When those who have stopped looking for work and those who have settled for part-time employment are factored in, the rate rises to 15.9 percent.
Still, private employers added 222,000 jobs last month, the most since April. That shows that companies are feeling more confident in the economy and about their own financial prospects. And it bolstered hopes that businesses will shift into a more aggressively hiring mode and boost the economic recovery.
When factoring in the number of part-time workers who would rather be working full time and those who have given up looking for work, the percentage of "underemployed" people dropped to 15.9 percent in February. That's the lowest in nearly two years.
The positive news on the hiring front comes as the larger economy is gaining momentum.
American shoppers are spending more. U.S. exporters are selling more abroad. Manufacturing is growing at the fastest pace in nearly seven years. And the service sector, which employs about 90 percent of the work force, is expanding at the fastest clip in more than five years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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"Feb. 3: Police patrol Germany's Frankfurt Airport a day after Wednesday's attack on a busload of U.S. airmen that killed two and wounded two others. Security experts told FoxNews.com that the attack -- and another in Moscow in January -- show glaring security gaps at airport terminals in the U.S. and around the world. (AP)" /
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued notices to state unions Friday of possible layoffs beginning early next month after none of the 14 fugitive state Senate Democrats returned from Illinois to give the Republican majority the quorum it needed to vote on a spending bill.
Once the unions are notified, the layoffs could take effect in 30 days. State departments will have a couple weeks to develop layoff plans.
The unions were notified the layoffs could begin in early April, said Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie, adding that the notices may be withdrawn if the Senate Democrats return to Wisconsin.
"Without Senate action within 15 days, individual employees may begin to receive potential termination notifications," Werwie said in a written statement.
The layoff notices, obtained by Fox News, do not specify how many employees would be affected. But Walker has said his administration would have to start preparing layoff notices for as many as 1,500 state employees so the state can start to realize the $30 million savings he had assumed would come from the concessions.
Senate Republicans voted Thursday to hold the missing Democrats in contempt and force police to bring them back to the Capitol. But the Democrats were still on the run Friday.
The legislation, which would strip most public-sector workers in the state of their collective bargaining rights, has led to nearly three weeks of protests -- some attended by tens of thousands of union supporters -- in and around the state Capitol, which was completely cleared of demonstrators late Thursday for the first time in 17 nights after a judge ordered the building closed during non-business hours.
Walker says the bill is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013. His proposal comes up with the money for this year in part by forcing state employees to pay for half the cost of their pensions and twice their current health care premiums -- concessions equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut.
With the labor bill stalled, Walker said he has to issue layoff notices starting Friday.
All state workers, except those at prisons, state hospitals and other facilities open around the clock, would be potential layoff targets, he said.
"I pushed it off as long as I could because I do not want to have layoffs," Walker said.
While Walker said he is actively working with some of the Democrats in hopes of striking a deal, he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he won't compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money.
"I can't take any of that off the table," he said. "We cannot tear apart this budget. We cannot put this burden on local governments. But if there are other ways they are willing to work with us to find a pathway back, I think that's what people want."
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller confirmed there were talks with Walker, but he did not think they were close to reaching a deal.
The statewide teachers union and state workers unions have said they would agree to the benefit concessions -- as long as they retain collective bargaining rights.
But Walker argues that move is necessary to deal with $1 billion in cuts to school districts and local governments that he proposed separately as part of his budget plan for the next two years. He says schools and local governments would have a tough time making the necessary cuts if they have to negotiate with unions.
Fitzgerald signed orders Thursday finding the 14 missing Democrats in contempt and allowing the chamber's sergeant at arms to use police force to detain them if necessary. Fitzgerald says his orders are binding only if the senators return to Wisconsin.
Democrats say they haven't done anything illegal and couldn't be arrested.
"There are so many police supporting us, they might have a hard time finding one to bring us back," said Miller, one of the AWOL Democrats.
A memo provided by private attorney Jim Troupis, who was hired by the Senate Republicans and often works with the GOP, said the state Constitution gives them authority to act to compel attendance under its rules.
Once the senators do return, Fitzgerald said they could face reprimand, censure or even expulsion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Seattle attorney Marianne Meeker doesn't have health insurance and doesn't want the government ordering her to buy it. She pays her doctor with cash. And because Dr. Vern Cherewatenko only takes cash, he can charge a lot less than his peers who deal with Medicare and insurance companies.
"I don't think you can force people to carry insurance," Meeker said. "I don't think that's part of our mindset."
Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio says he has an answer to these concerns. The Democratic congressman has introduced legislation that would allow people to opt out of the so-called individual mandate -- but exercising that choice would come with some risk.
Anybody who takes the opt-out option would automatically waive his or her right to any government-funded medical help for at least three years.
"It's your choice," DeFazio said. "But remember, there's consequences, and you're not going to pass those costs on to your neighbors, and your community, and other taxpayers and others in the country who are insured."
DeFazio is effectively offering individual mandate critics a strings-attached compromise, but it's unclear whether anybody would want to take it.
H.R. 767 would create a set of consequences for those who want to stay uninsured. If they needed to buy private insurance later, they would not have the protections of the federal health care overhaul, including its ban on insurance companies denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. People who opt out would not be able to buy insurance through a state exchange. If they end up getting sick and racking up big medical bills, they would not be able to shed that debt through personal bankruptcy. The bills would follow them around just as student loan costs do.
A Harris Interactive/Health Day poll released this week shows there is strong opposition to the individual mandate. According to the survey of 3,149 adults taken Feb.16-18, 50 percent of Americans oppose the individual mandate clause in the health care law and believe it to be unconstitutional. Only 22 percent support it while the rest are still unsure.
The individual mandate is not only controversial among the public, its constitutionality is still being decided by the courts. Five federal judges have ruled on the matter. Three have maintained that under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution the federal government has the authority to require individuals to purchase health insurance, but two other judges ruled it did not. Judge Roger Vinson, in fact, ruled the whole law unconstitutional because the individual mandate provision is so central to the reform.
A plaintiff in one of the lawsuits is the National Federation of Independent Business, and a spokesman in Washington State came out in opposition to the DeFazio bill.
"Simply allowing some people to opt out of an unconstitutional mandate is not the preferred course," said Patrick Connor of the NFIB.
Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute also opposes the original health care law and DeFazio's compromise. "This is really an effort to save Obamacare," Cannon said. "I don't think Republicans will go along with it."
Libyan rebels have taken the oil port city of Ras Lanouf as Qaddafi forces tried to take back the opposition-held city of Zawiya Friday. At least 37 people were killed in the clashes, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Hospital officials in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi say an explosion at an ammunition depot has killed at least 17 people.
Dr. Habib al-Obeidi in Benghazi's al-Jalaa hospital says Friday's blast at a military base also hit a nearby residential area. Witnesses on the scene, about 20 miles from downtown, say ambulances are rushing to the area and secondary explosions caused two fire trucks to blow up.
The cause of the blast is unclear. Al-Obeidi says it apparently was triggered when people went into the storage facility to collect weapons, but others blamed pro-Qaddafi forces for triggering the blast.
In Tripoli, Qaddafi loyalists fired tear gas and live ammunition to smother a new outbreak of protests.
The fighting underlined how both sides are pushing against the deadlock that has gripped Libya's 18-day-old upheaval. The rebellion has broken away the entire eastern half of the country from Qaddafi's control and has swept over several cities in the west close to the capital.
So far, Qaddafi has had little success in taking back territory, with several rebel cities repelling assaults in the past weeks. But the opposition forces have seemed unable to go on the offensive to march on areas still under. Meanwhile, in Tripoli -- Qaddafi's most important bastion -- his loyalists have waged a campaign of terror to ensure that protesters do not rise up in significant numbers.
Friday's assault on the rebel city of Zawiya, about 30 miles west of Tripoli, appeared to be the strongest yet by Qaddafi's forces after repeated earlier forays against it were beaten back.
In the morning, troops from the elite Khamis Brigade -- named after the son of Qaddafi who commands it -- bombarded the city's western edges with mortars, heavy machine guns, tanks and anti-aircraft guns, several residents said. By the evening, they had also opened a front on the eastern side. Armed Zawiya citizens backed by allied army units were fighting back.
The commander of the rebel forces -- Hussein Darbouk -- was shot to death by fire from an anti-aircraft gun, said Alaa al-Zawi, an activist in the city. Darbouk was a colonel in Qaddafi's army who defected along with other army troops in Zawiya early on in the uprising.
A witness who was at Zawiya's hospital said at least 18 people in the city were killed and 120 wounded. Libyan state TV claimed the attackers had retaken the city. But al-Zawi, the witness and other residents said it remained in opposition hands, with skirmishes continuing after nightfall.
They and other witnesses and residents around the country spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
The day's other fighting took place at Ras Lanouf, a small oil port 380 miles east of Tripoli, just outside the long swath of eastern Libya controlled by the opposition.
Rebels attacked Ras Lanouf on Friday afternoon, feeling flush with victory after repelling Qaddafi forces who attacked them days earlier at Brega, a larger oil facility just to the east. Fighters armed with Kalashnikovs and heavy machine guns were seen streaming in pickup trucks and other vehicles from Brega heading in the direction of Ras Lanouf.
They battled with about 3,000 pro-Qaddafi troops, mainly around the facility's airstrip, said a resident of the town. She reported heavy explosions starting around 4 p.m. As night fell, the explosions eased, she said, but it was not clear who was in control of the complex, which includes a port and storage facilities for crude coming from fields in the deserts to the south.
The fall of other parts of the country has made control of the capital Tripoli, his strongest bastion, crucial for Qaddafi. His loyalists have taken fierce action to ensure protesters cannot rise up and overwhelm the city as they have in other places.
Last week, Friday marches were met by barrages of gunfire from militiamen shooting into crowds, killing a still undetermined number. Since then, pro-Gadhafi forces have carried out a wave of arrests against suspected demonstrators, snatching some from their homes in nighttime raids, instilling fear in the most restive neighborhoods.
In the latest opposition attempt, more than 1,500 protesters marched out of the Murad Agha mosque after noon prayers Friday in the eastern Tripoli district of Tajoura, chanting "the people want to bring the regime down" and waved the red, black and green flag of Libya's pre-Qaddafi monarchy, adopted as the banner up the uprising.
But pro-Qaddafi forces quickly moved in. They fired volleys of tear gas and -- when the marchers continued -- opened fire with live ammunition, according to witnesses.
It was not clear if they fired at the crowd or into the air, but the protesters scattered, many of them taking refuge back in the mosque, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene. A doctor said several people were wounded and taken to a nearby hospital.
"All these people are threatened with death," said a 35-year-old among the Tajoura protesters Friday. "We have no education, no economy, no infrastructure. ... We want nothing but the end of the regime. We were born free but he is suppressing us." He said he had recently had kidney surgery, but "look at me, still I went out with the people because we are oppressed people."
"I am not afraid," said another man in the march. "We want to show the world that we are not afraid."
The fear seemed to have had an impact, and some protests in other parts of the capital didn't get off the ground. One resident said he went to prayers at a downtown mosque and found police officers standing outside to ensure no one marched. After prayers, the worshippers dispersed without protests.
Instead, dozens of Qaddafi supporters turned up for a counterdemonstration in Tripoli's central Green Square, waving green flags.
Before prayers, the worshippers gathering inside the Murad Agha mosque debated what to do. They said messages between Tripoli organizers were being aired on radio being aired from Benghazi, the main city in the opposition-held east, and audible in the capital.
At one point, they decided to hold a sit-in inside the mosque to avoid coming under gunfire by stepping outside. In the mosque's courtyard, they burned a copy of the Green Book, Qaddafi's political manifesto, as well as the green flag of Qaddafi's Libya.
At the same time, young men from the neighborhood transformed a nearby square, tearing down posters of the Libyan leader and replacing them with the flags. They spray-painted walls with graffiti reading, "Down with Qaddafi" and "Tajoura will dig your grave."
In the end, the 400 worshippers in the mosque decided to march, joined by hundreds of others.
Ahead of the planned protests, Internet services, which have been spotty throughout Libya's upheaval, appeared to be halted completely in Tripoli on Friday. Renesys Corp., a Manchester, New Hampshire, company that maps the pathways of the Internet, said it wasn't able to reach any of the websites it tried to access inside Libya on Friday. Google's transparency report, which shows traffic to the company's sites from various countries, also showed that Internet traffic had fallen to zero in Libya.
Libyan authorities briefly barred many foreign journalists from leaving their hotel in Tripoli, claiming it was for their protection because they had information "Al Qaeda elements" plan to open fire on police to spark clashes. They later allowed them to go out into Tripoli.
Several hours before prayers, security forces began to take up positions. In Tajoura, police set up two checkpoints on the main highway leading to downtown. They stopped cars to search them, check drivers' ID and ask where they were going or coming from.
Qaddafi loyalists in the capital have unleashed a wave of arrests and disappearances since last Friday's bloodshed. Bodies of people who vanished have been dumped in the street. Gunmen in SUVs have descended on homes in the night to drag away suspected protesters, identified by video footage of protests that militiamen have pored through to spot faces. Other militiamen have searched hospitals for wounded to take away.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Print Email Share Comments RecommendRepublican Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman was chased around the state Capitol on Tuesday evening by dozens of pro-union protesters yelling
"Feb. 23: Attorney General Eric Holder answers a student's question after his speech commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh." /
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Print Email Share Comments RecommendWisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued notices to state unions Friday of possible layoffs beginning early next month after none of the 14 fugitive state Senate Democrats returned from Illinois to give the Republican majority the quorum it needed to vote on a spending bill.
Once the unions are notified, the layoffs could take effect in 30 days. State departments will have a couple weeks to develop layoff plans.
The unions were notified the layoffs could begin in early April, said Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie, adding that the notices may be withdrawn if the Senate Democrats return to Wisconsin.
"Without Senate action within 15 days, individual employees may begin to receive potential termination notifications," Werwie said in a written statement.
The layoff notices, obtained by Fox News, do not specify how many employees would be affected. But Walker has said his administration would have to start preparing layoff notices for as many as 1,500 state employees so the state can start to realize the $30 million savings he had assumed would come from the concessions.
Senate Republicans voted Thursday to hold the missing Democrats in contempt and force police to bring them back to the Capitol. But the Democrats were still on the run Friday.
The legislation, which would strip most public-sector workers in the state of their collective bargaining rights, has led to nearly three weeks of protests -- some attended by tens of thousands of union supporters -- in and around the state Capitol, which was completely cleared of demonstrators late Thursday for the first time in 17 nights after a judge ordered the building closed during non-business hours.
Walker says the bill is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013. His proposal comes up with the money for this year in part by forcing state employees to pay for half the cost of their pensions and twice their current health care premiums -- concessions equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut.
With the labor bill stalled, Walker said he has to issue layoff notices starting Friday.
All state workers, except those at prisons, state hospitals and other facilities open around the clock, would be potential layoff targets, he said.
"I pushed it off as long as I could because I do not want to have layoffs," Walker said.
While Walker said he is actively working with some of the Democrats in hopes of striking a deal, he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he won't compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money.
"I can't take any of that off the table," he said. "We cannot tear apart this budget. We cannot put this burden on local governments. But if there are other ways they are willing to work with us to find a pathway back, I think that's what people want."
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller confirmed there were talks with Walker, but he did not think they were close to reaching a deal.
The statewide teachers union and state workers unions have said they would agree to the benefit concessions -- as long as they retain collective bargaining rights.
But Walker argues that move is necessary to deal with $1 billion in cuts to school districts and local governments that he proposed separately as part of his budget plan for the next two years. He says schools and local governments would have a tough time making the necessary cuts if they have to negotiate with unions.
Fitzgerald signed orders Thursday finding the 14 missing Democrats in contempt and allowing the chamber's sergeant at arms to use police force to detain them if necessary. Fitzgerald says his orders are binding only if the senators return to Wisconsin.
Democrats say they haven't done anything illegal and couldn't be arrested.
"There are so many police supporting us, they might have a hard time finding one to bring us back," said Miller, one of the AWOL Democrats.
A memo provided by private attorney Jim Troupis, who was hired by the Senate Republicans and often works with the GOP, said the state Constitution gives them authority to act to compel attendance under its rules.
Once the senators do return, Fitzgerald said they could face reprimand, censure or even expulsion.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent in February, hitting the lowest point in nearly two years as employers started hiring at a faster pace.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that several industries, including the manufacturing and construction sectors, saw job gains last month. In all, the economy added 192,000 jobs last month, marking the fastest pace of growth in almost a year. By contrast, state and local governments wrestling with budget shortfalls slashed 30,000 jobs, the most since November.
The government's report Friday bolstered hopes that employers will shift into a more aggressive hiring mode and allow the economic recovery to get on firmer footing.
The unemployment rate has been falling for three months, down from 9.8 percent in November. The jobless rate is now at the lowest point since April 2009.
House Speaker John Boehner called the numbers "welcome news," though he noted that the jobless rate is still "far above where the Obama administration promised it would be" when it pitched the stimulus package to the American people.
The number of unemployed people dipped to 13.7 million, almost double the number before the recession.
But Boehner called the improvement "a credit to the hard work of the American people" and Congress' vote to stop a tax hike at the beginning of the year.
"Now we must build on it by eliminating the job-crushing uncertainty being caused by excessive spending, borrowing, and regulating in Washington," Boehner said.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid countered that Republicans' "reckless spending plan" would only eliminate jobs. Both sides are locked in a bitter debate over how much to budget for the rest of 2011.
"To keep our economy moving in the right direction, Republicans should work with us to quickly pass a long-term budget that reduces the deficit while protecting jobs, and gives businesses certainty," Reid said.
The monthly unemployment rate is based on surveys conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics of thousands of households and businesses. The jobless rate is smaller than the actual percentage of people in the United States who are unemployed, since it does not count people who have stopped looking for work. When those who have stopped looking for work and those who have settled for part-time employment are factored in, the rate rises to 15.9 percent.
Still, private employers added 222,000 jobs last month, the most since April. That shows that companies are feeling more confident in the economy and about their own financial prospects. And it bolstered hopes that businesses will shift into a more aggressively hiring mode and boost the economic recovery.
When factoring in the number of part-time workers who would rather be working full time and those who have given up looking for work, the percentage of "underemployed" people dropped to 15.9 percent in February. That's the lowest in nearly two years.
The positive news on the hiring front comes as the larger economy is gaining momentum.
American shoppers are spending more. U.S. exporters are selling more abroad. Manufacturing is growing at the fastest pace in nearly seven years. And the service sector, which employs about 90 percent of the work force, is expanding at the fastest clip in more than five years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Print Email Share Comments Recommend View ArticleLeave a CommentSort: NewestSort: Oldest Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. You must login to comment. View ArticleView All Comments Latest Politics Videos March 04, 2011Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:06:14 GMT6:03 PM ESTIt is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.
As the abortion and gay marriage debates simmer beneath the national brawl over spending, a new poll shows Americans are becoming much less conservative when it comes to social issues.
A Pew Research Center poll released Thursday showed growing support for legal abortion, gay marriage and marijuana legalization.
The shifting attitudes on the latter topic were particularly dramatic. Americans opposed legalizing marijuana by an 81-16 split two decades ago. The latest poll showed just 50 percent now oppose the change, while 45 percent support legalizing marijuana.
On the abortion question, the survey showed Americans trending toward supporting abortion rights after a brief drift in the opposite direction. A 54 percent majority favored legal abortion, while 42 percent opposed it.
The poll also showed more Americans coming around to the idea of same-sex marriage. Though Americans were opposed to gay marriage by nearly 2-1 a decade ago, the latest poll showed 45 percent in support of it, with 46 percent in opposition.
The survey showed the public split just about even over the issue of gun control, with as many people supporting gun rights as gun regulation.
The survey was conducted Feb. 22 through March 1 among 1,504 adults. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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"March 4: Obama is greeted by Florida Gov. Rick Scott and his wife Ann upon his arrival to Miami International Airport. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced March 4 that $2.4 billion in high-speed rail funding intended for Florida will be sent to other states after the state Supreme Court upheld Gov. Rick Scott's decision to reject the money." /
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Print Email Share Comments RecommendPhoenix was once dubbed the kidnapping capital of the United States. Now it turns out that claim may have been based on faulty information.
An investigation into 2008 Phoenix Police crime statistics has found that reports of 358 kidnappings that year may have been inflated. The stats may have been padded in order to receive a $1.7 million federal grant, and it's caught the attention of the Department of Justice.
According to an analysis of police reports:
-- Only 25 percent of the kidnappings were connected to border-related human or drug smuggling.
-- 53 reports don't use the word "kidnapping" but were other crimes such as assault or robberies.
-- 59 reports pertained to "information" only, not crimes. Some were just women who said men tried to pick them up off the street.
-- Some reports were counted twice.
The Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the union representing the police officers, says there were not 300-plus kidnappings several years ago, but only about 75.
"Apparently there is a belief there was a mistake made," said Mark Spencer, president of P.L.E.A. "We do not think it was a mistake but a foul."
Spencer added, "Clearly they were warned the numbers were bad and they went ahead with them anyway."
Now there are both federal and local investigations underway. The Department of Justice and Inspector General are looking into the claims, and the city is launching its own investigation. On Thursday, the city announced that police chief Jack Harris will no longer oversee the day-to-day operations of the police department. A new acting chief has been named while a city panel completes a review of Harris' situation in 60 days.
Assistant City Manager Ed Zuercher said he believes the agency will be cleared.
"I am confident that it does not involve fraud, it may involve mistakes and sloppy record keeping, and that's what we need to get into and look at," said Zuercher.
Meanwhile, the former police chief is defending his department and his job.
"Anyone that wants these stars can come and get them but I got news for you, I'm not giving them to you, you're going to have to take them," Harris told the media on Thursday.
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Print Email Share Comments RecommendA Texas lawmaker is pushing a bill that would ensure most people caught with small amounts of marijuana do not face jail time.
The proposal, which the Texas Democrat has introduced before, would make getting caught with an ounce or less of pot similar to getting pulled over for speeding. Instead of facing up to six months in jail, the culprit would face a maximum $500 fine.
Though it may not pass, the proposal is coming out of a state that for years carried some of the nation's toughest marijuana penalties.
Allen St. Pierre, director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said that marijuana possession, even a small amount, carried a felony penalty and automatic jail time throughout the 1970s in Texas. The Texas Legislature modified the law a few years ago so that local jurisdictions could choose to fine, not lock up, minor offenders.
State Rep. Harold Dutton wants to make sure those offenders don't face any jail time. His proposal would automatically downgrade possession of one ounce or less from a "Class B" to a "Class C" misdemeanor.
Legalization advocates are getting behind the bill.
"From our point of view ... to have such a huge state like Texas that traditionally, historically has been so against these reforms, that would be one more indication of these reforms bubbling up from the states," St. Pierre said, adding that 13 states have taken jail time off the table for possessing small amounts of marijuana.
But he said that even if it passed, Republican Gov. Rick Perry would likely veto.
Possession of between one and two ounces would still be punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Anyone caught with between two and four ounces would face up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Click here to read more at MyFoxAustin.
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Print Email Share Comments RecommendSeattle attorney Marianne Meeker doesn't have health insurance and doesn't want the government ordering her to buy it. She pays her doctor with cash. And because Dr. Vern Cherewatenko only takes cash, he can charge a lot less than his peers who deal with Medicare and insurance companies.
"I don't think you can force people to carry insurance," Meeker said. "I don't think that's part of our mindset."
Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio says he has an answer to these concerns. The Democratic congressman has introduced legislation that would allow people to opt out of the so-called individual mandate -- but exercising that choice would come with some risk.
Anybody who takes the opt-out option would automatically waive his or her right to any government-funded medical help for at least three years.
"It's your choice," DeFazio said. "But remember, there's consequences, and you're not going to pass those costs on to your neighbors, and your community, and other taxpayers and others in the country who are insured."
DeFazio is effectively offering individual mandate critics a strings-attached compromise, but it's unclear whether anybody would want to take it.
H.R. 767 would create a set of consequences for those who want to stay uninsured. If they needed to buy private insurance later, they would not have the protections of the federal health care overhaul, including its ban on insurance companies denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. People who opt out would not be able to buy insurance through a state exchange. If they end up getting sick and racking up big medical bills, they would not be able to shed that debt through personal bankruptcy. The bills would follow them around just as student loan costs do.
A Harris Interactive/Health Day poll released this week shows there is strong opposition to the individual mandate. According to the survey of 3,149 adults taken Feb.16-18, 50 percent of Americans oppose the individual mandate clause in the health care law and believe it to be unconstitutional. Only 22 percent support it while the rest are still unsure.
The individual mandate is not only controversial among the public, its constitutionality is still being decided by the courts. Five federal judges have ruled on the matter. Three have maintained that under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution the federal government has the authority to require individuals to purchase health insurance, but two other judges ruled it did not. Judge Roger Vinson, in fact, ruled the whole law unconstitutional because the individual mandate provision is so central to the reform.
A plaintiff in one of the lawsuits is the National Federation of Independent Business, and a spokesman in Washington State came out in opposition to the DeFazio bill.
"Simply allowing some people to opt out of an unconstitutional mandate is not the preferred course," said Patrick Connor of the NFIB.
Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute also opposes the original health care law and DeFazio's compromise. "This is really an effort to save Obamacare," Cannon said. "I don't think Republicans will go along with it."
"Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., talks on his cell phone at the Kennedy Space Center press building prior to the launch of space shuttle Discovery in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011.(AP)" /
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Print Email Share Comments RecommendA Maryland House committee has moved forward a bill to legalize gay marriage in the state.
The panel voted 12 to 10 to approve the bill Friday.
The bill, which already has been passed by the state Senate, now goes to the full House of Delegates.
Same-sex couples in Maryland would have the same full marriage rights as heterosexuals under the bill. It includes protections for religious groups and institutions to keep them from being forced to participate in gay weddings.
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"The Utah House was to vote as early as Thursday on legislation that would recognize gold and silver coins issued by the federal government as legal currency in the state. (AP)" /
",dek:"
Calves are easy prey for wolves. While most wolves hunt wild game, if they do kill a calf they often come back for more. ",date:"March 4, 2011",language:""
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner are at loggerheads over a GOP stopgap measure that would slash $61 billion in federal spending and keep the government funded through September. (AP)" /
In the face of Republican calls for Democrats to offer a plan of their own for funding the federal government, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled a $1.1 trillion bill which imposes $6.5 billion in new spending cuts -- and then promptly declared both it and the rival House GOP proposal dead on arrival.
"Not to spoil the surprise, but we all know how it will turn out. We know neither will reach the president's desk as read," Reid predicted Friday, as he set the Senate up for a Tuesday vote on the House-passed bill to fund the government for the remaining seven months of the federal fiscal year.
"We'll end up back at square one without consensus, without a budget for the rest of this fiscal year, and without assurances that we can keep the country running," Reid said. "So, once these votes are behind us, and everyone's voice is heard, I hope each senator and member of Congress will find renewed motivation to do what we needed to do since the beginning, come together, negotiate in good faith."
As he also sought a vote on the new Democratic alternative, Reid repeatedly called the House GOP legislation "mean-spirited" and "political," describing the legislative process there as "a mad rush to see who could do the most sensational amendment." The GOP proposal, which passed the House, would have cut $61 billion from 2010 spending levels, while the Democrats' plan calls for $6.5 billion in new cuts, in addition to a $4 billion reduction agreed to in a bipartisan stopgap bill signed Wednesday by the president.
Republican leaders matched Reid's dismissive rhetoric with disdain of their own.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the $6.5 billion in cuts in Reid's 352-page bill, first announced Thursday with Vice President Biden's visit to Capitol Hill for negotiations, "little more than one more proposal to maintain the status quo -- to give the appearance of action where there is none. This latest proposal is unacceptable, and it's indefensible."
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, clearly on message with McConnell, said, "The White House and congressional Democrats finally announced their position. Unfortunately, it is little more than the status quo, and the status quo is indefensible and unacceptable."
The Democratic funding bill includes tens of billions of dollars more than the Republican plan in funding for customs and border security, weapons of mass destruction training, nuclear nonproliferation, the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and overseas diplomatic operations, among many other areas. Interestingly, the Army Corps of Engineers, always a highly popular program back home for members, receives more than the president requested.
Calling them "responsible cuts," Democrats rescinded money from "surplus firefighting funds," some federal building construction, unallocated funds from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration seat belt grant program, and unused funds remaining in the national "Cash for Clunkers" program, and made cuts to funding for some expanded transit service.
Democrats continued to tout $51 billion in cuts. However, that merely claims savings from a budget that was never implemented. Democrats did not approve a budget last year when they controlled both house of Congress and instead opted to keep spending at 2010 levels. Reid and White House budget officials are now trying to count money sought by President Obama but never approved as savings. Republicans attempted this, as well, by trying to count their $61 billion in real-time cuts as meeting their campaign promise to cut $100 billion from the budget.
McConnell blasted the Democrats' math, saying, "They say that this proposal meets us 'halfway.' "I won't get into their tortured justification."
Lawmakers have until March 18, when the current two-week, stopgap spending plan expires, to find some middle ground between $6.5 billion and $61 billion.
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If President Obama will no longer defend the federal law against gay marriage, Republicans controlling the U.S. House say they will.
House Speaker John Boehner said Friday he is convening a bipartisan legal advisory group to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Boehner's announcement comes a week after the Obama Justice Department said it would no longer defend the law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, a reversal for the Obama administration, which had defended it despite the president's misgivings with the policy. The nation's lawyers as recently as last month had filed a court motion in support of the law.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said that the Justice Department would continue to enforce the law but no longer would defend its constitutionality in court challenges.
"It is regrettable that the Obama administration has opened this divisive issue at a time when Americans want their leaders to focus on jobs and the challenges facing our economy," Boehner said in a statement. "The constitutionality of this law should be determined by the courts
A peculiar thing was happening in Iowa. The handicapped parking spaces always seemed to be full.
So state Republican Rep. Dave Tjepkes, teaming up with another lawmaker, set about to figure out why. What they found stunned them.
Nearly a half-million parking permits were in circulation in Iowa, covering about 270,000 people. That's close to 10 percent of Iowa's population.
"The numbers kind of speak for themselves," Tjepkes said.
Claiming some Iowans are clearly abusing the system, Tjepkes and Democratic Rep. Jim Lykam have proposed a new bill to bring some order to the handicapped permit free-for-all. As it turns out, Iowa doesn't have much of a system for checking up on people who've been issued a permit.
So if a permit holder no longer needs it, or dies, that pass can stay in circulation forever.
The statewide statistics, released last month, effectively confirmed for Tjepkes stories about how people were holding on to parking permits long after the loved ones who used them died.
"The joke we have is they pass them down to the future generations," he said.
But for lawmakers and disability advocates, it's no laughing matter. Those who have heart conditions or respiratory problems, or who are confined to a wheelchair, need those parking spots.
Tjepkes' and Lykam's proposal, which recently passed out of committee in the House, would make all new handicapped permits valid for five years. At that point, they would have to be renewed.
The solution, though, doesn't solve the problem of the more than 460,000 permits floating around Iowa, not all of which are legitimate.
Iowa officials were worried it would cost too much money to require everyone to renew their permits. Just mailing out the notifications could cost the state more than $100,000, one lobbyist told a local newspaper.
Sylvia Piper, executive director of Disability Rights Iowa, expressed concern that the new proposal would "grandfather" in the old permits. She said she still thinks those permits should be "managed" better.
"We have serious violations of those spots for people who truly need to have those parking spaces available to them," she said.
Piper said she routinely monitors handicapped parking spots, confronting delivery truck drivers and people without permits who park in them. She said she hopes the legislative proposal makes a difference.
"It could be your mother. It could be your grandfather who is eventually going to need this," she said.
Tjepkes acknowledged the state can't claw back the questionable permits that may be out there. But by raising awareness about the problem, he hopes to guilt-trip any cheaters.
"Hopefully, their conscience will bother them to a degree that they will refrain from doing that," he said.
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WASHINGTON - Emboldened by Wednesday's Supreme Court decision, Westboro Baptist Church attorney Margie Phelps said she will challenge statutes all over the country that restrict picketing at funerals.
The court decided 8-1, with Justice Samuel Alito dissenting, that the First Amendment protected Westboro and the Phelps family from the lawsuit brought by Albert Snyder. The Phelpses picketed the 2006 Westminster, Md., funeral of Snyder's son, causing him emotional distress.
Phelps said it was ironic that the case that allowed her to argue in front of the nation's highest court came out of Maryland.
"The one law that might be good, of all these laws across the land -- wait for it -- is Maryland," she said. "I'm not totally throwing in the towel, and it was wrongly conceived, but it's (only) 100 feet. So if there is one that's got a fighting chance of staying good, that would be the one."
Maryland's picketing law requires protesters to remain at least 100 feet away from any funeral or funeral procession.
Phelps said she already has challenges pending against Nebraska and Missouri laws that are more restrictive.
Snyder's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, died at age 20 in a Humvee accident in Iraq. Westboro founder Fred Phelps and five of his followers used his funeral as an opportunity to spread their anti-gay message with signs like "God Hates America" and "Fags Doom Nations."
Matthew Snyder was not gay, but Westboro has picketed hundreds of military funerals across the nation, claiming that soldiers' deaths are God's vengeance for the country's tolerance of homosexuality.
In response, 43 states and the federal government have enacted laws that restrict picketing at funerals -- laws that Margie Phelps said are largely unconstitutional based on three legal principles she sees in the Supreme Court's decision: Funeral attendees are not a "captive audience," the Phelps' protests amount to "public issue speech," and speech does not disrupt a funeral service.
"When all these laws get passed they pretend like there's some basis under the captive audience doctrine to put us 500, 1,000, 1,500 feet away," Phelps said. "That's totally debunked in that (Supreme Court) opinion."
Washington, D.C., lawyer Gene Schaerr disagreed.
Schaerr wrote an amicus brief in support of Snyder for the American Legion. He said the Supreme Court "went out of its way" to tell lower courts that the decision did not mean they should stop enforcing anti-picketing statutes, pointing to a passage from Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion that reads, "To the extent these laws are content-neutral, they raise very different questions from the tort verdict at issue in this case. Maryland's law, however, was not in effect at the time of the events at issue here, so we have no occasion to consider how it might apply to facts such as those before us, or whether it or other similar regulations are constitutional.
Schaerr said the court has long upheld reasonable restrictions on the time, place and manner of speech.
"I think they're going to have a very difficult time getting them overturned," Schaerr said of the Phelpses. "What they had going for them here, obviously, was a jury verdict that directly targeted their speech and would have punished them for their speech. But when you're dealing with a time, place and manner restriction, that's a completely different animal. Those statutes don't target any one person."
"He lost; I won," Margie Phelps said when told of Schaerr's interpretation of the decision.
She also questioned his credentials on First Amendment issues.
"He doesn't labor in this vineyard, by the way, he labors in the vineyard of worshipping dead soldiers," she said. "He doesn't labor in the vineyard of keeping a dissenting voice alive on your mean streets. He doesn't have a clue what those issues are. Not a clue."
Schaerr has served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Warren Burger and Antonin Scalia and associate counsel to President George H.W. Bush. He works for the international firm of Winston and Strawn, where he is the chairman of the firm's nationwide appellate, critical motions and litigation constitutionality practice.
Raquel Guillory, spokeswoman for the Maryland's attorney general's office, said Wednesday that the court's decision did not affect the state's anti-picketing law and that it would continue to be enforced.
Capital News Service contributed to this report.
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