THE DAILY BLADE: Dems Beset By Indecision, Infighting And Intrigue
So, the drapes in
The San Francisco Chronicle reports: “Among the 230 or so Democrats already assured of seats in the party's new majority, there are conservative "Blue Dog Democrats," moderate, pro-business "New Democrats" and liberals gathered in the Progressive Caucus.”
The Washington Times notes that Dems “lack a consensus” on whether and how quickly to withdraw our troops from Iraq, and The New York Times describes Dems as being divided over how far to take the overhaul of Congressional ethics on which they campaigned (The Stiletto wagers the reforms will go only as far as Alcee Hastings can throw John Murtha). Meanwhile, the headline on an AFP article spotlights “chaos out of the gate” for Dems, while the lede says that the infighting “has led some to wonder if the party is up to the task of controlling Congress.
You know what The New York Times’
Activists Up In Arms Over New Citizenship Test
Typical questions on the US citizenship test include: “How many states are there in the
The
Chris Bentley, spokesman for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency tells The Washington Times that the proposed test for naturalized citizenship has its roots in a report by a Clinton administration commission headed by former Rep. Barbara Jordan that emphasized "effective Americanization of new immigrants, that is the cultivation of a shared commitment to the American values of liberty, democracy and equal opportunity," including policies to "help newcomers learn to speak, read and write English effectively."
Some immigrants "come from a culture, a government, a society that is completely removed from our concept of government,"
The new test makes sense to The Stiletto, but more than 220 immigrant organizations signed a letter to USCIS Director Emilio Gonzalez that charges the new test is an insurmountable barrier for "poorer legal immigrants with less English and less education" to getting US citizenship, The Washington Times reports.
The new test will be administered on a trial basis in 10 cities beginning this winter, and will be phased in nationwide by January 2008. Immigrants who fail – that is, answer fewer than six questions correctly - can take the standard test, which almost no one fails.
You Don’t Hire The Fox To Guard The Henhouse
The Bush administration has appointed ob-gyn
The Stiletto doesn’t understand why Planned Parenthood’s condoms are in a knot. Who better to put in charge of an agency that is charged with reducing teen pregnancy rates and “making abortion rare” than someone who has devoted his career to doing just that?
But abstinence undercuts Planned Parenthood’s mission of promoting premarital sex and abortion, so a “better choice” to head the Office of Population Affairs is someone who thinks there is nothing wrong with teens being sexually active – as long as they know how to put a condom on a banana.
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