Governing Ourselves

One out of every four ballots requested by military personnel and other Americans living overseas for the 2008 election may have gone uncounted, according to findings being released at a Senate hearing Wednesday. Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, said the study, while providing only a snapshot of voting patterns, "is enough to show that the balloting process for service members is clearly in need of an overhaul."

"The captain was captured from the beginning," said chief engineer Mike Perry of Riverview.The story of Phillips offering to exchange himself for the crew "is misleading," he said. "It is not an accurate portrayal."

As emergency crews tended to the driver, police Sgt. Raul Ramirez told the ABC-7 crew from across the barrier to leave. Several people and half a dozen cars were also stopped on the eastbound shoulder. Darren continued to try to get information from the men in fatigues when the situation began to escalate. The sergeant jumped the barrier and told Darren to get in the truck (an ABC-7 news unit) and leave, then held Darren with his hands behind his back to the side of the truck belonging to a witness that was parked on the shoulder. "I'm not doing anything," Darren said repeatedly. Darren and Ric were handcuffed, read their Miranda rights and taken to the Westside Regional Command Center. They were released within a few minutes. The entire incident lasted about an hour.

The thousands of taxpayers who gathered in several locations around the Granite State on Tax Day didn't even know what they were protesting, according to the state's top Democratic Party official. "They looked like they lost their minds," said Ray Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party of the protesters. [Or have minds a Democrat can't comprehend? What, protest taxes??]

Animal rights activist Daniel Andreas San Diego became the first U.S. terror suspect on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list

There was almost no pomp and circumstance to welcome the 19 crew members of the Maersk Alabama to the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center yesterday morning -- at least none visible to the public. Instead, the courageous mariners who survived a pirate attack on the Indian Ocean last week spent their first full day on U.S. soil eating a buffet-style breakfast of eggs, bacon and hash browns -- and answering questions from the horde of reporters....

Thousands of people rallied at the state Capitol as part of a National Tax Day Tea Party to protest excessive government spending. Thousands Attend OKC 'Tea Party' OKC Tea Party Web Site Join Our u local Community Get Wireless Alerts! Capitol Patrol officers estimated close to 4,000 people gathered Wednesday on the south steps of the state Capitol. Similar events were held in communities across the state.

Holding signs bearing phrases such as "We the People, Not 'I' the Government" and "Obama, Pelosi, Reid, The Axis of Taxes," protesters gathered Wednesday at the Centennial Park in downtown Bartlesville as part of the nationwide National Tax Day Tea Party demonstrations — numbering nearly 800 across the country — protesting government spending, taxes and growth.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has thrown his support behind a growing movement to rein in the federal government by resurrecting the 10th Amendment, which reserves to states "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution." "I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state," Perry said. "That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states' rights affirmed by the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution...."

PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the rescue mission off the Somali coast that ended in tragedy when a young French yachtsman was killed as commandos stormed a vessel being held by pirates, releasing his wife and three-year-old son. For the first time yesterday, details emerged of an extraordinary rescue operation piloted from the Elysée Palace. It involved three French warships, a German frigate and the airdrop of dozens of French commandos some 400 miles off the African coast.

"I frankly don't understand all the brouhaha lately from Congress and even from some of my colleagues about referring to foreign law...." [Oh, nothing. Just a little matter of CONSTITUTIONAL LAW!]

The CIA will decommission the infamous "black sites" where terrorism suspects were interrogated with harsh techniques that included waterboarding, agency director Leon Panetta said on Thursday.

Activists seeking to eliminate the Electoral College in favor of a popular vote to elect the president boast that their movement is almost one-fifth the way to its goal.

The pillow fight, which was to be one of at least 50 across the world Saturday organized by people on social networking Web sites, was shut down by Detroit police officers who were stationed at the park. "I am furious," 23-year-old Elida Quesada of Ferndale said as she fumed while watching officers take pillows as soon as people showed up with them. "It (a pillow fight) is so silly and childlike. It would have been fun. It seems like everything that is fun is illegal."