Archives for July 2010

Democratic House leaders are desperately urging New York Rep. Charlie Rangel to strike a plea deal with the House  Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in order to avoid a public airing of major ethics charges and a Congressional trial that could take place just before the midterm elections.  So how close are we to a plea deal?  Why are Republicans reluctant to allow such a deal?  And will we hear anything definitive on Thursday?  We ask Susan Ferrechio, chief Congressional correspondent for The Examiner.

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President Obama is urging Congress to adopt his energy and small business agendas, Obama also says Wikileaks documents only validate his position on Afghanistan, Senate GOP blocks campaign finance reform, Arizona prepares to enact immigration reforms.

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The massive document leak on the Afghan war may not yield much vital new information, but how does it give our enemies help in their fight against our troops and our allies in Afghanistan?  How much more vulnerable are U.S. forces now that the enemy knows how we uncover IED’s and react to moves by the Taliban?  How fierce should the punishment be for leaking these documents?  And how much public outrage should the Obama team be showing?  We ask James Robbins, former special assistant to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and senior editorial writer for The Washington Times.

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On Tuesday afternoon, Senate Democrats are hoping to approve the DISCLOSE Act, which they claim is only a minor adjustment to the current laws on campaign speech.  But what is the bill really aimed at stopping?  Is it even Constitutional?  Why are some groups on the right and the left exempt from the new stringent rules?  And will it pass the Senate?  We ask Bill Wilson, president of Americans for Limited Government.

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Unless a federal court intervenes, Arizona’s new immigration enforcement laws will take effect on Wednesday.  So what difference will the people of Arizona see if the laws are allowed to proceed?  How will it impact the economy in Arizona?  And will it impact the number of people trying to cross illegally into Arizona?  We ask Marine Corps veteran Jesse Kelly, who is also a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress in Arizona’s 8th congressional district.  He also explains why he believes the Obama approach to immigration is dead wrong.

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President Obama is pushing hard for the Senate to pass the DISCLOSE Act, the Democratic campaign finance bill designed to reverse the Supreme Court decision from earlier this year.  So what does the bill really do?  How would it impact political speech?  And why would some groups be exempt from the tough new rules?  We ask Heritage Foundation legal expert Hans von Spakovsky.

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After months of insisting the U.S. consistently objected to the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, newly discovered memos show the U.S. did oppose the move but also pushed for Megrahi’s outright release as opposed to moving him to a Libyan prison when British and Scottish officials were weighing those options.  So what does this tell us about what role the Obama administration really played in this saga?  What does it tell us about our approach to the war on terrorism?  And how do our enemies interpret Megrahi’s release?  We ask Clifford May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

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The Wikileaks website has done it again – releasing classified national security information.  This time it’s almost 100,000 documents related to the war in Afghanistan.  So how will the Pentagon react to this?  Is there anything in these documents that we didn’t already know?  And why could persistent leaks of classified information change the way war is done?  We ask K.T. McFarland, deputy assistant secretary of defense for President Reagan and a national security analyst for the Fox News Channel.

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Next week, the House Ethics Committee will reveal the ethics charges facing embattled New York Rep. Charlie Rangel.  Texas Rep. John Carter has been the leading voice in urging Congress to investigate Rangel.  So what can we expect as this investigation moves forward?  Why did Carter speak up so much on this issue?  And how soon cold we see a verdict?  We ask Rep. John Carter.

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The House Ethics Committee is bringing formal charges against longtime New York Rep. Charlie Rangel.  What will the charges likely include?  Just how many financial irregularities have been uncovered?  How will the House deal with the charges?  And how will this scandal impact the 2010 midterm elections – for Rangel and everybody else?  We ask Susan Ferrechio, chief Congressional correspondent for The Examiner.

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