Protecting Police More Important Than Helping Donors

For Release: July 26, 2007
Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or dalmasi@nationalcenter.org


Protecting Police Officers More Important Than Helping Political Donors, Group Says

Washington, D.C. - Congress should not put the lives of law enforcement officials at risk to benefit its trial lawyer contributors, says Deneen Borelli of the national black group Project 21.

Congress is now considering overturning the Tiahrt Amendment, a measure that restricts certain gun data from being shared outside of the law enforcement community. Project 21 members are opposing any action that allows trial lawyers, politicians, criminals and others from accessing federal gun trace information.

"The only possible purpose served by overturning the Tiahrt Amendment is to aid the anti-gun lobby and make it easier for trial lawyers to sue gun manufacturers," said Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli. "Killing the Tiahrt Amendment would also be a great thing for criminals. Not only could they learn they are the subject of an investigation, but also the identity of special agents and informants."

The Tiahrt Amendment - named after its chief sponsor, Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) - was first enacted in 2003. It amends the appropriations legislation that funds the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) to restrict the sharing of the contents of the Firearms Trace System that is administered by the BATFE's National Trace Center. Under the terms of the amendment, data regarding guns involved in crimes is restricted to domestic and foreign law enforcement and prosecutors as it relates to the investigation and prosecution of specific crimes and for national security, intelligence and counterterrorism purposes. Trace data is also inadmissible in evidence and cannot be subpoenaed.

Project 21's Borelli added: "I am a gun owner. I was appalled when a local newspaper decided to publish my name and the names of other registered gun owners in my area. It was an outrageous violation of my privacy rights. Overturning the Tiahrt Amendment could allow this violation of privacy and safety to occur on a larger and more dangerous scale."

The origin of the Tiahrt Amendment comes from a 2002 court decision that allowed trial lawyers to access the BATFE's trace data to gather information for potential lawsuits against gun manufacturers. Dave Kopel of the Independence Institute has also written about how trace data has been used by special interest groups to overstate gun violence figures.

Amendment supporters also want to protect the confidentiality of the federal database because the release of some information contained in it may compromise investigations and reveal the identities of undercover officers. The Fraternal Order of Police supports the Tiahrt Amendment "because of our concern for the safety of law enforcement officers and the integrity of law enforcement investigations." In 2006, then-BATFE director Carl J. Truscott said the Amendment "protects... sensitive data from indiscriminate disclosure."

Project 21, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization sponsored by the National Center for Public Policy Research, has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or dalmasi@nationalcenter.org, or visit Project 21's website at www.project21.org/P21Index.html.

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Fat Albert Gore on the environment

Flynt is tracking 20 congressional sex scandal leads

By Elana Schor, The Hill

July 11, 2007

Larry Flynt, the porn-industry magnate who first linked Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) to the escort service of the "D.C. Madam," said Wednesday that his investigators are tracking more than 20 leads on alleged congressional sex scandals. As Vitter remained missing in action for two Senate votes on defense policy, Flynt insisted that he exposed the conservative lawmaker's sexual indiscretions only because they contradicted Vitter's longtime defense of the "sanctity of marriage." "If someone's living a life contrary to the way they're advocating ... then they become fair game," Flynt told reporters. "I don't want a man like that legislating for me, especially in the area of morality." In addition to the phone records of "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey, accused of prostitution and racketeering by federal authorities, Flynt is mining responses to an ad he placed last month in The Washington Post. The ad promised a million-dollar reward for anyone providing evidence of illicit encounters with members of Congress. The 20-plus new leads, Flynt said, come from the newspaper ad and not Palfrey. The Hustler publisher, arrested and jailed multiple times during his decades-long career, vowed to provide clear proof and only out lawmakers whom he perceives to be hypocrites. "You guys always know, [from] the past, I deliver," Flynt said. "And if I fail to, the mainstream media will crush me like a bug." The Vitter scandal has touched off new anxiety among Republicans over whether their party will pay the price for members who fail to live up to their moral principles. Flynt, an unabashed Democrat, acknowledged that the GOP provides him with easier targets. "Republicans are more fun because they get caught so easily," Flynt said. "They've been living a repressed life all their life. Democrats are liberal — they wear it on their sleeve. Their sex life is what it is. They don't spend their whole life trying to cover it up." Flynt released the particular wireless phone bill containing Vitter's phone number on Palfrey's calling list, confirming that the Louisianan contacted the escort service while serving in the House. Flynt also claimed to have testimony from five New Orleans prostitutes about their sexual encounters with Vitter, adding that that quintet would likely share the $1 million bounty with Palfrey.

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Tancredo: Donation from Planned Parenthood physician reflects immigration stance

Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com

Presidential candidate Tom Tancredo says he won't return a campaign donation from a medical doctor who has ties to Planned Parenthood. The Colorado congressman says the donation had nothing to do with abortion, but rather the physician's support of Tancredo's immigration policy.

Recently the Sam Brownback campaign sent out an e-mail saying Tancredo accepted thousands of dollars in donations from Dr. John Tanton, the founder of the Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood Association. But Tancredo says Tanton's donation is related to the doctor's affiliation with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). In fact, FAIR's website says Tanton is the original founder of the organization.

"John Tanton is on the board of FAIR. His issue is immigration," says Tancredo. "He supports me because of my position on immigration, and he certainly doesn't ever ask me to do anything even remotely connected with the issue of abortion -- because he knows, of course, how I feel." A senior advisor to the Tancredo campaign describes the candidate's pro-life record as "unassailable."

Tancredo says he is disappointed that Senator Brownback (R-Kansas) is trying to imply that accepting the donation means he somehow supports abortion. "[O]f course I have a longer record of pro-life commitment than does Senator Brownback," says the Colorado lawmaker. "My record on abortion is as pure and clean as one could be in opposition to it."

He argues that returning the campaign contribution would suggest that it somehow had sway on his abortion position. "If I were to give this money back, there would be some indication that I believed it had some influence over me," says Tancredo, "but of course, I know why he's supports me, and it's got nothing to do with that."

Tancredo says he wonders how Brownback can possibly know all of the people that support his campaign financially and if they are people with whom he is in total agreement.

All Original Content Copyright 2006-2007 American Family News Network - All Rights Reserved

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Holy See says immigrants rights and duties go together

Brussels, Jul 11, 2007 / 10:15 am (CNA).- Speaking at the Global Forum on Migration in Brussels, Belgium, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples said that the human dignity and freedoms of immigrants must be respected.

The Global Forum is an initiative that is being sponsored by the United Nations to build a more cohesive and uniform approach to policies on migration and development among its member nations.  

Addressing those gathered in English, the archbishop recalled how "migrants contribute to their host country's well-being, and also because of this their human dignity must be respected and their freedoms guaranteed: the right to a dignified life, to fair treatment at work, to have access to education, health and other social benefits, to grow in competence and develop humanly, to freely manifest their culture and practice their religion.

At the same time, the archbishop was sure not to neglect the responsibilities of migrants either. "Rights and duties go together." "Migrants have the duty to respect the identity and the laws of the country of residence, strive for proper integration (not assimilation) into the host society and learn its language. They are to foster esteem and respect for their host country, even to the point of loving and defending it.

In a remark that is particularly relevant in the United States, the archbishop addressed the issue of illegal immigrants. "Unfortunately, among them there are immigrants in an irregular situation, who, however, independently of their legal status, have inalienable human dignity. Therefore their rights must be safeguarded and not ignored or violated."

"An irregular migration status, in fact, does not mean criminality. The solution is better international cooperation that discourages irregularity, with increased legal channels for migration."

Archbishop Marchetto concluded his talk by renewing the call made by the Pope in his Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees for "governments who have not yet done so, to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and the Members of their Families."

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Democrats to name new Summit County Executive

Public meeting, panel vote Thursday at North High
By Katie Byard
Beacon Journal staff writer

The Summit County Democratic Central Committee will pick a new county executive
Thursday evening at Akron' s North High School.

So far , Summit County Councilman Tim Crawford and county Democratic Party Chair Russ Pry have expressed interest in the position. ''No one else is campaigning for it, though someone could still run that night,'' Pry said Tuesday. The winner will finish the term of the now-retired James McCarthy, and will have the option of running for election to a full four - year term in November 2008. McCarthy , 67, retired on June 30 after being the county's top official for nearly seven years.

Anyone seeking the job now must be nominated by a member of the central committee at Thursday's gathering. The committee will meet at 7 p.m. at North High , 985 Gorge Blvd . The meeting is
open to the public. Each candidate will be given five minutes to address the gathering . Committee members then will vote by secret ballot.

Th e votes should be tallied by 8 p.m., Pry said. Pry, who lives in A kron , said Tuesday that if he is not elected T hursday , he will not run in 2008. R ejection by committee members would mean ''I need to think about doing something else,'' Pr y said.

Crawford , D - N orton , said that if he does not win T hursday , he will run for the post in 2008 or seek re - election to his County Council seat. ''I'm still enjoying the political arena"

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