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Show World&Nation Friday, Nov. 5, 2010 CiarifyCorrect GOP asserts new strength, targets Obama The policy of The Utah Statesman is to correct any error made as soon as possible. If you find something you would like clarified or find unfair, please contact the editor at 797-1762 or TSC 105. WASHINGTON (AP) — Victorious at the polls, congressional Republicans asserted their newfound political strength on Thursday, vowing to seek a quick $100 billion in federal spending cuts and force repeated votes on the repeal of President Barack Obama's prized health care overhaul. At the White Houses, Obama said his administration was ready to work across party lines in a fresh attempt to "focus on the economy and jobs" as well as attack waste in government. In a show of bipartisanship, he invited top lawmakers to the White House at mid-month, and the nation's newly elected governors two weeks later. Nat'/Briefs Appeals court halts Smart kidnap trial SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday halted the trial of a man accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart to decide if he can get a fair trial in Utah. Opening statements in the case of Brian David Mitchell were interrupted to announce the decision by the three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. The trial was put on hold as the panel considered a claim by defense attorneys that extensive publicity about the abduction has tainted the jury pool. Prosecutors have until 12:59 a.m. Friday to respond to the claim. U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, who is presiding at the trial, sent jurors home just an hour after they were selected in Salt Lake City. "I'm of course very unhappy about this," Kimball told the nine men and five women serving as jurors and alternates before he apologized and released them for the day. Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, in line to become the new speaker of the House, brushed aside talk that the No. 1 GOP goal was to make sure Obama is defeated at the polls in 2012. "That's Senator McConnell's statement and his opinion," he told ABC, referring to the party's leader in the Senate and adding that his own goals included cutting spending and creating jobs. But tentative talk of compromise competed with rhetoric reminiscent of the just-completed campaign. In a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell said the only way to achieve key party legislative goals such SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian prosecutors filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking damages against four dictatorship-era agents accused of killings and kidnappings. One is a former army captai linked to the torture of President-elect Dilma Rousseff when she was a guerrilla in 1970. The civil lawsuit also involves the case of a rebel who was killed while in custody after leading the 1969 kidnapping of former U.S. Ambassador Charles Elbrick. Brazil's Supreme Court recently upheld a 1979 amnesty law pardoning both civilians and military personnel for alleged crimes committed under the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. But prosecutors argue the law does not prevent charges under civil law and say they are stepping up such efforts. Three other civil cases were JOSE SERRA DELIVERS a speech during a meeting with members of the Green party in Sao Paulo Brazil on October 18. Serra, a presidential candidate of the filed this year by the Sao Paulo prosBrazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), is accompanied by Fernando Gabeira (right) ecutors. and former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. AP photo The three former soldiers and a former military policeman in the new society and help in compensating the era and testimony from victims. lawsuit were tied to Brazil's Operation alleged victims. Among the defendants is former Bandeirante, a repressive secret paraThe lawsuit was made available to army Capt. Mauricio Lopes Lima, military police group that rounded up The Associated Press by federal proswho prosecutors hold responsible for leftist rebels starting in 1969, prosecutors in Sao Paulo. It did not give the torture of Rousseff after she was ecutors allege. a monetary figure for the damages captured in early 1970. The prosecutors seek a "declarasought. A spokesman with the prosecution of civil responsibility" against The allegations are based on testors office, who talked on condition the four, along with an end to their timony at military trials during the of anonymity as he was not authomilitary pensions, restitution to dictatorship, public records from the rized to discuss the case in detail, JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A coalition of 13 states has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold an Arizona law penalizing businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants. The Supreme Court is to hear arguments next month on the 2007 Arizona law, which allows business licenses to be revoked or suspended when employers are found to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants. Similar laws are in place in several states. Businesses and civil rights groups have challenged the Arizona law by contending it infringes on federal immigration powers — an argument rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2008. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — An Oklahoma Muslim filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday to block a state constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters that would prohibit state courts from considering international law or Islamic law when deciding cases. The measure, which got 70 percent of the vote in Tuesday's election, was one of several on Oklahoma's ballot that critics said pandered to conservatives and would moved the state further to the right. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, seeks a temporary retraining order and injunction to block the election results from being certified by the state Election Board on Nov. 9. Among other things, the lawsuit alleges the ballot measure transforms Oklahoma's Constitution into an enduring condemnation" of Islam by singling it out for special restrictions by barring Islamic law, also known as Sharia law. "We have a handful of politicians who have pushed an amendment onto our state ballot and then conducted a well-planned and well-funded campaign of misinformation and fear," said Muneer Awad, who filed the suit and is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma. "We have certain unalienable rights, and those rights cannot be taken away from me by a political campaign." About 20,000 and 30,000 Muslims live in Oklahoma, Awad estimated. Legal experts have also questioned the measure. Joseph Thai, a professor at the University of Oklahoma's College of Law, said the ballot measure is an answer in search of a problem." He said he knows of no other state that has approved similar measures. "There is no plausible danger of international law Top 10 Reasons I'm Glad to be Justin Bieber — Nov. 3, 2010 10. I really enjoy the look of disappointment when people first meet me. 9. I got a free trip to New York City out of it. 8. YouTube video of me mowing the lawn got ten million hits. 7. If I make an ass out of myself in public, he gets the blame. 6. Last week performed a sold out arena show in Delaware and no one knew the difference. 5. Reading all the fan mail from Letterman. 4. I made a hundred bucks selling some of my hair on eBay. 3. Due to a mixup at the post office, I'm the proud owner of a Teen Choice Award. 2. Aside from the constant harassment, the fact that no one takes me seriously, and the sense of inadequacy compared to a wealthy 16year-old, what's not to like? 1. I just thank God I'm not named Charlie Sheen. " " November 20 at 7 p. KENT CONCERT HALL On the Campus of Utah State chol•o•gy Ehildgerland Applied Technology College SALON rne \--T1115 N. 200 E. Ste 200 Logan's newest premier Salon FREE eye brow wax w/ any Salon service Foundation Scholarship Fundraiser each; or Sharia law overtaking the legal system," Thai said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He said courts only consider international law when deciding issues involving a federal treaty, a business contract or a will that incorporates international law. Thai said the ballot measure "raises thorny church-state problems as well" and could even affect a state judge's ability to consider the Ten Commandments. "The Ten Commandments, of course, is international law. It did not originate in Oklahoma or the United States," Thai said. The measure is scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1. Its author, Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, said it was not intended to attack Muslims but to prevent activist judges from relying on international law or Islamic law when ruling on legal cases. "The threat posed by activist judges is clear," Duncan said. "It shouldn't matter what the law in France or any other European country is." Duncan described the measure as "a pre-emptive strike" in Oklahoma, where he said activist judges are not an imminent problem. But some judges elsewhere, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, believe courts should look to the law of other countries for guidance when deciding cases, he said. Ginsburg told a meeting of international lawyers in Washington in July that American judges can learn from their foreign counterparts when seeking solutions to "trying questions." "The only people who would be a victim of this are activist judges," said Duncan, who in 2007 rejected a Quran as a gift from a council created by Gov. Brad Henry, explaining that "most Oklahomans do Sa& Wato N HMI $14.00 seniors back into the Medicare doughnut hole," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The maneuvering unfolded two days after elections that swept Democrats out of power in the House and cut deeply into their Senate majority, scripting an uncertain new era of divided government for the final two years of Obama's term. In the House, Boehner asked members of the Republican rank and file to support him for speaker when the new Congress convenes in early January. His victory is a formality, given the huge 60-member gain he engineered as party leader. said it was not clear if Lima tortured Rousseff himself or ordered subordinates to do so. Rousseff joined student resistance groups as a 19-year-old in 1967. For three years she helped lead guerrilla organizations, instruct comrades on Marxist theory and write for an underground newspaper. She denies carrying out any acts of violence herself, says she opposed such action and was never accused by the military regime of violent acts. After three years underground, Rousseff was captured by Brazil's military police and was considered a big enough catch that a military prosecutor labeled her the "Joan of Arc" of the guerrilla movement. She spent nearly three years in the Tiradentes prison, where she was beaten to the point of heavy bleeding, underwent electric shocks and spent hours on the "parrot's perch" — a painful position involving tying wrists to ankles, then suspending a prisoner off the ground by running a pole under their knees and over their biceps. Rousseff rarely discusses this period of her life, but in an interview with the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper published in 2005, she said: "We fought and participated in a dream to build a better Brazil." Lawsuit filed in Okla. against Islamic law LateNiteHumor bolt as ending government bailouts, cutting spending and repealing the health care law "is to put someone in the White House who won't veto" them. "There's just no getting around it," he added. Obama has ruled out accepting repeal of the health care measure, and Senate Democrats responded quickly to McConnell. "What Sen. McConnell is really saying is, 'Republicans want to let insurance companies go back to denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, let them go back to charging women twice as much for the same coverage as men, and let them push millions of Brazil wants Rousseff alleged torturers States urge upholding of immigration law Off Page 12 and 20% off product with U.S.U. I.D $12.00 groups of 10 or more; $10 for 20 or more $16.00 at the door online at www.arts.usu.edu The (CA Box Office 435-197-8022 , • • • • • • Stephanie...stylist...435-770-3448 Lindy...stylist...435-232-3135 Linsey...stylist...435-760-7666 Corrie...stylist...435-760-5376 Bre...stylist...435-770-1153 Cheneil...lash tech...818-519-0378 www.facebook.com/trichologySALON Expires 11-30-2010 railk 1.• iirr &vim) ar MUNEER AWAD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Council on American-Islamic Relations — Oklahoma Chapter, left, answers questions during a news conference in Oklahoma City on Nov. 4. AP photo not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology." One Oklahoma resident said he voted for the measure on Tuesday because chaos might ensue if judges were permitted to rely on international or religious laws in their courts. "Any private organization could come in and say the judge has to rule according to our rules and regulations and overrule state laws," Oklahoma City attorney Jerry Fent said. AAAIA LULL stand out. Yeah, you can stick a 3-by-5 card up on a wall along with every other bicycle, car, chest of drawers and Toyota on campus. Yeah, you could be ignored. Or you could put your ad in front of about 36,000 eyes -- 18,000 USU students -- and you can do it for pennies, or free!. Try copying a flier and sticking it on windshields for free. Yeah, you can do it yourself, at www.utahstatesman.com . |