Clinton v Obama: What's really at stake?

...only our civil liberties.

"Mrs. Clinton’s approach to the subject is that of a top-down progressive. Her speeches about privacy suggest that she has boundless faith in the power of experts, judges and ultimately herself to strike the correct balance between privacy and security.

In the Senate, Mr. Obama distinguished himself by making civil liberties one of his legislative priorities. He co-sponsored a bipartisan reform bill that would have cured the worst excesses of the Patriot Act by meaningfully tightening the standards for warrantless surveillance.

Once again, he helped encourage a coalition of civil-libertarian liberals and libertarian conservatives. The effort failed when Hillary Clinton joined 13 other Democrats in supporting a Republican motion to cut off debate on amendments to the Patriot Act."

30 killed, 35 wounded in Kohat suicide attack

Sunday, March 02, 2008
KOHAT: The death toll in Darra Adamkhel suicide attack reached 30, while 35 were wounded.

According to official sources notables from five clans of Darra Adamkhel held a Jirga in Zarghon Khel. The suicide bomber struck the assembly immediately after the meeting was ended, killing 30 persons including three critically wounded that succumbed to their injuries at hospitals.

Earlier, the wounded were shifted to hospitals as emergency was declared at local medical facilities.

Fifteen critically wounded have been transferred to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, while remaining were shifted to other hospitals of Kohat and Peshawar.

The notables in their meeting had decided to burn houses of those tribesmen and impose fine who will provide shelter to foreign miscreants

Local tribal elder Haji Saif Wazeer had called the Jirga.

Security has been tightened in the area after the attack.

US Democrats pick real donkey as mascot

DENVER: A jackass will play a prominent role when US Democrats meet in August to nominate their presidential candidate.

Mordecai, a 7-year-old donkey, bested nine other hopefuls on Saturday in a contest to become the official live mascot for the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

As a tie-in to the convention, the donkey pageant was held during the mule and donkey show at the National Western Stock Show, an annual Colorado event where livestock and horse ranchers gather to buy and sell breeding stock.

Sen. Ken Salazar and other Democratic dignitaries served as judges.

Before the contest began, Leah Daughtry, another contest judge and chief executive of the Democratic National Convention Committee, said she was looking for "traits our candidate will have also -- the right amount of vigour and energy, a cool temper but feisty when you need to be."

In 1828, opponents of Andrew Jackson called him a "jackass" for his populist candidacy, according to the Democratic National Committee's website. Jackson turned the tables by using the donkey on his campaign posters. Decades later, famed political cartoonist Thomas Nast used the beast to represent some Democratic viewpoints in his cartoons and the mascot stuck.

After 10 youths paraded the contestants around the arena, the judges held their caucus and reached a unanimous decision.

As if to show he was ready for prime time, Mordecai took a bow and rolled in the dirt before the vote was announced.

Mordecai's owner, Curtis Imrie, a two-time Democratic congressional candidate from southwestern Colorado, said his donkey will do the Democrats proud.

"He'll be the party animal of the party, now that he's the official mascot,'" Imrie said.

No July deadline for N-deal: US

WASHINGTON: The Bush administration has said there was a "little bit more time" than the July deadline suggested by a top lawmaker for the Indo-US nuclear deal to be passed in the US Congress, while stressing that any internal pressure within India to quickly move the deal forward was "good".

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was asked to comment on a statement made by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden during his recent visit to New Delhi, were he said the nuclear deal has to be taken up in Congress by June and ratified by July.

Any new US administration will "renegotiate" the deal, Biden had said.

But Perino said, "We have a little bit more time than that, obviously, on the calendar before the end of the president's term. But if there's internal pressure from inside India for them to move more quickly, I think that's good. And I saw a report today that said that there are some elements within India that are very supportive of getting the deal done."

When asked if President George W Bush was in touch with New Delhi to push for the nuclear deal, Perino replied: "We are in touch with different levels of government throughout - here at the National Security Council and the State Department".