Update: It's a done deal . While education and environmental programs take a hit:

[The bill would increase education by less than 2 percent and environmental programs by 2.5 percent over last year, while nearly halving Bush's foreign aid request for countries that embrace democratic change. Such figures made the package a vivid illustration of how the politics of surging deficits has crimped domestic programs.]

... The Defense and Homeland Security departments received 7.4 percent boosts in earlier bills, not counting the tens of billions the Pentagon got for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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They are flexing their muscle already. Conservative House Republicans today tacked on an anti-abortion provision to the spending bill.

The abortion language would bar federal, state and local agencies from withholding taxpayer money from health care providers that refuse to provide or pay for abortions or refuse to offer abortion counseling or referrals. Current federal law, aimed at protecting Roman Catholic doctors, provides such "conscience protection'' to doctors who do not want to undergo abortion training. The new language would expand that protection to all health care providers, including hospitals, doctors, clinics and insurers.

Sen. Barbara Boxer says she won't back down:

This is not good news. The House and Senate negotiators are getting closer to inking a deal over a compromise version of the 9/11 Intelligence Reform bill. The House version stinks. And the House negotiators apparently are still insisting on keeping the worst provisions in their bill:

But the negotiations continued into the evening, with lawmakers and their staffs suggesting that the talks might still collapse over a small number of issues, including the insistence of House Republicans that a final bill contain law enforcement and immigration provisions that were not directly related to the commission's recommendations and that have been criticized by civil liberties organizations.

It makes us nervous that Joe Lieberman is taking a leading role. Senator Durbin, where are you? Here's the list of negotiators. If you live in the district of one of the Democratic Senate negotiators, call tomorrow. Tell them not to compromise unless the House law enforcement provisions are put out to pasture.

We warned months ago that the "Laci and Connor Law" was a ploy by abortion foes. They are coming out of the shadows now. The American Life League has issued a press release on the Scott Peterson murder conviction:

The verdict makes it crystal clear that he, and all those who reside in the womb, are indeed human persons; not possessions. This is a landmark conviction because of its recognition of the preborn child as a human being who deserves equal protection under the law.

"This is the first high-profile case to be decided since the passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The UVVA correctly recognizes the preborn child as a human being deserving justice under the law when he or she is killed due to a violent act perpetrated against his mother that results in the preborn child's death.

Here's some gall for you--they are still not satisfied. They want more:

The UVVA is flawed; it perpetuates the lie that some preborn babies' rights are worth defending and others are not. If, for example, Laci Peterson had aborted Connor, the abortion would not have been defined as a crime.

So what do they want now? Abortion to be outlawed.

Our Creator endows every innocent human being with the same inalienable rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and that guarantee should apply equally to each and every preborn individual.

..."American Life League will continue to educate the American people and our legislators to the simple truth that all preborn babies' civil right to life must be defended from all acts of murder, no matter what the method."

Did you catch the slick jargon, the "pre-born child?" Hypocrites, all of them. If they are so pro-life, why don't they come out against capital punishment? Where's their press release asking that prosecutors in the Peterson case drop the request for the death penalty?

Update: James Dobson's Focus on the Family joins the chorus. It lauds the media for referring to the unborn Peterson baby as an "unborn child." Ok, thanks for the heads-up, Mr. Dobson. We're done with that. We're going back to "fetus" whenever we talk about the case.

Where does it end? It began with taking DNA from convicted felons. It expanded to taking DNA from those who were indicted or charged and proceeded through a preliminary hearing. Now, as a result of California voters passing Proposition 69, DNA will be extracted from everyone arrested for a felony --even those who subsequently aren't charged with a crime, let alone convicted. All collected DNA will be put into the state's DNA databank.

The American Civil Liberties Union estimates 50,000 Californians are arrested each year but never convicted. The group contends collecting the samples at the time of arrest runs counter to the American system of presuming innocence until guilt is proven in court.

"Certainly we'll be challenging the provision where the government takes DNA from people who have never even been charged with a crime," said Maya Harris, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Who's paying for all this? The California legislature is loaning the state $7 million to cover the cost. By the time the measure is fully activated in 2009, the cost is expected to reach $20 million.

Peter Rose served ten years in prison for a rape DNA tests have proven he did not commit. He left jail this week amid tears from his children, relatives, friends and the law students at Golden Gate in San Francisco who worked to free him.

Congress' watered-down, lop-sided DNA testing bill went into effect Saturday. Make no mistake, it's a crime victim's bill, not an Innocence bill. However, even the paltry amount designated for DNA testing of inmate's innocence claims is better than no funding at all. Imagine if John Kerry were President instead of Bush the past three years. We would be celebrating a real legislative advance, along the lines of the original Innocence Protection Act introduced in 2001, of which he was a co-sponsor.

Here's a section by section analysis of the bill. Here's a description of the bill. Here's a timeline, from 2000 to 2004.

Ding dong the wicked witch is dead. House and Senate Conferees have given up trying to compromise on the horrible House version of the 9/11 Commission intelligence reform bill known as H.R. 10.

After the election, talks will resume. This is a failure for Bush. He pushed the House version which had new death penalty offenses and contained the most repressive immigration legislation in decades. He pushed a version that might have sent immigrants back to countries where they might be tortured.

We do need intelligence reform legislation. We don't need it with draconian new and expanded law enforcement and immigrant-directed powers. Kudos to the Democratic Senatorial conferees who refused to yield:

• Richard Durbin of Illinois,
• Carl Levin of Michigan,
• John Rockefeller of West Virginia,
• Bob Graham of Florida and
• Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey
• Joe Lieberman of Connecticut

The New York Times has an article today asserting that the former staff director for the 9/11 Commission, Philip Zelikow, now praises recent compromises acceded by the House conferees in the Intelligence Reform Bill and says they are reasonable and reflect the goals of the 9/11 Commission. One problem. The "former staff director" does not speak for the Commission. He's a lone wolf. And the 9/11 Commissioners do not agree with him.

[the memo] prompted a spokesman for the former members of the Sept. 11 commission to distance the former commissioners from Mr. Zelikow. "He's a private citizen, he's not affiliated with the P.D.P.," said Adam Klein, a spokesman for the 9/11 Public Discourse Project, the lobbying group set up by the 10 former members. "The commissioners speak for the commissioners and for this organization. Dr. Zelikow speaks for himself."

Even Zelikow admits this:

The good news continues. Despite increased pressure from Bush, the Senate conferees are not yielding on H.R. 10 and passage of the 9/11 Intelligence Reform bill remains doubtful. Bush wants the bill passed before election day. Urge your senators to stay resolute and keep your fingers crossed.

Good news to report on the House-Senate conference negtiations over H.R. 10, the intelligence reform bill. Senators It's stalling. The Senate conferees are doing their job so far and refusing to cave in to the demands of right wing Republican House members.

Our opposition stems from the inclusion in the House version of extreme law enforcment and immigration powers, and new death penalty offenses, none of which were recommended by the 9/11 Commisison.

However, those provisions are in Title IV of the bill. The conferees are still stuck on Title I.

More Urgent Action needed to oppose H.R. 10-- Please Act Now!

Congress Considering Federal Death Penalty Expansion
Conference Committee Decision Imminent -- Act Now!

Congress is currently considering legislation that would expand the federal death penalty - again! Although the 9/11 Commission's report did not recommend any further extension of the death penalty, the House of Representatives' "9/11 Commission Recommendations Implementation Act" exploits this national tragedy with eight new provisions to broaden the federal death penalty.

This bill, H.R. 10, has already passed the House and will be considered in conference with Senate legislation that contains no death penalty expansion. Within the next few days, the bills will be reconciled -- please write the conferees right away and tell them to drop the wasteful and counterproductive death penalty provisions from the bill!

Ask the conferencing members to drop death penalty expansion Here's why:

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 10 Friday, containing some of the most repressive immmigration legislation in a decade. It is a bill that panders to irrational fears about immigrants and terrorists in our midst and is borne of a desperate attempt by Republican lawmakers to make Bush look like a hero in the war on terrorism. In their relentless pursuit of instilling the fear of terrorism in the heart of every American, radical right Republicans and the anti-immigration lobby have teamed together to bring you a nightmare of a bill.

The 9/11 Commission did not recommend the new law enforcement powers and immigration provisions of this bill. In fact, today, the 9/11 Commission wrote this letter to Congress objecting to the inclusion of the immigration and law enforcement provisions.

The bill now goes to conference between the House and Senate. You can take action here. If you live in a district of a Senate conferee, get on the phone and tell your Senator to oppose this bill.

The best course would be for the Senate conferees not to give in to the House conferees and to boot this and all the new law enforcement powers contained in the House bill. The conferees should pass only the reforms recommended by the 9/11 Commission and leave the rest for another day and another Congress. If the House won't go along, the whole bill should die. Let Bill Frist declare an impasse...which will be seen as a failure for President Bush.

Here's some reactions to the bill:

The decision as to whether to push for a reconciliation between the House and Senate versions of the 9/11 Intelligence Reform bills is in the hands of Sen. Bill Frist. The two versions may be too far apart to realistically expect a unified version before the November 2 election. Nonetheless, Frist wants negotiators to start working on a compromise right away. The Senate has named its negotiators:

Frist on Monday appointed GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, George Voinovich of Ohio, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, John Sununu of New Hampshire, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Mike DeWine of Ohio and Trent Lott of Mississippi to serve as the Senate GOP negotiators.

Democrats chose Sens. Joseph Lieberman, Carl Levin of Michigan, Richard Durbin of Illinois, John Rockefeller of West Virginia, Bob Graham of Florida and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. The House has not yet named its negotiators.

Both chambers say they want to create a national intelligence director before the election, but the House decided to also include additional government anti-terrorism powers, including some additional barriers against illegal immigration, inside its legislation that the Senate had rejected to consider as part of its bill. House leaders say they will insist on their provisions because they think their bill is better.

The Senate bill is S. 2845, and the House bill is H.R. 10. You can access both at Thomas.

As to the provision of H.R. 10 that would have allowed the deportation of alien criminals and terror suspects to countries that might practice torture, the Washington Post reported: