The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
NEWS BRIEFS
WASHINGTON
Judge's nomination
delayed over opinion
of gay marriage
A Michigan judge whoae nomi-
nation to the federal bench in
stalled over her appearance at a
lesbian commitment ceremony says
she attended the rite as a friend,
not to give it legal sanction. But the
nomination of Michigan Court of
Appeals Judge Janet Neff remains
on hold because Republican Sen.
Sam Brownback of Kansas is not
content with her written answers
to questions about her views on
same sex marriage, a Brownback
spokesman said yesterday.
BAGHDAD
October U.S. troop
deaths highest
monthly total in year
American troop deaths in Iraq
hit their highest monthly total in a
year on yesterday but as U.S. forces
clamped down on the capital mili-
tants struck in a city to the north,
where 30 police and gunmen were
killed in a series of shootouts.
The latest U.S. deaths - a Navy
sailor and four Marines - all were
killed Wednesday in volatile Anbar
province, west of Baghdad and a
hotbed of the Sunni resistance to
U.S. forces and their Iraqi govern-
ment allies.
At least 96 U.S. troops have died
so far this month, equalling the
level for the whole of October 2005
- a factor in rising anti-war senti-
ment in the United States that has
prompted calls for President Bush Eng
to change strategy. There have been mo
only three months in which more
U.S. forces died in Iraq: 107 in Janu-
ary 2005; at least 135 in April 2004,
and 137 in November 2004.
However, U.S. officials have
linked October's higher death toll
to a historical spike in violence
during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan, additional U.S. military (
vulnerability because of the securi-
ty drive in Baghdad and the coming
American midterm elections.
POPPET FLAT, Calif. la
Arsonist sparks
rampant wildfire;
four firefighters dead st
onl
A wind-whipped wildfire tern
started by an arsonist killed four rei
firefighters yesterday and strand- arg
ed up to 400 people in an RV park I
when flames burned to the edge of Cir
the only road out, officials said. law
"Everybody is hunkered down use
here. They're fighting the fire for
around us. It's across the street the
from us," said Charles Van Brunt, I
a ranger at the station at the U.S
entrance to Silent Valley Club, Pap
the recreational vehicle park near Lei
Palm Springs. The residents were an
in no immediate danger, he said. rig]
Authorities asked people in the law
RV park to stay put to leave the its
roads clear for firefighters. Hun- life
dreds of others in the area were ant
forced from their homes.
WARREN

Bush roars through
state raising money
With precious air time still left to
buy before Election Day, President
Bush raised money yesterday for
two Republican candidates trying to
knock off Democratic incumbents in
an uphill year for the GOP.
The president was in the final
days of a nearly 2-year-long effort of IT
unmatched fundraising for dozens
of Republican candidates. Bush has ri
raised more than $193 million in near-
ly 90 events, according to the Repub- I
lican National Committee; that figure tin
dwarfs what any other individual has a
raised for Republicans or Democrats. som
Bush swung through Des Moines, con
Iowa, at lunchtime to raise $400,000 Pac
for the state Republican Party and San
congressional candidate Jeff Lam-
berti, whom the president mistakenly bat
called "Dave" throughout his speech. Ru:
Then Bush headed to the Detroit sub- ten
urbs for an early evening fundraiser mo
that brought in $700,000 for Senate and
hopeful Mike Bouchard. but
"The other side is dancing in the
end zone, except they're on the 15yard mo
line," Bush said to cheers at the fund-
raiser decorated with signs for the ing
American League champion Detroit rese
Tigers, with many in Michigan cur-
rentlypayingcloser attentionto sports are
than politics. om
-Compiled from wh
Daily wire reports a y
wh
tot
SIT EOF T T D Y
You may not have to ing
write that political science ma
paper due in two weeks. into
According to the Rapture Flo
Index at raptureready. nia
com, you should "fasten retu
your seat belt" and prepare for hig
the End of Days. The index adds up sell
the events that could be construed I
to fulfill Biblical prophecies of the 30,
Apocalypse. The more people claim rea
to be Christ and oil prices go up, the
the closer the index says we are to an
Final Judgement. But you should esta
write that paper anyway: The index Ne'
is currently 26 points below its all- inc
time high. Sou

Friday, October 27, 2006 - 3A

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Bush signs into
law fence along
Mexican border

Fence could give
GOP hopefuls
pre-election platform
WASHINGTON (AP)-President
Bush signed a bill yesterday autho-
rizing 700 miles of new fencing
along the U.S.-Mexico border, hop-
ing to give Republican candidates a
pre-election platform for asserting
they're tough on illegal immigra-
tion.
"Unfortunately the United States
has not been in complete control of
its borders for decades and there-
fore illegal immigration has been
on the rise," Bush said at a signing
ceremony.
"We have a responsibility to
enforce our laws," he said. "We
have a responsibility to secure our
borders. We take this responsibility
serious."
He called the fence bill"an impor-
tant step in our nation's efforts to
secure our borders."
The centerpiece of Bush's immi-
gration policy, a guest worker pro-
gram, remains stalled in Congress.
And a handful of House Republi-
can are atthe brakes, blockingnego-
tiations with the Senate for abillthat
includes the president's proposal.
Still, Bush arguesthat itwould be
easier to get his guest worker pro-
gram passed if Republicans keep
their majorities in the House and
Senate after the Nov. 7elections. His
proposal would allow legal employ-
ment for foreigners and give some
of the estimated 11 million to 12 mil-
lion illegal immigrants in the United
States a shot at becoming American
citizens.
The measure Bush put into law
yesterday before heading for cam-
paign stops in Iowa and Michigan
offers nomoney for the fence project
covering one-third of the 2,100-mile
border.
Its cost is not known, although a

homeland security spending mea-
surethe presidentsignedearlierthis
month makes a $1.2 billion down
payment on the project. The money
also can be used for access roads,
vehicle barriers, lighting, high-tech
equipment and othertools to secure
the border.
Mexican officials have criticized
the fence. Outgoing Mexican Presi-
dent Vicente Fox, who has spent
much of his six years in office lob-
bying for a new guest worker pro-
gram and a chance atcitizenship for
the millions of Mexicans working
illegally in the U.S., calls the fence
"shameful" and compares it to the
Berlin Wall.
Others have doubts about its
effectiveness.
"A fence will slow people down
by a minute or two, but if you don't
have the agents to stop them it does
no good. We're not talking about
some impenetrable barrier," T.J.
Bonner, president of the National
Border Patrol Council, a union rep-
resenting Border Patrol agents, said
Wednesday.
Customs and Border Protection
statistics show that apprehensions
at border crossings are down 8 per-
cent nationally for the budget year
that just ended, Bonner said. Appre-
hensions were up in the San Diego
sector, he said, an area of the nearly
2,000-mile border thathas the most
fencing.
A spokesman for Customs and
Border Protection would not con-
firm the statistics or discuss reasons
for the increase in the San Diego
sector.
Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bai-
ley Hutchison, both Texas Republi-
cans,had wanted to amend the fence
bill to give local governments more
say about where fencing is erected.
They lost that battle, but Republican
leaders assured them the Homeland
Security Department would have
flexibility to choose other options
instead of fencing, if needed.

ANGELA CESERE/Daly
ineering graduate student Michaela Flak takes a break to decorate and paint pumpkins for Halloween in Pierpont Com-
ms Thursday afternoon. The pumpkin decorating was part ofa University Unions Arts and Programs event.
*tate seeks reinstatement
)fstricter abortion law

Opponents say
inguage could define
abortion as murder
CINCINNATI (AP) - A Michi-
abortion law found uncon-
utional was meant to block
y the use of a specific late-
m procedure and should be
nstated, a lawyer for the state
ued Thursday.
But opponents told the 6th U.S.
cuit Court of Appeals that the
is so vague that it could be
d to prosecute physicians per-
ming all abortions, subjecting
m to possible murder charges.
n a ruling in September 2005,
. District Court Judge Denise
ge Hood in Detroit ruled the
gal Birth Definition Act places
"undue burden" on women's
ht to choose. Hood said the
'is confusing and vague, and
exceptions for the health or
of a mother are meaningless
d unconstitutional.
Proponents of the law said
tents
ise 3.9
ercent
Consumers pay
nore for less while
enting real estate
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Kris-
Zimmerman went looking for
new apartment recently after
eone broke into her unit in a
verted Victorian house in the
ific Heights neighborhood of
Francisco.
She found two-bedroom, two-
h dwellingonthe edge ofupscale
ssian Hill, where the previous
ant had been paying $2,600 a
nth - more than the $1,959 she
i her roommate were spending
still within their limit.
The landlord wanted $3,000 a
nth and wouldn't budge.
"The woman was just unrelent-
,"said Zimmerman, 26, acancer
earcher.
Apartment rents and demand
soaringnationwide as the econ-
y produces good jobs and people
o might have bought homes
'ear ago settle for apartments
ile they wait for housing prices
umble.
The supply of rental hous-
tightened in the past year as
ny apartments were converted
o condominiums in places like
rida and Southern Califor-
. Some of those units are now
urning to rental markets at
h prices as owners struggle to
I them.
In the quarter ended Sept.
the average advertised rent
ched $978, up 3.9 percent over
year-ago period, according to
analysis of 75 markets by real
ate research firm Reis Inc. in
w York. Some of the biggest
reases were seen inFlorida and
thern California.

they were attempting to ban the
late-term procedure they call
"partial-birth" abortion. Previ-
ous attempts by lawmakers to
stop the procedure were struck
down by federal courts in 1997
and 2001.
"This law is an absolute ban
on almost all abortions," Brigitte
Amiri, an American Civil Lib-
erties Union attorney, told the
three-judge panel. The panel will
rule later.
Eric Restuccia, an assistant
Michigan attorney general, told
the court that physicians do not
need to fear prosecution because
state Attorney General Mike Cox
has issued an opinion directing
county prosecutors not to charge
physicians in abortions other
than those that use the "partial-
birth" technique.
He implied that the opinion
was binding on Cox's successors.
Appeals Judge Boyce Mar-
tin, who peppered both lawyers
with questions, said that where
he comes from - Kentucky - an
attorney general's opinion doesn't

bear that weight.
"Michigan is a strong attorney
general state," Restuccia said.
Amiri rebutted that, telling
Martin that Cox's opinion is not
binding on future attorneys gen-
eral.
When Restuccia returned for
a second round of questioning,
Martin told him, "You misled
me, and I don't appreciate that."
Restuccia told him it was a mis-
understanding.
In court papers filed in Febru-
ary, Cox said the law only bans
the procedure that doctors call
"intact dilation and extraction,"
and the law can be construed to
adequately protect a woman's life
and health.
The ACLU of Michigan, the
Center for Reproductive Rights
and Planned Parenthood Federa-
tion of America challenged the
law, which attempts to define
a human embryo or fetus as a
"legally born person" once any
non-severed part of that embryo
or fetus emerges through a wom-
an's vaginal opening.

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