The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, September 20, 2007 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
FORT MEADE, Md.
Bush wants
eavesdropping law,
to be permanent
President Bush said yesterday
he wants Congress to expand and
make permanent a law that tempo-
rarily gives the government more
power to eavesdrop without war-
rants on suspected foreign terror-
ists.
Without such action, Bush said,
"our national security profession-
als will lose critical tools theyneed
to protect our country."
"It will be harder to figure out
what our enemies are doing to
train, recruit and infiltrate opera-
tives into America," the president
said during a visit to the super-
secret National Security Agency's
headquarters. "Without these
tools, our country will be much
more vulnerable to attack."
The Foreign Intelligence Sur-
veillance Act governs when the
government must obtain warrants
for eavesdropping from a secret
intelligence court. This year's
update - approved just before
Congress' August break - allows
more efficient interceptions of for-
eign communications.
TEHRAN, Iran
Iran warns of
response attacks if
Israel strikes first
Iran has drawn up plans to
bomb Israel if the Jewish state
should attack, the deputy air force
commander said yesterday, adding
to tensions already heated up by
an Israeli airstrike on Syria and
Western calls for more U.N. sanc-
tions against Tehran.
Other Iranian officials also
underlined their country's readi-
ness to fight if the U.S. or Israel
attacks, a reflection of concerns in
Tehran that demands by the U.S.
and its allies for Iran to curtail its
nuclear program could escalate
into military action.
French Foreign Minister Ber-
nard Kouchner said Sunday that
the international community
should prepare for the possibility
of war in the event Iran obtains
atomic weapons, although he later
stressed the focus is still on diplo-
matic pressures.
WASHINGTON
Senate rejects
restrictions on Iraq
tour length
Democrats' efforts to challenge
President Bush's Iraq policies were
dealt a demoralizing blow yester-
day in the Senate after they failed
to scrape together enough support
to guarantee troops more time at
home.
The 56-44 vote - four short of
reaching the 60 needed to advance
- all but assured that Democrats
would be unable to muster the
support needed to pass tough anti-
war legislation by year's end. The
legislation, sponsored by Sen. Jim
Webb (D-Va.), was seen as the
Democrats' best shot because of its
pro-military premise.
"The idea of winning the war in
Iraq is beginning to get a second
look," said Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.), who led opposition to the
bill alongside Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.).
LAS VEGAS
O.J. Simpson free
after posting bail
In a scene of legal deja vu, a
grayer, heavier O.J. Simpson stood
handcuffed in court yesterday to
face charges that could put him
behind bars for life. The prosecu-
tor who failed to get him a dozen
years ago was there to watch, and
news cameras tracked his every
move as if they were covering a
slow-speed chase.
But as Simpson made his
$125,000 bail on charges including
kidnapping and armed robbery,
legal experts were questioning:
Could a former football star who
beat a double-murder rap really do
hard time for a crime that sounds
like a bad movie?
Police have laid out a case that
makes Simpson the leader in an
armed holdup of sports memora-
bilia collectors, and they arrested a
fifth suspect in the case yesterday.
Some of the facts - including a
curious recording of the confron-
tation - don't seem so clear-cut.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Campus group aims
to reform drug laws
Organization is a
reincarnation of a
defunct group
By PAUL BLUMER
Daily StaffReporter
Like many University students,
LSA sophomore Chris Chiles says
drugs should be decriminalized.
Unlike many University stu-
dents, he's decided to do something
about it.
This year, Chiles decided to re-
form the University's chapter of
Students for Sensible Drug Policy,
a national group that pushes for
the liberalization of drug laws. It
was formed in 1998, but its pres-
ence on campus had deteriorated.
The University chapter had about
20 members at the beginning of the
school year and now has several
dozen more students that are con-
sidering membership in the group,
said Chiles, the group's executive
director.
The organization was initially
created after Congress added a
clause called the Aid Elimination
Penalty to the Higher Education
Act in 1998. Under the new clause,
students with drug convictions
were denied access to federal finan-
cial aid, including loans, grants and
work-study.
According to the group's web-
site, almost 200,000 students have
been denied financial aid because
of the policy.
Last year, Congress scaled back
the Aid Elimination Penalty, for
which SSDP takes partial credit.
Under scaled back regulations, the
clause will affect only students
convicted of drug offenses dur-
ing their time as financially-sup-
ported students. But Chiles, who
has never faced drug charges, said
more needs to be done by the gov-
ernment.
"It doesn't make sense to pull
students out of school in order
to decrease drug problems and
abuse," he said.
Chiles said making drugs ille-
gal creates an underground black
market and funds violent criminals
immersed in the drug trade. He
said the government should regu-
late all illicit drugs in a manner
similar to its dealings with alcohol
and tobacco.
"People are getting tired of wast-
ing tax money on an unwinnable
war," Chiles said.
Drug policy is an issue that
divides Americans - but not along
the traditional expected party
lines.
LSA junior Justin Zatkoff, chair
of the Michigan Federation of Col-
lege Republicans, said opinions
on the drug issue are widely split
within the University's chapter of
College Republicans. While some
think there should be harsher
penalties for drug offenses, other
members take a more libertarian
view and side with SSDP.
Zatkoff said people should
obey all drug laws even though he
thinks several of these laws maybe
unjust.
"While many of us may not
agree with the pretense behind the
law it's important for students tobe
aware that if they want to take fed-
eral financial aid they better stay
clean," Zatkoff said.
SSDP doesn't encourage or con-
demn drug use by individuals,
Chiles said.
Chiles said the issue of drug
policy affects students on campus
whether they use drugs or they
don't.
"Certain drugs are dangerous,
but we've got to consider how
students are being harmed more
than helped by the war on drugs,"
Chiles said. "Drug users need reha-
bilitation, not criminal records that
prevent them from rejoining legiti-
mate society."
CLIF REEDER/Daly
LSA sophomore Chris Chiles, executive director of Students for Sensible
Drug Policy at the University of Michigan, aims to change drug laws and
educate students on campus about their legal rights.
Compromise talks
over funds continue
Granholm says
budget must pay
'for state services
LANSING (AP) - State lead-
ers continued negotiations yes-
terday to hash out a possible
deal to resolve the state's budget
crisis, but a key sticking point
remains the future rate of Mich-
igan's personal income tax.
Lawmakers appeared to be
making some progress toward
balancing the state budget and
avoiding a partial government
shutdown that could occur if
no budget deal is in place by the
start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1.
But they still were fighting
over how much of the projected
$1.75 billion budget shortfall
should be resolved through
higher taxes and how much
through spending cuts. The
debate over the state income
tax also was holding up a pos-
sible agreement to extend the
current budget year for 30 days,
which could buy lawmakers
more time to come up with a
broader solution. A continua-
tion budget becomes more like-
ly with each passing day.
Democratic Gov. Jennifer
Granholm says she will veto
a continuationbudget unless
more revenue is attached to
pay for state services. Senate
Majority Leader Mike Bishop
(R-Rochester), said shutting
down government would be
"the most irresponsible thing"
Granholm could do and that
she is using the threat as a
way to try and force large tax
increases.
The Senate adjourned at
about 2 p.m. yesterday, and is
scheduled to reconvene today.
The Senate also could meet
Sunday to vote on some sort of
budget related bills.
The Democrat-led House
let members leave at about 8
p.m. after a day without voting.
House Speaker Andy Dillon, a
Democrat from Redford, said
meetings with other lawmakers
were productive and that votes
could come later in the week.
House Democratic leadership
is still trying to get a full budget
adopted to avoid the need for a
temporary extension.
The House has been unable
to muster the 56 votes needed
to pass a tax increase, even
though Democrats hold a 58-52
edge in the 110-member cham-
ber. Ten Democrats declined to
register a vote on an income tax
proposal that was on the House
voting board all last weekend.
539 Uibert * Ann Arbor
(Downtown Ann Arbor)
~ Wahtenw *nn Aro
(aCross from Arborland Mall
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3,790
Number of American service
members who have died in the War
in Iraq, according to The Associ-
ated Press. The following service 5
members were identified by the
Department of Defense yesterday:
Spc. Matthew J. Emerson, 20,
of Grandview, Wash.
A