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15, 1:40 PM EST

Jan 15, 1:41 PM EST

Bush Makes Appeal on Faith-Based Programs
By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press WriterNEW ORLEANS (AP) -- President Bush said Thursday the "miracle of salvation" is the key to solving some of societies most intractable problems as he sought increased support among black voters with a renewed push for his plan to let religious charities in on more federal spending.
Bush used himself as an example of the good that religion can do, referencing his own decision to stop drinking at age 40 "because I changed my heart."
" My attitude is, the government should not fear faith-based programs - we ought to welcome faith-based programs and we ought to fund faith-based programs," he said from the pulpit of the packed Union Bethel A.M.E Church in a run-down, crime-plagued neighborhood near this city's downtown. "Faith-based programs are only effective because they do practice faith. It's important for our government to understand that."
On a sweep through the South that had him spending Thursday in Louisiana and Georgia, two states he won handily in 2000, Bush also was marking the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday with a wreath-laying at the late civil rights leader's crypt in Atlanta - a visit that has drawn protests from local King supporters.
In addition, the president appeared at a luncheon at the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans, where protesters shouted outside, and later was headed to an evening reception at an Atlanta hotel for a second fund-raiser that would bring his day's total take to $2.3 million for his already bulging campaign account. In Atlanta, Bush was to be introduced by Democratic Sen. Zell Miller, a conservative who was courted by the campaign after he announced his support last year for the president's re-election.

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Bush's Campaign Chairman Visits VermontAt Union Bethel, in a speech laced with religious references - and at a meeting with community leaders - Bush promoted his desire to open more federal spending on social programs to religious groups.
He said he church's many efforts - such as feeding the homeless, teaching neighborhood children karate and running a day-care center - are a perfect example of the kind of programs the federal government should fund.
" Problems that face our society are oftentimes problems that, you know, require something greater than just a government program or a government counselor to solve," he said. "Intractable problems, problems that seem impossible to solve, can be solved. There is the miracle of salvation that is real, that is tangible, that is available for all to see."
Bush has sought legislation to give religious groups access to federal funds as long as their services are available to anyone, but without requiring them to make fundamental changes. The proposal got a cold reception in Congress, and lawmakers put forward instead a package of tax incentives for charitable giving.
While that measure awaits approval, Bush has used executive orders and new regulations to remove many of the barriers - such as being required to ban all religious activities and adjust hiring practices - that have kept religious groups from competing for federal grants. Bush announced Thursday that the Justice Department has finalized just such regulations affecting $3.7 billion in funding, primarily for programs that help crime victims, prevent child victimization and promote safe schools.
Some opponents of the policy fear the government will wind up paying to support religion.
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said Bush is trying to overturn two centuries of church-state separation required by the Constitution and institute "taxpayer-subsidized job discrimination" by allowing taxpayer-funded groups to hire and fire based on religious belief.
For Bush, the issue is aimed at appealing to two important constituencies: religious conservatives, who make up his base of support, and black voters, only 9 percent of whom supported him in 2000.
Indeed, Bush almost always chooses black churches in poor neighborhoods as the setting to talk about his initiative.
In Atlanta, the president's visit to mark King's 75th birthday, four days before the federal holiday, has upset some civil rights leaders. They say the president's politics and poor scheduling conflict with their plans to honor King.
State Rep. Tyrone Brooks, president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, said Bush's policies on the Iraq war, affirmative action and social service funding have been "in direct contradiction to the King legacy."
" It's wonderful to come lay a wreath, but there must be a commitment beyond laying the wreath," Brooks said.
Officials at The King Center said they extended no formal invitation to Bush but agreed to the plans when the White House said he was coming.
" It's important for our country to honor his life and what he stood for," Bush said at the New Orleans church.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

STOP! YOU"VE GONE TOO FAR

Iraqi Shiites March to Demand Elections
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Associated Press WriterNewsweek Perspective: Is occupation the main force holding Iraq together? (Audio)
BASRA, Iraq (AP) -- Tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims shouting "No to America!" marched Thursday through this southern city to back their spiritual leader's call for early elections, a stand that could stymie a U.S. blueprint for transferring power to a new Iraqi administration.
The peaceful demonstration in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, came amid a string of bombings and clashes across the country over recent days that has killed 23 people. In latest incident, a university bus in Tikrit on Thursday ran over an anti-land mine, which exploded, killing two students and the driver.
An estimated 20,000-30,000 Shiite Muslims turned out to support Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani's demand that an interim legislature be elected directly and not chosen in provincial caucuses, as called for under the American plan.
The massive demonstration for the most powerful cleric of Iraq's majority Shiites showed that the United States cannot afford to take al-Sistani's criticism of the transfer plans lightly.
The Shiites appear to be becoming more vocal in their concerns about the political process - but, in contrast to the Sunni militants thought to be behind the anti-U.S. insurgency, the Shiites have not turned to violence. Since the U.S. invasion, Shiites, who suffered the most under Saddam, have largely refrained from attacking Americans.
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U.S. Assures Iraqis on Saddam POW StatusSmaller demonstrations also took place Thursday in Baghdad, Ramadi and Mosul, of a few hundred people each, cautioning against aspects of the U.S. plan for Iraq's future, which they fear will divide the country.
Under the current plan, the United States will transfer power by July 1 to a provisional Iraqi government to be created by a legislature chosen by provincial caucuses. The plan envisions a two-year political transition before full elections in 2005.
U.S. officials say al-Sistani's demand for elections to choose members of the assembly are unreasonable because a credible election could not be conducted on such short notice due to the country's precarious security situation.
Iraqi leaders and U.S. authorities hope a meeting in New York on Monday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will help resolve the impasse over al-Sistani's objections.
Annan has written to the Governing Council, saying that holding a credible election before June 30 may be impossible. Shiite council members dismissed that as the view of "faraway" experts unfamiliar with the realities of Iraq. Many Iraqis would like the United Nations to play a major role in the transfer of power.
" If the agreement is implemented under the supervision of the Americans alone or the coalition as a whole, it will be deficient because it will have been carried out under occupation," said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish Governing Council member.
" But if it's implemented under the supervision of the United Nations, the Europeans and the Arab League, then it will be much more acceptable."
The question of legitimacy has dogged Iraqi politics since the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April. The Governing Council is viewed by many Iraqis as a tool of U.S. administrator Paul Bremer, who hand-picked its 25 members in July. Many council members are Saddam critics who spent many years outside Iraq before returning home.
At a news conference Thursday in Baghdad, the current president of the Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi, said he believes al-Sistani can be convinced that elections cannot be held right away.
But even if al-Sistani relented on immediate elections, "he wants to see a better way of electing the legislature, better than the one proposed in (the) Nov. 15 agreement," said Pachachi, who met al-Sistani last week and is in frequent contact with him through intermediaries.
" We agreed that there is room for improvement, there are many many ideas to make it more transparent and inclusive ... whereby the Iraqi people, in a very obvious way, can manifest their desires," Pachachi said.
The Basra protesters shouted "No, no to America! Yes, yes to al-Sistani!" as they marched through the streets under the close watch of British soldiers before dispersing.
" We are here to support Sistani's edict to avoid an appointed council laying down our constitution. If that happens we will resist," said Osama Mohammad, a 32-year-old unemployed man.
Meanwhile, in Tikrit, a bus was taking home students from the University of Tikrit when it hit a mine planted in the road, throwing the vehicle into the air, Lt. Col. Steve Russell, commander of the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, told reporters.
The bus driver had already dropped most of the students off at their homes before the explosion, Russell said. Two students and the driver were killed. The only other student on the bus had been sitting at the rear of the bus and was wounded but was expected to live, he said.
" What it shows us is how evil and sick minded these people (the attackers) are that they would target innocent university students," Russell said.
Tikrit is part of the so-called Sunni triangle in central Iraq, home to diehard Saddam loyalists who have been blamed for most of the insurgent attacks on civilians and U.S. forces.
U.S. troops conducted some 28 raids on Wednesday around Baqouba, 45 miles southeast of Tikrit, capturing 31 Saddam loyalists, the military said. The raids came hours after a car bomb attack against a police station in Baqouba that killed three people, including the car's driver.
In one of the raids, troops clashed with attackers, killing four, in the village of Abu Kharma, said an Army spokesman, Master Sgt. Robert Cargie.
In Khalas, 6 miles northwest of Baqouba, a patrol shot and killed two Iraqis digging a hole in the ground, apparently to plant bombs, Cargie said. He said the men did not fire at the troops but attempted to run away on spotting the patrol.
In Jalula, near Tikrit, U.S. soldiers returned fire at two people who attacked them with automatic weapons, killing one of them and injuring the other, Cargie said.
Elsewhere, two foreign civilian drivers were killed Wednesday during an attack near Tikrit on a convoy operated by U.S. contractor Kellogg, Brown & Root. On Tuesday, cars driving past a U.S. patrol in Samarra began shooting at the soldiers, who returned fire, killing eight Iraqis.
Also Thursday, bank notes bearing Saddam's portrait became obsolete as a three-month period to exchange them for the new dinar ended. More than 10,000 tons of worthless notes are being destroyed, said a joint statement by the Central Bank of Iraq and the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Jan 15, 2:05 PM EST
Streakers Watch As Their Car Is Stolen

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- Three men who went streaking through a Denny's restaurant were chilled and chagrined when they spotted a thief drive off in their getaway car, their clothes inside.
Naked in the 20-degree weather, the three young men huddled behind cars in a parking lot until police arrived.
" I don't think they were hiding. I think they were just concealing themselves," police spokesman Dick Cottam said.
The three entered the restaurant before daybreak Wednesday, wearing only shoes and hats. They left their car running so they could make a quick escape.
But the streakers watched through the windows as a man who had been eating inside the restaurant drove off in their car.

No charges were brought against the streakers.
" I think it was just three kids who decided to fool around," Cottam said. He added: "We always tell people to not leave their car running."
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Jan 15, 2:27 PM EST
Braun Quits Presidential Race, Backs Dean
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press WriterCARROLL, Iowa (AP) -- Former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun dropped out of the presidential race Thursday and endorsed Howard Dean as "a Democrat we can all be proud to support."
" Gov. Dean has the energy to inspire the American people, to break the cocoon of fear that envelopes us and empowers President Bush and his entourage from the extreme right-wing," she said at a joint appearance with the former Vermont governor.
Braun, whose own campaign failed to generate significant campaign funds or support in national or state polls, said Dean had a program to "put our country back on track to tax fairness, job creation, balanced budgets and an economy that works for everyone regardless of sex or race."
Braun, the only woman and one of two blacks in the race, left the field four days ahead of the Iowa caucuses.
Her departure left eight men vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge President Bush this fall. Another contender, Florida Sen. Bob Graham, folded his campaign last year.
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Dean said Wednesday that he welcomed the endorsement of the former senator from Illinois.
" She's a principled person. We just hit it off. I like her a lot," he told reporters. "It's going to be a big help to us."
Dean's campaign manager, Joe Trippi, said before the announcement that Braun approached the former Vermont governor after a recent debate and told him she was considering leaving the race and backing him. Braun is giving Dean her endorsement even as he has faced questions about his record on race issues, including his lack of minority Cabinet members during his five terms as Vermont governor.
Braun came to Dean's defense in a debate last Sunday when Al Sharpton, the other black candidate in the Democratic field, accused the former governor of trivializing race issues.
Braun never broke out of single digits in national and state polls and failed to qualify for several state ballots.
And though she had been endorsed by two influential women's groups - the National Organization for Women and the National Women's Political Caucus - that support failed to translate into financial support. Braun struggled to raise money while running up thousands of dollars in debt. She also missed the deadline to file paperwork for the initial round of federal campaign money, delaying for several weeks the receipt of any federal matching funds, expected to amount to several hundred thousand dollars,
Even her own campaign manager, Patricia Ireland, had said publicly that there was no way Braun could win the nomination.
She leaves the race after having little impact on it, except for some bright moments in debates. Braun often stressed during the campaign that she was running for president because it was time to "take the 'Men Only' sign off the White House door."
Rival Joe Lieberman offered words of praise for Braun, but little comment about her endorsement of Dean, calling her "an able and eloquent person, an honorable person. When I'm president of the United States, I'm going to convince Carol Moseley Braun to work in my administration."
Dennis Kucinich said, "I'll miss her," and expressed the hope that she persuades Dean on a single-payer, universal health care policy.
The run for president also may have helped Braun rehabilitate her image. Elected to the Senate in 1992 during the "Year of the Woman," Braun lost the seat after one term due to allegations about her ethics and improper campaign spending.
Braun had also fallen under criticism for meeting in 1996 with Gen. Sani Abacha, the late dictator of Nigeria who had been accused of myriad human rights violations, during a trip to the country for a friend's memorial. She did not tell the State Department in advance, which she later said she regretted not doing.
After losing the seat, President Clinton named her ambassador to New Zealand.
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http://www.carolforpresident.com
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.