Bush to Veto Bill To Extend Health Insurance to 3.3 Million Children
In news from Washington, President Bush is threatening to veto a bill that would extend health insurance to an additional 3.3 million low-income children. Last week Senators reached a bipartisan agreement to add thirty five billion dollars to the Children's Health Insurance Program over the next five years by increasing federal taxes on cigarettes. Senators said the extra funding would help cover some of the nation's eight million uninsured children. But on Saturday the White House said President Bush would veto the bill.
Western Shoshone Spiritual Leader Corbin Harney, 87, Dies
And the Western Shoshone Nation spiritual leader Corbin Harney is being buried today. He died last week at the age of 87. He campaigned against nuclear weapons, opposed nuclear testing on indigenous lands and fought the federal government's attempt to place nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain. He was the author of the book "The Way It Is: One Water, One Air, One Earth."
Report: Nearly Half of Foreign Militants in Iraq Are Saudi
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that nearly half of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops in Iraq have come from Saudi Arabia – one of Washington's closest allies in the Middle East. Of the 19,000 prisoners being held by the U.S. in Iraq only 135 are foreign-born fighters and half of them are Saudi. U.S. officials have so far refused to publicly criticize Saudi Arabia's role in Iraq. Meanwhile in Washington the Democratic-led Senate has unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by Independent Senator Joe Lieberman to censure not Saudi Arabia but Iran for complicity in the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. Lieberman said the Senate has a "choice between turning a blind eye to the murder of our troops and confronting those who are murdering them."