Collective Sigh

Get ready for the Dale Trail in the hometown of the late stock-car driver Dale Earnhardt.

The self-guided tour will highlight such locales as the streets Earnhardt cruised in his youth and the restaurant where fans can order his favorite sandwich: sliced tomato on white bread, sometimes with lettuce and Miracle Whip.

"We're quite excited about the project," said Ann Sternal, executive director of the Cabarrus County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Leaders in Cabarrus see the trail as another way to emphasize the county's racing ties while luring more visitors. Since Earnhardt died in a crash during the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, thousands of race fans have continued to visit the region to connect with his legacy.

The White House said Thursday it is taking seriously the allegations by former hostages that Iran's hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was one of their captors at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran a quarter century ago.

Progress has been made to improve conditions and protect detainees' rights at the U.S. prison for suspected terrorists, House Republicans and Democrats, including one who has advocated closing the facility, said Saturday.

The U.S. lawmakers witnessed interrogations, toured cell blocks and ate the same lunch given to detainees on the first congressional visit to the prison for suspected terrorists since criticism of it intensified in the spring.

A divided U.S. Supreme Court declared on Monday it was unconstitutional to post framed copies of the Ten Commandments in county courthouses but permissible to have a commandments monument on the grounds of a state Capitol. The two 5-4 rulings on the politically charged issue involving Ten Commandments displays on government property came in a pair of cases that have been widely regarded as the most important of the court term concerning church-state separation.

The 10-term congressman said in an interview with the News & Record of Greensboro that he's "fed up with picking up the newspaper and reading that we've lost another five or 10 of our young men and women in Iraq."

Support among Coble's 6th District constituents has also waned, his office said.

The dean of the state's congressional delegation said he arrived at his position only after many months of searching in vain for evidence that the Bush administration had a post-invasion strategy to deal with the transition to Iraqi self-government.

"We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan"

Former Chief Justice Roy Moore, speaking to the Southern Baptist Pastors Conference, blasted U.S. court decisions that he said undermined freedom of religion. "We have been deceived by a government which tells us we cannot worship God, contradictory to history, contradictory to law, contradictory to logic," Moore said.

(President George W. Bush) reiterated his call for Congress to put into law his executive order protecting religious liberty and providing for equal treatment of faith-based service organizations seeking federal funding.

Some of my distinguished colleagues on the other side of the aisle have taken exception to my description of activities at Guantanamo and have demanded an apology.

After careful consideration and a re-reading of my words, I agree.

I apologize to the FBI agent who was exposed to something no dedicated government employee should ever have to witness - the debasement of his country's principles.

I further apologize to him that some of his elected representatives have chosen to twist the words of a dedicated public servant who was only doing his job.

I apologize to our troops around the world who face danger and death with great bravery. Our mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and elsewhere has made their job harder and much more dangerous.

I also apologize to the American people, who have been tricked into supporting an unsustainable, unjustified war that has cost over seventeen-hundred American lives and billions of taxpayer dollars.

I apologize to all those abroad who once looked to America as a beacon of liberty and human rights; we have been dragged into the depths of depravity by our own fears.

We can - and will - do better. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with me to seek ways to restore America's honor, make amends for our grievous violations of human rights and dignity, seek swift punishment for those responsible - no matter how high - and restore America to that "shining city upon a hill".

llegal immigrants accessed nuclear weapons facility

Sixteen illegal immigrants gained access last year to one of the most sensitive weapons sites in the country, according to a report issued Monday by the Department of Energy's inspector general.

In a report to the council, Gelb was scathing about America efforts to train an Iraqi army. ''If you ask any Iraqi leader, they will tell you these people can't fight. They just aren't trained. And yet we're cranking them out like rabbits." As for plans to train a 10 division Iraqi army by next year, Gelb was scathing. ''It became very apparent to me that these 10 divisions were to fight some future war against Iran. It had nothing to do, nothing to do," with taking Iraq over from the Americans and fighting the insurgents.

The House disregarded strong White House objections and voted yesterday to withhold up to half of the country's dues from the United Nations if the world body does not cut its bureaucracy, redirect its budget and tighten its accountability.

The bill -- one of the most extensive and specific congressional edicts to the United Nations -- requires the creation of whistle-blower protections, an independent oversight board with broad investigative authority and an ethics office to thwart possible conflicts of interest.

Democrats remain divided - just as they have been for more than a year - on how to press Republicans and the Bush administration to end the conflict.

"Some within our Caucus want to go from A to D," said one Democratic Member, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "For many of us who supported the president's resolution, we have to go from A to B to C to D."

With prices that run into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars, the new biotech drugs to treat conditions like cancer and multiple sclerosis are driving up health care costs for employers.

Specialty drug insurance costs will go up 22.5 percent this year, according to a study released Monday by Aon Consulting. General pharmacy costs, in which specialty drugs are included, will increase at a rate of 13.1 percent.

Although he considers it "morally wrong" to put off dealing with Social Security, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday he agrees with fellow Republicans that changes in the venerable domestic program can't be forced upon an unwilling American public. "What we need to do is really demonstrate the reality of the problem," said Frist, R-Tenn.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars Frist's supporters had given him to run for the Senate were dwindling at a rapid rate. Much of that money was lost in a stock market investment that experts say was out of line with the way candidates traditionally invest campaign funds. Frist's campaign also took on more than $1 million in debt so that it could repay Frist for interest-free loans he made to his campaign six years earlier.

GOP Congressman Wants Troops Out of Iraq

A Republican congressman who voted for the Iraq war said Sunday that "we've done about as much as we can do" in the country and that the reason for invading Iraq has proven false.

Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina will be among the lawmakers introducing legislation this week calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops in Iraq.

"When I look at the number of men and women who have been killed — it's almost 1,700 now, in addition to close to 12,000 have been severely wounded — and I just feel that the reason of going in for weapons of mass destruction, the ability of the Iraqis to make a nuclear weapon, that's all been proven that it was never there," Jones said on ABC's "This Week."

The Army also said Thursday that it will ease requirements for new officers by accepting older candidates and being more tolerant of past minor crimes.

The networks call this phenomenon a reaction against mean reality shows and in favor of ones on which good things happen to nice people (see also American Idol). "We started off in a cynical place," says Three Wishes executive producer Andrew Glassman. "We explored what happens when animals attack and human beings are treated like lab rats in a social experiment. But people seeing wishes and dreams come true will always resonate."

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...for viewers who like to see heartstrings tugged literally as well as metaphorically, next season The Miracle Workers will give away medical care. A man gets treatment for severe tics so he can hold his baby again; a boy gets cochlear implants to hear his mother for the first time. Says executive producer Justin Falvey: "There are thousands of people suffering enormously and unnecessarily out there."

A pro-family website is warning television audiences that TV Land, a cable network that advertises a schedule of well-known, classic, family-friendly television shows, is airing a special that promotes the homosexual agenda this month. A recent e-mail alert from OneMillionDads.com notes that the show called "Inside TV Land: Tickled Pink," which celebrates homosexual undercurrents running through television history, is airing on TV Land throughout June.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry suggested that gay veterans unhappy with the proposed anti-gay constitutional amendment should move elsewhere.

"I'm going to say Texas has made a decision on marriage and if there's a state with more lenient views than Texas, then maybe that's where they should live," the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Perry said Sunday.

Perry's comments were in response to a question during a news conference about what he would tell gay war veterans returning from Iraq.

After Lowering Goal, Army Falls Short on May Recruits

Even after reducing its recruiting target for May, the Army missed it by about 25 percent, Army officials said on Tuesday. The shortfall would have been even bigger had the Army stuck to its original goal for the month.

On Friday, the Army is expected to announce that it met only 75 percent of its recruiting goal for May, the fourth consecutive monthly shortfall in the number of new recruits sent to basic training. Just over 5,000 new recruits entered boot camp in May.

But the news could have appeared worse. Early last month, the Army, with no public notice, lowered its long-stated May goal to 6,700 recruits from 8,050. Compared with the original target, the Army achieved only 62.6 percent of its goal for the month.

The administration announced last month that it had overturned the Clinton-era roadless rule, opening up 58 million acres of roadless land in the West (6.9 million in Montana) to road building. That is, unless governors petition otherwise. Governors now have 18 months to make the decisions on these lands, a responsibility that does not sit well with Schweitzer.

"“It’s just another unfunded mandate. ‘They say ‘you’re responsible but we’re not helping and we’re taking away your assets,’” he said. “This is an administration that has it all backward. Remember Truman? … This administration says ‘by the way, I’m passing the buck to you.”

We were unable to stop a repeat of the Vietnam war in Iraq; the least we can do is block the parallel resumption of the draft.

We are often asked what can be done now to protect you or your children from being selected in the event of a draft.

Because there is no draft today, no one can say exactly what the rules and procedures would be. However, it seems safe to assume that a future draft would not call up persons who are currently unqualified or unacceptable for military service.

So what a person can do now is to create a file documenting any problems or restrictions, so if the draft returns they would have necessary paperwork ready and complete on short notice.

Ex-foster children struggle to survive

Housing, food, lifestyle choices prove to be huge hurdles for some

Fred Kelly, Staff Writer

At 18, Tasha Johnston lives from place to place, calling anyone she knows for help or shelling out $35 for a room at an extended-stay motel in north Charlotte.

Her goal to bankroll an apartment from her job as a restaurant cashier, which pays $6.50 an hour, is a long shot.

"I'm scared," Johnston said.

Four months after "aging out" of North Carolina's foster care system, she knows she runs the risk of becoming another statistic.

Nearly 500 young people from ages 18 to 21 were released from the state's care in 2004. About one in eight is now homeless, a survey shows.

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A recent national study of 603 former foster care youths by the University of Chicago found that one-third of them had not graduated from high school and another one-third suffered from mental illness.

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Researchers from the Center for Child and Family Studies at the University of South Carolina interviewed 191 former foster care clients.

They found that 14 percent of them said they needed help buying food or clothing.

It mirrors a national trend, experts say.

About 20,000 people age out of foster care annually in the United States.

Between 25 percent and 33 percent will experience homelessness within four years of leaving the system, said Philip Magano, director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Some intentionally get arrested so they can go to jail, where they are guaranteed shelter and food, Magano said.

Others turn to prostitution to pay for housing, he added.

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A recent study by the University of Chicago on young adults in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa who recently exited foster care found that they did not fare well. Here are some of the results:

• 13.8 percent had been homeless.
• 18.6 percent did not have enough money to pay rent.
• 7.4 percent had been evicted.
• 17.4 percent did not have enough money pay for utilities.
• 11.5 percent sometimes or often do not get enough to eat.

Source: Chapin Hall Center for Children at University of Chicago

The Pentagon on Friday released new details about mishandling of the Quran at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects, confirming that a soldier deliberately kicked the Muslim holy book and that an interrogator stepped on a Quran and was later fired for "a pattern of unacceptable behavior."

In other confirmed incidents, water balloons thrown by prison guards caused an unspecified number of Qurans to get wet; a guard's urine came through an air vent and splashed on a detainee and his Quran; and in a confirmed but ambiguous case, a two-word obscenity was written in English on the inside cover of a Quran.

Of course, every time we start talking about raising the minimum wage, critics chime in and say it's bad for business and will cost jobs. So now is a good time to repeat what we know: several studies have shown that the kinds of increases in the minimum wage we are supporting do not lead to higher unemployment. In fact, since 1998, small businesses in states that have increased their minimum wage have created jobs faster than small businesses in states where the minimum wage has stayed at $5.15.

President Bush called on Congress on Thursday to impose stringent restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits as a step toward curtailing escalating health-care costs, a key goal in his domestic agenda.

"Excessive jury awards will continue to drive up insurance costs, will put good doctors out of business or run them out of your community," Bush told health-care professionals and administrators at the University of Scranton.

Rising doctors' premiums not due to lawsuit awards

Study suggests insurers raise rates to make up for investment declines

Re-igniting the medical malpractice overhaul debate, a new study by Dartmouth College researchers suggests that huge jury awards and financial settlements for injured patients have not caused the explosive increase in doctors' insurance premiums.

The researchers said a more likely explanation for the escalation is that malpractice insurance companies have raised doctors' premiums to compensate for falling investment returns.

The Dartmouth economists studied actual payments made to patients between 1991 and 2003, the results of which were published yesterday in the journal Health Affairs. Some previous studies have examined jury awards, which often are reduced after trial to comply with doctors' insurance coverage maximums or because the plaintiff settles for less money to avoid an appeal. Researchers found that payments grew an average of 4 percent annually during the years covered by the study, or 52 percent overall since 1991, but only 1.6 percent a year since 2000. The increases are roughly equivalent to the overall rise in healthcare costs, said Amitabh Chandra, lead author and an assistant professor of economics at the New Hampshire college.