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The House on Wednesday voted to raise a cap on administrative costs for a government coupon program that helps consumers make the transition to digital television broadcasting.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration had sought help from Congress with administrative costs, which were capped by law at $160 million. Congress approved an additional $20 million as part of an appropriations bill approved Wednesday.

The coupon program provides two $40 coupons per household to consumers who will need converter boxes when full-power television stations shift to digital-only broadcasting in February.

Federal law allocated $1.5 billion toward the coupon program with a maximum of $160 million to be used toward administrative expenses. So far, the NTIA has committed $157.2 million to IBM, the coupon program’s contractor — nearly $40 million more than the initial contract award, The Associated Press reported last week.

The agency sought approval for the increase to ensure coupons will continue to be distributed throughout the transition.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved a package to extend $18 billion in tax credits for using renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal and also provide incentives to cut energy consumption.

The move, which alternative energy companies had been lobbying for all year, sent shares of solar power companies higher in after-hours trade. The delay in extending the tax credits had been a major damper on those stocks this year. The Senate was seen as the biggest roadblock after it shot down the extension eight times this year.

“Getting past what has been largely the deal-breaker in the past should be positive,” Wedbush Morgan analyst Al Kaschalk said of the impact the vote would have on solar stocks.

Under the proposal, which will be part of a much bigger tax bill, the tax credit for producing electricity from wind would be extended for one year. The credit for other renewable sources, such as wave and ocean tide projects that generate power, would be extended for two years.

The residential and business tax breaks for solar energy would be extended for eight years.

“Solar is the winner here,” Raymond James alternative energy analyst Pavel Molchanov said.

Shares of top U.S. solar company SunPower rose 4 percent in extended trade to $91, while First Solar Inc’s stock rose 3.6 percent to $218.50. Evergreen Solar Inc shares gained 7 percent to $6.14.

Makers of wind turbines, solar panels and other sources of renewable energy argue that the tax credits are critical to making cleaner power competitive with that produced from greenhouse gas producing coal and fossil fuels.

The industry also says the tax credits will help green companies build manufacturing plants and other facilities that will create jobs.

“With major instability in our financial markets, solar energy is a guaranteed way to provide the stability we need in our economy right now,” Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement.

The House of Representatives must still vote on continuing the renewable energy tax credits, and the White House said earlier on Tuesday it would support the measure.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged the House to “wise up and accept” the package as passed by the Senate.

“If they try to mess with our package, it will come back here, it will die,” Reid said.

To cover the costs of the tax breaks, the oil industry would pay higher taxes.

The package is part of a bigger bill that has other tax credits for businesses and includes a one-year fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax so millions of Americans won’t be subject to higher income taxes.

Businesses would get a 30 percent tax credit for eight more years for investing in solar, wind, geothermal and ocean energy equipment.

Homeowners also would get a 30 percent tax credit for eight additional years for the cost of installing solar equipment.

Homeowners could claim a tax credit of up to 10 percent of the cost of all qualified energy efficiency improvements, such as insulation, replacement windows, water heaters and heating and cooling equipment.

To reduce demand for petroleum, the bill creates a tax credit for plug-in electric cars, whose buyers will get a tax break of from $2,500 to $7,500, depending on battery capacity of the vehicle.

While environmentalists welcome the energy savings provisions and renewable tax breaks in the package, they oppose language that would allow oil companies to quickly write off the cost of expanding their refineries for processing oil from shale and tar sands.

Green groups said extracting oil from shale and tar sands in the West would use vast amounts of rare water supplies and pollute the land.

Oil shale production requires five gallons of water to produce one gallon of oil, they said. The government estimates the oil shale industry would use 200 million gallons of water a day.

Separately, House Democratic leaders may try to add their proposal to expand offshore drilling to must-pass legislation that would temporarily fund the government past the current budget year that ends on September 30.

The drilling bill, cleared by the House of Representatives last week, would permit energy exploration beyond 50 miles from the shoreline of the East and West coasts. (Additional reporting by Nichola Groom in Los Angeles and Steve James in New York; Editing by Gene Ramos and Carol Bishopric)

The United Nations urged on Thursday East Timor not to let those responsible for bloodshed surrounding Dili’s 1999 independence vote from Indonesia off the hook, pledging to provide support to prosecute perpetrators.

Leaders in East Timor and Indonesia said last month that the case was closed after expressing regret at the findings of a joint truth commission that blamed Indonesian security and civilian forces for “gross human rights violations.”

The two governments set up the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) in 2005 to look into the violence, during which the United Nations estimates about 1,000 East Timorese died, but it had no power to prosecute, prompting criticism that it served to whitewash atrocities. It was boycotted by the U.N.

“We still support the process of prosecution through Serious Crime Unit investigation,” said Allison Cooper, spokeswoman for the U.N.’s mission in East Timor, referring to a body set by the United Nations to assist East Timor’s prosecutors’ office.

“CTF is only one mechanism of addressing or looking what atrocities may have happened in the country, (but) there is also something called prosecution,” she said, adding Serious Crime Unit officials would visit Dili soon to talk to the prosecutor general about the issue.

The CTF did not name perpetrators, but also did not recommend an amnesty. Rights groups have been pressing for justice.

East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao told Reuters in an interview last month that he was satisfied with the report and that it was now time to move on.

The former Portuguese colony, invaded by Indonesia in 1975, won independence in the violence-marred vote organized by the United Nations in 1999. It became fully independent in 2002 after a period of U.N. administration.

A Mexican convicted of murder in Texas has appealed to the US Supreme Court to stay his execution set for Tuesday so lawmakers can enforce an International Court of Justice order to halt his and other Mexicans’ executions.

Jose Ernesto Medellin, convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of a teenager, is among 51 Mexicans on death row their government has complained were not informed of their right to consular access and assistance during trial, under the Vienna Convention.

The ICJ in 2004 ordered that all the prisoners should have their sentences reviewed, and on July 16 granted an urgent request by Mexico that the United States try to halt the imminent execution of five Mexicans, including Medellin.

Since the 2004 ruling, some US states have agreed to review their death row cases at President George W. Bush’s request.

But Texas has refused, arguing — with the support of a March US Supreme Court ruling — that its state courts, which decided the Medellin case, are not bound by the ICJ treaty.

That left the federal government with no legal tools to force Texas to put off the execution.

On Friday the Texas court of appeals turned down a stay of execution request by Medellin’s lawyers, forcing them into a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court.

Their hope is that the Supreme Court will issue a stay of execution that would give the US Congress time to pass a new law that can force individual states like Texas to abide by ICJ decisions.

The House of Representatives took up such a bill after the ICJ’s July 16 ruling, and if it is passed, a Texas senator said he would do his best to have his state adopt the law next year.

“Should Texas execute Mr Medellin before Congress has a reasonable opportunity to convert the (ICJ) judgment into a justifiable federal right, the State of Texas will forever deprive Mr Medellin of his constitutionally protected right not to be deprived of his life without a due process of law,” his lawyers told the Supreme Court in their motion this week.

They asked the high court “to ensure that its judgment has its intended effect of guiding the political branches to a constitutionally permissible method of complying with the nation’s treaty obligations.”

Human Rights Watch, in a weekend statement, said that “executing Jose Medellin in violation of an order by the World Court would be a major step backward for the rule of law.”

“If the United States ignores its legal obligations in this case, it will be tough to argue that other countries should respect the rights of US citizens,” it added.

1. Absolutely!!

2. No. The President needs to be intelligent and powerful enough not to be a puppet.

3. Nope.

4. Oh my god no. She is the freakiest person I ever heard of. She makes absolutely no sense when she talks. She speaks in that government speak and does not make any sense. Have I mentioned she makes no sense?

5. Possibly, a black woman being president would be GREAT, but I don’t think there’s a chance she would ever run. She does seem to agree with EVERYTHING Bush does, other than that I think she could handle the job.

6. From what I have seen of her, I would seriously consider her as a viable candidate.

7. I would sooner vote for Condie than for Hillary

8. Helllllllllllllllllllllll Nooooooooooooooooooo!

9. It depends on who she ran against but she is definitely very highly regarded by me.

10. nope…no way …not a frig’n shot, she’s as bad as bush and darth cheney

11. Possibly, yes. IMHO, she’s the most qualified woman in America. However, she has never held an elected position in government. I say that she’d be a good VP running mate for the republican party … that would get Hillary’s and the democrat party’s panties in a bunch!

12. I would vote for her before I would Hillary Clinton. And with the way she handling foreign relations and the mid-eastern peace talks I think she would make a good president.

13. Maybe, depend on the other choice

14. She was so weak as the national security adviser and the Secretary of state that Donald Rumsfeld and the defense department bullied their way in to dictating what state department policy should be.

She would be a weak president.

15. depends on her stances and ideals, but i wouldn’t out right rule it out.

16. You bet. It’s nice to have a leader with class. And she’s tough and is a good speaker.

Joey, what a great idea!

17. No, since I never voted for her in anything in the first place. I want to know who the People get to nominate? All we get is a premade selection of choices that I would never make in the first place.

Liberty is the essential heart of freedom. Liberty means being able to choose one’s own actions, without intrusion by government. Every law that restricts your movement, your actions or your words is one that restricts your liberty.

Privacy is the notion that the government will not intrude upon actions that you intend to be private. For instance, intercepting someones mail violates their privacy, as it is expected that only the recipient of the mail will read it.

Every infringement upon privacy can therefore potentially result in a infringement of liberty. For example, a wiretap could lead to an arrest.

People have a right to privacy, that is, they have a right to expect that the government will do as little as necessary to intrude upon their rights. This right is expressly provided for in the bill of rights. These rules govern due process. This is why the police must obtain a warrant to do a search

 Perhaps the major issue here is defining public interest and the form that the presentation thereof takes. People’s opinions on what defines relevant news varies, and objective presentation, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Hyperbole is maligned by some, praised by others. It’s less a matter of what is objective than it is of who can determine what is objective.

Journalists have the duty to seek and present the truth, so inherently they must question authority, but their questioning must be based on contrary information, or to inquiry about verification. Challenging authority should never be about egos. Illegitimate questions come at the expense of integrity.

Attorneys choose jurors by using a system known as voir dire. This is where each side of a case has the opportunity to ask questions of the jurors to determine who would not be suited to serve on this case due to underlying biases. This is where the differences between federal and state court arise. In federal court, the judge is the one who generally conducts voir dire. the attorneys submit questions to the judge who will ask the questions to the jurors. In state court, generally each attorney is permitted to ask questions to the jurors in an alloted time period. At the end of voir dire, the attorneys are permitted to use for cause challenges to get rid of the jurors from the jury pool who would be tainted from delivering a verdict. This means for example if it is a murder case, juror fourteen’s sister was murdered. This juror would be struck for cause because it would be hard for this juror to think about this murder case differently than they would think about their own sister’s murder case. Then each side has an opportunity to exercise their preemptory challenges to get rid of a juror. This is where Batson challenges can arise. It is pretty complicated going into the ins and outs of jury selection but this is a bare bones summary.

1. The World Trade Organization is the product of the latest round of the General

Agreement on Trade and Tariff’s. The U.S. back in the 1940’s was one of the initiators of

this agreement and has been a major player in each of the revisions since the initial

agreement.

The reason that the U.S. pushed GATT in the first place was the belief that the old

trade system was a significant cause of the Great Depression. Further, as the largest

industrial country in the world, the leaders of the U.S. believed that a global system of

high tariffs was more likely to hurt the U.S. then help the U.S.