News > Politics — Faithful say their votes carried day” href=”http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20041104-9999-1n4faith.html”>SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Politics — Faithful say their votes carried day By Sandi Dolbee, UNION-TRIBUNE RELIGION & ETHICS EDITOR

“This is a great victory,” said Cass, who last summer left his East County church to lead the Center for Reclaiming America, a conservative Christian public activism arm of Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“It really is showing that America is a conservative nation and, unfortunately for those politicians on the other side of those issues, it’s not going to go well for them for a long time,” he said. …

“The religious right is already crowing about providing Bush’s margin of victory,” Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement issued yesterday.

“The movement’s leaders expect to be handsomely rewarded for that,” he added, noting that seats on the U.S. Supreme Court are likely to open up during Bush’s second term. “The culture war may go nuclear.”

Social conservatives score victories, plan more impact by Matt Stearns and Charles Homans, Knight Ridder Newspapers

“This country was based on biblical principles,” said Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America, applauding what she called the “pro-life, pro-family” Election Day victories. “This is a sign of what America used to be, and that we’re going back to where we were.” …

The U.S. Senate tilted sharply right with the election of several new senators, including

• Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who has advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions, and

• Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who said pregnant single women should not be allowed to teach in public schools. …

Exit polls indicate that Christian conservatives are a big reason for those wins. About 78 percent of self-described born-again Christians voted for Bush, himself a born-again Christian. A fifth of all voters said moral values were the most important issue in the campaign, and three out of four of those voters went for Bush. …

Look for the judiciary in general and the Supreme Court in particular to be the next battleground where social conservatives flex their muscle, several social conservative leaders said.

“I’ve heard commentators say Bush should pick judges who don’t polarize,” said Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America. “Nonsense … The president shouldn’t be cutting any deals with Democrats.”

House GOP says the way is paved for Bush agenda=The Hill.com=
Pence: ‘Dems lost their leader. That speaks spades.’
By Jonathan E. Kaplan

House Republican lawmakers, flush with victory, said President Bush’s reelection, combined with their slightly improved margin in the House and a four-seat gain in the Senate, demonstrates public approval of how they have governed the country the past four years.

”It’s an affirmation of the direction we’ve been going,” said Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (Va.)….

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), new chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said: “There’s a mandate for conservative leadership in the outcome of this election. The American people have spoken in deafening terms that they want
Republican leadership in the White House and Capitol Hill.” …

“It is time for the majority to be heard.” He said he hopes Republicans will focus on changing the budget process, reforming Medicare and Social Security, defining marriage as between a man and woman and banning RU-486, a pharmaceutical used to induce an abortion.

I liked someone’s observation that more people voted against Bush than against any candidate before. That won’t even slow down the raging Right. mjh

Latest Business News and Financial Information | Reuters.com

Bush Win Sends Oil Near $51 a Barrel
Wed Nov 3, 2004 03:34 PM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices surged more than $1 on Wednesday as the re-election of President Bush countered the impact of a big increase in spare oil supplies ahead of winter.

Crude dealers said Bush’s victory over Democrat Senator John Kerry could bolster U.S. fuel demand and underscore anxiety over the security of Middle East oil shipments. …

A second Bush administration will likely continue filling U.S. emergency oil stockpiles despite high prices and could stoke nerves about U.S. policy in the Middle East, particularly OPEC’s second-biggest producer Iran.

“A Bush victory will be big for oil demand and keep prices high,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. “Not only will the SPR be filled, but I think they may expand it.”

The Bush White House has said it plans to fill the final 30 million barrels of the 700 million barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) by next year, which adds to already strong demand from end-users.

Prices had tumbled from last week’s record high at $55.67, pressured by speculation that a win for Kerry would halt deliveries into the SPR, and do more to encourage energy conservation.

Dealers had also speculated that Kerry’s policy in the energy-rich Middle East would be less aggressive than Bush’s and more prone to move through diplomatic channels.

“If another Bush government moves on to Iran, then oil prices would go very high and really threaten China’s economic development,” said Andy Xie, Morgan Stanley’s chief Asia economist.

Bin Laden aims to bankrupt United States – (United Press International)

The complete transcript of Osama bin Laden’s most recent videotape reveals his intention to attempt to bankrupt the United States.

The Arabic-language network al-Jazeera aired portions of the videotape Friday, but released the full transcript of the tape on its Web site Monday to dispel rumors it had edited out direct threats.

Among comments not released until Monday, bin Laden said: “We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy,” adding it was “easy for us to provoke and bait this administration.”

As part of the “bleed-until-bankruptcy plan,” bin Laden cited a British estimate that it cost al-Qaida about $500,000 to carry out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, an amount he said paled in comparison with the costs incurred by the United States.

“Every dollar of al-Qaida defeated a million dollars, by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs,” he said.

U.S. intelligence officials confirmed Monday the transcript made public Monday was a complete one, CNN reported.

Bin Laden learned this technique from Ronald Raygun who put the US in a race to bankruptcy with the Soviets, who lost. Another reason to DUMP BUSH! mjh

Washington > Election 2004 > Ohio: G.O.P. in Ohio Can Challenge Voters at Polls” href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/02/politics/campaign/02ohio.html?ei=5090&en=78d2dba2a66fb96f&ex=1257051600&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=all&position=”>The New York Times > Washington > Election 2004 > Ohio: G.O.P. in Ohio Can Challenge Voters at Polls

[I]t appeared likely that when Ohio polls open, the Republicans would be able to put 3,500 challengers inside polling places around the state. Democrats also planned to send more than 2,000 monitors to the polls, though they said those people would not challenge voters. …

The Republicans contend that challenging – a practice that has been allowed under state law for decades but rarely used – will weed out fraud often missed by election workers. Democrats assert that the challenges would disproportionately single out low-income and minority voters, which Republicans deny. …

In seeking the delicate balance between preventing fraud and upholding voting rights, the judges said, the scales should tip toward voting rights.

“Voter intimidation severely burdens the right to vote, and prevention of such intimidation is a compelling state interest,” wrote Judge Dlott, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton. Judge Adams was appointed by President Bush. [mjh: This rulling was overturned overnight by a Federal Appeals panel.]

In Philadelphia, Republicans have said they plan to challenge 10,000 voters in the heavily black West Philadelphia section because of what they say are concerns of registration fraud. Democratic Party lawyers are expected to ask judges to remove the challengers if they are overly aggressive.

In Florida, Republicans have said they will challenge 1,700 people with felons convictions if they show up to vote. Democrats have mustered thousands of poll watchers whose job will be to ensure that voters are not intimidated.

In New Mexico, officials in both parties said they were placing hundreds of lawyers in polling places as monitors. Democrats have said they will not challenge voters, but Republicans have held out the possibility of doing so.