*RAY OF LIGHT: At the end of a bad week, there was a ray of light for Republicans and conservatives. On October 2, the House of Representatives voted 281 to 142 to approve the conference report on a bill to prohibit partial-birth abortion in the United States (see HUMAN EVENTS rollcall next week). Shortly after the passage, President Bush issued a statement, saying, "Today's action is an important step that will help us continue to build a culture of life in America. I look forward to the Senate passing this legislation so that I can sign this very important bill into law. "
*ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL: Even though they don't have the votes to defeat him, Democratic senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee are doing all they can to prevent a confirmation vote on Utah Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt, whom President Bush has nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Besides badgering him with repetitive questions, several Democrats have put a hold on the nomination. To the suggestion that Bush give Leavitt a recess appointment, a Republican congressional aide involved in the nomination fight told HUMAN EVENTS: "Nothing doing. Leavitt wants an up-or-down vote and would withdraw his nomination before taking a recess appointment."
*PICKERING FALL-OUT: A few hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10 to 9 on October 2 to report out the appellate court nomination of U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering, an angry Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.-S.C.) blasted the behavior of committee Democrats as "a low point in the history of the Senate." Graham told HUMAN EVENTS' John Gizzi that Republicans must take "the nuclear option"-a vote that filibusters can be used only against legislation, rather than against nominations-"for the good of the nation."
*OCTOBER SURPRISE: The Los Angeles Times on October 2 hit Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is running to replace Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in California's special October 7 recall election, with a long front-page investigative report. "Six women who came into contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger on movie sets, in studio offices and in other settings over the last three decades," reported the Times, "say he touched them in a sexual manner. . . . Four of the six women told their stories on condition that they not be named."
*'BEHAVED BADLY': That same day Schwarzenegger issued an apology in San Diego. "A lot of those that you see in the stories is not true," said Schwarzenegger. "But at the same time, I have to tell you I always say, that wherever there is smoke, there is fire." "So I want to say to you," said Schwarznegger, "yes, that I have behaved badly sometimes. Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right which I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I have offended people. And to those people that I have offended, I want to say to them that I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize because this is not what I'm trying to do. When I'm governor, I want to prove that I will be a champion for women."
*ALREADY ROLLING: A Los Angeles Times poll of 815 likely voters (margin of error +/-3%) released on October 1 had shown strong momentum behind Schwarzenegger's campaign. In a Times poll conducted in early September, a plurality of likely voters had supported Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to replace Davis if he was recalled. On October 1, a larger plurality favored Schwarzenegger. In early September, the results were: Bustamante, 30%; Schwarzenegger, 25%; and Republican State Sen. Tom McClintock, 18%. On October 1 it was: Schwarzenegger, 40%; Bustamante, 32%; and McClintock, 15%.
*LOS INMIGRANTES: In the last desperate week of his anti-recall campaign, California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis ran a television ad proclaiming: "Acabo de firmar la ley para ortorgar licensias de conducir a los inmigrantes." The ad ran on Spanish language stations.
In English, it says: "He signed a law giving driver's licenses to immigrants." The ad didn't use the adjective "illegal" to describe these immigrants. But voters got the message. Mentioning the ad in a report on its latest poll, the Los Angeles Times noted it "may have backfired. Among likely voters, more than three of five oppose the driver's license bill." And 43% of likely voters say they were less likely to vote for a candidate who supported it.
*MO TO GO: The Times poll showed likely voters clearly supporting the recall of Davis, with 56% in favor and 42% opposed.
*THIRD GUANTANAMO ARREST: When Ahmed F. Mehalba, an American citizen of Egyptian descent, arrived at Boston's Logan Airport on September 30 on a flight from Cairo, officials from the Department of Homeland Security noticed 132 computer discs in his luggage. He said they contained "only music and videos."
A check showed that one of Mehalba's disks held classified documents. Turns out he is a former U.S. Army soldier, who works for a company, which, according to the Washington Post, "supplies translators for Army interrogators questioning the 660 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison." The prisoners are mostly Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists. Earlier the government had arrested on suspicion of espionage Capt. James Yee, a Muslim Army chaplain, and Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi, an Air Force translator. Both worked at Guantanamo.
*AT LAST: On September 28, Abdurahman Alamoudi was arrested when he arrived at Dulles Airport in suburban Virginia on a flight from Great Britain. Alamoudi, described by the Washington Post as "a chief architect of the Pentagon's Muslim chaplain program" was charged with illegally taking money from Libya, which remains under U.S. sanctions for the 1988 downing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
"U.S. officials said he allegedly attempted to smuggle hundreds of thousands of dollars into Syria," said the Post, noting that the "final destination of the money is under investigation." Meanwhile, the Washington Times reported that the Defense Department has finally "ordered a review of how it recruits chaplains, particularly Muslim clerics endorsed by U.S. groups with reported ties to radical Islam."
