Egyptian Judge trial of former president Hosni Mubarak

Egypt has resumed the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak, who earlier this month pleaded not guilty to charges that he ordered the killing of 850 protesters during the uprising that drove him from power.

Mubarak appeared in the courtroom in Cairo Monday, lying on a hospital bed, just as he did during the dramatic opening session on August 3. The former president, 83, is also facing charges of corruption and abuse of power, and could face the death penalty if convicted.

His sons Alaa and Gamal, who are co-defendants in the case, stood next to Mubarak inside the courtroom's large metal cage. Both men have denied separate corruption charges against them.

There were clashes outside the building between supporters and opponents of Mubarak, with each side throwing rocks at the other.

Mubarak arrived in a helicopter from a Cairo hospital where he has been held since the trial's first session. Prior to that he was living under house arrest at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. His aides say he has been in poor health since he left office following the 18-day February uprising against his rule.

Lawyers for Mubarak have requested that the head of the military council now ruling Egypt, a former intelligence chief, and 1,600 others testify during the trial.

Mubarak is the first Arab leader to face trial in person since the so-called "Arab Spring" of popular revolts swept across much of North Africa and the Middle East this year.

Presiding judge in the trial of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has decided to stop live TV broadcasts of the upcoming proceedings.

Judge Ahmed Rifaat also adjourned the trial until Sept. 5.

He decided Monday to stop the broadcasts before the next hearing when he plans to summon witnesses.

Democratic voters must stop sitting out elections

Both Democrats and Republicans should put the doublespeak aside when it comes to arguing for or against tougher voting registration laws.

First, the New Hampshire state Democratic Party.

For months now, press secretary Harrell Kirstein has reminded e-mail recipients of attempts by the Republican-led New Hampshire Legislature to disenfranchise voters.

Early in this year's legislative session, Democrats objected to a bill that would have required college students to vote in their hometowns. Or put another way, prevent them from voting in New Hampshire college towns where they are only temporary residents.

After this bill failed, the Democrats drew bead on a bill that would require voters to show a photo I.D. in order to cast a ballot at their local polling station.

This effort did pass muster in the legislature, was vetoed by the governor and is now awaiting an override by the legislature, expected next month.

The crux of Democratic complaint is that neither bill is needed. They argue there is fundamentally nothing wrong with college students voting no matter where they may live at a given moment.

As for the voter I.D. bill, they see it as a return to the Jim Crow days when minorities and the less educated were kept from voting solely due to their color and class.

Republicans, on the other hand, argue that voter registration and balloting laws have become too lax and invite fraud.

Up until last week the debate between the parties had remained relatively civil. That is until a story in a Maine newspaper found that the son of House Speaker and lead Republican Bill O'Brien held a double-registration while attending a Maine college and that O'Brien's wife, as a supervisor of the checklist in Mont Vernon, should have caught the problem as part of her official duties.

Since then Democrats, through the missives of Press Secretary Kirstein, have sought to paint Speaker O'Brien as a hypocrite for somehow (begin italic) allowing (end italic) his son to register twice (although it appears he never double voted).

Instead, what the faux pas shows is the problem with current voter registration laws and mechanics — not hypocrisy.

If there is hypocrisy it lies in either party trying to claim purity in the debate over voter registration and fraud.

Democrats like easy registration laws. They like same-day registration because Democrats are good at motivating college students and inner-city voters who might not have given a thought to registering until the last minute, if even then.

And let's face facts, college students and voters from the inner city tend to support Democrats.

Republicans, for their part, want to blunt Democratic efforts to stuff the ballot box.

If it weren't for the politics (yes, wishful thinking) both parties could agree on changes to voting laws that make sense.

College students are not disenfranchised by being asked to vote back home. It's called absentee voting, not punishment. Foster's Daily Democrat has previously argued it is a college student's civic duty to vote in his/her hometown for School Board and City Council.

When Democrats sit out elections, we hand victories to Republicans. If the Tea Party/Republicans don’t get the candidate they want, they’re not going to stay home. They’re going to vote for whichever candidate they get.

Sure, President Barack Obama has been a disappointment in some areas, but he’s a much better choice than Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry or any other potential Republican candidate. Democrats need to vote, in every election, and stop letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Democratic voters sit out elections when they have candidates that they don't like, but rather additional voters turn out and vote Democratic when a new cause du jour shows up.

2008 was a perfect example of this, and was confirmed by the 2010 mid-terms. Don't expect 2012 to be a banner year for the Democrats unless Hillary mounts a primary challenge.

In campaign mode, Obama to start Midwest bus tour

Washinton — US President Barack Obama sets out to shore up his fragile political standing Monday, launching a bus tour through key Midwestern states which will resonate with voter anxiety over the economy.
Obama will spend three days trekking through Minnesota, Iowa and his adopted home state of Illinois, all of which he carried in the 2008 election, and which he can ill afford to lose when he seeks a second term next year.
The White House said Obama, weakened by a debt showdown with Republicans, a lagging economic recovery, 9.1 percent unemployment and questions about his leadership, wants to listen to voters after weeks stuck in the capital.
"The president is excited at the opportunity to get out of Washington," said his communications director Dan Pfeiffer.
"During the debt ceiling debate we were trapped here, it felt like, for many, many weeks.
"He's looking forward to traveling back home to Illinois, Minnesota and also, of course, to Iowa, which is a place that always has had a special connection with this president and his White House."
Iowa is the state where Obama rose from obscurity and won the first Democratic nominating contest against Hillary Clinton in 2008, setting him on course for the presidency.
It is also the epicenter of the accelerating race for the Republican nominating race to take him on in 2012 among candidates who are savaging his record on the economy and job creation.
Rick Perry, who shot to the top tier of the Republican pack when he jumped into the race at the weekend, will also be on the stump in Iowa on Monday.
Tea Party favorite, Representative Michele Bachmann meanwhile is also on the attack, vowing to make Obama a one-term president after winning the state's closely-watched Republican Party straw poll on Saturday.
Obama will hold two town-hall style encounters on Monday, one in rural Minnesota and one in Iowa, which will for the first time put him head-to-head with Perry, a possible general election foe who is the conservative governor of Texas.
As he set out, the White House, battered by a grim August, got an unwelcome reminder of Obama's perilous political plight, as his approval rating dipped below 40 percent in a Gallup daily tracking poll for the first time.
In recent weeks, Obama has been particularly discomforted by a decision by ratings agency Standard and Poor's to cut the top notch AAA credit rating amid fears disfunction in Congress will hamper efforts to trim the US deficit.


Obama is due to speak at a town hall style meeting in Cannon Falls, Minnesota on Monday before heading to Decorah, Iowa. He then holds a rural economic forum in Peosta, Iowa, on Tuesday and holds town hall meetings in Atkinson and Alpha, Illinois on Wednesday before returning to Washington.


The unmistakable campaign style of the trip will help the Democratic president test his organization and grassroots support as the field of Republican presidential candidates takes clearer shape.


Texas Governor Rick Perry entered the race for the Republican nomination on Saturday and is expected to join early front-runner Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann in the top tier of candidates in the field.


Iowa, which launched Obama's historic journey to the White House in 2008, has recently been playing host to Republican presidential hopefuls who have been criticizing his record as they crisscross the state.


Bachmann on Saturday won the Iowa straw poll, an early test of strength among the Republican candidates.


Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty became the first major casualty of the campaign when he dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination on Sunday after a disappointing showing the Iowa straw poll.


Obama's departure follows a spate of bad news that has dented confidence in his leadership, particularly after weeks of bitter debate to raise the U.S. debt limit that left exposed deep partisanship verging on government dysfunction.


A leading ratings agency downgraded the nation's AAA credit rating and fears of another U.S. recession have grown, adding to investor concerns about Europe's ongoing debt crisis. Stock markets whipsawed over the past week, producing one of the most volatile periods of Obama's presidency.