The Presidency of America's Maverick

[OSR stands with Israel]

McCain names Campaign Manager Rick Davis as new Chief of Staff after Mark Salter announces he will step down at the end of the current term



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Davis_(political_consultant)

Shaw: After Chief of Staff Mark Salter announced he will be stepping down on January 20th of next year, President McCain quickly named his campaign manager Rick Davis to be his chief of staff for the upcoming term. In the meanwhile, Mr.Davis will be tasked with leading the effort to help form the new cabinet for the upcoming term and which we are told will have a mix of retentions, some reshuffling and many members from the current cabinet leaving as well.

It is already confirmed that Secretary Powell, Ambassador Rice, Secretary Thompson, and Director Kasich will be stepping down at the end of the term and we expect a few more to be stepping down as well.

Schnider: I want people to remind people who are wondering why so many high profile figures are leaving, it is because it is very commonplace for large parts of the cabinet to see changes when a new term begins to signify in many ways a beginning of a new term. Also this is especially true of high profile picks as many probably wouldnt want to take a different job in the adminstration as it would be a step down from the current position as it would be for Secretary Powell if he were given a job. We are told though that he is leaving on high terms with the President and that decision has been expected for many months now.

List of Cabinet Members who will be retained in current position

Secretary of Defense: Secretary of Defense Tom Ridge



Secretary of Treasury: Secretary of Treasury  Robert Lucas Jr



Attorney General: Attorney General James Comey




Secretary of Commerce: Secretary of Commerce George Pataki




Secretary of Education: Secretary of Education Lisa Keegan




Secretary of Homeland Security: Secretary of Homeland Security Robert Gates




Woodruff: Just so there isnt any confusion here these arent the only members of the cabinet who will be staying on in the administration but rather the ones who will stay on in their current roles. We are also told that while Secretary Ridge is staying on it likely will be for another year at most and he likely will step down after the Iraqi constitutional elections next fall.  




Note: Images of Lucas, Pataki, and Keegan come from Youtube

[OSR stands with Israel]

How are healthcare costs doing?

Prescription Drug costs are lower as unlike the OTL Medicare Part D Bill, the Federal Government wont be prohibited from negotiating prices with pharmaceutical companies .


As for others it is slightly lower than OTL but still high which is one reason why President McCain is attempting to pass Tort Reform in his next term.

[OSR stands with Israel]

McCain names who will join his foreign policy team:


Secretary of State: Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman



National Security Advisor: Former Deputy Chief of Staff Robert Zoellick



UN Ambassador: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Susan Golding



Shaw: While many were surprised at the fact that President McCain selected a Democrat to be his next secretary of state, remember that when the President was a senator, his best friend in the senate was indeed Senator Joe Lieberman and arguably when it comes to foreign affairs Senator Lieberman is closer to the President ideologically than even many Republicans are.

The other two picks really weren't that surprising though Susan Golding going from a position like HUD to the UN is a pretty big change but given she does have a degree in  International relations it is an appointment that does mak sense.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Something I will add to this TL is I’ll add updates about  the Canadian and UK election results that take place in this TL (just do an update about the result of the election not the campaign itself)

The 2001 UK election results will remain the same as OTL while the 2004 Canadian election has the Tories winning 12 more seats than OTL(so they have 111) and Libs winning 12 less(so they have 123) but it’s still a liberal minority government .

I can also potentially add Australian, German , or French results on here too so if someone is willing to help with that , we can work out something through DM about that

[OSR STANDS WITH PALESTINE]

I’m a McCainiac, McCainiac on the floooor! And I’m voting like I’ve never voted before! The Democrats are cold, look beat, they are heading for defeat, almost out of funds to spend, John doesn’t need a second wind! I’m a McCainiac, McCainiac on the floooor, and I’m voting like I never voted before

[OSR stands with Israel]

McCain names new heads of Labor, HHS, HUD and OMB

Secretary of Labor: Deputy Labour Secretary Elaine Chao




Secretary of Health and Human Service: Congresswomen Nancy Johnson




Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Former Phoniex Mayor Skip Rimsza




OMB Director: Congressman Paul Ryan




Note: Rimza photo is from youtube

[OSR stands with Israel]

Senate Passes Cap and Trade Bill with support of 41 Democrats and 20 Republicans after group of senators come to bipartisan agreement:

Shaw: The Senate earlier today passed a bipartisan cap and trade Bill that garnered the support of 41 of the 46 Democrats in the Senate and 20 of the 54 Republicans in the Senate and now will be sent back to the house or both chambers will meet in conference committee in order to iron out the differences. One of the major differences between this bill and the house bill is that C02 emmissions will be capped at 2000 levels in 2013 instead of 2010 and wont be required to go back to 1990 levels until 2020 rather than in 2015.

This Bill will introduce tax credits to incentivize R&D research as well instead of direct government subsidies for it. Thanks to the fact this bill received 61 votes it was able to stop any potential filibuster of the bill and will pass.


House passes Senate version of Cap and Trade Bill and President McCain signs it into law:


Woodruff: The President earlier today signed a law that would implement a cap and trade system into law getting a huge goal he had set early on his presidency accomplished before the end of his first term and the start of his 2nd one. He also made these remarks while signing the bill

McCain: I first want to thank our scientists and economists who first did the hard work of researching ways we could reduce CO2 emmissions without harming our economy as this law would never have been proposed let alone passed without their hard work. I also want to thank members of both parties for coming together in the past year and a half to work on passing such legislation into law and while it may not have been easy and resulted in many arguments, our nation is pleased that both sides made the compromises needed for this bill to pass and it is another example that there is nothing our nation cant do if we come together. Now there is one thing left for this bill to become law and that is for me to sign it so lets not waste anymore time and finish the task
(McCain signs Bill)

[OSR stands with Israel]

McCain names new heads of Transportation, Agriculture, and  VA


Secretary of Transportation:[/size] Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jack Quinn



Secretary of Agriculture: Former Congressman JC Watts



Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Former Navy Secretary Jim Webb

[OSR stands with Israel]

McCain finishes picking his 2nd term cabinet with his environmental team:

Secretary of Energy: Congressman Bart Gordon



Secretary of Interior: Deputy Secretary of Interior Lynn Scarlett



EPA Administrator: Former Deputy EPA Administrator F. Henry Habichit

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Cap & Trade could make Dems competitive in Kentucky on a national level.

Will Tort reform get health care costs down to a level where America is not a meme? (That and what posted so far reflect my views on healthcare, although maybe the government negotiating all medicine prices like saline solution so it isn't like $1000).

[OSR stands with Israel]

Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark announces he will lead Suddam Hussain's defense team in his ICC trial set to begin next summer:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkZacSGBhc0

Shaw: Former Attorney General for the Johnson Administration, Ramsay Clark, has announced he will lead the defense team for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussain who is set to go on trial at the International Criminal Court sometime next summer. He has said that he believes everyone deserves a fair trial and for that, they deserve the best defense possible and he will defend the former Iraqi leader at the trial.


Now lets bring in our Justice correspondent for more info

CNN Judicial Correspondent: The Former Iraqi Leader, Suddam Hussain, has been charged with multiple crimes against humanity and war crimes and if convicted will almost certainly be sentenced to life in prison but will not face the death penalty as that court does not allow for such sentencing. We are told the McCain administration has gotten reforms made at the ICC to allow the trial to be conducted in a quick matter but despite that its likely the trial will take many months to conduct.

As for the prosecution, we are told it will be  led by Former Attorney General and interim Supreme Court Justice Dick Thornburgh .

[OSR stands with Israel]

President McCain holds a press conference in lead up to 2nd term inauguration:



Source: https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/404543-medias-praise-for-mccain-is-warranted-but-where-was-it-in-08

Media Member 1: President McCain you talked about wanting to accomplish a lot in your campaign trail, so what will be your first legislative priority over the upcoming months, and how do you plan to accomplish them.

McCain: Since the election, I have been spoken many times with both Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Gorton as well as chairs of various committees to come up with a plan to pass legislation such as tort reform, immigration reform, tax reform, education reform and we decided rather than come up with just one legislative priority we push through all these major reforms in committee over the upcoming months and we will see what the main priority should be from there.

The agenda we plan to push is ambitious and will require a lot of hard work but the fact is our party has been given the largest mandate we have ever gotten in my life and with that will come huge responsibilities and hard work and I am looking forward to it.

Media Member 2: What do you say to people who question why you nominated Joe Lieberman for a position as high ranking as Secretary of State given he is a member of the other party.

McCain: Well the fact is we have to keep in mind that the issue of foreign policy unlike the issue of the role of the federal government role in the economy which has always cut across party lines. If you remember, Senator Henry Jackson and Senator Patrick Moynihan despite being Democrats were strong believers in having a strong US presence in world affairs while Republicans such as Senator Robert Taft were not so the foreign policy is an issue where you have to look much deeper than party identification to get someone's view on it. Knowing Senator Lieberman for a long while I can tell you while we may disagree on economic and social policy we are largely on the same page when it comes to foreign policy and I can tell with full confidence that he will do a great job as Secretary of State.


Media Member 3: President McCain you have said that you believe that it is critical that a trade deal with Latin America be passed. So what is the status of those negotiations and when do you plan to send it to congress to ratify

McCain: Well I cant tell you the date of when such negotiations can be complete cause If I knew it probably would have been done by now. As I mentioned in one of the debates, my belief is it is critical that we pass a trade deal with Latin America as it would help both our nations economically plus it would increases ties diplomatically which would be a great thing as well.

[OSR stands with Israel]

President McCain appoints outgoing Chief of Staff Mark Salter to head RNC:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZqeAjOFxBg

Woodruff: Earlier today President McCain announced that outgoing Chief of Staff Mark Salter will be taking over for Alan Simpson as head of the RNC . Mr. Salter we are told was expected to join some role at the AZ GOP but the President announced he will be taking over for the RNC instead.


Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean becomes the presumptive winner of DNC chair race after last opposition candidate drops out



Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dean

Shaw: In a huge win for progressives and particularly the Feingold wing of the party as Former Presidential candidate and Vermont Governor Howard Dean will become the presumptive winner of the DNC chair race after his last remaining opponent dropped out. He was endorsed by Senator Feingold himself and polls had him as the overwhelming choice of Democratic voters too which is why the other candidates dropped out

Greenfield: Don't forget he was Endorsed by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid too who are the congressional leaders for the Democratic party and the fact he ran for President unlike the rest of the candidates in this race gave him an edge no other candidate had which is why this is no surprise.

[UWS]

Great selection of Joe Lieberman as Secretary of State.

[OSR stands with Israel]

The second inauguration of John Sidney McCain :

Former President Bill Clinton gives his thoughts and advice about a 2nd term:



Wallace: President Clinton , many say the 2nd term is tougher than the first so what would you say about that

Clinton: Well in some ways it can be as you dont get the same honeymoon from the other side as you do in a first term , and some of the consequences of your decisions which no matter how good you think they are will have some negative effects which you will have to deal with and people are trying to make you a lame duck. At the same time given you no longer have any elections to run for dont have to make the same political calculations you had to earlier and can push your agenda in someways more than you were able to in the first.

Now that can be either a positive or negative as you have to make sure you dont get too overconfident about that because the public can turn on you fast and can result in you losing party support as well since you no longer have to run for elections but they do. So my advice for President McCain is that yes he can push for more sweeping reform now he doenst have elections to run for but not to get too overconfident about that either.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVqKggHxSLk

President McCain gives his inaugural speech after being sworn in for a second time:



Source: Youtube

Danforth Sworn in by Justice Thomas:

Thomas: Mr. Vice President, put up your right hand and repeat after me

Danforth: I, John Claggett Danforth, do solemnly swear
that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
that I take this obligation freely,
without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;
and that I will well and faithfully discharge
the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
So help me God.

Thomas: Congratulations, Mr.Vice President

McCain sworn in by Chief Justice Rehnquist :

Rehnquist: Mr.President , put up your right hand and repeat after me

McCain: I, John Sidney McCain, do solemnly swear
that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,
and will to the best of my Ability,
preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
So help me God.

Rehnquist: Congratulations, Mr. President

President McCain gives his 2nd inaugural address:

McCain: Mr.Chief Justice, Mr. Vice President, President Clinton, President Bush, President Carter , distinguished guests and my fellow Americans, every 4 years we mark this day by celebrating the genius of our founders, the strength of our constitution, and the spirit of American Freedom on inauguration day(Applause). It is that very spirit that has sustained us from the American Revolution to this very day and is why our nation has been able to accomplish so many great things in our history and why every enemy of freedom from the Fascists in WW2 to the Communists in the Cold War and terrorists today have tried to destroy that spirit but have failed every time(Applause). Instead, it is us who freed millions of people in Western Europe during WW2, millions of people in Eastern Europe during the cold war and now have freed millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan(Applause) .

That spirit of freedom has made the lives of people living in those nations better than it ever has before because human beings at the end of the day want to be free(Applause). That makes it our responsibility to not only defend freedom wherever it exists but actively oppose enemies of freedom across the world(Applause) not only cause it is the right thing to do but because failure to do so can endanger our own safety like it did on September 11th but potentially even worse.

To keep that spirit stronger than ever not only must we fight to strengthen it overseas but continue to strengthen it here at home as one of the best ways to strengthen it around the world is by showing the example of it here at home(Applause). That means we must continue to reform systems that no longer work to keep your trust in our system of government in solving problems you face(Applause). It may not be an easy challenge but we have faced far tougher ones before and overcame them and we will overcome the challenges facing this generation(Appplause). Thank You May God Bless You and May God Bless America

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

I think Rehnquist would address McCain as Mr. President since he's being sworn in for a second term.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I think Rehnquist would address McCain as Mr. President since he's being sworn in for a second term.

thanks for catching that

[OSR stands with Israel]

All new Cabinet members easily confirmed with exception of Ryan who still gets confirmed:

Shaw: All of the President's new cabinet appointees were easily confirmed to their new roles except Paul Ryan like expected. The Democrats tried to filibuster Mr. Ryan's confirmation to the role calling him to radical but a filibuster was broken thanks to 3 Democrats voting for cloture and those 3 Democrats were Senator Ben Nelson for Nebraska, Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana, Senator Inez Tenenbaum from South Carolina . One Republican who voted to sustain the filibuster though was Senator Jim Jeffords from Vermont

Secretary of State: Joe Lieberman Confirmed with 80 Ayes and 20 Nays

Secretary of Interior:   Lynn Scarlett Confirmed with 91 Ayes and 9 Nays

Secretary of Agriculture: JC Watts Confirmed with 77 Ayes and 23 Nays

Secretary of Labor: Elaine Chao Confirmed with 93 Ayes and 7 Nays

Secretary of Health and Human Service: Nancy Johnson Confirmed unanimously

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Skip Rimza Confirmed with with 95 Ayes and 5 Nays

Secretary of Transportation: Jack Quinn Confirmed unanimously

Secretary of Energy: Bart Gordon Confirmed with 96 Ayes and 4 Nays

Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Jim Webb Confirmed with 88 Ayes and 12 Nays

OMB Director: Paul Ryan Confirmed with 60 Ayes and 40 Nays

EPA Administrator: F. Henry Habicht Confirmed unanimously

UN Ambassador: Susan Golding Confirmed with 86 Ayes and 14 Nays

Special Election set for June 30th for the seats of vacating members of the house and senate who left to join President McCain's cabinet:


Connecticut Senate:
Date: June 30th
Interim Senator: John McKinney
Rating: Lean D

CT-5:
Date: June 30th
Rating: Tossup

TN-6:
Date: June 30th
Rating: Lean R

WI-1:
Date: June 30th
Rating: Likely R

Woodruff: Until these special elections the new balance of power in the House will be 245 Republicans to 187 Democrats and 58 Republicans to 42 Democrats

[OSR stands with Israel]

Excerpts from President McCain's 2005 state of the union address:



Souce: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/app/uploads/2019/02/RTX6LFXE-1024x683-e1549455385158.jpg

Speaker Hastert: Ladies and Gentleman , its my high honor to welcome to you , the President of the United States!!

Congress Floor: Standing Ovation

President McCain: Mr. Speaker, Vice President Danforth, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: and want to start of this address by congratulating all the new members of this great body and let you know that I look forward to working with you to make our nation a better place(Applause). Over the past few years the men and women in our uniform have shown the world why the state of the union is not only strong but as strong as it ever been(Applause) and I can tell you as someone who has the honor of being their commander in chief, nothing makes me more prouder than seeing the courage and honor of our troops(standing ovation). That is why it is all of our duty to do whatever we can to make sure they have the support needed to finish the mission of destroying terrorism and those who Abbett terrorism(Applause). Thanks to the hard work of our soldiers Iraq is set to have democratic elections for the first time in decades later this year(Applause) and as we have seen across the world the best way to so is by working to implement a democracy where people are free(Applause).

It is also important though we are able to improve our nation here at home as well and address issues such as high healthcare costs and the only way we will be able to do that is if we reform our tort system(Applause). Our tort system according to multiple studies has cost the nation hundreds of billions of dollars annually which is a price tag that gets passed on to the American people in terms of higher insurance costs and it is time we fix that(Applause). Some reforms we can make is to cap the number of punitive damages that are allowed to be awarded , the repeal of the collateral source rule that prohibits the fact the plaintiff has already received compensation from other sources into court which again makes no sense cause the point should be to see if the person filing the lawsuit has received compensation or not and shouldn't matter if they got it from a third party or not( applause). These reforms along with others should reduce the costs of healthcare in this nation, and fix an unjust legal system in general which is why it must be passed (Applause). 


We also must reform our immigration system which for over a decade now has been broken but nothing has been done about it while the border states had to deal with the consequences of that failure(Applause). In states like California it has poisoned the political discourse where it has caused in different election cycles for one side of the aisle to blame hardworking immigrants for the problem, and the other side to call other Californians xenophobic for bringing up the problem . All I can say is there is a problem but it is not your fellow Californians causing the problem , it is Washington who for too long has ignored the problem and left you to deal with it but I can promise you it will no longer be ignored(Applause). To reform our immigration system we first must secure our borders:  by building a fence in vulnerable areas at the border, increasing border agents at the border itself, and penelizing employers who hire undocumented immigrants so we can stop illegal crossing from taking place to begin with(Applause). Then to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants who are living here, my proposal is to offer those who have been here for 5 years a potential pathaway to citizenship for those who havent committed crimes, pay the requisite fines, and can show they can speak and write English(Applause). For those of you who call it amnesty, I can tell you it is not as it does impose penalties for those illegal immigrants, and while they will be allowed to stay here they will be put at the back of the line so they dont become eligible for regular permenat resident status before those who have already waited for years(Applause). The time for ignoring this issue has come and gone and it is time we finally adress it, and I look forward to working with both sides of the aisle over the next two years to get this done(Applause).

Thank You, May God Bless You and May God Bless America

[OSR stands with Israel]

House Republicans release sweeping Tort Reform Plan

Woodruff: House Republicans earlier today released their plan which would significantly reform the tort system in the United States, and here are some of the details of the plan.

Details of Bill:

- Would cap Punitive Damages at $300,000 or 3 times three times the compensatory damages, whichever is greater

- Eliminates the Collateral Source Rule

- Tightens Statue of Limitation frame

- Reforms Forum shopping by requiring plaintiffs to bring their cases where they live or where they were injured, or where the defendant’s principal place of business is located.

- reduces contingency fees lawyers are allowed to charge

- Replaced Joint and Several Liability with Proportionate liability

- expands federal subject-matter jurisdiction over many large class-action lawsuits and mass actions


Woodruff: Democratic leadership responded by saying they would oppose this bill, charging that it would hurt working and lower-income Americans in the United States. So Bill this proposal likely will pass the house, the question is will it get the 60 votes in the senate

Schinder: Well right now Republicans have 58 Senators at least until June 30th  which is short of 60 and given how sweeping it is, it almost certainly will be filibustered so the question is can it get a few Democratic senators to vote for it. In its present form probably not but given how close they are to the 60 they probably can keep most of the main proposals in a final bill but we will have to see

[President Johnson]

Actually sounds like a common-sense reform plan.

Unfortunately, I haven't been reading this for a while but will do so. I always knew Joe Biden would lose this one quite easily. Maybe he can become Secretary of State or Attorney General in a Democratic administration in 2008 (would support Al Gore here).

[OSR stands with Israel]

Former Action Hero Star Arnold Schwarzenegger elected mayor of Los Angeles in Stunning landslide  




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FES7QLDVLKo


Blitzer: An political earthquake hit the city of Los Angeles yesterday when former action hero star Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected mayor of Los Angeles on the first ballot in a stunning landslide over mayor James Hahn and city councilman Antonio Villaraigosa. Despite the fact he had large leads in the polls throughout the campaign , Democrats were hoping to keep him under 50% of the vote as many anaylsts believe that due to the nature of Mr.Schwarzenegger campaign, anyone who didnt vote for him in round 1 likely wouldnt in round 2 either . Their efforts failed due to the fact that California Governor Richard Riordan who was a former popular two term mayor of the city of Los Angeles in the last week came out and campaigned for Mayor-elect Schwarzenegger in multiple rallies and events in different parts of the city .

Schwarzenegger in his victory speech promised to do all he could to bring the city together to solve its problems over the next 4 years.


So Bill was this election purely local or does it have any national implications

Schnider: It was purely local due to the fact that one the current mayor of Los Angeles James Hahn isnt popular and due to the nature of Mr. Schwarzenegger campaign, the rest of the Democrats opposing Mayor Hahn really weren't able to get the traction needed and that allowed Mr.Schwarzenegger to run away with things. Then add in the fact Governor Richard Riordan who was really popular in Los Angeles as mayor, came in and campaigned hard for Mr.Schwarzenegger really we believed pushed him from the 45-46 % range to 52% and gave him the win. While the Republicans nationally are of course happy to have control of the mayor's office in LA , it has nothing really to do with anything going on nationally and everything cause of the unique nature of this race.

For fun exit polls asked voters of LA how they would vote in say a rematch of the 2004 election and the results were basically the same as they were here in LA back in 2004 so that shows this election was about the unique circumstances of this race that wont be replicated in any race nationally .

[OSR stands with Israel]

President McCain releases Immigration Reform Plan:

Woodruff: The President today released his 3 part immigration reform plan and said this plan would help secure our borders , reform our legal system and deal with the problem of illegal immigration in a humane way . So here’s the plan

What it does to prevent new illegal immigration:

- Would provide funding to construct a Fence on the most vulnerable parts of the Southern Border

- Would provide funding to increase border patrol agents at the border as well

- Would increase penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, with repeat offenders facing higher fines and sanctions

How it would deal with illegal immigrants already in this nation:

- Would deport illegal immigrants who have been here for 5 years or less, and those who have committed crimes after coming to the US

- Would grant Z visas to illegal immigrants who have been here for 5 years or more which would let them stay in the US and apply for permenant residency status but would be put in the back of the line

- Would also require those illegal immigrants to pay fines before they would be eligible to receive Z Visas

Legal immigration :


- Creates blue card program which will allow for more agriculture workers to immigrate here

- Requires companies who apply for program to prove they are unable to fill jobs with American citizens and residents first

- Let’s Kids of Immigrants who have been here for more than 10 years to stay in the nation after they turn 21 even if their parents haven’t gotten green cards yet

[OSR stands with Israel]

Breaking News: Pope John Paul II Passes Away



Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvJO4QzAZBc

Blitzer: We have some breaking news to report and that is Pope John Paul II has passed away. He had been the 2nd longest-serving pope in modern history being in that position for 27 years and many credit him with the ending of communist rule in Poland and along with that he was known as an outspoken opponent of Apartheid in South Africa as well. He was also known to be anti war and against the death penalty .  The President released a statement as well


McCain: The death of Pope John Paul II is very sad news for not only Catholics all around the world but all of us in general, as we will miss one of the best advocates for freedom and democracy we have ever seen. His fight against communism in Poland was critical in the eventual collapse of the Soviet Empire and we will always be grateful for those efforts .

[OSR stands with Israel]

President McCain signs bill that will greatly reform intelligence agencies as well as strengthen counter-terrorism laws:


Shaw: The President Earlier today signed a bill that would greatly reform the intelligence system in the US as well as would strengthen counter-terrorism laws as well. Here are some of the main provisions of the bill

Main Provisions of Bill:

- Established a cabinet position called Director of National Intelligence which will be the head of the US intelligence community as well as in charge of producing the President's daily briefing.

- Created new intellegence agencies such as the National Counterterrorism Center, National Counter Proliferation Center, National Intelligence Centers, and Joint Intelligence Community Council

- Beefs up Security Clearance requirements

- Increases transportation security

- Increases funding for border security

- Strengthens Anti-Terrorism laws by giving agents more tools to go  after terrorists and financiers of such groups as well


For more detail we have provided a link at our website:  https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/senate-bill/2845