Word: byrds
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, signed into law by President Obama on Oct. 28, represents both the best and the worst of the modern-day civil rights movement. Given the current legal framework, it was outrageous that crimes committed against individuals due to their sexual orientation were excluded from the roster of hate crimes. By correcting this injustice, the Shepard Act accomplished something important. However, the act also upholds and perpetuates the noxious notion that crimes ought to be weighted by the nebulous standard of “hate?...
...circumvent the legislative branch's proper supervision of the executive (unlike Cabinet secretaries, czars are not subject to confirmation votes). Earlier this month, six Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to Obama complaining that 18 White House positions "may be undermining the constitutional oversight responsibilities of Congress." Democratic Senator Robert Byrd, a well-known defender of Senate prerogatives, complained about the positions in a letter earlier this year. A spokesman replied that Obama is simply continuing a presidential practice in place for decades...
Which makes the sheriff more inclined to believe that Gonzalez - who is charged with shooting Byrd "Bud" Billings and his wife Melanie in their spacious home as he and six others allegedly robbed it the night of July 9 - was hired to commit the murder by resentful local business rivals. In police documents released this week, Gonzalez says one used-car dealer, Henry "Cab" Tice, told him that he and other dealers wanted the 66-year-old Billings "whacked" and asked him to do the job. (Gonzalez claims he refused - although he boasted to police, without offering details, that...
Only about 20 Senators have established Twitter accounts - for the rest, your tweet is simply directed to their name. For Senators like, say, West Virginia's Robert C. Byrd, sending a tweet is probably one of the surest ways not to get the 91-year-old lawmaker's attention...
...There's yet another possibility: Reid might put the pressure on his own caucus by simply calling for a vote and demanding that all 60 support blocking a filibuster, even if they don't ultimately vote for the bill. This strategy, however, would assume that Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd - both of whom have been absent in recent months due to serious health problems - could make it to the chamber for a vote...