New York Times – For Sunni Arabs here, the ugly reality of the new Iraq seemed to crystallize in a two-minute segment of Saddam Hussein’s hanging, filmed surreptitiously on a cellphone.

The video featured excited taunting of Mr. Hussein by hooded Shiite guards. Passed around from cellphone to cellphone on Sunday, the images had echoes of the videos Sunni militants take of beheadings.

“Yes, he was a dictator, but he was killed by a death squad,” said a Sunni Arab woman in western Baghdad who was too afraid to give her name. “What’s the difference between him and them?”

It was supposed to be a formal and solemn proceeding carried out by a dispassionate state. But the grainy recording of the execution’s cruel theater summed up what has become increasingly clear on the streets of the capital: that the Shiite-led government that assumed power in the American effort here is running the state under an undisguised sectarian banner. Click here to read more…

After what seems a lifetime, Democrats are poised to take control of the U.S. Congress.  The Whitehouse is saying that they and only the will continue to control the agenda.  It is up to Democrats and especially Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid execute their “strategy” for the first hundred hours.  Minimum wage increases, congressional ethics reform, prescription drug reform for medicare, and, of course, the Iraq War will be on the front burners.  Today’s New York Times discusses the power transfer.

The W (worst ever) Administration has asserted that it has the complete right to open and read any private mail without the requirement that a warrant be issued by a Federal judge. Today’s New York Daily News carries the story that this claim is made as he signed a postal reform bill that explicitly forbids interception of the mail without a warrant. So, who says we have a Bill of Rights?

President Bush has quietly claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans’ mail without a judge’s warrant, the Daily News has learned.The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a “signing statement” that declared his right to open people’s mail under emergency conditions. Click here to read more.

Associated Press – A federal judge on Friday refused to delay a scheduled trial in a nearly 15-year-old political and legal dispute over adequacy of school programs for students learning the English language.

Lawyers for class-action plaintiffs, the state, Republican legislative leaders and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne participated in a court hearing in Tucson before U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins.

The legislative leaders and Horne had asked Collins to postpone the trial scheduled to begin Tuesday. They said they need more time to prepare because Collins had ruled in late December that the plaintiffs could present evidence on circumstances in numerous school districts, not just Nogales Unified.

Nogales students and parents were the original plaintiffs in the 1992 lawsuit.

Lawyers for the legislative leaders and Horne did not immediately return calls for comment Friday, but attorneys for the plaintiffs and the Attorney General’s Office said Collins indicated that will the four-day trial would begin as scheduled.

Collins imposed fines that reached $21 million against the state last year before the Legislature approved a law to overhaul English Language Learning programs. Click Here to read more.

Yesterday afternoon in Florence at the Superior Court Building, Chris Vasquez was sworn in as elected sheriff of Pinal County. Originally appointed by former Sheriff and now Chief of the Arizona Highway Patrol, Roger Vanderpool, Sheriff Chris Vasquez was elected by the people of Pinal County in a spirited campaign. In his remarks, Chris said he expects Pinal County to be the second largest county in the state within six to eight years. “It is time to think outside of the box, we will have to grow and adapt as we have never done so before.” Chris Vasquez pledged to do everything in his power to improve the quality of law enforcement in the county.

Endorsed by the SaddleBrooke Democrats and the Pinal County Democrats, many of our members worked hard to support his election.  His overall margin of nearly 5,000 votes was the largest such margin for any contested office in the most recent elections.  We are quite proud of his accomplishments and are confident that Pinal County will be well-served by this election.

By Karen Schickedanz

If you would like to become more informed about some topics of vital interest to our country and the world, the SaddleBrooke Democratic Club invites you to attend its February and March meetings. The meetings are open to any interested SaddleBrooke residents.

William Dixon, who teaches international relations and research methods at the University of Arizona, will be the featured speaker at the 3 p.m. Saturday, February 10 meeting of SBDC in the SaddleBrooke Activities Center, 64518 Galveston Lane, in Unit 1.

Dr. Dixon, who received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 1980, will discuss U.S. Foreign Policy, with a particular emphasis on the Middle East. Also speaking at the February meeting will be May George, an Iraqi who is a Ph.D. candidate at the U. of A. in teaching and teacher education. She will talk about the future outlook for Iraq, reconstruction needs, and the role of the government.

Dr. Dixon was associate professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta before coming to Arizona in 1988. He served as co-editor of Political Research Quarterly from 1996 to 2000. His recent research has focused on international conflict and conflict management and on the role of domestic governing institutions in international relations. His articles have appeared in journals such as International Organization, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, and the American Political Science Review.

On March 10, the SaddleBrooke Democratic Club will present Malcolm Hughes, a professor of endocrinology with the world-renowned U. of A. Tree Ring Laboratory. Dr. Hughes will discuss “Global Climate Change: The Evidence.” He kicked off the university’s College of Science’s global climate change lecture series with this topic.

More information about climate change can be obtained prior to the meeting by viewing the award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” The film features a presentation by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, a long-time student of the environment. It recently was screened in SaddleBrooke, and DVD copies of the film are available at film rental stores.

The SaddleBrooke Democratic Club meets regularly at 3 p.m.on the second Saturday of the month in the SaddleBrooke Activities Center. More information about SBDC is available from club president, Elizabeth Hess, at 825-2557.

BBC World Service John Simpson

A week after Saddam Hussein stood on the scaffold at Camp Justice in Baghdad and was taunted during his final moments on Earth by followers of the militant Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, none of the emotions that were aroused have faded.

On the contrary, the revulsion which was felt in the West and among Sunni Muslims has grown even greater. Yet so has the sense of triumph among Shias in Iraq and elsewhere.

In death as in life, Saddam continues to divide his enemies. His execution has acted like an explosion along the seismic fault-line between the two leading forms of Islam.

Under Saddam, who was himself a Sunni and ruled through the Sunni minority, Iraq counted as a Sunni country even though the clear majority of the population was Shia. Click here to read more.

CBS News has announced the results of a recent study.  There were 744,000 homeless people in the United States in 2005, according to the first national estimate in a decade.

A little more than half were living in shelters, and nearly a quarter were chronically homeless, according to the report Wednesday by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an advocacy group. Click here to read more.

Our January 2007 meeting will be held Saturday, January 13th. Rick McGuire, of the Arizona Democratic Party will speak on “What’s Next and Who’s on First”, a discussion of Arizona and Presidential politics. The meeting starts at 3:30 pm following a half hour of social interaction. As normal, the meeting will be held at the Activities Center (HOA #1) at 64518 E Galveston Lane. Following the meeting we will have a pot luck buffet at the home of Bob and Judy Kany, 36832 S Stoney Flower Drive (Unit #17). Please RSVP for the pot luck at 818-1181. See you there!

George (worst ever) Bush does not care what you think.  “I am the decider and we are going forward” Bush said in an interview for 60 minutes.

The defiant White House stance comes as both the House and Senate, now controlled by Democrats, prepare to vote on resolutions that oppose additional U.S. troops in Iraq. Cheney said those nonbinding votes would not affect Bush’s ability to carry out his policies.  Click here to read more.