Countdown Newletter -- 03/27/06: Immigration in the Cross Hairs

Oh, my goodness! It's a newsletter!

------------------------------------------------------
Tonight on Countdown
------------------------------------------------------

President Bush said Monday that overhauling the nation's immigration laws "is not going to be easy" and warned critics against stoking anti-immigrant feelings by calling them a threat to the nation's identity or a burden to the economy. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12034586/

More than 500,000 pro-immigration activists took to the streets in Los Angeles on Saturday. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/03/500000-protest-immigration-legislation.php

One version of legislation already passed by the House of Representatives would make it a crime to hire or help illegal aliens. "This bill would literally criminalize the good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself," said Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, who waded into the acrimonious debate last week. "Hillary Clinton doesn't know the first thing about the Bible," shot back Mr. Tancredo, the Republican. "Her impression, her analysis, her interpretation of both the law and the Bible are certainly wrong." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060327.IMMIGRATION27/TPStory/TPInternational/

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

George Mason University defeated top- seeded Connecticut 86-84 in overtime to advance to the Final Four of the National Collegiate Athletic Association men's basketball tournament for the first time in school history. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=afr4g921uCxk&refer=us

Driver Paul Dana was killed in a practice crash Sunday before the Indy Racing League season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He was 30. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-irl27mar27,1,2758110.story?coll=la-headlines-sports

The preacher's wife charged with murder in the death of her husband wanted his congregation to know "she was sorry for everything she has done," said a friend who visited her in jail Sunday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12027343/
Keith's interview with Michael Schiavo.

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
I just can't stop talking about the "Sopranos."
At last, it looks like Tony will be back -- really BACK -- next week, after two weeks of alternate-universe nice-guy... and real-universe seeping and drooling.
I feel like I was one of the few who found episode two (last Sunday) fascinating. The mix of grim reality with metaphor-laden alternate-universe Tony's-subconscious-world -- whatever you want to call it -- created a particularly odd and interesting mood.
But last night I was really P-Oed for the first 30, even 40 minutes of the show.
Tony's alter ego was getting old, fast. What the hell was with those monks, anyway? NO ONE will EVER know.
The whole subplot about Christopher enlisting his writer 'buddy' to work on a mobster/slasher screenplay was ridiculous, unfunny (though it as meant to be) and unbelievably indulgent on the part of the creator/writer, David Chase.
Even the scenes with Tony's underlings -- starting to battle for power -- seemed forced.
And Carmela and Dr. Melphi running into each other in a supermarket was strained, and not too credible. For us to see Dr. Melphi simply calling Carmela (which apparently she had) would have sufficed. Further, Dr. Melphi may be able to see Carmela on a temporary basis, but to divulge ANYTHING Tony has said (which she did at the end of their scene in Melphi's office) is strictly unprofessional, something that character would never do.
So, just when I thought the wheels were coming TOTALLY off this episode and maybe even the season and the series, I jumped to the edge of my seat when Tony faced the house/death, with his guide being the very cousin that he'd whacked at the end of last season.
That worked. And though poor Tony looked like a stuck pig once he regained consciousness, it was quite a relief.
Previews of next week show Tony fiercely giving orders from his hospital bed, which reminds this viewer of this truth. James Gandolfini and Edie Falco drive this car. They are the two actors with enough heft to make any crazy Chase scenario believable. The rest are chasing from way behind, at best.

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
The city has sent out letters to 24 families of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks advising them that partial transcripts and recordings of 911 calls made by the victims soon will be released to the public because of a court order. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12036295/from/ET/)/

Confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui took the witness stand in his own defense for the first time Monday, testifying that he was never intended to be one of the Sept. 11, 2001 airplane hijackers. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12036777/

New violence flared Monday in northern Iraq with 40 dead in a suicide bombing, while Shiite leaders cut off political talks and denounced the United States over a weekend raid that they said killed worshippers in a mosque. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12033684/

The Supreme Court this week will hear arguments in a big case: whether to allow the Bush administration to try Guantánamo detainees in special military tribunals with limited rights for the accused. But Justice Antonin Scalia has already spoken his mind about some of the issues in the matter. During an unpublicized March 8 talk at the University of Freiburg in Switzerland, Scalia dismissed the idea that the detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution or international conventions, adding he was "astounded" at the "hypocritical" reaction in Europe to Gitmo. "War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts," he says on a tape of the talk reviewed by NEWSWEEK. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12017271/site/newsweek/

Hundreds of people protested in Afghanistan on Monday against a court's decision to drop a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity, while an official said discussions were under way to determine when he would be released. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12022144/

With less than a month before New Orleans' first elections since Hurricane Katrina, the vote's plan - and even the date - are still in dispute. Civil rights groups were expected to return to federal court Monday to try to block the April 22 mayoral election, arguing that too many black residents scattered by Katrina will be unable to take part. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12035017/

Seattle 'teddy bear' turned mass murderer. Police have no motive in shooting deaths of six people at party. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12035924/

A woman accused of abducting her two young children from their father, then dressing like a man so she could assume his identity, agreed Monday to return to Arizona where she faces kidnapping charges, authorities said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12035394/

NEW YORK - A city street collapsed under a sport utility vehicle early Monday, leaving the vehicle nose down into a deep sinkhole that officials said was caused by a water main break. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12036517/

Geneticists have mixed DNA from the roundworm C. elegans and pigs to produce swine with significant amounts of omega-3 fatty acids - the kind believed to stave off heart disease. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12034633/

then neither do many of the Catholic clergy, who are fronting much of the resisitance to the proposed immigration "reform." It would make it a felony to provide any kind of assistance, including humanitarian aid (food, emergency shelter, medical care) to an undocumented person. The Sisters of Mercy operate a women's shelter here in town & they are up in arms over this. But then, what the hell do THEY know about Jesus anyway? :eyes:

As for Scalia, God, what a fascist.

dg