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GOP: American Dream may 'vanish'

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A Republican Party spokesman says U.S. President Barack Obama's $3.55 trillion budget bill could make "the American Dream vanish."

Speaking Saturday in the GOP rebuttal to Obama's weekly radio and Internet address, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina said the spending contained in the budget bill will drive "the deficit to levels that were once thought impossible.

"Looking at the spending priorities of Democrats in Washington in the proposed budget and over the past month, it's hard to escape the reality that for the first time we could see the American Dream vanish," Burr said.

The GOP senator said the spending called for by president to staunch soaring unemployment and stop the meltdown of the U.S. financial system is "so large, and the deficits so staggering, it's difficult for the average person to imagine how much money we're talking about."

Burr said it's time for "those elected to lead. Will we rise to the challenge, and make the tough choices necessary? Or will we simply hand the obligation to our children and wish them good luck?"

United States criticizes U.N. conference

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- The United States has joined Canada in saying it will boycott April's U.N. conference on racism because the draft document singles out Israel for censure.

The conference's current document condemns Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands, said a U.S. State Department official, adding the United States would consider attending if the document were revised.

The document also recommends restrictions on the defamation of religions, which the Obama administration said could undercut free speech, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

The conference is to review progress on a declaration from the World Summit Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in South Africa in 2001. The United States walked out of that conference citing the agenda's bias against Israel.

U.N. officials have said President Barack Obama's election as the first African-American president presents the United States with an opportunity to inspire other minorities at the conference, the Post reported.

No love lost for Bush at GOP meeting

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- There have been few testimonials to former President George W. Bush at the Washington gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference, analysts say.

For a president who so openly embraced conservative principles, there is little evidence at the annual CPAC meeting that the movement returns the sentiment to the 43rd U.S. president, the Washington publication Politico reported Saturday.

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others have attacked current Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama by tying him to Bush, saying Republicans must oppose "Bush-Obama continuity in economic policy" and the "Bush-Obama big spending program," Politico said.

"I wish (Bush) would have laid (a stimulus package) out before he left office, so that in September, October, November, December, there would have been a stimulus plan," said former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, adding that the GOP still needs to develop a unified policy proposal.

Criticizing Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, another former presidential hopeful, Mike Huckabee, told the attendees, "You know what kind of conservatives we need most? Competent conservatives."

Coleman witness removed from stand

ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A Minneapolis poll worker called as a witness in the state's U.S. Senate recount trial communicated with Republican Norm Coleman's lawyers, attorneys say.

Testimony from Republican poll worker Pamela Howell, called by Coleman to attest to how polling place errors could have led to double-counting of votes, was cut off Friday when she revealed she had communicated with Coleman's lawyers via e-mail without telling the attorneys of Democrat Al Franken, The Star-Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis reported.

"It's … clear from these e-mails that a very conscious decision was made by counsel not to disclose Ms. Howell's statement," said Franken attorney David Lillehaug.

Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg told the three-judge panel hearing the case that "clearly the e-mails should have been disclosed" but that they were "blown a little bit out of proportion," saying the e-mails were an innocent mistake from a young lawyer who'd never tried a case.

It was the second time in three days Howell, considered a key Coleman witness, had been removed from the stand after challenges by lawyers for Franken, who had a 225-vote lead in the official recount.

Night life returning to Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Nightclubs are reopening in Baghdad in a sign that security measures are working and residents feel safe enough to drink and dance again, observers say.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki allowed the reopening of nightspots on Baghdad's Abu Nawas Street three months ago, a move that has bolstered his popularity among many urban Iraqis, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Among their customers are U.S. soldiers, who are socializing publicly with Iraqis in a way that was unimaginable even a few months ago, the newspaper said.

"Everyone is having a good time," Spec. Eric Cartwright, 26, of Granada Hills, Calif., told the Post while drinking at a Baghdad club. "No one is scared about what's going to happen to them. This is a good sign."

Abu Nawas Street is blocked off on both ends by blast walls and checkpoints guarded by Iraqi private security contractors and police, while U.S. troops patrol it on foot virtually every day. Nightclub owners say they feel safe on the strip.

"This area is well protected," club owner Salah Hassan said. "If I didn't have the security, I wouldn't be able to do business. Customers will be afraid to come. They will be kidnapped or killed."