Boehner: GOP will restore 'order'
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Minority Leader John Boehner promised fiscal responsibility and rule changes Thursday if Republicans take back the U.S. House of Representatives this year.
In a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, the Republican Ohio congressman said his party has learned from its electoral thrashings in 2006 and 2008, Roll Call reported. Adopting talking points from the "Pledge to America" made by Republicans recently, he promised to return "order" to the House if he becomes speaker.
"Leaders overreach because the rules allow them to. Legislators duck their responsibilities because the rules help them to," he said. "And when the rules don't suit the majority's purposes, they are just ignored."
One possibility for fiscal reform is a revision of the 1974 Budget Act, he said. He also promised to get earmarks under control.
"The 'pay as you go' rule has been repeatedly ignored to justify billions of dollars in new spending and tax and fee increases," he said.
Rep. Christopher Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Democrats have significantly reduced earmarks while Republicans remain tied to lobbyists.
Chambliss removes staffer over gay threat
ATLANTA, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said Thursday he has removed a member of his staff because of a threatening anti-gay message posted online last week.
Chambliss did not disclose the name of the staffer responsible for the homophobic comment, which was posted as part of an Internet discussion on the debate over the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy forbidding gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. A commenter who identified himself only as "Jimmy" posted a message on the Joe.My.God blog saying "All faggots must die."
After Joseph Jervis, the author of the blog, said a search using the Internet Protocol address associated with the post traced its origin to the neighborhood of Chambliss' office in Atlanta, Chambliss referred the matter to Senate authorities.
"The office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms has concluded its investigation, and I responded to that report immediately with the removal of a member of my staff," Chambliss said in a statement Thursday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said there were indications the staffer responsible for the offending post was a military liaison assigned to Chambliss' office by the Pentagon.
Chambliss said he has personally apologized to Jervis.
"Regardless of one's position on issues and policies, such comments are simply unacceptable, are not befitting those who work in the U.S. Senate, and I will not tolerate them from my staff," he said.
Ecuador's security forces attempt coup
QUITO, Ecuador, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency, accusing national police who attacked him with tear gas and took over the airport of a coup attempt.
Members of the armed forces and police, angry at President Rafael Correa's austerity law cutting benefits for public employees, occupied several barracks, set up road blocks across the country, set tires on fire in the streets of the country's capital, Quito, and other cities and took over airports in Quito and Guayaquil shutting them down Thursday, the BBC reported.
Correa spoke to soldiers from Quito's main barracks.
"They threw tear gas at us. One exploded near my face. It stunned me and my wife for a few seconds, probably minutes," Correa said. "I had to put on a gas mask and some cowards took it off me so I would suffocate."
"I mean they shot at the president -- it's incredible -- our security forces, our national police," he added. "It is a coup attempt led by the opposition and certain sections of the armed forces and the police," Correa said before fleeing to a nearby hospital.
In a telephone interview with Ecuador TV a few hours after arriving at the hospital, Correa denounced the attack, CNN reported.
"They fired gas on us -- on the president of the republic. This is treason to the country, treason to their president," he said.
Ecuador TV reported rank-and-file police took over their headquarters.
Angry police said they were overworked and underpaid, CNN reported.
"We work 14 hours a day," a uniformed officer said on Ecuador TV. "We are the ones who never protest."
Peru has closed its border with Ecuador and the U.S. State Department says it is "closely monitoring" the situation.
Correa said he is considering dissolving the National Assembly to rule by decree until new elections. Such a move would have to be approved by the Constitutional Court, the BBC reported.
Trial opens in NYC for Gitmo detainee
NEW YORK, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Jury selection began in New York this week for the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in a U.S. civilian court.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2004, faces charges involving the bombing of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 as well as other terrorism-related acts, Voice of America reported. He was transferred to Guantanamo in 2006. The Obama administration wants to close down the detention center at Guantanamo and move trials to the United States.
The first potential jurors were brought into the courtroom Wednesday where they were questioned by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. The judge asked them about their ability to serve during a trial expected to take four months and whether they could be impartial.
Ghailani was conventionally dressed in navy blue slacks, a light blue sweater, white shirt and dark tie, the New York Post reported.
