Senate vote one short of passage of energy bill; judiciary committee votes for contempt charges against 2 Bush aides...

13 December :: Pro-industry forces in the US Senate have blocked the sweeping energy-policy reform bill that Democrats have touted as necessary for future economic and ecological wellbeing of the nation; "in order to bring the bill to a vote, Democrats were forced to drop a provision that required utilities to obtain at least 15% of their electricity from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. These industries have now suffered another blow because the production tax credit for wind and the investment tax credit for solar, which both expire at the end of 2008, still don't have the funding to extend them"... US Senate judiciary committee imposes contempt citations on White House chief of staff Josh Bolton and fmr. Bush aide, Karl Rove, for refusing to cooperate with probe into firing of federal prosecutors, allegedly for political reasons; White House maintains the firings were performance-based and says Bush's aides are protected from being called to testify by the principle of 'executive privilege'; Sen. Arlen Specter, the committee's top Republican, was one of two Republicans to vote for contempt charges, saying the refusal to testify violates the Congressional subpoenas issued... A major prosecution of what the Justice Dept. has called "homegrown terrorism" has ended in mistrial, Washington Post reports "A federal jury deadlocked over charges that six men from a fringe religious group conspired to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and instigate a war against the United States", while another defendant was cleared of all charges; new trial to start 7 January 2008...

Spain sentences Madrid bombing masterminds to 42,900 years for mass murder; Sen. McCain will vote against Mukasey for AG if he doesn't bar torture...

1 November :: Spain's top criminal court has sentenced masterminds of 11 March 2004 Madrid train bombings to more than 42,900 years each for mass murder; the Audiencia Nacional also ruled out definitively any involvement by Basque separatist group ETA, citing Islamist extremist conspiracy as proven by evidence... Sen. John McCain, a Republican presidential candidate, says he would vote against Mukasey's nomination to be AG if he does not take stand against torture; Mukasey refused in Congressional hearing to declare abusive interrogation techniques 'torture'; McCain rival for Republican candidacy, Giuliani, a friend of Mukasey, has said he is not sure mock drowning is torture, saying "it depends on who does it"; Sen. McCain was routinely tortured during 5 1/2 years as PoW in North Vietnam... Senate judiciary committee chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has called for committee vote on Mukasey for next Tuesday, as Judge Mukasey has attempted to clarify his positions by written response; committee vote decides if full Senate will debate or vote on nomination... Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has issued campaign video claiming her opponents in party primary have engaged in "politics of pile-on" by attacking her positions, responses, Senate votes, on a number of issues, in Monday night's debate... Foreign service officers at State Dept. react angrily at plan to force them to serve in Iraq, under threat of disciplinary action, including dismissal if they refuse the assignment; one officer quoted by the AP said an Iraq assignment amounted to "a potential death sentence", with many feeling work in war zone should be discretionary based on diplomats' willingness, support for the mission... Church ordered to pay $10.9 million for staging anti-gay hate rally at fallen soldier's funeral, after soldier's father sues for defamation; signs expressed hatred for homosexuals, praised the death of troops, suggest God "hates" and attacked American tolerance...