Pope Benedict XVI Seeks to End Jewish-Catholic Tension over Holocaust
THE TELEGRAPH: The Pope sought to end years of tension between Catholics and Jews when he called for the victims of the Holocaust never to be forgotten.

Pope Benedict XVI at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
Speaking at Yad Vashem, the memorial to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis which crowns wooded hills in west Jerusalem, he specifically called for their suffering never to be denied.

But his remarks failed to satisfy the chairman of Yad Vashem. Rabbi Israel Meir Lau said there was "something missing'' in the Pope's remarks and complained the pontiff had not expressed an apology or even regret.

Speaking on the first day of his visit to Israel, Benedict said: "May the names of these victims never perish. May their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotten.

"As we stand here in silence, their cry still echoes in our hearts. It is a cry raised against every act of injustice and violence."

His remarks were a clear attempt to draw a line under diplomatic tensions between the Vatican and Israel caused by his decision to lift the excommunication of a breakaway British bishop who has denied key aspects of the Holocaust. >>> By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem | Monday, May 11, 2009

Guess Whose Make-up Regimen This Is…
1. Transparent Brush. Foam all over.
2. Small pot under eyes, dimple, creases, blend in.
3. Clinique. Super balanced make-up. All over again, like painting a wall, and ears. Shut eyes over lids then with make-up pad smooth over liquid.
4. Powder (dark brush) terracotta Guerlain, all over. Answer here >>> The Telegraph | Monday, May 11, 2009

High Class Welfare!
THE TELEGRAPH: Senior Conservatives have subsidised their country estates at taxpayers’ expense, with the upkeep of swimming pools, clearance of moats and even the salaries of domestic staff, all claimed on parliamentary expenses.

The Daily Telegraph discloses how Tory grandees have received tens of thousands of pounds to maintain manor houses and stately homes. One claimed successfully towards the cost of a full-time housekeeper with a salary package of £14,000 a year, along with a claim including £2,000 for clearing the moat surrounding his manor house. Another was allowed to claim for a “helipad” to be maintained.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, was understood to be “appalled” by the latest allegations and was considering taking disciplinary action. Tories who have broken the rules on expenses could be sacked, Mr Cameron has suggested.

The disclosures will further alarm taxpayers and add to concern over the operation of the House of Commons fees office, which is supposed to police the parliamentary expenses system. MPs' Expenses: Paying Bills for Tory Grandees >>> By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

MAIL Online: MPs' EXPENSES: Lord Tebbit Defies Tories to Tell Voters: 'Don't Vote for ANY Party in European Elections'

Lord Tebbit. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
Lord Tebbit is risking expulsion from the Conservatives after urging voters not to back the party in next month's European elections.

The former Tory chairman said the vote gave anyone outraged by MPs' abuse of expenses an 'ideal opportunity' to send a message to all three main parties by not voting for any of them.

The call from a senior party grandee is an extraordinary challenge to David Cameron's authority in the run-up to the June 4 poll.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, 78-year-old Lord Tebbit said it was clear that Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs had been behaving like 'welfare junkies' addicted to abusing their Commons allowances.

'Local elections, the great British public should treat just as normal,' he said. 'But at the European elections, in my judgment they should send a very sharp message to the leaders of the three national parties by not voting for any of the national party candidates.'

Norman Tebbit, who was one of Margaret Thatcher's closest allies, refused to say which of the smaller parties he believed voters should back.

'I wouldn't seek to give any advice on that,' he said. 'But if there was an enormous fall in the vote for the major parties, the message might get through.' >>> By James Chapman | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Austerity Britain: Why the Far Right Is Finding Converts in Barnsley
Pub-goers in Barnsley listening to a characteristically uncompromising Nick Griffin denounce privatisations and express sympathy for striking miners. Photo courtesy of TimesOnline
TIMESONLINE: Outside a large, modern pub on the edge of Barnsley, penned in by police, 150 demonstrators chant “Nazi scum off our streets” and “String ’em up like Mussolini”. Inside, Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, is whipping up 300 white, working-class supporters — men and women, young and old — with a speech tailor-made for these days of deepening recession, rising unemployment and profound disillusion with expenses-fiddling mainstream politicians.

“This country is full. It’s time to shut the doors and look after our own people,” he declares from a platform adorned with a huge Union Jack. Britain should leave the European Union so it can stop the “huge swamping wave of mass immigration from places like Poland which has put hundreds of thousands of our people out of a job”. Instead of bailing out “greedy, corrupt, incompetent banks”, Westminster’s “scumbag, thieving politicians” should be using those billions to rebuild British industry.

Mr Griffin expresses sympathy for the 1984 miners strike, triggered by the closure of the Cortonwood colliery in Barnsley. He denounces the Government’s privatisation programme. He accuses Labour of crushing ordinary people to ensure maximum profit for its corporate financiers. “It has sold out,” he thunders. “The old Labour Party is dead. Long live the new party for British workers — the BNP.” >>> Martin Feltcher | Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Al-Qaeda Chief Commits Suicide in Libyan Prison, Report Says
THE TELEGRAPH: A senior al-Qaeda commander in contact with British human rights workers has reportedly committed suicide in jail in Libya.

Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, whose real name was Ali Mohammed al-Fakheri, 46, took his own life in his prison cell, according to the Libyan newspaper Oea.

Information gained from the interrogation of al-Libi was cited on several occasions by the Bush administration as justification for the war in Iraq.

He told his CIA interrogators that al-Qaeda had sent two men to Iraq to seek training in chemical and biological weapons in December 2000. Classified documents added that the men did not return, so al-Libi did not know whether the training took place, and that, in any case, he was probably "intentionally misleading the debriefers".

Al-Libi recanted the story in January 2004, although George Tenet, the former director of the CIA, wrote later: "The fact is, we don't know which story is true, and since we don't know, we can assume nothing."

Noman Benotman, a Libyan who was once close to al-Libi, said two years ago that al-Libi had been sent to Libya, adding that he was "extremely ill, suffering from tuberculosis and diabetes". >>> By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent | Tuesday, May 11, 2009

Tony Blair Has Helped Destroy One of the Oldest Churches on Earth
Arrogant, but stupid; know-it-all, but vacuous. Tony Blair – the man that screwed things up. Highly-paid because people are stupid and gullible. Photo: Google Images
TELEGRAPH BLOGS: If George Bush and Tony Blair were "crusaders", as Muslims insist, then they were the worst in history. Worst, that is, as in the most ineffective. What other Crusade has resulted in the Christian population of a country being almost totally destroyed?

Now that the Americans are leaving Iraq, the ancient Christian community, who converted in the second century while our ancestors were still worshipping rocks, and who still speak Aramaic, will pay the ultimate price. Nice one, Tony, you've helped to destroy one of the oldest Christian communities on earth and with it the language of Christ. Stick that on the wall of your inter-faith centre. >>> Ed West | Monday, May 11, 2009

Muslim Chef 'Refused to Cook Sausages and Bacon for Police Officers' Breakfasts'
Muslim chef Hasanali Khoja at the Employment tribunal in Watford. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
How much longer have the indigenous Brits got to put up with this nonsense? When will our leaders and politicians find their balls and do something to stop this incessant BS? Muslims do NOT fit in in any normal society. They never have, and they never will! Wake up and face the reality! These people are taking Britain and the rest of the West for a ride. They are playing us like a musician plays his banjo! This is all childish, senseless crap! And it should STOP! Grown men are not supposed to behave this way. – ©Mark

MAIL Online: A Muslim chef asked to cook sausages and bacon for '999 breakfasts' at his job with the Metropolitan Police is claiming damages for religious discrimination.

Hasanali Khoja, 60, accuses Scotland Yard of refusing to guarantee that he would not have to handle pork, which is forbidden in Islam.

He said even wearing gloves and using tongs to cook would not protect him from the risk of splashes, and that when he had raised the issue of pork handling at his interview in 2004 for the catering role he was told no food handling would be involved as it was a supervisory role.

He also alleged today that a human resources manager pulled faces and made racist gestures during a meeting to resolve the situation.

'I was very humiliated and stressed out and was unable to continue,' he said.

Mr Khoja, from Edgware, north west London, told the tribunal in Watford, Hertfordshire, that he had refused to handle pork products even if gloves and tongs were provided.

'The reason for this refusal is because of the fact it is well known that if you are cooking bacon or sausages, which I was asked to do, I was exposed to splash and contact with pork which I object to.

'Gloves and tongs would not make any difference.' >>> By Daily Mail Reporter | Monday, May 11, 2009

Why Should Italy Be a Multi-ethnic Society? Tell the Lefties and the Catholic Church to Go Sit on It!
TIMESONLINE: Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, today came under fire from the Catholic Church as well as the Left after declaring that Italy was not and should not be a multi-ethnic society.

Mr Berlusconi's centre Right coalition won power a year ago partly by vowing to crack down on crime and illegal immigration. This weekend he praised Libya for taking back 500 would be migrants who have been intercepted by Italian naval vessels over the past five days, under a new Italian-Libyan accord.

"The Left's idea is of a multi-ethnic Italy," Mr Berlusconi told a news conference. "That is not our idea, ours is to welcome only those who meet the conditions for political asylum."

Italy was once itself a country of emigrants, but now sees itself as in the front line of an assault by poor and often desperate African, Asian and other migrants trying to get into Europe. The centre Left opposition however condemned Mr Berlusconi's remarks as racist. Silvio Berlusconi under Fire over Anti-immigration Remarks >>> Richard Owen | Sunday, May 19, 2009

Journalist Roxana Saberi Freed by Iranian Appeal Court Verdict
THE TELEGRAPH: Roxana Saberi, an American journalist convicted in Iran on spying charges, is to be freed after an appeals court downgraded her sentence.

Lawyers for the 32-year old said the court had reduced the eight-year jail sentence to a suspended two-year term and she would soon be freed.

The Iranian-American television reporter had lived in Iran for six years before she was charged with "cooperating with a hostile state" after her arrest in January. The harsh sentence provoked an international backlash that prompted Iran's hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to express concern that she had received due process. After his intervention the head of the Iranian judicary asked for the appeal court review.

"The verdict of the previous court has been quashed," lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. "Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence and she will be out of prison." >>> By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Monday, May 11, 2009

Egypt: State-owned Media Hail Obama's Upcoming Visit
Obama in the front and a Cairo mosque in the background. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES TIMES: The Egyptian press on Sunday celebrated President Barack Obama’s decision to deliver his address to the Muslim world from Egypt, hailing the move as an American acknowledgment of this nation's regional clout.

“The selection of Cairo stresses the fact that . . . Egypt is the heart of both the Arab and Muslim worlds and is the voice of reason and wisdom that helped the region overcome crises," wrote Osama Saraya, editor in chief of the semi-official Ahram daily. "Egypt is still with its Arabism and Islamic thought the most influential force. Its flag is still the most capable of bringing all Arabs and Muslims together.”

"This is a continuing effort of the president to engage the Muslim world," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "The president has high hopes for a stronger relationship." Obama is expected to deliver his address on June 4. Some Muslim clerics have reportedly called upon the president to speak at al-Azhar, the oldest and most prestigious Sunni institution in the Muslim world. >>> Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo | Sunday, May 10, 2009

WORLDNETDAILY:
Obama Could Address Muslims from Top Mosque: Egypt's grand mufti invites president to speak at prominent sharia center >>> By Aaron Klein | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Un dialogo senza ambiguità
CORRIERA DELLA SERA: Benedetto XVI è giunto oggi a Tel Aviv dopo la sua prima tappa in Giordania. Questo lungo viaggio in Terra santa del Papa avrà certamente an­cora molti momenti sa­lienti ma un primo bilan­cio è reso possibile dal­l’accoglienza che gli è sta­ta fin qui riservata e dalle parole, forti e inequivoca­bili, che egli ha già pro­nunciato sui rapporti fra il cristianesimo, l'ebrai­smo e l'islam.



Il viaggio del Papa è di estrema delicatezza. Non solo perché si svolge nei luoghi che sono, oggi co­me mille anni fa, il terre­no di incontro/scontro fra le tre religioni mono­teiste. E non solo perché è proprio lì, in Medio Oriente, che si addensa­no, si sovrappongono e si intrecciano i più gravi ele­menti di conflitto che mi­naccino oggi la stabilità mondiale. E' di estrema delicatezza anche perché il Papa vi è giunto prece­duto da una lunga scia di polemiche e incompren­sioni che hanno fin qui segnato i suoi rapporti sia con l'ebraismo che con l'islam.

Sul Monte Nebo, in Giordania, Benedetto XVI ha colto l'occasione per ri­badire con solennità quanto ha peraltro già detto e scritto in molte oc­casioni. Ha affermato con enfasi quanto speciale sia il rapporto fra cristianesi­mo e ebraismo, quanto «inseparabile» sia il vin­colo che li unisce. Forse non tutte le incompren­sioni spariranno di colpo ma sono state poste le ba­si per un loro superamen­to. Benedetto XVI ha par­lato così agli ebrei ma an­che, contestualmente, ai cristiani. Ha voluto dire agli uni e agli altri che an­che gli ultimi detriti so­pravvissuti dell'antico an­tigiudaismo cristiano de­vono essere spazzati via senza indugio dalle co­scienze. Inoltre, la sua presenza in Israele oggi, nella condizione presen­te, vale più di mille rico­noscimenti diplomatici. E' un'implicita affermazio­ne del diritto all'esistenza dello Stato di Israele con­tro coloro che vorrebbero cancellarlo. >>> Angelo Panebianco | Lunedi 11 maggio 2009

German, French Leaders Emphasize Opposition to Turkey Joining EU
HÜRRIYET: ISTANBUL - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday reiterated their opposition to Turkey joining the EU as the two leaders geared up for next month's European Parliament elections.

Merkel, who has advocated having a vaguely defined partnership with Turkey, said at an event organized by her conservative Christian Democrats before the June 7 European Parliament vote that "we cannot take in everyone in Europe as a full member."

"We have to talk about the borders of this Europe," she was quoted by AP as saying. "It makes no sense if there are ever more members, and we can’t decide anything anymore," she added.

"It is right that we say to people in the European election campaign ... our common position is: a privileged partnership for Turkey, but no full membership," Merkel said.

Turkey began EU membership negotiations in 2005, but progress has since largely ground to a halt because of disagreements over the divided island of Cyprus and strong opposition in some member countries like France, Germany and Austria.

Neither country, however, has blocked the talks, and Germany's other main coalition party – the Social Democrats – supports EU membership for Turkey.

U.S. President Barack Obama has also urged the EU to embrace Turkey as a full member.

Sarkozy, a longtime opponent of Turkish membership, last week advocated discussing a common economic and security forum with Turkey as an alternative.

"When Angela Merkel says Europe must have borders, she is right – because a Europe without borders would be a Europe without a will, without identity, without values," he said at Sunday's event, where he was a guest of honor as France's leading conservative. >>> | Monday, May 11, 2009

An Opening for New Relations
HAARETZ Editorial: Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives in Jerusalem today, joins two of his predecessors who visited Israel in the past - Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 2000. A visit by the head of the Catholic Church to Israel always generates interest because of Jews' dark history of persecution in Christian Europe and the unequivocal link between Christianity and Judaism. The pope's visit bears great importance for the strengthening of Israel's international standing and for improving ties between Jews and Christians.

The Vatican's stance on Jerusalem differs from that of the Israeli government, and this requires complex and sensitive arrangements in planning the pontiff's visit to the holy city. Yet the visit will highlight Israel's commitment to freedom of worship at the Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and the Galilee.

Benedict has been a controversial figure since assuming the papacy in 2005. As a German who was a member of the Hitler Youth and a soldier in the Wehrmacht, which he deserted before the Nazi regime fell, his actions and policies regarding Jews and the Holocaust have been subject to tight scrutiny. He touched off a torrent of criticism after he announced he would declare sainthood for Pius XII, who is accused of remaining silent in the knowledge that Jews were being slaughtered during World War II. >>> Haaretz Editorial | Monday, May 11, 2009

Sweden’s Greens: Opposition to Turkey Due to Islamophobia
Ms Ruwaida: Opposition to Turkey's accession to the EU has nothing to do with Islamophobia; rather, it has all to do with common sense! – ©Mark

TODAY’S ZAMAN: Some European countries such as Germany and France oppose Turkey's membership in the European Union because of their Islamopohobic stance, a senior member of Sweden's Green Party has said.

"What they do is xenophobic," said Yvonne Ruwaida, a member of the executive board of the Green Party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna), during a visit to Steg för Framtiden” (A step for the future), an association established by Turkish entrepreneurs, in Stockholm on Saturday. She was referring to objections to Turkey's membership raised by a small number of politicians in Sweden, as well as in France and Germany. "This is Islamophobia. They fear that the whole of Europe will be invaded by Islam and are therefore trying to stop Turkish accession," she said. "It is very sad that such things are being discussed. Membership of a country should be assessed on the basis of objective criteria."

Sweden, a firm supporter of Turkey's accession to the EU, is preparing to take over the EU's rotating presidency in June. The Swedish Green Party is one of the most consistent supporters of Turkey in the country. Mehmet Kaplan, son of a Turkish immigrant family, is in the leadership of the party. >>> Ramazan Kerpeten, Stockholm | Monday, May 11, 2009

Pope Underlines Support for a Palestinian State
Pope Benedict XVI with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (front row, 2nd L) and Israel's President Shimon Peres (front row, 2nd R) at a welcoming ceremony at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport Monday. Photo courtesy of The New York Times

THE NEW YORK TIMES: JERUSALEM — On the fourth day of his first trip to the Middle East as pope, Benedict XVI arrived Monday in Israel and immediately called for a solution to the conflict that would yield a “homeland of their own” for both Palestinians and Israelis.

While he did not use the word “state,” he made clear in a brief speech that he was underscoring the Vatican’s previous support for the creation of a Palestinian state, albeit with a stronger resonance imparted by the setting and timing of his remarks within minutes of arriving in Israel.

“The eyes of the world are upon the peoples of this region as they struggle to achieve a just and lasting solution to conflicts that have caused so much suffering,” he told Israeli leaders who met him at the airport in Tel Aviv when he arrived from Jordan.

“The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said. >>> By Rachel Donadio | Monday, May 11, 2009

U.S. Journalist to Be Freed Soon in Iran, Her Lawyer Says
Photo courtesy of The Independent
THE NEW YORK TIMES: TEHRAN— An Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years of jail on spying charges for Washington will be released Monday after an appeal court reduced the sentence, her lawyer said.

Saleh Nikbakht, one of the two lawyers who defended Roxana Saberi in an appeal hearing on Sunday, said the court turned down the eight-year jail term and issued a two-year suspended prison term, the ISNA Student News Agency reported.

“The verdict was given to me in person today,” Mr. Nikbakht was quoted as saying. “The appeals court turned down the original sentence.”

“She will be released today,” Mr. Nikbakht was quoted as saying. >>> By Nazila Fathi | Monday, May 11, 2009

Cheap Jibes, Braggadocio, and Harlequins: President Obama at the White House Correspondents' Dinner

'Torture' Techniques Kept US Safe: Cheney
Dick Cheney ... blasted Barack Obama. Photo courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Former US vice-president Dick Cheney says intelligence extracted from tough interrogations of suspected al-Qaeda militants had saved "perhaps hundreds of thousands" of US lives.

"No regrets. I think it was absolutely the right thing to do," he said on CBS television arguing that techniques decried by critics as torture were essential to break the resistance of captured extremists.

"I'm convinced, absolutely convinced, that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of lives," Cheney said, arguing again that al-Qaeda was bent on attacking a US city with a nuclear device.

But at the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents' Association late on Saturday, President Barack Obama skewered Cheney's doomsday view of the world for comic effect.

"Dick Cheney was supposed to be here but he is very busy working on his memoirs, tentatively titled How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People," he quipped.

In one of his first acts as president, Obama reversed predecessor George W Bush's approval of harsh interrogation methods such as "waterboarding", or simulated drowning.

Recently released memorandums detail the reasoning used by Bush administration lawyers to justify waterboarding and other techniques such as sleep deprivation, physical slaps and painful "stress positions".

Cheney reaffirmed his belief that Obama had made the US more vulnerable to attack, and condemned calls by Democratic lawmakers for the Bush legal officials to face prosecution. >>> AFP | Monday, May 11, 2009

Holy Land Visit a Minefield for Pope
GLOBEAND MAIL: Benedict aims to ease tensions with both Jews and Muslims

JERUSALEM — On a self-declared pilgrimage of peace, Pope Benedict XVI is walking into a minefield.

In the four short years of his papacy, he has succeeded in upsetting the Muslim world with his reference to an anti-Islamic tract, and in alienating many Jews by his resuscitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop and backing of the beatification of Nazi-era Pope Pius XII.

Yet, here he is today, hoping to make amends, wading into one of the holiest sites of both religions, with recent conflicts still smouldering and the eyes of the world upon him.

“The thing that worries me most is the speech that the Pope will deliver here,” said Fouad Twal, the Pope's Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem. “One word for the Muslims and I'm in trouble; one word for the Jews and I'm in trouble. At the end of the visit the Pope goes back to Rome and I stay here with the consequences.”

Regardless of the risks, the Pope began his homage to Judaism on Saturday at Mount Nebo, in Jordan. Looking across the valley at Moses's Promised Land, he spoke of the inseparable bond between his church and the Jewish people.

“From the beginning, the church in these lands has commemorated in her liturgy the great figures of the [Jewish] patriarchs and prophets, as a sign of her profound appreciation of the unity of the two testaments [of the Bible],” the Pope said.

With the ancient link established, the Pope, as his first order of business today, visits Yad Vashem, Israel's shrine to the victims of the Holocaust and touchstone of the modern Jewish state.

“We expect that Pope Benedict XVI's speech at Yad Vashem will include a reference to the memory of the Holocaust in the present as well as in the future,” Avner Shalev, Yad Vashem's chairman of the directorate, told reporters. Mr. Shalev recalled that the Pope, as Joseph Ratzinger, spent his childhood as a member of the Hitler Youth and later enlisted in the German army.

“It is impossible to claim that these things do not have an impact,” he said. “A person's habitat bears an influence on him, despite the fact that immediately after the war he disengaged from these things and devoted himself to studying religion.” >>> Patrick Martin | Sunday, May 10, 2009

Naturalized Citizens Are Poised to Reshape California's Political Landscape
Efren Curiel, 45, is sworn in as a naturalized U.S. citizen in March at the Quiet Cannon Country Club in Montebello. California’s 300,000 naturalized citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation’s total. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES TIMES: The increase in naturalized Asian and Latino citizens -- 300,000 people took the oath of allegiance in 2008 -- could alter the state's policy priorities for years to come, analysts say.

More than 1 million immigrants became U.S. citizens last year, the largest surge in history, hastening the ethnic transformation of California's political landscape with more Latinos and Asians now eligible to vote.

Leading the wave, California's 300,000 new citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation's total and represented a near-doubling over 2006, according to a recent report by the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics. Florida recorded the second-largest group of new citizens, and Texas claimed the fastest growth.

Mexicans, who have traditionally registered low rates of naturalization, represented the largest group, with nearly one-fourth of the total. They were followed by Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, Cubans and Vietnamese.

The new citizens are reshaping California's electorate and are likely to reorder the state's policy priorities, some political analysts predict. Several polls show that Latinos and Asians are more supportive than whites of public investments and broad services, even if they require higher taxes. >>> By Teresa Watanabe | Monday, May 11, 2009