Deals to Go: Holiday Cruises

	ajc.com travel deals to go! - October 28, 2008
	This week's categories: Cruises.   CRUISES   7nt Holiday Cruise from $299* Looking for an auto dealer? Look here first. www.ajccars.com Find a vacation rental in our directory   ajc.com/travel homepage   Southeastern Destinations   Budget Traveler   Travel Weather AJC Deals To Go Book Your Trip Hartsfield-Jackson Guide Travel Blog * Copyright © 2008, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This news, information and advertising message is brought to you by Atlanta Journal Constitution, 72 Marietta St., N. W., Atlanta, GA 30303. This information is for personal use only and is not available for redistribution. This email was sent to: fpac.rangola@blogger.com Please do not reply to this e-mail. If you wish to remove your e-mail address from future mailings, please visit the subscription center. Manage your profile by visiting our profile center. If you have a question or concern about AJC e-mail newsletters, please visit our customer care site: http://www.ajc.com/newsletters To receive the latest Atlanta News and Sports Get The Atlanta Journal-Constitution delivered! Subscribe Today!

Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics

Birds, Blood, and Bribes Posted: 28 Oct 2008 11:50 AM CDT It's no secret that Virginia was a hotbed of illegal cockfighting until the one-two punch of felony laws passed by the U.S. Congress in 2007 and the Virginia General Assembly in 2008 started to push cockfighters out of the Commonwealth. A federal judge in Virginia recently put the new law into action and made an example of two Page County cockfighters, sentencing one to 18 months in jail and another to six months incarceration and six months of home arrest. But the cockfighters are not the only ones in hot water, as Page County Sheriff Daniel Presgraves  was indicted on 22 counts last week in a public corruption scandal. The federal indictment claims that Sheriff Presgraves took bribes in exchange for promising not to interfere with a cockfighting ring in the rural Shenandoah Valley region. If convicted on all charges, he faces 304 years in prison. Included in the indictment was the Virginia Gamefowl Breeders Association, which federal prosecutors called "a statewide organization devoted to the preservation of 'gamefowl' (also known as 'fighting roosters' and 'cocks') and cockfighting." It appears that VGBA President Chester Fannon collected the money generated through paid membership and entrance fees to cockfighting matches, and used the funds to make political contributions to state and federal candidates on behalf of the cockfighters.  According to the indictment, Fannon and the VGBA allegedly devised an elaborate ruse to make it look like the funds were coming from his personal account, rather than from the cockfighting profits. This criminal scheme is all too familiar to animal advocates, who have maintained for years that the various state gamefowl breeding associations are nothing more than criminal syndicates who make their living collecting door fees at illegal cockfighting events and then laundering the money back into political campaigns to block the enactment of stronger animal fighting laws. I'm sure many of the candidates did not realize the money was tainted when they received these apparently bogus campaign donations from Fannon and the cockfighting cartel. But did any of them become suspicious when they were lobbied by cockfighters who wanted to keep weak penalties on the books and get away with a slap on the wrist? It does look a bit odd that Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) is on the list of lawmakers who appear to have received contributions from Fannon, and was one of only a handful of House members who voted against the felony animal fighting bill. The legislation passed overwhelmingly with Republican and Democratic support and was signed into law by President Bush. But Cantor and a few other Republican holdouts—like Congressmen Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Bill Sali (R-Idaho), and Don Young (R-Alaska)—sought to keep the penalties weak and give animal fighters a free pass. Some of these lawmakers are facing tough reelection battles next week, and their animal fighting votes may come back to bite them. There's no doubt that strapping knives to roosters' legs, pumping them full of drugs to heighten aggression, and forcing them to fight to the death for entertainment and gambling is cruel and inhumane. But if there was any lingering doubt that animal fighting is a scourge in our communities that leads to other social ills, this case of public corruption and bribery is Exhibit A. The members of Congress who opposed tougher penalties for animal fighting might caterwaul about "states' rights" and about higher law enforcement priorities, but that's a smokescreen. These people just don't sympathize with animal protection values. When local sheriffs are in the pay and in the pocket of organized crime, it's all the more reason that our federal government must play a meaningful role in rooting out this despicable abuse of animals and abuse of the public trust.

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CBS Evening News with Katie Couric E-Mail Alert

Advertisement Hi everyone,   One week out from Election Day and the Keystone State is priority number one for both John McCain and Barack Obama. Both campaigns are holding rallies in Pennsylvania today, persevering through wicked downpours and even a smattering of snow. But why is Obama campaigning so hard when he's ahead in the polls … in what’s traditionally a blue state? Dean Reynolds has that story and Chip Reid takes a close look at the fight Senator McCain is putting up there.   Later in our broadcast, we'll take a closer look at Pennsylvania's unlikely new status as a battleground. Both campaigns seem to see the state's 21 electoral votes as essential – and Jeff Glor explains what it will take to win them.   Continuing our special series, "Where They Stand," we'll look at what Barack Obama and John McCain propose to do with Medicare. The candidates each have a plan to heal this ailing program – and our Nancy Cordes crunches the numbers to see how they would affect you and your community.   Also in our broadcast tonight, we'll look at the new consumer confidence rating, now at its lowest level since it began being monitored four decades ago. We’ll have that — and the latest news on the stock market and the housing downturn.   Finally tonight: Throughout the wild roller-coaster ride that's taken Wall Street's stocks up, down and sideways over the past few weeks, there's one man who can really, truly, with a straight face say "been there; done that." He's been working the markets for nearly three quarters of a century – and as Anthony Mason reports, he’s got a hot tip for investors.   See you tonight,   Katie Couric CouricandCo@cbs.com   CBS Evening News  |  The Early Show  |  48 Hours  |  60 Minutes  |  CBS Sunday Morning  |  Face The Nation  |  Up To The Minute U.S.  |  World  |  Politics  |  Sci-Tech  |  Health  |  Entertainment  |  Business  |  Sports  |  Strange  |  Travel  |  Opinion  |  Blogs Videos  |  In-Depth & Photos  |  Puzzles & Toons  |  Mobile Services  |  E-Mail Services  |  RSS Feeds  |  Podcasts Help  |  Advertise  |  Terms Of Service  |  Privacy Statement To unsubscribe or change your subscription options, click here. Contact: Email Administrator, CBSNews.com, 524 W. 57th St., Room 514/1, New York, NY, 10019 ©MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Breaking News: Stock market soars nearly 900 points

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BREAKING NEWS

Stock market soars nearly 900 points Wall Street made another big late-day move Tuesday, barreling higher and lifting the Dow Jones industrials more than 890 points as bargain hunters, buying in anticipation of a Federal Reserve rate cut, grabbed stocks that have been pounded lower in recent sessions. All the major indexes were up at least 6 percent.

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CBSNews.com News Alert! Dow Soars Over 800 Points

Dow Jones industrials close up over 800 points, according to preliminary
figures, as Wall Street rally gains momentum in last hour of trading.

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