SPB News for Sunday.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is hearing calls for his swift impeachment, by fellow Democrats no less, for allegedly promising a job to a state finance official in exchange for campaign contributions. The official, Ali Ata, pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges, implicated the governor in the wrongdoing and is now expected to testify against Blagojevich ally Tony Rezko for accepting kickbacks from state businesses. (Chicago Sun-Times)

‘Small crowd’ turns up for fundraiser featuring Cheney.
Vice President Dick Cheney headlined a fundraiser for Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) on Thursday. While Cheney gave some of his standard lines — “One great lesson of 9/11 is that we have to stop treating terrorist attacks as a law enforcement problem” — only a “small crowd” turned out to hear them. A sponsor of the event blamed the low turnout on the lack of a “more competitive two-party system.”

McCain Frequently Used Wife's Jet for Little Cost — Given Senator John McCain's signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets.

But over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.

Mr. McCain’s campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February, records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates.

Obama: No More Debates Before Next Primary — Barack Obama, in his first appearance on “FOX News Sunday,” says there will be no more debates before the two May 6 primaries despite repeated challenges from Hillary Clinton to meet him face-to-face. — Clinton challenged him again Saturday in Indiana …

Karzai slams USA, UK Afghanistan President Mr Hamid Karzai has strongly criticised the American and British conduct of the war in his country, and demanded that his government be given the lead in policy decisions.

US Marines deploying in Afghanistan for 1st time in years U.S. Marines are crossing the sands of southern Afghanistan for the first time in years, providing a boost to a NATO coalition that is growing but still short on manpower. They hope to retake the 10 percent of Afghanistan the Taliban holds.

Syria: CIA fabricated 'reactor' pictures Syria's ambassador to the United States said Friday that the CIA fabricated pictures allegedly taken inside a secret Syrian nuclear reactor and predicted that in coming weeks the US story about the site would "implode from within." "The photos presented to me yesterday were ludicrous, laughable," Ambassador Imad Moustapha told reporters at his Washington residence.

Laura Berg's Letter (The New York Times) The PEN American Center, the literary organization committed to free expression, is honoring an American most people in this country have never read or even heard of: Laura Berg. She is a psychiatric nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital who was threatened with a sedition investigation after she wrote a letter to the editor denouncing the Bush administration’s bungling of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war. That’s right, sedition: inciting rebellion against the government.
Cheney camp 'behind Syrian reactor claim' US Government allegations that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor have been greeted with scepticism because of their timing. Israeli jets bombed the alleged site in Syria's eastern desert last September. Today, after months of whispers, the White House publicly claimed that the target of the strike was a nuclear reactor. US intelligence officials said the reactor had been close to becoming operational when it was destroyed. But Mike Chinoy, from the Pacific Council on International Policy, says the claim needs to be taken in its political context, as North Korea's denuclearisation reaches a critical stage. "Everything I'm hearing from my own sources in Washington is that what you have now is a kind of push back by Vice-President [sic] Cheney and his office and other hardliners who are opposed to diplomatic dealings with North Korea," he said.

Marines to help train Afghanistan police force --Officers will 'fight' Taliban, drug trade. Diverted at the last minute from its planned deployment to Iraq, a battalion of Marines has arrived here to take up a critical mission: training Afghan police to hold the line against Taliban 'insurgents.' Marine Lt. Col. Rick Hall, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, is upbeat about the prospect of readying a professional police force, despite significant challenges that have so far defeated a six-year, $5.5 billion U.S. police 'recruiting and training' program.

Obama pastor: I had death threats --Jeremiah Wright re-emerges to say his church has been threatened with attack just as the Democratic race heads for its last big contest Last night, Senator Barack Obama's pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright admitted his church has received bomb threats. In his first interview since videos of Wright preaching began a storm of recrimination, Wright was asked by PBS journalist Bill Moyers if he had received death threats. 'Yes ... and bomb threats at the church,' Wright replied. 'What have we gotten into here? People ... telling us how they are going to wipe us off the face of the earth in the name of Jesus.'