Saturday Links

• The Senate Judiciary Committee (at least the Democrats on the Committee and Arlen Specter (R-PA) ) took a step towards repairing the Constitution on Thursday, approving a bill that would restore the right of habeas corpus to this country. I can't wait to see Congressional Republicans argue against any person's right to not be sent into a black hole with no rights and no recourse.

• Blue Jersey is reporting that a bill was released yesterday by the NJ Senate Health and Human Services Committee which would test pregnant women for HIV as part of routine prenatal care unless the woman refuses testing and requires testing for all newborns for HIV. Preventitive care, that's the way to go.

• President Bush, who last July vetoed a bill permitting federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, threatened within minutes of final congressional passage of a nearly identical bill Thursday to do it a second time. So once again, Bush will use his veto pen to go against the will of the people and a large bipartisan majority in Congress. More great leadership, which will ensure that stem cell research will be a major issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. That's good news for Democrats, and you can be assured that if a Democrat is elected into the White House this measure will be signed post haste.

• Hans A. von Spakovsky used every opportunity he had over four years in the Justice Department to make it difficult for voters -- poor, minority and Democratic -- to go to the polls. During his tenure, more than half of the career lawyers in the voting section left in protest. Von Spakovsky now serves as a temporary (because Bush used a recess appointment to circumvent Congress) commissioner on the Federal Election Commission, the bipartisan body that enforces campaign finance regulations. And a Senate Rules Committee hearing set for Wednesday on whether to confirm him for a six-year term could become a critical moment in the debate over political influence in the Justice Department.

• Now that Democrats are in charge, international family planning groups cut off from aid because of their position on abortion could gain access to U.S.-donated contraceptives.

• Legalizing gay marriage would add $142 million in economic benefits to New York City’s economy over three years, according to a report fromthe City Comptroller, Bill Thompson. Hey Republicans, it's more money! How can you vote against that?

• The House passed a resolution calling on the government of the People’s Republic of China to use its unique influence and economic leverage to stop genocide and violence in Darfur.