Senate Votes Against Stripping Tribal Land Provision From Domestic Violence Measure

The Senate on Monday evening turned back a Republican effort to strip from the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act a controversial provision that would expand the authority of Native American courts to prosecute non-Indians accused of abusing native women, but senators left final passage of the bill until Tuesday.

The vote, 31 to 59, fell largely along party lines, but four Republicans voted to preserve the expansion of tribal authority. Final passage of a reauthorized violence protection act is expected on a bipartisan vote Tuesday.

The tribal courts issue, however, remains the one true obstacle to an agreement with the Republican-controlled House.

Senate Democrats â€" and some Republicans â€" said they would fight to keep the provision in any final bill to reauthorize and expand the landmark 1994 anti-domestic violence law Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the chairwoman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, said she was counting on Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, and especially Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma, who is part Native American, to turn up the pressure on House Republican leaders to move on the bill.

“I’m hoping that he will break through on the issue,” she said of Mr. Cole.

Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, had proposed to remove the provision that for the first time would give tribal courts jurisdiction over non-Native Americans who commit a domestic-violence crime on Indian land or against a Native American woman. Mr. Coburn said his amendment would have reaffirmed “the inalienable rights of every American citizen guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.”

But he faced opposition in both parties.

“I have heard too many of the horror stories, and I have heard the law enforcement folks come forward and sa! y, we’ve got to do something because right now it’s so confused that if a sheriff’s office gets a 911 call, and they find out the woman is calling from a reservation, and they find out it’s her boyfriend and he’s not a member of the tribe, we’ve heard stories that they don’t even respond,” said Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska. “Basically you can get away with bloody murder.”

A final Senate vote on the bill was expected Monday, but flight delays associated with the weekend storm forced its postponement for a day.

Speakers With a Big Sound for Big Desks

The British loudspeaker maker KEF, a name well known to audiophiles, has broken out both the high-tech and marketing razzle-dazzle for its desktop X300A speakers.

For starters, it talks about the “Uni-Q driver array,” which joins two speakers in one - a fancy version of a good old coaxial speaker, which puts a woofer for low tones and a tweeter for high tones in the same chassis.

Then it boasts that each speaker has a class AB amplifier, a kind of dual circuit that is used in some higher quality amplifiers and car amps as well. It pumps up to 50 watts to the low frequency speaker and 20 watts to the high.

Neither of these is quite the breakthrough it is made to appear, but you don’t often find either in a speaker built for computers.

The end result is a very solid set of speakers - 16.5  pounds of solid each.

They aren’t for peple concerned about desk space. The size of typical bookshelf speakers, they are nearly a foot high, with a roughly 7-by-10-inch footprint.

Nor are they for people concerned about running skeins of cables. Each speaker takes an industrial strength power cord, a USB cable to the computer or player and another cord between the speakers themselves.

With gun-metal-colored cabinets and no grill to obscure (or protect) the speakers, the X300As have a utilitarian look, but alas, not a utilitarian price: They list for $800 a pair.

The price could be excused if the sound were exceptional. Because the speakers can be customized to achieve different sounds, it’s hard to make a blanket assessment. But I’ll try.

After fiddling with the bias and balance controls, the EQ setting and a set of foam stoppers to rein in the bass, I can say the speakers sound very, very good in some cases - “Honky Tonk Woman” was lively, and the cowbell (more cowbell!) was just perfect.

In other cases, they were not as impressive - in the overture for “The Mikado,” the oboes sounded like they had tin cans over them.

But overall, they are a very good pair of speakers if money and desk space are no object.

Environmental Groups Leverage Iowa 2016 Against Cuomo

Increasingly, for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, all politics are national.

With a deadline for issuing guidelines for hydraulic fracturing in New York State approaching at the end of February, a group of organizations opposed to the practice are running an ad about him in … Iowa.

“Not one well,” the full-page ad, destined for Tuesday’s Des Moines Register, urges in large block print. The closing line: “Your choice now will be remembered forever.”

Or at least until the 2016 Democratic caucuses, is the implication.

“The ad in Iowa is not to just put Cuomo on notice but anybody who has national political ambitions,” said Kyle Ash, a senior legislative director for Greenpeace, one of more than 135 environmental, public health and liberal groups behind the ad.

The groups also ran a similar ad closer to home, in The Albany Times Union, on Monday, but they have sought to embarrass Mr. Cuomo in front of national audiences before, with an ad in The Charlotte Observer the day he arrived at the Democratic National Convention last summer.

The governor has reportedly been torn about whether to allow fracking in the state, and he has tacked left in recent weeks. At a news conference Monday evening, however, Mr. Cuomo said he was not going to read the ad “because I’m not going to be in Des Moines.” Asked if he “had any plans to be there in the next couple years,” he simply replied, “Nope.”

Mr. Cuomo has been the main target of the antifracking movement, but it is a! lso trying to exert primary pressure on other Democrats. Food & Water Watch, for example, has a petition also aimed at Govs. Martin O’Malley of Maryland and John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado. (Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is also on their list, but environmentalists’ ire is not likely to hurt him in a Republican contest.)

Senate Democrats Unveil Proposal to Avert Broad Spending Cuts

Senate Democratic leaders are closing in on a $120 billion package of tax increases on the affluent and targeted spending cuts that they say would be large enough to put off looming, across-the-board spending cuts to defense and domestic programs for 10 months.

The package combines a new 30-percent minimum tax rate for income over $1 million with new limits on tax incentives for retirement once retirement saving reaches a certain level. The legislation would also eliminate some subsidies to agribusinesses and retain some targeted defense cuts, according to aides familiar with the plan, which they emphasized could still be changed. Senate Democrats will hash over the package at their weekly policy lunch Tuesday, hoping to formally unveil their plan to put off the automatic cuts by Thursday, just two weeks before cuts of between 6 percent and 9 percent kick in March 1.

Congressional Republican leaders have said they will not accept any tax increases to shut off te so-called sequester, which would cut spending by close to $1 trillion over 10 years. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, said Monday that the Democratic plan was designed to fail as a precursor to an onslaught of attacks from President Obama designed to pin the cuts on Republicans.

“The time has come to finally take on Washington’s spending problem in a bipartisan way, and that means the president will actually have to move beyond the gimmicks and the taxes and propose real spending cuts,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor, “because, I assure you, my constituents in Kentucky will not accept a tax hike in plac! e of spending cuts already agreed to by both parties - I suspect none of our constituents would.”

The Democratic leadership package is considerably more restrained than what many liberals wanted. On Monday, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, introduced a more sweeping sequester-replacement bill that would close corporate tax loopholes worth more than twice the tax measures in the leadership plan. Mr. Whitehouse conceded their bill could never pass, but, he said, they unveiled it to prove “it’s not necessary to walk into the fiscal bandsaw of squestration.”

“Even if one disagrees with the American people, and sees these egregious loopholes as somehow justified, how can one argue that preserving them is more important than avoiding the damage of sequestration” Mr. Levin asked. “How are these loopholes more important than preventing a recession caused not by the ups and downs of the economic cycle or by the reckless behavior of financial speculators, but by sequestration”

Senate Democratic leaders also dropped plans to include provisions ending tax breaks for oil and gas companies. Aides familiar with the package said those provisions would divide Democrats, including Senators Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Begich of Alaska, both of whom are running for re-election next year in states heavily dependent on oil exploration.

A Bipartisan Team Tackles Immigration

It may take strange bedfellows to pass a broad revamping of the immigration system this year. If so, the Bipartisan Policy Center, a research group in Washington, appears to have assembled some.

Two Democrats â€" Henry Cisneros, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton, and Edward G. Rendell, a former governor of Pennsylvania â€" will join two Republicans â€" Haley Barbour, a former governor of Pennsylvania, and Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush’s secretary of state, will lead a new commission with the goal of prodding Congress to act.

Also on staff will be Rebecca Talent, who until recently was Senator John McCain’s chief of staff, having worked on the immigration issue for more than a decade.

In a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon, it was clear that the four leaders of the commission do not yet agree on the details of a comprehensive plan to change the nation’s immigration laws.

Mr. Rendell and Mr. Cisneros emphasize the need to have a “pathway to citizenship” for the country’s 11 million illegal immigrants, something Republicans often oppose. Mr. Barbour talked about the need for a guest worker program that unions dislike.

“It’s going to be difficult to reach agreement,” Mr. Rendell conceded. “There are many issues which are very thorny.”

The group says it will try to develop consensus around a series of issues relating to immigration, and will push for specific solutions when it does. In the meantime, the leaders of the new commission appear to agree on one thing: It’s time to act.

Mr. Cisneros said he had high hopes that the commission would demonstrate “that there is bipartisan will to fix our immigration system.”

“We know we have an issue that has to be resolved,” Ms. Rice, now a professor at Stanford University, said.

“No one is happy with the state of immigration policy today,” she added. “It’s high time that the! United States of America get a handle on this vexing problem. It goes right to the core of who we are.”

Obama\'s Small Business Adviser Announces Resignation

President Obama’s small business adviser is stepping down, the White House said on Monday.

Karen Mills, 59, who became the administrator of the Small Business Administration at the height of the global recession, will resign when the Senate confirms her replacement. Her four-year tenure saw an expansion of the agency’s lending authority and the elevation of her position to the Cabinet level.

Her departure adds to the vacancies on Mr. Obama’s second-term economic team, which also has openings for a commerce secretary, a trade representative and a budget director. Read more…

Ted Nugent Will Attend State of the Union Address

Ted Nugent, the gun-loving, bow-hunting rocker whose staunch defense of Second Amendment rights and inflammatory insults of President Obama have made him a hero with many conservatives, will attend the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Mr. Nugent, who is also a National Rifle Association board member, will be a guest of Representative Steve Stockman, a Texas Republican who recently made eadlines by threatening to file articles of impeachment against Mr. Obama if the president issued executive orders that strengthened gun control laws.

In a telephone interview from his ranch in Texas on Monday, Mr. Nugent said that he planned to sit in the House of Representatives gallery during the president’s speech and that he would hold a news conference afterward, an event that seemed likely to turn the decorous setting of the State of the Union into a tabloid spectacle.

But Mr. Nugent, an avid hunter and gun collector who once flirted with running for governor of Michigan, insisted that he would be on his best behavior.

“I will be there with a deep, abiding respect for the office of the presidency,” he said. “I’m not here to represent any specific cause other than freedom and independence and ‘we the people.’ ”

To illustrate his point, he noted that he would not be carrying any weapons as he usually does.

“I will go ! in at least 20 pounds lighter than I normally walk,” he said. “I will be going in sans the hardware store on my belt. I live a well-armed life, and I’ve got to demilitarize before I go.”

Mr. Stockman’s office released a statement saying that Mr. Nugent “speaks for millions of Americans who understand how the Second Amendment protects freedom and stops crime.”

But Mr. Nugent’s presence on Tuesday seemed likely to inflame emotions around the delicate issue of gun safety, in addition to raising some other concerns.

The House gallery will be filled with people affected by gun violence. Led by Representative Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, who was accidentally shot and paralyzed as a teenager, about 20 members of Congress have given away their gallery tickets to relatives and friends of people who died in a violent episode involving a gun.

Mr. Nugent also has a history of making provocative, even threatening, remarks about the president. Last year, speaking at an N.R.A. conerence, he said that he would either be “dead or in jail” if Mr. Obama was re-elected.

Mr. Nugent said Monday that he had not discussed his appearance at the State of the Union with anyone at the rifle association.

A spokesman for the Capitol Hill Police said he could not immediately comment on whether there was any reason to deny Mr. Nugent entry on Tuesday night.

Bipartisan Bill and Obama Speech to Put Spotlight on Gun Safety

Gun safety, just a year ago a third rail of American politics, will emerge as a central legislative issue in Washington this week. A bipartisan group of senators is close to finishing consensus legislation to enhance background checks on gun owners - which may well emerge as the chief Senate bill on gun safety - and President Obama will press his case for new restrictions on guns in his State of the Union address before Congress, where victims of gun violence will be peppered throughout the audience.

On Tuesday, the same day as Mr. Obama’s speech, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold its second hearing on gun issues, focused on assault weapons. Also this week, some outside groups, including the one founded by formr Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, will release advertisements aimed at lawmakers who may be on the fence about how - and if - to support new gun safety legislation.

Most significantly, a group of four senators - led by Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma - is closing in on an agreement over how to expand background checks to people who acquire guns through private sales, roughly 40 percent of all purchases.

The measure would increase the background check requirement and also force states to comply more effectively with the National Instant Criminal Background Check ! System by speeding up penalties for those that do not.

The senators, who have been joined by Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois, and Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, are trying to bridge the gap between lawmakers who seek extensive new gun safety legislation, like an assault weapons ban that may be almost impossible politically, and those who would like to limit the effort to improving the government’s ability to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and people with mental illness.

Sticking points include how to exempt individuals who may wish to borrow or inherit guns from family members, and ho to accommodate rural Americans who live far from a place where they can get a background check completed.

On Tuesday, Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, will hold a second hearing on potential gun legislation, seeking to fill in some of the blanks left in an earlier hearing over background checks and other measures.

Witnesses are expected to include Timothy Heaphy, the United States attorney for the Western District of Virginia, who is likely to discuss gun prosecution efforts under current law, and Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School, who is expected to testify about the constitutionality of the primary legislative proposals before the Senate, including the renewal of the assault weapons ban, limits on high-capacity magazines, tougher “straw purchasing” laws and universal background check! s.

! In his speech before Congress on Tuesday, Mr. Obama will renew his call for an assault weapons ban, limits on high-capacity magazines and the sort of universal background legislation that the Senate is now contemplating.

The House gallery will be filled with victims of gun violence, including the parents of Hadiya Pendleton, the young woman killed earlier this month in Chicago, who will sit with Michelle Obama in her box. Representative Jim Langevin, Democrat of Rhode Island, persuaded 22 members of Congress to offer their guest passes for the speech to gun violence victims, and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, invited a furth grader from Newtown, Conn., who asked for her support to strengthen gun laws, along with her mother.

Also attending will be Ms. Giffords and Mr. Kelly, who on Monday released an advertisement in the District of Columbia as well as in the districts and states of Speaker John A. Boehnerand Ms. Pelosi, along with Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority and minority leaders of the Senate. Ms. Giffords was shot in the head two years ago at an official event in an Arizona parking lot.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns will also fly gun violence victims to Washington for activities this week; some will attend the State of the Union address, have a meeting at the White House and visit with lawmakers.  This week, Independence USA, a political action committee spearheaded by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, will cap a $1 million spending campaign against Debbie Halvorson, a former member of Congress seeking to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. in a special election in Illinois. Ms. Halvorson is a longtime strong supporter of the National Rifle Association.

Senate Armed Services Committee Schedules Hagel Vote

Frustrated by Republican foot-dragging, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Monday for a committee vote on Tuesday afternoon on the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to be the next secretary of defense.

The committee action has been postponed for the past week over evolving demands from Republicans for new documentation on Mr. Hagel’s past statements, personal financial records and even a sexual harassment allegation involving two former staff members, but not Mr. Hagel himself. As action has drawn closer, Republican opponents to a former Senate Republican colleague have threatened filibusters and even a walkout from the committee.

A Republican official said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, had given his word to Mr. Levin that he would not participate in a threatened Republican walkout tomorrow. “In his 26 years as a member of the committee he has never walked out of a vote, and he won’t walk out on this one. It would be disrespectful to Chairman Levin and to the best traditions of the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the aide said.

But Mr. Levin’s decision to call for a public discussion and vote, starting at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday ahead of President Obama‘s State of the Union address, indicated that the chairman still believes that Mr. Hagel has enough support to be confirmed. Committee aides say they have no indication that any Democrats or Senate independents will oppose him, putting him at 55 votes to start. Two Republican senators, Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns from Mr. Hagel’s home state, Nebraska, have pledged their support, and at least four Republicans have said they will oppose a filibuster.

That appers to give Mr. Hagel enough support to break through any logjam Republican opponents might throw in his way.

Senate Armed Services Committee Schedules Hagel Vote

Frustrated by Republican foot-dragging, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Monday for a committee vote on Tuesday afternoon on the nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel to be the next secretary of defense.

The committee action has been postponed for the past week over evolving demands from Republicans for new documentation on Mr. Hagel’s past statements, personal financial records and even a sexual harassment allegation involving two former staff members, but not Mr. Hagel himself. As action has drawn closer, Republican opponents to a former Senate Republican colleague have threatened filibusters and even a walkout from the committee.

A Republican official said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, had given his word to Mr. Levin that he would not participate in a threatened Republican walkout tomorrow. “In his 26 years as a member of the committee he has never walked out of a vote, and he won’t walk out on this one. It would be disrespectful to Chairman Levin and to the best traditions of the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the aide said.

But Mr. Levin’s decision to call for a public discussion and vote, starting at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday ahead of President Obama‘s State of the Union address, indicated that the chairman still believes that Mr. Hagel has enough support to be confirmed. Committee aides say they have no indication that any Democrats or Senate independents will oppose him, putting him at 55 votes to start. Two Republican senators, Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Mike Johanns from Mr. Hagel’s home state, Nebraska, have pledged their support, and at least four Republicans have said they will oppose a filibuster.

That appers to give Mr. Hagel enough support to break through any logjam Republican opponents might throw in his way.

Q.& A.: Checking a PC\'s Graphics Card

Q.

How can I tell how much memory I have for graphics and video on my Windows 7 PC

A.

You can check out the video card your computer uses by going to the Start menu to Control Panel, selecting Appearance and Personalization and clicking on “Adjust screen resolution.” If you want a quicker way to get the same Control Panel, just right-click on the Windows desktop and select Screen Resolution.

Once you land in the Screen Resolution box, click the link for Advanced Settings. When the Advanced Settings box appears, click the Adapter tab to see more information about your computer’s video card, including the make, model and the amount of available memory it has.

Some desktop computers â€" especially those designed for gaming and other video-intensive activities â€" may have a dedicated or “discrete” video card installed inside the machine. Laptops and more modest desktop machines tend to use integrated graphics processors built into he computer’s motherboard that typically share some of the overall system memory.

Upgrading a laptop’s graphics card is difficult (if not impossible) depending on the model and the motherboard, but many desktop computers can be upgraded. Microsoft has a guide to upgrading a graphics card in a Windows 7 computer that outlines the process.

Q.& A.: Checking a PC\'s Graphics Card

Q.

How can I tell how much memory I have for graphics and video on my Windows 7 PC

A.

You can check out the video card your computer uses by going to the Start menu to Control Panel, selecting Appearance and Personalization and clicking on “Adjust screen resolution.” If you want a quicker way to get the same Control Panel, just right-click on the Windows desktop and select Screen Resolution.

Once you land in the Screen Resolution box, click the link for Advanced Settings. When the Advanced Settings box appears, click the Adapter tab to see more information about your computer’s video card, including the make, model and the amount of available memory it has.

Some desktop computers â€" especially those designed for gaming and other video-intensive activities â€" may have a dedicated or “discrete” video card installed inside the machine. Laptops and more modest desktop machines tend to use integrated graphics processors built into he computer’s motherboard that typically share some of the overall system memory.

Upgrading a laptop’s graphics card is difficult (if not impossible) depending on the model and the motherboard, but many desktop computers can be upgraded. Microsoft has a guide to upgrading a graphics card in a Windows 7 computer that outlines the process.

The Early Word: Reinvigorate

In Today’s Times

• President Obama will use his State of the Union speech on Tuesday to reinvigorate one of his signature national security objectives - drastically reducing nuclear arsenals around the world, David E. Sanger reports.

• Sheryl Gay Stolberg traveled to an isolated speck of blue in a deeply red state, where interviews with dozens of young people gave voice to a trend that is surprising pollsters and jangling the nerves of Republicans across the nation. When it comes to the size and scope of the federal government, a clear majority of young people embraces President Obama’s notion that the government can be a constructive force.

• Obscure as it may be, the issue of tribal court powers has become te last remaining controversy holding up Congress’s broad reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act, Jonathan Weisman reports. While the Senate on Monday is expected to pass the bill with bipartisan support, Republicans in the House are still struggling over a 10-page section that would, for the first time, allow the Native American police and courts to pursue non-Indians who attack women on tribal land.

Around the Web

• Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will deliver the official Republican response to the State of the Union address, and Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, will deliver the “Tea Party Response” right after, Politico reports.

Happenings in Washington!

• Clinton Romesha, a former active-duty staff sergeant in the Army, will receive the Medal of Honor from President Obama for conspicuous gallantry in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will attend as well.

The Early Word: Reinvigorate

In Today’s Times

• President Obama will use his State of the Union speech on Tuesday to reinvigorate one of his signature national security objectives - drastically reducing nuclear arsenals around the world, David E. Sanger reports.

• Sheryl Gay Stolberg traveled to an isolated speck of blue in a deeply red state, where interviews with dozens of young people gave voice to a trend that is surprising pollsters and jangling the nerves of Republicans across the nation. When it comes to the size and scope of the federal government, a clear majority of young people embraces President Obama’s notion that the government can be a constructive force.

• Obscure as it may be, the issue of tribal court powers has become te last remaining controversy holding up Congress’s broad reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act, Jonathan Weisman reports. While the Senate on Monday is expected to pass the bill with bipartisan support, Republicans in the House are still struggling over a 10-page section that would, for the first time, allow the Native American police and courts to pursue non-Indians who attack women on tribal land.

Around the Web

• Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will deliver the official Republican response to the State of the Union address, and Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, will deliver the “Tea Party Response” right after, Politico reports.

Happenings in Washington!

• Clinton Romesha, a former active-duty staff sergeant in the Army, will receive the Medal of Honor from President Obama for conspicuous gallantry in Afghanistan. Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will attend as well.