Associated Press article in the New York Times

John McCain, looking through a crystal ball to 2013 and the end of a prospective first term, sees ‘’spasmodic” but reduced violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden dead or captured and government spending curbed by his ready veto pen.The Republican presidential contender also envisions April’s annual angst replaced by a simpler flat tax, illegal immigrants living humanely under a temporary worker program, and political partisanship stemmed by weekly news conferences and British-style question periods with joint meetings of Congress.

In a speech being delivered Thursday, McCain concedes he cannot make the changes alone, but he wants to outline a specific governing style to show the accomplishments it can achieve. He was backing up his remarks with a Web ad featuring similar content. (more…)

MELISSA MANSFIELD, Newsday

The 25,000 sex offenders registered in New York now will have to report their online identities to the state, in a new effort to safeguard children using social networking sites.

A law signed Wednesday by Gov. David A. Paterson targets sexual predators using the Internet, by including their online personas in information they are required to report.

“The Internet has become a playground for sexual predators,” said Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), the author of Megan’s Law, the state’s first sex offender registry law enacted in 1995. He called the new law “an important step that will help prevent dangerous sex offenders from hiding behind a veil of anonymity and preying upon our children online.” (more…)