Democrats Abroad New Zealand
6.23.2006
Bank Records Secretly Tapped (WashingtonPost.com)
Administration Began Using Global Database Shortly After 2001 Attacks
By Barton Gellman, Paul Blustein and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 23, 2006; Page A01
The Bush administration, relying on a presidential declaration of emergency, has secretly been tapping into a vast global database of confidential financial transactions for nearly five years, according to U.S. government and industry officials.
Initiated shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, the surveillance program has used a broad new interpretation of the Treasury Department's administrative powers to bypass traditional banking privacy protections. It has swept in large volumes of international money transfers, including many made by U.S. citizens and residents, in an effort to track the locations, identities and activities of suspected terrorists.
Current and former counterterrorist officials said the program works in parallel with previously reported surveillance of international telephone calls, faxes and e-mails by the National Security Agency, which has eavesdropped without warrants on more than 5,000 Americans suspected of terrorist links. Together with a hundredfold expansion of the FBI's use of "national security letters" to obtain communications and banking records, the secret NSA and Treasury programs have built unprecedented government databases of private transactions, most of them involving people who prove irrelevant to terrorist investigators.
Stuart Levey, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in an interview last night that the newly disclosed program -- the existence of which the government sought to conceal -- has used the agency's powers of administrative subpoena to compel an international banking consortium to open its records. The Brussels-based cooperative, known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, links about 7,800 banks and brokerages and handles billions of transactions a year.
(More ... Nation - (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 21:39 0 comments
By Barton Gellman, Paul Blustein and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, June 23, 2006; Page A01
The Bush administration, relying on a presidential declaration of emergency, has secretly been tapping into a vast global database of confidential financial transactions for nearly five years, according to U.S. government and industry officials.
Initiated shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, the surveillance program has used a broad new interpretation of the Treasury Department's administrative powers to bypass traditional banking privacy protections. It has swept in large volumes of international money transfers, including many made by U.S. citizens and residents, in an effort to track the locations, identities and activities of suspected terrorists.
Current and former counterterrorist officials said the program works in parallel with previously reported surveillance of international telephone calls, faxes and e-mails by the National Security Agency, which has eavesdropped without warrants on more than 5,000 Americans suspected of terrorist links. Together with a hundredfold expansion of the FBI's use of "national security letters" to obtain communications and banking records, the secret NSA and Treasury programs have built unprecedented government databases of private transactions, most of them involving people who prove irrelevant to terrorist investigators.
Stuart Levey, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in an interview last night that the newly disclosed program -- the existence of which the government sought to conceal -- has used the agency's powers of administrative subpoena to compel an international banking consortium to open its records. The Brussels-based cooperative, known as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, links about 7,800 banks and brokerages and handles billions of transactions a year.
(More ... Nation - (washingtonpost.com)) ¶ 21:39 0 comments
Rich City, Poor City (SFGate.com)
Middle-class neighborhoods are disappearing from the nation's cities, leaving only high- and low-income districts, new study says
Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Ron Miguel, a retired florist and native San Franciscan, can remember when a middle-class family could buy a home in the city without breaking the bank. But over the decades, he has watched that change.
"When we moved into Potrero Hill 30 years ago, this was an affordable area ... but today I couldn't afford the homes and condos going up a block from me," said Miguel, 75. "You have a situation where the cost of housing is astronomical. It's very difficult for the middle income to survive."
The gentrification of San Francisco's neighborhoods reflects one facet of a national trend: the decline of middle-income neighborhoods in metropolitan America, according to a report released today by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C.
In other American cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia, what were once middle-class neighborhoods gave way to poverty as middle-income residents departed for the suburbs and beyond, said Alan Berube, a Brookings fellow who oversaw the study. But in San Francisco and across the Bay Area, middle-class neighborhoods are disappearing as the skyrocketing cost of housing forces middle-income families to flee in search of affordability.
"If the only place you're building middle-income housing is in the Central Valley, that's where middle-income growth will go," Berube said.
(More ... RICH CITY POOR CITY / Middle-class neighborhoods are disappearing from the nation's cities, leaving only high- and low-income districts, new study says) ¶ 21:28 0 comments
Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Ron Miguel, a retired florist and native San Franciscan, can remember when a middle-class family could buy a home in the city without breaking the bank. But over the decades, he has watched that change.
"When we moved into Potrero Hill 30 years ago, this was an affordable area ... but today I couldn't afford the homes and condos going up a block from me," said Miguel, 75. "You have a situation where the cost of housing is astronomical. It's very difficult for the middle income to survive."
The gentrification of San Francisco's neighborhoods reflects one facet of a national trend: the decline of middle-income neighborhoods in metropolitan America, according to a report released today by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C.
In other American cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia, what were once middle-class neighborhoods gave way to poverty as middle-income residents departed for the suburbs and beyond, said Alan Berube, a Brookings fellow who oversaw the study. But in San Francisco and across the Bay Area, middle-class neighborhoods are disappearing as the skyrocketing cost of housing forces middle-income families to flee in search of affordability.
"If the only place you're building middle-income housing is in the Central Valley, that's where middle-income growth will go," Berube said.
(More ... RICH CITY POOR CITY / Middle-class neighborhoods are disappearing from the nation's cities, leaving only high- and low-income districts, new study says) ¶ 21:28 0 comments
U.S. Gun Owners Accuse UN of July 4 Conspiracy (Scotsman.com)
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Americans mistakenly worried the United Nations is plotting to take away their guns on July 4 -- U.S. Independence Day -- are flooding the world body with angry letters and postcards, the chairman of a U.N. conference on the illegal small arms trade said on Wednesday.
"I myself have received over 100,000 letters from the U.S. public, criticising me personally, saying, 'You are having this conference on the 4th of July, you are not going to get our guns on that day,'" said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka's U.N. ambassador.
"That is a total misconception as far as we are concerned," Kariyawasam told reporters ahead of the two-week meeting opening on Monday.
For one, July 4 is a holiday at U.N. headquarters and the world body's staff will be watching a fireworks display from the U.N. lawn rather than attending any meetings, he said.
For another, the U.N. conference will look only at illegal arms and "does not in any way address legal possession," a matter left to national governments to regulate rather than the United Nations, he added.
The campaign is largely the work of the U.S. National Rifle Association, whose executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, warns on an NRA Web site (http://www.stopungunban.org/) of a July 4 plot "to finalise a U.N. treaty that would strip all citizens of all nations of their right to self-protection."
Kariyawasam said, "The U.N. conference will not negotiate any treaty to prohibit citizens of any country from possessing firearms or to interfere with the legal trade in small arms and light weapons."
(More ... Scotsman.com News - Latest News - U.S. gun owners accuse U.N. of July 4 conspiracy) ¶ 21:24 0 comments
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Americans mistakenly worried the United Nations is plotting to take away their guns on July 4 -- U.S. Independence Day -- are flooding the world body with angry letters and postcards, the chairman of a U.N. conference on the illegal small arms trade said on Wednesday.
"I myself have received over 100,000 letters from the U.S. public, criticising me personally, saying, 'You are having this conference on the 4th of July, you are not going to get our guns on that day,'" said Prasad Kariyawasam, Sri Lanka's U.N. ambassador.
"That is a total misconception as far as we are concerned," Kariyawasam told reporters ahead of the two-week meeting opening on Monday.
For one, July 4 is a holiday at U.N. headquarters and the world body's staff will be watching a fireworks display from the U.N. lawn rather than attending any meetings, he said.
For another, the U.N. conference will look only at illegal arms and "does not in any way address legal possession," a matter left to national governments to regulate rather than the United Nations, he added.
The campaign is largely the work of the U.S. National Rifle Association, whose executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, warns on an NRA Web site (http://www.stopungunban.org/) of a July 4 plot "to finalise a U.N. treaty that would strip all citizens of all nations of their right to self-protection."
Kariyawasam said, "The U.N. conference will not negotiate any treaty to prohibit citizens of any country from possessing firearms or to interfere with the legal trade in small arms and light weapons."
(More ... Scotsman.com News - Latest News - U.S. gun owners accuse U.N. of July 4 conspiracy) ¶ 21:24 0 comments
6.22.2006
'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon (LATimes.com)
'End times' religious groups want apocalypse sooner than later, and they're relying on high tech -- and red heifers -- to hasten its arrival.
By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer
June 22, 2006
For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it.
Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.
For some Christians this means laying the groundwork for Armageddon.
With that goal in mind, mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for using global communications and aircraft to transport missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message. Doing so, they believe, will bring about the end, perhaps within two decades.
In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a far different vision. As mayor of Tehran in 2004, he spent millions on improvements to make the city more welcoming for the return of a Muslim messiah known as the Mahdi, according to a recent report by the American Foreign Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
To the majority of Shiites, the Mahdi was the last of the prophet Muhammad's true heirs, his 12 righteous descendants chosen by God to lead the faithful.
Ahmadinejad hopes to welcome the Mahdi to Tehran within two years.
Conversely, some Jewish groups in Jerusalem hope to clear the path for their own messiah by rebuilding a temple on a site now occupied by one of Islam's holiest shrines.
Artisans have re-created priestly robes of white linen, gem-studded breastplates, silver trumpets and solid-gold menorahs to be used in the Holy Temple — along with two 6½-ton marble cornerstones for the building's foundation.
Then there is Clyde Lott, a Mississippi revivalist preacher and cattle rancher. He is trying to raise a unique herd of red heifers to satisfy an obscure injunction in the Book of Numbers: the sacrifice of a blemish-free red heifer for purification rituals needed to pave the way for the messiah.
So far, only one of his cows has been verified by rabbis as worthy, meaning they failed to turn up even three white or black hairs on the animal's body.
Linking these efforts is a belief that modern technologies and global communications have made it possible to induce completion of God's plan within this generation.
(More ... 'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 22:11 0 comments
By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer
June 22, 2006
For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it.
Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.
For some Christians this means laying the groundwork for Armageddon.
With that goal in mind, mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for using global communications and aircraft to transport missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message. Doing so, they believe, will bring about the end, perhaps within two decades.
In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a far different vision. As mayor of Tehran in 2004, he spent millions on improvements to make the city more welcoming for the return of a Muslim messiah known as the Mahdi, according to a recent report by the American Foreign Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.
To the majority of Shiites, the Mahdi was the last of the prophet Muhammad's true heirs, his 12 righteous descendants chosen by God to lead the faithful.
Ahmadinejad hopes to welcome the Mahdi to Tehran within two years.
Conversely, some Jewish groups in Jerusalem hope to clear the path for their own messiah by rebuilding a temple on a site now occupied by one of Islam's holiest shrines.
Artisans have re-created priestly robes of white linen, gem-studded breastplates, silver trumpets and solid-gold menorahs to be used in the Holy Temple — along with two 6½-ton marble cornerstones for the building's foundation.
Then there is Clyde Lott, a Mississippi revivalist preacher and cattle rancher. He is trying to raise a unique herd of red heifers to satisfy an obscure injunction in the Book of Numbers: the sacrifice of a blemish-free red heifer for purification rituals needed to pave the way for the messiah.
So far, only one of his cows has been verified by rabbis as worthy, meaning they failed to turn up even three white or black hairs on the animal's body.
Linking these efforts is a belief that modern technologies and global communications have made it possible to induce completion of God's plan within this generation.
(More ... 'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 22:11 0 comments
6.21.2006
The Democrats Reassess (WashingtonPost.com)
Effort to Win Battle of Ideas Includes New Web Site and Journal
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Page A19
This is idea week for the Democratic Party.
On Monday, three veteran party strategists -- William Galston, Stan Greenberg and Ruy Teixeira -- launched a Web site ( http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org ) with the goal of generating fact-based, empirically tested theories that might help Democrats resolve their policy differences and win more elections.
Yesterday saw another launch party, this time for Democracy, a quarterly journal that also will be available online ( http://www.democracyjournal.org ). The magazine will be edited by Andrei Cherny and Kenneth Baer, two younger veterans of recent party wars. Their goal is do for the Democrats what journals such as Public Interest did for conservatives and Republicans decades ago, which is to bring forward big ideas to challenge what they regard as the tired thinking that grips Democratic politicians.
On Thursday, NDN (formerly the New Democrat Network) will convene its annual conference. NDN, founded by Simon Rosenberg, has recently been in the forefront of moving beyond differences between centrists, liberals and the new world of blogs and net-roots activists, all with an eye toward tipping the political balance back in a Democratic direction.
Those in the middle of these events share a similar conviction, which is that for too long Republicans have been winning the battle of ideas (and often campaign strategy) in American politics, in part because conservatives invested in what is now a well-funded infrastructure of organizations that have produced ideas, thinkers, publications, strategists, and politicians who now control the White House, Congress and increasingly the federal judiciary.
(More ... The Democrats Reassess) ¶ 22:44 0 comments
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 21, 2006; Page A19
This is idea week for the Democratic Party.
On Monday, three veteran party strategists -- William Galston, Stan Greenberg and Ruy Teixeira -- launched a Web site ( http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org ) with the goal of generating fact-based, empirically tested theories that might help Democrats resolve their policy differences and win more elections.
Yesterday saw another launch party, this time for Democracy, a quarterly journal that also will be available online ( http://www.democracyjournal.org ). The magazine will be edited by Andrei Cherny and Kenneth Baer, two younger veterans of recent party wars. Their goal is do for the Democrats what journals such as Public Interest did for conservatives and Republicans decades ago, which is to bring forward big ideas to challenge what they regard as the tired thinking that grips Democratic politicians.
On Thursday, NDN (formerly the New Democrat Network) will convene its annual conference. NDN, founded by Simon Rosenberg, has recently been in the forefront of moving beyond differences between centrists, liberals and the new world of blogs and net-roots activists, all with an eye toward tipping the political balance back in a Democratic direction.
Those in the middle of these events share a similar conviction, which is that for too long Republicans have been winning the battle of ideas (and often campaign strategy) in American politics, in part because conservatives invested in what is now a well-funded infrastructure of organizations that have produced ideas, thinkers, publications, strategists, and politicians who now control the White House, Congress and increasingly the federal judiciary.
(More ... The Democrats Reassess) ¶ 22:44 0 comments
US Activates Missile Defence Amid North Korea Dispute (NZHerald.co.,nz)
1.00pm Wednesday June 21, 2006
WASHINGTON - The United States has activated its ground-based interceptor missile-defence system amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, a US defence official has said.
Pentagon officials declined to say whether they would try to shoot down any missile launched by the reclusive communist state, but other US officials have said that is unlikely, assuming the launch is aimed at open water.
Many US experts say Pyongyang has a legal right to test and there are questions about the accuracy of US missile defences.
Pyongyang had no immediate comment, but a North Korean official said earlier the country does not feel bound by pledges to halt test firings of long-range missiles.
A US defence official confirmed a Washington Times report that the Pentagon had switched its multibillion-dollar missile-defence system from test mode to operational.
(More ... US activates missile defence amid North Korea dispute - 21 Jun 2006 - World News) ¶ 22:30 0 comments
WASHINGTON - The United States has activated its ground-based interceptor missile-defence system amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, a US defence official has said.
Pentagon officials declined to say whether they would try to shoot down any missile launched by the reclusive communist state, but other US officials have said that is unlikely, assuming the launch is aimed at open water.
Many US experts say Pyongyang has a legal right to test and there are questions about the accuracy of US missile defences.
Pyongyang had no immediate comment, but a North Korean official said earlier the country does not feel bound by pledges to halt test firings of long-range missiles.
A US defence official confirmed a Washington Times report that the Pentagon had switched its multibillion-dollar missile-defence system from test mode to operational.
(More ... US activates missile defence amid North Korea dispute - 21 Jun 2006 - World News) ¶ 22:30 0 comments
6.20.2006
Democrats Want Iraq Pullout to Begin Quickly (CNN.com)
Levin: Proposal is not a 'timetable'
Monday, June 19, 2006; Posted: 10:24 p.m. EDT (02:24 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Democrats offered an amendment Monday that would demand that a pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq begin this year.
The plan, the product of weeks of intense negotiations between Senate Democrats and Minority Leader Harry Reid, is designed to give Democrats a unified position on Iraq as the November midterm elections near.
The amendment would:
# Begin the "phased redeployment" or pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2006.
# Require the administration to submit a plan by the end of 2006 for continued phased redeployment beyond 2006.
# Transform the role of troops left in the country to a "limited mission" of training and logistical support for Iraqi security forces, protection of U.S. personnel and facilities, and targeted counterterrorism operations.
The Democrats' plan will be offered to a major defense bill that the Senate took up last week.
President Bush, speaking at a Senate Republican fundraising dinner, said that he welcomed the debate but vowed that there would be "no early withdrawal" from Iraq "so long as we run the Congress and occupy the White House."
(More ... CNN.com - Democrats want Iraq pullout to begin quickly - Jun 19, 2006) ¶ 19:41 0 comments
Monday, June 19, 2006; Posted: 10:24 p.m. EDT (02:24 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Democrats offered an amendment Monday that would demand that a pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq begin this year.
The plan, the product of weeks of intense negotiations between Senate Democrats and Minority Leader Harry Reid, is designed to give Democrats a unified position on Iraq as the November midterm elections near.
The amendment would:
# Begin the "phased redeployment" or pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq in 2006.
# Require the administration to submit a plan by the end of 2006 for continued phased redeployment beyond 2006.
# Transform the role of troops left in the country to a "limited mission" of training and logistical support for Iraqi security forces, protection of U.S. personnel and facilities, and targeted counterterrorism operations.
The Democrats' plan will be offered to a major defense bill that the Senate took up last week.
President Bush, speaking at a Senate Republican fundraising dinner, said that he welcomed the debate but vowed that there would be "no early withdrawal" from Iraq "so long as we run the Congress and occupy the White House."
(More ... CNN.com - Democrats want Iraq pullout to begin quickly - Jun 19, 2006) ¶ 19:41 0 comments
Poll: Clinton Gets High 'No' Vote for 2008 (CNN.com)
Respondents also ranked who they were likely to vote for
Tuesday, June 20, 2006; Posted: 2:43 a.m. EDT (06:43 GMT)
(CNN) -- With the presidential election more than two years away, a CNN poll released Monday suggests that nearly half of Americans would "definitely vote against" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Respondents were asked whether they would "definitely vote for," "consider voting for," or "definitely vote against" three Democrats and three Republicans who might run for president in 2008.
Regarding potential Democratic candidates, 47 percent of respondents said they would "definitely vote against" both Clinton, the junior senator from New York who is running for re-election this year, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party's candidate in 2004. (Poll)
Forty-eight percent said the same of former Vice President Al Gore, who has repeatedly denied he intends to run again for president.
Among the Republicans, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani fared better than the Democrats, and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush fared worse.
Only 30 percent said they would "definitely vote against" Giuliani; 34 percent said that of McCain.
As for Bush, brother of the current president, 63 percent said there was no way he would get their vote. The younger Bush has denied interest in running for president in 2008.
(More ... CNN.com - Poll: Clinton gets high 'no' vote for 2008 - Jun 19, 2006) ¶ 19:36 0 comments
Tuesday, June 20, 2006; Posted: 2:43 a.m. EDT (06:43 GMT)
(CNN) -- With the presidential election more than two years away, a CNN poll released Monday suggests that nearly half of Americans would "definitely vote against" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Respondents were asked whether they would "definitely vote for," "consider voting for," or "definitely vote against" three Democrats and three Republicans who might run for president in 2008.
Regarding potential Democratic candidates, 47 percent of respondents said they would "definitely vote against" both Clinton, the junior senator from New York who is running for re-election this year, and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the party's candidate in 2004. (Poll)
Forty-eight percent said the same of former Vice President Al Gore, who has repeatedly denied he intends to run again for president.
Among the Republicans, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani fared better than the Democrats, and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush fared worse.
Only 30 percent said they would "definitely vote against" Giuliani; 34 percent said that of McCain.
As for Bush, brother of the current president, 63 percent said there was no way he would get their vote. The younger Bush has denied interest in running for president in 2008.
(More ... CNN.com - Poll: Clinton gets high 'no' vote for 2008 - Jun 19, 2006) ¶ 19:36 0 comments
NZ Angry Over Pacific Islands' Pro-whaling Votes (ABC.net.au)
Last Update: Tuesday, June 20, 2006. 12:01pm (AEST)
By New Zealand correspondent Peter Lewis
The New Zealand Government has condemned the decision by six Pacific nations to support Japan's pro-whaling declaration at the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
All six Pacific island members of the IWC voted to support the resolution which criticises the moratorium on commercial whaling.
New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter says the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Palau, let down their neighbours with their vote.
He says its the second time the Solomon Islands Government said publicly it would abstain from voting, but did not do so.
Prime Minister Helen Clark ruled out any retaliatory measures, saying the votes would not affect future aid funding to the region by New Zealand.
(More ... NZ angry over Pacific islands' pro-whaling votes. 20/06/2006. ABC News Online) ¶ 19:33 0 comments
By New Zealand correspondent Peter Lewis
The New Zealand Government has condemned the decision by six Pacific nations to support Japan's pro-whaling declaration at the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
All six Pacific island members of the IWC voted to support the resolution which criticises the moratorium on commercial whaling.
New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter says the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati and Palau, let down their neighbours with their vote.
He says its the second time the Solomon Islands Government said publicly it would abstain from voting, but did not do so.
Prime Minister Helen Clark ruled out any retaliatory measures, saying the votes would not affect future aid funding to the region by New Zealand.
(More ... NZ angry over Pacific islands' pro-whaling votes. 20/06/2006. ABC News Online) ¶ 19:33 0 comments
6.17.2006
Some of All Fears (NYTimes.com)
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: June 12, 2006
Back in 1971, Russell Baker, the legendary Times columnist, devoted one of his Op-Ed columns to an interview with Those Who — as in "Those Who snivel and sneer whenever something good is said about America." Back then, Those Who played a major role in politicians' speeches.
Times are different now, of course. There are those who say that Iraq is another Vietnam. But Iraq is a desert, not a jungle, so there. And we rarely hear about Those Who these days. But the Republic faces an even more insidious threat: the Some.
The Some take anti-American positions on a variety of issues. For example, they want to hurt the economy: "Some say, well, maybe the recession should have been deeper," said President Bush in 2003. "That bothers me when people say that."
Mainly, however, the Some are weak on national security. "There's Some in America who say, 'Well, this can't be true there are still people willing to attack,' " said Mr. Bush during a visit to the National Security Agency.
The Some appear to be an important faction within the Democratic Party — a faction that has come out in force since the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Last week the online edition of The Washington Times claimed that "Some Democrats" were calling Zarqawi's killing a "stunt."
Even some Democrats (not to be confused with Some Democrats) warn about the influence of the Some. "Some Democrats are allergic to the use of force. They still have a powerful influence on the party," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution after the 2004 election.
Joe Klein, the Time magazine columnist, went further, declaring that the Democratic Party's "left wing" has a "hate America tendency."
And when Senator Barack Obama told The New Yorker that Americans "don't believe that the main lesson of the past five years is that America is an evil hegemon," he seemed to be implying that influential members of his party believe just that.
But here's the strange thing: it's hard to figure out who those Some Democrats are.
(More ... Some of All Fears - New York Times) ¶ 18:03 0 comments
Published: June 12, 2006
Back in 1971, Russell Baker, the legendary Times columnist, devoted one of his Op-Ed columns to an interview with Those Who — as in "Those Who snivel and sneer whenever something good is said about America." Back then, Those Who played a major role in politicians' speeches.
Times are different now, of course. There are those who say that Iraq is another Vietnam. But Iraq is a desert, not a jungle, so there. And we rarely hear about Those Who these days. But the Republic faces an even more insidious threat: the Some.
The Some take anti-American positions on a variety of issues. For example, they want to hurt the economy: "Some say, well, maybe the recession should have been deeper," said President Bush in 2003. "That bothers me when people say that."
Mainly, however, the Some are weak on national security. "There's Some in America who say, 'Well, this can't be true there are still people willing to attack,' " said Mr. Bush during a visit to the National Security Agency.
The Some appear to be an important faction within the Democratic Party — a faction that has come out in force since the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Last week the online edition of The Washington Times claimed that "Some Democrats" were calling Zarqawi's killing a "stunt."
Even some Democrats (not to be confused with Some Democrats) warn about the influence of the Some. "Some Democrats are allergic to the use of force. They still have a powerful influence on the party," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution after the 2004 election.
Joe Klein, the Time magazine columnist, went further, declaring that the Democratic Party's "left wing" has a "hate America tendency."
And when Senator Barack Obama told The New Yorker that Americans "don't believe that the main lesson of the past five years is that America is an evil hegemon," he seemed to be implying that influential members of his party believe just that.
But here's the strange thing: it's hard to figure out who those Some Democrats are.
(More ... Some of All Fears - New York Times) ¶ 18:03 0 comments
6.15.2006
Fraudsters Steal $1bn of Katrina Funds (Guardian.co.uk)
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday June 14, 2006
About $1bn (£542m) in relief meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina was lost to fraud, with bogus claimants spending the money on Hawaiian holidays, football tickets, diamond jewellery and Girls Gone Wild porn videos, the US Congress was told on Wednesday.
The fraud, exposed through an audit by the Government Accountability Office, found a staggering amount of abuse of the housing assistance and debit cards given out by the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency as a way of granting relief to those who lost their homes to Katrina.
Testimony presented to the house committee on Homeland Security yesterday revealed that Fema paid housing assistance to people who had never lived in a hurricane-damaged property - including at least 1,000 prison inmates - and made payments to people who were living in free hotel rooms. In one instance it paid out on a property damage claim from a cemetery in New Orleans - to a person who had never lived in the city. In another it paid compensation for a vacant lot.
"Fema paid over $20,000 to an inmate who used a post office box as his damaged property," Gregory Kutz, the GAO's director of audits, told the committee.
The extent of the fraud was uncovered the day after the first tropical storm of this year's hurricane season landed near Tallahassee, Florida. Concerns remain that despite the torrent of criticism and soul searching after Hurricane Katrina, the agency remains ill-equipped to deal with coming storms.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Fraudsters steal $1bn of Katrina funds) ¶ 08:13 0 comments
Wednesday June 14, 2006
About $1bn (£542m) in relief meant for victims of Hurricane Katrina was lost to fraud, with bogus claimants spending the money on Hawaiian holidays, football tickets, diamond jewellery and Girls Gone Wild porn videos, the US Congress was told on Wednesday.
The fraud, exposed through an audit by the Government Accountability Office, found a staggering amount of abuse of the housing assistance and debit cards given out by the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency as a way of granting relief to those who lost their homes to Katrina.
Testimony presented to the house committee on Homeland Security yesterday revealed that Fema paid housing assistance to people who had never lived in a hurricane-damaged property - including at least 1,000 prison inmates - and made payments to people who were living in free hotel rooms. In one instance it paid out on a property damage claim from a cemetery in New Orleans - to a person who had never lived in the city. In another it paid compensation for a vacant lot.
"Fema paid over $20,000 to an inmate who used a post office box as his damaged property," Gregory Kutz, the GAO's director of audits, told the committee.
The extent of the fraud was uncovered the day after the first tropical storm of this year's hurricane season landed near Tallahassee, Florida. Concerns remain that despite the torrent of criticism and soul searching after Hurricane Katrina, the agency remains ill-equipped to deal with coming storms.
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Fraudsters steal $1bn of Katrina funds) ¶ 08:13 0 comments
6.14.2006
US Insists on Right to Develop Arms for Outer Space (Reuters.com)
Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:57am ET
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday reasserted its right to develop weapons for use in outer space to protect its military and commercial satellites and ruled out any global negotiations on a new treaty to limit them.
In a speech to the Conference on Disarmament, a senior State Department arms control official insisted that such weapons systems would be purely defensive.
Washington sees no need for negotiations to prevent an arms race in space as a 40-year-old international treaty banning weapons of mass destruction in space remains adequate, he said.
John Mohanco, deputy director of the office of multilateral, nuclear and security affairs, said the United States faced a threat of attacks from the earth or from other countries' spacecraft. He did not name any potential attackers.
"As long as the potential for such attacks remains, our government will continue to consider the possible role that space-related weapons may play in protecting our assets," he told the United Nations-backed forum.
"For our part, the United States does not have any weapons in space, nor do we have plans to build such weapons," he said.
(More ... US insists on right to develop arms for outer space | Reuters.com) ¶ 22:41 0 comments
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday reasserted its right to develop weapons for use in outer space to protect its military and commercial satellites and ruled out any global negotiations on a new treaty to limit them.
In a speech to the Conference on Disarmament, a senior State Department arms control official insisted that such weapons systems would be purely defensive.
Washington sees no need for negotiations to prevent an arms race in space as a 40-year-old international treaty banning weapons of mass destruction in space remains adequate, he said.
John Mohanco, deputy director of the office of multilateral, nuclear and security affairs, said the United States faced a threat of attacks from the earth or from other countries' spacecraft. He did not name any potential attackers.
"As long as the potential for such attacks remains, our government will continue to consider the possible role that space-related weapons may play in protecting our assets," he told the United Nations-backed forum.
"For our part, the United States does not have any weapons in space, nor do we have plans to build such weapons," he said.
(More ... US insists on right to develop arms for outer space | Reuters.com) ¶ 22:41 0 comments
6.13.2006
Prisoners Gain in Suit Attacking Lethal Injection (NYTimes.com)
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: June 13, 2006
WASHINGTON, June 12 — The Supreme Court opened the door Monday for death-row inmates to challenge the way most states carry out executions by lethal injection.
In its unanimous opinion, the court expressed no view on the constitutionality either of lethal injection in general or of the specific procedures and combination of chemicals that a Florida inmate, Clarence E. Hill, and numerous others around the country have recently challenged in federal court.
The justices addressed themselves solely to the procedural route that such lawsuits must take, and chose the route that is by far the more inmate-friendly from the two options that the case presented.
Nonetheless, it was the tight focus of the case, an appeal by Mr. Hill of a ruling by the federal appeals court in Atlanta, that probably enabled the justices to maintain their unanimity. It remains to be seen how they would rule on the underlying constitutional question of whether the disputed lethal injection method violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Just three weeks ago the court turned down, without comment, a case from Tennessee, Abdur'Rahman v. Bredesen, that presented that issue directly. The justices have also permitted several executions to be carried out by lethal injection, without intervening, while the Florida case was pending.
Federal courts around the country have begun wrestling with the issue, which opponents of the death penalty have brought to the fore in recent months on the basis of a report last year in a British medical journal, The Lancet.
(More ... Prisoners Gain in Suit Attacking Lethal Injection - New York Times) ¶ 18:10 0 comments
Published: June 13, 2006
WASHINGTON, June 12 — The Supreme Court opened the door Monday for death-row inmates to challenge the way most states carry out executions by lethal injection.
In its unanimous opinion, the court expressed no view on the constitutionality either of lethal injection in general or of the specific procedures and combination of chemicals that a Florida inmate, Clarence E. Hill, and numerous others around the country have recently challenged in federal court.
The justices addressed themselves solely to the procedural route that such lawsuits must take, and chose the route that is by far the more inmate-friendly from the two options that the case presented.
Nonetheless, it was the tight focus of the case, an appeal by Mr. Hill of a ruling by the federal appeals court in Atlanta, that probably enabled the justices to maintain their unanimity. It remains to be seen how they would rule on the underlying constitutional question of whether the disputed lethal injection method violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Just three weeks ago the court turned down, without comment, a case from Tennessee, Abdur'Rahman v. Bredesen, that presented that issue directly. The justices have also permitted several executions to be carried out by lethal injection, without intervening, while the Florida case was pending.
Federal courts around the country have begun wrestling with the issue, which opponents of the death penalty have brought to the fore in recent months on the basis of a report last year in a British medical journal, The Lancet.
(More ... Prisoners Gain in Suit Attacking Lethal Injection - New York Times) ¶ 18:10 0 comments
Poll of 9 Major Nations Finds All, Including US, Reject World System Dominated by Single Power (WorldPublicOpinion.org)
Uncertainty about whether US, China will be World Powers in Future
Majorities in nine major nations, including the United States, say that a world system dominated by a single world power is not the best framework for ensuring peace and stability in the world. Instead most favor multipolar systems, either led by the United Nations or by a balance of regional leaders. Respondents also dismissed a system where power was divided between two world powers.
The survey, released this month by the Bertelsmann Foundation of Germany, included nine global or regional powers: Brazil, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, Russia and the United States. TNS Emnid conducted the polls, carrying out more than 10,000 interviews between Oct. 29 and Dec. 17, 2005.
Respondents were also asked which among the nine nations is a world power today and which would be one in 2020. Majorities in all nine countries agreed that the United States is currently an international power but there was less agreement about whether it would continue to wield such clout in fifteen years. There was also no consensus on whether China would achieve world power status in the near future.
(More ... World Public Opinion) ¶ 17:52 0 comments
Majorities in nine major nations, including the United States, say that a world system dominated by a single world power is not the best framework for ensuring peace and stability in the world. Instead most favor multipolar systems, either led by the United Nations or by a balance of regional leaders. Respondents also dismissed a system where power was divided between two world powers.
The survey, released this month by the Bertelsmann Foundation of Germany, included nine global or regional powers: Brazil, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Japan, Russia and the United States. TNS Emnid conducted the polls, carrying out more than 10,000 interviews between Oct. 29 and Dec. 17, 2005.
Respondents were also asked which among the nine nations is a world power today and which would be one in 2020. Majorities in all nine countries agreed that the United States is currently an international power but there was less agreement about whether it would continue to wield such clout in fifteen years. There was also no consensus on whether China would achieve world power status in the near future.
(More ... World Public Opinion) ¶ 17:52 0 comments
China is Arming World's Worst Regimes to Fuel Economic Boom, Says Amnesty (Independent.co.uk)
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing
Published: 12 June 2006
China's secret arms exports to some of the world's worst trouble spots are fuelling human rights violations and helping to sustain conflicts in countries such as Sudan, Nepal and Burma, Amnesty International says.
As well as big conventional weapons such as tanks warplanes, ballistic missiles, frigates and submarines, China sells small arms and security equipment to armies and police forces. Arms exports are estimated to be worth nearly £550m a year and often involve the exchange of weapons for raw materials, such as Sudanese oil, to fuel China's rapid economic growth.
"China's arms exports policy is reckless and dangerous, paying no heed to human rights," said Amnesty International's UK director, Kate Allen.
China is the only big arms exporting power that has not entered into any multilateral agreement setting out criteria, including respect for human rights, to guide arms export licensing decisions, Amnesty said in the report,China: Sustaining conflict and human rights abuses.
"In a bid to continue economic expansion and grab a slice of the lucrative global weapons market, China has shipped arms into conflict zones and to countries that torture and repress their people," Ms Allen said.
Since it entered the global arms market 20 years ago, China has supplied an arsenal of military, security and police equipment to countries with a record of human rights violations. It is increasing its reach and influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Asia) ¶ 17:32 0 comments
Published: 12 June 2006
China's secret arms exports to some of the world's worst trouble spots are fuelling human rights violations and helping to sustain conflicts in countries such as Sudan, Nepal and Burma, Amnesty International says.
As well as big conventional weapons such as tanks warplanes, ballistic missiles, frigates and submarines, China sells small arms and security equipment to armies and police forces. Arms exports are estimated to be worth nearly £550m a year and often involve the exchange of weapons for raw materials, such as Sudanese oil, to fuel China's rapid economic growth.
"China's arms exports policy is reckless and dangerous, paying no heed to human rights," said Amnesty International's UK director, Kate Allen.
China is the only big arms exporting power that has not entered into any multilateral agreement setting out criteria, including respect for human rights, to guide arms export licensing decisions, Amnesty said in the report,China: Sustaining conflict and human rights abuses.
"In a bid to continue economic expansion and grab a slice of the lucrative global weapons market, China has shipped arms into conflict zones and to countries that torture and repress their people," Ms Allen said.
Since it entered the global arms market 20 years ago, China has supplied an arsenal of military, security and police equipment to countries with a record of human rights violations. It is increasing its reach and influence in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
(More ... Independent Online Edition > Asia) ¶ 17:32 0 comments
Global Military Spend Hits $1.12 trillion (Reuters.com)
Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:45am ET
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. spending in Iraq and Afghanistan helped push up global 2005 military expenditure by 3.5 percent to $1.12 trillion, a research body said on Monday.
Several countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, benefited from the rise in prices for minerals and fossil fuels to boost their military spending, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its latest yearbook.
"The USA is responsible for 48 percent of the world total, distantly followed by the UK, France, Japan and China with 4 to 5 percent each," the Swedish government-funded institute added.
It said U.S. spending was behind about 80 percent of the gain in 2005.
Spending on weapons accounted for 2.5 percent of the world's gross domestic product, or average spending of $173 per capita.
A process of concentration of spending continued in 2005, it added, as 15 countries with the highest spending accounted for 84 percent of the world total.
(More ... Global military spend hits $1.12 trillion: report | Reuters.com) ¶ 17:28 0 comments
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - U.S. spending in Iraq and Afghanistan helped push up global 2005 military expenditure by 3.5 percent to $1.12 trillion, a research body said on Monday.
Several countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, benefited from the rise in prices for minerals and fossil fuels to boost their military spending, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its latest yearbook.
"The USA is responsible for 48 percent of the world total, distantly followed by the UK, France, Japan and China with 4 to 5 percent each," the Swedish government-funded institute added.
It said U.S. spending was behind about 80 percent of the gain in 2005.
Spending on weapons accounted for 2.5 percent of the world's gross domestic product, or average spending of $173 per capita.
A process of concentration of spending continued in 2005, it added, as 15 countries with the highest spending accounted for 84 percent of the world total.
(More ... Global military spend hits $1.12 trillion: report | Reuters.com) ¶ 17:28 0 comments
6.11.2006
NASA shelves climate satellites - The Boston Globe
Environmental science may suffer
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | June 9, 2006
NASA is canceling or delaying a number of satellites designed to give scientists critical information on the earth's changing climate and environment.
The space agency has shelved a $200 million satellite mission headed by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor that was designed to measure soil moisture -- a key factor in helping scientists understand the impact of global warming and predict droughts and floods. The Deep Space Climate Observatory, intended to observe climate factors such as solar radiation, ozone, clouds, and water vapor more comprehensively than existing satellites, also has been canceled.
And in its 2007 budget, NASA proposes significant delays in a global precipitation measuring mission to help with weather predictions, as well as the launch of a satellite designed to increase the timeliness and accuracy of severe weather forecasts and improve climate models.
The changes come as NASA prioritizes its budget to pay for completion of the International Space Station and the return of astronauts to the moon by 2020 -- a goal set by President Bush that promises a more distant and arguably less practical scientific payoff. Ultimately, scientists say, the delays and cancellations could make hurricane predictions less accurate, create gaps in long-term monitoring of weather, and result in less clarity about the earth's hydrological systems, which play an integral part in climate change.
``Today, when the need for information about the planet is more important than ever, this process of building understanding through increasingly powerful observations . . . is at risk of collapse," said Berrien Moore III, director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire.
(More ... NASA shelves climate satellites - The Boston Globe) ¶ 12:01 0 comments
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | June 9, 2006
NASA is canceling or delaying a number of satellites designed to give scientists critical information on the earth's changing climate and environment.
The space agency has shelved a $200 million satellite mission headed by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor that was designed to measure soil moisture -- a key factor in helping scientists understand the impact of global warming and predict droughts and floods. The Deep Space Climate Observatory, intended to observe climate factors such as solar radiation, ozone, clouds, and water vapor more comprehensively than existing satellites, also has been canceled.
And in its 2007 budget, NASA proposes significant delays in a global precipitation measuring mission to help with weather predictions, as well as the launch of a satellite designed to increase the timeliness and accuracy of severe weather forecasts and improve climate models.
The changes come as NASA prioritizes its budget to pay for completion of the International Space Station and the return of astronauts to the moon by 2020 -- a goal set by President Bush that promises a more distant and arguably less practical scientific payoff. Ultimately, scientists say, the delays and cancellations could make hurricane predictions less accurate, create gaps in long-term monitoring of weather, and result in less clarity about the earth's hydrological systems, which play an integral part in climate change.
``Today, when the need for information about the planet is more important than ever, this process of building understanding through increasingly powerful observations . . . is at risk of collapse," said Berrien Moore III, director of the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire.
(More ... NASA shelves climate satellites - The Boston Globe) ¶ 12:01 0 comments
6.07.2006
U.N. Chief Backs Growth of Global Migration (NYTimes.com)
By WARREN HOGE
Published: June 6, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 — Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that the rapid growth in global migration should help, not harm, all countries, but that broad international cooperation would be necessary to assure that.
"We now understand better than ever before that migration is not a zero-sum game," Mr. Annan said. "In the best cases, it benefits the receiving country, the country of origin and migrants themselves."
Mr. Annan made his comments in a report he delivered to the General Assembly on migration and development, subjects which will be a focus of the annual gathering of heads of state at the United Nations in September.
The report noted that alarm over the growing numbers of migrants had cast the issue in a negative light but that the emphasis was misplaced.
"We think that societies don't ask themselves enough what they would do without migrants," said Hania Zlotnik, director of the United Nations Population Division.
(More ... U.N. Chief Backs Growth of Global Migration - New York Times) ¶ 08:17 0 comments
Published: June 6, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, June 6 — Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that the rapid growth in global migration should help, not harm, all countries, but that broad international cooperation would be necessary to assure that.
"We now understand better than ever before that migration is not a zero-sum game," Mr. Annan said. "In the best cases, it benefits the receiving country, the country of origin and migrants themselves."
Mr. Annan made his comments in a report he delivered to the General Assembly on migration and development, subjects which will be a focus of the annual gathering of heads of state at the United Nations in September.
The report noted that alarm over the growing numbers of migrants had cast the issue in a negative light but that the emphasis was misplaced.
"We think that societies don't ask themselves enough what they would do without migrants," said Hania Zlotnik, director of the United Nations Population Division.
(More ... U.N. Chief Backs Growth of Global Migration - New York Times) ¶ 08:17 0 comments
6.06.2006
House at Stake, Midterm Election Gets Early Start (NYimes.com)
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: June 6, 2006
WASHINGTON, June 5 — Congressional campaigns have begun early and with unusual intensity this year in many districts across the country, reflecting a consensus in both parties that Republicans could lose control of the House and perhaps the Senate.
A special election in a bedrock Republican Congressional district in San Diego on Tuesday — for the seat left vacant when Representative Randy Cunningham resigned after pleading guilty to corruption charges — has sharpened the early intensity and could provide the clearest evidence so far about whether Democrats can capitalize on the unsettled political climate.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, fearful that a loss or meager victory could further rattle the party and give Democrats a huge boost, has poured at least $4.5 million into the district. And it has enlisted President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Laura Bush to make automated telephone calls to voters, putting the prestige of the White House on the line.
But even for candidates who will not face the voters for five months, the campaign is shaping up as not only the most contested midterm election in over a decade, but also the most substantive.
In a typical election year, intense campaign activity normally does not begin until around Labor Day.
Democrats and Republicans said they were struck by the level of political activity now going on. Television advertisements have been shown by candidates in at least five districts, party officials said, and there are radio and Internet advertisements popping up around the country. Moveon.org, the liberal advocacy group, began broadcasting hard-hitting advertisements attacking Republican incumbents in four states nearly three months ago and is about to start a second round on Thursday, officials with the organization said.
(More ... House at Stake, Midterm Election Gets Early Start - New York Times) ¶ 21:11 0 comments
Published: June 6, 2006
WASHINGTON, June 5 — Congressional campaigns have begun early and with unusual intensity this year in many districts across the country, reflecting a consensus in both parties that Republicans could lose control of the House and perhaps the Senate.
A special election in a bedrock Republican Congressional district in San Diego on Tuesday — for the seat left vacant when Representative Randy Cunningham resigned after pleading guilty to corruption charges — has sharpened the early intensity and could provide the clearest evidence so far about whether Democrats can capitalize on the unsettled political climate.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, fearful that a loss or meager victory could further rattle the party and give Democrats a huge boost, has poured at least $4.5 million into the district. And it has enlisted President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Laura Bush to make automated telephone calls to voters, putting the prestige of the White House on the line.
But even for candidates who will not face the voters for five months, the campaign is shaping up as not only the most contested midterm election in over a decade, but also the most substantive.
In a typical election year, intense campaign activity normally does not begin until around Labor Day.
Democrats and Republicans said they were struck by the level of political activity now going on. Television advertisements have been shown by candidates in at least five districts, party officials said, and there are radio and Internet advertisements popping up around the country. Moveon.org, the liberal advocacy group, began broadcasting hard-hitting advertisements attacking Republican incumbents in four states nearly three months ago and is about to start a second round on Thursday, officials with the organization said.
(More ... House at Stake, Midterm Election Gets Early Start - New York Times) ¶ 21:11 0 comments
This Time, Jerry Brown Wants to Be a Lawman (NYTimes.com)
By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: June 5, 2006
OAKLAND, Calif., June 2 — In his nearly four decades in American politics, Jerry Brown has been a lot of things to a lot of people: a two-term California governor, a three-time presidential candidate and, most recently, the mayor of Oakland, this Rodney Dangerfield-like city across the bay from San Francisco.
Mr. Brown in his campaign office last week. He sums up his penchant for campaigning this way: "If you say I like politics, I like government, yeah: did Picasso like to paint?"
But now, Mr. Brown is trying to become something that no one who remembers the freewheeling days of "Governor Moonbeam" could possibly expect: a lawman.
And not just any lawman. Mr. Brown — faced with a mayoral term-limit — is running for attorney general of California, the nation's most populous state and one where hot-button wedge issues like immigration, medical marijuana and same-sex marriage are constantly simmering for law enforcement officials and politicians alike.
Could it be that Mr. Brown — a former Jesuit seminarian who once shared the limelight with Linda Ronstadt, then his girlfriend, tended to the poor with Mother Teresa, and fought The Man with his nonprofit political action committee We the People — is suddenly siding with (gulp) the establishment?
It certainly sounds that way.
(More ... This Time, Jerry Brown Wants to Be a Lawman - New York Times) ¶ 08:13 0 comments
Published: June 5, 2006
OAKLAND, Calif., June 2 — In his nearly four decades in American politics, Jerry Brown has been a lot of things to a lot of people: a two-term California governor, a three-time presidential candidate and, most recently, the mayor of Oakland, this Rodney Dangerfield-like city across the bay from San Francisco.
Mr. Brown in his campaign office last week. He sums up his penchant for campaigning this way: "If you say I like politics, I like government, yeah: did Picasso like to paint?"
But now, Mr. Brown is trying to become something that no one who remembers the freewheeling days of "Governor Moonbeam" could possibly expect: a lawman.
And not just any lawman. Mr. Brown — faced with a mayoral term-limit — is running for attorney general of California, the nation's most populous state and one where hot-button wedge issues like immigration, medical marijuana and same-sex marriage are constantly simmering for law enforcement officials and politicians alike.
Could it be that Mr. Brown — a former Jesuit seminarian who once shared the limelight with Linda Ronstadt, then his girlfriend, tended to the poor with Mother Teresa, and fought The Man with his nonprofit political action committee We the People — is suddenly siding with (gulp) the establishment?
It certainly sounds that way.
(More ... This Time, Jerry Brown Wants to Be a Lawman - New York Times) ¶ 08:13 0 comments
6.05.2006
Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule (LATimes.com)
The Pentagon's move to omit a ban on prisoner humiliation from the basic guide to soldier conduct faces strong State Dept. opposition.
By Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff Writer
June 5, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.
The decision could culminate a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department fiercely opposes the military's decision to exclude Geneva Convention protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the Defense Department officials acknowledged.
For more than a year, the Pentagon has been redrawing its policies on detainees, and intends to issue a new Army Field Manual on interrogation, which, along with accompanying directives, represents core instructions to U.S. soldiers worldwide.
The process has been beset by debate and controversy, and the decision to omit Geneva protections from a principal directive comes at a time of growing worldwide criticism of U.S. detention practices and the conduct of American forces in Iraq.
The directive on interrogation, a senior defense official said, is being rewritten to create safeguards so that all detainees are treated humanely but can still be questioned effectively.
(More ... Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 21:58 0 comments
By Julian E. Barnes, Times Staff Writer
June 5, 2006
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.
The decision could culminate a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department fiercely opposes the military's decision to exclude Geneva Convention protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the Defense Department officials acknowledged.
For more than a year, the Pentagon has been redrawing its policies on detainees, and intends to issue a new Army Field Manual on interrogation, which, along with accompanying directives, represents core instructions to U.S. soldiers worldwide.
The process has been beset by debate and controversy, and the decision to omit Geneva protections from a principal directive comes at a time of growing worldwide criticism of U.S. detention practices and the conduct of American forces in Iraq.
The directive on interrogation, a senior defense official said, is being rewritten to create safeguards so that all detainees are treated humanely but can still be questioned effectively.
(More ... Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule - Los Angeles Times) ¶ 21:58 0 comments
Marine's Wife Paints Portrait of US Troops Out of Control in Haditha (Guardian.co.uk)
· Unit accused of abusing drugs and alcohol
· Officers relieved of duty after killing of 24 Iraqis
Julian Borger in Washington
Monday June 5, 2006
The Guardian
The marine unit involved in the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November had suffered a "total breakdown" in discipline and had drug and alcohol problems, according to the wife of one of the battalion's staff sergeants.
The allegations in Newsweek magazine contribute to an ever more disturbing portrait of embattled marines under high stress, some on their third tour of duty after ferocious door-to-door fighting in the Sunni insurgent strongholds of Falluja and Haditha.
The wife of the unnamed staff sergeant claimed there had been a "total breakdown" in the unit's discipline after it was pulled out of Falluja in early 2005.
"There were problems in Kilo company with drugs, alcohol, hazing [violent initiation games], you name it," she said. "I think it's more than possible that these guys were totally tweaked out on speed or something when they shot those civilians in Haditha."
The troops in Iraq have been ordered to take refresher courses on battlefield ethics, but a growing body of evidence from Haditha suggests the strain of repeated deployments in Iraq is beginning to unravel the cohesion and discipline of the combat troops.
"We are in trouble in Iraq," Barry McCaffrey, a retired army general who played a leading role in the Iraq war, told Time magazine. "Our forces can't sustain this pace, and I'm afraid the American people are walking away from this war."
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Marine's wife paints portrait of US troops out of control in Haditha) ¶ 21:54 0 comments
· Officers relieved of duty after killing of 24 Iraqis
Julian Borger in Washington
Monday June 5, 2006
The Guardian
The marine unit involved in the killing of Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November had suffered a "total breakdown" in discipline and had drug and alcohol problems, according to the wife of one of the battalion's staff sergeants.
The allegations in Newsweek magazine contribute to an ever more disturbing portrait of embattled marines under high stress, some on their third tour of duty after ferocious door-to-door fighting in the Sunni insurgent strongholds of Falluja and Haditha.
The wife of the unnamed staff sergeant claimed there had been a "total breakdown" in the unit's discipline after it was pulled out of Falluja in early 2005.
"There were problems in Kilo company with drugs, alcohol, hazing [violent initiation games], you name it," she said. "I think it's more than possible that these guys were totally tweaked out on speed or something when they shot those civilians in Haditha."
The troops in Iraq have been ordered to take refresher courses on battlefield ethics, but a growing body of evidence from Haditha suggests the strain of repeated deployments in Iraq is beginning to unravel the cohesion and discipline of the combat troops.
"We are in trouble in Iraq," Barry McCaffrey, a retired army general who played a leading role in the Iraq war, told Time magazine. "Our forces can't sustain this pace, and I'm afraid the American people are walking away from this war."
(More ... Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Marine's wife paints portrait of US troops out of control in Haditha) ¶ 21:54 0 comments
Uncle Sam Takes a Bite Out of Expatriate Incomes (IHT.com)
By Sharon Reier International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2006
It may have been sold as a tax cut package, but the document that President George W. Bush signed into law on May 17 will mean an extra tax bite for many Americans who live abroad.
Those expected to feel the most pain are expatriate workers who earn comfortable, but not lavish, livings and semi- retired workers earning some foreign income while drawing U.S. Social Security, pensions and other income from U.S. sources. Many of these expatriates will be pushed into higher U.S. brackets, as will employees and independent professionals in no-tax and low-tax areas like much of the Middle East, some Caribbean nations and Hong Kong.
As Steven Horton, a certified public accountant practicing in Paris, put it: "The middle class will get hammered."
Senior employees who collect generous expat benefits, like housing allowances and reimbursement for their children's school fees, also are expected to have bigger U.S. tax liabilities - but their companies probably will pick up the costs as part of their benefit packages, tax experts said.
The new law, however, does contain some good news. The foreign earned- income exclusion, which was under threat of extinction just three years ago, was maintained and will be indexed to U.S. inflation as of the 2006 tax year. That means U.S. taxpayers will owe no tax on their first $82,400 of income earned abroad this year, up from $80,000 in 2005. Indexing had been scheduled to start in the 2008 tax year.
On the negative side, the new law caps the exclusion for housing allowances - rent, utilities other than telephone, property insurance, occupancy taxes, maintenance and furniture rental - that U.S. corporations often provide to executives sent overseas. The cap is calculated as 30 percent of the foreign earned-income exclusion, minus the 16 percent that it is assumed would be paid in the United States. For 2006, it is set at $11,586; under the old law, the exclusion was virtually unlimited.
(More ... Uncle Sam takes a bite out of expatriate incomes - At Home Abroad - International Herald Tribune) ¶ 11:44 0 comments
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 2006
It may have been sold as a tax cut package, but the document that President George W. Bush signed into law on May 17 will mean an extra tax bite for many Americans who live abroad.
Those expected to feel the most pain are expatriate workers who earn comfortable, but not lavish, livings and semi- retired workers earning some foreign income while drawing U.S. Social Security, pensions and other income from U.S. sources. Many of these expatriates will be pushed into higher U.S. brackets, as will employees and independent professionals in no-tax and low-tax areas like much of the Middle East, some Caribbean nations and Hong Kong.
As Steven Horton, a certified public accountant practicing in Paris, put it: "The middle class will get hammered."
Senior employees who collect generous expat benefits, like housing allowances and reimbursement for their children's school fees, also are expected to have bigger U.S. tax liabilities - but their companies probably will pick up the costs as part of their benefit packages, tax experts said.
The new law, however, does contain some good news. The foreign earned- income exclusion, which was under threat of extinction just three years ago, was maintained and will be indexed to U.S. inflation as of the 2006 tax year. That means U.S. taxpayers will owe no tax on their first $82,400 of income earned abroad this year, up from $80,000 in 2005. Indexing had been scheduled to start in the 2008 tax year.
On the negative side, the new law caps the exclusion for housing allowances - rent, utilities other than telephone, property insurance, occupancy taxes, maintenance and furniture rental - that U.S. corporations often provide to executives sent overseas. The cap is calculated as 30 percent of the foreign earned-income exclusion, minus the 16 percent that it is assumed would be paid in the United States. For 2006, it is set at $11,586; under the old law, the exclusion was virtually unlimited.
(More ... Uncle Sam takes a bite out of expatriate incomes - At Home Abroad - International Herald Tribune) ¶ 11:44 0 comments
Poll Reveals a Contradictory Portrait Shaded With Promise and Doubt (WashingtonPost.com)
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page A01
Black men in America today are deeply divided over the way they see themselves and their country.
Black men report the same ambitions as most Americans -- for career success, a loving marriage, children, respect. And yet most are harshly critical of other black men, associating the group with irresponsibility and crime.
Black men describe a society rife with opportunities for advancement and models for success. But they also express a deep fear that their hold on the good life is fragile, in part because of discrimination they continue to experience in their daily lives.
This portrait of the divided black man emerges from a survey conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. The survey of 2,864 people, including a sample of 1,328 black men, aimed to capture the experiences and perceptions of black men at a time marked by increasing debate about how to build on their achievements and address the failures that endure decades after the civil rights movement.
In many ways, the outward and inward struggles of black men appear to reflect where the nation is on its journey toward racial equality -- unquestionably further along and, yet, at risk of moving backward.
(More ... Poll Reveals a Contradictory Portrait Shaded With Promise and Doubt) ¶ 11:40 0 comments
Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page A01
Black men in America today are deeply divided over the way they see themselves and their country.
Black men report the same ambitions as most Americans -- for career success, a loving marriage, children, respect. And yet most are harshly critical of other black men, associating the group with irresponsibility and crime.
Black men describe a society rife with opportunities for advancement and models for success. But they also express a deep fear that their hold on the good life is fragile, in part because of discrimination they continue to experience in their daily lives.
This portrait of the divided black man emerges from a survey conducted by The Washington Post, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University. The survey of 2,864 people, including a sample of 1,328 black men, aimed to capture the experiences and perceptions of black men at a time marked by increasing debate about how to build on their achievements and address the failures that endure decades after the civil rights movement.
In many ways, the outward and inward struggles of black men appear to reflect where the nation is on its journey toward racial equality -- unquestionably further along and, yet, at risk of moving backward.
(More ... Poll Reveals a Contradictory Portrait Shaded With Promise and Doubt) ¶ 11:40 0 comments
