Progressive News Digest - Dec 10, 2007
stri...@comcast.net
Date: Mon, December 10, 2007
PROGRESSIVE NEWS DIGEST
The latest news, commentary & event listings
(from slightly left of center)
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Volume IV, Issue #27 Monday, Dec. 10, 2007
Welcome to another edition of Progressive News Digest, still rolling along in
its fourth year (just over the halfway-mark of Year 4, BTW, and with rare
exception this has appeared every week at some point).
Meanwhile, over at the "parent company" (Rational Review News DIgest),
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* * * * * * *
I am continuing to publish this now with a contents list, without attempting a
summary of the highlights. It still takes a little time to prepare this, and
then let you do the browsing.
Here you go ... enjoy and see you next week! Check the site for constant
updates each day:
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NEWS
01 - Iranian students protest crackdown on activists
02 - Obama and the “Oprah effect”
03 - Buffer zone law passes its first test
04 - Western states agree on plan to make water last
05 - Report: Gore poorly received in London
06 - Federal court hears pledge, motto cases
07 - US Marines’ MV-22 Osprey test: Combat
08 - AZ: A town sick of crime
09 - Nobel laureate: “Happy genes” key to success in science
10 - CA: Train victim with cell phone identified as local teen
11 - TN: Children’s healthcare case from ‘98 still makes waves
12 - Bush sends “personal letter” to North Korea’s Kim
13 - CA: Drug thugs menace San Francisco landlords
14 - AZ: Secret Santa hands out $20,000 in Phoenix
15 - Thompson: Tapping Arctic oil will help reduce gas prices
16 - Driving instructor sues “Borat” producers
17 - Are big-spending clergy abusing US tax code?
18 - Alameda distiller helps make absinthe legitimate again
19 - Poll: Americans believe in God, hell, UFOs, witches, astrology
20 - CA: Alleged leader of grade-changing scandal surrenders
21 - MO: Prosecutor won’t bring charges in MySpace suicide case
22 - CA: Teacher accused in meth plot
23 - Sarkozy condemns colonialism, pushes Mediterranean Union
24 - US finds no Iran bomb program, Bush doesn’t care
25 - Canada: Passport applicant finds massive privacy breach
COMMENTARY
26 - Face time with the presidential candidates
27 - Harmful regulation, not affordable energy
28 - When hope is not enough
29 - The military’s stealth test
30 - What ever happened to moderate Republicans?
31 - Why the world needs democracy in Pakistan
32 - Review:Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
33 - Tragedy of the ridiculous White House
34 - Democrats cave, again
35 - Ron Paul’s roots
36 - Romney and Huckabee’s religious intolerance
37 - Huckabee backtracks on the American dream
38 - Holy nonsense
39 - Mitt Romney’s big speech: Love all religions (except Islam)
40 - Hillary Clinton might be the least electable Democrat
41 - Mall shooting — yep, it was a “gun-free zone”
42 - Bible’s lessons about sexuality are unclear
43 - Is “The Golden Compass” really anti-Christian?
44 - Epic indecision among GOP voters
45 - The Democrats’ path to victory
46 - It’s the economy, stupid — But not just the current slowdown
47 - Gender segregation in the military
48 - A “subprime” National Intelligence Estimate
49 - Sudan embarrasses me … if I let it
50 - Let us kill all the teddy bears
NEWS
01 - Iranian students protest crackdown on activists
Fox News
“Hundreds of Iranian students expressed their anger over a crackdown on activists and protested Sunday at Tehran University, the second such demonstration in less than a week, witnesses and state radio said. One witness, Mehdi Arabshahi, said the campus protest lasted more than two hours as students rallied against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hardline administration. ‘Students chanted against policies by Ahmadinejad’s administration, which is imposing pressures on the universities and detaining activists,’ Arabshahi said. Another witness, Abbas Kazemi, said the protesters also called out anti-war slogans aimed at the United States and Israel. He said students from other universities joined in the protest and broke one of the university’s gates. But, Kazemi said, there were no clashes with police and no one was detained.” (12/09/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316261,00.html
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02 - Obama and the “Oprah effect”
Christian Science Monitor
“Melanie White wasn’t paying much attention to the presidential campaign. But when she heard Oprah Winfrey was coming to Des Moines to campaign for Barack Obama, politics suddenly mattered. She wanted to see Oprah. Her friend Kim Smith, a committed Obama supporter, told her she could get tickets, but there was a price. ‘She has to sign her life away to volunteer and caucus for Barack,’ said Ms. Smith. Ms. White readily agreed. And so the two 30-something friends sat near the front of a line of more than 18,000 waiting to get into the Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines, a copy of ‘O’s Guide to Life’ and an Obama ‘08 bumper sticker between them.” [editor's note: The best idea I've heard about this whole thing is a Paul/Kucinich ticket ... in which they each take two years in the office - SAT] (12/09/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1210/p01s03-uspo.html
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03 - Buffer zone law passes its first test
Boston Globe
“Ruth Schiavone was standing across the street from Planned Parenthood’s Boston facility on Commonwealth Avenue yesterday, softly discussing her objections to the state’s new buffer zone for protesters around abortion clinics, when a young woman walked toward the main entrance. Schiavone raised her voice and immediately changed her tone. ‘We have free help for you, dear,’ she shouted after the woman. ‘Don’t let them kill your baby!’ Schiavone was one of about 30 antiabortion protesters who gathered outside the clinic. The clinic attracts pockets of protesters every Saturday, with a larger-scale vigil occurring every second Saturday. Yesterday, none stood closer than 35 feet from the entrance, a distance now mandated by state law. The vigil was the first since Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill in mid-November establishing the 35-foot buffer zone between abortion clinic entrances and antiabortion protesters, a restriction that abortion-rights groups call the nation’s strictest.” (
12/09/07)
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04 - Western states agree on plan to make water last
Arizona Republic
“Water users from the seven Colorado River states are expected to ratify a regional drought plan this week in Las Vegas, ending years of bickering over how to balance uncertain resources with growing demand. The heart of the plan is the heart of the river system, its two largest reservoirs along Arizona’s northern borders. Lake Powell and Lake Mead hold not only the water needed to survive long dry periods but also the key to a landmark deal meant to give the states a chance to find longer-lasting solutions. Drought has drained the two reservoirs to below half capacity, increasing the threat of water shortages upstream and in Arizona, along with the loss of cheap hydropower and damage to riparian habitat and recreation sites.” (12/09/07)
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05 - Report: Gore poorly received in London
United Press International
“Al Gore earned just more than $200,000 for a poorly received half-hour speech before a restless crowd in London, it was reported Sunday. The Nobel laureate and former U.S. vice president spoke at a Fortune Forum fundraiser to draw attention to global warming, the Daily Mail reported Sunday. Attendees, who donated between $2,000 and $100,000 to the event, included celebrity activists Bob Geldof, Darryl Hannah and Jerry Hall. Gore earned the ire of journalists by refusing to speak to them and he declined to mingle much with the glittery crowd that paid to hear him, the British newspaper reported. ‘Many guests looked tired and began to talk among themselves during his speech. Heads began to twitch with tiredness,’ one attendee told the Mail.” [editor’s note: It is often hard to decide who’s the realer danger to liberty — the authoritarian liars actually running for President, or the authoritarian liars who are not, but have cult followings of similar size - SAT] (12/09/07)
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06 - Federal court hears pledge, motto cases
Associated Press
“An atheist pleaded with a federal appeals court to remove the words ‘under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance and ‘In God We Trust’ from U.S. currency, saying the references disrespect his religious beliefs. ‘I want to be treated equally,’ said Michael Newdow, who argued the cases consecutively to a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. He added that supporters of the phrases ‘want to have their religious views espoused by the government.’ Newdow, a Sacramento doctor and lawyer, sued his daughter’s school district in 2000 for forcing public school children to recite the pledge, saying it was unconstitutional.” (12/06/07)
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07 - US Marines’ MV-22 Osprey test: Combat
Christian Science Monitor
“The US Marine Corps’ MV-22 Osprey, the tilt rotor plane that flies like both a helicopter and a plane, is expected to face one of its biggest tests ever this month, flying combat missions for the first time — a major milestone in the Osprey’s long history of ups and downs. After years of investment, controversy, and tragedy, the Osprey finally debuted this fall in Iraq, a low-key deployment of 10 planes that marks the beginning of the Corps’ gradual replacement of aging Vietnam-era helicopters. Commanders have limited the plane’s operations to simpler logistical roles. But now it is set to fly combat missions in Anbar Province, where marines are deployed, that will test the plane’s ability to maneuver in more sophisticated and dangerous combat missions. … The Osprey’s deployment to Iraq has already shown that some components of the complex plane wear out faster than others.” [editor’s note: So the Fedgov’s now taking a page from Microsoft … “beta testing” its “unproven products” o
n its “user base”? - SAT] [additional editor’s note: The Osprey was deep in “white elephant” status even before I left the Marine Corps in 1995, but the Corps was desperate even then to replace Vietnam-era CH53s that were in rapid mechanical decline. Guess we’ll see if the kinks got ironed out! - TLK] (12/07/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1207/p03s01-usmi.html
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08 - AZ: A town sick of crime
Arizona Republic
“Jim Ross lifted his coat slightly behind the restaurant counter, revealing a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol in a holster. ‘I’m not going to be a victim without somebody having a bullet in their (rear),’ said the owner of Coyote Flats Cafe on U.S. 60. ‘We’re going to take this town back.’ Jim and his wife, Dorene, are not the only folks packing heat in this backwater community [of Aguiila], 25 miles west of Wickenburg. With little law-enforcement protection and a crime wave that has left two residents dead and hit just about every business in Aguila, many residents have armed themselves, installed security systems and taken to patrolling residential areas.” (12/06/07)
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09 - Nobel laureate: “Happy genes” key to success in science
Raw Story
“One of this year’s Nobel Prize winners said Thursday it takes ‘happy genes’ for scientists to succeed despite failed experiments and revealed he once tried to make a telephone from a pig’s bladder. ‘One has to be an optimist in science because most of the time it doesn’t work,’ U.S. professor Oliver Smithies, who shared the Nobel in medicine with two other researchers, told reporters in Stockholm. ‘If you’re born with happy genes you know that … it’s going to work,’ he said.” (12/06/07)
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10 - CA: Train victim with cell phone identified as local teen
San Francisco Chronicle
“A pedestrian who was struck and killed by an Amtrak train in San Leandro while apparently absorbed in a cell phone call has been identified as 16-year-old Daniel Segundo. Segundo, a San Leandro resident, walked around a lowered crossing gate and onto the tracks before being hit at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday by a northbound Capitol Corridor train at the Alvarado Street crossing, about 8 miles south of the Oakland station, authorities said. The circumstances of Segundo’s death remain under investigation. None of the 20 passengers or crew aboard the train was injured. Crew members aboard the Sacramento-bound train told authorities they saw Segundo talking on the cell phone before he was struck and that the warning lights and gates at the crossing were functioning properly.” [editor’s note: Depending on your perspective this is either “thinning the herd” … or justification to ban cell-phone use anywhere near a railroad track - SAT] (12/06/07)
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11 - TN: Children’s healthcare case from ‘98 still makes waves
Tennessean
“The class action lawsuit filed in 1998 by the Tennessee Justice Center alleged that children eligible for TennCare were not getting medical, dental and mental health screening and services required under federal and state law. The lead plaintiff was a 10-year-old child in foster care named ‘John B.’ who had multiple medical problems including blindness and cerebral palsy. The lawsuit claimed it took an almost two-year struggle with TennCare to get him a replacement for a dangerously unstable wheelchair. ‘The case is of great importance to all Tennesseans because it affects a third of the state’s children and it is the third that is most in need, most vulnerable, most at risk,” said Gordon Bonnyman, executive director of the center.” (12/06/07)
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12 - Bush sends “personal letter” to North Korea’s Kim
Fox News
“President Bush sent a ‘personal letter’ to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the Communist country’s official news agency said Thursday, although it did not reveal its contents. Japan’s Kyodo news agency said U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill delivered the letter to North Korea during his recent visit to the country earlier this week. … The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Hill gave the letter to North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun. Bush once called North Korea part of an ‘axis of evil’ along with Iran and prewar Iraq, and halted direct U.S. talks with the Communist country after he came into office, before later allowing negotiations to resume.” [editor’s note: From one tintype dictator to another; what’s so surprising? - SAT] (12/06/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315473,00.html
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13 - CA: Drug thugs menace San Francisco landlords
San Francisco Chronicle
“The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is pushing to close San Francisco’s cannabis clubs by turning its guns on their landlords — warning them that renting to pot dispensaries could cost them their buildings. The agency intends to send letters by week’s end to 80 owners of buildings housing medical marijuana clubs, similar to notices it fired off recently to landlords in Los Angeles and Sacramento, according law enforcement sources. ‘By this notice, you have been made aware of the purposes for which the property is being used,’ said a copy of the letter sent to Sacramento landlords, signed by the special agent in charge of the DEA’s San Francisco office, Javier Pena. ‘You are further advised that violations of federal laws relating to marijuana may result in criminal prosecution, imprisonment, fines and forfeiture of assets.’ In other words: your building.” (12/.05/07)
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14 - AZ: Secret Santa hands out $20,000 in Phoenix
Arizona Republic
“Paul Schernberg has been homeless for the past year, flopping in cheap motels or walking the streets at night to save money. Each week, from his job as a waiter, he squirreled away as much as he could — usually about $3 — to someday get an apartment. Schernberg was $103 from that goal when he walked into a Phoenix thrift store on Tuesday to buy his sister a Christmas present. He left with $200, thanks to a Secret Santa he had never met before and would never see again. ‘Oh, my God, I’m going to be in a home,’ Schernberg said. ‘This means Christmas again. I hadn’t thought of Christmas for a long time.’” (12/05/07)
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15 - Thompson: Tapping Arctic oil will help reduce gas prices
Tennessean
“Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson said Wednesday that tapping oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would help lower gas prices. ‘We’ve got this silly battle going on about ANWR,’ said Thompson, who voted in favor of drilling the refuge as a former Tennessee senator. ‘We’ve got the reserves up there that can be tapped,’ he told a crowd of about 50 people packed into a small cafe in this early voting state. ‘They’re not going to solve our problem, but it’s one step we can take.’” [editor’s note: Yes, it is — if we want to lower gas-pump prices in 2020; however, the first smart move should be cutting Federal and state gasoline-taxes! - SAT] (12/05/07)
=====
16 - Driving instructor sues “Borat” producers
Fox News
“A driving instructor has sued the makers of the movie Borat, accusing them of lying to him about the nature of the crass comedy by telling him he’d be in a documentary about the integration of immigrants into U.S. life. The lawsuit was brought Tuesday by lawyers for Michael Psenicska, a Baltimore high school mathematics teacher who has owned a driving school in Perry Hall, Md., for the last 32 years. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, seeks $100,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages, saying the hit movie earned hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. It says Psenicska is entitled to damages because defendants, including producer Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. and star Sacha Baron Cohen, used images of him extensively in advertising the film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” (12/05/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315192,00.html
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17 - Are big-spending clergy abusing US tax code?
Christian Science Monitor
“Should Congress care if a minister drives a Bentley, flies private jets, or buys a $23,000 commode? Yes, says Sen. Charles Grassley (R) of Iowa, if the high-spending ways violate the US tax code — especially a tax exemption for religious organizations. He’s given six televangelist ministries a deadline of this Friday to respond to questions on issues ranging from compensation and housing allowances to personal use of assets and unreported income. ‘If tax-exempt organizations, including media-based ministries, thumb their noses at the laws governing their preferential tax treatment, the American public, their contributors, and the Internal Revenue Service have a right to know,’ says Senator Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.” [editor’s note: In light of the current “domination by the religious right” of the political scene, this should be fun to watch - SAT] (12/05/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1206/p02s01-uspo.html
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18 - Alameda distiller helps make absinthe legitimate again
San Francisco Chronicle
“It was the drink of choice for 19th century painters, poets and writers. Vincent van Gogh sliced off his ear while sipping it, Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso painted it, French poet Paul Verlaine cursed it as he lay dying in his bed. For nearly 100 years, the United States and many other nations banned it. Absinthe. ‘It leads straight to the madhouse or the courthouse,’ declared Henri Schmidt, a French druggist urging his own countrymen to outlaw the green liquid in the early 1900s, which they did. Now it seems that no one can remember exactly why it was prohibited.” (12/05/07)
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19 - Poll: Americans believe in God, hell, UFOs, witches, astrology
Raw Story
“An overwhelming majority of Americans believe in God and signicant numbers also think that UFOs, the devil and ghosts exist, a poll showed Tuesday. The survey by Harris Online showed that 82 percent of adult Americans believe in God and a slightly smaller percentage — 79 percent — believe in miracles. More than 70 percent of the 2,455 adults surveyed between November 7 and 13 said they believe in heaven and angels, while more than six in 10 said they believed in hell and the devil. Almost equal numbers said they believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution (42 percent) — the belief that populations evolve over time through natural selection — and creationism (39 percent) — the theory that God created mankind. Seventy percent of Americans said they were very (21 percent) or somewhat (49 percent) religious, while around one-third of those polled also said they believe in UFOs, witches and astrology.” (12/04/07)
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20 - CA: Alleged leader of grade-changing scandal surrenders
San Francisco Chronicle
“An alleged ringleader of the Diablo Valley College grade-changing scandal surrendered this morning, authorities said. Liberato ‘Rocky’ Servo, 28, who worked in the admissions office at the Pleasant Hill community college, was taken into custody and referred to the public defender’s office for legal representation, said Contra Costa County prosecutor Dodie Katague. Servo did not enter a plea to 19 felony charges, Katague said. At a hearing in Martinez, Superior Court Judge Charles Burch set bail at $75,000. Servo is to return to court Dec. 13. Servo was among 15 people charged Thursday in the second round of prosecutions connected to the Diablo Valley College scheme, in which he and several other former student employees allegedly changed grades on the college’s computer for money.” (12/04/07)
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21 - MO: Prosecutor won’t bring charges in MySpace suicide case
Arizona Republic
“There will be no criminal charges in the case of a 13-year-old girl who killed herself last year after receiving cruel messages on the Internet. There have, however, been consequences. People online have expressed outrage against those involved in sending mean messages to Megan Meiers, identifying some of them. The family authorities say was behind the fake MySpace profile where the messages originated has reported its home being hit by paintballs and getting a brick thrown through a window. St. Charles County prosecutor Jack Banas said it’s his understanding that a former friend of Megan’s whose family was behind the fake profile is now being home-schooled.” [editor’s note: The “mother” who did this should burn for Eternity, slowly and painfully, along with her despicable daughter - SAT] (12/04/07)
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22 - CA: Teacher accused in meth plot
Bakersfield Californian
“A 32-year-old chemistry teacher at Shafter High School accused of trying to make methamphetamine in his school lab was arrested over the weekend. Jeff Scheidemantel of Bakersfield was arrested on suspicion of possession of precursor chemicals necessary for the production of methamphetamine, manufacturing methamphetamine and manufacturing methamphetamine endangering children, according to a news release by the Bakersfield Police Department. Students are not suspected to have been involved in the alleged drug operation, according to police and the Kern High School District.” (12/04/07)
http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/301462.html
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23 - Sarkozy condemns colonialism, pushes Mediterranean Union
Christian Science Monitor
“Since ancient Rome sacked Carthage, North Africa has kept a wary eye on its neighbors across the Mediterranean Sea. Today, that unease influences how many North Africans view French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is in Algeria for a three-day state visit along with 150 business leaders and eight ministers. Mr. Sarkozy arrived Monday in an effort to cool decades of tense relations and ink new business contracts with France’s ex-colony, which gained independence in 1962, as well as pitch his idea for a Mediterranean Union, a regional community that would unite the 21 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.” (12/05/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1205/p04s02-wome.html
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24 - US finds no Iran bomb program, Bush doesn’t care
Boston Globe
“Iran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago and there is no evidence it has enriched uranium to build an atomic bomb, according to declassified portions of a secret US intelligence assessment released yesterday — directly contradicting the Bush administration’s portrayal of Iran as a terrorist state bent on developing an atomic arsenal. The much-anticipated National Intelligence Estimate on Iran’s nuclear program, ordered by Congress in 2006, concludes that Tehran’s decision to halt its nuclear weapons program ’suggests it is less determined to develop nuclear weapons than we have been judging since 2005.’ The Iranian government’s decisions, according to the report, ‘are guided by a cost-benefit approach’ rather than a rush to obtain a nuclear weapon ‘irrespective of the political, economic, and military costs.’” (12/04/07)
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25 - Canada: Passport applicant finds massive privacy breach
Globe and Mail [UK]
“A security flaw in Passport Canada’s website has allowed easy access to the personal information — including social insurance numbers, dates of birth and driver’s license numbers — of people applying for new passports. The breach was discovered last week by an Ontario man completing his own passport application. He found he could easily view the applications of others by altering one character in the Internet address displayed by his Web browser.” (12/04/07)
COMMENTARY
26 - Face time with the presidential candidates
Orange County Register
Steven Greenhut
“Candidates from both parties have been braying the same old line we hear during every presidential election: This is the most important election of a generation, or perhaps even a century. So much is at stake that you, the harried voter, need to hang on every word every candidate utters during the televised debates. Do you want the candidate who is ’standing up for regular families,’ or the one ‘who speaks the truth and who will restore America’s moral leadership,’ or the one who understands that our nation ‘embodies the belief that tomorrow can be better than today’? Such big issues and tough choices! Certainly, whoever becomes president gains an enormous amount of power for good or for ill. Someone (thankfully) has to replace President George W. Bush, who has specialized in the ‘for ill’ category.” (12/09/07)
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27 - Harmful regulation, not affordable energy
Fox News/Heritage
Ben Lieberman
“Last summer’s energy bill was loaded down with counterproductive measures that would have raised energy prices. Fortunately for consumers, that bill was never enacted. However, the House is now trying to resurrect that bill’s approach with a somewhat scaled-back version that includes new fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, a greatly expanded ethanol mandate and new renewable standards for electricity. This bill would still raise prices for families and businesses, slowing the American economy overall. The president should veto this bill if it reaches his desk. The new bill contains a sharp increase in the federally mandated corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. Under this proposal, each manufacturer’s fleet of passenger vehicles would have to average 35 miles per gallon by 2020, a roughly 40 percent increase over current standards for cars and trucks.” (12/07/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316024,00.html
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28 - When hope is not enough
Boston Globe
Joan Vennochi
“Barack Obama is promising to change politics as usual in America. As Massachusetts already knows, that can be one tough promise to keep. Last year, Deval Patrick promised to do the same, when he ran for governor. Voters bought the message, making him the first Democrat in 16 years to win the corner office, and the first black candidate to do so. Symbolically, Patrick’s election represented dramatic change for this commonwealth. But his first year in office shows that it can be hard to get beyond being the face of change, to actually changing politics. Viewed from the Bay State, the similarities between Obama and Patrick are striking. They go beyond skin color, personal charm, Harvard educations, Chicago connections, and a shared political consultant, David Axelrod.” (12/09/07)
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29 - The military’s stealth test
In These Times
Megan Tady
“One thing is different this year about an aptitude test given to high school juniors and seniors in a Los Angeles school district: The test results won’t be going to military recruiters. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) adopted a policy in May to keep aptitude test results out of the hands of military recruiters, and notified the district’s career counselors of the change last month. LAUSD is the second largest school system in the country. Last year, another major school district, Montgomery Public Schools in Maryland, also enforced this policy. Faced with questions of the future, every year high school juniors and seniors shade-in oval, numbered bubbles on aptitude tests. The test results may tell a student whether she’s well suited to work with people or has the mind for mechanics or engineering.” (12/07/07)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3439/the_militarys_stealth_test/
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30 - What ever happened to moderate Republicans?
The American Prospect
Thomas F. Schaller
“When Minnesota’s Jim Ramstad was first elected to Congress in 1990, the Republican Party was approaching a critical juncture. President George H. W. Bush, a mainline Protestant and former abortion-rights supporter who had just appointed moderate David Souter to the Supreme Court, was riding strong popular approval in the wake of the Gulf War. But the Souter appointment, coupled with Bush’s broken pledge to not raise taxes, awakened a conservative movement that had become powerful enough to make or break Republican presidents. Bush tried to appease conservatives with his 1991 selection of Clarence Thomas for the high court, but it was too little too late: He had become an apostate. Ramstad, the moderate rookie, held on to his seat in 1992. Bush did not.” (12/06/07)
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31 - Why the world needs democracy in Pakistan
Christian Science Monitor
Benazir Bhutto
“The world has rightly welcomed President Pervez Musharraf’s retirement as Army head and announcement that emergency rule will end on Dec. 16. However, a crucial question remains. Is Pakistan heading toward a democratic future? Parliamentary elections are currently scheduled for Jan. 8. Among many worrying signs of corruption, the election commission is biased and not acting on complaints of fraud. Yet if credible elections are not held, it will have dangerous consequences for Pakistan and the rest of the world community: Extremism will continue to grow, putting everyone at risk. The world must act to prevent this. It must insist on free and fair elections in Pakistan.” (12/10/07
http://www.csmonitor.com/commentary/index.html
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32 - Review:Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
YES! Magazine
Doug Pibel
“Pete Seeger has been making music for 80 years. It should be impossible to do that justice in 90 minutes, but “Pete Seeger: The Power of Song” does it. This tightly packed, but graceful, documentary tells the story through the voices of musicians, friends, family, and the man himself, along with a rich helping of music.Seeger’s story is full of subplots, all covered here: hoboing with Woody Guthrie, stardom with The Weavers, blacklisting and contempt of Congress, the civil rights movement, Vietnam War activism, Hudson River cleanup, and elder statesman of the folk movement.” (12/09/07)
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=2123
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33 - Tragedy of the ridiculous White House
CounterPunch
Alexander Cockburn
“The one thing a president cannot afford to be is ridiculous. This week George Bush lurched into that fatal category and into the true twilight of his presidency, festooned with all the traditional discomfitures. Senior aides and close advisors parley with literary agents and find compelling reason to quit the White House and spend more time with their families. In public even the First Lady seems to edge away from her stricken mate.The latest, fatal instrument of Bush’s public humiliation is the National Intelligence Estimate proclaiming in its unclassified version that Iran stopped trying to build a nuclear weapon in 2003, thus deliberately, with humiliating clarity contradicting Bush and Cheney’s unending invocation of the Iranian nuclear threat.” (12/08/07)
http://counterpunch.org/cockburn12072007.html
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34 - Democrats cave, again
Washington Post
Jonathan Weisman and Paul Kane
“House Democratic leaders could complete work as soon as Monday on a half-trillion-dollar spending package that will include billions of dollars for the war effort in Iraq without the timelines for the withdrawal of combat forces that President Bush has refused to accept …. If the bargain were to become law, it would be the third time since Democrats took control of Congress that they would have failed to force Bush to change course in Iraq and continued to fund a war that they have repeatedly vowed to end.” (12/08/07)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/07/AR2007120702550_pf.html
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35 - Ron Paul’s roots
The Nation
Christopher Hayes
“Although not a single vote has been cast, it’s safe to say that Ron Paul has run the most successful libertarian presidential campaign in American history. Sure, the Libertarian Party nominates a candidate every term, but said candidate struggles to garner money and media attention. Paul, however, has become a legitimate phenomenon, if not a particularly likely GOP nominee. With his full-throated rejection of the imperial project in Iraq and a radical vision of a stripped-down state (though, oddly, one that still forces pregnancy), he’s attracting large crowds at campaign events and polling at a healthy 8 percent in New Hampshire. In November he broke the single-day fundraising record with a $4.2 million haul. So you would think that the circle of DC-based libertarians centered around the Cato Institute would be ecstatic. Not quite.” [editor’s note: Although Mr. Hayes is horrified at the thought of a “rebirth” of libertarianism stemming from the Paul campaign, he does an admirable
job of indentifying the factions (or most of them?) within the movement for liberty - SAT] (12/06/07)
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071224/hayes
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36 - Romney and Huckabee’s religious intolerance
Salon
Joe Conason
“Whatever bland assurances they may offer to the contrary, both Romney and Huckabee have implicitly endorsed religious tests for a presidential candidacy. Both suggest that only leaders who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are qualified to lead. Huckabee says that we should choose a president who speaks ‘the language of Zion,’ meaning a fundamentalist Christian like himself. Romney says that among the questions that may appropriately be asked of aspiring presidential candidates is what they believe about Jesus Christ, a question he endeavored to answer in a way that would assuage suspicions about his own religion. So if these two worthy gentlemen seek to exploit or extol their own faith, why should we bar ourselves from exploring the subject more deeply? They have invited a discussion of the sublime and the absurd in their religious doctrines, and of how those doctrines would influence them in office.” (12/07/07)
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/12/07/religion_presidency/
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37 - Huckabee backtracks on the American dream
The New Republic
Eve Fairbanks
“On Wednesday, the Huck floated his immigration plan, which is designed after the plan anti-amnesty zealot and Isaac Chotiner favorite Mark Krikorian drew up for National Review a couple of years back. Needless to say, this is a big flip-flop for Huckabee, who last year could be found endorsing Bush’s comprehensive immigration reform plan and opining that those who wanted to send home the 12+ million illegal immigrants already here were ‘driven by racism or nativism.’ His new plan gives those illegal immigrants 120 days to get out of the country. He also touts the FairTax as an enforcement mechanism (!), reduces family visas in favor of highly skilled workers, and gets behind something called the CLEAR Act, a piece of legislation that makes immigration enforcement the duty of local police. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation suggested this bill would ‘inappropriately burde[n] state and local enforcement and provid[e] insufficient protections for civil liberties.’” (12/06/07)
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38 - Holy nonsense
Slate
Christopher Hitchens
“Almost the only clever thing about Gov. Mitt Romney’s long-denied and long-delayed but obviously long-prepared ‘response’ was its location at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, which allowed him to pose (prematurely, I’d say) in front of a presidential seal as well as a thicket of American flags. Composed chiefly of boilerplate, the windy speech raised the vexed question of the candidate’s religious affiliation — and thus broke the taboo on mentioning it — without setting to rest any of the difficulties that make it legitimate to raise the issue in the first place. Actually, and in fairness, one should say ‘any but one’ of those difficulties. Romney did avow, early on and in round terms, that ‘no authorities of my church’ could ever exert any influence on his decision-making as chief executive. This may get him in trouble with some Mormons, and it does invite the question of why he adheres to a sect whose ‘prophet’ is a supreme commander, but it is the most he could have
been asked to say, as well as the least.” (12/06/07)
http://www.slate.com/id/2179404/
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39 - Mitt Romney’s big speech: Love all religions (except Islam)
Mother Jones
Jonathan Stein
“Mitt Romney had an almost impossible task before him today in College Station, Texas: he had to emphasize America’s proud tradition of religious freedom while winning voters in what has essentially become a Christian party. … Romney, though, had a perfect distraction for his doubters, the religious group Americans distrust more than Mormons: Muslims.” (12/06/07)
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40 - Hillary Clinton might be the least electable Democrat
AlterNet
Guy T. Saperstein
“While Clinton maintains her lead in national polling among Democrats, in direct matchups against Republican presidential candidates, she consistently runs behind both Barack Obama and John Edwards. In the recent national Zogby Poll (Nov. 26, 2007), every major Republican presidential candidate beats Clinton: McCain beats her 42 percent to 38 percent; Giuliani beats her 43 percent to 40 percent; Romney beats her 43 percent to 40 percent; Huckabee beats her 44 percent to 39 percent; and Thompson beats her 44 percent to 40 percent, despite the fact Thompson barely appears to be awake most of the time. By contrast, Obama beats every major Republican candidate …” (12/07/06)
http://www.alternet.org/story/69916/
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41 - Mall shooting — yep, it was a “gun-free zone”
Fox News
John R. Lott, Jr.
“The horrible tragedy at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Neb. received a lot of attention Wednesday and Thursday. It should have. Eight people were killed, and five were wounded. A Google news search using the phrase ‘Omaha Mall Shooting’ finds an incredible 2,794 news stories worldwide for the last day. From India and Taiwan to Britain and Austria, there are probably few people in the world who haven’t heard about this tragedy. But despite the massive news coverage, none of the media coverage, at least by 10 a.m. Thursday, mentioned this central fact: Yet another attack occurred in a gun-free zone.” (12/06/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315563,00.html
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42 - Bible’s lessons about sexuality are unclear
Tennessean
Angela Moscheco Escueta
“As a native Nashvillian living in New York City until recently … [and] a person of faith with a master’s degree in theology and early church history … it was nice to see a pro-gay article at least somewhat pro-faith, as well. What distressed me was the (expected) outcry against the very article I was so pleased to find in this local paper for a predominantly conservative community. Why is there such a strong compulsion to quash the pro-gay voice? … Understand that Levitical law against homosexual acts, specifically among men, considered said acts violating and humiliating, not pleasurable and usually not consensual. The Christian (New) Testament passages probably are referring to the common Greco-Roman acts involving the misuse of male children and slaves, also not the same thing as pleasurable, consensual relations among adults. Men were allowed relations with slaves, prostitutes and, in the Greco-Roman culture, each other, as a legal deterrent to adultery.” (12/06/07)
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43 - Is “The Golden Compass” really anti-Christian?
Christian Science Monitor
Jenny Sawyer
“You don’t have to be a kiddie lit maven to have heard about the tempest over Friday’s theatrical release of The Golden Compass. Those who’ve debated Philip Pullman’s award-winning trilogy since the first book’s publication in 1995 will tell you they’re all riled up about the author’s so-called atheist agenda — and its potentially damaging effects on young, impressionable minds. The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, urging a boycott, is even promoting a pamphlet called, ‘The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked.’ That’s wasted ink. Because it’s not religion that Mr. Pullman takes aim at, but a society in which children are raised in a spiritual and intellectual torpor. Not only does Pullman want kids to think for themselves, but he also respects their ability to do so. And this has the ‘authorities’ on what children should and shouldn’t be thinking terrified.” (12/07/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1207/p09s02-coop.html
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44 - Epic indecision among GOP voters
Boston Globe
Todd Domke
“The most striking thing about the presidential contest in both parties is the high percentage of voters who are undecided or only ‘leaning’ toward a candidate, even after a year of campaigning. What accounts for the indecision? My theory: Many Democrats are undecided because they are afraid of losing. Many Republicans are undecided because they’re afraid of winning. Democrats worry they might pick a nominee who ends up being less electable than they imagined during the primaries (post-Kerry trauma). Republicans worry they might pick a nominee who wins but then disappoints them (post-Bush syndrome). At least on the Republican side, overcoming voters’ vacillation is turning out to be a struggle of epic proportions.” [editor’s note: His guy’s “theory” is better explained as “voters in neither party find anyone who actually stands for what they profess to believe in … except for a couple of folks who the media has convinced them can’t win!” - SAT] (12/06/07)
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45 - The Democrats’ path to victory
In These Times
David Moberg
“Voters are likely to choose the next president primarily on economic issues, especially if the financial crises deepen. But they will also decide the election based on concerns about the war in Iraq and, more broadly, America’s place in the world. On both counts — the pocketbook and the globe — Democrats hold an advantage. But to retain that advantage, Democrats will need to redefine the terms of debate on America’s global role. That’s happening in small, if inadequate, ways on both the war in Iraq and trade issues. The danger is that the Democrats will defensively hedge against the inevitable Republican attack machine on foreign policy and pander to their newly generous corporate financial backers on trade.” [editor’s note: What is ludicrous about this (and about many “progressive” appeals?) is the confusion of “elected Democrats” with people who care the least bit about these issues - SAT] (12/06/07)
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46 - It’s the economy, stupid — But not just the current slowdown
The American Prospect
Robert B. Reich
“According to new polls, the economy is the number 1 issue for American voters. But that’s not just because the economy is slowing and mortgages are harder to come by. The real reason is middle-class families have exhausted the coping mechanisms they’ve used for over three decades to get by on median wages that are barely higher than they were in 1970, adjusted for inflation. Male wages today are actually lower than they were then; the income of a young man in his 30s is now 12 percent below that of a man his age three decades ago. … When families couldn’t paddle any harder, we started paddling longer. The typical American now works two weeks more each year than 30 years ago. Compared to any other advanced nation we’re veritable workaholics, putting in 350 more hours a year than the average European, more even than the notoriously industrious Japanese.” (12/05/07))
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47 - Gender segregation in the military
The Distributed Republic
Micha Ghertner
“I didn’t originally plan to respond to Browne’s posts because I figured it would be obvious to most readers that his arguments were poorly reasoned, little more than an excerise in Browne embarrassing himself in public by exposing his outdated gender biases. For the same reason, I don’t spend much time rebutting White Nationalist or anti-Semitic blog posts, because I expect (perhaps mistakenly) that smart people living in contemporary America have the wherewithal to figure out what’s mistaken about such arguments on their own. But apparently some libertarians take these gender segregationist arguments seriously — indicating that in many ways sexism is more socially acceptable than racism — and therefore it is worth spending some time addressing Browne’s project.” (12/05/07)
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48 - A “subprime” National Intelligence Estimate
Fox News
Mike Baker
“Logic tells me that someone, somewhere, is actually responsible for the subprime crisis and the billions and billions of dollars being written off by various banks. It’s just that so far, oddly enough, no one has put their hand up and claimed responsibility. If you’re on Wall Street, particularly in an uber-clever operation like Goldman Sachs, the only reason you’re putting your hand up is to grab your own personal sack of Christmas cash. On the other side, the folks that signed up for mortgages they knew they couldn’t afford aren’t taking responsibility. After all, they was duped. Bad men rode into town, drank all the whiskey and then forced the townfolk to take out mortgages they ultimately couldn’t afford. Where the hell’s Clint Eastwood when you need him? … You want something confusing, try figuring out the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. … First, it’s important to note that, despite the involvement of all the agencies within the Intelligence Community, the titl
e of this document does include the word ‘Estimate.’ That’s a good clue.” (12/05/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,315101,00.html
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49 - Sudan embarrasses me … if I let it
Christian Science Monitor
Zak M. Salih
“Last Friday I was walking to a restaurant with two friends when one of them turned to me and said, ‘Did you hear about those people in Sudan who want to kill that schoolteacher? I saw it on TV, and I immediately thought of you.’ Being of Sudanese descent (my father immigrated to the US in the early 1970s), I tend to follow news bites from Sudan; thus I was all too familiar with the recent events. Just that afternoon, running on a treadmill, I had seen television footage of the protesters in Khartoum calling for Gillian Gibbons’s execution for allowing her students to name a teddy bear ‘Mohammed.’ Like most images of third-world protest, the screaming and sword-waving masses struck me as wild and disorganized. I couldn’t believe that people — regardless of their political or religious identities — would become so crazed over something as trivial as a stuffed animal.” (12/06/07)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1206/p09s01-coop.html
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50 - Let us kill all the teddy bears
San Francisco Chronicle
Mark Morford
“Here’s what I like to do every time I see a throng of frothing religious zombies marching in the streets of Sudan or Pakistan or Colorado Springs or anywhere else in the world, carrying knives and torches and holding festering clots of fear in their hearts as they burn flags or photographs or copies of The Goblet of Fire or The Golden Compass or that sweet little book about the cute gay penguins in the Central Park Zoo and all screaming for the instant death of someone who dared to suggest that, say, Jesus was actually a liberal pacifist or that L. Ron Hubbard was a nutball hack or that it’s perfectly delightful to let sweet little schoolkids name a sweet little teddy bear ‘Muhammad.’ I try to remember. No wait, that’s not quite right. First, I get past the wave of nausea and sadness, that hot, palpable feeling that we are, still and forever, a baffled and insane and deeply doomed species and the world of man is indeed bleak and hopeless on far too many levels to count.” (12/05/07
)
Until next week ...
Peace, Love and Liberty
Steve Trinward, Editor