The Flashlight Nov. 11-17, 2006
THE FLASHLIGHT, November 11-17, 2006
The United States
Congress Organizes
NY Times 11-11. The Senate now has 16 women members and the house, 70: a new high. Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the House, is using her mother-of-five voice.
W Post 11-17. John Boehner is the new Republican Minority Leader of the House. Mitch McConnell is the Minority Leader of the Senate.
Steny Hoyer is Majority Leader of the House and Harry Reid is the Majority Leader of the Senate.
Hoyer is a practical moderate. He is funny and considerate of others. Now aged 67, he was the boy wonder of Maryland politics, having been elected head of the State Senate at the age of 27. During the past election campaign he raised money, recruited candidates and made nation-wide political appearances.
Expected Congressional Investigations and Legislation
Daily Kos and the Guardian, 11-11
1. High priorities go to an investigation of the Iraq War: misuse of prewar intelligence, causes of failure, and waste, fraud, and abuse in the use of reconstruction billions.
2. The Administration’s domestic wiretap program.
3. Policy making by Cheney’s energy task force.
4. The censorship and intimidation of climate scientists who reported the danger of global warming.
NY Times 11-11. The Katrina reconstruction program was given $7.5 billion in federal funds 14 months ago. It will probably be reviewed. 79,000 families asked for money to repair and rebuild their homes. Only 1,721 applicants have been cleared and told how much they are to receive. Only 22 families have received access to cash to reconstruct. During the flood many families lost the documents proving their ownership and assessing the pre-storm value of their homes.
NY Times 11-11. Organized labor is demanding reform. The unions contributed $100 million dollars to the Democratic Party and dispatched 100,000 volunteers to get out the vote.
They want legislation to make it easier to organize unions in private business, not just government employees. They want to make it harder to fire workers involved in a unionization campaign. Such legislation is supported by over 90% of House Democrats.
The unions also want to bar federal contracts with companies that outsource jobs overseas.
They want to extend health care insurance to the uninsured. They want to improve mine safety.
The first new legislation probably will seek to establish a national minimum wage increase, to reduce drug prices, and to help families pay for college tuition.
New Science Lobby
A new center for lobbying and litigation in Washington, the Center for Inquiry – Transnational, is the creation of scientists concerned with “faith based” measures of the Bush Administration. These measure include: banning embryonic stem cell research, thwarting efforts to reduce global warming, promoting abstinence-only sex education, and promoting “intelligent design” instruction in the schools. The scientists will argue that the media policy of 50-50 representation of opinions on controversial issues is inappropriate when 99% of scientists believe one way, and only 1% disagree. The scientists want to put public policy on a more rational basis.
Presidential Hopefuls
Republicans
Both Rudolf Giuliani and John Mc Cain have taken the first legal steps necessary to run for President.
Giuliani supports abortion rights, gay rights, and gun control, which would make him difficult to attract support in the South. [He may flip flop, though]
McCain wants to send more troops to Iraq, which about two-thirds of the public oppose. [He too may flip flop] In 2008 he will be 72.
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, helped introduce a state health insurance plan. However, he is a Mormon.
Democrats
Both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama have good name recognition. But Americans have never chosen a woman or a black as President or Vice President.
John Edwards and Evan Bayh are both presenting themselves on television . Edwards is a southern populist and a polished public speaker with good name recognition. Bayh is a moderate Democrat in a Republican state, Indiana. But neither has any foreign policy experience.
THE WORLD
Iraq
A reevaluation of the US Iraq policy is underway with wide participation in Washington and the press. 11-12 NY Times, According to David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NY Times, both parties desperately want to get out of Iraq by 2008. The Maliki government is stumbling and political fragmentation is increasing. A few leaders, like Bush and McCain, still want to try to “win” but many more people just want to find a way to end US participation in the fighting.
11-13 NY Times. Senate Democrats demand that troop reductions should begin within four to six months.
11-17 W Post. Military leaders are pushing against sending more troops to Iraq because it would severely strain the military, would be unsustainable for more than a few months, and would bring no long term benefit. Military leaders think that it would take 500,000 to a million men to make any difference, and such forces are unavailable now and would not be available for many years in the future.
Events in Iraq
CNN 11-14. In Baghdad a team of armed men dressed as Iraqi police stormed the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
and kidnapped around 150 men. This constituted a complete breakdown of order. It was thought that a Shia militia [al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army?] was responsible. It may have been a warning to the liberal, secular Sunn intellectual elite.
11-15. The Ministry of Higher Education closed all universities until security could be improved.
11-16. The US sent 2200 more Marines into Anbar Province, which is out of control.
The Shia government of Maliki issued a warrant for the arrest of a major Sunni leader, Harif al-Dari.
Lebanon: a New Crisis
NY Times 11-12. A new crisis in Lebanon began when Hizbollah and his Amal, its Shiite partner, demanded veto power in all decisions within the democratically elected Lebanese government. The liberal majority (Sunni Muslims and various Christian sects, headed by Prime Minister Fuad Seniora) refused. The US supports the liberal majority and Iran and Syria support Hizbollah. Six cabinet members, including all the Hizbollah members, have resigned. Hizbollah has ruled out any return to talks.
[The immediate issue is what the nature will be of the International Tribunal of the United Nations for investigation of the murder of Rafiq Hariri, the Sunni billionaire killed in a car-bombing in Beirut in 2005. The Syrian government is suspect in the murder, for Hariri stood for the evacuation of Syrian troops and spies from Lebanon. Hizbollah would probably veto an impartial international tribunal. In addition, Hizbollah would probably vote to keep the current president of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, in office, for Lahoud is allied with Syria. ]
Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hizbollah, has threatened to bring out his supporters on the streets to demonstrate until they bring down the present government. Now that the talks have collapsed he is expected to keep his word.
The Israel-Palestinian Conflict
MSNBC 11-13. Hamas has chosen a new prime minister, Muhammad Shabir, a professor of microbiology, former president of Gaza University, and a moderate pragmatist. This is a step toward a return to peace negotiations.
Pollution in China
NY Times 11-15. According to Tom Friedman, people in China speak with greater ease but breathe with greater difficulty. The danger is that a rapid increase in air and water pollution will cause a sudden collapse of the ecosystem. China is using its huge surplus of population to become the low cost world producer of everything. One tenth of the arable land is already polluted. More than half of the rivers are polluted. Coal smoke is thick over the cities.
Pollution, says Friedman, is wasteful and inefficient. Green solutions are low cost.
Health Research
NYTimes 11-17. Resveratrol, the healthy ingredient in red wine, has been found to give not only longer life, but greater endurance. The evidence was obtained by giving large doses of the compound to mice, who became more muscular and developed the slower heart rate of athletes. However, much more work would have to be done before a safe, effective drug is available for humans.
The United States
Congress Organizes
NY Times 11-11. The Senate now has 16 women members and the house, 70: a new high. Nancy Pelosi, the first woman Speaker of the House, is using her mother-of-five voice.
W Post 11-17. John Boehner is the new Republican Minority Leader of the House. Mitch McConnell is the Minority Leader of the Senate.
Steny Hoyer is Majority Leader of the House and Harry Reid is the Majority Leader of the Senate.
Hoyer is a practical moderate. He is funny and considerate of others. Now aged 67, he was the boy wonder of Maryland politics, having been elected head of the State Senate at the age of 27. During the past election campaign he raised money, recruited candidates and made nation-wide political appearances.
Expected Congressional Investigations and Legislation
Daily Kos and the Guardian, 11-11
1. High priorities go to an investigation of the Iraq War: misuse of prewar intelligence, causes of failure, and waste, fraud, and abuse in the use of reconstruction billions.
2. The Administration’s domestic wiretap program.
3. Policy making by Cheney’s energy task force.
4. The censorship and intimidation of climate scientists who reported the danger of global warming.
NY Times 11-11. The Katrina reconstruction program was given $7.5 billion in federal funds 14 months ago. It will probably be reviewed. 79,000 families asked for money to repair and rebuild their homes. Only 1,721 applicants have been cleared and told how much they are to receive. Only 22 families have received access to cash to reconstruct. During the flood many families lost the documents proving their ownership and assessing the pre-storm value of their homes.
NY Times 11-11. Organized labor is demanding reform. The unions contributed $100 million dollars to the Democratic Party and dispatched 100,000 volunteers to get out the vote.
They want legislation to make it easier to organize unions in private business, not just government employees. They want to make it harder to fire workers involved in a unionization campaign. Such legislation is supported by over 90% of House Democrats.
The unions also want to bar federal contracts with companies that outsource jobs overseas.
They want to extend health care insurance to the uninsured. They want to improve mine safety.
The first new legislation probably will seek to establish a national minimum wage increase, to reduce drug prices, and to help families pay for college tuition.
New Science Lobby
A new center for lobbying and litigation in Washington, the Center for Inquiry – Transnational, is the creation of scientists concerned with “faith based” measures of the Bush Administration. These measure include: banning embryonic stem cell research, thwarting efforts to reduce global warming, promoting abstinence-only sex education, and promoting “intelligent design” instruction in the schools. The scientists will argue that the media policy of 50-50 representation of opinions on controversial issues is inappropriate when 99% of scientists believe one way, and only 1% disagree. The scientists want to put public policy on a more rational basis.
Presidential Hopefuls
Republicans
Both Rudolf Giuliani and John Mc Cain have taken the first legal steps necessary to run for President.
Giuliani supports abortion rights, gay rights, and gun control, which would make him difficult to attract support in the South. [He may flip flop, though]
McCain wants to send more troops to Iraq, which about two-thirds of the public oppose. [He too may flip flop] In 2008 he will be 72.
Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, helped introduce a state health insurance plan. However, he is a Mormon.
Democrats
Both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama have good name recognition. But Americans have never chosen a woman or a black as President or Vice President.
John Edwards and Evan Bayh are both presenting themselves on television . Edwards is a southern populist and a polished public speaker with good name recognition. Bayh is a moderate Democrat in a Republican state, Indiana. But neither has any foreign policy experience.
THE WORLD
Iraq
A reevaluation of the US Iraq policy is underway with wide participation in Washington and the press. 11-12 NY Times, According to David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NY Times, both parties desperately want to get out of Iraq by 2008. The Maliki government is stumbling and political fragmentation is increasing. A few leaders, like Bush and McCain, still want to try to “win” but many more people just want to find a way to end US participation in the fighting.
11-13 NY Times. Senate Democrats demand that troop reductions should begin within four to six months.
11-17 W Post. Military leaders are pushing against sending more troops to Iraq because it would severely strain the military, would be unsustainable for more than a few months, and would bring no long term benefit. Military leaders think that it would take 500,000 to a million men to make any difference, and such forces are unavailable now and would not be available for many years in the future.
Events in Iraq
CNN 11-14. In Baghdad a team of armed men dressed as Iraqi police stormed the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
and kidnapped around 150 men. This constituted a complete breakdown of order. It was thought that a Shia militia [al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army?] was responsible. It may have been a warning to the liberal, secular Sunn intellectual elite.
11-15. The Ministry of Higher Education closed all universities until security could be improved.
11-16. The US sent 2200 more Marines into Anbar Province, which is out of control.
The Shia government of Maliki issued a warrant for the arrest of a major Sunni leader, Harif al-Dari.
Lebanon: a New Crisis
NY Times 11-12. A new crisis in Lebanon began when Hizbollah and his Amal, its Shiite partner, demanded veto power in all decisions within the democratically elected Lebanese government. The liberal majority (Sunni Muslims and various Christian sects, headed by Prime Minister Fuad Seniora) refused. The US supports the liberal majority and Iran and Syria support Hizbollah. Six cabinet members, including all the Hizbollah members, have resigned. Hizbollah has ruled out any return to talks.
[The immediate issue is what the nature will be of the International Tribunal of the United Nations for investigation of the murder of Rafiq Hariri, the Sunni billionaire killed in a car-bombing in Beirut in 2005. The Syrian government is suspect in the murder, for Hariri stood for the evacuation of Syrian troops and spies from Lebanon. Hizbollah would probably veto an impartial international tribunal. In addition, Hizbollah would probably vote to keep the current president of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, in office, for Lahoud is allied with Syria. ]
Hassan Nasrallah, head of Hizbollah, has threatened to bring out his supporters on the streets to demonstrate until they bring down the present government. Now that the talks have collapsed he is expected to keep his word.
The Israel-Palestinian Conflict
MSNBC 11-13. Hamas has chosen a new prime minister, Muhammad Shabir, a professor of microbiology, former president of Gaza University, and a moderate pragmatist. This is a step toward a return to peace negotiations.
Pollution in China
NY Times 11-15. According to Tom Friedman, people in China speak with greater ease but breathe with greater difficulty. The danger is that a rapid increase in air and water pollution will cause a sudden collapse of the ecosystem. China is using its huge surplus of population to become the low cost world producer of everything. One tenth of the arable land is already polluted. More than half of the rivers are polluted. Coal smoke is thick over the cities.
Pollution, says Friedman, is wasteful and inefficient. Green solutions are low cost.
Health Research
NYTimes 11-17. Resveratrol, the healthy ingredient in red wine, has been found to give not only longer life, but greater endurance. The evidence was obtained by giving large doses of the compound to mice, who became more muscular and developed the slower heart rate of athletes. However, much more work would have to be done before a safe, effective drug is available for humans.
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