THE FLASHLIGHT, October 28 – November 3, 2006
US Politics
General
PBS. 10-29 About $230 million dollars a week are being spent on political ads. When the campaign is over it is estimated that one billion dollars will have been spent on them.
NY Times 10-29. The Democrats have spent $35 million to improve their turnout.
CNN 10-30. Two thirds of Democrats are more enthusiastic than usual and want to begin withdrawal from Iraq.
The Democrats are finding new support in the Western states just inland from the coastal state group: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. (Mormon Utah is still a Republican stronghold). Some of these states have Democratic governors and are hostile to Christian evangelicals. They love their guns, though.
CNN 10-31. In the Western states Libertarians have c. 15% of the voters.
Approval of medical marijuana is widespread.
Races
Races in which Democrats lead: Menendez appears safe in his Senate seat in New Jersey. Webb leads Allen in Virginia. Eliot Spitzer has a 47 point lead in the race for Governor of New York. A sleazy attack ad has hurt black Democrat Ford in Tennessee, but polls differ. The Missouri Senate race is a dead heat. Peterson, the Democratic nominee, now leads in Arizona. The Republican incumbents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Montana appear to be losing.
11-2. The Guardian Unlimited (UK) revealed that a socialist was about to become the first socialist US Senator ever: Bernie Sanders in Vermont. To my knowledge this was the first news in the mainstream media about this race. Sanders calls himself an “independent” or a “progressive” or a “democratic socialist.” He is running to fill the post held by retiring Jim Jeffords, Independent.
Sanders opposes the outsourcing of jobs abroad and free trade. He wants to establish a national health plan and to bring the troops back from Iraq within a year. Barbara Streisand supports him. He is the official Democrat Party nominee. His Republican opponent has spent six million dollars and has made little headway.
The World
The Israeli-Lebanese War of summer 2006
The British journal The Independent 10-29. British scientists studying bomb craters in Lebanon just two miles north of the Israel border found traces of enriched uranium. They speculated that these were residues of an experimental weapon.
Iraq
Guardian 10-29. Women, both Muslim and Christian, in Iraq are being executed for going bareheaded or driving a car.
W Post 10-29. On sale in Baghdad: a knock-off Barbie doll wearing a black veil.
CNN 11-1. During the month of October 103 American troops died in Iraq as did 1289 Iraqi civilians. 11-2. 155 Iraqi academics have been killed so far.
NYTimes 11-3. The office of Inspector general for reconstruction in Iraq has been terminated and its Republican head fired after revealing disastrously shoddy work by Halliburton, Parsons, et al. This came in the form of an obscure clause in a House military appropriations bill that was sneaked in two weeks ago at the last minute. Republican Senators Warner and Collins and Democratic Senators are outraged and have initiated legislation to reverse that clause.
Paul Krugman pointed out that Bechtel is pulling out of Iraq after failing in its mission to rebuild water, sewage, and power plants. The twenty one billion dollars allocated for reconstruction has been spent and no more has been allocated. As far as reconstruction goes, the Bush Administration has already started to cut and run.
North Korea
10-31. North Korea has agreed to rejoin the six nation talks on nuclear disarmament.
Lebanon
11-1 and 11-2. An Nahar and Daily Star, Beirut. The liberal Lebanese government led by Prime Minister Seniora is being challenged by Hizbollah, the militant Shia party sponsored by Iran. Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader, is demanding a new “national unity government” in which the Shias (led by Hizbollah and Amal parties) have veto power. Nasrallah threatened to send his people out on the streets to demonstrate until they brought the present government down and had a new election. He expects to win a majority vote in such an election.
Walid Jumblatt, and important leader of the present liberal coalition (“the March 14 group”) flew to Washington and conferred with Secretary Rumsfeld. Then the White House announced that Iran, Syria, and Hizbollah are trying to bring down the Lebanese government, by force if necessary. CNN mentioned a possible coup.
Science
NYTimes 10-30. All energy research in the US has declined in the last 25 years to less than half of what was spent then. By contrast, the money spent on medical research has quadrupled and on military research, has increased by 260%,
NYTimes 11-2. It is no longer believed that moderate alcohol intake from whatever source is equally valuable: the old hypothesis about the superiority of red wine has now been confirmed. A natural substance in the skins of the grapes used to make red wine, resveratrol, has been shown to offset the effects of a high calorie diet in mice. This serves to explain the low rate of heart disease among the French, many of whom drink vin rouge and eat a high calorie diet.
Books
Mortenson, Greg. Three Cups of Tea. A mountain climber staggers half dead into a Pakistani village and is nursed back to life. He promises to build the villagers a school for both boys and girls. After overcoming many obstacles, he succeeds and then starts responding to requests for schools in other villages. The Muslim establishment approves of his efforts, even though the subjects taught are secular. This book is an answer to the question: If war is not the answer, then what is?
Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks. A professional writer teaches a class in writing in a prison for adolescent boys accused of violent crimes. He finds that they are vulnerable and as much victims as criminals. This serves to correct the widespread notion that many criminals are from “bad seed.”
Harris, Sam. Letter to a Christian Nation. The atheist author provides an entertaining attack on Christian fundamentalists and their social beliefs.
Rich, Frank. The Greatest Story Ever Sold. Probably the best written expose of the Bush Administration and its trumped up war in Iraq.
` Carter, Jimmy. Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid. Due out on November 14.
US Politics
General
PBS. 10-29 About $230 million dollars a week are being spent on political ads. When the campaign is over it is estimated that one billion dollars will have been spent on them.
NY Times 10-29. The Democrats have spent $35 million to improve their turnout.
CNN 10-30. Two thirds of Democrats are more enthusiastic than usual and want to begin withdrawal from Iraq.
The Democrats are finding new support in the Western states just inland from the coastal state group: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana. (Mormon Utah is still a Republican stronghold). Some of these states have Democratic governors and are hostile to Christian evangelicals. They love their guns, though.
CNN 10-31. In the Western states Libertarians have c. 15% of the voters.
Approval of medical marijuana is widespread.
Races
Races in which Democrats lead: Menendez appears safe in his Senate seat in New Jersey. Webb leads Allen in Virginia. Eliot Spitzer has a 47 point lead in the race for Governor of New York. A sleazy attack ad has hurt black Democrat Ford in Tennessee, but polls differ. The Missouri Senate race is a dead heat. Peterson, the Democratic nominee, now leads in Arizona. The Republican incumbents in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Montana appear to be losing.
11-2. The Guardian Unlimited (UK) revealed that a socialist was about to become the first socialist US Senator ever: Bernie Sanders in Vermont. To my knowledge this was the first news in the mainstream media about this race. Sanders calls himself an “independent” or a “progressive” or a “democratic socialist.” He is running to fill the post held by retiring Jim Jeffords, Independent.
Sanders opposes the outsourcing of jobs abroad and free trade. He wants to establish a national health plan and to bring the troops back from Iraq within a year. Barbara Streisand supports him. He is the official Democrat Party nominee. His Republican opponent has spent six million dollars and has made little headway.
The World
The Israeli-Lebanese War of summer 2006
The British journal The Independent 10-29. British scientists studying bomb craters in Lebanon just two miles north of the Israel border found traces of enriched uranium. They speculated that these were residues of an experimental weapon.
Iraq
Guardian 10-29. Women, both Muslim and Christian, in Iraq are being executed for going bareheaded or driving a car.
W Post 10-29. On sale in Baghdad: a knock-off Barbie doll wearing a black veil.
CNN 11-1. During the month of October 103 American troops died in Iraq as did 1289 Iraqi civilians. 11-2. 155 Iraqi academics have been killed so far.
NYTimes 11-3. The office of Inspector general for reconstruction in Iraq has been terminated and its Republican head fired after revealing disastrously shoddy work by Halliburton, Parsons, et al. This came in the form of an obscure clause in a House military appropriations bill that was sneaked in two weeks ago at the last minute. Republican Senators Warner and Collins and Democratic Senators are outraged and have initiated legislation to reverse that clause.
Paul Krugman pointed out that Bechtel is pulling out of Iraq after failing in its mission to rebuild water, sewage, and power plants. The twenty one billion dollars allocated for reconstruction has been spent and no more has been allocated. As far as reconstruction goes, the Bush Administration has already started to cut and run.
North Korea
10-31. North Korea has agreed to rejoin the six nation talks on nuclear disarmament.
Lebanon
11-1 and 11-2. An Nahar and Daily Star, Beirut. The liberal Lebanese government led by Prime Minister Seniora is being challenged by Hizbollah, the militant Shia party sponsored by Iran. Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader, is demanding a new “national unity government” in which the Shias (led by Hizbollah and Amal parties) have veto power. Nasrallah threatened to send his people out on the streets to demonstrate until they brought the present government down and had a new election. He expects to win a majority vote in such an election.
Walid Jumblatt, and important leader of the present liberal coalition (“the March 14 group”) flew to Washington and conferred with Secretary Rumsfeld. Then the White House announced that Iran, Syria, and Hizbollah are trying to bring down the Lebanese government, by force if necessary. CNN mentioned a possible coup.
Science
NYTimes 10-30. All energy research in the US has declined in the last 25 years to less than half of what was spent then. By contrast, the money spent on medical research has quadrupled and on military research, has increased by 260%,
NYTimes 11-2. It is no longer believed that moderate alcohol intake from whatever source is equally valuable: the old hypothesis about the superiority of red wine has now been confirmed. A natural substance in the skins of the grapes used to make red wine, resveratrol, has been shown to offset the effects of a high calorie diet in mice. This serves to explain the low rate of heart disease among the French, many of whom drink vin rouge and eat a high calorie diet.
Books
Mortenson, Greg. Three Cups of Tea. A mountain climber staggers half dead into a Pakistani village and is nursed back to life. He promises to build the villagers a school for both boys and girls. After overcoming many obstacles, he succeeds and then starts responding to requests for schools in other villages. The Muslim establishment approves of his efforts, even though the subjects taught are secular. This book is an answer to the question: If war is not the answer, then what is?
Salzman, Mark. True Notebooks. A professional writer teaches a class in writing in a prison for adolescent boys accused of violent crimes. He finds that they are vulnerable and as much victims as criminals. This serves to correct the widespread notion that many criminals are from “bad seed.”
Harris, Sam. Letter to a Christian Nation. The atheist author provides an entertaining attack on Christian fundamentalists and their social beliefs.
Rich, Frank. The Greatest Story Ever Sold. Probably the best written expose of the Bush Administration and its trumped up war in Iraq.
` Carter, Jimmy. Palestine: Peace, not Apartheid. Due out on November 14.
posted by THE FLASHLIGHT at 7:24 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home