THE FLASHLIGHT, December 13-19, 2008

THE FLASHLIGHT
December 13-19, 2008
No Peace without Justice, no Justice without the Facts
Mary K. Matossian, Editor , 9-M

US Politics

Pres. Elect Obama’s nominations for the highest posts in his administration were almost completed this week.
NYT 12-13, Sec. of Housing and Urban Development: Shaun Donovan, now NYCity Housing Commissioner.
WPost 12-15. Sec. of Education: Arne Duncan, 44, chief of the Chicago school system. He is a Harvard grad.
Sec. of Agriculture: Tom Wilsack, former governor of Iowa.
NYTimes 12-17. Sec. of the Interior: Ken Salazar. This is a department riddled with incompetence and corruption. It is responsible for national parks, open spaces, and animal species.
NYTimes 12-18. Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission: Mary Schapiro, veteran regulator of the Clinton Administration.
Sec. of Transportation: Rep. Ray Lahood, (R. Ill.), a moderate Republican.
NYTimes 12-19. Trade Representative: Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas.
Director of National Intelligence: expected to nominate Dennis Blair, a retired admiral.
Science Advisor: John Holdren, Harvard physics professor, a strong proponent for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Director of the NOAA [National Oceanic, and Atmospheric Administration], which supervises climate research: Jane Lubchenoo, marine biologists, Oregan State University.

AP 12-19. For the first time, Al Franken had a lead in the unfinished recount of the Minnesota Senate Race.

US Economy

NYTimes 12-13. Financier Bernard Madoff was arrested in connection with a $50 billion loss to his investors resulting from a hidden Ponzi scheme. [Earlier investors are paid off by later investors]. Jewish families in New York and Florida were the principal victims. Despite credible warnings, the Securities and Exchange Commission did nothing.

NYTimes 12-19. Pres. Bush offered a $17.4 bridge loan to General Motors and Chrysler, returnable if the companies fail to show viability by March 31, 2009.

Israel / Palestine

AP 12-14. Israel released 224 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture of support for Pres. Abbas of the West Bank.

THE FLASHLIGHT, December 6-12, 2008

THE FLASHLIGHT
No Peace without Justice, no Justice without the Facts
December 6-12, 2008
Mary K. Matossian, Editor, 9-M

US Economy

NYTimes 12-6. The US lost 533,000 jobs in November, the worst monthly loss since December, 1974.
Some 300,000 people applied for the 3,300 jobs in the incoming Obama Administration.
NY 12-7. Obama promised the largest public works program since the superhighway program a half century ago. He promised to reduce energy use and the gas emissions causing global warming. CBS 60 Minutes. He also promised to elevate science in his administration and to schedule scientific lectures for the nation. He hopes to create 2.5 million jobs by 2011.

NYTimes 12-12. A $14 billion bill to bait out the auto industry failed to come up for consideration when a Republican minority voted against it (52 to 35). The Republicans wanted to make steep cuts in the pay and benefits, bringing them down to the levels now in effect among non-union workers in the US, paid by Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. [Many of the US plants of these Japanese manufacturers are located in Republican controlled states in the South. A bankruptcy judge could reduce wages in American car companies and eliminate their legacy costs.]
Bloomberg 12-12. Global stocks and the dollar fell sharply.

US Politics

NYTimes 12-7. Obama picked Gen. Eric Shinseki, a Japanese American, as Secretary for Veterans Affairs. This appointment served to correct the wrong done to the General by the Bush Administration when he argued for more troops to be used in the invasion of Iraq.

PBS 12-9. After a five-year investigation of corruption in Illinois politics, the FBI accused Governor Governor Rod Blagojevich of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama, in addition to many other political payoffs. The Illinois legislature met to consider legislation to hold a special election to select the Senate replacement.

NYTimes 12-11. As Secretary of Energy, Obama picked Dr. Stephen Chu, a Nobel winning physicist, currently Director of the Lawrence National Laboratory in Berkeley. He js expected to make drastic reductions in global warming gas emissions, and to build a more efficient national energy system.

Pakistan / India

` NYTimes 12-8. Pakistan has established that there have been tiies between its Inter-Services Intelligence organization and the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba [Army of the Pure].

Bloomberg 12-10. The Zardari Government arrested two operations leaders of Lashkar. They are expected to be tried in Pakistan.

Greece

PBS 12-9. Young men rioted in Greece for three days against the Conservative government of Kostas Karamanlis. They demanded an immediate election. Unemployment in Greece is high. 12-11. The protesters attacked police stations.

World Health

PBS 12-9. An increase in smoking in China, Japan, and Russia has caused an increase in cancer. It will be the number one killer by 2010.





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THE FLASHLIGHT, November 28 - December 5, 2008

THE FLASHLIGHT
November 29 – December 5, 2008
No Peace without Justice, No Justice without the Facts

US Economy

CNN 12-1. When the government announced that the present recession began in December 2007, the Dow Jones declined by 680 points.
NYTimes 12-3. The three Detroit automakers asked for $34 billion in loans, and promised to cut jobs, factories, brands, and executive pay. They seek to restructure their operations outside bankruptcy. Sales are at their lowest level in 25 to 30 years.

NYTimes 12-3. Between 1982 and 2007, tuition and fees in college increased 439%, while median family income increased only 147%.

NY Review of Books, 12-18. Paul Krugman, “What To Do,” pp. 8-10.
The most urgent issue in the global economy is to thaw out credit, which is frozen. Then the US must stimulate the economy by an injection of 4% of GDP, as compared with 1% planned now.

US Politics

NYT 12-1. Obama announced the nomination of Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State; Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense; and Susan Rice, UN Ambassador.
CNN 12-2. Saxby Chandliss was reelected as Senator from Georgia.

India

CNN 11-28. It appears that the terrorists in Mumbai have combat experience, because they don’t run under fire. They killed an ultra-orthodox Jewish rabbi and his family, suggesting that they are Muslim
``````` militants. They attacked at least nine sites. PBS 12-1. The organization that trained the militants, according to one who was taken alive, was Laskar e Taiba, in Pakistan. Over 180 people died.
The terrorist came to India by sea. Muslims indigenous to India were not involved. P)BS 12-3. After the attacks, there were demonstrations in India against the political leadership of India and against Pakistan. Since the militants targeted American, British and Israeli citizens, an international investigation has begun.

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BBC 12-4. The Israel police soldiers expelled illegal Jewish settlers from a house in Hebron, a Palestinian town on the West Bank. The settlers resisted vigorously. The violence continued Thursday evening.
Israel also opened crossings into Gaza so that food relief could be delivered.
NYTimes 12-5 and Haaretz 12-5. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled 3 to 0 against the Hebron right-wing Jewish settlers.
Young settlers rampaged through Palestinian fields and neighborhoods, attacking Palestinians and setting their homes, fields and olive trees on fire.
The settlers and their backers oppose the construction of a Palestinian state. The Israel Army is on the alert throughout the West Bank. The US State Department has told diplomats and citizens not to visit Jerusalem.

Lebanon

BBC 12-3. The economy of Lebanon is now booming because Lebanese banks did not make the same errors as those of larger states. They did not buy bundled assets carrying subprime mortgage money. They withdrew from international activity. They kept large stores of cash and limited debts. These conservative policies have paid off,.

Health

ABC News, Reuters 11-30. According to experiments on mice and rats, a newly discovered hormone found in the human body, called NAPE for short, blocks hunger and stops weight gain, according to Cell 10-26. It has no harmful side effects. This was the work of Gerald Shulman of Yale University.

PBS 11-30. Program “Brain, Sight, and Sound”. To maintain a bodily function one must use it. Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to improve its structure and functioning. Seeing and hearing are not just functions of the eyes and ears but of the brain as well.
The scientists in this presentation urged seniors to take on challenging learning tasks. Decline in mind, sight, and hearing should not be accepted as inevitable in most cases.

Baltimore Sun 12-2. Nearly half of college age adults (18-25) are struggling with mental health disorders: including alcohol dependency, depression, and anxiety, but only 25% seek treatment. The rates of dysfunction are the same for college students and
non-college students.
PBS 12-2. We can renew or skeletal frame with correct exercise combined with timely rest. Exercise is a strong medicine; it turns on the genes. People who are overweight are at a disadvantage, and loss of surplus weight helps the knees.

Science

NYTimes 12-3. a new book by Seth Shulman, Undermining Science; Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration. University of California Press, 2008, shows how the government has repeatedly and systematically tried to suit scientific report to its ideological preferences of how the world should be, not how it is.
The author explains that the scientific facts and equation taught in schools are mere consequences of scientific inquiry. Science is above all an attitude, or a stance, of measuring, evaluating, and describing the world. It is based on skepticism, investigation, and evidence. Scientists often argue over data, but that is different from suppressing, changing, and ignoring the facts.

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