2/27 - Tony Campolo
- Belief in God. A Gallup poll taken in November 2005 found that 78 percent of Americans are "convinced" that God exists, that 12 percent believe that God "probably exists" but have "a little doubt," and that 4 percent believe God "probably exists" but have "a lot of doubt." The poll found that 4 percent think that God "does not exist, but are not sure" and 1 percent are "convinced" that God does not exist. Gallup article on-line here.
- Iraq Developments. The Golden Mosque in Samarra, a major Shiite holy shrine also known as the Askariya Shrine, was bombed on February 22, leading to attacks on other mosques, protests and violence. President George W. Bush said in a statement that "[t]his senseless crime is an affront to people of faith throughout the world" (February 22 statement on-line here). Army Major General Rick Lynch discussed the resulting violence in a February 25 press briefing (on-line here), but said that he believed that the violence had been limited and was not a precursor to civil war.
- The Word: Trial Separation. Some have complained about Supreme Court rulings interpreting the First Amendment, which states that governments "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Regarding the Ten Commandments, the Supreme Court has allowed some public displays of the Ten Commandments but rejected others depending on particular circumstances. Regarding school prayer, the United States Supreme Court has ruled that public schools cannot require their students to recite prayers, cannot encourage students to pray during moments of silence, and cannot offer prayers at official school ceremonies such as graduation ceremonies, though students can pray during free time at school and schools can even allow official moments of silence in which students can do whatever they want, including pray (for more, go here).
As for Thomas Jefferson, controversy continues as to whether President Thomas Jefferson fathered some or all of the children of Sally Hemings, a slave who worked at Jefferson's home on Monticello and accompanied his family to Paris for a few years in the late 1790s, and who had at least four surviving children.
These charges, first aired in 1802 as part of a political attack, gained some newfound weight and credibility in 1998 when DNA tests published in Nature magazine showed a link between the Hemings and Jefferson descendants, thus showing that an individual carrying the male Jefferson Y chromosome - though not necessarily Thomas Jefferson himself – fathered at least the last known child born to Sally Hemings. With that much shown but so much still left unanswered, scholars as well as Jefferson's accepted and alleged descendants continue to examine historical evidence to pinpoint which adult male Jefferson was in fact the father. For more on this, go here.
- Colbert's Consumer Confidential: Pick Your Apocalypse. The concept of the Rapture, which has reached a wide audience in recent years through the popular Left Behind series of books by Tim LaHave and Jerry Jenkins, holds that Jesus will take away devout Christians will be taken to Heaven before seven years of suffering that will precede Jesus's return to Earth and his rule for a thousand years. The basis for this concept is a reading of some parts of the New Testament, especially the Book of Revelation, and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, which holds that "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout … and the dead in Christ shall rise first : Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
However, some religious leaders dispute the entire Rapture concept as well as the Left Behind series. The Illinois Conference of Bishops (on-line here) has said that the Rapture concept "is not supported in Scripture" and has criticized the Left Behind series as "a vehicle for anti-Catholic sentiments" and for "reinforce[ing] an unhealthy and immature belief in a harshly judgmental God whose mercy we earn by good behavior."
Regarding Iran, a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (on-line here) finds that Iran has increased its nuclear fuel enrichment activities and not provided sufficient explanations, though the report did not conclude that the program could be used to create nuclear weapons. The United States and European countries have called for possible action by the United Nations Security Council in response to Iran's recent resumption of nuclear activities.
2/23 - David Brooks
- Bonus Threat Down: Bears. The Toronto Globe and Mail article is on-line here.
- Presidential Visions: The Colbert Report Katrina Report. The White House released on February 23 a report that reviewed the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina and made recommendations for the future (on-line here). The report included 17 lessons learned, 125 specific recommendations, and 11 critical actions to be completed before the start of the 2006 hurricane season, including steps to improve communication among various agencies. According to the report, "the response to Hurricane Katrina fell far short of the seamless, coordinated effort that had been envisioned by President Bush when he ordered the creation of a National Response Plan in February 2003." President George W. Bush praised the report in a February 23 appearance, saying that "we will learn from the lessons of the past to better protect the American people."
A House committee investigating the government response to Hurricane Katrina (on-line here) issued its final report on February 15, in which it concluded that Katrina was a "national failure" that was in part due to a failing "at every level – individual, corporate, philanthropic, and governmental." Among other things, the report concluded that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Ray Nagin delayed ordered a mandatory evacuation after receiving adequate warning before landfall, that Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff should have taken more actions prior to landfall, and that President George W. Bush did not receive adequate advice and counsel.
- The Word: Hippocratical. The execution of convicted killer Michael Morales was scheduled for February 21 but has been postponed indefinitely following a federal judge's order requiring California to take precautions to ensure that unnecessary pain was not inflicted during the execution. The order "specifically required that the lethal injection be completed by someone licensed by the State of California to inject medications intravenously. After lengthy discussions, the decision has been made that the state cannot proceed with the execution under the conditions set by the district court," San Quentin State Prison warden Steven Ornoski said in a statement (on-line here). The case is likely to lead to a larger debate over whether lethal injection constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
- Medicare Drug Plan. People with Medicare (generally people over age 65) can now choose to enroll in a new prescription-drug plan that can help save money on annual prescription-drug costs through a discount on retail drug prices. Drug plans vary depending on location, the costs that the participant will have to pay themselves, and what drugs are covered. Information about prescription-drug coverage and about local plans is on-line here.
The new prescription-drug coverage was enacted in December 2003 and goes into effect in 2006. The plan generally provides coverage for 75% of annual drug costs and coverage for 95% of costs above $3,600 (more information on-line here). Medicare recipients can also get drug-discount cards that can reduce the cost of covered prescription drugs. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the expanded coverage would cost $395 billion from 2004 to 2013, though the Medicare Actuaries have estimated the cost at $534 billion (information on-line here).
Some have criticized the plan for not providing more assistance, for not covering all prescription drugs, and for not taking steps to ensure lower prices overall; some proposed steps include allowing the federal government to negotiate better prices from the pharmaceutical industry and allowing wider importation of drugs from Canada.
The United States spent about $140.6 billion on prescription drugs in 2001, or about 10 percent of all national health expenditures. This amount has grown faster than overall health costs; prescription-drug costs made up about 5 percent of all national health expenditures in 1990. Source: here.
- Reference to Port Deal Controversy. Controversy has surrounded a recent acquisition by a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates, Dubai Ports World, of a firm that operates several ports in the United States, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which is a British firm. P&O shareholders approved the acquisition on February 13, and the acquisition was expected to be finalized in the next few weeks.
President George W. Bush defended the port deal in a February 21 appearance (on-line here), saying that the deal would not affect port security and that opposition was unfair to a country that had been an "ally in the war on terror."
"The transaction should go forward, in my judgment. If there was any chance that this transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward," Bush said. "The company has been cooperative with the United States government. The company will not manage port security. The security of our ports will be -- continue to be managed by the Coast Guard and Customs."
The White House also issued a statement about the United States' relationship with the United Arab Emirates (on-line here).
Dubai Ports World is on-line here. P&O Ports, which manages ports in New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and New Orleans, is on-line here.
2/22 - Michael Eric Dyson
- Olympics. Figure skater Sasha Cohen finished the women's short program in figure skating in the lead on February 21, with the finals on February 23. U.S. speedskaters Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick reportedly criticized each other after the February 21 men's 1,500-meter speedskating event, in which Italian Enrico Fabris took the gold, Davis took silver, and Hedrick took bronze. Davis, who won a gold in the Feb. 18 men's 1,000-meter speedskating event, and Hedrick, who won a gold in the Feb. 11 men's 5,000-meter speedskating event, took some questions on-line here.
- The Word: Absolutely Maybe. Controversy has surrounded a recent acquisition by a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates, Dubai Ports World, of a firm that operates several ports in the United States, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which is a British firm. P&O shareholders approved the acquisition on February 13, and the acquisition was expected to be finalized in the next few weeks.
President George W. Bush defended the port deal in a February 21 appearance (on-line here), saying that the deal would not affect port security and that opposition was unfair to a country that had been an "ally in the war on terror."
"The transaction should go forward, in my judgment. If there was any chance that this transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward," Bush said. "The company has been cooperative with the United States government. The company will not manage port security. The security of our ports will be -- continue to be managed by the Coast Guard and Customs."
The White House also issued a statement about the United States' relationship with the United Arab Emirates (on-line here).
Dubai Ports World is on-line here. P&O Ports, which manages ports in New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and New Orleans, is on-line here.
- Threat Down: Gay Adoption! Knowledge! Jews! Cereal! Roommates! Measures are pending in several states to limit homosexuals from adopting children; USA Today recently reported that there are efforts in at least 16 states (article on-line here). The law on gay or lesbian individuals or couples adopting differs by state. Florida, for example, has barred such adoptions since 1977, and its law (Fl. Stat. 63.042(3)) has survived several court challenges.
The New York Times reported on February 20 that intelligence agencies had been reclassifying thousands of historical documents in the past seven years, with such reclassification efforts increasing in recent years. Some historians have acknowledged that improper declassifications should be corrected but have criticized the reclassification effort as involving documents that have no significance on homeland security.
"Some of the reclassification decisions by the multi-agency security screeners border on the ludicrous. The intelligence community security personnel have reclassified and removed from the NARA open shelves documents that have been published elsewhere, or are publicly available via electronic media from other U.S. government agencies," Matthew Aid, who discovered the reclassification effort in December 2005, wrote in an article on-line here.
The National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office, which oversees classification efforts, has begun an audit of reclassifications and is to provide further information on a periodic basis. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein said in a statement (on-line here) that "inappropriate classification (and reclassification) needlessly disrupts the free flow of information and can undermine our democratic principles which require that the American people be informed of the activities of their Government. This is not an either/or challenge."
Israeli cartoonists Eyal Zusman and Amitai Sandy recently started a contest for anti-Semitic cartoons, following an Iranian newspaper that launched such a contest in response to the ongoing controversy over cartoons published by a Danish newspaper depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. “We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published! No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!” Sandy said on the contest's website (on-line here).
- Reference to Katrina. A House committee investigating the government response to Hurricane Katrina (on-line here) issued its final report on February 15, in which it concluded that Katrina was a "national failure" that was in part due to a failing "at every level – individual, corporate, philanthropic, and governmental." Among other things, the report concluded that Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Ray Nagin delayed ordered a mandatory evacuation after receiving adequate warning before landfall, that Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff should have taken more actions prior to landfall, and that President George W. Bush did not receive adequate advice and counsel.
A similar Senate investigation is continuing into the response to Hurricane Katrina. As part of that investigation, Michael Brown, former head of the Federal Emergency and Management Agency, testified on February 10, during which he criticized the Bush administration for focusing too much on terrorism and for ignoring initial reports about flooding and levee breaks on August 29, the day that Katrina hit landfall. A partial transcript of the hearing is on-line here.
2/21 - Lama Surya Das
- Stephen's Shooting Incident. Vice President Dick Cheney has acknowledged responsibility in his shooting of fellow hunter Harry Whittingdon on February 11. Cheney first spoke about the incident publicly in a February 15 interview on Fox News (transcript on-line here): "Well, ultimately, I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry. And you can talk about all of the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line. And there's no -- it was not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else. I'm the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. And I say that is something I'll never forget."
- The Word: U.S.A.? U.S.A.? The Olympic medal count is on-line here.
The International Olympic Committee announced that it planned to conduct about 1,200 drug tests during the games, including tests of all athletes who finished in the top five in an individual event. The IOC announced on February 16 that Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva, who had won a silver medal in a biathlon event, had failed a drug test and was disqualified. The IOC announced on February 18 that unannounced out-of-competition doping tests had been conducted on some Austrian cross country and biathlon athletes.
There were seven positive cases for drug tests in the 2002 games, including two Austrian cross-country skiers who were found to have engaged in doping with the aid of a blood transfusion. Walther Mayer, who was part of the Austrian cross-country skiing team entourage in 2002 and was banned as a result of his involvement in the blood transfusion issue, has been connected to the recent incident.
- Better Know a District. The office previously held by Rep. Robert Menendez (New Jersey's 13th) is on-line here). The district currently has no voting representation until a new representative is elected; Menendez's former staff continues to work on behalf of the district under the supervision of the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, who appointed Menendez to hold the U.S. Senate seat he vacated after being elected governor, said on January 27 (release on-line here) that he would not call a special election to fill Menendez's vacancy because of uncertainty about his legal authority to do so and the estimated cost of the election, at least $2.6 million.
- Lama Surya Das. Lama Surya Das is on-line here.
- DNA. Scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announced in March 1953 their proposal for the double-helix structure for DNA and its replication scheme. Nature magazine had a special feature on the double-helix's 50th anniversary on-line here.
2/9 - George Packer
- Reference to Crichton. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists announced in October (release on-line here) that it would present a journalism award at its April meeting to author Michael Crichton for his books "State of Fear," which dealt with global warming, and "Jurassic Park." This award was mentioned in a recent New York Times article (on-line here).
Many do agree that global average surface temperature has increased over the 100 years by about one degree, though there is debate as to how much of this change is due to higher concentrations of greenhouse gases relating to human activity such as the use of fossil fuels. "We do not know how much effect natural fluctuations in climate may have had on warming. We do not know how much our climate could, or will change in the future. We do not know how fast change will occur, or even how some of our actions could impact it," President George W. Bush said in a June 11, 2001 speech (on-line here). "Finally, no one can say with any certainty what constitutes a dangerous level of warming, and therefore what level must be avoided. The policy challenge is to act in a serious and sensible way, given the limits of our knowledge."
- Reference to Boehner. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) was elected House Majority Leader on February 2 in a closed-session vote among Republicans. Boehner reportedly ran as a reform candidate and distanced himself from his predecessor Rep. Tom DeLay, who stepped down from the post in September 2005 after being indicted on state campaign finance charges and who had ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pled guilty to criminal charges. A pre-election outline of Boehner's vision and plan for being majority leader is on-line here.
The Washington Post reported on February 8 (on-line here) that Boehner rents his Washington apartment from a lobbyist, John D. Milne. Boehner's spokesman told the Washington Post that Milne does not lobby Boehner on any issue, and the Washington Post reported that Boehner's rent appeared in line with similar apartments in the area.
- The Word: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! The official site for the 2006 Winter Games is on-line here.
2/8 - Alan Dershowitz
- Reference to Low-Fat Diet Study. A major study by the National Institutes of Health's Women's Health Initiative found that low-fat diets did not significantly reduce the incidence of breast cancer, heart disease or stroke in healthy women aged 50-79 (release on-line here). The study tracked 48,835 women who were followed for an average of 8.1 years.
- Reference to Gonzales. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defended President Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to intercept what Gonzales called "communications where one party to the communication is outside the U.S. and the government has “reasonable grounds to believe” that at least one party to the communication is a member or agent of al Qaeda, or an affiliated terrorist organization" in a February 6 Senate hearing (prepared remarks on-line here).
- The Word: Eureka. President George W. Bush called for greater focus on math and science education in his State of the Union address (on-line here), proposing to train 70,000 high school teachers to lead advanced-placement courses in math and science and to encourage more professionals in the sciences to visit classrooms.
- Better Know a District. Rep. Chaka Fattah is on-line here.
- Reference to Khan. Pakistan's top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan admitted in February 2004 that he and other scientists sold nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya in the late 1980s and early 1990s, acts that U.S. intelligence apparently missed for years. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf subsequently pardoned Khan, saying that Khan was still his "hero" for helping Pakistan become a nuclear power in 1998. Musharraf later said that the amnesty was conditional and would not cover any additional acts not yet disclosed.
The revelations about Khan raise many questions about a black market in nuclear technology. "What we are seeing is a very sophisticated and complex underground network of black market operators not that much different from organized crime cartels," top UN nuclear weapons inspector Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on February 3, 2004.
Pakistani officials reportedly began investigating Khan in late 2003 after evidence emerged that Pakistani technology appeared to be connected to Iran's and Libya's nuclear weapons programs. Such evidence emerged as Iran and Libya provided greater access to the IAEA, developments that the Bush administration has hailed as a consequence of the war in Iraq.
2/7 - James Woolsey
- Reference to Math and Science. President George W. Bush called for greater focus on math and science education in a February 3 appearance (on-line here) at a Texas magnet school (on-line here). Bush specifically mentioned two proposals from his State of the Union address, which were to train 70,000 high school teachers to lead advanced-placement courses in math and science and to encourage more professionals in the sciences to visit classrooms.
- The Word: Kidding.. Muslims around the world have protested against cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist and that were originally published in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, in September 2005. The Danish newspaper apologized on January 30 (statement on-line here). European newspapers reprinted the cartoons on February 1, sparking more outrage. Muslims have protested at Danish embassies and some set the Danish embassy in Beirut on fire. At least six people reportedly were killed in protests on February 1.
- Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger. Jury selection began on February 6 to determine whether Zacarias Moussaoui, who already pled guilty on April 22, 2005 to conspiring to commit the September 11, 2001 attacks, should receive a life sentence or be executed. According to the second superseding indictment (on-line here), Moussaoui came to the United States in February 2001, took flight lessons in August 2001, and lied about why he was present in the United States to federal agents. Moussaoui was in a Minnesota jail on September 11.
Former President Jimmy Carter criticized the Bush administration's wiretap program as "disgraceful and illegal" during a February 6 appearance in which he endorsed his son's run for one of Nevada's U.S. Senate seats. Bush administration officials have defended Bush's authorization of the National Security Agency to intercept what Bush refers to as "international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations," as discussed in a December 19 press conference (on-line here). Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a February 6 Senate hearing that the program was authorized by law (prepared remarks on-line here).
A New York court-established commission recently recommended (report on-line here) that New York change its divorce system to allow for a no-fault divorce, thus allowing for the end of a marriage without a length wait or requiring one party to blame another. "Fault allegations and fault trials add significantly to the cost, delay and trauma of matrimonial litigation and are, in my cases, used by litigants to achieve a tactical advantage in matrimonial litigation," the commission concluded. According to the report, a recent survey found that all other states permit divorce on some basis that does not require fault or living separately and apart.
2/6 - Sen. Barbara Boxer
- The Word: Metaphorically. President George W. Bush's State of the Union address from January 31, 2006 is on-line here. As noted, Bush's most noted line was that America "is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." Bush said that improved technology was the "best way to break this addiction" and said that technology could help the United States replace more than 75 percent of oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said in a February 1 press conference (on-line here) that reducing oil imports from the Middle East was not a goal but was "an example of what could be accomplished" if efforts to develop ethanol, electric-oil hybrids, or a hydrogen car by 2025. Bodman said that he believed Bush's goal was to "improve the security of our country by broadening the availability, the domestic availability of motor fuels and, therefore, lessening the reliance on foreign producers."
The reference to the Middle East "is purely an example," Bodman said. "It was not mean[t] to suggest anything related to the politics of the situation, other than to indicate that, presumably, at that point in time, if we see changes and we see a more stable situation, where one is buying from a more stable supplier, presumably one would rather do business with a more stable supplier rather than a less stable supplier. So as the world evolves over the next 20 years, I would think that you would see more interest in one supplier rather than another, but it was merely meant to give an example."
Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal said in a February 5 interview on CNN (on-line here) that he was surprised by Bush's reference to "Middle East oil" and said that the comment was "something that is of serious concern to us because oil is our major income earner." He also referenced an April 2005 meeting between Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah (now king), after which the two issued a statement (on-line here) in which the United States and Saudi Arabia "pledge to continue their cooperation so that the oil supply from Saudi Arabia will be available and secure. The United States appreciates Saudi Arabia's strong commitment to accelerating investment and expanding its production capacity to help provide stability and adequately supply the market."
According to Department of Energy data (on-line here), Persian Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia account for about 20 percent of all U.S. oil imports (with Saudi Arabia alone accounting for about 12-15 percent) and have provided large amounts of oil in the two three decades, with a low point in the 1980s.
- Threat Down: Newspapers, iPods, Tunneling, Tolerance, Killer Bees. Confidential information of some subscribers of the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette was inadvertently disclosed on the backs of slips used to label newspaper bundles recently. The Boston Globe's publisher has apologized for the incident and taken actions as described in a February 2 letter on-line here.
According to reports, a Louisiana man filed a lawsuit on January 31 alleging that iPods are not designed sufficiently to prevent hearing loss and lack sufficient warnings about hearing loss. The plaintiff, John Kiel Patterson, reportedly has not suffered hearing loss. According to reports, the complaint states that iPods are sold in France with software that limits output to a lower decibel level than in iPods sold elsewhere.
At least 13 convicted al-Qaeda terrorists escaped from a Yemeni prison on February 3 using a 140-meter long tunnel dug by the prisoners and by co-conspirators outside. The escapees include Jamal Ahmed Badawi, who helped plan the bomb attack on the navy ship USS Cole in 2000. Interpol has a release on this here.
Muslims around the world have protested against cartoons that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist and that were originally published in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, in September 2005. The Danish newspaper apologized on January 30 (statement on-line here). European newspapers reprinted the cartoons on February 1, sparking more outrage. Muslims have protested at Danish embassies and some set the Danish embassy in Beirut on fire. At least six people reportedly were killed in protests on February 1.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services issued warnings about the Africanized honey bee (sometimes known as the killer bee) population in July 2005 (on-line here).
2/2 - Governor Christine Todd Whitman
- Alito Vote. Justice Samuel Alito, who was sworn in on January 31 after being confirmed by the Senate earlier that day, voted on February 1 to prevent Missouri from executing convicted murdered Michael Taylor, siding with the majority and not with Chief Justice John Roberts and other conservative justices. The order is on-line here.
- The Word: Aggravated Assault. The 40th Super Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, February 5 and is on-line here.
- Better Know a District. Rep. Jerrold Nadler is on-line here.
Some provisions of the USA Patriot Act are scheduled to expire unless renewed. The Patriot Act, which as enacted less than two months after the September 11, 2001 attacks, strengthened the federal government's powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct surveillance, conduct physical searches, and run pen registers on people who are believed to be agents of a foreign power (this includes US citizens who knowingly engage in international terrorism but not domestic terrorism), and also allowed the government to delay notification of a warrant to a suspect under some circumstances. It also allowed for more sharing of information developed through investigations.
If not renewed, many surveillance-related provisions will expire, though other aspects of the Patriot Act, such as those dealing with money laundering, border controls, and new crimes and penalties specifically covering acts of terrorism are NOT set to expire automatically. For more information on the Patriot Act, go here.
- Whitman's Website. Governor Christine Todd Whitman's website is on-line here.
2/1 - Emily Yoffee (The American Worker: A Hero's Salute to the Besieged Heroes of the American Jobscape)
- The Word: You're Welcome. Stephen referred to a January 31, 2006 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (on-line here), which found that compensation costs for civilian workers increased 3.1 percent in 2005, which was lower than in previous years.
As for Stephen's reference to Exxon and profits, Exxon reported on January 30 that it had earned an estimated $36.1 billion in net income for 2005, an increase of 43 percent from the prior year, and an estimated $10.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2004 alone, an increased of 27 percent over the same quarter a year earlier. The release is on-line here. The profits are especially notable given the concern expressed last year over high gas prices, especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
- Minimum Wage. The federal minimum wage for covered workers has stayed at $5.15 per hour since 1997, when legislation enacted the year before went into effect. The minimum wage is not adjusted automatically for inflation, which means that the value has fallen in real, inflation-adjusted terms since 1997 and now has purchasing power of about 80 percent its value when last adjusted.
Beyond the federal government, many states have enacted their own minimum-wage laws to cover those employers who are exempt from the federal law. Many states simply adopt the federal minimum wage as their own, and several have a state minimum wage higher than the federal government (map on-line here). Some states have a rate lower than the federal government or have no minimum-wage law at all; the federal standard applies in such states.
1/31 - Dave Marash
Footnoted late.
- State of the Union. President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address is on-line here. Bush's most noted line probably was that America "is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." Bush said that improved technology was the "best way to break this addiction" and said that technology could help the United States replace more than 75 percent of oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.
- Oscars. The Oscar nominations are on-line here.
- The Word: Jesi. NBC cancelled the show "The Book of Daniel" shortly after premiering its first episode on January 6. Groups such as the American Family Association (on-line here) criticized the show for its depiction of Jesus and called for a boycott of the show, and some NBC affiliates declined to broadcast the show.
As for Darfur, human rights organizations and the international community have called attention to the ongoing crisis in that region of Sudan, where Sudan's armed forces and government-backed militias reportedly have targeted civilians belonging to the same ethnic groups as two rebel groups. President George W. Bush called the ongoing crisis "genocide" in a September 9, 2004 statement (on-line here), though a commission established by the United Nations concluded in a January 2005 report that the government had not pursued a policy of genocide even if some individuals may have committed acts with genocidal intent.
James Dobson is the head of Focus on the Family, a conservative organization which is on-line here. Dobson has written several books on parenting and has written about the importance of discipline.
- All You Need to Know. Samuel A. Alito Jr. was sworn in as the newest justice on the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006 filling the seat previously held by Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The Senate voted 58-42 to confirm Alito earlier on January 31, with 54 Republicans and four Democrats voting to confirm, and 40 Democrats, one independent and one Republican (Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island) voting against confirmation. Alito's nomination has been hailed by conservatives because of Alito's prior rulings on abortion cases and other documents that strongly suggest a personal opposition to abortion, though it is unclear how he would rule in future cases.
Augustine Volcano in Alaska was in a state of eruption on January 29, 2006. The Augustine Volcano Observatory is on-line here.
Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) defended funding for two Alaska bridges in October, when Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) proposed transferring federal funding for various public projects to reconstruction projects in Louisiana. One of the bridges that would have been affected by Coburn's proposal will connect the sparsely populated Gravina Island to the city of Ketchikan in southeast Alaska, and the other will connect the city of Anchorage to a port. The proposal was defeated in an 82-15 vote on October 20. Stevens defended the bridge projects on the floor and in a press release on-line here.
Regardless of the fate of the TV series Commander in Chief (footnoted here), the concept has become more acceptable to the American people over the past few decades. For example, the Gallup organization has conducted polls on this question periodically since 1937 and has found increasing support for the concept of electing a qualified candidate who happened to be a woman. Moreover, women have gained representation in the U.S. Congress and in state governorships, areas from which presidents are more likely to come.
