3/29 - Queen Latifah
- Abramoff Sentencing. Former Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced on March 29 to 70 months in prison (press release on-line here). Abramoff pled guilty on January 3 to charges of conspiracy, aiding and abetting fraud, and tax evasion (release on-line here).
According to the plea agreement, Abramoff admitted conspiring to defraud four Native American Indian tribes that were clients by charging high fees and taking some in kickbacks. Abramoff also reportedly admitted to engaging in a pattern of corruptly providing things of value – including trips, tickets to events, campaign contributions, and meals at his restaurant - to public officials to benefit his clients. Abramoff also admitted to a tax evasion charge for not reporting the income he received in kickbacks.
- Indecision 5766. The new centrist Kadima party founded by Ariel Sharon, who suffered a stroke on January 4 and is in a coma, won 28 seats out of Israel's 120-member parliament on March 28; its leader Ehud Olmert will become prime minister but will have to form a coalition with other parties such as Labor, which won 20 seats. Kadima is on-line here.
- What are We Doing to Pigs. A press release about the creation of pigs that produce omega-3 fatty acids is on-line here.
3/28 - Fareed Zakaria
- Staff Detection. President George W. Bush announced on March 28 that Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who had served since the beginning of the Bush administration, was resigning and would be replaced by budget director Joshua Bolten (transcript on-line here). The March 21 press conference in which Bush was asked about staff changes is on-line here.
- What's the Matter with Denmark? 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 against Denmark around the world, with some protests leading to riots, attacks on some Danish embassies, and some deaths.
- Reference to Illegal Immigration. Thousands of people have protested against proposed legislation that would make living in the United States illegally into a criminal felony (doing so is now a violation of civil immigration law subject to deportation, not jail time) and could subject priests and social workers to jail time for assisting illegal immigrants. The House of Representatives voted in favor of a border-security bill with such provisions (H.R. 4437) on December 16 (239 for and 182 against), though the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended on March 27 passing alternative legislation that would ultimately grant citizenship to many current illegal immigrants and would create a guest-worker program.
President George W. Bush has pushed since January 2004 for a temporary worker program that would allow illegal aliens currently in the United States to pay a fee and become legally eligible for jobs which U.S. employers cannot fill with U.S. workers. Such temporary workers would be able to stay in the United States for three years and would have to return to their home countries afterwards, but would get legal protections while in the United States, Bush said.
Bush, who praised the House measure back in December (statement on-line here) even though it did not provide for a guest-worker program, said on March 27 that he opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants and that immigration reform needed to secure the border, improve enforcement, and create a guest-worker program (transcript on-line here).
Various surveys have estimated that the number of illegal immigrants grew dramatically over the 1990s. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated in 2003 that there were 7 million illegal immigrants in the United States in January 2000, almost doubling since 1990 (on-line as a PDF here). A more recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center (on-line as a PDF here) estimated that there were 10.3 million illegal aliens in the United States in March 2004.
- Reference to Iraq. Three years after the United States began military operations in Iraq on March 19, 2003, many are concerned about whether continuing violence in Iraq indicates that the country is in or is heading towards civil war. Such concerns have increased following the February 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a major Shiite holy shrine also known as the Askariya Shrine, which was followed by attacks on other mosques, protests and violence.
President George W. Bush has said in recent speeches that insurgents are trying to foment civil war. "The situation on the ground remains tense. And in the face of continued reports about killings and reprisals, I understand how some Americans have had their confidence shaken," Bush said in a March 20 speech (on-line here). Bush has focused on the Iraq government's response, saying that progress is being made towards establishing local control and security.
3/27 - Michael Gordon
- March Madness: France. French students and transit workers began a strike on March 27 against a new law that would allow companies to hire more young people under "first-job" contracts without the same job protections as other contracts. This law was passed on March 9; information is on-line here.
Many cities in France experienced civil unrest in late October and November after two youths, Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore, reportedly died in an electrical accident while trying to avoid questioning by police regarding a possible break-in at a construction site. There reportedly were incidents in more than 200 towns and around 400 arrests on November 6, the 11th day of the unrest, and the first death resulting from the unrest occurred on November 7, when a French man died from injuries he had sustained days earlier.
- March Madness: Borders. Thousands of people have protested against proposed legislation that would make living in the United States illegally into a criminal felony (doing so is now a violation of civil immigration law subject to deportation, not jail time) and could subject priests and social workers to jail time for assisting illegal immigrants. The House of Representatives voted in favor of a border-security bill with such provisions (H.R. 4437) on December 16 (239 for and 182 against), though the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended on March 27 passing alternative legislation that would ultimately grant citizenship to many current illegal immigrants and would create a guest-worker program.
President George W. Bush has pushed since January 2004 for a temporary worker program that would allow illegal aliens currently in the United States to pay a fee and become legally eligible for jobs which U.S. employers cannot fill with U.S. workers. Such temporary workers would be able to stay in the United States for three years and would have to return to their home countries afterwards, but would get legal protections while in the United States, Bush said.
Bush, who praised the House measure back in December (statement on-line here) even though it did not provide for a guest-worker program, said on March 27 that he opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants and that immigration reform needed to secure the border, improve enforcement, and create a guest-worker program (transcript on-line here).
Various surveys have estimated that the number of illegal immigrants grew dramatically over the 1990s. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service estimated in 2003 that there were 7 million illegal immigrants in the United States in January 2000, almost doubling since 1990 (on-line as a PDF here). A more recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center (on-line as a PDF here) estimated that there were 10.3 million illegal aliens in the United States in March 2004.
- Epidemic Proportions. Health officials around the world have expressed concerns about possible outbreaks of avian influenza since 1997, when the first documented cases of human infection (including six deaths) from the HN51 strain were observed in Hong Kong and when Hong Kong's entire poultry population was destroyed within days to avert a possible pandemic. Outbreaks were first reported in southeastern Asia and have been reported in Russia, Kazakhstan and eastern Europe. Since 2004, there have been 186 reported cases of human infection of the HN51 strain in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Turkey, Cambodia, Azerbaijan and Iraq, including 105 deaths (WHO information on-line here). More information about avian flu is available on-line here and here.
- Martsy Fartsy. Wal-Mart has a March 22 press release on its new Plano, Texas store on-line here.
3/23 - Michael Mandelbaum
- Cheney. The Smoking Gun has a document indicating Vice President Dick Cheney's "downtime requirements" is on-line here.
- Farc'ed. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced on March 22 that 50 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had been charged with importing cocaine into the United States. Gonzales said that the charged persons were responsible for more than 60 percent of the cocaine imported into the United States. Three of the 50 charged persons are in custody, and 47 are at large, Gonzales said (statement on-line here).
The United States has designated FARC as a foreign terrorist organization. According to the State Department, FARC primarily operates in Colombia and has about 9,000 to 12,000 armed combatants (information on-line here).
- Bathtub Cheese: Culture of Death. The San Diego District Attorney announced in November 2005 a settlement with some market owners for their selling illegal Mexican cheese known as queso fresco. Officials said that the cheese was made from milk that was not pasteurized and caused a salmonella outbreak in San Diego County in 2004. A press release on the settlement is on-line here.
3/22 - Sen. Russell Feingold
- Basque to the Future. The terrorist organization Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), or Basque Fatherland and Liberty, was founded in 1959 as a separatist movement in the Basque provinces of Spain. Spanish authorities initially blamed ETA for the Madrid train bombing on March 11, 2004, but then acknowledged that the bombing was the work of Islamic extremists. The U.S. State Department has information on ETA and other terrorist groups on-line here.
- Respect My Port Authoritah! Talks are ongoing between the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land at the World Trade Center site, and real-estate developer Larry Silverstein, who leased the World Trade Center's twin towers just weeks before the September 11, 2001 attacks and who has some contractual rights to build buildings at the site. According to reports, the two sides are trying to negotiate a deal under which the Port Authority would take over the proposed Freedom Tower while Silverstein would build smaller buildings at the site. Silverstein Properties has information on the original five-building plan on-line here.
The Freedom Tower's design is meant to evoke the Statue of Liberty, and its proposed height of 1,776 feet is meant to represent the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
- Spring Break. According to a American Medical Association poll released on March 8, 83 percent of college women responding to the poll agreed that spring break trips involved more or heavier drinking than on college campuses and 74 percent said spring break trips resulted in increased sexual activity. "These survey results are extremely disturbing because it brings up an entirely new set of issues including increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases, blackouts and violence," AMA president Dr. J. Edward Hill said in a press release (on-line here). "Women are fed up with the marketing tactics and images from the alcohol industry and spring break tour operators. Public health advocates should also be fed up since aggressive spring break marketing endangers the health and safety of college students."
- Censure Resolution. Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced a resolution on March 13 censuring President George W. Bush for his authorization of warrantless wiretaps of communications involving persons in the United States. The resolution is on-line here, and Feingold's prepared remarks introducing it are on-line here.
Constitutional scholars have disagreed on whether a Congressional censure of a president was constitutional and what effect it could have on a president. President Andrew Jackson was censured in 1834, but the constitutionality of that measure was challenged at the time and the censure itself was voided three years later when Jackson's party regained control of the Senate.
The Senate censured Jackson on charges that he had violated the Constitution by expanding federal powers (for one thing, he established that a Cabinet member sat at the president's will and could be dismissed from office) and by refusing to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States, an institution which was upheld as a constitutional use of Congress's power in the famous Supreme Court case of McColloch v. Maryland in 1819 even though it had lost public support after a financial panic in 1818 and reports of mismanagement. Led by Senator Henry Clay, whom Jackson had recently defeated in the 1832 presidential election which was in large part a referendum supporting Jackson's actions regarding the Bank, the Senate voted on March 28, 1834 in favor of the following resolution by a 26-20 vote. Three years later, the Senate voted to expunge the censure. The senate has more information here.
3/21 - Georges Sada
- Rambling Man. President George W. Bush's March 20, 2006 question-and-answer session in Cleveland is on-line here. His March 21 press conference is on-line here.
As for the question about whether Bush agreed with some people who viewed the Iraq war and terrorist attacks as signs of the apocalypse, Bush responded to some laughter that "I haven't really thought of it that way." Bush continued that "I guess I'm more of a practical fellow. I vowed after September the 11th, that I would do everything I could to protect the American people. And my attitude, of course, was affected by the attacks. I knew we were at war."
As for Bush's comment that "nobody likes beheadings," that was in response to a question about how people can help Bush at a grassroots level to promote liberty throughout the world. "It's my job, sir, to make it clear about the connection between Iraq and the war on terror. It's my job to remind people that progress is being made, in spite of the violence they see. It's my job to make it clear to the people the stakes," he said.
- Trendspotting. Oh, okay. The formula for determining if one is a L.O.S.E.R. is ((age when one moved out multiplied by age when one lost virginity) + the square root of one's monthly income) divided by the number of cats, plus one.
- Reference to Iraq's WMD. U.S. weapons inspectors said in a roughly 1,000-page report that was issued on Oct. 6, 2004 and that concluded that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. According to the report's findings, Saddam Hussein did want to recreate Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities but had no formal plan to do so and only hoped to do so only once sanctions were ended and Iraq's economy stabilized. This report is available via the CIA on-line here.
The Oct. 6 report by U.S. chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer confirmed an earlier conclusion by David Kay, who said in January 2004 that he had concluded that there was little evidence that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction at the time the United States began military action there and that U.S. intelligence assessments were inaccurate and probably outdated. It also confirmed the initial reports of the United Nations weapons inspectors, who said in March 2003 that they had found no evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or had revived its weapon programs.
3/20 - Clive Owen
- Mess O'Potamia. Three years after the United States began military operations in Iraq on March 19, 2003, many are concerned about whether continuing violence in Iraq indicates that the country is in or is heading towards civil war. Such concerns have increased following the February 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a major Shiite holy shrine also known as the Askariya Shrine, which was followed by attacks on other mosques, protests and violence.
Iraq's former interim prime minister Ayad Allawi said on a recent BBC interview (article and link on-line here) that 50-60 on average were being lost each day due to civil war and that Iraq was heading towards the "point of no return."
On the other hand, Iraq President Jalal Talabni said on March 19 that the country was "far from a civil war" (article on-line here).
President George W. Bush has said in recent speeches that insurgents are trying to foment civil war. "The situation on the ground remains tense. And in the face of continued reports about killings and reprisals, I understand how some Americans have had their confidence shaken," Bush said in a March 20 speech (on-line here). Bush has focused on the Iraq government's response, saying that progress is being made towards establishing local control and security.
Regarding the anniversary itself, Bush said on March 19 (on-line here) that "on this third anniversary, the beginning of the liberation of Iraq, I think all Americans should offer thanks to the men and women who wear the uniform, and their families who support them. We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq. And a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure, and will help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come."
- Discussion of Global Warming. Many agree that global average surface temperature has increased over the 100 years by about one degree and that higher concentrations of greenhouse gases relating to human activity such as the use of fossil fuels have contributed to this increase. President George W. Bush himself acknowledged the temperature increase and the greenhouse effect in a June 11, 2001 speech (on-line here), though he also raised questions about how much was known and what should be done in response.
"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," he said. "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."
Regarding Artic ice, researchers reported on September 29 that Arctic sea ice had declined on September 21, 2005 to 2.05 million square miles, its lowest extent in decades of monitoring. According to the researchers, Arctic sea ice has declined an estimated 8.5 percent per decade over the past 27 years. The release, with multimedia images, is on-line here.
3/16 - Vin Diesel
- Debt Ceiling. The Senate voted 52-48 on March 16 to raise the federal debt ceiling from $8.184 trillion to $8.965 trillion, the fourth increase since 2002. The debt ceiling maintains the federal government's full faith and credit in the face of growing budget deficits (about $8 trillion at the end of 2005).
What if the debt ceiling was not raised in time? The federal government does not necessarily go immediately into crisis, as it can take some stop-gap measures to keep the debt within the ceiling if that ceiling is not raised in time. The debt would have surpassed the then-current ceiling in May 2002, but the Treasury Department kept the government going for another month by suspending or redeeming investments in retirement funds and by managing available cash resources. The debt ceiling was then raised in June 2002.
- The Futile Crescent. The U.S. military announced on March 16 that it had begun "Operation Swarmer," a large-scale assault on insurgents outside Samarra, the city where a major Shiite holy shrine also known as the Askariya Shrine was bombed in February. "This operation is part of our ongoing efforts to help move forward on the security front," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on March 16 (transcript on-line here). Also on March 16, Iraq's new parliament met for the first time, though it did not conduct any business.
President George W. Bush's March 13 speech before the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies is on-line here. In the speech, he said that some improvised explosive devices had components that "were clearly produced in Iran" and that Iran's actions were "increasingly isolating" the country, "and America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats."
Joint Chief of Staff General Peter Pace did say in a March 14 press conference (on-line here) that he did not have proof that Iran's government was sponsoring insurgent activity in Iraq. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that it was possible but "not likely" that Iranians acting in Iraq were acting independent of the Iranian government.
- Indecision 2006. Rep. Katherine Harris said on March 15 that she planned to continue with her campaign for one of Florida's Senate seats. Harris, who was Florida's Secretary of State during the 2000 election, is in her second term in the House of Representatives and her campaign is on-line here.
- Moussaoui Trial. A trial began on March 6 to determine the sentence for Zacarias Moussaoui, who already pled guilty on April 22, 2005 to conspiring to commit the September 11, 2001 attacks. Federal District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled on March 14 that the government could not introduce aviation-related evidence given a government lawyer's improper coaching of witnesses, but has declined to dismiss the government's effort to seek the death penalty. Information on the case is on-line here.
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.
3/15 - Natalie Portman
- Russell Mania '06. Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced a resolution on March 13 censuring President George W. Bush for his authorization of warrantless wiretaps of communications involving persons in the United States. The resolution is on-line here, and Feingold's prepared remarks introducing it are on-line here.
Constitutional scholars have disagreed on whether a Congressional censure of a president was constitutional and what effect it could have on a president. President Andrew Jackson was censured in 1834, but the constitutionality of that measure was challenged at the time and the censure itself was voided three years later when Jackson's party regained control of the Senate.
The Senate censured Jackson on charges that he had violated the Constitution by expanding federal powers (for one thing, he established that a Cabinet member sat at the president's will and could be dismissed from office) and by refusing to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States, an institution which was upheld as a constitutional use of Congress's power in the famous Supreme Court case of McColloch v. Maryland in 1819 even though it had lost public support after a financial panic in 1818 and reports of mismanagement. Led by Senator Henry Clay, whom Jackson had recently defeated in the 1832 presidential election which was in large part a referendum supporting Jackson's actions regarding the Bank, the Senate voted on March 28, 1834 in favor of the following resolution by a 26-20 vote. Three years later, the Senate voted to expunge the censure. The Senate has more information here.
- Bye Bye Birdie. Vice President Dick Cheney has acknowledged responsibility in his shooting of fellow hunter Harry Whittingdon on February 11. Cheney said 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."
- Swift Justice. Rick Sanchez is on-line here.
3/14 - Bart Ehrman
- Indecision 2008. Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) reportedly finished first in an informal straw poll taken at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference from March 9 to 12, taking about 37 percent of the first-place votes. Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney finished second with 14 percent and Sen. George Allen of Virginia finished third; Senator John McCain had asked delegates to vote for President George W. Bush as a sign of support instead of voting for him, and Bush tied with Allen for third. An article on this is on-line here.
- Couldn't Hackett. Democrat Paul Hackett, who served in Iraq from 2004 through early 2005, withdrew in February 2006 from his campaign for Ohio's seat in the U.S. Senate. Hackett said in a statement (on-line here) that he made this decision "reluctantly, only after repeated requests by party leaders, as well as behind the scenes machinations, that were intended to hurt my campaign." Hackett ran for a House seat in Ohio's second congressional district in August 2005 and took about 48 percent of the vote, losing to Jean Schmidt.
Ohio's Democratic Party has endorsed Sherrod Brown as its candidate for the Senate seat open in 2007. Brown has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1992, and his campaign is on-line here. Brown's campaign has said that an internal poll from December showed Brown leading Hackett among Democrats 51% to 22% (on-line here).
- This Week in God: Blasphemy Edition. 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 against the cartoons around the world, with some protests leading to violence and deaths.
In response, some Israeli cartoonists 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!” one of the founders said on the contest's website (on-line here).
Regarding "The Book of Daniel," NBC cancelled this show 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.
Regarding South Park, the Catholic League criticized a December 2005 episode of South Park, which depicted a bleeding statue of the Virgin Mary. Comedy Central did not repeat the episode at some times, but some reports indicate that the network does plan to air the episode again. Information about the episode is on-line here.
Regarding a photograph of a crucifix immersed in urine, that work, Andres Serrano's Piss Christ (on-line here), sparked controversy in the late 1980s over public funding of the arts. In response, Congress eliminated money from the National Endowment of Arts' budget equal to the amount that the NEA contributed to fund this work and an exhibit of homoerotic photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. Regarding the reference to a painting of the Virgin Mary using elephant dung, Chris Ofili's painting of the Virgin Mary (on-line here) sparked controversy in 1999 when it was displayed at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Regarding Buddha statutes, those statues stood for about 1,600 years in the cliff faces in Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley before being destroyed by the Taliban in early 2001 as part of its efforts against Afghanistan's pre-Islamic past.
3/13 - Eric Burns
- Milosevic Death. Former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who led his country during the 1990s and was standing trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (on-line here) on war crimes, was found dead in his cell in the Hague on March 11. Preliminary autopsy results released on March 12 found that the cause of death was a myocardial infarction possibly explained by two heart conditions Milosevic suffered from (release on-line here).
Milosevic was first indicted as a war criminal in absentia in May 1999 while NATO bombed Serbian forces invading Kosovo. He was then ousted from power in popular elections held in September 2000, arrested by Serbian authorities in April 2001, and finally transferred to the ICTY’s control in June 2001. He was indicted initially only for leading Serbia’s systematic expulsion and execution of Muslims from Kosovo in early 1999, though charges were later added in October 2001 and November 2001 for his involvement in earlier wars in Croatia and Bosnia.
- Access Holy Land. The Peres Center for Peace hosted actress Sharon Stone during a March 7 visit and has information about the visit on-line here.
- Portscenter, Ship Storm. 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. Following a March 8 vote by a House committee against the deal, Dubai Ports World announced on March 9 that it would transfer the leases to manage some U.S. terminals to an unnamed U.S. company.
President George W. Bush, who had defended the port deal, said in a March 10 speech (on-line here) that he was concerned about the consequences of the opposition to the deal. "I'm concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East. In order to win the war on terror, we have got to strengthen our relationships and friendships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East. UAE is a committed ally in the war on terror. They are a key partner for our military in a critical region," Bush said. "UAE is a valued and strategic partner. I'm committed to strengthening our relationship with the UAE and explaining why it's important to Congress and the American people."
- Moonbase, Lunar than Later. NASA has information about its plans to return astronauts to the moon on-line here. President George W. Bush announced plans in January 2004 (transcript on-line here) to strengthen the United States' space program by completing the International Space Station by 2010, returning the space shuttle to duty, developing a new spacecraft by 2008 and conducting its first manned mission by 2014, and returning to the moon by 2020. Details on President George W. Bush's plans for NASA can be found via the White House on-line here.
By the way, a NASA article rebutting the argument that NASA faked the first moon landing (which occurred on July 20, 1969) is on-line here.
3/9 - Bruce Bartlett
- Port 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. Following a March 8 vote by a House committee against the deal, Dubai Ports World announced on March 9 that it would transfer the leases to manage some U.S. terminals to an unnamed U.S. company.
President George W. Bush had defended the port deal, saying in a February 21 appearance (on-line here), saying that the deal would not affect port security and that he would veto any legislation that blocked the deal. Many Republicans and Democrats, however, had criticized the deal as possibly weakening national security.
- Abu Ghraib. News organizations reported on March 9 that General Peter Pace said after a Senate hearing that day that the military planned to move all detainees from Abu Ghraib prison to other facilities and to turn control of Abu Ghraib to the Iraqi government within the next several months. However, the Defense Department's press service also published an article on March 9 saying that there was no timetable for closing down Abu Ghraib and that any announcements were premature (on-line here). Abu Ghraib has become infamous for the prisoner abuse there by U.S. military personnel.
- Concerns of Civil War. Concerns about whether violence in Iraq would lead to civil war have been raised following the February 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, a major Shiite holy shrine also known as the Askariya Shrine, which was followed by attacks on other mosques, protests and violence. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on March 7 (transcript on-line here) that he did not believe that Iraq was currently in a civil war and that Iraqi leaders were controlling the situation via steps such as a curfew. "It has been and remains a time of testing for the Iraqi people, but the Iraqis are meeting that test thus far successfully, I would say, and defying the seeming rush to -- by some here and abroad -- to proclaim exactly what the terrorists seek, namely a civil war," Rumsfeld said.
- Guess Who's Running for Office? The Republican Party has made more efforts in recent years in outreach to African-Americans, such as an upcoming training session for any Republican minority candidate running for public office in 2006. Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, conducted 35 African-American outreach events in 2005 and had conducted additional events in 2006 (release on-line here). The Republican Party announced in August 2004 (statement on-line here) that minorities made up 17 percent of the delegates to the Republican National Convention and that African-American representation had increased 65 percent from 2000.
Of the African-American Republican candidates mentioned, two are running for governorships and two are running for the U.S. Senate. Former football player Lynn Swann (on-line here) was endorsed in February by the Pennsylvania Republican Party as its candidate for governor. Ken Blackwell, who currently is Ohio's secretary of state, is on-line here. Keith Butler, a former Detroit city councilman who is running for the Senate, is on-line here. Michael Steele, who currently is Maryland's lieutenant governor and is running for the Senate, is on-line here.
3/8 - Neil Young
- Reference to Church Fires. Law enforcement officials announced on March 8 that they had arrested three male Alabama college students on charges relating to the arson burnings of nine Alabama churches (press release on-line here). According to reports, officials said that the arsons were not racially motivated but were a "joke" that got out of control. Birmingham-Southern College President said in a March 8 statement (on-line here) that the two Birmingham-Southern students had been suspended and banned from campus and that the school would aid in the rebuilding of the churches.
- Asian Fusion. President George W. Bush visited India and Pakistan from March 1 to March 5, with a surprise visit to Afghanistan for about four hours on March 1. While in India, Bush announced that he and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had agreed on a plan to implement a prior agreement to international regulation of India's use of nuclear energy and to share civilian nuclear technology (March 2, 2006 statement on-line here and July 18, 2005 statement on-line here). While in Pakistan, Bush met with President Purvez Musharraf to discuss issues such as terrorism (March 4, 2006 statement on-line here).
Bush was asked on the 4th if he was working on a civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan similar to India's. Bush said (on-line here) that he and Musharraf had "discussed a civilian nuclear program, and I explained that Pakistan and India are different countries with different needs and different histories. So, as we proceed forward, our strategy will take in effect those well-known differences."
One possible difference may lie in Pakistan's former top nuclear scientist, Abudl Qadeer Khan, who 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. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf subsequently gave Khan a conditional amnesty, saying that Khan was still his "hero" for helping Pakistan become a nuclear power in 1998. 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.
- Barry Bonds. According to a new book about San Francisco Giants player Barry Bonds, Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs including steroids for at least five seasons. Excerpts from the book "Game of Shadows" are in the new issue of Sports Illustrated and are on-line here). Federal prosecutors in February 2004 charged four people, including Bonds' weight trainer Greg Anderson, with illegally distributing steroids to many professional athletes (press release on-line here). Three, including Anderson, pled guilty in July 2005 conspiring to distribute and distributing illegal steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to athletes (on-line here).
3/7 - Eugene Linden
- The Day Before Tomorrow. News organizations recently have reported on video and transcripts of an August 28, 2005 videoconference in which President George W. Bush received warnings of Hurricane Katrina before it made landfall (article on-line here). The White House issued a March 2 release responding to the video, saying that the video had been available to the public for months and that it showed Bush being involved and responsive (release on-line here). Bush said in a September 1 interview with Diane Sawyer that "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees. They did anticipate a serious storm. But these levees got breached."
- Uncaged Heat. The Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee houses adult women offenders and is on-line here. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty called for a $4.9 million fence and security system for the prison in a January 2006 proposal for bonding projects. "This fence will enhance public safety at the only women's prison in the state – a facility where the number of violent offenders is growing rapidly," according to a release by the governor's office (on-line here).
