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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/opinion/11wed3.html?pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
Editorial
An Impossible Job
It is heartening, and a little surprising, that the race to succeed Kofi Annan as United Nations secretary general was so hard fought. The job is grueling, requiring an extraordinary combination of public advocacy, tough management and tireless crisis diplomacy - and it can often feel thankless.
This week the Security Council picked Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon of South Korea. Mr. Ban got a quick taste of his life to come, when the news of his selection was upstaged by North Korea's announcement that it had tested a nuclear weapon.
We wish Mr. Ban well. The United Nations is an essential organization for promoting American foreign policy goals and for achieving a fairer and more peaceful world. Yet the past few years have done serious damage. The problems range from the Security Council's bitter divisions over Iraq to the scandalous behavior of corrupt officials and sexually predatory peacekeepers to the General Assembly's watering down of essential reforms.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/dining/11snac.html?pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
Seduced by Snacks? No, Not You
By KIM SEVERSON
Ithaca, N.Y.
PEOPLE almost always think they are too smart for Prof. Brian Wansink's quirky experiments in the psychology of overindulgence.When it comes to the slippery issues of snacking and portion control, no one thinks he or she is the schmo who digs deep into the snack bowl without thinking, or orders dessert just because a restaurant plays a certain kind of music.
"To a person, people will swear they aren't influenced by the size of a package or how much variety there is on a buffet or the fancy name on a can of beans, but they are," Dr. Wansink said. "Every time."
He has the data to prove it. Dr. Wansink, who holds a doctorate in marketing from Stanford University and directs the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, probably knows more about why we put things in our mouths than anybody else. His experiments examine the cues that make us eat the way we do. The size of an ice cream scoop, the way something is packaged and whom we sit next to all influence how much we eat. His research doesn't pave a clear path out of the obesity epidemic, but it does show the significant effect one's eating environment has on slow and steady weight gain.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/business/worldbusiness/11health.html?pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
Union Disrupts Plan to Send Ailing Workers to India for Cheaper Medical Care
By SARITHA RAI
BANGALORE, India, Oct. 10 - A few weeks ago, Carl Garrett, a 60-year-old North Carolina resident, was packing his bags to fly to New Delhi and check into the plush Indraprastha Apollo Hospital to have his gall bladder removed and the painful muscles in his left shoulder repaired. Mr. Garrett was to be a test case, the first company-sponsored worker in the United States to receive medical treatment in low-cost India.
But instead of making the 20-hour flight, Mr. Garrett was grounded by a stormy debate between his employer, which saw the benefits of using the less expensive hospitals in India, and his union, which raised questions about the quality of overseas health care and the issue of medical liability should anything go wrong.
"I was looking forward to the adventure of being treated in India," Mr. Garrett said the other day. "But my company dropped the ball."The union, the United Steelworkers, stepped in after it heard about Mr. Garrett's plans, saying it deplored a "shocking new approach" of sending workers to low-cost countries as a way to cut health care costs. Its officials insisted that Mr. Garrett be offered a health care option within the United States.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/europe/11muslims.html?ei=5094&en=83692e20c96f14b4&hp=&ex=1160625600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
Across Europe, Worries on Islam Spread to Center
By DAN BILEFSKY and IAN FISHER08
BRUSSELS, Oct. 10 - Europe appears to be crossing an invisible line regarding its Muslim minorities: more people in the political mainstream are arguing that Islam cannot be reconciled with European values.
"You saw what happened with the pope," said Patrick Gonman, 43, the owner of Raga, a funky wine bar in downtown Antwerp, 25 miles from here. "He said Islam is an aggressive religion. And the next day they kill a nun somewhere and make his point.
"Rationality is gone."
Mr. Gonman is hardly an extremist. In fact, he organized a protest last week in which 20 bars and restaurants closed on the night when a far-right party with an anti-Muslim message held a rally nearby.
His worry is shared by centrists across Europe angry at terror attacks in the name of religion on a continent that has largely abandoned it, and disturbed that any criticism of Islam or Muslim immigration provokes threats of violence.
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Ray's Note:
The following article points to a major problem with getting top scholars and experts into public schools as teachers. Many of the state and federal standards for the credentialing of teachers, and certainly "No Child Left Behind" are more about protecting the cash cows of large teacher-training institutions, testing agencies and teachers' unions - the status quo. Real scientists, mathematicians, historians and writers are unwelcome in our public schools. Sadly, the present U.S. educational system is about conformity and allows little academic freedom for great teachers.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/education/11education.html?pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
On Education
Despite a Doctorate and Top Students, Unqualified to Teach
By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN
Jefferds Huyck stood in a corner of the gymnasium, comfortable in being inconspicuous, as the annual awards ceremony began one Friday last May at Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, Calif. He listened as the principal named 16 of Mr. Huyck's students who had earned honors in a nationwide Latin exam, and he applauded as those protégés gathered near center court to receive their certificates.
Then the principal, Andrew Goldenkranz, said, "And here's their teacher." Hundreds of students and parents and colleagues rose unbidden in a standing ovation. In that gesture, they were both celebrating and protesting.
As virtually everyone in the audience knew, Mr. Huyck would be leaving Pacific Collegiate, a charter school, after commencement. Despite his doctorate in classics from Harvard, despite his 22 years teaching in high school and college, despite the classroom successes he had so demonstrably achieved with his Latin students in Santa Cruz, he was not considered "highly qualified" by California education officials under their interpretation of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/opinion/11friedman.html?pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
The Bus Is Waiting
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
As eras go, the post-cold war has been a pretty good one. The collapse of communism, the spread of free-market democracies and the general reign of stability bought and paid for by U.S. power all combined to create a world in which China and India have been able to rise peacefully, America has prospered, and Europe has become whole and free. Yes, there's been 9/11, Bosnia, the rise of the petro-dictators and African wars - which are hardly trivial. But all in all, compared with the vast repression and nuclear standoff that characterized the cold war, the post-cold-war era has been much better for a lot of humanity.
Too bad it's probably over.
Yes, one day historians may argue that the post-cold war started on 11/9 and ended on 10/9.
The Berlin Wall fell on 11/9 - Nov. 9, 1989, which ushered in the post-cold-war world. The apparent North Korean nuclear test went up on Oct. 9, 2006, which, may have ushered out the post-cold-war world and ushered in a much more problematic era - the post-post-cold-war world.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/opinion/11hickok.html?pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
No Undergrad Left Behind
By EUGENE HICKOK
Richmond, Va.
LIKE it or not, the No Child Left Behind Act passed under President Bush has transformed the conversation about American public education. The law has its flaws, but the nation has benefited from its focus on results and its willingness to confront gaps in educational achievement.
Now the administration has extended the discussion into what has long been considered sacred ground in Washington politics: higher education. Recent studies have highlighted higher education's skyrocketing costs, uneven quality and poor graduation rates. Even more disturbing are reports that reading competency and comprehension are declining among college graduates - as if there should be any question about the reading skills of people with college degrees.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has addressed these and other concerns by embracing reforms that could strengthen higher education and improve access and opportunities for America's students. Among her commission's recommendations are heightening fiscal and academic accountability, improving access to financial aid and assembling accurate data on the performance of students and institutions.
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The New York Times
http://midtermmadness.blogs.nytimes.com/
October 10, 2006, 10:30 pm
Playground Politics: How Democrats Can Take Over the Seesaw
By Thomas F. Schaller
To understand why the Republicans are America's majority party and what Democrats must do to change the balance of power, think of a seesaw. Balanced almost perfectly, the seesaw tilts slightly toward the Republicans, who enjoy slim majorities at the presidential, Congressional and gubernatorial levels.
Although there are several ways to tip a seesaw, political consultants and media analysts tend to focus on just one - the conversion of swing voters near the fulcrum to one side or the other. Much of our national electoral parlance - from "purple states" to "soccer moms" - has been constructed to describe this fight to sway uncommitted and undecided voters in the middle.
But the Republicans have prospered by practically ignoring the middle. As Thomas Edsall reports in his new book, "Building Red America," before the 2000 Florida recount was completed, George W. Bush's pollster Matthew Dowd had already presented Karl Rove an analysis showing that the center of the electorate was disappearing. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" soon vanished, and Rove announced that the G.O.P. would set its sights on the 4 million evangelicals who had not voted in 2000. The Republicans, in other words, opted for the second way to tip a seesaw: through mobilization - convincing voters standing idly on the playground to jump on. In key places like western Ohio, these evangelicals helped ensure Bush's re-election in 2004.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001281_pf.html
Support Freedom in the Arab World
By Radwan A. Masmoudi and Amr Hamzawy
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; A19
As Arab and Muslim intellectuals and activists concerned about the promotion of democracy in our region, we call on America and its president to reaffirm -- in words and actions -- its commitment to sustained democratic reform in the Arab world.
We have been heartened by the strong commitment to liberty that President Bush expressed in his November 2003 speech at the National Endowment for Democracy and then in his second inaugural address, when he said: "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: The United States will not ignore your oppression or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."
Despite some initial skepticism, those statements nurtured hope in our region. We realize that democracy is not easily attained and must ultimately come from within. But it can receive encouragement and support, both of which it badly needs today in Arab countries.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001475_pf.html
The Handwriting Is on the Wall
Researchers See a Downside as Keyboards Replace Pens in Schools
By Margaret Webb Pressler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; A01
The computer keyboard helped kill shorthand, and now it's threatening to finish off longhand.
When handwritten essays were introduced on the SAT exams for the class of 2006, just 15 percent of the almost 1.5 million students wrote their answers in cursive. The rest? They printed. Block letters.
And those college hopefuls are just the first edge of a wave of U.S. students who no longer get much handwriting instruction in the primary grades, frequently 10 minutes a day or less. As a result, more and more students struggle to read and write cursive.
Many educators shrug. Stacked up against teaching technology, foreign languages and the material on standardized tests, penmanship instruction seems a relic, teachers across the region say. But academics who specialize in writing acquisition argue that it's important cognitively, pointing to research that shows children without proficient handwriting skills produce simpler, shorter compositions, from the earliest grades.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/10/AR2006101001283_pf.html
Giving Up Too Much On Choice
By Ruth Marcus
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; A19
At the Sioux Falls headquarters of the campaign to repeal Referred Law 6 -- better known as the South Dakota abortion ban -- is a handlettered sign that sums up the opponents' case: "This law simply goes too far."
Yes, it does. But I worry that those fighting to undo the abortion ban have, with the best of intentions, also gone too far in conceding the moral terrain of the abortion debate.
The South Dakota statute is chilling in its remorseless reach. The sole exception to the criminal prohibition on abortions -- doctors would face up to five years in prison for performing them -- is to save the life of the mother. Rape or incest victims, and women whose health would be jeopardized by carrying a pregnancy to term, get no leeway under the statute, passed overwhelmingly in February by the state legislature.
On one level, then, it's little wonder, especially in conservative South Dakota, that the effort to repeal the law -- it's on the November ballot -- has focused on its inflexibility. After all, exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest are a staple of even the most conservative politicians' political platforms -- President Bush, for one; John Thune, South Dakota's Republican senator, for another. Federal law requires Medicaid funding for abortions in cases of rape or incest.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/10/11/BL2006101100409_pf.html
The Democrats Are Coming!?
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; 8:26 AM
Speaker Nancy Pelosi .
What was once a scary punchline for Republican fundraisers is now a distinct possibility.
I'm not suggesting that the avalanche of polls showing all indicatorsfavoring the Democrats- -remember the theory that declining gas prices wouldhelp the GOP?--means the prospect of the House and even the Senate flippingis a slam dunk. Plenty can happen between now and Election Day, including abarrage of negative ads financed by truckloads of Republican cash.
But journalists are just starting to turn their attention to what aDemocratic House would mean, for the Bush presidency and the country.
I have to chuckle when I hear GOP operatives moaning that the Dems wouldspend two years tying up Bush with investigations and subpoenas. Does anyoneremember the endless Whitewater probes? Or the year that Republicans spentinvestigating Bill Clinton's sex life, resulting in a party-line vote toimpeach him?
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http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/10/11/washu
Oct. 11
Professor Quits Amid Charge of Improper Relationship
An assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis who gainedrenown for helping to discover a new dinosaur species has resigned amidallegations of an improper relationship with a student.
The case involves Joshua Smith, who taught at the university for four yearsin the earth and planetary sciences graduate department. Thought to be arising star in the field, Smith was known for teaching a highly popularclass on dinosaurs.
The issue surfaced this summer, when the university received informationthat was shared with Smith, according to M. Frederic Volkmann, vicechancellor for public affairs at Washington. Smith left the university overthe summer, after the woman with whom he was alleged to have had aconsensual relationship came forward, said a university official who wantedto remain anonymous. The student's identity is not being revealed byWashington administrators.
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http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/columnists/sfl-swcol110oct11,0,5435119.column
Foley's follies and the fraternal order of nitwits
Sherri Winston
Lifestyle Columnist
October 11, 2006
Not since that climactic tap-dance sequence in Chicago, where Richard Gere feverishly hoofs to distract jurors from his client's guilt, have I seen asmuch two-stepping and side-stepping as Mark Foley demonstratedboogie-oogie-ooging out of the public eye.
Unless you've been sleeping in a cave, you've heard about the disgracedrepresentative from Palm Beach County and his alleged lascivious e-mails toyoung congressional pages.
Faster than you could say, "I am not a crook!" Foley entered alcohol rehab.
Republicans have ridden their holier-than-thou family values platform withall the hubris of the Wicked Witch of the East careening on her broom over aterror-filled Oz.
Now the same fraternal order of nitwits that made the concept of legalizinggay marriage sound as dangerous as inviting al-Qaida to a Fourth of Julycelebration wants us to consider all of the possible explanations forFoley's follies.
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http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=3mYmW3gft3gRvknwHXkK6gvzhkwQqx8j
2 Democrats' Votes on Sex-Related NIH Research in 2003 Become Fodder for Attack Ads in 2006
By ANNIE SHUPPY
Two Democrats running for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives have come under attack for their votes three years ago in support of controversial sex-related academic research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
The attacks, in advertisements that their Republican challengers have sought to air on television stations in North Carolina and Wisconsin, accuse the incumbents of voting to spend money to study "the masturbation habits of old men" and "to pay teenage girls to watch pornographic movies with probes connected to their genitalia" instead of authorizing appropriations for body armor needed by American troops at war.
The ads were first shown on stations in North Carolina, where Vernon Robinson is the Republican challenger running against Rep. Brad Miller.
In Wisconsin, where Paul R. Nelson is challenging Rep. Ron Kind, local TV stations so far have refused to accept the ads for broadcast, saying they used indecent language that would be objectionable to viewers. Mr. Nelson has released the spot he wants to show online.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/15721590.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Tue, Oct. 10, 2006
New boss same as the old boss
CRITICS SAY GOVERNOR HAS WAFFLED; FACTS DON'T SUPPORT THEM
By Daniel Weintraub
Much has been made about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's leftward lean in this election year. Conservative Republican activists are afraid that the governor they helped elect three years ago is now little more than a closet Democrat. Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, have been saying the governor lacks core values and will probably return to the conservative fold once he is safely in office for another four years.
But a close look at the thousand-plus bills the governor signed and vetoed this year suggests that both sides are overreacting.
Schwarzenegger ran in 2003 as a cross-partisan hybrid, a pro-environment social liberal and a pragmatic economic conservative. And that's pretty much the way he has governed. Even this year.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/world/asia/10ban.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=world&pagewanted=print
October 10, 2006
Security Council Approves South Korean as U.N. Chief
By WARREN HOGE and CHOE SANG-HUN
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 9 - The Security Council on Monday officially nominated Ban Ki-moon, the foreign minister of South Korea, to become the next secretary general of the United Nations, essentially assuring him the post.
While Mr. Ban said it was an honor for him and his country, he noted that North Korea's announcement of a nuclear test cast a shadow on his nomination.
"This should be a moment of joy, but instead I stand here with a very heavy heart," Mr. Ban said in a news conference in Seoul. "Despite the concerted warning from the international community, North Korea has gone ahead with a nuclear test."
Kenzo Oshima, the ambassador of Japan, the Council president, announced that Mr. Ban had been approved by all 15 members by acclamation. His nomination had been assured after he won four informal polls of the Council's members over the summer, leading to the withdrawal last week of the six other candidates.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/28853
Published: 10.10.2006
Mexico threatening to take U.S. to the U.N. over border fence
The Associated Press
Mexico's foreign secretary said the country may take to the United Nations a dispute over the United States' plans to build a fence on the Mexican border.
Luis Ernesto Derbez told reporters in Paris, his first stop on a European tour, that a legal investigation was under way to determine whether Mexico has a case.
The Mexican government last week sent a diplomatic note to Washington, criticizing the plan for 700 miles of new fencing along the border. President-elect Felipe Calderon also denounced the plan, but said it was a bilateral issue that should not be put before the international community.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060926_huq.html
How The Military Commissions Act of 2006 Threatens Judicial Independence:
Attempting to Keep the Courts Out of the Business of Geneva Conventions Enforcement
By AZIZ HUQ
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Tuesday, Sep. 26, 2006
Hailed first as a triumph of bipartisan compromise, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) is now the focus of fierce criticism. Along the way, the MCA's sponsor, Senator John Warner (R-VA), and his colleagues Senators John McCain (R-AR) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) capitulated on fair-trial rules and allowed incursions on the principle that cruel and inhumane treatment would be clearly criminalized.
These ugly compromises, rightly, have been well-publicized. Less remarked, but equally important, are the MCA's incursions on judicial independence, which I will address here.
The Federal Courts' Role in Wartime: In Early American History, and Now
Since the Founding, federal courts supervised executive conduct in wartime, even toward "enemy aliens" - and at times, found the executive had exceeded its legislatively defined power.
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Forwarded from Victoria Lavin
Daily Queer News
dailyqueernews@yahoo.com
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006610100375
Army lowers aptitude standards
October 10, 2006
By LOLITA C. BALDOR The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army recruited more than 2,600 soldiers under new lower aptitude standards this year, helping the service beat its goal of 80,000 recruits in the throes of an unpopular war and mounting casualties.
The recruiting mark comes a year after the Army missed its recruitment target by the widest margin since 1979, which had triggered a boost in the number of recruiters, increased bonuses, and changes in standards.
The Army recruited 80,635 soldiers, roughly 7,000 more than last year. Of those, about 70,000 were first-time recruits who had never served before.
According to statistics obtained by The Associated Press, 3.8 percent of the first-time recruits scored below certain aptitude levels.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/10/politics/printable2078487.shtml
McCain Raps Clintons On North Korea
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Oct. 10, 2006
(AP) Republican Sen. John McCain on Tuesday accused former President Clinton, the husband of his potential 2008 White House rival, of failing to act in the 1990s to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons.
"I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure," McCain said at a news conference after a campaign appearance for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.
"The Koreans received millions and millions in energy assistance. They've diverted millions of dollars of food assistance to their military," he said.
Democrats have argued President Clinton presented his successor with a framework for dealing with North Korea and the Republican fumbled the opportunity. In October 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a groundbreaking visit to Pyongyang to explore a missile deal with Chairman Kim Jong Il. There was even talk of a visit by President Clinton.
Reports this week suggesting North Korea tested a nuclear device prompted a number of Democrats to criticize Bush, arguing that he focused on Iraq, a country without weapons of mass destruction, while ignoring legitimate threats from Pyongyang.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/business/11religious.html
October 11, 2006
In God's Name
Religion-Based Tax Breaks: Housing to Paychecks to Books
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES
For tens of millions of Americans, the Rev. Rick Warren is best known for his blockbuster spiritual guide, "The Purpose Driven Life," which has sold more than 25 million copies; his success as the founder of the 22,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.; and his efforts on behalf of some of the world's neediest people.
But for tens of thousands of ministers - and their financial advisers - Pastor Warren will also be remembered as their champion in a fight over the most valuable tax break available to ordained clergy members of all faiths: an exemption from federal taxes for most of the money they spend on housing, which typically represents roughly a third of their compensation. Pastor Warren argued that the tax break is essential to poorly paid clergy members who serve society.
The tax break is not available to the staff at secular nonprofit organizations whose scale and charitable aims compare to those of religious ministries like Pastor Warren's church, or to poorly paid inner-city teachers and day care workers who also serve their communities.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-scandal.html?pagewanted=print
October 10, 2006
Hastert Says Those Who Hid Scandal Must Go
By REUTERS
Filed at 4:18 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican head of the U.S. House of Representatives said on Tuesday anyone who covered up a growing Internet sex scandal on Capitol Hill should step down.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert made the comment as Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, Congress' only openly gay Republican, confirmed he was told six years ago of inappropriate Internet messages from former Republican Rep. Mark Foley to a young male former House aide.
Kolbe said he passed the information on to the House office that supervises the page program, in which high school students spend time in Washington as junior congressional assistants.
``This was done promptly,'' Kolbe said in a statement. ``I did not have a personal conversation with Mr. Foley about the matter. I assume e-mail contacts ceased since the former page never raised the issue again with my office.''
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Congress-Pages.html?pagewanted=print
October 11, 2006
Ethics Panel to Tackle Foley Case
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:13 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office may have learned of ex-Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate conduct toward male pages in 2002, 2003 or 2005, depending on who is telling the story.
This week, the House's internal investigators are starting to sort it all out.
Kirk Fordham, Foley's one-time chief of staff, is scheduled for questioning Thursday before a House ethics committee investigative panel. He said he notified Hastert chief of staff Scott Palmer in 2002 or 2003 about Foley's inappropriate conduct, and that he subsequently learned that Palmer met with Foley.
An internal review released by Hastert's office on Sept. 30 says the first notice to Hastert's aides about Foley wasn't until the fall of 2005 -- and it didn't come from Fordham.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/opinion/11carter.html
October 11, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Solving the Korean Stalemate, One Step at a Time
By JIMMY CARTER
ATLANTA
IN 1994 the North Koreans expelled inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency and were threatening to process spent nuclear fuel into plutonium, giving them the ability to produce nuclear weapons.
With the risk of war on the Korean Peninsula, there was a consensus that the forces of South Korea and the United States could overwhelmingly defeat North Korea. But it was also known that North Korea could quickly launch more than 20,000 shells and missiles into nearby Seoul. The American commander in South Korea, Gen. Gary Luck, estimated that total casualties would far exceed those of the Korean War.
Responding to an invitation from President Kim Il-sung of North Korea, and with the approval of President Bill Clinton, I went to Pyongyang and negotiated an agreement under which North Korea would cease its nuclear program at Yongbyon and permit inspectors from the atomic agency to return to the site to assure that the spent fuel was not reprocessed. It was also agreed that direct talks would be held between the two Koreas.
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