**IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE, CONTACT US AT
rays.list@comcast.net and we'll be happy to send the full article.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000883_pf.html
Inquiry Sought Over Evangelical Video
Defense Department Asked to Examine Officers' Acts Supporting Christian
Group
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 11, 2006; A03
A military watchdog group is asking the Defense Department to investigatewhether seven Army and Air Force officers violated regulations by appearingin uniform in a promotional video for an evangelical Christian organization.
In the video, much of which was filmed inside the Pentagon, four generalsand three colonels praise the Christian Embassy, a group that evangelizesamong military leaders, politicians and diplomats in Washington. Some of theofficers describe their efforts to spread their faith within the military.
"I found a wonderful opportunity as a director on the joint staff, as I meetthe people that come into my directorate," Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack J.Catton Jr. says in the video. "And I tell them right up front who JackCatton is, and I start with the fact that I'm an old-fashioned American, andmy first priority is my faith in God, then my family and then country. Ishare my faith because it describes who I am."
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000200_pf.html
U.S. Report Rejected By Iraqi President
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 11, 2006; A15
BAGHDAD, Dec. 10 -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Sunday stronglyrejected a bipartisan U.S. panel's report on U.S. war strategy in Iraq,calling some of its recommendations "dangerous" and a threat to hiscountry's sovereignty.
"The report does not respect the will of the Iraqis in dealing with theirproblems," he said in a statement released by his office.
The report by the Iraq Study Group, which was released Wednesday, has drawncriticism from several Iraqi political leaders across sectarian lines.Talabani, a Kurd, is the highest-ranking political leader to oppose thestudy.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000766_pf.html
Democrats Can Smell the Pork
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, December 11, 2006; A19
The sterile, confused lame-duck session of the Republican-controlled 109thCongress ended with a quiet victory by reformers that staved off anestimated 10,000 earmarks. But it could not be called a farewell to pork. Asthe House approached adjournment Thursday, Democrats signaled they maycountenance a return to free and easy spending ways when they assume themajority Jan. 4.
The hero of the lame-duck session was freshman Republican Sen. Jim DeMint ofSouth Carolina. He was instrumental in blocking a Senate-House conference ona military construction appropriations bill, which would then be used as thelast train out of town to carry pork. But just as the reformers werecheering Thursday, a coalition of Republicans and Democrats defeated aprocedure designed to inhibit Pentagon earmarks.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/11/AR2006121100147_pf.html
Three Palestinian Children Killed in Gaza Shooting
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 11, 2006; 5:36 AM
JERUSALEM, Dec. 11--Gunmen in Gaza City opened fire Monday on the car of asenior Palestinian intelligence official, killing three of his children andthe driver as he was dropping them off at school.
The intelligence officer, Baha Balousha, was not in the car during themorning attack. He is closely identified with Palestinian leader MahmoudAbbas' Fatah party, and participated in a crackdown in the 1990s againstmembers of the rival Hamas movement in Gaza.
The incident followed a day after gunmen fired on the convoy of InteriorMinister Saed Siyam, a powerful Hamas official who was not injured in theshooting.
=
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/12/11/a_well_meaning_end_to_discrimination?mode=PF
CATHY YOUNG
A well-meaning end to discrimination
By Cathy Young | December 11, 2006
DEPENDING ON who you talk to, the passage of Proposal 2 in Michigan lastmonth was either a great victory for freedom and equal rights or adisastrous setback for minorities and women.
The ballot measure, known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, attractedlittle national attention after 58 percent of voters approved it Nov. 7. Itslanguage is simple: "The state shall not discriminate against, or grantpreferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race,sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of publicemployment, public education, or public contracting."
The initiative grew out of two Supreme Court cases challenging affirmativeaction programs at the University of Michigan. The plaintiff in one case,Jennifer Gratz, had failed to gain admission to the University of Michiganin Ann Arbor with a 3.8 grade point average, a score of 25 out of 36 on thecollege entrance test and a good record of extracurricular achievements.Later, Gratz learned that an African-American or Hispanic applicant withsimilar qualifications would have been guaranteed admission. She filed alawsuit, Gratz v. Bollinger.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000768_pf.html
What I've Learned
By Kofi A. Annan
Monday, December 11, 2006; A19
Nearly 50 years ago, when I arrived in Minnesota as a student fresh fromAfrica, I had much to learn -- starting with the fact that there is nothingwimpish about wearing earmuffs when it is 15 degrees below zero. All my lifesince has been a learning experience. Now I want to pass on five lessons Ihave learned during 10 years as secretary general of the United Nations thatI believe the community of nations needs to learn as it confronts thechallenges of the 21st century.
First, in today's world we are all responsible for each other's security.Against such threats as nuclear proliferation, climate change, globalpandemics or terrorists operating from safe havens in failed states, nonation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. Only byworking to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting securityfor ourselves. This responsibility includes our shared responsibility toprotect people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimesagainst humanity. That was accepted by all nations at last year's U.N.summit. But when we look at the murder, rape and starvation still beinginflicted on the people of Darfur, we realize that such doctrines remainpure rhetoric unless those with the power to intervene effectively -- byexerting political, economic or, in the last resort, military muscle -- areprepared to take the lead. It also includes a responsibility to futuregenerations to preserve resources that belong to them as well as to us.Every day that we do nothing, or too little, to prevent climate changeimposes higher costs on our children.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16211487.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Dec. 11, 2006
IN MY OPINION
Critic of Oprah really insulted all black people
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
The rappers are mad at Oprah again.
Just one rapper, actually: the gentleman who calls himself 50 Cent, butwhose 1994 mug shot identifies him as prisoner No. 94R6378: Jackson, Curtis.Mr. Cent -- ''Fiddy'' to the cognoscenti -- was one of a trio of rappers(Ice Cube and Ludacris were the others) who lambasted the Queen of All Medialast summer for being insufficiently willing to promote hip-hop. Now, Mr.Cent renews the attack.
In an interview in Elle magazine(!), he charges Winfrey with being not blackenough. Winfrey, he says, ''started out with black women's views but hasbeen catering to middle-aged white American women for so long that she'sbecome one herself.'' He also calls her an ''Oreo,'' which, for those notfluent in black-on-black insult, means black on the outside, white on theinside.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/opinion/11herbert.html?pagewanted=print
December 11, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
The Time Is Now
By BOB HERBERT
On Wednesday, as if the release of the Iraq Study Group report needed someform of dramatic punctuation, 11 more American G.I.'s were killed in thismisbegotten war that just about everyone, except perhaps the president, nowsees as a complete and utter debacle.
Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican from Oregon who supported the war,delivered an emotional speech on the Senate floor Thursday evening in whichhe said:
"I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policythat has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, beingblown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even becriminal. I cannot support that anymore."
If the U.S. is ultimately going to retreat in Iraq, he said, "I would ratherdo it sooner than later. I am looking for answers, but the current course isunacceptable to this senator."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/world/asia/11pakistan.html?ei=5094&en=d40c9f7513e01a59&hp=&ex=1165899600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
December 11, 2006
Taliban and Allies Tighten Grip in North of Pakistan
By CARLOTTA GALL and ISMAIL KHAN
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Islamic militants are using a recent peace deal withthe government to consolidate their hold in northern Pakistan, vastlyexpanding their training of suicide bombers and other recruits andfortifying alliances with Al Qaeda and foreign fighters, diplomats andintelligence officials from several nations say. The result, they say, isvirtually a Taliban mini-state.
The militants, the officials say, are openly flouting the terms of theSeptember accord in North Waziristan, under which they agreed to endcross-border help for the Taliban insurgency that revived in Afghanistanwith new force this year.
The area is becoming a magnet for an influx of foreign fighters, who notonly challenge government authority in the area, but are even wrestingcontrol from local tribes and spreading their influence to neighboringareas, according to several American and NATO officials and Pakistani andAfghan intelligence officials.
=
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/10/AR2006121000770_pf.html
How Quickly Bush Forgot
By Jackson Diehl
Monday, December 11, 2006; A19
Some people suppose that President Bush's freedom agenda was buried lastWednesday by the report of the Iraq Study Group. In fact, history will showthat the administration largely smothered its own baby, even before Iraq'sdescent into civil war propelled the resurrection of James Baker and other"realist" friends of Middle Eastern dictators.
Evidence of that conclusion could be found in Washington on the same dayBaker delivered his report, as administration officials, members of Congressand business executives gathered for a glittering dinner in honor ofMehriban Aliyeva, the visiting first lady of Azerbaijan.
=
The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/opinion/11krugman.html
December 11, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Outsourcer in Chief
By PAUL KRUGMAN
According to U.S. News & World Report, President Bush has told aides that hewon't respond in detail to the Iraq Study Group's report because he doesn'twant to "outsource" the role of commander in chief.
That's pretty ironic. You see, outsourcing of the government'sresponsibilities - not to panels of supposed wise men, but to privatecompanies with the right connections - has been one of the hallmarks of hisadministration. And privatization through outsourcing is one reason theadministration has failed on so many fronts.
For example, an article in Saturday's New York Times describes how the CoastGuard has run a $17 billion modernization program: "Instead of managing theproject itself, the Coast Guard hired Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman,two of the nation's largest military contractors, to plan, supervise anddeliver the new vessels and helicopters."
=
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/opinion/11mon3.html?pagewanted=print
December 11, 2006
Editorial
Muzzling Those Pesky Scientists
The Environmental Protection Agency disclosed last week that it hadrevised - stood on their head is more like it - procedures it has used for25 years to set standards for air pollutants like soot and lead. Theadministration said the change will streamline decision making. Perhaps itwill. It will also have the further effect of decreasing the role of sciencein policy making while increasing the influence of the agency's politicalappointees.
This is disheartening, but not surprising. Whether the issue is birthcontrol or global warming or clean air, this administration has alreadyacquired a special place in regulatory history for the audacity with whichit has manipulated or muzzled science (and in some cases individualscientists) that might discomfit its industrial allies or interfere with itspolitical agenda.
=
The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16211490.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Dec. 11, 2006
WISH BOOK 2006
Pregnant mom's wish: a newborn to save his brother's life
BY YUDY PINEIRO
ypineiro@MiamiHerald.com
He turned pale. His body started aching. Chills ran down his spine.
Doctors called it the flu, but 4-year-old Jordi Vizueth was not the type toget sick.
So when his fever persisted for days, Jordi's parents began to worry anddrove him to the emergency room at Baptist Hospital.
Several medical exams later, doctors gave the diagnosis: leukemia.
''For us it was a blow,'' said Jordi's mother, Leticia Vizueth of Homestead.``I didn't believe it. He wasn't like other kids. He never got sick.''
That was Christmas 2004.
Although Jordi, now 6, has gone into remission twice since then, hisprognosis remains poor -- and doctors say the only thing that could save himis a bone-marrow transplant.
[Send your comments about articles to Rays.List@Comcast.net]
#####
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment