NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST January 1, 2007

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/31/AR2006123100931_pf.html

A 'Surge' Faces Trouble In the Senate
Even in GOP, Few Back the President

By Robert D. Novak
Monday, January 1, 2007; A13


Sen. John McCain, leading a blue-ribbon congressional delegation to Baghdadbefore Christmas, collected evidence that a "surge" of more U.S. troops isneeded in Iraq. But not all his colleagues who accompanied him wereconvinced. What's more, he will find himself among a dwindling minorityinside the Senate Republican caucus when Congress reconvenes this week.

President Bush and McCain, the front-runner for the party's 2008presidential nomination, will have trouble finding support from more than 12of the 49 Republican senators when pressing for a surge of 30,000 troops."It's Alice in Wonderland," Sen. Chuck Hagel, second-ranking Republican onthe Foreign Relations Committee, told me in describing the proposal. "I'mabsolutely opposed to sending any more troops to Iraq. It is folly."

What to do about Iraq poses not only a national policy crisis but profoundpolitical problems for the Republican Party. Disenchantment with George W.Bush within the GOP runs deep. Republican leaders around the country,anticipating that the 2006 election disaster would prompt an orderlydisengagement from Iraq, are shocked that the president now appears ready toadd troops.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/31/AR2006123100930.html

Bush's Nation Busting

By Fareed Zakaria
Monday, January 1, 2007; A13


The saga of Saddam Hussein's end -- his capture, trial and execution -- is asad metaphor for America's occupation of Iraq. What might have gone rightwent so wrong. It is worth remembering that Hussein was not yourrun-of-the-mill dictator. He created one of the most brutal, corrupt andviolent regimes in modern history, something akin to Stalin's Soviet Union,Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea. Whatever the strategic wisdom forthe United States, deposing him began as something unquestionably good forIraq.

But soon the Bush administration dismissed the idea of trying Hussein underinternational law, or in a court with any broader legitimacy. This is theadministration, after all, that could see little advantage in a UnitedNations mandate for its own invasion and occupation. It put Hussein's fatein the hands of the new Iraqi government, dominated by Shiite and Kurdishpoliticians who had been victims of his reign. As a result, Hussein's trial,which should have been the judgment of civilized society against a tyrant,is now seen by Iraq's Sunnis and much of the Ara.


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The Sun-Sentinel

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-pbmail986jan01,0,3290944.story?coll=sfla-news-letters

Modern-day version of `Ministry of Truth'

Charles O. Wey
Lake Worth

January 1, 2007

For those readers who continue to write and bemoan the "liberal media," it'stime to tune out Rush Limbaugh and listen to reason. For starters, EricAlter's book, What Liberal Media? should be a nice beginning.

Some people complain about Fox News, but it is the most honest of thetelevision networks, because it doesn't attempt to hide its bias. ABC, CBS,CNN and NBC are all owned by Corporate America and they control what we arepermitted to see and hear. The talking heads are just that, talking heads.People who think these networks aren't biased are just fooling themselves.There are no Edward R. Murrows left in broadcasting.

Remember when Jerry Falwell threatened to buy CBS and fire Dan Rather? Guesswhat? Jerry Falwell didn't do it, but corporate America did. What's odd isthat Rather wasn't close to a Murrow or a Walter Cronkite. He was just toocareless to get a factual report airtight before airing it, thereby settinghimself up for the chopping block.

George Orwell (né Eric Blair) tried to alert us to the mind control problemsto come in his classic novel, 1984, but we didn't pay attention. Now we arestuck with a modern-day version of the "Ministry of Truth," and can't doanything about it. The current administration is a living example ofOrwell's statement, "Ignorance Is Strength." Orwell was explaining the valueof doublespeak. By that standard, this is the strongest administration inour history.

For those who think they can get news from television instead of reading anewspaper, keep it up and we'll continue to live our national nightmare thatthe late President Gerald Ford tried to end.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/science/01climate.html?pagewanted=print

January 1, 2007
Middle Stance Emerges in Debate Over Climate
By ANDREW C. REVKIN


Amid the shouting lately about whether global warming is a human-causedcatastrophe or a hoax, some usually staid climate scientists in the usuallyinvisible middle are speaking up.

The discourse over the issue has been feverish since Hurricane Katrina.Seizing the moment, many environmental campaigners, former Vice President AlGore and some scientists have portrayed the growing human influence on theclimate as an unfolding disaster that is already measurably strengtheninghurricanes, spreading diseases and amplifying recent droughts and deluges.

Conservative politicians and a few scientists, many with ties to energycompanies, have variously countered that human-driven warming isinconsequential, unproved or a manufactured crisis.

A third stance is now emerging, espoused by many experts who challenge bothpoles of the debate.

They agree that accumulating carbon dioxide and other heat-trappingsmokestack and tailpipe gases probably pose a momentous environmentalchallenge, but say the appropriate response is more akin to buying fireinsurance and installing sprinklers and new wiring in an old, irreplaceablehouse (the home planet) than to fighting a fire already raging.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/opinion/01mon2.html?pagewanted=print

January 1, 2007
Editorial
Environmental Harmony


The long history of Congressional bipartisan cooperation on environmentalissues dating back to Richard Nixon has been seriously challenged onlytwice. The first time was in 1995, when the Gingrich Republicans swept intoWashington determined to roll back environmental laws, a threat averted byPresident Bill Clinton's veto pen and the exertions of a group of moderateRepublicans. The second challenge occurred during the Congress that has nowthankfully drawn to a close.

The Democrats' return to power in both houses has raised hopes that some ofthe old cooperative spirit can be restored and progress made on vitalmatters like global warming, oil dependency, national parks and threatenedwetlands.




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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-2007-Predictions-AP-Poll.html

December 31, 2006
Poll: Americans Predict Attacks in 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:18 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Another terrorist attack, a warmer planet, death anddestruction from a natural disaster. These are among Americans' grimpredictions for the United States in 2007.

Only a minority of people think the U.S. will go to war with Iran or NorthKorea over those countries' nuclear ambitions. An overwhelming majority ofthose surveyed think Congress will raise the federal minimum wage. One-thirdsee hope for a cure to cancer.

These are among the findings of an Associated Press-AOL News poll that askedpeople in the U.S. to contemplate what 2007 holds for the country.

Six in 10 people think the U.S. will be the victim of a terrorist attack. Anidentical percentage thinks it likely that a biological or nuclear weaponwill be unleashed somewhere else in the world.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-White-House-2008.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

December 31, 2006
Edwards Touts Investments in Health Care
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:49 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential contender John Edwards says it ismore important to invest in universal health care and lifting people out ofpoverty than to reduce the budget deficit.

The 2004 vice presidential nominee said in an interview broadcast Sundaysaid ''there is a tension'' between the two directions, but he has made hischoice.

''If I were choosing now between which is more important, I think theinvestments are more important,'' he said on ABC's ''This Week.''

Edwards' proposal, which includes tax cuts and a million housing vouchersfor the poor, may place him at odds with Democrats in charge of thecongressional spending committees.



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The New York Times

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/01/opinion/01krugman.html

January 1, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
A Healthy New Year
By PAUL KRUGMAN


The U.S. health care system is a scandal and a disgrace. But maybe, justmaybe, 2007 will be the year we start the move toward universal coverage.

In 2005, almost 47 million Americans — including more than 8 millionchildren — were uninsured, and many more had inadequate insurance.

Apologists for our system try to minimize the significance of these numbers.Many of the uninsured, asserted the 2004 Economic Report of the President,“remain uninsured as a matter of choice.”

And then you wake up. A scathing article in yesterday’s Los Angeles Timesdescribed how insurers refuse to cover anyone with even the slightest hintof a pre-existing condition. People have been denied insurance for reasonsthat range from childhood asthma to a “past bout of jock itch.”

Some say that we can’t afford universal health care, even though every yearlack of insurance plunges millions of Americans into severe financialdistress and sends thousands to an early grave. But every other advancedcountry somehow manages to provide all its citizens with essential care. Theonly reason universal coverage seems hard to achieve here is the spectacularinefficiency of the U.S. health care system.



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