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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/opinion/12krugman.html
February 12, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Scary Movie 2
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Attacking Iran would be a catastrophic mistake, even if all the allegationsnow being made about Iranian actions in Iraq are true.
But it wouldn’t be the first catastrophic mistake this administration hasmade, and there are indications that, at the very least, a powerful factionin the administration is spoiling for a fight.
Before we get to the apparent war-mongering, let’s talk about the basics.Are there people in Iran providing aid to factions in Iraq, factions thatsometimes kill Americans as well as other Iraqis? Yes, probably. But you cansay the same about Saudi Arabia, which is believed to be a major source offinancial support for Sunni insurgents — and Sunnis, not Iranian-backedShiites, are still responsible for most American combat deaths.
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The New York Times
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/opinion/12herbert.html
February 12, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
Until the War Ends ...
By BOB HERBERT
Almost all the talk about the 2008 presidential election is about the horserace: Who’s up? Who’s down? Can Hillary hold her lead? Can a pro-choice,pro-gay-rights candidate like Rudy Giuliani outrun a hawkish maverick likeJohn McCain?
It’s a sport. It’s fun. Why spoil it by being too serious?
Senator Barack Obama, in his speech in Illinois Saturday formally launchinghis presidential bid, gave us an excellent reason for being serious:
Ladies and gentlemen, there’s a war on.
After going through a litany of lofty goals for a new generation to strivefor, including health care for all Americans, a rejuvenated public educationsystem, an end to poverty and real progress in dealing with global warming,the senator offered a hard and simple truth:
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/us/12armory.html
February 12, 2007
A Neighbor Moves in With Ropes and Shackles, and Some Are Not So Pleased
By JESSE McKINLEY
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 11 — It is hard to imagine a city prouder of itssexuality than San Francisco, a place with an active strip club district, aunion for erotic dancers and an annual parade on Folsom Street where thosenot wearing leather and chaps are the odd ones out.
So it came as something of a surprise when a kerfuffle arose because of thenewest addition to the city’s sexual landscape: the State Armory and Arsenalbuilding, a 200,000-square-foot landmark in the Mission District that wasjust purchased by Kink.com, an online pornography company devoted to bondageand sadomasochism.
Peter Acworth, the company’s founder and chief executive, said he planned toturn the armory into a full-fledged film studio, with dirty movies shot inthe basement and less-dirty ones shot upstairs.
“I want to make films like ‘Secretary,’ ” Mr. Acworth said, referring to the2002 mainstream hit about a woman who has a kinky love affair with herlawyer boss. “But with more sex.”
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/us/politics/12campaign.html?hp&ex=1171256400&en=b9f00cfeac915f6d&ei=5094&partner=homepage
February 12, 2007
Political Memo
For Clinton and Obama, Different Tests on Iraq
By PATRICK HEALY and JEFF ZELENY
KEENE, N.H., Feb. 11 — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was challenged on Iraqfrom corner to corner of New Hampshire this weekend, while Senator BarackObama drew cheers in Iowa for his opposition to the war.
Besides giving voters a chance to probe the views of two major rivals forthe 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, the weekend appearances gavethe two campaigns a chance to road test their strategies for dealing withthe central issue of Iraq in the primaries and beyond.
At nearly every stop in New Hampshire, Mrs. Clinton, the junior senator fromNew York, has been greeted warmly but has been met by skeptical votersasking pointedly about her 2002 vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq.
On Sunday in Nashua, one person told her that her explanation “doesn’t fly,”while another asked why she did not simply say that the vote was a mistake.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021101157_pf.html
A Renewed Call to Televise High Court
By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 12, 2007; A15
With Supreme Court justices becoming increasingly comfortable in thespotlight, Sen. Arlen Specter says it might finally be time for theirclose-ups.
Spector (Pa.), joined by two other Republican and three Democratic senators,has refiled his legislation to require the court to televise itsproceedings. Although getting the rest of Congress to agree still seems verymuch a long shot, Specter said there is a big difference between now andlast year, when the bill did not reach the Senate floor.
"I think the frequency with which the justices are appearing on televisioncan be a very significant factor" in changing minds in Congress, Spectersaid in an interview.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/science/12geologist.html?ei=5094&en=aabaccdd1cf242ba&hp=&ex=1171256400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
February 12, 2007
Believing Scripture but Playing by Science’s Rules
By CORNELIA DEAN
KINGSTON, R.I. — There is nothing much unusual about the 197-pagedissertation Marcus R. Ross submitted in December to complete his doctoraldegree in geosciences here at the University of Rhode Island.
His subject was the abundance and spread of mosasaurs, marine reptiles that,as he wrote, vanished at the end of the Cretaceous era about 65 millionyears ago. The work is “impeccable,” said David E. Fastovsky, apaleontologist and professor of geosciences at the university who was Dr.Ross’s dissertation adviser. “He was working within a strictly scientificframework, a conventional scientific framework.”
But Dr. Ross is hardly a conventional paleontologist. He is a “young earthcreationist” — he believes that the Bible is a literally true account of thecreation of the universe, and that the earth is at most 10,000 years old.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/09/AR2007020901947_pf.html
A Change of Heart on Guest Workers
By Janet Murgu?a
Sunday, February 11, 2007; B07
After President Bush highlighted the need for a temporary-worker program aspart of a larger immigration reform in his State of the Union address, Rep.Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) compared the president's proposal to slavery. Rangelis right to be concerned. Our nation's history with such programs has beendreadful.
Many Latinos still have searing memories of the infamous bracero program,which more than 50 years ago became synonymous with worker abuse. Thecurrent guest-worker programs for agriculture and other "non-skilled" laborare not much better. Experience tells us that there is good reason to beconcerned that a new worker visa program could repeat these mistakes,creating a permanent, sizable subclass of workers who endure harsh treatmentwhile simultaneously undercutting their American co-workers.
Despite these concerns, after decades of strongly opposing temporary-workerprograms for the very reasons that Rangel articulates, my organization andmany Latino leaders find ourselves in the interesting position of beingprincipal advocates for a significant new worker visa program as part ofcomprehensive immigration reform.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021101168_pf.html
Not Sold On Clinton
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, February 12, 2007; A17
The buzz in Democratic circles for the past two weeks has been over thedecision to raise money for Sen. Barack Obama by two or threemultimillionaire liberals from Hollywood who were thought to be supportingSen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. An explanation that this is themovie industry's delayed reaction to some of President Bill Clinton'spolicies is not credible. The real reason for the defection is moretroubling for Clinton's campaign.
In fact, the Hollywood defections have the same root as resistance toClinton's candidacy among less glittering Democratic activists throughoutthe country. A substantial number of them do not want to participate in acoronation of the former first lady because they still doubt her viabilityas a presidential candidate. They question both her positions on the issuesand her skills on the campaign trail.
What's wrong with Clinton was demonstrated by the Feb. 4 performance onNBC's "Meet the Press" of a competitor, former senator John Edwards, whodisplayed the qualities she lacks. He took firm positions and admittederror, in contrast to Clinton's careful parsing. It followed his virtuosoperformance at the Democratic National Committee meeting two days earlierthat overshadowed Clinton's speech there. Comparing Clinton and Edwards, onelongtime observer of the Democratic scene called it "caution versuscourage."
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021100933_pf.html
GOP Expects Defections as House Debates Iraq Resolution
By Lyndsey Layton and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, February 12, 2007; A05
Three days of intense debate over the Iraq war begins in the House today,with Democrats planning to propose a narrowly worded rebuke of PresidentBush's troop buildup and Republicans girding for broad defections on theirside.
Both parties will jockey for prime time before the C-SPAN cameras, withleaders claiming the best time slots and rank-and-file members trying tomake the most of the five minutes each will be allotted. If all 435 Housemembers use their five minutes, debate will last 36 hours. It is likely tobegin by late morning and run until midnight tomorrow, Wednesday andThursday. A vote is expected Friday.
After watching their counterparts in the Senate stall and sputter last week,unable to agree on ground rules for a debate on Iraq, House leaders areforging ahead, determined to send a statement to the White House to condemna troop buildup.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/science/12geologist.html?ei=5094&en=aabaccdd1cf242ba&hp=&ex=1171256400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
February 12, 2007
Believing Scripture but Playing by Science’s Rules
By CORNELIA DEAN
KINGSTON, R.I. — There is nothing much unusual about the 197-pagedissertation Marcus R. Ross submitted in December to complete his doctoraldegree in geosciences here at the University of Rhode Island.
His subject was the abundance and spread of mosasaurs, marine reptiles that,as he wrote, vanished at the end of the Cretaceous era about 65 millionyears ago. The work is “impeccable,” said David E. Fastovsky, apaleontologist and professor of geosciences at the university who was Dr.Ross’s dissertation adviser. “He was working within a strictly scientificframework, a conventional scientific framework.”
But Dr. Ross is hardly a conventional paleontologist. He is a “young earthcreationist” — he believes that the Bible is a literally true account of thecreation of the universe, and that the earth is at most 10,000 years old.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/education/12harvard.html?ei=5094&en=80303ab069f23dcd&hp=&ex=1171256400&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
February 12, 2007
Woman in the News
Drew Gilpin Faust: Coming of Age in a Changed World
By SARA RIMER
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 11 — Recalling her coming of age as the only girl ina privileged, tradition-bound family in Virginia horse country, Drew GilpinFaust, 59, has often spoken of her “continued confrontations” with hermother “about the requirements of what she usually called femininity.” Hermother, Catharine, she has said, told her repeatedly, “It’s a man’s world,sweetie, and the sooner you learn that the better off you’ll be.”
Instead, Dr. Faust left home at an early age, to be educated at ConcordAcademy, then a girls’ prep school in Massachusetts, and at Bryn MawrCollege, a women’s college known for creating future leaders, and to becomea leading Civil War scholar. And Sunday, through the convergence of grandchanges in higher education, her own achievements and the resignation ofHarvard’s previous president under pressure, she became the first womanappointed to lead the Ivy League university founded in 1636.
“One of the things that I think characterizes my generation — thatcharacterizes me, anyway, and others of my generation — is that I’ve alwaysbeen surprised by how my life turned out,” Dr. Faust said in an interviewSunday at Loeb House just after the university announced that she wouldbecome its 28th president, effective July 1. “I’ve always done more than Iever thought I would. Becoming a professor — I never would have imaginedthat. Writing books — I never would have imagined that. Getting a Ph.D. — I’mnot sure I would even have imagined that. I’ve lived my life a step at atime. Things sort of happened.”
Sunday morning, she said, she found herself lying in bed thinking in neardisbelief, “Today I think they’re going to vote for you for the president ofHarvard.”
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/world/asia/12korea.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=89a6f32963965e33&hp=&ex=1171256400&oref=slogin&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
February 12, 2007
Nuclear Talks on North Korea Hit Roadblock
By JIM YARDLEY and DAVID E. SANGER
BEIJING, Feb. 11 — Negotiations on a step-by-step deal that the Bushadministration hopes will lead North Korea to give up its nuclear weaponsprogram appeared near collapse on Sunday over North Korea’s demands for hugeshipments of fuel oil and electricity before agreeing to a schedule forturning over its nuclear weapons and fuel.
The chief American envoy, Christopher R. Hill, said he and North Korea’senvoy, Kim Kye-gwan, held a “lengthy and very frank” meeting on Sunday. ButMr. Hill seemed much less optimistic that a deal could be struck.Negotiators are planning to end the talks on Monday, and other envoys werepessimistic that any breakthrough would emerge on the final day.
Meanwhile, a summary of the proposed agreement being circulated among seniorpolicy makers in Washington makes it clear that even if the North agreed totake the listed first steps — sealing its main nuclear reactor and invitinginternational inspectors back into the country — there was no specified timeperiod during which it would be required to turn over any nuclear weapons orweapons fuel that it has produced in recent years. And such a turnover wouldhappen only after reaching another agreement.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/washington/12cheney.html?pagewanted=print
February 12, 2007
Cheney Testimony in Libby Trial Would Carry High Risk
By SCOTT SHANE and JIM RUTENBERG
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 — One figure has dominated the trial of I. Lewis LibbyJr. without even showing up in the courtroom. Day after day, the jury hasheard accounts of the actions of Vice President Dick Cheney, watched as hishandwritten notes were displayed on a giant screen, heard how he directedleaks to the news media and ordered the White House to publicly defend Mr.Libby, his top aide and close confidante.
Now, as the defense phase of the perjury trial begins, Mr. Cheney isexpected to make a historic appearance on the witness stand. It is an act ofloyalty that carries considerable risk for Mr. Cheney, a powerful figure inthe administration who has in recent months suffered a series of majorpolitical and policy setbacks.
If he testifies, Mr. Cheney will bring to the jurors the awesome authorityof his office and could attest to Mr. Libby’s character as policy adviserand family man, and to his crushing workload and dedication to keeping thecountry safe. That could give extra heft to Mr. Libby’s defense against thecharge that he lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the grandjury: that he was so occupied with important matters of state, he did notaccurately remember conversations from July 2003.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/washington/12history.html?pagewanted=print
February 12, 2007
A Historic Moment if Cheney Testifies Live, as Expected
By DAVID JOHNSTON
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 — If he testifies as expected, Dick Cheney would be thefirst sitting vice president, at least in modern times, to appear as awitness in a criminal trial. And if he testifies in court, he may also bethe first to give live testimony in defense of a subordinate’s actions onhis behalf, legal historians said.
Mr. Cheney’s testimony as a courtroom witness for his former chief of staff,I. Lewis Libby Jr., would break with one of the closest historicalparallels, when former President Ronald Reagan testified in 1990 viavideotape as a defense witness in the trial of his former national securityadviser, John M. Poindexter.
The Reagan videotape offered an insight into the unpredictability ofcriminal trials. His appearance seemed to have little direct impact on thetrial, but it created a permanent historical record of his failing memory,which would have been preserved through a printed transcript had he appearedas a live witness but would not have caused the same impact as the widelybroadcast videotape.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16678554.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Feb. 12, 2007
Anna Nicole's life was no joke, but pitiful reality
BY LEONARD PITTS JR.
lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
Some people are calling her an actress, but that's overly generous.
Yes, she acted some. She was Dr. Anita Hugg in something called N.Y.U.K andZa-Za in The Hudsucker Proxy. But imdb.com, the authoritative TV and moviewebsite, lists only seven other productions in which Anna Nicole Smithplayed a fictional character, none particularly memorable.
That's because she wasn't really an actress, but a performer. She performedas ''herself'' on Larry King Live, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Howard Stern, her own''reality'' show and a slew of Playboy productions.
''Herself'' was the quintessential, stereotypical dumb blonde, vague,incoherent and blindingly voluptuous. Turns out it was her most challengingrole.
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The New York Times
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/11/AR2007021101336_pf.html
Michelle Obama Weighs in on Husband's Smoking
By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 11, 2007; 9:10 PM
CHICAGO, Feb. 11 -- Michelle Obama says she agreed to help her husband runfor president on one condition: That he finally quit smoking. For good.
"I hate it," she said on CBS' 60 Minutes, according to a transcript releasedSunday. "That's why he doesn't do it anymore. I'm proud to say. I outedhim -- I'm the one who outed him on the smoking. That was one of myprerequisites for, you know, entering this race, is that, you know, hecouldn't be a smoking president."
Obama has struggled to quit smoking for years, but friends have said hefinally stopped several weeks ago. At the end of a press conference onSunday, the Illinois senator returned to the podium when a reporter shoutedout asking whether he was still smoking.
"No," he said. "I've been chewing Nicorette all day long."
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16677050.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Sun, Feb. 11, 2007
A look at Barack Obama's position on the issues
Associated Press
A brief look at Sen. Barack Obama's position on a sampling of nationalissues:
_ Death penalty: supports
_ Gay marriage: opposes; supports civil unions instead
_ Abortion: supports abortion rights, including to the late-term procedurethat critics call "partial-birth abortion."
_ Parental notification of abortion: opposed Illinois notification law
_ Iraq War: Supports capping troop levels at 130,000, beginning withdrawalMay 1.
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Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16678802.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Feb. 12, 2007
MIDDLE EAST
Peace in Palestinians' hands
BY FRIDA GHITIS
fghitis@yahoo.com
Sometimes, you simply cannot split the difference. Diplomatic language andnegotiations can help bridge disagreements, but in the end, there are somequestions that require a clear answer. For Palestinians, the fundamental,crucial question about the future is simple: Do they or don't they acceptthe right of Israel to exist? It's a simple Yes or No question. So far, theanswer remains No.
After months of shooting at each other, the two main Palestinian factions,Hamas and Fatah, reached a power-sharing agreement during talks in SaudiArabia. The sides came under intense pressure to make a deal after theirarmed followers took Gaza to the edge of civil war. Their own militias shotand killed at least 90 Palestinians, including several children. The Saudisand other Arabs worried about the strife and about the growing influence oftheir rival Iran, which used the chaos to ally itself with Hamas.
Terrorist organization
The power struggle between the secular Fatah, commonly described asmoderate, and the Islamic Hamas, began a year ago, after Hamas' victory inlegislative elections. Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization byEurope, the United States and other countries, formed a new government.Conditions in the Palestinian territories quickly deteriorated after theinternational community suspended aid.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/16678796.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Mon, Feb. 12, 2007
Losing $12 billion without really trying
OUR OPINION: CONGRESS MUST EXAMINE CURRENT SPENDING IN IRAQ
Anyone still wondering how the United States could have stumbled so badly inIraq -- and why we are still stumbling -- need look no further than thetestimony that former U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer offered to Congresslast week. Some $12 billion in cash that was shipped to Iraq in bundles of$100 bills during Mr. Bremer's tenure can't be traced.
Most of it, amounting to $8.8 billion, was supposedly turned over to localofficials to pay government officials. But Mr. Bremer apparently didn't getso much as a hastily penciled receipt on the back of an envelope to accountfor it. Now, auditors have no way of knowing where the money went.
Phony presentations
How could this happen? Mr. Bremer offered an explanation that should standas an enduring reminder of what happens when an administration beating thedrums for war brushes aside warnings that it is headed for trouble: ''Theplanning before the war was inadequate.'' At another point, he said:``American pre-war planning had not anticipated the enormity and difficultyof the tasks ahead of us.''
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The Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/sfl-brmail907xfeb12,0,5585931,print.story?coll=sfla-news-letters
IRS collections
Inez De Jesus
plantation
February 12, 2007
As an employee of the Internal Revenue Service and a member of NationalTreasury Employees Union Chapter 93, I would like to share some informationand at the same time request that we contact our representatives andsenators.
The IRS is hiring private debt collectors to do the job of IRScollections/enforcement employees. Your personal tax information may beshared with private debt collectors.
For more details visit: www.irs.gov and follow the link to the NationalTaxpayer Advocate 2006 Report to Congress, whereby Congress is being askedto repeal the agency's authority to hire private debt collectors.
How would you like your personal info to be shared with a private agency?
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