NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST April 21, 2007

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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/18/AR2007041801901_pf.html

Analysis: Kennedy's Pivotal Vote

By GINA HOLLAND
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 18, 2007; 9:25 PM

-- Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling banning a controversial late-termabortion procedure may be as important for who wrote it as for the decisionitself. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, considered the court's crucialmiddleman, came down solidly with conservatives in writing the 5-4 decision.

Abortion cases are difficult for the court, and in the past they've beenparticularly trying for Kennedy. He agonized over his 1992 vote to reaffirma woman's right to abortion. That decision enraged conservatives, who hadexpected the Roman Catholic Reagan nominee to help overturn Roe v. Wade, the1973 case that established a constitutional right to privacy that protectsabortion rights.

On Wednesday, Kennedy led conservatives in the decision that for the firsttime upheld a nationwide ban on a procedure that opponents call"partial-birth abortion." The ruling also opened the way for furtherrestrictions.

"In a way, it's his attempt to redeem himself, at least halfway," saidJoseph Thai, a University of Oklahoma law professor and former Supreme Courtclerk.

The decision does not directly threaten Roe. It does, however, make iteasier for states and the federal government to put limits on abortion,setting up more court fights that will keep the issue before the justices incoming years.



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The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/367/v-print/story/76992.html

Posted on Wed, Apr. 18, 2007
After 2 years, pope turns right
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON

As he approaches the third year of his reign, Pope Benedict XVI is hardeninginto the kind of pontiff that liberals feared and conservatives hoped for.

Elected April 19, 2005, to succeed his dear friend John Paul II, the leaderof the world's Roman Catholics slid smoothly into his job as pastor of anenormous flock. He reached out to dissidents, other faiths and countrieslong hostile to the church.

But recently, as his 80th birthday approached, the former Cardinal JosephRatzinger has drawn a tougher line.

He has rebuffed calls, including by bishops in his native Germany, to letdivorced Catholics who remarry participate fully in the church.

He has warned Catholic politicians who must decide on such issues asabortion, euthanasia and marriage that the faith's values are "notnegotiable." And he has closed the door on any relaxation of the celibacyrequirement for priests.



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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_5695766

Utah lawmakers look at blocking online porn

By Glen Warchol, The Salt Lake Tribune, 04/18/2007

Utah lawmakers will begin wrestling with ways to control pornography on theInternet.

Even for the Utah Legislature, which has a track record of passing someconstitutionally questionable laws, controlling smut online is a legal andtechnological challenge - to say the least.

"I'm grasping at this for all I'm worth because I want to understand this,"Sen. Scott Jenkins told the Public Utilities and Technology InterimCommittee after experts explained the intricacies of the Web porno business.

"My brain is on the edge of fry."

Brigham Young University law professor Cheryl Preston and anti-pornographyactivist Ralph Yarro told lawmakers that Internet providers could be offeredincentives to voluntarily aid obscenity law enforcement without violatingfreedom of speech or undermining online commerce. One example was to opentheir customer records when necessary.

One obvious drawback to the proposal is that only Internet providers in Utah- who represent a fraction of the users even in-state - would be subject tostate rules and incentives.

Yarro acknowledged that his ultimate goal is federal law to pursuepornographers.

Jenkins formed a working group on the committee to gather information fromaffected Internet companies.

Utah already has been threatened with lawsuits in its most recent Internetregulation foray - a law that blocks services, such as Google, from keyingsearches to Utah-registered trademarks.



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Forwarded from Kenneth Sherrill - Ken's List
Kenneth.Sherrill@hunter.cuny.edu
kenslist@groups.queernet.org

http://ncregister.com/site/article/2265

Pornography Crackdown

Critics Say U.S. Attorney Firings Were Linked to Anti-Porn Efforts

BY WAYNE LAUGESEN, National Catholic Register, April 22-28, 2007 Issue,
Posted 4/17/07

WASHINGTON - Is Attorney General Roberto Gonzales under fire for prosecutingpornography?

Some administration critics say Gonzales fired eight U.S. attorneys as partof a Justice Department crackdown on obscenity. The firings sparked apolitical debacle for the Bush administration that has Gonzales fighting tokeep his job.

"In a move popular with anti-porn groups and the religious right, Gonzaleshad made a renewed war on porn one of the top priorities of the Departmentof Justice," wrote Mark Follman, in a Salon.com article that blames thefiring of U.S. attorneys on a new federal crusade against porn.

But lax obscenity enforcement, said a former porn prosecutor for the Reaganadministration, has resulted in unbridled availability of porn - on cellphones, computers, cable TV and in hotel rooms everywhere - that'sfundamentally changing American culture.

"Our children and our college students are consuming a steady diet ofobscene material," says Patrick Truman, an assistant attorney general underRonald Reagan who headed the Child Exploitation and Obscenity section of theDepartment of Justice.



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Gainesville.com

http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070421/LOCAL/704210366/-1/rss&template=printart

Article published Apr 21, 2007
Apr 21, 2007
Area medical professionals react to ban on 'partial-birth' abortions

DIANE CHUN
Sun staff writer

The Supreme Court, fortified by recent conservative appointments, voted by aslim majority Wednesday to uphold a nationwide ban on so-called"partial-birth" abortions.

In upholding the 2003 law, the 5-4 majority held it didn't violate a woman'sconstitutional right to have an abortion.

Locally, medical professionals showed more concern that the latest rulingwill open the door for legislators to make laws restricting other edicalprocedures. "The precedent is set for our elected officials to begin makingour medical decisions for us," Dr. Karen Harris said Friday. "Do any of ustruly want that? It takes our autonomy away."

Harris, a Gainesville obstetrician in practice with the North FloridaWomen's Physicians, is an officer in the Florida section of the AmericanCollege of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Dr. Patrick Duff, professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Universityof Florida's College of Medicine, said in his view, the use of the procedurecalled intact dilation and extraction is "virtually a non-issue."



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Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/04/21/impeach_bush_says_vermont_senate?mode=PF

Impeach Bush, says Vermont Senate
Constitutionality of actions by him, Cheney questioned
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | April 21, 2007

Declaring that the Bush administration's actions in foreign and domesticaffairs raise "serious questions of constitutionality," Vermont statesenators voted yesterday to call for the impeachment of President Bush andVice President Dick Cheney in what officials say was the first such vote bystate lawmakers in the country.

Without debate, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted 16 to 9 in favor ofthe nonbinding resolution, which urges US Representative Peter Welch, aDemocrat, to introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives toinitiate impeachment proceedings.

Vermont's congressional delegation, which includes Welch and SenatorsPatrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, promptly rejected the call.

They issued a statement saying that the three shared the anger of manyVermonters with the Bush administration, "one of the worst and mostdestructive in American history."

But, they said that, for the first time since Bush took office, Congress isinvestigating several of the administration's key actions, ranging from thedecision to invade Iraq to the recent firings of eight US attorneys.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/opinion/21sat1.html?ei=5040&en=6485c7c2a8f4654f&ex=1177819200&partner=MOREOVERFEATURES&pagewanted=print

April 21, 2007
Editorial
The Medicare Privatization Scam

If private health plans are supposedly so great at delivering high-qualitycare while holding down costs, why does the government have to keepsubsidizing them so lavishly to participate in the Medicare program?

About a fifth of elderly Americans now belong to private Medicare Advantageplans, which - thanks to government subsidies - often charge less or offermore than traditional Medicare. As Congress struggles to find savings thatcould offset the costs of other important health programs, it should take along and hard look at those subsidies.

The authoritative Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimates that thegovernment pays private plans 12 percent more, on average, than the sameservices would cost in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. Theprivate plans use some of this money to make themselves more attractive tobeneficiaries - by reducing premiums or adding benefits not covered by basicMedicare - and siphon off the rest to add to profits and help cover theplans' high administrative costs.

Although the insurance industry insists that the subsidies are much lowerand are warranted by the benefits provided, Thomas Scully, who headed theMedicare program for the Bush administration until 2003, told reportersrecently that the subsidies were too large and ought to be reduced byCongress.

The largest private enrollment is in health maintenance organizations, whichtypically deliver care a bit more cheaply than standard Medicare and shouldnot need their 10 percent subsidies, on average, to compete. The biggestsubsidies - averaging 19 percent above cost - go to private fee-for-serviceplans, which are the fastest-growing part of the Medicare Advantage program.

Unlike the H.M.O.'s, which at least manage a patient's care and bargain hardwith doctors and hospitals, these plans ride on the coattails of standardMedicare, typically providing access to the same doctors and paying them atthe same rates. Thanks to the big subsidies they get, such plans are often agood deal for beneficiaries, charging less for the same benefits or addingbenefits without raising prices.



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Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/21/gonzales_seeks_gop_support_gets_little?mode=PF

Gonzales seeks GOP support, gets little
By David Espo, AP Special Correspondent | April 21, 2007

WASHINGTON --Desperate for support among fellow Republicans, AttorneyGeneral Alberto Gonzales faced grim prospects Friday after a bruising Senatehearing that produced one outright call for resignation and a fistful ofinvitations and hints to quit.

One GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, John Cornyn of Texas,predicted Gonzales would weather the furor and said he should. "Frankly, Idon't think the Democrats are going to be satisfied with the resignation byAl Gonzales," he said.

Gonzales gave no indication Friday that he was leaving.

"Please know that as you continue your work, I am by your side," theattorney general told an audience of crime victims' rights supporters. Hespoke in a gravelly voice the day after his long day of testimony.

Gonzales also called several GOP senators, including Cornyn and ArlenSpecter of Pennsylvania, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, anaide said.



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Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/21/new_jersey_governor_breathing_on_own?mode=PF

New Jersey governor breathing on own
By Geoff Mulvihill, Associated Press Writer | April 21, 2007

CAMDEN, N.J. --Gov. Jon S. Corzine was breathing on his own again Friday
after doctors removed a breathing tube he'd been using since he wascritically injured in an April 12 high-speed crash, his spokesman said.Doctors removed the tube shortly before 12:30 p.m. Friday, spokesman AnthonyColey said.

Breathing unassisted moves Corzine closer to having his condition upgraded.He has been listed as critical but stable since he was brought to CooperUniversity Hospital last week.

Corzine broke a leg and several bones in his chest, including 11 ribs, whenthe sport utility vehicle he was riding in wrecked on the Garden StateParkway north of Atlantic City. He was placed on a ventilator to ease thepain of breathing, doctors said.

"His respiratory function will be closely monitored to ensure that he cancontinue to breathe on his own and cough efficiently," Coley said. "Doctorsdo not entirely rule out the possibility that the breathing tube will needto be reinserted."

The SUV, driven by a state trooper with Corzine in the front passenger seat,was traveling 91 mph and the governor was not wearing his seat belt,officials have said.



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Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/21/waxman_threatens_to_subpoena_card_rice?mode=PF

Waxman threatens to subpoena Card, Rice
By Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Writer | April 21, 2007

WASHINGTON --If President Bush's former chief of staff can chat about theidentifying of CIA agent Valerie Plame on Jon Stewart's comedy show, he cantalk about it to the House oversight committee, the panel's chairman saidFriday. If Andy Card refuses, the panel will vote Wednesday on whether tocompel his testimony with a subpoena, said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

White House Counsel Fred Fielding has declined to let Card testify.

"Mr. Fielding's position appears to be that it is appropriate for you todiscuss these matters on 'The Daily Show' but not before a congressionalcommittee," Waxman wrote to Card on Friday. "You will not be surprised tolearn that I take a different view of this matter."

Waxman, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrotethat if Card won't agree to appear voluntarily before Wednesday's meeting,the panel will vote on whether to issue him a subpoena.

Also being considered for a subpoena on a related issue: Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice. Waxman wants to know what Rice knows about theadministration's claim, later discredited, that Iraq sought uranium fromAfrica.



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Chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/4735777.html

April 20, 2007, 11:02PM
Giuliani praises Bushes, chides Dems in Congress
He says assertive war on terror has made a difference in prevention

By MIKE SNYDER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

COLLEGE STATION - President Bush has brought the same aggressive approach tothe global terrorism struggle his father and Ronald Reagan used to win theCold War, Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani said Friday.

Before Bush's response to the Sept. 11 attacks, "we were on defense againstterrorism," Giuliani told about 1,500 students and other guests at Texas A&MUniversity. "They were setting the agenda."

Giuliani heaped praise on former President Bush, who introduced him Friday,saying the 41st president ushered in the era of globalization after helpingReagan defeat communism. Bush was Reagan's vice president for eight yearsbefore winning the presidency in 1988.

His son has shown the same decisive leadership by confronting radicalIslamic terrorists with military action, rather than treating terrorist actsas a law enforcement problem, said Guiliani, whose national profile is basedlargely on his leadership as New York's mayor during and after the 2001attacks.

After the 1993 attack on New York's World Trade Center, "the people who didit were arrested and convicted of crimes," Giuliani said. "But it wasn'tjust murder. It was an act of war."



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002036_pf.html

House Approves Executive-Pay Bill
Shareholders Would Get to Vote on Golden Parachutes

By Jim Abrams
Associated Press
Saturday, April 21, 2007; D02

The House voted yesterday to give shareholders at public corporations avoice in executive pay packages, which on average are vastly more than thesalaries of workers at those companies.

A shareholder vote under the bill would be advisory only. But its Democraticbackers said that investors need a say when companies losing money or layingoff workers give executives compensation and retirement packages in eightand nine figures.

"This is not an aberration, and there is a hue and a cry from the Americanpeople across the American landscape that is saying something must be done,"said Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.).

The bill, which passed 269 to 134 and goes to the Senate, was opposed by theWhite House and most Republicans. They argued that the Securities andExchange Commission has taken steps to make corporate pay packages moretransparent and that Congress should stay out of corporate affairs.

President Bush earlier this year questioned the extravagant pay of somecompany managers and directors but said it was not a matter for governmentinvolvement.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042002026_pf.html

State of Black America
The Urban League has some ideas worth pursuing.
Saturday, April 21, 2007; A16

"BLACK AMERICA is at a tipping point," said National Urban League PresidentMarc H. Morial in releasing the organization's annual "State of BlackAmerica" report on Tuesday. "We can celebrate a great deal of success, butwe have a number of struggles to address." Successes include Fortune 100chief executives, a candidate for president with widespread financial andpopular support, and an increasing presence in the middle class. But thestruggles, particularly for black men, require a sense of urgency not onlyfrom government but also from African Americans themselves.

According to the State of Black America, "African American men are more thantwice as likely to be unemployed as white males and make only 75 percent asmuch a year. They're nearly seven times more likely to be incarcerated, andtheir average jail sentences are 10 months longer than those of white men[for the same offenses]. In addition, young black males between the ages of15 and 34 years are nine times more likely to die of homicide than theirwhite counterparts and nearly seven times as likely to suffer from AIDS."

Mr. Morial has presented five recommendations worthy of debate, proposalsthat are rooted in education and that seem to strike a balance betweengovernment intervention and community involvement.

Topping his agenda is universal childhood education through public andprivate schools, starting at age 3. We'd worry about a new entitlement opento everyone regardless of income; it would seem logical to target preschooleducation funded with public dollars for those who most need help. As aprovider of Head Start and other early childhood education programsthroughout the country, the Ur ban League stands to benefit. Still, there isno doubt that this would be a worthy investment. Head Start has a proventrack record, and Congress is considering legislation to expand eligibilityand increase funding. Every effort should be made to target the program'sexpansion to those who need it.

The Urban League's report calls for "greater experimentation with all-maleschools and longer school days." While we have some questions aboutsingle-sex education, parents must have more choice in their children'seducation. Having more second-chance programs for high school dropouts andex-offenders would benefit both participants and society.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/washington/21memo.html?ei=5040&en=6608c8a80bf721b0&ex=1177819200&partner=MOREOVERNEWS&pagewanted=print

April 21, 2007
White House Memo
Two Cases Are Test for Bush's Unwavering Loyalty
By JIM RUTENBERG

WASHINGTON, April 20 - Time and time again, President Bush has stood by hismost embattled but loyal lieutenants despite loud calls for their heads, attimes defying the established physics of Washington (rapidly diminishingsupport in one's own party times the number of instances in which one hasfailed to convincingly explain away accusations of incompetence ormalfeasance equals the certainty of rapid resignation).

But Mr. Bush's ability to turn aside that kind of pressure is now facing aserious test as he confronts what to do about Attorney General Alberto R.Gonzales and Paul D. Wolfowitz, the president of the World Bank.

How Mr. Bush moves to resolve the situations is being watched closely inDemocratic and Republican circles for what it says about his standing in thecapital's new power dynamic, as a late-term president with low approvalratings and a hostile and increasingly assertive Congress.

They are two very different cases in two very different worlds: Mr.Wolfowitz faces questions about favoritism toward his girlfriend; Mr.Gonzales is dealing with bipartisan criticism about his competence andquestions about whether the Justice Department dismissed several federalprosecutors for political reasons.

In each case Mr. Bush is standing by a loyalist with an evaporating base ofsupport and a serious challenge to his credibility even among Republicans.And, two Republicans close to the administration said, in the case of Mr.Gonzales, even some of Mr. Bush's close aides think that his resignationwould best serve the administration but do not find a like-minded view fromthe president, who is personally close to the attorney general.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/opinion/21garrow.html?pagewanted=print

April 21, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Don't Assume the Worst

By DAVID J. GARROW
Cambridge, England

THE Supreme Court's 5-to-4 decision this week, in Gonzales v. Carhart, touphold the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act will undoubtedly harm thefuture reproductive health of some American women, and Justice Anthony M.Kennedy's majority opinion patronized such women's ability to make the sadand difficult decisions that late-term abortion often entails.

But let's not exaggerate what this ruling means. The Carhart decision is anextremely limited upholding of the federal ban, one that promises to affectvery few abortion providers and only a tiny percentage of their patients.The most recent and reliable national statistics, from the GuttmacherInstitute, show that only about 30 American doctors ever use the "intactdilation and evacuation" method that has now been criminalized. Only some2,200 of the 1.3 million abortions performed annually in the United Statesinvolve the banned procedure.

Moreover, Justice Kennedy explicitly and insistently limited the reach ofthe new prohibition. He emphasized that the ban covers only the relativelyrare intact dilation and evacuation method, and does not in any way apply tostandard dilation and evacuation, the most common method for late-termabortions, in which fetal tissue is removed from the womb piecemeal.Reiterating the standard he embraced 15 years ago in Planned Parenthood v.Casey, Justice Kennedy stated that the ban would impose an undue burden ifit covered standard dilation and evacuation and thus would beunconstitutional.

Justice Kennedy also declared - repeatedly - that only purposeful violationsof the prohibition can be prosecuted. What the law covers is the deliberate,almost-complete delivery of a living fetus, followed by a furtherintentional act that causes its demise. "If either intent is absent, nocrime is committed," Justice Kennedy wrote. On the other hand, "if thedoctor intends to remove the fetus in parts from the outset," he or she willnot be criminally liable even if the procedure unexpectedly proceeds in waysthat physically constitute an "intact" dilation and evacuation.

Writing on behalf of the four dissenters, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgcorrectly emphasized that under Justice Kennedy's holding, "the law savesnot a single fetus from destruction, for it targets only a method ofperforming abortion."



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The New York Times

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/opinion/21wright.html?pagewanted=print

April 21, 2007
Guest Columnist
Why Darwinism Isn't Depressing
By ROBERT WRIGHT
Scientists have discovered that love is truth.

Granted, no scientist has put it quite like that. In fact, when scientiststalk about love - the neurochemistry, the evolutionary origins - they makeit sound unlovely.

More broadly, our growing grasp of the biology behind our thoughts andfeelings has some people downhearted. One commentator recently acknowledgedthe ascendancy of the Darwinian paradigm with a sigh: "Evolution doesn'treally lead to anything outside itself."

Cheer up! Despair is a plausible response to news that our loftiest feelingsboil down to genetic self-interest, but genetic self-interest actually turnsout to be our salvation. The selfishness of our genes gave us theilluminating power of love and put us on the path to a kind oftranscendence.

Before hiking to the peak, let's pause for some sobering concessions. Yes,love is physically mediated, a product of biochemistry. (Why this wouldsurprise anyone familiar with alcohol and coffee is something that has longbaffled scientists.) And, yes, the biochemistry was built by naturalselection. Like it or not, we are survival machines.



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The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/21/world/asia/21india.html?pagewanted=print

April 21, 2007
India Debates Its Right to Nuclear Testing
By SOMINI SENGUPTA

NEW DELHI, April 20 - A nuclear accord hailed as the centerpiece of India'sdeepening friendship with the United States appears to be in jeopardy, asIndian officials argue about whether its limitations on their nuclearactivities offend the country's sense of sovereignty.

The accord, which was announced by President Bush last year and approved byCongress, is now mired in the swamp of history and complicated politics ofnonproliferation. In effect, the negotiations have been unable to resolve acentral question: should India be treated as a nuclear weapons state, whichretains the right to test its weapons and reprocess spent nuclear fuel?

The issue is proving trickier to sort out than anyone anticipated. Thedispute has come up as the two countries have tried to negotiate an accordknown as a "123 agreement," which could prohibit India from conductingfurther nuclear weapons tests, and put restrictions on whether it canreprocess spent nuclear fuel. The "123" refers to a section of the UnitedStates Atomic Energy Act.

The United States fears that the reprocessed fuel could be used to produceweapons-grade plutonium for a new generation of nuclear weapons, underminingMr. Bush's argument that the unusual deal with India would aidnonproliferation.

The deal is not necessarily doomed. But the sticking points are sopolitically contentious that they make it extremely difficult for eitherPresident Bush or Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India to break theimpasse easily.


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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041902548.html

From Clinton, Hip-Hop Hypocrisy

By Colbert I. King
Saturday, April 21, 2007; A17

Put me in the camp of those who implore Sen. Hillary Clinton to give itback -- "it" being the reported $800,000 that's sitting in her presidentialcampaign coffers thanks to a fundraiser hosted in her honor March 31 in thePinecrest, Fla., home of a huge Clinton fan who refers to himself asTimbaland.

In response to my questions, Clinton campaign spokesman Blake Zeff said inan e-mail this week that it cost $1,000 just to get into Timbaland'sfundraiser, that about 200 guests were on hand and that the senator wasaccompanied by former president Bill Clinton.

You would not be reading about Clinton or about Timbaland -- who enteredthis vale of tears 36 years ago in Norfolk under the name Timothy Mosley --were it not for the fact that he is a well-heeled hip-hop producer and notedperformer of the kind of misogynistic and denigrating lyrics that informedDon Imus's derogatory comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Mrs. Clinton, you may recall, took umbrage at Imus's remarks, branding them"small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism." His words, she said in an e-mailto supporters, "showed a disregard for basic decency and were disrespectfuland degrading to African Americans and women everywhere."

Good for her, I say, except it must be asked why she was down in Floridamaking nice to -- and pocketing big bucks from -- a rapper whoseobscenity-laced lyrics praise violence, perpetuate racist stereotypes anddemean black women.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041902548_pf.html

Gun Law Pragmatism

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, April 20, 2007; A31

Why do we have the same futile argument every time there is a mass killing?

Advocates of gun control try to open a discussion about whether morereasonable weapons statutes might reduce the number of violent deaths.Opponents of gun control shout "No!" Guns don't kill people, people killpeople, they say, and anyway, if everybody were carrying weapons, someonewould have taken out the murderer and all would have been fine.

And we do nothing.

This is a stupid argument, driven by the stupid politics of gun control inthe United States.

In other spheres, we act reasonably when faced with new problems. WhenRichard Reid showed that nasty things could be done with shoes on airplanes,airport security started examining shoes. When liquids were seen as apotential danger, we regulated the quantity of liquids we could take onflights. We barred people from carrying weapons onto airliners long ago.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042000220_pf.html

Wolfowitz Faces New Inquiry
Board Divided on Whether He Should Continue to Lead Bank

By Krissah Williams and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, April 21, 2007; A02

The World Bank's board said yesterday that it has ordered an ad hoc group ofits members to "urgently" conduct a far-reaching investigation into bankPresident Paul D. Wolfowitz's involvement in arranging the compensation andpromotion package for his companion, who is also a bank employee.

The board did not set a timeframe for the committee's deliberations, butbank officials said an announcement could come as early as next week. Theboard has also postponed a nine-day trip to Mongolia and the Philippines setto start next week, bank officials said.

The directors are divided over whether Wolfowitz should continue to lead theanti-poverty institution. U.S. officials, who hold sway because the UnitedStates is the bank's largest shareholder, have expressed support forWolfowitz. But, in its statement, the board reiterated its "great concern"over the matter.

In a separate statement, Wolfowitz said he "welcomes the decision of theboard to move forward and resolve this very important issue." He said againthat he does not intend to resign.

The board, which met for more than nine hours on Thursday and earlyyesterday, widened the investigation beyond the possible violations of staffrules committed by Wolfowitz when he outlined a transfer and career plan forShaha Riza, a woman to whom he is romantically linked.



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The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/20/AR2007042001894_pf.html

Russian Medical School Imposes Curfew for Hitler's Birthday

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, April 21, 2007; A12

MOSCOW, April 20 -- One of Russia's leading medical schools has advised itsmany foreign students to stay in their dormitories for three days, fearingthey could be attacked by neo-Nazis and skinheads marking the anniversary ofAdolf Hitler's birth, which fell on Friday.

The warning issued by the almost 250-year-old IM Sechenov Moscow MedicalAcademy, which suspended classes for its 1,940 foreign students, was areminder of the xenophobic and racist violence here targeting students andmigrant workers.

On Monday, a street cleaner from Tajikistan was stabbed 35 times outside anapartment building in eastern Moscow. Surveillance cameras on a nearbybuilding captured two skinheads carrying out the murder, according to newsreports here. Five suspects have been arrested. On the same day a46-year-old Armenian businessman was stabbed 20 times and later died inhospital. Three men were later arrested.

"It's no secret that some extremist young people, and not just in Russia,try to celebrate the 20th of April by attacking others," said SergeiBaranov, acting dean of the Sechenov Academy department that deals withforeign students. "For us, it's better to take preventative measures thandeal with the consequences." The curfew ends Saturday.



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Moyers Documentary Blasts Bush Lies, Media Complicity

By David Swanson

Bill Moyers has put together an amazing 90-minute video documenting the liesthat the Bush administration told to sell the Iraq war to the Americanpublic, with a special focus on how the media led the charge.

I've watched an advance copy and read a transcript, and the most importantthing I can say about it is: Watch PBS from 9:00 to 10:30 PM on Wednesday,April 25. Spending that 90 minutes will actually save you time becauseyou'll never watch television news again - not even on PBS, which comes infor its own share of criticism.


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