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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/washington/13bush.html
Bush Mixes Fund-Raising and Business in Florida
October 13, 2007
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
MIAMI, Oct. 12 - His poll numbers are in the tank, and the Republicanpresidential candidates barely mention his name. But it took President Bushless than an hour on Friday to rake in $1 million from the party faithful.
The official purpose of Mr. Bush's trip to Florida was to talk to a friendlyaudience of business leaders here, urging Congress to adopt pending freetrade agreements with Peru, Colombia and Panama, as well as South Korea.
As he often does in Florida, the president drew big applause when he calledfor a free Cuba.
"In Havana, the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing an end," he said.
Before the main event, he took a trip to Pinellas Park, not far fromClearwater, where 60 people paid up to $25,000 each to have lunch with him.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/us/politics/14carolina.html?hp
A Clinton-Obama Quandary for Many Black Women
October 14, 2007
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
LORIS, S.C. - In the beauty parlors that are the social hubs for black womenin the Carolinas, loyalties are being tested as voters here contemplate thefirst Democratic primary in the South.
Clara Vereen, who has been working here in rural eastern South Carolina as ahairstylist for more than 40 of her 61 years, reflects the ambivalence ofmany black women as she considers both Senator Barack Obama of Illinois andSenator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
"I've got enough black in me to want somebody black to be our president,"she said in her tiny beauty shop, an extension of her home, after a visitfrom an Obama organizer. "I would love that, but I want to be real, too."
Part of being real, said Ms. Vereen, whom everyone calls Miss Clara, isworrying that a black president would not be safe.
"I fear that they just would kill him, that he wouldn't even have a chance,"she said as she styled a customer's hair with a curling iron. One way toprotect him, she suggested, would be not to vote for him.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/opinion/13sat1.html?ref=opinion
A Prize for Mr. Gore and Science
October 13, 2007
Editorial
One can generate a lot of heartburn thinking about all of the things thatwould be better about this country and the world if the Supreme Court haddone the right thing and ruled for Al Gore instead of George W. Bush in2000. Mr. Gore certainly hasn't let his disappointment stop him from puttingthe time since to very good use.
Yesterday, the Nobel committee celebrated that persistence and awarded thePeace Prize to Mr. Gore and a panel of United Nations scientists for theirefforts to raise awareness of the clear and present danger of globalwarming.
The committee said that the former vice president "is probably the singleindividual who has done most" to create worldwide understanding of whatneeds to be done to halt the damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Itcredited the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forcreating "an ever-broader informed consensus about the connection betweenhuman activities and global warming."
What the citation didn't mention but needs to be said is that it shouldn'thave to be left to a private citizen - even one so well known as Mr. Gore -or a panel of scientists to raise that alarm or prove what is now clearly anundeniable link or champion solutions to a problem that endangers the entireplanet.
That should be, and must be the job of governments. And governments - aboveall the Bush administration - have failed miserably.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/opinion/13herbert.html?ref=opinion
The Trivial Pursuit
October 13, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
By BOB HERBERT
Yesterday began with the gratifying news that Al Gore, derided by GeorgeH.W. Bush as the "Ozone Man," had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The first thing media types wanted to know was whether this would prompt Mr.Gore to elbow his way into the presidential campaign. That's like askingsomeone who's recovered from a heart attack if he plans to resume smoking.
Mr. Gore, who won an Academy Award for his documentary on global warming,"An Inconvenient Truth," and an Emmy for his cable TV network, Current,knows better than anyone else how toxic and downright idiotic presidentialpolitics has become.
He may be one of the most intelligent, thoughtful, talented men in Americaand remarkably well-equipped to lead the nation, but it's Mr. Bush'sless-than-curious, less-than-distinguished son, George W., who is president.
There are all kinds of ironies wrapped up in the title of Mr. Gore's latestbook, "The Assault on Reason."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/us/14army.html?hp
At an Army School, Blunt Talk on Iraq
October 14, 2007
By ELISABETH BUMILLER
FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - Here at the intellectual center of the UnitedStates Army, two elite officers were deep in debate at lunch on a recent dayover who bore more responsibility for mistakes in Iraq - the former defensesecretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, or the generals who acquiesced to him.
"The secretary of defense is an easy target," argued one of the officers,Maj. Kareem P. Montague, 34, a Harvard graduate and a commander in the ThirdInfantry Division that was the first to reach Baghdad in the 2003 invasion."It's easy to pick on the political appointee."
"But he's the one that's responsible," retorted Maj. Michael J. Zinno, 40, amilitary planner who worked at the headquarters of the CoalitionalProvisional Authority, the former American civilian administration in Iraq.
No, Major Montague shot back, it was more complicated: the Joint Chiefs ofStaff and the top commanders were part of the decision to send in a smallinvasion force and not enough troops for the occupation. Only Gen. Eric K.Shinseki, the Army chief of staff who was sidelined after he told Congressthat it would take several hundred thousand troops in Iraq, spoke up inpublic.
"You didn't hear any of them at the time, other than General Shinseki,screaming, saying that this was untenable," Major Montague said.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/washington/13general.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1192305607-QduUqUe04WcYZwpt5t/OrA
Ex-Commander Says Iraq Effort Is 'a Nightmare'
October 13, 2007
By DAVID S. CLOUD
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - In a sweeping indictment of the four-year effort inIraq, the former top commander of American forces there called the Bushadministration's handling of the war "incompetent" and said the result was"a nightmare with no end in sight."
Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who retired in 2006 after being replaced inIraq after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, blamed the Bushadministration for a "catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimisticwar plan" and denounced the current addition of American forces as a"desperate" move that would not achieve long-term stability.
"After more than four years of fighting, America continues its desperatestruggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that willachieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict againstextremism," General Sanchez said at a gathering of military reporters andeditors in Arlington, Va.
He is the most senior war commander of a string of retired officers who haveharshly criticized the administration's conduct of the war. While much ofthe previous condemnation has been focused on the role of former DefenseSecretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, General Sanchez's was an unusually broadattack on the overall course of the war.
But his own role as commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal leaveshim vulnerable to criticism that he is shifting the blame from himself tothe administration that ultimately replaced him and declined to nominate himfor a fourth star, forcing his retirement.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101201640.html
Immigrants and Laureates
America's two other winners of Nobel prizes show how important it is that
the U.S.get immigration policy right.
By Carl Schramm and Robert Litan
Friday, October 12, 2007; 5:05 PM
Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize is getting almost all the attention, butAmerica's two other new Nobel laureates also have interesting stories.Geneticists Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies won the Nobel Prize inmedicine for their work in gene targeting. And while their honor highlightsthe quality of American research, it also shows how our scientific communityis enriched by highly skilled immigrants.
Capecchi, who endured a heart-wrenching early childhood in wartime Italy,immigrated with his mother to the United States after World War II, whosurvived the Dachau concentration camp. Today, he leads research teams atthe University of Utah. Smithies, a native of Britain, came to the UnitedStates in the 1950s to work at the University of Wisconsin and has spent thelast 19 years at the University of North Carolina. Both are now U.S.
citizens.
Foreign-born researchers are common in the U.S. academic and scientificcommunities. In fact, more than a third of American Nobel laureates in thesciences over the last 15 years were born outside the U.S. These scientistsare conducting research with extraordinary promise for improving lives, aswell as great potential to produce commercialized therapies and technologiesthat drive U.S. innovation and economic growth.
The U.S. should welcome these highly skilled researchers and innovators. Unfortunately, recent trends in immigration policy are making it moredifficult for foreign-born scientists and engineers to put their skills towork in this country -- and that could have profoundly negative implicationsfor the U.S. economy.
Recent studies by Duke, Harvard and New York universities find that far moreskilled scientists and workers are waiting for U.S. visas than can beadmitted under current law. More than one million skilled workers awaitpermanent resident status. Yet only about 120,000 permanent resident visasare available each year for skilled workers and their family members in thethree main employment visa categories.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202104.html
Gore v. Bush
The Nobel Peace Prize committee hands a victory to Al Gore.
Saturday, October 13, 2007; A18
FOR FORMER vice president Al Gore, sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with theUnited Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is vindication. Hewas green when green wasn't cool. For more than 20 years, Mr. Gore persistedin the face of intense skepticism and criticism with his warnings about theimpact of global warming on the planet.
"He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greaterworldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted," the Nobelcommittee wrote.
His movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," about the effects of climate change, wasa box-office hit and an Oscar winner. That achievement is impressive andimportant, notwithstanding factual misstatements and exaggerations such asthe "nine significant errors" in the film cited by a British judgeWednesday. By also awarding the prize to the IPCC, the Nobel committeebolstered the more solid scientific assessments of the U.N.-sponsoredorganization, which served to strengthen Mr. Gore's message about thedangers of global warming while moderating some of his more questionableassertions.
The Nobel committee chairman said that awarding the prize to Mr. Gore andthe IPCC was not meant to be "a kick in the leg to anyone." The White Housesaid it didn't see it that way, either. But these denials are hard to takeseriously from a group that has handed the peace prize to adversaries ofPresident Bush in several recent years. Mr. Bush said, through aspokesperson, that he was "happy" for Mr. Gore. But there was nocongratulatory phone call, and commentary around the world, particularly inEurope, took delight in a yet another perceived rebuff to the unpopularpresident.
When it comes to global warming, the ire is warranted. Mr. Bush's inactionon climate change is one of the major failings of his presidency. Hesquandered nearly seven years by questioning the science of global warmingand undermining efforts to do anything substantive about it. His recentefforts to demonstrate leadership -- from finally recognizing global warmingas real to hosting a climate summit with the major emitters of greenhousegases -- are undermined by his insistence that nations pursue voluntary"aspirational goals" to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This is not thekind of leadership the world is looking for.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202102.html
The President's Papers
They belong to the people of the United States.
Saturday, October 13, 2007; A18
HISTORIANS WON a small victory last week in their quest to lift the heavycloak of privilege from papers generated by the president and his WhiteHouse staff. A federal judge ruled that the National Archives should havethe final say on when those papers are publicly released. But that actiontakes care of only part of the problem. Congress has before it a law thatwould make as many of those documents available as possible. The onlyobstacle is Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).
Since 1978, a president has been allowed to hold back certain records frompublic view for 12 years after leaving the White House. In addition, a 1989executive order from President Ronald Reagan lets former occupants of theOval Office ask the sitting president to withhold certain records. If therequest is refused, the former president can go to court to stop theirrelease. Then came President Bush's 2001 executive order, which compelledpresidents to honor the requests of their predecessors. And in anunprecedented bit of overreaching, Mr. Bush extended the right of executiveprivilege to relatives of the president and the vice president. Archivistscan go to court to try to get the records released, but even if theirlawsuits are successful, current and former presidents could delay therelease of records indefinitely.
Because that "effectively eliminates" the discretion of the NationalArchives, which by law has the power to release presidential documents, U.S.District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, in an Oct. 1 ruling, invalidated theindefinite presidential review of privileged records. Left in place, though,was the broad cloak of privilege for the president's relatives and for thevice president that Mr. Bush's executive order imposed. The PresidentialRecords Act Amendment of 2007, sponsored by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman(I-Conn.), would take care of that by undoing the order and giving currentand former presidents no more than 40 days to review privileged documentsbefore they are released.
But Mr. Bunning is blocking the bill. He didn't return our call, but he wasquoted in the Dallas Morning News last month as saying, "The president oughtto have the right to withhold any records he chooses" and that formerpresidents should have "a reasonable amount of time" to release theirrecords. Mr. Bunning's hold and his rationale are unacceptable. Presidentialrecords belong to history because they help provide insight into thedecisions made by a president and his administration. More important,because they are the byproducts of work done on behalf of the nation, thoserecords belong to the people of the United States.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202158.html?hpid=sec-religion
Presbyterians Splintering Over Scripture
Conservative Congregations Break Away From Church
By Bruce Schreiner
Associated Press
Saturday, October 13, 2007; B09
The Episcopal Church isn't the only mainline Protestant group shaken by openconflict between theological liberals and conservatives.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is facing similar trials, with traditionalistcongregations planning to bolt and a conservative denomination preparing totake them in.
About 30 of the almost 11,000 Presbyterian congregations have voted to leavethe national church since the denomination's national assembly session in2006, according to the Layman, a conservative Presbyterian publication thathas been tracking the breakaways. Denominational leaders say they could losean additional 20 congregations as a result of the latest rupture.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a conservative group separate from thePresbyterian Church (USA), has voted to accept any of the departingcongregations. Presbyterian conservatives are meanwhile organizingthemselves through groups such as the Presbyterian Global Fellowship and theNew Wineskins Association of Churches.
Presbyterian leaders emphasize that only a fraction of their congregationsare leaving. But any litigation over church property could hurt the church'sreputation and its bottom line. And the departures come after years ofdwindling congregational membership and recent budget woes.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101102661.html?hpid=sec-religion
Pope to S. Korea: No Stem Cell Research
By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
Friday, October 12, 2007; 12:26 AM
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI appealed Thursday to South Koreans'"inherent moral sensibility" to reject embryonic stem cell research andhuman cloning after the country decided to let embryonic stem cell researchresume.
Benedict also praised South Korea's efforts to halt North Korea's nuclearambitions in comments to Seoul's new ambassador to the Vatican, Ji-YoungFrancesco Kim, who presented his credentials to the pontiff.
"It is my ardent hope that the ongoing participation of various countriesinvolved in the negotiation process will lead to a cessation of programsdesigned to develop and produce weapons with frightening potential forunspeakable destruction," Benedict said.
Separately, the pope noted South Korea's "notable successes in scientificresearch and development." But he said such research must be carried outwith "firm ethical standards" that always respect the dignity of human life.
"The destruction of human embryos, whether to acquire stem cells or for anyother purpose, contradicts the purported intent of researchers, legislatorsand public health officials to promote human welfare," the pope said.
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/418/story/270139.html
Meet the new Bush, same as the old Bush
Posted on Sat, Oct. 13, 2007
By BETH REINHARD
It's especially true in politics: The more things change, the more they staythe same.
President Bush was in Miami Friday pitching free trade deals that have beenhamstrung by his slumping popularity, the Democratic takeover of Congressand an unpredictable presidential campaign.
His former rival, Al Gore, was celebrating his Nobel Peace Prize for raisingawareness about climate change, fending off renewed pleas to run forpresident, and probably feeling vindicated.
What a difference six years makes. Bush's first presidential trip to SouthFlorida was on June 4, 2001 -- three months before the Sept. 11 terroristattacks that led the U.S. into war.
Only not so different. Bush's visit to the Everglades back then was meant toshore up his environmental credentials, under attack for abandoning a globalwarming treaty and a campaign pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
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Tallahassee Democrat
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071013/OPINION05/710130301/1006/OPINION
Pondering a Clinton-Obama ticket
Article published Oct 13, 2007
By Clarence Page
TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
As Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has firmed up her lead in the Democraticpresidential race, speculation about her potential running mate is rising -among Republicans!
"Absolutely," said former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani when asked during arecent interview if he thinks his fellow New Yorker will be nominated. "Ibelieve she will be the nominee and Sen. (Barack) Obama will be the vicepresidential nominee."
Yes, some people already are talking about Clinton as if she were thenominee before a single Democratic primary or caucus voter has had a chanceto weigh in. As she has firmed up her lead of as much as 20 points ahead ofsecond-place Obama in the polls, Giuliani is hardly the only observerspeculating that she'll be the Democratic standard bearer.
But with Obama as a running mate? With that prediction, Giuliani expressesout loud what I have heard several friends, associates and news sources sayin private in recent months.
Anna Quindlen was the first of my column-writing colleagues, as far as I cantell, to make the connection. In an open letter in the July 23 Newsweek, sheappealed to Clinton to "make it your business to persuade Barack Obama to beyour running mate."
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Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-politics13oct13,1,4688921.story?track=rss
Democratic race toughens up
For her Iran vote, Clinton finds herself under attack not only from Obama,but also from Edwards and Biden.
By Rick Pearson
Chicago Tribune
October 13, 2007
DES MOINES - Barack Obama's decision to launch a tougher phase of hiscampaign with a foreign-policy attack on Hillary Rodham Clinton opened thedoor Friday for the one of the most contentious campaign days yet among thefield of Democratic presidential contenders.
Clinton, a New York senator who is the front-runner in national publicopinion polls, found herself under attack not only from Obama, an Illinoissenator, but from Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and former Sen. JohnEdwards of North Carolina. Biden also criticized Obama over a missed Senatevote, and Biden and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson sparred over a strategyto stabilize Iraq.
With the first caucuses and primaries less than three months away, DennisGoldford, a professor of politics at Drake University in Des Moines, saidthe Democrats were responding because Clinton had been solidifying her leadin many polls.
"If you're seeking to be the un-Hillary, you've got to do something to shakeit up," Goldford said.
Amid the attacks, Clinton picked up a valuable endorsement from Rep. JohnLewis of Georgia, a hero of the civil rights movement. Obama's campaign saidLewis had a close relationship with President Clinton.
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/10/13/parity_on_drug_sentencings/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Today%27s+paper+A+to+Z
Parity on drug sentencings
By Derrick Z. Jackson, Globe Columnist
October 13, 2007
WHEN PRESIDENT Bush was a candidate in 1999, he was asked which SupremeCourt justice he really respected. He first said Antonin Scalia. A fewmoments later, he added Clarence Thomas.
Hillary Clinton was asked the same question Wednesday during a visit to theGlobe. The current front-runner for the Democratic presidential nominationsaid the justices she most admires are "the ones that are currently in theminority. . . . I'm going do everything I can as president to give Ginsbergand Souter and Breyer and the others as much company as I can give them."
That was a candid and reassuring answer for those dismayed by the court,even if the best that even a two-term Clinton can probably do - given theyouth of the conservative wing - is hold serve against its 5-4 majority. Buton another matter of justice, one that unfairly and disproportionately jailsAfrican-Americans, Clinton remains alarmingly indecisive.
In August, I criticized her stance on the vast, two-decade gulf insentencing for crack cocaine vs. powder cocaine. In laws founded inhysteria, it takes 100 times more powder cocaine to get the same mandatorysentence as crack. Clinton told the Trotter Group of African-Americancolumnists, "As a matter of practical politics, you might not be able to getfrom where we are, from 100-to-1, to parity. But we should ought to be ableto get to 10-to-1 or something that would move us in the right direction."
But there is also no justification for 10-to-1 on a scientific, medical orviolent crime basis. Ten-to-1 just recycles what President Clinton proposeda decade ago. Rival candidate Joe Biden wants to eliminate the disparity.The US Sentencing Commission has a modest easing of crack sentencesscheduled to take effect Nov. 1, but admits it is "only a partial solution."
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Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances1@bellsouth.net
Rice worried by Putin's broad powers
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 26 minutes ago
The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so much centralauthority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow's commitment todemocracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.
"In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power ofany one president is problematic for democratic development," Rice toldreporters after meeting with human-rights activists.
"I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I havetold the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence ofthe judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of theelectronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of theDuma," said Rice, referring to the Russian parliament.
Telephone messages left with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov were notimmediately returned Saturday evening.
The top American diplomat encouraged the activists to build institutions ofdemocracy. These would help combat arbitrary state power amid increasingpressure from the Kremlin, she said.
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Forwarded from Susan Frishkorn
Tri-County - chances1@bellsouth.net
Ex-Commander Says Iraq Effort Is 'a Nightmare'
October 13, 2007
By DAVID S. CLOUD
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 - In a sweeping indictment of the four-year effort inIraq, the former top commander of American forces there called the Bushadministration's handling of the war "incompetent" and said the result was"a nightmare with no end in sight."
Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who retired in 2006 after being replaced inIraq after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, blamed the Bushadministration for a "catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimisticwar plan" and denounced the current addition of American forces as a"desperate" move that would not achieve long-term stability.
"After more than four years of fighting, America continues its desperatestruggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that willachieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict againstextremism," General Sanchez said at a gathering of military reporters andeditors in Arlington, Va.
He is the most senior war commander of a string of retired officers who haveharshly criticized the administration's conduct of the war. While much ofthe previous condemnation has been focused on the role of former DefenseSecretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, General Sanchez's was an unusually broadattack on the overall course of the war.
But his own role as commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal leaveshim vulnerable to criticism that he is shifting the blame from himself tothe administration that ultimately replaced him and declined to nominate himfor a fourth star, forcing his retirement.
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