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365Gay.Com
http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/10/102607funder.htm
Obama Fundraiser Defects To Clinton
by The Associated Press
Posted: October 26, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET
(Washington) A longtime Democratic fundraiser has abandoned Barack Obama'scampaign to help rival Hillary Rodham Clinton win the party's presidentialnomination.
Bob Farmer, who was a top fundraiser for several past Democraticpresidential candidates, had served on Obama's national finance committee.
Farmer did not respond to a request for comment after a message was left athis home in Bal Harbour, Fla. But Kirk Wager, Obama's Florida finance chair,said Farmer let him know he was switching sides without saying why.
"I thanked him," Wager said.
In response to the departure, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, "He was nota bundler. He didn't raise any money for us, but we wish him well." Bundlershad committed to raise at least $50,000 for the campaign.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/opinion/27sat1.html?ref=opinion
That Old Time Religion
October 27, 2007
Editorial
President Bush was back in campaign mode this week, resurrecting twotried-and-true red-meat issues to rally the cadres in his dispiritedRepublican Party - fervent supporters of missile defense and of squeezingFidel Castro's Cuba. Seven years in the White House have done nothing tochange his views. Campaigning now for his legacy, he is still wrong on bothissues.
Mr. Bush has brought his 1960s Cuba policy into the Internet age by allowingprivate organizations to send computers to Cuban youths - if the governmentdoes not control their use. That is unlikely. And he proposed aninternational fund to provide grants, loans and debt relief to the Cubangovernment - but only after it allows free speech and open elections. Untilthen, Mr. Bush will cling stubbornly to the half-century-old economicembargo that has failed to unseat Mr. Castro while giving him an ever readyexcuse for his government's economic failings and repression.
No one knows what will happen when Mr. Castro, who is ailing, dies. TheUnited States is denying itself any chance to help influence Cuba's futureby sticking to the failed policies of the past. Its overriding interestshould be in a peaceful transition to the democratic and economicallydynamic society that Cubans have dreamed of for decades.
Easing the embargo could strengthen Cuba's battered middle class and help itplay a more active role in whatever comes next. Mr. Bush's call for theCuban people to rise up is more likely to persuade the government'ssupporters - the only ones with guns - to hang on even more stubbornly orbrutally.
Mr. Bush's blind faith in missile defense is equally disquieting. Thepresident has already wasted billions on a small and unproven system inAlaska. Now he wants to build one in Europe to guard against a possibleattack on American allies by Iran.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/opinion/27herbert.html?ref=opinion
Today's Hidden Slave Trade
By BOB HERBERT
October 27, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The woman testifying in federal court in Lower Manhattan could hardly haveseemed more insignificant.
She was an immigrant from South Korea and a prostitute, who spoke little orno English. She worked, she said, in brothels in New York, Philadelphia,Georgia, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C.
She did not offer a portrait of the good life. Speaking through aninterpreter, she told about the time in D.C. when a guy came in who looked"like a mental patient, a psycho." Weirded out, she wanted nothing to dowith him. But she said the woman who ran the brothel assured her everythingwould be fine.
It was fine if you consider wrestling with Hannibal Lecter fine. The johnclawed at this woman, gouging her flesh, peeling the skin from her back andother parts of her body. She was badly injured.
According to the government, the woman was caught up in a prostitution andtrafficking network that ruthlessly exploited young Korean women, some ofwhom "were smuggled into the country illegally."
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/opinion/27sat3.html?ref=opinion
Poland, Untwinned
October 27, 2007
Editorial
Poland's voters have rendered a clear, negative judgment on thefearmongering political style of the Kaczynski twins - President LechKaczynski and Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski - and their 15 months ofjoint rule. They decisively rejected the Kaczynskis' Law and Justice Party,turning instead to the center-right, pro-business Civic Platform, whoseleader, Donald Tusk, is now expected to become prime minister.
Lech Kaczynski's job was not at stake Sunday. He remains president until2010. But his power to veto future legislation will be largely nullified bythe new parliamentary arithmetic.
The Kaczynskis spoke, and will doubtless continue to speak, for the hurtsand resentments born of Poland's tragic 20th-century history. The problemwas that they often behaved as if that history was the exclusive property oftheir political party, and their belligerent, populist tone its onlylegitimate voice.
The grudges and suspicions they nurtured extended not just to ex-Communists,but to Germans of all generations, foreign business leaders, secularists,intellectuals, and on and on. They fostered a climate of accusation andsuspicion that divided Poland from its natural European partners andalienated the more forward- and outward-looking younger generation.
That climate also threatened to snuff out the critical democratic spiritforged in the heroic Solidarity movement that defied Communist power aquarter-century ago. Lech Walesa, Solidarity's former leader, became anoutspoken critic of the Kaczynskis' rule.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/business/27planes.html
U.S. Airlines Put Off Buying New Planes
By JEFF BAILEY
October 27, 2007
It's not just flights that are being delayed. United States airlines arealso putting off purchases of new planes, meaning the nation's fleet ofaircraft, on average, is aging right along with the passengers.
Northwest Airlines, for example, flies 109 of the oldest jetliners in thecountry, DC-9s, with an average age of 35 years. Northwest has yet to decidehow to replace the DC-9s, which could remain in service another five yearsor more.
American Airlines operates a fleet of 300 older MD-80s, a model that guzzlesfuel and lacks the latest in passenger comforts. And American has only ahandful of replacement planes coming in the next couple of years.
The fleet of big jets operated by nine major domestic airlines has agedsteadily since 2002, according to Airline Monitor, an aviation researchfirm. The average age was 10.6 years at the end of 2002, and it has riseneach year, hitting 12.2 years at the end of 2006. Domestic airlines largelystopped ordering new planes after Sept. 11, 2001, shrinking their fleets toadjust to a drop in demand. Travel has rebounded strongly, but airlines are,for the most part, years away from taking delivery on large numbers of newplanes. A big reason is that Boeing and Airbus have committed most of theirairliner production capacity in coming years to carriers outside the UnitedStates.
Indeed, only 43 of the 710 Boeing 787s on order have been identified asgoing to domestic airlines; 25 to Continental Airlines and 18 to Northwest.And none of the 165 giant Airbus A380s on order are destined for UnitedStates carriers. In essence a new generation of jetliners - bigger, morecomfortable, more fuel efficient - is largely bypassing domestic airlinesand their customers.
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The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/world/middleeast/26saudi.html
Saudi King Tries to Grow Modern Ideas in Desert
By THANASSIS CAMBANIS
October 26, 2007
JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 25 - On a marshy peninsula 50 miles from this RedSea port, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is staking $12.5 billion on agargantuan bid to catch up with the West in science and technology.
Between an oil refinery and the sea, the monarch is building from scratch agraduate research institution that will have one of the 10 largestendowments in the world, worth more than $10 billion.
Its planners say men and women will study side by side in an enclave walledoff from the rest of Saudi society, the country's notorious religious policewill be barred and all religious and ethnic groups will be welcome in a pushfor academic freedom and international collaboration sure to test thekingdom's cultural and religious limits.
This undertaking is directly at odds with the kingdom's religiousestablishment, which severely limits women's rights and rejects coeducationand robust liberal inquiry as unthinkable.
For the new institution, the king has cut his own education ministry out theloop, hiring the state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco to build the campus,create its curriculum and attract foreigners.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102601955.html
Slipping in Afghanistan
As the violence worsens, NATO struggles to raise troops.
Saturday, October 27, 2007; A14
THE UNITED STATES and its NATO allies are engaged in a regular ritual:blaming each other for the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.This week, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates forcefully criticized Europeangovernments for failing to meet commitments to supply troops and equipmentfor Afghan operations; he even threatened that the United States mightwithdraw its troops from Kosovo -- a European preoccupation -- ifAfghanistan were not better supplied. At a meeting of defense ministers, theNetherlands again complained that it -- along with the United States,Britain and Canada -- bears the brunt of the fighting against the Taliban,while Germany, Italy, Spain and most other NATO members restrict theirsoldiers to the safer parts of Afghanistan or ban them from combat. In replythe German defense minister suggested that NATO's aggressive militarystrategy in the south does more harm than good.
Loud disputes such as this have always been part of NATO and tend todisguise its successes -- such as the facts that all 26 of the alliancemembers have troops in Afghanistan, that all have increased their commitmentin the past year and that NATO forces continue to rout the Taliban whereverit is encountered. Yet there are real problems, both in the fighting and inthe supply and distribution of forces, and they are worsening. According tothe United Nations and independent monitoring groups, violence has increasedsignificantly in Afghanistan for the second straight year, spreading fromthe southeast to areas close to Kabul. Coalition deaths, including 94 U.S.soldiers killed, already exceed the full-year total for 2006.
The disparity of effort among NATO members continues to be significant. TheUnited States contributes 15,100 troops to the 41,000-member NATO-ledinternational force, known as ISAF, and deploys another 13,000 incounterterrorism operations. Britain has 7,700 troops in the country,meaning that Britain and the United States together account for more thanhalf of ISAF's strength. Meanwhile, France and Germany together deploy 4,200soldiers, or 10 percent of ISAF -- and none serve in the areas where most ofthe fighting takes place. Among other nations only Canada and theNetherlands, with 1,700 and 1,500 troops, are contributing substantially toanti-Taliban operations.
The defense ministers' meeting produced some small promises of additionalforces: Germany promised to send 200 more trainers for the Afghan army, andFrance chipped in 50. But the bottom line is that 2007 is looking likeanother year in which the Western alliance will lose as much as it gains inAfghanistan. Unless the trend is arrested -- which would require moretroops, more resources and more willingness to put soldiers at risk -- itwill lead both NATO and Afghanistan to failure.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102602329.html
Progress on Surveillance
A bipartisan Senate bill on monitoring foreign communications
Saturday, October 27, 2007; A14
THE SENATE intelligence committee's bipartisan rewrite of the ForeignIntelligence Surveillance Act is not perfect, but it illustrates that thereis a path to a reasonable compromise that would give intelligence agenciesthe flexibility to intercept foreign communications while strengtheningoversight of their activities. The proposal has the backing of theintelligence panel's top Democrat and Republican, Sens. John D. RockefellerIV (D-W.Va.) and Christopher S. "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.), and the Bushadministration has expressed a welcome openness to the approach.
The biggest sticking point -- and the biggest difference between the Senatebill and a measure backed by the House intelligence and judiciarycommittees -- doesn't involve the terms under which surveillance would beconducted. Rather, it concerns the question of retroactive immunity fromlawsuits for communications providers that cooperated with theadministration's warrantless surveillance program. As we have said, we donot believe that these companies should be held hostage to costly litigationin what is essentially a complaint about administration activities.
Immunity aside, both the Senate and House bills would create a strongoversight role for the special court that oversees FISA. Under bothmeasures, the court would review the procedures used to determine thattargets of surveillance are outside the United States and to effect the"minimization" measures designed to protect the privacy of U.S. citizenswhose communications are inadvertently intercepted.
The Senate measure would expire in six years while the House version wouldexpire in less than two years, along with provisions of the USA Patriot Act;the shorter House time frame is preferable. An amendment to the Senate billby Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden would go too far by requiring that a warrant beobtained when U.S. citizens are the target of surveillance overseas; thiswould be an unnecessary and potentially disruptive precedent.
As the debate proceeds, lawmakers and the administration need to keep inmind the big-picture points that have, at times, eluded both the Bushadministration and some civil liberties groups. Intelligence agencies shouldbe able to intercept the communications of foreign targets overseas withoutthe burdensome and unnecessary requirement of obtaining an individualwarrant every time. But that power, and the potential threat to Americans'privacy that it inevitably entails, needs to be checked and constrained,including by the kind of meaningful court review that was not present inlegislation that the administration muscled through Congress this year. TheSenate intelligence measure, which outlines one path for achieving thisbalance, is a badly needed contribution to what has been an unnecessarilypartisan debate.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102602326.html?hpid=topnews
From CIA Jails, Inmates Fade Into Obscurity
Dozens of 'Ghost Prisoners' Not Publicly Accounted For
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, October 27, 2007; A01
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- On Sept. 6, 2006, President Bush announced that theCIA's overseas secret prisons had been temporarily emptied and 14 al-Qaedaleaders taken to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But since then, there has been noofficial accounting of what happened to about 30 other "ghost prisoners" whospent extended time in the custody of the CIA.
Some have been secretly transferred to their home countries, where theyremain in detention and out of public view, according to interviews inPakistan and Europe with government officials, human rights groups andlawyers for the detainees. Others have disappeared without a trace and maor may not still be under CIA control.
The bulk of the ghost prisoners were captured in Pakistan, where theyscattered after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Among them is Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a dual citizen of Syria and Spain andan influential al-Qaeda ideologue who was last seen two years ago. On Oct.31, 2005, the red-bearded radical with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his headarrived in the Pakistani border city of Quetta, unaware he was beingfollowed.
Nasar was cornered by police as he and a small group of followers stoppedfor dinner. Soon after, according to Pakistani officials, he was handed overto U.S. spies and vanished into the CIA's prison network. Since then,various reports have placed him in Syria, Afghanistan and India, thoughnobody has been able to confirm his whereabouts.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102700250.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Bhutto Visits Ancestral Homeland Under Tight Security
By Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, October 27, 2007; 8:27 AM
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 27 -- Under extraordinarily tight security, formerprime minister Benazir Bhutto returned to her ancestral homeland Saturday inher first major move since an assassination attempt against her last weekclaimed 140 lives.
In a quick and tightly scripted visit, Bhutto paid respects at the tomb ofher father, former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and waved to a crowdof thousands that had gathered to mark her homecoming after eight years ofexile. But Bhutto did not speak to the assembled mass of flag-wavingsupporters, and concerns about a possible follow-up attack seemed to dictateevery aspect of the trip.
Her convoy, which included vehicles mounted with machine guns, sped alongthe route from the airport to the tomb in the village of Garhi Khuda Baksh.Only bodyguards and members of the media were allowed near.
Bhutto's vehicle, a white, bullet-proof SUV, was equipped with a hatch inthe roof, flanked by two metal slabs. At several points, she emerged to showher face to local backers who worship the Bhutto name with an almostreligious fervor.
Once inside the tomb -- a five-domed, white marble giant that is still beingbuilt more than a decade after work began -- a solemn-looking Bhutto laidrose petals over the grave of her father, who was hanged in 1979 byPakistan's then-dictator, Gen. Zia ul-Haq.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102602309.html?hpid=sec-world
Turkey Pulls U.S. Into Decision on Kurds
Ankara Postpones Reaction to Iraq-Based Militants Until After Meeting WithBush
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 27, 2007; A09
Turkey's military chief said yesterday that Ankara will delay a decision onwhether to launch a cross-border offensive into Iraq until after TurkishPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets here with President Bush 10 daysfrom now. "We will wait for his return," Gen. Yasar Buyukanit told reportersin the Turkish capital.
In Washington, officials were relieved that an attack does not appearimminent. But they were also discouraged by the statement, which leaves theBush administration precisely where it does not want to be: in the middle ofa confrontation between its troubled client state in Baghdad and a key NATOally.
Since cross-border attacks this month by Iraq-based militants of theKurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) left 40 Turkish soldiers, police andcivilians dead, the Bush administration has sought to persuade Ankara andBaghdad to resolve their differences peacefully and directly.
"We think this is an opportunity for the Iraqis and the Turks to worktogether," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Congress Thursday. Sofar, however, it is an opportunity that neither side appears eager to take.While administration officials enthusiastically called attention to ameeting of Iraqi and Turkish defense and security officials in Ankarayesterday, Turkish officials said that no progress had been made.
"Everyone there is guilty," Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said in aTurkish television interview, referring to the PKK, which both the UnitedStates and Europe have labeled a terrorist organization. Ankara has givenBaghdad a list of names of PKK members, he said, "and we want all of them tobe handed over." U.S. officials have estimated the PKK to number about 4,000fighters, most of them based in remote camps close to the border.
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The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102601969.html?hpid=sec-politics
Democrats Urge Bush to OK Water Projects
By JOHN HEILPRIN
The Associated Press
Saturday, October 27, 2007; 12:22 AM
WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders in Congress have sent President Bush aveto-proof bill to authorize spending $23 billion in water projects, havingwaited more than a month to request his signature on a measure he hasthreatened to veto.
Democrats have more than the two-thirds majority votes in both chambers ofCongress needed to override Bush if he vetoes the bill. The Senate passed iton Sept. 24 by a vote of 81-12; the House passed it Aug. 1 by a vote of381-40.
An override would mark the first such loss for Bush and could cast him in amore politically vulnerable light.
"This congressionally approved bill authorizes more than 200 projects toprotect lives and livelihoods in our communities from the devastatingimpacts of flooding by building and repairing floodwalls and levees, as wellas by restoring wetlands that absorb floodwaters," House Speaker NancyPelosi, D-Calif., and four other top House Democrats wrote Bush in a letterFriday urging him to sign the bill they sent to him on Tuesday.
The bill funds work to restore the hurricane-ravaged Louisiana coast andFlorida's Everglades, projects the Bush administration supports. But thepresident threatened a veto after the bill's anticipated cost ballooned by$9 billion as projects were added in negotiations between the House andSenate.
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-brmail830nboct27,0,1609866.story
In Armenian resolution, Congress should not be arbiter of history
October 27, 2007
Apparently, Congress has nothing better to do than alienate current allieswith questionable and dated genocide voting. While they're at it, why not anew genocide vote on Mongolia for what the Mongols did to Islam and others?Why not a new genocide vote on Russia for its many past pogroms? And so onand so on.
Genocide is not to be ignored nor condoned. This is one of the greatesttragedies of history. However, our Congress is not ordained to be thearbiter of that history. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democratshave raised the possibility that George W. Bush is not the dumbestpolitician in Washington.
Lewis M. Greenberg
Deerfield Beach
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The Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/285037.html
As glaciers melt, Chile's future uncertain
BY JACK CHANG
Posted on Fri, Oct. 26, 2007
SAN JOSE DE MAIPO, Chile -- With a population of 16 million people, Chiledoesn't produce much of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. Butit's paying the price.
Giant glaciers are disappearing. Mudslides are becoming more common. Snow nolonger falls in the spring, replaced instead by tepid rains.
In May, an entire lake in southern Chile disappeared practically overnightafter the Tempano Glacier, which had acted as a dam, melted anddestabilized.
And the changes aren't limited to Chile. Neighboring Argentina facesdroughts near its side of the Andes due to dropping rain levels. Shrinkingglaciers in Bolivia are threatening water supplies in some towns.
''What's happening in Argentina is very similar to what's happening inChile,'' said Mario Nuñez, director of the Argentine Sea and AtmosphereInvestigations Center. ``We're all trying to prepare for an uncertainfuture.''
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/26/obama_faces_dilemma_in_chasing_clinton/
Obama faces dilemma in chasing Clinton
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
October 26, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama, struggling to gain ground on rivalHillary Clinton in the 2008 White House race, faces a delicate dilemma intrying to bring down the Democratic front-runner without spoiling his upbeatimage.
After launching his campaign with a burst of excitement, the first-termIllinois senator is mired more than 20 points behind Clinton in nationalpolls and trails by smaller margins in the early voting states of Iowa andNew Hampshire barely two months before the first contests.
While that is plenty of time to turn around the race, Obama's promise of anew style of consensus-building politics has raised questions about howhard-nosed he will be -- or can afford to be -- in confronting Clinton.
"The campaign has to develop a level of aggressiveness and intensity thatI'm not sure we've seen yet. If he's playing to win, they are going to haveto ratchet it up," said Simon Rosenberg, head of the Democratic advocacygroup NDN.
But an approach that is too harsh could dilute his message, alienate hisnewest converts and harm a potentially bright future in the Democratic Partyat the age of 46, analysts said.
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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/26/giuliani_resembles_bush_on_security/
Giuliani resembles Bush on terror war
By Libby Quaid, Associated Press Writer
October 26, 2007
WASHINGTON --Rudy Giuliani, to quote a Democratic rival, would be likePresident Bush on steroids in the way he would go about protecting the U.S.from terrorists.
In reality, Giuliani doesn't seem very different from Bush on the issue.
The former New York mayor says the government shouldn't be shy abouteavesdropping on citizens. He is prepared to use military force to stop Iranfrom getting nuclear weapons and root out terrorists in Pakistan. And heopposes a U.S. pullout from Iraq.
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh, a Giuliani friend and adviser on homelandsecurity issues, said in an interview: "I would say they're very much joinedat the hip on these policies, and particularly the mind-set and commitmentof both the president and Mayor Giuliani to stay on offense."
Giuliani sounds more muscular.
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