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NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/us/politics/05huckabee.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Huckabee Moves to New Hampshire, With Tweaks to His Message
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
January 5, 2008
HENNIKER, N.H. - Fresh from his victory in the Iowa caucuses, Mike Huckabeehas to be considered a serious contender for the Republican presidentialnomination. But that has not sobered up his distinctive BibleBelt-meets-Borscht Belt act on the stump.
After arriving in New Hampshire by chartered jets late Thursday night, mostof the presidential contenders rose early to hit the trail. Not Mr.Huckabee. He gave morning interviews to no fewer than seven televisionnetworks, continuing his strategy of capitalizing on his folksy charm andself-deprecating wit to compensate for the fact that his shoestring campaigncannot afford much advertising.
And at his first face-to-face event with voters, at 4 p.m., he warmed up thecrowd by playing bass guitar with a local rock band ("In the Midnight Hour,""Mustang Sally") and introduced his campaign sidekick, the actor ChuckNorris.
"If you elect me, what about Chuck Norris for secretary of defense?" Mr.Huckabee said, pledging to build up a military so formidable it would be"Chuck Norris approved."
With almost no field organization and only about $2 million in the bank asof last week, the Huckabee campaign has relied on such sideshows as aninexpensive way to drum up the kind of crowds that other campaigns rely ontheir staff to turn out. (Mr. Huckabee's rally was interrupted periodicallyby shouts of "Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!" from a group of teenage fans in thecrowd.)
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WashingtonPost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010303758_pf.html
Ready For 2028?
Never Mind This Year's Election. Meet Six Locals Who Might Be Ready To Runfor the White House Two Decades From Now.
By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 6, 2008; N01
It's an election year, and we're trying to get ahead of ourselves. No pollor blog is current enough. Even a live feed seems passe. The media arescrambling to pluck today's scoop from tomorrow.
Let's take a s tep back by taking a bigger step forward. Behold the firstsnippet of coverage of Election 2028. It's a political cycle that could makeor break us as a human race, so someone should start reporting on it.
Where will we be in 20 years? The Arctic may be ice-free during the summer.The world population will crack 8 billion. It'll be the 25th anniversary ofthe invasion of Iraq and the 100th birthday of Mickey Mouse.
And we'll be reaching our "global crisis of maturity," the point at whichour world system (or lack thereof) must be transformed to wrangle a morepopulous, industrialized and inte lligent world facing risks withcataclysmic consequences. So says William Halal, creator of the virtualthink tank TechCast ( http://www.techcast.org) and professor emeritus ofscience, technology and innovation at George Washington University.
"These dilemmas of environment and globalization and conflict are going toreach crisis proportions by 2030," Halal says, "but the power to resolvethese existential issues is going to appear at roughly that same time. Theincrease in knowledge, the awareness of the need for a shift in globalconsciousness, the high technology -- all that stuff will be in place."
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/opinion/05sat1.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin
Editorial: The Political Road Ahead
January 5, 2008
It is dangerous to draw too many conclusions from the Iowa caucuses - atelegenic display of activism by a tiny slice of Americans. No winner ofcontested Iowa caucuses has then gone on to win the White House.
Still some powerful political currents were on display in Iowa, startingwith a yearning for change and inspirational leadership among Democrats.Senator Barack Obama positively soaked it up, growing steadily moreconfident and powerful in his oratory. Senator Hillary Clinton's events weremore like required-attendance lectures than rallying points for a politicalmovement.
Republicans, too, talked about change, but mostly it was changing theirassociation with President Bush. His name was hardly mentioned in Iowa,except by a dozen or so Republicans at a caucus we attended who explainedwhy they had turned out for Mr. Obama.
The big question is whether these political currents remain charged as thecampaign moves through New Hampshire, and into more populous and complexstates.
In Iowa, Mr. Obama erased the gender gap, doing better than Mrs. Clintonamong men and women, and replaced it with something we'll call the post-babyboomer effect. On caucus night, there was a very strong showing by men andwomen under 45, not just the expected 18-to-25-year-olds. Half supported Mr.Obama, a huge show of force in a multiple-candidate race.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/opinion/05herbert.html?ref=opinion
Op-Ed Columnist: The Obama Phenomenon
By BOB HERBERT
Manchester, N.H.
January 5, 2008
The historians can put aside their reference material. This is new. Americahas never seen anything like the Barack Obama phenomenon.
I was surprised all day Thursday, before the results of the Iowa caucuseswere in, by the apparent serenity of the Obama forces here in New Hampshire.The stakes were enormous, but the campaign staff members and volunteersseemed as cool as the candidate.
The students, veterans, middle-aged moms, retirees and others workingsteadily to make Barack Obama president seemed to accept as fact that thecountry is ready for profound change and that their job is to help make ithappen.
"We've been busy knocking on doors, making phone calls, inputting data andbasically just spreading hope," said Kathryn Teague, a 19-year-old who hastaken a year off from Keene State College to work in the campaign.
There is no longer any doubt that the Obama phenomenon is real. Mr. Obama'smessage of hope, healing and change, discounted as fanciful and naïve byskeptics, drew Iowans into the frigid night air by the tens of thousands onThursday to stand with a man who is not just running for president, buttrying to build a new type of political movement.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/opinion/05collins.html?ref=opinion
Op-Ed Columnist: What Would Hillary Rodham Do?
By GAIL COLLINS
Des Moines
January 5, 2008
What does Hillary Clinton stand for, if not the spirit of We Can Get ThroughThis?
There she was, taking leave of Iowa at a deeply, deeply depressingpost-caucus party Thursday night. On stage, her posse was lookingdeterminedly cheerful, like heroic musketeers before the firing squad: theLos Angeles mayor (Latino), the New York lieutenant governor (black),Madeleine Albright (female) and Terry McAuliffe (white-man money), alongwith two extremely photogenic little girls and a huge mass of unionofficials.
Hillary, looking remarkably perky, and Bill, looking remarkably pink, turnedtheir game faces to the cameras.
"This is a great night for Democrats," the front-runner who came in thirdannounced firmly. "Together, we have presented the case for change and havemade it absolutely clear that America needs a new beginning."
Meanwhile, over on the happy side of town, Barack Obama was telling hisecstatic supporters that they would "be able to look back with pride and saythis was the moment when it all began."
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/opinion/05sat4.html?ref=opinion
Editorial: Juvenile Detention Trap
January 5, 2008
One way to lessen the chance that troubled young people grow up to befull-fledged criminals is to send them to community-based counseling andprobation programs instead of to detention centers where they are oftentraumatized and inducted into a life of crime. The community-based programsare less expensive than detention and more effective when it comes tocutting recidivism. But states and localities are often hampered by policiesthat provide perverse financial incentives for sending young people to thelockup.
That's the case in New York City, which is struggling to remake its juvenilejustice system. Detaining one youth for a year costs city taxpayers$200,000 - many times what it costs to care for troubled children incommunity-based programs. Unfortunately, the system encourages officials tochoose detention for juveniles. The state reimburses the city 50 percent ofthe cost of pretrial detention, but pays nothing for community-basedalternative programs that can make all the difference in getting troubledyoung people back on track.
Another serious problem, according to a recent study by the city'sIndependent Budget Office, is that the juvenile courts close at 5 p.m. andaren't open on weekends. Police officers who arrest young people at thosetimes usually have no option but to send them directly to detention untilthe courts open. In some cases, the process can take several days. That'soutrageous - especially since statistics show that once young people do makeit to court, two-thirds are defined as low-risk suspects and are released totheir parents pending trial. It would never be tolerated in the adult systemwhere the law requires that suspects be swiftly arraigned.
Thanks to innovative policies, New York City has begun to reduce the numberof low-level young offenders who are sent to state-run detention facilities.Many are now diverted to community-based programs where they can receivemental health and counseling services. That's a good thing, since more than80 percent of young men who are sentenced to detention facilities end uparrested again within three years.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/us/politics/05repubs.html?hp
McCain May Benefit From Huckabee's Jolt to G.O.P.
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and CARL HULSE
January 5, 2008
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Mike Huckabee's defeat of Mitt Romney in the Iowacaucuses jolted a Republican Party establishment already distressed aboutthe state of its presidential field.
But out of the turmoil may rise yet another opportunity for Senator JohnMcCain of Arizona, whose candidacy all but collapsed last year.
If only by default, Mr. McCain is getting yet another look and appears to bein a strong position competing against a weakened Mr. Romney in the NewHampshire primary on Tuesday.
Mr. McCain is the latest beneficiary of the continuing upheaval in theRepublican field that has seen nearly all of the candidates rising atvarious points. Among them were Mr. McCain, former Senator Fred D. Thompsonof Tennessee and Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former mayor of New York.
Mr. Romney's defeat in Iowa only underlined concerns that many Republicanshad expressed about him, while the success of Mr. Huckabee, a formergovernor of Arkansas, gave rise to new worries among the Republicanestablishment.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/washington/05aids.html?hp
In Global Battle on AIDS, Bush Creates Legacy
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
January 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - Dr. Jean W. Pape did not know what to expect in early January2003, when he slipped away from his work treating AIDS patients in Haiti andflew to Washington for a secret meeting with President Bush.
Mr. Bush was considering devoting billions to combat global AIDS, a publichealth initiative unparalleled in size and scope. The deliberations had beentightly carried out; even the health secretary was left out early on. IfPresident Bush was going to shock the world - and skeptical Republicans -with a huge expenditure of American cash to send expensive drugs overseas,he wanted it to be well spent.
"He said, 'I will hold you accountable, because this is a big move, this isan important thing that I've been thinking about for a long time,'" recalledDr. Pape, one of several international AIDS experts Mr. Bush consulted. "Weindicated to him that our arms are totally broken as physicians, knowingthat there are things we could do if we had the drugs."
Nearly five years later, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -Pepfar, for short - may be the most lasting bipartisan accomplishment of theBush presidency.
With a year left in office, Mr. Bush confronts an America bitterly splitover the war in Iraq. His domestic achievements, the tax cuts and educationreform, are not fully embraced by Democrats, and his second-term legislativeagenda - revamping Social Security and immigration policy - lies in ruins.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/us/politics/05race.html?hp
Daring to Believe, Blacks Savor Obama Victory
By DIANE CARDWELL
January 5, 2008
For Sadou Brown in a Los Angeles suburb, the decisive victory of SenatorBarack Obama in Iowa was a moment to show his 14-year-old son what ispossible.
For Mike Duncan in Maryland, it was a sign that Americans were moving beyondrigid thinking about race.
For Milton Washington in Harlem, it looked like the beginning of somethinghe never thought that he would see. "It was like, 'Oh, my God, we're on thecusp of something big about to happen,' " Mr. Washington said.
How Mr. Obama's early triumph will play out in the presidential contestremains to be seen, and his support among blacks is hardly monolithic.
But in dozens of interviews on Friday from suburbs of Houston to townsoutside Chicago and rural byways near Birmingham, Ala., African-Americansvoiced pride and amazement over his victory on Thursday and the message itsent, even if they were not planning to vote for him or were skeptical thathe could win in November.
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/us/politics/05huckabee.html
Huckabee Moves to New Hampshire, With Tweaks to His Message
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
January 5, 2008
HENNIKER, N.H. - Fresh from his victory in the Iowa caucuses, Mike Huckabeehas to be considered a serious contender for the Republican presidentialnomination. But that has not sobered up his distinctive BibleBelt-meets-Borscht Belt act on the stump.
After arriving in New Hampshire by chartered jets late Thursday night, mostof the presidential contenders rose early to hit the trail. Not Mr.Huckabee. He gave morning interviews to no fewer than seven televisionnetworks, continuing his strategy of capitalizing on his folksy charm andself-deprecating wit to compensate for the fact that his shoestring campaigncannot afford much advertising.
And at his first face-to-face event with voters, at 4 p.m., he warmed up thecrowd by playing bass guitar with a local rock band ("In the Midnight Hour,""Mustang Sally") and introduced his campaign sidekick, the actor ChuckNorris.
"If you elect me, what about Chuck Norris for secretary of defense?" Mr.Huckabee said, pledging to build up a military so formidable it would be"Chuck Norris approved."
With almost no field organization and only about $2 million in the bank asof last week, the Huckabee campaign has relied on such sideshows as aninexpensive way to drum up the kind of crowds that other campaigns rely ontheir staff to turn out. (Mr. Huckabee's rally was interrupted periodicallyby shouts of "Chuck! Chuck! Chuck!" from a group of teenage fans in thecrowd.)
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/science/space/05scope.html
Donors Bring Big Telescope a Step Closer
By DENNIS OVERBYE
January 5, 2008
A project to build a digital camera of cosmic dimensions on a mountaintop inChile has received a $30 million boost from a pair of software moguls andphilanthropists.
Charles Simonyi, formerly of Microsoft and now chief executive ofIntentional Software, said Thursday that he would contribute $20 million tothe project, known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or L.S.S.T. BillGates, founder of Microsoft, agreed to give $10 million.
When completed in 2014, the telescope - 330 inches in diameter and armedwith a three-billion-pixel detector - will survey the entire night skyvisible from its intended perch on Cerro Pachón in northern Chile once everythree nights, allowing astronomers to monitor changes in stars and themotions of asteroids and everything else that moves in the sky. It will alsoallow researchers to map dark matter and the effects of the mysterious darkenergy that is speeding the universe's expansion.
"It'll be a form of celestial cinematography, the biggest movie ever," saidJ. Anthony Tyson of the University of California, Davis, a physicist wholeads a multinational team of 22 universities, observatories and otherinstitutions, including Google, planning to build the telescope.
The resulting data, amounting to 30 terabytes each night - slightly lessthan half the information content of the Library of Congress - will beimmediately available to the astronomical community and the public, Dr.Tyson said, allowing anybody who is interested to "mine the sky."
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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/health/04aggression.html
Drugs Offer No Benefit in Curbing Aggression, Study Finds
By BENEDICT CAREY
January 4, 2008
The drugs most widely used to manage aggressive outbursts in intellectuallydisabled people are no more effective than placebos for most patients andmay be less so, researchers report.
The finding, being published Friday, sharply challenges standard medicalpractice in mental health clinics and nursing homes in the United States andaround the world.
In recent years, many doctors have begun to use the so-called antipsychoticdrugs, which were developed to treat schizophrenia, as all-purposetranquilizers to settle threatening behavior - in children withattention-deficit problems, college students with depression, older peoplewith Alzheimer's disease and intellectually handicapped people.
The new study tracked 86 adults with low I.Q.'s in community housing inEngland, Wales and Australia over more than a month of treatment. It found a79 percent reduction in aggressive behavior among those taking dummy pills,compared with a reduction of 65 percent or less in those takingantipsychotic drugs.
The researchers focused on two drugs, Risperdal by Janssen, and an olderdrug, Haldol, but said the findings almost certainly applied to all similarmedications. Such drugs account for more than $10 billion in annual sales,and research suggests that at least half of all prescriptions are forunapproved "off label" uses - often to treat aggression or irritation.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010403512.html?hpid=sec-world
Modern Party, Polygamist Tradition Clash in S. Africa
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, January 5, 2008; A12
JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 4 -- Within the Zulu culture of Jacob Zuma, the newlyelected president of the African National Congress, few moments in a man'slife are more celebrated than taking a wife -- even if he already hasothers.
But news of Zuma's plans to marry a longtime girlfriend this weekend --marking, by most counts, his sixth wedding -- sent waves of unease Fridaythrough this polyglot nation where progressive notions of women's rightsclash with deeply held convictions about respecting South Africa's variedcultural traditions.
The development appeared particularly awkward for the ANC, which over nearlya century has cast itself as a force not just of liberation but also ofsocial modernization. South Africa's dominant political party hastraditionally been led by mostly erudite, professional men who, with fewexceptions, did not have several wives at the same time.
Set against that tradition, Zuma is a new kind of party leader, especiallyfollowing Thabo Mbeki, a cerebral, pipe-smoking economist who remainspresident of the nation. Zuma, 65, is a former guerrilla with no formaleducation and a personal theme song, "Bring Me My Machine Gun," that evokesthe party's history of armed struggle rather than its more recent emphasison the unglamorous work of reconciliation.
As a polygamist with a reported 16 children -- as well as a former rapedefendant acquitted in 2006 -- Zuma has alienated many South African women,and his personal life threatens to tarnish the party's image as a championof gender equality. The wedding, scheduled for Saturday, would bring thenumber of his current wives to four, news reports say.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010403233.html?hpid=sec-politics
Obama's Win in Iowa Shakes Up Labor
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 5, 2008; 12:26 AM
WASHINGTON -- Despite racking up almost all of the endorsements fromorganized labor, Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards came in behindBarack Obama _ the only Democratic front-runner with no national unionsupport _ in the Iowa caucuses. That left at least one union looking for anew candidate Friday.
International Association of Fire Fighters President Howard Schaitbergercalled the support for Obama "breathtaking," after seeing his union'scandidate, Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., falter in Iowa and drop out ofthe race. Despite the money and the manpower organized labor shifted to Iowafor Clinton, Edwards and Dodd _ one union ran television ads for Clintonwhile another shifted workers in-state to stump for Edwards _ Obama stillwon convincingly.
"The tsunami was far greater than we could attempt to hold off,"Schaitberger said.
Schaitberger said he talked personally with both Obama and Clinton onFriday. But the firefighters would not immediately endorse, he said."Sometime after March, we will begin to reevaluate the remainingcandidates," Schaitberger said.
Union support is supposed to be key to winning the Democratic presidentialprimary, with their money and foot soldiers playing key roles in the earlyvoting states. For example, the political arm of the American Federation ofState, County and Municipal Employees, which has endorsed Clinton, spent atleast $250,000 to air television ads in Iowa urging her victory.
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Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010403528.html?hpid=sec-education
Okla. Bills Target Religious Discrimination Against Students
Associated Press
Saturday, January 5, 2008; B09
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Two state lawmakers have introduced similar measuresdesigned to protect students from religious discrimination.
But critics say no such protections are needed.
Reps. Mike Reynolds and Sally Kern, Republicans from Oklahoma City, haveintroduced nearly identical bills for the upcoming session called theReligious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act.
The legislation would require that an expression by a student of a religious viewpoint be treated in the same way as an expression of any secularviewpoint. Both measures would prohibit school districts from discriminatingagainst students based on religious viewpoints and would require everydistrict in the state to adopt a written policy to prohibit suchdiscrimination.
"Oklahoma families need to know their children will not be persecuted forexercising their constitutional rights and expressing religious beliefs atschool," Reynolds said.
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Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/health/chi-lowlake_03jan03,0,7237968.story
Lake Michigan monthly averages nearing record lows
By James Janega
January 3, 2008
For a couple of days last week, Lake Michigan dropped beneath its recordmonthly low, heightening concerns about lower water levels in the GreatLakes.
The readings lasted only a few days and do not amount to a new record, whichcan only be set by monthly averages, but forecasts suggest it could beofficial by the end of January if expected rains and snowfall do notdeliver.
"This is the closest we've been to the record low line in a while," saidCynthia Sellinger, deputy director of Great Lakes Environmental ResearchLaboratory in Ann Arbor, which is run by the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration. "Lake Michigan has been dropping continuouslysince 1997, and it's finally approaching the record lows."
After briefly dropping below its record monthly low of 576 feet above sealevel (set in March 1964), Lake Michigan water levels recovered slightly tostart 2008 at 576.3 feet. But the water is still 13 inches below where itwas a year ago and more than 2 feet below the normal average for December.
This could be the year Lake Michigan sets a new record, lakes researcherssay.
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