Behind the Veil
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/opinion/19thu4.html
The issue in need of serious discussion is not the niqab - the veil
that covers all but a woman's eyes - but the larger question of the
place of Europe's Muslim minority.
A Dangerous New Order
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/opinion/19thu1.html
Administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress wasted no
time giving Americans a taste of the order created by the new law on
military tribunals.
The G.O.P.'s Bad Bet
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/opinion/19murray.html
By CHARLES MURRAY
A month before a major election, the Republicans have allied themselves
with a scattering of voters who are upset by online gambling and have
outraged the millions who love it.
Beyond Skimpy Skirts, a Rare Debate on Identity
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/world/middleeast/19dubai.html?ref=3Dworld=
&pagewanted=3Dall
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
After decades of selling dreams to foreigners, the United Arab Emirates
has begun debating the limits of multiculturalism.
An American in North Korea, Pledging Allegiance to the Great Leader
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/movies/19cros.html?ref=3Dworld
By MARK RUSSELL
Daniel Gordon's documentary "Crossing the Line" tells the stories of
American defectors who crossed the demilitarized zone to live in North
Korea.
With Cash, Defectors Find North Korea's Cracks
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/world/asia/19defect.html?ref=3Dworld&page=
wanted=3Dall
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
The increase in defections suggests that the state's ability to
control its citizens is diminishing.
Flow of Immigrants' Money to Latin America Surges
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/us/19migrants.html?ref=3Damericas
By EDUARDO PORTER
According to a new study, remittances from the United States to Latin
America this year will total more than $45 billion. That is 51 percent
higher than they were only two years ago.
Iran Seems Unmoved by Specter of Sanctions Against North Korea
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/world/middleeast/19iran.html?ref=3Dmiddle=
east
By NAZILA FATHI
Despite sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test, Iran's
leaders said they intend to continue what they call a peaceful nuclear
program.
Panel Suggests Brown U. Atone for Ties to Slavery
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/education/19brown.html?ref=3Dus
By PAM BELLUCK
Documenting Brown University's 18th-century ties to slavery, a panel
called for the institution to make amends by creating a center for the
study of slavery and increasing efforts to recruit minorities.
Tables Turned for the G.O.P. Over Iraq Issue
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/us/politics/19campaign.html?ref=3Dus&page=
wanted=3Dall
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JIM RUTENBERG
With three weeks until Election Day, Republican candidates are barely
mentioning Iraq, while Democrats have seized on the issue.
Iraq Is Big Issue for Voters Seeing the Upside of War
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/us/politics/19voices.html?ref=3Dus&pagewa=
nted=3Dall
By JOHN LELAND
In interviews this month about the elections, the overriding concern in
Madison, Ala., was the war in Iraq. But many residents said they were
not seeking dramatic change.
Blogtalk: The Political Calculus
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=3D389
Three weeks to go and the blogs are busy. There are predictions to
make, scandals to tout, updates to report and analysis to make. And
without a clear lead story to focus on, the political calculus can get
a little complicated. With no official or binding data to process,
blogs can only guess at what...
New Laws and Machines May Spell Voting Woes
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/us/politics/19voting.html?ref=3Dpolitics&=
pagewanted=3Dall
By IAN URBINA
Officials are bracing for an Election Day with long lines and an
increase in the number of contested results.
Moderates in Kansas Decide They're Not in GOP Anymore
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1679.html
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A01
WICHITA -- Paul Morrison, a career prosecutor who specializes in
putting killers behind bars, has the bulletproof r=E9sum=E9 and the
rugged looks of a law-and-order Republican, which is what he was until
last year. That was when he announced he would run for attorney general
-- as a Democrat.
He is now running neck-and-neck with Republican Phill Kline, an iconic
social conservative who made headlines by seeking the names of
abortion-clinic patients and vowing to defend science-teaching
standards that challenge Darwinian evolution. What's more, Morrison is
raising money faster than Kline and pulling more cash from Republicans
than Democrats.
The Unlearned Lessons of Abu Ghraib
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1501.html
By Christopher Graveline
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A29
President Bush has signed into law Congress's latest attempt to clarify
our country's position on proper treatment of detainees and the
boundaries of legitimate interrogation techniques. Unfortunately, this
legislation demonstrates that both the administration and Congress have
failed to learn important lessons from what Bush described as the
"biggest mistake that's happened so far" in Iraq: the detainee abuses
at Abu Ghraib.
By dissociating potential criminal responsibility from overly
aggressive interrogation practices that could be classified as "minor"
breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and setting up a situation in which
different interrogation practices can be used by our military and the
CIA, our national leadership has ensured more abuse scandals.
Rummy's Other Role
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1503.html
The Perfect Scapegoat
By Sally Quinn
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A29
Don Rumsfeld is the shrewdest person in Washington. He understands
better than anyone that somebody has to be in line to take the blame
when things go wrong. So far he has been willing to do so. But not much
longer.
The drumbeat to get him out of the Pentagon has reached deafening
proportions. Republicans and Democrats, the generals, the media, Colin
Powell, Condi Rice, Andy Card, the first President Bush, and even Laura
Bush all want him gone. Until now George W. Bush has resisted all of
the pressure to get rid of his defense secretary. But those in the know
say that the president may have reached the point where he realizes
that Rumsfeld has outlived his usefulness.
Congress's Dismal Grades
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1499.html
By David S. Broder
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A29
The editors of National Journal, a respected and independent Washington
publication, had the smart idea of inviting 11 distinguished economists
to fill out a score card on the economic performance of the Republican
Congress. The grades are published in the latest issue of the weekly
magazine.
The economists were asked to score Congress in seven categories, using
letter grades. The composite score of four categories was a C, meaning
average by historical standards. Two got a B-minus and one a D. Not
exactly a huge vote of confidence.
Controversial Ad Links MLK, GOP
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1754.html
Assertion About Civil Rights Leader Angers Liberals -- and
Conservatives
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A04
When a black conservative group ran a radio ad proclaiming that the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican, reaction was swift.
"We've gotten some e-mails and telephone calls filled with vitriol,"
said Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican
Association. "They've called me Aunt Jemima, a sellout, a traitor to my
race."
In the battle for the black electorate, liberals, who make up the
overwhelming majority of black voters, have long disagreed with
conservatives over ideology, public policy and economic strategies to
better the lives of African Americans. But when conservatives placed
the civil rights movement in a Republican context, black liberals said,
they crossed a line.
Clinton Lists Differences With GOP, Administration
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1100.html
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A04
Former president Bill Clinton said yesterday that the governing
Republican majority has abandoned the common good in favor of
ideologically driven politics that demonize its opponents, has forced
ordinary Americans to fend for themselves and has too often left the
United States isolated internationally.
Speaking three weeks before the midterm elections, Clinton used a
lengthy speech looking back at his own administration to offer sharp
contrasts between the approach of Democrats in the 1990s and that of
Republicans since President Bush took office more than five years ago.
Immigrants Sending $45 Billion Home
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1756.html
By Krissah Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; Page A09
Immigrant workers are sending more money than ever to their families in
Latin America, but two new studies show that only a small portion of
the billions of dollars directed there has gone to economic
development.
A report released yesterday by the Inter-American Development Bank
estimates that immigrants living in the United States will send $45
billion to family members this year, representing a steady increase
from about $2 billion in 1980.
Out of Africa -- but From Which Tribe?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1635_pf.html
DNA Tests of Blacks Promise Ancestry Answers, but Report Adds to
Critics' Doubts
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; A03
When DNA testing was offered as a way to trace black family heritage
three years ago, it seemed, at long last, that African Americans whose
histories were lost in the transatlantic slave trade had found a way
home.
TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey took a test that linked her to the
Kpelle people of what is now Liberia. Composer Quincy Jones was
informed that he is a likely descendant of the Mbundu or Kimundu tribe
in present-day Angola, and Harvard University professor Henry Louis
Gates Jr. was told that his ancestry is Nubian. Each test was conducted
by African Ancestry Inc., a Washington firm that claims exclusive
rights to the most comprehensive database of DNA sequences from
Africans.
Evangelicals Broaden Their Moral Agenda
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR200610180=
1681_pf.html
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 19, 2006; A19
Evangelical Christian leaders are tackling a growing list of domestic
and international issues, such as genocide in Darfur and global
warming, despite dissension in their ranks over whether this broader
moral agenda will dilute their political power just before crucial
elections.
Yesterday, two dozen prominent evangelicals issued a joint appeal for
President Bush to take the lead in sending a multinational, U.N.-backed
peacekeeping force into the Darfur region of Sudan. They included not
just liberal religious leaders but also several notable conservatives,
including the Rev. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention and
the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of
Evangelicals.
Power and punishment
Jake Bernstein
October 19, 2006 12:05 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jake_bernstein/2006/10/post_517.html
In recognizing the dignitaries gathered around him for the signing of
the Military Commissions Act of 2006 on Tuesday, President George W.
Bush first singled out Vice President ***** Cheney and Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld. "Appreciate you," Bush said to Cheney. In addition to
following protocol, it was particularly appropriate. The bill's passage
was Cheney's victory and possibly Rumsfeld's salvation.
On the surface, the new law seems to ban torture, but it falls to the
administration to determine what constitutes torture. Cheney is on the
record as saying that he believes torture is "in the eye of the
beholder." Government interrogators have reportedly used such
techniques as simulated drowning, sleep deprivation, loud music and
exposure to intense temperatures to try to obtain information from
detainees. While the rest of the civilized world seems to think this is
torture, Cheney apparently does not. The law allows the president to
imprison anyone, foreigner or citizen, if he determines they are
"unlawful combatants." It suspends the ancient writ of habeas corpus
for such detainees and allows coerced testimony at trial. Most
importantly for officials like Rumsfeld, who could conceivably face
charges related to torturing detainees, it retroactively gives those
involved legal cover.
The fallout of nuclear testing
Joschka Fischer
October 19, 2006 11:39 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/joschka_fischer/2006/10/joschka_fischer=
..html
The date 9 October 2006 will be one to remember. North Korea probably
exploded a nuclear bomb on that day. Was it a test that failed? The
future may provide answers, but the political fallout is clear and the
impact substantial.
First, international pressure, led by the US, China, Russia, and Japan
was not enough to prevent North Korea from taking this fateful step. A
terrible dictatorship, a regime without a future and a dwarf in terms
of power-politics defied the international giants. There is now
justifiable outrage, and a call for sanctions is heard everywhere.
Distant figures
Owen Richards
October 19, 2006 10:48 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/owen_richards/2006/10/we_arent_confused=
_just_disenfr.html
Reading Ellie Levenson's piece on the confusion of local government
raised a wry smile. Her conclusion seems to be that if we devised a
nice simple system, people would be more likely to vote. We could all
sit around a table with maps drawing boundaries and setting up simple
streamlined structures, and the ballot papers would come pouring in.
If only that was the case. The main reason that people don't vote in
local elections is because they can't see how it will make a
difference. It's really that simple.
A soul-searching mission
Arthur Neslen
October 19, 2006 10:01 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/arthur_neslen/2006/10/arthur_neslen_1.h=
tml
As court officials began drafting the indictment of Israel's president
Moshe Katsav on charges of rape, sexual harassment and misconduct,
Israelis seemed preoccupied with the reputation of the country and the
image of its highest office. Writing in the Ha'aretz newspaper, Ze'ev
Segal called on Katsav to resign "to save his presidency's honour, his
own health and the public's faith in the institution of the
presidency".
On one level, it was gratifying to see the country talking about sexual
violence against women, however indirectly. The issue has long been
confined to women's groups and the inside pages of Ha'aretz. But if
Israel was sitting down to search its soul, it seemed to be
deliberately missing the gory bits. For the Katsav allegations are only
the latest in a string of violent sex scandals over the summer.
.
|
