Joe Conason: John Paul’s Duality: Neither Left nor Right

Unafraid to embrace the possibility of truth and grace in diverse faiths, he inspired multitudes in his campaigning for human solidarity. Immune to cynicism, this great and good man served us all as the tireless apostle of peace and reconciliation—which is why so many people who disagreed with John Paul II will continue to read him, admire him and honor his memory.
(New York Observer)

Bush's Approval Ratings Continue to Plummet, Along with the Republican Congress'

The public's dissatisfaction with President Bush and the Republican-led Congress is growing, with ratings dropping amid record high gas prices, war in Iraq, the Social Security debate and the emotional Terri Schiavo case.

The Republican president's job approval is at 44 percent, with 54 percent disapproving. Only 37 percent have a favorable opinion of the work being done by Congress.
(AP)

Short-Handed Agency Limits Its Functions

Some consumer groups criticize the agency as being too business-friendly.

Rachel Weintraub, assistant general counsel for the Consumer Federation of America, faulted the Bush administration for waiting months to nominate Nord.

"Granted, they're very busy," Weintraub said. "But certainly protecting consumers from potentially dangerous products should be a high priority."
(AP)

The Catholic Vote Revisited

Democrats should not abandon "traditional Catholics" but instead meld a message based on party principles that can appeal to this once core constituency. So says Stanley Greenberg, former Bill Clinton campaign pollster, in a 17-page memo on "Reclaiming the White Catholic Vote."

Greenberg's not the only Democratic insider worried about the continuing decline in the party's appeal to Catholics. In fact, when it comes to religion, and particularly the "Catholic Vote," Democrats have become true believers.
(NCR Online)

Fox Now Going After Spitzer

Brenda Buttner, host of the Saturday morning show Bulls & Bears said she didn't think we had "to worry with Buffett," but she thought "Spitzer will have some more [investigations], as he gears up his campaign, definitely."

Cavuto asked Asman how much higher he thought the market would go. Asman said he wasn't good at predicting that sort of thing but, "certain stocks, particularly pharmaceuticals have been beaten down because of the lawyers." Berkshire Hathaway and insurance stocks "have been beaten down because of AIG." (The SEC and Eliot Spitzer are investigating AIG.) (Here is a one year chart of the pharmaceutical index. The "lawyers" and "bureaucrats" aren't affecting the stocks as much as Asman implied.)
(News Hounds)

Sydney Blumenthal: Politics in Red Robes

President Bush, a militant evangelical Protestant, has lowered the American flag to half-staff for the first time at the death of a pope. Also for the first time, a US president will attend a papal funeral. Bush's political rhetoric is deliberately inflected with Catholic theological phrases, in particular "the culture of life", words he used to justify his interference in the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman, the removal of whose feeding tube was upheld 19 times by state and federal courts.

In the 2004 election, Bush's campaign helped organise the attack on John Kerry's Catholic authenticity by conservative bishops who threatened to deny him communion. Inside the White House, policy and personnel are coordinated in line with rightwing Catholicism. Not only are issues like international population control, reproductive health and women's rights vetted, but so are appointments.
(The Guardian)

Florida Senator's Aide Resigns Over Schiavo Memo

Sen. Mel Martinez said Wednesday an infamous unsigned memo passed around on Capitol Hill emphasizing the politics of the Terri Schiavo case originated in his office.
(AP)

Harvard cuts Sudan Business Tie

Under mounting pressure from student activists, Harvard University plans to sell an estimated $4.4 million stake in PetroChina, whose parent company is closely tied to the Sudanese government, which the United States has accused of waging a genocidal campaign in Darfur.

Activists say Harvard's intention, which was announced Monday, is the first major victory in a growing national campaign for divestiture of business connections with Sudan. It is also an important decision for Harvard, which has so strongly resisted public pressure on its investments that, unlike many other major universities, it never fully divested itself of companies doing business with apartheid South Africa.

"Divestment is not a step that Harvard takes lightly, but I believe there is a compelling case for action in these special circumstances, in light of the terrible situation still unfolding in Darfur and the leading role played by PetroChina's parent company in the Sudanese oil industry, which is so important to the Sudanese regime," Harvard's president, Lawrence Summers, said in a statement.

The decision was made by the Harvard Corporation, the governing board, of which Summers is a member.

Public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicate that, as of December, Harvard Management Company owned 67,200 shares of PetroChina, worth about $4.4 million, according to The Harvard Crimson, the student newspaper. The university's total endowment is almost $23 billion.

PetroChina is an oil company owned by the Chinese government.Summers recently told a group of students that Harvard may own additional PetroChina stocks on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which it would not be required to report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Crimson reported. Harvard declined Monday to disclose the exact size of its PetroChina investment.

Darfur has become a popular cause for college students, especially at Harvard.Last autumn, students started a divestiture petition, which has garnered about 1,000 signatures. A group of seniors recently unveiled a campaign to encourage classmates to withhold their contributions to the annual senior class gift until Harvard had divested itself of Sudan connections.

About 250 students attended a demonstration in favor of divestiture Monday, timed to coincide with the Harvard Corporation meeting. Harvard announced the decision just as the protest was beginning.Student activists reacted to the news with guarded enthusiasm because Harvard's announcement mentioned only PetroChina and did not say whether the university would divest itself of connections with other companies doing business in Sudan.

"We are really excited, but I'm also really worried that people will think the fight is over," said Matthew Mahan, a Harvard senior and a founder of the campaign to withhold senior gift contributions. "Time will tell whether they really care about genocide in Sudan or only about avoiding a lot of bad press."

In its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvard is not obligated to report stocks it owns that are traded on foreign markets, nor does it have to disclose the companies in which it is invested only indirectly, through investment funds.Alan Stone, the university's vice president for public affairs, said Monday that he did not know whether Harvard was invested in other companies doing business in Sudan. He said Harvard Corporation's decision applied only to PetroChina.

The corporation's statement said concerns on campus about PetroChina and the situation in Darfur had prompted Summers to ask the Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, a group made up of faculty, student and alumni members, to study the issue. That group set up a panel, which met with the divestiture proponents, did research and presented a report to the corporation.

Harvard made it clear that the decision on PetroChina did not mean the university's investments should be guided by political considerations, but said it considered the Sudan situation so egregious that it was incumbent upon the university to act."

The university maintains a strong presumption against divesting itself of securities for reasons unrelated to investment purposes and against using divestment as a political tool or a 'weapon against injustice,"' the panel wrote, "not because there are not many worthy political causes or deeply troubling injustices in the world, but because the university is first and foremost an academic institution.

"Harvard did not fully divest itself of South Africa connections despite years of controversy, including sit-ins and hunger strikes, but in 1990 the university sold its shares in companies that manufactured tobacco.

Summers also entered a debate over a drive for divestiture of connections with Israel in 2002, when he said that supporters were "advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect, if not their intent."

13 of 16 killed in Afghan crash were U.S. troops

Thirteen of the 16 people confirmed killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on Wednesday were U.S. service members, the American military said Thursday.

Bad weather was the suspected cause, the military said.

The other three confirmed dead were civilians employed by U.S. government contractors. Two more U.S. military personnel are missing out of the 18 people listed on the flight manifest.

The names of the dead have been withheld pending notification of relatives.

Cost of Social Security Drive Cited

The Bush administration's ongoing Social Security blitz is unusual in scale in the selling of a domestic policy, mobilizing the president and vice president, four Cabinet secretaries and 17 lesser officials, down to an associate director of strategic planning for the White House budget office.

It also may be one of the most costly in memory, well into the millions of dollars, according to some rough, unofficial calculations
(Washington Post)

Iraqi Suspect Says U.S. Troops Took Mother Hostage

An Iraqi apparently suspected by U.S. troops of taking part in attacks in Baghdad accused U.S. forces on Tuesday of taking his mother and sister hostage to pressure him and his brothers into surrendering for questioning.
(AP)

Bono Leading Campaign to Fight AIDS

Brad Pitt is among the A-list celebrities featured in new public service announcements for a campaign led by U2 singer Bono to fight poverty and AIDS.



The campaign was not immediately asking for donations but simply raising awareness and recruiting new advocates, Bono said Wednesday at an event announcing the public service announcements.

"We're not just asking for people to put cash in the pot here," Bono said. "Americans are generous, we know they'll do that. We're not actually asking for their money, we're asking for their voice."

Pitt, who visited Africa after being inspired by Bono's advocacy, said he was struck by how extreme poverty there has made it difficult for the sick to gain access to drugs to minimize the effects of AIDS.

"I've seen it, I've been there, and to walk away from it and turn my back makes me culpable," Pitt said. "And I can't do that."

"Do we really believe in our hearts that we're all equal? And if we believe this, what are we going to do about it?" he said.

Pitt said he believed deeply in Bono's effort, titled "ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History."
(AP)

Click here to visit the ONE campaign.

Froma Harrop: Minutemen-Bush's Policy Dupes

I'VE GOT NEWS for the Minutemen tracking illegal aliens in southern Arizona. If you really want to control illegal immigration, you are in the wrong place. The place to go is Washington. And the people to confront are President Bush and Congress, not the Mexican peasants sneaking into the United States.

The Bush administration is using you.

The Minutemen are volunteers who patrol the border in search of illegal immigrants. Their work is utterly futile.

Everyone knows that on the first or tenth try, the illegal alien will get past the circus at the border. From there it's on to Los Angeles, Chicago or Anytown, U.S.A., where he's home free.
Illegal immigrants come for jobs. Were it not for the jobs, 98 percent of them would not be here. It also happens to be against federal law to hire illegal aliens.

How well has the Bush administration enforced that law? Here's the simple answer: There are an estimated 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. Only 124 employers were fined in 2003 for hiring them. That number comes from the Department of Homeland Security, and there are no missing zeros.

Illegal aliens depress the wages of low-skilled citizens and legal immigrants. This situation suits Bush just fine. Bush loves nothing more than cheap labor. For all we know, he may regard illegal workers as a kind of tax break for business.

So the cheap-labor crowd finds great value in keeping the immigration system broken. But there's the political problem. Because illegal immigration angers most Americans, Bush must appear to be doing something about it.

Hence, the big show at the border. In response to the Minutemen publicity, he sent 500 additional Border Patrol agents to the Arizona border. (Actually they're not new agents. He just stripped them from San Diego and other border areas.)

Elsewhere, Bush throws out the welcome mat to illegal immigrants. For example, his proposed temporary-worker program. Everyone correctly read it as a big amnesty plan. Border Patrol agents say the announcement itself set off the recent wave in illegal crossings. They report picking up illegal immigrants who ask where they can sign onto the program.

Despite the new chaos unleashed at the border, the president has said nothing since to clarify his earlier remarks. As far as the world is concerned, the U.S. labor market is open for international business.

Some in Congress demand that Bush do something real about illegal immigration. He has a response. It's a Tony Soprano deal: If Congress gives him the big amnesty and guest-worker program, he'll seriously start enforcing the employer sanctions. Not before.

Of course, most immigration experts don't believe for a minute that Bush would do anything to cut the flow of cheap labor. "If they were serious, they'd be enforcing the law now, so they would have credibility with Congress," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

What could the president and Congress do now to enforce the law? For one thing, they could require employers to electronically verify the Social Security numbers and work-eligibility status of prospective hires. This simple process would weed out people with counterfeit documents. The program is already up and running, but is voluntary.

Every year, the Internal Revenue Service gets over a million tax returns on which the taxpayer ID number does not match the Social Security number on the W-2 form. The most likely reason is that the Social Security number was fake or stolen.

In years past, the Social Security Administration would send out "no-match" letters to employers. That helped honest companies weed out undocumented workers. In 2003, however, that program was deemed "too effective," according to Krikorian, and dramatically scaled back. It could be restored.

It should be obvious. The only place to control most illegal immigration is in the federal bureaucracies and their computers. Citizens who get into confrontations with illegal immigrants are playing sucker in a fixed game.

The Minutemen now rail at Bush for calling them "vigilantes." But by drawing the spotlight to the border, they are playing into his hands. If the volunteers want to be effective, they should turn their SUVs in a northeasterly direction and head to Washington. Now that might make an impression.
(The Providence Journal)

Amnesty International: Record Rise in Executions

Close to 4,000 people were executed worldwide in 2004, more than at nearly any other time in the last 25 years, according to human rights organization Amnesty International.
The number of new death sentences imposed by countries also hit its highest level in 10 years, it said.

"This is an alarming rise in executions and the figures uncovered from China are genuinely frightening," Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen told Reuters news agency.
(CNN)

Mueller, Gonzales Still Working Against the Bill of Rights

The Bush administration's two top law enforcement officials on Tuesday urged Congress to renew every provision of the anti-terror Patriot Act. FBI Director Robert Mueller also asked lawmakers to expand the bureau's ability to obtain records without first asking a judge.

"Now is not the time for us to be engaging in unilateral disarmament" on the legal weapons now available for fighting terrorism, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said. He said that some of the most controversial provisions of the Patriot Act have proven invaluable in fighting terrorism and aiding other investigations.
(AP)

Reid Accuses GOP of Arrogance on Courts

Congressional Democrats on Tuesday said Republican criticism of the federal courts following Terri Schiavo's death showed an "arrogancy of power" that is leading to a Senate confrontation over filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees.
AP Photo

"If they don't get what they want, they attack whoever's around," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "Now they're after the courts, and I think it goes back to this arrogancy of power."
(AP)

A 3rd DeLay Trip Under Scrutiny

A six-day trip to Moscow in 1997 by then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was underwritten by business interests lobbying in support of the Russian government, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the trip arrangements.

DeLay reported that the trip was sponsored by a Washington-based nonprofit organization. But interviews with those involved in planning DeLay's trip say the expenses were covered by a mysterious company registered in the Bahamas that also paid for an intensive $440,000 lobbying campaign.
(AP)

Molly Ivins: Aiming in on Hypocrisy

Some days, it's hard to pick the outrage du jour, but hypocrisy is always an inviting target, and the United Nations oil-for-food scandal provides a two-fer. We have been hearing much right-wing huffing over the dreadful, terrible, awful, unprecedented, worst-ever scandal in all history. One indignant winger was livid because The New York Times devoted more coverage to the collapse of Enron than to the earth-shaking U.N. scandal.

Those throwing conniption fits over the United Nations' misdeeds (failure of oversight, according to the Volcker Report) might want to meditate a bit on the role of the U.S. government in all this before they further embarrass themselves denouncing perfidious foreigners.

For one thing, part of the oversight responsibility was on the United States, as a member of the 661 Committee, which monitored Iraq's compliance with the sanctions. The United States had the power to veto all sales of Iraqi oil and all purchases of goods bought with money from the program. Further, The Washington Post reports, "Diplomats and oil brokers have recently said that the U.S. had long turned a blind eye to illicit shipments of Iraqi oil by its allies Jordan and Turkey. The United States acknowledged this week that it had acquiesced in the trade to ensure that crucial allies would not suffer economic hardships."

Border Patrol: Self-Described 'Minutemen' Disrupting Agency's Mission

Volunteers who have converged on the Mexican border to watch for illegal immigrants are disrupting U.S. Border Patrol operations by unwittingly tripping sensors that alert agents to possible intruders, an agency spokesman complained Monday.
(AP)

Arab Report Sees Little Reform, Faults U.S. Action

In a long-awaited report contested by the United States and Egypt, Arab intellectuals and reformers said they saw no significant advances toward democracy in the Arab world in the year after October 2003.

The third Arab Human Development Report (AHDR), released on Tuesday under U.N. auspices, says most reforms were "embryonic and fragmentary" and did not amount to a serious effort to end repression in the region, which has some of the world's most authoritarian governments.

The United States, which says its policy is to promote democracy in the region, contributed to an international context which hampered progress, through its policy toward Israel, its actions in Iraq and security measures affecting Arabs, it said.

"Overall, there has been no significant easing of the human development crisis in the Arab region," it said.
(Reuters)

Say No to Bankruptcy Bill

As early as Wednesday, your Representative in Congress will vote on a hugely important "Debt Slavery" Bankruptcy Bill (S. 256) that could literally change your life. The bill was written by representatives of the credit card industry, which made $30 billion in profits in 2004--and is now gunning for more.

The legislation would make it much more difficult for people turning to bankruptcy as a last resort to actually discharge their credit card debts under Chapter 7, which pays off debts by liquidating assets, offering a fresh start financially. Instead, it would force people into Chapter 13 with a rigid 5-year repayment plan, even after liquidating all assets.
(The Nation)

Despite Bi-Partisan Opposition Bush's AG Fighting for the Patriot Act

Cooler heads can now see that the Patriot Act went too far, too fast and that it must be brought back in line with the Constitution," said Gregory Nojeim, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington legislative office.

The ACLU is part of an unusual coalition of liberal and conservative groups, including the American Conservative Union, that have come together in a joint effort to lobby Congress to repeal key provisions of the Patriot Act.
(AP)

Moving Toward Consensus: Group of Republican Hawks Implore President to Move Towards Alternative Energy Sources

If the U.S. doesn't invest in hybrid cars, the terrorists have already won. Or so says a group of national security hawks, who have formed an unlikely alliance with enviro-friendly outfits like the Energy Futures Coalition and the National Resources Defense Council to call for reduced dependency on foreign oil. In an open letter to the President on Monday, such unlikely Prius advocates as former CIA director James Woolsey, Reagan administration national security advisor Robert C. (Bud) McFarlane, and Center for Security Policy head and Reagan-era Defense Department official Frank Gaffney, asked that the Bush administration pledge $1 billion over the next five years for hybrid technology research.

The hawks acknowledged that they haven't always been so hip to the environmentalist agenda. "I don't often find myself in agreement with those at the Natural Resources Defense Council," Gaffney noted. But according to Woolsey, reducing U.S. oil consumption has moved from a conservationist priority to an area of strategic concern: "[It's] no longer a nice thing to do. It's imperative."
(Salon.com)

Dahlia Lithwick: The Limbaugh Code

I use the word "book" with some hesitation: Certainly it possesses chapters and words and other book-like accoutrements. But Men in Black is 208 large-print pages of mostly block quotes (from court decisions or other legal thinkers) padded with a forward by the eminent legal scholar Rush Limbaugh, and a blurry 10-page "Appendix" of internal memos to and from congressional Democrats—stolen during Memogate. The reason it may take you only slightly longer to read Men in Black than it took Levin to write it is that you'll experience an overwhelming urge to shower between chapters.
(Slate)

US Intelligence Thrown a 'Curveball'

In building its case for the Iraq war, the Bush administration relied on bogus intelligence from a mysterious Iraqi chemical engineer code-named "Curveball," whose dramatic tips about mobile germ labs made their way to top policymakers with little scrutiny.

In its final report issued on Thursday, the presidential commission that investigated intelligence failures in Iraq cast Curveball as the "pivotal" source behind the intelligence community's escalating warnings about Iraq's biological weapons programs before the invasion.
(Reuters)

Republicans Still Seeking to Politicize Schiavo Death

"This loss happened because our legal system did not protect the people who need protection most, and that will change," House Majority Leader Tom DeLay added in a statement issued hours after Schiavo's death at a Florida hospice.

"The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior," said the Texan. DeLay was a driving force behind legislation Congress passed two weeks ago that gave federal courts jurisdiction in an attempt to save Schiavo's life.
(AP)

Republicans Seek to Censor Subscription-Based Television

Congress is weighing whether to apply broadcast television and radio decency standards -- which limit explicit sexual content and extensive profanity to late night hours -- on subscription television and radio services offered by companies like Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, spent Sunday meeting privately with top cable executives during the industry's annual convention and one aide said he was still "considering his options," referring to potential legislative remedies.
(Reuters)

Former Senator George Mitchell Joins Dem Fight Against Filibuster Ban

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell on Saturday joined a Democratic offensive against Republicans threats to ban Senate filibusters of judicial nominees.

"All Americans should be concerned about the effort by Republican leaders in the Senate to unilaterally change the rules," Mitchell said in delivering the Democrats' weekly radio address.
(Reuters)

Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)

"And how can we fail to consider the violence against life done to millions of human beings, especially children, who are forced into poverty, malnutrition and hunger because of an unjust distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes? And what of the violence inherent not only in wars as such but in the scandalous arms trade, which spawns the many armed conflicts which stain our world with blood?"

Pope John Paul II was the "best front man" the Roman Catholic Church ever had, U2's own front man Bono said Sunday.

The men, both named as nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, campaigned together to end world debt. The lead singer of the Irish rock band once famously gave the Pope his trademark wraparound sunglasses to put on during a meeting, dubbing him "the first funky Pontiff."

"A great show man, a great communicator of ideas even if you didn't agree with all of them, a great friend to the world's poor which is how I got to meet him," Bono said in a statement.

"Without John Paul II its hard to imagine the Drop the Debt campaign succeeding as it did," Bono said, referring to an activist movement which seeks to convince wealthy nations to cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries.

The Pope met Bono, along with other pop stars, aid workers and economists, in 1999 to push for rich nations to write off third world debt by the year 2000 and demanded to know why the West was dragging its feet.

"How could you turn this man down?" Bono said at the time.

A fan of popular culture, the Pope once invited Bob Dylan to perform for him at a church congress in Bologna and joined the Eurythmics, Alanis Morissette and Lou Reed at a concert in Rome in aid of debt reduction.

In January last year at the Vatican, the pontiff even presided over a performance of breakdancers from his home country of Poland.
(Reuters)

Peace, Pace, Paix, Paz, Frieden, Pax, Pokoj: Pope John Paul II

This letter from Pope John Paul II to the world's leaders serves as an example of his comittment to world peace...

LETTER OF JOHN PAUL II TO ALL THE HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENTOF THE WORLD AND DECALOGUE OF ASSISI FOR PEACE

To Their Excellencies Heads of State or Government

A month ago, the Day of Prayer for Peace in the world took place in Assisi. Today my thoughts turn spontaneously to those responsible for the social and political life of the countries that were represented there by the religious authorities of many nations.

The inspired reflections of these men and women, representatives of different religious confessions, their sincere desire to work for peace, and their common quest for the true progress of the whole human family, found a sublime and yet concrete form in the "Decalogue" proclaimed at the end of this exceptional day.

I have the honour of presenting to Your Excellency the text of this common agreement, convinced that these ten propositions can inspire the political and social action of your government.

I observed that those who took part in the Assisi Meeting were more than ever motivated by a common conviction: humanity must choose between love and hatred. All of them, feeling that they belong to one and the same human family, were able to express their aspiration through these ten points, convinced that if hatred destroys, love, on the contrary, builds up.

I hope that the spirit and commitment of Assisi will lead all people of goodwill to seek truth, justice, freedom and love, so that every human person may enjoy his inalienable rights and every people, peace. For her part, the Catholic Church, who trusts and hopes in "the God of love and peace" (II Cor 13,11), will continue to work for loyal dialogue, reciprocal forgiveness and mutual harmony to clear the way for people in this third millenium.

With gratitude to Your Excellency, for the attention you will be kind enough to give my Message, I take the present opportunity offered to assure you of my prayerful best wishes.

Click here to visit the Pope's web site devoted to world peace.

World Remembers Pope As Man of Peace

At St. Ignatius Church in Tokyo, worshippers recalled how moved they were when the pope, during a 1981 trip to Hiroshima, urged the world to remember the destructive impact of the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city.

"He put his all into working for peace," said church volunteer Kazuko Matsuda, 61. "When he spoke against war in Iraq, he thought of the people, of the children, who would be the victims of the air raids."

The Dalai Lama described the pope as a great spiritual leader in a message of condolence issued by his office in exile in the Himalayan resort town of Dharmsala in north India.
(AP)