This Week In The News

• According to an article in the NYT, leaders of the Christian Right are beginning a search for their own candidate to run in the GOP primaries. Apparently social conservatives are less than impressed with the group of infidels (Romney), adulterers (Giuliani, McCain) and unelectables (Brownback) in the current Republican field. Commenting on the search for an authentic evangelical candidate the Rev Don Wildmon of the Family Research Council, noted: " There is a reason we have always relied on conventional politicians to carry our water. Truth is, when you find a guy who meets all our criteria, you are looking at some narrow minded twit who still lives with his mom. He may be able to cover up his lack off depth with some folksy aphorisms, but that can't get you through November. The pickins folks, are slim."

• Last week, a federal court ruled that certain provisions of the Military Tribunals Act are constitutional. Those provisions make it impossible for a detainee to challenge the legality of their detainment as long as they are detained off U.S. soil (say in Cuba). In the same week, the Senate launched an effort to undo legislation proposed by the Bush Administration and passed by the Republican Congress, which made it easier for the President to declare martial law. Ever curious, TWN went to the hustings to check the pulse of the American Public. We asked Steve Ferrotone, of Effingham MA if he was worried about diminishing freedoms in the US. His response, " Not really. I am one of those guys who would rather live on my knees than die on my feet. Safety first I always say." Joselyn Parklane of Pierre, South Dakota also commented, " Less freedom? That's nonsense. Look at all the things there are to watch on TV. Look at all the things there are to buy. You can't get more free than that."

• This week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on the nomination of Sam Fox as US Ambassador to Belgium. Sam Fox is a major Republican donor, who gave $50,000 to a group called Swift Vote Veterans for Truth (SBVT), a group that promulgated the lie that Sen John Kerry (D MA) had fabricated his distinguished service in Vietnam. Interestingly, the Foreign Relations Committee is staffed by one Sen. John Kerry. During questioning, Mr. Fox praised Senator Kerry as a hero stating "You went to Vietnam. You were wounded. Highly decorated. Senator, you're a hero. And there isn't anybody or anything that's going to take that away from you. " (real quote) When Sen. Kerry pointed out that Mr. Fox had, in fact, tried to take precisely that away from him, Mr. Fox could not remember the $50k donation, claiming that he makes so many donations every year. He also denied knowing the mission of the SBVT, ever seeing the group's ads, or recalling who had asked him for a donation to the group. Asked if he maintained even a shred of integrity or credibility Mr. Fox replied, "No. I came in with very little and leave with even less. In all respects, I stand ready to serve this President."

• This week, another oops. Testifying before the Senate Armed Service Committee, Joseph Trainni, an intelligence official, testified that the intelligence community now has only "mid confidence" that N. Korea was building a uranium based nuclear weapons program. Such a program was presented as a certainty when the US confronted N. Korea in 2003. Now, the agency concedes that N. Korea may only have a plutonium based program.* Confronted with the possibility that the US and others had negotiated with the N. Koreans based on the belief that they had an expensive and dangerous program that now may not exist, Under Secretary of State Christopher Hill was fuming, "For weeks I have been the girly boy of this Administration because I actually negotiated something rather than threatening military action. For weeks the President has called me 'Chrissy Clinton' and exiled me from the Oval Office Fart Joke Club. I have been a pariah. And now I find out that the uranium program may not even exist. Well.... its enough to make we want to go and get some Marines to go surge somewhere."

• This week, a study by the McClatchy Newspapers revealed that of the 12% of the nation that lives in poverty, 43% live in severe poverty. Severe poverty is defined as a family of four with $9,000 or less in income. The number of Americans living in severe poverty grew by 26% since 2000 and is the fastest growing segment of the population. This figure is alarming given that worker productivity and overall corporate profits have grown since 2001. Speaking to the figures, Presidential Aide, Karl Rove, noted, "It is a tough one alright. What with all the compassionate conservative stuff. But I have been spending some time in the Reagan Archives and I think we will reach back to the past for our answer. I call it Poverty Isn't My Problem, or PIMP. The focus is on poverty being a result of the moral failings of poor people and not some sort of societal bad news. We are working with some themes like, "If they would just get of their ass....' and 'Poor people are just so irresponsible....."

• *What's is the difference? Plutonium can be used to make small warheads but must be enriched in huge and easily detectable (and bombable) complexes. Uranium on the other hand, can make massive warheads and can be enriched in small, almost mobile, enrichment locations. In nuclear terms, a plutonium enrichment program is like a .38 caliber pistol, dangerous but controllable. A uranium program is like an AR-15.