Walk of Shame
Bill Clinton's party.

Rarely has the intellectual rot of liberalism been more evident. Both at home and abroad, the honorable tradition of liberalism — and there is one — has been hollowed out by its own appetite for power and vengeance. Indeed, it is exceedingly difficult to see how liberalism, at the national level, stands for anything but appetite — undirected, inarticulate, unprincipled, ravenous appetite. Truly it has become Bill Clinton's party.

Consider two stories of demonstrably unequal importance, which nonetheless have fascinated the chattering classes: The $20 billion request for Iraqi reconstruction, and the effort underway to create a successful liberal think tank.

Let's start with the more important story. Today the "principled" position of the Democratic party's leaders is to cavil and equivocate about the "need" to rebuild Iraq. I use quotation marks around "need" not because the necessity to get the job done isn't there, but because America's leading political liberals treat the very idea that we have to fix Iraq with winks and smirks.

Whether the war was necessary or not, reasonable people of all political persuasions outside the arena of partisan politics understand that the task of reconstructing Iraq is immensely necessary.


posted by Frodgie at 9:51 AM

 

Bush claims credit for third-quarter boom

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- President Bush Thursday cited the third-quarter growth of the nation's gross domestic product to 7.2 percent as proof his economic plan is working.

"That's the fastest growth we've had in nearly 20 years," Bush said in a speech before workers at Central Aluminum Co., in Columbus. "Exports are expanding, investment is rising, housing construction is growing. The tax relief we passed is working."

The GDP number was up from the second quarter's 3.3 percent, and exceeded the average prediction by economists of 6 percent. Administration officials joined Bush in crediting Bush's tax cuts for the upturn, but Democratic critics said the surge does not make up for what the described as a weak job market.


posted by Frodgie at 9:45 AM

 

Bush signs $350 billion tax-cut

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush signed a $350 billion tax cut bill Wednesday, saying the measure will boost a faltering U.S. economy and spur the creation of new jobs.

"By ensuring that Americans have more to spend, to save and to invest, this legislation is adding fuel to an economic recovery," Bush said. "We have taken aggressive action to strengthen the foundation of our economy, so that every American who wants to work will be able to find a job."

Bush said the bill -- the second major tax cut of his administration -- will deliver "substantial tax relief" to 136 million Americans. Administration officials have said the cuts are needed to jump-start a lagging economy and reduce unemployment, now at 6 percent.


posted by Frodgie at 9:43 AM

 

Democrats May Need to Look to Dixie for a Winner

WASHINGTON — If history is a guide, Democratic New Englanders like Howard Dean (search) and John Kerry (search), both seeking to become the next president of the United States, will have a tough time getting a foothold in the Southern states.

The South has become a solid source of support for the GOP, and some experts warn that regional politics will continue to matter in a country that hasn't elected a Democratic president from outside the South since John F. Kennedy (search) in 1960.

"A Democrat has to crack the South. If [former Vice President Al] Gore had carried a single Southern state, he would be president," said John J. Pitney Jr., professor of government at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif.

"I think the regional base matters more to the Democrats. Republicans have created a natural base in the South and the way Democrats can overcome that is to nominate a Southerner," Pitney said.

But not everyone believes location is everything. Despite the political geography, voters do not rank regional ties first when they consider candidates, said Emmett H. Buell, professor of political science at Denison University.


posted by Frodgie at 9:41 AM

 

Democrats Crash Medicare Talks

Despite the well-mannered intrusion, a core group of negotiators reported progress toward agreement on a bill that would remake the government's 38-year-old program of health care for 40 million Americans age 65 and older and the disabled. "I think we're very close" to a compromise, said Speaker Dennis Hastert (search).

"There are a couple of things that we haven't put to bed yet," the Illinois Republican said, although he added, "I don't know how long its going to take."

Chief among the unresolved issues is a Republican demand for traditional Medicare to compete directly with private plans that would be set up under the legislation.

Also unresolved is a dispute over whether to permit importation of lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries. Several participants in the talks said senators, citing concerns about the potential for unsafe drugs to enter the United States, appeared unwilling to accept any plan that did not give the FDA veto authority.


posted by Frodgie at 9:40 AM

 

U.S. warns of 'day of resistance' in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. Consulate on Friday urged Americans to take precautions amid rumors of a "day of resistance" this weekend in the Iraqi capital.

Attacks against U.S. forces and Iraqi police have escalated recently, with the most dramatic and bloodiest day coming Monday. More than 30 people were killed then in four suicide bombings in Baghdad, including an assault on the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters.

In the latest violence, an Iraqi policeman was killed Friday in a riot near Baghdad International Airport. U.S. troops and armed Iraqis exchanged fire.

A witness said residents were protesting the imprisonment of Iraqis in nearby Abu Grieb prison when a U.S. military vehicle pulled up on a curb near the demonstration. Stones were thrown at the American troops, and the witness said a riot broke out.

posted by Frodgie at 9:37 AM

 

4 dead in N.J. parking garage collapse

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (CNN) -- Five stories of a parking garage under construction at an Atlantic City casino collapsed Thursday morning, killing four people.

Two people died after being taken to the hospital, and two more were found dead in the rubble, said Michael Schurman, a spokesman for the Atlantic County Office of Emergency Management. All of those killed were construction workers and all of the injured are too.

Of the 21 people hospitalized after the 10:30 a.m. EST collapse of a portion of the Tropicana Casino and Resort parking structure, four are in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.


posted by Frodgie at 6:47 AM

 

Ariel Sharon Questioned in Corruption Investigations

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (search) was questioned by police Thursday in two corruption investigations, Israeli media reported.

Sharon, the third sitting prime minister to be investigated by police, has denied wrongdoing.

One probe involves a $1.5 million loan from a South African businessman to Sharon's two sons, allegedly used to cover illegal contributions to his 1999 election campaign.

In the second case, police are looking into a business deal between Sharon's younger son, Gilad, and businessman David Appel, who has ties to Sharon's Likud (search) party.

Appel allegedly paid Gilad Sharon hundreds of thousands of dollars to market a tourism project in Greece, media reported. Police are investigating whether Gilad Sharon was hired in an attempt to get his father, who was foreign minister at the time, to assist in getting the Greek authorities to approve the land deal, media reported.

A district court recently overturned a police request for Gilad Sharon to handover documents.


posted by Frodgie at 6:55 AM

 

Clark Contradictions Raise Questions

"I've been against this war from the beginning. I was against it last summer. I was against it in the fall. I was against it in the winter. I was against it in the spring, and I am against it now," Clark said in last Sunday's debate of the nine Democrats seeking to replace President Bush in 2004.

But a number of conflicting statements raise questions about Clark's positions. Before the war, Clark emphatically declared Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. As U.S. forces were deployed to the Persian Gulf, the former NATO (search) Supreme Allied Commander said U.S. credibility was on the line, and "we're going to go ahead and do this, and the rest of the world's got to get with us."


posted by Frodgie at 6:54 AM

 

Wildfires death toll rises to 20

JULIAN, Calif. (CNN) -- More than 13,000 firefighters -- hundreds on the verge of exhaustion -- battled fires charring five Southern California counties Wednesday, fighting erratic winds to maintain gains they made against the blazes in more favorable weather.

The Cedar Fire in San Diego County, however, swelled to more than 234,000 acres, making it the largest brush fire in the state since 1932, according to the California Department of Forestry.


posted by Frodgie at 6:52 AM

 

Anti-rocket laser cannon gets funding

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel and the U.S. are to spend at least $57 million for development of a laser cannon that can shoot down short-range missiles, an Israeli legislator and security officials said Tuesday.

A recent Israeli delegation successfully lobbied Congress to approve the new funding package for the joint U.S.-Israeli Nautilus laser weapon project, said Israeli lawmaker Yuval Steinitz, who was part of the delegation.


posted by Frodgie at 6:50 AM

 

Official: Saddam confidant linked to terrorist group

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior member of Saddam Hussein's ousted government is believed to be helping coordinate attacks on American forces with members of an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group, a senior defense official said Wednesday.
Two captured members of Ansar al-Islam have said Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri is helping to coordinate their attacks, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

That information is the first solid evidence of links between remnants of Saddam's regime and the non-Iraqi fighters responsible for at least some of the attacks on U.S. forces and their Iraqi allies, the official said.


posted by Frodgie at 6:48 AM

 

Two Huge Calif. Fires Threaten to Merge

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Firefighters beat back flames on Los Angeles' doorstep Tuesday, saving hundreds of homes in the city's San Fernando Valley. But exhausted crews were pulled back in San Diego County even though two devastating blazes threatened to merge into a super fire.

"They're so fatigued that despite the fact the fire perimeter might become much larger, we're not willing to let the firefighters continue any further," said Rich Hawkins, a U.S. Forest Service fire chief. "They are too fatigued from three days of battle."

Ten thousand firefighters were on the front lines throughout the state, battling California's deadliest wildfires in more than a decade.


posted by Frodgie at 6:45 AM

 

Occupational Hazards
Iraqis have their issues with the U.S.

BAGHDAD, IRAQ — These days, the more I experience the situation in postwar Iraq, the more I think of France. After all, both countries were freed from despotic madmen largely through the efforts of the United States. And just as France has become the oversensitive, vainglorious, self-aggrandizing nation we know and . . . well, know — Iraq, too, is showing increasing signs of resentment toward its liberator. In Iraq's case, however, the symptoms are more serious, threatening to bring social division, political volatility, and a kind of sullen passivity.


posted by Frodgie at 6:43 AM

 

Onward, Christian Soldier!

Lieutenant General William Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and a highly decorated officer, has intimated that the United States is a Christian country and that he is, himself, a Christian. Journalists across the nation are shocked and horrified. Apparently the general has been traveling around the country speaking in churches, and has gone so far as to suggest that all religions are not equivalent and that, while he relies on his own God, the one bloody-minded terrorists praise and celebrate must be a different and a false one. Naturally he has apologized (to "those who have been offended by my statements") and promised never to do it again. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made things worse by refusing to kick Boykin when he is down, and by adding such weird, unaccountable pronouncements of his own as, "That's the way we live. We're a free people." At this point, the world's hyperventilating pundits need time to compose themselves. While they are resting, here are a few simple, healing truths about which we can all agree. (Pretty much.)

posted by Frodgie at 6:40 AM

 

Groups Fret Over Giving Police Immigration Control

Supporters of the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act (search) said that there are only about 2,000 federal immigration agents and as many as 80,000 immigrants with final deportation orders who have criminal convictions. The so-called CLEAR Act would simply clarify the role state and local law enforcement officials can assume regarding immigration matters, they said.

"The fact is, individuals in all communities, including immigrant communities, want criminal aliens off their streets," said bill author Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., in a prepared statement. "That is exactly what the CLEAR Act will do."

But opponents fear that if passed, the act could lead to police abuse and civil right violations against immigrants and minorities. They argue that local police do not have the time and resources to enforce complex immigration laws — and that requiring them to do so opens the door to a surge in abuses against immigrants.


posted by Frodgie at 6:35 AM

 

Special Interests a Target for Contributions

WASHINGTON — President Bush -- who raised a record $85 million toward his re-election campaign by Sept. 30 -- has never denied being a friend to big business, and has been rewarded accordingly.

But top presidential candidates, who make it a regular feature of their campaign rhetoric to slam groups seeking to influence Washington policy, have also benefited handsomely from special interests in the 2004 election cycle.

Democrats have so far taken millions from lawyers, lobbyists and corporate tycoons, all the while using their donors for target practice on the campaign trail, say some GOP analysts.


posted by Frodgie at 6:34 AM

 

Two 4th ID Soldiers Killed in Explosion

The tank was disabled when it was struck by a land mine or a roadside bomb Tuesday night during a patrol near Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, a spokeswoman for the 4th Infantry Division (search). A third crewman was evacuated to a U.S. hospital in Germany, she said.

It was believed to be the first M1 Abrams main battle tank destroyed since the end of major combat May 1. During the active combat phase, several of the 68-ton vehicles -- the mainstay of the U.S. Army's armored forces -- were disabled in combat.

The latest attacks, including a nighttime mortar barrage in Baghdad, followed a day of violence in which insurgents targeted American forces and Iraqis who work with the occupation authorities. U.S. officials also announced that Baghdad's Deputy Mayor Faris Abdul Razzaq al-Assam was killed Sunday in a drive-by shooting.


posted by Frodgie at 6:31 AM

 

Russian miners emerge alive

NOVOSHAKHTINSK, Russia (CNN) -- In a dramatic rescue effort, 11 of 13 miners trapped for nearly six days in a flooded coalmine in southern Russia have been brought to the surface.

The miners, who have been without food, water, sunlight or communication since Thursday, emerged from the mine half a mile underground wrapped in blankets and still wearing hardhats.

They were greeted with cheers from onlookers as they passed by tearful family members and were taken by ambulance to the hospital.


posted by Frodgie at 6:28 AM

 

Obesity Top Health Problem in U.S., Agency Head Says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Obesity is the No. 1 health threat in the United States today, the head of the leading U.S. federal health agency said on Tuesday.

While much of her time is spent preparing to fight anthrax, smallpox, and biological threats, and diseases like SARS and West Nile virus, Centers for Disease, Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, said Americans are much more likely to die from cancer, heart disease, and diabetes caused by smoking, eating too much and exercising too little.

"Unfortunately, poor diet and a lack of exercise have almost caught up with tobacco as being the leading cause of death in the United States," Gerberding told a meeting of the National Health Council, which groups companies and non-profit health advocacy organizations.

She cited statistics that show 65 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese. In 2000, 38.8 million American adults were classified as obese, meaning their health is seriously at risk.


posted by Frodgie at 6:27 AM

 

Firefighters pin hopes on better weather

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- As wildfires raged from Simi Valley to San Diego, the number of homes destroyed rose above 1,000, the charred land totaled 422,000 acres and the death toll had reached 15 by Monday evening.

Tens of thousands of people, forced from their Southern California neighborhoods over the last three days, watched and waited as firefighters struggled in four counties Monday to keep the fires away from their homes.

Fire engines rolled in from other sections of California -- and at least two other states -- to bolster the effort to contain the wildfires. The best weapon may be better weather, with slower winds, lower temperatures and higher humidity predicted in the days ahead.


posted by Frodgie at 6:52 AM

 

'Price Is Right's' Rod Roddy Dies

Rod Roddy, the flashy-dressed announcer on "The Price is Right" whose booming, jovial voice invited lucky audience members to "Come on down!" for nearly 20 years, died Monday. He was believed to be 66.

Roddy, who suffered from colon and breast cancer, died at Century City Hospital, according to his longtime agent, Don Pitts. He had been hospitalized for two months.

"He had such a strong spirit. He just wouldn't give up," Pitts said Monday.

Roddy had been ill for more than two years but continued to work as much as possible and for as long as he could, said Bob Barker, host of "The Price is Right." Roddy had been with the game show for 17 years.

posted by Frodgie at 6:49 AM

 

Yale Sues Defense Dept. Over Gay Rights

Three groups of university students and law professors have filed suit against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (search ), protesting the military's "don't ask don't tell" policy for homosexuals.

The most recent suit comes from a Yale (search ) professor and 43 of his colleagues, hoping to bar military recruiters from the law school's career office because the military, unlike other employers, refuses to sign a non-discrimination pledge.

"These are talented people ... our students are very smart," Yale professor Robert Burt said. "They're good lawyers, and their sexual preference, who they choose to sleep with or fall in love with, has nothing to do with their fitness for the job."

But it may be a case of biting the hand that feeds -- Yale gets $300 million a year in federal funding for medical and scientific research. The government threatened to freeze the cash, which federal law allows when recruiters are shut out. So the university agreed to open its doors.


posted by Frodgie at 6:41 AM

 

Survey: Boost in exercise reduces stroke risk

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The more physical activity a person does, the lower the risk of a stroke, a review of 23 international studies finds.

"Reduction in stroke risk is another reason to participate in regular and moderate-to-high intensity physical activity," said the report in the October edition of the American Heart Association journal Stroke.

It's known that exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. But researchers have done less work on stroke, the third-leading cause.


posted by Frodgie at 6:39 AM

 

HK's 'big white guy' stands out

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Fans of Randall van der Woning already know an article about him is going to appear on this Web site.

That's because they've read about it in his Web log, along with his many other adventures as a "big white guy" living in Hong Kong.

A Web log, or blog, is an online diary that is open for anyone to read.

With more than 4 million blogs out there in cyberspace, the diaries have gone mainstream making it difficult for a single blogger to rise above the noise.

But van der Woning is standing out in more ways than one. He says two million visitors have hit his web log, www.bigwhiteguy.com, since he started it five years ago.


posted by Frodgie at 6:37 AM

 

North Korea has delivered 400 ballistic missile to Mideast

North Korea has delivered 400 ballistic missiles to clients in the Middle East and sharply increased sales over the last year.

The South Korean Defense Ministry told parliament in a report that Pyongyang delivered 400 Scud-class missiles to a range of Middle East countries since 1985. The report said the missile export constituted the largest source of hard currency for the Stalinist regime.

The report said the best clients of North Korea were Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. The report did not say how much Pyongyang earned from the exports. But the Yonhap News Agency said the figure was $110 million.


posted by Frodgie at 6:35 AM

 

CBS's Fictionalized History

Next month, CBS will air The Reagans, a new mini-series, and there is growing concern, based on circulating scripts, that the portrayal will be biased or, worse, inaccurate. The New York Times has reported, for example, that "the script . . . accuses Mr. Reagan of having no interest in addressing the AIDS crisis, but of asserting that the patients of AIDS essentially deserved their disease."

This is historical distortion. Indeed, if uncorrected, it may well fit the very definition of libeling a public figure: reckless disregard for the truth.

How Ronald Reagan viewed AIDS was of particular importance to me, since the former president tasked me with advising him on certain legal aspects of AIDS policy. In the late 1970s and 80s, AIDS was not well known to the general public, and there was considerable uncertainty in the medical community about how AIDS was transmitted. Researchers at Harvard had suggested that transmission by saliva was possible, and there was a good deal of public hysteria driven by the thought that the fatal illness could be spread by such casual contact. Schools were denying entrance to children with the disease, and some hospitals even declined to treat AIDS patients.


posted by Frodgie at 6:50 AM

 

Experts Mull Threat of Another Oil Embargo

“Our dependence [on foreign oil] is growing, and, worse, our dependence on Middle East oil is growing,” said Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (search).

According to the Department of Energy's 2003 Annual Energy Outlook (search), net oil imports accounted for 55 percent of total U.S. demand in 2001, up from 37 percent in 1980 and 42 percent in 1990.

By 2025, imports are expected to account for 68 percent of U.S. demand. Oil imports from the Middle East have doubled since the 1970s, and now are about one-fourth of total imports. By 2020, the share of imports from the Middle East is expected to rise to one-half, the Energy Department's report states.


posted by Frodgie at 6:45 AM

 

Iran 'Studying' Uranium Enrichment Halt

"Iran is currently studying suspending uranium enrichment," the Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement, saying its spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi had been mistaken when he told reporters earlier Sunday that enrichment had already been suspended.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. High-grade enriched uranium can be used in bombs, while low-grade enriched uranium can be used in energy programs.


posted by Frodgie at 6:42 AM

 

At least 10 dead in Baghdad blasts

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Four explosions shook Baghdad early Monday, the first and largest a suicide bombing that targeted the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Ten people were reported killed.

Separately, at least three other bomb attacks were reported on Iraqi police stations across Baghdad with a fourth attempted. Coalition officials said an unknown number of American soldiers were injured in at least one of the station bombings.

Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling of the U.S. Army confirmed that the attack on the Red Cross compound was a suicide bombing.

"Initial indicators, and we're trying to confirm this, but we have eyewitnesses that say that the truck was, in fact, a Red Cross-Red Crescent truck, carrying the explosives -- like a panel van, a little bit larger," Hertling said.


posted by Frodgie at 6:35 AM

 

Rep. Pelosi Says Wal-Mart Arrests 'Terrorizing'

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday police raids on dozens of U.S. Wal-Mart stores in the search for illegal immigrants this week amounted to "terrorizing" workers.

"It instills a great deal of fear in people who are only trying to earn a living and put food on the table for their family," Pelosi, a California Democrat, told reporters on a Congressional visit to Mexico.

Hundreds of workers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. locations across the United States were arrested on immigration charges on Thursday in an investigation into contractor cleaning crews.

"We think there might be a better way to go about this because the fact is that it is against the law for the employer to hire these people so there should be more focus on the employer and less in these terrorizing raids," Pelosi said.


posted by Frodgie at 6:33 AM

 

Rockets Blast Wolfowitz's Baghdad Hotel

A defiant Wolfowitz vowed that the United States would not be cowed into abandoning Iraq after the brazen attack that he said may have killed one American.

Up to 15 people were wounded in the strike that is a setback for the Bush administration, undermining its insistence the United States is winning the guerrilla war in Iraq despite escalating violence.

The blast of the rockets hitting the Rashid Hotel at about 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) echoed across the city as a clear, rapid series of explosions. Several guests were thrown from their beds by the impact.

Some people were carried out of the hotel on stretchers and others walked away with blood on them after at least six rockets slammed into the building, destroying rooms on stories below Wolfowitz's on the 12th floor, witnesses said.

Wolfowitz, a major force behind the United States invading Iraq, was led away by security forces. He appeared composed after descending a stairwell past thickening smoke and blood stains with a fire alarm blaring, witnesses said.

"These terrorist attacks will not deter us from completing our mission, which is to help the Iraqi people free themselves from the types of criminals who did this and protect the American people from this kind of terrorism," Wolfowitz told reporters hours after the attack.


posted by Frodgie at 9:45 AM