FootnoteTV® : The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: May 2005
May 31, 2005 (Guest: Gerald L. Posner) (back to top)
| > | * Reference to Filibuster Compromise. Escalating battles over judicial nominations came to a head in late May as Senate Democrats threatened to filibuster a vote over some of President George W. Bush's nominations and as Senate Republicans threatened to change filibuster rules to prevent such an action. A compromise was brokered at the last minute by a bipartisan group of senators, though such battles may erupt again if a vacancy opens up on the United States Supreme Court. Republicans currently hold enough Senate seats (55) to confirm any Bush nomination if brought for a full vote, but they do not hold the 60 seats necessary to stop any filibuster attempt which could prevent a nomination from getting a full vote.
As a result of the compromise, Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Richman Owen was confirmed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on May 25, 2005, more than four years after she first was nominated in May 2001. Some people opposed Owen for her views on abortion. Owen will now help make decisions as to how federal law is interpreted in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Disputes over judicial nominations have helped contribute to long vacancies in the federal judiciary, which can slow down the pace of litigation in federal courts. About 9 percent of the federal appellate judge positions (17 out of 179) and about 4 percent of the federal district judge positions (27 out of 680) were vacant as of the end of May 2005, and about half of these vacancies were considered "judicial emergencies" because of how long the slot had been vacant and the caseload in the vacant court.
| | > | * Reference to Newsweek Story. Newsweek has retracted a story from its May 9 issue in which it was reported that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Koran on toilets and at least once "flushed a holy book down the toilet." Subsequent riots in Afghanistan have been attributed to this report. Newsweek editor-in-chief Richard Smith wrote in the May 30 issue that Newsweek no longer stands by its story given the Pentagon's denials and its original source's "changing position on the allegation." According to Smith, reporter Michael Isikoff "relied on a well-placed and historically reliable government source," and Newsweek provided the entire story to a senior Defense Department official who disputed one part of the story but not the part of the charge of abusing the Koran. In the wake of the retraction, Newsweek has announced that it will change its policy towards using anonymous sources.
Brigadier General Jay Hood said on May 26 (transcript on-line here) that the military had found "no credible evidence" of any military member at Guantanamo Bay flushing a Koran down a toilet, but did identify 13 incidents of "alleged mishandling of the Korean." Of these 13 incidents, five involved "what could be broadly defined as mishandling of a Koran," Hood said.
As of March 2005, there were about 540 detainees from 40 countries at Guantanamo Bay, where the United States has been holding detainees since late 2001. In a March 29, 2005 update (on-line here), the ICRC noted that many detainees have been held for more than two and a half years without being charged with a crime, and that it believes that "uncertainty about their fate has been a contributing factor to the mental and emotional health problems among the detainees at Guantanamo Bay observed by [the ICRC's] delegates and reported by other sources." The ICRC also noted that its observations regarding "certain aspects of the conditions of detention and treatment of detainees" at Guantanamo and another facility "have not yet been adequately addressed."
| | > | * Reference to Hussein Photo. The British Sun and the New York Post, two tabloids owned by Rupert Murdoch, published photographs of a disrobed Saddam Hussein on May 20. The U.S. government condemned the publication of the photographs and suggested that they may have violated Geneva Convention provisions for the treatment of prisoners.
When asked on May 20 whether the photo might inflame anti-U.S. sentiment, President George W. Bush said that he did not think so. "I don't think a photo inspires murderers. I think they're inspired by an ideology that is so barbaric and backwards that it's hard for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think," he said (transcript on-line here).
| | > | * Reference to al-Zarqawi. Iraqi officials reportedly said in late May that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has been affiliated with al-Qaeda and is said to be a leader of the insurgents in Iraq, was reportedly wounded. U.S. Army Brigadier General Carter Ham said on May 26 (transcript on-line here) that he could not confirm such reports. He also noted that "[w]hile Zarqawi certainly is an important character, his organization is bigger than just one guy. And so his demise, whether he be captured -- which would be preferable -- or if he's killed or wounded, that will not cause al Qaeda in Iraq to cease to function."
| | > | * Grand Heft Auto. U.S. retail gasoline prices (info on-line here) have increased dramatically in recent years, with retail gasoline prices increasing from about $1.00 a gallon in January 2002 to $2.05 in May 2005. Prices were relatively stable in the early and mid 1990s, but have fluctuated more since 1999.
Prices are not record-highs when inflation is taken into account; gasoline in the 1970s cost around $3 per gallon when adjusted. The following graph was developed from Energy Information Administration data.
| | > | * Reference to Bush-Abdullah Meeting. President George W. Bush met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah on April 25 at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas. Bush said before the meeting (transcript on-line here) that he would talk about energy and about Saudi Arabia's capacity. The two issued a statement afterwards (on-line here) in which the United States and Saudi Arabia "pledge to continue their cooperation so that the oil supply from Saudi Arabia will be available and secure. The United States appreciates Saudi Arabia's strong commitment to accelerating investment and expanding its production capacity to help provide stability and adequately supply the market."
| | > | * Reference to Abu Zubaydah. According to Gerald L. Posner in his book Why America Slept: The Reasons Behind Our Failure to Prevent 9/11, al-Qaeda associate Abu Zubaydah told interrogators in 2002 that Osama Bin Laden had struck deals with Saudi leaders including Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and that some Saudi leaders had known in advance that there would be some kind of a major attack against the United States on September 11.
As noted, some of the people allegedly identified then died in arguably unusual circumstances. Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, 44, died on July 22, 2002; the Saudi embassy has a statement on-line here. Prince Sultan bin Faisal bin Turki bin Abdullah Al-Saud, 41, died on July 23; the Saudi embassy has a statement on-line here. Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Saud Alkabeer, 25, died "of thirst" on July 29, according to a Saudi statement on-line here.
| | > | * References to Saudi Arabia. Regarding Saudi Arabia, 15 of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks did come from Saudi Arabia, as did Osama Bin Laden. al-Qaeda also received funding from Saudi citizens and perhaps indirectly and unknowingly from the Saudi government and Saudi leaders. At the same time, al-Qaeda does not have the formal support of the Saudi government and actively opposes some of the Saudi government's policies, notably, its close ties to the United States. Notably, Bin Laden himself was exiled from Saudi Arabia and largely cut off from his family in 1994. Saudi Arabia also took some steps against Bin Laden in the 1990s, such as meeting with the Taliban in 1998 to urge them to expel Bin Laden, an act which led the Taliban to denounce the Saudi government and suspend relations with it.
At least one person involved in the hijacking has reportedly suggested that Saudi citizens were specifically chosen to weaken the US-Saudi relationship, a theory that Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia also has expressed. But one organizer, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks, reportedly told interrogators that so many Saudis were chosen simply because Saudis make up the largest portion of recruits in al-Qaeda training camps (roughly 70 percent).
Saudi Arabia held its first elections in February 2005, though such elections were for seats on municipal councils and women were not allowed to vote. The U.S. State Department called the country's human rights record "poor overall with continuing serious problems" in a February 2005 report (on-line here). Among other things, it noted that women were not allowed to drive, are expected to wear abayas (black garments covering the entire body), and have their testimony counted as half that of men's.
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May 12, 2005 (Guest: Tracey Ullman) (back to top)
| > | * Reference to Cessna Incident. Government buildings in Washington DC were evacuated briefly on May 11 when a Cessna plane entered restricted airspace and did not respond to calls. According to White House spokesman Scott McClellan (transcript on-line here), President George W. Bush was not in the White House at the time; Vice President Dick Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who was visiting at the time, were in the White House and were taken to secure locations.
| | > | * Reference to Bolton Nomination. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on May 12 to allow the full Senate to vote on the nomination of John Bolton to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. The committee had scheduled its own vote on April 19 but delayed it after Senator George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) expressed concerns about approving the nomination. Voinovich, who criticized Bolton even while voting to allow a full vote, said on May 12 that he planned to vote against Bolton's nomination when it came before the full Senate.
President George W. Bush defended the Bolton nomination in an April 21 speech (on-line here), saying that Bolton was "the right man at the right time for this important assignment" at the United Nations. "I urge the Senate to put aside politics and confirm" Bolton, Bush said.
Bolton was nominated on March 7, 2005 to serve as ambassador to the United Nations; a transcript of a press conference at which the nomination was announced is on-line here. At that time, Bolton acknowledged his past criticism of the United Nations, and said that he would work to provide U.S. leadership, which he said "is critical to the success of the UN, an effective UN, one that is true to the original intent of its charter's framers."
| | > | * Just Shoot Me. Florida Governor Jeb Bush approved a new state law on April 26, 2005 that would exempt more assaults and homicides as justifiable self-defense. Generally, self-defense is permitted only when one can prove that he or she had reasonable grounds to believe and did actually believe that he or she was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm which he or she could only prevent by using deadly force, had not used all proper means to avoid physical combat before resorting to the use of deadly force, and had used no more force that was reasonably necessary. Under the law, SB 436, those who claim self-defense will be presumed to have a reasonable fear in certain circumstances and will have no duty to retreat.
As referenced, a 10-year ban on the possession, transfer and manufacturing of semiautomatic assault weapons expired after September 13, 2004. The ban was part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (PL 103-322) and was intended to help reduce violent and drug-trafficking crime.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in response to questions on September 13, 2004 (transcript on-line here) that President George W. Bush had supported reauthorization of the ban but "does not set the legislative timetable" and that "Congressional leaders have stated that it's not going to come up for a vote." When asked if Bush had ever mentioned the ban in a speech or called any member of Congress to get reauthorization, McClellan said that "this President has led when it comes to combating violence committed with guns."
| | > | * Gaywatch. The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington reported on May 5 (articles on-line here) that two men had accused Mayor Jim West of sexually abusing them in the 1970s and that West had visited a gay web site's chat room and had gone on dates with young men he met there. West has denied the allegations from the 1970s but has not denied the recent allegations. In a May 5 statement (on-line here), he said " I am a law-abiding citizen, and I believe my public record of service stands on its own merit. Allegations about my private life were two-fold. I categorically deny allegations about incidents that supposedly occurred 24 years ago as alleged by two convicted felons and about which I have no knowledge. The newspaper also reported that I have visited a gay chat line on the Internet and had relations with adult men. I don't deny that."
Some researchers have found the brains of homosexual and heterosexual men responded differently to two chemicals that some believe may be pheromones; the research is reported in the May 10 issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (on-line here). The lead researcher, Dr. Ivanka Savic, told the New York Times that homosexual men's brains had similar reactions to the chemicals as heterosexual women's though it was unclear whether such reactions were a cause or effect of their sexual orientation. Source: Nicholas Wade, For Gay Men, an Attraction to a Different Kind of Scent, The New York Times, May 10, 2005.
| | > | * Reference to Moon Landing. Some people have tried arguing that NASA faked the first moon landing, which occurred on July 20, 1969. A NASA article rebutting such arguments is on-line here.
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May 11, 2005 (Guest: Al Roker) (back to top)
| > | * Reference to Cessna Incident. Government buildings in Washington DC were evacuated briefly on May 11 when a Cessna plane entered restricted airspace and did not respond to calls. According to White House spokesman Scott McClellan (transcript on-line here), the threat level was raised to "yellow" when the plane was about 15 miles from the White House at 11:59 a.m., to "orange" at 12:01 p.m. when the plane was about 10 miles away, and to "red" at 12:03 p.m. when the plane was about three miles away; the plane then turned west and the situation was cleared as of 12:14 pm. President George W. Bush was not in the White House at the time; Vice President Dick Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who was visiting at the time, were in the White House and were taken to secure locations.
McClellan said that fighter jets were scrambled but said that he did not have any information indicating that they had been given authorization to shoot the Cessna down.
| | > | * Kim Possible. North Korea said on Feb. 10 that it had nuclear weapons, that it had manufactured them for self-defense purposes, and would not participate in then-upcoming talks with the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia (statement on-line here). According to reports, some U.S. officials have speculated that satellite photos indicate that North Korea may be preparing to test nuclear weapons for the first time.
International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei said in a May 8 interview (transcript on-line here) that the IAEA estimates that North Korea has up to six nuclear weapons. "We knew they had the plutonium that could be converted into five or six North Korea weapons. We know that they had the industrial infrastructure to weaponize this plutonium. We have read also that they have the delivery system," he said.
| | > | * This Week in God. The Navajo Nation Council voted unanimously in favor of legislation specifically prohibiting same-sex marriages on April 22, 2005. A press release on this action is on-line here. (By the way, Stephen Colbert's tear is a reference to a 1971 public service announcement featuring Iron Eyes Cody as an Indian who sheds a tear because of environmental damage.
| | > | * Back in Black. President George W. Bush was in Moscow on May 9 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The visit comes amidst growing criticism of Russia President Vladimir Putin's commitment to democracy and amidst Bush's recent comments that Baltic states such as Latvia were effectively captives of the Soviet Union.
As for North Korea, South Korean film director Shin Sang Ok and his ex-wife Choi Un Hui have said that they were kidnapped separately in 1978 so that Shin Sang-ok could make movies for Kim Jong Il, whose father was still alive and in power at the time. Shin has said that he was imprisoned for about four years until he agreed to make movies for North Korea. Shin then made several movies for North Korea and escaped in 1986 during a visit to a film festival. Shin then came to the United States, where he used the Americanized name Simon Sheen and produced the "Three Ninjas" movie for Disney.
The Museum of Modern Art, which showed a retrospective of Shin's work in 1996, described him at the time (release on-line here) as "South Korea's most controversial filmmaker." IMDB has its entry on Shin Sang Ok on-line here. Additional source: Bernard Weinraud, From captivity in North Korea to success in Hollywood, The New York Times, November 25, 1996.
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May 10, 2005 (Guest: Wanda Sykes) (back to top)
| > | * Run, forest! Run! Agriculture Secretary Mike Johans announced on May 5 a final rule that allows governors to submit petitions to develop state-specific regulations allowing for building roads in national forest areas currently designated as "roadless" and currently protected under a 2001 rule issued by the United States Forest Service. About 58.5 million acres of such roadless areas are in the National Forest System, mostly in western states and Alaska, and the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule generally banned road building in all such areas. Information about the new rule and roadless areas is available via the government here. Earthjustice has information about the 2001 rule on-line here.
The new rule would allow for roads to be built in some of these areas but would not necessarily open up all such areas. Under Secretary Mark Rey said in a May 5 tele-news conference that he believed that "many of the state rules [resulting from the new rule] will protect the same areas as the 2001 rule." Rey noted that new state-specific rules would be more complicated but would bring states into the process and that such rules would correct earlier errors, such as the classification of roughly 2 million acres that have roads or other structures as roadless areas.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule has been the subject of litigation in recent years, with several states and other plaintiffs challenging the rule as illegal; a federal district court in Wyoming found the rule to be unlawful in 2003, though that decision was being appealed.
| | > | * Volcanoes. The U.S. Geological Survey called for a round-the-clock volcano monitoring system and identified high-risk volcanoes in a report issued on April 29 (on-line here). According to the survey, there are 13 very high threat volcanoes that have inadequate monitoring. Yellowstone is classified in the survey as one of 37 "high" threat volcanoes. The U.S. Geological Survey has a fact sheet specifically about Yellowstone on-line here.
| | > | * Blogs. News organizations have turned more to blogs in recent months, with many organizations creating their own. MSNBC's blogs, for example, are on-line here. CNN's look at blog commentary is part of its Inside Politics show, which is on-line here.
Blogs have been most prominent as commenting on the work of traditional news media, as exhibited by the efforts of bloggers to attack the authenticity of documents used in a September 2004 CBS News broadcast about President George W. Bush's military service, to call attention to comments by CNN executive Eason Jordan suggesting that the United States had deliberately killed some journalists in Iraq, and to raise questions about the identity of White House reporter Jeff Gannon. Dan Rather decided to end his tenure as CBS Evening News Anchor amidst the controversy and others involved in that CBS News broadcast faced disciplinary action, Eason resigned, and Gannon resigned.
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May 9, 2005 (Guest: Kathleen Turner) (back to top)
| > | * Trippin'. President George W. Bush was in Moscow on May 9 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The visit comes amidst growing criticism of Russia President Vladimir Putin's commitment to democracy and amidst Bush's recent comments that Baltic states such as Latvia were effectively captives of the Soviet Union.
Regarding democracy and the press, the United States has often raised criticism of Russia's commitment to democracy and its use of the media. According to a State Department report issued in February 2005 (on-line here), the government has restricted press coverage of topics such as Chechnya, given guidelines for coverage to press, and taken actions against journalists at stations which have government ownership. Government media also reportedly showed bias in favor of Putin when covering the March 2004 presidential campaign, which Putin won. Several journalists have also been killed or assaulted in Russia as well.
Regarding Latvia, Russia reportedly has expressed displeasure with Bush's decision to visit that Baltic state during his trip. While in Latvia, Bush gave a speech (on-line here) in which he criticized the Soviet Union as an "empire" that exhibited "iron rule" and criticized the 1945 negotiations between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union as to the state of post-World War II Europe. "The agreement at Yalta followed in the unjust tradition of Munich and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable. Yet this attempt to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability left a continent divided and unstable. The captivity of millions in Central and Eastern Europe will be remembered as one of the greatest wrongs of history," Bush said.
| | > | * Putin's Reference to Dan Rather. Dan Rather ended his tenure as CBS Evening News anchor on March 9. Rather announced this decision in November 2004 amidst controversy over documents cited as authentic in a Sept. 8, 2004 broadcast; CBS News admitted on Sept. 20 that it could no longer vouch for the authenticity of these documents. In January, an independent panel issued a report criticizing CBS News' reporting and production of the broadcast; CBS News then terminated the producer of the segment and took action against three others but took no action against Rather given his already-announced decision to step down.
| | > | * No Child's Sweet Behind. A bill introduced by Texas State Representative Al Edwards (D-Houston) to ban suggestive cheerleading was passed by the state House on May 4 and is now being considered by the state Senate. If 79 H.R. 1476 (text on-line here) becomes law, "[n]o school dance team, drill team, cheerleading team, or any other performance group may not perform in a manner that is overtly sexually suggestive at an athletic or other extracurricular event or competition sponsored or approved by a school district or campus." If a school district determines that a group has done so, it is to "take appropriate action" as it determines.
| | > | * Arnold: The First 539 Days. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won office in a special election in October 2003, reportedly has faced criticism within his state for various comments and for a proposal to change the state's pension system, which Schwarzenegger has decided to revise. Two polls released in late April reportedly showed Schwarzenegger's approval rating below 50 percent for the first time since taking office.
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May 5, 2005 (Guest: Gov. Tom Ridge) (back to top)
| > | * Reference to Tony Blair. The Labor Party reportedly retained a majority of seats in the United Kingdom's May 5, 2005 election, ensuring a third term for Prime Minister Tony Blair. With his re-election, three of the four world leaders who pushed most strongly for military action in Iraq have retained power despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction there: President George W. Bush won a second term in November 2004 and Australia Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal Party/Nationals coalition was re-elected in October 2004, though Spain's President Jose Maria Aznar lost his re-election bid in March 2004.
As for democracy in general, some have argued that recent developments in the Middle East outside of Iraq can be traced back to the Iraq war. Saudi Arabia held its first elections in February 2005, though such elections were for seats on municipal councils and women were not allowed to vote. Palestinians elected Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, as president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005. In February 2005, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak proposed an amendment to his country's constitution that would allow for direct, multiparty presidential elections later this year for the first time ever; his proposal reportedly followed pressure from the United States government for greater democracy in the Middle East. Protests in Lebanon followed the Feb. 14 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and helped pressure Syria into withdrawing troops that that it had maintained in Lebanon for years.
| | > | * Reference to Abu Faraj Al-Libbi. U.S. and Pakistani officials reported on May 4 that an al-Qaeda operative, Abu Faraj Al-Libbi, was captured by the Pakistani government. President George W. Bush described Al-Libbi in a May 4 speech (on-line here) as a "top general for [Osama] bin Laden. He was a major facilitator and a chief planner for the al Qaeda network." Some have described Al-Libbi as the "number three" person in al-Qaeda, though others have questioned his significance to that organization.
| | > | * Reference to Homeland Security Re-Organization. Homeland Security was initially created as an office without direct power or control over any other government entity and was to "work with" and "coordinate" other agencies. By early 2002, there was growing concern that the Office of Homeland Security was facing difficulties because it lacked direct power. President George W. Bush proposed making Homeland Security a Cabinet-level post in June 2002, largely adopting an idea initially proposed by senators led by Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Connecticut). Support for this proposal was widespread, but the Senate was divided over a provision that would give the president authority to waive certain collective-bargaining and workers' rights for reasons of national security. The bill was ultimately passed, and the Department of Homeland Security was officially established as of January 24, 2003.
The intelligence community has also seen changes in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the discovery that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction as the U.S. intelligence community had indicated.
Under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, a national intelligence director serves as the head of the U.S. intelligence community, though he does not have full budget authority over various intelligence agencies, as the 9/11 Commission had recommended. Bush nominated Ambassador John Negroponte to serve as National Intelligence Director in February 2005; Negroponte was confirmed on April 21, 2005.
Among other things, this law also requires that the CIA head, Porter Goss, is to "transform" the CIA by enhancing its capabilities, developing an effective languages program, emphasizing hiring of personnel of diverse backgrounds, establishing effective relationships between human and signal intelligence, and striking a "more effective" balance between unilateral operations and liaison operations.
| | > | * Reference to Terror Alerts. Department of Homeland security head Tom Ridge and other administration officials were criticized of timing terror alerts in ways that could be politically beneficial to the Bush administration. Even though he did not raise the terror alert nationwide in 2004, Ridge did make two warnings in the summer of 2004.
First, Ridge announced on July 8 that there was "credible reporting" that indicated that al-Qaeda "is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process." Ridge said that there was no evidence of a specific attack but that there was an increased risk of an attack this summer. A transcript of this press conference is on-line here.
Second, Ridge announced on August 1 that the United States was raising the threat level in certain areas to code orange, citing "new and unusually specific information about where al-Qaeda would like to strike." Ridge identified by name the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington D.C., Prudential Financial in New Jersey, and Citigroup buildings and the New York Stock Exchange in New York. A transcript of the announcement is on-line here.
The color-coded threat system was unveiled in March 2002. Since that time, the federal government raised the national threat level to orange or "high" five times, twice before the war in Iraq. The last change in the national threat level was an increase to "high" on December 21, 2003 and a return to "elevated" on January 9, 2004. For more on past terror alerts, go to my companion site, Footnote Fahrenheit, on-line here.
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May 4, 2005 (Guest: Martin Short) (back to top)
| > | * Reference to Restaurant Incidents. Anna Ayala, who claimed to have found a fingertip in a bowl of chili purchased at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose on March 22, was arrested by the San Jose Police Department about a month later on charges that she had made a false claim. A customer at a Kohl's Frozen Custard restaurant in North Carolina reported finding a fingertip on May 1; Kohl's has confirmed that an employee did suffer an injury from a custard machine and that another employee who was unaware of the incident packed the custard from that machine into a pint container for a customer.
| | > | * A Spot of Indecision 2005. United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair, who would be re-elected to a third term if his Labor Party retains a majority of seats in Thursday's election, has faced much criticism for the United Kingdom's involvement in military action in Iraq. For example, Blair recently responded to reports that he had received advice questioning the legality of military action by releasing a March 2003 memo that he had previously withheld as confidential; the memo reportedly shows that Blair's attorney general had expressed concerns about the war's legality days before publicly saying that it was legal.
Blair was one of President George W. Bush's strongest allies in pushing for military action in Iraq. After the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution in November 2002 providing Iraq a "final opportunity" to comply with its disarmament obligations, the United Kingdom in March 2003 helped push for a new, unsuccessful resolution that would have provided U.N. authorization for military action. The United Kingdom provided many of the non-U.S. forces used during the initial stages of military action and had more than 8,000 military personnel in Iraq in late 2004.
While those leaders who pushed most strongly for military action in Iraq have faced criticism given the failure to find weapons of mass destruction there, many have retained power. President George W. Bush won a second term in November 2004, and Australia Prime Minister John Howard's Liberal Party/Nationals coalition was re-elected in October 2004, though Spain's President Jose Maria Aznar lost his re-election bid in March 2004.
The Prime Minister's office, also known as 10 Downing Street, has a collection of Blair speeches on Iraq on-line here.
| | > | * Avian Resurrection. A research team led by Cornell University and the Nature Conservancy reported in a recent article that they had confirmed that at least one male, ivory-billed woodpecker is alive in the Big Woods area of eastern Arkansas, more than 60 years since the last confirmed sighting. Cornell has information about the discovery on-line here and the Nature Conservancy has information on-line here. In response, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced on April 28 that the federal government would take efforts to aid the bird's survival, including restricting access on an interim basis to part of the refuge where the bird was seen.
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May 3, 2005 (Guest: Christine Amanpour) (back to top)
| > | * Decent Proposal. In the face of new calls to allow federal regulation of content on cable television, the cable industry launched a new campaign on April 27 to help families regulate their children's viewing themselves. According to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (statement on-line here), which is coordinating the campaign, the cable industry will show public-service announcements in air time valued at $250 million over the next year and display content ratings more prominently.
Federal law currently limits the Federal Communications Communication's power to regulate obscene speech on cable channels because subscribers can limit their ability to access such channels and thus limit the potential for children to be inadvertently exposed to such material; federal law similarly limits the FCC's power to regulate non-cable television and radio between 10 pm and 6 am when children presumably are not watching or listening.
When asked about possible regulation of the cable industry on April 14, President George W. Bush said that there should be standards for content but did not address whether he favored expanded FCC authority (transcript on-line here). "I think there ought to be a standard. On the other hand, I fully understand that the final edit, or the final decision is a parent turning off the TV. I mean, the ultimate responsibility in a consumer-driven economy is for people to say I'm not going to watch it, and turn the knob off. That's how best to make decisions and how best to send influences. But I don't mind standards being set out for people to adjudge the content of a show, to help parents make right decisions. Government ought to help parents, not hinder parents in sending good messages to their children."
As for the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 (S. 167), which Bush signed into law on April 27, it allows manufacturers to make technology that would skip over portions of movies when viewed in homes to do so without being held liable as infringing on copyright. The legislation helps one company, ClearPlay (on-line here), which sells a DVD player that filters scenes on DVDs. "This ensures that parents will have the tools to control the movie content their families and children see in their own home. And, it means ClearPlay has a clear path to more significant business development opportunities," Clearplay CEO Bill Aho said in an April 19 statement. Some have criticized the legislation as overbroad and as infringing on the artistic and commercial rights of those who hold the copyright on the movies that may be filtered.
| | > | * References to Middle East Democracy. Events in the Middle East have been seen by some as suggesting a growth in democracy. Most notably, in Iraq, millions of Iraqis voted on Jan. 30 for the Transitional National Assembly which is forming an interim government, appointed a president, and is drafting a national constitution, as well as for the Kurdish National Assembly and several Governate Counsels. In April, the Assembly elected a new president and approved a new cabinet.
In Lebanon, widespread protests followed the Feb. 14 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. In the wake of such protests, Syria, which had maintained troops in Lebanon since the 1970s, announced in late April that it had withdrawn such troops. The United States and the United Nations had called in the past for Syria to withdraw its forces; the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1559 in 2004 calling for such a withdrawal.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia held its first elections in February 2005, though such elections were for seats on municipal councils and women were not allowed to vote. Palestinians elected Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, as president of the Palestinian Authority in January 2005. In February 2005, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak proposed an amendment to his country's constitution that would allow for direct, multiparty presidential elections later this year for the first time ever; his proposal reportedly followed pressure from the United States government for greater democracy in the Middle East.
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May 2, 2005 (Guest: Former Senator Zell Miller) (back to top)
| > | * Bush Press Conference. In a prime-time news conference (transcript on-line here) on April 28, President George W. Bush called for passage of an energy bill and proposed a Social Security plan that would include the personal/private retirement accounts that he has pushed for several months and would also offer greater benefits for low-income workers than for others.
| | > | * Bride Hoax. According to reports, Jennifer Wilbanks of Duluth, Georgia, disappeared on April 26 before a wedding scheduled for April 30. Wilbanks turned up days later in Albuquerque, New Mexico; she initially claimed that she had been kidnapped and then said that she had last-minute doubts about getting married.
| | > | * Reference to Bankruptcy Bill. New legislation making it harder for individuals to declare bankruptcy and eliminate their debt was signed into law on April 20, 2005. President George W. Bush said upon signing the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (on-line here) that "[u]nder the new law, Americans who have the ability to pay will be required to pay back at least a portion of their debts. Those who fall behind their state's median income will not be required to pay back their debts. This practical reform will help ensure that debtors make a good-faith effort to repay as much as they can afford. This new law will help make credit more affordable, because when bankruptcy is less common, credit can be extended to more people at better rates."
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Ripped from the Headlines?
West Wing: Santos discusses a lawsuit about intelligent design
West Wing: Electoral map as of the 10/9 episode; Santos needs to catch up big-time
SNL: The Miers nomination
South Park: Inspired by Katrina
Boston Legal: End to assault-weapons ban
Daily Show: A 2004 study found that 21 percent of young people regularly get their campaign news from comedy shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live. So, some footnotes.
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