Take On the News: A Running Commentary on Current Events

Betting On Bush link
After Adm. Poindexter got axed for suggesting a terrorism futures market, some discreet academics decided to set up their own online exchange to predict who the U.S. government will next invade, intimidate or force to resign. The American Action Market will offer various Washington "futures" that can be bet upon and traded like stocks, reports Wired.com. Traders will begin registering in September for the opening date of Oct. 1 -- the same launch date proposed for the Pentagon's terrorism market, until it was shelved. Who will be the next Enron, Ari or Saddam? Check the business section of your paper.
  August 05, 2003 | 10:10AM

Blessed Genes link
Dying to know what the Roman Catholic Church thinks of genetically modified (GM) food? The wait is over. Today, the Vatican released a statement declaring GM foods a blessing. Archbishop Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said the Vatican's position is based on the Pope's interest in ending hunger. Further, Archbishop Martino argued, he lived for 16 years in the United States, "and I ate everything that was offered to me, including genetically modified products. They had no effect on my health." One person does not a sound survey make. Maybe Martino should limit his pontificating to the pontifical council.
  August 04, 2003 | 5:04PM

Dollars And Fence link
Israelis call it a fence. Palestinians call it a wall. The U.S. calls it a problem. President Bush stops short of condemning the construction of the fence/wall, but he sends a different message through his advisers. In a June visit to the region, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice expressed U.S. opposition to the project. Secretary of State Colin Powell says publicly that the U.S. does not agree with Israel on the outline of the fence/wall. Yesterday, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported that contrary to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's efforts to portray the Bush Administration as supportive of the fence, the State Department is pushing a proposal to cut loans to Israel over the matter. State views the location of the fence as a significant barrier to peace. Where's the U.S. media on this development?
  August 04, 2003 | 2:13PM

He's Arrived link
Looks like Howard Dean has finally broken into the cool crowd, with even mainstream pundits acknowledging that he has a shot at the 2004 Democratic nomination. He's flying high, to be sure, but Dean fans fret that he may be peaking too soon -- no one goes to polls for another year, and that's a long time. The media has the attention span of your average housefly, so maybe, as today's column from Howard Kurtz suggests, too much buzz now could portend a different frontrunner later. Be that as it may, Dean sports a kind of Ross Perot-meets-Jimmy Carter (or would that be George McGovern?) appeal that's got some folks excited -- and anything that gets Democrats excited these days is something that should make the DLC perk up and take notice.
  August 04, 2003 | 1:18PM

Stately Exit link
Secretary of State Colin Powell denies it, but rumor has it that the White House will have to look for another State Department head if Bush wins a second term. Not only that, but Richard Armitage, Powell's right hand man, plans to follow close behind, according to the BBC. These rumblings have European and other international officials worried, since they figure the Bush adminstration's scant attention to international consensus-building can only go downhill from here. As Dr. John Chipman of the International Institute for Security Studies put it, "Powell and Armitage have represented the only seriously multilateralist leanings of the administration, as Europeans understand the concept." So the question is, who's ripe to fill the role? We hear Admiral John Poindexter's out job hunting again. Third time's the charm, as they say.
  August 04, 2003 | 11:48AM

Work Rules link
Americans work more and our vacations are the shortest in the industrialized world. Even the Chinese get three weeks off! So it's no surprise that people are riled up about Senate proposals to alter how workers are paid for overtime hours. Workers rely on overtime pay to make ends meet. And overtime pay encourages employers to assign fairer workloads. Despite even conservative estimates that the proposal would cause more than one million workers to lose extra pay, the Senate passed the measure last week. Now Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has launched an Internet petition to block the changes to the regulations. Is Kerry just trying to woo organized labor? Perhaps, but if his efforts result in giving workers a break, we'll sign on.
  August 04, 2003 | 10:48AM

Wild West link
The State Department wants to capture Saddam Hussein alive and subject him to a legal trial. Why this sudden interest in respecting the rule of law? Perhaps the U.S. government miscalculated how the murders of Hussein's sons would play in the rest of the world. Yesterday's article in Egypt's weekly newspaper, Al-Ahram, claims the Egyptian and Arab public is angry over U.S. actions in Iraq. One person interviewed complained, "Gloating over corpses is not my idea of behavior characteristic of a civilized people." Mustafa Kamel El- Sayed, a professor of political science at Cairo University, explained that people expect a democratic nation like the U.S. not to use "methods typical of authoritarian, repressive regimes."
  August 01, 2003 | 2:58PM

Ahhh'll Be Running? link
In case you thought the California recall race couldn't get any nuttier (Larry Flynt has weighed in as a candidate if you hadn't heard the latest), potential gubernatorial contender Arnold Schwarzenegger will announce whether or not he seeks control of the sixth largest economy in the world... right before he appears on the Jay Leno Show. Our condolences to those poor Californians.
  August 01, 2003 | 1:52PM

Nobel Cause link
Economists who win the Nobel Prize aren't known for being outspoken. Hence our surprise to read that 2001 laureate George Akerlof thinks Americans should protest the Bush administration's "irresponsible" policies. In a recent interview in Der Spiegel on U.S. economic policy, he criticizes the administration for "throwing money away" and projects a deficit of over $6 trillion in 10 years that will force massive cuts in services for the elderly. He praises Bush, Sr., for taking the political risky step of raising taxes to control the deficit, and bashes Bush, Jr., with this zinger: "I think this is the worst government the U.S. has ever had in its more than 200 years of history. It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies not only in foreign and economic but also in social and environmental policy. This is not normal government policy. Now is the time for people to engage in civil disobedience."
  August 01, 2003 | 12:38PM

Hold Your Applause link
After weeks of wrangling over a sweeping energy bill, Senators last night had a fit of pre-recess impatience. So they dusted off last year's energy bill and passed that -- again. Democrats, bizarrely, treated it as a win. "In our fondest dreams, we never thought we could pass a Democratic bill in a Republican Congress," House Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) bubbled. But GOP senators were crowing, too -- for good reason. The energy bill, which most enviros were hoping to stall altogether, will now go to conference with leaders in the Republican-led House. GOP Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was painfully open about their intentions: "We will write a completely different bill."
  August 01, 2003 | 11:25AM

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