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Thompson helped immigrants in legal peril

2007-12-16T07:58:00.000+08:00

from the December 10, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1210/p02s01-uspo.html

He intervened twice as a US senator for noncitizens at risk of deportation, records show.

By Ariel Sabar Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

Fred Thompson has made the tough enforcement of immigration laws a cornerstone of his presidential campaign platform, running television ads in Iowa titled "No Amnesty" and skewering rivals for their immigration records.

But at least twice as a US senator, Mr. Thompson personally intervened on behalf of immigrants at risk of deportation, according to papers in his Senate archives here and interviews with the immigrants.

In 1999, he pleaded with the US Immigration and Naturalization Service to reinstate a green-card application from a Korean family who became illegal when their visas expired. In 2000, Thompson passed a private law to grant green cards – or permanent residence – to a disabled Bolivian widow and three of her children. Under public law, the family would have had to leave the United States.

The episodes reveal a greater open-mindedness toward immigrants in legal limbo than has been evident from Thompson on the campaign trail.

"I'm very appreciating about what he do," the Bolivian widow, Jacqueline Salinas, of Memphis, Tenn., said in a phone interview last week. "He's a blessing for my family."

She says she became a US citizen this year.

In letters to federal officials and in remarks in the Senate at the time, Thompson said the families deserved special treatment for "humanitarian reasons" and their "extraordinary circumstances." In memos to Thompson, Senate aides also noted the prospect of positive media coverage.

The headline of an August 1999 news release from his Senate office read, "Thompson Introduces Legislation to Assist St. Jude Cancer Patient."

Ms. Salinas and her husband came to the United States in 1996 on tourist visas so their 7-year-old daughter could receive medical care for a rare cancer. About a year later, her husband and a 3-year-old daughter were killed in a car accident that Salinas says left her paralyzed while seven-months pregnant.

The family stayed in the United States by renewing six-month visas. "Because they do not meet the requirements for permanent residence under current immigration law … the Salinas family will be forced to leave the United States following the expiration of their tourist visas," Thompson said in a September 1999 letter asking Sen. Spencer Abraham, then chairman of the immigration subcommittee, to consider his private bill. "It is my hope that we can act soon to prevent another tragic setback for the Salinas family."

The Korean family, Seung and Eun Kyung Lee, came to the United States with their son in 1988 on business and tourist visas, Mr. Lee said in an interview. When the visas expired around 1994, they became "out of status," or illegal, according to Mr. Lee and a September 1999 memo to Thompson from an aide.

In 1994, the family paid a $1,000 penalty that allowed Ms. Lee's father, a US citizen, to sponsor a petition to "adjust" them to legal status. But in May 1999, with the petition still pending, the father died, which would normally trigger an automatic revocation.

A few months later, Thompson wrote to a senior INS official, asking that the petition be reinstated under a humanitarian exception. "To deport this family and send them back to South Korea now because of INS processing delays … would pose an undue hardship on the Lees and their children," he wrote, describing the family as "model citizens in the Nashville community."

The next month, the INS made the exception. A spokeswoman for US Citizenship and Immigration Services said the agency couldn't comment on specific cases because of privacy laws.

The Lees regained legal status in 2000 when their green-card application was approved, Mr. Lee said. "Mr. Thompson stood for my family," he said in a phone interview last week. "We were very, very happy."

Lee and his wife became citizens this year, he said. He owns a home-building firm, and the family lives in a four-bedroom house in the Nashville suburbs. His son graduated this year from Indiana University.

Both cases were causes célèbres in Thompson's home state of Tennessee. The Lees ran a popular market on Nashville's Music Row and enlisted the support of local music-industry figures.

The Salinas family was profiled in People magazine and championed by Marlo Thomas, the actress whose father, Danny Thomas, founded the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where Salinas's daughter received pro bono treatment in Memphis.

Among its other merits, a private bill for Salinas and three of her children (a fourth born in the United States was already a citizen) "would likely receive positive media coverage in Tennessee," aides wrote Thompson in a July 1999 memo.

Private bills, unlike public ones, benefit specific individuals and are typically a last resort for people with no other legal recourse. Though Congress once passed dozens a year, in recent years few have succeeded, in part because of the rancorous debate over immigration policy.

Supporters say they're an important safety net. "They're meant to provide relief for people where there's no relief available in the public laws," says Anna Marie Gallagher, an immigration lawyer who wrote a book on the subject.

But critics say they take pressure off Congress to change the system for everyone and are unfair to the untold numbers of other immigrants with similarly compelling stories but no access to lawmakers powerful or willing enough to introduce them. When foreigners are made permanent residents through a private law, it reduces the number of green cards available to other would-be immigrants from the same home countries.

"The role of special legislation seems to come directly out of Animal Farm: that every person is equal, but some people are more equal than others," says Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University.

Since entering the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Thompson, who left the Senate in 2002, has been one of the GOP field's most outspoken advocates for the strict enforcement of existing immigration laws. Among other things, his immigration proposal calls for a ban on legal status for illegal immigrants and an end to the preference for adult children of US citizens. That preference set the Lees on a path to citizenship.

"What he did then was work with individuals who had entered the country legally and were in extreme humanitarian and family crises," a Thompson spokesman, Jeff Sadosky, said Friday. Asked whether Thompson would help such families in the same way now, Mr. Sadosky said, "Senator Thompson is always willing to do what he can, openly and in complete accordance with the law, for those law-abiding persons who face exceptionally challenging situations."

The campaign did not answer questions about seeming inconsistencies between his actions as a senator and his current policy proposals.

Not every immigrant who sought Thompson's help got results. His Senate archives contain requests for private bills for two illegal immigrants from Mexico. Thompson or his staff met with the immigrants' supporters, but offered no assistance, said a lawyer who represented one of the men and a Roman Catholic church official who represented the other.

Salinas says that thanks to Thompson, she is living the American dream. Her daughter Gabriela, whose cancer is in remission, and son, Alejandro, started college this year, she says. Her younger children, Omar Jr. and Danny Thomas (named after the St. Jude founder), are thriving in Catholic school.

Salinas says she survives on government disability checks, food stamps, and charity. She recently bought a three-bedroom house with the help of a government program and sees a bright future for her children. "All my life changed when we became residents," she says.
She said she invited Thompson to her son and daughter's high school graduation this spring, but that he sent regrets through an aide. "I know he will be a very, very good president because he has a big heart," she says.

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Are big-spending clergy abusing U.S. tax code?

2007-12-15T07:56:00.000+08:00

from the December 06, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1206/p02s01-uspo.html

Tax exemptions for wealthy media-based ministries lead a senator to ask hard questions.

By Gail Russell Chaddock Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

Should Congress care if a minister drives a Bentley, flies private jets, or buys a $23,000 commode?

Yes, says Sen. Charles Grassley (R) of Iowa, if the high-spending ways violate the US tax code – especially a tax exemption for religious organizations.

He's given six televangelist ministries a deadline of this Friday to respond to questions on issues ranging from compensation and housing allowances to personal use of assets and unreported income.

"If tax-exempt organizations, including media-based ministries, thumb their noses at the laws governing their preferential tax treatment, the American public, their contributors, and the Internal Revenue Service have a right to know," says Senator Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

In the past five years, Grassley has led probes of nonprofits that unearthed lavish perks at the Smithsonian Institution, conflicts of interest at the Nature Conservancy, and mismanagement at the American Red Cross. Now, he's looking at some of America's largest, media-based ministries.
"Considering tax-exempt media-based ministries today are a billion-dollar industry ... with minimal transparency, it would be irresponsible not to examine this tax-exempt part of our economy," he said in a statement this week.

But church groups and other nonprofits worry that this probe could lead Congress to pass laws that slip into constitutionally protected territory – imposing excessive government oversight on a wide range of churches and other nonprofits.

Last week, National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) wrote to Grassley expressing concern about "the broader implications of this issue, not only for our members, but for all non-profit Christian ministries as well."

The information requested of the six ministries "goes far beyond a mere request for financial records necessary to scrutinize the charitable nature of an organization's operations," said NRB president and CEO Frank Wright in a Dec. 4 statement.

This includes requests for compensation agreements, employment contracts, minutes of board meetings, credit card statements, flight records, plastic surgery expenses, and a detailed account of the personal use of assets.

"There is financial information in an employment contract but also a lot of information that's none of the government's business," says Craig Parshall, NRB senior vice president and general counsel.

While none of the six ministries included in the probe to date is an NRB member, Mr. Parshall says that if abuses are found, Congress may be tempted to move government into the spiritual life of a church.

"There are thousands of Christian ministries engaged in electronic communications who are doing the right things – agonizing about how they are going to use donor dollars. Then you have, perhaps, a handful that have abused the tax laws. That's how bad laws get made," he says.

The six ministries include Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla., the World Healing Center Church, Inc. in Grapevine, Tex., Joyce Meyer Ministries in Fenton, Mo., the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., World Changers Church International in College Park, Ga., and Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Newark, Tex.

Grassley says that he chose these six ministries because of "disturbing news coverage" and information provided to his staff by interested third parties.

All six are also associated with the so-called prosperity gospel, which says that God wants people to be financially successful and they can get there by giving generously to church.

Some groups say the decision to target these six may signal that lawmakers are picking and choosing among religions in violation of the Constitution.

"Anytime a Congressional committee gets involved in this kind of issue, a red flag goes up," says Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee in Washington, which advocates for religious liberty.

"A lot of us are not enamored with the prosperity gospel, but this is not a decision for government to make. Government is supposed to enforce the law evenhandedly, not get involved in picking and choosing the best expression of religion," says Mr. Walker.

Americans gave more than $295 billion to charity in 2006, and Congress gives tax breaks to encourage it. Under federal law, churches are exempt from some of the reporting requirements of other tax-exempt organizations, but must ensure that donated funds are used to meet goals of the organization and not be diverted to personal use.

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Bill Richardson: a negotiator's faith in fairness and finding the common good

2007-12-14T07:55:00.000+08:00

from the December 06, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1206/p01s05-uspo.html

The Democratic presidential hopeful, perhaps best known for his success in hostage-rescue missions, says he's motivated by 'a big desire to resolve problems.'

By Jane Lampman Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Des Moines, Iowa

Send in Bill Richardson.

Starting in the 1990s, that became the way to win release of US citizens and others held captive in hostile countries. The energetic negotiator, a congressman back then, brought them home every time – from North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, and Iraq.

His secret weapon: "respect," he says, even for adversaries.

In some ways, Mr. Richardson proved to be particularly suited to the troubleshooting job abroad. Raised in both the United States and Mexico, he'd learned early how to bridge different cultures. And the teachings of his family and his church – to help one's fellow human beings – were a powerful motivator for those rescue missions.

"I have a big desire to resolve problems ... and to help people in need," says Richardson, now a Democratic candidate for president of the United States, during a recent interview on the stump in Iowa. "Coming from two cultures, I appreciate that people have different viewpoints but that everyone should be treated with respect."

One key reason he's running for president now, he says, is to try to bring Americans together to end the current era of intensely polarized politics in the US. Another taps his international credentials: to try to restore America's "moral authority" in the world community, which he sees as severely eroded as a result of the Bush administration's foreign policy.

It may well be Richardson's experience abroad that sets him apart from much of the presidential field. He's currently the popular governor of New Mexico, having won reelection in 2006 with 69 percent of the vote. But he's also served 18 months as United Nations ambassador during the Clinton presidency, run the US Department of Energy, and, before that, pulled off multiple negotiating coups with foreign leaders while a seven-term congressman.

"He really wants America to be a force for peace and democracy, and he understands the need today for interdependence," says long-time friend Mickey Ibarra, who served along with Richardson under Mr. Clinton.

Social justice via Government

The son of an American businessman and a Mexican mother, Richardson cites his family and the Roman Catholic Church as most influential in shaping his convictions and motivations. Catholic social teaching – emphasizing the common good and responsibility for creating a fair society with opportunity for all – is the foundation of his belief that "government exists to help people and be a catalyst for change, but not get in the way by creating barriers," he says.

As governor, he has worked in a coalition with church officials on issues such as eliminating sales tax on food and cracking down on "predatory" lenders to protect low-income borrowers.

"Going to church is an important part of my life and affects a lot of what I do," Richardson says. But in a campaign in which faith has been high-profile, he emphasizes that he does not wear his religion on his sleeve.

The governor also takes a different position from that of his church on abortion. While personally opposed to it, he is on record as saying he believes strongly in individual liberties and medical privacy for women.

Born in Pasadena, Calif., Richardson grew up in Mexico City, where his father headed the Mexican branch of the bank that later became Citibank. In his autobiography, "Between Worlds," Richardson recalls his childhood with passion. His earliest memory, he writes, is of his abuelita (grandma) taking him to church. She saw to it that he said his prayers and went to church – even before the budding star pitcher played a baseball game.

"My grandmother was a big baseball fan, but she regularly cautioned me that I had to stay close to God if I wanted to do well," he writes.

Mano a mano with saddam Hussein

That instruction from his grandmother stood Richardson in good stead during one difficult negotiation in 1995. Indeed, his adherence to religious practice while in Baghdad figured unexpectedly in ending a standoff with none other than Saddam Hussein.

At the time Richardson was on a mission to secure the release of two Americans sentenced to eight years in Abu Graib prison. Working in Kuwaiti oil fields, the pair drove by mistake into Iraq, were captured, and tried as spies.

Conditions were tense. Iraq was under UN sanctions, and the US was dropping bombs on the country.

Richardson and aide Calvin Humphrey sweated out a high-speed drive to Baghdad in 120-degree heat, endured a lengthy meeting with Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, and, at last, faced Hussein in a room furnished with armed guards. The discussion took an ominous turn, says Mr. Humphrey, when Richardson, crossing his leg, inadvertently showed the Iraqi president the bottom of his shoe – an insult in the Arab world. Hussein stormed from the room. When he returned later, Hussein learned that Richardson had asked to go to Mass with Mr. Aziz, also a Catholic.

"I understand the Mass is much longer in this country," the congressman said.

"Saddam said, 'That's because you Americans don't confess all your sins,' " recalled Humphrey in a phone interview. "Without missing a beat, Richardson replied, 'Mr. President, I thought it was because you Iraqis have so much more to confess.' "

The quick-witted retort actually made Hussein smile. "He obviously had been testing Richardson," Humphrey says. "That kind of broke the ice.... The look was like, 'You got me on that.' " By the end of the discussion, Hussein agreed to release the two American prisoners.
The root of Richardson's success as a negotiator is that "he shows respect to whomever he is negotiating with," says Humphrey, now senior vice president for international operations at RJI Capital Corp. "He's able to connect on an interpersonal level and looks people in the eye, but still holds fast to his principles and positions."

The governor puts it this way: "I keep my eye on the ultimate objective and let my adversary save face."

From ball field to political field

Although wealthy, the Richardson family lived in a middle-class neighborhood in Mexico City, and Bill played with youths of all classes. His father taught him that work had dignity no matter what the work was.

The son describes William Blaine Richardson as "a very strong disciplinarian, a taskmaster" who demanded much. "My father had difficulty telling people they had done a good job; he just pushed them to do even better," the candidate writes in his book. "That's an unfortunate quality I may have developed myself. I put in very long days and sometimes drive my staff nuts."

But the elder Richardson also set an example. "He was very involved in helping poor people, including setting up Little League fields all over Mexico, and telling me it was my responsibility to help the less fortunate," Richardson said during the interview.

His mother, Maria Luisa Lopez-Collada Richardson, he adds, urged him "to try to resolve differences, talk things through, and respect other points of view."

At a tender age, Richardson had occasion to test that approach. For high school, Bill was sent to Middlesex, a prep school in Concord, Mass. There, the Hispanic-American was a fish out of water, struggling to find a sense of identity.

Baseball proved to be his saving grace. He was a star pitcher in Mexico, and when the Middlesex coach saw Bill, he moved him onto the varsity team. Suddenly, the kid tagged "Pancho" was welcome in New England.

"That life experience of traversing two worlds is very much at the core of who Bill Richardson is," says Mr. Ibarra, Clinton's liaison to state and local governments. "He's really figured out how to savor and embrace strengths of both cultures."

Going on to Tufts University in Medford, Mass., Richardson at first dreamed of a pro baseball career, and scouts gave him reason to hope. But his arm gave out and academics took on new luster in his junior year. He got his first taste of politics running for president of his fraternity – and found he was good at it and could make a difference.

The defining moment in his life, he says, came during his graduate year at Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. During a trip to Washington in 1971, he was galvanized by a talk by Sen. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota about values and the US role in the world. What struck Richardson most was the senator's passion for public service. "For the first time, I had an inkling of the real potential of political power," Richardson writes in his book. "I felt inspired to make politics and public service my life's work."

The big issues

On the campaign trail, Richardson seems to relish the hard question on the big issue. Take the concern of a woman in Rockwell City, Iowa, who tells him she's worried about illegal immigration.

It could be a touchy issue for a Hispanic-American candidate, but Richardson is ready: He declared a state of emergency in New Mexico in 2005 and deployed the National Guard along the border – the first governor to do so, he says. But a border fence will not do the job, he adds.

He ticks off his plan: Double border agents and keep National Guard units there; crack down on document fraud and create an ID system; fine and punish employers who hire undocumented workers; establish a path to legalization for those already here (background check, learn English, pay back taxes and a fine); allow guest workers based on the needs of the US economy; and prod Mexico to create more jobs and "stop giving out maps on the best places to cross the border!"

On Iraq, he says the US military presence there is a recruiting tool for terrorists and discourages countries in the region from helping to resolve Iraq's problems. US forces should withdraw fully, he says, and a "diplomatic surge" should be undertaken to forge a political compromise, along the lines of the Dayton accords on Bosnia. That would become feasible, he says, once it's clear US forces are exiting.

'Power is good'

By most accounts and by his own admission, Richardson is not shy about wielding political power.

"Power is good if you do the right thing," the governor says. It puts one in a position "to fix problems."

The Albuquerque Journal in February wrote that Richardson has "used his power to ... get change in virtually every corner of New Mexico life, from slashing income taxes to creating pre-kindergarten...."

"He's first and foremost a political animal," Ibarra says. "He loves this stuff!"

Richardson has also been called "ambitious" and "pushy." Critics in New Mexico say he's amassed too much power, including reorganizing public education under his stewardship. The governor counters that state schools ranked poorly and were stuck in the status quo. Via a massive campaign for a constitutional amendment, he persuaded voters to pour $700 million more into public education. He calls the reform "my proudest legislative achievement."

Others credit him for having the energy and fortitude to tackle thorny problems, including managing the Department of Energy. Though warned that DOE was "a snake pit" of problems, Richardson says he was eager to take the helm when Clinton tapped him for the post in 1998. The FBI was already investigating Wen Ho Lee for espionage at a DOE laboratory, and Richardson was berated by a congressional panel looking into loose security at the national labs.
Yet DOE staff say he left a positive legacy.

"He understood leadership and the responsibility to take on difficult problems and try to solve them," says David Michaels, then an assistant secretary. "He called me in and said, 'I've heard from workers in Oak Ridge [National Lab] and other places that their work has made them sick. Go talk with them and see what's going on.' "

After Dr. Michaels delivered his findings, Richardson convinced the president and Congress of the need to compensate lab workers for exposure to hazardous materials. Most thought the legislation "would take years to pull off," Michaels says. But Richardson won bipartisan support, and Congress passed the program in 2000.

In Paducah, Ky., where workers had been exposed to plutonium but not told about it, Richardson apologized on behalf of the president.

Says Michaels, now a research professor at George Washington University: "On many issues top advisers would lay out options, and he'd always ask, 'What's the right thing to do?' He didn't mean the politically right thing, but the morally right thing."

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Senate rejects far-reaching energy bill

2007-12-13T07:52:00.000+08:00

from the December 08, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1207/p25s09-uspo.html

But Congress could still pass a slimmer version mandating more efficient cars and more biofuel use.

By Mark Clayton Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

There's still hope the nation may get a nice green-energy law for Christmas – not the big fat one environmentalists wanted, but a slimmed-down version that probably includes fuel economy and biofuel provisions.

That scenario emerged Friday, observers say, after the Senate failed to approve a more far-reaching House energy bill that promised to cut US dependence on imported oil and global warming emissions.

Congress still has the possibility to pass two measures with wide bipartisan support: the first major hike in vehicle fuel-economy standards since the 1970s and an enormous boost for US-made biofuels. But House provisions for a $21 billion repeal of tax cuts for the oil and gas industry and a mandate for electric utilities to begin using renewable fuels to generate some of their electricity now appear dead,

Environmentalists called the Senate's procedural vote a victory for supporters of "big coal and big oil" over the nation's needs.

"We are particularly disappointed that despite overwhelming public support for renewable energy and demand for cars that get better gas mileage, that the Senate has missed this opportunity to enact a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) and strengthen fuel economy standards," says Anna Aurilio, a congressional analyst for Environment America, a Washington-based environmental group.

Oil industry officials said the impact of the House bill would have harmed energy supplies.
"Our country's energy focus should be on securing American energy supply, not discouraging future American energy production," said Barry Russell, president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, in a statement. "Unfortunately the House energy bill sends the wrong – and potentially harmful – message."

Some close observers on Wall Street, however, foresee a new energy bill that will be less sweeping.

"We anticipate that the House will send a lean bill to the Senate next week," one that would only include provisions boosting biofuels and vehicle fuel-economy standards, wrote Kevin Book, senior vice president at FBR Capital Markets in Arlington, Va., in a letter to investors.

Wind, solar, and geothermal industry proponents were particularly anxious about the fate of some $10 billion to $16 billion of production and other tax credits, which could determine whether those industries go into recession. Under its pay-as-you-go mandate, the Democrat-controlled Congress had hoped to pay for these credits by effectively boosting the taxes on oil companies by repealing recent tax credits they received. Now, it will have to find the money elsewhere, analysts said.

"We call on Senate leaders to work together to ensure that overwhelmingly popular provisions to promote renewable electricity are not left out in the cold as this effort moves forward," Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association, said in a statement Friday.

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Romney moves to allay Mormon concerns directly

2007-12-12T07:51:00.000+08:00

from the December 07, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1207/p01s03-uspo.html

The GOP hopeful said no religious test should be applied to become president as is stated in the Constitution.

By Linda Feldmann Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

In an echo of John F. Kennedy's election-eve address on Catholicism 47 years ago, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sought to allay concerns Thursday over his Mormon faith before an audience of invited guests at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas.

Without delving into the specifics of Mormon doctrine, Mr. Romney invoked the Founding Fathers in asserting the nation's religious underpinnings, called for religious tolerance, and highlighted the "common creed of moral convictions" within the varied theologies of American churches.

And, just as the future President Kennedy promised in 1960 that he would not accept instruction from the pope, Romney promised that as president he would answer to "no one religion."

"When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God," Romney said. "If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States."

Romney also referenced Article 6 of the Constitution, which states that "no religious test" shall ever be required as a qualification for office.

"There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines," Romney said. "To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution. No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths."

The speech comes after months of debate within the Romney campaign over the wisdom of such a move. The Republican candidate has faced persistent reservations by a significant portion of the GOP electorate to voting for a Mormon for president.

He had hoped not to have to deliver such a speech, but decided last week that he should.
Romney would have preferred to let his success in business and government, and in turning around the 2002 Olympics, in addition to his picture-perfect family, speak for itself. By waiting until this point in the campaign – less than a month before the first nominating contest, the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses – he is guaranteed major public attention to his address. But if it backfires, by making Mormonism an even bigger issue, he could damage his political prospects.

Analysts widely assume that the Romney campaign's internal polls indicate that voter resistance to Mormonism was hurting his bid for the GOP nomination, particularly in Iowa, where Evangelicals make up a significant portion of the Republican base. Romney has staked his nomination bid on winning the crucial early contests, first Iowa, then New Hampshire, and has campaigned heavily in both states. For months, polls of likely caucusgoers in Iowa showed Romney winning in Iowa, but in recent weeks, a surge in support for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – an ordained Baptist preacher and an Evangelical – has left the race in a dead heat. Romney remains ahead in New Hampshire, which has a small Evangelical population.

Romney has faced questions about his Mormon faith almost from the moment he entered the 2008 presidential race last January. Some major religious groups in America, such as the Southern Baptists, do not consider Mormons to be Christian, because they do not hold to their view of the Holy Trinity and because they have scriptures separate from the Bible, such as the Book of Mormon. During the campaign, some Evangelicals have objected to Romney's use of Christian terminology, such as when Romney refers to Jesus Christ as "my savior" or "the savior of the world."

Mormons reject that argument, noting that the full name of their church – the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – contains the words "Jesus Christ" for a reason.

"Christ is the center of our theology," says Michael Otterson, spokesman for the church, based in Salt Lake City. "We believe him to be the son of God [and] the redeemer of mankind. We believe he atoned for the sins of all mankind."

On the campaign trail, Romney has shown some exasperation at the persistence of the public – and the press – in questioning him about his Mormon faith, and whether he will give a speech addressing the concern. Polling has long shown the challenge Romney faces as the first Mormon presidential candidate with a genuine shot at winning a major-party nomination.

According to a Pew Research Center survey taken in August, 25 percent of GOP voters nationwide say they are "less likely" to vote for a candidate who is Mormon. The issue of Romney's faith is ironic, particularly in this religion-infused campaign. While some candidates regularly use religious language on the stump, the deeply religious Romney has avoided it, preferring instead to speak of values.

In Romney's sole reference to his Mormon faith in the speech, he addressed critics who he said "would prefer it if I would simply distance myself from my religion, say that it is more a tradition than my personal conviction, or disavow one or another of its precepts."

"That I will not do," he continued. "I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers – I will be true to them and to my beliefs."

The reference to Romney's forefathers was laden with meaning. Romney is descended from a long line of Mormons, going back to the early days of the church in the 1830s.

Romney's father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, ran for president in 1968, but dropped out after a verbal gaffe sank his prospects. Still, Mormonism was not an issue in the senior Romney's campaign. Some historians say that in effect, the Kennedy speech a few years earlier had protected Romney from undergoing scrutiny over his faith. In addition, religion was not the major stump issue it is today. And in the 1960s, the Mormon church was much smaller than it is today.

The rapid growth of the Mormon church, with 5 million members in the US and some 13 million worldwide, is cited as a cause of concern for Evangelicals. Both faiths actively seek to convert one another's members, and some Evangelicals have expressed concern that having a Mormon president would aid in the growth of Mormon membership rolls.

Before Thursday's speech, delivered at the library of former President Bush on the campus of Texas A & M University, Romney was introduced by the former president. Mr. Bush made clear that he was not endorsing Romney's campaign, and had made his library available to other presidential candidates. The audience of 300 included Romney family, friends, and advisers, guests of the library, and guests of the former president. One notable attendee was Richard Land, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention and an influential evangelical leader. He has not endorsed Romney, but has been supportive of his candidacy.

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Obama and the 'Oprah Effect': can she sway voters?

2007-12-11T07:45:00.000+08:00

from the December 10, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1210/p01s03-uspo.html

Winfrey hit the stump for the first time this weekend for Barack Obama.

By Alexandra Marks Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorand Stacey Vanek Smith Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

DES MOINES, Iowa; and LOS ANGELES

Melanie White wasn't paying much attention to the presidential campaign. But when she heard Oprah Winfrey was coming to Des Moines to campaign for Barack Obama, politics suddenly mattered. She wanted to see Oprah.

Her friend Kim Smith, a committed Obama supporter, told her she could get tickets, but there was a price. "She has to sign her life away to volunteer and caucus for Barack," said Ms. Smith.
Ms. White readily agreed. And so the two 30-something friends sat near the front of a line of more than 18,000 waiting to get into the Hy-Vee Hall in downtown Des Moines, a copy of "O's Guide to Life" and an "Obama '08" bumper sticker between them.

Call it the "Oprah effect," a phenomenon the political world is watching warily. Not because celebrity endorsements are new, but because Ms. Winfrey is more than a celebrity: She's a social icon, an earth mother, a television priestess of sorts whose predominantly female flock takes her words to heart.

"The problem with most celebrity endorsements is that there's no transferability between their talent and real credibility," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail investment banking firm. "Oprah is different. Oprah has an army out there that really listens. She's one of the great marketing machines in history."

Indeed, Winfrey made Spanx girdles a household name, and much to the envy of high school teachers everywhere, she has gotten thousands of people reading Steinbeck and Tolstoy.
But politics isn't soap powder. And as Winfrey rose to the podium in the packed convention hall to stump for a presidential candidate for the first time in her life, the first lady of television made it clear Saturday that she knows the difference.

"Despite all of the talk, the speculation, and the hype, I understand the difference between a book club and free refrigerators ... and this critical moment in our nation's history," she says. "I came out here for, I suspect, the same reason you did: Because I care about this country."

Celebrity endorsements have been a popular political tool for nearly a century. The government, for example, hired Charlie Chaplin to help sell war bonds in 1918, notes Steven Ross, a history professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. "Historically, the real power of celebrities in politics has been getting people to show up for events," he says. "Once they're there, they listen to what the candidate has to say."

Some are getting earnestly involved in the political process because of Winfrey's call to action. Jacqueline Pope and her sister-in-law Sandra Pope drove 90 miles from Ottumwa, Iowa, to be at the Des Moines rally. To them, it was a "package deal." They've supported Obama for some time, but now with Winfrey's endorsement, they're determined to go to the caucus on Jan. 3. It's only the second time in the 18 years Jacqueline has lived in Iowa that she will have gone to a caucus. Sandra, who's lived here just as long, will be going to her first caucus.

"He has a vision, and it's about hope for our country that right now is in very serious trouble," says Jacqueline.

The Popes are two of Winfrey's estimated 8.6 million viewers and they represent a crucial demographic, says Ross. Two-thirds of them are women, and nearly half make less than $40,000 a year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Many of them are probably not registered to vote, Ross says, and Winfrey could very well get them to the polls. "She could tap in to the 50 percent of the population that doesn't vote," he says. "When Oprah says, 'This is somebody I really support,' she has the potential to reach out to voters who never vote."

But not everyone is convinced that the "Oprah effect" will draw in a significant number of new voters. Dennis Goldford is a professor of politics at Drake University in Des Moines. "For a good 40 years now, campaigns have tried to market candidates as if they were soap powder or breakfast cereal," he says. "But I don't think people yet blur the line between citizen and consumer."

Margaret Blair is one such rallygoer. She readily acknowledges she came to see Winfrey, and while she says she will listen to Senator Obama, she's "always leaned" toward former Sen. John Edwards – and she likes Gov. Bill Richardson as well.

"I like Obama, too, but I'm especially here because Oprah came with him," she says. "I haven't really decided yet [whom to support.]"

Political analyst Larry Sabato also doubts that Winfrey's success in selling Steinbeck will translate into getting votes for Obama. "Politics is a one-day sale," says Professor Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics in Charlottesville. "Getting 10,000 people to buy a book is a big deal. Getting 10,000 people to vote doesn't mean anything in a national election. Ultimately, candidates have to make their own sale."

Winfrey has made at least one sure sale for Obama. Melanie White says that come the Jan. 3 caucuses, she'll be standing up for Obama.

But that vote, and others like it, may also cost Winfrey some of her own celebrity. Ross points to Chaplin's film, "The Great Dictator," which carried an antifascist message. "Chaplin was the most famous man in the world, and his career never recovered," says Ross. "People became incredibly angry that he would express his political views."

How the Iowa caucuses work

Iowa’s caucuses for the presidential nomination are meetings that last several hours. County chairs of all 1,784 precincts select the locations for the caucuses – in schools, public buildings, or private homes. Any voter who is a registered Republican or Democrat, and who can prove residency in the state, can attend. At the meetings, participants declare their votes, electing delegates to 99 county conventions, where the delegates for the national convention are selected.

Sources: "Elections A-Z" (CQ), Federal Election Commission, Iowacaucus.org

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Sudan's president pardons 'teddy bear' teacher

2007-12-10T09:22:00.000+08:00

posted December 03, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. EST - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1204/p25s05-woaf.html

The British schoolteacher convicted of insulting Islam is expected to return to England Monday.

By Eoin O'Carroll csmonitor.com

Gillian Gibbons, the British schoolteacher jailed in Sudan for allowing her class to name a teddy bear after the prophet "Muhammad," was pardoned Monday by Sudan's president and was under the protection of her country's embassy in Khartoum. Informed sources said she would be flown home to England later in the day.

The pardon came after a meeting between two Muslim members of Britain's House of Lords, Lord Nazir Ahmed and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
British prime minister Gordon Brown welcomed the news, saying in a press statement that "common sense has prevailed."

Through the course of Ms Gibbons' detention, I was glad to see Muslim support groups across the UK express strong support for her case.

I applaud the particular efforts of Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi in securing her freedom. I am also grateful to our officials for all their work behind the scenes.'

The Associated Press reports that Sudan's ambassador to Britain, Khalid al-Mubarak, was "overjoyed" at the news of Gibbons's release.

"She is a teacher who went to teach our children English and she has helped a great deal and I am very grateful," Mubarak said. "What has happened was a cultural misunderstanding, a minor one, and I hope she, her family and the British people won't be affected by what has happened."

Gibbons was arrested last week and sentenced to 15 days in prison after she allowed her class of 6- and 7-year-olds in Khartoum's Unity High School to vote on the name for the toy bear, which each of them had taken home and cared for over a weekend. The class voted overwhelmingly for "Muhammad." While that is one of the world's most common human names – and the second-most-popular in Britain – many Muslims consider it insulting to give the name to an animal. On Friday, armed demonstrators took to the streets in Khartoum to protest what they complained was a light sentence. Under Sudanese law, her crime could have carried a penalty of 40 lashes, a fine, and six months in prison. Some of the same protesters massed in front of the British Embassy Monday after the pardon, saying it had wounded their sensibilities.

During her incarceration Gibbons was held in an anonymous building in Khartoum's suburbs. The Times of London described the conditions there as vastly superior to those under which ordinary Sudanese prisoners live.

She had a bed, which is not normally provided in Sudan's cockroach-ridden jails, and as much food as she wanted, in stark contrast to the rest of the prison system, where relatives must bring in food and water every day. . .

Elteyb Hag Ateya, a director of Khartoum University's peace research institute, said that the government was keen to limit damage from the affair. "Whenever I speak to anyone in government, they say it is a nightmare and they do not want to hear about it again. They do not want any aftermath like the lady going home and holding a press conference complaining about conditions."

The New York Times noted that the teddy bear affair comes at a difficult time for President Bashir, who is seeking to balance the demands of Western governments with those of Muslim hard-liners.

In a way, Mr. Bashir was caught in the middle — or at least the Sudanese government – tried to make it look that way. By letting Ms. Gibbons out early, he risks provoking Muslim hardliners in his country, who are among his key supporters.

But the case hit his desk at a time when United Nations officials and Western governments are increasingly complaining that Sudan is obstructing an expanded peacekeeping force for Darfur, the war-torn region of western Sudan.

Apparently, Mr. Bashir calculated that he didn't need to isolate his government any further.
The incident has already attracted at least one entrepreneur. Online shoppers can purchase a plush bear, Muhammad the Tolerance Teddy, for $20.

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Military chaplains: Prayer and humor hold a combat trauma unit together in Afghanistan

2007-12-09T09:21:00.000+08:00

from the December 04, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1204/p20s01-usmi.html

National Guard First Lt. Kurt Bishop listens to medics letting off steam, nurses coming to terms with death, and doctors showing stress.

By Lee Lawrence Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Forward Operating Base (FOB) Salerno, Afghanistan

Reporter Lee Lawrence spent three months embedded with US military chaplains in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is the last of six weekly print and Web video profiles of them. The series concludes tomorrow with Lawrence's personal reporter-on-the-job entry.

First comes a chirping alarm over the PA system, then a woman's lilting voice wafts over this dusty military camp: "Attention on the FOB, Attention on the FOB. Mustang blue. Mustang blue." The tone belies the seriousness of the matter, which is that casualties are incoming and the Army's 396th Combat Support Hospital team – "the Mustangs" – should be ready. The number of victims are color-coded: red for one, white for two, blue for three, and black for mass casualties.

US medics, nurses, doctors – and a chaplain – converge in interlocking tents that form the hospital, preparing for the arrival of three Afghan National Army soldiers injured when their vehicle rolled over an improvised explosive device.

Faces are serious as the team checks supplies and readies the triage room. Among them, Arizona National Guard First Lt. Kurt Bishop – one of five chaplains at this forward operating base of 1,500 soldiers and contractors. He doesn't look the part of either soldier or cleric. His well-fed torso matches the round softness of his face, and he is more likely to trumpet his allegiance to the Ohio State Buckeyes than proclaim his Baptist faith.

"I'm burning that hat of yours," he fires at a medic who'd been wearing a Michigan cap earlier. The medic's attention is yanked from the business at hand, and he looks up, rolls his eyes in mock despair, and then gets back to work. Chaplain Bishop responds with a goofy grin, then scans the closed expressions of the men and women around him, scouting for opportunities to crack them open, if only for a moment. His jokes aren't always knee-slappers, but his almost childlike delivery breaks the tension the way a Roman candle momentarily dispels darkness.

Yet the moment the first stretcher is rushed in, Bishop is all business. He sinks into the background, his jaw working chewing gum, eyes sweeping the tented space. Noticing that a nurse needs a fresh packet of gauze, he picks one off the shelf and hands it to her. Then he pulls on blue gloves and shuttles bloodied bandages to the trash. As an X-ray machine is wheeled in, a young female medic scurries out of the way. She looks worried.

"The fat sterile guy will protect you from the rays," he says, pulling her behind him. She laughs. Her face relaxes. Mission accomplished, Bishop fades into the background watching, ready to lend a hand, a shoulder, an ear.

In this pressure cooker environment, Bishop offers release and relief, whether by listening to a medic let off steam, helping a nurse come to terms with a death, or expressing concern when a doctor shows stress. As the head of this medical team, Lt. Col. Richard Philips explains that by working together on the edge of life and death teams like the Mustangs bond intensely. But with the camaraderie and support also comes the danger of destructive dynamics such as extramarital affairs or pent-up anger. Having a hands-on chaplain is not only good for individuals; it helps the unit. From Colonel Philips's perspective, Bishop acts as an early detection system. Typically, he says, "we call the chaplain when people are drowning, but a chaplain like Bishop is here all the time. He sees them when they're struggling to swim."

Because Bishop has made himself part of the team, Philips adds, when crises come, "even the most foul mouthed, anti-Christian, I-don't-need-any-help person ... pulls [Bishop] aside and goes, 'You know, I did have a question about something.' I've seen more counseling go on by that little port-o-potty out back." He laughs. "You'd have to be here for a year to understand. We're completely cut off from normal life ... and we become like a family. The chaplain tends to the spiritual side that's intangible, and Bishop does that better than most."

• • •

Bishop is new to the chaplaincy but not the military. His father was an Air Force fighter pilot; his older brother flies Army helicopters, and Bishop himself was an enlisted soldier with the 82nd Airborne from 1987 until 1991. He later joined the National Guard, working as a driver at the Officer Candidate School at Fort Lewis, Wash.

When he talks of being called to the chaplaincy, he means it literally. He was sitting at a Burger King, working through the aftershock of a girlfriend's Dear John letter with two chaplains he'd been chauffeuring. Then and there, he says, "I heard God, just as audibly as we're talking, say, 'This is what you're going to do: You're going to be a chaplain.' "

Last year he was commissioned an active-duty Arizona National Guard chaplain. "The call came in 1996," he says with a grin, "I was just a little slow."

Adapting to hospital duty, however, took him no time. The key to being effective, chaplains say, is building relationships. And for Bishop, the bond here was sealed over a tragedy two weeks into his deployment early this year.

Many Afghans heat with kerosene, often tasking the children to cut it with gasoline. And accidents happen.

"We were just coming out of the really bad [winter] season with a lot of burns," Bishop says, when a 6-year-old came in with burns over 45 percent of his body. But he was stable, and the team agreed he was recovering nicely. Then he suddenly and inexplicably died.

The team was in shock. Immediately, Bishop gathered everyone and, as they talked it over, he listened and watched. He says he'd spent enough time hanging around the crew that "I could tell Cejka wanted to open up, but she wasn't going to do it with everybody around. So I asked her to stay behind."

Sgt. Catie Cejka – an emergency medical technician – had been monitoring the boy, and her face still saddens recalling the event: "That was the only time I really talked about it, and I think that helped more than anything."

Had Cejka approached him at Sunday services or a Bible study, Bishop wouldn't have thought twice about addressing the issue in terms of his Christian faith. But their conversation took place at the hospital and, as a chaplain in a secular institution, he's not allowed to impose his religious views on others. Indeed, proselytizing would hinder efforts to establish the kind of open, trusting relationship that enables Bishop to reach out to soldiers in a time of need, whether to help them through troubles or to provide moral guidance. Like many chaplains, Bishop walks this church-state tightrope by preaching his faith at services and, at other times, letting the cross on his uniform suffice unless a soldier broaches the subject. "I did," Cejka says, "so we went into how this is the way things happen, you can't control them, it's God's plan."

• • •

During the "Mustang blue," Bishop's radar is up. He sidles up to a doctor and, in a low voice, asks about the first patient. The doctor shakes his head. The head wounds are severe, he says;there is no recovery in sight.

"I thought so," Bishop says, then melts back into the bustle. When the patient is declared dead, Bishop helps curtain off an area where nurses will prepare the body for transfer to an Afghani morgue. Inside the curtained cubicle, Bishop then helps clean the Afghan soldier's face and body and wrap it in white sheets. Pulling a card from his pocket, he reads a Muslim prayer that asks God to look over the young man's family.

"They don't share my faith," he later says of the Afghan patients treated in the trauma unit, "but that doesn't mean that I don't need to be praying for them. If the least I can do is to read the emergency Muslim prayer off this card that I have, then I am going to do that."

Once the two survivors and the deceased have been moved to a local hospital, medics clean the floor, tidy shelves, align tables. Off in a corner, a man in jeans and polo shirt sits alone. Bishop has never seen the Afghan translator fall so quiet. Within minutes the chaplain is by his side, hand on his shoulder, speaking softly.

Later, on a slow afternoon, the translator approaches Bishop, smiling shyly. The chaplain recognizes the overture and engages him in a conversation that quickly veers to the tragedy and losses of war. The translator had known the Afghan soldier, and his death had hit hard.

After the translator leaves, Bishop stays on, watching the comings and goings of the medical team. "It is amazing to see them come together and lean on each other," he says. "It strengthens my faith because I know it's not a human thing, I know it's God working in people."

Southern Baptist tradition stresses witnessing, and Bishop has come to believe that "everybody witnesses whether they know it or not, and, here, once it gets into a room it's going to circulate. It can be 'hey can I bring you anything,' or it can be that shoulder to lean on, or that person to talk to when people are having tough times."

And every morning before he heads to the hospital, Bishop says, "I pray, 'God, help me get out of the way so you can use me.' "

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Three months with US military chaplains in Iraq and Afghanistan

2007-12-08T09:19:00.000+08:00

from the December 05, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1205/p20s01-usmi.html

Reporter on the job: Rockets in the shower, gravel in the rollers, and a mouse in the guard tower.

By Lee Lawrence Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Bagram air base, Afghanistan

It was 4 a.m. when my partner, Terry Nickelson, and I landed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan last March to begin a three-month embed with the military. We'd spent three nearly sleepless days traveling to Afghanistan from Atlanta via Frankfurt and Kuwait. The Kuwait transit camp had eaten up most of our energy. That was where we first encountered gravel – not the small, friendly kind that crunches delightfully underfoot, but a big, fat species of gravel that the military has imported by the ton to keep down dust and drain away rain. The downside is that even a short walk feels like a workout on a low-budget beach. (First mental note to self: at any future embed, no suitcases with wheels.)

At Bagram outside our quarters – two windowless cells in a one-story building – Terry and I met to plan for the next day. Our proposal to make a documentary on military chaplains had received approval and our access also extended to a series of chaplain profiles I would spin off for The Christian Science Monitor. It was hard to believe, after many months of planning, that we were actually here, staring at the shadowy presence of mountains in the distance.

Suddenly, light bloomed over that dark outline – and we thought we were seeing the war ... until thunder rumbled. Truth is, it was often hard to remember we were in a war zone, especially on big bases like Bagram. The cafeterias served just about everything from chili to surf and turf and hand-dipped ice cream – not to mention a never-ending supply of chunky peanut butter cookies (and my family worried that I would lose weight). Given the plethora of contractors, there seemed to be almost as many people in civilian clothes walking up and down the main drag as there were military. And the buffer zone separating us from the outside was so large that my husband and brother back home knew far more about what was going on in the rest of Afghanistan than we did. (Note to self: Thank them for their news-filled e-mails.) We had not yet found the supply of "Stars & Stripes" newspapers, and though TV screens played CNN and other channels in the cafeterias, the background noise was so high we had to rely on the crawl at the bottom of the screen. The news anchor might have been talking about the war; we were reading about Anna Nicole.

Probably the most surreal incident in that connection was looking up at the TV at lunch one day to find Stephen Colbert arching an eyebrow, his irony garbled by the bad acoustics. The soldier at the end of my table was straining to hear and having better luck than I. But he wasn't laughing.

Even news that directly affected us was sometimes hard to get. Again in Bagram, Air Force personnel at the hospital asked us one day whether we'd heard that the base had come under attack the day before.

Really? Yes, mortars rained down just inside the perimeter for about four hours – or was it six? Accounts varied, and nobody we spoke to could tell fact from rumor because, though we'd all been right there, we hadn't heard or seen a thing.

By contrast, when rockets hit Salerno, a medium-sized FOB (forward operating base) south of Kabul, we all knew it. I'd just spent two days hopping in and out of Black Hawk helicopters, shadowing Air Force Chaplain Gary Linksy as he traveled to seven tiny outposts to say mass. I'd already discovered that the dust, whether whipped up by nature or the whir of rotor blades, acts like those old dry shampoos that absorb the oil in your hair, leaving it technically clean but feeling dull and gritty.

When I got back to Salerno, I headed straight for the shower trailer. I had the place to myself and was all lathered up when I heard the first big boom. It felt like the world had taken a convulsive in-out breath.

People talk about the fight or flight response – my response was freeze and focus. I stood still, water pouring over me. Then my focus narrowed: Rinse off. Get dressed. Gather toiletries. Poke head out of trailer.

I could see the walls of various structures coming in at angles to one another, as deserted and stark as a De Chirico painting. Another boom. Do I leave? Stay put? Someone is speaking over the loudspeaker, but I can't make out the words. Then laughter – guys must be playing cards over in that tent, so how bad can this be? But, wait, that's not a tent. That's a bunker. A bunker. I need to be in that bunker.

The thought propelled my legs, and the next thing I knew I was staring up at a man with an open, kind face and a body so massive the largest size neck armor was too small. I took one look at Sgt. Robert Walker and stuck to him like glue. When the next rocket hit, those of us near the opening of the bunker saw the dust kick up 300 yards away.

"How bad can it be?" one soldier said, "The guys in the guard tower are still there."

Right on cue, the guys in the guard tower charged down the stairs, chins tucked in and backs hunched. I looked at Sergeant Walker. When he headed for a bunker farther inside the FOB, I was right behind him. (About a week later an all-female singing group called Purple Angels performed at the base – and who do you suppose was their designated driver and bodyguard? You know it – Sergeant Walker.)

We sat in the next bunker for about an hour. A soldier told me all about his wife; a civilian contractor explained bluntly that we were basically defenseless – "If a rocket hits the bunker square on, we're gone." And a jolly-looking fellow brought us bottles of water. (It was my introduction to National Guard Chaplain Kurt Bishop, whose operating room ministry I would later profile for the Monitor.) And here I was clutching toiletries instead of my camera. I consoled myself, thinking that maybe a camera would have stifled conversation – but I now doubt it. (Note to self: About the camera – never leave hooch without it.)

Largely, troops were pretty open and happy to talk once we'd hung around for a while, and especially after we'd gone on patrols with them. At one small FOB, Terry literally ran with marines on three consecutive night patrols. .

I spent hours in guard towers, usually late at night when the watch feels the longest. I heard about future plans ("My ambition," one marine said, "is to get a job I can quit, not signing on any dotted line"), girlfriends back home, and the boredom (on one tower, the guys had been feeding a mouse and were a little worried that he hadn't shown up in a day or so; in another camp, marines spun a fantasy of being on an island with just one obstacle between them and freedom; the challenge was devising ever-weirder ways to get around it).

At first I felt like an interloper – a woman their mothers' age coming in from the civilian world, asking questions, filming – but there was something I hadn't counted on: the power of diversion. I was something different. I broke the routine, and Lance Cpl. Chad Travers a few days later told me in a flat Rhode Island accent, "That was the fastest hour of the watch." So maybe I'm not quite as entertaining as a Purple Angel, but still...

In order to get a feel for what chaplains do and how they fit into the military, Terry and I had from the start decided we needed also to document the lives of the troops. We hadn't realized just how much we would appreciate the diversion this, in turn, gave us – especially with units that got out of their vehicles. For once, we could see the world directly without the mediation of a dirty Humvee window.

Still, it wasn't exactly your usual reporting. We were wearing body armor and helmets and arrived with a bevy of heavily armed men.

Surprisingly, this didn't always get in the way. More than once, Iraqi women pulled me in for a chat, whether they were the wives of sheikhs, teachers in a school, or just women in a neighborhood soldiers were patrolling.

On one mission with a Minnesota National Guard unit in Iraq's Anbar Province, we went to Tourist Town, on the banks of Lake Habbaniyah, a huge body of sparkling blue water that came as a shock and relief in this land of tans and browns. It turns out that Saddam Hussein spent some time in a Swiss resort and liked it so much he duplicated it here.

There amid pine trees and pink oleander, a woman wearing a deep blue head scarf and long caftan had just finished baking flat bread in an open oven and mimed the process for me. She and her teenage daughter invited me in for tea.

It felt rude to stomp into their home with boots, but every time I tried to untie them, they shook their heads and stopped me. So I shed the helmet, and the sight of my sweaty head triggered fits of giggles from mother and daughter. I couldn't tell whether it was my foreign brazenness that tickled and perhaps embarrassed them or whether they were laughing at my helmet hair.

While the woman heated the tea on a kerosene burner, we communicated in gestures and facial expressions. I gathered that life is tough with kerosene being so expensive and a husband out of work, that they are Sunni from Baghdad and left when violence erupted, that their future is a blank page onto which the hand of Allah will inscribe their fate – inshallah.

(Note to self: Be grateful.)

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Heard at Mecca: 'Are you single?'

2007-12-07T09:16:00.000+08:00

from the December 05, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1205/p01s01-wome.html

Matchmakers ply their trade within Islam's holiest mosque.

By Rym Ghazal Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

In the midst of overlapping murmurs of prayers in a sea of white-cloaked worshipers, a woman's voice interrupts the collective trance as she asks: "Are you single?"

For hundreds of years, Mecca has been the sacred meeting point of millions of Muslims from across the world. They come to perform the hajj, the annual major pilgrimage, or umrah, a minor pilgrimage that can be performed anytime.

Matchmaking is a profession that's at least as old as Mecca. But until now, say Saudi scholars, it hasn't been practiced at Islam's holiest site.

"These days, practicing Muslim men are having a hard time finding practicing Muslim women," explains Um Mohammad matter-of-factly. She's carrying a tiny blue notebook to jot down personal information about potential brides that she meets inside the Haram Mosque where Muslims circumambulate the holy cubed structure, the Kaaba.

Dressed in a black abaya – including the face covering known as niqab – and sporting black gloves, Um Mohammad (who declined to give her full name) is one of several matchmakers who can be seen approaching "pious" young Muslim women as they pray or perform rituals.

"Devoted Muslims come here, and so there is a better chance of finding a good match," says Um Mohammad, standing no taller than 5 ft. 2 in. She says she makes a minimum of 1,000 riyals ($268) plus gifts, such as perfume, from grateful mothers.

Um Mohammad says she's working for several mothers to find "chaste" wives for their sons in a place that's annually visited by around 3 million people for hajj. This year, the pilgrimage begins Dec. 18.

Aayesh Masri, a 22-year-old Saudi woman who was approached by one of the matchmakers, isn't troubled by the mixing of matchmaking and prayer.

"Why not? It is done under sincere intentions and it is no different than when potential suitors come to your home to meet your family," says Ms. Masri.

Saudi historian Omar Tayeb isn't surprised, either. "Matchmakers are everywhere in Saudi. They find brides in supermarkets, malls, and mosques. Why not near the Kaaba?" he asks.

Modern pilgrims have also grown accustomed to seeing a variety of not-so-sacred activities near the sacred Kaaba, the cube that every Muslim on the planet faces during the five daily prayers.

Worshipers often scramble and push to touch it. Some even rip off a piece of the kiswa – the black silk cloth with gold-embroidered calligraphy covering the rock – as a religious souvenir.
Other Mecca mementos can be obtained more easily. Local entrepreneurs, for example, have long worked the holy marbled white grounds.

"Scissors! Tissue! Prayer book! Only one riyal [about 27 cents]," cries out a boy of 6 struggling in the white sea of pilgrims. One of the rituals of the pilgrimage involves cutting one's hair. Tissues are used for wiping off sweat from the arduous walks between sacred sites.

The vendor's older brother is not far behind, selling Islamic stickers and passing out leaflets for his father's business – Koranic ring tones and customized prayers rugs.

From the corners of the mosque, sheikhs give public lectures, while religious police roam the crowd in search of "indecent conduct" and pickpockets.

Still, some Muslims see the matchmakers as another facet of the spreading commercialization of Mecca, which comes at the expense of its sacredness.

"There is nothing holy about having Pizza Hut right next to the holiest site in Islam," says Mohammed Abdullah Attar, a religious scholar in one of the all-boys' schools in Mecca.

The recent rise in oil prices is creating a new construction boom, funded mainly by members of the Saudi royal family. Some pilgrims comment disparagingly on the new glass-garbed, Vegas-style towers and glitzy five-star hotels encircling the holy site. Several of the towers are part of the Abraj al-Bait Mall (Arabic for "Towers of the House"), referring to the Kaaba's nickname, "the House of God." The mall is a complex of seven 30-story towers, still under construction but already promising to be one of Saudi Arabia's tallest – and most controversial.

"Mecca should be a site of religious contemplation and not a distraction of overpriced materialistic things," says Dr. Attar.

Saudi officials say that the expansion of hotels, stores, and restaurant chains is simply to care for the growing numbers of pilgrims. The city has always had shops and small restaurants, but the numbers were smaller, in part because travel to Mecca was difficult. The roads weren't paved, and there weren't enough hotels.

But after the oil boom of the 1970s, roads were paved, housing expanded, and the influx of pilgrims rose from tens of thousands to millions. Safety figures into the expansion, too, say officials. In some years, hundreds of people have died in stampedes.

"The changes in Mecca are well planned and studied, and are there to cater to the needs of visitors and residents," says a Saudi Interior Ministry official who asked to remain anonymous.
The building boom, notes Mr. Tayeb, is also justified by the spread of Islam. There are more Muslims who must come to Mecca each year.

Non-Muslims are prohibited from entering Mecca, so the commerce still has a distinctive Islamic flair. Koranic verses can be heard playing in some restaurants. And every arriving pilgrim with a cellphone is sent a text message in English and Arabic from the Saudi government: "You are now in Mecca! The dearest place to Allah and his messenger – Peace be upon him – on earth."

Tayeb, the historian, says the traditional Saudi families here in Mecca feel "disappointment" over the modernization, but have accepted it as a reality. And he accepts the presence of matchmakers, as he does the other changes. The Mecca of his childhood is now gone, he says, adding: "The only thing that remains the same is the Kaaba."

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'Tis the season when generosity visits an 'invisible world'

2007-12-06T09:15:00.000+08:00

from the December 05, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1205/p15s01-lign.html

Newspaper charity drives continue to help families who cannot afford Christmas gifts.

By Marilyn Gardner Columnist

Some of the most heart-tugging stories every December can be found in the charitable appeals various newspapers make to collect money for needy families. Without such donations, the papers say, many children would have no gifts to open.

The names of the funds hint at the need: In Boston, Globe Santa hopes to aid more than 20,000 impoverished families. Operation Jingle Bells, sponsored by the Elgin, Ill., Courier News, pays one major bill for families in need. The Hope Fund at the Albany Times Union in upstate New York helps poor children. At the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the Santa Fund gives toys and books to children in Massachusetts. And the Houston Chronicle's Goodfellows charity provides toys for those between ages 2 and 10.

As one measure of readers' generosity, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund received $7.6 million from more than 10,000 donors last year.

Day after day in December, these columns tell of families challenged by divorce, widowhood, or poor health. Others can't pay the rent or soaring heating bills. Still others are headed by grandparents who never expected to be raising another generation.

Whatever the situation, the urgent message is: Please give.

These funds serve as useful reminders of a world that remains invisible to millions of Christmas shoppers with money in the bank and credit cards in hand. The parents writing plaintive letters to newspapers seeking gifts for their children aren't the ones pushing gift-laden carts at Toys "R" Us or clutching long grocery lists at Stop & Shop to prepare for a bountiful Christmas meal.
The Yuletide merriment goes on without them, even as Washington reminds the rest of us that it's our duty to spend more than we did last year to keep the economy chugging along.

That's also the indirect reminder publicists keep giving journalists this time of year as they besiege us with press releases that urge us to write about the coolest toys, the newest electronics, even the latest personalized gifts for Fido and Muffy.

But sandwiched among these commercial pitches for gifts are more sobering messages. A new study by Demos finds that one-fifth of middle-class families are living paycheck to paycheck, with little margin of security.

Sometimes the disconnect between the visible world of plenty and the invisible world of need shows up surprisingly close to home.

For a number of years our suburban church has taken part in two charitable efforts to help families in our town who are struggling. The first, in October, is a food drive to stock the local food pantry. A flier posted on the church bulletin board lists preferred foods, while a blue collection bin nearby stands ready for donations. In November and December, the local Community Council appeals for warm scarves, gloves, and mittens, to be given as holiday gifts to those in need.

Tuna and cereal. Mittens and scarves. These primary needs seem out of place in a comfortable suburb. But layoffs and economic reversals, however temporary, can occur anywhere, regardless of ZIP codes and leafy addresses.

One of the most poignant holiday experiences of my childhood dates back to a mid-December Saturday in fourth or fifth grade. Our Girl Scout troop invited girls from the local Children's Home to join us for a pre-Christmas outing downtown. We began with breakfast at Bishop's Cafeteria. Then we gave each girl a dollar – the equivalent of about $7 today – and went to a nearby Woolworth's so they could shop.

When we returned to the Children's Home, they gave us a tour, including their dormitory-style bedrooms and the space where they stored their few belongings. We said our goodbyes, then headed back to the security of our two-parent families and our middle-class homes with a wreath on the door, a Christmas tree in the living room, and presents under the tree.

It was my first encounter with those whose lives were radically different from mine, and it made a profound impression. Nearly every Christmas since then I've thought about those girls, who were so much like us yet whose situations were so different. I can only hope that they have carved out satisfying lives, with families – and Christmas trees and gifts – of their own.

It's a hope that extends to every letter writer asking for holiday help from charity drives. Who knows what lasting memories donors' gifts might bring?

One recipient of Globe Santa's largesse, Leslie Ahern, was 8 in 1957 when her widowed mother asked for help. Decades later, she expressed her gratitude to the paper. "We were no longer alone and scared," she wrote. "There were people out there ... who had never even met us, but who cared about us. That was the very gift we needed most that Christmas. At 8, I learned that people do care and can make a wonderful difference in the lives of other people."

That anonymous generosity, bridging two worlds, could be one of the best presents for givers and recipients alike.

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Sufism may be powerful antidote to Islamic extremism

2007-12-05T09:13:00.000+08:00

from the December 05, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1205/p13s02-lire.html

With its spiritual tradition, 'the Sufi way' is an age-old alternative for radicals and modernists alike.

By Jane Lampman Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Images of Islam have pervaded the news media in recent years, but one aspect of the faith has gotten little attention – Islamic spirituality. Yet thousands in America and millions in the Muslim world have embarked on the spiritual path called Sufism, or the Sufi way. Some see its appeal as the most promising hope for countering the rise of extremism in Islam.

In recent weeks, celebrations in cities on several continents have marked the "International Year of Rumi." Sept. 30 was the 800th anniversary of the birth of Muslim mystic Jelaluddin Rumi, who is a towering figure in Sufi literature and, paradoxically, the bestselling poet in the United States over the past decade.

In the West, Sufism has appealed to seekers attracted by its disciplined spiritual practices as well as its respect for all faiths and emphasis on universal love.

"I was searching, and the writings struck me – particularly the poetry," says Llew Smith, a TV producer in Boston who has joined a Sufi order. "It's direct and consistent about turning you away from the self, but also being connected deeply to the Divine and to other people."

Across the Muslim world, Sufism has been an influential force throughout Islamic history, though it has frequently come under attack by more orthodox Muslims. Some consider it an Islamic heresy because Sufis go beyond the faith's basic tenets and pursue a direct union with God.

Many Muslims today, however, see the spiritual tradition as the potential answer to the extremism that has hijacked the faith and misrepresented it to the world.

"In the Islamic world, Sufism is the most powerful antidote to the religious radicalism called fundamentalism as well as the most important source for responding to the challenges posed by modernism," says Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Nasr has written a new book, "The Garden of Truth," to present Sufi teaching in contemporary language.

"Its influence is immense," Nasr adds. "Sufism has kept alive the inner quality of ethics and spiritual virtues, rather than a rigid morality ... and it provides access to knowledge of the divine reality," which affects all other aspects of one's life.

But Sufi practice faces intense pressures in Islam's internal struggle. "What the Western world is not seeing," says Akbar Ahmed, a renowned Pakistani anthropologist who teaches at American University in Washington, "is that there are three distinct models in play in the Muslim world: modernism, which reflects globalization, materialism, and a consumer society; the literalists, who are reacting, sometimes violently, against the West and globalization; and the Sufis, who reject the search for power and wealth" in favor of a more spiritual path.

Feeling under siege, the average Muslim today is in turmoil, Dr. Ahmed says. To which of these answers will he or she turn? He believes that the spiritual hunger is deep and resonates widely.

Puritanical reformers revile it

While Sufism has been persecuted in Saudi Arabia, it is thriving in such places as Iran, Pakistan, and India outside the modernist cities, says Ahmed, who traveled throughout the Muslim world in 2006. During a visit to the Sufi shrine at Ajmer, India, he encountered a throng of thousands worshiping there.

"Just last week, when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan, where did he go? To the Sufi shrine in Lahore," he adds.

But can Sufism influence or counter the political rise of the radicals? Puritanical reformers call Sufis heretics. And modernizers have often denigrated them. Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern secular Turkey, for instance, closed down the Sufi orders, including Rumi's Mevlevi order.

Yet, according to a survey Ahmed took of some young people in Turkey last year, their top choice as a role model is a Sufi intellectual, Fetullah Gulen, who has built a large system of schools and is known for his promotion of interfaith dialogue.

Sufis lead reform movements

Historically, Sufism has had greater impact in the Muslim world than have Jewish and Christian mysticism in their communities, says Marcia Hermansen, an expert on Sufism at Loyola University in Chicago.

Not only has it pervaded Islamic art, literature, music, and architecture, but in the realm of political life, several Sufi orders became ruling dynasties, reshaping the map of the Muslim world.

"Some of the greatest reform movements in the 19th century were carried out by Sufis," says Nasr. "Amir Abd al-Kader, the national hero of Algeria, was a Sufi master."

No reliable statistics exist for numbers of Sufis practicing today, as both Sunni and Shiite Muslims may also be Sufis. But many Sufi orders, in which serious students follow a master teacher, have become international in scope. (In the US, Sufi movements vary considerably, and a few have taken on New Age elements and are not directly related to Islam.)

Llew Smith joined the Nimatullahi Order, which has 10 houses of Sufism in the US, but whose teacher – Dr. Javad Nubakhsh – resides in London. Muhammad Nooraee, one of his students, came to the US from Iran 30 years ago and now acts as a spiritual counselor in the house in Boston's South End neighborhood. The local group gathers for meditation twice a week, which sometimes involves music or poetry.

The only requirement for an initiate is that he be a sincere seeker, to "feel thirsty for God," he says during an interview. "In Sufism, we call it 'pain of seeking.' "

The initiate makes the confession of faith to Islam, "submitting your heart to God," but no other rules are required. "The seeker now becomes a disciple, and the teacher walks him or her through the path, what we call tariqah," Mr. Nooraee says. It is a path toward the truth through love, and involves techniques to get close to God.

"One technique involves how to meditate," he says, "focusing attentively on the names of God and negating your ego; the second is service, how to provide selfless service for others without any expectation of return. Once the disciple does both, then he or she starts to experience God. From then on, you see God with the inner eyes of the heart."

Contemplative dimension

Mr. Smith came to this order because he was moved by one of Dr. Nubakhsh's books, and has stayed with it for 20 years. Growing up in a very religious African-American family, he says he might have stayed with Christianity had he found such a deep contemplative dimension that enabled him to work with a teacher. He has visited and corresponds with the master. Meditating with the group in Boston, he finds "a lot of energy of support for the interior spiritual work we are striving to do."

Of course, the real work begins when you go out into the world and live it, and fail, and have to correct yourself, he says, with a laugh. But it has changed his life.

"It's made me recognize how much of a veil the ego is, and how important it is to set it aside," says the TV producer. "And when I get panicked about the world, it has helped me find greater faith in humanity as a manifestation of God."

A brief look at what Sufism teaches

In a new book, "The Garden of Truth," Seyyed Hossein Nasr presents the teachings of Sufism in contemporary language, drawing on his experience of more than 50 years of practice. The Sufi tradition, he says, contains "a vast metaphysical and cosmological set of doctrines elaborated over a long period...." Sufi metaphysics teach the Unity of God and the oneness of being.
Some excerpts:

"Not only were we created by God, but we have the root of our existence here and now in Him."
"In classical Sufism, the answer to the question what does it mean to be human is contained fully in the doctrine of what is usually translated as the Universal or Perfect Man ... [who] is like a mirror before God, reflecting all His Names and Qualities, and is able to contemplate ... God's creation through God's eyes."

Creation is renewed at every instant, according to Sufism's teaching, and "the whole of the material universe, no matter how extended its physical dimensions might be, is like a speck of dust before the grandeur of the world of the Spirit."

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Huckabee rocks the GOP candidate image

2007-12-04T09:12:00.000+08:00

from the November 29, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1129/p20s01-uspo.html

Where aw-shucks meets off-kilter: A 50-something preacher-turned-presidential-contender can be cool.

By Ariel Sabar Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Moville, Iowa

When aides to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told the high school here that he wanted to play bass guitar with its band during a recent campaign stop, Mark Cripps grew uneasy.

As the longtime band teacher, Mr. Cripps knows how many rehearsals it takes for the teen musicians in this tiny west Iowa town to nail a song. Now a stranger of dubious musical talent – a GOP presidential hopeful no less – wanted to sit in on a couple of numbers with no run-through.

Cripps, a stocky man with the world-weary look of band instructors everywhere, wasn't taking any chances.

"I've got my bass player standing in the wings," he said, pacing nervously in the Woodbury Central High auditorium, as his students tuned up, awaiting the arrival of the Huckabee entourage that October morning. "I instructed the kids: No matter what happens, hang with the job."

Then Huckabee bounded on stage in boots and jeans, grabbed an electric bass, and bowled through "C Jam Blues," a song he'd never played before. His performance was more bravado than finesse. He bent back mid-song to consult with the 12th-grade bass player, who was standing behind him looking ill at ease. But there were no dropped beats, no goofed chords, and Cripps looked genuinely surprised.

"He knew how to ... I don't want to say 'fake it,' but 'survive it,' " Cripps said, as the news crews packed up. Cripps thought he might have even glimpsed politics in the governor's guitar shtick. "He was coming to show you, 'I can do this, I can take charge.'

•••

As Huckabee tells it, his cash-strapped parents bought his first electric guitar from a J.C. Penney catalog for Christmas 1966, after "months of begging." Huckabee was 11. (What is it about Hope, Ark., that inspires would-be presidents to pick up an instrument?)

"The young man played until his fingers almost bled," Huckabee blogged last year, referring to himself in the third person. His teenage bands played sock hops, talent shows, and Saturday night "country music jamborees," and went by names like The Misfits and The Sanction.

"Perhaps you expect that he went on to become a famous and successful musician, gracing the album covers of Grammy-winning recordings," Huckabee blogged. "Not quite."

Huckabee says there is one reason his band, Capitol Offense, made up of wonky former staffers from the governor's office, has opened for the likes of Grand Funk Railroad, Percy Sledge, and Willie Nelson: "If you're the only governor in America with a rock-and-roll band, you get invited to some pretty good gigs."

Performing, he says, helped him overcome stage fright and prepared him for the fishbowl of politics. "For sure, I would have never made it to the Governor's Mansion without music."

Now he's hoping to ride rock 'n' roll to the White House. Huckabee may be known to diehard supporters as the former Southern Baptist minister who sees economic salvation in the abolition of the income tax. But his guitar-plucking has helped cast a popular image as the GOP candidate of "Main Street" – that, together with his diet book ("Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork") and his appearances on "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart." [Editor's note: The original version mischaracterized Huckabee's stance on taxes. He supports the abolition of income tax and the establishment of a flat sales tax.]

Huckabee suggests that a candidate's agility in pop culture is as good a test as any of presidential mettle. "Stephen Colbert gave me the Colbert bump, and that's why I'm doing really well right now in the polls," he told the students, only half-jokingly, of his appearances on the show. "I think you learn more about people by watching how they handle things like 'The Colbert Show' than something that's very tightly scripted."

With his comb-over and dimpled grin, Huckabee is less hipster than cool older guy. He's your favorite uncle, the one with the Eric Clapton concert T-shirt and a gift for one-liners, eager to show that not long ago he was a kid, too. Were there a spectrum of Hollywood wholesome, he'd fall between Jimmy Stewart and Kevin Spacey: a place where aw-shucks meets off-kilter.

Watching Huckabee cycle between social conservative and freewheeling rock 'n' roller makes for some jarring juxtapositions. One night he was in suit and tie talking Social Security with seniors in Sioux City. The next morning he was playing bass in bluejeans with the school band here.

"There's a great way to live life," he said delivering an antidrug message after the jam session, "and that's keep your mind free and clear." But then in another zigzag, he segued into a meditation on 1970s rock when a junior, Jacob Polkinghorn, asked about illegal immigration.

"My views on illegal immigration? By the way, I like your shirt," Huckabee interrupted himself, gesturing at Jacob's T-shirt, with the rainbow-prism cover art from Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album.

Jacob grinned broadly.

"Favorite Pink Floyd song?" Huckabee quizzed him. "Mother," Jacob replied, naming a track from the 1979 album "The Wall," a rock opera linked in popular lore with the hallucinogenic drug culture.

Around the time "The Wall" was released, Huckabee explained later in a phone interview, "I was working for a Christian evangelical organization in Texas doing communications."

"I was never a druggie," he added. "I'm probably one of the few people my age that's never even tasted beer."

Those details didn't come up at the high school. Instead, he told Jacob, "When I saw your shirt, I just had to tell you ... it really excites me that guys who are students now love the music that I listened to."

Like your favorite uncle, Huckabee can at times seem to be trying too hard.

•••

The big show was later that October night, across the state, at the Surf Ballroom, in Clear Lake. The venue is a pop landmark: The last place Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) played before their plane crashed in 1959. Posters on the doors beckoned Iowans to Huckabee's "2007–2008 Road to the White House Tour."

October had been a good month. His campaign had raised $800,000 in the first three weeks. And though still in fifth place in most national polls of GOP voters, in Iowa he'd inched into a tie for second. (Now in late November, he is a solid second – even tied for first in some polls.)

"Are you guys ready to have a little fun tonight?" Huckabee roared to a crowd of 400 as his band swept on stage. "We want to show that conservatives, Republicans, Christian believers can have as much fun as anybody else in the whole world."

Capitol Offense, which doesn't play original music, launched into a set of classic rock covers, the sort in any roadhouse jukebox: "Born to be Wild," "Mustang Sally," "Wonderful Tonight."
Huckabee doesn't sing. But he bobbed to the beat, his shimmering electric bass slung from an American-flag strap.

At a table behind the dance floor with his wife and toddler daughter, Justin Herrick said he'd always liked Huckabee's opposition to abortion and gay marriage. But when he read that the candidate had a band, his reaction was, "Wow." So he and his wife drove two hours from Wartburg College, a Lutheran school they attend.

"Usually most ministers would be against the rock 'n' roll thing, but here he is playing it," said Mr. Herrick. "It shows what he's really like on the weekends."

Hanging back in the shadows and scrutinizing Huckabee's technique was Randy Hudson, a bassist in a band he described as "a gospel Hootie & the Blowfish meets Billy Joel."

"At first I thought, 'Is this a gimmick?' " said Mr. Hudson, a college student and former cable-TV installer. But after hearing Huckabee play, Hudson decided otherwise. "By not looking like a politician, you run the risk of people not seeing you as a politician. But he's betting on the fact that people are sick of politicians."

Turning to watch the former governor, Hudson smiled. "He's kind of like Bruce Springsteen running for president, except a nicer guy."

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Candidates get aggressive, but civilly

2007-12-03T09:10:00.000+08:00

from the November 29, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1129/p01s07-uspo.html

Five weeks before the primaries begin, presidential contenders are taking some substantial swipes at one another.

By Linda Feldmann Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

Five weeks before the Iowa caucuses, the gloves are coming off in the 2008 presidential race.
In the top tier, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are attacking each other on their experience levels and healthcare plans. John Edwards, a close second in Iowa polls behind the top two, is pounding hard on Senator Clinton's foreign-policy record and years as a Washington insider.

At the top of the Republican pack, Mitt Romney and Rudolph Giuliani are going after each other on immigration, taxes, crime, and values. Fred Thompson is going after Mike Huckabee on immigration and taxes. John McCain is claiming he's more electable than both Mr. Romney and Mr. Giuliani.

And the candidates are naming names. Gone are the genteel references to "my opponent."
What's surprising is not that the rising intensity is happening – all campaigns tend to be about what candidates believe is positive about them and negative about the other guy (or gal). It's that, for the most part, the debates are over substance, not below-the-belt attacks.

"The level of it isn't different from the past; if anything, it's highly civilized and substantive," says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "This is engagement on issues, these are things that matter."

What's new in this presidential cycle is the timing – and the interjection of the holidays into the final stretch of pre-Iowa and New Hampshire campaigning. The first nominating contest, Iowa, will take place earlier in January than ever – Jan. 3, 16 days earlier than the 2004 caucuses. The New Hampshire primary is just five days later.

The challenge for candidates will be how to campaign during and around the holidays – and how to keep stressing their contrasts with opponents – without irritating voters.

Del Ali, an independent pollster based in Maryland, also sees the calendar – and candidates' private polling data – as driving the change in tone in the campaign. "We're inside of 40 days before the first contest," he says. "Now is when people start focusing."

Candidates who are struggling to catch fire have to make their move now, before it's too late. "In the case of [Bill] Richardson and Thompson, it's do or die," Mr. Ali adds. "Though if you want to be vice president, you've got to be careful."

For both Mr. Richardson, the Democratic governor of New Mexico, and Mr. Thompson, a Republican former senator from Tennessee, the possibility of being selected as a running mate may in fact be a consideration.

When Governor Richardson leapt to Senator Clinton's defense in a recent Democratic debate, the whispers that he was currying favor with a potential nominee were hard to miss.

Still, Richardson is also showing signs that he's willing to make a mild dig at Clinton's high negatives. In a recent fundraising letter, Richardson warned against nominating a candidate whom the "Republicans can successfully poison for a majority of voters." He added: "It is possible to elect the most qualified candidate, not just the one who is the most well-known or well-funded."

Former Senator Edwards has taken a sharper-edged approach to campaigning than he did four years ago, when he ran for president and wound up on the Democratic ticket as John Kerry's running mate. But he sees no problem with being aggressive about drawing contrasts on issues. In fact, he sees value in it.

"Having been through a general election, I mean, if anybody including Senator Clinton, thinks this is mudslinging – this is milquetoast compared to what we're going to see next fall," Edwards said recently on CBS's "Face the Nation." "We need to have a candidate who's actually ready for that battle."

Indeed, candidates in both parties are predicting that the general election will get as nasty as the last one, and that the relatively civilized tone of the primaries bespeaks a desire not to damage the eventual nominees – while both sides quietly gather ammunition for the general.

Meanwhile, the back-and-forth between the top tier candidates is enough to fill up an inbox overnight, as they charge and countercharge each other over their records. Romney raised the decibel level this week with charges that Giuliani is "very much like Hillary Clinton."

"He's pro-choice like Hillary Clinton. He's pro-gay civil union like Hillary Clinton. He's pro-sanctuary cities like she is…." Romney said in a Fox News Radio interview.

Giuliani has been pounding Romney over his appointment of a judge in Massachusetts who ordered the release of a convicted killer from prison, who is now charged with another killing. Romney has called for the judge's resignation.

On the Democratic side, the top rivals have been duking it out over healthcare. Obama's plan does not include a mandate that all people buy insurance, while Clinton's does. On the experience question, Obama got big news coverage when he questioned how Clinton's years as first lady would qualify her to be president. "My understanding was that she wasn't treasury secretary in the Clinton administration," Obama said.

Political analysts see Obama coming out ahead in such an exchange, as it punctures Clinton's attempts to portray herself as the inevitable nominee.

"It may make Obama seem a little less like a saint, but as doubts begin to creep up about Hillary .... it could hurt her," says Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University.

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GOP YouTube debates: Good marks for new views of candidates

2007-12-02T09:08:00.000+08:00

from the November 30, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1130/p01s01-uspo.html

A new style of debating has sprung from Internet savvy, and it's beneficial to voters, experts say.

By Linda Feldmann Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

In the end, Republican presidential candidates didn't face any questions from talking snowmen.
But this week's CNN/YouTube debate lived up to its billing as a free wheeling forum, with the candidates responding to videos that represented the diversity of the nation – from an Alabama woman in a burqa to a fisherman in Cambridge, Md., to a man wielding a Bible asking if the candidates "believe every word of this book."

Now that both parties have held debates featuring citizen-generated videos – the Democrats had theirs in July – observers of the Internet and politics have concluded that the format is here to stay and that it is a boon to voters who benefit from that sense of connection between citizens and their leaders. Candidates reveal views and aspects of themselves that might not necessarily have come through in a more traditional format, with journalists and TV anchors asking the questions, they note.

"When a Tim Russert or a Wolf Blitzer asks a question and a candidate dodges it, there are no real consequences to the candidates," says Michael Cornfield, an adjunct professor in political management at George Washington University, in Washington, DC. "It's harder for them to dodge questions from real people."

On Wednesday night, viewers learned just how committed some of the Republican candidates are to keeping gays out of the military. They learned how hostile Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo is toward legal guest workers – even when addressing a small businessman who says his livelihood depends on them. They learned that former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who tends to eschew questions on religion on the campaign trail, can speak comfortably about his view of the Bible. (Some parts are interpretive, some are allegorical, and some are meant to be interpreted "in a modern context," he said.)

The debate also provided the latest forum for the smackdown that Mr. Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have been engaging in for weeks over immigration. CNN set the table by selecting videos dealing with that issue to open the debate. But the two GOP front-runners seemed more than happy to oblige, with each insisting the other was providing a "sanctuary" for illegal immigrants during their time as mayor and governor.

But perhaps the most significant aspect of the debate was that it happened at all. When CNN and YouTube proposed a forum for the Republican candidates like the one staged for the Democrats, Mr. Romney and Giuliani cited scheduling conflicts. Romney also balked at the idea of taking a question from an animated snowman, as the Democrats had in their YouTube debate. He called it demeaning.

When the September YouTube debate for the Republicans was canceled, the GOP blogosphere lit up. The party's Web-savvy activists argued that their candidates were making a big mistake in alienating the very people who have embraced the Internet as an important medium for reaching out to voters. At this point just about every demographic is engaging online, though less so with low-income people, the least educated, and some older people.

Internet executives see the integration of the Web into the political process deepening by the day. From 2000, when Arizona Sen. John McCain showed the Web's value in fundraising, to 2006, when then-Sen. George Allen of Virginia botched his reelection campaign by uttering an apparent slur that was caught on video and posted on YouTube, the Web has changed politics for good. On Jan. 1 and 2 – right before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses – the social-networking site MySpace will host an Internet presidential "primary" that the candidates are taking seriously.

"You ignore the digital space and the MySpace generation at your political peril," says Jeff Berman, senior vice president of public affairs at MySpace in Los Angeles.

And so the CNN/YouTube debate was revived for Nov. 28. The irony is that, by holding the debate two months later than originally planned and only five weeks before the Iowa caucuses – the crucial first nominating contest – the stakes were much bigger than they would have been in September. It was the first GOP debate in a month, and with the race for the nomination wide open, anticipation was high. CNN received almost 5,000 video submissions, 2,000 more than they received for the Democratic debate. Of those, 34 were used.

Viewership ratings are not yet known, but at the quadrennial College Convention in Manchester, N.H., students tuned in.

"The Democrats had been going after the youth vote, and now the Republicans are trying to jump on that, too," says Austin Lyman, a sophomore at St. Mary's College in St. Mary's City, Maryland.

"It's nice to see that they recognize that YouTube is a means of communication and connection," added Mr. Lyman, who is from Birmingham, Ala. "Republicans are often known as old-school traditionalists, not seeing the new light. They're the Grand Old Party. [The debate] shows that maybe the old dog can learn new tricks."

Emmanuel Balogun of Pawtucket, R.I., a sophomore at New England College in Henniker, N.H., is a registered Democrat. But with this debate, he says, "I finally saw some likable characters in the Republican Party."

Mr. Balogun thought former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was the most "genuine" with his answers. "He was prepared for all the shots thrown at him," he says.

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Plugging the Internet into clean power

2007-12-01T09:07:00.000+08:00

from the November 29, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1129/p03s01-usgn.html

Google said this week it would invest $100 million in renewable energy sources.

By Ben Arnoldy Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Oakland, Calif.

They are the factories of the Internet economy. US data centers and servers now consume more electricity each year than the entire state of Colorado. In five years, they could require nearly twice as much juice.

And while these data centers don't have smokestacks, many are spewing out greenhouse gases through the electricity they burn. Sensing high-voltage perils to both their public image and bottom line, Google announced Tuesday it will plow $100 million into the research and development of alternative energies.

The move is part of a broader high-tech industry scramble to secure reliable sources of electricity and to use it more efficiently. While worries about global warming factor in the equation, some analysts say major companies are also concerned that electricity could become a limiting factor on their growth.

"What Google has been doing over the past couple of years reflects a concern in the larger IT industry. 2007 is probably going to be looked back on as one of the greener years in data center history," says Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, Inc. in Hayward, Calif.

By 2010, up to half of all data centers will be located in places where supplying the needed power will be a problem, says Mr. King. "There's a recognition that availability of electricity does have its limits."

But the demand for data centers – and by extension more electricity to power them – is only going up. It's driven by everything from the popularity of online video to new financial record-keeping requirements for businesses.

Top Internet companies including Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are beating paths to the Pacific Northwest to build data centers along the Columbia River to tap into the area's abundant hydro and wind power. Search engine Ask.com just opened a new data center in Moses Lake, Wash.

The carbon-free, renewable, and cheap hydropower advances both environmental and cost-cutting goals, says spokesman Patrick Crisp. Another bonus: The colder climate reduces energy needed to cool the servers.

Google has also tapped cheap energy in the Midwest and the South – from coal. That appears to have irked the company's founders. "We feel hypocritical as a company, so we want to make the investments so that alternatives are available down the road," said Google cofounder Sergei Brin at a press conference in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday. The founders outlined their vision to hire 20 to 30 clean energy whizzes and invest in solar-thermal, wind, and geothermal technologies. The goal is simple: Make renewable energy as cheap as coal.

Most analysts saw the move as a mix of public relations and an earnest long-term strategy – though some doubt companies like Google truly face an energy crunch.

"I don't believe in a widespread data center power crisis or other inflated statements," says analyst Chris Mines of Forrester, a market-research company in Cambridge, Mass., via email. "That is a specific problem that some companies face in particular geographies like London and other old center cities." [Editor's note: The original version misidentified Mr. Mines.]

Regardless of electricity supply, Google and other tech giants have serious fiscal reasons to go green. There's a huge expense for companies when computing and storage demands max out individual existing data centers. "The energy density of the servers is so high that the cooling capacity and the power capacity of existing data centers are running [out]," says Rich Brown, a research scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. To forestall having to spend major capital on new data centers, companies are aggressively pursuing energy-efficiency measures. These efforts include upgrading equipment, redesigning air-flows, and reprogramming machines to handle more computations at the same time.

This summer dozens of technology giants including Google, Intel, Dell, IBM, and Microsoft launched the Climate Savers Computing Initiative that commits members to energy-efficiency targets.

But there are still lots of inefficiencies to squeeze out, says Mr. Brown. His team analyzed data center energy use for a congressional report given by the Environmental Protection Agency this summer. "We were really shocked when we dug into this and found out how inefficiently those centers were being operated," Brown says. He estimates small changes could cut energy use at these centers by 20 percent.

However, streamlining can only go so far in offsetting rapid data-center growth. Not only is Google growing extremely fast, it has also pledged to become carbon neutral – a goal forcing them to buy either renewable energy or expensive carbon offsets.

"Google is finding out that making renewables a bigger part of their energy portfolio is really expensive right now," says Brown. Hence the drive for price parity with dirt-cheap coal.

Google's investment is not overwhelming in dollar terms for the clean energy sector, note experts. Last year, $100 billion was invested globally in clean energy, according to Ron Pernick, author of "The Clean Tech Revolution." But Google's announcement is significant for its ability to mainstream the idea that wind and solar can cost as little as coal.

"They've set the bar high and they've given a clear objective, and I think that's what's important about their announcement today," says Mr. Pernick.

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Delivery companies switch to hybrids

2007-11-30T09:06:00.000+08:00

from the November 30, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1130/p03s02-usec.html

Coca-Cola this week introduced them in New York in a bid to save fuel and cut emissions.

By Ron Scherer Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

New York
Every day, Coca-Cola trucks slowly weave their way through New York traffic, eventually stopping at up to 18 grocery stores, restaurants, and bodegas. As a truck makes a delivery, the engine idles, burning fuel and spewing fumes.

But as of Wednesday, Coca-Cola Enterprises started to do things differently in New York. It is using hybrid delivery trucks, which operate just like the cars, using a combination of batteries and horsepower. When the trucks are unloading, there will be no fumes and idling diesel engines.
Instead, the shiny new red-and-white trucks will have 32 percent better fuel economy. And the hybrids' greenhouse-gas emissions will be 90 percent less than those from regular trucks, according to the manufacturer of the new vehicle.

"It's a small step, but it's one of those steps that if we keep taking, we will be leaving a better world for our kids," says Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Coca-Cola's transition to hybrid trucks is part of a push by urban delivery companies to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions. As with the hybrid cars, demand for the green trucks is so strong that companies such as Coca-Cola are willing to pay a 35 to 40 percent premium over the cost of a normal delivery truck. Both FedEx and UPS are also building hybrid fleets in urban areas. In return, the companies cut their fuel consumption.

"You get a return on the investment, but more importantly, it's the right thing to do," says John Brock, president of Coca-Cola Enterprises in an interview at the company's giant distribution center in the South Bronx.

Environmental groups, who have pressed for cleaner air to deal with various health issues, are pleased to see the shift. The Coca-Cola distribution center, for one, is in a heavy industrial area with many trucks on the road. Medical testing has found high rates of asthma among local residents.

"That area has some of the nation's highest asthma rates, so looking for ways to reduce vehicle emissions is good," says Jason Babbie, senior environmental policy analyst at NYPIRG, a nonprofit policy lobbying group in Albany. "This is definitely a positive step."

Groups trying to promote corporate responsibility think it's a good example as well. "It's managing a regulatory risk," says Allison Hannon of the Climate Group, which tries to get businesses and government to work together on climate issues. "There is going to be a price on carbon, the cost of energy is going to go through the roof, and for some companies, it will catch them by surprise."

Cutting down on greenhouse-gas emissions in urban areas is considered an important step in slowing climate change, since urban areas account for as much as 80 percent of the gases. "It's where you can make the biggest difference," says Ms. Hannon, who is based in New York.

Shifting over to the hybrid delivery trucks could be one way to cut down on emissions. For example, the average Coca-Cola truck in New York logs 44,000 miles a year on the city's streets. Because of traffic, it frequently does not get above 30 miles per hour, which is hardly fuel efficient.

"This really is a big deal," says Mr. Bloomberg, who has his own plan to dramatically reduce New York's greenhouse-gas emissions.

UPS, with one of the largest truck fleets in the nation, has purchased 50 hybrids for short-haul deliveries. It estimates that on an annual basis, it will save 44,000 gallons of fuel and will cut emissions by 457 metric tons of carbon dioxide. FedEx is also operating 75 hybrids for short hauls.

By the end of the year, Coca-Cola will have five hybrid trucks on the streets. By the end of next year, it will have 120 nationwide. It would like to add more, but, Brock says, "it's a question of capacity" by the manufacturers.

The Coca-Cola trucks are made by International Truck and Engine Corp., and the hybrid system is supplied by Cleveland-based Eaton Corp. Eaton went into full production in July and says it's now ready to produce as many as companies want to order.

"But there are some limitations with the OEMs [original equipment manufacturers, such as International] and how many they can build," says Ken Davis, vice president of light/medium duty transmissions at Eaton Corp. in Kalamazoo, Mich.

As more companies buy the hybrids, the cost will start to come down, says Mr. Davis. "We have a very aggressive program to get the cost down over the next three years," he says.

The potential market for the hybrids, Davis estimates, is about 15,000 trucks per year, or about 10 percent of 150,000 trucks produced annually. "But who knows. It could go to 15 to 20 percent depending on the cost of fuel," he says.

Coca-Cola and its archrival PepsiCo are starting to push each other on a green agenda. Earlier this year, Pepsi announced a significant investment in renewable power – equal to the total amount of energy used by the company's US operations. And Pepsi is now testing hybrid delivery trucks, Davis says. "Stay tuned," he says.

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Flight risk: more of America's birds are in danger

2007-11-29T09:01:00.000+08:00

from the November 30, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1130/p02s01-usgn.html

Some 178 species are endangered or in decline, new list says. That's up 11 percent from five years ago.

By Mark Clayton Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

With birds increasingly hammered by climate change, habitat loss, and a host of other threats, the list of US species in dire trouble is getting longer.

Unlike many still common "backyard bird" species whose notable declines were documented in a national study this spring, the much-less familiar species on the new "2007 WatchList for US Birds" released yesterday are considered in danger of extinction or in very serious decline.
Some 178 species made this year's watch list, up 11 percent from five years ago.

The masked booby, wandering tattler, and Mexican chickadee are among 12 new species added to the US watch list, which is compiled every five years by the National Audubon Society in New York and the American Bird Conservancy in Washington, both of which are conservation groups.
"The watch list sounds a real warning," said David Pashley, director of conservation programs for the American Bird Conservancy and a coauthor of the list, in a statement.

Many consider the ultimate warning list to be the federal Endangered Species list maintained by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which provides taxpayer-funded recovery plans and habitat protection. But with federal listing rates at historic lows, the new watch list functions as the next best "call to action" to highlight troubled species and halt their decline before it worsens, experts say.

Take, for instance, the saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow, which is restricted to a narrow band of salt marsh along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. On one side of the marsh is intense human development and on the other the threat of rising sea levels. Even a one-foot rise in sea level due to global warming would be devastating to the sparrow.

The black-capped vireo in central Texas remains on the list, its slender population threatened by development and the nest parasitism of the brown-headed cowbird.

Yet there is some good news included in the watch list's bird call to arms: 27 species are coming off the list this year – a number of those because of population increases due to habitat protection and other conservation efforts, experts say.

"Certainly some bird species are doing better, and their absence from this new list reflects that," says Gregory Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society.

Among those soaring off the list are the ferruginous hawk, Wilson's phalarope, the worm-eating warbler, and the black oystercatcher, all of which are doing better than they were just five years ago thanks to focused attention, Dr. Butcher says. The Wilson's phalarope, for instance, nests in sloughs of North Dakota where conservation work for waterfowl also helped it recover.

In a few cases, studies found bird populations to be healthier than earlier believed, such as with the McCown's longspur. The small ground-feeding bird, whose warbling call used to be common on the northwestern Great Plains, was listed in the "red" category of the 2002 WatchList – in imminent danger of extinction – but is not listed this time. A closer analysis finds that it is more widely distributed than earlier believed.

Despite continuing growth in the number of bird species in trouble, this year has been notable for some successes. In June, the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list – a victory for the federal law that protected it during recovery.

Add the whooping crane, too. While still listed as endangered, the species has rebounded from the brink of extinction – with just a few dozen left – to more than 200 today.

Even so, many species on the watch list should be federally listed as endangered, a protection Butcher says is being more widely recognized for its positive impact.

"The bald eagle, peregrine falcon, the California condor, and the whooping crane all used to be on the endangered list at one time but are doing really well now," he says. "If we take good care of these birds, they can rebound."

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No need to wait till spring for baseball

2007-11-28T08:32:00.000+08:00

from the November 28, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1128/p13s02-litr.html

In seven Caribbean nations, warm weather and high-quality baseball welcome visitors who can't wait for professional play to resume in the US.

By Rick Feingold Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Baseball season isn't over; in fact, it's just begun – in Latin America, that is. There, baseball is a winter sport, and the months of December and January are the perfect time for planning a trip to follow the local action in the Caribbean.

Just as jazz, the original American musical art form, has been exported throughout the world, so has baseball. Within Latin America, baseball leagues are found in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Major League Baseball scouts travel to each of these countries in search of prospects, hoping to find the next David Ortiz or Pedro Martinez. Teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers have established baseball academies in the Dominican Republic to develop the skills of young athletes so they are prepared to compete in the United States upon signing a major league contract.

Baseball in the Dominican Republic is actually a purer form of the sport than fans now see in the US. The professional game is played as it was in the early and mid-20th century, when it was considered America's national pastime.

Players are accessible at the baseball stadium. "You are closer to the field and the players, compared to a game in the US," says John Lenihan, an auto industry executive who has traveled from New Jersey to Santo Domingo to watch Dominican League baseball. "You can walk down to the dugout and talk to the players."

The Dominican Republic is the most successful country in the world outside the US at cultivating professional baseball talent, so the quality of play is high. Dominicans have regularly been stars on American baseball teams since Ozzie Virgil debuted with the New York Giants in 1956.

Today, many Dominicans are household names among American baseball fans. Albert Pujols was elected the National League Most Valuable Player in 2005. Manny Acta manages the Washington Nationals. This year, Dominicans made up 10 percent of all players in the American major leagues , more than all other Latin American countries combined. So, part of the fun of a visit is watching players who may become the next big stars in the US.

Located on the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic shares its western border with Haiti. Santo Domingo is the capital of this country of about 9 million people. The economy is poor, and poverty is widespread. For better or worse, baseball is considered the "Dominican dream" and a means out of poverty for many young men.

For tourists, baseball in the Dominican Republic is best experienced during the winter season of November to January, although a second season featuring rookie teams runs from June to August.

Games are played at Quisqueya Stadium in Santo Domingo, which is located off Avenida Tiradentes.

During the regular season, you can buy tickets from the ticket office at the stadium before most games. Seats are inexpensive, compared with the cost in the US. They range from $2 for seats in the outfield bleachers to $10 to $15 for infield seating. Tickets for championship games may be more difficult to come by, although scalpers usually have seats for events that are officially sold out.

Part of the reason for the excellent quality of baseball here is that some major leaguers from the Dominican Republic – often younger players – sharpen their skills by participating in the league during the off-season in the US.

These players are also a big reason that being at the ballpark feels like a family affair. Many of the fans grew up and went to school (or played childhood baseball) with the major-leaguers who are once again playing at home. Also, the players' family members often attend games. I sat with Mrs. David Ortiz at a game in 1999, when he was a rookie with the Minnesota Twins.

"The Dominican Winter League is considered the major leagues of the Caribbean and the best baseball league outside of the US and Japan," says Carlos Sanchez, a sportswriter for the El Caribe newspaper in Santo Domingo.

"In the Dominican Republic, prospects and some veterans play in November and December," he adds. "The best players, usually major league stars, play in January during the time of the championship tournaments."

Fun off the field as well as on

The activity off the field is sometimes as interesting as the game itself. Outside the stadium, vendors sell everything from team pennants and caps to baseballs used in prior games.
Inside Quisqueya Stadium, every seat is close to the field of play, a big improvement over what US fans often experience in major league ballparks.

Frequently there's even excitement between innings. "The Dominican baseball cheerleaders who dance on top of the dugouts to merengue music generate a lot of enthusiasm," points out Mr. Lenihan, the US tourist.

"The fans are always in a good mood at the games," notes Mr. Sanchez. "You can see the scouts at the game and you have an opportunity to meet the players."

How long should a Caribbean winter league baseball visit be? "Five days is the right amount of time for a vacation like this," estimates Lenihan. "You can [also] tour historic churches, Parque Colón, and shop on El Conde. Plan to stay longer if you want to visit the beaches."

Although hurricane Noel did cause damage to the Dominican Republic, all Santo Domingo hotels are again operating at full capacity. Tourist infrastructure is fully functional, and Dominican League Winter Baseball continues to play a full schedule.

Two more choices

Beyond the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela have winter baseball leagues that attract US visitors:

In Venezuela, the professional league includes eight teams from the cities of Caracas, La Guaira, Maracaibo, Valencia, Barquisimeto, Maracay, Puerto La Cruz, and Porlamar, in a season that runs from October to January. Games are played in the baseball stadium at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas.

The Mexican league is the largest professional baseball organization outside the US. It has a 16-team nationwide league that competes during the summer at the same time as the US leagues. But an eight-team Pacific league competes on the country's west coast between late October and January.

Mexican baseball stadiums are among the largest and best maintained in Latin America. During the winter season, look for games in Mexicali, Mazatlan, and Hermosillo, among other cities. Home schedules are available in English at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/winterleagues/?league=car.

All these winter baseball venues are worthy of a vacation and will provide an opportunity to create your own baseball memories under the warm tropical sun.

If you go

Travel to the Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo is about a four-hour flight from New York or two hours from Miami.

Thestadium: Estadio Quisqueya is located at Ave. Tiradentes at SanCristóbal. A taxi from downtown will be about $5 to $8, and regularseason game tickets cost $2 to $15. (January playoff games are moreexpensive.) Phone: (809) 540-5772.

Game times: Evening games begin at 7:30. Sunday afternoon games begin at 5.

Whereto sit: Major League Baseball scouts can usually be found behind homeplate in Section A-15. These are considered the best seats in thestadium. Seats between first and third base are generally in amplesupply and cost $10 to $15.

Weather: The country enjoys atropical climate – warm and sunny. Daily high temperatures are usuallyin the upper 80s and nightly lows are in the high 60s to low 70s.

Formore information, see the website of the Dominican Republic TouristBoard at www.godominicanrepublic.com or e-mailinfo@godominicanrepublic.com. Find Caribbean League schedules at http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/winterleagues/?league=car.

The Caribbean League Championship Series

For the annual Serie del Caribe, the major baseball powers in theCaribbean region – Venezuela, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic –challenge one another for the championship of Latin America.

Here'show it works: The baseball teams with the best record in each countryadvance to postseason playoffs, which end with a national champion.Each country's champion team is then allowed to select from the bestplayers remaining in its league to form a national "all-star" team.
Thesenational teams travel to the host country, where they play around-robin series of six games (a daily day-night double-header forsix consecutive days).

If two teams are tied with thebest record after six games, they compete in a playoff game todetermine the Caribbean League Champion.

La Serie delCaribe rotates each year among the countries. The next one will takeplace Feb. 2-7, 2008, in Santiago, Dominican Republic,

TheChampionship Series is a festive event. Opening night includes livelyceremonies much like those held at US All-Star games. The president ofthe host country is usually in attendance.
A troupe of dancers and musicians is sent by each country to present a display of native song and dance.

Mexicois traditionally represented by a large mariachi band. The DominicanRepublic and Venezuela compete to outdo one another with colorfulcostumes and spirited dances.
Each show is presented on the infield and, as befits a championship series, ends with a big fireworks display.

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Military chaplains: a Presbyterian pastor patrols with his flock of soldiers in Iraq

2007-11-27T08:30:00.000+08:00

from the November 27, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1127/p20s01-usmi.html

Army Capt. Ron Eastes carries a big responsibility - but no weapon - in his 'ministry of presence' with the 82nd Airborne.

By Lee Lawrence Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Baghdad

Vendors and shopkeepers are gearing up for business along a market street in the northeastern neighborhood of Adhamiya, when a platoon of American soldiers disgorges from Humvees. The soldiers fan out up and down the street. Even on a low-key patrol to make their presence known and gather intel, the soldiers have to stay on the qui vive. Eyes dart up to rooftops and down side alleys; while one soldier smiles and nods greetings to a vendor, another peers to the back of the store.

From a distance the soldiers are indistinguishable: domed helmets, dark glasses, and tight-fitting armored vests in camouflage grays and greens. But closer inspection reveals differences. From the back of one soldier, a radio antenna quivers: platoon leader. Across the chest of another, only gloved hands – no rifle, no side arm strapped to thigh: chaplain. In orbit around him, another soldier, rifle ready: chaplain's assistant and bodyguard. Should fighting break out, he'll shove his charge behind a wall, to the ground, under a vehicle.

Chaplain Ron Eastes is on this patrol with members of his 82nd Airborne Army unit not because he is helping with the platoon's mission, but because the platoon itself is his mission.

"I've heard it said that a shepherd needs to smell like his sheep," he explains, "and if I'm going to care for these guys, I need to be where they are."

And being where they are can mean joining soldiers in a ritual of cigars and banter as a distant mullah chants the call to prayer and the sky darkens beyond the concertina wire at their combat outpost (COP) in north Baghdad. Or playing cards with troops visiting from a smaller outpost. Or walking, outside "the wire," among stalls selling housewares and food in a Baghdad bazaar.
The smell of sheep, Chaplain Eastes knows, comes with more than a whiff of risk.

• • •

Eastes, a captain, isn't new to the military. As an enlisted soldier in the '90s, he served two years in this same battalion in Fort Bragg, N.C. But there was something missing. Eastes says he felt that "eternal significance wasn't there, and I longed for that."

So, in December 1999, he left active duty and enrolled at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, N.C., always thinking that, if he could just "marry the military and ministry, that could be my niche." Five years and two children later, he joined the chaplain corps.

Although one of his primary duties is to provide religious services, Sunday mornings aren't the best gauge of his effectiveness. Fighting the whir of the mess hall air conditioner one Sunday last May, the soft-spoken West Virginia pastor dissected the Book of Job to a congregation of four.

Sure, this conservative Presbyterian would love to look up one Sunday and find the room packed. But, unlike a civilian minister, he can't count on the soldiers at COP War Eagle to share his theology. So Eastes applies his denomination's notion of grace. "We differentiate between common grace and sovereign grace," he explains, sitting in a cubicle inside the camp's former gym. On the wall behind him, the faces of his children stare back, the third only 2 years old.

"God causes the rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous [and] the sun to shine on the wicked and the righteous." That is common grace, he says. "Sovereign grace: the Gospel. Probably 95 percent of my ministry is common grace."

Capt. Jon Harvey, an energetic officer who heads a battery called The Bulls, has a more secular term for this: "This isn't going to sound nice, but Ron is like background noise. And that's exactly what a chaplain should be."

The value of this "background noise" comes clear on a day when soldiers detain an Iraqi sniper suspected of wounding a high-ranking US officer. After poring over intel reports, they decide to apprehend the suspect at his workplace during what looks like a routine patrol. From the operations center back at War Eagle, Eastes follows the soldiers' reports and is pleased that no shots are fired, no doors kicked in. And, within hours, the soldiers are back, and the detainee is shut in a cell with plywood walls and padlocked door. A soldier sits on a stool beside the door while two others watch from nearby. The prisoner and soldiers wait in silence.

Well aware that a soldier's anger can flare at the sight of a man thought to have shot one of their own, Eastes strolls over with calm concern and pauses by the guard. From a distance it's impossible to hear what the chaplain and soldier are saying – but the words exchanged aren't what is important. What matters is that Eastes is getting the soldier to talk; if there is pent-up anger, he can spot and, he hopes, defuse it.

"There's probably a little venom that boils up," Eastes later says with characteristic understatement, "but I've been impressed by the way [detainees] have been treated [here]."
He volunteers that this hasn't always been the case in this war. "We aren't going to run from that. But these guys know the difference between right and wrong." And Eastes aims to keep reminding them.

It is a classic example of what chaplains call their "ministry of presence." Its effect is as impossible to quantify as that of a guardrail on a mountain road: Nobody can know how many accidents – if any – are prevented because of its presence, but we believe it makes a difference. In war, when a sense of right and wrong can disappear into the fog of adrenaline and anger, the chaplain can act as a "guardrail," and officers who rely on them as such talk about the value of troops having a safe place to let off steam and regain equilibrium.

"There's a switch that a soldier has to flip somewhere mentally and emotionally that allows [him to consider] an individual to be a target," Eastes explains. In war, "there's something healthy about seeing someone as an enemy."

By doing so, soldiers can overcome what some psychologists term an innate resistance to kill. What makes this war especially difficult is that the switch can't stay permanently flipped because, as Eastes says, they're "dealing with folks day in and out." Should a sniper open fire during a fact-finding mission, military training will kick in and flip that switch; and, at the end of the day, Eastes will be on the lookout to make sure it has "unflipped." And if soldiers have pulled the trigger or seen comrades killed or wounded, he's there to help them process the experience or to get them other help.

Even on missions deemed too dangerous for Eastes to accompany, he tries to provide a presence. When the platoon headed out to capture the suspected sniper, Eastes joined them in the motor pool to offer a prayer for those who wished it. In a semicircle of bowed heads, he read Psalm 91, popular verses of protection. He then prayed: "If they have to make a split-second decision, I ask you to give them wisdom; if they have to make the decision to shoot, to engage another individual, I ask that the bullet goes straight."

The issue of prayer has been politicized in recent years, with the focus entirely on when and how chaplains can pray in Jesus' name without excluding or offending non-Christians. But this overshadows another important question: Should chaplains ask for divine intervention in the outcome of war or limit prayers to petitions for protection and the right conduct of war?

Often a line only becomes visible when a chaplain crosses it, and Eastes's own prayer could be said to come close. Some might interpret it as a request that God favor his unit's mission; others might hear a request that no innocent bystanders be hurt. As an officer, Eastes makes no bones about wanting US soldiers to be successful; he is equally clear that his concern is the conduct of war, not whether God endorses it.

Even well-defined lines are sometimes contested. In the US, chaplaincy historian John Brinsfield notes, Civil War generals defined chaplains as noncombatants long before the Geneva Conventions. In 1909, the military designated a specific position to assist and protect the chaplain.

Still every war has chaplains who break the rules. In 2003, a convoy came under attack in Iraq, and the chaplain picked up a rifle and joined the fray. Like many chaplains, he had prior military service and was no stranger to firearms.

Chaplains generally agree that they shouldn't fight, but some would like to see chaplains, like noncombatant medics, have the right to carry a weapon for self-defense. Eastes's grandfather, a World War II chaplain, "was given the option to carry a .45. He chose not to. But," Eastes adds, "this is not our grandfathers' war." Chaplains have no guarantee that, if captured, they'll be treated as noncombatants.

Every Army chief of chaplains since World War II has argued that arming chaplains would detract from their primary focus of caring for soldiers and open the way for commanders to use them as combat assets.

Eastes agrees that there are powerful arguments for the interdiction, but he says that, as a father and husband, he would like to see the senior leadership reopen the debate. In the meantime, he is neither crossing the line nor letting the risk it entails stop him from meeting his men where they are – on the streets of Baghdad.

•On Dec. 4: Part 6. A steady presence and cornball humor makes National Guard Chaplain Kurt Bishop a team-builder in a combat hospital in Afghanistan.

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In New Hampshire, the swing voters who count first

2007-11-26T08:28:00.000+08:00

from the November 20, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1120/p01s04-uspo.html

In New Hampshire, undeclared voters dominate the political landscape and may hold the key to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary.

By Ari Pinkus Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Manchester and Nashua, N.H.

As schoolteacher Betty Ward evaluates the 16 candidates running for president, uppermost in her mind is: Who will get US troops out of Iraq? She's mulling over whom to vote for.
Donna Richards will vote for someone who can be trusted and whose aim is to bring about peace. Her choice: undecided.

Attorney Andre Gibeau is seeking a candidate with courage to return to Congress much of the power he believes was usurped by President Bush.

Meet some of New Hampshire's freethinking and increasingly dissatisfied independents, who quite possibly hold the key to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. They dwarf the ranks of registered Democrats or Republicans in this state. What they're thinking may well signal which themes will strike a chord with the roughly 20 percent of voters nationwide who consider themselves independents.

"New Hampshire will be a good test to see what [independents] find attractive on both sides," says Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Despite their diversity, New Hampshire's independents share some characteristics. They tend to be among the most fiscally conservative of the state's voters. The bad feelings they harbor toward the Bush administration's runaway spending have moved them further away from the GOP, and state polls consistently show they've been tilting toward the Democrats. But they're frustrated with the polarization in American politics and are increasingly dissatisfied with both parties for their inability to tackle America's most intractable problems.

"More than anything they have a lack of confidence in the political leadership," says Dick Bennett, head of American Research Group, a nonpartisan polling firm in Manchester.

Russ Ouellette is among those who have lost faith in political professionals and wants to hear candidates talk about wide-ranging reform. "We can't respond to hurricanes," says the business consultant from Bedford, N.H. "We're at war with an enemy that seems almost made up. We're supposed to live in fear all the time, yet go shopping to solve the problem."

In general, voters are feeling insecurity in nearly every area of their lives, Mr. Bennett says. "People go to work and when they return home they find gas is 7 cents higher."

In the current political environment, the message that resonates most is one that promises hope for a better future and solves such problems. A recurring theme in presidential elections, it's a far more important point to stress this time "because the world we live in is more complex," he adds.

Independents here say that they want a leader who is not only a problem solver but is also forward-thinking.

"I think whoever gets elected now will have a lot more responsibility to the future than presidents of the past," says Ms. Richards. "Before, the focus was on the economy: 'What can I have now?' I think with things like global warming, the depletion of our oil resources, Medicare and Social Security, the next president needs to be forward-thinking, a steward of the planet and the people on it and the programs so we're not headed for a wall ... down the road.

But this can-do spirit should not come at the expense of empathy, she and others agree.

"I would like to see somebody who cares more about the country than the party, someone who really cares about the future of our children and the children I teach, like what does the future look like 15 if not 20 years down the road," says Ms. Ward, who voted for Republican John McCain in the 2000 primary and Democrat Howard Dean in the 2004 primary.

Independents are especially strong here because state rules allow them to pick up a ballot from either party on primary day, cast their vote, and then return to undeclared status before they leave the polls. Their numbers are growing. In 1992, they constituted 22 percent of the state's electorate, according to the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University in Washington. Now at 44 percent, they're far more numerous than registered Democrats (26 percent) and Republicans (30 percent).

Those numbers translate into real power. In 2006, independents helped unseat the state's two US representatives, reelect a Democratic governor, and give Democrats control of both houses in the state legislature for the first time since 1912.

But lately independents have become disenchanted with the Democratic Party because of a lack of action in Congress on a withdrawal plan from Iraq since the 2006 midterm elections, Bennett says.

"What our country is doing does not represent me as an American," Ward says. "I think there's a disconnect between what our policies are and what people want. In 2006, the election was to stop the war. To take the majority rule and make some impact.... Now we might be going to Iran. The war hasn't stopped in Iraq."

Many of independents' votes are still up for grabs in the upcoming primary, which has not yet been officially scheduled. While 41 percent of the state's voters say they plan to vote in the Democratic primary, another 40 percent haven't decided which primary they will vote in, according to a poll taken last month by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. Just 19 percent plan to participate in the GOP primary, the poll reported.

The growth of independents is mirrored nationwide. In 1960, only 1.6 percent of the electorate identified themselves as independent; in 2004, they accounted for 21.7 percent in the 28 states and the District of Columbia that register voters by party, according to the Center for the Study of the American Electorate.

Their numbers have swelled because many voters have become "dulled" by or have stopped believing in politics, says Curtis Gans, the center's director.

As the state waits for New Hampshire's secretary of state, Bill Gardner, to set the primary date, independents, in particular, say they are thankful that the election isn't tomorrow since they haven't found their candidate yet.

"I'm glad I don't have to decide yet. I have one little vote but to me it's very important," Richards says.

Independent voters of all stripes share what kind of president they seek.

Betty Ward, schoolteacher:

"There's so many tiers of handlers. Like a corporation within itself. They're so guarded. They're so worried about winning. I just don't think all of this is real; it's almost surreal. I would like something really authentic. I want to feel that somebody up there has hope.... I want to be inspired."

Andre Gibeau, attorney:

"I want the professor candidate. I want the person who takes it all in and thinks about it and puts together the people to think about it."

Russ Ouellette, consultant:

"There are bigger issues to talk about than who are you voting for. Let's talk about reform."

Donna Richards, small-business owner:

"What I'm looking for ... has to do with who they are as a person and what their policies are, as well. It has to be someone who ... will speak the truth and act according to what he or she has set forth as their core values or principles or policies. I think we've lost that ... trust in our leaders. I think that's not only important to us as citizens of this country, but on the world stage they need to be credible." .

Since independents aren't organized or listed on any party's Rolodex, they play a special role in Granite State politics. They're observers rather than activists, says Arnie Arnesen, a New Hampshire TV and radio talk-show host.

So campaigns reaching out for their support are tailoring their message – with varying levels of success.

Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has focused on appealing to female voters, has the support of 45 percent of women who are likely to vote in the Democratic primary, according to a poll released by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion on Nov. 11.

Barack Obama is targeting the 18-to-24 demographic, which tends to register as undeclared, says Dick Bennett, head of American Research Group. Mr. Obama leads Ms. Clinton by 13 percent among first-time voters, according to the Marist poll. Overall, he is closing a 20-point gap with Clinton, the Democrats' front-runner.

But "There's been no clear candidate for change. No one's grabbed that mantle, not even Obama," says Dante Scala, a political scientist.

Former Democratic Sen. John Edwards hopes that he will. "My message runs across party lines and ideological lines," he told reporters after a recent speech.

On the Republican side, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani garners 24 percent of independents, while Sen. John McCain of Arizona captures 22 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney draws 19 percent in the Marist poll. Giuliani receives more backing from moderates than his rivals.

At the same time, GOP candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas has piqued the interest among some people here by talking about limited government and withdrawing troops from Iraq. He has polled as high as 7 percent.

"He's the only [Republican] who doesn't scare the daylight out of me," says attorney Andre Gibeau, mostly because of Mr. Paul's focus on constitutional rights. "I don't think any enemy from the outside can do the damage to the United States that we can do internally if we change the nature of our democracy."

Senator McCain's campaign is seeking to revive the magic McCain had when he courted and won voters in 2000. In that New Hampshire primary, the antiestablishment candidates McCain and Bill Bradley (D) competed for support among independent voters, who turned out by a significant margin to help McCain trounce George W. Bush by 19 points.

Although polls show independents are poised to vote in the Democratic contest this time, Mr. Scala cautions that if the Democratic primary looks as if it's going to be a rout, they may vote in the Republican contest instead.

Betty Ward says she's likely to decide which ballot to choose on Election Day and make her final decision in the voting booth. "I really don't know at this point because it's just too far off," she adds.

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Democrats take defensive tack with Bush

2007-11-25T08:23:00.000+08:00

from the November 21, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1121/p02s01-uspo.html

They keep the Senate open this week to block high-level White House appointments.

By Gail Russell Chaddock Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

The Senate wrapped up its business with unusual dispatch on Tuesday. Sen. Jim Webb (D) of Virginia, the designated presiding officer, called the chamber to order. "Under the previous order, the Senate stands in recess until Friday," he said. He banged the gavel, and then he left. It took 22 seconds.

But what the session lacked in depth, it made up for in political purpose. By keeping the Senate in session, however briefly, Democrats prevent President Bush from making high-level appointments while Congress is in recess, thus avoiding the process of Senate confirmation.
"We're preserving the Constitution," Senator Webb said, after the pro-forma session. "It's appropriate given how [the Bush administration] is abusing the confirmation process."

From confirmations to annual spending bills and war funding, Mr. Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress are at odds – with both sides settling into procedural trench warfare.
Democrats are playing defense since they lack the 60 votes to prevent a Senate filibuster or the two-thirds in both chambers needed to overturn a presidential veto.

A pro-forma session to block recess appointments is a new tactic for lawmakers. Since the late 1980s, party leaders have talked about the possibility of using such sessions to stop recess appointments as well as pocket vetoes, which allow the president to keep a bill unsigned until the legislative session is over. But this week marks the first time it's been carried out.

"It's one of those small things that can be instantly effective," says Thomas Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "It also reflects the utter lack of trust that Democrats have vis-à-vis the president and the belief that he will exploit every opportunity provided him."

The White House wants the Senate to take up some 200 executive branch and judicial nominations, including those for two Cabinet secretaries, three members of the Federal Reserve, and the US surgeon general.

Democrats worry that Bush may use the two-week Thanksgiving break to fill some of them, especially with people who are controversial. One is James Holsinger, who is being considered for surgeon general and has drawn criticism for a 1991 paper on the "pathophysiology of male homosexuality."

Bush's previous recess appointments include John Bolton as UN ambassador and Judges Charles Pickering and William Pryor to the US Court of Appeals. With 165 recess appointments, President Bush ranks No. 4, behind Presidents Reagan, Truman, and Eisenhower. President Clinton made 140 recess appointments, according to the US Senate Historical Office.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid says Bush is stalling on nominating Democrats for bipartisan oversight agencies.

"The Senate will be coming in for pro-forma sessions during the Thanksgiving holiday to prevent recess appointments. My hope is that this will prompt the president to see that it is our mutual interests for the nominations process to get back on track," said Senator Reid.

On Tuesday, leaders on the House Appropriations Committee stepped up the war of words with the White House – and fellow Democrats in the Senate – over stalled Iraq war funding. The Pentagon says that Bush's $196.4 billion request is needed by January to avoid the shutdown of US bases and some 100,000 layoffs.

"Rather than working with Congress on a responsible war-spending package, this administration is executing a plan to plunder from these essential base budget accounts in order to fund a continuation of the president's misguided war," said Rep. John Murtha (D) of Pennsylvania, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, in a press briefing.

He and Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D) of Wisconsin say that they will not move another war-funding bill this year, unless it includes three conditions: a requirement that all troops deployed into combat be fully trained and equipped, a ban on torture, and a goal of getting out of a combat role in Iraq by December 2008. President Bush threatens to veto any bill that includes conditions that restrict the Pentagon and commander in chief.

Before the Thanksgiving nonrecess, the Senate rejected two war-funding bills. The Democratic version, which also passed the House, provided $50 billion toward Bush's $196.4 billion request, but with a "goal" of completing a transition out of a combat role in Iraq by December 2008. It fell seven votes short of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. A GOP version, which provided $70 billion without a timetable for withdrawal, failed 45 to 53.

In response, Sen. Carl Levin (D) of Michigan, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Daniel Inouye (D) of Hawaii, who chairs the Defense appropriations subcommittee, said they would work on a version of the bill that is less restrictive.

Nearly two months into the new fiscal year, Democrats have passed only two of 12 annual spending bills. Last week, the House failed to override a presidential veto of the biggest domestic spending measure, the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill totaling $606 billion. The White House threatens vetoes on all but one of the remaining bills unless Democrats meet his budget limit.

"Democrats face a tough situation: a Republican president who was just unwilling to compromise on many policies, even if it meant plummeting popular ratings, and a very effective and disciplined Republican minority," says Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.

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Stem-cell advance opens up the field

2007-11-24T08:21:00.000+08:00

from the November 23, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1123/p01s01-uspo.html

With a new technique's lower cost and scrubbed-up ethics, more labs are likely to enter the arena.

By Peter N. Spotts Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Colonies of tiny cells flourishing in petri dishes in the US and Japan are reshaping the political and ethical landscape surrounding human stem-cell research.

In the process, these diminutive colonies also may level the playing field in stem-cell research – internationally and domestically.

These are some of the effects analysts say they see coming out of this week's announcements that two teams have genetically reprogrammed skin cells so that they take on the traits of embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are the subject of intense medical interest because of their ability to develop into any of the major cell types in the human body. Over the long term, these stem cells could become the foundation for therapies for a range of diseases, scientists say. This week's announcement suggests it will be possible for scientists to study these cells without the ethical and political difficulties of harvesting them from unused human embryos.

For the emerging field of stem-cell research, "this is enormous," says Jesse Reynolds, a policy analyst at the liberal Center for Genetics and Society, based in Oakland, Calif. "I can't think of another development "that has been this big,"

"This is a paradigm shift," agrees Rev. Tad Pacholczyk, director of education at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. "This will have a huge impact on the ethical debate."

That debate has centered on the sources for human embryonic stem cells – especially those that have the potential to be patient-specific. For research purposes, scientists have turned to fertility clinics where patients either have donated their nascent embryos to research or no longer need them to start a family. But the process of extracting the stem cells destroys these soon-to-be embryos, technically called blastocysts. The destruction is abhorrent to those who hold that human life begins at conception.

The ethical debate grows more heated when cloning – the most controversial idea for generating patient-specific stem cells – enters the picture. In 1997, a team in Scotland led by Ian Wilmut cloned Dolly the sheep from adult tissue by extracting the DNA from nucleus of adult cells and injecting it into the emptied nuclei of unfertilized sheep eggs. The eggs were fertilized, then implanted into ewes.

The approach is banned in humans. Last week, however, scientists from the Oregon National Primate Research Center in Beaverton, reported for the first time that they had used the technique to generate embryonic stem cells cloned from an adult primate – a macaque monkey. This strongly hinted that eventually the approach could work with humans.

But the technique, which in principle could draw on a patient's own cells to generate new tissue for treatments, is highly inefficient – requiring many eggs to yield one successful clone from which stem cells can be drawn and nurtured. It implies generating nascent embryos exclusively as stem-cell factories. And it raises the concern among many people that the approach will lead eventually to cloning humans as a means of reproduction.

By contrast, the US and Japanese teams discovered genetic triggers that could in effect turn back the clock on already-developed cells. Working independently, each team found four genes that, when introduced into the nucleus of skin cells, yielded cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells. The Japanese team, led by Kazutoshi Takahashi at the University of Kyoto, used the approach on mice last year. His lab, and one led by the University of Wisconsin's James Thompson, essentially tied for the race to test the approach using human cells.

For now, the two groups' work "changes everything and changes nothing; and caution is warranted," says Dr. Thompson. "This changes everything because these are not from embryos." But, he adds, it changes nothing because scientists still don't know how embryonic stem cells morph into the wide variety of cell types in the body. The caution comes because without that information, it's unclear if the new cells can live up to their promise. Thus, research on human embryonic stem cells is still vital, he emphasizes.

Still, some labs appear to be doing that. In Scotland, Dr. Wilmut announced earlier in the week that his lab is dropping the cloning approach and focusing on the genetic reprogramming approach as well.

If this is any indication, a shift in stem-cell research could follow. The new technique's relative ease, lower cost, higher output, and scrubbed-up ethics are likely to draw more labs into the field, Thompson suggests.

Moreover, such an expansion might further invigorate US research in the face of aggressive competition from countries like Britain and Japan.

The advance could trigger some interesting political shifts, some analysts suggest. For example, US restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research could become harder to change in light of these discoveries, according to Alta Charro, a University of Wisconsin law professor.

Already, the issue appears to be losing traction, Mr. Reynolds adds. Earlier this month, for instance, New Jersey voters rejected a plan to borrow $450 million for the state's stem-cell research program.

Indeed, the defeat, the discoveries, and the prospect that a new administration might loosen the federal purse strings for human embryonic stem research could add an element of uncertainty to existing or planned state stem-cell programs.

"Right now, all of the activities on the pro-stem-cell front in the states has been driven by the lack of federal funding for this research," says Patrick Kelly of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. "So if a new administration comes in and approves more federal funding, the need in the states is going to be diminished." But in states with existing programs "I don't think they'll ever be redundant."

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Shifting expectations game for '08

2007-11-23T08:20:00.000+08:00

from the November 23, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1123/p01s03-uspo.html

The Iowa caucuses are now clearly up for grabs on the Democratic side, among three top candidates.

By Linda Feldmann Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

When news broke this week that a major poll put Sen. Barack Obama four points ahead of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa, the political world stopped and took notice.

Here was confirmation that the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest in the 2008 presidential elections, are indeed up for grabs – and that the clear Democratic front-runner in national polls, Senator Clinton, is far from a sure thing in the crucial first race. The Washington Post/ABC News poll of 500 likely Iowa caucusgoers also put former Sen. John Edwards within striking distance, four points behind Clinton. In short, factoring in the 4.5-point margin of error, Iowa is a three-way statistical dead heat.

Other data in the poll provided warning signs to Clinton. Iowa voters are demonstrating growing interest in a candidate who provides a "new direction and new ideas" over strength and experience, and Senator Obama wins handily among those voters.

But for Clinton, there's a bit of a silver lining in the news: Because she is not the clear favorite in Iowa, she does not face an expectation that she will win. And if she pulls out a victory, that's big news.

On the Republican side, former Gov. Mitt Romney has led the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first primary state, for months – and thus he is expected to win both. If he does, it's important but not earth-shattering. If he loses one or both, the earth shakes.

"That's the key: Whatever expectations are, you always want to do better than expected," says Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

Every campaign, from the highflying front-runners to the lowliest long shots, faces the same calculations. And each, in its own way, is playing off those expectations. Sen. John McCain – the early GOP front-runner, now averaging fourth place in national polls – has pulled back his efforts in Iowa to concentrate on New Hampshire, which he won big in 2000.

So if Senator McCain does poorly in Iowa on Jan. 3, it will not be big news. But it would raise the stakes for him in New Hampshire. Conservative pundit William Kristol argues that McCain should run TV ads in Iowa anyway and try for at least a third-place showing there, which could give him a bounce heading into the New Hampshire primary (probably five days later, on Jan. 8). Polls show McCain averaging 6.6 percent in Iowa, currently fifth place. Typically, only three candidates from each major party come out of Iowa viable.

In a way, the biggest maverick in the race is former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. He has a healthy lead in national polls for the Republican nomination, but he trails in Iowa and New Hampshire. His stated strategy is to hold his campaign firepower for the big-delegate primaries where he expects to do well, such as Florida (Jan. 29) and California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois (all Feb. 5).

While playing down his effort in Iowa and New Hampshire, Mr. Giuliani has nevertheless campaigned in both places, though not much until recently. Through Nov. 21, he spent 19 days in Iowa this year, versus 60 days for Mr. Romney, according to the Iowa Democratic Party.
(Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has surged into second place among Republicans in Iowa in the past month, has visited 58 times.) Romney has also spent big in the early states, building an organization and airing television ads early and often. Giuliani, in contrast, has husbanded his big war chest, airing his first TV ad of the campaign just this week – in New Hampshire.

The Giuliani campaign insists it can lose the first several contests and still win the nomination.
"What we see is there's the possibility of two paths" to the nomination, campaign director Mike DuHaime told reporters last week. He acknowledges that the early states can help a candidate build momentum, which is why Giuliani has made some effort in those states. "But we also recognize that with so many large delegate-rich states moving up so early in the process, that it's impossible to think that it [will] be over after only three states vote," he says.

By dampening expectations for the early states, Giuliani is holding open the possibility of a "surprise" victory in an early state – perhaps Michigan or South Carolina, where he and Romney are neck and neck. Still, by not making the concerted, long-term effort that the early states have come to expect, Giuliani may indeed be shut out there. Yet if he still goes on to win the nomination, he will have broken the mold: Since the advent of the modern primary system in 1972, no candidate has lost the first three contests and still won the nomination.

As for Romney, the only way he can beat expectations in the early going is not just to win, but to win convincingly.

In 2000, George W. Bush won the Iowa caucuses in a multicandidate field with 41 percent of the vote. "If Romney were to hit one-third or more, that looks pretty good," says Mr. Goldford, the political scientist. "But if he stays around 27 or so, then you have to ask, has he peaked?"

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Pentagon is left scrambling to pay for war

2007-11-22T08:19:00.000+08:00

from the November 19, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1119/p02s01-usmi.html

Secretary Robert Gates says Congress's failure to fund war operations means furloughs at US bases are likely.

By Gordon Lubold Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

Congress's failure last week to agree whether and how to fund the war puts the onus on the Pentagon, at least for now, to find a way to cover expenses in Iraq, potentially forcing the Defense Department to close dozens of domestic military bases and imperil the livelihoods of tens of thousands of defense workers.

The congressional inaction may trigger Secretary Robert Gates to carry out his threat last week to furlough as many as 200,000 civil servants and defense contractors this winter, raising the stakes for Democratic lawmakers determined to tie war funding to a drawdown of US troops from Iraq.

Before lawmakers left town Friday for their Thanksgiving recess, they did approve the Pentagon's $470 billion base budget, but not a supplemental funding request to pay for war operations. Democrats don't want to fund that $189 billion defense request from President Bush unless the money is tied to deadlines, or at least goals, to bring the bulk of troops home from Iraq by the end of 2008.

One Democratic measure, to provide $50 billion for war operations as long as the Pentagon aims to all but finish the redeployment of troops by December 2008, failed in the Senate on Friday. Another measure backed by Republicans, to provide $70 billion with no such deadline language, also failed, leaving the Pentagon uncertain about how to pay for the next several months of operations in Iraq.

That leaves the Pentagon with no choice, according to Secretary Gates, who said bluntly last week that the furloughs would be "the least undesirable" of the limited options if it runs out of money. The Defense Department would begin laying off nonuniformed defense workers, effectively shutting down all Army bases by February, followed by at least some Marine bases a month later.

The urgency stems from federal laws that require workers to be notified 60 days in advance that they might be furloughed in another month.

Though Gates is considered one of the least partisan members of the Bush Cabinet, some see his strategy as politically shrewd. It may well force congressional Democrats to back away, at least for now, from their strategy to tie war funding to a troop-withdrawal deadline, says Loren Thompson, a senior analyst at the Lexington Institute, a think tank near Washington.
Otherwise, Democrats could be seen as not supporting troops in the field, even though the furloughs would not affect troops directly at first.

"If this is yet another cat-and-mouse game over war funding, people should be clear that Gates is the cat, because in the end the Democratic mice are not going to be able to have their way," he says.

At the Pentagon Thursday, Gates complained that an uncertain funding stream at best creates busy work for defense planners – and at worst negatively affects the troops.

"The high degree of uncertainty on funding for the war is immensely complicating this task and will have many real consequences for this department and for our men and women in uniform," he said.

Unlike during last year's budget showdown with Congress over war funding, the Pentagon this time has little wiggle room for moving money around, said Gates. The Pentagon currently can move only about $3.7 billion into accounts for war operations – roughly the equivalent of one week's worth of war funding.

That's largely true, says Rep. Joe Sestak (D) of Pennsylvania, a former Navy admiral who worked on the Pentagon's Joint Staff before retiring and running for Congress. "Money is only so fungible among various accounts," he says. "Congress makes it that way."

Representative Sestak voted in favor of the ultimately unsuccessful proposal to fund war operations at $50 billion as long as troops start leaving soon. But he says he doesn't want Congress to micromanage the war via its purse strings and says the better option for Democratic lawmakers is to put such goal-post language in an authorization bill instead of insisting that it be part of an appropriations bill. The distinction would give Pentagon planners a date to work toward, without directly affecting their ability to spend the money Congress appropriates for war operations.

"It makes Congress a less blunt instrument," Sestak says.

Only when lawmakers end their rancor over the war can the two parties come to an agreement about how to proceed, he says. "I don't think we sit down enough with the other side to work things out."

This is not the first time the Pentagon has threatened severe consequences for delayed or insufficient war funding. Earlier this year during budget negotiations for fiscal 2007, the Defense Department said it would have to curtail critical predeployment training for troops and other procurement programs if Congress didn't provide enough money for the war. But the situation was different then, because the Pentagon already had what's called "bridge supplemental" funding that allowed it more flexibility to get through budgetary dry spells. This year, no such supplemental funding exists – hence the Pentagon's threat to begin shutting down US bases.

Ultimately, gridlock over war funding may not end until after the '08 election, says think tank analyst Mr. Thompson.

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Merkel's jet-setting: what cost?

2007-11-21T08:15:00.000+08:00

from the November 19, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1119/p04s01-woeu.html

Two years into office, the German leader is popular but her coalition is in a standoff.

By Jeffrey White Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

BERLIN

As tensions have steadily mounted in her delicate power-sharing government, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has maintained a rigorous travel schedule that has taken her to nine countries since August – jetting off to Liberia one week, Greenland another.

Beginning her third year in office this week, Mrs. Merkel enjoys a 70 percent approval rating largely because Germans believe she has elevated the country's clout on the world stage – presiding over international summits, meeting with heads of state on their own turf, and playing tough on key issues such as climate change.

But with her "grand coalition" now near collapse midway through its term, some are questioning whether Merkel's jet-setting has come at a price at home. Following a week of bitter political fighting, its two main parties – the liberal Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – are locked in a standoff, jeopardizing myriad domestic reforms.

"While others represent the country, we work for the people in Germany," wrote SPD member Peter Struck in a letter recently reprinted in the influential news magazine Der Spiegel, a barb widely read as a swipe against Merkel. "Numbers will decide the next elections, not foreign visits and red carpets."

Now the question facing Merkel is whether she, praised as a consensus-builder abroad, can mend the deep divisions within her coalition and stave off early elections that some say are growing increasingly hard to avoid.

"What she has done is very beneficial for her own reputation with the public," says Rainer Stinner, a member of parliament for the Liberal Party, which has aligned itself at different times with the CDU and SPD. "But she has not been very visible in the coalition," he adds, comparing the partnership to a marriage. "If you are married, and you talk to each other in this way, well, that must be the end of the union."

Reforms hang in the balance

Merkel returned last week from talks with President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, to preside over an emergency meeting between the CDU and SPD. The parties agreed to extend full unemployment benefits for older people, which the SPD has fiercely backed and the CDU resisted, but that news was overshadowed by the resignation of Franz Münterfering. The leader of the SPD, Mr. Münterfering was one of the chief architects of the grand coalition and enjoyed good relations with Merkel.

Both parties remain at loggerheads over a national minimum wage, commuter tax breaks, child-care benefits, domestic security, and the privatization of the state railway Deutsche Bahn (DB), whose conductors' strike – expected to resume Tuesday – is being billed by Western media as the worst in DB's history.

Experts suggest that Merkel, cognizant of the difficulties of two historic rival parties governing together, may be biding her time.

"Merkel has a clear mind," says Jüngen Falter, a political science professor at Johannes Guttenberg University in Mainz. "She knows that under the circumstances of a grand coalition, with two partners that are almost exactly equally strong, she cannot govern, she cannot rule as she might do in another coalition."

With a strong CDU showing in next year's state elections, Merkel could be emboldened to call for early elections after which she could form a new coalition. But with strong popularity – helped, no doubt, by the fact that unemployment is down to its lowest levels in 14 years – Merkel may be better off waiting until 2009, as planned, others argue. "She would be in a much better position campaigning as the ruling chancellor," Professor Falter says.

Experts point to last week's agreement on unemployment benefits as an example that Merkel can win compromises inside the parliament. The CDU opposed the measure, saying it did not encourage job-seeking, but still voted for it after getting assurances that it would not be costly to implement.

Merkel's partner moving away

But despite Merkel's efforts, the SPD, under the leadership of new party boss Kurt Beck, is likely to continue to move away from the coalition in an effort to win back its traditional liberal voting bloc, which has become disenchanted in recent years by what it sees as the SPD turning its back on social welfare reforms.

"During the last two years the major objective of the SPD was to be involved in the government. Now, with the resignation of Münterfering, that involvement is over," says Joerg Himmelreich, an analyst in the Berlin office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. "For me, that's a turning point. The last strong supporter of the government for the SPD has left the boat, and now it's all about the next election, two years from now."

For the CDU's part, it needs to win at least 40 percent of the vote to have a chance at forming its own government in 2009. It's in a good position, already governing eight of the country's 16 states, and cogoverning another four with the SPD.

The reforms that hang in the balance will form the campaign platforms of both parties in the next two years, experts say.

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Aid pours into Bangladesh after cyclone

2007-11-20T08:14:00.000+08:00

from the November 19, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1119/p07s02-wosc.html

Cyclone Sidr is the country's deadliest storm in a decade.

By Parveen Ahmed The Associated Press

Dhaka, BANGLADESH

Survivors are scrambling for food as rescue workers struggle to reach remote villages three days after cyclone Sidr battered Bangladesh, leaving more than 2,200 dead and thousands homeless.

Although Sidr has not been as devastating as previous cyclones that have pummelled storm-prone Bangladesh over the years, it is the country's deadliest cyclone in a decade, and relief officials are warning the death toll could jump sharply as rescuers reach more isolated areas.

Still, the death toll could have been much higher were it not for an early warning system that allowed at least 1.5 million coastal villagers to flee to shelters before the storm hit.

Teams from international aid organizations are now working with Army troops in a massive rescue effort that is attracting help from around the world. But on the devastated coast, rescue workers struggled to reach many survivors.

"I've been here waiting for hours for something to eat," said Asad Ali, a 45-year-old farmer in Barguna, one of the hardest-hit districts. "What I've got so far are a few cookies. Not enough."

Squatting on a muddy field with his wife, Mr. Ali said their only child, a 5-year-old girl, was crushed and killed beneath their toppled thatched hut.

Disaster Management Secretary Aiyub Bhuiyan met Sunday with representatives from the United Nations and international aid groups to discuss the emergency response.

"The donors wanted to know about our plan and how they can come forward to stand by the victims," Bhuiyan told reporters. "We have briefed them about what we need immediately."

The government said it has allocated $5.2 million in emergency aid for rebuilding houses. Many foreign governments and international groups have pledged to help, including the United States, which offered $2.1 million, and the UN, which promised $7 million. The US also plans to ship 35 tons of nonfood items such as plastic sheeting and hygiene kits, said White House press secretary Dana Perino.

Additionally, the USS Essex and the USS Kearsarge are en route to Bangladesh to assist in operations there. An 18 person Department of Defense medical team that was in Bangladesh prior to the storm is there to help with current medical needs.

Other governments and organizations that pledged to help include the German government, which offered $731,000, the European Union with $2.2 million, and the British government with $5 million. France pledged $730,000 in aid, while the Philippines announced it would send a medical team.

The Rome-based World Food Program is rushing in food, and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society is sending thousands of workers to stricken areas.

Many survivors have returned to find their bamboo-and-straw huts flattened, their roofs missing, their crops ruined.

Government officials defended the relief efforts and expressed confidence that authorities are up to the task.

"We have enough food and water," said Shahidul Islam, the top official in Bagerhat, a battered district close to Barguna. "We are going to overcome the problem."

Cyclone Sidr - How to help

Some of the agencies accepting donations for cyclone victims in Bangladesh:

International Red Cross: 202-3030054 or www.ifrc.org.

Save the Children: 800-728-3843 or www .savethechildren.org.

World Vision: 888-562-4453 or www .worldvision.org.

Adventist Development & Relief Agency International: 800-424-ADRA or www.adra.org.
Catholic Relief Services: 800-736-3467 or http://crs.org.

Source: Wire services, aid organizations

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In Pakistan, can Bhutto distance herself from Musharraf?

2007-11-19T08:12:00.000+08:00

from the November 19, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1119/p06s01-wosc.html

As the former prime minister tries to unify the opposition to Pakistan's president, many wonder if her past dealings with him will make her unpopular.

By Shahan Mufti Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Islamabad, Pakistan

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's long political balancing act between President Pervez Musharraf and his political opposition seems to have finally come to an end, observers here say, despite Washington's continuing effort to resuscitate a deal between the two leaders.

But even as Ms. Bhutto appears to throw herself into convening a unified opposition movement against President Musharraf, her prolonged negotiations to reach a powersharing agreement with him have earned her the distrust and skepticism of many other leaders in the opposition ranks.

In the same way, Washington's repeated urging for Musharraf and Bhutto to reconcile may have scuttled the former prime minister's political viability by causing her to appear, like Musharraf, to be an intimate of Washington.

"The deal" between Pervez Musharraf and Bhutto "is redundant," says Hassan Askari Rizvi, a political consultant. "Any politician who sits with Musharraf, their political career is over."

After a visit last weekend by US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in which he articulated Washington's reluctant but continued support for Musharraf, Bhutto is faced with a stark choice between a path to potential power that either runs through power politics or popular politics.

"She may feel the advantage lies with Musharraf" after America's newest diplomatic gesture, says Shafqat Mahmood, a political analyst. "But as far as public opinion goes, she would lose enormous popular support," by joining ranks with him.

With the country under effective martial law, and as Taliban-inspired militants wage war against the Pakistani Army in the region bordering Afghanistan, top US envoy Mr. Negroponte suggested "reconciliation between political moderates" would be "the most constructive way forward" to maintain Musharraf as an ally in the war on terror.

But in separate conversations, both Musharraf and Bhutto conveyed to Negroponte that there was little space for negotiations left.

While Bhutto, Mr. Rizvi says, was able to bounce back from her initial contacts with Musharraf earlier this year, his declaration of a state of emergency this month has substantially raised the stakes.

"The substance of Negroponte's visit seems to be that, even though the US disagrees with the imposition of emergency [rule], they are still willing to work with him," says Rizvi. Negroponte's attempts to revive Bhutto-Musharraf talks, he says "is totally out of step with the ground reality in the country."

Bhutto's friends in opposing places

Bhutto has spent the past week networking with all elements of Musharraf's opposition – political parties of all ideological stripes, civil society groups, lawyers, and students – in the hopes of leading a strong alternative bloc.

Such a unified political force could be presented to her sympathizers in the West, who are now being forced to consider a post-Musharraf Pakistan as an alternative to the military ruler.

In her own press conference in Lahore, after her three-day house arrest ended, Bhutto made
her new stance clear. She called Musharraf "an obstacle to democracy" and termed a new interim government appointed by the president to oversee the election period "unacceptable" and "biased." She threatened to boycott general elections scheduled for January.

Last week, Bhutto had demanded that Musharraf resign from the Army and the government – a far cry from her stance a month ago, when she wished to work with the general to restore democracy in the country.

Bhutto also used her time under house arrest to reach out to estranged opposition leaders, including her sometime rival former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia. She has also begun working with Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the leader of the Islamist political party Jamat-e-Islami.

In an apparent attempt to win back her estranged secular liberal vote bank, Bhutto also met with Asma Jehangir, a leading human rights lawyer active in the lawyers' street movement against Musharraf and chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Careful calculations

Bhutto's decision to start a campaign against Musharraf, analysts say, could be the result of some hard calculations, including weighing how much power Musharraf will truly wield if he does quit the Army as promised and begin his second term as a civilian president.

Bhutto may also be banking on support from Washington– if the US is presented with a choice between the military leader and her.

"If Benazir puts her foot down now, the US might just decide that their plans to keep Pervez Musharraf in place are scuttled," says Mr. Mahmood.

For his part, Musharraf has appeared, for now, to have thrown all his chips back with his own loyalist party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

A newspaper quoted Musharraf telling party loyalists that "I am your team, and you are mine."

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In conformist Japan, workers find courage to expose illegal actions

2007-11-18T08:10:00.000+08:00

from the November 19, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1119/p12s01-woap.html

A policeman who blew the whistle on colleagues' fake expenses gets compensation.

By YURI KAGEYAMA Associated Press

TOKYO

It's not easy for an individual to call attention to illegal or unethical behavior in the workplace in any culture. But in Japan, where conformity is seen as a virtue, it can be especially difficult.

When officer Toshiro Semba revealed that his bosses in the police department were forging receipts in order to wine and dine on the public's money, they took his gun away.

He was decreed too emotionally unstable to carry a weapon – a humiliation, he says, designed to corner him into quitting. For 500 days, he was ordered to sit alone in a tiny room at the Ehime Prefectural Police.

"I became a policeman because I wanted to help powerless people. But when I got in, I learned it was totally different," says Mr. Semba.

He was passed over for promotions after he refused to fake receipts and is still a sergeant after 34 years. "I wear that title proudly — like a medal," Semba says.

Whistle-blowers like Semba have been especially solitary in Japan, where conformity and respect for hierarchy are venerated as tradition. They have been labeled as traitors.

But that attitude is gradually changing. As Japan modernizes, people increasingly see themselves as individuals and consumers, with a duty to speak up against wrongdoing.

In fact, whistle-blowers are behind the spate of recent scandals embroiling a pastrymaker that forged manufacturing dates, a builder that cheated on fireproofing tests, and a meat processor that sold a mixture of meats and chicken as pure ground beef.

Reports to the government of suspicious food manufacturing, nearly all from insiders, have skyrocketed from some 100 a month last year to 697 last month, food safety official Yosuke Abe says.

Policeman Semba won personal vindication in September when a court awarded him $8,800 in damages, ruling that his on-the-job treatment was retaliation for his 2004 exposure of police corruption. The police are appealing the ruling. Semba couldn't hold back tears when his court ruling was read. "I felt there's justice in this world," he says.

Although the award is small by American standards, it is a major victory in Japan, where court-ordered damage compensation tends to be minimal and the value of whistle-blowers is only starting to be recognized.

The first law to protect whistle-blowers passed last year, but critics say it's inadequate. It requires whistle-blowers to first tell their employer and wait before going public if they hope to get any protection.

Whistle-blowers have been rare because Japanese companies, even major ones, are run like families, and individual workers don't see themselves as hired by contract as do American workers, says Koji Igata, business administration professor at Osaka University of Economics. "Whistle-blowers are seen as eccentrics who've turned on their parents," he says.

Japan modernized over the past half-century by fostering corporate loyalty in return for secure employment. So when a company runs into trouble, good workers are expected to defend it; exposing wrongdoing is viewed as betrayal.

Only in recent years, as Japanese companies hire lower-paid younger workers and drop job guarantees in response to global competition, has the idea of criticizing an employer started to catch on, says Professor Igata.

An influx of part-time workers has also contributed to eroding the ties of loyalty. Akafuku, the pastrymaker targeted as a result of a whistle-blower, employed about 250 part-time workers, half of its workforce. It was shut down after it was found to be reselling unsold pastries shipped back from stores as new ones.

Calls to strengthen corporate ethics are on the rise, partly from grass-roots movements but also from companies eager to catch up with the rest of the world in governance standards.
Semba, still a railway policeman, says he is donating his lawsuit money to an ombudsman charity because money was never the goal of his battle.

But what made it all worth it was an elderly woman who recognized him at a highway rest stop where he had stopped for a cup of coffee.

"She told me, 'You made sacrifices for us. I must thank you,' " he says. "She understood everything."

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OPEC's lost sway over oil prices

2007-11-17T08:00:00.000+08:00

from the November 19, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1119/p01s01-wogn.html

This weekend's summit focused mostly on poor nations, climate change, and the euro vs. the dollar.

By Dan Murphy Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Cairo

A rare meeting of the heads of state of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Saudi Arabia this weekend was predictably focused on prices. But the price most often discussed wasn't the cost of oil, but rather the plummeting US dollar.

As oil hovers near $100 a barrel, it's causing global jitters. Some economists worry that price, which depending on whose math you use is either near or above an inflation-adjusted record, could push many world economies into recession.

But the organization that was created in 1960 to stabilize prices, today wields less clout than it once did over the cost of crude. The 13-nation cartel once controlled prices often by just talking about pumping more or less oil. But now its leaders say booming world demand – largely from India and China – and concern over a possible US attack on Iran are driving prices.

"OPEC is still a major force, but it's certainly far less influential that it was in the 70s or 80s," says Mustafa Alani, at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. "What we saw at this conference is that the leaders of OPEC were giving assurances that they'll do all they can to maintain the stability of the oil supply. But can they do it? We don't know."

OPEC's biggest producers – Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbors – say they'd like prices to be a little lower but are pumping near capacity now. After all, their currencies are pegged to the dollar, so a weak US economy hurts them, too. Analysts say that while Saudi Arabia and others might be able to squeeze out an extra 1 million barrels a day, that's only 3 percent more than estimated current OPEC production of 31 million barrels a day.

The new reality facing OPEC left the ministers over the weekend discussing once peripheral issues: pricing oil in US dollars, climate change, and developing nations. Political opponents of the US – Iran and Venezuela – have been pushing for the market to be moved from the US dollar into stronger Euros. While analysts say that is unlikely to happen anytime soon, the fact that such issues – not oil prices – got so much attention reflects changing times.

US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said earlier this week that he did ask OPEC members to increase supply, though he said that the request seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

Anyone hoping that the OPEC Summit – the first meeting of the leaders of its member states since 2000 – would bring relief from gas prices that have jumped 25 percent this year to above $3 a gallon in the US, is going to be disappointed.

On Friday, crude oil traded in the US rose $1 to over $95 a barrel after Venezuela's Oil Minister Rafael Ramírez said, "OPEC can't do anything about the price ... there is enough oil in the market."

Venezuela – whose leftist President Hugo Chávez appears to revel in tweaking the nose of the US, which he alleges backed a failed coup against him five years ago – has been pushing for higher oil prices in tandem with Iran, as well as a move away from the US dollar.

In this, both countries failed. Saudi Arabia – which accounts for about 30 percent of OPEC production – clearly signaling its opposition to what it views as the politicization of the commodity.

After Mr. Chávez urged OPEC's leaders to use their oil wealth to become an "active political agent" and warned that oil prices would rise above $200 a barrel if the US takes military action against his ally, Iran, Saudi King Abdullah dismissed his arguments.

"Oil ... should not become a tool for conflict and emotions," he said. "Those who want OPEC to become an organization of monopoly and exploitation ignore the truth."

The joint OPEC statement released at the end of the summit said that the "stability of the oil market is essential," which oil analysts said was a repudiation of Venezuela's and Iran's aims.

Chávez also called on oil producers to sell to poor countries at prices at about one-fifth of the current market price, an idea that gained no traction and appeared designed to bolster his populist credentials. The only support for this idea came from Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa. Even Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who Chávez was scheduled to meet later Sunday in Tehran, failed to back to him on this suggestion.

Mr. Ahmadinejad has portrayed himself as a man of the people and the promise of his 2005 election campaign to spread Iran's oil wealth to every dinner table struck a chord with voters.
During a visit to Venezuela last January, Ahmadinejad kept that populist touch, announcing with Chávez the creation of a $2 billion anti-US fund. And on Sunday, after meeting with President Correa, Ahmadinejad promised to use his country's oil wealth to fight "imperialism."

But his promises remain unfulfilled for most Iranians, though Iran has seen its oil revenues surge in the past five years. Despite the cash boom, Iran's economy is struggling under the weight of high unemployment and rising inflation, not to mention US sanctions. He simply isn't in a position to back up his rhetoric, analysts say.

"Iran can't even think about this case [of cut-rate sales to poor countries], because the oil price works in the market economy," says Abbas Maleki, a former deputy foreign minister of Iran, and chair of the International Institute for Caspian Studies.

"The best way for Iran is to establish a fund for development, to support development projects," says Mr. Maleki, who was recently a fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. "OPEC already has a development fund for Africa and Third World countries … Iran wants to spend all oil revenues in Iran."

Indeed, though OPEC made it clear it isn't in a position to lower prices, a silver-lining for the US is that Chávez's efforts to build a populist bloc within OPEC fizzled.

"There are basically two camps, Iran and Venezuela and one led by Saudi Arabia," says Mr. Alani, the oil analyst. "What happened at this conference was that the leaders of OPEC – Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states – made it clear they oppose the use of oil as a weapon, so the radicals within OPEC were isolated.

"What's going to happen now is the leaders will do everything they can to maintain supply. But there's very little they can do if there's an attack on Iran or something of that nature. In that case, prices will double, perhaps go to $300 a barrel." Scott Peterson contributed reporting from Tehran, Iran.

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Oil-spill helpers galore, but limits on their use

2007-11-16T06:01:00.000+08:00

from the November 13, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1113/p01s02-usgn.html

When 58,000 gallons of oil spilled into the San Francisco Bay last Wednesday volunteers came out of the woodwork, but officials were unprepared for their help.

By Ben Arnoldy Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Marin Headlands, Calif.

When a shipping accident last week dumped 58,000 gallons of oil in San Francisco Bay, it washed onto shores that are home to a great concentration of America's environmentalists.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that volunteers poured forth to help – yet officials still seemed flummoxed when it happened.

Callers overwhelmed a volunteer hot line within an hour. Public meetings devolved at times into heated exchanges when officials told would-be volunteers essentially "Don't call us, we'll call you" if their help was needed. And other residents armed with rubber gloves and pooper-scoopers stormed the closed beaches, calling their oil cleanup work a form of "civil disobedience."
Officials want volunteers off beaches citing concerns about public health and the safety of frightened wildlife, but some residents question whether the extensive coastline can be cleaned quickly without more help. Partly a culture clash between a bottom-up, crowd-sourcing culture and a top-down, litigation-conscious government, it's also indicative of a national lack of planning for volunteers during crisis, say experts.

"People doing crisis-management planning who don't understand that there will be volunteers – they aren't doing crisis-management planning," says Susan Ellis, president of Energize Inc., a consulting and publishing firm specializing in volunteerism. "There's this strange feeling that somehow it's easy, or when volunteers come we'll deal with it. It's so complex that they oversimplify it."

The organizational blind spot showed during the Sept. 11 aftermath when emergency leaders in New York overlooked calling in experienced volunteer managers, instead tapping one volunteer to handle the others, says Ms. Ellis. Since Sept. 11, some community disaster plans have incorporated volunteer coordinators. However, it's still common even in major crises for the coordinator to be saddled with several other tasks as well, she says.

Authorities have their hands full with the Bay Area spill, from the oil-soaked birds to the coastline to the questions.

The Cosco Busan, a cargo ship bound for South Korea, hit the Bay Bridge amid fog on Wednesday morning. One of the ship's tanks ruptured, dumping thick fuel into the bay. The National Transportation Safety Board announced Sunday it was opening a criminal investigation.
The US Coast Guard has taken heavy criticism for its early handling of the incident – including waiting two hours before swinging into full action.

Cleanup efforts now involve 81 vessels, three helicopters, and 1,048 people as of Monday. Some 12,000 gallons of oil had been collected and an additional estimated 4,000 gallons had evaporated. But about 42,000 gallons remain.

Where volunteerism surrounding beach cleanup seems to be in disarray, an extensive volunteer system is helping to save oil-covered birds. Officials created a public hot line for reporting birds, which are collected by trained experts. So far they've retrieved 402 dead birds, and 511 live, but messy, ones.

The birds are carted 30 miles inland to a special rehabilitation center. The permanent facility, run by the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), is drawing on a list of 1,000 previously trained volunteers, many from wildlife organizations.

"With the potential magnitude, we are now starting to integrate the general public," said Mike Ziccardi, director of OWCN, a partnership between Fish & Game and the University of California Davis.

Staff and trained volunteers examine and wash each bird.

Walk-in volunteers are given less technical tasks such as cleaning equipment, laundering towels – and fetching lunch.

"We haven't fed a bird, but we feed the people," says Katrina Pearson, who came over the weekend to volunteer with her daughter, Kate Pelto. "You feel so helpless when you see it. We were able to do something, and that felt good."

Frustration, however, ran high at three area volunteer meetings held over the weekend by California Fish & Game. Some came in old clothes thinking they would be heading out to the beaches, but officials just collected people's contact information and answered questions.

"Here we have a golden opportunity, a three-day weekend right after the spill, and I can't do anything to help," says one attendee, Barbara Hogan, who has experience working at the local Marine Mammal Center. "They don't even have us put our skills on that form."

During a packed session in Marin, one woman raised her hand and explained she was a veterinarian who had tried in vain to reach someone to offer her expertise.

It's common for agencies to view volunteers as only bringing "hearts and hands" to the table, says Ellis. The goal is to ask "Are there some of you here who can do exactly what we need [or] bring a skill we didn't expect?"

Yvonne Addassi, an environmental specialist with California Fish & Game, asked for patience at the meeting. "We've never gone to public meetings like this because we usually have to work very hard to get people to volunteer," she said.

She presented a recent scientific study which found that there were health problems associated with oil cleanup workers and volunteers. Fish & Game experts also explained hazards of helping without proper full-body gear and noted that there are state regulations known as HAZWOPER that require a 24-hour training course for participants of hazardous materials cleanups.

San Francisco resident Beth Brown questions how the effort can be done by just above 1,000 professionals, "[The number] sounds like an office Christmas party," she says, "It does not sound like a major operation to clean up the Headlands all the way to Ocean Beach."

Ms. Brown and a friend donned rubber gloves and used a cat litter scoop to pick up oil off a local beach before a policeman ordered them to leave.

Coast Guard Capt. William Uberti said Sunday that they are working with the state to get training to volunteers and to tap people who already have it like EMTs.

In the meantime, volunteers have been asked to help clean debris from beaches not yet hit by oil. Some have taken it on themselves to place booming, a type of protective barrier, across local harbors not yet protected by professional efforts.

"You just have to do it. Otherwise it won't get done," says Doreen Gounard, harbor manager at Galilee Harbor in Sausilito. She and about 20 residents scrambled to procure booming, ultimately saving their local marsh from contamination. "There's too much coastline here, there's not enough professionals to take care of it."

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A melting Alaska draws visitors

2007-11-15T05:59:00.000+08:00

from the November 14, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1114/p03s02-usgn.html

Warming five times faster than the rest of the world, the state is seeing ecotourism change with the climate.

By Yereth Rosen Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Portage Glacier, Alaska

Tourists still flock to Alaska to see Mount McKinley and ice caves, but a small and steady stream of visitors now head to the last frontier to see thawing tundra, crumbling glaciers, and ailing forests.

Take Shishmaref, an Inupiat Eskimo village on the state's remote northwest coast. Known for exquisite ivory carvings and high-quality seal oil, it lures travelers these days because of its precarious perch on melting land. When a team of scientists and religious leaders arrived in August, a highlight of the tour was viewing a house that had tumbled over the edge of the beach bluff; A storm had cut 20 feet from the shoreline previously held fast by frozen permafrost and sea-ice buildup.

"To many of us, Alaska is the distant early-warming system for the future of climate change," says Eric Chivian, of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, which organized the trip.

Because Alaska is heating up more than five times faster than the world as a whole, scientists, congressmen, foreign dignitaries, and the curious are coming to see the effects of global warming firsthand. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) of Louisiana came here recently to hold a field hearing on the effects of warming on native villages. Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich led a tour for mayors from the lower 48 last year. Some tourists say they come to see Alaska before some of its most striking features disappear.

This summer, a pair of professional surfers from Hawaii came to have themselves filmed riding the huge waves created by crashing chunks of ice falling off of Child's Glacier near the Prince William Sound town of Cordova. "It was the heaviest rush just sitting out there, dwarfed by this enormous glacier face, waiting for the whole thing to crash down in front of us and hoping we'd survive it when it did," surfer Garrett McNamara reported on his Web page.

In some cases, such trips are transformational. Evangelist Harry Jackson says this summer's Harvard tour, especially the visit to Shishmaref, converted him from a global-warming skeptic to a believer.

"This has immediate consequences," says Mr. Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Maryland. "That perspective you don't get on the East Coast. "

While most tourists don't come to Alaska to see the effects of global warming – cruises and sports fishing are still much bigger draws– the topic is not far from the minds of many visitors.
"There is that sense that Alaska's going to change because [change] is inevitable, so let's see it before it changes," says Kirk Hoessle, owner of Alaska Wildland Adventures. Clients become more aware of the warming impacts in Alaska when they see the vast stretches of beetle-killed trees on the Kenai Peninsula or learn about the recent spate of lightning-strike fires that are uncharacteristic for the region, he says.

At Kenai Fjords National Park, rangers and interpreters have been briefed on global warming and the way the changing climate is affecting the local glaciers and ecology for years. "We find it's a very common question that tourists have," says park superintendent Jeff Mow.

Exit Glacier, for example, is an accessible river of ancient blue ice that is rapidly retreating from the viewing stations and hiking trails at its tidewater terminus. Tourists, especially those making return trips to Exit Glacier, see the shrinking glacier as evidence of Alaska's warming, he says. "We get a lot of people visiting who say, 'What happened to it?' " Mr. Mow says.

Plenty of VIPs make the trek to Exit Glacier, including former President Jimmy Carter, presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain, and even legislators from the Japanese Diet, Mow says.

Aside from being a draw, the climate question can also be a touchy subject at the park. One staff member was verbally attacked by an out-of-state tourist while discussing climate change during a tour, Mow adds.

Warming has changed the focus of the Begich-Boggs Visitors Center here at Portage Glacier, a popular attraction for visitors to the Chugach National Forest. In the 1980s, the glacier extended well into the lake, filling the center's plate-glass windows with close-up views of ancient blue ice. Now, its rapid retreat has inspired Forest Service managers to change the facility's focus, says Lezlie Murray, manager of the center. "We are trying to show them the breadth of the forest. And that includes glaciers still, but it also includes all of the things that live and breathe in the forest."

Also dramatic are the impacts of warming on people who live off the land and the sea, mostly Alaska natives whose cultures are tied to their harvests of wild foods.

Back in Shishmaref, members of the Harvard tour meet the cousins of Norman Charlie Kokeak, a young hunter who fell through the ice earlier in the summer and drowned, despite extensive knowledge and instruction from the elders about safe ice travel.

"[H]e was a metaphor of the death of the next generation," says Peter Heltzel, a professor at the New York Theological Seminary. "I saw that the erosion of that island is the erosion of a cultural identity."

The village, like others in Alaska, is planning to move to firmer ground inland. Progress of the ambitious relocation has stalled because of the high cost – estimated variously at $100 million to $400 million – and bureaucratic inertia. Senator Landrieu says she hopes some nongovernmental organization and charities will be able to cover some of the costs and cut through some of the federal red tape. "If these villages and cultures have existed for thousands of years and have managed, they shouldn't come to an abrupt end because of the federal government and the [US Army] Corps of Engineers."

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Climate summary fuels worry

2007-11-14T05:58:00.000+08:00

from the November 15, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1115/p04s01-wogi.html

With the pending release of a new global-warming report, environmentalists, politicians, and scientists wrangle in Spain for consensus.

By Brad Knickerbocker

As a major part of the United Nations' effort to study climate change and to do something about it, thousands of scientists have produced thousands of pages documenting the details and causes of global warming.

In Valencia, Spain, this week, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is trying to boil that information down to a 25-page document – a synthesis to guide government policymakers around the world. As the Associated Press reported:

"Everyone will feel its effects, [said Yvo de Boer, director of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change] but global warming will hit the poorest countries hardest and will 'threaten the very survival' of some people, he said. 'Failing to recognize the urgency of this message and act on it would be nothing less than criminally irresponsible' and a direct attack on the world's poorest people, de Boer said."

Much is at stake, including the future of national economies and migration patterns of humans and other species.

Not surprisingly, a lot of wrangling is going on in Valencia as nations push to emphasize their point of view and concerns. Agence France-Presse reported:

"Much of the discussion ... was related to sections relating to national sensitivity, sources said. Peru and Switzerland, for example, were fighting for a specific mention about the impacts of melting glaciers. The United States, meanwhile, questioned a reference that implied that powerful tropical storms would increase this century."

Environmentalists are worried that in the attempt to find consensus, country representatives will weaken the impact of the IPCC's earlier reports, which state with certainty that global warming is happening in large part due to human activities. Associated Press wrote:

"Without naming them, the WWF [World Wildlife Fund] accused governments of 'politically inspired trimming' of facts from the summaries, which it said diluted the urgency to make deep cuts in emissions."

IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri said UN panel scientists were determined to "adhere to standards of quality" in the final report to be issued this year. TheAge.com.au continued:

"The comment was an indirect barb at the political delegations, which environmentalists have accused of ... excluding vital information from the summaries of earlier reports.... The WWF claims that the report will also not contain worrying evidence published in the past year that the Southern Ocean has started to take up less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, accelerating the pace of global warming."

Scientists are caught in the middle. "A real challenge has been to ensure that the assessments are objective and not influenced by government agendas," Martin Parry, co-chair of one of IPCC's working groups told the BBC.

John Christy, an IPCC author, who is skeptical of the more alarmist predictions about global warming, says:

"Scientists are mere mortals…. Our cousins in the ... weather prediction business learned this ... because they were held accountable for their predictions every day. Answering the question about how much warming has occurred because of increases in greenhouse gases and what we may expect in the future still holds enormous uncertainty.

There's keen interest in, and increasing urgency regarding this IPCC synthesis. The International Energy Agency reported that global energy demand is likely to grow 55 percent by 2030. The Guardian noted:

"In its annual World Energy Outlook, the energy group said world needs will rise to 17.7 billion tonnes of oil equivalent in 2030, from 11.4 billion in 2005 .... As oil prices surge to flirt with the $100 a barrel mark, the IEA also warned that price could soar to $159 in 2030 due to higher-than-expected growth."

Meanwhile, according to the UN climate-change secretariat, combined greenhouse-gas emissions from industrialized nations have declined only a smidgen since 1990.
It's an indication of how hard it will be to meet current goals, let alone more ambitious reductions now called for in the years beyond 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol expires.

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How to fight a rising sea

2007-11-13T05:56:00.000+08:00

from the November 15, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1115/p13s02-wogi.html

What the Netherlands has done – and is urgently planning to do – in the face of climate-driven sea-level rise holds important lessons for the rest of the world.

By Peter N. Spotts Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Dordrecht, Netherlands

The Dutch enjoy a hard-earned reputation for building river dikes and sea barriers. Over centuries, they have transformed a flood-prone river delta into a wealthy nation roughly twice the size of New Jersey.

If scientific projections for global warming are right, however, that success will be sorely tested. Globally, sea levels may rise up to a foot during the early part of this century, and up to nearly three feet by century's end. This would bring higher tidal surges from the more-intense coastal storms that scientists also project, along with the risk of more frequent and more severe river floods from intense rainfall inland.

Nowhere does this aquatic vise squeeze more tightly than on the world's densely populated river deltas.

So why is one of the most famous deltas – the Netherlands – breaching some river dikes and digging up some of the rare land in this part of the country that rises (barely) above sea level?

In the Biesbosch, a small inland delta near the city of Dordrecht, ecologist Alphons van Winden looks out his car window at a lone excavator filling a dump truck with soil. He considers the question and laughs. "We do have a hard time explaining this to foreigners," he says.

The work here represent a keystone in the country's climate-adaptation plans, Mr. van Winden says. Indeed, nowhere are adaptation planning efforts to address rising sea levels and flooding more advanced than in the Netherlands.

To be sure, the country's economic wealth and long experience dealing with threats from seas and rivers give it an advantage over other low countries that face rising waters, such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, and the tiny tropical island nation of Tuvalu in the South Pacific. But many of the approaches the Netherlands is taking can and are being slowly adopted even in countries far poorer, specialists say.

The excavation work here is one example of what van Winden calls "soft approaches" to flooding in this small nation where competing interests jostle for every square foot of land. By buying out the few farmers remaining in this region, breaching the dikes they built to protect their land, and digging additional water channels, the Dutch government aims to reduce peak flood flows at Dordrecht and other cities downstream. No longer will tightly constricted river and canal channels hold high water captive. Big floods will overspread the Biesbosch, reducing the threat of water spilling over the top of levees that guard densely populated cities to the west.

The Biesbosch may also be critical to the future of farming on the productive southwest coast. There, most of the area's fresh water sources are close to the coast – and vulnerable to salt-water contamination from a rising North Sea. This could make farming difficult, if not impossible. The Biesbosch, however, hosts three large reservoirs, each surrounded by a 20-foot-high dike. Fresh water piped from these reservoirs, some 50 miles inland, could keep coastal areas supplied.

1.4 billion live near seacoast

Globally, some 21 percent of the world's 6.6 billion people live within 20 miles of a seacoast – and nearly 40 percent within 60 miles, says Robert Nicholls, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southampton in England.

Seacoast populations who face the greatest risk from floods, storms, and sea-level rise live on river deltas, says the UN-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In the IPCC's latest set of reports on the impact of global warming, released earlier this year, scientists looked at data from 40 of the globe's river deltas, home to 300 million people. If current trends continue through 2050, flooding in the Nile, Mekong, and Ganges-Brahmaputra river deltas could each displace more than 1 million people. Up to a million more may be forced to head for higher ground in each of another nine deltas, including the Mississippi River delta.
Up to 50,000 could be forced to relocate in each of 12 other deltas, including the Rhine River delta – an area known more widely as the Netherlands.

Besides global warming, scientists say the challenges these regions face have other causes as well. Levees, sea walls, drainage canals, dams, and other land-use patterns have taken a toll.
Deltas tend to subside (sink) naturally, accentuating the rise in sea level. Past engineering projects can actually limit the ability of natural processes to replenish the land mass of deltas.

A patch of the Netherlands between Rotterdam and Gouda, called Zuidplaspolder, highlights the issue in a way that New Orleans might recognize. The 19-square-mile area is bounded by dikes and the Gouwe River. Face the river, and the landscape looks like a typical river plain. But turn and face Zuidplaspolder, and you see a steep decline dropping more than 20 feet. The huge dimple in the delta stretches as far as the eye can see.

It's the lowest spot in Europe, some 23 feet below sea level.

"And it's all subsidence," says Willemien Croes, a planner with the provincial government of South Holland. Over the centuries, residents dug up thick layers of peat to warm their homes in Gouda, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam, she says. Much of Zuidplaspolder then filled with water.
Farmers pumped it dry, grew crops, and raised dairy herds on the rich clay and peat. When the soil settled, farmers ringed the area with dikes for protection.

The area's low elevation and the anticipated increased future risk of floods, combined with development pressures from Rotterdam and Gouda, have turned this area into one of the country's biggest adaptation challenges. But it's hardly alone: Some 60 percent of the country, accounting for 70 percent of its gross domestic product, lies below sea level.

These sinking lowlands are protected along the coast by sand dunes, dikes, and sea barriers that stretch across the mouths of estuaries. These natural and engineered defenses have protected millions from the North Sea since a devastating storm surge hit the country in 1953. But these defenses have come at an ecological cost. Unlike river deltas such as the Mississippi's, which grew as sediment washed downriver from deep in the North American interior, the Dutch delta was built by the sea. Currents swirling through the Strait of Dover since the end of the last ice age eroded the white cliffs and deposited the material along the Dutch coast.

That process has slowed substantially, says van Winden, who works for Stroming, an environmental consulting firm in Nijmegen. Although the delta drains three of Europe's major rivers – the Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt – the rivers never carried enough sediment to build the delta, and don't carry enough silt to maintain it today. From that standpoint, he says, over the long term "we are living beyond our means."

Dutch humble in face of rising threat

Faced with the twin threats of increased river flooding from inland storms and higher ocean storm surges as the climate warms and sea levels rise, the country aims to meet these challenges with a variety of approaches, ranging from complex engineering to "natural." But it's doing so with increased humility, given the levee failures in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"If you want a caricature of the Netherlands, it's: 'We have the dikes; we are 100 percent safe. So just go on with your life,' " says Pieter Bloemen, who runs the government's Adaptation Program for Spatial Planning and Climate. But these days, "even we proud Dutch, with climate change in the back of our heads, have to think about broken dikes. That's a big paradigm shift."

Zuidplaspolder is a case in point. As the lowest real estate in one of the Netherlands' most vulnerable provinces, it has become a test bed for factoring water and climate change into zoning and development plans. In the next 20 years, 15,000 to 30,000 new housing units will be built here. Anticipating this growth, in 2004, officials from provincial and local governments joined with nongovernmental organizations to develop a master plan for the polder. (A polder is a large tract of land containing farms and villages encircled by dikes. The dikes offer flood protection, but they also turn the polders into enormous bathtubs with bottoms that slowly, inexorably sink.)

The new homes that rise in the polder may look nothing like those in the villages the Dutch are used to, Mr. Bloemen says. To deal with floods, homes on this higher ground could be designed to float in place or built on stilts. They may sport tall ground floors, with living space and utilities placed on higher floors. Entire villages might be built to float in place, linked by buoyant sidewalks and roads.

In addition, he adds, officials may ask developers to use a technique that dates back centuries: building houses, even whole villages, on mounds. That low-tech approach is appearing in other parts of the world, too. Oxfam International is working with villages in Bangladesh to build individual homes and even small villages on flood-resistant mounds.

In the Netherlands, river floods are a top item on the climate-change adaptation must-fix list. To be sure, the country has tried to be forward-looking in tackling flood control and sea-level rise, notes Hans Balvoort, with the Netherlands' Ministry of Public Works, Transport, and Water Management. It typically uses a 50-year planning horizon. But a wake-up call came in the 1990s, "when, for the first time, rainfall was so heavy and intense that our pumping systems could not cope," he says.

Powerful pumps long ago replaced the signature windmills as the way to keep the polders from flooding. "On such a large scale," he says, the inability of pumps to keep pace with rainfall was "something we had not experienced before."

Moreover, for two winters during that decade, flooded rivers rose so high that officials evacuated some 250,000 people out of concern that levees might not hold. Instead of building large numbers of new levees, he continues, scientists, engineers, and officials looked for other ways to store flood waters over the short term to reduce the risk.

The Biesbosch project, with its dike removal, or "depoldering," is one approach. The government also is working on a range of other strategies to give flooded rivers more room to flow. They might spread dikes farther apart, excavate land between river and dikes (to capture overflow), deepen central river channels, remove jettylike groins that now force most of the flow into the center of a river, remove other obstructions, and even add new channels to the flood plain or restore old ones.

Storm surge is biggest coastal worry

The government plans to spend €2.2 billion ($3.2 billion) to make these changes to its rivers. Meanwhile, along the coast, the big worry is not about any average increase in sea level, which scientists project to rise here between 35 and 85 cm (14 to 33 inches) by 2100. Instead, the biggest concern is the change in storm-surge patterns that will ride atop that rise, says Pier Vellinga, who heads the climate program at Wageningen University.

As if to highlight this point, last weekend Britain and the Netherlands closed their sea barriers in the face of a storm in the North Sea that sent a 13-foot surge bearing down on their coasts.

Planners in other countries often design for a once-every-hundred-years storm. While that approach can be useful, the challenge is that climate change may throw those projections out of whack. For example, some researchers say that in the US Northeast, midcentury coastal winter storms could lead to flood levels every three or four years – floods of a severity that used to occur only once every 100 years. Netherlands planners aim for a 10,000-year storm for the country's most vulnerable areas. And even that may be inadequate, Dr. Vellinga says.

"When you do an economic assessment of the damage," he says, "and what you can afford to [spend to] avoid that damage, a better safety level would be a recurrence of 1 in 100,000 years." One storm like that could cost the country up to a year's worth of gross domestic product – €500 billion ($730 billion).

In 1990, the government decided to maintain the country's existing coastline by replenishing its extensive phalanx of coastal dunes using enormous deposits of sand that lie far offshore – another geological gift delivered over millennia from the English Coast to the Netherlands.

Three years ago, the government added that it will strive not only to maintain the coastline at its current position, but also to maintain the shape of the current offshore slope to a depth of about 130 feet. Today, that means dredging and depositing nearly 16 million cubic yards of sand along the coast each year. So, as the sea level rises, the dunes will, too, says Joost Stronkhoorst, with the National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management at The Hague.

Offshore sand deposits are large enough to allow the Dutch to accommodate a rise in sea level up to 16 feet, he says. But the line of coastal dunes is not unbroken. The gaps are spanned by barriers that in some cases will require 20 feet added to their height given sea-level-rise scenarios out to 2100.

In some cases, that's not possible. The northern coastal town of Petten shows why. It's tucked hard against the back of a sea dike that traces its origins to the Middle Ages – and sits 14 feet below the level at which waves crash on the other side.

To build up a dike, you must expand its base, explains Roel Posthoorn, with the Dutch nature trust Natuurmonumenten, as he stands on the crest of the dike on a blustery fall afternoon. The presence of the village eliminates the chance to expand the dike's base inland. And churning North Sea currents already sweep away precious coastal sand from the seaward edge of the dike's base, preventing planners from trying to expand the dike seaward.

Possible solution: artificial reefs

Here, Mr. Posthoorn says, the long-term solutions may lie in building an offshore reef to reduce the height of the waves slamming into the dike. Or, as some are now beginning to suggest, perhaps the large deposits of sand offshore should also be used to build the country's coast westward by nearly a mile.

In the meantime, groups like Natuurmonumenten are working to meet two of the country's adaptation goals by trying to prevent further development behind sea dikes like this one and converting the land to nature reserves. These "climate buffers" are another tool in the Netherlands' kit for coping with global warming.

Adaptation experts generally agree that scientists, engineers, and policymakers already know what needs to be done to adapt to global warming. For the most part, they say, it means doing what they already know how to do to reduce risks from natural hazards – it's just doing more of it and a better job of it.

As if to underscore the point, Henk Wolfort, a researcher at Alterra, an institute at Waganingen University that focuses on sustainable development, shows a set of maps illustrating the evolution of watery areas and polders in the country since the 14th century.

"Our problems are not so very different from the problems the people in the Middle Ages had," he says. Even back then, techniques like building on mounds or widening the space between river dikes to accommodate flooding were well understood. The lesson? In a high-tech age, some of the effective adaptation approaches may come from a decidedly low-tech time.

"I think the people in the Netherlands have forgotten about those old ideas because they have relied on technological solutions," he says. "Now they see that technical solutions don't provide 100 percent safety. So perhaps we should think about the old solutions again."

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In Maryland, sea slowly claims a historic island

2007-11-12T05:55:00.000+08:00

from the November 15, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1115/p13s01-wogi.html

With water levels in the Chesapeake Bay rising an inch per decade, Smith Island has lost more than 3,200 of its 11,000 acres over the past 150 years.

By Andy Nelson Staff photographer of The Christian Science Monitor

Smith Island, Md.

Sometime in the 1780S, John Tyler, a landowner on Smith Island in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, dug a narrow boundary ditch in the soft ground to mark his property. After more than 220 years, wind and water in the bay have conspired to eat away at the land. Today the "ditch" is a waterway nearly a quarter-mile wide and an example of how nature is slowly consuming the island.

"Over the years it got wider and wider, but we still call it Tyler's Ditch," says local historian Jennings Evans.

Smith Island is actually a collection of small islands that together make up the last inhabited island in the Chesapeake Bay not connected by a bridge to the mainland.

Scientists calculate the water level in the bay is rising by a little more than an inch per decade: The sea is slowly taking over these specks of land, home to the hardy descendants of 17th-century English settlers.

"I know [an inch per decade] doesn't sound like much, but the reason for concern, especially in Maryland, is because the land is very low," says Michael Kearney, a University of Maryland geology professor who has studied the impact of sea-level rise on Chesapeake Bay.

Higher water levels mean stronger waves, increased erosion, rapid loss of marsh, and bigger storm surges. This could have a devastating effect in southern Maryland counties, where the average tide level extends more than a half-mile inland from the bay. That means waves from a big storm could penetrate far inland, Dr. Kearney adds.

Waverly Evans, a lifelong Smith islander, doesn't need a scientific study to tell him what's happening. He has been a witness as the creeping Chesapeake waters swallow what were once island homes.

As he guides his boat through Tyler's Ditch, Mr. Evans raises a weathered hand and points across the water to a marsh-and-grass-covered island.

It was on this now-abandoned parcel that Evans was born in 1926 and lived as a boy. People there tended gardens; their chickens and pigs roamed their yards. The 10 homes made up a small community. But the water's unrelenting attack on the little island forced the families to leave.

"Down through the years, the salt and the marsh ate in, and the erosion and everything, and people started to move to higher ground," Evans says.

'We were eroding something fierce'

In 2001, the Army Corps of Engineers completed a $2 million bulkhead project at the Smith Island town of Tylerton to protect the town and stop erosion. At high tide, water slaps at the metal barrier at a level clearly above the land on the other side.

"We were eroding something fierce, terrible. [The bulkhead] has really prolonged this little town, anyway," Evans says.

Tylerton, together with Ewell and Rhodes Point are the three hamlets where people live on Smith Island. The island has lost more than 3,200 of its 11,000 acres to the sea over the past 150 years. Of the remaining land, about 900 acres is habitable. The population has dwindled from a high of more than 800 in the early 1900s to about 250 today.

Evans may see the past as he cruises by the long-abandoned land of his boyhood home, but scientists who study sea-level rise are more likely to see the future of the Chesapeake Bay.

More than 1,000 square miles of shoreline are less than three feet above sea level, making the region one of the most vulnerable in the United States to future climate-change-induced sea-level rise and increased storm surges from weather events like hurricanes.

Erosion is eating away at the Chesapeake shoreline at the rate of 580 acres per year, and saltwater intrusion has wreaked havoc with wetlands and agricultural land. Bob Fitzgerald, soil conservation board chairman for Somerset County, which includes Smith Island, has seen land once under cultivation slowly convert to marsh and then open water.

"The acceleration over the past 10 to 15 years is unbelievable," Mr. Fitzgerald says. He figures that about 5 percent of the more than 140,000 acres of farmland in Somerset County has been lost to the bay in that time.

Holding back the bay everywhere is impossible. Bulkheads and revetments are a common sight. With miles of water to blow over, winds create powerful waves. In many places, these traditional approaches help to stop the onslaught.

The Maryland Eastern Shore Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D) is trying another approach. It's working with landowners to construct "living shorelines" to reverse the loss of land and re-create native habitat.

'Living shorelines' help stop erosion

"Living shorelines are all about creating marsh," says Bhaskaran Subramanian, natural sciences manager for RC&D. "If you create marsh, that is one of the most potent ways of stopping erosion."

Creating a living shoreline involves building a stone barrier, backfilling the area with sand, planting marsh grasses, and then letting nature take over.

Graham Donaldson, a Centreville, Md., resident, contacted RC&D after nearly 40 feet of his backyard washed away. He was beginning to wonder how long it would be until the remaining 60 feet behind his house slipped into the water.

His living shoreline project took nearly a year to complete, but Mr. Donaldson, a former agriculture official with the World Bank, is convinced that he made the right decision. The marsh has flourished. The one-third acre of new habitat has become home to crabs, fish, and birds.
"It's aesthetically pleasing; it's biologically very successful, which for a gardener is a reward; and it's environmentally very effective," Donaldson says.

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The politics of ethanol outshine its costs

2007-11-11T05:52:00.000+08:00

from the November 15, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1115/p02s02-uspo.html

Despite higher food prices and environmental damage, it's warmly embraced in Congress.

By Mark Clayton Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

With gasoline near $3 a gallon, climate concerns rising, and an election season in full swing, politicians are eager to tell constituents that they're doing something to help at the gas pump.
Enter ethanol – or, more specifically, a plan in Congress to mandate that US gasoline refiners add a minimum of 36 billion gallons of ethanol to the nation's gasoline supply – up from the 7.5 billion gallons currently mandated by 2012.

Ethanol's popularity comes despite charges from environmentalists, livestock farmers, and opponents of subsidies that the move won't meet energy goals and may damage the environment as food prices soar. Energy-security experts say the measure also falls short on a key goal: weaning America off foreign oil.

Boosting ethanol production is the political equivalent of motherhood and apple pie these days. Politicians on both sides of the aisle as well as presidential candidates eager to do well in Iowa, the nation's No. 1 ethanol-producing state, are behind the measure, unglamorously named the "Renewable Fuels Standard." The RFS, part of the energy bill in the Senate, is so popular that it may be enough to ram through energy legislation this year, despite bitter disagreements over other parts of the bills.

"Quite a few folks around here think the biofuels title alone can carry the entire energy bill," says Bill Wicker, a Democratic staff aide for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. "Biofuels are not a red-state, blue-state issue."

The energy bill faces the threat of a presidential veto, but if RFS does become law, it would provide a huge boost to the ethanol industry. The measure would create a demand for about 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, or about 15 percent of US gasoline consumption, nearly a fivefold increase from the target under the current law. It could also save the industry from an acute glut.

Evidence of an ethanol glut had been growing this year with ethanol prices falling dramatically until they rebounded a bit last month. Several recently announced ethanol plants are on hold, experts say.

"This new RFS is simply vital for the industry," says Tom Koehler, vice president for public policy of Pacific Ethanol, Inc., a manufacturer in Sacramento, Calif.

Among its advantages: Ethanol fuel can create fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than gasoline and it's made from corn, a US-made renewable resource, instead of nonrenewable oil, which increasingly comes from abroad.

Nevertheless, many critics say that boosting corn-based ethanol alone is wrongheaded. For example, energy security is a key driver of the RFS. But the ethanol measure falls short, says Anne Korin, chairman of the Set America Free Coalition, a Washington-based energy security advocacy group.

"You're not going to get real change by specifying a fuel level in the market, as this energy bill does," she says. "We have to make sure cars in this country can burn a variety of fuels so oil has some competition."

Boosting corn-ethanol production "could change current irrigation practices and greatly increase pressure on water resources," the National Research Council concluded in a study released last month.

In a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi last month, 28 environmental groups decried the RFS saying it would "lead to substantial environmental damage and a system of biofuels production that will not benefit family farmers ... will not promote sustainable agriculture and will not mitigate global climate change."

Much of the criticism targets today's corn-based variety. But if companies can figure out inexpensive ways to turn other biomass into ethanol, then the new fuel could create an environmentally friendlier alternative to fossil fuels. The new RFS would cap corn-based ethanol incentives at 15 billion gallons by 2015 – the remaining 21 billion gallons would be "advanced biofuels," primarily ethanol made from switch grass and other materials.

"It all depends on how you make it," says Nathanael Greene, a biofuels analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York. "We need tough performance standards in this bill – and I think we have a good chance of getting them."

Right now, he says, the primary RFS requirement is a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse emissions – not enough to curb climate change very much. But congressional leaders are said to be considering a required 50 percent cut in greenhouse emissions.

Such a reduction would not come cheaply. Already, the federal government pays 51 cents to oil companies for every gallon of ethanol they blend into gasoline at a cost of about $6 billion annually, according to a new study by Earth Track, a Boston-based energy-consulting firm.
That cost will rise to $14 billion by 2014 under current law, the study says. With the new RFS, those costs would leap "tens of billions per year above these levels."

Industry experts dispute those amounts but say such a subsidy is necessary to unhook the US from imported oil. "If you compare the ethanol subsidy with current transportation and oil system subsidies it pales by comparison," says Mr. Koehler.

To get the energy bill passed, congressional leaders are trying to craft a bill attractive enough to farm-state Republicans to avoid a filibuster and perhaps override a presidential veto – while not losing support from those worried that ethanol is too costly given its limited environmental and energy security gains.

Despite its detractors, the political momentum of the biofuels provision may hold sway, some observers say.

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Water reuse: a solution to drought in the Florida wetlands

2007-11-10T05:51:00.000+08:00

from the November 07, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1107/p02s04-usgn.html

West Palm Beach is sprinkling up to 10 million gallons of reclaimed water onto the marshy expanse each day.

By Bill Frogameni Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

West Palm Beach, Fla.

South Florida is one of the wettest regions in the country, but this year it's caught in a drought. A leading indicator of the dryness – Lake Okeechobee – dropped to a record low of 8.8 feet in July. Now just below 10-1/2 feet, it is still five feet shallower than average.

The region has tried to compensate. Its water-management district instituted the toughest usage restrictions in history last spring, allowing lawn irrigation or car washing only during certain narrowly defined times. "Water cops" were deployed to ticket scofflaws who misuse the water.

But it's not enough, experts say. At stake is not only the drinking supply for more than 5 million people, but also the health of the Everglades and agricultural production.

That's why South Florida is turning to another solution: water reuse.

Already, since the mid-1990s, the region has more than doubled water reuse – to some 230 million gallons per day in 2005, according to the South Florida Water Management District.

That's 28 percent of the water cycled back through public-treatment systems – but only a small share of the total 3.4 billion gallons a day that gets used, most of it devoted to agriculture or otherwise lost to lawn irrigation or other uses.

One of the most innovative ways to reclaim wastewater is to treat it to the point where it's nearly potable and then to let land – a natural filter – finish the job.

Just 10 minutes inland from the densely developed Atlantic coast, the city of West Palm Beach runs a reclamation project that combines advanced wastewater treatment with habitat restoration. Here, on the edge of Grassy Waters Preserve – 20 square miles of wetlands, which provide most of the drinking water for 130,000 people in the city and surrounding municipalities – the city began augmenting its water supply last November. The city can sprinkle up to 10 million gallons per day of highly treated reclaimed water onto the marshy expanse.

Bordered by residential development, the preserve is a tiny portion of the historic northern Everglades and a habitat for bald eagles, alligators, bobcats and numerous other species. The additional water will enhance biodiversity, according to Patrick Painter, a biologist who manages Grassy Waters.

"Anytime you add water ... it's a dynamic system," says Mr. Painter.

What's more, the nearly potable reclaimed water will lessen West Palm's dependence on Lake Okeechobee, which, situated just west of Grassy Waters, provides 25 percent of the city's annual supply.

Mr. Painter says the reclaimed water is expected to take around two years to filter down through native plants before being pumped to the city's reservoir where it will be processed for drinking. Trickling through the vegetation and soil helps clean the water of remaining trace impurities such as nitrogen and phosphorous.

While West Palm's reclamation project wins praise from community leaders and the local Sierra Club, the municipality says it still injects around 30 million gallons or more per day of less treated sewage 3,000 feet below ground.

"In the future, deep-well injection and ocean outfalls [pipes] for wastewater will be a thing of the past," says Carol Ann Wehle, executive director of the water-management district.

"You'll see reusing that water as a source." Ms. Wehle expects restrictions to continue into next year.

The WateReuse Association, a non-profit water reuse group, estimates that 32 billion gallons per day of municipal sewage were produced in the US in 2006. Of that, they estimate 3.4 billion gallons per day were reused. By 2015 the Association expects the amount of wastewater being reused will surge to 12 billion gallons per day.

One of the greatest continuing challenges in Florida is population growth. The state's population is projected to increase from 18 million current residents to around 30 million by 2030, with the most populated and thirsty counties of South Florida – Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach – among those expected to see the most growth.

Water reclamation is a positive step, says Drew Martin, cochair of the Sierra Club's Everglades committee. "The problem from our standpoint," he adds, "is there's just not enough of it."

That, however, may come down to money. It took $37.7 million to implement the city's Wetlands-Based Water Reclamation Project, according to Ken Rearden, the city administrator in charge of utilities for West Palm Beach. That figure includes costs for the advanced treatment plant, engineering, and land. Mr. Rearden says it costs $1.85 million per-year more to run the reclamation project than to inject the water underground.

Rearden says the city is moving to study the feasibility of building another advanced wastewater treatment facility, which would double its reclamation capacity by adding another 10 million gallons a day.

"There just isn't enough water to go around if everyone has a straw in the ground," says Painter. "We've got a long way to go before we can make this place sustainable."

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Progress in California on curbing emissions

2007-11-09T05:50:00.000+08:00

from the November 07, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1107/p03s01-wogi.html

Its landmark plan to battle global warming, approved with fanfare a year ago, is moving forward.

By Daniel B. Wood Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorand Alison Tully Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Los Angeles

One year after California vowed to cut industrial and auto greenhouse-gas emissions 25 percent by 2020 to combat global warming, the state is groping its way toward answers about how exactly it will attain that goal – and who will bear the costs.

Along the way, resistant officials have resigned or been fired, businesses and manufacturers have griped, and consumer groups have complained that oil companies aren't doing enough to pony up. But as other states and other nations watch, California is clearing major hurdles – including passage last month of a bill allocating $125 million a year to develop alternative transportation fuels and vehicles and another $80 million a year to improve air quality.

Environmental activists, in particular, are satisfied with the state's efforts thus far.

"California is off to a great start," says Roland Hwang, vehicle policy director of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in California. The recent funding to begin implementing the greenhouse-gas cuts takes the emissions-cutting plan from drawing board to reality, he says, and "shows that several big pieces are being put into place."

Even business groups, which a year ago were warning that companies would flee if California pushed ahead with global-warming rules, are engaged in the implementation. Many still worry about what their liabilities and costs will turn out to be, but say they no longer feel as if they are simply dissenting voices on the outside looking in.

"We are in the driver's seat, participating in workshops and influencing how this plays out," says Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of government relations for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association. "Happy is not the word, but we are ... constructively involved in all the rulemaking developments … and that's good."

Outside California, ripples from its actions reach far and wide, observers say.

Governors of Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba in February partnered with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to form the Western Climate Initiative. Their proposal is to cut emissions 15 percent (based on 2005 levels) by 2020.

Twenty other states are devising their own ways to reduce gasoline consumption by use of alternative transportation and fuels.

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle (R) signed a greenhouse-gas reduction bill in June, and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) has signed legislation calling for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, about a 20 percent cut.

Still, a major piece of California's plan to curb such emissions is contingent on action in the nation's capital. The state is waiting to hear whether the Environmental Protection Agency will allow it to require automakers to achieve fuel-efficiency standards for new-model vehicles sold in California that are higher than current federal standards. Named after Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, who wrote the 2002 bill that resulted in a standard of 43 miles per gallon by 2020, the Pavley Standards have since been adopted by 13 other states.

Collectively, the standards would cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 392 million metric tons by 2020 – the equivalent of taking 74 million cars off the road for one year, experts say. Nationally, nearly 26 percent of US greenhouse-gas emissions come from transportation.

"The administration's decision will either lead the issue of global warming or block us from reaching our goals," says NRDC's Mr. Hwang.

The California initiative has also created international ripples. On Oct. 29, California, New York, New Zealand, Norway, and several European countries and Canadian provinces formed an International Carbon Action Partnership to create a global cap-and-trade carbon market to build demand for low-carbon services and products.

In September, Governor Schwarzenegger joined more than 80 leaders at a United Nations summit on climate change, leading some to speculate that individual US states will ultimately push the federal government into taking a firmer stand against global warming.

"The governor plays a great role by being a cheerleader for global warming," says Jim Metropulos of the Sierra Club. "He's a Republican in the biggest state, and to say that ... we are going to do what we need to do to get these goals met has a big impact."

While it's hard to find an environmental group that doesn't like California's plan, some tax and consumer groups are grumbling because they feel that air polluters are not shouldering enough of the cost, leaving consumers with the burden. Drivers with new vehicles will have to pay a smog-abatement fee of $20, instead of $12, for six years. Annual vehicle registration costs will also increase $3.

But one year into the initiative, some still question whether a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gases 13 years from now will have any benefit.

"We have one example to compare this to, which is Europe's attempt to cut CO2 since the Kyoto accords in 1997," says Sterling Burnett of the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas. "They promised to ... implement all these programs with all this money, [but] their emissions have grown at a faster rate than [in] the US, despite our bigger population growth.... That is ... probably what we will see in California."

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At these restaurants, 'eating green' doesn't necessarily mean ordering a salad

2007-11-08T05:48:00.000+08:00

from the November 07, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1107/p13s01-lign.html

With the average eatery producing 275 pounds of waste a day, some are adopting environmentally friendly approaches.

By Chris Gaylord Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Boston

Rachel Pelkey has seen it many times before. Working behind the counter at Grille Zone in Boston, she'll watch diners finish their meal, gather their rubbish, march it to the front of the restaurant, and then look confused.

"The biggest question I get is 'Where's the garbage?' " she says with the kind of grin a mother gives her questioning child. "I explain that we don't have a garbage can, only compost and recycling."

That often sparks a chain of follow-up questions: Why only compost? What do you mean it's a near zero-waste restaurant? Everything is biodegradable? Even the plates and knives?

Once customers catch on, they get kind of excited, she says. "They like being a part of something so green," says Ms. Pelkey. "Yeah, we serve burgers and fries, but we're also as environmentally friendly as they come."

As more Americans seek out products with green credentials, more quick and casual restaurants are ready to serve them. Eating green no longer means just ordering from a vegetarian menu. In fact, it doesn't even have to mean eating healthy.

"For a restaurant to be truly green, they have to think about the lighting, the napkins, the cleaning products, the waste, the grill – everything," says Michael Oshman, founder of the Green Restaurant Association (GRA), a national, nonprofit consultancy in Boston that helps eateries become more environmentally friendly. "But what a lot of restaurateurs don't realize is that taking the necessary steps is not only good for the environment and good for their image, it's also a way to lower costs."

Thanks to improved technology and increased adoption of sustainable products, even burger joints can go green.

After opening in June, Grille Zone became the GRA's first certified environmentally friendly fast-food restaurant. Its green features surround the lunch crowd of mostly college students.
Co-owner Ben Prentice points to the infrared grill, the energy-efficient lighting, the locally grown vegetables, the wall decoration taken from an old New England schoolhouse, the plates and cutlery made completely from corn and wheat starch – even those confusing compost and recycling barrels are from an old brandy distillery.

Because of its focus on biodegradable cups, utensils, and paper, Grille Zone produces an average of 15 pounds of waste a day. Mr. Prentice compares that to the US restaurant average of 275 pounds.

"Restaurants are typically huge waste producers, particularly, when guests are eating off disposable plates," Prentice says.

This problem hits fast-food places the most. While upscale restaurants wash and reuse their silverware, fast-food waste often just winds up in the trash. Those millions of Happy Meal bags and Whopper scraps are then dumped into landfills, which over time can produce methane, a greenhouse gas.

But for his restaurant, Prentice touts that the rubbish is brought to a compost facility and "in 30 to 60 days all that food waste is now mulch, and it goes back into a farmer's field or into your garden."

The Massachusetts burrito chain Boloco is pushing toward a similar low-waste future. In the next few weeks, its stores will phase out Styrofoam cups and use ones made of cornstarch instead, says Mike Harder, the company's president.

"We knew that Styrofoam was out," he says. (While recyclable, Styrofoam left in landfills is virtually nonbiodegradable.) "And we didn't want just plastic cups. So, we chose a material that was good for the environment, and most people will never notice the difference."

Such a claim couldn't be made a few years ago. Early cornstarch spoons would melt in hot soup, while potato-based cups would leak when filled with hot coffee.

But in many areas, technology has finally caught up with demand. Now it's just an issue of price and availability.

For example, this fall Boloco announced it would shift toward "humanely raised" beef and pork. By choosing animals that are allowed to freely roam and are not exposed to added hormones or antibiotics, the chain hopes to alleviate the moral and health concerns of its customers.

Boloco has also attempted to partner with nearby farms, hoping to reduce the carbon footprint of delivery trucks. But finding farmers that carry the right animals, cut, certification, price, and location, all at once, has proved difficult. As a result, some of Boloco's "humane" pork is shipped from Canada.

"We have 13 stores, so no one farm can handle that much of one cut," Mr. Harder explains.

Similarly, he hoped his stores could offer "humane" chicken, but his original supplier couldn't handle the size of the order. "We're looking for a second source right now," he says.

Such tricky logistics and other moves to build an environmentally friendly restaurant often come with higher prices.

Last Friday, Texas restaurateur Jason Birmbaum opened his second Doc Green's franchise in Austin. With this new location, Mr. Birmbaum decided to try the GRA route right from the beginning.

He built the new salad and grill restaurant with low energy lights, potato-starch packaging, a tankless hot water heater, and wood harvested entirely from Texas.

Building the Austin branch likely cost $100,000 more than his first Doc Green's, Birmbaum estimates. But he's not worried. A big portion of the added price is from energy-efficient lights and devices, which he says are expensive to buy but save money in the long run.

The lighting "will pay for itself in a year or two," he says. "I will make up the rest of it by attracting more customers [with the restaurant's green message]."

The Doc Green's company is very interested to see if his investment pays off, Birmbaum says. And if it does, he'll retrofit his other location to meet the same GRA standards.

These trade-offs – spending extra money in some areas but saving in others – are Mr. Oshman's favorite sales pitch.

"Now, enough restaurants have taken those first steps and become early adopters that we can say, 'Look, this restaurant here has saved $5,000 a year,' " he says. "This is an industry that has a 5 percent profit margin. So, it would take $100,000 in sales to earn that $5,000. That's a big issue for any business, whether they care about the environment or not."

The message is catching on. After starting the GRA in 1990, it took Oshman 14 years to partner with and certify just 90 restaurants. This summer, he had 300. "Now, we're at 350 restaurants and we have literally hundreds on our waiting list," he says. Boloco hopes to be certified by the end of the month.

Behind restaurateurs' motives – both to save the environment and save some old-fashioned green – there's the distant ticking of proposed legislation. In February, Australian officials announced plans to phase out all incandescent light bulbs. In March, San Francisco approved legislation to ban plastic shopping bags. New York and several other American cities are currently debating a prohibition on Styrofoam.

"When these bans pass, our [certified] restaurants won't have to do anything," says Oshman. "They've already done it. And because they were first, they were the heroes, they got the attention, and their customers and employees were happier. Everyone else will just be forced to keep up."

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Progress on 'collapsing' beehives

2007-11-07T05:46:00.000+08:00

from the November 08, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1108/p13s01-sten.html

Some warned of crop disaster when honeybees started to disappear. Crops didn't fail, but farmers and beekeepers aren't out of danger yet.

By Moises Velasquez-Manoff Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

New York

Last fall, honeybee hives began showing up mysteriously vacant. Entire adult bee populations seemingly vanished without a trace, often leaving the queen, juveniles, and honey behind.

By spring, what beekeepers had called "autumn collapse" or "fall dwindle disease" had a new name: Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). CCD hit nearly one-quarter of commercial beekeeping operations in the United States. Affected operations lost between 50 and 90 percent of their hives. In an industry where 10 to 20 percent yearly losses are common, the die-offs were drastic. In March testimony before the House's Committee on Agriculture, Diana Cox-Foster, a professor of entomology at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, called CCD a "serious threat to American agriculture."

Ultimately, pollination went smoothly this year. Imported bees replenished domestic stocks, and good weather aided weak hives. Research on CCD has progressed, though its exact causes remain hidden. But the crisis did highlight what some say is agriculture's overreliance on honeybees.

Honeybees pollinate one-third of all US crops – apples, almonds, and blueberries among them – valued at some $14.6 billion. For years, ecologists had warned that total reliance on honeybees – and on any monoculture, be it cotton, potato, or bee – makes a crop vulnerable to failure.
Potential alternate pollinators – some 4,000 kinds of native bees – were having their own problems, from habitat loss and pesticides to imported diseases.

Alarmed lawmakers introduced the Pollinator Protection Act into Congress, which was later rolled into the 2007 Farm Bill. In July, the House authorized $86.5 million over five years for research on CCD and honeybee health. In October, the Senate raised the amount to $100 million. Meanwhile, scientists from several institutions and disciplines brought their expertise to bear on CCD. And in September, they named a prime suspect: the so-called Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV).

As for this year's crop, "I don't want to say it was business as usual, but it was pretty close," says Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine in Medina, Ohio. "There were enough bees to pollinate everything that needed pollinating."

Warm, clear weather, especially in California, helped weak hives do more pollinating, he says. (Dry conditions also contributed to a record low honey harvest – 150 million pounds compared with the usual 200 million to 250 million, he says.) Beekeepers augmented hives with bees imported from Australia. Hive rental fees did rise, he says, but that was due more to speculating than to a honeybee shortage.

"Beehives are worth their weight in gold somewhere," says Mr. Flottum.

We're not in the clear, Flottum and others warn. The money that beekeepers spent replenishing hives likely put them deep into the red, and the hives are still weak. Neither bees nor beekeepers can absorb these losses on an ongoing basis.

"I'm anxious about what happens this year," says Dennis vanEngelsdorp, the acting state apiarist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. "Migratory beekeepers are the last of their kind, the last nomadic farmers in America."

James Doan, a beekeeper out of Hamlin, N.Y., lost more than half his hives last winter. After getting his numbers back up to 2,000, he lost another quarter over the summer.

"If I can get enough money to get out of this business, I'll get out," he says. "I don't see a lot of future."

Honeybee health problems come at a time when, driven by a growing taste for specialty crops, demand for pollination services is growing. This year, the almond harvest increased by 19 percent over last year, topping 1,330 million pounds for a record crop, according to the Almond Board of California. Of the estimated 2.5 million hives in America, more than half will converge on California's almond orchards come spring.

We're "not really at a crisis situation," says Jeff Pettis, research leader at the USDA-ARS's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. "We just don't have much in the way of a buffer."

A paper recently published in the journal Virology hints at a possible fix. One of the scientists who originally identified IAPV, Ilan Sela of Hebrew University in Jerusalem details a honeybee strain that's resistant to the virus. The bee has retained bits of IAPV genetic material in its own genome – a naturally occurring phenomenon – and gained some immunity, he says.

"The whole problem could be addressed by using these transgenic bees," says Dr. Lipkin.

Meanwhile, honeybees' predicament has brought long-sought attention to the usefulness – and plight – of natural pollinators. A 2006 National Academy of Sciences report on the status of pollinators in North America cites "direct evidence for decline in some pollinator species." And yet, in a forthcoming study in Ecology Letters, Rachael Winfree, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of California, Berkeley, finds that, when present, wild pollinators can do much of the pollinating.

In the New Jersey watermelon farms she studied, they did 90 percent. As compared with the vast monocultural fields of California's Central Valley or the Great Plains, the eastern agricultural landscape is dominated by many small farms interspersed with patches of natural habitat.

"Native bees are doing close to complete pollination," she says. "It would be good to have that kind of backup plan" in other places.

And that means different land-use practices. Indeed, recognizing wild pollinators' importance, some states already offer incentives to restore pollinator habitat.

For three years, the National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) in Montana has offered cost-sharing incentives for farmers and ranchers to grow pollinator-friendly plants. More recently, NRCS in New Jersey began offering $750 per acre to landowners who restore "wildflower meadows for pollinators."

Conservationists hope for $3 billion to $5 billion more from the new Farm Bill to boost such cost-sharing measures, says Tom Van Arsdall, the public affairs representative for the Pollinator Partnership in Washington, D.C. Although the authorized funds may not make it through appropriations, Van Arsdall already counts one victory. The Farm Bill now contains the word "pollinator," he says. It didn't, before.

"You could call it a watershed moment," he says.

To learn more about honeybees and pollinators in general:

• The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation offers a wealth of fact sheets and information on natural pollinators:
www.xerces.org/Pollinator_Insect_Conservation/xerces_publications.htm

• Of particular note is Xerces' Pollinator Conservation Handbook, downloadable at: www.xerces.org/Pollinator_Insect_Conservation/Farming_for_Bees_2nd_edition.pdf

• Bee Culture magazine has bountiful information relating to honeybees.
www.beeculture.com/

• Tips on natural pollinators from the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service: www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/pollinators.html

Pollinator-friendly land

Scientists have long warned that reliance on one species for pollination services – the honeybee – leaves pollination-dependent crops at greater risk of failure. "We've been saying that for a while. It's crazy to rely on a single species," says Claire Kremen, a conservation biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and a recently named MacArthur Fellow.

A decline in wild pollinators has only exacerbated the problem. Farmers can't count on native pollinators for backup. But certain land-management practices can "bring back some floral diversity" and entice natural pollinators back to the farmscape, says Dr. Kremen. Here are a few:

• Learn to tolerate weeds around field edges. They provide food and habitat for pollinators.

• Plant "insectary strips" – strips of flowers for insects. They should include plants that bloom in succession – spring, summer, and fall – so pollinators have forage at any given time of the year. In very large fields, grow not just strips, but islands of habitat.

• Grow hedgerows at field boundaries. They provide good habitat. They also block wind and halt erosion.

• Leave some land unplowed. Tilling kills native bee species that nest in the earth.

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Thompson survives his first debate

2007-11-06T05:44:00.000+08:00

from the October 11, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1011/p02s02-uspo.html

Expectations were low, but the GOP presidential candidate passed a key test.

By Ariel Sabar Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

If there was any doubt about the stakes for Fred Thompson at his first presidential debate Tuesday, his campaign put it to rest just 20 minutes into the two-hour forum. That's when aides churned out the first of what would be a dozen mid-debate e-mails to reporters, critiquing his rivals' answers and extolling Mr. Thompson's.

It was a game of real-time defense remarkable even by the standards of today's campaign spin rooms. But in the end, it may have been unnecessary.

Despite a few awkward pauses and an occasionally pained look, Thompson made no major fumbles and fleshed out some policy ideas in the sort of detail often absent on the campaign trail. His answers went from stilted to more assured as the debate wore on, and by the end, he was joking with moderator Maria Bartiromo of CNBC, whose final question dealt with his late entry into the race for the Republican nomination.

"I've got to admit, it was getting a little boring without me," Thompson quipped, to laughter from the audience in Dearborn, Mich. "But I'm glad to be here now."

The debate was seen as a key test for the "Law & Order" actor and former Tennessee senator. Since announcing his candidacy a month ago, his low-wattage stump speeches and seeming lack of preparation have drawn chilly coverage from both the mainstream media and conservatives, who had seen him as their best hope to rally disenchanted GOP voters.

The conservative columnist George Will recently compared him to the fast-fizzling New Coke. Dan Bartlett, the former counselor to President Bush, was quoted calling Thompson the campaign season's "biggest dud."

With such low expectations, analysts said, Thompson had merely to survive the debate to remain credible.

"I don't think he shot up, but he didn't hurt himself," says Ronald Rapoport, a political scientist at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Early in the debate, Thompson "didn't seem like someone who had been in a lot of movies and TV – he was the actor who didn't really act very well," Dr. Rapoport said. "But I think he finished much stronger."

Thompson got off to a halting start. Asked the first question, about whether the economy was drifting toward recession, he said, "I see no reason to believe we're headed for," then paused, as if with stage fright, for several seconds, before resuming, "for economic downturn."

His delivery wasn't as polished as his GOP rivals, who had debated five times before. But he sounded more confident later in the evening, taking a hard line on national security and taxes and outlining his plan to shore up Social Security by linking benefits to inflation instead of wages.

He also managed to remind voters of his Southern roots, seen as an asset in the race. He salted his answers with expressions like "eating our seed corn" and offered to explain to the others on stage who Goober and Gomer were. (They were characters in a 1960s sitcom set in a fictional North Carolina town.)

One potentially fatal trap was set by another moderator, Chris Matthews of MSNBC, who asked Thompson to name the prime minister of Canada. "Harper," Thompson replied, correctly. "Prime Minister Harper."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who leads in polls in some early primary states but faces a stiff challenge from Thompson in South Carolina, was the only Republican candidate Tuesday to make an issue of Thompson's late entry to the race. He likened the string of GOP debates to the NBC series "Law & Order": "It has a huge cast, the series seems to go on forever and Fred Thompson shows up at the end."

Thompson looked momentarily stunned before recovering. "And to think, I thought I was going to be the best actor on the stage," he said, drawing laughter.

Until his debut on the debate stage Tuesday, Thompson's campaign was like a plane flying below radar.

A drawn-out exploratory period let him raise and spend money with less scrutiny than declared candidates and shielded him from attacks from other Republicans. When he finally chose to declare his candidacy on Sept. 6, it was on safe turf, in Hollywood. The announcement, on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," came the same night his rivals were enduring the rigors of a televised debate in New Hampshire.

In a potentially troublesome sign, the prevailing image of him as lazy and uncomfortable in crowds leapt into pop culture last weekend via "Saturday Night Live."

"Now I'm not saying I don't want to be president because I kinda do," said comedian Darrell Hammond, parodying Thompson. "It's just how do you campaign when you don't like hard work and people make you sick?"

A Thompson campaign spokesman, Darrel Ng, said Tuesday that it was his critics in the media – not Thompson – who were out of touch with ordinary voters.

"Senator Thompson talks in a language that all Americans understand," Mr. Ng said in a phone interview shortly before the debate. "He's plainspoken … and that may not be what the Washington elite is used to hearing. But we feel he's connecting with the voters."

Ng pointed to the national polls, where Thompson is running second to former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, said Thompson's debate performance put him on equal footing with his rivals. "He's now running with the pack," Mr. Perkins said Wednesday.

• Staff writer Linda Feldmann contributed to this report.

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Fight over court role in US eavesdropping

2007-11-05T05:43:00.000+08:00

from the October 12, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1012/p03s02-uspo.html

President Bush and Democrats battle anew over oversight of government surveillance operations.

By Peter Grier Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

To what extent should courts become involved in the oversight of sensitive US eavesdropping operations?

That is one of the most crucial items at issue in the developing struggle between congressional Democrats and the White House over new legislation to extend the government's surveillance authority.

Key House Democrats say judges should look over the National Security Agency's shoulder more often. Under a bill approved by two House committees Wednesday, if the NSA wants to listen in on foreigners outside the United States but a possibility exists that these targets might communicate with Americans, then the government needs to get a blanket court order approving the effort for up to a year.

The Bush administration says that provision could hobble American intelligence. In practical terms, it's always possible that foreign targets might call the US, say US officials. Thus, the NSA might have to get court approval even for wiretapping operations aimed at foreign-to-foreign communications.

"That is something that gives us a lot of concern, that we would have to go to a [court] to get these approvals in an area where we really need flexibility," said Kenneth Wainstein, assistant attorney general for the national security division, in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "We need to be nimble, and we need to be able to move around to get these surveillances."

The battle over the wiretap bill promises to be one of the most difficult and protracted legislative efforts of the current Congress.

That's partly because of politics. Democrats on Capitol Hill are under pressure from civil liberties advocates and others who believe lawmakers gave intelligence agencies too much latitude in a temporary bill hastily passed before Congress's summer break.

Meanwhile, the White House has not been shy about invoking the specter of possible future terrorist attacks in its defense of the status quo.

Powers granted by the temporary legislation – which expires in February 2008 – have allowed intelligence professionals "to gather critical information that would have been missed with this authority," said President Bush Wednesday. "Keeping this authority is critical to keeping America safe."

House leaders defended their effort as one that strikes an appropriate balance between civil liberties and national security concerns.

"What the terrorists fear most is our constitution and our values, and that is what this bill protects," said Rep. John Conyers (D) of Michigan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

But the struggle over the bill is also complex, because the law is unusually dense – and because the pace of technological change has made electronic espionage more involved.

Last year's temporary update, for example, closed what all involved labeled a dangerous gap in intelligence authority, by allowing the NSA to snoop on communications between foreigners even if those communications pass through US electronic networks, as many e-mails do.

Plus, the underlying activity here is classified, which does not make consideration of the bill easier.

Lawmakers outside the circle of Intelligence Committee members may not fully know the extent of NSA's wiretapping – or how important it is or is not – when they vote on the program.
Take legal immunity for telecommunications firms – another controversial part of this legislation.

The Bush administration badly wants Congress to approve legal immunity for any past actions private utilities undertook to aid NSA spying. Currently, AT&T and Verizon, among other firms, face a number of lawsuits brought by privacy advocates who claim that, by allowing the government access to their data streams, the companies have participated in illegal eavesdropping.

NSA officials have gone so far as to worry that these suits could bankrupt the firms. Bush says he will not sign any new eavesdropping bill that does not provide immunity.

Currently such a provision isn't in the bill. But Democratic leaders say they'd be glad to discuss immunity – if the administration turns over internal records detailing exactly what the communications firms did.

Otherwise Congress would be in the position of providing "blind immunity," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D) of Maryland, House majority leader.

Civil liberties proponents bitterly oppose the amnesty effort.

"Why is the president of the United States trying to get the telecommunications companies off the hook for their illegal activity?" says Caroline Frederickson, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union. "He is supposed to be upholding laws, not encouraging companies to break them."

Other aspects of the legislation which the White House wishes to change include its expiration date. The bill sunsets in 2009, while the administration wants a permanent extension.

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Where the '08 contenders stand on global warming

2007-11-04T05:41:00.001+08:00

from the October 15, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1015/p02s02-uspo.html

Their positions range from enacting a corporate carbon tax to dismissing the threat.

By Brad Knickerbocker Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize for his years of work on climate change has caused considerable speculation about whether he might be a late entry in the race for the White House, a subject on which he remains coy. But where does the former vice president's award leave the declared presidential candidates on global warming?

Their positions range widely: from a corporate carbon tax (Sen. Christopher Dodd) and an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050 (John Edwards) to a cap-and-trade system on such gases (Sen. John McCain) to a pooh-poohing of the kind of climate threat Mr. Gore warns about (Rep. Tom Tancredo).

Asked by the Associated Press to name "the last work of fiction you've read," Republican Congressman Tancredo said it was Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

Inevitably, global warming and the gases scientists say are largely responsible – principally carbon dioxide – are tied to fossil fuels and energy policy.

Among Republicans, Sen. Sam Brownback says the country's energy security depends on more oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Gulf of Mexico. Rep. Ron Paul would end "all subsidies and special benefits to energy companies."

Among Democrats, Sen. Joseph Biden wants to raise vehicle fuel efficiency standards to 40 miles per gallon by 2017, "which [he says] will save approximately the amount of oil we import from Saudi Arabia."

Not surprisingly, the most Gore-like positions on climate change have been staked out by Democrats. Even so, it's a politically tricky issue, one on which a candidate wants to be neither too hot nor too cold. Recent voter surveys show why.

Seventy percent of those polled by CBS News in January agreed that "global warming is an environmental problem that is causing a serious impact now." A Washington Post-ABC News survey in April found 33 percent – twice the figure from a year ago – identifying climate change as their main environmental concern. At the same time, according to the Pew Research Center "the public continues to be deeply divided over both its cause and what to do about it."

"Moreover, there are indications that most Americans do not regard global warming as a top-tier issue," Pew reported earlier this year. "In Pew's annual list of policy priorities for the president and Congress, global warming ranked fourth-lowest of 23 items tested…. Roughly twice as many Democrats as Republicans say that dealing with global warming should be a top priority for the president and Congress this year (48 percent compared with 23 percent).
However, the issue is a relatively low priority for members of both parties, as well as for independents."

Of more concern to most Americans, polls indicate, are terrorism, education, the economy, illegal immigration, Social Security, and healthcare.

Still, several candidates are putting forth climate-related programs that are sure to be controversial if they're selected to lead their party's ticket.

Last week, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama detailed his plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. That's also Mr. Edwards's goal, but it goes further in requiring industries to pay for their quotas to emit greenhouse gases.

League of Conservation Voters president Gene Karpinski says Obama's proposals amount to "an aggressive plan that would point America in the right direction toward a clean, renewable energy future."

But President Bush and many of the candidates who want to succeed him say Obama's approach would be too burdensome on US manufacturing businesses.

Bill Richardson, secretary of Energy during the Clinton administration, also has one of the more aggressive plans on climate change. He wants to cut US oil demand 50 percent by 2020, obtain half of all the country's electricity supply from renewable sources by 2040, double the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for autos to 50 miles per gallon by 2020, and cap CO2 emissions at 90 percent below 2006 levels by 2050.

Among the GOP candidates, only Senator McCain has been outspoken on climate change, having sponsored the first major Senate legislation to reduce greenhouse gases four years ago and criticizing the Bush administration for lack of action on climate change.

This year's version of the McCain-sponsored bill would cap greenhouse-gas emissions at 2004 levels by 2012 and then reduce them by 65 percent by 2050. He also favors increased spending on nuclear power and opposes oil drilling in ANWR.

So far, however, no candidate has used Gore's Nobel-inspired rhetoric to describe climate change: "a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

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The politics of kids' health

2007-11-03T05:38:00.000+08:00

from the October 15, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1015/p01s05-uspo.html

Democrats this week are likely to fail to override President Bush's S-CHIP veto, but they hope to gain in other ways.

By Gail Russell Chaddock Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

Children's issues will top the agenda on Capitol Hill this week, as Democrats try to override President Bush's veto of a popular child-health bill.

It's a moment of political drama that could tip close congressional races next fall, as well as raise the profile of other bills dealing with children's health in the US and abroad.

House Democrats call it "Bush versus the kids." They put off an override vote for 15 days after Mr. Bush's Oct. 3 veto of a bill to renew the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) – that's about a day for every new GOP vote they need to prevail.

Meanwhile, Democrats and outside groups are stepping up ad campaigns targeting 21 Republicans who voted against the bill.

House majority leader Steny Hoyer calls the veto override attempt, expected Thursday, "a defining moment for this Congress." House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio calls the lead-up to the override vote "the most partisan political activity I have seen in this Congress all year." But Republicans are open to compromise, he says.

"We think this is a compromise," responded Mr. Hoyer, appearing on "FOX News Sunday." House Democrats initially called for a $90 billion increase in the program.

Bush proposed increasing funding for S-CHIP by $5 billion over the next five years. Congress settled on an increase of $35 billion to cover 10 million children, up from 6.6 million in fiscal year 2006.

Should the House override fail, "We're going to go back and pass another bill," Hoyer said. "In the end, I think we're going to add 4 million children [to S-CHIP]."

Despite the partisan saber-rattling, broad and bipartisan support exists in Congress for reauthorizing S-CHIP – and other programs aimed at improving healthoutcomes for children.

"The issue of children transcends party and national boundaries. It's something people can agree upon," says Martin Rendon, vice president for public policy and advocacy for the US Fund for UNICEF, who is tracking legislation on children's health.

In addition to S-CHIP, Democrats aim to move a child-focused agenda, including new legislation on product safety, education, and global health. Sponsors say the focus on children growing out of the S-CHIP debate will help all these bills.

Last week, the US Coalition for Child Survival released a poll showing that 81 percent of Americans support the proposed US Commitment to Global Child Survival Act, even when told it would cost $7 per American per year to pay for it. The bill aims to strengthen the US government's role in reducing child mortality in the developing world by investments in "proven, cost-effective interventions," such as care for newborns, access to clean drinking water, immunization, and vitamin supplements.

"We have several Republicans already on this bill, and we haven't even begun to go out and look for sponsors," says Rep. Betty McCollum (D) of Minnesota, who is cosponsoring the bill with Rep. Christopher Shays (R) of Connecticut. "People are also ... aware that one of the quickest ways to restore our credibility and to relate to people around the world is by helping their children celebrate their first, second, and third birthdays," Representative McCollum says.

Ten years ago, the original S-CHIP bill passed with Republicans in control of Congress and a Democrat in the White House. The law aimed to subsidize health insurance for families with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid but too low to afford private insurance. Over the years, some states expanded eligibility to include adults and families with higher incomes.

Although the Bush administration approved these waivers, the president now says that a renewed S-CHIP should move adults out of a program meant for children and "put poorer children first."

Republicans leaders, who are feeling the heat from embattled colleagues, wanted a quick vote on the veto override, which they say will not succeed. Then, both sides should sit down and work out a compromise bill, they say. Last week, Bush said he was open to spending more than $5 billion on the program.

"I can't imagine Democrats would let S-CHIP expire to make a political point," says Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. "When the president is willing to sign something that will extend and increase it, I don't see how they let it expire."

But Democrats close to the 2008 campaign say the S-CHIP votes could be decisive in the next election. Nearly two-thirds of voters say that they support the Democrats' position on S-CHIP.

"You can see in editorials around the country and in local news stories how disconnected Republicans are from their constituents," says Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Democrats are not sounding conciliatory. During a floor debate to postpone consideration of the veto until Oct. 18, Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark (D) of California urged Republicans to think of it as the "time out" he uses with his 6-year-old twins.

"You go to your room and think about the mistake you made, and when you're ready to apologize and come back and set things straight, you can come out of your room. That is what the two-week period is all about," said the lawmaker, who chairs the health panel of the House Ways and Means Committee.

A two-thirds vote in both houses is required to overturn a presidential veto. The S-CHIP bill passed the Senate on Sept. 27 by a veto-proof vote of 67 to 29 and the House on Sept. 25 by a vote of 265 to 159, with 45 Republicans voting with Democrats.

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Green roofs start to sprout on urban homes

2007-11-02T08:10:00.000+08:00

from the October 31, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1031/p13s02-lign.html

Low-maintenance sedum cuts energy costs as well as greenhouse gases. Roofs are costly, though.

By Caitlin Carpenter Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

New York

Every time it rained, Majora Carter cringed. "I lived in mortal terror whenever I thought it was going to rain," Dr. Carter says, remembering how the rainwater seeped from the street into her Bronx brownstone.

Then she and her husband, James Burling Chase, realized that the source of the problem wasn't on the ground, but on the roof. The stormwater system in their neighborhood backed up so quickly that the water rushed straight from their roof to the street – and into their home.
They decided to try a new strategy to fix an old problem: a green roof.

Now, after a substantial renovation, their flat roof has come alive – literally. Flowers and baby sedum are anchored in a thin bed of soil and gravel covering the roof. Golf-ball-sized stones frame this rooftop oasis.

Now their roof will retain about half the rainwater that falls on it, once the sedum matures in about two years. But besides finding a practical solution to a recurrent problem, Carter and Chase wanted a tangible way to show they were "walking the walk" when it came to their environmentalism.

Their home is the first in New York to feature such a roof. Green roofs have taken root on numerous commercial buildings across the country, but now people are exploring the possibility of planting a little shrubbery atop their own homes.

Karen Weber, founder of the green-roof promoting organization, Earth Our Only Home, says there are numerous benefits to green roofs:

•Energy savings of 10 to 60 percent, as the greenery acts as another layer of insulation from heat loss in winter and cooling loss in summer.

•Less noise (extra layers of plants and drainage materials act as insulators) and less greenhouse gas (like any green plants, those on a roof absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen).

•Doesn't trap heat from the sun the way conventional roofs do. Conventional roofs can overheat entire cities.

•Attracts pollinators like honeybees and bumblebees, which are often scarce in urban areas.
•Doubles or triples the life of the underlying roof.

But all the benefits must be balanced with the hefty cost. And turning a roof "green" demands more than flipping through the phone book for a contractor.

Although some may be tempted to do it themselves, Ms. Weber advises homeowners to resist the urge. First, call a structural engineer to analyze how much weight the house can hold. And while planting sedum on your roof may sound easy, it requires expert installation of layers of protection, drainage, and growing medium, says Dustin Brackney, a landscape architect with Cypress Landscapes in Cambridge, Mass.

Until recently, several factors have limited the number of green roofs on homes, says Melissa Muroff of Roofscapes in Philadelphia. Contractors like Roofscapes (one of the oldest and largest green-roof designers and installers) are not used to doing small roofing projects, while conventional residential roofers often lack green-roof expertise. That's changing, though, as more people are demanding green renovations, Ms. Muroff says.

The cost is high: between $15 and $35 per square foot. Carter and Chase's 1,100 square-foot brownstone roof cost $20,000 to design and install, more than three times the $6,000 it costs to replace a conventional roof of that size. It helps that the green roof will last an estimated 30 or 40 years, rather than the decade or so one might expect from a regular roof, Weber says.

The cost can be less if neighbors get together and use the same company to design and install several roofs at the same time. Muroff says the most cost-effective aggregate square footage for pursuing a green roof is 5,000 square feet or more.

Boston's hip Jamaica Plain neighborhood is contemplating moving in this direction as well. Forty or so residents gathered last month to hear how green roofs could work for their homes and community.

"Last year, if there was a meeting like this, two, maybe three people would have shown up," says guest speaker Weber. "Now this is a hot topic, and it's about cooling our cities and our neighborhoods down."

She says such roofs can work for almost any home, from the suburban pitched roof to the flat roofs on Jamaica Plain's "triple deckers" (three-family homes).

Although homeowners may want to make elaborate plans for an urban forest atop their home, most houses cannot support the intensive green roofs found on big commercial buildings, with trees and lush foliage. Residential installations mostly feature a maximum of four inches of soil.

The green sedum on the Bronx brownstone is the most common plant for residential green roofs, experts say. It is a succulent, flowering plant that requires little water and minimal soil (meaning less weight).

Although green-roof maintenance is necessary at first (the sedum requires occasional weeding or watering), once the roof is well established after about two years it only needs to be checked every six months or so, says Rob Crauderueff, the sustainable alternatives coordinator for Sustainable South Bronx (SSB), the nonprofit group Carter established in 2001 to help green the Bronx while developing a local, "green collar" workforce.

In the case of his home, Chase says he looks at the high cost as both a "romantic" and practical investment.

The romantic motivation comes from the feel-good moments he has watching sunsets – and the next Fourth of July fireworks – from their rooftop, all the while knowing they're giving a little bit of metropolis back to Mother Nature.

"Out here in the Bronx," Chase says, "we're starved for land to play with. There's no room for gardens in front of our homes.... Compared to some home improvements, this is a guiltless pleasure."

Carter and Chase also feel like they're giving back to the community by supporting the fledgling green-roof industry and having SSB employees perform the installation and maintenance.
Mr. Crauderueff recommends hiring a contractor who can design, install, and maintain a green roof so they have an added incentive to do a good job from the beginning.

Neighbors and a video crew from a new show on the Sundance Channel hosted by Carter gathered Oct. 5 to watch the installation of the green roof, which only took a day. The SSB crew used a "laddervator" (a ladder with escalator-like sides) to help carry the materials up to the roof.

The reactions to the new roof by her neighbors were varied.

"Some of them were probably like, 'Those crazy environmentalists are at it again,' " Carter says. "But I think there's a lot of buzz around here about green roofs, especially for storm-water management. They're asking 'Could that work for me, too?' "

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Nation must adapt to greater wildfire risk

2007-11-01T08:08:00.000+08:00

from the November 01, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1101/p13s02-usgn.html

Climate change means people must prepare for more fire danger, including – surprise – US East.

By Peter N. Spotts Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Droughts, floods, severe storms, and sea-level rise often get the lion's share of attention in the litany of projected effects from global warming. But October's disastrous wildfires in California – part of one of the most intense fire seasons in the United States in nearly 50 years – are likely to raise the profile of such events, even if a firm link between the state's fires and climate change has yet to be made.

Planning for how to adapt to larger and more frequent wildfires is under way. It includes building homes with fire-resistant roofs and windows, and landscaping with fire-resistant plants. It also means planning new communities with streets wide enough to handle evacuation traffic even when the curbs are lined with fire trucks.

It also means changing the way people think about their homes and surrounding property. And it means maintaining homes and property over time: Adapting to new wildfire risks is not a one-time event, experts say.

People who live in flood plains or hurricane zones generally "understand the need to adapt and to build differently," says James Smalley, who heads the wildfire-protection program at the National Fire Prevention Association in Quincy, Mass. "But people who live in natural settings don't quite get it yet – that you can adapt, that you can still have a natural, beautiful setting.
You have to understand that fire is part of the natural landscape. So you have to adapt."

Global warming is expected to increase fire hazards in the western United States under a range of global-warming scenarios. But the greatest increase in risk, some researchers say, is likely to come in the East and Southeast. There, snowmelt and rainfall are unlikely to slake the increasing thirst of trees and shrubs as CO2 spurs their growth during longer, warmer growing seasons.

This could leave more of the eastern woodlands drier and more vulnerable to wildfires by summer's end. Meanwhile, some of the most dense mingling of homes and woods – what experts call the wildland-urban interface – can be found in the eastern US.

Money and manpower to deal with wildfires today is limited. That sometimes can means firefighters must use a kind of triage to decide what to do. Not only are homes and communities that prepare to resist wildfires more likely to survive with less damage, they also are more likely to attract attention from firefighters.

"Your first mind-set is to save them all," says Michael Long, director of Florida's state forest service. "But then when you get limited resources, you look at [the homes] and say, 'This is a winner; this is a loser.' When your resources get low, you've got to make decisions as to which ones you stand the best chance of saving."

Well-prepared homes in one neighborhood can also free up firefighters to work on other parts of a blaze. According to press reports, for instance, the Witch fire in northern San Diego County swept right across one large housing development. Yet no home burned. Firefighters attributed the good news to the consistent use of fire-resistant landscaping throughout the development.

But pinning the blame for southern California's tragedy on global warming at this stage is premature, says Anthony Westerling, an assistant professor at the University of California at Merced and a lead investigator with the California Climate Change Center at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif.

He and colleagues at the University of Arizona note that so far no research has identified a clear link between rising temperatures and wildfires in southern California's dry chaparral landscape. In a statement, the team notes that "the connection between global warming, Santa Ana winds, and extremely low southern California precipitation last winter are not known with sufficient certainty to conclusively link global warming with this disaster."

"We don't know how much the dice are getting loaded" in favor of such fire outbreaks in southern California, Dr. Westerling says in an interview. Computer models tend to agree that temperatures should warm, he says, but "they are all over the place" on changes in precipitation.

Yet global warming's fingerprints – earlier springs, earlier snowmelts, and warmer temperatures – have been appearing in other forested areas, he adds. In a study he and colleagues published in the journal Science in August 2006, the team found a sudden, marked increase in the number and lifetime of fires, as well as a longer fire season in the West generally – especially during the mid-1980s. These trends were particularly noticeable in forests in the northern Rockies at middle elevations. There, the interaction of people with the forest ecosystem – which can have its own powerful effect on fires – is far less pronounced than in other parts of the West.

Indeed, model projections point to similar trends in Canada and Russia's immense reaches of high-latitude forests, according to a research by a team led by Amber Soja, a researcher at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
That global warming might bring a greater fire risk to the already arid Western US might seem obvious. But the big surprise in the future may come farther east, says Ronald Neilson, a bioclimatologist at the US Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, Ore. It's in the east and southeast where global-warming-related wildfire risks will grow the most dramatically, his research suggests, even though the western US remains the country's wildfire hot spot.

Two out of 5 US homes are on the front lines

Why? As temperatures warm, the growing season will get longer. Woodlands will grow faster – at least for a few decades – fertilized by more atmospheric CO2. But annual precipitation amounts are expected to remain relatively constant.

Today, forests usually dry out just as the trees are going dormant for winter. In the future, however, eastern forests may dry long before the trees have a chance to shut down. Combined with bark beetle infestations (themselves a product of warming temperatures; they have occurred in the southern and western US and recently moved east), an increasing number of eastern woodlands could become prime wildfire fuel.

On a related front, two years ago, a team led by Volker Radeloff, a forest ecologist at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, pulled together the first national assessment of the collision between development and wild lands. The effort was driven by increased concerns about wildfire risks, Dr. Radeloff says.

The team looked at 2000 census data and found that 44,348,628 homes – nearly 39 percent of all the housing units in the lower 48 states – were built along the wildland-urban interface. In some cases, these were single homes built on large tracts of forest or grassland. In other cases, they represented dense developments that bordered extended wild areas, such as national forests.

Agencies pool efforts to identify 'fire-wise' practices

The results were amazing, Radeloff says. "Because the West has the drought, most of the discussions about the wildland-urban interface focused on those states," he says. "But when we look at absolute numbers, there is much more wildland-urban interface in the East than in the West. That came as a major surprise to us."

Combined with the projected effects of global warming on the eastern forests, this came as potentially troubling news. Little wonder, then, that several federal agencies and national associations have pooled their efforts to support "fire-wise" communities, spreading the word on what works and what doesn't to make homes and communities more resistant to fires.
The solutions, experts says, don't require rocket science. Good approaches are already out there. They just need to be applied more widely and consistently.

Mr. Smalley of the National Fire Prevention Association recalls a recent query he received from the US Government Accountability Office inquiring about new ways to reduce the risk of wildfires.

"They asked: 'What new technology can we look forward to?' I said there is no new technology that will help. It comes down to good building [techniques] and good clearance around each home."

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On the Horizon: news from the frontiers of science

2007-10-31T08:07:00.000+08:00

from the November 01, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1101/p17s02-stgn.html

A distant comet brightens the night sky, scientists experiment with the world's hottest chili pepper, and how soil effects autumn leaves

By Peter N. Spotts

Comet brightens the night sky

Skywatchers are enjoying an unexpected treat: Comet 17P/Holmes has blossomed from an invisible object some 25,000 times too faint to be viewed with the naked eye to naked-eye brightness in less than a week.

The comet appears in the constellation Perseus as a yellowish "star" near the end of Perseus's left arm, as seen from Earth. It is readily visible through binoculars even with bright moonlight and through all but the worst light pollution, according to editors at Sky & Telescope magazine. And in areas with really dark skies, people have reported seeing it with the naked eye.

The sudden brightening is not unheard of for this comet, discovered in 1892. It brightened, then dimmed, then brightened again between 1892 and 1893. It swings around the sun once every seven years, at a distance of about 200 million miles. Astronomers are puzzling over what has caused the outburst of light. One possible explanation: The comet's approach to the sun has warmed it and caused its surface to crack, leading to an outburst of fresh dust and gas.

Bite this pepper at your own risk

When it comes to spices, chili peppers rank somewhere between mild taste sensation and criminal assault. Now, two plant scientists at New Mexico State University describe what may rank as the most notorious chili of all: the Bhut Jolokia, from Assam, India.

Rumor had it that Bhut Jolokia was the hottest of the hot, but no one had put it to the test. The New Mexico State team, led by Paul Bosland, received a sample seed in 2001. But it took three years of careful cultivation to grow enough of the chilies to provide the seeds needed for detailed, repeated field experiments.

The duo measured this fiery fruit's hotness at a record-breaking 1 million Scoville units, the standard measure of a chili's perceived "heat." By comparison, Jalepeños that grace tacos or salsa only reach 2,500 to 10,000 Scoville units. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the previous hotshot – a variety of Habanero chili called Red Savina – reaches 577,000 Scoville units.

The researchers also were interested in Bhut's ancestry. Using DNA analysis, they concluded that the chili is a derivative of Capsicum chinense, a type that includes Scotch Bonnet peppers. And it appears to have a bit of Capsicum frutescense, which includes Tabasco peppers, thrown in for good measure. The study appears in the current issue of HortScience, a journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Soil's effect on autumn leaves

This time of year, broad-leaf trees throughout the northern hemisphere are turning their characteristic yellows, oranges, and reds. The pigments protect the leaves as they produce a final batch of nutrients that will be stored in the trees' roots over winter.

Now, a researcher with the McDowell Mountain Regional Park near Phoenix suggests that the intensity of those colors may have as much to do with the soil a tree grows in as with the species of tree itself.

Researcher Emily Habinck surveyed a section of forest in a nature preserve outside of Charlotte, N.C., while a grad student at the University of North Carolina. She found that in places where the soil was low in nitrogen and other nutrients, sweet-gum and red maples produced large amounts of a red pigment compared with trees in more nutrient-rich areas. The mechanism apparently allows the leaves to survive longer into the fall so they can deliver the right amount of nutrients to tree roots.

The work bolsters results from a study in 2003 that hinted at how important the production of red pigment can be. Montana State University's William Hoch used genetic techniques to block red-pigment production in red-leafed plants. When he did, the leaves succumbed far faster to the weaker fall sunlight and so delivered less nutrients to plant roots. The results of Ms. Habinck's work are being presented at this week's meeting of the American Geological Society in Denver.

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Berlin's Quiz Taxi attempts cultural hijacking

2007-10-30T08:04:00.000+08:00

from the October 26, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1026/p20s01-woeu.html

American at crossroads: Clueless in German, with a game-show host behind the wheel, she chose obscurity over broadcast humiliation.

By Mary Wiltenburg Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Berlin

OK, it did look a little shady. But to a Midwesterner, taxis always do. Waiting at the curb, the minivan's driver seemed lost in thought. I was just off a train, disheveled and sleepy; when I waved to him he roused himself and beckoned me in.

I tossed my suitcase onto the back seat, and he spun around, patted it, and said in German: "That's good, right there." When I gave him my Berlin destination, he smiled oddly and said, "Yes, that'll be just fine."

Looking back, I should have known something was off. But after six months in Germany, where I spoke like a kindergartner too well-versed in historical atrocities, every encounter was a little strange. Some days, I blamed this on a language in which a single umlaut made the difference between "It's so hot and humid!" and "That's so gay!"

But really I was the problem. Without knowing it, I had assumed the shambling air of a perpetual foreigner. Sometimes this provoked rage, especially in bus drivers, a job which seemed, puzzlingly, to be favored by sociopaths. Mostly, though, people took pity on me. As they slowed their direction-giving to a pace comprehensible to an addled chimp, I could see them wondering: "Was I ever that lost?"

Even familiar cues failed me: Smiling, I had been warned, was a sign of stupidity. I looked heavily impaired. Frowning deliberately, I bent over the seatbelt as the taxi driver turned toward the dashboard.

Suddenly lights began to flash and sirens to wail, as though all of Berlin's ambulances were descending on us. I looked up. The driver was watching me intently. He shut off the noise.
I saw two possibilities.

One: I was under arrest. (For what, was unclear.)

Two: This was a German chick-magnet, the continental cousin of those alien hovercraft with neon under lights that cruise America's inner cities.

(Everybody had told me dating in Germany was impossible. But it was hard to imagine anyone so desperate to impress that he'd soup up his taxi minivan.)

I gave the driver a once-over. (Not impossible.)

"Wow," I said, hoping this would get us under way.

The driver regarded me with distaste. "Do you know where you are?" he asked, in a strangely booming voice.

For the first time, I noticed that nearly all the van's windows were tinted black.

Possibility three: I was being kidnapped by an alumnus of the East German secret police.

"You're in Kvitazki!" he thundered, the indecipherable word sounding a lot like a Stasi prison to me.

My eyes were like saucers.

After a long moment, it hit him. "You don't know Quiz Taxi?" he asked in disbelief. "Where are you from?"

"Quiz Taxi," it turned out, was a recently debuted German reality TV show in which unsuspecting participants rode around major cities trying to answer trivia questions for money.

Americans with a clue and cable TV knew it as a spin-off of the Discovery Channel game show, "Cash Cab," which itself was a spin-off of the British original.

I had neither clue nor cable – in fact, I feared TV.

The host sized up none of this. Proudly he directed my attention to this: Aimed at my forehead, ears, and up both nostrils, cameras were already rolling. And there was Geld. "Money!" he said in English, waving a large bill in my face. (And really, does flapping cash ever bode well?)

Still, I thought, what could it hurt? I humiliated myself every time I opened my mouth. Why not do it on national TV in a country full of strangers? For an instant I could see myself when it was all over, acting out the scene for laughing friends. Friends who would get the joke. Friends with televisions.

Then again, in my experience, Americans were a popular punch-line in Germany. I could picture a "Quiz Taxi" producer somewhere rubbing her hands at the chance to expose a bumbling fool like me on prime time.

Besides, who was I kidding? I could barely order brunch. I thanked the host, climbed from the van, and moved down the taxi queue.

An elderly couple had claimed the second cab, so I approached the third. Its driver blinked at me through coke-bottle glasses.

"Are you sure?" the old man asked breathlessly. "I mean, I can take you, but ... you were in the Quiz Taxi."

I was sure. But no one else seemed to be. When we reached the end of the driveway, we found the second taxi waiting for us. Its driver was disgusted.

Gallantly, mine took up for me: "Maybe she doesn't understand Quiz Taxi."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's American."

But when the light changed, he couldn't help himself. Craning around in his seat, he gave it one last try.

"If you change your mind I'll take you back," he said, "just say the word."

When we had put a safe distance between ourselves and the world of broadcast, my curiosity got the better of me.

"Was that man famous?" I asked.

Oh yes, the driver assured me.

"Really?" I mused in German, "Who had knowed?"

"Who knew," he corrected, gently.

"I thought he was ... how do you say ... " I rummaged for the German word.

"Funny?" he offered. "Friendly? Handsome?"

It came back to me from a Hitler biography. "Deranged!" I said proudly.

The driver thought this was a riot. He couldn't get over it.

Neither could I. For the first time in half a year, I felt I understood somebody, and my clumsy story was enough to make him smile. Not just at me: with me.

All the way downtown, the driver and I traded one-liners. As we did, I heard him start to tell the story, working out the details for the next person who happened into his cab.

"I bet you thought you were just going for a ride. Nothing unusual, just wanted to get to Ku'damm," he prompted.

"Yeah," I said, grinning like an idiot, "Yeah, who knew?"

"I bet you'll think twice about getting in a taxi again," he persisted. "From now on, I bet you'll take the bus!"

"The bus?" I said with a shudder. "I don't know about the bus. Maybe a bike."

He howled with laughter. Somehow – who knew? – I'd made my first German joke. He braked abruptly in the middle of the intersection. Traffic swerved around us. He took off his glasses, gasping for air. People were honking.

"You're right," he said, mopping his eyes. "Who knows what could happen on the bus."

[Editor's note: The original version misspelled the author's name.]

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Gridlock over how to end flight gridlock

2007-10-29T07:58:00.000+08:00

from the October 29, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1029/p03s03-usgn.html

The airlines balk after the FAA proposes congestion pricing and flight caps for airports in the New York area.

By Alexandra Marks Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK

It all sounded so easy.

There is a problem: record delays and congestion at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, which ripple through airports across the country. There was an apparent solution: a big meeting among the airlines, the airport managers, and federal regulators to address it. But there's also a reason for sayings like "The devil's in the details."

Intensive meetings last week did yield some results. JetBlue and Delta agreed to shift their schedules to help alleviate congestion during peak periods, and other airlines are weighing similar steps.

But the message for public consumption was clear: The airlines, the airport managers, and more than a dozen business and cultural institutions enlisted to support them are outraged by what they see as failure by the Federal Aviation Administration to prevent the problem in the first place. On Friday, they blasted the FAA and, in particular, the agency's top two proposed solutions: congestion pricing, which would charge airlines more to land during peak periods, and mandatory caps that would reduce by 20 percent the current 100 departing flights per hour.

"There are so many losers from caps, but there is arguably one winner – the federal government, which gets off the hook easy," says Anthony Shorris, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the region's three major airports. "It's a cheap, fast, easy purported solution that allows the federal government to walk away from its responsibilities to make America's air-traffic system what it should be."

While all say they remain committed to working cooperatively to resolve the problem, the heated reaction seemed to take the FAA by surprise. The agency's first statement touted the cooperative process, but also drew the FAA's own line in the sand.

"Allowing a repeat of last summer's record-setting airline delays … is simply not an option," said Department of Transportation spokesman Brian Turmail.

Later, in a phone interview, Mr. Turmail blasted the airlines and airport authority for complaining without offering good short-term solutions of their own." Instead of the airlines spending all of their time giving reasons why something won't work, I think travelers would be better served if they'd spend their time coming up with suggestions that would reduce delays," he said.

At the center of the dispute is how quickly and safely the federal government can upgrade technology and make changes in air-traffic control to increase capacity at New York's airports. The goal is to allow as many passengers and planes to land there as want to.

The FAA's steps thus far

The FAA has redesigned the airspace so that more planes can land and take off at the same time and is implementing that plan. But there's opposition from some communities that would hear more planes roaring overhead. They've brought lawsuits, and some congressmen are threatening to block the plan.

The FAA is also negotiating with the military to open up some restricted airspace over the Atlantic Ocean to create new departure routes. And the agency has announced plans to introduce satellite-based technology that will allow some planes to take off closer together. But it will take as long as three years to implement those changes – and 10 years before the entire air-traffic control system is shifted to a satellite-based technology that will ease congestion everywhere.

So the second key issue, from the FAA's point of view, is what to do in the short term. It wants the airlines to self-police their schedules – meaning that not every traveler who wants to leave at 6 p.m. on a Friday would be able to do so. Some may have to depart at 4 p.m. or 8 p.m., but at least they won't be sitting on the tarmac for an hour or more waiting for all the other scheduled 6 p.m. flights to leave. The FAA has told the airlines that if they don't resolve the problem themselves, it will put caps on the number of departing flights and may implement congestion pricing.

Airlines seek better air-traffic control

From the view of the airlines and the airport authority, the FAA still isn't moving aggressively enough to improve air-traffic control. Talk of imposing caps, they say, will turn back the clock and undermine New York's economy.

"We are opposed to artificial restraints on travel and taxes on travel," says James May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, which represents the major carriers. "The constraints they're attempting to put on JFK are reminiscent of traffic levels that were accomplished in 1969. We don't need to look back; we need to look forward."

The FAA's Turmail says operational improvements are "a must and already under way." But he's just as adamant that the airlines must make some changes. "We have to figure out what changes the airlines can make and what the Port Authority can do to avoid these delays in the future," he says.

Advocates for passengers say both sides can do better. "There's some definite denial ... among airlines about how bad the problem is," says Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group for business travelers. "On the other hand, the FAA just seems like it wants to experiment in New York with this congestion pricing and they're not hearing the objections."

Still, there are some hopeful signs for the weary, oft-delayed traveler, says Mr. Mitchell. At least every body's talking about a finding a solution and, in the end, they just might, he says.

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A bridge to Vietnamese cuisine

2007-10-28T07:57:00.000+08:00

from the October 31, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1031/p16s01-litr.html

One way for visitors to understand Vietnamese culture is to take a cooking class.

By Dorothy Aksamit Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Hoi An, Vietnam

"Ladies and gentlemen, to your stations!" Those words, spoken with great flair by Chef Hai, made me smile and wonder if he was an aficionado of TV cooking shows.

Earlier that day, our class of 21 foreign visitors had gathered at Hai Scout Café in Hoi An, Vietnam, a riverside town about 18-1/2 miles south of Da Nang. We chatted and got acquainted as we sipped fresh juice, cappuccino, latte, or Vietnamese filtered coffee.

Several of us were American – one couple was bicycling through Vietnam – but the majority were Australian. Most were under 30, but the class also had attracted a few retired couples, which is representative of tourism in Vietnam.

First we would visit Hoi An's large central market. Then we would take a boat ride down the Hoi An River to the Red Bridge Restaurant, the site of the cooking school where we would be taking a half-day class.

Rain didn't dampen our spirits as we unfurled umbrellas and gingerly sidestepped puddles on our way to the market, which offered everything from fresh fish to kitchen equipment.

At the fruit stand, Thanh, our guide, introduced the exotic dragon fruit. It's smooth-skinned, with scales that hint at the cactus that it is. Thanh said that the cactus "stems" (think of a Christmas cactus) can grow up to 20 feet long.

He moved on to show us knobby, yellowish-green custard apples. Inside are creamy-white, custardlike segments. Each segment surrounds a hard brown seed, which we picked out and discarded. Then we sampled the segments. Mmm, good.

In the vegetable section of the market, Thanh chose what looked like a cucumber with ridges. "This is bitter melon, used often in soup," he told us. "It's very good for you, and you must try it 10 times before you decide you don't like it!"

Pausing at a rice stall, we learned that rice paper can be softened by soaking it for a second in tepid water or by wrapping it in a banana leaf for up to 10 hours.

We passed on "the best coffee from Dalat, at 50,000 dong [about $3] a kilo," but most of us bought small metal vegetable graters with tiny loops at one end used for making the slivers of carrot found in the national sauce, nuoc mam. Many of us also purchased tiny three-part gizmos for making drip coffee.

At the fish market, we learned that the fish sold in stalls inside the market are from the sea, while vendors in the outside stalls by the river are selling river fish. Thanh lingered by a huge mound of squid. "The flesh of a fresh squid should be hard and white," he explained.

The rain had changed into a fine mist as we got into a wooden boat that would putt-putt us down the Hoi An River for a 25-minute tour.

As we glided by riverside restaurants, we made notes of Thanh's recommendations to guide us to good places to eat during coming days in the area.

The tuition for this cooking class was just $15, and by that point, I had already had $15 worth of fun – and the cooking hadn't even started. But disembarking at the dock of the Red Bridge Restaurant, which is nestled beneath tall palms, I felt that another round of surprises was in store.

From the dining area of the open-air restaurant, we followed Thanh through a tropical garden to a raised herb garden, where most of us saw lemon grass growing for the first time. We also learned that basil can be used to make a fragrant hair rinse.

After washing our hands, we gathered in the adjacent pavilion, which was definitely worthy of a TV cooking show.

For the next hour, we would be chopping, slicing, peeling, and sautéing, as Chef Hai and his two assistants – all of whom spoke excellent English – demonstrated cooking techniques under a large, angled mirror.

After the demonstrations, we whipped into action at two long tables set up with supplies, including individual gas burners. We would prepare four dishes and tackle edible decorations such as Vietnamese cucumber fans.

The first dish was a simple, straightforward stir-fry – a warm squid salad beautifully presented in a half pineapple.

Next came Asian eggplant in a clay pot. Chef Hai had eliminated most of the oil so it was basically a flavorful boiled dish.

Surprisingly, everyone in the class learned to make a credible cucumber fan and a tomato rose, a lovely garnish for the shrimp rice paper rolls that we created.

I was skeptical about making from scratch the impossibly thin rice paper wrappers that when I'm at home, I buy on Clement Street in San Francisco. But armed with a flexible bamboo sliver about eight inches long, we spread the runny rice batter over a cloth "lid" that was tied over a pan of boiling water. Our spring rolls looked a little ragged but were nonetheless delicious. We couldn't quite say we had mastered the art, but we had all gained more respect for its many deft practitioners that we encountered all over Vietnam.

We also prepared banh xeo, a crepe made with rice flour sprinkled with tiny shrimp, bits of pork, green onions, and bean sprouts. After the cooked crepe is folded over sprigs of mint and basil, small portions are wrapped in lettuce leaves and then dipped in fish sauce. It's one of my favorite dishes back home, and I found that making these Vietnamese "pancakes" is quick and easy – when someone else collects the many ingredients.

After we finished, we had lunch in the adjacent restaurant. It included not only our own culinary efforts, but snapper steamed in banana leaves and ocean fish on a bed of vegetables. Dessert was fresh fruit, artfully presented: rambutan (a reddish, spiny tropical fruit), pineapple spears, and banana slices.

As I sat there, satisfied by the results of my morning at the cooking school, I decided that it had been such fun, so informative, and such a perfect activity for a solo traveler, I should sign up for the night class at Hai Scout Café. And so I did.

Half-day cooking classes

• Red Bridge Cooking School, Thon 4, Cam Thanh, Hoi An, Vietnam. Telephone (from the US): 011-84 510 933222 or 011-84 091 3457029. Website: www.visithoian.com/redbridge.html. E-mail: info@visithoian.com.

• The Red Bridge Restaurant is open daily for lunch and also for dinner on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.

• Those attending the cooking school meet at Hai Scout Café, 98 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street/111 Tran Phu Street, in Old Town Hoi An. Telephone (from the US) 011-84 510 863210.

• Cost, including the market visit, round-trip boat ride, and lunch is $15.

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Clinton's gender poses challenge in Iowa

2007-10-27T07:56:00.000+08:00

from the October 26, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1026/p01s04-uspo.html

The leading Democratic presidential contender is in a tight race in Iowa, one of only two states never to have elected a woman to the governor's office or Congress.

By Ariel Sabar Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Ames, Iowa
When Roxanne Conlin stepped into a grain elevator during her 1982 campaign for Iowa governor, the farmers inside, in seed corn hats and overalls, burst into laughter when she asked for their support.

"They all just guffawed until I left," recalls Ms. Conlin, a former US attorney who narrowly lost the open race. "It was not an uncommon reaction. People would say to me, 'What do you think you're doing? You've got four kids, go home.' "

Twenty-five years later, Iowa remains the only state besides Mississippi never to have elected a woman to the governor's office or to Congress. A bedeviling question is how that legacy will play for Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is seeking to become the first woman president and is in a far tighter race for the Democratic presidential nomination in Iowa than she is in other early-primary states.

Senator Clinton told a Des Moines Register columnist this week that she was "shocked" to hear of Iowa's failure to elect a female governor or member of Congress and said it posed a "special burden" for her.

"I have to maybe reassure people here maybe more than I do in New Hampshire, which has had a woman governor," she said.

Anything short of victory in Iowa would puncture the aura of inevitability that surrounds her nomination nationally. Some analysts saw her remarks as an effort to lower expectations in this key early voting state. Interviews with Democratic voters this week suggest that Clinton remains a polarizing figure in Iowa, if not just because of her gender.

"I'm not going to vote for someone just because they have the same reproductive system I do," says Jennifer Lunsford, a dairy farmer who chairs the Jefferson County Democratic Party, in southeast Iowa. "I'm going to vote for someone who has the same convictions."

Ms. Lunsford, who is backing Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, said she was put off by what she sees as Clinton's divisive politics and weak explanation of her 2002 vote for the Iraq war.

At the other end of the spectrum is Stephanie Calhoun, a grandmother of 23, who says Clinton has inspired her to vote for the first time. "It's time for a woman to take charge," Ms. Calhoun, a live-in caretaker for the elderly, said as she waited for takeout Chinese food in downtown Des Moines Wednesday. "She's outgoing, and she's outspoken, and it doesn't matter what kind of shoes she wears."

Current and former female politicians in Iowa say many older residents in this rural state hold traditional views of gender roles. But they say factors with no bearing on Clinton's bid – bad timing, and lack of campaign funds or name recognition – have also played a part in the fate of women candidates for governor and Congress.

Iowa Lt. Gov. Patty Judge, a Democrat with no plans to endorse in the caucuses, says of Clinton, "She may face what I and any other woman who has run for political office did, and that's a small percentage of people who will make a decision based on her gender. It is not a make or break."

Clinton's unease over Iowa surfaced publicly in May, when an internal campaign memo calling Iowa "our consistently weakest state" and urging a pullout from the caucuses leaked to the press. Clinton responded that she had rejected the advice and has since ramped up campaign operations here.

She purchased local TV ads to compete with those of former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and campaigned with her husband, Bill Clinton, and the wives of former Gov. Tom Vilsack and Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa.

Bonnie Campbell, a former Iowa gubernatorial candidate who co-chairs Clinton's Midwest campaign, says Clinton has gone to lengths to highlight her role as a mother. In a state that prizes strong families, she says, Clinton's decision to stay with her husband through a rocky marriage also resonates. "While her marital status may have hurt her in urban centers, I think it helps here," said Ms. Campbell, a former Iowa attorney general.

Clinton has pulled to the front only in recent polls of Iowa Democrats. For months she had trailed Mr. Edwards, who placed second in Iowa in 2004 and has campaigned in the state for years. She is ahead of her nearest rival by as much as 20 points in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada, but her lead here – six points over Edwards in the authoritative Iowa Poll earlier this month – is narrow.

And it remains fragile. According to the Iowa Poll, more Democratic caucusgoers – 41 percent – have ruled her out than they have either Edwards and Senator Obama. Edwards is still the favorite among men, and 42 percent of all Democratic caucusgoers say they thought Clinton's gender would hurt her chances on election day.

Even so, Dianne Bystrom, director of Iowa State University's Catt Center for Women and Politics, said that in Iowa's unusual system of selecting party nominees, Clinton's gender may help in at least one way: The Democrats who attend caucuses are disproportionately female, many of them baby boomers like her.

Invited to talk about women and leadership at the Catt Center on campus here Wednesday, Clinton chronicled the long strides since the suffrage movement and prodded the hundreds of women – and some men – in the audience to vote.

"I relish the opportunity to be part of making history with all of you," she said.

Getting up to leave afterward, Janet Fitzpatrick, a graduate student in women's studies, said she had yet to be persuaded. She said she wanted a Democrat in the White House more than she did a woman and fretted over Clinton's prospects in the general election. "Yes, more women vote now," said Ms. Fitzpatrick, of the nearby town of Nevada, who is torn between Clinton and Edwards. "But are women comfortable voting for another woman? I think a lot of them are just not there yet."

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Thinkers gather to act on world problems

2007-10-26T07:55:00.000+08:00

from the October 22, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1022/p25s01-sten.html

Pop!Tech conference in Camden, Maine, aims to harness synergy to tackle issues.

By Gregory M. Lamb Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Camden, Maine

Pop!Tech, the annual gathering of thinkers and doers in Camden, Maine, that ended on Saturday, has been asking such questions as "What does it means to be a human being at the beginning of the 21st century?" says its curator and host, Andrew Zolli.

But more and more, the conference, now in its 11th year, isn't just posing big questions: It's trying to jump-start big solutions to big problems.

The "Pop!Tech Accelerator," just announced, aims to bring together innovators that meet at the conference to take on big challenges. Its first effort is called Project Masiluleke (it means "to reach out" or "rejuvenate oneself" in Zulu). The project combines the work of iTEACH, a program in South Africa that aims to educate poor people about HIV/AIDS and help them find and take advantage of medical treatment, with an interactive computer program developed by researchers at the University of Connecticut. The program, which helps patients understand and manage their own medical treatment, is part of CHIP (the Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention) at the university.

Pop!Tech has long talked the talk on environmental issues, and in recent years it's begun to walk the walk, too. To compensate for the carbon emissions created by this year's conference (including energy needs on site and travel by its hundreds of participants), Pop!Tech bought carbon-offset credits equal to twice the carbon the meeting created. Thus it claims to be not just "carbon neutral," but "carbon negative."

Anyone, whether at the conference or not, can participate in its carbon-offset plan too. The offsets program offers a quick and simple "carbon footprint" calculator to help individuals determine the amount of carbon emissions they are producing. Then they volunteer to financially support one of three projects: a solar-powered irrigation program in Benin, West Africa; a wildlife corridor and reforestation effort in Nicaragua; or a biomass energy project in Brazil.

"We vetted very, very carefully" in choosing the projects, Mr. Zolli told the conference. "All of the [carbon] credits are legitimate." To put a face on the efforts, a leader from each project addressed the gathering.

A vexing issue for environmentalists has been why the public isn't more up in arms about global warming, given what they see as strong scientific evidence. Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, told Pop!Tech that climate change represents a type of threat that humans have trouble coping with. Humans have evolved to respond to four kinds of threats, he says:

1. Threats that have a face. A threat from a person (Hitler, Saddam Hussein), rather than impersonal weather events, elicits a strong response. The anthrax-in-the-mail scare several years ago won attention because a person or persons was perceived to be behind it. Illnesses like influenza or malaria, which have no human face, represent a much greater threat but receive much less attention.

2. Threats that offend us. Global warming doesn't violate our hard-wired moral sensibilities: It's not indecent, impious, disgusting, or nauseating. If this were about "flag burning," "gay sex," or "killing puppies," we'd be in the streets protesting, he says.

3. Threats that represent a clear and present danger. Global warming is a future threat. We duck involuntarily if someone suddenly throws a rock at us. That kind of response to immediate threats has evolved to serve us well over millennia. But our ability to think about the future is still in its infancy (even though some of us do floss our teeth and take out retirement plans). "We haven't quite gotten the knack of treating the future like the present," Dr. Gilbert says.

4. Threats that are sudden. When the rate of change is slow enough, we don't see the changes, he says. Already, we have around us "an ecological nightmare our grandparents would have never tolerated," including polluted air and water, Gilbert says. But we've come to accept these conditions as "normal" because they happened over time.

"Global warming doesn't push any of our [panic] buttons," Gilbert concludes. "We're sleeping in a burning bed."

Cary Fowler's Global Crop Diversity Trust isn't waiting for a disaster before acting. His organization is working with the Norwegian government to build an underground seed bank in Svalbard, Norway, aimed at preserving the genetic diversity of plants that might become extinct. "This is not the time to start throwing away options," Fowler told the audience at Camden's Opera House. Not only are exotic plants whose genetic properties are little explored being preserved, but a wide variety of common plants as well. Rice alone has 120,000 varieties, he points out.

While the earth has seen climate swings in the past, the suddenness of human-induced global warming will present special problems to agriculture, Fowler says. Humans will either have to modify the environment to suit the crops, or modify the crops to suit the new environment, he says. Seed banks offer resources that can help develop new varieties that will better withstand changes such as more heat and drought.

One example: grass pea, or Lathyrus sativus, is a drought-resistant legume suitable for human consumption and livestock feed in Asia and East Africa. The problem: It contains traces of a neurotoxin. Researchers say that humans who consume it over long periods may become partially paralysed or develop other physical problems. By combining qualities from a wide variety of Lathyrus strains, scientists blend the best drought-resistant qualities with the lowest levels of neurotoxins to create a more useful plant.

How can we restore a healthy environment?

First, study nature in its pristine state to set a baseline for recovery, says Enric Sala, an oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego. Dr. Sala led a research trip to Kingman Reef in the Pacific Ocean to see what coral reefs looked like before they were influenced by humans.

Unlike the dying reefs in much of the world that are turning to slime and algae, Kingman is bursting with life. Dr. Sala found an ecosystem with its food chain intact, dominated by sharks and red snappers and not by little fish. These big predators represent about 85 percent of the reef's total biomass.

This is the standard that we must use to judge the health of the ocean, he says. At Kingman, "The entire food web is upside down" from the way we've been thinking about reefs.

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American youths bridge religious divides

2007-10-25T07:52:00.000+08:00

from the October 24, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1024/p13s01-lire.html

Teens in a Boston suburb lead the way in building relationships among religious faiths in their community through Interfaith Action, a program that has captured attention abroad.

By Jane Lampman Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Sharon, Mass.

At Temple Israel, in this small Massachusetts town, young Tehreem Zaidi begins his talk on Ramadan by reciting from the Koran in Arabic. The teenager then explains to the several hundred guests that the main purpose of this Muslim month of fasting is to "attain God consciousness, and to clean up our lives and our souls." He does not consider the fast a burden, "but an honor, to thank God for all my blessings."

Henal Motiwala follows with a vivid description of the Hindu holiday, Navratri, the "nine divine nights" celebrating the victory of good over evil.

And Jennifer Levy tells the story of Sukkot, the joyous Jewish holiday that expresses "appreciation for nature, food on the table, and friends in our lives."

The three poised high school students are hosting "Sacred Seasons," an evening of interfaith hospitality, including a dinner they and other teens have prepared for families in Sharon.

As members of Interfaith Action (IFA), they are part of an eight-year-old experiment to create understanding and respect across religious and ethnic divides among youths and to spread that healthy pluralism to the entire community. Their endeavors have captured the attention as a model for people as far away as Canada, Poland, and the Middle East.

"What they are doing is quite unusual," says Steve Worchel, a University of Hawaii researcher who is beginning a long-term evaluation of the program. "Many times you can change an individual but not the

system. The potential to reach the broader community is unique."

During their high-school years, the students say, they not only develop genuine cross-cultural friendships but also strong leadership skills.

Mike Garber, now a freshman at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., recalls how meaningful it was to learn how to facilitate an interfaith discussion and then see it bear fruit. He tells of an adult discussion session IFA held one evening between orthodox Jews and religious Muslims.

Devout Jews, devout Muslims find commonalities

"When they arrived, the Jews sat on one side of the room and the Muslims on the other," he says. "After we split into groups and facilitated dialogue, they returned later to the main room and kept sharing with each other. They talked about how similar the faiths were, and how they actually had more in common with each other than with less-religious members of their own faiths."

Sharon, an upscale but highly diverse Boston suburb of about 18,000, is a microcosm of a changing American landscape. While the majority of residents is Jewish, the town is home to a large Islamic center and Islamic school, a variety of Christian churches, and several Eastern religions. More than 10 percent of the citizens speak a language other than English in their homes, including Urdu, Hindi, Hebrew, Russian, and Chinese.

At the Sacred Seasons event, guests include people whose background is Pakistani, Indian, Israeli, and Korean. "My daughter joined because she had a friend who was involved, and I think it's a very good idea to get to know other religions," says Kyung Yoo, who has lived in Sharon seven years and attends a Korean Christian church in a nearby town.

For some adults present, it's their first interfaith venture. After the student presentations, the crowd files outside and into a sukkah, the temporary dwelling Jewish families build to eat in during the days of the Sukkot festival. There, special plates of food are laid out so that local Muslims celebrating Ramadan can break the day's fast. A tarp has been spread on the ground for the Muslim sunset prayer.

The guests then join in a South Asian-style dinner, where they are asked to sit at tables with people they do not know. The teens have been careful to ensure that the food meets the dietary needs of all the faiths, though one says finding kosher Indian rice was a challenge!

The IFA's overall program involves youth meetings twice a month, as well as outreach to the public schools and other community agencies.

"During the first half of the year, we learn about different faiths and visit houses of worship," explains Aleena Zaidi, a senior on the leadership team that plans events. "The other half of the year, we put into action what we've learned, through dialogues, conferences, and community service projects."

Active in IFA since her freshman year, Aleena says one of her favorite projects is the antibias and antistereotyping workshops they hold each semester at the middle school.

"We asked the teens a few years ago, 'How do you want to make a difference?' " says Janet Penn, IFA executive director. "They created a program to go to public middle school to teach four classes."

When students first join IFA, they go through a 12-hour leadership training program involving self-awareness and deep listening skills, run by program director Tabitha May-Tolub. Later, they are trained to facilitate programs in the community.

Last March, the group hosted 15 Middle Eastern imams who were on a State Department trip across the United States. The Muslim leaders participated in a public meeting held at the town library, where tough questions were raised, creating some challenging moments.

"The imam from Syria afterward came up and said, through a translator, 'This was the best part of our trip.' " Ms. Penn recalls. "Youths led the dialogue and shared what it was like for them to combine their Muslim identity and their American identity."

That has led to an invitation for the group to travel to Jordan.

Dr. Worchel – who has evaluated several programs aimed at reducing religious and ethnic conflict, including camps such as Seeds of Peace in Maine – says the effects of one-shot programs often don't last over the long term. IFA may show more lasting benefits, he says, because students participate over a two-to-four-year period.

"It's like a farmer tending a field. You plant the seeds, then you water and weed and fertilize," he says. "Also, it's easier to do prevention before a crisis arises than to try to treat it once there's a history of violence and distrust."

$25,000 grant to spread religious pluralism

Dan Resnick, who grew up in Israel and came to the US as a teen, has felt the impact. He joined IFA because his parents wanted him to. "Experiencing that kids from different religions and cultures can come together as friends and work together to produce amazing results really encourages me," he says. "I see it's not just war and conflict and that diversity can actually be good."

Dan suggested that IFA hold a conference for teens throughout the Boston area to share their experience. They partnered with the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, and found that interested high school students showed up from several states in the region.

IFA now has a $25,000 grant to work with other town institutions like the recreation department and the public library to develop long-term programs that foster healthy pluralism more broadly, such as among elderly residents.

The teens are enthusiastic about how interfaith engagement has changed their own lives, too. Aanchal Narang, a Hindu, says she had to go into her own faith more deeply in order to talk about it with others. Many are pleased to have gained new leadership skills, including confidence in public speaking. Virtually all speak of having good friends of different faiths who "hang out together," where before their close friends were like themselves.

"At first maybe you don't expect much from Interfaith," Dan says. "But it really comes through and means a lot to people. And when you apply to college and write about your favorite activities, it stands out."

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A loophole could dim impact in proposed energy-saving bill

2007-10-24T07:52:00.001+08:00

from the October 16, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1016/p02s02-uspo.html

New legislation is slated to phase out inefficient bulbs, but efficiency groups are concerned a loophole could diminish impact.

By Mark Clayton Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

It's not as portentous as raising fuel-efficiency standards or doling out solar-energy subsidies. Nevertheless, Congress is poised to pass a major energy-saving measure as soon as this month, if it can solve a rather glaring problem: How do you describe an energy-efficient light bulb?

That question is crucial because the new legislation would phase out energy-intensive incandescent bulbs on the basis of their size and shape rather than on the amount of power they draw. As a result, unscrupulous manufacturers could easily skirt the phase-out by changing slightly the shape of their incandescent offerings, efficiency advocates say, dramatically reducing the measure's benefits.

"If this loophole isn't fixed, the nation's savings [for this one provision] will be cut by half or more," says Andrew deLaski, director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, an efficiency effort sponsored by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The new measure aims to replace America's4 billion most inefficient incandescent bulbs with far more efficient light. That move alone could save enough energy to avoid building 40 large coal-fired power plants in the United States, which would make it the third-largest power-saving feature of the energy bill now moving through Congress, according to the ACEEE.

But if the loophole remains, the impact would be smaller.

"It's just too easy to get around the law," Mr. deLaski says. "Some company could make and sell a bulb that costs a fraction of the new efficient bulbs and undermine the whole thing."

For instance: Philips Electronics, one of the world's three largest bulbmakers, plans to unveil in a few weeks a new halogen-based incandescent bulb that uses 25 percent less energy than today's standard incandescent bulb. But because that new bulb's shape is not specifically identified in the bill, an overseas manufacturer could make an inefficient incandescent bulb of the same shape – legally skirt the new rules – and undercut the new high-efficiency bulb's price.

Ever since a Senate committee hearing last month, at which energy-efficiency advocates held up bulbs of varying sizes to show what products could already escape the provisions, industry officials and many lawmakers have agreed there's a big gap in legislation. The question is how to fix it: whether to enact a broad efficiency rule required of any bulb that screws into a socket, with special exceptions for bulbs like black lights, or a narrower measure that bans specific products. Efficiency advocates want the former. Industry favors the latter.

"We are very concerned about loopholes," David Marks, a spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote in an e-mail. But mandating the law for all screw-in bulbs means "we're talking about [exceptions for] many, many types of specialty bulbs. So the question for Congress is to find the right balance of burdens and benefits."

Some bulb manufacturers are optimistic that a remedy will be found.

"We may debate options to the solution," says Randall Moorhead, vice president of government affairs for Philips Electronics North America. "But we don't want people to get around the system. As far as closing potential loopholes whereby someone less conscientious could profit, this will be fixed."

If it isn't fixed, however, states appear ready to plug the loophole on their own.

At least eight states are weighing legislation. California's legislature has passed a stringent light-bulb bill that awaits the governor's signature. New York's legislature has approved similar bills. Nevada has already enacted a new law that bans inefficient incandescent bulbs based on how much energy they use.

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A loophole could dim impact in proposed energy-saving bill

2007-10-24T07:52:00.000+08:00

Can the Democratic Party ignore Florida's primary?

2007-10-23T07:51:00.000+08:00

from the October 16, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1016/p01s01-uspo.html

Florida Democrats filed suit against the national party for imposing sanctions against the state for its early primary.

By Ariel Sabar Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON

Does a national political party have to count every vote in choosing its nominee for president? Or can it enforce its rules in a way that leaves some voters – or even an entire state – out of the process? Those questions are at the heart of a lawsuit unfolding in Florida that is the latest volley between states and the national parties over the scrambled primary calendar.

The lawsuit, filed this month by Florida's leaders in Congress, accuses the Democratic National Committee and state officials with the unconstitutional and "wholesale disenfranchisement" of Florida's 4 million Democratic voters.

The plaintiffs want the US District Court in Tallahassee, Fla., to undo the DNC's sanctions against Florida for its early primary date. Those sanctions stripped Florida of all its delegates to the 2008 Democratic convention, where the national delegate count determines the party's White House nominee.

Without delegates, the lawsuit alleges, the results of Florida's Jan. 29 primary will be moot, denying a voice to all of the state's Democratic voters – and particularly its blacks, who disproportionately vote Democratic.

Experts in election law say the lawsuit faces significant hurdles, mainly because courts have given political parties wide leeway to set rules for primaries. In landmark cases in Wisconsin in 1981 and Illinois in 1975, the US Supreme Court effectively said that party rules trump state law in the selection of nominees.

Florida lawsuit claims

Still, precedent is relatively scarce. And some experts say a few of the Florida suit's claims – particularly those alleging racial bias under the Voting Rights Act – may be novel enough to draw a judge's eye. The suit also takes an unusual tack in naming as defendants not just the national party but state government, which courts would be likely to hold to a higher standard than a party alone, experts say.

The lawsuit says the Republican-led legislature and GOP Gov. Charlie Crist moved the primary from its traditional March date to January after the DNC had announced the penalties for setting primaries before Feb. 5, a window reserved under Democratic rules for Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

"A suit against the state is on stronger ground than a suit against the party," says Guy-Uriel Charles, an election law specialist and co-dean of the University of Minnesota Law School. "Because one might say that the state moved the primary up specifically to deprive these voters of their rights."

That is a claim Florida officials flatly deny. The legislature, with the governor's support, did vote this spring to move the primaries – Democratic and Republican – to Jan. 29. But after Democratic amendments to set a Feb. 5 primary failed, nearly every Democratic lawmaker joined the Republican majority in favor of the Jan. 29 date.

Several Democrats invoked the same reason as Republicans: to give the nation's fourth most populous state a bigger role in the nominating process.

"Moving the primary up earlier puts Florida center stage," Anthony DeLuise, a spokesman for the governor, said in a phone interview. He said that Governor Crist has declared his support for the lawsuit, which was filed by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings, Democrats of Florida, in their capacity as delegates to the convention, and by Janet Taylor, an African-American county commissioner and possible delegate.

"It's the national Democratic Party" – not Florida – "that is unfairly punishing Democratic voters," Mr. DeLuise said.

A DNC spokeswoman, Karen Finney, said the Democratic Party was on firm ground to disregard contests that run afoul of party rules. "The DNC has the absolute legal right to treat the state-run primary as a mere beauty contest," she said in an e-mail interview.

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Tampa seemed to second that view in throwing out a somewhat similar lawsuit over the DNC sanctions. "The Supreme Court has consistently recognized that national political parties have a constitutionally protected right to manage and conduct their own internal affairs, including the enforcement of delegate selection rules and the decision as to which state delegates it will recognize," Judge Richard Lazzara wrote.

Citing the First Amendment right to free association, courts tend to treat political parties as private bodies, much as they might a parade organization, which is free to decide who may march.

Kendall Coffey, a Miami lawyer for the Florida plaintiffs, sought in an interview to distinguish his case from such rulings. In those cases, he said, parties had compelling reasons to exclude some voters. In the 1981 Wisconsin case, for instance, the Supreme Court ruled that the DNC could ignore that primary because Republicans and other non-Democrats were permitted to participate, a violation of Democratic Party rules.

Limiting a party primary to members of that party is rational, he said. But in the Florida case, Mr. Coffey asserts, the DNC's reasons – to protect the traditional roles of a few early-voting states – are too weak to justify what the lawsuit calls "disenfranchisement on a massive scale" of that party's own members.

"It's one thing if you have a reasonable basis for making minor adjustments based on the goals of the Democratic Party," he said. "But it's completely different to say all 4 million-plus votes count for zero."

Because party primaries are often run and financed by government, courts have set some limits. In a series of rulings from the 1920s to 1950s known as the "white primary cases," for instance, the Supreme Court banned racial restrictions on who could vote.

Lawsuit's potential impact

If even parts of the Florida suit are successful, experts say, it could have far-reaching implications for the balance of power between states and the parties over the primary calendar. "Depending on how any injunction is crafted, parties could potentially lose some of their ability to regulate the primary process," said Michael Kang, an election law specialist at the Emory University School of Law.

The defendants – the DNC, its chairman Howard Dean, and Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning – have 20 days to file an answer to the lawsuit. It is unclear when a judge might rule.
The dispute has particular resonance in Florida, the site of the disputed 2000 presidential election, decided by the Supreme Court in favor of George W. Bush, the Republican, over Al Gore, the Democrat. The lawsuit calls the DNC sanctions a "monumental irony": "In the annals of modern politics, no national party has inflicted so devastating and sweeping a 'geographic discrimination' " against its own members.

The strong language suggests to some election-law specialists that the suit is as much a political exercise as a legal one.

"Fundamentally, lawsuits like this are about shaming the national political party into counting the votes," said Nathaniel Persily, a Columbia University law professor who reviewed an early draft of the lawsuit but is not involved with the case. "It seems inconceivable to me that the Democratic convention will lock its doors and leave the Florida delegation outside."

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Why US immigration crackdown is stalled

2007-10-22T07:47:00.000+08:00

from the October 16, 2007 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1016/p03s03-uspo.html

Mismatched Social Security numbers led to illegal workers – but also legal ones, critics say.

By Alexandra Marks Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

NEW YORK

His name is Enrique. Like an estimated 17 million others, when he files his 1040 to pay taxes, the Social Security number he uses does not match his name.

For some people, it's because they've changed names or been married – or their employer made a clerical error. Enrique makes no bones about his mismatch; it's because he's not a legal citizen.
Those different explanations for the discrepancies in the Social Security Administration's files are at the center of one of the most heated immigration debates of the year.

Since Congress failed to enact comprehensive immigration reform in June, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has aggressively moved to use Social Security filings to ferret out illegal immigrants. Their target is employers who don't fire workers who have questionable Social Security numbers.

But a crucial, unresolved question is whether the bulk of these mismatches involve legal workers, who could be fired because of a clerical mishap, or illegal immigrants, abusing a system that has long tolerated, and some say even encouraged, their work in the US.

Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled DHS's methods would cause "serious irreparable harm" to workers and employers and put off implementation of the rule indefinitely. He concluded that too many legal workers would be harmed.

DHS is expected to appeal the decision. "We are examining all of the options," says DHS spokeswoman Veronica Nur Valdes.

One of the biggest problems that prompted the judge to halt DHS's plan is the size and complexity of the federal records involved. Each year the Social Security Administration (SSA) processes more than 250 million wage reports from employers. The information is used to determine future Social Security, disability, and survivor benefits for each eligible worker. Last year, an estimated 4 percent of the wage reports had an employee's name that didn't match the corresponding Social Security number – that's about 8 million mismatches. In total, the SSA has 435 million records in its database. A 2006 report by the SSA's inspector general found a total of 17.8 million of those records contained errors.

Advocates of using Social Security numbers to discourage employers from hiring illegal immigrants contend it is in all workers' best interest to correct any inconsistencies, since that database will determine future benefits.

"Nothing is 100 percent perfect," says Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C. "The procedures allow 90 days to rectify any errors – and quite frankly, if there are any errors about me, I'd rather find out about it now, rather than when I file for benefits."

He and other advocates note that the law requiring correction of Social Security mismatches has been on the books since 1986. Every year, the SSA sends out more than 100,000 letters warning employers if there are mismatches, but there has been little enforcement. The decision by DHS to include a set of procedures for rectifying the problems – as well as a listing of penalties of up to $11,000 per employee for failure to do so – is a simple way to enforce current law, they say.

"Will it be disruptive to the economy? To some degree sure it will. Will it cripple it? No," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. "Employers have known for a long time that this was coming."

Advocates of the DHS plan contend that some 90 percent of the 8 million mismatches from the 2006 filings involve illegal immigrants.

Opponents of the DHS plan point out that that 90-percent estimate is unproven. The SSA itself admits that there are 17.8 million inconsistencies in its database, and opponents say it's impossible to determine the legal status of people with discrepancies. They argue that millions of legal citizens and residents could be unjustly fired if their employer receives a no-match letter.

Among those at risk: Women who have been married and changed their names and legal residents whose paperwork is making its way through the federal immigration system. These critics note that the SSA doesn't have access to files containing a worker's immigration authorization or status. A 2003 University of Illinois study of the "no match" letter found:

"Thirty-four percent of workers who were fired reported that their employer failed to grant them an opportunity to correct their SSN" – Social Security number – even though the SSA's "no match" letter states clearly that it is not an automatic indication that an employee is illegal. Some employers also used the letters indiscriminately against workers who complained of unsafe working conditions or wage-law violations.

"It causes significant instability in local labor markets," says Nik Theodore, director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago and coauthor of the report.

Moreover, the structure of the federal government makes it difficult to use Social Security numbers as immigration-enforcement tools, say opponents of the DHS plan. For instance, the Internal Revenue System will give individual tax identification numbers to people who are filing to become legal residents – even if they're not yet. Many immigration lawyers encourage their clients to pay taxes each year so as not to run afoul of tax laws.

"Under tax law, regardless of immigration status, you're required to pay taxes," says James O'Malley, an immigration expert in New York. "And the IRS has been very accommodating in that they'll accept the tax return without a proper Social Security number and they will accept a check."

Enrique, who asked that his real name not be used, has applied for legal status. In the meantime, he has been paying taxes for seven years. The reason, he adds, is to "make it a bit easier to get that green card down the road."

The Social Security number he uses: 000-000-000. He knows he'll never get the retirement benefits he's currently paying for, but sees the taxes he pays now as a kind of penalty for his decision to work here before being granted legal status.

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