Updates: Hunger, Katrina, Patriot Act, Iraq election

Issues linger on the front pages of the newspers nd as the leads on TV newscasts. And even after moving to a lesser priority, stories sometimes linger in my mind, causing me to "follow" them on a regular basis--sometimes for years. In other words, they "bug" me.


Today's post is follow up to news items that have been bugging me for a while.

This is a link to my Thanksgiving story on Hunger: 11/23/05. This is one of those issues that I have been following for about 15 years. I worked at a homeless shelter for a time. It was always amazing and heart-warming to see shelter residents share their limited food with other residents they perceived to be hungrier than they were.
These are other hunger facts and figures from a World Hunger and Poverty site.

Over 9 million people die worldwide each year because of hunger and
malnutrition. 5 million are children. Approximately 1.2 billion people
suffer from hunger (deficiency of calories and protein); Some 2 to 3.5
billion people have micronutrient deficiency (deficiency of vitamins and
minerals); Yet, some 1.2 billion suffer from obesity (excess of fats and
salt, often accompanied by deficiency of vitamins and minerals)

This is the story that took the headlines starting in late August of this year. Hurricane"Katrina" came to my section of the country in a big blow. This is a link to a recent post focused on the continuing stress caused by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: 12/8/05. The courts recently ruled that FEMA must pay for hotel rooms for an additional month. Both the House and Senate are holding hearings, some of which are particularly contentious.

This week's story reported on what has been done so far to help for Katrina victims. Quoting from a Reuters story:

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco on Wednesday acknowledged problems in the
state's response to Hurricane Katrina but said lives were saved and the state
did the best it could with the resources it had. . . President George W. Bush on Monday said he was appalled by the U.S. government's response to Katrina and acknowledged his own responsibility for the shortcomings. "I mean, to the extent that the federal government was ineffective, I'm responsible. And I understand that," he told NBC Nightly News in an interview.

This is a link to a post about the proposed extension of the USA Patriot Act: 12/9/05. Because of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, laws were changed in an effort to, according to the law-makers, make us safer. Because the law was passed rather hastily, legislators dedicated to protecting civil liberties attached sunset provisions to a number of the more controversial provisions of the law. This is what the current debates are about. To me, fighting for the protection of civil liberties linked to laws making it easier to assure security, is a very big deal.
The House has voted to extend the Act; now the Republicans in the Senate are in a battle to sustain it also.
Quoting this USA Today article about risks to passage of the USA Patriot Act,

Senate Republican leaders fought Wednesday to save the USA Patriot Act renewal
from sinking under the weight of opposition from a bipartisan group that says the measure would give the FBI a dangerous amount of power. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., predicted that the legislation would survive a filibuster threat and pass before more than a dozen of the 2001 law's provisions expire Dec. 31.

Today is a big deal for the Middle East, another election in Iraq. A few days ago I wrote a lengthy post exploring this election of a permanent parliament for Iraq: 12/13/05. There are reports of a high voting turnout, including the previously reluctant Sunnis. Quoting from a Yahoo! News story from the AP which reports that Iraqis voted despite dangers .

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis voted Thursday in one of the largest and freest elections
in the Arab world, with strong turnout reported in Sunni areas and even a shortage 0f ballots in some precincts. Several explosions rocked Baghdad throughout the day, but the level of violence was low. The heavy participation in the parliamentary voting by the Sunnis, who had shunned balloting last January, bolstered U.S. hopes of calming the insurgency enough to begin withdrawing its troops next year. But much depends on whether the sides, after the votes are counted, can form a government to reconcile Iraq's various communities, or merely fan the current tensions. The large turnout forced the Iraqi election commission to extend voting for one hour, until 6 p.m. (10 a.m. EST) as long lines were reported in some precincts, said commission official Munthur Abdelamir. Results will be announced within two weeks.

There seems to be the distinct possibility of a split between religious and secular leaning voters, according to a recent story in the New York Times. This means that it may take weeks or months for the leaders to sort themselves out. So the Iraq story is one that will continue to "bug" me until the outcome is final, at least for the next four years.

Tags: Hunger Hurricane Katrina Patriot Act Iraq election

Females in the news-

One of the most powerful women in the U. S., Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, was the focus of my post a couple of days ago (see title link).

There are several more females in the news upon whom I now focus:

Kenya - (The photo is of Wangari Maathai of, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004).

Tidbits about females -

U. S. - The gender of dolphins can now be selected. Here is an exerpt from that story:

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - SeaWorld San Diego said on Friday it succeeded in selecting the gender of a baby dolphin -- a first that could improve the population of captive sea mammals and reduce the need for new captures. SeaWorld announced the breakthrough the same day the 2-month old female Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, who does not yet have a name, was introduced to the media. The mother dolphin, a 26-year-old named Sandy, was artificially inseminated 14 months ago and the calf was born in October. . . . The calf was bred using a sperm-sorting technology . . . Gender-selecting techniques are already used with horses, sheep, cattle and other land animals.

Women make the news in countries around the world -

France - The world's first partial face transplant was in the news for several days. Here's a Reuters quote describing the patient's amazed reaction:

The 38-year-old woman underwent the operation to give her a new nose, chin and
mouth at a hospital in the northern French city of Amiens last month. "When I
looked at my new face, I knew straight away that it was me," the paper quoted the woman, who was disfigured after her dog mauled her, as saying. "It was simply amazing to see a nose and mouth on my face."

Ecuador - According to Reuters, the world's oldest person is "a 116-year-old Ecuadorean woman (who) was declared the oldest person in the world on Friday, lifting the title from a U.S. woman previously thought to be the oldest person alive, Guinness World Records said."

Several powerful women are currently making the news -

United Kingdom - Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher,

the "Iron Lady" who dominated British politics for more than a decade, left hospital on Thursday after being admitted a day earlier for feeling faint. Thatcher, 80, smiled and waved as she walked from the hospital and was driven away. . . . Thatcher held office from 1979 to 1990 as Britain's first female prime minister.

Guatemala - A statue of an early powerful Mayan woman was discovered by Canadians recently in Central America. To quote Reuters:

Archeologists working in Guatemala have unearthed a monument with the earliest-known depiction of a woman of authority in ancient Mayan culture, the Canadian leader of the research team said on Monday. The 2-meter high (6-1/2 foot high) limestone monument, called a stela, has a portrait of a female who could be either a ruler or a mythical goddess, said Kathryn Reese-Taylor, a University of Calgary archeologist. . . . Archeologists found the stela -- the likes of which normally describe events in the lives of kings -- at the site of Naachtun, a Mayan city 90 km (55 miles) north of the more famous site of Tikal.

Chile - The next possible Chilean president may be a woman. According to Reuters,

SANTIAGO, Chile - Whether strumming a romantic ballad on a guitar or
brainstorming on social questions with supporters in a remote fishing town, presidential front-runner Michelle Bachelet has a talent for connecting directly with Chilean voters. Pegged to become her country's first woman president, Bachelet, a former defense minister and health minister, has captured the imagination of Chilean women and the confidence of business leaders. Her brief imprisonment and torture during Chile's 17-year dictatorship also helped Bachelet catch the interest of many Chileans. . . . If she wins she'll be the second woman ever elected president in South America, after Guyana's Janet Jagan in 1997.

Liberia - There is a new woman elected as African president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. She is currently visiting the United States. Reuters reports on her election last month:

Liberia's "Iron Lady," former Finance Minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, became Africa's first elected female head of state on Wednesday when she was declared the winner of a presidential run-off. Liberia's electoral commission said official results from the November 8 run-off showed the Harvard-trained World Bank economist beat soccer millionaire George Weah by winning 59.4 percent of the valid votes, compared to Weah's 40.6 percent. Hundreds of cheering, singing and dancing supporters of the woman Liberians call "Iron Lady" and "Mama Ellen" celebrated outside Johnson-Sirleaf's home and the headquarters of her Unity Party (UP), bringing traffic to a standstill. . . . Liberia's electoral authorities confirmed Johnson-Sirleaf's win by a wide margin even though they were still investigating a formal complaint from Weah that the polls were fraudulent.

Germany - A woman was recently elected as Chancellor of Germany. Her name is Angela Merkel. She figured prominantly in stories about Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice's visit to Europe (see my previous blog post). To quote from this Reuters article about the election,

November 22, 2005. Angela Merkel was elected Germany's first woman chancellor on Tuesday in a parliamentary vote that ends months of uncertainty and ushers in a
fragile new government that must prove it can revive Europe's top economy. Merkel, the 51-year-old leader of the Christian Democrats (CDU), won 397 votes in the 614-seat Bundestag, easily securing the majority she needed to become Germany's eighth postwar chancellor and first to have grown up in the ex-communist east.

New York City - Our UN Ambassador John Bolton, however, recently attacked an important woman official Louise Arbour, UN high commissioner for human rights. To quote again from Reuters,

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan defended his high commissioner for human rights on Thursday after U.S. ambassador John Bolton rebuked her for criticizing the U.S. stance on torture, a U.N. spokesman said. Annan wants to take up the matter with Bolton as soon as possible, the spokesman said, revealing a rare public expression of displeasure with a U.N. ambassador. High Commissioner Louise Arbour on Wednesday said the U.S.-led war on terror undermined the global ban on torture, a criticism Bolton called "inappropriate and illegitimate." . . . (he) regretted that Arbour had marked Human Rights Day by focusing on the United States and not countries like Myanmar and Cuba.

It goes without saying that the world can be dangerous for women.

Brazil - A small bit of justice may come for a U.S. nun in Brazil who was murdered. Reuters reports that,

Two men are expected to plead guilty on Friday to killing a 73-year-old American
nun who defended the poor in Brazil's Amazon rain forest in a landmark case that
challenges the power of ranchers and loggers advancing on the jungle. Ten
months after Dorothy Stang was shot in a dispute over hardwood rain forest,
gunmen accused of having been hired by landholders to kill her faced a judge in
the Amazon city of Belem, Para state. Inside a faded yellow court house, Stang's relatives joined with U.N. and federal government officials to call for an end to impunity in hundreds of contract killings on Brazil's lawless eastern Amazon frontier.

North Korea - It is reported that women and girls at risk of enslavement when they travel to China are in danger. To quote,

BEIJING (Reuters) - Many North Korean refugees who flee to China every year end up as sex slaves and China often sends them back for punishment, the U.S. ambassador for fighting international slavery said in Beijing on Friday. John Miller said he discussed North Korea in two days of talks with Chinese officials about the modern-day slave trade -- many of its victims women and girls forced into prostitution and marriage. A June report by Miller's office said "thousands" of North Koreans were subject to "debt bondage, commercial sexual exploitation, and/or forced labor" when they flee, most often to China. . . "If they are caught by the
Chinese authorities they are sent back to North Korea and punished."

Tags: Women Women leaders Women at risk International news Elections

Turning points in U. S. and Iraq?

Possible turning points in the United States about the war in Iraq -

• Learning how many Iraqis have died in the war? In an earlier post I talked about how hard it has been to determine the number of Iraqis killed in the war in Iraq. But yesterday our current president admitted that perhaps 30,000 Iraqi deaths have resulted from the war in Iraq. Quoting Yahoo! News,

In a rare, unscripted moment, President Bush on Monday estimated 30,000 Iraqis have died in the war, the first time he has publicly acknowledged the high price Iraqis have paid in the push for democracy.

The TPM Cafe blogger, cscs posed a important question about whether this information would have any impact on the American people. It prompted dozens of interesting comments.

• Declaring the goal of "victory" will mean pulling out? Also at TPM Cafe, blogger Bruce W. Jentleson makes an excellent reasoned argument that the American people have basic good sense about why or why not any war is justified. This NYT story says that our Ambassador to Iraq has warned that the election may not mean a quick withdrawal of U. S. troops.

  WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 - Four days before parliamentary elections in Iraq
  that the Bush administration has portrayed as a "significant milestone," the
  American ambassador there and a Republican lawmaker cautioned today against assuming that the vote would produce quick and dramatic improvement or lead to a rapid withdrawal of United States forces.
  

• Going on the road and appearing to be more forthcoming? CNN reports on President Bush's third of four "speeches designed to bolster support for the war." (Includes link to the speech transcript). The NYT article is very similar in pointing out the president's acknowledgement of the "heavy toll in Iraq."

On the other hand, this article about a British public opinion poll of Iraq citizens points out several things our government may be ignoring.

Election results will inevitably be a significant turning point for Iraq-

• Who becomes the Prime Minister - unity or fracture for Iraq? This is an absolutely fascinating NYT story about the leading PM candidates called, "The Boys of Baghdad". To quote,

  The three Iraqi political leaders considered most likely to end up as prime minister after nationwide elections this week - Ayad Allawi, Ahmad Chalabi and Adel Abdul Mahdi - were schoolmates at the all-boys English-language school in the late 1950's, fortunate members of the Baghdad elite that governed Iraq until successive waves of revolution and terror swept it away.

• What majority/minority parties will gain control? This NYT article describes the political campaign leading up to this election. To quote,

  It is democracy, but in a distinctly Iraqi style. This country is in the final days of a campaign that is at once more ruthless and more sophisticated than anything yet seen here. Candidates have been killed, even as slick television spots run throughout the day, showing office-seekers who soberly promise to defeat terrorism and revive the economy.

  In some of the best information available from the region, Aljazeera describes the parties to watch, as well as the key players. It is reading full of unique tidbits!

At a different site, my Diary at DailyKos, I wrote more personally about my fascination with the Middle East. Several very interesting comments followed.

Tags: Iraq election Bush Middle East politics

Condoleeza Rice's iron

Our current president has placed several women in powerful positions of authority. As a feminist I am bound to think this is a very good development in the long struggle for the empowerement of women. And as a Democrat I am very aware that former First Lady, now Senator Hillary Clinton is seen by many as the front-runner for the nomination for President in 2008. Current stories point out that she seems to be trying to position herself as "tougher." Several women have recently become heads of state abroad. (Later, I will post again about these new leaders). The word "iron" comes up with surprising frequency in references to many women leaders.
Here at home Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is probably one of the highest ranking women in government. I have a tremendous amount of ambivalence about her. Sometimes I am pleased at her performance, other times I turn away in disappointment. And I often refer to her here at S/SW.
I have posted about Condoleeza Rice in the past, here, at length here, here and here. And I am at it again today. These stories seem to reflect that same ambivalence. Some are very critical and others offer qualified praise.
Sidney Blumenthal, one of my favorite writers, authored this blistering article about Condoleeza Rice's recent trip to Europe (links by Blumenthal, italics mine). To quote:

The metamorphosis of Condoleezza Rice from the chrysalis of the protégé into the butterfly of the state department has not been a natural evolution but has demanded self-discipline.
She has burnished an image of the ultimate loyalist, yet betrayed her mentor, George HW Bush's national-security advisor Brent Scowcroft. She is the team player, yet carefully inserted knives in the back of her predecessor, Colin Powell, climbing up them like a ladder of success. She is the person most trusted on foreign policy by the president, yet was an enabler for vice-president Cheney and the neo-conservatives. Now her public-relations team at the state department depicts her as a restorer of realism, builder of alliances and maker of peace.
On her first trip to Europe in February 2005 she left the sensation of being fresh by listening rather than lecturing. The flirtation of power appeared to have a more seductive effect than arrogance. So the old face became a new face. But on this week's trip the iron butterfly emerged.

Blogger Ron Mwangaguhunga at "The Corsair" reluctantly recognized that Rice may have had some very good luck on her trip. (links are Ron's, italics mine)

In: Condoleeza Rice, Iron Lady. Niccolo Machiavelli, the expert and oft-maligned 16th Century Florentine statesman, believed that luck -- or, as he referred to it using the Graeco-Roman Goddess "Fortuna" -- is an actual observable force at work in the theater of international politics. Although our skeptical post-Enlightenment age has all but dismissed the reliance on such unquantifiable forces, it is almost uncanny how much luck -- Fortuna? -- Condoleeza Rice had this week. Madame Secretary's deft reaction to the said luck, however, is, as even us skeptics can begrudgingly allow, a clear tribute to her skills at the Art of diplomacy.

The Reuters story about Condoleeza Rice in Europe discussed what I metaphorically call the high rise "iron girder" Rice tried to walk, as she explained U.S. policy on detainee torture. To quote the final segments:

And Rice's announcement of a policy shift during the trip -- that the United States explicitly banned its interrogators around the world from "cruel, inhumane or degrading" treatment of detainees -- could blunt criticism in Europe. Previously, the Bush administration said its ban on such treatment, a category of tactics it sees as less extreme than torture, applied only to prisoners on U.S. territory. Still, by declining for security reasons to reveal if secret prisons existed, Rice was essentially asking Europeans to trust her. She did so in a region of widespread anti-American sentiment where the superpower has a credibility problem. Rice's use of technical, legal language to answer reporters' straight questions about prisons and torture techniques also did little to inspire confidence.

In a New York Times editorial entitled "Torturing the facts," Maureen Dowd cited Rice as saying "The United States government does not authorize or condone torture of detainees."
Dowd commented sarcastically: "It all depends what you mean by 'authorize,' 'condone,' 'torture,' and 'detainees."'

This excellent NYT analysis by Richard Bernstein, headlined "Official Praise, Public Doubts." To quote (NYT link to other Rice stories):

BERLIN, Dec. 10 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left behind two Europes when she returned home this weekend from her diplomatic tour aimed at reassuring the allies of the United Sates that the Bush
administration did not practice torture and abided by its international obligations. One was the Europe of government leaders and diplomats who generally praised Ms. Rice for her reassurances, and said that they were satisfied with what she had told them.
The other was the skeptical Europe of the media and much of the public, those still inclined to feel that Ms. Rice papered over some specific, nasty truths about the abuse of American power - and, more generally, that the United States is an out-of-control superpower whose abuses are widespread and deeply troubling.

Unlike the quoted articles above, the WaPo analysis of the Secretary of State's European trip was overall rather positive, implying that she was tough and, like iron, able to stand up under pressure (italics mine). I quote the first and last segments of the story:

(1) BRUSSELS, Dec. 9 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's attempt this week to defuse the crisis with European governments over U.S. detainee policy did not start well. At first, she was confronted with skeptical questions from the news media and appeared to retreat in a fog of statements her staff then struggled to explain. By the end of the trip, however, European officials had praised her and declared her explanations satisfactory, allowing Rice to return home Friday on a
positive note.

(2) Rice's European trip had been planned before the controversy erupted, but it fell to her to articulate U.S. policy after the European Union wrote to her last week seeking clarification. Her aides realized the issue would overwhelm the positive stories they had sketched -- building a relationship with the new German government, winning access to a Romanian air base, bolstering democratic forces in Ukraine and expanding NATO's presence in Afghanistan. But they felt European officials would appreciate Rice's willingness to respond to the outcry personally.
"I'm quite happy that Condoleezza Rice went to Europe," Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said after meeting President Bush at the White House on Thursday. "She took the heat."

Another WaPo story earlier this year focused on Rice's choice of clothing worn on a visit to a military base, labeling the attire "commanding." To quote the final paragraph (italics mine),

Rice's appearance at Wiesbaden -- a military base with all of its attendant images of machismo, strength and power -- was striking because she walked out draped in a banner of authority, power and toughness. She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage -- and that included her sexuality. It was not overt or inappropriate. If it was distracting, it is only because it is so rare.

An earlier article published in the Middle East Media Research Institute, the author describes Dr. Rice as a woman of steel.

Special Dispatch 24. Juni 2003, from the Palestinian Authority Daily on U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice: 'Beware the Woman of Steel'
In his article titled "Beware of the Woman of Steel," which was published in the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Ayyam, Palestinian columnist Hassan Al-Batal criticized U.S. National Security Advisor
Condoleezza Rice for her position on the implementation of the road map, and her attachment to Israel. The article came out several days before Dr. Rice's scheduled visit to the region.
The following are excerpts from the article:
"She has a figure no less fine than that of supermodel Naomi Campbell, and is more intelligent than 'Iron Lady' Margaret Thatcher. She is Dr. Condoleezza Rice, the national security advisor with the most influence over the American presidency since 'dear Henry Kissinger,' also called 'The American Metternich' after the shrewd, famous German politician."
"A number of women with powerful personalities have passed through the White House, such as 'The Dominatrix,' Ronald Reagan's wife, 'The Wise and Ambitious,' Bill Clinton's wife, or the 'Beloved,' John
Kennedy's wife. But Condoleezza Rice is the first woman, [or to be more accurate] the first black woman to fill the most important post in the White House. She is the 'brain' of the president, particularly [in light of the fact that] the current American president is the strongest in the international arena but one of the weakest presidents in his
international political education that was ever in the White House.". . .
""Beware of this 'Black Spinster' – [I do] not say 'Black Widow' out of
respect for her femininity, her wisdom, and her determination, which
transform her into a 'Woman of Steel.'”

So the current consensus appears to be women must be made of iron to be national leaders. At this point I cannot say I disagree. But in this polarized national political climate, I wonder whether that doesn't apply to men as well.

Tags: Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice women leaders leadership Europe