- Tue. Oct 7, 2008
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A Few Bad Apples?
It's awkward when you're involved with people who explode. D.C. professionals on the Guantanamo account are responding to the news that former detainee Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi helped kill several Iraqi soldiers in Mosul last month in a suicide bombing.
"Our responsibility was to make sure that [U.S.] people hear their side of the story," said Gene Grabow-ski of Levick Strategic Communications, which was paid $1.5 million through mid-2007 by Kuwaitis to run a PR campaign portraying that country's detainees as victims. Any regrets? "Not in the least," he said.
David Cynamon at the Pillsbury law firm ($67,000) wants basic due process for his clients. "I don't think anybody is happy" about Ajmi's attack, he added.
"The government released this person without a hearing ... [but] a fair hearing is the best protection against these sort of mistakes," said Thomas Wilner, a due process advocate at Shearman & Sterling ($1 million, sent to charity). Maybe, but Wilner's own 2003 pitch to the Supreme Court described Ajmi and other detained Kuwaitis as "charitable volunteers [seeking] to provide humanitarian aid." --Neil Munro
Murmurs
Psst! The Republican losses in Louisiana and Mississippi special House elections this month highlight the undertow that the party faces from President Bush's putrid approval ratings. In each district, Bush won about 60 percent of the vote in 2004, but in recent private Republican polling, his disapproval rating in each district approached 60 percent. GOP insiders fret that Bush is even more unpopular in many of the swing districts where House Republicans must defend open seats this fall ... Former House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston is opening the doors of his successful lobbying firm, the Livingston Group, next week for a fundraiser for a former committee aide now running for Congress. Arizona native Jim Ogsbury wants to unseat freshman Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., and is getting plenty of help from his former bosses. Hosting the May 20 lunch are former Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., and Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky. ... Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., is unhappy with his party's $1 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2009. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., was forced to rely on a couple of Republicans to get the budget through the Senate, because Bayh opposed it ...
Vital Statistics
62
Percentage of Kentucky Democratic voters who plan to support Hillary Rodham Clinton in the May 20 primary
--SurveyUSA
30
Percentage of Kentucky Democratic voters who plan to support Barack Obama in the May 20 primary
--SurveyUSA
Old Bromide
By all accounts, it's nasty stuff. Methyl bromide is known to deplete the ozone layer and cause failure of the respiratory and central nervous systems in humans. The odorless chemical has been used for agricultural pest control, but it was phased out under the Montreal Protocol in 2005. That is, unless you really must have it, says the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA is soliciting exemptions for the chemical's use in 2011 if applicants can prove that no technically and economically feasible alternatives exist. Critics say that plenty of safer options are on the market. "It is an absolute outrage that the use of methyl bromide is continuing," said Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth. The trend is downward, says EPA. In 2006, U.S. consumption of methyl bromide was 4,269 metric tons versus 25,500 metric tons in 1991. --Winter Casey
Backlash Whiplash
Plans by Washington University in St. Louis to hand an honorary degree to 83-year-old anti-feminist activist, conservative culture warrior, and prolific author Phyllis Schlafly ticked off a sizable number of faculty and students, some of whom planned to turn their back on her at the May 16 commencement. Now some national groups have joined the fray. Business and Professional Women/USA, whose raison d'etre is promoting equity in the workforce, called the honor "insulting to all working women" and "a slap in the face of the women graduating this year from Washington University." Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays was peeved about the award, too. Schlafly "would gladly embrace any measure to block progress for gay Americans, including her own son, and she would welcome a world where some students are considered less than others," PFLAG Executive Director Jody M. Huckaby said in a statement. --Julie Kosterlitz
Get Happy
Media-magnified stereotypes paint Democrats as the smiling, bighearted warriors, and Republicans as dour conservatives, yet new research indicates that conservatives are far happier than their liberal counterparts. Since 1972, the General Social Survey has tracked and compared political and social attitudes by questioning 2,000 Americans annually. It shows that 50 percent of self-described conservatives say they are very happy, but only 22 percent of secular liberals say they are very happy. Similarly, 22 percent of liberals say they are "not too happy," but only 5 percent of conservatives describe themselves so. These data, which we hope won't make liberals any unhappier, are cheerfully presented in Gross National Happiness, a new book by Arthur Brooks, a business and public policy professor at Syracuse University. The likely explanation for the happiness gap, Brooks says, is that conservatives are more likely to be religious and married, both of which, he asserts, promote happiness. --Neil Munro
Just One Question
How well does the Defense Department manage its weapons acquisition programs?
"The [Government Accountability Office] looked at 72 weapon programs now under way. Not a single one had followed the best practices recommended by both the GAO and the Department of Defense [itself]. We need to find a better way to procure weapons. We want to have the best equipment, but we can't afford to waste billions of dollars. If they don't know what they're doing, they shouldn't be using taxpayers' dollars without any accountability."
--Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
Reality Check
"The House will have more five-day workweeks in Washington."
--Majority Leader-elect Steny Hoyer, D-Md., December 2006
In their bid to show that they were serious about their campaign pledge to bring about change for the American people, House Democrats were in session for 164 days last year, including a whip-snapping 13 five-day weeks. That was a heavier schedule than the Republican-controlled House, which met for 140 days and eight five-day weeks in 2005. But Democrats this year are returning to business as usual. Through May 15, they have been in session only 59 days, including four full weeks. And look for a light schedule this summer. --Richard E. Cohen