U.S. Troops Are Relieved to Be Greeted With Smiles
--------------------

By Barbara Demick
Times Staff Writer

January 11 2005

MEULABOH, Indonesia — Hanging out the back of an open truck, his video camera rolling, Capt. Jay Delarosa noted with delight how people emerged with enthusiastic waves to welcome the Marines to their devastated city.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...0,6687346.story

A Bush Loyalist Is Named Economic Advisor
--------------------

Indiana businessman Allan B. Hubbard, who was a leading fundraiser for the president, is chosen to be his chief fiscal policy aide.

By Warren Vieth
Times Staff Writer

January 11 2005

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday named Indiana businessman and political fundraiser Allan B. Hubbard to be his top economic advisor, filling one of the few remaining vacancies in the White House inner circle.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...,0,192304.story

The Crisis of 'Sam's Club' Republicans
--------------------

By Reihan Salam
Reihan Salam writes for the American Scene, a weblog about politics.

January 11 2005

Back in 2002, two die-hard social conservatives fought for Minnesota's Republican gubernatorial nomination. Brian Sullivan was a successful entrepreneur backed by the Freedom Club, a group of "pro-growth" millionaires lifted straight from Central Casting. With his zeal for tax cuts and his privileged background, Sullivan was a Bush Republican down to his wingtips.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...0,3364171.story

Governor Vetoes Medical Malpractice Legislation
--------------------

From Times Wire Reports

January 11 2005

Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. vetoed a bill to hold down big verdicts in medical malpractice cases, saying it did not go far enough to control the skyrocketing cost of insurance for doctors and included a tax that would be passed on to consumers.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...eadlines-nation

High Court Lets Ban on Gay Adoptions Stand
--------------------

Justices refuse to hear an appeal of a Florida law barring homosexuals from adopting children.

By David G. Savage
Times Staff Writer

January 11 2005

WASHINGTON — In a setback for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court refused Monday to hear a challenge to a Florida law that bars gays and lesbians from adopting children.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...eadlines-nation

Democrat Urging Anti-Bush Boycott
--------------------

By ADRIENNE SCHWISOW
Associated Press Writer

January 11 2005, 12:51 AM PST

DETROIT -- David Livingstone says the idea behind the economic boycott he's organizing is simple: If people don't show up at work or buy things, companies lose money. As he sees it, that's money the Bush administration can't tax, and can't use to run the war in Iraq, protect polluters or chip away at the Constitution.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...ll=sns-ap-topus

Tennessee to Keep Medicaid for Children
--------------------

From Associated Press

January 11 2005

NASHVILLE — Gov. Phil Bredesen announced Monday that he would drop 323,000 adults from the state's expanded Medicaid program to save $1.6 billion a year, but would preserve health coverage for children.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...eadlines-nation

Social Security Goals May Clash
--------------------

The president is likely to propose reductions in the growth of benefits along with his personal account plan. Such a package could draw fire.

By Ronald Brownstein
Times Staff Writer

January 11 2005

WASHINGTON — In restructuring Social Security, President Bush has not one goal, but two.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/na...eadlines-nation

High Court Clears Way for Gun Suit
--------------------

Families of victims shot by racist Buford Furrow in 1999 can sue the makers of his weapons.

By Henry Weinstein
Times Staff Writer

January 11 2005

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for victims of the 1999 shooting rampage by white supremacist Buford O. Furrow Jr. to sue the companies that made his guns.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gu...0,6053398.story

Is Al Qaeda Just a Bush Boogeyman?
--------------------

ROBERT SCHEER

January 11 2005

Is it conceivable that Al Qaeda, as defined by President Bush as the center of a vast and well-organized international terrorist conspiracy, does not exist?

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...0,2627223.story

NEWS ANALYSIS
Post-Mortem of a Flawed Broadcast
By BILL CARTER
An independent assessment of CBS's report on the
president's military service is a major blow to the news
operation's credibility.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/business...network.html?th

- AUTOS -
2005 Detroit Auto Show
The latest news from Detroit, plus audio slide shows, reporters' logs and first looks at the newest cars.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/automobiles/a...l/index.html?th

While Little Evidence Endures, Fourth Trial Opens in '61
Killing
By ADAM LIPTAK
The passage of time will present challenges for prosecutors
as Wilbert Rideau goes on trial for a fourth time for a
murder that has cost him 44 years in prison.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/national/11rideau.html?th

Science Panel Issues Report on Exposure to Pollutant
By FELICITY BARRINGER
In a report on the unregulated pollutant perchlorate,
scientists said people would be safe if exposed to daily
doses 20 times those under consideration by the E.P.A.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/politics/11report.html?th

Judge Orders Release of Rosa Parks's Mental Health Records
in Fight Over Song
By GRETCHEN RUETHLING
The documents will be made public in connection with a
legal fight between Rosa Parks's representatives and record
companies and music distributors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/national/11parks.html?th

Justices Refuse to Consider Law Banning Gay Adoption
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
The Supreme Court's decision favors Florida, the only state
that prohibits gay men and lesbians from adopting children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/politics/11scotus.html?th

As U.S. Aids Tsunami Victims, Bush Urges Donors Not to
'Shortchange' Other Parts of World
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and ELIZABETH BECKER
President Bush pledged that the U.S. would stay committed
over the long term to the Asian nations recovering from the
tsunami.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/internat...11prexy.html?th

Nation's Health Spending Slows, but It Still Hits a Record
By ROBERT PEAR
At $1.7 trillion, health spending topped 15 percent of the
gross domestic product for the first time, the government
said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/politics/11health.html?th

Wall Street Hears Pitch for Social Security Plan
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Treasury Secretary John Snow began a sales effort on Monday
to drum up Wall Street support for President Bush's plans
to overhaul Social Security.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/business/11social.html?th

..................

Oil Find Hints at a Less Dependent Cuba
By SIMON ROMERO
President Fidel Castro, in an announcement that raised
eyebrows at energy companies, disclosed that oil deposits
were discovered off Cuba.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/business.../11cuba.html?th

I.B.M. to Give Free Access to 500 Patents
By STEVE LOHR
I.B.M. plans to announce on Tuesday that it is making 500
of its software patents freely available to anyone working
on open-source projects.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/technology/11soft.html?th

The New Heart Disease Threat
With the discovery that C-reactive protein plays a role in
heart disease, cardiology may be in the midst of a
revolutionary shift.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/opinion/11tue2.html?th

Victor's Spoils
War usually urges restraint on inaugural celebrations, but
not this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/opinion/11tue3.html?th

New Twist on Corporate Governance
Corporate governance, a relatively obscure issue a few
years ago, has now grown big enough to generate its own
scandals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/opinion/11tue4.html?th

___________________________________
THE MORNING BRIEF

January 11, 2005 -- 6:25 a.m. EST

___________________________________

A campaign for sizable policy change in Washington is just like electioneering, and the White House's political bid to transform Social Security is moving into high gear.


Social Security Campaign
Is Now in Full Swing

By JOSEPH SCHUMAN
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE


A campaign for sizable policy change in Washington is just like electioneering, and the White House's political bid to transform Social Security is moving into high gear.

The issue dominated President Bush's first newspaper interview since re-election, with The Wall Street Journal, but Mr. Bush seemed much more certain about the need to act than on how he will go about it. Asked whether he intends to let Congress draw up the plan's details, he replied: "No, not necessarily so. ... I suspect given my nature, I'll want to be -- the White House will be very much involved with -- I have an obligation to lead on this issue -- I think this will be an administrative-driven idea -- to take it on. And therefore, that that be the case, I have the responsibility to provide the political cover necessary for members, I have the responsibility to make the case if there is a problem, and I have the responsibility to lay out potential solutions. Now, to the specificity of which, we'll find out -- you'll find out with time." Mr. Bush repeatedly declined to describe his strategy on such a politically touchy issue, countering at one point that "not only do you want me to negotiate with myself, you want to see my schedule."

Mr. Bush acknowledged the political dangers some members of his own party see in changing the government retirement program, and suggested he would argue that the larger political risk would be to ignore what he sees as "a significant problem." Still, the Washington Post reports that many Republicans worry Mr. Bush's plan could backfire in next year's election -- and are saying so out loud. "Why stir up a political hornet's nest ... when there is no urgency?" Rep. Rob Simmons asks in the Post. "When does the program go belly up? 2042. I will be dead by then." Mr. Bush also describes the potential insolvency of Social Security decades from now as an issue that will resonate with young people. But USA Today notes that younger voters make up the age group that was least likely to vote and least likely to vote for Mr. Bush last November. Older voters, more likely to back him, will offer the most opposition to Mr. Bush's plan, the paper says.

Bush Hires Economic Council Chief
Mr. Bush said his Social Security tactics would be influenced by the new head of the White House's National Economic Council, and the administration yesterday named Indiana businessman and political fundraiser Allan B. Hubbard to succeed Stephen Friedman in that job. Mr. Hubbard served in the administration of Mr. Bush's father and went to Harvard Business School with the current President Bush. His appointment, the Los Angeles Times says, "signaled that Bush was assembling a team of trusted loyalists to sell his second-term economic priorities."

Mr. Hubbard's resume undoubtedly passed through the hands of Dina Powell, whom the Washington Post describes as one of the most powerful officials in Washington: the president's headhunter. Ms. Powell leads the effort to fill thousands of jobs, and along with the president, Vice President Dick Cheney and political adviser Karl Rove is in the inner circle of knowing "which people have gotten the nod," the Post says.

Ratings, Morale Down at CBS News
CBS suggested it was moving forcefully to address what Variety describes as the "memogate" scandal involving the report on President Bush's National Guard records: "a flurry of firings, a 224-page consultants' report and a new bureaucracy designed to police" the network on future politically charged stories. But the Washington Post says the independent investigation commissioned by CBS has already damaged the ratings of its third-place "Evening News" show, driving down its appeal to advertisers. And the ratings decline means CBS's news programs had to give advertisers more commercial time to make up for lost audience members that are guaranteed in contracts, television-advertising buyer John Rash tells the Post. Still, the findings have had little financial impact on CBS parent Viacom because of how small a part CBS News plays in the media conglomerate's disparate holdings and the high popularity of other CBS programs. More significant, the New York Times writes, is the drop in morale in CBS's news department.

Argentina Readies Tough Debt Swap
Argentina on Friday plans to unveil a debt-restructuring plan that it hopes will close the curtain on the largest sovereign default in history by imposing massive losses on holders of $103 billion in bonds, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Argentine government intends to make a formal offer to pay only about 30 cents on the dollar -- "unprecedented in its stinginess in the history of public debt restructurings," the Journal says. While bondholders are upset, the government looks as if it will get most of what it wants. And the "debt swap has become a test of how far an emerging-market debtor can go in dictating terms to creditors," the Journal says. "It also could provide a boost to Argentina's recovering economy, provided the country overcomes resistance from bondholders, including tens of thousands of individual investors scattered throughout the world."

GM Takes Close Look at Saab
General Motors has undertaken a review of its Saab subsidiary that insiders say has "an outside chance" of shutting down the luxury-car brand if the heavy investment required to revive it is deemed unjustified, the Financial Times reports. The review is due to be completed within three months, and the FT says that even the remote threat of closing Saab is likely to set off a political storm in Sweden, where the automotive industry is one of the most important employers. Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson has already visited GM's European headquarters to offer significant investment in the region around Saab's Trollhattan factory if it is given more production, the FT says.

Elsewhere in the auto industry, Toyota and Honda plan to more than double U.S. sales of hybrid cars this year, extending their lead over GM and DaimlerChrysler in gasoline-electric vehicles, Bloomberg reports. The two Japanese car makers said at the Detroit auto show that between them they may sell as many as 200,000 hybrids this year, up from 81,206 in 2004. Toyota and Honda are betting that gas prices, which rose 19% last year, will boost demand for cars that get as much as 55 miles a gallon, Bloomberg says.


Schwarzenegger Keeps No-Tax Promise
The $111.7 billion state budget unveiled yesterday by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger includes tough cuts in health care and transportation, scales back payments to schools and relies on billions in borrowing to make it through next year, the Los Angeles Times reports. The cuts in health, transportation and educational spending, coupled with the borrowing plans, allowed Mr. Schwarzenegger to keep promises not to propose new taxes. But it also demonstrates in human terms what sacrifices Californians must make to avoid higher taxes, the Times says. "A boost in money for local schools would be put off -- even as national reports suggest California's education system is in trouble," the paper writes. "University students would get hit with fee hikes, and tens of thousands of low-income Californians would have to begin paying premiums to get health care. Visits to the dentist for poor people would be limited. Thousands of low-income seniors would lose their renter's tax credit."


Financial Times: The electoral group headed by Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi handed out cash to journalists to ensure coverage of its press conferences, a throwback to Baathist-era patronage ahead of Jan. 30 elections.

New York Times: The torrid pace of growth in national health spending cooled a bit in 2003, but the spending, at $1.7 trillion, topped 15% of the gross domestic product for the first time, the government said.

American Banker: Large U.S. banks are expected to rack up substantially higher fourth-quarter profits than a year earlier, but growth from the third quarter may have been harder to come by.

Bloomberg: General Motors, Pepsi Bottling Group and Pactiv are seeing profits eroded by the surging cost of plastics that are used in everything from automobile bumpers to beverage bottles and trash bags.

Nature: Some vaccines for SARS could prove useless against certain strains, or even worsen the infection, a preliminary study suggests.

__________________________________
TODAY'S MARKETS
The Dow industrials closed up 17.07 points at 10621.03 after a late rebound. The dollar weakened.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1105359...tml?mod=djemTMB

__________________________________
MORE NEWS

Ethnic Tamils from around the world are mobilizing to respond to Sri Lanka's humanitarian crisis. Yet the speed and success with which the Tamil diaspora has acted also presents an unusual political risk for the country.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1105395...tml?mod=djemTMB

Emirates Group has emerged as one of the fastest growing and most feared competitors in the global airline industry, fueled by Dubai airport's round-the-clock operation and prime location at the crossroads of global travel.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1105410...tml?mod=djemTMB

Business schools are offering courses dealing with spirituality and personal fulfillment in the workplace in order to teach students the importance of remaining true to their convictions during the course of their careers.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1105404...tml?mod=djemTMB

Chief marketing officers, under increasing pressure to maneuver among an array of outlets, are turning to each other for support and problem solving though seminars and industry groups.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1105398...tml?mod=djemTMB

http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfra.../10/daily6.html

Report says Oracle may lay off 6,000

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6807175/

GM to cut US work force again in 2005

THE PROGRESS REPORT

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

January 11, 2005

GUANTANAMO
The Worst of the Worst

Three years after America opened its prison camp at Guantanamo Bay to house "the worst of the worst" from Iraq and Afghanistan, not one prisoner has been formally convicted of a crime and "only about 25 per cent" of the 550 inmates are still of intelligence value. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against the Bush administration's contention it could hold prisoners indefinitely without trials and the camp's image has been marred by allegations of abuse and torture. "The camp itself has become, to many, "an affront to American values." For human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, "Guantanamo has become an icon of lawlessness, a symbol of the US government's attempts to put itself above the law."

NO INTELLIGENCE: Until now, "Pentagon officials and officers at Guantánamo Bay have said that the prisoners' significance is based on their value as sources of intelligence on terrorism," but officials scanning the camp on its third anniversary admit most of the 550 prisoners held at Guantanamo are no longer considered "of significant intelligence value." After sorting through the prisoners, intelligence chief Steve Rodriguez put it succinctly: "the majority of the individuals here are not of intelligence interest to me,'' he said, "declining to say whether they had nothing to offer in the first place or had been fully debriefed."

THE ENEMY COMBATANTS: Devoid of intelligence value, Pentagon authorities have long maintained that the Guantanamo inmates deserve to be held because they are "enemy combatants," many of whom remain "committed to indiscriminately killing American civilians and soldiers." That statement, among others, appears dubious now. According to various sources, "several dozen detainees sent to Guantanamo were simply farmers, taxi drivers, and laborers with no meaningful ties to the Taliban or al-Qaeda-not the enemy combatants the Bush Administration claimed." About 200 have been released, and many more are now being transferred back to their home countries. "An Air Force colonel chairing one review board said last week that his panel had found 14 men, among 82 prisoners he was assigned to review, who didn't meet the Pentagon's own standard for an enemy combatant."

LEGAL PROBLEMS: The few attempts by authorities to try Guantanamo inmates have fallen apart for lack of evidence and a failure to follow the law. The government has tried to prosecute four low-level al Qaeda suspects in military commissions, "but US District Judge James Robertson blocked that process when he ruled in November that bin Laden driver Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 34, could not be tried unless a competent tribunal decided he was not entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war. Robertson also ruled Hamdan...cannot be tried unless commissions conform to the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, including the need to charge and try suspects in a timely manner and the right to confront witnesses." The military also has seen three of its four cases of alleged spying at Guantanamo Bay fall apart. Then again, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has admitted the Pentagon's interest is "not in trying" Guantanamo inmates, since this might result in their being let out.

ABUSE AND TORTURE: Guantanamo's three-year history has been marked by allegations of abuse and torture, stemming from President Bush's decision -- on the advice of Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales -- that Gitmo detainees would not be protected by international treaties prohibiting torture. Internal FBI memos and e-mails released recently show methods used at the camp included leaving prisoners "in their own feces," chaining them "in ice-cold or super-hot cells" and exposing them to sensory deprivation, beatings and terrifying dogs. The documents show the abusive methods "were known to a wide circle of government officials," with one agent claiming explicitly that his technique has been "approved by the DepSecDef," referring to Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

GUANTANAMO'S FUTURE: Despite being of no intelligence value, "most of the 550 prisoners from 42 countries at Guantanamo are not expected to be freed soon -- some because of stalled legal proceedings, others because they allegedly still pose a threat to the United States or its allies." AP reports the U.S. government will seek funds for a $25 million permanent facility at Guantanamo. But the real future of U.S. detentions may relate to what the Washington Post called the "prison within a prison" run by the C.I.A., which allegedly shared space with the Defense Department's more high-profile camp at Guantanamo. That camp was reportedly part of a group of undisclosed C.I.A. detention centers around the world, an "American gulag of prisons and prisoners without names and cells without numbers." There, suspected terrorists could be held and abused for years with no public exposure and no access to the courts.

EHRLICH
The Vindictive Veto

For weeks, the Maryland legislature negotiated with health care professionals to hammer out medical malpractice legislation to reform the state's health care system. Last week, they came up with a compromise bill backed by doctors, hospitals and even trial lawyers. But, waving a copy of the bill with the word "VETO" stamped on it, a grandstanding Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich shot it down. The legislation passed by the Assembly would require mediation before a malpractice suit could be filed; cut the amount insurance companies could raise premiums; lower the cap on non-economic damages in wrongful death cases; set up stricter standards for expert witnesses and improve the system for reporting medical errors. Dr. Willarda Edwards, president of the Maryland Medical Society, said this bill "will enable physicians to continue to care for their patients." Calvin Pierson, president of the Maryland Hospital Association, agreed, charging, "The bill gives relief to physicians." Both chambers of the Maryland Assembly passed the legislation with a veto-proof majority; chances are good they will override the veto this afternoon.

CLOSING THE LOOPHOLE: Before the holiday, Ehrlich called lawmakers into a special holiday session to come up with legislation to protect doctors from seeing a double-digit increase in their insurance premiums. The state legislature burned the midnight oil and produced a plan to protect doctors from the increase that would be accepted by all parties. So why veto the bill? One word: taxes. Here's the situation: Legislators want to pay for the reforms by closing a tax loophole and instituting a 2 percent premium tax on HMOs. Currently, all other insurance groups pay a 2 percent premium tax. In the 1970s, HMOs were exempted from paying the rate as Congress tried to foster growth in that industry. Today, about 30 other states have closed that loophole and removed that exemption. Ehrlich doesn't want the loophole closed. "Unfortunately, this administration cares more about corporate profits than it does about the health care needs of Maryland citizens," said House Speaker Michael E. Busch.

CUTTING PREMIUMS: Ehrlich is also in a snit because the compromise legislation doesn't enact more limits on malpractice lawsuits, which he claims are responsible for driving doctors out of practice. Not so. Analysis by the Congressional Budget Office found capping medical malpractice would affect private health insurance premiums by a measly one half of one percent. According to experts, however, the only certainty when it comes to lowering health costs is cutting insurance premiums themselves. The Maryland compromise bill cuts insurance premium increases this year from 33 percent to 5 percent.

THE SCORECARD: For the bill: The Maryland Hospital Association, which represents more than 7,000 doctors. The Maryland Medical Society, which represents about 50 facilities. The Maryland Citizens Health Initiative. Trial lawyers. The Maryland House. The Maryland Senate. Against the bill: The American Insurance Association, the Washington industry group which looks out for the industry lobby. Ehrlich.

THE PETTY VENDETTA: After the Baltimore Sun was critical in its coverage of some of Ehrlich's policies, the governor's press office banned all state employees from speaking with the Sun's bureau chief, David Nitkin, or columnist Michael Olesker, although the state's attorney general claimed they "remain free...to attend press conferences." When the governor recently issued an "invitation-only press briefing" to discuss this medical malpractice legislation, however, Nitkin's invitation must have been lost in the mail. And last week, the governor's press secretary barred Nitkin from a press briefing, and he was told it was "private." (All other reporters were allowed in.)

Under the Radar

SOCIAL SECURITY -- IT'S HIS PARTY, BUT THEY'LL OPPOSE IF THEY WANT TO: Social Security is not in crisis. This glaring fact is leaving many Republicans facing their own crisis: a crisis of conscience. Appease the president by supporting a privatization scheme that is unwieldy and unsound, or protect the interests of constituents and ensure that Social Security benefits are not unnecessarily cut in the name of conservative ideology? Thankfully, many GOP members of Congress seem to be choosing the latter as they, like many others, are highly skeptical of "the political wisdom of President Bush's vision for restructuring Social Security." Rep. Bob Simmons (R-CT) begs the question, "Why stir up a political hornet's nest...when there is no urgency?" and continues on to point out that there are "more pressing needs" to address. Still, the House Republican Conference seems intent on going down this questionable path; earlier this week they met with a New York consultant who has experience in selling products and messages. Someone should tell them that there is a bridge in Brooklyn that is up for sale as well.

STATE DEPARTMENT -- YOU WERE WRONG, CONGRATULATIONS!: In what has become second nature for the Bush administration, another individual whose controversial and incorrect assertions laid the base for the gear-up to the war in Iraq is now poised to be promoted to a top State Department job. According to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Robert Joseph -- the National Security official now widely believed to be behind the line in the 2003 State of the Union that made the dubious intelligence claim that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium from Niger -- is "on the short list" to be named undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, "the nation's senior diplomat in charge of negotiating arms control treaties." Strongly backed by his former boss Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice, Joseph would be the lead man in charge of U.S. arms negotiations with Iran and North Korea. However, there is fear that Joseph would drive the State Department even further to the right as he is a proponent of preemptive war and counterproliferation rather than nonproliferation. In reference to Joseph's potential promotion, Greg Thielmann, the State Department's former top analyst on weapons of mass destruction, put it best: "That's what they do for people who make mistakes in Iraq -- award them or promote them in the State Department."

HEALTH CARE -- GUESS WHAT? YOU'RE PAYING MORE: According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. health care spending "grew more slowly in 2003 than it had in seven years, spurred by a slower rise in the public programs Medicare and Medicaid." Unfortunately, if you're like most Americans, you probably haven't noticed. That's because most individuals actually paid more for health care. Out-of-pocket spending for consumers "accelerated to a 7.6% pace in 2003." Why the discrepancy? A) employers shifted the burden, transferring more costs for health care onto employees and a lot more people went without health insurance. The rising price of prescription drugs was also a factor: "Almost one-quarter of all out-of-pocket spending in 2003 was related to prescription drugs, compared with 17% in 1998."

MEDIA -- ARE THERE OTHERS?: Armstrong Williams last week became the first mainstream pundit exposed as a paid White House propagandist. Today's question: is he the last? The White House won't definitively say. Given the opportunity yesterday, an equivocating spokesman Scott McClellan finally refused to rule out the existence of other Williams-style contracts during a press briefing, instead saying, "I don't know of any...Obviously, decisions are made by individual agencies."

IRAQ -- ALLAWI'S PARTY OPENLY PAYING OFF REPORTERS: Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's political alliance is getting a jump start on bringing freedom to Iraq's press, one cash-filled envelope at a time. In what the Financial Times dubbed a "throwback to Ba'athist-era patronage," the Allawi-led electoral group handed out money to journalists on Monday to "ensure coverage of its press conferences" in the run up to the Jan. 30 elections. The payments were "about equivalent to half the starting monthly salary for a reporter at an Iraqi newspaper," the Times reports, and one reporter who accepted the payoff "jokingly recalled how Saddam Hussein's regime had also lavished perks on favored reporters." Allawi's campaign alliance "is playing on its leader's reputation as a strongman," and Allawi himself is said to be an enthusiastic proponent of the creation of secret Iraqi death squads, an option now being discussed by Pentagon officials.

INAUGURATION -- STICKING THE NATION'S CAPITAL WITH THE BILL: The Washington Post reports that the White House, breaking from precedent, is "refusing to reimburse the District for more of the costs associated with next week's inauguration." Instead, federal officials are instructing the District to make up for the $11.9 million difference by diverting money awarded in federal homeland security grants. That means more money for parties, parades and feasting and less money for "increasing hospital capacity, equipping firefighters with protective gear and building transit system command centers."



GOOD NEWS

Hawaii joins 10 states in paying a few pennies to people who return beverage cans and bottles to recycling centers. The program is expected to "keep 80 percent [of beverage containers] from entering island landfills."


DON'T MISS

DAILY TALKING POINTS: Conservative Opposition to Social Security Privatization Mounting.

BUDGET: Larry Korb on the not-so-major Pentagon budget cuts.

IRAQ: More details on planned death squads.

LABOR: Laws go unenforced.


DAILY GRILL

"I'm not aware of any other arrangements of that nature."

-- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, on whether Armstrong Williams was the only journalist being paid by the administration, 1/10/05

VERSUS

"This happens all the time...There are others."

-- Armstrong Williams, to Nation Columnist David Corn.


DAILY OUTRAGE

The White House has finally reacted to findings that taxpayer-funded abstinence-only education programs were peddling "false and misleading information" to schoolchildren. It recently shifted oversight responsibilities for abstinence grant programs "to a new - and friendlier - agency within the Department of Health and Human Services," one led by abstinence-only advocate Wade Horn.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/new...al/10614460.htm

CIA Director Porter
Goss changes briefing format

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...tion_security_3

Inauguration to Get Unprecedented Security

http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2005/0110/...md-01-10-05.asp

UMD gets DHS grant

Bush prodded Congress to fall in line on a Social Security overhaul. In an interview, the president offered to protect lawmakers nervous about touching what has long been called the third rail of American politics, and warned opponents they may pay a price for standing in the way.

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1105453...00.html=djemTAR

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/a...ry_050111195719

US Congress to choose between four or five Bulgarian military bases

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/u...forintelligence

Pentagon mulls military command for intelligence

http://yahoo.usatoday.com/news/washington/...dnc_x.htm?csp=1

Dean to seek chairmanship of Democratic Party

Wyoming's two-edged welfare experiment

CHEYENNE, WYO. – Susie Armajo, a Northern Arapaho who grew up on the Wind River Indian Reservation, was barely getting by. The young single mother was supporting her three children on $320 a month in welfare plus food-stamp aid. And then things seemingly got worse.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0111/p01s01-uspo.html

Homeland Security secretary nominee gets mixed reviews
By Chris Strohm

The nomination of federal judge Michael Chertoff for secretary of the Homeland Security Department received mixed reaction Tuesday, with supporters saying they look forward to working with him and critics expressing concern about his track record on constitutional rights and ability to manage one of the largest federal bureaucracies.

President Bush nominated Chertoff to be the second secretary of DHS, which was created three years ago through one of the largest government reorganizations in 50 years. If confirmed, Chertoff will have the mammoth task of managing a department with 180,000 employees that still is grappling with merging 22 agencies while juggling domestic and international responsibilities.

"When Mike is confirmed by the Senate, the Department of Homeland Security will be led by a practical organizer, a skilled manager and a brilliant thinker," Bush said Tuesday.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/011105c1.htm

Ex-cybersecurity czar focuses on global coordination
By William New, National Journal's Technology Daily

A former White House cybersecurity adviser is working to build an international cybersecurity partnership program under contract to the Homeland Security Department.

The intent of the program is to coordinate global efforts on cybersecurity and cyber crime, identify gaps and develop "metrics" for measuring success. "It's almost like creating a NATO of the cyber security world," said Howard Schmidt, a former adviser to President Bush.

Schmidt is building the program based on the operational elements of a national cyber security program developed by the former director of Homeland Security's cybersecurity division, Amit Yoran, who left in the fall.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/011105tdpm1.htm

Lawmaker pushes use of military technology in disaster response
By Darren Goode, CongressDaily

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., is looking to educate his peers on how civilians can better use classified military technology to track and mitigate environmental hazards—including forest fires, earthquakes and hurricanes—in the wake of last month's disastrous tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Weldon, an Armed Services Committee member and one of the leaders of the bipartisan House Oceans Caucus, plans to hold a February briefing for lawmakers on the Civil Applications Committee, a group of federal civil agencies that have used classified satellite imagery and other technology.

For instance, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other branches of the Commerce Department have used this imagery for mapping in land and resource management programs, and for detecting a range of natural disasters.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/011005cdpm3.htm

Study outlines Senate homeland security oversight
By Chris Strohm

Through congressional reorganization, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee now has direct oversight of more than 60 programs, offices or agencies within the Homeland Security Department, according to a study released by the committee Monday.

The committee does not, however, have jurisdiction over some of the largest parts of the department, such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Citizenship and Immigration Service, the Border Patrol, the Coast Guard, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, or the Secret Service.

The committee was created last year in response to the final report of the 9/11 commission, which found that DHS reported to 88 committees and subcommittees. The commission recommended that Congress reorganize and consolidate jurisdiction over homeland security efforts to provide better oversight.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/011005c1.htm

Senate panel to probe allegations of FEMA fraud
By Chris Strohm

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee plans to investigate allegations of fraud and waste in the distribution of Federal Emergency Management Agency aid to Florida and other states hit by hurricanes last year.

Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking member Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., announced the probe after reports in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel raised concerns that disaster aid has been wasted or granted to localities and individuals that may not have qualified for assistance.

FEMA spokesman James McIntyre issued a brief statement Friday saying the agency will hold a press conference Monday to address the concerns. He would not comment on whether FEMA is doing an internal scrub of how disaster aid was distributed.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010705c1.htm

Hearing provides glimpse of Justice nominee's management agenda
By Chris Strohm

Attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales outlined the priorities he would pursue if confirmed to the post during a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

During the first round of the hearing, Senate Judiciary Committee members questioned Gonzales about abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, his role in advising President Bush on the rights of prisoner detainees, and his position on balancing civil rights and security if confirmed.

The nominee told legislators he was "sickened and outraged" by photographs of prisoner abuse in Iraq, adding "our policy is we do not engage in torture."

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010605c2.htm

House homeland security panel expects to win cybersecurity turf battle
By Greta Wodele, National Journal's Technology Daily

The newly permanent House Homeland Security Committee is likely to win the first turf battle over cybersecurity issues in the 109th Congress.

Texas Republican Mac Thornberry and California Democrat Zoe Lofgren on Thursday re-introduced in the 109th Congress a bill on the issue from last year. House aides on the Homeland Security Committee believe that they will get a referral for the legislation from the House parliamentarian's office and House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Last year, the Homeland Security and Science committees snagged referrals.

The legislation comes on the heels of new House rules that created a permanent Homeland Security Committee with redefined jurisdiction. In that Rules Committee package, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, attached language to retain his panel jurisdiction over cybersecurity issues.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010605tdpm1.htm

White House proposes cuts in nuclear dismantling program
By Amy Klamper, CongressDaily

The Bush administration is proposing to trim funds for a program designed to curb the spread of nuclear and catastrophic weapons.

According to a draft of the fiscal 2006 budget proposal, the Pentagon wants to cut $46 million from its Cooperative Threat Reduction program, initiated in the early 1990s to dismantle and secure the former Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal. The total cost of the CTR program is slightly more than $400 million.

"This is classic Bush," said Charles Fant, spokesman for House Budget Committee ranking member John Spratt, D-S.C. "He touts programs like CTR in the rhetoric, then he cuts them in the budget. We've seen this kind of thing all throughout the Bush budget, in programs like veterans' health care and education."

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010605cdam2.htm

House vote makes Homeland Security panel permanent
By Greta Wodele, CongressDaily

The House voted to create a new permanent Homeland Security Committee, taking valuable turf away from a few powerful committee chairmen and implementing the most sweeping jurisdictional changes in decades.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., "took a real risk here taking on some of these chairmen," said Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., referring to the deal Hastert brokered between such committee chairmen as Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Don Young R-Alaska, Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas. Weldon added that Rules Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., "took some heat too."

The House approved the Rules Committee package by a 220-195 vote.

Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0105/010505cdam2.htm

AMERICA'S FINITE FUTURE?

By Arianna Huffington

Near the beginning of "Saturday Night Fever," John Travolta's Tony Manero, frustrated that his boss thinks he should save his salary instead of spending it on a new disco shirt, cries out, "F- - - the future!" To which his boss replies: "No, Tony, you can't f- - - the future. The future f- - -s you! It catches up with you and it f- - -s you if you ain't prepared for it!"

Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but America has morphed into a nation of Tony Maneros — collectively dismissing the future. And nowhere is this mindset more prevalent than at the Bush White House, which is unwavering in its determination to ignore the future.

The evidence is overwhelming. Everywhere you look, it's IOUs passed on to future generations. Record federal debt. Record foreign debt. Record budget deficits. Record trade deficits.

And this attempt to f- - - the future is not limited to economics. You see the same attitude when it comes to energy policy, health care, education, Social Security and especially the environment — with the Bushies redoubling their efforts to make the world uninhabitable as fast as possible. (See their attempts to gut the Clean Air Act, gut the Clean Water Act, gut the Endangered Species Act, gut regulations limiting pollution from power plants.)

And the even bigger problem? They don't see this as a problem. In fact, it actually all may be an essential part of the plan.

If this last sentence doesn't make a wit of sense to you, then you are clearly not one of the 50 million Americans who believe in some form of End-Time philosophy, an extreme evangelical theology that embraces the idea that we are fast approaching the end of the world, at which point Jesus will return and carry all true believers — living and dead — up to heaven ("the Rapture"), leaving all nonbelievers on earth to face hellfire and damnation ("the Tribulation"). Christ and his followers will then return to a divinely refurbished earth for a thousand-year reign of peace and love.

In other words, why worry about minor little details like clean air, clean water, safe ports and the safety net when Jesus is going to give the world an "Extreme Makeover: Planet Edition" right after he finishes putting Satan in his place once and for all?

Keep in mind: This nutty notion is not a fringe belief being espoused by some street corner Jeremiah wearing a "The End Is Nigh!" sandwich board. End-Timers have repeatedly made the "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic books among America's best-selling titles, with over 60 million copies sold.

And they have also spawned a mini-industry of imminent doomsday Web sites like ApocalypseSoon.org and Raptureready.com. The latter features a Rapture Index that, according to the site, acts as a "Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity" and a "prophetic speedometer" (the higher the number, the faster we're moving toward the Second Coming). For those of you keeping score, the Rapture Index is currently 152 — an off-the-chart mark of prophetic indicators.

Now I'm not saying that Bush is a delusion-driven End-Timer (although he has let it be known that God speaks to — and through— him, and he believes "in a divine plan that supersedes all human plans"). But he and his crew are certainly acting as if that's the case.

Take the jaw-dropping federal debt, which currently stands at $4.3 trillion. Just last month the Government Accountability Office released a report that found that Bush's economic policies "will result in massive fiscal pressures that, if not effectively addressed, could cripple the economy, threaten our national security, and adversely affect the quality of life of Americans in the future."

And what was the administration's reaction to this frightening assessment? Vice President Cheney shrugged, took a hearty swig of the End-Time Kool-Aid, and announced that the administration wants another round of tax cuts. Basically a big f- - - you.

Then there's our trade deficit, which ballooned to a record $165 billion in the third quarter of 2004, when imports exceeded exports by 54 percent. Thanks to this imbalance, America is racking up a staggering $665 billion in additional foreign debt every year — that's $5,500 for every U.S. household — and placing our future economic security in the hands of others. Here is Bush's response to this daunting prospect: "People can buy more United States products if they're worried about the trade deficit." Sounds like he's really got it under control.

I guess after the Rapture, debts of all kinds will be forgiven. The White House is promoting a similar "What Me Worry?" attitude with our live-for-the-moment energy policy. America currently spends $13 million per hour on foreign oil — a number that will only increase as U.S. oil production peaks within the next five years just as consumption by industrializing nations doubles over the next 25 years.

So is the president pushing for a long-overdue increase in mileage standards or launching an all-out effort to break our dependence on foreign oil? Hardly. Instead, he's getting ready to make his umpteenth attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

And that is just a small part of the president's full-bore assault on the environment, best summed up by Sen. Jim Jeffords, the ranking minority member on the Environment and Public Works Committee: "I expect the Bush Administration will go down in history as the greatest disaster for public health and the environment in the history of the United States."

That said, it's not hard to see why Bush has hopped aboard the Apocalypse Express. Acting like there's no tomorrow dovetails just as neatly with his corporate backers' rapacious desires as it does with his evangelical backers' rapturous desires. It offers him a political twofer: placating his corporate donors while winning the hearts and votes of the true believers who helped the president achieve a Second Coming of his own. No small miracle, given his record.

It's important to point out, however, that it's not just the White House and the End-Timers. Acting as if we have a finite future has infected our entire culture. Just look at personal savings, which have fallen to next to nothing, with Americans socking away a meager two-tenths of 1 percent of their disposable incomes. Meanwhile, the average U.S. household carries about $14,000 of credit-card debt; one in four consumers spends more than he or she can afford; and, as a result, every 15 seconds, someone somewhere in America is going bankrupt. Which, I guess, in Bush World is how an angel gets his wings.

All this represents a seismic shift in our cultural outlook. Since our founding, the American ethos has been forward-looking, geared to a bountiful future, with each generation of parents working as hard as they can to ensure a better life for their children. Those days are clearly gone.

And it has put our entire civilization at grave risk — a point echoed with great clarity by Jared Diamond, whose new book, "Collapse," looks at the reasons why so many great civilizations of the past have failed.

Although Diamond offers a range of reasons why these societies collapsed, one message comes through loud and clear: We've got to stop living like there is no tomorrow — or "f- - - the future" will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

© 2005 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

In Chertoff, safe choice
The new nominee for Homeland Security chief brings to the table long
experience in Washington and in legal matters. By Linda Feldmann, Faye
Bowers, and Liz Marlantes
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0112/p01s01-uspo.html?s=hns

Tsunami disaster taps US kids' empathy, enterprise
Moved by a stream of images and their own worries, children collect
teddy bears, letters, and $1 per pillow on your bed. By Amanda Paulson
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0112/p01s02-ussc.html?s=hns

Social Security's battle over values
President's plan to overhaul Social Security reflects bigger fight of
free market vs. safety net. By Peter Grier
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0112/p01s03-uspo.html?s=hns

Overlooked tsunami victims: the elderly
Many report being newly alone, disoriented by the refugee camps, and
deeply longing for home. By Robert Marquand
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0112/p01s04-wosc.html?s=hns