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New Congress Is More Trusted Than President

New Congress Is More Trusted Than President By Charles Babington and Jon Cohen, Washington Post Staff Writers

Asked whether they trusted Bush or Democrats in Congress “to do a better job coping with the main problems the nation faces,” 57 percent of the respondents said congressional Democrats and 31 percent said Bush. When the question was broken down to specific problems, such as Iraq, the economy, immigration and the “war on terrorism,” Democrats held clear majorities over Bush. Their lead was overwhelming in the area of health care: 64 percent to Bush’s 26 percent.

More than half of the respondents said it was a good thing that Congress will switch from Republican control to Democratic; 17 percent called it a bad thing and 1 in 4 said it would make no difference. Shortly after Republicans took over Congress after the 1994 election, 48 percent of Americans said the switch was a good thing.

In the poll, more than 4 in 5 Democrats said the latest change in control of Congress is good, as did 55 percent of independents. Even 23 percent of Republicans called the change a good thing. …

Two-thirds of those polled said Bush “should work mainly to compromise with the Democrats” in Congress rather than pursue his own agenda. …

The public gave relatively low marks to the Republican-controlled Congress that ended last week, with 37 percent saying they approved of how Congress was doing its job and 57 percent disapproving. The Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted Dec. 7-11 by telephone among a random national sample of 1,005 adults. The margin of sampling error is three percentage points.

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House Win Adds Insult to Injury for DeLay

House Win Adds Insult to Injury for DeLay By Sylvia Moreno and Chris Cillizza, Washington Post Staff Writers

Former congressman Ciro Rodriguez’s victory in a House runoff election Tuesday in Texas not only allowed Democrats to pick up their 30th seat of the 2006 elections but served as a final rebuke to one of the architects of the Republican House majority: Tom DeLay.

The former congressman from Texas was the mastermind of a 2003 redrawing of congressional lines in the state that led to the removal of six House Democrats in the 2004 elections.

Two years later, DeLay’s fortunes have suffered a near-total reversal, as the redistricting map that once seemed certain to cement his legacy and GOP majorities for years has instead led to the end of that career and may well be a building block for a reenergized Democratic Party in the state. …

“The genius of Tom DeLay is now seriously in question,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. …

If DeLay decimated Democrats in 2004, he also seems responsible for their revival. …

“Before this election, DeLay was in the grave with dirt on top of him,” [Matt Angle, a Democratic strategist,] said. “This is a final repudiation of DeLay’s arrogance and bullying ways.”

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China and Darfur

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China and Darfur Washington Post editorial

Sudan has been subject to U.S. sanctions since the 1990s. It has been condemned in numerous United Nations resolutions, and Western firms that do business there risk alienating customers and investors. And yet a $4 billion complex of offices, parks and hotels is rising at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, complete with the new sail-shaped headquarters of Petrodar, a Chinese-Malaysian-United Arab Emirates oil partnership. Thanks to these investors, along with Kuwaitis, Saudis, Indians and Pakistanis, Sudan’s petro-economy is flourishing. This year the economy is expected to grow 13 percent on the back of oil exports, most of which go to China.

So Sudan’s government feels it can ignore Western revulsion at genocide because it has no need of Western money. But the bigger question is why China, along with Sudan’s other Arab and Asian partners, feels free to trample on basic standards of decency. …

In recent weeks, fighting has intensified in the region and spilled into neighboring Chad; refugees are fleeing to the Central African Republic, which is embroiled in its own internal conflict. A regional catastrophe is brewing that could be worse even than the past three years of killing. …

Imagine the newspaper ads leading up to the Beijing Games in 2008: Human rights campaigners will call on the world to boycott the Genocide Olympics.

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66% Think U.S. Spies on Its Citizens

66% Think U.S. Spies on Its Citizens By Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writer

Two-thirds of Americans believe that the FBI and other federal agencies are intruding on privacy rights as part of terrorism investigations, but they remain divided over whether such tactics are justified, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday. …

Compared with June 2002, for example, almost twice as many respondents say the need to respect privacy outranks the need to investigate terrorist threats. That shift was first evident in polling conducted in January 2006.

That sentiment is still a minority view, however: Nearly two-thirds rank investigating threats as more important than guarding against intrusions on personal privacy, down from 79 percent in 2002. …

Sixty-six percent of those questioned said that the FBI and other agencies are “intruding on some Americans’ privacy rights” in terrorism investigations, up from 58 percent in September 2003. Thirty percent think the government is not intruding on privacy.

Support for intrusive tactics has dropped even more significantly during that time. A bare majority, 51 percent, feel the tactics are justified, down from 63 percent three years ago.

book

Proof

As you may know, I’m writing a book on Microsoft Windows Vista, the next version of the operating system. You may also recall that I wrote about my encounters with a very aggressive Copy Editor who can’t believe English is my first language (or read about that, if you don’t recall).

This week, I saw a draft of the book cover. I am now going through Adobe Acrobat PDF files, looking at the text and figures as they are laid out for printing. It finally looks like a book and seems more real than ever.

These files contain comments from a proof reader (could be one word or hyphenated — I’m not the guy to tell you). Many of the proofreader’s comments have been spot on, to the point of catching extra or missing spaces and more.

One thing that frustrates me is the proof-reader “correcting” something that has been “corrected” several times already. For example, I prefer to write “websites.” However, from the beginning in this book, I have written “Web sites” and that has stood the scrutiny of the DE, TE, PE and CE. Now, the proofReader suggests “websites.” So, I have to argue against a change I approve of because it would have to be made 1000 times (insert comma, if you like — I don’t like a comma in 1000). Sure, search and replace (capitalized? italics? quotes?) makes that easy, but why are we discussing this at the bitter end?

Having been through the wringer with the CE, I thought I might be too calloused to care any more, but I do note a few of the PR’s comments here:

I wrote: The joke at the turn of the century is “The whole world is in beta.”

He notes: Are we still at “the turn of the century”?

Later, he notes: Is there maybe too much complaining in this procedure? move remarks into a sidebar?

I wrote: pronounce it like a Klingon

He notes: really sounds like that?

I wrote: Have your notary click the OK button and initial here (X ____) and here (X ____).

He notes: humor here OK?

I think that centuries turn slowly, like ocean liners. Maybe that’s because I am more than half a century old, myself, or that when I studied the turn of the 1900s it seemed to last more than a few years. As for the Klingon remark, the real joke is that the text referred to would not be pronounced at all, but spelled out (like FBI, not AWOL). Finally, I do not advertise myself as a comedian, or even a humorist; I do think a bit of levity lightens dull topics.

At this point, I would pay to see the ProofReader and the Copy Editor fight to the death. Humor here OK? mjh

NADA - New American Dark Ages

Inquiry Sought Over Evangelical Video

Inquiry Sought Over Evangelical Video By Alan Cooperman, Washington Post Staff Writer

A military watchdog group is asking the Defense Department to investigate whether seven Army and Air Force officers violated regulations by appearing in uniform in a promotional video for an evangelical Christian organization.

In the video, much of which was filmed inside the Pentagon, four generals and three colonels praise the Christian Embassy, a group that evangelizes among military leaders, politicians and diplomats in Washington. Some of the officers describe their efforts to spread their faith within the military.

“I found a wonderful opportunity as a director on the joint staff, as I meet the people that come into my directorate,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack J. Catton Jr. says in the video. “And I tell them right up front who Jack Catton is, and I start with the fact that I’m an old-fashioned American, and my first priority is my faith in God, then my family and then country. I share my faith because it describes who I am.”

Pete Geren, a former acting secretary of the Air Force who oversaw the service’s response in 2005 to accusations that evangelical Christians were pressuring cadets at the Air Force Academy, also appears in the video. The Christian Embassy “has been a rock that I can rely on, been an organization that helped me in my walk with Christ, and I’m just thankful for the service they give,” he says.

The 10-minute video is on the group’s Web site, Christianembassy.com. … The Christian Embassy Web site says the group holds prayer breakfasts each Wednesday in the Pentagon’s executive dining room and organizes small groups to help military leaders “bridge the gap between faith and work.”

Army Brig. Gen. Bob Casen refers in the video to the Christian Embassy’s special efforts to reach admirals and generals through Flag Fellowship groups. Whenever he sees another fellowship member, he says, “I immediately feel like I am being held accountable, because we are the aroma of Jesus Christ.”

Defense Department regulations [bar] personnel from appearing in uniform in “speeches, interviews, picket lines, marches, rallies or any public demonstration . . . which may imply Service sanction of the cause for which the demonstration or activity is conducted.”

All the officers are identified in the video by their Defense Department positions….

In 2003, Army Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin drew criticism for appearing in uniform before church groups and saying, in remarks captured on video, that President Bush was “appointed by God,” that the United States is “a Christian nation” and that Muslims worship “an idol.” The inspector general’s office determined that Boykin had not violated any rules, and he remained in a top intelligence post.

This year, Navy chaplain Gordon J. Klingenschmitt was court-martialed for appearing in uniform at a political protest in front of the White House, though he maintained that all he did was lead a prayer.

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Democratic Wave in Congress Further Erodes Moderation in GOP

Democratic Wave in Congress Further Erodes Moderation in GOP By Zachary A. Goldfarb, Special to The Washington Post

[T]he Democrats’ victory in the midterm election accelerates a three-decade-old pattern of declining moderate influence and rising conservative dominance in the Republican Party. By one measure, the GOP is more ideologically homogenous now than it has been in modern history. The waning moderate wing must find its place when the Democratic majority takes over in January.

“The irony of this election is that the public, in seeking change, has . . . weakened the center,” Leach said recently. “In a sense, what has occurred is the strengthening of the edges of the parties.”

Eight of the House’s 20 most moderate Republicans lost their seats: Rob Simmons and Nancy L. Johnson (Conn.); Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass (N.H.); Michael G. Fitzpatrick and Curt Weldon (Pa.); Sue W. Kelly (N.Y.); and Leach. Also, moderate GOP Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (N.Y.), is retiring, and he will be replaced by Democrat Michael A. Arcuri, the Oneida County district attorney.

On the Senate side, the defeat of Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.), a critic of the war who declined to vote for Bush’s reelection in 2004, underscored the same trend.

By one measure, the 110th Congress will have the fewest moderates since the 19th century. …

An important factor in the Democrats’ victory in the midterm election was that independent and moderate voters abandoned the GOP in droves. Since the 2002 midterms, support for the Republican Party has declined seven percentage points among moderates and nine percentage points among independents, according to exit polls.

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams