Docudharma Times Monday June 28

Mississippi officials slam Coast Guard as BP oil hits shores

 

By Anita Lee and Margaret Baker | Biloxi Sun Herald

GULFPORT, Miss. – What South Mississippi officials had been fearing for weeks came true Sunday when large, gooey globs of weathered oil, chocolate-colored oil patties and tar balls washed ashore in quantity along the Mississippi Coast.

Emergency managers scrambled to win approval for stronger protection of inland waterways, more skimming equipment in Mississippi waters and installation of absorbent material, also to keep oil out of inland waterways.

Will Sean Duffy of ‘The Real World’ be picked to serve in the House?



By Krissah Thompson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, June 28, 2010  

CHIPPEWA FALLS, WIS. — Sean Duffy is what happens when reality TV meets congressional politics in the north woods of Wisconsin. He is a lumberjack athlete who has been both a county district attorney and a star of MTV’s “Real World.” Now he is trying hard to become the next Scott Brown.

Like Brown, the Republican who stunned Democrats last year by winning the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts, Duffy is an upstart conservative. He is running for the House seat of retiring Rep. David R. Obey, held by the powerful liberal Democrat for 41 years.

USA

Labor’s New Critics: Old Allies in Elected Office

PAYBACK TIME

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Published: June 27, 2010

TRENTON – Stephen M. Sweeney, the president of the State Senate here, glowered with disgust as he described how one New Jersey town paid out nearly $1 million to four retiring police officers for their unused sick days and vacation time.

Mr. Sweeney, a Democrat, also scowled about the estimated $46 billion New Jersey owes in pension contributions and its $58 billion in liabilities to finance retiree health coverage for government employees.

For years, Republican lawmakers have railed against public employees’ pay and benefits, but now another breed of elected official is demanding labor concessions, too: current and former labor leaders and allies themselves.

A floating city springs up to contain gulf oil spill



By Joel Achenbach

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, June 28, 2010  

Dead ahead through the helicopter windshield, it appears like a mirage at the hazy horizon: a city in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. A city on fire.

Just a few months ago, the site of the disaster, 42 miles from the last marsh grass at the very tip of the Mississippi River Delta, boasted a solitary drilling rig called Deepwater Horizon. Now that rig rests upside down in the mud at the bottom of the gulf, and in its place is a roaring industrial complex, an emergency operation unlike anything in the history of the petroleum industry.

Europe

Made in his own image: The Catholic Church faces another scandal

Joseph Ratzinger is having a terrible year. But as the Catholic Church faces yet another scandal, blame is falling on its most popular figure of modern times, Pope John Paul II, writes Peter Popham

Monday, 28 June 2010

There is a cruel paradox in the career of the man who, in September, will become only the second pope in history to visit Britain. When Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in April 2005, he set about purifying the Catholic Church and returning it to its core values. He also pledged to get his charismatic predecessor, John Paul II, canonised as quickly as possible.

But as a new church scandal exploded last week, hard on the heels of the paedophilia storm, this one involving allegations of massive corruption at the heart of the Roman Curia, Pope Benedict’s papal career risks being eclipsed by the dark shadow of John Paul’s legacy.

Safety Net Frays in Spain, as Elsewhere in Europe

 

By SUZANNE DALEY

Published: June 27, 2010

MADRID – This was the deal that Gema Díaz, 34, thought she had made: When she took a job with this city as a purchasing agent 12 years ago, she knew her salary would be low.

But the income would be reliable. She could expect steady raises, manageable hours, six weeks of vacation, a good pension and the usual benefits – from free health care to subsidized housing.

Now, as Spain embarks on a range of austerity measures, the careful math of Ms. Díaz’s life is coming undone. Her salary is being cut. Her pension does not look so secure. Even the day care for her second child – due in August – will cost more.

Middle East

Iranian ships could join wave of flotillas to Gaza, says Hamas chief



By Donald Macintyre, in Gaza City Monday, 28 June 2010

A top Hamas leader has warned Israel to expect more Gaza-bound pro-Palestinian flotillas over the next two months, including vessels “from the Gulf”. Mahmoud Zahar, often seen as the dominant figure in Hamas’s political leadership in Gaza, said that he had been informed by “people … from the Gulf states” that “after the Mondial [World Cup] at least eight ships will come from the Gulf”.

Dr Zahar did not name the states involved but when asked if they included Iran he replied: “Why not?”

The roots of Israeli exceptionalism



By Mohamed El-Moctar El-Shinqiti  MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010

An American academic once told me: “Many people in the Islamic world think America does not believe in human rights, but they are wrong; America believes in human rights indeed, the problem is the American definition of human.”

In other words: the American definition of ‘human’ is not a universal one. This is not purely an American characteristic; every culture faces the challenge of broadening its cultural limits and universalising its moral norms.

But among all human cultures and ideologies, the Israeli case is unique in its double standard.

Asia

North Korea threatens to bolster nuclear capability  

 North Korea said Monday it would bolster its nuclear weaponry in response to what it branded US hostility.

Published: 9:49AM BST 28 Jun 2010  

It comes as world leaders intensified pressure on Pyongyang over the sinking of a South Korean warship.

Recent developments underscore the need for the North “to bolster its nuclear deterrent in a newly developed way” to cope with persistent US hostility and its military threat, a foreign ministry spokesman said. Baek Seung-Joo of the (South) Korea Institute for Defence Analyses, said the statement indicates the North would start developing nuclear weapons based on highly enriched uranium.

After years of denial, the hardline communist state last September announced it had reached the final stage of enriching uranium – a second way of making nuclear bombs in addition to its original plutonium-based operation.

Kyrgyzstan OKs constitution after ethnic unrest

(AP)

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan  

International observers are praising the constitutional referendum in Kyrgyzstan as a remarkably peaceful and largely transparent process, despite the climate of fear created by recent ethnic violence.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement Monday that Sunday’s vote, in which the public overwhelmingly backed the interim government, did have some procedural shortcomings.

Boris Frlec, head of the observation mission, said, however, “the provisional government … should be commended for organizing a remarkably peaceful process” and that the referendum was “largely transparent.”

Latin America

Mexican state security minister can’t trust her own police

Minerva Bautista and her entourage were attacked by gunmen in Michoacan, turf of La Familia drug gang. The chief suspects are well known to her.

By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times

June 27, 2010

Reporting from Morelia, Mexico – As dozens of gunmen fired more than 2,700 deafening rounds of ammunition, Minerva Bautista crouched on the floor of her heavily armored SUV, screaming into her radio for backup and thinking one thing: “I know help will come.”

But when the minister of security for Michoacan state heard the rounds begin to penetrate her car’s armor, sending pieces of metal into her back “like fiery sparks,” her faith faltered. And when one of her badly injured bodyguards asked her to take care of his family, she lost hope.

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