Docudharma Times Monday Dec.10

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Headline For Monday December 10: Hoyer Is Proof of Earmarks’ Endurance: Republicans sing new tune on Iraq for Spanish station : U.S. Is No Haven, Canadian Judge Finds: Mortar shells hit Iraq prison, killing 7: Iraq calmer, but more divided: PM: Quick conclusion needed on Kosovo: CIA photos ‘show UK Guantanamo detainee was tortured’: Merkel’s comment on Zimbabwe fascist: official: Archbishop discards dog collar ‘until tyrant goes’: New York Philharmonic to play in N.Korea: paper: US balks at Bali carbon targets

USA

Hoyer Is Proof of Earmarks’ Endurance

Md. Democrat’s Campaign Donors Among Grantees

By Mary Beth Sheridan

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, December 10, 2007; Page A01

Even as House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer has joined in steps to clean up pork-barrel spending, the Maryland congressman has tucked $96 million worth of pet projects into next year’s federal budget, including $450,000 for a campaign donor’s foundation.

Hoyer (D) is one of the top 10 earmarkers in the House for 2008, based on budget requests in bills so far, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, an independent watchdog group.

Earmarks are spending items inserted into bills to benefit designated companies or projects, often in the sponsoring lawmaker’s district. They make up a small percentage of the federal budget.

Republicans sing new tune on Iraq for Spanish station

The GOP hopefuls speak out for the ‘surge’ and minimize illegal immigration concerns at the Univision debate.

By Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

December 10, 2007

CORAL GABLES, FLA. — Citing a recent decline in violence in Iraq, top Republican presidential candidates on Sunday offered gushing assessments of the U.S. war effort there — an unusual moment in a GOP primary campaign that for months usually has stepped gingerly around the Bush administration’s unpopular policies in that country.

The candidates’ comments, coming in a debate on the Spanish-language television network Univision, went further than even the White House and top military leaders have gone as they have watched civilian and military deaths ebb since President Bush launched a controversial U.S. troop “surge” strategy.

U.S. Is No Haven, Canadian Judge Finds

Late last month, a federal judge in Canada ruled that the United States had violated international conventions on torture and the rights of refugees.

The decision has caused quite a stir in Canada. The Globe and Mail, a Toronto newspaper, said it was “outrageous, and has the whiff of Canadian cultural superiority about it.”

The decision, by Justice Michael L. Phelan, does at first blush sound like a judicial stunt. You don’t often see judges instructing their own governments about how to conduct foreign affairs. It is less common still to see them engaging in freelance diplomacy by chastising foreign governments.

Middle East

Mortar shells hit Iraq prison, killing 7

BAGHDAD – Mortar shells slammed into an Interior Ministry prison on Monday, killing at least seven inmates and wounding 23, officials said. A major oil refinery came under fire elsewhere in the capital, sending up billowing black smoke.

The mortar rounds hit a prison made up of several cell blocks, each containing prisoners accused of terrorism-related crimes or civil offenses, police said.

Police said American troops sealed off the area and were investigating the bombardment, which took place about 6:30 a.m. The U.S. military said it had no immediate information, and Iraqi Interior Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

Iraq calmer, but more divided

The U.S. troop buildup has brought down violence, but that has failed to spark cooperation among politicians. If anything, the country appears more balkanized into ethnic and sectarian enclaves.

By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

December 10, 2007

BAGHDAD — The U.S. troop buildup in Iraq was meant to freeze the country’s civil war so political leaders could rebuild their fractured nation. Ten months later, the country’s bloodshed has dropped, but the military strategy has failed to reverse Iraq’s disintegration into areas dominated by militias, tribes and parties, with a weak central government struggling to assert its influence

Europe

PM: Quick conclusion needed on Kosovo

PRISTINA, Serbia – Kosovo’s outgoing prime minister urged the European Union on Monday to swiftly sign off on the breakaway province’s quest for independence, as a senior Serbian official prepared to open a government office in Kosovo’s tense north in a gesture of defiance.

The EU must “recognize the need for immediate and permanent conclusion of this process,” Agim Ceku told The Associated Press in an interview.

Ceku sought to reassure Europe of what he called “our commitment to multi-ethnicity, our commitment to democracy, our commitment to international supervision of independence, our commitment to international partnership and our commitment to a European future.”

CIA photos ‘show UK Guantanamo detainee was tortured’

By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

Published: 10 December 2007

Lawyers for a British resident who the US government refuses to release from Guantanamo Bay have identified the existence of photographs taken by CIA agents that they say show their client suffered horrific injuries under torture.

The photographic evidence will be vital to clear Binyam Mohammed, 27, who the Americans want to bring before a Military Commission on charges of terrorism, say his lawyers.

Last week it emerged that Britain had negotiated the release of four detainees who have British residence status but Mr Mohammed, who speaks with a London accent, and at least three others are being held back.

Africa

Merkel’s comment on Zimbabwe fascist: official

HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwe branded German Chancellor Angela Merkel a “racist” and a “fascist”, for her comment that the situation in Harare “damages the image of the new Africa”, state-run media reported Monday.

Minister of Information Sikhanyiso Ndlovu lashed out at Merkel for her comments at the recent European Union-Africa Summit in Lisbon, saying: “She should shut up on Zimbabwe or ship out.”

“Zimbabwe is not a colony of Germany. This is racism of the first order by the German head of state,” Ndlovu was quoted as saying by the state-run Herald.

Archbishop discards dog collar ‘until tyrant goes’

In one of the most dramatic political interventions by an Anglican cleric in modern times, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, cut up his clerical collar on TV yesterday and vowed not to put it back on until President Mugabe was thrown out of office.

Ugandan-born Dr Sentamu, who in his youth fled the atrocities of Idi Amin, told the Sunday AMprogramme on BBC One that the Zimbabwean leader had “taken people’s identity . . . and cut it to pieces”. This had prompted him to do the same.

The protest is unusual in modern Anglicanism in both its courageous iconoclasm and in its stand against Mr Mugabe. Although Dr Sentamu has been an outspoken critic of Mr Mugabe, some senior clergy have balked at speaking out against the dictator for fear of endangering church workers in the country. But his excesses have reached a point where church leaders believe that they must now oppose him in the name of justice and with whatever tools are at their disposal.

Asia

New York Philharmonic to play in N.Korea: paper

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Striking a note of musical diplomacy, the New York Philharmonic plans to visit North Korea in February — the first major U.S. cultural visit to the reclusive country, the New York Times reported on Monday.

Pyongyang’s invitation to play a concert comes as North Korea is disabling its nuclear facilities under an agreement in February, after years of six-way talks, and is beginning to see a thaw in its relations with the United States.

“It would signal that North Korea is beginning to come out of its shell, which everyone understands is a long-term process,” Christopher Hill, the Bush administration’s lead negotiator with North Korea, told the newspaper.

US balks at Bali carbon targets

The UN climate talks seeking a new pact on global warming hit a potential problem today when the US said it was unwilling to approve a draft agreement setting firm targets for cuts to carbon pollution.

The US said a proposal for developed nations to reduce emissions by 25-40% by 2020, which is backed by Britain and the EU, was “totally unrealistic” and “unhelpful”. Other nations, including Japan, are believed to be against the idea.

The US said it was in Bali to be “constructive” and wanted the meeting to agree a roadmap to a new agreement, which would be concluded by 2009. But it said it would not agree a firm target, presented either as an emissions reduction or as a maximum temperature rise.