The New York Times
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE. The incidents are lower because the human labor involved is lower not because the mines are safer. This is pure and absolute corruption of the system. A human life's safety is to insured by strict laws and penalityies that count. This is a regressive administration that seeks higher profits and not higher saftey standards leading to higher profitability by avoiding liability.
U.S. Is Reducing Safety Penalties for Mine Flaws
By IAN URBINA and ANDREW W. LEHREN
CRAIGSVILLE, W.Va. — In its drive to foster a more cooperative relationship with mining companies, the Bush administration has decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001, and in nearly half the cases, it has not collected the fines, according to a data analysis by The New York Times.
Federal records also show that in the last two years the federal mine safety agency has failed to hand over any delinquent cases to the Treasury Department for further collection efforts, as is supposed to occur after 180 days.
With the deaths of 24 miners in accidents in 2006, the enforcement record of the Mine Safety and Health Administration has come under sharp scrutiny, and the agency is likely to face tough questions about its performance at a Senate oversight hearing on Thursday.
"The Bush administration ushered in this desire to develop cooperative ties between regulators and the mining industry," said Tony Oppegard, a top official at the agency in the Clinton administration. "Safety has certainly suffered as a result."
A spokesman for the agency, Dirk Fillpot, defended its record, pointing out that last year the coal industry had 22 fatalities, the lowest number in its history.
"Safety is definitely improving," Mr. Fillpot said.
A spokeswoman for the National Mining Association, Carol Raulston, agreed.
"The agency realized in recent years that you can't browbeat operators into improved safety, and this general approach has worked," Ms. Raulston said. "The tragic events of this year have given everyone pause. But I don't think it means we want to abandon what we have found works."
Federal records show that fatalities across all types of mining have stayed relatively stable. In each of the last three years, 55 to 57 miners have died in all areas of mining. Experts say a long-term decline in coal mine fatalities is in part a result of growing mechanization.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/national/02mine.html?ei=5094&en=16f66ee262e5d96b&hp=&ex=1141362000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
New York is not corrupt enough for the Bush/Rove White House. What's wrong with everyone? I hope a nice 'learn your boundaries, states rights lawsuit comes of it. I think the Robert's Court has already coached the opposition though. That isn't to say the federal government is right but only to say it is 'primed' for the best Supreme Court outcomes for their politics. You know. Bush home court advantage.
New York Is Sued by U.S. on Delay of Vote System
By MICHAEL COOPER
Published: March 2, 2006
ALBANY, March 1 — The Justice Department sued New York State on Wednesday for failing to overhaul its election system and replace its aging voting machines. It is the first lawsuit the federal government has filed to force a state to comply with the voting guidelines enacted by Congress after the 2000 election debacle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/nyregion/02vote.html?hp&ex=1141362000&en=c2710cd98dc341d0&ei=5094&partner=homepage\
The Chicago Tribune
McCartneys Join Effort to End Seal Hunt
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
Associated Press Writer
Published March 2, 2006, 10:35 AM CST
CHARLOTTETOWN, Prince Edward Island -- Opponents of Canada's seal hunt have a powerful ally in their bid to end the annual slaughter: Paul McCartney, who pledged to take to the ice floes Thursday and frolic with the doe-eyed pups before the harvest gets under way.
The former Beatle and his wife, Heather Mills McCartney, arrived Wednesday night in this fishing community on Canada's Atlantic coast and intend to land a helicopter on the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence if Thursday's weather permits.
The longtime animal-rights activists want to publicize the plight of the fluffy white pups, which are calved and weaned from their mothers on the frigid ice before being clubbed to death.
"Previous Canadian governments have allowed this heartbreaking hunt to continue despite the fact that majority of its citizens -- as well as those in Europe and America -- are opposed to it," the McCartneys said in a joint statement before heading up to the ice floes Thursday morning.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-canada-seal-hunt,1,224672.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Bush's Katrina problem just got bigger
Posted by Frank James at 8:56 pm CST
Today's Associated Press report about videotape of a videoconference in which President Bush was told before Hurricane Katrina's landfall that the storm would be hugely catastrophic and that there was concern that New Orleans' levees might fail is a stunning piece of bad news for the White House.
What makes this revelation particularly bad for Bush is that it directly contradicts his by now famous statement on the Good Morning America television show days after the hurricane. "I don't think anyone anticipated the breach of the levees," he said.
The video makes clear that such levee breaches were definitely anticipated by experts like Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center who told the federal officials assembled for the videoconference as much, including Bush who participated from his Crawford, Texas ranch. Mayfield warned that the hurricane would be among the worst to hit the U.S. in recorded history.
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/03/bushs_katrina_p.html
Analysis: Midway runway too slick
The Associated Press
Published March 2, 2006, 7:40 AM CST
The surface of a runway at Midway Airport was slicker than pilots were told the night a jet slid off the snowy airstrip and into a busy street last December, according to a report published today.
A USA Today analysis that used a physics formula and accident evidence from federal investigators determined that conditions on the runway were ``poor at best.''
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said air traffic controllers reported conditions that were fair for most of the runway and poor at the end the night of Dec. 8, when a Southwest Airlines jet from Baltimore landed in a snowstorm, skidded off the end of the runway and into traffic. The plane crushed a car, killing 6-year-old Joshua Woods of Leroy, Ind., who was riding inside.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060302midway,1,7876072.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Northwest, Delta Talks Fail to Yield Deal
By JOSHUA FREED and HARRY R. WEBER
AP Business Writers
Published March 2, 2006, 6:30 AM CST
Strike threats loomed at two of the nation's largest airlines on Thursday after talks with pilots did not yield agreements.
Northwest Airlines Corp. has the power to force the pay cuts and work rule changes it wants on pilots, which would almost certainly prompt a strike. The company kept talking anyway.
And the pilot union at Delta Air Lines Inc. said it would conduct a strike vote after talks failed and the matter headed to arbitration.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-airlines-labor,1,7955407.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Singh Gives Bush Grief Over Taj Mahal Snub
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
Published March 2, 2006, 6:59 AM CST
NEW DELHI -- Add India's prime minister to the list of people giving President Bush a hard time for not visiting the country's famed Taj Mahal.
As the leaders toasted each other and their nation's ties Thursday before lunch alongside several hundred guests, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh briefly paused and addressed Bush's wife, Laura.
"I am truly sorry the president is not taking you to Taj Mahal this time," Singh said. "I hope he will be more chivalrous next time you are here."
The president said Singh was not alone in his disappointment. "I've been hearing about it from Laura ever since I told her that we weren't going," Bush said.
The majestic 17th-century white marble mausoleum is a monument of love, built by Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-unchivalrous-bush,1,279902.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Ex-governor was source of leak
Lawyer says he didn't understand seal order
By Matt O'Connor, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Jason George contributed to this report
Published March 2, 2006
In a transcript unsealed Wednesday, the lawyer for former Gov. George Ryan admitted that Ryan leaked sealed information to a TV reporter last week about a juror in his corruption trial, but the lawyer insisted Ryan didn't realize the subject was sealed.
The transcript of the private sidebar discussion at the trial Monday shows that prosecutors suspect Ryan or his family was also responsible for a subsequent leak to the Sun-Times about the same juror.
Prosecutors alleged that Ryan went to WFLD-Ch. 32 last week to give an interview about the juror's dismissal. But Dan Webb, Ryan's lawyer, said he had sent Ryan to the Fox station to warn the reporter not to air a story after learning from Ryan that he unwittingly leaked the sealed court matter to a WFLD reporter.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0603020284mar02,1,2641851.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Judge backs down in rape trial
Woman won't face jail for refusing to view tape of alleged assault
By Art Barnum and Crystal Yednak
Tribune staff reporters
Published March 2, 2006
A Cook County judge backed off Wednesday after triggering a furor with a warning that he might lock up a woman for refusing to watch a videotape showing her alleged 2002 rape in a Burr Ridge home.
Circuit Judge Kerry Kennedy's decision was a relief to victims advocates, who said forcing the woman to watch the tape on the witness stand would have been cruel and could have discouraged others from reporting sexual assaults.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0603020210mar02,1,5857705.story?coll=chi-news-hed
UCI Psychiatrist Bilked by Nigerian E-Mails, Suit Says
Dr. Louis A. Gottschalk lost perhaps $3 million over 10 years in the scam, his son alleges in court documents.
By William Lobdell
Times Staff Writer
Published March 2, 2006
A renowned psychiatrist from UC Irvine was duped into squandering at least $1.3 million of his family's fortune on a Nigeria Internet scam, according to a lawsuit recently filed by his son.
The son, also an Orange County doctor, said his father — Dr. Louis A. Gottschalk — gave as much as $3 million over a 10-year period in response to an Internet plea that promised the doctor a generous cut of a huge sum of cash trapped in African bank accounts in exchange for money advances.
The court documents, filed last month in Orange County Superior Court, allege Gottschalk even traveled to Africa to meet a shadowy figure known as "The General."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/la-me-nigerian2mar02,1,7629930.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Honor this: Allen yes, Balbo no
I tell you who deserves to have a street named in his honor: Ald. Tom Allen (38th), the brave politician trying to put a stop to honorary street names.
(See related story here; vote yay or nay on Allen's proposal here; continue reading this column below)
Allen has twice before failed to move similar legislation through the City Council. And one reason he's keen on the idea, he told me Wednesday afternoon, is because the current, haphazard, no-standards system gives "no protection against us getting blindsided" by rubberstamping a honoree whom many might consider less than honorable."
Was he referring to anyone in particular? Say former Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, whose mixed legacy includes service to poor children and threats of death to police officers, and whose death in a blizzard of bullets in a 1969 raid remains an ugly stain on the reputation of local law enforcement?
http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2006/03/honor_this_alle.html
Pakistan Times
In the USA there is already a law on the books called "Hate Crime." Cartoons fall under Freedom of Speech. It is Islam's hypersensitivity due to Osama bin Laden's schismed al Qaeda that has raised this is a level of atrocity. There is separation of church and state in the USA. The swastika is not banned anywhere in the world today. That is as much a sign of atrocity as what might be coined offensive religious cartoons. This is an unrelaistic request of a dictator that is playing national politics with that of American and Western Democracy. I don't see an 'Anti-Blasphemy Law' as possible given our Constitution realizing what one religion might see as blasphemy another might embrace. It's out of the question. I think for the time being and realizing the imbalance of propriety in Islamic nations it is prudent to respect boundaries. But, the Islamic nations have to return function to their religion while tolerance of difference leading to peace is paramount.
Musharraf Vows:
Pakistan wants US to Push for anti-blasphemy Law
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan wants US President George W Bush to push
for a new law banning blasphemy (outlawing blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) which have caused violent protests throughout the country and Muslim world.
This was stated by President General Pervez Musharraf in an interview with Sky News here at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
President Bush is arriving India Wednesday before travelling to Pakistan. He’s (Bush) already said he wants to facilitate with talks on solving the Kashmir problem.
Mr Bush called President Musharraf his ‘buddy and friend’. It’s
heart-warming stuff. But all parties have a lot to gain by being so cosy, President Musharraf added.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/top3010600.htm
Pakistan equipped with BVRS Weapon
RAWALPINDI: The senior commanders were told here Tuesday that Pakistan was now equipped with Beyond Visual Range standoff weapon system that can fight terrorists as well as insurgents in the country. The AGM 154 system has been provided by USA under its anti-terror package which includes many systems including BVR standoff weapon.
Raytheon of USA has developed this system for the Air Force and the Navy. The AGM-154A (formerly Advanced Interdiction Weapon System) is intended to provide a low cost, highly lethal glide weapon with a standoff capability. JSOW family of kinematically efficient, air-to-surface glide weapons, in the
1,000-lb class, provides standoff capabilities from 15 nautical miles (low altitude launch) to 40 nautical miles (high altitude launch), reports noted journalist Aroosa Alam.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/top3010601.htm
35 militants killed in NW Pakistan
'Pakistan Times' NWFP Bureau
MIRAN SHAH: The security forces have brought their operation to an end in Daandey areas of South Waziristan, who killed terrorists ranging between 35 to 40 many amongst them are foreigners.
According to officials sources, three Chechen commander along with his three guards were killed in the operation at time when he was try to flee from the operation area.
The security forces surrounded residence of Noor Payo and other adjoining houses following a tip-off of alien terrorist hiding in Noor’s house.
In the operation gunship helicopters were also used for shelling on the residences. A huge arms cache of ammunition of the militants was confiscated.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/top3010604.htm
Attack Shows al-Qaida Can Still Strike
'Pakistan Times' Monitoring Desk
MANAMA (Bahrain): Al-Qaida on Saturday vowed more attacks on
Saudi oil facilities, a day after an attempt to bomb the world's biggest oil processing complex showed the group still can strike inside the Kingdom.
A strike on the Abqaiq complex, near Saudi Arabia's eastern Persian Gulf coast, could have been devastating. Nearly two-thirds of the country's oil flows through the facility for processing before export.
Foiling the attack demonstrated Saudi Arabia's success in putting tough security around the oil industry, the source of the royal family's wealth, oil analysts said.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/top022606010.htm
Poverty reduced by 6.7 per cent in Pakistan: PM
'Pakistan Times' Federal Bureau
ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz says the overall poverty in the country has declined by 6.7 percent, unemployment rate for the current year 6.8 percent and GDP is expected to grow 6.5 to 7 percent during the current financial year.
Presiding over a meeting of the National Economic Council in Islamabad Tuesday Mr. Aziz said the economic growth is to maintain its momentum despite the tragic earthquake and spikes in oil prices.
Moreover, The Prime Minister said, the additional fiscal space created mainly due to better revenue collection and debt management has allowed government to increase development expenditure and the development spending today is all times high.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/top3010606.htm
Jessica Simpson Dines With N.M. Governor
'Pakistan Times' Societal Desk
SANTA FE, N.M: Jessica Simpson took a break from filming her
latest movie to dine with Gov. Bill Richardson, his wife and others at the governor's mansion.
Simpson, who is in Santa Fe filming "Employee of the Month," ate with the governor Thursday night. The film is the fifth shot in New Mexico by Lions Gate Entertainment, an independent production and distribution studio.
"The governor feels very strongly about getting involved personally to promote New Mexico's film industry," Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley said.
Red Carpet
Richardson has rolled out the red carpet for other celebrities. Most recently, he dined at the mansion with Irish actor Liam Neeson.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/top022606013.htm
LA Times
Bush Is Warned on Katrina in Video
Footage of a briefing full of dire predictions renews criticism of the government's response.
By Nicole Gaouette, Times Staff Writer
March 2, 2006
WASHINGTON — Newly released video footage taken just hours before Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast shows that federal officials delivered stark warnings to President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the storm could lead to massive loss of life.
"We are fully prepared," Bush responded.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katrina2mar02,0,5568671.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The Washington Post
Blast Kills U.S. Diplomat in Pakistan
By Kamran Khan and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 2, 2006; 10:54 AM
KARACHI, Pakistan, March 2 -- An apparent suicide bomber detonated explosives outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi Thursday, killing four people, including a U.S. diplomat and a Pakistani security officer, and wounding about 50 others, according to officials.
The attack came two days before President Bush is scheduled to visit Pakistan, following his journey to Afghanistan and India. It also followed what Pakistani officials said was a major assault by the Pakistani military that killed 40 to 45 militants in a tribal region of the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030200194.html
Video Shows Bush Being Warned on Katrina
Officials Detailed a Dire Threat to New Orleans
By Spencer S. Hsu and Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page A01
A newly leaked video recording of high-level government deliberations the day before Hurricane Katrina hit shows disaster officials emphatically warning President Bush that the storm posed a catastrophic threat to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and a grim-faced Bush personally assuring state leaders that his administration was "fully prepared" to help.
The footage, taken of a videoconference of federal and state officials on Aug. 28, offered an unusually vivid glimpse of real-time decision making by an administration that has vigorously guarded its internal deliberations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030101731.html
U.S. Reviewing 2nd Dubai Firm
Israeli Deal Also Faces Security Check
By Jonathan Weisman and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page A01
The Bush administration, stung by the public outcry over the Dubai port deal, has launched a national security investigation of another Dubai-owned company set to take over plants in Georgia and Connecticut that make precision components used in engines for military aircraft and tanks.
The administration notified congressional committees this week that its secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is investigating the security implications of Dubai International Capital's $1.2 billion acquisition of London-based Doncasters Group Ltd., which has subsidiaries in the United States. It is also investigating an Israeli company's plans to buy the Maryland software security firm Sourcefire, which does business with Defense Department agencies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102192.html
Saudi Group Alleges Wiretapping by U.S. Defunct Charity's Suit Details Eavesdropping
By Carol D. Leonnig and Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page A01
Documents cited in federal court by a defunct Islamic charity may provide the first detailed evidence of U.S. residents being spied upon by President Bush's secret eavesdropping program, according to the organization's lawsuit and a source familiar with the case.
The al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, a Saudi organization that once operated in Portland, Ore., filed a description of classified government records in a lawsuit Tuesday and immediately asked a judge for a private review.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102585.html
U.S., India Seal Nuclear Deal
Accord Sets Up Sharing of Data, Fuel to Satisfy Rising Energy Needs
By Jim VandeHei, Muneeza Naqvi and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 2, 2006; 10:48 AM
NEW DELHI, March 2 -- President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh struck what both leaders called an historic agreement Thursday to provide U.S. nuclear power assistance to India in exchange for new inspections of India's civilian nuclear facilities.
The agreement, which requires congressional action, is a major break with prior U.S. policy, which barred nuclear assistance to nations, like India, that have refused to sign the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Drawing protests from some politicians in both countries, Bush and Singh agreed that India would separate its civilian and military nuclear programs to gain U.S. expertise and nuclear fuel to meet its rapidly rising energy needs. Under the deal, only 14 of India's 22 nuclear plants classified for civilian use will be subject to inspections. The country's eight military reactors will be off limits.
The country's eight military reactors will be off limits.
The country's eight military reactors will be off limits.
The country's eight military reactors will be off limits.
The country's eight military reactors will be off limits.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030200183.html
Authorities Suspect Arson in Okla. Fires
By ROCHELLE HINES
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 2, 2006; 9:30 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Authorities took one man into custody on suspicion of arson and were searching for another after a wildfire in southwestern Oklahoma destroyed at least 30 homes and forced the evacuation of two schools, a nursing home and area businesses.
The fire was one of several fueled by gusty winds and high temperatures, and firefighters remained at the scene for a second day Thursday. Seven firefighters have been injured while fighting the blazes.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030200315.html
All D.C. Will Be a Stage for Shakespeare
By Peter Marks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page A01
Let the Bardolatry begin.
In the most extravagant demonstration of the area's devotion to William Shakespeare -- in a theater town with three standing companies devoted to the playwright -- Washington next year will stage a six-month, citywide immersion in theatrical, ballet, film, operatic, orchestral, choral and jazz adaptations of the canon
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102638.html
Witness Says He Warned Skilling Enron Played 'Fast and Loose,' Ex-Trading Chief Testifies
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page D01
HOUSTON, March 1 -- A former Enron Corp. official warned Jeffrey K. Skilling, then chief executive, that an accounting move "lacked integrity" and testified that the company played "fast and loose" with the rules, jurors heard this week in the fraud trial of Skilling and former Enron chairman Kenneth L. Lay.
David W. Delainey said Skilling responded by asking him, "What do you want to do?" The former trading chief interpreted that as an admonition to "get in line" with the plan to improperly shift hundreds of millions of dollars in losses into another division in early 2001.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102290.html
The EPA just doesn't 'get it.' HOW ABOUT LESS GASOLINE?
EPA Seeks Less Benzene In Gasoline
By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page A12
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday proposed cutting toxic emissions from cars nearly in half by 2030, drawing praise from many environmentalists while sparking concern among gasoline refiners.
The new standards, which are subject to a 60-day comment period, would take effect in 2011. They would force refiners to reduce the annual average benzene content in their gasoline by 36 percent and would establish a national trading system so companies producing gas with more benzene content could buy pollution credits from cleaner refiners. Auto manufacturers would also have to install technology to reduce benzene emissions in new cars.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102113.html
Where Prostitutes Also Fight AIDS
Brazil's Sex Workers Hand Out Condoms, Crossing U.S. Ideological Line
By Monte Reel
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page A14
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Paula Duran is an outreach worker with a style of her own. That style -- heavy on fishnet, tattoos and suggestive poses -- is at the heart of an ideological disagreement between Brazil and the United States over the best way to fight AIDS.
Duran, 35, is a prostitute in Villa Mimosa, a red-light district in this seaside city where an estimated 3,500 sex workers lounge in the doorways and lean out the windows of scarred, decaying buildings.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102316.html
County Falls Behind on 'No Child' Proficiency Standards
By Nick Anderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page T06
By now, most parents and educators know that the No Child Left Behind law spotlights achievement test scores in public schools. Few know that the federal law also illuminates the performance of entire school systems.
Last week, Maryland publicized new ratings for all 24 school systems statewide. The data showed that Prince George's County public schools, like 19 other systems, failed last year to make adequate yearly progress toward the law's goal of near-universal academic proficiency by 2014.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030101223.html
Churches Still Await Katrina Aid
Bush-Clinton Fund Criticized for Delay in Allocating $20 Million
By Hamil R. Harris and Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 2, 2006; Page A10
After Hurricane Katrina struck, President Bush enlisted a coalition of clergy from across the nation to distribute part of the $110 million in private funds that his father and former president Bill Clinton raised to help victims of the storm.
But six months later, Bishop T.D. Jakes, one of the ministers selected by Bush, said that not a dime of the $20 million designated for faith organizations along the Gulf Coast has arrived. He blames the fund led by Clinton and former president George H.W. Bush for not coming up with a plan to distribute the money to churches and other faith-based organizations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102379.html
continued ….
