Friday, November 21, 2003
FLASH!! MOVE TO END A FILIBUSTER ON THE ENERGY BILL JUST FAILED.
Those favoring cloture were two votes short. Sen. Frist promised
another vote by Tuesday. Energy Appropriations is the traditional
vehicle for pork-barrel, but this bill is in a class of its own.
1. VISAS: HOW CAN WE STOP TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO OTHER COUNTRIES?
No problem, just stop producing technologies. More than any
other major power, the United States requires foreign scientific
talent to sustain our technology-driven economy. In fact, many
American Nobel Prize winners were not born here. They often came
to the U.S. because of the openness of research. But since 9/11,
the State Department has placed foreign scientists and engineers
under greater scrutiny, according to a State Department spokesman
quoted in the NY Times. "We take a closer look at the technology-
transfer issues involved," he explained. The problem is there is
going to be less technology to transfer. Even growing our own
scientists has been made more difficult; the formula by which the
Department of Education distributes financial aid was revised
this spring, effectively barring about 84,000 Pell students.
2. A PERLE OF GREAT PRICE: PENTAGON IG SAYS PERLE BROKE NO LAW.
Richard Perle, an architect of the Strategic Defense Initiative
when he served as Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan
Administration (WN 17 Feb 89), was being investigated for current
business dealings while serving as the Chairman of the Defense
Policy Board Advisory Committee. He has since stepped down as
chair, but remains on the Board. Perle represented two companies
in matters before the Pentagon, but served on Defense Policy
fewer than the 60 days annually allowed by the ethics law. In a
letter to the Washington Post, former CIA Director James Woolsey
complained that the Post story left out the word "vindicated."
At WN, we thought the word the Post left out was "loophole."
3. LIE DETECTORS: WILL THEY REDUCE INSURANCE FRAUD IN EUROPE?
For a while maybe. After one major auto insurer in the UK began
using voice risk-analysis software six months ago, a quarter of
the stolen car claims were dropped. Now, the Daily Telegraph
claims, other auto and home insurers in the UK and France hope to
reduce fraud with voice analysis technology. WN assures readers
it's just as accurate as the polygraph. Richard Nixon was so
frustrated by White House leaks that he ordered polygraph exams
for the entire staff. "Do they work?" an aide asked. "I don't
know," Nixon is said to have replied, "but they scare the Hell
out of people." As people get used to it, their fear wears off.
|
