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.



Bob Park can be reached via email at whatsnew@bobpark.org
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the University, but they should be.