Capital Comment -- Daily news notes, political rumors, and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
Shifting sands -- A poll to be released Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League, purportedly will show that American attitudes toward Jews have shifted since the Sept. 11 terror attack. The 2002 Survey on American Attitudes Toward Jews, according to the ADL, "reveals significant shifts in attitudes, which may be a product of current events, including the U.S. war on terror, the Middle East conflict and other factors." Along with the poll, the ADL is releasing the results of a five-month audit of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States.
The survey data includes: A 10-year analysis of attitudes, based on 1992 and 1998 surveys; correlations between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment; attitudes held by American minorities -- African-Americans and Hispanics; an analysis of attitudes among U.S. college students and faculty; and the impact of education in changing anti-Semitic beliefs.
On the attack -- Democrats.com, a Web-based community of self-described independent Democrats, is launching what it calls "an offensive" this week against the president. In a release, the group says they intend "to force President George W. Bush to take responsibility for the diplomatic and intelligence failures that led to the attacks of September 11." The group has created a spin-off Web site, BuckStopsThere.com, in an attempt to make their case. According to co-founder Bob Fertik, "The president is ultimately responsible for the failures of his government. President Harry Truman hit the nail on the head when he declared, 'The Buck Stops Here.' George W. Bush claims to be an admirer of Truman. But when it comes to Sept. 11 for Bush, the buck stops there."
Site co-founder David Lytel added, "BuckStopsThere.com is focused on identifying all of the senior officials in the Bush administration whose actions -- or inactions -- led to the catastrophic events of Sept. 11. This includes the State Department officials who, in secret negotiations with the Taliban in the summer of 2001, threatened Afghanistan with an all-out attack if they failed to approve a natural gas pipeline proposed by California-based Unocal. It also includes failure to take obvious precautions in response to the numerous warnings prior to 911, and also the failure to respond in real time as the attack unfolded on that fateful -- but not unexpected -- day."
All in the family -- Six Flags America, an amusement park located outside Washington in Largo, Md., has announced that Saturday, July 13, will be Muslim Family Day at the combination water park and ride center. The Muslim Community Center of Silver Spring, Md., is sponsoring the event. Members of mosques and Muslim community centers are invited to spend the day enjoying the rides and attractions of the amusement park, and will be treated to greatly reduced prices for the event, as well as meal deals in the park.
Trafficking report not the ticket -- The U.S. Department of State's Trafficking in Persons report is drawing some criticism from leaders in the American religious community. Shannon Royce of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, calls the report "a deplorable shirking of responsibility."
Accusing the State Department of putting diplomatic relations over the rights of woman and children, Royce said: "In every region of the world, there are countries that should be on Tier III that are not: South Africa and Tanzania, Moldova, Macedonia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Haiti and Honduras, India and Thailand. Furthermore, the Netherlands and Germany are on Tier I even though they have legalized prostitution in the last year, which experts believe fuels sex trafficking. Making it legal to sell yourself 'safely' is not what Congress had in mind when it passed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000." Royce and other leaders are calling on Congress to hold oversight hearings to evaluate whether the State Department has fulfilled its mandate under the law with the issuance of this report.
Critical coverage -- According to a survey of 218 editors at newspapers with circulations of at least 30,000 people, newspaper editors responsible for foreign news coverage say "they are not satisfied with the job their news organizations and other media outlets, particularly television, are doing in covering international news." The survey was commissioned by the Pew International Journalism Program and conducted by Dwight L. Morris & Associates.
The data collected from respondents shows that 64 percent of editors responsible for assembling their newspaper's foreign news coverage rate the media's performance as fair or poor. The number of editors who view international news coverage critically was even higher when only papers with circulation of 100,000 or higher were considered. Seventy-four percent of the editors from large papers rated the media coverage of international events as either fair or poor.
The results of the "America and the World: the Impact of September 11 on U.S. Coverage of International News" will be discussed during a day-long conference on June 11 at the National Press Club about the impact of the attacks. That forum is co-sponsored by the Pew International Journalism Program and the National Press Club's Professional Affairs Committee.
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