Advertisement

UPI's Capital Comment for April 14, 2003

WASHINGTON, April 14 (UPI) -- 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.

Slam dunk...

Advertisement

The People For the American Way Foundation, a liberal group, has asked the U.S. Army to investigate reports that American soldiers were asked to attend a sermon and be baptized before being granted access to clean water for bathing.

Ralph Neas, the group's president, cites an April 2 news account suggesting a U.S. Army chaplain serving in Iraq "has been requiring soldiers to attend a sermon and accept a Christian baptism before being allowed access to a scarce pool of water for bathing.

"Obviously, if this press report is accurate, a very serious violation of the soldiers' First Amendment rights is occurring. The Constitution forbids the government from coercing soldiers into being baptized or proselytized to in order to gain access to bathing water or any other resources," Neas said in the letter sent Friday. The Army's office of the chief of chaplains is reportedly investigating.

Advertisement

Phone tax...

The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, an industry trade group, says taxes, fees and government mandates are keeping the cost of wireless phones artificially high even as prices have fallen by more than 30 percent over the past five years. "Nationwide," CTIA President Tom Wheeler says, "the average consumer pays 14.29 percent in taxes."

Topping the list of states with the highest wireless tax burden is New York, at 20.14 percent. In second place is Illinois at 19.71 percent followed by Nebraska at 19.23 percent. CTIA cautions that the total wireless tax rate shown in its study of the states is understated, as "many cities and counties include additional local fees and taxes on consumers' bills, in addition to state and federal charges." Rounding out the list are Washington state, Texas, Rhode Island, Florida, California, Tennessee and the District of Columbia.

Pork fat...

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a green budget watchdog group, is criticizing the House of Representatives for passing an energy bill it says is "loaded with billions of special interest provisions and pork barrel spending." The bill, The Energy Policy Act of 2003, authorizes $46.7 billion in new spending and $18.7 billion in tax cuts for what the group calls "Big Energy."

Advertisement

The group has singled out several projects they say are typical of the pork. Among them: $10.9 billion in new subsidies and tax breaks for the oil and gas industry; $17.89 billion in new research programs; $3.219 billion for the nuclear power industry; $2.227 billion in spending and tax breaks in utilities; and $1.925 billion in subsidies to build new "clean coal" facilities.

"The fuel gauge for the federal treasury is on empty and we cannot afford these massive giveaways to big energy," project director Aileen Roder says. "By propping up the energy industry with corporate welfare, the federal government is picking winners and losers in the marketplace."

A new focus...

Don Hodel, who led two Cabinet agencies during the Reagan administration, has joined Focus on the Family, the non-profit Christian ministry founded by Dr. James Dobson, as its new president and chief executive officer. In his new position, Hodel will oversee the day-to-day activities of the group, freeing Dobson to spend more time "on ministry objectives that only he can accomplish," the group said. "I am grateful for Don Hodel's acceptance of this new administrative assignment for Focus on the Family. There is no one whom I admire and respect more, and I look forward to working closely with him in the days ahead," Dobson said when announcing the appointment.

Advertisement

Hodel, a board member since 1995, was Ronald Reagan's Energy secretary and, later, his secretary of the Interior. From 1997 to 1999, Hodel served as president of The Christian Coalition, the conservative organization founded by Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster and former GOP presidential candidate.

A position of trust...

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate voted 72-24 to confirm Ross Swimmer as the federal government's new special trustee for American Indians. Swimmer, member of the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation, will be the first American Indian to hold the position since it was created by Congress as part of the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994. The special trustee is responsible, the United States Department of the Interior says, "for the proper and efficient discharge of the Secretary's responsibilities for the management of Indian fiduciary trust assets."

Tanks a lot...

The Ashland Institute for Strategic Studies, a new think tank specializing in technology and geostrategic analysis, has opened for business. The organization was created, founders say, in response to two business and political forces: the war against terrorism and the financial scandals on Wall Street.

Based in Ashland, Ore., the AISS is headed by James Adams, the former chief executive officer of United Press International. "Too much research is based on the 20th century paradigm where it seemed we had all the time in the world to consider anything and everything," Adams says.

Advertisement

Adams says AISS's virtual network is comprised of more than 250 experts from business, academia and the research community. "The intention here is to make AISS reflect the society in which we live," Adams says. "A vast amount of data is publicly available. What matters is that AISS adds value to that information and rapidly delivers wisdom to the client. In today's high-speed environment, it's not good enough to spend six months writing a report. We must move at the pace of the world as it is, not as it once was."

Got an item for Capital Comment? E-mail it to [email protected].

Latest Headlines