WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Capital Comment -- News notes, political rumors and important events that shape politics and public policy in Washington and the world from United Press International.
The debate is academic -- The University of Washington Student Senate is called upon to deal with weighty matters of serious import. This is only appropriate, as the Senate calls itself "the official student opinion-making body of the students" at the university. Among the resolutions recently approved by the Senate are ones calling for an increase in the number of ATM machines on campus and one in favor of "cake."
But a resolution in support of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, proposed by campus College Republican President Richey Kemmling, has the body tied up in knots.
Kemmling wants the Senate to go on record in support of the war but has twice been stopped by a coalition of minority students who think the Senate is being asked to endorse institutional racism.
Senate board member Alex Narvez says the Senate's "purpose for existing is to make things more equal and get rid of institutional racism -- and, in this war, a certain ethnic group was singled out ... There are a lot of innocent people in Afghanistan." And, while some students are now pushing for the Senate to adopt a formal anti-war stance, Kemmling has not given up his fight.
In memoriam -- British actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne, known to fans of political humor as the obstreperous Sir Humphrey Appleby in the satirical "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" programs, died Wednesday of a heart attack at his home in England. "Yes, Minister," said to be the favorite television program of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, featured Hawthorne as the principal civil servant to Jim Hacker, minister of the Department of Administrative Affairs and, in the sequel, "Yes, Prime Minister." Each episode focused on the conflict between the bumbling but ambitious Hacker and the suave but scheming Appleby as each tried to gain the upper hand over the other.
And sometimes an anchor drags you down -- The Media Research Center is taking NBC anchor Tom Brokaw to task. The group says "what promised to be a poignant pre-holiday weekend discussion" with U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson about his wife Barbara, who was among those killed when their hijacked plane was crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, was anything but.
The MRC says Brokaw "chided Olson for his decision to proceed with the publication of her anti-Clinton book, 'The Final Days'" when he suggested that some people see the book as opening old wounds at a time when political unity is of paramount importance. Further, the MRC is upset with Brokaw's assertion that some might call the book "just a continuation of a political vendetta against the Clintons."
Project MAPS -- Muslim activists released what they called the "first systematic poll" of American Muslims at a press conference at the National Press Club last week. The survey, conducted by pollster John Zogby, covers four areas relating to American Muslims: demographics, religious practices, opinion and behavior on social and political issues, and Sept. 11 and its aftermath.
Zogby's firm interviewed 1,781 people nationwide who identified themselves as Muslim. The poll was conducted from Nov. 8 through Nov. 19. Among the findings:
* Three-fourths of the surveyed American Muslims (74 percent) are under 50.
* Nearly three-fifths (58 percent) are college graduates.
* Eighty-five percent are Arab, African, Afro-American or South Asian.
* Two-fifths of American Muslims (40 percent) are Democrats, 23 percent are Republican and 28 percent are independent.
* Eight in ten (79 percent) are registered to vote.
* Of those registered to vote, 85 percent say they are very likely to vote.
* The majority (55 percent) of Afro-American Muslims voted for Al Gore, while the majority (54 percent) of Arab-American Muslims and 49 percent of South Asian Muslims voted for George Bush. A majority of Pakistanis (56 percent) also voted for Bush.
* American Muslims are conservative on many social issues. They support the death penalty (68 percent); oppose gay marriages (71 percent); support making abortions more difficult to obtain (57 percent); oppose physician-assisted suicide (61 percent), and support banning the sale and display of pornography (65 percent).
* In addition, American Muslims support prayer (53 percent) and the display of the 10 Commandments (59 percent) in schools, and they support vouchers to send their children to private schools (68 percent).
Reform commission -- HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has announced the appointment of 27 consumers, doctors and other healthcare professionals to serve on the new Secretary's Advisory Committee on Regulatory Reform. The panel will help guide the department's efforts to streamline unnecessarily burdensome and inefficient regulations that interfere with the quality of health care for Americans.
"When we flood doctors and hospitals with excessive paperwork, patients suffer the consequences," Thompson said. "This new panel will help us restore common sense to the regulatory process so that Americans can receive higher-quality health care without creating needless hassles for doctors and other healthcare professionals and businesses. It is important that doctors spend more time with patients and less on
paperwork."
The new committee will provide advice and make recommendations to Thompson for reforming and streamlining the regulatory requirements at HHS agencies including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which have the greatest regulatory responsibilities. The committee's first meeting is scheduled for Jan. 7 at Providence Hospital in Washington.
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