Monday, December 20, 2010
Obama pushes for U.S.-Russia arms treaty
Ratification of START a top priority for White House in lame-duck session
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama lobbied senators by phone Monday to back an arms treaty with Russia that he has called a national security imperative, as a top Senate Democrat conceded "house by house combat" would be needed to win enough Republican votes to prevail.
The final legislative drama: New STARTThe president was continuing to call senators as he presses for passage of the New START treaty before Congress adjourns, according to deputy press secretary Bill Burton.
Story: Russia warns U.S. not to change nuclear pactThe White House and Senate Democratic leaders expressed confidence they'll ultimately garner the two-thirds vote the Constitution requires for the Senate to ratify the treaty.
Story: Fate of Russian arms treaty remains uncertainSen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats have now picked up the support of GOP Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, and said he thinks Democrats will get the two-thirds vote the Constitution requires for the Senate to ratify a treaty. He said Democrats will need nine or 10 Republican votes to prevail.
Democrats expect to get 57 votes from their caucus, with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., absent due to cancer surgery on Monday. Four Republican senators — Richard Lugar of Indiana, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and George Voinovich of Ohio — have said they back the treaty.
'House by house combat' "It's going to be a real slog, house by house combat if you will," Schumer told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday. "But I think we'll be there."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs expressed confidence that the administration would prevail.
"The White House believes that before Congress leaves town the Senate will ratify the NewSTART treaty," he said.
Obama wants the Senate to vote before January when Republicans increase their numbers by five, dimming the outlook for the accord. Complicating Obama's effort is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said he will oppose the treaty and on Monday railed against the fierce partisanship.
Video: Obama locks on to next target: START ratification (on this page)
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks near the Senate floor during an unusual Sunday session on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sunday. The Senate's Republican leader said Sunday he would oppose a nuclear arms treaty with Russia, damaging prospects for President Barack Obama's foreign policy priority in the final days of the post-election Congress.
"No senator should be forced to make decisions like this so we can tick off another item on someone's political check list before the end of the year," McConnell said on the Senate floor.
Just weeks after Obama's self-described "shellacking" in the Nov. 2 midterm elections, ratification of the treaty would cap a string of political victories for the White House. Congress endorsed the president's tax compromise with Republicans and voted Saturday to repeal the military's ban on openly gay service members.
In a nod to political sensitivities, Obama held off a celebratory bill signing for legislation ending the ban on openly gay servicemembers in the military until the outcome was clearer on the treaty, said one senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about White House strategy.
Responding to McConnell, a clearly frustrated Sen. John Kerry said consideration of the treaty was delayed until after the election at the request of Republicans.
"Having accommodated their interests they now come back and turn around and say 'Oh you guys are terrible. You are bringing up this treaty at the last minute,'" Kerry said. "I mean is there no shame ever with respect to the arguments that are made sometimes on the floor of the United States Senate."
While McConnell's opposition did not come as a surprise, it unnerved the treaty's backers, who wondered how hard he would work to defeat the accord. Sen. Jon Kylof Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, also has said he couldn't support the treaty in its current form.
Vote slated for Tuesday The Senate launched a sixth day of debate on the treaty on Monday, with a vote slated for Tuesday to move ahead toward a final vote.
Senate Democrats were able to turn back Republican efforts to change the treaty.
By a vote of 64-33, the Senate rejected a measure that would have increased the number of weapons inspectors. If adopted, the amendment would have effectively killed the treaty, forcing U.S. and Russian officials back to negotiations.
Eight Republicans voted against the amendment.
By a vote of 64-33, the Senate also rejected an amendment to increase the number of deployed launchers. The measure would have had the same impact on the treaty.
Democrats have managed to beat back four GOP amendments to the treaty. Earlier Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovhad warned against any changes to the treaty.
Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the accord — it is known as New START — in April. It would limit each country's strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550, down from the current ceiling of 2,200. It would also establish a system for monitoring and verification. U.S. weapons inspections ended a year ago with the expiration of a 1991 treaty.
Proponents of the treaty, including much of the military and foreign policy establishment, cite the renewed weapons inspections and say the pact would keep the two biggest nuclear powers on the path to reducing their arsenals. Opponents assert it would restrict missile defense and argue that it has insufficient procedures to verify Russia's adherence.
Several Republicans said Obama's letter to congressional leaders Saturday vowing to move ahead on missile defense carried considerable sway.
"It takes care of me," said Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, who indicated he was leaning toward voting for the treaty. Snowe said it was "important for the president to be emphatic with respect to missile defense and modernization" of the remaining nuclear arsenal. Voinovich welcomed the statement.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
FCC set to back Internet traffic rules
WASHINGTON — U.S. communications regulators were poised to adopt Internet traffic rules on Tuesday that would allow providers to ration access to their networks.
Federal Communications Commission members Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn issued statements on Monday saying they would support the proposal laid out by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski early this month despite some misgivings.
The rules would ban high-speed Internet providers like Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications from blocking lawful traffic, while recognizing the need to manage network congestion and perhaps charge based on Internet usage.
The rules, to be somewhat looser for wireless Internet, could help cable companies in competition with plans by Microsoft Corp, Google Inc and Amazon.com to deliver competing video content over the same Internet lines the cable companies run to customers' homes.
Charging consumers more for data-intensive tasks like downloading videos could tip the economics of Internet-delivered television back toward cable. The FCC said it would monitor usage-based pricing for abuses.
"Without regulation, rates could go up and up and up and emerging providers like Netflix and Hulu could have problems attracting users," said Daniel Ernst, an analyst at Hudson Square Research.
Level 3 Communications, a company that helps Netflix Inc stream videos online, has already accused Comcast of charging it unfair fees to deliver content to Comcast subscribers.
The FCC's ability to regulate the Internet has been in doubt since an appeals court in April said the agency lacked the authority to stop Comcast from blocking bandwidth-hogging applications.
Court challenges are also expected over this latest rule-making effort, although senior FCC officials have said they will invoke new legal arguments not employed in the Comcast case.
Public interest groups were skeptical of the protections for consumers under the traffic rules.
"These rules appear to be flush with giant loopholes," said Craig Aaron, managing director of Free Press, who accused Genachowski of favoring the endorsement of industry over the public interest.
Qualified backing
Copps had wanted the FCC to reclassify Internet traffic under tougher rules applying to telephone service, while Clyburn has said she is uneasy about giving wireless Internet providers more freedom to manage their networks than wireline services.
Copps had wanted the FCC to reclassify Internet traffic under tougher rules applying to telephone service, while Clyburn has said she is uneasy about giving wireless Internet providers more freedom to manage their networks than wireline services.
"While I cannot vote wholeheartedly to approve the item, I will not block it by voting against it," Copps said in a statement on Monday.
Clyburn said in a separate statement that the rules, "while not as strong as they could be, will nonetheless protect consumers as they explore, learn, and innovate online."
Support from Copps and Clyburn would give Genachowski the votes he needs to overcome expected opposition from the agency's two Republicans.
Senior FCC officials said the "open" Internet order, to be considered Tuesday at a public FCC meeting, will give both landline and mobile broadband services the flexibility to "reasonably" manage their networks.
They told a briefing for reporters that the order would institute a no-blocking policy for landline Internet providers that covers all lawful content, applications, services and devices, the senior officials said.
Landline services would also be prohibited from discriminating against bandwidth-heavy content. Senior FCC officials said this provision would help prevent paid prioritization of content, where Internet providers charge websites more to reach users quickly.
The rule for wireless carriers, reflecting limited bandwidth and a more recent technology, only bans the blocking of access to websites, or competing voice and video applications.
Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
An Orlando theme park of biblical proportions
Holy Land Experience aims to feel a world away in the town of Mickey Mouse
Courtesy Holy Land Experience
Biblical stories are brought to life at Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Fla. The Bible-based theme park typically sees about 2,000 visitors a day.
msnbc.com contributor
In Orlando, America’s thrill ride capital, one theme park is making a killing — twice each day, except Sundays.
At midday and again before the doors close for the evening, visitors to Holy Land Experience gather to watch a graphic re-enactment of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Wearing a tattered robe and a blood-spattered face, a man portraying Christ lugs a cross on his back through a lifelike “Jerusalem Street Market” as packs of tourists in sunglasses scurry to snap photos. Mickey Mouse, this ain’t.
And on Christmas Day, as many celebrate the birth of Jesus, the show will go on as usual, said park spokesman John Casoria.
“Our goal at Holy Land Experience is to present the life of Christ in a real way to the people who attend the park,” Casoria said. “And that is not hammering them over the head with a fire-and-brimstone type message; it’s not to evangelize in a negative way but to evangelize in a positive way — to show the love of God through life of Christ and to show different stories that arise in the Bible.”
Owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network and nestled next to Interstate 4 in central Florida, the 15-acre, Christian-based park is packed with singers, street theater and gift shops — and is typically filled to its 2,000-person capacity, the spokesman Casoria said. Tickets cost $35 for adults, $20 for children ages 6 to 12.
Touching hearts, touching nerves With its stony backdrop and biblically bedecked employees, the venue aims to look, sound, and feel a world away from the gravity drops, splashy screams and mouse ears that fill nearby attractions like Disney World, SeaWorld and Universal Orlando. As Casoria says, “We don’t haveroller coasters or water rides. What Holy Land tries to do is expand on that entertainment value by bringing the faith-based element. It touches the heart.”
It also touches a nerve with some tourists and some locals.
“The place scares me, quite frankly,” said Terry Ward, a travel writer who once lived close enough to the park to view its vast array of Christmas lights brightening the night sky. “To see Holy Land, in all its glory alongside I-4, just feels like another assault from people following what they interpret as the word of God, and a cheesy one at that. I mean, if you really want to go see the Holy Land, do what millions of other pilgrims do — go to Jerusalem, not Orlando.”
While filming his 2008 documentary “Religulous,” Bill Maher strolled through Holy Land Experience. The movie shows a twirling (and blood-free) Christ figure who is merrily dancing to the song “Jesus Is Just Alright.” Maher also asks one Holy Land tourist: “When you were a kid ... if they told you ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ was religion, and that a man (who) lived in a whale was a fairytale book, do you think, when you got to be an adult, you’d be defending one instead of the other?” The woman responds: “So you’re saying that the Bible is a fairytale?”
Some Orlando tourism boosters treat the park’s messages and its entertainment menu a bit more delicately — yet also with a careful nod to travelers who may not be drawn to a place that offers live shows called “Heaven’s Gate — Hell’s Flames” and “Celebrate Jesus — Karaoke.” FAQOrlando.com, for example, wrote: “Holy Land Experience makes some people uncomfortable, both devout Christian as well as un- or iffy-believer. Religion — a solemn view of salvation, sacrifice, and supreme powers — doesn’t fit easily into a city with singing country bears and wizards named Harry. Believers wonder: Is it a sacrilege to take a serious subject and turn it into a show? Can a park that relies on admission tickets and souvenir sales to pay its rent show the proper respect for God?” That website added: “The short answer is ‘yes.’ ”
The Bible beyond text “People tend to come away from things of this sort either enamored or disgusted, depending on their connection to faith,” said religion writer Menachem Wecker, whose articles have appeared in Catholic, Jewish, Islamic and Mormon publications. He has never visited Holy Land Experience. “If we step back objectively, though, I think it’s great to have places of this sort — even if they are kitschy — for the same reason it’s important to have religious theater productions (and) religious art. It’s important to experience the biblical narratives in more than just textual ways.”
The park’s own narrative contains some interesting business twists. Opened in 2001 and originally called “Zion’s Hope, doing business as Holy Land Experience,” the founder, Rev. Marvin Rosenthal, reportedly wanted to use the place to convert Jews to Christianity as a part of rapture theology. “My understanding is that was Rosenthal’s vision for the park when he built it,” Casoria said. By 2007, however, the property had changed hands several times and was foundering financially. TBN, then looking for a TV studio to build in Orlando, saw the park as a “good fit” with its mission, bought the venue then used its 24-hour, global broadcasting power to promote Holy Land Experience. Within six months, the nonprofit attraction was “moving into the black,” Casoria said.
Some travelers, like Jen Hancock who lives near Tampa, still link the park with its original roots and, therefore, refuse to patronize it.
“I can’t see spending $30 to get in, especially when the money is going to evangelize,” said Hancock, who describes herself as a “humanist.” “I have Jewish relatives so this may be a sore spot for me.”
Timeline: Top travel stories of 2010 (on this page)'Consuming presence of God' But Kevin Benton, a Philadelphia minister, said he was moved to tears when he and his wife visited Holy Land Experience in August.
“As soon as we walked into the marketplace, we both just started crying because of the consuming presence of God that permeated throughout the place,” Benton said. “The first thing we saw when we walked in was the re-enactment of Jesus’ death on the cross.”
The bulging crowds at Holy Land have led other Christian business people to ask TBN about the possibility of building a replica on the West Coast. For now, TBN has agreed to license a group of investors to begin exploring the opening of a Holy Land Experience just outside Seoul, South Korea, Casoria said.
Indeed, the business of Christian-themed amusement parks is getting a bit more crowded. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that a group of investors is planning to build a full-scale replica of Noah’s Ark in the small, northern Kentucky village of Williamstown — and aiming to lure 1.6 million visitors a year.
Story: Noah's Ark Park investors clear first hurdle“It’s our belief that the Christian marketplace is one of the last truly untapped demographics out there,” Casoria said. “Look at the movie industry. Over only the last few years, [Hollywood has opted] to create films with themes geared toward the Christian marketplace. The ‘Narnia’ movies have been wildly successful.
“But they put a lot of time, effort and money into them to make them quality. That’s what a Christian marketplace is looking for,” Casoria said. “There are a lot of people out there putting a lot of stuff out there that’s not quality. The Christian marketplace — like any other — they want a quality product.”
Bill Briggs is a frequent contributor to msnbc.com and author of the forthcoming book, “The Third Miracle.”
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