Weekly Review

By Roger D. Hodge

Weighing the soul, 1875.

Finance experts warned that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government agency that insures company pensions, could be forced into a situation similar to the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, which led to a $200 billion bailout, as a result of cascading pension defaults in the airline industry.¹ Economic growth was slowing,² fewer jobs were being created, crude oil prices reached a record high of $44.41,³ and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped to a new low for 2004.⁴ Berkshire Hathaway's second quarter earnings were down 42 percent.⁵ The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the layoff rate during the first three years of the Bush Administration was 8.7 percent (11.4 million people lost their jobs), the worst layoff rate since the early 1980s.⁶ It was the 40th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which gave President Lyndon Johnson the authority to escalate the war in Vietnam; historians noted its similarity to the October 2002 congressional resolution authorizing the invasion of Iraq, which was also based on falsehoods.⁷ Tom Ridge, the secretary of Homeland Security, "categorically" denied that the recent terror alerts, which were based on three- and four-year-old intelligence, were politically motivated.⁸ Rick James died, and⁹ George W. Bush acknowledged that the war on terror has been "misnamed"; he said that it ought to be called "the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world."¹⁰

Iraq's new government reinstated capital punishment and issued an arrest warrant for Ahmad Chalabi on counterfeiting charges; Salem Chalabi, Ahmad's nephew and the head of the special tribunal that will try Saddam Hussein for war crimes, was accused of murder.¹¹ Prime Minister Iyad Allawi signed an amnesty law for Iraqis who have committed minor crimes since the American occupation began, and he ordered the closure of the Baghdad office of Al-Jazeera for one month.¹² Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's preeminent Shiite cleric, was flown to London for treatment of a heart condition; there was talk of a power vacuum.¹³ Six Guantánamo Bay detainees boycotted military reviews of their cases.¹⁴ John Kerry promised to significantly reduce the number of American troops in Iraq by the end of his first term as president.¹⁵ A white elephant was seen in Sri Lanka.¹⁶ Bombs exploded in Karachi, Pakistan, and in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and¹⁷ there were at least 12 explosions in Baghdad on Saturday night.¹⁸ Moktada al-Sadr defied the new Iraqi government and said he would continue to battle American forces: "the Mahdi Army and I will keep resisting. I will stay in holy Najaf and will never leave. I will stay here until my last drop of blood."¹⁹ A U.S. helicopter was shot down over Sadr City, Baghdad's Shiite slum.²⁰ Israeli officials were studying whether to use marijuana to treat soldiers suffering the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder from keeping the Palestinians down.²¹ Britain banned toothy smiles from passport photos.²² Two Nigerian policemen were shot and two were stabbed in a battle with wife swappers.²³ Myanmar was cracking down on peacock poachers.²⁴

The United States announced that it will insist that the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, which would ban countries from making enriched uranium and plutonium for nuclear bombs, be stripped of any mechanism for enforcement, such as inspections. This position, which would render the treaty useless, apparently was reached because the Bush Administration does not wish to submit to inspections.²⁵ "My most solemn duty as president," said Bush, "is to protect our country."²⁶ Scientists said that alcohol makes your brain work better.²⁷ Autism was up in Maryland, and²⁸ Prozac was found in Britain's drinking water.²⁹ Thai police put a stop to orangutan boxing matches at Safari World, a zoo near Bangkok.³⁰ Missouri's voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.³¹ Several Nigerian sorcerers were arrested after skulls, body parts, and 50 corpses were found in shrines belonging to a cult called Alusi Okija; the chief priest of the cult was not arrested, however, because he's an old man and police didn't want him to die in custody.³² Russian researchers from the Voronezh State Technological Academy said they had perfected a method for using cow blood as a high-protein dairy replacement in foods such as yogurt.³³ British scientists discovered mad cow prions in a person who contracted the disease via blood transfusion and died of unrelated causes; they concluded, on the basis of the victim's genotype, that about half the human population is susceptible to mad cow disease.³⁴ Locusts were still plaguing Mauritania.³⁵ Scientists found the reason why mouse mothers are so brave, and³⁶ Dutch lawmakers called for a ban on unsolicited toe licking.³⁷