DeLay bows out unapologetically
Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, bowing to legal and ethical troubles, said goodbye to the House on Thursday with a parting shot at his liberal opponents. Some Democrats walked out during the farewell.
The 11-term Republican from Texas said it is customary for departing lawmakers to “reminisce about the ‘good old days’ of political harmony and across-the-aisle camaraderie.”
“I can’t do that,” he said.
“For all its faults, it is partisanship – based on core principles – that clarifies our debates, that prevents one party from straying too far from the mainstream and that constantly refreshes our politics with new ideas and new leaders,” DeLay said.
WASHINGTON
Petition asks for sanction on China
The AFL-CIO and two members of Congress asked the Bush administration Thursday to pursue trade sanctions against China, accusing the Chinese of violating international labor standards and costing 1.24 million American jobs.
The group alleged that China’s labor practices violate U.S. trade law, which makes repression of workers’ rights a violation that would be subject to economic sanctions if the U.S. wins a case on the issue before the World Trade Organization.
The petition said China was using child and forced labor and firing, beating or imprisoning workers who attempt to form unions.
The AFL-CIO said the violations of worker rights had contributed to the loss of an estimated 930,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs and 1.24 million total U.S. jobs. Reps. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., and Christopher Smith, R-N.J., joined the petition.
MOGADISHU, Somalia
U.S., EU soften stance on militia
The Islamic militia that defeated U.S.-backed warlords and seized nearly all of southern Somalia held talks Thursday with Somalia’s largely powerless government on the future of the lawless nation.
Both the United States and the European Union issued somewhat conciliatory statements about the Islamic militia, which has been accused of sheltering al-Qaida leaders and wants to end 16 years of Somali anarchy by installing an Islamic government and court system.
The Islamic Courts Union militiamen still face fierce opposition from a clan-controlled pocket of the capital, Mogadishu, even though they drove out secular fighters Monday.
The U.S. has said it was worried most about terrorists being sheltered in Somalia. But this week it said the group’s goal was to restore “some semblance of order.”
Somalia has been without a real government since largely clan-based warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Thursday he supported the interim government’s decision to launch a “dialogue in Mogadishu with the Islamic Courts, civil society, the business communities as well as other stakeholders.”