World In Brief (11/21/06)

Rangel says he’s serious about reinstating the draft

Michael McAuliff, New York… Rangel says he’s serious about reinstating the draft

Michael McAuliff, New York Daily News

Rep. Charles Rangel plans to resurrect a bill to reinstate the draft when Democrats take power in January, but the idea got a chilly reception Sunday in the heart of his Harlem district.

“There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq…if, indeed, we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way,” Rangel said Sunday.

Rangel floated the same idea in Congress two years ago but ended up voting against his own bill, along with 401 other Congress members, when the measure came up just before the presidential election.

At the time, he accused Republicans of rushing it out as a stunt against Democrats instead of giving it a legitimate hearing.

But the soon-to-be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said that a draft bill will be no stunt this time, insisting he’s very serious about it.

“You bet your life, underscore serious,” Rangel said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Along 125th Street in New York City, Rangel’s draft plan was met mostly with derision.

“What, he was smoking pot or something?” 58-year-old James Brown said.

“He doesn’t represent the people of Harlem if he’s for the draft,” Neil Davis, 48, said.

The White House and the military also oppose the idea.

“America has the best military in the world,” said Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a Defense Department spokesman. “The all-volunteer force has served the American people well for over 30 years and will continue to do so.”

President Bush tours the U.S. POW/MIA center in Hanoi

Ron Hutcheson, McClatchy Newspapers

After the last American president came to Vietnam, David Evert got a chance to dig for his father’s body in a muddy rice paddy.

Six years later, the skeletal remains of Capt. Lawrence Evert are in an Arizona grave, but the search for missing Americans continues in Vietnam.

At a briefing in Hanoi on Saturday at the U.S. military’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, President Bush examined two rusted rifles and other recovered materials that have been unearthed by teams of U.S. and Vietnamese forensic experts. He offered no public comments.

More than 800 bodies have been recovered in Vietnam and neighboring countries since the war, but about 1,800 Americans remain unaccounted for.

“I wish every family could have that possibility of finding the remains of their relatives,” Evert said in a telephone interview from his home in Woodland, Calif. “We spent 34 years without knowing what happened to him. It just removed that heavy load.”

Evert was 6 years old when his father left for Vietnam from the family home in Phoenix, Ariz., in July 1967. His brother Daniel was 7. Four months later, the Air Force pilot was shot down about 50 miles north of Hanoi during a bombing mission.

“I’m hit hard,” Evert radioed. It was the last anyone heard from him.

Back home in Arizona, the young Evert boys dreamed of the day when they could come to Vietnam to rescue their father. In time, their fantasy gave way to the sad realization that they would never see him alive again.

That’s pretty much the way things stood until November 2000, when Bill Clinton became the first U.S. president to visit Vietnam since the war. White House officials invited the Evert brothers to join the president during his excursion to a body-recovery site, a symbol of cooperation between the two countries.

“We thought he was alive, so we thought we’d come get him and take him home and rescue him. We kind of feel like that’s what we’re doing right now,” David Evert told reporters at the time. “We need to heal. Everybody needs to heal.”

Identifying Evert was easy because recovery teams located his military dog tags and his wallet.

The recovery of missing Americans became a powerful bargaining chip for Vietnam, which has used its willingness to cooperate as leverage for better relations with the United States. While cooperation has improved dramatically in recent years, activists in the POW/MIA community believe that Vietnam continues to withhold information that could help lead to missing military personnel.

Britain to ban junk food ads aimed at kids

Steve Goldstein, McClatchy Newspapers

Britain’s Office of Communications on Friday announced a ban on TV advertising of food and drink high in fat, sugar and salt, part of a worldwide effort to reduce the proportion of unhealthy food being eaten.

Ofcom said it’s going to ban the ads to children under 16, starting at the end of January. Advertising campaigns already underway will be able to run through the end of June.

It previously had said it was looking into banning ads on those products for children under the age of 9. The British government had first recommended the regulator look into the subject in December 2003.

Ofcom estimates that advertising revenue would drop by up to 39 million pounds ($74 million) a year, falling to around 23 million pounds as broadcasters mitigate revenue loss over time.

Junk food ads on all children’s programming, as well as those adult programs which have a “significantly higher than average” under-16 viewers, will be affected by the ban. Some had lobbied Ofcom to ban ads on all programming before 9 p.m.

Companies globally have started to take action to reduce the amount of junk food they sell.

Walt Disney ‘ Co., for instance, has announced plans to end a marketing pact with McDonald’s and to offer healthier food in its theme parks.

Social life keeps residents, and even celebrities, signed on

By Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune

SAN FRANCISCO—If you build it, they will come — but only if you entertain them.

Special events, parties and sales represent an integral part of Second Life’s social culture.

Musician Ben Folds recently held a CD release party in Second Life, Suzanne Vega played a few songs and author Kurt Vonnegut talked about his latest book, “A Man Without a Country.”

The “Slaughterhouse-Five” author even had his own avatar, complete with a bushy digital mustache. A green wizard and a few winged creatures, among others, attended the interview.

When asked for his view on Second Life, Vonnegut said: “It’s actually possible to get a better life for individuals. I’m frequently an enemy of new technology, but I love cell phones…I’m up for anything that makes people happier.”

However, reflecting on that August interview, Vonnegut told the Chicago Tribune that he never saw his avatar and that “it was just another interview. I’m not full of gratitude for all sorts of things, so I just found it silly. But I find so much silly…I’m 84 years old.”

Folds’ experience was much different.

“It started off as just another stop on the promo trail, really,” Folds said. “I hadn’t done it before…It was sort of interesting once we got into it, but it was still kind of confined and boring because of the way I was conducting it.”

So, Folds acted like a rock star. His avatar guzzled beer, took off his shirt, then jumped into the audience and attacked fans with a “Star Wars”-style light saber. Crimes against break dancing also were committed.

“We’re finding all these cool ways to interact with other people,” Folds said. “Imagine if you couldn’t use your legs or something. I think some people would really dig that.”

He continued: “What it means to me is freedom. The rules aren’t written yet. The earth, the land, has been pioneered, but there are still new ideas. It’s one of those Web sites that…are poised to reshape the Internet.”