The real nuclear option

LJWorld.com weblogs Congressional Briefing

Posted by Joel Mathis May 9, 2005 at 7:20 a.m.

Pat Roberts links [(New York Times) Chair of Senate Intelligence Committee Believes North Korea Is Preparing Nuclear Test:][1] The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee said today that he believed North Korea appeared to be preparing a nuclear test explosion, even as the head of the United Nations nuclear monitoring agency said he believed the North had five or six nuclear weapons in its possession. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, was asked on CNN about recent satellite evidence that North Korea was making rapid and extensive preparations to conduct a nuclear test. "I think you've summed it up very well," he said to the interviewer. "Basically, Kim Jong Il believes this is his card to play to stay on the world stage, to make demands," Mr. Roberts said, referring to the North Korean leader. "This is the only card they have to play."Sam Brownback links [(KC Star) Senators reaping a questionable D.C. tax break:][2] Nearly two dozen senators, including Kit Bond and Sam Brownback, got tax breaks on their Washington houses supposedly reserved only for those who make D.C. their primary residence. ... A Brownback spokesman said that in the case of the Kansas Republican, it was a bureaucratic mistake by the city and that the senator would repay the city. [(San Francisco Chronicle) Economist urges Americans to do more to fight world poverty:][3] Last month, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., introduced legislation to combat global malaria, which kills 2 to 3 million people annually, most of them children. The proposed bill would pay for medicines, insecticide-spraying programs and bed nets. "To the world's shame, the treatable and preventable infection of malaria has been largely ignored," Brownback said in a statement. "For too long, the world community has done little more than talk about the problem."How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation [here.][4] [1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/08/international/asia/08cnd-korea.html [2]: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/11598436.htm [3]: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/05/08/MNGLBCLRVP1.DTL [4]: http://ljworld.com/extra/where_to_write.html#fed