Entries for May 17, 2007

Just in: The World Bank has announced that Paul Wolfowitz has decided to resign as president of the organization.

Wolfowitz hung on to his job as head of the international lender for several weeks amid mounting criticism over his alleged favoritism toward his companion.

The accusations were particularly damaging because of Wolfowitz's emphasis on fighting corruption, the subject of an extended investigation by U.S.News & World Report in March 2006.

Heading into what Sen. Ted Kennedy called "D-Day" this morning for an immigration compromise--the last real day a compromise could be reached before Sen. Harry Reid's firm Monday deadline--some people were hopeful a compromise was on the horizon, but the prospects didn't look great. What's emerged, though, walks the finest of tightropes: Hard-liners looking for a more punitive solution for the immigration crisis, like presidential candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, have plenty to gripe about, as do those on the other side like Kennedy, who has long focused on human rights, bringing the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country out of the shadows, and reuniting families.

Associate Editor Angie C. Marek runs down some of the biggest concessions, and difficult-to-swallow ideas for both sides, in the Senate's grand compromise:

*For the Tancredos--legalizing the 12 million. Hard-liners are already pouncing on what's been in the carefully crafted immigration compromise for weeks--the decision to allow the 12 million people already here to legalize their status and get a "Z Visa" if they pay hefty penalties ($5,000 plus fees) and briefly send their head of household back to their home country. Already immigration hawks are calling it "amnesty," despite its many requirements. "This proposal would do lasting damage to the country, American workers, and the rule of law," Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said this afternoon. Rep. Peter King of New York, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, said the measure "would reward lawbreakers and legalize scores of criminals and terror suspects."

*For the Kennedys--loosening family ties. There's a reason the crucial final step of negotiations involved finalizing a point-based system that would for the first time prioritize needed work skill sets like higher-education degrees over family connections in the United States when filling some legal immigration spots. More than two thirds of legal immigrants today come for family reunification purposes. That segment would be cut somewhat, reserving 40 percent of the spots for those with needed skill sets. To get a green card, applicants would need more than just family ties--unless they're the minor child or spouse of someone here legally.

This Saturday, both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will pause from official presidential campaigning to congratulate graduates--aka young voters.

Clinton is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at New Orleans's Dillard University, while Obama takes the stage at Southern New Hampshire University, a key primary state. Several other 2008 hopefuls, including Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, have been issuing diplomas from the stump in the past two weeks.

A list of all 2008 candidates--and their spouses--who have delivered keynote addresses is available here.

A prominent Iranian-American policy scholar who has been imprisoned in Iran is innocent of any wrongdoing and should be released immediately, her Iranian attorney said Thursday afternoon during an unusual visit to Washington.

The attorney is Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who herself was once jailed by Iranian authorities for her advocacy work.

Speaking at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, Ebadi called the arrest of Haleh Esfandiari last week "a warning for Iranians" active in foreign policy work and "an effort to create further restrictions" on nongovernmental exchanges between Iran and the United States.

Senators from both parties announced a long-sought deal on immigration reform today that has won the praise of the White House, a major milestone for a topic that has consumed national attention and piqued emotions on all sides of the debate.

The deal allows for the quick legalization for many of the millions currently in the country illegally, creates a guest-worker program, and pours more resources into border enforcement, among other compromises.

As Associate Editor Angie C. Marek noted in this week's issue of U.S.News & World Report, this reform is one of the few White House initiatives that may have benefited from a Democratic majority in Congress.

Stay tuned for more from Marek this afternoon.

Here's to hoping AccuWeather fails to live up to its name. This morning, the premier private weather service released a grim forecast predicting hotter-than-average temperatures, yet again, for the United States this summer. The heat will be joined with lower-than-average rainfall in the Southwest and Rocky Mountains, very likely stoking conditions for major wildfires, the service predicts.

But AccuWeather released its forecast with a caveat: This is not necessarily because of global warming.

"The weather events that occur in individual seasons don't provide conclusive proof of global warming," says Joe Bastardi, chief long-range forecaster for AccuWeather. Bastardi says weather conditions are parallel to what's been witnessed in the 1930s through 1950s, when heat waves repeatedly blasted the United States and hurricanes battered the coasts. The primary driver of the nasty weather: a transition from warm to normal or cool waters in the Pacific.

This morning's top stories:

• Tony Blair is in Washington for the British prime minister's last official visit with President Bush, a meeting between the two longtime friends that is expected to be more personal than substantive.
• A resolution on the fate of embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz could come as early as today, as many news outlets report that the White House is brokering a deal for his resignation. Wolfowitz's lawyer insists his client will weather the storm.
• An Associated Press analysis of the demographics of primary states suggests that the highly influential early primaries and caucuses in New Hampshire and Iowa are "white, rural and homogenous," while Illinois is a much more demographically representative state.
• An influential lobbyist nominated by President Bush to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission is coming under fire for receiving departing payments from an association he would be in charge of regulating if confirmed.