WEDNESDAY.JAN.30.2002
NATION NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Bush talks to nation, warns terrorists
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush said last night that tens of thousands of terrorists still threaten America — "tickling time bombs, set to go off" — and promised to stalk them across the globe. In his first State of the Union address, he pledged a battle of equal vigor to revive the alling economy.
"We will prevail in war, and we will defeat this recession," the commander in chief said, standing before Congress and the public with heroically high approval ratings.
Nearly five months after the Sept. 11 attacks that shocked America, Bush fleshed out his vision for the war on terrorism beyond Afghanistan — to a dozen countries that he said harbor terrorists and "an axis of evil" of three more that seek weapons of mass destruction.
Bush entered the packed House chamber to boisterous applause from Republicans and Democrats alike. Seconds into his speech, he made a fist, and tapped it lightly against the podium as he declared that despite terrorism and recession,
"the state of our union has never been stronger."
House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt's words for terrorists were similar to Bush's: "Make no mistake about it: We are going to hunt you down and make you pay." But he also challenged GOP positions on Social Security, taxes and health care.
In a 48-minute speech interrupted by applause more than 70 times, Bush urged Congress to pass his tax-cutting economic package and challenged Americans to commit two years or 4,000 hours to community service. He hopes to tap the surge in patriotism since the attacks.
"We can overcome evil with greater good," the president said.
Amid extraordinary security, leaders of the congressional, judicial and executive branches gathered beneath the same Capitol dome that officials believe was targeted during the attacks on Washington and New York.
Dick Cheney, who has spent many nights in undisclosed locations because of security precautions, took the vice president's traditional place on the
rostrum behind the president during the speech.
In the gallery, first lady Laura Bush was joined by several guests in her VIP box high above the well of the House, including interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai and firefighters, soldiers and other citizen-heroes whose stories helped buoy a weary nation.
"The men and women of our armed forces have delivered a message to every enemy of the United States," Bush said, "You will not escape the justice of this nation."
Outlining his post-Afghanistan battle plans, the president vowed to unearth "a terrorist underworld" of training camps in a dozen countries, including the Philippines, Bosnia and Somalia. He said nations will be given a chance to wipe out terrorists themselves, and the United States is willing to assist their efforts.
But, he warned: "If they do not act, America will."
In his strongest terms yet, Bush called North Korea, Iraq and Iran part of an "axis of evil," warning that their pursuit of weapons of mass
destruction pose a "grave and growing danger" and will not be tolerated.
"I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer," Bush said. "The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
The nation's 43rd president addressed Americans with a degree of national unity conferred on no other chief executive since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In the Democratic response, Gephardt mentioned Enron Corp., the Texas-based energy company linked to Bush that collapsed with the life savings of many workers.
Bush did not mention Enron, but asked Congress to enact pension reform and require more financial disclosure from companies. "Corporate America must be made more accountable to employees and shareholders and held to the highest standards of conduct," Bush said.
Ashcroft has benign skin lesions removed
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Attorney General John Ashcroft had benign skin lesions removed from an ear and a shoulder last week, the Justice Department said yesterday.
Reporters initially noticed a small bandage on Ashcroft's ear Monday during a speech he gave on terrorism at the Organization of American States in Washington. Justice officials acknowledged the medical procedure late yesterday, hours before President Bush's State of the Union address.
Ashcroft, 59, a former Missouri governor and U.S. senator, took over as attorney general in February 2001. He spends time
outdoors and owns a family farm in Missouri.
Doctors say it is common for people who spend long hours in the sun, such as Ashcroft on his farm, to develop skin lesions in their 50s, particularly around the face and neck. Nearly all are treated successfully by freezing, burning or cutting them off.
"As we age, we develop more benign skin lesions related to sunlight," Dr. Robert M. Adrian, a prominent Washington dermatologist, said. "This in no way reflects a greater risk to health."
Patients who receive regular health checkups, including skin examinations, "are at little risk" of developing serious skin cancer because suspicious growths are routinely removed before
they can become dangerous to health. Adrian said.
Capt. David Ferguson, a physician at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., said yesterday that dermatologists biopsied Ashcroft's skin lesions during Ashcroft's annual physical exam Friday. Ferguson said the lesions were "similar to those he's had in the past."
Ferguson said Ashcroft did not suffer from any melanomas, "and the attorney general's overall health was found to be excellent."
The lesion on Ashcroft's ear was sliced off, a Justice spokeswoman said. She did not say how the lesion on his right shoulder was treated.
When Ashcroft entered the
Capitol chambers for the State of the Union speech, the sore on his left ear was barely noticeable.
He had previously removed the small bandage on his ear, and a small raw spot a few millimeters long was visible on the inside surface of his left ear.
The procedure apparently caused no disruption to the attorney general's work schedule. He appeared at a televised news conference Friday and spoke Monday at the Organization of American States headquarters.
As attorney general, Ashcroft is helping to direct one of the largest criminal investigations in U.S. history, stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Consumer confidence improves
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Consumer confidence improved for the second consecutive month in January, lifted by increased optimism about jobs and the economy.
The New York-based Conference Board said yesterday its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 97.3 this month from a revised 94.6 in December. Analysts were expecting a reading of 96.
The industry group's index, based on a monthly survey of some 5,000 U.S. households, is closely watched because consumer confidence drives consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the nation's economic activity.
"While the economy has not turned around yet, the worst may well be over," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center.
Franco said the upturn in confidence was driven by the feeling that the business outlook and job prospects are going to get better.
The index compares results to its base year, 1985, when it stood at 100. The November figure was the lowest since February 1994, when it reached 79.9.
Earlier yesterday, the Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories for costly goods rose a bigger-thanexpected 2 percent in December, suggesting the nation's battered manufacturing sector is beginning to emerge from a 17-month slump.
Both reports suggested that better days lie ahead for the economy, which officially
slipped into recession in March.
To keep the economy afoot, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates 11 times last year, helping to push the prime lending rate, a benchmark for many consumer and business loans, to its lowest level since November 1965.
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress last week that he sees signs of a recovery, prompting many analysts to predict that Fed policy-makers will leave interest rates unchanged after a two-day meeting that begins Tuesday.
The Conference Board said consumers' assessment of the current economic climate was mixed. Consumers rating business conditions as good increased to 18.4 percent from 17.3 percent in December, but those who felt conditions were bad rose to 22.4 percent from 21.7 percent.
Nonetheless Americans are still feeling optimistic about their economic prospects for the next six months. The percentage of consumers who expect business conditions to improve climbed to 25 percent from 22.2 percent in December, the report said.
Consumers' outlook about jobs also improved, with 18.8 percent expecting more jobs to open up in the next six months, compared to 18.5 in December. Those expecting fewer jobs dipped to 18.2 percent from 19.3 percent.
The Conference Board is a nonprofit research and business group,with more than 2,700 corporate and other members around the world.
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