Archive - Oct 18, 2007

• S-CHIP Veto Stands
• Critics Condemn World Bank and IMF Meeting Priorities
• Victim of Extraordinary Rendition Testifies
• Nepal's Parliament Faces Stalemate
• Activists Say Federal Public Housing Policy Needs to Change
• California Health Care Advocates Want Reforms

• Bhutto Returns to Pakistan
  
• Dueling Visions on FISA Legislation
• Two Priests Begin Prison Sentences For Anti-Torture Action
• ESMA "Mega Trial" Opens in Argentina
  

The House has failed to override the high-profile Presidential veto of
the State Children's Health Insurance Program. S-CHIP gained the
support of 273 members of Congress, but fell nine short of the number
needed to override the veto. This, despite the legislation initially
passing with the two-thirds majority needed to push the bill into law.
This time around, the legislation didn't gain the support of any
additional Republicans.

But as FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports, this debate isn't yet over.

Today, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund kicked off
joint meetings in Washington DC. Protesters were few and scattered,
with the bulk of larger actions scheduled to begin tomorrow. The
meetings come in the wake of a corruption scandal at the World Bank
this spring that forced the resignation of then-president Paul
Wolfowitz. Since then former US trade representative and Deputy
Secretary of State Robert Zoellick has taken the helm at the bank.

For the first time, the Canadian victim of the US's secret
extraordinary rendition program testified before Congress. Today, Maher
Arar gave insight into the US's controversial CIA-run program that
covertly sends alleged terrorism suspects to countries that torture. He
was unable to attend the hearing in person because the US has banned
him from entering the country. Instead, he spoke to lawmakers through
videoconference. His gripping testimony expressed details…

The political crisis in Nepal continued this week. The Nepalese
Maoists' demands to end Nepal's monarchy and adopt a proportional
representation voting system went unanswered. The current interim
parliament met twice to resolve the crisis. But Maoists rebuffed the
political body's attempts, refusing to budge from their two demands,
which the congress had rejected outright.

Since the 1980s, national housing policy has shifted, with congress
slashing federal funding for Section 8 and public housing. According to
the National Housing Institute, under President Ronald Reagan, funding
for Section 8 programs fell nearly 80-percent. The housing assistance
program did not fare much better during the Clinton '90s and Bush 2000s.

To make up for this decrease in government assistance, local Public
Housing Authorities nationwide have had to come up with their own
budget solutions. Despite this, some low-income housing advocates say
cutbacks are displacing the people who need housing the most.

And as Puck Lo reports, Oakland, California is in the crossfire of this battle.