domestic news

[jfb]

Today the Times begins a two-part series on the process of creating a "new system of justice" for terrorists: exclusive and secretive, driven by a false sense of urgency, and controlled by Dick Cheney. Here's how things were: At one point John Ashcroft argued that the proposed policies were too harsh.


Census officials are hoping to eliminate the 'some other race' option, selected by Kathia Mendez and nearly 15 million other Hispanics in 2000:

Zunilda Diaz, 48, said she would describe herself as white even though her mother is a dark-skinned woman who would be considered black in the United States. Nelly de la Rosa, who is 33 and has chocolate brown skin, said she would choose "some other race."

Without that option, she said, she would be hard pressed to pick a racial category.

"We have so much mixture," said Ms. de la Rosa, who said she is described as morena or india at home. "These other census categories just don't reflect who we are."

The 9/11 Commission Report, National Book Award nominee.

"Democrats pushed for adjectives to support President Clinton while Republicans pushed for adjectives to support President Bush," said Lee H. Hamilton, the vice chairman of the commission and president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "It was such a minefield that we finally cut all adjectives and ended up with a sparse narrative style."