Category: Fall 2005 Newswire
A Split in the New Hampshire Delegation
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 – The recent controversy in Congress over the deficit reduction bill and oil and natural gas drilling in the Alaska wilderness has not only clarified the division between moderate and conservative Republicans nationwide, it has also illuminated the ideological differences between New Hampshire’s four Republican members of Congress. And it has left Rep. Jeb Bradley squarely in the middle.
Bradley joined with fellow Rep. Charles Bass in the successful effort to remove language in the House version of the bill that would allow drilling in part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
That puts the two of them at odds with their Senate colleagues, Judd Gregg and John Sununu, who both voted for the Senate version of the bill, which includes provisions for Alaska drilling
But Bradley, unlike Bass, has not pledged to reject the bill if, after House and Senate members meet to resolve the differences in the versions passed by each chamber, it returns to the House floor with Arctic drilling in it.
“I’m looking at it as a package,” Bradley said in a telephone interview Wednesday, adding the he voted in favor of the bill when it was before the Budget Committee and included the drilling provisions.
“With each step of the way, I’m going to look at it with spending and how we reduce spending as a priority.”
Bass, by contrast, said he would not endorse Alaska drilling even if it meant voting against the final version of the deficit reduction bill.
“Opening up ANWR to drilling would dramatically shift U.S. environmental policy,” he said. “A change this significant necessitates an open, substantive policy debate that can only occur in a stand-alone measure. Attaching this language to the budget reconciliation bill is simply inappropriate.”
Bass, a party moderate, created waves last week when he split with President Bush and his New Hampshire colleagues in the Senate by leading a group of 26 Republicans, including Bradley, in sending a letter to the GOP House leadership to remove the drilling provisions
“If we reverse the protection for ANWR, then the protection of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon and all other public spaces becomes meaningless,” Bass said in a press release last week.
Bass is co-chairman of the House Tuesday Group, an organization of moderate Republicans.
While Bradley may have found himself caught between his traditional fiscal conservative ways as a member of the Budget Committee and his moderate tendencies on issues like Alaska oil drilling, Gregg and Sununu are voting and speaking as one would expect from conservative Republicans.
After passage of the Senate version of the bill, Gregg, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said, “There is much more to be done, but today is the first time in nearly a decade that we have succeeded in reviewing and reducing the federal rate of entitlement spending, which is rapidly outpacing the growth of our economy.”
Moderates Find Breathing Room as Rift in GOP Grows More Visible
WASHINGTON, Nov. 17- New Hampshire's Republican Rep. Charles Bass is at the center of a battle now raging over what direction Republicans in Washington should take, how much influence moderates within the party should have and just who should lead the House GOP as it heads into congressional elections next year.
Last week, Bass led two dozen moderate Republicans, including Jeb Bradley (R-N.H.), in an effort to prevent the exploration and drilling for oil and natural gas in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The measure was included in a deficit reduction bill that was stalled in the House.
But even after the drilling measure was removed, a vote on the bill was postponed for nearly a week because some moderates still opposed reductions in funding for other items like Medicaid and food stamps.
Bass was in the news again this week when he called for a clarification of the status of the House leadership. He said he considers the current arrangement to be "awkward." and thinks new elections for House leaders should be held in January. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is serving as acting majority leader in the stead of Tom DeLay (R-Texas) who has at least temporarily stepped down because he is under investigation in Texas for money laundering but remains active in setting the party agenda.
"It is time to speak about these issues honestly and publicly," Bass said in an interview with the Union Leader. "Not to criticize Roy Blunt; he has worked as hard as anybody. Tom DeLay has his issues with the Texas judiciary system. His problems should not be the main agenda item for the Republican Conference. It should be the agenda we want to pursue."
Bass' stance on Arctic drilling puts him in opposition not only to the GOP leadership and the White House, but also to his Senate counterparts Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.). Political analysts observe Bass' newfound boldness to be evidence of a crack in the normally well-kept GOP façade. (See sidebar.)
Other New England Republicans like Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine) and Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut also have been vocal about more moderate positions on the budget and proposed tax cuts.
"The Republican apparatus in Washington has been highly disciplined," said Sarah Sewall, a political scientist at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "The combination of the leadership scandal with Tom DeLay and the larger political climate changing gives moderates a chance to be themselves without getting their heads chopped off."
But New Hampshire Democrats see Bass' latest efforts and those of other moderate Republicans as a ploy designed to distance themselves from GOP conservatives in time for next year's midterm elections, according to state party chairwoman Kathy Sullivan.
Even though Bass is in his sixth term and won his last election with 58 percent of the vote, he still represents a vulnerable district that was carried in the past two presidential elections by Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry.
"This is about the fact that Congressman Bass is scared of plummeting Republican poll numbers, plain and simple," Sullivan said in press release. "Sorry, Charlie. You dance with the one that brung ya, and you've been in Washington too long if you think New Hampshire voters are going to fall for this."
Sewall acknowledged that President Bush's growing unpopularity also may be a factor.
"We are seeing the kind of backpedaling and political distancing that accompanies an unpopular president when congressmen are going into an election cycle," she said. "This creates the political space for moderates to regain a toehold in Congress."
DeLay's preoccupation with his own legal problems, which forced him to step down from the House leadership, also may have given moderates in the House more breathing room, according to Peter Roff of the conservative Free Enterprise Fund, since DeLay was known for maintaining tight control over House Republicans and their votes.
"Tom DeLay's current status leaves something of a vacuum, and nature abhors a vacuum," he said. "There are some fissures and issues that need to be worked out."
Meanwhile, powerful conservative political action committees like the Club for Growth have been railing against moderates they have labeled R.I.N.O.s -Republicans in Name Only-and threatening to run conservative candidates against them in the primary elections.
"If these moderates get their way, they're going to do enormous damage," said Pat Toomey, chairman of the Club for Growth. "I think that Republicans will pay a price at the polls."
Bass says he remains unmoved by threats from interest groups.
"I'm not here to worry about special-interest groups and their influence," he said. "I'm here to make policy. I think this is good policy."
But Toomey said that for the 2006 primaries, the Club for Growth may be shopping around for more conservative Republican candidates to challenge some moderates.
He did not say if Bass would be targeted, but he implied that group was unhappy with the congressman's recent efforts and would have to examine the his record further.
"We have to look race by race for someone who is willing to run against some of these incumbents," he said. "Right now, it appears that Charlie Bass is one of the problems."
Earlier this week the organization decided to endorse Tim Walberg in the Michigan Republican primary over Rep. Joe Schwarz, who, along with Bass, is a member of the moderate Main Street Partnership and also worked to strip Arctic drilling from the budget bill.
Schwarz has never been endorsed by the Club for Growth, although Toomey said more challenges are sure to come for other moderates.
"This is the first," he said, "But it wouldn't be wise to say that it was the last."
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Bass Calls for House GOP to Elect New Leaders
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 - Congressman Charles Bass (R-N.H.) Monday called for House Republicans to select new leaders at the beginning of next year.
"We ought to have new leadership as soon as the session resumes in January just because I think it would be good for our conference to begin the second session of Congress under a new leadership," Bass said Wednesday. "The leadership isn't as clearly defined as it should be."
Former Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) has been temporarily replaced by interim House Majority Leader Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a situation that Bass said takes the focus off important issues.
"Tom Delay has his issues in the Texas judicial system which need to be worked out, but his problems should not be the main agenda items of the Republican conference in the second session," Bass said. "It should be the agenda that we want to pursue."
While Bass acknowledged that he was speaking only for himself, other moderate Republicans agreed with his assessment and see him as taking on the role of a leader in Congress.
Congressman Joe Schwarz (R-Mich.), who sees Bass as not only being a leader among the moderate Republicans, but also as a potential national leader of the party, agrees that there should be leadership elections in January.
"It doesn't serve the party itself to be in a situation where leadership from the majority leader down has an asterisk by it and then at the bottom it says temporary," Schwarz said. "For the purpose of moving the agenda forward it probably would be appropriate to have a leadership election after the first of the year."
"Charlie Bass has really blossomed as a leader in Congress," Congressman Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who co chairs the moderate Republican Tuesday Group with Bass, said in a press statement Wednesday.
Bass said that he had spoken with the current House leadership about the need for a new election and did not want to criticize Blunt, who he believes is doing a "great job." He said that newly-elected leadership might provide "a little bit more unity" among Republicans.
"I want our Congress to have a productive and successful second session and I think part of the key to that will be to have a stable leadership." Bass said.
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Childhood Obesity Trends in Connecticut Alarming
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16- A fourth of Connecticut's 6- to 17-year olds are considered overweight, while a conservative estimate puts the number of obese children at 12 percent of this age group, according to a new study released Wednesday.
The research project, from the University of Connecticut's Public Health Program, assembled data from more than 130 communities around the state.
Obesity, now considered an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is blamed for a host of physical, social and economic problems. In Connecticut, as with the nation, children in certain groups face a greater risk of becoming obese. Childhood obesity rates, for example, are higher in lower socioeconomic communities. Race and ethnicity are also factors, with African-American and Latino children more likely to be obese than white children.
At Diloreto Elementary School, school nurse Patty King can see the growing problem firsthand.
"Childhood obesity is getting more prevalent," she said. "Children are not exercising as much, they're not getting outside and playing as much."
In lower socioeconomic communities, she said, parents are more likely to opt for quick and less expensive meal options-which generally spell poor nutrition.
She worries that childhood obesity may follow the same trend as asthma, another chronic health condition afflicting children and adults at alarming rates. Instanes of asthma in the United States have doubled over the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
In the past three decades, data from the Centers show, the rate of childhood obesity nationwide has more than tripled for children 6 through 11; it has doubled for children 2 through 5 and 12 through 19.
Though Connecticut has cause for concern, the state has a lower childhood obesity rate than the national average.
With excess weight comes a greater risk of developing health problems. Obese children face an increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, hypertension and sleep disorders. They are more likely to be depressed and have low self-esteem. Among their peers and in society, they are faced with the stigma and negative stereotypes associated with being overweight. And obese children may be the targets of bullying and be marginalized in social settings.
"What we found the most startling is the severity of the problem, that is, the number of children suffering from adult diseases because they are obese or overweight," Luce Buhl, a graduate student who worked on the university study, said in a press release. For instance, obese children have an additional risk factor for heart disease, and they are more likely to experience bone and joint problems.
Children who are overweight are likely to carry the condition with them into adulthood. This creates a burden on the individual and the general public-which picks up a good chunk of the tab for obesity-related health care.
"In 2000, an estimated $117 billion was spent for health-related expenditures due to obesity, with direct costs accounting for an estimated $61 billion," according to a Government Accountability Office report requested by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and others. The report also says, "Nearly half of all medical spending related to adult obesity is financed by the public sector, through Medicaid and Medicare."
The obesity epidemic is a complex issue, and health officials differ over how exactly to combat the problem. Nutrition and physical activity are key determinants of weight and overall health. Genetics also play a role. But the university study confirmed what other national studies have found, that social and environmental circumstances may create obstacles for families in shopping for healthy food and providing a safe place outside for kids to play.
Twenty-five graduate students in the university's public health department were instructed a year ago to examine the issue of childhood obesity in Connecticut. Katie Zito, one of the student researchers, said the group was surprised to find out the state does not monitor obesity. After crunching numbers and partnering with 130 community organizations statewide for their research, they gathered what Zito called "a book's worth of information."
Zito said local and state officials will receive a copy of the report, along with the Public Health Department, which contributed to the study.
Lieberman Seeks Alternatives Energy Sources
By Mandy Kozar
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16-In an effort to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, Sen. Joseph Lieberman on Wednesday proposed federal regulations as well as individual incentives to cut oil consumption and promote alternative sources of energy.
The plan, Lieberman said, "will dramatically cut the dependence on foreign oil that is sapping America's power and independence as a nation."
Asserting that a growing reliance on other regions, particularly the Middle East, for oil is a security as well as an economic risk to the United States, Lieberman and a bipartisan group of senators announced that they want to decrease oil consumption by 10 million barrels a day by 2031.
"The issue of America's dependence on foreign oil is more than an economic issue, it is a national security issue as well," Lieberman said. "That no matter how mighty we are militarily, if we rely for oil that runs our country on a small number of other countries, we can be brought to our knees and that is something obviously we cannot allow to happen."
According to the Energy Information Administration, the United States imported 58 percent of its oil in 2004. This reliance on foreign oil concerns Lieberman and seven other senators, who Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) jokingly referred to as the "Energetic 8."
"Nothing less than our national security is at stake here," Lieberman said. "When you think about our reliance on oil, we are just one well-orchestrated attack or political upheaval away from a $100 barrel of oil overnight that would send the global economy tumbling and the industrialized including its new giant members, China and India, scrambling to secure supplies from the remaining and limited number of oil supply sites."
The plan focuses on the transportation sector by setting targets for flexible fuel vehicles, alternative fueled vehicles, hybrids, and plug-in hybrids by providing tax breaks and loan guarantees to automakers as well as tax breaks for those who purchase alternative fueled vehicles.
The senators also called for an increase in alternative fuel sources such as ethanol, an alcohol-based fuel that can be created from crops such as corn barley and wheat.
A switch to ethanol as a source of fuel for vehicles would allow the United States to use idle cropland to produce billions of barrels of new fuels, Lieberman said.
"We're attempting to be more dependent on the Midwest than the Mideast for our oil supply," said Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), a co-sponsor of the bill.
Ethanol is already being used in countries such as Brazil, where a substantial sugar cane industry is responsible for providing large quantities that are then integrated into the fuel supply.
Joining Lieberman, Brownback and Bayh in co-sponsoring the bill were Ken Salazar (D-Colorado), Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota ), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Bill Nelson (D-Florida) and Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama).
Lieberman said that he is encouraged by the bipartisan support his bill has received, as well as similar legislation that has been proposed in the House of Representatives.
"The purpose of this legislation is to set America free by cutting our dependence on foreign oil thereby strengthening our security, protecting our independence and energizing our economy," he said.
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Documentary Takes on Treatment of Wal-Mart Workers
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 - The Wal-Mart smiley face that is usually found darting between low-priced items in company commercials has had to dodge a lot of criticism recently.
Vocal opponents have come down hard on the super retailer, denouncing its business practices-everything from its impact on the environment to its treatment of employees and its effect on small-town America. The latest attack is a documentary chronicling the working conditions of Wal-Mart employees.
The film, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price," produced by Robert Greenwald, is premiering this week across the country and will hit Merrimack Valley on Sunday.
The buzz has caught the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) met with Greenwald and Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, a liberal advocacy group, to discuss how to improve working conditions for low-wage workers.
"Low cost does not have to mean low wages and low respect for the thousands of workers in the Merrimack Valley and across the country," Kennedy said in statement to the Eagle-Tribune. "I applaud the community groups and religious leaders who are promoting awareness of Wal-Mart's abuses by gathering together in Andover."
Greenwald's documentary is scheduled for screening at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m.
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott responded to critics on Oct. 24 by promising to roll out a new heath care plan for employees, reduce the big-box stores' greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent over the next seven years and encourage Congress to review the minimum wage rate.
Wal-Mart is trying to make health care more accessible to its employees, said Nate Hurst, a Wal-Mart spokesman based in Washington, D.C. This year an additional 100,000 employees will receive medical benefits, Hurst said, bringing the number of employees and their family members covered under the company's plan to more than a million.
"These negative attacks haven't created a single job or helped families get health insurance," he said, adding that last year Wal-Mart created 210,000 jobs and saved American families an average of $2,300, according to independent analysis by Global Insights, an economic consulting firm headquartered in Waltham.
Another independent movie, "Why Wal-Mart Works And Why That Makes Some People Crazy," scheduled for DVD release Tuesday, holds the opposite view of Greenwald's film.
"We believe that Wal-Mart, by providing goods to shoppers at the lowest possible price and playing a positive role in the community, has benefited working families far more than any special-interest group," said the movie's producer, Ron Galloway, in a statement. "People vote with their feet, and 138 million people per week decide it's to their benefit to shop at Wal-Mart."
Hurst said that Wal-Mart had nothing to do with Galloway's movie.
The Rev. Ralph Galen is one of those who disagrees. Galen's church, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, is the host of the Sunday night screening of the Greenwald documentary. He is also the secretary of Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community, a national sponsor of the film.
The organization looks at all big-box store employment practices, and, Galen said, "Wal-Mart is the most egregious."
He said he hopes the film will raise community awareness, citing growing disparities between Merrimack Valley towns in wealth, health care and job opportunities.
"Social justice starts with education," Galen said. "I'm sure a lot of people in Andover will sleep-walk through this."
Wal-Mart Watch, a non-profit organization devoted to studying the impact of large corporations on society, said the company has left more than half of its 1.2 million American employees without health care coverage, forcing them to turn to government programs such as Medicaid.
Kennedy and DeLauro sponsored several initiatives designed to help low-income workers, including work safety, pay-scale gender equality and an increase in the minimum wage. A spokeswoman in Kennedy's office said the senator hopes that the legislation will get support but recognizes that "it's tough with the Republican leadership."
One proposed bill, The Employee Free Choice Act, would help foster an atmosphere where workers can choose to unionize without employer pressure.
Wal-Mart's Hurst said attempts to unionize the company's employees have made it the target of "smear campaigns."
"National unions have tried to unionize at local levels, but employees voted it down," he said. He points to campaign contributions from labor union political action committees as a reason behind the proposed legislation.
The act, according to Kennedy's statement, would strengthen current labor law and provide for binding arbitration when an employer refuses to reach a first contract.
"We are working hard in Congress to make the Wal-Marts of the world accountable to workers, families and communities," Kennedy said.
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Shakespearean Success for Former Cape Actor
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 - P.J. Sosko left Cape Cod early last summer so he could fall in love. Now, dressed in a bomber jacket and khaki pants, he does just that, six days a week and four times on weekends.
Tuesday through Sunday, armed with a quick wit, Elizabethan vocabulary and a World War II-era pistol, Sosko wrestles with his feelings as Benedick in the Folger Shakespeare Library's production of "Much Ado About Nothing." This production of Shakespeare's classic comedy, which is set in post-World War II England, began its run in October and goes through the Thanksgiving weekend.
In one of Shakespeare's most renowned comedies, Benedick returns from war to a verbal battle of wits with former fling Beatrice, played at the Folger by Kate Eastwood Norris. Emotions clash until a trick their friends devise unleashes the torrent of their true feelings.
"Kate and I are trying to fall in love on stage," Sosko said. "It's like a high-wire act every night."
But before he took on Beatrice's sharp tongue, Sosko enacted some post-9/11 racial profiling as Will in "Crazy Eyes," at the Provincetown Repertory Theater. The play, set in New York City in the weeks following the terrorist attacks, follows Will's descent into insanity and his murder/kidnapping of two Middle Eastern men he believes were engaged in another terrorist plot.
"Crazy Eyes," written by Provincetown's own John Buffalo Mailer, son of Norman Mailer, ran from late May to mid June, receiving varied reviews.
But what Sosko got from his time on the Cape was more valuable than any critic's opinion.
Working at the theater there allowed him to experience acting in a historic place and the traditional expectations that come with it. This prepared him for work at the Folger.
"You're learning something in every play that you take on to the next," said Sosko, who also has acted in New York and Russia. Sosko puts much stock in the development of emotion, he said, and learned to harness anger and rage in "Crazy Eyes."
Sosko's strengths are his natural timing, emotion and intense devotion to a project, according to friend and "Crazy Eyes" co-star Dana Watkins. They lived in the artistic director's house in Truro with Sosko's dog, Dodger, and would run through lines on the deck after a full day of rehearsing.
"Him and his dog, they are exactly alike, bounding with energy and incredibly friendly," Watkins said. He is currently looking after Dodger while Sosko is in Washington.
Sosko was born in New York, but when he was in the third grade his family moved from Queens to a small town in the Catskills, where he grew up. In a town where Sosko described cow-tipping as a real sport and baling hay as one's first job, the community theater was "just something to do."
He participated, but high school shifted his focus to running. At one point Sosko was ranked 22 nd in the nation for high school cross-country runners. Running took Sosko to the University of Rochester, but the theater became his focus there, where he played Hal in both parts of Shakespeare's "Henry IV."
After graduation in 1993 Sosko joined a traveling production of Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov." The troupe took the play, performed in English, on a tour through Russia.
It was there, in a newly democratized and freshly chaotic Russia, that Sosko discovered the emotional connection people make to literature.
During a visit to Dostoevsky's grave, "little old babushka ladies" would take visitors by the hand and laud the writer, sometimes shedding tears, Sosko recalled.
The three-month trip also gave Sosko insight into the changing world. His troupe was locked in a train car from the outside during a 64-hour ride across Russia because of the danger to Americans. They were in Moscow during the attempted coup against then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Tables used as props in their play were stolen and then reappeared in the midst of the chaos.
The chaos seemed to follow him back to New York: Within three months his apartment burned down. The six large stacks of music cassette tapes, (he refused to convert to compact discs), that covered a wall of his living room had melted into a wall of plastic.
"I felt erased," Sosko said.
After years of adversity and an international journey, Sosko is now comfortable. He has made a good living doing commercial voiceovers for such products as Sudafed, Kentucky Fried Chicken and the restaurant Ruby Tuesday's. He also appeared on the television show, "Law and Order."
But theater is clearly his passion.
"It's such a random life and career," he said. "I'll never leave theater."
His dream, he said, is what all actors want: to open a play on Broadway while his movie is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.
Until then, Sosko sees the Folger as a benchmark because of its reputation as the gold standard in Shakespeare productions. This show has garnered positive reviews from such publications as Washingtonian magazine and Roll Call.
After a show, someone called Sosko's Benedick a combination of Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra. After that compliment, he said, he just went to bed because his job was done.
For now, "Much Ado" and Benedick have Sosko's full attention, and the audience's.
Perhaps the most entertaining part of the Folger production is Sosko's interaction with the audience and his ad-libbed onstage gestures. During a squabble with Beatrice, Benedick turns and walks away from her across the stage. Sosko, in a portrayal of modern male frustration, rolls his eyes and mouths the words, "I can't win."
"He has a very good grasp of Shakespeare's language, and a great ability to communicate with an audience," said "Much Ado" director Nick Hutchison in an e-mail message from London.
One night Sosko, as he usually does with a Benedick monologue, bowed and focused his attention on a woman in the audience. After he uttered the line, "If I do not love her, I am a fool," the older woman nodded and said yes.
"He played up the aspects of the love/hate courtship with Beatrice that are common to almost anyone who's falling in love," said University of Virginia graduate student of English and New Bedford native Tim Zajak after seeing the play. "The mix of being completely enamored and completely frustrated really came through. . It was equally charming and hilarious."
Sosko's charm and mastery of words is apparent off-stage. He can sit, hashing out theories on Shakespeare, over a burger at an outdoor café and smoothly transition the conversation to excessive alcohol consumption in Washington, D.C.
"You can't help but love P.J., and everybody does," Watkins said. "He's just great with people."
The Folger troupe occasionally puts on private performances for student groups, who are then treated to a backstage meet-and-greet. Sosko and the rest of the cast compete over who gives out the most autographs.
"It's my time to feel like Tom Cruise," Sosko said, adding that he usually wins.
He enjoys playing Benedick because he says he connects with the character.
"It's an iconic role. This is my Benedick," he said. "The way I see him is the way you see him. I have a kinship with the guy, I understand where he's coming from."
But emotion is not something Sosko sees as easily attainable.
"You don't want to push for emotion," he said. "The language is so beautiful. More and more you learn how to get out of the way."
Whereas in "Crazy Eyes" Sosko was free to give vent to the character's rage, Shakespeare draws out the actor's love.
"There are times when tears come in the wedding scene and you don't know why they're there and [Benedick] doesn't know why they're there either," he said.
By letting the emotion come he is able to engage the audience and take them on Benedick's emotional rollercoaster.
If a man laughs when Sosko makes one of Benedick's snide misogynistic remarks, he acknowledges him with a nod. When Benedick tells Don Pedro to get himself a wife, he elicits laughter by focusing on a woman in the audience and repeating the line while eyeing the embarrassed theatergoer.
Audience reaction, Sosko said, is "the strongest drug in the world."
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Sex Education and the Teen Pregnancy Rate
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15-Sarah Brown, director of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, has some good news.
At a seminar last week at the National Academies, an organization that advises the federal government on issues of science, engineering and medicine, Brown said that national teen pregnancy rates have declined by one third since 1991. She attributed the phenomenon to two main factors: the number of teens engaging in sexual intercourse is down and contraceptive use among adolescents is up.
But Brown also had a warning.
"Whatever the progress, do not be lulled into a sense of complacency," she said. "Celebrate the progress, but do not give up and go home."
South Coast schools seem to have gotten the message. Though the number of teen births also has been declining in New Bedford and Fall River, the two cities are still struggling with rates much higher that the state average. To combat this trend, they have merged comprehensive sex education curricula with a pro-abstinence message.
"Abstinence-first puts abstinence as the most healthy choice an adolescent can make," said Denise Gaudette, spokeswoman for New Bedford's health education program.
However, citing data from a youth risk behavior survey of the city's students, she noted that "many students are not abstinent, even at middle-school age. So we have to be realistic in meeting their needs."
Though abstinence-only education has been the subject of national controversy, the comprehensive approach taken by New Bedford and Fall River closely matches national opinion. More than 80 percent of teens and 75 percent of adults nationwide believe that adolescents should be getting more education about both abstinence and contraception, Brown said.
Both promoting the importance of abstinence and offering education about contraceptive are intended to encourage the behaviors that Brown linked to the nation's declining teen pregnancy numbers.
New Bedford begins human sexuality education in sixth grade with basic information about anatomy and puberty, Gaudette explained, before moving on to teaching about sexually transmitted diseases later in middle school. Pregnancy prevention is addressed in ninth grade and an elective health course is offered in higher grades.
"We provide information across the spectrum, so all adolescents understand what they have to do to protect themselves from disease and unwanted pregnancy," Gaudette said.
The Fall River school system, which also considers its program abstinence-based, begins teaching puberty information in fifth grade. In middle and high school, students receive education that covers a range of topics from the emotional and physical risks of sexual activity to contraceptive use, refusal skills and dating violence.
"It's important to. encourage kids to wait," said Sue Sterrett, health coordinator for Fall River schools. "But so many are sexually active that you really want to talk about safety and helping them make better choices."
Teachers of Fall River's middle-school curriculum were trained by Abstinence Challenging Teens in Our Neighborhoods, or A.C.T.I.O.N., a program of Catholic Social Services for the Diocese of Fall River.
Abstinence education is not just about saying no, explained Steven Gangloff, the coordinator of the program.
"There's a strong focus on. building character, communication, commitment, relationship-building," Gangloff said. "Choosing to wait can actually build the trust and the bond in relationships."
Although the program is associated with the Catholic diocese, the material taught in public schools does not contain religious teaching, Gangloff said.
Though comprehensive studies have not yet been done, available evidence suggests that a program that includes information on contraceptive use is likely to be more effective in delaying sex and increasing contraceptive use, Brown said.
Education programs are only a small part of the equation, however, Brown said, because questions of sexual morality and responsibility are larger social issues.
"This is really a war over American cultural values," Brown said. "Programs help, but I just don't think we can hang our hats on that intervention alone."
A Liberal Senator and Conservative Judge Meet
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15-Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, met with Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Tuesday, the day after Judge Alito's 1985 job application letter was made public. In that letter, Alito said "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."
Sen. Kennedy is a member of the. Judiciary Committee, which must vote on judicial nominees before they come before the entire Senate for approval. The committee's confirmation hearings are set to begin on January 9.
After the meeting, Sen. Kennedy said that while federal appeals court Judge Alito was intelligent and capable, "the real criterion for a Supreme Court nominee is a core commitment to constitutional values," which he said included the right to privacy, and therefore the right to an abortion.
The 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which established the precedent for legal abortion, stated that the right to privacy included the right to have an abortion.
Judge Alito's judicial record on the subject is mixed.
Sen. Kennedy's list of "core values" also includes, he said, the right of the accused to a fair trial and "the authority of Congress to deal with challenges" ranging from age discrimination to affirmative action to the Family and Medical and Leave Act, which allows family members to take unpaid leave to care for a sick child. The Supreme Court upheld the act by a 6-3 vote in 2003.
In his 1985 letter to then-Attorney General Edwin I. Meese, Judge Alito said he believed in "the legitimacy of a government role in protecting traditional values."
He also criticized reapportionment decisions written under former Chief Justice Earl Warren, which found that the federal judiciary had a role to play in assuring that voting districts should be roughly equal in population. Alito sided with the opposition, which held that districting was a political matter, not properly to be decided by the courts.
Sen. Kennedy said that this precedent, set by Baker vs. Carr in 1962, and other decisions of the Warren court constituted "enormous progress advancing liberty, [and made America] a more fair nation."
He was reluctant to say whether his view of Judge Alito had been affected by their meeting. The senator said the judge indicated that his views on constitutional protections for abortion and on other issues had "matured" somewhat.
Of the judge's statement that the letter to Mr. Meese was part of a job application to join a conservative administration, Sen. Kennedy said, "Why shouldn't we consider that the answers given today are an application for another job?" He said Judge Alito's views on these issues would be examined during the confirmation hearings.
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FDA’s New Warning on Contraception Patch Raises Questions
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 -Women who use the Ortho Evra contraception patch are exposed to higher levels of estrogen that could be linked to problems such as blood clotting, according to the Food and Drug Administration's new labeling requirement.
But Massachusetts doctors said that they would need more information before discouraging patients from using the once-a-week prescription patch.
Studies conducted by regulators and the patch manufacturer, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) found that women who use the patch are exposed to 60 percent more estrogen over the course of a month than women who use typical birth control pills. Those findings prompted the new label warning, which informs users of the increased exposure.
Increased estrogen levels have been found to increase the risk of blood clotting; the FDA, however, said it was not known whether women using Ortho Evra were at higher risk than those taking the pill.
As the first federally approved skin patch for birth control, Ortho Evra has been used by an estimated four million women since it hit the market in 2002, according to the Ortho Evra Web site.
Hailed for its convenience, Ortho Evra is a thin, beige plastic patch that sticks to skin and is applied once a week in three-week intervals, releasing hormones into the bloodstream to protect against pregnancy.
Patch users receive higher levels of hormones, said Dr. Karen Loeb Lyfford, the medical director of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts in Boston, because of the contraceptive's continuous delivery system.
Pill users experience daily peaks in hormone levels while Ortho Evra users receive a constant stream, Lyfford said. So in the course of a day the peak hormone levels of the pill are 25 percent higher than that of the patch. Over a month however, steady accumulation of estrogen from the patch results in higher overall levels.
More information is needed to determine if higher levels of estrogen cause problems such as blood clots in Ortho Evra users, she said.
"There is no medical reason that would make me not recommend it to patients," Lyfford said. "But some patients may decide not to use it."
The Associated Press, citing federal death and injury reports, said that about a dozen women in their late teens and early 20s died from blood clots believed to be associated with Ortho Evra use last year. Dozens more were afflicted with strokes and other clot-related problems, the AP reported.
"I would say these are anecdotal cases," said Thomas Davidson, a physician with Andover Obstetrics and Gynecology, a group of area clinics , adding that more research is needed into why these deaths occurred.
Women who take the pill are also at risk for clotting, but pregnant women have an even higher risk rate of developing clots than both pill and patch users, Davidson said.
Despite this, some patients are worried.
"It is important to give them good information. A lot of people are asking about the reports," Davidson said.
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