Sunday News Roundup

by Sheri Divers [courtesy of Blog for America]

Climate change disaster is upon us, warns UN

A record number of floods, droughts and storms around the world this year amount to a climate change "mega disaster", the United Nation's emergency relief coordinator, Sir John Holmes, has warned.

Sir John, a British diplomat who is also known as the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said dire predictions about the impact of global warming on humanity were already coming true.

"We are seeing the effects of climate change. Any year can be a freak but the pattern looks pretty clear to be honest. That's why we're trying ... to say, of course you've got to deal with mitigation of emissions, but this is here and now, this is with us already," he said.

Byrd warns of "chest pounding” on Iran

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) took to the Senate floor on Thursday to decry recent provocations against Iran, warning his colleagues against “sleep-walking” into another military conflict.

Last week, the Senate passed a non-binding amendment to the defense authorization bill that designated a portion of the Iranian Armed Forces as a “terrorist organization.”

“I hope that we can stop this war of words before it becomes a war of bombs,” said Byrd, who voted against the measure.

SCHIP supporters storm Capitol Hill

The effort to overturn President Bush's veto of an expansion of a popular children's health care program began even before Bush uncapped the veto pen on Wednesday morning.

Earlier this week, small children pulled red Radio Flyers filled with petitions in support of the plan up to President Bush’s front door.

But the White House didn’t accept the mailbags, so organizers turned the wagons around and said they would deliver the 1 million signatures to Congress instead.

Retiring Republicans May Help Democrats Pad Congress Majorities

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ralph Regula, a Republican representative from Ohio, lost his coveted subcommittee chairmanship when Democrats took control of the House in January. Now, looking at his party's 2008 prospects, he's thinking retirement.

``I've discovered I prefer the majority,'' said Regula, 82.

Some of the party's best-known, longest-serving lawmakers are walking away from their political careers, and more are giving it serious thought. The retirements, creating open seats that are easier to win, are boosting Democratic chances to expand their 232-201 House majority.

Next year ``is looking like it will be as bad a political environment for Republicans as 2006,'' said Dave Wasserman, House editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. ``Democrats stand to gain seats.'' Republicans leaving the Senate also raise Democrats' prospects of gaining a larger majority in that chamber.