IT'S UP TO DEMOCRATS TO MAKE SANTORUM'S REMARKS MATTER -- While the firestorm regarding Senator Rick Santorum's remarks equating homosexuality with adultery and polygamy appears to be dying down, the true effect of his statements might not be felt until election time, says Temple political science professor Robin Kolodny. "The Republican Party was never going to come down hard on Santorum," says Kolodny. "Where he may have a problem is come re-election time. There could be a lot of money from outside the state being poured into that race. But even that depends on the Pennsylvania Democratic Party." Kolodny says Democrats need to offer up a viable candidate with markedly different views than the incumbent. "The last candidate they ran against him was anti-abortion and pro-gun. What kind of choice is that for the voters," asks Kolodny.
FINDING HEALTHY SOLUTIONS IN IRAQ -- Now that the war is over, the real battle to establish a new government and a viable healthcare system in Iraq has just begun. "The Iraqi healthcare system was one of the most advanced of its kind in the 1970s and '80s," says William Aaronson, associate professor of healthcare management at Temple's Fox School of Business and Management. "But the current war, coupled with the 1990 U.N.-imposed sanctions, the 1991 Gulf War, and subsequent period of lawlessness and looting, have left the healthcare system in a total shambles. It has been set back almost 50 years." The mass exodus of healthcare professionals, limited access to medical information, and a declining standard of living have not helped matters, either, he says. Aaronson, who worked with USAID/AIHA to develop community-based primary healthcare in the Ukraine after the Soviet Union fell, believes, in addition to humanitarian donations of medical equipment, the real solution will be the development of a community-based primary healthcare system by the Ministry of Health. "This system will assist post-war Iraq in treating and improving the mental health of the population. This will have the greatest impact on the reversal of negative health trends in the population."
AMBER ALERT ABOUT MORE THAN JUST HIGHWAY MESSAGES -- The Amber Alert legislation President Bush signed into law earlier this week represents a major step forward in addressing the issue of missing and abducted children, says Heather Hammer, principal investigator for NISMART-2, the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children, and senior study director at Temple's Institute for Survey Research. But it goes beyond the provisions authorizing states and localities to set up "Amber Alert" networks for quickly sending out information on kidnapped children and their captors, using radio, TV and highway signs. "The law mandates a new minimum sentence of 20 years for nonfamily abductions and extends the statute of limitations to lifetime for crimes against children," Hammer notes. These additions to the statute--plus a budget that doubles the funding for missing and exploited children--are powerful tools for state and local authorities."
STABLE OIL MARKETS DON'T MEAN LOWER GAS PRICES -- Oil markets have settled down from the unpredictability over the Middle East, the strike in Venezuela, and the ongoing problems in Nigeria. However, oil prices remain high in anticipation of summer demand and the uncertainties involved in restarting Iraqi oil production and sales, says Frederic Murphy of Temple's Fox School of Business and Management. "If the SARS outbreak cuts Asian demand, prices could fall even further," predicts Murphy, an energy expert who closely monitors the oil industry. "But the curveball for the United States is that historically, after the dollar falls, oil prices increase." Given the U.S. balance of payments deficit and mired economy, says Murphy, this could happen soon and lead to higher long-term prices than were seen prior to the price spikes this past winter.
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