December (Web-only) 2001

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Indonesian Christians under attack by Muslim militants
Thousands of Christians on the island of Sulawesi are fleeing for their lives as Muslim militant groups swarm and raze their villages. "Thousands have fled," Langgino Sangkide, a Roman Catholic priest, tells the Associated Press. "What could they do? Their houses have been burned. The police came yesterday, but it was too late." News is only trickling out of the area, but it seems that groups like Laskar Jihad are bringing in Islamic radicals from all over the area to drive the Christians out, even sending in bulldozers to destroy homes, churches, and schools. At least eight people have died this week, but the history of the area suggests there may be many more. At least 1,000 have died in religious fighting in the last two years.

Senate doesn't ban human cloning
The Senate had a chance to ban human cloning yesterday, but didn't. There was some healthy debate over the merits of a six-month moratorium on cloning, but eventually it didn't matter. Reports The New York Times, "The bill failed overwhelmingly on a procedural motion, in part because it was bundled with another contentious but unrelated measure that would have allowed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Republican leaders had hoped to force a vote on the issues by packaging them into an amendment to an unrelated bill governing retirement benefits for railroad workers." Why on Earth did Republicans tie a cloning moratorium to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? A resolution congratulating the National Zoo on its baby elephant wouldn't have passed if it had been tied to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Expect another vote after the Senate holds hearings. They start today, ...