“I take strong issue with Senator McCain’s characterization of President Clinton’s North Korea policy as a failure.  Some ‘straight talk’ to correct the record is called for.  When President Clinton took office, North Korea reportedly had enough nuclear material to build two bombs.  Prior to the conclusion of the 1994 Agreed Framework, North Korea had been on the path to producing as many as 40 nuclear bombs by 2000, because it was close to completing two other, larger reactors.  After the Clinton Administration concluded the 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea which froze the North Korean’s nuclear reactor and the reprocessing plant used to convert spent fuel into weapons grade plutonium, North Korea acquired no additional fissile material until the Bush Administration walked away from the 1994 agreement in 2002.  Since then, the North Koreans have been busily reprocessing spent fuel that had been frozen and under IAEA seal and has now produced enough fissile material to build as many as ten nuclear bombs.  It has also restarted its nuclear reactor and reprocessing facility, giving North Korea additional nuclear material for one additional bomb per year.  For Senator McCain to declare the Clinton policy a failure flies in the face of the facts.  I would agree with him when he described the Bush Administration’s North Korea policy as a failure because the facts clearly support that judgment.”

WASHINGTON - Last Thursday, Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT) welcomed a federal court panel’s refusal to order the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection to issue a water quality certificate for Islander East Company’s plan to run a natural gas pipeline across the floor of Long Island Sound.  All three judges on the panel voted to leave the State denial in place, although two panelists claimed that the department had not adequately explained its decision.  As such, the court has ordered the department to prepare a fuller explanation, which it will subsequently review. All three judges held that the federal court is required to apply a deferential standard in reviewing the state agency’s decision.