ShareThisOn tap for the coming week is a House vote that would both welcome God to a prominent place in the U.S. Capitol complex and correct an embarrassing flub of the nation's motto.
The House was supposed to vote this past Monday on a resolution directing the Capitol's architect to engrave in stone in a central spot in the new Capitol Visitor Center both the Pledge of Allegiance and the nation's correct motto: "In God We Trust."
Seems those in charge of the center had thought " E Pluribus Unum" was the motto, and so identified it in bronze letters on a wall of the sprawling center, through which tourists must pass. Conservative Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., displeased by what they considered the omission of religion and aghast at the motto mistake, vowed to correct both oversights.
Because of the press of other business, House leaders postponed the vote until Wednesday, June 24, when lawmakers will be scrambling to wrap up before their summer recess. The measure's next stop would be the Senate.
We might want to revisit the old five-second rule and acknowledge that our mothers were right: It's not a good idea to put anything that falls on the floor into our mouths. Researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development did a wipe test of the hard-surfaced floors in 500 homes around the country -- mostly in kitchens. Their analysis found that 89 percent contained measurable residue of one or more common insecticides used to kill ants, roaches, etc. -- including from some bug killers that haven't been in use in 20 years.
Among those seriously, if quietly, suffering in the recession are Iraqi refugees to the United States.
Many have been unable to find jobs, others are war widows without work experience and some are struggling with war-related emotional trauma or injuries, according to a report released this past week by the International Rescue Committee.
Each refugee receives a single $900 stipend from the federal government and is eligible for other aid, but the help is temporary. The committee said some Iraqi and other refugees are at risk of becoming homeless.
Since 2006, the United States has admitted more than 15,600 Iraqi refugees -- a tiny portion of Iraqis who have applied, according to refugee advocates. Even so, those from Iraq accounted for 23 percent of the 60,100 refugees from throughout the world admitted to America last year.
The District of Columbia has a new national title: No. 1 for the number of inmates who die in jail. From 2000 to 2006, D.C.'s mortality rate reached 313 deaths per 100,000 inmates, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics analysis released this past week. No. 2 was neighboring Baltimore, with 304 deaths per 100,000.
The jails with the lowest rates of death are in Mecklenburg County, N.C., with 49 per 100,000, and Orange County, Calif., with 74 per 100,000.
No explanation was given for the disparity in deaths, which include those from illness, suicide, assaults and other causes.
(E-mail Lee Bowman at bowmanl(at)shns.com and Lisa Hoffman at hoffmanl(at)shns.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Washington Calling
