Salon.com > Sarah Keech

Who’s to blame for James Kim’s death?

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:19:00 +0000

Just after Thanksgiving of 2006, a young family of four from San Francisco went missing in the rugged mountains of southwestern Oregon. James Kim, his wife, Kati, and their two daughters took a risky journey into the wilderness, and only three of them made it out alive. As most Americans know, 35-year-old technology editor James Kim died of hypothermia after setting out on foot in the snow to seek help.

Some are now calling on authorities to remedy the supposed shortcomings in search and rescue procedure and federal law that were exposed in the effort to rescue the Kims. The most notable and emotionally charged voice is that of James Kim's father.

In an opinion piece in Saturday's Washington Post, Spencer Kim blasted, in turn, the local authorities who conducted the search, the legal barriers to procuring crucial credit card and phone-use information in a timely way, interference from the national media, and -- especially -- the fact that a gate across a road on federal land was left unlocked. If the gate had been properly signed and locked, he argued, his son would never have driven 21 miles down a long, deserted logging road. Several days before Kim's article, Sen. Feinstein, D-Calif., sent a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne complaining about the gate and demanding an investigation.

Murky future for tax cuts

Thu, 23 Sep 1999 17:30:00 +0000

It was only a matter of time before President Clinton officially axed the
"Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999," the Republican-sponsored $792 billion
tax-cut plan. Even before Congress passed the plan, which was more than three times the White House's tax-cut proposal, Clinton promised a veto. And today he followed through.

Fiscally conservative Republicans hoped that a popular groundswell would force the president's hand on the tax-cut issue, the way it had with welfare reform in 1996. But outside the Beltway, the GOP tax cuts were met with indifference.

Polls consistently show Americans are more concerned with government programs
than government refunds. A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll shows only 44
percent feel cutting taxes is very important, whereas 79 percent think it is very
important to improve education.

The improved economy is one reason people shied away from the GOP's
tax-cut plan -- but in addition, many Americans read the Republican tax cut as a partisan jab at the White House rather than a realistic plan for economic stability. Another
recent poll from ABC News.com found that 49 percent of those polled think only
the rich would benefit from Republican tax cuts. Even some GOP lawmakers criticized the proposal.

Keepers of the faith

Mon, 26 Jul 1999 08:00:00 +0000

President Clinton can still turn 'em out.

As impeachment becomes a distant memory, and most politically minded Americans look forward to the 2000 election, 300 members of Free Republic, the Internet-based organization that has been at the forefront of the anti-Clinton crusade, continued their low-intensity war against the president.

During the height of the Clinton sex scandal, Free Republic became the online home for the anti-Clinton crusade, with its "latest posts" page drawing 50,000 individual visits per day. Today, its traffic is reportedly down to less than half of what it was a year ago. Free Republic's fragmented and fringe conservative message may be the reason for a recent decline in public support. When information surfaced recently that Free Republic allowed messages with racial slurs to be posted on its site, Matt Drudge and Lucianne Goldberg removed links to the site. Free Republic's founder, Jim Robinson, has been sued by the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, and a visit to the site today will reveal a list of conspiracy theories tying former President George Bush to drug dealing by the CIA.

Reform's raison d'

Fri, 23 Jul 1999 13:00:00 +0000

Although George W. Bush, Al Gore and Bill Bradley are the current front-runners
in the still embryonic 2000 presidential race, they may want to take a collective
look over their shoulders as November 2000 approaches. While the Republicans cling
blindly to their $36 million baby and the Democrats ponder the pros and cons of
an Internet addict and a former hoops star, the Reform party is quietly looking
for its own presidential candidate.

With the Reform party's recent success across the nation, highlighted by the
election of Jesse
Ventura to the governorship of Minnesota last November and the prospect of
$13 million in federal matching funds, the upcoming presidential election may be
the party's first legitimate chance to win the White House. At the least, the Reform Party may yet again add some flavor to a presidential race that, up to now, has been as exciting as Melba
toast.