Winter 2003- Internal Affairs
Fred Rogers (1928 - 2003)
As the United States House of Representatives and Senate saw more diversity in party representation, including the rise of the Federalist Party, more political goals awaited President Clinton. This would be the final year of Supreme Court Justice Amalya Lyle Kearse after all and thus Clinton would soon begin the search for her replacement. This would not be the first time he would do this. With the retirement of Stephen Gerald Breyer over last year, his replacement would come in the form of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, which would be decided in a relatively peaceful, if delayed process, due to various mishaps. The current Court would be Amalya Lyle Kearse, Richard Riley, Janie L. Shores, Charles Kirbo, Bruce Babbit, Laurence Tribe, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and José Alberto Cabranes, while being overseen by Chief Justice Gilbert Stroud Merritt Jr. However, rumors have circulated that Charles Kirbo would also be retiring this year, before his tenure is up. Some attributed this to his advanced age and declining health while others noted it would be so that there would not be a way of retirements by those who came in 1994. Additionally, some rumors have also brought up perhaps expanding the Court to 13 Supreme Court Justices, if to match the number of the 13 United States Courts of Appeals. That said, there accompanying rumors about increasing the number of circuits in the first place. All of this remains speculation however, especially as the Clinton Administration has been facing other prominent decisions. From the DC statehood bill arriving over to the House to the potential creation of a Puerto Rico statehood bill, there was plenty that was being discussed throughout it all. There was also the Clinton Administration pushing for their own decisions. The Department of the Interior would be renamed back to the
Department of Conservation and additionally, would include an expanded Bureau of Indian Affairs, renamed to the
Bureau of Native American Affairs, sometimes shortened to the "NatAm Affairs Bureau." Clinton also pressed onward for the creation of the
Department of Internal Security, with it likely to pass over in the spring.
This was not the only place in the world seeing growing political reforms and shifts. The People's Republic of China is still ongoing, both in their political reforms along with the growing peace talks over with Taiwan, a phenomena that has started since Ziyang's ascension as general secretary and 'paramount leader' back in the late 1980s. The idea of the two nations becoming one remains controversial and up in the air over with it is feasible. The Koreas have continued making progress in their growing closeness while North Korea's leader continues his plan in opening up North Korea bit by bit to the world and investment by South Korean companies. Over in Europe, the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is renamed to "Serbia and Montenegro" (after its constituent states) after its leaders reconstitute the country into a loose state-union between
Montenegro and
Serbia, marking an end to the 73-year-long use of the name "Yugoslavia" by any sovereign state. [1] Some have noted this was a bit similar to how the Sovereign Union was. Of course, there was still violence going on over in the world. Rebels would sprout out over in Sudan as the War in Darfur would begin as a result of the Sudanese government repressing the non-Arabized people. [1] Furthermore, it looked like that they were getting supporting, mainly getting some armaments and medical support over from Ethiopia. All the while, the war in Arabia kept raging on and the Coalition was picking up more and more steam. With Syria, Qatar and even Afghanistan backing the rebels, it seemed only a matter of time befoe the House of Saud fell. Questions remained on how how long and how violent it would go, especially with the Coalition, while dominated by the Neo-Baathists, still had other leaders and groups.
The more fascinating view was the growing interest of the Sovereign Union into the conflict. With the Sovereign Union having mostly recovered from their economic troubles, they were looking in their expand their influence. Not by conflict though, but by diplomach, logistics and finance. No tensions of war or ideological conflict like the Cold War. It was unknown what the Sovereign Union's interest in the area was, but some have noted that it may have to do with energy. Some of the members of the Coalition, such as Osama Bin Laden, have noted the urgent need for the region to transition away from their dependence on petrol exports and diversify the economy. One major branch of promise was solar energy, which they saw could provide alot of power with enough investment and support to kickstart it. Clean renewable power research was shared liberally thanks to the growing efforts and treaties, especially of the US and SUSR, to build off one another's hope. Solar was coming more and more to its own, if still lagging a bit behind wind and both still having to deal with technologcial limitations. Geothermal maintained a strong interest along with others like nuclear. And of course, there were plenty of other events going on. In something that would come out of a Hollywood movie would be the
Antwerp diamond heist; an Italian gang steals loose diamonds, gold and jewellery valued at more than $100 million from a Belgian vault, one of the largest robberies in history. [1] In good news, the Space Shuttle
Columbia would safely land for what many suspect would be one of its final missions as NASA looks to go further regarding the future of space travel. This was especially uplifting in light of concerns over potential issues in the Shuttle, even with recent fixes. In more tragic news, beloved children's television show host, Fred Rogers, would pass away at the age of 74 over from stomach cancer. [2]
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[1]- Information and phrasing from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003
[2]- Information and phrasing from here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_in_the_United_States