美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-11-04（在线收听） |
Hosting an international event can come with an intense spotlight. Yesterday, we talked about some of the challenges that Russia is facing as it gets ready for the next year's Winter Olympics. There's also been a focus on a controversial Russian law that deals with homosexuality. The law doesn't make it illegal to be gay but it prohibits distributing information to minors that promote same sexual relationships. The law had some people concerned about the upcoming Olympics. What kind of behavior would or wouldn't be acceptable from athletes or fans? On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said everyone would be welcomed at the games, quote: We're doing everything so that participants and guests feel comfortable in S. regardless of nationality, race or sexual orientation. What kind of impact could President Putin statement have? President Putin is clearly on attempt to cool some of the international anger over Russian's anti-gay propaganda law which makes it illegal to tell children here that gay and straight relationships are equal. It's being blandly discriminatory. His words are unlikely to be satisfied gay and human activists around the world who aren't just worried about what this law means during Olympics, they're angry about it's very existence and what it would mean for gay people in this country before, during and after the games.
Next up today, advise and consent. Its phrase out of the US constitution and it's one of the responsibilities of the US Senate. Work like this: the president nominates people to feel certain positions in the US government, then the Senate advises and consents or it doesn't. Senators consider the nominees, ask them questions, then they either confirm or deny the nominees for the jobs. This is Senator Lindsey Gram. He's threatening to block every nomination from President Obama until he gets the answers about the attack on the US facility last year.
"To this date, we don't have the ...FBI interviews of survivors conducted one or two days after the attack. We don't have the basic information about what was said of the night of the attack that's been shared with Congress as of this date."
The terrorist attack Senator Gram is talking about is the one on the US consulate in Benghazi Libya. 4 Americans were killed and Senator Gram says they died in a different way than the Obama administration says they did. He's been pushing to get details on what happened and on the administration's response. He want's the Senate to be able to question the survivors of Benghazi attack. So, what about Senator Gram's plan to block the nominations? He could do that. The rule of the Senate allow members to hold up nominations through different methods. It's something Democrats and Republicans have done. The goal is to force action or compromise. |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/cnn2013/11/240322.html |