There was a scheduling conflict, so a certain McLennan County rancher will not show up on Monday in Waco, Texas, for jury duty after all.
"The president has other commitments," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
No problem, said Judge Ralph Strother of the state District Court, though US President George W. Bush's name had popped up on a random list of Texans summoned for jury service. Strother said he had now given Bush, who owns a 640 hectare ranch outside Crawford, a choice of six other dates from next month to June next year.
Does Strother expect him to show up?
Why, yes, the judge said, the White House assured him that "the president considers it an important civic responsibility and duty."
And, he said he was told, "the president didn't want to be treated differently than anybody else."
But to actually sit on a jury and hear a murder case, say, or perhaps just a civil suit?
"I'd be a little surprised," the judge admitted.
Would he ever lock up the president for being a no-show?
"It didn't cross my mind," said the judge, a Republican who has won two elections to the bench since first being appointed in 1999 by Bush, who was then governor.
Has a celebrity ever sat on one of his juries?
"Not anybody of that magnitude that I recall," Strother said. "And I think I would recall."
Asked about the jury summons, McClellan said at the daily White House briefing that the document had not actually been received by Bush but that news accounts of his name's coming up had prompted the White House to call the judge to reschedule.
It seems to be the first family's time. Just a month ago, Strother said, one of the president's daughters, Barbara, turned up on the jury list and also needed a postponement. Then, he said, on Thursday morning he was glancing at next week's list of 600 jury panelists and did a double take.
"Can you believe this?" he recalled exclaiming. "Now the president's name is on there."
Karen Matkin, the district clerk in Waco, said 27,600 people were randomly selected for service in the county every year from about 150,000 voters and licensed drivers.
MILITARY BOOST: The procurement was planned after Washington recommended that Taiwan increase its stock of air defense missiles, a defense official said yesterday Taiwan is planning to order an additional four PAC-3 MSE systems and up to 500 missiles in response to an increasing number of missile sites on China’s east coast, a defense official said yesterday. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the proposed order would be placed using the defense procurement special budget, adding that about NT$1 trillion (US$32,88 billion) has been allocated for the budget. The proposed acquisition would include launchers, missiles, and a lower tier air and missile defense radar system, they said The procurement was planned after the US military recommended that Taiwan increase
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the