Articles of Interest 3-29-07
MORNING SUMMARY:
“When the GOP begins to apologize for routine non-controversial uses of presidential authority to implement administration policies, no wonder the party is on the ropes.”
--Brendan Miniter
The Democrats and the liberal press have managed to turn around the basic principle of folks “serving at the pleasure of the president” into a political scandal?!? Why?
Governor Granholm’s own tax/budget weapon of mass destruction hits Michigan…and now we send in the taxpayers??? She apparently has snuck another one passed us and expects the average taxpayer to just sit back and pay the bill.
If a CEO did this, they would probably be fired and/or face some kind of indictment for some kind of fraud, malfeasance or at the very least…lying to the shareholders… in this case the taxpayers?!?
Democrat Speaker Andy Dillon is proposing a more “band-aid” approach to dealing with the budget…closing loopholes, temporary taxes and short term fixes…not the right answer! He calls it a “life-preserver”…sounds more like an anchor?
The ONLY State Surgeon General will no longer be state funded...I hope the health and welfare of our citizens don’t suffer too much?
Quick math:
$191 DCH did not collect Medicare payments from deadbeat parents who could pay
$69.1 from over expenditures by DOC, DHS and State Police in last year’s budget
$10.2 in uncollected taxes that Treasury says they will NOT attempt to collect
---------
$270.3 million
Bad management = Tax Increases under Democrats.
Every email and call I received on moving the Presidential Primary earlier is supportive of the idea…folks want to insure Michigan Republicans are relevant.
Gay rights activist John Stryker gets his first installment on his "investment" in the House Democrats as questionable legislation passes the house.
Presidential candidate, Congressman Duncan Hunter will be in Troy, Friday, March 30th from 7:00 – 8:30pm at the Troy Community Center. The event is free.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
-I’m furious at the press, I’m not sure who bungled the process in D.C., but somehow the Democrats have capitalized on a basic right of every Administration, every President…the folks who work for them work at the “pleasure of the President”.
That means it’s Thursday, and the President wants to change, shuffle or shake up whomever works for him for whatever reason…he gets to do so. I think the scandal is those District Attorney’s who have tried to make political hay out of the fact that they were being let go. You served the President, he no longer desires your service…deal with it!!!
-The Governor and her own House Democratic majority still have no hint of a plan and the fiscal year is almost half over. The Senate Republicans passed a balance budget plan that was sent over to the House. It cut spending levels, instituted some reforms and balanced the budget WITHOUT raising TAXES.
The Republicans proposed and passed a balanced budget plan…the Governor and the House Democrats have been spinning political rhetoric and little else.
The Democrats offered to raise taxes…Republican and taxpayer overwhelming rejected the Democrats budgetary politics as usual.
Now Governor Granholm can take advantage of her acting training and create a “drama” for the taxpayers. She’ll announce prison closing, lay off troopers and even shut down state government…while ignoring the real spending problems of our state.
As Senator Mike Bishop shared in an email “Pathetic, but predictable”.
Now the Governor has urged the teacher’s unions to lobby on her behalf to push a tax proposal through the legislature. This about this… “our” Governor is calling on her favorite special interest group, the MEA, to fight cuts in spending, true government reform, any cuts in the education budget…while teacher’s unions skim millions off the top of taxpayers money for what…lobbying expenses.
What really upset me and I hope all taxpayers is that while the Governor was out running for re-election, traveling to Europe and violating our constitution by deficit spending over the last 6 months…we the taxpayers were preparing to get “blown away”.
When the Governor start he theatrical shutdown of “non-essential” services, in a few days taxpayers will realize how “non-essential” they really are and will be less inclined to support any of the Democrats “tax increases”, “revenue enhancements” or “investments”.
Granholm’s own tax/budget weapon of mass destruction…and now she wants us to send in the taxpayers???
-Democrat Speaker Andy Dillon started selling his “temporary” fix to his fellow House Democrats. It includes closing loopholes (which means a tax hike for some), temporary tax increase (which means we all pay more), and some other short term fixes (which means they don’t have the political will to deal with the problem).
The Democrats apparently refuse to deal with the real issues that are costing the state of Michigan TENS of MILLIONS if not HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars. Beating around the without actually dealing with issues at hand is NOT leadership.
The Governor of our great state, the Speaker of the House…yes, both Democrats, don’t appear to have the leadership skills and/or the votes to put something together that their own caucus/team can support???
-If you missed it, see what I think a Governor DeVos would do:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/03/if_it_were_gove.html
-I received emails and calls from many State Committee members and County Chairs in support of moving our primary earlier. They all agreed that we need to insure that Michigan Republicans play a key role in selecting our next nominee.
Several asked about the process. We have appointed a standing committee of the State Committee that will deal with these issues over the coming months. I hope to spend most of our April State Committee meeting discussing the various options and getting everyones input.
There is the threat that we might lose delegates to the National Convention. According to the RNC rules, if we go before February 5th, we will (could/might???) lose 50% of our national convention delegates. The RNC rules also state that the state Chairman and both National Committee Members will be the “first” in the delegation to lose their seats.
Personally, I still think this is worth doing for the sake of the greater good. Michigan needs leadership to help turn it around. Having a President that understands Michigan and it’s problems make sense.
Gay rights activist John Stryker gets his first installment on his "investment" in the House Democrats as questionable legislation passes the house. Republicans refute this bill by saying that the bill puts gender identity and expression into law for the first time. Republicans are arguing that this bill is simply a “payback” for Stryker who dumped millions into the Coalition for Progress, who ran ads against Republicans during the election.
-Congressman Duncan Hunter will be in Troy, Friday, March 30th from 7:00 – 8:30pm at the Troy Community Center. The event is free. The Center is located on 3179 Livernois Road north of Big Beaver in room #402.
REMINDER: A group of taxpayers are organizing a Taxpayers Protest Day on April 18th on the steps of the Capitol at 11:00am. Taxpayers from across the state will be gathering to send the Governor and the legislature a message. If you want your voice to be heard, consider showing up.
More details to follow. Info will be posted at www.mitaxpayers.org. as the Taxpayer Tea Bag Protest rally grows and develops. EVERY taxpayer should consider participating…our voices need to be heard.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/POLITICS/703290395
State shutdowns loom
Deficit may force service cuts, payless paydays
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- As Michigan's budget crisis deepens without a solution in sight, state government is facing payless paydays and service shutdowns as early as May, Treasurer Robert Kleine said Wednesday.
The wobbly economy, previous tax cuts and overspending will push the state's cash flow $400 million into the red sometime in May, Kleine said. As a result, Gov. Jennifer Granholm ordered her cabinet to report back next week on what steps the state should take if a partial government shutdown is required.
"We've never come close to being in the hole this early before," said Kleine, who added that even a budget agreement today might not be soon enough to avoid problems in May.
Pronouncements about the cash shortfall intensified the political firestorm already surrounding contentious budget negotiations. Republicans were immediately suspicious that Granholm is attempting to pressure them into accepting tax increases.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/NEWS06/70328038/1008
Granholm to staff: Prepare for partial state government shutdown
March 28, 2007
By CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
LANSING — Gov. Jennifer Granholm is planning for a possible partial shutdown of state government sometime in May because of the state’s worsening finances.
With a $940-million deficit, the state faces a cash flow shortage of some $400 million by May 1.
Granholm told the heads of state departments at a meeting Tuesday to draft contingency plans for a partial shutdown, said spokesperson Liz Boyd.
“We’re going to have unprecedented cash flow problems in May,” Boyd said. “It’s very early in the year to experience this kind of problem. We simply want to have contingency plans.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/NEWS06/703290336
$1-billion fix for state budget crisis?
Plan could help erase deficit but faces hurdles
March 29, 2007
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF and KATHLEEN GRAY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
LANSING -- Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon is drafting a plan for a novel but controversial tax on electric utility companies as part of a sweeping proposal to erase the state's deficit and stabilize its finances for years to come.
In return for the utilities agreeing to the tax, the state would change the law to effectively eliminate competition for the two major utilities -- DTE and Consumers Energy -- to encourage them to build new power plants, said people familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity. One expert said the utilities would expect to pass the tax cost along to customers.
Michigan GOP wants major say in picking presidential winner
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan's political leaders are doing what they can to make sure state voters have a major say in which presidential candidates get chosen early next year.
Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis on Wednesday sent out an e-mail to party and elected officials asking if they'd support moving to either Jan. 29, when Florida may hold its primary, or to Feb. 2, when South Carolina Republicans head to the polls.
Either date would be ahead of Feb. 5, when 20 or more states could weigh in with their presidential choices. Rules for both parties forbid more than a handful of states from going earlier, but party leaders in Michigan are considering moving up anyway.
"The early feedback from the e-mail that was sent out this morning was ... people were interested in going early and making Michigan an important part of this process," said Jeff Timmer, state GOP executive director.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/POLITICS/703290374/1022
GOP presses for ouster of appropriations chairman
Gary Heinlein / The Detroit News
LANSING -- Republicans are ratcheting up pressure on House Democrats to remove Detroit Democratic Rep. George Cushingberry Jr. as chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
Cushingberry is awaiting trial on felony charges that he broke the state's campaign finance disclosure law.
Michigan GOP Executive Director Jeff Trimmer, in a letter to House Speaker Andy Dillon, questioned Wednesday whether Cushingberry "faces a serious conflict of interest(s)." Dillon, a Redford Township Democrat, appointed Cushingberry to the post.
Trimmer noted that the Detroit lawmaker oversees budgets for the courts and attorney general -- the two institutions involved in his upcoming trial. He also oversees the budget for the Corrections Department, "which, if he is convicted, may oversee his incarceration," Trimmer wrote.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/BIZ/703290369/1001
No trend seen in jobless rate drop
State officials attribute decrease to auto companies recalling workers after short-term lay-offs.
Joel J. Smith / The Detroit News
Michigan's jobless rate dipped slightly to 6.6 percent in February, the lowest monthly rate since May 2006, but experts warned it's too early to cheer an economic turnaround.
While the state's unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a point from January, Michigan's jobless rate remains among the highest in the nation, and continues to be far higher than the national rate of 4.5 percent.
State officials attributed the drop from January's 6.9 percent to auto companies recalling workers after short-term layoffs.
"I'm reluctant to take the decrease at face value," said Dana Johnson, economist at Comerica Inc. in Detroit. "To me, the decrease is encouraging, but I'm doubtful it is the start of an improving trend."
Granholm plans to close 2 State Police posts
3/28/2007, 7:26 p.m. EDT
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration notified state lawmakers Wednesday that it plans to close two Michigan State Police posts in the fall because of the state's budget crisis.
The posts are located in Calumet in the Upper Peninsula and in Hart, between Muskegon and Ludington. Closing the posts on Oct. 1 would save $230,000 in leasing and maintenance costs, State Police spokeswoman Shannon Akans said.
The decision drew criticism from Republicans who called it shortsighted.
"These State Police posts should be kept open and I urge the administration to rethink its position," said Sen. Alan Cropsey, a DeWitt Republican and member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "This move puts the public at risk."
Akans said the move is an example of the tough decisions that must be made because Michigan is facing a shortfall of at least $1 billion in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Granholm and lawmakers currently are grappling with $940 million deficit in this year's budget.
"We agree that public safety should be a priority, but the reality is we don't have the money," Akans said.
http://info.detnews.com/blogs/bloggers.cfm?id=finley&blogid=668
Tue, Mar 27, 2007 at 2:03 PM
More cheap tricks from Granholm
Bad enough that Gov. Jennifer Granholm has abdicated her responsibility for leading the state out of its budget crisis. Now she's urging special interest groups to do her job for her.
The governor is asking her most loyal supporters -- public school teachers -- to lobby lawmakers against making cuts in school funding. The GOP-controlled Senate is asking for a $34 per-pupil decrease to cover the more than $900 million deficit that Granholm allowed to grow unaddressed while she campaigned for reelection. The Senators offered their plan after the governor refused to work with them to balance the budget without more taxes.
What ridiculous grandstanding on Granholm's part. No budget cut can go into effect without her signature. If she suddenly doesn't want to reduce school funding -- even though she cut it by nearly $100 per pupil to bring the 2003 budget in line -- then she can kill the Senate bill and offer her own spending cuts.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/POLITICS/703290387/1022
9-cent hike in gas tax, higher auto fees pushed
Charlie Cain and Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- An influential coalition including business, labor and local governments is mounting a quiet but determined campaign to hike the gas tax that motorists pay at the pump to raise money for roadwork.
The most talked-about approach would increase Michigan's 19-cents-a-gallon gas tax three pennies in each of the next three years, ultimately bringing the levy to 28 cents.
A doubling of the vehicle registration fee -- an average $95 -- also could be in the mix.
While legislation has not yet been introduced, the debate steps up today at a House Transportation Committee hearing on the general question of a gas tax increase for more road building. It's the second of three such hearings.
The coalition argues that without more money, Michigan roads quickly will deteriorate. The group, undeterred by the state's dire financial circumstances that would appear to make this an ill-timed venture, will seek sponsors from both political parties for bills to be introduced in the weeks ahead.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/OPINION01/703290323/1008
Editorial
No gas tax hikes without major spending reforms
The Detroit News
There is another push on in Lansing to raise taxes -- this time for roads and bridges. Michigan's roads, in particular its interstate highways, are in poor condition. But before Michigan's beleaguered taxpayers are asked for more money, sweeping reforms are needed in the way highway dollars are spent.
If the reforms don't occur, taxes shouldn't go up. The fact is, Michigan's approach to funding its roads is a little like flying an airplane over the state, opening the door and shoving out money, hoping it finds its way to someone who can put it to good use.
Michigan has an archaic road funding formula in which the state collects the money, but retains only 39.1 percent of the revenue. The rest goes to county road commissions and local governments.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/BUSINESS01/703290434
Tower to sell assets to private equity firm
Cerberus deal would let supplier exit bankruptcy
March 29, 2007
BY JOHN LIPPERT and JEFF BENNETT
BLOOMBERG
Tower Automotive Inc., the world's largest maker of automotive frames, has agreed to sell most of its assets to Cerberus Capital Management LP for about $1 billion to exit bankruptcy, a company spokesman said.
The deal allows the company to pay off most of its debt and emerge from two years of court supervision, Tower spokesman Joe Kirik said. If there are competing bids, the company will hold an auction June 21.
Tower becomes the third supplier to turn to private equity after succumbing to major shifts in the U.S. auto industry. Delphi Corp., also in bankruptcy, is attempting to structure a deal with an investment group led by Cerberus, while Lear Corp. is considering a buyout bid from U.S. billionaire Carl Icahn.
"The private equity firms have the cash, and the industry is loaded with distressed assets and restructuring situations," said Morningstar Inc. analyst John Novak.
Tower, based in Novi, is one of Ford Motor Co.'s largest suppliers of truck frames. Cerberus spokesman Peter Duda and Ford spokeswoman Becky Sanch declined to comment.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/AUTO01/703290370&theme=Autos-UAW
UAW says Delphi's offer falls 'far short'
Sources say talks will continue among union, supplier, investors to reach labor deal.
Louis Aguilar and David Shepardson / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Although the United Auto Workers rejected the latest wage-cutting proposal from Delphi Corp. and a group of investors that wants to buy a majority stake in the bankrupt supplier, sources close to the situation said Wednesday that negotiations will continue.
UAW Vice President Cal Rapson, the union's chief bargainer for Delphi and former parent General Motors Corp., confirmed that the union had rejected the deal Monday.
"It was far short of anything we can take to our membership," Rapson said Wednesday in an interview on the sidelines of the UAW's bargaining convention at Cobo Center.
A group of private equity investors led by Cerberus Capital Management LP and Appaloosa Management LP want to invest up to $3.4 billion in Delphi, which would allow the supplier to emerge from bankruptcy as a new company with a new owner. But the deal hinges on hammering out a labor deal.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/METRO/703290390/1003
Wayne County commissioners consider staff raises
As county faces $57M deficit, some balk at plan to increase pay, benefits.
Amy Lee / The Detroit News
Wayne County is facing a $57 million deficit, but commissioners are considering a plan to increase salaries and offer health and education benefits to commission staffers.
The Monday proposal, obtained by The Detroit News, comes from former state Sen. Burton Leland, who won a seat on the panel in November on a platform of fiscal austerity.
Leland, D-Detroit, argues commissioners -- who are paid $68,676 annually -- lack the cash to pay decent salaries, let alone fringe benefits to staffers who act as liaisons to the public.
Leland isn't proposing a tax increase, but a "shift in funding" to cover at least $750,000 for his plan, according to the memo. It's unclear where that "shift" would occur, but some commissioners are already chafing at the idea of boosting pay when the county faces a deficit.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/METRO/703290381&theme=Metro-Detroit-mayor
Detroit's hip-hop mayor grows into his job
Charismatic Kilpatrick matures and learns from his past mistakes to build and improve the city.
David Josar / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- There's a different Kwame Kilpatrick in the mayor's office.
The hyperbole, the grandiose promises, the $7,000-a-month credit card bills, even the thumbnail-sized diamond earring of his first term are gone.
Kwame Kilpatrick, once known to Michigan and America as the Hip-Hop Mayor, has grown up, observers say.
"I thought, 'who is this imposter?' " said Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson after Kilpatrick's bold, realistic and measured State of the City address earlier this month. "He has always been a great speaker and very, very smart. But this is a new Kwame Kilpatrick.
"The Manoogian Mansion playboy is gone."
The maturity, say members of Kilpatrick's inner circle and even his critics, will help the mayor deal more effectively with leaders, like Patterson, who have been at odds with Detroit over the years.
"He's going to be taken more seriously," said
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/OPINION01/703290323/1069
IN OUR OPINION
Multiple choices for city schools
March 29, 2007
Leaders of the Detroit Public Schools have mainly themselves to blame for the welcome mat that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick plans to extend to charter and private schools to open in the city.
The district has lacked vision and credibility for so long, it has become as much an obstacle to a real Detroit renaissance as the blight and violence that plague the city. And although city voters did resoundingly reject giving the mayor authority over DPS, they rightfully expect him to do more than just stand and watch as 10,000 students a year bail out of the city's public schools.
Kilpatrick cannot afford to look the other way. All his ambitious plans for a new, exciting Detroit can be undercut by a dysfunctional education system that scares and chases families away.
It's also a tangible sign of progress that the mayor is even entertaining, let alone seeking, partnerships with charters and private schools. His objections, after all, were one of the main spoilers to philanthropist Bob Thompson's effort to invest $200 million in Detroit schools.
University of Michigan still seeking diversity in students
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The University of Michigan says it has stopped using race and gender when selecting which students to admit, but is using new tools to make sure it brings in a diverse class next fall.
Among the new factors is a demographic review that measures which schools and neighborhoods students come from and how well they are represented on the Ann Arbor campus.
The computer analysis called Descriptor PLUS uses a blend of geography and demographics to help supply background information about prospective students. School officials say they no longer use race or gender as a factor in admissions.
University officials were forced to change their admissions policies after voters approved an initiative - Proposal 2 - in November that bans the use of race and gender preferences in university admissions.
University officials said Wednesday that they have received a record 27,000 applications from students seeking admission to Michigan next fall. They expect that number to be the largest among Big Ten schools for incoming freshmen.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/METRO/703290394/1003
Dad's family fights to bury Ricky
Judge orders hearing after murderer's family challenges Ingham County bid to inter slain boy.
Karen Bouffard / The Detroit News
LANSING -- Ricky Holland's long wait for peace became longer Wednesday, when the family of the man who murdered him challenged Ingham County's efforts to bury the onetime foster child.
Relatives of Tim Holland, who like his wife Lisa is in prison for killing the boy in July 2005, objected to a bid by Ingham County Medical Examiner Dean Sienko for the rights to bury Ricky, prompting Chief Probate Judge George Economy to set an April 13 hearing on the issue.
Tim Holland, in a letter presented as evidence, said he wants Ricky's body given to his mother, Arcie Holland, so he can be laid to rest among family members. The boy's adopted father asked that none of his wife's relatives be given the remains.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/LIFESTYLE04/703290384/1003/METRO
Muslim sues judge who barred veil
Woman claims her religious rights were violated when asked to remove head scarf.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
A Muslim woman who was told she had to remove her veil if she wanted to testify in 31st District Court in Hamtramck filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the judge who made the ruling.
Ginnah Muhammad filed the complaint against Judge Paul Paruk, alleging he violated her religious rights and denied her equal access to the courts.
Muhammad had gone to small claims court last October in a dispute with a car rental company when Paruk said she could not testify unless she removed her veil, the lawsuit alleges.
"If in fact, you do not wish to do it, then I cannot go forward with your case and I have to dismiss your case," Paruk told the woman, according to a transcript attached to the complaint filed by Dearborn Heights lawyer Nabih Ayad.
Muhammad refused and Paruk dismissed the case, the lawsuit alleges.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/ENT0101/703290357/1001/BIZ
Event to jump-start Detroit tourism
Estimated $25M boost small compared to marquee shows but area welcomes business.
Eric Morath / The Detroit News
WrestleMania 23 will pump up downtown Detroit tourism during a typically slow time of year, but the Sunday event won't have close to the same economic impact as All-Star games, Super Bowls and other marquee events.
The throw-down in Motown is expected to generate about $25 million in total economic impact, estimates David Sowerby, chief market analyst and portfolio manager for Loomis, Sayles & Co. in Birmingham.
That's less impact than the 2005 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which generated $42 million in regional economic benefit, and doesn't hold a candle to international draws such as Super Bowl XL and the 2007 auto show, which drummed up $261 million and $540 million, respectively.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1175092849212260.xml&coll=2
Ann Arbor schools offer buyouts to 170 teachers
Move is part of superintendent's plan to cut $7.4 million
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
BY DAVID JESSE AND LIZ COBBS
News Staff Reporters
The Ann Arbor school district has offered buyouts to about 170 teachers to reduce costs and avoid layoffs for the next school year.
The proposed buyouts, which must be approved by the union and the school board, are part of Superintendent Todd Roberts' plan to cut $7.4 million from next year's budget. The cuts will allow the district to balance the 2007-08 budget without taking money from the district's $23 million cash reserve fund.
"Our major issue is how to reduce staff without layoffs,'' Roberts said.
District administrators don't expect 170 teachers to take the buyout. If 45 teachers take it, for example, the district would save about $100,000 the first year, said Robert Allen, deputy superintendent of operations.
With the buyouts and a middle school restructuring plan, administrators want to eliminate at least 40 teaching jobs. Of those, 25 are at the middle school and the remaining 15 would be at the high school and elementary schools in nonclassroom positions, said district spokeswoman Liz Margolis. About 60 positions, including teaching, secretarial and custodial jobs, were eliminated before the start of this school year, resulting in larger class sizes.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-20/117509617564020.xml&coll=3
IN BRIEF
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
RUN CONSIDERED
Former mayor may challenge Walberg
Former state senator and former Adrian mayor Jim Berryman is considering challenging U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg in 2008.
Berryman, a Democrat who lost a race for Congress in 1998, said he is assessing whether he can raise the money needed for a competitive campaign against Walberg, R-Tipton.
"I am not going to form an exploratory committee or anything like that," Berryman said. "I expect it's only going to take three or four weeks to make a decision."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/BUSINESS06/703290364/1002/BUSINESS
OU makes its case to host new med school
It offers jobs and labs for MSU osteopathic students
March 29, 2007
BY PATRICIA ANSTETT
FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER
For the first time, details about Oakland University's proposal to be the metro Detroit site for Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic Medicine have been made public. OU is offering up to 178 jobs for undergraduate medical students, extensive lab and classroom space and strong hospital and physician partnerships to oversee medical training.
Up to now, OU has declined to provide information about its bid.
But with interest increasing, Dr. William Strampel, dean of the MSU osteopathic school, released all proposals Wednesday from the four contenders. The Free Press previously reported details about bids by the Detroit Medical Center, Macomb Community College and the St. John Health System.
For new leader, a grand old party
LSA junior elected to head state College Republicans
By Alese Bagdol
3/28/07
Japinga said that he wants to help Zatkoff achieve his goals now that the election is over.
"The truth of the matter is that Justin has a tough time in front of him," Japinga said. "He has to unite both sides of the College Republicans, and I am willing to help him with this."
Zatkoff has made headlines before.
In September, Zatkoff, then a student at Oakland University, was admitted to the hospital after a fistfight at a party.
The attack triggered speculation and political finger pointing. The blog College Republican Truth Caucus posted pictures of a swollen-eyed Zatkoff along with the headline "Hate Crime: College Republican Allegedly Beaten by Liberal Thugs.
"
_____________________________________________________________________________________
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032800157.html
Bush Derides Iraq War Measure
He Says Democrats Will Be Blamed if Funds Are Held Up
By Shailagh Murray and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 29, 2007; Page A01
In his most combative comments yet, President Bush mocked Democratic lawmakers yesterday for including a deadline for troop withdrawals and "pork" projects in an Iraq spending bill, declaring that "the American people will know who to hold responsible" if funding for the war stalls.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) shot back that Bush's vow to veto the spending bill carries its own cost. In a joint letter, they warned him against following "a political strategy that would needlessly delay funding for our troops."
Democrats Predict Sizable Budget Surplus
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats plan spending increases for education, health care and national security when they pass their first budget plan since regaining control of Congress.
Meanwhile, Republicans regrouping from their loss of a majority in last year's election faced a difficult vote Thursday on whether to cut Medicare to help finance renewal of President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.
The Democratic plan predicts a sizable surplus in five years, but only if Bush's tax cuts expire in 2010 as scheduled. Democrats said the $2.9 trillion plan for next year would point the way to a surplus after years of red ink under Bush and a GOP-controlled Congress.
Republicans said that $153 billion surplus in 2012 would appear only if tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 expire in four years - amounting to the "largest tax increase in American history."
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/beyond_iraq.html
March 29, 2007
Beyond Iraq
The threat from radical Islamic terrorists will not vanish when President Bush leaves office, or if funds for the Iraq war are cut off in 2008.
A frequent charge is that we are bringing terrorists to Iraq. That is true in the sense that war always brings the enemy out to the battlefield. But it's also false, since it ignores why killers like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (the late al-Qaida chief in Iraq), Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas (Palestinian terrorists of the 1980s), and Abdul Rahman Yasin (involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) were already in Saddam's Iraq when we arrived.
Moreover, the unpopular war in Iraq did not create radical Islamists and their madrassas throughout the Middle East that today brainwash young radicals and pressure the region's monarchies, theocracies and autocracies to provide money for training and weaponry. All that radicalism had been going on for decades - as we saw during the quarter-century of terrorism that led up to 9/11. And rioting, assassination and death threats over artistic expression in Europe have nothing to do with Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802091.html
Senate's Bold Proposal for Iraq: Sugar Beets and Rural Schools -- in the U.S.
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, March 29, 2007; Page A02
Midway through the Senate debate yesterday over the "emergency" spending bill for Iraq, Barbara Boxer rose to speak in favor -- of strawberries.
"There's a song called 'Strawberry Fields Forever,' " the California Democrat declared on the Senate floor, as an aide displayed a poster of an icy berry patch. "This is a strawberry field," Boxer continued, seeking funds for frostbitten fruit farmers. "It looks like an ice rink. The strawberries are somewhere in there; they are destroyed. I also want to show you oranges. . . . Here you can see the icicles near the avocados."
The relationship between crops and troops was lost on Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who backed an amendment that would remove spending for sugar beets and other agricultural pursuits. "I don't see how the asparagus-spinach problem helps us win in Iraq," he argued at a news conference. "This is a bill designed to help people that are getting shot at."
Oh? Immediately after this righteous plea in the Senate television studio, Graham went downstairs to the Senate floor and voted in support of an amendment to the Iraq bill directing an additional $5 billion to rural schools and counties -- right here in the U.S. of A.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/29/washington/29assess.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Democrats Are Building on Unity Over Iraq Pullout
By ROBIN TONER
Published: March 29, 2007
WASHINGTON, March 28 — No one has seemed more surprised by the Democrats’ success in pushing an exit strategy for Iraq than the Democrats.
Their aggressiveness and unity on a major foreign-policy challenge to the president is a striking change for a party that has, on many occasions over many years, seemed to be on the defensive on national security issues.
In fact, for much of the post-Vietnam era, the Republican advantage on those issues has been a defining feature of American politics. Many Democrats felt they needed to prove, again and again, that their party was tough enough to defend the nation’s interests — to fight the notion, often stoked by Republicans, that Democrats were the party of George McGovern and the nuclear freeze.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032802051.html
The Results of Diplomacy
In Iran's case, they've been pretty thin.
Thursday, March 29, 2007; Page A18
IRAN'S SEIZURE of 15 British sailors and marines on the day before the U.N. Security Council approved another resolution imposing sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear program may have been a coincidence. But the seizure illustrated a stubborn reality about the diplomatic campaign the Bush administration embraced two years ago: While successful on its own terms, the campaign has yet to produce any significant change in Iranian behavior.
Administration officials were encouraged by signs of dissension in the Iranian leadership after the first of two unanimous sanctions resolutions passed the Security Council in late December. Before the second resolution was introduced, there were talks between Iranian and European officials about ways to renew negotiations. Yet the Iranian work on uranium enrichment has continued; there are signs the regime is racing to complete an industrial installation with thousands of centrifuges that it can present to the world as an accomplished fact.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/bush-and-rove-let-it-loose-for-a-bit/
March 28, 2007, 10:57 pm
Bush and Rove Let It Loose, for a Bit
By Holli Chmela
President Bush set aside his combative tone from earlier today in his speech against the Democrats over the Iraq emergency war spending bill tonight, and all its “pork” of domestic billions of dollars for peanuts and spinach, to crack jokes before the Radio and Televison Correspondents 63rd annual dinner.
He first thanked Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia whose aide was arrested after trying to carry loaded weapons into the Russert Senate Building, for providing security at the Hilton.
He then expressed whimsy over what life was like more than a year ago, when his approval ratings were in the 30’s, his Supreme Court nominee had been withdrawn, and his vice president had gone hunting and shot a friend. (He said he had no intention of becoming a lame-duck president, unless Vice President Cheney shot him in the leg.)
White House Floats Immigration Proposal
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration floated elements of an immigration plan on Wednesday that would make it harder for millions of illegal immigrants to gain citizenship than un