608 Days until election day.
Partisan rangling, Republicans versus Democrats…no, not really. It’s more philosophical than that.
Republican don’t want to raise taxes…they don’t like them, they realize it normally just feeds the “beast” sort of speak and we are frustrated that the Democrats overspend, violate the constitution, then blame the Republicans for a lack of oversight…when the Governor didn’t tell anyone about her overspending.
On the radio yesterday, the Democrat Chairman claimed that the Republicans were responsible because we didn’t provide proper oversight to the Governor. This is the same Governor who has a constitutional requirement to live within a balanced budget…who received an appropriations from the legislature for various spending programs…and then does whatever she wants and doesn’t let anyone know until after the elections.
The House Republicans have introduced a bill to require the Governor and her administration to report any over spending…now the Democrats are claiming it’s not necessary. Talk about hypocrisy.
Write your legislators, Republican of Democrat, both Senator and Representative and let them know what you think of the Governor’s proposal to raise taxes, rising state spending, excessive DNR & DEQ regulations, double dipping on state pensions and salaries, hiring political cronies and other pork barrel - special interest spending at taxpayer’s expense.
There’s a reason folks are sending in tea bags to the Governor…our own little “Boston Tea Party” in protest of higher taxes.
You can write both your Senator and Representative at the following address:
Senator and/or Representative….
State Capitol
Lansing, MI 48933
Your legislator, our legislators need to hear from you.
Congressman Joe Knollenberg has updated and put up a new web page. Check it out at:
http://www.knollenberg.house.gov
Congratulations to the DeVos for Governor campaign, which won several awards for their efforts on the web. Check it out at:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/03/congratulations.html
I heard Hillary Clinton’s shameless pandering and condescending “accent” to southern and black voters down south…wow, can you imagine what the mainstream press would have done to a Republican who tried to “talk like that”.
With all the controversy going on about Ann Coulter’s inexcusable statements, let put them into perspective. Check out this web site:
http://patterico.com/2007/03/05/5901/leftist-hate-speech/
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.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/NEWS06/70306056/0/BUSINESS01
Gov. Granholm has few answers for town hall attendants
March 6, 2007
Unemployed, angry, worried, skeptical and hopeful people came to Southfield on tonight to ask Gov. Jennifer Granholm what she can do to help them or their state.
"Why don't you use your emergency powers to declare a state of economic disaster?" asked Jerry Goldberg, 56, a Detroiter who belongs to an activist group that wants the state to step in to stop foreclosures, utility shutoffs and other bad news for residents.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-42/117319622832490.xml&coll=5
Granholm states her tax case
Budget plan would move state forward, she says
MUNDY TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
By Marjory Raymer
mraymer@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6325
MUNDY TWP. - Four months after election day, Gov. Jennifer Granholm is campaigning again.
This time, it is for her plan to solve the state's looming $3-billion deficit.
In a town hall meeting Monday at the Genesee County Intermediate School District, Granholm made no bones about advocating for her proposed budget and the state's first tax increases in two decades.
"Some people have said we're at a crossroads, going either right or left. Frankly, I don't think it is right or left: It is forward or backward," Granholm said.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS06/703070424/1008
Maybe declare disaster, protester tells Granholm
March 7, 2007
Unemployed, angry, worried, skeptical and hopeful people came to Southfield on Tuesday night to ask Gov. Jennifer Granholm what she can do to help them or their state.
"Why don't you use your emergency powers to declare a state of economic disaster?" asked Jerry Goldberg, 56, a Detroiter who belongs to an activist group that wants the state to step in to stop foreclosures, utility shutoffs and other bad news for residents.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/BUSINESS06/703070322/1019
Granholm stunned, optimistic
March 7, 2007
LANSING -- One moment Gov. Jennifer Granholm was the confident saleswoman, telling a receptive Flint audience Monday night that her plan to raise taxes and spend more on education would lift the state's economy.
Then, riding back to Lansing, the cell phone rang. Comerica Chief Executive Officer Ralph W. Babb Jr. was calling to give her a heads-up that he would announce the next morning he was moving the company's corporate headquarters from Detroit to Dallas.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION01/703070310/1008
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Governor is out of touch with business
Granholm's Comerica comments highlight her economic naivete
The Detroit News
G ov. Jennifer Granholm is heading off to Germany Saturday to mine for jobs. But Michigan would be better off if she followed Comerica Bank to Texas to take a good look at a state that's managed to rebound from the collapse of its core industry.
If she made that trip, she'd find that you don't revive a state by cultivating a culture of hostility toward business.
The governor told WJR-760's Paul W. Smith Tuesday that she's angry with Comerica for moving its headquarters from Detroit to Dallas, accusing the bank of placing shareholder value ahead of community loyalty.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/BIZ/703070381
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Departure deals another blow to Michigan
While state still has many major businesses, Comerica is latest to follow growth, money.
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
Sure, Metro Detroit and Michigan are still home to such corporate giants as General Motors Corp., Dow Chemical, Domino's Pizza and Borders books. But Comerica's decision to withdraw its headquarters from Michigan is yet another sign the region is in a deep funk.
"I've seen this movie before and I don't want to see this movie again -- Manufacturer's National Bank, National Bank of Detroit, Upjohn, Gerber, Kmart," said David Sowerby, chief market analyst and portfolio manager for Loomis & Sayles, as he rattled off a list of companies no longer based in Michigan. Some of those big companies died; others were gobbled up in mergers that took their base of operations -- and thousands of jobs -- elsewhere.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION01/703070329
Comerica adds more reason to change
March 7, 2007
Sure it's only 200 jobs, at least for now, but let's not underestimate the impact of Comerica pulling its headquarters out of Detroit after more than 150 years. With its move to Dallas, the bank is making a big, sorry statement about the future around here -- and who would have a better handle on that? As economic indicators go, your biggest, oldest bank bailing for Texas is a pretty powerful one.
It's certainly not going to help Gov. Jennifer Granholm sell Michigan as a great place for business when she travels at week's end to Germany on a jobs hunt. And it doesn't help when the bank's president says it should be easier to recruit and retain top talent in Texas than it has been in Michigan.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/BIZ/703070397
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Why Comerica checked out
Hometown bank sees hope in Sun Belt
Joel J. Smith / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- For years to come, residents of Michigan will feel the effects of Comerica Inc.'s surprise announcement Tuesday that it's moving its headquarters to Dallas later this year, banking experts predict.
The impact is bigger than losing 200 jobs and the last big hometown bank in downtown Detroit -- an institution that traces its roots in the city back to 1849. For the first time, major decisions by Comerica will be made outside of Detroit and Michigan.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/COL06/703070415
Move all comes down to money
March 7, 2007
Amid all of Tuesday's wailing and hand-wringing that accompanied Comerica Inc.'s decision to move its corporate headquarters from Detroit to Texas, the story boiled down to pretty simple arithmetic.
Michigan is not growing. Other states' economies are growing like gangbusters.
Shareholders invest in growing companies, not stagnant ones. Wall Street rewards growing companies, not stagnant ones, with higher stock values.
In the fourth quarter of 2006, Comerica reported double-digit loan growth in Texas, California and Florida. In Michigan and the Midwest, loan volume dropped, Comerica chief executive officer Ralph Babb told me Tuesday.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/BIZ/703070382
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Bank says it won't cut philanthropy
Comerica gave $8.3M last year to some 1,300 Detroit-area nonprofits, $16M nationwide.
Amy Lee / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Comerica Inc. may pull its headquarters out of Detroit, but it has no plans to pull charitable cash contributions to area nonprofit organizations, according to bank officials.
Comerica gave about $8.3 million to some 1,300 Metro Detroit organizations in 2006, or about half of the $16 million total that the bank doled out nationwide, said Wayne Mielke, vice president of corporate communications.
In addition, Comerica employees donated some 20,000 community service volunteer hours in Metro Detroit in 2006.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/BIZ/703070420/1001
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Reaction to Comerica's move
"We're not going to fold up Michigan's tent - we're going to keep working our economic plan and come out stronger and more competitive..." - GOV. JENNIFER GRANHOLM
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION03/703070385/1001
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Daniel Howes: Who will save state when even boosters bail?
A s if we needed another harsh reminder, Comerica Inc. is blowing town for Dallas because growth is not here -- it's in the Sun Belt, and companies that don't grow are companies that die.
Wall Street, showing increasing signs of giving up on Michigan and its auto industry, knows it. And so do Comerica's directors, whose decision screams more fiduciary responsibility than corporate irresponsibility, however much this move may feel like yet another business betrayal.
But a bigger question of this painful and symbolically damaging blow is this: If a board of directors that reads like a who's who of Detroit boosters sees good reason to green light a corporate move to Texas by one of the region's staunchest corporate citizens, who, exactly, is going to lead an economic comeback?
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/COL04/703070326/1081
Taking the long way to square one
March 7, 2007
Taxpayers who argue that Michigan could get by just fine with a part-time Legislature clearly don't appreciate how complex the task of making laws has become in our fiscally challenged state.
For instance, the current legislative session is scarcely three months old, but our elected representatives in Lansing are already hard at work figuring out how to 1) reduce the number of nonviolent offenders incarcerated in our state prisons and 2) increase the number of nonviolent offenders incarcerated in our state prisons -- not necessarily in that order.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-42/1173194433247270.xml&coll=5
Builder tells of debt struggle
SonRise & Fall
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
By Matt Bach
mbach@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6330
An owner of the now-closed SonRise Homes Inc. says the company's partners have raised more than $1 million to try to clean up the mess created by their firm's collapse.
Michael Thomas responded, sometimes angrily, to a Flint Journal series that examined how the largest builder in Genesee County ended up in shambles and its impact on would-be homeowners and local businesses.
Thomas said the four partners have placed second mortgages on their homes and are trying to sell a boat and various properties in Florida and Michigan to pay off SonRise's debts. One partner, Anthony Hanson, has moved out of state and found work in North Carolina with the hope of sending back money to help pay off the debt, Thomas said.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/COL14/703070391/1081/COL
Zetsche not sold on selling Chrysler
March 7, 2007
GENEVA, Switzerland -- Four thousand miles from Auburn Hills, DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche still sounded like a Chrysler guy.
Speaking in Europe, where sentiment runs strong to separate Chrysler from Daimler, he said flatly that the companies could stay together.
That doesn't mean the German-American automaker might not sell part or all of the Chrysler Group, which it is pitching to potential buyers this week. But what Zetsche said in an interview Tuesday at the auto show in Geneva -- and the way he said it -- suggests that throwing Chrysler overboard is not the first item on his to-do list.
If the offers get sweet enough or Chrysler's situation grows worse, the division could go, but Zetsche repeatedly said that maintaining the status quo -- retaining Chrysler -- remains an option. He expressed interest in the Chrysler Group's recovery plan and added that the UAW's refusal to grant health care concessions last year was a factor in DCX's decision to put Chrysler on the sale block.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1173192657165680.xml&coll=9
Sitting in saddle on taxpayers' colt
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
TERM-LIMITED POLS DON'T ride into the sunset, they simply fade into Lansing's bureaucratic woodwork, all the while riding the sturdy steed provided by taxpayers.
Former Democratic state Rep. Carl M. Williams of Saginaw followed term-limited state Sen. Mike Goschka back to the halls of state government in an executive branch job.
Williams, 64, landed a spot as a public affairs officer with the state Department of Corrections at a salary of $85,000 -- more than his $79,650 salary as a three-term lawmaker.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070383/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Judge delays closure of Jackson prison
Granholm's plan to save money put on hold as officials must develop plan for sick prisoners.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Court battles could delay Gov. Jennifer Granholm's controversial plan to save money by closing the 1,500-bed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson.
A ruling Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen blocks closing the prison until Michigan Department of Corrections officials come up with a plan for the ongoing care of 400 to 600 seriously ill patients, as well as 400 more with chronic medical conditions.
Enslen ordered the Corrections Department to present the plan to a federal monitor within 45 days. The Corrections Department filed notice it plans to appeal the ruling.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS06/703070359/1008/NEWS06
Court to monitor prison proposal
Judge: Protect ill at Jackson center
March 7, 2007
LANSING -- A federal judge in Kalamazoo ordered Tuesday that strict conditions be placed on a state plan to close prisons in Jackson, citing concerns that the transfer of sick inmates could compromise medical care.
U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen gave the state Department of Corrections 45 days to file a detailed plan of how medical needs would be addressed in the transfer of up to 1,500 inmates. Independent medical experts would be required to review transfers of sick inmates under the order.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-35/11731960295090.xml&coll=6
Free insurance for life? Legislator perk on table
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
By Kameel Stanley
The Grand Rapids Press
Alan Popp doesn't think it's fair state lawmakers get free lifetime health insurance, considering he has gone without coverage most of his life.
"As I get closer to retirement, that always creeps in," said Popp, a 41-year-old courier from Wyoming. "They should have to pay. Instead of cutting the little people at the bottom ... cut the big people at the top."
That cut may come soon, as House Democrats say they want to end the perk for lawmakers, starting with those elected in 2008 or after.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION01/703070332/1069
Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon's savings plan
March 7, 2007
House Speaker Dillon (D-Redford) is making an effort to stop the Legislature from bleeding the state dry of money. That is a start. I say give the people of Michigan a break and fix your salaries in comparison to the average Michigander.
• If Andy's got the votes lined up, then cool. If he's just blowing smoke up our behinds, then it's simply another reason why this state is in such trouble.
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1173197789102800.xml&coll=4
lawsuits in Michigan
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
A repeal of Michigan's ludicrous law granting immunity to drug makers from product-liability lawsuits got swift approval in the House of Representatives late last month.
As well it should have.
Our state is the only one in the nation that bars most lawsuits from people who feel they have been hurt by U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs.
A similar attempt to get rid of this lawsuit ban languished in the state Legislature for two years, until it died at the end of the session last year for lack of a vote.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1173195717309830.xml&coll=2
State needs to revise alcohol tax system
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed tax hikes on liquor aren't going down well with liquor sellers, and no wonder. They already are burdened by a Byzantine system of taxes and regulation that doesn't apply to beer and wine. Liquor sales also are subject to far more in overall taxes than are the other beverages.
Before liquor sales are tapped for yet more state revenue, lawmakers had better be aware of the existing inequities and start leveling the bottles. That would have to begin with the beer tax. It was set in 1933, following Prohibition, and was last changed in 1966 - when it was reduced.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/11731963145090.xml&coll=6
Making the right call
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
A call for help is a call for help, no matter what kind of phone is used to dial 911. Lawmakers should erase the distinction between emergency calls from traditional landlines and those made from cell phones. The burden of paying for 911 service is falling disproportionately on the backs of Michigan's landline phone users because cell customers pay little or nothing to support 911 service.
State residents pick up a phone over 20,000 times a day to call 911 for police, fire or medical service. The majority of those calls are made from cell phones, but state law doesn't allow counties to collect a 911 surcharge on cell phone bills. The law allowing counties to add a surcharge on landline phone bills for providing 911 service was approved in the 1980s when cell phones were not a big part of the communication landscape. Now they are. In fact, cell phones outnumber landlines phones in Michigan -- 6.9 million to 5.5 million.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/columns-2/1173194511247410.xml&coll=7
Haenicke calls for fairness in funding
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
This past week Western Michigan University Interim President Diether H. Haenicke responded sharply to a suggestion that Michigan's three largest universities should be given special treatment in terms of funding by the Legislature.
That notion was advanced by Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon, who had been in town to address the Kalamazoo Rotary Club.
Simon's rationale for giving the University of Michigan, Wayne State and MSU special treatment was that each has a medical school and all three are research institutions.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS01/703070327/1003
Activists slam school nominee
Critics have benefited from Coleman's administration
March 7, 2007
A day after Connie Calloway was recommended to become the next superintendent of Detroit Public Schools, a coalition of Detroit pastors and community activists sent her a letter expressing dissatisfaction with her selection, and suggesting she might have benefited from "backroom deals."
In arguing to reopen the superintendent search, the coalition, aided by a local public relations executive, reminded Calloway that Detroit Schools' "current leadership" had raised student test scores and "begun to turnaround" district finances.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION01/703070312/1008
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Achieving racial equality, tolerance holds key to region's future
Anthony F. Earley Jr.
I n his best-selling book, "The Rise of the Creative Class," author Richard Florida writes about cities and regions that are economically successful. Florida's research connects what he calls the three Ts of economic development: technology, talent and tolerance. He found a significant correlation between regions that have a large concentration of successful high-tech companies and those with a large integrated diverse population.
So how does Southeastern Michigan rate in the three Ts? Certainly if we harness our automotive technology into growing industries such as alternative energy and advanced manufacturing, the region can be globally competitive. We have a rich talent pool nurtured by world-class universities, but our real challenge is to keep those young engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs at home. Finally in the matter of tolerance, we have historically failed the test.
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1173195734309830.xml&coll=2
Mayor says he'll veto council's city hall vote
It would be first time Hieftje has exercised that power
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
BY TOM GANTERT
News Staff Reporter
The long-playing drama over expanding Ann Arbor's city hall to house police and court operations took another unexpected twist Monday night.
Mayor John Hieftje told the City Council that he would use his veto power for the first time in his seven years as mayor to overturn its
7-4 vote to pay an architect $1 million to design the building. The council wants to put the $34 million building next to the existing city hall at
100 N. Fifth Ave.
http://www.mlive.com/news/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1173192618165680.xml&coll=9
Pay cut spurs fire battalion chief to decline promotion
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
JOE SNAPPER
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Saginaw Fire Battalion Chief Donald Coleman is turning his back on a promotion to fire chief.
The reason? He'd have to take a cut in pay.
For now, retiring Fire Chief Joe Dziuban will abandon his planned leave of absence -- it was to start today -- and stay on as city officials search for his replacement. He still plans to step down Tuesday, April 10.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION01/703070313/1008
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Restore property rights stolen by drug warriors
The Detroit News
The Michigan Supreme Court has an opportunity to reconnect the idea of punishment with actual convictions for crimes. The so-called drug war has separated the two -- in violation of an essential feature of Anglo-American law.
Under the rules of the drug war, property can be seized from citizens without their being found guilty of a crime. The government gets away with this by calling the seizures "civil" forfeitures. There's nothing civil about them.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/NEWS06/703070313/1008
POLITICALLY SPEAKING
March 7, 2007
Anuzis takes on undefeated big guy Levin
From Sunday's entry on the blog of Saul Anuzis, Michigan Republican Party chairman:
"I caught the last flight home out of D.C. last night. I sat in front of Sen. Carl Levin and his wife ... I said to the Senator as we ended our chat ... 'I just wanted you to know, this is nothing personal, but we plan on taking you out!' He nodded and smiled and said, 'I know, we're professionals. We'll handle it.' We both smiled, shook hands and flew home.
On the way out the plane the Senator said I deserved a good rest and not to be afraid to take one ... I smiled and said 'thanks, done that, ready to go!' "
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-11/11731959095330.xml&coll=8
Commissioner remembered as caring friend
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
By Lynn Moore
lmoore@muskegonchronicle.com
Caring. It's the word that keeps coming up when people who knew and loved Steve Wisniewski talk about him.
Compassionate. Dedicated. Positive. Those too are the words used to describe Wisniewski, a Muskegon County commissioner from Montague who died Monday evening. He was 56.
Wisniewski's death wasn't a surprise. A week ago, he penned a farewell letter to his friends, constituents and fellow commissioners. His 20-month battle with lymphoma was nearing its end, he wrote.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1173192653165900.xml&coll=5
Military honors
Keep memorials for the fallen, good health care for the living
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Revelations of poor hospital treatment that some Iraq war wounded have endured make us even more sensitive to veterans' needs, and requests from surviving family members.
Yet all who have worn their country's uniform don't deserve the same recognition, as much as their service is appreciated. Those dying in a theater of battle have earned a special place of honor, such as Flint's McFarlan Park, where names of fallen heroes from the Spanish American War to the Iraq conflict are listed.
Maintaining McFarlan's threshold for inclusion on its roll respects tradition and reality. First and foremost, the reason McFarlan was built was to recognize those from Genesee County killed in war. Adding the names of other service men and women would dilute this purpose. And practically speaking, there's insufficient room on the park's plaques for all veterans, even those whose families argue persuasively that injuries or illnesses sustained while fighting contributed to a veteran's death years later.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/columns-2/1173194520247410.xml&coll=7
`Death gratuity' law needs changing
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
On Sunday the Kalamazoo Gazette published a comprehensive story dealing with stepped-up military efforts to help survivors better cope with the loss of men and women killed while serving our country.
It's clear that much more needs to be done to help families whose fathers and mothers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of them live in the Kalamazoo area. The number of deaths thus far has reached 3,350.
Of those in uniform who have died in combat, nearly half were married. They have left nearly 2,000 children for their spouses or others to raise.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070338/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Mich. congressional members to examine local VA hospitals
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- In the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal, four Michigan members of Congress said Tuesday that they'll visit veterans facilities in the state and recheck calls they've received from vets to make sure they are receiving quality medical treatment.
"I've just asked my staff to really scrub our own files here," said Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, Michigan's only member on the House Armed Services Committee.
"I said, 'Look again. Is there anything?' I want to be absolutely certain that our wounded warriors -- veterans of this war or previous wars -- are getting absolutely the very best medical care available."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070349/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Senate tackles credit billings
Sen. Carl Levin heads subcommittee holding hearings on credit card fee and interest practices.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Back in 2001, Wesley Wannemacher did something utterly normal for an American consumer: He bought about $3,200 worth of stuff with his credit card, most of it for his upcoming wedding.
Now, $7,500 in interest charges and fees later, he'll appear today on Capitol Hill as a cautionary tale.
The Ohio man will testify to a special subcommittee chaired by Michigan's Sen. Carl Levin as part of a hearing on what Levin calls unfair and abusive billing practices by the credit card industry. Levin's goal -- applauded by consumer advocates -- is to force card companies to reverse practices that can jack up a borrower's interest rate even if they pay their card bill on time, or charge interest on money consumers have already repaid.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION01/703070331/1069
Charge into reform of credit card fees
March 7, 2007
While he gets most of his attention as one of the chief critics of the conduct of the war in Iraq, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin plunges today into a domestic issue of enormous impact for Americans: abusive practices by credit card companies.
Dissatisfied with the industry's response to the disturbing findings of a Government Accountability Office investigation of credit card practices that he ordered last year, Michigan Democrat Levin will hold a hearing in Washington today on credit card fees, interest rates and grace periods, with an eye on federal legislation if credit card issuers don't stop taking unfair advantage of consumers.
http://www.theaapc.org/content/pollieawards/2007/2007_Winners.pdf
The DeVos website won the following Pollie Awards:
Website: Candidate: Governor - Silver (no Gold awarded)
Persuasion Online Advertisement: Candidate: Governor - Silver (no Gold awarded) DeVos "Change" Pointroll ad
Best Use of Mobile Technology - Bronze (no Gold) DeVos Mobile Go Center
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION03/703070305/1008/OPINION01
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Clarence Page
Clinton and Obama stage Oscar-worthy drama
H ow appropriate that the presidential campaign drama that some already are calling "Geffengate" and "Hilla-Bama," among other nicknames, happened to break during Oscars week.
Nothing puts a smile on the lips or a lift in the footsteps of reporters and pundits like a story brimming with big names, powerful people, Hollywood glitter and some major feuding.
One must call upon the drama critic in one's soul to do justice to the epic reception that Southern California's deep-pockets Democratic donors gave to upstart Sen. Barack Obama. For most of us, it would be enough to have Halle Barry say, as she said exuberantly of Obama, that she would go out and pick up litter in the streets to ease his progress.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/OPINION03/703070306/1008/OPINION01
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Kathleen Parker
From Selma to Obama
T his past Sunday, as politicians and civil rights activists commemorated "Bloody Sunday," Selma, Ala., once again became home to a perhaps historic shift in America's racial evolution.
It's a subtle shift, but significant -- and possibly profound.
First, flash back to March 7, 1965, at the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where about 600 African-Americans, led by Hosea Williams and then-25-year-old John Lewis, now a Democratic congressman from Georgia, were beaten and tear-gassed by state and local police.
Lewis, clubbed in the head, was among 50 marchers hospitalized that day.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/AUTO01/703070369/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Fuel reform plan draws harsh critics
No senator from either party endorsed NHTSA's non-specific approach to improving fuel economy.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Senators were deeply skeptical Tuesday of the Bush administration's plan to reform and rewrite fuel economy mandates for the nation's fleet of cars and trucks.
In a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Nicole Nason came under withering criticism because the administration's proposal does not set a hard-and-fast requirement for automakers to improve vehicle fuel economy to a specific level. No senator from either political party endorsed NHTSA's approach.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/AUTO02/703070326/1320/AUTO04
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
John McCormick
Cheap fuel dictates U.S. auto market
S urveys, just like statistics, can be manipulated to make any point, however implausible. And that's just the case with a new survey that claims Michigan autoworkers overwhelmingly support a 40 mpg fuel economy rule.
This self-serving study from the Civil Society Institute, an ecology 'think tank', clearly failed to point out to the 1,000 autoworkers surveyed that pushing for a 40 mpg standard would put them out of work.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602816.html
Senators to shine light on credit card practices
By John Poirier
Reuters
Tuesday, March 6, 2007; 11:01 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation may be needed to stop overzealous credit card companies from piling on interest rates and fees that have plunged millions of American families deeply into debt, a senior Democratic senator said on Tuesday.
On the eve of a hearing on the industry's practices, Carl Levin of Michigan, who chairs the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, said too many consumers are suffering from what he called predatory practices and murky fees.
Mar 7, 3:19 AM EST
Senate panel to examine credit card fees
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Senate panel is examining complex billing and interest-rate practices for credit cards that critics say confuse consumers and can push them deeper into debt.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee, said an investigation by his panel found "abusive" and confusing practices by credit card companies that can increase financial pain for many families.
"The penalties are repeated and they keep you in debt," Levin told reporters in advance of a hearing Wednesday at which major credit card issuers were expected to testify.
While the credit card practices in question are legal, Levin is threatening possible legislation to outlaw them as a spur to the banking industry for voluntary changes.
http://www.cato.org/view_ddispatch.php?viewdate=20070306#1
Pork-Barrel Bills Survive "Cuts"
"Long after Congress removed about $450 million in budget earmarks for two bridges in the Alaskan exurbs, the fight over whether to build them is not dead," reports The New York Times. "Mocked as 'bridges to nowhere' by critics who saw them as the epitome of Congressional excess, preparations for the projects have been slowly moving forward even as big questions remain over whether the bridges will be built."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_PROSECUTORS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Mar 7, 5:03 AM EST
Republicans could face new ethics probes
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans could face ethics investigations for contacting U.S. attorneys about pending cases, a jarring political development only four months after ethical lapses helped cost the GOP control of Congress.
Two veteran Republican lawmakers and a top GOP leadership aide contacted prosecutors who later were fired. All three denied wrongdoing.
Democratic-run committees in both the House and Senate are investigating the firings of eight U.S. attorneys. Six of those prosecutors told Congress on Tuesday they felt pressured by the interventions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600606.html
Prosecutors Say They Felt Pressured, Threatened
Hill Republicans, Justice Dept. Cited
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A01
Six fired U.S. attorneys testified on Capitol Hill yesterday that they had separately been the target of complaints, improper telephone calls and thinly veiled threats from a high-ranking Justice Department official or members of Congress, both before and after they were abruptly removed from their jobs.
In back-to-back hearings in the Senate and House, former U.S. attorney David C. Iglesias of New Mexico and five other former prosecutors recounted specific instances in which some said they felt pressured by Republicans on corruption cases and one said a Justice Department official warned him to keep quiet or face retaliation.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070371/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Analysis
Libby verdict is latest woe for Bush administration
Conviction is a reminder of how the Iraq war has enveloped the presidency, destroyed careers of many.
Dan Balz / Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- The conviction of former White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on Tuesday dealt another blow to President Bush's beleaguered administration and marked the latest chapter in a record of mistakes, missteps and setbacks growing out of an Iraq war policy that went badly awry.
The Libby verdict comes at an especially difficult time for the administration. The conviction of someone who once served at such a high level in the White House carried symbolic power when it was handed down at midday.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070410/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Libby jurors: Verdict not 'a matter of opinion'
MATT Apuzzo and Michael J. Sniffen / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Jurors in the Libby trial turned their deliberation room into one big visual aid, plastering the walls with dozens of poster-size summaries of witness testimony.
They pushed two long tables together, pored over testimony, reviewed their notes and spent a week just laying out the evidence.
But in the end, it came down to credibility and they simply did not believe the former White House aide's story.
"There were good managerial type people on this jury who took everything apart and put it in the right place," juror Denis Collins said after he and his colleagues convicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI. "After that, it wasn't a matter of opinion. It was just there."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_LEAK_TRIAL?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Mar 7, 5:41 AM EST
Despite verdict, Libby's fate uncertain
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction capped a four-year, politically charged investigation but did not seal Libby's fate or resolve some of the lingering questions in the CIA leak case.
Once the closest adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity. He was the highest-ranking White House official convicted in a government scandal since the Iran-Contra arms and money affair two decades ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/opinion/07weds1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
A Libby Verdict
Published: March 7, 2007
There will be a great deal written and said in coming days about the frustrations of the Scooter Libby verdict — that it did not tell us whether someone deliberately blew Valerie Plame Wilson’s cover or erase serious concerns about the prosecutor’s abuse of the First Amendment. Let’s focus first on what the verdict does say.
One of the most senior officials in the White House, Lewis Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, was caught lying to the F.B.I. He appears to have been trying to cover up a smear campaign that was orchestrated by his boss against the first person to unmask one of the many untruths that President Bush used to justify invading Iraq. He was charged with those crimes, defended by the best lawyers he could get, tried in an open courtroom and convicted of serious felonies. Mr. Libby walked freely out of the court, had his say in public and will be allowed to appeal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602365.html
THE JURY
Libby 'Pilloried' For Leak, Panel Members Believed
By Amy Goldstein and Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A08
The jurors who huddled around two pushed-together conference tables for 10 days, meticulously filling 34 pages of facts from the trial on a large flip chart, believed that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff had been "pilloried" for a CIA leak that other top White House aides had committed along with him, according to one member of the panel.
Still, the juror said yesterday, the jury concluded that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby had lied to FBI agents and a federal grand jury that investigated the leak. Sifting through mounds of evidence convinced the panel that Libby's memory of conversations with colleagues and journalists was not as faulty as the defense contended.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602589.html
For an Opaque White House, A Reflection of New Scrutiny
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A01
Shortly before he was inaugurated for his second term, President Bush was asked why no one was held responsible for the mistakes of the first. "We had an accountability moment," he replied, "and that's called the 2004 elections."
Two years and a stinging midterm election later, Bush is having another accountability moment, but this one isn't working out as well. The conviction of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has coincided with a string of investigations into the mistreatment of injured soldiers and the purge of federal prosecutors, putting the operations of his administration into harsh relief.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602020.html
The Libby Verdict
The serious consequences of a pointless Washington scandal
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A16
THE CONVICTION of I. Lewis Libby on charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice was grounded in strong evidence and what appeared to be careful deliberation by a jury. The former chief of staff to Vice President Cheney told the FBI and a grand jury that he had not leaked the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame to journalists but rather had learned it from them. But abundant testimony at his trial showed that he had found out about Ms. Plame from official sources and was dedicated to discrediting her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. Particularly for a senior government official, lying under oath is a serious offense. Mr. Libby's conviction should send a message to this and future administrations about the dangers of attempting to block official investigations.
The fall of this skilled and long-respected public servant is particularly sobering because it arose from a Washington scandal remarkable for its lack of substance. It was propelled not by actual wrongdoing but by inflated and frequently false claims, and by the aggressive and occasionally reckless response of senior Bush administration officials -- culminating in Mr. Libby's perjury.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070417/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Libby trial testimony
Associated Press
A summary of testimony from witnesses in the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and making false statements:
Prosecution witnesses
Marc Grossman: A former undersecretary of state, Grossman said he told Libby on June 11 or 12, 2003, that Valerie Plame, the wife of a prominent war critic, worked at the CIA. Under cross-examination, Grossman acknowledged some inconsistencies i his statements, such as whether the conversations were face to face or over the phone.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070416/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Libby verdict: Cheney statement
Associated Press
Vice President Dick Cheney's statement Tuesday following the conviction of his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby:
"I am very disappointed with the verdict. I am saddened for Scooter and his family. As I have said before, Scooter has served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction through many years of public service.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070411/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Libby conviction reaction
Associated Press
Reaction to Tuesday's conviction of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on charges of lying and obstructing an investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name:
------
"I am very disappointed with the verdict. I am saddened for Scooter and his family. As I have said before, Scooter has served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction through many years of public service." -- Vice President Dick Cheney.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_LEAK_MEDIA?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Mar 7, 2:10 AM EST
CIA leak trial prompts scrutiny of Media
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The CIA leak trial turned a spotlight on the shifting ground rules for reporters and their editors who more than ever must balance their pursuit of the news with a heightened risk of landing in court.
Eve Burton, general counsel of the Hearst Corp., which owns the San Francisco Chronicle and other papers, said editors have had to abandon at least three stories involving government activity in recent months because of a more hostile legal environment.
Consider, too, that White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction was based on the testimony of several journalists. The former White House aide was found guilty Tuesday on four felony counts of lying about his role in exposing undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame. He could face up to 25 years in prison.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009753
The Libby Travesty
Mr. Bush owes the former aide a pardon, and an apology.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
The word "guilty" had barely crossed the airwaves yesterday in the perjury case of Scooter Libby before critics were calling it proof that President Bush "lied us into war" and demanding that Dick Cheney be strung up next. Maybe now Mr. Bush will realize that this case was always a political fight over Iraq and do the right thing by pardoning Mr. Libby.
The conviction is certainly a travesty of justice, though that is not the jury's fault. The 11 men and women were faced with confusing evidence of conflicting memories in a case that never should have been brought. In the end, they were persuaded more by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's story line that Mr. Libby, a former aide to Mr. Cheney, had lied to a grand jury about what he knew when about the status of CIA official Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush critic Joseph Wilson.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/opinion/07lewis.html
Not All Sources Are Equal
By ANTHONY LEWIS
Published: March 7, 2007
THE conviction yesterday of I. Lewis Libby Jr. on perjury and other charges, after a trial with a parade of press witnesses, leaves a legacy of intensified concern about legal proceedings that force journalists to disclose confidential sources. It is a legitimate and urgent concern. Without the ability to promise confidentiality, the press would have been unable to report notorious abuses of government power from Watergate through the Bush administration’s violations of fundamental rights in the “war on terror.”
But it is much easier to see the danger than to agree on a way to stop it. That is because there are compelling interests on both sides of the problem, as many in the press are loath to admit.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AIRPORT_SCREENERS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Mar 6, 10:06 PM EST
Senate: Airport screeners can unionize
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate voted Tuesday to give 45,000 airport screeners the same union rights as other public safety officers, despite vigorous opposition by Republicans and a veto threat from the White House.
A broad anti-terrorism bill that would put in place unfinished recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission also would give airport screeners the right to bargain collectively. An amendment by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., that would have removed that right was defeated by a vote of 51-46.
The Senate also failed to resolve the issue of how to divide $3 billion in homeland security grants, an issue that pits rural states against states with densely populated metropolitan areas.
http://www.cato.org/view_ddispatch.php?viewdate=20070306#1
White House Privacy Board Approves Surveillance Programs
"A White House privacy board is giving its stamp of approval to two of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance programs -- electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking -- and says they do not violate citizens' civil liberties," the Associated Press reports. "Democrats newly in charge of Congress quickly criticized the findings, which they said were questionable given some of the board members' close ties with the Bush administration."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030600395.html
Dole, Shalala to Lead Troop-Care Panel
Bipartisan Commission Will Evaluate Treatment, From Battlefield to Civilian Life
By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A05
President Bush yesterday named former senator Robert J. Dole and former secretary of health and human services Donna E. Shalala to co-chair a bipartisan commission that will examine the care that wounded U.S. troops receive after they return from the battlefield, one more among several high-level investigations spawned by recent revelations of squalor and bureaucratic woes facing veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
The review will encompass troops' reintegration into civilian life back home. Bush also announced that he has asked the secretary of veterans affairs to lead a Cabinet-level interagency task force to deal with immediate shortcomings in helping veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WALTER_REED?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Mar 7, 4:40 AM EST
Walter Reed uproar refuels Iraq debate
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats are using the uproar over Walter Reed Army Medical Center as their latest cudgel to batter President Bush for his Iraq war policies as the administration shows signs it fears political damage from the revelations.
Reports of patient neglect and shoddy outpatient rooms at the hospital have brought Army brass to Capitol Hill to explain and apologize. Bush's handling of the war has been widely unpopular with voters, and reports about Walter Reed come on the heels of his decision to send more troops to Iraq - which has also met a negative response from the public.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/opinion/07weds2.html
The Wider Shame of Walter Reed
Published: March 7, 2007
It is impossible not to feel fury at the shameful neglect of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed’s outpatient facilities, just a few miles from an oblivious and neglectful White House. Many have been housed in rooms coated with mold and infested with cockroaches and mice. They have been swamped with confusing paperwork and forced to take responsibility for managing their own medical care. And when they or their family members have complained, their pleas for help have been callously ignored.
In a desperate scramble to mute public outrage, President Bush yesterday named two political veterans to lead a commission charged with investigating conditions throughout the entire system of military and veterans’ hospitals. The choices seem to be good ones: Bob Dole, a veteran wounded in World War II and a former Republican Party candidate for president, and Donna Shalala, who ran the Health and Human Services Department for President Bill Clinton.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Mar 6, 10:06 PM EST
Dems to add billions to Iraq war bill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats are pushing to add billions of dollars to President Bush's $93.4 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $900 million for troops suffering from brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.
An additional $2.5 billion would go to strengthen training and readiness for forces not deployed in war zones, and $1.4 billion would go to address housing allowance shortfalls.
At the same time, the Pentagon said Tuesday it needs about $1 billion more to support Bush's decision to send 21,500 additional combat troops to Iraq. It also said it has decided against using the pending supplemental bill to procure combat and cargo aircraft, few if any of which could have been built in time to affect the war.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009754
Notes From Baghdad
Open liquor stores and other signs of the surge's success.
BY MOHAMMED FADHIL AND OMAR FADHIL
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
BAGHDAD--The new strategy to secure Baghdad has been dubbed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as "Operation Imposing the Law." After weeks of waiting and anxiety it is finally under way, and early signs are encouraging.
The government information campaign and the news about thousands of additional troops coming had a positive impact even before the operation started. Commanders and lieutenants of various militant groups abandoned their positions in Baghdad and in some cases fled the country. Diyala province, to the east of Baghdad, was the destination for many Sunni extremists, while Shiite militiamen went to Babil and Diwaniya in the south. Some higher-ranking members of Shiite and Sunni militant groups fled to Iran and Syria respectively. This migration motivated the government to announce supporting security measures in five provinces around Baghdad, to make sure that fleeing bad guys do not regroup in other cities.
http://www.cato.org/view_ddispatch.php?viewdate=20070306#1
Bush to Blunt Chavez Influence on Latin America Trip
"President Bush arrives [in Brazil] Thursday with an energy partnership plan to create jobs and decrease poverty and inequality, a marked shift in Washington's priorities for Latin America aimed at countering the challenge posed by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela," reports The New York Times. "Since 1990, when Mr. Bush's father was in the White House, United States policy toward the region has focused on free-trade agreements and related economic measures, with a secondary emphasis on drug interdiction. But the growing leftward and anti-American trend in regional politics, led by Mr. Chávez -- who plans a countertour to coincide with Mr. Bush's trip -- has led to a modified agenda and a renewed effort to rebut complaints by Latin Americans that the president has ignored their concerns in favor of the campaign against terrorism."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/opinion/07weds3.html
Thanks to Mr. Chávez
Published: March 7, 2007
Venezuela and its demagogic president, Hugo Chávez, won’t get a visit from President Bush. But Mr. Chávez’s appeal will be very much on Mr. Bush’s mind when he visits Latin America over the next week.
That’s actually a healthy development.
If your taste runs to three-hour speeches, chiseling away at democracy and a world-class personality cult, Mr. Chávez is your man. But if the goal is to lift millions of people out of grinding poverty, only a major effort by the United States — the hemisphere’s biggest economy and strongest democracy — can make a serious difference. And if it takes Mr. Chávez’s demagogy to spur Washington toward more enlightened policies in the Americas, so be it.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070307/POLITICS/703070314/1022
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Bush trip marks policy shift
Tour of South American cities will tout an energy partnership, job creation, offset Chavez challenge.
Larry Rohter / New York Times
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- President Bush arrives here on Thursday with an energy partnership plan to create jobs and decrease poverty and inequality, a marked shift in Washington's priorities for Latin America aimed at countering the challenge posed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Since 1990, when Bush's father was in the White House, U.S. policy toward the region has focused on free-trade agreements and related economic measures, with a secondary emphasis on drug interdiction.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/06/AR2007030602023.html
Latin America's Turn
President Bush still has a chance to deliver on his promise to strengthen U.S. alliances.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007; Page A16
PRESIDENT BUSH'S tour of Latin America beginning tomorrow will be shadowed by Hugo Chávez, in more ways than one. On Friday, when Mr. Bush is to visit Uruguay, the Venezuelan president will appear at a mass rally across the Plate River in Argentina, where he will try to drown out his American rival. Mr. Chávez has paid well for his Buenos Aires soapbox: He has used Venezuela's petrodollars to buy $1.5 billion in Argentine debt, allowing leftist president Néstor Kirchner to steer clear of the International Monetary Fund.
Mr. Bush seems to understand that to confront Mr. Chávez, in words or otherwise, would be to provide him with the U.S. enemy he craves. When it goes unanswered, the Venezuelan's rhetoric tends to boomerang: Polls show that Mr. Chávez's popularity rating in Latin America is just as low as Mr. Bush's. Mr. Bush's duty is to demonstrate that those who choose alliance with the United States and the democratic world benefit more than Venezuela's motley collection of allies, headed by Cuba and Iran.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_LATIN_AMERICA?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Mar 7, 5:39 AM EST
Bush: Cubans should pick Castro successor
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush says that when Fidel Castro dies, his communist government should as well.
"How long he stays on earth, that's a decision that will be made by the Almighty," Bush told foreign journalists Tuesday ahead of a weeklong trip to Latin America.
"I don't know how long he's going to live. But nevertheless, I do believe that the system of government that he's imposed upon the people ought not live if that's what the people decide."
Castro is in failing health. For 47 years, he has had led a communist regime south of Florida's shores.
The Bush administration remains hopeful that his death will lead to grass-roots democratic reform, but so far, Castro's decision to transfer power to his younger brother, Raul, has gone seamlessly.
