Articles of Interest 4-13-07
571 Days until election day.
MORNING SUMMARY:
Senator John McCain tours Michigan.
David All, a leading Republican internet/new media consultant posted the following about our efforts:
http://www.davidallgroup.com/2007/04/12/when-it-comes-to-gop-state-party-chairman/
The Harvard Political Review publishes an article about the role of government in Michigan’s current economic challenge:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/04/harvard_politic.html
Republican Whip, Congressman Eric Cantor has a blog that allows you to rate how Republicans are doing…nice.
Democrat Speaker Andy Dillon:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/04/democrat_speake.html
F.Y.I. - all my high school age boys have their own iPods, so our family could save the Democrats some money on their proposal.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
Senator John McCain spent the evening crisscrossing our state from Oakland county to Ottawa county last night. Today his trip ends up at a luncheon in Kalamazoo county.
David All, a leading Republican internet/new media consultant posted the following about our efforts
http://www.davidallgroup.com/2007/04/12/when-it-comes-to-gop-state-party-chairman/
The Harvard Political Review publishes an article about the role of government in Michigan’s current economic challenge:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/04/harvard_politic.html
The articles discusses the various approaches taken by Governor Granholm and the Democrats in using Keynsian economic model vs that of most Republican who prefer allowing the private sector to join the rest of the country in creating jobs.
The Grand Old Partisan blog -- http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com -- celebrating 153 years of Republican heroes and heroics Check it out.
Today Democrats from the Michigan State House of Representatives held another press conference attempting to explain the lingering controversy surrounding the caucus on what they are now calling a “vision” to provide an Apple iPod for Michigan public school students.
Yesterday’s explanation by Rep. Tim Melton (D- Pontiac) failed to put to rest the most serious concerns Michigan citizens have about this proposal. Two questions remain unanswered: Why won’t House Democrats disclose whether they hold personal investments in Apple, and which tax did they plan to raise to fund this foolish scheme, since we sure don’t have the money for it now? These questions must be answered.
Why was Speaker of the House Andy Dillon (D- Redford) was absent from the event. Also, why Melton seemed to dance around questions about a trip to California that Dillon and State Representative Matthew Gillard (D- Alpena) took, partially financed by Apple, shortly before the iPod proposal was introduced.
It seems every time House Democrats attempt to explain themselves they just create more confusion. The people who gave the House Democrats their majority deserve to know if their taxes will be hiked, and about any other conflicts of interest that may surround those who have introduced this plan.
Robert Bluey writes on RedState: Rep. Eric Cantor (R.-Va.) is one of those members who gets it. So it's not surprising that he has a great blog and is always trying to come up with new ideas to advance the movement.
Cantor's latest innovation is a report card that allows you to grade House Republicans on their performance so far in the minority. It asks questions about the GOP's tactics on the House floor, the party's communication with bloggers and Republicans' performance highlighting the Democrats' mistakes. While the questions are a little leading, I think it's terrific that Cantor is soliciting feedback. I just wish we could see how people are grading the GOP, but that's a quibble that could be addressed later.
As the House Republicans' chief deputy whip, Cantor holds an important position in the GOP hierarchy. And with a lifetime rating of 96% from the American Conservative Union, conservatives can count him as an ally.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/OPINION01/704120318/1008
Editorial
Lansing Republicans must be resolute in tax hike fight
The Detroit News
Stand strong. And don't believe the hype. That's the strategy Republicans in Lansing must employ if this state's economy is ever to recover.
Surrendering to tax hikes, no matter how small, will put Michigan further in the hole and propel the exodus of people and businesses to surrounding Midwestern states and the South.
Already, firms in Michigan are cancelling expansion plans and putting employee hires on hold because of uncertainty about the tax climate. Companies that might have considered Michigan are looking elsewhere and those that operate here now are rightly concerned that they'll be on the hook for bailing out the state because they're not headquartered here.
Those are the real costs of the Legislature's inaction and the Democrats' promise to increase taxes in a state that can ill afford such schemes. As we've noted, state residents' per capita personal income is below the national average; relative to the rest of the nation it's at Great Depression levels.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/POLITICS/704130383
Gov: Tax hike or school cut
Districts could lose up to $125 per student
Gary Heinlein, Charlie Cain and Karen Bouffard / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm is warning that unless lawmakers take immediate steps to raise taxes, she will cut school aid by as much as $125 per student.
Robert Emerson, the state's budget director, said in a letter Thursday to state school superintendents that the cuts are aimed at wiping out a school funding shortfall that already totals $377 million and could rise as high as $527 million by mid-May.
Republican lawmakers called the letter a scare tactic, but school officials have growing concerns.
The lost revenue would have grave consequences for districts across Michigan, said Tom White, executive director of the Michigan School Business Officials, an association of finance directors.
Democrats try to end controversy over iPods in classrooms
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- House Democrats tried to derail a distracting controversy Thursday, saying a statement made last week about providing iPods for Michigan students had been misconstrued and was diverting focus from the state's budget crisis.
Democrats, at least for now, say they aren't considering providing an iPod or MP3 player for Michigan students. House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, said in a statement this week the initiative can't be pursued until the state has settled its budget problems.
Democrats also said Dillon and the two other Democratic state lawmakers who earlier this year visited Apple Inc., the iPod's maker, will pay for the trip themselves.
The iPod idea first surfaced last week during a broad, budget-related press conference held by House Democrats. Rep. Matt Gillard, D-Alpena and chairman of the House subcommittee overseeing K-12 school budgets, discussed a $38 million "21st Century Learning Environments" plan. He also pulled out an iPod and said "we want this in the hands of every student in the state of Michigan."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/POLITICS/704130368
Legislators to pay Apple back
State officials aim to show Calif. trip was legit, there was no plan to buy iPods for Mich. students.
Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Three Michigan lawmakers who took a trip to California last month paid for by Apple Inc. to learn about educational technology will reimburse the company $1,702 each.
"The only reason we're paying for it is to end this public perception that something is misguided," said Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills.
Melton, chairman of the House Education Policy Committee, said House Democrats erred last week when they announced that they planned to put $38 million into the budget to buy Apple iPods for students. He said that was never the plan, but it was widely reported in the Michigan press and then picked up by the nation's media. He said the "iPod controversy" has become a national joke.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/OPINION03/704130344
Daniel Howes
Detroit: Who cares?
We were both pumping gas at the Cumberland Farms in South Hadley, Mass., when the woman next to me smiled and cheerfully asked, "So, how are things in Michigan?"
"Worst economy in the nation," I replied, watching her smile evaporate into a look that said I was telling her something she didn't know. "We lead the nation in foreclosures. No one can sell their homes. And in just the last year or so, the auto companies have cut something like 100,000 hourly jobs."
She paused, concerned. Then she confessed that I'd "made her day." Why? Because she'd been brooding about how hard it is to get ahead, and I'd reminded her how much worse things could be. I also reminded myself how disconnected the rest of America is from the angst consuming Michigan.
http://hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/OPINION01/704120768/1201/NEWS13
TOM WATKINS: Ideas are what will make us better
"Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them."
Adlai E. Stevensons, Jr. Governor, Illinois, 1949-1953, and Democratic Candidate for President (1952 and 1956)
Oh yeah, I get email.
Ideas do matter and are critical if we hope to move our state forward. I view my role on these pages as taking positions that some might view as "controversial'' to help stimulate thought and to create community conversations. As my first boss so aptly pointed out, "if we both agreed on everything - one of us would not be necessary."
What follows are some comments that my columns have generated from readers.
In an article that I wrote about the 10th anniversary of the death of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, one reader wrote, "What are you, some #@&*# communist sympathizer looking to ship our jobs to China?" No, I am not.
http://hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/OPINION01/704120750/1201/NEWS13
PHIL POWER: State's top leaders must work together
As Michigan government lurches closer and closer to financial disaster, it's important to remember the very human element behind all the budgetary mumbo-jumbo and political skirmishing.
Three people are absolutely critical to any solution: Gov. Jennifer Granholm, House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, and Sen. Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.
Certainly, as Democrats, Granholm and Dillon have more in common than they do with Bishop. But their situations are different.
Now in her second term, the governor is legally prevented from running again. With U.S. Senator Carl Levin, a fellow Democrat, seeking re-election, there is no higher office she can run for when she leaves the governor's mansion. To put it plainly, for her, the risks of being bold and decisive are relatively slight.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/AUTO01/704130379
GM to hire 400 tech engineers
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Amid the tens of thousands of job cuts that are rapidly shrinking Michigan's manufacturing industry, General Motors Corp. is hanging out a "Help Wanted" sign.
The industrywide scramble to come up with new technologies to improve fuel economy and create energy alternatives to oil has the world's largest automaker scouring for hundreds of highly specialized engineers.
GM will hold an invitation-only job fair May 5 with the goal of filling up to 400 new engineering and technical positions in fields such powertrain engineering, product development and fuel cells. The automaker also is looking to fill openings in its OnStar and information technology divisions.
GM plans to publicize the event during next week's Society of Automotive Engineers conference in Detroit. Prospective candidates must register for the fair and submit a resume online.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_MCCAIN_MICH_MIOL-?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
McCain touts job-training plan during Michigan stop
HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) -- While on a two-day campaign swing through Michigan, home of the struggling domestic auto industry, Republican presidential contender John McCain touted his plan to use community colleges to educate and retrain displaced workers.
"We cannot leave these people behind," McCain said Thursday evening before an appearance at an Ottawa County Republican Party dinner. "We've got to give them a chance to get education and training and we also have to provide them not only with portable health insurance, but portable, affordable health insurance."
The Arizona senator proposes establishing programs at community colleges throughout the country in which training for displaced workers would be tailored to suit local employment needs.
About 400 people paid $60 apiece to attend the dinner and to see and hear McCain, who planned to speak Friday at a Kalamazoo County Republican Party luncheon before leaving the state. The events were fundraisers for the local parties.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/POLITICS01/704130427/1003/METRO
McCain in Mich. to recapture 2000 magic
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Arizona Sen. John McCain launched a two-day trip through Michigan on Thursday, hoping an appearance in the state where he claimed a stunning primary win in 2000 will pump new life into his struggling presidential campaign.
At a stop in Holland on Thursday night, McCain touted his plan to use community colleges to educate and retrain displaced workers.
"We cannot leave these people behind," McCain said before an appearance at an Ottawa County Republican Party dinner. "We've got to give them a chance to get education and training and we also have to provide them not only with portable health insurance, but portable, affordable health insurance."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/OPINION03/704130316
James P. Hoffa: Labor Voices
Michigan pays high price for free trade agreements
Stop president from putting U.S. on fast track to despair
As a proud Michigan native, I'm angry about the dire financial conditions facing the state and its families. Michigan has fallen from its boom days primarily because our good-paying manufacturing jobs have been exported.
We're in "the most severe crisis in the state's existence," says David Littmann, senior economist at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in a recent Washington Post story. For the first time since the Great Depression, Michigan is a poor state relative to the rest of the nation. Detroit has the highest unemployment rate of any U.S. city.
Free trade flight
A chief facilitator of this migration, of both our neighbors and jobs with fair pay and benefits, are so-called "free trade" agreements. The truth is, there is nothing free about these deals -- we're paying a high price for these deals. Our federal government must rethink the way it negotiates trade agreements.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/METRO/704130375
Cutbacks pinch state crime labs
Already overwhelmed, further layoffs of forensic scientists and proposed budget cuts will 'drastically impact public safety.'
Mike Martindale / The Detroit News
LANSING -- Budget cuts and layoffs have created a massive backlog of evidence at Michigan State Police crime labs and, with more reductions on the way, local police departments say the problem is hampering their ability to solve crimes -- and get criminals off the street.
In the past year, 11 State Police forensic science positions have been eliminated. In the next several months, the 160 scientists who analyze DNA samples, fingerprints, ballistics and other forms of evidence will shrink to 136.
With more than 40,000 new felons to process each year and a steady stream of requests from old cases that were originally investigated before DNA evidence could be analyzed, the staff reductions have left laboratories overwhelmed and local police departments frustrated.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/117638915222570.xml&coll=2
AAMG workers wait to hear whether they're keeping jobs
Thursday, April 12, 2007
BY STEFANIE MURRAY
News Business Reporter
The 1,400 former ABN Amro Mortgage Group workers in Michigan, including 850 in Pittsfield Township, should find out the fate of their jobs and offices this week, according to a spokesman for the company's new parent, Citigroup Inc.
The mortgage business was not included in the companywide restructuring Citigroup announced early Wednesday.
Citigroup spokesman Mark Rodgers said the company will share its plans for integrating AAMG with its St. Louis-based mortgage lending business, CitiMortgage, with employees this week before announcing anything publicly.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/117638954069380.xml&coll=5
Fenton schools mull layoffs
Privatization also option to close budget gap
FENTON
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Thursday, April 12, 2007
FENTON - Jobs and popular educational programs will be on the line in Fenton schools Monday as the Board of Education considers millions of dollars in cuts, and union forces plan a 12-hour picket against privatization.
A proposal to lay off 18 full-time teachers and reduce two to part-time status is likely to see a vote. There also may be a decision on further exploring privatizing transportation services, which could affect about 20 jobs, Board President Nora Kryza said Wednesday.
Other potential cutbacks might only be discussed, such as increasing class sizes and moving fifth-graders from the five-six school back to elementary buildings, Kryza said. During a public forum in March, parents spoke against moving the fifth-graders.
In all, proposed cuts of $1.6 million to $2.3 million are being discussed for the 2007-08 school year.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/117638894322571.xml&coll=2
Professors' raises surpass inflation
At U-M, average salary hits $130,400
Thursday, April 12, 2007
BY DAVE GERSHMAN
News Staff Reporter
University professors across the country, including those at the University of Michigan, got good salary news this year with average pay increases that were greater than the rate of inflation, according to a new report.
U-M faculty on the Ann Arbor campus hit the national average by receiving a
4.1 percent raise for the 2006-07 academic year.
At $130,400, U-M is paying the highest average salary for a full professor among the 29 public and private institutions in Michigan that were included in the annual report issued today by the American Association of University Professors.
Michigan State University placed second in the state by paying an average of $110,200.
Eastern Michigan University, which was not included in the report, resolved a faculty contract dispute this week and agreed to a 3.5 percent pay increase for its faculty this academic year, retroactive to Sept. 1. Before the increase, the average full professor was making $79,905, according to the EMU faculty union.
The comparable national figures are from the category of the report that looks at universities with major doctoral programs. (In calculating averages, the report excluded salaries of professors at medical schools.)
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/OPINION01/704130315/1008
Editorial
Kilpatrick's budget plan has the right priorities
The Detroit News
Detroit City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel had the best reaction to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's proposed new budget: The "broad strokes" of the budget are encouraging.
Kilpatrick is proposing a $3.1 billion total budget, down from $3.7 billion in the current year. The city's projected $1.4 billion in General Fund expenditures on operations are down $27 million from the current year. Despite the spending cuts, the mayor vows to hire an additional 106 police officers, as well as fill 94 vacancies, increasing the strength of the force.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/METRO/704130376&theme=Metro-Detroit-mayor
Kilpatrick to reduce spending, add cops
David Josar and Amy Lee / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- For the first time in years, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick proposed a budget Thursday that was short on doom and long on optimism that includes hiring 174 additional workers, including 106 cops, boosting recreation center staff and permanently eliminating the city's deficit.
"We have managed our way through this very critical time period," Kilpatrick told the Detroit City Council as he outlined his proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year.
The overall budget actually reduces spending about 14 percent while most revenue streams remain stagnant and city planners anticipate losing $8 million in state aid.
The overall proposal budget is $3.1 billion.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/METRO/704130378/1003
Trash fee gets mixed reviews
Amy Lee / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A new fee for trash services for Detroit businesses drew mixed reaction from business owners in Detroit.
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Thursday pitched a plan to charge businesses $150 to $1,000 for city staffers to inspect trash disposal services at Detroit businesses. Businesses are required to contract with the city or a private vendor for waste disposal services; the city inspections would take place to ensure solid waste is taken care of properly.
The fee, if passed, would take effect in July and would replace the 3-mill trash collection tax businesses currently pay. The plan will provide tax relief while generating more money for the city, Kilpatrick said.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/SCHOOLS/704130419/1003/METRO
DPS board approves new leader's contract
The Detroit Public Schools board approved a five-year, $1.4 million contract Thursday for incoming superintendent Connie Calloway, despite some board members questioning the length of the pact.
The contract amounts to an annual base salary of $280,000 if Calloway, 56, serves the five years. She makes $165,000 as head of the 5,700-student Normandy, Mo., schools. The vote was 8-3.
Board Vice President Joyce Hayes-Giles called it a "new beginning."
"As long as she accepts it, and I believe she will, we can really take off in the next year," she said. Calloway could not be reached.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/METRO/704130381/1003
Tunnel lease touted to fight deficit
David Josar / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A $75 million deal to lease the city's interest in the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to the city of Windsor is nearly complete, and it only needs the approval of Detroit City Council.
"Everything has been gone over," Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said on Thursday, talking about the linchpin in his plan to rid the city of its lagging budget deficit.
Kilpatrick had tried a similar yet less lucrative arrangement involving the tunnel last year, but concerns by his staff as well as the City Council scuttled the deal.
In that proposal, the city would have gotten $20 million for its part of the tunnel from trucking magnate and Ambassador Bridge owner Manny Moroun.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/OPINION01/704130313/1008
Editorial
Wealthy Oakland suburbs should merge services
Birmingham and Bloomfield can cut costs like other communities
The Detroit News
Birmingham should follow Bloomfield Township's lead and approve a study of consolidating their fire and police services to cut costs.
The two tony Oakland County suburbs already share a border and a need to get serious about stretching taxpayer dollars without sacrificing service. Police and fire operations already account for more than half of Bloomfield Township's budget, while those public safety functions amount to a third of Birmingham's budget.
The township supervisor and Birmingham's city manager both back the effort. Township Supervisor David Payne told The Detroit News any merger would be done gradually. Staff cuts would come through attrition with the ultimate goal of consolidating operations under a single roof.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/METRO/704130361/1003
Grand Rapids drops race, sex preferences
Oralandar Brand-Williams / The Detroit News
Grand Rapids city officials said Thursday they will scrap a program that would have awarded public contracts to minority and women-owned businesses, following criticism of the program from Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.
Cox said the program was in violation of the state's new law banning gender and race-based preferences for public jobs, education and contracts.
The plan, a set of guidelines for distributing $12 million in contracts for construction, renovation and other services by the city of Grand Rapids, would have awarded a small percentage of those contracts to women- and minority-owned companies under guidelines from a federal program for "Disadvantaged Business Enterprises."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/POLITICS/704130363/1022
Official testifies against Cushingberry
Analyst says the state representative didn't file campaign financial statements on time.
Gary Heinlein / The Detroit News
LANSING -- A State Elections Bureau official testified Thursday that state Rep. George Cushingberry Jr., D-Detroit, failed to file any of his required campaign finance disclosure statements on time in 2004, when he was elected
Peter Allegrina, an Elections Bureau analyst, testified Thursday in the trial of the lawmaker, 54, who is accused of failing to file campaign documents on time and then lying about it when he signed two documents stating he met the requirement.
Allegrina testified that Cushingberry, in May 2004, paid $500 of a $1,000 late fee he owed by then for failing to file an annual statement that had been due at the beginning of 2004.
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1176391048138070.xml&coll=4
Landfill operator drops application to expand
Thursday, April 12, 2007
TIMES WRITER
Republic Services of Michigan has withdrawn its application to vertically expand the Whitefeather Landfill in Bay County's Pinconning Township.
In a one-page letter, Republic engineer Brian Ezyk said the application, originally submitted in February 2006, was being withdrawn ''to allow additional time to review design considerations regarding the final cap system.''
This Friday was to be the deadline for a decision by state Department of Environmental Quality Director Steven E. Chester on whether to grant the expansion, which would have extended the landfill's life by about four years, or until 2021.
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1174577862266140.xml&coll=3
Growing debate Walberg discusses legislation with farmers
Thursday, April 12, 2007
By Kristin Longley
klongley@citpat.com -- 768-4917
U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg heard concerns about immigration, food safety and horse slaughter Wednesday during a roundtable discussion with members of the farm community.
The meeting was part of a series of discussions the Tipton Republican is having on the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill, which will replace the 2002 version. More than 30 people attended the discussion at Butch Lincoln's farm on N. Parma Road.
The farm bill includes funding for conservation, commodity payments and rural economic development. Walberg, who sits on the Agriculture Committee, said a final workup of the bill is expected in August.
Walberg said the administration is proposing deep cuts to agriculture spending, which could include cuts to subsidies. The payments help supplement income for many state farmers.
http://www.hillsdale.net/stories/041207/news_20070412007.shtml
Organ donation promoted
Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land urged all state residents to sign up for the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. More than 3,100 residents are awaiting transplants.
“We need everyone to add their names to the registry,” Land said. “Organ donation is a loving, selfless act that saves lives, but the demand for organs far exceeds the supply.”
Land is observing Buddy Week, which included visits by more than 300 organ recipients to 130 Secretary of State offices Tuesday to share their personal stories.
Tom Beyersdorf, executive director of Gift of Life Michigan, said, “The Michigan Organ Donor Registry is pivotal to saving more lives.”
NATIONAL STORIES
Bush Condemns Green Zone Attack
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush condemned Thursday's attack on Iraq's parliament building inside the heavily fortified Green Zone and said the U.S. must continue to help the Baghdad government reconcile the nation.
The president said the attack was against a symbol of democracy - the Iraqi assembly that represents millions of people who voted in recent elections.
"There is a type of person that would walk in that building and kill innocent life and that is the same type of person that is willing to come and kill innocent Americans," Bush said in the Roosevelt Room after meeting with educational leaders. "And it is in our interest to help this young democracy be in a position so it can sustain itself and govern itself and defend itself against these extremists and radicals."
Bush met Thursday with Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who recently visited Iraq.
"My message to the Iraqi government is `We stand with you as you take the steps necessary to not only reconcile politically, but also put a security force in place that is able to deal with these kinds of people,'" Bush said.
Dems Chide Bush Over Port Security Cards
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats accused the Bush administration on Thursday of bungling a much-needed port security program that has cost tens of millions of dollars and still isn't up and running.
The plan, overseen primarily by the Transportation Security Administration, calls for issuing high-tech, tamperproof ID cards to workers to gain access to secure areas of U.S. ports. The program, critics say, is beset by delays, cost overruns and missed deadlines.
The program has cost taxpayers more than $94 million, or about $60,000 per ID card, complained New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg.
"This kind of mismanagement is not fair to our workers. It's not fair to our ports," Lautenberg said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. "It's not the level of security that we need in our country."
Immigration Debate Sours for Illegals
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The terms of the immigration debate have turned less friendly for illegal immigrants as lawmakers and the Bush administration struggle to reach a deal in the next few weeks.
The landscape for an immigration overhaul has turned upside down in only a year, with a different party in control of Congress and new political realities for President Bush and the chief congressional negotiators.
Bush - in search of a domestic legacy - has morphed from cheerleader on the sidelines to broker in the fray, dispatching Cabinet members for lengthy daily meetings with senators on Capitol Hill.
Last year's GOP point man, Sen. John McCain - whose moderate stance on immigration defined last year's approach - is hanging back, wary of angering conservatives while he struggles to keep his presidential run going.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/12/AR2007041202072.html
Science, Not Speculation
Stem cell research money should go where it will do the most good.
Friday, April 13, 2007; Page A16
ON WEDNESDAY the Senate debated and overwhelmingly passed a measure to allow federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Virtually identical to legislation that the Republican-controlled 109th Congress passed last year only to meet a presidential veto, the bill would permit federal funding for research on stem cells harvested from embryos left over at fertility clinics -- embryos that would otherwise be discarded.
The measure will almost certainly not become law, even though there is broad national support for the proposal. It failed to get the two-thirds majority in either chamber of Congress that it would need to overcome President Bush's expected veto. That alone was disappointing. But also frustrating was much of the debate in the Senate, which was colored by presumptuous readings of early scientific data and policymaking by anecdote.
http://townhall.com/columnists/SteveChapman/2007/04/12/mistakes_to_avoid_in_the_global_warming_fight
Mistakes to Avoid in the Global Warming Fight
By Steve Chapman
Thursday, April 12, 2007
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and the wind is blowing hard in favor of action on climate change. The Bush administration now agrees that human activities are warming the planet, the Supreme Court says the Environmental Protection Agency has violated the law by not regulating auto emissions, and Democrats in Congress are demanding new measures to cut greenhouse gases.
How will we address this new challenge? The most plausible answer is: with a lot of command-and-control programs that micromanage various industries on the assumption that the government knows best. In a word, badly.
Reducing the output of carbon dioxide and other substances that trap the Earth's heat is not cheap. But there are expensive solutions, and there are astronomical ones. Any new policy should aim at getting the greatest reductions for the least money.
That may sound like a hugely complex task for the government, but it's not. The free market is the best system ever created for providing what we want at the lowest possible cost. The way to get affordable amelioration of climate change is to put the market to work finding solutions. To achieve that, we merely need to make energy prices reflect the potential harm done by greenhouse gases.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/510ixmdf.asp
Who's Spinning Intel?
Captured Iraqi documents tell a different story.
by Thomas Joscelyn
04/13/2007 12:00:00 AM
LAST WEEK, the Washington Post ("Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted") covered the latest round in Senator Levin's ongoing struggle to prove that the connection between Iraq and al Qaeda was nothing more than a fiction. Levin has been at this game for a while, and this time the Post's story centered on Levin's request for the declassification of a report written by the Pentagon's acting inspector general, Thomas F. Gimble. The report's conclusion: a Pentagon analysis shop, once headed by former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith, "developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al-Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers."
The inspector general determined that Feith's shop did nothing illegal, but still maintained that his office's analyses were "inappropriate." Why? According to the inspector general, Feith & Co. did not sufficiently explain that their conclusions were at odds with the CIA's (and the DIA's) judgments. That was enough for Levin to go on the attack once again.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1609490,00.html
The Imus Fallout: Who Can Say What?
Say this for Don Imus: the man knows how to turn an economical phrase. When the radio shock jock described the Rutgers women's basketball team, on the April 4 Imus in the Morning, as "nappy-headed hos," he packed so many layers of offense into the statement that it was like a perfect little diamond of insult. There was a racial element, a gender element and even a class element (the joke implied that the Scarlet Knights were thuggish and ghetto compared with the Tennessee Lady Vols).
Imus was a famous, rich, old white man picking on a bunch of young, mostly black college women. So it seemed pretty cut-and-dried that his bosses at CBS Radio would suspend his show — half frat party, half political salon for the Beltway elite — for two weeks, and that MSNBC would cancel the TV simulcast. And that Imus would plan to meet with the students he offended. Case closed, justice served, lesson —possibly — learned. Move on.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110009932