Articles of Interest 5-17-07
MORNING UPDATE:
Governor Granholm claims “people are going to die”…oh please, we eliminated General Assistant welfare back in the ‘90s and NOT a single person died. More scare tactics.
Democrats reject Senate Republican’s balanced budget proposals…Senator Bishop calls their bluff and tells the Democrats to go ahead and pass a tax bill…any tax bill???
Fred Thompson “meetings” all day at the RNC meeting, but most skeptical, yet intrigued.
Ron Paul controversy galvanizing activist…he went over the top.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
The governor goes off the deep end and tries to scare Michigan taxpayers in believing people are going to die because the governor is NOT willing to restructure or reform basic government services.
Granholm first threatened to shut down schools, shut down state government, shut down local police posts, lay off state troopers and basically “gut” government…but she is NOT willing to freeze spending, cut waste, force competitive bidding for benefits, not move the state police headquarters downtown, not address teacher retirement “special deals”, won’t forbid double dipping on state salaries and state pensions, not reduce the “Office of First Gentleman’s” three staff persons for “ceremonial duties’, not stop running millions in Jeff Daniels radio ads in Michigan and elsewhere…we have plenty of options, we just have a governor NOT willing to lead.
I was approached by many RNC members who offered to sign our petition to condemn Congressman Paul’s comments about the terrorist attack on 9-11 and shared in my frustration that he was articulating the policies of the Democrats more than those of any Republicans.
I have long respected Congressman Paul’s principle position on many issues, regardless if I ever agreed with any specific proposals or conclusions he had come to. However, his statement on why the terrorists attacked America is so out of the mainstream geo-political thought in the west and is increasingly becoming a distraction versus a supplement to the debate, I think we should just come out and say so.
Congressman Ron Paul does not represent the majority of the Republican Party on foreign policy and his participation in the debate is little more than a distraction.
Fred Thompson partisans organized lunch and dinner meetings to discuss the possible candidacy of former Senator Fred Thompson. Many were intrigued, but few ready to commit.
Questions were about the potential late entry…could he raise the money…put together an organization…catch McCain, Romney or Giuliani in any states…yes, folks were intrigued but far from convinced that he would offer a “real alternative”.
We’ll just have to wait and see. At least our friends from Tennessee are all fired up about the possibility?
I urge my fellow RNC members to categorically say “no” to Congressman Paul’s participation and ill-fated attempt to somehow represent “any” wing of the Republican Party. His campaign is all but over.
http://robertbluey.com/blog/2007/05/16/michigan-gop-chairman-wants-to-boot-ron-paul/
Presidential politics and grassroots organization dominated the RNC meeting today. I was pleasantly surprised at the optimism expressed by most…folks are getting back into the swing of things.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION01/705170359/1008
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Editorial
Senate GOP must fend off Granholm's giant tax hike
The Detroit News
Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop is doing what he's supposed to do: Holding Lansing Democrats' feet to the fire to make sure spending cuts and reforms are made. Only then, he says, will he even think about discussing a tax hike.
Because of this principled position, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has unleashed the big guns of budget rhetoric. Repeating what she heard from a local doctor, she told the Michigan State Medical Society that unless the state increases revenues, which means tax hikes, access to Medicaid will be reduced and "people will die." Her comments are a low blow and beneath her office, and a trampling of the truth.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/POLITICS/705170390/1022
GOP aims to cut gov's jobs fund
Senate OKs measures to address budget deficit but it's unlikely it will win Democrats' support.
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- State Republicans took a symbolic whack at Gov. Jennifer Granholm's future jobs fund on Wednesday, a day of partisan one-upsmanship over stalled talks on the state's $700 million budget deficit.
The Republican Senate's passage of bills that would siphon $290 million from the 21st Century Jobs Fund has no chance of winning the support of Granholm or the Democratic-controlled House.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/NEWS06/705170360/1008
Budget plan targets jobs fund
Senate GOP: Use tobacco money to lessen school cuts
May 17, 2007
LANSING -- Michigan's budget crisis continued in a stalemate Wednesday, as the Senate approved another budget-cutting plan that faces certain rejection by Gov. Granholm and House Democrats.
The Senate vote occurred after negotiations for a budget compromise were canceled, and disagreements continued between Granholm and Republicans over whether to raise taxes to avert deeper budget cuts.
The Senate Republican plan, which would erase some $700 million in red ink without a tax hike, added a new twist to the debate: It would grab $290 million from a special fund that uses money from tobacco companies to lure new businesses to the state with grants.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/POLITICS/705170366/1022
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Videos protest possible cuts in Medicaid
YouTube features seek to push Internet sit-in as response to the Michigan Legislature budget battle.
Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
Born with only one lung, 20-year-old Jacob West sits in a wheelchair as his mother injects liquid nutrition into his stomach and cleans the tracheotomy attached to his ventilator.
"It's hard to live with disabilities," West, of Nashville, Mich., says during a five-minute video posted to YouTube.com.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION01/705170351/1008
Thursday, May 17, 2007
College care clash hurts Detroit
Uninsured care, Wayne State will suffer with MSU on DMC campus
Irvin D. Reid
As we observe the 40th anniversary of the Detroit riot, its devastating effects are still apparent. Virtually every institution that previously represented racial integration and cultural diversity has left the city.
An exception is Wayne State University. It stayed and has continued to attract a diverse population of students, faculty and staff to the city. No other institution of its size did what Wayne State did.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/NEWS06/705170392/1008
Inmate release changes sought
Bills aim to ease crowding of jails
May 17, 2007
Sheriffs' departments would have the authority to release inmates from county jails before their full sentences are served under bills approved Wednesday by Michigan's House Judiciary Committee.
The package of bills is aimed at easing chronic overcrowding at county jails across the state.
The bills say a sheriff's department would have the authority to release nonviolent inmates when they've served 85% of their sentence and the jail reaches 95% of its capacity for three straight days.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070516/NEWS07/70516020/1008/NEWS06
National test finds most students aren't excelling in civics
May 16, 2007
U.S. students improved their performance in history, but civics was a mixed bag, according to results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress results released this morning.
Though some Michigan students were among the 29,000 who took the history exam and 25,000 who took the civics exam, no state-by-state results were released. Tests were given to fourth-, eighth- and 12th-graders in 2006.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION01/705170358/1008
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Mackenzie high school shouldn't be model
Officials and alumni raise funds to help keep Detroit school open
The Detroit News
Threatened with closure by the Detroit Public Schools, Mackenzie High School is apparently meeting the conditions set out by the school system for it to remain open. District leaders should give Mackenzie the opportunity to improve itself and stay open -- but also re-think this approach as a long-term strategy.
Mackenzie had been one of more than 50 Detroit schools on the closing list earlier this spring. Facing mounting deficits and plummeting enrollment, the system must close these and many more schools for the district to right-size itself and become financially solvent.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION01/705170350/1008
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Reforming housing rules could boost state
Rodney Lockwood Jr.
Since Michigan's economy is the worst in America, the state needs to re-evaluate its policies and make sure it is using every possible tool to jump-start our economy and quickly.
One way to turn the tide is to drastically overhaul Michigan's affordable housing policy. It needs to be reformed so it once again becomes friendly to private investment, leverages federal resources and starts producing more housing and construction jobs.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION03/705170404/1350
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Tom Greenwood
Driver: E-85's price needs to come down
Howell resident Arthur Stine is betting that the use of E-85 as an alternative fuel source is going to grow in popularity in the United States, but feels there are still a few bugs to be worked out.
"I purchased a 2007 Chevy Impala that can burn regular gas or E-85 ethanol. First of all E-85 is very difficult to find and when I can find it, the price is only around 10 cents lower than regular no-lead gas So until E-85 is priced at 80 percent of regular gas, I will not be using E-85. E-85 I believe is a viable renewable fuel source; however it will need to be equal in cost of using it to become the fuel of the future."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION01/705170370/1069
Don't rush vote on factory farm bills
May 17, 2007
The state Senate's agriculture committee today is scheduled to take up a slew of proposed rules for factory farms except for the one proposal that could actually help rural communities besieged by odors and fouled streams: a moratorium on new operations.
The bills ought to stay in committee rather than being fast-tracked for Senate passage. Their future would not be good in the House, which managed to hold off a similar wave of bad bills in the last legislative session, thanks to a staunch handful of Republicans committed to clean water. It is discouraging that senators even want to try again, especially on a bill that basically says a factory farm can't be held responsible for lagoon overflows or field runoff when it rains or snows.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION01/705170350/1008
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Reforming housing rules could boost state
Rodney Lockwood Jr.
Since Michigan's economy is the worst in America, the state needs to re-evaluate its policies and make sure it is using every possible tool to jump-start our economy and quickly.
One way to turn the tide is to drastically overhaul Michigan's affordable housing policy. It needs to be reformed so it once again becomes friendly to private investment, leverages federal resources and starts producing more housing and construction jobs.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/NEWS01/705170406/1003
Neighborhood plans met with zeal and doubt
Affordability is a concern
May 17, 2007
Detroiters appeared ready to embrace Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's ambitious neighborhood improvement plan as it was publicly unveiled Wednesday.
But many questioned whether the city could come up with the money.
Kilpatrick has pledged $125 million in tax dollars over five years to fund the Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative and is seeking $100 million from nonprofit foundations and additional money from bonds and grants to help revitalize six neighborhoods in the city.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/COL03/705170366/1003/NEWS01
Help from the city? It's about time
May 17, 2007
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has announced that he's including my neighborhood -- the 7 Mile/Livernois area -- as one of the six that will receive some tender, loving care from the city.
My reaction is ... finally.
Let me make it clear that I don't expect applause simply because I have chosen to live in Detroit for 23 years and raise my family here.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/NEWS05/705170399/1007
County news
May 17, 2007
REGIONAL: E. coli suspected after meat recalled
There are two unconfirmed cases of E. coli poisoning in Michigan, days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said more than 340 types of meat distributed in 15 states may have been contaminated.
The recall includes only boxes of mechanically tenderized steaks and ground beef that bear labels with the code "Est. 1947A" inside the USDA inspection mark and a date code between 060 and 120. For information, go to www.fsis.usda.gov.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/NEWS01/705170456/1003
City Council votes to impeach Bush
May 17, 2007
The Detroit City Council approved a resolution Wednesday sponsored by Councilwoman Monica Conyers, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, to impeach President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
John Conyers, D-Mich., is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, where any impeachment effort would start, and a bitter opponent of the Bush administration. But he has said that he does not intend to move forward with any impeachment effort.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/METRO/705170413/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Detroit City Council joins impeach Bush push
Amy Lee / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- The Detroit City Council on Wednesday joined about two dozen cities and towns nationwide calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
The resolution states the president and vice president "conspired with others to defraud the United States of America by intentionally misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war"
The resolution was co-sponsored by President Pro Tem Monica Conyers and Councilwoman JoAnn Watson.
NATIONAL STORIES
Michigan GOP leader wants Paul barred from future debates
5/16/2007, 7:07 p.m. EDT
By JIM DAVENPORT
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party said Wednesday that he will try to bar Ron Paul from future GOP presidential debates because of remarks the Texas congressman made that suggested the Sept. 11 attacks were the fault of U.S. foreign policy.
Michigan party chairman Saul Anuzis said he will circulate a petition among Republican National Committee members to ban Paul from more debates. At a GOP candidates' debate Tuesday night, Paul drew attacks from all sides, most forcefully from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, when he linked the terror attacks to U.S. bombings.
"Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years," Paul said.
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=75370
Michigan GOP leader seeks to block candidate from presidential debates
AP
Created: 5/16/2007 10:29:05 PM
Updated: 5/16/2007 11:30:46 PM
Columbia, SC - The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party says he'll try to bar Texas congressman Ron Paul from future GOP presidential debates.
Saul Anuzis is upset with Paul for remarks that suggested the September 11, 2001, attacks were the fault of U.S. foreign policy.
Paul drew attacks from all sides at last night's Republican debate. The harshest criticism came from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani when Paul linked the terror attacks to U.S. military action against Iraq.
Anuzis says he'll circulate a petition among Republican National Committee members to ban Paul from more debates. He'll also ask debate sponsors and broadcasters to exclude Paul.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usrudy0517,0,3804849.story?coll=ny-top-headlines
Rudy's shots at Hillary unanswered, for now
BY CRAIG GORDON AND GLENN THRUSH
May 16, 2007, 10:49 PM EDT
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- It's the sound of one hand slapping.
Rudolph Giuliani has stepped up his attacks this week on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but Clinton Wednesday refused to fire back, despite past claims she'd "deck" anyone who hit her first.
Giuliani accused Clinton in Tuesday's Republican debate and again Wednesday of being hostile to tax cuts and free markets -- fighting words to the center-hugging Democrat -- but her campaign did not take the bait.
Giuliani is ginning up talk of a rematch of their short-lived Senate showdown, in hopes of cementing his claim that he's the only Republican who can deny her the White House.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION03/705170316/1008/OPINION01
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Kathleen Parker
First GOP debate revisits 'Planet of the Apes'
In a nation where 91 percent of citizens profess to believe in God, it's a safe bet we won't see an atheist in the White House anytime soon.
But what about a president who doesn't believe in Darwin? And are Darwin and God mutually exclusive?
These are the questions that (still) trouble men's souls. And still cause trouble for presidential candidates forced unfairly to essentially choose between God and science.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501308.html
Republicans Debate Their Conservative Bona Fides
Divisions on Display In Second Face-Off
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 16, 2007; Page A01
COLUMBIA, S.C., May 15 -- The leading Republican presidential candidates parried accusations from their rivals that they have strayed too far from their party's conservative philosophies on abortion, taxes and immigration in a debate that featured some of the most direct exchanges of the 2008 battle for the GOP nomination.
The debate included sharp jabs as the candidates pledged tax cuts and all but one reaffirmed their support for the war in Iraq. The contenders also further exposed their party's divisions over social issues, including abortion and stem cell research, on a day when the Rev. Jerry Falwell's death cast a shadow over the campaign.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602638.html
McCain, Romney Duel as Giuliani Leads
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A04
A feud that has been brewing quietly for months burst into the open Tuesday night as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain of Arizona clashed sharply in a Republican presidential debate in South Carolina.
With former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani emerging as the leader in national polls, McCain and Romney -- who see each other as the biggest obstacle in their respective paths to the GOP nomination -- have remained largely fixed on one another. On Tuesday night, the bad blood between the two broke into public view with an exchange over who is the more consistent conservative.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION03/705170317/1008/OPINION01
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Eugene Robinson
Obama properly yet subtly raises class-vs.-race issue
Barack Obama doesn't think anyone should cut his two daughters any slack when they apply to college -- not because of their race, at least. In the unlikely event that the Obama family goes broke, then maybe.
In an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week," Obama waded into the central issue of the affirmative action debate: race vs. class. Perhaps typically, Obama's remarks were more Socratic than declarative. He didn't really answer the question, he rephrased it. Maybe the way he posed it, though, will lead to a discussion that's long overdue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051600811.html
Disclosure Forms Show Wealthy Lot Of Hopefuls
By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A01
Running for president is a pursuit for the wealthy, according to personal financial disclosure forms released yesterday that show that at least 10 of the major party candidates are millionaires and, collectively, the field of contenders is worth at least a quarter-billion dollars.
The candidates have amassed their fortunes in a variety of fashions. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) wrote his way to millionaire status with a best-selling memoir. Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) raked in $11 million by trotting the globe giving speeches last year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602444.html
Hagel as Hamlet -- or the Third Man?
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A02
If Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel shows any more leg about an independent presidential candidacy, he risks a citation for indecent exposure.
On CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, he teased about joining a third-party ticket with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg: "It's a great country to think about a New York boy and a Nebraska boy to be teamed up leading this nation."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/POLITICS/705170395/1022
Thursday, May 17, 2007
As states go, Illinois, Mich. are average
Experts: They're better indicators of how voters feel about politics than tiny, early-primary states.
Stephen Ohlemacher / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- White, rural and homogeneous. New Hampshire and Iowa play big roles in choosing presidential candidates, but don't look much like the rest of the country.
A better bellwether might be Illinois. It's the most average state, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the Census Bureau.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602635.html
Democrats Make Budget Proposal
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A04
Congressional Democrats yesterday proposed a $2.9 trillion budget plan that seeks to boost spending by $23 billion over the president's request, setting up a confrontation with the White House over funding for education, health care and veterans' services.
The White House has threatened to veto spending bills that exceed President Bush's targets, a threat budget director Rob Portman reiterated yesterday. Democratic budget leaders defended their proposal, saying an administration that has increased federal spending by more than 40 percent since 2001 and added more than $3 trillion to the federal debt has little standing to complain about a 2 percent increase over Bush's goals for domestic programs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602484.html
OMB Moves to Curb Resale of Federal Transit Benefits
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A04
A federal agency is issuing new guidelines today to tighten loopholes that have allowed federal workers to pocket tens of millions of dollars by illegally selling their transit benefits on the Internet.
The Office of Management and Budget is requiring federal agencies and departments to enact by June 30 basic standards aimed at eliminating fraud and abuse of the transit-benefit program.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_CONGRESS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 17, 5:29 AM EDT
Time running short for immigration deal
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A bipartisan group of senators is scrambling with White House officials to reach an elusive agreement to fortify the border and grant quick legal status to millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S.
Republicans and Democrats were working to hammer out details of the emerging compromise and settle a stubborn dispute over how much family ties and other criteria should count toward green cards under a new "point system." The scheme prioritizes advanced skills and education levels for future immigrants.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Democrats' lead negotiator, called Thursday "D-Day" in the talks, saying it was likely the last chance for a compromise before senators scattered for a three-day weekend.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602637.html
Immigration Overhaul Is Closer to Senate Floor
Proposal Would Offer Route to Legal Status, Shift Preferences to Skilled Workers
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A04
Senate negotiators reached a tentative agreement yesterday on a broad overhaul of the nation's immigration laws that would offer virtually all of the nation's 12 million undocumented workers a route to legal status while shifting migration preferences away from the extended families of citizens toward more skilled and educated workers.
Under the tentative deal, undocumented workers who crossed into the country before Jan. 1 would be offered a temporary-residency permit while they await a new "Z Visa" that would allow them to live and work lawfully here. The head of an illegal-immigrant household would have eight years to return to his or her home country to apply for permanent legal residence for members of the household, but each Z Visa itself would be renewable indefinitely, as long as the holder passes a criminal background check, remains fully employed and pays a $5,000 fine, plus a paperwork-processing fee.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ELECTING_JUDGES?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 17, 12:18 AM EDT
States weigh financing judges' elections
Records for campaign spending fell, attack ads blared on until Election Day, and special interest groups demanded candidates state their views on a whole range of contentious issues.
Sounds like politics as usual, doesn't it? Except these elections weren't for president, Congress or governor - they were to fill the bench of top state courts. A new report says that a rising swell of money, outside groups and negative campaigns is adding pressure to the yearslong debate about the best way to elect judges.
A handful of states are weighing whether to publicly finance judicial elections, arguing that judges should be removed from the influence of money. New Mexico last month became the second state to approve public financing for such campaigns, after North Carolina changed to public financing in 2004.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/POLITICS/705170412/1022
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wolfowitz debates exit
World Bank president wants board to share blame for controversy over raise for his girlfriend, official says.
Peter S. Goodman / Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration spent much of Wednesday trying to broker a graceful end to the ethics controversy consuming the World Bank, offering the resignation of embattled president Paul Wolfowitz, senior administration and bank officials said. But Wolfowitz insisted on a measure of vindication.
On a day full of rumors, counter-rumors and closed-door meetings, the Wolfowitz saga turned into an only-in-Washington standoff.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bstephens/?id=110010086
World Bank Scholar
Paul Wolfowitz's judges may have ethical issues of their own.
BY BRET STEPHENS
Thursday, May 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
In the winter of 2006 an email was sent to the investigations hotline of the World Bank's Department of Institutional Integrity, or INT. Its subject was the "Hypocrisy of ED Tom Scholar."
"Please know," read the text of the email written by a bank employee, "that UK ED Tom Scholar is continuing an affair with [a bank employee]. This woman has been given preferential treatment in [the department] because of her relationship with this powerful ED, this affair is well known, and is in violation of the Bank Staff Rules and the Boards Standards of Conduct."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051601287.html
Wolfowitz Hangs On As Ouster Hits Wall
Day-Long Standoff Ends Unresolved; Talks to Resume
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A01
The Bush administration spent much of yesterday trying to broker a graceful end to the ethics controversy consuming the World Bank, offering the resignation of embattled president Paul D. Wolfowitz, senior administration and bank officials said. But Wolfowitz said he would not leave, insisting on a measure of vindication.
On a day full of rumors, counter-rumors and closed-door meetings, the Wolfowitz saga turned into an only-in-Washington standoff.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_LEAK_LAWSUIT?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 17, 4:56 AM EDT
CIA leak case set to resume
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The legal fallout from the 2003 CIA leak scandal continues as lawyers seek dismissal of a lawsuit against members of the Bush administration.
Former CIA operative Valerie Plame contends the administration violated her constitutional rights by leaking her identity to reporters in 2003. She is demanding compensation from Vice President Dick Cheney; one of his former aides, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; White House political adviser Karl Rove; and former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage.
Their lawyers were scheduled to argue Thursday that a judge should throw out the case.
Plame's lawyers say the case could reveal more about the inner workings of the Bush White House than surfaced during Libby's monthlong perjury trial, but Thursday's arguments were to focus on technical matters of law.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GONZALES_PROSECUTORS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 17, 4:44 AM EDT
Senators renew call for Gonzales' ouster
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is under new political heat after two more Republicans came out against him and Democrats broadened their probe of prosecutor firings to questions of whether he politicized the Justice Department at the White House's behest.
Gonzales, who some believed had survived the furor over the firings, came under new pressure Wednesday when Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., became the fourth Republican senator to urge him to resign. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., also said the attorney general should consider stepping down.
President Bush continued to stand by his longtime friend and adviser.
The developments came as Democrats sought more testimony from current and former Justice Department officials. House Democrats announced that Gonzales' former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, would testify next week under a grant of immunity.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602874.html
Justice Weighed Firing 1 in 4
26 Prosecutors Were Listed As Candidates
By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A01
The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006, according to sources familiar with documents withheld from the public.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified last week that the effort was limited to eight U.S. attorneys fired since last June, and other administration officials have said that only a few others were suggested for removal.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010084
Wiretap Tales
What you didn't read about Jim Comey's Senate testimony.
Thursday, May 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Democrats and former Deputy Attorney General James Comey put on quite a Senate show Tuesday over the National Security Agency's wiretapping program. With New York's Chuck Schumer directing, the players staged a full length docudrama to create the impression that the Bush Administration broke the law in reauthorizing the program to eavesdrop on al Qaeda.
Senate hearings can be boring, so we'll assume the press corps dozed through select parts. That would explain why no one reported on the discussion as Senator Arlen Specter questioned Mr. Comey on how the great covert operation actually went down. News stories have suggested a pattern of White House misdeeds to accomplish an ultimately illegal end. The transcript tells a different story.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051602715.html
No Dissent on Spying, Says Justice Dept.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A06
The Justice Department said yesterday that it will not retract a sworn statement in 2006 by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales that the Terrorist Surveillance Program had aroused no controversy inside the Bush administration, despite congressional testimony Tuesday that senior departmental officials nearly resigned in 2004 to protest such a program.
The department's affirmation of Gonzales's remarks raised fresh questions about the nature of the classified dispute, which former U.S. officials say led then-Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey and as many as eight colleagues to discuss resigning.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070517/OPINION01/705170372/1069
Politics trump law at Justice
May 17, 2007
The stories keep getting worse out of the Department of Justice, and there are two disturbing common themes: that President George W. Bush seems to view the place as no more than an extension of the West Wing's political operations, and that Alberto Gonzales -- first as White House counsel and later as attorney general -- has been the president's all-too-willing shill.
The latest: Former Assistant Attorney General James Comey told a harrowing story to the Senate this week about an effort by Gonzales and former White House chief of staff Andrew Card in 2004 to dupe a barely conscious John Ashcroft (then attorney general) into reauthorizing Bush's domestic wiretapping program.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051600708.html
Symbolic Measure to End War Voted Down 67 to 29 in Senate
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A03
The Senate yesterday soundly rejected a symbolic bid to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq within a year, underscoring the lingering divisions within the Democratic Party over how hard to push President Bush to end the war.
Despite heavy public opposition to the conflict, 19 Democrats broke with their party's antiwar leadership to oppose cutting off funding by March 31, 2008, joining 47 Republicans and one independent in the 67 to 29 vote against the measure. The Senate's four Democratic presidential candidates were among the supporters of the measure, offered as an amendment to an unrelated bill, as House and Senate leaders prepared to negotiate a spending package that would fund the war through September.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 17, 3:47 AM EDT
Talks to resume on bill to fund Iraq war
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressional Democrats and President Bush's top aides will enter another round of high-stakes negotiations on funding for the Iraq war in what has become an exhaustive test of wills.
The talks are expected to continue for days, as the each side struggles for the upper hand.
"To be successful, we must end the finger-pointing and instead roll up our sleeves and work together. I believe that we can - and we will," said Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.
At stake is the nearly $90 billion Bush says is needed to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. Earlier this month, Congress sent - and Bush vetoed - a $124.2 billion bill that would have funded the war but ordered troop withdrawals to begin by Oct. 1.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010085
Congress's War Dodge
They're for the war but also against it.
Thursday, May 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Democrats in the Senate yesterday demonstrated, once again, that they neither have the votes for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq nor a real policy on the war.
Wednesday's vote to cut off funding by March 31, 2008, was voted down 67-29, with 19 Democrats joining every Republican in opposing the measure, which was submitted as an amendment to an unrelated bill. Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, who put forth the measure with Majority Leader Harry Reid, noted optimistically that a majority of his caucus voted for the measure, which is one way of defining majority down.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051600076.html
Many Tips, Few Answers in Hunt for GIs
Effort Involves 6,000 Troops; Hundreds of Iraqis Detained for Questioning
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A12
BAGHDAD, May 16 -- The intelligence was grim: The bodies of three missing U.S. soldiers had been dumped in a canal. So U.S. and Iraqi forces, in the midst of one of the biggest manhunts since the war began, drained the 20-foot-deep canal until the water was knee-deep. They found no bodies.
"That shows you the level of detail we're going through to find our missing soldiers," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, speaking to reporters Wednesday. "We're very optimistic that our soldiers are still alive and we'll find them alive."
May 17, 6:07 AM EDT
Army: Mistakes led to soldiers' deaths
The investigation into the kidnapping and murder plot that left three soldiers dead last June concluded there were a series of missteps by their commanders, including:
-The mission was inadequately planned, supervised and executed.
-The observation post was staffed by only three soldiers with one vehicle.
-The soldiers had inadequate training and the platoon's readiness was degraded by combat losses.
-Their vehicle was left unprotected for 36 hours.
-No immediate fire support was available.
-The quick-reaction force was 15 minutes or more away.
-No noncommissioned officer was at the post.
-The soldiers remained at their post too long to be alert.
-The unit failed to adequately assess the risks at that observation post.
-Iraqi Army forces were not prepared to offer support at the bridge.
May 17, 6:22 AM EDT
2 officers punished for errors in Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Three U.S. soldiers slaughtered in a grisly kidnapping-murder plot south of Baghdad last June were not properly protected during a mission that was not well planned or executed, a military investigation has concluded.
Two military officers have been relieved of their commands as a result of the litany of mistakes, but neither faced criminal charges, a military official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
A report on the investigation said the platoon leader and company commander - whose names were not released - failed to provide proper supervision to the unit or enforce military standards.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAN?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 16, 8:51 PM EDT
House nixes proposal to bar Iran attack
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House rejected two measures Wednesday that would have required President Bush to seek congressional approval before attacking Iran.
The proposals were offered as amendments to a $646 billion defense policy bill for the 2008 budget year, which starts Oct. 1.
The first proposal, by Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., would have prohibited money in the bill from being used to strike Iran without Congress' blessing; it fell by a 216-202 vote. A similar, but more sweeping measure offered by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., was rejected by a 288-136 vote.
The votes were primarily symbolic; Bush has not said he is planning to invade Iran. But because of missteps made in assessing pre-war intelligence on Iraq, many Democrats said the legislation was necessary.
"If it were any president I don't think we'd have to worry about this," said Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_BLAIR?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 17, 6:30 AM EDT
Blair makes farewell visit to White House
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Prime Minister Tony Blair is making the final White House visit of his tenure to mark a friendship with President Bush that many believe tarnished the legacy of the once popular British leader.
The British leader's visit was designed to honor the long-term Bush-Blair partnership and was expected to produce no major results. The two men planned to discuss a range of issues Thursday, then hold a joint news conference.
Blair began his visit Wednesday with a private, working dinner at the White House. That was to be followed by a rare overnight stay for a foreign leader in the U.S. executive mansion. He was staying in the Queen's Bedroom that was used by Winston Churchill during the former British leader's frequent World War II-era visits to Washington.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110010087
Rising in the East
China and Japan, pursuing power--and trying to keep it.
BY EMILY PARKER
Thursday, May 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the shockwaves through Washington were echoed in the words of one New York congressman: The Japanese have gone stark, raving mad.
Actually, they had not. The seemingly irrational military strike was in keeping with a long tradition of Japan's going to extreme lengths to pursue power and prestige. Pearl Harbor is just a particularly catastrophic example of America's failure to read Tokyo's intentions. Long before Dec. 7, 1941, and in the decades since, Japan has demonstrated its capacity to stun the world.
Kenneth Pyle, a professor at the University of Washington, is hardly predicting another Pearl Harbor. But the message of his "Rising Japan" is clear: Don't be fooled by appearances. Japan may seem to be sitting on the sidelines and watching China's rise as a formidable Asian power, but U.S. policy makers would be unwise to assume that this passivity will continue.
