MORNING UPDATE:
Senator Mike Bishop on Off the Record… “we have a spending problem”. Great program, see our Republican leader standing tall!
RNC Debate Petition...getting lost in the rhetoric. Ron Paul controversy.
Remember, call your State Senator and State Representative and let them know what you think about balancing our budget without taxes…and Granholm’s tax increase.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
-Senator Mike Bishop did a great job on Off the Record as members of the media pounding on him for not just giving in and raising taxes like Governor Granholm and the Democrats want.
Democrats are busy this weekend trying to “get” Republican votes for some kind of tax cut. They want it to “look” bi-partisan and allow several Democrats in swing districts to “walk” on what some apparently think might be a bad vote.
To watch Mike Bishop on Off the Record go to:
http://www.wkar.org/offtherecord/program.php?num=2007-46
-After consulting with my fellow RNC members, I believe there isn’t anything to be gained by advancing a petition aimed solely at removing Congressman Paul from the debates. The primary is and will continue to work itself out.
I do however think we should continue to look at the bigger picture, the problem of how our party is going to adapt to the new realities of this very long primary season.
Congressman Paul’s controversial statements about the United State and who’s to blame for 9-11, combined with the splendid reaction of Mayor Giuliani and then my own heated reaction, stole the spotlight from the bigger point I really wanted to make and still think is important – continuing these “debates” as they are currently structured is not to our benefit, nor to our candidates, not to our party, nor to the country.
This is a very important process and it’s critical that we get a chance to get to know our leading and most viable candidates better. The idea of 10 candidates each getting a little over 6 minutes each and competing for the best “sound bite” of the evening isn’t very helpful in determining who our nominee should ultimately be.
NO one, at NO time, ever implied or said we should censure, restrict or deny any candidate the right to Free Speech. Specifically, Ron Paul, who is a sitting Congressman, will always have the same right as any other American and/or anyone in America has to express themselves. However, there is no constitutional right to participate in a party run debate or forum.
Although my initial response and what prompted me to action were the Congressman’s comments blaming America’s policies for 9-11, this discussion should really have NOTHING to do with the positions individual candidates take. We obviously have a difference of opinion on many issues…and I expressed my personal outrage and let that get in the way of the bigger question.
I am and have always been a big supporter of open primaries, open discussion and the sharing of broad and diverse opinions. At the same time, I think it makes sense to at least discuss various options of making these debates/forums more useful and informative. Setting certain standards or criteria for folks to participate is NOT censorship or infringing on anyone free speech. Everyone has the right to run a commercial, put up a website or buy soapbox.
Every candidate has the right to run…some with a chance of actually winning the nominations and others just for the sake of making a point or two. But the party also has the right to arrange their venues in such a way that best serves this interest of the party. We have given 10 candidates 3 hours of national TV time. Our many local and state parties have opened our doors to them. And we have certainly invited all them to help us raise money J. In short, the so called 3rd tier candidates have had their chance to make an impression and if they cannot poll beyond 1 or 2 percentage points of support, they are simply getting in the way of the real debate of how to move our party and our country forward.
Finally, I want apologize to the RNC and our State Committee leadership (and my wife) who received obnoxious, annoying and disruptive emails or phone calls. My best advice to you is to ignore them (and/or just blame me).
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/NEWS06/705190314
State's deficit ballons
$802 MILLION: Job losses, weak home sales, rising costs tack on $400 million
May 19, 2007
LANSING -- Now, it's an $802-million gorilla.
That's how much the state deficit has ballooned -- about $400 million more than predicted earlier -- based on new tax revenue figures revealed Friday and the growing cost of government.
Especially weak sales-tax revenues, job losses, anemic home sales and rising costs for Medicaid, welfare and prisons caused the deficit to mushroom.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/POLITICS/705190365/1022
Saturday, May 19, 2007
State budget hole: $800M
No rebound until '09 for fiscal woes, economy
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Michigan's limping economy has ripped an $800 million hole in the state budget, and economists said Friday that they don't expect a turnaround for two years.
That means even more red ink for next year, when the budget deficit will be twice that, state officials said.
"An optimist would say Michigan's economic outlook is meager," said Sam Kahan, senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Detroit Branch, during a semiannual review of state finances.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/NEWS04/705190335/1001/opinion
Published May 19, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Michigan's budget hole deepens to $600M
State budget director calls number a 'wake-up call'
Chris Andrews
Lansing State Journal
State government's budget hole grew by about $100 million Friday after top financial officials downgraded Michigan's already grim financial outlook.
The new revenue estimates leave the state confronting a $600 million problem in this year's general fund budget, up from $500 million.
In addition, the state faces a $200 million shortfall in money for public schools, even though the school year is almost over.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1179548710125230.xml&coll=7
`There isn't any' good budget news
Saturday, May 19, 2007
By Peter Luke
Gazette Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- With no turnaround in sight, Michigan's decade-long economic decline is putting enormous pressure on the state budget and on lawmakers confronting either steep budget cuts or tax increases.
After a fresh assessment Friday of declining taxes and growing spending demands, legislative economists and the Granholm administration concluded that the 2007 budget remains more than $800 million in the red. A budget for 2008 that lawmakers have yet to finish is short more than $1.5 billion.
``It means people have to get down to work and get serious,'' said Robert Emerson, Gov. Jennifer Granholm's budget director. ``Everyone has to come to grips with a much larger problem than they were willing to admit to earlier.''
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1179569158112270.xml&coll=3
State pushing prison closing
Saturday, May 19, 2007
By Kristi Jourdan
kjourdan@citpat.com -- 768-4945
State officials are pressing forward with closing the Southern Michigan Correctional Facility despite a judge's ruling this month to delay that plan.
On Thursday, the Michigan Department of Corrections appealed U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen's decision in blocking the state's push to close the facility, which employs 460 people
State officials aim to shut the prison down by July 15, and they are counting on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to rule in their favor before then. Closing the Jackson prison would save the state $35 million a year.
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1179497125294260.xml&coll=3
Prison closure ruling: A meddling judiciary
Friday, May 18, 2007
U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen has trumped the state's plans to close a prison in Jackson. So, what do we think of a good end that is achieved by judicial meddling? Not much.
Judge Enslen is no novice at setting Michigan prison policy by decree. Dating back to 1980, he has jerked the state this way and that, forcing huge expenditures to comply with court orders, undermining the state budget and re-ordering spending priorities. Rarely, we have agreed with him. Mostly, we have judged his rulings to be nothing more than federal meddling.
His most recent ruling has focused on inmate medical care in Jackson County prisons.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1179569151112270.xml&coll=3
Locals fed up with state on budget woes
Saturday, May 19, 2007
By Chad Livengood
clivengood@citpat.com -- 768-4918
In 1983, Jim Blanchard walked into the governor's office and raised income taxes by 30 percent within three months -- solving a $1 billion state budget deficit.
History will not repeat itself in 2007.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proposed raising taxes to fix the state's fiscal woes, which ballooned to $800 million on Friday -- but now five months later -- very little has been resolved.
Lawmakers have just four months to balance the budget before the fiscal year ends, as required by the constitution.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070518/NEWS04/70518019/1003/NEWS01
Detroit's plan to fix sewer line was overpriced by millions, Macomb commissioner says
May 18, 2007
If Macomb County had listened to Detroit on a sewage project, it would have cost taxpayers about $6 million more than necessary, according to the county’s Public Works Commissioner Anthony Marrocco.
The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department proposed repairing a sewer line at the cost of $10 million, Marrocco said. He claims his plan to build a larger sewer line will only cost $4 million.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/1179575430112890.xml&coll=5
Higher education, higher costs
Area colleges, universities are trying to ease pain of tuition increases
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Saturday, May 19, 2007
By Beata Mostafavi
bmostafavi@flintjournal.com
GENESEE COUNTY - Mott Community College may not have a lot in common with Kettering University, a private engineering school.
But students at both institutions will share one thing next year - a tuition hike of at least 3 percent.
"I think it's pretty reasonable," said student Corey McLeod, 20, of MCC's tuition increase. "But I disagree with raising prices more. I wish it were cheaper."
The good news, though, for local students is that most local colleges are keeping tuition increases to the rate of inflation for the fall semester.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/1179575424112890.xml&coll=5
Trimesters to get a hard look
Lake Fenton board to consider change
FENTON TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Saturday, May 19, 2007
By Christofer Machniak
cmachniak@flintjournal.com
LAKE FENTON - A plan to divide the high school year into three terms instead of two this fall is expected to be considered Monday by the Board of Education.
If approved, the district would join many others across the state that already have started or have approved trimesters, including Holly and North Branch.
What would it mean for students? Fewer classes at one time, but they'd be longer.
School officials say the change would offer students the chance to take more electives and would provide more flexibility to meet new state-mandated graduation requirements that emphasize math and science.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1179496462248960.xml&coll=5
Stabilizing schools
Teamwork at all levels basis for leadership continuity
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, May 18, 2007
By Journal Editorial Board
Recent research relating student achievement and superintendent stability reflects more than the expected advantages from leadership continuity. It also speaks to other conditions in school districts that affect the quality of education.
Is it any wonder, for instance, that contented communities with good teamwork among parents, teachers and administration as a rule should outperform systems with quarrelsome boards and poor labor-management relations?
Those smooth-running districts also are likely to have more involved parents who've prepared their children to learn, volunteer regularly and stay in touch with school staff. In such an atmosphere, there would be less irresponsible blame-shifting onto the schools, and ultimately the superintendent, when students fail to learn.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-36/117955648757950.xml&coll=6
Davenport to leave downtown campus
Saturday, May 19, 2007
By Nardy Baeza Bickel
The Grand Rapids Press
Davenport University will leave its downtown Grand Rapids campus and move nearly everything to its new Caledonia campus, President Randy Flechsig revealed for the first time Friday.
"We will at some point be moving off Fulton Street. We don't need 7.5 acres there," he said. "The plan is for a natural transition to the main campus in Caledonia."
Flechsig would not cite a timetable for moving or estimate the worth of the Fulton campus, which has a mix of modern and historic buildings.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/NEWS05/705190378/1001
Bill to empower counties
Plan would strip duties from townships
May 19, 2007
Townships are in the sights of state officials trying to solve the budget crisis with a proposal from Democratic legislators to transfer key powers from townships to counties.
The legislation, introduced late Thursday, would strip most townships -- those with fewer than 10,000 residents and those with fewer than 20,000 that don't offer services such as 24-hour fire and police coverage -- of the power to administer elections, collect property taxes and assess property. County governments would assume those duties.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/117955692694550.xml&coll=2
City pressed on park budget
Leaders of 2 environment groups urge council restore funds
Saturday, May 19, 2007
BY TOM GANTERT
News Staff Reporter
The leaders of two local environmental organizations say the city of Ann Arbor will hurt its parks system if it doesn't restore about $763,000 and follow a resolution the City Council passed to ensure the parks budget wasn't cut.
The parks system budget has become one of the most controversial items in the 2008-09 budget as members of the community debate just what is the appropriate amount of money to be spent on the parks after residents approved a tax hike with a millage last fall.
Mike Garfield, director of the Ecology Center, and Doug Cowherd, chairman of the Sierra Club-Huron Valley Group, said the city should do what it said it would do in an October 2006 resolution. That resolution stated that if the city's general fund budget increased, the parks system budget will be increased at the same rate as the average percentage of the total general fund budget.
http://www.dailypress.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=10607
Published: Saturday, May 19, 2007
Pain at the pump
ESCANABA — The spike at the pump continued as regular unleaded gasoline prices increased by as much as 13 cents per gallon Friday morning. Prices jumped to $3.499 for a gallon of regular gasoline Friday at most stations.
At Holiday Stationstore in Escanaba, Assistant Manager Bob Harris thinks the latest hike may have to do with industrial refining problems. “We heard something about a refinery again last night,” Harris said.
With that information, and an increase in traffic to the store, Harris said he expects a price increase sometime today.
As of 11:30 a.m. Friday, regular unleaded was $3.379.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-22/117955747094550.xml&coll=2
At $3.37, 6th highest in U.S.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Ann Arbor hit $3.372 a gallon on Friday, the highest ever in the city, according to AAA spokeswoman Nancy Cain.
That's still slightly below the Michigan statewide average of $3.378 on Friday.
That makes Michigan the sixth priciest state in the country, behind California ($3.461), Washington ($3.440), Oregon ($3.413), Hawaii ($3.386) and Illinois ($3.391), according to AAA. South Carolina had the cheapest gas in the country - $2.896 on Friday.
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1179501359214340.xml&coll=4
Grayling paves the way for renewable fuel maker, to employ 120
Friday, May 18, 2007
Folks in and around Grayling have high hopes for an enterprise that would beat the high cost of heating.
There, a real-estate developer from Brighton is close to clinching a deal to build a $45 million wood pellet plant that would employ as many as 120 people.
That's nothing to sniff at in Crawford County, where unemployment is near 9 percent.
All that is needed is a little state help to improve a road and extend water and sewer lines for Cascade Pellet Corp. at the Grayling industrial park.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/11795118026270.xml&coll=2
We all have a stake in Detroit's success
Friday, May 18, 2007
Kwame Kilpatrick gives a good speech.
The Detroit mayor worked a crowd of several hundred people who attended the Washtenaw Economic Club lunch on Monday. Relaxed, humorful and self-deprecating, he was relentlessly upbeat while conceding the very real challenges that the city faces, urging all residents of Michigan to "infect each other with positivity.''
His legacy will need to rely on more than charm, but we all have a vested interest in Detroit's success.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION01/705190312/1008
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Detroit council loves pointless gestures
The Detroit News
The Detroit City Council has gathered itself in righteous wrath to adopt a resolution calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The resolution was adopted without a dissenting vote. The resolution will, of course, have no effect and will do nothing to materially improve the lives of Detroiters.
On something that would be helpful to the city's bus drivers and passengers, approving the placement of Wayne County sheriff's deputies on city buses to deal with a rash of assaults and stabbings, the council has engaged in months of dithering with no result. This even though a three-year federal grant would relieve the city of the cost of the deputies. So now we know: The council can act swiftly and unanimously to make empty gestures, but to do something actually useful -- not so much.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/117955666257950.xml&coll=6
Vaccine debate hits home
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Michigan lawmakers have come to a good compromise regarding the new cervical cancer vaccine -- opting to require information not immunization.
Proposed legislation approved by the Senate Health Policy Committee wisely backs away from mandating all sixth-grade girls be vaccinated to protect them against human papillomavirus, or HPV. Lawmakers instead would require schools to inform parents about the sexually transmitted virus and the vaccine that can prevent it. The decision about whether to get the series of three shots would remain in the hands of parents. That makes sense.
Preventing the spread of the virus responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases can save lives. Cervical cancer kills 3,700 women each year in the United States. Although most cervical cancer occurs in older adult women, the vaccine has been found to be most effective if injected before puberty. Even so, making it part of the immunizations required for school attendance seems unwarranted and intrusive.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1179496455248960.xml&coll=5
Keep tab on agency
Hard-to-swallow eating bills, other spending earn scrutiny
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, May 18, 2007
By Journal Editorial Board
There should be no place for lavish spending of public funds by any who serve the community's poorest residents, as is the mission of Career Alliance.
But the Flint agency - which receives government and charitable funds to train the most profoundly hard-to-employ people so they might qualify for jobs - is under scrutiny for charging peculiarly high restaurant bills among other signals of possible abuse.
At least Career Alliance is being held to account by the state Department of Labor & Economic Growth, which is demanding documentation, for instance, of how spending $636 at Badawest restaurant in Flint Township relates to the mission of job-training.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/NEWS01/705190329/1001/news
Published May 19, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Activists demand DNR chief resign
Pastors say racism at agency allowed to go on too long
John Schneider
Lansing State Journal
Citing a state investigation that uncovered racial and sexual discrimination inside the Law Enforcement Division of the state Department of Natural Resources, two civil rights activists from Detroit came to Lansing on Friday to demand the resignation of department director Rebecca Humphries.
The Rev. Maurice Rudds of the Mary Church Terrell Council for Community Empowerment said Humphries has allowed a "toxic environment" to exist.
The investigation, which began with a letter to Gov. Jennifer Granholm from Lt. Linda Cope-land-Morgan of Detroit, the state's only black female conservation officer, was completed more than five months ago.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/POLITICS/705190362/1022
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Cemetery violations ignored for years
State failed to act despite questionable withdrawals, deficits dating to early 1990s.
Norman Sinclair / The Detroit News
LANSING -- The alleged theft of $70 million from 28 Michigan cemeteries was years in the making as cemetery regulators turned a blind eye to repeated violations by owners over the past decade, industry critics said.
Unexplained withdrawals of money and deficits in cemetery trust funds and illegal ownership can be traced through the past three owners of the cemetery group, dating to the early 1990s, records show.
"There has been terrible, terrible oversight," said Thomas Lynch, a Milford funeral director who sits on the state's mortuary science board. "These cemeteries have been used mostly as dispensaries for the kind of high-pressure hit-and-run sales scams that have given Michigan cemeteries such a bad name."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION03/705190332/1001/BIZ
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Brian O'Connor
Use that stamp to lick credit rip-offs
The new "Forever" U.S. postage stamp is now on sale, and let me tell you, Money and Lifers, this is some impressive postage.
You can buy these stamps today at 41 cents apiece and you still can use them even after postage rates go up again, which, since that just happened on Monday, will be, oh, about next Wednesday.
Some financial types advise hoarding piles of Forever stamps until postage rates soar, then you can cash in big time. Forget it. A much better investment is to slap some of those Forever puppies on a few letters to Congress.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/POLITICS01/705190338/1022/POLITICS
Politics threatens deal
'08 candidates change tone, positions on thorny issue
Ron Fournier / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- One of the nation's most vexing political and social issues -- how to deal with millions of illegal immigrants -- can be solved only if Congress and the White House embrace the same can-do spirit that marked this week's tentative deal. Don't count on it.
Forged in secrecy, the proposal now faces the harsh realities of the public arena, its fate in the hands of politicians averse to compromise or taking chances. In particular, the 2008 presidential candidates seem determined to play politics with immigration: They're changing their tone and positions, or hedging to meet election-year demands.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11458
No Amnesty for McCain
By W. James Antle III
Published 5/18/2007 12:08:55 AM
With the White House's blessing, the Senate has reached a deal on immigration. And Sen. John McCain has handed his opponents for the Republican nomination a mighty club to wield against him -- if they choose to use it.
As Rudy Giuliani's lead over the Arizona senator slipped into the single digits in many national polls, McCain assumed a lower profile on the immigration issue.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801800.html
Gilmore Takes On GOP's Leading Candidates
Ex-Virginia Governor Says Giuliani, McCain, Romney Don't Have 'Core Conservative Values'
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A05
Former Virginia governor James S. Gilmore III, whose chief claim to fame in his one term was a partially completed repeal of the state's car tax, has become the self-appointed pit bull of the 2008 Republican presidential campaign.
Gilmore uses the nickname "Rudy McRomney" in derisively lumping together former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. In a Web video, he lambastes them for not sharing the "core conservative values" of his party.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=3190868
Obama Laments N.H. Senators' War Support
Obama Criticizes N.H. Senators for Not Ending War
By PHILIP ELLIOTT Associated Press Writer
RYE, N.H. May 18, 2007 (AP)
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama opened a two-day offensive against Republican Sens. John Sununu and Judd Gregg, telling New Hampshire voters on Friday their senators should do more to end the war.
Obama, an Illinois Democrat, told a town hall audience in Rye that Sununu, Gregg and 14 other Republican senators are the main roadblocks to ending the unpopular war in Iraq. Obama backs a plan that would give the Democratic-controlled Congress more control over the war's finances and begin a troop redeployment before President Bush leaves office.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501731.html
Land of the Giants
In the race for president, do the little people still matter?
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 20, 2007; Page W18
McCain: Dover, N.H., March 18
JOHN MCCAIN IS AT A THING CALLED A "HOUSE PARTY" making his stump speech. The stump is the central stairwell of the house, which is, to be precise, a mansion, a heroic place with exposed beams, a fireplace the size of your kitchen, and chairs so huge and heavy that if you sat in one you might get lost for a week. The walls of the central room are painted in a continuous equestrian mural. Through the Palladian windows, you can see an icy river surging toward the sea. It's all very dramatic. Life has been good to these particular Republicans.
Thank you for welcoming all of us into this middle-income tract home," McCain begins. He gets the laugh.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0507/Sauls_news.html
May 17, 2007
Saul's news
Michigan GOP Chair Saul Anuzis is one of the most technlogically proficent political leaders out there. Every morning, he sends out an e-mail of the top political clips from home and across the nation. On top of his links, he usually includes some pithy comments that express outrage, bewilderment or just disdain at Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
But today Saul has two very newsy items atop his clips.
Writing from Columbia, S.C., where the RNC continues to meet, Anuzis reports, that "Fred Thompson partisans organized lunch and dinner meetings to discuss the possible candidacy of former Senator Fred Thompson" at the gathering.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801970.html
Immigrant Legislation Splits GOP
Right Lashes Out At Bush and Senate Over Compromise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A01
President Bush's embrace of compromise immigration legislation has split the Republican Party, as several GOP presidential candidates quickly came out against the deal and the conservative base reacted with fury.
Key figures on the right, including conservative talk radio hosts, analysts at the Heritage Foundation and National Review columnists, derided the agreement as a sellout of conservative principles, while GOP presidential candidates criticized the plan as a form of amnesty -- a characterization rejected by the White House.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_CONGRESS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 19, 1:30 AM EDT
Lawmakers aim to revise immigration deal
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The fragile coalition that produced this week's immigration deal risks being picked apart by forces across the political spectrum as the measure begins moving through Congress.
Lawmakers want to revise key elements, such as letting millions of illegal immigrants stay in the U.S., favoring skills and education over families and setting out the terms of a new temporary worker program.
Any one of the changes has the potential to sink the whole measure, which was unveiled with fanfare Thursday but was still being drafted late Friday.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/POLITICS/705190339/1022
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Will immigration compromise become reality?
Changes could sink bill
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The fragile coalition that produced this week's immigration deal risks being picked apart by forces across the political spectrum as the measure begins moving through Congress.
Lawmakers want to revise key elements, such as letting millions of illegal immigrants stay in the U.S., favoring skills and education over families and setting out the terms of a new temporary worker program.
Any one of the changes has the potential to sink the whole measure, which was unveiled with fanfare Thursday but was still being drafted late Friday.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IMMIGRATION_ANALYSIS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 18, 7:10 PM EDT
Immigration deal hits political reality
WASHINGTON (AP) -- One of the nation's most vexing political and social issues - how to deal with millions of illegal immigrants - can be solved only if Congress and the White House embrace the same can-do spirit that marked this week's tentative deal. Don't count on it.
Forged in secrecy, the proposal now faces the harsh realities of the public arena, its fate in the hands of politicians averse to compromise or taking chances. In particular, the 2008 presidential candidates seem determined to play politics with immigration: They're changing their tone and positions, or hedging to meet election-year demands.
"In terms of all the senators running for their parties' presidential nominations, this is sort of like receiving a mysterious package in the mail and trying to figure out what's inside. It could explode in their faces or be 10 pounds of fudge," said Ross K. Baker, political science professor at Rutgers University.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801700.html
Trigger-Happy
On immigration, the cost of wishful thinking may be high.
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A16
SUPPOSE FOR a moment that the Senate's immigration bill, unveiled Thursday amid great fanfare, becomes law this year. Here's a partial, multibillion-dollar to-do list for the Department of Homeland Security:
Hire, train and deploy 5,000 to 6,000 additional Border Patrol agents, bringing the total force to 18,000.
· Hire, train and deploy thousands more civilian workers who would begin registering an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country, and provide the technical and logistical capacity to do that, including registration centers, electronic fingerprinting, etc.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110010099
Immigration Opening
The Bush-Kennedy proposal's vices and virtues.
Saturday, May 19, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
The White House and key Senators struck an immigration deal this week that looks like the best chance in years to balance border security with human and economic realities. There's room for improvement and a long way to go before any reform becomes law, but Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts deserve high marks for making progress.
On the plus side, the bill addresses the 12 million undocumented aliens living in the U.S. by providing a way for most to obtain legal status with minimal disruption to their lives or employers. In return for reporting to authorities, paying a $5,000 fine, passing a criminal-background check and making a "touch back" visit to their home country, illegal aliens would be eligible for a "Z" visa allowing them to keep working here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051800128.html
Local Immigrants Eye Bill With Mix of Hope and Suspicion
By Pamela Constable and N.C. Aizenman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A08
The sweeping immigration reform plan proposed by the Bush administration and a bipartisan group of senators Thursday has left immigrants across the Washington area scrambling to determine whether the complex compromise agreement would help or hurt them.
The answer varies as much as the circumstances of the estimated 600,000 foreign nationals who call the region home.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/POLITICS/705190333/1022
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Bill may increase appliance efficiency
House panel weighs energy legislation that could help Big 3 research.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A key House committee is proposing dramatic increases in the energy efficiency of appliances, buildings and airports as it seeks to spread the pain of reducing greenhouse gases beyond just automakers.
The draft legislation also would improve the Energy Department loan program to spur research into alternative energy sources, such as improved batteries to make plug-in hybrid cars a reality. The bill also promotes research for turning coal into liquid fuel that could be used in automobiles.
On Friday, members of the committee staff were meeting behind closed doors with White House aides as the committee seeks to craft a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_CHILDREN?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 18, 7:10 PM EDT
Democrats to host children's summit
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats will host a national meeting on children next week, saying they want to make sure federal policies reflect the most recent scientific findings on early childhood development.
"Every parent sees endless possibilities and great hope in the eyes of a child," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., in her party's weekly radio address. "As a nation, when we look at today's children, we see tomorrow's leaders: scientists and teachers, engineers, doctors and diplomats," she said.
Excerpts from Saturday's address were released Friday.
The daylong summit Tuesday on Capitol Hill will bring together members of Congress, academics, advocates and national experts on early childhood learning, health care and child care.
DeLauro said investing in children yields important dividends for families and the nation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801697.html
House GOP Uses Procedural Tactic To Frustrate Democratic Majority
Motion to Recommit Employed to Delay or Alter Legislation
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A04
House Republicans, fighting to remain relevant in a chamber ruled by Democrats, have increasingly seized on a parliamentary technique to alter or delay nearly a dozen pieces of legislation pushed by the majority this year.
And an election-year promise by Democrats to pay for any new programs they created has made it easier for Republicans to trip them up.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION03/705190319/1008/OPINION01
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Thomas Sowell
Left-wingers presume to have superior knowledge
Radically different conclusions about a range of issues have been common for centuries. Many have tried to explain these differences by differences in conflicting economic interests. Others, like John Maynard Keynes, have argued that ideas -- even intellectually discredited ideas that political leaders still believe in -- trump economic interests.
My own view is that differences in bedrock assumptions underlying ideas play a major role in determining how people differ in what policies, principles or ideologies they favor.
If you start from a belief that the most knowledgeable person on earth does not have even 1 percent of the total knowledge on earth, that shoots down social engineering, economic central planning, judicial activism and innumerable other ambitious notions favored by the political left.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010098
Coal Man
There's at least one CEO left who is not buying global warming hysteria.
BY KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
Saturday, May 19, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
WASHINGTON--Every good party has its wet blanket. In the case of the energy industry's merrymaking for a global warming program, the guy in the dripping bedspread is a 67-year-old, straight-talking coal-mine owner by the name of Robert E. Murray.
You won't hear many of Mr. Murray's energy-biz colleagues mention him; they tend to avoid his name, much as nephews avoid talk of their crazy uncles. GE's Jeffrey Immelt, Duke Energy's Jim Rogers, Exelon's John Rowe--these polished titans have been basking in an intense media glow, ever since they claimed to have seen the light on global warming and gotten behind a mandatory government program to cut C02 emissions. They'd rather not have any killjoys blowing the whistle on their real motives--which is to make a pile of cash off the taxpayers and consumers who'll fund it.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION01/705190305/1008
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Evangelical, atheist agree on Falwell's legacy
Nancy Kruh
For commentary on the late Rev. Jerry Falwell , you'd be hard-pressed to find two more antithetical personages than Cal Thomas and Christopher Hitchens . Thomas is an evangelical Christian who helped launch Falwell's Moral Majority, and Hitchens is an avowed atheist whose latest book is titled "God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything."
Which makes it intriguing that the two glancingly intersect in their assessments of Falwell's political accomplishments.
Writing for Tribune Media Services, Thomas touches on what he considers the positives of the Moral Majority but chooses to linger on his disappointment: "If one examines the results of the Moral Majority's agenda, little was accomplished in the political arena and much was lost in the spiritual realm, as many came to believe that to be a Christian meant you also must be 'converted' to the Republican Party and adopt the GOP agenda and its tactics.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION03/705190316/1008/OPINION01
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Kathleen Parker
Falwell filled a need in America
Jerry Falwell's prosaic death in his Liberty University office -- just another body, unresponsive and pulseless, on a random floor -- has elevated speaking ill of the dead to the level of sacrament.
The founder of the Moral Majority may have been a man of God to his 6.5 million followers, but to others, he was a charlatan, a huckster and a dangerous fool.
Atheist provocateur Christopher Hitchens, Falwell's most eloquent critic, described the reverend as an evil old man who fed lies to children and who interfered with the Middle East peace process by encouraging fanatics in Gaza.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/NEWS06/705190366/1008
Rogers says top congressman pledged payback
May 19, 2007
Michigan congressman Mike Rogers called on his House colleagues Friday to reprimand one of its most prominent and senior members, U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., who Rogers said threatened to retaliate against him for opposing a federal facility in Murtha's district.
Rogers, a Brighton Republican, said Murtha threatened him in an exchange on the floor of the House chamber Thursday evening, promising to cut off funding for special projects in Rogers' district.
Rogers said Murtha, in the presence of several other members, said: "You will not get any earmarks now and forever."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_MURTHA?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 18, 7:29 PM EDT
GOP target Murtha over spending exchange
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans will seek a House vote next week admonishing a senior Democrat who they say threatened a GOP member's spending projects in a noisy exchange in the House chamber, Minority Leader John Boehner said Friday. Their target is Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., a 35-year House veteran who chairs the appropriations subcommittee on military spending.
Murtha, 74, is known for his gruff manner and fondness for earmarks - carefully targeted spending items placed in appropriations bills to benefit a specific lawmaker or favorite constituent group.
During a series of House votes Thursday, Murtha walked to the chamber's Republican side to confront Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., a 43-year-old former FBI agent. Earlier this month, Rogers had tried unsuccessfully to strike a Murtha earmark from an intelligence spending bill. The item would restore $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center, a facility in Murtha's Pennsylvania district that some Republicans say is unneeded.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051800157.html
Debate Rises On World Bank Succession
Some World Leaders Oppose Traditional Prerogative of U.S.
By Peter S. Goodman and Mary Jordan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page D01
The departure of Paul D. Wolfowitz as World Bank president is prompting calls around the world to revoke the traditional right of the United States to select the institution's leader.
As the White House asserted its claim on picking Wolfowitz's successor, aid groups and former bank officials demanded that the next president be selected not in deference to the Bush administration, but on professional merits.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051700216.html
Ending Battle, Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 18, 2007; Page A01
World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz resigned yesterday, effective June 30, yielding to demands from governments around the world that he leave to end the ethics controversy that has consumed the institution.
Wolfowitz's resignation, negotiated in recent days with the bank's executive board, closed the leadership crisis that has essentially paralyzed the institution for almost two months. It preempted what had been a growing likelihood that the board would reprimand or fire him after a committee report found that he broke ethics rules in awarding a substantial raise to his girlfriend.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/17/AR2007051702376.html
CLASH OF CULTURES
For Washington Insider, Job Was an Uneasy Fit
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 18, 2007; Page A01
As he prepared to assume the World Bank presidency in the spring of 2005, Paul D. Wolfowitz reached out to the bank's skeptical senior managers. In informal meetings, he took copious notes and asked respectful questions. He knew they had doubts about him, Wolfowitz said, not least because of his role in designing the Iraq war. But he told them that he was committed to the bank's goal of reducing world poverty, that he would learn from them and rely on their guidance.
According to several attendees, they were won over by his humility. "I went back and reported to my staff that I didn't see any horns," recalled one senior official. "He was personable, charming, intelligent, and said all the right things. None of which he lived up to."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JUSTICE_WHITE_HOUSE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 19, 7:29 AM EDT
Gonzales rapped as president's 'yes man'
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says his long friendship with President Bush makes it easier to say "no" to him on sticky legal issues. His critics, however, say Gonzales is far more likely to say "yes" - leaving the Justice Department vulnerable to a politically determined White House.
Probably not since Watergate has an attorney general been so closely bound to the White House's bidding. In pushing counterterror programs that courts found unconstitutional and in stacking the ranks of federal prosecutors with Republican loyalists, Gonzales has put Bush's stamp on an institution that is supposed to operate largely free of the White House and beyond the reach of politics.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GONZALES_PROSECUTORS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 18, 6:37 PM EDT
White House: Anti-Gonzales vote a stunt
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House on Friday called the Senate's upcoming no-confidence vote over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a "political stunt" as more Democrats came out against President Bush's embattled, longtime friend.
Gonzales does not necessarily need Congress' support to continue serving, said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
"It's important for any public official to have as much confidence as he can garner and it will ebb and flow," Fratto said. "But it will not ebb and flow with this president and this attorney general."
Nonetheless, Bush and Gonzales are under increasing pressure as more lawmakers demand Gonzales' resignation and Senate Democrats prepare to hold a no-confidence vote against him.
Meanwhile, another Senate Democrat added his voice to the call for Gonzales' resignation.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION03/705190318/1008/OPINION01
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Eugene Robinson
Gonzales' 'Godfather'-like maneuvering is creepy
It just gets worse and worse. We already knew that Alberto Gonzales -- who, unbelievably, remains our attorney general -- was willing to construe the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions however George W. Bush and Dick Cheney wanted. We knew he was willing to politicize the Justice Department, if that was what the White House wanted. Now we learn that Gonzales also was willing to accost a seriously ill man in his hospital room to get his signature on a dodgy justification for unprecedented domestic surveillance.
The man Gonzales harried on his sickbed was his predecessor as attorney general, John Ashcroft. The episode -- recounted this week in congressional testimony by Ashcroft's former deputy, James Comey -- sounds like something from Hollywood, not Washington. It's hard not to think of that scene in "The Godfather" when Don Corleone is left alone in his hospital bed, vulnerable to his enemies, and Michael has to save him.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION03/705190324/1008/OPINION01
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Michelle Malkin
Not all undercover journalists are equal
Here is a tale of two breeds of undercover journalists. One has been celebrated by the national media and journalism organizations. The other has been shunned. One has champions in Congress. The other is facing litigation.
Both engaged in sting operations with secret cameras catching their targets on videotape. Both were deceptive about their true identities and life circumstances. Both exposed their targets' aggressive methods and law-subverting recruitment tactics. But you've probably only heard of the efforts of one of these breeds. You'll know why in a moment.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 19, 6:37 AM EDT
Iraq funding bill stymied despite talks
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House and Congress failed to strike a deal Friday after exchanging competing offers on an Iraq war spending bill that Democrats said should set a date for U.S. troops to leave.
"Timelines for withdrawal are just not the right way to go, and that cannot be the basis for funding our troops," said Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff, after a nearly 90-minute meeting on Capitol Hill.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they offered to grant Bush the authority to waive the deadlines. They said they also suggested they would drop billions of dollars in proposed domestic spending that Bush opposed, in exchange for his acceptance of identifying a withdrawal date.
The offer marked the Democrats' first major concessions in a weekslong battle with the White House on war funding.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/POLITICS/705190352/1022
Saturday, May 19, 2007
No deal yet on Iraq funding
White House rejects bill that included a troop withdrawal timeline that president could waive.
Anne Flaherty / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The White House and Congress failed to strike a deal Friday after exchanging competing offers on an Iraq war spending bill that Democrats said should set a date for U.S. troops to leave.
"Timelines for withdrawal are just not the right way to go, and that cannot be the basis for funding our troops," said Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said they offered to grant Bush the authority to waive the timetable. They said they also suggested they would drop billions of dollars in proposed domestic spending that Bush opposed, in exchange for his acceptance of identifying a withdrawal date.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051800198.html
White House, Democrats Trade Competing War Funding Plans
Troop Withdrawal 'Goal,' Benchmark Provisions Are Disputed
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A07
Democrats and the White House dangled competing plans for shaping a final Iraq spending bill as Congress raced to beat a Memorial Day deadline, but each side rejected the other's compromise proposal in a sometimes acrimonious negotiating session yesterday.
During a 90-minute meeting in the Capitol, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) offered to strip all domestic spending from the legislation, leaving only the $95 billion that President Bush is seeking to continue military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September.
Soldiers fight fatigue, fear as they hunt for missing comrades
5/18/2007, 5:57 p.m. EDT
By KIM GAMEL
The Associated Press
MAHMOUDIYA, Iraq (AP) — U.S. soldiers fought exhaustion and braced themselves for the worst Friday as the military pressed forward with a six-day-old search for three missing comrades believed captured by al-Qaida in Iraq in an ambush south of Baghdad.
Even if the three are dead, soldiers said that the families back home needed to know what happened and that the attackers must be punished.
"We'll find them. I'll tell you what, they're going to wish they never did this thing," Lt. Col. Michael Infanti said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801643.html
Senators Appeal to U.N. on Iran Detainees
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A13
The 16 female U.S. senators yesterday appealed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to take "urgent action" with Iran to win the release of imprisoned American scholar Haleh Esfandiari and journalist Parnaz Azima, who has been refused permission to leave the country.
"The detention of these women is inexplicable and unjustifiable," the senators wrote in a letter to Ban. "Detaining Dr. Esfandiari and Ms. Azima on questionable grounds contradicts the very essence of their work: to promote peace, reconciliation and freedom for all. We urge you to intervene . . . in order to end their unjust detention."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHINA_TRADE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
May 18, 6:27 PM EDT
US, China to meet to ease trade tensions
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration said Friday it hopes for agreements on airline flights, use of U.S. pollution-control technology and other subjects when a high-level delegation from China visits next week for a second round of talks aimed at lowering trade tensions.
Alan Holmer, the president's special envoy for China, said that the administration hoped to strike deals increasing the number of commercial airline flights between the two nations, both for air cargo and passengers, and improving energy efficiency in China through the use of U.S. technology to control pollution.
The administration is also pushing for a deal that would allow U.S. financial service companies and other foreigners to buy stakes of up to 49 percent in Chinese banks, up from a current 25 percent cap. The administration would also like the Chinese to relax limits on foreign ownership of Chinese securities firms.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/OPINION03/705190320/1008/OPINION01
Saturday, May 19, 2007
George Will
New French president faces free market test
Arson is a form of commentary favored by the French left, so at least 1,000 vehicles were torched by disappointed supporters of the Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal after she was defeated 53-47 percent by Nicolas Sarkozy.
Last spring, rioting was the left's economic argument when the government proposed, then retreated from, legislation that would have made it somewhat easier for businesses to fire younger workers in the first two years of employment. The idea behind the legislation was that employers would be more likely to hire workers if it were not a legal ordeal to fire them. The rioters were, of course, mostly young.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051801722.html
Pushback for Mr. Putin
European leaders deliver a necessary rebuke to Moscow.
Saturday, May 19, 2007; Page A16
FOR THE past three weeks, Estonia, a small European country that is a member of both NATO and the European Union, has been under assault from neighboring Russia. The offensive is of a new kind: cyber-warfare. Computers serving Estonian government ministries, banks, schools and media have been vandalized via the Internet. Some of the attacks have been traced to Russian government servers, including that of the president's office in the Kremlin. For a country that depends heavily on electronic commerce, the threat has been very serious; the Estonian Defense Ministry has asked for and received help from NATO's fledgling cyber-warfare unit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been betting that this flagrant if novel aggression against a peaceful state -- which Moscow officially denies -- will be shrugged off by Estonia's relatively new partners in NATO and the E.U. A key element of Russia's increasingly belligerent foreign policy has been to drive a wedge between Western European governments such as France and Germany and members of the Western alliance that once were part of the Soviet Union or the Warsaw Pact. In addition to its cyber-war on Estonia -- nominally prompted by the moving of a statue of a Soviet soldier -- Russia has banned meat imports from Poland and blocked oil exports to a key refinery in Lithuania.
