Articles of Interest 7-23-07
MORNING UPDATE:
Budget talks to continue this week…university funding, corrections, K-12 and social services hold the key. Universities giving us a break?
Democrat Chairman Mark Brewer and I, live on talk radio’s “The Big Show” with Michael Patrick Shiels every Tuesday morning…more info below.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
Budget talks will continue, probably for the next couple of months. Education, corrections and social services dominate state spending.
A key to our states future and that of our country is our higher education system. State universities all increased tuition for this upcoming year. They talked about how dependent they were on state support, yet take out their “shortfalls” on Michigan’s own students.
There have been several proposals that would give students greater state grants to attend Michigan universities…making it more affordable to Michigan students and families.
Since the universities have hiked tuition the way they did, I think it offers us a unique opportunity to review higher education funding and see if we can find up with a system that makes more sense…support universities that support our children and allow state dollars to follow state students and make college more affordable to our kids.
This will be a debate worth having. Michigan needs an educated and well trained workforce to compete for the jobs of tomorrow.
- Listen to our weekly debate/discussion between Democrat State Chairman Mark Brewer and myself every Tuesday morning, between 9:05am - 10:00am, as we discuss the issues of the day.
The show is available live on-line at www.wjimam.com , and you can listen to it live at the stations listed below.
"The Big Show with Michael Patrick Shiels" on the Michigan Talk Network:
WJIM 1240 Lansing
WJNL 1210 Traverse City
WTRX 1330 Flint/Saginaw
WMMI 830 Mt Pleasant
WKMI 1360 Kalamazoo
WSCG 1380 Greenville
WBCH 1220 Hastings
WODJ 1490 Muskegon
WWKK 750 Petoskey
WJML 1110 Petoskey
WDJM 1320 Marquette
WIAN 1240 Ishpeming
Past shows are recorded posted on our website at www.migop.org .
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/METRO/707230329/1022
Monday, July 23, 2007
Fellow gov. urges Granholm to step up budget fight
Mark Hornbeck / The Detroit News
ACME, Mich. -- Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has fresh scars from a budget battle in his state this month, has plenty of advice for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who is facing a similar showdown: Don't let them think you're afraid to shut down state government, stick to your guns on tax increases and use the freedom that being term-limited gives you.
He acknowledged that Michigan faces a much deeper budget problem than did Pennsylvania, but said he and Granholm "share one blessed fact: We never have to go before the electorate ever again.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION01/707230327/1008
Monday, July 23, 2007
Photo ID ruling upholds reasonable policy
Michigan Supreme Court says requirement is constitutional
The Michigan Supreme Court's ruling upholding the Legislature's requirement that voters produce photo identification has drawn the expected complaints and denunciations, but the court did what it is supposed to do: Show deference to the Legislature whenever possible.
The court noted that federal law allows states to set requirements to prevent voter fraud, and that the Commission on Federal Election Reform, headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker, issued a report following the uproar created by the 2000 presidential election that included a recommendation that states require photo identification.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070722/NEWS01/707220588/1003&theme=ISAAC012007
Report faults foster licensing
State computers share blame in boy's death
July 22, 2007
Glitches in Michigan's child welfare computer system and deficiencies in licensing rules for agencies that supervise foster children are at least partially to blame for the beating death of a 2-year-old in Detroit, a state report obtained by the Free Press shows.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/NEWS06/707230338/1008&theme=GOVS072007
Governors to ask for health care increase
July 23, 2007
TRAVERSE CITY -- Facing what they said is a crisis, the nation's governors agreed Sunday to send an urgent plea to President George W. Bush to continue a program that sends federal money to states to support health care for children.
The federal program has sent $25 billion a year to the states to cover care for children whose parents have no health insurance but earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/AUTO01/707230353/1022/POLITICS
Monday, July 23, 2007
Mich. at odds with govs on fuel rules
13 states' leaders not likely to back down in call for EPA to let them set tough standards.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
ACME -- Michigan got plenty of sympathy Sunday from visiting governors for the state's economic struggles -- but no change in course from states seeking to regulate greenhouse gases from cars, regulations the domestic automakers say could cripple them.
"We're interested in economic growth every bit as much as Michigan is," said Gov. John Corzine, D-N.J., whose state is one of 13 seeking federal permission to set tough new limits on auto emissions of carbon dioxide.
"We've lost five auto plants in New Jersey over the last 15 years, so it's not like we're not aware of the issue. … But if we're not a leader on this, we're not going to get it done."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/NEWS06/707230339/1008
EPA official talks emissions to governors
July 23, 2007
TRAVERSE CITY -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Sunday that the Bush administration is taking an unfair approach to domestic automakers as it develops plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
She said the administration may leave polluting, coal-fired power plants off the hook, while it imposes tougher, costly new rules for fuel efficiency on cars and trucks.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/NEWS06/707230340/1008&theme=GOVS072007
DeVos greets former supporters at GOP gathering
July 23, 2007
He was hoping to come to Traverse City as a host for the summer conference.
But Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, who lost to Gov. Jennifer Granholm in the 2006 election, came to the National Governors Association conference Sunday at the Grand Traverse Resort as a guest.
"I've been involved with the Republican Governors Association for a long time," DeVos said. "And this gives me a chance to see and thank the folks who were very encouraging and helped me with my campaign."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/METRO/707230358/1008
Monday, July 23, 2007
Detroit's racial divide: 40 years later
'67 left its mark on a generation
Metro Detroiters Remember 1967 | Compiled by Detroit News reporters Amy Lee and Darren A. Nichols
In the early morning hours of July 23, 1967, a botched police raid at an after-hours drinking establishment in northwest Detroit triggered an eruption of six days of violence, looting and arson that left 43 dead, injured thousands and caused millions of dollars in damage. Metro Detroiters were affected by that seminal moment in Detroit history. For their stories, turn to 5A.
"I was working at my father's gas station on 10 Mile Road near Kelly Road in Warren when the order to close came in from the police. I remember them stopping gas, alcohol and beer sales. People were on their roofs watching the smoke.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION03/707230331/1008/OPINION01
Monday, July 23, 2007
Paul W. Smith
Detroit riot gets judged in black, white
It was 40 years ago today. We've come so far. Or so I thought.
On July 23, 1967, I was a 14-year-old kid living in Monroe. At that time, Detroit was the big city to our north, seemingly about 1,000 miles away. Toledo was the big city (a lot closer) to our south.
Grandma Sadie and Grandpa Fred, who came from the "old country," were proud to be in their new country and tried to become Americans and learn their new language and ways, owned and ran Betrus Market on the corner of Lorain and Monroe. They worked seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and lived above the store.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION01/707230306/1069
Safety first for new UP mine
July 23, 2007
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality may resolve this week how to proceed with a draft permit for nickel mining near Marquette. The process has become so muddled that it really makes sense to just start over with a clean slate. But that is clearly not going to happen.
So there is a burden on the DEQ to provide clear evidence that it has carefully reviewed every aspect of the draft permit. This is the draft that was initially put forth for comment in February, then pulled back when it became known that a document criticizing the roof thickness proposed for the mine had never been made public.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION01/707230309/1069
Give vets better help getting to med care
July 23, 2007
More and more medical procedures that, 20 years ago, required lengthy hospital stays are now done at outpatient clinics or surgery centers. As the demand for outpatient medical services increases, the need for transportation to get people to them also rises.
Such demands are hitting U.S. veterans hard. Vietnam-era veterans are joining the senior ranks, along with older Korean and World War II veterans. And thousands of younger Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are disabled and need long-term care. Altogether, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is spending nearly $200 million a year to transport veterans to medical care, largely through an informal buddy system in which drivers, mostly family and friends, are reimbursed 11 cents a mile.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19871466/
Searching for President DiMaggio
Our nation is dying to turn its lonely eyes to someone
By Chuck Todd
Political Director
NBC News
Updated: 12:03 p.m. ET July 20, 2007
WASHINGTON - One of the biggest vacuums in the campaign to date is the lack of understanding by many reporters and analysts of what continues to be the most startling poll results of the campaign: the country's pessimistic mood.
No matter how a pollster asks it, the result is the same these days, nearly three quarters of the country believes we're off on the wrong track.
Currently, according to Republican pollster Steve Lombardo, we're in the midst of one of the longest runs in modern polling where a majority of the country believes things are on the wrong track.
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16584
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Republicans 2008: Giuliani 33%, F. Thompson 25%
July 23, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Rudy Giuliani is holding on to the lead in a four-person race for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in the United States, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 33 per cent of respondents would like to see the former New York City mayor as their candidate, down one point in a month.
Actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson is second with 25 per cent, followed by Arizona senator John McCain with 15 per cent, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney with eight per cent.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/POLITICS/707230377/1022
Monday, July 23, 2007
McCain tells backers he will seriously compete in Iowa
MIKE GLOVER / Associated Press
URBANDALE, Iowa -- John McCain on Sunday assured Iowa supporters that he's doing fine and intends to seriously compete in the state's leadoff caucuses despite staff cuts and money problems.
The Republican presidential candidate met privately with supporters, then held a news conference at his Iowa campaign headquarters.
"I'm happy about the state of our campaign," the Arizona senator told reporters. "We will do fine. We are competitive and we will win in Iowa."
McCain said he met with backers to let them know his campaign was strong.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/POLITICS/707230383/1022
Monday, July 23, 2007
Romney continues assault on Democratic rivals at GOP fundraiser
PHILIP ELLIOTT / Associated Press
NASHUA, N.H. -- Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney took aim at Democratic rivals on Sunday, calling them all unprepared to lead the country and comparing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's economic plan to that of Socialist Karl Marx.
"It would be helpful to have a person leading the country who understands how the economy works and has actually managed something," the former Massachusetts governor told reporters after a GOP fundraiser. "In the case of the three Democratic front-runners, not one of them has managed even a corner store, let alone a state or a city."
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16585
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Democrats 2008: Hillary 43%, Obama 24%
July 23, 2007
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - In a three-person contest, many Democratic Party supporters in the United States select Hillary Rodham Clinton as their preferred presidential nominee in 2008, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 43 per cent of respondents would like to see the New York senator as their candidate, down five points since June.
Illinois senator Barack Obama is second with 24 per cent, followed by former North Carolina senator John Edwards with 16 per cent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072201135.html
Poll Shows Clinton With Solid Lead Among Democrats
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 23, 2007; Page A07
By a wide margin, Democrats view Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) as the party's candidate best positioned to win the general election, and she holds a double-digit lead over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in the race for the nomination, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll.
How competitive the Democratic contest becomes could turn on the question of whether voters are significantly more interested in a fresh face or in a candidate they see as projecting strong leadership.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118515382609874577.html?mod=home_whats_news_us
Democrats Lead By $100 Million In Money Race
By MARY JACOBY and BRODY MULLINS
July 23, 2007; Page A1
WASHINGTON -- With more than a year to go before the 2008 elections, Democratic candidates have raised $100 million more in campaign contributions than Republicans, putting them on track to win the money race for the White House and Congress for the first time since the government began detailed accounting of campaign fund raising three decades ago.
Democrats have taken the lead by exploiting widespread disapproval of President Bush and the Iraq war to develop a more robust online network of new, small donors, as well as to gain traction with deep-pocketed business contributors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072201095.html
Loophole Lets Candidates Skirt Donation Limit
By John Solomon and Sarah Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, July 23, 2007; Page A02
Real estate executive Jack Rosen has given Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton $8,800 since last November, nearly double the amount individuals can donate to any single presidential candidate this election.
He is able to do so because of a loophole in political fundraising laws -- one that is allowing several presidential candidates to simultaneously collect donations for their presidential bid and other political entities connected to them.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/BIZ04/707230349/1022/POLITICS
Monday, July 23, 2007
YouTube may stir up debate
Questions asked on Web may push Dem candidates from comfort zones in CNN forum.
Paul Brownfield / Los Angeles Times
"Senator Clinton, I think you would make a great president," says Gavin of Las Vegas, speaking to the camera in a homemade video on YouTube.com.
"But there's a question that deserves to be answered before the end of the primaries, because it could affect your ability to run against a strong Republican: Has your husband, Bill Clinton, engaged in adulterous behavior since he's left office?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072200818.html
Officially the First, Democrats' Debate Feels Like Anything But
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 23, 2007; Page A01
The Democratic presidential candidates will line a stage in Charleston, S.C., tonight for their first official debate.
And already, debate fatigue is setting in.
The Democratic contenders have taken part in three "unofficial" debates this year, on top of numerous other "forums" sponsored by various political constituencies. The schedule is only going to get more demanding: After tonight's debate, sponsored by CNN and YouTube and the first of six sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, there will be a crush of events, culminating in one week in early August when unofficial debates are planned in Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110010370
Dr. Broun Goes to Washington
A conservative Republican wins a stunning upset in a Georgia House race.
Monday, July 23, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Special elections to fill vacant House seats are usually fought over local concerns, but often they have national overtones. The stunning result of a Georgia race last week is a case in point.
Because no Democrat finished among the top two candidates in last month's primary, the runoff pitted two Republicans against each other to succeed Rep. Charlie Norwood, who died in February. Poorly funded physician Paul Broun Jr. scored a shocking 50.4% victory over former state Sen. Jim Whitehead, the establishment's consensus favorite. Columnist Robert Novak says Dr. Broun's victory has "terrified those incumbent Republican House members who had thought themselves safe for re-election in 2008" primaries. The pro-free market Club for Growth, which helped knock off at least one pro-spending GOP House incumbent in a 2006 primary, should feel encouraged by Dr. Broun's victory.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REIDS_RHETORIC?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 22, 1:18 PM EDT
Reid unafraid of lashing out
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alan Greenspan has retired as chairman of the Federal Reserve, so Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid has to find someone else to brand as Washington's biggest "political hack."
"I could give that designation to someone else," Reid said in a broadcast interview Sunday. "I don't think I'll do it here today."
But don't think for a minute the Nevada Democrat has changed his opinion about the venerable ex-Fed leader.
It was in 2005 when Greenspan was the target of Reid's barbs. Greenspan had given a qualified endorsement to President Bush's proposed Social Security and tax overhauls.
At the time, Reid used a television interview to brand the Fed chairman "one of the biggest political hacks we have in Washington."
"I call them the way I see them," Reid made clear Sunday. "Alan Greenspan, when they asked me about him, I said I thought he was the biggest political hack in Washington. That's how I felt. Why shouldn't I say that?"
Reid's Anti-Reform Maneuvers
Monday, July 23, 2007; Page A17
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid picked up his ball and went home after his staged all-night session last week, he saved from possible embarrassment one of the least regular members of his Democratic caucus: Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Reform Republican Tom Coburn had ready an amendment to the defense authorization bill removing Nelson's earmark funding a Nebraska-based company whose officials include Nelson's son. Such an effort became impossible when Reid pulled the bill.
That Reid's action had this effect was mere coincidence. He knew that Sen. Carl Levin's amendment to the defense bill mandating a troop withdrawal from Iraq would fall short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate, and Reid planned from the start to pull the bill after the all-night session, designed to satisfy antiwar zealots, was completed. But Reid is also working behind the scenes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to undermine earmark transparency and prevent open debate on spending proposals such as Nelson's.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FEINGOLD_CENSURE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 22, 3:22 PM EDT
Sen. Feingold proposes censuring Bush
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Liberal Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold said Sunday he wants Congress to censure President Bush for his management of the Iraq war and his "assault" against the Constitution.
But Feingold's own party leader in the Senate showed little interest in the idea. An attempt in 2006 by Feingold to censure Bush over the warrantless spying program attracted only three co-sponsors.
Feingold, a prominent war critic, said he soon plans to offer two censure resolutions - measures that would amount to a formal condemnation of the Republican president.
The first would seek to reprimand Bush for, as Feingold described it, getting the nation into war without adequate military preparation and for issuing misleading public statements. The resolution also would cite Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps other administration officials.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010371
Contempt and Congress
The Democrats' attack on executive privilege shows blatant disregard for the Constitution.
BY JOHN YOO
Monday, July 23, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Republicans aren't exactly racing to defend President Bush's assertion of executive privilege against Congress's investigation of his firing of nine U.S. attorneys. This leaves former political director Sara Taylor and Harriet Miers, former White House counsel, facing possible contempt sanctions. If this sword of Damocles drops, an important constitutional showdown between the branches might well reach the Supreme Court.
Rather than run from this fight, supporters of the constitutional system ought to stand firm with the president. Presidents, Congresses, and the courts have long accepted a president's right to keep internal executive discussions confidential. Even when the Supreme Court ordered Richard Nixon to hand over the Watergate tapes, it recognized "the necessity for protection of the public interest in candid, objective, and even blunt or harsh opinions in Presidential decision-making."
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2227446920070723?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true
Illegal immigrants to get ID cards in Connecticut
Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:56PM EDT
By Lucy Nalpathanchil
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - As many U.S. cities and states arrest illegal immigrants in raids and toughen laws against them, a Connecticut city is offering to validate them under a controversial, first-in-the-nation ID card program.
Starting Tuesday, New Haven will offer illegal immigrants municipal identification cards that allow access to city services such as libraries and a chance to open bank accounts.
Jul 22, 10:17 PM EDT
Congress acts on student loan debt
Congress is poised to make big changes to the government programs tapped by millions of students to pay for college. The biggest of these for students: a cap on what low-income borrowers have to pay back each month on their federal student loans.
A measure passed by the Senate last week and one by the House earlier this month come in response to growing concerns about student debt. About two in three recent college graduates have loan debt, and over the past decade, the average amount has grown 50 percent faster than inflation.
Meanwhile, just over the last two years interest rates have risen enough to more than double the total interest some borrowers will eventually have to repay on their loans.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/07/opposing-view-1.html#more
Opposing view: Don't punish entrepreneurs
Tax hike for partnerships would hurt job growth, pension funds.
By Eric Cantor
What do California teachers and the 80,000 workers at DaimlerChrysler have in common? If you guessed that they have all recently benefited from the efforts of investment partnerships, you'd be right. If you guessed that they are all under attack by tax-and-spend politicians, you'd also be right.
Last month, several members of Congress set their sights on American entrepreneurship and retirement savings. The Levin-Rangel bill would effectively raise taxes on investment partnerships by 133%, with serious consequences for job creation and economic growth. Private equity partnerships have become an important source of capital for low-income housing, energy exploration and medical innovation, not to mention the turnaround of struggling companies. These groups invest expertise and sweat-equity to reinvigorate troubled companies and build new ones. Private equity alone created about 600,000 jobs from 2000 to 2003.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_INTERROGATION?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 22, 4:22 PM EDT
Spy chief McConnell defends tactics
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's spy chief on Sunday would not identify what CIA interrogators are allowed to do in getting information from terror suspects, but tried to assure critics that torture is not condoned or used.
National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, in a rare broadcast interview, defended a new order from President Bush that broadly outlines the limits of how suspects may be questioned in the CIA's terror interrogation program.
The executive order bans torture, cruel and inhumane treatment, sexual abuse, acts intended to denigrate a religion or other degradation "beyond the bounds of human decency." It pledges that detainees will receive adequate food, water and medical care and be protected from extreme heat and cold.
It does not, however, say what techniques are permitted during harsh questioning of suspects - a matter of debate in the U.S. and elsewhere.
McConnell would not elaborate.
http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=568d6b4d-67b7-4116-9098-4c35d8b5ce38#top
Jul 22, 2007 9:07 PM
Serious Security Questions at Sky Harbor Airport
By Investigator Lisa Fletcher
ABC15.com
It's what you have to do when you fly - use X-ray machines, metal detectors, and deal with liquid restrictions in your carry-on luggage. You know the drill.
Security checkpoints are just part of travel these days. They're supposed to keep us safe, so we use them - but not all of us and not all the time.
We've discovered a 4.5 hour time frame each night when virtually anything can be brought into the secure side of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. There's no metal detector, no X-ray machine, and it's apparently not a problem.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2121006.ece
From
July 23, 2007
Al-Qaeda faces rebellion from the ranks
Sickened by the group’s barbarity, Iraqi insurgents are giving information to coalition forces
Fed up with being part of a group that cuts off a person’s face with piano wire to teach others a lesson, dozens of low-level members of al-Qaeda in Iraq are daring to become informants for the US military in a hostile Baghdad neighbourhood.
The ground-breaking move in Doura is part of a wider trend that has started in other al-Qaeda hotspots across the country and in which Sunni insurgent groups and tribal sheikhs have stood together with the coalition against the extremist movement.
“They are turning. We are talking to people who we believe have worked for al-Qaeda in Iraq and want to reconcile and have peace,” said Colonel Ricky Gibbs, commander of the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, which oversees the area.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION03/707230324/1008/OPINION01
Monday, July 23, 2007
Amber Arellano
From Vietnam to Iraq: What we have -- and haven't -- learned
They lined up, two dozen long, to shake hands with the soldier. They were tired, scruffy, just returning from their own travels, but they stopped and waited to talk to him.
One after one, women and men, middle-aged and young, dressed in tennis skirts, beach flip-flops and khakis, they said thank you.
Rene Hinojosa was tired that night at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. He had been traveling for more than two days -- and serving in Afghanistan for a year. Dressed in his fatigues, lugging a heavy travel trunk, he was anxious to see his wife and daughter.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QHVAE80&show_article=1
Iran, U.S. to Discuss Iraq This Week
Jul 22 08:22 PM US/Eastern
By KIM GAMEL
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD (AP) - The United States and Iran have set a date for ambassador-level talks in Baghdad on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq—the first such meeting since late May, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Sunday.
The two sides will sit down together on Tuesday, according to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip Reeker, amid U.S. allegations that Tehran is supporting violent Shiite militias in the country.
Zebari told The Associated Press by telephone that the discussions would be at the ambassadorial level and would focus on the situation in Iraq, not U.S.-Iran tensions.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PAKISTAN?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 22, 11:35 AM EDT
U.S. force not ruled out in Pakistan
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. would consider military force if necessary to stem al-Qaida's growing ability to use its hideout in Pakistan to launch terrorist attacks, a White House aide said Sunday.
The president's homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, said the U.S. was committed first and foremost to working with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, in his efforts to control militants in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. But she indicated the U.S. was ready to take additional measures.
"Just because we don't speak about things publicly doesn't mean we're not doing things you talk about," Townsend said, when asked in a broadcast interview why the U.S. does not conduct special operations and other measures to cripple al-Qaida.
"Job No. 1 is to protect the American people. There are no options off the table," she said.
Jul 23, 5:14 AM EDT
Pentagon said junking millions in gear
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of dollars' worth of gear, including combat boots, helmets, vests and aircraft parts, is being junked by the Pentagon rather than stored or sold as surplus to suppliers who sometimes sell it back to the military.
Of roughly $1.8 billion worth of equipment the Defense Department downgraded to scrap from January through June, at least $330 million worth came from categories of gear the Pentagon most frequently buys back from surplus dealers, according to the National Association of Aircraft & Communication Suppliers. Those include parts for aircraft, weapons and communications systems, the group said.
The association, a lobbying group for surplus dealers, is worried the military's recent decision to shred retired F-14 "Tomcat" fighter jets is the start of a broader effort to destroy Pentagon leftovers that surplus dealers once bought routinely. Iran is aggressively seeking F-14 components for its own aging Tomcat fleet.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2a735dd0-3873-11dc-bca9-0000779fd2ac.html
Globalisation backlash in rich nations
By Chris Giles in London
Published: July 22 2007 18:11 | Last updated: July 22 2007 18:11
A popular backlash against globalisation and the leaders of the world’s largest companies is sweeping all rich countries, an FT/Harris poll shows.
Large majorities of people in the US and in Europe want higher taxation for the rich and even pay caps for corporate executives to counter what they believe are unjustified rewards and the negative effects of globalisation.
