470 days until election day.
MORNING UPDATE:
Look out America….Governor Granholm was appointed by the National Governors Association to Chair their committee on Economic Development and Commerce???
Her success…single state recession, highest unemployment in America and raising taxes.
We DON’T need to raise taxes to balance the budget…read Republican Leader Craig DeRoche editorial in the Detroit Free Press:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION02/707230305/1068/OPINION
TODAY…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:
- Does anyone see the irony in the announcement in Traverse City, MI today at the National Governors Association Conference that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm will be Chairing the NGA Committee on Economic Development and Commerce?
Governor Granholm being appointed to head of the Committee on Economic Development is like Jack Kevorkian being appointed to chair a committee on End of Life Care. Maybe she’ll be bringing in some accountants and economist form ENRON to help with new plans? You’ve got to be kidding!
- 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.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1185203488246810.xml&coll=2
Michigan has bright future, if it acts now
Monday, July 23, 2007
Bad economic news has become an unpleasant but, unfortunately, familiar story in Michigan. There's even more grim information in the 2007 Forbes assessment of "Best States for Business.''
We've fallen one notch to 46th, Forbes reports. That's the poorest among the Midwestern states. Michigan was ranked 40th for business costs, 44th for its labor force, 50th for economic climate, 47th for growth prospects and 31st for quality of life.
There was one bright spot - the listing of Michigan as third for its regulatory environment.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070723/OPINION02/707230305/1068/OPINION
No dessert (taxes) for childish Dems
July 23, 2007
I love being a father of three little girls. I am constantly tempted to spoil them, but as every parent knows, there are times when being a good parent means saying "no."
Last week, as I was enjoying our usual mayhem known as family dinner, my 6-year-old started one of her favorite routines.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/METRO/707240383/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Shorter sentences a bad idea, Cox says
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Attorney General Mike Cox and a group of Michigan law enforcement leaders today denounced the governor's plan to reduce sentences for dozens of crimes to save money by sending fewer criminals to prison or county jails.
Cox said revisions of state sentencing guidelines, proposed by state corrections officials and Gov. Jennifer Granholm, are "seriously flawed," will endanger citizens, have only "marginal impact" on lowering the number of inmates behind bars and shift more of the burden to county lockups.
"It's only about saving money," said Jackson Police Chief Ervin Portis, who heads the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. "Where's the concern about public safety?"
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/OPINION01/707240313/1008
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Critical reforms must drive auto labor talks
The Detroit News
Michigan's turnaround demands drastic change -- economically, politically and culturally. The opportunity to start that transformation rests on the shoulders of the executives of the United Auto Workers and the Big Three automakers.
Chief Executives Rick Wagoner of General Motors, Alan Mulally of Ford Motor Co., Tom LaSorda of Chrysler and union President Ron Gettelfinger are entering what are expected to be the most difficult and important contract negotiations that the domestic automakers and the UAW have ever undertaken.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1185202225155300.xml&coll=5
Voter ID law
New photo requirement mustn't become barrier
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, July 23, 2007
By Journal Editorial Board
Requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls has been such a partisan issue that one suspects positions on it may not be fully objective.
Nevertheless, now that it apparently will be a fact of life in Michigan, it must not become an obstacle, intentionally or otherwise, to anyone exercising his or her franchise.
In that regard, every appropriate consideration should be extended to the poor and the elderly, who seem most vulnerable to this Republican-sponsored law that the Michigan Supreme Court upheld last week. Not surprisingly, that ruling also reflected the justices' partisan differences, which ideally would never influence the mechanics of elections.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/OPINION01/707240307/1008
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
EMU, Detroit schools take steps in right direction
Troubled institutions work on better communications
The Detroit News
Two troubled Michigan institutions announced noteworthy plans Monday to put themselves on track.
Eastern Michigan University, reeling from its cover-up of a student's violent death, is fully implementing a formal crisis communications policy based on the best practices in higher education, its interim leaders say.
Among the smart ideas: biweekly incident reports to students, faculty and staff. This is the kind of transparency which EMU needs to regain the public's trust.
EMU's interim leader stresses teamwork 'Moving forward together' is main theme
Monday, July 23, 2007
BY GEOFF LARCOM
News Staff Reporter
When Don Loppnow arrived at work a week ago, he learned he would be leading Eastern Michigan University.
The role is familiar for Loppnow, who served as acting president for several weeks in 2004. But this time, he was tapped to take the helm amid a national scandal that drove out the president and two administrators.
Loppnow, a 34-year veteran of EMU, most recently served as provost and vice president of academic affairs. He was appointed to that role by John Fallon, who was fired from EMU on July 15 in response to reports showing the university covered up the murder of student Laura Dickinson on campus last December. The EMU Board of Regents also forced Vice President of Student Affairs Jim Vick and Public Safety Director Cindy Hall to retire.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1185086408247120.xml&coll=2
President must bring culture change to EMU
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Eastern Michigan University needs a new president.
More importantly, the university needs a real leader - a leader who can heal.
The next president must help create an environment to heal the distrust and animosity between constituencies within EMU, a complex, critical task. Students feel betrayed by administrators - now removed from office - who lied about the safety of campus in the wake of junior Laura Dickinson's rape and murder last year. Faculty leaders feel angry that their demands - some reasonable, some not - aren't being met, and that their concerns aren't being taken seriously.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-45/1185202310155300.xml&coll=5
Assaults on school staff still a problem
Violence top cause of Flint expulsions
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, July 23, 2007
By Melissa Burden
mburden@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6316
FLINT - Nearly half of the 39 Flint School District students expelled in the 2006-07 school year were dismissed for assaulting staff members.
At least five were elementary students.
Seventeen students were expelled for incidents involving assaults on district staff, including teachers, according to district data.
"That deeply concerns us," said Steve Burroughs, president of the Flint teachers union.
Still, district officials expect the 2006-07 expulsion total to be down sharply from the 66 recorded in 2005-06.
"We have dropped significantly," said Maria Boyd-Springer, the district's director of student personnel services.
Board of Education President Vera J. Perry is glad to see the falling numbers.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1185202330155330.xml&coll=7
SCHOOLS WORRY: Will voters renew tax?
Monday, July 23, 2007
By Julie Mack
jmack@kalamazoogazette.com 388-8578
Two years ago, Kalamazoo County voters narrowly approved a 1.5-mill school tax marketed as a one-time, short-term financial fix for area school districts.
Now, as the tax nears expiration, school officials say they need that fix to continue.
In 2005, educators said the three-year enhancement tax levied by the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency would tide districts over financially until the state's economy turned around.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1185202367155330.xml&coll=7
Enhancement-tax revenues
Monday, July 23, 2007
Kalamazoo County's 1.5-mill enhancement tax is expected to raise about $11 million in 2007 and 2008. The money is divided among the county's nine school districts based on enrollment. Below are payment estimates for each district. The per-student amount is expected to be $335.
District Students Tax revenues
Climax 671 $224,643
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/POLITICS/707240384/1022
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Committee plans vote on statewide smoking ban
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Commerce Committee Chairman Andrew Meisner, D-Ferndale, plans a vote Tuesday on legislation banning smoking in all public places.
That would be the first hurdle toward enacting a statewide ban in offices, plants, restaurants and even bars.
The committee has heard testimony from a host of Michiganians who favor a prohibition, and a number who oppose it.
Portage resident Carrie Klein blames second-hand smoke for the cancer death of her sister, Pam, two years ago at the age of 49. But Emily Naber, an 18-year-old spring high school graduate and cross-country runner from Lansing, said the law would be un-American and anti-free enterprise.
http://www.mlive.com/news/chronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1185203726264000.xml&coll=8
Poor housing plagues migrant workers
Monday, July 23, 2007
By Federico Martinez
fmartinez@muskegonchronicle.com
Her body was weary after picking asparagus for 12 hours.
Once in awhile, Griselda Coronado's mind would drift, and she would think about her four small children and the better lives she dreamed for them.
Those thoughts were interrupted by an urgent voice, barely audible over the grinding engine sounds of the asparagus picker. The voice on the other end of the cell phone informed Coronado that the family's trailer -- where she had left the children earlier in the day -- was now engulfed in flames.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/METRO/707240349/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Riled bloggers rant about local pols
Christina Stolarz / The Detroit News
BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP -- Diane Philpot knows what people have said about her in online blogs. And, for the record, she says none of it is true.
"I've heard everything from being a lesbian to everything else," said Philpot, the Brownstown Township treasurer since 2004. She said she has never seen the offending blog entry, but was told about it by friends. She said she was also told she was accused of stealing money.
She has plenty of company -- she's among many local politicians who have suffered blasts from bloggers, ranging from their sexual orientation to their age, how much they drink, how much they weigh and their physical appearance.
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1185202266155360.xml&coll=9
Housing starts
Monday, July 23, 2007
Across Saginaw County, fewer people are seeking permits to build single-family homes. Here's a look at the counts through June of the last three years in the communities the Home Builders Association of Saginaw Inc. tracks:
Community 2005 2006 2007
Blumfield Township 3 3 1
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1185203889263790.xml&coll=4
Thumb residents organize to pressure officials over beach muck problems
Monday, July 23, 2007
By JEFF KART
TIMES WRITER
PORTAUSTIN - It's been a year since shoreline residents in the Thumb area began complaining loudly about muck fouling their beaches.
It's been six years since the muck, or dead algae, in Huron County began getting steadily worse, residents say.
But the state Department of Environmental Quality and the Huron County Health Department have yet to test the muck, and identify exactly what's in it.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1185203461246810.xml&coll=2
City gets DOE grant for solar energy
Monday, July 23, 2007
By TOM GANTERT
News Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor is one of 13 cities selected for a $2.5 million national solar-energy project.
The city will receive $200,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy to promote solar energy.
The city has already made plans for a solar project, funded with grants from the state and Downtown Development Authority, at the Farmers Market. Mayor John Hieftje said the city's parking structures are another obvious choice for solar power.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/POLITICS01/707240404/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
McCain, in Michigan, calls for tax overhaul
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
BENTON HARBOR -- Making his first visit to Michigan since his presidential campaign's overhaul, John McCain called Monday night for repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax and institution of a line-item presidential veto, saying he would "leave a budget that stays balanced after I'm gone" if he's elected.
The Arizona Republican delivered what the campaign billed as a major economic policy address to the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan. McCain rapped Democrats for what he called high-tax, high-spending policies and criticized lawmakers of both parties whom he accused of running an out-of-control federal spending process.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/POLITICS/707240361/1022
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Ex-justice: Kids lack proper civics education
Disrespect for judges, erosion of judicial branch are due to students not learning, O'Connor says.
Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
ACME -- Public education, criticized roundly throughout the four-day National Governors Association conference here, took another punch on the chin Monday, this time from retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
O'Connor said growing disrespect for judges and erosion of independence of the judicial branch are partly due to students not learning much about American government in school.
"The key to maintaining our system lies in the education of our citizens," O'Connor told the 19 governors who stuck around for the final day of the summer meeting.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/OPINION03/707240311/1008/OPINION01
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Clarence Page
How Detroit, other 'uprisings' changed us
Forty years later, residents of Newark and Detroit still disagree as to whether the historic July disturbances in their cities should be remembered as "riots" or "rebellions." Let's split the difference, I say. Call them "uprisings."
There were more than 100 similar violent disturbances in various cities that year. But the most remembered were in Detroit, where 43 died in late July, and earlier in the month in Newark, where 26 died.
We remember these disturbances mostly as "riots," but that implies something random and irrational. "Uprising" implies a spontaneous mass action that is more explainable, yet less organized than a "rebellion."
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2007/07/third_nearmiss_for_grand_rapid.html
GR soldier's family thankful for third near-miss
Posted by The Grand Rapids Press July 23, 2007 22:27PM
Categories: Breaking News
GRAND RAPIDS -- Jill Malarz got the phone call about noon Monday.
"You panic," said Malarz, 36, mother to Army Pvt. Kodey Briggs.
He was calling about his third near-miss in the past six weeks in Iraq.
Briggs, 18, phoned from a casualty center somewhere in or near Baghdad. His unit had been hit again, one of the wounded soldiers evacuated by helicopter.
He was rattled, but OK.
"It's every day over there. They are losing friends," said Malarz of Grand Rapids.
She wonders how many more chances her son will get, in a war that is straining both front-line troops and families back home.
"There is lots of worry. Obviously, I miss him. I want him to come home safe," Malarz said.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.main/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Questions, not answers, highlight YouTube debate
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- Democratic presidential candidates faced questions directly from voters on Monday in the first CNN/YouTube debate.
The lights and cameras were focused on the eight candidates, but it was the personal, heartfelt and, at times, comical nature of the user questions that stole the spotlight.
Questions included one from a father who lost a son in Iraq and wondered if he would lose another, a gay couple asking why they shouldn't be allowed to marry and a woman stricken with breast cancer who asked if her chance of survival would be better if she had health insurance.
In all, 39 questions were asked from the 3,000 submissions YouTube said it received.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/POLITICS01/707240336/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Cyber-debate: Dem candidates challenged in video-driven session
Nedra Pickler / Associated Press
CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Young, Internet-savvy voters challenged Democratic presidential hopefuls on Iraq, the military draft and the candidates' own place in a broken political system, playing starring roles in a provocative, video-driven debate Monday night.
"Wassup?" came the first question, from a voter named Zach, after another, named Chris, opened the CNN-YouTube debate with a barb aimed at the entire eight-candidate field: "Can you as politicians ... actually answer questions rather than beat around the bush?"
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/5060.html
TV provides poor signal for Hillary
When Hollywood producer Rod Lurie created fictional president Mackenzie Allen in 2005 for the show “Commander in Chief” he made no mistake about one of his goals: tilling the soil of popular culture so that it would soon be easier for a real woman to take root in a nonfiction Oval Office.
CBS News had no such goal in 2006 when it gave Katie Couric the anchor’s chair once occupied by Walter Cronkite. But it was a vivid example of the glass ceiling being shattered in one of society’s most prestigious platforms.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/OPINION01/707240308/1008
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Edwards' poverty tour embraces failed policies
Anthony Bradley
The oft-quoted saying from the book of Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun," is especially true of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards' well-intentioned but misguided "poverty tour." Edwards' proposals to help the poor are nothing more than a remix of Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" and Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" and, like those previous initiatives, miss the mark.
Edwards proposes to raise the minimum wage as high as $9.50 an hour from the current $5.85, strengthen labor laws and promote "responsible families." Government wealth redistribution schemes, more unions and expanded government social programming have not helped the poor in the past and will continue to fail the truly disadvantaged in the future.
http://www.examiner.com/a-842080~Newt_goes_nuclear__May_enter_race_to_foil_pygmies.html
Newt Gingrich goes nuclear: May enter race to foil 'pygmies'
Jul 23, 2007 3:34 PM (16 hrs ago)
by Bill Sammon, The Examiner
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Dismissing the GOP presidential field as a "pathetic" bunch of "pygmies," Newt Gingrich hinted Monday he might step in to beat Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
"If, in mid-October, it's quite clear that one or more of the current candidates is strong enough to be a serious alternative to a Clinton-Obama ticket, you don't need me to run," the former House Speaker said at a breakfast sponsored by the American Spectator. "If it becomes patently obvious, as the morning paper points out, that the Democrats have raised a hundred million more than the Republicans, and at some point people decide we are going to get Hillary unless there's a radical change, then there's space for a candidate," he added. "So you'll know by mid-October one of those two futures is real."
http://www.examiner.com/a-842076~Newt_unplugged.html
Newt unplugged
Jul 23, 2007 3:29 PM (16 hrs ago)
by Bill Sammon, The Examiner
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Former house speaker and potential GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich ripped conservatives and liberals alike Monday at a breakfast sponsored by the American Spectator.
Here's how Newt unloaded on half a dozen newsmakers:
REPUBLICANS:
Fred Thompson, potential presidential candidate "I'm excited to see whether Fred turns out to be as decisive a front-runner as John McCain...The guy who wasn't even in the race is now the exciting new name, having decided that he would leave television for the purpose of entering television."
July 24, 2007
Democrats Seek Session With Bush on Spending
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON, July 23 — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, have asked for a meeting with President Bush to see if they can work out an agreement on spending bills for the fiscal year that begins in 10 weeks. But lawmakers from both parties said they saw no obvious way to overcome the current stalemate with the White House.
The House has passed 8 of the 12 regular appropriations bills for 2008, and Mr. Bush threatened to veto 5 of them, on the ground that they called for “an irresponsible and excessive level of spending.”
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010374
Cheese Headcases
Wisconsin reveals the cost of "universal" health care.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
When Louis Brandeis praised the 50 states as "laboratories of democracy," he didn't claim that every policy experiment would work. So we hope the eyes of America will turn to Wisconsin, and the effort by Madison Democrats to make that "progressive" state a Petri dish for government-run health care.
This exercise is especially instructive, because it reveals where the "single-payer," universal coverage folks end up. Democrats who run the Wisconsin Senate have dropped the Washington pretense of incremental health-care reform and moved directly to passing a plan to insure every resident under the age of 65 in the state. And, wow, is "free" health care expensive. The plan would cost an estimated $15.2 billion, or $3 billion more than the state currently collects in all income, sales and corporate income taxes. It represents an average of $510 a month in higher taxes for every Wisconsin worker.
http://www.ocregister.com/news/boxer-sen-senators-1783281-barbara-north
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sen. Boxer going to Greenland
Chairwoman of Senate environmental panel taking delegation to probe global warming.
By DENA BUNIS
The Orange County Register
WASHINGTON – Sen. Barbara Boxer is heading north this weekend – way north – to Greenland with a bipartisan delegation of senators to see firsthand the effects of global warming.
Boxer, D-Calif., chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee and hopes to bring a bill to combat climate change to the Senate floor possibly after the August recess. About half a dozen different global warming bills – ranging from those with firm economy-wide emission reduction targets to more narrow measures – have been introduced this year.
The lawmakers actually picked a pretty good time of the year to go: the forecast up there calls for highs in the low 50s.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/columns-3/1185202426155330.xml&coll=7
Border fence would harm the environment
Monday, July 23, 2007
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Building hundreds of miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border would be extraordinarily expensive and a diplomatic disaster. It would be detrimental to cross-border commerce and wouldn't provide any guarantee of stopping illegal immigration.
But there's another important reason that the border fence is misguided: It would be an environmental and aesthetic tragedy.
This is especially true in the Lower Rio Grande Valley area of far South Texas. This fast-growing, impoverished region is home to exceptional wildlife refuges, a sizable ecotourism industry and large-scale farming interests that rely heavily on the Rio Grande for irrigation.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/AUTO01/707240330/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Poll: Higher fuel standards are preferred
Almost 90% of 3,900 in seven states favor raising auto mileage to 35 mpg.
Jim Efstathiou Jr. / Bloomberg News
Voters in seven U.S. states say higher fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks will lower gasoline prices and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, a Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency Poll found.
Almost 90 percent of the 3,900 likely voters surveyed favor requiring the automobile industry to improve fuel efficiency, according to the poll, released Monday. Those surveyed favored a 35-mpg standard over 32 mpg and said the changes should take effect by 2018. The Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency is a Washington-based interest group that supports higher fuel-efficiency standards.
Jul 23, 8:11 PM EDT
Problems persist among tax-exempts
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tax abuse persists among charities and other tax-exempt groups and the Internal Revenue Service does not always have the legal means to deal with the problem, the IRS commissioner told Congress.
"In several areas within our jurisdiction our remedial tools are largely ineffective," acting IRS Commissioner Kevin M. Brown said in a letter to the chairman and ranking Republican of the Senate Finance Committee made public Monday.
Brown, in the 28-page letter, mentioned such problems as the improper valuation of charitable contributions, inaccurate reports of executive compensation, questionable filings by nonprofit hospitals, involvement in prohibited political activities and charities established to benefit the donor.
He said that while compliance among tax-exempt groups has improved in the past few years, "some remain casual, indifferent or even callous toward compliance."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_SPOUSES?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 23, 7:10 PM EDT
House rejects campaign pay for spouses
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Spouses don't belong on campaign payrolls, the House says, voting to end a practice that has benefited some members of Congress for years. Monday's action follows controversies in which lawmakers added many thousands of dollars to their family incomes by hiring relatives for campaign tasks, even if their qualifications were not always apparent.
The practice "has shown the potential to foster corruption," said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chief sponsor of the measure that was approved by voice vote after little debate.
The bill would bar a federal candidate's spouse from being paid by the candidate's campaign or leadership political action committee. The ban also would apply to companies or firms in which the spouse is an officer or director.
Campaign or PAC payments made to other immediate members of the candidate's family would have to be disclosed.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/POLITICS/707240342/1022
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Gonzales vows to fix Justice image
Attorney general is to testify today before Senate committee on U.S. attorney firings.
Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says he's staying at the Justice Department to try to repair its broken image, telling Congress in a statement released Monday he's troubled that politics may have played a part in hiring career federal prosecutors.
Senators already skeptical of Gonzales' ability to lead the department were preparing to hammer him about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys and conflicts between his earlier statements and the testimony of a former aide.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PROSECUTORS_GONZALES?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 24, 6:27 AM EDT
Gonzales faces more Senate questioning
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The return of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary Committee is in some ways the story of Democratic failure to drum up enough pressure to force President Bush's hand.
Not so long ago, Republicans as well as Democrats thought they'd seen Gonzales sit before them for the last time as attorney general. There was no way Gonzales could survive the controversy over the prosecutor firings, nor the exposure of other missteps, they said. Certainly he could not resist the widespread calls for his resignation - one, from a Republican - to his face as the proceedings were broadcast live.
They were wrong. Gonzales was called to testify again Tuesday. A Senate vote of no confidence in Gonzales has failed, and Bush has noted that the U.S. attorneys probe did not uncover any clear wrongdoing. And, armed with the president's support, Gonzales has made clear that he does not intend to leave office before Bush does.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PROSECUTORS_CONTEMPT?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 23, 8:41 PM EDT
Bush aides face contempt vote Wednesday
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats on Monday targeted two of President Bush's longtime aides for criminal contempt against Congress, escalating a legal fight over executive privilege and access to White House deliberations on the firings of federal prosecutors.
Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his panel would vote Wednesday on citing White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former Counsel Harriet Miers for contempt of Congress.
"It is still my hope that they will reconsider this hard-line position and cooperate with our investigation so that we can get to the bottom of this matter," Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement after being told again by their attorneys that Bolten and Miers would not comply with the committee's subpoenas.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1185202757187730.xml&coll=6
Iraq: Look to September
Monday, July 23, 2007
Acongressional scorecard of progress in Iraq gave a grim assessment, especially in torpedoing hopes of a stable political structure. If fundamental governmental goals aren't met, there is little the U.S. military will be able to do to make the country a livable place.
The Senate last week debated -- and rightly rejected -- a bill that would have set a spring timeline for troop withdrawal. Lawmakers and the country should be looking toward September for a more complete report on where Iraq is headed.
That is when Gen. David Petraeus, top military leader in Iraq, will give Congress his report card. The September date affords more time to judge the new dynamic in the country. The troop surge, which threw 30,000 more soldiers into the war, has shown some signs of quelling violence in a few regions. Although the surge began in February, it just came to full strength last month.
July 24, 2007
U.S. Is Seen in Iraq Until at Least ’09
BAGHDAD, July 23 — While Washington is mired in political debate over the future of Iraq, the American command here has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant American role for the next two years.
The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of the top American commander and the American ambassador, calls for restoring security in local areas, including Baghdad, by the summer of 2008. “Sustainable security” is to be established on a nationwide basis by the summer of 2009, according to American officials familiar with the document.
Jul 24, 1:22 AM EDT
Injured Iraq war veterans sue VA head
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Frustrated by delays in health care, injured Iraq war veterans accused VA Secretary Jim Nicholson in a lawsuit of breaking the law by denying them disability pay and mental health treatment.
The lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, seeks broad changes in the agency as it struggles to meet growing demands from veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Suing on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, it charges that the VA has failed warriors on numerous fronts. It contends the VA failed to provide prompt disability benefits, failed to add staff to reduce wait times for medical care and failed to boost services for post-traumatic stress disorder.
The lawsuit also accuses the VA of deliberately cheating some veterans by allegedly working with the Pentagon to misclassify PTSD claims as pre-existing personality disorders to avoid paying benefits. The VA and Pentagon have generally denied such charges.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070724/POLITICS/707240345/1022
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Iraq, Afghan vets sue VA
Hundreds of thousands claim denial of medical and mental health treatment; changes in agency sought.
Henry Weinstein / Los Angeles Times
SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was accused Monday in a lawsuit of "shameful failures" in providing medical and mental health care to injured servicemen returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to a 73-page lawsuit, which is proposed for class-action status on behalf of hundreds of thousands of veterans, "The VA's outmoded systems for providing medical care and disability benefits (have been overwhelmed by) the huge influx of injured troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MILITARY_EUROPE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 23, 8:58 PM EDT
Pentagon rethinks troop cuts in Europe
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pentagon officials are considering whether to halt the drawdown of U.S. troops in Europe because of the war in Iraq and other world developments.
A Defense Department official said Monday that some defense leaders are studying whether the 2002 plan to cut troops on the continent by nearly half still makes sense today with America's ongoing wars, worsening relations with Russia and Iran and a recent plan to expand the Army.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the proposal on the record.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are considering recommendations in a June 26 report on the subject requested by Gen. Bantz Craddock, who questioned the troop reduction plan shortly after taking over late last year as head of the U.S. European Command.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070723221255.bhwlxs2o&show_article=1
Israeli president calls on world to unite against Iran
Jul 23 06:13 PM US/Eastern
Israeli President Shimon Peres called on the world in an interview Tuesday to form a united front against Iran that would force the Islamic republic to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
"Iran only has power when the world is divided," Peres told France's Le Figaro daily, referring to the stalemate over Iran's nuclear programme.
"If Iran is confronted by a united front, it will change" its policy on the nuclear issue, the veteran statesman added.
Peres noted that four countries -- Ukraine, Libya, South Africa and North Korea -- had already given up nuclear weapons under pressure from the international community.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QIHDFG0&show_article=1&image=large
Hezbollah: Rockets Can Reach All Israel
Jul 23 04:58 PM US/Eastern
By ZEINA KARAM
Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Monday his group possesses an arsenal of rockets that can reach all of Israel, including Tel Aviv.
"We could absolutely reach any corner and any point in occupied Palestine," Nasrallah said in an interview aired by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera and Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.
Celebratory gunshots and fireworks erupted in Beirut's southern suburbs for several minutes as the interview began and after it ended.
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2335561220070723?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true
Hezbollah says didn't confirm Israeli captives alive
Mon Jul 23, 2007 4:02PM EDT
DUBAI (Reuters) - The chief of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah said his organization did not tell France that the two Israeli soldiers it captured in 2006 were alive and declined to give any clues to their fate.
"This is not true," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah told Al Jazeera television in an interview aired on Monday, when asked about Hezbollah envoys' "confirmation" to France earlier this month that the two men were alive.
Hezbollah's seizure of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, 2006, resulted in a 34-day war between the Iranian-backed group and Israel in which about 1,200 Lebanese and 157 Israelis were killed.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bstephens/?id=110010375
Syria Occupies Lebanon. Again.
A land grab proportionally equivalent to a foreign power occupying Arizona.
BY BRET STEPHENS
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
As of this minute, Syria occupies at least 177 square miles of Lebanese soil. That you are now reading about it for the first time is as much a scandal as the occupation itself.
The news comes by way of a fact-finding survey of the Lebanese-Syrian border just produced by the International Lebanese Committee for U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, an American NGO that has consultative status with the U.N. Because of the sensitivity of the subject, the authors have requested anonymity and have circulated the report only among select government officials and journalists. But its findings cannot be ignored.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MYANMAR_SANCTIONS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Jul 23, 7:23 PM EDT
House votes to renew Myanmar sanctions
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress moved Monday to extend import sanctions on Myanmar for another year, citing the Asian country's suppression of political dissent and human rights.
The House voted by voice to renew the ban on imports, imposed under a 2003 law, for another year. The Senate Finance Committee approved an identical resolution later in the day.
"The controlling junta continues to have total disregard for its own people and their basic rights," Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., said of the military government that has held power in Myanmar, also known as Burma, since 1988.
He said the military leaders continue to arrest and torture political activists and refuse to release Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who has been detained by the government for 12 of the past 18 years.
Jul 23, 7:13 PM EDT
A thank-you for late lawmaker's backers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The late Rep. Charlie Norwood's campaign treated his supporters to a $63,000 thank-you weekend at a golf resort two months after he died, the same weekend the candidate endorsed by Norwood's family held a fundraiser at the same resort, reports and interviews show.
Norwood officials said the events were unrelated, and the Norwood expenditures were for a reservation booked before his death that could not be canceled. They said the spending did not benefit the campaign of former state Sen. Jim Whitehead.
Whitehead was widely considered the front-runner to replace Norwood, but another Republican, Paul Broun of Athens, finished last week's runoff election with a 400-vote lead. Whitehead has not conceded and is likely to request a recount this week.
Norwood had more than $700,000 in his campaign account when he died Feb. 13. Federal law allows a variety of uses for the money, including donations to charities or limited contributions to political parties or campaigns.
