462 Days until election day.
MORNING UPDATE:
Senate Majority Whip Jim Clyburn told the Washington Post on Monday that victory in Iraq would be a “real big problem” for Democrats. Are they actually cheering for defeat, death and destructions?! Are we still supposed to believe they’re not politicizing the war?!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001380.html
Complete information, resolution and rules passed by the 2008 Presidential Committee are now posted on the web for easy access and review:
http://www.migop.org/default.asp
Don’t Forget To Visit The Michigan Republican Party Online Store! Our secure, user-friendly site offers a variety of Republican items, including sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, travel mugs, and more! Perfect for personal use, holiday presents, or volunteer gifts, our items will allow you to confidently display your Republican pride. Visit www.migop.org/store to view, purchase, or comment on our selection of unique Republican items.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
Senate Majority Whip Jim Clyburn told the Washigton Post on Monday that continued success in Iraq would be a “real big problem” for Democrats politically. There is absolutely no excuse for this type of defeatist rhetoric! Democratic Congressmen and Democratic Congressional candidates should immediately denounce Clyburn’s statement.
This comment only proves what Republicans have been saying all along that Democrats are politicizing the war in Iraq. Why would it ever be in the Democrats’, or any American’s best interest for our efforts in Iraq to fail and for Americans and Iraqis to continue to fall victim to blood shed?
There is absolutely no reason to EVER make supporting our brave men and women serving in Iraq a political issue. It now falls on Michigan Democrats in Congress, like Congressman Stupak and Senator Levin; and Democratic candidates like Gary Peters, David Nacht, and Jim Berryman to follow Congressman David Camp’s example and show their support for our troops by denouncing Senator Clyburn’s outrageously irresponsible comment.
For the first time, significant military and political progress is being reported and United States casualties have fallen to an eight-month low. And this is a “real big problem”?!
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/POLITICS/708020375/1022
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Cuts in state courts recommended
Judicial overseer says more than $2 million could be saved from downsizing.
Mark Hornbeck and Ronald J. Hansen / The Detroit News
LANSING -- Michigan's court system is too big and too expensive, and 14 judgeships -- including four from the Court of Appeals and three from Wayne County courts -- should be eliminated, a State Court Administrative Office report recommended Wednesday.
The report, citing declining caseloads, suggests trimming the judgeships through attrition, so no judges would be fired. The state eventually would save nearly $700,000 from appeals court reductions, after hiring attorneys to pick up some of the work, and $1.56 million from the lower-court downsizing; local governments would save, too, according to the agency that oversees Michigan courts.
http://www.mininggazette.com/stories/articles.asp?articleID=8008
Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Top Dem in state Senate calls for budget resolution
By GARRETT NEESE, DMG Writer
HOUGHTON — If the upcoming state budget doesn’t preserve education funding, Michigan will lag farther behind, the Michigan Senate minority leader said Tuesday.
“The states with thriving economies, the states with high per capita income, are states that are producing a higher proportion of college graduates than Michigan is,” said Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek.
Schauer proposed a two-pronged approach to closing a $1.5 billion budget shortfall for the 2008 fiscal year: a 0.3 percent increase in the income tax, and broadening the 6 percent sales tax to certain luxury services.
Granholm kicks off new worker training program
8/1/2007, 2:57 p.m. EDT
By TIM MARTIN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Laid-off Michigan workers may be able to get up to two free years of community college or technical school tuition to learn a new trade under a program rolled out Wednesday.
The program, called No Worker Left Behind, was detailed in Traverse City by Gov. Jennifer Granholm with the state's community college presidents. Granholm's goal is to retrain and place 100,000 workers in high-demand jobs in health care, alternative fuels and other fields within the next three years.
Granholm first talked about the project during her State of the State address in February. The first wave of students is expected to start classes this fall.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-22/118597714468560.xml&coll=3
Tuition rates go through the roof
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
By Chad Livengood
clivengood@citpat.com -- 768-4918
With tuition at record highs, university leaders in Michigan say the Legislature's continued cuts to higher education threaten the existence of public universities.
"When you have six years of disinvestment, you're making a statement that the state's privatizing its university system," said Michael Boulus, executive director of the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan, a group that represents the state's 15 public universities.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jacitpat/index.ssf?/base/news-22/118597716868560.xml&coll=3
The price to attend college
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Incoming freshmen will pay an average $815 more to attend one of Michigan's 15 public universities this fall. Tuition increases have averaged 11.3 percent. Some universities, such as Wayne State and Ferris State, have raised rates with contingency fees that could be eliminated if state aid payments are received. Below is the cost for a full-time, in-state student taking 30 credit hours for the year, as well as the dollar amount and percentage of increase.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1185979886221890.xml&coll=7
WMU budget avoids layoffs, program cuts
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
By Paula M. Davis
pdavis@kalamazoogazette.com 388-8583
Western Michigan University leaders Tuesday approved a $299 million budget that includes a $5.9 million deficit but no layoffs or program cuts.
WMU officials say the 2007-08 budget is, however, based on receiving $10.2 million in funding that the state has delayed paying Western. To deal with its own financial problems, the state withheld its August payment to Michigan's 15 public universities.
``We do expect the state to act in good faith,'' President John M. Dunn said following the special meeting at which the WMU Board of Trustees approved the university's spending plan.
http://metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=11126
Killing our future
by Jack Lessenberry
8/1/2007
Wayne State University shocked many of my students last week by raising tuition almost 18 percent. That will make it difficult, if not impossible, for many of them to stay in school this fall. Without an eventual degree, they don't have a prayer of having the middle-class lifestyle most of their parents did.
But don't blame the university. Nor should you blame any of the state's other universities, all of which are enacting major tuition increases this fall.
http://www.dailypress.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=12526
Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2007
School heads don’t like state mandate
By Lee F. Brown - lbrown@dailypress.net
ESCANABA — Local school officials support the idea of consolidating non-instructional school services. What they don’t support is the idea of a state law mandating that consolidation.
Escanaba schools Superintendent Tom Smith said his district has been practicing non-instructional service consolidation for quite some time. They already work with the Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (DSISD) for professional development and bulk purchasing orders.
“I don’t see that as a problem,” Smith said of the potential mandate. “I see it as an opportunity to do more.”
But Smith went on to say, “I don’t think they need to mandate it.” Instead, it should be what is best suited to a particular area, he added.
http://www.dailypress.net/stories/articles.asp?articleID=12522
Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Schools sour on merger idea
By Lee F. Brown - lbrown@dailypress.net
ESCANABA — If the Senate version of Michigan’s House Bill 4592 passes, the Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (DSISD) and other ISDs around the state may be looking at more responsibilities being passed from individual school districts to the regional educational centers.
The bill introduced on April 5 and passed by the House on May 22 requires school districts to come up with a plan for consolidating non-instructional services, such as payroll and busing, with other districts, usually through their common ISD. The bill will be introduced to the Senate Education Committee at 3 p.m. today where it could be referred to the whole Senate at their next session on Aug. 22.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/OPINION01/708020312/1008
Thursday, August 02, 2007
These board members could save faltering Detroit schools
The Detroit News
Detroit's public schools are arguably on the verge of collapse. The district is hemorrhaging 10,000 students annually and is crippled by corruption and politics. It must dramatically overhaul every aspect of its work.
Next week, voters will decide which school board candidates can best help the district make a comeback. Just three races have enough candidates to hold a primary election -- a reflection perhaps of Detroiters' widespread disillusionment with the district.
For many Detroiters, this year's election has unfortunately become a referendum on Detroit's school closings. The voters -- like the district's leaders -- need to have a much broader perspective on the school crisis.
http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/OPINION01/708010312/1014/OPINION
Glad to see end to state police gas-cutting effort
Back in February, Michigan State Police troopers were asked to drive less in an effort to help the state save money. The move aimed to save about $2 million by Oct. 1, in line with the end of the state's fiscal year.
Last week, the gas-saving effort came to an end two months earlier than expected, thanks in part to an estimated $1 million in other cost-cutting measures identified by the Michigan Department of Management and Budget's Vehicle and Travel Services.
http://www.mlive.com/columns/sanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1185978222114860.xml&coll=9
Lansing freebie hard to swallow
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
DID YOU HEAR THE ONE about the Legislature and its tradition that calls for lawmakers who pass their first bills to provide lunch for their entire chamber?
No joke. It's true.
Apparently no one knows exactly when this tradition started -- long-standing are the words they use -- but it can become a rather expensive endeavor, especially if you're in the 110-member House. The lawmakers pay for the lunch themselves.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/POLITICS/708020334/1022
Thursday, August 02, 2007
State human services chief quits after tenure of deaths, reforms
Udow praised for her dedication, responsiveness; guided the department through 3 high-profile foster child killings.
Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
Michigan Department of Human Services director Marianne Udow is leaving her post, a four-year tenure that observers describe as a period of departmental strides punctuated by several high-profile child deaths.
Udow will depart Aug. 31 to become director of the Center for Health Care Quality and Transformation at the University of Michigan Health Center.
Her successor, who has been selected but not yet announced, will inherit a lawsuit that seeks to reform the state foster care system, along with an unresolved budget for the next fiscal year. He or she will oversee the state's second largest department with a budget in excess of $4.3 billion and just under 10,000 employees.
DHS director resigns to join U-M, Blue Cross venture
8/1/2007, 4:41 p.m. EDT
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — State Department of Human Services Director Marianne Udow said Wednesday she is resigning to lead a joint venture between the University of Michigan Health System and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Udow has led DHS since January 2004 after being appointed by Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Starting in September, she will head the Center for Healthcare Quality & Transformation in Ann Arbor. The group says it wants to improve the quality of Michigan's health care and transform the way patient care is delivered in the state and beyond. Udow's resignation will take effect Aug. 31.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1185897021259440.xml&coll=7
Senator calls for conduct hearings on Enslen
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
By Pat Shellenbarger
Gazette News Service
GRAND RAPIDS -- Two fellow judges defended U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen on Monday against a state legislator's accusations he is unfit to hold office.
State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, has introduced resolutions in the Michigan Senate calling on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to conduct hearings on whether Enslen is fit to remain on the bench. Kuipers said he was motivated by his frustration with Enslen's rulings against the state in a class-action lawsuit, known as the Hadix case, over conditions in the Jackson prison complex.
But Robert Holmes Bell, the chief federal judge for the Western District of Michigan, said disagreement is not grounds for removal.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/OPINION01/708020315/1008
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Our choices for Warren city clerk, treasurer
Wojno and Wisniewski are best choices for executive branch posts
The Detroit News
The departure of Warren Mayor Mark Steenbergh from office and the decision of City Clerk Richard Sulaka to seek the mayor's job have resulted in a scramble for the city's other executive branch posts.
A relatively large field of candidates is seeking election as clerk and treasurer in Tuesday's primary, which is good for the voters. The candidates are providing a useful discussion and debate on the issues confronting these offices.
Four candidates are vying for city clerk. Our support goes to former state Rep. Paul Wojno, who has mounted a serious campaign for the job for a number of months.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18651156&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6
Camp: Democrat should apologize or lose leadership post
By Stuart Frohm
08/01/2007
Dave Camp, Republican congressman from Midland, said today that Democratic leaders should replace South Carolina Democrat James Clyburn if Clyburn doesn't apologize for a comment about the Iraq war.
Camp, in a prepared statement, referred to an interview in which Clyburn said Democrats pushing for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops would have a problem if U.S. Gen. David Petraeus' September report is positive.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/POLITICS/708020344/1022
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Water bill may face veto
Lawmakers of both parties cry out against Bush's threat to quash legislation that benefits Michigan projects.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- President Bush threatened Wednesday to veto a water resources bill with millions of dollars for projects in Michigan and the Great Lakes, prompting Michigan lawmakers of both parties to pledge the first veto override of the Bush presidency.
The bill, which includes $30 million for improvements on the Detroit River shore, $340 million for a new shipping lock in Sault Ste. Marie and dozens of smaller Michigan projects, has broad bipartisan support. But the White House on Wednesday said that when a House-Senate conference committee ironed out differences between the two chambers' bills, it added too much money. Both chambers are expected to pass the bill this week.
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-45/1185981629309780.xml&coll=5
Police seek tech funds
HOMETOWN HEADLINES
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
By Kim Crawford
kcrawford@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6242
FLINT - Funding proposals for new computers and digital recording cameras for Flint police vehicles are headed to the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The requests for funds for the technology - $600,000 available in a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee, D-Flint, and $750,000 in a Senate bill by Sen. Debbie Stabenow - have made it out of committee and are headed for the House and Senate floor respectively, Chief Gary Hagler said.
"The new systems will enable officers to complete reports in the field and will also provide a video record of the actions of suspects for criminal prosecution," Hagler said in a news release.
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1185981387291630.xml&coll=4
Sister, brother return to normal routine after year of melding families during deployment
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
By KATHLEEN POLESNAK
TIMES WRITER
Like many military families, the Stahls are accustomed to moving. Packing boxes, driving across the country and making new friends is routine.
But this time around, trekking to a new locale will be more drastic for Army Sgt. Stuart Stahl's three children.
That's because Brianne, 15, Shea Lynn, 13, and Jordan, 9, have lived with their aunt Susan Mayse and two cousins - Christopher, 15, and Matthew, 9 - for the past year while their dad was stationed in Kuwait. Both single parents, Stuart Stahl and Susan Mayse melded households in Munger while Stahl was overseas.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/POLITICS01/708020339/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Debate's snowman chills GOP
Some party members, candidate give YouTube style of voter outreach the cold shoulder.
Amy Schatz / Wall Street Journal
MINNEAPOLIS -- Nathan and Greg Hamel didn't know whether their talking snowman would be picked to ask a question during the CNN/YouTube Democratic presidential debate.
Now, their 18-second video, which asked candidates about their environmental policies, has turned "Billiam the Snowman" into a cold, wet symbol of all that's good and bad about efforts by voters and politicians to use the Internet to reach one another.
The snowman has cast a chill over some Republicans, who were scheduled to get the YouTube treatment Sept. 17 and aren't quite sure what to make of it.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11811
Listen to Goldwater
By Quin Hillyer
Published 8/1/2007 12:08:59 AM
At the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Barry Goldwater famously told conservatives to "grow up." It's time we hear that message again.
As in 1960, the conservative movement seems grumbling, disaffected, even downright angry -- and, most importantly, it sometimes seems more interested in complaining and moaning than in uniting, constructively, to achieve political success.
What's worse is that we seem to be fighting among ourselves. Every chance we get, we take shots at other conservatives. Nobody, it seems, is good enough. We moan that nobody is another Reagan. Nobody is another Churchill. Nobody is another Washington.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/01/AR2007080102052.html
Thompson's Top Adviser
Thursday, August 2, 2007; Page A21
Speaking at his $1,000-a-ticket fundraiser at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in downtown Washington on Monday night, Fred Thompson began by introducing "my campaign manager -- oh, I mean my wife." That little joke about Jeri Thompson reveals how the prospective Republican presidential candidate regards the attack on his intelligent, beautiful wife.
As the actor-lawyer-politician nears his long-awaited official announcement, Mrs. Thompson is slurred as a "trophy wife" -- privately by her husband's opponents for the Republican nomination and publicly by the media. Even Thompson supporters grumble that Jeri, 40, is too alluring, that she should modify the way she dresses and that, even then, she should not practice her skills as a professional political operative on behalf of her 64-year-old husband.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QOEQT81&show_article=1
Clinton Says Cheney Wrong on Her Request
Aug 1 04:29 PM US/Eastern
By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused Vice President Dick Cheney of falsely portraying her attempt to get Iraq planning information out of the Pentagon.
The Democratic presidential front-runner has been hammering at the Bush administration for two weeks since a top Pentagon aide refused to tell her whether or how the military was planning for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
In a letter to the vice president, she accused Cheney of offering "inaccuracies" in opposing her request.
She used even tougher language in an appeal sent to supporters of her presidential bid: "I couldn't care less what Dick Cheney says about me. But when he plays politics with the lives of our troops, you had better be sure I'm going to respond. And I know that you want to respond too."
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN0140648920070802?feedType=RSS&rpc=22&sp=true
I'm no Hillary Clinton: Argentine front-runner
Thu Aug 2, 2007 12:51AM EDT
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Argentina's first lady and front-runner in the October presidential election rejected on Wednesday comparisons with U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton despite both women's hopes to follow their husbands into office.
Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, also are lawyers who met their husbands at universities but Fernandez said the comparisons ended there.
"Hillary was able to position herself nationally because her husband was president. She didn't have a political life beforehand and that isn't my case," Fernandez de Kirchner said in an interview with CNN en Espanol, referring to her 30-year career in Argentine politics.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070801/ap_on_el_pr/obama_terrorism_7
Obama might send troops into Pakistan
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 1, 8:22 AM ET
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would possibly send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive.
The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under an Obama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.
BARACK'S BLUNDER
INVADE A NUCLEAR POWER?
August 2, 2007 -- IN an "I am too tougher than Hillary" speech, Sen. Barack Obama warned Pakistan yes terday that as commander-in-chief he might act unilaterally if Islamabad didn't do more against the terrorists there.
"Let me make this clear . . . If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, I will," the Democratic presidential candidate told a Washington audience in his first comprehensive speech on terrorism.
8/1/07, 6:35 pm EST
Edwards: “Giuliani is Bush on Steroids”
Just got back from an Edwards event in San Francisco. He threw out a lot of red meat — in particular savaging the big oil, drug, and insurance companies — and these deep blue Americans loved every minute of it.
Edwards is awesome on the stump. He knows how to work a crowd into a lather. Today’s event, in a hot, dark SoMa night club was packed to the gills, and you’d have thought it was Bono up on that stage. People were that into it.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/OPINION03/708020303/1008/OPINION01
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Clarence Page
What? Me 'liberal'? No problem
The greatest triumph that conservatives ever achieved is to make liberals embarrassed to call themselves "liberal."
That thought came to mind as I watched Sen. Hillary Clinton rhetorically wriggle her way, as so many liberals do, right out of using the L-word to describe herself.
During the CNN/You Tube debate among Democratic presidential candidates, Clinton was asked, "How would you define the word 'liberal,' and would you use this word to describe yourself?"
Briefly she showed off her knowledge of the word's various meanings over the past, oh, century or two.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_GLANCE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Aug 2, 3:17 AM EDT
Actions in Congress moving toward recess
A look at actions in Congress on Wednesday:
---
CHILDREN'S HEALTH
Democrats pushed through legislation to add 6 million lower-income children to a popular children's health insurance program. The House voted 225-204 to pass the bill, which would add $50 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The bill would slash federal payments to private insurance companies that cover seniors under Medicare and shift money to doctors and benefits for low-income seniors. President Bush has threatened to veto the measure.
TILLMAN
Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top former Pentagon brass denied any cover-up and rejected personal responsibility for the military's bungled response to Army Ranger Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan. "I know that I would not engage in a cover-up," Rumsfeld told a House committee in his first public appearance on Capitol Hill since Bush replaced him with Robert Gates late last year.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_ENERGY?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Aug 1, 8:16 PM EDT
House drops tougher auto fuel economy
WASHINGTON (AP) -- After weeks of uncertainty, House Democrats have decided against a confrontation over automobile fuel economy when they take up energy legislation later this week.
Two proposals to boost the required mileage for new automobiles were submitted Wednesday for consideration as amendments to the energy legislation, but they were withdrawn by their Democratic sponsors.
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., sponsor of a proposal to boost vehicle mileage to 35 miles per gallon by 2019, said he decided not to pursue the matter after consulting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi in a statement said she supported requiring automakers to make more fuel efficient vehicles but that the issue was deferred "in the interest of promoting passage of a consensus energy bill."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/AUTO01/708020392/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, August 02, 2007
House puts off fuel rule changes
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- House leaders decided Wednesday to put off a potentially divisive fight over auto fuel-economy rules, leaving until September the debate over how high a hurdle they'll set for the embattled domestic carmakers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said late Wednesday that the House will not consider competing proposals to change Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards when the House takes up a comprehensive energy bill this week. The House is expected to vote on the package this week.
The decision means the Big 3 automakers have dodged, for now, passage of a tough set of CAFE standards proposed by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., which would have boosted vehicle mileage to 35 miles per gallon by 2019. It has wide support among House Democrats, including Pelosi.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/OPINION01/708020310/1008
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Cornfed overexuberance: Ethanol push raises food prices, guzzles fuel, reduces water levels
Mark Perry
It sounds as though the United States is making progress to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil. It is stepping up production of ethanol. Legislation that would require a sevenfold increase in the use of biofuels is coming up for final approval in Congress. Carmakers are rolling out increasing numbers of new flex-fuel vehicles that can run on E85, a fuel that is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.
None of this should give us too much comfort, however. Ethanol production this year will replace less than 5 percent of the gasoline sold. Yet, since 20 percent of today's corn crop is used to produce ethanol, it is pushing up food prices -- everything from meat and dairy products to beer, soda pop and even charcoal briquettes, one of many products that contain corn.
Aug 1, 8:58 PM EDT
Democrats pass hike in child health plan
CHILDREN'S HEALTH: Democrats pushed through legislation Wednesday to add 6 million lower-income children to the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
SHIFTING MONEY: It would slash federal payments to private insurance companies that cover Medicare patients.
VETO THREAT: The Bush administration said it "clearly favors government-run health care over private health insurance."
Aug 2, 3:14 AM EDT
Senate near vote on kids' health bill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A bipartisan measure to add 3 million lower-income children to a popular health insurance program headed for a final Senate vote after a much broader and more expensive version passed the House over stiff Republican opposition.
Both measures face a veto-threat from President Bush, who says they would cost too much and expand the decade-old program beyond its original mission, inappropriately moving toward government-run health care.
Senate Democrats were eager to pass a $35 billion expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, perhaps as early as Thursday, before leaving town this week for a monthlong summer recess. The program expires Sept. 30.
A coalition of Senate Republicans and Democrats were supporting the expansion, and the measure appeared to be headed for passage by a resounding margin. That left GOP leaders trying to garner enough opposition to sustain Bush's veto.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/OPINION01/708020304/1008
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Expel ideological crackpots from academia
Gregory Rodriguez
You don't have to be a crusading right-winger to recognize that University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, who compared the victims of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack to Nazis, is an extremist, an ideologue whose scholarship is less than objective.
Nor do you have to be a flame-throwing left-winger to agree that the university where he was once director of the ethnic-studies department shouldn't have ditched him the way it did. It needed to do much, much more.
Two short years ago, Churchill's labeling of WTC victims as "little Eichmanns," a reference to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi in charge of sending Jews to death camps, provoked a heated yet necessary national debate on the state of scholarship at American universities.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WATER_PROJECTS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Aug 2, 5:50 AM EDT
House passes $20B water projects bill
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House overwhelmingly passed a $20 billion water projects bill Wednesday night despite a promised veto by President Bush, who complains the bill is laden with costly pet projects and shifts new costs onto the government.
"I regret that we're in this situation. But we're going to have to do what we have to do," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., rallying support for a bill loaded with Army Corps of Engineers projects such as restoring wetlands in coastal Louisiana, improving hurricane protection in New Orleans and adding new drinking water and wastewater treatment plants.
Shepherded by Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the bill was seven years in the making and finally passed the House on a 381-40 vote after it was agreed upon by House-Senate negotiators. He said he expected Congress would quickly override any veto by the president.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QOI1A01&show_article=1
House Panel Approves Reporter Shield
Aug 1 08:07 PM US/Eastern
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Legislation to shield reporters from being forced by prosecutors to reveal their sources was approved Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee.
Media companies and journalism groups have argued that the measure is needed to keep the public informed about government corruption, but the Bush administration and other opponents say it could harm national security.
Under the measure, federal courts would join 32 states and the District of Columbia in protecting reporters from being forced to reveal confidential sources, except in certain cases.
The voice vote sent the bill, sponsored by Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Mike Pence, R-Ind., to the House floor.
Supporters said whistle-blowers will be less likely to provide information about government and other wrongdoing if reporters are required to give up their sources.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/K/KATRINA_CONTRACTS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Aug 2, 5:18 AM EDT
Missteps found in awarding Katrina deals
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration has shown little progress - and in some cases backtracked - on its pledge to do a better job in awarding contracts to small, Gulf Coast businesses for Hurricane Katrina work, a congressional analysis shows.
The review of federal contracts from five government agencies, conducted by the House Small Business Committee, is the latest to document missteps in the award of billions of dollars of lucrative government work since the 2005 storm.
The findings were provided Wednesday to The Associated Press in advance of a hearing by the committee Thursday at which officials from the five agencies were to testify about the contract awarding system.
Aug 1, 9:34 PM EDT
Gonzales admits testimony 'confusing'
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales conceded on Wednesday that he used confusing language in describing national security efforts in recent Senate testimony.
His letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders stopped short of an apology as the Bush administration pushed to expand eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.
But in response, the committee's top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, joined Democrats who said Gonzales should not have sole authority to approve the warrantless interception of messages between foreign terrorists overseas.
The exchange marked the latest twist in a standoff between Congress and the administration over the beleaguered attorney general and his Justice Department.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/POLITICS/708020350/1022
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Rumsfeld denies Tillman cover-up
Testifying before House investigating committee, former defense secretary says case was botched.
Claudia Lauer and Johanna Neuman / Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON -- Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld distanced himself Wednesday from the Army's handling of Cpl. Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire in Afghanistan, denying allegations that the Bush administration covered up what actually happened so it could use the former NFL star's death to rally public support.
"Of course there's a difference between error and cover-up," Rumsfeld told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has held several hearings about the incident.
Once the Army began investigating who suppressed details of Tillman's death, Rumsfeld said, he deliberately asked no questions to avoid exercising undue influence over the process.
Aug 1, 11:52 PM EDT
Rumsfeld denies cover-up in Tillman case
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ex-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other former Pentagon brass denied a cover-up and rejected personal blame Wednesday in the public deceptions that followed Army Ranger Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan in 2004.
During four hours of questioning by a House committee, Rumsfeld and former generals expressed regret at the Pentagon's five-week delay in telling the truth about how Tillman died. He was cut down by bullets fired by his fellow soldiers, not in a firefight with the enemy as the military initially claimed.
Yet none of the witnesses, among the very highest-ranking military officers at the time, said they could or should have done anything differently to prevent the mistakes that kept the truth from Tillman's family and the public.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/08/new-al-qaeda-we.html
New Al Qaeda Web Ad Threatens 'Big Surprise'
August 01, 2007 7:34 PM
A new al Qaeda propaganda ad, headlined "Wait for the Big Surprise" and featuring a digitally altered photograph of President George Bush and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf standing in front of a burning White House, was posted on the Internet today.
The brief clip from al Qaeda's "as Sahab" propaganda arm juxtaposes the doctored photo of Bush and Musharraf along with previously seen images of al Qaeda's top leadership -- Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and Adam Gadahn -- as well as a photo of an SUV in a motorcade.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001380.html
Clyburn: Positive Report by Petraeus Could Split House Democrats on War
By Dan Balz and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writer and Washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Monday, July 30, 2007; 6:26 PM
House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that a strongly positive report on progress on Iraq by Army Gen. David Petraeus likely would split Democrats in the House and impede his party's efforts to press for a timetable to end the war.
Clyburn, in an interview with the washingtonpost.com video program PostTalk, said Democrats might be wise to wait for the Petraeus report, scheduled to be delivered in September, before charting next steps in their year-long struggle with President Bush over the direction of U.S. strategy.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QOIK2O0&show_article=1
Iran Says Israel Abuses Human Rights
Aug 1 08:47 PM US/Eastern
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Iran denounced what it called Israel's "horrific human rights record" in a letter to the U.N. secretary-general while denying recent Israeli accusations of widespread rights abuses in the Islamic republic.
In the Iranian letter, obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, the country's U.N. ambassador Mohammad Khazaee said his government would not respond to "baseless allegations and distortions about the situation of human rights" in Iran.
Israel's "futile" attempt "to raise allegations against others' human rights situation is nothing but a preposterous, and indeed tired, practice to distract the international community's attention from its shameful human rights record," he said.
Russia claims North Pole with Arctic flag stunt
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 12:08pm BST 02/08/2007
Russia will fire the starting gun on the world’s last colonial scramble today when a submarine plants a flag under the North Pole to symbolize the Kremlin’s claim to the Arctic and its vast energy resources.
In an unprecedented and potentially perilous mission, veteran Arctic explorer Artur Chilingarov will descend 14,000 feet in a deep sea submersible and drop a Russian tricolor cast in titanium onto the seabed.
With Russia’s northern rivals, all eager to extend their own Arctic ambitions, looking on uneasily, two Russian ships reached the North Pole after ploughing their way through deep ice for over a week.
http://aei.org/publications/pubID.26589,filter.all/pub_detail.asp
Britain Can't Have Two Best Friends
Posted: Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Gordon Brown's first Washington visit as Britain's prime minister has prompted tea-leaf reading about the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S.-UK relationship. Momentarily diverting--and probably unavoidable--as the frenzy of speculation is, the real tests lie ahead. Actions ultimately trump semiotics in national security affairs.
Moreover, as contentious and important as Iraq is, it is a mistake to think that disagreements on that issue represent a fundamental change in the U.S.-UK relationship. Tony Blair and President George W. Bush disagreed on global warming, as will Mr. Brown and Mr. Bush, but in neither case does the disagreement reflect a tectonic shift.
In fact, whether the "special relationship" grows stronger or weaker lies entirely in British hands. Americans across the political spectrum are content to keep it as it is and has been essentially since the second world war. That does not mean that the two countries always agree, nor has it ever meant that Britain is a poodle following America's lead, self-flagellating Brits notwithstanding.
