Articles of Interest 10-5-07
399 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Granholm “asks” that WJR’s Frank Beckman pull his interview with her because it may “impugn her integrity” because they discussed that she “promised” NOT to raise taxes during the campaign…and then RAISED TAXES!?! And she thinks someone missed that??? Oh my….see her direct quote here:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/10/liar-liarpants-.html
Listen to the Beckman interview with Governor Granholm here:
http://www.wjr.com/Article.asp?id=488295&spid=6525
And then Press Secretary Liz Boyd’s response:
http://wjr.com/Article.asp?id=488417&spid=6525
Tax Hiker Portraits by RightMichigan:
Robert Dean: http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2007/10/2/105439/416
Steve Bieda: http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2007/10/3/10332/0059
After someone spotted a “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for DeVos” bumper sticker they wrote and suggested we print a new one that makes it clear we didn’t make a mistake the first time either: “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted for Posthumus & DeVos”.
Watch Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer and I tussle over the state budget and who is to blame on this weekend's edition of "Michigan Matters'' hosted by Detroit Free Press Columnist Carol Cain. (Hint: one of us names John Engler in the budget blame game). "Michigan Matters' airs Saturday on CBS Detroit at 11 a.m. and is repeated on Sunday on CW 50 (Channel 50) at 11:30 a.m.
The October 9, 2007 debate, sponsored by CNBC, MSNBC, and The Wall Street Journal, will be held at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Michigan. CNBC will broadcast the two-hour debate live beginning at 4 p.m. with MSNBC re-broadcasting the event at 9 p.m. For more information on the debate visit:
THE REST OF THE STORY:
Check out our newest radio commercial at:
No further commentary today.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION03/710050357/1022/POLITICS
Tax increases slam state businesses
Granholm's spin can't hide the lack of budget reforms that will cost Michigan dearly.
Daniel Howes
October 5, 2007
Forget the spin: This week's budget deal has Michigan business steamed. Detroit's automakers in August together acquiesced to Gov. Jennifer Granholm and killed a push by Detroit Renaissance to advance a structural reform agenda. The reward for their loyalty is the privilege of paying tens of millions in new taxes and losing hundreds of millions in potential refunds.
Small business owners face the prospect of levying new taxes on clients who could go without one or more services from the arbitrary list that survived the crucible of Lansing lobbying. Or, even worse, they'll see some of their business and consulting services acquired elsewhere, outside Michigan.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION01/710050336/1068/OPINION
Build fairness into state service tax
October 5, 2007
There are many problems with the service tax hastily enacted by lawmakers last weekend. Its primary redeeming merit is that it prevented a humiliating government shutdown. With the tax scheduled to kick in on Dec. 1, lawmakers need to take the meantime to do what they were unable to do in the hectic struggle to keep the state from closing -- hold hearings, consider how their choices of services to be taxed look, and evaluate their impact on business, particularly small ones.
The capriciousness of the choices makes this a hard tax to defend. Why tax ski tickets and not greens fees or bowling charges? Why tax facials and not elective cosmetic surgery or treatments? As inexplicable as consumers may find the list of taxable services, businesses face a more fundamental problem. About two-thirds of the load is expected to fall on them, mostly in the tax on business-to-business services that will be invisible to customers but ultimately passed down to the end user as a higher price.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/NEWS06/710050417
Details of service tax raise questions
Oddities confuse public, lawmakers
October 5, 2007
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
LANSING -- Starting Dec. 1, lift tickets at Michigan ski resorts will be taxed 6%. Fees to play golf or to bowl won't. Personal fitness training will be taxed, too. Fitness centers won't. The TV repair guy will charge tax. Cable and satellite providers won't.
Businesses will have to pay taxes on consulting, landscaping and janitorial services. But not for lawyers, lobbyists and accountants. Weird?
Two lawmakers in the middle of final negotiations to extend the state's 6% sales tax to many services as part of the solution for the state's $1.75-billion budget deficit said they tried to focus on services not used by low and middle income people. But they acknowledge the result is muddy -- produced by sleepy legislators in marathon, pressure-packed sessions last weekend aimed at avoiding or quickly ending a state government shutdown.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/NEWS06/710050318
Tax deal blasted as mere quick fix
Closer look shows trouble on the way
October 5, 2007
BY JOHN WISELY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
It's nothing more than a quick fix. That's the shorthand analysis of the controversial budget deal finalized Monday morning in Lansing, according to an analysis by the influential, nonpartisan Citizens Research Council. The research identified at least two specific problems in the two tax increases the Legislature passed this week:
• The temporary nature of the income tax increase.
• The uneven application of the sales tax on services.
"We still have a structural deficit, and it would appear to be about the same order of magnitude 10 years from now as what we have already," said Tom Clay, a former deputy state treasurer who works for the center. Clay plans to deliver that message this morning to almost 300 policy makers from across the state, including Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who plans to address the group's annual meeting in Troy.
http://www.journalgroup.com/Opinion/6105/the-day-after-pigs-fly
The day after pigs fly
October 4, 2007
There was a strange scene in the City of Plymouth on Monday night. A wind-up flying pig—flapping wings and all—could be seen hovering over a few locations and a score of the stuffed pink things decorated City Manager Paul Sincock’s desk. Both were in celebration of the closing of the sale on the old Bathey property, a run down, vacant landmark that has vexed the city for decades. Our first Plymouth paper—more than seven years ago—predicted a settlement in the tax delinquency case. Now it has finally been sold for development, bolstering the fund balance and brightening the future of that land-locked community. This deal has been pending for so long, many quipped that it would only be finalized, well, when pigs flew.
Then, Tuesday morning, State Rep. Marc Corriveau hosted a press conference in front of Central Middle School in Plymouth with Jim Ryan, superintendent of the Plymouth-Canton School District, and representatives from the Wayne-Westland and Northville school districts, too. The purpose, according to the press release we received, was for the education community to praise him for his budget vote. Sure enough, platitudes were spoken, backs were patted, hands shook and, as the Monty Python group might say: ‘There was much rejoicing.’Well, this must be a first: a legislator calling a press conference for (barely) doing his job.
http://blog.mlive.com/getting_in_your_business/2007/10/service_tax_without_a_smile.html
Service (tax) without a smile
Posted by Chris Gautz
October 04, 2007 14:24PM
Jackson Citizen Patriot
Fire prevention. Bail bonds. Private security. Country Club memberships. Golfing. Docking your yacht at the marina. Which group do you consider luxury items?
Which group does the Michigan Legislature, including Martin Griffin, Mike Simpson and Mark Schauer, consider to be a luxury or nonessential? The answer is frustrating a lot of Jackson business owners who provide the services in the first list and are upset that lawmakers are taxing their service businesses, but not what they see as true "luxury" purchases identified in the second list.
In my story on today's front page, you can read about their frustrations with the bill that will extend the state's 6 percent sales tax to those businesses on Dec. 1. In a story for Tuesday's Cit Pat, State Reps. Griffin and Simpson explained why they voted in favor of the tax. (Schauer also voted in favor.) Griffin said it is a tax on services that are not necessary.
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-22/1191506779232630.xml&coll=3
State's decision to extend sales tax angers business owners
Thursday, October 4, 2007
By Chris Gautz
Al Cavasin is not certain why politicians in Lansing decided at the eleventh hour to tax his business to help solve the state budget crisis, but the fallout is clear. ``It's going to kill us. There will be jobs lost and revenue lost,'' he said. ``I'm sure we're going to lose business.''
Cavasin, owner of Great Northern Sentry Co., 104 Francis St., provides security, consulting and investigative services, all of which will be subject to a 6 percent sales tax starting Dec. 1. In last-minute budget negotiations earlier this week, legislators voted to extend the state's sales tax to a select group of about 60 services deemed nonessential for most consumers. But Cavasin and many other area business owners are angered that their lines of work will face the tax when fees for golfing, marinas and country-club memberships will not. Groups with strong lobby presence -- attorneys, cable and satellite television, and sports and entertainment tickets -- were able to elude the tax.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/POLITICS/710050397/1022
Pro-tax votes may carry a high cost
Politicians who voted to end budget stalemate may face recalls or stiff re-election campaigns.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
October 5, 2007
LANSING -- Six Democrats in swing districts had to ante up pro-tax votes, and eight House and Senate Republicans broke ranks and joined them in breaking Michigan's $1.75 billion budget stalemate. And as a result, some may have put their political careers on the line, threatened with recall or a fierce re-election challenge next year. "My vote has not gone unnoticed on both sides of the issue," said Democratic Rep. Marc Corriveau of Northville, who expects to face a recall effort because he voted for the income tax.
Corriveau won election by 911 votes in 2006 -- theoretically making him the most vulnerable among the six Democrats who grabbed Republican seats and tipped the House to Democratic Party control. But he said he voted his conscience on the tax: "I was unwilling to allow a government shutdown."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION03/710050316/1008/opinion01
Pact benefits workers, consumers
Automakers should pass along savings from union's sacrifices
Ron Gettelfinger: Labor Voices
October 5, 2007
The United Auto Workers is proud of our democracy. In our union, our members have the final say -- and we operate in a transparent manner.
Since we announced our tentative agreement with General Motors Corp. on Sept. 26, our union has been extremely busy developing documents for our leadership and membership so they can make an informed decision about ratification.
Our national negotiators and staff along with our local union leadership are in the field at explanation and ratification meetings, answering questions and making sure our membership has a complete understanding of the changes and improvements in the proposed agreement. To allow plenty of time for this important decision to be made, we have set Oct. 10 as the date when voting will conclude.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION01/710050319/1008/opinion01
State gets it right with new social studies curriculum
Michael Warren
October 5, 2007
Those who are less than pleased with the outcome of the temporary state government shutdown on Monday can take some solace that later that day the State Board of Education conducted business and passed landmark social studies learning expectations.
Like the budget crisis, the road to the day of reckoning on social studies guidelines was long and all but tortuous. In January 2005, the State Board agreed to develop and adopt statewide expectations for what students should learn in each grade (or cluster of grades) in history, civics, economics and geography. In response, the Michigan Department of Education submitted two prior drafts for approval, but they were so flawed that the board blanched and returned them for further work.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/NEWS01/710050354/1001/news
Report criticizes state's low MEAP standards days ahead of exams
Groups call math, reading tests from '03-'05 too easy
Susan Vela
Lansing State Journal
October 5, 2007
Local educators are preparing to give third- through ninth-graders another time-consuming battery of MEAP tests while two education groups say Michigan's standardized tests are giving students, parents and teachers a false sense of academic proficiency.
"The Proficiency Illusion," a 238-page report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington, D.C., and Oregon-based Northwest Evaluation Association, indicates that Michigan's reading and mathematics tests were too easy from 2003 to 2005.
The report also deemed the state's standards for demonstrating reading and math skills are some of the lowest in the nation, based on an assessment of MEAP.
http://www.livingstondaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/NEWS01/710050328/1002
Ward rallies behind schools
By Christopher Behnan
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
October 5, 2007
State Rep. Chris Ward is behind an effort designed to close the gap in per-pupil funding among Michigan school districts. The plan — which would work toward closing the current gap of $7,108 per student and $8,385 per student — could have a tremendous impact on schools in Livingston County, where districts receive the least amount of that funding spectrum.
Ward, R-Genoa Township, said the plan — which would amend the State School Aid Act of Michigan — would pay least-funded schools first, and not amount to new spending or a tax increase. "It will help every single Livingston County school district immediately. It will be directed, in large part, to districts like ours," Ward said. Ward's plan is modeled after Michigan's Proposal A method of boosting per-pupil funding in the state's least-funded districts.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/POLITICS01/710050410/1022/POLITICS
GOP debate to spotlight Big 3 issues
In Dearborn next week, candidates are expected to be quizzed about trade, fuel economy, jobs.
David Shepardson
Detroit News Washington Bureau
October 5, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The future of the struggling domestic auto industry will be front and center Tuesday when nine Republican GOP candidates debate economic issues in the shadow of Ford's world headquarters in Dearborn. Detroit's Big Three say it is a critical opportunity to address the future of the industry. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC are not only sponsoring the debate, but also, outside the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, showing off their vehicles.
The debate, which will air live on CNBC at 4 p.m. Tuesday and will be replayed on MSNBC at 7 p.m., will include about 600 credentialed journalists from around the globe.
It's a "pivotal debate where the Republican candidates have an opportunity to address the critical issues facing the automotive industry as well as Michigan businesses and families," said Chrysler spokesman Colin McBean. Asked what question he would pose if he had the chance, he said: "Do you support a strong manufacturing base in the United States?"
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION02/710050328/1085/opinion
Skubick: Dems didn't play nice
Granholm, Dillon struggle to work together
Tim Skubick
October 5, 2007
When Democrats won the House last November, the governor was finally out from under the curse of a House and Senate dominated by Republicans. Now Gov. Jennifer Granholm deals with a new curse: Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon and Co. Her relationship with Dillon is sometimes so bad that some in the Granholm inner circle lament that they were better off with former GOP Speaker Craig DeRoche. That's hardly a compliment for Dillon.
Item: Long after she is safely re-elected, the governor finally embraces an income tax hike to fill in the state budget deficit hole. Recall she has 58 votes in the House, with only 56 needed to do that. But a handful of Democrats tell the governor to get lost. Rather than help her, they prefer to save their own necks by opposing the hike. For months, they continue to stiff her while Senate Republicans gleefully remind the governor that if she can't even get her own party to support her tax, why should they?
http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/NEWS01/710050318/1002/NEWS01
Readers deserve better government reporting
Susan J. Demas:
October 5, 2007
Ladies and gentleman, your leaders have failed you, and we in the media have failed you. This Richard Clarke-esque epiphany crystallized somewhere in a 3 a.m. haze at the Capitol on Monday against the backdrop of infantile threats and finger-waving on the floor of Michigan's greatest deliberative body.
Afterward, everyone was left to bemoan what had gone wrong in our great state to make us shut it down for five hours, costing us upward of $1 million, when we were already almost $2 billion in the hole. Culprits were, quite correctly, fingered as term limits, hyper-partisanship and gerrymandering. Our neophyte legislators clearly had no concept of what it took to piece together a $42 billion budget without the aid of accounting tricks, even though they had 10 months to learn.
http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION01/710050311/1014/OPINION
State lawmakers must share pain of cutbacks
October 5, 2007
The emotional rhetoric emanating from Lansing in recent weeks portrayed the budget debate in stark terms: To deal with an estimated $1.75 billion shortfall for the new fiscal year, either state services and programs would have to be cut or taxes would have to be raised. As it turned out, the issue is being resolved with a little bit of both. But the impact has yet to be fully realized. While new taxes will raise more than $1.3 billion in state revenue, lawmakers still have to decide several hundred million dollars in budget cuts.Many legislators have talked of the need to "share the burden" and spread cuts fairly, but they appear reluctant to do their part - such as limiting the rather generous benefits they receive.
While the deal worked out between the governor and Legislature to balance the budget included changing the health-care system for future school employees, legislation to eliminate health-care retirement benefits for future lawmakers seems to have gotten "lost in the shuffle," according to its sponsor. While House members passed the proposal last May, it has languished without a vote in the Senate.
Senators fume over tax votes being recorded, cite lack of trust
By DAVID EGGERT
October 4, 2007
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Republican state Sen. Tom George, a mild-mannered doctor who often gives upbeat talks on the Senate floor about healthy lifestyles or Michigan history, was uncharacteristically angry when he stood up to talk this week.
The target of his ire was the fact that a Democratic staff member, during a politically sensitive vote giving immediate effect to an expanded sales tax on services, had taken photos of the voting board even though it wasn't a recorded vote.
"It was a serious violation that can only be interpreted one way - as an attempt to collect information which, when taken out of context, could be used in a political attack on any member of this chamber," the Portage lawmaker said Wednesday.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/POLITICS/710050315/1022
Bathroom bill gives needy access
Associated Press
October 5, 2007
LANSING -- The state House on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow retail customers with certain medical emergencies to use employee-only restrooms.
The bill would apply to customers who are pregnant, have Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel diseases or any other medical condition requiring immediate access to a bathroom.
The measure now heads to the Senate. Supporters say the bill would provide comfort and security to people afraid of going shopping because of the sudden need to go to the bathroom.
Opponents worry some retailers might have to add staff to accommodate the provision.
A customer would have to offer a statement signed by a doctor to prove that they suffer from one of the medical conditions or uses an ostomy device.
Many Metro Detroit retailers already allow customers to use employee bathrooms in emergency situations. Smaller retail businesses, such as those with fewer than two employees, would be exempt from the law.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION01/710050323/1008/opinion01
Damon Keith receives well-deserved honors
Tributes merited for judge who served Constitution, community
The Detroit News
October 5, 2007
The Old Newsboys Goodfellow Fund is honoring Federal Judge Damon J. Keith today at its annual tribute breakfast, and the group couldn't have picked a better honoree. The Old Newsboys are dedicated to helping the community -- as is Judge Keith. The charity needs to raise nearly $1.4 million to fulfill its commitment to provide Christmas packages of clothing and toys to needy children in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck. It's fitting that Keith is today's honoree. As a child during the Depression, he was a recipient of the packages. Damon Keith has been a fixture in Detroit's civil rights and legal communities for more than half a century. He was named as a U.S. district judge in Detroit by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 and elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by President Jimmy Carter a decade later. He is celebrating his 40th year as a federal judge.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION01/710050324/1008/opinion01
Reviving small business offers hope for Detroit
The Detroit News
October 5, 2007
Small neighborhood businesses are the lifeblood of American cities and a key part of their civic fabric. They once were across Detroit, too -- and now a useful new effort is working to revive them. Lawrence Technological University in Southfield and the Skillman Foundation are teaming up to cultivate micro enterprise businesses in the Osborn neighborhood on Detroit's east side. Such businesses have fewer than five employees and are frequently launched with small loans of $5,000 or less.
Micro enterprises may look small, but their impact is anything but. These diverse businesses -- ranging from transportation services to basement fish farms -- generate up to $30,000 a year in supplemental revenue for residents, researchers find.
That income is enough to markedly reduce poverty levels and boost economic development. The concept has been spreading more rapidly across American big cities. Micro entrepreneurs' payback rates on loans average more than 95 percent.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/POLITICS01/710050336/1022/POLITICS
Giuliani tops GOP fundraisers
His 3rd-quarter $11M edges Romney's $10M and Thompson's $9.3M.
Jim Kuhnhenn / Associated Press
October 5, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Front-running Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney outpaced the rest of the GOP presidential field in summer campaign fundraising, but newcomer Fred Thompson was hot on their heels. Giuliani raised more than $11 million for the presidential race in the July-September quarter, $10.5 million of it available for the primaries. Romney raised $10 million and tapped his personal fortune to pump in an additional $8.5 million.
Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and "Law & Order" television actor, raised $9.3 million in the quarter. He joined the GOP campaign last month but had been raising money throughout the three-month period. Giuliani's income left him with $16 million cash on hand, aides said Thursday. Of that, about $12 million is available for the primaries. Romney had $9 million on hand to compete for the Republican nomination. Thompson had $7 million in the bank. All of Romney's and Thompson's money is available for the primaries.
Fla. Dems sue national party; Mich. Dems press Jan. 15 primary
10/4/2007, 7:11 p.m. EDT
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Congressional Democrats from Florida sued their own party Thursday, hoping to restore the national convention delegates stripped from the state because it scheduled an early presidential primary.
The party violated the Constitution and federal voting laws by taking away Florida Democrats' ability to have a say in choosing the presidential nominee, says the lawsuit filed by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee Hastings against the Democratic National Committee and Chairman Howard Dean. "For the DNC to say to the fourth-largest contingency of Democrats in the nation that their votes will not matter in next year's presidential primary is not only shocking and ironic, but we believe is illegal," Hastings said at a news conference in Washington.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OBAMAS_PLAN?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Obama hopes to surprise Clinton in Iowa
By NEDRA PICKLER
October 5, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama's hopes for the Democratic nomination hinge on getting hundreds of thousands of new voters fired up enough to actually turn out - and on spending a good chunk of his $80 million at the very end of a front-loaded campaign.
Other candidates - usually trailing, like Obama - have tried similar plans in the past and failed. But none of them had nearly the money Obama has. And the scheduling conditions of the 2008 campaign have never existed before.
Obama's plan is all about the Iowa caucuses.
His wife said recently, "If Barack doesn't win Iowa, it is just a dream." And his advisers agree that it will be nearly impossible to stop Hillary Rodham Clinton from steamrolling to the nomination if she wins in Iowa, although some still argue he could remain in the race if he comes in a close second.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21138728/?GT1=10450
Obama stops wearing American flag pin
Presidential candidate says he will show patriotism by expressing his ideas
Associated Press
October 4, 2007
WATERLOO, Iowa - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, D-Ill., said he will no longer wear an American flag lapel pin because it has become a substitute for “true patriotism” since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He commented on the pin in a television interview Wednesday and then again on Thursday at a campaign appearance in Independence, Iowa. “My attitude is that I’m less concerned about what you’re wearing on your lapel than what’s in your heart," he told the campaign crowd Thursday. "You show your patriotism by how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who serve. You show your patriotism by being true to our values and ideals. That’s what we have to lead with is our values and our ideals.”
http://www.examiner.com/blogs/Yeas_and_Nays/2007/10/4/Matthews-Bush-Admin-puts-pressure-on-my-bosses
Matthews says Bush administration has "finally been caught in their criminality"
Playing Hardball with the Prez
Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin
Chris Matthews had barely finished praising his colleagues at the 10th anniversary party for his “Hardball” show Thursday night in Washington, D.C. when his remarks turned political and pointed, even suggesting that the Bush administration had "finally been caught in their criminality."
In front of an audience that included such notables as Alan Greenspan, Rep. Patrick Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, Matthews began his remarks by declaring that he wanted to "make some news" and he certainly didn't disappoint. After praising the drafters of the First Amendment for allowing him to make a living, he outlined what he said was the fundamental difference between the Bush and Clinton administrations.The Clinton camp, he said, never put pressure on his bosses to silence him.
“Not so this crowd,” he added, explaining that Bush White House officials -- especially those from Vice President Cheney's office -- called MSNBC brass to complain about the content of his show and attempted to influence its editorial content. "They will not silence me!" Matthews declared.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010691
The Trance
Bush . . . Clinton . . . Bush . . . Clinton . . . Getting very sleepy . . .
Peggy Noonan
Friday, October 5, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
Barack Obama has a great thinking look. I mean the look he gets on his face when he's thinking, not the look he presents in debate, where they all control their faces knowing they may be in the reaction shot and fearing they'll look shrewd and clever, as opposed to open and strong. I mean the look he gets in an interview or conversation when he's listening and not conscious of his expression. It's a very present look. He seems more in the moment than handling the moment. I've noticed this the past few months, since he entered the national stage. I wonder if I'm watching him more closely than his fellow Democrats are.
Mr. Obama often seems to be thinking when he speaks, too, and this comes somehow as a relief, in comparison, say, to Hillary Clinton and President Bush, both of whom often seem to be trying to remember the answer they'd agreed upon with staff. What's the phrase we use about education? Hit Search Function. Hit Open. Right-click. "Equity in education is essential, Tim . . ."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1004/p02s01-uspo.html
GOP looks to reclaim fiscal responsibility mantle
President Bush's veto of the S-CHIP bill Wednesday was the first fight over '08 spending.
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
the October 4, 2007 edition
Washington - With the new fiscal year under way and no spending bills completed, President Bush and Congress are heading into a fight over fiscal responsibility that is likely to dominate politics on Capitol Hill until the end of the year. President Bush's veto of a popular bill to provide health insurance for poor children, the S-CHIP program, on Wednesday marked a first volley.
The White House says the proposed bill is $30 billion more than what America can afford. Democrats say that the veto is a sign that Mr. Bush and Republican lawmakers who refuse to back a veto override have the wrong priorities. "Today the president showed the nation his true priorities: $700 billion for a war in Iraq, but no health care for low-income kids," said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D) of Illinois, in a statement. But the 12 pending appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008 – and a new war-funding request expected this fall – will test the credibility of both sides of the aisle.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8S2HIRG0&show_article=1
Approval of Bush, Congress Hits New Low
Oct 4 12:46 PM US/Eastern
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Public approval for President Bush and Congress has sunk to the lowest levels ever recorded in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll.
Only 31 percent said they approve of the job Bush is doing, according to the survey released on Thursday. His lowest previous approval in the survey was 32 percent—a virtual tie with the new reading—recorded several times, most recently in June.
Only 69 percent of Republicans voiced approval of Bush, about where he has been in recent months but still an anemic showing for a president within his own party. That included only 29 percent from the GOP who said they strongly approve of the job he is doing. Underlining the widespread political polarization sparked by the Iraq war and other issues, just 7 percent of Democrats and 19 percent of independents gave positive marks to Bush's work.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8S2KL6O1&show_article=1
Craig Vows to Serve Out Senate Term
Oct 4 04:16 PM US/Eastern
By CHARLES BABINGTON
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Idaho Sen. Larry Craig defiantly vowed to serve out his term in office on Thursday despite losing a court attempt to rescind his guilty plea in a men's room sex sting. "I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively," Craig said in a written statement certain to disappoint fellow Republicans who have long urged him to step down. Craig had earlier announced he would resign his seat by Sept. 30, but had wavered when he went to court in hopes of withdrawing his plea. The third-term lawmaker issued his statement not long after Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter relayed word he has selected a replacement for Craig in the event of a resignation. "He is ready to act should we receive a letter of resignation," said Jon Hanian, Otter's spokesman in Boise, in what seemed like a calculated signal that home-state Republicans want Craig to surrender the seat he has held for 17 years.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CRAIG_REPUBLICANS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Craig poses dilemma for GOP colleagues
By CHARLES BABINGTON
October 5, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Facing untimely resignations, an unpopular war and a troubling 2008 election landscape, Senate Republicans didn't need another headache this week.
But they got one anyway when Sen. Larry Craig vowed Thursday to serve out the last 15 months of his term, despite a court ruling that left intact his guilty plea in a sex sting operation. The Idaho Republican's decision gives his GOP colleagues two unpleasant choices. They can resume pressuring him to leave, and risk being seen as disloyal politicians who go harder on alleged homosexual misdeeds than on heterosexual wrongdoings.
Or they can basically ignore him for months, and endure more TV comics' taunts about a conservative senator convicted in a case involving public bathroom stalls.
Judging from comments in the first hours after Craig's announcement, Republican senators seemed unsure exactly where to land. Outright confrontation with Craig, however, seems unlikely.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=22702
Phony Soldiers and Phony Senators
by John E. O'Neill
Posted: 10/04/2007
Recently, at least 41 Democratic Senators, joined by a howling mob including George Soros’ Media Matters, sought to silence Rush Limbaugh because of his reference to “phony” anti war soldiers. Limbaugh’s comments, taken in context, referred to Jesse Macbeth, a confessed and convicted phony, whose faked but graphic war crimes confessions received far wider media notice than his later confession. He had been discharged in boot camp after 40 days of service.
Macbeth follows a grand tradition of fake soldiers whose “war crimes” confessions have been used by the Left to slander the service of our troops. For example, Micah Ian Wright, author of the 2003 anti war best seller "You Back the Attack," was an Army Ranger and Combat veteran feted at USC’s Annenberg School and in media like the Washington Post until he was finally “outed” as a complete fake. Many similar examples of phony “soldiers” used by the Left for war crimes confessions are documented in B.G. Burkett’s bestseller Stolen Valor. Indeed, the problem was so endemic that a Republican Congress in 2005, at the urging of many veterans, passed “The Stolen Valor Act” finally criminalizing activities such as those of Macbeth.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1007/Elizabeth_Takes_on_Limbaugh.html
Elizabeth questions Limbaugh's draft deferment
Ben Smith
October 4, 2007
An Air America producer just sent over some transcript from an interview their Richard Greene (not our Richard Greene) conducted with Elizabeth Edwards, in which she questioned Rush Limbaugh's Vietnam exemption:
My classmates went to Vietnam, he did not. He was 4F. He had a medical disability, the same medical disability that probably should have stopped him from spending a lifetime in a radio announcer’s chair; but it is true, isn’t it? If he has an inoperable position that allows him not to serve, presumably it should not allow him to sit for long periods of time the way he does. I think this is a serious enough offense for the people who fund him, who buy ads and allow him to be on the air, need to be asked if this is what they really stand for, do they think it is all right for someone who has never served to denigrate the men and women who have simply because they are expressing an opinion. Frankly, I thought that is what we are fighting for.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071004/EDITORIAL08/110040007/1013
A bum rap on health care
Gary J. Andres
October 4, 2007
Washington buzzes with health-care politics this week, and many believe Republicans are about to get stung. The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) takes center stage in the current debate, but it's only one element in a much larger, contentious issue. Most agree health care will dominate the domestic electoral agenda in 2008. Republicans need to step up and more clearly articulate their own vision of health care — something many in the party have been reluctant to do. But that's slowly changing.
Failing to provide concrete ideas on health care indeed presents a political risk — but it's an avoidable hazard. The seeds of many new options have been planted, but these ideas need further fertilization and a more systematic communications plan. Without such a strategy, Republicans will repeatedly find themselves on defense as next year's election approaches.
http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7077404
1,300 immigrants arrested by feds
Agents raided sites in 5 Southland counties in 2 weeks
BY RACHEL URANGA, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 10/04/2007 09:00:56 AM PDT
In what federal authorities are calling the largest sweep of criminal and fugitive immigrants, federal agents over the past two weeks have arrested more than 1,300 Southland immigrants in their homes, in jails and at work, officials announced Wednesday. As part of a stepped-up national crackdown on illegal immigrants, five teams of Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents raided homes in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties from Sept. 19 through Tuesday.
Some arrests were easy, while others involved agents peering into clothes dryers or squeezing deep into crawl spaces to find hidden suspects. Most of those arrested were from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala.
"Too often in the past, (deportation) orders were ignored and aliens thought that after getting an order of removal they could slip back into society," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary for ICE. "Those days are no longer."
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20071004/1a_bottomstrip04.art.htm
Illegal immigrants issued ID cards
Some cities and states go against national trend
By Emily Bazar
October 4, 2007
USA TODAY
Illegal immigrants are getting driver's licenses and identification cards in cities and states that are bucking the national trend to take official documents and public benefits away from them. New Haven, Conn., began issuing municipal ID cards in July to all residents, including illegal immigrants. New York will join eight other states in giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, starting in December.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer "believes it's important to bring a significant population in New York state out of the shadows … (and) allow them to participate in the economy," Motor Vehicles Commissioner David Swarts says. "It is totally contrary to the trend in most other states," says Oklahoma state Rep. Randy Terrill, author of a new law that denies illegal immigrants any government ID. It takes effect next month. There are huge security concerns when it comes to somebody who is a foreign national in this country possessing official, government-issued" ID, he says.
http://www.wlky.com/news/14266153/detail.html
Gorbachev Speaks In Louisville
WLKY
October 4, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The world is facing a "global political crisis."
That's what former leader of the Soviet Union told an audience in Louisville Wednesday night. Mikhail Gorbachev spoke as part of The Global Issues Forum at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. The Nobel Peace Prize winner told the audience today's leaders need to reach a mutual understanding about issues instead of using force to impose their will on one another. He says it worked to end the Cold War and it can work now.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010686
Modern Heroes
Our soldiers like what they do. They want our respect, not pity.
BY ROBERT D. KAPLAN
Thursday, October 4, 2007 12:01 a.m. ED
I'm weary of seeing news stories about wounded soldiers and assertions of "support" for the troops mixed with suggestions of the futility of our military efforts in Iraq. Why aren't there more accounts of what the troops actually do? How about narrations of individual battles and skirmishes, of their ever-evolving interactions with Iraqi troops and locals in Baghdad and Anbar province, and of increasingly resourceful "patterning" of terrorist networks that goes on daily in tactical operations centers?
The sad and often unspoken truth of the matter is this: Americans have been conditioned less to understand Iraq's complex military reality than to feel sorry for those who are part of it.
