Articles of Interest 11-27-07
345 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
House Democrats played games with presidential primary ‘fix’ bill yesterday that are NOT acceptable to Republicans. For over three weeks the Democrats have put local clerks, campaigns and our primary in a constant flux. We have a primary set for January 15 and we are NOT willing to risk all our efforts while House Democrats continue to play political games. They blew another chance yesterday.
Let’s move forward and make our January 15 primary work!
I ended the legislative day in Clare as the guest of honor at Representative Tim Moore’s fundraiser. Local Republicans gathered to talk politics, break bread and get ready for 2008.
The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported: “ Iowa and New Hampshire are often said to be the launching pads for successful presidential nominees. This year Michigan may rival them in importance.”
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/wsj-michigan-ma.html
January 15th Presidential Primary information and dates:
http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/11/primary-and-con.html
Give a Gift this Holiday Season that Will Last a Lifetime!
The Michigan Republicans moved their headquarters to the Secchia-Weiser Republican Center in 2006 and plan to install a legacy site to honor those who have served the party and the citizens of Michigan. The legacy site will create a well-deserved tribute to honor Michigan’s past, present, and future Republican leaders! Buy a brick to celebrate, to inspire, or to commemorate friends, family, or yourself this holiday season! They are a great way to honor others in memoriam, birthdays, anniversaries, or any special occasion. Your honoree will receive a certificate commemorating their personalized brick. Choose from our four different options and be a part of the Michigan Republican Party Legacy!
To order your personalized Legacy Brick please visit www.migop.org/legacy, or contact Erin Meteer, Major Donor Program Manager at emeteer@migop.org.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS01/711270323/1001/news
Published November 27, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
House votes to restore four Dems to primary
Legislature to try to put it into effect in time for election
David Eggert
Associated Press
The state House on Monday voted to restore to the ballot the names of four Democratic presidential candidates who withdrew earlier from Michigan's Jan. 15 primary, but it fell short on a vote putting the bill into effect in time for the election.
The Senate and House could try again today to give the bill immediate effect, but some labor groups that support candidate John Edwards are trying to block the move.
House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, said he's confident there will be enough House votes today to give the measure immediate effect if the Republican-led Senate sends the measure back after voting on it.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071126/UPDATE/711260448/1022/POLITICS
Monday, November 26, 2007
State House votes to add four Dem candidates to presidential ballot
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- The state House voted Monday to restore four Democratic presidential candidates to Michigan's Jan. 15 primary, even though they'd withdrawn their names from consideration here months ago.
But lawmakers fell short of putting the bill into effect in time for the election. The Senate and House could try again Tuesday to give the bill immediate effect, but some labor groups that support candidate John Edwards are trying to block that move.
Nonetheless, Democratic National Committeewoman Debbie Dingell said she has been assured by legislative leaders that enough votes will be forthcoming Tuesday to seal the deal and get the names of all Democratic hopefuls on the ballot. The bill itself passed 63-35, but the House fell 13 votes short of the 74 needed to put it into effect in time for a January primary. Twelve lawmakers were absent Monday.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS06/711270378/1008
House votes to put 4 Dems back on ballot
Changes still await approval in Senate
November 27, 2007
BY DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Michigan House voted Monday to restore the names of reluctant Democratic Party presidential candidates to the ballot for the state's Jan. 15 presidential primary, a move backers hope will raise the prominence of the contest on the national stage.
Four Democratic candidates -- Joe Biden, John Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson -- had requested their names be removed from the Michigan ballot because the primary's early date violated national party rules.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/POLITICS/711270353/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
House fails to finalize primary
Legislation puts all leading Dems on Jan. 15 ballot, but it won't take effect soon enough to aid defectors.
Gary Heinlein and Mark Hornbeck / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- The state House passed legislation Monday to put all of the leading Democratic presidential contenders on the Jan. 15 primary ballot, but failed to get a key vote that would have cemented Michigan's place in the 2008 White House preliminaries.
With a dozen members absent on an unusual Monday session day -- the first work day after the Thanksgiving holiday and deer-hunting break -- the House could muster just 61 votes to give the bill immediate effect. That's 13 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed for the bill to take effect soon enough to bolster state efforts to overcome a ballot defection by all of the top Democratic candidates except New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"I think we'll get that (immediate effect) when the bill comes back to us again from the Senate," said House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, who decided over the weekend to hold Monday's vote.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kzgazette/index.ssf?/base/news-26/1196092210137730.xml&coll=7
'08 presidential primary marks another shift
Monday, November 26, 2007
BY KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
Associated Press
LANSING -- The process of choosing a presidential favorite has led Michigan down many different paths since it held its first presidential primary in 1916.
The state last held open Republican and Democratic primaries in 1976, a year that saw former Michigan Rep. Gerald Ford easily win the GOP race over Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter squeak by Morris Udall on the Democratic side.
Four years earlier, Alabama Gov. George Wallace won the Democratic primary, easily beating George McGovern and Hubert Humphrey and prompting Democratic complaints that Republican voters had crossed over to vote for Wallace to embarrass them.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071126/OPINION01/711260322/1014/OPINION
Michigan's early primary loses appeal
Election a costly disappointment
For all the hope Michigan's Jan. 15 presidential primary, the results are falling short of those expectations.
The idea certainly was promising. Becoming an early front in the presidential wars could place Michigan's economic troubles higher on the national agenda and even win promises from the White House hopefuls.
Less than two months before this much-anticipated election, state residents are forced to remind themselves exactly why the early primary was worth all the bother.
The names of four prominent Democratic candidates - Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Bill Richardson - won't be on the ballot. They pulled out because they contend Michigan's early primary violates Democratic National Committee rules. That leaves Hillary Clinton, the Democrats' only front-runner.
http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION01/711270301/1014/OPINION
State's presidential primary discourages participation
While state party leaders predict Michigan's presidential primary will bring 2 million voters to the polls Jan. 15, we think they'll be lucky if half that many people participate.
Why? Because the primary process has become a muddled mess across the nation, but especially in Michigan. For months now state parties have been leapfrogging ahead of one another to gain a supposed advantage over Iowa and New Hampshire, traditional leaders in the presidential-candidate selection process.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/COLUMNISTS07/711270306/1014/opinion
Published November 27, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Public is mad; who cares?
Inattentive voters create climate for police HQ project
In the wee hours of the morning, when they give a fleeting amount of time to affairs of state, most Michigan residents come across the truth:
We are getting pretty much the state government we are paying for.
Not in money, mind you, but in simple civic responsibility. Bad citizens inevitably lead to bad politicians.
Take all this after-midnight moaning about the new Michigan State Police headquarters in downtown Lansing. On Sunday, an LSJ headline pronounced "Criticism of new State Police HQ increasing."
In hearing and reading these complaints, one would think this deal was done by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in a parking ramp in the pre-dawn hours a few weeks ago.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/POLITICS/711270385/1022
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
State's road-fix shortage: $300M
Declining gas tax revenues, end of bond program cited.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Industry and government transportation leaders are warning that a dramatic drop in Michigan road funding next year will result in steadily deteriorating highways and the loss of thousands of construction jobs in Michigan.
Because of declining fuel tax revenues and the completion of a state transportation bond program, spending on Michigan road and bridge repairs will decrease by $300 million, from $1.6 billion in 2007 to $1.3 billion in 2008. Without a fresh infusion of cash, funding will level off following another $100-million reduction in 2009.
"We need $320 million more a year," to keep 90 percent of the roads in good condition, said state transportation director Kirk Steudle. "Where that is going to come from, I don't know."
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/COL06/711270392/1001
Granholm pushes for tech money
California visit to raise state's profile
November 27, 2007
BY TOM WALSH
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has swooped onto Arnold Schwarzenegger's home turf this week for a two-day blitz of meetings aimed at snagging some of California's billions of dollars for clean-technology energy projects in Michigan.
She's also pitching Hollywood to do more filmmaking in Michigan.
In a telephone interview Monday from Silicon Valley, Granholm said her first meeting Monday morning was with partners at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the legendary venture capital firm on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, which was a major investor in the launch of Google, Netscape, Genentech and Amazon.com.
"Kleiner Perkins, like all the big venture firms, is expanding its presence in clean technology and alternative energy," she said, noting Kleiner's headline-making alliance two weeks ago with Al Gore, climate-change activist, former vice president and Nobel Peace Price winner.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS04/711270326/1005/news04
Published November 27, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
GOP panel says kids in care of state lack protection
Ricky Holland cited as example of 'broken system'
Derek Wallbank
Lansing State Journal
Michigan is failing to protect children who are in the state's care through social services programs or courts, House Republicans said Monday.
And they said the high profile deaths of Williamston's Ricky Holland and other children prove their point.
"We need to fix the system. It's obviously broken," said Rep. Paul Opsommer, R-DeWitt.
Opsommer is one of six representatives, along with Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, who sit on the House GOP's Child Protection Task Force.
The panel eventually will make recommendations for bills to reform the system, although it has no timetable for doing so.
The group began its investigation of the state's foster care and child services system Monday with testimony from state Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION01/711270367/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Editorial rebuttal
Compact will prevent diversion of lake water
I was surprised to read the Nov. 10 editorial short ("Mich. lacks clout to protect water") saying The News believes Michigan's congressional delegation has no way to stop other states from getting our water from the Great Lakes. That couldn't be further from the truth.
All of the Great Lakes U.S. House and Senate members are unified in our opposition to Great Lakes diversion. With leadership from the Great Lakes members, the Congress placed the decision-making powers for Great Lakes issues in the hands of a Great Lakes Compact made up of all of the governors of the Great Lakes states plus Quebec and Ontario provinces.
No diversion to Southern states can occur without unanimous agreement of the members -- and I can't imagine that ever happening.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION01/711270369/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Editorial
Detroit should complete delayed '06 audit
City's late financial statement invites suspicion on budget
The Detroit News
One of the key functions of government is to keep honest and current books. If a government fails to do that, it invites suspicion, warranted or not.
That's why the fact that Detroit is more than 10 months late with its fiscal year 2005-2006 audit is troubling. The Kilpatrick administration vows that the audit will be available within a few days or weeks at most. It should make good on that promise.
There is no reason to doubt the good faith of Chief Financial Officer Roger Short or his boss, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. As even one of the administration's critics, former Budget Director Edward Rago, acknowledged to The Detroit News, the mayor has taken tough steps to control spending.
Hills secures high rank on 'safest cities' list
By Stacy Jenkins
STAFF WRITER
As expected, Farmington Hills is again rated one of the safest cities in America.
Police Chief William Dwyer said Farmington Hills is rated the second safest city in Michigan, out of 15 cities of all rated population categories; 19th safest out of 378 cities nationwide, of all rated population categories; 14th safest out of 129 cities nationwide with populations between 75,000-100,000; and second safest city in Michigan, out of eight cities in the 75,000-100,000 population category.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS01/711270331/1001/NEWS
Foreclosure crisis to pinch everyone, mayors' report says
November 27, 2007
BY ZACHARY GORCHOW
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The foreclosure crisis is rippling far beyond threatening homeownership, now robbing the economy of consumer purchases, governments of tax revenue and workers of jobs, according to a report to be unveiled today in Detroit.
Commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the report puts specific numbers on the broader impact and is being released as several of the nation's mayors meet at the MGM Grand Detroit to discuss what to do about the problem.
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/112707/local_20071127012.shtml
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
DEQ official warns Ottawa County on air quality
BY JEREMY GONSIOR jeremy.gonsior@hollandsentinel.com (616) 546-4269
Recent air quality violations in Grand Rapids could cause the federal government to penalize Ottawa County as well, state officials said Monday afternoon.
Those sanctions could include new, tighter building restrictions and a reduction in federal transportation money, according to Mary Maupin, a specialist at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Being categorized as a non-attainment air quality area, she said, also could create a poor business image for West Michigan.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071126/BUSINESS06/71126064/1008/NEWS06
USDA offers aid to help Mich. farmers
November 26, 2007
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Agriculture Department has designated 12 Michigan counties primary natural disaster areas because of tornadoes, hail, heavy rains and high winds from last May through September.
Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner says farmers can seek low-interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency. Authorities will consider the extent of losses in making loans.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/POLITICS/711270304/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
High Court declines Mich. faith-based program case
Detroit News staff and wire services
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to get involved in a dispute between Michigan officials and a faith-based program for troubled youths.
The Michigan Family Independence Agency imposed a moratorium on Teen Ranch Inc., in Marlette in the Thumb area, from participating in a government-financed program for abused, neglected and delinquent children, saying the ranch coerced the 11- to 17-year-olds into religious activities.
"We are pleased the department prevailed at all levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal today to hear the case," Karen Stock, a spokeswoman for the Michigan FIA, said in a statement Monday.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/METRO/711270356/1022
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Area Jews, Arabs hope for peace
Many want Annapolis, Md., meeting to begin conflict resolutions for Israelis and Palestinians.
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
People in the substantial Jewish and Arab communities in Metro Detroit viewed the meeting of world leaders in Annapolis, Md., with a mixture of hope, realism and considerable concern about what may result if there is no tangible effort at making peace.
"I think all well-meaning people will hope there is going to be a breakthrough," said Marc Weinbaum, a pro-Israel activist. "But, fundamentally, my concern is there is not currently an environment, not only within the Palestinian territories, but without -- in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- that no one has truly accepted Israel as a Jewish state."
Hasan Newash, director of the Palestine Office in Dearborn, said that he is discouraged by the long-running dispute and the dashed hopes of past attempts at peace.
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2007/11/soldier_returns_to_heros_welco.html
Soldier returns to hero's welcome
Posted by Teresa Taylor Williams and Lynn Moore November 26, 2007 12:49PM
Categories: Breaking News
One of Fruitport's heroes came home today.
The body of U.S. Army Cpl. Jason Thomas Lee was returned to his hometown this morning in preparation for his funeral Wednesday.
Lee, 26, was killed Nov. 18 in Baqubah, Iraq. He was one of three soldiers from the same unit killed when an improvised-explosive device detonated during a patrol.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION01/711270306/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Opinion
Boomer candidates' narcissism turns off voters
Jon Keller
They're handsome and intelligent. Their biographies are scandal-free. They're fresh, optimistic faces in a candidate field stacked with the stale and the dour.
So why are Barack Obama and Mitt Romney having such a tough time in the presidential race?
Here's a theory: because they're boomers.
At least in part, the senator from Illinois and the former Massachusetts governor have not gained national traction because they both give off the scent of excessive narcissism that has been turning off scores of Silent Generation elders and Gen-X juniors throughout the Me Generation's political ascendance.
It's surprising that more hasn't been made of the link between voter dissatisfaction with their 2008 choices and the preponderance of boomers on both parties' ballots. Of the 15 "major" candidates, only seven -- Democrats Chris Dodd and Joe Biden and Republicans Fred Thompson, John McCain, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Rudy Giuliani -- were born before the boom exploded in 1946. When Biden or McCain scold their boomer rivals for self-serving doubletalk and situational ethics, they're channeling the frustrations of many with boom-generation politicians.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071125/D8T4T9E80.html
Huckabee: America Enslaved to Saudi Oil
Nov 25, 2:59 PM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Consumers are financing both sides in the war on terror because of the actions of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Sunday.
The former Arkansas governor made the comments following what he suggested was a muted response by the Bush administration to a Saudi court's sentence of six months in jail and 200 lashes for a woman who was gang raped.
"The United States has been far too involved in sort of looking the other way, not only at the atrocities of human rights and violation of women," Huckabee said on CNN's "Late Edition."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/25/AR2007112501547_pf.html
The False Conservative
By Robert D. Novak
Monday, November 26, 2007; A15
Who would respond to criticism from the Club for Growth by calling the conservative, free-market campaign organization the "Club for Greed"? That sounds like Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards, all Democrats preaching the class struggle. In fact, the rejoinder comes from Mike Huckabee, who has broken out of the pack of second-tier Republican presidential candidates to become a serious contender -- definitely in Iowa and perhaps nationally.
Huckabee is campaigning as a conservative, but serious Republicans know that he is a high-tax, protectionist advocate of big government and a strong hand in the Oval Office directing the lives of Americans. Until now, they did not bother to expose the former governor of Arkansas as a false conservative because he seemed an underfunded, unknown nuisance candidate. Now that he has pulled even with Mitt Romney for the Iowa caucuses and might make more progress, the beleaguered Republican Party has a frightening problem.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION03/711270305/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Clarence Page:
Obama's love fest in Iowa
Perceptions are nine-tenths of reality in politics. If the voters think you're a winner, they are more likely to jump on your bandwagon. If they think you're sitting dead in the water, you're a bum, no matter how appealing your ideas might be.
That's been Sen. Barack Obama's problem. After his rock-star campaign launch, the Illinois Democrat has been languishing in second place, running 20 points or more behind New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
But recently, as the clock ticks down toward the casting of actual votes, Obama appears to have risen out of bum-hood and onto a roll.
What's changed? He's gone on the attack.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION03/711270362/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Froma Harrop
It's time to end 'lunatic' war on drugs
Obama joins politicians admitting drug use, but others still face jail
And so Barack Obama tells high school kids in New Hampshire that he "made some bad decisions" at their age. He "experimented" with pot and cocaine. This is old news -- but even if it were new news, it would be ho-hum in today's politics.
After all, drug use has proven no bar to high office -- at least for those who evaded arrest. Vice President Al Gore, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas have all admitted to smoking pot. President Bush refuses to deny that he snorted cocaine. And no one believes that Bill Clinton "didn't inhale" on that joint.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/POLITICS/711270313/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
High Court weighs 401(k) case
Justices debate whether employee can recover his losses after administrators ignore investment request.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court struggled with the changed world of retirement plans Monday, trying to decide whether a worker has a right to sue to recover losses when his instructions on where to invest his retirement money are disregarded.
The justices debated the case of James LaRue, who says he lost $150,000 in a market downturn when administrators at his 401(k) retirement plan twice failed to carry out his requests to sell stocks and move his money into safer investments.
Allowing LaRue to seek recovery of the money under a federal pension reform law would result in "no end to the kind of claims one could imagine," Washington attorney Thomas Gies told the justices. "We think Congress did not want those kinds of claims."
Kennedy Memoirs Said to Fetch $8 Million
By MOTOKO RICH
Published: November 27, 2007
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the most prominent surviving member of the Kennedy family, has agreed to sell his memoirs for an advance of more than $8 million, people with knowledge of the negotiations say.
After a six-day auction that concluded Nov. 19, Twelve, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, bought world rights for the autobiography. Before the deal can be completed, Mr. Kennedy must clear his publishing contract with the Senate Ethics Committee.
Jonathan Karp, publisher and editor in chief of Twelve, said he hoped to publish the book in the fall of 2010. Mr. Kennedy is “walking, talking history,” Mr. Karp said, “and there’s no limit to what he can talk about with authority and distinctive personal perspective.”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_GORE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Nov 27, 2:04 AM EST
Bush welcomes Gore to Oval Office
By BEN FELLER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Talk about an inconvenient truth. Al Gore finally won his place in the Oval Office on Monday - right next to George W. Bush. Forever linked by the closest and craziest presidential race in history, the two men were reunited by, of all things, White House tradition.
Gore was among the 2007 Nobel Prize winners who were invited in for a photo and some chatter with the president; Gore got the recognition for his work on global warming.
The two men stood next to other, sharing uncomfortable grins for photographers and reporters, who were quickly ushered in and out.
"Familiar faces," the former vice president said of the media. Bush, still smiling, added nothing.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LOTT_SENATE?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Nov 27, 4:21 AM EST
Lott says he'll resign by end of year
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer
PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP) -- In many ways, Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott is living proof that there can be second acts in politics.
Lott was ousted as Republican Senate leader in 2002 over controversial remarks, only to rebound last year, winning re-election to a fourth term and the party's No. 2 post.
There apparently will be no third act. Lott announced Monday he will leave a 35-year career in Congress, becoming the sixth Senate Republican this year to announce retirement.
Lott, 66, said he wants to spend more time with his family and to pursue other job opportunities, possibly teaching. He ruled out any health concerns, but said it's time for a younger voice to represent Mississippi in the Senate.
Nov 26, 9:11 PM EST
Cheney's heart restored to normal rhythm
By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Doctors administered an electrical shock to Vice President Dick Cheney's heart and restored it to a normal rhythm during a 2 1/2 hour hospital visit Monday. The procedure was described as a low-risk, standard practice. Cheney, 66, went home from George Washington University Hospital and was expected back at work on Tuesday.
Cheney, who has a history of heart problems, was discovered to have an irregular heartbeat around 7 a.m. when he was seen by doctors at the White House for a lingering cough from a cold. He remained at work throughout the day, joining President Bush in meetings with Mideast leaders.
The irregular heartbeat was determined to be atrial fibrillation, an abnormal rhythm involving the upper chambers of the heart, said spokeswoman Megan Mitchell. He went to the hospital about 5 p.m. and was discharged about 7:30 p.m.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T5JNUG5&show_article=1
al-Qaida Wing: Bin Laden Message Coming
Nov 26 05:32 PM US/Eastern
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida's media wing said Monday it will soon release a new message from Osama bin Laden. It said the message will be addressed to European countries, but did not elaborate.
The announcement by al-Qaida's as-Sahab media production wing was posted on an Islamic Web site that commonly airs militant videos. The statement did not say when the message would be released or whether it would be a video or audio tape.
The as-Sahab posting, whose authenticity could not be independently confirmed, featured a photograph of the bearded bin Laden dressed in a traditional white Arab robe.
"Soon, if God allows, the lion sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, (will give) a message to the European nations," it said.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071126/NATION/111260034/1001
Terrorists target Army base — in Arizona
By Sara A. Carter
November 26, 2007
Fort Huachuca, the nation's largest intelligence-training center, changed security measures in May after being warned that Islamist terrorists, with the aid of Mexican drug cartels, were planning an attack on the facility.
Fort officials changed security measures after sources warned that possibly 60 Afghan and Iraqi terrorists were to be smuggled into the U.S. through underground tunnels with high-powered weapons to attack the Arizona Army base, according to multiple confidential law enforcement documents obtained by The Washington Times.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20071120/EDITORIAL/111200009
A real travesty
By Joel Mowbray
November 20, 2007
Despite using a sham marriage to fraudulently obtain citizenship and having multiple personal connections to a suspected Hezbollah financier, Nada Nadim Prouty, a 37-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon, rose quickly through the FBI, then later the CIA.
While at the FBI, Prouty conducted unauthorized searches to see what law enforcement had on her, her sister (who is now in jail for tax evasion) and her sister's husband, a suspected Hezbollah financier, who is now on the lam. From her plea agreement earlier this month, where she pleaded guilty to three counts, we also know that Prouty illegally accessed top-secret FBI information about an investigation into Hezbollah.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/POLITICS/711270377/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Bush, al-Maliki sign deal
Framework set for talks on how many U.S. forces will stay, and for how long; negotiations to start in '08.
Ben Feller / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Monday signed a deal setting the foundation for a long-term U.S. troop presence in Iraq, with details to be negotiated over matters that have defined the war debate at home -- how many U.S. forces will stay in the country, and for how long.
The agreement between Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confirms that the United States and Iraq will hash out an "enduring" relationship in military, economic and political terms. Details of that relationship will be negotiated in 2008, with a completion goal of July, when the U.S. intends to finish withdrawing the five combat brigades sent this year as part of the troop buildup that has helped curb sectarian violence.
"What U.S. troops are doing, how many troops are required to do that, are bases required, which partners will join them -- all these things are on the negotiating table," said Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, Bush's adviser on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRAQ_CONGRESS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Nov 27, 6:20 AM EST
Republicans threaten to cut aid to Iraq
By BEN EVANS and ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Republican senators said that unless Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki makes more political progress by January, the U.S. should consider pulling political or financial support for his government.
The stern warnings, coming from Sens. Lindsey Graham and Saxby Chambliss Monday, are an indication that while GOP patience on the war has greatly increased this fall because of security gains made by the military, it isn't bottomless.
"I do expect them to deliver," Graham, R-S.C., said in a phone interview upon returning from a Thanksgiving trip to Iraq. "What would happen for me if there's no progress on reconciliation after the first of the year, I would be looking at ways to invest our money into groups that can deliver."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION01/711270361/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Opinion
Iraqis may end struggle with a whimper, not a bang
Thomas Friedman
As a wall of pessimism begins to crack, where's the diplomacy?
Watching Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making repeated trips to Israel to try to broker some kind of deal between Israelis and Palestinians, while Iraq remains politically unresolved, leaves me feeling like my house is burning down and the fire department has decided to stop along the way to get two cats out of a tree.
At one level, I just don't get it. It's clear that the surge by U.S. troops has really dampened violence in Iraq. So don't we now need a surge in diplomacy to finish the job?
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MIDEAST_SUMMIT?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Nov 27, 6:18 AM EST
Bush set to convene Mideast summit
By MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- After months of frantic diplomacy, top officials from more than 40 nations converge on this historic state capital Tuesday for what President Bush hopes will be the launch of the first Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in seven years.
Buffeted by skepticism over prospects the Annapolis Conference can set the stage for the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of Bush's second term, his administration has downplayed expectations for major breakthroughs but insists the exercise is not futile.
Expressing optimism, Bush saw the two main players, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, separately at the White House on Monday to nudge them closer to agreement on the conference centerpiece, a joint document or "workplan" on new talks.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NATION/711270384/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Bush: Mideast peace requires compromise
David Wood and David Nitkin / Baltimore Sun
WASHINGTON -- With a rhetorical nod toward "a more hopeful vision" of freedom and prosperity in the Middle East, President Bush opened a peace conference Monday night aimed at spurring a comprehensive agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"We share a common goal -- two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," Bush told conference participants on the eve of a daylong session today on the Naval Academy campus in Maryland.
Achieving peace "requires difficult compromises," he said at a State Department dinner. But "we stand with you, at the Annapolis conference and beyond."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11272007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/no_lasting_peace_314090.htm
NO LASTING PEACE
THE ILLUSIONS OF ANNAPOLIS
November 27, 2007 -- SHORT of intolerable carnage, there's no durable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. None. The best all parties can hope for is an occasional time-out.
A respite between rounds isn't worthless, of course - lives are saved, Israel's economy improves and the Arabs get one more chance to get their act together. But we're forever disappointed because we're convinced there's a good, permanent solution, if only we can figure it out.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1195546731730&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Nov 26, 2007 20:54 | Updated Nov 27, 2007 11:04
Is November 29 a day to celebrate?
By CAROLINE GLICK
There is a bit of perverse poetry in the fact that the Annapolis conference is taking place the same week as the 60th anniversary of the UN General Assembly's resolution recommending that the British Mandate of Palestine be partitioned between a Jewish and Arab state.
What the confluence of events serves to show is just how little has changed in the past 60 years.
Both the 1947 UN resolution and the Annapolis conference are dedicated to the task of forcing the Jewish people to compromise their rights in a bid to appease Israel's neighbors who still 60 years on maintain their refusal to accept the right of the Jewish people to sovereignty over their land. And both are presented as diplomatic achievements by the Israeli government.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/OPINION01/711270370/1022
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Editorial: Neighbors will determine success of Annapolis talks
The Detroit News
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the goal of the international Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Md., is to start a process that ultimately will lead to an independent Palestinian state.
She should state that goal more specifically. The mission should be the establishment of an independent and peaceful Palestinian state and region that don't threaten the security of Israel.
Achieving that will require the neighboring Arab states to fully endorse any agreement that is reached, pledge to end all support for terrorist groups and agree to help establish the economic and political institutions necessary to sustain an independent Palestine.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26424077.htm
Saudi official rules out handshake with Israelis
26 Nov 2007 23:06:37 GMT
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's participation in the U.S.-sponsored talks on Middle East peace was seen as a diplomatic coup for the Bush administration but the kingdom has made clear there will be no handshakes with Israeli officials.
"We are not here for theater. We are here for the serious business of making peace. We are not here to give an impression that everything is normal," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters on Monday, on the eve of the conference to be held in Annapolis, Maryland.
"We will not do anything that will divert from the seriousness of the occasion, (such as) shaking hands to give an impression of something that is not there," he said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22831173-5005961,00.html