323 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Oakland County Republicans will be holding their 60th Anniversary on January 14th with Governor Mitt Romney - the day before our presidential primary. All 10 living and past Chairman have committed to attend this historic event. For more info go to:
Sue Groth, Calhoun County Republican Women's President, and the Calhoun County Republicans’ Secretary is very ill. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.
Don't miss the final episode of "Building Bridges: From the Great Lakes to the Great Wall" airing tonight (Wednesday) on WWJ-TV at 6 -6:30 p.m.
This three part television series is part of the station's new "Eye on the Future'' effort. "Bridges" examines Michigan’s economy and future and its potential connections with China.
In case you missed Parts I and II of "Bridges" visit www.cbs.detroit.com where the first two TV shows are posted.
Thursday will be my last “Daily Articles of Interest” for the year and we’ll be taking a break over the Christmas Holidays and will be back after the New Year. There will be periodic updates on the blog at:
Merry Christmas…. http://migop.blogs.com/blog/2007/12/merry-christmas.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.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190365/1022
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Mich. outlook still dismal in '08
Analysts don't see Lansing learning lessons from 2007, though Granholm pledges no tax hikes.
Mark Hornbeck and Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- At the close of a tumultuous 2007, the outlook for Michigan government doesn't look much rosier for 2008.
The economy continues to drag, the state budget appears headed for another whopping deficit that will require more cuts -- but no gas tax increase, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday. And the same partisan battles that contributed to this year's debacle likely will still haunt the state in the New Year.
"The partisan bickering and the bilge pumped out made the job tougher this year," said John Chamberlin, who heads Common Cause of Michigan, a political watchdog group. "It was like the Crips and the Bloods fighting it out in Lansing while the rest of us were left to watch the state become a laughingstock, and threatened by economic peril.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/BIZ/712190340/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Tax cuts, projects to add 1,550 jobs
The Detroit News
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation will provide tax breaks to six companies that plan to expand in Michigan, Gov. Jennifer Granholm's office announced Tuesday. The agency also will support eight community redevelopment projects in Detroit and Dearborn.
Combined, the projects are expected to create 1,550 direct jobs over seven to 10 years, the life of the tax credits, and generate more than $550.8 million in new state capital investment.
"Our comprehensive economic plan is setting the stage for new job-creating investments," Granholm said in a news release. "As businesses choose Michigan, they send a message that this is a great place for other companies to invest and create jobs, too." Among the projects announced Tuesday:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190364/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
State facing $12B pension fund shortfall
Officials dispute national study, saying status is better than reported.
Jennifer Mrozowski / The Detroit News
The expected cost of state employee pensions over the next three decades exceeds the money Michigan has set aside by some $12 billion, according to a study released Tuesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Center on the States.
The study, called Promises with a Price, outlined long-term costs of pension, health care and other retirement benefits for public employees in all 50 states. Michigan's total pension bill for police, public school employees and state employees is expected to reach $63 billion over the next 30 years, and the state has set aside $51 billion, or about 81 percent, to cover those pension costs, the report said.
Pew research showed that states can expect retiree pensions and other benefits to cost about $2.73 trillion over the next three decades. That includes about $2.35 trillion for employee pensions, and states have saved enough to cover about 85 percent of the pension bill, according to the report.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/NEWS06/71218025/1008
Granholm: No gas tax hike
December 18, 2007
By CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU
LANSING – No higher tax on gasoline, either.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm today expanded her no-new-tax promise to include the state gas tax.
Pe “ople are hurting. That’s a tax everyone feels in Michigan,” Granholm told reporters during a 45-minute recap of 2007.
She said money to fix roads will come from somewhere else -- hopefully the federal government.
Granholm repeated that she’s not interested in raising any more taxes, following this year’s tumultuous battles over the state budget and taxes. Granholm and the Legislature raised the income tax and state business taxes by a combined $1.3 billion to avoid a deficit and, at one point, a government shutdown.
http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/NEWS01/712180314/1002/NEWS01
GOP offers tax-cut plan
Nick Schirripa
The Enquirer
A group of proposed bills aimed at reducing the tax burden on Michigan homeowners was presented Monday by House Republicans in a series of news conferences around the state.
State Rep. Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek was in Coldwater presenting the package dubbed the "homeowners relief package," which likely will be introduced in the new House session in January.
Nofs said several factors, including the worst housing market in state history and a high number of foreclosures, drove the proposed limits on tax increases, penalties for predatory lending, and increasing tax exemptions for investors.
Each year in Michigan, property taxes increase by the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is less, and Nofs said the proposed legislation also adds a home's market value to the equation, ensuring homeowners' property tax liability won't increase if the value of their homes doesn't increase.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-49/1197928744160210.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
Lawmakers float more proposals to help homeowners
12/17/2007, 4:54 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Another round of proposals aimed at boosting Michigan's slumping housing market is headed to the state Legislature.
A plan offered by House Republicans would limit property tax increases and give homeowners more power to challenge tax assessments. And if a home's actual market value decreases, then property tax assessments would not increase.
The bills also would limit the increase in property taxes that occurs when a home is sold. The package would eliminate a real estate transfer tax.
http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-10/119799460424030.xml&coll=4
Lawmakers take steps to eliminate toxic toys
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
By BARRIE BARBERTimes News Service
Get the lead out.
That's the message the state Legislature wants to send to outlets that sell children's products.
The Senate signed off Thursday on an anti-lead legislative initiative that would ban the sale of toys and other goods with a certain lead content. Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm's office has pledged her signature to make the bills law.
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-49/1197927248102920.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
Granholm forms panel to improve high school graduation rates
12/17/2007, 4:27 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Jennifer Granholm has formed a bipartisan work group to try and come up with ideas to improve Michigan's high school graduation rates.
The work group includes state lawmakers and representatives of several education groups.
Granholm says the state needs to double the number of college graduates in Michigan. A key will be keeping more students from dropping out of high school.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/NEWS06/71218053/1008
EMU fined $357,000 for underreporting crimes
December 18, 2007
BY ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A year after Laura Dickinson’s body was found in her dorm room, the U.S. Department of Education has fined Eastern Michigan University $357,500 for its failure to report her murder and for underreporting crimes for several years before that.
It wasn’t until February, after an arrest had been made in the Dickinson case, that EMU acknowledged they believed she had been killed. Until then, they maintained they suspected no foul play. Even then, Dickinson’s death was maintained in the university’s crime log as a “medical assist,” according to a 13-page Education Department letter received Monday by the university.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/OPINION01/712190315/1007/OPINION
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Editorial
Fix Detroit's schools, but give parents choice
The Detroit News
Far before Connie Calloway arrived in July to take one of Michigan's toughest jobs as Detroit Public Schools superintendent, the district was in a free fall. The question now is whether it is too late to turn the district around.
Calloway believes it's not, and we commend her for her optimism and commitment to urban education.
But it is unfair to Detroit's children to wait to see if she succeeds where others have failed. Detroit parents deserve more choices now -- including charter schools and private schools. If Calloway is successful in turning the Detroit district around, it will be able to compete effectively. If not, another generation of pupils will not have wasted their time in a failed school system.
http://www.mlive.com/news/citpat/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1197990337163440.xml&coll=3
Abortion concerns put brakes on United Way grant
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
By Tarryl Jackson
tjackson@citpat.com --768-4941
The controversy over abortion caused the United Way of Jackson County to decide against giving a $10,000 grant to Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan.
United Way's board of directors voted not to support the grant Friday due to pressure and disapproval from local nonprofit agencies. The grant was for Planned Parenthood's Talk to Me program, where teen peer educators talk to parents about how to discuss sex with their children.
``I'm pretty disappointed that the community is not given a chance to support a program that could have a great impact,'' said Lori Lamerand, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan. ``We're feeling it's wrong to connect the abortion connotation to everything we do.''
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/OPINION01/712190310/1007/OPINION
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Opinion
Freedom of religion includes defending diversity of beliefs
Kary L. Moss
Over the years, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has been called many names, but nothing brings out the taunting more than the holiday season.
Beginning in about mid-October, we receive our first holiday card of the season calling us, among many things, Godless. The truth is the ACLU is neither Godless nor God-full. Our point of view is that religious belief -- or the choice not to believe -- is among the most personal and private decisions an individual can make.
The Founders of this country correctly believed the right of each and every American to practice his or her religion -- or no religion at all -- is one of the most cherished freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/NEWS04/712180330/1005/news04
Published December 18, 2007
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
State reps, senators face hefty challenges for 2008
Regaining voters' confidence might be biggest hurdle
Eighty-three percent of voters gave Michigan lawmakers a negative job rating in a recent poll, so it's not surprising that words like "debacle" pop up when Capitol observers talk about this year's legislative session.
There was the monthslong gridlock over tax increases that led to a brief government shutdown.
And the middle-of-night tax increase on some services but not others that eventually was repealed because of fierce opposition from the business community.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/NEWS06/712190322/1008
Politically speaking
December 19, 2007
Governor aims to cut government waists in '08
It's as obligatory as sleigh bells and noisemakers: At the governor's traditional year-end interview with the Capitol press corps, someone has to end it with the question, "What's your New Year's resolution?"
Gov. Jennifer Granholm had a quick answer Tuesday.
"I want to lose 15 pounds," she said as she rose to depart.
To which the rotund Lt. Gov. John Cherry chimed, "My goal is to lose 55 pounds."
It was up to reporters to speculate privately which one would be more successful or more in need of streamlining. In the spirit of the season, we won't go there.
His goal is 55.
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/503192.html?nav=5006
City approves rate hike
By CHRISTOPHER DIEM, Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — The Marquette City Commission Monday unanimously approved increased electric rates for Marquette Board of Light and Power customers.
Under the plan, BLP electric rates will increase an average of 3.5 percent each year for three years beginning in 2008. The BLP adopted the new rate structure at its Oct. 30 meeting.
The 3.5 percent average over three years is calculated over all customer rate classes, from residences, which will pay an average of 2 percent more, to large businesses, which will pay an average increase of more than 5 percent, said BLP Executive Director Kirby Juntila.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19124820&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6
Finally, officially, new jail approved
By Cathy Nelson Price
12/18/2007
With an official groundbreaking slated for this morning, and virtually no lingering public opposition after nearly 20 years of debate and discussion, the new Midland County Jail got the final stamp of approval from the Midland City Council at its Monday night meeting.
The council ended the two-decade jail saga by granting a conditional use permit for the 250-bed facility, to be built on 30 acres at 101 Rockwell Drive. Construction is scheduled to begin early in 2008 and is expected to last 16 months. By way of a final public comment before the 5-0 approval by council, a delighted Midland County Sheriff Jerry Nielsen said, "I personally pledge that we (the jail) will be a good neighbor to the residents of the surrounding area."
http://noise.typepad.com/election_countdown/2007/12/endorsements--.html
Endorsements - do they really matter?
In a word, no. In fact, out of the thousands and thousands of endorsements which have been given there's a good chance that only three endorsements this year will actually have any bearing on the outcome of a race.
I've made this case before, though unless you were an avid reader of the subscription-only Gongwer News Service during my way-back-when stint when I wrote a version of this column there, you likely wouldn't know that. In point of fact, Gongwer publishes without bylines, so there's a better than average chance that you wouldn't have known it was me anyways.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190380/1022
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Michigan crucial to Romney's GOP run
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
The Iowa roadblock between Mitt Romney and the Republican presidential nomination -- a roadblock named Mike Huckabee -- has disrupted an election strategy years in the making. But it's far from fatal to the Michigan native's hopes, political analysts say. And the road to recovery runs from New Hampshire to Michigan.
Just 15 days from the Iowa caucuses, Romney finds a once-comfortable lead there lost to the Huckabee surge. If the current standings hold, they would make New Hampshire on Jan. 8 and the contest here on Jan. 15 vital to a campaign strategy built on the momentum of early victories -- a fact the campaign acknowledges.
"Our strategy has always been to win early and win often," said Alex Gage, Romney's chief strategist with extensive experience in Michigan politics. But as long as he finishes a solid second in Iowa, Gage said, Romney is still well positioned in New Hampshire, where Huckabee has not proven as popular, and in Michigan.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190435/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Some Michigan voting machines same as Colorado's
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Some Michigan communities use equipment of the same type and by the same manufacturer singled out as having problems in Colorado and Ohio.
But despite troubles with the system elsewhere, "we're comfortable with the equipment that we have," said Kelly Chesney, a spokeswoman for Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.
"It goes through federal testing that is quite rigorous," and the state regularly performs its own tests, she said Tuesday.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/AUTO01/712190343/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Landmark fuel bill set for Bush OK
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- President Bush is expected to sign an energy bill this morning that will raise passenger car fuel efficiency standards for the first time in more than two decades, ending an epic battle to require automakers to dramatically improve the fuel economy of the nation's cars and trucks.
His signature comes after the House voted 314-100 Tuesday to approve a scaled-back energy bill that requires automakers to improve fuel efficiency by 40 percent to a fleet-wide industry average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020.
The energy bill also increases the use of biofuels, largely corn-based ethanol, to 36 billion gallons annually by 2022. It sets new efficiency standards for commercial buildings and appliances and phases out by 2014 the use of traditional incandescent light bulbs in favor of more efficient bulbs.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/AUTO01/712190335/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
House moves to boost auto safety
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Congress moved closer to passing its first significant auto safety measure since 2005, focusing on the safety of children in and around cars.
The bill requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to create a database of deaths and injuries of children in nontraffic accidents and to consider toughening regulations to prevent children from being accidentally injured or killed by power windows. It also would require auto companies to develop technology to help drivers avoid backing over a person.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the "Cameron Guilbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act" late Tuesday evening, after attaching the measure to an overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TK620O0&show_article=1
Huckabee Stands by Christmas Ad
Dec 18 07:06 PM US/Eastern
By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON
Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Tuesday defended his Christmas ad amid suggestions that the ordained Baptist minister had gone too far mixing religion and politics.
The ad, which is airing in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, shows Huckabee in front of a Christmas tree as he says, "Are you about worn out by all the television commercials you've been seeing, mostly about politics? Well, I don't blame you. At this time of year sometimes it's nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and friends."
http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/story?id=4021096&page=1
POLL: In Iowa Democratic Caucuses, Turnout Will Tell the Tale
Obama's Theme of Fresh Start Resonates Strongly Against Clinton Campaign
ANALYSIS by GARY LANGER
Dec. 19, 2007
Turnout will tell the tale of the Iowa Democratic caucuses, where Barack Obama's theme of a fresh start in the nation's politics is resonating strongly against the bulwarks of Hillary Clinton's campaign -- strength, experience and electability.
Likely caucus-goers are increasingly polarized between these two themes. Obama's enlarged his already sizable lead among those looking mainly for new ideas and a new direction. But Clinton's gained among those focused on strength and experience, and has eased some of her recent negatives on forthrightness and empathy.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/18/524511.aspx
Poll: Edwards leads in Iowa
Posted: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 6:27 PM
by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: 2008, Edwards, Polls
In an InsiderAdvantage poll in Iowa, Edwards leads among (977) likely voters 30-26-24 over Clinton and Obama. Edwards is also the clear second choice winner, 42-29-28 over Clinton and Obama. This is the first poll to show Edwards solely in the lead in Iowa since July.
Among highly likely caucus goers (of which there are 633), though, the three are deadlocked: Obama 27, Edwards 26, Clinton 24. Edwards again wins second choice, 42-31-27 over Clinton and Obama. The poll was conducted Dec. 16-17 and has a margin of error of 3% for the likely voters section and 4% for the highly likely voters section.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190328/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Analysis
As race heats up, Clinton aims to show warm side
Campaign hopes to break Iowa deadlock by softening image after months of tough talk.
Beth Fouhy / Associated Press
CORALVILLE, Iowa -- It was a blunt question for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the end of a long campaign day. A young man said he knew a lot of people who just didn't like her, and he wanted to know what she could do about it.
She agreed there are people who will never vote for her. "It breaks my heart, but that is true," she said, suggesting it's just part of the game when you stick to your principles. But with two weeks to go to the Iowa caucuses, her campaign is making a bigger effort to confront the nagging matter of her likability and electability.
In recent days, Clinton has began showing off a softer side -- inviting friends, New York constituents and family members to Iowa to speak for her and attest to her warmth, compassion and hearty laugh.
December 19, 2007
Political Memo
After Delay, Clinton Embarks on a Likability Tour
By PATRICK HEALY
DES MOINES — The tableau was classic Clinton: Bill Clinton chatting with African-American cashiers and baggers at a grocery store here Tuesday, telling them how wonderful Hillary Rodham Clinton was, while she waited quietly for him to finish so they could dazzle more voters.
The couple’s one-two political punch, still going strong after three decades, has special import now: Mrs. Clinton has embarked this week on a warm-and-fuzzy tour, blitzing full throttle by helicopter across Iowa to present herself as likable and heartwarming, a complement to her “strength and experience” message that the campaign felt a female candidate needed first.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/18/elder-bush-nixes-clinton-trip-idea/
December 18, 2007
Elder Bush nixes Clinton trip idea
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Former President George H.W. Bush has shot down his successor Bill Clinton’s idea of a diplomatic mission under a Hillary Clinton presidency that would send him and other notables abroad to assure other nations that “America is open for business and cooperation again.”
The move came one day after Bill Clinton made the suggestion on the campaign trail in South Carolina, in response to a question from a supporter about his wife’s “number-one priority” upon reaching the White House.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/NATION/42189178/1001
Hillary leads in the 'anti-' vote
By Stephen Dinan
December 18, 2007
Forty percent of Americans say they would vote to keep Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from winning the presidency, more than twice the total for their No. 2 "anti-" pick, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
In a new Fox 5-The Washington Times-Rasmussen Reports survey, 64 percent of Republicans, 42 percent of third-party or independent voters, and 17 percent of Democrats said the candidate they most want to keep from the White House is Mrs. Clinton.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/OPINION01/712190314/1007/OPINION
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Does drug issue hurt or help Obama?
The following are excerpts from The Detroit News' syndicated columnists, wire services and Web sites:
Drug use is a fair worry
Gail Collins, New York Times: Barack Obama is the first serious presidential candidate ever to acknowledge using cocaine. "Pot had helped, and booze," he said of his days as an alienated adolescent. "Maybe a little blow when you could afford it."
This has not exactly been a secret -- that quote appeared in his 1995 autobiography, "Dreams From My Father." Even though he has held approximately 10 trillion town hall question-and-answer sessions in Iowa and New Hampshire, Obama has never been challenged in the incessant, sometimes outrageous way a presidential nominee gets challenged.
December 18, 2007
Read More: Leadership
Reid rejects notion that GOP is winning Hill battles
If this is what winning looks like, then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants no part of it.
Tired of Republican crowing about winning on Iraq funding, the budget battle and the energy bill, Reid (D-Nev.) shot back on Tuesday afternoon.
"We hear a lot of Republicans boasting ... because of their unprecedented obstruction," Reid said.
Indeed, Republicans have gotten their way in the battle over spending, have forced Democrats to jettison rollbacks of tax breaks for oil companies, and have beaten back attempts to pay for expanded children's health care programs with a tobacco tax increase. Even though they're in the minority, the GOP, backed by President Bush, has used the filibuster to block Democratic priorities over and over this fall.
"Who's winning?" Reid asked a group of reporters. "Big Oil, Big Tobacco. ... Al Qaeda has regrouped and is able to fight a civil war in Iraq. ... The American people are losing."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190333/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Colorado seeks voting machine fix
A day after decertifying 3 of 4 equipment makers, official says some devices could still be used in '08.
George Merritt / Associated Press
DENVER -- Colorado's secretary of state has declared many of the state's electronic voting machines to be unreliable, but said Tuesday that some of them could still be used in November if a software patch was installed.
Other machines that failed could be replaced with equipment certified for use in other states, Secretary of State Mike Coffman said.
Coffman met with a task force of state lawmakers to discuss what Colorado should do the day after he decertified three of the four voting equipment manufacturers allowed in the state, affecting six of Colorado's 10 most populous counties.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-12-17-congresspoll_N.htm
Americans' approval of Congress sinks to new low
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — As President Bush and Congress battle on the budget, homeland security and the war in Iraq, Americans blame both Republicans and Democrats for the impasse.
By more than 2-to-1 margins, they give the president, congressional Democrats and congressional Republicans unfavorable ratings in a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll released Monday. While Bush's ratings have been poor for most of the past two years, the two parties in Congress hit new lows in the poll.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190422/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Senate OKs $555B spending bill, $70B in war funds
Andrew Taylor / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Senate gave President Bush a big win on Iraq Tuesday night as it passed a massive $555 billion spending bill combining funding for 14 Cabinet departments with $70 billion for U.S. military operations there and in Afghanistan.
But Bush's GOP allies were divided over whether the omnibus appropriations bill represented a win for the party in a months-long battle with Democrats over domestic agency budgets.
In rapid succession, the Senate cast two votes to approve the hybrid spending bill.
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071218/NATION/209889236/1001
Spending bill shrinks border fence
By S.A. Miller and Stephen Dinan
December 18, 2007
Congress last night passed a giant new spending bill that undermines current plans for a U.S.-Mexico border fence, allowing the Homeland Security Department to build a single-tier barrier rather than the two-tier version that has worked in California.
The spending bill, written by Democrats and passed 253-154 with mostly their votes, surrenders to President Bush's budget demands, meeting his spending limit with a $515 billion bill to fund most of the federal government and setting up votes to pay for the Iraq war. But Democrats reached his goal in part by slashing his defense and foreign-aid priorities to pay for added domestic spending.
Students struggle as immigrants do
Saturday, December 15, 2007 3:18 AM
By Holly Zachariah
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
POWELL -- The students had a role-play project: assume a Latino identity, build an imaginary life in your home country and develop a workable plan to immigrate to the United States.
Try it legally, Erica Vieyra told her 40 senior Spanish students at Olentangy Liberty High School. Fill out the correct documents, follow the proper steps. And then, after they spent days completing the actual paperwork from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, she took out her red ink pad and stamped a big, fat DENIED across every request.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190329/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Congress toughens open records law
Laurie Kellman / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Congress on Tuesday struck back at the Bush administration's trend toward secrecy since the 2001 terrorist attacks, passing legislation to toughen the Freedom of Information Act and increasing penalties on agencies that don't comply.
The White House would not say whether President Bush will sign the legislation, which unanimously passed the House by voice vote Tuesday a few days after it sailed through the Senate. Without Bush's signature, the bill would become law during the congressional recess that begins next week.
It would be the first makeover of the FOIA in a decade, among other things bringing nonproprietary information held by government contractors under the law. The legislation also is aimed at reversing an order by former Attorney General John Ashcroft in the wake of the attacks, in which he instructed agencies to lean against releasing information when there was uncertainty about how doing so would affect national security.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190369/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Judge probes CIA tapes
He sets hearing to decide if White House violated his 2005 order to preserve evidence of interrogations.
Scott Shane / New York Times
WASHINGTON -- A federal judge ordered Tuesday that a hearing be held into whether the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes in 2005 violated his order that summer to preserve evidence in a lawsuit brought on behalf of 16 prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The hearing, set for Friday in Washington by District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr., will be the first forum in which government officials submit to questioning about the tapes' destruction in November 2005. The Justice Department has asked Congress to postpone inquiries into the matter and had opposed a court hearing, saying any such actions would interfere with a preliminary investigation by the department and the CIA into whether the destruction of the tapes violated the law.
"We hope to establish a procedure to review the government's handling of evidence in our case," said David H. Remes, a lawyer representing the 16 Guantanamo prisoners in challenging their detention. "We're grateful to Judge Kennedy for giving us that opportunity."
Skirting the Abyss in Iraq
By David Ignatius
Wednesday, December 19, 2007; Page A19
KIRKUK, Iraq -- With its volatile mix of Kurds, Turkmens and Arabs, this city is often described as a sectarian time bomb. But for now, the bomb is ticking a little more slowly thanks to that rare Iraqi event -- a compromise.
Iraq has had too few of these political accommodations during its downward spiral over most of the past four years. But the Kirkuk deal announced yesterday illustrates that there can be virtuous cycles, too, even in a country as bitterly divided as this one. The success of the U.S. troop surge seems to be bolstering, ever so slightly, the advocates of conciliation and weakening the partisans of sectarian war.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/12192007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_sergeants_war_907133.htm
THE SERGEANTS' WAR
TOP NCOS TALK FROM BAGHDAD
December 19, 2007 -- IF you want the wide-angle-lens view of a conflict, ask the generals. But if you want up-close-and-personal snapshots of war, talk to the street-level NCOs.
Three senior sergeants serving with the 1st Infantry Division's Dragon (4th) Brigade took time away from leading their troops in Baghdad's former badlands to share with The Post their views of where we are in the war - and where we're headed.
First Sgt. Todd Hood is "Top" in the Delta Destroyers of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry; 1st Sgt. Travis Wewers has the Bravo Barracudas of the 4th Brigade's Special Troops Battalion, and Master Sgt. Michael Clauss is the brigade's senior intelligence sergeant - soon to take over the Barracudas from Wewers.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071219/D8TK6TUG0.html
US Military Not Told of Turkey Bomb Plan
Dec 18, 8:05 PM (ET)
By PAULINE JELINEK
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. military commanders in Iraq didn't know Turkey was sending warplanes to bomb in northern Iraq until the planes had already crossed the border, said defense and diplomatic officials, who were angered about being left in the dark.
Americans have been providing Turkey with intelligence to go after Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. And a "coordination center" has been set up in Ankara so Turks, Iraqis and Americans can share information, two officials said Tuesday.
But defense and diplomatic officials in Washington and Baghdad told The Associated Press that U.S. commanders in Iraq knew nothing about Sunday's attack until it was already under way.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/POLITICS/712190331/1022/POLITICS
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Bush to visit Jerusalem, West Bank
President will push a peace deal between Israel, Palestinians in nine-day January trip.
Deb Riechmann / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will make his first trip to Jerusalem and the West Bank next month to push Israel and the Palestinians toward peace and try to write his own chapter in the annals of Mideast diplomacy.
On a nine-day trip beginning Jan. 8, Bush plans to stop in Israel, the West Bank, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It will be Bush's first presidential visit to each of the countries, except Egypt.
Mideast peacemaking has been on the back burner during most of Bush's presidency, but he emerged from a high-stakes conference in Annapolis, Md., last month re-energized about assisting Israel and the Palestinians in forming an independent Palestinian homeland. The trip is aimed at helping the two sides gain traction in talks that got under way earlier this month.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/OPINION01/712190313/1007/OPINION
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Editorial
Palestinian aid must be carefully tracked
$7.4 billion in foreign help must support drive for statehood
The Detroit News
Foreign aid of $7.4 billion has been pledged by major donor nations to help the Palestinians create a state. The money can go a long way in building the infrastructure and institutions necessary for the Palestinians to sustain an independent nation.
But the massive infusion of aid also presents challenges.
The Palestinian Authority, which will be the recipient of most of the funds, has a long history of funneling foreign aid into the pockets of its officials. Rampant corruption within the authority was a major reason Palestinian voters turned to Hamas in elections two years ago.
http://jewishworldreview.com/kathleen/parker121907.php3
The King and the First Lady
By Kathleen Parker
Saudi King Abdullah's pardon of the young woman known as "Qatif Girl" — who was gang-raped and then sentenced to 200 lashes and six months imprisonment for "improper mingling" — is welcome news.
With something less than gratitude — how does one feel grateful for mercy when none should have been required in the first place? — Westerners are nonetheless relieved.
It seems obvious that the king's decision was influenced in part by pressures both from the international community, including the United States, and within Saudi Arabia, where some writers and others bravely expressed outrage and embarrassment.
