Articles of Interest 12-2-07
340 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Sales tax on services is repealed….surcharge on the MBT replaces revenues. The Democrats left us with the best of two bad choices. Hopefully some in the business community have learned some lessons.
Senate and House Republicans stood together to get the best they could…see release below.
How about a bipartisan approach to dealing with the issues that affect our state? See more below.
As we contemplate our budget situation consider this: controlling spending is the ONLY solution…taxes will never catch up with politician’s propensity to spend!
The cause of Freedom and our cause for conservative values is a marathon…we need to get up every morning and do our part…whatever it is!
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.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
- House Republican Leader Craig DeRoche today issued the following statement regarding the House Democrat-created tax increase placed on the Michigan economy:
“Michigan is suffering with the worst economy in the United States. No reasonable person believes that a major tax increase like this will help create a single job or stop another home foreclosure. Yet, given a second chance to fix their mistake, the Democrat leadership chose to replace a tax with another tax.
“To say the business community supports this plan is like saying that a death row inmate chooses the firing squad over the electric chair. Either way, leaving Michigan job providers on the hook for millions of dollars in preparation and implementation costs, compounded by Speaker Dillon’s decision to leave town Wednesday without a fix, has left thousands of jobs hanging in the balance.
“As a direct result of this ‘incompetence tax,’ Michigan’s job providers were forced to waste nearly $14 million a day getting ready – money which business owners can’t use to keep current employees, let alone hire new workers.
“Michigan is going to head into the holiday season with even more layoff notices. The Democrats must turn their philosophy around – the Legislature must try to encourage job growth, not stifle it. That’s why House Republicans will fight to provide tax credits to eliminate the ‘incompetence tax.’
“None of this had to happen. House Republicans offered a plan immediately after the implementation of the service tax, a plan which put more money into priorities such as education and public safety. Our plan offered $670 million in reforms and government streamlining, making tax increases unnecessary.
“Unfortunately, the House Democrats chose higher taxes over reform and job growth.
“We are very thankful for the Michigan Senate Republicans and governor, who were successful in bringing House Democrats back into the negotiating room and reduced their tax increase by more than 40 percent. House Republicans stand united with the Senate in attempting to eliminate the remainder of the surcharge tax. House Republicans do not believe voters intended to hand their wallets over to Lansing when they voted in a Democrat majority, and they will continue to fight for job providers and taxpayers.”
- We have now tried the Democrat’s approach and have thrown more and more money (tax revenues) into state government under Governor Granholm and the Democrats. It’s still not working.
The non-partisan Michigan Research Council has identified a number of structural issues that it says must be addressed. Let’s take them one at a time and come up with some kind of solution.
We have a state government that is over-bloated, gives out contracts that constantly have huge cost over-runs, duplicates services provided by other agencies…can we find a bipartisan solution to address some of these issues?
We have a prison system that puts too many people behind bars, that costs more than it should, that doesn’t provide many with a way to get back into society and needs major reform. It would be cheaper and smarter to put many of these folks into a community college and rehab than behind bars.
Our educational system is failing to educate many of our children. We are overpaying new growing bureaucracies for non-educational services. We have a system that focuses more on the teacher rather than the students, more on the administrator and district than on the student. Over 500 school districts?
We are one of only a few states that provides lifetime welfare benefits making it a way a life rather than a support system for those in need of temporary help. We are expanding Medicaid coverage and socializing healthcare in a systematic, inefficient and costly manner where the bill falls on the back of the taxpayers.
We have a tax and regulatory climate that continues to punish entrepreneurship, chase away new investment and force our greatest asset, our children, to leave our state to find jobs and futures elsewhere.
These are all issues we can and should address in a bipartisan fashion. The Governor is “our leader”. You got your tax increases, however messy they maybe. Let us now take one issue at a time, get a bipartisan working group together in each of the areas in need of policy changes and find common ground.
The Democrats got their tax increase - the largest in Michigan’s history…you won that one on a partisan basis. But now let’s try and approach some of the remaining problems from a reform perspective.
How about a little “common sense” – a different approach to dealing with the issue affecting our state. We deserve better. Let’s make an effort to work together, but that means now that we have raises close to $2 billion in new taxes…let’s look at the “structural” side of the equation and redefine and reform the way we provide government services in Michigan. Let’s create a system we can sustain and afford that will attract job providers, encourage our families to stay here and take advantage of the wonders that we have in this great state.
Taxes will never catch up with politician’s propensity to spend!
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/METRO/712010412/1022/POLITICS
Saturday, December 1, 2007
House and Senate kill service tax
Mark Hornbeck and Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- The hated service tax died today in infancy. The House voted 66-42 to repeal and replace the 6 percent sales tax on a peculiar variety of services, killing the levy after it had been in place for only 16 hours, having gone on the books at midnight.
The Senate approved the bill just before 5 a.m. today by a 33-4 count. Gov. Jennifer Granholm intends to sign it as soon as it reaches her desk.
Because the measure could not take effect before the service tax was launched, the agreement includes legal protection for businesses that don't collect the tax from midnight until the repeal was official.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/NEWS06/712020686/1008
Services tax goes in and out of effect
Early-hours Senate vote starts deal to sub business surcharge
December 2, 2007
BY DAWSON BELL and KATHLEEN GRAY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
The short, unhappy life of the new Michigan services tax ended Saturday as Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed repeal and replacement legislation, even as confused business owners and their customers tried to figure out whether they were required to collect or pay the tax.
An agreement to repeal the 6% tax on some services and replace it with a surcharge on the state's main business tax came just two months after it was enacted as part of the Oct. 1 deal to address the state budget crisis, but not in time to beat the Dec. 1 effective date.
Ricky's death boosts standards
December 2, 2007
BY JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Ricky Holland case led to increased scrutiny of existing and prospective foster parents, as well as better training for those seeking to be licensed.
After the case became widely publicized, foster care agencies around the state examined their screening and training procedures to see whether they could be improved.
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-25/1196493158160410.xml&coll=2
Granholm wants state to lead in alternative energy
Governor asks for money, ideas at Ann Arbor meeting Saturday, December 01, 2007
BY STEFANIE MURRAY The Ann Arbor News
With its water, woods, wind and automotive history, Michigan is well-positioned to be a leader in the development of alternative energy, Gov. Jennifer Granholm told a director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Ann Arbor on Friday.
The meeting with Margo Oge, director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was held as part of a roundtable discussion on alternative energy and what the state can do to grow the industry here. About 20 area business executives and University of Michigan professors participated.
Granholm also made a pitch for federal funding to support the development of a national center in Michigan to study and promote alternative energy - including everything from wind energy to batteries.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/OPINION01/712020301/1007/OPINION
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Keep clean coal plants for state's power needs
Michigan's energy needs and its business recruitment efforts will be harmed by environmentalists who continue tilting at windmills. They want to ban the construction of new coal plants in the state but haven't come up with legitimate alternatives.
Coal is the enemy of choice, and if a newly created special interest group comprised of environmental activists has its way, Michigan will never see another coal plant built in the state. That would be bad for Michigan's future and hasten its economic decline.
The fact of the matter is that demand for energy in Michigan is increasing about 1.2 percent a year, and neither wind nor solar power can satisfy that demand. Coal, like nuclear power, must remain an option. Technological advancements have made the production of energy from coal much cleaner.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/OPINION03/712020304/1007/OPINION
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Nolan Finley
Renaissance takes on political agenda
It wasn't exactly a coup d'etat at last Wednesday's Detroit Renaissance meeting, but by the time the evening was over, the state's most powerful group of business leaders had shaken off its historic aversion to political involvement and was headed in a far more purposeful direction.
Many who attended the session described it as heated and sometimes angry, as the chief executives voiced their frustration at the incompetence of Gov. Jennifer Granholm and state legislative leaders, and the reluctance of the business community, particularly Renaissance, to call them out.
The loudest complaints reportedly came from members who had in the past been the most cautious. A faction of Renaissance that had long wanted the organization to drop its above-the-fray stance saw in the discontent an opportunity to press a more activist agenda.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/COL24/712020604/1105
Patterson aids family touched by loss
December 2, 2007
BY CAROL CAIN
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
This is a story about something heartwarming coming out of something tragic.
Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson has had a dreadful year from a personal standpoint.
First, "Brooksie," his 28-year-old son, was killed in a snowmobile accident in February, leaving behind a wife and three young children.
Weeks later, Patterson's identical twin brother, Stephen, 68 -- younger by six minutes -- was diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. He died Nov. 4.
And Patterson spent his Thanksgiving weekend comforting his sister and her 43-year-old son, his nephew, who is undergoing radiation treatments for cancer.
Any one of those circumstances could easily have been enough to sidetrack someone. Not Patterson.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-47/1196506238117890.xml&coll=5
State claims city owes $7 million on tax error
HOMETOWN HEADLINES FLINTTHE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITIONSaturday, December 01, 2007By Marjory Raymermraymer@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6325
FLINT - Collecting on an old debt is not a "money grab" as claimed in a lawsuit, says Treasury Department spokesman Terry Stanton.
The state department is trying to collect $7 million in industrial facilities taxes that the city of Flint improperly distributed to Flint schools from 1994-2000.
In November, the city withheld $1.6 million in funding from the schools - a move that put in jeopardy the school district's ability to meet payroll - to put toward the alleged debt.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-47/119650447059460.xml&coll=5
More area high schools fail to meet AYP status
FLINTTHE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITIONSaturday, December 01, 2007
By Melissa Burdenmburden@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6316
More area high schools in 2006-07 failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, following a downward statewide trend.
Of the state's high schools, 489 (15 have since closed) didn't make AYP, up more than 9 percent from the 399 high schools that didn't in 2005-06.
In a news release, Mike Flanagan, state superintendent of public instruction, said the results weren't unexpected because Michigan is raising its high school graduation requirements through more rigorous courses and the new Michigan Merit Exam.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-39/1196493583182320.xml&coll=6
Nearly half of schools miss test goals
Saturday, December 01, 2007
By Beth Loechler and Dave MurrayThe Grand Rapids Press
More than 40 percent of Michigan's public high schools -- including schools in Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Wyoming and Grand Haven -- fell short of goals to improve on statewide tests, according to results released Friday.
Local educators say it will take time to adjust to a new test, which state Superintendent Michael Flanagan said caused "a momentary lag" in scores on tests required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
Schools are required to show constant improvement, and the state Education Department now requires juniors to take a modified version of the ACT college entrance exam.
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf?/base/news-5/119649008538490.xml&coll=9
Three defend former mayor
Saturday, December 1, 2007
One was present when her former handyman signed a now withdrawn affidavit admitting guilt.
DARRYL Q. TUCKER
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Former Saginaw Mayor Wilmer Jones Ham McZee didn't testify on her own behalf in her arson and insurance fraud trial, but three witnesses did, including a man who claimed he was buying her 1986 Mercedes-Benz.
Both Special Prosecutor Michael S. Wolsh and defense attorney James F. Piazza finished presenting their cases to the jury of five men and nine women Friday.
The attorneys will give closing arguments Tuesday, then the jury will deliberate Ham McZee's fate. A conviction could lead to a sentence of up to five years in prison.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/AUTO01/712010405/1022/POLITICS
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Fuel economy deal reached
New standards: 35 mpg by 2020; House vote next week
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- House leaders agreed late Friday to hike fuel economy standards 40 percent by 2020 to a fleet-wide average of 35 miles per gallon, a landmark deal that clears the way for a House vote by Wednesday.
The increase would be the first for passenger cars since 1985, marking a dramatic defeat for automakers, which have successfully foiled efforts to force increases for more than two decades.
U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., finalized an agreement for raising corporate average fuel economy standards during a telephone call Friday evening.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MORE_MPG?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 7:16 AM EST
Energy plan pushes automakers on mpg
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The groundbreaking deal in Congress to raise mile-per-gallon standards will compel the auto industry to churn out more fuel-efficient vehicles on a faster timeline than the companies wanted, though with flexibility to get the job done.
The auto industry's fleet of new cars, sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans will have to average 35 mpg by 2020, according to the agreement that congressional negotiators announced late Friday. That compares with the 2008 requirement of 27.5 mpg average for cars and 22.5 mpg for light trucks. It would be first increase ordered by Congress in three decades.
NATIONAL STORIES
Secure our broken borders. Restore rule of law.
Rudy Giuliani • December 1, 2007
America's borders are broken. I am the candidate who can fix the problem because I am the candidate who has tackled problems considered unmanageable or impossible to accomplish.
Washington's failure to secure America's borders can be felt throughout our nation. Even Iowa, nearly a thousand miles from our border with Mexico, has felt the impact. Estimates of the illegal immigrant population in Iowa place it between 55,000 and 85,000. As somebody who, as mayor of New York City, had to deal with the consequences of the federal government's failure to stop illegal immigration to our country, I know the tremendous burden this places on Iowa.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/01/491439.aspx
Rudy, Iowa Christians, a tough sell
Posted: Saturday, December 01, 2007 3:22 PM by Domenico Montanaro
DUBUQUE, IA -- It's no secret that Iowa Christian Alliance president Steve Scheffler isn't a Rudy fan. But tonight, within spitting distance of Giuliani’s rival GOP candidate Romney, Scheffler explicitly urged Iowa Christians to oppose Giuliani in the race for the nomination. "If our party nominates this guy," he told a crowd at a Dubuque gathering of the ICA, "we will see a bloodbath at the polls like we've never seen before."
Scheffler went on to slam Giuliani's position on same-sex marriage, life issues and gun rights. "Rudy Giuliani cannot be elected," he said, citing the ex-mayor's differences with social conservatives. "We cannot afford to nominate somebody who's out of touch with the base."
John McCain is the man to lead America
By PUBLISHER JOSEPH W. MCQUAID
On Jan. 8, New Hampshire Republicans will make one of the most important choices for their party and nation in the history of our presidential primary. Their choice ought to be John McCain.
We don't agree with him on every issue. We disagree with him strongly on campaign finance reform. What is most compelling about McCain, however, is that his record, his character, and his courage show him to be the most trustworthy, competent, and conservative of all those seeking the nomination. Simply put, McCain can be trusted to make informed decisions based on the best interests of his country, come hell or high water.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/us/politics/02huckabee.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
December 2, 2007
Huckabee’s Stature Rises, Mobilizing Tax Critics
By LESLIE WAYNE
As Mike Huckabee rises in the Republican presidential polls, fiscal conservatives have been raising alarms about a series of tax increases he oversaw while governor of Arkansas — new taxes on gasoline, nursing home beds and even pet groomers.
The Club for Growth, a politically influential antitax group, has dubbed Mr. Huckabee Tax Hike Mike and poured money into anti-Huckabee advertisements that were broadcast in early nominating states, with more on the way. Mr. Huckabee “spends money like a drunken sailor,” according to the group’s news releases, and it has sprinkled YouTube and the airways with videos that mock him and his policies.
But the record offers a more complex and nuanced picture. While taxes did rise in the 10 years that Mr. Huckabee was governor, the portrayal of him as a wild-eyed spendthrift is hardly apt. For the most part, Mr. Huckabee’s tax initiatives had wide bipartisan support, with the small number of Republicans in the overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature voting for the tax increases and many maintaining that the state was better for them.
http://www.arkansasleader.com/2007/11/editorialswhos-biggest-tax-raiser.html
Friday, November 30, 2007
EDITORIALS>>Who’s biggest tax raiser?
Ernie Dumas writes: Mike Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years.
Clinton tax increases
- Increased the general sales tax from 3 percent to 4 per- cent (Act 63 of special session of 1983)
- Increased sales tax by half of 1 percent and extended the tax to used vehicles (Act 3 of 1991)
- Increased the corporate income tax from 6 to 6.5 percent for corporations with net incomes greater than $100,000 (Act 1052 of 1991)
-
Black Alabama political groups split presidential endorsements
12/1/2007, 3:32 p.m. CST
By PHILLIP RAWLS
The Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's major black political groups have split their endorsements for president, with the Alabama New South Coalition giving its support to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday.
The Alabama Democratic Conference, the black wing of the state Democratic Party, endorsed New York Sen. Hillary Clinton in October.
Obama received the majority of the votes when the predominantly black Alabama New South Coalition met Saturday to make its endorsement. Coalition officials did not disclose the exact outcome of the private vote.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/clinton-booed-a.html
Clinton Booed at Heartland Forum
December 01, 2007 6:04 PM
ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: A day after dealing with a hostage crisis, Sen. Hillary Clinton faced a tough crowd in Iowa. Clinton did not receive the warmest of welcomes at the Heartland Form in Des Moines, IA, and although the hostage scare was mentioned, the announcer brushed it off quickly in order to get to questions. Clinton, who was forced to call in to speak to the crowd of thousands because of weather difficulties, took questions on topics from healthcare to illegal immigration.
The senator was asked if she would "make a decision to give undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship" during her first 100 days in office. Clinton responded saying, "I have been favoring a plan to citizenship for years. I voted for it in the Senate, I have spoke out about it around Iowa and the country and in my campaign. And as president comprehensive immigration reform will be a high priority for me."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23718
Hillary's Inevitability
by Robert Novak
Posted: 12/01/2007
Old pro Democrats who had been in awe of Sen. Hillary Clinton's perfect campaign believe she made her first serious blunder last Monday by indicating to CBS's Katie Couric that her election as president is inevitable.
When Couric inquired "how disappointed will you be" if she does not win, Clinton replied: "Well, it will be me." "Clearly," the CBS anchor persisted, "you have considered" the "possibility of losing"? "No, I haven't," said the senator. "So you never even consider the possibility?" "I don't. I don't."
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/NEWS09/71201009/-1/caucus
Obama pulls ahead for Democrats in Iowa Poll
By THOMAS BEAUMONT • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • Copyright 2007, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company • December 1, 2007
Despite the movement, the race for 2008's opening nominating contest remains very competitive about a month before the Jan. 3 caucuses, just over half of likely caucusgoers who favor a candidate saying they could change their minds.
Obama, an Illinois senator, leads for the first time in the Register's poll as the choice of 28 percent of likely caucusgoers, up from 22 percent in October. Clinton, a New York senator, was the preferred candidate of 25 percent, down from 29 percent in the previous poll.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/opinion/02rich.html?ref=opinion
Who’s Afraid of Barack Obama?
By FRANK RICH
Published: December 2, 2007
JUST 24 hours after Hillary Clinton mowed down a skeptical Katie Couric with her certitude that she would win the Democratic nomination — “It will be me!” — her husband showed exactly how she could lose it.
By telling an Iowa audience on Tuesday night that he had opposed the Iraq war “from the beginning,” Bill Clinton committed a double pratfall. Not only did he refocus attention on his wife’s most hazardous issue, Iraq, just as it was receding as the nation’s Topic A, but he also revived unhappy memories of the truth-dodging nadirs of the Clinton White House.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/opinion/02dowd.html?ref=opinion
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: December 2, 2007
Customarily in presidential races, Americans seek a patriarchal figure, a strong parent to protect the house from invaders and financial turbulence.
But with Barack Obama, this dynamic seems reversed.
He seems more like a child prodigy. Those enraptured with his gifts urge him on, like anxious parents, trying to pull that sustained, dazzling performance out of him that they believe he’s capable of; they are willing to put up with the prodigy’s occasional listlessness and crabbiness, his flights of self-regard and self-righteousness. Despite his uneven efforts and distaste for the claws of competition, they can see he is a golden child, one who moves, speaks, smiles and thinks with amazing grace.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/fashion/02oprah.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
The Oprah Party Wants You
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: December 2, 2007
BACK in 1992, the Bush White House deemed Oprah Winfrey’s daytime talk show insufficiently serious for the incumbent president to visit. But in the intervening years, Ms. Winfrey’s couch, along with the easy chairs on other chat shows, became so attractive to candidates that the political world is now wondering whether Ms. Winfrey might actually hold the Democratic nomination in her hands.
For the first time, the queen of daytime talk has endorsed a presidential candidate, bestowing her blessing on Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat. And next weekend, she takes to the hustings, appearing with him and his wife, Michelle, at campaign events in Des Moines; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Manchester, N.H.; and Columbia, S.C.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/OPINION03/712020305/1007/OPINION
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Clarence Page
'Daytime diva' could rescue 'rock star'
CHICAGO -- Does Oprah Winfrey's endorsement help Sen. Barack Obama? She doesn't hurt.
The question seems to be on everyone's lips. Obama's campaign announced Monday that the Chicago-based Winfrey will join the presidential hopeful from her hometown next month in the important lead-off states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
I doubt that Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, was thrilled to hear that news. The conventional wisdom holds that celebrity endorsements don't mean much, if anything. But, hey, this is ... Oprah!
We're talking about the queen of all media taking on the diva of Democratic politics.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071201/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_presidential_candidates_8
Dems fault own party in pitch to leaders
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
Sat Dec 1, 6:42 AM ET
VIENNA, Va. - Democratic presidential candidates faulted their own party as well as assailing Republicans as they pitched their candidacies to the staunchest of Democrats on Friday.
Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich addressed officials who make up the Democratic National Committee, their last opportunity to speak to such a gathering before the first presidential voting begins in January. Hillary Rodham Clinton was scheduled to speak, too, but canceled after a man took hostages at her office in Rochester, N.H.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 3:18 AM EST
Bush presses Congress on spending bill
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush has a full slate of assignments for Congress when it returns from its Thanksgiving recess next week - everything from approving government spending bills to passing intelligence legislation to reforming the tax code.
"Members are coming back to a lot of unfinished business," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "The clock will be ticking, because they have only a few weeks to get their work done before leaving again for Christmas."
Bush has been pushing Congress to approve war funding and finish its debate over rules for government eavesdropping within the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TAX_HIT?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 5:10 AM EST
Millions of tax refunds could be delayed
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Silena Davis had counted on an early tax refund to pay for getting her teeth fixed. Now, because Congress has dawdled all year on a tax bill, she and millions of other early filers could have to wait extra weeks for refunds that last year averaged $2,291.
The Internal Revenue Service is looking hard at delaying the start of its filing season, set to kick off on Jan. 14, if Congress fails to pass legislation in the next two weeks. At issue is how to handle what could be a dramatic increase in the number of people facing a higher alternative minimum tax.
If there is a delay and it extends into mid-February, it would slow nearly 38 million refunds worth a total of about $87 billion, the IRS Oversight Board predicts.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_WEST?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 3:47 AM EST
Democratic governor touts Western values
By GEORGE MERRITT
Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) -- Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter touted Democrats' Western values on Saturday and said the party's presidential candidates are offering specific plans to take the country in a new direction.
"Like the people of Colorado, Americans are inventive and self-reliant, and they're looking for leaders who know how to solve problems and get results and make a positive difference," he said in the weekly Democratic radio address.
Ritter, a former Denver district attorney, was elected in 2006, becoming the fifth Democratic governor in the eight Mountain West states. In 2000, Republicans held the governorship of all eight states.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/OPINION03/712020312/1007/OPINION
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Thomas Sowell
Too many students attend college
Stanford, Yale, and Princeton are considering whether to increase the number of students they admit.
Meanwhile, Professor Richard Vedder of Ohio University and director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, says there are already too many people going to college.
My experience in academia leads me to agree with Vedder.
Wanting to be in college is not the same as wanting an education. Among the other reasons for wanting to be in college is that it is a social scene with large concentrations of people of the same age and the opposite sex.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071202/OPINION03/712020302/1007/OPINION
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Michelle Malkin
Fuzzy math becomes nationwide epidemic
Do you know what math curriculum your child is being taught? Are you worried that your third-grader hasn't learned simple multiplication yet? Have you been befuddled by educational jargon such as "spiraling," which is used to explain why your kid keeps bringing home the same insipid busywork of cutting, gluing and drawing? And are you alarmed by teachers who emphasize "self-confidence" over proficiency while their students fall further and further behind? Join the club.
Across the country, from New York City to Seattle, parents are wising up to math fads like "Everyday Math." Sounds harmless enough, right? It's cleverly marketed as a "University of Chicago" program. Impressive! Right? But then you start to sense something's not adding up when your kid starts second grade and comes home with the same kindergarten-level addition and subtraction problems -- for the second year in a row.
November 30, 2007
Republicans Report Much Better Mental Health Than Others
Relationship persists even when controlling for other variables
by Frank Newport
PRINCETON, NJ -- Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats or independents to rate their mental health as excellent, according to data from the last four November Gallup Health and Healthcare polls. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans report having excellent mental health, compared to 43% of independents and 38% of Democrats. This relationship between party identification and reports of excellent mental health persists even within categories of income, age, gender, church attendance, and education.
The basic data -- based on an aggregated sample of more than 4,000 interviews conducted since 2004 -- are straightforward.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_ABRAMOFF?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 3:44 AM EST
Secrecy invoked on Abramoff lawsuits
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is laying out a new secrecy defense in an effort to end a court battle about the White House visits of now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The administration agreed last year to produce all responsive records about the visits "without redactions or claims of exemption," according to a court order.
But in a court filing Friday night, administration lawyers said that the Secret Service has identified a category of highly sensitive documents that might contain information sought in a lawsuit about Abramoff's trips to the White House.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_MARIANAS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 3:45 AM EST
Congress pushes controls over Marianas
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress is trying again to exert more control over the Northern Marianas, this time minus the interference of jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who for years dissuaded lawmakers from tinkering with the troubled Pacific islands.
Legislation that could clear the House in December would apply federal immigration and labor rules to the U.S. Commonwealth of The Northern Mariana Islands, which in the past three decades of local control has been tainted with charges of sweatshop and human trafficking abuses.
The bill is opposed by commonwealth Gov. Benigno Fitial, who says it ignores recent improvements in labor standards and could cripple attempts to revive the islands' depressed economy.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SCOTUS_GUANTANAMO?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 3:44 AM EST
Detainees get third round at high court
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly six years ago, Bosnian authorities ordered the release of six men picked up on suspicion of plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo. An investigation found no evidence against the six Algerian natives.
Instead of freedom, however, they got a trip to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They were branded enemy combatants by the Bush administration and have been held since. They have not been charged with a crime.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will consider whether the Algerians and about 300 other prisoners at Guantanamo can go to U.S. courts to challenge their confinement. Just three detainees are facing charges at the moment, although Pentagon officials have talked about eventually holding military trials for 60 to 80 prisoners.
December 2, 2007
Iranian Pushes Nuclear Talks Back to Square 1
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
PARIS, Dec. 1 — In a sign that Iran has hardened its position on its nuclear program, its new nuclear negotiator said in talks in London on Friday that all proposals made in past negotiations were irrelevant and that further discussion of a curb on Iran’s uranium enrichment was unnecessary, senior officials briefed on the meeting said.
The Iranian official, Saeed Jalili, also told Javier Solana, who represented the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in the five-hour talks, that United Nations Security Council resolutions punishing Iran for not suspending its enriched uranium activities were illegal, the officials said.
Representatives of the six countries met in Paris on Saturday afternoon to discuss further punitive Security Council measures against Iran after the final talks in London failed to produce a breakthrough.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NKOREA_NUCLEAR?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Dec 2, 3:45 AM EST
Obstacles loom in NKorea nuclear talks
By FOSTER KLUG
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Even as the Bush administration marks unprecedented progress in North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, two looming impediments could undermine years of delicate negotiations.
One is a suspicion, especially among U.S. conservatives, that North Korea has helped Syria pursue a nuclear weapons program. Such cooperation would raise the specter of a country that boasts nuclear weapons providing atomic assistance to a nation Washington considers hostile and a sponsor of terrorism.
The other issue is the U.S. claim the North pursued a secret uranium enrichment program, as well as its known plutonium production. A 1994 nuclear deal collapsed after the United States confronted the North with the uranium claim in 2002; years of acrimony and stalemate followed, culminating in a North Korean nuclear test last year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html
The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez
By Donald Rumsfeld
Sunday, December 2, 2007; Page B03
Today the people of Venezuela face a constitutional referendum, which, if passed, could obliterate the few remaining vestiges of Venezuelan democracy. The world is saying little and doing less as President Hugo Chávez dismantles Venezuela's constitution, silences its independent media and confiscates private property. Chávez's ambitions do not stop at Venezuela's borders, either. He has repeatedly threatened its neighbors. In late November, Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, declared that Chávez's efforts to mediate hostage talks with Marxist terrorists from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were not welcome. Chávez responded by freezing trade with Colombia.
With diplomatic, economic and communications institutions designed for a different era, the free world has too few tools to help prevent Venezuela's once vibrant democracy from receding into dictatorship. But such a tragedy is not preordained. In fact, we face a moment when swift decisions by the United States and like-thinking nations could dramatically help, supporting friends and allies with the courage to oppose an aspiring dictator with regional ambitions.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071202/D8T99J900.html
Russian Vote Seen As Referendum on Putin
Dec 2, 6:38 AM (ET)
By JIM HEINTZ
MOSCOW (AP) - Russians voted Sunday in a parliamentary election where the only question was whether President Vladimir Putin's party would win a strong majority of seats or a crushing share.
The election follows months of increasingly acidic rhetoric aimed against the West and efforts, by law and by truncheon, to stifle opponents.
A huge win for Putin's United Russia party could pave the way for him to stay at the country's helm once his presidential term expires in the spring. The party casts the election as essentially a referendum on Putin's nearly eight years in office. Many of its campaign banners that festoon the capital read "Moscow is voting for Putin."
