Articles of Interest 12-1-07
341 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
The legislature and Governor have apparently reached a deal on the repeal of the sales tax on services. Reportedly, it is a 21.9 percent surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax capped at $6 million with a 2015 sunset. About $100 million will be drained from the MBT's rainy day fund, according to sources.
Senate Republicans negotiated a 42% decrease from what the House Democrats passed…and got a net cut of $100 million on job providers…we’ll see.
BUT…why couldn’t Republicans and Democrats sit down and agree on structural reforms to fix these long-term problems?
Why couldn’t Republicans and Democrats come together to find ways to live within our means and balance the budget without raising taxes?
Why couldn’t we work in a bipartisan fashion to address the job climate in Michigan, reform our state government to make it more competitive and bring jobs back to Michigan?
Why is it that the Democrats talk about compromise but the ONLY solution…the ONLY deals…the ONLY acceptable compromise is accepting the Democrats position of MORE taxes, MORE government, MORE spending and MORE rhetoric without addressing the structural problems we face?
The Democrats have NOT…and are NOT willing to do what it takes to turn Michigan around. I wish there was room to work together, but I fear until we have a Republican Governor and a Republican legislature willing to deal with the long term, structural issues challenging our state…we’re in trouble.
Getting rid of the Democrats sales tax on services was important…but all we did was shift it to another group of taxpayers rather than deal with the structural problems. Another short term fix.
The absence of leadership in Lansing seems to be astounding.
On the federal level, Congressional Democrats reached a deal on CAFÉ auto fuel standards that made some compromises on the implementation of these standards as Michigan lawmakers pushed for a more realistic approach. Hopefully a glimmer of good news.
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THE REST OF THE STORY:
No further commentary
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
Senate repeals service tax; House plans to vote later Saturday
12/1/2007, 7:42 a.m. EST
By TIM MARTIN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state Legislature early Saturday took a big step toward repealing and replacing an unpopular tax on services. The Senate voted 33-4 to approve a tentative agreement ditching the tax shortly before adjourning at about 5 a.m. The House was expected to convene at about 3:30 p.m. and vote soon afterward. The vote came too late to stop the 6 percent tax on services from taking effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, but if the House accepts the measure passed by the Senate, businesses won't be required to collect it. They'll be granted legal protection if they fail to collect the service tax until the effective date of the new law that replaces it.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/POLITICS/712010384/1022/POLITICS
Lawmakers set to repeal service tax
Legislature will vote today to roll back unpopular sales levy, replace it with 21.9% business surcharge.
Mark Hornbeck and Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Saturday, December 1, 2007
LANSING -- Legislators and Gov. Jennifer Granholm struck a deal late Friday to repeal and replace the universally slammed service tax. The Senate was expected to approve the agreement early today and the House at 3:30 p.m. today. The accord includes legal protections for firms that don't collect that tax during the few hours that it is in place. It took effect at midnight. "This agreement protects health care, public safety and education while replacing revenue from the service tax," said Granholm. "I applaud the members of the business community and the legislators who worked with us to craft this fair and responsible compromise."
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/NEWS05/712010367
Tax deal reached
State lawmakers to vote today on tentative pact to repeal services tax
December 1, 2007
BY DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The short, unhappy life of the new Michigan service tax neared its end early Saturday as the state Senate voted overwhelmingly for repeal only hours after it went into effect and adopted a replacement business tax. The state House and Gov. Jennifer Granholm are expected to concur in the tax shift before the weekend is out. The deal negotiated between lawmakers and Granholm leading up to the all night legislative session also calls for amnesty and rebates for taxpayers who end up paying the service tax before it can be officially removed from state law.
Time running out to repeal, replace tax on services
11/30/2007, 12:05 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Time is running out to repeal and replace a tax on services before it takes effect Saturday. State senators are in Lansing waiting to see if a deal can be struck. State representatives didn't plan a session day Friday but are prepared to return to the Capitol if an agreement is reached. Lawmakers and tax officials from Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration are talking, but it's still unclear if they'll settle differences over how to replace the 6 percent sales tax on services with another source of revenue.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2289&dept_id=472539&newsid=19072528
Our View: Dysfunctional lawmakers wasting state resources
Midland Daily News
11/30/2007
Here we are, the day before a new state tax on services is to take effect, and businesses throughout Michigan still have no idea whether they will be charging customers 6 percent more. This is just the latest example of a state Legislature that is dysfunctional. Lawmakers allowed a partial shutdown of government services on Oct. 1 before finally passing a temporary state budget that included this controversial tax on services. Almost immediately, those same lawmakers indicated this tax, which goes into effect Dec. 1, needed to be repealed and replaced with a surcharge on the state's business tax. But here we are, the day before the tax on services goes into effect, and businesses still don't know if they will be adding 6 percent to customer bills or not.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/COL07/711300401
Bracing for the service tax
Businesses scramble to prepare for controversial levy that most figured would be repealed by now
November 30, 2007
BY SUSAN TOMPOR
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
So will it stick or won't it? The new 6% service tax is like one of those bad snowstorms that everybody hoped would skip town. Even the forecasters warned that this thing couldn't last long. This oddly crafted tax on services -- 6% on nails but not hair; 6% on ski lift tickets but not golf -- is so dopey that most expected it ultimately had to be repealed. Nobody thought the tax, crafted Oct. 1, would really go into effect Dec. 1 -- which, in case anyone bothered to look, would be 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Common sense, right? OK, I guess we answered that one, didn't we? Easier to find a bargain on gas than common sense these days.
http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/index.ssf?/base/business-5/119643393127990.xml&coll=6
Businesses brace for new service tax
Friday, November 30, 2007
By Julia BauerThe Grand Rapids Press
GRAND RAPIDS -- Before Henk Witte will fork over $500,000 in service taxes to Michigan, he said he's ready to move the newly taxable tour operations beyond its borders next year. Although state legislators still could repeal the controversial tax on selected services today, business owners are bracing for failure. If the tax stands, it starts Saturday, when 6 percent gets tacked onto everything from pedicures to bicycle messengers to bronzed baby shoes.
http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19072747&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6
Services tax drives some firms crazy
By Cheryl Wade
11/30/2007
With so many questions about Michigan's 6 percent service tax, Lee Rouse has to live by the adage, "the devil's in the details and the details are not there." Rouse is president and chief executive officer of Omni Tech International, a Midland-based technical and business consulting group. Rouse is well aware that, as a consulting company, the services Omni Tech provides will be taxed, beginning Saturday, unless the state Legislature should intervene. "It's been a big discussion point in our business," she said. But she has many questions and, as yet, no answers. For example, if her company works for a non-profit organization, should that company be taxed?
http://blog.mlive.com/citpat_opinion/2007/11/state_goes_through_taxing_orde.html
State goes through taxing ordeal again
Posted by Jackson Citizen Patriot
November 30, 2007 08:45AM
Two months ago today, Michigan's lawmakers went down to the wire -- about four hours past it, actually -- to put together a state budget. You'd think that ordeal would have taught them to work ahead of time and to put politics aside for the sake of doing their jobs. Today, it's clear they learned very little of that.The Legislature was deadlocked Thursday on a substitute for the botched service tax that it approved in the wee hours Oct. 1. Lawmakers are wrangling over the details of a business-tax surcharge that would replace the new service tax, which is supposed to take effect Saturday.
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/502347.html?nav=5006
Service tax shuffle doesn’t affect ski hill — yet
By SAM EGGLESTON,
November 30, 2007
MARQUETTE — While some ski resorts across the state are scrambling to get ready for a possible 6 percent tax on a slew of services that could raise prices for everyone starting Saturday, the Marquette Mountain general manager is just waiting and watching. With so many fluctuations in what the state government intends to do with the tax, general manager Vern Barber said the ski hill will make changes only when absolutely necessary. “We’re waiting to see what comes from the typical last-minute shuffling,” Barber said. “Until we get the final word, we’re going to keep going as normal and then, obviously, start implementing it.”
http://www.rightmichigan.com/story/2007/11/30/132950/55
My Thoughts on the Current Tax Crisis
By Jack Brandenburg,
Posted on Fri Nov 30, 2007
Greetings to everyone here at Right Michigan. In light of the House Democrats' decision earlier this week to adjourn without addressing an onerous, job-killing tax hike scheduled to go into effect tomorrow at 12:01 AM I think it's important to look back at where we've been and examine once again where it is we should be going. Our state constitution mandates that on October 1st of every year, Michigan's budget has to be balanced. This year there was a 1.8 billion dollar deficit in the budget for fiscal years 07/08. The Governor stated numerous times in a very public way that she wanted to cover this deficit with a 1.5 billion dollar tax increase. For the record, I did not and will not ever support an idea as weak as this.
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1196436044124500.xml&coll=5
Primary spoiled
Political agendas kill opportunity for state
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, November 30, 2007
Lawmakers could have cooked up a dandy presidential contest for state voters Jan. 15, but instead settled for hash. Just take a gander at the half-baked primary our legislators have set before us: Only half of the eight Democratic presidential candidates will be on the ballot. With the incomplete ticket on the Democratic side, many Republicans will discount the primary's outcome, as they will claim rightfully that Democratic and independent voters skewed the GOP tally. Taxpayers will pay $10 million for this turkey, the same cost of an intact primary that would have given voters a full field.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-2/119643455363140.xml&coll=6
Botched primary
Grand Rapids Press
Friday, November 30, 2007
What a mess. After months of fits and starts, haggling and horse-trading, Michigan's presidential primary is. . .a bust. Oh, Republicans and Democrats will hold the primary on Jan. 15. And all of the Republican candidates will be listed on the ballot. But among the major Democratic candidates, only New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's name remains. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, former Sen. John Edwards and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have all removed their names from Michigan's ballot in deference to national party rules. The lack of a serious Democratic contest sets up the real possibility of voters from that side crossing over to the GOP.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/POLITICS/712010355/1022/POLITICS
Party ire may cost Michigan Dems
But few expect likely barring of delegates from '08 convention to stand.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Michigan Democrats are almost certain to receive the harsh punishment of their national party today over the state's Jan. 15 presidential primary -- a punishment few expect to stick. The Democratic National Committee's rules panel is poised to bar the state's delegation from next year's national convention in Denver. The committee handed down a similar punishment in August to Florida, which like Michigan is holding a January contest in violation of the party's scheduling rules. But the widely held expectation, inside Michigan and elsewhere, is that the party's eventual nominee will decide to seat delegates rather than have a divisive and nationally televised debate with two key general-election states.
Michigan Democrats could be stripped of delegates on Saturday
11/30/2007, 3:25 p.m. EST
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Democrats are almost sure to be stripped of their delegates to next summer's Democratic National Convention when they present their plan for the Jan. 15 primary to a national committee on Saturday. Democratic National Committee member Debbie Dingell and U.S. Sen. Carl Levin have asked the DNC to waive its policy of penalizing states that move up their presidential contests, but "we anticipate that they won't give us a waiver," Dingell said Friday. Florida, which will hold its primary Jan. 29, already has seen its 210 Democratic delegates and superdelegates stripped by the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/METRO/712010366/1409/METRO
Fired druggist sues over 'morning-after' pill
He says his religious beliefs prevent him from dispensing drug; Target cites duties to customers.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
Saturday, December 1, 2007
A pharmacist who opposes abortion filed a federal lawsuit Friday against Target Corp., alleging the store fired him for refusing to dispense the "morning-after pill." Brian Bundy of Swartz Creek alleges in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit that "as a result of his sincerely held religious belief that life begins at conception, (he) cannot dispense a drug that would terminate that life if used." The drug, marketed as the emergency contraceptive Plan B by Barr Pharmaceuticals, can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours following unprotected sex.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/BUSINESS01/712010384
Leaders agree on 35 m.p.g.
Congressional deal to provide aid for Detroit carmakers
December 1, 2007
BY JUSTIN HYDE
WASHINGTON -- Thirty-two years of deadlock broke Friday when House and Senate leaders agreed to raise the fuel economy of U.S. cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020, with the assent of Detroit's automakers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., reached an agreement over the final few issues late Friday, with Pelosi calling the deal the cornerstone of the energy bill Democrats plan to bring up for a vote next week.
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
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.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/NEWS05/712010360
SLIPPING SCHOOLS
Poor merit-exam results are main reason 4 in 10 high schools in state fail to meet federal goals
December 1, 2007
BY LORI HIGGINS and PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITERS
More than four out of every 10 public high schools in Michigan -- including some of the highest-performing schools in the state -- fail to meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind law, mostly because of students' disappointing performance on a new high school exam. Schools faltered in nearly every area, some failing to meet adequate yearly progress because most of their populations failed the test, some because they didn't have enough students tested, and in many cases, because scores of special-education students were too low.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/OPINION01/712010306/1008
School officials need better judgment
The Detroit News
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Is it too much to ask for some judgment from school administrators? The expulsion or suspension of students from Belleville High School for posing with fake guns and drugs on a Web site while apparently playing at hip-hop seems like overkill. The students were reinstated by a circuit judge on the technicality that their expulsion hearings weren't recorded. But the real issue is the seeming inability of school administrators in this and other instances to make distinctions between play acting in Web photos and real threats, such as guns brought to campus or Internet screeds vowing destruction or mayhem at a school.
http://www.dailytribune.com/cgi-bin/printme.pl
Donigan: 'I'm fighting back'
State lawmaker says recall petition lacks information.
By Catherine Kavanaugh
Daily Tribune Staff Writer
November 29, 2007
State Rep. Marie Donigan has filed an appeal over the wording of a petition aimed at removing her from office for voting in favor of two tax increases. Donigan, a Democrat who represents Royal Oak and Madison Heights, is asking the Oakland County Circuit Court to overturn a decision of the Oakland County Elections Commission, which approved a recall petition against her.The petition says Donigan should be recalled because she "voted yes on 2007 House Bill 5194 to increase the income tax to 4.35 percent, and voted yes on 2007 House Bill 5198 to impose new 6 percent taxes on certain services."
http://hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071129/NEWS19/711290693/1036
McCotter's War: The threat of Communist China
James Mitchell
November 29, 2007
Heading into another even-numbered year, at least one congressman facing re-election wants to discuss the war threatening America's future. Not the potential quagmire in the Middle East, but what U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter called the "asymetrical war" being waged against the United States of America by the People's Republic of China. "The corporate elite do not wish to understand this," McCotter said of the growing threat. McCotter called the tactics of China, "Everything short of outright physical engagement. It is a cold war, but only one side seems aware they're engaging in it, and that's the Communist Chinese."
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-47/1196506238117890.xml&coll=5
State claims city owes $7 million on tax error
FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Saturday, December 01, 2007
By Marjory Raymer
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.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/us/politics/30security.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
Giuliani Defends Spending on His Mayoral Security
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and RUSS BUETTNER
Published: November 30, 2007
Rudolph W. Giuliani last night called a Web site’s account of his spending a “political hit job” as his campaign struggled to explain why hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel expenses for his mayoral security detail were billed to obscure city offices instead of the Police Department. Earlier yesterday, a senior aide to Mr. Giuliani defended the handling of the expenses, which were incurred from 1999 to 2001, calling them completely proper. The aide contended that the billing followed longstanding procedures in which legitimate travel expenses for the police detectives were spread among the budgets of various mayoral offices.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/OPINION01/712010304/1007/OPINION
Huckabee's rise shifts focus to stances, record
Nancy Kruh
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Now that Iowa polls show Mike Huckabee within the margin of error to front-runner Mitt Romney , the former Arkansas governor's little-engine-that-could candidacy is attracting the attention due a top-tier candidate -- and that includes the criticism, of course. "Huckabee is campaigning as a conservative," writes Robert Novak , "but serious Republicans know that he is a high-tax, protectionist advocate of big government. ... the beleaguered Republican Party has a frightening problem."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/72858
The Huckabee Factor
Assessing the preacher's post-debate bounce.
Howard Fineman
Nov 29, 2007
How far can Mike Huckabee take this thing? That's the question after the debate here. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain insiders tell me they'd be glad if the former Arkansas governor won the Iowa caucuses, because that would humiliate Mitt Romney, who has invested so much time and money there. Well, after the debate and a chat with Huckabee, here's my advice to the mayor and the senator: be careful what you wish for. In a breakout performance, Huckabee matched his surge in the Iowa polls, and elsewhere, with a confident, easygoing performance at the CNNYouTube debate.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NATION/111300094/1002
Immigration group: Huckabee a 'disaster'
By Stephen Dinan
November 30, 2007
Groups that support a crackdown on illegal aliens haven't settled on their champion in the race for the White House, but there's little doubt which Republican scares them most — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. "He was an absolute disaster on immigration as governor," said Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that played a major role in rallying the phone calls that helped defeat this year's Senate immigration bill. "Every time there was any enforcement in his state, he took the side of the illegal aliens."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/7105.html
Ron Paul on track to be biggest fundraiser
By: Jeanne Cummings
Nov 30, 2007 06:02 AM EST
Ron Paul may not win his party’s primary, but he is on track to capture another big title: Top Republican fundraiser for the final quarter of the money-obsessed 2008 presidential primary. In the first two months of the quarter that began Oct. 1, Paul already has raised more than $9.75 million, putting him easily within range to best the amount rival Mitt Romney received from donors during the entire third quarter. The Texas congressman has set a goal of raising $12 million before the fourth quarter’s Dec. 31st deadline, a sum New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani couldn’t achieve in the third quarter when fundraising events still dominated his schedule.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22043358/
Details emerge after standoff at Clinton office
Man arrested after he releases all hostages, walks out of building in N.H.
December 1, 2007
ROCHESTER, N.H. - Leeland Eisenberg was already in trouble before he walked into one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign offices. Three days earlier, his wife had filed for divorce; he was due to appear in court with her for a domestic violence hearing in about half an hour. Then, the nicely dressed, gray-haired man peeled open his jacket to reveal what looked like dynamite strapped to his chest, authorities said, and things got much worse.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010924
Death, Taxes and Mrs. Clinton
Only two of them are inevitable.
Peggy Noonan
Friday, November 30, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
I will never forget that breathtaking moment when, in the CNN/YouTube debate earlier this fall, the woman from Ohio held up a picture and said, "Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Edwards, this is a human fetus. Given a few more months, it will be a baby you could hold in your arms. You all say you're 'for the children.' I would ask you to look America in the eye and tell us how you can support laws to end this life. Thank you."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/29/AR2007112902165_pf.html
The Candidate's 'Catch Me if You Can'
Reporters Following Hillary Clinton on the Campaign Trail Are Covered in Dust
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 30, 2007; C01
CONCORD, N.H. -- ABC correspondent Kate Snow was ready to push through the crowd and ask Hillary Clinton a question until an aide blocked the path of Snow's sound man as he aimed his boom mike in the senator's direction. "Sorry, we've gotta go," the woman said, though it was clear that Clinton would be shaking hands for some time. Moments later, as the Democratic presidential candidate was mobbed by well-wishers, Boston television reporter Joe Battenfeld managed to shout a question -- a meaningless question, truth be told -- about whether she needed to win both Iowa and New Hampshire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/opinion/30krugman.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
Mandates and Mudslinging
By PAUL KRUGMAN
November 30, 2007
From the beginning, advocates of universal health care were troubled by the incompleteness of Barack Obama’s plan, which unlike those of his Democratic rivals wouldn’t cover everyone. But they were willing to cut Mr. Obama slack on the issue, assuming that in the end he would do the right thing. Now, however, Mr. Obama is claiming that his plan’s weakness is actually a strength. What’s more, he’s doing the same thing in the health care debate he did when claiming that Social Security faces a “crisis” — attacking his rivals by echoing right-wing talking points.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NEWS09/711300415
The evolution of John Edwards
By THOMAS BEAUMONT
November 30, 2007
John Edwards tells voters that there are still two Americas. What Iowa caucusgoers must decide is if there are two John Edwardses. Four years ago, the fresh-faced then-North Carolina senator defended his support for the Iraq war, prescribed a gradual approach to health care reform and told Iowa caucusgoers not to expect him to criticize his fellow Democrats running for president. Today, he calls his Iraq vote a mistake, embraces universal health care and regularly attacks party front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/an_embarrassing_end_to_the_you.html
An Embarrassing End to the YouTube Experiment
By Blake D. Dvorak
November 30, 2007
And so ends in embarrassing failure the great YouTube Debate Experiment of Election 2008. Which is not to say that it wasn't entertaining, in the same way that David Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks" sketch is a riot. But as far as revolutionizing the way presidential debates are conducted, taking a question from a Dick Cheney cartoon doesn't exactly measure up to the advent of television. As a political medium, the YouTube technology is useful for pretty much two things anyway: 1.) Capturing candidates' more telling moments for endless replay to a universal audience; and 2.) giving candidates the ability to speak directly to voters, without the hassle of buying airtime.
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NATION/111300093/1001
CNN hit for planted questions
By Christina Bellantoni
November 30, 2007
CNN intended for political sparks to fly during Wednesday"s Republican presidential debate, but outrage and accusations of partisanship were directed at the network instead. The backlash started after it turned out that a homosexual retired soldier asking about "don"t ask, don"t tell" has an affiliation with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton"s campaign. The network was forced to apologize and scrubbed the exchange from its repeat of the two-hour debate, even though the Clinton campaign says retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr was not acting on behalf of the Democratic presidential front-runner.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/pandering_the_theme_of_gop_deb.html
Pandering the Theme of GOP Debate
By E. J. Dionne
November 30, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani did a fine job of achieving their objectives in Wednesday's Republican presidential debate: Each thoroughly discredited the other. They also disgraced themselves as they pandered relentlessly to the growing anti-immigrant feeling in their party. Mike Huckabee and John McCain were the only candidates willing to suggest what now seems unmentionable: Immigrants, even those here illegally, are human beings and shouldn't be used as political playthings. At least Tom Tancredo, the Colorado congressman whose railing against immigration has become his mission in life, was consistent with his past.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-1130edit1nov30,0,1859435.story
The principled Henry Hyde
Chicago Tribune
November 30, 2007
Henry Hyde is being remembered in the obituaries as the man who led the fight against abortion and for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. When you take strong, principled stands on such things, about half the country is going to love you and half is going to hate you. You would be hard-pressed, though, to find someone who knew Henry Hyde well and had anything but respect for him. Republicans did. Democrats did. They respected him even though he managed at one time or another to give them all fits. Democrats who supported abortion rights knew they had a formidable opponent in the eloquent, patient, erudite Hyde.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx
Republicans Report Much Better Mental Health Than Others
Relationship persists even when controlling for other variables
Frank Newport
November 30, 2007
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.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/7109.html
Democrats: Voters shifting focus from Iraq
By: Martin Kady II and Jim VandeHei
Nov 30, 2007 08:38 AM EST
Congressional Democrats are reporting a striking change in districts across the country: Voters are shifting their attention away from the Iraq war. Rep. Jim Cooper, a moderate Democrat from Tennessee, said not a single constituent has asked about the war during his nearly two-week long Thanksgiving recess. Rep. Michael E. Capuano, an anti-war Democrat from Massachusetts, said only three of 64 callers on a town hall teleconference asked about Iraq, a reflection that the war may be losing power as a hot-button issue in his strongly Democratic district.
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=MmM1Y2I0ZWRhYzkyMTZjYzAzNzlkNDFlYjcwZmE4NmI=
The Looking-Glass War in Iraq
For the war, then against it, and now for it?
By Victor Davis Hanson
November 30, 2007, 6:00 a.m.
We can learn a lot about ourselves from the looking glass of Iraq. American losses in November were 36 dead — the lowest of any November of the war. Once violent places like Fallujah and Ramadi are now quiet. Whatever is happening in Iraq — reasonable people can differ over the prognosis — all agree that the violence is abating at an astonishing rate. Oil revenues are at all-time high with $98-a-barrel oil. The Sunni insurgency is not just tired, but tired of losing to the American military and being exploited by al-Qaeda in the bargain. Since bad news alone is news from Iraq, there is now very little about the war on our front pages or the evening network lead-ins.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/01/spitzer200801
The Year of Governing Dangerously
Many thought Eliot Spitzer was the guy who could clean up Albany—until he went to war with almost every politician, of either party, in New York State. Interviewing the governor, the author tries to make sense of Spitzer’s troubling, tantrum-filled year.
by David Margolick January 2008
It was Inauguration Day—Day One, the day everything was supposed to change. The strains of “Fanfare for the Common Man” dissolved into the chilly Albany air, and Governor Eliot Spitzer, Princeton ’81, Harvard Law School ’84, rose to speak. “Like Rip van Winkle … New York has slept through much of the past decade while the rest of the world has passed us by,” he declared as his predecessor, George Pataki, squirmed nearby. But now “the light of a new day shines down on the Empire State.”
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/stem_cell_vindication_for_bush.html
Stem Cell Vindication For Bush
By Charles Krauthammer
November 30, 2007
"If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough."
-- James A. Thomson
WASHINGTON -- A decade ago, Thomson was the first to isolate human embryonic stem cells. Last week, he (and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka) announced one of the great scientific breakthroughs since the discovery of DNA: an embryo-free way to produce genetically matched stem cells. Even a scientist who cares not a whit about the morality of embryo destruction will adopt this technique because it is so simple and powerful.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1688769,00.html
Why Science Can't Save the GOP
Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
By MICHAEL KINSLEY
No one is happier than I am about the latest development in stem-cell research. Scientists in Japan and Wisconsin have independently figured out how to turn ordinary human skin cells into something like pluripotent stem cells. These are the cells that have caused so much excitement in recent years because they are like a biological gift certificate that can be turned into other kinds of cells as needed. These cells have also produced much controversy because they are derived from human embryos. I have the disease — Parkinson's — for which stem cells hold the most immediate promise. The hope is that they can be turned into the type of brain cells that produce dopamine, the missing ingredient in Parkinson's patients.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/123712.html
The Cold War's Return
Putin and Chavez promise voters a great leap backward
Michael C. Moynihan
November 30, 2007
On December 2 voters in Russia and Venezuela will go to the polls, choosing to either accelerate the Sovietization and Sandinistaization of their respective societies or—an eventuality that seems less likely—to curtail the centralization of power in the hands of increasingly villainous chief executives. In Russia, parliamentary elections will doubtless further demonstrate the plenary power of Vladimir Putin, who is constitutionally forbidden from seeking a third term in office though is being advised, Kremlin sources recently told Reuters, to exploit a legal loophole that would allow him to run for another four-year term.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,2219492,00.html
Fraud, intimidation and bribery as Putin prepares for victory
State workers forced to vote in effort to rig result for president
Luke Harding and Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Friday November 30, 2007
The Kremlin is planning to rig the results of Russia's parliamentary elections on Sunday by forcing millions of public sector workers across the country to vote, the Guardian has learned. Local administration officials have called in thousands of staff on their day off in an attempt to engineer a massive and inflated victory for President Vladimir Putin and his United Russia party. Voters are being pressured to vote for United Russia or risk losing their jobs, their accommodation or bonuses, the Guardian has been told in numerous interviews with byudzhetniki (public sector workers), students and ordinary citizens.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T86D280&show_article=1
Pope Criticizes Atheism in Encyclical
Nov 30 03:35 PM US/Eastern
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized atheism in a major document released Friday, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known. In his second encyclical, Benedict also critically questioned modern Christianity, saying its focus on individual salvation had ignored Jesus' message that true Christian hope involves salvation for all. The document, titled "Saved by Hope," is a deeply theological exploration of Christian hope: that in the suffering and misery of daily life, Christianity provides the faithful with a "journey of hope" to the Kingdom of God.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11302007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/winning_baghdad_37556.htm
WINNING BAGHDAD
A CAVALRY COMMANDER'S REPORT
Ralph Peters
November 30, 2007
THE The U.S. Army's 1st Squadron of the 4th Cavalry has had a remarkably successful year in Baghdad, turning around its slice of the long troubled Dura neighborhood. In an e-interview earlier this week, the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Jim Crider, explained how his troops did it.
Question: Congratulations on the superb work "Quarter Cav" has done for us all - Iraqis and Americans. When you arrived in Iraq this time around, did you think you'd be able to make such progress?
Lt. Col. Crider: Our initial experiences upon arrival in March '07 were very discouraging. The enemy controlled the ground - the people - in southwest Baghdad. I saw more combat in the first six weeks than in the entire year of Operation Iraqi Freedom I. We realized that we'd never kill or capture every enemy, so our goal was to change the conditions on the ground that allowed the insurgency to flourish. Three key factors contributed to our success:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T83I300&show_article=1
Calls in Sudan for Execution of Briton
Nov 30 12:21 PM US/Eastern
By MOHAMED OSMAN
Associated Press Writer
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad." In response to the demonstration, teacher Gillian Gibbons was moved from the women's prison near Khartoum to a secret location for her safety, her lawyer said. The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.
China wary on international climate goals
Fri Nov 30, 2007 2:15pm EST
By Chris Buckley and Gerard Wynn
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing is reluctant to set itself international targets to fight climate change without financial assistance from industrialized countries, a senior climate change official, Gao Guangsheng, said on Thursday. Gao was speaking days ahead of talks in Bali, Indonesia, expected to launch two years of formal negotiations to extend or replace the Kyoto Protocol on global warming after 2012. He was scathing about industrialized countries' limited efforts to help developing nations cut greenhouse gas emissions, despite commitments under the U.N.'s convention on climate change to share clean energy technologies.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071130100904.qha0wf8m&show_article=1
China to stop arresting women for carrying condoms: state press
AFP
November 30, 2007
Chinese police are to stop arresting women who carry condoms, traditionally seen as evidence of prostitution, in an effort to help curb the spread of AIDS, state press said Friday. Despite efforts to stop the practice, women in China are still being sent to labour camps for prostitution offences merely because they were carrying condoms when detained by police, the report said, quoting an expert. "We have investigated many education-through-labour camps and we have found that for those sentenced for prostitution, the sole evidence was that they possessed condoms," Xinhua quoted the unnamed expert as telling an AIDS conference here.
Sarkozy plans new blow to French 35-hour work week
By Swaha Pattanaik
Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:02pm EST
PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to revamp France's 35-hour working week without picking a fight with trade unions by making it easier and more attractive for employees to work longer. Introduced in 1998 when the opposition Socialists were in power, the 35-hour work week has been blamed by the ruling centre-right UMP and business for inflation, competitiveness problems, sluggish growth, and a host of other ills. Past UMP governments have already done their bit to undermine the law by allowing some exemptions, and Sarkozy introduced tax breaks for firms and employees for overtime work -- even before Thursday's announcements.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T7H9BO0&show_article=1
Venezuelans Protest Chavez's Referendum
Nov 29 03:33 PM US/Eastern
By FABIOLA SANCHEZ
Associated Press Writer
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of the capital Thursday to oppose a referendum that would eliminate term limits for President Hugo Chavez and help him establish a socialist state in Venezuela. Blowing whistles, waving placards and shouting "Not like this!" the marchers carried Venezuelan flags and dressed in blue—the chosen color of the opposition—as they streamed along Bolivar Avenue. "This is a movement by those of us who oppose a change to this country's way of life, because what (the referendum) aims to do is impose totalitarianism," said former lawmaker Elias Matta.
