268 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Gary Peters - If we can’t trust him now, why should he be trusted in Congress? See below.
NATIONAL CONVENTION DELEGATE UPDATE: Individuals seeking election from one of the Congressional districts won by Governor Romney (2-5, 7-15), or individuals seeking election as an at-large delegate or alternate for a position previously allocated to Governor Romney should file a presidential preference form indicating they are a committed Romney delegate OR uncommitted. By virtue of Governor Romney suspending his campaign and in accordance with Rule 19E, those individuals will automatically become uncommitted and will be free to vote for any candidate on all ballots at the National Convention.
The State Convention is this Friday and Saturday at the Lansing Center. National Convention delegates and alternates will be elected at the Friday night caucuses. Anyone interested in running for a slot must fill out and return a presidential preference form by 6pm on Friday night. The schedule and forms are available at:
The Oakland County Republican Forum is pleased to host a free event commemorating Black History Month entitled “Black History – Setting the Record Straight”. This event will be held Monday, February 25, 2008 at the Troy Community Center – Room #301. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the forum begins at 7:00 p.m..
Here is Newt Gingrich’s speech to CPAC…very powerful, very direct:
http://townhall.com/blog/g/43e8475b-2cd1-4d0a-8d80-96947e54d02d
Also, check out the new Platform for America:
The 36th Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will be held on February 26 - 28, 2009, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC.
Michigan and Florida Democrats are considering holding a second Democrat Caucus to “re-pick” their delegates…nice…thanks for letting the people have a choice!
The Democrat nominee maybe decided by their backroom political bosses – “political delegates” called “Super Delegates”. Washington insiders, Congressmen, union leaders and party bosses.
The Democrat party’s “political delegates”. The party of the people??? Ha…this is almost too good to be true.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
Gary Peters….In a press conference yesterday at the Oakland County Commissioners Complex we held a press conference and issued the following release:
Last seen: Earning $289 an hour, from taxpayers to teach one class a week
PONTIAC, Michigan – Residents in Oakland County are currently faced with a liability - Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township a candidate for Michigan’s 9th Congressional District. At the same time students and faculty from Central Michigan University will be relying on Peters as a professor.
“Residents need a congressional candidate and students need a full-time professor, playing one to gamble for another is wrong and cheats both parties involved,” said Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saulius “Saul” Anuzis. “At a time when Michigan continues to suffer in a single-state recession we need public servants at the national level who will be dedicated solely to turning our state around.”
Today, Oakland County citizens were faced with the simple question: “Where is Gary Peters?” More specifically, Peters, a politician, who has made a career out of gaming public employment to feather his own nest, mislead CMU officials into believing his position – which pays more than $65,000 annually – would be his number one priority.
Peters himself claimed last summer in a interview with Capitol correspondent Tim Skubick that – “I certainly think that from an ethical stand point, you should not be a public official, you should step down, once you file with the FEC that you are a candidate for Congress you should not be an employee of the State of Michigan, I feel pretty strongly about that from an ethical stand point.”
(Source: Off the Record, 7/13/07 http://www.wkar.org/offtherecord/page.php?fill=program&num=3702)
“Residents of Oakland County need to confront this questionable conduct. Peters is not focused on Oakland County or CMU students, he is focused only on keeping his own pockets padded while pursuing his own political ambitions ” said Anuzis.
Peters, with his dueling obligations, is unreliable now - students and taxpayers should not be duped into believing anything will change in the future.
Anuzis further stated that, “If Peters cannot pick between Oakland County and Central now, what guarantees he will be able to pick between Oakland county and Washington?”
- In a memo dated February 7, 2008, individuals seeking election as a delegate or alternate to the 2008 Republican National Convention in a position previously allocated to Governor Romney were given incorrect information regarding filing their presidential preference forms.
Individuals seeking election from one of the Congressional districts won by Governor Romney (2-5, 7-15), or individuals seeking election as an at-large delegate or alternate for a position previously allocated to Governor Romney should file a presidential preference form indicating they are a committed Romney delegate OR uncommitted. By virtue of Governor Romney suspending his campaign and in accordance with Rule 19E, those individuals will automatically become uncommitted and will be free to vote for any candidate on all ballots at the National Convention.
Filing an uncommitted presidential preference form will NOT bind you on the first ballot at the National Convention. A corrected form is on the web site available for download.
Again, individuals seeking election as delegates or alternates to the National Convention must file the presidential preference form by 6:00 PM, EST on Friday, February 15, 2008 if they seek election as Congressional district delegates or alternates; or by 11:00 PM EST on Friday, February 15, 2008 if they seek election as at-large delegates or alternates.
I apologize for the confusion and appreciate your cooperation and attention to this matter.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/OPINION01/802120313/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Editorial
No do-over for Democratic primary
Party should stick to choices made by Jan. 15 primary voters
The Detroit News
As un-democratic as it sounds, some Democratic leaders are suggesting nullifying the results of the presidential primary and picking the state's convention delegates in a second tally, a statewide caucus.
A do-over won't do. It disenfranchises the 594,398 Michiganians who voted Democratic on Jan. 15. A caucus would also thumb a nose at taxpayers who paid for the $10 million election.
The Democrat half of the state primary is certainly a mess. The national party refuses to recognize the results. Of the top tier candidates, only Hillary Clinton's name was on the ballot.
http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/021208/loc_20080212213.shtml
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Group wants to ask voters for tax overhaul
By CHARLES CRUMM
Of The Oakland Press
Besides picking a new president in November, Michigan voters may also decide whether to overhaul the state's tax system. A petition drive is being launched today to gather enough signatures for a ballot proposal asking voters to scrap the state's personal income tax and new Michigan Business Tax and replace both with a higher sales tax.
The Fair Tax group has six months to gather 371,000 valid signatures for the question to appear on the November ballot.
Under the proposal, the Michigan Business Tax would be eliminated, as would the state's 4.35 percent income tax. They would be replaced with a 9.75 percent sales tax. The state's current sales tax is 6 percent.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/NEWS06/80211065/1008
Report: Michigan lags in creating high-wage jobs
February 11, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LANSING — A new study says Michigan and three of its largest cities — Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing — are lagging other states and cities in creating high-wage jobs that require a college degree.
That fact could doom the state to second-class status unless more is done to increase the proportion of college graduates in Michigan, particularly in the state’s major metropolitan areas, according to the study released Monday by Ann Arbor-based Michigan Future Inc.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/OPINION01/802120318/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Editorial
Fifth year might curb state's drop-out rate
The Detroit News
Searching for solutions for Michigan's high school dropout problem, some state leaders want to give high school students a fifth year to finish their diploma.
It's an idea that could work, if carefully controlled.
The state Board of Education will today consider asking the U.S. Department of Education for a waiver to allow students an extra year to graduate. The waiver is necessary to comply with No Child Left Behind Act rules.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/OPINION01/802120310/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Opinion
Let U-M compete in science
Archaic state legislation hampers university's stem cell research
Michael B. Staebler
Life sciences research capability has become one of the key measures of the excellence of the world's great universities. To underscore its importance and to create new synergistic ways for life sciences research to be conducted, the University of Michigan created the Life Sciences Institute and housed it in a remarkable new facility. LSI symbolizes the university's commitment to remaining one of the premier science universities in the 21st Century.
While "life sciences research" is a broad, multifaceted field, stem cell research has been in the center of the public's attention and has come to be regarded popularly as the leading edge. This perception is fueled by the promise that stem cell research can lead to curing some of mankind's greatest scourges.
http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/OPINION01/802120308/1085/opinion
Published February 12, 2008
[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Budget: Granholm crafts low-conflict plan with solid priorities
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's 2009 spending plan, now before the Legislature, is the best Michigan budget in years.
Unlike so many of its immediate predecessors, this budget has far fewer accounting tricks and far more stability when it comes to revenue.
Michigan still has a structural budget deficit, which Granholm is masking rather than confronting. But after the brutal battles of 2007, this year's budget talks should occur largely on the margins: Who gets the small increases; who faces the smaller cuts.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/POLITICS/802120346/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Lansing
Legislation would guard seniors' funds
House Democrats aim to protect elderly from being financially abused.
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Lawmakers hope to pass legislation aimed at protecting elderly residents from financial abuse and keep family members who exploit them from inheriting their estates.
House Democrats on Monday unveiled an 11-bill package that also would set up a statewide process for investigation when a senior dies of non-natural causes.
Ingham and Genesee counties already have teams who review such deaths. They follow procedures similar to those used to look into suspicious deaths of children in Michigan.
http://macombdaily.com/stories/021208/loc_seniors.shtml
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Bill protects seniors from exploitation
By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
Vulnerable senior citizens would receive new protections from financial exploitation, including plots by scheming relatives, under legislation unveiled Monday by state House Democrats.
The bill, introduced in a series of 10 press conferences across the state, would require bank employees to report suspicious transactions that could signal someone taking advantage of a senior. Those persons who are granted "power of attorney" on behalf of a senior would be required to sign a contract that detailed their obligations and fiduciary duty.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS06/802120327/1008
Suit against state foster care delivers another blow
As advocate details 5 deaths, DHS says studies are flawed
February 12, 2008
BY JOHN WISELY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
State record keeping is so shoddy and investigations are so superficial that children in Michigan's foster care system face continuing danger of physical abuse, according to a report compiled as part of a class action against the Michigan Department of Human Services.
The findings come in the latest in a series of reports compiled for Children's Rights, a national child-welfare advocacy group suing the state over the way it treats children in foster care. The suit is aimed at forcing the state to improve the system.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/POLITICS/802120357/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
State assailed on child welfare
Officials dismiss report that says lax procedures put foster kids in danger.
Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
The Michigan Department of Human Services' standards for investigating child abuse are lax, allow for vague findings and place the state's 19,000 foster children in danger, according to a new report commissioned by a group seeking court-ordered reform of the state's foster care system.
Michigan's child welfare program is riddled with problems, including overloaded case workers, overcrowded foster homes and rules that allow foster children to be placed with relatives who are dangerous, according to the report that analyzed nearly 10,000 documents related to the deaths of five children in Michigan foster homes. The 75-page report also points to numerous management problems, including a decentralized agency with staff members who have little understanding about the fundamentals of child welfare.
State officials scoffed at the report, which was paid for by Children's Rights.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/OPINION01/802120333/1068/OPINION
Digging into the sorry facts
Council must root out the settlement details
February 12, 2008
The Detroit City Council obviously did not ask enough questions the first time around and, while it's too late to recover the city's money, that should not preclude council members from doing due diligence ex post facto on Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's recommendation to settle a police whistleblower lawsuit for millions of dollars more than the jury award.
With the mayor on a public relations offensive to characterize his primary transgressions as personal and private, not public, the council has to be aggressive about its check-and-balance function relative to the executive branch. Yes, the mayor made serious errors of judgment in his private life, but the real issue for the council is what public funds, time and personnel were involved in covering them up.
Lawyer seeks text messages from night of stripper's 2003 death
2/11/2008, 8:07 p.m. EST
By COREY WILLIAMS
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — An attorney is seeking text messages and other electronic communications for about 18,000 city of Detroit employees in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the son of a slain stripper.
Subpoenas also were filed Monday in U.S. District Court for text messages, instant messages, e-mails and telephone messages between the city's chief information officer Derrick Miller and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty in 2003, Birmingham, Mich. attorney Norman Yatooma said.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS06/802120358/1008
Appeals ruling awaited
February 12, 2008
The Michigan Court of Appeals may decide today whether to require the City of Detroit to release secret documents behind last year's decision to settle a police whistle-blower lawsuit at a cost to taxpayers of $8.4 million.
City lawyers filed the appeal Thursday, two days after Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. ordered the city to release the documents, which are linked to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's text messaging scandal.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NEWS04/802120360
Mayor's secrecy wrong, Cox says
It's 'nonsense when it's public dollars'
February 12, 2008
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF
LANSING -- Attorney General Mike Cox said Monday that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had no legal right to hide the contents of an $8.4-million whistle-blower settlement to keep damaging text messages secret.
"This whole sealed settlement stuff is nonsense when it's public dollars," Cox said.
Cox, who also said the mayor mishandled the controversy politically, made his remarks in the course of a wide-ranging interview with the Free Press. He is not involved in the text message scandal and his remarks have no legal bearing on a pending investigation of the mayor by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
http://macombdaily.com/stories/021208/loc_exec.shtml
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Most favor county exec
60% support even when pros & cons explained
By Chad Selweski
Macomb Daily Staff Writer
The proposal to put an elected executive in charge of Macomb County government received support from 70 percent of voters in a countywide poll conducted by a pro-executive group.
According to an internal document distributed to executive supporters earlier this month, a November 2006 survey found that the executive issue had a 70-21 margin of approval. The report reveals the first poll numbers in more than a decade on executive-led government, an issue which will appear on the May 6 countywide ballot.
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/021108/local_20080211014.shtml
Monday, February 11, 2008
McGeehan opposing state bill on annexation
LANSING | Holland Mayor Al McGeehan was too fired up to let a snowstorm stop him from travelling to Lansing to fight a Senate proposal to make it harder for cities and villages to annex land from townships, and for townships to detach land from cities.
McGeehan said the changes are ill-advised.
"I think this legislation is terrible policy on top of miserable policy," he said. Monday,
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/POLITICS01/802120349/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Decision 2008
Diving into the Potomac
Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia get full attention of candidates ahead of today's primaries.
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WHITE MARSH, Md . -- Heading into today's Potomac primaries, Democrat Hillary Clinton told workers at a General Motors Corp. plant here Monday that if elected president she'll help revive the auto industry through research and development aid, reduced health care costs and more fair trade deals.
"One of my big goals is we are going to have a strong and vibrant manufacturing sector in America. And it's going to have the strongest and best auto manufacturing sector in the world," an upbeat Clinton told several dozen GM factory workers.
Clinton examined state-of-the-art hybrid two-mode transmissions, 90 of which are produced daily at the Baltimore-area plant for 2008 Yukon and Tahoe Hybrid SUVs.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YWEzN2EyMDcyNmY2OWMwYmNjMzhlYmRlYWVjMGRiNGY=&w=MA
February 11, 2008 5:45 AM
McCain Estrangement Syndrome
Are some of the senator’s supporters trying to drive conservatives away?
By Andrew C. McCarthy
Are John McCain’s supporters trying to drive conservatives away from their candidate?
Senator McCain is the inevitable Republican presidential nominee. He is headed, though, for a defeat of McGovernite dimensions if he can’t sway conservatives to get behind his candidacy. For their part, conservatives don’t want McCain, but even less do they want to spend the next four-to-eight years saying “President Obama,” let alone reliving history with another President Clinton.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/POLITICS/802110408/1022
Monday, February 11, 2008
Huckabee brushes off calls to abandon GOP race
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is resisting calls from some Republicans for him to abandon his presidential campaign.
Huckabee, who is trailing Sen. John McCain substantially in the hunt for delegates, said Monday that "the goal is to win, and nobody has 1,191 delegates yet."
Appearing in an interview on CNN, he said he won't step aside "as long as my guys are still waving the pom-poms."
Potomac primary losses could spark pressure on Huckabee to withdraw
By Sam Youngman
Posted: 02/11/08 07:14 PM [ET]
“I think there is a growing consensus that John McCain is the presumptive nominee and you will see a natural rallying around his candidacy,” said Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan GOP. “No one wants to force anyone out of the race, but we sure hope folks ultimately do what’s best for the party.”
One Republican strategist said Huckabee’s continued presence, not to mention those victories, further weakens McCain with conservatives at a time when the senator should be devoting his energy to shoring up that crowd.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/opinion/12brooks.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
When Reality Bites
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: February 12, 2008
There’s a big difference between the Republican and Democratic campaigns: The Republicans have split on policy grounds; the Democrats haven’t. There’s been a Republican divide between center and right, yet no Democratic divide between center and left.
But when you think about it, the Democratic policy unity is a mirage. If the Democrats actually win the White House, the tensions would resurface with a vengeance.
The first big rift would involve Iraq. Both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have seductively hinted that they would withdraw almost all U.S. troops within 12 to 16 months. But if either of them actually did that, he or she would instantly make Iraq the consuming partisan fight of their presidency.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/10/politics/main3813759.shtml
Maine Puts Topper On Obama Sweep
Obama Takes Delegate Lead With Wins In 4 States; Clinton Manager Steps Down
(AP/CBS) Illinois senator Barack Obama finished a series of weekend primary and caucus contests undefeated as he bested Hillary Clinton in Maine today, according to CBS News estimates.
Obama’s victory in the Maine caucuses follow on the heels of his Saturday sweep in which he won Louisiana’s primary contest as well as caucuses in the states of Washington and Nebraska.
His winning margins ranged from substantial to crushing. In Maine, he led 59 percent to 40 percent with 99 percent of the precints reporting. In Louisiana, Obama defeated Clinton, 57 percent to 36 percent. He won in Nebraska by a 68 percent to 32 percent margin and in Washington 68 percent to 31 percent.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/POLITICS01/802120350/1022
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Obama could narrowly beat McCain, poll shows
Alan Fram and Trevor Tompson / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama would narrowly defeat Republican John McCain if they were matched today in the presidential election, while McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton are running about even, according to new general-election sentiment since the Super Tuesday contests.
Obama outpaces Clinton in a matchup against McCain among men, minorities and moderates in an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Monday. And she does no better than Obama when pitted against McCain among two groups that have supported her in Democratic primaries so far: women and whites.
Recent primaries and Mitt Romney's departure from the Republican race have made McCain the heavy favorite to win the GOP presidential nomination. Clinton and Obama are locked in a Democratic battle that may take weeks or even months to resolve.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/11/america/obama.php
How 'blackness' has figured in the Obama campaign
By Ginger Thompson Published: February 11, 2008
WASHINGTON: It was November 2006 when Senator Barack Obama first gathered friends and advisers at the offices of a Washington law firm to brainstorm about what it would take for the African American senator from Illinois to win the presidency. Those who attended the meeting said the mix of excitement and trepidation at times felt asphyxiating, as the group weighed the challenges of such a long shot.
Would Obama be able to raise enough money? What kind of toll would a campaign take on him and his family? What kind of organization could he build?
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02122008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/the_lincoln_legacy_scuffle_97266.htm
THE LINCOLN-LEGACY SCUFFLE
WHAT OBAMA'S ADMIRERS OVERLOOK
By RICHARD BROOKHISER
February 12, 2008 -- FIRST Lady Laura Bush will kick off the year-long runup to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial today at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, Ky.
Not that Lincoln is ever far from our minds. An old publishing joke has it that the surefire bestseller is a book on Lincoln's doctor's dog - combining Lincoln-mania with its only rivals, health and pets.
February 12, 2008
For Clinton, Bid Hinges on Texas and Ohio
By PATRICK HEALY
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her advisers increasingly believe that, after a series of losses, she has been boxed into a must-win position in the Ohio and Texas primaries on March 4, and she has begun reassuring anxious donors and superdelegates that the nomination is not slipping away from her, aides said on Monday.
Mrs. Clinton held a buck-up-the-troops conference call on Monday with donors, superdelegates and other supporters; several said afterward that she had sounded tired and a little down, but determined about Ohio and Texas.
They also said that they had not been especially soothed, and that they believed she might be on a losing streak that could jeopardize her competitiveness in those states.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080211/ap_on_el_pr/clinton
Clinton insists campaign is strong
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Feb 11, 6:14 PM ET
WHITE MARSH, Md. - Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton denied Monday that her campaign is in trouble after losing to Sen. Barack Obama in four states this past weekend and replacing her campaign manager.
"I'm still ahead in the popular vote and in delegates," Clinton said, though the numbers do not fully support that statement.
An Associated Press tally shows Clinton with a slim lead among delegates — 1,147, compared to 1,124 for Obama. But an initial tabulation of the total popular vote showed Obama likely to pull ahead once the results of states that held caucuses are fully counted.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/POLITICS01/802110428/1022/POLITICS
Monday, February 11, 2008
Clinton visits GM hybrid plant, promises help for automakers
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WHITE MARSH, Md. -- After sitting behind the wheel of a black Tahoe Hybrid SUV, Democrat Hillary Clinton told General Motors workers at a plant here today that she, as president, would help the auto industry through research and development funding, fairer trade deals and lower health care costs.
"One of my big goals is we are going to have a strong and vibrant manufacturing sector in America," Clinton told several dozen workers after she toured the plant that produces two-mode hybrid transmissions for GM's Tahoe and Yukon full-size SUVs.
"And it's going to have the strongest and best auto manufacturing sector in the world," Clinton said to applause.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8453.html
Hillary hits Obama on transparency, style
By: Mike Allen
Feb 11, 2008 07:40 PM EST
Senator Hillary Rodham (D-N.Y.) mocked Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) tonight for his high-flown rhetoric, suggesting she would fight important fights when he would back down.
Clinton, speaking on WJLA Channel 7 in Washington and Politico.com, also promised there would be no new scandals involving her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4273078&page=1
College Junior Breakfasts With Chelsea Clinton
21-Year-Old Wisconsin Super Delegate Gets Face Time With Former First Daughter
By KAREN TRAVERS
Feb. 11, 2008
Jason Rae is a typical junior in college.
He spends several hours a day in class at Marquette University in Wisconsin where he is majoring in history and political science. He is closely following the Marquette basketball team and has the Golden Eagles' schedule memorized.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/OPINION01/802120308/1007/OPINION
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Will the party bosses trample on the voters?
Rev. Edgar Vann
This is the year America immerses itself into the enterprise of presidential politics. Amazingly, in comparison to other parts of the world, it is a process that produces sharp debate, character demonization, and rhetorical rancor, but doesn't rise to the level of anarchy and governmental upheaval. It is a process, though sinfully expensive and protractedly lengthy, that has worked to make America the strongest country in the world.
The president of the United States is virtually the leader of the free world. This quadrennial election cycle is also a trail where minds begin to crystallize around the direction of the nation and what the real issues are. Increasingly, in this contest, many Americans seem to be intensely independent. They are more freely speaking out their disgust for politics as usual. They seem to defy traditional and stereotypical strategies of party bosses and their historical constituent bases to unilaterally determine what the people need. They have made pollsters and the punditocracy increasingly irrelevant and inaccurate. More and more, especially those in the younger generation, don't have phones at home.
http://townhall.com/blog/g/43e8475b-2cd1-4d0a-8d80-96947e54d02d
VIDEO:
Newt Gingrich at CPAC
Posted by: Jonathan Garthwaite at 8:43 PM
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/NATION/802120317/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Stamps to go up a penny May 12
Hike follows 2007 increase; Forever stamps bought now will be valid after the increase.
Randolph E. Schmid / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Mailing a letter will soon cost a penny more.
The cost of a first-class stamp will rise to 42 cents starting May 12, the U.S. Postal Service said Monday.
The Forever stamps will be valid for first-class postage after that. And they can be bought for 41 cents until the new rates take effect, postal officials said. But their cost will go up, too, with the rate increase.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/METRO/802120356/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Feds claim lies by Convertino dating to college days
U.S. makes allegations in fight over legal fees in ex-prosecutor's acquittal.
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
The U.S. Justice Department has hit back at former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino, alleging in a court filing that he lied when he applied to college, lied when he applied to law school, and lied in his applications to become a federal prosecutor and a federal judge.
"Convertino had a pattern of making misrepresentations to advance his career," Justice Department trial attorney Eileen Gleason said in a court filing Friday.
The new allegations against Convertino had been ruled inadmissible by the judge in a criminal trial last year at which a jury acquitted Convertino and another defendant of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and false statements charges. But the Justice Department argued the allegations are relevant in deciding whether the government should pay Convertino's defense costs because it's important to know the information prosecutors acted on.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WHITE_HOUSE_E_MAIL?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 11, 7:32 PM EST
Judge OKs inquiry of White House techs
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge agreed Monday to allow a private group to delve into the operations of an office at the White House as part of a controversy over whether large amounts of e-mail have disappeared.
Permitting any private organization to inquire into White House functions is an unusual step, a point U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly underscored in her six-page order.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/OBITUARIES/802120342/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Rep. Lantos, Holocaust survivor, dies
Erica Werner / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom Lantos, who escaped the Nazis and grew up to become a forceful voice for human rights all over the world, has died. He was 80.
The California Democrat, the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress, died early Monday at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland, said his spokeswoman, Lynne Weil. He disclosed last month that he had cancer of the esophagus.
At his side were his wife of nearly six decades, Annette, his two daughters and many of his grand- and great-grandchildren.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SEPT_11_TRIAL?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 12, 1:48 AM EST
U.S. charges 6 for roles in 9/11 attacks
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has charged six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Officials said Monday they'll seek the death penalty in what would be the first capital trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system.
"These charges allege a long term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al-Qaida to attack the United States of America," Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunal system, told reporters. He said a total of 169 charges were sworn against suspects "alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks" in 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/POLITICS/802120348/1022/POLITICS
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Gates backs troop drawdown pause in Iraq
Tina Susman / Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday endorsed the idea of a pause in the American troop drawdown this summer.
Gates' comments followed a meeting with the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, who favors a temporary break in the troop reduction after the last of five extra brigades leave as planned in July. The brigades were deployed in 2007 to quell Iraq's bloodshed, and their departure will bring troop levels down to about 134,000, the lowest since January 2007.
Bloodshed has eased, but ground commanders such as Petraeus warn that it could surge anew if troops are pulled out too quickly. Some senior Pentagon officials favor a drawdown beyond the five brigades to relieve stress on troops, many of whom are on their third or fourth deployments.
http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/02/the-final-missi-2.php
The Final Mission, Part III
ANBAR PROVINCE, IRAQ – The United States plans to hand Anbar Province over to the Iraqis next month if nothing catastrophic erupts between now and then. The Marines will stick around a while longer, though, and complete their crucial last mission – training the Iraqi Police to replace them.
The local police force would collapse in short order without American financial and logistics support. “The biggest problem they have is supply,” Corporal Hayes said to me in Fallujah. “They're always running out of gas and running out of bullets. How are they supposed to police this city with no gas and no bullets?”
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MILITARY_SUICIDES?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 12, 3:22 AM EST
Suicide by Guard, Reserve troops studied
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- National Guard and Reserve troops who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan make up more than half of veterans who committed suicide after returning home from those wars, according to new government data obtained by The Associated Press.
A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis of ongoing research of deaths among veterans of both wars, obtained exclusively by The AP, found that Guard or Reserve members were 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005.
Feb 12, 4:28 AM EST
Navy intercepts Russian bombers
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. fighter planes intercepted two Russian bombers, including one that buzzed an American aircraft carrier in the western Pacific during the weekend, The Associated Press has learned.
A U.S. military official says that one Russian Tupolev 95 flew directly over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz twice, at a low altitude of about 2,000 feet, while another bomber circled about 58 miles out. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because the reports on the flights were classified as secret.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120277726156660765.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Putin's Torture Colonies
February 12, 2008; Page A16
"The protest began after OMON [riot police] had been brought to correctional colony No. 5 (Amur Oblast, Skovorodino Rayon, village Takhtamygda) and started massive beatings of the prisoners. People in camouflage and masks were beating with batons inmates taken outside undressed in the freezing cold. . . . As a protest, 39 prisoners immediately cut their veins open.
"Next day, on 17 January, the 'special operation' was repeated in an even more humiliating and massive form. At that time, about 700 inmates cut their veins open. . . ."
The description here comes from a report received by the Moscow-based Foundation for Defense of Rights of Prisoners. The time reference is to 2008 -- that is, last month. This is not Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Russia. It's Vladimir Putin's. And correctional colony No. 5, located not far from the Manchurian border, does not even make the list of the worst penal colonies in the country.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHINESE_SPIES?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 12, 4:27 AM EST
Arrests made in Chinese spying cases
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Defense Department analyst and a former engineer for Boeing Co. were accused Monday in separate spy cases with helping deliver military secrets to the Chinese government, the Justice Department said. Additionally, two immigrants from China and Taiwan accused of working with the defense analyst were arrested after an FBI raid Monday morning on a New Orleans home where one of them lived.
The two cases - based in Alexandria, Va., and Los Angeles - have no connection, and investigators said it was merely a coincidence that charges would be brought against both on the same day.
Britain kow tows to China as athletes are forced to sign no criticism contracts
By ROB DRAPER and DANIEL KING
British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.
The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest.
