266 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
We held a press conference at Central Michigan University yesterday…looking for Gary Peters?!? He has a $65,000/yr job teaching one class, one day a week…while running for Congress. Ethics…Democrat style. Milk carton to follow him throughout the campaign.
Happy Birthday to our National Committeeman Chuck Yob!
Huckabee folks are hunting for delegates…see your local Huckabee supporter. Gary Glenn and Bill Voorheis are leading the way here in Michigan.
John McCain sent out their delegate count and the math/path to the nomination…he appears to be heading into next week as the presumptive nominee. State Co-Chairs Chuck Yob, Holly Hughes and Cong. Fred Upton are calling to rally the troops heading into this weekend’s convention.
I’ve been asked who & where to call to help…McCain’s Grassroot Chair - Dave Dishaw will be at the convention this weekend, and I’m sure there will be sign-up opportunities.
Public information isn't always readily accessible by the public.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox argues that in the Internet age, there's no reason that the details of every dollar spent by the state shouldn't be at the fingertips of the people who provide the revenue. He’s leading the way…see article below:
Yesterday, President Bush signed H.R. 5140, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. The U.S. economy is structurally sound for the long term, but growth has slowed. To address short-term economic uncertainties, the President last month called on Congress to pass an economic growth package.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
- The Economic Stimulus Act will allow Americans to keep more of their money to stimulate consumer spending. The growth plan provides rebates to 128 million American households. Payments will go out through late spring and summer so we can get help to our economy when it is needed most. Under the legislation:
Ø Individuals and families are eligible to receive up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples. A minimum of $300 per person and $600 per couple would be available to those with at least $3,000 of earned income. This relief would be available to everyone with adjusted gross income less than $75,000 for singles and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly. It will be phased out for taxpayers above those income thresholds. Taxpayers may qualify by filing a tax return for 2007 and including a valid Social Security number on their tax return.
Ø Everyone eligible for this relief would also receive an additional $300 per child. For example, this would mean up to $1,800 of tax relief for an eligible couple with two children.
Ø Recipients of Social Security and certain veterans' benefits are also eligible for rebates. Those who receive at least $3,000 from any combination of benefits from these programs will receive rebates. The IRS and Treasury Department will be working closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration, along with beneficiary organizations, to ensure that all eligible individuals are able to receive their payments.
This legislation also offers incentives to spur business investment. The legislation would save businesses approximately $50 billion in near-term taxes through a temporary change to the tax code that will allow American businesses that buy new equipment this year to deduct an additional 50 percent of the cost of their investment in 2008. This will encourage businesses to expand and create new jobs now because buying equipment, software, and tangible property this year will dramatically lower their taxes.
Ø The legislation also increases expensing for small businesses. This means that a business placing less than $800,000 of equipment into service this year would be able to immediately deduct up to $250,000 – up from $128,000 – of its investment in 2008.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080213/foreclosure_rates.html?.v=7
Detroit Had Top Foreclosure Rate in '07
Wednesday February 13, 6:28 am ET
By Alex Veiga, AP Business Writer
Metro Areas in Michigan, California, Nevada, Ohio Had Highest Foreclosure Rates in 2007
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Detroit area, hit hard by the double-whammy of unemployment and a slumping housing market, had the highest foreclosure rate in the nation last year, with several cities in California ranked close behind, an analysis of foreclosure activity in the country's largest 100 metropolitan areas shows.
Some 4.9 percent of the households in the Detroit metro area were in some stage of foreclosure in 2007 -- 4.8 times the national average, according to the study being released Wednesday by mortgage research company RealtyTrac Inc.
Bills aimed at regulating mortgage industry pass House
2/13/2008, 5:45 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Mortgage loan officers working in Michigan would have to register with the state under bills overwhelmingly passed Wednesday by the state House.
The bipartisan package is part of ongoing attempts by the Legislature to deal with the problems of escalating mortgage costs and home foreclosures in the state. The bills now go to the Senate.
Some of the bills originated in the Senate and could soon be headed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Other bills in the package will be reconsidered by the House with some technical changes before heading to the Senate.
http://battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/OPINION01/802140301/1014/OPINION
30-day moratorium can help some homeowners
Last year, 4.7 percent of all houses sold in the United States - or nearly one in every 20 - were in foreclosure. In Michigan, the rate was nearly double, at 9.3 percent.
To help the thousands of Americans who are in danger of losing their homes, the Bush administration this week announced an initiative that provides a 30-day reprieve to allow some homeowners to work with their lenders to make their mortgages more affordable and avoid foreclosure.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS/802140370/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Credit crunch hits home: Student loan plan halted as funding dries up
Marisa Schultz and Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News
The state of Michigan has suspended one of its student loan programs indefinitely, shutting off one avenue for students to pay for college and raising troubling new concerns about the stability of the student loan industry nationwide.
"It feels to me we are headed to a real crisis in the student loan world for reasons unrelated to the student loans -- it's the whole economic downturn," said Rick Shipman, director of financial aid at Michigan State University.
Blaming a credit crunch rooted in the collapse of the sub-prime home loan market, Michigan will not offer new loans through MI-LOAN, a program created in 1990 to help bridge the gap between federally subsidized loans -- which are capped -- and the rising cost of tuition.
http://noise.typepad.com/election_countdown/2008/02/our-undemocrati.html
February 13, 2008
Our undemocratic elections
Something about this year's primaries really grinds my gears. It's been stewing for a while, and I just had to get it off my chest.
The votes from two of the nation's biggest states - Michigan included - likely won't count when determining the Democratic nominee, and there's a very real chance that the candidate people voted for won't win. That doesn't sound like democracy to me.
It's actually just a byproduct of a somewhat anachronistic rule that, for all intensive purposes, political parties alone determine who the presidential contenders will be.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/OPINION01/802140333/1007/OPINION
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Editorial
Fewer student loans demands tuition restraint
State colleges should commit to holding costs to inflation rate
The Detroit News
Crashed by the credit crunch, a Michigan college student loan program stopped making loans this week, making it even tougher for students to get money for college.
The news should be a wake-up call for state policy makers. Most students now rely on loans to finance at least a portion of their education. It's becoming more difficult to get both private and public student loans, and that means yet one more obstacle to increasing college attendance in Michigan.
The Michigan Higher Education Student Loan Authority, a state agency announced it will stop making loans under the Michigan Alternative Student Loan, or MI-Loan program.
Michigan House panel OKs requiring DNA sample in violent felonies
2/13/2008, 5:53 p.m. EST
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — State lawmakers on Wednesday voted to require anyone arrested for a violent crime in Michigan to submit a DNA sample.
State law already requires such a sample when someone is convicted of a felony.
Backers said expanding the requirement to include arrested suspects would give police another tool to solve cold cases, prevent more crimes by catching repeat criminals earlier and absolve the innocent.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS/802140362/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Bill calls for DNA tests on suspects
House panel OKs bill that broadens law requiring samples from felons.
Charlie Cain / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- Suspects accused of murder, rape, kidnapping and other violent felonies would be forced to submit to DNA testing under legislation before the state House.
The measure, approved Wednesday with no dissenting votes by the House Judiciary Committee, would broaden current law that requires DNA samples from those who have been convicted of a criminal felony.
Supporters of the legislation, part of a national trend, say it would give law enforcement another tool to solve older cases and prevent crimes.
Report: State prescription drug price comparison Web sites flawed
2/13/2008, 7:09 p.m. EST
By LINDA A. JOHNSON
The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Web sites numerous states operate to help consumers easily compare pharmacy prices for prescription drugs often have missing, and sometimes outdated or inaccurate information, a nonpartisan health research group has found.
A report released Wednesday, funded by two big health-care foundations ahead of California's planned launch of its own site, recommends significant changes to make the sites useful for more patients.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS/802140346/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
ACLU sues over noncitizen license ban
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING -- The American Civil Liberties Union jumped into the middle of Michigan's driver's license controversy, filing a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of noncitizens who live and work here but are denied licenses or ID cards as a result of a recent attorney general opinion.
Attorney General Mike Cox's December 2007 opinion, as interpreted by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, bars anyone who isn't a permanent state resident from obtaining a driver's license or ID card. More than 400,000 foreign workers and university students now can't get them.
ACLU legal director Michael Steinberg said Michigan license rules have become America's most restrictive. The ACLU says Land's and Cox's interpretation of the vehicle code violates the state Constitution and "will wreak havoc on this state's economy and on its communities."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/OPINION01/802140325/1007/OPINION
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Opinion
Michigan must fix driver's license laws that punish legal immigrants
Stuart Anderson
Would you like to work or study in a foreign country and never be allowed to drive? Imagine being in your 20s or 30s and trying to get around the state without being permitted a driver's license. That is the situation that Michigan -- alone among the 50 states -- has created for long-term international students, foreign professionals, managers, executives and their family members.
Under a new interpretation of Michigan law, not only illegal immigrants but also anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident (green card holder) is prohibited from obtaining a Michigan driver's license.
One member of Immigration Voice, a group of foreign-born professionals in the United States, describes how he came to America in 1999 as an international student and was later hired on an H-1B temporary visa. His green card application has been pending for years. He has not visited his home country for five years and recently moved to Michigan from Missouri for work reasons.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/NEWS06/802140393/1008
6 temporary residents file suit over licenses
February 14, 2008
Six temporary Michigan residents from foreign countries filed suit Wednesday to force the state to issue them driver's licenses denied by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.
As a result of a recent opinion by Attorney General Mike Cox, Land has ordered that immigrants who are not permanent residents -- even if they're here legally -- cannot be issued driver's licenses.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, which filed the suit in Ingham County Circuit Court, the six legal aliens who were denied driver's licenses include a Canadian nurse in Muskegon, an Indian doctor in Flint, a University of Michigan language assessment specialist from Singapore and a political refugee from Africa in Detroit.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS/802140412/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
House panel OKs bills to advance casinos
Detroit News and wire reports
ROMULUS -- A House committee approved legislation Wednesday that would advance two proposed Indian casinos in Romulus and Port Huron, seeking to end a century-old land dispute for the Michigan tribes.
The House Natural Resources Committee approved the bills to provide land for the two new casinos in exchange for the settling of 110 acres of land claims around Charlotte Beach in the Upper Peninsula.
Some lawmakers from Michigan and Nevada have criticized the plan, saying it amounted to a backdoor attempt by two tribes to gain land hundreds of miles from their reservation to build casinos outside of the normal process prescribed by federal gaming laws.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/NEWS06/802140361/1008/NEWS06
Bill for 2 new state casinos advances
Detroit could get more competition
February 14, 2008
By TODD SPANGLER
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF
WASHINGTON -- An old plan to put American Indian casinos in Romulus and Port Huron got new life Wednesday, as a House committee overwhelmingly approved it despite strong opposition from some other tribes, rival casinos and Detroit officials.
Now, the measures could be headed to the House floor, where C-SPAN viewers could see Michigan's divided congressional delegation battling it out over bills that one side calls an equitable resolution to century-old Indian claims and the other considers "reservation shopping" for new casinos.
Judicial Tenure Commission lodges complaint against U.P. judge
2/13/2008, 6:49 p.m. EST
The Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission on Wednesday filed a complaint against an Upper Peninsula judge, accusing her of taking too long to issue legal decisions and failing to respond to administrative inquiries.
The complaint was made against Judge Mary Brouillette Barglind of the 41st Circuit Court in Dickinson, Menominee and Iron counties.
Contacted late Wednesday afternoon, Barglind said she had not yet had a chance to read the complaint. The complaint accuses Barglind of taking 32 months to issue a decision in a liquor license appeal, among other alleged delays.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/OPINION01/802140327/1007/OPINION
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Editorial: Release all the evidence on whistleblower deal
The Detroit News
Enough is enough. It's time to bring to a close Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's attempts to withhold documents central to the $8.4 million settlement of whistleblower lawsuits against the city.
The episode involves a huge amount of public money and the use and possible misuse of public resources by public officials.
Wayne Circuit Judge Robert Colombo, in a suit by The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, ordered the release of the documents on the settlement last week, and urged the city not to appeal. The city went ahead anyway.
Appeals Court: Kilpatrick documents are public record
Council members want mayor to stop fight
February 14, 2008
By DAVID ASHENFELTER, JIM SCHAEFER and M.L. ELRICK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld on Wednesday a ruling that requires the City of Detroit to release all remaining secret documents that were part of an $8.4-million police whistle-blower settlement last October.
Although the records were not immediately released, the ruling is another legal blow to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his lawyers in their bid to keep some details of the deal private. In the settlement with the cops, the mayor sought to conceal text messages between him and then-chief of staff Christine Beatty that showed the two lied at trial last summer.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/NEWS01/802140397/1008
Worthy: A decision to come in next month
Council needs to vote again on own lawyer
February 14, 2008
By ZACHARY GORCHOW
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday that the criminal investigation into the text message scandal involving Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick likely will conclude within 30 days.
Meanwhile, an independent investigation by the City Council has been delayed until at least today after the council realized that an earlier vote to hire its own lawyer was flawed.
Worthy, who was speaking with reporters on an unrelated matter Wednesday, said, "I expect to have something for you within the next 30 days," and declined further comment. Her spokeswoman, Maria Miller, later clarified that Worthy would announce within the next month a decision on whether to file criminal charges.
http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/021408/opi_20080214259.shtml
PUBLISHED: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Officials in Pontiac should take lesson from residents
Time and time again, the residents of Pontiac show they haven't given up on the city and that they're willing to do what they can to help Pontiac out of its economic straitjacket.
Unfortunately, we're not sure we can say the same for the mayor, administration and council members. Oh yes, in their own way, they care about what happens in Pontiac. The key here is "in their own way," and that may not be the best way to rejuvenate the city.
A case in point is that civilian volunteers are pitching in to help the Pontiac Police Department, which has been shredded by massive layoffs. Only 65 officers are left, down from nearly 170 just a couple of years ago.
WTO sides with US, EU, Canada on auto parts
2/13/2008, 5:37 p.m. EST
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER
The Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — The World Trade Organization on Wednesday issued its first official condemnation of Chinese commercial practices, siding with the United States, the European Union and Canada in a dispute over car parts.
The WTO found that China was breaking trade rules by taxing imports of auto parts at the same rate as foreign-made finished cars, according to a copy of the ruling's conclusions obtained by The Associated Press.
In the sweeping decision, the three-member WTO panel found against China on nearly every point of contention with the U.S., the 27-nation EU and Canada. The panel found that Chinese measures "accord imported auto parts less favorable treatment than like domestic auto parts" or "subject imported auto parts to an internal charge in excess of that applied to like domestic auto parts."
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UPJKOG0&show_article=1
McCain Rallies House GOP Members
Feb 13 01:41 PM US/Eastern
By LIBBY QUAID
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain appealed to GOP House members for help rallying conservatives behind him, acknowledging the party must unite if it hopes to match the enthusiasm generated by Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
McCain met Wednesday with House Republicans in an effort to smooth over past conflicts and encourage critics to back his candidacy. McCain, all but assured the nomination, won Tuesday's primaries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
"I'm very gratified by the very warm reception that I received from the Republican conference this morning—a spirited and a good discussion of some of the issues," McCain told reporters afterward. "I'm very grateful for our pledge to work together."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/NATION/437382070/1001
McCain refuses to pander
By Stephen Dinan
February 14, 2008
John McCain's campaign manager yesterday said the candidate will not pander for conservative support, even as his surrogates have made a second overture to see why chief competitor Mike Huckabee has not dropped out of the Republican presidential race.
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, a McCain supporter, called former Arkansas Sen. Tim Hutchinson on Friday to inquire why Mr. Huckabee was still running. That was in addition to last week's call to Mr. Huckabee from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another McCain supporter, asking him to drop out of the race.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/15624602.html
Posted on Thu, Feb. 14, 2008
The Elephant in the Room: The conservative jury is still out on backing McCain
By Rick Santorum
Why are so many conservative Republicans upset about the inevitable nomination of Sen. John McCain, and what are we going to do about it?
The cause of conservative discontent isn't hard to fathom. Start with the Arizona senator's voting record on many key issues. He has opposed pro-growth tax cuts and supported limits on political speech. He has pushed amnesty when it came to illegal immigration and half-measures when it came to interrogating terrorists. He wants to close Guantanamo and allow the reimportation of prescription drugs into the United States. Not only does he part company with conservatives on these and other issues - climate change, drilling for oil in the Alaskan hinterland, federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, international criminal courts, gun-show background checks - he invariably adopts the rhetoric of the left and stridently leads the opposition.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1713041,00.html
Rush Limbaugh Talks to TIME
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008 By JAMES CARNEY/WASHINGTON
Over the past several weeks, Rush Limbaugh has led a cacophonous chorus of conservative complaint against Republican presidential nominee-to-be John McCain. This morning, the reigning king of talk radio kindly agreed to an interview over the phone with TIME's Jay Carney, a member of another one of his frequent targets, the mainstream media. Afterwards, Limbaugh went on the air and told his 13 million listeners about the conversation. "Yes, I am talking to the enemy," he said in his signature bellow (partly in jest, or so it sounded). "Just call me McCain today... I'm reaching across the aisle here and I'm talking to the enemy, that's right. But I'm not going to agree with them, like McCain does." Here is a transcript of the interview:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS01/802140372/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Obama woos autoworkers
After criticizing Big 3 for months, he vows to help industry go green as he unveils economic plan.
Gordon Trowbridge / Detroit News Washington Bureau
JANESVILLE, Wis. -- Sen. Barack Obama took a significant step Wednesday to reassure manufacturing-minded Michigan Democrats, choosing General Motors Corp.'s oldest production plant to outline an economic agenda that includes aid to the auto industry.
The Democratic presidential hopeful's rhetoric Wednesday was a sharp contrast to the months of criticism he has leveled at the domestic automakers. It was delivered directly to a demographic group that has so far eluded his reach: blue-collar workers who, to a large extent, have sided with his rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. And while the message resonates in Michigan, it's also directed to voters in Wisconsin and Ohio -- auto manufacturing states with sizable delegate counts, whose primaries are coming up.
Flanked by examples of the same kinds of low-mileage SUVs that he's criticized in the past, Obama vowed to help the domestic auto industry to a more fuel-efficient future.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS01/802140425/1022
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Obama's stimulus package proposal
Obama's plan
Some key points of Barack Obama's stimulus package that he outlined Wednesday:
• A "middle-class tax cut," allowing Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest earners to expand child tax credit.
• Foreclosures: Fund to aid those facing the loss of homes; tougher regulation of lenders; allow mortgage interest deductions for more taxpayers.
• Education: Provide the middle class with a refundable $4,000 tuition tax credit for tuition and fees yearly, which would cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university.
• Public works: $60 billion over 10 years on roads, and other infrastructure.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UPOVKO3&show_article=1
Clinton Ex-Campaign Manager Backs Obama
Feb 13 07:45 PM US/Eastern
By PHILIP ELLIOTT
Associated Press Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The man who served as national manager of former President Clinton's 1992 campaign endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on Wednesday.
David Wilhelm, who led the campaign and later became chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Obama had the unique ability to encourage cooperation as a 65-percent president after the divisive years of a 51-percent majority. He was referring to the notion that Obama could govern the country with the support of a large coalition, as opposed to more polarized support for President Bush.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Plouffe_She_cant_catch_us.html
February 13, 2008
Read More: Barack Obama
Plouffe: She can't catch us
As we wrote last night, Obama has begun to make his own inevitablity case, and David Plouffe made it explicit on a conference call this morning, telling reporters that it's now "next to impossible" for Clinton to surpass what he says is a 136-person lead among pledged delegates.
"The only way she could do it is by winning most of the rest of the contests by 25 to 30 points," he said. "Even the most creative math really does not get her, ever, back to even in terms of pledged delegates."
"This is not about votes -- it's about delegates," Plouffe said.
The other half of this case, of course, is that superdelegates will and/or should follow the pledged delegates.
Knocked Off Balance, Clinton Campaign Tries to Regain Its Stride
By PATRICK HEALY and KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: February 14, 2008
SAN ANTONIO — The Texas and Ohio presidential primaries, on March 4, have become must-win contests for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, her advisers say. So why is she just opening campaign field offices across those states?
The primary in Pennsylvania, on April 22, is also a crucial battleground. So why is her campaign telling its most prominent supporter there, Gov. Edward G. Rendell, that there is not enough money now for his proposed piece of direct mail to voters?
And the Maine caucuses on Sunday were the one recent contest that Mrs. Clinton had hoped to win. So why did the campaign of her rival, Senator Barack Obama, have better political and Internet operations to energize its supporters there? (Mr. Obama won Maine.)
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS01/802140422/1022
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Decision 2008
Clinton is in uphill fight for delegates
Democrats say it will be difficult for her to overcome Obama's 100-plus lead, even with big primaries ahead.
Adam Nagourney / New York Times
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama emerged from Tuesday's primaries leading Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by more than 100 delegates, a small but significant advantage that Democrats said would be difficult for Clinton to make up in the remaining contests in the presidential nomination battle.
Neither candidate is expected to win the 2,025 pledged delegates needed to claim the nomination by the time the voting ends in June. But Obama's campaign began making a case in earnest on Wednesday that if he maintained his edge in delegates won in primaries and caucuses, he would have the strongest claim to the backing of the 796 elected Democrats and party leaders known as superdelegates who are free to vote as they choose and who now stand to determine the outcome.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080213/D8UPO3FO0.html
Clinton's Edge Slips With Whites, Women
Feb 13, 6:45 PM (ET)
By ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's crushing losses in Maryland and Virginia highlight an erosion in what had been solid advantages among women, whites and older and working-class voters. While this week's results can be explained by those states' relatively large numbers of blacks and well-educated residents - who tend to be Barack Obama supporters - her presidential campaign could be doomed if the trends continue.
Clinton is holding onto some of her supporters who are largely defined by race and often by level of education, such as low-income white workers and older white women, exit polls of voters show. She's been losing other blocs, again stamped by personal characteristics, such as blacks, men and young people both black and white, and better-educated whites.
Howlers, Whoops And Miracles
By George F. Will
Thursday, February 14, 2008; Page A25
With metronomic regularity -- the rhythm may arise from some strangely shared metabolic urge, which may explain the mystery of their marriage -- the Clintons say things that remind voters of the aesthetic reason for recoiling from them. Aesthetic considerations even cause many Republicans -- a coarse commercial breed, they are notoriously insensitive to higher things, but they are not immune to the repulsive -- to hope, against three decades of evidence, that Democrats can be sufficiently sensible to nominate Barack Obama, even though Hillary Clinton would be more vulnerable to John McCain.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS/802140369/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Bush puts rush on rebate checks
More than 130 million will get $300 to $1,200 starting in May, but only after filing tax returns.
Jeannine Aversa / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The checks aren't in the mail, but they will be soon.
President Bush signed legislation Wednesday to rush rebates ranging from $300 to $1,200 to millions of people, the centerpiece of government efforts to brace the wobbly economy. First, though, you must file your 2007 tax return.
More than 130 million people are expected to get the rebates, starting around May.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/OPINION01/802140307/1007/OPINION
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Opinion
Be wary of half-a-loaf economic stimulus
Ross Eisenbrey
If your philosophy is that something is better than nothing, Congress gets good grades for the anti-recession package it just approved and President Bush signed. It will put extra money quickly into the hands of many of the people who are most likely to spend it. That would help keep falling consumer demand from driving employers to cut jobs as fast as they otherwise would have done. And the stimulus package also includes people who earned too little to pay income tax.
But if your grading standards are a bit higher, it's hard to give more than a gentleman's "C" to the plan, because it fails to address the single biggest problem associated with recession: long-term unemployment.
As the recent employment report revealed, for the first time in almost five years, the number of jobs in the nation actually declined. Not only are more people unemployed, but more have been out of work for six months or longer -- 1.38 million as of last month. And the most effective way to boost the economy is to extend jobless benefits for these long-term unemployed because they spend the money on the necessities of life.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/AUTO01/802140337/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Bush seeks rehearing on fuel economy plan
U.S. to defend rules rejected by appeals court that apply to most SUVs, pickup trucks and vans.
Ken Thomas / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration plans to defend its new fuel efficiency requirements for most sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans after a federal appeals court rejected the plan last year.
The Justice Department, in a petition filed last week, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco for a rehearing before the full court on the proposed fuel economy plan. Ronald Tenpas, head of the Justice Department's environment and natural resources division, wrote in the petition that the review was needed to resolve a split among the courts over similar cases.
In November, the appeals court ordered federal regulators to develop a new plan with tougher pollution standards.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/OPINION01/802140324/1007/OPINION
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Opinion
California won't walk talk on climate change
State is eager to hit Detroit with ineffective fuel rules, but won't consider increasing gasoline tax
Henry Payne
California's politicians blame automakers and the Environmental Protection Agency for opposing their way of saving the planet -- by letting 15 states set their own auto emissions levels. "They are ignoring the will of millions of people who want their government to take action in the fight against global warming," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed after the EPA rejected the idea.
California, however, already has the power to battle climate change. It, like all other states, can raise its gasoline tax any time it wants. And raising the price of driving by increasing the gasoline tax, most economists agree, is the fastest way to get drivers to drive less and buy more fuel-efficient vehicles.
But there is no groundswell for a gas tax hike in California, where even the nation's greenest electorate recoils at the idea of putting its money where its mouth is.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS/802140416/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Idaho senator rebuked after airport sex sting, but won't resign
Detroit News wire services
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, was rebuked Wednesday by the Senate Ethics Committee over his conviction for disorderly conduct in an airport men's restroom, with the panel concluding that he committed the offense and citing him for actions "which (have) reflected discreditably on the Senate."
Craig was "publicly admonished" in a letter that closed the case without any formal punishment or a public inquiry into the allegations. Despite calls from fellow Republicans for his resignation, Craig has said he will serve out the remainder of his term and retire next January.
In response to the letter, Craig said he was disappointed by, and disagreed with, the panel's conclusions. "I will continue to serve the people of Idaho," he said in a statement. Craig has served in the Senate 17 years.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8UPOPCG2&show_article=1
Ethics Panel Says Craig Acted Improperly
Feb 13 07:32 PM US/Eastern
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Ethics Committee said Wednesday that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig acted improperly in connection with a men's room sex sting last year and had brought discredit on the Senate.
In a letter to the Republican senator, the ethics panel said Craig's attempt to withdraw his guilty plea after his arrest at a Minneapolis airport was an effort to evade legal consequences of his own actions.
The six members of the committee—three Democrats and three Republicans—told Craig they believed he "committed the offense to which you pled guilty" and that "you entered your plea knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_INTERROGATIONS?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 14, 6:31 AM EST
Justice says waterboarding not legal
By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A senior Justice Department official says laws and other limits enacted since three terrorism suspects were waterboarded has eliminated the technique from what is now legally allowed, going a step beyond what CIA Director Michael Hayden has said.
"The set of interrogation methods authorized for current use is narrower than before, and it does not today include waterboarding," Steven G. Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, says in remarks prepared for his appearance Thursday before the House Judiciary Constitution subcommittee.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INTELLIGENCE_BILL?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 14, 1:29 AM EST
Senate votes to ban waterboarding
By PAMELA HESS and LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress on Wednesday moved to prohibit the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects, despite President Bush's threat to veto any measure that limits the agency's interrogation techniques.
The prohibition was contained in a bill authorizing intelligence activities for the current year, which the Senate approved on a 51-45 vote. It would restrict the CIA to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the Army field manual. That manual prohibits waterboarding, a method that makes an interrogation subject feel he is drowning.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080214/POLITICS/802140322/1022/POLITICS
Thursday, February 14, 2008
U.S. defends bid to put Gitmo detainees to death
Cable to embassies uses Nazi case to vouch for execution of six men accused in 9/11 attacks.
Matthew Lee / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 terror attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II.
A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained by the Associated Press says that execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted and points to the 1945-46 International Military Tribunals as an example. Twelve of Adolf Hitler's senior aides were sentenced to death at the trials in Nuremberg, Germany, although not all were executed.
The unclassified cable was sent by the State Department to all U.S. diplomatic missions worldwide.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120294879852466801.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
Looking Forward in Iraq
February 14, 2008; Page A16
On Sunday, Nancy Pelosi was asked on CNN whether she feared squandering the success of President Bush's "surge" in Iraq with a hasty withdrawal. "There haven't been gains, Wolf," the House Speaker told anchor Wolf Blitzer. "The gains have not produced the desired effect which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure."
Yesterday, the Iraqi Parliament passed a budget, approved an amnesty for thousands of detainees and enacted a crucial law on provincial powers. Sunni lawmaker Adnan al-Dulaimi called it "the greatest achievement possible for the Iraqi people."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a7aeb7e-da6f-11dc-9bb9-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
Rice attacks ‘reprehensible’ Putin warnings
By Daniel Dombey in Washington
Published: February 13 2008 20:23 | Last updated: February 13 2008 20:23
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, on Wednesday highlighted the tense relations between Moscow and Washington when she hit out at Russia’s “reprehensible” rhetoric and said she would appoint a special energy co-ordinator for central Asia, a region dominated to date by Russian energy interests.
Appearing at the Senate’s foreign relations committee, Ms Rice responded fiercely to questions about recent Russian behaviour, including President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion this week that Ukraine could be targeted with nuclear missiles and his warning of a new arms race with the west.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_AFRICA?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Feb 13, 9:47 PM EST
Bush to visit 5 countries in Africa
By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush will find violent conflicts threatening nearly every corner of Africa when he begins a six-day visit on Saturday. But the continent's turmoil and trouble are not expected to be Topic A for the president.
Fighting disease and poverty and promoting growth, development and security will be Bush's main themes as he travels with his wife, Laura, to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.
