239 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Michigan House Democrats push a $42 million tax increase…didn’t we say we told you so? When Democrats control Michigan, your taxes go up. It happens every time.
The Political, Candidate & Party Assistance team were on the road again last night on the "Unity Road Show" in Oakland county Michigan. I met with Oakland County GOP Chair Dennis Cowan before the meeting to discuss plans and strategy.
We had a very successful meeting in Oakland County. About 30 people showed up for the presentation and discussion last night. We had a large number of the County Commissioners in attendance along with Sheriff Mike Bouchard. Special thanks to Dennis Cowan for helping put this event together.
Newt Gingrich helps us celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Two Speeches that Changed the World…see the rest of the story below.
The Democrats are talking about holding a “do-over” election for their presidential selection process. One of our readers suggested the Democrats use TicketMaster to run their elections. More about the “mail-in” option below.
THE REST OF THE STORY:
- Today I called out House Speaker Andy Dillon and the Democrat-controlled state House of Representatives for supporting a $42 million tax hike on homeowners and refusing to take up a Republican-sponsored initiative that would help keep families in their homes without raising taxes.
News reports out just the other day show that for the first time since World War II, people owe more on their mortgage than what their home is actually worth. Speaker Dillon’s plan to raise taxes would further reduce home equity and make selling a house more difficult than it already is.
I am referring to HB 4441, Dillon's plan to increase the Real Estate Transfer Tax. The Real Estate Transfer Tax is similar to sales tax, except that the seller is the one who pays instead of the buyer. Under Dillon’s plan, homeowners in Michigan would pay an extra dollar in taxes per $1,000 of the sale price of their home. This means a homeowner selling a $150,000 house would owe the government an extra $150 dollars in taxes.
The Democrats held press conferences across the state Monday to talk about how they want to help homeowners, but in reality they are trying to slide another tax hike in under the radar. Meanwhile, Speaker Dillon is blocking legislation to prevent property taxes from going up if property value falls.
Michigan House Republicans have introduced legislation that would prevent property taxes from going up if property value falls, a situation homeowners are facing across the state as the Granholm-Democrat single-state recession continues.
Michigan, which is suffering through a prolonged housing slump, currently has the third highest rate of home foreclosures in the nation.
The comprehensive GOP package lowers property taxes for all homeowners without raising taxes on home sellers and helps keep families at risk of foreclosure in their home, but Speaker Dillon and other Democrats in control of the House refuse to allow this legislation a vote, or even a hearing in committee.
Again, Democrats have a plan to raise taxes without a plan to reform state government. When Democrats control Michigan, our taxes go up. It happens every time.”
- Newt Gingrich points out that in two powerful speeches that took place 25 years ago this month, President Ronald Reagan dealt what would ultimately prove to be lethal blows to the moral and material foundations of the Soviet Union.
On March 8, 1983, Reagan described the Soviet Union as an “evil empire” and as “the focus of evil in the modern world,” and 15 days later, on March 23, Reagan unveiled his vision for the research, development, and ultimate deployment of a missile defense shield that would one day end the vulnerability of America and her allies to Soviet nuclear attack.
While both speeches were widely ridiculed at the time, they are today rightly hailed as having made decisive contributions to bringing about the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union a little less than nine years later.
For more and to hear the speeches go to:
http://newt.org/TwoSpeechesthatChangedHistory/tabid/248/Default.aspx
- MIRS reports: By-Mail Re-Do Gets Boost
The subscription-only MIRS Newsletter reports Michigan Democrats have moved a step closer to re-ordering another Democrat primary, noting that all options are on the table including a complex plan in which ballots are submitted through the mail.
National Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean called it a "very good process."
U.S Sen. Carl Levin said last Friday that basically said there would be no deal, but over the weekend he softened his rhetoric, adding: "The one possibility would be some kind of a mail-in caucus, but there's some real problems with that, too. Not just cost, but the security issue." In Monday’s Detroit News, Levin was reported saying that a blue ribbon panel may soon reach a compromise on a mail-in voting.
Democrat political list vender Mark Grebner, who wrote the first mail-in option in 2004, said safeguards could be built into the process using bar codes.
Another challenge would be weeding out Republicans, who voted in the January 15 primary from the new mail-in procedure.
Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION01/803110327/1069
Listen for what the mayor won't say
The Detroit Free Press
March 11, 2008
The "State of ..." speeches delivered each year by political leaders are always glowing reports of accomplishments and optimistic calls for action. Although badly stained by scandal and facing new questions related to the unsolved shooting death of a local dancer, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick can be expected to follow that upbeat pattern in his State of the City address tonight. Given the circumstances, it will be quite a rhetorical feat, although hearty applause for the mayor can be expected from an audience packed with appointees and political or financial dependents. Now, there are, it should be said, some good things to talk about. Much is going on in Detroit, primarily downtown, where huge development projects are breathing new life into the city's once-dead core.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/METRO/803110372
Mayor bolsters legal defense team
New lead attorney, PR expert have experience in public corruption cases.
David Josar and Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, awaiting a decision from the Wayne County prosecutor on whether he'll face criminal charges in the text messaging scandal, has hired the former U.S. attorney for Chicago as his primary lawyer, and engaged a Washington, D.C., public relations expert who represented Monica Lewinsky. Daniel Webb, who was U.S. attorney in the early 1980s, is now lead counsel on Kilpatrick's legal team, the Mayor's Office said Monday. Webb most recently was head defense counsel in the six-month jury trial of former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan on public corruption charges, including racketeering, mail fraud and income tax fraud. Ryan was convicted and is serving 6 1/2 years in prison.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NEWS01/803110353
City deals awarded fairly, chief says
BY M.L. ELRICK, JENNIFER DIXON and ZACHARY GORCHOW
March 11, 2008
The leader of Detroit's top business development agency said Monday that politics have not influenced the awarding of city contracts, while Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick remained silent for a second day after the release of text messages indicating his office went to extraordinary lengths to help his close friend obtain contracts. "Some of us love the mayor, some may not like him. That has nothing to do with the decision-making process at the" Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said George Jackson, president of the quasi-governmental agency. "This is a business process. It is a professional process, not a political process that is open to any type of input that would be considered improper," Jackson told reporters.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION01/803110328/1069
Questions over bidding process also warrant investigation
The Detroit Free Press
March 11, 2008
Maybe Bobby Ferguson's company does pretty good work, as city officials attest, and who's to say that people doing business together with millions of dollars in public money cannot also be good friends? But the relationship between Ferguson and the administration of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, as revealed in text messages between Ferguson, Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty, when she was the mayor's chief of staff and romantic partner, just fails the proverbial smell test. The Detroit City Council really should add this to the list of things its special counsel investigates about the mayor's office. The messages, as detailed by the Free Press, show a more-than-cozy relationship, never a good thing between people who live off public money and people with a hand in dispensing it.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION03/803110314
'What ifs' float around as text scandal drags on
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Neal Rubin
A friend who used to get paid for prosecuting bad guys floats an interesting notion: What if Christine Beatty rolled over on the mayor? Not rolled over, literally, like in the good old days when the taxpayers were sending them on romantic getaways. She means rolled over as in testified. Snitched. Finked. Sang. Turned state's evidence. So far, Beatty is the only one who's paid a price for the widening text message scandal. A few months ago, she was Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's imperious chief of staff. Now she's an unemployed law student, working toward a degree she might never get a chance to use. Even when she was earning $140,000 a year, she needed help buying a house:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080310/NEWS01/80310019
Man behind effort to recall mayor appeals to Granholm
By Zachary Gorchow
March 10, 2008
The man who has initiated an effort to recall Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick now says he also will ask Gov. Jennifer Granholm to use her powers under state law to remove Kilpatrick from office. Douglas Johnson, whose recall campaign could be scuttled because he doesn’t live at the Detroit address where he is registered to vote, said Monday that he faxed the request to Granholm’s office Sunday and will send out a notarized copy today. The request must be made in a sworn affidavit. The residency question has no impact on Johnson’s ability to request Granholm to intervene. Any person or entity can ask the governor to act.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/METRO/803110374
Ex-clerk: Detroit mayor's wife hit dancer, report said
Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
DETROIT -- A retired Detroit Police Department clerk said an exotic dancer whose murder remains unsolved filed a police report in 2002, wanting to press charges against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's wife for allegedly beating the stripper during a party at the Manoogian Mansion. The claim, made Monday in a federal court filing, alleges that Tamara Greene was sent to the hospital after Carlita Kilpatrick walked in, saw Greene touching the mayor and then beat Greene "with a wooden object." Joyce Rogers, 65, of Troy signed an affidavit saying she saw the police report in 2002. The accusations, if true, could put a dent in claims that the party and the beating never took place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002243.html
Delegates We Need
The Case for a Revote in Florida and Michigan
By Jon S. Corzine and Edward G. Rendell
Tuesday, March 11, 2008; A19
When Barack Obama's campaign says that Hillary Clinton can't escape the harsh realities of delegate math, it's telling the truth. The problem with that argument is that neither can he. After last Tuesday's primaries, it has become increasingly obvious that neither of the two Democratic candidates for president is likely before the convention to attain the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the party's nomination. It appears, instead, that we are headed toward a stalemate. As a result, the word "superdelegate" has stormed into the vernacular of the American public like no electoral term since "hanging chad." Understandably, both campaigns have focused their attention and energy on holding on to the superdelegates who have endorsed them, wooing those who have not and converting those who might be open to it.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION01/803110390/1007/OPINION
Quick solution needed on Dems' primary dilemma
The Detroit News
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Michigan suddenly finds itself back in the presidential primary spotlight. State Democrats have an opportunity to be an influential voice in the Democratic nominating process -- if they can agree on an efficient and equitable way to award their delegates. The party should swiftly decide how it's going to redo its botched Jan. 15 primary. Dragging out negotiations is not acceptable, given that the outcome of the Democratic race may hinge on the decision. And having messed up their first attempt, state Democrats don't want to convey the impression that they are incapable of getting this right. Whether Michigan Democrats decide on a traditional caucus or some form of primary -- a mail-in vote now seems to be a leading contender -- they must make sure their actions don't give an unfair advantage to either candidate.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-0310edit2mar10,0,4419919.story
Michigan, Florida: Hush
Chicago Tribune
March 10, 2008
"It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything." -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, on New Hampshire Public Radio, dismissing the Jan. 15 Michigan presidential primary
There's no telling where the nomination race between Sens. Clinton and Barack Obama will lead. One place it shouldn't lead is to a Democratic National Convention floor fight on whether to seat delegations from Michigan and Florida. Those rogue states defied the rules of both parties by butting ahead of other states on the calendar of primaries and caucuses nationwide. State leaders in Michigan and Florida now are in a tizzy for fear that their bad choices could have bad consequences. They've had enough mood swings to qualify for therapy:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/michigan_florida_options_shrin.html
Michigan, Florida Options Shrinking
By Reid Wilson
March 10, 2008
Democrats, faced with two candidates nearly three-quarters of the way to the magic number required to secure their party's presidential nomination, face what can be described as a nightmare scenario. Better positioned for victory in November than any party since 1984, Democrats are close to throwing that advantage away, and options for salvaging a unified party by the late August convention are dwindling. Florida and Michigan, both states who jumped ahead of the party's pre-approved window in which they were allowed to hold nominating contests, are now casting about for a way to have their delegates seated in Denver this summer. That's not the way their gambit was supposed to go.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION01/803110392/1007/OPINION
Would Mich. re-vote help Dems?
Clinton tries to stack deck for contest, which would upset key voting bloc
Susan J. Demas
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
"Saturday Night Live" is clearly in the tank for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, but so is the Michigan Democratic establishment. That's the disingenuous backdrop to the frenzied debate over a do-over primary here. Clinton has locked up Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former Gov. Jim Blanchard, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Democratic National Committee member Debbie Dingell. In Barack Obama's camp is Rep. John Conyers, Teamster President James Hoffa and a smattering of state legislators, which means the Clintonistas hold most of the cards in the battle over a re-vote. Michigan's $10 million primary was a bad joke. Unlike Florida, Clinton was the only major candidate on the ballot; Obama and Edwards yanked their names off as soon as the DNC erased the state's delegates for brazenly flouting party rules.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION01/803110393/1007/OPINION
Would Mich. re-vote help Dems?
Do-over courts danger; seat state's delegates to prevent political suicide
Bruce A. Miller
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Will the Democratic Party under the leadership of Howard Dean decide to commit suicide? That is what the debate about the delegations from Michigan and Florida is all about. The Deaniacs imposed a rule on the Michigan and Florida parties that the states failed to follow. As a result of this insubordination, millions of Democrats, who were not involved in rule-making, cast ballots in the primaries in both states. In Michigan, the local pooh-bahs of the party opened the process to independents and cross-over Republicans. Now that the votes in these primaries become significant because of the close race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the question of seating their elected delegations is coming front and center.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080310/NEWS06/803100377
Levin promotes all-mail primary revote
BY KATHLEEN GRAY
March 10, 2008
An all-mail revote may be the solution for Michigan Democrats who want their presidential primary votes to count. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who has been fighting for years to break the dominant role that Iowa and New Hampshire have on the presidential nominations, said on the Sunday ABC-TV news show "This Week" that the only practical and fair way to conduct a Democratic do-over would be to hold a vote-by-mail election. "Only a mail kind of vote will work, and there still are a lot of logistics involved," he said. It's a solution that several other prominent Michigan Democrats have been calling for, including former U.S. Rep. David Bonior of Mt. Clemens who was campaign manager for presidential candidate John Edwards.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/POLITICS01/803110330/1408/LOCAL
Dem panel to pitch mail-in vote
Group will look at how it has worked in other states before recommending course of action this week.
Mark Hornbeck and Deb Price / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A blue-ribbon panel will present to the state Democratic Party this week a vote-by-mail plan intended to solve the impasse over the state's national convention delegates. U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, who is on the four-member committee, said Monday the group is studying Oregon and other examples of how mail-in voting works, and how it might apply to Michigan. "We are going to come up with the most practical, feasible, affordable, secure approach," said Levin, who is joined on the panel by Democratic National Committee member Debbie Dingell, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick of Detroit and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.
http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080310/NEWS03/80310003/1014/OPINION
State cannot fund another primary vote
DNC penalized Michigan for early election; it must finance new one
Port Huron Times Herald
March 10, 2008
Whatever happens with Michigan’s Democratic primary saga, state tax dollars should have anything to do with it. Michigan already went down that road with January’s early primary. If Democratic Party leaders want a “do over,” it will have to come from party coffers. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean raised the possibility last week. He urged Michigan and Florida party officials to come up with a way to repeat their primaries. Gov. Jennifer Granholm had the right response. If such another contest takes place in Michigan, it cannot be on the state government’s dime, Granholm said. The Democratic Party is in a dilemma of its own making.
State lawmakers squabble over plans to ease property taxes
3/10/2008, 6:03 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature on Monday accused each other of stonewalling some of their efforts to provide property tax relief. Democrats who run the House want the Republican-led Senate to pass a bill that would put an 18-month moratorium on the so-called 'pop up' tax resulting from home sales. Supporters say the House-approved plan would give buyers an incentive by letting them pay roughly the same amount of property taxes paid by the previous owner if the home is bought during a specified time, rather than a higher tax bill that ordinarily would be due under state law.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION01/803110387/1007/OPINION
Fix pop-up tax, but take care with Prop A
The Detroit News
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
With Michigan homeowners facing the double whammy of a slow real estate market and declining home values, lawmakers in Lansing are scrambling to come up with solutions to help them. A bill adopted by the state House to cap property taxes on new home purchases may be the best boost for sagging home sales. Michigan property taxes were contained in 1994 by Proposal A, which limited annual tax increases to 5 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever was less. That has worked to keep property taxes affordable for a lot of Michigan homeowners who were in danger of losing their homes before the measure passed.
http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/031008/opi_20080310318.shtml
Guest Opinion! Reform of old insurance laws could save money, add jobs
By ELIZABETH R. HAAR
Monday, March 10, 2008
Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that sells workers compensation insurance, announced last October that it will locate its new national headquarters right here in the state we have long called home -- Michigan. Since we were purchased by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, our parent company, from the State of Michigan in 1994, we have grown from operating solely in Michigan to a national company that operates in 43 states and the District of Columbia. Our growth nationally has brought more jobs to our home base in Michigan. We've come a long way since 1994.
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/tax_break_goal_more_movie_maki.html
Tax break goal: More movie making in Michigan
Posted by Peter Luke
March 10, 2008 05:00AM
LANSING -- The high-water mark for Michigan movie making has to be "Anatomy of a Murder." Adapted from the best-selling novel by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John Voelker, the courtroom drama starring Jimmy Stewart earned seven Oscar nominations, including best picture. It was filmed in the Upper Peninsula setting of the novel -- in Big Bay, Ishpeming and Marquette. That was a half-century ago. Michigan's appearances in the movies have been hit or miss since then. Filmmakers looking for urban decay head to Detroit to film gritty crime dramas or post-apocalyptic science fiction.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/METRO/803110329/1409/METRO
Biomedical waste found in abortion clinic trash
Official at woman's clinic blames it on an employee error, but critics say it has happened at other facilities.
Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
LATHRUP VILLAGE -- State officials on Monday began investigating allegations of improper disposal of medical waste and documents at two clinics operated by WomanCare, an abortion provider with six Mid-Michigan locations. Acting on a tip from abortion foes, Lathrup Village police and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality called in a hazardous waste disposal company early Monday morning to haul away blood-soaked gauze, surgical instruments and other biomedical waste found in the Dumpster outside the Lathrup Village office of WomanCare. DEQ officials later searched the garbage outside of a WomanCare clinic in Sterling Heights but it was unclear if they recovered anything.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NEWS05/803110304/1001/NEWS
Full day for kindergarten gets pluses, minuses
BY LORI HIGGINS
March 11, 2008
In Kathy Maczko's kindergarten classroom in Farmington Hills, the kids don't just celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading one of his famous stories. On Friday, they layered vanilla wafers, cool whip and pudding to make snacks that resembled the hat in his book "The Cat in the Hat." It was an activity Maczko likely would have had to sacrifice if she taught in a traditional half-day kindergarten program. But her class at William Grace Elementary School is a full-day program -- the kind Gov. Jennifer Granholm is pushing to be the standard statewide -- and it gives her time to get in the required academics and to supplement them with fun activities like the cooking lesson.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/OPINION01/803110388/1007/OPINION
MESSA's policies hurt teachers, students
Robert Lawrence
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Cynthia Irwin attempts to defend the recalcitrance of the Michigan Education Special Services Association on disclosure of data to school districts in a Feb. 27 editorial response ("MESSA complies with school claims law"). Her rhetoric is not surprising in light of MESSA's $150 million profit in 2006 disclosed in its June 30, 2006, financial statement. MESSA holds at least $268 million in taxpayer dollars, which should be going back to districts to help pay for teacher salaries. Instead, MESSA holds on to that money. In fact, Birmingham has cut more than $17 million in costs since 2002. So while we do what we can to protect our teachers, MESSA sticks us with the first, second and third most expensive insurance plans in the state, according to the 2005 Hay report.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NEWS01/803110370/1001/NEWS
City's residency rule could cost millions for charities
Groups say cash helps thousands, pays bills
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY, CECIL ANGEL and ZACHARY GORCHOW
March 11, 2008
More than 100 area nonprofit organizations that serve Detroit residents have been ruled ineligible for an important source of federal funding because the majority of their board members do not live in the city. The funding issue stems from a resolution passed last July by Detroit City Council requiring nonprofits that receive federal Community Development Block Grant allocations through the city to have board memberships that are made up of at least 51% city residents. A total of 105 were affected. "All of the people we service are basically Detroiters," said a frustrated Chad Audi, president of Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, an organization that provides daily services to about 1,200 men, women and children. "We're making a positive impact only in the city of Detroit."
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/METRO01/803110335/1409/METRO
Ficano seeks 10% in cuts to erase Wayne County deficit
Exec calls on elected, department officials to help trim $33 million from $2.4 billion budget.
Steve Pardo / The Detroit News
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced Monday the county is facing a $33 million deficit and called on department leaders and all elected officials to slash their budgets 10 percent to balance its $2.4 billion budget. The call -- which follows across-the-board cuts of 5 percent and 10 percent from 2003-06 -- are likely the opening salvo in what could be a protracted battle before the county's 2008-2009 fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Budget hearings typically begin next month, and the cuts could impact everything from public safety and parks to potholes and senior services in Michigan's most populated county. And more pain could be looming: Ficano said he anticipates deficits the next three years, mirroring a municipal financing crunch that has cities and counties throughout Michigan slashing services.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NEWS02/803110349/1004/NEWS
Livonia's State of the City to address Quicken Loan departure
BY ZLATI MEYER
March 11, 2008
As homeowners across the state fret over looming foreclosures, Livonia has its own mortgage woes: Quicken Loans, the city's second-largest employer, is moving to Detroit in the next few years. That departure is expected to be among the topics Mayor Jack Kirksey tackles in his State of the City address today, his first since reoccupying the office he left in 2003. But Kirksey also will share his vision for Livonia's future and update residents on the progress of city projects and business development, said Dan West, president of the Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the event. The mayor declined to comment, but West said he and other business leaders would like to hear about some of the new projects.
http://blog.mlive.com/kzgazette/2008/03/portage_to_pay_more_for_water.html
Portage to pay more for water, sewer services
Posted by Jef Rietsma
March 10, 2008 08:51AM
PORTAGE -- Portage residents may have to dig a deeper into their pockets to cover water and sewer costs starting July 1, as the rates for those services are likely going up. The per-unit cost of Portage city water is slated to increase 24.3 percent -- a hike that also would affect Schoolcraft and Pavilion townships, which get their water from Portage. On Tuesday, Portage Mayor Peter Strazdas and City Council members are expected to set a March 25 public hearing to receive comment on the proposed new rates. The council will likely vote on the new rates on that date. The proposed new rates will amount to a combined additional $71 annually, on average, for a Portage residential customer of municipal water and sewer service.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/should_mccain_fret_about_bush.html
Should McCain Fret About Bush -- and About Disappearing?
By Stuart Rothenberg
March 10, 2008
No sooner had Arizona Sen. John McCain won enough delegates to claim the Republican presidential nomination than some talking heads began to assert that this was bad news for him. The logic of these observers was simple. First, because the GOP race is now over, McCain will largely disappear from the news, which will instead focus on the Democratic contest between Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.). Second, some said, as the certain Republican nominee, McCain would not be able to avoid being embraced by unpopular President Bush. The idea that meeting with Bush and receiving his endorsement would be damaging for McCain doesn't even deserve to be taken seriously.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmM3MTZhZDQ5ZTExOTg3YmY4OWVhMjA5ZWZmN2JjOTA
Free-Market Course
A winning path to the White House for McCain.
By Patrick Basham
March 10, 2008 5:00 AM
Summing up the conventional wisdom, liberal columnist Eugene Robinson recently wrote, “The bad news [for Republicans] is that John McCain intends to run on positions that most voters reject.” Robinson asserts that, on the domestic front, McCain is on the unpopular, fiscally conservative side of the debates over health care and economic policy. There is plenty of evidence, however, that John McCain’s fiscally conservative positions are actually to his electoral advantage. On health care, Robinson opines, “While Clinton and Obama have offered far-reaching proposals, Republicans aren’t offering so much as a bandage.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031003141.html?hpid=topnews
In Havana, A Page From McCain's Past
Restaurateur Displays Story Of Interview With POW
By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Tuesday, March 11, 2008; Page C01
HAVANA -- At first glance, the trophy wall in the Cactus on 33rd restaurant seems to follow a standard local formula. Framed photo of heroically posed rebel. Check. Rusty rifle. Check. Signed postcard from Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Check. But there, among the routine, lies a surprise: a copy of a faded, 38-year-old article from Granma, the Cuban Communist Party newspaper. On the page is a photo of Fernando Barral, a Cuban psychologist turned restaurateur, sitting at a well-appointed coffee table in Hanoi. He is interviewing a square-jawed, sandy-haired U.S. prisoner of war. A prisoner of war named John McCain. That a nearly four-decade-old photo of a U.S. POW would become a restaurant prop in this seaside capital stands as testament to Havana's time-warp vibe and its enduring anti-U.S. sentiments.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002247_pf.html
Liberals' McCain Problem
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008; A19
Liberals who have sung the praises of John McCain in the past confront a fascinating test of consistency, integrity and political commitment now that McCain is the virtually certain Republican presidential nominee. It could be an amusing moment. I should know, since I'm one of them. Over the years, I've said a lot of nice things about McCain. In 1996, I suggested that Bob Dole pick him as his running mate. (Dole didn't listen.) I praised McCain's work on campaign finance reform, admired him for opposing President Bush's tax cuts and was upset when he was being cut down by the Bush machine in 2000. I wrote a friendly review of one of McCain's books and once even asked, in print, that God bless him (for his refusal to bash immigrants).
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/mccain-on-his-health-everythings-fine/
McCain on His Health: ‘Everything’s Fine’
By Michael Cooper
March 10, 2008, 3:57 pm
Updated ST. LOUIS – Senator John McCain of Arizona spoke Monday about the melanoma he had nearly eight years ago, saying that he should have sought medical help sooner. He then urged people to get checked regularly by dermatologists.
Mr. McCain, who said that he is now cancer-free and that he plans to release his medical records sometime next month, spoke in some detail about his experience with a serious form of skin cancer. “Well, what happened was, as you’ll recall, I had a spot on my forehead,’’ he said. “We were campaigning, and I really didn’t pay much attention, enough attention to it, obviously.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12866
The Luckiest Man
By Jennifer Rubin
Published 3/10/2008 12:08:28 AM
Not every politician gets a week like the one John McCain got last week, and most of his good fortune was not of his making. Yes, he did clear the threshold of 1191 delegates to officially gain the nomination and, yes, that did lead to a helpful photo-op at the White House. But the real gifts were delivered by his potential Democratic rivals and by the Democratic Party itself. Most obviously, Hillary Clinton did not quietly exit the stage. By beating Obama badly in Ohio, she ensured the race would go on and the intra-party warfare would continue. Her victories revealed Obama's weakness in attracting lower income whites and Hispanics, two groups he would need to hold in November.
McCain’s Daunting Task
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
Published: March 10, 2008
Buried inside Sunday’s papers was a noteworthy election result. In a special election to replace former Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, first-time Democratic candidate Bill Foster emerged victorious. George Bush easily carried the district in 2004, as has every recent G.O.P. presidential candidate. This Democratic pickup suggests that, for now, we’re in an electoral environment more like 2006 than 2004. Foster’s eight-percentage-point improvement on John Kerry’s 2004 performance in the district mirrors the general shift in the electorate from 2004, when Bush won and the Republicans held Congress, to 2006, when the Democrats took over Congress and ran on average about eight points ahead of the G.O.P.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080310231845.trgi6hp9&show_article=1
McCain heads to Israel, Europe
AFP
Mar 10 07:19 PM US/Eastern
Fresh from sealing the Republican White House nomination, Senator John McCain will burnish his foreign policy credentials with a trip next week to Israel and Europe, his office said Monday. Joined by two close Senate colleagues, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, McCain will visit Jerusalem on March 18, London the next two days, and Paris on March 21, according to a statement. An Israeli official said Sunday that the senior US lawmakers would meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem.
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/03/17/080317taco_talk_hertzberg
Condiment
by Hendrik Hertzberg
March 17, 2008
Last Tuesday night, after Vermont, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Texas gave John S. McCain the delegates he needed to clinch his party’s Presidential nomination, good-fellowship reigned—among Republicans, that is. “Senator McCain has run an honorable campaign, because he’s an honorable man,” McCain’s last serious intraparty rival said. McCain returned the compliment: “I want to commend, again, my friend Governor Mike Huckabee.” McCain does not always use the word “friend” in a friendly spirit; this time, though, he sounded perfectly amiable. The celestial choirs were a little more muffled the next day, in the White House Rose Garden. President Bush, offering the nominee-elect his (somewhat superfluous) endorsement, referred to McCain as “my friend” and himself as “your friend.” McCain, for his part, abjured the “f” word.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002246_pf.html
How the Democrats Could Lose
By Richard Cohen
Tuesday, March 11, 2008; A19
By official count, The Post's 10th most e-mailed column of 2007 was published last June under the headline "How the GOP Could Win." It said that the Republican Party would promote national security as the salient issue of the campaign, making a silk purse (victory in November) out of a sow's ear (the quagmire in Iraq), and keep the White House for four more years. Increasingly, I think I might have been right. It was Mitt Romney, the Harvard MBA, who left John McCain with what could be the winning business plan. In his campaign swan song, Romney used the two words you will hear repeatedly in the fall: retreat and defeat. Referring to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Romney said, "They would retreat, declare defeat, and the consequence of that would be devastating."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031003022.html
Ticket-Sharing Talk Dominates Day's Campaign Activity
Obama Accuses Clinton of Gamesmanship, Emphasizes His Lead
By Peter Slevin
Tuesday, March 11, 2008; A07
COLUMBUS, Miss., March 10 -- Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama hardly sounded like potential running mates Monday, with Obama accusing his rival of "gamesmanship" and the campaigns sparring over who is more qualified to be commander in chief. A day before the Mississippi primary, which Obama is favored to win, he rejected Clinton's idea that he become the vice presidential nominee on a ticket her husband described last week as "an almost unstoppable force." The senator from Illinois said the Clintons' talk was designed to disguise his lead in the nomination fight and convince fence-sitters that they could vote for Clinton and get Obama, too.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120510570508923093.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news
Obama Favored Over Clinton in Mississippi
By NICK TIMIRAOS
March 10, 2008; Page A2
Sen. Barack Obama won the unusually robust Wyoming caucuses Saturday and heads to Mississippi today looking to regain some of the momentum he lost last week when Sen. Hillary Clinton claimed victories in the Texas and Ohio primaries. The Illinois senator is favored to win tomorrow's Mississippi primary, where more than one third of the state's electorate is African-American. The primary is also open to Republicans and independents, who have favored Sen. Obama but who polls show may favor Sen. Clinton in the state. Sen. Obama leads his rival 58% to 34% in Mississippi, according to a poll Friday by American Research Group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/us/11rezko.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=politics&pagewanted=print
In Developer’s Trial, E-Mail Note Cites an Obama Role
By CATRIN EINHORN
March 11, 2008
CHICAGO — An e-mail message made public on Monday in the fraud trial of Antoin Rezko, a businessman and political contributor, brought attention to Senator Barack Obama’s role in discussions involving a state health planning board that Mr. Rezko is accused of improperly influencing. The message indicated that Mr. Obama, now a Democratic presidential candidate, and other top Illinois politicians consulted in 2003 on legislation to keep the board, which approved the construction of health facilities, from expiring under sunset provisions in state law. The vaguely worded message also seemed to raise the possibility that Mr. Obama, who at the time was chairman of the Illinois Senate’s health committee, had been involved in recommending candidates for the board.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=66c00dd4-824d-44f6-a865-9603ad1cab86
Out of the Tank
The press turns its guns on Obama.
by Noam Scheiber
Post Date Wednesday, March 26, 2008
I didn't realize how beleaguered Barack Obama looked at his now-infamous Texas press conference until I flipped through some photos I'd taken. In the first, Obama wears a pleading expression and extends both arms forward. In the second, Obama's jaw is clenched and his eyes have retreated behind prominent bags. By the third, his eyes are closed and his lips are pursed--the face of a man about to explain something for the seventh time. If the photos were drawings in a comic book, they might be accompanied by words like "Wap!" "Pow!" and "Kaboom!" Reporters jumped on Obama for his ties to Tony Rezko, the indicted Chicago real estate tycoon.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080310/D8VARKI80.html
Obama Ridicules Notion of VP Slot
Mar 10, 6:43 PM (ET)
By CHARLES BABINGTON
COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama ridiculed the idea of being Hillary Rodham Clinton's running mate Monday, saying voters must choose between the two for the top spot on the fall ticket. The Illinois senator used his first public appearance of the week to knock down the notion that he might accept the party's vice presidential nomination. He noted that he has won more states, votes and delegates than Clinton so far. "I don't know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place," Obama said, drawing cheers and a long standing ovation from about 1,700 people in Columbus, Miss. Saying he wanted to be "absolutely clear," he added: "I don't want anybody here thinking that somehow, 'Well, you know, maybe I can get both.' Don't think that way. You have to make a choice in this election."
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/its_time_for_obama_to_fight_ba.html
It's Time for Obama to Fight Back
By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
March 10, 2008
Clintons are trying to steal the nomination from Barack Obama - and he can't let them. The Clintons' campaign attacks put Obama in a bind. If he doesn't answer in kind, he's toast. But if he does, they'll have forced him off his winning message of hope and change from the bitter politics of the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush eras. If they pull him off his game and onto theirs, they can wrest away the Democratic convention victory that he's earned. The solution for Obama is clear: Reply in kind, but do it through surrogates. Obama must answer Hillary's negative attacks and make counterpunches of his own to rock her back on her heels.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/us/politics/10cnd-nagourney.html?pagewanted=print
Despite Risks, Clinton Resorts to Attacking Obama
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
March 10, 2008
WASHINGTON — For much of the year, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign has struggled to find a way to attack Senator Barack Obama. Even for a campaign so adept at attacking, Mr. Obama proved a daunting target. He was extremely popular with Democrats, did not have an extensive voting record and, in fact, held many of the same views as Mrs. Clinton. The fact that he was African-American made the Clinton campaign wary — as happened more than once — that they would be accused of injecting racism into the campaign. As much as anything, the Clinton campaign was concerned about launching an attack that could provide ammunition to Republicans should Mr. Obama become the party’s nominee.
Clintons push a Hillary/Obama ticket
Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:48am EDT
By Thomas Ferraro -Analysis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hillary and Bill Clinton are again teaming up on Barack Obama -- this time saying the first-term U.S. lawmaker, whom they have derided as inexperienced, would be a strong running mate on a Democratic presidential ticket headed by the former first lady. In talking up a joint ticket, the Clintons may be seeking the upper hand, attempting to put her in consideration for the top of the ticket when she so far has failed to win the votes necessary to assure that she would face Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the November election.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/POLITICS01/803110377/1022/POLITICS
Clinton toes line for black Miss. votes
Many Obama backers say they will still support her presidential bid if she is Democratic nominee.
Richard Fausset / Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
YAZOO CITY, Miss. -- Catherine Cowans is a black Barack Obama supporter who is disappointed by the rival Clinton campaign's attacks on her candidate. With all the dirt that's been flung at Hillary Rodham Clinton over the years, Cowans said, "She shouldn't really attack him." But Cowans doesn't think that Clinton's jabs add up to an irredeemable sin. If Clinton becomes the Democratic presidential nominee, the 48-year-old hairdresser said, she will vote for her. "I'm not angry at her," Cowans said recently during a lull at her beauty salon in this sleepy Delta city. "I still like Hillary." Clinton's newfound pugnacity may have helped her win primary contests last week in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, but as a long-term strategy it carries an inherent risk:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03102008/postopinion/editorials/hills_scheme_machine_101191.htm
HILL'S SCHEME MACHINE
The New York Post
March 10, 2008
With the two Democratic presidential candidates seemingly poised for a duel to the death, and one of the two being Sen. Hillary Clinton, you can be sure of one thing: The stage is set for some world-class skullduggery. Indeed, the procedural funny stuff is no doubt already under way. Take last Thursday's decision in Puerto Rico to switch from a caucus - a format that so far has favored Sen Barack Obama - to an outright primary, Clinton's stronger suit. And wouldn't you just know it? The party chairman in Puerto Rico is an ardent Clinton backer. Hmm . . . Now, that contest won't be held until June 1. Meanwhile, the next big battleground is Pennsylvania, with some 188 delegates (including superdelegates) up for grabs. It's slated for April 22.
Clinton Backers Offer a Way to Stage New Primaries
By JOHN M. BRODER and DAVID W. CHEN
Published: March 10, 2008
Two of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s biggest supporters, who are also two of the Democratic Party’s most successful fund-raisers, have offered to help raise millions of dollars to stage new primaries in Florida and Michigan. Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey and Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania said Sunday that they would be willing to raise half the $30 million it would take to run new contests in those two states. Mr. Corzine and Mr. Rendell submitted their proposal to The Washington Post. The two governors argue that the Democratic National Committee, and not taxpayers in Florida and Michigan, should pay for a re-election in those states.
http://www.nysun.com/article/72572
Lawsuit Eyed by Sharpton Over Florida
By GRACE RAUH
March 10, 2008
Laying the groundwork for a court battle that could divide the Democratic Party, the Reverend Al Sharpton is threatening to sue the Democratic National Committee if it counts Florida's primary results in the official presidential delegates tally. Rev. Sharpton is traveling to Florida today to compile lists of residents who skipped the January contest because they thought their votes would not count. He plans to have those residents sign affidavits saying they would be disenfranchised by the seating of the Florida delegation, in the event the Democratic Party allowed that to happen.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-03-09-electable_N.htm
Super delegates' Dem choice may hinge on electability
By Jill Lawrence
March 10, 2008
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama says he's won more states, Hillary Rodham Clinton says she's won bigger states, and both say their primary-season performance makes them the more electable Democratic presidential nominee. The relative strength of their arguments could influence decisions made by hundreds of super delegates, the party leaders and elected officials likely to determine who tops the Democratic ticket. Students of the nomination process say the results so far tell little. "It's always very dubious to say somebody winning a primary or caucus will end up necessarily winning a general election," says Andrew Dowdle, a political scientist at the University of Arkansas.
Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring
By DANNY HAKIM and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: March 10, 2008
ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who gained national prominence relentlessly pursuing Wall Street wrongdoing, has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a law enforcement official and a person briefed on the investigation. The wiretap captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan. The person briefed on the case and the law enforcement official identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4424507&page=1
It Wasn't the Sex; Suspicious $$ Transfers Led to Spitzer
Officials Say Spitzer Is 'Client 9' in a Federal Complaint Against the Prostitution Ring
By BRIAN ROSS
March 10, 2008
The federal investigation of a New York prostitution ring was triggered by Gov. Eliot Spitzer's suspicious money transfers, initially leading agents to believe Spitzer was hiding bribes, according to federal officials. It was only months later that the IRS and the FBI determined that Spitzer wasn't hiding bribes but payments to a company called QAT, what prosecutors say is a prostitution operation operating under the name of the Emperors Club. As recently as this past Valentine's Day, Feb. 13, Spitzer, who officials say is identified in a federal complaint as "Client 9," arranged for a prostitute "Kristen" to meet him in Washington, D.C.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NATION/803110383/1022/POLITICS
N.Y. governor mired in scandal
Sources say he was caught on wiretap in call-girl deal
James T. Madore, Tom Brune and Melissa Mansfield / Newsday
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
ALBANY, N.Y . -- New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer faced a chorus of calls for his resignation Monday as he was engulfed by a sex scandal involving his alleged use of a high-priced prostitute in February. Spitzer was reportedly receiving counsel from his advisers Monday night as rumors swirled about his future, although political experts doubted that he would survive. At a news conference in Manhattan, Spitzer, with his wife, Silda Wall, by his side, issued a public apology for what he called a "private matter," defended his reformist agenda and hinted at leaving after only 14 months. There was bipartisan shock when the news broke about Spitzer.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120519359147125705.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
Spitzer's Rise and Fall
Wall Street Journal
March 11, 2008; Page A20
One might call it Shakespearian if there were a shred of nobleness in the story of Eliot Spitzer's fall. There is none. Governor Spitzer, who made his career by specializing in not just the prosecution, but the ruin, of other men, is himself almost certainly ruined. Mr. Spitzer's brief statement yesterday about a "private matter" surely involves what are widely reported to be his activities with an expensive prostitution ring discovered by the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York. Those who believe Eliot Spitzer is getting his just deserts may be entitled to that view, but it misses the greater lesson for our politics.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9ee43752-eeee-11dc-97ec-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
Scandal met with disbelief on Wall St
By Francesco Guerrera, Aline van Duyn and Daniel Pimlott in New York
Published: March 10 2008 22:21
One investment banker thought it was a joke and carried on with his meeting. Others sat speechless, unable to avert their eyes from the television screens broadcasting the end of the career of one of Wall Street’s most feared foes. News of Eliot Spitzer’s alleged involvement in a prostitution ring, and his possible resignation as governor of the state of New York, were met with stunned disbelief in the wood-pannelled offices and trading floors of downtown and midtown Manhattan. Some could not resist taking a swipe at a man who, as New York’s attorney general, had castigated Wall Street for its ethical shortcomings.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002724.html?hpid=topnews
At the Mayflower, Client 9's Sinking Ship
By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, March 11, 2008; A02
The woman accused of running a prostitution ring allegedly patronized by Eliot Spitzer told one of her call girls that the New York governor had been known to "ask you to do things that, like, you might not think were safe." But whatever Spitzer -- or, in the language of a federal court filing, "Client-9" -- did with a petite brunette nicknamed "Kristen" on the eve of Valentine's Day last month at Washington's Mayflower Hotel, it probably wasn't as monstrous as what he asked his wife to do yesterday. In the grand tradition of Larry Craig, David Vitter and Jim McGreevey, Spitzer dragged his partner of 21 years before the television cameras at his offices in New York to announce that he was "disappointed" in himself for unspecified sins.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/?hpid=topnews
Did Spitzer's New York Snobbery Doom Him?
Mary Ann Akers
Posted at 7:00 PM ET, 03/10/2008
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's alleged "business" with a high-priced prostitution ring just goes to show how little New Yorkers respect Washington. Spitzer, a.k.a., Client 9, reportedly arranged to have a prostitute from the exclusive call-girl service Emperors Club VIP travel from New York to Washington to meet him in a D.C. hotel room -- on the night before Valentine's Day, no less. And if you ask us, this is just another glaring example of how nothing in Washington is ever good enough for high-brow New Yorkers! It's not like the so-called D.C. Madam's old service, Pamela Martin & Associates, which Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) used, is the only call-girl service in town. (Just look in the yellow pages under Escort, for crying out loud.)
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/POLITICS/803110397/1022/POLITICS
N.Y. lieutenant governor could be third black governor since Reconstruction
Michael Gormey / Associated Press
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Less than two years after he reluctantly ran for lieutenant governor, David Paterson is suddenly in line to be only the third black governor since Reconstruction, and the first in New York. "He's the next governor and probably quite soon," said Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac University's Polling Institute and a longtime New York political reporter. Attention turned to Paterson immediately after word surfaced Monday that Gov. Eliot Spitzer had been linked to a high-priced prostitution ring. In a brief appearance in front of reporters, Spitzer issued a vague apology and did not mention resignation. If Spitzer quits, Paterson automatically becomes governor and would complete Spitzer's term, which ends Dec. 31, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120511425577623511.html?mod=opinion_journal_political_diary
Reagan Country Votes Democratic
By JOHN FUND
March 10, 2008
Karen Hanretty, the spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, had a terse response to the startling loss of former Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat in a special election in Illinois on Saturday. "The one thing 2008 has shown is that one election in one state does not prove a trend," she noted. Fair enough. Indeed in June, 2006, Republicans retained a California seat in a high-profile special election, but that had no predictive value given that Democrats stomped their way to control of Congress a few months later. But special elections in highly visible seats do have a psychological effect on parties. Not only can they boost or depress morale, but they can affect how political contributions flow in the months leading up to the general election.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjU2NjRkYjg1ZmVjZDM0NTRkNWMzZTJlYjRiOGIzZmQ=
Ill in Ill.
An omen for Republicans.
By David Freddoso
March 10, 2008 10:30 AM
‘There’s nothing in life that you can’t improve by throwing money at it.” Two months after delivering that naïve expression of left-wing dogma, Democrat Bill Foster is America’s newest congressman. In a special election Saturday, he won the Illinois House seat once held by former Speaker Dennis Hastert. At least until January, Foster will represent a district that gave President Bush 55 percent of its vote in 2004. That the free-spending Hastert could not anoint a successor that conservatives would turn out to elect should serve as a warning to the GOP nationally: their profligate ways may come back to haunt them come November.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTc3YmEwODc4ZjVhMWUxYTRhMTFiMWI0NzZlOGFmNmU
Sound Veto
By the Editors
March 10, 2008 5:45 AM
Since murdering nearly 3,000 Americans on a single day six-and-a-half years ago, al-Qaeda has not ceased plotting new mass-murder attacks against the United States. The terror network’s rigorous training regimen puts a premium on schooling its operatives in counter-interrogation tactics. Defeating those tactics requires keeping jihadists in the dark about the treatment to which they may be subjected if captured. Al-Qaeda’s operational ignorance of our techniques makes our interrogations more effective, leading to intelligence that prevents new atrocities. These uncontroversial facts make it difficult to understand why congressional Democrats want to hand our enemies the playbook — literally, an actual manual — that details the full menu of U.S. interrogation practices and ensures gentle treatment for captured jihadists.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120510610822923099.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
The Chávez Democrats
The Wall Street Journal
March 10, 2008; Page A14
What is it about Democrats and Hugo Chávez? Even as the Venezuelan strongman was threatening war last week against Colombia, Congress was threatening to hand him a huge strategic victory by spurning Colombia's free trade overtures to the U.S. This isn't the first time Democrats have come to Mr. Chávez's aid, but it would be the most destructive. The Venezuelan is engaged in a high-stakes competition over the political and economic direction of Latin America. He wants the region to follow his path of ever greater state control of the economy, while assisting U.S. enemies wherever he can.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/10/mideast/cheney.php
Bush hopes Cheney visit to Mideast will rein in oil prices
By Brian Knowlton Published:
March 10, 2008
WASHINGTON: With oil soaring to a record $108 a barrel amid mounting signs of U.S. economic turbulence, President George W. Bush said Monday that he was sending Vice President Dick Cheney to the Middle East to raise concerns about oil prices and to press Israeli and Palestinian leaders to move toward peace. Cheney, who leaves Sunday, will meet with King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer and the de facto leader of OPEC. "Obviously, we want to see an increase in production," said Dana Perino, an administration spokeswoman. "The president does want OPEC to take into consideration that its biggest customer, the United States - our economy has weakened and part of the reason is because of higher oil prices.
The media snowjob on global warming
Lorne Gunter, National Post
Published: Monday, March 10, 2008
Just how pervasive the bias at most news outlets is in favour of climate alarmism -- and how little interest most outlets have in reporting any research that diverges from the alarmist orthodoxy -- can be seen in a Washington Post story on the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), announced last week in New York. The NIPCC is a counter to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. The group was unveiled this week in Manhattan at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change, along with its scientific report claiming that natural factors -- the sun, El Ninos and La Ninas, volcanoes, etc, -- not human sources are behind global warming.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/09/AR2008030901427.html
Another Preemption Fight
By Sebastian Mallaby
Monday, March 10, 2008; Page A15
Watching the global economy right now is a bit like watching the lead-up to the Iraq war. Fearing that weapons of mass financial destruction lie hidden inside Wall Street palaces, the United States is mobilizing the big guns: a fiscal stimulus, sharp interest rate cuts, the Fed's promise Friday to pump money into the markets. Meanwhile, Old Europe sits on its hands: The European Central Bank has left interest rates unchanged since June and has lectured governments about budget deficits. Whether American activism or European stoicism is vindicated in the end, one thing is sure: The transatlantic rift looks certain to grow.
Bush and Polish PM see progress on missile shield deal
Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:23pm EDT
By Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush pledged on Monday to help modernize Poland's military as part a U.S. effort to secure agreement for basing components of a global missile defense shield in Eastern Europe. White House talks between Bush and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made progress toward removing a key stumbling block in negotiations on stationing 10 missile interceptors on Polish soil. Poland, the biggest NATO member from the former Warsaw Pact, has demanded that Washington help upgrade its military in exchange for hosting part of the anti-missile system, which has added to strains between Washington and Moscow.
The fall of the lord of war
The Boston Globe
March 10, 2008
THE ARREST of the notorious Russian arms merchant Viktor Bout last week in Thailand had all the trappings of a florid airport novel. Bout had been supplying large quantities of weapons to some of the world's worst despots, terrorists, and warlords. He had been known to sell arms to both sides in a war. He was alleged to have leased his cargo planes to US contractors in Iraq. Plus, his background strongly suggests an affiliation with, and continuing protection from, Russian military intelligence. As befits his notoriety, Bout has been the subject of a book, "The Merchant of Death" by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, and a movie, "Lord of War," with Nicolas Cage.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,540426,00.html
INTERVIEW WITH RUSSIA'S AMBASSADOR TO NATO
Der Spiegel
March 10, 2008
'The Attempt to Push Georgia into NATO Is a Provocation' Russian Ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin, 44, spoke with SPIEGEL about Moscow's opposition to membership for Ukraine and Georgia in the Western alliance, the threat of an arms race and potential cooperation between Moscow and the West to help stabilize Afghanistan.
SPIEGEL: Ukraine and Georgia are pushing to become membership candidates at the upcoming NATO summit in Bucharest in early April. Last week this led to a heated debate among NATO foreign ministers -- many of whom are afraid of Russia's reaction. Should they be worried?
